Authors Note: Hi all! I hope you enjoy my newest one shot, let me know what you think of it! Take care!
It was a cold winter day. The season had barely changed a few days ago, but already the snow was raining down from the clouds, covering the city of Inkopolis in a blanket of white. The main inhabitants of Inkopolis were anthropomorphic squids, but there also lived many other races as well that had evolved from the ocean, from jellyfish to crustaceans. They all lived in normal harmony. Most of the squid kids today were enjoying the snow, making snow squids and other activities. One teenage boy was walking by as one of the snow squids was completed, two large snowballs for the body and head with a scarf wrapped around its neck, and a beanie on its head with oversized leaves posing as tentacles.
"Woomy!" a high pitched voice chimed in, the teenage boy looking down to see a very short young girl in front of him in winter clothing, her pink skin matching her tentacles, but with her hands and feet that weren't developed yet. She was a squirt, younger than an inkling. Inklings fully matured when they reached fourteen, and not a day sooner or after.
"Huh, what is it?" the fifteen-year-old boy asked. He had weird black tentacles that had pale white stripes going upward. He was wearing glasses a red trench coat and jeans, with a bright purple shirt underneath that had a happy dolphin picture on it. The young girl noticed though that he had purple around his green eyes, the upper part being shaped like a lash.
The squirt pointed at his gloved hands before pointing at the snow squid. The twig arms had only one glove on. The young squirt was wondering if he had a glove to spare for it, so they could complete it. The older boy could tell she had used her own glove, and her hand looked cold as ice.
"Oh… I see," he said, seeing a bright smile across her face as he slipped his gloves off his hands and handed them over. The pink squirt was confused, wondering why he was handing over both of his gloves when she only needed one.
"Keep yourself warm for me alright?" he requested. She nodded, hugging his leg before running off to finish her snow squid. The boy continued on his way down the street. He took a turn into a nearby small side alley, taking his hat off his head, and rubbing his tentacles sorely.
"Ugh… I really need to get coins so I can take a bus," he muttered, his two tentacles unravelling into a vast number of tentacles. Mimicotto was not from Inkopolis, nor was he an inkling, but rather an octoling, a race similar to them, but they had evolved from octopi instead. The octarains live in a secret city under Inkopolis that was very peaceful, until a second great war had been halted after one insane octopus used music to mind control every octopus for his army, but thankfully peace was restored as result. In his hometown of Mollusk Metropolis, they used octotokens for currency. Instead, he had to use coins here in Inkopolis. Which he had none of.
He was a mimic octopus, a special breed of octarian from the many in the race. His tentacles had the ability to change shape and bend very easily, which was grandly useful for him. For each trip into Inkopolis he made, he could easily blend in as an inkling by merging all of his tentacles together into two big ones on the sides of his head. However, the difference with octoling and inkling eyes constantly threatened to give him away, since inklings had domino masks around their eyes and octolings had purple rings around theirs, with the upper part being lash like. For anyone who realized he was an octopus, it came down to a matter of personal opinion on how to handle the situation.
"Almost there…" Mimicotto regained his breath, his tentacles beginning to wrap back together into two big ones, he put his hat back on and adjusted his glasses, before continuing on his way through the alley. He needed to get to one part of Inkopolis in particular. The octoling worked hard to get to this place. Every time he visited was quite a success, considering how far away it was from the secret entrance to Inkopolis, one of the many which was a storm drain in the main plaza. The teenage octopus had been walking for the longest of time. His legs were throbbing in pain and his feet were aching from the constant walking with no rest.
After another short distance traveled, Mimicotto arrived to a more rural part of Inkopolis in the northern section. Perhaps one of few parts that had not been touched upon by the city itself, it was a place of forestry and pure greenery, at least when it wasn't covered in snow. He liked visiting it, as everyone here was nice and calm taking care of their own families in probably the most peaceful part of the city. The mimic octopus finally arrived to an open fence gate with a long dirt road on it.
"Just gotta go another five miles, and I'm there," Mimicotto muttered. It was a common walk for him, but he was used to it. He came here once a week for the last couple months. He barely took two steps onto the snow covered dirt road before he heard a vehicles engine behind him. He stepped aside, seeing a red colored truck, which he presumed it was going to pass him by. The truck came to a stop in front of him, the passenger side window rolling down.
"Mimicotto! It's visiting time again?" a calm voice spoke up. The mimic octopus saw the driver of the truck, wearing an orange bubble vest and a pair of goggles on her head, her left eye was blue and her right eye was red.
"Oh hey Jade," Mimicotto greeted. Jade was an inkling the same age as him, with green tentacles that had an yellow tinge at the end. Her tentacles reached her hips in length, and were somewhat thin but they were loosely together, clearly she had little care about her hair style. The girl gave him a greeting wave, which showed three different rings on her left hand. One of the rings was a silver squid, another was a green diamond, and the third one was carved with an X shape.
"Want a ride to the farm?" Jade offered, opening the passenger side door for him. They had seen each other often since his visits that he considered her a great friend. She was one of a pair of twins, both of whom worked on a small ranch with their mother, raising animals. Mimicotto happily nodded, climbing into the passenger seat. He closed the door, and the truck began to drive off. This saved him a lot of time walking, and his legs needed all the rest they could get right now.
"So how've you been?" Jade asked during the drive. The snowy dirt road felt bumpy which forced her to drive slower than she normally liked to. She was glad to see the teenage boy again, though she knew not of his true identity or species.
"I've been doing alright. The turf locale I worked at is closed because of a huge termite infestation. It's probably gonna take a month before it'll reopen," Mimicotto responded. In Mollusk Metropolis, there were many common turf locations, just like in Inkopolis. However, he lost his job for a short time. He worked at a small pizza restaurant that made all their customers happy, but the termite infestation in the entire area was a pain, but that was to be expected. Mollusk Metropolis was a city created to live in harmony with nature, so the occasional bug outbreak happened, whether octopi liked it or not.
"Aw… I'm sorry to hear. Heh… you know, if you want, you can come here. Momma would love another set of tentacles on the ranch, and I know Corporal Zappers would love to have you around more," Jade suggested, seeing as how the only workers on this farm were herself, her twin brother and their mother. That offer sounded far too tempting, but the octoling sighed, shaking his head. The mentioning of Zappers brought him delight though.
"Maybe one day, but people in my life need me. I love Corporal Zappers, but I can't just leave my home and change my life drastically for a pet, no matter how much I love him," Mimicotto kindly turned down her offer. He always received it at least once whenever he paid a visit to this ranch. They began to drive up into a more open area. A farmhouse lay in the distance with a barn off to the side. A lot of fences were set up and around, as well as another small blue building. There were horses, cows, sheep, and other animals in the fences, though he doubted they would be out in the snow for much longer.
"I don't blame you. I still feel like I don't know a lot about my own life," Jade laughed as she parked the truck in front of the farmhouse. They both climbed out of it and stepped up toward the home.
"Welcome back!" they suddenly heard as a bright yellow squid leapt from the second floor. Jade held her arms out, happily catching the yellow squid in her arms. She laughed, hugging the squid like a plush toy. Mimicotto smiled at the scene before him. After a moment the squid turned back into his inkling form, revealing a boy in a pair of glasses and a yellow coat, exactly Jade's age. His left eye was red and his right eye was blue. His long, thin tentacles were bright yellow with a green tinge at the end reaching his hips in length, loose just dangling freely. His coat wrapped around his body, but his arms weren't in the sleeves. Instead it was just buttoned around the neck and resting around him, almost like a cape in a sense.
"Jonquil! Did you plan on me to catch you again, or were you trying to dive into the snow again?" Jade questioned jokingly while holding the male inkling in her arms. As her twin brother, both he and Jade looked a lot alike. He was a relaxed type. Underneath the coat he wore in an odd manner was a bright pink shirt that had a rainbow of color stripes on it. His twin sister put him back on his own feet.
"First one, then the other," Jonquil smiled while approaching the mimic octopi and holding his left tentacle up for a high five. Mimicotto raised his tentacle as well, the two slapping against one another loudly. The disguised octopus was glad to see him, though he just wished he didn't want to high five each time they met. Keeping a bunch of tentacles tied together was one thing, but moving them as well took a lot more skill, which he unfortunately did not have.
"Welcome back to the ranch!" grinned Jonquil.
"Thanks, JQ. Glad to see you're still doing very unsafe things," Mimicotto chuckled at his own joke, the twins immediately grabbing both of his hands and eagerly dragging him along to the blue building. The three friends seemed to be quite happy. Mimicotto let them drag him through the snow until they reached the building, where they let him go.
"Think he's missed me?" the black and white striped disguised octopus asked his two friends.
"Doesn't he always?" the two asked simultaneously. Mimicotto smiled as they entered inside. There housed yellow fish with orange curl whiskers on their faces, known as baby zapfish. They were popular for being the primary source of energy in Inkopolis, as did their mother, the great zapfish. One time, the great zapfish and all of the baby zapfish in Inkopolis vanished, threatening to plunge the city into darkness. Mimicotto knew this well, as he was involved with stealing all the zapfish to begin with, but only because he had been possessed by music by an old boss. Thankfully, some very special dedicated heroes of Inkopolis saved the zapfish, and freed the octopi. The mimic octopus had gotten very attached to one zapfish in particular.
"Corporal Zappers!" Mimicotto ran in happily across the soft floor, seeing one baby zapfish in particular which was wearing an ancient great turf war medal around its neck that it had gotten at one place and time, but ever since he had kidnapped Corporal Zappers, he had gotten quite attached to the baby zapfish, which in turn had grown affectionate to him. The disguised octoling went on his knees, the baby zapfish running up to him and jumping into his arms. He laughed while holding the young yellow electric fish, feeling a few jolts of shocks hitting him, which he tolerated. The only reason the baby zapfish was named Corporal Zappers, was because of the medal it seemed to be quite fond of.
"I missed you sooo much! How've you been?" Mimicotto asked while holding the baby zapfish in his arms. The zapfish made an odd noise before more jolts of joy sparked off his whiskers. The disguised octopus resumed the tight hug with a bright smile. Baby zapfish were used in the farm to charge battery cells with their electricity, so those cells could be used to power houses, prepare car batteries or act as the power source for emergency generators, or most importantly, keeping the battle tower active.
"I see our friend is here again," they heard, Mimicotto standing up turning around. The twin squids looked at the doorway. There stood an older inkling woman with big bright yellow tentacles that had an orange tinge at the end, tied up and pulled behind her head. She was wearing a blue coat that had cherry blossom patterns on it, and on the back it depicted an odd beautiful picture of a tree. She had a tiny locket shaped picture frame wrapped around her neck on a necklace, depicting a happy green tentacled man who was taking care of a cow.
"Oh hi there, Miss Dagenhart," Mimicotto politely greeted her.
"Please, Mimicotto, you can call me Apricot. You know that," Apricot, the primary owner of this farm, giggled. After her husband passed away, she took over to handle running it. The twins were more than glad to help with farm work and were doing a lot better. Due to the winter though, they had not many crops to grow, so the field was nearly empty. Jade and Jonquil Dagenhart were happy to be farm workers, and they loved their mother with no limit. Mimicotto never understood why, but ever since he tracked down where Corporal Zappers was and met them, the Dagenhart family welcomed him with open arms. They always treated him like he was an actual member of the family.
"Oh yes, right, sorry Apricot," the mimic octarian apologized, putting Corporal Zappers down the zapfish going over and rubbing against Apricot the older squid giggled petting the zapfishes head it purred in delight.
"I picked him up at the entrance to our ranch," Jade stated, she and her twin having equally big smiles. The mimic octopus rarely ever saw the twins without those bright expressions.
"And I jumped out the second floor window to welcome him!" Jonquil added. His mother looked at him, holding her head. It was almost like he wanted to give her a heart attack. Mimicotto noted with the three family members here that the twins had a height problem for their age. Their heads only reached a little past their mother's stomach.
"I… uh… appreciate your enthusiasm," Apricot coughed, just trying to calm down, not wanting to lose her cool or scold her child in front of their close friend. Today was going to be cheerful, and she was going to make sure it stayed bright, no matter how hard it snowed.
"I finished making brunch. You know good timing, Mimicotto. Would you care to join us?" the mother offered brunch. Most of the time on this ranch, they would not have enough time to eat breakfast unless they were having a day off, but the Dagenharts even worked when sick, believing in the ideal of toughing it out.
"Really? Thanks! I actually missed dinner last night, and breakfast this morning," Mimicotto confessed. He had gone to bed very early yesterday so he could wake up early to begin his long travel to and through Inkopolis, and he skipped out on breakfast to save him some more time. Corporal Zappers was now playing with the other baby zapfish.
"What are we waiting for?" Jade asked.
"Let's eat!" Jonquil chimed. The three similar aged teenagers ran off happily. Apricot smiled as she closed the entrance to the baby zapfish's area and then following them along. They had a lot to talk about as they did every visit, and a lot to be brought to full speed since the last time they saw each other. The yellow mother stepped out into the cold snow, her feet crunching the blanket of white beneath her. She looked up at the falling snowflakes.
"It certainly is a beautiful day," Apricot told herself while going off, wanting to join her children and their friend for brunch.
Mimicotto went inside with the twins. The farmhouse looked pretty normal. The stairwell was right by the front door, and wooden floors sprawled beneath his feet after he had taken his shoes off at the door. The home had a calm oceanic theme about it, with various pictures of the family dangling on the walls, both before and after their father passed on tragically from a long battle with a disease that they never could discover what it was, before or after his passing.
"Cinnamon strawberry pancakes!" Jade happily exclaimed, seeing the food set up on the table made especially for her.
"Sweet potato and Brussels hash! My favorite," Jonquil grinned. Mimicotto looked at the two foods, aware that he would have to pick from one to share food with, and both of the twins were already looking ready to give him half of their food when they were asked.
"Don't worry, mimic. There are plenty of both for everyone," Apricot reassured as she took her seat at the table. Mimicotto nodded while taking a seat. He pulled out an octotoken from his pocket, flipping it in the air and then catching it to see the image.
"Tails… alright, pass me some pancakes," the octoling in disguise said. While not a big fan of pancakes, he would eat them nonetheless. After a brief moment, he was served small plate with three pancakes on it, all deliciously baked with love and care. He began to cut into it with his knife while sticking his fork in the now cut part, before taking a big bite.
"It's always great to have a guest once in a while, especially one who's so great with animals," Apricot commented. Mimicotto was grand with animals. The baby zapfish especially loved him. He had a calming aura around most wildlife. Occasionally when he visited, some stray pets or other animals would roam onto the property and would need help being taken off the property. He was able to handle each situation calmly and find a way to get them to leave.
"I just like to pet things," Mimicotto sheepishly muttered, feeling embarrassed to be flattered like this. He figured anyone who liked animals could do the same thing he could. He had another topic on mind which he would rather bring up at the moment.
"Hey, Jade and Jonquil… did you two decide your decision for the tradition yet?" Mimicotto questioned. The Dagenhart family line had one particular quirk with everyone in its family, where the members made vows that they would see through to do their best to change the world for the better, in one way or another. The twins shook their heads.
"Nothing yet…" Jonquil sighed. They were thinking about it, but they had no idea what to swear themselves to do yet.
"Me neither…" Jade frowned in the same position as her brother. It took inspiration to decide what a Dagenhart wanted to do with their decision for the tradition. Even if they did not change the world, the Dagenhart family tree welcomed the effort immensely. As long as they tried, that would be all that mattered.
"You two shouldn't be impatient for it. You'll discover it when the time comes. After all, no Dagenhart has successfully changed the world yet… well, one has, but this was a hundred years ago,and even then he was never recognized for it." Apricot exclaimed. The three teenagers at her table, looking to her as if they wanted her to tell that story, but she shook her head.
"Sorry, but I promised I would never tell what has happened… until I am no longer walking amongst the living," the blonde mother claimed. Her decision to the tradition was that she refused to allow any promise to go unfulfilled, no matter what. It was as though if she promised it, there was no quitting or backing out.
"I'll respect that," Mimicotto shrugged. He couldn't get her to talk, even if he wanted to. As their current guest, he did not want to be so rude on a visit as to nag someone so much to disclose what was most likely a fairy tale, because in no inkling history book within Inkopolis seemed to withhold any information about the Dagenhart family line, and something that changed the world for the better, hundreds of years ago definitely would be heavily documented.
"Once we finish eating, you want to help us with our chores?" Jade offered. Their chores mostly consisted of taking care of the animals on the farm. At this time of year, fieldwork was very minimal. Most of their income was retrieved from the baby zapfish in the winter.
"Sure!" the disguised octopus was more than happy to help take care of the livestock. He was going to repay them with labor for letting him visit for lengthy periods of time, considering how his first visit was with him invading the ranch to just see Corporal Zappers. When the disguised octopus was caught red handed by the twins, they tied him up with rope and hung him upside down from the upper part of the barn for him to be held for arrest. Thankfully, Apricot came back before the authorities arrived, and upon explaining that he wanted to see his pet, the family gladly let Mimicotto off the hook.
"Thank you, Mimicotto. It really is great to have another set of tentacles around," Apricot expressed her gratitude as the octarian finished his stack of pancakes. Jade had finished by now as well, though her brother was only about halfway through his own brunch. Jonquil liked to enjoy his food at slower pace, and their blonde mother had not touched her food much due to all the talking.
"Come on! You can help me charge some zapfish batteries while we wait for them," Jade insisted.
"With pleasure," the disguised octopus grinned and nodded. He followed her back out of the farmhouse. When they got their shoes back on and got outside, they noticed that the wind was heavier, and there seemed to be more snow coming down at a higher mass. So far though, it was nothing abnormal.
"Looks like it might hail. But let's focus on our task right now. Momma and Jonquil will be out to help us with the rest soon," Jade insisted they not get their tentacles tied up into a twist in worry over just some rough weather. The Dagenhart family all had survived in far worse weather while working outside, so much that the twins both grew up in bad weather. Mimicotto nodded, continuing with his close friend into the small zapfish's area. They got inside, and they closed the door behind them.
"Corporal Zappers!" Mimicotto called immediately. The familiar baby zapfish hopped to him, and was picked up and hugged once more like a big stuffed toy. The medal wearing zapfish felt very soft as a plush toy, which reminded the mimic octopus of a few instances where he saw baby zapfish dolls that looked hand stitched and were lying around Mollusk Metropolis. Many blobbies in the city, which were newborn octolings, loved them.
"You ready to work?" Mimicotto asked, Corporal Zappers nodding. Where the baby zapfish were contained, there was an odd machine that had empty long green battery tanks, waiting to be charged. The mimic octoling brought the baby zapfish over to a small elevated resting platform that had a very soft pillow on it. Here he rested Corporal Zappers down. Jade meanwhile was bringing over two empty energy tanks and beginning to hook them up to a nearby small machine which had a few wires on it.
"Here ya go, little guy," Mimicotto told Corporal Zappers as he took two of the wires which had attachments at the end with small circular openings. He carefully put one on each whisker of the baby zapfish's face, cautious and not risking hurting the creature. Thankfully most only had two whiskers.
"Ready!" Jade called from her side, ready to start it up when he gave the go signal.
"Hold on," Mimicotto sat down beside his dear pet, letting him crawl into his lap. He happily held him, though was aware that this was going to sting.
"Alright, we're ready," he hummed. Jade smiled, looking at the two. This never hurt the baby zapfish, but the machine still could be horrifying to the young without any form of comfort. Jade pulled down a lever and turned a knob to maximum.
"Okay. Let's see if you can get both tanks filled," Mimicotto hummed, petting Zappers's head. The tiny yellow creature smiled as it tried to relax. Electricity began to flow from its whiskers and down the wires, all while shocking the octarian, but his caring owner withstood it, having long since gotten used to being shocked. Jade watched the first tank that had a black bar on the side that was quite long. It began to turn yellow from the bottom while it rose. Each volt of electricity that was pumped charged up the tank.
"First one's almost filled up already," Jade stated. So far so normal. Once the first power tank was full, the second one began to fill. Mimicotto was just glad to see his friend able to help out the far. However, around halfway on the second tank, it stopped filling. Corporal Zappers looked tired, having drained himself dry of energy.
"Hey, you did better than last time I was here! A lot better!" Mimicotto exclaimed, hugging his baby zapfish. Zappers was very happy to hear the compliments, snuggling into the octarians chest.
"I'll change out the full tank and add another empty one, and we'll set up the next zapfish," Jade claimed while pulling the now full energy tank off the machine before setting it aside against the wall. Mimicotto took the wires off Corporal Zappers's whiskers before resting him in the floor, letting him go play with his other zapfish friends, his medal dragging on the floor behind him.
"Sorry if we took long," Apricot chimed as she and Jonquil entered, shortly after having finished their food. The two went off to begin their work.
"You two didn't take too long, don't worry," Mimicotto replied. Jonquil picked up one of the baby zapfish that looked pleased to just be held and pet, the young boy bringing it over to let it be the next one to give its electricity. Apricot, at that moment, was going to refill their food.
Outside of the ranch, in the many trees, a hidden person looked over the place with binoculars, wearing mostly white camouflage which covered even her face, but not her eyes, to blend into the snow-covered bushes, her green eyes ominously watching. She had just watched Apricot and her son enter the baby zapfish's area. The spy pulled out a small rectangular shaped device and opened it. The device full of complex machinery had radio phone installed. She pushed the red button on the bottom that read ''Base'.
"State your name and operative number," a bored voice answered.
"Ocent, operative 2912. Inform my squad's boss that the time is now," Ocent hung up. She pocketed her radio device and began to make her fallback, wanting to get into position while she waited for the rest of her squad. Little did the Dagenhart family or their visitor know that they were being observed for quite a few hours, even before Mimicotto had arrived. Something bad was occurring behind the secrecy of the forest.
The family had spent the time working away with the baby zapfish, having charged countless energy tanks, enough to make plenty of money. Jade and Mimicotto handled the charging, while Apricot monitored everything to make sure nothing went wrong, while checking the other baby zapfish to see if they were alright. Jonquil was outside, trying to corral the rest of the animals to get them out of the increasing snowstorm that was threatening to hail at any minute.
"There you go little gal. You did great," Mimicotto spoke while putting down another baby zapfish and then rubbing her head. The yellow fish looked very happy to know that she had done well. She had charged three energy tanks full with electricity.
"Those zapfish love you a lot. I swear, if we put a zapfish treat in your hands, they'd swarm you," jade laughed. Mimicotto blushed, a little unsure how to take that. Zapfish tended to release small static charges to the one they're affectionate with or care for a lot. Having a horde of baby zapfish on him for one treat might actually shock him into unconsciousness, despite his high tolerance for being electrocuted. Mimicotto had to manage the baby zapfish for the octarian army when they were kidnapped, since they too knew he was great with animals. The disguised octoling looked at Corporal Zappers who was slumbering away with two others, tired.
"I have to agree," Apricot's same bright face of hers showed that he could be trusted with no hesitation. Her aura felt so relaxed and calming. Mimicotto tried not to think too much on it. He was glad to be of help in any way possible, even if it meant getting shocked with a few volts of electricity.
"Mommy! Jade!" they heard Jonquil as the door flew open to reveal him, panting from having rushed all the way here.
"What's wrong Jonquil?" Mimicotto approached his friend.
"Th-the barn! It's on fire!" Jonquil pointed outside, and after a moment of shock, they all hurried outside. The blazing flames rose high from the barn. A fire somehow had started on the upper level and had quickly spread. The ranch owners were frozen to see destructive fire raging out of control.
"Are there any animals in the barn?!" Mimicotto questioned. The blonde boy shook his head.
"May-maybe one horse is in there! That's all I got in before the fire started!" Jonquil replied. They watched the disguised octopus run off toward the barn, unwilling to let them lose any animals no matter what danger was abound. He knew if it was corporal zappers in danger, they would risk their lives to save the baby zapfish for his sake.
"Jade, contact emergency services! Jonquil, you make sure Mimicotto gets out safe! I'll try and keep the fire under control!" Apricot ordered. Her twin children nodded and split up as told. Their mother only had one real source of constant water that hadn't been frozen, which was the gardening hose, which was meant for the flowerbed in the front of the house which would not grow until spring. It was better than nothing though. She grabbed it and squeezed the head of the hose, spraying the water up high. The flames hissed soundly, as the snow was not of much use at the time. Whatever was on the barn's roof had melted by now, and that probably had been the only thing suppressing the inferno of fire until now.
Mimicotto had to admit how much more terrifying it was to be inside a burning barn the flames on the ceiling, threatening to bring the roof down at any minute. There he spotted a panicked reddish-brown horse, trapped in its stall.
"Hey, hey, calm down I'm here to get you out," Mimicotto said, trying to calm the startled stallion. Suddenly he heard a loud creaking, and saw part of the flaming roof fall, and crash in front of the entrance to the barn.
"Oh, great!" Mimicotto was irritated. The only thought going through his mind right now was that his luck was horrible.
"Alright. Time to improvise," he muttered, opening the stall. The horse rushed out in a panic. He took half of the second to hop onto its back, barely getting on. Mimicotto wrapped his arms around the horse's neck and ducked down. The horse charged for the exit and ran right toward the burning pile of rubble blocking the barn opening, the horse jumping over the fire and landing on its hoofs. It continued its run outside in the snow.
"Whaaaaaa!" Mimicotto lost his balance, falling off the horse and landing into the snow with a skidding thud.
"Ow…" he groaned, thankful the soft blanket of white snow was there to break his fall. The disguised octopus felt someone helping him up. The horse had long escaped for another location, well away from the fire, but the teenage octoling did not pay it much mind. Horses had escaped before, as he had helped tame several of them during each of his visits, so he knew they could get it later. Jade stepped out of the house now for only a second to check it things outside were okay.
"You alright?" Jonquil asked. He himself was about to go in there to help his friend, but the fire blocked him off.
"I'm good…! Are the fire trucks coming?" Mimicotto wondered. Jade however then ran off.
"None of the phones are working!" Jade yelled in reply as she went to help her mother. It seemed like they were going to lose their barn. Mimicotto pulled out his circular, octopus-shaped cellphone to call them himself. However, there was no signal.
"Wait, I thought my phone signal was perfect!" Mimicotto's eye twitch.
"What is going on?" Apricot asked herself. Each second, the situation got worse. Thankfully, no animals were in danger of being burned. Mimicotto turned toward the entrance road, having started to hear a rumbling. Three hauling trucks were driving for the place, used when moving or carrying things. Too bad for them that this was not the fire department, it was ominous.
The trucks all came to an abrupt halt. The first one's back shutter opened wide, and one wave of armed octolings stepped out of it, all equipped with many octarian weapons from Mollusk Metropolis and all wearing not disguises, but winter gear, the old uniform that used to be given out to the army. Mimicotto's heart skipped a beat. He thought the octarian army was long disbanded.
"What's going on here?!" the disguised octopus asked. The twins were about to come up behind him, but he put his hands out, stopping them both. Apricot was concerned to see this, feeling like there was a correlation between the disrupted phone signals and the barn fire. Otherwise their appearance was very coincidental. The blonde mother squid began to head off back toward the farmhouse to get something.
"Back down you squishies," one octoling ordered, aiming a slather blaster right for the three. The other two trucks opened up, inklings disembarking alongside other octopi. It was confusing, but it was nice to see the two different races getting along in a situation that was way out of control at this point. the Three farm workers were threatened to be splattered, each weapon aimed directly at them and the brimming various colored ink tanks on the invaders' backs.
"What do you want with us?!" Jonquil demanded.
"Our barn's on fire! You need to call for help!" Jade added pleadingly. One of the other inklings fired a small burst of orange ink that hit the ground in front of them, leading the orange goo in the snow, a warning to remind them not to step closer.
"We know one of our operatives lit it ablaze," an octarian said. That revelation shocked them all to their core, "It was an order from higher up, of course."
"Now give us the zapfish and we'll leave. This is a direct order from the Mollusk Military," another inkling spoke up with some authority of power. The farmers all looked mortified at the thought of the baby zapfish being taken, as did Mimicotto. They had never heard of this Mollusk Military before. In fact, they never had existed before in Inkopolis or Mollusk Metropolis, but things were going on in hiding that were beyond most people's ability to see. The mimic octoling though had no plans to give up Corporal Zappers to random glorified arsonists.
"Why? What do you want with the zapfish?" Mimicotto requested to know, while motioning the twin Dagenhart children with his tentacles to get ready since they were most likely going to be forced to take cover in the near future.
"I don't think you're in any position to be asking questions. But I can! Who are you, ya dang blobbie?" another octoling spoke up, insulting him by calling him a baby octopus.
"Heheh… I'm Mimicotto Hodeminu and I'm one of the one's who's going to splatter you all!" Mimicotto grinned showing his sharp teeth. After one hand signal, the three of them quickly changed into their other forms, Jade and Jonquil changing into squids and diving into the deep snow. The mimic octarian changed into an octopus, doing his best to keep his disguise up, wrapping his tentacles together to form his two large tentacles before he landed in the snow as well.
"Open fire!" one soldier octarian ordered. Ink flew all over the plaza, hitting the snow, the farmhouse, the burning barn, and some of the animals that were still in their fences, though they paid it barely any mind. As the snow got heavier, Apricot was rummaging around, desperately looking for something.
"I can't feel anything," Mimicotto's thought. The snow was freezing, but the options were to be splattered and end up at the nearest hospital over twenty miles away, or to dive into the blanket of soft white to take cover in the hopes of getting some leg up on the enemies. The Mollusk Military were making their way to the small home of the baby zapfish. But then a familiar voice rung out.
"Children! Here!" Apricot called out, carrying multiple weapons and ink tanks, each one filled with bright yellow ink. She tossed them off the porch, before she had to duck behind the porch swing to take cover from ink blasts. The enemy inklings and octolings tried to enter the zapfishes' area, when suddenly Jade popped out of the snow behind them, jumping into the air and changing back to normal.
"Thanks, momma!" Jade smiled, catching one of the weapons, which were two hand brushes with gloves. She flew down, and she sliced downward, hitting two of the enemies from behind with slashes of yellow ink and splattering them instantly.
"What the-!" one of the inklings turned around, firing their luna blaster. Jade ducked under her with a smile, swinging upwards and splattering her opponent into more yellow goo. She kicked the last one in front of her into the door of the zapfish's small housing. The octoling fell through the door, flat on their back. That enemy saw all the baby zapfish that were looking at him confusedly for his loud entrance.
"Here you go guys, a new friend! And he brought you a present!" Jade rummaged around in her pocket for a second before pulling out five tiny bulb shaped cookies, which were zapfish treats, a scrumptious snack to the tiny golden fish. She threw them all onto the octoling who was still on the floor.
"Gah! You're attacking me with food instead of ink now?" the octarian had to admit that this was a lot more peaceful way to fight, but it was not what he was here to do. Suddenly, the school of baby zapfish around began to crawl onto him, looking very happy at the thought of a treat baring friend. He began to feel great bursts of electricity coursing through his body. He let out a scream of surprised pain as the zapfish were all over him now. Jade closed the door as she was back outside.
"Yeaaah!" Jonquil laughed, running along with a big golden colored weapon, called the hyper blaster, which had two barrels on the front. He fired away, splattering those that the yellow ink flew for. Suddenly he got hit in the ankle by a stray burst of stinging pink ink, making him trip and landing face first in the snow, "Yow!"
"Fire! Splat him now!" the one leading this small splatoon roared. Just as they began to fire their ink directly at the downed Dagenhart, Mimicotto intervened.
"Crazy coral!" Mimicotto fired a small piece of coral from his slather blaster, a personal weapon he carried at all times for his own safety. It landed in the snow in front of Jonquil. Suddenly, a huge wall of coral began to grow insanely fast, able to block the rain of ink. The twins were surprised, as this was a brand new kind of special weapon to them. Mimicotto however found it quite normal, a common special ability to a lot of weapons in Mollusk Metropolis. He had no care if his disguise was perhaps broken at this point. He just wanted to make sure everything was safe to the best of his own ability.
"Better move while you got the chance!" the mimic octoling said, going over and helping his friend up before getting him behind a big tree that had grown off to the center of the property, the only cover available for them. After a short time, the crazy coral began to rot losing its color and crumble apart in seconds.
"Fine then. Use their tactics against them," the leader muttered to her splatoon. Half of them nodded, and the other half planned on acting as a distraction. The front line all turned into their squid or octopi forms and dove into the snow. The group had their attention not even on the ones firing heavily at them at the moment due to them trying to take cover. Jade felt that she was in one of the worse positions, behind one of the many cows, though so far she had not been attacked yet. She pulled her goggles off her head and over her eyes.
"Oh shrimp cakes!" Jade gulped, seeing an octoling leap out of the snow and change back to normal form with a slather brush. The green inkling ducked under it, the brush leaving a long purple slash of ink on the cow's side, though the domestic bovine continued to eat the few tufts of grass sticking out of the snow. She swung her dual brushes, splattering the octarian.
"Sorry," Jade told the cow that did not care about the new purple to its black and white body. Jade ran ahead to try and regroup with her brother and best friend. She barely got one step out before tons of ink flew for her. From behind, she noticed that the army were taking multiple baby zapfish, now that no one was guarding them, some of the army hauling out the poor octoling that had been electrocuted into unconsciousness. Jade took in a deep breath while beginning to run for it. Jonquil continued firing with his ultra-blaster, splattering a few with stray pot shots, but Mimicotto was in no better position, trying to cover Jade by shooting at any brush wielders who attempted to attack her.
"Whoa!" Jade rolled to the right, dodging more rainbows of ink that hit the snow. She had wound up behind the tree out of sheer luck. She panted, turning to the two boys, "Th-they're taking the zapfish…!"
"I know! But what can we do?!" Jonquil bit his lip, irritated, having no clue what they would be doing with the baby zapfish. Mimicotto's eyes widened as his eyes focused on one part of the small mollusk army. Corporal Zappers was being carried out by an inkling. Mimicotto stared for a quick second, his blood beginning to boil.
"Use your specials. I've already burnt mine out," Mimicotto ordered. Apricot could not to any more as the only weapons that were in the farmhouse belonged to her twins.
"On three," Jade said as the two nodded.
"One… two… three, go!" Jonquil hit a button on his ultra-blaster while touching the other two with his tentacles. Bright yellow bubble shields enveloped the three of them. The three all ran out of hiding and right into the open, Mimicotto going right for the inkling with his pet zapfish. The Dagenhart twins kept their attack on the main front line of enemies, Jade fighting off most of the brush wielding octopi and squids, while her brother fired at row of attackers. The bubble shields were invulnerable, as any ink that hit the bubbles harmlessly slid off like water on an umbrella.
"Let the zapfish go!" Mimicotto gained the inkling's attention as he fired a purple ink at her, but she ducked under it before activating her special weapon, an inkzooka. Corporal Zappers had no idea what was going on. The mimic octopus gulped before the enemy fired a huge blast of orange ink at his bubble shield, making him tumble backwards and fall flat on his back. The shield was holding sturdily, but the strike hit with the impact of a truck.
"Nice try, squiddie," Mimicotto fired three quick blasts of purple ink that hit her in the face, splattering her into a puddle of purple goo, the medal wearing baby zapfish plopping onto the snowy ground. He quickly ran to him and picked him up.
"I got you Zappers, don't you worry," he smiled, rubbing his dear pet's head, though he looked over at the twins in concern, wondering how they were handling things. At the moment, the two of them were surrounded.
"You guys really should surrender," Jade said, hearing a few chuckles at her statement.
"Considering you idiots have only gotten lucky so far, we'll do fine outnumbering two worthless ink slingers," one of the octarians threw an ink grenade that exploded on contact, but the ink slid off the bubble shield.
"We're artists, not just ink slingers," Jonquil replied. More laughs came in reply to this. Mimicotto made his way toward one of the trucks that they had attempted to load the baby zapfish into. He had Corporal Zappers wrapped in his tentacles, who was appeared to be enjoying the ride.
"Don't you know the best artists have the greatest tools?" the twins said in unison, gaining big grins on their faces.
"The best tools are always the ones that do one of two things," Jonquil started, looking to his twin sister. The Mollusk Military were losing their nerve.
"They either let an artist reach their canvas, no matter where they are …" Jade continued, that grin seeming to get bigger, the grip on her weapons loosening, the two brushes looking to be connected to the gloves she was wearing by a rubbery material.
"…or let that artist paint fast enough to capture time!" Jonquil laughed, dividing his ultra-blaster into two regular blasters. He ducked down right as her sister spun around, her ink brushes stretching out in length as far as they could as she began hitting everyone around her with one spiral long slash of yellow ink. Her brother ducked under the attack, while tons of inklings and octolings were splattered before being able to make a move. Jade stopped, retracting her weapons to her hands. Jonquil stood up, opening fire with his two rapid blasters, splattering even more of the enemies. At this point, the leader of this small group realized they were almost out of troops.
"We need to retreat! We've got plenty of zapfish from the other farms!" the leader ordered. The leftover troops were now at this point trying to just keep the twins away who were switching rapidly out of their squid and inkling forms to dodge the ink being blasted at them. Jade popped up and swung her brush attached to elastic, watching it stretch far and smack an enemy in the face, splattering them into yellow ink. Jonquil immediately appeared under her, catching her and beginning to open fire.
"And I thought this was scary enough before…" Mimicotto muttered, being in one of the trucks, where at the back of it had a lot of baby zapfish captured in glass balls, being suspended on the walls and ceiling. The Mollusk Military had been kidnapping the electric fish from ranches all over Inkopolis, damaging squared miles of land and harming vast numbers of poor squids trying to just get by with their lives. Corporal Zappers looked at the fellow baby zapfish, upset.
"Hey, hey, it's going to be alright," Mimicotto hushed the baby zapfish that was turning sorrowful. The medal dangling around his neck was given to him for a valid reason. He hated to see him upset either.
"Yeah. It'll be alright… once you're in a nice comfy chamber," they heard. The mimic octopus got bashed in the back of the head, plopping onto the floor. He groaned in pain, hearing Corporal Zappers letting out cries of agony. The zapfish was picked up by his tail and held upside down, the most sensitive part of a baby zapfish that hurt like fire when even tugged slightly. This octarian held the electric fish directly by it, sending waves of torture through the poor zapfish's body.
"Let go of him!" Mimicotto demanded, grabbing her ankle, only to be kicked in the face. He could hear the truck beginning to start up his tentacles came undone from the hard hit unveiling his octoling form. That did not detour the female octopus threatening him. The baby zapfish still cried in pain.
"Last chance to get off, or you're coming with m-whaaaaaa!" she got tackled out into the snow again, dropping Corporal Zappers onto the snowy ground. The octarian girl felt Mimicotto's hands around her throat. He was furious, his blue blood stained cheek acting as a reminder that she had just angered the wrong octopus.
Jade and Jonquil watched as all of the trucks drove off with the last of their troops on board. The twins were panting, looking quite drained. Apricot approached them and pulled the twins into a hug, thankful that they had stopped the assault. However, a frightening quiet voice hit their ears.
"Is it fun to hurt and damage others' lives? Well don't answer that. I'll just give you a taste of your own medicine," Mimicotto grinned. He had mentally snapped under the stress. All of those trapped baby zapfish, and his best friend being harmed, burned his mind. The female octoling tried to aim her slather blaster at him, but he stomped on her arm with one of his legs, pinning her weapon down. She was fading in and out of consciousness from losing oxygen.
"Mimicotto?!" Jonquil gasped, seeing the many tentacles their friend had.
"You're an octoling?!" Jade shared her brother's expression. Apricot though ran for Mimicotto and pried him off of the girl he had attempted to murder. She gasped for breath, while beginning to crawl backwards in terror.
"You must stop!" the woman demanded.
"Why? This is one of the many who ruined your ranch and tried to steal your best coin producers. She hurt Corporal Zappers," Mimicotto panted. The fire had gone, but that was not because the flames had been blown out by the cold wind and heavy snow. There was no barn, only its charred remains and ashes, slowly being covered up by snow.
"I'm not happy with it either, but if you kill her, you'll just be guilty of murder, and for upsetting her family, her loved ones, and other people that care for her!" Apricot ordered. Mimicotto's eyes gazed down at his bruised hands, and back up at the octoling he had almost strangled. She looked regretful for harming him and everything else that she did. The Mimic octopus looked at his best friends, Jonquil just standing there and Jade hiding in her brother's shirt in her squid form and looking afraid. Normally she could be brave in most situations but there still were times when she could not handle anything, and thus she would turn to her twin for comfort.
"Cor…corporal Zappers?" Mimicotto reached out to the baby zapfish on the snow. It sniffled, upset from the pain it endured. He took a deep breath and pet its head, glad his dear pet was not seeing him as a monster.
"I feel lightheaded…" he fell onto the snow and passed out. He had lost all energy in seconds after the adrenaline had worn off. The octoling he had tried to murder got up, dropping her weapon and ink tank before running off to the woods with haste.
"Help me get him inside," Apricot sighed. Jonquil nodded, Jade hesitantly climbing out of his shirt before changing back to her inkling form.
"Yes momma," the two went over. Their mother lifted his upper body while Jonquil got his legs, and Jade got between both of them and picked up Corporal Zappers. They all began to head toward the farmhouse, too many thoughts buzzing in each one of their heads to process. They would have to build a new barn after all had settled down. Their sentiment for their best friend showed, as discovering that he was an octarian was more shocking than anything else.
The snowfall lightened over the hours as they passed. What had happened was quite unfortunate. The police did arrive, having taken a statement from Apricot, but they said they have had multiple calls from other ranches claiming that all of their baby zapfish would be taken. However, the authorities had little they could do than to keep their eyes out for this Mollusk Military.
"My head…" Mimicotto moaned as his eyes fluttered open. He looked around groggily and confusedly, his tentacles all dangling loosely no longer together. He looked around the mostly dark room he was in, where only a small lamp was illuminating it. He was in the guest room, where a desk lay with a book on it next to a shelf full of books. As he sat up, the mimic octopus began to recall everything that had occurred. His memory was foggy toward the end. He remembered the terrified look of the octoling girl when he tried to strangle her.
"Are you alright?" he heard and looked over. Apricot stood in the doorway. She entered the room, closing it behind her, and she took a seat at the desk.
"I don't know…" Mimicotto sighed, ignoring his fully shown tentacles now that they all had seen his true form.
"Do you mind if I ask why you hid the fact you were an octoling from us?" the woman rubbed her head. This was a talk they were going to have eventually, and Mimicotto wanted to get it done very soon.
"…when the great zapfish and all the baby zapfish vanished one time a month ago, I had a hand in that. I was under someone else's control. I thought you'd all never let me anywhere near Corporal Zappers if you knew that. The octarian army forced me to be the caretaker of the baby zapfish before they put them in their machines," Mimicotto elaborated. He only hid the truth because he had the ability to do so. If he wasn't able to control his tentacles so well like the special octopus race he was, then he would have had no choice but to approach the family with nothing but his wounded heart for missing his dear pet.
"I can see the reasoning… Jade and Jonquil were worried you were a part of that Mollusk Military as some sort of spy, but what we saw you do to one out there… that proved otherwise," Apricot added. He nodded, expressing nothing but his apologetic words.
"But I'm not mad at you. We all have our bad memories… poor decisions… loved ones we miss… some don't have the choice of seeing those again. Truth be told, I'm near the end of my life," the blonde inkling then got up and began to look through the book shelves. The octoling stood up, approaching her.
"What do you mean, Apricot?" Mimicotto requested. He was very happy to know she was going to forgive him, but he still noticed an upset look on her.
"I only have maybe less than a year to live. I miss my family a lot, but if I get involved with their lives now, it will do nothing but cause harm. There is a lot of danger in more than just Inkopolis… under it, outside of it… the world has changed. No one knows what exists anymore. Mollusk Military is a prime example," Apricot exclaimed. Mimicotto felt confused, though saddened to hear. She was near the end of her life. It was a tragic shame, and she did not seem to be that old either. The octopi took a safe guess that it was medically related, and she did her best to hide any symptoms that proved so.
"You miss your family? I know your husband is gone… but what about Jade and Jonquil?"
"This is my second family. My first husband was abusive scum. One night I just left that home and never came back. But I didn't just leave him… I left my son and my daughter. I met a very nice old man who gave me a million coins to start a new life somewhere. Then I met Daniel, the original owner of this ranch. It was financially in debt, so I invested in it. In the span of a year, we dated and we had an egg on the way. Then the twins hatched…" Apricot began to cry while pulling out a small red book that was hidden in the back of the shelf, looking like a very small photo album. She handed it over, "Life moves so fast that it's hard to even realize. Dagenharts want to change the world for the better. But we have our own share of problems and enemies."
Mimicotto opened the photo album. Among the very few pictures in it showed a younger Apricot holding an egg with another yellow inkling, and another image depicting a newly hatched inkling. Another picture showed an older squirt with light red tentacles. The pictures after that depicted her in hospital care, looking to be on death's doorstep. The images after that depicted a happily reunited family that were mostly back to normal. But one picture after that depicted two upset young squids caught after they had a turf war in their living room that had caused a huge mess.
"Why are you telling me this, then?" Mimicotto questioned, handing the photo album back.
"Jade and Jonquil don't know… and when I'm gone I'd like to know there is someone there to help them. I'm trusting you with this secret," Apricot explained while drying her eyes. she knew there was a lot of danger in the future that was going to be far from easy the yellow squid wanted to know that everyone would be alright before she died though she doubted she could get complete closure like that she could at least find those that were close to her family to aid them whenever they needed it
"I'll keep it secret. You don't have to worry," Mimicotto reassured while she began to lead him out of the room and down the hall, toward the stairs.
"Thank you so much…" Apricot sniffled, doing her best to regain herself when they got to the bottom of the steps. Jonquil was looking over a blueprint at the kitchen table, and Jade was holding Corporal Zappers in her arms and resting on the couch.
"You're up! You sure gave us a scare…" Jade stood up. Corporal Zappers seemed a lot more excited to see him. Mimicotto chuckled, taking the baby zapfish from her arms and hugging him tight, feeling a few stray shocks of electricity from the affection.
"Sorry for lying to you all about what I really was… Did those Mollusk Military guys get away with any zapfish?" Mimicotto asked.
"Nope! They almost did, but the three of us stopped them," Jonquil shook his head, smiling. Their combined efforts weren't in vain. They had saved their baby zapfish.
"You guys aren't mad with me?" Mimicotto asked in surprise
"We're just surprised, is all. So what if you're an octopus or a squid? It just means how many tentacles you have, how different your eyes," Jade replied happily.
"If only we knew at the beginning though… but hey, it's all good!" Jonquil admitted. That said and done, the twins then grabbed their mother's hand, bringing her to the table.
"Look, mom! We found the blueprint dad used to build the barn in the basement!" Jonquil excitedly exclaimed. This was going to help with rebuilding the barn. Things were looking up today after all of the events that transpired. Mimicotto smiled, coming over to them.
"I owe you guys for lying so long. How about I stay for the week and help work on it?" Mimicotto offered. Corporal Zappers seemed excited at the thought of his loved one being around for longer than a day.
"Oh no, you don't have to," Apricot replied.
"Of course I do," the mimic octopus shook his head. Jade and Jonquil smiled, going over and hugging their friend, thanking him for all he had done. The baby zapfish giggled, being squished a little. Their mother smiled, looking at the scene, glad to know her children had such a great friend. The future looked a little brighter, despite the chaos from today. One more thought swirled in her mind, as she hoped that maybe these Dagenharts could help change the world one day once they decided their decision for the tradition.
"Maize… Fallow… I hope you two stay safe as well."
Authors Note: Hope you enjoyed this one shot prequel, have a good day and take care. Please Review.