Happy birthday Simbia Kurosaki! I only own Simbia'l (Sim-Bye-A-El) and T'Lorr (Teh-Lore), and I hope you enjoy!
RECOGNIZED AQUALAD B-02, ROBIN B-01, KID FLASH B-03, SUPERBOY B-04, ZATANNA B-08, ARTEMIS B-07, MISS MARTIAN B-05.
"And this, is Posidonis," Kaldur gestured to the large aquatic city behind him. They were on a mission from Aquaman and Batman, apparently something was hiding in the deeper waters just off the coral reef, picking off wandering animals and Atlanteans.
"It's beautiful," Artemis gasped, swimming slightly closer to the glistening city.
"Yeah, nothing like you Harpy," KF scoffed.
"Well at least I-" her angry retort was cut off by a small boy swimming full pelt into Kaldur.
"Kaldur!" He screamed, knocking said Atlantean back a few feet.
"Hey T'Lorr," he chuckled, prying the boy off of him. The boy, T'Lorr, had short brown hair that swayed with the current, large brown eyes and a mischievous grin. He wore the customary Atlantean dress, a blue top in the style if Kaldurs own, and black trousers.
"Cool!" T'Lorr swam over to Artemis, staring at the black contraption around her neck, "are these mechanical gills?" He poked it, causing Artemis to back away.
"T'Lorr has an interest in surface world machinery. And yes, they are, they even let them understand and speak Atlantean," Kaldur nodded.
"T'Lorr!" A girl's voice called, sounding slightly panicked.
"I'm up here Simbia!" T'Lorr called back, turning slightly in the direction he was shouting.
"Mother's looking for you, you have classes to go to," a girl, about Kaldurs age, came up over the rock wall beside them looking down on her brother. Her brown hair was in a high ponytail to just below her shoulder blades, and brown eyes struggling to hold up the "you're in trouble" facade and not burst out laughing. She wore a purple cropped top, and black shorts with a purple wrap around her waist.
"Aww, do I have to?" T'Lorr seamed a lot less formal and polite than Kaldur or his sister. His sister, Simbia, have him a look and he swam off in the direction he had come.
"Hello Kal, good to see you again," Simbia smiled at Aqualad.
"You too Simbia. Everybody, this is Simbia'l, or Simbia, our guide of the reefs," Kaldur introduced.
"Welcome to Atlantis. I am Simbia, I know the reefs better than anybody. You will not get through without a guide," Simbia said solemnly.
"Our king is hosting a meal this evening, and would like you all to be his honoured guests before we set off in the morning," Simbia conveyed his message.
"We would be glad to come," Kaldur nodded, "can you relay the message?"
"It does not matter, I already have your answer," a voice behind them chuckled.
"My king," Simbia and Kaldur simultaneously bowed.
"I will inform the kitchens," Aquaman continued on, "Simbia and Aqualad will give you a tour. And before you ask, Simbia is extremely trustworthy, she will not tell," Aquaman smiled, before swimming off.
"You will not tell what exactly?" Robin asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Yes, it would be appropriate if we knew," Zatanna nodded, trying out the Atlanteans way of speaking.
"Anything you wish to tell me. Identities, secrets, even if you just want to talk," Simbia smiled.
"Well I," KF put his arm round Simbias shoulders, "am Wally West, but you can call me anything you like babe," he grinned.
"Hello Wally," Simbia said nervously, slipping out of his embrace.
"Artemis," the archer smiled.
"Zatanna," the magician swam forward slightly.
"Robin," said boy glanced up from his waterproof wrist computer.
"Connor," Superboy grunted.
"Hi, I'm M'Gann, but you can call me Megan, it's an Earth name," the Martian giggled, holding onto her boyfriends arm.
"It is a pleasure to meet you all. Now, are you sure those clothes are fit for Atlantis?" Simbia looked pointedly at the clothes they were wearing, which was their uniforms. It was a waterproof version, but little better.
"It's the best we have," Zatanna shrugged. Simbia and Kaldur shared a glance.
"Girls, follow me, the boys can go with Kaldur. Meet at my house in 10," Simbia swam off a slight distance as everybody followed her orders.
"All my clothes are organic, so if you just show me some designs I can change clothes," M'Gann smiled.
"Of course. I have some clothes from a few years ago for Zatanna, and Artemis will only need a wrap and shorts. You can keep the top," Simbia gestured towards the blonde, "but your hair will need to be put up, it's flowing all over the place."
"How did you meet Kaldur?" Zatanna asked, as Artemis lightly touched her hair.
"When we were 4, I was playing in the coral. It's because of my playing there I know my way around, I'm the only one who does. I found Kaldur stuck in a piece of coral, and I pulled him out. I taught him the basics of the reefs, and he introduced me to his mother and, eventually, our king," Simbia smiled, before duck diving down a couple of meters to a little house.
It was a small house, suitable only for a small family. Simbia swam up to the door, and pushed it open without knocking.
"My mother has taken my brother to his classes. You met my brother earlier, T'Lorr," Simbia explained, swimming gracefully into a room, containing a sleeping pod, desk, chair, and a wardrobe. Simbia efficiently took out a black cropped top, shorts and wrap for Zatanna, and a green wrap and shorts for Artemis.
"Thanks," the girls took the clothes and left the room to change, as M'Gann changed her outfit to a white cropped top with red X, blue shorts and blue wrap.
"Here, let me do your hair," Simbia gently pushed the Martian into the chair, and started working on her hair. Artemis came in after a moment, followed by Zatanna. M'Ganns hair was put up in a high ponytail, while Zatannas was braided normally and Artemis' put into a fishtail braid.
"The boys should be here any-" Simbia was cut off by a knock at the front door,and she swam to answer it.
"Come in," she greeted, letting the boys through the door. They all wore black trousers in the style of Kaldurs own, while Wally wore a yellow version of his top, Robin a light blue, and Connor wore black.
"It has been a while since I have been here. It has not changed much," Kaldur looked around at the house. It was a cosy home, a warm air of happiness surrounding it from all they days the family spent together.
"No, it has not has it?" Simbia laughed, closing the door.
"Wait, you said your mother had taken your brother to his classes, what about your father?" Zatanna asked suddenly. Simbia visibly stiffened, staring at the floor as Kaldur put a comforting hand on her
back.
"My father," Simbia started, "is missing, presumed dead. He went out into the coral when I was 10 to find me after I had missed dinner, and never returned," Simbia sighed, turning around and smiling falsely at the team.
"Let us hurry, if we do not go now we will miss the kings dinner," she swam past them, straight out the door into open waters.
"I shouldn't have brought it up," Zatanna sighed as they all swam after her.
"She blames herself, but do not worry about bringing it up, it is good for her to face it occasionally," Kaldur smiled.
"So Kaldur," Robin started nonchalantly, which is never a good sign, "when are you going to ask her out?" At that moment Kaldurs gills malfunctioned, causing him to choke.
"What?" He gasped.
"You heard," Connor smiled at his blushing friend. They all knew about Tula and Garth, and were happy for him to have someone else.
"I do not like her that way," Kaldur shook his head, swimming slightly faster to get away from the prying questions.
Soon enough, they found their way to the large dining hall, where Aquaman, Queen Mera and Prince Oren were already waiting, along with a pretty red head and another guy, seemingly her boyfriend.
Kaldur and Simbia swam up to the table, bowing towards the king, queen and prince, before sliding in next to the red head and her boyfriend.
"Team," Kaldur looked forward said teammates, "these are my friends Tula and Garth," the red head and boyfriend smiled.
"Hi, I'm Tula," the red head greeted, and Garth repeated the same thing, just inserting his name.
"Just asking," Artemis, Miss Martian and Zatanna leant across the table slightly to talk to Tula and Garth, "when's Kaldur going to ask Simbia out?" Garth and Tula shared a look.
"We are waiting on it," they grinned, before all 5 of them laughed.
"What is so funny?" Kaldur asked, Simbia peaking over his shoulder.
"Nothing," they chorused, turning back to their food. Simbia and Kaldur shared a confused look, before also turning back to their meals.
"Everyone ready?" Simbia asked. The girls had removed their wraps so they wouldn't catch on the coral, so we're now just in their cropped tops and shorts. All if them wore satchels containing food, water, first aid supplies and any other things they needed to bring.
"Lead the way Simbia," Kaldur nodded. Simbia smiled as she stepped into her area of knowledge, swimming through the coral reef as though second nature, which it probably was.
"About half way through we will make camp for the night, and set off again the next morning. By midday we should reach the edge of the reefs, where I will wait for you as I have been forbidden to pass the reef by the king," Simbia explained, waiting a second for the others to catch up.
"Don't touch that!" She suddenly shouted, knocking Wallys stray hand away from a pale white coral.
"That's poisonous to everyone without an immunity," she sighed, quickly shuffling everyone else away from the poison.
"And I take it, you do?" Connor asked.
"I do," Simbia nodded, "I am immune to all the corals in this reef."
"How do you know which ones are poison?" Artemis asked, looking around herself warily.
"Trial and error," Simbia smiled, setting off again.
"Baywatch, touch that coral will you?" Artemis pointed towards another one of the white coral.
"No harpy, I'm not stupid, unlike some," he looked pointedly at her.
"Really? Coulda fooled me," she smirked.
"Artemis, Kid Flash, we are on a mission, I would appreciate if you could do this some other time," Kaldur pryed them apart, giving them over to their respective friends.
"Now, Simbia. Simbia? Are you OK?" Kaldur placed his hands on the girls shoulders, having to physically shake her out of her trance.
"Sorry," she sighed, looking down.
"Do you mind if we set up a mental link?" Kaldur asked her gently.
"Of course," Simbia nodded, swimming away.
"Mental link established," M'Ganns voice echoed round their heads. Simbia hissed, clutching her skull for a second before straightening up.
"Ready to move on?" She asked, her thoughts containing less emotions than Batman.
"Simbia, I know you're stubborn, but I also know you're grieving. You do not have to come with us," Kaldur said calmly.
"I'll be fine," halfway through fine, her voice cracked, and her eyes started to become ringed with red. If they were not underwater, tears would be coming out of her eyes.
"Wait here," she commanded, swimming off into the dense coral as fast as she could, which was incredibly fast, even for an Atlantean.
"What do we do now?" Robin asked Kaldur, after a moment.
"We wait," he settled himself into a sitting position, swinging his backpack to his front and opening it.
"Why?" Zatanna asked, kneeling down too.
"We won't find her in these reefs until she's ready to be found. When she's ready to be found, she will return," the team nodded at Kaldurs logic, and settled down to wait.
"Why is she grieving?" Wally asked, munching on some traditional Atlantean food.
"6 years ago to the day, her father went missing," Kaldur said solemnly, and the team sighed.
"Poor girl," Zatanna said. She could relate.
"Ready to move?" Simbia had snuck up on them, Robin not used to the water currents to notice her arrival.
"Of course. Which way, Sim?" Kaldur had shortened her name even further, but she didn't seem to notice.
"We have several more miles to cover before dark, we need to get to the campsite. This way," Simbia'l gestured for them to follow her, swimming off at a pace everyone could keep up with.
They swam in silence for about an hour, at about which time the water surrounding them started to darken.
"We must hurry," Simbia thought to the group, "you don't want to be out here late at night," she quickened her pace, while the rest of the team wondered what could scare an Atlantean.
"Everybody, in this cave!" Simbia sounded panicked, so everyone did as told, crowding into a small crevice in the reef.
A dark shape swam over them, tail flicking side to side as the great shark loomed closed to them. The team and Simbia subconsciously held their breath, as the beast passed over them.
After a couple of minutes, Simbia spoke.
"We must be careful. There are darker things than sharks in these reefs," Simbia slipped out, along with the rest of them, and continued swimming.
After a couple more encounters, they reached a large, circular area with a large cave embedded into the rock. Simbia swam inside, telling them to settle down for the night, before curling into a corner, and closing her eyes.
When the team woke up the next morning, they saw what they could not have seen last night. Brightly coloured fish swam around them, and they saw the practically neon coral that made up the cave.
Kaldur swam outside, followed by Robin and Wally, seeing Simbia conversing with a family of clown fish.
"If you two can talk to fish, why did you not talk to the sharks last night?" Robin asked, confused.
"I have made a few enemies in this reef. The majority of the sharks being one of them," Simbia smiled, scratching the stomach of a passing fish.
"It looks like something out of Finding Nemo," a tired Wally yawned.
"We should get moving. We are already wasting time," Simbia decided, "everyone pack their stuff."
Packing didn't take long, and neither did swimming to the edge of the reef.
"We are here," Simbia said, "good luck," as she said this, she seemed to direct the words at Kaldur. She perched herself on a rock at the side of the large cave, and the team handed her their packs.
"Remember, recon mission only," Aqualad ordered, before the entire team swam into the cave.
"What to do, what to do," Simbia muttered as she searched her pack, a few strands of hair floating in front of her face.
Something large wrapped around her waist. Her eyes bugged out. Another tentacle covered her mouth, muffling her scream, and dragged her into the darkness between the seaweed.
"Robin, Zatanna, report," Aqualad ordered mentally.
"Nothing here," Zatanna sighed.
"So no one found anything?" Kid whined.
"No, it seems not," Kaldur sighed, "we will go back to Simbia, and send a message to my king about a longer stay."
"Finally," Connor grunted.
"Yeah! Then Artemis, Zee, Sim and I can girl talk," M'Gann giggled.
"Don't call her that," Kaldur had stiffened at the sound of his nickname for Simbia.
"Why not Kaldur? You jealous?" Artemis snickered.
"No," he quickly defended himself.
"Let's just head up," Superboy sighed, and they ask headed towards the entrance to the cave.
Only to find no sign of Simbia'l.
"Where'd she go? I thought she said she promised Aquaman to stay here," Wally cocked his head to the side.
"She did," Artemis nodded.
"She didn't leave," Robin touched the sand bed, "something took her."
"And you think that something was..." Miss Martian gasped.
Kaldur set his jaw grimly, "our something."
The grey blue creature swirled around the seaweed, it's eight tentacles reminding Simbia of an octopus. She struggled in it's grip, the suckers gripping onto and ripping her thick Atlantean skin.
"Let me go you-" she then proceeded to call the creature some very nasty Atlantean names and swears.
It just gripped her tighter. She cried out, digging her nails into the grey flesh. A dark purple liquid spilled out, before the wound closed. Simbia gulped.
She just hoped they'd find her soon.
Simbia froze for a second, watching a small plastic bag drift by, the words 'scream and shout' written in English of the side.
And that's exactly what Simbia'l did.
"This way!" Kaldur led him team towards the seaweed, where Simbias scream had originated from.
"Kal! Help!" The team started swimming faster.
"Simbia!" Kaldur shouted. The team burst into the clearing, and stared at the monster.
The large grey blue creature looked like a giant octopus, with sharp yellow spikes and bright green eyes. It was about 40ft tall, a low and threatening hum echoing from the back of its throat.
"Kaldur! Team!" A shout came from the far side of the monster.
"Simbia!" They cried. Superboy swam forward, gripping the monster around the neck and squeezing. The creature roared, thrashing around like it was doing some kind of dance.
Artemis shot an arrow, green foam instantly washing off the creature with the sea currents.
Wally super sped circles round it, getting strategic punches to the visible weak points.
Kaldur raced to Simbia, trying to pry her out of the tentacle she was trapped in. Zatanna was casting various spells to distract it, Robin hiding somewhere in the seaweed.
M'Gann stepped forward, eyes glowing green as she stared at the monster. It fell to the ground, unconscious from all the united attacks.
"What was that?" Wally eventually voiced the question everyone had on their minds.
"I have never seen one before, but I believe it might be..." Kaldur trailed off, not sure in what he thought it was.
"The Kracken," Simbia'l set her jaw.
"What does that mean?" Zatanna asked.
"Nothing good," Simbia sighed.
"And you dragged it all the way back here?" King Orin asked incredulously.
"With a combined effort, my king," Simbia smiled.
"Of course," Aquaman smiled graciously, before turning to Aqualad, "Kaldur, may I speak to you alone for a moment?"
"Of course, my king," the two Aquas left.
"Are you and Simbia, as they the surface world, dating yet?"
"No, my king. But I think I should take it into consideration," Kaldur watched Simbia laugh at something M'Gann had said out of the corner of his eye.
"You should, Kaldur."
"I know, my king," they walked back in.
"Simbia," Kaldur asked, "may I talk with you for a second?"
HAHAHAHAH! ANOTHER YEAR YOU MUST WAIT! The next will be called Regret, and I'll post when it's up :)