"Welcome to the Octopod!" A beaming polar bear came over to us and shook each one of our hands, "I'm Captain Barnacles, and you've already met Tweak, and this is Peso, he pointed to a short penguin carrying a medical bag, and his little brother Pinto, he pointed to a penguin that looked almost identical to Peso, but shorter. Now let me show you around the Octopod." We met even more of the crew, an ex-pirate cat, Kwazii, the marine biologist, Shellington, the chefs, Vegimals, half animal-half vegetable creatures that were absolutely adorable, and the founder of the Octonauts, a dumbo octopus called Professor Inking, and his nephew who was Koshi's age, Squirt. The Octopod was so different from Detroit. For one thing, everyone, even the grown-ups were interested in what we had to say. And Kwazii asked me eagerly on our second day there if Detroit was as dangerous as everyone said it was. "Depends," I told him, "If you're talking about the suburbs, then everyone who lives there will laugh at you, "and if you're talking about the city, then only some places are dangerous."
"But what about crime? gangs? drug dealers?" He exclaimed.
"Have you ever met a gang?" Pinto cried out, as Peso tried to stop him, but to no success.
"Yes, kind of, well, Jane has, They usually stay in their own turf, so we don't see much of them." Koshi chimed in. "And that stereotype of Detroit is false, it isn't a rat-infested crime hole, it's actually a pretty nice city."
"Plus, most of the "gangs" we're near are more like a Mensa for people with IQs under 50 than actual crime syndicates." I added, remembering the "Tigers", a teenager's gang that operated a few blocks down from our home, they had tried to jump me and my friend Tami once after we had finished a baseball game and were heading home in broad daylight, strike one. But too bad for them, they had chosen to jump the only pair of kids that were carrying heavy metal bats, strike two. And they did it in the full vision of a cop that lived in our neighborhood, strike three. Thinking of Detroit, of Tami, and of my neighborhood made my heart ache. I missed my parents, and my insides were tight with worry for them. Things were more orderly on the Octopod than at home too. We had a daily list of things to do, and a schedule. Everyday, Koshi, Pinto, Squirt and I were given a list of tasks that we were expected to help with, and despite sharing the Octopod and various tasks with them, I had only exchanged a few words with the boys. And Koshi had never spoken a word to them. It was strange; After my parents' accident, I took little to no joy in anything I used to love before, like baseball and pranks. I felt as if everything good left the world after the accident happened, and there was only cruelty and torture left. That day, after we finished our morning tasks, we were sent outside to play while someone watched us to make sure we didn't go too far. That day, Dashi had given me a baseball that she had bought before Koshi and I got to the Octopod, and told me to share it with the boys if they wanted to play. I didn't have the heart to object. So I brought the ball out with me, and threw it against the wall of the Octopod for a while. Until Squirt came swimming toward me at light speed.
"Stop!" He cried, "Tweak's gonna kill you if you dent the Octopod."
"Yea," Pinto chimed in,"I once scratched the paint off of one of the Gups, and she made me clean each and every one of the Gups inside out." He shivered.
"Here, do you wanna play with us until the Captain calls us in?" Squirt asked.
"Yeah, O.K." I replied.
"Friends?" Squirt asked, extending a tentacle to me.
"Friends." I agreed.
A/N: I'm going off of the U.S. dub, not the U.K. one. Thank you for reading, y'all are the best readers I could hope for!
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The Odd Sister Out
Fanfiction"The middle child has it worse" Janine Margot Doxter knows that this is a lie. Being the younger sister of Dashi and Koshi, who were known as inseparable, mystery-loving sisters in their hometown. Therefore, she has always been the third wheel to he...
