Aru Shah and the Soul Trident

I Don't Wanna Get Gastroenteritis!

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I came back from the trip I mentioned in the last chapter pretty recently, so I needed some time to come up with this chapter.

 Fun fact: So, for my short vacation, I coincidentally went to Niagara Falls, where the Potatoes are currently at in my fanfic! Sadly, I didn't see Aru or any of the Potatoes there (lol). I just thought that was kinda funny so I wanted to share that with y'all.  Welp, anyways, enjoy the chapter!

"Brynne! Can't you create a gust of wind or something with your mace?!" Rudy screamed, as he flailed around in the air.

"I don't know!" Brynne yelled back. "I don't really know what kinda stuff GemGem can do yet, except hit annoying princes!"

"GemGem?!"

A/N: The idea for the name 'GemGem' came from @Kai_Daiki_Hinode (thnx for that btw! ;))

"It's my mace's name!"

Rudy sniffed. "You should have named it something else. That name suits my bow better." His gem-studded bow glinted in the dim light.

Brynne growled and whirled her ruby-flecked mace around threateningly. "We'll see which weapon suits that name better once I whack you with GemGem!"

Rudy stuck out his tongue at her. "You can't!" He said in a sing-song voice. "In case you forgot, we're plummeting to our deaths at the moment!" Brynne looked like she was about to murder him. 

"Guys, be quiet!" Mini scolded, clutching her spear like a teddy bear.

Aru was about to chime into the mid-air conversation, when a strange, stinky smell wafted past her. She scrunched her nose up in disgust and looked around wildly. There! Right below her, was a stream of murky liquid that suspiciously looked like sewage water.

"Guys?" She said nervously. "Don't panic, but we're all gonna drown in gross water unless we do something!"

Mini looked down to where Aru was pointing and screamed. "Oh my gods! Is that sewage water?! Did you know that if we even accidentally ingest it, we could possibly get gastroenteritis, diarrheagenic e. Coli-"

"Mini, I told you not to panic-" Aru interrupted, but her sister kept going on.

"-campylobacteriosis, leptospirosis, cryptosporidiosis, typhoid fever, and lots more! And then, we could-"

"Die?" The rest of the Potatoes finished.

"Potentially," Mini grumpily finished.

"Well, we're all gonna die regardless of whatever disease we happen to catch if we fall into the water at this speed!" Aiden yelled.

They all went silent at that. The sewage water seemed to be getting closer and closer now. Aru held her breath, waiting for the greenish-yellow water to hit her, when she suddenly heard a low, humming noise.

She whipped her head around to Mini's direction. Her sister had closed her eyes, but that wasn't what Aru was focused on. Instead, she looked at her spear, which was steadily glowing a deep, purple color.

"Mini! Your spear! I think it's trying to tell you something!" Aru shouted, glancing nervously at the water below her.

Mini's eyes flew open, and for a full two seconds, she stared at her weapon. Then, putting on a determined expression, she ordered, "Everyone! Hold on!"

"To what?" Rudy wailed, tightening his grip on his bow.

Mini swept the spear over her head in a half-arc, and a violet light concentrated at the tip of the spear. Then, she aimed it at the stream below them, and the light beamed out at the water, like a laser. The whole stream lit up in a lilac glow, but it did nothing to stop the Potatoes from falling.