Purple Groupers and Sailing Koopas

Larry's POV:

Larry reeled in the giant fishing net hanging off the boat. At least, he tried. Light rain poured down over him, the boat, and the ocean, and choppy waves rocked him and his method of transportation side to side, threatening to fall over completely.

"GUYS!" Larry screamed over the wind. "GUYS, I NEED HELP!"

Immediately, Finnian, along with about eight or so other Koopa Troopas, rushed to his side and helped. Eventually, the net was pulled on deck, and the Koopas all cheered when they saw fifty-five Cheep-Cheeps and Tropical Fish flopping inside!

"Ey! Ey, everyone! Look!" cried Finnian with glee, pointing to one of the corners of the net. "We caught ourselves a Purple Grouper!"

The Koopas silenced themselves for a moment to see the large, bulky, purple fish lying in the net. It stopped wriggling quickly as it could not be on land for a matter of seconds before it died, but that was almost better. It had large orange lips and yellow fins and tail that were smaller than the main purple body, and its large eyes had turned black. Purple Groupers were rare fish and had several uses, the most important being that the oils from its body could be rubbed onto boats and other seafaring equipment to protect them from waves, wind, or harsh weather in general; it was strong like a layer or two of stone, but a lot lighter and no thicker than a pinky's fingernail.

Cheering erupted throughout the fishermen before Larry raised a balled fist into the air and brought it down, slamming the air. The Koopa crew dispersed, going over to fishing rods and nets positioned on sides of the fishing boat, while others began to use knives to kill the fish in the net and toss them into barrel-like boxes of salt in the lower deck.

"Larry…" whispered Finnian as he and Larry tossed the net back over the side of the boat and tightening the ropes that held it to the deck, "look over there!"

Larry followed Finnian's gaze to a dark blotch in the grayish-blue waters crashing against the boat and limestone sea-stacks. The blotch pulsed and moved, and Larry realized it was a school of fish. And not just any fish…Larry recognized the shape immediately.

"Purple Groupers!" Finnian and Larry said in unison. Finnian started towards the net on the side while Larry crossed the deck and went up the stairs to the steering wheel. There, a red-shelled Koopa Troopa who had been hired to sail his ship for them at the cost of 35% of their profit, was steering. Larry tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned.

"Port! Port!" Larry yelled in his ear. "Quick, Morcant!"

Morcant elbowed Larry on purpose as he turned the wheel. The Enchanted Lure changed course for the Purple Groupers.

"What for, 'arry?" asked Morcant.

"Purple Grouper school!" explained Larry frantically, running down to help Finnian and some other Koopa Troopas position the net, "one gold apiece, remember? That's 35 silver for each—"

"I know, shut up!" called Morcant, "you can forget about it too. We can't fit!"

Larry and the others who had heard about the Purple Grouper jackpot felt their positivity sink like an anvil in water. The Groupers were swimming through a cluster of sea-stacks—sea-stacks, which were too close together for the 20-foot long and wide boats to fit.

An idea popped into Larry's head. "Finnian! Coconut!"

Fishing boats in Whirlpool Archipelago always had a few coconuts handy for emergency drinks, and luckily Finn quickly found a coconut and tossed it to Larry. Despite it being wet from rain, Larry caught it by sinking his claws in, and immediately he turned and tossed it. It hurled through the air and landed in front of the Groupers with a great SPLASH. Finnian tossed Larry another and he repeated a stunt, but the coconut was thrown closer this time since the Groupers had retreated from where they were going due to the coconut and were instead swimming towards the net. After a final coconut, the Groupers were in range, and the net scooped almost all of them up.

"Good thinking, Larry!" commented Finnian, patting his friend on the shell, which was easy this time since Larry's shell-spikes were sheathed. "Now we've got…" he looked at the mesmerizing twenty Purple Groupers lying dead in the net. "Like…that's at least twenty gold right there, then twenty-one for the other Grouper, and then all the other fish is about two gold as well…so…"

"We have to pay Morcant, though, so the money we get is more like…uh…estimated 8 gold, 50 silver?" Larry tried to calculate the numbers in his head, but math had never been taught to Larry as much as it had been taught to his parents. Same with correct speech in the Koopa Commontongue, the main Koopa language, because his parents had other things to do.

Finnian nodded, walking off while ambiently saying things like "We should buy our own boat one of these days…"

Larry and the others fished for another hour before it began to get dark, and once the stars began to shine and the rain ceased and the waves settled, the crew lit up the boat's lanterns and Morcant set sail for the port at the nearby island. As Morcant steered, the crew milled about, chatting and watching the waves and stars. This was Larry's favorite time out at sea. Not the sun setting and bleeding into the water, or the sun returning from the water, or even when the sunset in the great blue above illuminated the waters. Larry's favorite was night. Why? The stars on the water.

The reflection of the stars swirled in the now-turned-black water, and as the moon climbed high into the sky the waters turned a deep cobalt instead, as that was what the sky had become. The ocean appeared like a strip of fine blue cobalt cloth studded with platinum—the water and the stars. It literally appeared like they were sailing on the sky, and if Port Isle wasn't on the horizon, then they may as well have been. Larry loved all of it and longed to reach down and scoop up the water with his hand, but the deck was too high from the ocean.

"Coming onto the port, lasses," announced Morcant. "Get the fish ready, lads."

Port Isle was a medium-sized island in Whirlpool Archipelago. It was mainly composed of rock and sand, with a few palm trees and greenery closer to the center but was otherwise naturally barren. A total of eight ports were positioned across the island in all eight directions, and there was a mine in the middle that spiraled down into a cave system. It only had been found to yield both tin and copper, but the miners of Whirlpool Archipelago were convinced that there was still more left to discover there.

They docked at the western port and filed off the ship, hauling the salt boxes full of dead fish onto the port. There, several Koopa Troopa merchants stood there wearing brown robes, though the lead one, a purple-shelled Koopa, had a pink-and-purple suit made of whale blubber, a very expensive ingredient. He paid Larry twenty-five gold coins, a bit more than Finnian had thought, and then they took the salt boxes to their own boat. Next, Larry gave Morcant 35% of the payment, and then split the rest among the crew and himself—he wasn't really their captain, but they served him and Finnian as captains due to their superb fishing experience and survival of the Mega Blooper attack.

Finally, one third of the crew took one rowboat ferry, another third took a second, and the final third took a third one. Morcant pulled out of the port as well, and Larry and Finnian both took a final ferry, putting five silver coins in a sack hanging from the ship for payment. Port Isle was near the edge of the Whirlpool Archipelago, and most of the population lived in the center islands; thus, they required ferries from some of the islands they worked at.

The duo, who hadn't looked closely at their hooded robe-wearing captain, were very surprised when the figure turned around and said, "How was the fishing trip, Larry?" in a soft tune.

It was Alex Crafter. She was a beautiful young woman, one of the only humans in Whirlpool Archipelago, with soft, pale skin and emerald eyes. She had peach lips and thick orangish-red hair, and under her robe wore a light lime skirt and brown pants held together with a raw leather belt Larry had given her on one of their first dates. Her black boots were sandy and muddy from walking around on Port Isle in wait for someone to hop on her ferry, and she also had a golden cross necklace around her neck.

Larry blushed, and Finnian looked back and forth between them with a sly smile, crossing arms.

"Uh…um…we caught a lotta fish, yeah, it was a good trip…like…twenty-one Purple Groupers, right?" responded Larry, shaking his head at Finn.

Alex's eyes bugged as she turned back to face where the boat was going. "That's a lot of Groupers," she said, "where are they now?"

"We sold 'em to some rich Koopas," said Larry, saying rich with added vileness. "We, it, uh…I know the Big Bazaar is coming up, but we've caught more fish these past three days than it's about the same price as today's catch! So…selling it now wasn't really a wasted opportunity."

"I'd think it was…" replied Alex, "...Purple Groupers go for more than triple their price."

"What?" Larry rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oh well…"

Alex turned back to Larry and smiled at him, and so he smiled back. "It's fine, Larry," she said, giving him a quick pat on the hand. "It's always fine."

Larry threw Finnian a smug glance before helping row the boat.

New references to games in this chapter:

15. These specific Purple Groupers are from Don't Starve

16. "Tropical Fish" are many different unnamed kinds of fish with different textures in Minecraft

17. The "barrel-like boxes of salt" are Salt Boxes from Don't Starve

18. The way coins are calculated is like Terraria: 100 copper in 1 silver, 100 silver in 1 gold, and 100 gold in 1 platinum

19. The purple-shelled Koopa is specifically a Dark Koopa from Paper Mario; the suit he was wearing was Don't Starve's Windbreaker

20. Alex's cross necklace is the one from Terraria, and her description is that of her default Minecraft appearance, minus the cross necklace