It was honestly impressive just how fast a creature of this size could move around. They zipped past the reef and into the kelp forest in a matter of minutes, instead of the hours it took them to travel there when they had gone to rescue Cellbit and Pac. Although the creature did slow down quite a bit when it realized the humans had problems holding on to it's hair. And while Tubbo seemed to be enjoying himself, laughing and looking at their surroundings speed past, Techno and Fit didn't feel nearly as excited.

"Are we sure he's not kidnapping us?" Tubbo just rolled his eyes, not even answering the question or defending the creature. Fit did seem to be similarly worried as him now, occasionally checking just how far away they are from their pod and new base, frown growing with each minute that passed by. Contact with Cellbit and Pac broke off a while ago, leaving the three by themselves. And the creature.

"We are officially past Pac's pod." Techno could see the ruin zip by as Fit mentioned it, the pod covered in sand and kelp, the hatch forced open and half off it's hinges as Fit had practically ripped it off to open it. Not that they cared much about it's current state, as the systems and machinery of the pod were destroyed and useless.

This was as of current the farthest they had travelled from home.

An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach as he realized that he was starting to refer to the pod as their 'home'. Home was back on earth, with his family. Not here. Never here, no matter how long they are forced to stay. This was just a base... a temporary shelter until they get rescued. If they get rescued.

"Techno?" He blinked, shaking his head a little to focus back on the important things. Find quartz. Don't get killed by the creature. The hand on his shoulder felt warm as Fit gave him a worried look, which he just answered with a small smile and a nod. "I'm good."

"Blorp is slowing down. I think we're here."

The creature almost came to a halt, slowly drifting down towards the ground with a lazy flick of his tail. Almost instantly they spotted the quartz that Blorp has led them to. It was a huge deposit, the white material reflecting the few streaks of sunlight that filter through the kelp vines, making it look like it was glowing.

"This can last us for weeks! Imagine how many solar panels we can make with this! And glass! You need it for glass too, right?" Fit nodded, letting go of the creature's hair to inspect the quartz more closely. Techno followed close behind, ready to scan the deposit to check if it's the right kind of quartz. Who knows how many different kinds exist on this planet, the habitat builder used environmental scans to determine what available resources it needs.

Techno did glance over his shoulder when he could clearly feel the creature move about, seeing sand drift past him at some point. It had curled up on the ground again, it's body forming a crescent shape around the deposit, perhaps trying to keep them save. Techno wasn't so sure about being boxed in like this, but he was more worried about Tubbo, who was yet again right in the creature's face, petting it and praising it for bringing them to the right material.

'Like a kid and his dog...'

"Techno give me a hand here." He turned away from the troubling sight to aid his friend, helping him lodge his spear in a small crack, attempting to separate a small piece of quartz from the main deposit. They had to smash away at the base a little with the back of Techno's knife until it eventually gave way and fell into the sand below. The second piece came loose a little easier, joining the first one. And since they had the creature with them, they broke off a few more, just in case they needed them. Maybe one solar panel wasn't enough, and they will end up needing multiple.

The creature began rumbling again, which at first didn't ring any alarm bells. It has done that most of the time and usually, it could be understood as something like purring from a cat. Although the calmness didn't last long, as Techno realized the pitch was wrong. It was lower, more guttural and, to his horror, threatening. He spun to check on Tubbo and the creature, fearing for the worst, that the teen might have upset the creature and is now feeling the consequences.

But that wasn't the case. Tubbo was a few feet away from the creature, staring up at it with more confusion than fear, as it rose from it's position on the floor facing away from the quartz deposit. It had it's dorsal fins raised a little further, despite Techno thinking that they were solid, like the ones of sharks, it's back arched like a cat and teeth bared in a snarl at the kelp and dark waters beyond.

Something was there.

"Tubbo..." The teen turned his head towards his two friends, the growing fear now evident. He was the only one out of them who doesn't have a weapon. Techno held out his hand, clutching his knife in the other. "Come here... slow..." He nodded, slowly drifting over to them, where they could hopefully have a tiny bit of shelter thanks to all the different quartz outcrops. It won't be much, if it was a creature big enough to make Blorp nervous, but maybe they can hide enough to not be spotted, or at least not be of interest.

As soon as he was close enough, both Fit and Techno pulled him close and behind them, weapons held out in front of them. They were barely able to hide behind the large white mineral, but it has to be enough. Blorp growled louder, his hands on the ground, arms bent so his chest is also close to touching the sand. Like a cat ready to pounce, a predator about to start sprinting at it's prey.

Techno could see something move between the kelp, smooth light blue scales appearing and disappearing between the plants. It looked much smaller than their large creature, but still it remained just at the edge of their vision, circling, watching. If it's this small, then it's not after Blorp. It's after them.

Blorp seemed to realize that too, backing up a little to be closer to the deposit, crouching right on top of them, attempting to shield them from view.

Neither of the humans spoke, staring at the treat gathering in the kelp. Where there had been just one body moving about, they could now see multiple. Small, fast creatures, appearing and disappearing between the kelp, long snouts filled with teeth snapping open and shut as they hissed and growled in response to Blorp's threats. Techno recognized them as the same creature that attacked them when he and Fit went towards Cellbit and Pac's pod.

He glanced over at Fit, who kept himself right in front of Tubbo, spear in both hands, face set in stubborn determination as his eyes tracked the creatures between the kelp. Blorp coiled around them a little tighter, snapping his jaw at one creature who dared swim a little closer before disappearing again, growling louder. At some point he started making other noises too, loud clicks and chirps, almost sounding like he was talking. But he refuses to leave and go attack them.

If Blorp leaves them to rush towards the other predators, then at least one or more will zip past him and attack them. He can't block them all at once, they are too small and fast. Probably why they hunt in packs like this, distract the bigger threats while others pick off the babies or weaker prey.

"They won't leave, they're hunting us. We'll have to fight our way out of here."

"We could barely even handle one of them last time! There's like ten of them in the kelp! And we have Tubbo!"

"Well what else are we supposed to do?! Blorp can't leave us, those things will come for us as soon as he moves!"

"I know that! But-"

All three humans flinched as they heard a roar, not unlike the one Blorp had given when one of the predators tried to come closer. It was distant, echoing a little. Blorp reacted instantly, giving his own call in response, teeth snapping at the predators who seem to grow more desperate and frantic when hearing the call.

"There's another one?" Fit glanced at Techno, seeing how pale he was when realizing that the roar could be a call for help. For another creature like Blorp. "Maybe Blorp has a mate. Or family. He's calling them to help." Tubbo's voice was small, half pressed against Fit's back as he gets squished between the quartz and his friend.

That is exactly something Techno does not want to happen. Just because this creature is nice doesn't mean the other one will be. And if this was a family member of this creature, that decides the humans make decent snacks, Blorp will sure as hell take their side and turn on them.

Blorp gave a roar of his own now in response to one of the predators zipping out of the kelp, coming right for them. Techno pressed close to Fit's side, shielding their youngest friend as best as they could as Blorp bolted forward, slashing his clawed hand at the attacker. He got a hit, yellow blood colouring the water as his claws tore chunks of flesh from the predator.

But now that he had moved, the other ones all came out as well.

He blocked their way as best as he could, slashing and snarling, biting at small bodies trying to swim past him. When one of them did manage to slip right underneath him, Fit lifted his spear and stabbed at it with an angry shout, the sharp tip of the weapon impaling itself into the skull of the creature.

Tubbo was shaking where he was now hiding behind Techno, eyes wide with terror as he watched the predators circle Blorp and try to make a bolt towards them, watched as Fit swung around his spear to try and scare them off before they could come close enough to harm any of them.

Another loud roar, but this one was not from Blorp. The creature in question retreated a little, returning to his position curled over the humans. The predators tried to follow and take their chances to get past him, but didn't get very far.

A blur of blue and red shot past Blorp and right for the predators, it's call equally as furious as their creature's had been. The humans watched with wide eyes as the new creature tore through the predators, roaring and screeching as it swiped and bit the smaller bodies around it. With the new creature aiding them, the predators quickly accepted the fact that they were now outnumbered and fled the scene, leaving four corpses behind that slowly drift down towards the sand.

Once it was sure that all the attackers had left, the new creature turned and swam towards the group, calling out towards Blorp with a chirp. Blorp, now relaxing after the threat has left, uncoiled himself from his position above the humans and greeted the other creature, rumbling in that familiar way that Techno had come to call purring.

The creature was smaller than Blorp, about half as big, which was still far too big for Techno's comfort. It's scales were a mix of blue and red, with black patterns and markings all along it's body. And, unlike Blorp, it didn't resemble a shark. It's tail moves up and down and it's fins are wide and spread out, like those betta fish, just not as massive when it comes to fins. It looked just as humanoid as Blorp, with a face and dark hair and hands that have claws. But, unlike Blorp, it had four arms. Two sets of arms, right below each other.

It bumped into Blorp with a little trill, who reacted with a louder purr as he nuzzled the smaller creature, head resting on top of the much smaller one.

"Awe, I think it's Blorp's baby." Tubbo was now beside his friends again instead of behind them, watching the interaction with a grin. He was still pale and shaken, but slowly starting to relax again with the threat now gone. He was relaxing a lot faster than Techno though. "I don't think it is... it looks like a whole different species..." "Maybe that's normal? All the weird humanoids are one big species that all look different. Like birds!" "I... you know what, sure. Let's call it that."

Blorp chirped at the smaller creature and turned his gaze towards the humans, the smaller creature doing the same. It tilted it's head, promptly swimming closer to get a better look at the weird creatures it's parent had tried to protect. Techno pulled Tubbo behind him before he could get closer, already knowing he would blindly try and make friends again if he doesn't keep an eye on him.

The fact he was trapped behind Techno didn't seem to bother the younger at all.

"Hello big guy! You look so cool! I need to find a cool name for you, just like Blorp!"

"Oh my god the thing has been here for 5 minutes."

"It's Blorp's child! We have to pick a cool name!"

The smaller creature looked up at Blorp, then back at the humans, looking more than confused. Blorp swam closer, pushing past his child (presumably) to gently nudge at the little humans, rumbling again. If Techno didn't know any better, he would think Blorp was checking on them, worried they might have gotten hurt. He very hesitantly, and awkwardly, patted Blorp's head, even if just to try and make him leave again.

Tubbo laughed and reached over Techno's shoulder to do the same, just like Fit. "We're okay big guy, you protected us! Thank you so much!" Blorp rumbled even louder, clearly getting the message that they are alright. The smaller creature still watched them, mostly just looking confused.

"We should probably go home... Cellbit and Pay will get worried."

"Yes, let's get out of here. Fast."

"Alright. Can you help us carry the quartz, Blorp?"

Tubbo pointed at the chunks of minerals Techno and Fit had broken off from the main deposit. The large creature took them without complaint, gathering the chunks in it's hands before bowing it's head low to let the humans hold on to his hair again. Once he was sure everyone was secure, he straightened and swam away from the sandy floor, making his way back into the direction of the pod. The smaller creature followed close behind, swimming lightly below Blorp, reminding Techno of baby whales and dolphins he has seen in nature documentaries.

"Awe he is coming with us!"

"The other's will have a heart attack..."

"I think I'll name him... what's a good name..."

"Tubbo please-"

"What was that flower you liked so much? Hibiscus? That could be a fun name."

"Absolutely fucking not."

"Why not?"

"I am not calling that thing Hibiscus. Come up with something better."

"Okay then. Cocka-"

"NO."