Island Giant

Tim washed ashore on the sand and woke up next to a battered ship that was still able to stand. He cautiously rose up after grabbing the back of his head and looked down to see Kou's body buried beneath the sand.

While his legs dangled outside and his arms were buried in the sand, he continued to wave in an attempt to signal for help. Kou was instantly pulled out as Tim rushed along the sand and grabbed hold of his legs. Kou caught his breath and his body slipped on the beach.

"That was awful beyond words! Sand is not appetizing!" He let out a cough, shook his head, and then turned to face Tim, who was laughing at him.

"When I dragged you out of the sand, you should have seen the look on your face! My sense of humor was all but gone! All of you were yelling "raargh" and "rooar," humorous!" Kou became enraged by his laughter and grabbed a handful of sand to throw at him.

The sand accidentally went into Tim's mouth, where he swallowed it.

He immediately felt repulsed by it, loudly coughed, and hurried toward the water to quickly wash the sand off his mouth. "Who's the one laughing now, huh?," said Kou as he laughed aloud. Tim gave him an unfunny look as he hastily wiped the sand from his tongue.

They were both alone until their loud laughter startled Natan. Tim called to him and asked how he was doing. "Hey, Natan: It looks like you were taken to the same island as the two of us, huh?"

Natan suddenly felt uncomfortable and got to his feet, wiping the dust from his clothes. "I'd prefer to know our whereabouts. Sand and grime have totally covered my uniform."

Tim looked around while placing his arms on his hips. They were stationary on a shore in front of a big open area devoid of any structures, aside for a sizable skull in the distance.

"I haven't got a clue, but I sure can tell you that there's nobody else here other than us three. I hope others are doing fine." Tim stepped toward the ship and immediately stepped on it. The wood was cracked to the point it would almost be impossible to walk on.

"Sanguine Rose is entirely wrecked. If we want to see it sail the seas once more, we'd have to fix it." He took a brief minute to think before shouting. He yelled out, "Wait, Tomomi!" as he pounded open the door and entered the space. Soon after, he felt relieved to see Tomomi poking innocently from beneath the bed.

"You're okay! I've never felt more relieved." Tomomi emerged from beneath the bed like a kitten, then gently rose to her feet. She puffed with her cheeks and said, "I don't like water," clearly ashamed.

Tim chuckled, and the two of them went outside to where Natan and Kou were waiting. When Kou turned around to face Tomomi, he immediately reddened unsettlingly.

"Tomomi! You're all better now." Kou rushed, Natan moved cautiously after him as they stood side by side. Tomomi gave a cute smile-accompanied nod before turning to face Kou.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Natan immediately sighed and crossed his arms. "Shouldn't we be the ones asking you, 'captain'?"

He made fun of Tim until he eventually started to think, but the more he thought, the hotter his head got till steam gushed out of his ears and nose.

"Go find the others and hunt for food!" In an instant, Kou jumped behind Tim and gave him a seething head slap. "There isn't time for lunch! You've already had enough of it!"

Natan exhaled and focused his gaze on the island. "Don't you think that this island is devoid of nature? There is a lot of grass, but the number of trees is really little. The majority of them were cut, and the wood is still visible along the shorelines."

"I guess we have a new island to explore. However, this doesn't match "Urban Craftsman Island" or Athvan Town at all. Who knows, maybe if we examine it further, we'll find some delicious meal at last."

"You just won't stop talking about food, will you?" Kou wondered. They decided to finally explore the island more interestingly as they set foot on the greenfield. The grass felt normal to the touch, nothing special about it, nor the wood that was left behind by the cut down trees.

"Look at that..." Ahead, Tomomi said while pointing. On the island, there was a large desert region, although it felt more like a western field without much sun heat. There was nothing but sand on one side and lovely verdant grassy terrain on the other. There were only a few cactuses that appeared to have varied shapes.

"Just when you thought you wouldn't need to see desert again..." Tim said, already perspiring from the sight of it. "It's not exactly a desert; it's just secluded. The ground is just regular soil, not truly sand. You may recognize the difference if you read books about the Wild West." Natan concluded.

"Um, guys. What's with that giant skull in the desert biome? Doesn't it look kind of scary and a bit too big for a normal creature?"

On the ground, Kou shook. Tim humped and cocked his head to the side before expressing his opinion. "Who knows. It might be the remains of a large dragon that formerly inhabited this island."

Kou swooped around and grew anxious. "Are you crazy?! Who could possibly kill such a huge creature? Although I am aware of your strength, there is no way you could defeat a dragon that size."

Tomomi moved in front of them to survey the area. "It's probably just extinct or maybe giants killed it...." Kou shivered all over. "Giants?! No way did someone like that ever exist, come on."

Tim continued, "You can't be sure. You saw the enormous crab in Wasakona, right? I'm sure that I wouldn't be surprised if giants and dragons existed."

Kou spun around, crossed his arms, and lost his cool. "You three are probably just crazy." On that note, they soon felt a huge thump in the distance and before anyone could figure out what the noise was, more and more thumps started to vibrate behind them.

"Okay, now what?" Before a black shadow progressively covered their heads they gazed at revealed a person. They immediately stopped moving after looking straight up.

A huge person stood directly over them. They were the height of a tower, and their physique was really muscular.

They leaned on their right shoulder while holding a large mace. Their left arm was holding a rope that was fastened to a large boulder that they were dragging behind them. They had a long, black beard, big brown eyes.

Soon, their enormous foot would tread on their faces, startling Tim, Kou, and Natan. Tomomi casually hopped to the side, next to Tim, as they quickly lost their balance and began to roll away.

She was completely unfazed by the giant, in contrast to everyone else, and all she did was yawn and look up at them. With his whole arm trembling as he stumbled over his own words, Kou stretched his arm out in front and pointed his fingers at the monster.

"A g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-giant!!"

"Hello!" Everyone stared at Tomomi in disbelief, treating her like she was insane, as she reached out to them. "Tomomi! You're calling them to find us?! Are you trying to make us become their lunch?!"

Giant halted in his tracks and lowered his gaze to everyone else, who appeared to be ants in "He's going to eat Tomomi!"

However, the giant's head came to a stop in front of Tomomi's small frame, gave her a serious look, and told right away. "Oh, hi there." Tim was in a state of shock that nearly caused his eyes to burst from their sockets.

"Do you need something?"

To be continued...