Rise and Fall

Home

Get it? At the end of the end of the last chapter, I said, “Let’s bring this thing home”, and the chapter’s called Home. *Chuckles sheepishly* I’ll let myself out. Just read the chapter.

Chapter 16: Home

“Let’s head for home.”

Home. The word still made Angel feel uncomfortable. Questions like, Where is home? still surfaced in her mind. She guessed home was the Octopod now. And now that she was no longer afraid of Captain Barnacles, she couldn’t say she minded. In fact, as the Octopod came into view, she was downright happy to be back.

She was happy to see everyone too, when she arrived in the kitchen for dinner after her bath and getting into her pyjamas. By then, they had all heard about the day’s events and congratulated her.

“It was awfully brave of you to save that little penguin, matey!” Kwazii declared approvingly. “And I heard you’re not afraid of the Captain anymore.”

Angel smiled and nodded. “I’ll prove it!” She slid onto the bench, right next to the Captain and her face turned red when everyone applauded.

Tweak smirked. “I heard you hugged him.”

“Dashi showed us the picture!” Kwazii added with a grin. “The Vegimals fainted!”

Now, Angel’s face was the colour of a tomato. She couldn’t stop giggling and she lowered her head.

“Do it again!” Tweak urged the girl.

“Yeah!” Kwazii joined in. “Do it again!”

Well, now, Angel wasn’t the only one who was embarrassed. Next to her, Captain Barnacles looked pretty much the same way. Still, Kwazii and Tweak wouldn’t let it go, so she gave the Captain a quick hug, which he returned, prompting the loud sound of, “Awww!” from the others.

Barnacles let go and cleared his throat. “Yes, Angel did a very good job today and she must be very hungry.” He waved a paw at the table, which the Vegimals had covered in food. “Everyone, dig in.”

The Octonauts didn’t need to be told twice.

All through dinner, everyone talked about what an amazing thing Angel had done that day- not only saving Penny, but letting Captain Barnacles save her. They all wanted to hear about it from Angel herself, who was embarrassed, but also enjoying the attention. They were all sorry to hear about the danger she’d gotten into and how scared she’d been stuck on the side of the cliff, but everyone had to agree, it had all worked out for the best, Angel included.

Just as they were finishing up dessert and starting to clean up the kitchen, Dashi noticed that the storm had passed.

Captain Barnacles looked too, at the calmer waters. “We’d better head back to the little penguins’ island to pick up the GUP-A.” It had been left there, while they’d all sheltered in the GUP-C. “Peso, to the launch bay. And Angel, you’d better come along as well. I’m sure Penny and Guinevere will want to thank you in person.”

“Aye-aye, Captain”, Peso and Angel chorused, following the polar bear into the Octochute.

The Captain was right. Both Penny and Guinevere thanked Angel over fifty times and gave the girl a lot of praise. The ten-year-old’s face stayed a bright shade of red and her cheeks hurt from smiling and giggling so much, but she believed everyone deserved such praise at least once in their life. Although, the Octonauts deserved it way more than that, of course.

On top of that, Guinevere apologised for not being too friendly towards Angel at first.

“I may have misjudged you entirely, just because you’re a human”, she conceded sheepishly.