Author's notes: Yeeaaah...sorry about the hiatus again...school kept me busy...
I'm out for the summer so my goal is to update at least once a week of one of my stories...hopefully maybe even more than that...
Anyway hope you enjoy.
Chapter 35: New Hope
Squil tried to be as quiet as possible as he slipped out of the room early the next morning. Taking several glances around he then slowly shut the sliding door but before he could completely shut it a sharp cry escaped through it and pierced the stillness of the living room, making Squil flinch.
Panicking he quickly shut it the rest of the way before turning around and groaning as he saw that it had caused Ploosh and Inka to stir from their sleeping positions on the couch.
"Oh...morning Squil," stretching his arms up into the air Ploosh tried to free himself from Inka, "you know it's kinda early to be getting up."
Squil tensed slightly at the comment, "I uh...yeah I know."
Ploosh frowned, "Then why are you awake?"
"Uh..."
"Uhm...good morning?"
Squil jumped as he yelped loudly, "Ack! I uh oh...hello," chuckling nervously he turned around to see Hanako pop into the living room from the kitchen.
She yawned, "What do you need?"
"Nothing Hanako. I'm fine...really."
She blinked several times as she stared up at him, "Uncle...what do you need?"
"Uncle? I'm being called Uncle now?" he swallowed nervously.
"Yes...and what needs do you have?"
"I uh..." looking up at the ceiling for a few seconds he sighed before looking at her again, "can you get either Ty or Vybe up? There's something I need to tell them."
"I guess..." moaning a little the light pink Inkling lumbered up the stairs and disappeared for a few minutes before coming back, "wait a few more seconds..."
Jumping down the last step a cloud of spores suddenly flew up into the air which caused coughing to be heard from upstairs before Vybe came down several seconds later, still trying to clear her lungs, "Hanako...why..."
"Because Squil needs you," she answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Uh...hello Vybe..." Squil chuckled nervously as he said it, "...sorry to wake you so early in the morning."
"Since I'm up...what is it?" Vybe asked him as she rubbed her eyes.
"I uh..." twiddling his fingers anxiously he looked up at the ceiling again before he looked down back at Hanako, "hey Hanako could you go upstairs for a bit? I'd like to speak to Vybe and the other two privately if you don't mind..."
"Ugh!" grumbling loudly the light pink Inkling stomped back up the stairs which was followed by her slamming her door shut.
Vybe stared at the stairs for a second as she shook her head before turning back to Squil "Now that sleepyhead is out of range, tell us what you need."
"I actually don't need anything...except your's and Ty's support with something..." he turns to Inka and Ploosh, "yours too..."
"Just say it already, man. You know me and Ty are willing," she insisted.
"Same with us," Inka added in as she and Ploosh got up from the couch.
"Okay..." taking a deep breath he tried to calm himself as he plowed on, "Vybe you knew of Molly's condition last night right?"
Her eyes almost seemed to brighten in understanding as she answered, "Yeah, I did."
He took another deep breath, "Well...we went ahead and currently she is laying our eggs..." as he said it a faint cry came from direction of the bedroom which caused all four to look over at where the door was.
"Eggs?! Molly has eggs?!" Inka squeaked loudly, "how did we not notice this before?"
"Shouldn't you be saying why didn't "you" notice before?" Ploosh asked before Inka whipped around to glare at him, "what? You are the more observant of us."
"Actually, Molly didn't know her body was making them yesterday until I explained it to her," Vybe told them, "and I'm going to go grab a container and a towel. You two are going to need it so that they don't roll away and are kept comfortable," disappearing into the kitchen she came a minute later with the two items in her hands, a smile creeping onto her face, "Squil, I'm proud of you two, and I'm sure Ty would be as well of he were awake."
He smiled back gratefully as he took the two items, "Thank you Vybe but there is still something that's troubling me and probably Molly too," slipping the towel over his shoulder as he held the container between his hands tightly, "we are not married and having these eggs now doesn't look particularly too good in most society's eyes."
"Yeah, that is going to be an issue..." looking up quickly Squil and the others saw Ty standing at the top of the stairs, "But there is one that will make your concern a speck of dust; No child should ever grow up without one or both parents. Persevere through your concern, and don't ever give up."
"Thank you Ty, we'll both try to remember that," he nodded gratefully at him, "I'm sure it didn't take too much for you to figure out what's going on."
"No, it really didn't..." he walked down the steps as he answered, "and I'm assuming she kicked you out of the room until she was done?"
Squil blushed, "Not exactly since she was already in pain, but when I realized what was going on I figured it was best if I gave her some privacy."
"Yeah...I just went to the bathroom in that lodge up at Inkline Ski Resort," Vybe told him, "it was only after I was done that Ty came running, so smart choice on your end."
He shuddered as he tried not to think about what she meant, "Call me a little naive but how long does it take anyway?"
"Depends on how many are being laid. It took a bit for me to lay mine because I had 3 of them..." her ear faintly twitched as she said it, "...and I can't exactly hear anything from in the room anymore."
Turning towards where the room was Squil tilted his ears to try to catch any sound. He heard nothing, "Molly?" walking over he gently knocked as he placed his ear next to the door, "are you okay?"
A solid minute of silence occurred as the group watched the wall before the hidden door slowly slid open. On the other side was Molly in her makeshift pajamas of a shirt and sweatpants but the tie on the pants was undone like she had hastily undid it and forgot to redo it. She also visibly looked exhausted as she looked at him, "yes...I'm okay Squil..."
"Ah, Molly, how many-" Vybe started before stopping herself, "Sorry, I shouldn't be asking..."
"No it's fine Vybe," Molly told her. Albeit tired she couldn't stop a smile from creeping onto her face, "and to answer you question...two."
"Aww I'm so happy for you!" Vybe hugged her tightly.
"Thank you Vybe, I'm pretty happy too," she answered as she hugged her back.
"Can we see them?"
"Sure, come on Squil," she led him into the room and around the bed to where on the floor laid two large marble shaped spheres, one being orange with a few random streaks of blue and the other being a complete mix of the two colors in a swirling pattern.
"They're so beautiful..." he kissed her gently, "you did a very good job Molly."
"You mean "we" did a good job," she excepted his kiss and gave him one in return, "without you these eggs wouldn't have come to be..."
"True..." he crouched down before picking up the mixed colored egg, "we better not keep them waiting..."
"Mhmm," reaching down she grabbed the other one before following Squil out of the room.
"They look so beautiful..." Vybe said as she looked at the two eggs, "Ty, come look at this."
He walked over with a cup in his hand, "You are right, Vybe," he said smiling "they are. Welcome to the world, squirts."
"Squirts?" Squil raised an eyebrow, "Ty they won't be hatching anytime soon so they can't possibly be called Squirts yet."
He took a sip of his coffee, "Might be parental delusions...but for some reason...I feel that they can hear us. It's odd and crazy, I know...but I have memories I can't begin to explain..."
"Like what?" Molly asked him.
"There's one in particular...everything looks yellow...my parents are adoring me..." he grabbed his head in concentration for a few seconds before groaning in frustration, "Mph...that's about it..."
"Ah, well I hope our children realize we love them both very dearly," she tightened her grip slightly on the egg in her hands. As she did so she silently vowed to protect it...even if it killed her.
Yeah," Squil added, "but I'm curious now...I'm almost positive the one you're holding Molly will be orange but...what about this one?" he lifted up the egg which allowed them to more easily see the small creature growing inside it.
"That won't be able to be determined yet," Ty started to say when the phone went off, "I got it," he picked up it up, "Hello? Ah, Dr. Jasper...wait, say that again?...Alright, I'm coming, hang in there and barricade that door!" he quickly put the phone down.
"Ty, what happened?" Vybe asked.
"We may have been on the offensive too much yesterday..." he sighed heavily, "some have been spotted coming at the labs."
"Do you need some help?" Molly asked.
"I hope not...but there must be something in the lab they want, otherwise, why bother..." he grabbed a jacket and his N'ZAP as he headed to the door. "If you want to come, you may as well. Just be more cautious...Vybe can look after the eggs if you are coming."
She froze as she stood in uncertainty while various thoughts swirled through her head. The egg in her hands she held close to her chest, "I...uh..."
"How about me and Inka help you out again Ty so Squil and Molly can stay with their eggs," Ploosh quickly suggested, "besides Molly you're probably still pretty tired from laying them this morning, you should rest."
"I...suppose you're right Ploosh," she replied hesitantly, "but please stay safe."
"I need to stay... I need my beauty sleep in full," Vybe stated with a yawn before going back upstairs.
"Ok. Ploosh, Inka, I will meet you there. I will go ahead." Ty said as he walked out, "If you are quick enough, catch up to me asap."
"Got it," Ploosh told him.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Squil asked him, "I could help."
"Squil, you're a father now for which I'm really happy for you and Molly but Molly is gonna need your support now." Ploosh he looked over to her as she plopped down on the couch, "I'm sure you understand..."
He looked over as well with a sigh before smiling, "yes I understand Ploosh, but I'd have to agree with Molly on you two staying safe."
"Come on Ploosh we need to get going before Ty gets too far ahead!" Inka told him as she ran out with her own weapon.
"Alright Inka!" he yelled before turning back to Squil, "relax man, how long have we known each other?"
"Five years."
"Then you know I'll be careful," grinning he took off after Inka.
"I sure hope so..." Squil replied softly.
"And there you go Molly," placing a plate in front of his mate Squil smiled as her eyes lit up with joy.
"Thank you Squil, I never thought egg laying would make you so hungry..." without a moment's hesitation she started to eat it like a starving animal. As she ate Squil couldn't help but notice how she would constantly glance over at the two eggs in the container.
"And the staring sets in..." Vybe smiled, having noticed Molly's behavior as well, "and the body begins to prepare for the when the squishies hatch."
Molly's eyes grew wide as she stopped eating, "oh boy..."
"Molly, it's a natural thing. Trust me, I'm going through it as well," Vybe insisted.
"I know, I just didn't think it would sink in this fast..." she baried her face in her hands in embarrassment.
"Say Vybe you have any other bits of knowledge we could use for taking care of our eggs?" Squil asked Vybe as Molly let out a faint whine.
"Well, I usually take them with me most days. Don't want to lose them now...that would be devastating," she said walking over to the table, "Bathing them in your ink on occasion helps the shell stay clean, which does make for a healthier child in general."
"Bathing them in our ink?" Molly looked up, "I didn't about know that."
"I admittedly forgot about that process," Squil told her.
"I have a book on this kind of stuff. I can lend it to you if you want," Vybe offered.
"That would be nice."
"Hang on one sec, let me get it for you," she walked over to one of the booksheves, pulled out a book which she then handed to Molly "here you go!"
"Thank you Vybe," flipping it open to a random place brought her to the topic of preparation for when the squishies hatched which she immediately started reading.
"I will start prepping more lunch for us," Vybe told her when there was a knock on the front door, "Squil, do you mind getting it for me?"
"Sure thing," getting up he headed towards the door. Tilting her ears towards the his direction she listened as he opened it.
"I'm home, mom. And we have a starving guest," Jericho's voice rang out.
"Oh hey Jericho haven't..." Squil stopped mid-sentence before continuing hesitantly, "I feel like I'm staring at a younger version of my fiancée but I know I'm not. You must be Amber, Ty has told me about you."
Looking up Molly turned her head to see a 14 year old girl with orange tentacles next to Jericho. Currently she appeared scared out of her wits as Squil held out his hand to her, "Um...sorry...I am shy in this form...I can't handshake, but thank you..."
"Oh..." he dropped his arm, "well that's fine. Molly was pretty shy in her Inkling form as well at your age," he turned to look at her as he spoke.
The girl followed his gaze and gasped, "Oh, is this Molly? Omygosh! Another changeling! This is great!" she immediately started bouncing around in excitement.
Jericho gave her an odd look, "Calm down?"
"Oh...right...sorry," she blushed as she stopped jumping "it's just I've been the only Changeling that I know of ever since I left that horrid place. I'm overjoyed to see another one."
Molly bit her lip in worry. If she was talking about what she thought Amber was talking about bringing up those particular memories she figured was tough for her, "Well uh...thank you Amber," she dog-eared the section she was in before shutting the book, "to be honest aside from my brother you're the first Changeling I've ever saw too."
"Well, I have six more coming, so at least that's also good."
"S-six?!" she nearly fell backwards off her chair at the news, gripping the edge of the table she stared at Amber in disbelief.
"Yeah. And she's the first one in recorded history to do so," Jericho stated with a hint of a smile.
"I-I'm really happy for you Amber," she stammered out, looking over the girl's shoulder she realized she had two ink tanks on her back which most likely held her eggs, "do you know when they'll hatch?"
"Not soon, that's for sure," she nudged Jericho, "but this man has the guts to help me out."
"Well that's very nice of you Jericho," she looked over at her own two eggs with a smile, "I myself just had my own first clutch."
"And they look beautiful!" Amber said as she walked over.
"Thank you...the father let you in if you're wondering."
Congratulations, you two!" she paused, "oh gosh, I almost forgot how starving I was..."
"Well, what do you want?" Vybe asked her, "you know I can't read minds."
"Hmm..." she glanced over at Molly's plate, "I'm not a big fan of shrimp...I don't know..."
"We do have fish."
"That will do."
"So you don't like Shrimp huh?" Squil asked her as Vybe went to work making more food, "sadly Molly can't say the same. Her meat cravings when she was forming the eggs was mostly for shrimp which normally is her favorite anyway."
"There is nothing wrong with shrimp Squil," Molly told him, "but it's probably something in my ancestry that makes my desire for it so much..." she paused as a distant look came into her eyes.
"Oh no...not again," Squil groaned, "I swear that has gotten worse over the last week or two..."
"Hello? Molly?" Jericho asked as he waved his hands in front of her face.
"Huh...what?" she shook her head as she quickly snapped out of it, "oh...sorry about that..."
Suddenly an orange cat jumped onto the table, startling her a little until she realized it had bright orange eyes, "Don't worry Amber I'm fine. I just tend to drift off sometimes..." she smiled at her, "I must admit I've never been a cat before, a seagull once, but not a cat..."
"She can do more than that...If you were at the labs earlier, she was a...carp, I forgot what it was called..." Jericho said, "giant lizard with wings..."
Molly's eyes grew wide as she recognized what he was talking about, "A dragon?!" she turned to Amber, "you turned into a dragon?! Where on Terra could you have gotten DNA for that?!"
Jumping back down she shifted again, "Ty told me he found my file from when I was being tested on to become a bio-weapon. The lab concocted many strands of DNA that they would then either grow animals from or put it in my food because they couldn't grow it. A dragon was one of the last ones they gave me."
"Hm...interesting, but I'm very sad to hear you had such a difficult start to your life," she bit her lip in worry, "my brother named Marlin was kidnapped and was used to create a serum to turn Inklings into Octolings when he was 16. Thankfully we were able to get him back and stop the Octarian who was doing this."
"Science can be amazing, but at the same time, downright disturbing," Vybe stated as she placed a bowl of cooked fish on the table.
"Hm, yeah," suddenly a thought occurred to Molly, "say you two...what happened to Ploosh and Inka?"
"They stopped to do some shopping...or at least that's what I saw," Jericho told her.
"I saw it too," Amber added in.
"Ah, ok then. I just didn't want to be wrong..." his face suddenly lit up, "oh, and Ty's sword changed when we were there."
Molly quickly became more concerned then before, "Really? How so?"
"It's almost like it transformed. I got it on video," pulling his phone out he showed them a video of it changing as it split down the middle while it glowed brightly.
"That is very strange..." was Squil's only response.
"He splatted over 10 in one swing," Jericho added as the video ended.
"There's something really odd about that sword..." Molly said as she stared at the still image of the transformed sword, "I just...can't put my finger on it..."
"That's not all I got..."
"Huh?" she looked back up at the green Inkling.
"There's more. Got a picture of the...thing...that was leading it," tapping at his phone he showed them a large male Octoling that appeared to have certain parts of his body made of metal instead of flesh and blood.
"Oh my...a cyborg Octoling?"
"That's not the one that tried to attack me and Ty that one time though..." Vybe said, making Molly turn to her in surprise.
"Oh? What happened to that one?"
"It flew away once it realized it couldn't beat me when I was in Hyperstorm," Vybe said simply which made Molly shudder inwardly.
"Huh...well at least it left but looks like you now have another one to deal with," Squil remarked.
"Jasper said there were two of them. Mastema is the one Amber flung at the ocean. The other one was named Trinity," Jericho said, "though from the descriptions mom gave me and comparing them to Mastema, the two might be different models. Mastema looked more like a mech, as much of the metal armor was configured just like some form of armor-suit fusion. Trinity was probably more organic."
"I have no idea what you just said, but that tin can was quite a bit more weighty than the other Octos that were with him," Amber pushed away her empty bowl.
"And I'm sure we haven't seen the last of this Mastema," Molly sighed. A feeling of claustrophobia and dread coming over her at the prospect of dealing with the encroaching war...especially now that she was a mother that needed to protect her family.
"Yeah... With that high and mighty attitude he was sporting, he will come back," Jericho said, "I swear he has a self-inflicted honor system..."
"Hmm...I wonder why? There must be some form of motive behind it."
"Well...we don't know enough to make a good guess, so it's out of our our general range," Vybe told them.
"Well it probably won't do anything to dwell on it," Squil added, "we probably have plenty of other things to worry about anyway..."
"That's right. The fact that twice they have attacked the city means that their leader want's us dead, and this time...permanently."
"Death is his name...right?"
"Yeah. Ty calls him Santa as a joke."
"Ah, so that's where that came from...I was wondering about that."
Turning around they watched as Ploosh and Inka came through the front door.
"Ah, welcome back," Vybe said, "hungry?"
"Yeah," Inka nodded.
"Alright, Let me get started on a brunch then," she started getting out pans.
"I probably wouldn't mind a little more shrimp if you don't mind Vybe?" Molly asked with a slight blush.
"I'll make you some more," Squil told her as he came up behind Vybe to get a pan for himself.
"Oh...thank you Squil," her blush turned a shade darker.
About an hour later Vybe finally brought the last plate of food before sitting down herself, "Alright everyone. Dig in!"
"Gladly," Molly told her as she started to eat.
"Mmmmm... Mom, this is good," Hanako said, having come down at the smell of Vybe cooking.
"I'd have to agree with Hanako these are really good," Ploosh added as he tried to grab more hash browns before Hanako ate them all.
"Hm, yeah," Squil nodded before turning to Amber, "say Amber, do you mind if I ask a question?"
"Go ahead."
"You said earlier that you don't feel all that comfortable in your Inkling form...if that's the case then what form do you feel comfortable in?"
"You may be surprised, but small animals are my favorite."
"Really? Like what?"
"Cats, dogs, those kinds of things."
"Ah, Molly really only has one other form that she likes to be in other than her Inkling form," he turned to her, "right Molly?"
"I suppose so," she admitted, "but the one you're referring to Squil often scares people so I don't really change into it that often anymore..."
"What would that be?" Vybe asked.
"Human," she answered, "but as I said I haven't changed into it in awhile..."
"Huh...I know that would be useful, knowing what is coming."
"How so Vybe?"
"It seems so close...things are escalating...it might be wrong because my gut feeling usually isn't right, but a creature unable to be splatted could change the tides if war," she smacked herself upside the head, "now I'm sounding like Ty..."
"True, I guess you're right Vybe but am I really the only Changeling who change into a human?"
"I don't know..." Amber told her, "I mean, I could try to bite you in your human form, but I don't think that works..."
"Actually...I have proven that works," she stood up, "otherwise I wouldn't have aquired this form from my brother..." taking a quick breath she felt the familiar burning sensation in her chest before it flowed to the rest of her body as the shift took over and she went from Inkling to Octoling.
She opened her eyes to see Amber staring at her in slight awe, "Then I guess it works."
Molly let the process reverse itself, "Do you want to try Amber? You don't have to if you don't want to."
"Not right now...not when I'm hungry, anyways."
"Very well," she sat back in her seat, "to be honest I'm not sure how painful it would be since our venom is so different from most Inklings' venom and I have never had another Changeling bite me."
"Huh...interesting. Never thought of that."
"The only reason I know this is because I tested my own venom. In it I found a special type of enzyme that breaks apart every part of the cell except nucleic acids such as DNA."
Amber gave her a look of contemplation until her face lit up slightly, "I wonder...could we copy abilities that way?"
Molly felt a lump start to form in her throat, "What do you mean Amber?"
"Like, can we possibly copy...say...Ty's ability, by biting him," Amber suggested.
"Why...?" Vybe asked, a look of concern on her face now as well as Molly.
"Good question Vybe, why would we do that Amber?" Molly added.
"I am curious...I don't think anyone has tried before," Amber told her "sure, I'm already a bio-weapon, but I don't think it would be a bad idea to test it."
"I'm not sure our Changeling ability works like that Amber because we can copy the DNA of other beings but I don't think we can copy the DNA of other Inklings."
"I mean, we could try...nothing wrong with that, I hope?"
Molly frowned, "I don't think we should try it until I've discussed this with Ty first. However if you would like to be able to shift into a human at some point I'd be more then willing to help you with that."
"Ah, let's do it later, when I'm not hungry..." she rubbed her chin, "hmm... I wonder if all this DNA I have is affecting me in other ways?"
"It could possibly explain why you had six eggs instead of the normal clutch size of one, two or three," Molly supplied to her, "also human DNA allows me to touch water without any ill effects."
"Yeah...that makes sense," she reached for another forkful of food when her ear suddenly twitched and she looked up confused, "guys, do you hear that?"
"Yeah..." Vybe told her as she got up, "and Hanako and I know what it is..."
Hanako shivered in response as Amber and Jericho looked at them confused. Pricking her ears forward Molly soon heard what Amber had heard already.
"Laa La-la La-la-la La-la-laaa... Laa La-la LA-La La-la-laaa..."
The four looked at each other before Squil turned to Vybe, "What on Terra is that?"
"Chrysalis..."
"Chrysalis?"
It was then when Ty came through the door to the patio half dragging another Inkling, "Bad news...they are coming."