It was a beautiful day, Kayda thought as the Vice Principal of Saint Diablerie High agitated that guidance counselor Ms Cumberland deserved a better parking spot. Kayda had only very recently taken over as principal and didn't have any prior experience principalling but she was sure this didn't warrant her attention.

"What a great day for fishing," Kayda announced. She slapped her fishing magazine down on the desk and got her fishing gear out of the cabinets.

The Vice Principal Hughard Arnold was flummoxed. Baffled even. "Right now? Right when we were in the middle of talking?"

Had they been talking? Some people couldn't even recognize a one-sided conversation from within one.

Kayda set a fishing hat on her bald head. "When the sky is such a beautiful blue, that's practically god telling you not to spend the day cooped up. Or... telling me. You stay here and give Ms Cumberland a better parking spot if you like. But you'll have to tell whichever teacher you're bumping, since I won't be here."

And Principal Kayda left her office.

The Vice Principal pondered the parking map. The only better parking spots he could give Ms Cumberland were his own, the Principal's, or Mrs Chumbley. The English teacher was even-tempered enough that she might accept a parking demotion but Hughard remembered her enormous husband and suddenly didn't want to upset her.

"Maybe I should just give Frances my parking spot. A slightly longer walk from my car won't kill me."

--

Kayda stopped at a gas station convenience store. She filled up her gas tank and bought some beverages to enjoy. When the clerk was giving her change, he took notice of her fishing hat.

"Some weekday fishing, huh?"

"It was too beautiful a day to stay inside."

"Ha. Some of us still have jobs."

Kayda shrugged.

"Well, I hear that the fishing is especially good at pier 11 today. You'll definitely fish up a whopper if you go there."

"Thanks for the tip, old one." The clerk didn't look old, except for his eyes. But if he was going to talk like that, she was going to calls it how she saws it.

--

Kayda drove to where Pier 11 was and set up on the end of the dock. She cast her line and settled in for a long, relaxing nothing.

To her surprise, it was a short, startling something.

Something bit the line and reflexively she reeled it in. Judging by the weight, it was a whopper.

With one final tug, she pulled a shark woman from the water. She was dressed in a leotard common of the heroes and villains of the city. The shark had a feeling of violence to her.

"Hm. So that's why the old one suggested I fish here," Kayda mused, once she got over her surprise.

"Ey, wha tha fuh, litherd!" The shark unhooked herself and got up on the dock. "I'm minding my own business and you dangle snacks at me? Snacks with hooks in them? That's rude, lizard! Do I come to where you nap and put screws in your sandwich?"

"I apologize. I had no idea that anyone was napping here."

It wasn't much of an apology. 5-Kay Newt thought about starting some violence but despite the lizard's impressive claws, she didn't strike Kay as a fighter. Wouldn't be fun, she decided while absently grabbing a handful from Kayda's bait box and snacking on it.

"Help yourself," Kayda said wryly. She considered the shark woman. "You're the mercenary kind of costumed adventurer, are you not?"

5-Kay Newt licked off her fingers. "If the pay is good and if I'm bored."

"I'll just have to come up with enticing enough pay. Tell me, do you know a 'Faultlion'?"

"Yeah, I know that dingus."

Kayda added "dingus" to the little she already knew. "My sources tell me he's going to collapse parts of the city into the ocean sometime soon. If you could, I would like you to stop him from doing that."

5-Kay Newt scoffed. "I definitely could."

--

She definitely could.

And so Principal Kayda stopped the school from sinking into the sea.

It's always answer one question and raise another when she's involved!

---

This was another gift from X_Manino!

Kayda and 5-Kay Newt owned by me
Art by @X_Manino over on Twitter