Sheldon: Alright, your next task will be testing out the Custom Jet Squelcher.

Lai: Okay!

He exits out from the Ammo Knight and when is about to head to the Deca Tower. He notices a letter had dropped near to the Manhole grate.

Lai: Hm?

He picks it up and examines it. A Light Magenta letter with a love emblem on the center where the opening is.

Lai: I can't open it without finding the owner first..

He examines a bit more.. Until he saw the name of the sender, Squiddykat, the little sparks in Turf War community and the Inkling that everyone adores her pure and positive behavior. He gasps as one of his hands covers his mouth.

Lai: (Is this really hers!? Why is she writing this?)

He looks around before he keeps it secretly..

Lai: Better find her really quick. Glad it didn't fall onto anyone's hand.

His plan for testing out new weapon has now changed into searching the owner. He tries to recall on the gears that Squiddykat usually wears.

Lai: SV925 Circle Shades, Black Velour Octoking Tee, Truffle Canvas Hi-Tops and one-sided hair tentacle. Alright... She must be around somewhere... Probably not too far away.

He started to look for the Inkling girl with the gear she's wearing that he can recall with. After just a few minutes of searching, he notices that she's finding something else in a hurry. He approaches to her casually. She jumps as he calls out to her.

Lai: Hey..

Squiddykat: Huh!? Oh sorry! Didn't notice you there! ><"

Lai: Find something else?

She answers back nervously but straightforward.

Squiddykat: Yeah! I was looking for something else! But not important tho! ^^"

Lai: I see...

He takes out the letter and shows it to her..

Lai: I suppose that you're searching for this, right?

She got shocked by the fact that he's now holding her letter and she got even more anxious.

Squiddykat: Y- Yeah! But where did you get that!?

Lai: Outside the Ammo Knights. You should be careful on that. I bet it's really important for you.

He hands over the letter to her. She grips onto it tightly as she didn't know if he had read it or not. He notices that and replies honestly.. Trying to calm her anxiety down.

Lai: Don't worry, I only read the sender's name.

Squiddykat: Oh? You didn't?

I smile up cheerfully.

Lai: Yeah. Why would I do that? I don't want to ruin your image and you're just like our little spark in our community!

After listening, she got relieved and replies back as happily as she usually does.

Squiddykat: Thank you..

Lai: You're welcome! Now I'm going then. See ya!

As he was about to leave her and head over to the Deca Tower. Squiddykat calls out to him from a distance.

Squiddykat: Hey! Wait!

He stops as he hears it from her..

Lai: Huh?

She runs up to him..

Squiddykat: Before you go.. Can we have a talk at the Crust Bucket? I have a favor to ask you.

Lai: Uhm... Sure..

Timeskip...

He walks up to our table with their orders. He hands over the meal.

Lai: Here's your Seanwich.

Squiddykat: Thanks!

Their conversations starts up as soon as he sits down..

Lai: So what is it?

This time, she sounds stuttering while in nervous instead of straightforward this time.

Squiddykat: Uhm... Can you.. Can you help me deliver this to.. Uhm...! ><"

Lai: To?

She hides away her blush as soon as she says out her crush's name.

Squiddykat: Emperor..

Lai: 0.o

His eyes widened in total surprised but didn't say anything at all while she hides even more and more ink flushes through her face as she notices his reaction.

Squiddykat: (Eekk! I'm gonna die by embarassment! ><" Why would I tell him that!? Especially to someone I don't know! Wait a minute..)

She uncovers her hands and looks up to him with her blush still on. Then she asks in curiosity as his face familiars to her.

Squiddykat: Who are you? I haven't know your name yet.

Lai: Ah! Oh! The name's Lai.

Squiddykat: Lai... You're the one who got connection with the Squid Sisters, aren't you?

Lai: Yeah I suppose you can say that..

Squiddykat: So.. You know about Emperor too?

Lai: Yeah.. I guess.. But why would you wrote a letter to him? Shouldn't you just send him an e-mail or texting him?

Squiddykat: I want him to know about my feelings for him. Writing a letter to him just like confessing to him with my heart. In utmost sincerity way.

Lai: Oh I see... So you want me to send it to him?

Squiddykat: Yeah! Think you can do that?

He hesitates for a while.. Then he nods and replies back with confident.

Lai: Yeah! I think I can!

Her heart floats up..

Squiddykat: Thank you so much! ^^ Please text me if you did your part!

Lai: I'm sure he will do that for me instead.

Squiddykat: Hope he will! And I'm counting on you! ><"

He leaves from the table and began his "mission" to find Emperor. He already knows who will help him in this.

Lai: Goggles...

As he mentions the name, a Squid jumps out from his hoodie hat and transform into Inkling Form. Making Lai startled completely..

Lai: Goggles!! Just when did you snuck up in my hat!?

Goggles: Your hat is so cozy that I accidentally slept! Sorry about that! ^^"

Both of his hands pat on Goggle's shoulder..

Lai: But good timing! I need your help!

Goggles: My help?

Lai: Yeah! So where's Emperor?

Goggles: Oh! I know where he is!

Lai: You do!? Where!?

Goggles: But he's in..

Lai: In what!?

Goggles: In actually I don't know! ^^

He collapses onto the ground by Goggles's stupidity.

Lai: You idiot!!

As he gets up into sitting position.. The leader of the Blue Team calls out his teammate's name from outside the Deca Tower.

Glasses: Goggles! There you are!

Goggles: Hey guys! ^^

The leader shouts at him..

Glasses: You're just as late as usual! But you got even worse this time!

He scratches his head as he explains..

Goggles: Sorry about that! I was sleeping in his hoodie hat in this whole time! I really had a good nap!

Glasses: Idiot!! That's why people keep calling us that!

Bobble: But we already are! ^^

Headphones: Bobble! Ah! Sorry about for the trouble, Lai! Right? ><"

Lai: Yeah, that's my name! And it's really okay! ^^"

Timeskip... Woomy! ;3

Glasses: So you wanna know where Emperor is?

Lai: Yeah, I got something to talk to him. Mind if you tell me?

Headphones: But you haven't even met him yet. He's now going in "his pursuit of knowledge" after we beat him in the tournament!

Lai: Hmm...

Gloves: Maybe you can find him in the forest!

Goggles: Gloves!

Gloves: You wanna find him right, Lai?

Lai: Yeah but where?

Gloves: He always train his Dualies in the forest. But it's been a long time after I met him there only once. Maybe you should check him out in the Grizzco as well.

Lai: Ugh... I guess I'll search for him.

Goggles: Say hi to him for us!

He takes his leave from the Deca Tower and head to the forest.

Timeskip... Coro Forest near from Inkopolis..

Lai: I guess he's here.. Somewhere...

He begins his search within the forest. Then, he notices a Target dummy lifts up in his sight and senses something's coming from behind. He dodges to the side away from the ink that hits the dummy.

???: Nice reflexes..

Lai: Huh? Who are you!?

He looks around the forest but no one's around. He starts raising up his guard and sharpen his senses as the shadow keeps hoping from bush to bush.

???: Don't you know who I am?

Then, another familiar voice breaks the atmosphere.

Army: We know you're there, Emperor..

Emperor: !?

Then, he shows up with his pride still smiling up.. Lai got dumbfounded.

Lai: Oh... -.-

Then, he turns his sight to see Army and Forge were wearing the Power Armor to keep from the bee stings while gathering honey.

Lai: And I didn't see you there, Army!

Army: Don't mind me. I'm just plucking the honey with Forge.

Lai: What are you gonna do with that?

He chuckles in confident. Then, he proudly reveal his goal.

Army: To make the best curry in the world! And this will be a part of our training!

Lai gives a thumbs up to his goal.

Lai: Cool! Be careful then!

Then, his sights turns back to Emperor.

Emperor: How bold are you for ignoring me. 💢

Lai: Ah! Sorry! Just wanna give you this.

He hands over the letter to Emperor.. He reads the sender before the content.

Emperor: ...

He throws away the letter without showing any mercy and Lai grabs it before dropping onto the ground.

Lai: Hey!! What's that supposed to mean!?

Emperor: Sorry.. Not interested on this.

Lai: She wrote this specially for you!! You think you can get this everyday!?

Emperor: I said I'm not interested. Especially on weaklings like you and that girl..

Lai: What did you say!?

Emperor: Hmph... Let's see that ignorant face of you could last long.. How about a 1 v 1 match in The Reef? I'll consider that if you beat me.

Lai: Alright!! You asked for it!!

He goes into his fighting stances while glaring on him.

Army: Those two are going for a match.. Forge, observe their battle. I'll catch up once I'm done.

Forge: Yes, Army..

Timeskip... In The Reef..

Squidkid Jr.: Whoa! We get to see the Emperor battle with the newest fresh Squid!

Prince: But how did they ended up battling each other?

The girl shrugs..

N-Pacer: Beats me.. We haven't met or call since he left our team.

On the other side...

Forge: ...

*Spawn*

They both say out their line before the game starts.. In Blue Team, both of Lai's eyes is burning in flames.

Lai: Alright! I'm all fired up!!

On the other side, in Yellow Team. He smirks with cold-blooded expression.

Emperor: Don't waste my time. I'm in a pursuit of knowledge you know..

Then, Judd, Little Judd and Laceless came up with the condition.

Laceless: Alright! Here's the battle condition for Lai!!

Battle condition:

1. Win the battle.

2. Preserve your ink to 90%

3. Splat enemy 5 times

4. With enemy in a fast state.

5. Don't receive a single attack from the enemy.

Lai: Okay! This won't be hard! Believe it!

Emperor: I'm the Emperor.. No one can stop the king's path.

Prince: But the Blue Team beat us in the tournament.

Emperor: I know...

Go!!

Both teams starts inking their turf as fast as possible and charge up their special. Lai's Custom Jet Squelcher had the longest range and fast ink coverage. Also, he can speed up his inking progress with his Burst Bombs. As for Emperor, his Enperry Splat Dualies gave him the most effective on Inking with its fast rate of fire and proceed really quickly with his Curling Bombs, especially in his fast state. As they both clash up with a distance between them. Emperor starts attacking by throwing his Curling Bomb and swim along the line. Lai cuts the line with his Burst Bomb and Emperor activates his special, Inkjet as he got close enough to Lai.

Emperor: I got you now...

Lai: !?

Emperor fires his explosive shots in close range. Lai backsteps away from the explosion and perform a Burst Bomb Combo. Throwing two of them and both hit Emperor directly in the air. Lai takes him out with just a pellet of ink bullet before Emperor fires another shot.

*Splat!*

Laceless: Hit!

Prince: He's fast!

Squidkid Jr: No way! I bet Emperor just went easy on him!

N-Pacer: ...

After the splat, Lai declares with confident and motivation.

Lai: I won't lose no matter what!

Then, his ability increases. Run speed up and Jump power up got buffed while his Ink power up and recovery rise up before Emperor respawns.

*Spawn*

Emperor: Ugh.. I let my guard down.

As he gets back to the fight, he saw most of his turf were claimed by his opponent.

Emperor: Time's still early.. Better stop him while I can..

He dodges roll to speed up while swimming to the left side to flank.. Lai glares at him as soon as Emperor is in his sight. He turns to his target and starts attacking him from a distance. Emperor didn't stop and throws a Curling Bomb again and follows up the ink line. Lai cuts it again and this time, Emperor dodges to aside from the line to surprise him. But Lai's senses is sharp enough to jump to the air from Emperor's attacks and land three shots on Emperor before he could perform another dodge roll. After Emperor does it again. Lai splats him out again with a Burst Bomb.

*Splat!*

Laceless: Hit!

Prince: Whoa! He's strong!

N-Pacer: This isn't look good for Emperor...

On the other side...

Forge: His data is amazing but it might be complicated to analyze even for me and Army.

Her leader joins up with her after gathering materials.

Army: Got anything, Forge?

Forge: Here's the data.

Army: Well done.. Now let's watch the whole battle.

Forge: Right..

Both of their hand were secretly holding onto each other's.

Meanwhile...

Lai: *Pant* *Pant* *Pant*

He slows down for a while after the buff ended, chilling there without showing any sign of exhaustion. Then, he tries to predict where Emperor will attack from so he goes for a patrol to keep him off and take him out once Emperor is in his sight again.

*Spawn*

Emperor: He's stronger than me! What is he!?

He proceeds with more careful instead of rushing. Trying to claim back the turf in his base first. But a ray of laser had just shot out to him and did a bit damage on him. Then he just realized that Lai haven't used his special yet during their whole encounter. He tries to dodge roll from the ray but Lai stopped. Then, he adjusts his Sting Ray quickly and shot Emperor again. Causing the damage to stack up until Emperor got splatted in the end.

*Splat!*

Laceless: Hit!

Army: No way.. Emperor must have gone easy on him..

Forge: I afraid not, Army.. This is the third Splats that Lai had got. And Emperor didn't even land a single shot on him..

Army: Impossible... But interesting...

Forge: Shall we keep watching?

Army: Yes.. I'll tell Glasses and his team after this..

Meanwhile...

*Spawn!*

Emperor: (This is getting absurd! I never been in this such humiliation..)

As his thoughts are off, he checks the time and realized that it's only a minute left.

Emperor: But at least I have to get a shot in!

He swims through the center to face off Lai in head-to-head. Lai notices his intention and goes with the flow. Lai performs his newest technique, Sliding Burst. He slides dash on the ground towards Emperor. He got shocked by his technique and jumps over him. As Lai got behind him..

Lai: Behind you!! Believe it!!!

Emperor: !?

As he turns around to Lai in the air, the Blue Inkling throws three Burst Bombs in a row. Splatting Emperor out in an instant. The spectators got amazed what he just did.

*Splat!*

Laceless: Hit!

Army: He's indeed strong.. I wonder if his team could take on the Blue Team..

Forge: But I don't see that he got himself a team..

Army: No.. Goggles told us that he's teaming up with the Squid Sisters.. Plus, we never witness their battle yet. But I feel the Blue Team might not stand a chance even in 3 v 4 situation without any information about them.

Forge: What should we do?

Army: We'll see.. This battle is already set.

Forge: Yeah..

*Spawn*

After respawning, he smirks up with an irritated looks.

Emperor: Ugh... You're pissing me off.. 💢

He goes all out on Lai who's claiming his base right now with just thirty seconds remaining, but the Blue Inkling decides to end it all before the battle does. Emperor dodges roll real quick this time but Lai still able to land a single shot on him with his Main Weapon, Custom Jet Squelcher and Emperor just got flinched from that hit. Giving Lai the chance to attack.

Lai: This is just the beginning of my Whirly Swirling Battle Artbook!!

Emperor: !?

Army: Battle Artbook!?

He strafes to Emperor's behind and slows him down with the Sub Weapon, Burst Bomb this time. Then, he jumps above him and shoots him with his Special, Sting Ray.

Lai: Battle Artbook, Weapon Barrage!

A ray of laser descends from above and blasts Emperor out this time completely.

Emperor: Ugh!

*Splat!*

Laceless: Hit!

Game!

Blue Team 86.74% - Yellow Team 9.03%

Judd: Blue Team wins!

Lai: Don't you dare underestimate me!

Laceless: Can't believe he passed all the battle conditions flawlessly..

Army: Let's go...

Forge: Yes, sir.

Meanwhile...

*Spawn*

After respawning, his little brother, Prince and his teammates all meet up with him. Showing him with their concern.

Prince: Emperor! Are you okay!?

Emperor: ...

Emperor didn't say anything after the battle and ignores them completely, also telling them to stop following and meeting up with his opponent who's still being aggressive.

Lai: How's that!? Want me to knock you out again!?

Emperor: ...

The Emperor stares at him while Lai's still glaring at him..

Emperor: You got some potential... Now give me that letter..

He stops his glare and questions..

Lai: Huh?

Emperor: I said give me that..

Lai: Oh, okay..

Lai hands over the letter to him.. And questions again..

Lai: What are you gonna do with it?

Emperor: I'll tell her what I thought. Anyway, that was a good battle..

Lai: Wait.. You're not mad?

Emperor: Like I said, I'm in a pursuit of knowledge. So I have to train more on my own after I lost..

He takes his leave with the letter. Prince approaches to Lai.

Prince: Hey, what did my brother said?

Lai: Oh, he said that was a good battle. And said about pursuiting knowledge.

Prince: I knew it.. But I guess he's still have a lot of things to learn!

Lai: Maybe I just overdid it.. I feel bad right now..

Prince: It's okay! He's just like that!

Lai: Yeah.. I should get back right now.

Prince: Hey!

Lai: Hm?

Prince: Battle us someday! We wanna see your battle style!

Lai: Cool!

Lai takes his leave from The Reef.

Timeskip...

Sheldon: Nicely done, Lai! Glad to hear you enjoyed with my weapon set!

Lai: Nah! It was easy! It might took me a lot of time if I wasn't battle with him! ^^

Sheldon: Him?

Lai: Oh.. Emperor.. Gotta thank him later for helping me with the new weapon.

Sheldon: Oh okay. Anyway, you had did your job so here's your reward.

He hands over to him with 30 Main Power up Ability Chunks as a reward.

Sheldon: I'll call you later for more weapons to test out!

Lai: Okay!

He takes his leave from the Ammo Knights.. And grabs out his phone as a message from Callie just sent out to him.

Callie: Ah~! Finally done from the film! How's your day, Lai?

Lai: Yeah. Hey, I think I can consider myself as a matchmaker after done helping them. You'll know once we got home!

Callie: Okay! Can't wait to hear! ^^

Lai: See ya there!

He heads back home in the end..

End Of Chapter...

Next day...

Goggles: Wow! That was a good match! We both did really great on this one!

Headphones: Nice work, booyah guys!

Bobble: Yeah! I think we're getting stronger than before!

As they're celebrating their victory while Glasses spectating.. Emperor takes out his phone and texting something to someone else.

Emperor: How's your doing, Squiddy?

Squiddykat: Yeah! Pretty good! ❤