Friendship And Hardship

[Chapter 1] - Grumpy Beginnings

A cold breeze swept over the floor, both literally and figuratively. This temperature and weather will take a while to get used to.

"Don't even start complaining about the cold, Kwazii!" Barnacles exclaimed jokingly. He knew how much the lieutenant hated the cold weather.
"I know you know how I hate this!" he replied back.
"Oh, Kwazii. When you're in the cold for a while, you'll get used to it," Peso stated, listening in on the duos conversation.
"You two were born in the cold, I wasn't!"

"Captain, can I ask, why are we going up north? Do we have plans up there with others?" Peso asked, glancing out the HQ windows.
"There's been some odd weather patterns up there lately. We just want to make sure everyone and everything is all right," he responded.
"Ah, that makes sense."

...

If only one person in the world could be curious, that person would be Peso. If no one could be curious, he wouldn't exist. Besides, a quick glance out the window again wouldn't hurt, would it?

Maybe it would.

At first glance, any person would have thought that there was just some big piece of cardboard floating on the surface of the water. But with a closer look, it was not cardboard.

It almost looked like the bottom of a ship?

"Umm, Captain? Captain?!" Peso called out, frantically spinning around to find him.
"I'm right here, what's wrong?" Barnacles asked, hands in front of him.
"We have to turn back."
"Why?"
"You aren't going to believe me, but you have to. I think there's someone else here," he answered.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.
"I saw a whole other ship," Peso responded. "It was right up there, right on the surface."
"So what do you propose we do?" Barnacles placed his hands at his sides.

"I'm not the one to intrude on anyone, it's just not me. But let's try it. If there's a problem, we'll leave on the spot," Peso suggested.
"Good thinking."

~

"It's really foggy here," Kwazii pointed out.
"That's pretty... obvious," Peso said, nudging him in the side with his elbow.
"Yeah, are we already in the Arctic Circle?" he asked.
"Yes, Kwazii. Yes we are," Barnacles answered, rubbing his temples. Something about this place seemed ominous. Almost like looking at an old childhood residence only to see how bad it turned out. The feeling was eating away at Barnacles. Being the leader of a group, both literally right now, and at any other time, was hard when you were as nervous as they were.

And the crack of a tree branch made everyone's stomachs drop.

"Cap, are you sure this is the greatest idea? Maybe there's something or someone that doesn't want us here," Tweak questioned.
"It definitely doesn't seem safe, but that ship at the coast said something else about this island," he answered.

It did say something. There was something in the air. Every step around a corner and up a hill and over a stream made Barnacles rethink coming there in the first place. There could be another explanation for why the ship was at the coast, but it was tied up.

It was tied up.

So that means someone took the time to do all those fancy knots only to leave it? It didn't make sense.

"Am I the only one that's beginning to rethink this? I feel like a jerk for dragging everyone else into this," Peso admitted, walking up to Barnacles' side.
"Well, some of the things that have already shown up say something," he stated.

"We aren't the only ones up here."

"Yeah. You aren't the only ones."

And just at the top of what seemed to be a cliff, stood a figure.