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Description
On the shores of eastern Felarya, just around the corner, a harbor sits in resolute contempt, defying that of its dangerous surroundings and envying those who dare to disturb it. It was a quiet place next to the aqua blue waters and sandy beaches, probably what everyone would think of as… safe. But don't let this image sway you; it still has its many terrors and secrets that would be better off left undiscovered.

A ship was coming into the ports. With two tall masts and blue sails the color of the clear, sunny sky, it lurched suddenly to a stop on the pier. Its main cannons stood firm, four to each side, intimidating the people who stand against them. It wasn't exactly a war vessel, but it had its secrets. The crew onboard, mostly female for many good reasons, unloaded their vessel of its riches and goods to sell to the people and buy something just as shiny to replace it in turn. They were making good money and today, good time.

Was it fate that this vessel heard of an extraordinary tale about treasure buried in a small, island not too far from them? And was it fate that this was where our journey began? The crew wandered into the tavern of the small fishing village not far from their vessel to spread their tales of adventure and questionable encounters. It was here that the captain of this ship heard the fateful news of a secret something buried far away on 'uncharted lands'. This was usually a good break to get to an island before anyone had ever tried to brave its dungeons or creatures and get the first cut of the usually large loot.

After waking up from a strange and mysterious dream which uncovered most about his past, Effle and Elffe vacationed to this area to escape city life and that of the dangerous jungle. What better place to be free of both than out on the water? Unfortunately they were quite mistaken, as there was more chaos out there in the wild sea then back in their apartment. Effle received a map from his most beloved friend Melany who had got it from her friend Subeta (whom Elffe had the pleasure of nearly being eaten by) who found it off a couple of overconfident would-be explorers taking their chance at jungle exploring. This map was said to lead to an uncharted island off the east coast of Felarya to an undiscovered cache of gold and gadgets. In exchange for this map, Effle promised to bring back any strange items he found along the way that might spark her interest. She was sure that this cache was untouched and that there was almost a 100% chance they would find at least one thing of value.

Effle and Elffe, however, had a problem. They had no ticket to the deep waters, and unless they wanted to take a rowboat that could only hold two people, which they had no idea how to use, they had to hitch hike. In order to do this and get from the mainland to their destination, they had to brag. Effle didn't like bragging because it made him seem like an ignorant jerk, but his counter part had no problem letting the world know of their strange fortune trail. Elffe quickly had the entire tavern at his shoulders listening intently to his wildly spun tail of facing off against two giant fairies and a naga to save the damsel in distress whom had given him the map afterwards.

"How did you get away?" One of the men in the crowd shouted.
"Well, no luck involved, I can tell you that! Lucky for me, though, I had the best partner around!" Elffe motioned to Effle and he gave a sad excuse of a wave, blushing furiously. The crowd cheered for him and… it felt good. Effle jumped in on the story as well and expanded their ridiculous exaggerations even further.
"Don't even get me started on the dridder!" Effle was saying loudly, the crowd erupting with laughs. He laughed along but was tapped on the shoulder gently and turned around.

A pirate looking woman stood before him who, had he no tolerance, would've made him wet his pants on the spot. She had short black hair and a very (might I stress 'very') skimpy outfit. She had her own group of men behind her drooling openly at her figure and he couldn't blame them. Effle was lucky Elffe wasn't looking or he'd be trapped under her 'spell' as well. She had dark brown eyes he could see his reflection in and a somewhat malicious smile that made him question her motives. He was about to talk when she put one finger to his lips, silencing him. His moral nearly broke, but he held steadfast; there were plenty of people he had inadvertently been practicing on to keep his sanity and was sure he wouldn't break here.

"I have a proposition for you," She said seductively. Again, Effle wavered. "About your map." Effle's resolve hardened; she was after money. Was there no honest girl out there? "We will provide you a ride and safe passage as long as we get 75% of the loot." Effle was planning to just take whatever he could carry and leave so he had no problem with amounts. He nodded slowly. "One hour by the docks, our sails are the bluest you've ever seen. Can't miss it." She walked away and had Effle not thought her just a gold digger he would've watched, but he looked away quickly to tell Elffe the news.

*  *  *  *  *

"75%?!?" Elffe yelled as they wandered the wide streets to the harbor with Effle. "Are you insane?" He continued to rant for a while and Effle stopped listening. Unfortunately he started communicating telepathically to him too and he was forced to pay attention. "I don't mean to be greedy, but I WANNA BE GREEDY! Don't you think we deserve more than just 25%? It's OUR map, who do they think they are?" They turned the corner and the harbor was in sight. "When they fight two fairies, a naga and a dridder, they can take more!"
"Elffe, we never actually did that and they probably have." Effle said trying to get him to stop, but he was on a roll and didn't let up for a breath.

They approached the boat with the brightest blue sails they could find which wasn't hard because every other boat had white or black sails so it kind of stuck out. Elffe continued to rant as Effle walked aboard but slowed down as the first lady crew walked past them on shore. She had blue hair and waved to them when she saw they were both staring. "Um, Effle, who do we work for again?" Elffe said watching her until she turned a corner and was lost in the crowds. They stepped onto the deck and Elffe was absolutely silent. Effle had selfishly kept his tolerance to himself so as not to be easily persuaded by anyone but that meant the opposite for Elffe. "Y'know, I think 25% is a good deal for us!"

The captain walked up to them and Effle heard Elffe telepathically, "MAYBE WE SHOULD GIVE IT TO THEM FOR FREE, HOLY-" He cut him out. She walked up to Effle and looked him up and down speculatively. Effle refused to describe the type of disgusting out fit she wore because-

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe stared like he had never seen a woman before. Her 'pants' were so tiny he could've sworn it was just a black thong proving much more difficult to talk to her with out being distracted or pretending to listen. She was wearing a tank top that just managed to cover her chest with… no… bra… on, and her short jet-black hair that was swung back by the abusive wind was so sleek in the sunlight he could've seen his reflection in it had he tried. Her brown eyes were captivating, sure, but not as captivating as her ridiculous curves or the way she walked. She was talking to Effle, but he couldn't hear a word she was saying. Elffe wanted nothing more than to just smack-

*  *  *  *  *

-it was morally unjust. What kind of person would do such a thing? Effle wasn't sure what use that outfit would have in combat but didn't speculate on it enough to see Elffe next to him. She took a deep breath. "Do you know anything about sea travel, are you prepared in combat, if you die do we get the map, and can you please get your partner to look up here?" She said motioning to her eyes glancing over at Elffe. Effle completely forgot he had all the tolerance and gave Elffe half so that he wouldn't make his peeping so obvious.

"No, somewhat, we wont, and done." Effle replied just as fast as she asked, "Do you discriminate against certain races?" He asked in turn hoping to catch her off guard and give him a true answer. She thought about it for a second then shook her head no. Effle wanted to spread his wings and fly as soon as possible but decided to wait until they set out to sea to do so. "Any place we can stay and um…" Effle said lowering his voice, "… are your bathrooms well protected?" He asked motioning at Elffe when he wasn't looking. She laughed out loud which was the nicest thing he had ever heard… with half tolerance.

"I'm Melisa, the captain, I'd ask around about the others because we have quite a variety. We'll be leaving in 5 minutes!" She said shouting the command to the crew as they moved into action. Effle saw they were disciplined and hard working which would make for a safe voyage, but wondered what would happen if they lost each other? They could be heartless and not care, or they would break down over one missing person. Both options would be bad, and Effle hoped for something moderate in between so as to maintain functionality and still have a heart. Effle turned to talk to Elffe until he realized Elffe was enjoying the view from down below to the girls now climbing up the top of the masts. Effle walked away to find something else more interesting to talk to.

Effle walked to the edge of the boat to see the take off even if there wasn't much to it. No one was on shore to wave to them and Effle realized he needed more friends. The friends he knew now he had only met but the friends with deeper relationships are the ones Effle wanted more of. They caught a gust of wind with the sails and slowly drifted away from shore. Effle saw a woman pirate still on land and realized she was from this boat; the one that walked passed them when they got on. She saw the boat was leaving and ran along the dock after it, trying hard to avoid people in her way. Effle realized they were now too far away from the dock to jump to, and Effle looked for something to throw to her. He found rope lying next to him and made sure it wasn't attached to anything before throwing one end into the water.

She realized what he was doing and ran off a group of boxes right next to the edge of the pier. She dived into the water head first and popped up not 5 yards away from the rope. Then Effle realized he was out of rope to give. The boat was speeding up, and the rope wasn't getting any longer, so Effle started to run to the back of the boat for more slack. It worked and she grabbed hold of the rope and tied it around her wrist. A second later, the distance between them ate up the remaining slack and nearly pulled Effle off the boat completely. Effle heaved the now seemingly endless rope back to him and onto the boat and in no time was helping the girl to her feet.

"Hi, I'm Effle! What's your name?" He said trying to cover how tired he was. Now she was quite beautiful; Short blue hair that fell just past her chin was dripping with water and fell in front of her face covering her eyes. She was panting heavily, hands on her knees, and that's when he noticed her outfit. Also very skimpy, it seemed just like a blue bathing suit and it was quite captivating. His eyes snapped back up to her head; ears. She had pointed fluffy ears that sagged forward due to the water atop of her head. "You're… you're a neko?" Effle was sure the woman he watched leave the boat was completely human.

The girl looked at shore, then back at the ship. "We're clear everybody!" She yelled to the crew, and they responded with several yips and cheers. The sail of the ship seemed to suddenly brighten and give off a radiant blue light that forced Effle to squint and look away. The sail flashed from bright to very bright and then faded back to its original color like nothing had ever happened in the first place.

"What was that?" Effle asked turning back to the neko, but he was suddenly very aware of her figure. She looked different, almost like there was something new to her that made her glow. Effle then noticed she had a long bushy tail that couldn't have been hidden under what little she was wearing. Effle gazed at her, totally caught off guard and then turned around to see the rest of the crew. Again he was utterly amazed. Half the crew was of different races, some nekos, some fairies, some completely normal, even one dryad girl who roamed the ship, uprooting the wood of the boat where she walked and replacing it just as it had been a second before.

"What the hell?" Elffe yelled from the middle of the boat amidst the commotion. Everyone turned to him and everything was silent. Effle gave him all the tolerance to make sure he said something reasonable, but soon regretted it. "How'd you guys do that?" Effle could hear him say almost like through a thick pane of glass in a far off distant place. He wasn't paying him much attention because everyone on the boat was a friggen angel. Effle didn't know how he was able to keep his hands off the blue haired neko standing in front of him.

The entire boat laughed and the captain showed herself again. A succubus. Effle could see Elffe pay her no attention until she addressed him directly and saw how his tolerance wavered but stood firm. Her skin was now a purplish hue but everything else seemed the same other than the obvious horns that curled backwards like a ram's head. He had thought about how she was a gold digger and that she was only looking for money, but my god she was-

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe stood with his feet planted firmly where he was standing and waited for someone to explain to him this significant occurrence. The captain stepped forward, or at least that's who he thought it was from her outfit. "Melisa I take it?" Elffe asked her and she nodded. "What exactly can your ship's sails do?" Everyone on the boat seemed to sit down like it was story time.

"It can conceal our identity for up to 1000 meters in every direction." She responded with a resounding voice that almost seemed to echo. "This ship is for those who are either rejected in their communities or are hiding from giant predators in the jungle." Elffe noticed they were picking up speed and again glanced at the sails. They billowed to their full extent and made it seem as if wind that wouldn't normally fly towards it was sucked in pushing it out even further.
"When this illusion is dispelled, we move much faster." She continued noticing his interest in the sails.
"Which means you weren't kidding when you said you don't discriminate against other races." Elffe said contemplating the situation. Elffe then noticed how Effle was- oh god. Elffe quickly redistributed the tolerance between them…

*  *  *  *  *

Effle opened his eyes and tried to comprehend the situation he had just unknowingly gotten himself into. He felt the cold touch of wet skin on his arms, and realized he was hugging the blue neko who had swum back to the boat. She was bewildered, he could tell, because she wasn't hugging him back and he could feel her heartbeat speeding up. This could get awkward…
"What are you doing?" She asked him curiously. Effle thought of the first idea that came into his mind.
"You were wet and looked like you needed a towel." Effle said stupidly.
"Well… thank you!" She said enthusiastically and hugged him tightly back. He could feel her against him and his half tolerance couldn't take the feelings he was experiencing, so… he jumped off the boat.

"Man overboard!" he could hear he neko say from the ship, muffled through the wall of water above him. The water was cold, just what he wanted, and he soon started to swim back up to the surface. Effle popped up and gasped for breath and saw the end of a rope next to him on his right. He grabbed it and was quickly pulled on board with the force of more than just one person. "What happened?" The neko asked him but stopped short and before he knew it, she was trying to take off his shirt.
"Wait, what-?" Effle asked quickly, but the crew closed in and spun him around.
"I felt something weird!" she kept saying, fumbling with the wet cloth. They finally got it off and he heard them all take a step back.

"Wings!" they shouted and gasped. Effle dropped his head and flexed his wings to their full extent, long style. The crowd behind him 'oh'ed and 'ah'ed at his bluish black wings and their odd designs as the shapes oddly moved after staring at it too long. Effle could feel Elffe feeding him the tolerance back as he turned around. The crew seemed awed and excited of his wings, but the succubus captain kept a stern face.

"Well," the captain began, "pleasure to meet you…" She slowed down.
"Effle!" the blue haired neko piped up.
"Effle." She continued. "Is this what you referred to as racial discrimination?"
"Afraid so…" Effle said to her, now able to keep his eyes above waist level.
"WE'D LOVE TO JOIN YOUR CREW!" Elffe blurted out from the back of the crowd. Half of them turned to him, and the captain continued to speak as if she wasn't interrupted.

"Unfortunately, we don't accept men into our crew," She said addressing Elffe without turning around and saying the word men like they were disgusting creatures. "However, we can cooperate until this mission is over with." Effle fed him some tolerance back as well so he wouldn't make another scene. "Map." She demanded and Elffe pulled it out of his pocket and gave it to a neko that walked over to him whom then gave it back to the captain. Things were suddenly tense all around them.

She looked at it thoroughly, then shouted to the crew, "Alright everybody! We have our heading. Back to work!" and everyone turned and left at the same time. Some of the crew lingered longer than others, like the blue neko who still had that cute smile on her face, but eventually turned and left. Effle and Elffe were left at opposite ends of the ship staring at each other. They marched up to each other in unison and exchanged their thoughts quickly.

The captain is a succubus! Something tells me they don't like fairies… They have fairies on this ship already! We should talk to the crew and learn this stuff before the mission is over. How should we deal with this tolerance issue? 50 - 50 split as usual. They're so hot! That's not like us, something's up. Try not to get attached. I'll go up high. I'll go down low. Good luck, you too.
"Break!"
"Break!" they said at the same time, and they were off.

Effle spread his wings and was caught up in the wind of the sail. He soared through the air and landed gently in the crow's nest at the very top of the ship. He was caught off guard by the beauty of the ocean all around him and stared absentmindedly at it. There was now only a small strip of land behind him just on the horizon and the sun was close to setting. He sat down, wings fluttering in the wind gently and waited for something interesting to happen. It usually worked out that way anyway…

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe walked over to the deck's hatch to go underneath, but it was locked probably because of him in the first place. He walked instead to the front of the ship, which took him longer than he thought. It was a big boat, but not as big as some of the others he had seen. He wandered to the very front edge of the ship, strange girls swinging around him and pulling ropes this way and that. The more Elffe watched, the more he thought they were only fulfilling time consuming tasks. He noted this and tried to hold one of them down and get them to talk, but they were all too 'busy'. Elffe tried a new tactic and shouted out to everyone around him how he could help, and they immediately started teaching him which ropes to pull and when. Elffe was just getting the hang of it when the captain walked by and all the girls seemed to fall away from him. She kept walking and the crew breathed sighs of relief.

"What's up with your captain?" He said chuckling, fighting with a knot in the rope. The crew made sure the captain wasn't within earshot before they whispered to him.
"She has a thing against guys," a red eyed human was saying.
"… Especially fairy guys!" Another short haired, blond human whispered quickly. They all grew silent and the captain walked past them again.
"But why?" Effle asked quickly kneeling down as soon as she was gone again. They all looked at each other hesitantly. Finally one purple haired neko with strangely dark eyes nodded and kneeled down next to him.
"We're not exactly supposed to be telling you this but…"

*  *  *  *  *

"Pretty, isn't it?" Effle jumped when he heard the voice next to him. He looked over and saw the blue haired neko perched like a cat on the mast next to him. He relaxed and looked back at the water.
"It is…" A warm breeze blew past him and his wings fluttered happily. Effle thought he could smell some sort of flower in the air and it made then entire scene more… peaceful.
"I wanted to thank you for getting me back on the boat. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't…" She trailed off. Effle wondered if he could get answers from this girl and turned to her, back against the wooden pole behind him.
"How did you end up on this boat?" Effle asked, admiring her in the setting sun's light; her bushy blue tail, glistening blue eyes and her hair that was the same color as the ocean.

"Our captain…" She sighed and turned to him. "Have you ever wanted to live so badly you would do anything to survive?" It was a startling question and Effle thought about it. He had lived his entire life with his teleporting abilities and could always escape the worst situations. He always had his ticket out, so he couldn't relate to what she was asking. He nodded anyway thinking how it might've been like Elffe's first desire to live for revenge. "I was about to be eaten." She said suddenly. "The captain saved me. She froze the fairy that was about to eat me and asked if I wanted to live more than anything else in the world." She looked at him directly. "I… said yes."

"Now you're here on this ship?" Effle asked now thoroughly interested.
"She gave us our 'perfect forms'," she said motioning to herself and Effle couldn't deny that they were in every way perfect. "And now we have to serve on this ship until we have enough loot to satisfy the captain."
"Sounds like a Pirates of the Caribbean movie…"
"What?"
"Nothing, what does she have against fairies?" Effle asked intently. "The captain didn't care for us until you saw my wings, and then things were tense."
"Oh, that…"

She moved closer to him, now within an arms reach. "She had a close encounter with a giant male fairy and nearly died. She has hated them ever since. She didn't say how or why and likes to keep that stuff to herself."
"Are there any drawbacks to being perfect?" Effle asked changing the subject again. She smiled and moved closer again.
She sat in his lap, the two of them facing each other. Her hands slid behind his ears and held his head and his tolerance was next to nothing, "Thanks again… for everything…" Her hands moved lower to his shoulders… and lower to his stomach… and lower…

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe was confused now. "So… it's like she owns your souls?"
"Not exactly," the red eyed human responded, balancing on a wire to untie a knot she had found. "But that's the best way to put it. We can roam from the ship about 1000 meters before the illusion wears off, then we will either be harassed to death, or eaten by a predator."
"-'cause we taste so good." The purple haired neko whispered to his ear sending chills down his spine.
"How have you guys not been eaten out at sea? There have to be some predators around here as well."
"Well, we never went out too far 'till today. And as long as we stay on the boat, we should be fine. This girl still has several tricks up her sleeve." She patted the boat enthusiastically.

Elffe was about to ask another question when his link with Effle flared. Emotions, mostly confused, rushed into his head making it impossible to concentrate or focus on anything. "Effle QUIT IT!" He yelled mentally, and as he did, the entire ship rocked to the side. Creaking wood could be heard in every inch of the ship as the boat reached a dangerous angle and then righted itself. Nobody moved. "Effle was that you?" Elffe thought to him quickly.
"Of course not, was it you?"
"… No…"
"… O god…"

*  *  *  *  *

Effle sat against the pole in total fear. He could see the enormous shadow drifting through the water. The blue neko clung to him as well watching the shadow with a fear even he could feel. The boat rocking nearly sent him falling into the water and was lucky enough to already be holding onto the pole tightly. He quickly looked around and saw everyone on the boat, the captain rushed up from the under deck and started shouting orders to everyone and Elffe stood slowly while the rest of the crew moved closer to him. Effle looked back at the shadow and saw how it moved under the boat to the other end. "It's coming around!" Effle yelled as he gripped the pole even tighter.

*  *  *  *  *

The captain rushed out from under the deck. "Nobody fall off the ship! We're safe if no one leaves!"
The crew whispered to themselves quickly and quietly, "It must've been that fairy falling out of the boat that drew it here!"
"The shield will hold, right?" Elffe turned around.
"What shield?" Elffe asked the red eyed human next to him.
"The sails can do that." She replied without looking at him, "As long as everyone is in the boat, it can protect us."
"Geez, can the sails do anything else?" Just then the entire boat rocked violently casting the crew sideways. Elffe heard a scream from above him and he looked up so fast he heard his neck crack.

*  *  *  *  *

Effle sat still trying to think straight. He never thought he would be this afraid of the deep water, but it was getting to him. The boat suddenly lurched sideways and nearly threw him off the boat entirely. He held the pole tightly but the neko on top of him wasn't so lucky. She fell off him and slid out to open air. Effle saw a horrified look on her face and he reacted instinctively as she screamed. He leaped forward and grabbed her wrist, his legs still wrapped around the pole behind him. The boat wavered but didn't correct its self. His legs were slipping, and they were both dangling over the ocean; he couldn't hold on much longer.

The shadow in the water erupted and a giantess rose out of the water. Effle nearly dropped her in his hands he was so stunned. It was a sort of octopus thing, half women, half octopus and it was… intimidating. She was maybe twice the size of the boat and could easily fit a person in one hand. He could hear the neko scream again but this time muffled and farther away. He could see her long purple hair slick from the water dripping off it and was caught in her dark purple eyes. She eyed the entire boat and quickly swept over all of the crew. Her eyes lingered longer over the captain, Effle and Elffe that he would like to remember. She lowered her head to the deck and gazed at them all, leaning closer to the boat for any comfort. She quickly retracted after a flash of light from the sails blared at her directly.

The captain slowed and stared as much as Elffe was but then snapped to attention. "Get the guns! Use the cannons! GO, GO, GO!" Effle couldn't move his eyes away from the octopus. "Shoot the Chlaena down!" Effle picked up the words without focusing.
"A chlaena…" Effle heard another scream. It was the neko; he was losing his hold and directly below them was open sea. He was having a hard time piecing things together, but if she fell, the shield would be broken, and she would eat them all… "Ah!" Effle 'woke up' and heaved with all his might to lift the neko back up to any ground. He tried as hard as he could, but made no progress. His wings were of no help with the wind in the sails and only helped to loosen his hold on the pole behind him. He again looked at the chlaena and was again quickly captivated.

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe was stunned. That was a frightening sight to see and witness and he was struck deeply. She looked at everyone and especially at him longer than most; quite unnerving. When the captain started shouting he wasn't quite absorbing all the info. "Wait… what's a gun?" The crew pushed past him and he stumbled forward still watching the 'chlaena', apparently. She tried to reach out and grab one of the crew, but a flash of blue light from the sails sent her retracting her hand quickly like it burned her. This is when he became aware of Effle hanging over ocean. "The shield… O snap!" Elffe rushed with the crowd to get a 'gun' thingy. The chlaena had taken an interest in the blue haired neko Effle was holding onto and make Elffe very nervous. Then, he had an idea…

*  *  *  *  *

Effle tried to concentrate on the blue neko he was holding on to but was very hard to do when the chlaena moved within a yard of him. She was licking her lips dramatically and she stared into his eyes. "Let her go… Join me in the water…" Effle knew she wasn't talking to him but he could hear her in his head… weird. He nearly let go of the neko and again snapped to attention. He looked past her and saw the water churning; tentacles were holding the boat at an angle so it wouldn't level out. Then he spotted Elffe. He was motioning frantically but he had no idea what he was trying to say. There were too many distractions to hear him telepathically and Effle was at a loss of what to do. Elffe stopped moving and put his hands up to his head then yelled with a voice that snapped him out of his daydreams.

"APPLE!"

"Apple…" Effle repeated to himself trying to think. "Apple… Apple. Apple!" Effle started yelling excitedly. He thought 'big' and he could feel the apple appear in his apple pouch. Gravity forced it to roll out and into his other free hand but it slipped out of his fingers and fell past him. He didn't quite know how it happened, but the neko grabbed the apple out of the air and after taking one foul look at it, took one large bite. "Wait… that can't be good…" Effle thought to himself; she must've thought he was passing it to her. Effle watched as she dropped the apple and it was lost to the sea. She looked up at him in astonishment as she started to grow, a look of horror crossing her face as Effle loosened his grip. He let go completely and a shallow shriek emitted from her mouth as she went under the blue water.

The sails flashed a dull blue, and then dimmed back to ordinary white and the chlaena sprung into action. She grabbed the first person she could, a red haired and shockingly red eyed human and dangled her in front of her face, admiring her figure. Meanwhile, her tentacles slithered up to the deck and probed the ship looking for anyone standing still for too long. He saw Elffe come out of the lower deck holding an odd looking piece of metal and saw how he was trying to hold it correctly. There was too much chaos for Effle to focus, but when his feet slipped and he fell clear off the mast he sprang back into action.

His wings expanded and carried him just above the deck and back into the air. He circled the boat entirely and saw how the chlaena was nearly twice the size of the boat and how she could easily devour them all of not stopped. He flew at her hand at full speed in a dive where she was still holding the human. He grabbed her out of her fingers and flew higher than she would be able to reach. He could hear her roar of frustration behind him but he had no time to think about it; he was falling back to Earth. When he turned around, he could see how she had quickly turned her attention back to the boat and pick up another candidate, this time a short blond haired human. But what was more interesting then her victim was the bubbling water underneath her. Effle could barely hear the red eyed human yelling at him until he realized he was holding her- "Ah!" He yelled, nearly dropping her altogether and swooped back to the boat letting her off over the deck.

Effle landed and ran to Elffe whom was on top of some crates stacked on top of each other. "How do I use this thing?!" Elffe shouted at him and everyone around him. The captain ran up from behind him and tore it out of his hands, pointing it at the chlaena and pulling a tiny lever underneath. It let out a surprisingly loud boom and a small puff of smoke, but nothing seemed to happen after that. She tried to insert something into it and clicked some other lever back when she saw the chlaena had another one of her crew. She swore and threw it to the ground, running off again to one of the large black cannons. Elffe picked it up and held it like she did; this time up to eye level as he pulled the lever again. Again the boom was heard and Elffe nearly dropped it. "Ha!" he yelled in excitement; the chlaena gave another roar and he could see a line of red blood trickle down her arm. "I like this thing!"

Effle turned around just in time to see a tentacle swing around at him. He pulled out his dagger and slashed at it without thinking. He could hear the chlaena give off another roar and the tentacle retracted to the water even though the dagger left no visible mark. Effle turned again and more tentacles sprung up to meet him. There were too many and he was soon knocked over and was nearly overwhelmed all together and Effle saw out of the corner of his eye that the symbols on his dagger were full, but there was a great splash of water that soaked the entire deck in water and knocked him further away. The tentacles froze as did everyone on the ship. They all looked up to see a giant blue haired neko wrestling with the chlaena vigorously, freeing the blond human and kicking the octopus away from the boat. She was so big herself he could hear the wood splinter, but she wasn't as big as the chlaena and fit nicely on the deck. The tentacles retreated and the neko attacked again with a rage that impressed Effle.

"FIRE!" The captain screamed as the cannons went off and impaled themselves into the chlaena just barely missing the neko. Effle ran off the boat and flew towards the now sinking neko and chlaena and landed on the neko's shoulder.

"We need to go!" He yelled at her, "They're gonna shoot you too!" She kicked off the octopus in response. Both giantesses fell under the water and Effle just managed to get back into the air before she dragged him down with her. He soared higher and saw the two separating with the neko heading back to the ship. The cannons on the ship continued to fire and sent the chlaena swimming away as quickly as she came. Effle angled back towards the boat and landed lightly next to the giant neko who took up an entire side of the ship. She was panting heavily and pulled her feet onto the deck and out of the water. The sails again glistened blue and were again filled with air. Effle fell on his back and gazed up at the quickly darkening sky. "Too much excitement for one day…"

*  *  *  *  *

After quite a long lecture on how male fairies were a bad omen and a recount on the crew, they laid anchor in the middle of the ocean. The sun had set completely and the moon was full. They had all retreated to their separate sleeping corridors and the giant neko stretched out on the deck, covering nearly two thirds of the entire ship. Had Elffe not taken all the tolerance to talk to the captain, he would've changed her back on the spot, but she was so sexy as she was now he told her he could change her back by morning. He hanged around her head as it was awkward being anywhere else and talked all night long.

Her name was Mira and she used to be a lone adventurer. Her favorite color was cyan which was the color of her fur in the moonlight and was why she preferred her new lifestyle near the blue waters than that of the jungle. She told him the story of the male fairy that nearly ate her and how it was the scariest moment of her life. Effle told her about his family being half dryad and how he was split up from them. He explained to her his several abilities like an obsessive need to fold origami and his terrible dagger's power, the 'Roar of Repression'. As the night carried on, Effle became more and more sleepy and fell asleep against her neck in a sitting position and hoped it was okay with Mira. It had been such a long day, his head slumped to one side and his vision went dark… "Good… night…"

Effle didn't quite know how long it had been since he'd fallen asleep, but the next thing he knew was being yanked upward into the air by his shirt. "Whoa… what?" He half yawned half yelled confusedly. He rubbed his eyes vigorously and saw it was already morning.
"Wake up sleepy head!" Mira said to him happily holding him up to her face. If it wasn't Mira, he would've been nervous at his distance to her mouth. The captain was at her side and watching him intently. Effle assumed she woke him on purpose for the captain's reasons.
"Morning!" He said still a little sleepily. He thought 'small' and the blue colored apple appeared in his pocket. "Open wide!" he said and she did as he commanded. He threw the apple at her and she swallowed it whole and set him down next to the captain.

"We are approaching the coordinates on your map and we want you to scout from the air to speed our trip up a bit." She said walking past him as Mira shrank to normal size again. "And please, no more chlaenas this time." She added rather sarcastically. He waved to Mira before spreading his wings and was caught up in the sail's wind. He floated in mid air high above the boat for a moment, enjoying the warm summer breeze then gazed out around the ocean. There was an island off to his far left and the only one in sight. He whistled loudly to the captain and signaled the location to her. The boat slowly changed direction and sped off as he landed. He walked back over to Mira and asked;

"Anything I can do…"

*  *  *  *  *

"… to help?" Elffe asked the red eyed woman. It was the first time he was allowed to go below the deck and see the crew's living quarters since last night. Elffe had spent all night trying to convince her to let him go below deck for a place to sleep mainly because he had given most of his tolerance to Effle when the chlaena showed up. She finally gave in and brought him down the wide creaky floorboards to a long hallway. There were doors on either side of him with names carved into them when he turned left, some more elegantly than others, and when he looked to the right, there were storage cabinets where they kept the weird 'gun' things and things that went into them called 'bullets'. She had showed him to her room and that's when he learned her name was Heather and most things to know about her.

Her room was small, meant for only one person, but he managed. There was a dresser, a fold-open changing wall and a mirror on one side, but she had no reflection. She was a semi-vampire; no drinking blood, and no dissolving in the sun, but she liked dark places and did have unusually long fangs as well as a keen eye. She loved the color red (no surprise) and was nearly killed by a giant male naga maybe three years ago. She said she was trying to seduce him and capture him but when he realized what she was doing he went berserk and ate one or two of her squad she was with. Right before she was eaten, the succubus froze him and asked her the same question she does to all the people she saves. "And I was one of the first, except for that dryad that lives somewhere around here, I can never tell." She was explaining to him behind the changing wall. Effle had given him back most of the tolerance by then, so he had no desire to peep when her clothes flew up above the top rack.

Elffe told her about himself, mostly from Effle's point of view because they were technically the same person and his was more interesting. Heather didn't actually sleep and he therefore slept on her cot when he was too tired to talk any more. When he awoke, Heather was waiting for him and brought him to the casual area below the living quarters. He ran into everyone again and then asked if he could do anything to help. Because it was the casual area though, there was never anything to do and he felt rather stupid for asking. The area was dark and musty, but there were several chairs, lights, a bar and hanging treasures with different abilities to them.

"Hey guys, we're nearing the island and Melisa wants us to gear up for jungle scouting." The dryad said to everyone, hanging sideways out of the wall in the entrance.
"Me too?" Elffe asked her, wondering if he could possibly use a gun again.
"Why not?" She said cheerfully and drifted upward through the ceiling leaving no marks that she was there to begin with. That was cool. Heather pulled him by the arm down one more hatch into the lowest room of the ship, but by far the largest. It was a narrow ceiling, but there were racks and shelves of several weapons and armor Elffe had never seen before. Most of the crew ignored half the stuff and walked over to places he assumed they had rehearsed several times before. Elffe thought this to Effle as well as the new areas on the ship; it may be important later. He quickly grabbed a gun about the size of his dagger and an odd looking belt with several containers on it filled with bullets. Heather finally showed him the proper way to use a gun and Elffe communicated it all back to Effle as he heard it. He and the entire crew filed out of the armory and back up to the deck.

The sun was blinding when he first opened the hatch, but his eyes quickly adjusted unlike Heather who continued to squint for a good ten minutes afterwards. He saw the island in sight and wondered for the longest time if they would find any… unwanted company. He saw Effle with his long blue butterfly wings and slightly envied him but quickly got over it; he didn't want to be Effle. He hooked his gun at his side and saw out of the corner of his eye his dagger and its blue glowing symbols. Those must've been charging for weeks, maybe years and could have very devastating effects on everyone. He put it out of his mind and stood next to Effle who was just about to listen to a speech the captain had prepared. He zoned out thought after the first few sentences when he saw the island.

There was a tall wall of trees about ten yards away from the water closely packed together. He couldn't see past them and maybe about five feet fast the first wall there was an unusual darkness about the place. Elffe had a bad feeling about this…

*  *  *  *  *

Effle didn't pay much attention to Melisa's speech because it wasn't directed at them; this was their map, but the crew's adventure. She talked about positions, and partners and he perked up when he heard his name called with Mira and Elffe called with Heather. Effle turned around and slapped Elffe on the forehead, absorbing all his memories and the unimportant details he had experienced. "I wonder if I could float through the ceiling, y'know, being half dryad and all…" He said absent mindedly.
"Wait, I'm paired with Heather?" Elffe asked excitedly, rubbing his forehead quickly. Mira smiled at Effle and he smiled back, but the upcoming forest caught his attention. He didn't like not being able to fly, especially in the presence of friends, and the forest wasn't too inviting with its dark congested trees.

The boat dragged itself onto the sand and the crew lined up in formation, Mira and Heather standing next to Effle and Elffe in the rear. The captain was at the front and motioned the crew to move into the forest. Wood sprouted from the boat and made a nice walkway to the shore and everyone marched out, the dryad staying behind and waving them off. "Alright everyone…" The captain yelled for everyone to hear.

"Let's MOVE!"

*  *  *  *  *

Description
On the shores of eastern Felarya, just around the corner, a harbor sits in resolute contempt, defying that of its dangerous surroundings and envying those who dare to disturb it. It was a quiet place next to the aqua blue waters and sandy beaches, probably what everyone would think of as… safe. But don't let this image sway you; it still has its many terrors and secrets that would be better off left undiscovered.

A ship was coming into the ports. With two tall masts and blue sails the color of the clear, sunny sky, it lurched suddenly to a stop on the pier. Its main cannons stood firm, four to each side, intimidating the people who stand against them. It wasn't exactly a war vessel, but it had its secrets. The crew onboard, mostly female for many good reasons, unloaded their vessel of its riches and goods to sell to the people and buy something just as shiny to replace it in turn. They were making good money and today, good time.

Was it fate that this vessel heard of an extraordinary tale about treasure buried in a small, island not too far from them? And was it fate that this was where our journey began? The crew wandered into the tavern of the small fishing village not far from their vessel to spread their tales of adventure and questionable encounters. It was here that the captain of this ship heard the fateful news of a secret something buried far away on 'uncharted lands'. This was usually a good break to get to an island before anyone had ever tried to brave its dungeons or creatures and get the first cut of the usually large loot.

After waking up from a strange and mysterious dream which uncovered most about his past, Effle and Elffe vacationed to this area to escape city life and that of the dangerous jungle. What better place to be free of both than out on the water? Unfortunately they were quite mistaken, as there was more chaos out there in the wild sea then back in their apartment. Effle received a map from his most beloved friend Melany who had got it from her friend Subeta (whom Elffe had the pleasure of nearly being eaten by) who found it off a couple of overconfident would-be explorers taking their chance at jungle exploring. This map was said to lead to an uncharted island off the east coast of Felarya to an undiscovered cache of gold and gadgets. In exchange for this map, Effle promised to bring back any strange items he found along the way that might spark her interest. She was sure that this cache was untouched and that there was almost a 100% chance they would find at least one thing of value.

Effle and Elffe, however, had a problem. They had no ticket to the deep waters, and unless they wanted to take a rowboat that could only hold two people, which they had no idea how to use, they had to hitch hike. In order to do this and get from the mainland to their destination, they had to brag. Effle didn't like bragging because it made him seem like an ignorant jerk, but his counter part had no problem letting the world know of their strange fortune trail. Elffe quickly had the entire tavern at his shoulders listening intently to his wildly spun tail of facing off against two giant fairies and a naga to save the damsel in distress whom had given him the map afterwards.

"How did you get away?" One of the men in the crowd shouted.
"Well, no luck involved, I can tell you that! Lucky for me, though, I had the best partner around!" Elffe motioned to Effle and he gave a sad excuse of a wave, blushing furiously. The crowd cheered for him and… it felt good. Effle jumped in on the story as well and expanded their ridiculous exaggerations even further.
"Don't even get me started on the dridder!" Effle was saying loudly, the crowd erupting with laughs. He laughed along but was tapped on the shoulder gently and turned around.

A pirate looking woman stood before him who, had he no tolerance, would've made him wet his pants on the spot. She had short black hair and a very (might I stress 'very') skimpy outfit. She had her own group of men behind her drooling openly at her figure and he couldn't blame them. Effle was lucky Elffe wasn't looking or he'd be trapped under her 'spell' as well. She had dark brown eyes he could see his reflection in and a somewhat malicious smile that made him question her motives. He was about to talk when she put one finger to his lips, silencing him. His moral nearly broke, but he held steadfast; there were plenty of people he had inadvertently been practicing on to keep his sanity and was sure he wouldn't break here.

"I have a proposition for you," She said seductively. Again, Effle wavered. "About your map." Effle's resolve hardened; she was after money. Was there no honest girl out there? "We will provide you a ride and safe passage as long as we get 75% of the loot." Effle was planning to just take whatever he could carry and leave so he had no problem with amounts. He nodded slowly. "One hour by the docks, our sails are the bluest you've ever seen. Can't miss it." She walked away and had Effle not thought her just a gold digger he would've watched, but he looked away quickly to tell Elffe the news.

*  *  *  *  *

"75%?!?" Elffe yelled as they wandered the wide streets to the harbor with Effle. "Are you insane?" He continued to rant for a while and Effle stopped listening. Unfortunately he started communicating telepathically to him too and he was forced to pay attention. "I don't mean to be greedy, but I WANNA BE GREEDY! Don't you think we deserve more than just 25%? It's OUR map, who do they think they are?" They turned the corner and the harbor was in sight. "When they fight two fairies, a naga and a dridder, they can take more!"
"Elffe, we never actually did that and they probably have." Effle said trying to get him to stop, but he was on a roll and didn't let up for a breath.

They approached the boat with the brightest blue sails they could find which wasn't hard because every other boat had white or black sails so it kind of stuck out. Elffe continued to rant as Effle walked aboard but slowed down as the first lady crew walked past them on shore. She had blue hair and waved to them when she saw they were both staring. "Um, Effle, who do we work for again?" Elffe said watching her until she turned a corner and was lost in the crowds. They stepped onto the deck and Elffe was absolutely silent. Effle had selfishly kept his tolerance to himself so as not to be easily persuaded by anyone but that meant the opposite for Elffe. "Y'know, I think 25% is a good deal for us!"

The captain walked up to them and Effle heard Elffe telepathically, "MAYBE WE SHOULD GIVE IT TO THEM FOR FREE, HOLY-" He cut him out. She walked up to Effle and looked him up and down speculatively. Effle refused to describe the type of disgusting out fit she wore because-

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe stared like he had never seen a woman before. Her 'pants' were so tiny he could've sworn it was just a black thong proving much more difficult to talk to her with out being distracted or pretending to listen. She was wearing a tank top that just managed to cover her chest with… no… bra… on, and her short jet-black hair that was swung back by the abusive wind was so sleek in the sunlight he could've seen his reflection in it had he tried. Her brown eyes were captivating, sure, but not as captivating as her ridiculous curves or the way she walked. She was talking to Effle, but he couldn't hear a word she was saying. Elffe wanted nothing more than to just smack-

*  *  *  *  *

-it was morally unjust. What kind of person would do such a thing? Effle wasn't sure what use that outfit would have in combat but didn't speculate on it enough to see Elffe next to him. She took a deep breath. "Do you know anything about sea travel, are you prepared in combat, if you die do we get the map, and can you please get your partner to look up here?" She said motioning to her eyes glancing over at Elffe. Effle completely forgot he had all the tolerance and gave Elffe half so that he wouldn't make his peeping so obvious.

"No, somewhat, we wont, and done." Effle replied just as fast as she asked, "Do you discriminate against certain races?" He asked in turn hoping to catch her off guard and give him a true answer. She thought about it for a second then shook her head no. Effle wanted to spread his wings and fly as soon as possible but decided to wait until they set out to sea to do so. "Any place we can stay and um…" Effle said lowering his voice, "… are your bathrooms well protected?" He asked motioning at Elffe when he wasn't looking. She laughed out loud which was the nicest thing he had ever heard… with half tolerance.

"I'm Melisa, the captain, I'd ask around about the others because we have quite a variety. We'll be leaving in 5 minutes!" She said shouting the command to the crew as they moved into action. Effle saw they were disciplined and hard working which would make for a safe voyage, but wondered what would happen if they lost each other? They could be heartless and not care, or they would break down over one missing person. Both options would be bad, and Effle hoped for something moderate in between so as to maintain functionality and still have a heart. Effle turned to talk to Elffe until he realized Elffe was enjoying the view from down below to the girls now climbing up the top of the masts. Effle walked away to find something else more interesting to talk to.

Effle walked to the edge of the boat to see the take off even if there wasn't much to it. No one was on shore to wave to them and Effle realized he needed more friends. The friends he knew now he had only met but the friends with deeper relationships are the ones Effle wanted more of. They caught a gust of wind with the sails and slowly drifted away from shore. Effle saw a woman pirate still on land and realized she was from this boat; the one that walked passed them when they got on. She saw the boat was leaving and ran along the dock after it, trying hard to avoid people in her way. Effle realized they were now too far away from the dock to jump to, and Effle looked for something to throw to her. He found rope lying next to him and made sure it wasn't attached to anything before throwing one end into the water.

She realized what he was doing and ran off a group of boxes right next to the edge of the pier. She dived into the water head first and popped up not 5 yards away from the rope. Then Effle realized he was out of rope to give. The boat was speeding up, and the rope wasn't getting any longer, so Effle started to run to the back of the boat for more slack. It worked and she grabbed hold of the rope and tied it around her wrist. A second later, the distance between them ate up the remaining slack and nearly pulled Effle off the boat completely. Effle heaved the now seemingly endless rope back to him and onto the boat and in no time was helping the girl to her feet.

"Hi, I'm Effle! What's your name?" He said trying to cover how tired he was. Now she was quite beautiful; Short blue hair that fell just past her chin was dripping with water and fell in front of her face covering her eyes. She was panting heavily, hands on her knees, and that's when he noticed her outfit. Also very skimpy, it seemed just like a blue bathing suit and it was quite captivating. His eyes snapped back up to her head; ears. She had pointed fluffy ears that sagged forward due to the water atop of her head. "You're… you're a neko?" Effle was sure the woman he watched leave the boat was completely human.

The girl looked at shore, then back at the ship. "We're clear everybody!" She yelled to the crew, and they responded with several yips and cheers. The sail of the ship seemed to suddenly brighten and give off a radiant blue light that forced Effle to squint and look away. The sail flashed from bright to very bright and then faded back to its original color like nothing had ever happened in the first place.

"What was that?" Effle asked turning back to the neko, but he was suddenly very aware of her figure. She looked different, almost like there was something new to her that made her glow. Effle then noticed she had a long bushy tail that couldn't have been hidden under what little she was wearing. Effle gazed at her, totally caught off guard and then turned around to see the rest of the crew. Again he was utterly amazed. Half the crew was of different races, some nekos, some fairies, some completely normal, even one dryad girl who roamed the ship, uprooting the wood of the boat where she walked and replacing it just as it had been a second before.

"What the hell?" Elffe yelled from the middle of the boat amidst the commotion. Everyone turned to him and everything was silent. Effle gave him all the tolerance to make sure he said something reasonable, but soon regretted it. "How'd you guys do that?" Effle could hear him say almost like through a thick pane of glass in a far off distant place. He wasn't paying him much attention because everyone on the boat was a friggen angel. Effle didn't know how he was able to keep his hands off the blue haired neko standing in front of him.

The entire boat laughed and the captain showed herself again. A succubus. Effle could see Elffe pay her no attention until she addressed him directly and saw how his tolerance wavered but stood firm. Her skin was now a purplish hue but everything else seemed the same other than the obvious horns that curled backwards like a ram's head. He had thought about how she was a gold digger and that she was only looking for money, but my god she was-

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe stood with his feet planted firmly where he was standing and waited for someone to explain to him this significant occurrence. The captain stepped forward, or at least that's who he thought it was from her outfit. "Melisa I take it?" Elffe asked her and she nodded. "What exactly can your ship's sails do?" Everyone on the boat seemed to sit down like it was story time.

"It can conceal our identity for up to 1000 meters in every direction." She responded with a resounding voice that almost seemed to echo. "This ship is for those who are either rejected in their communities or are hiding from giant predators in the jungle." Elffe noticed they were picking up speed and again glanced at the sails. They billowed to their full extent and made it seem as if wind that wouldn't normally fly towards it was sucked in pushing it out even further.
"When this illusion is dispelled, we move much faster." She continued noticing his interest in the sails.
"Which means you weren't kidding when you said you don't discriminate against other races." Elffe said contemplating the situation. Elffe then noticed how Effle was- oh god. Elffe quickly redistributed the tolerance between them…

*  *  *  *  *

Effle opened his eyes and tried to comprehend the situation he had just unknowingly gotten himself into. He felt the cold touch of wet skin on his arms, and realized he was hugging the blue neko who had swum back to the boat. She was bewildered, he could tell, because she wasn't hugging him back and he could feel her heartbeat speeding up. This could get awkward…
"What are you doing?" She asked him curiously. Effle thought of the first idea that came into his mind.
"You were wet and looked like you needed a towel." Effle said stupidly.
"Well… thank you!" She said enthusiastically and hugged him tightly back. He could feel her against him and his half tolerance couldn't take the feelings he was experiencing, so… he jumped off the boat.

"Man overboard!" he could hear he neko say from the ship, muffled through the wall of water above him. The water was cold, just what he wanted, and he soon started to swim back up to the surface. Effle popped up and gasped for breath and saw the end of a rope next to him on his right. He grabbed it and was quickly pulled on board with the force of more than just one person. "What happened?" The neko asked him but stopped short and before he knew it, she was trying to take off his shirt.
"Wait, what-?" Effle asked quickly, but the crew closed in and spun him around.
"I felt something weird!" she kept saying, fumbling with the wet cloth. They finally got it off and he heard them all take a step back.

"Wings!" they shouted and gasped. Effle dropped his head and flexed his wings to their full extent, long style. The crowd behind him 'oh'ed and 'ah'ed at his bluish black wings and their odd designs as the shapes oddly moved after staring at it too long. Effle could feel Elffe feeding him the tolerance back as he turned around. The crew seemed awed and excited of his wings, but the succubus captain kept a stern face.

"Well," the captain began, "pleasure to meet you…" She slowed down.
"Effle!" the blue haired neko piped up.
"Effle." She continued. "Is this what you referred to as racial discrimination?"
"Afraid so…" Effle said to her, now able to keep his eyes above waist level.
"WE'D LOVE TO JOIN YOUR CREW!" Elffe blurted out from the back of the crowd. Half of them turned to him, and the captain continued to speak as if she wasn't interrupted.

"Unfortunately, we don't accept men into our crew," She said addressing Elffe without turning around and saying the word men like they were disgusting creatures. "However, we can cooperate until this mission is over with." Effle fed him some tolerance back as well so he wouldn't make another scene. "Map." She demanded and Elffe pulled it out of his pocket and gave it to a neko that walked over to him whom then gave it back to the captain. Things were suddenly tense all around them.

She looked at it thoroughly, then shouted to the crew, "Alright everybody! We have our heading. Back to work!" and everyone turned and left at the same time. Some of the crew lingered longer than others, like the blue neko who still had that cute smile on her face, but eventually turned and left. Effle and Elffe were left at opposite ends of the ship staring at each other. They marched up to each other in unison and exchanged their thoughts quickly.

The captain is a succubus! Something tells me they don't like fairies… They have fairies on this ship already! We should talk to the crew and learn this stuff before the mission is over. How should we deal with this tolerance issue? 50 - 50 split as usual. They're so hot! That's not like us, something's up. Try not to get attached. I'll go up high. I'll go down low. Good luck, you too.
"Break!"
"Break!" they said at the same time, and they were off.

Effle spread his wings and was caught up in the wind of the sail. He soared through the air and landed gently in the crow's nest at the very top of the ship. He was caught off guard by the beauty of the ocean all around him and stared absentmindedly at it. There was now only a small strip of land behind him just on the horizon and the sun was close to setting. He sat down, wings fluttering in the wind gently and waited for something interesting to happen. It usually worked out that way anyway…

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe walked over to the deck's hatch to go underneath, but it was locked probably because of him in the first place. He walked instead to the front of the ship, which took him longer than he thought. It was a big boat, but not as big as some of the others he had seen. He wandered to the very front edge of the ship, strange girls swinging around him and pulling ropes this way and that. The more Elffe watched, the more he thought they were only fulfilling time consuming tasks. He noted this and tried to hold one of them down and get them to talk, but they were all too 'busy'. Elffe tried a new tactic and shouted out to everyone around him how he could help, and they immediately started teaching him which ropes to pull and when. Elffe was just getting the hang of it when the captain walked by and all the girls seemed to fall away from him. She kept walking and the crew breathed sighs of relief.

"What's up with your captain?" He said chuckling, fighting with a knot in the rope. The crew made sure the captain wasn't within earshot before they whispered to him.
"She has a thing against guys," a red eyed human was saying.
"… Especially fairy guys!" Another short haired, blond human whispered quickly. They all grew silent and the captain walked past them again.
"But why?" Effle asked quickly kneeling down as soon as she was gone again. They all looked at each other hesitantly. Finally one purple haired neko with strangely dark eyes nodded and kneeled down next to him.
"We're not exactly supposed to be telling you this but…"

*  *  *  *  *

"Pretty, isn't it?" Effle jumped when he heard the voice next to him. He looked over and saw the blue haired neko perched like a cat on the mast next to him. He relaxed and looked back at the water.
"It is…" A warm breeze blew past him and his wings fluttered happily. Effle thought he could smell some sort of flower in the air and it made then entire scene more… peaceful.
"I wanted to thank you for getting me back on the boat. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't…" She trailed off. Effle wondered if he could get answers from this girl and turned to her, back against the wooden pole behind him.
"How did you end up on this boat?" Effle asked, admiring her in the setting sun's light; her bushy blue tail, glistening blue eyes and her hair that was the same color as the ocean.

"Our captain…" She sighed and turned to him. "Have you ever wanted to live so badly you would do anything to survive?" It was a startling question and Effle thought about it. He had lived his entire life with his teleporting abilities and could always escape the worst situations. He always had his ticket out, so he couldn't relate to what she was asking. He nodded anyway thinking how it might've been like Elffe's first desire to live for revenge. "I was about to be eaten." She said suddenly. "The captain saved me. She froze the fairy that was about to eat me and asked if I wanted to live more than anything else in the world." She looked at him directly. "I… said yes."

"Now you're here on this ship?" Effle asked now thoroughly interested.
"She gave us our 'perfect forms'," she said motioning to herself and Effle couldn't deny that they were in every way perfect. "And now we have to serve on this ship until we have enough loot to satisfy the captain."
"Sounds like a Pirates of the Caribbean movie…"
"What?"
"Nothing, what does she have against fairies?" Effle asked intently. "The captain didn't care for us until you saw my wings, and then things were tense."
"Oh, that…"

She moved closer to him, now within an arms reach. "She had a close encounter with a giant male fairy and nearly died. She has hated them ever since. She didn't say how or why and likes to keep that stuff to herself."
"Are there any drawbacks to being perfect?" Effle asked changing the subject again. She smiled and moved closer again.
She sat in his lap, the two of them facing each other. Her hands slid behind his ears and held his head and his tolerance was next to nothing, "Thanks again… for everything…" Her hands moved lower to his shoulders… and lower to his stomach… and lower…

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe was confused now. "So… it's like she owns your souls?"
"Not exactly," the red eyed human responded, balancing on a wire to untie a knot she had found. "But that's the best way to put it. We can roam from the ship about 1000 meters before the illusion wears off, then we will either be harassed to death, or eaten by a predator."
"-'cause we taste so good." The purple haired neko whispered to his ear sending chills down his spine.
"How have you guys not been eaten out at sea? There have to be some predators around here as well."
"Well, we never went out too far 'till today. And as long as we stay on the boat, we should be fine. This girl still has several tricks up her sleeve." She patted the boat enthusiastically.

Elffe was about to ask another question when his link with Effle flared. Emotions, mostly confused, rushed into his head making it impossible to concentrate or focus on anything. "Effle QUIT IT!" He yelled mentally, and as he did, the entire ship rocked to the side. Creaking wood could be heard in every inch of the ship as the boat reached a dangerous angle and then righted itself. Nobody moved. "Effle was that you?" Elffe thought to him quickly.
"Of course not, was it you?"
"… No…"
"… O god…"

*  *  *  *  *

Effle sat against the pole in total fear. He could see the enormous shadow drifting through the water. The blue neko clung to him as well watching the shadow with a fear even he could feel. The boat rocking nearly sent him falling into the water and was lucky enough to already be holding onto the pole tightly. He quickly looked around and saw everyone on the boat, the captain rushed up from the under deck and started shouting orders to everyone and Elffe stood slowly while the rest of the crew moved closer to him. Effle looked back at the shadow and saw how it moved under the boat to the other end. "It's coming around!" Effle yelled as he gripped the pole even tighter.

*  *  *  *  *

The captain rushed out from under the deck. "Nobody fall off the ship! We're safe if no one leaves!"
The crew whispered to themselves quickly and quietly, "It must've been that fairy falling out of the boat that drew it here!"
"The shield will hold, right?" Elffe turned around.
"What shield?" Elffe asked the red eyed human next to him.
"The sails can do that." She replied without looking at him, "As long as everyone is in the boat, it can protect us."
"Geez, can the sails do anything else?" Just then the entire boat rocked violently casting the crew sideways. Elffe heard a scream from above him and he looked up so fast he heard his neck crack.

*  *  *  *  *

Effle sat still trying to think straight. He never thought he would be this afraid of the deep water, but it was getting to him. The boat suddenly lurched sideways and nearly threw him off the boat entirely. He held the pole tightly but the neko on top of him wasn't so lucky. She fell off him and slid out to open air. Effle saw a horrified look on her face and he reacted instinctively as she screamed. He leaped forward and grabbed her wrist, his legs still wrapped around the pole behind him. The boat wavered but didn't correct its self. His legs were slipping, and they were both dangling over the ocean; he couldn't hold on much longer.

The shadow in the water erupted and a giantess rose out of the water. Effle nearly dropped her in his hands he was so stunned. It was a sort of octopus thing, half women, half octopus and it was… intimidating. She was maybe twice the size of the boat and could easily fit a person in one hand. He could hear the neko scream again but this time muffled and farther away. He could see her long purple hair slick from the water dripping off it and was caught in her dark purple eyes. She eyed the entire boat and quickly swept over all of the crew. Her eyes lingered longer over the captain, Effle and Elffe that he would like to remember. She lowered her head to the deck and gazed at them all, leaning closer to the boat for any comfort. She quickly retracted after a flash of light from the sails blared at her directly.

The captain slowed and stared as much as Elffe was but then snapped to attention. "Get the guns! Use the cannons! GO, GO, GO!" Effle couldn't move his eyes away from the octopus. "Shoot the Chlaena down!" Effle picked up the words without focusing.
"A chlaena…" Effle heard another scream. It was the neko; he was losing his hold and directly below them was open sea. He was having a hard time piecing things together, but if she fell, the shield would be broken, and she would eat them all… "Ah!" Effle 'woke up' and heaved with all his might to lift the neko back up to any ground. He tried as hard as he could, but made no progress. His wings were of no help with the wind in the sails and only helped to loosen his hold on the pole behind him. He again looked at the chlaena and was again quickly captivated.

*  *  *  *  *

Elffe was stunned. That was a frightening sight to see and witness and he was struck deeply. She looked at everyone and especially at him longer than most; quite unnerving. When the captain started shouting he wasn't quite absorbing all the info. "Wait… what's a gun?" The crew pushed past him and he stumbled forward still watching the 'chlaena', apparently. She tried to reach out and grab one of the crew, but a flash of blue light from the sails sent her retracting her hand quickly like it burned her. This is when he became aware of Effle hanging over ocean. "The shield… O snap!" Elffe rushed with the crowd to get a 'gun' thingy. The chlaena had taken an interest in the blue haired neko Effle was holding onto and make Elffe very nervous. Then, he had an idea…

*  *  *  *  *

Effle tried to concentrate on the blue neko he was holding on to but was very hard to do when the chlaena moved within a yard of him. She was licking her lips dramatically and she stared into his eyes. "Let her go… Join me in the water…" Effle knew she wasn't talking to him but he could hear her in his head… weird. He nearly let go of the neko and again snapped to attention. He looked past her and saw the water churning; tentacles were holding the boat at an angle so it wouldn't level out. Then he spotted Elffe. He was motioning frantically but he had no idea what he was trying to say. There were too many distractions to hear him telepathically and Effle was at a loss of what to do. Elffe stopped moving and put his hands up to his head then yelled with a voice that snapped him out of his daydreams.

"APPLE!"

"Apple…" Effle repeated to himself trying to think. "Apple… Apple. Apple!" Effle started yelling excitedly. He thought 'big' and he could feel the apple appear in his apple pouch. Gravity forced it to roll out and into his other free hand but it slipped out of his fingers and fell past him. He didn't quite know how it happened, but the neko grabbed the apple out of the air and after taking one foul look at it, took one large bite. "Wait… that can't be good…" Effle thought to himself; she must've thought he was passing it to her. Effle watched as she dropped the apple and it was lost to the sea. She looked up at him in astonishment as she started to grow, a look of horror crossing her face as Effle loosened his grip. He let go completely and a shallow shriek emitted from her mouth as she went under the blue water.

The sails flashed a dull blue, and then dimmed back to ordinary white and the chlaena sprung into action. She grabbed the first person she could, a red haired and shockingly red eyed human and dangled her in front of her face, admiring her figure. Meanwhile, her tentacles slithered up to the deck and probed the ship looking for anyone standing still for too long. He saw Elffe come out of the lower deck holding an odd looking piece of metal and saw how he was trying to hold it correctly. There was too much chaos for Effle to focus, but when his feet slipped and he fell clear off the mast he sprang back into action.

His wings expanded and carried him just above the deck and back into the air. He circled the boat entirely and saw how the chlaena was nearly twice the size of the boat and how she could easily devour them all of not stopped. He flew at her hand at full speed in a dive where she was still holding the human. He grabbed her out of her fingers and flew higher than she would be able to reach. He could hear her roar of frustration behind him but he had no time to think about it; he was falling back to Earth. When he turned around, he could see how she had quickly turned her attention back to the boat and pick up another candidate, this time a short blond haired human. But what was more interesting then her victim was the bubbling water underneath her. Effle could barely hear the red eyed human yelling at him until he realized he was holding her- "Ah!" He yelled, nearly dropping her altogether and swooped back to the boat letting her off over the deck.

Effle landed and ran to Elffe whom was on top of some crates stacked on top of each other. "How do I use this thing?!" Elffe shouted at him and everyone around him. The captain ran up from behind him and tore it out of his hands, pointing it at the chlaena and pulling a tiny lever underneath. It let out a surprisingly loud boom and a small puff of smoke, but nothing seemed to happen after that. She tried to insert something into it and clicked some other lever back when she saw the chlaena had another one of her crew. She swore and threw it to the ground, running off again to one of the large black cannons. Elffe picked it up and held it like she did; this time up to eye level as he pulled the lever again. Again the boom was heard and Elffe nearly dropped it. "Ha!" he yelled in excitement; the chlaena gave another roar and he could see a line of red blood trickle down her arm. "I like this thing!"

Effle turned around just in time to see a tentacle swing around at him. He pulled out his dagger and slashed at it without thinking. He could hear the chlaena give off another roar and the tentacle retracted to the water even though the dagger left no visible mark. Effle turned again and more tentacles sprung up to meet him. There were too many and he was soon knocked over and was nearly overwhelmed all together and Effle saw out of the corner of his eye that the symbols on his dagger were full, but there was a great splash of water that soaked the entire deck in water and knocked him further away. The tentacles froze as did everyone on the ship. They all looked up to see a giant blue haired neko wrestling with the chlaena vigorously, freeing the blond human and kicking the octopus away from the boat. She was so big herself he could hear the wood splinter, but she wasn't as big as the chlaena and fit nicely on the deck. The tentacles retreated and the neko attacked again with a rage that impressed Effle.

"FIRE!" The captain screamed as the cannons went off and impaled themselves into the chlaena just barely missing the neko. Effle ran off the boat and flew towards the now sinking neko and chlaena and landed on the neko's shoulder.

"We need to go!" He yelled at her, "They're gonna shoot you too!" She kicked off the octopus in response. Both giantesses fell under the water and Effle just managed to get back into the air before she dragged him down with her. He soared higher and saw the two separating with the neko heading back to the ship. The cannons on the ship continued to fire and sent the chlaena swimming away as quickly as she came. Effle angled back towards the boat and landed lightly next to the giant neko who took up an entire side of the ship. She was panting heavily and pulled her feet onto the deck and out of the water. The sails again glistened blue and were again filled with air. Effle fell on his back and gazed up at the quickly darkening sky. "Too much excitement for one day…"

*  *  *  *  *

After quite a long lecture on how male fairies were a bad omen and a recount on the crew, they laid anchor in the middle of the ocean. The sun had set completely and the moon was full. They had all retreated to their separate sleeping corridors and the giant neko stretched out on the deck, covering nearly two thirds of the entire ship. Had Elffe not taken all the tolerance to talk to the captain, he would've changed her back on the spot, but she was so sexy as she was now he told her he could change her back by morning. He hanged around her head as it was awkward being anywhere else and talked all night long.

Her name was Mira and she used to be a lone adventurer. Her favorite color was cyan which was the color of her fur in the moonlight and was why she preferred her new lifestyle near the blue waters than that of the jungle. She told him the story of the male fairy that nearly ate her and how it was the scariest moment of her life. Effle told her about his family being half dryad and how he was split up from them. He explained to her his several abilities like an obsessive need to fold origami and his terrible dagger's power, the 'Roar of Repression'. As the night carried on, Effle became more and more sleepy and fell asleep against her neck in a sitting position and hoped it was okay with Mira. It had been such a long day, his head slumped to one side and his vision went dark… "Good… night…"

Effle didn't quite know how long it had been since he'd fallen asleep, but the next thing he knew was being yanked upward into the air by his shirt. "Whoa… what?" He half yawned half yelled confusedly. He rubbed his eyes vigorously and saw it was already morning.
"Wake up sleepy head!" Mira said to him happily holding him up to her face. If it wasn't Mira, he would've been nervous at his distance to her mouth. The captain was at her side and watching him intently. Effle assumed she woke him on purpose for the captain's reasons.
"Morning!" He said still a little sleepily. He thought 'small' and the blue colored apple appeared in his pocket. "Open wide!" he said and she did as he commanded. He threw the apple at her and she swallowed it whole and set him down next to the captain.

"We are approaching the coordinates on your map and we want you to scout from the air to speed our trip up a bit." She said walking past him as Mira shrank to normal size again. "And please, no more chlaenas this time." She added rather sarcastically. He waved to Mira before spreading his wings and was caught up in the sail's wind. He floated in mid air high above the boat for a moment, enjoying the warm summer breeze then gazed out around the ocean. There was an island off to his far left and the only one in sight. He whistled loudly to the captain and signaled the location to her. The boat slowly changed direction and sped off as he landed. He walked back over to Mira and asked;

"Anything I can do…"

*  *  *  *  *

"… to help?" Elffe asked the red eyed woman. It was the first time he was allowed to go below the deck and see the crew's living quarters since last night. Elffe had spent all night trying to convince her to let him go below deck for a place to sleep mainly because he had given most of his tolerance to Effle when the chlaena showed up. She finally gave in and brought him down the wide creaky floorboards to a long hallway. There were doors on either side of him with names carved into them when he turned left, some more elegantly than others, and when he looked to the right, there were storage cabinets where they kept the weird 'gun' things and things that went into them called 'bullets'. She had showed him to her room and that's when he learned her name was Heather and most things to know about her.

Her room was small, meant for only one person, but he managed. There was a dresser, a fold-open changing wall and a mirror on one side, but she had no reflection. She was a semi-vampire; no drinking blood, and no dissolving in the sun, but she liked dark places and did have unusually long fangs as well as a keen eye. She loved the color red (no surprise) and was nearly killed by a giant male naga maybe three years ago. She said she was trying to seduce him and capture him but when he realized what she was doing he went berserk and ate one or two of her squad she was with. Right before she was eaten, the succubus froze him and asked her the same question she does to all the people she saves. "And I was one of the first, except for that dryad that lives somewhere around here, I can never tell." She was explaining to him behind the changing wall. Effle had given him back most of the tolerance by then, so he had no desire to peep when her clothes flew up above the top rack.

Elffe told her about himself, mostly from Effle's point of view because they were technically the same person and his was more interesting. Heather didn't actually sleep and he therefore slept on her cot when he was too tired to talk any more. When he awoke, Heather was waiting for him and brought him to the casual area below the living quarters. He ran into everyone again and then asked if he could do anything to help. Because it was the casual area though, there was never anything to do and he felt rather stupid for asking. The area was dark and musty, but there were several chairs, lights, a bar and hanging treasures with different abilities to them.

"Hey guys, we're nearing the island and Melisa wants us to gear up for jungle scouting." The dryad said to everyone, hanging sideways out of the wall in the entrance.
"Me too?" Elffe asked her, wondering if he could possibly use a gun again.
"Why not?" She said cheerfully and drifted upward through the ceiling leaving no marks that she was there to begin with. That was cool. Heather pulled him by the arm down one more hatch into the lowest room of the ship, but by far the largest. It was a narrow ceiling, but there were racks and shelves of several weapons and armor Elffe had never seen before. Most of the crew ignored half the stuff and walked over to places he assumed they had rehearsed several times before. Elffe thought this to Effle as well as the new areas on the ship; it may be important later. He quickly grabbed a gun about the size of his dagger and an odd looking belt with several containers on it filled with bullets. Heather finally showed him the proper way to use a gun and Elffe communicated it all back to Effle as he heard it. He and the entire crew filed out of the armory and back up to the deck.

The sun was blinding when he first opened the hatch, but his eyes quickly adjusted unlike Heather who continued to squint for a good ten minutes afterwards. He saw the island in sight and wondered for the longest time if they would find any… unwanted company. He saw Effle with his long blue butterfly wings and slightly envied him but quickly got over it; he didn't want to be Effle. He hooked his gun at his side and saw out of the corner of his eye his dagger and its blue glowing symbols. Those must've been charging for weeks, maybe years and could have very devastating effects on everyone. He put it out of his mind and stood next to Effle who was just about to listen to a speech the captain had prepared. He zoned out thought after the first few sentences when he saw the island.

There was a tall wall of trees about ten yards away from the water closely packed together. He couldn't see past them and maybe about five feet fast the first wall there was an unusual darkness about the place. Elffe had a bad feeling about this…

*  *  *  *  *

Effle didn't pay much attention to Melisa's speech because it wasn't directed at them; this was their map, but the crew's adventure. She talked about positions, and partners and he perked up when he heard his name called with Mira and Elffe called with Heather. Effle turned around and slapped Elffe on the forehead, absorbing all his memories and the unimportant details he had experienced. "I wonder if I could float through the ceiling, y'know, being half dryad and all…" He said absent mindedly.
"Wait, I'm paired with Heather?" Elffe asked excitedly, rubbing his forehead quickly. Mira smiled at Effle and he smiled back, but the upcoming forest caught his attention. He didn't like not being able to fly, especially in the presence of friends, and the forest wasn't too inviting with its dark congested trees.

The boat dragged itself onto the sand and the crew lined up in formation, Mira and Heather standing next to Effle and Elffe in the rear. The captain was at the front and motioned the crew to move into the forest. Wood sprouted from the boat and made a nice walkway to the shore and everyone marched out, the dryad staying behind and waving them off. "Alright everyone…" The captain yelled for everyone to hear.

"Let's MOVE!"

*  *  *  *  *