Gingersnap

Captain Gingerberry and the Shark King

"Wow, Ed, the beach is so much fun!!"

Beneath the shade of the cabana, Edward peered into a window of the sand castle mansion he'd transmuted for Ginger. "Yeah, sure is." He followed the ocelot's gaze out towards the ocean waves, where Yuki and friends splashed around in the water.

"It would be awesome if I could-"

"No." Ed replied.

"But, but...please? I'll be careful, I promise! I just wanna go in the water for, like, two seconds!"

"I told you while we were packing for this trip, and for the whole ride up here, and I'm telling you again: no! It's too dangerous, Gingersnap, the waves are way too rough for a tiny ocelot like you."

"But you'd be there to protect me!"

"No, I could lose you too easily. Now why don't you show me your shell collection you got in there? Or maybe you'd like to play another round of sand princess and the water dragon?"

"It's no fun without the actual water." Ginger pouted.

"Hey guys!" Yuki came under the cabana, ocean water dripping from her spotted fur and purple bikini. "How's it hanging?"

"Ed won't let me play in the ocean. He said it's too dangerous." Ginger huffed as she looked out one of the windows of her sand castle.

"He's right about the ocean itself being dangerous, but if you two want to come out here in the evening, Ed can take you in the tide pools! They're not fancy, just puddles of water in the sand that sometimes have fish stranded in them, but you might enjoy em!"

"That sounds amazing!"

"...Fine." Edward sighed. "I'll bring out your donut floatie."

"Hooray!!"

"You'll have fun! Now, let's head inside and get some lunch."

-

After lunch, everyone went shopping and took a nature walk. When the sun was just getting ready to set, Edward and Ginger headed back down to the beach, where tide pools of various sizes had formed in the sand as the tide went out.

"I'm going in the ocean!~" Ginger singsonged as she clung to Ed's hand.

Edward found a relatively small, shallow tide pool and set Ginger's strawberry iced donut floatie in the water. It was meant to be a drink holder, but worked effectively as a pool float for Ginger, especially with its closed off bottom. For added protection, he had placed a glow stick in the middle of the float in case it got dark too fast.

"I'm going to be sitting right here in the sand, alright?" Ed carefully placed Ginger into the floatie before he scooped a small amount of seawater into the middle for her to play in. He took another, even smaller glow stick that was meant to go on a ring attachment and handed it to Ginger. "Keep this on you, okay?"

"Okay!" Ginger took the glow stick and held it like a magic wand. "Wow, I'm really in the ocean! Well, in the water that is!" She looked around in awe and peered down into the water below her. "Oh oh, Ed, look! Fishies!" She pointed out the small fish swimming beneath her.

Ed, sitting back on his hands in the sand and watching her closely, took his golden eyes off of her for a split second to peer into the water at the fish. "Oh hey, you're right."

"They can be a part of our game! Now we can play where I'm the sea dragon and you're the sand princess!"

"You mean prince? How about....I'm the sand dragon and you're the mermaid princess?"

"What about...oh! I'll be the pirate captain, and you can be the shark king!"

"That...works, too."

"So, the great Captain Gingerberry sails the seven seas in her ship, the Salty Donut, with her crew - those are the fish! Captain Gingerberry sets out to defeat the greedy shark king, who's been eating all the food! But in the end, the captain befriends the shark king and makes allies with the shark kingdom!"

"Sounds good, but watch out or the shark king just might start snacking on your crew there." Ed nodded at the fish darting around beneath her.

"You're supposed to befriend my crew, not eat them! Okay, now let's play! You gotta get in the water, Ed!"

"Do I? Oh, alright..." Ed begrudgingly took off his shirt and slipped into the tide pool in his red swimming trunks. He played along with Ginger's imaginary game and acted as the shark king and even played the part of an island when he rolled onto his back to let her crawl around on his chest and stomach.

After a little while, the game started to wind down and the sun sank lower in the purple red sky above. Ed floated with his face in front of Ginger, who sat cross-legged in her floatie. When he opened his mouth to start to tell her it was time to head back, the ocelot got the hint and stood up to conclude the game. She brandished her glow stick like a sword with one paw propped on the ring of the donut.

"Captain Gingerberry has saved the day again! She and her brave crew befriended the shark king, who- ah!" Ginger lost her balance and tumbled into the water with a small splash that scattered the fish below.

Ed reacted instantly and dipped his head into the water. He scooped Ginger and her glow stick into his mouth and sat up quickly, salt water dripping down his chin.

Ginger coughed and sputtered and rubbed her eyes until she started to giggle. "Cat overboard! I'm alright, the shark king saved me!" Once she had caught her breath, she got up off his tongue and started to crawl out of his mouth, expecting to be spat out onto his hand. "Now it's time to go back to-"

Edward opened his mouth wider and pushed Ginger further back with his finger. He threw his head back and gulped her down, then shivered and stuck out his tongue. "Bleghhh, salty."

Ginger effortlessly slid down his throat and landed safely within his stomach along with her glow stick. "The shark king ate me!"

"Yeah, and he's going to keep you in his belly so you don't shipwreck again." Ed wrung sea water out of his long blonde hair before he stood up to grab the floatie and his shirt. "Whaddya say we head back to our condo for some grub? Yuki's making dinner tonight."

"Okay!" Ginger grabbed up her tiny glow stick. "In the meantime, I'm going spelunking!"

Ed chuckled and playfully shook his head as he walked back up the beach with his free hand resting over his stomach. "Alright, have fun."