OCTOPIAN entered the kelp forest, following the music, hoping that it would lead him to the party. He did his best to stay on a straight path, but there was nothing but his intuition to guide him. He decided to rest for a short time because he was still suffering from the sting of Cnidaria's tentacles. He tied a few pieces of kelp together, which created something similar to a hammock, for him to lie down on. He then closed his eyes...
Octopian jumped up.
At that moment, he caught a glimpse of the large creature, but it was swimming too fast for him to get a good look. So, naturally, Octopian bolted off in the same direction.
At that moment, Octopian saw that it was a giant fish with a long and pointy nose. Not wanting to scare the fish away, he slowly approached it.
With that, the fish quickly swam away, leaving Octopian in a cloud of bubbles. But he did not let that disorient him and began to chase after the creature. Eventually, Octopian came to the end of the kelp forest and locked eyes with mysterious fish, who then winked at him and darted into a crevice.
Octopian peered into the hole and slowly went through. After that, he found himself looking down at the party. Now, this sight was almost unimaginable. The castle was gigantic! All kinds of species were mingling, dancing, and playing fish-games. Most importantly, Octopian recognized some resemblances among the crowd; there were creatures with tails just like him, and finally, Octopian felt relieved!
So, he went down to where everyone else was and started to greet anyone that he met. Of course, he was not aware of how grungy he was. He still had some stains from Klepto's ink on him and was covered in bruises and blisters from Cnidaria. However, this was not what exactly what silenced the crowd.
You see, Octopian looked exactly like their prince. Simultaneously, the guests looked at Octopian and then looked at their prince, and then back at Octopian, and back again at the prince. All of this commotion caught the attention of the king, his queen, and the prince.
Octopian was so distracted by all the delicious food and thirst-quenching beverages, that he did not realize that all the music stopped, yet he continued to shake his tail fin to the beat of his joy.
Octopian turned and he too was in shock to see a creature identical to him. The two slowly swam around each other, mimicking one another because they could not believe the resemblance. The king questioned Octopian, so be began explaining to him.
Upon the end of Octopian's explanation, the king realized the charm around the boy's neck.
At that moment, the king and queen knew that this grungy, stray mer-boy was their son and that they have been fooled by an imposter all this time. He was always evil, gluttonous, and never satisfied as a youngster. Thinking back, the king and queen realized their infant boy was happy and content, and now they understood the unusual change in behavior was because he had been replaced by a monster. Now the continuous party made sense, it was only there as a distraction. The imposter, who could remember every detail in his life, was aware that he had to keep the secret. He also knew that the king and queen would do anything for their son, so he took advantage of that every chance he could. The king was enraged!
Terrified, the imposter turned to escape, but Octopian quickly lassoed the boy up with Cnidaria's tentacles, which still had the toxins, and it paralyzed him.
And so, it came to pass that they sentenced the imposter to live the rest of his days as a slave to the kingdom. They forced him to wear shackles and Octopian fastened Klepto's beak around his neck so that no one would be fooled any longer. Octopian took his rightful place as the prince and later became king upon his father's death. The kingdom still partied, but not like before. Octopian did not think it was right to be so self-indulgent. Instead, they celebrated the return of the prince once a year.
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