A French female voice could be heard in a dimly lit room. A lioness was talking to herself while laying on her bed and was wearing a black robe, indicating that she was about to go to sleep soon. But before she did, she was writing in her captain's log. The prideful animal looked to be in her prime by being 5'10'' when standing, a toned body, light bronze color fur, and she bore a young face. Her hand gripping the feather pin as the room rocked side to side slowly with any items that weren't nail down slowly moving across whatever platform they were on. "March 4th, 1405. Around 7 p.m. Day 93. My crew and I have been sailing for about three months, still searching for a continent that The Queen insists that needs to be explored." Her hazel eyes soon focused on a wall, seeing a map of her country. Her ears went down as a wave of sadness ripple through her mind. "Maroon Vale (Ma-rune Vall)… Oh, how I miss you. I already miss going to La'bouteit (La-boo-teet) and Lake Misa (Me-saa)." The lioness eyes seem a little wary as she started to daydream.
There was a light knock not on the main door but from another door adjacent.
"Come in." The lioness slowly sat up on the bed.
The door then opened and a female Klipspringer, a small kind of antelope, came in. "Hey just checking on you, Aam'neair (Oomm-knee-air)." She also has a French accent but it was a little more noticeable in her than Aam'neair. The antelope only stood 4'2'', had light brown eyes, and small antlers. Her fur is what made her quite unique to others as it is all white. She has a rare form of Albinism that only affects her fur.
Aam'neair smiled when seeing her dear friend. "Come in. I wanna talk." She lightly patted a spot on the bed for the antelope to sit.
With hesitation, the antelope was making her way to the bed but was stumbling because of how the room was still rocking side to side. "G-God, I hate this ship, ahhhhh!"
The sound of huge breaker wave smacking the ship echoed in the room as it also rocked the ship. The sudden ship's movement was enough to send the small antelope onto the bed.
Aam'neair held back from laughing as she leaned to her friend. Short but loud snickers could be heard coming from her as she tried to help her friend sit up on the bed. "Haha, you okay, Apolline (Aa-pole-lean)?"
"It feels like we've been at sea for years!" Apolline finally was able to sit up and fixed the pink robe she was wearing. "I want to go back home. Don't you?" She asked while looking up at Aam'neair.
The lioness's nodded. "I do."
Apolline gripped Aam'neair's hands. "Then let's turn back." A hint of pleading in her voice.
"I want to but I can't. The Queen specifically wanted me and my crew to do this because we have a 100% success rate when discovering uncharted islands and finding treasure." Aam'neair explained.
"But we've been out here for three months… You're never out this long when finding an island or treasure." Apolline lightly sighed.
"True, but that's because I never had to travel this far to find what I am looking for." Aam'neair soon got out of the bed and went to a bookshelf. She pulled out a rather large map. She then laid the entire map out onto the bed. Pointing to a grayed out area at the top right corner of the map she said. "No one has been to these parts of the sea before and I want to be the first one to discover what secrets it may hold."
Apolline kept looking at the map. "But what if there's nothing over there?"
"Then makes my job easier 'cause then we can go home and I still get paid for my services." Aam'neair smiled while sitting next to Apolline.
"You don't get scared of the unknown?" Apolline asked.
Aam'neair's smile soon faded. "Of course I do. Heck, I still get scared of what's already known. The seas can be a beautiful but also dangerous place. Then when you find islands, you may never know who may already inhabit the area. Most times its savages."
Apolline's eyes widen from hearing the word 'savage'. It gave her chills down her spine. "W.. What are savages?"
"They're animals that haven't evolved yet. They still live like basic animals driven by pure instinct. As if they are stuck in the time period where it's all about survival of the fittest and predator vs. prey." Aam'neair explain while laying on her back to the bed. Her head on a pile of pillows.
Apolline had a somewhat overactive imagination so she just imagined her getting stalked and chased by a cheetah. "No! Scary!"
Aam'neair chuckled before asking. "Apolline, why'd you want to come on this trip with me? All the times I asked and you said no. Why this time?"
"Those other times, I knew you were going to return. But when you told me that you were setting sail to some unknown area that's on the other side of the world, just a bad feeling washed over me." Apolline seemed a little nervous as her ears went down.
"A bad feeling?" Aam'neair turned her head a bit, looking at Apolline's back.
The small antelope nodded. "I highly doubt we'll find a continent but if we do, I just have a feeling that it's not going to be a normal surprise on what you'll find. So I'm going to be watching your back 24/7."
"I've seen everything there is to see. The most that might happen is that it's a continent full of savages." Aam'neair said. Clearly messing with Apolline's head due to her response of. "Please no!"
This causes Aam'neair to laugh before sitting up and hugging Apolline from behind. "Ensemble à la fermeture (Together when close)."
Apolline leaned back to the lioness, embracing the hug. "Ensemble à la fermeture."
There was a knock on the main door.
"What is it?" Aam'neair asked though her voice sounded a little deeper and commanding now.
The door opened and a male white rabbit stepped in. "We found land, Madam Aam'neair."
Without a second later, both Aam'neair and Apolline got out of bed. Apolline rushed into her room which was next to Aam'neair's. The white rabbit went back to the dock while Aam'neair put on on decorated captains clothing and gear on while Apolline came out wearing a simple white dress.
Both of them got to the dock and Aam'neair took the spyglass from the rabbit to look through it. She could see what looked like mountains in the distance and a forest that was nearly consumed by a heavy fog. Her natural good eyesight came in handy because she saw something happening at the shoreline even though it was nearly dark outside with some orange sunlight peeking over the horizon. She wasn't sure what she was seeing but it disturbed her greatly.
Apolline sensed her friend tense up. "What is it, Aam'neair?"
There was one particular orange fur female jackal that didn't seem to have all of her head in place due to how she moved and how erratic she spoke. "Savages?!"
Aam'neair didn't answer back as she kept the spyglass focused on the shoreline.
Down at the forest floor, the orange sunlight was barely able to peek through holes that the many trees didn't cover so it was already dark down there. At the edge of a shore, there were two groups of different kinds of reptiles that seem to be fighting over something. One of the sides had a female white gecko that was 5'9", though being that tall that didn't give her any kind of advantage because the other reptiles were just as tall or a little a taller than her. It was soon made clear what they were fighting over as one of the lizards, which was a male black Bearded Dragon, attempted to go to the water to snatch up one of the many fishes that were swimming in the shallow end of the ocean. The Bearded Dragon got tackled down by a male red Frilled Lizard from the other group. During the struggle, the Frilled Lizard opened it's frills while hissing in an attempt to scare his foe away. With that, the two groups of lizards started to attack each other.
During the brawl, the female gecko got kick to the ocean shore. She lifted her head and before she moves something caught her attention. She could see something off in the distance. Bright flashes of light that lasted half a second at a time was coming from something big in the distance. She didn't understand what she was seeing due to the object being pretty far away but she knew it wasn't anything she's used to seeing and that fact frighten her. So she quickly left the shore and hid in the forest.
"What do you see, Aam'neair?" Apolline was dying to know what was making Aam'neair nervous.
"Prepare the anchor and tell everyone to get their cutlass out!" Aam'neair handed the spyglass back to the rabbit and quickly retreated back to her private quarters.
While the rabbit can be heard giving out orders to everyone and the jackal kept screaming 'Savages!', Aam'neair pulled out a box that contained her special cutlass. Apolline then rushed into her room. "Stop ignoring me and tell me what's going on!"
"Monsters… I think I saw monsters." Aam'neair closed the box and held her extra wide cutlass.
"..M-Monsters?" The antelope looked like she was going to faint.
The lioness soon walked up to the antelope, placing her hands on the animal's shoulders. "Apolline, I'm going to tell some of the crew to sail back to Maroon Vale and to come back here with the entire Vos'loriz (Foes-lore-rez). I don't know what animals this land has but they're not normal savages from what I see. I want you to go back with the cre-"
Apolline interrupted the lioness by whining slightly. "But I can't d-do that! Not when I know you'll be in this dangerous place without me having your back."
Her friend's clear display of concern made Aam'neair's heart warm. "I hear you but I can't risk you getting hurt or worse. It is better if you go back."
Apolline eyes trailed down as she thought. With a sigh, she nodded and gave Aam'neair a deep hug. "Ensemble lorsqu'ils sont séparés (Together when separate)."
Aam'neair closed her arms around Apolline. "Ensemble lorsqu'ils sont séparés." With no more time to waste, she moved passed the antelope to meet the rest of her crew on the dock.
Apolline just stood there with a worried face. She stared at her thumbs fiddling with themselves as if she was thinking too.
"A'ight! The Queen of Maroon Vale told us that our mission is to map this uncharted land but now I think there's a lot more to be discovered because what I saw on that shoreline wasn't any kind of animal that I know! So we will have ourselves armed at all times and take on any opposition, understood?!" Aam'neair picked up the spyglass while her crew was riled up by screaming and cheering Aam'neair on. She kept looking at the shoreline, seeing now that the lizards were actually facing towards the ship as if waiting for it to come ashore.
The ship came ashore with the anchor holding it in place. The group of five lizards kept hissing at the ship while the female gecko was watching while keeping herself hidden by being in tall bushes.
"..Uh, we're about to fight those things?!" Said a rather worried and confused looking male brown fur, Bighorn Ram. He stood 5'10'' and has a young pirate accent.
"Yes, Leo." Aam'neair placed her boot on the edge of the ship and she leaned over so she can look down at the hissing lizards. Even when facing savage animals, she never got as nervous as she did when she was finally able to see the full details of the lizards. The Frilled Lizard put her on edge the most but she felt all of this on the inside. On the outside, she looked like a cool-head leader. "Hey! You there, what's your name?!" Aam'neair attempting to communicate with the lizards.
The lizards only hiss louder at Aam'neair.
The female jackal was looking over the edge of the ship and could see the lizards as well. "Ooooh! New savages!"
"Yea… you're right Val. New Savages. Five of them too." Aam'neair looked back at her crew of 43 members. "Ludovic (Lu-dove-Vick), Val, Leo, Clad. We will take care of these beasts. Everyone else stays on the ship." The lioness then jumped off the three-story ship and landed onto the sandy shore.
"I knew she was going to say me, ugh!" Leo, a 5-foot male black fur cat, grabbed his cutlass and jumped off the ship with Val.
Ludovic and Clad looked at each other.
"Why'd she choose me?!" Ludovic, a 3'11''male otter, said. He was blind in his left eye so he wore a pirate eye patch over the eye. He has a heavy English accent
Clad, a 6'1'' male black bear, patted Ludovic's back before jumping off the ship. With some hesitation, Ludovic jumped off the ship as well.
Apolline rushed to the edge of the ship to get a good view of both Aam'neair's group and the reptiles' group.
Aam'neair was slowly moving towards the reptiles with Val very close to her side. Their cutlass is blunted on both sides so any hits they do with it doesn't cut through anything but will still hurt any living creature.
"..This is such a bad idea." Ludovic said under his breath.
Though Aam'neair still heard him, indicated by her left ear shifting to the side slightly but she didn't do anything.
Clad, having a light English accent, attempted to reassure Ludovic by saying. "Madam Aam'neair doesn't choose who to be by her side randomly. She chose you for a reason, mate."
"For me to die!" Ludovic said in a loud whisper.
Val seemed very eager to fight the reptiles by how crazed her eyes looked. Aam'neair placed her hand on the jackal's shoulder to not only calm her down but to tell the rest of the group to stop. Her index finger tapped Val's shoulder three times. This meant something to Val and she slightly pulled against Aam'neair's grip. The rest of the group watched her tail, which moved in a certain way. It seems like Aam'neair was telling them something through tail gestures and they understood what she asked of them.
As Apolline looked on she felt helpless. The urge to help was great within her but she knew if she told the crew that she was going to help then she'll be stopped. The antelope managed to sneak to the side of the ship without anyone noticing. She jumped onto one of the lifeboats and she lowers herself down with it. She used the paddles to push the boat towards the very end of the shorelines so she couldn't be spotted. Getting off the lifeboat and making her way to some rocks, she was 75 feet behind Aam'neair's group.
Val was now yearning to attack as she tried harder to get out of Aam'neair's grip. The lioness released Val and the Jackal instantly started to run towards the reptiles. Aam'neair placed her cutlass into its holster that was on her belt. She then got onto her fours and started to growl as she waited. In the reptile group, there was a Tiger Salamander that ran towards Val while hissing loudly.
Aam'neair's takeoff was powerful as her feet and hands kicked up huge amounts of sand. Val stopped and the salamander's view of Aam'neair was blocked by Val's 4'6'' body. With that, the lioness jumped over the jackal and pounced the salamander down to the ground. The Tiger Salamander, being 6 feet, was more powerful than the lion by simply tossing the beast over its head. Aam'neair landed close to the rest of the reptiles and she quickly pulled out her cutlass. Aam'neair's group then rushed in to aid her.
While the fight ensured on the shoreline, Apolline looked on with shock in her eyes. It was her first time seeing Aam'neair fight. She wasn't sure whether to be proud or nervous about her friend. Those thoughts were interrupted when she saw some bushing moving. The antelope couldn't see what was making the bushes move but she had to figure out what it was since it was behind Aam'neair's group. She moved passed the rock and went to the bush line.
Everyone on the ship was too focused on looking at the fight to notice Apolline looking through the bushes.
Apolline's hand was pretty far in the bush and she eventually felt something cold and slightly wet. She quickly tried to move her hand away but it was too late, whatever it was it bite her arm very hard.
"Ahhhhh!" Apolline jumped back and her scream was clearly heard by Aam'neair.
Adrenaline was coursing through Aam'neair's body as she pushed the Frilled Lizard to the side. After getting on her fours again she ran from the reptiles and her group to get to where Apolline's at.
Apolline was walking back while gripping her left forearm with her right hand. There was a red gash on her forearm. To Apolline, it felt like her like thousand hot needles kept going into her forearm, making her arm shake uncontrollably which was causing her to huff and panic slightly. Her eyes looked to the bush to see the female white gecko slowly crawling to her. The gecko was hissing at Apolline before getting tackled by Aam'neair.
Aam'neair got tossed to the side by the gecko. The lion stood up and pulled out her cutlass. The rest of Aam'neair's group got off the ship and before they could rush in to help, they could see about 50 reptiles and amphibian rushing from the forest to the shoreline.