Ecco had left home bay with his pod in search of food. All the other members of the pod had eaten but Ecco was yet to catch a single fish. Swimming around an outcropping of rock Ecco spotted a fat fish to his left. He darted after it like a flash but it saw him coming and scurried away. Ecco chased and slowly got closer to the fish after a few minutes he was almost up to it. Just as Ecco was about to lunge for it, the fish darted into a tiny fissure in the rock. The crack was far too small for Ecco to enter, in frustration Ecco turned and began to swim back to where the rest of the pod was.
As Ecco approached the area his pod had been in he sensed something was wrong. All the other dolphins were floating near the surface barely moving. "Ecco..." gasped a voice near Ecco. Ecco turned to find the voice was coming from the Greyfin, one of the leaders of the pod. "What happened to everyone?" Asked Ecco puzzled. "I don't know" replied Greyfin, "We were just swimming along and suddenly we were overcome by weakness, we now barely have the strength to get to the surface to breathe. We can not survive like this for long! Our only chance is if you find Kolkirbi the orca, it is said she has the power to heal all ills. "I will go at once" promised Ecco as he sped away.
Ecco had traveled a long distance from his pod before he realized that he had no idea where Kolkirbi could be found. It was now lake too long to return to the pod for more information, so he sent out a pulse of sonar to search for Kolkirbi, as the reflections from the sonar pulse returned Ecco searched the reflections for a trace of the orca, but all he found was the presence of another dolphin on the other side of a nearby ridge. Ecco decided after a moment of thought that he might as well ask the dolphin if it knew where he could find Kolkirbi. With one quick thrust of his tail Ecco boosted himself over the ridge, the other dolphin aware of his presence turned to face him. "Please you must help me" begged Ecco, "My pod has been paralyzed by a sickness, I must find Kolkirbi the orca to save them." "The same sickness afflicted my pod, they would have perished but Kolkirbi saved them." Replied the dolphin. "She left and entered the maze of caverns to the north a short time ago if you hurry you may still catch up with her."
Ecco hurriedly shouted his thanks to the dolphin as he sped off towards the entrance to the cavern. Quickly pausing to get a fresh breath from the surface Ecco dived down into the cavern. He quickly swam deep into the cave's interior, where he found his way blocked by an octopus. It's slowly waving tentacles blocked a smaller portion of the passage. Ecco darted forwards with a burst of speed, attempting to pass the octopus before it was aware of his presence. The octopus feeling the movement of water triggered by Ecco dash forward reacted quickly, swinging its tentacles forwards knocking Ecco back. Hurriedly Ecco pulled back out of range of the lashing tentacles. The octopus promptly stopped lashing its tentacles and pulled them back towards its body. Ecco stopped swimming once he was out of range of the octopus and turned to watch the octopus. Its attention seemed to be now focused on a school of fish swimming towards the octopus, oblivious to the fact they were being watched by it. Releasing he now had a chance to pass the octopus Ecco swam forward slowly so he didn't alert the octopus to his presence. As he neared the octopus he stopped swimming and let his momentum carry him past the octopus. Just as Ecco passed the octopus it became aware of his presence and lashed out with it's tentacles but Ecco was already too far past the octopus for it to reach him.
A short distance farther down the passage Ecco found himself with a choice of several different passages he could venture down. Unsure as to which passage he should take Ecco sent out a pulse of sonar, looking for a clue to determine which passage to take. As the burst of sonar returned Ecco's heart leaped, down the rightmost passage he could detect the presence of an orca. He sped into the passage and was abruptly brought to a halt. A barrier glyph blocked the passage! Frustrated Ecco pushed against the blocking force of the glyph but it was no use, he would have to find a key glyph to enter the passage.
Ecco turned and swam back into the junction, to search the other passages for a key glyph. That was when Ecco became aware that he was running low an air! There was not enough time to pass the octopus again and get to the surface, so Ecco turned his attention to the nearby passages. He searched around him with another burst of sonar and struck it lucky, there was a pocket of air not far down one of the passages. Ecco turned to enter the passage and paused, he could feel a creature in the passage approaching him fast. A shark! Ecco dived sharply as the shark attacked, it shot over him barely missing him. Ecco rapidly turned around and charged for the shark's belly, the shark was just beginning to turn to face Ecco as he hit it dead in the center of it's belly.
The shark shuddered and with a flick of it's tail it retreated, badly injured. Ecco now bursting for air turned and rammed himself up into the pocket of air. Stale air burst from his blowhole in a rush, he inhaled a long breath of fresh air. As Ecco recovered be turned to examine his surroundings, he searched the nearby passages with a pulse of sonar. A small passage just below the air pocket contained a glyph. "But is it a key glyph?", Wondered Ecco. He swam down and into the passage, he reached the glyph and carefully touched it, the keysong left the glyph and embedded itself within him. Ecco quickly turned and retracted his path back to the barrier glyph. He used the keysong to pass it and continued on into the passage.
Ecco was halfway to the end of the passage when he felt movement of water like something large was moving. He glanced up and spotted a large rock falling from the roof of the passage, it was headed straight for him! At the last second Ecco propelled himself to the side with a flick of his tail, the rock missed him by inches. Cautiously checking for any more loose rocks Ecco continued down the passage. Ecco reached the end of the passage without any further mishaps and spotted the orca. It turned to face him and before he could speak the orca spoke. "Welcome Ecco, I am the one you seek", said Kolkirbi "I have heard the songs of your pod, I will go with you now to save them." Ecco turned to lead Kolkirbi out the passage he had entered through but Kolkirbi stopped him. "There is an easier way out, Ecco" said Kolkirbi as she proceeded to lead Ecco out another passage.
In a short amount of time they had reached the surface and were swimming towards Ecco's pod. Upon reaching Ecco's pod Kolkirbi proceeded to swim among the stricken dolphins. Every dolphin she touched immediately began to regain it's strength. Soon all the dolphins were healed, Ecco turned to thank her but she had already left swimming off to some unknown place. Ecco turned back to his pod and together they began the long swim back to home bay.
