Sea Splash Super Adventures

Smallfries and Secrets

"I really hope I don't regret this decision later." Lukas remembered saying to himself the day he found and decided to keep Junior, and how much he wanted to punch himself in the face for jinxing it. He laid awake on his bed completely exhausted at 4am, listening to Junior snore. In his messy room after hours of getting Junior to calm down and fall asleep, he thought to himself, "Why did I think this was a good idea...?"

This has been going on for weeks now. It was a cycle of Junior being rowdy and Lukas trying to keep his little smallfry under control and a secret from everybody. For the most part, he was successful in hiding Junior from the public, but the huge amount of effort it took to keep a small fish who wanted nothing more than to eat scraps from public trash cans was absurd. Being at home wasn't any easier. Junior was a scrappy one, he loved to jump around and cause a mess, most of the time it was looking for any food scraps to feast on. It would take a large portion of Lukas's time and strength to be able to get Junior to settle down. That coupled in the fact that the apartment would be a complete mess after all of it, to say Lukas was worn out by the end of it would be an understatement. Leaving Junior at home alone wasn't an option either, who knows what this little guy is capable of while unsupervised?

Still though, what other choice did Lukas have? It was a huge price to pay, sure, but the consequences of not paying that price would be even greater. If others found out he was housing a salmonid, a creature known for being hostile towards inklings and octolings, there's no telling what would ensue afterwards. Would he be ostracized from others? What would happen to Junior? What would his friends think of him if they found out? Questions raced through Lukas's mind as he tried desperately tried to get sleep.

Sleep was another thing that Lukas needed to sacrifice to keep Junior under control. There were times Lukas spent so much time getting Junior to calm down that he could barely get any sleep in. These past few weeks, having more than 5 hours of sleep was a luxury he could barely afford now. As a result of this, Lukas has been dozing off whenever he's out with his friends, something the three of them has taken notice of. They ask him if he's okay, but desperate to keep Junior a secret, he plays it off as him playing battles a little too much.

Before Lukas knew it, it was already morning and his alarm was going off to tell him to meet his friends. Only 4 and a half hours of sleep tonight, certainly not as bad as other nights, but that doesn't mean he enjoys it. Lukas tiredly slumped to the bathroom to freshen up and prepare himself as best as he can to meet up with his team. As he looked in the mirror, Lukas could notice the deep bags under his eyes. It was then that Lukas realized that he couldn't live like this, this wasn't how he wanted his life in Inkopolis to be like. He needed help in caring for this smallfry, but he knew that telling other people could possibly put Junior's life in jeopardy, and that's something he couldn't bear to live with.

"Perhaps...my friends are a good place to start." Lukas thought to himself. Surely they would understand his position in all of this, and maybe they would be able to help with his situation. He smiled a bit, hopeful that they would help ease his struggle, but then the smile dropped to worry. What if the opposite happens? What if upon learning he's housing a salmonid, they boot him off the team out of fear or hate? That question in particular worried him the most. He tried to forget about that possibility and just meet up with his friends and have fun like they always do. After he was done in the bathroom, he went back to his room to get changed and wake up Junior, but his eyes were getting heavy, and his legs were giving up on him. Lukas tried to keep strong however, and walked over to the blanket he stuffed in a small box to make a makeshift bed for Junior.

"Come on Junior, get up, I gotta meet up with my team." Lukas said to Junior, but Junior was deep asleep and couldn't hear him. Lukas tried nudging him, but that wasn't working. "Junior, wake up bud. I need to...need to........" and before Lukas knew it, everything went dark.