Adventures of Crusty
Book One
Crusty had a very uneasy feeling. He shivered as he watched the Black Cloud drift towards his home. As the Black Cloud settled overhead a coldness fell over the small community of Coral Marine. Crusty, a lovable green-brown crab, was filled with dread. He felt the Black Cloud was… Waiting… Watching… Listening.
Very few of the other creatures living in Coral Marine paid any attention to it. They carried on their lives as if it wasn’t there. Somehow Crusty couldn’t get it out of his mind and he kept a wary, watchful eye on it. “W hat do you think it is?” he asked his friend.
“I don’t know,” replied Eric, a shiny, blue-grey eel. “Can’t say I’ve seen anything like it before.” He stooped to move a couple of pebbles away from in front of his door. “It’s probably some old seaweed and flotsam left behind by the wind… So Toby told me.”
“Toby! Toby told you. Slithering Anemone. How would he know?” said Crusty raising his eyes. “He hasn’t been away from Coral Marine since I’ve been here… And that was a long time before you arrived. Huh. Toby indeed.” Crusty gave a snort and a small line of bubbles drifted upwards towards the surface.
“Well it hasn’t done any harm,” Eric replied. But almost before Eric had finished speaking a strange object dropped from the Black Cloud. It was long and thin. It had a large head and on its head were three, huge spikes. As it sliced through the water it sounded like chains clanking together. All along its length the sea bubbled and hissed. Its head struck the seabed with a thud and the spikes dug deeply into the soft sand.
A stunned silence hung over the community of Coral Marine.
“Yawee,” screeched Eric and he swam into the safety of the dark interior of his burrow.
“Jumping Sea Horses,” yelled Crusty. His legs tried to go in different directions at the same time as he scrambled into his home. But he soon recovered from his initial panic. He crept forward and opened his front door and watched the strange object from his doorway. He even stood on tiptoe for a better view. Its strange behaviour worried him. “What is it doing?” he muttered to himself. “It hasn’t moved since it buried its teeth in the sand. Nor has it made any more noises either.”
Crusty found it all very puzzling. As always his natural curiosity took control even though it often got him into trouble. Pushing his fears aside he crept out of the doorway and took a few, slow, tentative steps towards the strange object. Looking round he could see lots of faces and eyes peering out of every niche and crevice of Coral Marine. They all appeared to have been frightened by this strange, new object.
Crusty didn’t like it. He had a feeling it might be dangerous. Deep within his shell he was sure something terrible was about to happen. He looked towards Eric. “What can it be?” he whispered.
The only part of Eric to be seen was his nose. “I don’t know,” Eric replied. His voice echoed from his hollow chamber. “I th… think I… I’ll stay here fo… for a while,” he stammered and his nose disappeared into the darkness.
Suddenly Crusty was all alone. Coral Marine could have been empty. All the eyes and faces had disappeared. It was as if a switch had turned off a light. An eerie stillness settled over
the small community. Crusty looked along the length of the old sailing vessel. “What is the matter?” he shouted. “Why have you all disappeared?”
There was only silence. The old ship looked deserted.
Goose pimples crawled on his skin under his shell as Crusty turned to face the Black Cloud.
THE ONE-EYED MONSTER
Crusty’s eyes opened so wide they almost popped out of his head. A second strange monster was moving through the sea towards him. It had a large, single eye and a bright shaft of light blazed from the end of one arm. For a moment Crusty couldn’t move. “Bubbling barnacles,” he cried before hurrying, once again, into the safety of his home. Slamming the door shut he peered out of the window at this new and fearsome intruder.
Closer and closer came the one-eyed monster. As it moved it left a trail of sizzling bubbles behind it. The blinding light from its blazing arm covered Coral Marine in a dazzling, white glow. Crusty watched this new monster. He hardly dared to breath in case it betrayed his presence. Slowly the monster moved along the length of the old sailing ship. Crusty lost sight of it but he knew it was still there. The glow from its blazing arm was proof of its presence.
After what seemed an age the one-eyed monster returned to the Black Cloud. Opening the door Crusty stood in his doorway. He saw many of the creatures, who lived in Coral Marine, fleeing in all directions. He raised his claws ready for battle even though he too feared the blazing, one-eyed intruder. “Wobbling Jellyfish,” he exclaimed with relief once the
monster was out of sight. “I hope that’s the last I’ll see of you,” he shouted. He shook his claws at the Black Cloud and the strange one-eyed monster
As things returned to normal the thumping of Crusty’s heart slowly lessoned. For a while the remaining inhabitants of Coral Marine acted as though nothing had happened. Most of those who stayed ignored the threat of the Black Cloud that hung over them. Crusty was the exception. He kept one eye on the Black cloud. All the time he expected something to happen; knew something would happen. He just didn’t know what or where or when. “I don’t like it,” he could be heard mumbling over and over to himself. “I DON’T like it. I DO NOT LIKE IT.”
The following morning Crusty decided to call on Eric. Out through the front door he marched, arms and legs swinging, only to stop in his tracks. Swimming towards him were five, brightly coloured monsters.
Each had a single eye.
Each had a blazing, white light at the end of an arm.
Each left a trail of whooshing bubbles in its wake.
“Quaking Sea Horses,” Crusty shouted. Doing an about turn he ran back to his home. Turning in the doorway he faced the monsters with his claws at the ready. He wasn’t about to be forced from his home without a fight. But even he found his legs shaking when the fearful monsters surrounded Coral Marine. He saw many of his neighbours fleeing in fear of their lives. Sadly he knew they would not return. But Crusty stood ready to fight. It made him even more determined to stay as long as he could.
Plucking up his courage Crusty stepped outside. Once again his curiosity had overcome his fear. He wanted to keep a close eye on what these monsters were doing. He could see one
monster was different. He had something the others didn’t have.
THE SILVER SERPENT
One of the brightly coloured, one-eyed monsters was guiding a strange serpent. It was long… very long, stretching all the way back to the Black Cloud. It had a silvery body that sparkled and flashed in the strange light as it twisted and turned. At one point it showed its gaping jaws. It was awesome. Crusty took a step backwards.
The new monster serpent was fearsome.
Suddenly the monster serpent dived to the seabed and began to suck the sand into its huge mouth. Crusty felt the sea being drawn past him. The one-eyed monster appeared to guide the monster serpent towards Crusty’s hiding place. Crusty felt alarm bells ring as the tug of the water towards the monster serpent became greater.
Closer and closer crept the monster serpent. Crusty felt himself being drawn towards that horrendous mouth. He grabbed hold of a barnacle-encrusted cannon with both claws. He had to strain with all his might to stop himself being sucked into the hideous mouth. His claws were beginning to lose their hold when the monster serpent moved away.
Crusty let out a sigh of relief. “Salty Seashells,” he muttered. “I thought it was going to swallow me too.” His legs felt as weak as pieces of string liquorice the moment he closed his front door. He looked around his little house. A tear from one eye rolled down his cheek. “I can’t stay here… with that… that terrible monster. It is far more terrifying than the others.
Later that day, at the point where the suction pipe had been, bubbles start to rise. There were few at first but they rapidly increase in number. A mound in the seabed began to form and something red began to writhe and twist its way out of the seabed within the mass of bubbles. Crusty watched from the doorway of his home. “Scowling Wale Sharks. What kind of monster have they released now. Will anyone be safe?”
Crusty sees the divers swimming back to the Black Cloud as more red lava heaves itself out of the seabed. The Black Cloud has disappeared but the red monster of the deep continues to grow. Suddenly the volcano erupted and the wreck was hurled through the water, pieces breaking off it as it was tossed like a cork
Crusty is tossed about until that part of the wreck in which he had made his home came to a standstill. His door is missing. His windows are missing. He tumbles out into a murky sea which gradually clears. He looks around. “Squeezing Squids. What a disaster. No home… No friends. Now I’ll have to find another home. I’ve lost everything.” He sighed.. “I’ll wait until all is quiet,” he decided, “before starting my journey.”
Crusty walked away from what little was left of Coral Marine in the opposite direction from which the Black Cloud had first arrived. The red sea monster was still growing and the water around him was quickly becoming too warm. He looked back only once. Then, with a determined look on his face and a spring in his step, he looked forward… forward to the future.
More of Crusty’s adventures can be found in Book Two.
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