When Kubo Met Sach

Chapter 1

Written by: Adrian Mata and Emma Lupin

"Are you sure about this, Captain?"

The sea otter, a cadet in training, was unsure of the setting around him for his exercise of the day. Above the ocean, the waves were choppy and were starting to grow bigger and bigger by the minute. But this was a part of his training to become a full-fledged, full-time Octonaut, Captain Barnacles stressed. At least his otter-ly brother Shellington was there to help out with the proceedings. Surely that brought some comfort to him.

Sachairi had to learn how to swim under rough conditions, trying to figure out how he could be able to make it back to his designated spot or Gup whenever a storm was coming his way. And the environment that the three of them were in was the perfect place for him to practice under this scenario.

"Do you want to become an Octonaut, Sach?" Barnacles sternly asked.

"I really want to, Captain," Sachairi told him. "But I'm not sure if it's safe to train out here right now, with these... conditions and all that."

"At some point, we will have to do missions like this, Sach," his brother then informed him. "Inevitably, the oceans won't always treat us very nicely, so it's important you know what to do when it behaves like this."

"You sure I can do this, Shel?"

"I know you can do it. Believe me, I know you'll be a great asset to the team."

Sach nodded. After the Captain gave him instructions on how to approach this exercise, the currents began to pick up, signaling its start. Barnacles and Shellington immediately swam back to the Gup-A to watch from behind, looking at and following where the Octo-Cadet was beginning to swim, with various checkpoints along the way that he needed to pass through. He had gone through this before, except the seas were much calmer and it was just basic training to make sure he held the basic physical qualifications to make the team. But this was a challenge - no, a quest - one of the first few exercises he was expected to tackle during a month-long period, that tested his skills, brains, and stamina.

"How am I doing so far, Captain?" Sachairi then radioed to him on his progress.

"You're doing fine, Sachairi," reassured Barnacles.

"Just remember to focus on your task at hand," Shellington advised him, "and don't worry. Stay calm, brother. You can do this."

"Copy that."

Just then, Dashi had radioed in from the Octopod. "Dashi to Barnacles," she began. "There's a really big storm heading your way, Captain."

"We'll be fine, Dashi," Barnacles replied, "we're just doing a training exercise right now with Sachairi."

"I understand that, but at the speed and rate this one's going through, it's far too dangerous right now to train under these conditions - especially for an Octo-Cadet like him!"

The polar bear sighed in disappointment. "Understood. Barnacles out."

As the underwater currents began to pick up at a faster rate, Sach continued to concentrate on the checkpoints in front of him. "Sach," he called, "abort! Abort now! There's a huge storm heading our way!"

Sachairi's radio was turned off by that point. "Barnacles to Sach, can you hear me?"

"I think he disabled his radio," Shellington worriedly told the Captain as the other otter began to swim more fervently. "I need to get him."

"If you must..." he could only reply. Shel then grabbed his oxygen tanks, activated his helmet, and soon went out of the Gup-A's hatch. But by that point, Sach was getting pretty far ahead, and the marine biologist had a long way to go before he could get him to safety. The seas, however, got even rougher by that point... one of the waves could sweep one of the Octonauts away.