Sachie, the giant Pacific octopus, had snuck out of her tank in the Assura Bay Aquarium when she was startled by an unexpected flash of light from her neighbour Aki, the electric eel. She hurried back into her tank even as she felt a tingling sensation in her tentacles. She felt both excited and nervous as it dawned on her that she had acquired a superpower. Composing herself, she took a deep breath and muttered ‘ocean’. After a momentary swirling sensation, Sachie found herself in the Pacific Ocean!
Sachie realised that Aki’s electric flash had given her the superpower of travelling anywhere in a flash. She enjoyed the ocean so much that she wished to live there forever, if only she knew how to defend herself from predators.
After excitedly swimming in the never-ending ocean, an exhausted Sachie decided to go back to her tank. She closed her eyes and muttered ‘my tank’. Instantly, she found herself in her tank. Sachie had just had the biggest adventure of her life.
The next day crawled along as Sachie longed for nightfall. Although she was eager to test her superpower again, she knew that her absence would be noticed by the aquarium staff in the daytime. At night, once the lights went out, she muttered ‘ocean’ and immediately found herself in the wide, blue ocean. She was convinced that her superpower was real.
Sachie used her superpower to visit the ocean daily for a few weeks. While it was initially exciting, she soon started to get bored. One night, she asked Aki if he was up for an adventure. Sachie asked him to trust her and hold on to one of her tentacles. Although hesitant, Aki did so. Sachie reminded him to not produce shocks irrespective of how thrilled he felt. She then muttered ‘Ocean’ and instantly they found themselves in the Pacific. Aki was so excited that he started to give out electric shocks just as he let go of Sachie’s tentacles. ‘Thankfully, you aren’t touching me anymore. If you were, I would have gotten fried and lost my superpower’ laughed Sachie. Time flew by as they had fun. Sachie eventually told Aki to hold her tentacle and muttered ‘Our respective enclosures’, and in a flash, they were back home.
That night, Sachie realised that every animal in the aquarium was meant to live in the ocean. All of them should have been living a life of freedom and not captivity. But she also understood that most may not survive in the ocean as they had never known that way of life. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck Sachie. She decided to use her superpower to occasionally take her friends in the aquarium to the ocean and bring them back safely. She realised that the capacity to bring a smile on many faces is the true superpower and decided to use hers not just for herself but all her aquarium buddies as well.
Written by Aadhyaa Aravind Shankar from India
