Fallout New Vegas: A New Road

Cherry Berry’s day was normal. She woke up, tended to her balloon, gave several ponies their rides, got their bits, and the entire time she was totally not worried about Courier Six’s beach-based adventure. No sir. Not in the slightest…

Why wasn’t he home yet—

Nah, he’s fine.

It went on like this for a while. Just a swirling haze of her job, the ponies paying her, telling the little ones no you can’t touch that. So on and so forth. Thankfully there weren’t any trips scheduled for today. She didn’t exactly want to deal with a several hour ride to Las Pegasus again. Instead, the day went swift, and easy, with everypony just wanting a nice trip into the clouds above Ponyville. One or two pegasi with broken wings, another a unicorn. Just a nice, quick day of helping others get some form of happiness.

Before long, she was out of customers for the day. It was well past afternoon, but the sun remained out, bright as ever. Just as the mare had begun to pack up for the day, she heard the pitter patter of tiny hooves on dirt.

She looked up from her bag with a sigh, turning to give a speech which felt immensely rehearsed, “Sorry but Cherry Berry’s Wild Balloon Rides is closed for the day. Please come back to—”

The earth mare stopped when she looked down, seeing a bright orange pegasus filly, who had a small hoofful of bits in her mouth.

“Scootaloo?” Cherry questioned, raising a brow.

“Yep!” she managed, however, her bits fell from her mouth as she spoke, making her give a minor blush. “Uh, sorry.”

“That’s fine kid—” she stopped herself, nearly biting her tongue. “It’s fine, Scootaloo.”

The little pegasus just stared up at her for a moment. Cherry Berry felt a heated sensation along her cheeks. She even brought up a hoof to rub them, yet she still felt them tingling. She groaned and decided to ignore it. She needed to address the filly in the nonexistent room. She could address her cheeks being on fire later.

“I’m closed for the day anyways,” Cherry said casually, further packing up her supplies, which were small canteens and flasks, into her bag.

“Awww,” Scootaloo pouted, looking down and kicking a small pebble.

Cherry looked at her for a moment. Seeing a filly’s sadness wasn’t anything new to the mare. Plenty of them had either gotten spooked by the ride or disappointed at not getting another. Different strokes and such.

Normally she’d write it off. Tell the kid to go home, give a sucker (when she had them) or something. But this time, she frowned, looking intently at the tiny pegasus. She eyed her wings. Eyed her frown.

Maybe it was because of her demeanor, or maybe it was because of the filly’s connection to Six—Nope, he’s fine!

Cherry Berry just managed a sigh, stifling her thoughts as she uttered, “Alright, come on Scootaloo…”

Immediately, the filly lit up.

“Woah! Really? Just like that?” she squeaked.

“Yeah but it’s gonna be a quick ride, so you’d better hurry,” Cherry warned, turning back towards her balloon.

Scootaloo rushed over, offering her bits to the older mare, in her hoof this time. The same sugary sweet smile she’d given so many times before was plastered on her muzzle yet again.

Cherry just looked at her outstretched forelimb and scoffed, “Keep the change, k—Scoots. It wouldn’t even be enough for a ride anyways.”

The filly gave another blush, chuckling in embarrassment. Felt like Six had rubbed off onto the pink mare!

It wasn’t long before they were in the air, feeling the breeze and hearing the chirping of various flocks of birds. When they got to a decent height, Scootaloo leaned over the side of the air balloon, looking far out into the distance. Her large eyes squinted as the bright sun above beat down upon her, catching the corner of her vision.

“I guess that’s why you’ve got the goggles, huh?” she chuckled, blinking as she raised up a hoof.

Cherry Berry gave a small, soft chuckle, standing behind the tiny filly. “You’ll get used to it quick… assuming you wanna come up on more rides?”

The orange pegasus’ head snapped towards her immediately, a wide, partly manic expression on her face.

“I do, I do—” she caught herself, giving a small blush and a cough into her hoof. “I mean, that would be nice.”

“Heh, it’s a better way to fly than rocketing yourself off some oversized ramp on a flimsy scooter, don’t you think?” Cherry offered, patting the filly on her head, ruffling her purple mane.

“Y-yeah,” the pegasus said, even more embarrassed at the memories of her smashing into Cloudsdale, or attempting stunts with the Washouts compared to her prior outburst of giddiness.

Cherry merely kept a small smirk on her face as she too looked out into the distance, enjoying the faint breeze in her mane and the tingling she got whenever she gazed out upon the land. The rolling hills near Ponyville, and the mountains near Canterlot. It was a glamorous sight.

“So this is what it looks like for all those other pegasi, huh?” Scootaloo mused. “I mean, I’ve looked out at the sky and stuff, whenever I was in Cloudsdale and everything, but to see it like this…”

“I know what it’s like, Scoots, to want to go out and fly and never have to look down. Just let the wind drift through your hair and soar and feel… free.”

“Guess neither of us were made for flying, huh?” Scootaloo said, giving her a halfhearted chuckle.

“I wouldn’t say that,” the earth mare responded. “We’re both flying right now, aren’t we?”

“Well… yeah?” Scootaloo scoffed, as if it were obvious. Cherry remained silent, but grinned at the filly, as the cogs began to turn in her head, slooowly. The obviousness turned to a slight twinge of uncertainty, and then, to realization. “Y-yeah— Yeah! I guess we are!”

“No guessing about it kid, we’re doing it right now!” Cherry replied, a bright expression on her face.

Scootaloo didn’t reply at first. She remained smiling and looking out over the clouds and enjoying everything. However, after a moment, she blinked. And then blinked again. And then she turned, like some type of slowly moving rock statue, her gaze turned to the older mare. The word “kid” echoed in Scootaloo’s mind over and over again. Cherry brushed past it though, with Scootaloo soon moving on as well, deciding to not press the issue further.

After a few moments of silence, Scootaloo went back to looking over the landscape. The breeze picked up, causing her mane to billow out in the wind. Her heart swelled as the prior awkwardness was fully lost.

“I’m finally able to soar!” Scootaloo exclaimed as she allowed the excitement to overtake her. “It’s not with my wings, but I’m still soaring!”

“You never needed wings to fly, Scootaloo,” the pink mare comforted. “There’s always another way to do things, no matter how impossible they seem. Not having wings never stopped me, after all!”

The little filly nodded at the older mare’s boasts. “Yeah and— well…”

She suddenly got cold hooves, looking a bit uncertain as she fidgeted around in the basket.

Cherry gave an eye roll, though kept her smile, not annoyed in the slightest. “Spit it out, Scoots, I’m your friend, right?”

“I guess…” Scootaloo’s muzzle scrunched up, before she closed her eyes. A tiny growl escaped her. “I don’t know. Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Of course it’s alright, Scootaloo,” the older mare offered, leaning in a bit.

Scootaloo still seemed unsure. However, after pondering for a few moments, something did stick out. Cherry Berry was a mare who was close to the Courier. She was definitely his friend… maybe even more?

She snapped herself away from the thought, being reminded a bit of her misadventures with Big Mac as she suddenly blurted out, “Can you teach me how to soar?”

The older mare recoiled in surprise at the sudden outburst. After a moment, she managed a smirk.

“That’s… one way of putting it,” Cherry Berry replied with a giggle. “Sure k—filly, every now and then you can ride up with me and I can show you how to operate the balloon!”

The orange pegasus gave a small squeak, smiling up at the earth mare with a starstruck gaze. When that died down, and Scootaloo managed to contain her glee, she began looking over the landscape once more. She went from enjoying the mountains to now gazing upon the rivers, the individual trees below, and the occasional pegasus or bird that flew past. Still though, everything was a bit hazy, with her gaze seemingly concentrating on something she couldn’t quite see. Her mind was adrift, with thoughts of a certain non-pony (and featherless) biped.

Cherry glanced down at her briefly, before her gaze returned to enjoying the view as well. “You miss him too?”

“Well, yeah I mean—wait…” Scootaloo’s expression became one of sly deviousness. “...‘too’ huh?”

It was Cherry’s turn to blush, though her pinkness did a better job of hiding it as she totally played it cool.

“What? He’s my friend!” she defended with a grunt of annoyance. “Am I not allowed to have emotions now?”

“I’ve played matchmaker enough to know when ponies view each other as ‘more than just friends,’ Cherry,” Scootaloo teased.

“Oh pipe it, pipsqueak, or you’re going overboard.”

The tiny pegasus didn’t seem scared at all, and merely giggled, giving a brief pause before speaking, “With how you act, you two were made for each other!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cherry said with a sigh, waving off the smaller pony’s words. “Keep talking and you’ll learn to fly real fast.”

Scootaloo stuck out her tongue, but stopped teasing the older mare. She just let the breeze become the only noise the duo heard. Before long though, her ear flicked, and she questioned, “You know… I gotta wonder, what do you think he’s up to?”

Cherry smirked. “Knowing him? Probably something really dumb.”

The sword’s blade sliced through the top portion of the tentacle with ease. A faintly blueish ichor squirted from the partial stump, however, there were still plenty more feet of the barbed, squirming mass as a stump pulled away, slithering downwards to join the much larger mass that had pulled up beside the Seaquestrian flagship. A freak storm had met the ship just before the beast surfaced, so rain washed away the blood. Thus the Courier had no time to decide on whether or not cephalopods actually had blue blood—not that it mattered in this life or death moment!

The beast was easily twenty feet long, give or take; maybe even thirty or forty counting the tentacles. Bigger than a Deathclaw, maybe even more deadly due to the water. Didn’t matter much though. Would die all the same.

Courier Six’s hand tightened around the sword’s hilt. It was based on an old (for him) style, like some type of cavalry blade or something one would see a pirate wield. Around him the hippogriffs flocked about, trying to aim their harpoons and their cannons down at the beast as it ducked beneath the waves, making the water bubble and hiss as the salty liquid sprayed upwards.

“Good work!” Seaspray shouted, water dripping from his feathers as he stood beside the much larger biped. “With a few more blows like that, the beast will be felled in no time!”

Several griffs hammered the water, spearing portions of the large cephalopod’s giant, durable mantle. They did little as the beast swatted upwards, its hook-laden tentacles clawed at the ship’s hull, leaving deep divots in the wood.

“Not if he sinks us first,” the human casually replied, sheathing his blade. Had gotten the thing from Seaspray. Nice guy—er, bird-horse.

“This ship’s tougher than she seems!” assured the griff as Six pulled his rifle off his back.

Six walked up to the edge of the ship, looking over the railing. A tendril came up at him, but the Trail Carbine was chambered and fired quicker. A .44 round slammed into one of the tentacles, splattering off some flesh and making the sea beast below rock a bit.

“Guess .44 will hurt no matter how big the target is,” the postman mused to himself before flicking the lever of the rifle and then loosing another round downwards. Didn’t really have time to see if it struck much, as a large, beaked maw came up in the midst of all of the flailing tentacles.

“Get down!” Seaspray growled, tugging the Courier back.

Immediately after he spoke, a large gout of thick, mucous-like gunk sprayed upwards. The tarrish-colored ink slammed down, splattering over the deck and partially making contact with the Courier’s duster as he moved aside. Would just add another stain to the old jacket. No big deal, adds character.

The other griffs had taken cover as well, but some were not so lucky. Some were hit by the ink, falling to the ground. They tried to claw themselves out of the tar, but it seemed to make a black cocoon around them. Leaving them writhing and thrashing as they were stuck to the deck.

“Right, they can do that,” Courier Six remembered. Squids weren’t exactly the most common things in Nevada, after all. Closest he could compare it to would be some type of horrifically organic Mr. Handy.

“Nasty stuff,” Seaspray replied, waving a hand and silently ordering more of his sailors to help out the gunked up griffs who were currently plastered to the wooden deck. With his crew taken care of, he motioned towards the firearm with a foreclaw. “Almost as nasty as that claw-cannon you have there.”

“You guys got guns too?” Six asked, going to load two rounds, topping off his rifle.

“Well, it was only a concept to fit every troop with a—” Seaspray paused, clearing his throat, returning his gaze down to the giant, slimy problem at hand. “Nevermind, that’s not important right now. We have much bigger fish to fry!”

“We’ve gotta kill the bastard first!” Six hissed as he shoved the final round into the rifle. He flicked the lever to chamber the bullet, only to grunt in annoyance. “Damn, now I’m wishing I had brought something a bit stronger than this! Slimy fuck’s gonna take everything I got to die.”

His phrase was not one most would use when referring to .44 rounds, but he didn’t care about semantics that much. Rain hammered down onto the two, pooling in the mailman’s lenses as he looked back over the edge of the deck, glaring down at the monster.

“We did come equipped with plenty of harpoons, you know,” Seaspray offered, readying a harpoon.

“More mass, but that can be thrown off by the rocking of the ship,” Six responded. “Not really used to fighting in this terrain.”

“I thought you were an expert hunter,” the General eagle-pony snorted, before throwing his spear downwards, glancing off one of the monster’s tentacles as it dove downwards, moving below the hull and under the waves completely.

“That thing’s not gonna bite out the bottom of the ship and sink us, is it?” the human growled.

Before he’d even finished speaking, the ship itself had begun to take evasive maneuvers, steaming forwards and slicing through the waves, not giving the cephalopod the chance to hide.

“There are a few recorded cases! Krakens can bite through sperm whale hide after all,” mused Seaspray, bringing a claw up to tap the underside of his beak. “But if we don’t give it an easy target, it should be dead long before it poses an issue!”

Six soon looked over the railing of the side of the ship, staring out behind the swirling, bubbling trail the vessel left in its wake. He saw the shadowy, blob-like shape of the kraken following behind. The boat itself seemed a bit faster than the beast, but the oversized squid didn’t give up, as tentacles shot out, trying to latch their powerful suckers onto the ship’s rear.

Both the Courier and Seaspray rushed towards the captain’s quarters, along with several other crewmates. Six jumped up the stairs while Seaspray and several other griffs soared up behind him. The mailman looked over the rear railing, as several of the hippogriffs readied their spears.

The human raised a gloved hand. “Hang on!”

Seaspray looked intently out, his eyes narrowing. After a few seconds, the body of the squid breached the wave, its huge, beaked mouth on display. The Courier himself even managed to briskly fire off a few rounds.

“Now!” the feathered equine shouted out, and immediately, there was a volley of sharpened metal thrown with deadly accuracy at the beast.

Its squishy skin broke beneath the serrated spears, which was further softened up by several rounds the Courier pumped into the thing. Cloudy blood leaked out of the monster’s hide. It gave a deep, guttural hiss as it swiped out its long, powerful tendrils. Most of the griffs ducked down, however, some were a bit slower to react to the sudden attack.

The long, whip-like appendage slammed into the upper rear end of the ship, striking both wood and a few bodies alike. Several hippogriffs were knocked backwards, landing harshly on the deck with heavy thuds, grunting and shouting out in surprised pain as they did.

Courier Six felt woodchips cut into his jacket’s sleeves and embed themselves into the skin of his forearms as he instinctively raised them to block any shrapnel. The action did little to save him from the large, fleshy tendril which was on a direct collision course with his chest!

Even when his implant activated, everything was quicker than he expected, like the tentacle had been slingshotted towards him with the force of a catapult. He didn’t have time to chamber his rifle let alone get a clear shot, so he dropped it, reaching his hand down at immense speeds, he pulled out a bowie knife and swung!

SWISH!

THUMP!

His blade tore through the beast’s flesh, as there were no bones to stop it. However, at the exact same time, the kraken’s flexible limb slammed into him. It was a rough sensation, and as the beast’s tendril impacted his chest, it jarred him backwards.

In that moment, two things happened: first, the monster’s limb fully ripped itself apart as it slammed into the Courier’s durable, metal chestplate, the force of the strike rattling his enhanced bones underneath, with the tentacle's end hanging uselessly by a few strands of flesh. Secondly, it launched the mailman away, sending him sailing upwards through the hail of rain!

Wind and water swished around the Courier’s back, making his soaked duster billow as he flailed about. He had let go of his knife, choosing to survive by trying to grab onto anything he could. Unlike the hippogriffs, who all managed to land on the deck, the power of the kraken’s blow had shoved him at a right-leaning angle, which made him fly upwards in an arc. Gravity soon took hold of him and he then tumbled downwards towards a small, wooden boat which dangled off the starboard side of the ship.

The Courier slammed back-first into the tiny vessel, giving a loud “Fuck!” as his reinforced spine smashed through the boat’s seat and central thwart. His impact jarred the entire rigging holding it up, causing the rope holding up the rear end of the small boat to snap loose!

Six reached up, grabbing the gunwale of the small rowboat in an attempt to force himself into a sitting position. The instant he did this, the second rope gave way, causing the entire thing to lurch downwards, with the whole right portion of the pulley system snapping loose, sending the boat, the rope, and the human down into the foamy seawater.

A loud SPLASH! echoed out as seawater sprayed up around the boat, mixing with the rain itself and splattering down onto the Courier as he finally managed to force himself into a sitting position. He growled, shaking the blurriness from his vision and wiping the water off of his lenses as he looked around. The ship was trailing ahead, leaving his small boat adrift beside it.

“Shit!” he hissed to himself, immediately looking around for anything useful in the tiny boat.

The only thing inside was a wooden chest, which took up the majority of the vessel’s free space. The upper lid was partly splintered, having large chunks of wood broken off of it. No doubt the damage was from when the Courier had slammed into it. Without much hesitation, he popped the chest open and peered inside.

There was a small wooden oar, which he immediately grabbed. Yet the second he removed it, he paused, looking at the container’s remaining contents…

It was filled to the brim with metal fishing spears and harpoons. There had to be dozens of them, easily packed the chest full.

Six blinked.

The rope still attached at the front end of the tiny ship seemed to stir, breaking his concentration away from the spears. He looked overboard and saw a dark mass stirring underneath the rowboat. Tentacles flailed, causing ripples in the water as he examined the depths more intently. His night vision allowed him to see quite well, even in the darkening thunderstorm.

Lightning cracked the sky as a large, glassy eye looked up from the sea, as if it were glaring directly into the Courier’s own red lenses. There was almost a strange slowness in the world, not caused by the Courier’s implants this time. Everything seemed to pause for just a brief second, as the human could almost sense the creature’s rage, like a deep boiling sensation.

Maybe it was nothing… Probably was nothing. Even if it was something, it wasn’t much weirder than talking ponies.

Suddenly, he was yanked from the brief moment of contemplation as the beast lurched, hissing as it flailed forwards. Blood further clouded the water as it really began to speed away. Yet as it swam towards the hippogriff’s naval ship, the Courier’s own rowboat seemed to follow along, making him look around in surprise.

Something must’ve snagged the monster… but what?

The rope of the boat was taught, stiff as a board, as if it were latched on to—

“Son of a bitch!” he hissed.

For a second, he reached for another one of his many knives to cut the beast loose but paused. He gazed back down at the chest, and then up ahead, as the kraken was now basically tugging the boat along behind it. The sea-beast stayed a few feet beneath the water as it chased down the hippogriffs’ ship.

Six reached down and grabbed a bundle of spears in his left hand, before then grabbing a final one in his right. He steadied his aim, even with the rickety nature of the tiny boat, he was able to concentrate. As the monster went to breach the foamy waves, he threw a harpoon!

It swished through the air, and immediately struck the beast right in its large, oversized mantle. The metal pierced its fleshy hide, digging deeply into the monster’s body. Blood pooled up into the foamy seawater as the creature squealed. The Courier already had thrown another spear out, hammering it in its soft flesh yet again. The two harpoons stuck upwards, peaking out of the water as the squid continued following the hippogriff vessel.

“Alright you bastard, it’s time to make calamari!” the human shouted out, as another thunderous ripple of lightning rang out, lighting up the sky behind him and briefly coating his body in an almost violent, ethereal light. His red lenses seemed to stick out even more in the sea of murky blue than they ever had before.

The monster turned its attention towards him for a moment, however it was then hammered with spears and harpoons from the griffs behind it, making it flail even more! Some stuck into its already battle-ravaged body, while others trailed into the water, leaving bubbles as they uselessly floated into the depths. The kraken reached out a long, powerful tentacle towards the Courier, however in the middle of the beast’s attack, he activated V.A.T.S. and readied another harpoon, hoisting it up over his shoulders quickly and throwing it with shocking accuracy.

Despite the harsh rainfall and the violent waves, the harpoon flew forwards through the torrent of water, striking its target! Immediately the beast hissed again as the spear skewered its tendril, going fully through its appendage, with the barbed tip poking out the other side. It growled and backed off for a moment, flailing in the water again, but the Courier kept throwing spears into it. One stuck into it just above the eye, leaving a trail of blood oozing out. Another penetrated just above its beak. He continued throwing, piercing its mantle when he could, all the while the griffs helped, attacking the beast when they had a clear sight.

He didn’t let up, relentlessly stabbing at the monster. Even when it dived below the waves, he kept a bead on it, throwing out more harpoons and striking it whenever it was in his range. He threw the weapons with accuracy someone would expect from a person trained in such a primitive combat style…

More blood pooled out of the beast and into the water, creating a cloud. It breached again and sprayed its mucousy ink towards the human, but Six ducked down, with the small boat being a hard target to hit given the awkwardness of the whole situation. Still, some globs of the stuff splattered down on the interior of the tiny vessel. It did little to slow the Courier though, as he popped right back up and lodged several more harpoons into the behemoth.

After a few more volleys of spears striking it, the kraken glowered and hissed. Blood poured from its wounds as it seemed unsure of what to do for a moment. While at any point the monster could’ve backed off and retreated into deeper waters, it seemed too late for that now. Maybe it was past the point of return, or maybe it was just pure hatred at the tiny beings that had turned it into their next hunt. Regardless, nogriff (or human) had time to consider its motives, as it breached upwards one final time and then charged at Six’s small rowboat. Seemingly the monster was tired of being struck constantly by the human.

The Courier braced, getting low in the boat as he held a harpoon tightly in both hands this time, dropping the others as he prepared himself. His muscles tensed, as if he could jump up and strike at any moment. The sea monster broke through the water like some type of horrible speed boat, its jet black, bone-breaking beak gnashing and its tentacles flailing towards the mailman.

Its two large eyes glared at Six while it surfaced, rocking the boat as its immense mass barreled right at him. Its body of pure muscle strained for only a moment before it then leapt up, acting like some type of demented trout more than a cephalopod! The monster’s massive maw was positioned in such a way that it was coming right towards Six, open and ready to chomp down on its prey!

The mailman pulled back and then thrusted forwards, his spear braced in his powerful grip. It slammed into the creature, piercing a few inches to the right of its beak. The mass of the beast and the power of the human holding the harpoon in place easily made it penetrate through the monster’s flesh. The kraken’s own weight forced it to impale itself on the spear tip, with it penetrating directly through the underside of the mantle, and into the sea monster’s internals. The Courier wasn’t exactly an expert on cephalopod anatomy, but he was pretty sure he felt something important get shredded as the spear tore through the squid.

For a moment, the storm seemed to subside, with the rain ceasing, the wind calming, and the blood of the beast painting Six as he stood dauntlessly. It was like some type of Renaissance-esque painting about some brave fisherman striking such a gigantic, unimaginable creature of the briny depths.

Everything was paused perfectly, with the Courier’s lenses glistening deep red, the water covering them reflecting the light even brighter. His jacket was billowing, water droplets cascading off of it. His muscles tensed to such a point that the duster’s sleeves seemed to bulge, only barely able to contain the power underneath.

Everything was truly picturesque…

And then, it all came back.

The rowboat shattered under the weight of the monster as it slammed down on top of both the vessel and its bipedal occupant. The impact left a mound of tentacles and broken wood and harpoons swaying about in the toiling waters. Only a few moments later did the wreckage begin to sink below the waves. The violent water engulfed them, taking the evidence of the battle quickly into the briny sea’s depths.

Seaspray and many of the others had witnessed the entire ordeal, with them looking down upon the wreckage in shock. The General's beak hung open in surprise for a few moments, before the swirling rain and wind came back to him. He blinked a few times and instantly the naval soldier in him snapped to life.

“Well don’t just stand there! We have to help him!” he shouted over the wind, motioning to his crew.

Immediately, he jumped overboard, flaring his wings out as the necklace around his neck flashed to life, transforming him moments before he slammed into the waves below. Others soon followed, with half a dozen griffs taking on their seapony forms and following their General under the surf.

Only a few moments later did the quick-swimming school of seaponies reach the kraken. Seaspray was the first to attack, slashing at the creature with his saber. Several others joined in, jabbing the rear end of the monster’s mantle, making sure to stay clear of its tentacles. He continued slashing and hacking at the monster. Its body lazily turned in the water, seemingly jostled by the blows. Yet, aside from that, there was little movement in the beast.

Even whenever the General jammed his blade into the kraken’s hide and carved a great gouge in its skin, it didn’t react. After a moment of closer examination, he backed up, looking over the creature more thoroughly as the water settled and the seapony’s eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Bubbles billowed upwards as the body of the creature sank even further, tentacles limply drifted in the swirling liquid, as murky blood continued billowing out from numerous wounds on the beast. Scavenging fish had already begun to circle, looking for their next meal. Witnessing this, Seaspray cautiously approached the beast’s front end, seeing its glassy eyes were now glassier, glazed over…

The monster was dead!

With this revelation, Seaspray suddenly shouted out, looking around.

“Courier Six!” he squawked, his voice magically echoing under the waves.

After not getting a reply, he dived downwards, further towards the front end of the behemoth. His face was stern; however, a smidge of worry was evident in the General’s eyes as he shoved a few tentacles out of his way, getting a good, clean look at the underside of the squid’s body…

Courier Six impaled a small scavenging fish on his knife, before slicing it in half with ease. He then turned and began carving into the flesh at the base of one of the squid’s tentacles. Due to the resistance of the water, the slipperiness of the ink coating him, and the thickness of the monster’s tendril, he strained a bit, slicing through it slowly like a butter knife attempting to rip through a meaty turkey.

Nevertheless, Seaspray just gave him a raised brow as the human was now literally ripping at the creature’s flesh, using his own hands to pry the tentacle from the kraken’s body. He grunted, bubbles drifting up from his mask. Yet, he seemed unbothered, taking a breather after he made progress on tearing the deceased sea-beast’s flesh.

“Courier Six?” Seaspray asked, though it was more like a statement than anything.

The human turned to the General, looking at him in surprise, with bubbles drifting upwards from the holes in his mask.

Seaspray gave him a small salute. “Job well done! How about you come up for some air?”

Six pointed to the corpse of the beast with his knife, and then towards his mouth a few times.

The bird-horse stared at him for a moment, before finally sighing, bubbles coming from his maw. “I guess a deal is a deal…”

After a moment of deliberation, he simply shrugged, rolled his eyes, and then handed the Courier his saber. Seemingly the mailman’s own blade had been lost in the battle.

Six immediately turned, slashing through the partly severed tentacle with ease thanks to the longer blade.

Seaspray backed up a bit, giving the Courier some space. He spotted the other griffs, who stared at him with uncertainty and weariness. “Everygriff who’s in the mood for squid, now’s your chance to get some!”

After a moment, the entire squad of hungry, battered sailors descend on the beast, carving it up like a Christmas dinner. They took to shredding its corpse with their claws, beaks, and spears. All the while this happened, the Courier pondered what would best be paired with the meat for such a feast…