Goodbeast - Book I: The GB Navy Chapter 1, a redwall fanfic

Thank you Hamlet of Redwall for reviewing. I was almost afraid there wouldn't be any reviewers. Gonflet was a nickname for Gonff II, so as to not confuse him with his father. After I upload this I am going back to check through the prologue to see if I can troubleshoot it.

Also, Thanks to the user with the name that I can't remember for following me (that sounds really weird when I repeat it to myself) and my story.

I now know what Traffic stats are for. Next chapter and every chapter after that I will give the number of viewers as apposed to reviewers. We'll see how high the differences get.

Blackish, thanks for reviewing, I hope this version of the chapter is better than the last one. If I still missed something, please do not hesitate to PM me or some such thing about it.

Thanks to the C person (another one of those names that slips my mind) for favoriting Goodbeast.

Finally, thank you OTORIventures for your review and favoriting this story.

Disclaimer: Forgot this in the last chapter. The names used in this fanfiction are from the Redwall books Martin the Warrior, Mossflower, The Legend of Luke, Outcast of Redwall, and Doomwyte. All other names are my idea unless otherwise stated at the beginning of the chapter. By names, I mean the nouns that the names are attached to. All songs, unless otherwise specified, are mine.

Book 1:

Destination Changes

Between the Mainland's southernmost state of Southward and the war-filled country of Alikia, there flows the South Channel, which connects the Western Sea to the Eastern Sea. This fact alone is enough to make the cities of Mechin and Nother extremely prosperous trade ports, since the only other connection to the two seas, the Outer Sea, is frozen most of the year, and is miles away from any civilization except Laco.

Most of the time, one could spot some sort of vessel traveling the channel; a merchant ship, a fishing trolley, and so on. But one morning in summer, as Crakenough the seagull made his morning flight over the channel, he happened upon a most unusual site. Four ships could be seen anchored in a diamond formation. The decks were quiet and there was no sign of life aboard. Yet just the appearance of the small fleet was enough to make for the seagull to pause in his exercise, circling over the ships for a moment, before gliding down to land upon one.

The first ship was a regular carrack, with three masts and a large hull. It was in it's prime, with no trace of inexperienced captaincy. The mainmast had a crows nest, on which the seagull now perched for the purpose of observation. From this point he had an excellent view of the other three ships.

Looking back on them, Crakenough saw that the one to his left was a pleasant looking caravel, a charming but small ship with two masts that sported triangular sails, made mainly for shallow water sailing. On its foremast was hung a large banner, which depicted a cutlass and longsword crossed over a diamond shape, all upon a blue background.

Turning to his right, the bird saw an old looking galley, with three masts much like those of the ship he was on. The difference was the mainmast adornment, for where the carrack had a crows nest, the galley had a long medal spike sticking strait up into the sky. But it was the hull of the ship that caught the seabird's attention. I've never seen a ship with wheels before. And what are those little doors in the sides for, I wonder?

Looking back on the last ship, Crakenough saw a vessel that was unlike any he had ever seen before. There were four masts, each with large square sails, and on the tip of the tallest mast was a large round platform. On the platform there was constructed something that could be described as a birds nest; except the seagull had never in all his life met a feathered creature that would require such a large nest as he saw here!

Lowering his gaze to its deck, he was surprised to see that there appeared to be no cabin; Oh, wait, that must be it. But it seems to be built under the deck, instead of over it. Or maybe the deck was made higher to level with the cabin? It certainly is the largest ship of the fleet!

As the seagull was making these observations, a dark shadow arose from the bottom of the crows nest and quietly stood behind the bird. For a few moments, it stood there, silently, then spoke, causing the bird to nearly fall off his perch.

"Good morning, sir. Fine vessels, aren't they? Took us a full season and a half to finish the Recreation."

The seabird spun around, and gawked at the sudden appearance of the creature. He was dressed in a brown robe, with numerous articles hidden within the folds. The creature pulled back the hood hiding his face, revealing himself as a gray squirrel with small, circular spectacles of silver, through which the he looked at the bird with dirty-blue eyes.

"I say again, good morning, sir." the squirrel continued cheerfully. "Though, of course, you probably think it is night, as it is very dark yet, but in reality it is morning, and the sun's rays will begin to show themselves in but a few minutes. Which, coincidentally, means that my shift as crow will be ending soon, so if I can help you with anything it will be sooner then later. Oh, before I forget to ask, is there anything I can help you with? Because I keep forgetting to ask creatures that before I begin helping them, and usually they don't need and or want my help, so I only annoy them, and now I'm talking to much, aren't I."

He said this all with out pausing for more than two seconds at a time, and the bird began to wonder if he was completely sane or not. But he did seem friendly, so after regaining his composure, the bird answered reservedly.

"Good morning to you, too, sir." he started hesitantly. "I am Crakenough, of the city of Mechin, the second largest port city of Southward. I was exercising my wings when I came upon your ships, and decided to stop for a rest. I hope I'm not intruding."

"Not at all, sir Crakenough!" the stranger reassured with a smile. "I am Thomas, temporarily of the G.B., and we were just heading over to Mechin ourselves. Would you care to travel with us? We expect to be there by midday, and we do enjoy new company."

Crakenough over the straight forward request. He was somewhat more confident now as to the squirrel's disposition, and as he was an adventuress bird at heart, he did fancy learning more about these ships. "I am in no hurry," he finally replied, "so I suppose I might stay until we reach Mechin. After all, I am rather curious as to this group of ships. I must say, I've never before seen anything like them!"

Thomas chuckled. "Nor will you again, sir." he said cryptically. "Least ways not unless you come upon us again. But you have only seen the surface. When dawn breaks, you will see just how unusual we are. Ah, here we go."

The last statement was accompanied by a single ray of light which broke over the horizon, giving the whole ship a golden tint. The blue green sea became more bright, and the clouds above turned a bright pink against the blue early morning sky.

There was a sound from below, and Crakenough looked down to the deck to see a figure hurrying from an open hatch and toward the railing. Reaching it, the creature climbed up onto the shrouds and made its way up toward them, till it reached the crows nest and pulled itself on.

Crakenough now saw that the creature was a white furred mousemaid. She was slightly shorter than Thomas, but her brown eyes had a determined look that the squirrel's did not. She was wearing a dark gray dress and leather belt, strapped to which was a small war hammer, a telescope, and a flute. Slung across her back was a quiver of bow and arrows.

As soon as she was up, she leaned against the railing to catch her breath. "Good morning, Faith." Thomas greeted her.

"Good morning, Thomas." she panted, then, turning to Crakenough, continued "Good morning, sir. Who might you be?"

Crakenough gave a bow to her. "I am known as Crakenough," he told her, "and I come from the city of Mechin, the place you are going to. If your captain doesn't mind, I hope to travel with you back to the Mainland."

The mousemaid smiled, and held out her paw to him. "I'm Faith, daughter of Heniss, and primary lookout for the G.B., with Thomas here being the secondary."

"Which basically means I stay up all night so that she can sleep." interjected Thomas. "Not that I mind, any, as it gives me an excellent chance to chart the stars. I'm an astronomer as a side job, not to be confused with astrology, which is . . ."

"Oh, Thomas." Faith interrupted, "I think you better get on with your duties."

Thomas quickly scurried over to the shrouds and began to climb down. "Yes of course, sorry about that." he said apologetically. "Shalom to you!"

Faith chuckled as she turned to Crakenough. "You can get him started on almost any subject, but few can get him to stop. He means well, of course, but sometimes he can get sort of annoying."

"That's all right, no harm done." replied the bird cheerfully. Then, after a pause, he continued, "So, what is this, anyway? I mean, you and Thomas called it G.B., right?" When Faith nodded in agreement, he continued. "So, what does that stand for?"

"Oh, I think the others can explain that." she said mischievously. With that, she took the flute from her belt and began playing a quick, jovial tune.

This had a rather interesting effect. Within moments, the cabin doors swung wide, the hatches were flung open, and creatures of all kinds began running about at their separate tasks. The oars protruding from either side of the ship picked up and began their rhythmic motion. Crakenough looked over at the other ships, and saw that they, too, were in motion and swarming with creatures.

Turning back to the ship he was on, he saw two beasts standing on either side of the ship's wheel. One was a rainforest rocket frog wearing brown trousers, a red shirt, and holding a violin. The other was a rat, wearing a deep green habit and wide brimmed hat with a large, white feather, holding a lute in his paws. A large wildcat, with orange-red fur and wearing a black jerkin, kilt and tricorne, took the wheel.

Even as Crakenough watched, the two creatures with instruments began playing an accompaniment to Faith's tune, and the whole ship's crew burst into song: