Chapter 16- The Tentacle's names and a grocery shopping at Target

I never knew watching cartoons can be fun to watch.

I didn't pay attention to them back in my day, I was always reading books or studying hard. I used to say that we lose a lot of brain cells from television. Whenever I did watch TV, it would be either the News channel or some money jeopardy show my father watches.

When I watched Yu-Gi-Oh, it was an old re-run to the kids, so they went and got dressed. In a way, I kind of got what they were talking about, but I didn't get the relationship between Egyptian Pharaohs and cards. Then we watched this pirate anime show, called One piece, about a kid pirate searching for the richest gold called 'One piece'. This kid is kind of a mutant, who can stretch his body to tremendous strength.

Then we watched 'The Batman', a dark comic book superhero who is intelligent whom I've never heard of (Batman's from DC comics and Ock's from Marvel, they obviously never heard of each other). There are other Saturday morning cartoons that I've watched, and we ate some cereal as we watched them.

When I saw Spiderman (the old animated series of the 90's), they included me in there, and I did not like it (or rather him). All in one, this version of me in this cartoon sounded arrogant and stupid, and that green and yellow gear he wears is not what I would like to wear. Way out of style, even for me (as I wear a trenchcoat). And every time he spoke, Crystal laughed crazily.

"You seriously need to go to an asylum." Charles said, annoyed of her laughter.

Crystal immediately stopped and glares at her brother. "Just to let you know, and as stupid as it sounds, I think his voice has a funny accent, therefore cute. I dunno, I just think that way."

"You're kidding," I said pointing at the TV, "I don't even think its funny! This guy is making fun of me!"

They were quiet for a minute and they eyed me strangely.

"Um, are you feeling alright lately? I mean you're acting like a kid ever since you're here..." Crystal chuckled.

"Yeah, that's something that Sean would say!" Charles said.

I slapped my forehead with my left hand. "Oh dear god, I need a slap in the face."

Crystal reached out and slapped me. "Ow!" I yelped out, "I don't really mean it!" They laughed.

Then you should have never said it, saying that you needed it father, my top left arm say.

Oh be quiet, I thought back madly. But, I must agree, I am out of character lately...

"Hey Otto?" Crystal asked.

"What?"

"When the arms speak to you, is it just one or all four?"

I looked at her with a shocked face, but I sighed, nearly forgetting that she already knows and so does millions of other people.

"Four."

"Oh! Okay...did you ever name them just in case you need to talk to a specific arm?" Oh, I see what she is getting at...

"What? Do you want to name them? I never did, they cooperated okay..."

Charles and Crystal grinned at each other, and then got all excited.

"Then let's name them! I think that'll be cool!" Charles exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you want to name them?" I ask. They could just address them as 'arms' or even 'tentacles'.

"I have heard of a philosophy that when ever a being was given a name, it gives birth their personalities and health conditions and stuff. Um, what was that called again?" Crystal asked Charles.

"Kabalrians' philosophy?" Charles answered.

"Yeah. K-whatchamacallits... and seem so, each of them possess different AI and personalities, therefore they should be addressed by their proper name."

Hmm...a name father! You've never given us a name, and we're your children! (Top left tentacle)

That's right dad. (Bottom left tentacle)

Dad? Since when did you decide to call him that? (Both tops left and right)

What? I just wanted to try them on... (Bottom left)

Hey, I got an idea, I thought, since each of you has the same voice, why won't I have each of you address me by the different names of a father?

Okay, deal father. (Top left)

Since you always call me 'father', I guess I'm going to have you only address me that.

Ooh! Ooh! Can I call you daddy? (Bottom right)

Daddy? Oh gods, it makes you sound like a young child...

Which I am! I'm the youngest, only 4.2 seconds born after the other 3. (Bottom right)

"Um, Otto?" Crystal snapped her fingers at me. "Are you daydreaming or you're musing with your tentacles again?"

"Yeah, I'm having a decent conversation with them." I said to her, sarcastically.

I wanna call you dad! Please? Plleeeaaassseee?!! The bottom left tentacle kept shaking like the way a child would when pleading their parents to give them a toy.

Alright! Alright! You started this anyway! Call me dad!

Yay! (bottom left)

Wow pops, you really brought the hyper mood in him. And usually he's Sean's new best friend, playing power rangers with him. (Top right)

And you can call me pops, just as you have now.

"Otto?" Charles called my name. "Do your tentacles want their names?"

"Um...um, yeah, sure okay, I wouldn't mind." This just makes me wonder how I got to this conversation in the first place.

"Hey, why won't we name the left side girl names and the right side boy names? Unless, all of them sound like boys or girls..."

"They...they sound like in a mixture of robot and snakes." I explained. The two kids flinched.

"Wow, and that doesn't scare you?" Charles asked, shocked.

"Well, I was scared and confused at first...I get used to it." That's true, at first I thought they were just voices in my head, demons that haunt me for committing sins from my selfishness...sometimes I still think they are, but ever since they came here, they behaved well, like good children wanting to be friends with these kids. Well, the one that's calling me dad seems to get along well with Sean (he's just watching TV with us).

"Okay, cool!" Crystal chirped, "Too bad Lizzie or anyone else isn't here to help name them..."

Crystal then pointed to the one that has been playing toys with Sean for the past few days. "Is it me or is this the one that likes to play with Sean? Do they each have their separate birthdays?"

"Um, yes, this one likes to play with Sean...and they were born at different times." I pointed to the bottom right. "This one is the youngest, born 4 seconds later. This one has a mood of questioning about human emotions and all. It likes to ask a lot."

I pointed to the top left. "This one is the oldest. It's real sophicated (a/n: Gods I can never spell it right :P), and I believe this one made up the 'evil' plot of the movie's storyline, on rebuilding the fusion...reactor." It pains me to say it, but I continue anyway.

I pointed to the top right tentacle. "This one calls me pops, and likes to make comments on things or make a joke. It's the second born after the oldest."

I pointed to the last tentacle. "This one, the one that likes to play with Sean, gets excited about things, especially when it finds out something new. It's born before the youngest."

I stopped talking, just realizing that I haven't notice lately that these tentacles had possessed human personalities. They weren't supposed to feel, but they do, and hatred was their first feeling. But then they explore more human emotions, each developing new personalities that shapes them up. All they need now is a name to shape up, and they're just like humans.

"Ooh! Ooh! Let's name that Lupin!" Charles said, pointing to my top right tentacle.

"Who's Lupin?" I asked.

"Why do you want to name him Lupin?" Crystal asked.

"Because he calls Otto 'Pops'! Doesn't Lupin the III always call Zenigata that?"

"Well, I don't think we should name him that. Or else, we'll have to explain everybody who Lupin the III is." Crystal said. She turned to me. "He's a master thief from the TV anime show in adult swim, 'Lupin the III."

And for the rest of the morning, these kids kept arguing on what to name them, and yet not one of them was named yet. I argued with them sometimes on certain names, but then I usually didn't, seeing that it would be pointless.

"How about the first four letters of the Greek alphabet? Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta..." I suggested over their argument. Charles acted like he didn't hear me.

"You said something?" He replied. But Crystal did.

"He said he wanted to name them like Dr. Eggman's robots from Sonic adventure 1." Crystal said. I try to pretend I understood what she said.

"Oh, well that makes since. Since Otto is a bad guy like Eggy." Charles grinned. "What are they again?"

"Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta." I replied.

"Hey, that's cool. Besides, they're your arms anyway, why should we name them for you?" The boy has a point. "I wanna give them nicknames! Albany for Alpha, Beck for Beta, Gammy for Gamma, and Dally for Delta."

"Which is which, Otto?" Crystal asked.

"You said so yourself, 'left side girls, right side boys', Beck and Dally are boy names and Albany is a girl name. Anyway, we'll name them by order of their birth positions." I said to her. Crystal nodded and ran to her room, bringing back a permanent marker.

"Can I write their names on themselves so it's easy to remember?" she asked. I blinked. The tentacles strong forbids it.

"Sure. I'd probably have trouble remembering as well." I ignored the tentacles' cries.

Once again I explained them their birthdays and their names along the way, Crystal writing their names somewhere on them.

"There! Hi Alpha! Hi Beta! Hi Gamma! Hi Delta!" Crystal waved at them childishly and capped her marker.

My children are finally named. Alpha, or Albany, the oldest and experienced one. Beta, or Beck, the comedy relief and Charles' evil twin. Gamma, or Gammy, the childish and hyper one. Delta, or Dally, the youngest and curious one. They each have their names.

We grinned proudly, and the tentacles waver around, excited that they have their names.

(Crystal's POV)

"We ran out of groceries!" Mom announced during lunchtime. Oh man. One of the bad days when it was near the time after mom gets paid. We run out of food, which means we go to the store. The nearest grocery store isn't my idea where I would like to buy food in. In certain places there are leaks, they don't have clear lights, and they stink like crap. Well, that was because a lot of parents with babies goes around and shop. That explains why the bathrooms are worst. I just don't understand why mom doesn't see the market the way I do.

So I try to lure mom to other markets like Wal-Mart or Target, or even Kroger. It doesn't always work, especially when we're in a tight budget.

"We're going to the store. Go put your shoes on." Mom told me, Sean and Charles.

"But what about Otto?" I asked.

"What about me?" He asked me.

"Otto's coming with us as well."

Everyone was dead quiet. I made a face as if I saw my mom was doing the most stupidest thing in the world.

"Hell-o! Otto isn't the exactly the kind of person who would just walk in a store full of people with four mechanical arms in his back and say 'howdy do!' Besides, he is a famous fictional character, not to mention super villain!" I argued with mom. She made a fixed look.

"I know that!" She snapped. "It's just that he's still a stranger of this house, and he might just be here to steal our things!"

I slapped my forehead.

"You work it out. I will not have him here unsupervised and leaving us vulnerable for theft."

"Mrs. Gardner ---" Otto tries to protest.

"No! You're coming with us and that's that!" Mom interrupted him.

"No, I'm willing to go shopping with you."

That had us there for a minute. We'd thought he wouldn't want to bring attention to the public...

"Really?" I asked. He nodded.

"I mean, I just want to get to know this world a little more. I've been locked in this house for two nights in a row."

"Sorry Otto," I said guiltily. He smiled and understood.

We had the tentacles wrap Otto around by the stomach and we gave him a blue sweatshirt I brought him to wear. It looked like he had a big stomach, so we tried hard to jot it down by giving him those big pants that could be found in hot topic. Otto looked cute and young when he wore teen clothes!

Before we went to go shopping, we stopped by Lizzie's house to see if she wanted to with us to the Mall, which was near Target (I finally convinced mom to got there with a nearly expired coupon I wanted to use).

"Really? I'd love to hangout!" Lizzie then elbowed me. "A date?" Sean, mom, Charles, and Otto are in the car, waiting for us. I just came and run to knock on her door.

"Naw, we're just showing Otto around." I told her.

"Hey, Elsie, Alice, and Amber knows."

"Know what?" I gasped out. She wasn't supposed to tell them!

"Otto! I told them about Otto! Of course, they didn't believe me."

Thank god, they don't! We can't be telling the whole world just yet...

When we got to Target, we did the usual when we went to markets like these, let mom do all the shopping work. She doesn't mind, unless she has a tight schedule, and we always go to the video game/CDs/Toys section of the store.

"Hey, you heard of Creed?" I asked Lizzie.

She smirked. "Yep!"

"Did ya know? I heard they're breaking up the group!"

"Yeah, that's a pain."

Me and Lizzie raided the CD section while Sean and Charles raided the video games. We, at first, couldn't know where Otto went, but then I caught Otto by the books and magazines, reading stuff like popular mechanics.

"Hey Otto!" I said to him when I found him, "Tritium isn't in the periodic table."

"What? Yes there are," Otto argued. He didn't turn to see me, he was still in the Popular mechanics magazine.

"No, I tried to look it up. I didn't see it." He didn't argue anymore, finding it pointless. When I searched the magazines, I saw a movie one, showing Spiderman in the front page. I immediately picked it up and showed it to Otto.

"Hey, look! It's Spiderman!"

"Where?" He shot out, looking at the magazine the moment I told him. I looked in to see about any info of what's going on.

They said they're going to put Otto in the next movie (they better be, thank god). But that's weird, how is Otto going to continue the storyline if he's right here in front of me?

"That's odd..." I said.

"What?" He asked.

"Lizzie! Charles! Come here quick!" I called the others. They ran over to us.

"Look, they said Otto is going to be in the next movie." I showed them the article.

"What? Then how is he here?" Charles asked. I shugged.

"That's what I want to know."

Otto treats this like it was no big deal. "Hey, do you think I would see myself in the movie?" He asked. Everybody glared at him.

"Otto! Can't you see?" Lizzie said, pushing the magazine up to his nose. "How is there going to be a sequel when you're here when you're supposed to pop up somewhere in the movie?!"

Otto just shugged, pushing the magazine off his face. He seriously doesn't know.

This maybe big of a problem...

To be continued...

AAHHH!!!! I finally finished the Chapter! Jesus, it took me days to finish this! I've been busy and my mom grounded me for (gulps) getting a 'C' in my science test. I tried to tell her that my teacher sucked and I didn't study the day before the test because I was called in sick the day before and I didn't know, but she ignores that!

Anyway, I've scored chapter 16! Here are the replies to the review folks:

Anacsadder: (rereads review) Me/Otto?! Mom/Otto?! Now, come on, I like Otto of course, but I doubt it'd ever be that way! Of course, you're against this idea, and I strongly agree. Don't get any second thoughts...and I'd get real jealous of my mom if she falls in love with Otto, not to mention hundreds of fangirls...and she doesn't like Otto anyhow. She accepts me to like him, but it doesn't mean she likes him too... I was thinking about using Donna Murphy or even resurrecting Rosie back...anyway, if I ever meet Otto, I'd see him as a good friend or even father figure...

Stray the metallic imp: OMG! I was grounded too!

Gab: (elbowing) mind if you email me his address? Naw! Just kidding! If I had it, I wouldn't have the courage to mail him a fanletter! Yeah, I'm just like that. As much as I want him to know me, its better that he doesn't. You love Sonic too?

Anonymous-cat: Damn! You're a good guesser! I think I made it too easy...anyway, greeny isn't going to be in this story! Take hint bubs, sequels are planned (wink, wink)

Everyone else I didn't include: Hope you enjoyed it! Hell, maybe I'd let Alfred meet Ottto someday!

REVIEW AMIGOS! (and have a Buenos tardes! Jeez...now I'm speaking Spainish...Dallas poisoned my mind...)