Chapter 5: The Saltlions
It was early in the morning when Hilda was playing hide and seek in the apartment with Twig while in deerfox form and she was it. She sniffed around in the living room and the kitchen, but found nothing. Then she ran past Johanna who was drawing again and caught a scent near the open bathroom door. She entered and sniffed again until she hopped onto the edge of the bathtub and peeked through the shower curtain.
"Aha! Found you Twig!"
"Aww, you got me." Twig playfully said. "You're getting better at smelling, Hilda."
"Thanks, but it's almost time to go. I'm going to see if Alfur and Adeline want to come." Hilda returned to human form with the exception of her tail and went to her room.
She stood on her chair and lightly knocked on the clock-house. Alfur was the one to open the door.
"Hello, Hilda."
"Hello, Alfur. I was wondering if you and Adeline would like to join us today."
"Seems tempting, but we can not today. Adeline and I have a little extra paperwork and you know how much we love it."
"Tell Frida and David we said hi." Adeline waved.
"I can do that." Hilda said as she got down. "Have fun."
Hilda then went to the kitchen table and grabbed her cucumber sandwiches to put in her bag. With Twig by her side, she was ready to go.
"Okay, Mum, Twig and I are leaving." Hilda and Twig happily rushed for the door.
"Hold it, Hilda!" Johanna said as she grabbed Hilda by the tail. "I think you forgot to put something away."
"Oops. Thanks, Mum." Hilda said before making her tail disappear. "See you in the afternoon."
"Bye, Hilda."
Hilda and Twig traveled through Trolberg all the way to the beach where Frida and David were waiting for them.
"Hi, Frida. Hi, David." Hilda said.
"Hi, Hilda." David replied.
"Now that we're all here, we can finally test our secret project." Frida said.
The kids approached a nearby rock formation with kelp on the side. They removed the kelp and pulled out a boat with the words "Sea Sparrow" on the side.
"Having adventures in our own boat is going to be so much fun." Hilda said.
"Not to mention make good practice for boat-related badges." Frida added.
"Don't forget the life-vests." David said as he put his on.
The kids installed the mast and sail, put on the remaining life-vests, and pushed the boat to the water.
"Where are we going out there, Hilda?" Twig asked.
"We agreed on the first interesting shore or island we find, Twig." Hilda answered.
"Alright, David. Oars?" Frida said while holding a clipboard.
"Check." David responded while in the boat.
"Extra rope?"
"Check."
"First aid kit?"
"Check."
"Anchor?"
"Check."
"Rations?"
"Check."
"Life preservers?"
"Check."
"Swimming gear?"
"Check."
"And finally, extra boat parts?"
"Check."
"We're ready to go." Frida said.
The crew pushed the boat the rest of the way and got in. They paddled at first, then after getting far enough, they pulled the sail open and the wind took over.
"No holes or leaks in the boat." Hilda confirmed. "We can now go anywhere on the sea!"
Hilda and her friends sailed far out, all of them enjoying the experience. Even David was having a good time despite his fears. At some point though, Hilda noticed something odd.
"I thought we would've seen some saltlions by now." she said.
"Please don't ruin the ride." David moaned.
The kids and deerfox looked around for anything interesting until Hilda spotted something on the port side.
"Look, a cave!"
The kids turned the boat left and sailed for the cave. As they got closer, they noticed that even though the cave was connected to a shore, it's floor was under the water and several rocks stuck out.
"How do we know there isn't anything scary in there?" David asked.
"It's okay. Twig and I will check it out first." Hilda said. "Come on, boy."
After they got as close as possible, Hilda and Twig leapt out of the boat and hopped from rock to rock. Once they got inside of the cave, Hilda pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. She looked around and found several pairs of eyes above and around her in the dark. Twig spotted something small and strange in the water, but it turned out to just be a weird fish.
"It's okay! I think it's just full of bats!" Hilda called. "And there's a section of the cave floor not in the water! Come on in! Maybe we'll find something cool!"
After dropping the anchor, Frida hopped along the rocks as well. David slowly followed after and did quite well considering. But just as he entered the cave, he slipped backwards. Hilda became half deerfox, quickly leapt to the rock nearest her friend, and grabbed his hand before he could fall into the water.
"Thanks, Hilda." David said.
"You're welcome." Hilda helped David make it all the way to dry land, where Frida and Twig had already arrived.
Frida and David turned on their own flashlights and all of them looked around in the dark cave. As usual, David was very uncomfortable especially with so many eyes staring at him and the others.
"Hilda, are you sure it's safe in here?" he asked.
"Of course, David." Hilda assured. "If those eyes belonged to anything dangerous, they would've attacked already. Right, Frida?"
There was no response.
"Frida?"
Frida was frozen in place by fear and staring at something. Hilda and the others looked where Frida was looking and saw one particular pair of green eyes. David became just as scared, Hilda just observed with curiosity, and Twig smelled the air and recognized something.
"It's her." he said.
"Who?" Hilda asked.
The eyes then moved from looking at Frida to staring at Hilda. Suddenly, the eyes flashed towards her and revealed their owner.
"Amanda!?"
Frida and David were reluctant to try anything while Twig growled like before. Amanda kept staring at Hilda with a baffled expression.
"Why are you staring at me?" Hilda asked.
"Oh...my...gosh!" Amanda slowly started smiling out of amusement. "You look like a baby werewolf!"
Frida and David snapped out of their frightened state and the former asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Well I was looking for some new scary inspirations, but I couldn't find anything new." Amanda sourly explained.
"Did you see any saltlions on your way here?" Hilda asked.
"I wish, but no. And if you're looking for some kind of adventure, there isn't much else here. As for me, I'm out of here."
And like that, Amanda turned into a green mist and left the cave.
"I still can't believe you got stuck with her for a while, Hilda." David said.
"At least she's honest." Hilda replied. "But I'm starting to worry about the saltlions."
"Maybe someone knows something at the docks." Frida suggested.
The group reached an agreement and returned to the boat. David managed to improve on stone hopping and Hilda changed back to a human. As they sailed back to Trolberg, Hilda climbed the mast and kept an eye out in case the missing saltlions were a false alarm. She didn't see any, but she was the first to spot the docks.
"I see the docks!" she said.
The crew turned and sailed for the docks. As they passed some of the boats and ships, some of the sailors complimented them and their Sea Sparrow, receiving thank yous from the children. Finally, they stopped at one of the side docks not being used or easily visible. They split up and spoke to different people. Unfortunately, nobody knew anything about the missing saltlions. The kids returned to their boat to think about their next move.
"There is something wrong going on here, I just know it." Hilda said.
"If we could find just one saltlion, maybe I could see their memories and learn if anything serious happened to them." Frida said.
"I don't think that would work." David said. "I've heard of people getting hurt or killed by them."
"David's right." Hilda agreed. "Unless we can find one that's asleep, we can't do that."
Then out of nowhere, they heard a whimpering sound. It was coming from under the dock. Hilda hopped off, crawled on the sand underneath, and found something unexpected.
"It's a kitten saltlion." she said. "And he's caught in some trash."
The kitten was indeed tangled in some random pieces of garbage. Hilda felt so bad for him that she immediately grew claws and cut all the trash off. Afterwards, she helped the little saltlion back into the water and returned to her friends above the deck.
"You know, I could've checked that kitten's memories." Frida said.
"Yes I know, but I couldn't let him suffer any longer." Hilda replied.
"Hilda! I smell something!" Twig barked.
Hilda changed her hands back and walked past David to the edge of the dock where Twig stood growling.
"What is it, boy?" Hilda asked.
Suddenly an adult saltlion burst out of the water, scaring everyone she roared at.
"AHHHHH!" the kids and deerfox ran for their lives.
David tripped on a rock and fell. Just when the saltlion was mere feet away from David, Hilda got in between them while once again in her half deerfox form. While the two of them were growling at each other, Frida snuck up to the saltlion and touched her as she used the mind communication spell. She informed the mother that Hilda helped her baby and meant no harm, causing her to stand down. The saltlion nodded to Hilda as most likely a thank you and returned to the water where she and her baby swam away.
"That was too close." David said.
"Yeah." Hilda agreed. "What did you tell her, Frida?"
"Only what you did for her baby." Frida explained. "I also asked about the missing saltlions, but she knows nothing."
"Now what?" David moaned. "We have no idea what's going on."
"I'm starting to think that somebody is kidnapping them for some reason." Hilda said.
"If that's true, we'd still have to search the entire bay and beyond in order to find them." Frida stated. "We need a way to do it faster."
Hilda pondered the problem for a little while. Then an idea came to her.
"Maybe we can spot them from above with a little help. That is, if she'll agree to it."
For a moment, Nobody knew what she meant. Then after thinking about it, the answer made Frida and David's eyes widen.
"Oh no. Nononononononononononono!" David said.
"You know marra can't be trusted!" Frida said.
"Normally yes, but after having to work with Amanda before, I'm certain that she's at least a little trustworthy." Hilda said. "Besides, we need all
the help we can get and fast. If we tried for anyone else, we could be too late. She's probably still near the water."
*Sigh* "You're right. But I still doubt this will work." Frida said.
"I can't believe we're doing this." David griped.
"Twig, let's sniff for her." Hilda changed back except for her nose and sniffed the air.
Twig started sniffing as well. It took a while, but Hilda caught a scent.
"She's this way." she said. "Good thing I was near her as a deerfox."
"I smell her too." Twig said.
They both led the way to where ever Amanda was. A few minutes later, they came to a sewer entrance and were lucky enough to see Amanda walking inside.
"Amanda! Could we have a word with you!?" Hilda called.
Amanda stopped walking and with her aura form made her way back to the entrance just a few inches from the group.
"What do you want?" she asked with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.
"We were wondering if you'd help us with something."
"Wait, you want my help?"
"Well not all of us." Hilda explained as her nose changed back. "But we need someone who can fly so we can find the missing saltlions. I think somebody might be kidnapping them. Will you help us?"
Amanda was speechless for some reason.
"She's not gonna help." David said.
He and Frida turned around and walked away, but were stopped by three words.
"Yes I am."
"What?" Frida and David asked.
"Hey, with no saltlions, that means one less thing for anyone to be afraid of. Just be glad I'm agreeing to this at all." Amanda said.
"Yes! To the Sea Sparrow." Hilda said. "I'll explain the plan when we're out there."
The group plus their temporary ally went back to the dock where the boat still was. Everyone got in and they sailed off. After a while, they reached what looked like a perfect place to stop and Hilda dropped the anchor.
"Alright, here's the plan." she said. "Now that we're out far enough, everything should be around the same distance. Amanda, as I mentioned before, you'll fly up high and look for anything suspicious. Meanwhile, Frida and I will search below in the water just in case. David, you and Twig will look and sniff while you're still in the boat. After ten minutes of searching and depending on what we find, we'll regroup and form a new strategy. Any questions?"
"Yeah, I got one." Amanda said. "Why don't you just use your new witch magic to find them?"
"Because I'm not a witch. Frida is." Hilda answered.
"And besides, the locating spell only works when what you're looking for is nearby." Frida explained. "They could be anywhere."
"Huh? Wait a minute! If you're the witch..." the baffled marra pointed to Frida, then at Hilda. "...then how are you able to shapeshift?"
"That's because I'm her familiar." Hilda proudly said.
For a moment, there was silence. Then Amanda burst out laughing.
"No way! Hahaha! You're a human pet!"
"I am not!" Hilda felt a little embarrassed by that comment.
"Are we going to start searching soon?" David asked.
"Right. Thanks, David." Hilda said. "Let's get started."
Amanda flew up into the sky while Hilda and Frida got their swimming gear on and dove in.
Under the surface, there wasn't much to see unless you went deeper, but neither Hilda nor Frida were there to sightsee. Not this time. They looked around for anything that moved, but there were only big rocks. So they split up and swam around each of them, searching every nook and cranny. Hilda checked a cave and some big fish rushed out, knocking her snorkel off of her face. Frida saw it happen and hurried after the snorkel while Hilda quickly swam up to get some air. Frida grabbed the snorkel and caught up to Hilda as fast as she could. By the time they were next to each other, Hilda stopped swimming. She then realized something shortly before Frida did as well. Hilda was breathing underwater.
At the same time, Amanda was high in the sky, looking for anything out of the ordinary. While she was up there, she began to ponder what she thought of the twerps she was helping. Frida going from almost a marra to being a witch really surprised her, David being brave for someone so timid twice impressed her, and Hilda not only helped her once, but also brought up the idea of being friends. Was there still a chance for that to happen even after the things she did? Amanda shook her head and went back to looking. That's when she spotted something moving near some far away rocks sticking out of the water below a mass of land that looked like a white horse. She couldn't tell for sure what it was, but she deemed it worth investigating and returned down to the boat.
David and Twig did their best, but found nothing. Hilda, Frida, and Amanda returned to the Sea Sparrow at the same time.
"Did you find anything?" David asked.
"Frida and I had no luck." Hilda said. "But I can breathe underwater now."
"Really? Cool." David said.
"That would explain those fins on your head." Amanda commented.
"Fins?" Hilda looked in the water and was surprised by her reflection.
She did indeed have fins on the sides of her head.
"Woah, it's just as I thought. What I did for that saltlion kitten earned me a new form."
"How many creatures can you turn into?" Amanda asked.
"This makes four." Hilda answered as her skin changed color. "Did you find anything?"
"Dah! Your new transformation distracted me." Amanda said with a facepalm. "I saw something move near the White Horse. It was too far to tell what."
"Then let's find out." Hilda said as her face changed shape.
She then noticed David looking more nervous than usual.
"David, are you alright?"
"Sorry. It's just that we're trying to save something that could eat us. And I know it's still you, but your new form isn't helping."
"Come on, David. We've been through scarier adventures before." Frida said.
"That's just it." David whined. "I feel like all we do now is have scary adventures and see fearsome creatures."
"And what's wrong with fearsome?" Amanda asked with her hands on her hips.
Frida and David were surprised by that question, for they had heard it before. They looked back and forth between Hilda and Amanda until David whined again.
"Oh no, there's two of them."
"What do you mean 'two of them'?" Hilda and Amanda asked at the same time, surprising each other again.
"Let's... just get going." Frida said.
The kids pulled the anchor back up and set sail, remaining quiet the whole way. When they finally saw the White Horse, Amanda flew up again and found what she spotted among the rocks before. She quickly came back down to tell the others what it is.
"It's a ship."
"How are we going to know if it has any of the saltlions?" David asked.
"How do you think?" Hilda replied just before she sprouted a new aquatic tail. "Frida will keep all of you invisible and use the locating spell while I make sure no other saltlions get caught and try to find a way inside. Try to stay in one spot if you can. If you hear three knocks, knock back because that'll mean I'm inside with the saltlions. David, we need someone to keep an eye on our boat, so you'll have to stay behind. Amanda, you're going to help Frida and Twig get on board and find me. And Twig, I need you to be Frida's substitute familiar while I'm busy. I'll be as careful as I can. Okay?"
Everybody agreed and Hilda dove into the water again. She tested her new body and started swimming to the ship with a little too much joy.
Back in the Sea Sparrow, Frida cast her spell and the group and boat were all invisible.
"Wow, I gotta admit, you've become quite amazing since we last met." Amanda said.
"I may have forgiven Kelly, but I still don't trust you." Frida said as she steered the Sea Sparrow to the ship.
Those words for a moment caused Amanda to feel something she didn't recognize. She knew it wasn't anything like joy, anger, or fear, but she couldn't tell what it was. Whatever it was, she didn't like it. After a few minutes, the team approached the ship and waited. Frida then cast the locating spell and searched for any saltlions. After a while, she stopped.
"Either the ship's too big, or the saltlions aren't here." she said. "It's up to Hilda now."
Back underwater, Hilda got close to the ship and looked for anything to prove the crew aboard either innocent or guilty. Then she finally spotted a couple of saltlions coming her way. That was when her clothes vanished and her body took a longer shape, completing the transformation. The saltlions approached her and merely smelled her and nothing else. Before Hilda could try to make them leave, it happened. A big hole opened from the ship's bottom and started sucking in the water. The saltlions including Hilda tried to fight it, but they were sucked in as well. They were pulled in through a big long tube and into a metal box of sea water where lots of other saltlions were being kept.
"I knew it. Poachers." Hilda said, still unable to believe what she was seeing.
An entire species was being kidnapped for selfish and horrible reasons and Hilda was never going to stand for this. She swam to the top and found some air. Apparently there were some feeding holes in the walls so the saltlions wouldn't starve, and they were big enough for a child to crawl through. Hilda leapt from the water and landed half way in one of the feeding holes. She struggled, but crawled the rest of the way through and fell onto a platform several feet above the floor. She managed to change back and looked around. There were even more containers of abducted saltlions which disgusted Hilda even more. She then noticed some people down below and knew she needed a way past them. She cleverly turned into an elf without shrinking and just quietly walked. Nobody saw her as she made her way around them. After reaching a certain point of the ship, she made it to where she guessed the others might be and knocked on the wall. Frida knocked back.
"Hilda found them." Frida said.
"Good luck." David wished.
Frida made the Sea Sparrow and David visible again so she and the others could find him when they get back. Amanda grabbed Frida and Twig and flew up to the deck. There were only a few on deck, most likely keeping a lookout for saltlions and/or other ships. Luckily they seemed to only be expecting big ships if so. Amanda remained in mid-air all the way to the first door the small team could find. After they touched the floor, Frida opened the door and down into the ship they went. The ship may be big, but all they had to do was keep going downstairs where Hilda waited for them. Twig led the way, sniffing the air for enemies. Sometimes they had to stop, but they remained uncaught.
"Hold up." Frida whispered before entering an empty room. "I found a phone."
"Seriously? Who could you possibly call at a time like this?" Amanda asked.
"The proper authorities." Frida dialed a number and waited.
Gerda was at her desk finishing some written changes to how things worked in Safety Patrol when the phone rang. She added the last few words and answered.
"This is Gerda, head of Safety Patrol. How can we help?"
"Gerda? It's me. Frida."
"Oh. Hello, Frida. What seems to be the trouble?"
"Does the Safety Patrol do anything about poachers?"
"Poachers? Our top concern may be the people of Trolberg, but we do not tolerate illegal hunting! Where is this happening?"
"There's a ship near the White Horse that's kidnapping saltlions. Please hurry. It could leave at any time."
"We're on our way."
Gerda hung up and grabbed her essentials before leaving her office.
After the phone call ended. Frida, Amanda, and Twig continued to the ship's bottom. It was mostly a perfect run before they reached their destination. Frida opened the door and Twig entered first. He sniffed around and found the coast to be clear. Frida and Amanda then entered the room and were just as shocked as Hilda was by all of the aquatic prisoners. Luckily the room was now empty of poachers, so the team started looking for Hilda and quietly calling her name. Hilda heard them and followed their voices. However because they were all still invisible, nobody knew where each other was going.
BOOF!
Frida undid the spell and Hilda changed back. It turned out that Hilda and Amanda bumped into each other and fell on their butts. Frida couldn't help giggling at their little collision while Twig ran up and nuzzled Hilda.
"Let me guess. A nisse?" Amanda said.
"An elf actually." Hilda answered. "You can only see them if you sign the proper paperwork. Which is weird, because we should've passed through each other."
"Must've been because you weren't completely in elf form." Frida said. "But now what?"
"Well the poachers think the room is empty and already left, so I found the controls for the machine that did all this." Hilda said. "Do you think you can reverse it?"
"I'll have to see it first." Frida said.
Hilda showed her where the controls were and let her examine it.
"I don't think magic can help this time." Frida decided. "I'll have to figure it out manually."
"We'll keep an eye out." Hilda said.
Frida got started with the controls while Hilda, Amanda, and Twig stood nearby watching the only way in and out of the room.
"I still can't get over that your friend is now a witch." Amanda said.
"Well she's more like a witch in training." Hilda replied. "And I still can't believe that your friend somehow convinced her to do anything with her after what you did. No offense."
"Eh, none taken." Amanda said. "And to make things clear, Frida didn't know."
"Really?"
"It's true." Frida paused what she was doing. "I only found out her secret on the same night as you and David. Though there have been moments with Kelly that should've tipped me off."
FLASHBACK
Frida and Kelly were entering a forest with the latter leading the way and the former feeling a little nervous.
"Are you sure it's safe out here?" Frida asked.
"Would I lie to you?" Kelly replied.
Frida said nothing the rest of the way. They finally arrive at what looked like a campsite that somehow set off an alarm in Frida's head. She wondered where Kelly's friends were until a voice she recognized spoke.
"So it is the same girl." the voice said.
Frida turned around in horror to see Amanda floating in mid-air, eyes glowing and hair flowing up.
"This is gonna be interesting." Amanda said with a grin.
Suddenly a flash was heard behind Frida. She turned back around and saw a green fire as well as the other five marra appearing one by one.
"Wait. If you're here, then that means..." Frida slowly turned to look at her so-called friend. "You're one of them?"
"You got a problem with that?" Kelly asked as her eyes glowed green.
Frida desperately wanted to leave, but she was too scared to say how she felt or do anything. In her mind, she was left with only one option.
"No." she said with her head down.
"Good. Now who wants to go first?" Kelly said.
"Trust me, Hilda. If Frida had known what Kelly was sooner, she would've already gone crawling back to you." Amanda said.
Hilda felt relieved to know that one of her best friends didn't join a bunch of bad people on purpose after all. Then after Frida got back to work, Hilda noticed that Amanda's attention was somewhere else. She was looking at some of the saltlions and showing a sad face full of... sympathy?
"You care about the saltlions, don't you, Amanda?" Hilda asked.
"What? I have no idea what you're talking about." Amanda pulled up her hood and crossed her arms while her pig tails stuck out.
*Gasp* "So that's what you were really doing in that cave. You've been looking for them too. That's why you agreed to help us."
"Ugh, fine. Yes." Amanda pulled her hood back down and confessed. "I've always liked scary things even before I even heard of marra. It's what makes them special to me. I don't just look for scary things for fear, I do it for fun. Sometimes I get scared of whatever I come across, but it is so worth it. When you told me about the chance of these guys being stolen, I couldn't just let someone take away something I love."
Hilda was speechless. All this time, her former enemy was basically a horror version of herself and she didn't know it. Finally she said something.
"I know how you feel. I love having adventures everyday. Sometimes it can be very traumatic, but such is the life of an adventurer."
Amanda was surprised. The idea of relating to a non-marra actually made her smile. Suddenly, an alarm went off.
"I must've touched an emergency button by mistake!" Frida said. "You need to stall them somehow!"
"Maybe I can barricade the door." Hilda said as she turned into a troll thanks to a lack of windows.
"Wait." Amanda said. "I have a different idea. But you're probably not gonna like it."
A little while later, at least ten of the poachers came down to the room with rifles in their hands. They barged through the door and searched for the intruders. But only the saltlions were visible in the now dark and mostly empty room. Then they heard a creepy sound. They looked around, but no one was there. Some of them felt something brush their arms, legs, or sides, but didn't see a thing. Then just as all of them started to show fear, something appeared before them. It seemed to be all black at first. Then it lowered it's arms and revealed the face of a troll. It roared so loud that it echoed through the whole room and stared at the bad guys with glowing pink eyes.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" all of them dropped their weapons and ran out of the room like they never ran before. "GHOST TROLL!"
"All clear." Hilda said before sliding out of Amanda's sweater and landing on the floor. "That was a good idea, Amanda."
"Thanks." Amanda said after popping her head and legs back out.
Frida made herself visible again and got back to work.
"I think I've got it now." she said.
After a little more fiddling, she finally got the screen to say "REVERSE SUCTION".
"Yes!" Frida then hit the final button.
The machine started pulling the water and all of the saltlions back through the tubes.
"Let's get out of here." Hilda said.
However, the ship began to move.
"The ship's moving!" Frida said. "Someone must've figure out they weren't safe here. We need to keep them here!"
"Why?" Hilda asked.
"Frida called someone to get these guys." Amanda answered.
"Then I'll just stop the ship." Hilda said. "Does anyone know where the engine is?"
"It's probably near the propellers that push the ship." Frida guessed.
Hilda ran to the back wall of the room and punched a hole through it. Since metal walls are a lot thinner than the stone one that surrounds Trolberg, it was much easier to break through for a troll. She tore the hole bigger and went through. Luckily she already entered the engine room where only two people were working. The moment they saw her, they screamed and ran out. Frida, Twig, and Amanda came through the hole and watched what Hilda was doing. She smashed random pieces of the engines, then found the parts that connect to the propellers and tore them apart after they stopped spinning.
"That should do it. Now we can leave."
Hilda became a big elf again and Frida recast the invisibility spell on herself and the others. They all ran back up the stairs while avoiding anyone they could bump into. They reached the deck and after not seeing anyone became visible again. Then they looked down at the water and quickly found the Sea Sparrow, but realized they overlooked something. The saltlions were all jumping around like crazy either celebrating their freedom, fighting each other, or looking for food. Their rapid actions were rocking the Sea Sparrow with David still in it.
"David!" Hilda and Frida cried out.
"AHHH!" David held on tight to the mast and panicked more than ever.
Unfortunately, one too many splashes forced him to let go and fall into the sea.
"Hang on, David! I'm coming!" Hilda jumped off the ship, became a saltlion mid-fall, and dove into the water.
David tried to swim away, but all of the sudden waves were too much for him. Just when one of the free saltlions was about to chomp down on him, Hilda grabbed him and swam away. Thanks to her new form, they got away from all of the chaos and yet David was still panicking.
"Let me go! I don't want to be eaten!" he cried.
"David! It's me!" Hilda said.
"Oh." David stopped.
Back on the ship, Frida, Twig, and Amanda saw the whole rescue and knew they couldn't leave on the Sea Sparrow. Much to Frida's surprise, Amanda picked her and Twig up and flew off the ship with them.
"You're not leaving us behind?" she asked.
"I said I'd help, so that's what I'm doing." Amanda said. "Unless you want to stay on a ship full of poachers."
Frida felt like her brain just broke. One of the jerks who once left her and her friends to die has just done the opposite. On the way back to shore, they noticed a couple of ships passing them with Gerda standing aboard the lead ship's bow. Frida felt good to know those poachers weren't going to cause any more trouble.
They eventually reached an empty beach and found Hilda and David, the former back in human form except for her new tail. After Amanda landed, Frida and Twig ran to check on their friends. Hilda was okay, but David had trauma written all over him.
"I think David just needs a little time to recover from what happened." Hilda said. "How are you guys doing?"
"We had to leave the Sea Sparrow behind, but we're alright." Frida said. "Plus the poachers are being arrested as we speak."
"Well now that the saltlions are all okay, I'm done here. Later." Amanda said before walking away.
"Amanda, wait." Hilda said.
Amanda stopped and saw Hilda catch up to her.
"Thank you for helping us. We wouldn't have gotten very far without you." Hilda held out her hand.
"Eh, no problem." Amanda took Hilda's hand and they shook. "Just don't expect me to make a habit out of it."
When they let go, Twig came up and did something they didn't expect. He rubbed up against Amanda's leg.
"I'm glad you helped too." Twig said.
"Twig thanks you too." Hilda translated. "I can understand deerfoxes and trolls now. Probably saltlions too."
"Uh, okay." Amanda turned back around and left the beach with a smile.
Hilda and Twig then heard something from the water. They turned and saw their boat miraculously coming to shore with only minimal damage. Hilda happily got in the water and pulled the boat the rest of the way.
"Frida! David! The Sea Sparrow's alright!" she said.
"Hilda, I don't think they're interested in that right now." Twig said.
"Huh?" Hilda looked at her friends to see David being silent and Frida trying to make him talk.
She made her tail vanish and ran over to them with Twig by her side.
"Come on, David." Frida said. "The saltlions are far away now. You don't have to worry about them anymore."
"It's alright, David." Hilda said. "Just please say something. Anything."
David said something alright. Something the girls weren't prepared for.
"I'm done."
"What?" Hilda and Frida asked.
"I'm done with all of this!" David shouted. "I tried to accept everything that comes with being your friend, Hilda! Repeatedly! But things just keep getting scarier and deadlier! This time was the worst one ever! And now you're making friends with that evil spirit!? I can't take any of this anymore!"
"But, David, you've made so much progress." Hilda said. "You didn't have a problem with all of those trolls that night."
"None of those trolls tried to eat me!" David ranted. "You're adventures are only going to get worse from here on out! I can't keep up with you two anymore! All you girls ever wanna do now always has something to do with one of those monsters!"
"Now that's going too far." Hilda argued. "You know as well as us that these are all creatures, not monsters. Do you even know who you're starting to sound like? It was just a traumatic experience."
"Will you stop saying 'traumatic'!?" David yelled. "You don't really know anything about that word!"
"No, Hilda's right." Frida said. "You're not thinking straight. If you calm down, maybe we can help."
Then David said something none of them would ever forget.
"The only reason you're taking her side all the time now is because you decided to be a FLIPPIN WITCH!"
*Gasp!* The look on Frida's face was pure devastation. She loved learning magic and one of her best friends just pushed her away for it.
"If that's how you really feel, then fine. I don't need you." Frida stormed off.
Hilda was almost as shocked as Frida was by those cruel words. She and Twig slowly followed Frida and looked at David possibly for the last time as a friend.
"I hope you enjoy a life without any danger." she genuinely said.
In a matter of minutes, David was alone on the beach. He didn't celebrate his freedom. He didn't say anything like 'good riddens'. He didn't even have any ideas for what to do now. He just sat there and looked out at the ocean. He wrapped his arms around his legs as a tear slid down his cheek.
Author's Note: I'm sorry you had to read that sour note ending. I thought it would be an interesting idea if David reached a breaking point similar to how Frida once behaved (Though I might've made him a little too out of character). Plus out of the chapters I have planned, this was the best choice for it to happen in. Believe me when I say I know what I'm doing. Now for the rest of the chapter. I hope you like my most recent choice yet for one of Hilda's transformations. I'm going for variety and that obviously includes something to go swimming as. Speaking of which, I thought it would be a good idea to have a chapter about saltlions since they're only ever just in the show. And then there's the marra. Last time, she and Hilda were in a forced alliance and the elephant in that particular room was acknowledged. This time, I had them find a common ground. If you think about it, Hilda and the marra having something in common makes sense. They like the very things that scare others (And yes I know you could say that about all of the marra). For example, one of them called the Rat King fun and the other constantly trades secrets with him. And for the record, I know at least some of you disagree with what I wrote about Frida not knowing immediately what Kelly was, but I've thought about it and observed the best I could and I stand by my opinion. And now to end this with a fun fact. I based two moments in this chapter off of panels from the Hilda books. And it won't be the last time I do such a thing. Have fun guessing which two.