>Somewhere in the Kingdom of the Sea_
Cuttlefish, Oyster, and Clam quickly swam through the darkening water. Making their way back to the enclave to tell the others what they had found, and wanting to know if anyone could make sense of what they had discovered. If anyone had ever seen anything like it; and what, if anything, the creature's were up to.
It was an added bonus that the way back to the enclave was the exact opposite direction the pod of creatures were moving in, in the three dragonet's opinions.
["What were those things!?"] Clam frantically signaled for the fifth time.
["They were HUGE! What were they doing here? Where are they going? Why has nobody said anything about giant pods of huge whale-things that only swim on the surface!?"]
["How would we know!?"] Oyster retorted, ["That's why we are going to ask the adults if they know what those things are!"]
["You'd think that they would warn us about any ginormous whale-things lurking around before-talon! Those things are probably dangerous!"]
["I don't think those were whales…"] Cuttlefish interjected. ["They didn't look or move much like whales do."]
["Well, what else grows that big!?"] Clam flashed.
["I've never heard of a whale that grows that big, either."] Cuttlefish countered.
Oyster's jaws suddenly hinged open, as if she gasped, and she froze in place. ["What if they were Sea Monsters??"]
Clam and Cuttlefish now frozen too, Clam's light blue scales looking decidedly more pale, his eyes boggled like a squid's. ["Sea Monsters?"]
Cuttlefish was a little more skeptical, and calm; ["Sea Monsters?"]
["Yeah!"] She flashed, visibly excited. ["Other than being big like a whale, they didn't really look or move like one."]
That’s what I said… Cuttlefish thought, but he kept that to himself. He wanted to see where she was going with this.
["What- what do you mean?"] Clam asked, his apparent fear not at all placated.
["You're the one who suggested they were sea monsters first, Clam, so I don't know why you're freaking out so much. Anyway, it didn't have a tail fin, or any big fins, for that matter. But it did have that trail of bubbles behind it, which reminds me of this thing that, what's the word? Cephalopods? Yeah that's it, use to move around. They squirt water out of tubes at speed to move around. Kinda like Cuttlefish, actually."]
Giant cephalopods? That actually does kind of sound like real sea monsters from story scrolls… Cuttlefish thought, now feeling pretty nervous himself. The maybe intentional rib going over his head.
Clam had clearly come to a similar conclusion judging by the look on his face, and shot off at full speed towards the enclave. Oyster and Cuttlefish promptly followed suit.
That is, until they came across something that made them all stop in their swirls.
Another one…
Another of the creatures, (sea monsters?) Was before them. Just barely visible in the slowly diminishing Ocean light.
This one, however, was swimming underwater.
It was smaller than the other creatures, but still much larger than any of the three Seawing dragonets. It was much sleeker than the other creatures, and several other differences that could be seen. Apart from the fact that it was swimming underwater.
This creature did have fins, clearly. Two small pectoral fins to the bottom front of the creature, similar to the fins that one would see on a whale or shark, but much smaller and closer to the front of the thing. It also had a sort of giant dorsal fin on the top, but it was weirdly wide, and centered far away from the other fins. Cuttlefish could also see something on top of the creature, just in front of the giant dorsal fin, but he had no idea what it was.
The whole creature had a silhouette that was much leaner and decidedly more… predatory… than the other creatures they saw earlier.
And it was coming right towards them.
The three dragonets floated in place, petrified with terror, and a bit of morbid curiosity, on Oyster's part. None of them dared to move a muscle or flash a blink. Their bodies and minds weren't used to this kind of fear, the fear induced by a predator watching you.
Dragons never were on the receiving end of that interaction, after all.
The creature continued to move towards them… slowly.
Actually, really slowly. Almost lazily slowly, now that Cuttlefish thought about it. He sort of figured that if a great sea monster were hunting, it would probably move with a bit more urgency.
And so he, and so probably by extent Clam and Oyster, held fast while the creature slowly swam closer.
They watched with wide eyes as the thing passed by them, not once deviating from its course or seemingly paying them any mind at all.
This was the closest any of the dragonets had been to one of the creatures, and now that it wasn't silhouetted against the surface, they could get the best look they had of one of them so far.
And well, they did not really get any less confusing up close.
It was hard to tell exactly what color the creature was, given that they were underwater and it was dark. But the thing appeared to probably be light-gray in coloration, pretty similar to a shark.
Similar to the other creatures, the front of it tapered off to a kind of wedge shape, but it had two… rectangular divots… on the side, and presumably two more on the other side, which served an unknown purpose. It also had a single jagged horn angled backwards that sprouted from the upper tip of the front end, which itself was angled forwards.
Come to think of it, just behind the tapered wedge that made up the front of the creature, it had a series of weird, perfectly rectangular holes that Cuttlefish could not imagine the purpose of or where they went. They ran almost the whole length of the creature near the top of it. Which itself was strangely flat.
Speaking of the top of the creature, the dorsal fin and strange thing in front of it were even more bewildering up close.
Cuttlefish still had absolutely no idea what the thing in front of the bloated dorsal fin was supposed to be, or what it was supposed to do. It was long, its length ran along the same direction as the creature's length, the end facing the front being shaped like a tube and having a hole at the end of it, while the other end that faced the dorsal was kinda more square and blocky in shape.
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The dorsal fin was even stranger, it was almost as wide as the creature itself was, and had a bunch of smaller things all jutting out from it. Cuttlefish could see small, thin tubes that stretched out the top of the thing pointing towards the surface. On the side of the fin, he could see strange patterns made from a different coloration than the rest of the creature that looked suspiciously like symbols…
He could also see strange things on the back of the fin that looked somewhat similar in shape to the thing in front of the fin, but smaller. He could also see another one set behind the entire dorsal fin, this one pointing towards the back of the creature.
Cuttlefish could also now see the distinct bubble stream that Oyster was referring to earlier, but it was a lot more subdued than the ones behind the other creatures. At the base of it he could clearly see that it was not coming from some sort of tube like cephalopods use, but rather some kind of… weird spinning thing… that spun rapidly and produced the bubble stream. That thing clearly had to do with the creature's movement, as he could see no other moving parts that would indicate propulsion.
The three dragonets continued to stare at the creature as it slowly passed by them, seemingly paying them no mind, and continued on its way, following the same direction as the rest of the creatures before it.
What in the great currents…
Oyster was the first to break the stillness, turning towards the other two to cast a far too excited glance, considering the circumstances.
Clam interpreted it first. ["DON'T!"] He flashed, frantically waving his talons.
But before either he or Cuttlefish could make a move to stop her, she turned and dashed off in pursuit of the creature, swam up alongside it, and to both Clam and Cuttlefish's horror, she roughly rapped its side with her talon.
***
>Aboard U-178, Kriegsmarine Submarine, unknown location._
Korvettenkapitän Klaus Witt glanced over the various instruments that indicated bearing in the U-boat's conning tower, and then at his wristwatch. At their current speed, they had several more hours of battery life. The Type IXD was built for range, but it shared the comparative weakness all submarines shared of limited underwater endurance.
They were unable to get a radio signal to or from Lorient to report the situation with the supply convoy they were following, and thus Witt decided to act on standing orders to keep tabs on the convoy's position and follow it through the storm.
He had ordered the boat to submerge, wishing to avoid risking damage to the vessel from the waves in trade for the slower running speed.
However, by now the storm should be well past, and surfacing should be safe. The convoy has most likely made some distance from them; They'll need to catch up.
And probably recalibrate the gyrocompasses, because they had been acting a little strange since they passed through the storm.
He took a long draw of… interesting… coffee from one of the cheap mugs they have aboard and prepared to order an ascension to periscope depth.
And nearly choked on it as a loud banging noise rang out throughout the boat's hull.
His training kicking in, still coughing, he activated the general quarters alarm and the crew scrambled to battle stations, ready to seal the watertight bulkheads if necessary.
"Are we under attack!?" He shouted down to the control room, carefully keeping any panic under control.
"I don't know, sir! That didn't sound like a depth charge!" The hydrophone technician, Otto Reinhard, responded.
U-178 and most of her crew had only been on two war patrols, and had only endured depth charge attacks once. However, the sounds of heavy explosives falling into the water then exploding nearby was absolutely unmistakable, and that sound was not it.
"Was it a mechanical failure?" Witt shouted back down.
"Crew reports no compartments leaking, sir!" The head engineer, Eric Krupp, hollered back. "All systems seem to be working as well, aside from the compasses anyway, whatever that was, it was outside the pressure hull! But I'm not seeing any loss of ballast or air pressure, either!"
The edge gone and adrenaline fading, Witt found himself more puzzled and a little concerned than anything. "Is it possible that we hit something?" He asked more calmly.
"Unlikely, sir!" This time his First Officer, Olaf Reimer, replied. "We still should be in the open ocean!"
Witt pondered the odd dilemma a moment longer, then announced; "We will ascend to periscope depth, get a bearing of our surroundings to make sure no one is nearby, then surface to take stock of the situation and recharge the boat's batteries."
His order was met with a chorus of 'Yes sirs!' From the control room and "Hans! You're going up on deck to check things out, it was supposed to be your turn on watch, anyway!" From his First Officer.
***
Cuttlefish and Clam both stared with slack-jawed horror as Oyster turned back towards them, an excited grin plastered about her face.
["It feels really hard! Like really hard, like it has a shell made of metal or something!"]
Cuttlefish and Clam swam forth and grabbed Oyster, quickly pulling her away from the strange creature.
But the creature did not retaliate towards the sudden contact, nor did it much seem to care, as it just continued on its way as if nothing happened.
["Did it even notice?"] Clam asked.
["I think so,"] Oyster mused, ["I heard more noises coming from inside after I knocked on it, but they weren't very loud. The loudest noise was this kind of… weird wailing noise…"]
The dragonets all floated in place contemplating this information, when the creature in question finally did something other than swim in a straight line.
The small fins at the front of the creature angled upwards and the whole thing began to swim to the surface.
It did not actually breach the surface, however, but instead leveled out again with its strange dorsal fin close to the air.
They watched with confusion as one of the thin tubes positioned at the top of the fin suddenly extended, the tip of it the only part of the whole creature breaching the ocean's surface.
The dragonets couldn't fathom what the creature could possibly be doing, but they weren't able to ponder it for very long, as after a couple minutes the entire creature again began to ascend. This time fully surfacing.
Cuttlefish noted how much the creature suddenly looked like the ones they saw earlier now that it was swimming on the surface.
["What is it doing?"] Clam flashed, much less fearful than before, but still clearly very nervous.
["I have no idea. Cuttlefish, go up there and see what it's doing."] Oyster said, apparently much less eager to investigate the creature after literally poking a reaction out of it.
Cuttlefish, for his part, was rather curious as to what the creature was up to as well. And why it looked so… strange. The creatures that they've seen had all acted more or less passively, so the risk of getting up close to it again was probably minimal.
Without another word, Cuttlefish followed the creature up to the surface. The spinning things at the creature's rear had stopped spinning, and the thing was gradually slowing down. Lending credence to the theory that they were somehow responsible for the creature's movement.
Cuttlefish poked his head above the water and took in the creature's appearance. Only the flat top and the huge dorsal fin were above water. It was much easier to see its exact color, which was indeed similar to that of a shark. Primarily light gray in hue.
It was also easier to see the strange patterns on the side of the fin structure, which did not become any less confusing above water.
The thin tube at the top of the fin had also retracted back into the creature now that it was surface, which Cuttlefish supposed should probably not have been surprising.
What was surprising, however, was the series of rather metallic clanking and clattering sounds, followed by a hissing sound, followed by yet more clattering, that came from the top of the fin structure.
Cuttlefish just floated and stared at the thing, wondering if he should try to lift out of the water and fly up to see it from above. When suddenly, to his complete and total surprise, a small scruffy head poked up from the structure, which he now realized had a lip kinda like a window fixture would have, and looked around, muttering something unintelligible.
Until it turned around and locked eyes with him, it froze completely, eyes as wide as moons, and Cuttlefish got a good look at its face.
A flat, muzzle-less face, forward facing eyes, small nose, fur only on the top and back of the head, not on the face. Comically unthreatening teeth.
A scavenger. What.
Cuttlefish was flabbergasted. He had never seen a scavenger in real life, as they didn't get many of them in, well, the ocean. But he had seen pictures and read some of the, albeit very limited, literature they had on them. Their appearance was unique and unmistakable. They were notorious as treasure thieves, typically lived in secluded 'dens' scattered across the mainland, and known just as much for being a delicacy as they were for being feisty among dragons.
They weren't known for riding on strange sea monsters underwater!
HOW. WHAT.
Cuttlefish and the scavenger held the stunned staring match for a full minute longer, both appearing utterly unable to comprehend the sight of each other. Until the scavenger made a weird drawn out "uhh" sound and backed down, disappearing back into where it came from. Never once breaking eye contact with Cuttlefish. More metallic clanking and clattering sounds could be heard.
Cuttlefish continued to stare, completely at a loss for coherent thought, much less words, when his ears cued him into two splashes coming from behind him, one later and slower than the other.
"Cuttlefish!" Oyster cried after clearing the water from her gills. "What happened!? What did you see!?"
"Are you alright?" Clam followed up, "You froze!"
"Uhhh…" was all Cuttlefish could formulate. Reminiscent of the scavenger that had just disappeared, though his brain was still probably too shock-addled to realize that.
Before either of the two dragons could ask a follow-up question, a strange rumbling, growling-esque noise came from closer to the back of the creature, and the two siblings, Clam especially, jumped back in surprise.
Adding to Cuttlefish's, and now the other two dragonet's, perplexed surprise, blackish, weird-smelling smoke came from holes behind the creature's… fin? And the entire thing accelerated forwards, moving much faster than it had been underwater.
"Cuttlefish, what…?" Clam started, before he was cut off by yet more clanking coming from the creature.
This time two scavengers popped out, and Cuttlefish wondered how many of them there were on that thing. One looked like the one that he had already seen, the other one was new.
Now all three dragonets floated still, all staring, all shocked and flummoxed beyond words. The two scavengers on top of the thing stared back, looking for all the world as dumbfounded as they were. The creature continued to swim off, seemingly aloof to the sheer confused shock permeating between the two races.
None of the dragonets opted to pursue the creature this time, as it steadily made its way off into the distance, away from them.
They all just exchanged glances, dove underwater, and resumed swimming back to the enclave as fast as they could reasonably go.