Splashdown
As I woke up to an alarm ringing, I couldn't feel anything.
"Wait nope, here comes the pain," I stated, quietly to myself. I hopped out of bed and got ready for the day. I threw on my favorite bomber jacket as I left through the dorm room's door. Today was gonna be a good day, no, a great day.
My name is Marro, I am an inkling male who is a college student at Inkopolis University. I study ink physics and I plan on being a turf war researcher when I'm done with college. There is also a really cute girl in our class, her name is Coral. I'm gonna go talk to her today.
"Alright Marro, you got this," I said, "All you have to do is go up to her and…"
"Hey loser, whatcha talkin' to yourself about?" said Astra, "Working up the courage to talk to someone other than yourself, oh wait, you can't!"
That was Astra, the person who still bullies me even after I threatened her.
"Yeah, thank you for the compliment Astra," I replied. She's right, I can't talk to other people other than myself. I sit down at my desk and put my head on the table.
"You shouldn't let Astra do that to you, man," said Cuda, my brother, who is an octoling. Yeah, I'm adopted. My bio mom and dad left me on the streets when I was but a little squid, and Cura and Azure found me, they took me in and raised me as one of their own. I put in some earpods and started listening to the Squid Sisters, who long since disbanded, but their music is still good.
"Hey, I saw Astra talking to you earlier, are you two friends?" someone asked. I looked up and it was Coral asking me the question.
"Uh, no, n-not really," I stuttered, "She bullies me a lot."
"Oh, well, I just wanted to say hi," said Coral.
"Hi, I guess," I replied.
You idiot, say something other than hi, ask her how she's doing, I thought to myself. Well, too late now, ask her out to lunch later.
"Hey, uh, Coral, wanna go get lunch together?" I said, nervously.
"Sure, where do you want to go?" Coral replied.
"I was gonna go where you wanted to go, but if you insist, I hear Clam Palace has a new sub-saver up food," I stated.
"Then we go to Clam Palace!" Coral said, excitedly.
After squid and octo biology, we had a small break in between classes, just a short 10 minute break.
"Hey nerd," Astra shouted across the room, "I hear that you asked someone to lunch, was it your mom?"
"Alright, first you don't talk about my mother that way, second, just because I wear glasses and am smarter than you, doesn't mean I'm a nerd, it makes me smarter than you," I retorted, "And third, no the person I asked to eat lunch with was Coral."
"Ooo, look at you stepping up, have fun getting rejected!" Astra said, walking to her next class.
Funny thing is, I sit next to Coral in all of my classes. So she and I get talking, we are partners for quite a lot of things, she and I also play the same instrument. It's a rarer one, but it's called an ocarina, however, I play bass guitar, she does not. In economics class, we have another group project to do, and I am paired with Coral.
"So, what is that amount spent to run the daily news?" Coral recited from the question prompts.
"Around 129 Coins per second of run time," I said.
"That is an oddly specific number, but I'll write that down for the answer," said Coral.
Lunchtime rolls around, so Coral and I head to the Clam Palace for lunch.
"Anything for you and your wife, sir," the waiter asks.
"Um, first off Coral is a friend of mine, not my wife, and, yeah, I'll get the new sub-up clams please," I say.
"And can you make that two orders of the sub-up clams," Coral said.
"Alright two orders of sub-up clams, and sorry for assuming that she was your wife," the waiter apologized.
"Eh, no biggie, I could see how you could get confused," I said, accepting the waiter's apology.
"Hey there li'l sister!" someone said from behind me.
"Hey Reef!" Coral said, "There is someone I want you to meet, his name is Marro."
"I'll assume that you're Marro," Reef asked me.
"Yep, that's me," I said, maybe a little too energetic.
Wow, she's pretty, I thought to myself, it appears that good looks run in their family. I wonder who that guy is, standing next to Reef?
"Hey there, man, name's Bass," the man standing next to Reef said to me, while reaching out his hand in a friendly gesture.
"Hello Bass," I say, shaking his hand, "Coral already introduced me but my name is Marro."
After that, the four of us walked back to the college. We also did some window shopping, but I'm content with my bomber jacket, but those pilot goggles looked really nice.
"Hey guys, can we stop for a second, I gotta grab something," I said to the group.
As I entered the shop, the shopkeeper greeted me and asked what I was looking for.
"Yeah, I'm looking for some pilot goggles," I said.
"Don't worry, we have a deal on them, buy one get one free," the shopkeeper said, "Or you can get the pilot goggles and a different hat 90% off."
I looked around for something Coral would like. Wait, why am I still here? Class starts in 10 minutes.
"Can you put a pair of goggles on hold for me, I got to get to class," I said.
"Sure," the shopkeeper replied, "Come back by the end of the day and we will still have them!"
WHAM! My back hits the brick wall. WHAM! WHAM! POOM! I sustained several blows to the face. My nose is bleeding, I have a black eye.
"Guys, stop it!" Akina, Astra's little sister, begged.
"Can it Akina, he deserves it," Astra said.
I notice that Coral is watching this go down. BAM! I fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of me.
"Stop, all of you, stop," Coral says, in a very serious tone.
"Oh, look who it is, the nerd's girlfriend," Astra said to Coral.
"Not yet, soon though, now, stop or I will beat the crap out of you," Coral said, hiding something behind her back.
"What if I don't stop?" Astra asked.
"Screw around and find out," Coral said.
"Aren't you feisty?" Astra said to Coral, "Come at me if you dare!"
"Aight, you asked for it," Coral said while pulling out Splattershot.
"WOAH, WOAH, IT DOES NOT NEED TO GO THAT FAR!" one of the bullies said.
"Yeah, let's get out of here!" another one said.
Woah, I did not know she would go that far, I thought to myself, while wincing in pain.
"Hey, Coral, thanks for helping me out," I was barely able to speak.
"Let's get you to a hospital, Marro," she said.
"Ok," I said, quietly.
One hospital visit later, and I'm back to full strength.
"Hey, you mentioned something about us not being together yet…What did you mean by that?" I asked Coral.
"Can I talk to you in private?" Coral responded with.
"I mean, sure," I answer. We head for the woods behind the college.
"Marro, there is something I need to get off my chest," Coral said, in a serious tone, "I-I-I love you…"
"Coral, but, I feel the same way," I said back, "Come here."
I felt she needed a hug, so I gave her one.
After a few days, we started to learn more and more about each other. One day we were walking on the street and Astra came up to us.
"Go away Astra," Coral said.
"What are you gonna do, splat me?" Astra teased.
"Oh, you wanna go, we can go right here, right now!" Coral snarled.
"Coral, don't. This isn't the right way to do it," I said, trying to calm Coral.
"Yeah, but Astra's still a piece of crap," she said.
"No wonder your real parents abandoned you, Marro," Astra retorted.
"You know what, I don't even care at this point Astra, your insults don't bother me," I said, "C'mon Coral, let's go hang out in the woods."
Coral and Astra locked eyes for a moment and then Coral followed me into the woods.
"Why do I have the feeling we are being watched?" I ask.
"That's because you are, son," a male voice said from high up in a tree.
"We've searched far and wide for you," a female voice said from another tree.
Two hooded figures jump down from the trees and land in front of Marro and Coral.
"Marro, we are your real parents," both of the hooded figures said, while removing their hoods.
"My name is Nakji, and this is my wife, Kiyoko," Nakji said.
"Mom, Dad, is it really you?" I asked, tearing up.
"Yes son, but we mustn't stay long," Kiyoko stated, "We are being hunted, so I need you to lea—"
A bolt of Ink came flying through the air, nailing Kiyoko in the face, splating her. Another bolt of Ink flew through the sky and hit Nakji in the chest, splating him as well.
"Coral, RUN!" I screamed, as bolts of Ink came flying from all directions. We were able to get away but we were both out of breath, I fell to my knees, and started weeping.
"I just got to meet them," I said, through my tears, "Why must it be like this!"
"I heard you got attacked," Reef said, running up from the left, with Bass trailing.
Coral wrapped her arms around me and started to cry along with me. Reef and Bass also wrapped their arms around me.
"I know what it's like to lose a family member," Bass said, "I lost my mom when I was 7."
"Thank you all," I said, "But I need to go and see the remaining family I have left."
"Then we all go, no matter what happens Marro, I will still be beside you," Coral said.
"Thank you," I said, then everything went dark.
Beep. Beep. Beep. The subtle beeping on the monitor woke me up. I look to my right and I see Coral, she seems to be asleep.
"Ah, you're finally awake," Cuda said, "Coral and I have been waiting for hours for you to wake up."
"Uhgn, how long was I out for?" I asked.
"It's 3 in the morning," Cuda stated, while checking his watch, "Since you're awake, I'm gonna head home."
"Hmm, is that you Marro?" Coral asked.
"Yep, it's me sweetheart," I replied, "Wanna head home?"
"Yeah."
A few years passed, Marro got his degree in ink physics and became a turf war researcher. He also proposed to Coral. They also have a daughter named Marie.
I wonder if this could be our second child, if not, then I hope it's not something worse.
"What is the news doc?" I asked.
"Good and bad news, which do you want to hear first?" the doctor asked.
"Good, then bad," Coral said.
"Good news is, this is your second child, but the bad news, they don't have an ink sac," the doctor stated.
"Does this mean that they won't survive?" Coral asked.
"Sadly, no they will not make it," the doc said, "But there is an octoling who doesn't want their little one, I recommended that they talk to you."
Knocking on the door…followed by the doctor opening it to an octoling named Meggy.
"Hi, um, I hope y'all don't mind, but I don't want my, my little one," Meggy said.
"We promise we'll take good care of them," I promised Meggy.
"What's their name?" Coral asked
"Masu," Meggy said, "Their name is Masu."
"Hi Masu, we're gonna take good care of you," I said.
"Please give him a good life, for my sake…" Meggy stated.
To Be Continued…