Chapter two, part two. Slightly slow chapter, but in involves the fish lol
Dark Chronicle
Chapter 2: Resurrection of the great elder
Part 2- Big Fish
The wood turned out to be more than just a bit creepy. There were twisting paths marked out by viciously sharp brambles and small rivers snaking straight though the forest, which were too deep to cross and too wide to jump. Fortunately, the woods were home to a large population of fairies who had various items stored in treasure chests in the wood, including enchanted saws that could cut down trees in an instant to make bridges. Unfortunately, the fairy population didn't take kindly to humans stealing there possessions. Max and Monica were constantly ambushed by crow sized imps who threw fireballs at them, and harassed by insect sized sprites who kept dive-bombing their heads.
And the monsters in the wood were horrendous. Man eating plants nearly uprooted themselves in an effort to attack the two children, undead skeletons of ancient hunters erupted from the ground at random intervals, and huge wolf like Gyumos stalked them everywhere. At one point, out of the trees had jumped... a tree!. No one had time to appreciate the irony as it tried to eat Max. Monica managed to scare it away by setting fire to it's branches.
As they were walking, they came to a small drawbridge over a particularly wide river.
"Hey, why's this bridge here?" asked Max.
"Maybe this is an important part of the forest," Monica said "but whoever was last to use it has left it up."
The drawbridge had been raised from the opposite side of the river so they couldn't cross and couldn't see what was on the far bank. The trees either side of the bridge were impossibly close together on both river banks, so they couldn't even try cutting one down with a fairy saw; not that they had a fairy saw. For some reason animals and monsters seemed to be scarce in that part of the wood.
"Well what do we do?" Max asked.
"We're gotta cross this bridge. Leave this to me."
Monica ran at a nearby tree and jumped at it. Just as it looked like there'd be some horrible collision, she rammed her feet against the bark and rebounded up towards a strong branch. She grabbed it, and with the skill of an expert gymnast she swung herself round so she was able to jump off the branch and over the river, swinging from an overhanging branch as she did.
She landed on the very tip of the bridge hands first and dropped gracefully out of sight on the opposite bank.
There was a click and the bridge fell at Max's feet, spanning the river.
Monica hopped of the winch handle she'd landed on and walked over to Max, who was staring at her in awe.
"Hey Max, put your eyes back in will ya?" she said, bringing Max back to his senses.
"Err, sorry..." he said
"That's the second time you've stared at me like that. If you keep that up the monsters are going to start thinking your weird." Monica joked.
Max laughed slightly as he looked past Monica. His face fell as he saw how dark and misty it was on the opposite bank.
Monica noticed the change and asked "You doing okay Max?"
Max's face changed to a look of determination.
"I'm fine," he said, leading the way over the bridge.
I was still scared Mother. The woods were so different to Palm Brinks that to this day I still cringe when I think about my first time there. But I didn't want to give up.
I partly wanted to impress Monica. I felt like an amateur next to her, and I wanted to prove that I could help her in her fight against Griffin, though I never realised what sort tests I would face further in our travels.
The main reason I wouldn't give up is because of you Mother. I couldn't be sure, but I had a feeling that your middle name might have been Holly. At that point I was certain that the mysterious woman lost in the forest was you. And if it was, I wanted to be the first person you saw when you were rescued.
When the two kids were on the opposite bank, they saw figures dwarfish though the mist.
"There they are!" Monica exclaimed, moving to walk past Max, but he stopped her with his arm.
"Hold on; something doesn't look right."
The Firbits were all sitting around a large, murky pond. All there heads were bowed and three of them were swaying drunkenly. And when they listened carefully, Max and Monica could here quite mutterings filling the air.
"You're right, Max. We better be careful." Monica drew her sword.
They crept past skeletal bushes and sea green tree trunks and tried to speak with the Firbits in turn. The first three just muttered strangely.
"So beautiful here. No way I'm leaving."
"I'll never leave these woods."
"I'm happy here, go away."
The fourth Firbit had a fishing rod hanging from his hand and was snoring loudly. Monica poked him gently with her sword and he jumped awake.
"BLAAA- THE CABBAGE!" he yelled wildly before he began to refocus on reality. He looked up at Max and Monica silhouetted by the light from the open drawbridge, and yelled wildly again.
"ARGH! The monsters have broken in!" he swung his fishing rod round at them.
"Hey- ow!" Monica said as the fish hook caught her ear. "We're not monsters. We were sent by your chief Conda to find you guys."
"Oh, Conda sent yer? Well thank 'eavens for that. I been livin' 'ear wit' that bridge keepin' the monsters out for weeks eatin' raw fish 'n' fairies. Me mates 'ere drank some 'o' that swamp water and 'ave been like this ever since, an' I can't go back on me' own."
"The swamp water made them like this?" Max asked. Thoughout the exchange the other Firbits had done nothing but continue to sway and mutter, as though in a trance.
"Yeah. Not ere' though, over at that huge swamp near the path that goes into the deep woods. That's where that 'orrible monster jumped over a few hours ago an' started moanin' an' that"
"Okay," Monica said "I think we better check this out. Come on Max."
The pair of adventurers walked past the muddy pools and mossy rocks until they came to a swamp wide enough to happily hold four Men of War galleons and still leave room for an olympic championship to take place.
Over to the left was a large pile of boulders blocking a path and a dark tree whose high branches stretched over the swamp. At the base of the tree sat a vast gorilla with horribly swollen apples scattered around it.
"Hey, that's Master Utan, the forest Guardian." Monica explained.
"Is he safe?" Max asked.
"Safe enough." the ape said, startling Max. "I don't eat animals, only fruit. And even if I did, I couldn't catch anything; not in the state I'm in right about now."
"Why, what's wrong?" asked Monica, while Max tried to stay out of the conversation with the huge gorilla, still surprised that it could speak.
"Well a while ago I came to this place and I felt a little hungry, so I ate a few of the apples in this tree. When I did, my whole body just up and froze, and I couldn't move. It's my own fault, messing with the Holy One's forbidden fruit."
"Holy One?" Max questioned.
"The Holy One is a huge fish that's brings happiness to this part of the woods. It's said to live in that big ol' swamp there. Normally I stay away from this place in case I end up like those little Firbits over there."
"You mean this Holy One got to those Firbits?"
"That's right. It keeps people here and then eats them when it's really hungry. Normally it eats the apples in this tree. I should have known better than to eat the Holy One's food."
Monica inspected one of the apples on the ground.
"Hey, these apples are poisonous. No wonder you feel so bad." Monica said, but when she saw Utan's face she quickly added "But don't worry. It's no big deal to a big guy like you. Just rest awhile and you'll be fine."
The two kids moved away from Utan.
"By the looks of things, I'd say this Holy fish is just a monster with a thrall. We'll have to face him if we want to save those Firbits."
"You don't think... that, it ate that woman Holly do you?" Max asked nervously.
Monica frowned and said "There's only one way to find out. You're gonna have to fish this Holy One out of the swamp."
"Huh! What do you mean?" asked a startled Max.
"Well, we know this fish likes poison apples, we know where to find it and that Firbit has a fishing rod; so what are we waiting for?"
"Well..." Max looked back at the foreboding swamp with grim mist steadily rising from it "couldn't you-"
"No way. I don't know a thing about fishing. Besides, I thought all guys liked to fish."
"Well," as a matter of fact, Max did like fishing, but he wasn't feeling up to fishing for some mystical leviathan who hypnotised and ate people, so he said "I'm not sure that Firbit will let us have his fishing rod."
"Just leave it to me. I'll get that thing from him in no time."
By this time they'd reached the Firbit who was looking at them expectantly.
"Hey Mr...,"
"Terrytammy."
"Terrytammy. We've been talking and we've thought of something that might help you and your friends. We need to borrow your fishing rod so we-"
"No! No way" Terrytammy yelled. "This be me most treasured possession. I can ne' give it ter yer for love or money."
"But-"
"No!"
"Not for anything?" Monica pleaded.
"Never!"
"Not even for a bottle of grape juice?" Max asked, holding the bottle from Conda just out of reach.
The Firbit jumped up and snatched the bottle.
"Ah, this'll do great. T'anks." he said, handing over the fishing rod.
This time, Monica looked surprised, while Max smiled smugly.
"Hmm, that was easy."
Monica's eyes narrowed for a moment, but then she smiled sweetly and laid her hand on Max's shoulder.
"Good work my big, strong hero." Monica said in a voice as sweet as her smile. "Now you just have to go and single handedly capture that huge monster fish for me." she added.
Max's face fell as Monica began to steer him towards the swamp.
" 'Ere, yer can 'ave this fer bait as well." Terrytammy called out.
The two adventurers turned round just in time to see a large, wet fish being thrown through the air before it hit Monica.
"Eww, gross! Keep it away!" Monica shouted, throwing the flapping fish to Max.
"What's wrong? It's only a fish." Max held out the green fish by its tail so Monica could see.
"It's all slimy and horrible. Get rid of it."
"No. We might need it for bait."
"But it's sick."
"Don't worry. Your big strong hero will protect you from it."
Max laughed and headed back to the swamp. Monica grimaced, but followed anyway.
Back at the swamp, Max started fishing with one of the poisonous apples. It was only a matter of seconds before something big tugged the line.
Max pulled the fishing rod, but the line was stuck fast. He tugged it viciously and the line snapped, causing him to fall over backwards.
Monica sighed and reached out a hand to help Max up. As she took hold of his hand, a bubbling noise came from the swamp.
Max and Monica just managed to glimpse a patch of large bubbles bursting on the surface of the water before a wall of flesh loomed up in front of them.
The fish was as big as a ship. It's body was dark purple and it's lips were rose red, along with five metre long yellow eyelashes over sea blue eyes and bright yellow fins.
"What's going here! There's a hook stuck in my beeeeeutiful lips! Is this your doing? I won't forgive this!" cried the enormous fish in a voice that might have sounded fierce if it wasn't so exaggeratedly feminine.
"Never mind about your lips." Monica hissed. "You're the one who's gotten to those Firbits. You have to change them back."
The fish giggled girlishly and said "Ah yes, more victims of my incredible beauty. Beauty can be a curse you know."
"Whatever," Monica replied angrily "those Firbits have been bewitched so that you can eat them."
"Well really; I have to eat you know."
"Well we need them alive, so change them back to normal!"
"Well, me'dear'ssss, something like that would be quite simple," the fish said, but then added "but nothing comes for freeeeee you know!" in a sing-song voice.
"Oh boy, another pain." said Monica.
"So, what do you want us to do?" Max asked.
"Ohhhh!" the fish squealed in delight. "So the little boy understands too. Very well, listen careful. I won't say this again." the so-called Holy fish sent them a massive wink.
"As everyone knows, I'm very fond of beautiful things. But here's the thing; lately I've become a bit...dirty. It's so humiliating. But here this. There is a fish called the Prisclean fish, that can clean up alllll the dirt from my body. But they're quite rare in this swamp. Soooooooo, what I want you to do is go and catch one for me! You've got all that fishing gear so you might as well use it."
"So we get one of these fish, and you turn those Firbits back to normal, right?" Max asked
"Yes, yes. You don't have to tell a man twice!" the fish complained.
"What! You're a guy!" Monica exclaimed.
The Holy One's eyes narrowed and he shouted "What's that supposed to mean!" in his extremely camp voice.
Monica suddenly found herself at a loss for words, but fortunately, Max came to the rescue before she could start stuttering.
"If this fish is so rare, how can we find it? The only thing we have for bait is this." Max held up the fish Terrytammy had thrown at them.
"Ohhhhhhhh! You've got it!" the huge fish squealed. "Quick, throw it in!"
Max quickly recovered from his surprise and threw the still twitching fish into the swamp.
"Wow, Max. How do you do that? You have super luck or something?" Monica asked, sounding genuinely impressed, while the Holy one giggled in delight
"It was nothing." Max tried to sound modest, in spite of the fact he felt pleased to have impressed Monica.
"Ooooo!" the fish monster suddenly began singing. "This lovely Prisclean fiiish, will kiss all the grime off my bodyyyyy-"
"Argh! That's disgusting!" Monica turned away with a grimace.
"-and make me look stunning again!"
"Okay, now you've gotta change those Firbits back." Max said.
"Oh yes, I suppose I did promise. Is this what you wanted?" the giant fish made a massive kiss and a pink cloud gushed from his lips.
"H-hey!" Monica choked through the strongly scented fumes. "I-is this gonna change those F-Firbits?"
"Well, why don't you go and see for yourselves?" the fish began to float away from the water's edge.
"Hey," Max called "Before you go, did you see another person around these woods?"
"Oh yes," the fish suddenly sounded grim "there was this odd little human woman around here some time ago."
"There was! Well where is she! Did you do something to her!" Max asked frantically, surprising both Monica and the Holy one.
"Calm yourself little boy; I haven't touched her. She wasn't my type." the fish sniffed disapprovingly.
"Where is she?"
"Oh, she wandered off deeper into the woods. Distracted little thing kept muttering about butterflies or something." the technicoloured fish lifted it's head into the air and said "Well, if you'll excuse me." before diving out of sight.
"Hmm; hopefully that's the last we'll see of him." Monica said as she started walking back to where they'd left the Firbits.
"By the way Max," she said as her companion caught up "how come you got so panicked when he mentioned that woman, assuming it was Holly he was talking about?"
"Well," once again, Max felt uncomfortable with explaining about his mother "I was just making sure we had something to go on."
"Yeah, but you got pretty worked up when you heard she was in the wood." Monica continued.
She stopped and turned to face Max.
"Something's up, isn't it?"
Max looked at his feet.
"Well...it's just," Max paused
"Hey!"
They both looked round to see Terrytammy running towards them with his three friends.
"Me mates 'ave gone 'n' righted 'emselves." the heavily bearded Terrytammy exclaimed.
"What's 'appened? I don't remember what I've been doin' all this time." a Firbit with a blond moustache shaped like a pair of stars said to his friend, who replied "Last thing I remember was stopping for a drink from the swamp." all the Firbit's had strong Irish accents.
"You were all bewitched by the creature in this swamp. We've been sent by your chief Conda to find you."
"Conda! The man will be furious that we've been wastin' time 'ere."
"We better get back right now."
"We better go back with them." Max said.
Monica went to speak again, but Max had already started off towards the bridge.
I didn't want to tell Monica that I was looking for you Mother. It may sound strange, but I felt as though I might disappoint her if she knew about you. I'd been travelling with her for less than a day, but I really liked her, and she was so grateful to me for agreeing to help her. I thought that if I told her about my ambition to find you, she might think I was only helping her to help myself. As it turned out, things probably would have been simpler if I told her about you from the start.
X
Yes I know Terrytammy isn't that guys real name but I forgot to check that when I played the game. And I hope you all enjoyed my very camp Holy fish. Now please review this chapter in return for all the hard work I put into this. And SE-RI-OUS-LY, I'd rather have reviews, good or bad, than nothing at all.
P.S. Those of you thinking that the bit where he goes "BLAAA- THE CABBAGE!" was just me being silly, no. It was paying homage to Terry Pratchett's 'Hogfather'
"Who are you?"
"…I'm your worst nightmare!"
"You mean…the one with the giant cabbage and the sort of whirring knife thing?"
…
"No," said Teatime. "Not that one." He withdrew a dagger from his sleeve. "I'm the one where this man comes out of nowhere and kills you stone dead."
The guard grinned with relief. "Oh, that one," he said. "But that one's not very—
So there!