Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Le Maree Della Guerra (The Tides of War) ❯ Death of Earlkonig ( Chapter 2 )

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Le Maree Della Guerra

By: Melissa Norvell

Movement 2: Death of Earlkonig

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Orzo looked thoughtful, his expression dire as he tried to formulate any possible answers to the conundrum at hand. "Nautica has several magical barriers. In order for them to get here by use of magic, they would have to pierce those three barriers. That's no normal alchemist."

In fact, there were very few alchemists who were capable of that kind of power. Even in Nautica, there were only two alchemists who would penetrate the gates with their own magic and to an extent, it would exhaust them. Was this true of the Deep Sea as well? Did they have alchemists that were skilled enough to do such a thing?

"Isn't that how they got in years ago?" Angla could have sworn that was the case. Maybe they were trying to use the same tactics that they have in the past.

"That was Accord," Oro corrected her. "We killed him in the last Deep Sea War."

"Supposedly, but we never found a body to confirm it." That was something that always put Orzo at unease. After all of those years, they would never anything. It made him doubt if Accord was even truly dead. Did they kill him, or did he get away to plot another war against them? Was this the premise for his return?

"Do you think it could be Accord?" Worry crossed Cyra's face. She didn't want to think that someone so awful was still alive, but there was always that possibility.

"If he is, then he's an idiot. I could have sworn I killed him." Isatsu didn't want to believe that he was alive until he literally saw the shark general in front of him. There was no way that he survived the last war.

"That's right!" Cyra clenched her fists and held them to her chest with a determined expression. "You're the great hero of the last war."

"It's nothing to be proud of. I was young back then." Quite frankly, the orca would rather forget those times and although he was smirking, Isatsu felt bitter towards his involvement in the last war.

"Accord was young as well," Orzo noted. "He was only a general. Our real enemy was Collossus."

"Collossus?" Cyra blinked a little in confusion.

"Collossus was the whole reason why the Deep Sea War was started. He gathered up all of those radicals who hated those of Nautica, enough to wish to abolish them." The narwhal king reflected upon the last war with a serious and stern frown. That shark in particular wasn't one he held fond memories with. In fact, he was glad that he had long since been defeated.

"I heard he had a sibling that loved a blue whale that lived in Nautica." That was how the story went to the Orca King. Whether or not it was true was up for debate.

"He did," Orzo nodded. "She ventured to be with her love, but Collossus found out and had his people hunt her down. They're against anyone who harbors our beliefs for a more peaceful way of life. Word has it all of those who are outside of Nautica believe that what we do here is wrong."

High above them, peering through the vents on the wall was the sword fish assassin. From her position, she could see everything and everyone who was standing in the room. She also was in ear shot, and could hear them speak with clarity. So far, she couldn't comprehend what they were talking about. It was something about a war and some guy that was named Accord or something. It was all gibberish to her.

'This is all really confusing. For some reason, I thought I'd be the only outsider here, but I'm not. I thought that Nautica was some horrible place that was ruled by tyrants but the sea kings seem civilized. They have a complex monarchy system. I'm pretty impressed. Still, I need to focus on getting close to Lord Orzo so that I can make my move. I have to remember that I'm down here for business, and not to hang out with royalty. A war would be a perfect opportunity to take him out. I can just blame it on the Deep Sea Army, providing there would be no witnesses.'

XXX

They stood before massive cast-iron gates, gazing up at the imposing structures that stood, donned in pitch black. Metal curved and swirled into elegant shapes, masking how dangerous they truly were. Despite their beauty, the gates were one of the most dangerous places to be in the sea. Yet, there was a small portion of the Deep Sea Army, ready to approach it.

"Are you sure this is alright, Oscillo? We're supposed to wait for orders to come in here." A curious, white jellyfish put a hand to his mouth and floated around a dark-skinned gray shark. He was nervous about being anywhere near the gates without any of the generals accompanying him.

"I can't help but remember this old legend I heard," the shark brought up the true reason he decided to bring his fellows to that point.

"What legend? About the urchin king?" The jellyfish cocked his head, white hair and long, tentacles waved in the currents. His ghostly yellow eyes were filled with wonder at the legend.

"Yeah, it's said that Urchin King Earlkonig guards Nautica's gates. He's the largest urchin in the world and completely lives in the ground." Putting a hand to the side of his face, as if he was telling some sort of secret, the short-haired shark grinned and leaned into his floaty comrade. "I hear that he's immortal and he can never die."

The jellyfish looked unamused and squinted skeptically. "If he's immortal, how do we kill him?"

He wondered if Oscillo took the time to figure that out before he brought them all the way out there. The jellyfish sincerely hoped that his companion had a plan of some sort, or he was going to turn around and go back to the base.

"I'm not really here to kill him per se. I just want one of his spikes. "He leaned back and nearly pinched his fingers together."Just a little piece will do."

"Why? Are they supposed to be magic or something?" A crab soldier had been listening to their conversation the whole time. He wondered what exactly obtaining one of Earlkonig's spikes had to do with anything. Why was it important to get one? What purpose did it serve?

"You could say that, Sitar. It's said that if you grind one of his spikes up into powder and eat it that you'll live forever." Just thinking about it made Oscillo's blood rush, and his heart pound with excitement. If Oscillo were to gain immortality, then he could use the powers of Nautica's own gate guardian to beat them in the war. He'd be a hero!

Sitar wasn't convinced at all. Frowning, the red-haired crab arched an eyebrow. "You don't really believe that, do you? Do you know how many immortality legends there are? Why would you believe this one?" He didn't understand how his fellow could be so stupid. Did he really mean to tell them that they were out there trying to fulfill some bogus legend? He wanted to go back to base right then.

"Even if it isn't true, I still want to try and figure it out. This is as close to immortality as I'm going to get." Why waste the opportunity now? They were already there! Oscillo was so close that he could taste it, and he was going to go for it despite who wanted to come with him. Oscillo was going to go through with his plans even if he was the only one doing so.

"It may be our only chance. I say go for it. I support you one-hundred percent." Another shark with sunglasses, and spiked hair chimed a few spaces back from the trio.

"If it works, I'll share it with you. Earlkonig's spikes are huge. There's more than enough there. With the power of his spikes, the Deep Sea Army will never fail! Thank about it!" Oscillo pumped his fists and turned to his team mates. He was trying to get them enthused into finding the urchin with him. However, they just didn't look convinced.

"We would be using their weapon against them." Sitar looked thoughtful at the notion.

"We'll be war heroes for this!" The other shark cheered.

"That's the spirit, Ob!" Oscillo was happy that he had someone who supported him in his efforts.

"Yes?"

"Tell the men to move out, Ob! We're going to give the Urchin King a run for his money!" Oscillo pointed towards the horizon in a dramatic fashion with a confident smirk on his face. This would be the day that changed everything.

This would be the beginning of an eternal life.

XXX

Back in the meeting hall, Orzo and Oro stood beside one of the tables, talking to each other. The other Sea Kings had all left the room. The last two to leave were Cyra, donning a worried expression, and the Orca King, who looked a little serious himself, despite usually wearing a smirk on his face.

"This is serious," Cyra walked a few steps behind the Orca King, and then glanced to him in question. "Do you think there will be another war?"

"If Accord is actually alive, then yes, I do." That was all that Isatsu had to say to send fear ripping through her. Accord would be back for revenge, and Cyra hated it but she couldn't deny that it was true.

"Do you think he's actually alive?" The anglerfish couldn't help but press the question.

"I don't know," Isatsu didn't want him to be, but something told him that probably wasn't the case.

Their footsteps disappeared from earshot as they made their way away from the meeting room. A moment of silence passed between the shark and the narwhal before anyone spoke. They were each immersed in their own thoughts of the oncoming war, trying to prepare themselves for what may be in store for them. Orzo's black, beady eyes looked at the Shark King, who was staring at the floor rather intently.

"You seem thoughtful," Orzo finally broke the silence.

"It seems asinine to go through this again. What a meaningless waste of life." The Shark King closed his eyes. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of the events of the past.

"Who knows? I am a tad bit unnerved by it all. It bothers me that no one saw them come in here, undetected, and who knows where." They had a breach in their system, and if they didn't find out where it was then it was going to cost them dearly. Orzo didn't want that at all.

"Indeed," Oro agreed, opening his eyes as he stared out of the large window in front of them. 'I don't like this. They have something up their sleeves this time, I just don't know what.' Just knowing that bothered him.

XXX

Angla walked down the hall, hoping to meet back up with Percuss. He wondered where exactly the sword fish had gone in his absence. Remarkably, as he reached the end of the hallway, the sword fish came into view. She was standing there as she had been before. Did Percuss wait all of that time just to see him again?

"You waited, Percuss," he stopped in front of his new friend, a little shocked to see her there.

"I walked around a bit." Percuss put her hands behind her back, holding her wrists.

"Did anyone stop you?"

The sword fish shook her head. "I didn't go too far."

"Do you have any questions?" Surely there was something that Percuss had seen that she wanted to know about.

"I might need another walk through. There are a lot of rooms. I stayed close because I didn't want to get lost." Percuss lied; she hadn't been in any of the castle rooms. All she had been doing was spying on everyone. However, she wasn't going to give herself away that easily.

"It is pretty big around here. Let me finish showing you around." Angla knew that the castle could get confusing. He didn't blame the swordfish for not wanting to wander off too far. He was quite happy that the assassin waited so patiently for him.

'Everyone looked tense coming out of there. Even I get bad feelings about this. I definitely think they're all preparing for a huge war.' She was lucky to have made it down the hall before they all left and resume her spot before they advanced down the hallway. To even see the orca frown was something.

XXX

Outside of the castle, Cyra and the Great Sea King were standing out front. Orzo was looking out over the beautiful kelp gardens that surrounded the castle. It was decorated with luminescent shells that were shaped like steps and several shaped pieces of coral and sea plants that made the beautiful foliage.

However, he couldn't help but think about how badly it would all look when the Deep Sea Army invaded. It wasn't even a matter of if they would invade; at this point it was a matter of when they would invade. If they got past Earlkonig, then they were already hiding in Nautica. If they knew outstanding magic like he thought they did, then they probably already killed citizens of Nautica and are taking their forms, hiding and waiting for the right time to ambush him.

All of these thoughts made King Orzo anxious. He felt himself grow sick with worry as he began to walk down the sea shell walkway. He headed out of the castle grounds.

"Where are you off to?" He stopped and half-turned, looking over his shoulder at his wife, who was holding her dress and walking quickly up to him.

"I'm going to pay Earlkonig a visit. There's something I want to talk to him about in private." Orzo wanted to put part of his fears to rest. If he talked to his gate guardian, he could accomplish that.

"Are you sure it's alright with the other Sea Kings?" Cyra asked.

Orzo just looked her dead in the eyes. "Have I ever cared about their opinions? I don't need that orca's approval for everything I do." He knew that his wife was specifically referring to Isatsu. When it came to making group decisions, that orca was usually against everyone, and he made it especially hard for them to utilize plans all or most of them agreed with due to that.

"Please," Cyra looked a little worried, "be careful."

"Don't worry, I will." Orzo smiled and headed off towards the gates.

XXX

The Deep Sea Army wandered through the murky ocean waters. All around them, it looked as if all of the ocean sand had been disturbed and created massive clouds. Glancing around, they could tell that the landscape was looking more and more disenchanting as they advanced towards the tall, iron gates.

Each soldier was filled with unease. The atmosphere was quiet, and for that moment, it was as if they were the only ones there. Tension had built up to the extent that they thought that something might jump out and grab them at any given moment. The only sound they heard was the occasional shifting up the tides and their own footsteps. Never had they felt so alone in a desolate terrain.

"I think we're lost." Sitar couldn't take it anymore. He had to break that overbearing silence.

"Visibility is zero. How do we even tell where the spikes are?" Ob thought it was dangerous to keep venturing into the haze. They could be caught off guard and killed.

X.

In another part of the haze, Orzo had been walking around. Sniffing through the water, his tongue ran across his white lips. "I smell something."

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Ob glanced around. He felt his stomach churn sickeningly inside of him. Bile sloshed inside of his body as he looked at the grotesque and deformed pieces of coral. He didn't want to be there. He felt like Earlkonig was going to pop up and kill him any second. There was no time to think about that. He had to get his head on straight and think about the prospect of immortality that was waiting behind all of the nightmarish landscape.

"What's wrong, Ob?" Sitar glanced over his shoulder to the paranoid-looking shark.

"This is..." The words barely came out as his senses were overrun with copper and decay. The whole area was saturated with it. 'The smell of death,' he couldn't get away from it. It sickened him even more, combining with his anxiety as they came out of the dense, foggy water.

As the fog lightened, they could see the silhouettes of large spikes. But, there was something else as well. There were various fish, all spired on the long, black spikes. Some of them had been plunged onto them, or had fallen on them. Their entrails wound around the spikes, being forced out of their bodies and fresh blood still stained their device of death. Before them, there was an unfortunate soul who had been skewered down the middle, the spike ripped through his mouth as he hung limply before them.

They served as grim reminders of what happened to all of those who dared to try and pass Earlkonig's defenses.

It was then that Ob realized that their threat was very real.

They could die there.

"Wha...What's this?" Sitar nearly squeaked out the words as horror ran across his visage.

"I recognize them. They're from the mermaid army!" Ob could hardly believe it! He knew that General Riptide's army had been extinguished, but he wasn't sure of how. It was odd; however, he was sure that they made it into Nautica.

"Man, it stinks." Oscillo could hardly stand the stench of death that clung tightly to their decaying forms.

"What are they doing here?" Sitar asked.

"They've been skewered." Ob stated the obvious.

"I can't believe this." Oscillo covered his nose. If they stayed there any longer, he swore to Neptune that he was going to hurl.

"Either way, we should get the hell out of here!" Sitar was sure that if they stayed around, they were going to be the next ones on Earlkonig's spikes. Screw immortality! He just wanted to get out with his life.

"It's too dangerous," Ob agreed.

"Y-Yeah," one of the members of their army also agreed, but before anything could happen, a spike shot through the ground at light speed. It came up so quickly that it threw them off balance. Sitar landed on his back, Ob was knocked off of his feet, and Oscillo managed to jump back before anything happened to him.

"What the hell?" Oscillo had to catch his breath as spikes shot up around them, sending their army into a whirlwind of panic. Yells, shouts and exclamation were heard throughout the murky waters as they scattered away, trying to dodge their impending doom.

"What is this thing?" Ob asked as everyone ran around, continuing to dodge and move out of the way of the barrage of spikes that they were caught off guard with.

"Do you really think I can afford to let you pass? You're bigger idiots than I thought. I'll do the sea a favor and make sure that you can't reproduce." Earlkonig rose from the ocean floor, beady, white eyes stared at them with malice as ocean sand and debris rolled and tumbled down his body. "Now, perish!" Leaning back, Earlkonig released more spikes.

They shot up from the ground, piercing and ripping through all that got in their way. Some of the soldiers weren't so fortunate. Their screams and gurgles sounded through the waters as spikes drove themselves into their bodies, tearing flesh and organs, and busting their bones.

"We're losing men because of your stupid decision, Oscillo!" Ob took back everything he said about supporting that shark's decision to attempt immortality. This wasn't worth it at all.

Grabbing his sword from its holster on his side, Oscillo lit up with determination. He was so close that he could taste that spike in his mouth, so close that immortality was at the tip of his tongue. Oscillo didn't care how many men he lost, he was going to get one of those spikes even if it killed him. "I won't be won over so easily."

"This...This...is...." Sitar trembled in his combat boots as two spikes shot up around him, skewering two army men who were running with him. All the crab could do was stare blankly at the dismembered bodies as their insides showered the ocean floor around him.

"Hmmm...It seems like I caught Earlkonig doing his job. It's nice to hear their melodious screams as they parish. There's no doubt that he isn't effective. They all do good not to question him, but I suppose I shouldn't interrupt his fun. He might run a spike through me." Orzo peered from behind the branches of coral and watched as Earlkonig continued to send his spikes towards the group of Deep Sea Forces. More men were skewered as the narwhal continued to watch everything play out before him.

Oscillo gritted his pointy teeth as he ran towards the giant sea urchin. His eyes were piercing, focused on his intended target. Spikes shot up around him, ripping up the earth as each one attempted to take his life. He dodged them, ran around them, and jumped over them. Some of them barely missed his body as he continued to drive himself forward.

"I won't let you continue to kill my men!" He shouted. Oscillo was going to end all of this.

"You're a persistent little thing," Earlkonig was going to keep him from entering Nautica. "Yah!" The urchin summoned even more spikes, so much so that there was no space for his enemy to get away from them. Oscillo would literally have to outrun them until he could no longer.

The shark continued to run through the spikes, barely staying ahead of them as he advanced towards the sea urchin. His team mates all called out his name as a spike shot up below him. Instead of being skewered, Oscillo pushed his feet off of the side of the tip of it and used the spike's force to launch himself at the large, black denizen. He drew back his sword and the blade began to glow with pastel yellow magic.

"What?! Impossible!" Earlkonig's pupiless, round eyes widened in horror before the blade was driven between his eyes.

Everyone looked on with shock and horror as Oscillo continued to plunge the blade deep between the urchin's eyes. He called out the attack name Deep Sea Slash, and a beam ripped through the sea urchin and split him in half. The atmosphere was lit up in a brilliant light and the sound of Earlkonig's dying screech was heard as the members of the Deep Sea Army who had lived through the attack just stared in bewilderment and amazement as the urchin fell in pieces before them. Blood rained down upon them as Orzo watched in horror from his position behind the branched, red coral.

"That's the Deep Sea's attack! I've got to get out of here!" This wasn't good! Orzo turned and ran as quickly as he could. It was official; the Deep Sea had actively penetrated their gate guardian. They were going to begin coming inside of the city boundaries.

The war had begun.

"You...did it?" Ob was still in shock. Everything was so surreal and he found himself wondering if he really had just watched that happen.

"You killed the Urchin King. Do you know what that means?" Sitar stared at him with wide eyes.

"The gates of Nautica are open. We don't have to worry about getting skewered anymore." Ob was relieved that they didn't have to go through that hell again.

"We did it," Oscillo's hands and blade dripped with blood as a wide smile crossed his mouth. "We're heroes now." Walking over to the split urchin, he swung his blade again, hacking off a piece of one of the spikes that protruded from his body. Then, he crumbled a bit of it up in his hand, grinding it into dust and shoving the black, crumbly powder into his mouth.

"Thank Neptune we're safe," Ob sighed in relief.

Oscillo made a face of displeasure and stuck out his black tongue, closing his exposed eye and scowling. "Man, that stuff tastes terrible. If it's going to grant me immortality you'd think it would taste appealing."

"Nothing is without pain, I guess." Ob shrugged.

The shark broke another tip of a spike off and held it out to his team mates.

Sitar held out a hand and frowned. "You tell me if it works first, then I'll consider it." There was no way he was going to eat some disgusting spike when it was probably just another old wives' tale.

Ob took it and shoved it in his pocket. "I'll keep one around, just in case. Even if I wanted to ingest it, I should do it when I'm in more of a position to." Maybe later, he would grind it up and eat it with his food or something.

"Aw, be a man and take it straight," Oscillo pouted.

"We need to report back to the boss," Sitar noted. "I think he'll be pleased with this new information.

XXX

Orzo darted through the castle halls. He had to call a meeting immediately and gather his fellow sea kings. There was no time to waste! They needed to prepare for war immediately. He saw one of his children, Angla, walking around with that sword fish, showing her various things inside of the castle. However, he didn't have time to talk to them and dashed past them, leaving the two to look on in confusion.

"I have to get to Oro," surely the shark was still in the meeting room.

"What was that about?" A confused Angla asked an equally confused Percuss, who merely shrugged in reply.

The door to the meeting room was flung open as the narwhal busted in. This caused the Shark King and Orca King, who had been talking to each other to direct their sights to him in question. What was Orzo being so urgent about?

"Oro, I have urgent news."

"What is it?" The Shark King turned his full attention to his king.

"This isn't good," Orzo said through pants as he tried to catch his breath.

"Say it already," Isatsu was still casual, leaning against one of the tables. "What's so important that you had to break the door down about? We're talking about important stuff."

"Earlkonig is dead," the news slammed into the shark like a wrecking ball.

"Good riddance," the orca, however, was unaffected.

"What? How?"

"He's been slaughtered. The gates are open," Orzo continued to tell the two of them of the terrible news.

Symphony walked into the meeting room and turned her sights to the three denizens. "I couldn't help but overhear that Earlkonig has been killed. Should I get Angla?"

"Yes, it's urgent," Orzo needed all of the Sea Kings to be present for this special meeting.

XXX

As Angla and Percuss turned the corner to go down another hallway, a fast-swimming, Great White shark nearly crashed into them. It had to halt itself in place before it nearly made contact with them. This caused the two to back up a little and gaze at the worried-looking denizen.

"Moegi?" Angla cocked his head, blinking a couple of times.

"Moegi?" Percuss arched an eyebrow. Who in the hell was Moegi?

"I'm glad that I found you." The little shark was frantic about something. It was rare for Angla to see his friend quite like that. "I've wanted to warn you about something I saw."

"That little shark talks?" Percuss was still a little confused at the fact that the animal with a child's voice was speaking to them. 'Why does this not shock me? Usually, the lower fish who aren't capable of magical transformations can't speak our language. Then again, I've seen plenty of things that murdered my shock factor today.'

Percuss wasn't even sure that she really knew what was going on in all actuality.

"Now isn't the time. We must get to the meeting hall at once! This needs to be shared with the Sea Kings." Whatever it was, Moegi was in a hurry to tell everyone about it. It must have been important.

"Right," Angla's visage hardened and Moegi swam off quickly. Percuss followed suit. She wasn't about to let her leads get away. Not to mention that if she was in the right place at the right time, she could get caught up in their plans somehow.

'Maybe if I don't say anything, I'll get caught up in one of their meetings and no one will notice.' Commotion had a strange way of making people forget little details. She could only hope that would be the case here.

XXX

When the three of them went inside of the meeting room, they saw that all of the Sea Kings but Symphony was present. Whatever kind of news it was, it looked like most everyone knew about it. It was either that, or they were having a meeting about something else beforehand and they just got lucky enough not to have to assemble everyone.

Symphony walked up behind Angla. "I went to get you, but you're already here."

"I have something important to tell you all," Angla announced.

"We have important news as well," his father turned to him.

"How much bad news can we get in one day?" Oro was more stressed than he had been previously.

"Out with it already," Isatsu just wanted to get it over with. It was far better to bring on the pain early.

"I saw the Deep Sea Troops outside of the gates. They managed to come through and no one's tried to stop them." Moegi was highly concerned. It would only be a matter of seconds before they got into town. They were probably there already. The Sea Kings needed to act now to get rid of the threat.

"That's because Earlkonig is dead. The army killed him." Orzo bore the bad news to the little shark.

"That isn't even the worst news," Moegi looked saddened.

"What?" Angla couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Let's keep shitting on this parade," Isatsu wondered what else could happen to them. He wasn't looking forward to what was to come.

"I saw Accord passing through the gates," Moegi delivered the other part of her bad news.

"What? Accord is," Angla's eyes widened. There was no way that Accord could be there.

'Did she say Accord?' Orzo didn't want to hear that at all.

'Accord...' Symphony perked up upon hearing that name.

"Impossible, I killed him," the killer whale waved in dismissal. That shark was blind. There was no way that she could have seen that guy.

"Apparently, you didn't make sure he was dead," Angla crossed his arms and cast a stern gaze to the orca; his voice was a little irritated.

"Are you sure that it wasn't someone posing as Accord?" Oro wanted to be absolutely sure that Moegi's information was correct.

"I wouldn't lie to you, Shark King Oro. Several people called him by name." Moegi would never lie, nor would she deliver confusing or misleading information to the kings if she could avoid it.

"This can't be," the gravity of the situation was finally hitting Isatsu, "another Deep Sea war."

"This is pathetic. We've already beaten them before. What will they gain from this?" Nautica's forces were clearly stronger than those of the Deep Sea. Orzo couldn't understand what they wanted or what they were trying to prove from attacking them again.

"They're all stupid," the orca slammed his fist into his hand with a wide grin. "I'll have to beat their asses again."

"This war is asinine," Oro sighed. He didn't want to do this again.

"It can't be helped. Without Earlkonig the gates are open. We have to keep everyone from running rampant. When everyone finds out that the gates are no longer closed, they will try to invade Nautica. As Nautica's monarchy, we have to keep it under control." There was no other way to go about their situation. Orzo knew the actions that they had to take in order to keep all foreign forces out of their kingdom.

"So, we're stuck doing the dirty work," Oro didn't like where this was going. The last thing he wanted to do was act as a common warrior.

"That's idiotic," Isatsu wasn't even going to give that position a second thought. "We can just send our armies to the gates. They'll be fine." The Sea Kings had strong armies. They wouldn't have any problem beating the Deep Sea armies.

"It won't work," the Shark King frowned.

"Why the hell is not?" Isatsu frowned. The armies were capable enough of doing border patrol. He really didn't want to do menial tasks just because that urchin wasn't effective enough to do them himself.

"There were extremely powerful denizens that we exiled on the outskirts. They could take them down easily. We still have to do it." Oro knew there was no way to get out of it.

"I'd rather fight. Guard duty is below me." It was insulting to have someone like him just standing around. That was a waste of a notable Sea King. If Isatsu was going to be on the field, he was going to be ripping people up.

"We're in a bad situation no matter how you put it." Angla sighed. She knew that the orca hated this, and in truth, he did as well. However, there was nothing that they could do about it.

"If it was done right the first time, this wouldn't this wouldn't have happened." Oro took a shot at the Orca King, for not killing Accord in the last war.

Isatsu felt the last bit of his patience snap. His smile widened a little and his eye twitched as he whirled around and grabbed the shark by the neck, holding him up in a choke hold. The Shark King clawed at his hand as he felt the orca constrict his throat.

"O-Orca King Isatsu..." Oro choked out the words.

"Do you want to die, Oro?" Although Isatsu's voice sounded amused, the orca was quite angry. It was bad enough that he found out that guy was still alive, and now that shark had to rub it in his face and call him a screw up? He wasn't going to take that, not from someone like him.

"No, I won't say anything else about it." Oro clung to his hand for dear life, his voice came out as a strained whisper and he closed one eye in pain. That orca didn't know his own strength.

"If you do, I'll turn your face into a crater. Got it?" Isatsu's voice took on a threatening edge; through his smirk his tone promised a world of pain.

"Y-Yes," the shark was then thrown down to the ground. Oro landed in a crumpled heap where he gasped for breath and coughed violently.

Isatsu turned to the others, "we should act immediately. They already started the attack. Are all of you just going to stand there and let them blow our brains out?" His voice was harsh, notably angry this time as he stared down his colleagues.

"Are you alright?" Angla walked up to the shark king and placed a hand on his shoulder.

'What's going on?' Percuss was still confused as to what was going on.

"Call a meeting of everyone in Nautica. This is mandatory." Orzo proclaimed, and then turned to the rock hopper penguin. "Symphony, gather everyone in Nautica."

"Yes, sir!" She placed a hand over her chest and exited the room, off to gather the denizens.

The narwhal turned to the angler fish and orca. "Angla, Isatsu, move your troops out at once. See what you can report. If you see Accord at all, then tell me."

"Yes, sir!" They both said in unison.

"Take your little friend with you," Orzo pointed at the silent sword fish, who flinched a little.

'My glory was short-lived.' She had been caught. "Sorry, I just followed Angla here."

Oro got up off of the ground and turned his sights towards her. "That's the sword fish from before."

"Oro, go with them," the king instructed.

"I'll make sure they don't do anything reckless," Oro agreed.

"If you get on my nerves, I'll fire you out of a canon." That was a promise that the orca could keep.

"Lord Isatsu sure does like to make death threats," Percuss sweated a bit. Not only was he an asshole, he was a violent asshole. Isatsu was definitely someone that she didn't want to tangle with.

"It just means he likes you," Angla was all too accustomed with his sadistic actions.

The anglerfish's comment confused the sword fish. "Lord Isatsu likes Lord Oro?"

"I don't know how to describe their rivalry. I'm not sure if they act like brothers or Isatsu just wants to eat him," Angla sighed. They certainly were...something.

Walking out into the castle courtyard, Isatsu held out his hand to some miscellaneous troops and commanded them to deploy the ships, and noted that they were about to beat some ass. Percuss was only plunged more into a field of confusion and asked what the ship consisted of. Angla told her that the sea ships would allow them to cover more ground and they could cut through the harsher currents of the waters above.

"Are you planning on bringing your warrior army? Or do you need your special infantry?" Oro asked.

"I think it would be good to split our troops up. Let's divide them between the ground and water. I'm going to bring Doku and Ora along." Angla thought it would be best to have a few of his fellows accompany him.

"I'll have Harp control the ground troops. She's the best warrior in the Sea Army," Oro looked to Percuss, "we'll talk later."

"Yes, Lord Oro," Percuss nodded. 'Man, this guy is so mechanical and cold. He acts like a machine, and he's definitely not like the other Sea Kings. Symphony is reserved. Isatsu is arrogant and violent. Angla is down to earth and Orzo...is quite the character but this guy...I can't read him at all. His stare could freeze magma. He's the kind of guy who gives that nightmare lore about sharks truth.'

She couldn't help but notice that Oro's face never seemed to change expression. If it did, the changes were slight and the guy never smiled, his voice never wavered. It was like he wasn't even a living creature half of the time. In truth, Percuss was disturbed by him. It didn't help that he was the tallest person out of their group, either.

"Right," Angla nodded as they all walked to the back end of the castle and onto a giant, wooden dock. Their feet tapped on the harsh, wooden surface as they approached a long, curved bridge that went all the way up to what looked like an old pirate ship with white sails.

"They assembled fast," Angla didn't expect them to get the ships ready that quickly. He was impressed with their work.

Percuss stood by the wooden railing that surrounded the deck and looked over. There were troops as far as the eye could see. She had never seen so many denizens in all of her life. They flooded the ground to where there was no negative space. They marched side-by-side while others boarded the ships or made preparations on deck. It fascinated her. 'Their armies are phenomenal. I've never seen an army so big.'

"You wasted all that time. Stop dawdling and get in here!" Isatsu shouted from his position, half way on the bridge as Percuss looked to him.

The group walked onto the bridge and began to make their way onto the ship. As Percuss boarded the ship, she could see King Orzo step out onto the balcony of the castle, ready to approach his subjects.

The narwhal looked up to the ships that floated overhead, weightless in the water's currents. A serious expression crossed his visage.

'Be careful, everyone.'

To Be Continued...