“Ah!” he exclaims as he throws himself to catch it like it’s an authentic fabergé. In the meantime, I instead throw myself into running at full speed, and by the time he’s saved the egg and put it somewhere safe, I’m gone.

At least, that was my intention. I was able to get into the forest before he caught up with me again. This time though, instead of physically tackling me, he’s tossing balls of electricity my way. This should be illegal. How does that even work? Where is he getting the zap from?

Ah, I’m going to die again, aren’t I?

As I’m weaving through the trees, I find that the only real reason he hasn’t actually caught up with me yet is because I’m smaller and more dexterous. Although he’s technically faster, he can’t just bust through all the trees and shrubbery as he wants. If we’d still been on plain ground, he would’ve easily caught me by now. Instead, I’m actually alive, God bless.

For now.

Leaping high, I pluck a big leaf easily three times my size off a tree and continue running. This will be very useful in around three, two, one…!

I emerge from the shrubbery onto a nice, sandy beach. The light blinds me for a second but I don’t have time to stop, instead running straight across and then into the water, throwing the little leaf beneath me, using it as a raft and my little ball-hands as paddles. After a few seconds, Elecmon explodes from the shrubbery as well, but by that point I’ve gotten pretty far out. Too far for him to swim, at least.

Not far enough for him to stop shooting balls of electricity though.

I can’t say I know enough about conductivity to be assured of how his electricity balls might impact me through the water, but I still pull up my limbs just to be safe. The tides have already started pulling me out farther, so paddling isn’t actually needed, though it did soothe my nerves slightly.

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In the distance, Elecmon is shouting things but I really can’t hear him over the wind and the roaring waves. I wave bye to him. He doesn’t wave back. After a minute or so, I can’t see him at all, and the island itself is fast disappearing. I turn my eye towards the ocean before me. It’s blue and empty. I don’t really have anything to shoot for apart from anything-but-the-island, so I guess, for now, my best bet is to just survive.

I start paddling, which is pretty effective since I have so many limbs, but I get tired fast. Maybe this whole sailing-thing wasn’t such a good idea after all?...

…Better than getting fried to a crisp.

Yeah, all things considered, I’m probably safer out on the waves. In a forest, danger can come from anywhere, but here, it gets split perfectly in half. There’s still plenty of unknown, but it’s all below. In that sense, I’m twice as safe. Or something.

My stomach growls.

Oh, yeah, all that running… Technically speaking, since Elecmon apparently didn’t mind frying his own jellies, I didn’t gain anything from that. What a waste. Well, since I’m anyways out on the seas, I guess I might as well try to catch some grub. Obviously, I’m not getting off the leaf—don’t wanna do a Jack—but I should be able to fish using my stringy little limbs. With so many, losing one or two shouldn’t be an issue.

I dip one of my wiry limbs into the water. Somehow, I can make it extend pretty far before it starts hurting. And then, I wait.

And wait. And wait. And wait…

The leaf is bobbing slowly. The waves are calm. The sun beams down on me softly. The wind is easy. The smell of salt and algae is nostalgic. Everything is cosy. Ahh… I wanna sleep…

Tug, tug, tug!

…Ah, my hand hurts! It’s getting pulled away! No, not just my hand, my entire leaf is getting pulled into some water sleigh ride! My only way of fighting back is to begin pedalling backwards for my life, trying to adjust for the strange twists and turns the guy biting my hand is taking. In the meantime, as most of my limbs try to paddle against the pull, two of them begin reeling in the bitten arm, inch by inch, until, finally…

A bright red fish flies out of the ocean with a spray of water, one of my limbs connected to its open mouth.

Gotcha!

My limbs snatch the fish out of the air and bring it closer to me. I try to take a bite out of it, but I’ve got no mouth. Oh, right. It’s a fair bit smaller than me, but I can’t really put it down on the leaf, so I just hold its flailing body by the tail while a few of my other limbs ora-ora-ora it into oblivion. It actually takes a fair while of punching before it finally explodes into pixels.

Predictably, the pixels swoop into me and they are indeed quite tasty. It’s fish, but it’s not rotten fish. Fish itself is an alright taste, I’ve got nothing against it, I just-,

Grumble.