This is the part where Trollex meet his friend Beat Drop Button, or Beat if you will!
Trollex and Coralie in this chapter are now 7 years old!
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It was seven a.m. in a Sunday morning. Still early for most Techno Trolls to be out of their homes, if you didn't count those who had jobs to go to.
And Prince Trollex was already out of the castle, swimming towards Coralie's home with a bag on his back.
Once he finally reached his friend's home after hiding from the guards, he knocked on the door. After a few seconds, the door opened and Trollex was faced with Coralie's father. The man was smaller than Trollex's father, his skin was pink with his hair the same color. His eyes, heart and freckles were bright yellow and he did not have any other colors or patterns on him. "Hello, Prince Trollex!" The man said. "Are you here for Coralie?"
Trollex nodded. "Hi, Mr. Pixel! Yes I am!"
Mr. Pixel faked smiled and opened the door wider so Trollex could enter. "She's in her room! Go right ahead!"
Trollex swam inside. "Thank you!" And went directly to her room. He knocked and waited for her to answer. Once she opened the door, Trollex couldn't even say a word as she took him by the arm and forced him in her room, closing the door behind him. "Whoa, Cora wha-" He began, but Coralie cut him off. "Look at this!" Showing a small painting of the Reef. "Isn't it amazing!?" She asked, an excited smile on her face.
Trollex looked at it. "Um... It's a picture of Techno Reef..?" Smiling at her, a bit confused. She turned the painting back to her, looking extremely happy. "I KNOW! I've never painted something that looked so realistic before!" She said, now hugging the painting.
Trollex was taken aback. "Wait... You painted this?" He asked, now very curious. Coralie looked back at him, still smiling widely. "Yes! My mother showed me how! She has been teaching me for a while now. And i'm finally getting good at it!"
Trollex smiled. "Happy to know you're getting better at what you liked to do for years!" Coralie put back the painting on her desk. "Yeah, and right when i was about to give up..."
Trollex rolled his eyes, smiling. "And i've told you many times to never give up on what you love. Speaking of which..." He swam closer to her. "Remember when my dad told me to stop exploring outside of Techno Reef?"
Coralie turned to face him, her arms crossed. "Lex, that was yesterday... And we both got grounded for it.. I'm actually surprised my parents let you in. Aren't you supposed to stay at the castle? Especially after... Well, you know.."
Trollex looked at her with a nervous smile. "Yeess... Buuuut it was getting boring and i may have found a new place we could go visit..?" He said with his arms behind his back, now looking at her with pleading eyes.
"Trollex..." She looked at him, a bit disappointed.
"Please..?" He said, making puppy dog eyes at her.
Coralie tried her hardest to resist, but she sigh, defeated. "Where do you wanna go?"
Trollex smiled and took out of his bag a small map of the reef. "It's right outside that way." Showing the map to her, pointing at where it was, just left of the castle. "It's a sunken ship!"
Coralie took the map, now very interested. "A sunken ship?" Trollex nodded. "Now we just need an escape plan..." He said, thinking.
Coralie then took him by the arm and left through her window. Trollex smiled, following her.
As they were approaching the castle, some guards swam by making them hide behind a rock. They sneaked to another rock, closer to the castle and after a few minutes of sneaking past the guards, they finally reached the border and left the Reef.
They swam towards the ship, twirling around each other and laughing. Coralie was the first to stop as soon as they saw the ship. It was massive and broken in half. Some barnacles and moss was growing on it's sides. There was some small fish swimming in and coming out the windows.
A whale passing above them snapped her back to reality and she saw Trollex already swimming closer to the ship. She panicked and swam as fast as she could to get closer to him.
"Lex, i don't like this..." Coralie said, as they were entering the ship through a window. "Oh? Are you scared?" He teased, smirking at her. The room they were in was rather huge, but quite small for a shark to be in. "Yes!" She answered, hugging one of his arms.
Trollex rolled his eyes, smiling. "Oh, don't be such a guppy!" And swam away from her to a chest sitting in a corner of the room. "But.. We ARE guppies..." She said, as a shadow passed behind her through another window. She looked towards it, but saw nothing.
"Lex? C-can we go back home...?" She asked, swimming closer to him, while Trollex was trying to open the chest. He let go of it and looked back at Coralie. "Now? But, we just got here..." he said, a bit disappointed.
Then, out of nowhere, a small echo-ey grunt was heard from deeper within the ship. Coralie instantly hid behind Trollex, while he stood protectively in front of her. With a very serious expression, hiding his fear, Trollex took Coralie's hand and hesitantly started swimming towards the sound slowly through the hallways of the ship.
The hallways were dark, empty and looked like something you would see in a horror movie. Coralie grabbed both Trollex's shoulders, shaking uncontrollably, until the grunts got so loud they felt really close to them. The pair passed in front of a half opened door and heard a moan of pain coming from the inside, followed by another grunt. They backed up to the door and Trollex got on his guards as he opened the door slowly.
The door made an awfully loud creaking sound, making the grunts and moans of pains stop. And as Trollex and Coralie entered the room and looked around, the one in pain was hiding, scared to be attacked again.
"D-do you t-think a monste-er was ma-making these... sounds...?" Coralie said, almost in a whisper. She was still shaking out of fear. Then, Trollex turned around and hugged her. "If it was a monster, we would've been attacked already. Besides, i'll never let anything or anyone hurt you." He said, smiling warmly to her.
Their moment was interrupted when they heard another moan of pain, but muffled. They jumped and Coralie hid behind Trollex once again, holding his shoulders, her fear coming back. Trollex got back on his guards, swimming slowly towards the sound. Once he got close enough, he looked over some boxes lying in a corner of the room, only to find a small bioluminescent green fish. The small fish was badly hurt and shaking in fear.
"Oh no..." Trollex said, swimming to the small fish's right side. Seeing that, the green fish flinched. "No, no, don't be scared! We're not gonna hurt you!" Coralie said, swimming to his left side. "Y-y-you m-mea-ean it...?" The fish said. "Of course!" Coralie replied, taking him in her arms as carefully as she could. Then a loud noise was heard. It sounded like something hitting metal.
"Uuh.. That's not good..." Trollex said, taking Coralie by the hand, swimming out of the room. They swam fast in the hallways, Coralie still holding the little green fish with one arm, passing by some windows on their way. Looking through the windows quickly, Coralie saw a few sharks in the distance, with five Barracudas circling around the ship. Trollex started to panic, but he did not let it show. He had to keep Coralie and the little fish safe. He swam to an exit, but was met with a Barracuda, so he swam back to the hallway as fast as he could to another exit, but was met by a shark.
Fortunately, Trollex saw the royal guards coming their way and they were led by King Thrill.
Trollex hugged Coralie and the green fish as he watched his father and the guards chasing away the predators easily. And as soon as the creatures were gone, the King took the kids and swam as fast as he could back to Techno Reef, while ordering his guards to keep looking for other predators on their way.
Once everyone was safe and sound, back at the castle, King Thrill was furious.
Trollex could do nothing but look down, hands behind his back. Coralie was behind him, giving the small fish to a guard so he could get proper medical attention and froze at the King's voice.
"You disobeyed me, again..." Trollex flinched at this. "You were supposed to stay inside the castle, but you left by tricking the guard who was supposed to keep an eye on you." King Thrill sighed and looked at Coralie. "I thank your father for telling me, Coralie. But you're also grounded." The King then looked at two random guards. "Take her home, please." They nodded and left with her.
Once King Thrill and Trollex were alone with the rest of the family, King Thrill sighed again. "I'm sorry, dad..." Trollex said, before his father could speak another word. "How many times has a situation like this happened...?" King Thrill asked, more to himself than to his son. "It's not like anyone got hurt..." Trollex added, almost whispering. "Trollex..." King Thrill started. "Yes... But that was thanks to me and our guards. What would you have done if we weren't there for you?"
"I just-" Trollex started, but his father cut him off. "I thought i told you to stop leaving the Reef."
"I can't help it.." Trollex said, looking up at his father. "There's so much to discover all around us and-" King Thrill cut him off again. "I know. But i also know what awaits us outside the Reef. And it's too dangerous."
Trollex crossed his arms. "How do you know..?" Getting annoyed. "Trollex..." His mother said, while his father just looked away. "Your father used to leave the Reef a lot when he was your age as well." Trollex looked at her, he couldn't believe what he heard. "He did..?" He asked, but then his father spoke again. "Starting today," The King looked back at his first son. "you will be confined to your room until you have proven to me that i can trust you again. Now, go to your room."
Trollex sighed and swam away as his father ordered him to.
***
A few days later, the little fish was finally able to leave the hospital, but he had nowhere to go. Right before the Barracudas hurt him, both his parents died trying to protect him. He got sad again, but then thought about the ones who saved him and decided to go back at the castle.
He explained the whole situation to the King, and was allowed to stay. So he went to Trollex, who was bored out of his mind in his room. The young prince was upside down on a chair made out of a giant shell, a book on his face.
"Uuh.. Hello?" The green fish said. Trollex dropped the book and looked at him. "Oh!" He sat up straight quickly. "It's you, uuh.. How are you?"
"I've been better, but my wounds don't hurt no more!" The fish looked around Trollex's room. To the left was a small library and the chair where Trollex was sitting on, on his right was a desk-like table with nothing on it but some crayons and papers, with a window besides the table. And in the middle of the room was another giant shell, bigger than the chair, made to resemble a bed. "Nice room! But it looks too.. Empty..." He said, then turned back to Trollex. "Oh! Sorry, my name is Beat! It's nice to meet you, also thank you for saving me!"
"Oh! Well, you're welcome.." Trollex said. "I'm Trollex, it's nice to meet you too!" He smiled at Beat, who was now just staring out the window saying what a nice view the Prince had.
Later that day, it was almost bed time, but Trollex was getting curious. Too curious to sleep. Curious about his new friend, Beat. So, instead of listening to his mother, who just entered the room, he kept asking questions.
"How old are you?"
"9 years old!"
"Trollex..?" His mother tried to get his attention, but no avail. "Why were you all alone in that ship?" Trollex asked and failed to notice getting lifted up by his mother and placed on his bed. "Oh... It's a... Long story.. I-i don't wanna talk about it right now..." Beat said, looking down.
"Oh, okay... But don't you have parents waiting for you?" Trollex said as he absentmindedly got under his blanket.
Beat looked away. "Not anymore..." Hearing this, Trollex's shoulders dropped. "I... I'm sorry..." He said and hugged the little fish.
Beat started to cry silently. "Oh... Don't make me cry again, man..." And hugged Trollex back.
Queen Alanah hugged them both. "It's going to be alright. You can stay as long as you want." She smiled brightly at Beat, who looked up at her. "Try to sleep now, alright? I'll be here if you need anything." She said, patting his little head. Then, she kissed Trollex goodnight and left the room while turning off the lights and closing the door behind her.
As Trollex was comforting Beat in the dark, Coralie sneaked into his room from his window. "Lex? Are you sleeping?" She said, whispering.
"Nope!" He replied, smiling at her and whispering also.
When she heard his voice, she swam to him and hugged him. He hugged her back, with Beat in between them. Then, Beat whispered "Wait, it's you again!"
Coralie backed away a little, sitting on the bed and looked at the little green fish in Trollex's arms. "Hey little guy! I'm Coralie, it's nice to meet you!" She said, still whispering and smiling at him.
Beat smiled. "I'm Beat, nice to meet you too! But.. Why are you here?" He whispered confused.
She blushed a bit and shrugged. "Just saying Hi to Trollex."
Trollex smiled, while Beat was still confused. "But, aren't you supposed to be home?" He asked.
She looked down at the bed, her blush got even brighter. "I can't pass a day without seeing him..." She said, whispering so low that neither of them heard her.
Trollex looked at her, now confused as well. "What did you say?" He whispered, but she brushed it off. "Nothing important..." She replied.
Trollex let got of Beat and crossed his arms at that. "Why do you always say that..?"
Coralie rolled her eyes, smiling. "Because it's a secret!"
"I can keep a secret!" Trollex whispered, trying to know what she was hiding.
"But it's my personal secret..." She whispered, crossing her arms and looking away.
"But you know you can trust me with it!" Trollex tried again, sitting closer to her.
"I'd like to keep it to myself..." She whispered back.
"... Alright, fine..." Trollex replied, defeated. He really didn't want her to say something she didn't want to say.
"Heh... You two are-" Beat yawned. "Something..." And fell asleep beside Trollex.
Coralie smiled at that. "Alright then, i'll see you later!" She whispered to Trollex. "Yeah, okay!" He replied, smiling as well. She went to leave, but once she was close to the window, she swam back to Trollex, hugged him, kissed him on the cheek and left quickly after.
Trollex was shocked and blushing brightly. And after a few minutes, he smiled and layed down, falling asleep within seconds with a big smile on his face.
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Alright, here you go ^^
Hope you like it :)