Side stories to add to the mix. Excellent.

Within a crater, a Green ArbyFish did spy,
A tiny White one, its eyes all sly.
Out of the basin Flanburger did take,
A tiny spit, covered in milkshake.

Your gift for poetry astounds and confounds me.

"...N' yew back in return. Yew'z a cute lil' spit,"
Green did say to White.
"Noice knoife ya gots there. Only missed by a bit.
Me jugular vein, if Oye one did 'ave,
Would've been split, roight down to the calve."

So he hit the calf instead of the jugular? :)

So think he did, and before long,
A better name he found; it could not be wrong.
"Mouldey Pants, think Oye should you call.
A 'shroomy name, it does make more o'erall."

Nah. Bruce works.

Thus it was that Bruce, the White ArbyFish, found himself taken
from his natural environment by an equally natural disaster. He spent
his years apprenticed to Flanburger, the Second One, in order to
become a right proper ArbyFish when he grew up.

Whatever a right proper Arbyfish is. They do tend to be a bit emphereal.

"Roight. Very good," Flanburger said after a moment. "Next
problem." He scrawled some more mushrooms onto the board. "'Ere,
we'z gots two 'shrooms n' anotha' two 'shrooms." He drew an equals
sign. "That will surely equal six. Who can answer this one?"

Like a savannah full of meercats,

Such a silly adage. Meercats inhabit swampland, not savannahs. Anyone
knowing their ecology would realize this. :P

Flanburger scraped the board clean with a broken rubber
windshield wiper

Better than using that iron claw to do it. :)

and drew another mushroom on it. "Ya see, ya'z gots

In some texts, this was the second recorded incident of a White
ArbyFish actually being in wide-eyed, stuttering shock. "You're a
p-p-p-P--"

Heh. Finally had an effect, Brucie did.

"I always wanted a quality education, and you know how everyone
sees us Pinks. Nobody understands us and we look out of place."

"I think I understand. I've felt out of place most of the time,
as well."

That's because he is. :)

In a flourish, Bruce whipped out a pair of switchblades, one in
each opposable flipper. "If you want her, come and claim her!"

The members of the death squad blinked, looked at each other,
shrugged, then looked back at Bruce. "Alroight!"

I knew they would.

=>

The history books are a bit fuzzy as to how long the battle
lasted, but Bruce finally succeeded in knocking out the Purple and
Black while tiring out Flanburger.

Huffing and puffing in an attempt to get some air back in his
system, Flanburger asked, "How? Oye mean... yer flipper... the
odds...?"

"Don't you remember?" Bruce growled. "I'm terrible at math!"

That would do it.

It's a big universe, and though Bruce looked, he never found
Ribbons DewBlossom again. He spent the remainder of his days plotting
and knitting while studying his species's history. Of greatest
interest to him were tales of a legendary "First One," the beginner
of all ArbyFish life. Many years were devoted to finding out who
he was, where he lived, and what he did.

And eventually killing him. :)

In any case, Bruce resolved to go there and find out for
himself, once and for all, what was so special about Humans.

And eventually kill them.

...

Okay, so what did everyone think of the side story?

Worked for me, in that silly way.

And, I've recently gotten to see the entire Excel Saga series,

Must finish that myself.

so that'll likely reflect in the next few fanfics I write. Of
course, I'm also watching FLCL, so who knows how that will affect
things.

in your case it can't make anything worse. :)

In any case, thanks for reading!

And thanks for sharing.

D.B. Sommer

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