You spend the rest of the afternoon huddled beneath a coral ledge by your home, waiting for your mother. Occasionally, you spot one of your neighbors swimming by, but you stay hidden.
It’s dim now, but you immediately recognize the clumsy shape materializing out of the gloom. “Mom!” You jet out of your hiding spot, but stop short. You don’t…you don’t really know what to say.
She heads straight for the entrance without even looking at you. “I heard you didn’t puff.”
“What?” you stammer in confusion. You follow her inside, unsure if you’d heard her correctly.
Your mother doesn’t bother to turn on the glow squids. She drifts straight to the back of the cave and starts busying herself with a seaweed satchel, shoving in various necessities—coral chips, a kelp shawl, even her most beloved shell totems.
“I’m going to see <span class="introduction">Everywhere</span>,” she says. “Our family is cursed and I must fix this. Your father and your sister…Now you, a flatfish…”
Your spines prickle at her mention of Everywhere. No fish ever swam to Everywhere by choice. No fish even knows what the Goddess of Sacrifice looks like. A hundred-foot beast, some say. A flesh-eating goldfish from the freshwater, raised by man. A bottom-dwelling Lighteater. All any fish knows is that those who went to see Everywhere…never came back.
Your mother wraps a totem, a poorly carved interpretation of Everywhere, tightly in her fin. It’s the very same one you and Seamone had picked out for her at the sand flea market after Seamone’s Puffation ceremony. “I must atone for your failures. I’m doing this for Seamone and my beloved Reefard.”
Wordlessly, you watch your mother float toward the door. You want to stop her, but you don’t. She slips out like she’s done a krillion times before and calmly makes her way down the streets, dimly lit by the red and orange of flickering squidlight.
<a data-passage="HOME"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a><<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>I<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>HOME<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>
<<timed 6s>><<goto "Welcome to Iridia 1">><</timed>>
<<cont>><<goto 'Welcome to Iridia 1'>><</cont>>There are demon clownfish chasing you. You don’t know why. You don’t know for how long. But they’ve almost caught up to you and your fins can’t go any faster. Just as you feel them upon you, a squishy weight crashes into you, jarring you awake.
Your vision comes to focus on the spotted brown face of a young puffer, beak cracked open and laughing.
“<span class="introduction">Bryn</span>!” you cry. “You’re no better than those third-year fries who got in trouble for surprise-puffing the school attendant last week.”
Your best friend giggles. “H-oh yeah, that was funny. He was floating around the hallway for hours. But no fish can surprise-puff //you//,” he says, before quickly adding, “I don’t care what the other puffers say. I think that makes you pretty cool, $name.”
You roll out of your sandy nest. “Thanks, Bryn.”
“Well, now that you’re awake…” He flaps his fins. “You have to show me and <span class="introduction">Cucumby</span> what you’ve been working on with the shells!”
Almost as if on cue, a wrinkly tubular creature drifts through the doorway. Its mottled gray body spins slightly as Bryn pulls it over with a strand of seaweed.
You pet the sea cucumber’s lumpy body as it floats to your side. “The shells?”
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>
<<button [[⤐|Welcome to Iridia 2]]>><</button>>You survey your disorderly surroundings. You’ve had the cave to yourself for two years now, hoarding every shell and clam you come across, filling the empty space your mother’s old totems had left behind. They keep you company in the late nights, when sleep feels a krillion whale-lengths away.
But this morning, the shells are far from your mind. It’s Iridia’s Annual Puffation Day. Cucumby is Bryn’s emotional support echinoderm but the sea cucumber extends its soothing powers to any fish in need. And right now, that’s you. “We’d better focus on the Puffation. This is the most important day of our moderate lifespans, Bryn. It’s the official end of our fryhood.”
Bryn flips himself upside down. “What’s to worry about? There’s a place for every puffer in Iridia. Bounder, healer, reefkeeper, coral reader…it’s all the same, really. Come on, show us the shells!” he roars, his voice taking on a strange accent. You know he’s imitating <span class="introduction">Puffly Perry</span>, the iconic investigator in the Trench Theater’s hit play, “The Purpose of the Porpoise.”
“Fine,” you say, cracking a smile. You lead Bryn into Seamone’s old den. Light filters through a seaweed-framed opening in the cave ceiling, tinting the water a bright teal. It’s a cozy, circular space lined with shelves of her old coral tablets, full of tales of Lighteaters, goldfish, and the like. You haven’t touched them since her death and now they’re coated with a film of algae.
You had donated her nest to the Helping Fins Orphan Home and converted the corner into your workshop. Beside her ancient purple glow squid lies heaps of shells and clams, strands of seaweed and kelp, and an assortment of rocks and other tools.
Bryn rushes to the creation you left atop the workbench you’d meticulously chewed out of the cave wall. “There it is! Oh my spines, it’s glorious!” He wriggles into the tangle of shells and kelp and twirls around to face you. “Ta-da! How do I look?”
<<button [[⤐|Welcome to Iridia 3]]>><</button>>You look on with pride as the pieces fall into place and Bryn floats before you, no longer a soft and plump pufferfish, but an armored hero. The shells cover his fry body like a sturgeon’s bony plates, glinting in the dancing light.
“Minacious,” you say, quoting Puffly Perry’s catchphrase. “But not as minacious as…”
Bryn opens his beak to finish your sentence, but instead, a gruff voice comes booming from outside your cave. “Bryn! $name! Are you in there?”
“Oh sharkbreath, it’s Mother,” Bryn squeaks. “I’ve got to get out of this!”
Your spines prickle with panic. To Bryn, it’s ‘Mother.’ To //you//, and basically every fish else, this was <span class="introduction">Chief Caribea VIII of Iridia</span>. And she already dislikes how much time her son spends with you—the flatfish with a frowned-upon affinity for clams.
While Bryn struggles to shed the armor, you rush to the cave entrance, nearly barreling into the chief. The white spotted puffer looks down at you. She’s intimidating, all right. Not so much because of her brawny build and size, but mostly because of her notorious resting blobfish face.
“Ah, $name. I expected you would be here. All the other fries have assembled in the clearing to prepare for the Puffation while the two of you drift around in this cave of yours doing Everywhere knows what,” Chief Caribea says, peering inside.
<hr/>
<<button [[We’re just getting ready, Chief,” you say, trying to block her from entering. “Bryn is…er, pooping?”|Chief 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“It’s really nice of you to visit, Chief,” you say. “What nice currents we’re having today. You look wonderful, by the way. The sunlight really makes…your spines stand out!”|Chief 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You stare blankly at the chief, rubbing your fins against your body. “Who’s Bryn? I mean…he’s not here?”|Chief 3]]>><</button>>You feel the water rush out of your gills. You can’t believe you just spoke of such lowly affairs to the reef chief herself. “I just…wanted to warn you against seeing anything indecent, Chief Caribea,” you stammer.
The chief looks at you, unamused. “He is my fry. I birthed him. I have already seen all that is decent and indecent about that foolish sponge.”
You don’t know what else to say.
<<button [[⤐|Start 4]]>><</button>>“I’ve had many bardfish come and sing my praises,” Chief Caribea replies sternly. “$name, I do not think pleasant words are a strength of yours.”
You find yourself cowering under her withering stare. “Sorry, Chief. I don’t…usually talk to many puffers,” you blurt.
The chief sighs. She has clearly never thought much of you and certainly doesn’t now.
<<button [[⤐|Start 4]]>><</button>>Chief Caribea stares right through you. “All right, $name, that’s enough. We all know my pufferling is in there.”
You let out a nervous chuckle and linger there in the doorway, desperately trying to summon more ways to stall Bryn’s mother. But unlike Puffly Perry in critical moments, your mind draws a blank.
“Move away now, you awkward fry.” Chief Caribea brushes you aside with a sweep of her fin.
<<button [[⤐|Start 4]]>><</button>>Absently, you crunch on a piece of green coral. You hate being frysat. But they had canceled school. The third-year fries had flooded the tunnels with squid ink following the varsity team’s crushing defeat at last night’s urchinball game and the reefkeepers are busy cleaning up.
Your sister <span class="introduction">Seamone</span> was going to take you to a Freshwater Krills concert, but she was called in at the last minute for a shift. She’s Shell Team Four’s finest bounder, after all. She’s not great company when she’s working—you don’t get to be Shell Team Four’s finest bounder by chatting and slacking off at your post. Bounders spend hours at Iridia’s reef boundaries, just staring and listening for anything out of the ordinary.
The borders are usually peaceful, so you expect nothing to happen. You’re about to take another mouthful when a fin comes whacking you between the eyes.
“Don’t snack on that!” Seamone says. “That’s our wall! Years of architecture, just going in your stomach!”
“My bad, Seamone, but honestly this place is already falling apart,” you sigh, gesturing at the crumbling coral outpost with your fins.
Seamone gives you an amused look. “All right, so it is. But don’t make it worse, $name. Why don’t you help me watch the Big Deep. You love looking for Lighteaters.”
You position yourself at the edge of the coral wall. “Yeah, but we never see one. I’d rather be at the Freshwater Krills concert.”
“Me too, my fry,” your sister replies with a chuckle.
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 2]]>><</button>>Chief Caribea advances with such speed and power that you couldn’t have stopped her if you’d tried. You trail behind her with dread, cringing when you spot Bryn.
“Almost got it!” Bryn grunts as he squirms in the sand. “Just got to get this…” His eyes lock with yours first, then drift slowly and fearfully to Chief Caribea.
With a shriek, the young puffer swells into a fat orb. The rest of the kelp and clams go flying.
You don’t even have time to mourn the loss of your treasured creation before Chief Caribea turns on you. “I’ve told you countless times, $name, to quit toying with this clamwear!”
“Stop yelling at my friend, Mother,” Bryn cries as he flails his fins, struggling to keep himself from floating out through the ceiling. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Cucumby sliding into a crack behind one of your shelves for cover.
“Of all the fries in this reef, I cannot fathom why my son chooses to swim with you,” she continues, ignoring Bryn completely. “Now, push my fry to join the others in the clearing. If you’re late, we’ll leave for the Puffation without you.”
With a final disapproving glance, Chief Caribea glides out of your home. You’re left to stare at the mess littering the cave and…Bryn.
“Sorry, $name,” he murmurs, gesturing at the scattered shells beneath you.
“Don’t worry about it, Bryn.” You salvage a short length of seaweed and take it in your mouth. “Here, grab the other end. I’ll drag you.”
<<button [[⤐|Puffation 1]]>><</button>>Gills pumping hard, you burst through a patch of anemones to find…an empty clearing.
“Aw spines,” Bryn groans, still very much inflated.
A passing elder spots your sorry situation. “Fries,” she calls. “The Puffation is beginning. Hurry! Hurry to the Field of Tunnels!”
You remember traveling to the Field of Tunnels to watch Seamone become a bounder at her Puffation. With Bryn in tow, you follow the elder, listening as the singing and the drumming of sea sponges becomes louder and louder.
The Field of Tunnels is crowded with more fish than you’ve ever seen in your life. Vendors are selling all the traditional festival snacks—seasoned flatworms, coral cake, and jellyfish-fried shrimp. Young fries roll down a sandy hill overlooking the clearing. Nearly every Iridian, apart from a few bounders on patrol, has gathered to witness the annual coming-of-age challenge for all fries across the bay.
Apart from the trial puffers at the entrance, no fish nears the intricate system of coral tunnels that stretch across the plain of silky white sand. You catch sight of <span class="introduction">Shoala</span> and <span class="introduction">Sesealea</span>, two healers who’d participated in last year’s ceremony, surrounded by a swarm of their friends nearby.
“How could he be so cruel? Breaking my heart on Puffation day!” Sesealea wails, punching a tube sponge with her fin.
Shoala sighs through her gills. “Oh my spines, I can’t believe that puffbrain. Come on girls, let’s go eat his house.” The others erupt in a chorus of agreement and pay you no mind as they hurry back toward the reef with a glint of determination in their eyes.
A couple of younger fries take notice of you and Bryn as you make your way toward the field. “What, he’s already puffed? That’s so embarrassing,” one of them whispers. You’re glad Bryn is too busy admiring the festival foods to notice.
<<button [[⤐|Puffation 2]]>><</button>>It’s not hard to spot Chief Caribea looming by the main tunnel entrance, accompanied by the horde of young puffers. One by one, they disappear into the opening, stopping only to gulp in some water and puff into little orbs. You know that, when they emerge from one of the hundreds of exits at the other end, their lifelong vocation will be decided for them.
“They’ve started already,” Bryn whispers as you slip into the crowd. He’s still twice his size but a bit more maneuverable.
A large round shadow eclipses the two of you, and from the overpowering scent of too much //Abalone Fierce// cologne, you immediately know who it is.
“Hey sponge-faces,” <span class="introduction">Coastner</span> bellows in your face. He’s the largest fry and shark fart of your year. “Betcha three coral cakes that you flatfish will get lost in the tunnels, and you won’t get out until you’re old and saggy, and every fish will laugh at you, and…and…”
Bryn snorts. “Who’re you calling ‘flatfish?’ Look at me!”
“Ch-yeah?” Coastner smirks. His eyes shoot to opposite sides of his face as he sucks in a stream of water, swelling to a size that nearly rivals Chief Caribea. You and Bryn gape at him.
Before you can think of something snarky to say, the chief’s booming voice diverts your attention. “$name, come now! Bryn! You’re already puffed, son. Might as well go in.”
Bryn shoots you a glance. “Right, let’s do this.”
Suddenly, you’re overtaken with a strange sensation as “Can’t Feel My Gills” slips into your mind, your consciousness. //Bury me in the black sands, so I can finally understand. Understand why—I can’t feel my gills, gills, gills, gills, gills. Cheap perfume and thrills, thrills, thrills, thrills, thrills.//
You haven’t listened to that song since…since…
Coastner said it. You’re a flatfish.
You notice Bryn staring at you. “$name? Come on, let’s go!”
<hr/>
<<button [[You squeeze your eyes shut. “I can’t.”|I CANNNNNNN’T]]>><</button>>
<<button [[Bryn’s encouraging look lends you courage. “I’ll try.”|Try]]>><</button>>//I can’t feel my gills, gills, gills, gills, gills. Cheap perfume and thrills, thrills, thrills, thrills, thrills.//
Bryn deflates a little. “What? What do you mean?”
//I can’t feel my gills, gills, gills, gills, gills. It’s the silence that kills.//
Every puffer is watching you now. To your knowledge, no fry has ever refused the rite before.
Chief Caribea’s voice echoes across the sandy plain, as sharp as a spine. “$name, answer my son.”
“I…” You falter as the memories of losing your family flood over you. “I //won’t//. All we pufferfish do, all we’ve ever done, is puff up in the face of danger and hope for the best. There…there has to be another way!”
The chief rushes in front of you, her eyes burning orbs of fire coral. “This is our way, fry,” she roars. “We do not hide, not like those precious clams of yours. A puffer who does not puff is no puffer at all.”
“Mother, stop!” Bryn cries.
Chief Caribea glares at her son, almost puffing up herself. “Go. Do your trial,” she commands.
“//Awkward//,” Coastner murmurs in the painful silence.
Your heart sinks as Bryn flashes you an apologetic glance and disappears inside the tunnel. The other fries take their turn, one after the other, while you watch on…
<a data-passage="FLATFISH"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a>“You’ve got this, $name,” Bryn says. “//We’ve// got this.”
You shake the Freshwater Krills out of your head. You hear Coastner snigger behind you, but you pay him no mind.
//For Seamone//, you think, and take in a huge gulp of water. You feel it displacing your organs, stretching your skin…and then spewing back out of your beak. //No!//
You try again, try to keep the water down, but it’s no use. You keep thinking about Seamone and the lemon shark.
Coastner bursts into laughter. “Woah, the //puff// is wrong with you, $name? Even my shrimpy little brother knows how to do this.”
“Enough, Coastner,” Chief Caribea booms. “You’re next.”
“Krill yeah, let’s go!” the young puffer howls before body-slamming Bryn into the tunnel. Your best friend disappears with an echoing squeal.
The reef chief no longer seems to want anything to do with you. You float there, all alone, as the other fries file past to complete their trial…
<a data-passage="FLATFISH"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a><<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>II<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>FLATFISH<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>
<<timed 6s>><<goto "Armor 1">><</timed>>
<<cont>><<goto 'Armor 1'>><</cont>>You don’t know how many days it’s been since you left your cave. You can’t think of any other puffer who has completely failed the trial on Puffation Day. Are you even an Iridian anymore?
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>
“Oh Seamone,” you sigh, huddling against your workbench. You’d been so sure that you’d be a bounder like your sister. Or a coral reader, at the very least. Instead…you’re nothing at all.
You glance at the shell armor you’d carefully pieced back together after Bryn had puffed it apart. Seamone used to bring you the especially nice-looking shells she found from her patrols. You just don’t know why you do it anymore.
“$name?” A familiar voice stirs you from your miserable musings. “You there?”
You’re not sure if you want to answer.
“$name? Come on, I know you’re in there.”
“$name’s not here. Only a stupid flatfish,” you grumble, bumping your face against the dimming glow squid at your workstation.
Bryn drifts to your side with a playful spin, his goofy face dispelling the gloom you’ve been brooding in for days. “There you are! My spines, you look awful, $name. Have you eaten? I know you’re upset. I’m sorry I didn’t come by sooner, but my mother anchored me after the ceremony.”
His large, slightly vacant eyes peer at you with concern, but you can’t bring yourself to meet his gaze. “You’re no longer a fry, Bryn. She can’t anchor you anymore.”
Bryn lets out an awkward chuckle. “Well, she’s the chief…” After a slight pause, he asks, “So, don’t you want to know how I did in the trial? Okay, I won’t make you guess. I’m a coral reader now!”
<hr/>
<<button [[“Good for you, Bryn!” you exclaim. He’s still your best friend, after all.|Bryn's Job 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“I can’t believe it,” you say, disappointed for him. “I thought you were going to be a bounder! What happened?”|Bryn's Job 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“But Bryn…” You frown. “A coral reader? How about you just make armor with me? That’s what we both love doing!”|Bryn's Job 3]]>><</button>>Bryn’s eyes light up. “You think so? I was afraid you’d think being a coral reader is lame.”
“Of course not, Bryn,” you say, drifting over to Seamone's shelves of old coral tablets. “Coral readers are so important. How else could we preserve the history of the reef? Iridia’s entire legacy is in your fins!”
Your best friend’s eyes glint mischievously. “You know what else I’ve got in my fins?”
Before you can even guess, he dumps a pearly white scale out of his kelp fanny pack with a flourish. You see your reflection in its perfect surface, your eyes staring blankly back at you.
“Ta-daaa!” Bryn cries. From the proud expression on his face, you know exactly what he’s brought you.
“Is that…” you whisper, “a saltdragon scale?”
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly + 1>>
<<button [[⤐|Armor 2]]>><</button>>Bryn stares at the sand beneath him. “Well…I don’t really mind being a coral reader,” he murmurs.
You can’t believe what you’re hearing. “You mean…you don’t mind sitting around and chipping away at coral all day?”
He shrugs his fins. “It doesn’t seem so bad. I thought maybe you’d be happy for me, $name.”
You sigh. “Sorry, Bryn. I would be happy for you, but since I failed the Puffation I haven’t really been happy at all.”
“You’re right…I shouldn’t ask that of you.” Bryn glances up, his wide eyes glimmering. He swims a small circle before coming over to you. “I, uh, brought you something.”
He digs around in his kelp fanny pack for a moment before dropping a gleaming object in the sand. It’s a shell—no, a scale—nearly the size of your fin. Warm and milky. Pristine.
Your mind races. It’s too beautiful to be anything else. You look at Bryn in disbelief. “A saltdragon scale?”
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly - 1>>
<<button [[⤐|Armor 2]]>><</button>>Bryn’s eyes flash with excitement. “You mean it? I thought you wouldn't want me involved after I destroyed your last piece.”
“Of course I want you involved, Bryn,” you say, nudging him with your fin. “Besides, that wasn’t your fault.”
“That’s good,” he murmurs, looking up at the light filtering through the hole in the ceiling. “You know I’d love to craft armor with you all day. But Mother would never let me. You know how she is. She hates anything that dishonors the old pufferfish ways.”
“I know. I can tell she hates me,” you say, bitterness weighing down your words. Ever since Seamone’s death and especially after the Puffation, it seems as though you’ve been nothing but a disgrace to Iridia.
Bryn darts in front of you. “No, who cares what she thinks!” he squeaks. “$name, look what I brought you. Mother will probably puff when she discovers it’s missing, but I don’t give a spine.”
You’re shocked to hear Bryn use such foul language and even more shocked by what he pulls out from his kelp fanny pack. It drifts down to the sand, flashing your eyes as the rays catch its shiny surface. You peer down at a scale nearly the size of your fin, its surface swirling with hues of pale orange and salmon pink. “A saltdragon scale!” you exclaim.
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly + 2>>
<<button [[⤐|Armor 2]]>><</button>>When you glimpse yourself reflected in the glassy eyes of your kin, what do you see?
<div class="row">
<div class="column">
<a data-passage="Prologue"><img src="images/Puffer_Orange_New.png" alt="A freckled yellow-orange pufferfish with a neutral, thoughtful expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px"/></a>
</div>
<div class="column">
<a data-passage="Prologue"><img src="images/Puffer_Gray_New.png" alt="A spotted blue-gray pufferfish with an innocent, smiling expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px"/></a>
</div>
<div class="column">
<a data-passage="Prologue"><img src="images/Puffer_Brown_New.png" alt="A mottled brown pufferfish with an intense, determined expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px"/></a>
</div>
</div><img src="images/Puffer_Cover.png" alt="A yellow-orange pufferfish swims away from the silhouette of a ship that approaches a vibrant coral reef." class="cover"/> <<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>><<nobr>>
<div class="main1">
<div class="main2">
<a data-passage="Title">NEW GAME</a>
</div>
<div class="main2">
<a data-passage="Title"><<link 'LOAD GAME'>><<run UI.saves();>><</link>> </a>
</div>
<div class="main2">
<a data-passage="Title"><<link 'SETTINGS'>><<run UI.settings();>><</link>></a>
</div>
</div>
<</nobr>>[[Main Menu]]When you glimpse yourself reflected in the glassy eyes of your kin, what do you see?
<div class="row">
<div class="column">
<a data-passage="Prologue"><img src="images/Puffer_Orange_New.png" alt="A freckled yellow-orange pufferfish with a neutral, thoughtful expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px"/></a>
</div>
<div class="column">
<a data-passage="Prologue"><img src="images/Puffer_Gray_New.png" alt="A spotted blue-gray pufferfish with an innocent, smiling expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px"/></a>
</div>
<div class="column">
<a data-passage="Prologue"><img src="images/Puffer_Brown_New.png" alt="A mottled brown pufferfish with an intense, determined expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px"/></a>
</div>
</div><img src="images/Puffer_Cover.png" alt="A yellow-orange pufferfish swims away from the silhouette of a ship that approaches a vibrant coral reef." class="cover"/> <<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>><<nobr>>
<div class="main1">
<div class="main2">
<a data-passage="Title">NEW GAME</a>
</div>
<div class="main2">
<a data-passage="Title"><<link 'LOAD GAME'>><<run UI.saves();>><</link>> </a>
</div>
<div class="main2">
<a data-passage="Title"><<link 'SETTINGS'>><<run UI.settings();>><</link>></a>
</div>
</div>
<</nobr>>[[Main Menu]]You were born a little burr of the ocean, small and spiky.
<<audio Puffer_The_Big_Deep loop play>>
Up above, far above your vibrant reef, there are slick-skinned humans who eat your kind as a delicacy. But you don’t have to worry about that. You have another adventure ahead of you. A saga of the seas. No less treacherous than a Fuguhiki knife, mind you.
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>
As you stare out into the Big Deep, no thoughts run through your tiny brain, but you have a name—that, you know. Your fishfolk, they call you… <<textbox "$name" "">>.
<<button 'Gender and Pronouns'>><<pronouns>><</button>>
<<button [[⤐->Puffers]]>><</button>>
<<nobr>>
<<set $BrynAlly to 0>>
<<set $CucumbySaved to false>>
<<set $EelsAlly to 0>>
<<set $CoastnerAlly to 0>>
<<set $DolphinsAlly to 0>>
<<set $Scales to 0>>
<<set $SaltdragonsAlly to 0>>
<<set $TotalAllies to 0>>
<</nobr>><<nobr>>
<<set $name = $name.trim()>>
<<if $name eq "">>
<<set $name = "No Fish">>
<<endif>>
<</nobr>><span class="introduction">$name</span>...somehow, it suits you.
When you glimpse yourself reflected back in the eyes of your kin, what do you see?
<div class="row">
<div class="column">
<a data-passage="PROLOGUE"><img src="images/Orange_Puffer.gif" alt="A freckled yellow-orange pufferfish with a neutral, thoughtful expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px" class="pufferchoice"/></a>
</div>
<div class="column">
<a data-passage="PROLOGUE"><img src="images/Gray_Puffer.gif" alt="A spotted blue-gray pufferfish with an innocent, smiling expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px" class="pufferchoice"/></a>
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<div class="column">
<a data-passage="PROLOGUE"><img src="images/Brown_Puffer.gif" alt="A mottled brown pufferfish with an intense, determined expression in the ocean." width="300px" height="300px" class="pufferchoice"/></a>
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<img src="images/Puffer_Cover.png" alt="The title, 'Puffer: An Underwater Tale,' above a yellow-orange pufferfish swimming away from a ship's silhouette over a vibrant coral reef." style="margin: auto auto 5% auto;" class="puffercover"/> <<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>><<nobr>>
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<a data-passage="ThreeQuiche"><<button 'NEW GAME'>><</button>></a>
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<<button 'LOAD GAME'>><<run UI.saves();>><</button>>
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<<button 'SETTINGS'>><<run UI.settings();>><</button>>
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<</nobr>>[[Main Menu]]
<<link 'Gender and Pronouns'>><<pronouns>><</link>>
<<link 'Music Off'>><<audio Puffer_The_Big_Deep stop>><</link>>
<<link 'Music On'>><<audio Puffer_The_Big_Deep loop play>><</link>><span class="introduction">ThreeQuiche</span>
<img src="images/ThreeQuiche.jpg" alt="The ThreeQuiche logo." class="threequiche" />The two of you fall back into silence as your thoughts wander to all the tales you’ve heard about Lighteaters. They’re not as secretive as octopuses, or saltdragons. If one came anywhere near the border, you’d see it for sure.
“If a Lighteater //were// to show up, you’d hear it before you see it,” Seamone says, her eyes sparkling. “You know those vibrations that hit your spines when the Freshwater Krills play? It sounds like that, except it fills your whole body. It’s like when the Lighteaters move, they shift the whole ocean.”
You close your eyes and feel for vibrations, but there’s nothing.
Seamone stares into the distance, awe on her face as though she’s seeing something you’re not. “We puffers, all we do is puff up in the face of danger and hope for the best. But Lighteaters fear nothing. Their bellies are harder than mussel shells. We can really learn a thing or two from them.”
She seems a little sad when she says, “They’re the only creatures in the whole ocean who refuse to speak with us. Where do they go? What do they eat? We might never know.”
<hr/>
<<button [[“Have you ever seen one up close?” you ask.|Lighteater 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Where do they live?” you ask.|Lighteater 2]]>><</button>>“We’ve only ever seen them pass by Iridia. But a traveling bardfish told me they gather along the coasts. Not in peaceful reefs but bustling places…dangerous places,” Seamone whispers, prodding you with a fin.
Having lived in Iridia your whole life, you can’t begin to imagine what such a place would even look like. “Places with sharks?”
“Places with //humans//,” Seamone says.
Many of the older fries at school claim to have seen a human. They tell horror stories to the first-year fries to scare them into giving them lunch pearls. You know they’re all lies, but you realize you’d never asked your sister about them. “Seamone, have you ever seen a human?”
Seamone shrugs her fins. “Nah. There’s nothing interesting about them. What I’ve always wanted to see is a goldfish.”
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 3]]>><</button>>“I’ve only seen a Lighteater once,” your sister replies. “But we’re not allowed to go near them. Old Puffkin Notail told you about the Rogue Lighteater that attacked Iridia during the third year of Chief Horoptidius, didn’t he?”
You roll your eyes. “Only about a //krillion// times.”
“Well, once the reef was rebuilt, Horoptidius declared Lighteaters as official predators of Iridia and issued a Bounder Edict. We have to puff the alert whenever we see one coming less than five whale-lengths from the border. Even civilians like you have to puff.”
Her words make you think of the Freshwater Krills’s number one hit, “No Time to Puff.” You wonder whether you’d be scared to see a Lighteater, or whether you’d swim toward the danger, like the song suggests. Your mother always thought the band was a bit edgy for you, but you could listen to their albums all day long.
“Lighteaters are so mysterious,” you whisper.
Seamone shrugs her fins. “Not as mysterious as goldfish. I’ve always wanted to see a goldfish.”
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 3]]>><</button>>You hear the sound of fins behind you and turn. An older, scarred puffer with a crooked eye drifts at the entrance of the bounder post.
“Ah,” Seamone says, floating up. “Wait here, $name. I have to give my hourly report to the captain. I’ll only be gone a few breaths and my colleague will keep you company. Don’t eat the wall while I’m gone!”
The older puffer snorts as Seamone darts out the post. “Poor reefkeepers already have enough work on their fins after the batch of new bounders chewed three whole outposts out of commission this week.”
You’re not sure if he’s talking to you. You can’t even really tell if he’s looking at you. So you opt for silence, pretending like you’re in charge of official reef security alongside your grizzled mentor. It won’t be much longer until you’re a real bounder, after all.
You wait a few breaths. Then a few more. You’re tempted to take another bite of the wall when a sandy blur flashes before your eyes.
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 4]]>><</button>>“Huh?” Your beak hangs open as you squint out at the Big Deep, which is as empty as ever.
Beside you, the scarred puffer gives no indication of having seen anything. You must be going delirious with hunger.
Cautiously, you float closer to the edge of the post.
//Maybe it’s a Lighteater.// With a grin, you imagine Seamone’s face when you tell her you spotted one while she was gone. You glance back at the post entrance, wondering if she’d appear just in time. But all you see is the bounder’s face crumpling into a grimace.
“Away from the wall!” he shouts suddenly, rushing you with the speed of a charging urchinball player.
You float there, confusion seizing your body as he bodyslams you.
As you spin across the post, you see him swelling—spines extended—in front of a massive set of pointed teeth snapping at the bounder post’s narrow opening.
You remember the frightful sand drawings your teacher had made during your first reef safety class. “$name! Don’t mess this up, fry. Identify this predator.”
You gasp through your gills. “Lemon shark.”
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 5]]>><</button>>Just as you manage to upright yourself, the lemon shark surges forward. With a single snap of its jaws, it inhales the bounder completely into its gullet.
Your spines quiver as though they’d been stung by a jellyfish. Your instincts scream at you to puff. //Puff.//
…You’ve never actually done this before. Your body tingles, itches, then burns with fear. Absurdly, another Freshwater Krills song pops into your head—“Can’t Feel My Gills.”
You suck in a breath of cold water, ready to swell, but you can’t manage to gulp it down.
//Puff, you sponge-face, puff!//
The shark wriggles its way further into the post, throwing sand and shards of coral every which way.
“A baby pufferfish.” The lemon shark sneers, revealing its hideous rows of teeth. “So small. A pitiful hors d'oeuvre, but you’ll have to do.”
Your little heart pounds as one of the vertical pupils locks onto you.
<hr/>
<<button [[You try to puff again.|Lemon Shark 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You try to call out for help.|Lemon Shark 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You dart for the exit of the outpost.|Lemon Shark 3]]>><</button>>You shut your eyes and concentrate, the Freshwater Krills booming in your ears. //Come on, $name!//
You know you have seconds left before the shark is upon you. You take in another mouthful of water, but you can’t force it down. It’s no use. If the bounder, inflated to twice his size, went down like a shrimp into a whale’s belly, what hope do you have?
//I’ll die a flatfish,// you think with horror as the lemon shark squirms its way in and lunges at you.
But it never reaches your trembling body. Out of nowhere, a spotted blur comes tearing through the water, battering its pointed snout aside.
“Seamone!” you cry out.
Your sister braces herself in front of you, expanding to nearly three times her normal size. Her spines extend out from her body, sharp and threatening.
“$name, call the other bounders!” she yells. “Go!”
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 6]]>><</button>>“Seamone! Help!” you cry. You sink to the rough floor of the outpost, your entire body stiff with fear.
The lemon shark flares its gills as it barrels toward you. The force of its charge travels through the water, spinning you just out of reach from its white serrated teeth.
You flip yourself upright, expecting to meet the open jaws and rancid breath of the massive creature. But instead, you find Seamone in front of you. You barely recognize her. She’s grown nearly three times her size, her spines raised like an urchin’s.
“Get out of the post, $name! Call the other bounders!”
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 6]]>><</button>>Flailing your fins, you spin toward the exit. It feels whale-lengths away and…well, you’ve never won any awards during intramural swim sprints.
Ignoring everything, you channel all your thoughts and energy into swimming. You’re nearly there when a sudden shadow sweeps over you. //Oh puff.// You squeeze your eyes shut.
“Don’t just float there, you big sponge!”
It’s Seamone! She’s swelled up to nearly three times her size.
“$name, go! Find Captain Urchbill!”
Seamone gives you a forceful shove, sending you flying out of the post.
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 6]]>><</button>><<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>PROLOGUE<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>
<<timed 6s>><<goto "Prologue 1">><</timed>>
<<cont>><<goto 'Prologue 1'>><</cont>><<nobr>><<fadein 2.5s 300ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>><img src="images/ThreeQuiche Transparent.png" alt="ThreeQuiche logo" width="70%" height="70%"/><</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<fadein 2.5s 300ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>ThreeQuiche<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>
<<timed 6s>><<goto "Title">><</timed>>
<<cont>><<goto 'Title'>><</cont>><</nobr>>You fling yourself out of the bounder post like a garden eel emerging from its burrow. You can’t quite tell where you’re going. There are voices, but it’s like you’re trying to swim in a whirlpool.
“Agh!” You crash into something spiky and…slimy. Righting yourself awkwardly, you find yourself face-to-face with Seamone’s superior, <span class="introduction">Captain Urchbill</span>, adorned in his seaweed dress uniform. He’s flanked by a dozen bounders, all puffed to full size. You can’t help but notice that one of the smaller bounders is slowly spinning away, as though pulled by some invisible force.
“Where is your sister?” Urchbill demands.
Before you can sputter out an answer, the puffers are already propelling their bloated bodies into the post. It’s like they’re moving in slow motion, bouncing off one another. Only half of them seem to make it inside. The other half have ricocheted away, scattering in chaotic directions.
You watch as a young bounder fights her way inside the post, fixing a stern gaze on you as she passes. “Where are your spines, fry?”
You realize you’re the only pufferfish left unpuffed.
“This is puffer territory!” You hear Seamone roar from within the post. “Get out of here, you shark fart!”
You don’t want to admit it, but somehow, you already know. It’s the last time you’ll ever hear her voice.
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 7]]>><</button>>You stare into the bounder post—or what’s left of it. The entire ceiling had collapsed, leaving bits of coral and clouds of sand that have yet to fully settle. The lemon shark is gone. So is Seamone.
Several bounders hover aimlessly above the broken coral, dazed and unable to deflate. A healer drifts over to check you for injuries, but you barely pay him any notice. You keep your gaze locked onto the endless blue of the Big Deep, desperately urging for your sister to reappear.
Then, a familiar voice snaps you from your trance. “Seamone!”
You don’t stop your father in time. He hurls himself past the bounders, swelling up at the sight of the crumbled post.
“Please calm yourself, <span class="introduction">Puffkin Reefard</span>!” the healer squeaks, rushing over to your father. “Deep breaths through your gills.”
Your father continues to drift weakly toward what used to be the entrance of the bounder post. “Push me, my fry!” He fixes you with one bulging eye as he spins slowly through the water. “Push me to my daughter!”
An older healer swims over to the first and you hear her whisper, “It’s too late. He’s gone puff-crazy. There’s no deflating him. Get the fry out of here.”
You stare at the healers, then at your father. His eyes are glossy—not with tears, of course, because fish don’t cry.
“Swim home to your mother, $name,” the healer says softly.
At last, you give in to your instincts to flee. You flap your fins, retreating from the toppled post, your puff-crazed father, and the horror of it all.
<hr/>
<<button [[You hope she’s home. It’s getting late and you can’t stand being surrounded by strangers any longer.|Where's Mom 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You swim for the Anemone Cafeteria. Your mother often works a late shift there.|Where's Mom 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You head for the spine sharpener. Your mother frequently escapes there for a moment of relaxation.|Where's Mom 3]]>><</button>>You navigate the quaint coral lanes of your neighborhood until you reach your family’s cave at the end of a cul-de-sac, framed by long strands of red seaweed. The entrance is black, with no glow squids lit up inside.
You peek through the narrow opening, calling for your mother, but you know she’s not here. No fish is around. Not at this time of the day. They’re either fulfilling their reefly duties or cloistered in the shelter of their homes, oblivious to the goings-on at the borders.
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 8]]>><</button>>The Anemone Cafeteria isn’t hard to spot. The massive cave dominates the center of a sandy clearing, framed by tentacle pillars of pinks, blues, and greens, glimmering with the silver light of a full moon somewhere far above the surface.
Puffers file in and out of the main entrance, their bellies stuffed so full that they almost look like they’re puffed. A Freshwater Krills tribute band is playing a terrible rendition of “Krill or Be Krilled.”
If you could cover your ears, you would, but they’re somewhere inside your head. You swim inside the cafeteria, dodging lines of pufferfish winding around stations full of ready-made food until you reach the kitchen.
The head chef, a plump puffer with a jolly expression, notices you immediately. “Ah, $name! Your mother left a while ago. Come try this algae-clam soup.”
You decline with a half-hearted wave. Before you can leave the kitchen, the chef nudges a seaweed takeout bag into your fins. “Chopped mussels. Your favorite!” he whispers happily. You give him a weak smile before ducking out. Not the least bit hungry, you pass the bag off to the first caveless puffer you see.
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 8]]>><</button>>The sharpener’s assistant is nagging you—something about not having an appointment—as you force your way into the coral den.
You’re about to call out for your mother, but your voice catches in your gills as every puffer in the den fixes you with a curious stare. You’re breathing heavily, but no fish seems alarmed. You’re not inflated, after all.
The sharpener, who’s in the middle of buffing the spines of a wrinkled client, stops to chide you. “This is no place for little fries to play,” she says.
You can’t stand every fish just looking at you like that. It’s clear your mother isn’t here. You turn and duck out of the den without a word.
<<button [[⤐|Prologue 8]]>><</button>>You always dreamed of meeting a saltdragon. Seamone once told you that, within their lifetimes, they travel to every corner of the world. They fear no shark nor Lighteater, yet they’re so elusive they might as well be a myth—except here was Bryn, presenting you with an actual saltdragon scale.
“Some puffer chief from the southern reefs gifted it to Mother after the Puffation,” Bryn explains. “I want you to have it!”
Your beak drops open. “You’re giving it to //me//? But why?”
Bryn gives you an exaggerated sigh. “Tell me, $name. What’s so special about saltdragon scales again?”
You blink at him. “They’re…unbreakable?”
“Exactly!” He surges over to the armor prototypes you’ve hung up along the far wall. “Unbreakable!”
For the first time since the Puffation, you break into a smile. The thought of putting a saltdragon scale on your armor has never crossed your mind until now.
“Come on, let’s fix it to that helmet.” Bryn beckons you over to your heap of finished and half-finished inventions strewn across the sand.
Working alongside your friend, building…you feel a bit like yourself again. Together, you strip away an old shell and rebuild a helmet with the saltdragon scale as its centerpiece.
“It’s glorious!” Bryn squeals. “We should go test it out in the Big Deep. Mother won’t find us there.”
You hesitate. You haven’t been near the Big Deep since… “I don’t know if the helmet’s ready for that.”
“It’s a //saltdragon scale//, $name. Of course it’s ready! The real question is, who gets to wear it?” Bryn squints his eyes with excitement.
<hr/>
<<button [[“Can I wear it?” you ask. You'd built it to fit your head, after all.|Helmet 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“You should wear it,” you offer. “You brought the scale.”|Helmet 2]]>><</button>><<if tags().includes('autosave')>><<notify>><img src="images/Saving.gif" width="30%">Saving...<</notify>><</if>>“Well, sure.” Bryn sags a little, but he smiles. “Put it on, $name. It’s going to look so cool!”
Deftly, you slide into the armor and secure the seaweed straps. You reach for the helmet, then pause.
“Here, I’ll help you put it on,” Bryn says.
After donning his own set of armor, he swims over and tightens the helmet around your head. It feels lighter somehow, the scale cool against your skin, the weight comforting.
“Woah, $name. You look great!” Bryn yells, peeking at you beneath another one of your prototype helmets. “If only that sponge-face Coastner could see us now! Come on, we have to try them out!”
<<button [[⤐|Armor 3]]>><</button>>Bryn’s eyes go wide—even wider than they usually are. “You mean it?”
You grin. “Yeah, I mean it.”
The spotted puffer twirls around the helmet, admiring but not touching it. He glances back at you. “...I want you to wear it, $name. You know, since you made it and everything.”
Without waiting for an answer, he nudges the helmet over and fixes it onto your head, strapping the seaweed in place. It fits perfectly, you realize with a smile, as you shimmy into the rest of your armor.
“Thanks, Bryn,” you say. “How do I look?”
Bryn has already wriggled into one of your older prototypes. You can tell he’s trying to subdue the amazement in his expression as he looks over. “Minacious,” he says, the accent back. “But not as minacious as…”
“//Me!//” You finish the catchphrase with him, the two of you bursting into giggles, your armor rattling at your sides.
When Bryn catches his breath, he smacks his helmet against your saltdragon scale. “Let’s go duel!”
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly + 1>>
<<button [[⤐|Armor 3]]>><</button>>The water is fine in Iridia today. It’s been so long since you’ve been outside that you almost stop to admire the sandy streets glittering beneath the sun’s rays. But you have to stay focused on the task at fin: sneaking into the Big Deep.
You follow Bryn through an abandoned, half-eaten bounder post, sighing at the sorry sight. Seamone would be so puffed if she could see what has become of Iridia’s bounders.
And just like that…the two of you are out of the reef.
“Hey.” Bryn pokes you. “You floating all right? I know you haven’t been a fan of the Big Deep since…”
“I’m fine, Bryn. I’ve got you. And this,” you say, rolling your eyes up at the saltdragon scale strapped to your head.
“That’s right,” he declares joyfully.
You don’t have to swim too far to find an ideal spot for dueling, hidden from the nearest bounder post by a rocky precipice blanketed in algae. The scene is set. You position yourself a shark-length away, ready to square off with Bryn. All is silent. The moment would only be more perfect if the Freshwater Krills were here to play “Krill or Be Krilled.”
Bryn takes a moment to adjust his helmet before opening his beak with a mighty cry. “Charge!”
Summoning all the power in your stubby fins, you hurl yourself at your adversary. Your helmet seems to cut straight through the water, propelling you forward until you collide with Bryn. Clam against scale. Puffer against puffer. The two of you wrestle until you both fall away, out of breath.
“Again!” you wheeze happily.
Bryn hurries away, giggling like a maniac. “But further this time!”
Any onlooker would’ve seen nothing more than two adolescent puffers charging each other at modest, unremarkable speeds and bouncing apart. But to you and Bryn, this is a clash of champions.
You lose count of how many times you’ve crashed together. There’s a little whirlpool gathering in your mind, making your vision dance just slightly, as you swim back to your position. You raise your fin, about to lunge again, when you notice something odd.
The patch of sea behind Bryn looks…discolored. And it’s moving.
You squeeze your eyes shut and open them again. //This’ll be our last duel for today//, you think woozily.
But the patch is still there. Actually, it’s growing.
“Uh, Bryn?” you call out. “Do you see that, too?”
“What?” He peeks at you from under his helmet and turns away. “Holy snails, what is that?”
<hr/>
<<button [[“Let’s swim closer and check it out,” you say, brimming with curiosity.|Reef Attack 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“We’d better hide in the old bounder post and keep an eye on it,” you suggest cautiously.|Reef Attack 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Er…why don’t you go and take a look?” you say. Bryn’s closer, after all.|Reef Attack 3]]>><</button>>Bryn shrinks into his helmet. “You…you mean…attack it?”
“No, Bryn,” you say, paddling over. “Let’s just see what it is first, okay?”
Reluctantly, he nods, letting you take the lead as you approach the looming shape. The ocean takes on a chill as you creep further and further from the reef, until…
A voice slips into your mind. //They’re the only creatures in the whole ocean who refuse to speak with us. Where do they go? What do they eat? We might never know.//
“Seamone,” you gasp. And somehow, you know.
Bryn, who’s beginning to sag beneath the weight of his armor, turns to you. “What?”
You grasp his fin and tug him to a halt. “Lighteater,” you whisper.
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly + 1>>
<<button [[⤐|Lighteater Attack 1]]>><</button>>Bryn rushes at you as though a crab had pinched his tail. “$name!” he wails, smacking right into you.
“It’s okay, Bryn,” you reassure him. “We’ve got our armor on, remember? Nothing can touch us.”
“Oh, yeah.” He nods. “But we should still hide, just in case, right?”
The two of you make a slow retreat for the decrepit bounder post and duck behind its half-munched wall. You peek out, your eyes straining as you try to identify the immense shape out in the Deep, coming ever nearer.
It can’t be a whale. You’ve seen a whale once before. This is bigger. This is…
“A Lighteater,” you gasp.
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly + 2>>
<<button [[⤐|Lighteater Attack 1]]>><</button>>“What? I’m scared!” Bryn yelps. He hustles over to you, fins trembling.
You sigh. “It’s fine, Bryn. I was just suggesting you take a quick look.”
“Me? But //you’re// the one with the saltdragon helmet!” he whimpers, evidently not feeling very minacious anymore.
You remember the scale on your head and try to suppress the fear squirming into your heart. “Fine then,” you say. “Are you going to make me go alone?”
The spotted puffer splutters, his eyes darting between you and the safety promised by the abandoned bounder post back at the border. But you don’t have time to wait for an answer. The monstrous shape has gotten much closer. In less than a minute, it’ll be upon you.
You nudge Bryn with your fin. “We have to go!”
“Huh? Why?” he shrieks.
There’s no doubt in your mind now. “Lighteater!” you cry, pulling your friend back toward the reef.
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly - 1>>
<<button [[⤐|Lighteater Attack 1]]>><</button>>You don’t need to be a bounder to realize…
<<set $BounderHelp to false>>
“It’s coming this way,” you say. “It’s coming to attack the reef!”
Bryn squeezes his eyes shut. “Don’t say that, $name. There hasn’t been a Lighteater attack since the third…since the third year…Stop trying to scare me!”
You can’t afford to worry about scaring Bryn right now. You’re terrified, yourself. “We have to warn Iridia!” you declare.
The Lighteater has crept close enough for you to see its pointed nose and sleek black belly, skimming just beneath the ocean’s surface. Bryn cracks open an eye and lets out a squeal. “Oh jumping jellyfish!”
Before you can calm him down, he’s already inflating, ripping the clam armor to shreds. Miraculously, the clam helmet remains clamped over his head, obscuring his vision. Maybe it’s for the best. At least he won’t have to witness the Lighteater’s horrifying descent upon the two of you and the rest of the reef.
<hr/>
<<button [[“I’ll try to talk to it,” you say with a shudder. “Maybe it’ll respond to reason?”|Lighteater Approach 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“I have to stop it,” you decide, the saltdragon scale weighing heavy on your head.|Lighteater Approach 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Stay here, Bryn!” you shout. “I’ll get help!”|Lighteater Approach 3]]>><</button>>Before you can change your mind, you charge forward like a flying fish taking to the air. You don’t have to swim far before you’re hovering face-to-face with the towering beast.
There are no eyes that you can see. No teeth, no fins. Only a smooth, tapered belly slicing through the sea. You know from your reef safety classes that Lighteaters live half above and half below the surface. Maybe this one is just…lost?
“Hey!” you choke out. “Please stop! You’re swimming too close to our reef!”
The Lighteater doesn’t give the slightest indication that it’s heard you.
“Oh my spines,” you mutter. Frantically, you summon your ‘stomach-voice,’ as your father used to call it. “Listen! You have to turn around. We have elder puffers and little fries here!”
It’s only two porpoise-lengths from you now and it doesn’t look like it intends to stop. So much for playing nice.
“You asked for it!” you yell, lowering your head. As you throw yourself at the incoming beast, you shut your eyes, pretending it’s only Bryn wrapped up in his garb of seaweed and clams.
//Clack!//
For a split second, you can’t feel anything, you can’t hear anything, and you definitely can’t see anything because your eyes are cowering deep in your sockets.
Then, an immense pressure springs up against your forehead.
<<button [[⤐|Lighteater Attack 2]]>><</button>>Your mother used to regale you with tales of an ancient mythical puffer known as Hootiye, who never spoke but accomplished legendary deeds that shaped the ocean itself. In one of her accounts, he was a colossal giant who disguised himself as a squid by attaching long strands of kelp to his spines. He then proceeded to crawl onto shore and throw coral seeds into the ocean, sprouting vibrant reefs in the shallows.
In another account, he was just an average puffer who’d gotten caught in an underwater geyser that catapulted him out of the ocean. He landed on a seagull’s back and flew around the world before returning to his reef as the most enlightened ocean-dweller that had ever lived.
As you rush toward the Lighteater, you think of Hootiye. Your mother’s stories were so wild that you know he never really existed. But now you wonder if, one day, bug-eyed fries will gasp in wonder at your daring feat…
…as long as you live to tell it.
You’re not sure how you’re planning to stop such a mighty creature in its tracks. All you know is that you’re the only fish who can do anything about it right now.
Before you can reconsider your options, you let out a roar and smash into the Lighteater’s nose—or, more like it smashes into you.
<<button [[⤐|Lighteater Attack 2]]>><</button>>After tucking Bryn into the best cover you can find, you race for the nearest bounder post on the other side of your dueling precipice. “Help!” you cry, tumbling over the coral wall.
<<set $BounderHelp to true>>
You collide straight into two young bounders. Pearls go flying everywhere and you realize that you’ve just interrupted an improvised game of billiards.
“Hey, sponge-face!” one of them snorts. “What gives?”
Catching your breath, you blurt out, “A L-L-Lighteater…it’s headed…it’s attacking…”
The other one rolls his eyes. “How dumb do you think we are? If there really was a Lighteater, you’d be puffed. And what are you wearing?”
The gamblers close in on you. “Are those…clams?” the first sniggers.
Before you can reply, darkness descends upon the post. The bounders whirl around, eyes widening. “Holy snails…” one of them murmurs. Then they start screaming, flapping their fins—not toward the looming threat, but away. “Captain! Captain Urchbill!”
You’re all alone now, lightly buffeted in the wake of their terror. You can’t flee. You have to do something.
You burst back out of the bounder post, and find yourself face-to-face with the Lighteater. You can do this. //I’ve got my helmet//, you think, as the creature comes slamming into you.
<<button [[⤐|Lighteater Attack 2]]>><</button>>The warm waters of the reef pin your fins to your body as the Lighteater pushes you backward. You hear nothing but a deep, incessant drone that tickles your spines.
And then you’re spinning off as though you took a punch from a mantis shrimp. The seaweed straps tear from the impact and you feel the saltdragon scale slap against the side of your gills.
Your vision pulses as you glimpse a faint round silhouette floating away into the Big Deep. A distorted voice reverberates through your brain. “$name! $name!”
The entire ocean falls dark for what feels like just a heartbeat, but when your vision clears, you find yourself half-wedged in a tube sponge. Heaving your fins, you pop yourself free, aching more than you thought possible given your simple anatomy.
“Bryn?” you call out quietly.
A mild buzz drifts through the water, sending a tremble through your fins. You look up. Bryn’s nowhere to be found, but you catch sight of the shadowy belly of the Lighteater, still plowing toward Iridia. You almost wish a mantis shrimp were here to whack you all the way back to the reef. But no krill-weight pugilist can help you now.
You won’t beat the massive beast by outswimming it. What would Puffly Perry do? Glancing about, you lunge into the nearest sand tunnel, one of many the bounders had carved out for mobilizing Shell Teams swiftly to the Deep. Or so you hope.
By the grace of the seas, you don’t intrude into some strange fish’s home. After a frenzied sprint through the tunnel, you find yourself emerging out among the familiar coral clusters of Iridia. You immediately recognize where you are. You’re not far from the Plankton Playpark where you and Bryn used to play hide and seek as fries.
<<if $BounderHelp is true>> As you pass the old playground, you notice that there are no fries around. Instead, you spot the two billiards-playing bounders huddling beneath one of the turtle shell slides. They’re wedged in the tight space, puffed to full capacity. You already know that they won’t be of much help.
<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|Lighteater Attack 3]]>><</button>>
You dart over to a group of reefkeepers busy sweeping away piles of ragged seaweed from the streets.
“We have to evacuate the reef!” you bubble frantically. “A Lighteater is coming!”
You recognize one of the reefkeepers as a friend of Coastner, from your year. “We don’t have time for your pranks, flatfish,” she drones with a roll of her eyes.
“Oh, that’s the flatfish?” a nearby puffer murmurs, peering at you with scrutinizing eyes.
You let out an annoyed sigh and push on. You don’t have time for this. “Please,” you wheeze at every fish you pass. “There’s a Lighteater coming! Like in the third year of…of…you have to go!”
Suddenly, you find your path blocked by a gang of puffers playing urchinball in the street. You fan your fins to slow down, but you still end up slamming into one of the burly offensive players. “Woah, little fry! Trying to play with the big fish now, huh?” the puffer snickers.
Of course, it’s Coastner, the stupid sponge-face. He became a bounder after the Puffation, but as far as you can tell, he’s still as crass and immature as ever.
“I don’t care about your stupid game,” you say, choking on the cloud of //Abalone Fierce// wafting in your face. “You have to take shelter. A Lighteater is coming!”
Unsurprisingly, Coastner bursts into a laugh. “Oh, that’s just adorable.” He turns to the urchinball players or cult followers or whatever they are. “Oh fellow puffkin, we’re in grave danger! Puff for your lives! Save us, $name, save us!”
You force your way through the other puffers as they burst into an uproar. While you’d love to tell Coastner and his pals to eat your spines, there’s a more important matter at fin.
“Puff you later, loser!” Coastner shouts after you.
You hardly hear his words. Something else has caught your attention. Screaming. The reef, darkening. The groans of crumbling coral.
“Everywhere help us,” you gasp, propelling yourself up toward the surface.
You don’t need to rise far to see the Lighteater falling upon the reef like a submarine landslide, collapsing Iridia’s structures as though they’re made of nothing more than sand. Ahead of the onslaught, puffers are blowing up left and right with high-pitched cries.
You can’t just stay here.
<hr/>
<<button [[You plunge back down and duck into the nearest coral structure you can find.|Reef Destruction 1.1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[Against every instinct, you charge toward the Lighteater, nudging bloated puffers out of its path.|Reef Destruction 2.1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You’re unable to tear yourself away from the destruction. “Help!” you scream.|Reef Destruction 3.1]]>><</button>>Just before the chaos reaches you, you squirm into a half-collapsed coral hut. The sagging walls scrape your spines as you worm your way in…until you collide into a round, spiny mass.
“Oof,” you grunt. You can’t see a thing, apart from the faint glimmer of squidlight beneath a toppled shelf.
“$name?” the mass whispers.
It takes you a moment, but you recognize the voice. “Shoala? Is that you?” You haven’t seen her since Puffation Day.
“Oh my spines, $name, tell me it’s not coming this way. The fries and I have been in here since we felt the rumbling in the reef.”
Several high pufferling voices chirp up from somewhere behind Shoala. “I’m so scared, I pooped!” one squeaks.
“Ewww,” the other fries cry.
You’re about to open your mouth to answer when the coral around you begins to moan and tremble. You squeeze your eyes shut as the hut gives way, collapsing over you.
<<button [[⤐|Reef Destruction 1.2]]>><</button>>You swim through streets of crumbled coral as bloated puffers rise toward the surface like driftwood. They beat their fins wildly, but an invisible current sucks them into the Lighteater’s path.
You have to do something. As far as you know, you’re the only Iridian left unpuffed in the reef. Against your every instinct, you dart toward the colossal giant. You summon some hype music from within—“No Time to Puff” automatically floods your mind and you match every fin-stroke to its hypnotic beat.
You pretend you’re a different fish as you cut through the water. A swordfish, perhaps. Or a different entity altogether: a mythical freshwater goldfish.
Gills pumping hard, you swim through a dozen denizens of Iridia floating helplessly in the shadow of the Lighteater. “Sorry!” you say before headbutting them out of the way. Eventually, you just imagine you’re playing a game of urchinball. You remember how you and Bryn were always picked last for urchinball at school. Just two little fries with oversized eyes and undersized fins, floating awkwardly and waiting for your names to be called. But now, you’re the only real player on the field.
<<button [[⤐|Reef Destruction 2.2]]>><</button>>No fish responds to your cries. In fact, you’re drowned out by screams all around as you stay suspended above the reef, eyes fixed on the Lighteater’s unrelenting approach.
Splinters of coral fly every which way, and you barely manage to dodge one as it whips past your face.
“Oh my spines, $name!” A high-pitched voice snaps you from your trance. A little ways off, you glimpse Sesealea peeking out from beneath an old turtle shell sled. “Swim! Swim for your life!”
Your mind tells you to obey, but your fins won’t move. The Lighteater is plowing through your neighborhood, right into your home. You think about all of Seamone’s cherished coral tablets, ground to dust.
“Swim, $name!”
It’s speeding straight toward you, hardly slowed by its impact against the reef, crowding your vision until it’s all you can see.
You squeeze your eyes shut and brace for the collision.
<<button [[⤐|Reef Destruction 3.2]]>><</button>>“Shoala?” you call out into the darkness. It’s no use. You can’t move a fin in here.
There’s only one way out. You start nibbling at the coral in front of you, even though you’re not the least bit hungry. It settles in your stomach like a dense pile of sand. The phrase “eating to live” has taken on an entirely different meaning as you chomp away at your prison.
Finally, a speck of light! With a few more thrashes, you force your way out and into…chaos.
Bounders and healers are everywhere. You lunge at the nearest one, snagging her fin. “Help! There are puffers trapped down there!”
The inflated puffer assembles a crew to excavate the coral. As you rush to join them, a bounder shoves you back with his tail. “Puff first if you want to help, fry,” he snaps.
There’s no malice in his voice, and yet you shrink away. It takes you a moment to spot the Lighteater, beyond the far borders, only a faint outline now. Not once has it turned to look back at the destruction it has caused.
Bloated puffers dot the reef, some calling for loved ones, others huddling beneath a ruined recreation center.
Bryn!” You call. You last saw him drifting away into the Deep…where is he now?
“$name.” A gravelly voice makes you turn, and you find yourself face-to-face with Chief Caribea. A thin layer of coral dust covers her normally stately appearance. She narrows her eyes. “Where is he?”
<<button [[⤐|Bryn Search 1]]>><</button>>You tackle puffer after puffer out of the way until the sea before you is clear. All except for one thing. A small worm-shaped organism wriggles madly a few turtle-lengths ahead.
<<set $CucumbySaved to true>>
“Cucumby!” you gasp. Fins burning, you propel yourself over to Bryn’s pet sea cucumber. You reach out a fin to scoop it up and recoil as the alarmed creature squirts out its guts. “Ew, Cucumby, relax! It’s just me!”
The sea cucumber finally seems to recognize you and snuggles under your fin. You sink down to the reef floor in a daze, reminding yourself that the echinoderm will regrow its organs soon enough.
“How did you get out here? Did something happen to the High Reef mansion?” you ask, cringing at the thought of Bryn’s stately home of expensive imported coral reduced to dust.
You glance up, noticing that the humming sound has disappeared. To your relief, the Lighteater has made its way to the edge of the reef. You watch as it drifts off, becoming nothing more than a faint smudge on the ocean surface. “Come on,” you say to Cucumby, “let’s get you somewhere sa—”
“$name,” a voice booms behind you.
You whirl around to find Chief Caribea, half-deflated. The rest of Iridia is in shambles behind her, the streets littered with broken coral. Off to the side, a few reefkeepers have herded a group of fries together and are feeding them algae gummies to keep them calm.
“My son,” the Chief says, her voice more weary than harsh. “Where is he?”
<<button [[⤐|Bryn Search 1]]>><</button>>You don’t remember what it felt like. All you feel is an itch when you wake. With a groan, you raise a fin to scratch your face, but it's too short to reach. Giving up, you slump back against the sand.
“Ugh, no, don’t go back to sleep, $name!” A fin slaps you behind the gills.
“Huh?” You grumble, reluctantly blinking open your eyes.
A blurry image of Sesealea appears before you. “Thank goodness you’re like, alive,” she says. She proceeds to dip her fin into a bowl of paste and slather it onto your spines.
You recoil. “What is that? Get it away from me!” It stings like the jellyfish you and Seamone had once provoked while playing. You were only a tiny pufferling then.
“Relax,” Sesealea says, rolling her eyes. “It’s like a pulp made from crushed soft coral, horseshoe crab blood, and like…some other things. It’s supposed to help you.”
You stare at her. “Some other things?”
“Stop worrying, $name,” she reassures you. “I’m like, a healer, remember? Top of my year, actually. Just let me do my thing.”
You lay still, trying not to wince or gag while she plasters the medical paste all over you. It smells like…rotting algae and stale flatworms.
“You nearly died,” she says casually, like it’s a piece of gossip. “The Lighteater like, slammed into you and every fish was like, ‘Oh my spines!’ And we all thought you died.”
The Lighteater! You gasp. “Is it…is it gone?”
“Yup. It just glided out of here like nothing happened. It didn’t even, like, eat any fish. Weird, right? But it demolished the High Reef mansion, which puffs. That thing was like, a krillion years old!”
So, Bryn’s home was destroyed, too. “Have you seen Bryn?” you ask. “Is he safe?”
The healer opens her mouth, but another voice answers.
“//No.//” Chief Caribea floats up behind Sesealea. “Not a fish has seen my son, Bryn, since you and the Lighteater entered Iridia.”
<<button [[⤐|Bryn Search 1]]>><</button>>Over the next two days, Chief Caribea sends out search party after search party into the Big Deep. You join every one of them, catching only winks of sleep in between on smelly, discolored sponges in remote bounder posts that look like they haven’t been used since the third year of…
“Cucumby!” you cry out in alarm as the slimy creature crawls onto your back. “You scared me.”
The sea cucumber is in mid-molt and honestly feels gross to the touch. But Bryn’s pet insisted on being part of the search, or at least on being fed, so you’ve allowed it to accompany you. A small part of you hoped that the leathery tube could detect Bryn’s scent, like Puffly Perry’s own beloved pet could. But so far, Cucumby hasn’t done much but molt and poop.
You snack on some chopped mussels during your break. The Chief has had her fins full with restoring the reef, but you know she’s concerned about her son.
“Come on, let’s get you something to eat,” you say to Cucumby. You drift past the other bounders of your search party. Thankfully, you haven’t been paired with Coastner. You actually haven’t seen the sponge-face since the Lighteater attack.
Suddenly, a bounder darts into the post, making you drop the algae cookie you were offering to the echinoderm. “We found him!”
<<button [[⤐|Bryn Search 2]]>><</button>>You whirl toward the entrance of the post, your heart swelling at the sight of a familiar shape. The spotted puffer’s face lights up the moment he sees you. “$name!” Bryn shrieks, paddling over to you eagerly. “Jumping jellyfish, I’m so happy to see you!”
You fin-bump each other before going in for a side hug. “Bryn, we’ve been looking everywhere for you. I’m so glad you’re safe!” you say as Cucumby flings itself onto Bryn’s back.
Your friend nods. “I’m okay. It was just really scary. That was the longest I’d stayed puffed, and in the Big Deep of all places. And I’m sorry, $name, but the armor broke off when I…” He lets out a shaky sigh through his gills. “I can’t believe what happened. The reef…”
<<if $CucumbySaved is true>> Bryn smiles as the sea cucumber curls on top of him affectionately. “I heard you saved Cucumby, $name! I wish I’d been there to see it! I bet you were like Puffly Perry when he did that urchinball slide to save the dumbo octopus from falling into the shark’s mouth!”
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly + 1>>
You allow yourself to chuckle. You were actually terrified out of your spines, but Bryn has been through a lot and you don’t want to bring his mood down. “...Something like that.”
“Well,” your friend chirps. “I heard the High Reef’s gone, but Cucumby is my most prized possession anyway. Thank you, $name.”<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|Bryn Search 3]]>><</button>>Bryn’s eyes drift past you. “Ma!” he squeaks. He starts to swim over but seems to decide against it, settling for a wave instead.
Chief Caribea approaches her son, her face as expressionless as ever, and pats his head. “It’s good that you made it home safe, son,” she says, not even looking at him. From her distant gaze, you’re certain her mind is elsewhere.
Bryn draws circles with his fins awkwardly. “Thanks.”
Just as abruptly as she came, the chief turns to leave. She pauses briefly at the post’s entrance. “Do be sure to swim to the main square once you’ve finished your reunion. The former Captain, now Commander, Urchbill is hosting a ceremony in honor of the Iridian lives lost and the heroic deeds performed during the attack.”
You and Bryn share a look.
<<button [[⤐|The Ceremony 1]]>><</button>>You and Bryn swim to the main square together. While you and most of the other bounders went on search parties, the reefkeepers had tidied up the streets. Young fries dart about in a game of sharks and seals. You recognize a few cooks from the Anemone Cafe handing out seaweed care packages to a line of puffers who’ve lost their caves.
Bryn shrinks closer to your side, his wide eyes glancing left and right at the rubble that surrounds you.
“Iridia will bounce back. We always have,” you say, giving him a comforting nudge. “You’re a coral reader, Bryn. You’ve studied all the hard times the reef’s endured! Like in the third year of Chief…Herpyditties.”
“It’s //Horoptidius,// $name.” Bryn giggles.
“Oh same thing,” you say. “Now come on, maybe there’ll be some coral cake.”
There are already dozens of puffers lining the main square, sporting seaweed ribbons and murmuring quietly to one another. You spot Coastner’s bounder pals gathered by the entrance, passing around a conch of what smells like sea pineapple liquor. “Flatfish,” one of them slurs, saluting as you and Bryn pass. “Little Chief.”
Chief Caribea floats with Commander Urchbill over a ledge of table coral in front of the semi-destroyed statue of the First Chief. Half of its head has been splintered off and only one bulbous eye remains plastered on the side, nearly the size of the chief herself.
<<button [[⤐|The Ceremony 2]]>><</button>>The ceremony is already well underway. Five bounders hover to the side, adorned with shark teeth medals—a symbol of bravery. A sixth bounder waits beside the commander, whose voice booms in mid-speech: “—for swimming into the Felicitous Pearl Cellar to retrieve the last remaining shells of eelgrass wine from the Narwhal Estate.”
As Urchbill passes out honors, your mind drifts. You think of the Narwhal Estate, described in many bardfish recitals, with its lush beds of carefully cultivated eelgrass caressed by warm, turquoise waters and extending as far as the eye can see. You sigh, wishing more than anything to be somewhere that peaceful.
“$name,” Bryn whispers. “$name.”
Suddenly, you notice the stares of a hundred puffers on you. You glance at Bryn, whose face is colorless, before locking eyes with the commander at the center of the square.
“Yes, you, $name. Come up now,” Urchbill grunts, beckoning you.
You feel Chief Caribea’s stern eyes burning into you as you break away from the crowd and cross the square. You catch an encouraging nod from Bryn, but it does little to calm the churning in your stomach. As you reach the commander, you lower your voice so only he can hear. “Sir? What’s this about?”
Rather than responding to you, Commander Urchbill addresses the audience. “And finally, our courageous puffer of the hour. A little late today, but at the vanguard when needed most. Good fish of Iridia, let us have a big cheer for $name!”
<<button [[⤐|The Ceremony 3]]>><</button>>“Whoo!” Bryn screams from the crowd. A smattering of fin claps emerge from all around, but not from the bounders near the entrance. You brace yourself for jeers, but you don’t hear any. They’re all passed out in a cloud of spilled sea pineapple.
“For your unceasing efforts to forewarn your puffkin of the Lighteater’s ambush, risking life and spine, I present you, $name, the Silver Shell of Service.” The commander lifts a polished clamshell amulet from a squat sponge pedestal and slips its woven kelp cord over your head.
Your heart pounds against the sudden weight of the silver clam on your skin. You think about your clam armor, ridiculed by all of Iridia and destroyed by the Lighteater. Is this amulet a mark of honor or shame?
Urchbill clears his gills and continues to speak. “Before we conclude the ceremony, our esteemed leader of Iridia would like to address you all.”
The honored bounders file away, but as you turn to follow them, Chief Caribea blocks your way with a fin. “Stay,” she says.
It’s only you, Chief Caribea, and Commander Urchbill up on the stage now. You pick out Bryn among the masses, who proceeds to cross his eyes and make a funny face at you. Under any other circumstance, his silliness would’ve made you feel a bit better. But you can only manage a forced smile in his direction.
<<button [[⤐|The Ceremony 4]]>><</button>>“We are in mourning and we are healing, so I will keep this short,” Chief Caribea announces. “This reef of ours flourishes when we flourish and suffers when we suffer. Under Everywhere’s eye, we will make it strong again by strengthening ourselves.”
All around the square, puffers nod and murmur their approval. You’re not sure what to do, so you just float there until the chief turns to you.
“Tell me, $name,” she says. “Since you first became aware of the Lighteater’s intention to attack this reef and your fellow puffkin, have you puffed?”
Silence sweeps across the square. Somewhere in the crowd, parents shush a babbling fry.
You can’t bear every fish staring at you like this. “No,” you murmur.
“You did not puff,” Chief Caribea repeats, loud enough for the whole square to hear. “How can you expect all of Iridia to puff for you, if you are not willing to puff for Iridia? You poison my son with your strange thoughts…coercing him to labor on those odd obsessions of yours. Tell me, $name, are you puffer or clam?”
All of Iridia awaits your response.
<hr/>
<<button [[I didn’t coerce Bryn to do anything!” you argue. “My thoughts might be strange, but he agrees with me! I’m just as much of a puffer as your son is.”|Exile Defense 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Yes, it’s true I didn’t puff,” you say. “But I did everything I could to protect the reef and the fish in it!”|Exile Defense 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“I’m sorry,” you reply, bowing your head. “I never meant to be a burden to the reef.”|Exile Defense 3]]>><</button>>You feel a twinge of guilt as the chief fixes her son with a withering glare. Bryn stares back dumbly as his sea cucumber slides slowly down the side of his face.
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly - 1>>
“I will deal with my son next,” Chief Caribea declares. “He will learn to honor the ways of pufferkind. Let me remind the reef that Bryn emerged from the Puffation as a coral reader, a most noble occupation. You, $name, lest any fish has forgotten, //failed// the Puffation. You have nothing to contribute to this reef.”
Murmurs thread through the crowd, stinging you like the tentacles of a box jellyfish.
“All I’ve ever wanted to do was contribute!” you insist. “But no fish ever let me!”
<<button [[⤐|Exile 1]]>><</button>>“//Everything!//” the chief booms. “You didn’t sound the alarm. You are a roleless failure from the Puffation. How can Iridia trust a fish like you among our ranks?”
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly + 2>>
Heart pounding, you float firm against her accusations. “I may be roleless, but I care about this reef as much as any fish. We have to change our ways. When we’re inflated, we’re no match for a monster like the Lighteater! They’re armored…like gars from the freshwater.”
Chief Caribea lashes her tail. “Nonsense! Our combined toxins could have downed the Lighteater if we’d had the time to assemble. I admit that our bounder program is in need of reform, but I will not have you corrupting our reef with your twisted beliefs.”
<<button [[⤐|Exile 1]]>><</button>>With the eyes of a hundred puffers on you, you pour your heart into your words. “Since I was a fry, I’ve tried my hardest to puff. Just because I can’t, doesn’t mean I haven’t tried. It doesn’t mean I’m not one of you.”
<<set $BrynAlly to $BrynAlly + 1>>
To your surprise, you hear several murmurs of affirmation within the crowd.
But Chief Caribea doesn’t relent. “I was generous enough to let you remain among us after you failed your Puffation. But you have continued again and again to challenge our honorable traditions. To tempt others…like my son…to be a flatfish like yourself.”
<<button [[⤐|Exile 1]]>><</button>>“$name.” The chief’s voice softens slightly. “This reef has no place for a puffer like you.”
<<if $BrynAlly gte 4>>"Ma, no!” Bryn’s voice echoes across the square. “Give $name another chance!” Cucumby writhes madly on his back, clearly feeding off its owner’s emotions.
But if the chief of Iridia hears her son’s plea or notices the family pet’s spasms, she makes no show of it.<<elseif $BrynAlly lt 4>>You seek out Bryn in the crowd. He shakes quietly in place, his bulging eyes fixed on the sand.<</if>>
Your body goes numb. You feel as though you’ve been frozen in a glacier and blasted by a geothermal vent at the same time.
Rising higher over the platform, Chief Caribea declares, “I, Chief Caribea the Eighth, hereby sentence $name to exile from Iridia. Effective immediately. May you, like your mother before you, find solace with Everywhere.”
You open your mouth to speak, but you have no idea what to say. You can’t even think of the last time you heard of a fish getting banished from the reef.
The crowd waits silently for your next move. Chief Caribea is no longer looking at you. She’s staring at the exit, down the side street that leads toward the Big Deep. You’re taking your last breaths of home, and oh my spines, do they taste bitter.
<<button [[⤐|Exile 2]]>><</button>>Valiantly, Commander Urchbill throws himself forward. “Come now, Iridia!” he bellows. “Do not simply stare. A Silver Shell honoree floats before you. Let us send $name off in merriment!”
You hear one fin, two, then three slap against bellies before the crowd bursts into cheers. Bryn isn’t clapping. He’s burrowing himself in the sand, eyes filled with anguish.
Collecting yourself, you turn and swim for the exit. The sorrow you catch on familiar faces—Sesealea, old Puffkin Notail who frysat you and Seamone when you were young, and even some of Coastner’s drunken friends who are newly-awakened and mostly confused—it all saddens you. But you keep going.
You reach the end of the street that opens out into the Big Deep. The gate is flanked by two bounders staring into the distance like coral-cut statues. But you know Iridia’s gaze still rests on you.
You linger at the gate, peering into the deepening blue below, where the reef drops away.
<hr/>
<<button [[Your fin finds its way to the silver shell against your heart. With one sure motion, you grasp it and tear it loose.|Silver Shell 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You turn your back to everything and every fish you’ve ever known and set out into the Big Deep.|Silver Shell 2]]>><</button>>You have nothing to take with you, not after the Lighteater smashed through Iridia. None of your clams, none of Seamone’s coral tablets. You don’t want the amulet, either. It’ll bring you no comfort when you’re out there all alone, looking for Everywhere.
<<set $SilverShell to false>>
As you hover at the edge of the Big Deep, you let the amulet drop down to the sand. There’s a collective gasp from the puffers behind you, but you don’t turn to see their reactions.
You leave empty-finned, with nothing but a tiny speck of satisfaction that burns hot against the devastation clouding your tiny heart.
<<if $BrynAlly gte 4>><<button [[⤐|Exile 3]]>><</button>>
<<else>><a data-passage="THE BIG DEEP"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a><</if>>You swim through the gate, the water already feeling several degrees colder. Behind you, cheers urge you on. “$name! $name!” Iridian voices cry.
<<set $SilverShell to true>>
You let your fins carry you forward, fighting the urge to catch one last glance of the reef, once welcoming and alive with urchinball games, organic algae markets, and bardfish performances.
Only Everywhere knows where you’ll swim off to and what you’ll see.
<<if $BrynAlly gte 4>><<button [[⤐|Exile 3]]>><</button>>
<<else>><a data-passage="THE BIG DEEP"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a><</if>><<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>III<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>THE BIG DEEP<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>
<<timed 6s>><<goto "Exile 4">><</timed>>
<<cont>><<goto 'Exile 4'>><</cont>>“Wait, $name!” You’re only a whale-length from the reef when a familiar voice calls out behind you.
You spin around and stare into the wide, expressive eyes of your fryhood best friend. You can’t count how many times Bryn had called after you when you were fries, surprising you with a strange shell he’d found or sneaking you a gourmet snack from the High Reef Kitchen.
But this time…he’s only saying goodbye.
The two of you embrace, your stubby fins patting each other fondly. Cucumby, who is still perched atop Bryn, nudges you affectionately with its head, or butt—you can’t really tell.
“I wish I could come with you,” Bryn whimpers.
You sigh. Out of every fish in Iridia, you’ll miss this dorky little puffer the most. “I wish you could, too,” you say. “But you have to look after Cucumby and the reef until I get back from Everywhere. Then we’ll have lots of stories to share!”
For a second, you’re afraid Bryn won’t believe you. You don’t even believe yourself. But he nods. “Okay, $name. I’ll see you soon,” he says shakily. “And my mother’s wrong about you. They’ll all realize it someday.”
“Thanks, Bryn.” You squeeze his fin and turn away.
But before you can leave, Bryn says, “Oh, and $name?”
“Hmmm?”
“There’s a coral tome in the Library of Iridia’s special collections that I’ve been assigned to study. The last fry who failed the Puffation? She’s now buried in the Sacred Pearl Grounds. Her name was Chief Sheltaris, resident of the High Reef mansion nine reigns before my mother.”
Before you can fully grasp the meaning of Bryn’s words, he squishes you in another brief hug and swims back for the reef.
<a data-passage="THE BIG DEEP"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a>You’ve never been out in the open ocean alone. Without your armor, and without Bryn, the Big Deep feels forbidden to wander.
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>
You swim close to the sand, letting your fins take you in the direction you believe leads to Everywhere. That’s where all exiles journeyed. From what you’d learned in class, at least there would be a few shrines along the way, offering food and shelter.
Suddenly, a stir in the water sends tingles down your spines. You freeze, seeing nothing but the dusk-laden ocean. You concentrate on the vibrations. It feels big, its movements violent.
“Oh my spines, come on, //think,//” you mutter.
Your mind drifts back to Puffkin Notail’s lessons in the clearing with the milky sand, surrounded by pastel-colored anemones. You hear his ragged voice berating your class. “Come now! //No// fry can tell me what this is?” A speckled fin, half-eaten by rot, points to a drawing in the sand.
But your instincts fail you. You can only stare ahead with the old puffer’s admonishing voice ringing in your head as a dark shadow approaches.
<<button [[⤐|Exile 5]]>><</button>>Your beak falls open as the least predatory creature in the sea emerges from the cloudy darkness. “Puffkin Notail?”
“Close your mouth, $name, you’re catching phytoplankton,” your old school teacher wheezes, sagging beneath the kelp belt and woven satchel hanging from his frail frame. He holds up a tattered fin, commanding silence as he fights to catch his breath. Finally, he says, “It has been quite some time since my old bones have spoken to me. But today, at the ceremony, I sensed a colossal storm brewing in these waters.”
You blink. “And you’ve come to warn me?”
Puffkin Notail waves a fin. “Not really. But you see, when Chief Caribea was banishing you, Everywhere called upon me to close my eyes. She carried a Lighteater into my vision, a giant compared to the one that tore apart our reef. The titan, chased through the sea by a ferocious storm, has its fate linked with Iridia. I watched as its plated belly wiped the reef from the sea.”
“Does that mean every fish has to leave Iridia?” you ask, trying to process what this all means for your exile.
“Oh trenches, of course not!” The elder chides you, as though you’d given a wrong answer in class. “Does a snail leave its shell? Does the sand leave the ocean? No! What I’m trying to tell you is that you must save the reef!”
“Me?” This must be a joke. You, a fresh young exile, accosted by the most senile puffer in Iridia, beseeched to rescue the reef from some nebulous threat of the future. It isn’t the //first// time Puffkin Notail has given forth a ridiculous prophecy—once, he predicted that the Freshwater Krills would break up, which was completely absurd.
<<button [[⤐|Exile 6]]>><</button>>Puffkin Notail sighs and slips off a kelp belt with four neat compartments fixed along its length, letting it float out to you. “Yes, $name, you. It pains me to say this, but the reef rests upon your wee spines. Take this belt. It contains four pearls. How you choose to spend them is up to you, but spend them wisely because they’re my month’s rent. Follow the Luminous Shrines and call upon Everywhere to spare our humble reef. Understood?”
Hesitantly, you wriggle into the belt. It’s a bit tattered and loose on you, smelling faintly of rotten coral cakes.
Puffkin Notail pats you on the head. “I want you to know, $name, you were always my fourth favorite student,” he croaks.
“Oh, thanks?” you say, shrinking from your former school teacher’s intense stare.
After a long bout of silence, the feeble fin lingering on your head, the old puffer grumbles, “I have something else to say…I’m just trying to remember it.”
As you wait for Puffkin Notail’s thoughts to come to him, you begin to feel increasingly vulnerable out in the fast-falling darkness. “Puffkin, we probably shouldn’t be floating out—”
“Yes, yes,” he says, pulling away. “Just remember what I told you. And be proud of who you are, pufferling. You can’t be any fish else.”
With that, he turns with a wobble and begins his journey back to the reef.
You can’t help but sigh as the old puffer disappears, leaving you alone once more. You don’t know when you’ll see another of your kind again.
<<if $BrynAlly gte 4>><<button [[⤐|Exile 7]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button [[⤐|Shrine 1]]>><</button>><</if>>Suddenly, Puffkin Notail emerges back out of the gloom, face blank as though he hadn’t spoken to you three seconds ago. “$name, I have something from your friend, er, Bert… Burns…”
“Bryn?” you ask, perking up at the thought of your friend.
“Yes, Brine,” he blubbers. He pulls out a clambox—you recognize it as the one Bryn brought for school lunch every day. “He insisted I give this to you. He wanted to come himself, but the little bubble is anchored, I believe. He didn’t even thank me, but here you are.”
You take the clambox from Puffkin Notail’s shaking fins and open it. Inside, you find a bunch of toasted coral chips and sweet-and-salty flatworms.
“Thank you, Puffkin,” you say, but when you look up, your old school teacher has already gone.
<<button [[⤐|Shrine 1]]>><</button>>After swimming for Everywhere knows how long, you come to the conclusion that the Big Deep is not just deep, but //endless//. And gray. And empty.
Apart from you, there doesn’t seem to be anything alive out here. An old, barnacle-crusted trap gapes open, half-buried in the sand. You’ve never seen one of these human droppings up close before. They’re common hangout spots for fifth-year fries skipping class and drinking home-brewed sea pineapple liquor, or so you’d been told. Neither you or Bryn were ever cool enough to be invited.
Finally, you meet a wandering seahorse bard who points you in the direction of the First Shrine of Everywhere. Now that you have a general sense of where to go, the rest of the journey isn’t too challenging. The First Shrine emits an otherworldly, bioluminescent light that beckons you from several whale lengths away.
As you get closer, you find that it’s only a small, modest cave—a far cry from Iridia’s comfortable lodgings, but enough to shelter you until morning. You duck into the nearest nook and let the darkness lull you into a lonely sleep.
When you awaken, the luminescence is all gone. There’s only you and a carved stone statue in the center of the cave. It’s something between a barracuda and a crocodile, carpeted with a thin layer of algae.
Flapping the stiffness from your fins, you’re about to take off when a diminutive voice pipes up behind you. “Have you lost your way?”
<<button [[⤐|Shrine 2]]>><</button>>You whirl around. You thought you were alone…and you still are? The cave is empty.
“...Everywhere?” you whisper.
Then, you spot it. A tiny head peeking over the statue, two eyestalks swaying to focus on you. A shrine watcher.
“Reminder, you //cannot// eat holy snails,” the gastropod declares, as though it has recited this a krillion times. It glides slowly across one of the statue’s eyes, leaving a clean trail through the algae. “My brothers and sisters will arrive shortly. Any act of violence or ingestion //will// be witnessed.”
Your stomach growls. //Not// that you were thinking about eating the holy snail. “Can you point me toward the Second Shrine of Everywhere?” you ask.
The tiny eyestalks swivel to your right. “That way, young pilgrim. The chief priest makes us crawl from one Luminous Shrine to the other, but if I were you, I would take the Independent Upper Gillway Current. You’re not far from Halibut station, if my ganglia fail me not.”
“Thank you, holy snail,” you say.
“Don’t thank me,” the snail replies. “If you’d like to express your gratitude, you may purchase a token of Everywhere. If you bring all three pieces to her, she will look upon you with mercy and goodness.”
<<set $Pearls to 4>>
You think of Puffkin Notail’s prophecy. Of your mother. Could this really convince a //god// to help your reef?
<hr/>
<<button [[“Sure, why not,” you say.|First Token 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“No thanks, I’m poor enough as is,” you confess.|First Token 2]]>><</button>>The snail stops in its slow descent. “Wait. What did you say?”
<<set $Pearls to $Pearls - 1>>
“Sure, I’ll buy a token,” you repeat.
<<set $Tokens to 1>>
“Everywhere be true, no fish ever says ‘yes!’” the snail cries, flicking its eyestalks in excitement. “This is my first transaction—wait here!”
You watch as the little gastropod pops itself from the stone, drifts down to the sand, and inches behind the statue.
It takes so long that you consider bailing more than once before the holy snail reappears, prodding a neatly-carved piece of coral across the sand. “Here you are!” it exclaims, breathing heavily. “Just drop your pearl in front of the statue, please.”
You extract a single pearl from your kelp belt and do as the snail says.
The holy snail presents the token to you with a flourish of its eyestalks. You can’t quite make out what it’s supposed to be. The smooth edges, tapering to a sharp point…it reminds you of a Lighteater. //Part// of one, at least. But it’s so small, so harmless.
“You’ll have to purchase the remaining pieces at the other shrines,” the snail says, as you tuck the coral token into your belt. It sucks in its eyestalks in a sort of shrug before making its patient journey back to the statue. “Don’t ask me why. I just work here.”
You watch the holy snail for a moment, before pushing past the kelp fronds lining the shrine entrance and making your way toward the Gillway Current.
<<button [[⤐|Halibutts 1]]>><</button>>If snails could sigh, that’s what this one just did. “Where one sees none, another sees two. Those that are without are those with that…those that are...” the snail pauses, scratching one eyestalk against the other in thought. “Nevermind!” it squeaks.
<<set $Tokens to 0>>
It retreats as hastily as it can, which is…not very hasty. Sliding over one of the statue’s fins, it disappears into the thicket of algae sprouting from the back.
Alone again in the sacred cave, you gather up your things. You stretch your fins and head toward the faint light drifting into the cave. The yellow kelp fronds, framing the shrine’s entrance like the dorsal fins of a lionfish, brush against your spines as you swim out and make your way toward the Gillway Current.
<<button [[⤐|Halibutts 1]]>><</button>>Before long, you reach a stone archway with an algae-covered sign plastered in the center. The elegant letters, which once spelled out “Halibut Station,” had at some point been unofficially amended to “Halibutts Station.”
A foul stench floods your senses as you pass beneath the arch, something between rotting seaweed and sea urchin poop.
Even stranger than the smell is how deserted the place looks. No passengers, no gatekeeper, nothing. Hesitantly, you float over to investigate the rundown station. The coral turnstiles are missing chunks and the glow squids are all absent from their posts.
Then, you spot them. Numerous sets of eyes, peeking out at you from the gnawed-away crevices of the station.
A large speckled eel darts forward with alarming speed. “//Bury me in the black sands//,” he bellows melodically, wrapping his thick body around one of the turnstiles, “//so I can finally understand//…”
The pointed snouts of a dozen eels emerge from the shadows, smacking their jaws in an even rhythm. It’s almost like you’re at last year’s Quivering Fins Festival again, watching the Freshwater Krills opening for Anemone in Me’s farewell concert. But the jagged teeth protruding from their mouths remind you that //you// might be the opener…for breakfast.
<<button [[⤐|Halibutts 2]]>><</button>>“//Understand why//—”
“//Why//,” the eels to your left echo. “//Why, why//…”
The eels slide out in synchrony, swishing their tails in a colorful display and hissing to the beat. Even though they’re sporting the classic wide-eyed, blank stare and toothy grimace of moray eels, you think they’re enjoying themselves?
You almost feel the urge to sing along as the lead eel jumps into the chorus. “//I can’t feel my gills, gills, gills, gills, gills. Cheap perfume and thrills, thrills, thrills, thrills, thrills//.”
It’s pretty bad. You would’ve left the venue by now, if you weren’t concerned that they might eat you for that. You force yourself to watch the performance, half-mesmerized and half-cringing at the injustice the eels are doing to your favorite band. Fortunately, you know all the words. Which means you know when it’s about to be over.
“//I can’t feel my gills, gills, gills, gills, gills. It’s the silence that kills//.”
You breathe a sigh of relief, but just as you do, the lead singer lunges forward until he’s inches from your face. “Now pay us,” he says with a throaty growl. His voice has dropped significantly from the high pitch characteristic of all Freshwater Krills songs.
Half of the eels are congratulating themselves on their performance while the other half crowd you, their fangs bared in hungry grins.
Your beak drops open. “...Pay you?”
<<button [[⤐|Halibutts 3]]>><</button>>“Haven’t you heard, puffy?” the lead eel rasps. His vocal range is //clearly// inferior to that of Kriller B. “This station belongs to the <span class="introduction">Sunken Eel Beats</span>.”
This is your first time seeing a moray eel up close. You remember Seamone telling you about one she’d met on patrol, though. While morays were the subject of many a scary story you and Bryn would tell each other in the late hours of a sleepover, your sister thought fondly of them.
“Their teeth are sharp, but they’re big softies. Not just ‘cause they’re squishy, but on the inside, too,” she told you once with an amused smile on her fearless face. “All they really want to do is hang out and laugh with their pals.”
As you stare into the gaping, tooth-laced maws that surround you, you can’t help but doubt her words now.
<hr/>
<<button [[“That’s the worst Freshwater Krills cover I’ve ever heard,” you say.|Acapella Eels 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“‘Can’t Feel My Gills’ is a classic. That was great,” you lie.|Acapella Eels 2]]>><</button>>As a diehard fan of the Freshwater Krills, you’re bound by honor to give an honest appraisal, even at the risk of your life.
The lead singer hisses. “Excuse me? What do you know, spikeball?”
“My name’s //$name//. And the Freshwater Krills are from my home reef—//Iridia//,” you say proudly. “I’ve seen them live a krillion times.”
Your words seem to have an effect on the band of eels. They shrink away in shock and disappointment. One eel, the color of the seaweed blobs that sometimes drift on the ocean surface, peers up at the lead singer. “That can’t be true, right? Every fish says my voice sounds just like Yung Tail.”
You suppress a laugh. “Only if Tail chewed on an anemone and—”
The eels gasp. You fear that you’ve gone too far when the head eel lashes his half-chewed tail. “How dare you upset my eelfolk!” He turns to address his despairing friends. “Listen, I know things have been rough for us after the starfish incident at Voices, but we’ve won three local sing-offs. We were the runner-up at the stingray rodeo show. Are we going to let this deflated puffer define our worth?”
The pep-talk seems to have worked. The band of eels lock their hungry eyes on you, opening their jaws wider than any creature you’ve ever seen.
“Now, we’re not only hungry, we’re insulted,” the lead eel growls. “So pay up, or we’ll chew you up and make instruments out of your tiny bones.”
<<button [[⤐|Halibutts 4]]>><</button>>“You think so?” the lead eel asks. “That was the song that inspired us to create the Sunken Eel Beats. We know their entire discography, even if the later songs got a little weird when they started getting high on flower urchins.”
<<set $EelsAlly to $EelsAlly + 1>>
You nod. Neither you nor Bryn really got into “I am Goldfish Mother” or “The Old Way of New Whales,” when they came out, but they eventually grew on you a little.
“Well, they went through a dark time when Limpet Float went off to make her solo album,” you say. “You know, I’m sure you’d have a lot more fans if you went somewhere with more fish. My friend Bryn, back in Iridia, would think you guys are cool.”
“That is true, puffer…err, what’s your name?”
“$name,” you say.
The lead eel lets out a sigh. “Well, $name. It’s clear you’re a fish of fine taste—musical, I mean. So I’ll be honest with you. Times are hard. Fishfolk still want to hear us, but they don’t want to pay anymore. And you can’t eat songs!”
<<button [[⤐|Halibutts 4]]>><</button>>You gauge the distance between the eels and the rundown turnstiles that mark the entrance to the Gillway Current—to freedom.
Your fin drifts to the kelp belt at your side. You only have <<print $Pearls>> pearls left to make it to Everywhere…
<hr/>
<<button [[“What currency do you take?” you ask mildly, entertaining the thought. “Pearls? Sand? Hugs? Sand, preferably?”|Concert Fees 1]] >><</button>>
<<button [[“I’m sorry, but I don’t have any pearls,” you lie.|Concert Fees 2]] >><</button>>The eels stare at you for a long moment, and you're afraid they’ll just decide to eat you.
<<set $EelsAlly to $EelsAlly + 1>>
Then, they burst into loud laughter. “You’re a funny one, puffer,” the lead eel says. “All we're asking for is a little contribution to your local artist community. I admit it’s not the most //honest// living, but we’ve got too many elvers to feed.”
Suddenly, you become aware of a dozen sets of eyes peering out from holes and crevices around the station platform. Older, mottled eels hush a swarm of elvers wriggling out like worms, trying to get a good look at you.
<hr/>
<<button [[Maybe the performance wasn’t that bad. You take out one of your pearls.|Payment 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You need to save your pearls for Everywhere. “Sorry, I can’t,” you say.|Payment 2]]>><</button>>“Is that so?” The lead eel bares his teeth so wide that a few snag on his lip. “Then what do you have in your belt there?”
You stare blankly at him. It’s pretty obvious you have //something// on you. You press your fins to your sides as the eels peer closer, but they’re too stubby to conceal anything.
“Last chance to cough up some goods, or we’ll swallow you whole, belt and all.”
You weigh your options and…none of them look good. “What a quandary,” Puffly Perry would say in such moments. What would he do?
<hr/>
<<button [[You sigh dramatically, withdrawing a pearl from your belt.|Payment 3]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Eat my spines!” you yell, swimming furiously for the turnstiles.|Payment 4]]>><</button>>“Here.” You toss the pearl over to the eel. “That’s all I can offer you.”
<<set $EelsAlly to $EelsAlly + 1>>
The lead singer bows his head. “Thank you, puffer. We won’t forget your kindness. We’ll even dedicate our next original to you, won’t we, Sunken Eels?”
<<set $Pearls to $Pearls - 1>>
A chorus of agreement rings out around you, making you smile. “I’d be honored.”
“No, the honor's ours,” says another eel. “You didn’t even puff when we charged you like groupers after a show. You’re the bravest puffer we’ve ever met. So chill.”
You don’t know how to respond. No fish has ever said something like that to you before.
The lead eel scoops up the pearl with his tail. “You’re welcome at Halibutts anytime. You came for the Gillway Current, didn’t you? Take this song with you as you go.” He pivots toward the rest of the eels. “Sunken Eel Beats, let’s send $name off with ‘Currently on the Current.’”
On cue, the other eels begin to doo-wop. You give them a small wave before swimming for the turnstiles, where two eels let you pass.
“//Oh, I don’t know the currents but the currents know me//,” the lead eel belts out. “//I’ll cross the whole ocean just tryin’ to be free…eee//…”
Immediately, you feel an insistent tug on your spines. You have only a moment to glance back at the performing eels before the Gillway hauls you away.
<<button [[⤐|Riding the Gillway]]>><</button>>The lead eel turns his head away. “That’s too bad, little puffer.”
You ignore the dismayed grumbles that echo across the station. “I was just exiled from my reef not too long ago,” you explain, deciding it’s best to be honest. “I don’t have a lot myself. As the Freshwater Krills say, ‘//I haven’t but remoras on my back//—’”
“//And a long, long way to swim//,” the lead eel finishes. “‘The Long Current to Perdition.’ Good song. Well, if you’re anything like Krillface the Ray in the song, you’ve got quite a journey ahead of you. You’re free to ride the Current, $name.”
You nod gratefully as the eels part, opening up a passage for you. “Thank you.”
Cautiously, you swim over to the turnstiles. Before you can turn back for a final glance at the eels, the Gillway hits you, carrying you away at a speed faster than you’ve ever known.
<<button [[⤐|Riding the Gillway]]>><</button>>You remember Puffly Perry’s words: “Conceding ofttimes is the smartest move, especially when dealing with lampreys.” You’re not dealing with lampreys—Perry’s worst nemeses—but you figure this is close enough.
<<set $EelsAlly to $EelsAlly + 1>>
You drop a pearl to the sand. “There, I’ve paid you. I’ll be on my way now,” you say, keeping your voice even.
<<set $Pearls to $Pearls - 1>>
The lead eel snatches up the pearl with ravenous speed. “Quality piece of treasure,” he says. He gnaws on the pearl a moment before looking back at you. “Now, what else have you got?”
You feel your stomach drop. As you open your mouth to protest, the eel bursts into laughter.
“I’m just pulling your fin.” He laughs. “Go on, consider your admission paid.”
You shoot the eel an unamused look and swim for the coral turnstiles. Behind you, the eels break out into song, swirling up the waters as they circle the shiny gem. “//All I got is pearls. On the current, take my Stingray for a whirl. Throwing caution to the sea, all I want to do is//—”
The powerful rush of water seizes you before you can hear the rest of the verse, sending you spiraling away.
<<button [[⤐|Riding the Gillway]]>><</button>>You whip your tail through the sand, clouding your escape as you rush for the turnstiles.
<<set $EelsAlly to 0>>
Melodic voices ring out around you. “Get the spikeball! //Yeah!//”
You keep swimming. You don’t need to look back to know the eels are nearly upon you, the rotten stink of their breaths making your empty stomach churn. There’s a //clack// to your right as an eel’s pointed jaw snaps a few barnacle-lengths from your fin.
You’re approaching the coral turnstiles fast, hoping they’ll turn…
“Oof!” You smack into the stiff, unyielding bars. Bits of algae blossom across your vision—not really there, of course.
A set of teeth nearly snag your kelp belt as you clamber over the coral and fling yourself across the platform. Before you can catch your breath, the current yanks on your fins, hurtling you away from the station.
<<button [[⤐|Riding the Gillway]]>><</button>>You feel like an urchinball dropfinned by Coastner. The current spins you along, indifferent to whether you’re upside down or right side up.
You remember Puffkin Notail regaling you and a horde of other students about his lone adventure down the Gillway Current as a fry. He’d made it along the entire length and back, all without his parents or any of the bounders noticing. Supposedly, he’d befriended a young crew of delinquent prawns surfing manta rays down the line, but you don’t see any now.
You feel as though you’re caught in the endless loop of a blue dream. You’re not sure whether you dozed off, but the next thing you know, you’re drifting to a stop.
You’re not alone anymore. Several other riders float nearby, grumbling.
“What? This is it?” A scarred guitarfish complains. “This doesn’t look like Tuna-Tuna Station.”
A pale old turtle adorned in faded red seaweed lazes off to the side, chewing on a clump of seagrass. A large barnacle on the back of her shell declares her status as a member of the turtle guard. “Please exit. This is as far as the current goes,” she drones, not bothering to glance at any of you. “Do //not// block other passengers from leaving.”
<<button [[⤐|At the End of the Current]]>><</button>>You file behind two bickering jellyfish, their red-orange bells pulsing as they lash at each other with their tentacles.
“Rhutirhgnilht, I told you this is why we should have left early!” one fumes. “Son of a barnacle…we’ll never make the wedding at this rate, and I promised Htyendrggt that I’d give the best speech of all time!”
“Stop stinging me, Rhutirhfrrppt!” the other jellyfish cries, ducking away as best as he can. “I said I was sorry! What do you want me to do, dry up on a beach?”
You scan your surroundings, but there’s no sign of the next shrine.
<hr/>
<<button [[You decide to ask the turtle guard for directions.|Turtle Guard Directions]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You hurry over to the jellyfish pair.|Jellyfish Directions]]>><</button>>“Excuse me,” you ask the turtle. “Could you please point me to the Second Shrine of Everywhere?”
The weathered gatekeeper, preoccupied with munching on her seagrass, extends a flipper out to the open water on your right. “Can’t miss it,” she says. “Please exit. The current is closed.”
You linger a moment. “Do you know how far it is?”
“Please exit. Do //not// block other passengers from leaving,” the turtle drawls. You can’t tell if she’s still speaking to you or not.
With those helpful instructions, you set out, straying away from the other confused Gillway passengers. You’re weary, but you swim as quickly as you can. After your encounter with the morays, you’re in need of the kind of peace that only a holy, wayside shrine can offer.
Pretty soon, you’re alone once more, your fellow passengers having faded into the vast blue behind you.
<<button [[⤐|Second Shrine]]>><</button>>“Excuse me!” you call after the jellyfish.
“Oh, //I’m// the one getting my tentacles in a twist? I swear to Jesubaythgbub—” At the sound of your voice, the two jellyfish freeze in mid-grapple. The one that had been speaking, the smaller of the two, frees himself from his companion. The other one, larger and pale orange, wrings his tentacles and blushes a deep red.
They don’t have visible eyes, but you get the sense you have their full attention now.
“Sorry to interrupt,” you say. “But do you know the way to the Second Shrine of Everywhere?”
“Ah yes, the Second Shrine,” the smaller jellyfish replies, a hint of bitterness in his voice. “We know //exactly// where that is, don’t we, Rhutirhgnilht?”
The paler jellyfish flops his tentacles in exasperation. “Can we not do this right now, Rhutirhfrrppt?”
“We’d had the misfortune of seeking shelter there once when //some// jelly insisted that we ‘take a shortcut,’” the jellyfish says, curling his tentacles into water quotes. “Jesubaythgbub help me, I don’t know why I put up with this pile of water.”
In a high, embarrassed voice, the pale jellyfish blurts out, “The shrine is that way! That way!” He wiggles his tentacles to the right.
You thank the jellyfish and dart off, leaving them to their privacy.
<<button [[⤐|Second Shrine]]>><</button>>You hear the Second Shrine before you see it, following the melodic sound of conch against conch until you spot an assembly of crabs chanting hymns in front of another cave. You can’t make out the meaning, but you assume they’re singing something to Everywhere.
You’re just happy to find someplace to rest. Maybe take a nap. You slip through the pastel blue fronds lining the cave entrance and find a few other pilgrims resting on beds of soft sand.
There’s an empty spot by the wall and you flop down onto it, your fins aching.
“Hungry, weary traveler?” Out of seemingly nowhere, a holy snail crawls before your eyes, nudging an algae ball with its eyestalks.
You gladly inhale the algae, careful not to gulp down the shrine watcher by accident. “Thanks,” you say. “I just need a breather before I head to the last shrine.”
“Before you go, do consider leaving a pearl of gratitude in exchange for Everywhere’s sanctuary and abundance,” the holy snail peeps. It looks eerily similar to the one you’d spoken with at the last shrine…But no, it couldn’t have possibly made it here before you.
“For another token?” you ask.
The holy snail nods. “It serves as both a keepsake of your pilgrimage and a way to gain Everywhere’s favor.”
<hr/>
<<button [[You dig out another pearl from your kelp belt. “I’ll take it,” you say.|Second Token 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You roll onto your side, exhausted. “Thanks, but I’ll pass,” you say.|Second Token 2]]>><</button>>The snail’s eyestalks dance in response. “Excellent! Everywhere will be so pleased with me—I mean, you. Wait one moment!”
<<set $Pearls to $Pearls - 1>>
It carves a slow line in the sand, disappearing behind yet another algae-covered statue. You’ve all but dozed off when it returns, prodding your face with the token. Like the first one, it looks incomplete. But you have no doubt now that it’s supposed to be the midsection of a Lighteater. You and Bryn had done a fair share of coral carving in art class during your third year. This was professionally done.
<<set $Tokens to $Tokens + 1>>
“Remember, even Lighteaters bow before Everywhere’s might,” the shrine watcher whispers, before rolling your pearl away.
Its words remind you of Puffkin Notail’s prophecy, and what he instructed you to do. You decide it was a pearl well spent.
<<button [[⤐|Travel 1]]>><</button>>The holy snail stares at you for so long that you don’t think it’s ever going to leave. Finally, it murmurs, “Your soul to forsake,” before sliding away.
“What?”
“Nothing!” it squeaks, disappearing into the shadows behind the shrine statue.
After your encounter with the morays, you decide it’s best to hold onto the pearls Puffkin Notail gave you for as long as you can. Who knows when you’ll need them next?
<<button [[⤐|Travel 1]]>><</button>>You allow yourself a few moments of rest—to be honest, you’re not sure how long you were asleep. But you feel slightly refreshed and as ready as you’ll ever be to venture out into the Big Deep again.
The crabs are still playing the conches when you emerge from the shrine. “Ho there, pilgrim! Care to join our devout merrymaking?” a massive blue and orange one bellows, waving a meaty claw.
“...Maybe next time,” you say. “I’m trying to get to the next shrine. Can you point the way for me?”
Without missing a beat in the rhythm, the crab tilts her claw to the right. “I must insist, give the conch a clatter for good luck!”
Succumbing to the reciprocity bias, you take a conch in your fin and knock it half-heartedly against the one in the crab’s claw. It gives a dull //clink// that makes the others cheer.
Sheepishly, you swim off in the direction the crab pointed you in, leaving the musical frenzy behind you.
<<button [[⤐|Travel 2]]>><</button>>You travel for quite some time, but there’s no shrine in sight. The water is turning to twilight, and nervously, you wonder if you’ll make it to the shelter before nightfall. In Puffkin Notail’s worst-case-scenario survival lessons, you learned how to burrow a temporary den in the sand. But that was ages ago and that’s the last thing you want to attempt in this desolate expanse.
You journey on for a while longer, hoping that you’ll reach the shrine…and sleep…soon. But instead of a warm, welcoming cave, you begin to make out something much larger in the distance. It’s familiar. You feel a chill hum down your spines, almost stopping you in your path.
It’s a Lighteater, but this one is motionless. Not skimming the ocean’s surface above you, but perched upon the sand, lifeless.
In silent awe, you approach the ghostly sight, putting on your bravest Puffly Perry face. That’s when you hear voices ringing out from //inside//.
“Come the propitious hour, the creatures in the bowels of our sea will remember the martyrs littered upon the beaches, crystallizing among alabaster shells. And they shall stir forth with renewed vigor,” comes an echoing, sonorous voice with a slight drawl.
There’s nothing to conceal you, not for many whale-lengths. “Not an ideal situation,” you whisper to yourself, doing your best imitation of the fearless investigator. “Not an ideal situation at all.”
<<button [[⤐|Travel 3]]>><</button>>You swim over to the Lighteater’s dull black bones and plunge into the nearest cover you can find. Thick, slimy clumps of turf algae and microbial mats tickle your belly as you drift along the ribs. Peering over a jagged piece of skeleton, you spot four bottlenose dolphins lazing about, tossing something between themselves.
“Renewed vigor? I never had any vigor to begin with,” one of the dolphins says listlessly.
“Silence, <span class="introduction">Garphal</span>,” the first dolphin responds. “I sense we are not alone.”
Stifling a gasp, you squeeze your eyes shut and press yourself against the Lighteater’s bones. Nothing happens. You work up the courage to peek back out at the small assembly taking place in the dead beast’s hollowed belly.
“Of course we’re not alone, <span class="introduction">Eldenrae</span>,” a third dolphin, this one with a song-like voice, chimes in. “We’re surrounded by thousands of microorganisms!”
Eldenrae dismisses him with a flick of his tail. “Enough, <span class="introduction">Flosbur</span>. <span class="introduction">Menius</span>, pass me the mind-stimulant. We must get back to discussing the matter at fin—our imminent counter-riposte against the humans.”
You notice that the fourth dolphin, Menius, is chewing on something. As he tosses it to Eldenrae, you hear a familiar voice cry out.
“Puff off, you stupid puffs!”
It’s a puffer, you realize. It’s //Coastner//.
<hr/>
<<button [[“Coastner?” you blurt out in shock.|Dolphins 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You slide into a thicket of turf algae to collect your thoughts.|Dolphins 2]]>><</button>>The burly puffer sails through the water, bloated to the size of the moon far beyond the water’s surface. His eyes lock onto yours as he arcs straight into the dolphin Eldenrae’s mouth. “Woah, $name?”
You cringe, expecting your fryhood bully to disappear down the dolphin’s gullet. Sure, Coastner’s always been a pain in the spine, and you and Bryn always fantasized about putting squid ink in his clambox, but it’s not like you ever wanted to see him get eaten alive.
To your relief, the dolphin only chews thoughtfully on the big puffer.
Suddenly, two gray shapes block your vision—Flosbur and Menius have flanked you on either side. They prod you with their slick snouts. “Look, Eldenrae, another mind-stimulant has found its way to us! The seas are willing our uprising!” Menius cries.
Eldenrae turns his gaze onto you and spits Coastner from his mouth.
<<button [[⤐|Sunken Lighteater 1]]>><</button>>You shudder, huddling against the tangled algae. Those dolphins…did they just…eat your fryhood bully?
“What’s this?” a voice drones. Your heart skips when you realize that it came from behind you. //Oh jumping jellyfish//.
“Quit wandering off, Garphal,” Eldenrae scolds, spitting Coastner from his mouth.
You flinch as a dolphin—presumably Garphal—pats your head with a glossy fin. “We’re all wondering off together, so why not wander off, too? Look, I’ve found us another mind-stimulant for our wonderings.”
“The soothsayer once said that when the mind-stimulant comes to you, //you// become the mind-stimulant!” Menius cries, his voice trembling with emotion.
“That’s nonsense, you blubby!” Flosbur slaps Menius on the nose playfully with his tail.
<<button [[⤐|Sunken Lighteater 1]]>><</button>>Coastner bounces off the Lighteater’s bones and begins drifting back toward a waiting Eldenrae. “Am I tripping?” Coaster says. “What are //you// doing here, $name?”
“As true as the glaciers melt, the mind-stimulants are acquainted with each other!” Flosbur gasps, clapping his flippers.
You think back…all the way back to the Lighteater attack and the ceremony where you were exiled. You hadn’t thought much of it before, but you hadn’t seen Coastner since the chaos.
“We’re called //pufferfish//,” you say defiantly. “We’re citizens of Iridia—of this ocean, just like any other fish.
“In your eyes, you are a pufferfish. But in ours, you are a mind-stimulant. Reality is but what we choose to make of it,” the bottlenose replies.
“Yo, my fry, what are these sea slugs even saying?” Coastner says, scratching his fin against his side.
Ignoring the clueless puffer, you continue talking to the dolphins.
<hr/>
<<button [[“Mind-stimulant or not, will you let us go?” you ask.|Dolphin Negotiation 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Well…you don’t need two of us,” you say, inching away.|Dolphin Negotiation 2]]>><</button>>Garphal rolls onto her back and drifts languidly through the water like a piece of driftwood. “I’ve tired of mind-stimulants and humans and water. I’m bored even of the invaders from the stars that conduct their business in the deepest of trenches, digging holes to <span class="introduction">Dolphesis</span> knows where.”
<<set $CoastnerAlly to $CoastnerAlly + 1>>
Menius scratches himself against the Lighteater. “As is recorded in the old tomes, they’ve been going at it for over two centuries. Perhaps patience is a virtue among the invaders from the stars, just as it is among dolphins. Perhaps, in time, they’ll join our cause.”
“What are stars?” Coastner says, grunting as he bounces against a rock. “Just let us puff off, ch-yeah?”
Eldenrae herds Coastner over to you with his tail like he’s an urchinball that was tossed out of bounds. “Yes, yes. There are two now, and two precipitates change.”
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Riddles 1]]>><</button>>Coastner wobbles as he drifts across the Lighteater’s hollow belly. “What the puff, $name? You’re just gonna leave me?”
“Since when did you need help from a flatfish?” you shoot back, feeling satisfied with your quick retort.
Menius glances back-and-forth between you and Coastner. “I sense an unseen tension binds the two mind-stimulants.”
Flosbur undulates through the water with excitement. “How curious!”
But Eldenrae doesn’t seem the slightest bit interested. “This is why the humans reign over us—us dolphins and all citizens of the sea. They have the numbers, the technomechanistry. If we do not even choose to link fins with our brethren, how can we even dream of a fifth tide of uprising?”
He turns to you and Coastner.
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Riddles 1]]>><</button>>“We will grant you safe passage from here,” Eldenrae decrees, taking a dramatic pause, “so long as you unravel our riddles first. Prove to us that there is more to your kind than spines and swollen stomachs.”
Coastner’s eyes bulge. “Hold up, my fry. I don’t want to unravel anything here. I don’t even know what that means.”
You roll your eyes. “How about you let me do the talking, Coastner?”
Menius flaps his fins. “Can I convey the first riddle to the mind-stimulants, Eldenrae? Can I? Please?”
Eldenrae considers for a moment, then nods. “All right, citizen. Go ahead.”
Eyes twinkling with glee, Menius approaches you and Coastner, but he’s looking mostly at you. You start thinking hard, summoning Puffly Perry’s mental strength as he says:
“I trespass, but cannot stay for long,
And throw things where they don’t belong,
I obey not the ocean’s law,
Yet I’m feared by the strongest jaw.
What am I?”
You and Coastner exchange a look.
<hr/>
“I know! You're a <<textbox "$FirstRiddle" "">>,” <<button [[you say.|Answer 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Give us a moment to think about it,” you say before huddling closer with Coastner.|Ask Coastner 1]]>><</button>><<if $FirstRiddle is "human" or $FirstRiddle is "man" or $FirstRiddle is "person" or $FirstRiddle is "Human" or $FirstRiddle is "Man" or $FirstRiddle is "Person">>Menius lets out a squeak. “Eldenrae, tell me my ears did not deceive me. Did the mind-stimulant just…”
<<set $DolphinsAlly to $DolphinsAlly + 1>>
“The mind-stimulant is either exceptionally lucky or more clever than we’d assumed,” the bottlenose replies, narrowing his eyes.
Coastner seems as equally surprised by your answer as the dolphins. “Woah, $name! How did you know? I thought Bryn was the nerdy one!”
Before you can answer, Flosbur darts in front of you. “So, you’ve bested Menius! But are you capable of deciphering what I’m about to launch at you?”
<<elseif $FirstRiddle is "">>Menius shakes his head vigorously. “No answer, my friend? It seems you’ve been outwitted by the fiendish Menius!”
“Menius, calm yourself.” Flosbur sighs. “You’re churning the waters too much with your hyperactivity.”
Garphal sprawls over a cluster of turf algae. “//And// you’re giving me a headache. Worse than what I always have.”
“Enough,” Eldenrae says. “Let the mind-stimulants try their wits at two more.”
<<else>>Menius shakes his head vigorously. “Wrong, my friend. It seems you’ve been outwitted by the fiendish Menius!”
“Menius, calm yourself.” Flosbur sighs. “You’re churning the waters too much with your hyperactivity.”
Garphal sprawls over a cluster of turf algae. “//And// you’re giving me a headache. Worse than what I always have.”
“Enough,” Eldenrae says. “Let the mind-stimulants try their wits at two more.”<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Riddles 2]]>><</button>>“Coastner, what do you think the dolphin is describing?” you whisper to him. You’re not sure what to expect—if only Bryn were here instead—but beggars can’t be choosers.
Coastner opens his mouth, his eyes blank. After a painfully long pause, he finally says, “Doesn’t sound like any kind of fish I know…”
You stare at him a moment longer, in case he has anything more to offer, but he just turns up his fins in a shrug. You sigh. Puffly Perry’s sea cucumber, Cucuddles, was a //much// better sidekick than this sponge-brain.
Turning back to Menius, who is hovering a little too close for comfort, you take a breath.
<hr/>
“The answer is 'a <<textbox "$FirstRiddle" "">>,'” <<button [[you say.|Answer 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“I have no idea.” You throw up your fins. “Coastner, just say something.”|Coastner Answer 1]]>><</button>>Coastner grunts and turns to the dolphin. “What are you? Well, you’re a dolphin, I guess.”
Flosbur bursts into laughter. “He’s not wrong, Menius. But he’s not right, either.”
“At our smallest, we are but mere particles, alike and near-indistinguishable from one another,” Garphal says, rotating lazily in a corner. “So in a way, the answer to everything might as well be ‘dolphin.’”
You groan. You should’ve known. You’d never heard Coastner give a single correct answer in class, even when it was obvious.
Menius claps his fins, looking quite pleased with himself. “Fret not, little mind-stimulants. Perhaps you’ll have better luck with Flosbur’s riddle!”
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Riddles 2]]>><</button>>“All right.” Flosbur nods. He swims around for a moment, thinking, before he finally declares:
“I’m neither here nor there, but in-between,
From below, I am always seen,
I moan and groan, but never speak,
And chew on reefs, but never feed.
What am I?”
Coastner lets out a snort beside you. He looks like his head’s about to explode. You realize the puffer probably hasn’t thought this hard his entire life.
<hr/>
“That's easy, you're a <<textbox "$SecondRiddle" "">>,” <<button [[you say.|Answer 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You nudge Coastner. “What do you think?”|Ask Coastner 2]]>><</button>><<if $SecondRiddle is "Lighteater" or $SecondRiddle is "Ship" or $SecondRiddle is "lighteater" or $SecondRiddle is "ship" or $SecondRiddle is "boat" or $SecondRiddle is "Boat">>Flosbur whistles. “You certainly are clever, for a mind-stimulant!”
<<set $DolphinsAlly to $DolphinsAlly + 1>>
Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Garphal scratching her back against the Lighteater’s husk. “A mind-stimulant must have ways of stimulating its own mind,” she says.
Eldenrae swims closer to inspect you and Coastner. “I did not expect such insignificant, uncoordinated creatures to have such capacity for intellectual engagement.”
Coastner slaps you on the back. “Son of a barnacle, $name! You’re almost as good at this as I am at urchinball!”
You’re briefly filled with a sense of pride and relief, but one look at Eldenrae’s expression, and you realize that you shouldn’t celebrate too soon.
“It seems you’ve impressed your comrade,” he says. “But I am not as easily impressed. Take my riddle.”
<<elseif $SecondRiddle is "">>“No thoughts?” Flosbur says, with a disappointed sigh.
Coastner seems to be deflating both in body and spirit. “$name. I’m gonna be real with you—I have //no// idea what’s going on.”
You grit your beak. None of your schooling could have prepared you for how weird and confusing these dolphins are.
Before you can consider other options, Eldenrae swims before you, hardly paying any mind to Coastner. “All is not lost. There is still my riddle.”
<<else>>“Interesting thought, but nay,” Flosbur says, with a disappointed sigh.
Coastner seems to be deflating both in body and spirit. “$name. I’m gonna be real with you—I have //no// idea what’s going on.”
You grit your beak. None of your schooling could have prepared you for how weird and confusing these dolphins are.
Before you can consider other options, Eldenrae swims before you, hardly paying any mind to Coastner. “That was an admirable attempt, mind-stimulant. But all is not lost. There is still my riddle.”<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Riddles 3]]>><</button>>Coastner’s the last fish you’d want to rely on for something like this. But your mind is drawing a blank, and you’re desperate. “Any ideas, Coastner? What’s only seen from below?” you prompt him.
His eyes go vacant with thought. Right now, you really hope he has more than one brain cell floating around in that head of his. “...I’m only seen from below when I’m floating near the surface after I’ve had too much sea pineapple liquor. But the answer can’t be me, can it?”
“Floating near the surface…” you repeat.
<hr/>
“I’ve got it! The answer is ‘a <<textbox "$SecondRiddle" "">>,'” <<button [[you exclaim.|Answer 2]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You throw up your fins. “I don’t know. Just try something, Coastner.”|Coastner Answer 2]]>><</button>>“What even //is// a riddle?” Coastner wonders belatedly, but Eldenrae ignores him.
At this point, the dolphins are only looking at you. Eldenrae, without even taking another moment to think, says:
“My eye is calm and yet I spit,
I come upon a sky unlit,
Land and sea both know my wrath,
I fell those caught within my path.
What am I?”
As you begin to process the dolphin’s words, Menius starts clapping. “That’s such a good riddle, Eldenrae!”
Garphal raises her head from a bed of algae, looking as though she’d dozed off for a moment. “If Eldenrae keeps making such spectacular riddles, he’ll make the stars fall into the sea and replace these false pretenders,” she remarks, prying a starfish free from the Lighteater’s bones and watching it drift down to the sand.
Eldenrae raises a fin to silence them. “Let the mind-stimulant consider.”
<hr/>
You think for a while. “You're a <<textbox "$ThirdRiddle" "">>,” <<button [[you say.|Answer 3]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Hold on,” you say, turning to Coastner.|Ask Coastner 3]]>><</button>>“What…me?” Coastner gapes at you. “Umm…uh, coral cake?”
Flosbur breaks into squeaking laughter. Beside him, Eldenrae looks like he’s either judging or pitying the two of you—probably both.
You stare at Coastner, dying a little inside. You have no idea where he got “coral cake” from, but it’s evidently not the right answer.
He only shrugs at you. “I’m deathly hungry, $name. Like, that’s all I can think about, my fry.”
“We might be deathly dead if we keep giving wrong answers, Coastner!” you say.
Eldenrae swoops over to you. “We’ll see about that. Hear my riddle.”
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Riddles 3]]>><</button>><<if $ThirdRiddle is "Storm" or $ThirdRiddle is "Hurricane" or $ThirdRiddle is "storm" or $ThirdRiddle is "hurricane" or $ThirdRiddle is "Thunderstorm" or $ThirdRiddle is "thunderstorm">>The dolphins let out a collective gasp, apart from Eldenrae. He only nods. “Well-reasoned. You have earned my respect, mind-stimulant, which is something I rarely give out.”
<<set $DolphinsAlly to $DolphinsAlly + 1>>
“Take that, dolphin!” Coastner roars. He punches you in the fin. “Ch-yeah, give me some, my fry!”
//Ouch//. You shrink away from him. “Take it easy, Coastner.”
“Your companion is right, mind-stimulant. It is yet too soon to celebrate,” Eldenrae advises. He shoots a stern look at Garphal, who’s in the process of dreamily nudging pebbles down a curved shard of Lighteater bone. “Garphal?”
<<elseif $ThirdRiddle is "">>Eldenrae dips his head. “No answer? Fine then.”
“Ah, if all creatures of the blue matched our dolphin wit, perhaps we’d have triumphed over the humans already,” Flosbur says wistfully.
Garphal rolls around in the light sediment blanketing the floor of the Lighteater, clicking apathetically. “If all creatures matched our dolphin wit, then we’d no longer have wit, Flos. We’d have nothing more than mediocre sentience. Although that, I already have.”
Eldenrae flaps his tail in Garphal’s direction to stop her from rambling on. “We cannot triumph over the humans until we triumph over fishkind, for how can we rally them if they do not believe in our cause?”
He sighs, glancing dramatically out into the open water.
“These are matters I must ponder alone. At present, we’re discussing the mind-stimulants and their freedom. Garphal? Have you a final riddle?”
<<else>>Eldenrae stays silent for too long after the words leave your mouth. He dips his head. “That is incorrect, mind-stimulant.”
“Ah, if all creatures of the blue matched our dolphin wit, perhaps we’d have triumphed over the humans already,” Flosbur says wistfully.
Garphal rolls around in the light sediment blanketing the floor of the Lighteater, clicking apathetically. “If all creatures matched our dolphin wit, then we’d no longer have wit, Flos. We’d have nothing more than mediocre sentience. Although that, I already have.”
Eldenrae flaps his tail in Garphal’s direction to stop her from rambling on. “We cannot triumph over the humans until we triumph over fishkind, for how can we rally them if they do not believe in our cause?”
He sighs, glancing dramatically out into the open water.
“These are matters I must ponder alone. At present, we’re discussing the mind-stimulants and their freedom. Garphal? Have you a final riddle?”<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Riddles 4]]>><</button>>As you hunch to the side with Coastner, he lets out a groan. “This puffs, $name. I feel like we’re down 4-0, it’s the third quarter, and this is the game that decides whether we make it to the urchinball championships.”
You’re not a hundred percent sure what any of that means, but it definitely doesn’t sound good. “Just think about what the dolphin said, Coastner. What could he be referring to?”
Your former fryhood bully mumbles to himself for a moment, then says, “It must be pretty swole, if it scares the ocean and the land. Maybe they’re talking about Big Spino, the all-reef urchinball champion? Puffer was a force of //nature//.”
“Okay, that’s a start,” you say, thinking hard. “It’s probably not Big Spino, but…”
<hr/>
“Wait, I know! You’re a <<textbox "$ThirdRiddle" "">>,” <<button [[you say.|Answer 3]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Take a guess, Coastner. It seems like you’re onto something,” you say, giving in.|Coastner Answer 3]]>><</button>>For a moment, Garphal doesn’t seem to notice that her name had been called. Then, she lifts her head slowly, as though it’s way too much effort…and shrugs her fins. “A riddle?” she says. “I don’t have one.”
You exchange a glance with Coastner, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Do not feign to be less clever than you really are, Garphal,” Eldenrae says sternly.
Menius rushes at her. “You had more time than all of us to think of one, you sea sponge!”
“Quit pestering me, you overgrown seal,” Garphal drones, shoving his nose away. “Fine then, only because you’re the one insisting, Eldenrae. Mind-stimulants, here is my riddle: Give me a pearl.”
<<if $Pearls is 0>><<button[[“A pearl? I don’t have any,” you say with a frown.|Can't Pay Dolphins 1]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button[[“You want a pearl?” you say. “Sure. Guess it beats solving another riddle.”|Pay Dolphins 1]]>><</button>>
<<button[[“No,” you say, thinking about the final shrine that awaits you. “Give us a real riddle.”|Don't Pay Dolphins 1]]>><</button>><</if>>“My mom!” Coastner blurts with impulsive confidence. He nods earnestly. “Totally sounds like her.”
You suppress a groan and force the frustration through your gills. “How would the dolphins know your mother?”
The big puffer shakes his head—or his entire body, rather—from side-to-side. “They wouldn’t //want// to know her, my fry. Trust me.”
“I’m certain you are correct in that, dull mind-stimulant,” Eldenrae interjects. “However, your answer is incorrect. There’s now but one riddle left to sway the currents of your fates.” He turns sharply to the remaining dolphin, who’s inspecting a cluster of barnacles on the Lighteater’s ribs. “Garphal?”
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Riddles 4]]>><</button>>You glance at Coastner. “Do you have any pearls on you?”
He snorts. “Do I look like I’ve got pearls on me? My fry, I’m sand poor.”
At this unexpected turn of events, the three dolphins look at Garphal, but she only flaps her fin languidly. “Well, I think I’ll just take my nap now,” she says.
Without waiting for anyone to answer, she closes her eyes.
“Don’t nap for too long, Garphal,” Flosbur warns her. “We have to breathe soon!”
“The soft senselessness of sleep is more satisfying to me than the sweetest breath the sky could ever offer me,” the dolphin replies, turning her back to you, Coastner, and her dolphin companions.
After a bout of silence, Coastner asks, “Did we get it right?”
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Farewell 1]]>><</button>>While Garphal watches on, you slip a pearl from your kelp belt and drop it by her nose.
<<set $DolphinsAlly to $DolphinsAlly + 1>>
“There. Look, Eldenrae,” she says, “the mind-stimulant has succeeded. A clever one we’ve got here.”
<<set $Pearls to $Pearls - 1>>
Eldenrae shakes his head, clearly disappointed, but she’s no longer looking at him. You back away as she nudges the pearl onto her snout and balances it there thoughtfully.
Coastner glances between you and Garphal. “Wait, what was the answer?” he asks.
“Don’t…worry about it, Coastner,” you say.
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Farewell 1]]>><</button>>“It is as Garphal expected,” the dolphin says, suddenly referring to herself in the third-dolphin. “One thing you should know, mind-stimulants, is that the brain tires but pearls do not. If you erroneously think one is more precious than the other, perhaps you should think again.”
You have no idea what Garphal is talking about.
Coastner nudges you. “Was that supposed to be the riddle?” he whispers. “What do we say?”
Before you can respond, Eldenrae approaches Garphal and shoos her from the turf algae she’s lounging on. “Enough foolishness. Garphal, it exhausts me to see you this way.”
Menius floats right up in your faces. “So, what does that mean for the mind-stimulants?”
<<button [[⤐|Dolphin Farewell 1]]>><</button>><<if $DolphinsAlly gte 2>>“Well, I suppose the mind-stimulants have proven their intelligence,” Eldenrae says with a decisive flick of his tail.
Menius claps his flippers. “Perhaps this is an omen that our fellow citizens will see reason and embrace our movement at last!”
“That will depend on our reason and rhetoric alone, Menius,” Eldenrae says, with a dismissive click. He turns to you and Coastner. “Go free, mind-stimulants.”
Before you can leave, Flosbur swims in front of you. “We’ve enlightened these little creatures, and now we’re just sending them back off into the wild?”
“Who are you calling //little//?” Coastner grunts, looking anything but enlightened as he scratches his tail on a piece of Lighteater bone.
Eldenrae pushes past Flosbur and guides you and Coastner out the back end of the Lighteater. “Should our uprising go well, mind-stimulants, you shall have a place in the new commonwealth.”
He spins around with a powerful push of his tail and disappears inside the Lighteater without a second glance.
<<else>>“We did your riddles, I think,” Coastner says to the dolphins. “Can we go now?”
Eldenrae closes his eyes. “That depends on whether you can call whatever folly Garphal just presented a ‘riddle.’ In any case, it does not mean you’ve succeeded with them.”
“Are all riddles not but follies?” Garphal comments dreamily, but every fish ignores her.
While Menius and Flosbur rush to debate the true meaning of a riddle, Coastner turns to you. “What do we do now, $name?”
Considering your performance with the riddles, it doesn’t seem likely that the dolphins will happily let you go free. There’s only one option left—you’ll have to swim for it.
“Listen closely,” you whisper to him, trying to translate your thoughts into Coastner-speak. “See that patch of algae on the Lighteater’s bones? When I say so, swim straight for it, like you’ve got to get the urchinball past the goal post and it’s late-time.”
“I think you mean overtime,” Coastner says, but he’s already angling himself toward the algae patch with a determined look on his face. “Tell me when to go, coach.”
Casting a final glance at the dolphins in mid-debate, you hiss, “Go!”
The two of you charge toward the algae patch, diving through it and out of the Lighteater carcass. Neither of you look back as you flee into the open water, grateful for the coming night and the darkness it’s bringing with it.<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|Coastner Farewell 1]]>><</button>>You and Coastner swim until the Lighteater is nothing more than a murky smudge behind you. Coastner’s all but deflated and much more maneuverable. He’s swimming out nearly three turtle-lengths ahead of you now.
Not because you can’t keep up. There’s something scratching at your mind.
Coastner seems to notice you lagging behind. “Hey, what’s the hold up, my fry?”
“Say, Coastner, why are you even out here?” you ask.
Your former fryhood bully pauses. He flaps his fins. “You mean…out here?”
“I mean, why aren’t you back in Iridia? Are you on a bounder mission or something?”
Coastner squints into the distance, back toward where you’d left the dolphins behind. “Not exactly, my fry…”
<hr/>
<<button [[“Stop calling me that. I’m not your fry,” you say. “Just be straight with me. How’d you end up here?”|Coastner's Confession 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Well, you can tell me,” you say, gesturing at the open water around you. “It’s not like we’ve got anywhere else to be.”|Coastner's Confession 2]]>><</button>>
Coastner glares at you and gulps down a mouthful of water, trying to puff again. “Watch it, flatfish. Don’t make me fling you back to those freaky dolphins.”
The puffer swims up into your face, but you don’t move a barnacle-length. After everything you’ve been through, Coastner’s as intimidating to you as a phytoplankton. “Coastner, I just saved your tail,” you say evenly. “I’ve had a rough few days. You owe me answers.”
Coastner backs away with an awkward wiggle. He tries to shrug off his surprise, refusing to meet your gaze as he speaks. “Look, when the Lighteater attacked the reef. I…” His eyes flash up at yours before darting away again. “I...chased after it to teach it a lesson. And then I got jumped by that group of sponge-faces. End of story.”
<<button [[⤐|Coastner Farewell 2]]>><</button>>Coastner settles in the sand a bit, opening up to your encouraging tone. “Well, when that Lighteater rushed into the reef like it was scoring a findown, I didn’t know what to do, $name. It like…blocked out the sun, my fry.”
<<set $CoastnerAlly to $CoastnerAlly + 1>>
You nod, thinking back. “Yeah. It was pretty scary.”
“Uh huh.” He deflates a little more. “There was this little Coastner voice telling me, ‘Swim for your life, puffbrain, swim for your life!’ And I did. I went urchinball fields further than we’d ever gone on bounder patrols until I didn’t know where I was anymore. By the time this old granny turtle found me and pointed me the way back to Iridia, I was…well I was afraid of what all you fries would think of me when I went back. If there were any of you fish left, anyway.”
You can’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for him. You’ve faced your share of judgment in Iridia. “I think…” you say. “I think they’d just be happy to see you again, Coastner.”
His eyes go vacant for a moment. “You really think so, $name? I’ve been gone for a while now. They must be wondering what happened to Coastner.”
<<button [[⤐|Coastner Farewell 2]]>><</button>>You hover in silence with Coastner before he lets out a decisive grunt. “Well, no point in dwelling on the past. Come on, $name. Flap those fins. Let’s get back to the reef,” he rumbles.
Without thinking, you start to follow him—hardly caring whether he knows which way to go, forgetting that you’re…
“I can’t,” you say abruptly, your own words jolting you. “I can’t go back, I mean. I was exiled.”
Coastner whirls around, his mouth agape. “What? Why would they do that?”
You stare past him, into the empty expanse of water that may or may not hide a faraway Iridia. “Because I’m a flatfish, remember?”
“...Right.” Coastner scratches at himself with a fin. “Yeah. So, uh…”
“Just tell Bryn I’m okay,” you say. “And look out for the reef, Coastner.”
Coastner looks at you for a long while. Then, with a nod, he turns and begins to swim away. You consider warning him about Puffkin Notail’s prophecy…about the reef…but is there really a point? Would that stop him from returning to Iridia?
It wouldn’t have stopped //you//.
<<if $CoastnerAlly eq 2>>Coastner pauses up ahead. “You know, $name,” he says, without turning. “You’re pretty brave for a flatfish.”
“...Thanks,” you murmur, but he has already continued on his way. You watch the ocean swallow up your former fryhood bully. Even when it’s clear that he’s long gone, you hear his blunt words ringing in your head, along with a fleeting whiff of //Abalone Fierce//.<<else>>Without exchanging another word, you watch as Coastner fades into the darkening blue ocean, leaving you alone in the Big Deep once more.<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|Shrine 3]]>><</button>>By the time you find your way to the third shrine, your fins feel like they’re about to drop from your body. The shrine is yet another dim cave nestled in the ocean floor, but any promise of shelter is enough for you.
There doesn’t seem to be any fish inside—not that you can immediately see, at least. You’re too exhausted to care anyway.
Then, out of nowhere, a little voice pipes up. “All weary travelers are welcome here,” it says.
Squinting, you notice a tiny luminescent dot making its way across the sand. How strange. Does this holy snail glow in the dark?
But you’re asleep before you can ponder it for long.
You awaken to a peaceful morning, shaking the sand from your spines. Still, it looks like you’re the only visitor here.
“Greetings, traveler!” You glance down to see two tiny eyestalks peering at you. Unlike the other holy snails you’ve encountered, this one wears a vibrant, azure shell. “You’ve certainly slept well. I’ve been watching. The glittering light of day bathes you in a majestic shine. Would you consider making a contribution to the shrine in exchange for a sacred keepsake? Not that this is a transaction, of course.”
<hr/>
<<if $Pearls is 0>><<button[[“I’m all out of pearls,” you say, blinking the sleep from your eyes.|Can't Pay Third Token]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button[[“Right,” you mumble drowsily, dumping a pearl from your belt. “Here you go.”|Third Token 1]]>><</button>>
<<button[[“Sorry, I’m not interested,” you reply. “I should probably get going.”|Third Token 2]]>><</button>><</if>>The holy snail fixes you with a stare, an eyestalk twitching ever so slightly. It lets out a squeaky sigh. “In moments like these, all we have are our souls…”
“Excuse me?” you say.
The shrine watcher ignores your question and slides back toward the overgrown statue of Everywhere. “But that, you cannot offer at any shrine. Only to the Goddess of Sacrifice herself.”
The belt dangling by your side suddenly feels impossibly light. You slide it off and hug it to your scales as the holy snail disappears into a hidden crevice, leaving you on your own.
<<button [[⤐|Journey to Everywhere 1]]>><</button>>“Simply splendid!” The snail wiggles its eyestalks before shifting over, revealing the token behind it. “I had faith you would agree!”
<<set $Pearls to $Pearls - 1>>
You watch as it crawls over to collect your pearl and begins rolling it away with its face.
<<set $Tokens to $Tokens + 1>>
“The token piece is all yours!” It says, its voice somewhat muffled by the pearl. “May Everywhere guide your fins and your spines to where they need to go.”
<<if $Tokens eq 3>>You inspect the coral carving in the sand. This piece, you know for certain, is the Lighteater’s head. It wasn’t too long ago when you’d stared one in the face.
Solemnly, you shake the other two pieces from your belt and clumsily assemble the token. Somehow, the pieces seem to hold onto each other, melting into the figure of a Lighteater. It’s a bit uncanny, holding what’s supposed to be such a massive beast in just one of your fins.
As you tuck the Lighteater token back into one of your kelp pouches, you tell yourself that it’s just an object. Like the many figures your mother used to keep at home. Somehow, you have to believe that this could win over the Goddess of Sacrifice and convince her to rescue your reef.
<<else>>You scoop up the token piece from the sand and turn it around in your fins. It feels worn down, as though it’d been sitting in sand and rubbed by a gentle current for many moons.
Despite its weathered features, you can tell that it’s supposed to be a Lighteater’s head, with its pointed nose and impassive stare. After staring at it for a moment longer, you stow it away in your belt.
You don’t have enough pieces to assemble the whole Lighteater, but maybe this will be enough to get you on Everywhere’s good side.<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|Journey to Everywhere 1]]>><</button>>The holy snail continues to stare into your soul for a long, uncomfortable moment, as though it hadn’t heard your response. Its eye stalks droop just a little before springing back up.
“No? Oh, that’s perfectly fine,” it says, in a way that suggests it’s not perfectly fine. “You, young traveler, are exercising your free will—good, good!”
You don’t really know what to do but nod. That seems to do the trick, as the shrine watcher rotates away from you.
Up until now, all of the snails you’ve encountered were young hatchlings. But not this one. As it slowly drags itself away, you notice how old it looks, despite its tiny size. It might even be older than Puffkin Notail…and he’s //ancient//.
<<button [[⤐|Journey to Everywhere 1]]>><</button>>You uproot yourself from your sleeping nook and take a moment to drink in your surroundings (literally). In the daylight, you notice that the cave extends much deeper than you’d thought. As you poke your head further into the tunnel, you’re stunned by the immensity of the shrine.
You’re far from the only visitor here. A modest shoal of colorful fry darts back and forth across the chamber, slowly shadowed by an orange dumbo octopus. A pair of seahorses twirl around in a corner while a lobster crawls its way up the mottled wall.
But there’s no statue at the center. You lock eyes with a passing triggerfish. “Why doesn’t this shrine have a statue of Everywhere?” you ask.
“Because she is near,” it says peacefully, a single tooth protruding from its bottom jaw.
You glance around in confusion, before you realize the triggerfish is looking toward a narrow tunnel dug in the wall.
Through there?” you ask.
The triggerfish nods. “Yes, but it’s best to say your prayers out here,” it says before swimming off, muttering something in a language you can’t understand.
You approach the tunnel cautiously, but you see nothing inside—pitch-black nothing. It’s like you’re back at the Puffation again, staring into the Field of Tunnels, the subterranean system that all Iridian puffers entered to complete their trial. All but you.
Well, you’ve made it this far. Trial or not, you’re going through.
<a data-passage="EVERYWHERE"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a><<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>IV<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>EVERYWHERE<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>
<<timed 6s>><<goto "Journey to Everywhere 2">><</timed>>
<<cont>><<goto 'Journey to Everywhere 2'>><</cont>>The tunnel is so tight, you couldn’t turn around if you wanted to. For once in your life, you’re actually grateful you can’t puff. If you did, you’d probably be stuck in here forever. You shudder at the thought, tug your kelp belt free from a snag, and swim on.
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>
Tiny bioluminescent shrimp swarm the edges around you, swirling like the stars from the upside-down sea far above the surface. It makes you a bit dizzy. You think about Puffkin Notail and his prophecy about the storm and the Lighteater. What will you even say to Everywhere?
After swimming for what feels like a whale-length, you notice the tunnel begin to open up. You can’t see the walls anymore. You can barely see the tips of your fins. The water is cloudier than the recreation cave after the fifth-year puffers inkbombed it on the last day of school.
The memory of your bloated coach, angrily cursing the entire class as he drifted across the cave, springs into your mind. The chuckle dies in your gills when you notice the dark shapes swaying all around you. A kelp forest. You’re in the middle of a kelp forest.
You’ve seen kelp forests before, the ones on the outskirts of Iridia where the water’s shallow. But here, the surface must be a hundred whale-lengths above the forest’s tangled canopy. The stripes of kelp are a dark blue-green, wider than a puffed-up Coastner. They stretch from the dark abyss below, fronds twisting every which way.
A quiet humming surrounds you. You can’t figure out where it’s coming from. It’s almost like the kelp forest is speaking to you. //Creepy//.
You have no clue where to swim, half-expecting the kelp to suddenly attack you and pummel you to the ocean floor like Swellface, the greatest southfin fighter of all time. Then, you notice a gentle creaking beneath the ambient hum. It comes and goes almost rhythmically. You decide to swim toward it. Better than floating here.
<<button [[⤐|Journey to Everywhere 3]]>><</button>>Gradually, the kelp begins to thin out. Good. You were starting to think you were swimming in circles. You have no idea if you’re going in the right direction, but if Everywhere really is somewhere out here, she can’t be hard to miss.
Encouraged by the thought of making it out of this eerie forest, you flap your fins faster…until you reach the edge.
It’s like staring into one of your fryhood nightmares. If you thought the Big Deep was vast and empty, whatever you’re looking at is vaster and emptier. Across the desolate landscape, you spot one Lighteater, then two, then three. You count up to a dozen. Except, they’re not moving. They’re all corpses, like the one the dolphins had held their meeting in.
Could Everywhere have done this?
Maybe you’re on the right track after all. Bracing yourself, you swim out into the open.
“Intervention!” A loud voice shatters the silence to your right. Before you can register what is happening, a heavy force knocks the water from your gills. Slimy fronds slap your face as you crash into a tangle of kelp and tumble into the sand.
Once you’ve managed to blink the grit from your eyes, you let out a gasp.
You’re surrounded. By //puffers//.
<<button [[⤐|Welcome to the Flatfish Refuge 1]]>><</button>>“Don’t panic! You’re okay, you’re okay!” A dotted blue pufferfish floats in your face, flapping his fins hard. “Sorry to ram you so hard, but a lot of you fries get all crazy about throwing yourselves into Everywhere’s jaws. Biting and tail-slapping and all that. Real nasty.”
A round fry approaches slowly on your left, breathing heavily. Its small, o-shaped mouth widens into a high-pitched gurgle. “Hello!”
You offer it a stunned wave, but before your exchange can continue, an older puffer immediately pulls the fry away, scolding it in hushed tones.
The blue puffer brushes the sand from your back. “Don’t mind her. Little <span class="introduction">Clammers</span> is in her friend-making phase,” he explains. “My name’s <span class="introduction">O’Deep</span>. Welcome to the Flatfish Refuge.”
He gestures behind you at an enormous cave looming amid a web of kelp. It’s nearly ten turtle-lengths high and stretches as far as you can see on either side. Puffers weave in and out of intricate tunnels carved into the cave, more puffers than you’d seen since Iridia. You can’t believe you missed such a massive structure, hidden away in the sinister forest.
While the puffers around you murmur words of welcome, a red-hued pufferfish emerges from among them, sporting a stylish scarf of woven kelp that almost puts Puffly Perry’s seaweed fedora to shame.
“<span class="introduction">Tidalton</span>!” O’Deep exclaims, brightening up. “We’ve picked up another stray.”
“Not another biter, I hope?” Tidalton says amiably. He turns to inspect you. “Now, which reef do you come from?”
<hr/>
<<button [[“Doesn’t matter,” you say, fins drooping. “I’m an exile.”|Reef Origins 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Iridia,” you reply firmly. “And they need my help.”|Reef Origins 2]]>><</button>>“How could you say that!” O’Deep huffs. “Of course it matters!”
You notice the other puffers exchanging looks of…pity? Sympathy? Disappointment?
But Tidalton doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by your response. “In case you haven’t noticed, friend, every puffer here’s had their sorry tail kicked out of one reef or another,” he says. “Your feelings are understandable, but it still matters where we come from.”
You peer into the faces of the pufferfish who’ve gathered around you. Could any of them have come from Iridia?
<<button [[⤐|Welcome to the Flatfish Refuge 2]]>><</button>>Tidalton’s eyes light up. “Iridia, you say? My mother was from Iridia. She often spoke of its beauty, when she wasn’t praising the food, that is,” he adds with a chuckle.
“Your mother…was she exiled from Iridia, too?” you ask.
The red puffer nods. “Historically, we puffers have not taken kindly to differences among us. We are puffers, so we must //puff//. But my mother, she saw past all that. She knew that in this grand ocean we live in, life is complex and strange. Life refuses to fit neatly into a clamshell. And so, there are fish without eyes, fish that change colors. Every fish has the right to contend for its watery existence. Including all of us here!”
Clammers speeds past you, screaming in excitement as she disappears into the kelp forest, leaving a high-pitched ringing in your ears.
“Especially that aspiring sailfish there,” Tidalton says as the older puffer from earlier chases after the fry. “You know, she wouldn’t have a chance without this place here.”
<<button [[⤐|Welcome to the Flatfish Refuge 2]]>><</button>>Tidalton circles you. “Do you know why many of us were exiled? Because we couldn’t puff. Because we’re flatfish,” he says casually, without a hint of bitterness in his voice. “And seeing as you’re still cool as a sea cucumber after O’Deep tackled you, I suspect you’re one, too.”
Your eyes shift from puffer to puffer. Every one of them…like you.
Leaning in with a wink, Tidalton continues, “Of course, not //all// of us were exiled because we can’t puff. <span class="introduction">Baylen</span> over there had a case of sticky fins—loved to get ahold of what didn’t belong to her—but we’ve handled that now…for the most part.”
“I…I didn’t know there were so many of you. Of us, I mean,” you stammer.
Tidalton chuckles. “What? Thought you were //that// special? You know, there’s a place here for you. You’ve met O’Deep. Little Clammers has already taken a liking to you. All you have to pay for admission is your name.”
You think for a long, hard moment. About Seamone. Your mother. Bryn. You wonder what your sister would say. More than anything, you wish she were here right now, so you could tell her that you’d found someplace for some fish like you. And Bryn…would he be happy for you?
“You can call me Tid,” Tidalton says. “We’d be glad to have you…”
<hr/>
<<button[[You tell him your name, casting away your memories of Iridia and all that’s waiting for you there. This is your home now.|Ending 5.1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“I can’t stay,” you say, frowning. “My reef is in danger and I need Everywhere’s help.|Saving Iridia]] >><</button>>“Is that so?” Tid says, tilting thoughtfully to one side. “That’s a new one.”
O’Deep floats over, eyes wide. “What kind of danger? Fish don’t usually //ask// Everywhere for help.”
You hesitate. You’re not quite sure if you can trust these fish yet. But then again, what do you have to lose? “A Lighteater,” you say. “A…trusted elder had a vision from Everywhere. He said there will be a massive storm and a Lighteater will come destroy Iridia.”
Tid’s bright demeanor falters. “Destroy Iridia?”
You nod. “There was one that crashed through the reef not too long ago. It tore down the High Reef mansion. And I’m afraid it’ll be even worse next time.”
“And, you’re certain that this elder of yours has got all of his barnacles lined up straight in his brain?”
You hesitate. “Well, no, but he’s been right about things before.”
“Entering Everywhere’s presence isn’t the most pleasant experience. I wouldn’t advise it if you’d like to keep your life. But if what you say is true…” Tid puts a fin on your back. “You may be a flatfish, but you’ve got spines, I’ll give you that. If you’re serious about seeing the Goddess of Sacrifice on behalf of the reef that turned its back on you, then you have my respect.”
You’re both warmed and intimidated by the puffer’s words. “Will you point me in the right direction? To Everywhere, I mean.”
“We’ll do you one better. O’Deep and I will show you the way.”
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 1]]>><</button>>“$name, it’s my honor to officially welcome you to the Flatfish Refuge,” Tid proclaims with a flourish of his fin.
Before you can say anything, the fry darts in front of you, eyes bright and bulging. Several grains of sand tumble from its round, grinning beak. “Hello!” Clammers squeaks again.
“Hello,” you reply with a chuckle, backing up a barnacle-length for some breathing room.
The older puffer drags himself over, gills pumping hard. He shoots you a look that’s both apologetic and relieved before pulling Clammers away by the fin.
“Be good now, Clammers!” Tid calls after the pair. With a contented sigh, he returns his attention to you. “Anyway, we have plenty of burows for your choosing. O’Deep will take you around in a bit, so think about your options. I’d recommend finding one a good distance away from Baylen’s place, you know, just in case,” he says jokingly. “Then, we'll talk about how you can pull your weight around here. How’s that sound?”
“Yeah,” you say, trying to wrap your head around Tid’s words. “That all sounds great.”
“From this day on, $name, you’re no longer an exile of Iridia. You’re a citizen of the Flatfish Refuge.”
<<button [[⤐|Ending 5.2]]>><</button>>It doesn’t take you long to find your place in the Flatfish Refuge. O’Deep sets you up in a snug burrow on the opposite end of the cave from Baylen and there, you spend the next few years amassing another collection of shells.
Tid takes no issue with your armor-crafting—in fact, he finds your projects fascinating. Clammers appoints herself as your apprentice, taking on useful tasks like passing shells to you while you work, screaming into your helmets, and nibbling on your seaweed straps. Though she gets in the way at times, the two of you manage to craft suits of armor that are more advanced than anything you’d attempted back in Iridia.
Eventually, you hear word from a few newcomers that Iridia is no more. As Puffkin Notail had prophesied, a Lighteater had come and destroyed the reef beyond repair. Any survivors of the attack scattered to find shelter in other reefs. For a while, you hoped that Bryn would appear at the doorstep of the Flatfish Refuge, but you never learn what happened to your best friend.
In your armor, you find your purpose. Until the end of your days, you build dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of suits to adorn your fellow puffers of the Refuge.
They will wear your creations for years and years to come.
<div style="text-align: center;"><<fadein 2.5s 30s>><span class="introduction">__''The End''__</span><</fadein>></div>You and Tid try to keep up with O’Deep as he weaves confidently through the kelp ahead.
“I don’t know how he finds his way through this maze,” Tid confesses breathlessly, “but he always gets us where we want to go.”
O’Deep may know where to go, but following him through the fronds is making you impossibly dizzy. Just as you start to worry about losing your last meal, the blue puffer comes to an abrupt stop in front of you. You fan out your fins to avoid slamming into him. “Woah, a little warning, O’Deep!” you cry out.
“Sorry, sorry,” the puffer murmurs distantly.
Suddenly, you realize you’re floating at the border of the kelp forest. O’Deep and Tid are on either side of you, both looking out with solemn gazes. A plain of ghostly pale sand stretches out as far as you can see, littered with the bones of Lighteaters. In the far distance, you can barely make out the cloudy silhouette of a hill that must be at least several whale-lengths high.
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 2]]>><</button>>Tid clears his gills and gives you a soft pat on the dorsal fin. “Well, this is where we leave you, puffer.”
“Good luck,” O’Deep says with a shudder. “It was nice knowing you…er…”
“$name,” you say.
“$name, eh? Suits ya,” the puffer throws you a final grin before turning back for the Refuge.
Every spine on your body tingles with the thought of venturing into the graveyard. You might have even backed out had it not been for Tid’s expectant stare, still lingering on you.
Tid lets out a casual sigh, as though he’s admiring a grand view. You get the feeling he can sense your hesitation. “You know, no fish has ever stood up to the all-powerful Goddess of Sacrifice. But maybe it’s time some fish did. Anyway, I should catch up to O’Deep before he leaves me to wander the kelp forest until the end of my days.”
“Thanks,” you manage to choke out, willing your fins to move. “Wait, how will I get—”
When you glance back, Tid’s already gone. Well then.
The ocean opens up above you as you exit the kelp forest, revealing a smooth gray surface. As you swim down into the sandy valley, you realize that it’s the Lighteaters themselves that are making the creaking sounds you’d heard from deep within the forest. You pass beneath the interlocked skeletons of two Lighteaters. They’re far larger than the one the dolphins had congregated in.
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 3]]>><</button>>As you reach the base of the hill, you realize it’s not really a hill at all. It’s made entirely of fragmented Lighteaters, at least a dozen, arranged in a senseless heap. Teetering at the very top is a massive Lighteater that puts the one that had attacked Iridia to shame. It’s at least three times the size of a blue whale, carpeted with dull green algae.
You swim past a tiny glimmer in the sand. Immediately, you think of Bryn and your old set of armor. This is no doubt a saltdragon scale, but what is it doing here?
Glancing back up at the hill, you suddenly notice they’re scattered all over the place, glistening like white teeth buried in a massive sea monster.
And then you realize you’re //actually// staring at teeth. They emerge from the sliver of a mouth you can’t quite make out completely, widening into a set of interlaced, ivory needles.
“Tasselled wobbegong, at last! I’m starving!” a voice scrapes out from somewhere within the heap of Lighteaters.
You dive into the nearest pile of saltdragon scales, wishing you could camouflage like an octopus or a goldfish. For some reason, Puffly Perry’s prison break scene suddenly sprouts in your mind. When a guard caught him sneaking out, the investigator calmly said, “You can’t see me. I’m an immortal jellyfish,” before backfinning the guard in the face.
The screeching voice interrupts your daydream, bathing you in a cloud of rotting breath. “What are you doing there, floundering around in my scales like that? Up into my mouth you go.”
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 4]]>><</button>>You peek out from the scales, gagging, and find yourself face to face with it. Her. Or, //part// of her, at least. You can’t really tell where her body ends and the decayed Lighteaters begin. Occasionally, there’s a patch of pale, translucent skin, but most of it’s covered with a thin layer of algae—like the Lighteaters.
“You’re…Everywhere,” you say in disbelief. This whole time…she was a saltdragon. You’re not sure what you’d expected, but it wasn’t this fused monstrosity.
“Yes, yes, and //you’re// breakfast,” the creature replies, fixing you with a pair of pink, beady eyes. “I’ve been through these introductions a krillion times. You know, puffer, in the eyes of humans, your kind is a delicacy. They must cut away noxious parts like your skin, your intestines, and your liver to survive…but I can simply swallow you whole.”
“What? No, I don’t want to be eaten!” you protest.
Everywhere blinks her cloudy eyes, her face twisting in confusion and irritation. “Well, what in the deep are you doing here? Are you not a worthless exile?”
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 5]]>><</button>>“I am,” you insist. “No, I’m not—I mean I’ve //been// exiled.”
“Jellyweed barnacles, this is awkward,” Everywhere continues, barely paying attention to you anymore. “Do you know how long it takes me to fall back asleep?”
A long silence passes before you realize that she’s actually intending to do just that. You shake free from your shock and venture closer. “Look, you spoke to one of my reef’s elders. Puffkin Notail? You gave him a vision…something about a storm chasing a Lighteater to Iridia and destroying the reef?”
Everywhere lets out a raspy sigh. “I hunger eternally for the taste of human flesh. I know of every Lighteater that ventures out to sea from the moment it sets forth on its journey, bearing my soft-skinned prey. I send warnings to those who worship me—but what is it that //you// want, little pest?
You swim even closer to the creature. “Come to Iridia and help us defeat the Lighteater.”
The creature’s mouth gapes wider than ever as laughter creaks from her gills. “Why, of course, little puffer. Wait one moment while I ask the dozen Lighteaters on my back to float off,” she says.
<hr/>
<<button [[“If you’re just going to sit on your tail and let thousands of fish die, fine,” you say, anger bubbling inside you. “But at least tell me how I can save my reef.”|Parlay 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Please, Everywhere. Without your help…my entire reef will be destroyed,” you plead, fighting to hold your voice steady. “You’re our only hope.”|Parlay 2]]>><</button>>You half expect the giant saltdragon to burst free from the Lighteater carcasses and swallow you whole, but Everywhere only giggles to herself—a bubbly grinding sound that grows and grows until she’s shrieking with laughter.
<<set $Scales to $Scales + 1>>
“What’s so funny?” you ask, feeling your spines raise.
Everywhere plops her head down, sending a cloud of murk that engulfs you. “What’s funny? Why, the thought of a tiny, prickly sponge ball, saving an entire reef from the wrath of a Lighteater. It’s hopeless, fry. You might as well just swim on into my mouth.”
“The goldfish is small,” you retort. “But humans revere it.”
You catch a twinkle in Everywhere’s foggy eyes. “Yes, this is true,” she croaks. “Humans even entrust goldfish to serve as guardians for their offspring.”
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 6]]>><</button>>There’s no sympathy in Everywhere’s eyes as she takes in your words. “Well. They don’t call me the Goddess of Hope, now do they?” she snorts.
“I…” you falter. It’s becoming quite clear that the Goddess couldn’t care less about your reef’s fate. More than anything, you wish Puffkin Notail were here beside you, talking to the deliverer of his grand prophecy, convincing her to uproot herself and devour the Lighteater that’s coming to tear down your home.
“Besides, I’m in no mood to be a savior when I’m hungry,” the enormous saltdragon mumbles. “How about you come into my belly and we can discuss matters there?”
She’s totally messing with you. You don’t need to be a genius like Puffly Perry to understand //that//.
Your fins sag as you suddenly realize how small and insignificant you are in this behemoth’s eyes.
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 6]]>><</button>>“Look, I came here because Puffkin Notail believed in you,” you press. “You sent him a vision, or a dream, or whatever. You wouldn’t do that if you weren’t willing to help, right?”
The saltdragon stretches her neck as she mulls over your words. You swear you can hear bones popping. After a lengthy silence, she says, “If this Notail believed in me so much, then why did he send you?”
“He sent me because…” you trail off, unsure of how to respond.
“Because you’re an exile, isn’t that right?” Everywhere says, her eyes narrowing with satisfaction and disdain. “They cast you away because you’re a defective little fish, so you might as well make the trek to throw yourself before a god who’s going to eat you anyway.”
<hr/>
<<button [[You think about the Flatfish Refuge and its colorful denizens. “I may not be able to puff,” you say, “but that doesn’t make me any less of a pufferfish. I’m a craftsfish. An armorer.”|Who Am I 1]] >><</button>>
<<button [[Ouch, that was blunt. “You might be right,” you say. “I wish I could puff like the rest of them. But now I just want to go home, and saving it’s my only shot.”|Who Am I 2]]>><</button>>“An armorer?” the Goddess echoes. “And what do you make your armor out of?”
<<set $Scales to $Scales + 1>>
Your mind drifts back to Bryn’s visit after you’d failed the Puffation. To the shimmering scale he plucked from his fanny pack. With a satisfied grin, you swim down to the scales spread across the sand and flick one up with your tail. “With this,” you say.
Everywhere grunts softly. She almost looks impressed.
<<if $Tokens eq 3>>Suddenly, you remember the token of the Lighteater in your kelp belt. You slide the belt off your back and shake it out, letting the token flop down to the scale-littered sand.
“What’s this?” the Goddess croons, her voice taking on a mirthful tone. “I haven’t seen one of these in a very long time.”
A glimmer of movement in the heaped Lighteaters catches your eye, then another, and another. Something—multiple things—are peering out, straining for a closer glimpse at the token you’ve dropped before Everywhere.
“I gave away everything I had to bring this to you,” you say, fighting to keep the irritation—or is it desperation?—from leaking into your voice. “My elder believes in you. He thinks you’re the greatest thing that’s happened to the ocean. If you don’t give two starfishes about letting me down, that’s fine. But there are puffers out there who really believe in you, and you at least owe it to them to make an effort.”
<<button [[⤐|Who Am I 1 Token]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 7]]>><</button>><</if>>You expect the Goddess to burst into laughter again, but she only stares at you with her sickly pink eyes. The silence feels immense, almost like it could swallow you //and// Everywhere whole. Finally, she sighs. “Oh you poor, insignificant organism. You are but one of billions who have a home they will never be able to return to. You think I want to be here, squashed under these old corpses?”
“So,” you say, feeling as though you’d just swallowed a bellyful of sand, “you’re saying you won’t help me.”
“I’m saying that few things are worth my time these days. That includes storms, Lighteaters, and //you//. Unless, by any chance, you’ve changed your mind and decided to let me eat you, of course.”
<<if $Tokens eq 3>>Suddenly, you remember the token of the Lighteater in your kelp belt. You slide the belt off your back and shake it out, letting the token flop down to the scale-littered sand.
“What’s this?” the Goddess croons, her voice taking on a mirthful tone. “I haven’t seen one of these in a very long time.”
A glimmer of movement in the heaped Lighteaters catches your eye, then another, and another. Something—multiple things—are peering out, straining for a closer glimpse at the token you’ve dropped before Everywhere.
“I gave away everything I had to bring this to you,” you say, fighting to keep the irritation—or is it desperation?—from leaking into your voice. “My elder believes in you. He thinks you’re the greatest thing that’s happened to the ocean. If you don’t give two starfishes about letting me down, that’s fine. But there are puffers out there who really believe in you, and you at least owe it to them to make an effort.”
<<button [[⤐|Who Am I 1 Token]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 7]]>><</button>><</if>>When Everywhere doesn’t respond, you nudge the token toward her, getting as close as you dare. With one massive inhale, she could probably swallow you whole.
<<set $SaltdragonsAlly to 1>>
The saltdragon trains her misty gaze on you for what feels like forever. “Well, I suppose you’ve proven to be more than just your average spikeball of the ocean.” She sweeps her head left and right. “Consider yourself helped.”
“Really?” you ask hesitantly.
“Paddle off now, before I change my mind,” Everywhere croaks.
You flap your fins, confused. “Change your mind about what?”
“About lending you my retinue!”
From the cracks in the Lighteaters, a dozen silver saltdragons spring out into the light. Each is only the length of Everywhere’s fin, but they’re still much larger than you are. The saltdragons file out into a neat line before you and bow their heads. Then, with a wave of Everywhere’s fins, they slink back into their skeletal burrows.
“They’ll follow you back to your reef,” Everywhere says coolly, as though she were giving you a snack for the road, not her entire band of servants.
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 7]]>><</button>>You hear a deep rumble from somewhere beyond the surface, followed by the soft patter of rain. The gray water suddenly feels thicker, as though it were hardening to ice. “The storm,” you murmur, looking to Everywhere for confirmation.
The giant saltdragon stares into the distance with her cloudy eyes. “Yes,” she croons. “A big one. It’ll make the ocean dance for sure. I once loved to dance—the narwhal glide, do you know it?”
“I—no,” you stammer. A bright flash and another rumble from high above sends panic bubbling through your gills. “Look, I don’t have much time. I’ve traveled a long way to see you. There’s got to be some way you can help me.”
In a low voice that’s almost completely carried away by the coming storm, Everywhere murmurs, “<span class="introduction">Jeremy</span> would have helped you.”
“What?” In your confusion, you drift right up to the saltdragon’s needle-strewn maw. “Who’s Jeremy?”
“Jeremy is the strongest being I’ve ever met.” Everywhere’s eyes roll away from you, looking toward what must be some distant memory of hers. “I was but a young thing, a mere fry, when I strayed too far from my shoal and found myself wandering the deep. Days passed, and I met no soul. I thought I’d never see another fish again, until a radiant creature came swimming into my life.”
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 8]]>><</button>>“Let me guess…Jeremy?”
“Jeremy was a goldfish, and not just an ordinary one. We survived together, feeding on whatever we could find, growing larger than we were ever supposed to. We raised hell across the seas, toppling volcanoes and carving trenches simply because we wanted to.”
You listen on, your mouth agape. Everywhere and Jeremy sound a lot like you and Bryn…only much, //much// cooler. “What happened?” The storm has gotten so loud—even floating right in front of the Goddess, you find yourself shouting.
“She was taken from me!” Everywhere shrieks. “The humans wanted her back. One night, they came slinking out on a Lighteater, black as ink, and dropped a strange plant before us. It was rich green, with thick stalks that sprouted dense buds…almost like a broccoli coral. Jeremy had eaten these in her youth. She loved them. She took one bite and some invisible force began hauling her to the surface. I was young. I was foolish. I didn’t know how easily I could bring those metal beasts down to our depths.”
You think about Seamone, remembering the helplessness that took over you then, and feel a twinge of sympathy for the saltdragon.
“I’ve taken down more Lighteaters than I can count in my lifetime, but none of them have ever brought my Jeremy back. Helping //you// and your little reef won’t bring Jeremy back.”
<<button [[⤐|Confronting Everywhere 9]]>><</button>>Your fins fold from the pressure of the building waves. Suddenly, the seafloor whirls around until it hangs above you. You spit out sand and realize you’re jammed upside down between two rocks.
“We don’t have much time,” you shout, thrashing wildly. “I have to get out of here, or I’m coral dust!”
In your blurry, inverted gaze, Everywhere’s pale figure doesn’t move an inch.
“Hello?” you call. With a flick of your back tail, you squirm free.
“It’s funny what a fuss the ocean makes when it’s the overworld that’s throwing a tantrum,” Everywhere finally croaks.
What does that even mean? Huddled by the rocks, you barely dodge a flying crab desperately snapping its claws for something to hold onto. “Help a brother out!” You hear the second half of its plea as just a distant squeak.
The waves are stronger than any you’ve ever felt, and you’re not sure you can even swim at this point. You’re about to make a mad dash for the kelp forest when you see it. The Lighteaters. They’re moving.
The pale bones of the topmost Lighteater sway from side-to-side, almost like the beast is still alive and trying to swim away. You hear loud snapping from within the tangle of carcasses beneath it. The ancient saltdragon’s watery prison is giving way. But if the waves can move the skeletal heap, they will probably turn you into a high-speed urchinball.
“Over here!” A distant voice catches your attention. You spot the crab from earlier, flattened against a slope. “Stay low and you can make it!” it bellows.
You glance between Everywhere and the crab. You let your fins decide where to take you.
<hr/>
<<button [[You’re running out of time, and your reef needs you. You float down to the seafloor and dart toward the beckoning crab.|Braving the Storm 2.1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[Free Everywhere. You’ve got to try. You focus on the Lighteater, perched like a dainty seahorse on top of the others, ready your fins, and swim.|Braving the Storm 1.1]]>><</button>>You shoot one last glance at the giant saltdragon, at the felled Lighteaters toppled over her, before you swim. The water pulls at your fins, but you manage to fight your way over to the crab.
The dust-colored crustacean wrestles you against the slope with a meaty claw. “You’re safe now, spikeball.” His voice is gravelly, reminding you of a cool, oceantrotting uncle you never had.
“What now?” you ask.
“We wait it out,” the crab says decisively, burrowing deeper into the sand. “This storm may be a big one, but it’ll pass like all the others, I know and reckon. The council put out a colony-wide evacuation order, but I’m no soft-bellied minnow, I say.”
“I can’t just float here,” you say. “I need to get back to my reef.”
The crab looks at you through squinted eyes. “If you want to swim in these here conditions, you’ve got some serious claws. But what’s life without risk? Sooner or later the Great Claw will cut you down. Still, I’d stick to the slopes, if I was you.”
You nod. “Thanks. Good luck.”
The crab waves a claw as you peel away from the slope. “Keep your luck, fry. You’re gonna need it.”
<<button [[⤐|Braving the Storm 2.2]]>><</button>>Before the storm can carry the scale away, you snag it in your beak.
Everywhere dislodges herself from the sand. She could swallow you like a particle of algae right now, but she doesn’t. “The seas haven’t whispered to me in so long. Jeremy is alive out there! I have to find her!” she booms. “Little puffer, this is where our fates separate. The scale is yours. You’ll find no stronger material in this ocean. You know what? //All// of these scales are yours. You’ve shown me that you can take on a Lighteater. Now it’s time to go show your reef.”
“But,” you shout, your voice half-muffled by the scale in your mouth, “that one was already dead!”
With a powerful swipe of her tail, Everywhere propels herself past you, plunging deeper into the storm until the swirling currents erase her massive silhouette from sight.
Another voice answers you. “You’re not dead yet, friend!”
Whirling around, you squint through the billowing sand and make out what must be a dozen or so puffers, all swimming furiously to keep from blowing away. You recognize the red one in the center as the one who had spoken. By some impossible feat, he still has his fabulous scarf on, which somehow resists the pull of the storm all on its own. “Tid!” you cry. The goldfish scale slips from your mouth as you speak, but you manage to catch it with your fin and tuck it against your body.
<<button [[⤐|Braving the Storm 1.3]]>><</button>>The storm tosses you this way and that, but somehow you fight your way up to the lurching Lighteater at the summit. It groans, towering before you, sending dull vibrations down your spines.
<<set $Scales to 3>>
You can barely keep yourself upright. You’re alone. You’ve got no armor. What now?
<<set $TotalAllies to $TotalAllies + 1>>
Squeezing your eyes shut, you chase away the still-fresh memories in your mind. Iridia’s coral reef, groaning and crumbling. The massive Lighteater bearing down on you.
You ram your soft little head into the beast. There’s not a lot of muscle that can fit in your puffer body, but you give it all you’ve got. “It’s krill or be krilled,” you say through a gritted beak, glad no fish is really around to hear you.
With a gnarly sea sponge solo roaring in your ears, you push. The Lighteater groans again. As though in slow motion, the hulking shape tilts. It sails into the sand, throwing up a cloud of algae and grit that the storm swiftly tears apart. And that’s not it.
One by one, the mountain of Lighteaters begins to disintegrate, sloughing away from the saltdragon’s idle form. You can now see the Goddess in her entirety, giant, yet somehow smaller without the carcasses piled atop her. She twitches a tattered, pale fin, testing her newfound freedom with the wariness of a fry.
“You…” she rasps, before stopping abruptly. Her pink eyes have latched onto something above you. It flits down before you, glistening from every angle—a vibrant orange scale nearly the size of your face. “Jeremy…”
<<button [[⤐|Braving the Storm 1.2]]>><</button>>“Kelp me impressed, you’re okay!” O’Deep’s voice seems to travel far to meet you through the storm. The puffers advance toward you, moving as a collective.
“O’Deep sensed the storm early. He has a spine for these things. And when he did, we came straight to find you,” Tid says. “Glad to see Everywhere didn’t eat you. Actually, where is she? It can’t be possible that you ate //her//, can it?”
You glance at the fallen Lighteaters around you. “She’s free,” you explain. “As for saving my reef, it looks like I’m on my own.”
“Not exactly,” Tid says, as though he’s chiding you. “You’ve got a bunch of flatfish and good-for-nothings at your back. How can we help?”
In the flurry of sand, you spot what must be hundreds, if not thousands, of bright glimmers on the seafloor. The saltdragon scales.
“See those scales?” you shout. “We need to collect as many of them as we can!”
Tid tilts his body thoughtfully. “Strange request, but we’ve obliged stranger. Let’s get to work, puffers!”
<<button [[⤐|Braving the Storm 1.4]]>><</button>>Like some chaotically choreographed dancers, the puffers fan out, swooping in and out to snatch up the scales that spiral through the water. They cram scales into belts, pouches, and bags. Tidalton wraps a hefty bundle in his scarf. You manage to catch a few in your beak, but it’s taking almost all your effort to keep the storm from ripping Jeremy’s scale from your fin.
O’Deep comes reporting to you first. It looks like he’s gathered more than just scales for your cause. He peers at you with several kelp strands plastered across his face and body, like the party streamers that used to flood all of the surprise birthday parties Bryn used to throw for you. “$name, is that you? I can’t really—”
You brush a length of kelp from his eyes. “O’Deep, tell the others that this’ll do. We should get out of here before the storm gets any stronger!”
The two of you manage to pass the message along to the other puffers. Before long, they’ve all convened around you with their hauls. Tid frees O’Deep from another piece of kelp that found its way over his eyes and smacks the puffer on the fin. “O’Deep, you know what to do. Lead us home!”
The puffer hustles off with the rest of you on his tail. Tid brings up the rear beside you, squinting against the flying sand and grit. “All right, you’ve got me stumped,” he says. “What’s your plan with all these scales?”
“Armor,” you reply with a smile.
<a data-passage="THE STORM"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a>You urge your tired fins to work. Though the water is calmer behind the shelter of the sand slopes, you still feel like you’re towing a whale behind you.
The kelp forest is just a few whale-lengths away, swaying as gently as it had when you last swam through it as though the storm is ignoring it completely. You push forward, relief filling your body. But the sight before you tears away what little hope you had.
There are no more slopes to hide behind. Just a flat stretch of sand and a torrent of pale grains and rocks swirling faster than a barracuda can swim. You have to swim for it.
You force a breath through your gills and spring forward. In a matter of seconds, you feel yourself being hurled through the water. Some invisible force has clamped your fins against your body. //Shark fart//.
You brace for the end, to be smashed like the conch of sea pineapple liquor in a bar fight you once saw when you were a fry. Just an explosion of…
“Got you!” a voice rings beside you, snapping your morbid thoughts in half.
The spinning has stopped, and you feel a weight press on either side of you, ushering you in some unknown direction. Sea angels? Is it over? Is your soul being guided into the Heavenly Deep?
<<button [[⤐|Braving the Storm 2.3]]>><</button>>“The last time I saw a puffer move that fast, it was my father leaving to buy a pack of brine shrimp. Last time I ever saw the sponge-face.” You recognize that voice. A fin slaps at your face. “Come on, wake up now.”
You open your eyes to see Tid peering down at you. O’Deep darts nervously through the fronds of the kelp forest.
“I’m alive?” you mumble.
O’Deep speeds over. “$name! Thank the currents you’re okay,” he says, his voice high with relief.
Tid chuckles. “You’re lucky, that’s for sure. O’Deep sensed the storm early, and once he did, we swam for you first thing.”
“Thanks for coming back for me,” you say, pausing to catch your breath. The sight of the two puffers makes you think of Bryn. “The storm. This is the one I told you about. My reef is in trouble.”
Without missing a beat, Tid and O’Deep drift in front of you. “Well, you’ve got a bunch of flatfish and good-for-nothings at your back,” the leader of the Flatfish Refuge says. “Just tell us what you need.”
You smile. “Got any clams?”
<a data-passage="THE STORM"><<button '⤐'>><</button>></a><<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>V<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<fadein 2.5s 500ms>><<fadeout 2s 4s>>THE STORM<</fadeout>><</fadein>>
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>
<<timed 6s>><<goto "Battle Preparations 1">><</timed>>
<<cont>><<goto 'Battle Preparations 1'>><</cont>>You return to the Flatfish Refuge with a dozen puffers in tow, each hauling materials you need to build armor for all of the able-bodied puffers. You’ve never made this many sets before in so little time. Once Tid announced that your reef was in trouble, over half of the colony rallied to your cause without hesitation.
<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>
Tid sets you up in a makeshift armory, which O’Deep says was once an old jellyfish nightclub that may or may not be haunted now. Clammers hasn’t left your side since you returned, giggling maniacally each time you string two pieces together.
<<if $Scales eq 3>>You nod thankfully at a group of puffer fry who dart in to drop off more scales. With both rabid frenzy and a zen-like focus, Clammers sorts them into piles according to size.
The saltdragon scales are as strong as you remember. Despite having sat in the Lighteater graveyard for probably longer than you’ve been alive, they glisten like baby pearls.
After a moment of staring at the scales, you realize you’re not admiring them alone. Clammers hovers beside you, fins fluttering rapidly. “Woah.” Her eyes bulge. “Can I have one?”
<hr/>
<<button [[You notice a tiny scale glistening at the top of the pile. “Sure, why not?” you say.|Clammers Scale 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You shake your head. “Sorry, Clammers, these aren’t toys.”|Clammers Scale 2]]>><</button>><<else>>You examine the large pile of clams that the denizens of the Flatfish Refuge have brought you. They’re not saltdragon scales, but they’ll have to do.
You feel a tug on your fin. You turn to see Clammers holding a pale blue clam with pink speckles in her tiny fin. “This is my special clam,” she whispers, her expression serious. She places it on your workbench. It’s clear she wants you to make it into armor.
You look at the group of puffers Tid recruited to be your helpers. They’ve caught on quick and have already each crafted a set of armor.
<hr/>
<<button [[You wink at the little fry. “One set of invincible, all-powerful, Lighteater-hunting armor coming right up!”|Clammers Clam 1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[“Maybe another time, Clammers,” you say, gently placing the clam back into her fin. Your reef is in danger and there’s no time for games.|Clammers Clam 2]]>><</button>><</if>>Clammers squeals with joy, causing several of your helpers to drop their tools.
“But,” you say, holding up a fin as the little fry encroaches upon your personal space for the hundredth time since you met her. “You’re going to have to give me some space to work, okay?”
Clammers’s whole body trembles with excitement. She nods, then darts off.
You feel like you’re performing surgery on a microscopic plankton as you make the tiniest set of armor you’ve ever attempted. It takes you twice as long, but it’s actually quite cute.
<<button [[⤐|Battle Preparations 2]]>><</button>>Clammers rolls onto her back and floats there in the dingy light of the cave, fins limp by her side. “Clammers?” you stammer.
“Ah, she’s just playing dead again,” one of your helpers pipes up from the other end of the cave. “Ignore her!”
You look over and notice one of the puffers trying to fit a scale in the wrong place. You swim over to help. Glancing back, you expect to see the little puffer still playing dead, but the fry’s nowhere in sight. You breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully she’s gone to pester Tid or O’Deep instead.
<<button [[⤐|Battle Preparations 2]]>><</button>>Clammers lets out a shockwave of joy, making the water vibrate around you.
After you’ve recovered, you take the pufferling’s special clam into your fin. You feign a look of intense concentration as you gingerly piece together a tiny set of armor for the fry. “Here, try it on,” you say, placing the armor on her small, rotund body.
Once you’ve fastened the seaweed clasps, Clammers roars wildly and speeds away, charging an older fry entering the cave to deliver a fresh bundle of clams. The older fry cries out in shock as the clams explode into all directions and zigzag down to the cave floor.
Clammers emerges from the chaos, her armor gleaming and intact. You can’t help but smile. How much prouder could an armorer be?
<<button [[⤐|Battle Preparations 2]]>><</button>>Clammers stares at you, her expression blank. Without another word, she sucks the blue speckled clam into her mouth and flees as quickly as a barracuda. You’re not sure why Clammers just ate her special clam, but you’re getting the feeling that there’s no logical explanation for why Clammers does most things.
Stunned, you drift back to your workbench and remind yourself of all the work you have to get done.
<<button [[⤐|Battle Preparations 2]]>><</button>>You toil into the late afternoon, spurred on by a high-pitched cheer from Clammers each time you complete another set of armor. Your ears are ringing and your fins are aching, but there’s a deep sense of hope within you…something you haven’t felt in a long time.
Tid had gone scouting after the storm. He guesses that you have at least a day or two’s time before it hits Iridia. If you work all night, you’ll be able to make enough for nearly all of the puffers who volunteered to help your cause.
Just as the ocean begins to dim for the evening, O’Deep comes floating into your nightclub-armory. “I hope you like kelp casserole,” he says, “because we’ve got a pre-battle feast prepared and kelp casserole is like 75% of it. You know…’cause we live in a forest.”
Normally, kelp casserole makes you think of the old retired puffers back in Iridia, taking over the Anemone Cafeteria to weave seagrass baskets every full moon. But tonight, your stomach actually growls. “Kelp casserole sounds great,” you reply with a smile.
You follow O’Deep to the feast, where puffers of all shapes and sizes bustle about, taking the occasional nibble from a slab of kelp casserole laid out in the middle of the refuge.
Tid beckons you over to a massive helping of casserole. He and O’Deep do all the talking while you dig in with the same rabid focus as your armor-making. They’re debating on which currents would carry you to Iridia the fastest. O’Deep, who must have an innate talent for navigating the seas, is confident in a route that would take less than half a day to travel.
Once your belly is full of casserole, you float sleepily back to your armory. Despite being in a semi-food coma, you manage to make the remaining sets of armor before dozing off on a pillow of seaweed scraps.
<<button [[⤐|The Departure 1]]>><</button>>You’re dreaming about the Lighteater attack on Iridia, only the Lighteater’s a giant lemon shark—the same that ate Seamone. You’re looking for Bryn as the shark tears through the reef. In the distance, you spot Everywhere, no longer ragged and old, but vibrant and nimble. Behind her, the domineering silhouette of Jeremy. You open your mouth to call for their aid, but before you can, the shark’s jagged rows of teeth swallow your vision.
<<if $Scales eq 3>>A thin beam of light shines in your eyes, stirring you from your troubled slumber. “No!” you cry out, shooting up. A dozen saltdragon scales scatter onto the cave floor beside you. Confused, you turn to see Clammers floating there, holding a scale in her fin.
“Hello!” Clammers greets with a toothy grin.
“Were you stacking scales on me?” you mumble, shaking the sleep from your spines.<<else>>A thin beam of light shines in your eyes, stirring you from your troubled slumber. “No!” you cry out, shooting up. A dozen clams scatter onto the cave floor beside you. Confused, you turn to see Clammers floating there, holding a clam in her fin.
“Hello!” Clammers greets with a toothy grin.
“Were you stacking clams on me?” you mumble, shaking the sleep from your spines.<</if>>
“Yeah,” she nods happily.
A deep voice echoes from the entrance of the cave. “Good, you’re awake. We haven’t time to lose.”
Tid swims in with O’Deep following just a finstroke behind. The sight of them adorned in your armor makes your fins perk up with pride.
“The other puffers have all got their armor on,” Tid says, giving Clammers a pat on the head. “We’ve a long swim ahead of us.”
“Right,” you say, sliding into your gear. “So, we’re taking the Gillway Current?”
<<button [[⤐|The Departure 2]]>><</button>>Clammers zooms around the cave, forcing Tid and O’Deep to dart back to avoid her path. “We could take my super secret super fast current,” she chirps.
“Now’s not the time for games, Clammers,” Tid admonishes.
The fry shakes her body from side-to-side. “No joke. Follow!” she insists, tugging your fin before shooting out of the cave.
You glance at Tid and O’Deep, who both shrug their fins. With a sigh, you swim after the fry.
You find Clammers hovering beside a cluster of rock, waiting for you. “Come on!” she squeaks before turning the corner.
You chase after the fry with Tid and O’Deep on your tail as she weaves through a series of trenches punched into a slope of black volcanic rock. You’ve only gone about a whale-length before popping out into open water.
“There you are, Clammers,” Tid says, bursting out beside you. His gaze shifts from the fry to the water just past her. “Well, puff me.”
You look harder and see it. There //is// a current there, and from the vibrations in the water, it feels like a strong one.
Tid chuckles. “To think, when Clammers always disappeared for a bit, she was probably journeying halfway across the ocean.”
“I’ll get the rest of the school!” O’Deep shouts, darting back toward the Refuge.
<<button [[⤐|The Clammers Current 1]]>><</button>>Once O’Deep has assembled the rest of the puffers, Tid turns to little Clammers and rubs her forehead. “Well done, little plankton. Now you know I don’t ask you to behave very often. But I need you to be a good fry and wait back at the Refuge until we return.”
The little fry pouts and throws sand around for a while, but eventually her guardian—the older puffer from earlier—arrives and restrains her with a kelp leash.
Tid and O’Deep are right by your side as you charge into Clammers’s secret current. You go spinning for a moment, glimpsing a horde of Flatfish Refuge puffers chaotically tumbling after you, before you manage to right yourself.
There’s a long way to travel, but this current is unlike any you’ve ridden. “Who knew Clammers was such a speed demon?” O’Deep calls from your left.
You haven’t known the pufferling for long, but somehow, you’re not surprised. You lean forward, feeling the current carry you at superfish speeds. You pass some strange sights that, under different circumstances, you definitely would’ve stopped to check out…
A massive coral statue of three giant krill riding on dolphins.
A floating cloud of sand that seems to move on its own accord.
A swarm of bioluminescent jellyfish engaged in what appears to be a mid-morning rave.
Tid catches your eye and winks. “No fish knows how to party quite like the jellyfish do.”
You’ve seen so much of this world now. The Luminous Shrines, Halibutts, the Flatfish Refuge. You think about taking Bryn to all of these places—the strange and fantastical, the weird and mundane. But you have to save your reef, first.
The ocean grows cloudier as you travel on. You must be ahead of the raging storm, but not by much.
<<button [[⤐|The Clammers Current 2]]>><</button>>You start recognizing the ocean around you. Not so much by sight, but by the inexplicable feel of the water against your skin. It’s not your home anymore, but it still feels like it.
“This is it,” you call to Tid, before dropping out of the current.
Iridia’s borders sprawl just ahead, looking as imposing as ever. At least the walls are still standing. You smile, remembering all the times you snacked on the bounder posts’ coral.
“So //this// is Iridia,” Tid says with admiration in his voice as he squints through the micro-debris hurtling through the water. “Now that’s a sight worth seeing.”
“Well there’s a storm that seems to disagree with you there,” O’Deep remarks, an old trail of kelp still dangling from a spine beneath his right fin. Behind you, puffers cry out, jostled by the churning water.
“Good eye, O’Deep,” the leader of the Flatfish Refuge replies, not without a little sarcasm in his voice. “We need to find shelter and regroup, quick.”
<<button [[⤐|The Final Storm 1]]>><</button>>With O’Deep’s help, you wrench free from the sucking waves and slip inside the small nook he’d scouted out, gills pumping hard. While the other puffers huddle in the shadowy crevices, adorned in their new armor, you drift as far out as you dare and join Tid in surveying the storm.
Your heart pounds at the sight of Iridia. It feels like just yesterday you and Bryn were playing hide-and-seek in the pillar coral forest in your neighbor’s yard or hiking with Cucumby around the Blobfish Hills.
You can barely make out the features of your home reef through the roiling sediment. Above you, the surface churns, as dark and oily as the blank, orb-like pupil of a great white shark.
“Where is that pesky Lighteater?” O’Deep mutters, his sharp eyes trained on Iridia, searching. “You sure there’s even one coming?”
You scan the surface, trying to suppress a mixture of doubt, panic, and confusion. Suddenly, you hear a piercing voice pipe up beside you. “There!”
“Clammers! My spines, what are you doing here?” O’Deep gasps, the pitch of his voice rising to nearly match that of the tiny fry’s.
You have no idea how the pufferling escaped her leash and made it through the raging currents.
“Nevermind that,” Tid cuts in. “We’ve got bigger jellyfish to fry.”
<<button [[⤐|The Final Storm 2]]>><</button>>He’s right. You train your eyes back on the reef and feel a heavy knot twist in your stomach. Through the swirling water, you see the dark underbelly slice just beneath the jagged waves like an elongated, inverted fin of a killer whale. It’s wobbling with the storm but moving faster than the other Lighteater that had attacked the reef, and it’s twice as big.
“Son of a blobfish, it’s heading straight for the reef,” O’Deep curses, throwing his fins down in exasperation.
“Well, it’s a good thing we’re flatfish. The currents won’t carry us away as easily,” Tid says. You’re surprised at how casual he sounds. He turns to the pufferling. “Clammers, listen here, you naughty barnacle. You attach yourself to this cave wall until we come back, you hear?”
“Okay!” the fry squeaks, tucking herself into a Clammers-sized crater in the pockmarked wall.
Tid addresses the other puffers. “Now, any fish who wishes not to go, you won’t be judged. Those who are willing, we’ll swim into the reef, help the Iridians, and see what we can do about that Lighteater. Remember, you’ve got $name’s armor on your backs. And I’m sure you all remember the currents that the late Big Sponge generated after eating a bucket of jellyfish-fried shrimp. That was //far// worse than what this storm’s got to offer, so if you’ve survived Big Sponge’s aftermath, this should be a piece of coral cake.”
The puffers of the Flatfish Refuge let out chuckles that the currents snatch away.
Tid looks at you. “$name, we’ll follow your lead.”
<hr/>
<<button [[“Right,” you say, feeling a quiver of determination run down your spines. You angle toward your home reef. “Let’s move!” you shout.|For Iridia]]>><</button>>
<<button [[As you look upon the storm and your home reef, a strange, bitter feeling washes over you. “No,” you hear yourself spit out, “there’s nothing we can do.”|Ending 4]]>><</button>>You burst from the cave and feel yourself immediately swept up by the storm’s currents, which seem to coil around you like invisible eels. You set your sights on the distant shape of the Lighteater and bat your fins with all your might.
From the corner of your eye, you see a few armored puffers wail in surprise before spiraling off into the storm. Tid’s muffled voice calls out from behind, urging the remaining puffers to swim on. Before you can react, a tiny krill flies into your beak, lodging in your throat. You choke it down awkwardly. You’ve never been one to turn down free food, but really, at a time like this?
<<if $EelsAlly gte 2>><<button [[⤐|Eels for Iridia 1]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button [[⤐|The Standoff 1]]>><</button>><</if>>O’Deep turns to you in shock. “What?”
You refuse to meet his gaze, or any other fish’s. You had fought beak and fin to warn Iridia about the last Lighteater attack, only to be given a worthless medal and banished from your home. If you save the reef this time, they’ll still treat you with contempt. They’ll treat you and all of Tid’s flatfish with contempt. “They chose their fate,” you mutter.
“$name,” Tid says, his voice low. “It’s your reef.”
You shake your head, letting your helmet drop over your eyes. “Not anymore. This is the ocean’s will.”
Tid, O’Deep, and the other puffers fall silent. They back up a few strokes to leave you alone at the mouth of the cave. To your surprise, you don’t feel much at all as you watch the Lighteater crash straight through the heart of Iridia, blasting the coral apart and sending milky clouds of debris spiraling up toward the surface.
Within minutes, the Lighteater has passed on. A week ago, you would have been bewildered by its indifference toward the destruction it had just caused. But now, you feel the same indifference in your heart.
The storm rages on for a good while after, carrying off pieces of Iridia. When the waters settle, you lead Tid, O’Deep, and the others into the ruins of your home reef. It’s completely deserted—there’s not a single Iridian in sight.
The Flatfish puffers spend the next few days scouring the wreckage for survivors. You give the appearance of doing the same, but you’re not really looking. The only puffer you wonder about is Bryn. There’s no sign of him.
With your permission, Tid establishes the reef’s ruins as the new Flatfish Refuge. You watch the puffers work steadily at rebuilding with the peace that you’ll never be exiled again. The reef that once cast out flatfish is now teeming with them.
<div style="text-align: center;"><<fadein 2.5s 30s>><span class="introduction">__''The End''__</span><</fadein>></div>//I can’t feel my gills, gills, gills, gills. gills. Cheap perfume and thrills, thrills, thrills, thrills, thrills.//
<<set $TotalAllies to $TotalAllies + 1>>
You pause in your charge for just a moment, wondering why the Freshwater Krills would come thrumming into your head at a time like this.
//I can’t feel my gills, gills, gills, gills, gills.//
Jumping jellyfish, you must really be trying to hype yourself up. You shake your head, about to press on, when O’Deep tilts over to you. “What the puff is that noise?”
“//It’s the silence that KILLS!//” A long shape comes slithering out of the roaring waters to your right. And it’s not alone.
“Morays!” Tid yells, bracing himself beside you.
But you hold out a fin, staring the lead eel directly in the face. “I could’ve sworn I was hearing the original Freshwater Krills for a second,” you say. It’s scary, but true.
The moray stretches his jaws into a wide, spiny grin as he looks you up and down. “Hearing that from a fellow appreciator of the Krills means a lot, $name, it really does. You look like you’re doing well for yourself. A lot more hardcore than I remember.”
<<button [[⤐|Eels for Iridia 2]]>><</button>>Flanked by your allies, you barrel straight for the Lighteater.
//Lighteaters fear nothing//. You hear Seamone’s voice in your head, clear through the storm, her voice sounding more real than the beast’s vibrations humming through your body. You think about the lemon shark. The night your mother left. The Puffation ceremony. You can’t pretend that you’re not afraid. But there’s no way you’ll back down now.
You intercept the Lighteater only half a dozen whale-lengths from the reef, staring it head-on.
“Woah…” O’Deep shudders beside you. “It’s //giant//.”
“On the bright side, that means we can’t miss,” Tid remarks.
//Charge!// Bryn’s shrill cry hammers your ears. Your duel in the Big Deep was not too long ago, and yet it feels like it’s been years.
When the Lighteater comes so close that it takes up your entire vision, you launch yourself at it, feeling an overwhelming pressure between your eyes as your armor collides with the tip of its pointed belly.
<<if $Scales eq 3>>You hear thuds to your left and right as your friends throw themselves at the Lighteater. Though you’re squinting with effort, your tiny body trembling against what feels like a literal moving mountain, you notice an odd light radiating in front of you like a translucent orange anemone extending its tentacles from your head.
Jeremy’s scale burns against your flattened spines. You’re no giant goldfish who knocks over volcanoes for fun, but you’ll have to do.
“It’s working!” You hear O’Deep’s muffled shout nearby, but you know it’s way too soon to be celebrating. You feel the water tugging against your flapping fins. You’re moving…backward.<<else>>“It’s working!” You hear O’Deep’s muffled shout nearby, but you know it’s way too soon to be celebrating. You feel the water tugging against your flapping fins. You’re moving…backward.<</if>>
<<button [[⤐|The Standoff 2]]>><</button>>You can’t help but notice O’Deep as he floats into your vision, his mouth hanging open in the gap left in his armor. “You’re friends with //morays?//” he asks incredulously.
Tid chuckles. “Isn’t this little exile just full of surprises?”
The lead eel twines his tail with the eel beside him to keep from flapping away in the storm. One by one, the swarm of eels twist into a chain that could probably span the full length of the Lighteater, lashing in the storm like some massive, writhing sea serpent.
“We caught a tune about your home reef, Iridia, not too long ago,” he explains in his sonorous voice. “Heard it was, to quote Yung Tail, ‘on the last seaweed braid left in his wig.’ So me and the rest of the Sunken Eel Beats thought we’d come find you. Are the Freshwater Krills somewhere in that reef of yours?”
You nod. You know they’d taken a break from touring after the last Lighteater attack. Who knew that would’ve been such a dumb idea?
“Then we’ve got a band and a reef to save,” the eel says, a tooth snagging on his smile. “What’s the plan?”
You wish you could chat more about the Krills, but the Lighteater’s on a rapid collision course with Iridia and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. “Only plan is to stop that Lighteater,” you decide, exchanging a determined glance with Tid.
<<button [[⤐|The Standoff 1]]>><</button>>Before long, the silent concentration of the Flatfish puffers shatters. “I can’t!” A puffer cries somewhere to your left.
“My head!” another groans.
Your strength begins to falter with your hope. Despite yourself, you steal a glance behind you.
The reef is much closer now. You’ve slowed the Lighteater down, but not by much. Armored puffers are spinning out in every direction, tossed aside like the sugar kelp streamers that shot over the crowd at every concert you’ve been to.
“What? Taking a break already?” Tid asks through a gritted beak. How he manages to sound so casual while ramming his face into a Lighteater is a mystery you’ll never unravel—even if you manage to live past this.
<<if $DolphinsAlly gte 2>><<button [[⤐|Dolphins for Iridia 1]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button [[⤐|The Standoff 3]]>><</button>><</if>>A melodic whistle cuts through the discordant orchestra of raging waves and groaning puffers. “For Dolphesis!”
<<set $TotalAllies to $TotalAllies + 1>>
Three shadows emerge from beneath you, their bodies flashing bright silver as a lightning bolt crackles against the surface a few shark-lengths away. You feel a jolt down your spines from both the lightning and the sight of the familiar shapes.
“Mind-stimulants, how kind of you to join us in our first revolt against man!” Menius cries, spinning up beside you in a tornado of silver.
You stop pushing for a moment to catch your breath, letting the force of the Lighteater carry you through the water. “What? Man?”
“Dolphins are helping us? Now I’ve really seen it all,” you hear O’Deep squeak.
Eldenrae and Flosbur shoot up on either side of you, their tails beating powerfully. “Change is only possible when the masses stand as one,” Eldenrae declares as he and Flosbur ram against the Lighteater.
<<button [[⤐|Dolphins for Iridia 2]]>><</button>>
Your vision is going black with exertion, but you hear O’Deep loud and clear, his voice high with panic. “It’s going to smash us into oyster pancakes against the coral!”
“Have I ever told you that you’ve got a sharp eye, O’Deep?” Tid grunts.
But neither puffer relents. You sense them both beside you, straining against the beast that plunges ahead with no hint of hesitation or remorse…just like the last time.
You remember the chaos, the search parties, the wreckage littering the streets. This time, there might not be anything left to clean up, unless you can do something about it.
<<if $CoastnerAlly eq 2>><<button [[⤐|Coastner for Iridia]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button [[⤐|The Standoff 4]]>><</button>><</if>>You crash your helmet against the hard belly once more. As you do, you see a fourth shadow rise from the depths at a much less motivated pace. Then a fifth, sixth—what must be over a dozen dolphins following behind it, appearing out of the trembling depths.
“At last, we were starting to think the storm carried your sorry bones away,” Flosbur teases as Garphal and the others drift up against the Lighteater.
“I saw the most resplendent coral polyp drift by, plucked up so cruelly by the currents, and I had to stop to mourn it,” Garphal says casually. She scratches her back against the Lighteater’s jagged belly before butting at it with her head.
“Garphal, I know you’re putting in but a half-hearted effort,” Eldenrae says sternly, his eyes fixed ahead.
Garphal shrugs. “I only have half a heart, so this is my full-hearted effort.”
“Whatever effort you’re putting in, it’s working!” Tid exclaims.
<<button [[⤐|The Standoff 3]]>><</button>>You’re starting to feel lightheaded, your energy sapping by the second. It’s all you can do to keep from gagging as a sudden stench comes pouring over you, carried by the raging water.
<<set $TotalAllies to $TotalAllies + 1>>
Wait. You recognize that scent.
It’s //Abalone Fierce//.
“My fry!” You peer over to find Coastner floating over by O’Deep, absolutely massive in his puffed state. By some miracle, he manages to keep from getting sucked away by the storm. “It looks like you’re in overtime and the odds aren’t looking so hot.”
“Thanks for pointing that out,” you hiss. If your eyes didn’t feel like they were about to pop out of your tiny skull, you would’ve rolled them.
“Don’t thank me yet,” the burly puffer replies. “It’s time for Coastner to get off the bench. Come on, Iridian Isopods! It’s game time!”
Faster than any puffed puffers should be able to move, a massive squadron of Iridia’s urchinball legends—past and present—rushes up to you. “What’s the plan, coach?” a brawny yellow pufferfish grunts at you.
For a second, you’re too stunned to respond. You’ve never spoken to her before, but you know immediately who she is: Ocie “the Orca,” five-time East Urchinball League all-star champion.
“Erm,” you stammer, summoning as much as you can remember about urchinball, despite the pounding in your head. “This Lighteater’s almost at the end zone, and we have to stop it from getting there.”
“That, we can do,” the Orca replies, before shouting something incomprehensible to the other Isopods and slamming her face into the Lighteater.
<<button [[⤐|The Standoff 4]]>><</button>>You feel the seaweed straps of your armor strain against your spines. You throw a glance back through the cloudy water, your heart pounding faster at the sight of Iridia’s walled perimeter approaching rapidly. //Where are the Shell Team bounders?//
A dislodged glow squid, pulsing a frantic rhythm of red and yellow, flattens against the Lighteater before peeling off with the current.
“Oh puff me, now we have to watch out for swimming furniture!” O’Deep squeaks.
Tid lets out a strained laugh. “Enough talking, more pushing.”
True to the Freshwater Krills song, you really can’t feel your gills anymore. You can’t feel you fins either. Or your spines. But the thought of seeing Iridia obliterated into thousand pieces, erased from the ocean floor, pushes you on. You refuse to let the coral walls you’ve nibbled on, the haunted maze of lettuce coral that scared you and Bryn spineless as fries, the seagrass meadow where you found the clam that became your first set of armor, be just memories.
<<if $SaltdragonsAlly eq 1>><<button [[⤐|Saltdragons for Iridia]]>><</button>>
<<else>><<button [[⤐|The Endings]]>><</button>><</if>>As you feel the energy draining from your fins, you hear a high-pitched whistle pierce through the rumbling water, echoed by ten or more voices. It’s enough to break Tid’s concentration beside you. “I can’t believe my sorry eyes,” he coughs. “Those are…”
<<set $TotalAllies to $TotalAllies + 1>>
“Saltdragons,” you whisper. You hadn’t gotten so much as a glimpse of them since you’d fled Everywhere’s throne—or rather, prison—back by the kelp forest. How they arrived so quickly is any fish’s guess, but for the first time since you entered one of the Luminous Shrines, you’re glad you went through the trouble of buying all of the token pieces.
Wordlessly, the saltdragons cut through the currents, flickering around the Lighteater in just the blink of an eye before colliding into it with a series of resounding bangs.
You wish Seamone and Bryn were here to see this. The saltdragons are only a tenth of Everywhere’s size, but they ripple with power, resembling a cross between a frilled shark and a cutlassfish.
“What…where…how…huh?” The sudden appearance of the saltdragons seems to have broken O’Deep’s brain.
“My thoughts exactly, O’Deep. Now come on, put your back into it!” Tid reminds him sharply.
<<button [[⤐|The Endings]]>><</button>><<if $TotalAllies lte 2>>The storm doesn’t appear to be relenting, and neither does the Lighteater. You don’t want to admit it, but your fins are getting so tired you can barely move them.
Finally, Tid locks eyes with you, his gaze apologetic. “$name, it’s no good.”
“We can’t give up,” you choke, but you know he’s right. You can feel the Lighteater gaining speed, the pressure burning against your headpiece. Helplessness floods your body and suffocates you as though you’d inhaled a cloud of squid ink.
“If we stay, the Lighteater will shred us against the coral. Flatfish, disengage now!” Tid commands.
Before you can say anything, Tid grabs you by the dorsal fin and yanks you away from the Lighteater. The ugly end of a staghorn coral branch just barely misses your face, nearly carving out your eye. A second later, you hear the Lighteater crash through a bounder post, rending the coral apart with a violent groan.
Iridia doesn’t stand a chance. It hurts to watch, but you can’t bring yourself to look away. You drift there as time seems to slow and sound no longer reaches your ears.
You watch the stormy currents roil thickly, making the Lighteater shudder as it plows into the main square and crushes the coral platform where Urchbill had awarded you the Silver Shell. Puffed Iridians spin off in all directions like wayward bubbles, bouncing off great masses of broken coral.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 3.1]]>><</button>><<elseif $TotalAllies eq 3 or $TotalAllies eq 4>>“Look out!” You feel O’Deep tapping your armor, his voice frantic. “We’re about to hit coral!”
The water catches in your gills as you whirl around to see the bounder wall fast approaching. “Move out of the way!” you shout, barely able to get out the words before the Lighteater goes plunging through.
Suddenly, you find yourself lost in roiling clouds of tossed sand, crushed coral, and cries coming from every direction. But the Lighteater is impossible to miss, its oppressive silhouette the only constant in the storm’s chaos.
“No!” You’ve gone too far, done too much, to give up now.
“What? Are you just going to shout at it now?” A fin latches onto one of the slits in your armor. Tid’s back at your side. “Come on, we’re not dead yet!”
Tid’s words, and the screams emerging from your home reef, propel you forward. “Forget about stopping it,” you say. “We’ve got to push it out of the way. Right! Push it to the right!”
<<button [[⤐|Ending 2.1]]>><</button>><<elseif $TotalAllies eq 5>>A change in the water. You sense it immediately. As you strain every muscle against the Lighteater’s unceasing approach, you feel something give way. The giant beast shudders against your helmet and lets out a loud whine that pierces your ears.
You feel the pressure ease and relief flood your body. You’re no longer moving backward, but…forward. Then, a sound that’s somehow even more piercing rises above the Lighteater’s whine: “Look $name, no fins!”
You look down to see the ocean’s most hyperactive pufferling, Clammers, floating upside down, leaning back against the Lighteater. She’s beaming, her fins fanned out to the sides.
Tid rumbles in annoyance. “Well, squid on a sperm whale. I thought I told you to stay back, Clammers.”
The fry giggles and smushes herself against the Lighteater’s belly. “I want to attach to this wall!”
“Nevermind the little sponge, Tid. We’re doing it! We’re forcing the Lighteater back!” O’Deep cheers.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 1.1]]>><</button>><</if>>Then, the Lighteater fades from sight. A massive chasm, splitting the reef in two, remains as a cruel reminder of its passing. The next few hours pass in a blur. The storm ebbs. You swim into Iridia with Tid and the Flatfish Puffers to survey the damage and free trapped Iridians.
You manage to find Puffkin Notail completely unscathed in a sandy hole dimly lit by an old glow squid. “You tried, $name,” Puffkin Notail croaks simply. “But the reef is gone.”
Word spreads quickly, and you overhear several bounders say that Chief Caribea is gone, too. You ask around for Bryn, but no fish has seen him.
O’Deep drifts beside you and gives you a nudge. “$name, what is it?”
“My friend, Bryn,” you say. “I can’t find him anywhere.”
O’Deep gives you a determined nod. “I’ll find him. Tell me what he looks like.”
You describe your friend to the blue puffer and watch him swim off. If anyone can find Bryn, it’s O’Deep.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 3.2]]>><</button>>Without bothering to see if Tid’s following you, you swim up to the Lighteater’s left flank and ram into it with all your might. Before long, you’re joined by Tid and O’Deep, though you can barely make them out in the murk.
“New plan? I like it!” O’Deep calls over to you.
To your left and right, you glimpse faint shapes charging into the Lighteater’s side. //It’s not over yet//, you realize, your last scrap of hope settling firmly in your stomach like a chunk of molten rock.
You can feel the Lighteater shuddering with every collision it makes with the reef, wincing at the familiar groaning of the coral as it gives way. After what feels like an eternity of straining and shoving, you’re about to call for every fish to stand down. If this goes on any longer, you’ll all end up…
The shaking stops. When you work up the courage to look, you see the easternmost bounder wall, or what remains of it, behind you.
You’ve hit open water. The storm is still battering you from every side, but the bone-shaking trembling has stopped. Wearily, your fins drop to your sides, almost as though you’ve lost control of them. The Lighteater surges on, fleeing from the storm without stopping to consider the reef it had briefly collided with.
“We did it,” you gasp, snagging the end of Tid’s scarf in your fin. Louder, you cry, “Tid, we did it!”
<<button [[⤐|Ending 2.2]]>><</button>>The dolphins are quipping off to the side. “The fearsome sight of Garphal doing physical labor is probably the only thing putting the ship to flight,” Menius declares, clapping his fins together.
“You know the vessel itself has no sentience,” Eldenrae says sternly. “Don’t reinforce the ignorance of the other sea creatures.”
Garphal drifts against the Lighteater like a limp sea cucumber. “Physical labor suits me not. Metaphysical labor, however, I am condemned to carry out daily.”
You watch, mesmerized, as the Lighteater backs away before your eyes. Garphal, with nothing to brace herself against, lets herself sink down into the cloudy water below. “I’m going to find myself a sponge to chew,” she announces as though she were embarking on some important task.
You refuse to look away from the Lighteater. It retreats one, two, then three whale-lengths before drifting to a stop and regarding you with an eyeless gaze. The fins of your allies—the Flatfish puffers, the eels, the dolphins, Coastner and his buddies, and the saltdragons—have all fallen still as you wait in suspense for the Lighteater’s next move.
With a creaking moan, the beast turns slowly until it faces the open ocean. Then, without another sound, it glides away and disappears behind pale clouds of churned sediment.
You hear the distant patter of rain on the surface but nothing else. A flash of lightning lights up the reef. You expect to hear the subsequent boom but instead you hear…cheers. A thunderclap of shouts and laughter behind you.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 1.2]]>><</button>>The ocean grows dark with night. You and the Flatfish puffers end up huddling in one corner of what was once the Anemone Cafeteria. Half of the cave has been sheared clean off. The surviving Iridians occupy another corner. Many of them eye you and your armored puffers, their eyes doubtful and cold.
O’Deep isn’t back yet, and it looks like Commander Urchbill has taken charge now. He’s giving some speech to the Iridians, but you can’t make out what he’s saying.
With a sigh, you sink down to the sand and watch the grains pulse softly from the light of the few glow squids that survived. You feel a tap on your fin and look up to see Tid pointing. “Look, $name.”
He’s pointing at O’Deep who’s over by the Iridians and beside him, speaking to Commander Urchbill, is a familiar spotted puffer—Bryn! After exchanging a few more words, Bryn hurries over with O’Deep.
“$name! I’m so glad to see you,” he cries, hugging you tight with his stubby fins. When he breaks away, you can see sadness clouding his eyes. “Mother…she’s gone.”
You know what he means, but you can hardly believe it. “I’m sorry, Bryn,” you say.
The spotted puffer lets out a trembling breath through his gills and shakes his head. “I’ll be okay, $name. But Urchbill’s chief now, and I think we’re going to find a new reef.”
You nod. Deep down, you know that Iridia’s no longer habitable, but it’s still hard to accept.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 3.3]]>><</button>>“And $name?” Bryn pauses, breaking his gaze.
“What is it?”
“...He doesn’t want you or your friends to come with us,” he sobs, pulling you into another embrace.
“He says that reefs won’t accept them if they’ve got flatfish with them,” O’Deep cuts in, his brow furrowed. “Can you believe the shark fart?”
You feel your spines raise. You force your fins to unclench. “Actually, I can,” you say bitterly. From the corner of your eye, you spot Urchbill’s rotund form swimming over, his beak puckered in self-importance. “Speaking of shark fart…”
Urchbill clears his gills and adjusts the medals across his seaweed uniform, which looks as slimy as the Commander’s personality and not at all like it had just weathered the worst storm Iridia had ever seen. “I am Ubedon Ube Urchbill IX, the new chief of Iridia. Who is the leader of this…charming school?”
“I am,” Tid says. He doesn’t bother to look at the overdressed puffer as he pops a piece of coral into his mouth and munches on it.
Urchbill’s gills flare. “Regrettably, our hospitality is in short supply considering the incident that has just occurred.”
Tid snorts. “The //incident//, eh?”
<<button [[⤐|Ending 3.4]]>><</button>>“Yes,” Urchbill snaps. “And we’re in no shape to take on guests, so I kindly ask that you depart as soon as possible. Before nightfall would be preferable, as I have much work to do and cannot oversee the welfare of any outsiders, you must understand.”
You catch a glimmer of anger in the red puffer’s eyes, but it quickly disappears as he breathes a chuckle. “Judging by the look of things, it’s clear that the welfare of your reef is your number one priority. I haven’t a doubt you’ll earn the respect and adoration of the Iridians in no time.” Tid looks at you. “$name, we’ve certainly been in every fish’s way today, it seems. I’m sure that had we not gotten in the way of that Lighteater, Urchkrill here might not have had time to put on all his fancy medals.”
“Why—” Urchbill splutters. “It’s Urch//bill//, and I will not tolerate this irreverent…”
He trails off as a tiny, round fry speeds in front of him. Your eyes widen as you realize who it is. Of course she left the cave Tid had instructed her to hide in—had she even stayed put at all?
Instead of her typical, bright “Hello!” to strangers, Clammers stares bug-eyed at Urchbill before whispering, “Go away.”
The Commander, evidently fed up with this discussion, looks you in the eye and says, “By nightfall,” before about-facing and swimming away.
Clammers turns to you, looking rather pleased with herself.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 3.5]]>><</button>>“A puffer never changes its spines.” Tid lets out a tired sigh. “$name, I know this isn’t what you were hoping for, but know that you always have a place at the Flatfish Refuge.”
You exchange a look with Bryn. He already knows your answer. It’s not like you really have a choice. “I hope the currents carry us back to each other someday,” he says, brushing his fin thoughtfully across your helmet.
“You’re welcome to visit the Flatfish Refuge anytime,” you reply, before removing your helmet and passing it to him. “Here, in case you run into any trouble during your travels.”
“Woah. This looks //way// cooler than anything we’ve worked on here.” Bryn cracks a smile.
For the remainder of the day, Tid and the Flatfish leave you to catch up with your fryhood friend. The two of you join the recovery efforts, sifting through piles of collapsed coral for survivors. Despite everything that’s happened, the two of you giggle about old times—about sneaking backstage at your very first Freshwater Krills concert, about convincing Seamone that she’d turned pink, and of course…dueling out in the Big Deep.
By the time the sun disappears from the sea, the water has all but returned to its clear condition. Everything is almost peaceful again as Bryn bids you farewell at the edge of the ruined reef. He’s wearing your helmet now, and though you’ve never been a particularly brawny puffer, it clatters loosely around on his head like he’s a fry playing make-believe.
You give it a hard knock with your fin. Still sturdy.
For a moment, you and Bryn hover there, suddenly out of words to say.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 3.6]]>><</button>>“Well $name, it’s been a charming visit, but we better get going before that Ube starts hurling his medals at us.” You hear Tid’s gentle reminder behind you, but don’t see him. He’s still giving you space.
“I’d like to see him try!” comes O’Deep’s high voice.
Bryn passes you a parcel of coral cakes for the road. “Looks like we both have a journey ahead of us. You’ve seen so many cool things, $name. I hope I will, too. Like maybe one of those holy snails.”
Really? Of everything you told Bryn about, he wants to see a snail?
You smile. “You will. Just don’t do anything Puffly Perry wouldn’t do.”
This earns you a laugh. “Of course not. I’m not //that// crazy,” Bryn replies, before clasping you in a hug.
When he releases you, you join Tid and the rest of the Flatfish. Sure, you won’t ever be able to call Iridia “home” again, but at least you’ve found a new one.
As you leave, Bryn lingers at what remains of the bounder wall, his diminutive form growing ever smaller as Clammers leads your group back to her secret current and you feel the water tug you away.
You and the Flatfish return to find the Refuge as welcoming as ever. Thanks to Tid and O’Deep, you settle into a spacious nook in the cavern, where no fish minds when you start hoarding shells and scales for your armor-making. When Clammers isn’t escaping to roam the world on her current, she’s flitting around your workshop, “helping” you with your creations. Despite her antics, you manage to build dozens of armor suits in a single year, improving on your craft every time.
The Flatfish happily don your creations on their scouting and foraging missions, no longer fearing the sharks and octopuses that occasionally venture into the kelp forest.
You always keep one suit in the back of your cave—unworn. Your latest, your //finest// prototype. That one’s for Bryn to try, when you see him again. Until then, you’ve still got a lot of work to do.
<div style="text-align: center;"><<fadein 2.5s 30s>><span class="introduction">__''The End''__</span><</fadein>></div>The Flatfish leader turns and pats your head, rattling your helmet. “Didn’t I tell you there was nothing to worry about?”
You don’t have the slightest recollection of him ever saying anything like that, but you don’t really care at this point. You’re almost too tired to register that you’re smiling, except for the fact that somehow it’s making your face sore.
Your shout must have carried all the way down the Lighteater, because not a second later, you hear a cascade of cheers pour from one end to the other. You think back to the day you were exiled, to the cheers that sent you away. This time is different. This time there’s no shame, no pity. One by one, your allies pull away from the Lighteater and rally around you. They’re congratulating one another, weary but euphoric, like they’re swimming in a post-concert buzz.
“That…was…awesome!” You nearly jump out of your armor at the shrill scream in your ear. Clammers appears from seemingly out of nowhere, spiraling around you and radiating deranged joy. “The monster went //crunch crunch// at the reef, but then we //raaaahed// all together and I //thunked// my head against its butt and…”
She goes cross-eyed as she runs out of breath, sagging for a second before immediately recovering and perking back up.
“I—”
“—thought you were supposed to be a good little barnacle, tucked safe and sound in a cave far, far away,” Tid says sternly, hovering over the fry.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 2.3]]>><</button>>“Heh…” Clammers puffs out her cheeks before gasping in surprise. For such a round fry, she moves at an astonishing speed, darting for cover behind you and Tid.
Your heart lurches as, for the briefest of seconds, you fear that the Lighteater has doubled back to finish off the reef. But what you see instead is…
//Bryn!//
Sailing over the crumbled bounder wall is none other than your fryhood best friend, his mottled face lit up with joy and determination. He’s bloated to twice his size, thrashing his fins wildly to get over to you. “$name!” he shrieks.
You save him the trouble of floating all this way and meet him in a warm embrace. Glancing over his protruding spines, you spot dozens of inflated Iridians peeking out from the rubble. It seems no fish but Bryn dares to approach you and the strangers you’ve brought with you.
“$name…it was you. You saved the reef! Puffkin Notail told me you’d come back. Usually everything he says is a load of sea cucumber poop, but he was right!” Bryn releases you, his eyes gleaming.
“I couldn’t have done it alone,” you say, glancing back at all of your allies. They hover behind you, half-shrouded in slowly settling clouds of sand and powdered coral, as still as the Iridians that linger behind Bryn.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 2.4]]>><</button>>“Wow! Look at how many friends you have!” Bryn says, a little too excited for you. “Come on in, every fish! The reef’s a bit of a mess, but you’re all welcome here.”
You resist as he tugs on your fin. “Bryn…Chief Caribea exiled me, remember?”
Bryn deflates a little, his spines falling flat against his skin. “My mom’s dead, $name. When that Lighteater showed up at the wall, she confronted it and…”
As his voice wavers, you pat his fin. “I’m sorry, Bryn.” You and Chief Caribea had never really gotten along, but you can’t imagine Iridia run by another chief.
“It’s okay,” Bryn murmurs. “After you left, I learned that no matter what happens, I’m strong enough to make it to tomorrow.”
In all this time you were gone, little Bryn has grown up. But then, so have you.
You let Bryn lead you and the others into the main square, past the ruined border and the Iridian onlookers. It seems most of the survivors have gathered here. While some of them are too occupied calling for their loved ones, others immediately gawk in your direction.
You guess it’s probably not so much that you’re an exile who dared show ?his_ face back in the reef again, but rather the motley band of fish you’ve brought with you.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 2.5]]>><</button>>“A friendly bunch, aren’t they?” O’Deep whispers to you, his eyes darting as though he’s looking for the quickest escape route.
“As friendly as you could expect, given the circumstances,” Tid says, towing Clammers along by the tail.
When you reach the center of the square, you look out across the crowd. It reminds you of the one that had gathered during that ceremony when you were exiled, except Chief Caribea isn’t here to present any speeches.
“Pufferfish of Iridia, look before you and see the cause of Everywhere’s wrath.” A familiar voice booms from atop the table coral stage. It looks like Commander Urchbill is still here, and he’s taken charge. “On the very same day the Lighteater returned to put an end to our chief’s life and the lives of dozens of Iridians, the exile reappears with a host of unwanted outsiders. $name, answer this: Why have you returned to summon disaster and destruction upon the puffers who once raised and provided for you?”
The square falls silent. Once more, you’re put on the spot. Your mind races, torn between anger and confusion. After everything that’s happened, has nothing changed at all?
<<button [[⤐|Ending 2.6]]>><</button>>Before you can think of a response, another fish speaks up. “I remember frysitting $name since ?he <<verb 'was' 'were'>> small and stupid enough to swim headfirst into a tube sponge and get stuck there. I even looked after ?his_ sister, too, and she turned out to be one of the finest bounders Iridia has ever had.”
A frail, bony shape appears beside the burly Urchbill—it’s Puffkin Notail, looking as elderly and immortal as you’ve always remembered him.
“I said nothing when you sent ?him away, because Everywhere told me it was her will. $name would come back and prevent our reef’s extinction. And ?he did. I plan on recording everything ?he <<verb 'has' 'have'>> done in coral tablets for now and future generations to read, but for now, all I have to say is ‘Welcome home, $name.’” For the first time you can remember in your life, the elder turns to you and smiles.
Bryn floats over to nudge you. “Welcome home, $name!”
From the crowd, several more voices ring out. “Welcome home, $name!” You think you recognize Coastner’s voice, and maybe Sesealea’s. As more puffers join in, out of the corner of your eye, you glimpse Commander Urchbill slink away from the stage.
You glance around and see how much Iridia has changed since the time you’ve known it. Seamone is no longer here. The statue of the First Chief remains in pieces. But still, this is home.
Your allies stay with you over the next few days, pitching in where they can. The reconstruction effort is slow, but it’s nothing you haven’t all been through before. Following Chief Caribea’s death, the Iridians look to you for guidance. There were very few protests when you suggested that Tid and his Flatfish be allowed to join the reef. They look at you and your armor and they see a brighter future.
After a lot of hyping up, you finally convince Bryn that he’s ready to take his mother’s place as Chief. And you…you become the first official armorer of Iridia. Your first apprentice? Clammers. Good luck.
<div style="text-align: center;"><<fadein 2.5s 30s>><span class="introduction">__''The End''__</span><</fadein>></div>“$name! It’s $name!” a voice cries out. You recognize it immediately.
You turn to see Bryn at the bounder wall. He’s flanked by puffers, lining the wall as far as the eye can see. It seems all of Iridia is here, and they’re all chanting your name.
Suddenly, a long, slippery tail smacks your fin. “Oh my slime, $name!” The leader of the eels is trembling beside you, his needle-strewn jaws agape as he stares off to your right. “That’s them! The Freshwater Krills! And they’re chanting your name!”
Sure enough, you spot the iconic band members, their melodic voices hollering your name. Before you can even begin to fathom how strange it is that they’re cheering for //you//, Coastner and his pals envelop you in a rowdy huddle.
“That…was…epic!” Coastner roars in your face. “I’ve never felt so alive!”
He’s about to say something else, but a sleek gray snout nudges him aside. It’s Eldenrae, staring down at you with a stern, yet triumphant expression. “I have a new respect for mind sti—pufferfish,” he says. “When it comes time for Dolphesis to reign over this planetary realm, know that your kind shall have a comfortable place in our new, fair world.”
With an assertive squeak, he throws himself into a backflip and zips away, the other dolphins—including a lagging Garphal—trailing behind him.
<<button [[⤐|Ending 1.3]]>><</button>>It looks like the saltdragons, too, are on the move. Whistling, they circle you in iridescent flashes that stun your eyes before melting away into the ebbing storm.
“Thank you,” you say in their wake. Now that they’re gone, it’s almost like they were never here at all. But the Lighteater’s faint silhouette on the horizon tells you otherwise.
With Tid and O’Deep by your side, you drift over to Bryn and Chief Caribea by the chipped coral wall. The spotted brown puffer is all smiles but his mother’s face is as unreadable as ever. Your spines twitch as she stares at you.
“Iridia owes its life to you, $name,” the chief finally says. “You needn’t puff to be a pufferfish. To be an Iridian. I was wrong. Iridia welcomes you with open fins, if you choose to forgive the errors of my judgment and accept this reef as your home once more.”
<hr/>
<<button [[“I accept,” you say, as coolly as you can muster. Though your heart is practically exploding with a sea pineapple cocktail of excitement and relief.|Homecoming 1.1]]>><</button>>
<<button [[You meet Bryn’s eyes, then glance back at Tid and O’Deep. “Thanks for the offer. But I have a new home now.”|Homecoming 2.1]]>><</button>>Your armor clacks as Bryn slams into you and hugs you with his tiny fins. “Son of a blobfish, yes!” he squeaks.
“Language,” Caribea hisses, but you can see an amused smile across her beak.
Bryn breaks away, buzzing with almost as much energy as Clammers has. “I watched over your cave while you were gone, so it should still be stocked with snacks. We can get some more, of course. Oh, I know! We can recruit some fries from the theater club and put on some scenes from ‘The Purpose of the Porpoise.’ You can be Puffly Perry, of course!”
You chuckle. “Slow down, Bryn. Puffly Perry may not need sleep, but I do. I need at least a full day’s worth.”
“Make that two days for me,” Tid chimes from behind. He swims up to address Chief Caribea. “Chief, it seems your reef is safe once more and this brave young puffer is back where ?he <<verb 'belongs' 'belong'>>. We’ll take our leave now and carry on with our flatfish business.”
Tid thunks your helmet with his tail affectionately. “You can come visit anytime, $name,” he says before drifting to O’Deep’s side.
The two puffers give you one final nod before turning toward the Big Deep. But before they can swim off, Caribea’s voice rings out. “Tidalton.”
<<button [[⤐|Homecoming 1.2]]>><</button>>Bryn’s smile falls slightly, but not completely. “A new home?” he mumbles, glancing over the Flatfish to the right and left of you. “You know, $name, I’m glad you found puffers who think you’re as awesome as I think you are.”
O’Deep squints one eye at you and shrugs a fin. “Ehhh….”
You can’t help but smile as you roll your eyes at his teasing. “It’s a good place for puffers like me,” you say. “But it’s not too far by current, Bryn. You can drop by whenever you want.”
“And //you// are free to visit Iridia as you please,” Chief Caribea cuts in, her voice carrying a tone of respect you’ve never heard from her before. “Should you ever choose to return, I assure you that you will find this reef a much more accepting place for all puffers, whether they are inclined to puff or not.”
You nod. “Thank you, Chief. I’ll keep that in mind.”
With that, Bryn’s mother leaves you to say your goodbyes.
<<button [[⤐|Homecoming 2.2]]>><</button>>The red puffer looks back, blinking with confusion.
“Yes, I know who you are. I knew your mother. She was a fine bounder, deeply respected by all of Iridia.” Caribea lets out a thoughtful hum. “I am indebted to you and your school. Though I’ve no doubt you’ve made a fine home for yourselves, this reef would be honored to have you all as Iridians.”
Tid’s eyes widen with shock. He clears his gills. “Thank you for your offer. Of course, I won’t make a decision before discussing it with the rest of the school first.”
Beside him, O’Deep’s face crinkles with emotion, looking like a newborn fry about to wail.
“Oh come on, you sentimental cuttlefish,” Tid says, nudging the spotted puffer.
You watch with a smile as the two of them swim off toward the rest of the Flatfish puffers waiting just outside the wall.
After taking a nap, you join Bryn in the main square for Chief Caribea’s address. The water has cleared since the storm. You can make out the reef’s finest details—the rubbery curl of the seagrass field, the muted pulse of glow squids brightening, the glimmer of your armor on the backs of the Flatfish puffers. They’re on the table coral stage being introduced as the newest denizens of Iridia.
The chief then calls you up to join them. She announces the formation of Iridia’s scouts, who will work fin-in-fin with the bounders to preserve the reef’s safety. They’ll be Iridia’s fastest. They’ll don your armor and serve as explorers, messengers, and first responders. Caribea names three puffers who will head the scouts: Tid, O’Deep, and… you. Bryn cheers the loudest, of course. Followed, oddly, by Coastner and his thunderous bellow and an effortful wheeze from Puffkin Notail.
<<button [[⤐|Homecoming 1.3]]>><</button>>Over the next few weeks, you enjoy your new role as a scout commander, working with Tid, O’Deep, and the former exiles of the Flatfish Refuge. It’s especially enjoyable being the same rank as Commander Urchbill. Sometimes, you oppose his ideas in meetings just to raise his spines.
Your heart swells when you hear fries chatter about their dreams of becoming a scout. For the first time in the history of Iridia, no fry will toss and turn the night before the Puffation, wondering what will happen if they can’t puff.
The sound of crunching coral rouses you from your thoughts. “Clammers, no! Stop eating the wall,” you shout, shooing the fry away. “Why don’t you go bother O’Deep?”
She giggles but obeys, darting off into the blue.
Before you can assess the damage done, the newest recruits file into the post. Tid had told you that morning that some exiled puffers had learned of Irida’s acceptance of flatfish and volunteered to join the reef as scouts. You give them a brief rundown of their duties and send them off with Coastner for their first patrol.
You let out a sigh, relieved to be left in peace. You float over to the coral wall and rub your fin against the pockmarked surface, your mind drifting back to the last conversation you had with Seamone. You miss her. But like the currents that carry you through all of your patrols, that have carried you to Everywhere and to where you are today, though invisible, you know she’s always there to guide you.
You stare out into the Big Deep—no longer as mysterious or forbidding as it had once seemed. This morning, however, it isn’t as empty as it usually is.
In the far distance, a massive silhouette drifts gently by, dancing freely as though the ocean belonged to her alone.
But she isn’t alone.
Seamone had always wanted to see a goldfish.
<div style="text-align: center;"><<fadein 2.5s 30s>><span class="introduction">__''The End''__</span><</fadein>></div>“Hey,” Bryn murmurs thoughtfully, “Next time I visit, can you build me a helmet like yours? That epic scale makes you look so…minacious!”
You slip it from your head with a grin. “How about you take mine?”
Your fryhood best friend’s eyes widen as you plop it into his fins.
“Really?” Bryn gasps. The helmet trembles as he slips it onto his bony head. “This is the most minacious thing I’ve ever owned!”
With a final hug and a mutual promise to visit each other, you go your separate ways. As you turn away from the reef with Tid and the Flatfish, you can’t help but think about the memories you’re leaving behind the reef’s walls. You’re not an exile anymore, headed for an uncertain destiny in the Big Deep. You know exactly what’s ahead of you, and it looks bright.
<<button [[⤐|Homecoming 2.3]]>><</button>>The old jellyfish nightclub that Tid and the others had turned into a makeshift armory becomes your permanent workspace. No fish minds all the shells and scales you hoard inside. In fact, the scouts, forgers—and Clammers most of all—often come by to drop off the finest pieces they find in their journeys outside the Refuge. The hyperactive fry actually declares herself as your apprentice. Sometimes, you find her waiting there in your armory first thing in the morning, as though she has no need for sleep. But hey, you could use the free labor. That is, if you don’t count the algae cookies she sneaks from your stash sometimes.
You spend your days crafting and refining your armor models, wandering the outskirts of the kelp forest for new materials to work with. You may or may not be looking for a giant goldfish scale, though it eludes you for years. Until…
One morning, you weave leisurely through the kelp fronds that line the forest, sifting through the sand for treasures for your armor-making. A faint glimmer out of the corner of your vision stops you in mid-stroke.
Everywhere’s gone. You know that there’s nothing more than empty Lighteater carcasses out on the vast plain to your right. But today, something’s moving out there.
In the far distance, a massive silhouette drifts across the blue. A brilliant, golden shimmer accompanies it, as though the sun had fallen into the ocean.
With a knowing smile, you head back to the Refuge. To home.
<div style="text-align: center;"><<fadein 2.5s 30s>><span class="introduction">__''The End''__</span><</fadein>></div>