Coral In Crisis

The Way Of The Reef

The reef was ripe with colors, from the vibrant corals to all the denizens living among them. The topmost heights of the reef, however, had turned a pale, dead bone white. The first to notice the white were the turtles on their trips to the surface for air. And so, by tradition, they spread the news that the Bleaching Season had come again. This news reached Nanami, Queen of the Mid-Reef. It was time to set out the patrols for the coming of Duxor...

DUXOR

Like all of its kind, Duxor ate others. He had a particular taste for blue crab and followed them on their migrations across the sea floor.
This herd of blue crabs always crossed a reef to reach their warming time beach, a place where they felt safe molting out of their old shells and harden their new ones in the relative safety of tide pools.
He never followed the crabs to their beach. Instead, he spent the season feasting on the denizens of the reef.
Anticipation crackled through his tentacles and all the suction cups on his tentacle flared. His poisons were ready for this new feast.

by GrumpyBeere

NANAMI

She swam the mid-reef, never going too high or too low as her focus was tending to her grand home, the wonderous brain coral.
It was important to ensure all its creases were clear and ready for the colorful citizens when the trouble came to devour them. The little reef citizens were welcome guests, unlike the larger more aggressive creatures. Not even the octopus Duxor dared stick a tentacle into the brain coral as the multitude of stings it would receive could easily cause that tentacle to rot away.
Unfortunately, dark-striped tentafish, join Duxor and they could enter the brain coral.

by flutie8211

Duxor's Army

by VIVIANE6276

Dark-striped tentafish prefered to eat other fish though they were not equipped for hunting them. Instead, they had to

contend with the other reef fish for plankton, shrimp, and the like. But, during every Bleaching Season, Duxor came to the reef. Bigger than the usual reef octopi, Duxor feasted heavily on any and all unable to evade his tentacles. The more Duxor fed, the more fresh tasty scraps floated about, creating a feast for the tentafish. It did not take long for a deal to be struck. Tentafish would drive Duxor's pray out of the brain coral, and he would not feed on tentafish.

Nanami's Army

by AdelinaZw

A great variety of fish take refuge in the brain coral. Most are delicate and only able to run or hide when trouble comes along. The cupcake butterfly fish is breath-takingly pretty yet robustly built. They are

well-known for fending off predators who attempt to feed on their eggs of hatchling. Taking bites out of the intrusive tentacles of the reef octopi is a matter pride to the cupcakes. Sadly, Duxor was too big and his tentacle skin too thick for their bites to do any harm so during Bleaching Season they had to flee their nesting sites. Hatchlings were herded to the brain coral while unhatched eggs were hidden under a thin veil of sand. The cupcakes embrace the honor of defending the brain coral along side Nanami.

The Clash

The Bleaching Season has once again returned to the reef. This is a time when the waters are particularly warm. Too warm for the comfort of the coral. In reaction to this heat, they lose their color and fall into a more delicate and distressed state. This season, the waters are warmer than ever thanks to the presence of a steam turtle hunting whales and ships in the area with its steam breath. For the first time in over a century, the bleaching has dropped down into the mid-level of the reef and threatens to reach the Nanami's brain coral. Then, the bluecrab migration climbed over the reef to the beach beyond. With them came Duxor...

Arrival

Nanami floated above the brain coral, eyeing the spots of pale starting to form on the brain coral. Would the coral still be able to fend off Duxor's tentacles? She turned to survey the rest of the beach. The last of the bluecrabs had scampered to their beach and now it was a matter of waiting. Duxor was a master of disguise, able to change his colors to match any background. He could also contort himself into near any shape. His favorite, though, was reef rock.
It was not him she was looking for. Instead, she tried to spot dark-striped tentafish. They were a more solitary sort except when Duxor came. Then, they formed into schools to advance upon and invade the brain coral. They were not masters of disguise. Helping her keep watch were four cupcake butterflyfish. Each of them had endured at least one Bleaching Season and were well aware of what would inevitably come.
The turtles had left the reef at the very start of the bleaching which marked the start of their own migration out into cooler water for their annual krill hunts. A cupcake swam up to her, interrupting her ponderings. "Tentafish spotted leftward. The swim up tight to the

reef wall." Nanami nodded. "And so it begins. Take your positions! I shall get the residents moving."
Nanami swam down into the nearest brain coral groove, her long flexible body able to dart and weave along the twists and turned faster than any other fish. "To the base! As deep as you can!" She called this out over and over as she raced all though the brain coral. With nudges of her fins, she encouraged them to move faster. Dart fish began doing the same, freeing her to take up her own position in the crease that opened into her throne hollow, the widest chamber hidden within the brain coral.
As she waited to battle any tentafish that might make it this far, the cupcakes took up their positions. They waited in all the creases near the outside. Now and again they would see a tentafish dart from one reef rock to another. These were distractions, meant to keep the cupcakes watching in the wrong direction. The cupcakes reluctantly held their positions, knowing it was just a matter of time before the true assault would come. Only then would they know where to rally for the real fight.

Blood In The Water

Suddenly a flurry of dark-striped fish rushed the brain coral, coming from two opposing directions in a pincer move. Dartfish raced about delivering the locations of the two points of attack, allowing the cupcakes to rally intime to meet them. As the tentafish reached the brain coral, the first wave of defenders met them. There was the lash of a tentacle, then another, and another. Duxor has finally revealed himself, snagging cupcake defenders who had been drawn out by the melee.
All cupcakes fell back deeper in the creases, out of the reach of the tentacles. Unfortunately, this allowed the tentafish to get inside. The fighting was fierce. Both tentafish and cupcakes took mortal wounds and floated belly up out of the brain coral. Dartfish serving as the daring messengers, began to be forced out and snatched by a tentacle.

It was time for the rest of them to fall back towards the base and the vital funtion of coordinating communication for the defenders came to an end. They did manage to deliver one final message to Nanami. The bleaching was spreading over the brain coral.
Tentacles began to reach into the pale, testing the strength of the brain coral. Their stings still held power and Duxor fell back out of their reach... for now.
The first tentafish reached Nanami. With a quick deadly lash of her tail it turned belly up, trailing a cloud of blood. As she awaited the next, something dark past over the brain coral, dulling even the pale white. The tentafish stopped advancing and began to fall back the the edges of the brain coral. It was here they held their ground but did not leave. It became a stalemate.

Victory...?

"Something is out there," a very nervous dartfish reported to Nanami. The Queen of the Mid-Reef nodded.
"We have none to spare for a look. Except me."
"Nanami, no!" the dartfish cried, but too late. There was only a cloud of sand as Nanami had already raced away. In moments, The Queen had raced up a crease in the brain coral then stopped as soon as she could see out.
A great shape upon the surface cast down a large shadow, a rare but not unknown thing. It was motion near the reef wall, though, that drew her concern. A strange creature fought with Duxor. It was so

bizarre, she could only stare as the duel went on. Finally, there was a flash of green and Duxor went eerily still.
"You're coming with me," the creature said as it grasped Duxor and swam up to the thing on the surface.
"H-he's gone," Nanami whispered. A jolt went through her and she whirled around. Grinning, she raced back through the brain coral screaming happily, "Duxor is gone!"
Her cry was picked up and repeated by others. It reached the tentafish, who all suddenly bolted out and away with heart broken wails. The crisis was over. And in the nick of time, Nanami thought as the rest of the brain coral bleached white.

Aftermath

Without Duxor, the army of tentafish fell apart. With them gone, Nanami focused on tending the brain coral while it suffered from the bleaching. The cupcakes and other residents hiding in the brain coral returned to their homes.
Tensions remained high until the bluecrabs left the beaches to return to the depths in their new shiny shells but there were no more attacks by armies of tentafish. The bluecrabs left their beaches and tidepools to return to the deep with their shiny new shells safely hardened. The steam turtle moved on to another feeding ground and the bleaching retreated, marking the true end of the Bleaching Season.

As for Duxor, he found himself forced to serve aboard a ship, learning the ways of piracy under the stern teaching of his captor, Tanielu, The Reef King . Just how his story carries out? Only time will tell... or will it?

by Dazzlinkat