The Showbizz Beach Blowout

"I know it wasn't a true tail, but it's all in perception. If my eyes can believe that it is a mermaid's tail, then the beauty will linger," he explained. "The costume's simple suggestion was all that was needed to draw me in to the fantasy of the mermaid transformation..."

"Don't get him started again! Just go get those pictures!" Showbizz growled, pushing SplashLady, who was pushing PhotoMan. Letting them go, she turned to tend to the final preparations for the luau.

PhotoMan kept on talking some nonsense as SplashLady shoved him back towards the dancers, but eventually stopped and fell into stride himself, realizing it would take forever to reach their destination otherwise. The dancers were surprised to see SplashLady again; they were all now relaxing and trying to ignore the commotion of the idol's concert, which seemed louder and more obnoxious than before.

"You want to dance with us? I guess that's okay; I'm up for another," the biggest guy shrugged, lowering his shades as SplashLady and her photographer approached. "I dunno about booty-shakin' though. As you can see, we only have one girl on our team, and she's never really been into that. We do breakdancing, mostly," he elaborated.

"Oh, but don't worry, booty shaking's easy. All you need is some mild experience, a booty good enough to shake, and fast-paced music. It'll be easy," the girl encouraged SplashLady, standing up from her seat. "I'll set up the boombox for you-"

"Wait! SplashLady," PhotoMan interjected, putting one hand around her arm to stop her from walking over. "There's one other condition. I must insist that you make my fish to ass fantasy a reality here, so that I can capture it in my photos. That is, I need some photos of you with your fish tail and some with your ass. Please, grant me this request; it will mean the world for our advertising, I assure you."

The dancers went ahead and turned on their boombox, starting a relooping beat of fast-paced music with reverberating drums. "We're ready for you! Show this beach what you got. This is a good time, too, since not a lotta' guys are paying attention to the concert any more," the big guy encouraged her.

***TIMER: 190***
Satisfaction Rating: 94%
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Hmm...so, she'd be at it alone. Gulp. But by now, there was little choice. Even in regards to PhotoMan's request, if only because she figured he wouldn't let go until she caved. "...Fine, I'll start out normal, then switch back to this after a couple of minutes. But you'd better get the shots you want the first time, because I'm only doing this once. Got it?" She meant it, too. If he messed this up, it was over. For both of them. She had to have SOME pride left after this mission, even if it was just a little bit. Speaking of which, time to make sure it'd be possible to live this down...

"Nope...nope...nuh-uh. What happened to all this crazy Electopian shows I keep hearing about? Do they all come on at night or something? Because I'm seeing nada..."

...Good, Sabrina was still occupied by the TV. Man, if she saw her do this...she didn't even want to think about it. Shaking her head to do just that, SplashLady began to access her default appearance data, though making sure to save her current getup as a temporary file. Once again, she found herself in a wetsuit, complete with gloves and, of course, her fish tail skirt. Oddly, her helmet never materialized; simply put, she didn't find it necessary. The now once again mermaidlike Navi walked up on the stage, turned her back to the front, and took a deep breath...

And thrust her hip to the right, which looked jerky, and almost forced. Hoo boy...another deep breath...and again, this time to the left. A bit less contrived this time, though if anyone was looking closely it still looked mechanical. One more deep breath...and a quick one-two shake. Okay, now she was starting to get the hang of it. She began to move that part of her back and forth, shifting her tempo to that of the beat after she got more comfortable.

However, it soon dawned on her that that just wasn't enough. She needed to look like she was having fun. After all, she WAS being photographed for ads. The still mermaidlike Navi began swaying her arms with her rear, adding some leg action to boot. For good measure, she began to shake her center of attention up and down, to add some variety to the main action. Surprisingly, it worked, and SplashLady was starting to enjoy herself. The fact she wasn't directly facing any audience probably helped with that.

And then she stopped.

For a seemingly inexplicable reason, the aquatic Navi froze. However, her clothing began to glow softly, as she began to spin in place, and slowly but surely, it began to fade, revealing her borrowed swimsuit beneath it. With great lower strength, she stopped, carrying absolutely no sign of momentum as she made sure her behind was sticking forward, towards whoever was watching. She then resumed her dance, as though nothing had happened. Hopefully, PhotoMan would get some shots they could actually use...

[Order of Time:
1-?-Shake her zennymaker]
The dancers all watched in surprise as SplashLady went to town on-stage, using her ass to generously entertain all of her then very limited viewer base (only the other dancers and PhotoMan). As she built up steam, of course, other people came to see what was going on and stayed for the view. Clicking came from the audience like a torrent of paparazzi flashes, but was actually just PhotoMan alone, taking shots from every angle by zipping around.

"I count myself truly blessed... that I have been allowed to witness this," he muttered to himself with unprecedented emotion. SplashLady expected that his unemotional eyes might even produce a single tear.

The crowd cheered, happy that they'd been given something to watch other than the idol concert, which had apparently ended in disaster. Unseen by all, however, a small girl with hair in a brown bobcut weeded through the audience with shaky steps and finally reached the stage. "You're a good dancer!" she called out, grabbing SplashLady's attention.

The little girl was very short with a cute, underdeveloped body, clad in a white school swimsuit. Her eyes were closed in a sleepy expression and her face was blushing red, although it was hard to say as to why. "You must be thirsty after all that. I gotta drink for you, if you want it, Miss!" she called out. Nobody else seemed to notice her, since all of their attention was focused on SplashLady's bouncing buttocks.

Without warning, the navi pulled a small Electopian teacup from nowhere and lobbed it on to the stage in front of SplashLady. In a theatrical way, the cup smashed against the ground, sending sake splashing upward in an expert arc. The alcholic drink splashed into SplashLady's face and mouth, surprising the crowd. The alcohol content seemed far higher than such a meager portion ought to contain.

"That's for doing such a good job! Keep up the good work, Miss!" the little girl cheered, clapping her hands together and then hiccuping loudly.

PhotoMan seemed upset with himself for being too slow to intercept the sake, but he restrained the girl with one arm. Surprisingly, she allowed herself to be restrained, and he ended up carrying her sleeping body like a sack of potatoes."It's okay, SplashLady. The photos I've already taken are perfect. We can head back now, if you wish," he offered.

***TIMER: 180***
Satisfaction Rating: 99%
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"No thanks, I've got all the hydration I need!" However, this polite refusal went unheeded, as liquid proceeded to involuntarily splash her in the face. And..."...GAAACK!!!" SplashLady bent over and spat out what was clearly alcohol, though giving the audience another good view of her rear once again in the process. "What on earth WAS that?!" She turned to see where the girl had gone, only to see PhotoMan successfully apprehend her. "Ugh...I think I swallowed some of that..."

...Well, shoot. There was the crowd. Time for a little cleanup...figuratively and literally. Pointing down at the sake, water began to appear, splashing it off the stage. It wasn't very powerful, however; her lack of trident made sure of that. Now, to address the crowd. "I just want to say...thank you all for attending the Showbizz Beach Blowout! On behalf of everyone that organized it, and those working both on and behind the scenes, we hope you're enjoying yourselves!" After doing one more 180 in order to shake a tail feather one more time, the well-backed Navi hopped off the stage, moving over to PhotoMan. "All right, I think that should work. Let's head back. And by the way, I'll bet ya anything that girl's the one responsible for all the drunk people. So don't lose her or anything!"

With that, she began to lead back to Showbizz, so she could use the photos...provided that PhotoMan had been a bit more reasonable in his picture taking. Unlike the previous runs, however, she was swerving slightly...not horrifically obviously, but it was noticeable...

[Order of Time:
1-2-Return to Showbizz]
"Thank you again for all of your hard work, SplashLady. I know I shouldn't have taken those photographs without asking, but I was so certain you'd say no, and I felt that I absolutely had to take them for the sake of my own integrity as a photographer," the navi explained, walking behind SplashLady at a brisk pace. "I meant no disrespect; quite the opposite. Your posterior has given me new inspiration towards my profession."

"It must be nice.... to have an inspirational butt..." the little girl snored from her place upon PhotoMan's shoulder, bobbing up and down as he ran.

SplashLady and her cohort made it back to the luau just in time to find Showbizz greeting the hula dancers. "There you guys are. Boy, I sure hope you washed all the ass out of your brain, PhotoMan! I'm going to have a heart attack if these photos are as lame as the other ones," the host grumbled.

Taking a peek at the photos, which PhotoMan surrendered without a fight, she nodded approvingly. "Super! These ones are way better than the last ones. I can taste the ratings, hoo hoo hoo!" she giggled, rubbing her hands together. "Now let's see, I'll take a peek at the tab PhotoMan's been running for you and we'll figure out what you get for a reward, water girl."

After receiving the notes from PhotoMan, Showbizz waved her hands in an exciting fashion. "Wow, 99%! That's good enough for a Recovery 80, you lucky girl! Congratulations!" she cheered, completely glossing over the fact that one more percentage could have landed SplashLady the grand prize.

"... If I may, Boss, isn't there anything she could do to earn the final percent? There's still ample time left before we need to start cleaning up. Perhaps there's something she could do before the luau-" PhotoMan offered, but his boss was having none of it.

"No way! The luau's starting right now," Showbizz objected; her blond star-tails bobbed back and forth as she shook her head.

"SplashLady, the luau guests will take about 30 time units to get seated and served. If within that time you can earn that final 1%, we will present you with the Recov150. After those 30 units close up, the dancers will start and we'll all be committed to clean-up and other event management activities," he explained.

"Uuuh, how? There's nothing left to do, dummy," Showbizz shrugged. Seeing that PhotoMan had no answer himself, she got back to watching the event preparations. "Recov80's not so bad, is it? A lot of people would love a nice prize like that!" she giggled annoyingly.

***TIMER: 160***
Satisfaction Rating: 99%
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No...no! She came so far, only for her to come just short...SplashLady couldn't believe it. And she couldn't think of anything she could do for that 1%, either...was there really nothing left but to concede defeat after all that...? No, there had to be some way...had to.

...Wait...what if...yeah, that could work...

"Actually, I CAN think of something." She extended her right arm forward, and grabbed her reforming trident. "It's in the job description, so I'm pretty sure it'll net me that 1%!" Water began to circle her once again, as she built up energy for one last water blast. "Besides, it can only help this luau's ratings!"

The Navi with the inspirational behind pointed her weapon towards Showbizz, causing the collected water to rush towards her, and the clothing she wore...

[Order of Time:
1-Splash water action on Showbizz]
Showbizz had her back turned and was busy watching the guests move to the tables. Placing her fists at her hips, she looked smilingly onward as the hula dancers took their positions. "Oh? You think you can help ratings?" she asked, suddenly interested as she heard SplashLady's voice. "Well, let me have it!" she demanded excitedly.

As soon as she'd said that, she was blasted in a slapstick fashion with a trident-summoned crescent of water, which slapped into her chest with a dull splash. The white of the shirt (which was most of it) quickly became transparent, revealing...

The host quickly crossed her arms across her chest; for some reason, she was only wearing black, lace panties underneath the shirt with no sort of bra. As such, if she'd been just a little slower, she'd probably have had to splurge a little more on the censorship budget. "Oh! OH! I see! It's just like at the pillow fight that I just came from! Once again, I, the host, am the star attraction!" she speculated, her eyes shining from the confirmation of how she'd always felt about her own greatness.

The crowd was all staring at her now, just as much from confusion as wanting to look at her body. PhotoMan coughed into his fist and updated his checkpad once again. "Yes, congratulations. I do believe that's a rather decent pair you've wet. Well then, I suppose I'll add an extra two points, bringing you to 101%. Of course you realize that there are no stipulations in your contract regarding extra prizes for exceeding 100%, so your prize shall be the chip originally offered," he explained in an official tone.

"I guess it's a good thing I didn't change after the slumber party, huh? They're all looking, aren't they? You should take some photographs, PhotoMan. Oh wait, no! I don't look surprised any more. It'd look weird if I didn't look shocked," Showbizz rambled on, keeping her chest tightly embraced. "But if I stay here too long, the hula dancers won't get to do their thing, and that'll be bad for business! It's already on the schedule! Sorry everyone, but I've got to get out of here!"

Watching her run off, many of the crowd wondered why it had taken her so long to go in the first place. It was actually debatable whether or not SplashLady's actions had helped from the standpoint of the event's success, but PhotoMan had given her the points, so that was what mattered. "You can feel free to leave now, if you wish. I've taken all the pictures I need and we won't need your water for anything else. The prize will be waiting for you with the mission board," he explained.

"And again, thank you for lending me your ass today," he finished in perhaps too loud a voice, causing several of the people at a nearby table to look at the two with raised eyebrows.
"Uh...sure? And yes, I fully realize that I only get the chip I asked for. But that'll be plenty!" And a big yawn let everyone know that she also needed some down time for a job well done. "I'd kinda like to stick around, but I'm too beat. Take it easy!"

"All these channels, and they're just a lot of nothing! Sheesh!" Conveniently, Sabrina picked that moment to check up on her Navi. "Hey, SplashLady! How's the mission coming?"

"All done! I finished with a rating of 101%, so we'll be getting the max reward!"

"Sweet! I'll go check in with the mission board and get it!"

"Can you jack me out, too? I'm exhausted from all that running around and spraying things!"

"Sure thing!" With that, the aquatic Navi exited the Net in a beam of light...leaving the swimsuit where she had stood. What that meant was anyone's guess.

(NET EXITING, MISSION COMPLETE)