Magic Story Abridged: Drop for Drop

(Episode 9, Original story HERE )

I wanna be the very best, like no one ever wished

To raise an army is my quest; I’ll save my world with fish.

I will travel across the planes, deep beneath the foam.

Each sea monster to catch and train, so I can bring them home.

Sea Monsters; Gotta catch ‘em all

I’ll lead the attack in

A cast of Shipbreaker Kraken

Sea Monsters

Oh, don’t mind the squids,

This show is safe for kids.

Sea Monsters; Gotta catch ‘em all

You may think it’s odd,

That I’m riding a cephalopod

It’s my plan to fight the gods

Sea Monsters; Gotta catch ‘em all

Gotta catch ‘em all

Sea Monsters!





Art by Tyler Jacobson

THEROS

A RUINED CITY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA

Narrator, still a goblin: With her friends Elspeth and Ajani off to Nyx in the ship ‘Monsoon,’ Kiora is left alone near the presumed location of the lost city of Arixmethes. What few know is the real reason Arixmethes was lost; it was built on the back of a giant Sea Monster!

Kiora, a mermaid that’s all fish and all woman: Alright, everybody! Come out!

(Kiora summons her entire team of Serpents, Krakens, Octopuses, and Leviathans!)

(Taniwha uses Surf!)

Kiora: Let’s go make some new friends!





Additional Visual Effects for this episode by Empire State Photography

Kiora: Sea monsters, I know you’re out there! Everyone come up here and be my friends! I’m going to take care of you and love you and take you on adventures! And I brought snacks!

(The seas shake, the waters rise, dozens of massive aquatic beasts from the sea goddess’s personal collection arise for snacks.)

Kiora: You’re all mine now! Pokéball, GO!

(THE TRAINER BLOCKED THE BALL!)

Kiora: Thaaaat’s not good.

(Thassa rises out of the ocean, a hundred foot tall mermaid in a more traditional sense than Kiora, made of stars and magic)

Thassa: Don’t be a thief.





Art by Jason Chan

Kiora: So the thing about that is TANIWHA, I CHOOSE YOU!

Thassa: Foolish mortal. We can’t have a proper battle… without a proper arena!

(The sea churns and shakes. Rising up around Thassa and Kiora is a massive amphibious amphitheater filled with merfolk from all over the world.)

Kiora: Am I really important enough for an audience, or are you just that hard up for devotion to blue?

Thassa: … Sealock Monster, attack with Wring Out.

Kiora: Taniwha, use Megahorn!

(Taniwha tears holes in the octopus)

Thassa: Scourge of Fleets! Godhunter Octopus! Attack!

Kiora: Stormsurge Kraken, Tidal Kraken, get in there!





Art by Tyler Jacobson



(Giant monsters clash! Claws strike flesh, tentacles twist, teeth chomp! Kiora and Thassa continue summoning more and more creatures!)

Thassa: That’s it! Arixmethes, destroy them all!

(Arixmethes arises, a city-sized kraken, the giantest of all giant enemy crabs. It begins outright devouring Kiora’s sea monsters one by one.)





WHO’S THAT SEAMONSTER?

IT’S TANIWHA!





(Arixmethes, the city-sized kraken, tears through Kiora’s entire team. Though vicious and brutal, her summoned monsters merely disappear when defeated.)

Kiora: Well, at least I found him… Come on, Arixmethes. You don’t want to work for mean old Thassa do you. You want someone who’ll love you and take care of you and give you scritches…



Thassa: Do you really think you can control Arixmethes when you can’t even control your own summoned monsters?

Kiora: Hey, I can control my summoned monsters just-

Thassa: CONFUSE RAY!

(Taniwha became confused! It hurt dozens of spectators in its confusion!)

Kiora: Taniwha, return! (Kiora hastily unsummons her only remaining sea serpent)

Thassa: And you’re out of usable sea monsters. Time to white out.

(Thassa waves her hand. The waters part instantly around Kiora, leaving a hole to the ocean floor thousands of feet below.)

Kiora: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! PLANT POWERS DON’T FAIL ME NOW!

(A massive bush sprouts from the ocean floor and rapidly grows hundreds of feet up to meet Kiora. The first few branches and vines are smashed under her, and she bounces her way down the growth, smacking into multiple softer parts of it on the way down until eventually she tumbles out, battered and bruised, on the ocean floor.)





Art by Rob Alexander



Kiora: …Ow…

Thassa: Still alive? Good.

(Thassa slams her bident down, pinning Kiora by the neck. The waters lower to let all the spectators see clearly.)

Thassa: This woman has been feeding you all lies for years! She is not divine! She is not powerful! I am your Goddess, and she is nothing!

Kiora: (cough) Erm… Um… (Kiora grabs the Bident, trying in vain to pull it from her neck)

Thassa: Oh? Does the heretic have something to say? Begging for her life, perhaps?

Kiora: (cough) You’ve…. Acti… activated… (cough) my trap card.

Thassa: …Your Trap Card? Do you think this is Yu-Gi-Oh!?

Kiora: (cough) No… I think it’s… (cough) ZENDIKAR.

(There’s a loud SWOOSH! Kiora, with the Bident, planeswalks away)

Thassa: What?

Thassa: …No seriously, what?!

Thassa: WHAT IN EREBOS’ IS ZENDIKAR?!?!





Art by Yeong-Hao Han



Art by Kieran Yanner



Gotta catch ‘em all! Gotta catch ‘em all!

Gotta catch ‘em all, Sea Monsters!

Isleback Spawn, Killer Whale, Narwhal, Manta Ray,

Wrexial, the Risen Deep, Bounding Krasis, Eater of Days,

Polar Kraken, Taniwha, Serpent of the Endless Sea,

Pearl Lake Ancient, Scourge of Fleets, Clinging Anemones

Gotta catch ‘em all! Gotta catch ‘em all!

Gotta catch ‘em all! Gotta catch ‘em all!

Gotta catch ‘em all, Sea Monsters!