Chapter 1
I knew from the start Menko would be my worst foe, it was in his eyes. My name is Stenella, and I was born only minutes before Menko. I remember too clearly, entering the world, listening to the squeals of others as well as my mother, the sight of the bay around me. They were all excited, the whole pod had gathered to see me be born. It confused me much at first, but I learned later on why this was. I was indeed, a high rank; my mother was just under the highest rank, the leader of the pod.
I let out a squeal and I could hear the others giggle. I must have been too cute, as the other older calves came over and nudged me after my first breath.
"Look at it! What odd markings! It makes the most adorable sounds!"
I felt popular, and indeed I was. Though this new world around me confused me, I felt the warmth of the side of my mother as she guided me along, it was comforting in these cold waters. My mother then came to a halt, it was my first glimpse of the "almighty leader" of our pod, his name was Kunse, and he was huge, scars like a million rivers across his pitch black skin. I would hate him until his death, he was a bully, "yes sir, no sir, sorry sir," was all I heard around him. He was selfish, very, very focused on himself. I never believed he was a great leader, I never believed there was a real leader in my pod, (I'm almost surprised this stupid pod hasn't fallen apart yet while in the grasp of Kunse...). I looked right over Kunse, alongside him, his mate, was also beginning to give birth.
I suddenly felt a loss, as the dolphins who nudged me playfully and giggled at me suddenly turned their attention to the female leader. I was suddenly unpopular, and even my mother, who guided me along like I was her entire life, turned her fluke to me to watch the birth.
When I saw Menko appear in a swirl of blood and swim to the surface, I snarled to myself a surge of hate began to take shape in me. Though he was the calf of the leaders, I didn't care. They all left me to see him. And I watched, watched as the happy family of leaders swam of to the large cave of the bay. Damn them, they don't deserve such a large, comfortable cave!
My mother did support me later that day, after she calmed down after the excitement of the birth of a new leader, we both headed into a smaller cave for a while, for mother thought I was too weak to swim in the open (which I wasn't). The cave was dark and cramped, with only a small air pocket, yet my mother kept me there. Away from the excitment of the open, I could only lean against the back wall of the cave, watching the blue cave mouth in front of me, and wait.
And the image of Menko would not leave me, he was adorable, and I hated him for that. His silver markings, they were just perfect, from his father's dark skin and his mother's light. As for me, my skin markings were odd, or as my mother would say, simply "different," I was almost completely black, with small white spots running along my fins, sides, and right behind my eye. My mother always told me the others would love me for my unigue markings, though I could tell from her eyes, she thought I was odd too.
I could only say one thing to my mother, a question that somehow I knew the answer to, but I knew mother knew otherwise.. "Why is that lil' calf so special?"
"Menko?" My mother replied.
"Yes. Him."
With a smile my mother looked up and through the opening of the small cave, the shapes of others passing by. "He is Kunse's son, he is important for the future of this pod, Stenella. Without him, Kunse would die and we would have no leader."
I let out a slow, deep sigh. I was happy to realize she had mentioned nothing about how cute or adorable he was. And she was correct, he was very important for the pod's future. But all eyes set on him. He was more popular than important; I felt anger rushing through me once more. The urge to pounce on him and rip his fins to shreads grew with every passing day in the dark cavern.
When mother had finally released me from the small cave, the first dolphin I saw was Menko. Smiling at me. Smiling. I could give him a face and snarl out my rage, though mother kept me going through the crowd. I was stronger, I felt stronger, and my skin was no longer wrinkly, but smooth. My dream since my first days was to be a fighter; a great warrior like some in my pod, who took down the killer whales in a simple whack of the flukes and a bite. And I felt my body was set for it, though I knew I would have to train.
The dolphins were happy to see my mother and I back in the open again. Though I haven't seen a change in the excitment of Menko's birth, his name was still spoken by all in the pod. It angered me greatly, I had thought to myself for months in the cave, how I hated him, his cuteness despised me. And then as the others started to leave to the other side of the bay for a meal of fish, Menko swam towards me. He smiled as he neared me, his eyes showed something I had never seen before. At that moment I felt like swimming away, smacking him hard over the dorsal with a swipe of my flukes as I would leave, yet I could only stay still, and watch. Why was he here?...the question baffled me.
"My mom told me about you, were you really born just a few minutes before me? I'm Menko, and you're Stenella, right?" He stiffened his head and lifted his front body a bit, and continued to smile. I could only mumble out my words, I wasn't at all impressed by him and his pride. I was sick of him already. "Yes."
Menko smiled and nodded. "I only wanted to meet you; my mother told me stories about you. And for months I haven't seen you. It is good to meet you, and perhaps he could go on a fishing trip sometime to get to know each other a little better. I'll see you."
He swam off quite quickly, and I was shocked. What did he mean by that? And he already eats fish? I felt younger and ashamed, as well as a little jealous.Yes, I was jealous if you put it that way, he seemed spoiled, and again I felt anger. He was very friendly towards me but he was spoiled! Spoiled! That word would never leave me.
~-~-~-~
Almost two years had passed since the first time Menko had spoken to me, and through this period of time has me spoken to me many times again. And with every word he spoke to me I could feel rage rushing back up inside of me. I never understood his motovation---why he smiles at me from afar, or why he even talked to me in the first place. He would ask me on fishing trips from time to time, mostly I would turn them down. I would never want to fish with an enemy.
I was then almost three years of age, changed took place both inside and outside of me through time. I felt myself stronger, my fighting skills were no longer a beginning level, though they didn't seem far enough to become "intermediate." I was too young to be trained by an elder yet, I trained myself at any time I could grasp. That was hard as well, for my mother did not see my future as a fighter, and didn't want me practicing techniques.
I am growing as well, smaller than the adults and elder, yet larger than a calf. And Menko continued to grow with me. I wished he'd leave, go far away and never talk to me again. He is not only an enemy of mine, but an annoyance as well. And what I hate is how he is still dependent on his parents. Will he ever leave them? Almost a year old and he can't go anywhere without them. I find that immature, I left my mother's side months ago.
Face it, I hate everything about him.
Through time I have aquired a few good friends. Repyex was a dolphin larger and a year older than I am, though he was friendly, a fighter in training as well. He was part Atlantean; with mother came from the mysterious Atlantis yet his father was a natural in our pod, it showed in his skill and graceful leaps and breaches. His flukes and pectoral fins were larger than normal, and they were grey, as well as his dorsal and ontop his melon, while the rest of his body was white. Another friend was Keke, an odd bottlenosed dolphin from a pod north of our bay. Miles up north, where she says, "there are ice blocks on the surface of the water all year round, and the waters are cold enough to freeze your blood if you don't continue to move around and stay warm." Her markings were very unusual, her body was a pure white, (like Repyex), but her belly was a shade of light red.
I remembered the beginnings of autumn, the rains began to come, lightly at first. Yet the first signs of winter would show us a harder set of rainstorms. And with this breakout of new seasons, came a huge, brutal fight. The first fight I had witnessed in my life was between Kunse and Judhi, a low-ranked dolphin in the pod who wished for the posistion of the leader.
To this day I still do not understand why Judhi chose the hard way. No one had ever beaten Kunse before, and Judhi was a weaker dolphin. He simply had no chance. It began when Judhi grasped Kunse's left flipper with his jaws and yanked wildley, spilling blood into the water at a fast rate. Quickly did the pod gather to see the fight, yet Menko and his mother stayed off to the distance, both upset. Either that or they didn't like the sight of blood. Cowards.
After Judhi had grasped the pectoral of the leader, Kunse sent out panic calls and turn round, with the low ranked dolphin still at his flippers, Kunse rammed his bottlenose into the base of Judhis tail, creating a large puncter and lettin blood seep out. It looked auwfully painful, and for most dolphins who were watching, just the sight of blood made them leave. Yet I stayed through the fight, from it I started to learn a few nice techneiques from mostly Kunse, who had practiced most of his life for fights like these.
It was obvious from the beginning. The fight was actually quite short, and at the end, through the thick cloud of blood came triumphant Kunse, bloody scars running across his body, through he swam away like nothing had happened, and continued on with his life. The others followed him, yet Repyex and I stayed behind, and through the blood came the sight of Judhi's body, resting against the sand, all his flippers torn, his once grey body turned lighter with death, as well as a dark red from his own blood. It was a hard sight to stand.
We would of buried his body right outside the bay, but Kunse banned it.
It wasn't long after the fight when the disaster of my entire life happened, and who's fault was it? Menko. That evil bastard. While the trees scattered around the shores of our bay still shed their colorful leaves across the water's surface, the entire pod gathered for the biggest fish hunt of the year; in autumn do the small, red fish flock past our bay and off to warmer waters for the winter, probebly to breed.
It was usually a grand time, but that year it was most definetly not. The fish came in small numbers, and they were hard to grasp. It baffled us the day through, and then the last of the remaining fish left. I swear, after our meal there must of been less than a tenth of that small school left, or thats how it seemed at least.
Menko seemed dissapointed as well as his parents in this suddenly deplete of fish. Near sunset did he come up to my mother and I, and explained to us another bay, where he says he thinks there may be many fish for us to feed on. I rolled my eyes in digust, like I would believe him. Yet my mother smiled and agreed to follow him to this "new bay."
It took a while to arrive where he was taking us, far away from the bay. My mother didn't seem afraid at all, she had too much trust on him. While for me, I didn't trust him at all, why would I?
But at least he wasn't lying. There were huge schools of fish surrounding us, yet the bay was murkey, and dark, and it was scaring me. My mother gulped down many fish while for me, I stayed back and watched. Menko smiled at me from afar, and I gave him a nasty look back. Though I doubt if he could see it through that damn murkey water.
When it happened. A felt fear rush through me as a low grumble came from behind. It wasn't of a dolphin, and I feared it was a killer whale. But it was worse. As soon as Menko and my mother had noticed the alto calls coming from nearby, Red had already rushed in. Red, my nickname for the Great White Shark that would appear near the bay from time to time, watching for weaklings he could pick off the outskirts of the pod. I'd hate him forever, but not as much as my hate for Menko, who had gotten my mother and I in this whole thing in the first place.
It was a constant struggle to keep far from the mouth of Red, though he continued to pursuit us. I never knew Sharks could roar so loudly, like an angry Blue Whale did they scream for the blood of my kind. And slowly did we run out of precious energy as we continued to swim away from that monster.
And at last, did he finally catch up with us. Though he didn't go for me, he went for my mother, and waves of shock and horror ran through me as he enlarged his mouth, showing those rows and rows of flesh-killing teeth....
It was the end for my mother, who could of missed Red's appetite if she just kept going with me. It was too quick as Red grabbed the small dolphin (though larger to me, my mother seemed like a fish to him) and shook her limp body as blood formed a cloud in the water. And when it cleared, both were gone, into the deep of the open ocean somewhere beyond the shore.
Still behind the rock was Menko, scared to death of Red, shaking uncontrollably. if I didn't hate him so much, I would help him. But no, I hated him to the abseloute limit now.
This was his fauly in the first place, it was ALL his fault. He had lead my mother and I into this, and this was the result. I was alone with him now, I could of killed him just then, tear his fins and fluke and choke him with my jaw and let this whole thing end. But he was gone faster than I could charge at him, back towards the bay he went, my eyes watching the ocean in front of me, raging with red and the thoughts of his end.
Back at the bay I found him swimming in saftey, next to his parents, prowd as he always is. Kunse and his mate, Raen, swam along like nothing had happend. And yet, Menko hadn't told them about Red's attack, they learned later from Repyex. A sudden wave of loss ran through the pod at the loss of a Beta, though later I took my mother's rank. Unlike Judhi, whom we really never knew, my mother had no burial, for her body was lost, no special memories amongst the others. Just me, with the thought of her, and as you probebly already understand well, the greatest rage I had ever developed on Menko.
That night I did not sleep. There was no moon, the stars were dim beyond the forming autumn night fog, it was a a terrible point in my life, ad it would only get worse as days progressed. I only had one thing in mind, and that was to find revenge on Menko.
I knew from the start Menko would be my worst foe, it was in his eyes. My name is Stenella, and I was born only minutes before Menko. I remember too clearly, entering the world, listening to the squeals of others as well as my mother, the sight of the bay around me. They were all excited, the whole pod had gathered to see me be born. It confused me much at first, but I learned later on why this was. I was indeed, a high rank; my mother was just under the highest rank, the leader of the pod.
I let out a squeal and I could hear the others giggle. I must have been too cute, as the other older calves came over and nudged me after my first breath.
"Look at it! What odd markings! It makes the most adorable sounds!"
I felt popular, and indeed I was. Though this new world around me confused me, I felt the warmth of the side of my mother as she guided me along, it was comforting in these cold waters. My mother then came to a halt, it was my first glimpse of the "almighty leader" of our pod, his name was Kunse, and he was huge, scars like a million rivers across his pitch black skin. I would hate him until his death, he was a bully, "yes sir, no sir, sorry sir," was all I heard around him. He was selfish, very, very focused on himself. I never believed he was a great leader, I never believed there was a real leader in my pod, (I'm almost surprised this stupid pod hasn't fallen apart yet while in the grasp of Kunse...). I looked right over Kunse, alongside him, his mate, was also beginning to give birth.
I suddenly felt a loss, as the dolphins who nudged me playfully and giggled at me suddenly turned their attention to the female leader. I was suddenly unpopular, and even my mother, who guided me along like I was her entire life, turned her fluke to me to watch the birth.
When I saw Menko appear in a swirl of blood and swim to the surface, I snarled to myself a surge of hate began to take shape in me. Though he was the calf of the leaders, I didn't care. They all left me to see him. And I watched, watched as the happy family of leaders swam of to the large cave of the bay. Damn them, they don't deserve such a large, comfortable cave!
My mother did support me later that day, after she calmed down after the excitement of the birth of a new leader, we both headed into a smaller cave for a while, for mother thought I was too weak to swim in the open (which I wasn't). The cave was dark and cramped, with only a small air pocket, yet my mother kept me there. Away from the excitment of the open, I could only lean against the back wall of the cave, watching the blue cave mouth in front of me, and wait.
And the image of Menko would not leave me, he was adorable, and I hated him for that. His silver markings, they were just perfect, from his father's dark skin and his mother's light. As for me, my skin markings were odd, or as my mother would say, simply "different," I was almost completely black, with small white spots running along my fins, sides, and right behind my eye. My mother always told me the others would love me for my unigue markings, though I could tell from her eyes, she thought I was odd too.
I could only say one thing to my mother, a question that somehow I knew the answer to, but I knew mother knew otherwise.. "Why is that lil' calf so special?"
"Menko?" My mother replied.
"Yes. Him."
With a smile my mother looked up and through the opening of the small cave, the shapes of others passing by. "He is Kunse's son, he is important for the future of this pod, Stenella. Without him, Kunse would die and we would have no leader."
I let out a slow, deep sigh. I was happy to realize she had mentioned nothing about how cute or adorable he was. And she was correct, he was very important for the pod's future. But all eyes set on him. He was more popular than important; I felt anger rushing through me once more. The urge to pounce on him and rip his fins to shreads grew with every passing day in the dark cavern.
When mother had finally released me from the small cave, the first dolphin I saw was Menko. Smiling at me. Smiling. I could give him a face and snarl out my rage, though mother kept me going through the crowd. I was stronger, I felt stronger, and my skin was no longer wrinkly, but smooth. My dream since my first days was to be a fighter; a great warrior like some in my pod, who took down the killer whales in a simple whack of the flukes and a bite. And I felt my body was set for it, though I knew I would have to train.
The dolphins were happy to see my mother and I back in the open again. Though I haven't seen a change in the excitment of Menko's birth, his name was still spoken by all in the pod. It angered me greatly, I had thought to myself for months in the cave, how I hated him, his cuteness despised me. And then as the others started to leave to the other side of the bay for a meal of fish, Menko swam towards me. He smiled as he neared me, his eyes showed something I had never seen before. At that moment I felt like swimming away, smacking him hard over the dorsal with a swipe of my flukes as I would leave, yet I could only stay still, and watch. Why was he here?...the question baffled me.
"My mom told me about you, were you really born just a few minutes before me? I'm Menko, and you're Stenella, right?" He stiffened his head and lifted his front body a bit, and continued to smile. I could only mumble out my words, I wasn't at all impressed by him and his pride. I was sick of him already. "Yes."
Menko smiled and nodded. "I only wanted to meet you; my mother told me stories about you. And for months I haven't seen you. It is good to meet you, and perhaps he could go on a fishing trip sometime to get to know each other a little better. I'll see you."
He swam off quite quickly, and I was shocked. What did he mean by that? And he already eats fish? I felt younger and ashamed, as well as a little jealous.Yes, I was jealous if you put it that way, he seemed spoiled, and again I felt anger. He was very friendly towards me but he was spoiled! Spoiled! That word would never leave me.
~-~-~-~
Almost two years had passed since the first time Menko had spoken to me, and through this period of time has me spoken to me many times again. And with every word he spoke to me I could feel rage rushing back up inside of me. I never understood his motovation---why he smiles at me from afar, or why he even talked to me in the first place. He would ask me on fishing trips from time to time, mostly I would turn them down. I would never want to fish with an enemy.
I was then almost three years of age, changed took place both inside and outside of me through time. I felt myself stronger, my fighting skills were no longer a beginning level, though they didn't seem far enough to become "intermediate." I was too young to be trained by an elder yet, I trained myself at any time I could grasp. That was hard as well, for my mother did not see my future as a fighter, and didn't want me practicing techniques.
I am growing as well, smaller than the adults and elder, yet larger than a calf. And Menko continued to grow with me. I wished he'd leave, go far away and never talk to me again. He is not only an enemy of mine, but an annoyance as well. And what I hate is how he is still dependent on his parents. Will he ever leave them? Almost a year old and he can't go anywhere without them. I find that immature, I left my mother's side months ago.
Face it, I hate everything about him.
Through time I have aquired a few good friends. Repyex was a dolphin larger and a year older than I am, though he was friendly, a fighter in training as well. He was part Atlantean; with mother came from the mysterious Atlantis yet his father was a natural in our pod, it showed in his skill and graceful leaps and breaches. His flukes and pectoral fins were larger than normal, and they were grey, as well as his dorsal and ontop his melon, while the rest of his body was white. Another friend was Keke, an odd bottlenosed dolphin from a pod north of our bay. Miles up north, where she says, "there are ice blocks on the surface of the water all year round, and the waters are cold enough to freeze your blood if you don't continue to move around and stay warm." Her markings were very unusual, her body was a pure white, (like Repyex), but her belly was a shade of light red.
I remembered the beginnings of autumn, the rains began to come, lightly at first. Yet the first signs of winter would show us a harder set of rainstorms. And with this breakout of new seasons, came a huge, brutal fight. The first fight I had witnessed in my life was between Kunse and Judhi, a low-ranked dolphin in the pod who wished for the posistion of the leader.
To this day I still do not understand why Judhi chose the hard way. No one had ever beaten Kunse before, and Judhi was a weaker dolphin. He simply had no chance. It began when Judhi grasped Kunse's left flipper with his jaws and yanked wildley, spilling blood into the water at a fast rate. Quickly did the pod gather to see the fight, yet Menko and his mother stayed off to the distance, both upset. Either that or they didn't like the sight of blood. Cowards.
After Judhi had grasped the pectoral of the leader, Kunse sent out panic calls and turn round, with the low ranked dolphin still at his flippers, Kunse rammed his bottlenose into the base of Judhis tail, creating a large puncter and lettin blood seep out. It looked auwfully painful, and for most dolphins who were watching, just the sight of blood made them leave. Yet I stayed through the fight, from it I started to learn a few nice techneiques from mostly Kunse, who had practiced most of his life for fights like these.
It was obvious from the beginning. The fight was actually quite short, and at the end, through the thick cloud of blood came triumphant Kunse, bloody scars running across his body, through he swam away like nothing had happened, and continued on with his life. The others followed him, yet Repyex and I stayed behind, and through the blood came the sight of Judhi's body, resting against the sand, all his flippers torn, his once grey body turned lighter with death, as well as a dark red from his own blood. It was a hard sight to stand.
We would of buried his body right outside the bay, but Kunse banned it.
It wasn't long after the fight when the disaster of my entire life happened, and who's fault was it? Menko. That evil bastard. While the trees scattered around the shores of our bay still shed their colorful leaves across the water's surface, the entire pod gathered for the biggest fish hunt of the year; in autumn do the small, red fish flock past our bay and off to warmer waters for the winter, probebly to breed.
It was usually a grand time, but that year it was most definetly not. The fish came in small numbers, and they were hard to grasp. It baffled us the day through, and then the last of the remaining fish left. I swear, after our meal there must of been less than a tenth of that small school left, or thats how it seemed at least.
Menko seemed dissapointed as well as his parents in this suddenly deplete of fish. Near sunset did he come up to my mother and I, and explained to us another bay, where he says he thinks there may be many fish for us to feed on. I rolled my eyes in digust, like I would believe him. Yet my mother smiled and agreed to follow him to this "new bay."
It took a while to arrive where he was taking us, far away from the bay. My mother didn't seem afraid at all, she had too much trust on him. While for me, I didn't trust him at all, why would I?
But at least he wasn't lying. There were huge schools of fish surrounding us, yet the bay was murkey, and dark, and it was scaring me. My mother gulped down many fish while for me, I stayed back and watched. Menko smiled at me from afar, and I gave him a nasty look back. Though I doubt if he could see it through that damn murkey water.
When it happened. A felt fear rush through me as a low grumble came from behind. It wasn't of a dolphin, and I feared it was a killer whale. But it was worse. As soon as Menko and my mother had noticed the alto calls coming from nearby, Red had already rushed in. Red, my nickname for the Great White Shark that would appear near the bay from time to time, watching for weaklings he could pick off the outskirts of the pod. I'd hate him forever, but not as much as my hate for Menko, who had gotten my mother and I in this whole thing in the first place.
It was a constant struggle to keep far from the mouth of Red, though he continued to pursuit us. I never knew Sharks could roar so loudly, like an angry Blue Whale did they scream for the blood of my kind. And slowly did we run out of precious energy as we continued to swim away from that monster.
And at last, did he finally catch up with us. Though he didn't go for me, he went for my mother, and waves of shock and horror ran through me as he enlarged his mouth, showing those rows and rows of flesh-killing teeth....
It was the end for my mother, who could of missed Red's appetite if she just kept going with me. It was too quick as Red grabbed the small dolphin (though larger to me, my mother seemed like a fish to him) and shook her limp body as blood formed a cloud in the water. And when it cleared, both were gone, into the deep of the open ocean somewhere beyond the shore.
Still behind the rock was Menko, scared to death of Red, shaking uncontrollably. if I didn't hate him so much, I would help him. But no, I hated him to the abseloute limit now.
This was his fauly in the first place, it was ALL his fault. He had lead my mother and I into this, and this was the result. I was alone with him now, I could of killed him just then, tear his fins and fluke and choke him with my jaw and let this whole thing end. But he was gone faster than I could charge at him, back towards the bay he went, my eyes watching the ocean in front of me, raging with red and the thoughts of his end.
Back at the bay I found him swimming in saftey, next to his parents, prowd as he always is. Kunse and his mate, Raen, swam along like nothing had happend. And yet, Menko hadn't told them about Red's attack, they learned later from Repyex. A sudden wave of loss ran through the pod at the loss of a Beta, though later I took my mother's rank. Unlike Judhi, whom we really never knew, my mother had no burial, for her body was lost, no special memories amongst the others. Just me, with the thought of her, and as you probebly already understand well, the greatest rage I had ever developed on Menko.
That night I did not sleep. There was no moon, the stars were dim beyond the forming autumn night fog, it was a a terrible point in my life, ad it would only get worse as days progressed. I only had one thing in mind, and that was to find revenge on Menko.