Clash
(Basculegion is a ghostly salmon and no one can change my mind. I mean it! The salmon is the closest living animal to basculin- it lives in streams, has different colors, travel to the sea and back upstream to their home river to breed, a TON of them die along the way. It literally fits the description of how Basculegion came to be!
I also don't know what fish Iscan will be, his name is of Silver grass in Japanese, so I was thinking of a silver-colored fish, but it wouldn't quite fit with the Diamons clan colors, so I thought he could be a Coelacanth, not sure about it too but it fits better.)
Iscan swam beside Basculegion, a stone spear in his left hand, on his waist hung a small sack with emergency medicine and a handful of blessed stones for good luck and warding off ghosts, at least according to the merchant he got them from. His lord had given him an odd look when he had brought them back but Basculegion didn't try to do anything but grumble.
"We must be near." – Iscan took notice of the panicked schools of fish swimming by him.
He had sensed the wrongness in the water not long after he and Basculegion dove down. The noble had sent a small school of his children to fetch Iscan and bring him to the place. It was a bit away from the Cobalt coastland but still close enough to greatly distress the lord.
They continued a bit more down into the depths before he saw it – disaster! Long, twisted and ominous nets had found their way into the small reef. Corals were bent or broken, fish caught and struggling to escape, a few sharks suffocated from getting tangled in the humans' trap, the once majestic animals floating limply, their mouths agape as they had suffocated in the brown ropes.
"GooooooAAAAAR!" – Basculegion roared to get his attention.
Iscan looked up and saw a juvenile whale shark had also been caught, luckily only its fin was tangled, so it had swum in circles, and it had been caught recently, judging by its panicked state. He approached the giant fish slowly, hiding the spear with his body to not frighten it further.
"Calm down, calm down… I am not here to hurt you… See?" – he gently laid a hand on its side but it jerked away, it would seem he'd need more time.
First, he left the young whale shark to calm down some more and went to cut some of the net parts where other marine life was tangled in or trapped under. The spear was sharp but cutting the thick ropes with the stone edge was a slow job. He cut it to smaller pieces, untangled them from corals and set them away from the reef. Basculegion had also helped speed the process by chewing through some ropes.
'Hm… this rope, although strange on touch is really tough! Maybe we could use it for something…' – Iscan mused as he removed a grouper from the net.
His eyes followed the rope, it had been tied to a few wooden floats and anchored by a big metal weight… He'd definitely need Basculegion's help to move it off the reef.
Finally, the whale shark had calmed down enough for him to try and approach again. This time it allowed him to get closer and touch it as it slowly circled. Its fin was quite tangled but luckily the rope hadn't cut into its flesh. With slow movements he set the spear under the rope and began cutting.
*Creeeee~Craaaak~*
"Graaaaaaaah!" – Basculegion rumbled.
Iscan jolted as he looked around in panic. He had been so absorbed in freein the shark that he hadn't even noticed one of the humans' wooden vessels. It was coming their way and Iscan didn't want to be anywhere near them. Now panicking, he started moving his had faster in an attempt to speed up the cutting. The whale shark also panicked when it heard the sound and started to wiggle more, making the whole process even harder.
Feeling the distress and desperation of its warden, Basculegion glared at the approaching ship, eyes glowing and scales shimmering with magic.
=On the boat=
"Oy, Cabal, d'ya think we'll get a big haul from here?" – Gora, a burly blonde fisherman asked as he looked ahead.
"Hard to say, we've never cast our nets near here but we should be able to bring some haul back." – Cabal, a brown-haired man, shorter and slimmer than Gora answered.
"Be on your toes, lads!" captain Crook hollered "Them waters around here are always swarming with all sots o' beasties! 'Specially those sea people!"
"You mean the mermaids? Are there really mermaids here? I have only heard about them in stories." – a middle-aged man with black hair perks up.
"Aye! Mermaids, mermen, call 'em whatever you want, vicious beasts they are, that's it! Bigger an' stronger than any man, sharp teeth an' claws. Stalking them dark waters, waiting to drown you and sink our ships!" – the captain barked.
The sailors got busy, preparing to hook the net and pull in the haul as the wood floats became visible. Cabal stood at the very front of the ship. As a Galaxy team member, it was his job to not only help but observe the lands and report. He looked ahead at the net when he saw something big moving and shimmering near the surface.
"Captain Crook!" he shouted "I see something strange up ahead. It's near the net!"
The captain took out a small telescope and looked through it.
"Ay! Me be damned! It's a sea-person! Get the spears ready men!" – Crook barked a command.
"Wait, wouldn't it be safer if we try and scare it awa- Ouf!" – Cabal wheezed as Gora put him in a headlock.
"Shh! Newbie, now's not the time ta question the captain! Last time some lad did so, he was thrown over ts board and had to swim to ta shore. He was lucky to be close and ya don't need to be thrown out where there are mers in ta water! They tear humans apart!" – Gora explained as he dragged the survey corp member away from the edge.
With shouts, harpoons and hooks were thrown in the water.
"Darn it! Missed!" – a nearby man with a scar on his cheek shouted and pulled his spear back to the boat.
Cabal could only sit and watch as the fishermen tried to hit the merperson in the water, not that he had seen if it really was a mer or a really big fish. He knew it was dangerous but he hadn't really seen one before – he wanted to see, just a peek. Before he could even attempt to move from his spot, the air was split by a loud roar.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" – the ghastly, echoing sound was so loud it was almost like a thunder.
Cabal froze in his place as the fishermen tensed and gathered together in a defensive circle by the ship's sides, the captain also took a spear in his hands.
*Splaaaash~
A pig wave hit the ship's left hull, it shook the vessel and made the crew quiet down.
*Splaaaash~
This time it was the right side, the ship swayed even more.
"There it is!" – one of the older men shouted and pointed.
Cabal looked and saw something red moving at high speed around the ship, circling it like a shark.
'Is that… a merperson?'
Suddenly it darted towards the ship.
"Get ready, men!" – captain shouted.
The young man tensed, expecting whatever it was attacking them to ram the boat, instead, it seemed to jump. A mighty splash and a WAVE followed the mysterious being. Water and an ominous shadow loomed over them. Cabal was about to scream when the shadow seemed to break into small pieces.
'Are those-'
Now that he looked carefully, it was not a giant creature but a school of white-striped salmon, a tasty fish he's had a few times back in Jubilife. The water splashed over the people, some sputtered, some gagged and a few slipped, he was one of those that fell. The fish jumped around, some going overboard with the water and others flopping on the boards. He snorted a bit.
"Ow! Little devil!" – a fisherman cursed and Cabal saw a salmon hanging on his nose, biting him.
Now that he thought about it, those salmon had a very vicious look to them, their teeth and fins looked sharper than normal and they seemed hellbent on either biting or slapping the crewmen. He locked eyes with a particularly big one and he swore its eyes narrowed as it flopped towards him. A brown boot kicked the vicious fish into the water – it was Gora, the big man sporting a tail-shaped bruise on the cheek.
"Careful! Those bastards may seem harmless but they can hurt ya!" – he pulled Cabal up to his feet.
"I can't believe it! I though it was some giant beast when it was just a school of white-striped salmon trying to scare… us…" he froze, realizing something "They are WHITE-striped! Then, what was the red thing?!"
The men were frantically looking around as the last of the fish made their way back to the water. One seemed to smirk before jumping overboard and the young survey corp member had to do a double-take. That was just not possible.
"Graaaaaaah!" – the echoing roar sounded again, shaking the ship.
"It's under us-"
Suddenly, from the deck of the ship jumped a giant, monstrous fish. It didn't break through or anything, it just passed through the wooden boards. It soared into the air, at least as long as 2 men, glowing red eyes, sharp fangs, red stripes, whiskers and a tail that seemed to be made of smoke and shifting clouds the same red color as its stripes. It floated there and
The fishermen shouted and threw their weapons at it but they just based through the ghostly fish. Cabal shook in his boots, he had never seen something like this, it was impossible! How can a creature like this exist?! He couldn't explain it to himself with all his knowledge in wildlife.
The huge fish angled itself in the air and opened its mouth, a glow coming from its throat. His senses were screaming at him to move, every hair on his body had stood up but he was frozen on the spot.
"Move!" – Gora shouted and tackled him.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Cabal, the two of them sailed over the rail, a great boat of shadows shot out of the monster's mouth and hit the ship just a moment after they had touched the water. A loud splash and then- an explosion!
…..
Cabal woke up with a gasp and a wet cough as he sat up, he swayed and almost fell into the water, just noticing he was floating on a piece of… of what remained from the ship. Debris floated around, he scanned the area and hissed in pain – his shoulder hurt but judging by the fact it was not bleeding, it was either dislocated or broken.
'What am I to do now? What if the monster returns to finish us- Gora!'
He couldn't see the burly man anywhere nearby. He had to find him! That man saved his life, if he had stood there, he'd be dead right now.
Something splashed nearby and he tensed, his eyes frantically scanned for a weapon, finally deciding to grab a broken board floating nearby- it probably won't do anything against the monster but it was better than nothing. He saw a movement to the left, his eyes focusing quickly and head snapping in the direction. There on a piece of the mast was Gora, he laid splayed there, Cabal fearing he might me dead. The back of his shirt was torn and had reddish stains- blood. He gulped in fear – the fisherman had probably shielded him and gotten hurt because of that.
Underneath the waves, something moved, its long and large body moved swiftly in the water. Just by the mast remains was a merman. It was clearly larger than an ordinary man, had fins, a fish tail and almost glowing slitted eyes, it held a spear in one hand- most likely out to hunt. It had not noticed him, yet, but it was circling Gora and eyeing him from underneath. It suddenly surfaced, its head breaking the surface, the free hand following and stretching towards the unconscious man. Something in Cabal snapped, he threw the board at the creature and screamed!
"Get away from him, you beast!" – he began cursing and waving whatever else he managed to grab from the water.
The creature locked its eyes with him, it hissed and made a keening noise, pulling away from the fisherman. Its behavior suddenly changed, it growled and garbled something at him before it dove down with a loud splash and disappeared in the dark depths. Cabal paddled towards the other man. After reaching him, he tore a piece of his shirt to tighten the wound on the fisherman's back, glad it was not too serious. With some effort, he managed to get them both on a bigger and more stable piece of wood before heading for the shore, the current thankfully on his side.
=With Iscan=
Iscan was shocked. He held his scratched forearm, where one of the harpoons had scratched him. It was barely even bleeding, nothing more serious than the cuts he cot while cutting medicinal roots. Lord Basculegion, however, had been driven into rage the moment blood was spilled. The ghostly fish had summoned his nearby children and attacked the humans, destroying their vessel. Iscan was shocked but also felt sorry, so much blood had been spilled because of him, even if it was humans, they didn't deserve to die because of a scratch! He was reluctant, but decided to check the remains for survivors. As he found more and more dead, he wanted to just leave but he had to be sure. A splash from above drew his attention – two humans were moving and one of them was bleeding.
He kept to the shadows and watched. The bleeding human managed to get the smaller one on a piece of wood but he didn't follow, he just… slipped and started sinking. Iscan quickly swam and pushed the human's body above the water. He found a big and sturdy piece of wood to place the human on and massaged him gently to not hurt him. He remembered helping Palina in a similar way when she had swallowed some water by mistake, he hoped it helped the human too, after all he also needed air to breathe. The small human jerked suddenly and coughed, spewing water from his mouth. Iscan was startled and he instinctively dove down quickly. After a while of the human not moving, he surfaced again to check if the human was alive. If he was alive but unconscious, he'd probably have to push him to the shore.
Iscan stretched his hand and was about to touch the man when something was thrown at him, barely missing his hand, he hissed in surprise. The other human was up and shouting at him, waving pieces of wood at him.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to hurt him." – Iscan apologized, realizing the human might not know he came with good intentions.
Iscan backed away a bit but then saw the distinctive red stripes in the water behind the shouting human. He grit his teeth.
"Lord Basculegion, no!" – he dove and rushed to stop the noble from attacking the human.
He stood in the Lord's path, arms stretched as the ghostly fish glared and snarled at the human moving on the surface.
"That's too much! I know you wanted to protect me but attacking at killing so many humans because of a scratch is not acceptable! Those two have suffered enough! We have to help them! It is the least we can do, the least I can do. They got hurt because of me…"
Basculegion grumbled some more but it relented in the end. With a wave of its ghostly tail, a stream of water pushed the humans towards the shore quickly.
(Basculegion used Wave Crash and Shadow Ball. It was super effective!)