Animal - Chapter four

A short time later, they stumbled out of the portal. Immediately, Sky could feel the animal surge and try to take over. He winced, hand flinging up to his head. His friends cast him a worried look. Sky shook his head as if to clear it. "Let's go. I'm not sure how long I can hold it back."

Dawn waked as close to Sky as he would allow. She reached for his hand, but Sky shook his head and moved away slightly. "J-just stay away. I-I don't want to hurt you." Dawn frowned slightly, but wisely listened to him. Deadlox ducked as a tentacle swiped at him, but didn't say anything. The others gave Sky a wide berth, not wanting to be whacked by one of the powerful appendages.

Suddenly, Sky thought of something. "Guys, where do we even find the damn squid?"

They didn't even have to start looking before an achingly familiar voice pierced the air. "Ah, Sky! You finally came to join us! I'll be right there, don't move."

The group glanced around, readying their weapons in case of a fight. But what Sky didn't expect was for a scrawny, familiar squid to flop out onto land. So familiar, as it was, Sky recognized it easily. It was the same squid that kept ruining his mod showcases, the one that always persisted that it was something other than a squid.

Sky snarled, running at it with speeds that no normal human could muster. He raised his sword and chopped it down on the squid.

The cephalopod squealed and cowered. "D-don't kill me! I-I'm the only squid that c-can help you!"

Sky paused, but the scowl on his face remained and the sword stayed pointed at the cephalopod. "What do you mean? Do you know where your ruler is? Speak!"

The squid shook visibly as it explained. "Th-the King Squid isn't here right now."

When Sky growled, it protested "But he isn't! H-he's away, somewhere in the human world!"

The squid tried to squirm away, but one of Sky's own tentacles snapped forward and wrapped around its body. "Oh, no. You're giving me more answers than that. If you don't, those things come off. One by one," Sky growled, poking the squid's tentacles with his sword.

The derpy mob gulped, drawing his tentacles closer. "I-I'll answer anything you ask."

Sky glanced over at TrueMU and nodded. Jason came over and knelt down next to the squid. "First question: Why is the king squid gone? Did he know that we were coming?"

"U-uh, the King's gone because somebody heard from another squid who heard from a flying squid who heard from a bird who heard from a-"

"Get on with it," Sky snarled angrily.

"He heard that there was a half-squid half-human in the Overworld, so he was going to go find them and force- ask them to join."

Dawn came up behind Sky and grabbed his hand, ignoring how he immediately tried to make her let go. She frowned down at the navy mob. "Is there any way to reverse what's happened to Sky?"

The squid paused, and Sky could practically hear the wheels turning in its empty head. He was just about to chop one of its appendages off when it spoke again. "We-well, maybe. I know there's a potion, and it gets rid of any squid that drinks it. But the items are hard to find."

Ty walked closer to the squid. "What do you mean 'gets rid of any squid'."

"It-it kills them, of course."

They paused and glanced at Sky, but he knelt down at the derpy mob's level. "Tell me what we need to get for the potion," he said evenly.

"You-you'll need ten butter ingots, three yummy ink sacks, four emeralds, a bone, and a drop of royal squid blood."

Sky narrowed his eyes at the squid behind his shades. "And that's it? Mix it all up in a bottle then drink it?"

"Y-yeah, crush the butter and emeralds into a powder and mix the rest of the ingredients t-together. Stir it with the bone."

Sky nodded and stood. He shuddered when the animal inside roared and scratched at the edge of his consciousness. He looked down at his feet for a second, curling his hands into fists. After a moment, he looked up at the others. "Let's get this thing out of my head, then."

'THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP'

"Open the god-damned door, Seto!" Sky shouted, nearly bashing the oak door in. "Open it or I will!"

"Are you sure Seto will be able to make the potion, Sky?" Dawn asked. Sky almost didn't hear her. In the short time of coming back to the Overworld, his sense of hearing had deteriorated even more. Sky glanced at her and shrugged. "We can give it a try, right? After all, he's good with potions and stuff like that."

The squid that they had just been talking to ducked behind a tree, out of sight of the group. He had followed them out of the portal after they had left. He wasn't entirely sure why, maybe it was out of pity?

Yeah, that had to be it. He pitied Sky for what had happened to him. The squid knew that that went against how squids thought, but he couldn't care less. But a small nagging feeling at the back of his empty mind told him that he had followed Sky out of guilt. Because he was the one who infected the butter-loving Minecrafter. His uncle had told him to do so in the midst of the battle, and he blindly obliged. Maybe he had thought that he would finally stop being yelled at by Sky? Or maybe that Sky wouldn't mind him that much anymore? But whatever the reason, he followed his orders.

But deep down he felt guilty because it was his fault that Sky was doing this. He didn't want this to happen. He never intended for Sky to be unhappy about it. The squid sighed slightly and squirmed over the ground to hide behind a rock.

His name was Gordy, but everyone just called him squid. Nobody but his uncle knew his name. He was either squid, calamari, or. . .

Or prince.