The Lonely Octofluff - 1 (Challenge No.01 winner)

Ryunnosuke, November 14, 2012; 09:55 / FB 6658
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The Lonely Octofluff
By Ryunnosuke
For Takenoko’s Challenge #1

The steering wheel jerks from your grasp, as the van pitches to the side of the road.
“What the fuck are you doing?!?” your boss screams at you from the passenger seat.
Struggling with the brakes, you smash down on the pedal and come to a sliding stop.
Next to the narrow edge of a stark embankment.
The two of you look at each other, fear slowly being replaced with relief and hope as the van comes to a standstill.
Suddenly, a loud crack.
The vehicle tilts forward…
You dive desperately to the back, but it’s no use; the van tilts off the cliff side, rolling down towards the ocean.
With a massive splash, the van smashes into the rocks, bursting into flames and splitting open and sending its precious contents everywhere.
Large barrels labeled “Experimental Stem Cells” and “SCIP-X 0001” and “Fluffy Sperm Cells”.
Plummeting into the ocean.
But for you, everything goes black.

Many monthes later…
You are a fluffy.
At least, you think you are.
But you aren’t like other fluffies.
Most of the fluffies you see have gills and tails.
Some fluffies, who often pass through these waters, have tails and flippers.
And rarely, you even see some with leggies. They don’t move a lot, and are often bloated.
You think you might be quite rare, as far as fluffies go. Maybe even rarer than the bloated, leggies fluffies.
You have eight leggies. Quite proud of them as well.
You call yourself Ocki. You think it’s a good name, because of your eight leggies.
You’re also pretty smart for a fluffy as well.
Well, smart for a fluffy. The other fluffies are obsessed with playing and hugs and squidies.
You don’t much like squidies. They don’t taste as pretty to you. Also, they have a lot of leggies too, so eating them seems… wrong.
It’s okay, though, because you can eat all kinds of kelpies, and if you are lucky, you find small fishies and shellies around.
Yeah, it’s pretty good being a fluffy.
Just one thing though…
You get pretty lonely sometimes. You used to have a mumma and bwoffas and sissies. But they went away, and you have no idea how to find them.
The big wawa swallowed them up. Big wawa can be a dangerous place sometimes. The wavies can catch unsuspecting fluffies by surprise, and that’s bad for fluffies.
…you’re sure they’re okay. Probably.
Right?
Anyway, you have no family. But it’s even worse!
The other fluffies don’t like you!
Some have even tried to eat you!
They mistook you for a squidie! But that’s not right, squidies aren’t fluffy like you are!
You tried to explain things to them at times.
“Siwwy fwuffs,” you said, “Am fwuffy! See? Nuu squidie!”
But they didn’t listen. They were too hungry.
Kelpies have been getting scarce around this section of the big wawa.
That’s not good.
If the kelpies run out, you’ll be hungry too!
Of course, you set out to find out why the kelpies were disappearing, and maybe find a solution to the problem.
Like you’ve said before, you’re pretty smart for a fluffy.
It didn’t take long to find the problem either.
You may not be welcome around the other fluffies, but you still observe them.
The fluffies, particularly the horsie tailed ones, built up a large community in the reef. They’ve made nests in the deep coral.
Unlike the flipper fluffs, who give live births and can only handle litters of 2-4, sometimes 5 or 6, the sea horsie fluffs can lay clutches of eggs that range in the-
…well, you can count high but not that high.
You’re best guess would be many two of five, but no higher than five of five.
…you think.
And of course, all of those babies need milkies, and all of that milk has to come from somewhere…
And so the kelpies are all disappearing.
Like you said before, that’s not good.
You’d better tell the horsie tails to stop with the special hugs already, or this could be a disaster.
A few moments later, you find yourself swimming for your life. They tried to eat you again!
Well that didn’t work.
You know! Maybe the flipper fluffs will listen!
You go in search for the fluffs, and quickly find a family nearby. They are sunning happily on a large rock that pokes out of the wawa.
As you swim closer, the foals hide in the mumma’s fluff and the daddeh smacks his limbs threateningly, puffing his cheeks.
“Whu yuu?” he yells at you. “Dis fwuffy wock! Guu way ow gif big ouchies!”
“Nuu wowwy!” you say quickly, lifting your leggies in surrender. “Am new fwiend!”
“Nuu fwiend!” he growls. “Fwuffy know dat!”
“Nuu! Nuu!” you say. “*New* fwiend!”
“New fwiend? Hm, fwuffy nuu suwe…”
“Am new fwiend, weawwy!” You pull an offering of kelpies out. “Kewpies fo new fwiend?”
“Why kewpies if nuu fwiend!” he asks, confused.
You sigh.
It takes awhile, but after much explaining you manage to get the flippers to accept your kelpies.
Then you explain the situation.
“Nuu mow kewpies soon,” you say, morosely.
“Why nuu mow kewpies?” the mare askes. Her foals are busily sucking down milkies from her teats.
“Howsie taiws take aww kewpies. Nuu mow nummies for fwuffies.”
The dam gasps. “Husban! Babbehs nee’ miwkies, and nuu mow miwkies if nuu mow babbehs!” A tear drops from the corner of her eye. “Babbehs nee’ miwkies to big and stwong!”
The stallion puffs his cheeks. “Dummy taiws nuu take babbeh’s miwkies and kewpies! Daddeh teach dem wesson!”
You grab the over eager father before he can dash off. “Nuu, Ocki awweady twy dat! Nuu wok!”
The mare looks crestfallen. “Wha duu…?”
You think hard for a moment, while the family watches you.
An idea! “Meybe gif howsie taiws nummies, den dey wisten?”
The father thinks for a moment, before nodding. “Nummies make evahfing betta, wike huggies…”
“Wha howsies wike fo nummies?” you ask.
The dam and stallion look at each other before throwing their flippers up in a cheer. “SQUIDIES!”
You should have known. “Den git squidies fo fwuffies.”

A few hours later, you and the stallion have managed to collect a small amount of squidies. Only three squidies, in fact. They’re pretty scarce around here, due to the fluffy consumption of the species.
It’s also really hard to keep the daddy from eating them or giving them to his mare.
“Nuu, new fwiend, nuu eat squidies!”
“Nuu fwiend!?” he snarls.
Sigh.
You stop the quarrel as the two of you return to the rock. The dam greets the both of you.
She looks at the pile of squidies, her mouth watering. “Dat nuu nuff squidies…”
“Nuu fin’ many squidies…” you say, sadly.
The mare keeps looking at the squidies. “Fwuffy know whew mo squidies awe…”
You and the stallion perk up. “Whewe!?” you say together.
“Gif squidie.”
You whine. “Nuu, new fwiend! Squidies fo taiws so dey nuu eat aww da kewpies!”
The mare folds her flippers and turns her head. “Gif squidies aw nuu cawe.”
You sigh, and give her the squidies. She throws one to the daddy, who gulps it down, before chomping down on hers.
“Whewe squidies?” you ask, annoyed.
Reserved, she points behind her. The stallion gasps.
Into the deep, deep wawa.
The deep, deep wawa is super dangerous. Big meanies live there.
You don’t want to go there. Definitely not.
But…
You look around.
There’s barely any kelpies anywhere, even this far from the coral reef. If the kewpies leave, then in time the horsie tails will starve or leave, as would your flipper friends.
Then you’d be all alone again.
You have to save your home. You have to save your new friends!
You swim toward the deep wawa.
“Whew yuu go?” The daddy asks, as you swim off.
“Ocki go deep, deep wawa.”
“Nuu, new fwiend! Nuu guu dere!” he warns.
“Hafta. Nee’ squidies fo howsies.”
“…Fwuffy guu wif new fwiend.”
The mare drops the remains of her squidie, in surprise. “NUUUU! Nuu guu, husban’!” she screams. “Deep wawa bad fo fwuffies!”
The stallion looks back at his wifey, a sad look on his face. “Hafta. New fwiend nee’ squidies.”
“Nuu! Nuu guu! Babbehs nee’ husban’! Wifey nee’ husban’!” she demands.
The stallion turns and swims out to you.
“Am Dasha,” he says, holding his leggies out for a hug.
You tear up a little, and move in for your first fluffy hug, ever. “Am Ocki.”
“NUUUUUU-“ The water cuts off her scream as the two of you dive into the water, heading for the deep wawa.
Inside, you feel your heart bursting with joy. You aren’t alone anymore. You have a real friend, Dasher.
You swim together for a long while. Deeper and deeper.
It’s cold here. Even colder than usual; light from the surface barely reaches down, giving only the bare minimum to see this far down low.
Finally, you touch down on the slimy surface.
The two of you split up; you crawl along bottom, using your leggies to search the nooks and crannies for squidies.
You search and search and search; you find many things. A few shellies, which you quickly puncture and eat. Pretty fishies, which you watch for a minute. Lots of slime and dirt. Kelpies are everywhere.
Slowly but surely, you begin to find the squidies. You find them much more quickly down here.
Soon, you have eight, one in each leggie.
So many! Surely this is enough to get the horsies to listen!
You swim back to where you left Dasher.
But he’s nowhere to be found.
You wait for him for a minute. Then another.
Did something happen to him?
You swim around, looking for clues.
Dasher is gone.
Where did he go!? Did he abandon you?
Suddenly, a light appears in the bottom of the chasm.
It’s a bright light.
It’s… intoxicating…
In a daze, you begin to wander over to it.
It’s a ball! A glowing ball!
Balls are good! You know this instinctively.
So bright… so pretty…
You want it… you want it so badly…
You accidently drop a squidie.
In the back of your mind, you remember your reason for being here. You need that squidie.
You’ll get the ball after you pick it up.
As you duck down, reaching for the squidie, sharp teeth snap down where your head used to be.
You squeak and reel backwards, forgetting the squidie.
A giant row of teeth grin back at you, attached to a horrible slime covered face, with dead white eyes. The glowing ball dances in front of it, playfully.
IT’S A MUNSTA!
You swim for your life, as the munsta gives chase. You are fast, but it’s even faster.
You desperately weave in and out of the underwater foliage, trying to slow it down.
But it’s too fast; it nips off the end of one of your leggies!
“OUCHIES!” you scream.
You pull away and gain a little distance, before it notices that it didn’t get all of you.
Suddenly, in the distance, you see frantic movement.
It’s Dasher! He’s near an open cave, waving frantically and pointing at the cave.
The munsta is looking around, and spots you. It gives chase again!
You swim as fast as your leggies can propel you. You feel like you should be outdistancing it, but its catching up!
You scramble for the cave. Gouge marks cover the surface of the rock and ground in front of it.
A sense of impending doom looms over you. The cave is dangerous too.
You decide what to do quickly; you speed past the front of the cave, avoiding the marks but moving in an arc so that munsta can catch up if it goes straight.
You know if you are wrong, you will probably take longest sleepies.
You hope you aren’t wrong.
The munsta comes right at you, in a straight line.
A tentacle whips out of the cave, snatching the munsta!
The munsta is gone, along with its bright ball.
You cower in the kelpies, afraid.
Dasher is nearby, also shaking with fear.
After waiting a few moments, you and Dasher swim for the surface, as fast as your leggies will allow.
Relief floods you.
You are so preoccupied, you completely fail to notice the large eye following your movement…

To be continued.

Author’s note: I wanted to finish this, but I have to dash off to class. More later tonight.

These challenges seem like a great idea to me. Anything to detract from the previous ideas of milk = sperm… I cannot and refuse to get behind that idea, sorry. In comparison, this theme is much more appealing.