AvM/AvA (ADVENTURE)

FISH

I love fish :)

They taste amazing 🐟🐠🐡🦈

~~~

"Watch out for that rock!"

Second immediately steered using his oar -- using all of his strength including his body weight to do so -- at the sound of Purple's warning. Their boat shifted to the right, nearly hitting the mentioned rock, but they managed.

Second sighed, wiping the sweat off his face. He's been there, holding the oar, steering the boat to make sure his and Purple's boat would avoid all the different obstacles found in the river. Purple was on the other side, his own oar at the ready.

They moved with the water -- the rushing stream of complete monstrosity -- and therefore were progressing quite fast on their route. But because they moved so fast, it was near impossible to dodge every single obstacle coming their way. The two always wondered and worried that they'd notice an obstacle too late and end up hitting it. So far, they were okay, but they weren't sure if things were going to continue the same way as had started.

"Second! Steer! Right! To the right!"

Second started, looking to the front. He hadn't been paying attention. Immediately, he dipped his oar deep into the rushing monstrosity and pushed. After two hard pushes, the boat narrowly missed the protruding obstacle and continued on its way downstream. Second almost wanted to collapse from exhaustion -- he was sweating, the hot beams of the sun glaring down at him, and his arms and back were exhausted from working all day. Including the rest of his body.

But at the next warning from Purple, he continued to make sure the both of them were safe.

Purple, on the other hand, wasn't as tired as Second, but still quite exhausted. His eyes strained for the next obstacle, making sure that he could notify the two of them for any type of possible disaster that might happen. His throat was dying from lack of water -- he really was quite dehydrated -- and he was sure that he was going to lose his voice the next day after all this yelling.

His tired eyes caught another obstacle and he shouted it out to Second, who tiredly steered the boat out of harms' way.

The two needed a break. And soon.

Purple felt like dozing off, his mind blank and aching. His eyes would close for just a second...just a second...

The boat lurched toward the left, the sudden motion almost causing Purple to topple over. He blinked awake, alert. What had happened?

The two friends exchanged a worried look, then turned to look down at the rushing water below them. Something had hit their boat.

What if it was a rock? Or a floating piece of wood?

Suddenly the boat lurched toward the right. The two friends caught each other, catching sight of something in the water beside them. It passed by quickly as their boat continued on through the rushing water of the river.

Curious, Purple moved over to the back of the boat, looking out. He blinked.

No. It couldn't be.

It was a rock. But how did the boat just...steer away by itself?

"Purple! Come look at this!"

Purple looked up, turning to Second. He walked over cautiously, careful so that if the boat decided to shift to the left, he would be prepared to catch himself. Once he reached Second, he leaned over to see what his friend had seen.

He rubbed his eyes, then went to look again.

A shoal of fish?

The fish swam right below the surface, right alongside the boat. The two friends watched the huge group in awe. Even though the group was right below the surface of the water, the two friends could still make out the beautiful coat of gleaming scales, and the synchronized way of their swimming. The fish's powerful fins moved efficiently through the rushing water, effortlessly swimming through the currents. The fish were powerful, despite how small in size they were compared to Second and Purple.

Second was sure to capture this all. The gleaming scales, the elegant fins, the powerful flex of their bodies. The sun casting down at the group only made them look more majestical.

The two friends were so interested in the shoal of fish, they didn't notice a particularly huge rock reaching them through the water. It was when the boat lurched to the side once again did they realize they had narrowly missed another rock. But what really caught their attention was the fish.

The fish.

That's it.

They had managed to pass the many different obstacles from earlier, despite the fact that they weren't paying attention to anything, because the shoal of fish were pushing against the boat as one. The huge group had enough power to help the two friends avoid crashing into the rocks.

Second and Purple exchanged a look of surprise, but it quickly disappeared into one of gratitude. Second reached into his bag, pulling out a bag containing a sweet potato. He had kept it on himself in case he was hungry, but he was sure that another group would need it more than him. With the help of Purple, the two managed to break the sweet potato into tiny pieces, then threw them into the water.

Few fish moved about, trying to catch the little crumbs. The rest kept their post loyally, continuing to keep a close eye on different obstacles for Second and Purple. Red had been right...fish really weren't that bad.

Regretfully, Second remembered the time when he tried to kick Red when he was in his fish form. Second hadn't known that was Red, and him being a fish was a little irritating since he kept landing on his face. But the fish weren't bad, really.

A yawn paused Second from all his thinking and his guilt. He was exhausted. He sat down, yawning once more. It wasn't long before he was lying down on one of the seats in the boat, snoring away, completely at ease now that the fish were helping them.

Purple didn't mind. He did deal with a sleepy Green earlier, so he was sort of used to it. Instead, he just sat down and watched the fish, continuing to throw bits and pieces of sweet potato down to them for them to eat. It was satisfying, watching those fish.

The procession continued for a while, but Purple didn't really care. Second was finally able to get some rest, and Purple was able to too. The fish were technically getting paid with food, and they were helping the two friends get through the rushing stream. After a good hour since Purple and Second were separated from the others, the fish swam off. Purple stood up at the sudden departure, quickly throwing the last of the sweet potato into the water. Some fish swam back to take the bits into their mouths' and swam away, and the rest just continued.

Purple stood up, looking out toward the front. His eyes widened, and he stared at the scene before him.

The two friends' boat had entered a huge lake. The body of water stretched for quite a bit in both directions, and it was truly magnificent. Purple reached to grab an oar and began to steer the boat calmly through the body of water, watching as each steer of the oar created a tiny shower of rainbow droplets.

He was becoming giddy with excitement as he continued to steer through the lake. Every move of his oar caused a tiny ripple that ended as a huge one, spreading out from his boat to the edge of the lake. Like a chain reaction, but a beautiful one.

Two more rivers were connected to the lake, and Purple could only guess that the rest of his friends would meet up at this area -- and he wasn't wrong, for a boat rushed in from one of the rivers. Two very familiar people sat in the boat, looking around in awe at the scene before them -- much like how Purple did when he reached the lake.

"Red! Yellow! Over here!" Purple called out as loud as he could, rowing his and Second's boat over to the other two. At the sound of Purple's voice, the two turned, and they also began to make their way toward each other -- excited and pumped at the thought of joining the rest of their friends once again.

They met up in the middle of the lake, side by side. Then began the excited but tired recount of each others' stories. Red and Yellow were halfway through theirs until another boat rushed out from one of the rivers. Blue and Green.

The four rushed over to the last two friends, all three boats bumping into each other gently. After a very short reunion, the group decided to continue, for one last river lead away from the lake. The group of six (well, one of them was asleep :|) rowed toward it, nervous but excited.

Five hours would pass by fast, two having been finished already. Time really does fly by when you're having fun.

~~~

Love reunions :)

Word Count: 1513 words