Dawn POV—

I sent Sky down into the mines, telling him that we needed some iron and diamond. I gave him several buckets as well.

"Just put some lava in here, and bring it back," I told him.

"Psht!" He waved me off. "I'm not a little kid, Dawn. What do ya need lava for?"

I grinned, knowing that he would thank me later. "You'll see."

He shrugged, using his tentacles to grab his diamond axe and several pickaxes. He got the buckets by hand. "Whatever." He dove out the trapdoor, using the vines on separate trees to swing down to the mineshaft.

I quickly grabbed all the iron we had and plopped down on the crafting table. Iron bars. Iron bars.


Sky POV—

I sighed as I found a diamond.

"Dawn's going to be happy. Whoopdie-freaking-doo!" I muttered to myself.

I extracted the diamond and plopped myself on a rock. I was still disappointed that I was being hounded by The Squids, and I was slowly giving in to my Squid half. What did I do to deserve this?

"I might as well get back. Dawn's gonna be waiting..."

I got up from the rock and began to wander back out of the caves, looking at every budder nugget I had no choice but to pass. Oh, how I remembered that I would kill Squids by the dozens, defending my friends and recruits. They were my only family left, since The Squids killed my family. The Squids killed their families as well, so we really were family.

Then I had an idea. I quickly grabbed my pickaxe from one of my tentacles and ran to the nearest budder nugget.

"This is gonna hurt..." I raised the pick and chipped off a fair-sized chunk. I cringed as I picked up the budder with my fingers.

I endured the pain, taking my pick again and hammering the budder into a small thin loop. There was a small crater in the top, but I quickly embedded one of the diamonds into the budder.

I smiled as I admired the small ring I had created, sparkling and shining. My hands were stinging and smoking like crazy, but I didn't care.

"Dawn..." I mumbled to myself, remembering the paragraphs in the book she had shown me in the HQ.

I miss Dawn...

If I come back alive...

I'm going to propose to that girl.

I found a small piece of fabric, wrapping the jewelry and stuffing it between several diamonds in the backpack. I slung the pack over my shoulder and raced out of the cave, grinning like crazy.

I felt the sun on my skin, blocked out only by sunglasses. I saw Dawn, placing iron bars around the river.

"Smart decision," I complimented.

Dawn beamed and leaped from the bar next to me. "You got the lava?"

I nodded as I handed her four buckets. "Almost died several times. What do you want lava for?"

She easily scaled the bars, raising the buckets above her before dumping it into the water. It quickly sizzled and turned into obsidian.

I smiled. "Finally! Why did I never think of that?"

Dawn hopped back next to me again and kissed me. "Because I'm the awesome one, Sky."

"Nuh-uh!" I protested.

She laughed as I handed her the backpack. She looked at the iron supply, then the coal, and finally the large amount of diamond.

"Nice jo—" She paused, pulling out the piece of fabric. "Sky, what's this?"

I grinned. "It may or may not be budder related."

She carefully unwrapped the cloth to reveal the budder and diamond ring. She gasped, her eyes reflecting the light on the large diamond to crown it off. "Sky..."

I smiled. "Will you marry me?"

She didn't hesitate, tackling me with a hug and squealing. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"


Deadlox POV—

The Sky Army began to bury and pay their respects to the dead in the morning. No one smiled, or looked at my friends or me, or talked for that matter. Dawn went missing, and most of us thought that she was either kidnapped or killed. We mourned over her, making a small statue made from budder and placing it in the center of the HQ.

I sat in my room, wanting to believe that Sky really had given me a healing potion and saved me... but at the same time it seemed impossible. I stared at the cover of a book about squid anatomy. Should I keep studying, maybe help Sky; or was he really too far gone to be saved?

Maybe he isn't half squid... a voice whispered in the back of my mind.

I shook myself. "No. Just read the fucking book, Deadlox," I whispered to myself. I felt my fingers curl around the cover and flip it open. I looked at the chapter contents, trying to find out which chapter I left on.

A breeze through my window started to randomly flipping pages. I growled in frustration, trying to flip back to the chapter contents. But the breeze became stronger, pushing the pages harder against my hand.

"Dammit. Stop!" I said to myself.

The breeze stopped, and I was on page 146. I saw something that caught my eye, and I looked at the picture. It was a squid, but smaller and with it's tentacles on top of it's head instead of under.

"Wha...?"

I looked at the description and began to read to myself:


Squid Anatomy; Page 146

The Parasitic Squid is a by-species of squids that uses it's mouth to a host and takes control of the host. The host can range from animals, to certain plants, to humans, to even bigger squids.

The Parasitic Squid will burrow it's head under the host's skin, latching onto the spine and spinal cord to take control. The Parasitic Squid takes control of the brain, therefore creating a tamed host. From here, the host can get certain abilities from using the tentacles that protrude from the back, to swimming with no difficulty, to breathing underwater.

The Parasitic Squid—without any treatment after fourteen days of exposure—will become permanent to the host and will not go back to being what is was originally before exposure. Therefore, the Parasitic Squid should be attended to as soon as possible.


I stared at the page. "Oh. My. Notch."

I stayed in my room for another minute. Two. Then I Ripped the page from the book and dashed out of my room. "SKY ARMY! REPORT TO THE COURT YARD!"


Oh boy! Two chapters in one day! I decided that one chapter every day is too slow! Let's give you an extra chapter for today!

-The Awesomer