FestiNyah 6

Steve frowned at Aarie as he drug her away from Aya and Vikki.

"I think you need a bit of a breather! That energy drink makes you crazy!"

"But. Steve! We need every advantage to beat Aya and Vikki! We'll run out of steam quickly! Felines do that, you know!"

"Then pace yourself! I think you need to look around at the different boats and realize just why you got a penalty."

"Aya was a meaniehead! That's how!"

"No, that's not why. Vikki and Aya stirred up the soup in part because Boat Day is supposed to be funny and entertaining! Take a look at this boat."

"Steve, that's no boat! It's a log with crude paddles!"

"Well, you know Aya would call you 'Captain Obvious' for saying that, you know."

"Hrm! It beats calling me a picklepuss!"

"If you notice, Dash Otter and his whole family are teaming up. Nice caveman costumes, huh?"

"They look like refugees from a Flintstones episode!"

"Maybe that's the point. They got a prize for the most Modernstonic boat!"

"Nyah! Everyone gets a prize?"

"Well, if there's something fun about your boat that makes it unique or funny, the judges usually make up an award for it. Speaking of unique and funny, Hola, Froilan!"

Froilan Dingo waved at Steve and Aarie. He was dressed rather nattily in what appeared to be a rather unusual old-styled white naval officer's uniform with a ton of stripes around the cuffs.

"Hola! Oops! I mean, guten Tag, Steve and Aarie!"

Aarie looked over in confusion at Froilan.

"Umm, I thought you were Argentinian? Wnat's with the German?"

"Not for today! I'm Kaptain zur See Froilan von Dingo of the Imperial German Navy! The Kaiser's Navy! The High Seas Fleet!"

"You're cosplaying a German officer?"

Steve leaned over and whispered in Aarie's ear as Froilan chuckled.

"The proper term is 'military re-enactor', but I think our friend is applying that term rather loosely in this case."

"Ohhhh! I get it!"

Steve and Aarie peered around Froilan and saw a rather interesting entry. In the middle, it looked like it had a place to sit between two smokestacks and a paddle, but for all intents and purposes, what exactly was this?

Aarie looked at the bow, where there was a shield and in darker gray letters in a Germanic font, it read "SMS HINDENBURG".

"Nyah! Wasn't that the zepplin that exploded!?"

Froilan looked over in feigned confusion.

"Nein! No Zepplin was named for Feldmarschal Hindenberg in 1919! What are you talking about! This is the most powerful Panzerkreuzer in the High Seas Fleet! That's 'battle-cruiser' to you english-speaking people!"

Aarie looked closely at the 7 meter long boat, which seemed to be made out of plywood, cardboard, duct-tape, and two-by-fours, and...

"Nyah? Cardboard tubes painyed over with gray paint!?"

"What do you mean, Miss!? Those are three-hundred and five millimeter naval cannon!"

"And the toilet paper rolls sticking out along the sides!?"

"How dare you mock the one-hundred-fifty millimeter cannon secondary battery of my fine vessel!"

Froilan sighed as Aarie looked rather skeptically at his batttlecruiser.

"The sad thing is that my ship has been interred here in this God-forsaken harbor by *that* Jack-Tar over there along with the rest of the Kaiser's mighty High Seas Fleet!"

"Steve? You were making fun of me for being crazy? Froilan? How many cans of Wild-Cat have *you* imbibed today?"

Froilan laughed at Aarie and pointed to the case of Wild-Cat beverage sitting alongside his mighty battlecruiser.

"My ship win an award for 'most likely to asplode'. He should have given it to *that* Jack-Tar next to me! *Our* ships didn't blow up at Skageraak!"

Aarie rolled her eyes and looked over at a Fox wearing what looked like an old-fashioned  British sailor's outfit with what looked like some cheaply constructed little one-man dinghy with "HMS Outrageous" painted crudely on the side.

Froilan leaned over and whispered conspiriatorally to Steve and Aarie.

"This year's ship is going to blow up better than ever!"

"NYAH!?"

"Shhhhhhh!!!!! Didn't you know I rig my ship with some fireworks and M-80's and send them to the bottom?"

"That was *you( in the commercial!"

"Of course it was me! Three years ago, I built the Yamato, blew it up, and people got all upset, espcially the anime fans! Two years ago, I blew up the Hood, and people got upset, even though I did a great job! So last year, I blew up the Bismarck. It seems people don't mind it very much when a German ship explodes, so I'll stick to those! You just watch this thing! Ka-POOM!"

"But won't you get hurt!?"

"I set everything to go off away from me and hope for the best! I can hardly wait to see that Britisher's face when this goes up!"

"Who is that guy, anyhow?"

Steve leaned in and nodded at the fox.

"He's new to the Lab. He's a Naval Architect from the UK that designs submarines. At least that's what he said in the interview for the upcoming company newsletter. You didn't tell him you're gonna blow up your boat!?"

"Of course not! We're keeping that a secret from those nasty British! He wants the boat for himself, since it's obviously better than anything they can build! THey're going to take our fleet for themselves!"

Froilan winked at Steve and Aarie, and Aarie looked over at the fox.

"Umm, big secret, huh?"

"If I have to, I'll throw you into the brig as a spy! No telling that Britisher, Miss! I can hardly wait to see his face when this ship goes up!"

Aarie smiled and shrugged.

"Well, I don't want to be onboard your boat when it takes its one way trip, so I'll keep this to myself!"

"Good girl! Have a great day and enjoy the fun!"

Froilan waved as Steve and Aarie went over to what appeared to be a lanky neo-fox wearing a British sailor's cap with the band reading "HMS OUTRAGEOUS" in large letters, written over masking tape that covered the actual headband.

Aarie looked at the rather sad looking dinghy and extended her hand to the fox.

"N'yello! I'm Doctor Aarie Mitchell, Sneior Research fellow at the URL! I hear you work there as well!"

The fox startled a bit and adjusted his cap as he shook Aarie's hand.

"Oh, all apologies. I was just trying to relax before this bumbling little regatta begins. Alastair. Alastair Foxx-Smythe to be exact. Delighted to meet you! You must be with the oceanic research arm of the Lab. I'm working with Rabco on a rescue submersible for the Arcology."

"Wow! I'm glad to see Rabco is developing something non-military!"

"Indeed. It's an entirely different type of challenge, to say the least. I seemed to have come up a tad short on my litte vessel. It seems I didn't quite get the gist of what Herr Kaptain Zur Zee over there was talking about when he said he was building a mighty battlecruiser, and could I please attempt to sieze it as part of his act? I'm quite baffled why he'd be re-enacting the whole Scapa Flow incident and scuttling a seven meter long boat in front og the audience for another bloody prize, but that's his perogative."

"Umm, ahh, Scapa Flow?"

"Oh, well, it's understandable you wouldn't know about that little rather untidy mess. Here's the short version. The Royal Navy took the German High Seas Fleet into custody after World War One and interred them at Scapa Flow. Rather than turning the vessels over to us, well, most of them went to the bottom. There are actually a few wrecks still there, and diveable, provided one has the ability and obtains permission. As far as I know, I'm to make some kind of 'very British proclamation', whatever that is, try and sieze his battlecruiser, and he'll scuttle it to the cheers of the crowd. I figured, well let;s get out of my bloody office for once and do something different, and I end up trying to sieze a cardboard battlecruiser."

Aarie giggled and nodded.

"So, you said there are several wrecks on the bottom of this place you mentioned??"

"Indeed!"

"Hmm! Maybe we should go investigate them sometime! Huh, Steve? I'm unsure if we've ever sent a team over there!"

"well, it's quite cold, and the visibility's limited. It's not quite the aqauatic paradise."

"Well, I'd think there could be some studies we could purrsue there, if we haven't already looked into it!  It was very nice to meet you, Mister Foxx-Smythe!"

"Quite the same, Doctor, and good luck in the regatta! I've already win the prize for the "Biggest Limey", but I do think my little dinghy isn;t going to measure up to the task of finishing well in the race."

"Well, good luck!"

Aarie waved and turned to Steve as they walked away.

"He's just about the only sensible individual we've ran into!"

"Excepting me, of course?"

Aarie blushed and giggled.

"Sorry, Steve. But I think I get your point about the fun. You need to understand that all that hard work was fun for me, though! It was a wonderful change of pace and mental exercise! Lots of places do things like that more seriously to promote more original  thinking, you know!"

"Agreed- but just keep in mind this is supposed to be entertaining, too. You know Juni has to be really excited Rabby and Rachel will ride along, win or lose. Whether you meant to or not, you made her more happy than she'd admit."

"I guess so, though I've never had a big thing for celebrities."

"You never looked up to anyone?"

"Well, Sylvia Earle, Eugenie Clark, and George Washington Carver, as well as one of my teachers at Hi-Tech."

"I see. Well, I think you still might win if you paddle hard enough. Dingo's boat's exploding. That's one less entry!"

"True! But he'll score a lot of style points if I read the rules correctly."

"The main thing is to win the race. I think with Rabby and Rachel on board, you may get a lot of those points anyway. Think positive!"

"Well, the actual prize isn't worth that much- I just want to beat Aya- that is, if her conraption doesn't sink ion its own! As much as I love Vikki as a friend, well, you do know her luck isn't the greatest sometimes-"

"Well, you do know Aya tries to take care of Vikki in that way. I really think you'll be Aya's guest at bad movie day regardless. And don't you ram their boat or some damned fool stunt to win your bet!"

"NYAH! I don't cheat, Steve! How dare you! Now as for Aya, well, my guess is there's a combat sled down there and they're going to sabotage my boat!"

"Hrm. Aya doesn't cheat either. Now her sister's another thing. Never even let her anywhere near your Canasta hand."

Aarie looked at her watch and gasped.

"Goodness! We'd better get back there and get ready for the race, and properly hydrate to get my energy levels optimal! Time's a-wasting!!!"

"Now hold on! Don't you drink any more of that-"

Steve sighed as Aarie sped back to the dock and her team's boat. He was just about ready to smack everyone at that energy drink company....