Third Person

It was strange, all the people who were affected were scattered across Atlantis, but whenever someone asked them about what happened, they would eventually say the same thing.

There was Professor Pikalus, currently in the hospital and waking up to find his sister by his side. He grinned, soon getting one from her too. When he tried to move, he winced, finding he was a lot weaker than he remembered. It took him five seconds to figure out why.

"Hulk-Be-Gone serum?" He guessed. She nodded and he sighed, letting his head fall back against the pillow. "Remind me to make some sort of detox for when I wake up later, that stuff is strong."

Nadine snickered. "I told you you didn't need that much poison in it but no, the scientist knows best apparently."

"Okay, okay, I was cocking, sue me! I created the concept of the Gauntlet that day too, I didn't think I'd get anything wrong!" Professor responded.

They both laughed at the memory, before it stopped and neither could avoid the topic any longer. "So..." Nadine started, lightly messing with the bedsheets. "What was it like?"

"Hmm?"

"Being Hulk. I mean, you've told me before but this time..." Her voice trailed off and she met his eyes. "Niall, you were really different. You were actually taking orders from someone and you didn't really have an object of anger, you were just angry! Normally, there's no reasoning with the Hulk and he always goes after something, so what happened?"

Professor went silent for a moment, choosing his words.

Then there was CannibalCrab, Selena, Sam and Blooper all back at the lab and sitting around the table. Cody sat at the head of them all, and had more than a few questions. However, he couldn't quite ask them yet.

CannibalCrab was stuffing more crab than Cody thought someone could ever eat down his throat and eating it quickly. He kept mumbling about trying to get a taste out of his mouth and how dirty Atlanteans tasted. Besides Cody, Sam, who sat besides him, was giving him a look and silently wondering how much crab he was planning on eating before he stopped.

Selena and Blooper were on the other side of the table, chatting endlessly. Every once in awhile, Blooper would find out he had another hidden weapon on him that he didn't find before and put it on the table before resuming the talking. The table was now filled with a pile of various weapons, mostly guns but some explosives and one chainsaw as well.

Cody waited a moment before he cleared their throat to catch all of their attentions. "Uh, guys? Can we just talk for a moment about the whole "Everyone going bananas" thing or are we just going to pretend it never happened to make us all feel better?"

Selena immediately dropped her gaze to the table and CannibalCrab looked away. Blooper just sucked in a long breath and Sam couldn't find the words that worked for her so she stayed silent.

Cody sighed. "Come on guys, what happened out there?"

Selena and Sam both exchanged a look. Selena decided to be the one to speak. "I don't know about everyone else, but the mailwoman came by our house and I lost myself as soon as she touched me. Then, I just couldn't control myself."

The others murmured in agreement, but only Sam would say something she clearly wasn't proud to admit. "One more thing... About when we changed."

Then, all the way over in the Fourth Sector and heading for the lab was Tanith, walking besides KrakenKid, and now as she moved about, she was realizing how very sore she was.

"Owww... How much magic did I use?" She groaned, flexing her shoulders and flicking her tail restlessly.

KrakenKid glanced over and slowed his pace for her. "Probably an excessive amount." He guessed.

Tanith nodded along. "No kidding, I remember using combat shields."

KrakenKid gave her a perplexed look. "Combat shields? Never heard you say that before, what's that?"

She puffed lightly, subconsciously grabbing the kraken's shoulder for support, getting both of them to stop moving altogether. "It's a bit of a work in progress but clearly it's working. I use my force fields as weapons in any way possible. I've been working on making small ones that can fit in my hand to throw at people, expanding them suddenly to they hit people, moving them around, and a couple more tricks that haven't worked yet. Blooper has been a huge help in the process with our training days."

"You guys still do that fighting thing, huh?" He asked, getting a nod. "Well, it clearly worked. You beat the penguin!"

Tanith winced slightly. "Yeah, but I think we all know he was holding back on me." Her blue eyes shifted over to meet his yellow ones. "Speaking of the whole thing, I'm really sorry about what I said. I just..." She sighed and left it at that.

As they began to move again, KrakenKid had to ask. "What was it like? Whatever Ace did to you and the others?" Tanith froze on the spot and looked at the ground. KrakenKid raised his eyebrows. "Tanith?"

All of them were scattered, and yet, they all would say the same thing.

"It felt good."

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

Nadine's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped, only able to utter one word. "What?"

Professor pushed his body into a sitting up position before he said anything. "Nadine, I know I'm your big brother, but I'm not perfect."

Nadine rolled her eyes playfully. "Well duh. I never said you were perfect."

"But you do hold me in high standards." Professor pointed out. "And here's the thing: I hold a lot of my anger in. Sometimes it spills out here and there, and almost always behind the person's back. I still resent some people for the simplest things, and it eats me up inside. Getting rid of it all just felt so..." His fist clenched. "Satisfying."

Nadine's eyes widened but Professor gave her no time to respond, flinging the blanket off of him and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. When he tried to stand up, he stumbled, getting Nadine to react but he held up a hand saying, 'I'm fine' so she could relax at least a little.

"I'm going back to the lab." He said.

"What?" Nadine gave him a surprised look. "Professor, you still need to recover! What use are you exhausted?"

"More useful than sitting here." He responded in a cold tone. Pikalus glanced over to see a very shocked Nadine. He sighed. "Sorry sis, but I need to work. Come by the lab later, maybe we can go out to eat with Mom."

Nadine didn't say a thing as he stumbled out the door, and closed it behind him. She was alone with her thoughts, and couldn't shake the feeling that Professor was a lot less fine than he was letting on.

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

"W-what? What do you mean, "It felt good"? What felt so good about it?" Cody asked immediately, concern lacing his voice.

Each and every one of them besides Cody exchanged a look before shrugging. "You heard her, it felt kinda good." Blooper responded, sitting back. "I didn't really care about anything except myself and entertaining myself and I kinda feel bad about it now, but at the time it felt so free. It didn't really matter what my Dad kept screaming or how other people were getting hurt or when I noticed that my Dad started to cr-" He cut himself off. Blooper shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked down guiltily. "Uh- just... Nothing mattered, okay?"

Selena kept her gaze on Blooper for a minute longer, trying to decipher his feelings before turning and agreeing with him. "It's true. Sometimes it feels like you and KrakenKid and everyone else is just using me and attacking you guys for it just felt good."

Cody furious his eyebrows. He remembered Ace telling him that they were doing whatever their more darker thoughts could think of, but he never even imagined that it would feel good of all things. If anything, he thought they would all be stuck in a state of unhappiness.

But now, seeing everyone else agreeing with what Sam said, maybe he was wrong.

CannibalCrab, who remained silent through most of the conversation, finally swallowed what he was chewing and spoke up. His mind was now buzzing with one particular question. "Wait, Cody, how come you and KrakenKid didn't go bonkers?"

Cody paused, thinking back but still wasn't sure what to say. "We don't know. Ace came and tried to turn me or whatever but it didn't work. It was really weird, he was pissed when he found out."

"Maybe you're immune?" Sam suggested, but Cody wasn't so sure.

"Maybe..." A gut feeling disagreed with him.

"What else could it be?" Blooper shrugged.

Cody didn't answer, narrowing his eyes subconsciously when trying to think.

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

KrakenKid just stared at Tanith when she said it. Tanith herself shrunk away slightly. "I know, I know, it's a terrible thing to say, but I was so afraid. When Ace did that whole thing and turned me, it was like everything I shoved to the back of my mind came out and haunted me. Then when Cody started talking to me, I wanted to do nothing more than to take my fears, shove them away and instead focus on Cody's fears. It as like I was safe from terrible thoughts, and all my problems just drained away when I made other people's problems worse."

KrakenKid's eyes widened. "Wow... That's pretty deep."

Tanith was hesitant for a while but then laughed. "Please, I could go fifty feet deeper without trying."

KrakenKid chuckled. "I don't doubt that. Come on, we gotta get back to the lab."

KrakenKid started to walk forward but Tanith's simple question made him stop.

"Do we have to?"

KrakenKid turned around and blinked. He couldn't hide his confusion, even if he wanted to. "...Do you not want to?" Her head shook lightly. "Why? Penguin wanted us to all meet up there."

"Since when do you take orders from the penguin?" She snapped back.

KrakenKid detected about a million things wrong with just one sentence. The biggest ones being A: Tanith called Cody "The penguin" and B: How defensive she was getting. It was clear to him that there was something very wrong. "Tanith, talk to me. What's going on?"

Her gaze softened and dropped to the ground. "I... Just would rather not talk to some people after certain things were said."

"You mean Cody?" He guessed.

"More than just him, Cannibal too." Her gaze flickered up. "I didn't team with him without convincing him first, and I said a couple things that I regret. I don't know if he even remembers it, but I'm not taking that chance. So, can we go somewhere else?"

KrakenKid tilted his head. "Where else would we go? Your house? The Conch Command?"

But she still disagreed. "Anywhere but there. I don't really want to go home or anything, I just want to be free. Free to be you and me, you know?"

KrakenKid studied her one last time, then nodded. She let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, we can go anywhere you like. Anywhere in mind?"

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

After they were outside of the lab and near Selena's tunnels, Blooper whipped around to face her. "What was that about?"

"Which part?" She wondered.

"You know, the "Me and Blooper are going to go hang out, don't follow us!" whole thing." Blooper's eyes narrowed. "Wait... Are you guys planning a surprise party for me?"

Selena gave him a weird look. "What? No! Your birthday isn't for months, why would we do that now?"

"Obviously to get a head start."

"Not the point!" Selena said, dismissing his previous comments. "You got something you need to talk about?"

Blooper gave her a blank stare for a moment before it clicked. "Oh! Oh... Not really." Selena gave him a stern look, making him start to break under the pressure. "... Maybe?" Her gaze hardened. "Fine! Sheesh! Maybe I saw my Dad cry and now it's kinda messing with my head. Are you happy, Salami?"

Her gaze softened and turned sympathetic. "Oh Blooper. Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

His arms cross. "Because I knew you'd do this! You'd make me do feelings! Do I look like the type of person that does feelings often? Those are reserved for my Dad when I have nightmares about him dying!" Then, he tensed up. "Oh crap."

"You have nightmares about your Dad dying?" Selena said immediately.

Blooper sighed. "Come on, I don't want to talk about this!"

Selena narrowed her eyes slightly. How much emotion was Blooper repressing? "I see you and your father have a lot in common. I can never get him to open up about his feelings."

Blooper snorted slightly. "Just wrap him in a fuzzy blanket, give him a warm drink and demand to have a feels jam with him. That's what Tanith does."

Selena was about to continue on investigating into Blooper's feelings when she stopped on a particular word. "What the heck's a "Feels Jam"?" She asked, to which Blooper only shrugged. Shaking her head as if she were shaking out the distractions in her head, she got back on track. "Not the point, Blooper, how did seeing your Dad cry make you feel?"

"What are you, my therapist or Darrel?" Blooper scoffed.

Her fist and jaw clenched. "Blooper, don't make this harder than it needs to be. Spill your feelings."

Blooper paused for a long time before deciding to sit on the ground. Selena followed his lead as he silently debated what to say. "Bad I guess..." He responded, not meeting her gaze. "The only time I ever seen him look like that is when I pretended to take over the Conch Command and at least then I could reassure him I really wasn't. Now I can't fix that mistake and he just looked so hurt and betrayed and conflicted about what he was going to do. I could have killed him, and I still think he wouldn't try to fight back. The whole thing was so-CRAP YOU MADE ME DO FEELINGS!"

"DANG IT BLOOPER! WE WERE GETTING SOMEWHERE, DON'T STOP NOW!"

"Forget it!" Blooper huffed and stood up. "I don't want to talk about it! Stop making me!"

He turned away but Selena caught his arm and pulled him back to face her. "Blooper, I get it! I really do! I suppressed a lot of my resentment towards Cody and KrakenKid, so much that I actually stabbed your Dad! And probably tried to do the same to Cody! I just want to say that if you ever need someone to talk to," She placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm right here. It doesn't just have to be long term stuff either, if you ever need someone to just vent about your day to, I'm your gal."

Blooper chuckled to himself and playfully pushed her away. "Okay, okay, fine! Can we stop with the sappy stuff and go get some ice cream? I got some allowance money from my Dad yesterday!"

Selena smiled back. "Sure, let's do it!"

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

Sam, Cody and CannibalCrab all made small talk, but in the middle of it, Sam noticed Professor Pikalus lumbering back into the lab, clearly not his full self. If he was having trouble walking, no doubt everything else would be harder.

Cody noticed her staring but before he could ask what was going on, she stood up suddenly. "I'm going to go check up on someone. Don't follow me." Was all she left them with before swimming after Professor.

Cody and Cannibal watched her leave before making brief eye contact with each other then looking off in different directions. "Selena and Sam have a lot in common..." Cannibal mumbled, remembering that Selena said something similar before she left with Blooper. "It's kinda freaky."

"Tell me about it." Cody sighed.

Once Sam entered the lab, it took her a while to figure out which one was the mad scientist she knew. Normally, it was easy because she just had to look for the one with the lab coat on, but now since everyone was wearing one, it was like looking in a "Where's Waldo" page but with everyone dressed as Waldo.

However, eventually she spotted the fluffy, black hair and rushed over to his side.

Professor Pikalus was attaching a propeller to a cylinder using a bunch of wires and a metal wielder. Sam didn't even have to announce herself for her presence to be known. "What do you want, Sam? I'm busy." He grumbled.

Sam took one look at what he was doing before rolling her eyes. "With what? Making a faster hand-fan? You're just making busy work."

Pikalus shot a glare at her before finishing off fusing the two parts together. "Okay first off all, I'm making a flying machine and second of all..." Sam could see he was trying to come up with some way to justify making it, but failed and gave up. "What do you want?"

Sam didn't wait to pull up a chair next to him. "You doing okay? You're more grouchy and on edge than normal."

Professor didn't respond, instead just focusing on finishing up the wiring on his small machine.

Oddly enough, that was all Sam needed to get a hint of what was going on in his mind. "Ace's little trick got into your head?" The slightest flicker in his eyes told her that she got it right. "What part? Liking to destroy everything? How much destruction you caused?" When neither of that fazed him, she knitted her eyebrows together and thought harder. "Our reactions? Cody's reactions?" Professor tensed at the mention of Cody, and she knew she hit jackpot. "Ohhhh... I see what's going on. You still don't fully realize how emotional you are."

Pikalus snapped his head towards her and gaped. "Emotional? What? Are you out of your mind? Since when have I been emotional? Next you're going to tell me that Tanith is logical!"

Sam shrugged lightly. "Tanith thinks like she's a machine or a donkey, pushing herself to her limits until she feels like she's going to break. She sees plenty of outcomes to things, she just doesn't act logically. Everyone thinks different, and based on their actions, it's not hard to figure out how they do so. Selena tends to overthink, then impulsively make a choice when she has to, making her think more like a chicken, and no, that's not me calling her a coward, I'm being literal. Cody is like a wolf, keeping it professional until you wrong someone he loves, then he comes after you. Need I go on?"

Professor stared for a while before nodding. "Yes actually, I'm invested now. KrakenKid?"

Sam rolled her eyes jokingly before she went on. "KrakenKid's a bear, tough, attacks anything that gets too close to his cubs, and secretly sweet on the inside." Professor wasn't sure what was weirder to hear: That KrakenKid or a bear was secretly sweet. He shook it off as she continued. "CannibalCrab is a dog, loyal to whoever he grows attached to and remains that way. Blooper is a chipmunk, either fight or flight with him, no in between. Then, there's you."

Professor didn't want to hear her evaluation of him, especially not if she turned out to be right, and quickly blurted out the first thing that he thought of. "What about Ace?"

"He's a snake, attacking whatever gets close to him. Stop stalling! You're a cat! You pretend you're logical and that you don't get attached to whoever you answer to, but you secretly love them more than you're ever willing to admit!" Sam yelled, slamming her fist on the table.

A pain stabbed itself right into Pikalus' heart when he heard her words. It struck pretty much on the truth, and shattered it into a million pieces for all to see. He tore his attention away from her and instead looked down at the newly made flying device in his hands. He knew how poorly made it was, but he didn't care. "You seem to like comparing people to other things, so here's what I have to say. You see this little trinket?" He held it up so she could get a better look at it. "This represents me." He quickly felt around for the activation wire and pushed it in, allowing it to rise up into the air.

The device flew up for a solid thirty seconds, before sparking and dropping back on the table with a heavy thunk. The propeller immediately snapped off of it. "Broken." He said firmly, narrowing his eyes on it.

Sam's heart sank. "You're not-"

"Yes I am. I'm broken, Sam. You know what happens to things when they're broken? They're either tossed or someone takes them apart and uses them for something useful. I did a lot more damage than I ever have, you think Cody will want something like me after that?" Professor challenged, turning his cynical gaze to her. "Guess what Sam? In all those little analogies you gave, you're a scientist. You think you know all the answers and that you know how to fix all my problems, but you can't."

Sam wasn't sure what to say until they locked eyes. Then, it all came to her.

Right as Pikalus thought he won, she spoke. "Maybe you are broken," Her words caught him off guard. "But when someone breaks," Sam started to gather up the pieces of it. "Someone else picks them up and puts them back together again." She took the metal wielder and in seconds, the device was back together again, and stronger this time. She handed it back to him.

Professor stared at the device like it held all the secrets of the universe, then looked up to a smiling Sam. "Come on, you of all people should know that scientists always figure out an answer. And hey," Professor was turning away, but her voice stopped him. "Cody isn't going to give up on you, so do him a favor and don't give up on yourself, okay?"

Professor nodded, finally cracking a smile.

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

KrakenKid settled down on the small mountain/hill looking structure and looked out on the beach as the day began to slowly darken. "Hey," He realized as Tanith plopped herself besides him. "Isn't this the same place where we celebrated New Beginnings or something?"

Tanith yawned and gave a slight nod. "Yeeeep. And don't worry about Atlanteans. If I know them, they won't go coming around here until they're sure that it's safe, so they'll stay away for another day or two." She blinked sleepily. "I know you feel safer knowing that you don't have to deal with Atlanteans. Or, I guess, other Atlanteans." She mumbled, smiling slightly.

KrakenKid blinked and tilted his head at her. "You okay?"

"Just tired." She insisted. Her eyelids began to droop down.

KrakenKid shrugged to himself, figuring she was okay and it was just the "Using too much magic" thing. Since Tanith wasn't talking, his mind wandered off, but finally found ground for a conversation. Something he had been meaning to ask. "Tanith?"

Tanith shook herself, most likely trying not to fall asleep. "Yeah, KK?"

KrakenKid found himself pausing. It was a sensitive topic for him, but he had to know. "How'd you know about my parents thing? Did I ever accidentally tell you or-..?"

Tanith blinked a couple times before answering him. "Body language." Tanith murmured. "Y-you seemed really focused on being the best father ever and giving Blooper a good childhood. You play the role of both Mother and Father, most likely subconsciously. Like you know what it's like to have both absent in your life so you're trying to make sure your kid isn't the same way. You know," She shrugged. "Body language."

KrakenKid was dumbfounded. "You got all of that through body language?"

Tanith shot him a sly smile. "You can get that, and a lot more. I like paying attention to people, it's funny to see how they work. Like when I first met you, I noticed how hostile you were and how itchy your trigger finger was. Any move that made me seem like an enemy meant you were going to shoot me, so I had to remain calm, collected and appear not as a threat."

The whole scene flashed through KrakenKid's mind. "Didn't you get sassy with me?" He raised an eyebrow.

Tanith giggled to herself. "Whaaat? You asked a stupid question. I mean come on, poison instantly stinging in the body? That's acid you DORK!" She laughed and hit his shoulder. "You should know the difference!"

KrakenKid chuckled and rubbed his shoulder. "Okay, okay, you win." He went quiet, but it didn't last long. "What else have you noticed?"

Tanith kept snickering. "That you're a dork!" KrakenKid rolled his eyes, smiling as she laughed. "No, no, it's true! I mean, you like gardening secretly, and you're so passionate about fishing and you want to be the very best like no one ever was!"

KrakenKid blinked and laughed. "I didn't know you liked Pokemon."

"What's a Pokemon? Not the point, the point is, you're an absolute dork. In fact," She grinned from ear to ear. "I bet you want to go fishing right now."

KrakenKid couldn't deny that he truly did.

Tanith's eyes flickered, slowly closing and her shoulders slumping. "T-that's what I thought... Dorker mc dorkson..."

KrakenKid began to look out into the distance again when a weight on his shoulder nearly made him jump. He glanced over, and calmed down to see it was just Tanith's head, now resting there as she drifted off. He might have woken her up and taken her back home, but she looked so peaceful.

A little smile crept on his face as he relaxed and just watched the tides of the beach. "Takes one to know one, huh Miss dorky... Pants... I'm so glad you aren't awake to hear my terrible naming skills."

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

I HATH COMPLETED IT

... you proud?

Anyways, now it's time for me to ramble about this chapter for a really long paragraph or two.

So, that whole three part thing took a tole on some people, and a couple others shrugged it off. For now. You think Cannibal is safe? You're DEAD wrong! It'll all come in time.

Anyways, Blooper admits to Selena that he has quite a few emotional problems and Selena agrees to be his listener when he needs it. Remember that nightmare Blooper had a long time ago, way back in chapter 15 where he remembered his Dad dying? Yeah, he has a lot of those nightmares and only the least intense ones his Dad knows about. Maybe I'll write a short chapter on his more intense nightmares in Sea Shenanigans or something, but probably not here.

Then we got Tanith who decides, "Screw it, I'm not going home" and takes a vacation to the beach. Sorta. She mumbles a lot about how she picks up on other people's behavior and habits, then falls asleep on KrakenKid. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this briefly in my tagged/random book, but I'll say it here too: When Tanith's species falls asleep on/nearby other people, it's a sign of trust, basically saying, "I trust you to keep my alive while I am dormant and not stab me in my sleep" sorta thing and it's a pretty high honor.

We got Cody and CannibalCrab who are... Chilling. Making small talk. Much awkward silence between them as they wait for the Illithids to go home and all the troops to pick up what was damaged so the truce can be over.

CannibalCrab honestly does have a similar guilt like Blooper and keeps it in because feelings are really hard, and unfortunately, he didn't do or say anything that betrayed his mask he put on, nor is KrakenKid around, the one person who might have noticed he was feeling this way, so he didn't get a feels jam. Yet.

Last but certainly not least, Professor and Sam. Sam notices a lot more about people than she might say, and this time, she finally decides to step in and do what she can to help Professor. Professor thinks that after his whole thing with Hulk being much worse this time, that Cody won't bother with him so he just pours himself into his work to ignore the pain like he always does. Sam confronts him, and he stalls for a while before finally, the truth comes out. Professor thinks he's broken, and Sam is there to tell him that if he is, he has a lot of people who are willing to pick up the pieces.

To sum it up: Character Development

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter! I had a lot of fun making it! Be sure to comment what you think and other such comments that y'all like to make, and I'll see you guys later! Gooodbyeee!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter