Water.

His prison had water, it had seas, sewers, pools, streams...

In the water he was at his most powerful, invisible and everywhere, like the governement that made him.

He was free... Except none of the roads brought him home.

He had yet to meet any of the out of town visitors this place was meant for... And idly found himself wondering if they'd see him as one of their own... Or as one of the victims being served to them.

He'd heard snippets, something about a treaty... Maybe his presence violated it?

So many questions, and nobody to ask.

My small, insignificant form slid across the rough ground, absorbing rocks painfully into my skin and then leaving them as small balls of cytoplasm on the floor. I gurgled slightly, lost in the prime of my youth. I was barely even a foot tall, still too young to do anything towards self defense. I soon found myself face to face with a crystal clear pond. Before I could withhold myself I lurched forward and plopped right into the lake, my green form standing out in the bright blue water. I began to writhe and twitch, propelling myself through the water. The small eye within my body gazed around the pond, seeing nothing of interest. But I decided to remain in the water, the freedom of being nearly weightless overwhelming my common sense.

Twisting, turning, circling in on himself and going through, the glassy-clear thing solidified enough to be noticed, forming into a what could best be described as a clear floating head, with tentacles in place of hair, and a few more giving the appearances of a beard and a Fu Manchu moustache.

"Why hello there... You look like you're a long way from home. But then again, I suppose that would make two of us, mm?"

I jumped up at the sound, coming from almost out of nowhere. I shook, my gelatinous body shivering in response. I made a motion that could only resemble a nod. I did my best to reform my body into human shoulders and head. Although I had not yet begun speaking, I could still commune.

Slowly, he approached his body continuing to shift as he drew closer. By the time he was near the strange creature, he was about the same as it, and had taken the shape of a six-sided die with eyes instead of spots.

"Jellyfish of few words, I see... What's your name, squirt?"

I gurgled slighty, the wet sounds causing the word, "Kray," formed. I began to swim away from the invisible creature, fear of being eaten or killed taking a grip on my judgment.

Forming himselg into a ubelike shape, the glassy thing followed at a liesurely pace, keeping up but doing his best not to seem predatory. He was curious as to whether this... thing.. had a brain.

"Kray, huh? With a name like that, I'd have expected something a bit more... Crawfishy."

After a long afternoon of "feeding" on a lovely pair of young girls, Cukoo had found himself crawling back towards the his ocean home. Soon, he would return to the dark confines of his cave, but he had sensed a few strange "presenses" nearby as he slid across the ground. His dark blue eyes focused towards a small pond nearby, where two beings were currently resting.

Cukoo had known for some time that other creatures laid in wait around this island. He had even had the chance of meeting one once, sharing a pair of young girls with each other. However, these two beings were new to him. Slowly, the black blob inched towards the small pond, curious as to what these creatures were.

I gurgled slightly, my own way of shrugging. The bulbous eye inside of me rotated, turning backwards and gazing at a big black shadow heading this way. As if instinctively, I began to sink into the water, slowly disappearing from the surface.

" You were born, not as something of this race or that, but an entirely new specie..."

The words reverberated within his mind as he swam the depths, through a horrific storm marking the arrival of a lost son...

" ...I have no one left...what shall become of me?"

Words which became immortalized in his mind, which he spoke shortly after the eradication of his entire race...at his hands.

The creature swam all the way from the Western depths, battling the currents and various mindless monsters lower than those which he had been with once. These were the stuff nightmares are made of, but none compared to those that roamed the island that he has come to call 'home'.

And once again, after a long sabbatical...he was coming home.

The weird thing is, storms always heralded the arrival of something terrible, and it was not so different with his case. It was kind of coincidental, accidental at best, but in his case, there were no 'coincidences'...

Just fate.

And as his face broke thru the waves, he came face to face with a familiar scene: foot-high waves battering the sandy beach of the island, so familiar, like a mother welcoming a son back...

And yet, so many different places and structures...including this place which he came to.

And yet, he uttered almost breathlessly...

" Home."

A new sound.

A new arrival...

Something about home.

The shapeless thing recoiled, then sent a face to meet the creature, etching a deep scowl onto it.

"Home? What do you mean... Home? I'm miles... lightyears, for alll I know... from home. Now... If this is your home, you can tell me where I am... Can't you?"

A peculiar face. It was etched into the water, signaling intentions not so hostile but one of unwelcome emotions. Bursting with questions, incessant fears which would not dissipate into the water.

It asks a question of him, one of which he was trying to ponder on through all the years he's spent, on this island which had been his refuge for long.



Another straggler.

Ah, one of countless stragglers which had been trapped into this island after facing so many unfortunate circumstances. This island which seemed to suck these strangers together, as if a black hole sucking all the energies around it.

" Home." he said to the face. " Home is where you make it to be, is it not? Like you, this wasn't where I was spawned, if that is what you mean."

" But make no mistake, I have considered this...island...to be my home. I have not known it's name, although I consider it to be a surrogate mother, providing me with...various needs."

The deep.

Enough thermoclimes had been passed through that, without his outer long hair coat, Saragus was feeling deliciousy chilly. If it wouldn't be an insult to his Zorn host, Saragus might decide to remain down at the depths for the duration of his stay on Shokushu. He hadn't been this comfortable since having left T'mar.

So the large, white-furred octopoid found itself a comfortable rock to rest on and enjoyed the cold and the solace.