Chapter 21: Meeting Royalty
Callie's eyes slowly opened before she sat up straight, finding herself sitting at the table. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and saw her cousin asleep across from her. "Heh, guess we fell asleep writing. We haven't done that in so long." She looked down at what they've written so far. "Hm, looks good. We'll finish it later."
"Morning, beautiful." Adstrum said from the kitchen, a bowl of cereal in his hands. "How'd you sleep?"
"Um…" She stretched as she stood up, a blanket falling off her back. "Oh, did you…?" She saw him nod. She saw a blanket over Marie as well and looked back at Adstrum, who nodded again. "It could have been better, but it was okay."
"Should we wake her or let her sleep?" He asked, referring to the still conked out squid.
Cici waddled down stairs. She was back to her pale green color.
"Sleepy!" Adstrum put his bowl down and gently pulled the small squid into a hug.
"Addie… Morning…" She replied half asleep.
"Oh, dang...back to the green color." He sighed and gently pet her head.
"I told… you not to get used to it…" She yawned and smiled when he petted her.
"We know, but…" Callie hugged her as well. "We were so proud of you getting healthy, even if it was for just a little bit."
"..." She fidgeted with her tentacles, "Where are we headed anyways?"
"A place called the Water Palace." Callie replied and let go of Cici. She walked over to her cousin and gently picked her up.
Cici seemed surprised as she opened her eyes.
"Quick, Callie. The camera. Her eyes are open. This is a rare opportunity!" Adstrum laughed.
"No." Cici pushed her face into Adstrum.
"Aw, tiny squid." He hugged her gently.
Callie smiled and carried her cousin to her room.
"So…" Jack slowly slid down the stairs in squid form, keeping his eyes out for any ink this time. "Any reason there are waves out the window?"
"...I'm gonna drown you…" Cici quietly answered him.
"No you won't." Adstrum whispered back as he rubbed Cici's head before turning to see a frantic Callie.
"We're on water. How?" Her eyes were wide.
"Hello." A voice came from the front of the bus. Everyone turned to see an octoling wearing a shark hoodie, "I'm Chomp, the royal adviser to Queen Aria. And no. I'm not going to hurt anyone…"
"I am Adstrum. The one who wears the heavy jacket." He snickered. "And this is Callie, the singer of pop." He laughed and Callie lightly punched him. "I'm kidding. Sorry."
"Sharkie…" Cici waddled to her.
"And that's Cici, the sleepwalker." He then pointed to Jack. "And that's Jack, the one who risks his life watching over the sleepwalker."
"Yes, I know who you all are. Your grandfather helped us out with the help of a masked hero. As for Cecilia, her mother is well acquainted with her highness."
"Her mother?" Jack seemed interested.
"Oh, Cici's mother is here?!" Callie's eyes widened and a smile spread on her face.
"Miss Celeste Bubble and her husband retired here. They design clothes and weapons for turf wars here on Botanical Gardens." Chomp smiled.
"Cici's last name is Bubble?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
"I like it. It's a nice name." He smiled.
Cici softly headbutted into him.
"That's adorable!" Callie squealed.
"Who designs the weapons and who designs the clothes?" Adstrum asked.
"Cici's mom makes the clothes, I imagine." Callie replied. "I think she's the one who made my stage outfit."
"I designed it with crayons… My mom liked it and made it"
` "That is what I heard. Yes." Chomp nodded, "In any case, I was told to welcome you all into our peaceful home."
"Thank you." Callie smiled.
"Why are you so formal?" Cici asked
"Because… to put it bluntly… One of us has to…" Chomp clicked her tongue.
"I'll bet five bucks the queen isn't." Adstrum whispered.
"I'd give you my whole savings if she could be for just 2 seconds."
"I like the queen already." He replied.
"Should I wake Marie up?" Callie asked.
"We'll wake her when we get there." Jack replied.
"Did Mommy make your jacket?" Cici touched Chomp's hoodie.
"Both of them did. It is also armor since I have to also protect her highness…. And shield myself from her." Chomp messed with her tentacles.
"Heh. I wonder how tough of armor it is." Adstrum said as he looked at her hoodie.
"How far are we from this place?" Jack asked.
"A good half an hour since her highness is so excited, so the waves are rough… Yeah… long story…" Chomp sighed
"She's got water powers, right?" Callie asked.
"Yup, and she is indeed Octavio's daughter."
"Huh. I guess Pastelli was right."
"She's…quite a leader…when she wants to be…"
"Well, it will be nice to meet her, I hope." Callie smiled.
"Oh, you will. So things you should know about the island… It's basically a giant doughnut. The water palace is in a pool of fresh water. The island itself has lots of fruits, beaches and well… interesting wildlife. Please don't feed the wildlife for they may try to eat you."
"I'd like to see them try." Adstrum flashed a fanged smile.
"The Octo Village stretches for roughly a quarter of the doughnut. It's home to Octolings, Octarians, Inklings, and other sea creatures. Still working on getting more inklings and other sea creatures though..."
"If you like being confused, get more jellyfish. It's a gamble of how they'll speak Inklish." Adstrum replied.
Callie chuckled and heard a yawn behind her. She turned around and found her cousin rubbing her eyes. "Morning, Marie!"
"Who's this?" Marie asked.
"Hello, I'm the Queen's royal advisor, Chomp"
"No way, are we already there?"
"No. Not yet"
"About another 20 minutes, I think." Jack replied, looking out the window.
Cici fell onto her butt, "Tired"
"Marie, we're going to meet a queen!" Callie jumped up and down in excitement. "Oh, and maybe also Cici's parents." She calmed down and picked up the small inkling.
"...Hello..." Cici smiled at her.
Callie giggled. "Hi, Cici." She hugged her and held her toward Marie.
Jack sighed before planting his face on the table.
"Cici, you haven't eaten anything have you?" Marie asked looking at her.
"..."
"Oh boy…"
"I guess that explains her size" Chomp muttered.
"Here, Marie." Callie handed her cousin the sleepy inkling. "I'll make her something to eat. Something she'll like."
"...But I'm not hungry…" Cici replied
"Not even for chocolate chip pancakes?"
"No"
"And Sleepy is truly back…" Adstrum shook his head and sat down at the table across from Jack. "Stubborn little...but that's Cici for you. Right, Jack?"
The orange inkling just groaned back.
Marie took out her phone and called someone.
"Hello?" Arisara's voice came from the other line.
"Hey, do you know what Cici likes to eat?" Marie asked her.
"Um… I made her ramen and she devoured it. Um, she mentioned something about Jello. Wait, she called it… Jelly?"
Cici turned into a squid and swam away.
"Other than that I don't really know. Oh, but I left some vitamin powder for her. You can put it into anything. It's flavourless."
"Wow, really? Thanks! I'll see you later. Are you sure you can't come?"
"I was banned, remember?"
Chomp looked puzzled, "Banned? We never banned anyone..."
"Really?" Adstrum raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
"...Um, shoot… My chicken is, um, burning… I gotta go Marie. See you soon!" Arisara quietly hung up.
"Huh… Your friend sounded familiar…" Chomp raised her brow.
Callie pulled out some Jello mixture and was about to pull out some ramen when she saw Jack pull it out.
"I got it." He replied and filled a pot with water.
Callie smiled and pulled out a bowl.
Cici didn't get very far as she was too tired to climb up the stairs.
As the barge their bus was on pulled into the harbor Jack had finished making the ramen and put it in a bowl on the table for Cici. He went to go look for her when he was dragged out of the bus by Callie. "Come on, Jack."
"But what about Cici?" Jack asked.
"She'll be fine. I left her a note saying that there's Jelly in the fridge. It should harden soon." They hopped off the bus and ran toward the island. "And don't worry. Marie mixed in that vitamin packet into it."
"AKKKKKIIIIEEEE!" a white tentacled octoling with blue rings jumped at Chomp and hugged her, "I told you I wanted to go too… It's not fair you got all the fun..."
"..." Chomp looked annoyed as she let her hug her, "Your highness…. Please act like you are supposed to…"
"This is the queen?" Jack asked.
"We weren't here for even five minutes and we already meet her." Adstrum chuckled. "No walking into a throne room or having her arrive in a carriage or chariot? I like this queen even more now."
"Akkie, who are these people and why are they staring?" The queen asked.
"Maybe it's because you jumped into my arms like a non-royal person cosplaying royalty…" Chomp sighed.
"Oh, my." Callie laughed. "This is the queen?" She gave a quick bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness."
"OH! Wait, you are agents-"
"NOT THOSE ONES!" Chomp interrupted her.
"Oops hehe… my bad. Callie, Marie, and Jack, right?"
"Uh…" Jack nodded.
"Hey, I always wanted to meet you guys in person. I'm Aria the Water Palace queen. Say, sorry about my old man. He's a bit… crazy... and an asshole."
"Aria..." Chomp facepalmed.
"Couldn't agree more." Jack nodded again.
"Yeah, he did sort of kidnap Gramps…" Callie rubbed the back of her head.
"Your gramps has our citizens' gratitude. He helped many of my people out from that shithole. I wonder where his agent went? I didn't get a chance to thank them in person…. Is it a her?"
"They are in a cloak and mask so… we'll never know" Chomp shrugged, "Sounded like a her, though…"
"Well, whoever they are, they are a hero. And I'm sure Gramps will tell us when we see him." Callie nodded.
"He's still here… making sure I'm not naughty" Aria pulled out a water bottle and poured it onto her tentacles.
"Gramps is here?!" Callie's eyes widened. "Where!?"
"Um… I think the little hut the villagers made for him and his wife. It's by the sea."
Callie immediately ran off toward the beach, leaving everyone standing around and blinking.
"Um...should we go after her?" Jack asked and looked at Marie.
Marie shushed him and showed him her phone. The front camera was on and showing Cici behind them. She was bright pink again as she peeked out from the bus.
Jack smiled widely and shut his mouth, walking after Callie as Marie followed.
Adstrum looked over at Aria. "What was with the water?"
"I dry out since I have no ink. I need water every 2 hours or I die"
"Ah, okay." He nodded and kicked his foot. "So...um…" He looked around.
"Yeah?"
"Is there a guy and gal here named Acrilic and Pastelli? I think they said they live here." He shrugged.
"Oh, you know them? She's my royal scientist and he was um… one of the 'wild animals' projects."
"Ah, that might explain it." Adstrum nodded. "He blew up a lightbulb just by touching it." He looked back at her. "And these 'animals' sound interesting."
"If you are anything like Acrilic you test weapons on them… or go hunting them"
"I MAKE weapons. And just saying they can try to eat me, but I'm tough." He pulled out the Ink Wheel and revved it up. "Guess I should catch up to the others, huh?" He flashed a smile before quickly running off, leaving a small trail of black ink.
Aria smiled as she watched him wheel away, "So now that we are alone…Marry me!"
Chomp dropped her and walked away.
Aria ran after her.
Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Yay! Just a warning, the next few chapters will be...a bit less normal, but we are having fun writing this, so we can write what we want. YAY!
Thank you The Bowser Monster, Agent 8, Pink Hedgie 74, and Quest for leaving reviews. Thank you all so much.
Cici is adorable in general, Hedgie.
Sorry, Guest. But I don't think that will happen. Marie won't be getting sick.
I'll see you all next week with another chapter. Thank you all for reading and I'll see you next time!
