Sensei Brandon

Chapter Two: Bite of Common Sense

Captain Wes turned west, for Barcelona. He had traveled from Australia to Spain all of his life. All he had to do was take off from the Waterport, and then shift into his autopilot mode. Being an aquapilot was one of the easiest jobs in the sea. All that was required for you was to be massive and have a bite of common sense.

Cici wasn't visible for most of the trip, which was fine for Brandon until his smartphone ran out of power. By then it was nighttime, and he couldn't use his solar-powered charger. Captain Wes, being a living being, required all of the electric power he could muster to be utilized primarily in his nervous system.

Brandon felt a slight shiver go down his spine, but he, being young, was unfamiliar with these vibes. He dismissed them as nervousness for embarking on this ambitious mission, and determined to be pleased with his choice, he forced himself to try to sleep. Soon he had successfully drifted off.

Wes cruised on, despite feeling the same tingle as Brandon. Cici, and the remora that Brandon was clinging onto, quivered from it.

Nervously, Cici swam to the front of the shark and flitted in front of his face.

"Captain, do you feel the vibes?" she asked.       

"I do, but I wonder if we can weather this one..." he replied.

Cici did not want to remind him that he wasn't a young shark anymore. As Brandon slept on, like Jonah, Wes swam right into the middle of a sea storm.

Did I tell you that you need a bite of common sense to be an aquapilot? I forgot to mention that there's no way to test for that. Had there been one, Wes wouldn't have passed with flying colors.

As Captain Wes surged forward through the rolling waves, Cici ducked behind of his dorsal fin to shield herself. She felt a bit of concern for the leafy sea dragon nestled on Captain Wes's left pectoral fin but supposed that the remora had him covered. Anyways, there was no possible way for her to check on him, or else she too would've been blown away by the crazy water.

Brandon, who had been positioned in a rather fluid dynamic manner, slept rather soundly until he was too late.

Tumbling uncontrollably, Brandon awoke fearing for his life. A leafy sea dragon, like I said, is a delicate, slow creature. Knowing this, Brandon didn't want to snap into a dozen pieces. Although he was underwater, he felt that he could barely breath as he fumbled around, getting tossed and turned. The thought to look for Wes didn't even occur to him. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, as the whale shark was long gone.

Brandon slipped into a passing clump of sea algae and weathered through the scariest night of his life.

As for Wes?

Unlike human airlines, Wes did not feel as responsible for losing his passenger. In fact, he didn't even notice he was gone, as it often occurred.

The ocean can be a very scary place. And it is also why they have no such thing as insurance policies.