Fishing For Trouble
Xavier had been looking for this supposed beach for days. Snuggles had told him that there was a pristine beach that few to almost no one went to in the Cafe. The arborling had been intrigued by this idea of a beach all to himself. A nice little reprieve from the road and one that he was guaranteed by Snuggles to have no one bugging him. Xavier, with his trusty moo, may have stumbled upon it.
Getting past the tall, salty reeds of the area the green arborling came across pristine sand and the sound of waves crashing against the shoreline. Xavier stared at the beach for a long moment. Turning his head to see if there was anyone around the area as he tied his moo to a nearby tree. Not a single soul was around. Not a peep from anything but the ocean itself. Xavier relaxed as a small smile grew on his face. A paw going through his hair once he finished making sure his companion wouldn’t be able to wander off. Excitement was buzzing through him as Xavier soon went off to inspect the beach. Snuggles was right, the beach was pretty much untouched by really anyone. No trash or random forgotten items, no paw prints, or drag marks from heavy items being strewn across the sand. His little paw prints were the only ones that he could see. Xavier grinned as he looked at the water. The arborling started to run as he planned to play in the water.
Just as Xavier was about to jump into the ocean, he ran head first into something green and slightly slimy. “H-Hey!” The creature Xavier ran into yelled “You can’t swim here!” The green arborling groaned as he pushed himself away from the person. Another, more disheveled, arborling it seemed. “The Sea Beast is out and about right now! It took my eye!” Xavier blinked and flinched as the kelp based arborling showed him the nasty, mangled scar that covered his missing eye.
“There’s no such thing as a Sea Beast.” The pitcher plant arborling huffed softly as he got up. Xavier wasn’t told that there was an insane arborling running around. Snuggles either didn’t know or forgot to mention it to him. “Listen, uh…”
“Bobber!” The conspiracy nut supplied.
“Bobber, I doubt there’s some big, bad monster in the water. You probably poked your eye out with your fishing pole.” Xavier pointed out the pole to Bobber. The line wasn’t secured and the hook just jangled about wildly. It wasn’t hard for Xavier to imagine that the other was fishing and when the line was released it flew back into his eye. However, the disheveled midveiler shook his head violently at the notion he had somehow accidentally poked his own eye out.
“No siree! I most certainly didn’t!” Bobber yelled as he looked at Xavier. “It was the Sea Beast!” The kelp arborling soon went on a spiel about how he had been fishing when the beast came. Xavier had to force himself not to fall asleep as he nodded at random parts of the story. He was reaching his limit as Bobber continued to rant about the numerous encounters and battles he had with the supposed creature. However, he soon spoke directly to Xavier as the other gave him his attention. A forced polite smile on his face as he listened to Bobber. “If you insist on swimming here, you gotta work for it!”
“How am I going to do that?” Xavier rose a small brow as he looked at the other.
“I’ll lend you some of my tools to catch that wicked beast once and for all! That is,” Bobber paused as he looked at the disinterested Xavier “if you’re brave enough.”
The midveiler gritted his teeth as he took the tools Bobber gave them. “Sure I’ll try and catch that beast for you.” Xavier forced a smile as the other arborling grinned and cheered happily. Going off to rest or something similar as he left the other to catch the supposed monster of the beach by himself. Xavier sighed softly as he just looked at the pole and net in his hands. Wishing now that he had simply brushed aside Snuggles’s claims of the abandoned beach as he looked for a good area to fish at.
Walking down the beach, Xavier soon found an old, but sturdy, beachwalk. He was careful to climb up the structure. His steps made it creak each time he placed his weight on the wood. Xavier looked down at the ocean from the side of the raised dock. The water was a crystal clear blue. He could see a few fish swimming about the legs of the dock. Nibbling on the algae that had grown on the wood over the years being submerged in the ocean. Xavier took a deep breath in as he relaxed. Getting to the edge of the peer as he sat down. His feet dangled through the safety railing as he cast his line out. His tail swayed on the dock as he just waited for something to hook itself on his line. Xavier would gently reel it in now and again to try and bait something into biting on the hook. The salty, sea breeze helped to calm and relax the introverted arborling as he hummed softly against the crashing of the ocean waves. Xavier was completely unaware of the large shadow forming underneath the beachwalk as he swung his feet a little. At this point, the midveiler had reeled his line in completely as he continued to hum. Casting the line out once more as he just enjoyed the warm sun and breeze.
The moment Xavier’s lure sunk into the water, the massive creature rushed for it. The line became extremely taunt, catching the arborling’s attention as he stood up. Pulling the pole back hard as it started to bend. The creature pulled back. There was enough force behind it to cause Xavier to be against the safety railing. The arborling yelled as he backed away. Pulling with all his might before trying to reel it back in. However, the beast wasn’t giving up so easily as it fought against the midveiler. Xavier groaned as he took a few more labor steeps back to prevent himself from being pulled over the edge of the railing. His tail smacked against the dock loudly as he panted and huffed over the amount of energy he was having to use attempting to pull the beast up.
With all of the force Xavier was using it wasn’t shocking that when the creature released the line it sent the small arborling flying back. The midveiler groaned loudly as he rubbed the back of his head where a bump was growing. Xavier got up as he looked at the line of his fishing pole. At the end of the hook, wasn’t a fish, but a very strange and unknown tooth from whatever Xavier had hooked. The arborling’s eyes were large as he picked the prize of all his struggles up and held it. It was in no way an animal that he knew of as it played with the hefty mass of it. Whatever sort of creature it came from, one thing Xavier was sure of was that he would never be swimming in this particular beach.