Happy 2025! I hope everyone has a had a great New Years. I know its already almost Valentine's Day, but better say it late than never!
"Are.. are you sure it's around here?"
Douglas looked back at the plant who asked. "Y-Yeah. It should be around here. It... it's invisible, so there isn't anything to look at. I just…stumbled upon it when I was drifting."
Douglas turned around to try and see if he could find anything out of the ordinary. He didn't see anything, but he just knew it was still here. It had to be.
The plant couldn't help but remind himself of how far he has come and that he turned out ok in the end. The blue lobster citron believed he was the luckiest sea creature around. Found by what seemed to be a strange iron citron when he was going through what he deemed as the scariest days of his life, and being saved by the strange looking armored plant from out of nowhere.
He completely found that ship, or maybe submarine by accident, but that was probably the best thing to have happened for him, especially in the situation he found himself in before.
He was caught by zombies fishing for ocean plants, and being a lobster citron, a rare blue one, the zombies were frenzied to obtain him. It was more likely that they'll sell him rather than eat him, since rare plants like himself would pay big from some zombie companies. They did what they could to try and keep him in their grasp, but there were some strong winds and waves at the time, so it eventually resulted in the net he was in to snap, allowing him to escape. He could still hear the zombies groan in rage as he left the area.
He was free, but he still had part of the net stuck on him. The zombies were doing what they could to try and pull him back during the intense weather, which resulted in said net to coil around his tail painfully during the chaos. When he got far enough away he tried to remove it, unfortunately his species have rather wide bodies, and he could barely graze the remains of the net with his claws. He tried to cut it off by rubbing against sharp rocks, but the net was very much embedded into his softer flesh, he couldn't cut it off that way.
With nothing else to do, he tried to make his way back towards the known reef and seek help for his predicament. The net wouldn't allow him to swim well, it was causing him pain and he just couldn't swim too hard nor fast, he couldn't take it, it was starting to drive him nuts. He needed to drift for much of the journey to his destination, despite the risks of going off his intended path.
That was when he bumped into something.
He couldn't see it, but he could feel it. When he hit it hard enough, he could see ripples of something when he did, it was hard to see but it was there. It reminded him of the ripples of water on the surface. Even when everything was moving, he wanted to stay still, both to rest and try to understand where he needed to go, for the reef wasn't too far now, he just needed to try and swim as carefully as possible, and not worsen his injury especially since he has seen small strings of his blood from the corner of his eye due to the net scraping. As much as he was curious as to what he had stumbled upon, he had his well being to worry about. He really thought things might be over.
Until he met the strange citron.
Whomever they were, he was truly thankful for helping him. They removed the net and healed him, even if it wasn't perfect, it was far better than the pain he was dealing with before. He didn't understand why they took him inside in that weird bubble, they could've just have picked him up regularly and brought him in more easily that way, but they healed him, and that's what mattered to him.
Once they released him into the water, he quickly swam away towards the reef. He could still feel some pain from his tail, but he could now swim almost normally at least. He can't complain about that.
When he reached the reef however, he was horrified.
Rocks and large coral structures were broken or simply gone. He saw a few trails of blood decorating a few rocks and corals, and didn't even let him get started at the amount of injured and bleeding ocean plants he had seen. He was told by a passing squid rose that there was a major raid by the zombies to capture plants, and they lost many of them.
Based on the damage he has seen around the area, this was a big one. The fact that the reef looks, and even feels empty just adds to the solemn atmosphere. Seeing the many injured individuals he had seen along the way just made it worse.
He saw an eel peashooter with some part of his tail missing, an anemone flower missing many of her feelers around her head, and even an adult lobster citron with a large bite mark on his body. He spotted another nearby, but had part of her shell caved in. It genuinely horrified the little blue crustacean and had to look away.
Through the place, he has managed to explore and find two sea plants he was familiar with. They weren't doing well either. A young squid rose was hit by rocky shrapnel from explosive projectiles the zombies launched to scare plants out of hiding. The young plant had a massive cut on her stem, which was being cared for by the plant next to her as best as possible. He was trying to stop the bleeding and stop it from turning worse, but it was still painful and she couldn't move much because of it.
The plant next to her, an older green eel peashooter, had bleeding close to his eye and had a shark bite mark on the middle of his tail, making it hard for him to swim without just flinching in pain. His injured eye was closed, but at the very least it didn't look like he would end up losing it. He simply couldn't open them up at the moment, and right now, he was busy tending to the young squid rose in his care. He was wrapping fat strips of seaweed around her waist after he laddled that region with a sticky, medicinal mixture he received from another fellow plant nearby.
Once he was done, he sighed and swam back to look at his work. That was when he noticed Douglas.
He waved and greeted him kindly, asking how he was, and asking where he was during the attack.
Douglas told him that he wasn't anywhere nearby when it happened, he was adrift. He was nearly caught by zombie fishermen somewhere else, and while he ended up escaping, he got part of their net tightly tangled on his tail. It was cutting into him, and making it difficult, oftentimes impossible to swim how he wants to.
Both the eel and peashooter looked at Douglas' tail, and he commented he must have managed to get it out, as he doesn't have it anymore. Douglas tells him that someone actually helped him and healed his injuries.
The eel curiously asked about this individual, and Douglas told him that he has no clue who they are. They wore full body armor, and not once did they take it off, or their visor, he has no clue what species of citron they are. Douglas believes he may have stumbled into some super secret underwater operation since the... submarine ship was invisible. He had no clue it was there until he bumped on top of it.
This eel peashooter had a variety of emotions, but then asked how he was treated, did they hurt him or anything?
Douglas responded with no, the strange citron looked him over after taking him inside some kind of bubble, and then healed him, he didn't have a clue what they did or used, but he was pretty happy he was now fine.
That was when the squid rose asked if they might be able to help them too, referring to herself and the eel peashooter with their injuries.
Douglas wasn't sure, he never heard the plant speak or say anything, he has no clue what they are like, and doesn't know if they would want to help them. Douglas doesn't really know if there wasn't some ulterior motive to healing him. Douglas then asked about going to the LEAF base, which is the nearest location that can help them.
The two were afraid. Yes, the LEAF base is probably the best place to go. Many ocean plants would go there when they needed to, until the zombies moved in next to the place years ago. This made the trip to the base, especially with injured plants like them, easy pickings for the zombies. There also were not a lot of plants that could make the trip together, they liked safety in numbers.
Douglas thought about it. He could see the reason behind it, but he wasn't entirely sure if the strange being would like to be disturbed, especially with helping two more plants. The trip would be long, since he remembered the unknown plant being miles away, while the LEAF base's coast was only around half that distance. Going towards said coast is also certified zombie territory. It could end up with more plants being injured, or dying by the time they make it through them.
Douglas didn't want to bother that citron again, but the little crustacean couldn't bear to see fellow plants being hurt, or dying. Plants are probably dying from their injuries as the three of them spoke. Truthfully, Douglas would prefer to take the invisible submarine over heading to what is certain one hundred percent zombie territory to reach LEAF.
He just hoped that the citron was not in something super important, because they would be getting in the way of whatever it could be.
He told the two he'll help them reach the armored citron. The eel pea was pleased while the squid rose was extremely happy. The eel pea then thought of something, and quickly moved towards a rock nearby, taking something from behind it.
He then came back and showed them what it was, a tattered bag full of coins.
Where he got those coins from, mostly from old sunken vessels, particularly from zombies. There are quite a few sunken pirate vessels around the area, and ocean plants take these places to scavenge anything useful, whether its food, materials, and even currency. Ocean plants don't really use currency amongst themselves and mostly use it to trade with terrestrial plants or humans, or the extremely rare non-hostile zombie.
The eel pea explained they could give this money as compensation to the citron for helping them, and Douglas believed it could work. The eel pea gave the lobster citron the bag while he helped the squid rose, carrying her as best as he could without further worsening her injuries. The three left the little cave and watched other ocean plants try to get a sense of normalcy.
An eel peashooter saw the three and asked how they were, in which they answered they were okay, not fantastic, but ok. The eel, noticing their injuries, asked if they were actually headed towards LEAF, as it's the only sensible place injured sea plants would go for roper healing.
They three looked at each other, wondering what they should say. Douglas was too shy to answer, so the pea with the squid rose said they were heading somewhere else, as they were worried about the large zombie presence they knew would be there.
It wasn't just the general zombie presence there, but after zombies go fishing, they almost always go for the Backyard base straight away to show Zomboss their catches. This means going there will result in hostile problems for the ocean plants due to the increased zombie activity. Zombies have been known to take advantage of this fact, terrorizing populated oceanic areas, and waiting for injured plants to head to the Backyard to find help, and then likely end up getting caught by them as extra catches.
The aquatic plant looked thoughtful, then asked if he could come with them. His brother was hurt, and needed help, but just like the three, were too afraid of going to LEAF for the same reasons they weren't going there. The brothers were considering going despite the risks, but if these three were heading to an alternative place without the undead being present then they were willing to take it.
The three couldn't help but agree to allow them to go with them. One of the reasons was safety in numbers, but also, the eel's brother was in a lot of pain and couldn't tell if his injuries were fatal or not, and they were willing to bring their own bag of money as compensation to the citron.
Douglas believed they were all that was certain to go there, only the three of them. Then came thirty minutes later, and they ended up being joined by several others, also seeking medical aid, but too scared to go to land. Some of them had injuries that required immediate attention, but Douglas couldn't entirely fault them.
Douglas was becoming nervous at the numbers, both because they may bring attention to themselves and that the individual he met won't want to try and help such a large number of plants. Douglas believed he was helped by mere circumstance and not simply by kindness, even if he was grateful for their help.
He just isn't sure if the plant would want to help this many in such a short period of time. They probably have their own agenda to be busy with, but once the knowledge of another place for healing went around, they ended up with a much larger group than anticipated. He could hear hopes and expectations being said as he went around, and Douglas… was having a hard time wanting to turn them down, but couldn't bring himself to do it.
In the end, around twenty something ocean plants went to follow him towards the general area of where he found the strange citron. Douglas wasn't good with crowds, and seeing all these plants stare at him with their expectation made him pale a slight bit, but this was a situation he got himself into, and it's better to see it to the end. Besides, a part of him was genuinely curious as to what the citron is and what they were doing, if they even wanted to talk to him about anything. Perhaps it's better to just… say nothing and let them take care of the plants with him.
Most of the plants brought some form of currency to pay the citron. Most had bags of money, those that didn't instead had other valuables, sometimes gems, such as diamonds from sunken chests, or pearls from clams. Those that didn't have any of those brought sea shells instead. Douglas wasn't sure if sea shells would count, but with everything else the others were bringing, he believed this was enough.
Now, after traveling miles away from the reef, almost double the distance to LEAF with virtually no complications on the way, here they were. Douglas was staring around the empty sea, looking for the submarine, the invisible one that is.
Douglas felt his nerves get to him, for he had several plants now counting their health, and for a select few, probably their lives due to the severity of their injuries. There was also the fact the ship, submarine, whatever the vessel was, can be invisible.
But… what if it was not there anymore? He could be looking in the area for hours and never realize it's not in the spot he stumbled on? The plants who came with him would have traveled all this way for nothing! Time that could have been used to try and rough it out towards LEAF even with zombies in the way. Why did he agree to this...
The young plant looked around, feeling his heart rate start to pick up as time passed. From the corner of his eye he could see the plants start to get restless. He wasn't sure how else to answer the plant's question. He wasn't even sure if it was around here anymore!
Douglas asked them to stay here while he swam forward to try and look closer.
There really wasn't anything out of the ordinary, everything looked as normal under the sea. Right now there was almost an entire kilometer of water between them and the ocean floor in this area, so there was nothing but open ocean. And there was nothing.
Douglas went back to the group, feeling disappointment. He told them he wasn't entirely sure where the plant was, but he wouldn't be here without the citron's help. He was only hoping that they were around and they might be inclined to help them, especially since the plants were willing to offer payments and not just be free healthcare.
Douglas was about to say something when the young squid rose pointed at something in the distance, causing him, and other ocean plants to turn at what she was pointing to. His eyes widened when he saw it.
In the distance, they all saw something floating in the middle of the water. No, not something, it was someone. Douglas and the others stood stock still, just staring at the figure. He was trying to see who or what it was, and while he couldn't see specific features, one thing he noticed was the fact that the figure was round in a way that was very citron-like, and if he squinted, he could see smidgets of pink on black on the being as well, with an orange blob in the center. It could only mean one thing.
Douglas slowly began to swim towards them. The other plants remained where they were, not sure what to do. Douglas didn't seem to mind, but he was very, very sure this was who it was, he just needed to get closer. And as he did, he could see better who it was. The shape, the colors, the details, it was the same as he first saw them.
It was in fact them, that citron from the other day. They were here, they were still here!
Douglas' mind flipped around excitedly. He then upped his speed just a bit, enough to put some distance between himself and the others. As he neared, he saw the shiny armor, and the orange looking visor. They didn't move at all when he approached, and he wasn't sure what to make of this person. He couldn't really see what kind of reaction they had due to the visor. He hoped there was a happy, or at least a neutral face underneath.
Douglas soon came within ten feet of the stranger, who stared silently straight at him. Douglas couldn't help but curl his claws into himself under their gaze, unsure of what to say or do at this moment. He briefly looked back at the other plants, then looked again at the armored citron, and made up his mind.
He closed the distance between himself and them. With how close he was, he could see the citron's head/body turning towards him as he did. Now he was within touching distance, but kept to himself still. He stared up at the reflective visor, seeing only his reflection and nothing else behind the glass.
"H...he...hello..." he murmured, waving a claw at them.
The citron's head/body turned slightly sideways. Douglas wasn't sure what to make of this reaction, but he continued.
"Do you... remember me?..It... wasn't that long ago..." Douglas bent his body a little to try and look at his tail. It wasn't perfect work with what they did to him, but at least he didn't lose it. To loose an important body part in the ocean, such as his swimming tail, was likely to end up as a death sentence.
The citron stared down at him, still saying nothing. Douglas shuffled nervously, but decided to try to get things going. He turned and pointed at the group that followed him.
"They uh... want to know if you can... help them. They brought money and things for your work. Can you... help them, j-just a little?" He asked.
He could see the citron face the school of aquatics, perhaps they were contemplating. Douglas hoped they would say yes. He would feel very bad to have led all these plants here, just to be turned away. Then again, he sorta, maybe, kinda forced this issue onto this citron he just met hours ago. Maybe he could find a way to make it up to this plant?
Douglas turned back to the citron, then he saw the person move a bit forward in the direction of the group. The citron turned to look at him, and the blue child wondered what they were thinking as of the moment.
The citron then stopped and raised a limb out and pointed towards the group. Douglas perked up.
"O-Oh, are you going to help them?..." Douglas leaned forward upon his question.
The citron didn't say anything, but they made a gesture he didn't understand to the plants in the distance. Then the strange plant made a motion to come forward.
Douglas mouth opened in surprises, but then closed into a smile and then quickly swam over to the oceanic dewellers.
The squid rose looked on as he approached, and once he was with them, she asked, "what did they say?"
Douglas looked back at the citron for a moment. "They... didn't really say anything, but they gestured for you guys to come. I think... he or she will help. Let's go."
Douglas then swam back again. This time, the group of plants slowly moved over forward. Douglas made sure to stop from time to time to let them catch up.
As they neared, they analyzed the strange armored citron. They wondered what such a plant like them was doing out here so far from land. Most terrestrial plants would sink upon entering water due to biology, so an armored citron should be the last type of plant to be here underwater. Perhaps it was a special variant for water? Aquatic armored citron maybe?
A few who were aware of the terrestrial plant's way of life wondered if they were some kind of marine biologist. Others wondered if they were on some sort of secret mission in the ocean. Once they were a few meters away from the said plant they all stopped and stared.
Douglas looked between the citron and the group, silently staring each other down. Douglas could see the nervousness on the faces of his water peers, and they were not sure what to do or say now that they were here.
Then, one brave little sea shroom decided to break the ice. They swam off from the head of a lobster citron they held onto and plopped down into the invisible shield, which startled the little one to swim off it and looked down in surprise, not knowing it was there in the first place.
This made Douglas look down and tap the... whatever it was. It must have been the cloaked submarine. It didn't feel like metal, it felt as smooth as a perfect clam pearl. Perhaps it was a shield? Cloaking shield?
Whatever the crustacean was going to think was halted as the same sea shroom slowly drifted down again, and nervously settled down into the invisible ground.
The sea shroom then waddled its way to the unnamed plant, looking up at the orange visor. With how close it was, Douglas could see that the plant had a jagged stone stuck to the body, and looked to be embedded into it rather painfully.
The sea shroom then turned so that the citron could see the stone. The citron moved slightly to look at it, and then back to the plant's eyes. The two could see its pleading gaze.
Douglas had no idea what would happen next, so he just watched what the citron would do. For a few seconds the armored citron just stood still.
Then, the citron raised its right appendage to its visor for a brief second. Then, the little shroom was enveloped in a bubble much like how Douglas himself was encased in. This caused the shroom to hoot in surprise and the other plants to back away in both awe and fear, mostly fear.
Douglas immediately stepped up to clarify. "W-wait, it's okay. They did the same to me when I met them."
This wasn't enough to calm them down, but they didn't run away or anything at the very least. They just weren't sure what to do after this. The little shroom inside seemed to be panicking, looking around at its new enclosure frantically. The strange citron didn't do, or even say anything at all. Douglas couldn't help but wonder why. Were they mute?
The citron then moved away from them, and swam downwards. The other plants watched, leaning forward a bit. Douglas however, knew that they were heading inside the vessel. The lobster citron could help but wonder, why was the entrance at the 'bottom' of the vessel instead of on the sides, or even at the top based on what he knew and seen before of plant naval vessels. The small shroom in the bubble began to tap at the bubble, probably starting to regret actually trying to be brave in the face of the unknown.
Douglas decided to go and follow the citron, he wanted to make sure things were going to be alright with the sea shroom. He followed silently behind the armored plant, wanting to go in with them.
When they reached the 'bottom' of the vessel, with the other plants above them able to see the three due to the ship being one hundred percent see-through, the citron then did a motion with a raised limb, and moved. The citron, along with the bubbled sea shroom, disappeared right before his, and the other plant's eyes, which startled everyone.
It looked as if they gradually entered some invisible doorway, which in fact was. It nearly freaked Douglas, it was different going through it as he did compared to seeing someone using it.
Douglas then moved to go in with them, then his face bumped into the invisible wall. Douglas moved back, staring in shock, he tried again, but it didn't work. He tapped the place where the two went through, feeling the cloaked wall, but not being able to get through. Douglas then tried to squish his face to force himself in. Yet, it did nothing.
The citron must have technology allowing only them to enter and anything they want, like the sea shroom in the bubble.
Since Douglas couldn't follow, there was nothing else he could do. All he can do is simply wait and hope for the best.
...
Pulse should have seen it coming, and shouldn't be as flabbergasted as she was right now.
Pulse can definitely say they were a sentient underwater civilization, or civilizations? There were multiple different species in that group. If the moon's terrain and landmass wasn't so artificial looking, she would have assumed this was a pre-space flight species.
Her mission went from secret exploration and cataloging to making as friendly contact as possible with the locals, these locals at least. The fact they were all carrying what looked to be bags of something simply proved their sentience. She was going to have to catalog just how many species there were.
However, she hoped this didn't mean that they would come to her for everything. These injuries however, she could understand why they might come to her for help.
Some of them had minor ones, such as cuts, bruises, that sort of thing. Pulse needed a double take upon seeing the more serious ones. One of the large shelled orange beings who looked like the little blue guy had an entire stick embedded into its tail. It made Pulse go a bit pale, well, paler than usual. A few others had entire missing limbs or torn tails and fins. Did they all come here to get help? What was she supposed to do with an injury that bad? This wasn't a hospital! It was a non-military exploration vessel!
Pulse sighed, she could only try and see what she can do, but she can not work miracles. She needed to find a way to tell them that.
Pulse couldn't help but gaze at the small organism in her bubble. It was looking around frantically, occasionally staring at her. Poor thing, at the very least this little one's injury isn't too severe, just a piece of stone stuck to its body. It will be a bit uncomfortable removing it, but she needed to know if the anesthesia she has is safe to inject the creature with.
Once she got through decontamination she immediately headed for her laboratory. She will have to give the same treatment she gave the blue creature from before...
At the very least, this will allow her more biological samples, and learn more about the creatures, and the people here. She will need to know what sort of language they speak too. That will be very important in the long run.
Pulse pretty much got to work once inside. She placed the little shroom, water and all, in the cabinet-like container. Said little creature looked at her, watched her move back and forth, moving things around, bringing tools, and more. Little dude seemed confused as to what she was doing.
Once done, she began the process of analyzing its anatomy as much as possible. Her bio-scanners dug deep into its body as it made a detailed three-dimensional map of its body's structure, and Pulse looked in it with great interest.
The results showed a mycelium-like structure for its anatomy. It had no bones, with only tiny organs that Pulse didn't know what they did. At the very least, the piece of rock embedded into its body didn't seem to have hurt anything that looked significant. The best thing however, was that based on what little she gathered from its DNA, it had some kind of fast regeneration, meaning it will heal up once the piece is removed. Pulse probably won't have to use medical equipment to close the wound, but she rather use it to make sure it will be better than simply ok.
And thus, that was what she did. Pulse injected anesthesia after the little one stopped freaking out after seeing the needle once she made sure it was biologically compatible. It didn't take long for her to remove the piece of rock, she just gently plucked it out . The shroom made sure to try and stay still as possible the whole time, being aware that she was helping it at last.
Once removed, she sealed its wound with the foam, and she was done. She gently patted the sea shroom, and the little guy made some bubbles at her as a result. Pulse couldn't help but smirk, it was so small and cute.
Now she is done, and this little guy can go. She picked him up, made sure it was completely okay, made sure to disinfect its body, which it did not like with how much it was wriggling. Pulse dumped all her tools in a cabinet to be automatically disinfected.
Both of them were now outside, and right in front of them was the little blue guy still there. It must have been waiting for them. The moment it saw them, it perked up and moved up to them, and its glaze shifted to the small creature Pulse held. Pulse saw it bounce inside its bubbled, which she then deactivated. Upon release, the small green creature swam around rather happily. It swam to the blue creature, making bubbles and noises.
Pulse watched them silently, she had a small smile on her face. A shadow fell over them as several of the other aquatics then swam down towards the two.
Pulse watched one of the beings go close to the small shroom and hug the tiny creature. Pulse wasn't really an expert in body language, but she was very sure that they were happy and relieved. That was then when the larger aquatic gave something to the little creature, and swam back to Pulse. The thing it had was some kind of round, golden thing. It seemed to shine and shimmer in the sunlight, and some kind of insignia on its center.
Pulse looked at it from several angles. What was it? Pulse wondered as she continued to look at the object. She was removed from thinking when another aquatic came to her. This one was large, very large. Larger than her actually. Pulse was slightly intimidated at its approach. Until the alien citron saw what its problem was. This creature also had an object stuck to it.
Pulse sucked in a breath. It had an entire pole thing embedded onto its body. It was metallic, and from what parts weren't deep into its flesh, she could see it was barbed. meaning it had backwards facing spikes which if she tried to pull out, it would rip up parts of its flesh, inside and out. The same being she spotted among their group when they first arrived, one she contemplated the complexity of trying to help it.
Pulse went a bit cold at this prospect. She wasn't made for this. This was beyond her known capabilities. It was one thing to remove an object lightly stuck on one's skin, it's a whole other level to have an entire... weapon? Embedded deeply into your back, or shell in this guy's case. This type of thing requires extensive surgery, which Pulse has barely any knowledge of. She is more likely to end up accidentally killing this guy instead.
Pulse wasn't sure how to tell them this is beyond her capabilities. She ended up speaking to them anyway.
"I...I'm sorry, but I don't have the facilities for something this severe..."
The plants around her seemed bewildered when the first word came out. However, they simply had a look of wonder or curiosity. Pulse just sighed. She knew they wouldn't understand, she was still compelled to tell them anyway.
Pulse decided to take a closer look at the thing, and it just looked worse up close. Part of the being's shell was broken inward around the impact site. Pulse could see green and orange flesh swollen around it horrifically. She didn't know just how far it was into its body, but she can only hope it didn't hit anything important, the fact the guy was still alive meant it probably didn't. Pulse took a deep breath.
She may not be able to help have this thing removed, but she can at least lessen the pain and injury it has around it.
Pulse decided to take this big guy into her ship. The orange crustacean was on the verge of going into panic mode, but the little blue seemingly talked to it, which helped it calm down somewhat. When Pulse thought about it, she wasn't entirely surprised. She had a feeling some of these plants were from the vessel she hijacked. Being contained in something may have given them nightmares and PTSD.
She brought the aquatic inside using an anti-gravity mechanism on her suit to hold and easily carry the bubble the large guy is in. The only place she could even contain this one is in one of the bio tubes. They are vertically wide, glass containers meant to hold a number of objects, particularly plants and animals of medium size to her and her species to study and bring back. Her ship had three of these.
She placed the large crustacean inside one such bio tube. Unlike the previous two, she will need to use computer controlled appendages installed inside the tube to do her work. Pulse was hoping the amount of water that was carried in the bubble with the being is enough to keep it alive.
The crustacean seemed to flinch when the machine arms descended around it, but managed to stay still, for the sake of its health and wellbeing. Pulse quickly gave it an in depth bio scan to see how far the damage went. Her computer showed her that thankfully, it did not harm its equivalent of a spine, but it was only a few inches from touching it. This was very, very lucky. However, she could see from the scan that the object had serrated blades on the side, as she had deducted earlier. This, as she had though, is beyond her range to help. The only thing she can think to do is reduce the suffering a little bit.
After scanning its biological compatibility to her medicine, she injected some painkillers onto its exposed flesh, causing it to squeal a deep rumble and squirm as a result.
"Sorry, but this is for your own good," Pulse sighed.
It was unpleasant, but she needed to at least reduce the swelling a little. She couldn't really imagine just how long it had this thing stuck. She was surprised they hadn't bled out to death, but it seems the object was blocking the blood from spilling. However, this thing needs to go, she simply wouldn't be able to.
It is mandatory they go to someone who can.
By the end of the procedure, Pulse managed to alleviate the injury and the pain, while she couldn't get rid of the object, at least the crustacean is in better health than before. Pulse covered the injury with a gauze to prevent further outside infections, but the object is troublesome. Pulse wondered if she could try to communicate with the others on the outside about this, somehow.
Pulse soon brought the being to the outside. There, the two were swarmed by the others who came down to see them once again, although with a few accidental head bumps against the invisible ship. The large orange patient then spoke, what it was, Pulse had no clue. It then turned to show them the white gauze she stuck to him. Pulse could see a variety of impressions on their faces, but couldn't fully ensure their meaning.
That was when the small blue one came up to her, opening and closing his claws as it stared at her with its large eyes.
"Hello small one." She smiled inside her suit as the being tilted its head/body.
Pulse then moved to point to its larger kin, particularly at the now somewhat hidden object. The blue one looked back before turning back to her, and made some noises that were probably words. Pulse was about to do something else, until she thought of something. She wasn't sure why she hadn't thought of it before, but now that she had... She then quickly returned to her ship, leaving the blue aquatic and the others on their own for now.
...
Douglas looked back to the recently released lobster citron. He looked better than before, but he wondered why the armored citron didn't remove the harpoon from him. maybe it was too hard to have it removed? Douglas didn't know what else to say, so he simply glanced to where the said citron returned to their invisible submarine before moving over to the other aquatic plants.
"Do you actually feel better?" Asked an eel pea, who looked over the gauze covering the still embedded weapon, but didn't dare try to touch it.
"Actually, I do feel better. At least it's not as painful as before, but I do wonder why they didn't remove it. I can still feel it in there..." he grimaced.
"We came all this way to get healed and they don't even do it completely." A green and purple eel pea complained, crossing his arms rather infuriated..
A squid rose swam in front of him. "Please calm, we don't know why they are even in this area. I'm pretty sure they aren't some mobile sophisticated hospital or anything. I actually feel they are some secret agent and this is some secret mission they are in for LEAF. I'm just hoping we aren't in some trouble for bothering them."
Douglas genially felt nervous at the thought, but cleared his head. "I mean... t-they didn't need to help the two of them. They could just have ignored us..."
"Yeah, and we shouldn't be demanding more than what they are willing to offer. The fact that this guy is helping us makes them good in my book." The same squid rose said, giving a look at the complaining eel peashooter, who merely looked away with disdain.
"It's better than having to go through zombie ships, but..." another lobster citron with them looked over at the one who was brought into the invisible submarine, looking at the gauze covered harpoon remains on his fellow kin, "we... might have to go through them if we want this thing taken out."
"The whole reason we came here is to avoid having to pass through zombie infested shores, coming here was a waste of time!" That same eel pea scoffed. The squid rose merely shook her head.
Douglas couldn't hall but ask, "then... what are we supposed to do?..."
The eel pea huffed. "You brought us here, you tell me, ow!" The squid rose gave a light smack to the plant.
That just made everyone talk loudly amongst each other. Douglas simply stood on the side, watching silently. He was a bit dishearten at the thought of them not getting all they needed after the trip they just took to get here. Maybe he was too hopeful about all this.
From the corner of his eye, Douglas could see that same citron came back once again. This time, they had something held with their machine tentacles. It looked like one of those large computer things people on the land loved to use, he didn't really know what they were called. It was a large and flat slab of metal that guy looked at the general group of his aquatic brethren, who then slowly went silent once they noticed the citron among them once again.
Once attention was on them, the armored fruit then turned their large slab of metal thing and showed them all something. A beige colored squid rose being the closest and with the worst gash Douglas had seen, cautiously swam over to see what was on it. Said plant tilted her head and seemed to try and look at something. Douglas, ever the curious one like the rest, decided to go up and see what it was.
On it was a picture, a somewhat crude drawing of a lobster citron. The citron in the drawing had an arrow with multiple spikes embedded in its body. There was… some kind of symbol next to them, then a second drawing of the citron but this time the arrow was out of their body, green color and orange dripping around them, but the citron was upside down with some kind of unknown symbol over their eyes.
That was then when the squid rose understood. "Taking out the harpoon would have killed the guy!" Douglas looked at her then back to the drawing. The other plants, including the citron they were talking about, turned to her.
"It must have been too deep for this plant to remove…" Douglas said as he looked closer at the drawing.
"Then, what do we do? He can't have this thing stay in, because of infections and such!" Another lobster citron whined."
"Do we… do we go to… LEAF?" Douglas didn't know who asked but that just sparked arguments among most of the plans. The only ones not talking were the squid rose looking at the object and Douglas himself, just watching the scene unfolding.
The squid rose tried to ignore the talking as she looked at the drawing. "Can I…do use the tablet?" She asked the unknown citron. Said citron looked at her, but didn't say anything. The aquatic pointed at the device and then made a drawing gesture.
The citron looked at the squid rose, then at her tablet, then she moved the tablet so it was facing the aquatic plant. Not seeing a digital pen anywhere nor given one, she used her petaled hands to draw.
Douglas swam over her shoulder to see what she was doing. He saw she drew what Douglas was sure was the LEAF base. On the left side of the LEAF drawing was the harpooned lobster citron with an arrow pointing to the base between the two. On the right of the drawing was an arrow pointing away from it and to a lobster citron without a harpoon, smiling widely.
Douglas now understood, take the guy to LEAF to have him healed. Douglas was about to say something, but the squid rose quickly scribbled something else.
Once she was done, he saw LEAF on the far right, with some clearly zombie boats in the way of a drawing of several ocean plants. On another page, she drew the zombies shouting projectiles, and the end result being scribbles of dead ocean plants, bleeding and with the letter X over their eyes.
He curled up a bit at the imagery displayed. That's the unfortunate thing about trying to go, the port has very likely been taken over by the zombies at the moment. Going there will surely incite fighting, and with the recent raid it's likely there will still be ships if they haven't unload their cargo by now and left.
The armored citron looked at the image then at the squid rose silently.
Even with the language barrier, Both the plants were sure the message would get across. How can these specific drawings and depictions be mistaken for anything else?
She turned to watch the lobster citron, seeing another squid rose checking the bandaged weapon on his body but not touching it either. She could tell the guy was uncomfortable having the thing still stuck on him, she would too.
That was when a shadow fell over the two. They saw the armored citron look over the plants, including himself. That was when the plant turned the tablet to themselves and began drawing rapidly. The two waited patiently until they finished and turned the device.
The two saw an image of the citron, in what looked to be tanking shots from zombie boats with a crude drawing of the LEAF base behind them. Beneath her were drawings of ocean plants along with symbols he didn't understand. The squid rose looked between the citron and the drawing
The citron pointed at the beige squid rose, then to Douglas, and then to the rest of the plants with them, and finally pointed at the drawing of the plants on the device. The citron then pointed to themselves, and pointed to the drawing of itself.
The squid rose stared before turning to Douglas, "does…this mean they will help us get through them?... I do not understand what those symbols mean, I have never seen them before, but, I'm pretty sure this guy is telling us they will shield us from the zombies? I can not think of anything else that these drawings and their pointing could mean." Her voice was elevated, and how could she not?
This random citron they just met was willing to fight and protect them to get to LEAF.
Douglas pointed down at the device, then pointed at them, which made the said citron turn to look, but said nothing else. They tapped on the device, particularly the drawing in which the plants were swimming under them.
"I guess… it is as you said." Douglas turned to the armored plant, he opened and closed his pincers several times at them. He was sure they had zero clue what this meant but among his kind it's typically a gesture of being happy and content. They couldn't understand their speech so this was the second best thing to do. He could tell the citron was staring at him.
"Well, perhaps it is best that we go there now. Get this over with, get through zombies…" the squid rose murmured the last bit before she turned around to go to the others.
The rest of the group looked at one another, contemplating how they would do this with as little casualties as they could. Even if the citron was willing to protect them from the zombies, it's just one plant against zombie ships, and with their crews, and probably their cyborg and undead animals.
Douglas was going to turn as well when the armored citron then swam up to the beige colored squid rose, stopping in front of her. This sudden movement frightened her into swimming back a bit. The armored citron then pointed at her wound, a deep gash on her stem. The wound was deep and long, reaching from her shoulder to lengthening into one of her tentacles. While the injury closed by itself hours ago, the pain, amount of dead skin, and the fact it had not been treated properly was likely to give her some kind of infection.
The plant grimaced. She was given this gash when a spiked net grazed by her as the zombies were pulling back. She was drenched in a cloud of her own blood, but she made it out of there and managed to hide, but for goodness' sake, it hurt like the hadal zone.
The armored citron then pointed at her gash, made some kind of gesture across its length without touching it, and pointed at the lobster citron the plant helped. Upon realizing the citron wasn't getting a reaction for a whole minute, they swam over to the citron still with the harpoon embedded in his body, but more specifically, pointed at the gauze he had.
Before anyone could say or do anything, the citron pointed at the other plant's injuries, and kept pointing at the covered harpoon the citron had.
That was when she finally realized. "Ah, they want to help the rest of us first."
Douglas had to agree, these gestures couldn't really be anything else. Also, getting all their wounds treated in some way will prevent casualties in the long run, not from the undead this time.
The little blue plant silently watched as the beige aquatic was enveloped in the same bubble as he was, his hopes having risen to new heights he didn't think of before. He just needed to keep it until all was said and done, but only after they made it to safely LEAF.
Bonding with fish, talking fish at least, even if she doesn't understand a single thing they say. It's a start anyway.
The several ocean plant species belong to a friend of mine, and Pulse is made by me.
Words: 8.5k (google docs)
Posted: February 8, 2025