Author's notes: Things are starting to come together in more ways than one for Molly and the others. I hope you guys are all ready for this.
Team Art won over the weekend and I'd like to congratulate both Team Art for winning and Team Science for putting up a good fight, (seriously, I ran into quite a few good teams for the science side who totally whooped us.)
As per usual all questions and reviews are gladly appreciated by the author.
Enjoy!
Chapter 25: Family Ties
"You let Agent 4 and the others escape!"
Octarnick grimaced as he rubbed the back of his head nervously, his goggles having been roughly repaired so that they wouldn't fall off his face, "She took me off guard General Octari but next time I'll-"
"There's never going to be a next time Octarnick because you're done. You're stripped of your title as Sargent and will go back to reporting to Sargent Octatia. If it weren't for the fact that you have received a great amount of favor from Octavious I would have demanded you to hand over your kelp strands and would've sent you to work at the power plants quicker then you could even blink."
Octarnick bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying something he might regret later. He hated when someone pointed out that Octavious had been particularly nice to him over the last year or so. It had often made him wonder why the twenty some year old son of the great DJ Octavio would ever care about a lowly teenage Octoling who had memory problems, but he had never dared speak his concerns out loud in front of anyone except Octatia.
"General, if I may...?"
"No you may not and now you better be out of my sight in the next ten seconds or I'll get rid of you myself...and not in the good way," she placed a hand onto a charger type weapon near her desk as she glared at him with her eyes, the golden edging around the green almost seeming to flash as she looked at him, "do I make myself clear Octarnick?"
He sighed, "Yes General Octari. I'll be leaving now," he slowly shuffled out of the room with his head held low.
Several minutes after he had left Octari had her back to the door when she heard a voice stating, "perhaps I put too much faith in you when I gave you the task of keeping an eye on the boy."
She turned around to find her young leader Octavious leaning up against her desk with an air of disappointment about him. She had seen him in fouler moods than what he currently was in but she knew not to push her luck, "I have been keeping an eye on the boy my Lord Octavious."
"Then perhaps you would like to explain why he was in the observation lab when we were experimenting on that lime green Inkling?"
It was now her turn to wince nervously, "He seemed to suspect nothing and besides he may have succeeded in preventing the Squidbeak Splatoon from discovering your plans."
"Can we confirm that? Not to mention the fact that they took the Inkling boy with them. That Octarnick has caused us more harm than good for us and you have shown no signs of fulfilling your orders of eliminating him when he became too problematic."
"I still need to confirm whether he does know too much, I need more time," she insisted.
"You're just about out of time Octari and I can't really afford to give you more," walking back towards the door he paused just before walking out, "you are a good general and I would hate it if I had to replace you as well as Octarnick, keep that in mind Octari," with that he left her office.
As soon as he was out of earshot Octari let out a sigh as she plopped back down into her seat. She then started to rub her eyes in mild frustration, "Oh Octarnick, why on Terra have you gotten yourself into this mess? I can't keep Octavious in the dark forever."
Staring at the motionless form of Kelp on the bed Molly couldn't help but notice how small and skinny he seemed.
Height wise he probably was no taller then her but most of the boys her age had already started on their growth spurt and were already at least a good inch or two taller than her. He also had a very thin frame which was interesting considering most Inklings who primarily used rollers often had more muscle on their arms and chest after little less then a year.
"Why do you still look like a little kid Kelp?" she mumbled under her breath.
"Ah, that's just normal Colorian genes my dear."
Nearly jumping out of her seat Molly quickly turned around to see a female Inkling with sky blue tentacles and blue topaz colored eyes standing in the doorway of the bedroom, "Oh! Mrs. Aquatica I..."
"It's alright Mollinda," Teron Aquatica replied with a smile, "I was only saying that all the male Colorians are a tad bit skinny at this age."
"Please ma'am I'd prefer to be called Molly and how did you know he was a Colorian?"
"He looks a lot like Walter when he was that age," she mused as she walked over to his side with a bowl full of lime green ink and a cloth. Soaking the cloth with the ink she dabbed the top of Kelp's head with it, "plus my son told me that his name was Kell Colorian. Although I am curious as to how he got in such a critical state."
"It's complicated Mrs. Aquatica and we knew the hospital would ask too many questions about it," Molly answered her. After the team had gotten him back to Octo Valley they had to force him to expel the poisonous ink from his body. Once they had done so they had brought him to Squil's parents' house to get treatment from Squil's mother who had been a nurse before taking on her current position. "I'm sorry that..."
"It's alright Molly if you can't tell me. I'm sure there's a reason."
"Just as long as its not something illegal of course," a voice said before the owner, a blue male Inkling with deep sapphire blue eyes, poked his around the corner of the door.
"No Mr. Aquatica, nothing illegal occurred I can assure you of that."
Kern Aquatica shrugged, "Just making sure my dear. I would hate to find out that my son was getting into something dangerous. You sure seem like a nice girl."
She blushed, "Thank you sir. You son has been pretty nice too, I mean handsome, I mean, oh..." her blush suddenly went several shades darker as she stumbled to find the right words.
"Hey Molly! I made..." Squil started to say as he walked into the room with a plate with two sandwiches on it but stopped when he saw her bright red blush, "...did I miss something?"
"No, it's alright Squil. Your mom and dad were just talking to me."
He groaned, "Please tell me they weren't talking about how cute I was when I was a baby squid or something like that were they?"
Teron giggled at her son's embarrassment, "Oh Squil, we would never embarrass you in front of your girlfriend."
"Not unless we don't want any grandsquids from you boy," Kern grumbled under his breath.
"D-dad!" Squil cried out as he started to turn pink while Molly turned a shade more red, "we have only been dating less than a year! We're not getting married yet!"
"Your father is just teasing you Squil. We didn't get married until we were both 19 and then when I laid your egg I was just about 20. Oh your egg was so pretty with the two different colors of blue and because it was pretty even between the two colors we weren't quite sure if you-"
"Mom!" he nearly screamed, looking like he on the verge of wanting to melt into the carpet on the floor.
"Oh, sorry dear," Teron cooed as she gently rubbed the back of his neck, causing him to start purring.
"Have you ever wanted more than one kid Mr and Mrs Aquatica?" Molly asked, much to the dismayed expression on Squil's face once his mother had stopped rubbing his Soulspot.
"To be perfectly honest Molly we had tried several times after Squil had hatched to have another but every time I formed another egg it never succeeded in becoming fertilized. Sometimes female Inklings will only have one chance to have children and once that chance has passed it will never happen again. But don't let that worry you Molly I'm sure you'll have lovely children when you are ready."
"Um...okay," Molly responded, not really sure what to make of what she had been told.
"Where is he?! Where's my son?!"
Turning Molly barely had enough time to get out of the way as a tearful May Colorian rushed over to Kelp's side. Looking him over her tears started to flow even more freely, "What happened to him?"
"He was poisoned but we were able to..." Squil started to say.
"I didn't ask you!" May Colorian snapped, making Squil jump back in surprise, "I asked her!"
"M-me?" Molly stammered as she pointed to herself.
"Yes you! My nephew has mentioned that you have hung out with my son and the fact that you are here next to him as he lies here unconscious seems rather odd if you ask me."
"We were good friends Ms. Colorian but nothing else was happening between us and-"
"Molly," Squil was looking down on the ground with a slightly winded Ploosh standing behind him, "she deserves to know what happened to him and Marin."
"Marin? You know where Marin is?" her eyes were wide in near disbelief before turning back to face Molly, "Where is my other son?"
Molly swallowed nervously before speaking, "Marin was kidnapped by a race known as the Octarians and hasn't been seen since. Kell was taken too but we were able to track him down and rescue him before they could do anything permanent to him."
"So what you're saying is my son Marin is...lost?"
"We can't confirm that for certain Ms. Color-"
"Were you with him when he was taken?!" she stormed over to Molly in near hysteria and roughly grabbed her by the shoulders, "Are you why he's gone?!"
"No I wasn't!" she quickly insisted, "I showed up several days afterwards on my birthday!"
"And what day was that?!"
"June 2nd!" tears were starting to we'll up at the corners of her eyes in fear.
May Colorian froze as her eyes grew wide, "What? How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
Holding her out at arms length May Colorian looked her up and down before suddenly bringing her close and sniffed the top of her head like someone would sniff a flower.
"Ms. Colorian what...?" Molly started to say before she caught a smell she hadn't smelled in over a year. Seaweed and the smell of the ocean breeze, a scent that had always calmed her down ever since she was little, which is why she always liked how Lily would come home from work smelling like that.
Suddenly a saying someone had told her awhile ago came to mind...
"You can disbelieve me all you want but if there's one thing we Octolings and Inklings share other then our hatred for each other then that's how strong the connection between a mother and her baby can be...even to a point where even if the baby has never met its mother it can still recognize the person who laid their egg."
"M-mom?" she stammered out as she looked into the green female Inkling's face. She had the same pale skin tone and slightly upturned shape in her nose like she did as well as a faint splash of freckles on the top of her cheeks that had faded to almost noyhing over the years where on Molly they were still quite noticeable. Tears had started to flow down Molly's face but it wasn't for the same reason as before.
"Oh...my daughter."
"Mom!" wrapping her arms around her Molly started to sob as she laid her head up against May Colorian's chest. Reaching around her right tentacle May Colorian stroked behind her ear and immediately Molly started to purr.
"Oh Sia..."
Molly looked up at her, "Sia?"
"Why yes, that's the name I had picked for you when you hatched, Sia Colorian."
Molly smiled wryly, "Um...no offense Mom but I really would prefer to be called Molly still if you don't mind."
"Molly Colorian...I suppose it will do," smiling widely she hugged her again.
"Wait...but then that means..."
"Molly is your cousin Ploosh as well as Kell's and Marin's sister," Squil supplied to a stunned Ploosh, "I guess it's a good thing that she and Kell didn't get together."
Ploosh said something incomprehensible before fainting on the spot.
"Ploosh!" pulling away from May Colorian she dropped down to where Ploosh had fallen to the floor, "come on dude, we don't need two people knocked out in here," she tried to shake him awake but he didn't even stir.
"Mom? Why is Cousin Ploosh on the floor?"
Several pairs of eyes turned to see Kell sitting up in the bed with a very confused expression on his face.
"Kell," smiling Molly came over to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders while May Colorian beamed down at the two of them, "how are you feeling?"
"Um...okay?" he looked up at his mom even more puzzled, "Mom what's going on?"
"Well Kell there's something I need to tell," May Colorian answered as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
After Squil with his parents and Ploosh, once he had reawaken, had left the room Kell patiently listened through the story of the events that had occured while he was unconscious. Once the the two of them were finished Kell nodded his head once,"I get that the fact that Molly is my twin sister and that she saved me but I have to ask Mom...why did you lie about Molly dying and send her away?"
"What my answer is will be determined by the answer I get for a question I have for Molly," grabbing hold of Molly's hand she looked directly into her orange eyes with her own lime green ones, "Molly, have you discovered your ability?"
"My ability?"
"Yes...your ability."
"You mean when I..." she winced slightly as she allowed the pain to run its course through her body as her eyes flashed bright orange.
"Not here Molly!" May Colorian hissed as she tightly squeezed Molly's hand, making her lose focus and the pain vanished as quickly as it had arrived. She then sighed, "I see you've started to learn to use it on demand. Your father didn't learn to do that until he was 17."
"Dad had the same ability?"
She nodded, "Inklings who have this ability are known as Changelings and it only appears in orange born Inklings."
"Why only in the orange Inklings?"
"Who knows Molly, according to what your father told me every Inkling has the potential of having an ability but most of the time it fails in the Inkling and no ability manafests, but in the orange Inklings there is no sort of initiative process and they are born with the ability ready to be used."
"But I'm still not sure I fully understand what my ability even is."
"Changelings can change their form into the form of another species or race, which at first they have very little control over in their youth but will have somewhat of an amount of control by the time they reach adulthood, but in order to use this ability they need to have a sample of that species DNA."
"What kind of sample?"
"Blood works the best but saliva would work too as well anything that contains DNA."
"Blood...?" Molly suddenly remembered Lily's story of finding her in the alley, "...so if I bit someone as a baby I would've been able to turn into the same species as that person?"
"You're thinking about the humans you were raised with," May Colorian held up a hand as Molly opened her mouth to speak, "yes...I do refer to them by the name they call themselves but only because your father always called them humans. Your father was part of a secret military operation meant to keep tabs on the Octarians."
"Like what Captain Cuttlefish has us do," Molly quickly said before realizing her slip up, "uh...I mean-"
"I figured that was what was happening when you said Marin was taken and you joined shortly thereafter. Your father was the son of one of Cuttlefish's old friends so the two knew each other very well," she absent-mindedly fingered a silver ring on one of her fingers, "it's funny how the apple didn't fall too far from the tree."
"But what was the need to send me away."
"Have you heard about the stories of the orange Inklings in the Great Turf War Molly?"
"I've heard that many either were found killed or disappeared during and after the war."
May Colorian nodded, "Many of the orange Inklings who had access to their Changeling ability would often use it in combat to confuse the Octarians, but as the war progressed the Octarians became wiser to what the orange Inklings were doing and started to attack them directly. Even after the war the Octarians still were trying to eliminate the possibility of being infiltrated by spies who looked like themselves which is why there are so few orange Inklings in existence."
"Did you know about this when you met dad?"
"When me and your father were dating he at first tried to hide his Changeling ability from me but eventually I found out when he accidentally changed into an orange Anemonite right in front of my eyes. He then told me the story I just told you but I didn't care, I still loved him and I wanted to be with him for as long as possible. The real trouble didn't start until I had laid Marin's egg and he turned out to be orange. Your father and I were scared that he might have inherited the Changeling ability but as far as we were aware he never did which made sense since sometimes the males don't inherit the ability but in the females it always seems to shows up."
"So when I hatched..."
"We were terrified for you Molly. If word had gotten to the Octarians that you existed they very well might have tried to kill you. With this in mind your father took you away to the place where the humans reside and left you there in a vague hope that one would be kind enough to raise you until you were old enough to come back on your own. That night I waited for hours for your father to come home and tell me you were safe but...he never did. It was later found out that he had been stabbed through and left to die on the outskirts of the town we lived in. You were nowhere to be found so I feared the worst and told the story of how you had fallen ill to your brothers so they wouldn't try to find you," tears started to well around her eyes, "I'm so sorry Molly that you had to go through most of your life like you did. No child deserves to be abandoned by their parents for any reason."
"But you didn't abandon me mom. You were trying to protect me, I understand that now," reaching forward Molly pulled her mom and Kell into a hug, "and for that I'll be forever grateful for that."
They stayed there for several minutes before finally May Colorian pulled away with a serious expression on her face, "Molly I must know...does anyone else know about your ability?"
"Squil, Ploosh and my friend Inka knows," she answered, making her mother wince, "but I trust all three of them with my life and Cuttlefish and his granddaughter knows."
"Well Cuttlefish is trustable but are you sure no one else does?" May Colorian asked, "because anybody who knows and is not a friend could potentially be a danger to you and anyone else you care about."
Sudden recent memory came to mind as Molly sat there, "Mom, can I ask a question?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"Whenever I changed I always seem to have orange eyes...is that always the case?"
"Yes Molly, the eye color will never change from orange in an orange Inkling, which is how the Octarians were eventually able to tell the Inklings disguised as Octarians from real Octarians..." a worried look suddenly came upon her face, "...why do you ask anyway?"
"I have to go," getting up from the bed she slipped out of the room and out of the house where she went down an empty alley. Slipping her long sleeve shirt from off her Hero Suit she stuffed it into her bag before pulling out her yellow and black shoes to replace the red sneakers she was wearing. Once she had put on her shoes and had tossed her old ones into her bag she grabbed her ink tank and harness, as well as her Hero Brush from where she had stored it behind a dumpster just before entering into Squil's parent's house.
Shifting the gear onto her shoulders she pulled off her wrist communicator and tossed it in with the rest of her stuff before placing it back behind the dumpster. Sighing deeply she turned back to the house and looked up at the window where she knew her mother and brother were probably waiting for her to come back.
"Don't worry...I'll be right back and hopefully with Marin with me," she whispered before running towards the direction of Octo Valley.
Slipping between narrow corridors of crates and boxes Molly tried to find a way into the base the team had infiltrated less than a day before, but the security had clearly been improved and every few seconds she seemed to be dodging the sight of Octarian patrols and searchlights. Whatever was happening now the Octarians clearly didn't want anybody to find out.
Ducking behind a large stacks of crates as another Octarian patrol passed by Molly suddenly spotted a small ventilation opening that led inside.
Smiling at her fortune she quickly turned to squid form and slipped through the mesh of the vent opening. Once she had gotten inside she returned back to her humanoid form and looked around.
The room she has entered in was filled with cells and inside a large number of them were Inklings ranging from 14 to 17 in age. The sounds of someone crying in the distance as well as several Inklings coughing weakly being the only sounds she could hear.
"Molly? Is that you?"
Turning to the source of the voice she found a sad and tired looking orange-red male Inkling standing next to a medium blue female Inkling in a cell.
"Zack! Soral!" rushing over to them she gripped the bars tightly in her hands as she stared at the terrible state the two were in, "How long have you been here?"
"They took us as well as Cass and Crad about two weeks ago, but they took the twins away three days ago and they haven't come back...we're starting to wonder if they killed them."
"Not likely with what I've seen," pulling her Hero Brush out she hit the lock of the door with the handle end and broke it. Opening the door she indicated for them to come out, "but I very much doubt you want to face the same fate, you need to get out of here while you have the chance."
"But Molly why are you here?"
"I don't have time to explain right now but if you go through that ventilation shaft you can escape and go get help."
"We are not leaving you Molly," Zackerel stated firmly with Soral nodding in agreement.
"It's too dangerous for you to stay here. Now you better get going before-"
"You shouldn't have come back Agent 4," a new voice whispered into her ear before she felt the sharp prick of something being injected into her neck.
Collapsing to the ground Soral screaming was the last thing Molly heard before blacking out.