The Nameless Blade
Larry's POV:
Larry stared at the target dummy, right into its little black, beady eyes. It had a body of thin tan cloth stuffed with wool with two baggy arms hanging down from its sides, with three dots going up its body like coat buttons and a log struck into the ground keeping the dummy up. Its arms swayed in the cool tropical breeze that also made the leaves of the palm trees sway, the beachgrass sway, and Larry's mohawk sway.
Larry looked around himself again. He was on the edge of Packim Island, his home island, on a very, very tiny peninsula that broke away from the plants, grass, trees, and the village of the inner island and was instead mainly composed of sand. Nonetheless, some beachgrass, palm trees, and bushes bordered the peninsula, and behind them were shallow bluish-green waters that rolled in and out, tasting the plants of the place. The peninsula's only artificial structures were several wooden practice weapons in a barrel and some target dummies—ones that Larry was testing out right now.
The target dummy stared at Larry, its head being tossed back by the wind as if it was mockingly laughing at Larry. Larry flexed his fingers, licked his lips, and bared his teeth in response. He rolled his shoulders back a few times, then took his fighting stance: he bent forward a little bit, spaced his feet evenly apart with them pointing away from each other, and lifted his tail up for balance. He had rarely used this stance for real, but he always practiced it in case pirates invaded or something.
In one swift move, Larry slid the Nameless Blade from his silver sheath that hung from his black leather belt, like the one Alex wore, and pointed it at the dummy. The Nameless Blade was a cutlass with an obsidian blade, smoothed spruce-wood hilt, and platinum pommel and cross-guard. He didn't know where it originated from or if it had any special properties since he'd never used it in a real fight, but he had found it in a chest from his father's house, which he had rummaged through after they had died in the Mega Blooper attack.
"Time to be slain and tossed into Davy Jones' locker, ya landlubber!" Larry hissed, squinting through the afternoon sunlight.
The target dummy just stood there, as if it was begging for him to try against it.
"YAAAH!" Larry screamed, charging at the dummy. He yanked the Nameless Blade so far back that the point of the blade was almost at the same point as his chest. He was a foot away from the dummy when he stabbed it with another "YAAAH!"
The dummy flew back, wool and cloth flying out from the dummy's stomach would be as Larry yanked the Nameless Blade out. He then spun around, sending the white tropical sand beneath his feet flying as he slashed the Nameless Blade across the dummy's chest. The dummy flew back before bouncing back, hitting Larry in the head with its own head. Larry tumbled to the ground, landing on his shell with an "UGH!" The Nameless Blade rolled from his hand, and then it came to an abrupt stop, as if it was disappointed.
The target dummy loomed over him, creating a dark shadow over Larry. Larry glared at it, thinking, If I can't beat just one dummy, then surely I'll never kill just one pirate!
Larry became still, closing his eyes, playing dead as if the dummy was a real enemy who had defeated him. Larry let his mind go blank, and he just felt the sand, listening to the waves and incessant harmony of the tropical birds in the trees above. It was eerily calm, especially since most of the folk in his village would usually be returning from trading or fishing on other nearby islands about now.
Larry snatched up the Nameless Blade, jumped up, took his fighting stance, and then sliced the log that held the dummy up, all in two seconds. The log snapped in half, and the dummy fell down, getting snagged on the sharp wood that was spiking up from the severed log. Larry brought his blade down, splitting the dummy in half. He kept pushing, though, and the half of the log that was still in the ground was sliced clean in two. The two chunks fell away from each other, hitting the sandy surface with a satisfying FLUMP.
The eerie calmness returned to Packim Island. Larry stared down at his work—a mess of palm wood, wool, tropical sand, and dirty cloth.
"You keep spillin' dummy guts, Larry," said a soft voice. Instantly recognizing it, Larry sheathed the Nameless Blade and turned to greet Alex as she padded up to him. He hugged her and she kissed him on the cheek. "Nice to see you're training."
"Just in case," Larry replied as he held her, "it is dry season, after all. Pirate sightings always increase this time of year."
"Well, they're desperate," Alex told him, "limpets always dry up and die this season, eliminating the easiest, quickest food source of 'em all. Plants wither, the temperature rises…and the volcano usually gets worked up a little bit, too."
"Yeah," Larry said with a nod. "Luckily, we're pretty far from it."
"I know…it always lingers in the back of my mind, though."
"I understand."
" 'Course you do. You always do."
The couple smiled at each other.
"Hey, uh…wanna go fishing?" asked Larry after a bit, breaking the silence, "just around the island?"
Alex nodded, her green eyes glittering. "That would be nice."
The two, holding hands, made their way back to the center of the island, where Larry's and Finnian's village was. It was a calm, quaint little village, made of three palm tree-plank huts with thatched roofs and each only being the size of a big portapotty. There was a fourth settlement built into a large limestone boulder, too—that was Larry's. Alex waited patiently outside as Larry climbed through the hole in the boulder that led to the hollowed-out space. Inside, it was really nothing much at all; there was a rack of fishing rods and a box of fishing supplies on the wall; a salt box with fish jerky in one corner; a fire surrounded with rocks with a spit over it, and with a bag of sand to extinguish any potential fleeing flame, in another corner; a blanket of palm leaves to sleep on in a third corner; and the chest that Larry had discovered the Nameless Blade in the fourth corner. This is where his parents had lived before the…incident…that had brought their deaths.
Feeling a rush of sadness course through him, Larry knelt down and opened the chest. Inside were copper, silver, and gold coins, along with one platinum coin—the coin with the highest amount of money, being worth 100 gold apiece. Besides that, some broken bone shards, a few sticks and stones, a chunk of limestone, stacks of boat patches, glass bottles of purified water, a sand dollar, and even an iron bar sat inside, with dust coating some of the items. Larry sighed. These materials were valuable, but he wasn't really much of a crafter. Alex was, though. She said her last name, Crafter, was just a coincidence with her skill, but Larry didn't think so.
Alex had been an orphan and so didn't really know her real parents and their skills, though, and she hadn't been very close at all to her adopted Koopa parents when she decided to move to a different island and start her own life.
Larry was about to close the chest and collect his fishing equipment when he spotted a compass under some copper coins. He'd nearly forgotten his parents had left it there so long ago, and even when using the stuff in the chest, he'd always pass over it.
He lifted the compass into the light of his campfire. It was made of clean-cut smooth marble, with the glass lid stained ocean blue. Little sparkly, cobalt stars had been painted on the rim of the compass, and the lodestone inside had been dyed a sky-blue. Larry lifted it up, and then the compass glowed a little bit. In a flash, the lodestone spun to point north, shaking.
Larry set the compass back in the chest. From what he remembered, his parents had gotten the compass from a sunken treasure chest they'd found on their travels, but they'd never had time to pursue the location the compass pointed to. Larry wanted to someday, but he didn't have the money to amass a crew that would want to set sail for wherever the treasure pointed, let alone get a ship, enough food, water, weapons to fight against hostile sea creatures, the like.
Someday, he thought, but not yet…
"Larry?" said Alex, popping her head into Larry's hut. "You okay? What's taking you so long?"
Larry snapped the chest shut. "Nothing, honey. I'm getting there."
Alex went back outside, getting some waterskins full of boiled water from a chest full of free supplies in the village's center.
Larry went over to the wall and plucked two of his reinforced fishing poles off the wall, grabbed his fishing supply box, and finally snatched his small, beige sun-hat from the floor and put it on his head. The hat had a little slit on the top for his mohawk to poke through, one that he had made himself when Alex gave him it.
Larry handed Alex his other reinforced fishing pole once he got outside, and then the two of them walked over to a boardwalk that stretched from the beach opposite the one with the target dummy. They walked to the end of it, then sat down next to each. Larry took two hooks out from the box and handed one to Alex, and then put the other one on his rod. They put their rods together, and then Larry broke out the tackle—nothing special, just some earthworms and grub. The two then fished for a while.
Alex was able to catch three red Cheep-Cheeps in the first hour, which wasn't surprising, for they were the most common fish of them all. Through the next hour, though, trails of bubbles and dark shadows underwater that signaled approaching fish always headed for Alex's bait instead, and Larry got a little bit annoyed but kept it to himself. After the third hour had passed, though, Alex had amassed a total of 9 red Cheep-Cheeps, 3 green ones (sometimes referred to as Deep-Cheeps), 2 miscellaneous Tropical Fish, and one Bladderfish, all of which she had put in a sack she had brought—Larry put his fish in there too. Larry had just caught a Peeper, the second most common fish out there.
"Hey, Alex," Larry said with a smirk, "could we, um…trade rods, maybe?"
"Ye wanna catch more fish, doncha?" Alex responded.
Larry nodded.
Alex giggled and tossed her hair back. "I doubt it'll help, but alright, Larry."
They switched rods and got their lines resituated and got some new bait, then cast their lines once again.
A fourth hour passed. Alex had caught two Peepers, another Deep-Cheep, and another Tropical Fish. Larry caught…one red Cheep-Cheep.
Larry stuck his bottom jaw out in annoyance as Alex counted up her fish.
"You gotta catch up, Larry!" chuckled Alex, patting him on the back.
Larry cracked his knuckles and drank from his waterskin. "Just you watch, Alex…"
A fifth hour came and left. Alex had gotten another Bladderfish and three Peepers, and Larry had caught one Peeper and a Splashtail, a medium-sized, large-lipped, ugly red fish with royal-purple stripes and a royal-purple tail. It was the third most common kind of fish.
"ERGH!" Larry griped, shaking his fist in the air and baring his fangs with sarcasm.
"Maybe the fish are coming to me first 'cause I'm prettier," Alex said.
Larry snorted. "I mean, it would make sense, but I don't know if fish have the same sexual preferences as I do."
"Well, you are a Koopa, and I am a human, after all, and we're attracted to each other."
"Koopas and humans ARE humanoids, though."
"Yeah, I guess you're right…why are we talking about this, again?"
"Dunno."
"Me neither."
"Well…we should probably wrap up," finished Larry, "it's starting to get dark, and we don't wanna go insane and be attacked by some Nightmare Creatures."
Alex nodded, looking out at the water that was trying to swallow the sun. They, and all of the citizens of the Whirlpool Archipelago, knew that if they were up and running at night, their sanity would begin to drain. If they weren't in some light, it would get worse. If they were in complete darkness, though…they would be killed. None of them knew why, but some things, some shadow monsters, would kill anything that couldn't perceive sight, couldn't perceive them.
Being in the darkness wasn't the only thing that would drain one's sanity—creatures, foods, feelings, items, and other things could cause that—but it was the most common one, and from it always came Nightmare Creatures.
Some were large and lumbering, others slim and chair-legged. They would consume those who had lost their minds, and they were the main terrors of the night, outside of flying eyes and rotting zombies and explosive leaf beasts that disappeared when the sun came. Nightmare Creatures could pursue through the day, through every environment, and wouldn't stop until slain or one's sanity was regained. And if they were slain, more would replace them. It was inescapable terror, one that everything had to deal with.
The two eventually made it back to Larry's hut. The tiki torches made of palm wood and bamboo had been lit to ward off Shadow Creatures and any Drowned that might come ashore—basically, blueish-green zombies that walk the seafloor, wielding magic tridents and sometimes coming up to the surface for a surprise attack.
"Why hello, Larry. Hello, Alex," said a short Koopa Troopa with a marmalade shell and coconut-half cap. She shook both of their hands, then looked at the sack, seeing a few yellow fins poking out of it. "Fishin', ey?"
"Yeah, Mariam," said Larry. Mariam was Finnian's little sister. She had been left home for the fateful trip because she was having bad behavior and was tasked with reinforcing the huts with mud and clay, which probably ended up saving her life.
"Larry only caught 2 Peepers, a red Cheep-Cheep, and a Splashtail," said Alex with a smirk, "and I caught all the other fishies!"
"Good job, then, Alex…" said Finnian, climbing through the oval-shaped hole that was the entrance to his and Mariam's hut. "You're a better fisherwoman than Larry is a fisherman!"
"She was just…lucky," uttered Larry, embarrassed.
"Yeah, I probably was," Alex told the group with a shrug.
Finnian looked around at the harmless tropical plants around them. He and the others could barely see the beach and roiling waves past it, it had gotten so dark so quickly.
"Larry, Alex, you two should probably go inside. Mariam, you too," he pointed at his little sister. "I'll fetch some cut grass to keep the tiki torches satisfied 'til morning," and he whipped out a pair of iron shears and began snipping away at some grass.
Larry and Alex headed inside, with Larry throwing a backward glance at Finnian before turning to the inside of his hut. Mariam lingered a bit before heading into her and Finnian's hut. The other two wood huts belonged to Koopa Troopas who Larry and Alex didn't know very well and were always off sailing, and so the houses were vacant tonight, and they would be for the next few ones, too.
Alex and Larry shared the blanket-bed that night and quickly fell asleep. Larry got up before Alex that morning to see bright morning light filtering in, illuminating dust floating through the boulder. His campfire had almost gone out, too, leaving only ashes, some glowing embers, and a flame as big as a blade of grass.
GRASS! Larry thought when he saw the size of the flame. Finnian! Is he okay? I'm sure he's fine, and any Shadow Creatures would have easily been fought off by him—he's great with his cutlass—but what if there were some armored Drowned? Another creature? The monster in the darkness?
Larry sprang over Alex and ran out into the center of the village, almost running into the free supply chest. From what he could see, the tiki torches were thriving, so Finnian completed the job he assigned himself—assuming that someone else didn't refuel them. Trying to reassure himself, he threw himself through the entrance to Finnian and Mariams' hut. The place was small, with two blanket-beds, a few windows, a clay pot growing a blue passion flower on a windowsill, and a bundle of dried kelp.
Mariam was sleeping peacefully on her blanket-bed. Finnian's was empty.
"Where is he?" snapped Larry in a loud whisper. He backed out of his friends' hut and ran throughout Packim Island searching for Finnian. Once he couldn't find him in the inner circle of plants, Larry searched the beach. The beach was barren, for all rocks, shells, or anything else had been taken long ago and put to good use, and daily someone from Larry's village, usually Mariam, would run a routine check of the island for anything that may have come ashore, or anything new from the island itself that was of importance.
Nothing. Larry swung by the training area, but there was no sign of Finnian there either. Finally, Larry checked the dock, and that's where he gained a clue. There were usually two small rowboats tied to the dock's posts, but one of them was missing. Assuming Finnian had taken it, Larry immediately climbed into the other boat and untied the rope keeping the rowboat in place. Then he lit the lanterns that were hanging off of either side of the boat, for it was still early morning, grabbed two of the four oars on the bottom of the boat, and set off.
Larry figured that Finnian probably went to one of the three nearby islands, and decided to start with the closest one, Savior Island. It was a lot larger than Packim Island, and it had a strange name because a myth stated that an ancient coral sword had been found there by one of the first settlers in Whirlpool Archipelago, and it had been his savior that night when a squad of Drowneds attacked.
As Larry had predicted, as he pulled into Savior Island's wooden dock, the other rowboat had already been tied there. Larry secured his boat to a post before stepping out onto the wet beach, ankle-deep in water. He stomped around a bit, feeling the tropical water and mushy sand for a while, before heading up the beach and out of the shallows, towards the island's center—one much like Packim Island's. This one had a larger village, though, of six wooden huts, and had tall walls of sharpened logs to keep out any hostiles, though there weren't many in this part of the islands. The only way in was through a small, latched door on the opposite side of the island.
Larry stepped through some bushes and put his hand on the log wall, feeling the rope and mud that kept the logs together. Packim Island just didn't have enough resources for such a wall, and other things like food and weapons were where the money went to use.
As Larry trekked around the island, he noticed a sloop—a relatively small ship—parked just off the shallows, with an anchor stretching down to the ground below. The sloop was made of orangish planks—rich mahogany, in fact—braced with rusty iron and steel and covered with lush, blooming vines. Even though the sails had been pulled up, Larry could tell they were white with green spots. Larry recognized the type of sloop immediately, and, just to check, he focused his gaze under the bowsprit (the beam that sticks out at the front of the ship) to see the face of a Yoshi, chiseled from granite, attached. With its giant nose, round face, oval eyes, and scales, Larry knew for sure that this ship belonged to the friendly dinosaur-like creatures.
Larry knew the Yoshi tribe via them trading or bartering supplies with the locals and always attending the Big Bazaar, but also because they resided on Yoshi's Island, a ginormous island just east of Whirlpool Archipelago. Though Larry had only been there twice to meet his acquaintances again, he knew it was WONDERFUL. It had a great brown snow-capped mountain range that scraped the clouds and served as a great wall for half of the island, but besides some of the drylands around the mountains, the whole island was a tropical jungle with ancient artifacts, jungle temples and ruins laced with treasures and traps, diverse creatures equally marvelous and viscous, a wide palette of plants and terrain…you could live there your whole life and not even venture through 1% of the island!
As if his luck couldn't get any better, a real live Yoshi tossed a Jacob's ladder over one side of the ship and climbed down into the water before quickly swimming up the beach to reach Larry.
The Yoshi, like the carving, had a big round, cyan nose with white cheeks and two oval-shaped eyes, like a Koopa Troopa's, above her nose. She had a few orange spines running down her back, stopping at a bright red saddle-like shell, and behind that, a cyan tail. Her underbelly was white, though her two arms and two legs were cyan as well, and she wore purple shoes with yellow bottoms. Larry knew this Yoshi at once by the name of Cece; he probably knew her better than all the others.
"Why hello there, Cece," said Larry, "wasn't expecting you to turn up anytime soon."
"Well, you maybe kinda should've," squeaked Cece. Her very long red tongue flung spit everywhere, but she apologized and retracted her tongue back inside her mouth. As Yoshis matured, they became more able to control their tongues (and spit), in order to snatch things from afar, be it food, enemies, or something else. "We are going to be sending lots more of us over for Big Bazaar!"
"I guess I should've known, then," chuckled Larry. "Say…anyone else on that sloop?" he said, gesturing to the vessel behind them.
"Rock and Egg came along, but they're still in the ship," Cece replied, "y'know, the blowgun warriors?"
"Ah, yes, yes," Larry said, even though the names didn't ring a bell.
"Rock, Egg, and I are gonna stay here to help set up the Yoshi section of the Bazaar…" Cece explained, "...but we came here so soon because we have message!" She smiled.
"What is it?" Larry asked, perking his curiosity. Only one person he knew would ask a Yoshi to bring him a message.
"I was supposed to memorize it, but I not bother," Cece said, "just brought the note." Cece reached into her pocket and took out a folded piece of wax paper. Larry looked down at it for a moment, thinking, before taking the paper from Cece. He was about to unfold it when he heard some crashing noises behind him. Larry whirled around to see Finnian pushing his way through a cluster of long grass to reach Larry.
"FINNIAN!" Larry screamed, running at Finnian, "where have you been? I thought something happened to you!"
Finnian laughed. "HAH! Something happening to me? If it ain't good or lucky, nothing's happening to me!" He clapped Larry on the shell. "You worry too much."
"Rightfully so," mumbled Larry.
Finnian made a grim face. "Sorry, bud. I get where you're coming from. The incident?"
Larry nodded slowly. "The incident," he sighed.
"Well, I'll tell you what. I came here early to set up my own shop!"
Larry's eyes brightened and his mood lightened. "You did?"
"Yep!" Finnian exclaimed. "I'm selling sand dollars and seashells."
"Rare ones, I assume?" asked Larry.
"Normal AND rare, Larry," he said. He began to do some kind of dance, swinging his arms back and forth and moving one foot in one direction, then his other foot in the other direction once his first foot came back. He kept on doing this out of happiness, so Larry looked away decided to unfold the note. On it, a very fine print had been scrawled on it in ink, with no smudges or purposeful blotches covering up a misspelled word. In fact, no words were misspelled at all! Larry read through the note, scratching his head in confusion. It read:
Dear Larry Koopa,
Hello hello hello! Greetings from the jungle. My sincerest apologies that I am not able to come over quite yet. Me, Wagstaff, and the other Yoshis architects are dealing with some…complications. We made a big discovery just the other day, and we're still working on trying to excavate it. You shan't fret; I and some other Yoshis will attend the Big Bazaar. Do note that Wagstaff will likely not make an appearance, though, for he has stated he must keep working on researching our discovery. If you wish, I will inform you about what we found in greater detail and depth once I arrive, but let me say this: we think it was built by one of the Ancients, by the looks of it! Nevermind that now—just know I'm coming soon and won't miss the Bazaar!
Signed, your friend,
Iggy Koopa
New references to games in this chapter:
40. The target dummy Larry trains with is from Terraria
41. The name "Packim Island" is inspired by the creature Packim Baggins from Don't Starve, in the Shipwrecked DLC
42. The Nameless Blade is from Minecraft: Dungeons
43. The effects of dry season out at sea that are described are some of Don't Starve's Dry Season effects, while the pirate sightings is not
44. Alex's superior crafting skill references that she is a MineCRAFT character
45. The reinforced fishing poles used are those from Terraria, and so is Larry's fishing hat, which is the Angler's Hat, but without the slit for a mohawk like Larry's
46. Splashtails are from Sea of Thieves; Bladderfish are from Subnautica. The other fish caught have been included in the references section before
47. Nightmare Creatures and Sanity are both Don't Starve features
48. Mariam has an appearance close to a friendly Koopa Troopa from Paper Mario 64
49. The tiki torches described are Terraria's Tiki Torches, Bamboo Lamps, and Palm Lamps
50. The Drowned are from Minecraft, and so is the "bundle of dried kelp"
51. The "ancient coral sword" was an enchanted Coral Sword from Minecraft: Dungeons
52. Yoshi's Island is an actual location in some of the Mario games, but its contents in this iteration also contain elements from other video game jungles
53. The particular wax paper Cece delivered is the kind from Don't Starve
54. Wagstaff is a character from Don't Starve; "the Ancients" refer to both Don't Starve's Ancients but also the Sheikah from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's iteration, and the Precursors from Subnautica
55. Iggy Koopa is from Mario, and him living in the jungle is a reference to how he is usually encountered there
56. Finnian's dance is that of the Koopa Troopas vibing to the background music in the New Super Mario Bros. games