Chapter 14: Limits were made for a reason

Did you like the fluffity fluff that fluffed last chapter? Well, either way you get a plot development chapter today.

The vision was peaceful for once, and Izzy didn't really want to leave. Especially after the one he got directly after the Octo Stomp battle. So, when he had awoken, coughing up a mixture of normal blood and ASL, he was not happy to say the least. First off, Izzy was mostly sure he wasn't supposed to have 'normal' blood anymore, and second, his body hurt like hell. Izzy was never one to be a helpless victim, so with a grunt he swung out of the bed he was currently residing in and stood up. Looking around, he took note that wherever he was, it was pretty high end. He had a king sized bed, a soft magenta carpet woven in a squid pattern, and a nightstand set next to his bed with a… lava lamp? There were two doors in the room, one he guessed was the way one, and other most likely a bathroom. Opening it, he confirmed his second suspicion as he was met by a sparse but very clean bathroom.

Despite him not having any obvious wounds, Izzy still felt nauseous and exhausted. Stumbling over to a mirror, he realized he was also EXTREMELY pale. Almost no color adorned his face or any other part of his body. He tried to summon ASL to his arm, but only a faint blue color showed up before it sputtered away dimly.

His stomach growled, and he pulled off a weak smile. Trudging to the door, he flung it open to reveal a nicely furbished hallway. Izzy's eyebrows almost raised themselves, it was clear he was in a five-star hotel, or somewhere of equal quality. Hearing two voices down the hall, he was half tempted to run back to his room, but he didn't know what that would do to his health. Instead he strode down towards the noise at an even pace, and before he knew it, he was face to face with both Callie and Marie.

"You're… awake? And walking?" Callie said, surprise evident in her voice.

"It will take more than a giant cube with a frowny face to kill me, I hope." Izzy said, leaning against the wall for support.

"Yeah… but you lost about 4.5 pints of blood. At best, you would be in a coma due to shock, and when you woke up you would probably be crippled for life." Marie added, mystified.

Izzy was shocked, but attempted not to show it. He lost THAT much blood? The only time he remembered getting injured was with the shrapnel sticking out of his arm, and that was not nearly enough to even come close to half a pint. Everything slowly kicked into place.

"Do you know why I lost that much?" Both of them shook their heads.

"The doctor we brought in couldn't fathom a reason why. He also said it was strange, when we first brought you back your blood concentration mostly had a light red color when oxidized. After an hour or two, it was being replaced by a thick bluish type substance, oxidation or not." Calle informed him.

Izzy visibly paled even further, giving his face the appearance of chalk. ASL functioned as a blood substitute, but when you use it… his blood level drains. That explained his dizziness after the battle, the stress of holding the massive octo stomp up so long drained him. Could that possibly be the explanation for his... unpleasant vision directly afterward as well?

"Delta?" Marie asked, slightly concerned.

Izzy shook his head. "I'm fine, just a little tired from the whole thing. I really could use something to eat though."

Marie visibly perked up, and ran off in the opposite direction, shouting something about kelp stew. Callie gave a small laugh before turning back to him.

"What you did was the bravest and dumbest thing I have ever seen." She said simply, her arms crossed. "Try to be more careful in the future, okay?" She then did something Izzy would have never expected, she planted a small kiss on his cheek before going to find wherever Marie had went off to. Izzy rubbed his check, thoroughly surprised.

"It's going to be one hell of a day, isn't it?"

oo0OO0oo

"Boss?" A deep voice came filtering through the door.

"Come in…" A raspy voice replied.

X was pleasantly surprised when he saw his lieutenant, the human, come into the chamber.

"I just want ya to know, I had another vision about that brat again." Al said, only half interested in the report.

"And?" X prompted. "Anything of major importance?"

"Same old, same old. I don't know why you insist on wastin' both of our time with this." He grumbled back.

"Relay it once more, then only tell me again if it changes." X said neutrally.

"There's this kid, about an inch shorter than me, yeah? He looks like he has powers like me, but his glows blue and he is helpin' the inklings." Al reported.

"Very well, thank you Al. You have the rest of the day free." X watched as Al grinned and strode out, probably to "train" some of the octolings.

"They probably need it anyway…" X mumbled to himself, before returning to the screen in front of him.

oo0OO0oo

After a small meal and some water, Izzy was feeling quite better.

"How many inklings know I exist now?" Izzy questioned quietly. His element of surprise was his best bet for escaping the attention of both inklings and octolings.

"Only really that doctor we brought in, but we have his word on keeping his lips sealed. He has helped our family for over a decade." Marie said, gleeful that someone had actually enjoyed her kelp soup. "You know, you should go shopping with us sometime, it would be fun!"

"Marie." Izzy deadpanned. "I WANT to stay hidden, and I think going to a public store would be on my top ten avoid this place list."

"Awww cmon! We could Disguise you and everything!" Marie said, trying to get him to agree.

"The main problem is that I can't read inkish and I am super tall compared to inklings. I think I am even slightly taller than Spyke!" Izzy rebutted.

"I actually agree with Marie on this." Callie said, who had been quiet up to this point.

"Why's that?" Izzy questioned.

"You've been working yourself too hard. I don't care if you are a supersoldier or not, everyone needs a break so you don't collapse from the stress." She said, locking eyes with him. "You're very important to us… to me… and I can't stand to see you neglect yourself! What would happen to us and Hamil if you were to collapse under the stress? Like it or not, you're our friend, and we all look up to you for inspiration."

"I can handle it." Izzy said, looking down to avoid eye contact.

"Maybe. Can you just promise to take better care of yourself if nothing else?" She pleaded.

"Yeah." Izzy said, letting out a sigh. "When you put it that way… yeah. And IF you find a suitable size by tomorrow… I'll go with you to the shopping trip."

Marie squealed before hugging him.