Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 01:11:17 +0000 (UTC)
From: Andrew Bailey <feare909@yahoo.com>
Subject: Aquata Cove - Chapter 62 (Revised)

Aquata Cove
Chapter 62: Wild Attack


Triton Samudra stares intently into the dark abyss. He signals once, and he
can feel something large slowly coming towards them. The entire pod has
halted as he tries to decide what this strangely approaching phenomena
coming to them. Arnaav holds onto Merrick's hand as they waited for any
update of this suspenseful foreboding.

"Samudra?" Vanora says, "Should we not hide?"

"..." Samudra signals again. The upcoming entity is... No longer
large... It's several, "We need move. Now."

"Alright," Vanora turned to the pod, "Keno-"

"Now! We must flee!" Samudra commanded. The Capricorn herded the pod like a
running flock of sheep as they turned and began to swim as fast as they
could.

Behind them came several devilish screams and roars.

Arnaav yelps as his paws tightens on Merrick's hand as he was yanked
harshly as they started to jet forth. Merrick whipped his head around, and
sees a rushing Shachihoko wildly bucking for them.

A Shachihoko? That shouldn't be such a big threat. They're mostly related
to the lions and tigers of the lands. Sure, they're wild animals, and if
you're careless around them they can be a problem, but it's unheard of for
them to even attack prey at this time of day. But this one looks enraged,
overwhelmed, even. It roars out as its large, thick flippers kick into the
water, its diamond-like fangs shredding the sea as it flaps its powerful,
bleeding tail-

"Oh Sea Mother!!!" Deilan exclaimed as a huge set of razor sharp fangs dove
for the Shachihoko, narrowly missing it by mere inches before the injured
beast howls ahead. A giant began to swim closer, or perhaps it's three
monsters? Three colossal, grotesque creatures hiss and grumble as some of
their many eyes locate the Kenovani Pod.

`Just as Father said,' Nerissa thought, gasping, and quickly snatching up
her baby brother from a hooking projectile -- a strange, rock-solid hook
seeping with a dark mist of poison, `I did not want to believe it... But as
he said, the Capricorn cannot always protect us...' She looked fearfully
onto the trio of humongous Scyllas growling and looking over them, like
three menacing dragon-like freaks about to disembowel them. Adra Hecalt
cries uncontrollably as he clung onto Nerissa's chest. "Hold tightly,
Brother!" She said before she twirls and speeds away.

Scylla. One of the biggest dangers of the entire ocean -- considered to be
one of the ocean's most malevolent creatures, almost as evil as the
Nalcious Eels. Legend says that the Scyllas descend from a Holsien Noita
who wanted to create a more suitable Guardian than the Kraken, so she
warped and twisted an early animal before it could mature, and her magic
destroyed the animal's stability, and it turned into a monster. Nature and
breeding took its course, and now the Scylla is a part of the ocean's
deepest, darkest secrets.  It has four muscular legs that can tuck onto its
body to make it able to swim easily through the water like a shark, can
produce poisonous barbs that is able to launch from its nostrils, and has
ten eyes along either side of its body, for a very wide field of
vision. When it tucks its four limbs into its body, it instead lets loose a
small array sharp tendrils that propels and stirs in the water as it uses
its tail to push and shoot through at high speeds, but only when its limbs
are tucked away. Each tentacle has a half-arrow nail attached, looking
almost identical to its head for the sake of confusion and intimidation
when cornered, which contains the same venom as its projectile barbs.

The Shachihoko roars pitifully as it swims as fast as it can, but cries out
as it can sense one of the large, cage-like claws about to descend upon it.

"RRAAAGGHH!!"

A sharp, three-pronged force raced through the air, and knocked the
Scylla's claw back as it sank into it, inducing a resonating roar of pain
as Samudra goes to his weapon to fend off the monster. He grunts as he
gives a loud array of signals and screeches to the half tiger/fish he had
just rescued, before he allowed the Shachihoko to escape with its life.

"GO! NOW!!" He commanded. The second Scylla blurrs around the first, and
opened up its jaws. The crab merman turns and screams in terror as a pair
of buzzsaws snap him up, and crushed his hand-made flippers as it drove him
up in the water.

"KARKOS!" Syrinx yells as she stretched out her arm as the Scylla ate him,
"NO!" She gasps as a third set of teeth began to swim for her! She screams
out before a forced knocked the third Scylla off-course. Deilan and an
octopus mermaid, along with several other random octopi began to whirl
about in a strategic formation, as a black cloud of ink began to form
around the Scyllas.

The Capricorns circled the pod as they began to leave while the others
fought them off. Another Scylla roars as it shoots for them.

`We've lost Karkos,' Razirah Ebba thinks as one of her shells lose a link,
`At this rate, Triton Samudra must summon Guardian Kraken. If not, perhaps
Merrick can call upon Guardian Leviathan!' Ebba gasps before she dives
down, just dodging a poison missile. The Scylla's tail thrashes and strikes
part of the pod, before they were scattered about. Mermen signaled for
every direction for another Capricorn, or any other large animal that can
fight. Mermaids whip and swim in many directions, trying to strike with
their weapons and arrows just to keep themselves alive, while a few others
try to swim for safety.

Arnaav screams before Merrick's arms tighten around him and flies in a
loop. Merrick screeches as he lets his harpoon shoot through the water, and
into the Scylla's throat, and saw a silver spear jut out of the beast's
neck. The demon bellows in pain, but it does not relent.

`No time!' Merrick took a deep breath, about to call the Leviathan, before
he yelped instead as a claw flew out at him and Arnaav. The otter merman
screams before Merrick's arms tighten around him and flies in a
loop. Merrick screeches as he lets his harpoon shoot through the water, and
into the Scylla's throat, and saw a silver spear jut out of the beast's
neck. The demon bellows in pain, but it does not relent, and now it surges
for the two of them.

`No!' He whips around, and swims as fast as he can, easily sensing that the
Scylla is now chasing him, `I must protect Arnaav!' Merrick thought as he
raced into a large trench, wincing as he can hear the Scylla roaring behind
him, his keen intuition commanding him to ascend up, just before twin
poison barbs could hit him.

`Dammit!' He thinks as he looks back, and sees his weapon glinting from the
Scylla's neck, `Not like my weapon can help anyway, if sending it into its
mouth couldn't stop it, it looks like I can't kill it with just a
well-thought strike.' Merrick huffs as he became a flash of blue and silver
along this cold, dark trap.

He growls as his eyes looked side-to-side at the barren walls of rock `It's
too cramped for Guardian Leviathan to appear here. Even if I did call it,
it can't help me if it can't reach me here, let alone battle the Scylla.'
He snarls he holds tightly to Arnaav as he swims faster than ever before.

`I can outrun it for now, but at this rate, it's either going to catch me
or strike me down with its poison barbs.' He winces as he feels Arnaav
crying and holding tightly, `There's no where to hide..." He thinks as he
takes in his blurring surroundings, `I think these are the Tower
Trenches. It doesn't matter, there is no where for me to hide here, not
without being spotted anyway.'

Merrick dives into a tight spot, and then jets up at the last moment so the
Scylla becomes momentarily stuck. He turns, and frowns as the crazy beast
writhes in rage, breaking the narrow rock way before he swims faster.

`Those rock fragments were too flimsy. Could I possibly...' Merrick glances
at the bedrock and structure of the trenches, `No. Those there thin enough
for it to slow it down, but every where else is too hard to be knocked back
with enough force to break and trap it.' 

Merrick
kicks his tail hard as he feels a force of water blow around him, just
missing the Scylla's head. `I'm running out of options here!'


~~~


Samudra growls as he can feel the thick barrage of sensation brewing deep
in his gut. He's almost ready to summon the Kraken. The Scylla he is
fighting currently has him pinned down to the ocean floor. Luckily, his
outer shell is heavily protective, so he can endure even the ravenous fangs
that scrape from the Scylla's jaws.

"Ennngghh!" `Vanora can mend the scrapes,' He thought as he continues to
gather his inner strength for the summoning. "Hhhgggg!" He glances to the
others fighting. Two other merfolk have been eaten by the second Scylla,
despite the large ink cloud. Most of the pod is gone, however. In a fit of
panic, a few of the other mermen managed to gather four more Capricorns to
hide the pod's perception away from the Scyllas.

"Grrrrrrr," Samudra growls, `It is true about the Guardians...' He grunts
as his trident snaps in half, while still holding himself in a defensive
position, `The older you are... The longer the calling takes to come to
you...'

"SAMUDRA!!" Vanora calls out, seeing her mate forced and mangled into the
sea ground.

"I am fine, Vanora!!" Samudra roars back, "YOUR RIGHT!!" The Noita gasps as
a sea of fangs and thorns came rushing to her, with the shreds of her
fellow Coshitons still clinging to its mouth, "VANORAAA!!!"

Just as the jaws closed down on the lionfish mermaid, she turned about, as
several ribbons of power whips around her. Spikes of yellow light jab at
the Scylla's jaws as she spun in a spiral. Her power appears as harsh
spires of spotted light that inject a very bitter taste into the Scylla's
mouth until she turns into a whirlwind of illuminated spears, as if
enveloped by a madly spinning urchin of irritable lightning.

Noita Vanora keeps herself spinning faster and faster, extending her body
of power into a spiky tornado that juts out into cage-like branches of
energy that shoots out randomly at any incoming poison barbs or for any of
the Scyllas' limbs can attempt at the other Coshitons.


~~~


Merrick continues to flee as fast as he can, `Dammit, why is it only
chasing me?? Aren't I proving to be more trouble than I'm worth??'

"Getting closer!!" Merrick yells as he races through. The Scylla behind him
has stopped clawing around at the Tower Trenches, and tucked its limbs into
its body to make itself a very agile torpedo. Poor Arnaav simply whimpers
harshly as he pushes his face into Merrick's chest, completely unaware of
his surroundings, and solely relying on Merrick through these blinding
speeds.

`I'm losing ground!' He clenched his teeth as he dips and swirls to avoid
another poison launch from the monster. Arnaav's paws dig onto him as
Merrick carries the both of them through spectacular maneuvers.

`Anywhere!' He thinks as his tail is burning with exhaustion, `I can't
think of any counter-measure!' He glances back, and growls as he sees his
weapon is still sticking out of the monster's neck, `Is that REALLY not
hurting it?!' Merrick seethed as he kicks his tail onward, `I threw it into
its throat, and it's stuck on it's neck! It's not even going to slow it
down for me?!'

His eyes lock forward, spotting something that appears to be a large
foundation of giant spiral shells "THERE!!" He zooms forward.

`If I can hide there...' Merrick quickly thinks, `Agghh... It probably
won't do me any good,' He glances back at the smooth-sailing Scylla, still
on his tail, `Scyllas have a total of 20 eyes, they can see ANYTHING! It's
almost like that Dragonology book Adam has, something about a dragon having
9 optic nerves, or the Byakugan from -- RRRRGH! Stop thinking about that!'
He huffs and zips over a few rocks, before hearing the sea-behemoth clash
with them from behind. `If it sees me hide into those shells, it will keep
attacking until it finds me... But what if...'

Merrick grimaces as he feels himself beginning to tire out. As hard as he's
swimming, it's only a matter of time before the Scylla catches him.

`No, even in human form, that thing will still eat me and Arnaav. My best
bet is to pick a shell and escape quietly from there!'


~~~


`...' The bugle inside of Samudra is just about ready. He watches as his
amazing mate turns herself into a fury of spiking tendrils, flinching as
one such strike of light hits the claw pinning him, but doing nothing to
remove it. His eyes look over the sight of everything.

`... One... Two... Wait...' He continues to gather strength as he takes
several signals, `There were three Scyllas... One of them would not have
simply went away...' He growls as his eyes narrow, `Has it chased the other
escaping members??' He grunts as his throat begins to stiffen as his eyes
dilate, `Then I must end this. Vanora cannot keep this going, or else she
might strike one of the others...'

"KKKRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"

Letting his head out, Samudra unleashed a loud, long, ravenous roar. The
Scyllas screech back at him in retaliation.


~~~


-DNNNN-

Merrick gasps silently as he feels a sudden pulse far on the lower right
direction. He yelps as another poison barb just BARELY skims his arm,
before racing forward, just reaching out of the Tower Trenches and into the
open!

"Eaaahh!" He turns fully around and screams as a large shape looms over
him. The Scylla opens his jaws of infinite teeth, about to dive down upon
the boys. "NOO, PLEASE!" Merrick shrieks as he huddles on Arnaav, who is
beyond petrified now.

"RAOOUURRR!"  
"HOOUUH!"

"GEEHHHEENNN!" The Scylla roars after two other loud clashes and
shouts. Merrick opened his eyes, and gasps in awe as a pair of large,
healthy Shachihokos sink their crystalline fangs into the Scylla's body!

The monster seethes and snarls as it thrashes the sea felines away as they
pound their tailflippers harshly, before a third Shachihoko bore down on
the beast from the top, this one with a large wound on its body, the one
that was commanded by Samudra.

A fourth Shachihoko bravely attacks the tail as the Scylla stretches out
its limbs and crashed into the large piles of huge conch shells. Merrick
swims out, filled with terror and surprise as he feels the sea around him
wave and become insane as a huge, massive mound of slime came up out of
nowhere! Merrick hangs tightly onto Arnaav, before his back slams into
something solid! He whips around, and then quickly swims up!


~~~


"KHaaaahhh!" Samudra cries out in pain as the armor of his body finally
cracks under the Scylla's grip, inducing a hard, sharp pain on his abdomin!

"FATHER!" Adra Nerissa cries out as she swims out to him. Vanora gasps as
she sees Samudra's torso fractured.

"NO!!"

"RrrrhhhhhHHHH!" The Scylla opens its large maw, before an invisible force
pried its jaws open. Its head is pulled back as one claw lifts from
Samudra's body, while the other one flails about. Nerissa stares as one leg
of the beast ceases to move, and somehow glues itself onto its side in a
jagged position. It twitches as it seems to become paralyzed as it starts
to float up on its own.

"It comes..." Samudra grunts weakly.

"Samudra!!" Vanora calls out as the storm of spikes subsided so she can
tend to her mate. A threatening roar shouts at her as the Scylla dives for
her too! Just as she started to scream, an unseen entity forces the
gigantic monster against a large structure of rock!

Adra Hecalt gasps on the sand as he watches a very complicated system of
thick tubes start to manifest out of nothing! The Scylla that was fighting
Samudra is now entangled with a mass of rubbery tethers, binding it
extremely tight while it still struggled in the strange grip.

The second Scylla snarls loudly as it thrashed under its own ties, before
it launched a pair of poison barbs at the new creature.

Before the barbs could hit their target, two swift tendrils knock the barbs
into an instant halt, spinning them in mid-water, split into pieces, before
racing to force the Scylla's head down into the sand, burying its maw into
the seafloor. The Scylla writhed wildly as it clawed into the sand, unable
to free itself.

Noita Vanora's healing hands immediately place onto Samudra's ruptured
stomach, pulling him away as the tentacles tightly constricted the giant
monster.

Guardian Kraken wraps its many tentacles around the beast, forcing its body
to straighten, and-

KKRRRGGG!

"AAAARRRRRNNNNNGGG!" The Scylla cries out in pain as the Kraken's hidden
beak drilled into its back, cracking into the armored shell and digging
into its insides to let a dark red mist seep into the water. The beast
couldn't move, both by the constriction, and the immense damage being dealt
to its backside. It persistently snarled in defeat, even as the Kraken
further dug the hidden barbs in its tentacles into the remainder of the
Scylla.


~~~


As the Shachihokos ripped and bit down onto the butchered Scylla, it still
would not give up its quarry, even as it's being attacked by a total of six
aquatic tigers.

Even with the numerous predators preying upon it, now there is a huge mass
of groaning gunk rising up from one of the enormous shells! A cloud of
sea-dirt and grime kicks up as the shapeless blob rose up to address the
struggling horde of beasts.

The Scylla looks up, and sees what appears to be a naked human scale the
giant shells. It roars feeblely as it pushes forcefully towards the
humanoid, as if it's downright determined to end this elusive, small
creature.

Merrick huffs as Arnaav clings to him. He's just about of energy, no doubt
from all the swimming he's had to do. At this time, to look back is to give
himself to death, even if the Scylla is being slowed down significantly. He
wears his necklace to nullify himself of water in order to climb on the
shells, just like when he and Yuri, and some of her friends went
rock-climbing once.

Three of the Shachihokos immediately swim away from the impending cloud of
old poison, as well as the groaning slime coming their way. Upon release,
the Scylla charges at the shells, and aims for that small foot leaving the
surface. The monster was instantly grabbed by the dying amorphous blob just
as it crashes into the mountain of conches.


~~~


"Whoa!" Merrick wobbled as he felt the entire mound of hard, jagged spiral
and conch shells shift and rise. He quickly dries off on the hot sun as he
climbs with utmost haste up the many empty shells, trotting and running
when he can along them as they shoot up, rumble, rise and
fall. 

He clasps his hand onto one such broken shell
as it suddenly juts up into the sky, still holding the shaking bundle of
fur in his arm as he protectively carries him.

Merrick pants as he pulls himself and Arnaav up onto the large, broken, old
conch, taking off his necklace and stashing it in his pouch, and plants his
hand onto the hot shell he sits on.

"Hhh... Hhh... Hhh... Are... Are we safe...?" He asks quietly, hearing only
the sound of the ocean around him, as well as the resonating rumbles and
waning quakes from beneath.


~~~


The other remaining Shachihokos let go of the bleeding Scylla as it burrows
into the wall of empty shells, while a shiny spear is forced out of its
neck, and drifts onto the sandy bottom.

They retreat as parts of the monster is currently being consumed by the
living slime, pulling it in slowly as it thrashes and digs into the massive
white objects, crashing, juggling, and rearranging them as it refuses to
lose, even as it's being buried alive by its own avarice, while also
delirious from the poisonous cloud kicked up by the moving wall of gunk.


~~~


"By the Sea Mother..." Samudra moans as he feels his stomach mend itself
under the hands of his mate and daughter, lying against a reef wall as the
two Noitas tend to his severe injury.

"Do not speak, Father," Adra Nerissa said, "You were close to death because
of that thing. You must save your strength."

Triton Samudra glances around the aftermath of this battle. Guardian Kraken
pulls the Scylla carcasses away from the area, entangled by its many, many
tentacles into the depths below. The atmosphere is still sore with a
lingering dark mist in the water from the summoned squid and octopi, mixed
with a tinge of blood from both the Scyllas and merfolk.

Deilan groans as he picks up the remains of the broken weapons, along with
a few other merfolk who stayed to fight. Several Capricorns have escorted
the rest of the small pod away from the struggle, hopefully still intact.

Once dealt with, the enormous, mythical squid Kraken looms away, ordered to
hunt down the third Scylla that has strayed from the pod.

"Four of our own have been lost on this sun..." Ebba reports sadly,
"Karkos, Myles, Ehecatl, and Inciro have perished in the fight..." She
sighs, "Everyone else is still alive, and connected."

"We must regroup as soon as possible," Noita Vanora says, "We must be sure
that we are all together."

"Yes. We still do not know where the last Scylla has vanished. If we do not
know, it might-"

"That is not my concern at this moment." Vanora said, "If the third Scylla
was still in the midst of battle, we would still be hearing it right now."

"It is fine..." Samudra moaned, "I am sure the others will be safe."

"No. You do not understand," Vanora said, "At this time, we must hope upon
hope that no one must go above the surface. We must recount everyone as
soon as possible!"

"Mother, what are you saying??" Nerissa asked, becoming quite bewildered.


~~~


Merrick gently sits down and tries to situate Arnaav as well,
"Arnaav... Are you ok?" He asked drearily. He feels so tired.

"Hhhnnnn..." Arnaav groans as he sways a little on the spot, opening his
mouth for a yawn, and whipping his head a little afterwards, "Hmm?" He
looks up with half-lidded eyes.

"We escaped... We're alive..." Merrick mumbles. He grunts as he rubs his
eyes a little, "God, that chase really wiped me out."

"Cha... Chase?" Arnaav swerved, before catching himself, and groans as he
stretched out, "Wh-What chase again?"

"The Scylla... It came after us, and we were barely able to outrun it."

"Ok... I cannot really think right now..." Arnaav yawned as the warmth of
the sun comforted his wet fur, yet quickly drying him, "Can we take a nap
though? I feel like I have not slept in so long..."

"No. We need to get back to the pod..." Merrick yawned too, "Errff, why am
I so drowsy?"

"You just swam so fast for a long time," Arnaav lays down and starts to
curl up, "You're probably tired and..."

"Yes, but I can... Keep going..." He mumbled, slapping his own face lightly
to wake himself up, "We can't stay, we need to get back, find out what
happened to the others."

"Mmmnnnn..." Arnaav succumbs and falls asleep. Merrick sighed as he sits
against one of the large shells, crossing his arms as he decides to let the
young Amnien sleep.

"Damn..." Merrick's eyelids are so heavy, he takes a moment to rub his
palms on his face, "Where are we anyway..." The air smells really weird
here. And these shells feel strange -- they don't have a smooth or natural
feel on their surface, besides the fact that they're 100 to 1000 times as
big as any other shell.

"God, it's so hot..." He silently whines, feeling his arms on his bright
peach skin. He looks at his legs, just barely noticing that he's dried up
completely now. His tired eyes look over his pseudo little brother before
him, keeping a watchful eye over him as he slept.

Merrick groans as he closes his eyes. Oh, an entire world of temptation
pulls and sings to him as those lids cover his sapphires, before they very
reluctantly open up again. Merrick looks ahead out to sea, and sighed in
content as he sees a small bit of shade up ahead.

"Thank God... Looks like a cloud's coming." He smiled weakly in his drowsy
state for a moment, before letting his lips settle back down, as the effort
of smiling seems so bothersome. The merman takes another long, exhausting,
agonizing blink, and smirks a little to see a smooth belly quickly
appearing on Arnaav's front side.

Merrick tilts his head up a little to look up to the sky. He groaned as he
sees no such cloud to mask the blazing sun, but still, he spots a small
spot of darkness over the water.

His eyes squint as he peers up to the sun; to a slightly incomplete sun,
with an invisible depletion on the lower side of the brightness of the sky.