Fan Fiction ❯ Black Orchid ❯ Oysters by the Sea ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Hey!Hey!Look!Look!(or Oi!Oi!Mitte!Mitte!): Nyan…This one has a complete Carroll poem, noted by the italicized verses. Did you catch the Old Man's full name? I couldn't think of a better one for him. Anyways, this chapter seems kind of long, but actually most of the lines are the poem. I hope you like how the Cheshire Cat acts. I think he's highly amusing. Arc doesn't think so.

Arc: I wanna wring his furry neck!

Umm: Right…anyways, R&R. Reel Big Fish Rocks! And Burning Airlines! And Aquabats! And The Pillows! Hahaha…to think I got to this cuz I was bored and looked up 'keyblade' under the google image search. Brought me to someone's website, which linked to their story, and then the wide, wide world of Fanfiction.net was opened to me.

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The three once more found themselves wandering in the Lotus Forest.

"How are we supposed to find oysters?" moaned Orchid.

"Seeing sea food?" came the voice. "You need to see the sea for seeing sea food to be seeable, don't you see?"

"Not you again," Arc cursed. The Cheshire Cat appeared in front of them. This time, his body was standing on his head, precariously balanced.

"And what can you tell us, kupo?" Montblanc asked tiredly; even he was feeling depressed at the prospect of having to find the three things, and his antenna ball drooped sadly.

"I can tell you many things," replied the Cat with a smile. "But as for the oysters, I'd suggest visiting an expert. He eats them all the time."

"Are you going to tell us where he is?" asked Orchid, trying to maintain a pleasant and inoffensive voice. She wasn't highly amused by his games, but if he had the information they needed…

"The tusked man and his woodworking friend can be found by the beach of course," answered the Cheshire Cat. "You can get there in a few easy steps. First, you'll need to get up-"

The cat disappeared to reappear in one of the high corners of the room that held the Lotus Forest.

"Here," he finished. They stared up at him.

"How-?" started Orchid.

"I see," said Arc. He pointed out several mushrooms and lily pads leading to the cat. "We need to follow that path."

They went over to the lowest one and jumped, scrambled, and flew up to the top. They made their way to where the cat lazed about, careful not to fall. Montblanc could easily enough fly, but Arc occasionally had to fling Orchid up past some of the higher ledges. Finally, panting and quite warm from all the leaping, they found themselves in front of the cat once more.

"Bravo! Bravo!" said the Cheshire Cat. He indicated a hole in the wall with one pudgy paw. "Now just go through there, and you'll find another room. If you can figure out the way to the beach, I might just give you something."

By the end of his sentence, he was only a grin, and then, not even that.

"Do we go through?" asked Orchid.

"Does it look like we have a choice?" grumbled Arc. He stepped through the hole, and the other two followed.

They come out the other side standing on the wall. They were in a room that seemed to be made for someone several times their size, and the floor was on one side and the ceiling to the other. A table stood on the floor, and some lamps and windows were on and near the ceiling. On the wall on which they stood were a couple of wall lamps, a shelf and a picture.

"What a…Bizarre Room," commented Orchid. The three of them walked out towards the middle, not sure what to expect.

A fireball suddenly whizzed by their heads. They turned to see several Heartless mages, a large body, some soldiers, and a host of shadows.

"So, they want to fight, do they?" said Arc, pushing up his yellow shades.

The Heartless charged them, and chaos broke loose. The mages flew overhead, while Montblanc shot spells at them, and Orchid and Arc bashed their way through the mass of jangling soldiers and shifting shadows, trying not to be smashed by the large body. Having cleared the area around her, Orchid took aim at one of the mages.

"Fire!" she shouted. The fireball struck the Red Nocturne, but instead of being destroyed, it merely spun in a circle and seemed revitalized.

"Not kupo!" yelled Montblanc. "They're healed by their own magic, but hurt by the opposite especially, kupo. Fire and ice for example. Blizzard!"

The mage Orchid had hit was suddenly encased in ice, then shattered and disappeared. Nodding at Montblanc, she continued blasting mages, but this time careful to only aim at the blue ones. Soon, they had finished off all the Heartless.

"So now what?" asked Orchid.

"Over here, kupo!" said Montblanc, hovering over the picture on the wall. Orchid and Arc walked over to look.

"Well, well," mused Arc.

"It's a beach!" said Orchid excitedly. And a beach it was. There was a sun and a moon in the sky, making it half night and half day in the picture.

"So how do we get there?" asked Arc.

In response, Montblanc poked the picture with his rod. The crescent moon on the end dipped in, and the picture rippled like water. They stared at it.

"One second…" said Orchid, reminded by the rod. It had got her thinking about magic. "If the Heartless are just now starting to use magic, then it wasn't a Heartless that froze Cid in time, was it?"

"Kupo!" exclaimed Montblanc. "I had forgotten entirely about that. Who did Stop the Judgemaster?"

They stared at Arc. He stared back with his deep blue eyes. Then he finally turned away.

"It was my doing. I had Yuffie do it. I wanted to see Orchid's strength, and the best I could think of was to have her face the Heartless alone. But then Montblanc appeared. So that's why I fought you, since he got rid of most of the Heartless for you," he finished.

"I was wondering about all that," said Orchid. "Usually people don't just attack me for no reason."

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," replied Arc sharply. "Let's just go through already."

And with that, the three of them hopped into the picture.

* * *

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.

They stared about on the open beach. There was almost nothing there. They wandered aimlessly up the coast, Orchid amusing herself by stepping over the fine line between night and day repeatedly, occasionally walking halfway in each. Even Arc was somewhat amused by the strange lighting, his white trench coat blowing in the sea breeze. Then, they heard talking and turned to see what was happening.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"

A fat walrus, wearing a coat, spectacles and, strangely enough, pants and shoes was walking and conversing with a lanky old man wearing a work apron over his clothes and a carpenter's hat as they ambled up the beach towards them.

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

"Who are they?" asked Orchid, staring at the odd pair.

" 'The tusked man and his woodworking friend', kupo!" cried Montblanc. "They must be who the Cheshire Cat was talking about."

The pair stopped a little ways from them at the edge of the sea, and they were peering intently into the water.

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.

"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat--
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

"Aw, they're so cute!" said Orchid, letting a little of her more girly side out.

"I guess," muttered Arc, clearly not interested. "Let's just get them and leave."

"Wait a second," said Montblanc. "What did the Cat say?"

"Oh!" cried Orchid. " 'I'd suggest visiting an expert. He eats them all the time'! They're gonna eat all those little oysters! That's just cold!"

"And what do you think Mr. Carroll was going to do with them?" asked Arc, amused by Orchid being flustered. "Keep them as pets?"

"Oh…well, um," mumbled Orchid, pushing her forefinger tips together nervously.

"That's the problem when things get anthropomorphic, kupo," sighed Montblanc, walking off after the horde of oysters. "Oh, let's just go get some."

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

By now they had gathered five or six oysters and were using Arc's trench coat as a make shift bag.

"I swear, these better not stain," he muttered mutinously.

"I hate this," mumbled Orchid. "Food should never be able to plead or cry 'Help!'"

"Well, it's not like they'd have been better off here, kupo," said Montblanc, his wings flittering restlessly from were he stood. They watched in horrified interest as the Walrus started talking.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."

"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?

"It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf--
I've had to ask you twice!"

At this point the three had started to walk away.

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

They found the wall of air that rippled when they touched it, and without looking back, they stepped through with their cargo of mollusks.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.