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A lone mushroom stared off into the distance.
The sun became almost entirely unnoticeable, swallowed up by the various snowcapped mountains behind all the red-roof suburban houses that filled up the foggy, zombie-filled town of Neighborville.
The dainty little turquoise fungus basked in the remaining light of the setting sun, wiggling his tentacles and aimlessly floating around the lengthy backyard pool of his owner. Sunlight sprinkled across the well-kept lawn on both sides of the pool, tinting everything in the backyard golden.
His face bore a brooding expression. He wasn’t thinking of the apocalypse or more ways to fend off the undead like most of his fellow comrades. He was thinking about the sea. He’s been fantasizing about the subject for as long as he had remembered. Travelling to the beach, seeing the tall ocean waves, feeling the warm breeze along the shoreline, breathing and maybe even living in the cool, salty seawater...He felt it was the best life any aquatic fungi could ever have.
Because of the fact that going to the ocean was purely his own imagination, he had ever only partly understood the name his creator gave him. Sea-shroom. A simple name fit for a simple fungus. But what he never wrapped his head around was the reason why they decided to use the word“sea”. It felt almost ironic. Perhaps even a direct jab at the fact that he probably is never going to see the ocean, even with his intense desire to.
No. That couldn’t be it. It was probably just a way of getting the point of his purpose across quickly. (It doesn’t help him from thinking about the possibility that it could be though.)
Thinking about the ocean leads Sea-shroom to think about his fellow fungi. He first heard about the sea from Puff-shroom, his earliest friend and senior.
"What's a 'sea'?"
“What? You...Uh...You don’t know what the sea is?” Puff-shroom would ask on their first meeting, his features scrunched up, clearly bewildered by the question from this odd new recruit. “Well, I suppose you haven’t been here for long, haven’t you, little guy?”
“ No...I know it's in my name, though. ” Sea-shroom awkwardly replied after some thought, nervously fiddling with his cap.
“Ha!” Puff-shroom chortled, turning his head to the side, and then slowly spun around to face the other mushroom again, still giggling to himself. “How sardonic. Crazy Dave really put thought into that one, didn’t he?”
Sea-shroom gave back a weak nod, even though he didn't quite understand the statement.
“So...what’s the sea like, Mr. Puff-shroom?” He queried once more, this time with more confidence in his voice.
Puff-shroom turned to the west, a faraway look in his eyes. “The sea eh?..." Puff-shroom paused, struggling to find words to explain the simple word in a way the young mushroom could easily comprehend. "It’s basically a gigantic pool with other things living in it. And there’s a lot of rock and sand, I guess.”
Sea-shroom was suddenly deeply intrigued. A gigantic pool? Filled to the brim with more water than he could ever imagine? He really liked water. “I-uh...Mr. Puff-shroom, what are the things that live in the sea?”
“Fish. And probably sea cannons.” Puff-shroom replied swiftly, looking fairly sure of himself. Sea-shroom didn’t really know how to feel about that information. “Tell you what, I’ll tell you more inside the owner's house. Me and Fume probably have some beach photos from that time we went to Florida, and I’m also pretty sure Tangle Kelp has a ton of fun stories from his time as a diver. C'mon in, I'll go get you an glass bowl..."
That day was when his obsession really began.
Every day at the crack of dawn, Puff-shroom would sit down and tell tales about the sailing the seven seas, spinning them as he went; and Sea-shroom would grab onto every single word, imagining a world where he himself took the role of the adventurous protaganist, where he wasn’t busy fighting for his life all the time. He'd dream about these stories in the morning. These daily late-morning meetings continued for almost over a year, until it was cut down to weekly ones because of the constant zombie attacks. And in these meetings, the Lily Pad didn’t seem to mind Puff-shroom sitting on him all night; Fume-shroom didn’t mind standing in for a few times; Tangle Kelp didn’t mind sharing some inspiration; and Hypno-shroom certainly didn’t mind adding his own mind-boggling twists. They were an essentric team of soldiers for sure, but they did make Sea-shroom feel significantly more gratified that he joined this army. That he found comfort in the most devastating of circumstances.
Ever since then, whenever he thought about the deep, beautiful ocean, he felt a sense of familiarity. A sense of warmth. It made him feel like regardless of whatever will happen in the future, everything will turn out alright.
He felt hopeful.
He felt brave.
“Hey, sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s time you should prepare for war, young soldier.” A sharp, commanding voice snapped Sea-shroom out of his thoughts; It was his commander; leaning over the pool and wearing a unimpressed frown on his face. Sea-shroom quickly snapped his head around to the other mushroom. “It’s nighttime already. Bloody hell, how long have you been out of it? There’s zombies out and about and there’s still fungi just lounging around...” Sun-shroom sighed, bringing a nonexistent palm to his face.
He was indeed, correct. The sky was already coloured a pale shade of indigo, a great deal of stars gleaming in the night sky.
Not realizing how much time has passed, Sea-shroom turned to gaze at the sky in disbelief for a few moments then immediately turned his cap down in shame. “Sorry, Commander Sun-shroom, really, I-”
“Whatever, just don’t knock out right before the battle again, alright mate?” Sun-shroom simply warned before retreating back to the back of the yard. “I hate this damned job...” Sea-shroom overheard him whisper before his commander disappeared out of his short foresight.
Discerning a series of familiar groans about devouring cerebral matter from down the street, Sea-shroom stood firmly in his place in the pool, behind Tangle Kelp and readied his fumes.
And he thought about the distant seas.