Author's notes: it's nice to know that you guys are already liking this one as much as SOTI...that just gives me more courage to keep writing this...
Your reviews are always welcomed as well as any questions you might have for the story. I'd also be willing to answer any questions on my Tumblr page if you would prefer. My ask box is always open.
As always enjoy...
Chapter 2: I'm a Kid Now
"Big bro? Big bro!?"
"Wha...? Ack!" the sudden wake up call from my brother was pretty normal to me but the unexplained fear behind the words wrenched me from sleep so suddenly I didn't even realize how close I was to the edge of my bed until I had gone down. In a matter of seconds I had gone from sleeping gently in my bed to ending up on the floor in a tangle of blankets and bedsheets.
"Ugh! Kell what is it?!" I shouted as I tried to crawl out from the mess. Normally it should have been easy since I could have just slithered out in my squid form but for some reason it wasn't.
It was then that it slowly dawned on me that I had been able to speak to Kell, something I would have never been able to do in squid form, "Wait...why on Terra am I in my semi-humanoid form? I've never changed into it in my sleep before..." I muttered to myself as I finally pulled myself from the fabric cocoon I had inadvertently formed around me.
I looked up from the floor to see Kell and my mother looking down at me as they stood in the doorway to my room, "What? What did I do now?" I asked, getting a little irritated at the rude awakening by this point since it was clear my brother didn't need anything from me.
For some reason my brother immediately thought what I had said was very funny and went into a laughing fit for several minutes. My mom, on the other hand, looked on the verge of being either overjoyed or terrified.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing is wrong Marin," Mom quickly insisted as tears suddenly welled at the corners of her eyes, "it's just...it can't believe how much you look like him..."
"Him?" There was only one person my mom ever referred to as 'him' and he had died long ago. I immediately looked down at myself.
My skin no longer was orange but had a skin tone only a slightly darker shade than my mom's and my tentacle limbs had formed into slightly skinny arms and legs. Looking out of the corners of my eyes I could see my two main tentacles hanging at the sides of my head and they were swaying slightly as I moved my head.
"I...I'm a..."
"You're a kid now big bro!" Kell joyfully cried out before going into another giggling fit.
Warmth rose to my cheeks as I felt myself blush. Thankfully for me most Inklings wear black shorts as soon as they can shift even partially out of their squid form. From the waist up however I had nothing, my simple hair band for keeping my tentacles up was also gone most likely due to it being snapped off when my tentacles had grown.
Blushing even more I quickly grabbed the blankets and wrapped myself with them, "um...mom...do you have any...?"
"Uh, yes of course..." backing out of the room for a few minutes she arrived with a bag which she handed to me albeit somewhat hesitantly, "we'll uh...be downstairs when you are ready Marin," dragging my brother out of the room she shut the door behind her.
As soon as I was alone I threw my blankets back onto my bed before walking over to a full length mirror on my closet door to get a good look at myself.
My face was probably the part that surprised me the most. The black markings around my bright orange eyes against my definitely somewhat pale face wasn't what I had expected. If I hadn't known better I would have almost thought my eyes had flashed briefly as I had stared into the mirror. I didn't have my mom's freckles but I was almost certain I probably did look a lot like Dad when he was my age; a slight shiver ran down my back at the thought.
"Well Marin...you certainly look interesting," I told myself before holding open my mouth slightly to see that I had two very sharp fangs nestled between a row of flat teeth on my upper jaw and the same thing on the bottom except with a single fang, "yep...definitely interesting..." pulling stuff out of the bag mom had given me I started to get dressed.
The clothing included a yellow shirt with black lettering, cream colored shoes, black shorts with a color changing band and a gray and white headband that awkwardly refused to fit properly on my head until I realized why, "oh yeah..."
Blushing faintly I looked into the bag to see a brightly colored elastic band with the colors red, yellow and green alternating in the weaving of it. walking over to the mirror again I reached for my tentacles with one hand while I held the camo band in the other as I pulled them back to the top of my head and tied them up into a simple ponytail.
It was only then that I realized the tips of them showed signs of being yellow or even gold colored. A color I must have inherited from my dad since my mom's tentacle tips were dark lime green.
"Well I guess that answers that question," flashing a nervous grin at myself in the mirror I turned to leave my room.
Walking around thankfully wasn't too hard since I had mostly learned how to walk on two legs years ago but that unfortunately didn't stop me from stumbling on the bottom steps on the stairs and nearly face planting into the floor.
Kell busted out laughing as I grabbed the wood railing to keep from actually successfully tasting the carpet. Once I was certain I was steady I walked over to the table and sat down while Kell continued to laugh, "You know you'll be dealing with the same thing in little over two years Kell!" I snapped at him which immediately caused him to fall silent.
"Marin! That is no way to talk to your brother!"
"Says the mom who barely cares about what her kids think," I muttered under my breath.
"What was that Marin?"
"I said 'yes mom I'll try not to talk to him like that from now on'," I quickly lied, although I was half tempted to say the truth to her. The fact that she was actually acting like a normal mom instead of her normal self started to make me mad. Why now was she trying act like this when she hadn't for years?
"Good. Now that you're 14 Marin what...?"
"I'm going to Inkopolis to play Turf Wars," I said, cutting her off.
"You don't want to stay here Marin?"
"Why on Terra would I want to stay here?" I demanded, my voice started to rise in volume as I spoke as well as my anger.
"Marin I'm not sure I like the tone you're using."
"Oh really? That's a surprise..."
"Marin?! That is no way to talk to your mother."
"When was the last time you have even acted like our mother?! Half the time you were moping around in your room while I had to take care of my brother!" I was shouting by this point but I didn't care anymore.
"Marin...why are yo-"
"I'm not done Mom!" I said as I cut her off again, "I'm sick and tired of having to do everything around here while you cry about Dad and I am not gonna be forced to stay here forever!"
My mom simply stood there in a half daze as I yelled so when I had fallen silent she didn't speak. The quiet in the room became so thick I almost felt like it was choking me slowly as I stayed in the house.
It was all too much for me. I had to get out of there.
Without saying another word I rushed back up the stairs and into my room. Pulling a backpack out of my closet I started to fill it with various items and stuffed a wallet into my short's pocket. Currently it had nothing in it but something told me I was going to need it later.
Once I was certain that I had everything I slipped downstairs as quietly as possible and headed for the front door, avoiding the kitchen so that I didn't have to confront my mom again.
"Marlin?"
I cringed inwardly as I slowly turned around to find Kell on the verge of tears, "Please don't go big bro."
"Oh Kell..." I partially kneeled down and put my hands on his shoulders as I looked right into his eyes and he mine, "look, I know this may be hard but I need you to be here for mom and help her out when she needs it. If you can stay strong for two more years until you turn 14 you can come live with me in Inkopolis."
"Really?" he sniffled a little bit, "You would let me live with you?"
"Of course, you're my brother and brothers need to help each other out," pulling him into a hug I then whispered, "hang in there Kell...you're almost free too..."
"Okay," we both pulled away from each other, "I hope you will be happy in Inkopolis Marlin."
"Yeah...me too," standing back up I took one last glance at him as I slipped through the door before I started running to the train station.
As I wandered the train station platform with my ticket in my hand I kept looking around for a certain face that didn't seem to be there. My heart sinking lower by the second as I debated whether I had miss the person I was looking for.
"Holy calamari! It can't be...Marin?"
"Wha...?" I started to turn around only to nearly fall backwards onto the wooden planks of the platform as a pink feamale Inkling with very pale skin crashed into me before pulling me into a tight hug.
"It really is you!" she let go of me as she looked me up and down, "and your humanoid form turned out pretty great."
"Alga...why?" I finally was able to ask her since she had nearly forced out all the air in my lungs, "...why on Terra are you so hyper?"
She simply shrugged, "beats me. I've always been like this...you remember that don't you?"
"How could I forget," I muttered to myself so that she wouldn't hear me. Having known Alga as long as I had known Whark I knew that she was acting a lot less hyper and energetic than she normally was. The hug, frankly, could have been a lot worse and in the past it had been.
"So are you heading for Inkopolis?"
"Yeah, you too?"
"Of course, not only for the games but also for all the cute boys..." she let out a airy sigh as she looked up into the sky at the thought, "...so many cute boys indeed..."
I rolled my eyes at her as I let out a short snort, "You know they probably won't notice you because you are only a Noob."
"One could still hope Marin," she insisted.
I couldn't help but shake my head at her as I turned around to suddenly find Whark right in my face.
"Holy mackerel! Dude, don't sneak up behind me like that!" I jumped back a good pace or two from him.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist," he said as he flashed his classic grin at me before i was once again scrutinized from head to toe. Once he was done he let out a low whistle in awe, "you look pretty awesome Marin...and your tips are gold huh? You don't see gold tips very often."
"I guess so," I answered as I self-consciously reached up to lightly tug on one of them.
"Well at least they're not green. No offense but I'm not sure orange and green would suit you dude."
"Hey it might have been cute Whark, you can't just say it wouldn't suit him!" Alga said as she started to stroke one of her own tentacles which were almost red at the tips.
"Well if you like it so much dye your tentacles that color."
"Whark you know I can't change my tips green otherwise I might just do that."
"Ugh!" he covered his face with his hands as he shook his head, "I was being sarcastic Alga!"
"Oh," she frowned, "how was I supposed to know you were being sarcastic?"
Before he could answer the loud whistle from the train reached our ears as it came into the station. Dozens of Inklings walked off of it as we and several other young Inklings got onto it.
"You ready for this guys?" Whark asked as they found a seat next to one of the windows.
"I sure hope so," I answered as the train started to pull out of the station, "because honestly I'm not sure I want to find out what will happen if I come back here."