Third Person
Ace flexed himself as he started to relax in the new form he took on. A soldier, whose eyes were mostly hidden by his helmet other than the faint glow they gave off. A weakness, sure, but one Ace could work with.

He wiggled every single finger in a last attempt to make sure everything was working properly before he did anything, and lucky for him, it was. He always hated having to switch around bodies, but he didn't have much of a choice. Staying in one for too long not only was risky because the penguin or someone could find him out, but also that for some reason, the longer he stayed in one, the more stiff he became. Slowly, muscles would start to slow or even freeze up, and he'd have to leave.

His own original form didn't like being confined for too long, so he'd have to act fast.

He followed the rest of the soldiers and soon found himself at a meeting. Hidden among many others that looked like him, he was safe. Cody was addressing them all, standing on a pedestal and cleared his throat right before he spoke.

"Now, because rumors spread fast, I might as well say it now: Not only have Tanith and Professor gone rogue, but Sam and Selena too."

Ace bit his lip to hide a guilty smile. That was his doing. Well, sort of. Ace wasn't kidding when he asked Tanith what she was doing to herself. "Which means we are down on allies. I'm calling in every person I got! Soldiers! We need your help to make sure Atlantis stays safe and sound! We need large patrols, people protecting the citizens, everything you've got! PebbleTeen, General Guppy and Spartacus are all being called in for work! Rasmus is working with the rest of the council to call in favors! We will not let this bring us down! FOR ATLANTIS!" He yelled and raised his spear in the air, letting sparks fly.

The soldiers began to cheer in agreement, and Ace couldn't help but be the slightest bit impressed. Cody did know how to rally the people so well, but one day, that might be his downfall.

Ever since Ace started watching Cody, there was never a doubt in his mind that he was among his greatest threats. A king, able to command legions and inspire people, not to mention possibly more powerful than he was, and that chilled him to the bone. All of that adding on to Ace having so much trouble just to move his body around when he possessed him? He needed to get out of the way if Ace was going to be able to do anything.

No matter what it took.

As soon as the group disbanded to get assigned to jobs, Ace pushed past the ranks and made a beeline for Cody. No more games, it was time to bust out the big guns.

Cody didn't see him coming and had his back turned, so Ace wasted no time to stroll right up and put his hand on his shoulder. Cody noticed and turned around. "What do you need, soldier?"

He waited...

But nothing happened.

Knitting his eyebrows together, he lifted his hand and put it back on his shoulder again. Cody just blinked in confusion, not even fazed.

"What the..." Ace murmured to himself and started to repeatedly pat Cody down. Cody just stood there, knitting his eyebrows together and glancing at him up and down.

"Uh... You okay there man? Are you checking if I'm an illusion or something because I assure you I'm the real thing!" Cody asked, hesitance lingering in his voice.

"It's not working!" Ace's pats soon turned into frustrated slaps. Cody shrunk away from his hits.

"Ow! Dude! What is your problem? Do you have issues or something?"

Something snapped inside Ace and he couldn't help but lose his cool. "I DON'T HAVE ANY ISSUES! SHUT UP!" In his last attempt to do what happened with everyone else, he lifted his hand in the air and slapped Cody right on the face, letting out a spark right as he collided with him.

Cody stumbled back from the physical force, but barely flinched from the shock. Ace gritted his teeth. This was a bigger problem than he originally thought. As the king recovered, Ace tore off his helmet and flashed his eyes at Cody, who blinked in surprise. "What is wrong with you?" He threw the helmet right at the penguin, hitting him in the head before leaving the body as quickly as possible. He didn't need that body anymore.

Ace moved to another body, far away from the lab and rubbed his face lightly, sighing to himself. "Did I miss calculate? There's no way I got it wrong... Did I even effect him at all or were those agonizing ten minutes of trying to get his body to cooperate while it slowly killed me all for nothing?" He asked himself before shaking his head.

"It doesn't matter." He decided, now standing up. "Chances are that the kraken has the same result, no use trying him too... There's still a chance the plan might work, even without the guaranteed rate." His eyes narrowed on the ground.

"They just need to let their guard down."
**************************

Cody quietly signaled the guards to follow him as they came closer to the beach. "Everyone stay behind me. Even in Hulk mode, Professor might still hesitate in attacking me. Just watch your back for Tanith, she might sneak up on us."

"Sir!" One guard spoke up, only shrinking down when Cody faced him. "With all due respect of course, how do you know they'll be here?"

Cody returned his gaze to the hills ahead of him and huffed. "The lifeguards reported being attacked. I didn't get the details out of them but they were all pretty freaked out. It can't be Sam, she attacks too quickly for them to clear out the beach that fast, and Selena disappeared off the map and something tells me it's not her. Who else could it be?"

He moved on, but even as he did, he felt uncertain. His mind was elsewhere instead of focusing on what was ahead.

The soldier who confronted him earlier was being controlled by Ace, but what was he trying to do? Why did he get so frustrated about something not working?

A sudden hand pulled him back, almost making him stumble but Cody managed to stay standing. He glanced back to see a wide eyed soldier gaping at something ahead. Cody turned his gaze to see what they were looking at and did a double take.

"Is that... CannibalCrab?"

A orange figure was at the edge of the waters of the beach, hunched over and didn't seem to notice they were there. Cody's eyes narrowed suspiciously and signaled his men to circle him. He walked straight ahead, making a beeline for him but stopped a couple feet away. CannibalCrab still made no movement, and Cody soon found out why.

The crab had a variety of bloody meats in front of him, all of which were half eaten like he couldn't stick with one for too long before moving onto another. Scary thing was, though Cody noticed a couple dead crabs in the pile, which were the most eaten out of everything, there was squids, salmon, bass, a bunch of other fish, some of which were kinds you shouldn't eat like pufferfish and something that Cody really hoped wasn't an arm.

He drew his spear carefully and while some soldiers followed his lead, others were too terrified to move, frozen in place. "CannibalCrab," Cody said firmly, now halting the crab's slightly movements. "What do you think you're doing?" Cody had to put on an authoritative voice, otherwise he might have sounded just as scared as he was. He couldn't show fear, not to his already shaky men.

CannibalCrab's head slowly lifted up get a small gasp out of the ones who could see his face but remained hidden to the rest, including Cody. Without warning, he whipped around and narrowed his eyes on the penguin. Cody now understood why everyone was so scared.

CannibalCrab had blood all over him, now making him look even more red than orange. His eyes had tiny pupils and his mouth was open, revealed several layers of sharp teeth that Cody had never seen before, and now wished it stayed that way. His pupils shot around his eye, examining the king before shifting a bit. He bared his teeth and Cody took an unconscious step back, causing the Atlantean Guards to do the same.

CannibalCrab lashed out at him, somehow moving his large body forward at speeds that shocked Cody to his core. He nearly didn't move out of the way in time but managed to avoid his grasp. "GET BACK!" Cody screamed. Professor and Tanith he was prepared for, but not this. "RETREAT TO THE LAB! GO MEN, GO!"

Cody didn't have to say it twice as the men bolted the other direction. Cody soon followed, but found the crazed crab was persistent.

Cody passed a slower soldier and while he tried to help him along, a claw launched out and grabbed onto his uniform. Cody turned to help, but watched as the claws sank into his chest and snapped on something. Cody assumed it was their heart because seconds later, the life drained out of their eyes and their body went limp.

The king nearly had to be dragged away as he helplessly watched the rogue Tide Changer feast on one of his men.

Cody was silent for a long time after getting back.

It wasn't hard for Nadine to find him. He was sitting in Professor's secret part of the base, slumped on the desk and staring ahead blankly. Nadine wasn't sure if he knew she came in or not because he didn't so much as react to the sound of trap doors opening and closing.

Nadine silently panicked on whether or not to call him by his first name or refer to him as "My king" and finally settled on avoiding it altogether. "Hey, you alright?"

Cody didn't move, nor made any attempt to answer.

Nadine carefully decided to get closer, coming up by his side and pushing her hair back behind her shoulder. "Things didn't go so well with confronting Hulk?" She guessed, but to her surprise, Cody shook his head.

"We didn't see him at the beach." His voice was soft and hinted with an emotion she couldn't place.

She couldn't help but tilt her head, perplexed. "What's wrong then?"

Cody hesitated. "... I watched one of my men get eaten."

Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "What? How? Who?" She couldn't seem to string a full sentence together, but Cody knew what she was asking.

"CannibalCrab. Something's wrong with him." Cody answered. "It's in his name, he should be eating his own kind but..." His voice trailed off as he got lost in his own thoughts. It soon occurred to him that Nadine might not know who he is. "Oh, CannibalCrab is-"

"I know." She cut him off quickly. "Professor used to talk about him all the time. They've got some rivalry going on."

For the first time in a while, Cody snickered. Nadine smiled a bit, now knowing she at least helped a bit. However, it wouldn't last long. "I have bad news." She said after taking a deep breath.

Cody perked up and faced her. "What is it?"

"Sector Two is taking heavy damage. Here's the culprit." She dug out a folded up piece of paper and handed it over.

Cody carefully unwrapped it, a little uncertain about what he'd find but once he stared at the picture, he found it was the last person he expected. The photo was black and white, from a damaged security camera was his best guess, but he could still make out the person all the same.

"I don't know him that well but apparently he's some villain's son? Baby Blooper, son of KrakenKid is that they told me." Nadine might have gone on but seeing Cody's wide eyes made her stop. "... You know him?"

"Sorta..." Cody's voice shook more than he was willing. He cleared his throat and tried again, handing it back to her. "We've met a few times. Never good times. Oh boy." Cody put his head in his hands and let out a muffled scream. Nadine shifted in her footing. "We are already running low on friends, now our enemies are probably supercharged with whatever Ace did to them and we're all gonna die! Perfect!" Cody lifted his heads to the ceiling and yelled, hopeful that Susan didn't mind and that nobody else could hear him.

Nadine stared at him for a while before cautiously asking, "Who's Ace?"

Cody huffed, slouching down. "Some supercharged spirit looking thing that seemed to hate everyone for some reason! He likes to possess people and then screw with their heads, and guess who he's taken a special interest in because he can't seem to get a grip on them? ME!"

Nadine watched as Cody looked away and decided to sit down besides him. Though it took a while, he looked over and spoke. "How come I've never seen you before?"

She chuckled lightly. "I've been... Out. In the Overworld. Up there, I'm this big time researcher who's exploring the world, just so everyone else can know about it too. I'm always out of town and working and though I hate it, I barely get to come home. I probably wouldn't even be in that position if it wasn't for my brother."

Cody perked up. "Why? What'd he do?"

"He talked me into it." She grinned. "I would have never taken a job as huge as that on my own! Being away from Atlantis, being one of the leaders in a research time, it was paralyzing, but Professor pointed out I'd be living the dream and of the opportunities and before I even realized it, I accepted the job! Life's been good since then." Her smile dropped and she slipped out the same needle she mentioned earlier out of her pocket. "Now, I feel like I need to do the same for him."

Cody didn't even realize what was truly eating at him until she said it.

Now I feel like

Sudden memories of voices talking to him all flooded him in an instant. Stories, feelings, laughter and crying all at the same time. He could hear the word "Coma" repeated over and over again, and remembered the things everyone told him once he woke up again.

How Professor was tearing up and doing everything he could to keep Atlantis safe.

How Tanith repeatedly exhausted herself trying to heal him out of it.

How Selena told him stories and tried to keep him company.

How Sam would break in in the night just because she wanted to see him again.

I need to do the same for him.

For them.

"I get what you mean."
********************************************

KrakenKid kept the gun close to him as he moved ahead of the rest of the group. Suddenly, leading everyone made him feel a lot less safe an usual.

His best friend wasn't by his side. His son could be in danger.
And neither would hesitate to attack him, while he could barely pull the trigger, even to stun them.

Why did it have to be so difficult and emotional?

Soon, he found himself voicing his plans to his men without warning. "Cannibal and Blooper could have only gone to the right or left. We would have seen their path of destruction if they went straight into Atlantis... Any news from the other team?" He glanced back to search for his Illithid's answer.

"Negative, sir." They answered quickly.

KrakenKid sighed and stared ahead, but stopped at a new sight. "Hold on, is that... Selena!" He called out, getting the moving figure in the distance to pause. He grinned, knowing he was right. "Stay here, I'm going to go see if she's seen Blooper. HEY SELENA, I NEED YOUR HELP!"

He rushed to catch up with her but slowed down when he noticed a look of pure anger on her face. "Whoa there... You feeling alright?"

"Why do you care? When have you ever cared?" Selena barked back, eyes flashing. "I'm just a tool to you! You only ever talk to me if you need a favor!"

KrakenKid shifted uncomfortably. "... No? Look, sorry you feel that way but I really-"

Selena sent a glare and threw a punch. KrakenKid backed out of the way right before she could hit him and stared in shock. "Dude! What is-"

"DON'T LIE TO ME! I'm not an idiot, I know you're lying! You're always lying! Everyone always lies! Lie, lie, lie! All the time and I'm SICK OF IT!"

Selena whipped out a sword and tried to plunge the sword into his chest but KrakenKid slipped away before she could, pulling out his gun in the process. Selena paused at the sight of it.

KrakenKid took in a shaky breath but narrowed his eyes. "You have a sword, I got a gun. We both know gun beats sword, you can't win this fight."

But the mermaid just bared her teeth. "Is that a challenge?" She screamed and swung again. KrakenKid's yellow eyes widened and his nerves took over, making him dodge it instead of firing. He barely got a breath of relief before she struck again, this time hitting him.

Pain filled his shoulder as the blade sunk in and he hissed. His arms flung out and grabbed onto the sword in him, causing Selena to panic and let go. He pulled the sword out of him but before he could make any sort of move, Selena fled.

KrakenKid made no attempt to run after her.
*******************

Cody stared at the map and took a deep breath. "Okay... What have we got here?"

He decided to start with the Fourth Sector first, placing down a serpent and a bulky monster figurine. "Tanith and Hulk, working together and have been seen mainly around the Fourth Sector. However, anyone who withstands a fight with them for too long makes them flee to either the First or Third Sector. They have to have some sort of rest spot around there!"

Next, Cody placed a little crab figurine on the edge of the map. "CannibalCrab is easy to track, always at the edges of every sector he goes in and has a predictable path of destruction. It won't be too hard to intercept him, but he's really strong and out of control..."

His hand hovered over one of the mermaid figurines, the green one, before finally sighing. "Sam and Selena could be literally anywhere and barely seem to have a pattern other than Sam is generally found near the palace if anywhere and Selena is generally by the graveyard. Even then, it's hard to say whether they will be there or not."

Finally, he grabbed two squid ones and placed the smaller of the two by the royal district. "Blooper seems to prefer destroying the royal district over anything else and while they are being evacuated, fighting him is hard... We need to know a weak spot or some sort of distraction before we move in. And KrakenKid..." Cody fiddled with it in his hand. "He hasn't shown up yet but since everyone else is on a path of destruction, chances are, he is too."

Cody placed KrakenKid's piece down, nearby the Conch Command. He'd probably be there if anywhere.

With it all laid out, he could create a strategy. "Damage control up by the royal district but no combat." He decided. "A handful of spies to keep an eye on Cannibal and the Conch Command will help. Three platoons should look for Selena, Sam and Hulk and Tanith while the rest should stay with the citizens. With open lines throughout everyone, we can stay communicated and rush to each other's aid if need be!"

Cody grinned at his work. All he needed to do was inform his men and he'd be set. Maybe if he caught everyone and somehow got them to calm down, they'd come to reason? It was the only idea he had, so that's how he'd have to go for.

"Cody!" PebbleTeen's voice rang in his ears and he whipped around. "We found Hulk."

Cody didn't hesitate to grab as many men as he could spare and get over to the sighting as fast as he could. As expected, Hulk was smashing everything in sight. Cody might have charged in if he didn't notice something else. Some big moving out of the corner of his eyes.

Pausing, he signaled for his men to do damage control before investigating.

Moving up and around the buildings, his heart stopped and he drew his spear as fast as possible. The other did the same with his sword.

"KRAKEN!"

"PENGUIN!"

Both of them screamed and pointed their weapons at the other. A moment passed before they actually attempted to talk to each other. "Are... Are you crazy?" Cody asked cautiously.

"Me? What about you! You've always been crazy! Even worse, you could be a self aware crazy! Or-or just be tricking me and now you're going to stab my shoulder with your spear! Well guess what, Selena already did that, you're too late!"

Cody's gaze flickered to KrakenKid's shoulders for a moment and found one was wrapped with bandages. Slowly, he relaxed. "Something tells me you aren't affected by whatever's messing with everyone else."

KrakenKid relaxed as well but kept his guard up. "What's going on?"

Cody shrugged lightly. "Probably Ace. He did something and now everyone is just-... You saw them! How else do I explain it?"

"Is it everyone?" KrakenKid asked, hesitance in his voice. "Everyone who was taken except us?"

Cody nodded. KrakenKid groaned in response. "Perfect. Not just fighting a bunch of crazed people, but also down on my general, and I have to fight my son, just dandy."

Cody chuckled in agreement. "We're out four pretty important Atlanteans and one of them is a raging monster, so we're not much better."

KrakenKid slowly met his eyes and hesitated. "So... We are both short on allies and need more firepower to get past this."

"True."

"And we both need more leadership so we can keep our armies together."

"Yep."

KrakenKid squinted his eyes, tilting his head. "Annnd we both need help. And extra pair of hands. Somebody with a lot of soldiers who has the same problem."

Cody nodded. KrakenKid stared at him for a while before sighing. "... You're not picking up what I'm trying to say, are you?" Cody opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head. KrakenKid took in a long and frustrating breath. "... Team. We can temporarily team up to fight off and hopefully bring some sense back into our buddies?"

Cody's mouth slowly grew into a smirk. "What?" KrakenKid blinked.

"Nothing, I just wanted you to admit you wanted us to team. Let's do it!"

Cody gestured him to follow him while KrakenKid gaped. "Hey! You tricked me into what?"

KrakenKid rushed after the penguin once he began to move. "Wow! Wooooow! I'm trying to save us all and you pull that on me? You wanted to destroy my pride when I'm trying to be nice?"

"Pride isn't going to help us! Just let it go and we can-"

Cody stopped suddenly making KrakenKid run into him. KrakenKid yelped but when he went to scold him, he paused when he saw it too.

Hulk was on another rampage and while Atlantean Soldiers were trying to stop them, if they got to close or tried to snipe him, a red blur came and knocked them around. What was more shocking was some woman, watching the destruction only a couple yards away from the leaders. She wasn't terrified of what was going on, but rather interested.

Cody's eyes narrowed and matched right up to her, stopping a foot or two behind her and started to draw his spear. KrakenKid followed his lead, having his own suspicions.

"I wouldn't attack me if I were you." Both of them frozen when she spoke. "I'm in a host body, remember? Trying to hurt me hurts them, and really doesn't do too much to me." She whipped around and laid her glowing, blue eyes on them. "And we wouldn't want any innocents getting hurt, would we?"

KrakenKid pushed himself in front of Cody and glared at her. "Ace, what have you done?"

Her eyes went from amused to disappointed in a couple seconds flat. "Oh come on!" Ace's head shook. "You haven't figured that out yet?"

KrakenKid seemed unsure, not something Cody was too used to seeing on him. "I know it had to do with the possession and how you isolated them but... I can't figure the rest out."

Ace threw his host body's arms in the air. "And I thought you were clever! It's so obvious!" Cody and KrakenKid gave blank stares, causing him to cross his arms. "I'm not telling it to you straight, but here, let's really think about what's going on."

Ace took in a breath and glanced back. "Professor became Hulk due to an over abundance of rage. CannibalCrab is eating everything living in sight and attacking everyone, despite who they are." For a moment, the blue eyes flickered to KrakenKid before resuming. "Sam attacks who she wants, Selena insists everyone is against her, Blooper is having very destructive fun and Tanith plays on people's fears."

KrakenKid bristled. "So what? You're making them do things they wouldn't do? Is that it?"

Ace clicked his tongue in disappointment. "I'm not making them do anything, they're doing it themselves. And more specificity, what's so special about what they're doing?" Ace prompted.

Cody finally had it, snapping his fingers. "They're doing things they've thought about but would never actually do!"

"Ding ding! We have a winner folks!" Ace grinned from ear to ear.

"What?" KrakenKid nearly dropped his jaw. "Okay, Professor has repressed angers and Blooper can be destructive but Cannibal... Maybe... And Tanith, Selena and that other one-"

"Sam!" Cody and Ace corrected at the same time, then made a face at each other.

"-Yeah, that one- They secretly want to do those things?"

Cody paused, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. "Selena could feel under appreciated, she does give a helping hand more than I've given her credit for and she might feel used so she's lashing out. Sam apparently works a boring job and maybe she wants things to move a lot faster than they are, and wants to have some destructive fun but can't. And Tanith always listens to us and probably knows exactly what to say to hurt us, but doesn't say anything."

KrakenKid blinked in surprise and turned to Ace. "So how exactly did you get them to do that?"

Ace hummed to himself. "How to explain this... Well, imagine your brain as an sky island, and on the edge of this island is this abyss of dark thoughts and actions. You fall of the rails when you indulge in them, but you can still get back up. If you think about them, maybe you just teeter by the edge."

Ace began to pace around. "Of course everyone spends some time by the edge." He stopped suddenly and flashed his eyes at the both of them. "So, I pushed them off the edge and basically made it so they can't get back on. What they do is up to them and whatever dark thoughts lie within their mind, I just gave them the push they needed. Now, if you excuse me,"

Ace's form drained out of the Atlantean woman and zipped away. He left only one sentence for them. "Good luck boys, you're gonna need it."

The woman collapsed but Cody quickly caught her in his arms.

"So," Cody asked as KrakenKid swam over to him. "How did it go?"

KrakenKid grunted in response. "They're not happy about our little alliance, but they'll live through it. What about your Atlanteans?"

"Pretty much the same. We did find something interesting!" KrakenKid perked up and nodded at him to go on. "You know that woman Ace possessed? Well apparently, every time he does that, he leaves a small trace of himself behind. So small that it normally fades if you don't get it in time."

"So we can track him?" KrakenKid said.

Cody shook his head. "It's not strong enough to do that, nor enough to figure out what he is exactly, but we can make an antidote. Ace might have placed whatever hold he has on them but-"

"-If we cancel it out then they'll go back to normal!" KrakenKid finished, grinning. "Will it work?"

"We'll need a test subject, and I just located some candidates. Ready to take on Hulk and Tanith?"

KrakenKid nodded firmly.

The pair took Nadine with them and traveled to the farmlands. There, while Hulk caused chaos, Tanith was waiting.

"Finally! I was wondering when you'd show up." She smirked and glanced behind her. "Hey! Blue man!" Hulk temporarily stopped to look over. "Keep away from these guys, alright?" Her gaze turned back to them and she cracked her knuckles. "They're mine."

"Nadine," Cody hissed under his breath. "You focus on getting both the antidote and whatever turns him human again into Professor, we got Tanith."

Nadine nodded firmly before backing away and having Cody and KrakenKid take care of it.

The hybrid's eyes shifted from KrakenKid to Cody and let out a low whistle. "Two against one doesn't seem like a fair fight to me. Shall I even the odds?" She grinned and snapped her fingers.

Before he could react, KrakenKid was engulfed by a strangely yellow bubble. He gave it slash with his sword, but Tanith just rolled her eyes and took out her staff. Planting it into the ground, she gave it a quick squeeze before the gem on the top glowed. "That should give me enough time. Now, O king of Atlantis, shall we dance?"

Cody made the first move, jabbing his spear forward and letting a zap admit from it. Tanith dropped down, avoiding its strike before making a small bubble that could fit in her hand and chucking it in Cody's direction. He rolled out of the way so it hit KrakenKid's bubble instead.

KrakenKid pounded on the bubble before turning to another solution. "Uh, Maverick? Think you could bust me out of here?" KrakenKid called as Cody dodged another force field coming right for him and sent an attack right back.

"Little busy! Just hang in there!" He called back before charging head on.

Cody clashed with Tanith, trying to hit the blunt end of his spear on her head but she put up a shield and slithered away. KrakenKid sighed, hitting his bubble again but with no changes. "That's fine. Not like I wanted out anyways..." He mumbled under his breath. He continued to slash at the bubble with his sword as the fight raged on.

Tanith and Cody clashed left and right, Cody dodging most of her attacks and Tanith shielded herself from what he threw at her. Cody couldn't help but feel the slightest bit hesitant to fight someone he called a good friend, but the second he showed that hesitation, Tanith took advantage and landed a hit on him. She was grinning all throughout their fighting.

"You know, I thought you were a good fighter but I guess I was wrong." She sang. "I guess you just hide your weakness under all that fake confidence and Nexus magic. How strong are you without that sparky magic?"

Cody's eyes widened and he missed a beat, soon earning a force field to his face.

"Penguin! Focus!" KrakenKid screamed. "Don't let her get in your head!"

Tanith's gaze turned to KrakenKid and laughed. "KK, KK, KK..." She shook her head and forced the fighting to get closer to the bubble so she didn't have to yell as much. "A walking pile of insecurity and a bad childhood." Her eyes narrowed and a smile that betrayed all innocent formed on her face. "I never thought it was possible to have mommy AND daddy issues, but here I stand corrected."

KrakenKid flinched and wanted to stop talking, but forced himself to straighten up. "Like you're one to talk!" Tanith blinked in surprise and almost got hit by a bolt of Nexus energy. "Ran away from home? What kind of childhood did you have for that to happen?"

Tanith froze up, giving Cody the pause he needed to even out the score and land a hefty hit on her.

Hulk began to smash a barn to pieces, but was unaware to his sister sneaking up behind him.

However, someone else noticed.

Tanith narrowed her eyes before full on tail slapping Cody to the ground and rushing over. Cody sent a couple shocks after her but she narrowly avoided them.

Tanith dropped in front of Nadine and summon a wall between them. Soon, that wall would smack her and send her flying back before landing on very certain a penguin.

Hulk turned to see what the commotion was about and frowned at seeing Cody and Nadine on the ground. Tanith noticed his behavior and sighed. "I thought Hulk didn't care about what happened to others as long as he created destruction, where did Ace go wrong?"

Hulk grunted and Tanith shot him a look. "Well of course I was the one who sent her flying! Do you see anyone else protecting you?" Another series of grunts made her roll her eyes. "No, I couldn't have been more careful with her! We are FIGHTING! She's on the other side, we can't care about them!"

Cody, KrakenKid and Nadine all exchanged looks. "Uh... Are they... Communicating?"

"Looks like it." KrakenKid called over.

"I didn't think that was possible, I don't even know what Hulk's saying half the time, or that he was speaking at all and I'm his sister!"

Hulk kept making low noises, getting an offended look from the hybrid. "What do you mean "I didn't want to hurt them so I bubbled KrakenKid to get out of it and I'm going easy on Cody"? I'm not going easy!" Cody nearly choked on the words "Going easy". That was EASY?

Hulk must've done the equivalent of rolling his eyes because Tanith started to fume. "Okay, you want me to go hardcore on them? HUH?" Tanith slapped her tail on the ground hard, causing a newly formed force field to barrel towards the king of Atlantis. "I'LL SHOW YOU HARDCORE!"

Cody held up his spear and began to shock the wall, making it shatter seconds before it could hit him. Tanith was right there when it did to throw a punch at Cody. It hit, landing on his chest and knocking the wind out of him. Before he could regain it, she picked him up and spun around before throwing him as hard as she could right for KrakenKid's bubble.

KrakenKid instinctively shielded himself with his arms before hearing a little "Thunk" like a bird just hit a window, and in this case, it did. Cody groaned and struggled to get back up as Tanith slowly approached. Nadine rushed to give her a piece of her mind but with another snap of her fingers, she was bubbled as well. As Tanith loomed over the penguin, KrakenKid groaned.

"Get up! Come on, penguin!" He yelled, switching his sword for his gun. Cody's body trembled under his own weight and dropped back down. Tanith was right next to him, glaring.

"Who's soft now?" She muttered bitterly and turned her glare to Hulk.

KrakenKid loaded his gun and shot for Tanith but expected the bubble to stop it. To his surprise, upon contact with the shot, the bubble exploded and sent the closest person, which happened to be Tanith circling Cody, flying. KrakenKid ducked but relaxed when he realized he was fine. Nadine's bubble dropped as soon as the other did and she rushed to Cody's side to help him up.

Tanith was sent straight into what used to be a barn and groaned to herself. She sat up, wobbling from side to side and attempted to glare at KrakenKid but couldn't seem to keep herself straight.

Cody slowly recovered, getting up and using both Nadine and KrakenKid, must to his dismay, as his support. Tanith managed to do the same. "Y-you..." She huffed and took a deep breath. "You're lucky, you know. That you're under protection. Otherwise I'd take all of you out without a second thought and donate your organs."

Tanith stumbled over to Hulk and whistled, causing him to stop and lumber over to her. Cody and KrakenKid gave a look before KrakenKid called out. "Under whose protection?"

Tanith wrapped her arms around Hulk's neck and assumed a piggyback riding position. She spared one last look at them. "Mine." She answered before Hulk jumped into the air and took the two of them away in a matter of bounds.

KrakenKid groaned as he and Nadine dragged the tired penguin back to the lab. "Sheesh, I didn't think you took that many hits."

"Too much... Magic." Cody coughed out, making his eyelids droop even more. "Not enough... Winning."

KrakenKid just shook his head at him. "And dude! You're a lot heavier than I thought! How much do your feathers even weigh?"

Nadine just chuckled. "We're halfway to the lab, we can make it."

Cody's eyes slowly started to close and drift off to sleep, but his busy mind kept him up. It focused in on one thing that he had to ask. "What did she mean by a bad childhood? And your parents?"

KrakenKid nearly stopped but managed to find the will to keep swimming. Stopping would mean all over them would fall over since they were all walking together. "I- uh..." he trailed off awkwardly and cleared his throat. "I'm... I do remember telling Tanith the conditions of how I grew up but I've never mentioned much about my parents..."

Cody glanced at him. "Maybe she just guessed? Took a shot in the dark?"

"Well she hit bullseye then, because it hit a little too close to home." He retorted, tensing up.

Nadine frowned and quickly added her thoughts. "You seemed to hit her pretty hard too!" She pointed out.

KrakenKid let out a short laugh. "Guess I did. I don't know, I was just thinking..."

"Thinking?" Cody prompted. Tanith never talked about her family easily, but maybe KrakenKid could fill them in.

"Well, you know! She ran away from home, and she clearly wasn't originally seeking adventure when she did considering she was underage. If she were older, sure, but no child runs from home when they had a happy childhood." KrakenKid shrugged like it was nothing.

Cody and Nadine shared a look.

Though they stumbled in silence for a while, the streets of Atlantis empty, it didn't last long as something zipped around them and while it knocked the Atlanteans down, the Tide Changer among them was dragged away and thrown into a wall.

KrakenKid flopped on the ground and when he tried to get up, they punched his stomach and he fell back down again in pain.

Finally, they stood still long enough for everyone to process who it was.

"Sam?" Cody croaked, raising his head.

KrakenKid did the same to see the blue-green tailed mermaid staring down at him, eyes narrowed threateningly. She picked him up by his throats and slammed him against the wall and pulled a dagger on him. KrakenKid gasped for air and attempted to punch her with all he had, but missed.

Sam raised the knife but a shock entering her body made her not only drop the knife, but KrakenKid along with it.

She whipped around to see it was all Cody's fault. She moved to take him down, but Nadine swiped up his spear and pointed it at her. "Get away from us." She growled.

Sam stared at her for a long time, then was gone in a flash.

"H-Holyyyy smokes." KrakenKid gasped, sitting up against the marble wall. "First Hulk, now Sam? Can people please stop picking me up by my neck? It's really not a pleasant experience to watch your life flash before your eyes."

Though they took a few hours to rest, KrakenKid and Cody were back on their feet and planning as soon as they could.

Cody was the first to start up the conversation. "Going after the duo didn't go too well. They're more in sync than I thought."

KrakenKid scoffed. "No kidding. They could talk to each other and Tanith stops anyone from getting too close to Hulk, we need someone to distract her before getting close to him."

"Yeah... CannibalCrab? Your son? We could try the serum on them." Cody offered but got a quick disagreement.

"I'd like to postpone dealing with Cannibal for as long as possible, it was a bit scarring last time." KrakenKid shivered. "And as much as I'd like to cure Blooper, we need to find his weakness first and I'm not letting you stick some needle in him, no offense. Actually, never mind, much offense, I still hate you with a burning passion."

Cody rolled his eyes and moved on. "So that leaves Sam and Selena. Sam is really quick and going to be impossible to get without an equal, so Selena is our only option."

KrakenKid nodded along. "But how do we find her? And more importantly, get her to stay still long enough to get the antidote in her? Last time I saw her, she was pretty quick."

Cody smirked. "Dude, we're in a lab! If we're going to get anything that can slow her down, we'll find it in here."

Cody waited a while before yelled in the middle of a graveyard. "Hey! Salami! Where are you?"

Though it took a while, the unusually hot headed pink mermaid couldn't stay hidden for long and furiously swam out to meet him. "Oh wow, the king of Atlantis! What a pleasure it is to see you!" She exclaimed sarcastically. "Do you need your trusty sidekick named after some meat product to come and aid you then leave when she isn't useful? Hmmm?"

Cody took a shaky breath to calm his nerves before speaking. "Selena, you mean a lot to me and I'm sorry you felt like you're just a tool."

Selena crossed her arms and puffed. "Sure, sure you are." She replied, unconvinced.

Cody stood up as straight as possible and stared her in the eye. "I mean it. Listen, all of you are like family to me! I've already lost my Dad, probably my Mom, and my brother, but I can't lose you too."

Selena's face only filled with more cynicism. "Family? I don't remember being related to you."

Cody's fists tightened. "Family doesn't end with blood, and it doesn't start with it either! Do you know what a family does? A family cares about each other! They sacrifice their time, sometimes even their happiness for each other!" He took a step forward, causing her to take one back. "They stick with each other, even when times get tough because they know they'll make it out! Family worries about each other." Cody walked forward while Selena backed up. "And most importantly, a family doesn't give up on each other. KRAKEN, NOW!"

Selena's froze and KrakenKid quickly shot the gun in the air. A weighted net sprouted and fell right onto Selena. She screamed and tried to swim up but the weights at the end of the net kept her down. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She screeched.

"Bringing you back." Cody answered and pulled out the needle. He grabbed Selena's arm before carefully inserting it into her wrist and pushing the contaminants in.

She pulled away as soon as she broke out of the shock, but soon, she just stood there, blinking. KrakenKid emerged from his hiding place behind the walls of the graveyard, holding the now empty net gun. "Did it work?" He asked.

Cody waited as Selena slowly raised her head. "C-Cody? What the..." she groaned. "I have the worst headache in the world."

Cody grinned profoundly and lifted the net off of her with help from the kraken. "You back on the Sky island?"

"On the what?"

Cody chuckled and shook his head. "It's a metaphors. Do you... Remember what happened?"

"You mean psycho and paranoid Selena? Yeah, a little too well." She rubbed her head. "Sorry about that."

Cody shook his head. "It's okay, you didn't have complete control over yourself. Mind doing us a favor and catching your sister and putting this needle in her?" Cody tossed the shot filled with light blue liquid over to her.

The mermaid caught it in midair and smiled. "Of course. My pleasure."
**********************

Sam was prepared for a million and one things, including fighting off both the Atlanteans and the Tide Changers, but she didn't expect her sister to track her down.

Sam stared at her for a while before speeding off. Glancing back, Selena was literally on her tail, twiddling the needle in her hands. "And where do you think you're going?" She asked, amused.

Sam dipped in between houses and made twists and turns to shake her off, but it barely did any good. Selena knew all of her tactics, and in her state of mind, making up new ones wasn't an option.

"Get... Away!" Sam said through bared teeth.

They both slowed down and Sam whipped around to face her. Selena just leaned to one side and grinned. "Not a chance. Sam, I love you and all, but I'm your little sister. It's my job to annoy you and right now, annoying you also including getting this needle in you so you can stop being insane."

Before Sam knew it, Selena tackled her. She struggled and kept pushing her. "Hey! Get off of me!"

"Not until I get this- Owwww! No hair pulling! That's cheating!"

"You always cheat!"

"I'm younger! I'm allowed to because I have a disadvantage of being smaller than you!" Selena protested. "Now just stay still!" Selena shoved the needle into the side of her neck and forced the contaminants in. Sam struggled a little more before going still and starting to blink rapidly.

"Sam?" Selena asked carefully. "Are you not crazy anymore?"

Sam finally focused in and smirked. "Yeah, yeah. Good job, now get off of me."

Selena snickered and helped her up. "Welcome back, wanna cause a distraction with me?"

Sam brushed herself off. "Details."

"We need to get Tanith off of Professor's sister's back so she can cure him. Sound like fun or what?"

Sam laughed. "Ready when you are. Just lead the way."

Sam easily dodged the bubble and jabbed the hybrid in the side. She spun around to retaliate but soon was distracted by Selena's hair pulling. "Ow! Hey! Stop that! Stop moving so fast!" Tanith protested, spinning left and right trying to catch the mermaid duo but only seem to catch their dust.

"Over here!" Selena mocked.

"Over you! No, under you now!" Sam giggled.

"How did you get under me? I didn't think that was possible! Ack-! Stop with the tail, stop with the tail!" Tanith kept yelling but it was never of any use. Tanith was fast, but not nearly enough compared to what the Sneaky Sister could do.

Cody and KrakenKid quickly distracted Hulk so he would stop with destroying Atlantis and give Nadine a better shot of getting him.

Tanith noticed the figure creeping up on Hulk, but as she tried to rush to his aid, her tail was yanked back and she had to bubble herself. "Blue man! Behind you!" She cried out.

This time, it was no use. Hulk was too busy trying to squash the strange and slippery purple thing that when the needles entered him, he hardly noticed.

Soon, both went in him and his eyes rolled back before he collapsed on the ground, now shrinking to human form.

KrakenKid cheered but Tanith was a little more than horrified. "No! My partner!" She cried out, banging against her own bubble, then gritted her teeth. "Fine then! I'll get somebody new!"

Selena and Sam tried to stop her, but Tanith managed to hit a force field on both of them and blinded them for a moment, allowing her to escape.

"Whoa! Nice man!" KrakenKid exclaimed and gave Nadine a pat on the back.

She grinned. "Thanks! Someone should get him to the hospital though."

Cody blinked. "Why? Sam and Selena were fine after the serum went in them!"

But she shook her head quicker. "Not that, the one that made him human again? It's poison. It turns him back because it weakens him so much, he can't sustain Hulk form. That's why he never uses it unless emergencies come up."

Cody's eyes widened before he scooped up Professor and dragged him to the hospital. Nadine was quick to help.

KrakenKid rushed up to them, but he didn't help lift his burden. "Hey," he asked Nadine. "What kind of poison-"

"Not a chance." She told him.

"Can't blame a man for trying." He shrugged.
**********************

Cody plopped back down in his seat, sighing. "He's fine." He assured everyone. "Professor is perfectly fine. I mean, he's still passed out, but he's fine."

"Uh Huh, glad to hear it." KrakenKid murmured, fiddling with his gun. "Can we get to everyone else then? I'm still out on some of my favorite people, any ideas?"

Cody shot a glare before addressing Selena and Sam. "Do either of you know a way to trick Blooper, or maybe a weakness? Kranky insists his son is the perfect killing machine and has no flaws."

"Have you met him? Of course he is! He's my little angelic killing machine."

"He'STheDevil." Selena coughed and cleared her throat. "And I think I know something I can do." She answered, grinning. "We'll find Blooper."

Cody nodded and faced KrakenKid. "Which leaves us with CannibalCrab. We'll find Tanith later. Sound fair? Everyone have a vile?" Cody looked around and only got nods. He smiled back at them. "Great. Divide and conquer it is!"
********************

KrakenKid stared down Cody. "You want me to do what now?"

"Just distract the guy while I sneak up and turn him back to normal!" KrakenKid glared at him but he quickly defended his plan. "It'll only be for a second! Just hold him off, and your favorite crab will be back to his good old, whatever he's like self! Trust me!"

KrakenKid hesitated. Getting almost eaten by his best friend again didn't sound like something he wanted to do, but if it meant he'd get his best friend back, he'd do it.

KrakenKid sighed. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this, but fine. Live bait kraken it is."

KrakenKid got up and glanced around the mountain. There, a little in the distance, was CannibalCrab, chewing on something he caught. Whether it was an animal, Atlantean or Tide Changers, KrakenKid didn't know and didn't want to think about it.

He carefully approached and cleared his throat to catch the crab's attention. "Hey buddyyyy." He smiled nervously and backed up when he came forward. "You've been-uh-" he glanced at the mangled body he was eating, still unsure what it was. "Busy."

CannibalCrab didn't do much other than lock his eyes on him hungrily. KrakenKid gulped and felt his heart rate quicken. Cody rushed to catch up, then slowed and pulled out the needle once he got closer. Just a little more! KrakenKid thought as Cody stared to close in on his neck.

Cody almost made it, but a red figure tackled him and the syringe dropped out of his hand and on the ground. KrakenKid's mouth open, horrified but never got a scream out when CannibalCrab jumped him.

Soon, he found himself pinned to the ground. CannibalCrab bared his pointed teeth and began to bite at him but KrakenKid shoved his face away, trying to wiggle free from under him. "CODY! HELP!" He screamed, panicked.

"WISH I COULD!" KrakenKid spared a glance to see what was going on. Cody was on the ground and currently wrestling Tanith. KrakenKid bared his teeth and instead, focused on the vile that was dropped.

CannibalCrab growled something, getting Tanith to widen her eyes and glance at him. "What? No! Keep him alive! We like them, remember! Eat what you were just eating instead!"

CannibalCrab kept growling and snapping at KrakenKid, narrowly almost biting him. Tanith seemed annoyed. "Look, you can eat a thousand other creature but you're not going to find another KK! Eat something else!"

KrakenKid began to scoot himself closer to the syringe using one hand to reach for it while the other to hold off the crab.

"Dude! That was not part of the deal!" Tanith protested. "I'm brains, you're brawn! Will you cooperate or not-"

KrakenKid's hand curled around the antidote and stuck it onto CannibalCrab. As soon as his face blanked, KrakenKid shoved him off him and Tanith gasped. "Oh come on! Stop taking my partners!" Tanith screamed and ran off, letting Cody go.

KrakenKid huffed as CannibalCrab came back to his senses, frowning. He gagged, looking like he might throw up. "Why was I eating that stuff? None of it was nearly as good as crab!"

KrakenKid chuckled. "You have no idea how badly I wanted to hear that."
********************

Selena gritted her teeth as she swam along with her sister. "Sheesh, finding him should have been the easy part! It's been like an hour or something, where is he?"

Sam shrugged and they kept moving. It was only the sound of yelling they made them pause.

"Boring!"

"Boring? I'm talking about the opportunity of a lifetime but it's too boring? Come on, team up with me! Together, we can-"

"BORING!"

Sam and Selena arrived on the scene just in time to see Tanith put up her force field as a fleet of bullets rained down on her. She flinched and as soon as it let up, she fled.

Neither paid much attention to her, but instead, the one who attacked. Finally, they located Blooper.

His eyes shifted from where Tanith was to them and gave a demented grin. "Finally, someone worth my time! Salami! Let's play a game!" Blooper held up his minigun.

Selena's eyes widened and she quickly stopped him. "I know "It's raining bullets" is a fun game and all, but I have a better one! It involves high stakes too!"

Blooper perked up. "High stakes? Ooooo, tell me! Tell me!" He rushed down to their eye level.

Selena grinned. "Here's the game: You and I are gonna see who can beat the other at Simon Says! You win, we play all the raining bullets you want, and you have the gun, but if I win, you have to agree to my terms."

Blooper gave her a bored look. "Simon Says is boring!" He protested.

Selena just smirked. "What? You're not gonna play? Are you too... Chicken?"

Blooper glared and huffed. "No! Bring it on Salami!"

Selena grinned even wider. "Perfect. Simon says, sit down." Blooper obeyed. "Stand." He didn't move. "Simon says, get up and jump on one foot." Once he did so, Selena cleared her throat. "Simon says, stand as straight as possible and don't move!"

Blooper did so, but right as he did, Sam filled him with the antidote. He reacted just like they did before shaking his head wildly. "Whoa! Head rush! What is going on here?"

Selena snickered. "Come with me, we've got explaining to do."
**************************

On the way back, Cody, CannibalCrab and KrakenKid didn't talk much.

Cody stayed focused on getting them back and checked in with all the groups from all around Atlantis to see how the citizens were doing. CannibalCrab was eating a bunch of crab, trying to get the taste out of his mouth and KrakenKid just spaced out, thinking to himself.

It took a while, but KrakenKid's head shot up and he stopped in his tracks. "Maverick, do you still have an extra antidote on you?" Cody nodded. "Can I have it?"

Cody and CannibalCrab both stared at him in surprise. "Why?" Cody asked, pulling it out.

KrakenKid held his hands up in a signal to throw it over, then caught it when Cody threw it. "I think I know where I can find Tanith. You two go on ahead."

As he stared to leave, Cody called out. "Sure you don't want us to come with you?" But KrakenKid kept nodding.

"I'll be fine!" He called back.

"How can you be sure?" CannibalCrab questioned.

"Just a hunch! Catch up with you guys later!"

KrakenKid turned right around and bolted towards Sector Four. It was just a hunch, but KrakenKid was pretty sure he figured out what Tanith's weakness was.

And where she would be.

As he approached, the red figure in the distance told him he was right. He slowed down a couple feet away from Tanith before coming to a stop.

Tanith was panting and ragged, but still very much Tanith. "Crystals." KrakenKid smiled softly. "Even when you're crazy, you always come back to the crystals."

Tanith said nothing, just focusing on breathing. KrakenKid continued. "I figured you out. Everyone has a weakness, whether it be too hungry to actually think properly, or unable to outrun your sister, everyone had one. I thought it was just that you can't seem to heal yourself in this state but that's not it, is it?"

Tanith turned her gaze to the ground as he said it.

"You have to rely on people."

Tanith grunted and backed away but KrakenKid kept moving forward. "Fear works that way, doesn't it? That was your thing? Fear? You're strong and you can inflict other people with fear to make them freeze up, but you need someone supporting you so that you don't either."

"Shut up." Tanith twitched, shutting her eyes tight. "Just go away!"

"Nope." KrakenKid grabbed her arm and pulled her into a sudden hug. "I got you." He told her and quickly administered the serum into her neck. She tensed before relaxing and hugging back.

"You okay?" He pulled away and got a nod.

"I think so." Tanith smiled, this time no malice behind it. "What-"

"Come on." KrakenKid nudged his head towards Atlantis. "Everyone is at the lab. I'll explain on the way."
*************************

Ace huffed and crossed his arms as he stared at the aftermath. "Freaking antidote..." He mumbled under his breath. "Why did the team? Why did the have to team of all things? I was so close but then WHOOSH! Their army is doubled!"

He let out another groan and took deep breaths. "No matter." He told himself, opening his eyes. "I can always move on. After all, what's that old saying?" He asked himself.

Ace stared down on the mixed people below him. Both Atlanteans and Tide Changers. Ace focused on two particular people: The biggest threats of them all.

"One door closes..."

******************************

NINE THOUSAND WORDS PLUS A BIT MORE

IM SO FRIED
WHYYYYYYY

AHHHH

Okay, I'm good. So, the stuff

They all of dark thoughts, and that's what happens when they get surrounded by them.

Selena lashes out at people and is a lot more cynical about Cody and everyone else.

Sam just attacks everything, she wants to let her frustration out

Blooper wants to have fun, but unfortunately, doesn't care how his destructive fun effects others

CannibalCrab wants to consume everything and become bloodthirsty.

And then Hulk and Tanith are Anger and Fear, which is why they work great together. In fact, while working together, they cover each other's weak spots. Hulk is confused about what to do and isn't fast, but Tanith can provide orders and speed. Tanith needs someone to rely on and isn't physically strong, Hulk can provide both of those things.

Ace wanted something, but didn't get it yet. Next time, perhaps. You'll see later.

End of this arc too! We have one more Arc before this book is over! Tomorrow, I'll post the next chapter guide!

I think that's all I needed to say? I hope you liked this MONSTER of a chapter! Be sure to comment what you thought and goodbye!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter