[E-Ocean] Odd Meet

His wing still on the mend after his mountain adventure, Horacio headed down to the beach for a swim instead. Swimming wasn’t his greatest strength, so he decided that while he was resting from flying, he would work on his swimming instead. Improving his swimming would make him a better, more all-rounded racer too. 

He stood on the sand and watched the waves for a moment. He enjoyed the ocean. It had a way of soothing his soul when he was stressed. And without his flight, and speed, he was feeling a bit stressed. 

Taking a final deep breath, he stepped into the water. The tropical climate lent itself to waters that were never freezing, and he found the sea pleasantly cool. He waded in until it was deep enough to swim in before diving under the waves to get out into deeper water. Making it past the waves, he surfaced again. This time he took in a much larger breath and dived under the water. 

He spent some time down there, working on his speed before coming up for air again. On one of his dives, he noticed a piece of rope tied to a rock. He swam up to it, inspecting the odd thing. What a strange thing to be sitting down there. Had some Iso done it on purpose? What was it for? Following it up to the surface, he saw that it was attached to a piece of wood. His head broke through the water and he sucked in air as he looked about. On top of the piece of wood the rope was attached to was a green swimmer Iso. They were just snoozing on their piece of wood. What an odd place to be napping. 

Curious, Horacio swam a little closer. They were sleeping, right? He hadn’t just found a body. 

“You planning on staring all day?” 

Horacio startled at the sudden voice, water briefly splashing around him as he flailed his limbs. “Uh…” 

A brown eye peaked open, looking at him. 

“Hey?” Horacio offered an awkward greeting. 

“Hey…” the other Iso responded. 

When they didn’t say anything else, Horacio started to feel anxious the longer they just lay there staring at him. Was he supposed to say something now? He cleared his throat. “What’re ya doing?” 

“I was napping.” 

“Uh, yeah. Sorry if I interrupted that for ya. I just saw the rock and rope down there and wondered what it was for.” 

“I’s ta keep me from floating off.” 

“Ah, yeah, cool. That makes sense.” Horacio felt like he was drowning in embarrassment thanks to this strange conversation. “Uh, I guess that since I’ve found out, I’ll leave ya be.” 

He turned away to dive, but was stopped as the other Iso spoke. 

“What’s ya name, kid?” 

He turned back around. “Uh, it’s Horacio, or well, Race, if ya want.” 

The other Iso nodded and closed his eyes. “Cove.” 

“Huh?” 

“Ma name’s Cove.” 

“Oh. Cool.” He grinned and swam away again. 

“See ya round, Horacio.”