The Rehabilitation of a Reploid

File #5-Launch Octopus

SUBJECT: LAUNCH OCTOPUS

POSITION: COMMANDER, 6TH NAVAL UNIT

HEIGHT: 238 CM (7.81 FT)

WEIGHT: 182 KG (401 LBS)

SPECIAL WEAPON: HORMING HOMING TORPEDO

STATUS: KIA

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There was an Art to everything, Octopus thought.

Even active combat....

Octopus dodged the X-Buster shot aimed in his direction, knowing this couldn't go on much longer.

The X Boy's form was sloppy, unpolished...

And yet it had hints of untapped potential...

But that potential would go forever untapped, because only one of them was leaving this arena..

And Octopus knew it wasn't going to be himself going down...

Another flurry of torpedoes in his direction....

They missed...

No matter, Octopus had plenty to spare...

And he Knew he was far more adept in this aquatic environment than this X Boy...

A sudden pain shot through him...

He looked to his left and saw...

His tentacles. His BEAUTIFUL tentacles....

Severed...

What? How Had...

The boy....

Maybe he had underestimated the boy's potential...

A shadow fell over him, Octopus looked up...

The sight of one of the Utuboros he'd sent to scout the area ahead suddenly came crashing towards him...

With his left tentacles severed he wasn't as maneuverable as he should be....

He knew there was no escape here...

He shut his optics....

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And then he woke up...

Not back at HQ, not even in the temporary dwelling that had been designed for him during the rebellion....

No...No he was...somewhere else...

Somewhere hot....

And Somewhere he was moving....

He was buried in some large cart...

He freaked. He was covered in GARBAGE!

Octopus flailed about and....then he felt himself falling...

The Cart had tipped over...

"Are you ok?" He heard a voice sound out...

A girl's voice...

No, No he wasn't ok...

"Yeah i'm fine..." Another voice, another girl...

Who...who had him?

"What happened to the stuff?"

Octopus started trying to flail his way out of the wreckage...

"I don't know! Something...something ALIVE is in there"

Damn right he was Alive, and he wasn't gonna go down without a fight...

If only he could MOVE!

Suddenly, a stick poked through the wreckage and...hit him directly in the optic.

"OW!"

The stick reeled back, as Octopus finally found his strength and front-flipped out to face his attackers.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU-" his attempt at intimidation was interrupted when a large pan fell on top of his head...

He fell back...

...This really wasn't him at his best....

The two girls looked him over...one had pale skin and was wearing a lab coat, the other darker and wearing something more casual...

Both had the same striking red eyes...

"Uhhh....what the hell is that?"

Octopus got back to his feet and waved his tentacles in as threatening a way as he could...

But to the two girls it just looked...silly...

Odette kept her composure but Clara didn't even try...

She burst out laughing...

"DON'T LAUGH AT ME!" Octopus was offended now.

These two girls had loaded him into a container of GARBAGE and now they were LAUGHING at him?

He tried to fire his torpedoes...He heard a click...

Shit he'd forgotten to reload them...

"What..what was all that?"

Octopus's optics narrowed. This girl was mocking him now...

Well she already had been but...

"It was supposed to be a threat display, did it work?"

The bluntness of the statement made Odette nearly lose her composure....

He saw the grin cross her face..

"WHY DID YOU TWO PUT ME IN THE GARBAGE?!"

The two looked at each other, before looking back at him and shrugging....

"We..thought you were some kind of angelic weapon...."

Octopus...didn't understand...

"What is that supposed to mean?"

The two girls looked at each other once more, before looking back...

"It's...a long story..."

Octopus's optics narrowed again....

"Well considering my comms haven't been working the whole time I've been here...I have plenty of time for you two to explain..."