[Quentin's POV]
If I could stop time, I would stop it during the summer. My parents take me to our little cabin on the beach and we stay there until fall. Today was our first day of being there. I jumped out of the car, threw my stuff in my bedroom, then immediately started to bug my parents about going on our boat. "Quentin," my mom tried reasoning with me. "We just got here five minutes ago. We still need to unpack. How about we go out on the water in a couple hours?"
"But I wanna go now!" I whined. I even grabbed my swimsuit and snorkel just to prove I wasn't backing down on this.
My dad joined the quarrel. "Well May, why not go out now? We can unpack when we get back."
My mom looked at us and realized there was no way she could fight us both on this. After all, my dad loved going out on the boat even more then I do. "Fine," she sighed. "Let's go."
I cheered all the way down to our dock. We uncovered the boat. "Hey Beauty," my dad said to the boat. I laughed and my mom rolled her eyes.
"Do you really need to talk to the boat Mike?" She asked.
My dad smiled, "Well she is my baby."
We climbed into the boat and headed out on the ocean. I sat at the back with my mom, admiring the view. The sun rays reflected off the water, making it seem like someone had poured a can of glitter in it. The sky was pure blue with only a few clouds.
The boat motor stopped and my dad took out his fishing gear. He smiled at me. "Want to help me catch dinner Quentin?"
I took the smaller of the two rods. "Yeah!" I replied. He put a worm on both of the fishing rods and then we put it in the water.
"Now you have to be real quiet," My dad said. "We don't want to scare the fish away." I nodded. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually both my parents fell asleep. I sat on my chair staring at the poles. Nothing was happening. I glanced back at my swimsuit and snorkel. Surely it wouldn't be a big deal if I swam just for a little bit. I put the stuff on and went down the ladder into the cool water. It felt like heaven. I swam for hours straight, diving underwater for a bit then coming back up and swimming on the surface. I was having such a great time, I didn't notice I was getting further and further from the boat. I felt like I was in some sort of trance. I dove down again and swam into a giant blue fish thing. When we made eye contact we both swam away in shock. When I hit the top of the water, I realized how choppy it was getting. And how dark the sky was getting. And how windy it was. And that I couldn't see the boat anymore. Uh oh.
I swam around, calling my mom and dad. The waves got bigger every minute. It started raining too. Then the waves started pulling me down under the water. "HELP!" I screamed when I could. "HELP!" No one came. The waves pulled me under again. But this time I didn't have enough strength to swim back up. I sunk deeper and deeper into the water. Right before I ran out of breath, I swear I saw the blue fish from earlier swim towards me.
"You're gonna be alright," it said. And that was the last thing I heard.
Everything was dark when I started hearing voices. One sounded like a little girl, the other a woman.
"What's gonna happen to him mommy?" the little girl asked.
"He should be fine Kara. He'll just need a little time to heal." the woman replied.
"He looks like he's dead." the little girl, Kara I guess, said.
The woman chuckled. "No Kara. He's alive. Though he probably wouldn't be if you hadn't brought me to him. You did a great thing today."
"I can't wait to show Kimmy, Jered, and daddy!"
"Kara, don't tell anyone about him yet."
"But-"
"Just don't, okay? I'm not too sure when he'll wake up. It might be a couple of days, or a couple of months. We'll just have to wait and see. Now you should really get to bed. It's late and you have to get up early tomorrow."
"Can't I just stay up a little longer?"
"No Kara. You should've gone to sleep hours ago."
"*sigh* Yes mommy."
I felt a hand on my forehead. "I hope this works properly." After she said that I faded back into a deep sleep.
When I finally completely woke up, I was in a bed. For a second I thought I was home, but then I realized that home didn't have rocks for walls and it also wasn't filled from top to bottom with water. I sat up straight and looked around. The cave room didn't have much in it, just a couple of rocks next to the seaweed and anemone bed I was on and a partly broken mirror on the other side. Oh, and a door on a wall. A muffled sound came from it. I walked over and tried to make out the voices.
"-awake yet mommy?" It sounded like the little girl from before.
The woman sighed. "No Kara. I told you I'd tell you when he wakes up, so please stop asking."
"Sorry mommy. I'm just really excited to have a new little brother!" Were they talking about me? How could they be? A muffled shout came from another room. "That's Sadie. Bye mommy!"
I cracked open the doors a bit just to see what they look like. I gasped and slammed the door close. They... they were the blue fish things I saw in the ocean! But... if they live down here, and I'm here with them, then what do I look like? I walked over to the mirror and did what any normal person would do; I screamed my head off. I was also a blue fish! I had dark blue skin, a light blue mohawk thing on top of my head, orange fins on my cheeks, did I mention I was blue? It really freaked me out. I sat down in the corner. Why was I a fish?
There was a soft knock on the door. "May I come in?" It was the woman. I didn't respond, but she came in anyways. She gave me a smile and sat down next to me. "Glad to see that you're away little guy. How are you feeling?"
"I'm a fish." I mumbled.
The woman tsked. "Amphibian. Calling a mudkip a fish is a serious offence."
"Why am I here?" I asked.
She didn't look me in the eye. "The storm on the surface. You ran out of energy and were drowning. My daughter and I found you and brought you here. You were almost dead by the time we got you here, so I transformed you into a mudkip so you could live."
"Can you change me back?" I asked. She didn't reply. "Can I see my mom and dad again?" Still she said nothing. "Will I be like this for the rest of my life?"
"I'm sorry." She whispered. That's all she said, but that answered all of my questions. I curled myself up in a little ball and cried. She hugged me. We sat there for probably an hour, me crying and the fish woman trying to comfort me. How can I live as a fish the rest of my life, not able to even see my family?
I finally calmed down, and the fish woman started talking again. "What's your name?"
"Quentin," I told her quietly.
"That's a nice name. Mine is Sage." It was quiet for another few minutes, then Sage looked at me. "You know Quentin, I think that it's time to start over. Let's start with your name. Quentin isn't really a name for a mudkip. I think we should give you a new name."
"But I like my name," I said a bit defensively.
"I'm not saying it's a bad name, I just think that you would feel like you fit in better if you had a mudkip name."
I could tell what she really meant. I needed to change my name so I could forget my old life. But I don't want to forget. I don't think I can forget. But it seems like I don't have any other choice. My mom and dad would want me to make the best of it. "Can my name be Husky?" Husky was a old nickname I got when I was a baby. If I need to make my name different, then I at least want a name that comes from my family.
I was afraid that Sage wouldn't go with the idea, but she nodded. "Yes, that sounds like a good name."
"For a fish name," I quipped.
Sage sighed. "You have a lot to learn."
