"hurry up! We don't have all day!" Michelle called out to her friend. "quit doting on the sealions, they aren't even performing tonight!"
"fine, fine," Lily rolled her eyes. She and Michelle were trainers at Sea World Orlando, Fl. They were both 21 and the best at what they did. Especially Lily. She had a gift when it came to interacting with animals. She was renowned in the animal training world b/c of her young age and amazing talent. "sorry guys, I gotta go." she spoke to the 5 eager sealions. She tossed each one a fish and patted their heads. "I'll try and sneak back later." She walked out of the cage and locked it behind her. She jogged over to Michelle. "what's the rush? Is the president coming or what?" She pulled her wavy golden blonde hair out of her loose bun and shook her head, her hair falling over her shoulders; before immediately pulling it up into a high ponytail.
"no, we're having a group come and perform LIVE. " Michelle said. "it's gonna be HUGE! They're doing an HBO live special and everything. It's gonna be soo awesome!"
"what group?"
"Nsync." Michelle practically squealed. Lily stopped and looked over at her.
"are you serious? What, are they filming it, then we're playin it back or something?" Lily.
"No. They'll be here in about an hour. They're performing LIVE, Lily. On the stage. We're doing a whole performance with the whales." Michelle jumped up and down excitedly. Lily sighed.
"which ones? The killers?" Lily asked.
"nope. All of them.; dolphins, pilots, falsies, you name it, they're performing. " Michelle said, barely containing herself. Lily groaned inwardly.
"this is going to be chaos, you realize that right?" she asked.
"that's why you're on duty tonight. You're the best. It's your job to prevent chaos," Jim; their supervisor said, walking up.
"all those whales? We're outdoing ourselves. Who all's working tonight. Are all 18 of us?"
"no way. The stage would be too crowded. It'd take away from the performance to have the whole staff out there. It's you two and Dan." Jim smiled.
"three? Only THREE!? Do you know how many whales we have?" Lily cried out.
"i'm aware of the ratios Lily. I'm not saying it'll be easy. But the killers are partial to you, so are the lions. It'll be easier with only our best out there. The less people running around, the less confusing it'll be on you and the animals." Jim pointed out.
"wait. The lions are out tonight too?" Lily said, shooting a glare to Michelle. Michelle shrugged.
"of course. I want them out there as well. This is a sold-out thing. We're doing two shows tonight and four tomorrow. The last one the night after that is the one that's being broadcasted live. It'll be our biggest show yet! These last 6 shows are simply for rehearsal and to practice and get the whales used to the loud music and lights and such. This is huge. I want the world to see all of my animals and my best trainers. I want them interacting with the group. And i want you to be pleasant, Lily. I know how you are under pressure, but please; these are spoiled millionaires. Just humor me please? If they ask stupid questions, just tolerate them. You're so good with the kids, just please, behave." Jim pleaded with Lily.
Lily rolled her eyes and huffed. She looked from Jim to Michelle. Just then Jim's radio went off. He took it off his belt.
"Jim." he said. He listened carefully. Lily and Michelle looked at each other as Jim nodded as the jumbled, staticy voice talked. How did he know what they were saying? "alright. We'll be out in a second." he clipped the radio back on his belt. "they're here." he smiled.
"they're here?" Michelle and Lily echoed.
"you said an hour Mickey!" Lily cried out.
"i thought is was an hour. It's not my fault!" Michelle responded.
"chill out, both of you. Dan is with them on the stage right now. Michelle will go with me and introduce ourselves. Lily, want the killers, dolphins-all of them, the falsies, and the pilots out. You can swim in with them, just get them out there." Jim said. Lily simply nodded. He and Michelle began to walk off. "and Lil?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow. "NICE" he said and he and Michelle walked off.
"nice, he says," Lily huffed. She walked over to the holding area. She already had on her wetsuit, so that was one less thing to deal with. She walked along the catwalk between the killers' holding pens. One pen held Shamu, Shamu Jr. and Willy, the bulls. Nonnie with her 2month old calf- Jolie, along with Namu, and Kalina were in the second pen. "hey guys! Time to go out and play!" Lily said loudly. She leaned over and tapped the water in each pen. The whales were instantly following alongside her in the pen. She reached the opening into the larger tank. She threw each of them fish. "Just a sec. Let me get the smaller ones out." she said. She jogged over to the pilots. There were two. She looked over and did a double-take. There were four whales in the pen. She studied the four whales. "memo to me- kill Beth." Lily groaned. Beth had put the false killer whales in the tank as well. "oh well, looks like the falsies get to play too. " Lily sighed. She threw them all fish, then flung open the gate. The four flew out into the arena. Lily turned around and released the other false killer whale as well. Lily jogged over and let out all 8 dolphins, then jogged back to the killers. She let out the females first. "alright boys," she smiled. "Show time"
"The whales should be out momentarily." Dan said to the five men standing with him. They all turned and looked out across the still arena waters. "Jim should be here in a moment with Michelle and Lily, our top trainers." he said, changing the subject. The guys had been asking about the whales the whole time. Just then Jim and Michelle came around the corner. "Ah, see? Michelle and Jim have perfect timing." Dan smiled in relief.
"what about Lily?" one of the blonds asked.
"Lily is a whole other case," Dan laughed. Jim and Michelle walked up. Michelle looked Hawaiian, she had the dark brown, almond-shaped eyes and the long almost black hair. Her tan also accentuated her exotic look.
"Welcome to Sea World, boys," Jim said grandly. He shook each man's hand heartily. "I hope you'll enjoy you're visit. This is one of my most esteemed trainers Michelle Kishi." Jim introduced Michelle.
"Call me Mickey," Michelle said quietly. The guys nodded and exchanged hellos.
"I see you've already met Dan, another excellent trainer. But I've saved the best for last." Jim smiled. "Lily will be out shortly. She was just releasing the whales." Jim smiled. Suddenly they heard the sound of a spout. "here they are now." Jim turned towards the water.
"uh oh," Michelle whispered. She watched as the pilots and falsies raced out. The pilots lept in and out of the water as the falsies took deep dives, then surfaced lazily. The falsies raced around with the pilots, playing leaping out of the water. Soon afterwards all 8 dolphins came racing out, like a gang of teenagers.
Just then the two female killers swam slowly in, the baby alongside it's mother. As the whales raced around the arena Jim waited for the male killers and Lily. But they didn’t show.
"Where's Lily?" Jim demanded to Michelle. Dan turned his attention to the whales while Michelle simply shrugged. "where is she? She should have been out here ages ago."
Nsync eyed each other. What had they gotten into?
"So where's Lily?" Jim asked again.
"uh oh." Michelle said again. Dan looked at her. Michelle pointed down. Dan watched as Lily rode in underwater on Willy's back. Just then Shamu spouted.
"well, there's one of the missing whales. Where's the other?" Jim asked. Michelle ran and grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the edge.
"why don’t you and I go check the pens. Maybe Willy was being ornery. You know how he gets sometimes." Michelle reasoned.
"if you'll excuse me," Jim said to the five bewildered singers, as Michelle dragged him off.
"and guys if you'll just-" Dan began. But it was too late for Nsync. Just then Willy exploded out of the water right beside the stage. He crashed back into the water, spraying all 6 of the guys. Dan was the only one prepared for the blast and sudden appearance of the whale. "never mind," he said dully. A few moments later, Lily arrived, in tow of one of the bottles. She treaded at the stage's edge.
"hi Danny! Miss me?" she asked with a grin. Dan laughed and pulled her up on the stage.
"you are so dead, Storm." Dan said. "Michelle was able to get Jim out of the area. But when comes back to see our cherished guests soaked he's going to have a cow."
"well, I'm pissed as it is. I just wish he'd say something to me. Not only do I find out 5 minutes ago that it's me, you, and Mickey supervising all of these whales, plus the lions, but Beth left the falsies in with the pilots all night last night. I had to let them out. "Lily vented. "we are going to stress these animals out so bad just to make money off of-" she began but Dan shot her a 'shut up' look and jerked his head to the side. Lily glanced over and saw the five guys all staring at her. She flashed a minute smile at them, then looked back to Dan. "excuse me, I have whales to feed," she said. She walked to side of the stage and retrieved two buckets of herring. She sat on the lip of the stage and placed her feet in the water. The whales instantly flocked ot her. Dan returned to the group of now-soaked singers.
"i'm sorry about that. Lily didnt know about this until about 5 minutes ago. See, we usually run regular shows with about 5 trainers, and then we only have a max of 6 whales out at a time, only that many if it's the dolphins. But for this particular show, we're working with three trainers and 17 performance whales, and 5 sealions. You can imagine why she's stressed." Dan explained.
"But I thought she was the best" Joey stated naively.
"she is, there's no questioning that." Dan said. "but you have to understand, she's pretty much running this show alone. All these animals adore her. But they're partial only to her. The pilots hate me with a passion. The sealions make fun of me and the killers ignore me for the most part. And the bottle harass Michelle. She's got a fan club in these animals." Dan said. He smiled as Lily rubbed the tongue of one of the killers with her hand. She waved with her other hand, and the baby killer rolled over and waved back. "the baby is extremely attached to her," Dan said.
"that's gross. She's rubbing it's tongue!" Chris said, crinkling his nose up. Dan laughed.
"Killers love having their tongues rubbed. Kinda like a dog likes to be scratched behind it's ears."
"yeah, moron. Haven’t you ever see Free Willy?" Joey asked, hitting Chris. Dan laughed.
"something like that." he said.
"hey! I got rid of Jim!" Michelle came running back onto the stage in her wetsuit.
"good going." Dan gave her a high five.
"but i was given strict orders to make Lily be nice. We have to get the whales used to the mimes over there," Michelle said, motioning to the five guys.
"hey! I am not a mime!" Chris said indignantly.
"I wish you were," Lance said quietly. Chris turned around and punched Lance in the stomach jokingly.
"they speak," Michelle raised an eyebrow. "oh yeah, we'll start with the lions." she said. "hey Lil! Here come your number one fans!" Michelle called.