"I-it was... s-so s-scary!" Numi cried. "H-he cho-oked me... a-and was g-going to... s-stab me, a-and... and-"

"Shhhhh. I'm here. He's not going to hurt you. You're safe." Kumi said in a comforting tone. Kumi spent the next ten minutes comforting Numi as she cried, which was effective, for Numi stopped crying after about eight minutes. In that time Geux has regained his consciousness and the effects of paralysing substances from Kumi's special knife were beginning to wear off Bullko. Kumi solely focused on comforting Numi, and as a result didn't notice that a police car has arrived, with an ambulance arriving moments later. Two inkling policemen exited the car, and one walked over to Bullko while the other one approached Kumi.

"Greeting Shadow 2c. Made a mess again it seems." he said, snapping Kumi back to reality. She covered Numi's ears. "You know, if not for the immunity you and your little group have, I would have jailed you all a long time ago."

"Hello Tentler. Still mad that my methods work better than yours?" Kumi replied, hiding her dislike of him.

"Work better?! By breaking the law?! Is that there yet another body to add to your kill count? What would it be now, let me think... 150? Or was it closer to 200? Those are some big number, you know." Tentler hissed with disgust.

"Nope. He is still alive. And my current official kill count is at 187 criminals and 1 innocent, with the innocent one being the poor kid from the incident that started my whole situation." Kumi replied, without adding the 31 burglars who broke into her house to the count.

"And what do you achieve by that?"

"Give an example for others. And it works. The crime has dropped by what, 75% since I began?"

"Which leads me to think there's some unofficial kill count."

"Nonsense. And why would it matter if the public will never know about this little police experiment."

"In my eyes, you Shadows are nothing more than psychopaths on the loose."

"Tell me Tentler, don't you have something to be doing right now?"

"You're one to talk. Why did you take a day off today, if you're still working?"

"Personal reasons. And I will do my job if it crosses my day, unlike a certain someone."

"I swear, one day I'll lock you up." Tentler mumbled and ran over to his colleague to help him with taking Bullko away.

"You're gonna get fired before that happens." Kumi thought and turned her attention back to Numi, who was giving her a puzzled look. Kumi uncovered Numi's ears.

"Why did you cover my ears?" Numi asked.

"Reasons." Kumi answered. They watched as Sagitta and her teammates were taken into a large ambulance and taken away to a hospital.

"She was nice." Numi said.

"Who?" Kumi asked, and Numi pointed at where Sagitta was. "O-oh..."

"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Tal yelled as he ran up to the two Parlo sisters. Before he could say anything else, Coco covered his mouth and told him to keep quiet. Tal bit him and the two started fighting.

"Knock it off you clowns." Arlie groaned. "Um, Numi, is this yours?" she asked and showed a splattershot Jr. that she found.

"It is! It is! Where was it?"

"Behind some crates... where's your ink tank?" Arlie replied. Numi pointed at a nearby pile of glass and almost broke out crying again. "Ohhh... that's a problem"

"I can't turf now..." Numi said and begun to sob.

"Don't cry. I'll buy you a new one."

"Really?"

"Really." Kumi assured.

"Excuse me, but you cannot stay here." jellyfish staff member said. The two staff members lead the group back to lobby, locked arena 6b out of rotation and closed the lobby for maintenance after the last teams were out. Team Muffin was seating back at the tables and once again, was bored. Kumi was getting her and Numi's things back from Crusty Sean, who stored their things inside his food truck so that no one would steal anything.

Numi has faceplanted the table and was kicking her feet in the air out of boredom. A moment later, a rush of curiosity went over her head. She silently got up and yet again, wandered off. "Where is she going..." Coco thought. Numi wandered around galleria, looking at the different shops. Ye Olde Cloth Shoppe, Shella Fresh and Headspace didn't interest her much as she found fashion to be boring, but she still looked through the windows or glass doors depending on what store it was. All three owners noticed her, but only Flow payed attention to her. Numi cheerfully waved at Flow, and Flow waved back, earning a bright smile from Numi. Numi then walked over to the last shop, Ammo Knights. She tried to take a look, but couldn't see anything. She tried to look from a few different angles. On one of her tries, she leaned on the door with her face stuck to the door. The door swung open inwards and Numi fell forwards, faceplanting the floor of the shop.

The noise has woken up a horseshoe crab, the owner of the shop, who was taking a nap. "Huh? Oh, hello, hello! What kind of weapon are you in the market for?" the horseshoe crab happily exclaimed.

"Owie..." Numi softly whimpered.

"I don't think I have a weapon called 'Owie'... oh, are you okay?"

"Yes, yes I am! I'm used to that!" Numi hastily replied as she got up. She was slightly blushing from embarrassment.

"Are you sure?" the horseshoe crab insisted.

"Yes! 1000% sure!" Numi hastily assured. The door behind her slammed shut, startling her. "Eek!" Numi got out as she jumped. "Um, what's this place?"

"Welcome to Ammo Knights, Inkopolis' best weapons shop! I've got all weapons permitted for turf wars, with a few that you won't find anywhere else!" the horseshoe crab exclaimed in a single breath.

"Ammo Knights? Oh, oh, so you must be Sheldon!"

"You are very correct!" Sheldon smiled. "Wait, did you not read the sign?"

"Uh..." Numi turned red.

"I never get it why you inklings and octolings blush red. Your blood is blue, just like mine." Sheldon mumbled.

"I read in a book that it's our skin that changes colours. A leftover from ancient times!" Numi excitedly said, happy that she remembered something from biology lessons.

"Interesting. Anyway, did you want to buy something or just to look around?"

"I was curious... so just to look around."

"I see. May I check your ID card?"

"Oh, uh, one moment." Numi said and started checking for her ID card. She had a small panic attack when she couldn't find it, but then she remembered that she put it in a small, hard to spot pocket in her basic Tee. She took it out and gave it to Sheldon. Sheldon held it next to a scanner for a moment and then returned Numi her ID card. He glanced at the turf profile that showed up on the screen of his console.

"My, my, only one turf war and already on freshness 3? That's rare."

"Is that bad?"

"Oh, no no, it's quite the opposite. It's a great start! And you are fresh enough to buy three weapons, if you have enough money of course. Those weapons are: the scattershot, the splat charger and the splat roller!" Sheldon explained, and pointed at the three weapons. Numi was star eyed.

"C-can I hold them?" Numi nervously asked.

"Of course!" Sheldon assured. Hearing this, Numi carefully picked up a scattershot.

"The splattershot is beloved for its ease of handling and high potential. This is the latest model of the go-to weapon! The included burst bombs are great for both attack and defence, and the splashdown special doubles down on attack power. You can also use the splashdown as a defensive ace up your sleeve, so it's perfect for learning the basics of battling! If you learn to make great use of this set, you'll be a force to be reckoned with! This all-around set is great for mastering the basics of battle." Sheldon excitedly explained while Numi inspected the weapon. "Feel free to test it out in the range!" Sheldon cheerfully added and pointed at one of the backdoors, and Numi ran through said door, eager to test out the splattershot. At the same time the front doors swung open and the rest of Team Muffin poured in.

"Tal, stop pushing!" Coco yelled.

"But this is the best shop! We can't just stand in front of it!" Tal argued.

"Oh my. Why are you in such a hurry?" Sheldon asked.

"Making sure our captain doesn't sail off without her crew again." Tal replied with a smirk, which earned him a smack from Arlie. "What was that for?!"

"You know very well what for." Arlie hissed.

"Where's Numi?! She entered this shop, but she isn't here!" Coco realised.

"Your pink friend? She's in the range, through that door." Sheldon stated. Coco immediately rushed to the door, but Sheldon blocked his path. "Sorry, but I can't let you or your friends in there until I know you're fresh enough. May I check your ID cards?" Sheldon politely said. The trio gave Sheldon their ID cards, he then scanned them, gave the cards back and glanced at their turf profiles. "Oh my, you're all only at lowly freshness 1. I'm afraid I can't let you in the range or sell you any of my babies until you're at least at freshness 2. Go play some matches to level up your freshness."

"Uh... our captain is there...?" Tal said in a tone which hinted annoyance and slight mockery.

"Look, can we just stay here and wait for our friend?" Arlie asked, annoyed by the situation.

"Hmmm... sure, but under one condition: don't touch anything, especially any of my babies." Sheldon decided.

Meanwhile, Numi has completely inked the floor the range. She mostly used burst bombs, of which she made a small mound after inking the floor. Splashdown caused her a lot of fun, but the landings were dizzying for her. Out of curiosity, Numi untied open one of the burst bombs, which took her several attempts. When she succeeded, she was slightly disappointed to find out that there was nothing special inside burst bombs. Only ink. Then a thought rushed across her mind. She wanted to make the world's biggest burst bomb. She attached the burst bomb she opened to the muzzle of the splattershot she was testing and begun emptying her testing ink tank into the burst bomb. Whenever she run out of ink, she put the splatter shot down, switched to her basic form to refill, switched back to her humanoid form after getting the ink tank full, picked up the splattershot and once again emptied her ink tank into the burst bomb. She repeated that process for a few minutes and would continue if that was possible, for the burst bomb took up almost half of the range and was on the verge of bursting. Satisfied with the size of the burst bomb, Numi carefully tied the burst bomb, set the splattershot aside, and tried to lift the giant burst bomb. She heaved it with all her strength, puffing and panting like crazy, but the burst bomb would not even budge. It did however shake and wobble like a jelly. Numi puffed her cheeks and kicked the burst bomb. She then turned around, picked up the splattershot and headed back to the door. She then heard a strange sound, soon followed by a loud boom, and Numi was launched at the door. The giant burst bomb has popped.

"What was that?!" Tal and Arlie exclaimed in unison. A thud could be heard a few seconds later.

"It came from the... range?! Look!" Coco pointed at the door to the range. The door had a window in the upper half, and on the other side of the door Numi was stuck to said window. After a moment she slid down, leaving behind a clear part of the window. Sheldon walked up to the door and opened it. A mini flood of pink ink pushed Numi out of the range while she counted burst bombs that were orbiting her dizzy head. Sheldon carefully stepped past her and entered the range. It was entirely covered in pink ink, with even uninkable and unreachable places being completely inked. Since no one was in the range anymore, a few hatches in the walls opened and several Squee-Gs moved out to clean up the ink. Although Squee-Gs were designed for and used by octarian military at first, these little fish-like robots became commercial cleaning robots soon after octolings moved into Inkopolis.

"My, it seems like we have a new record here. I never thought it's even possible to ink this place so much" Sheldon remarked.

"I... made... world's biggest burst bomb!" Numi happily exclaimed and jumped up.

"I take it that you like the splattershot, correct?"

"Yes! But can I also test the splat charger?"

"Of course!" Sheldon beamed, and with that Numi replaced the splattershot with a splat charger and run back into the range after listening to Sheldon's explanation. By now the range was cleaned of any ink and the Squee-Gs moved back to their charging stations in the walls, making Numi think that the ink magically vanished because she didn't see the robots. She knew about the ink eating microbes, but there wasn't enough time for them to get rid of that much ink. She shrugged it off and moved to the left part of the range, which contained target balloons. Numi took position, aimed at the nearest balloon, charged up and shot a stream of ink. And... she missed. Numi couldn't believe her eyes. She aimed again, charged up, shot and... missed again. Annoyed, Numi halved her distance from the balloon, and repeated the process, with the same result. And again, and again and again. She didn't realise it, but she couldn't keep the charger steady, leading to her missing all her shots. Numi puffed her cheeks and stomped in anger, before throwing a splat bomb at the balloon, popping it and a few more near it. Numi spent a minute throwing splat bombs at the balloons, trying to get all of them popped at once, but whenever she was close to her goal, the balloons came back from their bases. Numi was about to give up, but then her last splat bomb exploded and inked enough turf to fill the special gauge. Numi heard a distinct sound of a ready special. She activated her special, and in a blink of an eye her ink tank transformed into a stingray special, with which she popped all the balloons, bringing a bright smile to her face. The stingray transformed back into her ink tank, and Numi happily skipped back to Sheldon. "How was the splat charger?" Sheldon asked as he fixed his goggles.

"I don't like it, but the other weapons it has are fun!" Numi excitedly answered.

"I assume that you want to try out the splat roller now, am I correct?" Sheldon predicted and Numi confirmed with enthusiastic nod. Sheldon pointed at a nearby roller stand, and gave Numi yet another explanation. Sheldon was in his element, Numi enjoyed listening to Sheldon's weapon rant and Numi's friends groaned whenever Sheldon gave his explanations. Numi took one of the splat rollers off the stand, and almost immediately she dropped the heavy weapon. She tried to pick it up, but it was too heavy. "Uh, why don't you try-"

"Nuh-uh! I... pick... this one!" Numi puffed as she kept on trying to lift the roller. She rested for a moment to catch her breath. She mustered all the strength she could and heaved the roller one last time, managing to lift it up and above her head. "I did it! I-" Numi couldn't finish as the roller slowly began to fall backwards, pulling her with it. She took a few steps back and fell backwards with the roller, knocking over a dualie rack, which in turn knocked over a blaster rack, with one of the blasters falling on Numi. "Owie..."

"...mini rollers instead." wide eyed Sheldon finished.

"Are you ok?" Arlie worriedly asked.

"Yuh-uh." Numi whimpered as she got up. "Um... sorry." Numi apologised, looking down and with her pointy ears down.

"Try this instead." Sheldon said as he handed Numi a smaller, lighter roller. While Numi ran back into the range, Sheldon began fixing the knocked over racks, humming as he did.

Numi couldn't contain her excitement. She immediately slammed the roller down and began rolling it along the floor. This was fun for her. It was like painting, which she liked, but on a bigger scale. She spent five minutes just inking the range with the mini roller. She was about to head back, but an interesting idea sparked in her head. She once again slammed down the roller, but this time she held the handle at a very steep angle. She stepped on the roller, and immediately fell off, but she didn't stop, she continued to try and try again until she succeeded, not falling of the roller. She moved the handle forward and gently leaned backwards to keep herself from falling off again. With all that, Numi began running on it like on a rolling log. It made her go faster and it brought her a wide smile. She giggled and laughed as she sped on the roller, using it in a way that one has ever tried before. She rolled back to the door, got off the roller and kicked the door open. "I love this!" Numi cheerfully exclaimed, startling Sheldon and her friends.

"Would you like to buy it?" Sheldon asked politely.

"Yes!" Numi beamed.

"Normal rollers cost 1800 Kolos, but minis cost 1500 Kolos. A free ink tank is provided when making first time weapon purchase." Sheldon stated. Numi gave him her ID card, and payed for the mini roller, leaving only 50 Kolos on her turf profile and Sheldon gave her ID card back. Numi thanked him and cheerfully skipped out of the she shop, with a new ink tank on her back and with her brand new roller resting on her right shoulder, and with her friends in tow, who were glad it was over.

"Ugh, that nerd was boring." Tal groaned.

"What did he ramble about again? How to use simple ink guns? We learned that in school already." Arlie complained.

"I found it interesting." Numi said to her friends' shock.

"You're squiddin', right?" wide eyed Tal asked in disbelief.

"Nuh-uh."

"...I'll never understand you..." Tal muttered.

"Anyway," Coco began, changing the subject "I think that the lobby will open in a few minutes. Why don't we go back to the tables?"

"Better than standing I guess." Tal said, and the group did as Coco suggested.

---

"Finally here." Minnow said after parking the Humvee and turning the engine off. "Now, can I have that doughnut please?" she added.

"Sure." Troud said. He reached for a doughnut and passed it to Minnow, who immediately bit into it. "Whoa, calm down. It's just a doughnut."

"Just a doughnut?! Do ya know what kind of doughnut this is? This is choco filled doughnut! They're the best!" Minnow exclaimed.

"Don't talk with full mouth!"

"Ya do that all the time!

"I don't! You do!

"How about you two help me with this crate?" Octario said, his voice muffled by his rebreather.

"Oh, right. The crate." Troud remembered and turned around, taking the crate by a small handle while Octario did the same thing on the same on his side. They lifted the heavy crate of equipment and took it out of the humvee. Minnow and Octallia got out, Minnow finishing her doughnut and Octallia stretching out.

"Greetings. You must be the soldiers we've been awaiting." A distorted male voice calmly said.

"Yes, we are. I am Second Lieutenant Octallia Jorly, unit 63. And you are?" Octallia answered confidently and enthusiastically.

"Of course, where are my manners. I am Scal Terlinsy, the right-hand man of Grizzco Industries." Scal introduced himself with a slight nod, still in the calm manner. Scal was slightly shorter than Octallia, had black, buzz-cut tentacles, a rebreather similar to Octario's and a strange scar on the neck. He wore black waterproof coat, black boots, black pants and black communication headset. His right eye was cybernetic, with dark grey sclera and purplish-pink iris, while his left eye was blind, with a strange looking wound and a thick contact lens, presumably to protect the eye from infections. He had his hands crossed behind his back.

"Uh... what's wrong with yer eye?" Minnow asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"Oh, that. Well, let's just say that I was in an... accident, to put it bluntly."

"It's kinda creepy." Troud commented.

"It is normal to be creeped out by sights such as my left eye. But, enough about that. I presume that all of you want to get over with your task as fast as possible. Please, follow me." Scal said, motioning them to follow with his left hand and lead them from the parking to the docks, through one of many employee entrances. Surprisingly, there were only a few workers around, all busy carrying crates and barrels or operating cranes, forklifts and other machinery. There was however, a ridiculous number of guards and heavy guards.

"Why's there so many guards here?" Octallia asked, astounded by the sight she was passing by.

"Recently some organised gangs attempted to steal some of our... more valuable assets. As a countermeasure, we have tightened our security and significantly increased the number of guards. What you see here, is a shift switch." Scal explained.

"Seems rather much... even power armour units would have hard time fighting that many guards." Octario thought. He noticed that some guards had strange looking weapons, which reminded him of one of the exhibits in Shellendorf Institute.

"I almost forgot. Does any of you have the qualifications needed to operate a motorboat, motorised dinghy or an airboat?" Scal asked.

"I've got a license for 'em all, minus the airboat." Minnow replied in an almost boastful manner.

"Excellent. May I ask, what is your name?"

"Private Minnow Yarckley."

"Well, we're here. Now, Ms. Minnow, please choose: motorboat... or dinghy? The dinghy is faster, while the motorboat is more durable. The beings inhabiting your area of interest are not particularly friendly, if you know what I mean." Scal said in a calm, yet eerie manner.

"Uh..." Minnow pondered for a moment "I choose dinghy. I'm better with 'em."

"Very well. In about 5 minutes, that ship over there will set off to your area of interest. All you will need to do, is to follow it. There are two islands there, and you will land on the smaller one... the hill on it will prove to be a great position to observe the events from. I wish you all good luck. But now I must excuse you, as certain... matters are awaiting me." Scal said, before walking back inside the large industrial building, leaving unit 63 alone in the dock.

"I don't like that guy. There's something unsettling in the air around him." Octario murmured.

"Yeah... he's creepy. And that eye." Troud shuddered.

"Quit complain', not like he's some kind of evil overlord or anythin'." Minnow spat.

"You said it. But you have to admit, he was strange." Troud continued, as he and Octario loaded the crate of equipment onto the dinghy.

"Eh, met stranger people before." Minnow shrugged and jumped onto the dinghy causing it to rock about, almost causing Troud to fall out into the murky water.

"The shell Minnow?!" Troud snarled.

"Sorry, sorry, should've warned ya. Also, move that crate to the middle, or do ya want us to capsize when we leave the dock?"

"This is the ocean! I could have died!"

"Nope." Minnow said and pointed at a nearby neutral S.P.A.W.N pad

"This is why I prefer this unit over all the units that I lead in the octarian army. We've got more soul than any other unit!" Octallia beamed. "If only my sister could meet you two... she'd definitely change her view of inklings." she then murmured to herself.

"Yer never told us much 'bout yer sister. Ya only mentioned her a few times. How is she?" Minnow asked. Octallia's face darkened, and a single tear left her eye.

"Octallia's older sister has died in a battle, three years ago. Octallia almost died too" Octario explained.

"O-oh... s-sorry for askin'..." Minnow apologized, not exactly knowing how to react.

"It's okay... she's in a better place now." Octallia said, wiping off her tear. "We've still got a minute or two, so let's make ourselves comfortable before we set off" she said in a much happier tone as she got onto the dinghy, but it was clear that.

...

Octo Valley, 3 years earlier

"Alright, enough of the chit chat! The lookouts have spotted the so called 'agent 3' rapidly approaching our position! Get to your battle stations and get ready for an ink fight!" a high ranking elite octoling barked at her subordinates. She was the commanding officer of Tenta-8 guard post, with the task of guarding one of the only three passages to the deeper residential area.

"Yes ma'am!" the group of about 20 octolings and 60 octotroopers yelled in unison while saluting, before scrambling for their battle stations. Amongst the octolings was a rookie elite with floppy, unresponsive tentacles, straight from the enhanced charger training course. This was her first mission as an elite and first assignment involving an inkling in any way, as so far, her all missions were involving Octarian allies, Salmonids. The only reason why Octarians had enough power to sustain their civilization was their alliance with Salmonids, who traded power eggs for octarian technology. However, recent Inkling attacks on Salmonids has severely harmed the supply of power eggs, forcing salmonids to significantly cut down the amount of power eggs dedicated for trading, which in turn caused a huge energy Crisis for Octarians, who were forced to steal the Great Zapfish and other, smaller zapfish from Inkopolis. While the Octarian chancellor only intended this to be a temporary measure and intended to return the zapfish once the crisis was over, Octavio had different plans, plans that fell apart just two days earlier with his defeat. The rookie run to the forward positions, with a new model of the octo charger in her hands, eager to see the so-called agent 3.

"Where are you going?! Your station is in the back positions!" the commanding officer yelled. The rookie stopped in place and turned around.

"But sis, I want to see an inkling." the rookie retorted.

"No Octallia, as a charger you're supposed to be in the back and keep your distance. And it's ma'am when we're on duty." the commanding officer said.

"But-"

"No. Buts. This assignment wasn't supposed to have any inklings present. And I am NOT letting you anywhere near THAT inkling. The reports state that it's a blood thirsty psychopath."

"But inklings are supposed to be nice, and care only about fun, and-"

"Majority may be that way, or they may be savages. All I know is that all inkling so far have tried to kill me, and that this one is a BIG problem. And there's some serious evidence pointing to this one being a psychopath."

"Like? Give just one example."

"No."

"That means that there is no evidence!" Octallia said triumphantly.

"There is."

"There's not!"

"Shut up and come here." the commanding officer snapped, grabbed Octallia's hand and hastily lead her to a small building. She quickly dug through some files on her computer and pulled out a file on 'agent 3'. "Read. And don't you dare say that that inkling is not a psychopath!" she said. Octallia begun to read

"Subject: I-153

Other designations: Agent 3

Species: Inkling

Gender: female

Age: approx. 14

Threat level: extreme

Communication info: I-153 does not understand Octarian and ignores most communication attempts, be it in Octarian, Inkling or other. To date there have been only 2 successful communication attempts.

I-153 is extraordinarily aggressive for an Inkling, attacking both the military and civilians alike with unapparelled brutality with no remorse. Unlike I-151 and I-152, also known as 'Agent 1' and Agent 2', I-153 often utilizes crudely made incendiary and toxic throwables, as well as often destroying S.P.A.W.N pads. It has also burned down several villages and outposts. There are several reports of it rounding up all inhabitants of one village inside the city hall, before locking it and setting it ablaze...

I-153 has been observed torturing survivors of its attacks in almost all ways imaginable, with one report stating that it has forced some survivors to acts of cannibalism. I-153 has been described by all survivors to have a sick grin and seemed to be enjoying the vile acts of cruelty...

... The Inkling government denies knowing of I-153, and has stated that it's a possible terrorist trying to ignite a second Great Turf War. If I-153 is captured, it will be judged by the highest court in the harshest manner by representatives of all intelligent species.

Below are photos of survivors, victims and destruction caused by I-153. Be advised that most are extremely graphic."

"See? I told you- WAIT! DON'T SCROLL DOWN ANYMORE!!" the commanding officer yelled, but it was too late. Before their eyes were dozens of photos of unimaginable cruelty. Octallia felt sick to the core and momentarily begun gagging. She covered her mouth, run over to the nearest window, opened it and vomited through it. The commanding officer hastily closed the file and ran over to her sister, who was still gagging.

"H-how... can a-anyone be... that c-cruel..." Octallia uttered before vomiting even more. She was completely pale.

"You weren't supposed to see that. But do you get it now why I don't want you in the front lines? If the worst comes, you WILL run away.

"Y-yes."

"MAJOR OCTOLLINA, THE INKLING IS HERE! YOU ARE NEEDED HERE IMMEDIA-AAARGH!!" one of the octolings yelled over the comms, and several screams could be heard in the background. "ACID!" some octotrooper yelled.

"Shit. Octallia, go to your station. KEEP. YOUR. DISTANCE." Octollina ordered before running out of the building, holding her octo brush firmly. Octallia took a minute to shake off the intense nausea caused by the photos, and too ran out of the building, octo charger at the ready. Her station was located on top of a tall guard tower, along with two octosnipers. After climbing up the stairs she took her position, charged a shot and looked for the inkling. The inkling wasn't hard to spot, for it has just taken over a tank. The tank turned on the spot to one of the buildings and fired several times at it, before setting the tank on ramming course and jumping off of it as it sped towards the building. Moments later the building could be seen collapsing and soon after thick, black smoke could be seen rising to the skies, for the inkling threw a crude incendiary weapon into the ruins.

"Not good!" one of the octosnipers hissed. The building that has been destroyed was a hospital, which contained the S.P.A.W.N station.

"I see it!" the other octosniper yelled and pointed at a building near the burning ruins of the hospital. The building in question was the armoury, which had a flat roof with side stairs to access it. On top of said roof was the inkling, along with a few ink puddles and platforms used by octotroopers. The inkling hastily lit up an incendiary weapon and threw it into a vent. Without thinking, Octallia and the two octosnipers shot at the inkling, who barely dodged the shots. It stared at them for a brief moment before bolting towards the tower.

"Shit! Why is there no one else defending this part?!" the first octosniper barked as he got another shot, barely missing the inkling.

"We might be the last ones standing." the other octosniper suggested with fear in his voice. He and Octallia then aimed at the inkling, who has just tackled a lone octoling. The octoling flailed and screamed for mercy, but the inkling didn't listen. It stood up, pinning down the octoling with one foot and stomped her neck with the other, ending the flailing and screaming as the octoling went limp. The inkling noticed the snipers yet again and just as they shot at it, it picked up the dead octoling and used her as a shield, blocking the shots and bolting towards the tower moments later, with a hero shot in its right hand and the dead octoling over its left shoulder.

"O-oh C-Cod! We... we're all g-going to... d-d-die!" Octallia stuttered, completely pale. She collapsed and curled into a shivering ball of nerves, hugging her octo charger and desperately fighting the urge to scream.

"H-hey, it's not a good time for a panic attack! Get up!" the second octosniper said.

"C'mon, it's going to be too close in a moment!" the first octosniper insisted as he charged another shot. He fired, and it would have been a lethal shot if the inkling didn't use the dead octoling it carried as a shield. Octallia managed to stand back up and take aim, however she was shaking in her boots and her aim was greatly affected by it. She charged a shot and fired, missing the inkling completely. The octosnipers charged their shots and too fired, with one shot hitting the inkling's right, long yellow-green tentacle, which didn't seem to do anything but infuriate it. The inkling sprinted with some new found determination to reach the tower, and moment later it lunged at the doors of the tower, breaking them off the hinges.

"SHIT! We have to go!" the second octosniper yelled.

"But there's no way-"

"We have to jump." Octallia said and gulped.

"WHAT?! You may be fine from that fall, but not us!" the second octosniper spat.

"Do you have any other idea that doesn't involve stairs?" Octallia was met with no answer. " Thought so." Octallia said as she neared the barrier. The second octosniper hesitantly got off his platform and waddled over to Octallia, who charged up a shot.

"Gur, why aren't you-" the second octosniper begun.

"I'm going to hold it back, you two go on without me." Gur cut his friend off as he moved his platform into a defensive position.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

"Octallia, please get Ter away. Shit, I can hear it!"

"I am NOT going without y- hey what are you doing?!" Ter protested, but couldn't finish as Octallia grabbed him by the very tip of his tentacle. Octallia charged a shot and jumped over the barrier, pulling Ter with her. While Ter was busy screaming, Octallia fired a shot at where Ter was going to land, creating a large puddle of purple ink. She switched to her basic form and landed next to the puddle, with Ter landing in the puddle seconds later.

"I-I'm alive?! I'm alive!" Ter yelled, not believing that he survived the fall.

"Don't celebrate yet, we still got to get away from this place." Octallia said as she reverted back to her humanoid form. She helped Ter get up, pointed at a tunnel not too far away and said "Run and no matter what happens, don't look back. Try to get to the bunker." Ter nodded and complied. She was about to bolt to a different tunnel, but she realised something was wrong. "Where is it?!" she panicked, dropped to her knees and begun desperately searching. She was searching for a golden earring, part of a set which was in her family for over a century, passed from generation to generation. Her sister had another earring, her mother, grandmother and her two aunts had one each too. She could hear Gur desperately slowing down the inkling up in the tower, shooting at a rate that would soon jam the gun of his platform. It took a minute but she found the earring, which was in the shape of a super sea snail. Just as she picked it up, she heard Gur scream in agony. "No, no, no! Shit! I need to run!" Octallia thought. She immediately got up, and ran with the earring in firmly held in her left hand and octo charger in her right hand. She ran for a few mere seconds before something heavy fell on her, bringing her down to the ground.

It took her a moment to recollect her thoughts. "The hell was that?!" she thought. She tried to stand up, but whatever fell onto her, it was still lying on top of her. With great effort she wiggled her way out just enough to be able to look back at what fell on her. She went even paler than she was earlier, her breathing became unimaginably fast and she was shaking like a leaf. She screamed at the top of her lungs. The thing that fell on her was the corpse of the octoling she saw the inkling kill, and what made it was worse was who it was. "OKA!" Octallia screamed. It was her childhood friend Oka, her very first and best friend. She was always happy, cheerful and positive, no matter what happened, and always looked forward into the future with a bright smile on her face. She joined the medical korps to do what she loved: helping others. Instead of a self-defence weapon, she carried extra medical supplies. She wouldn't hurt a fly, even if her life depended on it. But now she lay dead, without a pulse and completely limp, with her face permanently frozen in terrified expression of horror. "O-Oka... noo... why?" Octallia whimpered, fighting the urge to both cry her eyes out and vomit. She lifted Oka's body just enough to get out. She hugged her now dead best friend, whispered a small prayer and close Oka's eyes before gently putting her back down. She couldn't believe that her best friend was dead. She couldn't believe that someone like Oka was killed in cold blood as if she was but a mere bug.

Octallia was snapped back to reality when something thudded heavily near her. She looked up and saw Gur, his face somewhat gooey from acid but he was still breathing, gasping for air, choking and drowning as the acid did its gruesome work inside Gur's lungs. Octallia didn't even get a chance to say anything as the inkling landed on Gur, splitting him in half due to the damage done by acid. The inkling giggled. It looked back at the destruction and death it has caused, chuckling at the horrifying sight. It then turned its head and stared Octallia right into her eyes. It tilted its head and gave her a sickening grin, but the eyes stood out. They were empty. There was no remorse, no emotions, but nor was there any bloodlust. As if the inkling was a mindless zombie, or a programmed machine. It took a step forward. Octallia started backing away. The inkling was completely drenched in blood, but not its blood. It suffered no injury. It was octarian blood. It took another step, Octallia backed away even more. The inkling looked at Oka's body, then back at Octallia who was on the verge of tears. The inkling's grin widened as it stomp heavily on Oka's body, with the grin getting even wider after seeing Octallia's reaction. It kicked Oka's head so that it faced Octallia, and sped up its approach. "S-stay b-back!" Octallia emptily warned, with tears running down her face like rivers, but it got no reaction. Octallia grabbed her octo charger, but before she could charge a shot, it got kicked out of her hands. Octallia turned around, intending to run for it, but before she could even get up, she heard the inkling speak.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Orate nu'ur swey, zimn-so tei." it said in a calm, emotionless voice. She payed no attention, but when she tried to run, the inkling lunged at her and stomped her left ankle. Octallia yelped and fell forward. "So tei." The inkling repeated. Octallia tried to crawl away. The inkling lifted its foot from Octallia's ankle, took a step forward and pressed Octallia down with its foot with such strength that Octallia couldn't breathe. "So. Tei." the inkling repeated and pressed the end of the barrel of its hero shot to Octallia's head. Octallia froze. The only movement she caused was her uncontrollable shaking. Octallia begun to quietly sob. "Tor jur." the inkling said and eased the pressure, letting Octallia breathe. It tapped Octallia's head with its hero shot, and motioned her to turn around once she looked up. Octallia gulped as she slowly turned onto her back, with her hands close to herself in a gesture of surrendering. The inkling then took a step back, but when Octallia tried to sit up, it aggressively pushed her back down with its hero shot, making it clear that Octallia was not allowed to move. It once again took a step back, and turned to Oka's body and pulled something out from its uniform.

A few moments later it turned back to Octallia, and without a warning stomped Octallia in the chest, shoving something into her mouth as she yelped, and covered her mouth making it impossible to spit out. "Luy." the inkling said and mimicked chewing. Although hesitantly, Octallia begun to chew whatever the inkling gave her. It was chewy and had an awful, repulsive taste, but she couldn't spit it out because of the inkling. Octallia managed to peek behind the inkling, and what she saw made her go green. Half of one of Oka's tentacles has been chopped off, and Octallia knew all too well where it was. She stopped chewing and tried screaming, but couldn't because the inkling was covering her mouth. "Luy." the inkling said menacingly, to which Octallia shook her head. The inkling rolled its eyes as it groaned, after which it put the end of the barrel of its hero shot and barked "Luy!" Octallia broke out crying as she complied, and after a minute of chewing she swallowed the thing she was forced to eat. "Tor." the inkling said in a pleased tone. Octallia wanted to throw up, but she knew that if she did, she would be killed on the spot or worse. The inkling took out a bottle of some liquid, pulled a rag off the tip and pushed the bottleneck into Octallia's mouth.

"What is she..." Octallia thought, and then it hit her. She desperately tried to pull the bottle out, but the inkling was stronger and didn't let go until the bottle was empty, after which it threw the bottle aside. Octallia gasped for air in between violent coughs, and looked up at the inkling. It was holding a match and was staring at Octallia with an unsettling smile on its face. It slowly crept towards her. "N-no! S-s-stay back!" Octallia pleaded as she backed away. Without a warning the inkling lunged at her and lifted her by her tentacles, and it brought the match closer to Octallia's mouth.

"OCTALLIA!" someone yelled and a moment later the inkling was tackled by major Octollina. She drew out her combat knife, with the inkling throwing away the match and pulling out a butchering knife in response. The two circled each other, waiting for the other to attack. The inkling lunged forth at Octollina with a giggle, aiming for her head. Octollina jumped aside, and as her opponent's hand fell to where her head was a second ago, she swung her knife at it, partially tearing the sleeve of her opponent's hero jacket but not causing any harm to it. The inkling jumped back, and repeated its jump, this time going for Octollina's neck. Octollina blocked the attack with her knife and took a step back, before lunging at the inkling.

"Hey! Pssst! Don't just lie there! Run!" a male voice whispered to Octallia. She looked behind her and saw a red eyed male octoling with mohawk style tentacles. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to leave without her older sister. "C'mon, we've got to run or we're all toast!" the octoling insisted.

"Octallia, go! I'll take care of this monster!" Octollina ordered. Octallia hesitated for a moment, before getting up to run away. She bolted towards the male octoling, leaving behind her octo charger and unknowingly dropping her earring. The inkling noticed this and threw an acid filled burst bomb at Octallia and male octoling, but Octollina blocked it with her left hand. She bit her lower lip to keep from screaming, instead hissing as the acid did its job to her left hand and arm. A bit of the acid has managed to fly pass Octollina's hand, past Octallia and hit male octoling in the neck. It wasn't much, because of which he didn't notice in the heat of the situation. Octallia and the male octoling sprinted towards a tunnel, the same one that Ter ran through. Halfway to the tunnel Octallia looked back, and saw the inkling hack into the side of her sister with its butchering knife.

"NO!" Octallia screamed and would have run back if the male octoling didn't stop her.

"What are you doing?!" the octoling said in a disbelieving tone. He grabbed Octallia's hand and pulled her back, bringing her back to reality and they continued to run. After a minute, which felt like hours to them, they reached the tunnel. Octallia looked back again. Octollina was lying on the ground. She wasn't moving. The inkling was looking at her, and then turned to face the tunnel. Before it could bolt however, it got tackled by a magenta tentacled inkling, who was joined by a grey tentacled inkling a moment later.

"S-sh-she's... no..." Octallia whimpered and dropped to her knees. She covered her face and begun to sob, sobs soon turning into full blown crying.

"We can't stay here. C'mon, let's get going." the male octoling said and reached out with his hand. Octallia took it, and the octoling helped her up and the two continued to go down the tunnel.

"T-thanks." Octallia whimpered in between her sobs.

"No problem. The name's Octario by the way. And you're Octallia, right?" Octario said, trying to calm Octallia down.

"Y-yeah."

"It's a nice name."

"Thank you."

"Now, hopefully the bunker didn't lockdown yet." Octario said. He hissed a moment later and grabbed his neck.

"Something wrong?"

"Acid." Octario hissed. "Some must have splashed on me earlier." The two bolted for the bunker, catching up with Ter just as he was entering, and with that the bunker locked down. While Octario immediately ran to med bay, Octallia sat down on a bench and continued her crying.

...

"Whoa, are you alright?" Troud worriedly asked as Octallia threw up.

"Y-yeah, it's just..."

"If it's 'bout the rockin', nothin' can be done 'bout it." Minnow said without looking back as she focused on following the ship.

"No, no, it's just... I just relived a painful memory." Octallia replied, which earned her a concerned look from Octario.

"Let's uh... hope that Scal expected somethin' like that." Minnow said, regarding the mess Octallia created.

"Yeah... let's-" Troud begun before he too threw up.

"Oh, come on Troud, now Scal will skin me alive!" Minnow groaned.

"That's 47 doughnuts wasted..." Octario commented, earning a glare from Troud.

"WHAT?! HE ATE 47 DOUGHNUTS?!" Minnow yelled.

"No, he ate 46. I counted both Octallia and Troud."

"You're dead to me Octario-" Troud murmured before throwing up again.

"And yer are dead to me! Ya said ya wouldn't eat more than three!" Minnow complained.

---

Team Muffin was yet again in a queue. This time however, there were no unwanted surprises. Numi was holding her mini roller above her head, while her friend held their splattershots Jr. close to themselves. "Can't believe that we actually made it here with our captain." Tal smirked at Numi, who stuck her tongue out at him, and earned a smack from Arlie.

"Walleye warehouse... isn't that place storing some old specials?" Coco wondered.

"You'll find all sorts of junk there, and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if we found some ancient relic in there." Tal answered.

"Yeah, yeah, crates and dust. Big stuff. We're here to turf, not ponder about the arenas." Arlie groaned.

"Come on, let's go!" Numi excitedly said as she jumped up and down on the launch pad.

"Wait, didn't you say splatting is mean?" Tal asked.

"Yuh-uh, it is!"

"What if you splat someone?" Tal continued.

"I'll shout sorry!" Numi beamed. Tal chuckled as he imagined that. He, Arlie and Coco joined Numi on the launch pad and switched to their basic forms. A moment later they were on their way to Walleye warehouse.

(A/N) A small note, this is what I meant by tank. It is from "The art of splatoon" which is official.