Do You Blame Yourself?

[Chapter 10] - Sea Water And Closed Doors

"Captain! Are you all right?" Shellington called out. The two rushed over to his aid, but he didn't say anything. Barnacles just held his arm close to him. Shellington and Kwazii both looked at each other, then back at the Captain.
"Cap'n? Are you alive?" Kwazii asked, snapping his fingers in front of his face.
"Kwazii, don't do that," Shellington snapped.
"I'm fine, don't worry," Barnacles said as he pulled his arm away to take a better look at his wrist.
"That doesn't look good," Kwazii said, grabbing Barnacles by the opposite arm.
"Kwazii, what are you doing?" he asked, not trying to pull away.
"We're going back home. Come on," Kwazii said.
"My wrist feels fine, Kwazii. There's no need to go all the way back to the Octopod."
"I'm going to have to agree with Kwazii, Captain," Shellington said. "Your wrist may seem fine, but it probably isn't." Barnacles looked at Kwazii, then to Shellington, then back to Kwazii.
"It's two to one, Captain," Kwazii noted.
"Fine, but if nothing is wrong, then we'll come back."
Kwazii sighed, but agreed.
"All right, then."

"Can you move your wrist, Captain?" Shellington asked as they settled into the GUP-A. Barnacles looked down and tried to move his wrist, but it wouldn't move. He shook his head 'no'. Kwazii, on the other hand, tried to connect to the Octopod.

Peso was already a nervous wreck, and when a signal came from the GUP-A, that just made his stomach sink.
"Is anyone there?" Kwazii asked.
"We're all here, Kwazii. What's wrong?" Peso asked, walking up to the screen.
"Well, I'll tell you everything in one second," he said before the signal cut off. Peso's stomach dropped and he felt like sinking into the ground.
"He sounded a bit worried," Dashi muttered, trying to reconnect with the three. That didn't work.

"Okay, listen. We're going back to the Octopod, and..." Kwazii trailed off.
"And then what?" Shellington asked. Kwazii had zoned out for a second, but he shook his head and looked back up.
"Then we'll just get you to the sick bay," he said, motioning to Barnacles.
"I'm telling you, my wrist feels fine. It just hurt for a second."
"Okay, ignoring that," Kwazii said, chuckling and grabbing the steering wheel.

"What do you think happened?" Tweak asked. Peso glanced over, and then looked away.
"I don't know," he said. Peso looked up and then turned around to look at the crew. "But something was off. I'll be right back," he added before rushing out of the HQ.

"You seem to know what to do in these types of situations, Kwazii," Shellington stated.
"I've been in the sick bay long enough to know what to do," Kwazii said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I've spent enough time in the sick bay to know what a sprained wrist looks like," Kwazii muttered. Shellington and Barnacles looked at each other.
"Sprained wrist?" Barnacles asked.
"Look, that's just what it looks like, I'm not sure if it is sprained," Kwazii added.

The GUP-A entered the launch bay, and standing there was Tweak and Peso. "What happened? What's wrong?" Peso asked.
"We think the captain sprained his wrist," Kwazii said. Peso slowly turned his head to look directly at Kwazii.
"What?" he asked before whipping his head to look at Barnacles. "Let me see it," he added, reaching over to grab his wrist softly. "Okay, something definitely isn't right. Let's go to the sick bay."

"You definitely did something," Peso said with a small laugh as he examined Barnacles's wrist. It was already bruising, and somewhat swelling up.
"Told you..." Kwazii sang. Shellington glanced over at him and chuckled.

"Captain, I think Kwazii was right," Peso said, looking away from the drawer he was searching in. He had just taken a very small x-ray just to see if there was anything really wrong. "You sprained your wrist," he confirmed. Barnacles looked at Kwazii, and all Kwazii did was nod slowly.
"See? If I hadn't said anything, you would've been in a lot more pain."
Barnacles looked over at him.
"You have a point, Kwazii. Thanks," Barnacles said.
"No problem," Kwazii said, smiling.