Arlo noticed the look of concern on his mom's face. "No, it was the one with the faceless fish-man and the big wooden boat," he answered.

"Oh," she replied. She remembered the first time Arlo had that particular dream. It was fifteen years ago and she was in a dead sleep, when she woken by a horrible cry from Arlo's bedroom. She sprang from her bead and made a mad dash to her son. She saw Arlo sitting bolt upright in bed and clinging tightly to his blanket. His eyes were over flowing and red with tears. She sat down on his bed. "Hey, Bud, what's wrong?" she asked as she pulled him into a hug.

"Are you going to leave me at a big wooden boat?" he asked between sobs.

She looked down at him confused. "A big wooden boat, why?"

"Cause I did something really bad. Faceless daddy did it to me," he answered admits fresh sobs.

"Daddy?" she thought to herself. Arlo, at the time, had never seen a fish-man or merman before. Certainly not one who claimed to be his father, but Arlo really did seem to believe this dream. She brought him closer to her eyes and answered out loud in a whisper, "I would never do that to you, Bud. I love you too much."

"Really?" he asked swallowing his tears looking up at her. She took his blanket with one hand and wiped his tears away.

"Of course," she answered from the bottom of her heart. Then she began the bi-yearly tradition. She hugged him tightly and whispered, "I love you to the bottom of the ocean and to the stars up above. No matter how far you run or what you do, I will always there cheering you on from far away. We may not be blood, but who cares? We are family and nothing breaks that bond that we share. I love you son."

In the present Arlo looked down at her, "What are you thinking about?"

"The first time you had that dream," she answered.

He put his staff behind his neck and wrapped his arms around it. He then looked up at the sky. He sighed as he looked down at her again, "You know, I've had this dream for years, and every time I wake up I still feel like that scared little kid."

"I know, but just remember those words, I always tell you every year."

Then Arlo smiled, "Yeah, they help." He put his staff in one hand and grabbed his mom with the other hand and gave her a hug. C.J. laughed.

Jinbei finally caught up with them. He could see they were talking about something else other than soccer. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Nothing," answered Arlo as he put his mom down. They saw Nym and Timbo at the entrance to the forest. They were leaning against a large tree.

"Ready?" asked Timbo as he grabbed his hammer.

Jinbei, who was the most excited of the three answered, "Yeah this going to interesting."

Suddenly Hank's head appeared in the tree above him. "Great, you're in for a real treat. Nyhahaha," he laughed. Jinbei was a little startled to see Hank up above him.

Having learned a little bit about Minks this morning, he could really see Hank's animalistic side. His canine teeth like C.J.'s were a little longer, but they were hidden by his mouth. They almost made his other teeth look small. He also thought that the silver in his hair formed an almost spot like pattern. "Oh, good, what team am I on?" he asked.

"Oh, you're on the ground team along with Pup and Timbo," answered Hank.

"Alright," yelled Arlo and Timbo as they exchanged high-fives.

"Great," said Jinbei, "I promise to do my best, sir."

C.J. seemed to sense his nervousness, "Don't worry Jinbei, we're not expecting you to kill the boar."

Arlo came up from behind and slapped him on the back, "Yeah, just have fun."

Nym laughed, "Don't take it too seriously, and just relax." She created two fresh vines and climbed up the tree. C.J. followed her up the tree.

"Remember just listen for the whistles," said Hanks as he disappeared back into the tree.

Arlo smiled, "Well, let's go, come on Arlong." He ran into the forest with his dog at his heels.

Jinbei tried to run after them. The trees of the forest were so thick that they blocked most of the daylight. "It's no use we won't be able to find them," said Timbo from behind.

"What?" he asked.

"It's a technique Minks seem to have, I think it's called Light Foot," he answered. He then started to look for something.

"But Arlo is a fish-man; if we were in the water I'd believe it.

Timbo chuckled, "Yeah, but you forget that Lo was raised differently than most fish-men. Don't worry we won't miss out on the hunt."

Jinbei took a breath and decided to listen for the tree teams' whistle. Then he heard a bird cry, "Was that the tree team?"

Timbo was looking down at the ground for tracks, "Hmm, no I think it was a hawk."

"Oh," he said. He decided to follow Timbo's example, but he didn't know what he was looking for. "Speaking of hawks, what's Drac like? I know that Arlo calls him his brother, but what is your opinion of him?" he asked.

Timbo took a few seconds to answer, "Well as a person Drac is really hard to read. He doesn't show his emotions readily. The only thing that gives away his true feelings is his eyes."

"Arlo did mention that he had some strange eyes."

"Oh, they are. They're this piercing yellow color. Anyone who isn't a friend is afraid of them."

"Were you when you first met him?" asked Jinbei forgetting about the tracks.

Timbo chuckled, "No, but then again I wasn't the smartest kid in the world. I told you I was a bully, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I thought it was just to Arlo," answered Jinbei.

"Well, it was to Drac as well, even though he's two years older than me. Maybe it was because he hung around with Lo."

"But didn't Arlo save your life? Isn't that how you became friends?"

"Yeah, Lo did save my life, but I still had to gain their trust. It was easier with Lo, but Drac took a little longer. Somehow it happened, crazy right? The three of us are close, but with Drac and Lo it's on a different level. When they call each other brother, I believe it. When you see them together there's a connection there that can't really be explained," reflected Timbo.

"Do you know why that is?"

"I have my guesses, but I'm not sure. That's something you might ask, Lo." He looked for more tracks. "Great, there's a nice set here." Then they heard musical bird whistles. "Alright we're on the right track."

"How can you tell?"

"There's some flatten grass here and some uprooted saplings. Also the tree team said so."

"Wait, those bird sounds came from Hank, Nym, and C.J.? They sounded like real birds," said Jinbei. He then saw the signs and the fresh hoof prints. "So, that's the way the teams communicate?" he thought to himself.

"So, how do you make syrup taste off?" asked Timbo as they walked after the tracks.

"Oh, Arlo told you about breakfast yesterday. You know, I didn't think it was that bad. The reason I did it was just to show how grateful I was to them for helping me through my fever." He didn't want to explain the other reason for this gesture to Timbo. It still made him feel bad when he thought about it. "But I'm the third best cook at home, so I thought I would do just fine in the kitchen," stated Jinbei.

"Out of?" Timbo asked

Jinbei looked for more boar signs, "Three," he answered.

Timbo gave a deep laugh, "Damn, no wonder you suck in the kitchen. Tihaha!" Jinbei blushed a little as Timbo laughed. He scratched his beard as he got serious. "But seriously, I get it. The whole family is like that, going out of their way to be nice to someone. I'm sure Arlo and Nym know how you feel, but I don't think that food is the best way to show it."

Jinbei laughed, "Yeah, you're probably right. He did offer to teach me how to be a better cook. He also wants me to be a guide whenever he goes to Fish-Man Island."

Timbo gave a quick excited smile, "Oh, really?" Then he heard a sound, "Shh, I think I hear the boar." He rose his hammer up slightly. He made signal to Jinbei to go on the other side. They walked toward the sound. They walked silently up toward the animal. The boar was black haired with a few specks of white in the snout. It was making grunting sounds as it was rooting at the ground for food.

"Oh, wow," whispered Jinbei as they approached. He felt a different silence come over him as he approached the boar. "How will, I bring it down?" he thought to himself.

For a second it felt like there was no one else in forest, but just him and the boar. All of a sudden he stepped a twig and it broke. The boar raised its head off the ground. The boar turned its head and saw the short man and the fish-man. Then it broke out into a run.

"Damn it, come on, Jinbei," yelled Timbo. The two of them ran after the boar.

Jinbei flung off his sandals. He could feel the soft ground under his feet as he ran ahead of Timbo. He felt something almost primal rise up in him. "I've never felt anything like this before. No wonder the Swetes and Timbo find this fun. I can totally bring down this boar," he thought to himself as he caught up to the boar. A smile appeared upon his face as he raised his fist ready to strike, "Fish-Man kar…" All of a sudden a bright ball of light and a few water drops came out of nowhere. The boar fell down dead with a final squeal. "What was that?" he thought as he came to a dead stop.

From out of the thick shadows came Arlo's voice. "That kill was completely mine, Papa." As he came into the light, Jinbei could see that Arlo's hands had water on them. He was taking his staff apart.

Hank came down from a large oak tree. "The hell it was, clearly I brought it down with my staff and electro," said Hank as he pointed his staff at his grandson. Jinbei could see that the staff was smoking for some strange reason.

"Electro?" Jinbei thought to himself.

Arlo put his staff in his pocket, "Are you thick in the head, it was clearly mine." "Did you see how fast my water darts were?" Arlo asked as he pushed his grandfather's staff away.

Hank rolled his eyes. They gave Arlo a look that seemed to say, "Cocky kid."

"What do you think, Timbo?" Arlo asked.

"Sorry, Lo, I was too far behind to tell," he answered.

"Can't you just call it a tie?" said Nym as she stuck her head down from a tree. Hank and Arlo just glared at each other.

"I agree," said Jinbei, "I was right here and I couldn't even tell."

"Great, jobs, guys," said C.J. as she climbed down from the trees. "Arlo, I've got to say that your water drop technique has gotten a lot stronger since the last time. As for you, Pa, can't we agree with Nymphadora and call this a tie?"

They were both still angry. "Fine," they finally both said.

"You really, think it's getting better?" asked Arlo.

"Definitely, I could barely see them when they left your hand," she laughed. "Nym and I will clean the hairs off the boar."

"I'll set the table and grab the radio snail for the game tonight," said Timbo.

"I'll give Timbo a hand and grab those drinks that Arlo bought today," said Jinbei.

"Well, I guess that leaves the butchering to us," laughed Arlo. He tossed the dead boar over his shoulder. The whole group walked home to the store.

"So how did you like the hunt, Jinbei?" Nym asked.

"You guys were right, it was really fun. If I was a second faster, I could've brought down the boar myself," he answered with a smile.

"Hmm, probably, but you have to get up pretty early to pull the wool over my eyes," laughed Hank.

They arrived at the store as sun finished setting. Everyone ran to get dinner ready. Jinbei followed Timbo upstairs to find the radio snail for the game. He saw the snail asleep on the coffee table in the den. Jinbei grabbed the snail and left the room. This snail had a green and black soccer ball pattern on its shell with the letters GIG in white. The snail itself seemed to know that a game was about to happen, because it had a smile on its face as it slept.

"Ready to go down?" asked Timbo whose hands were full of plates, a table cloth, and silverware.

"Yes," he answered. He went downstairs and made a stop at the cooler that held the drinks and grabbed them. The two of them could smell the food cooking as the came out the door. They went to the table to get it ready for dinner.

They saw Arlo at the grill cooking the pork chops. "Mmm, that smells good, Arlo," said C.J. as she appeared behind him.

"Yeah, they do. I'm using an apple dry rub that I got a few months ago. I can't wait to bite into them. He took a look at his watch. "Hey, Tim, can you turn on the snail? The game's about to start." He turned over some of the chops and added more seasoning.

"Sure thing, Lo," he answered. He turned the knobs on the snail's shell. Suddenly the snail came alive.

"Good evening folks, and welcome to a game between the Green Isle Geckos and your Sabaody Sea Slugs!" yelled the announcer through the snail.

"Alright," said Nym as she sat down at the table, "I'm ready for a great game."

"Heck yeah!" said Arlo as he turned over the rest of the chops, "I've got my lucky jersey on, so they're bound to win." Hank and C.J. came to the table with the other dishes.

Everyone sat at the table listening to the game. So far it was tied at zero. Then Arlo came to the table with the pork chops. He sat between Timbo and Jinbei. "Come on Geckos, get on the board," he said as he sat down.

"Damnit, Masterson, keep your head in the game!" yelled Hank.

Then everyone added food to their plates and ate. Timbo turned to Arlo between bites and asked, "Hey, Lo, you figure out where we're going for our trip?"

Arlo was a little wrapped up in the game, so it took him a few seconds to hear the question. "Hmm, well…"

"Yeah, where are we going?" asked Nym.

"Wait, what do you mean by "we"?" asked Arlo as he looked at Nym who was across the table from him.

"Well, there's no way, I'm staying home while you two go on another grand adventure. I'm still a little sore about not getting to go to Rougetown with you last year," answered Nym.

"Fair enough. Well I was thinking about going to Fish-Man Island," answered Arlo.

Hi guys, R, here I just want to say thanks for reading. So far the story has hit a thousand views! I thought it would be fun to a SBS type thing in the comments. So, please submit any questions you have regarding the characters or story and I'll be sure to answer them for you. Once again thanks for reading Arlo's story. -R