The Trouble with Tridents: Part Three

      Sei and Firi both stared with big eyes at the Whirlpool. What used to be a beautiful place -- shifting in different shades of blue, petpets dancing and twirling in the currents, and magnificent kelps and seashells shining in the sunlight coming down from the surface in colours of green, red, pink and blue -- was as it should be except for one thing: everything was purple.

      "Sei, why is the beautiful and calming place of the Whirlpool all coloured in shades of purple?" Firi asked with a small voice. The place still had the same charm as before, but the shade of purple made it look more like a failed painting than a calming place to relax.

      "I have no idea." Was Sei's first reaction, but of course he knew. This was the reason why he had not been able to deliver the Bottle of Purple Liquid to the Petpet shop. He had been prepared to jump into the pool to get the speed he needed to reach the Petpet shop in minutes, but he had lost hold of the bottle.

      "How could a quick ride to the shop turn into this?" Firi asked with amazement. Sometimes she just did not know how this Maraquan Draik did all of the things he did. It was like he planned it all, but she knew there was not a planning bone in Sei's body and he would never do anything to make King Kelpbeard look bad on purpose. Sei was just born with the ability to somehow always make things interesting and Firi could not help to feel proud of him. This is what I like about him, she thought and smiled.

      "Well, for your information, the trident is quite heavy and hard to carry around all the time. It weighs a ton and you can never get a good grip, it is like it has a mind of its own and wants to explore Maraqua as much as I do. So, as I was about to get into the pool, the trident slipped through my grip and obviously I had to let go of the Bottle of Purple Liquid in order to grab it again." Sei tried to explain.

      "Yes, I understand that the trident is more important than the bottle, of course. But how did the Purple Liquid leave the bottle and turn everything here purple? The bottle was closed before you jumped into the pool, right?" Firi asked with a smile, because she just knew Sei would have a good explanation for this.

      "Well, before the trident slipped as I was about to jump into the pool, I was checking to see if the content was still in the bottle. So, obviously, I had to open the bottle in order to do that."

      Firi looked towards the pool and saw the bottle twirling around in the currents and then turned her disbelieving gaze towards Sei and said: "You needed to open a glass bottle, a bottle you can see through, to check if the content was still there?"

      "Okay, so maybe I was curious about the smell. I mean, I have never smelled Purple Liquid before, have you?"

      "No, I have not." Firi was almost folded double with laughter as she tried to keep a straight face, and she almost dropped the bag of seashells even though she was holding it with one of her strong claws. "I might have been curious as well, but could you not have waited until you got to the shop? I mean, when you stand this close to the pool, the current is pretty strong."

      Sei looked at the twirling bottle and sighed. "It smelled so good, but then the current got a hold of me and the trident was about to slip away from me, and the cork to the bottle was nowhere to be found. Before I knew it the whole pool turned purple before my eyes. It was quite amazing actually!"

      Firi was now laughing so hard she cried and pushed Sei towards Maraqua, "Yes, this is quite amazing, and I am glad the currents soon will make this place normal again. Let us go to the Petpet shop next. That was your next destination, right?"

      "Right. I think I went to the shop to tell them about the bottle straight after this incident..." Sei said, but a seashell once again caught the attention of his Mutant Peophin friend, and while Sei continued swimming towards the shop Firi was digging under a stone to get at yet another shell.

      The Petpet shop owner greeted them at the door with a patient smile. "Hello, Sei, my dear. Did you bring me another Bottle of Purple Liquid?"

      Sei looked at his right hand, and then at his left hand, and then back at the owner. "Uh, no."

      The owner shook her head and smiled softly at him.

      Quickly grabbing one of the seashells from Firi's bag, however, Sei quickly recovered and said: "But I did bring you one of these beautiful shells! As a consolation price."

      "I see." The owner looked at the shell. "Thank you so much. The petpets will love it."

      Firi looked at Sei with annoyance, but smiled over at the owner. "I am sure they will, and of course, there are a lot more where that came from at the Seashell shop..."

      "You have not seen a trident lying around here somewhere, have you?" Sei quickly interrupted before Firi could start one of her dragged out campaigns again.

      The owner started laughing. She had been part of this procedure many times before, and she was used to it by now. "No, Sei. You did not have the trident with you when you came by earlier, I promise you it is not here."

      "Oh, okay." Sei looked a little sad and lost. There were not a lot of places left to look and he tried to remember where he had gone before he had visited the Petpet shop. The Maraquan battledome shop suddenly flashed before his eyes and he smiled.

      "I think I know where it is."

      Firi whooped with joy. "Finally! I will soon have all the seashells in the world!" She cackled and started to drag her full and heavy bag of seashells towards the Battledome shop. Sei did not mind her as he thanked the owner of the Petpet shop and hurried towards the next shop. Maybe his search would soon be over?

      Unfortunately, the trident was nowhere to be found in the Battledome shop, either. Sei had been sure he had left the trident there to be repaired as there was almost always something wrong with his trident, but the shop owner assured him that was not the case. Disappointed, they left the shop and headed towards the Kelp restaurant. Both Sei and Firi was feeling hungry after many hours of hard work looking for the missing trident and collecting seashells, and they felt they deserved a good meal. Sei had also remembered that he had earlier both cleaned the kitchen and had had lunch at the restaurant, so there was a possibility he had left the trident there.

      When they arrived at the restaurant, however, the orange Scorchio in a suit refused to let them inside. "Mr. Sei, I see you have returned."

      "Yes, I am looking for my trident." Sei said with hope. Perhaps the Scorchio knew something about it.

      "It is not here, sir, or rather, even if it was here, we would have no idea of knowing due to the mess you caused during your lunch hour. The kitchen is in a worse state now than before you supposedly cleaned it, and the dining room is missing all of its tablecloths. They were later discovered dirty and ruined in the kitchen cupboards." The Scorchio said.

      Sei whispered to Firi: "There was a minor flood in the kitchen." And Firi tried to keep herself from laughing as the Scorchio glared at them.

      The Scorchio then continued: "Do you mind explaining how the cloths got into the cupboards, why the kitchen was water damaged and why the dirty dishes was thrown in the bins out back?"

      Sei tried to look as innocent as possible as he slowly backed away. "Well, it is kind of hard to explain." He said as he grabbed hold of Firi and the bag and ran away. The Scorchio shouted after them as they disappeared behind the building, but did not follow them there.

      Sei then said with his sneaky voice: "Okay, we have to get inside, and I know just the way to do it."

      Firi hid the bag of seashells behind a dumpster, nodded and said: "Lead the way."

      Sei swam up the wall, onto the wobbly roof, and crawled his way into an air went. Firi followed close behind and as they crawled through the ducts they looked down through the ventilation holes to try and locate the trident, but it was nowhere to be seen. It was neither in the kitchen nor dining area, although the Scorchio had been right; the place was a mess. They had almost given up all hope when they saw one of Captain Scarblade's spies having dinner at one of the tables. At the moment, one of the waitresses was trying to explain the lack of tablecloths to him.

      "Firi." Sei hissed and pointed down at the Krawk. Firi nodded in understanding, but as she did the ventilation bars gave out under them and they fell in a heap on the floor right beside the spy's table.

      Sei looked at the spy with big eyes while Firi gave out a small sound of surprise. The spy looked at them like he wanted to laugh and chase them out of the restaurant at the same time for disturbing his meal. It was then the Scorchio by the door saw them and said: "Sei, you klutz, the trident is not here! Why do you not clean the kitchen while you are at it?"

      Sei looked at the spy when he saw the Krawk smile evilly down at him. "Uh, nice spy. Do not mind me. Please forget this and eat your food." Sei tried.

      "So, a trident keeper who does not know where his trident is? Lost it, have you?" The spy asked, with a big grin.

      "No, absolutely not." Sei tried again, but the Krawk's smile only grew bigger.

      The Krawk turned his eyes towards another Krawk at a table further down the restaurant and said: "Krick, we have a trident to find. Call in the others." Krick followed his boss's order and quickly left the restaurant while Sei looked at Firi. They were both in big trouble now, because not only did they have to find the trident, but they would also have to find it before the spies did.

      To be continued...