ORIGIN

Mongo liked Polaris.

The little Fossa wobbled along the cave, singular eye squinting from the lights. It was so bright, and he wondered if the other caves were like this. Were they all so well lit? He hoped not. Having only one working eye, it was rather painful to be in such a bright room. But he didn't dare leave Polaris yet, he was too small, unable to really protect himself if he needed to.

Ahead, he could see something blue and glistening. What was that? Wait, he remembered it now! Vinnie had gotten a fish from there! And he was rather thirsty... The Fossa wobbled up to the river, ducking his head and flicking out his tongue to begin to drink.

Something was moving in the water.

The Fossa cub looked up from where he was drinking, tongue sticking slightly out of his mouth, as his singular eye scanned the water.

Only moments later, something came flying out of the water. The Gemling leaped back, bristling the fur along his back, snarling at the colorful creature. However, it quickly became apparent that the hopper was no danger, laying stretched out on the shore. Its fur was drenched, shoaked through, glittering with crystal dust and covered in patterns of vibrant cyan.

"Are you dead?" The Fossa asked, stalking forward. However, as he approached, it became clear that the hopper was still alive, sides heaving as it panted. As he approached, he was surprised to see a collar or necklace of some sort, seemingly extremely elaborate. 'What is that?' he wondered. However, before he could try to figure it out, the hopper was getting to its feet. It didn't seem to notice him at all, screeching towards the water.

Mongo tilted his head, turning to see what it was looking at. He approached, squinting to see something glow under the water. "What are you?" he called to the glowing thing. "Can you come up here?"

The white wind hopper seemed distraught, and unhappy. And that made Mongo unhappy. So the Fossa called out repeatedly to the glowing thing in the water, trying to figure out if it was a Gembound. He doubted it, after all, considering he couldn't think of any Gembounds that could survive for so long under the water.

His eye caught the collar on the wind hopper, and he wondered what it was. But it was shiny, and pretty, and he felt something inside him tell him he needed it. But it was the wind hopper's, and he couldn't just steal it.

Seeing the Wind Hopper tap the water, Mongo could guess what it wanted. Did it want him to retrieve the glowing thing? Well, he supposed he could do that. He watched warily as the Wind Hopper jumped into the water, only to be swept back down to the shore.

The Fossa jumped into the water, and swam towards the glowing thing, fighting the current. Once he neared it, he took a gulp of breath, before ducking beneath the water, attempting to retrieve the glowing thing.

The Fossa panted as he finally managed to make it to the glowing spot, taking a deep breath before diving under the water. He opened his sole eye, squinting as the water stung at it.

But he was rewarded, able to see a glowing sapphire. It was rather pretty, he had to admit, but otherwise ordinary. But the Wind Hopper seemed to want this one especially, so he pushed against it trying, and failing, to dislodge the rock.

When the rock failed to move, Mongo kicked off of the ground, flailing his limps and swimming to the surface of the water. He gulped in a breath of air, before diving back under, slamming into the jammed rock. But that, again, failed to work.

The Fossa turned, kicking off from the soil at the bottom of the water and swimming to the surface. He took a moment to catch his breath, before getting an idea. The Gemling swam some distance upcurrent, before diving again, allowing the current to boost him as he swam towards the stone. This time, the stone came free, and the Fossa followed it, attempting to push it towards the shore.