Submission (#2328) Approved

      The shore waters of Islasera were gently lapping at the bright sand of its beach, which was teeming with creatures of all shapes and sizes that day. It was a weekend and everyone and their mother decided to spend time at the beach to soak up some sunlight. Manta didn't much care for crowds- she was a loner herself and exceedingly shy, but her mothers Chime and Satella insisted on a family outing. While her siblings Roe and Urchin played together making sand castles nearby, Manta felt like she needed to recharge away from the bustling crowds of people and ventured off to the docks within vison of her mothers.

      The docks were not the ideal place to hang out- though the water was clear here like everywhere else, it wasn't exactly a smart idea to try and swim here for fear of being pushed up against the wood of the docks themselves and getting roughed up by the barnacles that resided there. The rest of the beach was a lengthy expanse of sand and bright tropical plants as well as shade from the many palm trees rooted in the ground; a much more appealing spot alltogether for the average person to want to spend their time, which is exactly why Manta preferred the docks at all.

      'No one will bother me here,' She thought. The blue striped kittom had no intention of diving down and swimming around the legs of the docks themselves, but did really want to wade in the shallow water and pick up some shells. She figured that since not many people came to hang out here, there must be lots of great shells underpaw that had gone untouched and unfound- ripe for her to pluck up out of the salty water and have a good look at.

      Humming to herself, the young kittom bent down every few inches to pick up a seashell that caught her attention, not looking up even once while she was focused on her task. In her mind, all of the shells here were special because no one else could have possibly found them before- and so she found herself filling up her little arms way more quickly than she realized and the shells she was holding began to slip, while some of the bigger ones on the top of her pile actually fell back into the water.

      "Hhh! No!" She gasped as a few of her shells dropped back into the ocean at her hindpaws and quickly bent down to try and grab them- which of course only caused her to drop even more of them in her rush to collect her lost treasures. With her stack of shells now destabilized, the whole thing seemed to disintigrate as the shells rolled out of her arms in a wave and fell- each one with their own little "Plop!" as they dropped into the water below. Manta let out of groan of frustration- a bit louder than she usually would have; even when she was alone Manta was afraid that someone else was secretly within earshot and able to hear her. Though... What would they even hear? She didn't even know why she would be embarrassed if anyone heard her being frustrated out loud- just that she would most certainly be just that- embarrassed.

      "Hey! Get out of the way!" Manta's ears pinned back instantly and she whirled around, a look of shock on her face as the high registered voice of another young girl chirped up behind her from the docks. Red flushed on the skin of her cheeks under her creamy facial fur, and she quickly waddled out of the water and back onto the sand of the beach to look for the source of the voice. Squinting from the bright sunlight reflecting off of the bright sand, Manta's eyes took a few moments to adjust until she finally saw a young white and purple kittom sitting on the docks with a small purple fishing pole.

      "Err.... uh...." Manta wanted to go back into the water to retrieve her shells before the tide lapped them back up deeper into the water, but the white kittom was already casting her fishing pole into the shallows- and there was no way that Manta was going to go back in there and risk getting caught on that hook.

      "What are you looking at? What do you want?" Sitting down, the new arrival propped herself up next to a small bucket she apparently had brought with her. She sniffed in Manta's direction and rolled her eyes, "I'm not moving my fishing rod if that's what you're wondering!" She shouted so that Manta could hear her, "This is my fishing spot! I'm here to catch all sorts of prize winning shiny colorful fish- now go away!" She stuck out her tongue at the blue kittom and then looked away back at her bobber floating in the water.

      Manta's ears burned with embarrassment and her eyes instantly began to water as she turned and walked away. She was absolutely awful with confrontation, so the thought to say something and take up for herself against this rude kittom didn't even cross her mind as she walked back towards her brother and sister- head hanging, shoulders tense, and nose riddled with snot.

      As she got closer to her siblings, still playing in the sand making the lumpiest sand castle on the beach, Manta plopped down abruptly before she reached them and kept her back turned. She didn't know where else to go as the rest of the beach was crowded, but she didn't want anyone to see her crying so she hoped that Roe and Urchin wouldn't notice- but of course they did.

      "Manta? What happened?" The familiar voice of her older sister, Roe, sounded as both Manta's brother and sister came up from behind her.

      "Yeah! Who made you cry? Tell us Manta and we'll take care of it-" Urchin piped up, not bothering to brush the sand off of his swimming trunks.

      Manta didn't like confrontation even if it was on her behalf- but she really wanted those shells back, so she mumbled behind tiny hics and sobs, "There's this girl... On the docks, I dropped my shells but she cast her fishing rod in the water where I dropped them, and then she yelled at me to go away..." She stared at her forepaws.

      Giving each other a devious look, Roe and Urchin pulled Manta up, "Come on, lets go get your shells back!" Roe spoke as the three siblings walked back to the docks where the white kittom still sat, nothing biting her bobber in that shallow water.

      "Hey! You!" Urchin shouted as he scaled the staircase that went up the docks, Roe next to him and Manta following behind them, the other kittom looked up and groaned.

      "What? Ugh what do you want!" She caught a glimpse of Manta behind her siblings, "Oh, you! You went and tattled on me did you? Can't fight your own battles?" She stuck out her tongue again and stood up, setting her fishing rod on the floor of the dock. Crossing her arms in front of her, the new arrival seemed very sassy, and Manta could see from close up that she had pixie horns- something that normally she would have found facinating or cool, but at the moment she was too anxious to care.

      "You messed with our sister, what's your name bully?"

      "None of your business is what it is! Your sister got in my way!"

      "You made it our business when you were rude to Manta!"

      Manta  thought that a fight was going to break out until she heard the sound of her mother, Satella, from the beach, "Hey! Come on kids, it's time to go home!" Chime and Satella were packing up their things, and the siblings all made a move to leave before Urchin ran over to the white kittom and quickly tossed her fishing rod in the water- something that made Roe laugh and take Manta's forepaw as the siblings all ran away, looking back to see the white kittom fuming and hollering after them.