Cody

The young KrakenKid ushered me to come faster. I hesitated. "I'm not too sure about this Kraken...." His eyes just rolled. "Come on! You said you needed shelter, so here I am, giving it to you! Besides, where else would you stay?" He had me there. I gazed deeply into the caves, the same caves that the KrakenKid I knew used and where it led to his base. Under normal circumstances, I would never go in there unless with multitudes of guards or something else to protect me. It's okay Cody, I reassured myself. It's the past. There are no Illithids coming to capture you and this KrakenKid is not trying to kill you.

I gulped and followed the purple being in.

Just like I remembered, the tunnels twisted and turned, making my head spin. I had no idea how to get through here. Lucky for me, I had a guide this time. The miniature kraken swiftly moved through the winding area. "You really know these caves huh?" I glanced around. As suspected, nothing else was here. These caves were quite different from memory. They looked, less professional, having no wooden flooring and vines were invading the area as well as some crystals. Why did these lands have so many crystals? Eventually, he stopped and slid into a small concealed opening, hidden cleverly behind a rock that made it look like there was nothing there but a wall. I followed.

"Here we are!" KrakenKid exclaimed, holding his arms out. I blinked before processing the area.

The area was small but had a few things. There was a broken down looking fridge as well as fire circle right near it. Instead of a bed, there was just an old looking mattress, no fame to hold it up and just laid lonely on the ground. There was a single pillow and a patched up blanket. In the corner was some couch cushions, two big and two small of varying colors. A toy box was off to the side, looking to be one of the things in better condition. Finally, there were some posters on the wall.

One was of a T- Rex, with its name at the bottom in bold letters. There was another of Maleficent, Packman, one of Plankton and a lot more. I soon realized a pattern: most of these posters were of villains. One of the only ones that wasn't besides Packman was SpiderMan.

I was in shock. "So this is where you live?" I finally got out. He nodded. "Isn't it great? I made this all myself! Not the actual base but the decorations are mine!" He announced proudly. Though that might have been impressive, I couldn't stop my heart from having a sinking feeling. "All by yourself? Do you live... Alone?" I looked in his direction.

He looked down, looking like he was going to say something before changing his mind. "Well, yes... But it's okay! I've been doing this for so long, I'm used to it by now!" Been doing it for so long? Countless questions plagued my mind and I couldn't help but ask. After all, this version of KrakenKid might give me answers.

"How do you get money? Food?" I started simple. There was no way he would answer the bigger ones yet. "I don't get money at all. I steal a bit of wheat from the outskirts of the farm lands and use it to make bread! If I'm lucky, I might be able to get some carrots or potatoes or even catch a fish, but most it's just bread. It gets old but at least it's food! Better than nothing, right?"

I couldn't respond. My heart felt like lead. "Kraken.. Dude. Maybe you could ask for help? I'm sure someone in Atlantis would give you a hand or maybe even a home! After all," I gave my best smile. "Atlantis is known for helping people. Why don't we-"

"NO!" He cried out, shaking his head vigorously.

As I turned towards the entrance, he flew in front of me, blocking the way out. Fear consumed his face and voice when he spoke out. "You don't understand! I can't do that!" My eyebrow raised. "Why not? What's wrong with asking for help?" He opened his mouth, but closed it and sighed, turning his body to the opposite wall.

"You wouldn't understand. I'd rather not talk about it either. Can you please just, drop it? I- Just-" Another heavy sigh escaped him. "It's painful to talk about."

The kraken was acting strange, but after all he had done for me, I let it go. "Okay. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." The look in his eyes left and he smiled again. "Thanks. Anyways, it's getting late. We should sleep. Here," He took my hand and gently tugged. I moved along with him as he guided me. KrakenKid stopped swimming at the bed and gestured to it.

"Since you're the guest and I know my manners, you may sleep here." The younger one bowed and presented it with both hands. I gazed upon it but shook my head. "It's a sweet offer man but, you're the reason I'm here. I couldn't." Yellow eyes narrowed and the purple tentacles pushed me on the bed. "It wasn't an option Cody now sleep or I make you!"

Even as a small child, he could sound angry when irritated. I finally laid down, pleasing him. I chuckled at his actions. "Well, fine but at least take the blanket with you. Don't wanna catch a cold." The child squinted his eyes, musing his options. "Fine." He agreed finally. "I will take this but only because you requested I did. Good night, sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite!"

KrakenKid dragged the blanket over to the cushions and started to situated his own little bed. I breathed deeply and shut my eyes. Countless thoughts flowed through me but one thing was the same. Confusion was always with me, and it had a huge reason too.

After the kraken told me about Poseidon ruling, I managed to put all the facts together to realize that I was in the wrong time. Somehow, the Nexus had the power to transport me back in time to find KrakenKid. Or, more like past KrakenKid. The question was, why? Why did this happen of all things? It also begged the question, if I was sent here, did it leave my kraken alone or was he in the same position I am but with younger me? Why did the Nexus send me here of all places?

Did it send me here to get rid of him before he became a problem? It was a possibility. I glanced over in the young beings direction. They were already tucked in and seemed to be drifting off. I gave it a thought but dismissed it. If it wanted him gone, it could have done that itself. This was all adding on to the fact that in every single time travel movie I've seen where someone changes the past, ends in total disaster. Of course there was one little tiny thing that could be a problem if killing him was my job. My eyes lingered on the child sleeping and sighed.

I don't think I could end his life.

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I dreamed that night. I dreamed of nothing but me in a dark room with the Nexus. It brighten everything enough to see everything was black and I found myself reaching out to it. The pulse of energy was hypnotizing. Getting closer and closer, I started right into the middle of it and saw something.

There, staring back at me was the KrakenKid, the normal one, and looked just as confused as I did. I jumped back.

"HEY CODY!"
A voice screeched in my ears, waking me up with a jolt and sent my heart into a panic. With one hand, I clutched my chest and the other flew to my head, holding it in place. Brown eyes darted around the room before locking onto the child right in front of me. A humorous smirk was on his face.

"Finally!" He chuckled. "You were taking so long to wake up I thought I might help out a bit." I gulped. "Wha-?" I searched around once again before it dawned on me, I was still where I was last. Nothing had changed since I last went to sleep other than now the room was a bit brighter. It must have been day.

"Thanks?" I spilled out. KrakenKid just laughed a bit. "Eh, it was nothing. Want some breakfast? Today's special, bread, with a side of bread." He beckoned me to the fridge while strolling there himself. Once I appeared at his side, he yanked open the ancient fridge revealing a multitude of bread.

"Choose your loaf, any loaf!" He grinned at his own joke. I gave him a quick smile before snatching a random one. I found myself to the other side of the wall and slide down it, plopping my butt down to eat. Once the little kraken had chosen his, he followed my doing. We ate in silence for a while before I finally decided to try small talk. Maybe I could learn more about my rival through his mini me.

"So," I started getting his attention. "Tell me, what do you do around here?" His torpedo shaped head perked up to the question. A wicked smile formed on his face as he rushed over to the toy box, shuffling through it. "Ha!" He called out and showed off a wooden train. "I like to play with my trains!" He placed it on the ground before moving it around and making various kinds of noises. "Watch this!" He placed it on the box and made it seem like was jumping off it, flying into the air.

"Vrooooooooommmm!" He caused the train to make a slow fall through the air before pressing it to the ground. "BOOOOOOOM!" He imitated the train exploding and took a bow. I laughed and clapped for him. "Bravo man, bravo!" KrakenKid seemed pleased with the recognition he was getting.

"Thank you, thank you! Too kind, really too kind!" Putting the train back where he got it, he returned to sitting next to me. "That's basically what I do. Play with trains, daydream a bit and go outside for a while." Young KrakenKid shrugged. "It's not much but it keeps me entertained." He took another bite out of his meal. Moments passed without another word. I tried again. "So, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

His pale yellow eyes lit up. "Well that's easy! I want to be a villain!" With a mouthful of bread, I almost choked. Getting it all down, I croaked out the words, "What?" He just chuckled. "It's true! I want to be a villain when I grow up! Here, look at this!" Like before, he got up but this time, showed off the posters on the wall. I gazed upon them, interest sparked within me.

"Look at this one! The T- Rex himself! He's one of my favorite villains of all time! He is sooooo cool!"

The child squealed happily and his eyes seemed to glimmer at the poster. Images of the Indominus-Rex flashed in my head. This was him wasn't it? Before he changed? I glanced down at the kraken, who was spitting out facts about his hero. Does this mean in the future he meets his idol? Before going into it, he showed me more. "And this is Maleficent! One of my personal favorite villains, both female and overall! She turned into a dragon for Pete's sake! How cool is that?"

He buzzed around the room, showing off different villains and why he liked them. I trailed along, listening but I couldn't stop the weird feeling I got. "So why do you want to be a villain other than they're cool? What would you do as a villain?"

He just rolled his eyes. "That's a secret currently. If you're lucky, maybe I'll tell you later. Anyways, what do you want to do?" Disappointed about not finding out plagued me but I thought on the question anyways. An idea formed as I asked the begging question.

"Ever been to the beach?"

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Anndddddddddddd, here's the next chapter of this! Little reminder that the T-Rex is one of Kraken's and I quote, "In my top ten favorite villains of all time!" How I remembered that and not Homework is beyond me.

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter! Don't worry, eventually, you too will learn the secrets that this tiny kraken holds. In the meantime, be sure to comment to tell me what you think! Hope you are liking the series so far because this is a lot of fun to create! :)

See ya!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter