 The Sea Monster
by rkbear
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"Sa-sa-sa-sa-sea monster!” The sailor yelled. Yelsie grabbed Herrbie, her hippalop, and dove down to the sea floor as fast as she could, taking refuge in her cave. She watched the seaweed waving calmly back and forth in the slow currents. The hippalop in her arms struggled to free himself. He yipped and squealed at her to follow him, unafraid of the sea monster the sailor had seen. “Herrbie!” She protested. “Get back here, there’s a sea monster out there!” Herrbie ignored her and snuffled around in the sandy bottom. He was always braver than her. Hesitantly, she followed him out. A school of gulper swam past her and a flotsam swam over head following the retreating boat. None of them paid the shy Draik any mind. Nor did they notice the small jeweled toned table that sat just outside her cave. She swam out slowly and sat in the chair she kept at the table. A tarnished tea pot and tea cup sat on top the table. Herrbie had brought them to her and various other items. He loved searching for treasures among the coral and vegetation. She looked at her reflection in the dull surface. “Herrbie, is the sea monster me?” --- “A sea monster?” Forest looked up from her grog annoyed. Did this sailor just ask her to get rid of a monster? Sure she had a great reputation as a pirate, but she was a mutant after all. She had her fair share of people tell her she was a monster. “It was huge and had razor sharp teeth! Please you have to do something,” the Tonu begged dropping to his knees at her table. He clasped his hands together on her table top. “Oh, quit your blubbering, I will look into it, but you better have the coins upfront,” She growled her antenna hissing at him. He stood up quickly shaking the table and almost spilling her grog all over her. She caught it just in time. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He said. “Up front,” She growled. “You have one hour to bring them to the dock. You’ll know my ship when you see it.” She dropped a few copper dubloons on the table. She hesitated a moment more before adding a silver one to the table beside the half empty mug of grog. --- Matey greeted her as she came up the gang plank. The little cofferling dropped a pearl necklace it had been chewing on. It was always finding things like that, and she could never figure out where they came from or how it was getting them. A swabby zipped out from behind one of the many water barrels on deck and tried to steal the pearl necklace. They were always fighting over things like that. Scallywag, was her brother’s pet, and had a strong sense of duty much like her brother himself. “Alright, you two, enough,” He brother overhearing the commotion came out of his cabin. Dredd acted as first mate on her ship and her only crew member. Aside from her occasional cabin boy and adopted son who regularly stowed away on her ship. Luckily, Door, an excitable baby Draik was safely at home with other brothers and sister on Mystery Island, miles away from Mystery Island. Forest picked up the cofferling separating the two petpets. She watched as the swabby circled his master mopping away all the puddles Dred had made. He was wearing, what must have once been dry clothes, but they were already soaking wet. “Out swimming again, I see,” She observed. “Didn’t see any sea monsters while you were out there did you?” “Sea monsters?” the eyrie asked with one eye brow raised. “Um, no why? Some one sail to close to Maraqua again? Or maybe they saw me?” His orange scales glistened in the sunlight. He was born in Maraqua but was separated from his family when the pirates destroyed the old castle. He’d been adopted by their mother like all their brothers and sisters. “No, I don’t think it was you, but we’ll find out when he drops off the payment, maybe the easiest pay day we ever have,” She shrugged retrieving the peal necklace from the deck of the ship and letting the cofferling snatch it from her hands. “He’ll be here in about a half an hour. I’m having some supplies dropped off shortly if you can help load them on the ship. Heard a lot of the sighting took place between here and the coast of Brightvale. I’m gonna send a weewoo to mom, you have anything for her just drop it by my cabin.” “Not problem, boss,” Dred smirked at his younger sister. “Tell her hi, I guess, nothing new to report since yesterday.” He teased her but he knew as well as she did how she worried about them. Out of the 8 of them, only three stayed home. Their two eldest brothers and youngest sister. Even Kookie who was blind loved to travel the world, although she did spend much of her time on the island. ---- “Well, I’ve seen about fifty jetsam, at least a dozen flotsam, a school of Peophin, a few koi, and a Lutari or two out for a swim, never mind how many petpets and squid I’ve seen but no sea monsters,” Dred reported shaking himself off as he climbed out of the water and on to the deck. Scallywag came over dutifully to mop up the mess, chirping excitedly. “No, maraquans?” Forest asked, smirking, she leaned over the rail, and stared in the water. Her own reflection stared back at her for a moment before becoming distorted. Something purple and round came bursting out of the water and grabbed her talisman in its jaws. She grabbed at it but it slipped out of her grip and dropped back into the water. “Hey get back here you little monster.” “What was that?!” Dred exclaimed. “Whatever it was it it stole my talisman,” Forest growled. “Stubs gave it to me!” --- “Herrbie,” Yelsie sighed as the little creature reached her. It was carrying something in its mouth. “What have you got there, you haven’t been stealing again have you?” “Bloop,” He nuzzled her as he dropped the talisman in her lap. He was always stirring up trouble. He’d stolen something from the tonu sailor as well. Herrbie loved anything shiny and always tried to cheer her up with these things. “Herrbie, you have to stop stealing things, you naughty thing,” She snuggled it. “Alright, now show me where you got this. You have to return it. Didn’t I raise you better than this?” He purred as he snuggled up to her. She couldn’t stay mad at him for long. She had rescued him from a group of hippalops who’d been beating him up, because he was different. Yelsie knew what that was that was like. None of the other Draiks loved water like she did and she couldn’t fly like the others. They always were swooping and doing loop de loops in the sky above the mountain. When they weren’t flying they teased her mercilessly. Her scales, her fins, her coloring, there wasn’t anything that they couldn’t make fun of about her. Till one day she finally left, she slipped into the sea and never saw any of them again. At first it was lonely but now at least she had Herrbie. The only problem was that Herribe loved to steal. She tried to get him to stop, but she didn’t know how. She’d shown him sunken pirate ships and other places to find treasures, but that only taught him that ships were a good place to find shinny things. Shiny things were the thing he loved most, after Yelsie of course. “Come on, Herrbie, show me where it is,” She pushed him away gently, and smiled at him. “I really don’t know what I am going to do with you.” --- “I’ll get it back, Forest, just calm down,” Dred pulled his sister away from the rail. “No sense in you going after it. I can at least breath down there.” He chuckled. “What?!” Forest growled. “I didn’t expect the ‘monster’ to be so, small,” He left out of the way before one of her antenna could give him a good nip and jumped into the water. The cold water splashed on to the deck and soaked its captain. --- Yelsie was surprised when Herrbie began to growl. He almost never growled but now he was trying to shove her toward the cave. He almost never did that. “The sea monster!” She gasped, she tried to grab him but he kept circling her and trying to shove her in the cave. “Herrbie stop it! If it eats anybody it's going to be you!” --- Dred was surprised to hear someone as he dove down. He couldn’t make out what they were saying but they appeared to be in some sort of distress. He swam faster to where he saw something or some one that was shimmering pink and had flowing magenta hair, or possibly fur? Whatever it was it was being attacked by a living purple cannon ball? --- Yelsie spotted the orange and blue shape as it grew bigger and bigger, but it seemed rather small to be a sea monster. In fact whatever it was could hardly be much bigger than she was, although it was a very fast swimmer. It was probably whatever was making Herrbie go crazy, and it was heading straight for Herrbie! “Herrbie!” She got a hold of Herrbie just as a eyrie, but it couldn’t be an eyrie, went flying, well swimming, past her narrowly missing Herrbie. The hippalop struggled against her grip but couldn’t get free. She hugged him tightly. Yelsie was determined to keep it from harming her friend. The stranger, not able to stop himself crashed into her table in a flurrie of bubbles and a loud clanging sound. “Now look here, whatever you are, sea monster or not, you shouldn’t go around picking on poor defenseless little petpets like that!” She told the stranger. --- Dred has been so surprised to see the embrace the little petpet that he hadn’t been able to stop himself in time as he crashed into her tea setting. The sea monster was nothing more than a thieving petpet that belonged to what appeared to be a young maraquan draik. Who was now yelling at him it appeared. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Dred called out as he tried to detangle himself from the table, which was quite difficult. --- Did the monster just speak? Yelsie moved forward hesitantly. Whatever, or whoever it was they were tangled up in her table, but none of her things had broken in the fall. “Who are you,” She demanded of Dred, because of course it was Dred, who’d thought he was preforming a good deed. “My name is Dred, I’m sorry, I was looking for a monster, that, uh, stole, my sister’s talisman,” He explained. “I-I thought you were being attacked.” “Attacked? The only one attacking any one is you? And what monster? There isn’t any monster around here, except, except maybe, me…” Yelsie sighed as she helped him free himself from the table. Herrbie, now free circled them growling at Dred. “You? Why would any think you were a monster, no I mean that purple menace, that keeps growling at me,” He said as he was freed. He swam a few yards away from her and Herrbie so he could get better look at them. “Menace, Herrbie, sure he’s a handful, but he isn’t a menace or a monster for that matter,” She laughed. “He’s just a little bit different. He’s hippalop, can’t you tell?” “That’s a hippalop?” Dred asked, doubtfully. “Well, I guess that would explain why he stole Forest’s necklace, and that’s probably, the sailor’s monster. I-uh, I’m sorry about, your table…I’m Dred. Could, I, have my sister’s necklace back?” “I’m, Yelsie, and I’m sorry Herrbie stole your sister’s necklace,” She offered him one finned hand. “Nice to meet you. I’ll give back the necklace, on one condition.” “What’s that?” --- “I rather like this arrangement,” Forest laughed. “And Herrbie. Thanks again Herrbie.” She scratched the little petpet’s head, before handing down to Yelsie who waited below beside Dred. He made a face at his sister. Herrbie had just brought her another interesting piece she could sell when they reached Krawk Island, and had brought her quite a few valuable things from a ship wreck whose owners were paying her a lot to get back. All it cost her, and Dred, was a little friendship and a few tea parties, which only, unfortunately for Dred, Dred could attend. Although truth be told Forest didn’t think he really minded as much as he said he did. The End.
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