Right before Dashi had left with the rest of the crew, she gave Koshi and me the same speech she had been reprising for a week, "We're going to visit Pearl and Peri for a few hours to check up on the kelp forest. Paani's going to watch you for a bit. Be good for him, etc, etc." and finished her speech with the usual, "We don't want a repeat of the last 5 times."
Oh yeah, babysitters on the Octopod never lasted too long. We've been through around 7 different babysitters, and the only person who came back for a second time so far was Calico Jack which suited us kids just fine. He was nice and he always brought candy for us.
Now the babysitters that didn't come back; Ranger Marsh got his hat filled with the Vegimals' whipped cream (It was Pinto, I swear), we drove Ryla absolutely insane by attempting to recreate scenes from some pirate show Kwazii showed us, one of Professor Natquik's books disappeared into thin air, on and on and on the list goes.
"SAAAAAAAUUUUUMENCH!!!!!!!" The earsplitting shriek came from the doorway, "PAANI'S COMING!"
"Yeah, I know, so shut up, Pendejo." I yelled back at him as Koshi and Dashi stared in confused shock.
"What was that about?" Koshi asked, looking at me as if I sprouted a second head.
"He's an idiotic little Saukerl, that's what."
"Jane." Dashi fixed me with one of her famous looks, "That doesn't really fall under the category of behaving. Be nice to him, OK?"
"OK, I'll be nice to Pinto." I muttered venomously.
"Good girl!" Dashi chirped and patted me on the head.
"Wait, why can't we go with you?" Koshi asked, looking straight at Dashi.
"It's because 1. This is a mission and it's too dangerous to bring you four along, and 2. We don't have any spare oxygen tanks after the little problem with Kwazii in the Launch Bay yesterday." Dashi explained patiently. Oh yeah. Kwazii had been practicing his sword fighting in the Launch Bay yesterday when he somehow managed to disembowel a whole crate of air tanks which Tweak had fixed that morning. Because of it, he ended up hanging upside down from the ceiling with Tweak screaming cuss words at him while beating him with a Ping-Pong paddle and his sword had been snapped clean in half.
"Wait a sec, Dashi?" the thought hit my brain far later than it probably should've. "Isn't Paani studying the Yellow River in China?"
"Yes but-" Dashi put her paw to her face and sighed, "You know the way Paani is. He called us last night via Octo-Watch to tell us that he's in Europe going on a continent-wide research mission on his paddleboard and he was free to babysit you four."
Koshi and I both smirked. Typical Paani. Paddling across Europe in a week even though Dashi would definitely have taken him in the Octo-Ray if he asked, but we loved him anyways. So much in fact that the second Koshi and I realized he was here, we sprinted down to the Launch Bay and practically tackled him.
"Oof," He gasped as all the air was knocked out of his lungs by the two of us, "Girls, it's nice to see you too, but next time can you welcome me with less physical assault?"
"OK," Koshi and I shared a knowing look. Paani had approximately 3 more seconds until...
"PAANI!" Pinto shrieked in pure unbridled joy and latched onto Paani's leg while Squirt did that weird hopping thing he and his uncle did and attached himself onto Paani's other leg. By now, neither Paani, Tweak, nor the Captain, who had driven Paani here, could stop themselves from laughing.
"Captain, it seems like these kids can't get enough of me." Paani was wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.
"OK, kids." Tweak wheezed as she pried all four of us off him, "That's plenty." By now, all the crew had come down and were loading themselves and a few of the Vegimals into the Gup-X.
"We'll see you in a few hours!" Dashi called, waving to us.
"And remember," Peso chimed in, "No sugar for the children. The Vegimals have already prepared lunch for all of you; it's in the freezer." On and on and on this went until Peso finally finished with, "and if you need us, you can reach us through our Octo-Watches!"
"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Paani shouted back with a reassuring smile, "Have a safe mission!" Almost the second the Gup X was out of sight, he turned back to us.
"So what do you four want to do?" We all shrugged. Honestly, I hadn't thought that far and neither did anyone else, it seemed.
"I have some research I would like to complete and I'd like you four to help; I have some water samples I'd like to study. Do you think Shellington would let us use his lab?" Paani asked tentatively.
"Sure." Squirt beamed, "I mean, he likes you."
"Yeah, and if you find a new species in whatever water you're gonna put under his microscope, he might even propose to you." I sniggered. Paani laughed.
"Ooh it would be cool to find a new species, but that's not likely to happen." Paani sighed but immediately brightened up, "Now let's get going; we have research to do!"
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We'd been in the lab for about an hour, and we all sorta got carried away with Paani's water. The whole lab looked like a hurricane hit or someone had let Kwazii in without supervision. Beakers and test tubes, whether in one piece or not, were strewn all over the lab, scorch marks (even though we were studying WATER) dotted the table, and all of Shellington's lab coats and goggles had been discarded into a dismal little mountain in the corner.
"Well, that was a little messier than planned." Paani said nonchalantly, surveying the lab like it was but a mildly rippling sea instead of a whirlpool of disaster.
"Paani," Squirt tugged on Paani's pant leg.
"Yes my mini hydrology helper?"
"What if Shellington finds out?" As if on cue, Paani's Octo-Watch began to beep.
"I've got to take this," He whispered, "Hang on a quick second." Paani came back looking panicked beyond expression.
"What?!" All four of us chorused, our voices heightening with worry feeding off of his.
"They're coming back in about an hour." Oh, scheisse.
YOU ARE READING
The Odd Sister Out
Fanfiction"The middle child has it worse" Janine Margot Doxter knows that this is a lie. Being the younger sister of Dashi and Koshi, who were known as inseparable, mystery-loving sisters in their hometown. Therefore, she has always been the third wheel to he...
