The Octopod was sitting on the seafloor in the Gulf of Carpentaria and business was as usual. Captain Barnacles was in the HQ surveying the monitors.
"Dashi," he called, "let's check up on Shellington and Peso's progress with the creature survey."
"Aye-aye captain," she said and pressed a button on one of the control panels. Soon Shelington's face appeared on one of the screens above.
"Shelington, do you read me?" Captain Barnacles asked
"I hear you loud and clear captain," Shelington replied.
"How's the creature survey going?"
"It's all going well, I've been cataloguing all of the different creatures and Peso has been giving them a quick checkup and a sticker for their time. I've been wanting to see some sharks but sadly, none yet."
The two octonauts had set up their base of operations in a coral reef and there was a long queue of various sea creatures lined up waiting for their turn to see them. Shelington and Peso had been slowly surveying the health of the ecosystem in the gulf. Shelington had a table in his notebook with all of the different creatures of his book and peso had a clipboard summarising the health of each animal
"And what creature might you be?" Shelington asked the creature at the front of the queue.
"Oh, I'm just a cuttlefish," it said.
Shelington placed a tally mark in the cuttlefish box and the cephalopod swam over to Peso.
"Hello there," Peso said ," have you been feeling well?"
"Oh yes, I feel just fine." the cuttle fish replied.
"Ok, this won't hurt a bit," Peso said ,"now said aaaaaaaa"
"Aaaaaa" the fish said, opening its mouth. Peso inserted the tongue depressor into its beaked jaw. Peso inspected the fish's mouth and then pulled out the tongue depressor.
"You're all, good," the medic announced, "here's a sticker for being so brave."
Peso plonked a sticker on the side of the cuttle fish but the sticker didn't stick properly and began to sink down through the ocean.
"Oh no!" the cuttlefish exclaimed " I'll get it."
The Cuttle fish swam its way down after the sticker. The sticker continued to drift downwards, slowly falling towards a patch of sand, just next to an overhang of coral. The sticker was close to the bottom now and the cuttlefish was about to catch it when it was an eye from the sand looking back up at it .
Suddenly the sand itself seemed to jump up at the cuttle fish and try to clamp its jaws around it. The cephalopod tried to swim away but it seemed to be getting sucked into the gaping mouth by some sort of current.
"Oh no," the cuttlefish said ,"it's sucking me in!"
But soon the strange current that seemed to be pulling the cuttlefish in stopped and it fled.
"... And then a strange creature, that seemed to be part of the sand, tried to eat me. It tried to suck me into its mouth but luckily i got away, oh it was really scary."
A handful of the octonauts were in the HQ gathered around the cuttlefish that was in a fish bowl.
"Shelington?" Barnacles asked, "Do you have any idea what this creature might be?"
"As of now, no," Shelington said ,"there's just not enough information but it seems like some sort of ambush predator."
"Ahh matey," Kwazy said ,"this be no ordinary predator, this creature is none other than theTerrible Sand Beast!"
Peso gulped and Kwazi continued.
"aye , the Sand Beast lies in wait on the see floor, waiting until an unsuspecting ship strays too close. The beast then opens its massive mouth and creates a massive whirlpool, that sucks the ship down. Never to be seen again."
"Kwazi,I don't think we'll be dealing with any giant sea beasts," the captain said, "but there is something out there, and we need to find it before someone gets hurt. Peso, sound the Octo-alert!"
Peso Jumped over to the button and sounded the Octo-alert.
"Octonauts! To the launch bay!"
(I'm not going to describe the process of the Octo-alert because ,if you're reading this, you know how it works already.)
All of the octonauts soon arrived at the launch bay.
"Octonauts, we have an issue," Captain Barnacles announced ,"our cuttlefish friend has been attacked by some kind of creature that hides in the sand. Our mission is to find it, before someone gets hurt. Peso Kwazi and I will travel to the reef in the Gup-A Shelington, Dashi and Tweak, into the Gup-C and Inkling can hold down the fort. Octonauts, let's do this!"
The two groups of octonauts soon arrived at the reef and fanned out looking for the creature. Each was equipped with a net
(time for a searching montage!"
Scene 1:
Tweek swam to the sea floor and picked up a large rock, underneath it were loads of tiny crabs which panicked and started scuttling away in every direction.
"Oops," Tweek apologised ,"sorry little fellas."
She placed the rock back and swam off.
Scene 2
Kwazi was cautiously stepping across the seabed keeping his eyes out for the sand beast. Suddenly, Kwazi spun around and brought down his net on...
Absolutely nothing.
"Doh," he said defeated
Scene 3
Shelington was scanning the sea bed with his magnifying glass. All he could see was sand until suddenly he saw the massive mouth of a creature lunging towards him.
"AaAaAaAAAAAaAaaaaA" he screamed Jumping backwards and taking the magnifying glass away from his eye. However, once he was no longer looking through the magnifying glass, it was revealed that the creature was actually a tiny little fish, being enlarged by the magnifying glass.
"Oh," Shelington sighed, "it's just an Australian Goatfish."
"Yea, and what's it to ya!" the goatfish shouted back and then swam off.
Scene 4
Peso was swimming about, keeping his eyes trained on the seafloor, when he saw some movement, a little rustle in the sand. There was also a prominent bulge in the sand in that area. Peso gulped and tentatively swam down and raised the net over his head. He swung the net down and the creature in the sand jumped up and screamed "YOW!"
Once the sand had settled, Peso could see that he had not caught a monster, but instead he had caught a Kwazi
"Matey!" Kwazi exclaimed ,"what are you doing, you scared the life out of me. Uhhhh, i mean *Ahem* you gave me a little shock."
"Kwazi," Peso replied, shaking her head ,"what were you doing under the sand?"
"Aye, I was thinking. So this beast ambushes its victims. So how do you find it? Well you beat it at its own game."
"So, you're trying to ambush the ambusher," Peso said
"Yes, now I must get back to work, this sand beast won't capture itself."
And with that Kwazi buried himself back into the sand.
Scene 5
Dashi was swimming along until she saw a patch of sand, just next to an overhang of corral.
"Hmm, I might as well check here." she said.
She touched down on the seafloor and crouched down to look into the alcove that was created by the overhanging coral. At the back of the little alcove, there was a little fish, swimming back and forth aimlessly.
"I know," she said ,"i'll ask that fish if they've seen any sand beasts around."
Dashi started to swim into the alcove when suddenly the sand beast jumped and bit her leg.
"OUCH!" Dashi shouted. Using her hands and her uninjured leg she managed to swim away from the overhang and to safety.
"Octonauts," Dashi said into her comm microphone ,"requesting backup."
Back on the Octopod, all of the octonauts were gathered around Dashi who was sitting on a sick bed while peso looked at her leg.
"Hmm, looks like it needs a bandage," said Peso. he went and got his bandages and then applied them with a "hup-cha-hoy-a"
"Thanks Peso," Dashi thanked.
"Now Dashi," Captain Barnacles asked ,"tell us what happened."
"I was looking for the creature," Dashi told ,"when I saw a little overhang of corral. I looked underneath it and there was a little fish swimming at the back of the alcove. I tried to ask it if it had seen anything but, that was when the creature attacked."
"Hmm," the captain pondered ,"Shelington, Kwazi, to the Gup-A. We're going to find this sand beast once and for all!"
The Gup-A shot from the Octo-hatch with Barnacles, Shellington and Kwazi inside. Shelington pressed a button on the control panel and Dashi's face appeared on screen.
"Dashi," Captain Barnacles said ," Tweek has installed a camera on the front of the gup so that you can see where we are going without having to move."
Dashi was still in the sickbed, resting her leg. There was a laptop on her lap that she was talking to Captain Barnacles through. She switched to a different tab which already had the new view loaded.
"I got it cap," She affirmed.
"Ok, would you be able to guide us to the place that you were attacked," the captain asked.
"You got it!"
The gup began its journey to the place of the incident. The gups turns were erratic and crazy because there were communication issues.
"Ok, now to the right," Dashi said as the gup shook violently, "now up. No, you went too far, go down now. Ok, now go towards that ridge. NO! Not that ridge, the other ridge!"
Eventually the Gup-A made it to the site and the octonauts got the gup.
"Now no sudden moves mateys," Kwazi said ,"this sand beast could be anywhere around here."
"Actually," Shelington corrected ," ambush predators usually don't move very much. It's probably right by that ledge, where Dashi said it was."
The group swam down to the ledge and treaded water just above it. Captain Barnacles reached into the little bag that is attached to his belt and pulled out a fish biscuit. He dropped the biscuit and watched as it slowly sunk to the bottom.
Suddenly the sand beast leapt up from the sand and ate the biscuit.
"Hold it right there!" Barnacles shouted
"Uh oh," the creature said, and swam back into the alcove.
"Follow that thing!" Kwazi shouted and the team swam after the creature. They looked into the alcove but couldn't see the creature anywhere.
"Where'd it go?" Kwazi exclaimed ,"I saw it go in here."
"We know you're here," the captain boomed ,"show yourself."
"Oh alright alright," said a voice from the sand and out came the beast.
It was a very flat fish. It had a mottled sandy coloured body and lots of little hanging tassels around its mouth, like the fraying edge of a carpet. It had a long tail lined with stubby fins.
(I can't put images in these stories but i recomend looking up what a real life wobbegong looks like so you can get an idea of what the animated one would look like.)
"Hmm," Kwazii hummed inspecting the creature ,"you don't look very beastly. I expected more from the Terrible Sand Beast."
"Terrible sand beast," the creature, "nahh mate, i'm just a Tasselled Wobbegong. The name's Wally." ( Wally has an australian accent because he is an australian fish, i'll try and make the accents match the region because i want to)
"Hello there Wally," Shelington said ," may i ask you why you have been attacking octonauts and innocent stickers."
"Ah well, for the sticker, I just did what I always do," Wally said ,"I'm an ambush predator. What I do is I lie in wait until the food comes to me. That sticker just looked like food. As for your friend, she looked scary, I was only trying to protect myself. I'm sorry if I hurt em."
(If this all seems really cheesy, i bid you watch an actual episode of Octonauts with the same mindset.)
"Aye, that's ok matey," Kwazii said ,"but how do you keep disappearing? It's like you can turn invisible."
"Ah ,well, that's my best trick." the wobbegong said ,"my skin is the perfect colour to blend in with the sand."
To demonstrate Wally swam down to the seabed and nestled himself in. in the sand he was almost invisible, blending in with his surroundings.
" My flat fins and my tassels also help me stay hidden, so the fish I eat can't see me and the fish that want to eat me, also can't see me. I can also wave my tail about in the water. It looks like a fish swimming back and forth, which can fool actual fish into thinking the area is safe."
The wobbegong waved its tail in the air, showing how it looks like a fish.
"So that was the fish Dashi was trying to talk to," Captain Barnacles said.
"Fascinating," Shelington said, inspecting the wobbegong with his magnifying glass, "all of these features make wobbegongs a very efficient hunters, it's amazing to see one in the wild."
"Well, it's my pleasure," Wally replied
"Shelington," Barnacles said ,"so you know what this means?"
Shelington was about to reply but Kwazii cut him off.
"What is it captain!" Kwazii said excitedly.
"It means, you can finally add that shark you were looking for on your survey." the Captain answered.
"You're right," Shelington said. He pulled his notebook out of his pocket and drew a new box. He wrote above it 'Tasseled Wobbegongs' and put one tally mark in the box.
"Anyway," the captain said ,'' we best be going. There's only eight octonauts to monitor the entire ocean so we are rather busy."
"Well, I won't keep you," Wally said ,"bye then."
"Bye!" The octonauts shouted and swam back to the gup.
"Can I drive back, captain?" Kwazii asked.
"No Kwazii, last time you drove there and back," the captain replied.
"But I wanna drive," Kwazi complained ,"here now just let me..."
As the two squabbled over the controls, the Gup-A spiralled out of control and crashed into the seabed as the screen fades to black.
~Creature report~*
Calling all Octonauts!
Kwazii, Peso, Shelington, Dashi, Inkling ,Tweek
Tunip!
Kwazi, activate creature report!
Creature report! Creature report! Creature report!
Facts:
Wobbegongs are not very large
Check! Check! Check!
So they rely on camouflage
Check! Check! Mee!
Instead of having to chase after prey
Creature Report! Creature Report!
It waits for prey to come to the place it stays
Creature Report! Creature Report!
If it waves it's tail, through the sea
Check! Check! Chup!
It looks just like a fish, to give a false sense of safety
Dance Break!
Go Wobbegong, Go Wobbegong,Go Wobbegong!
Creature report! Creature report! Creature report!
We're done with our mission!
Octonauts at ease, until the next adventure!
(if i made any factual mistakes about the fish that aren't for cartoon's sake, then feel free to yell at me in the comments.)