Archive of Our Own ^beta

All of the little ones have settled down in their room now. The Octonauts had spent the rest of the morning giving them a tour of the Octopod. Tweak proudly showed them all the new upgrades and extra rooms that have been added. Now the kids are unpacking their bags in the rooms she had added for the junior Octo-agents while they’re in training. Now she’s standing in the HQ with the Octonauts, discussing how the rest of the day should go. Peso was going on and on about important medical conditions of some of the kids, making sure Tunip pays close attention to all of the food allergies he’s mentioning. Tweak takes a peak out of the window into the wide, open ocean. The rest of the crew all have close relationships with at least one of the kids. Even Kwazii, who isn’t related to any of them, has formed a close relationship with Pinto. Tweak is the only one that doesn’t. Knowing that, she misses her home and her father even more.

 

“…Shellington with Periwinkle, Tweak with Stella and Kwazii and I will be with the twins. Understood?”, the captain’s naturally loud voice cuts through Tweak’s thoughts when her name is said. Everyone each says their form of agreement before going wherever it is they’re going. Not really knowing what to do, Tweak decides to go find Stella.

 

Arriving in the girls’ room, Tweak finds Dashi already helping out Koshi. “Do you need any help Stella?”, she asks. The fox lifts her head and looks her straight into her eyes. After a moment of her staring at Tweak, she finally replies: “Kind of. I need help re-folding my clothes.” Tweak walks over to her, kneels down and begins folding her clothes and putting them in her assigned wardrobe, a great silence upon the two of them. From the left side, Dashi and Koshi can be heard talking about mystery books. From the right side, Ursa can be heard telling the captain about everything she’s been up to in the North Pole. I should probably try and start a conversation with her. I’ll be her temporary guardian for a while after all.

 

“So what do ya like to do in your free time?”, the bunny asks. “Reading, writing, studying, helping my uncle with his work, watching the fresh snow fall, watching the sun set…”, Stella starts rambling on about the beautiful sights in the arctic. Wow, she seems really passionate about her home, Tweak thinks to herself. She can’t really blame her. There is no other place quite like home. After some small chat, Tweak starts noticing how Stella shoots a few glances at her every now and then. “Is there somethin’ wrong?”, she asks, “You have been givin’ me weird looks for a while now.” “I-It’s nothing. I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. It’s just that…I have never seen a green rabbit before”, Stella tries to explain. It takes a while for Tweak to process what the fox just said. No one else has ever questioned her strange colour before. Maybe they just didn’t want to be rude. This fox one the other hand, can’t hide her curiosity. Tweak grins at that thought. “Yeah, it’s an unusual colour indeed”, she says with a smile. She looks over to Stella, who seems to be shocked by her answer. This just made Tweak smile wider. She put away the last piece of clothing before getting up and ruffling the pup’s hair. Stella shrieks in response. Tweak is starting to like this pup already.

 

With Tweak’s suggestion in mind, the two girls make their way to the game pod. Only to find Kwazii and Orson already there, playing ping pong. “Maybe we could do something else”, Stella suggests, “We should get to know each other more anyway.” “Good idea”, Tweak says, trying to think of where they should go. Maybe I should take her to the launch bay. I could show her how to play my video games and then we could talk while playing, Tweak thinks to herself. Leading the way, Tweak shows Stella where her room is. “How come all the others get a proper room, while you have this open space in the launch bay?”, is naturally Stella’s first question. “Don’t get your ears in a twist. I want my room to be here. Wouldn’t have it any other way”, with that, Tweak takes a bite into a carrot that she pulled out of nowhere. The pup tilts her head in confusion as she lets Tweak’s words sink in. “Okay…”, she finally answers, her voice portraying confusion and concern. “C’mon, let me show ya how to play”, she said, making hand gestures towards her gaming console.

 

An hour of more small talk, gaming and solving riddles later, Tunip comes in to let the two know that lunch is ready. Tweak gets up from the bed, looking back to see if Stella’s following her. Instead, she sees the girl’s head tilting once again, as she observes Tunip. “Did I say something wrong?”, Tunip chirps confused. That’s when Tweak realized that, other than the Octonauts, no one else knew much about the Vegimals. Looking at the curiosity portrayed on Stella's face, Tweak starts laughing. “This here is Tunip. He’s what Shellington calls a Vegimal. He and his crew are the ones in charge of cookin’ our meals. He may not necessarily speak out language, but he can still understand us”, Tweak explains. Tunip chirps happily while waving at Stella. Stella returns the gesture. “C’mon, let’s go see what the Vegimals have cooked for us today”, Tweak says while heading towards an Octo-shoot.

 

Tweak observed Stella throughout the whole meal. Stella, just like Periwinkle, never spoke unless spoken to. They both gave awkward and shy vibes. It’s obvious to everyone that they aren’t the best at socializing. Tweak has learned quite a lot about Stella and has gotten quite fond of her. She now worries that Stella won’t be able to make friends her age at this rate.

After dessert, the kids are told to get to know each other more. Orson, Ursa, Squirt, Koshi and Pinto enthusiastically go down an Octo-shoot, leaving Periwinkle and Stella behind. “Go on Peri, it’ll do you good to make friends your age”, Shellington said, trying to motivate the young sea otter. Tweak opens her mouth in an effort to speak, before getting interrupted by the captain: “You should do the same Stella. It will certainly calm your uncle’s nerves to hear that you have made some friends. That is one of the reasons why your uncle brought you here, isn’t it?” The captain’s voice is much more softer than it usually is. It sounds soothing, calming and reassuring. It’s not often that Tweak has the opportunity to hear his voice like that. Stella sighs and joins Periwinkle on their quest to make new friends. Tweak can only hope that all goes well for them.

Koshi had heared Stella sobbing. The reason she didn’t do anything about it, is because she didn’t know what she should do about it. She often finds her sister silently sobbing, but in that case, she knows exactly why. Her close attention to detail has helped her be able to identify whether Dashi’s crying because of their mother, because she got a bad grade, because her boyfriends broke up with her, because she was being bullied or because their father has yelled at her yet again for wanting to become a photographer instead of getting a “real” job. Koshi always knows what to say in any of those cases, but right now, she has no idea how to confort the pup. So she decides to pretend that she’s still sleeping.

 

 

It’s been about five minutes, and Stella is still sobbing. The longer she does so, the more guilty Koshi feels for not doing anything about it. Stella’s quiet, soft, gentle sobs cut through Koshi, almost making her wince in pain. After another two minutes pass, Koshi finally decides to do something about it. Just as she slowly rises from her bed, the door swiftly slides open. The silhouette of a penguin lets Koshi know that it’s Peso. As if a telepathic message had been sent to the both of them, they slowly walk to the pup’s bed together. They both sit on either side of Stella’s bed as the startled pup started making rash movements. Koshi turns on Stella’s bedside lamp on the dimmest setting before facing her. Stella had just hidden something behind her pillow when Koshi had looked in her direction.

 

“Sorry for waking you up”, Stella mumbles.

“Don’t worry about it. You didn’t wake me up at all. I was already awake”, Koshi reassures.

“Really? What are you doing awake at this hour?”, Stella asks.

From experience with trying to confort her sister, Koshi could tell that Stella is trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.

“Not so fast. You first”, she therefore says.

“What are you talking about?”, Stella replies calmly.

“Why were you crying?”, Peso asks as gently as possible.

“Why were you crying?”, Stella redirects the question.

“Wh-What?”, Peso responds anxiously while trying his best to appear confused.

Now that Stella has mentioned it, Peso’s eyes do indeed look a little puffy, as if he had been crying not too long ago. Unlike Stella though, Peso is an adult with the right to keep things to himself, so Koshi lets him off the hook and continues interrogating Stella.

“Stop changing the subject and answer our questions”, she firmly says.

Stella looks her deep into her eyes. They stare at each other in silence for a while, waiting for one of them to break the silence.

 

“Are you feeling homesick?”, Peso asks.

After staring into Koshi’s hazel brown eyes a little longer, she turns to face the penguin.

“No”, she says in a way that left no place for discussion.

“Then what is making you cry?”, Peso asks calmly, with a hint of concern.

While Peso tries and fails to get answers, Koshi uses the opportunity to find out what Stella hid underneath her pillow. She cautiously approaches the pillow and slowly puts her paw through the gap between the pillow and the head of the bed. Shortly after, she finally finds what she’s looking for and carefully pulls it out. Her curiosity and desperation to find out what it is causes her to start getting careless. She watches from the corner of her eye how Stella’s ears twitch, before the pup quickly grabs Koshi’s arm.

“Leave it be. The two of you should go get some rest, I’ve kept you awake for long enough”, Stella says in a calm but threatening tone, tightening her grip as Koshi tries to pull out her paw.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong”, Peso says sternly.

“Well I won’t tell you anything unless you tell me what’s wrong”, Stella replies.

The two stare each other down as Koshi continues her attempt to get her paw freed.

“Stella, I have already let go of whatever it is that you’re hiding”, Koshi explains, while trying to figure out the texture of the object she’s holding.

Stella’s eyes shoot in her direction, bringing judgment along with them. Her grip slowly loosens itself, just enough for Koshi to remove her paw, but not enough for the object she’s holding to come out with her paw. Koshi slowly removes her paw, before yanking it out into the open, along with the object. Stella barely manages to muffle her surprised yell as what she had tried to hide has now been brought out into the open. Koshi stands up and takes a few steps back, in order to prevent any attempts of Stella trying to get the object back. She uses the light of her Octo-watch screen to examine the object. It was a stuffed toy that looks like an artic fox. The fox was wearing a sky blue T-shirt, similar to the one Stella was wearing before, and a pale yellow jacket. He had some shorts and sneakers on. His bright smile showed confidence and comfort. The sewing on the teddy was terribly done, clearly handmade. Perhaps it was given to Stella as a gift. Perhaps the reason why she was holding it while crying is because she misses the person that made it for her. She said that she’s not homesick, so it could be a possibility that Koshi’s theory is correct.

 

“You miss the creature that made this for you, don’t you?”, Koshi asks in a low voice.

Stella just stares at her, still shocked by what had happened.

“The mission I went on reminded me of something that happened in the past. Your turn”, Peso quickly said. He sounded annoyed. In fact, it almost sounded like he was hissing. He seems to have realized that, because after taking a deep breath, he apologizes for his tone.

“I miss my father, that’s all”, Stella basically whispers.

“Did something happen to him?”, Koshi asks. She was under the impression that the fox lives with her uncle, so it could be that it’s because something happened to her father.

Stella winces unwillingly. She avoids all eye contact with the penguin and the dog.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure that he’ll be fine”, Peso says smoothly.

Stella chocks up on those words and stars silently sobbing again. It looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Koshi raises her head at the same time as Peso. The two of them look each other in the eyes, worry and concern clearly showcasing on both of their faces. It’s clear that Stella’s father is in bad condition. What if…, Koshi thinks to herself, What if his condition is so bad that he could… And Stella wouldn’t be close enough to be there…for his final days…

Koshi and Peso must have been thinking the same thing at the same pace, because they both lean in to hug Stella at the same time. Stella flinches at the sudden gesture of comfort by the two, but quickly calms down and welcomes it. Her sobs get slightly louder as she starts shivering, while tears from both Peso and Koshi slowly start making their way on her shoulders.

His alarm goes off. He jumps out of bed. He puts on his cold suit. He brushes his teeth. He goes through the Octo-shoot and into the HQ. This was his daily morning routine. Despite going to bed late, he still woke up early. While yawning, he walks to the hot cocoa machine and puts his cup in place. It has been years since Barnacles has had coffee. It took him quite a while to get used to having hot cocoa instead, but now he’s practically addicted to it. He remembers the first (and hopefully last) time the Octonauts and Octo-agents had completely run out of hot cocoa. No matter how hard he tried to hide his disappointment, he has a sneaking suspicion that it still showed.

As he takes a sip of his hot cocoa, Dashi hops out of the Octo-shoot, shortly followed by Tweak.

 

“Good morning ladies”, Barnacles says.

“Morning cap”, Tweak yawns as she walks towards the hot cocoa machine.

“Good morning captain Barnacles”, Dashi replies in a formal manner, as always.

“How did you sleep?”, he asks, knowing full well how Tweak will answer.

The rabbit groans as she stretches herself. “Could barely sleep, once again”, she answers annoyed.

“I slept fairly well, thanks for asking. How about you captain?”, Dashi returns the question.

“Oh, well…I also slept well”, Barnacles replies.

“You’re the worst at ly’ng”, Tweak remarks while chuckling, “I heard you ‘nd the others returning long past midnight."

“I see. Well, I hope we didn’t wake you up”, Barnacles says sheepishly, ashamed that he had been caught.

“Not at all, I was just about-a hop out of bed and play a li’l until sleep finally finds me”, Tweak resplies while laughing.

Barnacles peaks over to Dashi, who gave him a concerned look.

“With all due respect, perhaps you should stay in bed a little longer captain”, Dashi calmly says.

Barnacles loves her calm voice, but he is ashamed at how she’s more professional than he is.

“There is no need to worry about me Dashi, I’ll be fine. Besides, I need to continue the search for the missing humuhumu”, he says firmly.

Dashi’s concerned expression does not ease away. She opens her mouth to say something, but is interrupted by an ear screeching yell from the Octo-shoot.

“YYOOOWWWW!”, a ginger cat comes shooting out of the Octo-shoot, making a double front flip as he does so.

“Captain, I’m ready to continue the search!”, Kwazii exclaims, with a bit too much enthusiasm for someone who is supposed to be tired.

“I am ready as well”, Peso says while letting out a yawn.

“Are you sure?”, Barnacles asks with worry, “I can go on my own if you’re too tired-“

“Don’t worry captain!”, Kwazii yells.

“We’ll find Humpert and then come back to get some rest”, Peso calmly reassures.

“Alright”, Barnacles says, seeing the flames of determination in both Kwazii and Peso, “Let’s get going.”

 

 

The trio had been searching for Humpert for hours now. With each hour that passed, Peso grew more and more uneasy. Barnacles had observed the same behavior the day before, and was starting to get concerned about his crew mate. The whole crew had become a family, but of course, they all still have their own secrets, their own hidden past lives that might be revealed when the time comes to do so.

After another hour of searching for the humuhumu without any success, Barnaces decides that the trio should take a break and eat something. Peso, however, politely excuses himself and continues searching for the fish on his own. It took some persuading, but Barnacles ended up giving him perission to do so.

“What’s wrong with our lil’ matey?”, Kwazii asks as soon as the medic leaves the gup-A.

“I’m not sure”, Barnacles calmly responds.

“Should we ask him?”, Kwazii sugggests.

Barnacles thinks for a minute. He is concerned about the penguin, but if Peso is not ready to talk about it, then they shouldn’t push him to do so. On the other hand, maybe all it takes for Peso to finally open up is for them to ask him what’s going on. Either way, there’s no harm in asking him. As long as they do it politely.

“We’ll ask him about it when the time is right”, Barnacles confirms.

 

As soon as the duo finish eating, they continue with their search, while also keeping an eye out for Peso.

“I’m near a coral reef captain”, Peso’s voice explains through the radio.

“I see one up ahead on the left!”, Kwazii excitedly exclaims.

“We’re on our way Peso”, Barnacles’ tone was calm.

It didn’t take long for the duo to find the penguin. They continued their search for a few more hours. Peso was getting more and more impatient, making the others more and more concerned. Kwazii gives Barnacles a sad look. Barnacles nods shortly, signalizing that now is the right time.

“Are you alright me hearty?”, Kwazii calmly asks, with an unnaturally  comforting voice for someone like him.

“Yeah”, Peso sheepishly answers.

“Peso, if you ever need to talk to anyone, we’re always here to listen”, Branacles says, making sure that his voice stays calm, comforting and reassuring.

Peso hesitates for a while, looking down at his feet while thinking about it.

“I’m just worried. Creatures that go missing…what if they have a severe injury?”, he slowly explains.

“Peso, has this kind of situation happen to you before?”, Barnacles says slowly, attempting to get a little more information from what Peso has mentioned.

“…My brother. Not Pinto, my other brother”, Peso finally admits.

“Other brother!?”, Kwazii says, the concern now replaced by shock and disbelief, “Since when have you had another brother!?”

Peso flinches at the sudden change of tone.

“Calm down Kwazii”, Barnacles firmly says, stopping the engine to put a comforting paw on Peso’s shoulder.

“Pedro. He…he went missing. For months. When he was found… It was too late”, Peso slowly starts crying.

Barnacles pulls him into a hug. Kwazii joins them shortly after. The trio stay that way for a few more minutes.

“We’ll find Humpert Peso, I promise”, Barnacles softly, but firmly, states.

 

The trio have been gone for hours once again. Inkling hated when missions took this long. He would always get concerned about the effect it would have on the others. He cared about them deeply, they were like his children to him. He had watched how they helped him make his dream come true, his dream of making the oceans a better and safer place, despite knowing the dangers in doing so. He will never be able to express his undying gratitude towards each team member for everything that they have done. And now the captain, the lieutenant and the medic are out searching for a creature in need of help for several hours once again. If this continues, it will most certainly have a negative effect on their sleeping schedules.

 

“What’s wrong Inky?”, Min's concerned tone can be heard through the Octo-tablet.

Inkling would often call Min whenever he was troubled.

“Ah, nothing much. I’m just worried about the trio”, He says with a sigh.

“Have they been gone for a long time again?”, Min asks in a soft tone.

“I’m afraid so”, Inkling replies.

The two of them share a moment of silence. Inkling can already tell that Min is waiting for him to further unpack his troubles, but sadly he isn’t good at doing that.

“So…how has your week been?”, he awkwardly says in an attempt to change the subject.

“Inkling…”, Min’s calm and patient, yet clearly concerned tone pierces through Inklings heart. Min usually refers to him as ‘Inky’. She doesn’t call him ‘Inkling’ unless it’s a serious matter. Which just makes the sting worse.

“I’m sorry, you know that I’m not good at this sort of thing”, Inkling confesses, “I just…they’re like my children, you know? And what kind of father would let their child go through all of this?”

“So you feel guilty?”, Min asks.

“I…I guess so. I just want what’s best for them”, Inkling slumps into his chair in defeat.

“They all knew the risks they were taking when they applied for the job. They made the choice to go out there and risk their lives”, Min’s voice was gentle, but Inkling could hear how it was shaking.

“I know. You’re right. Despite that, I still feel guilty for some reason”, Inkling says, deciding not to confront Min for now.

“As you already said, it’s natural for a father to be worried about their children. Just trust them with the choices they make. They are old enough to take care of themselves”, Min’s voice was like a gentle breez, bringing comfort to the professor.

“I suppose you do make a good point”, he says. After sighing, he proceeds to show her his gratitude for always being there for him and for comforting him. They talk for about an hour after that before ending the call. With a smile on his face, Inkling turns towards a bookshelf and picks up whichever book is in his reach.

 

 

Inkling had just finished going around the Octopod to make sure that everyone was in bed, when the trio finally came back. They came back earlier than they did yesterday, which made the professor happy.

“Welcome back you three. How did it go? Did you find the missing humuhumunukunukuapa'a?”, Inkling asks in a joyful tone. There is a sudden shift in the atmosphere as Inkling realizes the sorrowful expression on all three of the trio’s faces, especially Peso’s. In fact, by the way the cat and the polar bear are handling the penguin, it seems like they’re trying to comfort him.

“Wh-What happened?”, Inkling stutters, the fear of a concerned father rising up.

“We sadly had no success finding the fish, professor”, the captain replies in a calming but firm tone.

“Are you alright Peso?”, Inkling asks.

“Yes professor, I’m just a little worried about the lost fish, that’s all”, Peso answers more quietly and shy than ever.

“Are you sure that’s it? You know that you can tell me anything”, the professor proceeds, desperate to find out what’s bothering the medic.

“It’s nothing, really”, Peso answers, this time in a more persuasive way.

“Alright. Well, the three of you better head to bed now”, Inkling says, despite still not being convinced by Peso’s words.

“You’re right”, Barnacles agrees while yawning, “After all, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

And with that, the four of them go their separate ways.

 

 

Cornin should have been here by now. Every evening, at about this time, Cornin would always come by and give the professor his bed-time-tea. Inkling is starting to get worried for the wellbeing of the Vegimal, and decides to go looking for him.

 

“Cornin? What happened?”, Inkling asks with concern.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that professor. While I was on my way to deliver your tea to you, I heard some strange noises coming from Peso’s bedroom. I went inside to investigate and found him fumbling around with something. When I had asked him why he’s still awake, he said that he couldn’t sleep. I gave him your tea, since I know that it helps you sleep. I’m preparing another cup right now”, Cornin explains in Vegimalese.

“Alright. I’m glad you gave him the tea. I wonder what’s been bothering him lately”, Inkling says while slowly drifting deep in thought.

“Perhaps you should go talk to him while you wait for your tea to be finished”, Tunip suggestes.

“What a wonderful idea Tunip! Just make sure that you all go to bed on time as well, okay?”, Inkling asks, while eying Barrot.

“Yes sir!”, Barrot says while saluting.

“I’ll come check on you later just in case”, Inkling mentions before he goes to Peso’s room using the electric chair that Tweak had made for him.

 

 

“What are you doing awake at this late hour Peso?”, Inkling asks with the patience and concern of a loving father.

“I’m just struggling to sleep, it’s nothing severe”, Peso replies.

“Peso, please be honest with me”, Inkling pleads.

Peso looks him into his eyes for a few seconds before looking down at the floor. Peso was sitting on his bed, with the tea cup in his flippers. The room was dark, with nothing but Peso’s bedside lamp providing some light. Inkling got out of his chair and made his way over to Peso to sit next to him, while the penguin puts his cup aside.

“Please tell me what’s wrong Peso. I want to help you”, Inkling gives one more desperate attempt to finding out the truth.

Peso remains quiet and continues staring at the floor. They stay seated that way for a while, until Peso abruptly turns towards the professor, catching the octopus by surprise.

“My older brother Pedro. He had gone missing for a long time. When he was found… He was badly injured… Months had gone by… It was way too late… I just…I just don’t want the same thing to happen again”, Peso stutters and stumbles over his words, but he finally manages to tell the professor what has been bothering him. They share a moment of silence, until Inkling pulls Peso into a hug. They stay like that for a while. Not a word is needed to be said. The comfort of the hug is more than enough. Peso’s shoulders violently shake as he starts crying, as Inkling tries his best to further comfort the penguin.

Despite everything that Peso has said, Inkling can’t help but feel like Peso’s still hiding something.

The trio get up early in the morning once again to go continue looking for the missing fish. As the days go on, Kwazii starts taking this mission more and more seriously. Not that he wasn’t serious before, he was just…looking for adventure as always. But after hearing why Peso’s so worried, there is no way that Kwazii won’t take this seriously. He absolutely has to find this fish, so that his friend can finally be at peace again.

The trio have looked everywhere for the missing fish, yet there is still no sign of it. Kwazii was already starting to consider that the worse has happened, after all, he’s seen it happen many times during his pirate days. But he refuses to give up and tries to think the way an Octonaut would.

 

The gup-A approaches a cave.

“Maybe it’s in there!”, Peso exclaims full of newfound hope.

“Let’s go investigate!”, Kwazii yells, trying his best to hide his doubts.

“Alright. Remember to proceed with precaution. Especially you Kwazii”, the captain turns away from the steering wheel to face the lieutenant.

“Kwazii?”, captain Barnacles asks after realizing that the cat has gone missing. He turns around to find Kwazii already swimming towards the cave. With a sigh, Peso and Barnacles follow him outside.

 

“Everybody stick together”, the captain orders.

“We’re never going to find a missing fish in this huge cave if we don’t split up!”, Kwazii whines.

“Kwazii-“, Barnacles tries to knock some sense into the cat, but gets interrupted by Peso.

“Maybe he’s right this time. It would be best if we split up”, Peso shyly admits.

Kwazii watches the captain as the polar bear ponders over this suggestion.

“Alright then. Let’s meet up here again in an hour and a half”, Barnacles finally agrees.

With a cheer, Kwazii swims away to the left side without another thought.

 

 

An hour has already passed. Kwazii only has half an hour left to continue looking for the fish, half of which he’ll need to swim back to the entrance of the cave. Kwazii looks around the section of the cave that he is in one more time, making sure to flip every single loose stone while he does so. By the time he’s done, 27 minutes have already passed. Using all of the energy he has left, Kwazii swims as quickly as possible to the entrance of the cave. If only I had the gup-B, Kwazii thinks to himself, I’d be out of here faster then Tweak can say ‘bunch of crunchy munchy carrots!’ Kwazii tries his best to pick up the speed, without any success. I wonder how Barnacles is holding up on his own, Kwazii ponders. Over the many years that the two have known each other, they have become quite close. Kwazii was the first to find out about the captain’s claustrophobia back in the early days when Tweak was still building the Octopod. Now that Kwazii had the chance to examine the cave, he noticed the thin lair of ice on the stone walls. He figured that it might trigger the captains fear and remind him of the time he was stuck in a narrow hole inside of an icy cave. Kwazii showing up late to the agreed meeting point certainly won’t help calm his nerves. As Kwazii zooms through the cave deep in thought, he suddenly bumps into Peso.

 

“Sorry ‘bout that me hearty. Are you alright?”, Kwazii asks.

“Humpert!”, Peso yells.

“What?”, Kwazii looks around him in confusion, trying to find the fish.

“Over there!”, Peso yells while swimming above Kwazii‘s head.

Kwazii follows him immediately without a second thought. They swim through a giant hole in the ceiling, which Kwazii somehow didn’t see before, and end up in an entirely different section in the cave.

“Humpert! Where are you!?”, Peso yells, now sounding distressed.

“Over here. Ow! I-I hurt my fin”, a shy voice replies.

Peso goes zooming passed Kwazii and finds Humpert stuck between two rocks.

“Kwazii, help me!”, Peso calls out after struggling to move the rock.

“Right behind ya matey!”, Kwazii enthusiastically replies.

The two of the Octonauts try pulling the two rocks apart, but no matter how hard they try, they do not succeed.

“Perhaps we should go ask the captain to help us”, Peso suggests.

“I dunno me hearty, you know how…this small icy cave might…”, Kwazii makes an attempt to explain how this may effect the captain, without outright exposing him.

“Kwazii, we need the captains help!”, Peso exclaims, now frustrated and annoyed.

“Okay, okay! Calm down matey! I’ll go get him”, Kwazii says while trying to calm Peso down.

 

 

Barnacles was able to separate the rocks and free the fish. Peso bandaged up his sore fin and then the trio brought him with them to the Octopod. Peso had given Kwazii a lecture about being more careful and watching where he was going. He seemed unnaturally angry for someone who is usually calm and shy. Humpert is now resting in the medical bay and the trio was able to get some shut eye. Kwazii was hoping to go for a ride in the gup-B, but Tweak told him that he needs to get some more rest. Not having anything better to do, Kwazii decides to go bother Barnacles.

 

Kwazii knocks on the captains door and waits for a reply. A few seconds later, the door slides open.

“Hello Kwazii. Is there anything that I can do for you?”, Barnacles asks confused.

“Why do you look so confused me hearty? Can’t your favorite lieutenant hangout with you outside of missions?”, Kwazii teasingly asks.

Barnacles sighs: “I guess you kind of have a point. What do you want to do Kwazii?”

“Three rounds of ping pong, winner gets bragging rights for two whole weeks!”, Kwazii leaps into the air with excitement. Barnacles laughs at the sight of his enthusiastic and energetic teammate.

“Alright, you’re on.”

“Last one to the game pod is a rotten pirate pie!”, Kwazii yells while dashing out of the door.

“Not fair! You had a head start!”, Barnacles complains while trying to catch up to Kwazii.

 

Kwazii has always loved Barnacles’ more relaxed side. This Barnacles isn’t just the captain, he’s Kwazii’s best friend. What Kwazii loves even more is Barnacles’ competitiveness. It matches well with his own. The ping pong ball continues to bounce from one end of the table to another as the two go back and forth in an effort to win the match. As they continue on with their match, a crowd starts to form around them. At first it was just Pinto. His loud cheers caught the twins’ and Koshi’s attention. The louder cheers brought Tweak, Dashi, Shellington and Barrot. The other kids joined shortly afterwards, followed by the rest of the Octonauts.

“Go uncle Barnacles!!”, the twins yell.

“Go Kwazii!”, Pinto yells.

The others are neutral and cheer both players on.

With one final and fierce hit, Barnacles manages to score the winning point.

“Two rounds down, one left to go! Kwazii won the first round and captain Barnacles won the second, meaning this last round will be the tie breaker!”, Dashi announces with her camera in her paws, “Will Kwazii’s quick reflexes get him the win, or will captain Barnacles’ strenght steal the victory!”

A round of applause and cheers fill the room as the duo get ready for the final match.

Dashi has always loved competitions, being particularly competitive herself. She remembers how she had tried to hide that from her teammates when they had first started working together. After all, one needs to be professional in a work environment. But as the team started growing closer together and started getting more open with each other, Dashi’s competitiveness started to rise to the surface. Especially during their beach day trips, where they would always play beach volleyball together. Beach volleyball is one of Dashi’s favorite sports, along with surfing and cricket. Dashi has always wanted to have a chance to play against the captain, just to see if her clever strategies could outmatch his incredible strength. Unfortunately, they have never had the chance to do so. Not that Dashi has ever asked. That would be too unprofessional, no matter how close they might be. She has already softened quite a bit, she can’t slip up even more. Dashi knows her job and she knows her place, so rather than challenging captain Barnacles or even Kwazii to a match, she decides to record the two of them playing against each other.

 

“You can do this Kwazii!”, Pinto shouts.

“Show him how it’s done uncle Barnacles!”, Ursa yells.

The room is filled with the competitive spirit of everyone invested into the game. Another one of the many things Dashi loves about sports.

The ball continues bouncing back and forth. If Kwazii does one wrong move, the captain wins. His cat-like quickness should be at his favor for this, but he’s starting to get slower out of exhaustion. The captain on the other hand has been saving all of his strength for this final round. One would think that the odds are in the captains favor, but Dashi knows better than to underestimate Kwazii and his will power. There is no way that he’ll let himself be beaten, especially not in front of a large crowd. Sure enough, Kwazii keeps on pushing past his limits in an effort to keep the ball in the game. With Kwazii’s quick and slick passes always rolling over the net, and captain Barnacles powerful passes always landing on the corner of the ping pong table, the next moves are starting to get predictable. Dashi waits in anticipation for one of the guys to make the first unexpected move, and at last, captain Barnacles smashes the ball in the middle of Kwazii’s side of the table, making it bounce sky high unlike all of the previous low passes. To everyone’s surprise, Kwazii manages to jump just in time to throw the ball back, catching captain Barnacles off guard and scoring a point.

“YEOW!”, Kwazii yells with renewed energy, “That was amazing captain!”

“Thanks Kwazii. I was not expecting you to get that”, captain Barnacles answers, still in shook.

“Neither was I”, Kwazii says while his tail starts wagging.

“Shall we finally end this?”, the captain asks, seemingly catching Kwazii’s contagious burst of energy.

“Aye aye captain!”, the lieutenant yells back.

And so, the final round continues. As always, Kwazii ends up winning, although the captain has improved a lot.

Kwazii leaps into the air with excitement, joined by Pinto and Koshi. Captain Barnacles receives motivation from his niece and nephew, taking the opportunity to whisper something into their ears. As the applause and the excitement dies down, the room slowly starts emptying.

 

“That was an intense match”, Dashi calmly states while approaching the captain.

“Indeed it was”, Shellington agrees.

“Don’t the kids have a marine biology lesson coming up soon?”, Dashi reminds the sea otter.

“Oh, right! I better get going then. Thanks for reminding me Dashi!”, Shellington exclaims before rushing off.

“Your welcome!”, Dashi calls after him.

Barnacles gently chuckles. “Come on you three, you should go get ready for your lesson”, he says.

“Alright. See you later uncle!”, Orson calls out as he drags his sister out of the room.

“Hey Peso, can you show me the medic bay again before class starts?”, Pinto asks.

“Hmmm…I suppose that there’s still a little bit of time left. Alright then, follow me”, Peso replies. And with that, the two brothers leave the room, leaving only Kwazii, Barnacles and Dashi.

“Perhaps you could practice your ping pong skills while playing with Dashi”, Tweak suddenly suggests.

“Tweak!? How long have you been here?”, Dashi exclaims flabbergasted.

“Not too long”, Tweak answers, before taking a bite out of a carrot that she had pulled out of nowhere.

“Maybe you’re right Tweak”, Barnacles answers, “I could certainly use some more practice.”

“We best be leaving you to it then”, Kwazii says while trying to walk out as casually as he can.

“See ya later bestie”, Tweak teasingly says, knowing full well what she has done.

With the cat and the rabbit gone, only the polar bear and the dog remain.

 

“Shall we get started?”, Barnacles asks.

“Uh, s-sure”, Dashi replies, knowing full well that it has been years since she last played ping pong.

Barnacles starts with a gentle serve and continues to make gentle passes. At first Dashi was relieved. It gave her the perfect opportunity to remember the basics and come up with some tricks of her own, but after a while, Dashi started getting annoyed.

“Captain, I’m supposed to be helping you get better, so don’t hold back”, she calmly says.

“I suppose that you’re right”, he answers.

Now the real challenge starts. Dashi’s strategies against Barnacles’ strength. It will only take a matter of time until Dashi finds a counterattack good enough to give the captain a real challenge.

Sure enough, after a few minutes of holding back and losing to the captain, Dashi finds the perfect counterattack, catching Barnacles by surprise. In only three minutes, Dashi decimates the captain and wins.

“Wow… That was, uhh…”, Barnacles stutters.

“Incredible? Unexpected? Both at the same time?”, Dashi teases.

“Yeah”, Barnacles calmly replies, “Did you really have to go that hard on me though?”

“Of course, how else will you improve? Besides, I wanted to teach you a lesson for thinking that you had to hold back on me”, Dashi proudly declares.

“Alright, lesson learned”, Barnacles laughs.

“Good. Shall we play again?”, Dashi asks, her competitive spirit rising once again.

“Sure, I guess that I still have some time”, Barnacles teases, his competitive spirit rising as well.

They play another round and Dashi barely manages to win this time. Despite this, Barnacles leans on the wall in defeat, deep in thought.

“What am I doing wrong?”, he asks.

“You rely on your strength and your one sly move. It gets easier to predict what you’ll do next after observing you play for a while. Here, let me show you”, Dashi pulls out her camera and walks over to Barnacles. She lets the recording play as the two of them carefully watch Barnacles’ moves. After the video ends, Dashi looks into Barnacles’ eyes to try and figure out if he understands what he did wrong.

“You’re right”, he says, “You, for example, have an incredible amount of different moves. It’s impossible to know which one you’ll use next.”

“Exactly. On top of that, you need to have a good strategy and good counterattacks. You need to analyze your opponent’s moves and change your strategies and counterattacks to turn the situation in your favor. Take your strong attacks as an example. Once you get used to the strong force you have to face when hitting the ball back, you can easily find an effective and efficient way to hit back in a way that uses your own force against you”, Dashi tries to explain.

“I think I understand. Can I watch the video again?”, Barnacles asks.

“Sure”, Dashi answers, giving him her camera.

As Barnacles watches the video again, Dashi practices a new way of playing ping pong.

 

“Uh, Dashi…”, Barnacles nervously says.

“Yes captain?”, she answers.

“Would it be okay if you could…”, he trails off.

“Play the way Kwazzi would play?”, she asks with a knowing smile.

Barnacles eyes grow wide: “H-How did you know?”

“I don’t just observe how people play sports. I observe their behavior as well”, Dashi says while making a ‘swoosh’ sound with the racket as she quickly moves it about, the way Kwazzi does.

“Interesting”, Barnacles says while slowly approaching the table.

“You can learn a lot about a person by simply observing their behavior and body language”, Dashi explains, not noticing the look of admiration that Barnacles is giving her.

“Interesting. Where did you learn that skill?”, he asks curiously.

“Well, Koshi and I have always been a fan of mystery books, to the point where we would often play detective. Eventually, those skills pour into your everyday life”, Dashi explains.

“Interesting, do you think that you could train me to acquire those skills?”, Barnacles ponders.

“I could try. For now, we should get back to training you to defeat Kwazzi”, Dashi says determined.

The two of them continue training until they get interrupted by Koshi.

 

“Ahem”, Koshi calmly walks towards the middle of the room and looks at both of the grownups, “Dinner is ready.”

“Thank you for letting us know Koshi”, Barnacles responds, “Let’s get going.”

“You go ahead, I’d like to speak with my sister first”, Koshi insists.

Dashi already knows what’s coming next and sends a pleading look towards the captain. The latter raises his shoulders, not knowing what he can do to help his teammate. Dashi groans as Barnacles leaves the room.

“Alright, hurry up and make your point”, Dashi says in utter defeat, not having the energy to put up with this any longer than she has to.

“It doesn’t take a detective to notice how happy he makes you”, Koshi teases.

“Yeah, it takes a sister to notice that”, Dashi rolls her eyes.

“Perhaps you’re right. As much as I’d love to tease you, now is not the time. I just want to warn you. We both know what happened last time”, Koshi looks her sister deep into her eyes.

“Yes, yes, I know, however, we both know how nice the captain is. He’s so kind and caring and would never wish harm upon anyone”, Dashi begins to trail off, before pulling herself together again, “Besides, dating within a team, a work team nonetheless, is unprofessional and could possibly lead to some…uncomfortable situations. So you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

Dashi tries her best to be convincing, but Koshi has learned how to read her like a book.

“I’m being serious! I don’t plan on dating anyone in this team!”, Dashi tries to defend herself.

“Sure. If you say so sis. Let’s just get going”, Koshi replies, unconvinced, already coming up with a plan of how to keep all of the guys far away from her sister.

During dinner, Squirt mostly just spoke to his uncle Inkling. Every now and then, Shellington and Periwinkle would join in on their conversation, but otherwise they kept to themselves.

After dinner, the junior Octo-agents join the Octonauts with their nightly-before-bed-hangout. Squirt enjoys listening to the adults’ stories. Soon enough, it’s the kids’ turn. Ursa and Orson take turns telling the crew about the first time they had swam in the open waters and how everything went terribly wrong. Koshi reads out the mystery book she recently wrote about the previous adventure she and her sister were on. Pinto excitedly tells the crew about how Peso saved the chin strapped penguins during the ring of fire incident. After some motivation from his uncle, Periwinkle shows everyone what he learned at cub scouts. Tweak and the captain try to get Stella to say something, but she insists on Squirt going first. Squirt hesitates. Noticing this, Inkling walks over to Squirt using his tentacles and whispers something into the young octopus’ ear.

 

“Tell them about that school project that you usually always bring up”, Inkling suggests.

“Good idea”, Squirt answers.

Inkling goes to find a seat while Squirt clears his throat.

“Everyone knows about school projects. Sometimes you do them alone and sometimes you do them as a group. This particular school project was a group project”, Squirt starts his story with a brief introduction.

“Well in that case, we all have a slight idea of how this story can end”, Koshi informs. Giggles fill the room.

“Indeed. For the sake of their privacy, I won’t mention their real names. Instead, I will call them Sodium and Zinc. Sodium was that one kid who always acts salty towards everyone for no reason whatsoever. Zinc on the other hand…well…he had quite the interesting…personalities. One day he was the class clown, the next he was the school bully, and then out of nowhere he was the teachers pet or the quiet kid”, the excitement slowly started to rise inside of Squirt as he continues on with his story, “From the second the teacher put the three of us in a group, I knew that it would be a long couple of weeks. The first week goes by, I had already done my research and even did the research for the others. During the second week I start preparing the presentation. The third week comes, I had already printed out the script and was handing it out to Sodium and Zinc, when Sodium  decides to start a roasting battle. With Sodium as our classmate, a roasting battle being announced out of nowhere was uncommon. In fact, for those who watch, it’s the highlight of the day. Sodium goes on and on about how I think that I’m so much more smarter than him and how I think that he is incapable of doing anything! I try to explain to him that I just want us to get a good grade, but then Zinc goes from being the quiet kid to playing the victim, further encouraging Sodium. This goes on for a good ten minutes before a teacher finally steps in.”

“Oof, that must have been an awful experience”, Ursa says.

“Oh, I’m not done yet”, Squirt replies, “Somehow, Sodium manages to convince the teacher that  I’m not letting him or Zinc do any work, so I was left with no other choice but to basically throw away all of my hard work and start again with these two…interesting boys with only one and a half weeks left until it’s due. That half week sure was fun. Whenever I tried to set up a meeting with the others, Sodium would come up with an excuse. Zinc would always say that the two of us can meet up without Sodium, but then never showed up. The weekend comes and the work still hasn’t been done yet. We had two tests that fourth week, and I for one was determined to pass them. Instead, Sodium and Zinc look at our week with the two important tests and decide that that would be a great time to somehow start and finish the whole project! I almost fainted when I heard them say that. I told them to do their part and that I would just take whatever part is left and use what I had made at first, you know, before they complained about my hard work and efforts. The school week ends and I enjoy my much needed break during the weekend. Sunday comes, it’s the day before the project is due. Sodium sends me a message asking me what he has to do.”

“Yow! These teammates of yours sure don’t know how to be a team player”, Kwazzi remarks.

“Indeed they don’t. I almost had a heart attack when I read that message. I asked Zinc what topic he chose, picked the easiest of the two that were left over and then send the script about that topic to Sodium. Monday comes and it’s our team’s turn to present. Zinc presents first, but… I don’t know where he got his information from, but it was the most random words thrown together that I had ever heard. I was absolutely petrified. After two minutes, he stops and looks at me, signaling that it’s my turn. I pull myself together and try to add more detailed explanations to my topic, to make up for the missing time for Zinc. After all, there was a certain length that the presentation had to be. Next came Sodium. As I had thought, he forgot his, or should I say my, notes at home. He immediately put the blame on me, but fortunately for me, I had brough a spare. The original notes that I had sent to him were written in full sentences, so that he would know exactly what to say and could go over it properly, so that he doesn’t read off of the paper the whole time. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that he hadn’t read them at all! He stumbled over every term and couldn’t explain them any further. Our project was a mess, a disaster.”

“Did you get a bad grade because of them?”, Stella asks.

“Yeah”, Squirt says in defeat.

“WHAT!?”, Ursa yells.

“You’re joking, right?”, Orson asks, refusing to believe what he just heard.

A smirk creeps onto Squirts face.

“The principal knew better. He came and saved the day. I showed him the project that I had originally made on my own, and I got an A+”, Squirt announces.

The room fills up with applause and cheers.

“You kept us all on the edge with that story of yours matey!”, Kwazii says flabbergasted.

“Well, that was the intention”, Squirt admits.

“Alright, your turn Stella”, Tweak says.

“What? But it’s getting really late! Other than that, how could I possibly top Squirt’s amazing story telling?”, Stella tries to find any and every excuse that she can.

“Don’t get your ears in a twist. I’m sure that you’ll do great!”, Tweak continues motivating Stella.

“I don’t have any cool or exciting stories to tell”, Stella continues her attempt to avoid her fate.

“I’m sure that you do”, Tweak answers.

“But… Well, maybe you’re right. Perhaps I’m just to tired to think of a good story right now”, Stella slowly adds.

“Alright. Why don’t you kids head off to bed? Stella can tell us her story tomorrow evening. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow, so go get some rest”, the captain announces.

“Aye, aye captain”, Pinto salutes before walking out of the room, followed by all of the other kids.

 

 

“It’s such a shame that we didn’t get to hear Stella’s story”, Squirt whispers. The kids had gotten themselves ready for bed and then separated to go into their rooms.

“Yeah. I bet she has some amazing stories!”, Pinto starts with a whisper, but gets louder the more excited he gets.

“We’ll have the chance to hear her story tomorrow, so please shut up and let me sleep”, Orson hisses.

“Alright, calm down, jeez”, Pinto whispers annoyed.

Silence fills the room as the boys slowly drift off to sleep.

 

“Today’s lesson is going to be awsome!”, Pinto yells while running around the room.

“Keep it down. It’s too early to be yelling loudly”, Squirt says.

“What’s so exciting about today’s lesson?”, Orson asks as he sits up in his bed.

“Kwazii will be our teacher today!” Pinto yells as he jumps on his bed.

“I though that Peso would be your favorite teacher”, Periwinkle states.

“Well… I don’t pick favorites. Peso and Kwazii are equally awsome!”, Pinto answers.

“If Kwazzi is our teacher today, does that mean that we’ll be going outside of the Octopod?”, Squirt asks curiously.

“Most definitely!”, Pinto seems to be getting more and more excited.

Exciting chatter fills the room. Captain Barnacles enters to tell the boys to get ready. Squirt puts on his bandanna and his glasses, Periwinkle quickly gets dressed, and Pinto and Orson put on their cold suits. The boys run together to the dining room for breakfast, where they find the girls waiting for them.

 

“Good morning girls”, Pinto greets the others as he walks in.

“Good morning”, the girls answer in unison.

“Hey Stella, have you thought about what you’ll be talking about tonight?”, Pinto excitedly asks.

“Uhm…not yet”, Stella tries to avoid eye contact.

“Alright. You still have plenty of time to think about a good story”, Pinto says.

“If you can’t think of an exciting moment to tell us about, then maybe…you could read one of your stories to us?”, Koshi suggests.

“Uhh… I’ll think about it”, Stella nervously answers.

“Great!”, Pinto shouts.

The Octonauts enter the room.

“Good morning junior Octo-agents. Did you sleep well?”, the captain asks.

“Good morning captain!”, Pinto replies.

“We slept well”, Koshi says on behalf of the girls.

“So did we”, Orson says on behalf of the boys.

“Are ya ready for a day filled with adventure!?”, Kwazii yells.

“Aye, aye, Kwazzi!”, Pinto yells back.

“But first, you need to have some breakfast”, Tunip chirps as he enters the room, followed by some other Vegimals, who’s names Squirt can’t remember.

The Octonauts and junior Octo-agents exchange some small talk while enjoying the breakfast that the Vegimals have made. After they’re done, the junior Octo-agents go freshen up and get ready for the day.

 

 

“Behold the wonder that is the amazon rainforest!”, Kwazii announces. The junior Octo-agents look out the windows of the Octo-ray and watch the rainforest beneath them.

“There is no better place to go than here for your first mission”, Kwazii says while turning to face the kids, “Well, at least there is no better place that the captain will allow me to take you.”

Dashi laughs. “Both Ranger Marsh and Pearl are in the area, so they’ll be able to lend you a paw if anything gets out of hand”, Dashi explains.

“I don’t know what you lot are so worried about. I’ve totally got this under control”, Kwazii says, offended by the lack of trust that his teammates have in him.

“And if we were to let you do this mission in the open waters, you will most likely start acting like a pirate and treating the junior Octo-agents like your crew”, Dashi adds.

“That’s not true!”, Kwazii yells in offense.

“Isn’t that what you and your Granddad did with the Vegimals?”, Dashi questions.

“W-Well… That was different!”, Kwazii tries to defend himself, despite now realizing his teammates’ point.

“If you say so”, Dashi says sarcastically, “There’s no place for the Octo-ray to land, so I’ll drop you guys off by Ranger Marsh’s station. Sounds good?”

“Aye, aye, matey!”, Kwazii yells with a new rush of energy.

“This is going to be amazing!”, Pinto yells with the same level of enthusiasm.

“We’re going to jump out of this aircraft?”, Stella asks with a flat tone.

“Not exactly. If we do have to jump while being higher up in the sky, we’ll use parachutes of course”, Periwinkle explains.

“I see”, Stella answers.

“I can hover above the river in front of Ranger Marsh’s station to drop you off, so prepare yourself to take a dive”, Dashi announces.

“Icantwait, Icantwait, Icantwait,Icantwait!”, Pinto runs around the cockpit more hyperactive than ever.

“Calm down little fella. Save all of that energy for later”, Kwazii calmly remarks with a laugh.

“Aye, aye, Kwazii”, Pinto responds with a salute.

“This is your first time being part of one of these missions, right? Must be exciting”, Squirt says in an attempt to make some small talk with Stella.

“This is indeed my first time. All I’ve ever known were those icy glaciers and the cold snow”, Stella answers while looking out of the window.

“Then this must be a completely new scenery for you”, Squirt carries on.

“Indeed it is. It’s the complete opposite of what I am used to seeing”, Stella continues to stare out of the window, facinated by the view.

“The captain already gave you your cold suit, right?”, Pinto asks.

“Yeah, I’m wearing it right now”, Stella replies.

“What’s a cold suit?”, Squirt asks, “I’ve never heard of that before.”

“It’s a suit that we wear to keep us from having a heatstroke”, Stella explains.

“You can wear it like normal clothes- ”, Ursa elaborates.

“Like uncle Barnacles and Stella!”, Orson quickly interrupts.

“Or you can get one that looks like your fur or- “, Ursa continues, before getting interrupted once again.

“Like the two of us, Pinto and Peso!”, Orson says.

“Correct, although I would appreciate it if you could stop interrupting me”, Ursa calmly says while staring her brother down.

“Right, sorry sis”, Orson quickly apologizes.

“I always wondered how you and the others survive going to warm places”, Koshi says, “Although I really wanted to solve that mystery on my own without any help.”

“My bad”, Ursa says without a hint of actually meaning the words she’s saying.

“We have arrived at our destination. I hope that you weren’t too busy chatting and grabbed an oxygen tank”, Dashi announces, with a slight hint of annoyance.

“Sorry sis”, Koshi apologizes before quickly grabbing an oxygen tank before racing towards where her and her crew will be jumping out from. The others hastily join her, arriving by her side moments before the giant door opens.

“Ready to jump?”, Kwazii asks, wagging his tail with excitement.

“Aye, aye, Kwazii!”, the crew answers in sinc.

“Are you sure that this is safe?”, Stella asks while keeping a strong grip on a rope that’s keeping some crates nearby in place.

“Of course, little matey”, Kwazii calmly says in a comforting tone, “Ya just gotta make sure that you land properly, otherwise ya might hurt ya self.”

“Shouldn’t we have had a lesson on how to do that? There isn’t much water where I come from, you know? I can swim, but I can’t dive”, Stella tries to remain calm, but is clearly starting to panic.

“Sure you can. You dived into the water before entering the Octopod, remember?”, Pinto softly adds.

“That was different. ...My uncle was there to help me”, Stella’s voice breaks as she becomes distressed.

“Your uncle might not be here right now, but you’ve got us”, Periwinkle shyly says.

“Don’t worry matey, we’ll be here for you every step of the way”, Kwazii says as he walks towards the scared fox.

“You can hold me paw if that makes ya feel better”, Kwazii adds as he offers her his paw.

After some hesitation, Stella reaches her shaking paw towards his, steadily approaching the open door as she does so. Everyone puts on their air tank and waits for the next orders from Kwazii.

“Alright, on the count of three”, Kwazii announces, “One…two…THREE! YOWWW!!!”

The crew all scream in either utter terror or pure excitement as they all fall down, bracing themselves for the dive. All of the birds in the area fly away in horror as the crew inches closer and closer to the watery surface of the river.

“Enter plunging positions!”, Kwazii yells over the loud roar of the wind, “Just copy us Stella!”

Seconds later, a loud splash fills the air as the crew dives into the water. Squirt, who is the only one without an air tank, is the first to resurface, followed by everyone else.

 

 

"How are ya feeling matey?", Kwazii asks.

"Slightly terrified…", Stella slowly answers.

"That was amazing! I've always wanted to jump off of a high place!", Pinto yells while waving his flippers wildly.

"What? Why would you want to do that?", Orson asks.

"What else is on your bucketlist?", Ursa wonders.

"What's a bucketlist?", Periwinkle asks.

"Argh, we don't have time for this! Let's just swim to the river bank and meet up with Ranger Marsh", Kwazii quickly loses his patience. The junior Octo-agents respect Kwazii's wish and make their way to the riverbank.

"Come on lil’ maties, let's go check if he's home", Kwazii marches over to a cabin lying right in front of the river, not to far away from where they had dived. The crew follow the lieutenant in a straight line to the cabin. Just as they arrive on the front port and Kwazii gets ready to knock, Ranger Marsh swings by on a vine and lands on the rail of the front port.

"Good morning everyone", Ranger Marsh says. He laughs to himself as he says: "I knew that I heard some foren sounds."

"Sorry if our screaming alarmed anyone", Kwazii apologizes.

"Nah, don't worry 'bout it. The critters 'round here have gotten used to it”, Ranger Marsh reassures.

The junior Octo-agents share their confusion about this statement. Kwazii chuckles nervously before quickly changing the topic.

“Why don’t we go inside first?”, Ranger Marsh suggests, giving Kwazii a reassuring look. Kwazii dramatically exhales and nods. The crew follow Ranger Marsh into his cabin.

 

The inside of the cabin is bigger than it looks from the outside. The whole place is neat, even though the open windows should have allowed leaves from the nearby trees to glide inside. They enter into a small room with some sketches of animals and to-do lists hanging on the wall, before entering the hall way. On the wall to their left hang many pictures. They’re in order from presumably Tweak as a baby, to Tweak as an adult in the gup-K. Ranger Marsh leads the crew to the second door to the right. As they enter the kitchen, Ranger Marsh offers them some hot cocoa while he talks to Kwazii.

Filled with excitement, Pinto finds it awfully hard to stay still, let alone drink his hot cocoa. Squirt smiles at his level of excitement and enthusiasm. After taking another sip of his drink, Squirt takes a moment to take in his surroundings. The kitchen is quite small, as expected since Ranger Marsh lives on his own. Judging by the amount of doors, and therefore rooms, that Squirt saw before, it’s safe to say that it used to be just Tweak and Ranger Marsh, and perhaps Tweak’s mother. The amount of cups with the octopus symbol on them, show that the Octonauts have been visiting the lime green rabbit from time to time. Other than that, everything in the room looks kind of old fashioned, other than a few gadgets, such as an Octo-tablet, the hot cocoa machine presumably made by Tweak and an Octo-mobile camera. This shows that Ranger Marsh is kind of stuck in the old days and has only recently been introduced to technology through Tweak. If that were the case, then how long has Tweak been away from home for Ranger Marsh to only presumably recently have been introduced to technology?

Squirt quickly and briefly shakes his head in order to stop himself from overthinking and over analyzing.

“Are you okay?”, Periwinkle asks.

“Ah, uhm, yeah”, Squirt stumbles over his words, “I was just overthinking something.”

“Oh, okay”, Periwinkle answers.

The kids start exchanging small talk once more. Squirt tries to join in, but can’t help himself from getting distracted by his thoughts that seemed to be getting louder and louder. Where is her mother? Why has she been away from home for so long? Why are they lime green?

Before Squirt could sink any further into the flood of questions that he had come up with himself, someone calls his name. Squirt looks up, only now realizing that he had been staring into his cup during that whole time. He casually takes a sip of his hot cocoa in an effort to make the whole him-staring-into-his-cup thing seem somewhat more normal.

“Are you sure that you’re okay?”, this time Koshi’s the one asking. The kids, now joined by Kwazii and Ranger Marsh, give him a concerned look. All of them, except for Stella. Her facial expression remains neutral, but in her eye shines a bright and deep understanding.

“Lost in your thoughts again?”, she says after realizing that he had been staring at her. She gives a small smile.

“Yeah, a little”, Squirt replies, to which Stella chocks on her drink from laughter. All eyes now turn to Stella.

“S-Sorry about th-that”, Stella stutters. She takes a few breaths before continuing: “Why don’t you just share your thoughts with us to calm them down. It usually always works for me.” She shrugs.

“Oh, uhhh…”, Squirt can feel his cheeks heat up with embarrassment.

“Alright, then we’ll think of something else. One thing's for sure, you can’t go on a mission with loud thoughts”, Stella covers her mouth as she starts giggling. The others, who had all been trying to hold it in, burst into laughter. Squirt’s cheeks start burning more as he gets overwhelmed with embarrassment, but eventually, he joins the group in laughter. Squirt finds himself breathing easily again, the realization that he had struggled to breath because of his thoughts slowly sinking in.

“Thank you”, Squirt quietly says, understanding what she’s planning.

“Anytime. We’re a crew, aren’t we?”, Stella answers while a sly smile.

Squirt returns a smile of his own.

“Ready to get going maties?”, Kwazii asks.

“Aye, aye, Kwazii”, the kids reply.

 

 

The crew had been going around the tropical rainforest for about an hour and a half now. Each of the kids were trying to find their roles as they explored the forest, rescuing and protecting any creature in need. Koshi had already claimed the role of the detective on day one. Her sharp eyes spotted most of the creatures in need of help. After realizing Stella’s sharp ears and incredible knowledge that the pup had tried to hide, Koshi claimed her as her assistant. Periwinkle naturally took the role of the marine biologist, trying his best to do as he thinks his uncle and mother would do. Pinto had already made up his mind about being the teams pirate and medic, as well as their captain. Ursa strongly disagreed with him, saying that she would be a way better captain. After some arguing, Squirt suggested that the team should decide together who the captain should be after watching everyone in action. The penguin and polar bear thankfully agreed to his idea, both now determined to convince the team that they’re the better captain. Neither Orson nor Squirt knew what roles they should have. Stella reminded them they they’ll be in need of pilots and mechanics when they get older. Orson’s face lit up at this reminder. He is now determined to learn as much as he can from Tweak. As Ursa supported her brother, Squirt noticed Stella’s sight shift to the side as she bit her lip. He grinned, knowing full well what she was thinking.

Now the crew are taking a break somewhere in an opening of the forest. They all drink some of their water as they start chatting about how exciting it is to finally be on their first mission. Well, at least it’s some of their first mission. Pinto excitingly tells the group about the other missions that he’s been on. Koshi chooses to wait until the evening to tell the others about her other missions, grinning as she watched the groups faces contort with suspense and slight frustration. Squirt smiles as he listens to the small talk, before noticing Stella silently gazing at her shoes. Pinto had tried talking to her, he always tries talking to her. Unfortunately, more often than not, she doesn’t want to have a conversation. Squirt takes a deep breath as he makes his way towards her. At this point, the only way to get her to talk may be to confront her about whatever’s on her mind head on. Squirt can only hope that his assumption is correct.

 

“Not ready to share Tweak, are you?”, Squirt tries to play it off cool. Stella's head shoots up as she stares him straight into his eyes. Her one eye scans the octopus, perhaps for a sign of whether she can trust him or not.

“It’s okay, I understand. I don’t like sharing the people I love the most either”, Squirt tries to push further.

“I don’t think you understand”, Stella finally answers, still eyeing the octopus.

“Then explain”, Squirt prompts. Stella falls silent once again, trying to think of how to answer while returning her gaze to her shoes.

“I just…”, she tries. She plays with the laces of her shoes, before taking a deep breath and continuing, “I’m not used to any of this. You all have a relative to make you feel more at home. I don’t have anyone. I don’t… I’m not the master of communication. I’m only now starting to warm up to Tweak. She’s the only one that I can talk to. Dividing her time would mean that I can’t always talk to her when…well, when I need to.” Stella had pulled her legs close to her chest, resting her head on her knees as she spoke. Squirt listens attentively to what she has to say, nodding every now and then, even though she’s not looking at him.

“I might not quite understand what you’re going through, but maybe you should try to warm up to others. If not us, then maybe another one of the adults”, Squirt tries to comfort her. He puts a tentacle around her shoulder. Stella slowly lifts her head from her knees and looks at Squirt. Her sorrowful expression physically hurt him.

“I try my best, but I just can’t. It’s hard to talk to people”, she quickly places her head on her knees once again as tears start to form in her eye.

“You’re talking to me right now, aren’t you?”, Squirt asks.

“Well, yeah, but that’s because…”, Stella pauses for a moment, not willing to say the next part.

“Because what?”, Squirt tries to push her to finish her sentence.

She sighs, “Because I’m desperate.”

“If that’s so, then why did you push Pinto away?”, Squirt asks, slightly confused but also honored.

“That’s just what I’m good at doing. All I ever do is push people away”, Stella raises her voice a bit, but not enough to draw attention to herself from the others.

“You didn’t push me away”, Squirt hesitates to answer, sensing the anger radiating from the pup.

“…He tries too hard. His…his positivity and enthusiasm…”, Stella lifts her head and stares at the ground in front of her. She shakes her head violently before finally making eye contact with Squirt.

“Forget I ever said anything. I’ll try my best to take your advice and talk to others”, Stella smiles. Her smile looks forced. There’s something she isn’t telling him, that much is obvious. But Squirt has already pushed his luck a lot of times today. He’s happy with the result he got. He smiles back at Stella.

 

 

All of the kids fall to the floor with exhaustion. The crew had been attacked by a green anaconda. Kwazii ordered the kids to run away and find shelter while he distracts the anaconda. He ordered Pinto to call for help as soon as they were far enough from danger.

Remembering the order given to him, Pinto sounds the Octo-alert on his Octo-watch, while still being out of breath.

“Junior Octo-agent Pinto, report please”, the captain’s voice hums from the watch.

“Captain”, Pinto starts while trying to steady his breath, “We were attacked by…a green anaconda…Kwazii distracted it…in the middle of nowhere…”

Gasps are heard from the watch.

“Dashi”, captain Barnacle’s voice boomed.

“Already on it captain. Tracking down all Octo-watch signals near their area”, Dashi’s voice replies.

After a while: “Pearl is near the kids location and Paani is near Kwazii’s. Contacting them now.”

The screen split into four.

“Hello captain”, Pearl and Paani answer in unison.

“What’s wrong?”, Pearl asks, worry taking over her voice as she notices the captain’s serious expression.

Captain Barnacles briefly gives the two Octo-agents an explanation about the current situation. Both quickly give a nod after receiving their orders, before springing into action.

The kids wait were they are. Not having anything better to do, Pinto starts getting impatient.

“When will she be here?”, he whines.

“Be patient”, Periwinkle replies, a bit of venom in his voice. Pinto shoots him an annoyed glance. Stella takes off her shoes and stands up with a sigh.

“I can climb up that tree and see if I can find her nearby if that helps cool you down”, she offers.

“You can climb?”, Koshi asks curiously.

“If you have claws, you can climb”, Stella answers matter-of-factly while flexing her claws, “Besides, climbing up a tree can’t be any harder then climbing up an icy mountain.” And with that, Stella leaps into the tree, quickly making her way up.

“See anything?”, Ursa yells.

“You probably shouldn’t be yelling”, Orson whispers while nervously looking around them. With a thud, Stella lands on all fours right next to the polar bear cub, causing him to scream.

“Sorry for startling you”, Stella says while quickly putting her hair into place, covering her left eye once again. “She’s close”, she lets go of the breath that she had been holding while she was fidgeting around with her hair.

“Aproximentaly how much longer will it take her to arrive?”, Periwinkle asks.

Stella thinks for a while. “Judging by the speed at which she’s heading here on one of the Terra gups…aproximentaly 48 more seconds.”

Pinto’s eyes widen as he looks around him in every direction.

“From that direction”, Stella points somewhere in the forest before going back to putting on her shoes.

Squirt keeps his gaze in that direction as he counts down the seconds in his head, remembering to add the seconds that went by ever since Stella told them her prediction. Pearl arrives 35 seconds later, making Stella’s approximation wrong by only 4 seconds. Squirt shivers at how accurate her prediction is.

“MOM!”, Periwinkle runs towards the older sea otter as she takes her helmet off.

“Periwinkle!”, the two of them fall into a warm embrace. Squirt smiles at the sight.

“Are you all alright?”, Pearl asks, the concern of a worried mother filling her voice.

“We’re fine”, Ursa replies.

“Just a little shocked”, Orson adds.

“Will Kwazii be okay?”, Pinto asks.

“I’m sure Paani will find him soon”, Pearl answers. “Come on, let’s get you back to Ranger Marsh’s cabin. We can wait for Kwazii there.”

 

 

It took an hour after their arrival for Kwazii and Paani to show up. The kids excitedly greet the ginger cat as he limps into the cabin. Ranger Marsh quickly takes out his first aid kit after seeing the state of the cat. The macaque is also in a bad state, but not nearly as bad as Kwazii.

“What happened out there?”, Pearl asks from behind them. After the first twentie minutes had gone by, she went back out to help the two men. She herself had a few scratches, but otherwise she was fine.

“You know me, always running into trouble”, Kwazii limps over to a chair.

“You know me, always going with the flow”, Paani chooses to follow Kwazii’s way of going around the question.

Pearl shoots them both an angry glare.

“You had us all worried sick!”, she proclaimed.

“Sorry”, Kwazii whispers, ears flopping down.

“Why don’t we save the yell’ng for later?”, Ranger Marsh suggests with a hint of sarcasm, while he takes out the disinfectant.

Pearl joins them in the kitchen, letting herself sink into a chair. She lifts her head, facing the ceiling with her eyes closed. Periwinkle hesitantly makes his way over to her, giving her a hug once in front of her. The rest of the kids silently remain seated in the open area of the kitchen, all watching how Ranger Marsh bandages both Kwazii and Paani’s wounds. After finishing up with them, he turns his attention to Pearl.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine”, Pearl quickly says after noticing Ranger March approaching her.

“Are ya sure? Not even some disinfectant?”, Ranger Marsh asks cautiously.

“Yeah”, Pearl answers, a drop of nervousness in her voice.

“Alright”, Ranger Marsh says with his thick accent. He eyes Pearl a little longer before packing everything back inside of the first aid kit.

“Care to explain what happened out there?”, Ranger Marsh asks with the stern voice filled with the worry of a father. The three adults almost look like kids getting told off by their father as they all deflate into their chairs. Squirt puts a tentacle to his mouth in an effort to not start laughing. Pearl shots the men an accusing look, silently demanding to hear what they had been up to until she showed up. Kwazii stands up, wincing in pain as he remembers the state of his right leg. He quickly forgets about the pain, getting ready to tell his side of the story. His eye sparkles with a sense of adventure and his tail excitedly whips the moist air in the cabin.

“There I was, distracting the green anaconda as the kids ran to safety. While we were exploring the thick and moist rainforest, we had accidentally gotten too close to her nest. I ordered the kids to run to safety and call for help as I lead the snake in the other direction. It was a brave and honorable sacrifice if I do say so myself. But…I might or might not have gotten myself in a bigger mess”, Kwazii’s excitement slowly fades away. He drops his gaze to the ground.

“I found him getting chased by a group of howler monkeys. They were not too happy about us being in their territory”, Paani jumps in to finish the story.

“I found the boys up in the trees trying to get the howler monkeys off of their tails. I followed them from the ground and we eventually figured out a way to get them down safely”, Pearl finishes the story.

“Safely?”, Ranger Marsh asks sarcastically, the harsh fatherly love deep in his voice.

“As safely as possible”, Pearl seems to be resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

She seems to be in a bad mood. I wonder why. Could it be because she got in trouble for Kwazii’s mistake?, Squirt’s thoughts start spiraling back into his head.

“Well, at least ya made it back in one piece”, Ranger Marsh sighs.

“Sit down Kwazii. Let me get you all something to eat”, the lime green rabbit offers. Kwazii immediately obeys and waits with the others for Ranger Marsh to return with some food.

 

Kwazii had called Dashi to let her know that they’re ready to be picked up. Paani had insisted on joining them in order to help Kwazii. The ginger cat had protested against it, but Paani stayed as stubborn as a mule.

Now they’re in the Octo-ray on their way back to the Octopod.

Shellington paces around the launch bay nervously, waiting for the kids to return. He knew that leaving them alone with Kwazii would be a bad idea, but there was nothing that he could do after the captain approved it. Periwinkle must have been terrified! Well, all of the kids must have been terrified of course. Shellington continues pacing around as the rest of the Octonauts enter the launchbay.

“Shellington, calm down”, Tweak says with annoyance. She bites into a carrot that she summoned out of thin air.

“Easy for you to say”, Shellington snaps. Both his nephew Periwinkle and his older sister Pearl were in direct line of danger. It took a lot of convincing, but eventually Pearl had agreed to join the others on their ride back to the Octopod. It has been a long time since Shellington saw her. It’s awfully sad that they had to reunite under such unfortunate circumstances.

“Believe it or not, I am just as worried as you are”, Tweak replies, shocked by Shellington’s tone. Shellington himself was also shocked by it. It’s not like him to get irritated like that. Well, at least he never really showed it.

“You’re right, I’m sorry”, Shellington sighs.

“Don’t worry Shellington, I’m sure that they will all return safely”, Peso tries cheering the sea otter up.

“Aren’t you worried about Pinto?”, Shellington asks before he can even finish his thought process. It was a stupid question, but he had expected more of a panicked reaction from Peso.

“He always finds a way to get out of any mess he gets himself into”, Peso answers with a sad smile. Pinto is quite similar to Kwazii. Shellington can only imagine how much trouble the young penguin gets into on a regular basis, leaving his older brother exhausted from worrying. Shellington sighs as he finally calms down enough to stop pacing around the launch bay. He leans on the wall, head facing the ceiling, trying to distract himself by thinking about how to summarize everything he wanted to say to Pearl as shortly as possible, knowing that she’ll want to leave once more as soon as possible.

 

As Kwazii, Paani and Pearl swim inside of the launch bay followed by Dashi and the kids, Shellington quickly rips himself out of his thoughts and goes dashing towards them.

“Pearl!”, he screams as he dives into the water, colliding into his sister. Pearl laughs as she embraces him.

“I missed you too little brother”, she calmly whispers, with a sense of sadness in her voice. Shellington ignores that and hugs her tightly, never wanting to let go. The others swim past them and head to the surface, letting them have their moment, Periwinkle being the only one to stay.

“Peri! You’re okay!”, Shellington lets go of Pearl, despite his heart telling him to do otherwise, and hugs his nephew.

“Hi uncle Shellington”, Peri shyly says.

“How have you been Shelly?”, Pearl asks.

“Pearl!”, Shellington whines, his cheeks burn as they gradually become red, “I told you to stop calling me that!”

Peri and Pearl both start laughing. Shellington looks at both of them in anger, before joining them in laughter. It had been so long since he had heard Pearl’s beautiful laughter.

“Come on, let’s go up”, Pearl suggests, “We can continue talking in your room.”

The three see otters swim up to the surface and let their helmets open up. The other kids are each with their corresponding adult, all chattering excitedly. Shellington smiles at the sight, before his eyes land on Kwazii. He has a thing or two to say to him. His bitter thoughts causes his smile to melt away. He tries to keep his expression neutral. He won’t make anyone’s day worse than it is. He’ll talk to Kwazii later in private.

 

 

Shellington excitedly escorts his sister and his nephew to his room. Pearl laughs as he enthusiastically reports his latest discovery while using his hands as he talked, just as he often does when he gets excited. For the first time in a long time, Shellington felt like a little kid. He gets hit by a big wave of nostalgia as he teleports back to the past, at a moment just like this one. They had just returned from school. Shellington was explaining all the new things that he had learned that day. The joy that he had, knowing that Pearl was always there to listen to him. No one else could stand his rambling. He had gotten so used to talking fast, since he always got cut off while he was less than halfway through his explanations. But Pearl wasn’t like the others. She always listens. Just like how she’s listening right now. And now Peri is also there to listen to Shellington’s rambles. It makes Shellington so happy to have them. He finally has a happy family. Shellington fights against the tears threatening to fall as he quickly turns around and walks forwards. He smiles. He can finally be happy now.

 

“This is a nice lab”, Pearl says, turning around as she lets the scenery sink in.

“You’ve been in here a few times before”, Shellington reminds her.

“Yeah, but every time I come here, it’s different”, she says with a sad smile. Shellington mentally crosses the ‘sad’ out. There’s no time for sorrowful thoughts.

“Mom, you should seriously disinfect those scratches”, Peri’s little voice says. Shellington turns around in a blink of an eye, making himself a little dizzy. He stares at Pearl, only now seeing all of the scratches on her body. Shellington’s eyes widen.

“I’m fine Shellington, it’s nothing bad”, Pearl says, knowing exactly what’s going through her younger brother’s mind. She walks over to where his first aid kit hangs.

“Why didn’t you let Ranger Marsh help you?", Peri asks curiously. Pearl freezes. She shivers a little before turning to face her son.

“I just…”, she starts. “It’s private”, Shellington jumps in. He takes the first aid kit and leads Pearl to a chair. He could tell that she won’t be able to function properly from here on out. At least that gives him an excuse to make her stay longer. Since the damage has already been done, there’s no point of pretending that nothing happened.

“Peri, why don’t you go join your friends?”, Shellington suggests, trying to make his voice sound as calm and kind as possible.

“They’re not my friends”, Peri mumbles under his breath as he drags himself out of the room.

“Peri…”, Pearl weakly says.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him later”, Shellington says, softly pushing her back into the chair.

“Shellington”, Pearl warns.

“You’re not in the right state of mind to do anything right now”, Shellington notes. Tears prickle in his eyes as he disinfects his sister’s wounds. He takes a shaky breath as he looks her dead in the eyes. Both siblings know what’s coming next.

“Flashback?”, Shellington briefly asks. He didn’t have the strenght to say anything else without breaking.

“Yeah”, Pearl looks away.

“Pearl”, Shellington whispers.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about little brother. So what, I still don’t feel comfortable around men, particularly men that are way older than me, that doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with me”, Pearl tries to shrug it off.

“Pearl, you are not okay”, Shellington stops what he’s doing to hold her face, forcing her to look him in the eye, “We both know that you’re not okay.” Shellington’s voice breaks as he continues, turning more and more into a whisper. “Please Pearl, please consider finding some help. It’s not going to get any better if you continue ignoring the problem. I’m begging you, please go see a therapist.” Shellington’s starts shaking as his tears flow down like a water fall. Seeing her brother so sad breaks Pearl’s heart. She had been trying to keep it together for her brother’s sake, but she couldn’t keep it in any longer.

“I’m scared Shellington”, she finally confesses between sobs. Shellington hugs her tight.

“I know”, he whispers, “We’ll get through this together, just like how we get through everything together.” Pearls hugs him tighter as they both try their best to cry as quietly as possible, in order to prevent anyone from coming in to investigate what’s going on.

 

Shellington puts a box of tissues on the desk next to Pearl, then continues treating her wounds as she finishes crying. Shellington hates seeing his sister hurt like this, but at least she’s not bottling up her emotions for his sake anymore. Shellington puts everything back where they belong after he’s finished, before leaning against the desk. He faces the ceiling with his eyes closed as he tries to rack up any ideas on how to help his sister.

“You should go talk to Periwinkle”, Pearl quietly suggests. Shellington looks down to her. The sorrowful look on her beautiful face physically hurt him. He winces before facing the floor and shutting his eyes tight.

“Yeah, you’re right. Take care of yourself”, Shellington hugs her one last time. She laughs weakly.

“Thank you Shellington. Thank you for everything.” “That’s what siblings are there for”, Shellington nuzzles her nose with his own before heading out.

Once out of the room, he leans against the wall. He takes a beep breath, trying to push back all of his thoughts, before he continues on his way to search for Periwinkle.

 

“Hey there buddy”, Shellington greets, sounding as weak as Pearl must be feeling right now.

“Hi uncle Shellington”, Peri answers. Shellington had found him in the boys’ room, sitting alone on his bed.

“Why aren’t you with the others?”, Shellington calmly asks. Peri sighs as he puts his book down.

“They’re not like me uncle Shellington. They don’t understand the things that make me, me. I don’t fit in with them. I don’t have the same interests as them”, Peri pulls his legs tightly against his chest, keeping his head down.

“I’m sure that’s not true Peri. Surely there’s someone who’s interested in the same things as you. Other than that, I’m sure that they would still love to be your friend”, Shellington tries.

“Yeah right”, Peri sulks. Shellington isn’t used to this kind of behavior coming from the young sea otter.

“Sure, you might struggle at first to have a conversation with them, but you’ll get there eventually”, Shellington tries once again.

“How would you know?”, Peri lifts his head and looks Shellington straight into his eyes.

“Because I’ve been through the same situation myself”, Shellington admits through gritted teeth. He hates thinking about how shy he used to be. He had wasted several months being all on his own, despite it being surprisingly easy to befriend his crew mates. He even managed to befriend Kwazii! The two of them were complete and total opposites! Peri stays silent for a while, thinking about what he just heard.

“Alright. I’ll try to make friends”, he finally says. Shellington smiles and pulls his nephew into a hug.

“Thank you Peri”, Shellington says, “You’ll be doing yourself a favor.”

“But in return”, Periwinkle says with a grin, “Mom and I can call you Shelly.”

Shellington stares at his nephew in shock and disbelief. He quickly weighs his options, giving Peri a side eye every once in awhile.

“Alright, fine. You can call me Shelly”, Shellington crosses his arms as he looks away with embarrassment. Peri jumps up with excitement, doing a little victory dance on his bed. Shellington watches him in amusement. He knew it would be worth it.

 

 

Shellington’s fist shake with anger. Kwazii has spent the past hour going around apologizing to everyone for his failure during the expedition. Now he’s apologizing to Shellington. How could Shellington possibly forgive him so easily? Kwazii put his nephew in danger by not being careful and got his sister hurt! Hearing what happened just made Shellington more angry. Kwazii should know better than to go anywhere near an anaconda’s nest! His recklessness could have killed the kids, his nephew! Shellington has been working hard to keep his family together for as long as he can remember. The hope of finally having a happy family had kept him going for years! The thought that all of his work could be ripped away from him within seconds has always kept him awake at night. To think that his own crew mate could be the cause of his family’s demise…

Shellington knows that Kwazii’s reckless. He also knows that Kwazii is aware of his recklessness. Shellington was there when the Octo-alert went off. He saw that the kids got somewhere safe and were able to call for help, under Kwazii’s orders. He also saw how Kwazii’s signal from his Octo-watch headed in the opposite direction of the kids. Kwazii had tried his best to make sure that the kids stayed safe. And he had succeeded. Kwazii is the master of getting into dangerous situations, but he is also the master at saving anyone he can and being ready to risk his life for others. Shellington can’t possibly stay mad at him. He could tell that Kwazii’s apology is sincere. Shellington takes a few shaky breaths before finally speaking.

“Listen Kwazii. I understand that you tried your best, and I am grateful for that. Nevertheless, it will take me some time to calm down enough to forgive you”, he calmly says.

“I understand matey. I appreciate your effort”, Kwazii gives a small smile. The lieutenant leaves the room, leaving the marine biologist alone once more. Shellington sighs as he lets himself sink into his chair. Once again, he finds himself facing the ceiling, deep in thought. After a while, Pearl enters the room.

“Hi Shelly, how are you doing?”, she asks, her familiar Scottish accent bringing comfort to the sea otter.

“I’m fine”, he says while sighing, “Just…a little frustrated.”

“I know that you’re worried Shelly, but I’ll be fine”, Pearl says as she places her paw on his own.

“Come on, let’s go ask Peso if he knows any good therapist”, Shellington firmly declares as he stands up. He grabs her paw and drags her out of the room.

“Shellington, please!”, Pearl pleads.

“We have already talked about this a million times Pearl!”, Shellington yells in distress and desperation.

“Shellington…”, Pearl says, knowing full well that she can’t change her brother’s mind.

“Pearl”, Shellington warns. The two sea otters stare each other into the eyes for a few more seconds, before Pearl finally submits to her brother.

“Alright, fine”, she says while pouting.

“Thank you”, Shellington replies. He relaxes himself a bit. He drags her out of his room, all the way up to Peso’s. He finally lets go of Pearl’s paw and looks her into her eyes.

“Ready?”, he asks.

“Of course not! But I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”, Pearl answers annoyed.

“It’ll be fine. After this, everything will start being fine”, Shellington tries to encourage his sister. He takes a deep breath before knocking on Peso’s door.

 

“Hello Shellington, hello Pearl, what can I do for you?”, the penguin asks after opening the door.

“Hi Peso”, Shellington starts, “Could we…talk to you in private?”

“Uh…sure?”, Peso answers, confusion and concern taking over his facial expression.

“Thanks”, Shellington nervously says.

The two sea otters follow Peso into his room. Peso gestures them towards his bed as he grabs a seat on his desk chair.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”, Peso asks, clearly trying his best to keep a neutral tone and facial expression.

“Well…”, Shellington looks over to Pearl for some help.

“What are you looking at me for? You are the one who wanted us to do this!”, Pearl hisses while whispering.

“Calm down. This is for your own good”, Shellington tries to defend himself.

“And what about you!?”, Pearl bites back, getting more and more angry by the second.

“Did you really think that I wouldn’t have been able to tell? I’m your older twin sister for crying out loud! It’s as clear as day that this whole situation has had a huge effect on you as well!”, Pearl snaps.

“I…”, Shellington becomes speechless. He thought that he had done a great job hidding just how much it had effected him. He himself had been in denial for so long! How is it possible that she figured it out, even though he himself hadn’t figured it out until the first few months of being an Octonaut?

“So…do the two of you need more time?”, Peso asks, now finding it even more hard to keep up the neutral act.

Pearl sighs and apologizes for her sudden change in mood, while Shellington remains speechless.

“Shellington”, Pearl grabs both his paws and gives him a stern look, “I’ll do it if you do it too.”

Shellington slowly shifts his gaze to look his sister into her eyes.

“Alright”, he quietly says, voice cracking as he does so.

“Good”, Pearl puts down his paws and faces Peso.

“Peso…”, Pearl takes a few deep breaths, “Shellington and I…well, we were wondering if…”

“Ifyouknowanygoodtherapist!”, Shellington sputters out quickly.

“What?”, Peso asks in confusion, “Could you say that again?”

“Do…you…knowanygoodtherapist”, Pearl tries to stay calm, but starts panicking. At this rate, they’ll be here all afternoon.

“Uhm… Why don’t we find a way to calm the both of you down first?”, Peso suggests.

“Alright”, Pearl says while nodding.

 

 

“Well, that could have gone a lot worse”, Pearl says as the two siblings leave Peso’s room.

“Uh-huh”, Shellington replies energy drained.

“At least we got what we came for”, Pearl jumps down the Octo-shoot.

“Right”, Shellington continues following her.

“I’m gonna go check on Periwinkle. Will you be joining us?”, Pearl asks as they enter the hallway.

“Not right now. I need a minute to myself”, Shellington stops at the Octo-shoot leading to his room.

“Alright. Call me if you need anything baby brother”, Pearl says while giving him a smile.

“You’re only three minutes older than me!”, Shellington states.

“Whatever you say baby brother”, Pearl teases.

Shellington chuckles as he makes his way to his room.

 

Upon arrival, he lets himself fall onto his bed. He sighs as he stares at the ceiling. He turns to the side and closes his eyes. He tries his best to calm his thoughts. After a minute of trial and error, Shellington gives up. Frustrated, he gets out of bed and decides to go to the lab. As the door to the lab slides open, his eyes meet with those of Dashi. Shellington stumbles backwards in shock.

“Hi Shellington, sorry if I startled you”, Dashi calmly greets.

“D-Dashi! What are you doing here?”, Shellington nervously asks.

“I have been waiting for you”, Dashy calmly replies.

“Wh-What!?”, Shellington takes a few steps back in shock, “Why?”

“Because there seems to be something bothering you. I know how you like to bury yourself in your work whenever you are trying to get something off of your mind, so I decided to come wait for you here. It’s not healthy to push whatever is bothering you aside like that, so I figured that maybe we could talk it out”, Dashi explains.

Shellington stays speechless for a while.

“Shellington, it’s not healthy to keep it all to yourself, so please let me help you. Aren’t we friends?”, Dashi tries to get Shellington to say something.

Shellington shifts his gaze to his shoes as Dashi says the word ‘friends’. The two of them have become pretty close over the many years that they have spent on the Octopod. In Shellington’s view, the two of them were best friends. He already knows that no matter how much he wants to be more than just friends, Dashi won’t allow it. She’s too oblivious to notice his feelings for her to begin with, despite how obvious it it. Other than that, she’ll make excuses like ‘it’s not professional’ or ‘dating in a team never ends well’.

“Shellington”, Dashi warns.

“Nothing’s wrong Dashi. I’m fine”, Shellington goes around Dashi and makes his way to his desk, “Just go back to organizing photos.”

A deadly silence fills the room. Shellington puts his fists on his lap and lowers his head. Why did I say that!? I know exactly how much that would hurt her! Why do I keep on pushing anyone away that tries to help me?, Shellington thinks to himself, Why am I so stupid sometimes!? Why can’t I do anything right!?

“Shellington?”, Dashi asks. Shellington almost jumps out of his chair. When had she come join him at his desk? After noticing the hint of hurt in her eyes, Shellington quickly looks back down.

“What’s wrong?”, Dashi asks.

“I just…”, Shellington starts. Dashi takes a seat on the desk.

“I know you didn’t mean what you said, so just forget about it, okay?”, Dashi softly says.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”, Shellington presses his paws to his face.

“It’s fine Shellington, just please tell me what’s bothering you”, Dashi gently takes one of his paws and looks him in his eyes.

“Alright”, Shellington removes his other paw. He clears his throat as he feels his cheeks fluster.

“Erm, well…I’m just worried about Pearl”, Shellington decides to start small.

“Something tells me that it’s not really just because of what happened today”, Dashi continues pushing.

Shellington sighs, “Something bad had happened to us in the past. A particular thing happened while she saved Paani and Kwazzi that triggered that memory. I just…well…I finally got her to go ask Peso for a therapist, but…”, Shellington’s paws form fists once more.

“She exposed you. She knew, even though it took you yourself ages to figure it out”, Dashi finishes. Dashi had been there when the realization hit Shellington. His world had started warping itself into an unknown shape. Dashi had helped him out of it. She’s the one that suggested that Shellington should write down his thoughts and feelings in a journal. It had helped Shellington a lot, especially during the harder times.

“Yeah”, Shellington nods his head. Dashi gives his paw a little squeeze.

“I’ll start taking online therapy sessions next week”, Shellington says while playing around with the strap of his waterproof satchel.

“That’s good. I’m glad that you’re finally getting the help you need”, Dashi says. The two of them share a momen of silence. After a while, Dashi knocks on one of the locked drawers attached to the desk. Shellington sighs as he takes out the key from his satchel and opens the drawer. Dashi takes out the journal and a pen and puts it on the desk.

“Call me when you’re done. I’m going to go help Tweak make a new Octo-camera”, Dashi says while gliding of the desk. Shellington smiles. He loves how she’s always there to listen to him, but also knows his boundaries and respects them.

“See you soon”, he says while he picks up the pen. Both the pen and the journal were gifts from Dashi, making them all the more special for Shellington.

 

 

“You seem a lot happier”, Pearl says with a suspicious yet joyous tone.

“I could say the same thing about you”, Shellington replies with a smile.

“I saw Dashi coming out of the lab. Did the two of you have fun together?”, Pearl teases.

“Pearl! I can’t believe what you are suggesting!”, Shellington yells flustered.

Pearl laughs as Shellington continues his rant.

“I’m glad that she makes you happy”, Pearl says once she finally stops laughing.

“Well…you make me happy as well”, Shellington says.

“Not in the way she does”, Pearl says teasingly. Shellington groans and rolls his eyes. Pearl ruffles Shellington’s hair. Shellington shoots her an angry glance as he tries to put his hair back in place. Pearl’s laughter fills the air, warming up Shellington’s heart as it does so. Shellington musters a sad smile. When he had run into Pearl, there was that familiar look in her eyes. It’s the longing to get back out there. Shellington pushes back the tears, deciding to simply focus on the present, instead of thinking about how long Pearl will be gone for.

Min sighs as she sees the message from the captain. They will be arriving in about an hour. As much as she had been looking forward to teaching the kids, she has been mentally exhausted lately. Taking care of the kids would require her to be at 100 percent. Especially since Inky has asked if she could talk to each one of them and check on them. Min sighs again. She puts the Octo-tablet down and returns to her papers. She has always preferred the old ways. She grabs a pencil and decides to go out and sketch some sceneries. The fresh air will do her some good. She puts her suplies in her bag. As she puts her Octo-tablet in the bag, it lights up and starts playing a calm song. She smiles as she picks up the call.

“Hi Inky”, she says teasingly.

“Min, darling, how are you doing?”, Inky says suspiciously.

“What’s going on Inky?”, Min asks in a firm manner.

“Alright, alright. You got me. We- uhhh… There has been a change in plans…”, Inky starts.

“Has there been another delay?”, Min exclaims. She tries her best to hide her excitement.

“Luckily, that’s not the case. In fact, we’ll be half an hour earlier”, Inkling declares with pride.

“O-Oh… That’s…wonderful”, Min fails to hide her disappointment.

“Are you alright dear?”, Inky asks.

“Y-Yeah”, Min tries to ignore her hands that started shaking, “Just stressed out.”

“I could try to delay us”, Inky offers.

“There’s no need for that Inky”, Min says quietly.

“Are you sure Min?”, Inky asks just as quietly.

“I… I might need a bit more time… Fine. Please give me a little more time. If that isn’t too much to ask for”, Min unpacks everything from her bag and walks over to her bed.

“I’ll try my best. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you would like to talk about something”, Inky changes the subject.

“I’m just… Can we talk about this some other time?”, Min repeats the sentence that she has said oh so often.

“You always say that”, Inky quietly says in disappointment.

“I’m sorry Inky…I…I’m sorry”, Min can’t think of what else to say.

“It’s fine. I know how hard it is. I’ll go try to slow us down. Get some rest”, Inky comforts her.

“Thanks Inky”, Min ignores how hot her face suddenly feels. She ends the call and lets herself fall on her bed. Seconds later, she falls asleep.

 

 

“Min?”, Inky’s voice wakes her up.

“Inky? What are you…is it time already!?”, Min jumps out of bed.

“Calm down. I decided to come ahead of the others. They won’t be here for about fifteen minutes. I decided to come check on you and make sure that you’re ready”, Inky explains with a smile.

“Thank you”, Min pulls him into a hug.

“Come on darling, we should start getting ready”, Inky gently says.

“You’re right. Thank you once again”, Min replies. The pair work on getting everything ready. They engage in small talk for awhile. Min really enjoys spending time with Inky. He’s the only person that makes her feel comfortable. While in his company, she feels like she can be herself. She relaxes a bit. Her anxiety melts away. She forgets about her worries. She smiles. She looks into Inky’s loving eyes. He smiles back. Ten minutes fly pass in the blink of an eye. Inky lets himself fall down on the bed with a sigh.

“We have about 5 more minutes until the others arrive”, Inky quietly says. With one of his tentacles, he motions for her to join him on the bed. She slowly walks over to him and lies down next to him. She focuses on steadying her breath and calming her heartbeat.

“Tell me what’s on your mind”, he gently holds her paw with on of his tentacles. Min keeps her gaze at the ceiling as she tries to think of what to say. Her head is crowded with all sorts of thoughts. Her heart is racing and her face is turning hot.

“Nothing is on my mind”, Min eventually states.

“We both know that that’s not true dear”, Inky calmly says. Inky has been calling her ‘dear’ and ‘darling’ for several years now. Yet for some reason, every time he recently addresses her by ‘dear’ or ‘darling’, she gets a fluttering feeling.

“I’ve just been exhausted”, Min casually says.

“You seem quite excited right now”, Inky says in a teasing way.

“What makes you say that?”, Min tries her best to make her voice sound neutral.

“Take a wild guess”, Inky slightly tightens his hold on her paw. Min’s whole buddy stiffens as she realizes how he knows. She truns around to face away from Inky. The later sits up and looks at her in concern.

“What’s wrong Min? I’m worried about you”, he gently asks.

“There’s nothing to worry about. Can we-“, Min stops herself as she realize that she’s about to repeat herself again. She glances over to Inky. He looks a little hurt.

“It’s not like I don’t trust you. I just…have trouble expressing myself”, Min sighs.

“I know dear…”, Inky gets up and walks to the desk.

“What do you plan on teaching the kids?”, he asks.

“The basics. There will be a workshop at the end”, Min sits up. As she walks towards Inky, there’s a knock on the door. Min and Inky’s gaze wonder towards the door. Min sighs.

“Ready?”, Inky asks with a small smile.

“No time like the present”, Min mumbles. She gives Inky a reassuring smile. She pushes back all of her concerns and tries to focus on the comfort she gets from Inky’s company.

“Will you stay?”, she hears her voice quietly asking. Her eyes widen. Why did I say that out loud!?, Min tries not to panic. Inky chuckles.

“Of course darling”, Inky makes his way next to her. Min finds herself relaxing now that he’s next to her. She smiles.

 

Min watches the kids as they start doing the workshop. Min had brought them all outside near a pond. They were given the task to split into teams and sketch a map of the area. Inky sits down next to Min and watches the kids along with her.

“What were you like when you were their age?”, Inky asks. He smiles at her fondly.

“You first”, she smiles back.

“Alright. I was studious-“, Inky starts.

“Still are”, Min interrupts.

“Right. I spent most of my time on my own. I thought that books were the only company I needed”, Inky continues, “Luckily, I met someone who helped me realize how wrong I was.” Min and Inky look each other deep into their eyes. They stay that way for a while. No words need to be said. That’s what Min loves so much about their relationship. She never has to say much, he already knows what she’s thinking. Except for when it comes to her feelings for him. Maybe that’s just because she tries to ignore her feelings for him.

“Your turn now”, Inky breaks their silence.

“Oh, uhh… I spent a lot of time on my own”, Min replies. By the look in Inky’s eyes, she can tell that he wants to ask a lot more questions. Min sighs.

“One question per day”, she shifts her view back to the kids.

“One question per day? Like, every day?”, Inky asks in disbelief.

“Sure. Depends on the question”, Min says without thinking. If she thinks too much, then she won’t say a thing. Communication is an important part of any relationship. As confusing as the status of their relationship may be, Min treasures it.

“What were your parents like?”, Inky quietly asks.

“They…they were always busy working. I was always alone”, Min says. She doesn’t notice the sad tone in her voice until Inky gives her a side hug.

“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t mind. They did what was necessary to send me and my siblings to school”, Min quickly reassures.

“Siblings?”, Inky questions in surprise.

“One question per day”, Min mumbles. Why did I say that!?, Min yells at herself.

“Alright”, Inky tries to hide his disappointment.

“I’ll go check on the kids”, Min desperately tries to change the subject.

“I’ll join you”, Inky gets up and follows her. The pair help the kids with their project.

 

 

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to”, Inky’s soft voice tries to comfort her. While the kids enjoy their lunch, Inky had asked to speak with Min in private. They’re both sitting next to each other on Min’s bed.

“I do want to do this Inky. I want to help them. Your kids were a mess when you left them to handle things on their own”, Min teases.

“W-Well…they’re adults. I though that they could handle it”, Inky tries to defend himself.

“Proves my point even more”, Min says with a grin.

“Alright. You’re the boss”, Inky chuckles.

“I’ll be fine grandpa”, Min teases.

“You’re only two years younger than me!”, Inky says in exasperation. Min laughs at his reaction.

“Come on, let’s go have lunch”, Min says.

“Alright darling”, Inky gets up.

 

As the pair enters the room, all eyes turn to them. Min starts getting uncomfortable with their gaze.

“What’s wrong?”, Inky asks. The kids look at each other, almost as if they’re sending each other telepathic messages. Eventually, they come to a mutual agreement.

“Are the two of you a couple?”, Ursa asks. Min shoots a glance at Inky. He seems to be trying as hard as she is to not over react.

“No, Ursa. We are not a couple”, Inky answers dryly. The kids catch on to his tone, some of them grinning in amusement. Min sighs, realizing that she needs to step up and take control of the situation.

“We are not a couple and we have no plans on becoming one”, she says matter-of-fact-ly. Inky winces at her statement, Min herself is hurt by her words too. The kids must have noticed.

“Are you sure?”, Koshi asks cautiously.

“Well…the future is not set in stone. What happens in our personal life is personal”, Min decides to proclaim. Ursa raises an eyebrow, Koshi tries her best to hide her grin. The others try just as hard to keep a neutral expression. The only outsider is a young artic fox, presumably professor Natquik’s niece. Her facial expression is taken over by confusion and curiosity.

“Finish eating kids. We have one more thing planned out for you this afternoon”, Inky states. The kids each say their own form of agreement and continue eating. Inky exhales and continues walking to the kitchen. Min follows him absentmindedly.

 

 

Min and Inky agreed to do it alphabetically. In that order, Koshi will be first, followed by Orson, Periwinkle, Pinto, Squirt, Stella and then Ursa. The others will wait in the living room as Min has a one on one conversation with each of the kids in her bedroom.

 

Min holds the door open as Koshi walks into the room. Min offers Koshi a seat on her bed as she walks to her desk chair. Min had taken out some of her old teddies, as well as some extra pillows, and put them on her bed. She brings the chair closer to her bed as Koshi makes herself comfortable.

“So, how has it been so far?”, Min asks.

“It’s been nice. I’m learning a lot of new things”, as Koshi speaks, her passion flows into her words.

“Do you miss home?”, Min asks gently.

“Yes. Traveling underwater isn’t something that I’m used to. Sleeping in a different bed is also not something that I’m used to. But I have Dashi with me to help me adapt and get used to how things work at the Octopod. I still miss home, but I can call my mom whenever I want, so it’s not that bad”, Koshi says with a smile.

“That’s good to hear. Have you made any new friends?”, Min questions.

“Yeah. Ursa and I became friends pretty quickly. I think that Stella is starting to warm up to us. The boys are nice too. We’re a great crew. I literally cannot imagine being with anyone else”, Koshi hugs a teddy fondly as she talks. Min smiles.

“Sounds like everything is going well”, she says.

“Absolutely”, Koshi replies.

“What is your passion?”, Min wonders after hearing how passionate Koshi seems about all of this.

“To become an Octonauts along with the others. I want us to be a big happy family. I just need to get Peri and Stella to open up more”, Koshi smiles.

“I am positively sure that you will succeed”, Min encourages.

“Thanks”, Koshi puts the teddy down. Something about the spark in her eyes made Min think that the young dog has a burning question.

“Is there anything that you would like to ask?”, Min asks knowingly.

“Well… Be honest, what do you think of professor Inkling?”, Koshi’s eyes sparkle as she asks her question. Min should have seen that coming.

“Sorry, but we’re here to talk about your feelings, not mine”, she states surprisingly calm. The sparkle in Koshi’s eyes vanishes almos immediately.

“Please call in the next person”, Min says.

“Alright”, Koshi tries to hide her disapointment.

 

Orson clumsily walks into the room. Min gives him a reassuring smile, which seems to calm him down a bit. Orson sits on the bed with his back against the wall.

“How have you been?”, Min asks gently.

“Uhm…could be better, I guess”, Orson nervously plays with one of the teddies.

“Have you managed to get used to the new environment?”, Min asks. Orson avoids eye contact and fiddles with a teddy. He bites his lip as he remains still.

“I-I…haven’t. I, uhh…struggle to sleep on my own. Uncle Barnacles already talked to me about it. I sleep with him now. It’s just…I feel so…weak and usless”, Orson starts. Min tries not to immediately deny Orson’s feeling of being weak and usless. Instead, she continues listening.

“Uncle Barnacles is the strongest and braves creature I know. Mom is kind and loving and she’s always there for us. Ursa is brave and adventurous. I admire all of them. I want to be like all of them. I want to impress them. But I’m not good at anything”, Orson explains. Min looks at the polar bear cub, who has curled so much into himself, to the point where he seemed even smaller than he is.

“Orson”, Min says firmly. For the first time during their conversation, Orson looks her into the eyes. “You are not weak and you are not usless. Admiring others is okay, but there is no need to impress them. You have your own talents, you just don’t know it yet. You might not be good at the things your family is good at, but that just makes the things that you are good at, even more unique”, Min speaks calmly, gently, but also firmly, leaving no room for discussion. Orson becomes less tense. Tears prickle in his eyes. Min sits next to him on the bed and pulls him into a hug. Orson quietly sobs, accepting the embrace. The two of them stay that way for some time.

Orson pulls himself out of the hug and whipes his tears away. He whispers a small “Thank you” as he does so. Min gently rubs his back as he tries to stop more tears from falling. Orson steadies his breath before facing Min again.

“Thank you miss Min. Uncle Barnacles said something similar before. Hearing it from someone outside of my family makes it more believable though”, he gives a small smile.

“Anytime”, Min smiles as well.

“I’ll go get the next creature”, Orson says while standing up. He walks across the room and stops by the door. He puts his paw on the doorknob, but doesn’t turn it. Instead, he turns to face Min one more time.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me”, Orson says quietly, but more firmly. Min could see the appreciation twinkling in his eyes. She gives a warm smile.

“If you ever need to talk again, you can always contact me. Inky knows how to get a hold on me”, she says lightheartedly. Orson smiles fondly.

 

Periwinkle walks into the room and sits down on the bed.

“How have things been going?”, Min asks.

“Fine. It has been an interesting experience. I have learned so many new things about marine biology from uncle Shellington. When I’m not talking to him, I’m talking to professor Inkling, Squirt, Stella or sometimes Pinto. Pinto is trying really hard to get me to open up. I just prefer keeping to myself. I have spent so much time with just my mom. I recently joined cub scouts about a year ago. Other than that, I don’t interact with kids my age. This has been a learning experience. I’m finding out more about myself as I find out more about others. It has been fun so far”, Periwinkle blantly says.

“What job do you want to have in the future?”, Min asks.

“I want to be a marine biologist and an Octonaut”, Periwinkle says. He puts a paw to his chin as he thinks about something. “Funny, I never would have guessed that some day I would actually enjoy the idea of being an Octonaut”, he smiles, “I really am learning more about my self.” Min smiles with him at his new resolution.

“That sounds great”, she says.

“Yeah”, Periwinkle says with a small smile, “I really like it here. I thought that I wouldn’t fit in, but ever since uncle Shellington convinced me to talk to the others, I realized just how much we all have in common. It feels like we’re getting closer. The relationship we have…I don’t know how to say it. It feels similar to the one the Octonauts have with each other. Which is good, since we have all agreed that we want to be the future Octonauts.”

“The relationship that the Octonauts have with each other is that of a family”, Min says knowingly. Periwinkle lets that information sink in.

“That makes sense”, he says, “I would have never thought it possible. Blood is thicker than water, after all.”

“That is true. Your biological family will always be your real family. But I’m sure that you’ve also heard the saying ‘friends are the family you can choose’”, Min says mater-of-fact-ly.

“Fair point. Well, that’s all that I have to say. Thanks for listening”, Periwinkle gets up.

“Anytime”, Min replies.

 

“Hi!”, Pinto enthusiastically greets as he enters the room.

“Hello”, Min replies with a smile.

“Koshi already said how things will go. It has been amazing living on the Octopod with the others. Every day brings a new exiting experience! I do miss home, but I have Peso with me. Other than that, I’m meeting new creatures and I’m learning more about them. I’m always open to new experiences. I’d say that I have befriended everyone to a certain extent. I am really passionate about becoming an Octonaut. I want to be a medic like my brother, and I also want to be a pirate like Kwazii. At first, I also wanted to be the captain, but I have decided to let that slide. Two roles is more than enough for me. Besides, Ursa wants to be the captain too, and she is waaay better at being one than I am. I haven’t told the others about that yet. I like the competitive spirit that I have discovered in Ursa ever since we were fighting about who would be a better captain”, Pinto walks around the room as he talks. Min muffles down a laugh. The enthusiasm of the penguin is contagious.

“Sounds like this training has had a positive impact on you”, Min says with a grin.

“Definitely. I have matured a lot in just the first two weeks”, Pinto proudly states.

“That’s amazing!”, Min exclaims.

“Yeah, it is. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store of us”, Pinto stays still and lets his gaze drift out of the window.

“You all have a bright future”, Min firmly says.

“I know. We will be great Octonauts”, Pinto turns around to face Min, determination sparkling in his eyes and a wide smile on his face. Min smiles.

“Anyway, since that’s all I have to say, I’ll be leaving now. Take care of yourself”, Pinto waddles out of the room.

 

Squirt slowly makes his way to the bed.

“Hello Squirt”, Min greets.

“Hello auntie Min”, Squirt replies. Min is completely caught off guard by that.

“Wh…What did you call me?”, she asks quietly.

“Auntie Min. Since you seem to be so close with my uncle”, Squirt explains.

“O-Oh…okay”, Min stutters.

“Moving on, I enjoy it here. I’m sure that uncle Inkling has already told you that this whole thing is actually my idea”, Squirt says.

“Yeah, he did mention something like that”, Min puts a paw on her chin as she tries to remember what Inky told her.

“It’s amazing to be able to see it all unravel. It’s amazing to be part of the actual process. Everyone seems to be getting along nicely. We’re a great crew. I do miss home, but I have uncle Inkling to keep me company and encourage me. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us”, Squirt smiles as he thinks about the future.

“All of you have mentioned having a relative onboard. That certainly makes things a lot more easier for all of you, especially sine you all seem close to the relative you have onboard”, Min points out. Squirt goes silent for a while.

“Stella doesn’t have a relative onboard”, he quietly says, “She has been struggling a lot to open up to us. I think that she has a hard time trusting people.” Squirt hugs eight teddies, each in one tentacle, as he says that.

“I want her to feel comfortable and at home. I want to convince her to join us on our mission to become Octonauts. She had said that the only reason that she’s here, is because her uncle managed to convince her last minute.”

“I’m sure that, over time, she’ll start warming up to all of you. Just give her some time”, Min comforts Squirt.

“Hopefully you’re right”, Squirt looks her in the eyes and smiles.

“Speaking about Stella, she’s next in line. I’ll go get her”, Squirt jumps off the bed and makes his way t the door.

“Take care of yourself”, Min says before he leaves the room. She suddenly had a sinking feeling that Inkly’s role amoung the Octonauts is being passed down to Squirt.

 

“Hello Stella”, Min greets the young pup as she makes herself comfortable on the bed.

“Hi”, she shyly replies.

“How have you been?”, Min asks. Stella stays silent for some time.

“Well…could be better”, Stella looks down to the teddy she’s holding in her hands.

“You’re the only one that doesn’t have a relative onboard of the Octopod, right?”, Min gently asks. Stella’s grip on the teddy tightens a bit.

“There’s no need to worry about me. Uncle Natquik has asked captain Barnacles to keep a close eye on me. Tweak in taking care of me. I’m fine. Just need more time to adjust to the new environment”, Stella inspects the teddy as she speaks. She seems exhausted.

“Have you grown close to anyone? Talked to anyone? Opened up to anyone?”, Min asks. Stella tries her best to hide her annoyance. She takes a deep breath before she answers.

“I have become pretty close friends with Tweak. I have talked to the other kids, but have admittedly not talked to any of the adults other than captain Barnacles and Tweak. Professor Inkling has tried to talk with me”, Stella looks up for the first time as she says the last sentence. She looks back down, “As for your last question…I’ve opened up a little to captain Barnacles and Orson. Ursa and Koshi have convinced me to become an Octonaut.”

“You can always open up to me”, Min softly says. She looks at Stella and tries to read her body language. Stella has become tense. Her grip on the teddy has become tighter. She’s clearly trying to control her breathing. Min lowers herself to Stella’s level. Tears prickle in the pup’s eye. Min gently lifts her paw to put aside the hair covering Stella’s left eye. Stella immediately grabs Min’s paw to stop her. They make eye contact. Something about Min’s eyes must have brought her comfort and showed her that she can trust Min, because after a few seconds, Stella lets go of Min’s paw. The artic fox’s gaze drifts to the side. Min puts her hair side, revealing a scar. Min tries not to react. She controls her features.

“Stella, what happened?”, Min asks gently. She holds one of Stella’s paws and starts gently messaging it.

“It’s in the past”, Stella shuts her eyes close in an attempt to stop the tears. Instead, they start flowing down full force.

“Stella. You don’t have to keep it to yourself. We all care about you. We want to help you”, Min looks into the pup’s eyes, “We’re here for you.” Stella bites her lip as she gently sobs.

“I miss home. Not the home with uncle Natquik, although I do miss him too. I miss the home where my dad would play with me all the time, my mom would bake pies every Saturday, my dad played the guitar while my mom sang, my friends didn’t think I was weird and would hang out with me everyday after school. Why did everything have to change?”, Stella takes her paw away from Min’s and curls into herself.

“How did it change?”, Min softly and cautiously asks. She didn’t know what else to say.

“My dad…he…he…”, Stella visibly gets annoyed at herself, “he- he died.”

Min sits next to her and pulls her into a tight hug.

“Sometimes in life, things don’t go the way we want them to. No matter what happens, you can’t let that hold you back. Speaking about it with someone already makes the load lighter. It’s one step on your journey of recovery. If you’re okay with it, we can make arrangements to talk again when you’re ready”, Min’s voice remains calm and gentle. Stella stays quiet for a while.

“I want to be able to trust them, to open up to them. I…I want to be a part of their family”, Stella silently confesses.

“You’ll get there some day. I’ll make sure of it”, Min loosens the hug a little bit and looks Stella into her eyes.

“Thank you”, she quietly replies, new tears starting to pour down. Min hugs her tightly again. They stay that way until Stella pulls herself out of the hug.

“Thank you for listening. I think that I’ll take you up on that offer”, Stella looks down to the teddy next to her.

“Glad to hear that”, Min softly says. Stella stands up and slowly walks to the door. She turns around, waves goodbye, and then leaves. Min processes everything that she has heard. From what she can tell, things started going downhill after the pup’s dad died. It’s possible that the scar on her left eye was caused by her mom, who was having trouble progressing the dad’s death. One thing lead to another, and Stella ends up living with her uncle. Professor Natquik spends most of his time working. Looking back, Min always saw two cups and two plates in the background during Octo-Alerts. That must mean that Stella spends time with him while he works. Based on how frequently there were two instead of one cups and plates, Stella must not spend that much time with other kids her age. She had also mentioned her friends finding her weird. That explains why Stella is having so much trouble getting along with other kids her age right now. That could also possible be why her uncle wants her to join the training program.

Min sighs. She really wasn’t expecting anything this deep from any of the kids. Hopefully she can talk to Stella more often. She’ll have to make arrangements with Inky.

 

Ursa walks in calmly and goes straight to the bed.

“That was long”, she remarks, “I guess she really does have a lot on her mind.”

“Hello Ursa, how have you been doing?”, Min asks.

“Great. I have uncle Barnacles and my twin brother with me. I’m one step close to becoming an Octonaut, maybe even the captain. I’m bonding with the others, mainly Koshi. I am literally living my dream. How couldn’t I be great?”, Ursa says cheerfully.

“Are you sure that there is nothing on your mind? Do you miss home?”, Min asks.

“Well, I feel bad for mom. She’s all on her own. Then again, Orson and I cause a lot of trouble”, Ursa grins mischievously, “I’ve got all the company I need onboard of the Octopod. I just struggle a little to befriend the guys. They have different interests. I find it more important to befriend the kids who I share a room with.”

“I see. You seem very confident in yourself”, Min states.

“I am. Gotta have confidence to be an Octonaut. Orson isn’t that confident, he has a lot of self doubt, but I try my best to push him to do his best”, Ursa proudly says.

“Do you ever think that you push him to hard? That maybe he just isn’t good at the things you’re good at, but he’s good at other things?”, Min asks, remembering what Orson had said before.

“Uhm…no, not really… Huh, why didn’t I ever think about that?”, Ursa sinks deep into her thoughts.

“Maybe you should encourage use him to do new things. Your support with the things that he’s good at is always appreciated. You shouldn’t put him down for the things that he’s not so good at”, Min explains.

“Hmm…have I been pressuring him to be someone he’s not?”, Ursa considers.

“You just want what’s best for him”, Min comforts her.

“What is best for him?”, Ursa asks.

“That’s a question that you need to ask him”, Min gently says.

“Yeah…”, Ursa agrees, slipping deep into her thoughts once again, “Thank you.”

“That’s what I’m here for”, Min says with a smile. Ursa slowly gets up and walks to the door. She turns around, gives Min a thankful smile, and then leaves.

 

Min smiles, happy with everything that she has achieved. She’ll be hearing more from Orson and Stella, that she knows. She’s ready to help them whenever they ask.

Tracker watches professor Natquik pacing in the room.

Professor Natquik had insisted on helping Tracker with his work. With the two of them working together, Tracker now has a lot of free time. The professor said that they should invite the kids over and show them their workplace. That’s when Tracker realized the real reason why professor Natquik helped him. As much as Tracker admired what a dedicated uncle the professor is, he feels used. Nonetheless, he agreed to the professor’s suggestion.

“When are they arriving?”, professor Natquik impatiently asks.

“They will be arriving in approximately 5 minutes. Should we go over what we have prepeared for them while we wait?”, Tracker answers.

 “Alright”, the professor says with a sigh. The two of them go over their plan one more time.

 

“Welcome! Make yourselves comfortable. I hope you don’t mind professor Natquik joining us”, Tracker greets his guests.

“Not at all. It’s great to see the two of you again”, captain Barnacles’ booming voice fills the room.

“Where is Stella?”, professor Natquik asks. He scans the crowd frantically for his niece.

“She’s waiting outside. After seeing the gup-I, she figured that you’d be here. She wants to talk to you privately”, the captain explains.

“Yes yes, that does sound like something she would do”, the professor says with a sigh.

“I’ll be back in a flash!”, the artic fox runs out of the room.

“So Stella was right”, Ursa says with a flat tone, “I really thought that she was overthinking things.”

“We’ll wait for the two of them to come back, then we’ll start with the presentation”, Tracker explains.

“Will we have time to play outside?”, Pinto asks with wide eyes.

“Of course”, Tracker reassures. Pinto, Ursa, Orson and Stella must be relieved to be in a cold climate again after spending so much time in moderate temperatures. Tracker could never imagine leaving his icy home for longer than a day. The time he got lost in the middle of a desert with Kwazii was enough experience in hotter climates for him. The opposite must go for the other kids. Koshi, Squirt and Periwinkle are fully clothed from head to toe with thick winter clothes.

“May I offer you some hot chocolate while we wait?”, Tracker asks. The group welcomes the offer with open hands. About five minutes later, both artic foxes come inside.

“You sure took your time”, Pinto raises an eyebrow.

“Just had to make sure that he hasn’t planned anything…”, Stella explains. The professor takes a seat next to Tracker.

“Shall we start?”, he asks. His thick accent has been toned down tremendously. If Tracker hadn’t seen the professor’s lips moving, he would have thought that someone else spoke. Tracker doesn’t seem to be the only one to notice. He exchanges a glance with captain Barnacles.

“What’s wrong?”, the professor asks, quickly noticing their confusion.

“Well…you usually talk with a thick accent”, the captain tries to explain in a respectful manner.

“Oh, right. I’ve gotten used to speaking more clearly whenever Stella’s around”, the professor explains. Tracker looks towards the young artic fox. She raises an eyebrow.

“Thick accent? How come I’ve never heard it?”, she asks.

“Your dad always had a hard time understanding me. You’re his daughter, so I subconsciously turned it down for you as well”, the professor explains. Stella’s gaze sinks. The professor must have realized that he said something wrong, because he bites his lip and looks in a different direction as well.

“What will you be presenting to us today?”, captain Barnacles asks, cutting through the awkward atmosphere.

“We will present our work, how we get our data and how we send out information”, Tracker takes the lead, since professor Natquik seems to be distracted. While Tracker explains the first part of the presentation, he notices the professor trying to communicate with his niece. He does so by tapping on the bottom of his chair. Tracker makes a mental note of the code. 1, 4, pause, 3, 4, pause, 1, 5, pause, 4, 3, long pause, 2, 3, pause, 1, 5, long pause, 1, 3, pause, 3, 3, pause, 3, 4, pause, 5, 2. Stella responds with a simple nod. Professor Natquik raises his eyebrows. Stella bites her bottom lip and looks away. She starts tapping on the bottom of her chair as well. 2, 3, pause, 1, 5, long pause, 3, 2, pause, 1, 1, pause, 1, 4, pause, 1, 5, long pause, 3, 2, pause, 1, 5, long pause, 4, 4, pause, 1, 5, pause, 3, 1, pause, 3, 1, long pause, 2, 3, pause, 2, 4, pause, 3, 2. Keeping track of those numbers was hard to do while doing his presentation, but thanks to Tracker’s nervous habit of practicing his presentations over and over again, he didn’t struggle that much. After finishing his part of the presentation, he looks at the professor. Professor Natquik straightens himself and proceeds to do his part of the presentation. Such skills seem to come naturally for him. Tracker doesn’t focus on what’s going on. Instead, he spends this time trying to decode the sequence of numbers.

 

After the presentation and the activity, the kids were given some time to play around. Tracker takes this opportunity to try and catch up with his mentor, his leader, his captain. The two of them chat for a while. They watch the children play, a sense of nostalgia filling both polar bears. Professor Natquik joins them. He observes the kids in silence for a while. It’s obvious that he wants to talk to captain Barnacles. Tracker just can’t bring himself to let them talk privatly. Who knows when he’ll see captain Barnacles again. Tracker longs to spend more time with him. He treasures every second he can spend next to him. Other than that, Tracker is curious to know what professor Natquik wants to say.

 

“What’s wrong professor?”, captain Barnacles asks.

“Please, just call me Natquik”, the professor says with his thick accent. Tracker is amazed by how the professor can go from barely having an accent to having such a strong one.

“Alright. What’s wrong Natquik?”, the captain asks.

“Well…”, the professor drifts into his thoughts. Tracker knows that the professor wants him to leave. The people-pleasing half of himself wants to leave, the stuborn half of himself demands that he stays. Somehow, his stuborn half is winning. Professor Natquik sighs.

“Stella told me that she told you about her father”, he finally says.

“Oh”, the atmosphere becomes sorrowful. Judging by the despair in the professor’s face, Tracker can only guess what happened to Stella’s father. The professor’s brother.

“Is there a specific way that I should comfort her?”, the captain asks under his breath.

“It varies from time to time. Most of the time, just being there for her is enough”, the professor explains.

“I understand. Sometimes nothing needs to be said for the message of comfort to come across”, the captain’s voice has become soft and comforting. The professor nods. Tracker awkwardly stands next to them, not knowing what to do or say. Maybe I should have left, Tracker thinks to himself.

“Other than that, how has she been doing?”, the professor asks.

“She’s been fine. Although she still hesitates to talk to the others. There has been some improvement over the past few days”, the captain explains.

“That’s good to hear. It’s a relief to finally see her hanging out with other kids her age”, the professor’s gaze drifts away towards the kids.

“The way the twins are playing reminds me of the way you and your sister used to play. She really showed you who’s boss, am I right featherpaws”, the professor says teasingly. The captain clears his throat and looks down at his Octocompass as the professor starts laughing.

“Featherpaws?”, Tracker asks in disbelief. He can’t even begin to imagine how the polar bear that he has looked up to ever since he joined polar cub scouts could ever be called featherpaws.

“That was a long time ago”, the captain answers quickly. Tracker’s curiousity grows, but he can tell that the captain doesn’t want to talk about it any further.

“Pinto seems to be having fun as well”, Tracker comments instead. While the twins tackle each other, Pinto slides down a nearby hill. Periwinkle and Squirt are building a snowman, Koshi and Stella are having a snowball fight.

“Looks like he really missed sliding down snowy hills”, the professor says with a chuckle.

“Indeed”, the captain smiles.

 

 

“Good work today, Tracker”, professor Natquik says. He had stayed around after the kids left to help Tracker with some other tasks. He really didn’t have to, but he did.

“Thanks. And thanks for helping me out”, Tracker replies.

“Thank you for letting me have the opportunity to see my niece again”, professor Natquik smiles tiredly.

“Anytime professor. It was a pleasure to get to work with you and teach the kids”, Tracker smiles back.

“Please, call me Natquik”, the professor declares, “I should be heading back now.”

“Have a safe trip Natquik”, Tracker says.

“Thank you. See you around Tracker. And good night”, Natquik opens the door and steps out.

“Good night!”, Tracker calls out just before the door closes again.

Tracker sighs and lets himself fall on one of the chairs. This day has been exhausting. At least he’ll have a relaxed day tomorrow, thanks to Natquik helping him with the tasks that he has to do. Now he’ll just need to be available to answer any emergency calls. Tracker forces himself up from the chair. He drags himself to the door opposite of the entrance. After entering his new home, he gets himself ready for bed. Finally, he makes his way to his bed and let’s himself fall down on the soft mattress. He looks to his right. There’s a stack of books on his bedside table. He usually reads a chapter or two before bed. He likes to stick to the schedule that he has created himself. Not that he has stuck to it at all for the past three days. I guess that I can let it be for today. I’m too tired to be able to process what I’m reading anyway, Tracker thinks to himself. Seconds later, his eyes gently close. The room is filled with his gentle and quiet snores.

Ursa didn’t realize how much she misses the cold climate and playing with her brother in the snow until they went to the Antarctic. It was fun to tackle him in the ice cold white snow. It was even more fun having a snowball fight with all the other kids at the end. The day ended faster than she would have liked, even though uncle Branacles let them stay longer than they should have. Ursa thought that the others would see it as unfair. Surprisingly, they were all understanding. ‘They’ being Koshi, Periwinkle and Squirt.

Now they were back in the Octopod. Dinner was filled with excited chattering. During that evening, Stella finally shared a story. Uncle Barnacles had told her to take her time after she didn’t want to tell a story during the second night. This was the first time she finally decided to start opening up. While she told the others about how she would play in the snow with her dad, she even showed them some pictures. It was an amazing day and a joyful night.

 

 

The evening came to an end, and the kids were sent to bed. Ursa stares at the ceiling. She can’t sleep. She tries to hold on to the happiness the day has brought, but despite her best attempts, there’s still some sadness lingering. She shuts her eyes tightly and brings both of her paws to her face as tears suddenly start forming. Where is this extreme sadness suddenly coming from? She takes a shaky breath and tries to focus on what her thoughts are telling her.

 

She remembers the papers scattered across her desk. Although she can call her mom anytime, something about writing letters brought her comfort. I should seriously organize my desk, Ursa thinks to herself. Her thoughts bring her to the desk next to her’s; Stella’s desk. Stella keeps all of her things organized. Stella. She’s the only other girl that was born and raised in a cold climate. She’s kind, smart, helpful and such an interesting person. Ursa has also noticed how Pinto and Orson seem very interested in her. Periwinkle has also taken a liking to her. Now that Ursa thinks about it, no one has really made an effort to talk to her other than the girls. The only reason they’re talking to you is because they have no other choice. It’s because we’re roommates, Ursa winces at that thought.

It hurts to think that no one likes her. Not that she needs them to like her to feel validated. Right? Still laying on her back, Ursa turns her head to her right. Stella is sleeping on her side, facing Ursa. It looks like she’s hugging something. Ursa squints. The head of a teddy is peaking out from Stella’s blanket. The teddy’s head kind of looks like that of an arctic fox. It’s too dark for Ursa to be able to identify anything else about the teddy. Maybe the teddy was made by her dad. Or maybe it is her dad?, Ursa tries to guess. That’s one of the things that makes Stella so interesting. She is a mystery. What happened to her parents for her to be living with her uncle now?, Ursa’s eyes are becoming heavy. She continues to watch the sleeping arctic fox in front of her. Stella looks so peaceful. So…the opposite of how Ursa is feeling right now.

 

Ursa’s heart sinks. She wants to be able to sleep peacefully too. Her eyes sting. Her memories bring her back home. It’s quiet. It’s safe. Her mom is there. Her brother is there. She’s home. She’s loved.

Ursa curls into herself. She can almost feel her mom’s arms around her as the three polar bears sleep together. Tears fall down her cheek as she finally puts a name to the feeling that has been bothering her ever since she laid in bed. Alienated. Alone. Even though she has her brother and her uncle, she still feels alone. Why?

Do you ever think you push him too far?, Min’s voice echoes in Ursa’s head. I get it now. I act like I’m better than everyone else. I act that way to hide how unskilled I am. That attitude pushes people away. It always has, Ursa’s tears stop falling as the realization sinks in. I act like I’m so much better than them, like they’re out of my league. Yet I’m the one that’s out of their league. What skills do I even have? How can I contribute to the team?, Ursa turns on her side and faces the wall. Why am I here? I want to be the leader, the captain of the Octonauts, just like uncle Barnacles. But am I worthy of that role? Uncle Barnacles is strong and brave. He has great leadership skills. Everyone gets along with him. I’m strong for my age, and I’m kind of brave. But my leadership skills are lacking. People always say that I just enjoy bossing them around. The don’t like me. Ursa twists and turns in bed for a while. She is so caught up in her own thoughts, that she doesn’t hear someone approaching her.

 

“Ursa?”, a gentle and soft voice filled with concern rips Ursa out of her thoughts. Ursa stays incredibly still. She only now realizes that tears have been quietly making their way down and onto her blanket, that she had been tightly gripping onto and pushed against her face. Someone was sitting on her bedside.

“You can talk to me if you need someone to listen”, the voice whispers. Ursa shuts her eyes as she tries to focus and put a face behind the voice. She knows that Koshi has an Australian accent. The voice doesn’t have a noticeable accent. At least not one that Ursa can name. That means that the voice belongs to Stella.

“If you don’t want to talk, that fine. Just don’t keep it to yourself for too long”, Stella’s voice stays gentle and friendly. Ursa listens as Stella stands up and quietly tiptoes to her bed. Ursa stays in the position she’s in until she hears Stella settling down in her bed. After a few more minutes, Ursa turns around to face Stella’s direction. She notices something on her bedside table. Ursa looks at the object suspiciously for a few seconds, before deciding to take a closer look at it. She reaches out her arm and brings the object closer to herself. She immediately notices the pointy ears. It’s Stella’s teddy. Ursa inspects it further. She quickly notices that it looks exactly like Stella’s dad. This teddy must mean a lot to her. Why would she give it to me?, Ursa gently hugs the teddy. Her eyes close on their own, as her exhaustion finally wins the battle against her thoughts that have been keeping her awake. She wants you to feel better. She’s showing you that she does really care about you. She doesn’t want you to be sad. With those last thoughts, Ursa gently slips into a peaceful slumber.

 

 

The alarm shrills. It was necessary for the girls to have such an annoying alarm, otherwise none of them would wake up. Ursa pulls her pillow over her ear with one paw. She groans as she forces her eyes open. The alarm turns off. Ursa’s eyes slowly start closing again. Next thing she knows, Stella’s face is right in front of hers. Ursa’s eyes rip open, but she’s too tired to scream.

“Don’t tell anyone that I still sleep with a teddy. Please. Well, Koshi and Peso already know, but still. Don’t tell anyone”, Stella whispers.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about”, Ursa replies tiredly.

“You can never know for sure. Better safe than sorry”, Stella avoids eye contact. She gets up and walks over to her small wardrobe. Ursa gets up as well. She looks in Stella’s direction a little longer, before getting herself ready for the day.

 

“Good morning sis”, Orson says with a smile.

“Morning. How did you sleep?”, Ursa asks. She remember the time he was so tired, that he fell asleep while standing. She was worried about him. She was ashamed that Stella seemingly cares more about Orson than she does.

“Better than the last few days”, Orson sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. Ursa notices him glancing at their uncle. She smiles.

“Good to know. By the way, you’re amazing just the way you are”, with that, Ursa makes her way to the dining table. Orson stands still in shock. Ursa can already feel his happiness in the atmosphere. She smiles wider. Making other people happy feels good. It makes her happy as well. From now on, I’m gonna make people happy and tell them how good they are at their skills. That is way better than making them feel invaluable, Ursa thinks to herself. But first, I need to learn what their skills are. And what they’re insecure about. I want them to know how special they are. There’s a warm feeling spreading inside of Ursa’s heart. My role in all of this is still uncertain, but that’s fine. I don’t have to have it ll figured out yet. Instead, I can help the others. Ursa isn’t sure where all of this positivity is coming from, but she’s not going to let it go. She means what she said. Although, she didn’t really say it. Not out loud.

 

After breakfast, after brushing her teeth and washing her face, Ursa looks at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her eyes look tired, but determined. She whispers to herself: “My goal is to make everyone happy. To be the one that believes in them, even when they don’t believe in themselves.” There is a fire in her eyes. A fire of determination. Ursa smiles.

“I’m going to make them happy.”