FAT49 #12 - Fishy Flashback

In the stillness the seas converged.

Grgl was underwater. He was surrounded by what looked like shattered buildings covered in coral. He noticed some familiar symbols on the buildings. Fish-kin symbols. He swam to one and inspected it. It glowed softly at his touch.
"Could it be?" he thought.
He felt a tail brush past him. A fish. Not to be unexpected. The fish paused and looked at him.
"Is this..." he began "the sunken city of Brow Island?"
"This..." replied the fish. "...is our homeland." The fish's voice was Bloop's. The recent memories came flooding back.
Flock. Butler Suits. Felix... CHANG!
"Sister, I thought you..." Grgl began.
"Alas, brother, I did." Bloop said.
"But then how...?"
"This is the Fish-Kin afterlife."
"We... turn into fish?"
"Yes."
"But, we eat fish."
"Ironic, isn't it? You are what you eat they say."
"..."
"But, never mind that now brother. You are still alive."
"But, I thought this was the after..."
"Hey! There are enough inconsistencies without you asking questions all the time!" Bloop snapped.
"Anyway, you were brought here because you are the last surviving Fish-Kin." Bloop said.
"Okay?" Grgl said.
"Which means..." said another fish with a mighty fin. "...that you shall inherit our will."
"Oh." said Grgl who was trying to imagine what a dead culture robbed of their land and who were now inhabiting fish could will to him. He imagined a life time supply of tuna and then gagged a little.
"You will inherit all of our strengths, all of our memories." said a third fish who had beard-shaped coral growing on its face.
"Inherit your memories?" Grgl said feeling more and more like a fish out of water.
"Touch my fin and I will show you the true history of our people." said coral beard fish.

SPLOOSH

Grgl was there. He floated above the carnage of a sinking city in a bubble of water, with Plash, the bearded fish. Somehow, he knew that was the fish's name.
"Behold, Grgl. This was the mighty wave that claimed our homeland, Brow Island." Plash said. The seas were turbulent and powerful. They crashed mightily into the island, spilling out onto the land and overcoming the walls of its cities. Grgl could see the Fish-Kin, his people, fleeing in terror below him.
"Can't we save them? Can't we stop this?" Grgl said.
"This has already happened." Plash said.

SPLOOSH

They floated above a beach, a familiar beach, as a Fish-Kin girl crawled out of the ocean onto it. She was exhausted. She looked north. She looked south. There was nothing dangerous on the beach save a small crab with an above average sized pincer clicking at her menacingly. The girl turned back to the tides and started waving. She beckoned the other Fish-Kin still lost at sea.
"This child was the first to arrive on the new shore." Plash said.
"Her name is Krash, she is my grandmother." Grgl said.
"Ah, then your bond is strengthening."

SPLOOSH

The beach was now home to a small, thriving settlement. It was a curious one with buildings on land and sea that ebbed with the tide.
"This is the Stolen Shore?" Grgl said. "It's paradise."
"Our people made this place our home, but we would soon have to defend it."

SPLOOSH

There were screams, shouts and gurgles. The settlement was in ruins and great multi-armed creatures emerged from the tide. The Fish-Kin met them at the shore bearing their bone swords.
"The Squid War." Plash said. "Do you see that warrior at the front?" There was a mighty warrior with a mohawk much like Grgl's own standing at the front line fighting the squids.
"My father, Floop." Grgl said.

SPLOOSH

The settlements were being rebuilt but were nowhere near their former glory.
"Many Fish-Kin died in that war and rebuilding the settlement was a difficult task. It left us gutted and desperate." Plash said gravely.
"What did the Squid want with us?" Grgl asked.
"The squid are an ancient enemy of the Fish-Kin. Also, they taste great."
"True. So, why have you brought me here?"
"This was where we met... him. He that is responsible for so much of the Fish-Kin's suffering."
There he was, talking to the village elder. Chang. He looked younger but no less hateful. (NOTE: Before Chang usurped Doshforthewin he was known as Chinstrap Chang).
"That elder is me." Plash said. "Flock had been established during the Squid War. Maximillions Doshforthewin was the leader at the time and he had sent Chang to claim our land. It was the perfect location for their new port. I declined their offer to relocate us. We had just fought off the squids and I would not give up the shore so easily. But, they came with superior numbers..."
"I can feel it..." Grgl said.
"Feel what?"
"I can feel their pain! I can feel the blades and the fire! I can feel their life being drained away!" Countless names, countless faces and countless lives flashed through Grgl's mind. He knew them all.

The converged seas stirred.