"From the best and brightest test subjects, I created a sludge of supreme DNA." - Commander Tartar

 

I felt cold, and yet that was a familiar feeling to me.

Floating in a dark void, I wondered what dream would come to me next. First, there were the squinja, then there were the pirates, and then there were the sheriffs. What would it be this time? Would I see another point in cephalopod history?

Looking out at the void, I could see flickering lights slowly bunching up together, the dimness becoming brighter and brighter until my entire vision was filled with a swirl of colors that neatly arranged themselves into a clear and beautiful image.

I felt myself take on yet another persona, such as I had done again and again in these dreams. And this time, it was a more modern setting. I was in some kind of skatepark, yet this definitely wasn’t Blackbelly. This seemed to be a much smaller version, probably before Blackbelly had even been its name? As I looked down, I noticed that I was… something I didn’t expect. This was my skin…? A bluish tone that made me wonder if I was even an inkling.

But then… I heard the most familiar voice of all in my life, one that sent chills down my spine. “YOU’VE GOT THIS, KIDDO!”

It was Nem-Nem, sitting in the stands next to David and Doctor Scalpel. David looked to be in a more youthful state, his gray tentacled hair being more of a dark blue instead. And Scalpel, he seemed to have a smile on his face, and it… was genuine?

Why was Scalpel here?

My phone abruptly rang before I could ask anymore questions. I immediately set out, my body moving without needing my consent. I was performing my usual moves. Being an anemone felt… a lot like being a human. My guess was that this was Nemmi, back when she was alive and well. This must’ve been one of her matches, but… why was I dreaming this?

With my three other friends, I went out with my usual white tetra dualies, confidence welling up in my chest. I was definitely going to kick butt if I was Nem-Nem’s prodigy…

I went around, striking down all the enemies I could. I hadn’t even been splatted once in the first two minutes. There was one inkling in particular who seemed to catch my attention. She was a small, scrawny inkling with red tentacles, and she looked very familiar, especially with her torn-up clothing. Tattered jeans, and a black leather jacket that was much too big for her, but she seemed to move just fine with it on.

She’d always come back straight from her spawn point, directly to me, just to try to take me down. I’d effortlessly dodge and ink her, sending her back to start before she could even lay a single finger on me. It seemed to be that there was a rivalry between us, if it could have even been called that.

As the last minute came up, I climbed up onto a higher platform with grace. As she jumped up on the platform, right in front of me, she grinned, a crazy look in her eye. “Heh! You’re in for a big surprise, faker!”

“I’m not losing to someone like you,” I replied, getting into a fighting stance, my dualies prepped to fire. I quickly moved in, my speed outmatching hers. She had a wide-eyed look on her as I bashed her in the side with an elbow and pushed her off the platform with a great shove from my shoulder.

She quickly grabbed onto the edge and I stepped over to it, my shoe on her fingers. I looked down at her with a smirk on my face. “You angry at me, freak?~ Not my fault you were always such a loser,” I said, not meaning to at all. Was this really how Nemmi acted?

The inkling looked up at me with her red eyes, tears dripping down her angry face. “I-I may be a freak to you, b-but we’ll see who’s the loser!” she shouted, suddenly hoisting herself up with great strength and gripping onto my leg with her free hand.

She pulled me close, and as we fell off the edge, she had a splat bomb in between us. I quickly aimed and fired directly into her face, taking her down, but that definitely didn’t stop the splat bomb from exploding, taking me out.

Ugh, I thought. Oh well, I’ll just take her down before time runs out.

…

…

…

…

…

I waited for a while, getting a little more nervous. Something was wrong, very wrong. Why wasn’t I respawning? I looked around me, my soul feeling nervous as it began to float up slowly. No, no, no, no, no!

I heard screaming, and as I turned towards my spawn point, I could see Doctor Scalpel next to it, opening up a panel on its side. It seemed to be flickering a lot, sparks coming out as it pathetically whined with a low-pitched buzzing noise.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no…” I heard Scalpel mutter. I forced my soul to run over, my legs feeling like they were moving through water. I was basically ‘swimming’ through the air at the point, staying as down low as I could, but the force trying to take me up was getting stronger.

“H-Hold on, Safaia!” shouted Scalpel, his eyes wide, his hands shaky as he tried to fix up the wiring.

S-Safaia? I wasn’t fighting as Nemmi?

Behind him was David and Nem-Nem, with David looking very nervous, sweating. “Negative to negati–”

“I know how to work my own creation!” shouted Scalpel. “It’s on negative. Everything’s been soaked!”

N-No, I can’t die here! I could hear Safaia think out loud.

Nem-Nem looked incredibly pale, her color having faded into a translucent gray coloring. “ I-I can’t lose another one…” she muttered. “HURRY UP, BRAM!”

“I’m trying!” he screamed back.

Safaia’s many thoughts were running through my head.

I’m scared.

I don’t want to die.

Mom, please don’t let me!

Dad?!

Inevitably, I could no longer fight back against the force that was carrying me away. No matter how much I ‘paddled’ or ‘swam’ with my limbs, the ‘current’ of this force was making me ascend with more and more speed.

S-So, this is how I go out…? I just wish I could’ve made Mom proud…

Then, darkness…

Darkness for a very long time.

And the dream wasn’t letting me skip it. I floated there, my mind slowly going mad as I tried to cope with my death, or rather, Safaia’s death. Who was Safaia? Why did Nem say what she did? Why were there so many secrets? I began wishing life would just come with some kinda little pamphlet that’d read, “These are all the bombshells you’re going to go through. Enjoy.”

After the longest time in my unlife, I felt something strange. There was a tug on me, and it felt extremely uncomfortable, the kind where you’d feel severely nauseous and where your skin would crawl, your blood would become cold. I was pulled out of the darkness and into more of a dim twilight where I could hear muffled voices.

“She twitched…”

“Consciousness, perhaps?”

“I don’t think so… More likely to be electrical stimuli again.”

I need to let them know.

“What do we do?”

“Redo the experiment.”

I need to let them know.

“But this is the first time she’s–”

“Cut off the support. We’ll make another attempt.”

I’M ALIVE!!!

I let out a scream, my spirit taking ahold of something cold and foreign, a body not meant for me, but I needed to live. I was desperate. I didn’t want to be in the darkness anymore. The light hit my retinas, giving me vision that burned. I saw my surroundings through a glass tube covering the bed I laid on. White walls, a sterile lab, several inklings outside, silhouetted, unrecognizable.  A violent, painful gurgling emitted from my new vocal cords, and I caught their attention, but as they struggled to open up my casings, I felt something dark in me.  My thoughts felt so muddied, my goals felt more violent.

I needed to reclaim my turf.

I quickly jolted out of bed, breaking free of the nightmare I had just gone through. Sweat was pouring down my face and I was trying to make sense of everything. I needed to calm myself down. Getting out of bed in the middle of the night, I went into the kitchen and filled up a glass with water.

I took a long drink, trying to relieve my dry throat.. How long had I been asleep, I wondered? I looked at the time on the microwave. It was five in the morning. Pretty early compared to my usual wake-up time.

These dreams I’d been having… They couldn’t have really had any meaning to them, right? Why are they showing me past events? Actually… now that I thought about it, I never really had any proof that these events even happened. I only had one bit of confirmation from Ezra, and that was it.

How much truth was there to these dreams? I needed to find out, and today was the perfect opportunity to do it.

That day, I was supposed to meet with Bryson for more of my training. He had gone really ruthless with it, forcing me to keep running, keep jumping, trying to help me settle into a proper inkling fitness regimen.

“Don’t you dare stop now!” he screamed at me as I ran around the inside of the warehouse. He and Ace had set up an entire obstacle course for me, set up entirely of cinderblocks, wooden palettes, and stacks of boxes… filled with more cinderblocks.

With these cinderblocks, Ace and Bryson had made a running track for me, outlining my path. The boxes served as obstacles I needed to either move around or climb over, and if I even showed the slightest instance of slowing down, Bryson would fire his splattershot at me.

“I’m doing my best!” I shouted, sprinting. I’d been going for about an hour, my lungs burning. He’d been forcing me to run faster and faster each lap I made. At this point, I was literally running up and over boxes, sometimes even making great leaps entirely over them. With them being five or six feet tall, I was astounded at my own abilities.

This whole DNA change had potentially improved me, but there was still the possible ending, the supposed “inevitable” ending, the one where I’d forget who I was and change into an entirely different person, A.K.A. Ezra.

“She’s doing very well,” said Ace, holding up a popsicle to Bryson, who accepted it with not a single hint of a smile. He merely nodded to Ace.

“Yeah,” replied Bryson. “She’s doing well, but she can do better. I’m putting her through my own brand of training, so there’s no way she’s not gonna improve.”

As I leapt over another, I couldn’t help but notice there was some kind of pride in Bryson’s voice as he was talking. I eventually stopped after twenty more minutes of running, letting my breath catch up to me.

“Hey!” shouted Bryson. “I didn’t say to stop!”

“I know,” I said. “But I have some questions.”

Ace seemed to notice the serious nature in my expression. “I see. I’ll go for a bit. Gonna grab you a popsicle, too, alright?”

“Thank you,” I said.

After Ace left, Bryson looked at me, confused. “Well, what is it?”

How to break this to him…? He was an Annaki, and I’d been having all these dreams of Annaki ancestors. Would he know them? Maybe if…

“B-Brayden Annaki,” I said almost breathlessly.

I had no time to react. He had suddenly kicked me in the stomach and sent me flying. After skidding across the floor, I felt his umbrella pressing against my back as I tried to stand up. “Don’t ever say that name to me,” said Bryson.

“Wh-Why?” I asked.

“No one’s supposed to know him,” answered Bryson. “He abandoned the clan when he decided to work for Enperry. His name was wiped from all the history books. I don’t know how you found out, but that’s a secret better kept than leaked.”

“But he didn’t abandon the clan!” I replied. “He brought them back together!”

Bryson forced me back down just as I was trying to push myself up. “Stop talking about that!” he shouted. “The moment he abandoned the clan, the moment he decided to be wiped from Annaki history! It didn’t matter if he brought them back together. And besides… where did you hear all this?! You’re gonna tell me who talked or I’m breaking a leg!”

“D-Dreams,” I stammered. “I saw all of Annaki history. I saw their lives through their eyes!”

Bryson growled. “LIES! WHO TOLD YOU?! IF THERE’S A LEAK IN THE ANNAKI CLAN, IT COULD RUIN OUR REPUTATION!”

“B-But my dreams!” I protested. “I’ve been having nothing but dreams about Annaki history!”

Bryson quickly kicked me again, sending me a couple of feet away. “The clan history isn’t a joke! It’s not something you can learn through dreams! What’s wrong with you?!”

How could I make him believe me…?

“B-Braxton Annaki,” I said. “Basil Annaki, Frigid Bridget Annaki. Braxton fought against a corrupted emperor named Bokun! Basil Annaki helped a knight betray an evil king! F-Frigid Bridget Annaki was an infamous pirate who defied a queen and the entire Enperrial army!”

“So?!” shouted Bryson. “Those are major figures in history books!”

Then I remembered the history that was truly hidden…

“Brayden was a sheriff in charge of hunting down humans!” I shouted. Bryson stared at me in silence, eyes wide, as if I’d opened a cellar of monsters. “He saved her from execution! Together, they brought the clan back together! There’s no leak! I really saw it all through dreams!”

Bryson stepped back from me. “Only Dad and I knew that… and Dad would never tell anyone…”

“N-Not even your brother knows?” I asked. “Or Guava?”

“I found out by accident,” said Bryson. “Dad was determined to let that secret die with him, but… he left out some old family records he was reading while he was getting a drink. He forgot to lock his door and I walked in to ask him for Turf War tips. When I saw the documents, I confronted him and he assured me it was for the greater good.”

“It wasn’t…” I said. “I saw through that human’s eyes. She was scared. She didn’t mean any harm to anyone.”

Bryson didn’t say anything. He just held out his hand to help me up, and I took it. I couldn’t figure out how Bryson’s father could’ve thought any of that was justified.

“It wasn’t for the greater good,” I said again.

“I wasn’t there,” said Bryson. “I wouldn’t really know.”

“I just wish you’d believe me,” I said as I stood up.

Bryson avoided eye contact, his eyes looking to the side. “I never said I didn’t,” he replied. “Just having trouble hearing about it.”

Suddenly, Ace walked in with a big grin on his face, holding two popsicles in his right hand and one in his left. He handed the left one to Bryson, saying, “These things were half-off today! A little weird, but I’m defs not questioning!~”

As he handed a popsicle to me, I smiled. So, the dreams were actually events. This had to confirm it, right? As much as I didn’t want to believe it, it had definitely happened. I didn’t want to think about it now, though. I wanted to get my training done today so I could meet up with Wreckage. She had invited me to join her and I didn’t want to be late.

So, I finished up my training. On occasion, Bryson and I would exchange glances during the rest of the session, but we’d say nothing. The topic wasn’t worth talking about anymore at the moment. All I could do was focus.

Once I was up and out of the warehouse, I booked it to the same warehouse she had taken me to before where I met her friends. Not surprisingly, she was waiting outside the door, looking annoyed. “Hey, where were you, Brand?!” she asked me.

“I’m sorry,” I replied apologetically. “I needed to do training with Bryson."

"Brands hanging out with brands," said Wreckage with rolling eyes. "I should've known!~"

"Eheh… yeah," I said. "So… what did you wanna do today?"

"Wanted to ask ya a few things," said Wreckage. "And maybe hang out after that."

I blinked in confusion. "Um, okay?"

She took my hand and led me around the warehouse, all the way to the back, where we sat at the ledge of the concrete, the ocean down below. Wreckage looked at me with some kind of serious aura.

"So, brand…" said Wreckage. "You must think I'm pretty stupid, huh?"

"St-stupid?!" I stammered. "Of course not!"

"Uh-huh…" said Wreckage. "But, see, I did some diggin' on ya. I do a lot of diggin' on people I meet. Can never know who you can trust, ya know?"

"D-digging?" I said in fear.

"Ya-huh," she replied. "And you're supposedly this unsplattable inkling? Heh… yeah, sure…"

I looked down at the ocean, blushing in embarrassment…

"Bang ain't so stupid," said Wreckage. "He helps me spot trouble a mile away. I didn't know until he pointed it out. You're a human…?"

I looked at her with worry. At this rate, everyone was going to know I was a human. "P-Please, you've gotta understa–"

She suddenly patted me on the back, then pushed me down into the water, holding up her arm to shield herself as I splashed down.

When she saw me kicking my legs and still in one piece, she laughed. "Whooooo!!! I knew it! I knew it! Humans are alive!~"

I looked up at her and she just chuckled as she reached down. I grabbed her hand and she pulled me up and onto the concrete ledge, her hand partially dissolving from the acidic water.

"Burns…" she muttered and she shook her hand. "Eh, screw it. I have a spawn point," she said, jumping into the water and surprising me.

Five minutes later, after Wreckage had come back from respawning, she chuckled again at me, the inkling obviously ecstatic at learning I was human. Once I was fully dried, she took me out to the beach’s boardwalk, where we proceeded to go underneath. I was surprised at was exactly was underneath the boardwalk. There was a small cave, and as we went inside, it was apparant that this cave had been lived in for quite some time.

There was a small bed, some posters up on the cave wall, and a picture of a red-tentacled inkling boy on a bedside dresser, probably around Dimitri’s age. I walked over to the picture frame and picked it up, looking at it curiously.

“Who’s this?” I asked. “Is this your brother?”

Wreckage snorted as she laughed and said, “No, ya goofball! That’s me! ”

This surprised me, making me turn to give her a second glance. “B-But, wait… what?” I muttered, confused. “But I thought you were a girl? This is a boy?”

“Oh, right,” said Wreckage. “Humans can’t change themselves, can they?”

I stared, confused, then shook my head. “Uh, n-no?”

“Yeah, it’s something only inklings and octolings can do,” said Wreckage. “Why? You confused?”

“A little…” I said. “I never really got outside much, and it was only when I’d turned fourteen when I was allowed to explore the outside, disguised of course. I don’t know much about inkling and octoling biology.”

Wreckage rubbed the back of her neck as she sat down on the side of her bed. “Hm… How to explain this to ya…? Most of us don’t do it often. There’s only a few of us who do it ‘cuz we just wanna be somethin’ else fer a change. I did it ‘cuz I was bored, I guess?”

“So, you’re telling me that inklings and octolings can just change their…” I muttered.

“We can change anything we want about ourselves,” she answered. “Skin color, eye color, tentacle color, anything we want!~”

“That’s… amazing! Wait, wouldn’t that mean you could pretend to be anyone you wanted and get away with it…?” I questioned.

“Nah,” she said. “There’s laws against that, and there’s also the spawn points that can rat ya out. There’s a part of our DNA that always stays the same, no matter how we change, kind of an ID print, I guess?”

“What about back then?” I questioned.

“I mean, there were problems like it back then, but see, we get very uncomfortable when we’re not in our preferred form. The longer we’re in a shape, the more likely we are to stay that way, so even if we wanted to, we’d have to go against instinct if we wanted to impersonate someone else. Yeah, you could stick it out and wait until you got used to it, but who the hell wants to do that, right? Bein' someone you don't feel like bein'...? Like bein' a salmonid outta water.”

“I think I understand,” I said. “So, you guys choose what you’re comfortable with from the beginning?”

“Usually, yeah,” she answered. “Anyways… Enough of that biology lesson. I wanted to show ya somethin’ neat!”

I tilted my head in questioning. “What’s up?”

Wreckage quickly reached under her bed, struggling as she felt around for a few seconds until a grin appeared on her face. She pulled out what looked like the mother of all chargers. It was a mix of three major weapons: the Bamboozler 14 MK 3(A weapon made from gold-painted bamboo), the Hydra, and the E-liter 3K. The main barrel was made up of a long, metal tube from the E-liter 3K, and at the rear end of the charger was a bamboozler’s front piece the back of it connecting to a Hydra’s large, silver tank. Surrounding the main metal barrel were six others composed of bamboozler pieces, all connected to tubes that could be hooked up to an inkling’s tank.

“It… l-looks like a crude mishmash,” I said, worried at how it might operate.

“This baby was a lifelong project of mine,” said Wreckage, her fingers running over the smooth metal of the tank. “A weapon that’s TOTALLY illegal in ALL Turf Wars! It’s designed to fire out all its ink in a single second at a rate that could take out any poor sucker in its way, as well as anyone behind them!~”

“Th-That’s crazy!” I shouted. “Why would you have this?!”

“I can have hobbies!” said Wreckage with a snorting giggle. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with the weapons we’re allowed to use, but… it’s nice to have something I can be proud to call my own!~”

“Wh-What do you call it?” I asked.

“The Tracker,” she whispered. “Because once I find some poor sap with it, they’re done for!~”

“But aren’t you the one doing the tracking?” I asked.

“For now,” said Wreckage with a mischievous grin.

“What do you mean ‘for now’?!” I questioned with fear.

“Don’t worry about it,~” said Wreckage. “Not like I’m usin’ it on ya. Anyways… wanna test it out?~”

I stared at her incredulously. “Wh-What…? You want me to fire this thing?!”

“YEAH!~” she shouted with scary enthusiasm. “I need to make sure it works!~”

Wreckage walked over and plopped the weapon into my arms, and I almost dropped it, the abomination feeling very heavy. “H-Hey!” I shouted. “C’mon, you can’t expect me to do this!”

“You wussin’ out?” she asked. “It’s not like you’re hittin’ anyone other than me.”

“We’re testing it on you?!” I screamed in disbelief.

“YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” she shouted with glee.

As I dragged out the weapon from the cave with me, Wreckage went out in front of me, giggling to herself like a little kid. I wasn’t liking this at all, worried at what this weapon could possibly do.

When I had finished hooking up a rusty ink tank to it that she had provided, I gripped onto the handle for it, lifting it up and aiming it shakily, looking at her with worry. “Are you sure?” I asked.

She waved dismissively, eyes closed, a cocky smile on her face. “Don’t worry, brand. I’m tied to my guitar’s spawn point. This’ll be a piece of cake, and ain’t no one goin’ down for good, okay?” she replied. A little reassured by her words, I nodded. Looking at the handle, I could see a small red button, and while I tried to push it, it wouldn’t work. Wreckage then suddenly said, “There’s a small switch under the handle. Flip that, and then press the button.”

Looks like she at least considered safety when it came to a weapon like this, making me a little more confident. She knew what she was doing, I supposed. I raised it a little, and then pressed the button, the gun immediately letting out a high-pitched scream accompanied by a shaking of the mishmashed weapon. It… sounded very scary, like the cry of an inkling right before being splatted. It was like a deadly warning.

After its terrifying scream was finished, I was blown back by the sheer kinetic force of the weapon I held. A huge stream of ink fired out, firing faster than a Hydra Splatling ever could, and before I knew it, Wreckage was gone.

But that wasn’t all the damage done.

Where Wreckage once stood was a large line of red ink that extended all the way to the ocean, the waves mixing with it and pulling the red further out to sea. A few curious inklings came by, staring at me and making me feel uncomfortable.

It was only when Wreckage came by that the attention was shifted off of me. “That was wicked!” she shouted with excitement. “I couldn’t feel a thing, it was so quick!~”

“S-So you’re okay?” I questioned.

She reached down and gripped my hand before pulling me back onto my feet, giggling. “Hell yeah!~”

I nodded in response, glad she was okay. While I was confident with professionally-made spawn points, Wreckage had made her own, building it directly into her guitar, which made me question the safety of it.

“That spawn point really comes in handy, huh?” I said to her, trying to force a smile.

“Oh, yeah,” she replied. “Took me months to get it to work when I first decided to get into modding.~ It’s funny how easy it is to actually get it to fit inside an instrument, especially when you’ve got help from an octoling!~”

“Bang helped you?” I asked her in assumption.

“Defs,~” she answered as she picked up the Tracker. “We like to share ideas, and he’s always happy to teach a squid how octarian tech works.~”

“Maybe he could teach me a thing or two?” I questioned.

“Maybe,” said Wreckage. “I don’t really know if he likes ya. He seemed pretty peeved that you and his girl had beef.”

Oh, right…

I had almost forgotten that Bang had almost ended my life. It made sense, though. He was pretty defensive over Guava, and if she hadn’t stepped in, I wouldn’t be here right now. “How is Guava…?” I asked.

“Eh?” Wreckage replied as she easily slung the weapon over her shoulder. As we walked back into the cave, she said, “She’s been acting weird lately. Just kinda got quiet ever since I introduced you to everyone.”

“I mean… I had just given her news that her brother wanted to contact her,” I muttered. “Bryson really misses her. He’s trying his best to protect her from their dad.”

“I don’t see why he needs to,” said Wreckage. “We’re all the protection Guava needs.”

If only Wreckage knew. This was the Annaki family, an unbeatable clan that doesn’t lose. “Y-Yeah,” I said quietly. “Anyways… I should probably get going. Nem-Nem’s probably waiting for me back at home, and I don’t wanna keep her waiting.”

“Think you could get her to sign my guitar sometime?” asked Wreckage, looking a little hopeful with that childish grin of hers. To think, a person as rebellious as Wreckage was a fan of Nem Nemone, someone who was pretty much the opposite in personality.

“I’ll see what she says,” I replied with a smile back before running off.

As I ran through town, a few thoughts went through my mind. How was Bryson going to help Guava? He had said he wanted to prevent her from being hunted down. How was he going to fake her death? Would his family really believe it? It was worrisome, knowing that he was going up against the very people who could easily shun him and kick him out onto the streets.

And as for Guava, how would she live after that? Would she just continue living with Bang and the others? If she wanted to be a singer, how long would it be under she grew famous? Would her family easily recognize her?

It was a little too complicated for me to really find solutions to on my own, but then again, it wasn’t supposed to be my problem, and Bryson had made that clear on that one violent day…

“She’s my sister, my business! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU KEEP OUT OF MY FAMILY’S BUSINESS!”

I was just lucky to be able to tell her Bryson was trying to help her, and so I was leaving it at that. I would refuse to do anything further.

I got home and went inside, closing the door behind me and smell the familiar scent of pasta. Nem must have felt pretty fancy tonight. She’d only ever brought pasta out on special occasions.

“Nem-Nem, I’m home!” I announced.

“Amelia, you’re just in time!” said Nem. “Your brother decided to visit!”

She didn’t have to say anything else to get me rushing into the kitchen. The moment I saw Henry standing by the oven with Nem, I leapt into his arms and hugged him tightly. Feeling how still he was, I could tell it was still awkward to him. He wasn’t used to being a brother.

I quickly pulled away, rubbing the back of my neck in discomfort. “Sorry,” I quietly said.

Henry gave me a slight smile and said, “No, it’s fine. I should expect that more, I think. After all, I am your brother.”

I smiled back at him until I noticed Ophelia a few short seconds later, standing behind him, arms crossed. “Wait, when did she–?!” I asked.

“I’ve been here for a while,” she said with a disgruntled tone. “You need to pay more attention or someone will get the upper hand in a battle one day.”

During dinner, I tried my best to keep cheerful. My brother was here and I wanted to enjoy the moment, but with Ophelia here, it was hard to do that. She was always watching me with those cold, ice-blue eyes.

She hated what I had done, what I had uncovered. It had exposed her and had shown him what she had done, how she had changed him from a human into an octoling, and although it was to save his life, she had tried to change me as well. Ezra, the octoling in my head, was a product of that.

“So, Amelia,” said Ophelia as she twirled her fork, pasta wrapping up the end of the utensil. “How have you been?”

“I have been fine,” I replied before taking a bite of my food.

“Ophelia’s been trying to change,” Henry claimed. “I know you two haven’t seen eye-to-eye, but I think if you’d give her another chance–”

“I don’t think I should,” I replied, glaring at Ophelia. “She took you away from me and I’m not going to let her change me, either.”

Nem, sitting at the end of the table, looked at all of us with awkward silence, sipping from a glass of tea.

“Amelia,” said Henry. “You two need to settle things eventually. You can’t just avoid the issue.”

“Why should we?” I said, my temperature rising, standing up and slamming my hands onto the table, my anger taking over. “Why should I let her get away with what she did?!”

“Because–”

“Because nothing!” I interrupted.. I was… furious. Was he only here to try and get Ophelia on my good side? I thought he was here because he wanted to spend time with me. “She tried to make me into something unrecognizable! I wouldn’t have remembered anything! We would’ve never known we were siblings if she was successful!”

Ophelia stood up and I quickly stepped back. She gave me a hateful gaze as she said, “You listen here, you brat! If I hadn’t done what I did, he’d be six feet under the ground! I saved his life! Not you! You should be thankful! All you’ve done was paint me as a villain!”

“Sh-Shut up!” I screamed.

“Why?!” she responded. “Is it because I’m right?! Are you scared to admit that I saved him at a cost?! There was no other way!”

My hands clenched the edge of the table, I was so tempted to flip it and spill her dinner all over her. “Sh-Shut it. You’re not ever going to be able to make it up to me!”

“Amelia,” Nem spoke up sternly, making me turn my head to face her, the anger on my face still visible. “Calm down.”

Nem…? Were you taking Ophelia’s side? “D-Don’t tell me to calm down!”

She stood up, seeming… taller than usual. No, wait… she was standing up straighter. I messed up and I wasn’t prepared for how I’d spoken to her.

Before I knew it, my ear was grabbed, her fingers pinching it and gently tugging, guiding me out of the kitchen. “O-Ow, ow, ow!” I shouted. “Nem-Nem, I’m sorry!”

“Don’t you ever speak to me the way you did at the table!” she said as we entered my room. She guided me in, let go, and let me stumble onto my bed. I faced her with fear, seeing her hair glow a bright red. “You know better than this!”

“B-But, Nem!” I stammered.

“No buts! You are letting your emotions ruin what little relationship with your brother you have!” she scolded. “Think of how he felt! He was genuinely trying to make things work out between you and his–”

“D-Don’t say it,” I said, and her hair glowed even brighter, making me flinch.

“His girlfriend,” she said, hurting me emotionally. “You know he still loves her and you should respect that. It may not be what you want, but you know he can’t help it. We can’t help who we fall in love with…”

Nem was right, as usual…

Anger gave way to tears and I tried my best to keep them in, but I was a wreck and I couldn’t keep myself from bawling. “Sh-She’s winning and I can’t do anything!” I said.

“No, Amelia,” said Nem, placing a gentle, caring hand on my shoulder. “She’s not. If she was, he wouldn’t even be visiting. He sincerely cares about you and would probably even move mountains for you. We talked before you arrived and he’s set on making sure you come first.”

“He’s probably upset at me now, right…?” I asked quietly, my voice quivering.

“Just go in there and apologize to Ophelia,” said Nem. “Show him you’re willing to work with him on this. You don’t have to like her. You just have to tolerate her.”

After a short period of silence, I nodded and stood up, walking slowly towards the kitchen with Nem behind me, her hand on my shoulder. I looked Henry in the eyes and said, “I’m sorry for yelling…”

“At…?” he said, gesturing to her.

I turned to face Ophelia and said, “I’m sorry for yelling at you…”

Ophelia didn’t hesitate to step towards me, getting up close and making me back up into Nem. She then held out her hand, watching me expectantly. I took ahold of her hand and she shook mine. “Apology accepted, Amelia. Will you forgive me?”

That was the big question. Did I actually forgive her? No, but I was willing to lie on this matter and get it over with for Henry. “Y-Yeah,” I said. “I forgive you.”

From there, time went by fairly quickly. Henry and I hugged before he left with Ophelia and I did my best to keep from having another outburst. Falling asleep that night was difficult, the events at dinner running through my head and reminding me that I need a way to control my emotions. Was it like Turf Madness?

“You don’t really believe it was Turf Madness, do you?” asked a familiar voice in the dark, making me shiver. I knew who it was. She was the product of Ophelia’s attempt to change me. The serum was meant to change me completely, but thanks to the byproduct of the Booyah Bomb, the nanobots in my bloodstream, I was able to keep the serum at bay… for now.

Both the nanobots and the serum were fighting so much that it was apparently slowly killing me from the inside, but with Doctor Scalpel’s own experimentations, it greatly slowed down the process of the serum and was, sadly, killing Ezra.

While I didn’t want Ezra to take over my body, I didn’t want to kill her either.

“If it’s not Turf Madness, then what is it?” I asked.

“Well, you are fourteen,” said Ezra. “I’ve been inside of you long enough to know that all of your outbursts are the result of human puberty.”

Puberty…?

I had so many questions. “But… I’m so angry and sad and–”

“Puberty does that, both to humans and octolings,” said Ezra. “What’s really messed up is you’re getting double doses of puberty from both sides combined.”

“A-And combined with Turf Madness, I…” I muttered, scared of the result.

“You’re becoming more of a monster than I had initially thought,~” said Ezra.

“N-No,” I said. “I can’t be a monster.”

My back suddenly itched to prove me wrong, the glimpse of a tentacle in the corner of my vision. I turned my head to face it quickly, and it was gone. Ezra giggled to herself in the darkness of my opened closet, her eyes glowing green. “Imagine how you’d turn out if I don’t get completely eradicated. How many mutations could your body handle? Suddenly stopping mid-transformation, what would you look like?”

More tentacles in the corner of my vision, my back itching like crazy. “E-E-Ezra, you’re scaring me,” I stammered. “Please, stop!”

“I’m not in control,” Ezra said calmly. You’ll keep changing until I’m completely gone. I’m just asking the real questions here. Now, answer them. What would happen if your humanity was slowly chipped away at until you were neither human nor cephalopod? You wouldn’t fit into either categories. You’d be a freak.”

Ezra was in my head, so she knew my deepest insecurities. She knew my deepest, darkest fears.

What if I didn’t fit in anywhere? Would I be all alone?

Nope.

I covered my ears and put my head under my pillow, refusing to hear any of it anymore. “Enough of this…” I said. “Lemme sleep, please.”

“Alright,” said Ezra, still loud and clear in my brain. “Just remember what I said.”

I would remember. I would continue remembering. It was just something I had to live with. As long as I have my brother and my friends, it was okay, right…?

…

In the morning, I went through my usual routine. Brushed my teeth, got dressed and ate breakfast. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary. As I was about ready to go out the door, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Looking at my screen, I was puzzled to find that all my friends were texting me.

Bry502: Turn on the TV. NOW.

OLiveGirl: Did you see the news today?

HydraKingAce: Amelia, I’ve got bad news. Change to channel 3.

Channel 3? That was the local news for Inkopolis. I’d never watched the news very much. Most of my time was spent watching channels focused on Turf Wars. It was usually only Nem who would have the television on the news.

Walking over to the living room table, I picked up the remote from it, turned on the TV, and flipped it to Channel 3, where my eyes saw something horrifying, something that would change inkling society forever.

I dropped the remote in fear.