"Uuhhgua... Huh? Where... Marie? MARIE!"

"Hnnggggg... It's too early Callie..."

"Uh? What? Where are we?"

"Too early 4..."

(3 times) "Wake up Marie!"

"Ack! I'm up, ok? Stop yell... Wha?"

Marie was lying on a hospital bed, with Callie and Agent 4 leaning over her. Agent 3 was poking around, trying to recollect what happened.

"Ok." Said Agent 3. "Obviously we are in a hospital."

"You don't say..." Said Marie tiredly.

"Someone must have brought us back to Inkopolis!" Said Callie.

"That's what I thought too. Until I looked around a bit." Said Agent 3. "There is nothing like those devices in inkopolis." She was pointing to an IV.

"Bags of water?" Did Octavio capture us!?!?" Exclaimed Callie.

"Again, I thought that too. Until I thought about it. Why would he capture us? Further, why nurse us all back to health?" Said Agent 3. "And of course, the written medical tabs on the end of our beds. It's not written in oceanic at all!"

"What." Said Agent 4.

Just then, the door hissed open, and nervous tapping was heard.

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The inklings stared in silence. The figure in the door was obviously as scared as they were. She shivered, and looked around. She saw Agent 3 sneaking up behind her.

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???2: Calm down Mary. You forgot your translator again, didn't you? They have no idea what you are saying. Doesn't help that you are speaking Elemental, either.

The girl fidgeted. She put something on her ear and neck, and spoke again.

"Sorry Mr. Axel, sir. I thought they were exotic water elementals."

"You're fine, Mary." Axel replied. "But did you forget Elementals never have skin?"

"... yes." Mary responded.

"Go get some rest. I'll make sure they are ok." Said Axel. "I'm sure healing them was hard enough."

Mary ran off, and Axel turned to the Agents. "Well, I am positive you have questions. Wait, where'd you go?"

"If we hide, maybe he will leave..." Whispered Marie. The Agents were all hiding under the far bed.

Axel closed his eyes, then opened them. He pointed his finger to the last bed, and said "ok, I am not gonna hurt you. I know you all are under there, come out please?"

Callie poked her head out.

"See? I mean no harm." Said Axel. "Oh, and I have your equipment here."

The last bit peaked Callie's interest. She went up, and Axel said "you had the paint roller, right?"

Callie nodded, and Axel gave her the roller.

Marie spoke in confusion while the other agents crawled out to pick up their items "what kind of prison guard hands out weapons?"

"What made you think you were a prisoner?" Asked Axel.

"This room has no windows." Said Agent 3.

"We believe in decency. This room is intensive care. And Mary had. to undress and redress you several times. You don't want 700 teens seeing that, right?" Said Axel.

Agent 4 blushed.

"Child, Mary is 10. She doesn't feel that way about boys yet." Said Axel. "Now, I presume you have many questions. Have a seat." Axel leaned against a wall.

The agents gathered on the second bed, with lots of space between them and Axel.

Marie began. "Where are we?"

"You are in my facility, District 14." Said Axel. "No, this is not your home planet, or universe."

"What's a universe?" Asked Callie.

"Oh boy." Said Axel. "A universe is like... A unique reality. Your universe has cephalopods on legs everywhere, this one has a mess of everything."

"What are you?" Asked Agent 3.

"Depends." Said Axel. "I am a mess. Angel, Demon, Robot, Human, a big ol mess of races."

Callie started to ask what an angel was, when Marie stopped her. "What happened whole we were asleep? How did we get here?"

"Ah. You were covered head to toe in this nasty gooey stuff. A couple hundred octopi we're shooting you with it. I saved you, and fireballed the octopi away." Said Axel. "Honestly, I didn't like seeing a 100 to one fight. Not fair."

"Why heal us?" Asked Agent 4.

"Well, you have something to save, right? And of course, having died before, I know it is never fun." Said Axel.

"Died before?" Said Marie in surprise.

"Ah. Time to explain exactly what's going on. You see, in this universe, there is magic. I am a very powerful magic user, and when I am defeated, and killed, I come back to life multiple times. But the split second between death and revival is an experience most can't take." Said Axel. "I was planning on teaching you to use magic, and get you new gear, if you want."

"But we have the best gear there is!" Said Callie.

"For your universe." Said Axel. "The most those things can do here is agitate a fire Elemental, which is weak to liquid attacks."

"Why can't we go back?" Asked Callie.

"The thing is..." Said Axel. "Only a powerful mage can bring people through the multiverse. And only 2 of those are in this building, I'm one. And both of us cannot go to your universe safely, without stopping. The distance is kinda far, and strong monsters are everywhere. Besides, magic would make the Octarians a piece of cake."

"How so?" Asked Marie.

"When I shot one fireball, I took out most of the army attacking you." Said Axel. "A fireball is a weak spell, too."

"Ok..." Said Marie. "Can we talk about this first?"

"By all means, go ahead. It's just that we can't teach anything without magic, to some degree. " Said Axel.

The agents huddled up.

"I don't really trust him..." Said Agent 3. "I want to see what he is talking about."

"I second that." Said Marie.

"Same." Said Agent 4.

"Aww, why not? I trust him, but I guess I wanna see too." Said Callie.

"So that decides it." Said Marie. "Ok, Mr. Axel. But first, can we see these classes you are talking about?"

"By all means. I'll take you myself." Said Axel. "But before we leave this room, remember, it's rude to stare. No one in the halls should stare too much, but you may be nervous around them. Don't worry, they won't hurt you."

"Ok." Said Marie. "Lead the way, I guess."

Everyone left the room, and started heading to the classrooms.

All of 30 seconds later.

"Whawha? Eek! An Octarian!" Squeaked Callie.

The person in question gurgled a question.

"Callie, Vlad is part Kraken. Not an Octarian. Calm down, you scare him more." Said Axel.

"Sowwy..." Said Callie.

Another 30 seconds later.

"Ok, looks like right now Phoenix is teaching Advanced Archery. Take a look." Said Axel.

The Inklings gathered by the observation window. They saw a dozen teenagers shooting different colored projectiles at each other.

"Is it turf war?" Asked Callie.

"No." Said Axel. "They are on 3 teams, lightning users, fire users, and shadow users."

"Oh..." Said Callie.

"Callie, if they were turfing, there would be ink all over the floor. Look at that guy." Marie pointed to one student who had jumped back and unleashed a torrent of shots. Another student countered with a rain of attacks.

"Won't they get hurt?" Asked Marie.

"Yes. But those are blunt arrows, and the students have Elemental crystals absorbing the hits." Said Axel. "It's no more dangerous than a gym class."

"Is there a roller class?" Asked Callie.

"We dont use rollers, but there are melee classes. Thing is, this is the only observable room." Said Axel.

"What's a class?" Asked Callie. "Is it like a school class?"

"Well, yes, but, actually, no." Said Axel. "What I meant by class is what kind of weapon you use, and if you are an offensive person or a defensive person. But yes. Different classes go to different classes."

"Ok.... What?" Said Agent 3.

"I think I get it..." Said Agent 4.

"Well, if you wanna wait till another class goes, looks like the gym has an ongoing Gunslinger duel going." Said Axel.

"Sounds cool." Said Marie.

They went to see the duel. When they arrived, then two people fighting, two teen girls, were exhausted, clutching large bore shotguns.

"Dammit. I told those two shotguns are not for duels." Said Axel. "Clarity! Jewel! Stop using the shotguns to duel! Use the rifles, or the handguns! You keeping busting the floor!"

"Eek! Sorry sir." The girls responded. They drew out handguns and prepared for a round 2.

"At least the floor survives this." Said Axel. "Well, feel free to watch."

The Inklings looked curiously.

Clarity started with a large explosive shot, but Jewel countered with an ice wall shot at the ground.

"Nevermind." Said Axel.

The girls fought with various Elemental shots for a good 5 minutes, before calling it a tie.

"Wow! That was sooo cool!" Said Callie.

"Thank you!" Said Jewel.

"Whawha? You understand me?" Said Callie, shocked.

"Mostly." Said Jewel. Clarity looked lost. "What part of deep Atlantis did Axel bring you from?"

"Huh? I'm from inkopolis!" Said Callie.

"She's from another universe." Explained Axel.

"Her language sounds kinda like Mermish." Said Jewel. "Well, see ya!"

"How did she understand me?" Asked Callie.

"Well, Inkish apparently sounds similar to Mermish." Said Axel.

"Oh. What?" Said Callie.

"Jewel is a Mermaid." Said Axel. "There's a reason she has those mechanical legs."

"I think I wanna learn some of those tricks they were doing..." Agent 3 said quietly.

"So those two sold you, huh? Figured seeing the archery class would have done it, but eh." Said Axel. "All right. First, I need to do a couple things. Right now, you can't use Mana. But, magic in some abysmal form is in your universe. Thus, I can awaken Mana for you to use. Once I do, I'll need to see what elements you all will be good at. Everyone has a specialty."

"What's your special?" Asked Agent 4.

"Well, fire was my specialty. Now, I'm about equal in everything." Said Axel. "Now then, let's go."

The Inklings followed him to an empty yoga room.

"Now. Let's get this party started, shall we?" Said Axel. "Time to embrace the power."