Survivors of Alterna: Best for Last

Chapter 4: Splatsville

Nakji was right. The journey to Splatsville was short. Though he was surprised there was a city in the middle of the desert.

Well, surprise wouldn't be the right word to describe how Akikta felt toward the city. It'd be the right word to describe how he felt when he saw Splatsville's inhabitants.

As if the Wild Claws weren't enough to process, now Akikta was seeing jellyfish with actual eyes, fat goldfish who stood upright on their tail fins, and various other sea creatures that skittered about the ground and leaned out open windows.

And somehow, they weren't the oddest-looking residents. Ironically, the things that looked like people were the strangest occupants.

They wore clothes of varying fashion, had different skin tones, and possessed a human appearance. But the way they looked... The way they moved... It was all wrong.

Some resembled Nakji; round ears, with marks around their eyes and suckers on the outside of their smooth hair.

Oh god, the hair. They were all so colorful, not something you'd naturally see on a human.

Then there were some who didn't resemble Nakji.

Their ears were pointed, and a slim black line surrounded their eyes, making it appear like they were wearing eye masks.

Their hair was also smooth like Nakji's, but some had longer hair with suckers on the underside as opposed to the outside.

Akikta finally realized that their hair was actually tentacles.

"Your people are pretty weird looking." He whispered to Nakji, who frowned.

"But the inklings look fine?"

Akikta nearly questioned what she was talking about, but he realized the humanoids with pointed ears must've been the squid people Sal had mentioned.

Realization of how wrong his previous statement sounded hit him. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"It's fine; I know you didn't."

With the misunderstanding cleared up, Akikta returned his attention to the squid and octo people.

Every inkling and octoling he could see was only about five feet tall, so he hovered over them by a foot. Akikta would remind himself to thank the Great Spirit for the clothes and Father Axe for the mask later. Without them, he would've looked more out of place than he already did.

Though, regardless of his appearance, he still felt out of place.

When it was just Nakji aboard the ship, Akikta felt comfort since she was the only one who closely resembled himself. It was the like the two of them were the only human remnants amongst a crew of animals.

Back then, it was the Wild Claws who were out of place, not them.

But now, with so many humanoid cephalopods present, Akikta felt inhuman... like he didn't belong.

He grew uncomfortable.

Just as uneasiness crept onto him, he saw something massive out of the corner of his eyes. When he turned, he nearly jumped. "Whoa!"

A massive black fish with long yellow whiskers was wrapped around a tall building. It looked like a catfish, but it was far too big to be one, not to mention the zaps of electricity that occasionally emitted from the tips of its whiskers.

His words of surprise got Nakji to turn and look at him. When she noticed what caught his attention, she giggled.

"That's the Great Zapfish." She stated.