The Demon of the Sea
Then the man broke the staff over his knee. Ron began to cry and held onto Doug who burst into tears as
well. Pebbles flew from afar.
"Who is throwing those rocks at me?" asked the man in the robes.
"The demon of the sea!" screamed Ron in terror as he ducked his head into the sand like a goose.
"Grave danger is upon us if you speak the truth," said the man.
"He probably doesn't speak the truth," said Bill.
"I beg you to believe he does speak the truth," cried out Doug, who was crying a lot.
"You see," said the man, "My name is Truth. I am your guide sent from the High Council. I will help you
determine the truth in this matter."
Ron popped his head out from the sand and announced again that the rocks were demonic.
"To be cautious," said Truth, "we will trust Ron's judgement. He is not as foolish as he looks. We shall be
sure not to touch these demonic pebbles until we know for sure that they are safe."
"Eeeeeeeek!" peeped Ron as he saw a pebble close to him, he jumped back and hid his head in the sand
again. Under the sand he smugly acknowledged that with this turn of events his opinions were finally getting the
respect they deserved from a higher power. Realizing this, he took his head from out of the sand and prophesied that
the sand was demonic as well.
"The sand is not demonic," said Truth, "Do not be silly when fooling with the Galactic Forces that are in a
very delicate balance as the Galaxy Crystal is missing." Truth whipped a second staff out from his robe and leaned
on it stylishly. The top sparkled with mysterious wisps of light.
The all stood in a grouping very quietly for a while. Waiting for a sign or for something to happen. The
sun raised higher in the sky. Ron didn't get a sun burn on his head because it was still under the sand. None of the
others got burnt either. For various reasons. The sea rolled in and out, and eventually Ed walked up to the group.
"Look," said Ed, "I got some neat pebbles."
"No!" cried out Truth and whacked Ed's hand with his staff so the pebbles fell to the ground.
"Hey," said Ed, and leaned to the ground to pick them up. Bill restrained him, so he couldn't, "What's
wrong with all of you?" asked Ed, "I was going to start a pebble farm!"
"No," said Truth, "you cannot start a pebble farm with those pebbles. We fear that all pebbles may be
possessed by the demon of the sea."
"Oh," said Ed, "I guess it is good that I didn't keep them for too long."
"Yes," said Truth, "Hopefully you will not die."
Ed did not die. Ed was completely unscathed, other than minor injuries he experienced because of the
battery of tests Ron demanded that be run on Ed to be sure that he wasn't demon possessed. Ron suffered the most
injury because he got smacked a few times by Ed.
"Well," explained Ron carefully, after spending the entire morning doing complicated calculations. He
slowly opened the booklet he had created from his meticulous calculations. After scanning page by page through
the whole book in an elaborate review of the subject he gave his pronouncement, "The pebbles clearly came from
that location about fifty feet away." Ron strode fifty feet away and stood there, and fell down onto the ground.
Truth who had been sitting near by stood up and strode over towards where Ron fell down, his brilliant
robes flowed around him. Bill looked after him in awe and poked Doug to look at the sight. Truth seemed to float
towards where Ron was.
Ed looked at Doug and noticed that Doug was sitting on the place where the demon chicken lay. Ed
expected that the chicken might bite Doug on the behind again. The chicken did so, and Doug jumped up rather
upset. He saw the innocent looking chicken on the ground and the jumped on it again and again with his big boots.
After he got done jumping on the chicken it turned back into a rubber chicken, Ed picked it up and put it back on his
hat. When Ed and Bill got over to where Ron and Truth were they saw what had happened. Ron had fallen over a
pebble, and now the water was flowing over him.
Bill was not pleased with the way things had been going. With the arrival of Truth a new level of
seriousness had come into this mission. Unfortunately he'd loose his Galactic Defender license if he defied
representatives of the High Council. If he was lucky, he figured that Ron would get put onto the High Council some
day. Life would be better. Then he wouldn't have to suffer through missions like this with a load like him.
"It's time to load up the boat," announced Ron with a tight-lipped straight-faced grin. Bill didn't remember
them having a boat, but apparently Truth had taken it out of his robes.
"This shall be a long perilous journey," explained Truth, "and I fear that we may not all survive."
"I'm not going," cried out Douglas, who was crying more.
"You were not invited," said Truth.
"Oh," said Doug who looked a little hurt now. He moped back towards his place leaving the Galactic
Defenders to fend for themselves.
"You shall all go," said Truth to the Galactic Defenders, while grabbing Bill who was leaving with Doug.
"Why?" asked Bill, "Do I have to go."
"Because I will not be with you," said Truth.
"What are you doing that's so important?" asked Bill.
"There are many things that a man like me must do. You three shall go and discover if the demon of the
sea is prowling about still. If this being still goes about the sea, you must destroy it. Such things are disturbing the
balance of the Galaxy."
"What about the Galaxy Crystal?" asked Bill, "We were told by the High Council to go in search for the
Galaxy Crystal."
"No you weren't," said Truth, "You were merely informed that the Galaxy Crystal has been stolen. Others
better equipped for finding the Crystal have been sent to that job. For now you are to look for the demon of the sea."
Truth slipped behind a bush.
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