The next morning was a struggle to wake up to. The news was still theorising the disappearance of Callie and the Zapfish being related, not to mention upon being woken up, he felt a massive headache coming on.

"Ugh..." He grunted as he got dressed and made breakfast. (Today is the day... Marie will be united with Callie, the Zapfish will be saved...) His body still felt weak from the day before.

He was washing his dishes when he heard a knock on the door. (Who could that be?) Nagito staggered towards the door weakly and opened the door to a horrified Hajime. "Nagito? Oh woomy... what happened to you?"
"Huh...? I don't know what you're-"
"Nagito... you have cereal and flour lodged between your tentacles. You have darker than usual rings around your eyes and you look... tired."

Hajime moved to approach him. "H-Hajime...?"
"...you don't look well." He stated as the inkling closed the door behind him. "I-I'm fine, Hajime! I just... need to go somewhere."
"Not when you're unwell. Look... if this has something to do with two days ago. I'm sorry... I tried calling you, but it went to message bank. I was... worried about you."

(A few days...? That much time has passed when I was in Octo Canyon...?)
"By the kraken... you look exhausted." Hajime's worried expression came into his blurring view. Before Nagito could refute, his body suddenly went limp as Hajime caught his unconscious form.

"Nagito!"

The next thing Nagito knew, he woke up on his bed. An IV drip beside his bed while Hajime sat in his desk chair. "Hajime...?" His voice was weak as the inkling looked down. "I... called a doctor to see you. He said that you were malnourished and dehydrated... what in the name of Jelfonzo were you doing those past few days?"

"I... I was doing extra shifts for Grizzco." (Come on... fall for it...!) Nagito attempted to sit up, but his limbs felt heavy. "Why were you doing extra shifts?"
"I needed to... pay the rent." Hajime sighed. "I'm sorry to have pried..." Nagito laughed quietly.

"No, no! Don't be... we've been friends for a while now. I mean... finding out that the Zapfish disappeared would've been a scare to a lot of people. And emotions were high because of it." Hajime sighed. "Well... you're not wrong with that assumption."

The two fell into silence as Nagito stared out of the window. "So how long was I out for?"
"A day or two, I lost count because you were... passed out."
"Two days?"
"Yeah... you must've been so exhausted... I left you to rest while the doctor tended to you." Hajime's ahoge seemed to wiggle a lot when he explained that.

As soon as Hajime left for the night, saying that he was only there to act as an observer for the doctor as he had to go to another patient down the way, Nagito slipped on the Hero headset he had left in the closet.

After hearing an earful from Marie, he called it a night.

When the next morning came, he sent a message to Hajime that he was doing another few Grizzco shifts to earn some bonuses before heading out to Octo Canyon.

Marie sat on the cushion on the porch of the cabin, he bowed lowly. "I'm truly sorry about yesterday. I was... not well."
"It's fine Agent 4, we're nearly done anyways. You needed a break after defeating four Octoweapons with no sleep or anything to eat. So don't apologize." Nagito sighed. "I truly am worthless..."

Marie hummed lowly. "Don't talk about yourself like that. You've done so much for me to get my cousin back..." The white inkling nodded quietly, readying his weapon. "No time to waste now! The sooner we get the Zapfish, the sooner we can get electricity back to Inkopolis."

Cephalon HQ was the most elaborate areas for Nagito to have explored. Gathering the Zapfish for the boss kettle was even more difficult.

Upon getting the last Zapfish, Marie greeted him in front of the pathway to the boss kettle. Upon jumping into the kettle, he was spawned into an arena/stage zone. Octarians lined and fenced the area with glow sticks as their curious eyes boared into his frame.

Withholding the Hero shot and hearing Sheldon's request for more data on the weapon, he stared at the small stage area on the arena ring.

Jumping onto the launchpad, he jumped to the arena as the crowd cheered. "Let's go, Agent 4!" Marie exclaimed in his headset. He slowly trudged towards the puddle of ink, noticing an inkling on the stage with her back turned.

"Wait... is that...? Callie!?" Marie asked as Nagito jumped at the sudden shout. The inkling turned her head and fully faced him. Her shades sparkled oddly in the stagelight. "I told you to leave..." Callie exclaimed loudly.

"Callie... why?"
"Now you leave me no choice... prepare to be rocked!" Callie jumped and raised her arms in the air. "Hey, DJ!" Nagito jumped back as the stage levitated from the ink puddle, revealing the octopus DJ himself, equipped with golden shades.

The Great Zapfish below it was sucked into the undertow of the mecha. The inkling swallowed. A guitar riff blared out of the speakers, causing Nagito to clutch his headset on his head tightly. "Octavio in da houuuuuuse!" The octopus laughed. "I remixed Callie's brain!"

(Brainwashed...?) Nagito stood firmly, his eyes narrowed. (...let's do this.)
"Time for our first song of the night: Bomb Rush Blush!" Octavio put his bright green sea anemones on the turntables in front of him. "Time to drop the beatdown!"
"Spin it, DJ!"

Nagito sprayed his green ink around the area as he eyed the mech closely. He saw a golden fist coming towards him and inked it almost instantly. (My shots... are-) The fist reflected back to the mech. Octavio grunted out in pain as Nagito returned another fist his direction.

"That's it, Agent 4! Show no mercy!" Marie cried as he continued to return the punches to the mech. Callie sang along to the remix as a flurry of bombs came into his direction. He was intimidated until a voice reminded him.

"A good way to avoid a bomb rush is to swim through the explosives before they can explode." Nagito took that advice with a dreamy smile. (Thank you... Hajime.)

"Watch out for his spinning punches! They can't be bounced back!" The feeble tone of Sheldon reached his ears as Nagito swam away from the spinning fists.

Rebounding more punches back to Callie and Octavio caused them to get vicious. "HNNG! Come on! Octavio!"
"Snap out of it Callie!" Marie shouted as Nagito winced. Another bomb rush, another two punches and Octavio was exposed.

"This is your chance, Agent 4!" Nagito shot at Octavio and sent him flying back into the mech. Callie rubbed her head. "Callie! It's me! Your cousin Marie. Try to remember!" Marie shouted as the pop star huffed.

"DJ!" Callie shouted demandingly. "Drop that spicy wasabi beat!" She proclaimed as Nagito gulped. The rebounds and avoidance was the same until Octavio was exposed once again. This time, Marie came onto the scene.

Shocking Nagito, as he held his tongue as she shot Callie in the head -knocking off her 'hypnoshades'. The formula was the same once again. Avoid, rebound and attack Octavio when exposed.

"My... my head..." Callie mumbled. "The low tide ink is working!" Marie exclaimed as she picked up a stereo. "Callie! Remember!" She yelled as the music played from the stereo and the speakers of the flying truck she rode on.

"That heavenly melody!" She yelled. "The one... and only..." Callie responded.

"I... I remember!" She proclaimed, leaping towards Marie as her clothes somehow changed into her old idol gear. Nagito watched as the cousins performed their song, the Calamari Inkantation as Sheldon sent him the Rainmaker.

"Follow Octavio, Agent 4! End this!" Marie shouted. The crowd looked more lively as the Squid Sisters performed and Nagito used the Rainmaker to finish off Octavio.

When his mech broke, Nagito jumped down with the Rainmaker. A long grin stretched across his face as he slammed the Rainmaker onto the mech.

When Nagito arrived back to Inkopolis later that day... the Zapfish was smiling down at him from the tower is sat on. Off the Hook reported the good news the following evening.

"Nagito!" He turned to see Hajime running towards him. "Sorry... I-I was..."
"Don't apologize Hajime... you're here now." The two stood in front of the lobby, smiling from ear to ear. "Are you up for turf wars?"
"Who isn't?" Nagito laughed as the inkling smiled kindly.

"You're right... maybe we could do some Grizzco shifts together after this?"
"Mhm... you bet!" The two shared a laugh, a laugh they never thought to have shared if the Zapfish didn't come back.

Nagito never thought he could do it. But he did it... he got the Zapfish back and returned to being Hajime's friend.

The End.

Don't worry though, there are more parts to this AU that I have written. I want your feedback before I post them however. Did you like this AU and do you want me to post more of it? Leave your feedback below! And thank you for reading my fanfiction!

It has been a very long time since I last published something.