“I did (try to help him). He just… wouldn’t take it. Said he needed to stay for reasons he couldn’t explain to me.” - Marina Ida/Chapter 9

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Mark’s Point of View.

I awoke to the sound of garbled voices. I couldn't understand their muddied language and my body was sluggish. Where's… Amelia?

"Wh-where is she?!" I coughed up, my throat burning.

When my vision finally cleared, I saw the pinnacle of evolution. A lone female humanoid, looking almost exactly like us, bit atop her head in place of hair was an array of silver tentacles.

Was this… the angel of death? Had I died in the cryopod?

As I laid on the ground, coughing up the remaining gas from the cryopod's freezing process, she held her hand out to me.

I… took it, and my new life began from there.

I wasn't sure if they had recovered Amelia or not. My stomach was turning at the thought of my only remaining family being six feet under. I couldn’t bear the thought of Amelia being dead…

They’d given me some kind of cell to stay in. I was sitting on a very stiff bed, the mattress almost as hard as rock. The girl of evolution stood in front of me, putting on a strange earpiece and gently tossing up an oval-shaped device that simply floated there. It must've been both a microphone and a speaker, because when she spoke into it, I could finally understand her.

"You're a human," she said in a captivating voice. "An extremely rare find. Can you understand what I'm saying to you?"

"Y-You're the species that replaced us, aren't you?!" I concluded. "If I'm such a rare find, then… my kind is gone, am I right?!"

She stared at me, as if she didn't know how to affirm my assumption. "There was an accident, we assume," she said. "We discovered trace amounts of radiation in the southern pole of the planet. I'm sorry, human. Your kind is gone."

"We thought as much," I said with my heart beating faster. "Where's my sister?!"

She seemed surprised. "You have a relation to the girl? We deemed her unfit for experimentation. She wouldn't survive what we had initially planned. We found that leaving her behind would be… merciful."

“I want her here,” I said sternly. “I won’t go through any tests of yours until I know she’s safe.”

With a tilt of her head, she had a strange smile on her face, almost like it was mocking me. “My, my… You’re very worked up over your sibling. An interesting trait.”

“You don’t try to care for your own?” I asked her.

“I have no family,” she said. “I was born in a pod, cloned and altered to fit a purpose.”

I was taken aback. “What kind of civilization took over?”

“One that can’t reproduce,” she replied. “Not by natural means…”

“...Do you have a name?” I asked. “What does your kind call you?”

“Ophelia,” she answered with a soft smile.

“Well, Ophelia, where I come from, we take care of our family no matter what,” I said to her. “Take me to see my sister.”

She stepped closer and I flinched, thinking she was about to attack. Those eyes of hers stared into mine and… admittedly, I felt calmer. She seemed to be studying me. “Humans don’t abandon specific individuals based on relations? That’s… intriguing. It’s like inkling behavior.”

“Inkling?” I repeated in curiosity.

“Another intelligent species,” she said. “Well, mildly intelligent. They can’t keep up with us.”

“Well,” I said. “I want to see her. If this is interesting to you, then it’d be in your best interests, right?” I tried to reason. “You’d want to see how my kind treats each other. You’d want to learn more, right? You’re a person of science, I can tell. I’m a person of science as well.”

“I want to,” she said. “Yet, I can’t. You’re scheduled for orientation soon, and I don’t think Octavio would be very pleased to hear that the human he’s captured had decided to go against his wishes.”

“Is that your leader?” I asked. “The one calling the shots?”

“More or less,” she replied.

“...Can you take me to see him?” I asked. “Maybe I can reason with him, maybe make a deal, anything to go back and retrieve Amelia. She’s only ten years old!”

“I could,” she said, holding out her hand. “But you have to be a good boy and obey orders. Think you can do that? Do it for your sister?”

There was no question about it. I took her hand with a mission in my mind. As long as I was alive, I would do everything in my power to make sure Amelia was safe, and I meant everything.

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Amelia’s Point of View.

I had been floating around the void of my mind for hours. Ezra’s constant attempts at night were relentless, the figment always trying to get me to give up my life.

As she held her hand out to me once again, I shook my head. “I’m not doing it…”

“I want to live,” she quietly said. “You refuse to let me. You’re condemning me to a fate worse than death: having never been born.”

I tried to give her the most reassuring smile I could. “I’ll find you your own body, one that won’t belong to anyone. I’m thinking of going to--”

“Marina,” she finished for me. “A rogue who is untrustworthy.”

“She still has access to the octarians’ network,” I pointed out.

“That literally means nothing to me,” she said. “She may have access, but because of her rogue status, she’d be dangerous in my eyes. You barely know anything about her, so neither do I. You’d be stupid to attempt such a thing.”

“I’m doing it anyway,” I said in defiance. “You don’t get to run my body. I do.”

“For now,” she said. “I wasn’t able to keep control of you during the fight with Guava because your signals conflict with mine too much.”

“You were trying to act nice after that,” I reminded her. “Why…?”

She looked at me with a troubled expression, as if she were debating internally. “Your nanomachines have been really messing with me lately… I don’t know if how I’m acting is normal anymore. Regardless, I’m following my instincts, just like I’m supposed to.”

Maybe I could just…

“Do you want to be friends?” I asked her. She seemed to take it as a bit of a surprise. I gave her a soft smile and said, “I remember what you said… Just because you were supposed to kill me didn’t mean you couldn’t be nice. I could… be your friend, even though I’m fighting for my own life, too.”

Her expression was neutral, so I couldn’t tell if she was even considering my own offer. But then, a glimmer of hope appeared as she said, “Fine… I’ll accept your friendship, but I’m still going to do what I can to take over in the end.”

“That’s… good enough for me,” I said, sighing.

As my alarm clock rang out, I opened my eyes to a new day. It was morning, yeah, but… I felt like I wanted to sleep in. As I debated it, however, Nem knocked on my door. “Amelia, breakfast is getting cold,” said Nem from the other side of it.

“I’ll be right there,” I said.

I forced my body to move, getting up out of bed, my blanket hitting the ground. I was too tired to fix my bed this morning. As I closed my door behind me and went down the hall, I saw Ace standing by the kitchen, leaning against the wall.

“Yo,” he greeted. “Ready for your training?”

It was then that I suddenly had the energy for today. “Y-Yeah!” I replied.

“Go eat, then we’ll get down to business,” he told me. “You’ll need that energy.”

And after doing so, we went off to the same warehouse Bryson had used in an attempt to train me before. I remember that day. It was shortly after we had met, and it was also the day I had confessed my identity to both him and Ace. When we walked in, I smiled softly at the memories I recalled.

“Amelia? Snap out of it,” said Ace. “C’mon, I’m gonna teach you a few lessons.”

“Y-Yeah,” I replied. “How do we start this?”

Ace grinned. “Okay, so, lesson one. Turf Madness is a condition where an inkling will lose all control and just go crazy when they're outnumbered. Once they're afflicted with Turf Madness, they're pretty much unstoppable unless you can knock some sense into 'em."

“Like when I was hit from behind on the head,” I added.

“Yep!” confirmed Ace. “And not only can Turf Madness be triggered by being outnumbered, it can also be triggered outside of that scenario.”

“How?” I asked.

“Before I continue, I need to confess something to you,” he said.

Blinking, confused, I nodded. “Yeah?”

He got up close to me, placed his hand on my shoulder, and looked me in the eyes. “How’s it feel… to be so weak compared to us inklings? How’s it feel to be the weakest teammate I’ve ever had to fight alongside?”

“E-Excuse me?!” I responded in confusion and anger. “What are you talking about?!”

“Nah, nah,” he said, stepping back. “Not my fault you’ve got bones to break. I’m surprised you haven’t been taken out of commission. I pity you, Bryson pities you, Liv pities you. We all do. You’re like this fragile little egg in danger of cracking.”

Okay, this was uncalled for! “Y-You pity me?! Why are you saying these things?!”

“You know what? I bet Nem-Nem is to blame,” he said. “She trained you so poorly. She’s probably one of the weakest competitors in the history of Turf War.”

That did it! I could take being insulted, but to have Nem-Nem insulted was worse! But as I was about to say something in protest, I felt like the need to speak was no longer important. What was more important was the urge to attack. I needed to show him I wasn’t weak.

With adrenaline surging through my body, I lashed out at him, trying to grab him. He grinned, jumping aside before getting behind me and pinning my arms behind my back. I screamed at him, “Let go! How could you say those things?!”

“Amelia, I’m gonna need you to breathe deeply,” he said calmly. “I didn’t mean any of it. It’s just another way to trigger Turf Madness. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. You know that I’d never mean any of that… You’re more important to me than anything else.”

I found it hard to take deep breaths. I was more focused on my anger. I… believed him, but my body was telling me to hurt him. “I can’t!” I said, trying to pull away.

“Shh… Think about something that makes you calm,” he instructed. “Calm is the key to disabling Turf Madness.”

C-Calm…? I thought back, way back. Four years back.

The calmest I had ever been was…

“Nem-Nem,” I called out as I stumbled into her room. I tried to remember the word for it… Inklish was a very difficult language… “N-Nightmare,” I said as best I could in the foreign language.

Nem-Nem sat up in her bed, looking at me with pity. “Aw, come here…” she said. “What was it this time?”

“Coffin,” I said, holding back tears. I was referring to the cryopod, but I couldn’t seem to find a word for it. “Cold, scared, try leave. Can’t leave,” I said as best I could. “M-Monster…”

That last part was… new in this particular dream. I had dreamt of a creature with angry green eyes who had been looking at my cryopod. I couldn’t move, but he was there, just outside it, staring inward. I shivered at remembering it.

Nem-Nem wrapped her arms around me and laid my head against her chest. At this moment in time, during my recovery from the mental trauma of leaving the cryopod, Nem-Nem had been my anchor to sanity. She was the only person I was able to trust completely…

She rubbed my back as she held me close and hummed a pretty tune. I didn’t know what this tune was… I never found out. As she hummed it, I felt myself relax at my calmest state, no longer having a care in the world.

I hummed her tune, the melody reaching my own ears as I reminded myself of that night. Although I was still shaky, I felt my adrenaline going away and I finally relaxed. I felt Ace’s grip on my arms loosen up.

“You okay now?” he asked.

I answered with a nod as I took deep breaths. He patted me gently on the back as he said, “I never meant any of that mean stuff. I’m not that kinda guy. In fact, I admire your tenacity. You’re willing to keep going when you know you could one day get that permanent splat.”

“Thanks,” I said as I finally calmed down completely. “So… every time I get Turf Madness, I just gotta think of something calming.”

“Yep,” confirmed Ace. “You’ve gotta keep that in mind or else someone who doesn’t know what you are might take some drastic measures. I don’t want you to get killed.”

I looked at him with uncertainty on my face. “What if I can’t get it under control? And what if Bryson refuses to forgive me?”

Ace took my hand into his and looked into my eyes as he said, “We’ll figure it out. There are no what-ifs with me.”

His attitude was just so positive all the time. It was hard to stay depressed around him. I smiled and said, “Thanks for sticking by me.”

He flashed me that wide grin of his yet again. “Who would I be if I didn’t back up my friends?”

Later that day, he took me to the Annaki company building. As the elevator rose, I began to sweat a little. I was about to face Bryson, who was most likely still angry with me. What I had done was inexcusable and he had every right to be upset.

Ace noticed my discomfort, taking my hand into his and helping me calm down a little. “Thanks,” I said quietly.

As the elevator stopped… we heard arguing on the other side of the doors.

“This is a crime against your own family! You let her go?!” an older inkling questioned, his voice sounding deep and angry.

“What was I supposed to do?! She was already injured!” replied Bryson.

A third male butted in on the conversation, a male whose voice I remembered as Bryson’s older brother, Edward, the one who I had met during my very first visit here. “Father, if I may interject. Perhaps it would be best if you went easy on him. He’s only fourteen.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” replied who I could only assume at this point… was Bryson’s father. He didn’t sound very understanding…

“You said the Annaki way was to deal with traitors when they’re standing in their prime. She was injured,” said Bryson.

And then came the insult from his father that must’ve hit Bryson hard. “Merissa, injured? Unlikely. She’s above your skill.”

There was silence. I wanted to go in there, my hand reaching for the elevator button so I could open the door, but Ace grabbed my arm before I could touch it. He gave me this serious look, one that told me this wasn’t our business.

“One of these days, you’ll be shunned… and I won’t show sympathy for you when it happens,” said Bryson’s father. “Your arrogant attitude towards your own family has gone on long enough. I think hanging out with those ‘friends’ of yours has done you some harm… You’ve grown soft when it comes to fighting and carrying out business. You’ve grown more stubborn towards me over the months and it’s getting tiresome.”

Ace sighed and pressed the first-floor button, making the elevator descend. “This isn’t our business,” he said. “Bryson doesn’t need to feel embarrassed by us being here during that.”

“Why didn’t you go in to defend him?” I asked.

“His father hates me,” said Ace. “Always has. Blames me for Bryson’s losses. I would’ve just made it worse.”

Bryson’s father sounded like a complete and total jerk. In my mind, I could only imagine the abuse Bryson must’ve been going through this entire time I’ve known him and even before we’d ever met.

“I think we should just wait in the lobby, okay?” he suggested to me. “Bryson knows we were on our way, so he’ll probably come out when he’s ready. I’ve sent him another text saying we’re waiting out here anyway…”

I nodded, and as we stepped out of the elevator, we took the nearest seats available, sitting down on cold plastic. Although Annakki was a professional business company, their lobby was another thing entirely, cheaply made and uncomfortable.

After an hour of waiting, Bryson finally stepped out of the elevator. The moment his eyes met mine, my spine shivered. I was scared of facing him after what I’d done, and after hearing his father chew him out for apparently letting Guava get away, Bryson was in no mood to accept any apologies today.

“Hey, bud,” said Ace in a calm manner, approaching Bryson casually. “You gonna be okay…?”

“Yeah, I will,” Bryson replied. “Just had an argument with my dad. Glad you weren’t there to see it.”

“Was it that bad?” Ace feigned. “I know your text said you were havin’ a rough time, but… you know what, I believe you. Your dad’s always been kinda…”

“Cold,” finished Bryson.

“You gonna be okay?” asked Ace, placing a hand on Bryson’s shoulder.

Bryson didn’t answer. He simply stared ahead at Ace before backing up a bit, shrugging off Ace’s hand. He looked at me and approached, making me freeze up. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here,” he told me.

“Bryson, I’m sorry!” I spouted. “I regret everything I did!”

“Bryson, she’s going through cases of Turf Madness,” Ace explained. “It’s that extra DNA she’s got inside her. It’s messing with her.”

“Turf Madness or not, she hurt my sister,” said Bryson. “Half of Guava’s face was--”

“Y-Yeah,” I said. “I get it… I did wrong. Nothing I do will ever make up for it, but I still wanna try!”

Bryson gave me an annoyed look. “Yeah? Would you do anything to make up for it?”

I nodded, looking at him in worry. “Please?”

Bryson stared at me for what felt like the longest time before he said, “Fine. You’ve got a lot to do this month... I won’t go easy on you. You’re going to pay for your mistake in training, and I mean brutal training.”

“W-Wait, training? But you’re supposed to be mad at me!” I said, confused beyond belief.

And then he gave me a smirk. “I’ve been going easy during your training prior to Splatfest. You’re going to hurt worse than before. Now that I know what you’re capable of, I can train you without holding back.”

...I’m going to die.

“Bryson, she’s still human,” Ace objected.

Bryson pointed a finger at me, the anger on his face clear. “She’s the one who wanted to get into my family’s business, so she has to pay the price for it.”

I was scared now. Whatever Bryson had in store for me, it was going to hurt, and I had earned every bit of pain.

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Mark’s Point of View.

Octavio was not a reasonable creature…

He had outright denied my request to retrieve Amelia. He had seemed to see her as something that would have hindered his own goals. I was in a slump after that, my spirit feeling low…

They wanted to use me as a test subject, and while they wouldn’t officially let me outside, Ophelia had promised me that, if I behaved, she’d sneak me out to visit Amelia once a month, and so I had been doing just that. I had even left a letter behind for her, a piece of regular paper offered to me by my new octarian friend. It had been considered an odd gesture, coming from what I had initially seen as a cold creature.

It had been two years since I’d been released from my cryopod. During that time, I was able to learn a little more about the octolings, also known primarily as octarians. They were extremely intelligent as far as I can tell, as much of their machinery seemed to run on not a single visible power source.

Getting to know Ophelia was a little rocky…

She had been training me since day one, teaching me how to use their weaponry, as part of Octavio’s instructions. I didn’t like him, but… Ophelia seemed to give me a lot of slack when it came to fighting hand-to-hand and gun-to-gun with her.

I remember what she had told me during one of our sessions. She’d been keeping up her training since her friends had fallen to the Squidbeak Splatoon, a cruel group of inklings, the enemies of the Octarians. Most inklings were considered to be deadly and hostile, so I was pretty grateful to have been found by her.

But today would be dangerous. I was going on yet another mission with her to Octo Valley, where I’d be stationed from then on. There’d been a report of the Squidbeak Splatoon lurking around here, and they had this very unique inkling who was wiping the floor with our forces.

As I walked down the hallway of our assigned base, I could hear Ophelia humming. With a smirk on my face, I asked her, “What are you so happy about?”

“Octo Valley is a haven for us,” she said. “I’m just glad we have this place. If we were to lose it...”

“That won’t happen,” I promised.

She grabbed my arm, pulling me close. “That’d better not be you getting cocky,” she said in a playful manner.

Oh, yeah… I almost forgot. During the two years, we’d... gotten a little attached to each other. I was admittedly the one to make the first move. I couldn’t help myself back then. No other octarian had ever been as kind to me as Ophelia. I had told her everything about my life, and she had told me everything about hers.

She didn’t have the best time living the life she had. Although we were the same age, the standards her own species put on her were beyond anything a human teen could be expected to do. She was forced to go through all kinds of tests, tests that would force her to push past her own limits. Needless to say, she’d been traumatized by them to the point where she had nightmares.

“Hey, c’mon. I’m not being cocky. I just trust you,” I replied. I wasn’t lying, either. I trusted her with my life.

She gently pushed me away. “Hmph.~ You’d better. We both know I’d still beat you in a fight.”

I wasn’t going to lie, because she actually could. I was human, after all… I had bones, she had none. She was completely capable of outdoing me in combat. Besides, my only real skill was in science, and I was at least somewhat on her level.

My father had taught me everything I knew about machines and bioengineering, and the octarians were pretty thrilled to hear that. With me undergoing all their tests and sharing all my knowledge, I had become accepted into their society, but… not as an equal.

They saw me as primitive, as something they could easily discard. Ophelia didn’t see me that way. She defended me when the octarians had debated on whether to put me to sleep after I had refused to let them probe my brain with physical instruments. Because of her, I was still alive.

As we kept walking, my ears picked up the sound of thumping in the vents above us. “Ophelia,” I whispered, pointing my octoshot weapon to the ceiling. She stopped smiling and tightened her grip on her weapon.

“It looks like we have nothing to report,” I said out loud. “Maybe we should head back to the lower levels?”

Ophelia, catching on to my ruse, nodded and said, “Sure. Maybe they’ll need help down there.”

To top it off, I stomped on the floor, lightening the impact of my footsteps each time to mimic the sound of us walking away, and Ophelia did the same. We then went completely silent, waiting. There was a vent gate at the end of the hall, so if I was right, the inkling would… and it did, kick out the gating and jumped down.

“Gotcha!” I shouted, startling her.

“Agent Three,” said Ophelia. “Couldn’t it have been some other inkling?”

The inkling in front of us, also known as Agent Three, had some kind of odd weapon similar to a P90, a gun once used by humans. But of course, since this world was completely different, it didn’t shoot bullets as one would expect. It shot out yellow ink.

Ophelia was the first to dodge, but I was able to take the hits with ease, being human. Her kind seemed to just explode when exposed to enemy ink, so I was considered valuable to the octarians. I quickly rushed in, firing off my octoshot and hitting this “Agent Three” with ink.

She quickly moved out of the way the moment she felt the ink hitting her. She then quickly tossed out a pyramid-like structure that my brain registered as a splat bomb, a high-impact explosive device that would spew out ink at least two seconds after being thrown. I was hit directly in the face with it, the device somehow exploding early on contact.

I fell back into the ink on the ground, my head hitting the hard concrete. The muffled sounds of weapons could be heard. I tried to stay awake. I couldn’t have been taken out this early, I just couldn’t have. I needed to do this for her!

Soon, the battle was over, but… from what I could tell, Agent 3 had escaped, and Ophelia was holding me in her arms. “Mark?! Mark! Stay awake!” she pleaded.

“It’s not t-too bad,” right?” I asked, but as I noticed the red on her hands, I went nauseous. H-How hard had I hit the ground?

As I slowly lost consciousness, I faded right back into another scene. I was on a cold, metal table, and the lights above me were brighter than the sun. “This is the specimen?” I heard a male ask.

“This is my other,” said Ophelia. “Watch your tongue before I get rid of it.”

“We can’t operate,” said the male.

“But he’ll die! You have to operate!” argued Ophelia.

“We hardly know anything about his species! He wouldn’t let us look at his brain, so we know nothing of what it was like in a pristine condition!” the doctor replied. “He’s not going to make it.”

I faded out of consciousness, falling into a dream. Father was standing in the void of darkness, staring at me with judging eyes through his glasses. “How long has it been? Ten years…? Twenty…?” he asked.

“Slightly over ten thousand,” I answered.

“A strange time to be sleeping, don’t you think?” he asked. “You just woke up from your cold slumber.”

“Dad, where’s Mom?” I asked. “Is she with you?”

He walked up to me quietly, and as he reached me, he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Do you really want to know…?” he asked, looking straight into my eyes.

My mind was messing with me and I knew it. Father was long dead. “No,” I said.

“A wise answer,” he said to me, letting go. “The less questions, the better.”

“What am I doing here?” I asked him, knowing he might not even have the answer.

“That’s a good question,” he said. I figured…

“Are you a construct of my mind?” I asked.

“I must be,” he said. “You’re obviously in a coma, right?”

I nodded. “I wish you were here, Dad…”

He smiled, his chuckling filling the void. “I wish I was as well. Don’t forget what I’ve taught you, Mark. Amelia needs you more than anything right now. If you have a chance to cling to life by any means possible, you must take it, understand? Don’t let my efforts to save you both be in vain.”

“I promise,” I said.

“It looks like… you’re waking up,” he said.

What…?

I opened my eyes and the first thing I realized was that I was strapped down to a chair. My arms were tightly bound to the arms of the chair itself. “Ophelia,” I mumbled, my speech slurring.

“Save your strength,” she said, holding a syringe. “I’ve found a way to keep you alive…”

“Th-That’s great,” I murmured, my eyelids feeling a little heavy. But then… I noticed the ink on the ground next to her. “Ophelia…? Where’s the doctor…?”

She stayed quiet as she prepped the syringe with an orange liquid. That was when I realized that she’d just killed him. I tried to struggle, but my body was weak, the clarity of my mind getting cloudy. I could hardly move my limbs on command anymore.

“Ophelia,” I mumbled again.

“Mark… Do you love me?” she asked as she slowly approached.

“Yeah?” I answered as best I could. “Why?”

“Do you trust me to keep you alive…?” she asked. I weakly nodded and she smiled, running her fingers through my hair. “I’m going to miss this part of you,” she said. “There’s a lot I’m going to miss… but I’m doing this to keep you going for your sister and I. You understand the risks, don’t you? You accepted them the moment you took my hand back when you first awoke from your freezing coffin.”

“What’s going on, Ophelia…?” I asked her, a little worried.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, her voice breaking as she held back her emotions. Her cold eyes stared into mine and I couldn’t look away from them as she plunged the needle into my arm. “It’ll all be okay.”

“I feel strange,” I muttered, nausea overtaking me. “Ophelia, what did you do?”

“Please, forgive me,” she said. “It’s your only chance.”

Standing in the vast void, I could see nothing but my reflection, but… as I looked close, I realized it wasn’t exactly me. He smiled and held his hand out to me. “You ready to have another go at life?” he asked.

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Amelia’s Point of View

My body was aching. Bryson had been having me run past my limits, hitting me in the back with a shot of ink each time I showed any sign of slowing down. As I reached the end of the sidewalk, I collapsed, panting heavily.

“This is what you get,” said Bryson. “You wanna get into my family’s business, then you’ve gotta go through the same training I do. This isn’t even the beginning because we’ve barely scratched the surface. Weights, obstacle courses, shooting practice, the list is endless. Every single part of your new training regimen is gonna consist entirely of pain and you’re the one who brought it all on yourself.”

“Bryson, what do you hope to gain from this?” asked Ace. “Her bones can still break if you’re not careful.”

Bryson patted my back as I stood up. He then said, “I’m gonna teach her how to master Turf Madness.”

Ace immediately objected. “But only the best of the best can do that! She’s not ready!”

Bryson gave Ace an angry glare. “Are you saying I’m a bad teacher?”

“No, of course not!” said Ace. “Amelia’s just a human! She’s new to our biology!”

Bryson calmed down a little, saying in a soft voice. “C’mon, Ace. Please, trust me. I’m doing what’s best for her.”

Ace seemed to be pretty confused, as well as I was. “I thought you were mad at her,” he said.

“I am,” Bryson replied. “But I’m still a friend. This is a way I can both vent my frustration while also helping her.”

“So you accept my apology?” I asked. I was met with a quick punch in the arm. “Ow!”

“What you did to my sister, I can’t forgive so easily, Amelia,” said Bryson. “I was supposed to be the one there to take her down.”

“But… you’ve taken her down before during that match on the beach, right?” I questioned. Bryson stayed silent, leading me to an unsettling conclusion, one that made me shiver. “You d-don’t mean… a permanent splat?”

“My dad wants me to…” said Bryson. “But… I’m not going to. I just… I was angry on the beach that day. What I’d really like are answers, like why she’d leave us for some octoling.”

I noticed a tear forming before it slowly trickled down his cheek. I reached out, but Ace shook his head. I pulled my hand back, asking, “You’re not gonna kill her? Then why did you say you wanted to take her down?”

“I want to fake her death,” said Bryson. “I want to make sure she’s never hurt by the rest of our family. If my dad ever finds her, he’d end her.”

“You’ll get to her before him,” I assured. “You’re smart.”

“And so is the rest of my family,” said Bryson. “It’ll take me some luck to tell her my plan.”

I nodded in understanding. Bryson’s family sounded very scary. These were squids who’d never lost a match, being considered the very best of the best. If we could somehow find her before Bryson’s family did…

“I’m gonna go for now,” said Bryson. “I need to do some training of my own…”

“Meet back at your place tomorrow?” I asked.

Bryson nodded. “Go home. Get some rest. Tomorrow, you’re gonna feel pain.”

As I got home, Ezra popped up before me just as I was outside the front door. “I can help,” she said, already making me skeptical.

“I don’t need anymore of your help,” I said, trying to get past her, but… she pushed me back a little somehow. It felt so real that it was scary. Could she actually hurt me?

“If you wanna find Bryson’s sister, then yeah, you do,” she said.

“How…?” I asked.

“Her boyfriend’s an octoling, right?” she asked me.

“How do you know that?” I asked her.

“I can see your memories, dummy,” she insulted. “The point is that I can help you find her through finding him.”

“I don’t see how you can,” I said.

“I just need you to trust me,” she said. “I want to help you, and in order for me to do that, I need to take control of you.”

I shook my head. “You made me experience Turf Madness last time!”

“C’mon, please?” she asked me.

I shook my head again. “No. You’re not taking control. I’m going to bed. That’s that. Conversation over. Goodnight.”

With a look of frustration, she vanished, allowing me to sleep in silence. I laid down in bed, resting my head upon my pillow. My mind inevitably calmed down, helping me drift off to sleep. In my sleep was where I could escape everything.

Now that Ezra was away, I was going to have nice dreams, right…? As I slipped further into the dream realm, I learned quickly that I was wrong. Lights were whooshing past me in the dark void, my instincts on high alert. Where was I?

As the scene slowly faded into view, I could see now that I was on top of the mast of a large ship, a cargo ship to be exact. We were on the seas, and coming towards us was another ship, a ship led by the infamous pirate, “Frigid” Bridget Annaki. I was in charge of being the lookout, and the moment I saw that accursed flag, I rang the bell.

“SHE’S HERE!” I shouted. “SHE’S HERE!”

The captain ran out onto the deck and yelled, “Get to the cannons! Sink her before she can get to us!”

I was a male, having turned sixteen this year. Frigid Bridget was supposedly my age. To be that young and to command an entire ship was a major feat. I was excited to fight her. It was going to be a close battle, I could tell. No ship had ever escaped her, so I knew that trying to run was impossible.

With my brush, I was ready for her.

I suddenly felt the ship lurch as Bridget’s ship rammed into ours. Already, I could see squids crossing over and landing on the deck from the enemy vessel. I hopped down, already splatting as many of them as I could, not expecting that I’d be grabbed from behind, a cold metal pressing against the side of my head.

It was an early prototype of modern day weapons… an ink pistol. One shot at point-blank range was all it took to splat a squid. I was scared, knowing that I’d surely die soon. “P-Please, don’t!” I shouted. “I haven’t even begun to live life yet!”

“Not my problem,” I heard her say. It was Frigid Bridget herself. Dark skin, purple eyes, her hairstyle in a single bun on the back of her head. I wasn’t going to make it, I was sure of it. She’d be my end and my mother would be the only remaining member of my family.

“Let him go,” I heard my captain say. He was old, but he was no fool. He treaded carefully here. “Let the boy go and we’ll negotiate.”

“I don’t negotiate with Enperrial scum,” she said. “You’re handing over all the goods. To make sure you keep your end of this ‘deal’, I’m going to keep this inkling as a prisoner. The moment we’re far enough away, we’ll send him to shore in a small boat.”

“No deal,” said the captain.

Bridget had a smug look on her face as she said, “Bad choice.”

Suddenly, from behind the captain came a single brush swing that took him down with ease. I screamed out his name, but Bridget clasped a hand over my mouth. She began shouting orders at her inklings to sink the ship. I was kidnapped, held prisoner.

When I had been taken aboard her ship, she put me in the lower levels of the ship, kept tied up, my arms bound to my sides. I wasn’t sure how long I was there. It felt like a week, maybe two, and I was only given raw fish to eat over the entire time.

I eventually gave up, knowing they’d probably kill me off. There was no way they’d keep me alive for this long, right? But then, one day, she came in, the girl who had killed my captain. I had no anger anymore. I was broken, scared, cold, this damp room giving me shivers. “Please, just do it,” I quietly said. “Don’t make me live any longer than I have to.”

“How old are ye?” she asked.

“S-Sixteen,” I replied.

“A bit young to be in the Enperrial army,” she said.

“A bit young to be captain,” I replied, looking up at her. She didn’t seem to find that humorous. “S-Sorry,” I said quickly after.

“Do ye know what the Enperrials are doing with all that cargo?” she asked. “Do ye know what they were carrying?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Orders are orders. You’re a criminal and you’ve raided villages. Everyone knows.”

“Propaganda at its finest,” she said. “Look, kid, if ye want a shot at life again, yer gonna have to listen to everything I say, got it? I’ve debated this long enough.”

“How do I know you won’t end me?” I asked.

“If I wanted to end ye, I would’ve done it when we brought ye aboard,” she said.

I sighed. I had nothing left to lose at this point, so… “Alright. I’ll do as you ask…”

“Good. We’re gonna overthrow a corrupted queen,” she said. “Such is the Annaki way.”

As she cut my ropes, I felt myself slipping out of the dream, feeling dizzy and weak. Opening my eyes, I was forced to adjust to bright lights. I wasn’t lying down in bed…? I was standing…

I was awake now, and… this definitely wasn’t my room.

I was standing in a room full of large monitors and before me was a keyboard of some kind on a counter. This wasn’t good. “Ezra?!” I shouted. “What did you do?! Where did you take me?!”

“Octarian base,” she said, appearing behind me.

I turned around to face her in anger. “Why do you keep trying to get me in trouble?!”

“I am acting based on your best interests,” she said. “I am you, after all. I am simply doing this on your behalf.”

I tried to push her, angry at her for taking over while I was sleeping. It was completely out of line! Unfortunately for me, I just couldn’t touch her, going right through her and falling onto the ground. She wasn’t real… just a figment of my mind. “You’re ruining my life!” I shouted at her.

“You’re safe here,” she said. “This base has been abandoned for four years.”

I tried to collect my thoughts as I stood back up. “So, I’m safe? Like, completely safe? There are no octarians here?”

“I may be ruining your life, but I don’t want you in danger,” she said.

I just looked at her for the longest time before saying, “Then… thanks, I guess…”

“The computer system is still connected to the octarians’ network,” she stated. “You can look up mostly anything you want.”

I was astounded by this. “R-Really?”

She nodded. “As long as it’s within octarian knowledge. This base was supposed to be off-limits, cut off, but… I decided I wanted to turn it on.”

“What do you mean you decided to turn it on?” I questioned. “How did you know how to? You’re not an octarian yet…”

“I was created in this very place,” she said. “I was programmed with that knowledge.”

That’s when I realized... “I never asked you what your purpose was.”

She smiled sadly. “Nope, but… I don’t blame you for being too distracted for the thought to cross your mind.”

“What is your purpose?” I asked, feeling a little guilty.

“We were supposed to be hybridized soldiers, capable of changing the host into any species we’re pre-marked with, but… we’re prototypes,” she said. “The serum I am made up of is supposed to be the predecessor to what the octarians have now. We lacked something the new serum has.”

“Do you know what it is?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “I was never given life, so I never got to learn of it. I don’t even know why I’m still here if I’m supposed to be obsolete because all records regarding the serum were erased a few years back. My pre-mark was supposed to make you an octoling, but now that the machines in your body are slowly killing me, I’ve had this… change in my programming. I don’t know what to turn into anymore at this point and it’s honestly driving me insane. I could just go with my initial programming, but seeing you living your life makes me think a lot.”

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for this creature. She was trying her best to do what she was told, but her entire being was slowly being destroyed. She seemed desperate for life, and so… along with helping Bryson, I was gonna help Ezra as well.

Finding info on Guava’s boyfriend was pretty easy. He was considered to be a major rebel and actually had his position tracked by the octarians for the longest time. His last known location was near the docks, so I quickly put that information down into my phone. If I could find him, I could find Guava.

Next, I looked up anything I could on getting Ezra a new body, but nothing significant came up. As I was about to give up, I came across records of Marina Ida, making me curious. Ezra glanced over at me, making me a little nervous. “Do I dare?” I asked.

“Do what you want,” she said. “No one’s stopping you. I still don’t fully trust her.”

I clicked… and her entire profile popped up. What I learned totally blew me away. “What the cod…?” I muttered.

On the screen was a list of everything Marina had ever done in her life, from machine design to weapons testing. “Her intelligence is astounding. She has to know.” but what interested me the most were her interactions with a particular human subject…

“Marina knew Mark,” I said to Ezra.

“What else is there on him…?” she asked, and so I typed in everything I could that was related to humans.

This was the point of no return. I could’ve learned this so much later. Some might say I learned it too soon. I found everything on my brother, and I read it all. Hours went by as I went through Mark’s personal records.

He knew Ophelia. He had a decent life. He constantly asked for me, making me feel relieved because now I knew that he still cared about me! But… something didn’t seem right. His records just stopped at a certain point in time. Then, Ezra pointed to a link at the bottom of the page. It was a redirect. Eagerly, I clicked it and---

“Raise your hands and turn around slowly, human.”

…

I was caught. This couldn’t be happening. The page was loading and I was close! If I could just look at it until it fully loa--

“I SAID TO TURN AROUND!”

A shot of ink hit me in the back, the high pressure pelting me with pain. I slowly turned around, now desperate. “Please, don’t take this from me,” I said. “I need to know more!”

It was the octoling who had injected me with Ezra, Ophelia. Next to her was Henry, holding an octoshot weapon. Ophelia had that same cold stare she always did as she said, “I should’ve known the culprit would be you the moment we were notified of this place’s unexpected activation. You’re done here, human. It’s the end of the line. Your little adventure is finally over.”

“Please, let me go!” I pleaded. “You don’t understand! I just want to find my brother!”

Henry looked at me through his helmet’s visor, shaking his head. “I’ve tried to get you to cooperate with us. I would’ve helped you find him.”

“Ophelia literally tried to freeze me!” I screamed.

“I would’ve talked to her about it,” said Henry. “Now stop stalling and--”

Henry just stopped talking, standing still and confusing me. “Wh-What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Ophelia, what is this…?” he asked, walking past me.

The octoling who was once cold, the one known as Ophelia, lost her look of calm and now donned a more nervous expression. “F-Forget that, Henry. It’s nothing.”

“Ophelia, what is this?” repeated Henry.

Did I dare turn around to see? I did. I slowly turned my head, my eyes catching the screen, and the first thing I saw on that monitor was something that would scar me for the rest of my life. On that screen was Henry’s profile, and his page had a ton of pictures, gruesome ones, showing Mark in various different stages of deformity.

In many pictures, he looked to be in extreme pain. Coming out of his back was a variety of mismatched squid and octopus tentacles, making me think back to the itch I kept having in my own back during my fever. I shuddered as I thought more about it.

Henry scrolled through the page, with Ophelia walking up from behind him. “H-Henry, let’s go, right now! You don’t need to see this!” she tried to persuade, but Henry simply ignored her, continuing until he reached the bottom of the page. The final picture of Mark’s stages. Mark’s hair was gone, replaced with tentacles in a hairstyle similar to long curls.

Henry turned to look at me, and although I couldn’t see the expression on his face, I knew that he was just as confused as I was.

Henry had been my brother this whole time...