Title: (Ecco the Dolphin: Beyond the Song)

Original Teaser By: Clan Keeper. Edited By: (OrcaCaller)

Copyright information: The beginning of this story written as a fanfiction contest teaser. It is not copyrighted, and may be modified as the author sees fit. Any fanfiction written with this teaser may be freely distributed. The Ecco characters are copyrighted by Sega.


An icy chill rosed inside Ecco. The water which he swam in was as cold as any polar ice flow, only worse. His mind stayed focused as he passed two huge chunks of icebergs before they crashed into one another, the sound of the crunching and packing of ice momentarily filling the dark cold abyss. As he swam, his mind relapsed the reason why he was here in the first place.

A few weeks ago, while back home with his pod, a cry was heard and he was the first to respond. To the pod's shock and disbelief, Ecco had returned with a injured Orca calf, large gashes across his sides and belly. The poor thing was near death and there was nothing the pod could do. "Little whale, who or what has happened to you?", Ecco asked. The calf managed to explain his coming before death silenced him.

"My...my pod was attacked. By a creature not of this world, but neither Foe or Vortex race. Another being who's gain a taste for Orca blood. They desire dolphin, but can't leave the icy waters of the polar seas. They are weak in warm water. I came here to be safe...but one followed me and I was attacked. If you are truely the brave Ecco, please... save my people from these green and red creatures of death. Th...the Asterite may know! Go to him, tell him! My people call out your name in fear, they...need you." Finally the little whale's eyes closed and the last bit of air in his lungs bubbled out.

Ecco turned to his pod, he knew what must be done to save his black and white polar cousins. "I alone must do this task. I ask you all remain here till my return. I do not know how long I shall be gone, but I promise I will be alive. As long as the stars that mine mimic in the sky still shine, I will return." With that, he pointed his nose north and started the long trek to find any clues of living Orcas within the bone chilling polar seas.

Ecco peeked around every corner of every iceberg, dipping his head out when he breathed listening and looking for signs of mists rising from a Orca's blowhole. Among the things that Ecco found intolerable in the frozen sea, the selection and taste of the fish was not on Ecco's mind. How did those Orcas learn to eat this frozen fish-icles was beyond his wildest imagination.

For two weeks Ecco's search brought him to a grim- looking wasteland of black rock and gray silt. Nothing seem to move except the bottoms of slow moving icebergs. Ecco shot out a blast of sonar, surely a whale would be here? The return sound gave Ecco nothing. He turned to his left and fired a sonar, but this time, the sound bounced off a large wall, half went pass that and came back a faint ping. A cave, he thought and swam over to the round large opening in the cave.

As he got closer, he was greeted by a warm current of water. "How could warm water be here so close to the polar ice cap?", he wondered. Before entering, he blast a sonar sound. What he got in return was a low rum sound, so faint it was barely hearable. Something pictured in Ecco's mind, a ancient creature, the Bowhead whale. A whale that was said to live over 100 and seen the evils of man hunting their kind, they've now become the "ghosts" of the polar seas. Could this cave lead to another side of the sea and to these whales? Or was it the monstous beings that were killing pods of Orca?

Ecco took the chance and entered the cave, not sure what would was on the other side, waiting for him