Welcome to Gaia! ::

Destiny City Reservoir had proven to be a welcome diversion for BERTRAM, though the enormous penguin hadn’t encountered any friends in the various humans who’d lingered longer than the sun had. He was fairly certain that someone had warned him not to bother them during the day, but “day” meant that the sky was blue. As far as the youma was concerned, orange and purple meant that he was free to do as he pleased, even if it meant that the few humans who swam too far out saw more than maybe they should have.

Leaping and frolicking, BERTRAM felt little concern for whoever might happen upon his adventures under the water.

A sudden unfamiliar voice from the shore caught BERTRAM’s attention, his curiosity drawing him closer to the strange sand. The penguin bobbed out of the water to get a better look at the newcomer. At the sight of a Negaverse agent, BERTRAM happily clacked his beak in greeting, letting out a bray as he splashed over.

Beneath the surface, something else stirred, curious, hungry, territorial, who could say? But its focus was firmly locked on to the human at the edge of the water. A strange, unseen limb snapped out of the water, its motions too quick to register anything more than a blur as it wrapped around his ankle and yanked toward the water.

BERTRAM’s mood shifted immediately at the attack upon his ally, something else in the water. Something bad and mean and trying to eat a potential friend in HIS FAVORITE PLACE. With a grace surprising for his enormous form, the youma dove toward the agent. With luck, after defeating the creature BERTRAM would learn whether or not reservoir monsters were good to eat.

At the agent’s yelp BERTRAM sprang or perhaps more accurately swam, into action. Like a feathery torpedo he streaked through the water toward his struggling ally. The memory of a movie arose within his penguiny mind, a mighty warrior the size of a building doing battle with a fearsome monster from the deep. The youma hadn’t seen him feasting upon the beast after tearing off its claw but it would only make sense that he did, delicious as those red animals were. Maybe the warrior had saved it for a victory celebration after he escaped the human’s fire. It was only right that BERTRAM do his best to do the same.

Beak wide open, he snapped at the water near the man’s ankle, unsure if he’d made contact with his unseen foe. Whirling about in the water with surprising agility he rushed back for a second attempt, growing more frustrated as the mysterious entity seemingly eluded him again.

Wheels whirred within his head as the other warrior emerged from his mind, valiantly carrying the humans to safety. Perhaps that was the way to go. It might not give him the hoped for meal, but it would rescue the agent and that was the way the story should end. Diving back into the depths of the reservoir, he carefully aligned himself to swim up just below his fellow Chaos friend in the hopes that the man would grab onto his ruff as they made a daring escape.

BERTRAM felt decidedly pleased with himself as the agent managed to take hold, blasting forward through the water and pulling his new friend toward the shore, sliding up onto the sand with a distinct squeak. It was a disappointment that he didn’t get a chance to determine the tastiness of his foe, but there would always be other days to return for a second attempt.

Who knows? He could be on the verge of discovering the most delicious food in the city. That would be a find worthy of bringing back to other youma in the Rift. If it was as large as it seemed he would probably need help to bring it back anyway, then they could have a feast for the ages.

BERTRAM’s face would have adopted a dreamy expression, were penguins capable of displaying such emotions. He would share with the agent, of course, it wouldn’t do to keep it all to themselves. Yes, he needed to pay the monster in the water another visit.

Returning his focus to the human, the youma bend downward for a closer look, clacking his beak in a friendly fashion.