As irony would have it, Marie's statement came to be untrue. At the point where Inkopolis was on the horizon She felt a distinct shifting in the rope she was pulling on. Looking back she saw very unpleased eyes staring back at her.
"Do you do this with every guy you meet?"
The boy had a look of puzzlement and smugness to him. The look that gave away his surprise to this situation, yet that he was still in control in his own way.
The two stopped the progression to turn and ask him questions, but before they could, he got to it first.
"Hey, do you think you could untie me real quick? I do have legs to walk with."
"Maybe if you answer some questions of ours." Marie responded. "How can we trust someone we hardly know?"
"That's the idea behind trusting people, you gotta put faith in what you don't know."
Marie turned and snorted, not bothering to release the human from the rope.
Callie turned to Marie, trying to convince her that the progress would be better without having to drag him.
"It would be so much quicker if we let him walk." She reasoned.
"And risk him getting away. Sorry, but I rather not run through half of this area to get it." Marie retorted.
Meanwhile, the boy sat there reviewing the last few hours and speculating what was to come. Alright Pat, so you just happened to be woken up by these two things. Great! What's next, are they gonna take me to their village or something? No, what is this, Return of The Jedi? Pat looked down at his restraints, noting how the knots were tied in a way that he would have to bend in ways humanly impossible to untie them. He looked at his new "caretakers" as they debated on his value.
What is this? He looked down at himself to see all the pink ink on him. This is gonna take FOREVER to wash out. The substance gave him a strange numb feeling wherever it touched him. Looking at the weapons the squids had, he noticed how they appeared more like toys than anything deadly. The one even resembled a giant paint roller.
The cousins stopped when they noticed the looks they were getting from the ancient. Marie decided to take matters into her own hands since their debate had gotten them to nowhere.
"Alright, what are you?" She demanded from the human.
"I'm me." He replied defiantly. "I am the one of one, all of all, and evermore shall be so." He went on, almost singing his statement. "So, hot shot, who are you?" He smirked, not needing to see through the mask to know she was frowning.
"We should of shoved him down a kettle and let the Octarians play with it." The agent turned to survey the landscape, hiding the disgust in her eyes.
"Wow, you're really bothered by something, you want to talk about it?" He cried after her.
Callie was most conflicted by this exchange. On one end, She didn't like how this thing acted like it was top of the world. Yet on another she had never seen her cousin this mad or displeased at... anyone.
"You think the scientist would know what this is?" Callie asked, both knowing the answer despite their disbelief.
"I don't know, maybe a few pokes wouldn't do too much harm." She turned. "But before we decide what to do, we should bring him to G-Cuttlefish."
"Your kidding right," Suddenly he dawned a serious face. "About the whole 'Scientist poking me' right?" His face turned dark for a moment.
Marie thought long and hard before she came upon a decision. "That depends on how well you behave," She said as she cut the ropes in his legs. Before he tried to run, she whooped her charger in his face. "Get it?"
"Ge, what a wonderful deal..." Pat muttered.
Marie stood there as he struggled to get up, enjoying his fight against the gravity and his lack of balance.
After working his way up, Pat turned to the two with a grin "Alright, take me to your leader." Satisfied with the looks he got, he trotted along the path they had been taking. "I've always wanted to say that, just never got the chance to."
Callie took the lead, Marie to the back, with Pat in the middle, wiping the ink off his trenchcoat, still trying to figure out why the stuff acted more like gloop.
As they resumed their trek back to the shack, Pat had an itching, nagging feeling in his head that something was up. Not just the whole 'squids got me in ropes' deal, but a feeling like that if he was being watched mixed with some inconsistency that none of them had noticed.
I * I * I * I
Back at the shack it was turning late noon by the time the trio of squids and a kid had returned. Obviously, the human stuck out to Cuttlefish and Octavio. Pat was bewildered by the sight of the octopus staring at him from within his snow globe prison. Looking around, he realized that he had failed to notice the floating hunks of rock and structures is the sky. Beyond that was a rock formation that looked almost unnatural to him, yet he couldn't place a finger on why.
"Agents, report." Cuttlefish ordered. shifting his attention from the stranger to the duo.
"The Salmonoids were in the area, as your sources had claimed. When we entered the area they keep to themselves until I splatted one " Callie stated. At this, Cuttlefish raised an eyebrow. "We... panicked." She ended, both were embarrassed by this confession. Octavio chuckled at this, getting a look from all present.
"What?" He looked around from the globe at all present. "I just found something funny..."
"Nevermind, so anyway, we dove into a nearby cave to avoid the angry mob when we found this." Marie gestured to where the human stood, not paying attention to the events at hand.
"Huh? Oh, is that my cue to do something?" He looked up, not having paid attention to what they were saying.
Cuttlefish walked up to him, both not knowing what to say. Pat knew this was an old man-er... squid. Cuttlefish, having not much of an idea of what he was, looked him over with much curiosity.
"Tell me, lad, what's your name?" The old warrior asked.
"Well, I'm the one of-"
"Let's not." Marie snapped, clearly eager to not continue with this line of answers from earlier.
"Stand down, Agent two." Cuttlefish interrupted before Marie had a chance to smack him.
"Relax, we have better things to do than get into a fight." Cuttlefish assured him, trying to keep the situation from going south.
"Don't think you need to be telling that to someone else?" Pat snarked, taking a shot at Marie. After no response, he took a seat sighed "Welp, where do I start? I'm Patton Matthews, and, well, I'm human" He said. "I really don't know how to sugar-coat it more."
"Human, we've never heard of such a thing before, are you saying that right?" Cuttlefish asked.
"Yes, I did, but I still don't get exactly what happened while I was out." Patton
"Well, I got a lot of explaining to do, don't I?" Pat said, leaning on a rock for balance. "It was the year 2019 A.D. By then most of the world had been flooded or killed off by the water levels or starvation." He paused allowing the gravity of what he had said to sink in. "We had polluted the world to the point of causing our own kind to start dying out." He had explained to the cephalopods, who responded to mixed expressions.
"So that's why we hardly have any land..."
"What's A.D. mean?"
"Then how are you still here?"
"Hrmph."
The last line was done by the octarian in the globe. Unimpressed by this story the stranger had to tell. The only thing he got out of it was something to distract him from the reality that was being stuck in the globe.
"If you would all relax, I'll continue on."
All of them sat there to listen to what he was going to say until Callie looked at the time.
"Oh squit! We gotta go back before the news crew start asking questions!" Callie cried, running toward the pipe that lead to Inkopolis.
"Yeah, sorry..." Marie Paused, looking back at Patton and Cap'n Cuttlefish. "Wait, what should we do about him? We can't just let him run around unchecked."
"Geesh, it's not like I'm kinda got my arms tied up or anything. But hey, I'm still somehow deadly because of what?" Patton inquired.
"We can't just drop him off at some lab." Callie said
"Really? We can just do it to any place, anyway, the government gets to find out if he's telling the truth of what he is." Marie continued her walk to the pipe.
"Seriously, are you kidding?" Patton asked. "I'm not getting poked at, got it?"
"Yeah, but from the way you act..." She chimed.
"So I'm the problem one here now?"
"Enough!" Cuttlefish stamped his cane down. "He will stay here as my guest until we figure out what we want to do."
"What!?" The three of them asked.
"I still want to have a chat with this young man. Besides, you need to get back right about now." Cuttlefish declared, not taking no for an answer.
"Hrmph" Was all Marie got out as they both left Octo Valley.
Both the boy and the squid watched them leave. Patton was in shock as he watched the agents change form before his eyes and shoot down the pipes to the city. Silence consumed him thanks to never having seen the Inklings change form before.
After a bit of just standing there, Cuttlefish broke the silence as he turned to the human again.
"You are young, right?" The veteran asked now that his grandkids were gone.
"Huh?" Pat looked over to Cuttlefish.
"You, you're young by your standards, correct?"
"Um, yeah, I'm fifteen." he responded, still in shock from what he had just seen.
"Just making sure." He turned to his shack. "Come along, I'll get that rope off of you."
I * I * I * I * I
After the Squid Sisters finished their broadcast and appearing to their fans, they stopped back at the apartment they called home. after doing their nightly routines they paused to reflect back on what had happened that day. Marie had since lightened up and acted far more lighthearted (at least, for her) than before.
"So, how about a movie or something?" Callie asked.
"Sure, grab one." She responded.
"What?" Callie mock asked. "You don't want a say in the movie?"
"Not feeling it Cal." Marie muttered.
Callie knew something was up. "What's bothering you?"
"Nothing," She muttered.
Callie pulled back from their movie collection. "Sure..."
Marie groaned, realizing what a long night it would be with her cousin prying.
I * I * I * I * I
"That's how we won the Great Turf War."
Patton, Cuttlefish, and the globed Octavio were positioned around a fire later that day. Now that he was free of the ropes he had his coat out to dry and built a hammock to sleep in. The two old Oceanics made no point in mentioning his scars, if they saw them the kept it to themselves. The old men were filling him in on the history of their two races. They had just ended talking about the Great Turf War and all that had brought with it.
"So, you have been fighting over fish that only YOU want to keep for yourselves." Pat mused. "Pokémon much?"
The old warriors looked at each other. Blank looks on their face thanks to not getting his reference he made, or just not getting that he didn't appreciate their situation.
"What do ya mean, you think this is a joke or something?" Octavio boomed through his globe.
"No, I think this whole war of yours is slightly dull. How hard is it for you kind to come to a compromise?"
"We did, THEY get the surface and power while we are stuck scavenging and throwing together junk to survive.
"What's wrong with throwing together junk?" Patton pondered.
Cuttlefish watched his old friend and new companion bicker. Realising how pointless this argument had become, he made the move to get sleep.
"At any rate, we need to rest." Cuttlefish said as he put out the fire. "Goodnight." He started back to the shack.
Watching Cuttlefish move to his shack Pat wondered what he must have been like in his glory days. "Must have been something" he muttered.
Getting up, Patton went straight to the hammock he had set up. Hopping in, he already felt sleep taking over. It was no time until he started to rest through the night.
"So, ummm... can somebody move me out of the middle?" Octavio looked around after realizing none of them had remembered he couldn't move, seeing if anyone was paying attention. "Darn hipsters don't even care anymore..."