Animal - Chapter two

Then they were back underwater, but not before Ty had seen a blur of green and white run towards the pond. Deadlox looked at Sky, trying to struggle away. His limbs failed him. Ty couldn't think straight, not with the lack of oxygen piercing his lungs. He needed air. And fast.

Sky grinned, showing that his teeth had sharpened into fangs. He was feeling better than he ever had. The migraine had been replaced by fury, pure rage, and now he was stronger and more powerful than his old, puny self.

And he would kill.

He would kill Ty because. . . because he can.

"Goodbye, puny human," he said, voice distorted by the water. Just as the light in Ty's eyes started to fade, a green blur slammed into Sky, knocking him away.

Kermit kicked Sky to a safer distance, then turned around and started dragging Ty to the shore. When they reached the sandy shore, he turned Ty onto his back and shook his shoulders. "Come on, Ty, don't do this."

Ty coughed, turning over on his stomach and spitting up water. Kermit sighed slightly in relief upon seeing that his friend was okay. Sky surfaced quietly, eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. The possessed Minecrafter then ducked back under the water, swimming towards the two on the shore. He moved fluidly, as if he had lived his entire life in the water.

Sky crept up on Kermit. This amphibian will be his next target. Then he could kill Deadlox in peace. When he was close enough, Sky pounced.

Kermit yelped as Sky tugged him under the water. Something sharp pierced his shoulder. He craned his neck and saw that sharp, deadly claws had grown from Sky's fingertips. And they must have been poisonous, because seconds later Kermit became foggy-headed and groggy.

Nevertheless, he used his powerful hind legs to kick Sky away, then scurried onto the land and away from the water. Ty stood shakily, following the frog's example. Nothing was said as they watched Sky draw near to the shore, then dart away into deeper water.

Instinct told Sky that it was a terribly bad idea to try to fight them on land. Not only was he weaker on land, the light from the sun stung at his eyes. He sank down to the muddy lake bottom. To any human, the water would have been dark and murky. But to Sky, it was crystalline and sharp, easy to focus in. His newly grown claws, which were a navy blue, sliced at the ground, leaving deep fissures. The blue-grey patch of skin on his shoulder had grown, splashing over half his face and across his other arm. It ended in the middle of his left hand, but was slowly creeping over the rest of him. Pointed white fangs gleamed from behind a smirk.

Sky was. . . content. Happy, even, now that he was in his element. He was powerful, Ruler of the Water. Ruler of the Squids. Nothing could defeat him, not even what his weaker human form used to call his friends.

Friends. . .

Something tickled at the back of his mind; something said that this was wrong, so very wrong. He wasn't a squid. . . Right? Was he?

Of course he was. There wasn't any evidence to say that he wasn't. Unbeknownst to him, a small red light on the side of his sunglasses was blinking slowly, which meant that they were still recording.

Kermit and Deadlox watched the water for a few moments. The frog slowly turned towards Ty. "Care to explain?"

And so Ty did, blurring the part where he had pushed Sky off the block into a lie. He still couldn't understand why he had done that. It was just that. . . he had felt so angry, and he had to take his anger out on something or he would burst. And the nearest something had been Sky. . .

"And he was just about to k-kill me. Then you came. Thanks bro, I owe you one."

Kermit nodded, then summed up their predicament in two simple words.

"Well shit."

Dawn hummed happily as she closed the front door behind her, purse slung into her shoulder. She had a list in her hand, groceries written on it in sloppy scrawl. Just then the phone rang. Dawn sighed and rolled her eyes, unlocking the door and rushing inside. She hurried over to the phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"H-hey, Dawn, its me Ty. Um. . . We kinda ran into a . . . situation here. . ." Deadlox trailed off, unsure of how to tell her.

Kermit sighed and grabbed Ty's headphones away, which was how they had called Dawn, and set them on his own head. He adjusted the mouthpiece, then spoke. All the while neither of the soaking wet beings kept their eyes off the water.

"Listen Dawn, we need you to get here. Now. Something's wrong with Sky and- You'll see when you get here. And if you can, call the others."

Dawn heard him pause when Ty said something, then the frog resumed talking.

"It doesn't matter who, but make sure they come prepared for a fight."

"A fight? Kermit, what's wrong with Sky? Why do we need everybody else? Kermit?"

But then something cut Kermit off. A splash. The two whipped around towards the water, backing further into the land. Sky had surfaced slightly, glaring at them from behind his glasses. Kermit slowly handed Ty the headphones.

Deadlox sat them on his head, hurriedly speaking to Dawn. "Hurry Dawn, just get the others and tp to us. Please hurry, we don't know how much longer he's going to stay in the water."

And with that, Ty snapped the connection shut.

Sky had no intentions on heading onto the land. In fact, he was almost asleep. He lounged at the bottom of the lake, watching the ripples of the surface above him. Sky knew that they couldn't see him all the way down here, he nearly blended in now. The only tan skin left was a patch just around his left eye.

Sky had searched the lake, trying to find a way out and into the ocean. No such luck. Wherever the ocean was, he would have to cross over land to get to it. The possessed Minecrafter yearned for the ocean. Even from this far inland, he could feel the tug of the waves, smell the salty tang in the air. How he wanted to be deep down, down into the dark depths of the sea. How he wanted to meet his fellow squids, train with them to take over the land. How he yearned for the gentle currents of the ocean, to swim freely without hindrance of the land-dwellers.

But he was stuck here in this tiny pond; stuck in this laughable excuse for a body of water. And the land beings had gathered, grown in numbers. This was not good. Not good at all.

In a short amount of time Jerome, Husky, Jason, and Dawn had teleported to Deadlox and Kermit. Ty stepped forward and explained their situation, with Kermit occasionally adding in his own two cents. Sky watched from the shallows, only his head above the surface. He sunk lower and then closer to them, barely making a ripple in the water. His first target: The green amphibian. That one would cause him some trouble. He glared at Kermit, slowly creeping to the shore.

"Can't we just lure him out of the water?" Jerome asked after Ty and Kermit had finished.

Deadlox shrugged. "So far we haven't been able to. All he does is sit down there, as far as we know."

Husky jumped into the conversation. "Then get some butter, that'll do the trick."

Something in that sentence made Sky pause. A little memory tickled at his mind. No, not a single memory. A lot of memories. Maps. Jumping. Running. Fighting. Goofing off. Laughing. Defeating the squids. . .

But he was a squid, so why would he kill his own brethren? . . . Was he a squid? He didn't have any tentacles, and squids didn't wear any sort of clothing on their bodies. So what was he?

Sky growled quietly, then ducked back under the water and swam in circles. He needed to get to the ocean. Once he was there, the land creatures wouldn't be able to catch him. He would be free to wreak havoc on sailors and coastal cities. Maybe even turn a few people into squids along the way. . . Starting with the headphone-wearing human.

Yes, Deadlox would be the first to go.

Ty tightened the knot of the rope wrapped around the butter ingot, then grabbed the pole from Jason. He swung the fishing line, and the ingot landed in the water with a soft ker-plunk.

Sky stiffened when the butter floated down to the bottom of the water, coming to a rest a few feet in front of him. The possessed Minecrafter scowled, grabbing the ore and hurling it up to the shore, where it thunked to the ground in front of the others.

That's when Sky felt something shift on his back. He turned around, peering over his shoulder. He grinned wickedly at what he discovered, fangs gleaming.

Six long, slender tentacles had grown from his back. They moved on their own accord, but Sky found that he could control them. Any doubts that he wasn't a squid vanished. He had tentacles, he was obviously a cephalopod. Sky looked towards the surface of the water and tensed his muscles. Now nothing could defeat him. A slight growl rose from his throat as he kicked off the mucky floor, propelling himself out of the water.

Above the surface, the men had fallen into an argument. Only Dawn stayed out of it, not wanting to get caught in the fray.

"We don't want to hear another of your stupid plans, Husky."

"Shut it-"

"Kermit's right, the fish doesn't ever have good plans."

"I'm an amphibian, you dick! Get it right!"

"Well maybe if we all just shut-"

Then Sky shot out of the water and slammed a tentacle into Ty's chest, shoving the Minecrafter into the ground. The others jumped at the sudden attack, staring at Sky.

The squid-like human sneered and took their hesitation to his advantage. He sprinted off, heading to where he knew the ocean was. Sky made sure to wrap a tentacle around Ty's ankle, dragging the human with him.

"Sky!" Dawn shouted, shaking off the shock and running after him. She jumped and grabbed one of the tentacles, only to have it writhe out of her grasp.

Sky hissed at Dawn, smacking her away with two of the other extra limbs. She sailed into a tree, breath locked out of her. Sky grinned, raising Ty and flinging him after her.

Deadlox slammed against Dawn, hitting his head against a rock. His vision swam, and he tried to focus on the blue-grey blob menacingly making its way towards him and Dawn.

"S-Sky. Please, stop. . ."

Dawn's shaky voice made Sky pause. And that was enough time for Jason to charge and knock him to the ground. There was a short tussle, in which that everybody piled on Sky to try and subdue him. Sky writhed, trying to squirm out of somebody's grasp. Suddenly, pain flared on his temple. The last thing he heard was Jerome murmuring an apology. "Sorry, buddy. . ."

Then, darkness.