A/N: Osnap. Oddworld belongs to Oddworld Inhabitants. I don't own nothin'.
Chapter Nine: Sea
Gabby yawned drowsily, stretching, wincing between the large rocks. The waves behind her, which she was well used to, had grown increasingly louder. The Gabbit tilted her head, and peered over the rocks. Suddenly a wave of water rushed over the rocks, knocking her clear away from the island and tossed her spinning into the water again. She hadn't any time to recover, as the tide sucked her outwards and into open waters. She was nearly spit back towards the river again, but managed to hang onto the rock she'd originally been on. Pulling herself back up, she stared out into the sea, jaw agape.
There it was. The Big Pond extended endlessly. It was not like the land, unmoving. Instead, it was constantly shifting, like the wind in the grass. It seemed to vomit onto the sandy beach, foaming up as it rolled back out into the sea. The coastline extended as far as the eye could see, hills lined with trees and cliffs spiraling towards the sky.
She stretched and, overwhelmed by joy, she sprang into the water and danced like the acrobat she was born to be. Gabby flipped, spiraled, and leaped out of the water, whistling delightedly to herself. It had taken half of her life, but she had done it. Panting, she returned to the surface, floating on her back and relaxing as her body was rocked back and forth. This was not exactly like the river - the waters were much more violent.
Swimming over to another part of the coast, Gabby pulled herself onto the sand. The sand was still a few inches under the clear water, where it stretched out for several feet until it dropped off into the bluer waters. Here, the water really was a crystalline blue near the coast, and Gabby stretched and bathed in the sun.
"I don't want to g-go," she said to herself, looking out at the water. What Gabby meant was that she didn't want to head too far out to sea.
Being alone, Gabby would undoubtedly get lost. So once again, she was trapped. If she was lost, she might never find the estuary that would take her to the Mongo River. But why did she need it anyway? She had to find 'the one that had come before', the other Gabbit that lived somewhere out here with other Gabbits. Maybe Gabbits left some kind of signal to show where they had been. Heart pounding, she fought her doubts and dove back under the water again.
There was a shelf of sorts that dropped from four feet to over thirty, and Gabby dove down to the bottom. Her eyes easily adjusted to the pressure and darkness, and she began to look about. The ground was powdery and there were plants of all kinds sprouting from it. She stared in awe as fish unlike anything she'd ever seen swam about. Some were bright yellow, others were silver and still others did not look like fish at all. They looked rather like floating flourescent balloons.
But there was no sign of Gabbit. She swam very close to the floor, scanning for anything interesting. When she found nothing, she thought maybe she'd found the wrong ocean. Gabby swam up towards the surface. For a brief moment, something shadowy seemed to slide through the water far away. Gabby stopped and squinted, trying to focus on it.
Suddenly the fish were gone. Gabby shivered. Instinct was telling her only one thing: Get the hell out of the water. Eyes wide, she shot towards the surface. That shadowy thing was somehow bad. She made her way to shore and, in a strange act of terror, climbed up atop a large rock and huddled there, trembling. Her fear could not be explained, but as she looked into the water, she saw it. Just below that shelf, something swam by.
It was so large it could've swallowed her - and maybe half a dozen others of her kind - whole. It looked like a giant snake as it swam by, filling up her frame of vision. She could not know it was a Sea Rex, as she had never seen one. It passed by and Gabby did not enter the water again for some time.
"Wh-..what was that?" she asked herself.
Once the fish returned, Gabby worked up her courage and dove again into the water. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to continue searching now, what, with that thing hanging about. However, something strange caught her eye. It was very small - smaller than she was, and reminded her of a bubble. It trembled near the ground and Gabby dove deeper to look at it.
Upon closer inspection, her eyes went wide as she looked at it. The little creature was none other than a Gabbiwog. In fact, it was only just beginning to resemble a Gabbit. She dropped closer to the floor and whistled to it to get its attention.
The little Gabbiwog perked up, trembling, and looked about, and upon seeing her, seemed to relax a little. It moved away from the ground.
She wanted to say it had left, but she wasn't sure how and she didn't want to lose her air. The Gabbiwog seemed to get the idea, and moved closer to her, gurgling and cheeping happily. Maybe it thought she was someone else. Being underwater, she couldn't communicate with it as she wanted to. She didn't know the Gabbit language, but there was one other thing she could do.
Gabby swam a few feet away, and the Gabbiwog followed her. She swam in a circle, then up, over, down, and back. It became a game quickly. Gabby would make an arc or spin and the Gabbiwog would copy her. Then they would trade off. The Gabbiwog, although much slower and awkward, would move in a pattern and Gabby would copy it.
Then they played hide-and-seek. Gabby ducked down behind a large section of bright pink coral, eyeing with interest the fish and other creatures that swam about it. The coral itself was alive, she discovered some time later. The Gabbiwog found her quickly and the chase resumed, with the little creature chasing Gabby all about.
Her loneliness faded somewhat. But where was the oldest Gabbit, she wondered. Still, she thought for a moment, everything was okay.
------
In order to accurately continue this story we must go back in time, far back, to the Spawning Springs, where Zeke threw his young Gabbiwog over the edge and into the pool. It was unfortunate that the Outlaws chased after and eventually caught him.
"Alright, you slimy fishmonger!" Hal sneered, holding Zeke up by his collar. Zeke shuddered. "You better have the Gabbit, or we'll really make ya sorry ya don't."
He held Zeke out, who was grabbing at his collar in an attempt to loosen the pressure. Hal's huge knuckles were digging into his neck and cutting off his air. He struggled, panting, tongue hanging out of his mouth as Bill stood behind him and fished through his backpack.
"It's frackin' empty!" he snarled, ripping the backpack away and tossing it towards the ground. "The bastard threw it over the cliff!"
Zeke shut his eyes tight. He knew life was going to be miserable for him, but at least Gabby was safe. And hopefully, she'd stay until her lungs healed.
Hal tightened his grip on Zeke's collar and threw him against the ground. Zeke grunted breathlessly as he hit. He lay there, trembling, throat aching horribly. He started to get up, but Zeke grabbed him again, by the throat, and slugged the Grubb across his jaw. Zeke's head jerked with a crack, and the Grubb's eyes rolled back in pain. His air was completely shut off, and he couldn't even vocalize. But Gabby was safe, he told himself.
Shorty was clapping and jumping, cheering Hal on, while Bill was cracking his knuckles, awaiting his turn.
"You don't know the meaning of pain!" snarled Hal, hitting him again. Blood trickled from his nostrils, but Zeke didn't say anything. Hal finally dropped him, kicking him in the ribs, and Zeke flinched, clutching his sides.
Bill did the same, kicking him in the back of the head. This time, Zeke did yelp.
"SHADDUP!" Hal roared. "You brought this on YOURSELF." He kicked Zeke in the chest, and Zeke's yelp transformed into a choking cough.
Shorty pulled Zeke's hunting knife off his belt.
"Let's draw!" he sneered, lunging for Zeke, who was too paralyzed by pain to resist him.
---
Two suns later, a Mudokon wandered lazily along the river. He wore a pair of large glasses, and behind him trailed a second Mudokon. The Mudokon with glasses had a large book under one arm.
"I'm telling ya, Jody," he said eagerly. "This was the best readin' spot by the river!"
"TOM," Jody said, panting. "You made me walk with you ALL DAY to READ? Are ya nuts?" He threw up his arms and rolled his eyes.
Tom sniffed. "Ya wouldn't understand," he said. "Readin's very important to me. Even if I have to travel to the perfect spot."
Jody huffed and shook his head. "Well, you coulda warned me we were gonna walk this far. I thought this was like, by Alf's or somethin'."
"That old mook's full of it," Tom said. "Now this stuff's where the real information's at. Come on."
They hadn't gone far when Jody spotted something peculiar.
"Hey Tom," he said. "What's that?"
Tom focused on the lump on the ground. He glanced back at Jody with a shrug and walked towards it. Jody followed.
"Never seen that before," he confessed. But as he edged closer, he gasped in horror. "...HOLY SH-"
"It's a Grubb!" Jody interrupted. "I've never seen one up close before! Don't they hail from the west?"
"Well," Tom muttered, "It looks ..kind of like a Grubb. The poor guy's so beat up it's hard to tell anything. Look at all these open cuts. It's like someone went after him with a blade and just carved stuff right into him! We gotta get him back!"
Jody gulped. "All the way back? Isn't there a rest top somewhere?"
Tom shook his head.
"I wish," he said. "This guy's still alive, but barely. Come on." He and Judy helped lift the Grubb into their arms.
-----
Zeke did not wake up again for several days. Most of his recovery was spent in an almost deathlike slumber, halted only by his occasional crying out for no particular reason. As old as he was, it was a miracle that he was even alive. He had reached middle age a long time ago, and in his current state he still might've lost his life. The Mudokons keeping an eye on him grew quickly irritated with his fits.
However, when he did awaken, he was still in a sorry state. The Mudokons brought him water and after a few moments of swearing, Zeke was mostly back to normal.
"....G-Gabb...Gabby," he muttered lazily, spitting up water.
The Mudokon that had been giving him the water growled, "Who's Gabby?"
Zeke was in pain. So much pain. His eyes slid down to his arms, where he eyed with distaste the bandages covering them. Eyeing the Mudokons, he trembled and passed out again.
When he finally awakened again, Tom had taken a keen interest in him, and so fed him and gave him more water.
"So where are ya from?" he asked the Grubb.
Zeke thought hard.
"From... the west. M-Mongo River settlement... I found a baby Gabbit..."
Tom gasped, "Seriously? Dude, what'd you do with it?!"
Zeke replied, "Set... set her free. I hope ...she makes it.. Wha... ugh..."
"So what happened?" asked Tom. "What ran over you?"
"Was it slogs?" asked a nearby Mud.
"Outlaws... they're gonna... I have to go..."
Tom pushed the Grubb back down.
"No way man. You can't go anywhere," he said, "Until your wounds heal. Yer lucky be a live, ya little schmuck."
Zeke fell back onto his bed and moaned quietly. It took him nearly two weeks for his wounds to heal enough for him to walk around, and even then it was slow recuperation. The Mudokons had no idea what to make of him, but with medicine and time, he began to heal. However, his thoughts never left Gabby. During his recuperation, he exchanged stories with the Mudokons, and Tom wrote them all down in his book. He was even invited for tea at Alf's.
He remained in the village for some time, mostly because Tom insisted upon learning everything he could from Zeke. He and Tom went on walks, steadily increasing the distance until Zeke was healthy enough to continue. Weeks passed, and Tom insisted each time Zeke wanted to leave that time was needed. He would never catch the Gabbit if she was swimming downstream. But Zeke found that he wasn't lonely at all.
"Alright," said Tom, the day Zeke was finally ready to leave. "You got everything?"
"Are you sure I need this gun?" he asked.
Tom shrugged. "Well, I don't need it, and if you're fightin' Outlaws ya might as well take one of them down. I don't like guns and no one in the village wants it. I found it while exploring one day and ever since no one even wants to come and visit! Take it - please."
Well-armed with his rifle, Zeke had been outfitted with better clothes, and it was then that he gave polite goodbyes to the Mudokons that had saved his life.
"I'll always remember you, Tom," he muttered. And then the Gabbit set out east, towards the one landform he would surely find his Gabbit friend: The sea.
