Fishing Trip

The sound of clanging pots and pans filled the clearing as Nimbus set his rucksack down onto a log. The icy morning air of Naeyouk filled his lungs with the refreshing taste of dew. Raising a hand over his eyes to shield him from the sun, Nimbus looked to his companions. Long Cat, Imp, Eido, and Crew. "Alright, time to fish!" He chirped, clapping his hands together.

Clear blue water flowed through the ravine, rippling waves that crashed up against the rocks. Crew frowned, "Is this really safe?" He asked, his ears dipped.

Long Cat shrugged, fascination filling her round blue eye as she gazed into the water. "I can pull you out if you fall in," The 9ft beast reassured her friend, "It's not like I'll sink."

Imp and Eido seemed equally enthralled by the harsh river, Crew grabbing both of them to stop them from leaning further over the edge. The poor symphony looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

"Alright, first of all, you need to add something to lure the chime fish." Nimbus explained, his friends sat quietly to listen to him, taking turns to attach bait to the end of the rod. Soon enough, they were lining up to try their hand at fishing, the silver bodies of chime fish glided through the water as though it was air.

Long Cat got fed up of waiting and lunged into the front, scooping up a chime fish with her claws and biting into it. She yowled as her fangs clashed against the hard metal body, dropping the fish in fright. "Owowowowwowww!" She whimpered, much to the amusement of everyone else. Nimbus quickly checked she was alright as she whined about her teeth. "What sort of a scoundrel would do this to me!" She shrieked, dramatically. throwing up her paws.

Crew shook his head, holding back an 'I told you so'. Crew often seemed the most responsible of the group, that was until he got a bite. Pulling the chime fish from the water, Crew caught it in his sticky fingers and set it into a tank. "Ha! Take that losers, I'm the master of fishing!"

Upon observation, the chime fish was rusted and one of its fins was torn, it struggled to swim around in the water.

Nimbus smiled proudly, "Congratulations, Crew."

Crew stopped his gloating after a few moments, his face returned to its usual concerned expression. This time however, it wasn't Eido running into traffic or Imp bullying a baby lythian. He looked to Nimbus for advice, "Is it alright?"

Long Cat rolled her eyes, "Who cares, it's only a fish." Despite her dismissive words, Nimbus knew her too well to know she didn't mean that. He took another look at the fish.

"I suppose we could make it a prosthetic." Nimbus concluded, "Long Cat, watch Eido and Imp for us, will you?" He requested. Long Cat gave an unbothered nod, the two symphonies were sitting peacefully waiting for a bite on their rods, they shouldn't be more trouble than usual.

During their journey to Nimbus' shed, Crew randomly paused, his eye going blank and his body freezing like a broken computer. "Crew?" Nimbus blinked, "Oh- hivemind, right." He mused, picking up the symphony and carrying him the rest of the way. He often forgot the trio shared the same brain due to how each one was so different, it did make sense though, different bodies for different parts of the brain. It was quite obvious Imp was the right brain, Crew was the left, Eido seemed to be whatever was left over.

They passed trees, ponds, and tiny streams before reaching an old shed, Nimbus set the tank down on the table and began creating a fake fin out of scrap plastic he'd fished out of the river.

Meanwhile, Imp had gotten bored and was trying to throw himself into the ravine while Long Cat kept continually grabbing him and throwing him away from it. The two seemed to be enjoying the 'game', Long Cat could imagine Crew's horrified face and it brought her joy.

After around half an hour, Nimbus returned and Crew's brain began to reboot, he hopped off Nimbus' hand and trotted back to his brothers.

"It's time to release this little guy back into the wild." Nimbus announced, setting the tank down on a nearby rock.

"Wait," Crew interrupted. "Can't we keep him? I'll take care of him." The symphony pleaded, barely bigger than the fish was.

Nimbus shrugged, "Sure."

"I'll name him Rusty."

Imp raised a nonexistent eyebrow, "Really? That's like me naming you Smurf."

"You already call me that." Crew replied defensively, "At least I can tell when I have a sunburn, you talking tomato."