Octonauts Q&A

Min

"Right," nodded Ranger Marsh as soon as Calico Jack and Kwazii had resumed their seats. "Who's next?"

"I can go next," volunteered Min.

"Now that's impressive," Crash noted. "We've never had anyone volunteer themselves before. Sure, you can go next simply because you asked and I don't think anyone else wants to."

Min nodded, shuffled in her seat, and readied herself for the onslaught of questions. Amy leafed through her thick stack of paper, muttering Min's name until she stopped and pulled out a page of text and doodles.

"Okay. Min. Got your file. Question one. Is it true you knew Inkling before becoming an Octo-Agent?"

"Yes, yes it is. We met way way back-"

"It wasn't that long ago!"

"It really was Inky. It was forty years ago."

"You met each other forty years ago?" Amy asked, shocked.

"Yup. Inky was out on a research trip out to China. Studying bamboo growth or some other Professor-y jargon like that."

Inkling chuckled.

"My dear Min I was studying the use of bamboo for practical use," he corrected. "Like scaffolding and stuff. Extraordinarily useful."

"I'm sure," laughed Min. "But anyways I was more interested in the health of the panda population around the area. There was a storm coming up and I just wanted to make sure they all had a safe place to go when the rain came."

"Is this story going the way I think it will?" Kwazii asked.

"Yes it is," Min nodded. "Both of us were caught in the storm, only Ifound the place to hide. A nice little cave, the perfect place to wait out the storm. Nice and dry and safe, I went to make sure the pandas were all okay after the storm, and what should I find but old Inky stuck wrapped around a bamboo stalk like some incredibly terrified pink scarf."

"Well... I don't know about that-"

"Admit it Inky you were terrified."

"Okay, well, it was a very large storm. A typhoon, pretty much. It was huge."

"Yeah... I don't know about that," said Min. "It really wasn't that big. Anyways, I helped him down, I got him back to his group and we became friends, chatting along the way. But we didn't meet again until a couple years later on another trip to the Congo, and from there we traded addresses and telephone numbers, yes we used them back then, and from there we took the normal course of friendship."

"Friendship?" wondered Kwazii. "Or something else?"

"Kwazii!" scolded Captain Barnacles.

"Well, you can't exactly argue."

"That was out of line," Dashi said with a shake of her head.

"You can't argue either lovebird."

"Hey!"

"Okay, I'll shut up," Kwazii said.

"Yes, thank you," Min said. "Anyways, any more questions Amy?"

"Yup. You do seem to be oddly enthusiastic about your own questioning, I'll give you that. Right. Next question is... How old is your sister and what's her name?"

"Ah," Min said. "Mei Mei."

"Her name is Mei Mei?"

"No, that's just Chinese for little sister. Her name is Li Jie, but we all just call her Mei Mei. As for age, she's eight and... two months old, I think."

"So a bit younger than me," Koshi piped up. "And pretty much Pinto's age."

"Yeah, about," Min nodded. "Next question?" 

"Question 3. Is there some kind of school where they teach you about mapmaking? Did you learn it yourself? Online perhaps?"

Min laughed in response.

"Internet wasn't around when I first started making maps. You see, I was a geography teacher," Min said, looking off into the distance. "And I hated it. I wanted to be making maps, not just looking at them, you know? So I started making them in my spare time, then I quit and became a tour guide, starting my own business and taking my own routes. And then I became an Octonaut. How I started making maps... Well I learnt that as a teacher, but we never got to do it as much as I would like..."

"Could you send me the recipe for one of your bamboo cookies? They sound absolutely delicious. I mean, if it's a secret recipe and all that, you don't have to tell me but..."

"No," said Min. "Mapmaker's secret."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty pretty please with the family recipe for the peach cheesecake thrown in?"

Min looked thoughtful.

"We could just go outside, if Crash allows. No one else would have to know..."

"Okay. Deal."

Crash waved his hand and walls rose up from the ground, surrounding Amy and Min. Then he waved his hand the other way and some incredibly loud jazz music played, making it impossible to eavesdrop on the secret recipe exchange.

"Alright!" came Amy's muffled yell from inside the walls. "We're done!"

Crash nodded and the wall disintegrated into what looked like snow, melting into the floor and vanishing. Both Amy and Min looked excited by the knowledge they had just gained. The jazz music stopped.

"Ahem," said Crash. "Any more questions Ames?"

"I'm all out. How 'bout you Crashy?"

"Ah, a few. But first I'm going to open up the question box to the floor. Got any questions for your favourite mapmaker Octonauts?"

"Did you and Inkling ever date-"

"Okay!" interrupted Crash. "No more questions from the floor! Nope. We're moving on to my questions! Although in all seriousness, my first question is what is your love life like?"

"I've been single all my life," Min replied immediately.

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"Crushes?"

"Well..."

"Well?"

"I... I've had a crush on this guy. Started years back. But... Um... He's very nice and he's very smart..?"

"Names?"

"No names. You might know him."

Although their faces betrayed no hint of emotion, the questioners and Octonauts fans in the room's minds were full of alarm bells. Someone they might know? Crush? Years back? Could it be... Minkling confirmed?

Well, whether it was or not, Crash (in typical Crash style) waved it away until a later part in the book.

"I'm sure that little one will surface some time in the duration of the book," he shrugged. "So for now I'll graciously ignore it. Which brings me on to my next question. What part of China are you from?"

"Western China. Specifically Lanzhou."

"Hmm. I've been there," Crash nodded casually. "Absolutely amazing noodles. Would definitely recommend."

"Oh yes, that's a traditional recipe that's spread all around the world," Min commented. "Well, any more questions?"

"No actually," Crash said, looking surprised at the fact that he hadn't written more questions down for the red panda. "Since you've been such a good answerer--and eager, I might add--do you want to choose who goes next?"

Min looked around the room, eyes settling on that one Octoagent that she had so often matched wits with and lost, be it a murder mystery for new year's or a simple game of chess.

"I think the next Octoagent to be questioned should be... Koshi."