Chapter 8: Potswell Concert

"Adstrum?!" Callie asked as she walked onto the bus holding the pizza box. "What are you doing?"

She got her answer when she walked into the living area. There was Adstrum, sitting on a wheeled office chair, spinning in place.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!….hahahaha…." He smiled, a goofy look on his face.

Cici held onto his head, "Dizzy… dizzy"

"Place your bets, Callie." Jack said from the sidelines. "How long can sleepy survive the mechanical psycho?"

Callie laughed and placed the pizza on the counter, Marie following onto the bus behind her.

"Yikes… that's a hard one." Marie sheepishly smiled.

"I'll bet she'll hang on for another two hours." Callie smirked.

"Why do you say that, Callie?" Jack asked.

"Because that's how long until the concert starts." She replied. "Is this all you did today, Adstrum? Spun in a chair?"

"No…" He replied, still spinning. "I got started building a new weapon..."

"Two hours? Wow time flies."

"And I spelled my name in pretzels!" He said.

Callie looked down on the counter. "Oh, he did. Man, you must have been bored."

Cici lost her grip and got thrown into the pretzel bag, which Jack was holding.

"Caught her." He smiled at the squid.

"Nice catch, Jack." Callie smiled.

"Dizzy…" Cici muttered

"Shouldn't we all get ready for the concert?" Adstrum asked, his eyes spinning as he stood up. "Heheheheheh."

"... Am I announcing again?" Cici asked.

"No. I'll do it." Jack replied before the bag was taken from his hands.

Adstrum put his face into the bag. "Get out of the pretzels, sleepy." He pulled his head out, Cici on his face. "...She listened, at least."

"...What do I do then…?"

"You just swim around backstage and look cute!" Callie smiled widely as she very gently pinched Cici's cheek.

"Oh, okay…"

"C'mon Marie, let's go get…" She looked around and noticed Marie wasn't in the room. "Huh, guess she went to get ready already." She shrugged and pulled Adstrum's hand. "C'mon, Cici."

"I'm not Cici." Adstrum replied.

"But she's on your face." Callie replied.

"Addie…" Cici muttered..

"Addie?" Callie's eyes widened. "I'm keeping that in mind."

"Who?" Adstrum seemed confused.

"Addie. Addie. Addie." Cici swam into his hood.

"I know what to call Adstrum now." Callie smiled widely. "Good name, Cici." She patted Adstrum's hood before going into her room to change.

"I'd ask what you guys did today, but I doubt I'll get a response from you." Adstrum said before hearing a snore. "Yep."

"...Pizza… TV was nice too…"

"Yeah, I know you guys got pizza. Thanks for bringing me some." He replied.

"...kay…"

"So...another concert. Let's see what happens." Adstrum opened the pizza box and took out a slice. "What happens will happen." He took a few pepperonis off and popped them into his mouth.

"...ZZZzzz…..."

"You have any idea why Cici likes sleeping on heads so much?" Jack asked the jacketed inkling.

"Not a clue." Adstrum replied as he peeled the cheese off and ate it.

"... Alex... likes it…"

"Who the hell is Alex?"

Jack just shrugged.

"...my….." She trailed off, "It's… not important... "

"Alright." Adstrum shrugged as he started licking the sauce off the slice.

"Why are you eating it like that?" Jack had an eyebrow raised.

"Because I like my pizza naked. Haha!" He bit into the slice.

"...poor pizza…"

"This is just how I've eaten it for years." He finished off the slice and went for another one.

"OKAY! Ready!" Callie came out of the bedroom dressed in a white and magenta kimono and holding a magenta folding fan.

"Heh, yeah I didn't think they would have a dress code" Marie stepped out of her room dressed in a black and green kimono holding a green parasol.

"You doing the concert dressed like that?" Jack asked. "Nice."

"You look cute, Callie." Adstrum smiled as he bit into another naked pizza slice.

"Cici, come on, you and everyone have to dress formal too"

"….. I don't wanna…"

"Is it really going to matter when she is pretty much going to stay in squid form?" Adstrum had an eyebrow raised.

"They will rip off your clothes if you don't and squids must wear a formal headgear."

"Oh, I'd like to see them try." Adstrum smiled wickedly.

"Oh, alright." Jack folded his arms. "I don't wanna wear a monkey suit…"

"They won't let you in then…" Marie pointed out.

"Fine." He walked over to Adstrum. "C'mon, Cici."

"Huh?" Cici seemed confused, "Why?"

"We gotta go get you changed." He replied.

"...no."

"Just do it." Adstrum pulled her out of his hood and held her toward Jack.

"I don't wanna… wear that…"

"I don't either, but we apparently have to." Jack said as he grabbed her.

"I can stay here… I'll be good..."

"You're the manager, though. You gotta be there to...um…" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"...to?"

"Does she have to be there?" He looked toward Callie and Marie.

Marie shrugged.

"...Yay…" Cici cheered happily.

"Well, I gotta go anyway…" Jack folded his arms as Cici swam off of him. "I gotta go announce for them."

"Okay, why don't you wanna wear formal clothes? You make them, don't you?" Marie asked.

"It's… Complicated…"

"How?" Callie asked.

"It's… I don't wanna dress up... "

"Welp, people got reasons." Adstrum walked toward the door. "Come on, you guys. Let's go."

"...Okay…. I'll see you later…" Cici replied with a hint of sadness in her tone.


About half an hour later the door to the bus opened up, Jack stepping on board. He was pulling at the collar of his outfit, a look of discomfort on his face.

"They can handle the rest. I gotta get this monkey suit off." He walked up into the room and saw Cici just staring at a stained dress. "Um...hi…"

She didn't answer him back. She seemed to be sitting there, staring off into space.

"Cici?" He walked up and put his hand on her shoulder.

"..." She flinched a bit and looked at him, "Oh, you are back…"

She took the dress back. She put it away in her box.

"Um...what was that about?" Jack asked as he pulled a shirt and shorts out of a drawer.

"...Nothing…" Cici quietly answered back.

"It's not nothing." He took off the suit and put the shirt on.

"Then…. It's not important… Just a… d-dress"

"Something is bugging you." He walked into the hallway real quick before reopening the door wearing a pair of shorts, his formal pants over his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"...Nothing is wrong… It's all in your head…"

He shook his head and facepalmed. "Cici, I was able to tell whether something was bugging Marie back when she was a lone idol. And you know how good of a poker face she had. I can tell something is bothering you."

"... You DON'T know me Jack…" Cici's tone changed and she glared at him.

"Something is bothering you and keeping it bottled up won't help."

"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! JUST DROP IT!... Please…" She tried to calm herself down but tears started flowing.

"Woah...uh...sorry…" He slowly walked backwards toward the door. "Take a chill pill. I'm going."

"..." Cici sighed and walked away, pushing Jack out of the way of the door.

"What the heck has got her tentacles in a knot?" He shook his head and laid down on the bed, trying to take a quick nap. But after about half an hour he gave up as he was too worried. He sat up and looked over at Cici's box. "Should I?...I shouldn't…" He stood up and walked over to it. "But something is bothering her and I want to help her feel better." He opened it up and started rummaging through a few things. "The dress...what is it stained with?" He pulled it out and looked at it. It was a blue summer sun dress covered in spots of dried up pink ink. "Hm...that's weird." He put it back and rummaged through the box some more. "Fabrics...needles and thread...a very old looking phone...a stuffed animal…" He paused when he saw a photo of a pink inkling girl and a pink inkling boy sitting together. "Who are these?" He then noticed a video tape and took it out of the box. "This looks promising. Probably shouldn't do this, but I need to know what's bugging Cici so I can help her somehow."

Author's Note: Hello again everyone. Sorry for the delay. I was going to update this a while ago, but a lot of stuff happened this week. I crashed my car against a guardrail and totaled it. I'm fine, but had to get a new car. And about an hour ago was my birthday, but now I'm updating this 12:50 at night. So it is the day after my birthday. So the birthday was a distraction. And, yet again, LET IT DIE has not let go of me. It has me chained up and won't let me go. Please help.

Alright, thank you The Bowser Monster, Ashanti, and Lil Judd for leaving reviews. I greatly appreciate them.

Your welcome for the response, Ashanti. And thank you for leaving another review. And yes, Cici is adorable! My co-author drew a picture of Callie with Cici on her head on Twitter for my birthday. Go look if you want. My twitter name is Adstrum Tenebris.

Well, here's the next chapter, Lil Judd. Sorry for the wait.

Well, thank you all for reading and please don't be afraid to leave reviews. And if you wish to criticize the fic or say something wrong about it you'll have to say something you like about it first. See you all next chapter!