Chapter Text
Ruby slowly opened her eyes as the mourning sun touched her soft skin.She looked at her brand new digital clock.It read 7:40am.She thought it was summer and slept further.After all,prom was just a few weeks ago.
But then she realised:It wasn’t summer,it was November.And she only had 20 minutes to get to school.
Immediately she bolted out of her bed and ripped her closet door open.She blindly grabbed a brown long sleeved shirt with a pink octopus stitched onto it,some light blue jeans,a pair of underwear and a pair of green socks.
But before she could get dressed,she started smelling a fowl odour.Like raw calamari from an unsanitary food truck that had been sitting in the sun for too long.It didn’t take a genius to realise where the smell was coming from,so she bursted through the door into the bathroom.
“Good morning sweetie.”Said Agatha.
But Ruby didn’t have time to say good morning back.Nessie tried to follow her,but she slammed the door into his face.In the bathroom she took all her pyjamas off and turned the water on.But then she calculated that by the time she would had finished taking a shower she would have had to skip breakfast to get to school on time.She tried turning the shower off,but then she slipped on a wet sponge and fell on her face with a wet smack.She quickly got up,only for the shower head to fall on hers.Causing it to dent into the form of a halfpipe.
“Ah,f*ck!”She yelled as she squeezed her face back to normal.
“What did I just hear up there,young woman?”Agatha shouted.
“Uhh,nothing mom.Just taking a shower,don’t come in!”She hastily answered,realising she just said a bad word Sam where could have probably heard her.And the last thing she needed was him dropping F-Bombs left and right.
And by ‘shower’,that meant the next best alternative:spraying on a heaping amount of deodorant to mask her rotten scent.
After that she desperately tried putting on her clothes,not caring to check if they were on right or not.And of course her mother just had to walk in as she was about to pull up her pants.
“What’s going on in here?”She asked,noticing the still running shower and turning it off.
“Mom,don’t you see the time!I’m gonna be late for school!Plus,what if there’s a sea monster terrorising the town that needs a good pummeling?!”Ruby worried,punching the air.
“Don’t worry about that.You still have plenty of time to get there.Now go get dressed.Properly.”
While she was adjusting herself,Ruby could hear faint chuckling coming from behind the door.Now in her new outfit she looked to see what was causing it.The source of the sound was Sam with his phone in hand.
“Morning little bro.What’s so funny?”Ruby asked.
“Hehe,Nothing.But guess who’s on my phone!”.Sam teased,showing it to her.Turns out he took a picture of her the moment Agatha opened the door. “I can’t wait to show this to everyone at school!”
“Why you little!”She yelled,lunging at her brother.
Sam began running down the stairs,giggling,with her sister close behind him.Agatha obviously didn’t like this,so she stood between the two,grabbed Sam by the hood of his green hoodie,snached his phone and deleted the embarrassing photo.
“Cut it out you two!”She said irritated.She then turned her head to Ruby.”I expect you to be more mature.Besides,your food is still in the kitchen.Eat it before it gets too cold.”
Ruby sat down at the table and began munching on her toast.It had indeed turned cold,as the rest of her family ate a long while ago.
“Morning Tadpole!”Said Arthur.He was currently doing the dishes.”What was all that ruckus upstairs about?”
“Ehh,just some annoying brother shenanigans,that’s all.”Ruby replied.
“Ok guys,I’m leaving.”Announced Sam.He was now wearing a pair of sunglasses just like Ruby’s except they had red frames instead of black.
“Uhh,Where did you get those?”Asked Agatha with a suspicious tone.
“Bought’em.With money.”
“Don’t tell me you wasted your allowance on those!”
“I didn’t.Kids pay me to get my autograph at recess.”
Agatha went silent
“Aw come on.What’s wrong with embracing fame?”Asked Sam.
“I’ll admit,Sam has a good point.”Commented Ruby with her mouth full.“After all,you did promise we wouldn’t be hiding anymore.”
“I’m not saying that’s bad,it’s just that maybe we shouldn’t go overboard with this whole town celebrity thing.Too much of anything,including attention,isn’t exactly good.We’re already having trouble with the paparazzi.”
And wouldn’t you know it:At that moment,some sucker began taking pictures outside the Gillman’s window.Agatha noticed the nosy photographer and angrily locked eyes with him.To which the guy panicked and ran off.
“See.”Agatha pointed out.
“And speaking of overboard,hehe:I just got a call on the toilet.Some famous actress saw my stream and she’s interested in buying one of my models!Im not sure if I should accept the offer though.You know how picky celebrities are,right?Maybe the one with the kraken attacking the ship…”Explained Arthur.
He then began yapping on and on about which model he should sell.Detailing the pros and cons of each individual one.Sam immediately got bored and walked out of the house.But a few seconds later he ran right back in,grinning from ear fin to ear fin.
“Guys!You gotta see this!”Sam exclaimed.
Ruby quickly shoved the rest of her breakfast into her mouth,grabbed her coat and backpack and went outside with her parents and Nessie following her to a rather peculiar sight.
Two parallel rows of teens forming a sort of path stretched from the door to their house into the direction of Ruby’s school.She recognised some of them as members of her friend Margot’s drama club.The path was surrounded by a massive crowd.Some of them carried equally massive cameras,to which they began rapidly shooting photos of the Gillmans.They could hear some chitter chatter amongst them.
“Oh my goodness,there they are!”Said a young girl with pigtails.
“Wow!They look surprisingly human.”Said an old lady.
“Hey!Isn’t that that guy that makes toy ships in his basem*nt or something?”Pointed out a thin,middle aged man.
Ruby stood in shock at the crowd.Agatha too with her jaw wide open.
“Well,at least these ones aren’t hiding it.”Said Arthur,trying to comfort his wife.Even though he was just as shook as her(and to be frank,quite humiliated).Nessie ran back into the house,scared by the flashing lights and Sam decided to make the best out of the situation by posing for the crowd.
After a little while,Ruby could see someone butting through the mob of people.That person revealed herself to be none other than Margot.She was wearing a red down jacket and orange pants with equally orange hair and a trumpet in her right hand.After playing a quick royal fanfare,she triumphantly proclaimed,wildly gesturing while doing so:
”Here ye!Here ye!Our glorious protector and saviour,princess of the mighty kraken kingdom and mathematical genius Ruby Gillman has finally arisen from her slumber!Bow in her mighty presence!”
And that’s just what the kids forming the path did,suddenly dropping to one knee.An out of sight orchestra started playing.Ruby needed answers,so she walked towards Margot and the two chatted as they walked to school.Sam also did so,yelling“Move over,people!Kraken prince coming through!”
“Margot,what is all of this?!”Ruby asked bewildered
“Well,your squishy highness,you told us a while back that you were kraken royalty.And what better way to herald a monarch than a royal introduction fit for the queen of England?”Explained Margot.
Ruby paused,taking in the sight.“And did you do all of this all by yourself?”
“No.Your uncle came up to me to help organise it.He’s a nice guy by the way.Not the sharpest tool in the shed though.
Ruby felt a smile forming on her face accompanied a warm,fuzzy feeling growing inside of her.She saw that as she and Margot walked past the teens forming the path,it started to break up with them following the two.Forming a sort of flash mob behind them.One of the people from the crowd screamed: “Happy Birthday!”
“Happy Birthday?”Ruby puzzled.“My birthday is only in 2 months!”
“Yeah,sorry.”Margot apologised.“I guess there was a sort of mixup when it came to that.But in a case of to be and not to be you might as well just be,so consider it an early birthday present.”
“Wow.I honestly don’t know what to say.”
“Ahh,don’t sweat it,Rubydoo.Wait a minute,you probably don’t even sweat at all.My dearest mistake.”
The two began waving at the crowd surrounding them.And before they knew it,they were already at school.They saw Bliss and Trevin right in front of the door,also kneeling.The former was wearing an old granny dress and trench coat,the latter a light grey Metroid hoodie and baggy black jeans.
“This is so corny.”Bliss remarked,but in an endearing way.
At the centre of the hallway,there was yet another crowd of people.This time forming a ball.
“Oh,you’re gonna love this next bit.”Margot affirmed,bumping Ruby’s nonexistent shoulder with her elbow.
Out of excitement,Ruby and the gang walked towards the people sphere,being happily greeted in the process.Margot played her trumpet once more and demanded:
“Reveal the royal’s soul mate!”
The people forming the ball began moving left and right,gesturing as if they were presenting a queens crown.And in the middle of it stood the love of Ruby’s life:Connor.
“Good morning,your highness.”Connor blushed.
“Oh.Hey Connor.”Ruby cooed,deepening her voice.She leaned herself against a locker.
“So,did you sleep well last night?”She flirted,gently touching Connor’s chin.
“Barely.You know I’m always up all night thinking about you,”He professed,wrapping his arms around Ruby’s back.
“Oh,kiss me you squishy little dumbo octopus!”Ruby pleaded.
Shortly thereafter they began smooching.Pretty much everyone wildly cheered and clapped.Well,pretty much everyone except Bliss.She gave a quick look of before telling herself”Eh,I’ll get used to it eventually.”
“Come on,blood orange.You’ve been saying that for 3 weeks straight.”Trevin noticed.
“I didn’t specify when that will be.”Her voice grew sinister and morbid. “It could even be during all our eventual deaths.”
Just then the school’s intercom began buzzing and the principal’s monotone voice ringed out of it:
“Attention students.Enough admiring…”,The principal,Mr.Walker,sounded like he was clearing his throat and picking up a piece of paper:
“The Greatest Warrior in the Seven Seas,5-time Winner of the Whatcom County Math Contest,Awesome Cute Goober,Slayer of the Devil Whale,Hero of The Second Battle Of The Trident,Prom Queen,My Bestest Friend in the Whole Wide World…”He then paused,stuttering in disbelief:
“H…What the…Holy sh*t!There’s five whole pages of this bullcrap!”
This was the first time anyone has heard him displaying any sort of emotion. Everyone looked towards Margot,some slightly laughing.
“I got carried away with the titles.”Margot admitted,rubbing her hand against the back of her head.
“Anyways,class starts in 5 minutes.Don’t be late.”Announced Mr.Walker.
The school day went on like usual for Ruby.
Getting admired 8/5:
“I love you Ruby!”A husky boy beamed as Ruby went to her 3.period math class.
“You’re so amazing!”Flattered a short,blond girl.
“Hug me with those naughty tentacles,Ruby!”Begged a jock with blue hair.
“Thanks,guys.I love you all too!Except you Phillip.You’re a disgusting creep.”Ruby gagged as she walked into class with her friends aggressively gesturing at him to go away.
Dealing with bullies:
“Hey!”Shouted a short guy wearing a sports jacket towards Margot’s girlfriend Kayla“Where is my lunch tax?!”
“What?”Kayla puzzled.
“Don’t you remember,you absolute moron?!You better cough up 2 bucks or you’re going home with a broken nose!”
“Ruby,look!”Margot fretted,pointing at the confrontation.
“Ughhhhhh,Roger.”Ruby groaned.“Hold on a sec,guys.I have an idea.”
She dropped her backpack on the ground and drew the suckers on her hands out.Then she jumped onto the ceiling,clinging to it.Last,but not least she camouflaged herself to match the colour of the roof(a useful ability she learned at her grandmother’s palace over the weekend)And crawled towards the scene like Spiderman.Just as Roger was about to give poor Kayla a sucker punch,she cleared her throat to get his attention,to which he saw a floating pile of clothes and a pissed off face.The bully fell onto the ground,recoiling in fear as Ruby jumped between him and his victim,stared him in the eyes and lighted them up as if she was going to melt his face off.
Immediately the bully shrieked and began vigorously shaking Kayla’s hand:
“I’m sorry for every bad thing I said to you you want your money back here’s your money back hey you want to hang out later I know this place that sells good hot cocoa okay bye!”He apologised rapidly.Then he ran away,screaming.
“Thanks Ruby.”Thanked Kayla.
“Anytime.”Replied Ruby.
And getting harassed at lunch:
“I’ll give you a bite of my salmon sandwich if you let me sit at your table!”Offered a black haired boy.
“Don’t listen to him!I’ll pay for a dinner at a fancy restaurant for you guys if I can sit on your table!”Offered a redheaded girl.
“Enough with the offerings!”Demanded Ruby.”Since I’m a fair kraken:From this point on I’ll allow anyone to sit with me and my friends at lunch.”
Let’s just say that security had to get involved after she said that.
That is,however,until her 5.period history class.Just as the teacher,Ms.Fletcher,was explaining the next assignment:The door was thrown wide open,and a voice boomed:“RUBY!”
Ruby jumped from her seat and was about to give this thing a body-armour reinforced punch to the skull.But it turns out it was just her uncle Brill.
And he was naked for some reason.
“Oh,thank goodness you’re here!I’ve been looking all over for you!”He worried,grabbing Ruby by her cheeks.
“Uhhh…Brill…”Ruby hinted.
“Yeah,I know.But I was in a rush.Your grandmother wanted you immediately once she saw the damage.Besides,it shouldn’t be that to big of an issue.”
He couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Ohh,the horror!”Margot lamented,covering her eyes.
“Hey,What’s the deal?”Trevor asked,flipping his bangs aside.But then he put them back as soon as he saw him.Others lifted their book bags up to their mouths,getting ready to vomit.
Ms.Fletcher was just about to call the cops,but Ruby stopped her.
“Woah woah woah,Ms.Fletcher!This is just my uncle,Brill.He’s a royal messenger,he’s important!”Ruby defended.“Brill,what foul creature is threatening the oceans today?And what damage are you talking about?”
“Ruby,there is a giant sea urchin devouring all the kelp forests down south and everything in them!Mom is waiting for you,Go!”Brill urged.
“But where exactly is it?”
“It’s off the coast of…”
Brill stopped talking as Ruby heard police sirens coming from outside.
“Ahhh!The land orcas have found me!”Brill panicked.Ruby saw as he jumped out of the window and sprinted away with 2 police officers behind him.
“Man,mom is not gonna be pleased when she hears about this.”Ruby thought.She raised her hand for permission,to which her teacher said:
“Uhh,yes Ruby,you may be excused from class.”
Immediately,she bolted from her seat and bounded out the door with her entire class following her.
“Hey!HEY!Kids!I didn’t say YOU were excused.We still have 37 minutes left!Get back here NOW!”The teacher commanded.But it was to no avail.As she dived into the water,her classmates said their goodbyes.
“Farewell,brave warrior!”Margot shouted.
“Good luck out there”Added Trevin.
“Make sure to bring me that thing’s corpse if you can!”Bliss demanded.
Ruby poked her head out of the water and gave the kids one last wave.She also saw her mother,showing a house.She saw her and waved back.She also saw Brill being pursued by an army of cops.Ruby tried holding back the laughter as she launched herself south towards her goal.
Ruby stared at the vibrant kelp forest beneath her as she swam.Giant kelp rose up like great redwood trees.And the ocean floor was covered in a mosaic of reds and purples and yellows.Unfathomable amounts of fish,crustaceans and other marine life sauntered between the oversized weeds,going about their day.She could stare for hours at this thriving environment.She sometimes did,as she was in the ocean every day.Whether due to royal affairs,sea beasts or just for a quick dip after a long day.The ocean always had something more to discover.But alas,she had to move on.
But after a while the kelp just disappeared.
It was as if something vacuumed the ocean floor clean,leaving nothing but a clean,rocky floor.Ruby has seen landscapes like this before far too often than she’d like to admit.Urchin barrens,as you would call them.Except with those,the ground was infested with…well…urchins.Ruby usually just had to get rid of them by eating as many of them as possible.(Which she did every day)and the kelp would recover.But this barren was different.Not even they were present!It was completely devoid of any and all life.
And it didn’t take long for Ruby to find the culprit.The reason why she set out in the first place
A monstrous,dome shaped purple urchin,about a head bigger than her was slowly skimming the sea floor.It’s bottom was lined with the corpses of countless marine animals that were unfortunate enough to get in its way.And felled kelp strands that reminded her of the trees from the Lorax.And the tube feet that covered the creature from all sides were carrying obscene amounts of organic matter in clean rows towards its underside to be devoured.It was almost ridiculous how much destruction this thing caused!
Ruby heard her grandmother’s voice calling out to her.She managed to track it to a large,bowl shaped depression in the ground,but she saw nothing.But then Grandmamah revealed her face.Turns out she was just camouflaged to the ocean floor.Ruby joined her soon after.
“Ok Grandmamah.what’s the plan?”Ruby inquired.
“You see the ditch we’re in?”Grandmamah explained”I’ll try to lure that thing close to it.Once that beast gets close enough,you’ll knock it into the ditch to expose it’s mouth and make the kill while it’s prone.You can manage that,right?”
Ruby poked her head out of her hiding spot and eyed her target.Just then,a salmon shark just happened to pass by the creature.But when it got near enough to it,however:The urchin did something horrific.Something she thought a normal urchin could never do.
One of the creature’s spines SHOT out of it’s body,only connected to it by a thin white tendon.Violently impaling the poor fish in the process.Then it sucked the spine back into its round figure and carried the shark towards its mouth to be consumed.
“Mmm.Piece of cake.”Ruby confidently intoned.
“Just what I wanted to hear.”Grandmamah approved.
The elderly kraken queen swam up to the spiny demon and quickly blasted it to get its attention.
“Over here,you repulsive ball of spines and roe!”Grandmamah gleefully dared.
The trick worked.As shortly thereafter,the urchin began bombarding her with spines sharp enough to pierce through bone.Grandmamah simply hardened her arms and swatted them away as if they were flies.At the same time she also began slowly swimming backwards towards the depression with the urchin inching equally as slow after her.After about 10 minutes of this routine she gave Ruby a signal with her hand for her to play her part.So she swam towards the opposite side of where her grandmother was at and pushed as hard as she could.The blow was so powerful,it caused a miniature shockwave in the water,yet the creature didn’t budge.
Ruby figured that she just needed to wind up her attacks.So she swam as far away from the creature as possible,lunged forward with her fist out and striked.She heard a satisfying crack,but the thing still stood.No matter how much she pushed,punched and lifted,it just wouldn’t move.This thing had no weak spot.It’s tube feet were clinging it to the ground like super glue.And it wasn’t getting any easier either,as now she also was subjected to the onslaught of thorns.
That is,until Grandmamah started to rip the urchins spines off of it.Ruby noticed that just before the tendons were separated from the body,some of its tube feet detached from the ground.Thats when she got an idea.The mathlete began calculating the mass of the monster and each individual spine.
“Grandmamah!Try yanking the spines as hard as you can towards you,but not hard enough to detach them.That will lift the creature of the ground,creating a gap big enough between the urchin and the seabed which I can use to flip the thing over!”Ruby suggested.
Grandmamah followed through immediately,pulling as many spines as she could fit in her tentacles(7 each).Shortly thereafter tube feet began loosing their grip of the rocky substrate at a rapid rate.Once the evil echinoderm was sufficiently lifted off the ground,Ruby once again swam away from it,charged headfirst towards it and uppercutted the beasts bottom,sending it flying and flipping it almost 180 degrees,exposing the creatures gaping,five toothed maw.Then she slammed her tentacles against the urchins rock hard shell.Causing it to quickly fall into the krakens’ former hiding spot.
Grandmamah swam aside and gave Ruby a look that said:“Come on,kid.Do it.”So she swam up to her target and pinned it down.
“Your days of annihilating this threatened ecosystem are over!”Proclaimed Ruby.
She finished the thing off by pulling its mouth open and firing lasers in it,completely charr grilling its insides.The creature wildly spasmed about while she was doing so,but it was over as soon as it started.
Ruby tried splitting the now dead urchin in half,figuring that one half could be used by marine life as an artificial reef to make up for all that ecological destruction.And the other to fulfill Bliss’s promise.But to no avail.
“Here,let Grandmamah help you.”Ruby’s grandmother said.
The two gripped the corpses mouth at opposite halves and pulled as hard as they could with the monster’s shell breaking into two in the process,exposing the things yellow orange gonads,which miraculously survived Ruby’s assault.She picked up a shell half with two hands and swam north back home.
“See you soon,Grandmamah.”Ruby chirped.
“Aww,how sweet of you to bring your mother her favourite food.”Admired Grandmamah.
The students of Oceanside were all going to their next classes when Margot saw Ruby’s towering figure rising out of oceans surface.She grabbed her trumpet out of her backpack,played yet another royal fanfare and announced:“Hark,everyone!Our glorious protector has returned!”
Everyone in the school instantly began rushing outside to greet their cephalopodian classmate,who was holding the giant urchin corpse high above her head.They praised and cheered her on.And the sun shone directly above Ruby’s head as if God himself was giving her the spotlight.She gently dropped her prey on an empty spot of the school yard,and the crowd went wild!Some girl even dropped on her knees.And a crowd of people started taking photos of Ruby’s delivery.
“Gnarly.”Whispered Bliss as she stroked one of the creatures spines with stars in her eyes.
This is what Ruby has always wanted.She was now accepted by all.Beloved by all.Nothing could stop her.
“Ok guys,that’s enough inspecting.”Smiled Ruby.She then threw the urchins halved body back into the ocean,leaped into the sky,shrinking back to normal in the process and landed on the pavement like a superhero.Almost everyone began chanting her name.She then told her friends all about what just happened under the sea as they all walked to their 6.period art class. Where Ruby made an impressive painting solely out of her own ink.
“Ahhhhhh,what a day!”Bursted Ruby as she threw open the door.She saw her mother on the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in one hand and her face buried in the other.
“I wish I could say that.”She mumbled.
“Your mother has had a long day.”Arthur added,sitting beside his wife.
Just then,Agatha’s phone began ringing.
“Ughhh!It’s been going like that every 5 minutes!”She complained,storming upstairs to her office to answer the call.Ruby went out of the house to bring her a gift that will cheer her up,seeing her brother getting swarmed by a horde of 8 year olds begging for him to sign their stuff.
“Hey,Ruby.”Said Bliss while she was sitting on a bench.“Can you get me a piece of that urchin spine?Its for this choker I’ve been working on.”
She swam underwater to grab a chunk of spine and a bit of urchin gonad,brought the chunk to Bliss and got back home just as Agatha went back downstairs.
“I brought you this.”Ruby presented,opening her palm to reveal a big clump of fresh uni.
“Wait.Is that?”Her mother inspected.She stared at Ruby’s present for a while.Suddenly she stuffed the creamy mass into her mouth,gushed about how delicious it was and licked her fingers.
“Oh,I haven’t had this in years!”Agatha blurted.Everyone in the house was staring at her.Even Nessie was weirded out.She started blushing.Or,at least the kraken version of blushing,which is quietly blowing air out of her gills.
“Anyways,”She continued.“What I’ve been meaning to tell you is that Gordon just called.We have to meet him at 6:30pm to talk with us about Nerissa.
Gordon’s house was connected to the Mermaid Experience.So that could only mean one thing:She was going to have to see Nerissa again.Her entire mood changed from prideful joy to extreme annoyance.Just thinking about her was enough to tick Ruby off.
“Oceanus help me.”She thought.
