The Beats Go On

Chapter 41: Tipsy Turvy

⚙️Chapter 41: Tipsy Turvy

Elis strained to get up himself as the machine kept helping lift him. Like the crabs had said, it wasn't able to life him up all the way. However, it managed to aid him, and with a few more crabs joining in, Elis was back up again.

"Thank you. Thank ALL of you for helping" he said happily.

"No problem!" The crabs cheered.

In the meantime, everyone else from the group had been interrupted by the crabs scuttling along their paths. They were initially happy to help, or get help, but it made them wonder if they should follow the crabs. Each one of the pairs sent a member to follow the crab, in case it led to a secret place. Upon finding out that the crabs were headed to Cas and Elis by the shore, each member had dashed back, and taken the other with them. They hoped they could regroup there.

On Cas's side, more crabs had come over to watch after hearing a machine was being put together. Things like this interested them, since they didn't get many visitors nowadays. They'd especially never seen a ship for so long too, so the arrival of another one interested them. Gray and the other crabs introduced Cas once more crabs gathered, and they all did a bit of small talk.

"So what are all of you doing here?" a crab asked.

"Well, corruption is returning-as shown by your friend there-and we're going around, trying to collect as many treeangle pieces as we can to defeat the source of it all! We haven't found that yet, though..." Cas explained.

"I see. Well, we know of no corruption source here, OR the location of a treeangle piece" Gray said. "The other wildlife or the citizens may know, though."

"I see, thanks! I should really be going now, actually..." Cas responded. "But...what are you going to do?" he asked Elis, turning to face him.

"I'll stay in the water and patrol for any corrupted sea life. If I find any, I can call the crabs, who can then get you. Sound good?" Elis asked.

"Sounds fine to me!" Cas replied happily.

"We'll be sure to help you the best we can!" the crabs said.

"Good! Off I go, now."

And with that, Elis pushed himself back into the waters around the island. Cas turned around to start towards the town, and began walking across the beach. Just as he'd made it past the sand however, he saw some familiar looking shapes, but they were blurry from his point of view. He didn't know if they were his friends or not, so he called out to them as best he could.

"Guys! Is that you?!"

He saw them perk up, but when they called back to him, he couldn't hear them. They were faint cries, and he couldn't make out anything they were saying. Instead of calling back however, he just decided to wave them over. It took them a while, but eventually everyone made it over.

"Cas! It is you!" El exclaimed.

"Wow, I sure thought finding everyone was gonna take longer" Coco retorted.

"I'm just glad we're back together again!" Digo smiled.

"Oh? Your friends seem to have found you again!" one of the crabs said happily, turning around with a majority of the other crabs to face the group of shapes.

"Yeah! Did you guys follow the crabs back?" Cas asked.

"Indeed. I didn't really think about it, but just in case something happened, me and Ina decided that I could go and follow the crab to wherever they were going!" El explained.

Cas was about to dismiss her there and ask everyone else how they got back, but paused.

"Wait, how did you not get lost on your way back to Ina?"

"Easy! I just kept some marks in nature in mind, like a weird looking footprint, a group of stones, and some plants bundled together!" El replied.

"Oh, cool! What about you guys?" Cas asked everyone else, now that El had answered.

"Same thing," Ami replied in a dull tone.

Cas had a feeling that Ami didn't want this to drag on for too long, and that was understandable since the group was sort of in a rush to get the treeangle, even if it wasn't too much of an urgent one. Cas quickly tried to change the topic.

"Ah, right, so these crabs helped save Elis by making a machine! You probably already know that though, since they got in your way to get the parts, hehe..." he explained sheepishly.

"Parts make machine? Help friend? I no know that! But yay, friend safe!" Ari said happily.

"Yeah! But, I'm sure you crabs have things to go back to, huh? You have a society of your own, and I'd ah, hate to take up too much of your time..."

"Oh, no! It is certainly alright. We do not mind helping those in need, that is, if we are in a good mood. But you seem to be a friendly group, so count us as your allies!" Red said confidently.

Cas smiled at his accomplishment of getting the crabs to help. Who knew what would've happened if the crabs hadn't seen his friends and his friends hadn't followed the crabs. They could've been stuck separated for a while! A thought then struck him while the others chatted amongst themselves. Would the crabs mind helping the group once more? Surely not, since it seemed to at least be a small favor in Cas' mind. Well, the only way to find out what they would say would be to ask them, so...

"Hey, do you think you might know a safe route to the town up there?" Cas asked. "We plan on looking for something there."

"We sure do! We travel back and forth from there all the time! Would you like us to help?" Blue asked.

"That would be wonderful!" Ina smiled.

"Then let's go!"

And with that, the group followed the crabs all the way to the town.