the ocean

[instar]

Five pigeons, one with a beetle glued to her foot, fly to Seattle and find the aquarium and the orca tanks.

There is one with just one orca in it.

Five pigeons land on the glass edge of the tank.

Comments

[aeskhyne]

<And it got fainter when we went to Seattle and it's getting stronger again now, so I bet he's not that far.>

[morphbox]

<Is he just continually screaming?> Bella asks.

[aeskhyne]

<It's not like he's screaming... actually, now that I think of it, it's almost like it's a recorded message.>

[morphbox]

<Are you getting any more detail from hearing it over and over, then?>

[aeskhyne]

<Kind of.>

[morphbox]

<Can you elaborate?>

[aeskhyne]

<You know how when you listen to the same song over and over again, you get to know it better and you hear more things in it because it's more familiar? It's kind of like that. This thing's been playing in the back of my head for ages, and now I kind of know how it goes.>

[morphbox]

<Yes, I mean, do you have any more information about the contents of the message that you could share.>

[aeskhyne]

<If I did, I would've led with that. Mostly I'm just getting stronger impressions of all the stuff I already heard. Andalite, trapped at the bottom of the ocean, wants help.>

[morphbox]

<Okay.>

Eventually, they reach the Swan household, and duck under the garage door gap for demorphing-clockchecking-remorphing-gluing, and on they go to the sea. <The moonset time marker should work just fine. If we wind up doing a lot of stuff at night I might try to learn to tell time by the stars, I bet that's possible.>

[aeskhyne]

<I'm definitely getting kind of a direction here,> Trouble reports. <And we're going the right way.>

[morphbox]

<Good.>

Eventually, there is the sea.

Bella checks for people. There are no lights; there is no sign of anyone existing nearby without a light. She demorphs and starts wading out into the ocean.

[aeskhyne]

A cluster of pigeons waits on the shore.

[instar]

Wade, wade, wade, swim, swim, swim.

[morphbox]

Morph.

<This thing is definitely predatory. I haven't been a bear so I can't compare, but it sounds "chill" the same way you guys described the grizzly, nothing hunts orcas. I don't think you'll attack each other. You might go after seals if we found seals, or something.>

[aeskhyne]

<Sounds good to me,> says Trouble. <I'll catch up.>

He demorphs, swims out to meet her, and morphs the orca.

<Oh, cool. Yeah, this is like a bear. A friendlier bear. In the ocean. And...> He kicks his tail and moves out a little farther from the shore, then circles back. <Happy. I'm a happy ocean bear. Who wants to play?>

[morphbox]

<Yay, a happy morph!> says Andi, and she flutters out to sit on Bella's back with Charlie on her foot. They demorph and slide into the water.

[morphbox]

<We are here to rescue an Andalite. Perhaps there will be time for recreational orca-ing if that turns out to be really straightforward,> says Bella.

Andi's an orca very quickly; she gets the colors first, then smooths out into a mini-whale and then grows. <I like this morph! Best morph. I'm gonna see how high I can jump!> she says, and then she races away and dives and leaps and splashes.

<We are here to ->

<Lighten uuuuuup!>

[hold_infinity]

Ethan and Robin swim out to join the crowd.

<Ooh,> says Robin. <I like this morph. I like it, I like it, I like it.>

She bumps playfully into Ethan.

[palmofyourhand]

He finishes morphing and bumps back.

[aeskhyne]

<Hey, guys,> Trouble says mischievously.

<Race you!>

And he powers out into the ocean, clicking happily.

[morphbox]

<Are we at least racing in a general Andaliteward direction?> asks Bella, chasing the others.

Charlie is quiet. But he tries a jump, too.

[aeskhyne]

<No shit we are,> laughs Trouble.

[morphbox]

<Okay, good.>

Swimming swimming swimming.

<Wheeeeeee!> crows Andi.

[aeskhyne]

<I know, right?> says Trouble. <I think maybe orcas are my favourite. C'mon, this way!>

The directional pull of the distress signal gets clearer and steadier as he goes.



Eventually, they reach a point where it mostly says down.

<All right, time to dive!>