[Orange Steve's POV]

Sabre and I have been playing tag for a little bit. It's super fun!

I finally got out of his sight while he was it, so now he has to find me too. Heh, I know these reefs like the back of my hand, he'll never find me!

Although... I haven't even heard him swim close by. Did he get lost? But it's just the reef, it only covers the bits of rock in the Shallows and that's it. Maybe he just took the wrong way at the spliced directions in the coral?

...Something tells me I should check for him.

I swim out of my hiding spot and more towards the surface, away from the reef. Spinning in place slowly, scanning the area for Sabre, I can't see him anywhere... Wait- What was-

I see Sabre just as he enters the creepvine forest far from where he was in the Shallows. Why is he going over there?! We haven't even brought up that place yet, and he's definitely not the curious type!

I quickly swim into the creepvine forest behind him, and make my way into a clear spot in the kelp. Peeking out from behind one of the plants, I see what's making him go this way.

Oh-

Oh NO.

"SABRE, LOOK OUT!" I scream, trying to draw his attention away from the fish in front of him. "THAT'S A MESMER!"

He doesn't hear me. He must be already hypnotized by the dang thing. I got no time to lose, if that thing leads him deeper into the forest he could get caught by a stalker or get stuck down there without a way to get to the surface, or... something even worse. Why is it leading him into the forest though? It usually just draws people in to attack them!

I dash towards the mesmer's side, it unaware of me. Using my shoulder, I ram into the mesmer, hoping to make it stop hypnotizing Sabre. I look away from it as much as possible, so I don't get caught in its grasp too. The mesmer still has its hold on Sabre, though... darn it. Plan B.

I swim out from behind the mesmer, using my finned tail to slap it away as I quickly grab Sabre and swim out of the creepvine forest with him.

As I swim off, I notice that Sabre's device-thingy is going off like crazy. What was it called again- doesn't matter! Sabre needs to go up, now. It seems like he's still a little bit out of it from the mesmer, and he's not noticing the thing going off. First time is always the worst...

Once we're back in the Shallows, I angle myself upwards so I can reach the surface. I soon breach the water, and I guess the shock from underwater to above the ocean's surface finally snapped Sabre out of the mesmer's effect.

"Wh- What happened?! What's going on? What-?!" Sabre panics, but I attempt to calm him down.

"Sabre, it's okay. You're alright now. It's over." I say. "You got caught by a mesmer. It's lucky that I saw you just as you entered the creepvine forest, or I wouldn't have known where it took you. I dunno why it was just leading you away, though..."

"A... A mesmer...?" Sabre asks. Okay, I can get him to focus on something.

"A mesmer is a type of fish that normally lives in the creepvine forest caves." I explain. "They hypnotize people and other fish to attack them by using those fins, it has some kind of glow that does that. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I, uh... Okay..." Sabre says. "I-I swam up from the reef, trying to see where you went, and I saw that thing swimming by a bit away from it. When I saw it, it noticed me too a-and started swimming towards me from where it was. I was about to call out for you when it spread out those fins, and..."

Sabre trails off, now looking confused.

"What was it?" I ask.

"I-I thought I heard my PDA, and then you and Red, all telling me to swim closer to it." Sabre says. "I dunno what happened, I was just focusing on the fish that entire time, and all of the voices were like background noise. And- And now we're here."

"The mesmer manipulates people's minds, making them hear those they trust to get them to swim towards it." I say. "Still, I have no idea what one was doing in the Shallows, since they live in caves, mostly... Maybe something just forced it out of its home, and you got unlucky."

"I sure feel unlucky..." Sabre says, and then he puts his hand to his head. "Dang, now I've got a headache..."

"Happens to everyone after their first few run-ins with a mesmer." I say, slightly smiling to try and ease some of the tension. "Trust me, I know. Don't worry, it'll pass in a minute or two."

Sabre and I notice Red is back, and he's swimming towards us. We both go back underwater to meet with him.

"What happened to you two?" Red asks.

"Sabre and I were just playing tag, and then he had a run-in with a mesmer." I explain.

"Wh- A mesmer?!" Red exclaims, and he quickly swims over to Sabre, probably checking for injuries. "Sabre, are you alright?! Did it get you?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It didn't attack me." Sabre answers.

"For some reason, it just tried to lead him into the creepvine forest." I say. "Didn't go at him or anything."

Red backs up a bit and looks at me, confused.

"It... just tried to lead him away?" Red says.

"I'm just as confused as you are, and I'm pretty sure Sabre doesn't even know what happened after it hypnotized him." I shrug.

"Yeah, nope. Don't know a thing." Sabre adds.

"You are somehow both extremely lucky and unlucky, Sabre." Red says. "Why don't you go back into your lifepod for a second and check for injuries yourself, just to make sure?"

"Okay... I'll be right back then." Sabre says, and he swims off.

Red waits until Sabre goes inside, then he turns to me with a panicked expression.

"Orange, we have a problem. A major problem." Red says.

"What? Why'd you send Sabre away for? This?" I ask.

"Yes, he has enough to panic about right now, I don't want him getting caught up in our people's affairs just yet. He only got here a few days ago." Red says.

"Well, what happened?" I say.

"Orange, the Red Crystal is gone." Red says.

"Wait, what?!" I exclaim. "How?!"

"Shh, quiet down! Sabre doesn't need to know about it!" Red says. "I don't know, I was just checking for it when I got home and it wasn't there. I don't know what possibly could've taken it, my door was closed and locked. I just- I don't know."

"...What are we gonna do?" I ask.

"I honestly have no clue, buddy." Red sighs. "Look, just... don't say anything. I don't want a panic starting."

"Alright..." I say. "Hey, maybe we should take Sabre to the old temple so he knows a little about these things. And about the other colors. If things start up too fast, we should make sure he's not confused about it."

"Good point..." Red says. "But maybe we should do that tomorrow. Pretty sure Sabre's had enough... excitement for today."

"Yeah, you're probably right, Red." I say. "A mesmer isn't exactly a good first experience with this world."

Just then, Sabre comes out from his lifepod again and starts swimming towards us.

—————————————————————————————————————

[Sabre's POV]

After the whole... incident with that other fish, Orange and Red have been teaching me more about the basics of living here.

Right now, we're working on identifying what fish are safe for me to eat. I know I'm not surviving on those nutrient blocks forever, and I'd really rather have something else. If that 'something else' is fish, then I guess I'm surviving off fish for a while.

We're seeing which ones are safe and which aren't by using my scanner, which also shows in the PDA if they're edible to me or not. That, and I'll have some information on some of the fauna here. Peepers were no surprise, given how they're apparently everywhere and are really common. We're trying to catch a different fish right now, it's the one that's called a bladderfish (heh) apparently.

"It's going towards you, Red!" Orange calls out.

Red tries to catch the fish, but it darts away just as his hands get close. The fish thenstarts swimming in my direction.

"Sabre, to you!" Red calls.

I get my Seaglide ready, as this fish has been out-speeding us for over ten minutes. As it swims towards me, I reach for it. It tries to get away as it has been, but my Seaglide makes it so I can catch up to it. I grasp around the fish's body, careful not to accidentally grab one of the pink sacs it has on either side of it. Dunno what those might do if I grab them.

As I hold up the fish, Orange and Red swim up to me.

"Great job, Sabre! You caught it!" Orange smiles.

"On your third try, too." Red adds. "Not bad for a beginner's catch."

"Heh, the Seaglide probably helped a lot." I say, taking out my scanner.

I scan the bladderfish, it wiggling in my hand. Once the scan ends, I look at the information that was added to my PDA after putting the scanner back on my suit's tool belt.

"Okay... so, it is something safe for me to eat." I say. "That's another source."

"Nice." Orange says.

I look further into the data, and something surprising catches my eye.

"No fricken way." I say, reading the information.

"What? What is it?" Red asks.

"Apparently, my fabricator can make clean water from these things!" I excitedly exclaim, holding up the fish.

"Ooh, go try it!" Orange says.

I quickly swim towards my lifepod, going through the hatch as I open it. Walking over to my fabricator, I set the fish down on the small shelf it has. I take out my survival knife and stab into the small fish's head, knowing I hit the brain, as the fish stops flopping around. I'm not turning it into something while it's still alive, that'd be cruel.

I open the fabricator's crafting menu and sure enough, there's a new option. I click the water bottle icon, and the fish dissipates from the fabricator's shelf. In the next second, a water bottle appears, looking to be 3D-printed into the world. I pick up the bottle and shake it a little... there's water inside.

I happily set the newly crafted water bottle next to the ones I already had, and go back into the water. Orange and Red look up at me as I swim towards them.

"It worked!" I exclaim. "Now I have sources of food and clean water!"

"That's perfect!" Red smiles. "Quite lucky that your fabricator can make such things."

"Now you don't have to worry about it as much!" Orange says.

I'm about to ask what's next when a loud, dull sound echoes throughout the Shallows. I once again scream and hide behind Orange, away from where the sound came from. And once again, Orange and Red laugh at me.

"Sabre, it's fine. It's just a Reefback." Orange says.

"A what?" I ask. "Also, can you really blame me?! I've never heard something that loud that close!"

"Alright, alright, that fair." Red says. He then points to something in the distance. "You might not be able to really see them, but look over there."

I swim out from behind Orange and look where Red is pointing. Far in the distance, there's four huge, moving shadows slowly going by the Shallows. Two of them are smaller than the others. The bigger shadows seem to have something on top of them. I realize that these shadows of the reefbacks kind of remind me of whales.

"Cool, right?" Orange says, looking out towards the creatures.

"Yeah... they aren't so scary..." I say.

We spend a little bit just watching the reefbacks as they slowly go by. Eventually, we notice it's starting to get dark.

"We better head home." Red says. "We'll see you tomorrow, Sabre! We have somewhere to bring you, as well."

"You do? Sounds cool!" I say.

"It is! I'm excited for you to see it!" Orange smiles.

"Well, I'm excited too!" I say, smiling back.

I then hug my friends before swimming up towards my lifepod.

"Bye guys, seeya tomorrow!" I say, waving to them. "Thanks again for helping me!"

Orange and Red wave to me as I go back into my lifepod. Once I'm inside, I take off my damp wetsuit and set it on the counter in front of the lifepod's computer again.

I then realize I need food. Not wanting to have to eat a nutrient block ration again, I remember the peeper that Red gave me earlier. I take it out and set it on my fabricator. The thing is long dead, so I don't need to kill it myself. I once again open my fabricator's crafting menu, and see a new category; it's labeled 'sustenance'.

I select the new category and see that there's an option to cook the peeper. Clicking it, the fabricator's beams quickly move and circle over the fish, and I see small amounts of steam rise from it. Wow, freshly cooked fish smells amazing after living off either nutrients blocks or pre-frozen cafe food after so long.

As I pick up the cooked peeper, my PDA starts speaking.

"The fabricator cooks small organisms, while disposing of the skeletal structure, bodily fluids, and internal organs, thus rendering them safe for human consumption."

Huh. That's pretty useful, and cool. I always wondered how exactly it does that, though...

I eat the cooked peeper. It's not that bad, really, kinda tastes like cod. Or maybe I'm just happy to have something that's not either re-heated or tasteless. Eh, don't care.

I then decide to open my PDA and look through the new data I have on some of the lifeforms here. It'll be nice to have some known about this planet, even if it's just some of the fish.

Y'know, maybe surviving here won't be all that bad...