#tiny!5-up

“Becky, where are you going?” Asked the caretaker as Becky attempted to leave the orphanage. She sighed, turning away from the door. “And why are you wearing that, Thing again?” She was referring to the Cow onesie that Becky wore, a friend of hers from the surface had gifted it to her. “I, Like, It.” She responded in a biting tone. That comment earned her a glare, that’s just perfect. “Hmph, well, whatever you’re up to, be back before nightfall.” She told Becky, “I’m obligated to keep all of you safe.” She turned and went to either A tend to the other kids, or B hide in her room doing Foolish knows what.

Hmph, well Becky wasn’t too worried for her safety as she swam over to ‘her friend's house. As she was a Sizeshifter, so as long as she is wet, she’ll be fine. Granted she’s not supposed to change size and is meant to continue being a small mer for life, legally. But it’d be fine, who’d catch her? Anyways, she reached the surface near a beach, still thinking about the legality of being a Sizeshifting Mer. Like, Sally was a Sizeshifter and she was allowed to do it. But, Becky guesses that being friends with the King gives you ‘special treatment’. It’s stupid, which does remind her that Sally has been seen less often nowadays.

But she couldn’t stop to explore that thought any farther, as she had just reached the part where the water and the land touched. Emerging from the water, she looked left and right, and up, before emerging and clambering her way onto land. She waited for a second for her body to dry out so that she could walk, then called for her friend as this is the time they were supposed to be there. “5-up? Where are you!” She called out, nervously looking up to the sky- no, not nervously. She went to a spot in the sand where she had buried her Katana, and dug it out of the sand, cleaning all of the sand particles off of the blade.

“5-up, you can come out now.” She tried again, letting out a sigh when she heard that damn bird again. It let out a squawk as it landed beside her, she readied her Katana. “Do we really have to keep doing this-“ She asked before the Bird attempted to strike her, she rolled away. “Urg, you do this every morning!” They exchanged blows like this for a bit, however eventually the bird splashed a bit of water on her, and immediately flew away. It appears that the seagull knows now NOT to splash her. She smirked as the bird flew away, and then a familiar face emerged from the bushes at the edge of the beach.

“Took you long enough.” She told him scolding, but 5-up just laughed, “That was very fun for me to watch.” Then the two laughed together. The two of them ended up sitting on some rocks at the shoreline, just talking. “Why don’t you just, come with me?” He asked her out of the blue. “What do you mean?” She asked him, “Well, you’re always going on about how you’re not the biggest fan of the orphanage, so how about you come with me? To where I live?”

Becky thought for a moment, she’d heard a lot of things about this, Arctic Academy that 5-up came from, but she’d never really thought about what it would be like to actually go there. “I mean, I guess I could, but what would I tell my Caretaker? And the other Mer’s?” 5-up blinked at her, like the answer was obvious. When she didn’t say anything he sighed. “Nothing, that’s, uh, kinda the point of running away. Though you could leave a note of some kind I guess…” he mumbled that last bit, but she still caught it. “I guess I could, but… would I be allowed to stay there?” She asked, she wasn’t super confident in whether or not she could pretend to be a borrower that whole time. “Yeah, your my friend Beck, I’m sure I could convince them to let you in.” He reassured her, giving her a little pat on the back. She smiled at him in response, still a little unsure, but hopeful.

The next day, she decided that she’d leave with 5-up. She left a short note to her Caretaker on her ‘bed’ and quickly packed a small bag to take, tho she didn’t have that many personal possessions. She made a decision to go see Foolish for a bit, while he was the King, he, for some reason, enjoyed her company, so she decided to go and say ‘goodbye’. Becky swam through the coral reefs, and past many Mer ‘houses’ until she finally reached the makeshift palace of the Mer’s, where the King lived. After passing by some guards, who recognized her and let her through, she emerged into the throne room. She didn’t actually expect him to be here, he was usually in his secretive little back room. “Is the King in the back room again?” She asked one of the guards near the throne. “Yes, we’ll inform him that you're here.” He went into a door behind the throne and disappeared.

Becky waited for a few minutes, until finally, the guard re-emerged, gesturing for her to enter the room. She went in with a quick wave of goodbye to the guard. “King Foolish? You in here?” She knew he was, but it was polite to ask, tho she usually wasn’t the biggest fan of being ‘polite’. “Yes, yes. Hello Becky.” Foolish’s voice came from the back of the hall. She emerged into a small room, with a chair, table, a statue of some unknown God-like figure, and several bookcases. The books inside were of course waterproof. “What d’ya need Beck?” He asked, browsing the bookcase. “Nothing Sir, just wanted to come to see you.” She couldn’t tell him she was leaving, but she could buy herself a little time before Mer’s came looking for her.

“I also wanted to tell you that I’m gonna be going on a short expedition for that special Crystal that one of your history books told me about.” He sighed, “Beck, we’ve been over this, it’s a myth-“ She interrupted, “Yes, I know Sir, but what if I could find it? It could be somewhere out there, it’ll only take a week, and I’ll be careful!” She knew he was lenient, he wouldn’t get mad if she spoke a little out of line. He sighed again, turning away from the bookcase to look at her. “I suppose you could… just, be careful, alright? I couldn’t bear to have one of my citizens be harmed.” He finished before giving her a short hug. It almost made her change her decision. “Thank you, Sir, I promise you, I will find it.” She left the room, but not before turning back around with one more question. “Could I have that book about the legend of the Crystal again? Just for reference.” She was gonna be in so much trouble when she didn’t come back.

He nodded, grabbing the book out, and handing it to her. “Take care of it, it’s the only one I’ve got.” She nodded, starting to leave the room. “Bye Foolish.” She waved back to him, before leaving the room, saying goodbye to the guards, and heading for the surface. It didn’t take her too long to reach the surface and the shore where 5-up was waiting. “So, you ready to go?” He asked, a grin on his face. “Yea, I suppose so…” she responded, to which his grin dropped. “Hey, you okay?” She was quick to bring up her own smile of reassurance. “Yea, just a little nervous about leaving the ocean.” He nodded in understanding as they began the trek back to The Academy.

“It’s understandable, but don’t worry, I’ll take care of you, and so will the rest of The Arctic Academy. Speaking of, a little while ago, we got this awesome new recruit! He ended up getting a scar all along his face from fighting a dog! And now he has this cool mask with a smiley face on it…” he talked the whole way they went, about The Arctic Academy, about the people, and just about how amazing her life was gonna be up there. It was a little scary to be stuck at a Borrower size since she could only Sizeshift as long as she was wet, but otherwise, it was pretty cool. She’d never been this far inland before! After a while of walking, they finally reached a fence, that 5-up claimed to lead to the ‘Backyard’ of The Arctic Academy. It was relatively easy to pass through a gap in the wood, now all they had to do was get inside.

They trekked through the grass of the lawn, thankfully she never saw a single dangerous insect, she supposed 5-up passed through here often enough that they stopped showing up due to just how good he was at taking them out. She was feeling really tired by this point, still not used to using legs for this long, but then they finally reached the porch, and she sighed with relief as they began crossing the stone slab. They walked, for a bit longer, before they emerged into a kitchen. 5-up was quick to prepare to swing up there and wordlessly extended his hand for Becky to hold onto as he swung. She accepted, somewhat nervous, but excited to see what it was like. As soon as 5-up propelled himself and her up there, she looked around as the floor disappeared from under her, and a few moments later, she was on the counter.

“Wow, this place is cool!” The Arctic Academy was apparently located at an abandoned Bean house, where it was somewhat run-down. Looking far off into the house, she could see some borrowers swinging about, and, if anyone were paying attention, as the bag containing her Book touched 5-up, the Book started glowing gently, before going back out. However, no one noticed this, then 5-up went off about how The Blade taught everyone, and that everyone taught each other in order to lessen the workload, and he claimed that he'd be the one teaching her. “I don’t think that it’ll be too hard to learn for you, you seem like the type of b- I mean, Mer, who’d be good at this.” She chuckled a bit at his stutter, “So, where will I stay? To sleep y’know?” She asked, while they absentmindedly walked along the counter.

“At my place, of course, my group consists of Illumina, Moth, and Thea, I’ve told you a bit about them.” He informed her, before switching gears, “Anyway, we should go and get you a hook from The Blade, he gives ‘em out, I will warn you, you’ve gotta get up those stairs by yourself-“ He gestured to the stairs that were in front of the front door. “Every recruit has to do it without outside help, and usually most recruited borrowers already have regular hooks…” He trailed off, “But I didn’t come from the Borrower life, so I don’t have a hook to use.” She finished for him, somewhat worried. “C-correct, however! I will lend you my old hook, and everything will be fine!”

He said optimistically as they got to the Fridge, there was a hole in the side that represented an entrance. “Just in here-“ He stepped into the Fridge, just over the short gap between it and the counter. “Um, isn’t it cold in there?” She didn’t want to become a fish-cicle. “Not at all, it’s been off for years, C’mon, I think one of our group members is in here!” He whispered excitedly to her as she stepped into the Fridge, the gap making her eyes widen as she looked down at the depth. She also looked to her left, and just before walking in, saw a Bird House on an Island Counter with two borrowers stepping out of it, curious. She looked around the fridge as she entered, it was fairly dark, with white walls inside, thankfully there was a hollowed-out hole in the big door so they could get a little light. Leaning against one of the empty egg containers, lay a borrower, fiddling with a pair of wings. “Hey, Moth! How’s it going?” 5-up asked, gesturing to the contraption. “Well enough-“ They sighed, looking away from their work. “This is Becky?”

She nodded at the borrower, “Yes, what’s your name?” “Moth, more specifically, Funtime Moth.” "That's a cool name-" She responded before 5-up interrupted, "Moth, where are the others?" Moth seemed to think for a moment, absentmindedly fiddling with the wings. "Hmm, Illumina's probably out practicing in his usual spot hidden in the attic, and Thea, she's probably there too." 5-up nodded, going over to the back of the container and opening it, revealing four 'beds' and a discarded hook or two. Moth shifted so that they wouldn't be in the way as 5-up yoinked one of the hooks and handed it to Becky. "It's fairly simple and easy to use, worst case scenario, I'll come and show you how to do it the 'normal' way." He explained, offering her a reassuring smile as he left and swung up to the top of the stairs to wait for her. When Moth wasn't looking, she took the Book out, and flipped through a few pages, to say goodbye to her old life, before realizing, that the book appeared to double in length. But, looking at the new pages, they appeared blank... interesting. She'd have to figure it out later though, for now, she had an Academy to get accepted to...

After stepping down from the grate on top of the dusty bookshelf, 5-up searched for a way to get down easily. settling on using one of the leaves he had snatched from outside, the radish hybrid waited for the Fox to leave the room again.

He waited and waited, for what felt like HOURS. Seriously, how could these Giants just sit still in a room watching a glowing box for this long? 5-up had no clue. But finally, the big Fox left the room and 5-up hear the slam of a door. Now all he had to do was glide to the couch. No big deal.

“Ok 5-up, you’ve got this.” Taking a running leap he held onto that damn leaf like his life depended on it. Which it did. You’d think after doing this many times in previous homes of Humans and Hybrids he’d be less scared by now, but no, every time was terrifying. He ended up breathing out in a sigh of relief with a breath he didn’t even know he was holding once he landed.

The “couch” as the Fox called it was fairly squishy making it a bit hard to walk on, but the Radish hybrid managed to make their way over to the “Ramen Noodles” container, as the container said it was called. The Radish hybrid hastily hoisted himself up into the rim and was thankful to see that one of the noodles was in reach. Leaning down he dragged one up and out of the container and bunched it up to put inside his pouch.

That was when he heard the door open, and the booming footsteps coming from down the hall. Needless to say, this situation wasn’t ideal in the slightest. It took all the concentration 5-up had to not freeze in place out of terror. He only really had three options, hide in the cushions, where he’d probably get crushed, stay there and hope the Fox would have mercy on him (which didn’t seem likely), or jump down onto the carpeted floor and go under the couch. He ended up choosing option three and sprained his ankle on the way down. “Sh*t.” He whispered dragging himself under the couch and staying as still as he could under there as he heard the Giant enter the room.

“Don’t worry Wil, MCC will go good, even with Jack on the team.” The Fox boomed into the rectangle he was holding to his head, 5-up ended up covering his ears to avoid going deaf, he had never been this close to a Hybrid or a human before. “Ok Wil, I‘ll join the practice in one hour.” The hybrid finished before tapping the screen with a claw. “Alright, time to watch some Treasure planet.” The Fox finished before sitting on the couch causing a creak and a bulge to form on the underside where 5-up was.

5-up had absolutely no idea what to do, he had no idea how long this guy was going to be here watching “Treasure Planet”, what was he going to do? He watched as The Fox swept his bushy tail onto the ground, 5-up wished he could touch it, it looked so soft and fluffy. But he wasn’t insane yet. So he waited for however long it took for the Fox to leave the room.

After an actual hour of waiting this time The Fox turned off the “TV” and left through the other door in the room that he disappeared into for hours at a time. Waiting for a few minutes to see if they would come back, 5-up finally dragged himself over to the kitchen, where he knew there was a grate close to the floor.

Once he had climbed inside and navigated his way back to the hole in the tunnels to get to his base, he sighed in relief and got to tending his ankle which, thankfully, wasn’t that injured. After all of this, 5-up was very exhausted and thought that he should try the noodle he had taken from the Fox.

It was definitely not worth it, the noodle was fairly bland and was slimy once he had bitten off a piece of it, but on the bright side, at least it was actually warm.

The next day he decided he should try to find something to use as a bed since leaves aren’t that comfortable. Repairing his hook would also be perfect, if he had it he’d be able to get to high-up places much quicker. But before any of that he’d have to find some more food, as he isn’t sure how much longer he can stomach the noodle, especially after it got cold. He had heard whilst eavesdropping on Fundy, whose name he had learned while also eavesdropping, that he would be going out for a bit.

5-up then glided down to the countertop from a high-up grate and trekked across the flat surface in hopes of finding some food in the cupboard. For a fox, Fundy was not very observant, which made it laughably easy to steal bread and something called “Sour Patch Kids”, which initially scared 5-up terribly until he realized they were these weird vaguely human-shaped sour blobs. He snuck into the cupboard and took some chunks off of the already torn apart part of the loaf, and some juicy liquid from a box, he was also able to use some of the twine from the bread container to finally repair his hook. Satisfied with his findings, he used his newly repaired hook to get up to the grate again and slipped away back home.