A Tennyson's Realization

It's been a bit since the museum, and we are currently at what should have been the third episode. I say 'should' because I ended up changing what would have happened, mostly by calling the cops on the poachers, and said that they were cooking meth just for good measure.

Right after I did call the police though, I did also use the speed of XLR8 to quickly head to the lake when we stopped at a gas station, and dumped the Kraken eggs back into the lake, wouldn't want the authorities to find that shit and try to experiment on them.

Though, at the moment I'm just laying on the pier looking up at the stars with Gwen at my side. Penn is most likely about to jump into the lake soon, and Lucy said that she was making me something, though I don't know what.

But, other than that stuff, not much has happened since I knocked out Animo and got him sent to jail. Though, I've been noticing how much my emotions have been in chaos since this summer road trip started.

At first, it was because of Penn's alien forms being strangely attractive, not that Penn herself isn't attractive, I just didn't expect her alien's to look like that. Then there was my sudden burst of anger to people looking at Penn in a way I didn't like, and me being so cold as I killed mutants. Sure they killed people, except the hamster, but I don't think I should have been that okay with taking a life. Hell, I would have even killed Animo if his DNA had been useful to me.

I don't know if this really is because of that concussion I got when I touched the Omnitrix, or if this is a side effect of thoroughly absorbing DNA like I did. But, I think my personality is slowly changing, it's almost like I'm becoming an entirely different person, bought I still have the same goals I had from when I first died.

I wonder if my older sister went through something like this at some point? Maybe I should ask if I get the chance to ever properly interact with her. Though, I don't think mom will let us all go our entire lives without wanting us all to hang out as a family at some point, so even if I have to wait a long time I'll still be able to eventually ask her.

While I was still deep in my own thoughts I heard the familiar sound of Penn's rushing towards me and Gwen.

"Cannonball!" Penn yelled as she made it to the end of the pier and jumped off of it, into the large body of water that Gwen and I were sat near.

"Judge's scores, yes, a perfect ten! The crowd loves her!" Penn yelled out as she surfaced from the water, and it was at this point that I realized she was in a black bikini, which just added to my chaotic feelings.

After what happened at the museum I think Penn's been trying to cheer me up, since I haven't really talked all that much with everyone, other than when I ask them what they want to eat. So, she's been acting more like her old self, though I still get the feeling that we'll need to talk about what happened, I just don't know if I'll be able to hold back these odd feelings if we did.

"A perfect dweeb is more like it!" Gwen said as she sat up, looking pretty annoyed at her cousin. I guess she didn't like Penn interrupting the quiet atmosphere that was present earlier.

"Come on, dive in!" Penn said to us, mostly to me, it seems. I guess she really wants me to get out of this slump.

"Please who knows what nasty slimy things are slithering around down there?" Gwen said as she shined the flashlight she brought out with us to Penn. "I rest my case."

"Can't you two go one day without arguing?" This entire summer they have been bickering like an old married couple that have begun hating each other, and I'm beginning to get sick of it.

"I'm gonna head to bed early." I said while getting up from the pier and heading into the RV. The combination of the arguing of those two, and my confusing emotions has left me with a headache trying to sort through this shit. So, right now, I just want to sleep.

After all, when you're in pain, just sleep! Feeling hungry as hell? Just sleep! Feel like you're about to die? Just sleep! Do you feel depressed because some god decided to fuck with your life and cause you to be bound to a bed for the rest of your short life? You already know it! Go the ever loving fuck to sleep!

As soon as I made it into the RV, I made a beeline for my bed. I didn't even really focus on the small thing that Lucy was hiding from my view, though I did notice the sewing kit next to her. After all these years, I did not know that she could sew, I guess it's one of those skills/hobbies you don't talk about much unless someone asks about it?

Anyways, the second I did get to my bed I immediately laid down and fell asleep faster than Max can suggest eating something having to do with bugs in some way. Turns out being able to cool down my body whenever I want makes it, so I go into something similar to hibernation, though it's only for a bit as it would be bad if I fell asleep for months every time I did this.

__________

(Small Time Skip brought to you by, Nico having an existential crisis!)

__________

In the morning, after we ate breakfast, Max decided to take us to some boats, since he wants to take us fishing. Though, Penn hasn't said anything about a lake monster, so it seems I did the right thing by calling the cops on 'Friends of Fish'.

But, they've all been acting a little strange since I woke up, like they all want to ask me something, but no one knows how too. Maybe it's about the whole mutant killing thing, or about how I've been acting recently, I don't know. I just want to try relaxing today, and hopefully clear my head of all these confusing emotions.

When we finally got to the end of the pier and next to one of the boats, I noticed a bucket filled with worms. I wonder what would happen if I absorbed all their DNA, would it mutate just from the amount inside me, or would I be able to use it like electricity whenever I wanted?

"Ew, what's with the bucket of slimy's?" Gwen said when she noticed the bucket of worms.

"It's bait." Max said with a small smile on his face, I guess he really wants to fish.

"Hey, Nico, how about we go fishing, and the rest of the girls stay here?" Huh? Max why did you suggest that, shouldn't you be trying to get us all to go fishing or something?

"Oh! Yeah, you should go with Grandpa, maybe it'll help you out!" Lucy said to me with a hopeful look in her eyes. Wait, is this their way of trying to get me to talk about what happened with Max?

"*Sighs* Okay, I've never been fishing before, so this will be an interesting experience." Since they seem to be this concerned about me, I might as well give it a go. Hell, maybe Max even knows something about what I'm feeling?

"That's the spirit, Nico!" Max said and patted me on the shoulder as I watched the girls walk back in the direction of the RV. It feels weird to not have one of them near me, they never really left me alone for extended periods of time, unless I'm in the bathroom, of course.

"Captain Shaw?" Max said to Shaw as we both turned around to the man's boat.

"Who want to know?" The captain said in a tone that told me he was not a friendly type of guy.

"I'm Max Tennyson, and this is my grandson, Nico. We charted your boat today for a fishing trip." Max said to the captain, not paying much mind to the man's tone.

"Well, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation? Get aboard, I don't have all day." The captain said to us. I wonder what pissed in his coffee this morning? Seriously, if you didn't want to be bothered today, then why the hell did you allow your boat to be charted at all?

Max and I got onto the boat, and the captain started the engine, so we can get on with this fishing trip. Though, while we were on the water I could feel that Max wants to ask me something, I guess I should start the conversation.

"So, what did you want to ask me, Grandpa Max, 'cause I doubt you just wanted me to come with you to fish without the others for no reason." Sure Max could have done this in the name of 'bonding', but we already hang out and bond when he helps me with cooking sometimes.

"Umm, well... *sighs* I'll be honest, the girls and I are worried about you, since the museum and all." Max said with an expression that I didn't recognize. I guess I was right about them wanting to talk about the museum.

"Of course, go ahead, ask me what you want about it. I don't fully understand things these days, so maybe you'll know a thing or two about it." Maybe getting a second opinion on what I'm feeling will help me know about them, and how to deal with them.

"Wait, what do you mean you 'don't fully understand things'?" Max asked me with a confused look. I've never really said I don't understand something since the first couple of months of being adopted by the Tennyson's, so Max rarely hears me say that nowadays.

"My emotions have been.... not exactly calm since this summer started, at the campsite." It was when Penn first turned into Heatblast that my emotions started to become confusing.

"Before, or after you hit your head?" He's referring to the concussion that I got after I touched the Omnitrix and absorbed the DNA of two aliens.

"Before, around the time that Penn and I went on that walk." Why do her alien forms have to be attractive like that in the first place, it's like they were specifically designed to be human like in appearance!

"Hmm. Nico, try describing what you've been feeling, maybe that'll help me understand why your feelings are confusing you." He says as he puts some bait on a fishing hook, and hands me the fishing pole with the baited hook. Hopefully he doesn't say something like I'm going completely insane, or something.

"Well, on the first day, I guess I was flustered(?), and confused about the entire situation. Then, when we were in Washington D.C., before we got to buying groceries, I felt a strange amount of anger when some guys looked at Penn. I even thought about, what if they looked at Lucy, or Gwen like that, and it made me angrier. I don't know why though." I said as I tossed the fishing hook out into the lakes water, once the captain finally stopped the boat in the middle of the lake.

"Then there was that thing with Animo, I don't know why, but my emotions felt calm, too calm in fact. But, when we got to the museum, and I heard Animo's words, I felt as if he was messing with something that shouldn't be touched, and it annoyed me that he was treating all that as some 'grand discovery' instead of what it really was. A slap in the face of nature itself." Maybe that's why I viewed him as pathetic, because I felt like he was just a child breaking and putting back together something he doesn't understand.

Though, I don't know why I thought that at that moment, I never really viewed Animo as that before. In fact, before I died I saw him as an interesting person, who I would have wanted to have an indepth conversation about his mutants that he made. So, why did I see him as some pathetic child that should have been taught a lesson?

"That's quite a bit to sort through, let's work our way from the top, and see if that helps figure out why you're feeling this." Since when did Max become a therapist? Eh, it doesn't matter, I just want to figure out what I'm feeling.

"First off, Animo, do you think that what happened has to do with your heritage?" I think he's reffering to being an Osmosian. But, I don't think it has to do with that, perhaps it has to do with me being a demigod?

Well, if a demigod does possibly become a full fledged god, there has to be a way to decide what they'd be the god of? So, maybe it's chosen when they become a demigod, or are born one? Maybe this means that whatever I'm meant to be the god of is effecting my personality? But, I didn't act like this before I got the concussion, so maybe it's not that?

"I don't think so, from what I read, I shouldn't have acted that way at all." I'm talking about that book he gave me for my birthday a while back, I still have it in my bag, it's a nice read.

"Well, you aren't exactly like Devin, so I guess we can't fully rely on that book. Let's move onto the next one. Those guys that looked at Penn, did you not like the fact they looked at her for any specific reasons?" I still wonder if I should have frozen their organs and turned them into slushies, it feels weird to think like that though.

"Their eyes looked at her with nothing but lust. They didn't care about who she was, or what her personality was, they just wanted her to have her. They don't care about any of the girls like I do." I was the one that was always by their sides, I was the one who racked my brain for months prior to figure out what to give them for their birthdays, I was the one that sat with them as we watched movies together. All ME NOT THOSE BASTARDS!!

"Hm, interesting... Nico, tell me, why were you flustered when you and Penn went on that walk?" Huh, why does Grandpa Max look like he has an idea? Did my words help him figure something out?

"Well, Penn looked different at the time, you know? And... I found her attractive like that. Though, that doesn't mean she isn't pretty all the time, since I do know that Penn, Gwen, and Lucy are all reasonably pretty girls." It's kind of hard for me not to call them pretty, especially since I had to hear multiple times over the years at school about guys gossiping about their looks.

It was at this point that Max's eyes widened, and a smile grew on his face. Why is he suddenly smiling though? I don't think I said anything that's... wait.... don't tell me I....

"Nico, I think you're in love with those three, and not in the platonic sense!" Max started to laugh a bit at his own words, like he just heard the best joke he's ever heard.

So, this is what it feels like to love someone? The desire to kill people that look at them with lust, or beating up anyone that tries to get in a relationship with them? I've seen people being in love on shows, but I've never felt it before, so I guess this is why it felt so foreign to me.

Then, I guess if this is love, then I will kill anyone who tries to harm them! If I wasn't sure about putting my all into getting strong enough to kill Vilgax, then I am sure as hell going to put everything I have into absorbing enough DNA to eventually kill that tentacle faced fucker before he can hurt Penn!!