Inky Future [Mega Man X/Splatoon]

[Gulping]

A fun conclusion that felt proper. Thanks for the update.

 

[Kruggov]

Well that was... messy...

...Duh, Ink/Octolings are involved, things are always messy around them since they use ink

In all seriousness that was a good end to that arc. Though OVER-1's words about ZX crew being important to future events seems omnious.

 

[Candescence]

Though OVER-1's words about ZX crew being important to future events seems omnious.

Click to shrink...

Technically we've already seen them in the last chapter. Who do you think that Inkling and Octoling in Alterna were?

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 20: Hostile Takeover (Epilogue)​

Artemis sighed as she sat down at a table in the Square after her team had finished a round of ink battles. "Man, we sure made up for lost time after yesterday was a mess."

"I mean, sure, it was crazy, but it was also the coolest thing ever!" Hinata said, as she, Karlene and Iris sat down as well. "It was like something out of a comic book!"

"More like a messy comic book crossover event," Karlene pointed out.

Artemis nodded, looking over towards the robots cleaning up the damage they caused, "at least it's over, and the bots are making up for what happened."

Iris sighed, "being blended was… Not fun in the least. I'm honestly glad I barely remember any of it."

Artemis shuddered at the thought of it. While the end result had backfired on Tartar, Artemis knew she was going to have nightmares of it for a long time. The experience had been quick, but… Painful. She dared not willingly recollect any more than that.

Karlene noted, "by the way, have you noticed all the new posters being put up?"

Artemis blinked. "No, wasn't really paying attention to that, why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure the characters on them are-"

Suddenly, they were approached by the team they just fought - Artemis remembered Orion's team fought them the other day as well. Double-Bun smiled, "hey, that was a good match! Also, we saw what happened yesterday. That looked scary."

"It was a harrowing experience for everyone, yes," Iris nodded.

The Dualies user grinned, "yeah, but it was one shell of a show! So when's the movie coming out?"

Artemis was now very confused. "Wait, what mov-"

Karlene immediately grabbed her and pulled her, Hinata and Iris together in a huddle, whispering, "shush! They think that was a publicity stunt for a movie starring us!"

Oh, that made sense.

Wait.

WHAT.

❖​

"Yeah, I was gonna tell you, but Callie and I were busy," Marie said matter-of-factly. "The government managed to fool everyone somehow by contracting some movie studio to hastily announce a series of films dramatising the adventures of the New Squidbeak Splatoon."

Callie giggled, "yeah, they've actually been mulling over the idea for a bit. Basically they're trying to convince the public the story is too ridiculous to be true - I mean, what's more likely, that the Squid Sisters are secret agents and Off The Hook just happened to get involved in an effort to save the world, or they're just cast in those roles in a bunch of films as themselves? I'm already an actress!"

The whole Splatoon (plus Off The Hook and Ciel) were gathered at Tentakeel Outpost once the junior agents had decided to try and find out what was going on in regards to the movies that were announced basically almost out of nowhere.

"So are we gonna be acting the parts, or is someone else gonna be acting as us?" Artemis asked. She dreaded the idea of having to recreate some of the most harrowing experiences of her life on set.

"Actually, no," Dr. Light interjected. "In fact, I'm going to be handling the 'filming'. In this state, it's actually rather easy for me to engineer lifelike reconstructions of events, especially with assistance from hacked Octarian and Kamabo Corp security data, and donated memories from X and Zero. For the first film, Ethan and Ayane are also volunteering some of their memories for the reconstruction as well for the first film. But I intend to modify the 'footage' to make it more dramatic and film-like."

"Also, there's a second reason why they're doing this," Marina noted, "the films are going to put a spotlight on the conditions the Octarians are living in and how the Octolings left everything behind to seek a better life in Inkopolis. Sure, it's dramatised, but the government wants the Inklings to feel sympathy towards the Octarians so when everyone figures out the Octolings aren't just Inklings with unusual hairstyles, they'll more easily accept them."

Axl smiled, "okay, that's actually pretty clever, not gonna lie."

"And we get to be on the silver screen for no extra effort! Bonus!" Liam grinned. Though something in his head seemed to immediately strike him. "We're not gonna get royalties though, are we…?"

"We'll see, but don't get your hopes up," Pearl chuckled.

"Good grief, this whole nonsense about time travel is really throwing me for a loop. I actually remember seeing Quint and Leviathan interrupting my battle with Octavio at Arowana Castle," Cap'n Cuttlefish remarked. "Good times!"

"Ugh, don't remind me," Octavio groaned, rubbing his temples. "Makes my head hurt thinking about it."

"Wait, you went back to the Great Turf War?!" Koji grinned, looking at Orion, "what was it like?"

"We barely saw any of it," Orion laughed sheepishly. "We did briefly see the Cap'n and Octavio when they were young, but…"

"Octavio was in Octoling form," Ethan grinned. "Why do you stay in swim form like that, you big grump?"

Octavio cleared his throat, looking flustered, "none of your dang business."

Artemis noticed that X was just looking out into the distance. She got up from her chair, walking over to him. "You okay?"

"Not really. Got a few things on my mind."

"Wanna talk about it?"

X took a deep breath. "I do understand why Quint was so desperate to change the past," X frowned. "I didn't want to think about it at all ever since I woke up, because it was something I couldn't have changed even if I wanted to, but… Humankind is gone, as far as anyone knows. This world has lost so much biodiversity and civilisation. Imagine humans walking alongside the uplifted sea creatures in harmony. We literally just fought alongside a couple of humans yesterday - Geo and Sonia. And then there was Lan and Mayl supporting us…"

"Oh, yeah, you're right," Artemis blinked. She hadn't thought about it but wow only yesterday she had fought alongside actual humans. That was a mind-blower.

Their conversation seemed to attract everyone else's attention. Koji smacked his forehead, "DANG IT! I can't believe I didn't realise it! We're the first people in thousands of years to meet living, breathing humans!"

"X, why are you worrying about it? As you said, there's no point making yourself miserable over it, it wasn't your fault nor could you have done anything," Karlene asked.

X crossed his arms, "I'm not worrying about it, but… Well, to put it mildly, it's a massive bummer."

"Not the words I'd use, but, yeah, you're right," Zero said. "No wonder you'd rather not think about it."

"And secondly… I lost control of myself when I thought I'd lost you guys," X admitted. "I took sick pleasure in making Tartar suffer, just to make him pay. I should be better than that."

Dr. Light was the one to speak up, "you're not a god, X. It's only natural that you lost control of yourself over in your grief. In fact… Rock would sympathise, if he were here."

Artemis and X both turned to him. Artemis blinked, "what do you mean by that, doc?"

Dr. Light loaded up a holographic video feed, "because once upon a time, Mega Man nearly killed Dr. Wily in anger."

"What?! That would've violated the First Law!" X's eyes widened.

"At the time, Dr. Wily was messing around with 'Evil Energy'," Dr. Light explained. "This resulted in chaos around the world, and on top of that, the evil robot that Duo had been pursuing and had destroyed was accidentally resurrected because of Albert's foolishness. Mega Man successfully destroyed it, but when he confronted Wily over it, the combination of his anger over Wily endangering the whole world and the evil energy exposure caused him to consider extreme measures…"

❖​

A long time ago, in 20XX…



Mega Man strode towards the cowering Dr. Wily, back to begging as usual. "Wait, Rock, don't be angry at me, please! I didn't know that would happen!"

"That's no excuse, Wily! You put the whole world in danger because of your own stupid ambitions!" Mega Man snapped, his arm forming a buster. "I've had enough."

Wily's eyes widened, and he scrambled back in panic, "wait, Mega Man, we've been through this already! You can't hurt me, that would violate the First Law!"

"You forgot about the Zeroth Law, Wily," Mega Man said coldly. "The Three Laws can be overridden if the safety of humanity itself is at stake."

"You can't be serious! I don't want to destroy humanity, I just want to-"

"-you're so desperate to realise your ambition that you're willing to take stupid risks like that again. I know you are. I don't trust you to value humanity's safety over trying to get the recognition you want. And putting you in jail clearly doesn't work, you'll just bust out again somehow," Mega Man snapped again, his buster charging up. "No more. I'm done letting you get away with putting people in harm's way. There's only one way to put an end to this permanently."

He raised his buster at Wily's head.

Mere moments away from pulling the trigger, someone yanked his arm away. It was Duo. "Mega Man, stop. This is not like you. This is not justice."

"NOT JUSTICE?!" Mega Man roared, struggling with his grip, "You're just gonna let Wily walk away and let him potentially destroy everything?!"

He formed his buster on his other hand, but before he could aim, Proto Man grabbed it. He was so angry he hadn't even noticed both of them were there. "Rock, that's enough. You're being influenced by the Evil Energy. Think about what you're doing!"

"Proto Man… Why-"

"I hate to say it, but they've got a point. It's not like you, Mega Man."

Bass teleported in, in front of Wily. Treble was right beside the doctor.

Mega Man had seen this before. Something snapped in him.

He furiously broke out of both Duo and Proto Man's grips, and charged Bass, firing off the charged shot, "GET OUT OF MY WAY, BASS!"

Bass intercepted it with his own charged shot, and as Mega Man got closer he threw a punch, but Bass side-stepped it and Mega Man was pinned to the floor in a swift grapple. Bass sighed, holding him down. "You're not even thinking straight. That would never have worked so easily on you before. I'm honestly disappointed. Treble, get the old man outta here."

"No, Bass, wait-" Wily spoke, before Treble teleported out with him.

"NO!" Mega Man cried out, gritting his teeth as he struggled, but it was too late.

Bass let him go, walking away. He stopped, looking over his shoulder. "Rage doesn't suit you, Rock. That's not where your strength comes from." He then teleported out.

Mega Man was helped back to his feet, as he felt Duo's energy flow through him. He felt the Evil Energy being purged from his systems.

He could think clearly again. And he was aghast at what he had nearly done. "Oh… Oh no… I almost-"

"Your reasoning wasn't incorrect, but you are not judge, jury and executioner. You reminded me of that yourself, Mega Man," Duo said soothingly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes we lose our way. But that's why we have friends to lead us back onto the right path."

Proto Man nodded. "You were right to be angry, but you can't think straight when you're consumed by anger. Besides… Even people would be happy if Wily was gone, how do you think they'd feel about a robot able to kill anyone considered a threat to humanity, no matter the tenuous reasoning?"

Mega Man had one more thought on his mind that deeply ashamed him. "How am I going to tell Dr. Light…?"

❖​

"When he told me, the poor boy was a sobbing wreck," Dr. Light sighed, stopping the video. "But I simply told him to be more mindful of his anger, and to think twice before considering such drastic actions. I consider myself a man of peace, but I know force is sometimes required to stop those who would do others harm."

"As much as I don't like to admit it, you're right. To stand by and do nothing in the face of evil when you can do something about it, is to be just as culpable," Ciel nodded.

"Geez, he must've been hating himself for that for a while," Zero shook his head.

Artemis was shocked at seeing Mega Man at one of his lowest points. Poor kid must've been miserable after that.

"I suppose the lesson here is that, well, nobody's perfect, we slip sometimes and that's nothing to be all that ashamed off as long as we try to do better," Orion summarised.

Dr. Light nodded, "correct."

Artemis turned to X, taking his hands. "X, if something ever happens to us… Please, don't lose yourself. Don't ever lose that kindness of yours. None of us would ever want that. Because, well… You wouldn't be you anymore."

"One of these days, we're not gonna be around anymore. Just a fact of life. You're a robot, we're just mortal living beings," Ethan smiled softly. "When that happens, just keep striving to make this world a better place."

Everyone else nodded in agreement. As X and Artemis looked around at the smiling faces around them, Artemis noticed X's mood improve significantly. "Thank you, everyone. I promise to remember that."

Artemis's heart swelled. She always did like seeing other people being happy, but close friends in particular being happy brought a lot of joy to her life. And if there was anyone who deserved to be happy, it was X.

Though she noticed one person didn't look so happy. Iris, despite her smile, looked troubled. "Hey, Iris, you okay?"

"All of this reminded me of something… When we were Leviathan… I think we killed a human being during our journey through time," Iris frowned. "Remember, Dr. Weil, on that space station?"

"Oh, right, the dude who was plugged into that space station who the other Zero said was sending on a collision course with Earth," Ayane said. "Zero said if we didn't stop him, a lot of people would die. And the only way to blow the whole thing up safely, well…"

Ciel winced. "Oh dear! That must've been… Unpleasant."

"It sounds like was essentially performing a suicide bombing on a mass scale," Dr. Light sighed. "If that was your only option, then nobody would blame you for stopping him with lethal force."

"Dr. Weil was a monster beyond compare. Putting him down was for the best - it was either him, or thousands of innocent people."

A time portal appeared near them, as two figures emerged - the first was OVER-1. The second was a human girl who Artemis realised was around her age - and she was beautiful. Long wavy blonde hair, green eyes, a lovely turquoise coat and black mittens, along with round blue earrings and some kind of black fur cap.

OVER-1 nodded, "sorry for the intrusion, we'll be out of your hair soon. We'd like to report that everything's been sorted out, don't worry about any loose ends."

"Hello everyone. I'm Kalinka Cossack, daughter of Dr. Cossack, and I'm a navigator for the Chronos Corps," the girl smiled. "I just wanted to take this brief chance to meet all of you in person before we part ways for good."

"I suppose you're doing your part as well, Kalinka. You grow up to be a beautiful young woman in every timeline, I see," Dr. Light smiled.

"Humans are real!" Marina squealed in delight. She then recomposed herself. Almost everyone else was just gobsmacked. "It's a pleasure, Miss Cossack."

"Likewise, Marina." Kalinka sighed, "I wish we could socialise more, but it isn't to be."

"Aw, can't we be friends? Surely you can just pop in from time to time," Hinata asked.

"I wish it were that simple, but no," Kalinka frowned. "Different timelines shouldn't be mixing like this for too long. I'm sorry."

X walked over to her, smiling, "well, it was nice to meet you all the same."

Kalinka blushed, "you're just as handsome as your brother… You Light robots can't help but play with a maiden's heart, can you?"

X laughed sheepishly, "hey, it's not like I mean to…"

Artemis was mulling over something that had occurred to her that drew her curiosity. "Excuse me! Before you go… Can I feel your hands?" Artemis asked. "I mean, I hope I don't come off too weird-"

Kalinka giggled, taking off her mittens, showing her delicate hands to her. "I already knew you'd ask me that, Artemis. And I know why, even if you don't know the reason yourself."

Artemis put aside the question of what that meant, and felt her hand and those slender fingers. The unique texture and look fascinated her, her fingernails, feeling her bones, seeing the blood vessels barely visible under the skin… It wasn't the hand itself she was interested in, but, well, it was the least weird part she could examine, really. But being the first Inkling to be up close and personal with a human was exhilarating.

When she was satisfied, she let go and took a step back, "done!" She noticed her friends were giving her curious looks. "What?! Might be the only time I'll ever have to see a human up close!"

"Well… Who knows what the future might hold. Maybe there's a sleeping princess out there waiting to be rescued," Kalinka smiled.

"Kalinka, our time's up," OVER-1 said, though even he seemed regretful that they couldn't stay, based on his tone and frown.

"R-Right… Farewell, everyone. I hope the future bodes well for all of you," Kalinka waved, wiping away tears as she and OVER-1 disappeared into the portal.

Silence reigned over the Outpost for several seconds.

"Yeesh. That was bittersweet," Marie lamented.

Artemis couldn't help but agree. Maybe one day they might cross paths a human again, but… Well, who knew what the future held for them?

❖​

"It's finally time to move in to our new apartment," X chuckled, as he stepped out the door.

Callie honestly was sad to see him and Zero, even if she knew they were only a couple of floors down. It was just fun having them around. "Well you can visit as much as you like!"

Zero winked to her, "sure, I'll consider that an invitation."

"Don't go too overboard, I really don't care for whatever smooching sessions you two want to do," Marie snorted. "I just want to fully reconnect with Callie. I don't want to drift apart from her like that ever again."

X smiled, "well, I hope that works out."

"We've been re-evaluating our work schedules, because the stress of working solo was just… Getting to me," Callie sighed. "Between the fame and being stretched between multiple things, I think it'd be good for me to just cut back on stuff I'm working on."

Zero smiled, "too much stress isn't good for your well-being, so that's a good call."

"We'll sort that out. Go on, get acclimated to your new place already," Marie smiled. "We'll have plenty of time to hang out."

"Okay, sounds good. Seeya," X smiled, as he and Zero left.

As Marie shut the door, a switch suddenly flipped in Callie's head. This was perfect. Now that the boys were gone… "Hey, Marie, now that it's just us, I've got a little surprise for you."

Marie blinked, and then chuckled, "okay, I'll play along…"

"Just sit on the couch and and close your eyes. Don't open them until I tell you to~!" Callie grinned, as she headed for her room.

Fortunately, Marie just shrugged and went to the couch, doing as she said.

Callie went into her room and pulled out a box she was hiding in her closet. Inside was the spare hypnoshades that Master Octavio instructed her to keep safe. She also had the mixtape on her phone, disguised as some innocuous sound file. She made sure the wireless headphones were charged, and took her phone, the headphones and the shades back to the living room.

She put the headphones over Marie's ears, put the hypnoshades on her face as well before turning them on, and then grinned, "you can open them now~!"

"Okay, what are you up to, Cal…" Marie opened her eyes. Her eyes widened as she realised what she was wearing. "Wait, aren't… These…?" Before she could do anything, her eyes became unfocused as she fell into a trance, the shades swiftly doing their work.

Callie gleefully set the mixtape to start playing. Now to wait for the conditioning to do its work.

She did her own thing for about an hour before coming back to check on Marie. She was very happy with the results - Marie looked blissfully entranced, with a dumb smile as she mindlessly repeated the commands she was listening to. "I am Master Octavio's slave… Inklings are inferior…"

This was a long-term plan, of course. It would take months before Marie was without a doubt completely subservient to Octavio without the need for the shades - until then she was best served as a sleeper agent like Callie herself. Callie was planning on putting herself through the mental conditioning process further to ensure she couldn't be reverted back to her previous mental state again.

Step one of the plan was now a success, and everyone else was none the wiser.

HOSTILE TAKEOVER - END​

---

A/N: I wasn't entirely sure to have Kalinka appear at first, but I felt it was fine to do it for just one scene as part of wrapping everything up in a nice bow. Also, it included some fun character interactions, including some setup for Artemis.

And yes, I essentially rewrote the ending of Mega Man 8. But let's be honest, that game's story had a ton of missed potential, and I felt it was a better place for the western version of MM7's "die Wily" sequence, with a more logical reason for Mega Man to overcome the First Law.

Well, that's finally over. Please stay tuned for the next arc, "The Pleasant Phantom Thief", which will absolutely be somewhat more low-key than this arc was, but will still have some action and excitement, without a doubt.

 

[Supersonic_Draco]

Octavio and brainwashed Callie need to be dunked into water out of any respawn point range. Great chapter btw

 

[Candescence]

And it's that time again, folks, time for another end-of-arc postmortem. This one is gonna be somewhat more focused than the last one.

Hostile Takeover had two central goals - cleaning as many of the loose ends from the Octo Expansion arc as possible (Kamabo Corp, the sanitized Octarians, etc), as well as allowing for some breathing room for slice of life stuff.

Tartar's return is very much emblematic of the first aspect, I feel he didn't quite get the fair shake he should've since he was overshadowed by Wily at the end of the last arc, so I brought him back in a fairly plausible manner. While Quint still claims the role of the final antagonist at the end, it's only after Tartar has had significant focus and his ideals smashed right before his eyes. It gives us a better look into my interpretation of his character and how he'd think with a more Mega Man-esque AI system, including a more vindictive streak you'd see in a truly rampant AI.

Speaking of vindictive, the blending. Oh, boy, the blending. I was worried that blending Agents 3 through 8 would not go down well, despite the end result. Normally shoving several main characters in a literal blender and pureeing them should be grounds for a shift into darkfic territory, but I was more than a little bit blindsided when almost nobody commented on it. And then someone on Discord noted that the fanfic community are so desensitised to worse stuff that this was almost pedestrian. Oi vey. It was not something I did lightly, but at the same time I decided to go for it after a lot of consideration of how novel it would be, nevermind the resulting fusion being absolutely awesome. It also made developing the bonds between the agents more important in this arc, since I wanted to make their triumph despite their circumstances more believable. But man I overestimated how shocked people would be.

As for everything that happened after Quint took back control, well... Not gonna sugarcoat it, it's a bit messy. I'm happy people still generally liked it, but I still feel it could've been better. Thing is, ending with Tartar's defeat would've felt a little anti-climactic, and considering Quint's connection to time travel and I had already set up the foreshadowing regarding the Time Skimmer, well, I kinda boxed myself in there. The resulting climax was ridiculous, but still fun, I think.

And now for the slightly more specific bits I'd like to talk about...

• Could I perhaps have leaned into Iris and Axl's limited experience with the Inkling language more? Maybe. But I'm also not great with consistently writing accents or improper speech, sooooo I mainly just figured they spent a long time practicing.
• Gym rat Iris is a fun way to give her unique traits distinct from her original counterpart and also typical depictions of Agent 8.
• X taking over Kamabo was an interesting direction that fortunately solved a lot of problems and opened up a lot of potential avenues. Also, I couldn't ignore Ahato. She needs love too.
• Ladies man Zero isn't the typical slightly more moody version of Zero most people know. But is he fun to write? Absolutely.
• I had to incorporate the Hadoken somewhere, and it also opened up a nice opportunity to directly tie in Mega Man with Street Fighter. Ken was Dr. Light's teacher, neat! (Light also had some instruction from Ryu, who would come into Ken's dojo every so often.)
• The "flashback" to Octo Valley with Ethan and Ayane during the mind-melding sequence was very much a homage to "Heroes of Inkopolis" by TamarinFrog, which I noted was an inspiration for Ethan in the last postmortem.
• I deliberately gave Leviathan's "entrance" the feel of a wrestling intro, just felt appropriate to do with Nasty Majesty. And Undefeatable for the ensuing fight made perfect sense.
• Considering that the citizens of Inkopolis are oblivious to the fact that Octolings are now living amongst them, it only felt amusingly right for the government to fictionalize the adventures of the New Squidbeak Splatoon to fool everyone not already in the know.

---

Next chapter should hopefully be ready by the end of today. Hopefully.

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 21: The Pleasant Phantom Thief (I)​

The Phantom Thief quietly pried open the air vent, and dropped down into the server room. So far so good.

Despite multiple corporations amping up their security measures ever since she started making waves, they were simply not prepared for her methods of infiltration. And the dark blue layer of ink that covered her entire body and formed the 'mask' over her face not only made it easier for her to sneak around in the dark, but also obscured her identity.

Her first objective was getting as much data from the servers as she could get her hands on. To that end, she pulled out a small tablet-like portable device, plugging it in to one of the servers, and got to work. The device began auto-cracking the security systems. These companies didn't typically provide a lot of budget towards network security, and even less to preventing an enterprising thief from just downloading directly from their servers.

It took some time, but she got everything she wanted. Now it was time for the second objective for tonight's heist.

She used her special multi-tool to open the lock on the server room door, slipping out and heading for the research labs. She wanted to steal at least one in-development project before departing. It didn't matter what it was, the important thing was that it had to be something it could be used to help people in need. Saizo Medical was known for focusing on 'long-term treatments' rather than cures to get more money out of people.

Most of the security measures here were electronic, and even then not particular fancy, just security cameras and doors with card key locks, she simply needed to avoid camera sight-lines and hack the locks.

There were a few guards, but slipping past them was elementary for her. Sure, she was generally really good at stealth and had footwear specifically for silent movement, but the reality was that she had climbing gear that allowed her to stick to ceilings and silently go right over their heads. People generally just did not look up, because who would expect someone to stick to the ceiling?

The labs themselves were immaculately clean and well-organised, which meant it was fairly easy for her to find what she was looking for - a locked freezer with dozens of vials immaculately organised and labelled. She pulled small box out of her satchel - the box itself had a a dozen slots and was effectively a miniature freezer.

She reached for one of the vials, only to stop immediately as she noticed the rack looked a little more high-tech than it should be. She tapped a button on her visor, which scanned the vial racks.

They had pressure sensors. It was a more high-tech version of that sort of thing from the movies, but it was functionally similar. It was so cliche that she almost laughed.

But now she had something of a conundrum - the old 'quick-swap' trick never worked even in the movies, and this likely was set to instantly trigger the moment the vials were removed. But she couldn't walk away empty-handed. So she picked the vials she needed to grab, held the cube, and prepared for what came next.

She grabbed the vials with expertly dexterous finger movements, slotting them into the cube and closing it as she shut the box, locked it and stuffed it in her satchel. As predicted, the alarm immediately went off, and she dashed out of the labs before they locked down. Saizo really didn't want any of this stuff to be stolen. Well, too bad.

Naturally an Inkling guard came running with a flashlight and a taser, and spotted her as she left the labs. "HEY! STOP!"

Yeah, not a chance. She dodged the taser and bolted in the opposite direction from him, forcing the guy to give chase. He wasn't slow, but she was too fast for him to keep pace with, and that was before she started zigging and zagging around the corridors.

She broke into an office space with windows leading outside. Time to use her special trick.

Her inky suit was in fact a prototype 'Zipcaster' special, and was a huge part of why she was so successful in her heists, being able to scale walls and ceilings effortlessly and quickly, being able to go where Inkings and Octolings couldn't normally go even in swim form. In an instant, her arm extended outwards, latching onto a window and pulling her rapidly towards it, and she detached it right before she collided, closing her eyes and smashing through. Her inky suit and mask were enough to protect her from the glass.

She then zipped again onto the building just across, and started quickly zipping her way around the corner and out of sight. By the time the guard reached the window, there was no way he'd know where she went.

Once she was well in the clear, standing on a rooftop some distance away, she smiled to herself as the inky suit dissipated, and she took a look at her spoils. A dozen medical vials perfectly intact, and a ton of data.

Sure, that had been more challenging than she had initially anticipated, but to her, it was still just another evening's work.

❖​

Ciel's jaw dropped. "Sorry, can you repeat that? You want to hire me, X?!"

She had been taken out to a cafe by X for what she assumed was just a friendly chat. And while that had been indeed true at first, what ostensibly was a casual coffee chat had suddenly turned into an unexpected job interview.

"Yeah, I imagine this is rather unexpected, but hear me out," X said. "Now that there's no outstanding problems with my takeover of Kamabo Corp and its re-branding to Arcadia Corporation, I've been looking at the company's resources and facilities. And there is a significant void left behind by Dr. Wily, who was secretly running the Robotics Division and answerable only to the CEO and the board of directors, aka Commander Tartar."

"And you want me to run the Robotics Division, then…" Ciel said. "Wait, Tartar was running the company all by himself?"

X nodded. "Which is why the company fell into chaos for a bit and why it was so easy for me to take over. And frankly, it seems my existing employees don't particularly mind that I'm in charge now. Apparently Tartar was more like some distant figure nobody ever talked to, he just gave directives from on high, so for the new CEO to be talking to them face to face is something of a pleasant whiplash for them."

He leaned forward. "Anyway, back on topic - nobody in Inkadia is really doing robotics for the most part. Meaning your talents are rather undervalued right now, hence why you're stuck doing freelance jobs. But under my employ, you will have full access to Dr. Light and Dr. Wily's research and the latter's facilities when he was working with Tartar."

"And my energy source project?"

"I'll approve it. In fact, that'll be an easy source of government grants, I'd say, so funding probably isn't a huge problem. The only thing I'd like you to do specifically is to work on a project for a new Hero Armour set, but I don't think you'd mind doing that."

Ciel couldn't believe it. It was everything she ever wanted - the ability to work on her own projects, a really nice boss who understood her, stable employment… "I'll do it."

"Awesome, you're hired, then," X smiled as they shook hands.

Now that was sorted, Ciel had a bunch of questions on her mind. "So what's going to happen with the company and the Metro?"

X crossed his arms, looking down at his coffee. "That's still going to be a process. We've set up a teleportation system between the Central Station and the surface, so we don't need to use the tunnels under Inkopolis to get to and from the Metro. The Metro itself is still generally useful for the people still living down there, but having a quick and easy way to get to the surface makes it a lot easier for them to commute and migrate."

"There's still a ton of test chambers that are basically useless now, though."

X looked back up at her with a nod. "I'm actually thinking of opening them to the public as part of the whole publicity surrounding those upcoming movies, once the one starring Iris and Axl comes out - considering the chambers themselves are safe and have reliable respawn systems, it'd be easy to pass them off as just being repurposed movie sets, and would be a good source of revenue from people wanting to try them out themselves. Of course, we can't use the sanitised Octarians, it would be inhumane and also would make people suspicious. I'd like you to work on creating robotic duplicates that can serve the same purpose."

Ciel took a sip of her coffee as she thought about it. "Yes, that's a good idea. It would be a good test bed for my robotics research anyway, I'm looking at trying to create reasonably lifelike robots based on Inklings and Octarians, complete with swim forms. I'm not sure if it's possible, but it's worth a shot."

"That's good to hear. They'll also be useful for the training facilities the Splatoon are using. Right now the best we can do is holographic projections."

"I could do more with more time, but just a week is a little bit much. I think they opened today?"

X smiled, "yep. Once school's out for the day, Ethan and Ayane are taking the gang there for their first training session."

Ciel giggled at the thought. "Oh dear, those two are going to put them through the wringer!"

❖​

Iris' jaw dropped as she saw the training chamber from the observation room. Her first thought was that it resembled one of the Octarian domes, and similar in size to boot. The room itself had fake sky background.

"Holy carp it's huge," Artemis gawked.

"It's like the Shifty Stations Marina designs for Splatfests!" Hinata said gleefully.

"That's right, it uses similar tech," Ayane nodded. "We can reconfigure the stage to anything we need, whether it be a regular ink battle arena or something like in Octo Valley, Octo Canyon or the Metro. Unfortunately there's no simulated enemies to fight just yet, but that's fine. What I've got in mind is going to push you to the next level."

Karlene pointed out, "I remember this layout. This is Saltspray Rig, isn't it?"

"Yup. Doesn't have the aesthetics but the layout is almost identical," said Ayane. "We'll use it for our first big training session. The four of you against me, three lives for each of us."

That immediately raised red flags in Iris' head. "Ayane, that sounds way too easy. I was able to defeat you one-on-one back in the Metro."

"You're softer than I thought," Artemis grinned. "This'll be a cakewalk."

"Firstly, that time was when Tartar was in control. I wasn't fighting at my best," Ayane smirked, sending shivers down Iris' spine. "Did I mention I'll have access to every special without my limiters turned on? So I'll definitely have the advantage."

"That's still doable, with team coordination," Karlene said. "You're on. Girls, let's show her what we can do!"

"HECK YEAH!" Hinata grinned, "you're on, sister! Don't underestimate us!"

Artemis cracked her knuckles, "I think you've still bitten off more than you can chew."

"I think that might be us, actually…" Iris saw Ayane's widening smirk, and knew this would be more than they'd bargained for…

❖​

"Ugh, we got stomped," Artemis groaned, face-down on the table. "We only splatted her once!"

They were resting back in the observation room, which was also basically their break room.

"I did warn you it would be harder than it seems, Artemis. Ayane's really good," Iris laughed sheepishly. "Between her Charger and her specials, she had us panicking half the time…"

"I wasn't panicking, you lot were," Karlene sighed, arms crossed. "I was trying to keep our plan together but she kept forcing you out of position."

"Easy for you to say when you're not being surrounded by autobombs," Artemis said.

"That was fun! But way too stressful," Hinata laughed sheepishly as well.

"I warned you. I warned you I had the advantage," Ayane said, leaning against a wall, arms crossed. "But you did pretty well for your first attempt. No shame in failing a training exercise that was stacked against you. I've got some pointers for what you should be doing next time, at least."

Iris was now wondering how the boys were doing, as she noticed Marie enter the room. "Oh, hello, Marie."

"There you are. I guess today's session went… Well," Marie chuckled. "Well, nevermind that. I've got some news you girls might be interested in."

❖​

"SON OF A FISH! We had the middle of the stage locked down! HOW DID HE FLANK US?!" Liam screamed as he kicked his chair out of frustration. The boys were in the observation room of the other building.

"Liam, you're losing your temper again, chill," Koji said, putting his hands on Liam's shoulders. "But yeah, geez, we got creamed there…"

"I thought I could keep my distance and snipe him, but he just kept flushing me out of position with specials," Orion sighed despondently.

Axl couldn't really blame his teammates for feeling bad about what happened. Ethan had just utterly rolled them, for the most part, pun not intended. Despite his best efforts, Axl had found that Ethan with his full faculties intact was on another level from when he was under Tartar's mind control.

"You came in overconfident and not ready for what I could pull with basically unlimited specials," Ethan chuckled, shaking his head. "You gotta be ready for anything, including all kinds of unfair stuff. The Octarians don't fight fairly, you know that, and neither did Wily's robots."

Liam sighed, pulling his chair upright again and sitting down, "I know, but geez you could've gone easy on us for our first training session."

Ethan blinked. "And what would the point of that be? You wouldn't have learned nearly as much from that."

"You're more hardcore than I would've given you credit for, Ethan," Koji said. "You and Ayane are quite the pair…"

"Ooof, I had a feeling you guys would get roughed up," Callie said as she came in, "heeeeeeeeyyyy~!"

Axl smiled, "roughed up pretty sums it up. Hey, Callie. What is up?"

"Got some exciting news! First things first, the Inkadia government are interested in actually funding us!" Callie grinned.

"Oh, good, we might actually be getting paid," Orion said. "Right? Please tell me we're actually getting paid."

"Probably? Just don't get your hopes up, it might just be for funding our equipment," Callie laughed sheepishly.

"Honestly, we'll take it," Koji said.

"Secondly, they want us to investigate the 'phantom thief' that's been causing trouble lately," Callie said, showing a news article on her phone to them about a break-in at Saizo Medical.

"Tell 'em to pay us first, then we'll consider it," Koji grunted.

"Yeah, I'm not sure why we should be going after some thief who's leaking medical secrets from greedy companies," Orion agreed. "That should be the police's job."

"This thief must really be flummoxing the police if they're desperate enough to ask for our help," Axl said. The article didn't have a clear picture of the thief, just blurry images of them from security camera footage from them escaping from Saizo Medical. "They just jumped out a window and disappeared, huh? Not even any evidence of them super-jumping…"

"And with that inky coating you can't make out any distinguishing details," Koji said. "No wonder they're a phantom thief."

Ethan seemed to mull it over for a while, before he finally spoke. "We'll consider it, but only if we uncover any leads. Right now we're pretty much entirely lacking in ideas on where to even start."

"Fair enough," Callie giggled.

Then Ethan spoke the words that filled Axl with dread. "Alright, fellas, break time's over, let's get back into it! I'm gonna be going over some pointers and then you'll try again. You better try for splatting be twice this time!"

Today was going to be rough.

❖​

When the girls got back to their dorm, the first thing Iris noticed was that Artemis collapsed onto the couch and immediately passed out.

"That girl definitely expended more energy than us," Karlene said, as she and Hinata got started with cooking. "Not the first time she's passed out on that couch after a strenuous day."

"Artemis sure is a handful, isn't she?" Iris giggled.

"Oh, you bet. Between her shenanigans and doing study sessions with her, she's wild," Hinata said. "She's a great friend, though."

"She must not be doing great at school if she needs study sessions," Iris said, looking over towards the couch.

"Actually, she's got better grades than either of us," Karlene sighed.

Iris blinked, turning to them, "excuse me?! She's, well… How do I put it…"

"A ditz?"

"Yes, thank you."

Hinata giggled, "oh, yeah, she definitely is that, but her main problem is that she has trouble staying focused on one singular thing. You know she goes with the flow of things, which is both a good and a bad thing, she gets distracted easily. But when she's able to focus? Oh boy she is a low-key genius."

Iris was having trouble trying to reconcile this with the girl sleeping on the couch. Artemis wasn't stupid, but calling her a 'genius' seemed rather far-fetched considering the dumb and silly things she was known to do on impulse. Including rolling right off Moray Towers at least twice so far from Iris' count. "A… Genius?!"

"Get her talking about something academic and chances are she might surprise you," Karlene chuckled. "Go keep her company. We'll handle dinner."

Iris recalled Artemis looking over Kalinka's hand, and had a good idea of what might be a topic to bring up as she walked over to the couch.

❖​

Artemis groaned as she woke up. How long had she been out cold? Weird, her head was propped up on something, but she still was on the couch on her side. Her head felt like it was on fabric, and-

She noticed skin right in front of her face, and realised someone's hand was on her hair.

Artemis immediately froze. Her head was on someone's thighs. And judging by the skin tone, she knew exactly whose thighs these were.

She shifted onto her back slowly, turning her head upwards. Panic set in as she found herself staring right at Iris' rather substantial chest.

I've died. I've died and gone to Heaven. This is the only reasonable explanation for why this is happening to me right now, she thought to herself.

"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead," Iris giggled. "Did you have a good nap?"

OH NO SHE NOTICED. Artemis was internally screaming. "Y-Yeah, I guess so… How long was I out?"

Iris stroked Artemis' hair, "a good twenty minutes. I've been sitting here for most of that."

"Um… Thanks for keeping me company," Artemis said, now beet red. She knew she shouldn't be staring at her friend's chest, but she couldn't help it.

"You're welcome. By the way, Artemis… Why were you looking at Kalinka's hand the other day?" Iris asked.

That question rather startled her. Would the answer come off as creepy? "Um… It was the least creepy way to check out her skin and bones, I guess? She was a human, it was possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"Her… Skin and bones?"

"Well, more than just that, but yeah. The unique texture of the skin, the hairs, the bones, seeing her veins just barely visible under her skin… It was just so fascinating! The only human remains left are bones, and you don't even get to feel them when you visit the museum!"

That caused Iris to pause for a bit. "Do you know what you want to do when you graduate high school?"

The question confused her. "I guess maybe follow in Dad's footsteps, maybe? I dunno. Still thinking about it."

"Have you considered becoming a biologist?"

That left Artemis completely at a loss for words. In fact, she hadn't. Somehow, up until now, the thought simply hadn't crossed her mind.

"Hey, dinner's ready!" Hinata called out, interrupting the conversation.

For the rest of the evening, Iris' question was burned into Artemis' thoughts.

---

A/N: By the way, slight tease for the next chapter - two of of the existing Agents are trans. Guess which ones. I'll wait.

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 22: The Pleasant Phantom Thief (II)​

Ethan rolled through the ersatz Blackbelly Skatepark in one of Octo Valley's mini-domes - the same one where he had that brush with death two years ago.

The arena was remarkably well-preserved, if only because it wasn't exposed to the elements, and the layer of dust that coated it wasn't particularly dense, either. But with limited power, the dome was only dimly lit. Not that it was much of a problem for Ethan, he was good at seeing in low light.

He stopped at a corner, imagining his enemy's next move. He waited, and swung the roller around the corner, splatting an imaginary Octoling soldier.

This was part of his personal 'image training', recreating the battle that had nearly gotten him killed. Not ideal, but without the real thing to practice against, it wasn't like he had other options.

He took deep breaths. One last 'enemy' left, and without 'losing any lives' this time. His best run yet. Now for the most problematic foe, who always managed to get the drop on him.

He rolled forward, eyes closed, headed towards the goal.

To his left.

He swung, finally catching his enemy mid-pounce, and-

Someone tackled him from the right, pinning him down on his back. "You know, handsome, you need to be more aware of your real enemies rather than imaginary ones."

His hearts went into overdrive and his eyes widened. It was happening again. And Ayane wasn't here to save him this time.

"Are… Are you… Oh cod!" The Octoling who pinned him suddenly scrambled off of him, her playful expression changing to concerned in an instant. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realise that would give you a panic attack!"

Ethan looked her over. It was Marino. But she was wearing a heavily modified version of her old Octarian armour, recoloured pink and white, under a grey jumpsuit, and her goggles were over her forehead rather than her eyes. And she wasn't armed.

Marino put a hand on his chest, "calm down. Breathe. It's okay, nobody's going to hurt you. Especially not me."

He took deep breaths. His hearbeat slowed, and his mind stopped racing.

Ethan sat up. "Marino… What are you doing here?"

Marino stood up, stretching as she looked out towards the fake sky, turning away from him. "I come here sometimes to reminisce. I didn't know you were actually doing image training here, though. So when I saw you, I decided to try and pounce you, since I have my own hidden respawn point set up out here in the Valley. I didn't realise you still had trauma over that. Again, sorry."

Ethan had only met Marino two times before. The first time didn't give him much of an opportunity to think about her aside from the fact that she was going to kill him. Last time, it turned out she was actually a nice person, and looked really pretty in that dress.

Now, though, with that skintight outfit… Oh boy.

"You have a fantastic ass."

Ethan immediately covered his mouth with both hands. Somehow he had blurted out what he had been thinking.

Marino looked over her shoulder at him, initially looking bewildered, but then she burst out laughing. When her laughter died down, she shook her hips a bit, smirking, "why thank you, Agent 3. Never thought I'd have my ass complimented by my old enemy, but that works for me~"

He had been entirely honest there. Marino had curves for days. Her armour covered her chest, but those shorts and the bodysuit left little to the imagination regarding her hips, butt and thighs, and he was not found wanting by any means.

Ethan got back up onto his feet. He decided to roll with it. "I didn't know the Octarians recruited supermodels as elites."

"Where's all the flattery coming from? I'm not just a pretty face, you know," said Marino as she turned towards him. "You're not bad on the eyes, yourself. You've been working out a lot more since we first met."

"Well, gotta stay fit now that I'm a part-time agent," Ethan grinned, flexing a bicep.

"So this is the legendary Agent 3, huh? Well, I want a rematch," said Marino, pressing her finger against his chest, "since you're not some scared rookie anymore. Your partner cheap-shotted me, after all. I want a solid one-on-one fight this time."

"I'm down for that, but this place won't do. I've got somewhere better in mind…"

❖​

"Hey, Koji, could you help me with something in the bathroom?" Orion asked.

It was after school, and the boys were getting ready in their dorm to head out. Koji blinked, "oh, sure, why?"

"It's… private. Only something you've got experience with."

Koji seemed to nod knowingly, and followed Orion into the bathroom, closing the door behind them.

"What was all that about?" Axl wondered out loud, as he finished getting dressed and sat down at the table.

"Got some ideas on what that might be, I guess," said Liam as he also sat down. "Might as well wait for them, hopefully it shouldn't take too long."

"So. 'Boss'. I noticed you've got an explosive temper."

Liam took a deep breath and sighed. "Yeah. Can't deny that. Problem I've had since I was a kid, dunno how it started, but my parents started taking me to a child psychologist when it started getting bad. Been working on trying to channel my anger so I don't lash out at people. I'm… Not always good at it."

"Good thing you've got Koji to temper it, then."

"Before Koji, it was Karlene. It's why we didn't get along for a while until this whole agent business - she got sick of my squit. I really don't blame her, especially after she transitioned."

That last part gave Axl pause. "Wait, Karlene is-"

"-a trans girl? Yeah. I guess you wouldn't have known," said Liam. "I don't have anything against her for transitioning, honestly, I'm happy she figured herself out and is happier for it. But my friend seemingly disappearing and being visually replaced by someone else didn't help my issues at all. I'm just glad Koji was patient enough to stick by me."

"How did you two meet?"

"Believe it or not, it was because Koji was being bullied by some bigger kids. Koji was kinda like Ori at the time, a bit shy and way more unsure of himself than he was now. I guess if there's one thing anger helped me get good at, it's beating the carp outta people. I just saw a kid who was being beaten up for no good reason, and I sent those jerks packing. Next thing I know, Koji and I started hanging out so he wouldn't be bullied again, and I helped him come out of his shell more. When I'd start getting angry, he'd grab my arm. Now he's more overt about telling me to calm down, and I listen."

"Sounds like you two are pretty good for each other," Axl smiled.

Liam chuckled. "Funny thing is, as it happens, Koji is also-"

"Uh, hey, how do I look?"

Axl turned towards the pair leaving the bathroom.

Orion's hairstyle and eyelashes had changed, and he was looking rather nervous. Axl realised that he now looked almost identical to his sister. "Oh. Um… You look cute. Also you look like your sister."

"Yeah, I told you he'd say that, Ori," Koji chuckled, "you need something more unique to stand out."

"Should ask I what exactly going on?" Axl asked, realising his broken Inkling a bit too late.

"Ever since I was part of Leviathan, I realised I wanted to try being more… Feminine," said Orion. "Though I don't feel like I want to be a girl? If anything I felt more physically whole when I was Leviathan. It's hard to explain, I guess."

"Ori, it's okay. You've got all the time in the world to figure yourself out, whether you want to be a guy, a girl, or anything in-between," Koji said, putting his hand on Orion's shoulder. "You can talk to me about your feelings whenever you need to."

"Yeah, as I was about to tell you… Koji's a trans dude. It's partly why he was being bullied, it was before he transitioned and he was dressing like a guy," said Liam.

"Huh. Never would've guessed," said Axl, looking over Koji.

"Physical therapy. We can transform, dude, our bodies are fairly malleable for the most part," Koji chuckled. "Sure, it's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with my body as it is now. I owe a lot to Liam for helping me become who I really am."

"'Who you really are', huh?" Axl muttered, looking at his hand. He watched it shift before his very eyes, as he took on the forms of everyone he knew in quick succession, before he returned to his original look. "All I know for sure is my name. When I can be anyone… Am I still my own person? I think this is just the look I've settled on as 'me'. But is it really 'me'?"

"Ooof, shapeshifter identity issues, huh?" Liam winced. "I'm not sure any one of us knows exactly how you feel there. But, uh… We'll do our best to help you figure it out."

"Let's start with what we know you are - you are Axl, you are Agent 7, and you're our friend," Koji smiled. "And that's not gonna change. Think of that as your anchor point for your identity."

Orion nodded enthusiastically.

Axl mulled it over, internalising those facts in his mind. It wasn't much, but it had struck a chord in his head. He could work with that.

The smile and the nod he gave his friends was enough to reassure them that their words had indeed sunken in.

❖​

Ethan had taken Marino to one of the Splatoon's new training facilities, since she was already basically in the know and he felt she could be trusted. Besides, might as well have more people help put the facility through its paces now that it was actually finished.

Marino whistled, looking out from the observation room. "Wow, this is really impressive stuff. Even the most elite Octoling troops don't get training facilities like these. Did my sis help design this?"

"Yep, I don't quite understand how it all works myself, but from what I do understand it's basically based heavily on Octarian tech but taken even further. Marina made something similar for the 'Shifty Stations' she designs for Splatfests," said Ethan as he previewed some layouts on a nearby computer. "The whole thing will automatically come apart and reassemble into whatever design we want. Observe!"

He changed the layout to an approximate simulacrum of Blackbelly Skatepark, and pressed the apply button. The whole stage began to disassemble into its component block parts, starting from the outer circumference until the whole stage was basically gone, and then it began reassembling into the new specified layout. The process took only a few minutes, and was mesmerising to watch.

"You have no idea how lucky and privileged you guys are," Marino said.

"Believe me, we kinda do," said Ethan. "Alright, all we need to do next is to sync the respawn points to our teams and we'll be good to go. On on one, three lives each, first person to lose all of their lives loses. That good with you?"

"Sounds perfect," Marino smiled, "I'm going to absolutely enjoy this."

❖​

Ethan found himself in a familiar place again, on his last life on the respawn point, fighting an Octoling elite.

Last time he had been panicking, scared out of his wits by the unexpected scenario, respawn point out of power and having foolishly split off from Ayane because they had decided they were getting in each other's way. The most terrifying experience of his whole life - one that he had decided he never wanted to repeat, and he had been training his butt off to make sure of that.

But this was different. As familiar as this was, the respawn point's reassuring hum kept him from panicking. It was still powered, and he knew at the back of his mind there was a backup in the observation room if something went wrong, and the dual green lights to his right indicated that was still working just fine. And even then, he could just super-jump to safety.

But fleeing was the last thing on his mind right now. He felt excited. Exhilarated. Sure, this was basically a regular competitive ink battle, but fighting such a capable opponent ignited something inside him that, in the last two years, only Ayane, Axl and a few others had inspired in him.

He had always been something of a battle junkie. But when few opponents can really challenge him… The fire had mostly gone out. Now it was back with a vengeance.

He raced towards the midpoint, Hero Roller Replica in hand. Fortunately, he had splatted Marino twice as well. It all came down to this, and he was here for it.

Marino was sitting on the edge of the tower, her goggles over her eyes and an Octo Shot in one hand. She did a cheeky little wave as she spotted his approach. Trying to sneak up on her was a futile effort, she had already covered the surrounding area with her ink. So he sent a curling bomb ahead of his advance, and the moment she was in range, he swung a vertical strike, to cover the tower and to hit her, but she flipped back and out of sight.

Oh, no. He wasn't falling for that trick again. He had already chased her and splattered the top of the tower once, only for her to be hanging from the ledge opposite from him and flipped up right after he had swung, splatting him immediately.

He started painting his side of the tower, before racing around to the left to the other side, refilling his ink as he went, watching the top carefully.

But she wasn't on the other side.

"Nice try!" Marino taunted, standing on the wall of the right side alley on her side of the map, spraying ink down onto him before tossing a Splat Bomb. When did she get over there?!

Thinking quickly, Ethan dashed over to the ramp over near the alley, taking cover behind the bumper and fully refilling. This section was where she had the advantage, with her speed and agility, she could ambush him from anywhere.

He advanced cautiously, checking his corners. She wasn't up high, so… He took note of the short wall in the half-pipe, pulled out a curling bomb, and sent it right past the wall… Timed to explode just as it passed.

Marino flipped right over on top of the wall as the bomb exploded, hurling another Splat Bomb right at his position.

If he tried to escape, he'd lose her. So he rushed her with a horizontal swing instead, knowing he'd be right in her sights.

She leaped back, spraying ink at him, hitting him a couple of times as she disappeared from sight, though his ink had splattered her body as well.

If he stopped here, she'd disappear and this chase would happen all over again. But if he gave chase, she'd have the perfect ambush opportunity. She'd nail him if he went right at her. So he had to try and mix up his movement instead.

He splattered the half-pipe around the wall with ink, swam right up it, and launched himself off the half-pipe with as much force as he could muster, moving diagonally.

The instant he saw her, he swung.

Marino's aim tracking was just barely off. There was a brief look of panic on her face before she was splatted.

He heard the whistle go off as he landed, followed by the victory theme. He was panting and covered in sweat and ink. He won. He had actually won.

He super-jumped back to the observation room, roller over his shoulder as he walked in. He saw Marino sitting on a chair near the respawn pad, goggles raised. "Gotta say, that was a close fight."

Marino chuckled, standing up and walking over to him. "You beat me fair and square. Congratulations. You really have improved since we first met."

"Well, I have you to thank for giving me the motivation to really improve, so… Thanks," Ethan said, as Marino came up right up in his face. "Uh… So what do I wi-"

She planted a kiss right on his lips, hands on the sides of his face.

Ethan's eyes widened, but he didn't resist, instead reciprocating and leaning into the slow, sensual lip-lock. He was just going to enjoy this while it lasted.

After a good minute of kissing, Marino pulled away, with a smirk. "I'm not your first, am I?"

"Ayane and I used to date. It didn't work out," said Ethan, face flushed, but he was smiling regardless.

"Well. Too bad for her, and lucky for me."

Ethan blinked. "I don't get what you mean."

"Geez, you're kinda dense when it comes to anything other than fighting," Marino shook her head with a chuckle. "Lemme make this simple. Wanna go out sometime?"

Oh.

Ooooooooooohhhhh.

He grinned, "it would be my pleasure."

"Good~! Let's exchange numbers."

They did so. And when they did, well… Marino immediately goosed him, before walking out. "Call me later so we can make plans, handsome. I'm thinking a nice cafe or something. Later~"

"Uh… That'd be nice!" Ethan said, completely red in the face.

Oh boy. Ooooooooohhhhh boy.

He didn't know if he was more nervous about fighting Marino or dating her, now.

❖​

Axl wasn't sure how the girls would react to Orion looking feminine when they met up at the Square.

Any worries he had were immediately assuaged by the fact that Artemis, Iris and Hinata immediately squealed and crowded around Orion when they saw and recognised him, though it did make him very flustered.

"Oh my gosh you're adorable!" Hinata said, "you and Artemis look like you could almost be twins!"

Iris nodded, "yes, I thought he was a second Artemis for a moment there! I was so confused…"

"I know, right?!" Artemis stood side by side her brother, "I don't know what brought this on but it works really well!"

"Well, I still need to figure out my own look," Orion mumbled, looking down at the ground, shifting awkwardly. "Koji helped me with this, but he said I was just copying Artemis."

"I mean, using your own sister for a reference point isn't a bad idea in this case, it obviously worked," Koji said.

"There's no rush to do that," Axl said, putting a hand on Orion's shoulder, reassuringly (or at least trying to). "We'll figure out what works for you as we go. You're only just figuring this out."

Karlene had been staring with an open jaw the whole time, but she closed it and came over to Orion, "so you're thinking of transitioning, then?"

"Well… Maybe? I'm not sure if I want to stop being a guy," Orion said, rubbing his arm. "Ever since I was part of Leviathan, I just felt like I should try out being more feminine… And also I felt like Leviathan's body had something I felt like I had been missing all my life. Just not sure what, exactly…"

"I totally understand. I've been where you are, when I wasn't sure of who I wanted to be," said Karlene, taking his hand. "If you want to talk to me about anything, I'll do my best to listen when I can."

"Thanks, Karlene," Orion nodded.

"We'll figure out what style suits you best. For now, just get used to having a feminine look. No need to do everything at once."

Axl smiled. Maybe this whole thing might work out after all.

"Hey, Karlene…" Liam stepped up, "this is pretty overdue, but… Sorry. For making you put up with my anger issues. I wasn't being fair to you, and, well, we were supposed to be…"

Karlene blinked, and then chuckled, "bros? Yeah, I know. I guess it wasn't fair for me to just abandon you, either."

"Just because you're a girl now doesn't mean we can't still be bros."

That actually got Karlene to laugh. "I don't think that makes sense, but I get what you're trying to say. Sure. We can still be rivals, but I'm happy to be your friend again."

Liam smiled softly, "thanks, Karlene."

Yep. Things were definitely looking up.

❖​

X rubbed his chin. "I didn't realise a fusion might inspire that kind of realisation in someone, but it make a surprising amount of sense. Orion's true gender identity might actually end up being some form of intersex."

"Hey, good for him," Pearl said.

They were all at the Outpost once again, meeting up after another round of ink battles for the day. Ayane personally didn't care what gender Orion wanted to be, it was entirely his choice and she'd respect it.

But there was something else that was very much occupying her mind right now.

"Where the shell is Ethan? He's late," Ayane grumbled.

"Maybe he got held up at Octo Valley?" Artemis suggested. "Or maybe he got jumped…"

"If something happened to him, we'd know," said Marie. "But yes, he is oddly tardy."

Ethan suddenly popped out of the manhole, looking rather awkward. "Hey, everyone, sorry I'm late. One thing lead to another, and some stuff happened…"

Ayane's eyes narrowed. "Don't be vague, Ethan."

"Okay, okay, I ran into Marino at the fake skatepark in Octo Valley, turns out we were both there to reminisce. Then she challenged me to a proper one-on-one fight, and now, uh… Well, I did win, so that's nice…"

"Ethan, there's something else you're omitting from your story."

Ethan bit his lower lip. "Ah hah… I'm now dating Marino."

"WHAT?!" There was an immediate uproar from everyone else present.

Ayane was just flabbergasted. Ethan, dating Marino all of a sudden?! How did this happen?!

"You're going to be my brother in law?!" Marina squeaked.

Everyone stared at her, bewildered.

Pearl said, "I think that's a rather premature thing to say, 'Rina…"

"Sorry. Panicked. Just blurted out the first thing that somehow came to mind," Marina said, blushing.

As everyone else crowded around Ethan asking questions, Ayane just sat there, trying to process the notion in her head.

And she wasn't sure she liked it one bit.

---

A/N: Orion's sexual identity thing is something that I hope I'm handling right, at the very least.

 

[Candescence]

So the latest chapter is gonna be a bit late, this week has been pretty busy for me.

But just to tide you folks over for the time being, this was recently finished for me!


View: https://twitter.com/Oomy_tako/status/1620630946239385600?s=20&t=Ftd-CENTGNqa3A9qMmYrtQ

This lovely piece of art of Octoling Ciel was done by Oomy_tako, who does Splatoon art, and he did a marvelous job. I've got a few other pieces coming down the pipeline, so stay tuned for those as well.

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 23: The Pleasant Phantom Thief (III)​

The underground robotics labs where Wily's AI once operated unnerved Ciel greatly - dark, claustrophobic and she needed some help to move things around so she could work properly. It was all set up for remote operation by an AI. It reminded her of how inhuman Wily had become in his final days.

It had taken her a few hours on her first day to familiarise herself with the equipment - fortunately Dr. Light was able to modify the programs to have Inkling and Octoling translations for the user interfaces. It didn't take long for her to realise what she had at her disposal - while mass production was basically out of the question for now since the facilities for mass production of robots and the Sanitized Octarians had been flooded, she could still use these machines to produce specific parts for specialised designs. And yet Wily had squandered what he had, failing to produce anything noteworthy after Zero.

She had wasted no time drafting up her first design. With access to X and Zero's schematics and code-bases, Ciel saw enormous opportunity.

Of course, Ciel could have just made another humanoid robot, but that would've been too unambitious, even for a learning experience, and she wanted to save RiCO and iCO's data for something special. Right now, she wanted to create a robot who could fill in for X as a protector now that he was focused on Arcadia. A compassionate warrior willing to fight to protect innocent lives, like Mega Man and X.

Of course, once the production of components commenced, Ciel needed to do something else to pass the time. So she started cleaning up the lab and reorganising it fully, with the help of the 'Mega Man Killers' and the Genesis Unit. While some of them weren't adapting to reform quite so well, all of them seemed to be actually making an effort at it.

"I do confess, Doctor, I am intrigued by what you're constructing," Mega Water S said, looking over the schematics on the computer. "A brand new Robot Master with an animal theme. Those were quite rare back in the day."

"Well, it wouldn't make sense for me to create a human-like robot. And until I can create more lifelike sea creature designs, I decided this design made more sense for what I had in mind," Ciel smiled as she rearranged one of the shelves. "She'll be as strong as X and Zero."

"Only they'd be able to keep her in check if she goes rogue, however. You are designing a robot with full free will, after all."

"I used the test data from X's capsule to better design her AI to act ethically and morally. She'll have her own personality, but it should be fine."

"That doesn't guarentee anything, you know. Proto Man's AI was made by Dr. Light, but he turned out very differently. And both Bass and Zero proved to be uncontrollable as far as Wily was concerned. You can't take how she'll act for granted, Doctor."

Ciel spent a bit of time mulling over what he said, before Ballade suddenly came over with some kind of helmet-shaped device. "Doctor, I found this amongst Wily's experimental gadgets. I had a hunch that you might find it interesting."

"Thank you, Ballade," said Ciel as she took the device, examining it closely. "Now what is this…?"

❖​

Ahato Mizuta's eyes fluttered open as she finally regained consciousness. She had no idea how long she had been adrift in a dreamless sleep.

But for the first time in so long, she felt more like herself again.

Looking down at herself in her hospital gown, she noticed her body still had signs of sanitisation, but it was much more patchy, with her natural, darker skin tone visible for the first time since she had undergone the process. Her fingertips had changed to a more natural blue, likely the ink colour her body was using at present. She had an IV drip inserted into one arm, and a tube with sanitised ooze slowly being extracted from her body in the other.

But most importantly, she didn't feel like her mind was being controlled. And she could feel her own heartbeat again. She felt alive.

"Oh, you're awake! How're you feeling?"

Ahato turned her head to her right. Sitting by her bed were two Inkling girls, and behind them was X, who called out for the doctor. But she was most focused on the girls, who she swore she recognised. She didn't recognise the casual everyday outfits, but the faces…

She spoke hoarsely in Inkling, "You're… You're the… Squid Sisters…"

Normally she would be absolutely over the moon about meeting them. She wanted to be way more excited, but she didn't feel awake enough for that. So the best she could manage was a tired smile.

"The one and only! Stay fresh~!" Callie giggled, as the pair did their iconic hand gestures.

"Don't worry about working yourself up to be excited on our account, Ahato, we know you're still tired," said Marie. "It's been about a week since the doctors started pumping the ooze out of you. How do you feel?"

"More… Like myself, I guess," Ahato said. "Is… Is it true? Is Telephone gone?"

"Gone twice over! We definitely made sure of that," said Callie with a grin, "good riddance, too. X is in charge of Kamabo now… Well, now it's 'Arcadia Corporation'."

"I'm taking the company in a better direction, now, and working towards fixing the harm Kamabo caused," said X. "It's going to be okay, Ahato. You're already on the road to recovery."

"Thank… You…" Ahato felt something wet on her cheeks. She was confused for a moment, but then she realised they were tears. How long had it been since she was actually able to feel her own tears? In fact, how many times had she cried since she was sanitised? She remembered it happened more than a few times, but the rest was a blur.

That's when the Professor and his assistant came in, but also someone else Ahato didn't recognise - an Inkling male in a lab coat, with orange eyes and slicked back hair with sideburns.

The Professor smiled, "good to see you're awake and well, Miss Mizuta. Your vitals are encouraging, and we've removed over a third to a half of the ooze from your body. Cinnamon, if you would?"

The nurse fetched a mirror, showing Ahato's own face to her. Her right eye was back to a normal purple, and the skin around it normal as well, but her left eye was still sanitised. "I know it's probably not quite what you're hoping for, but it's an enormous improvement!"

Ahato couldn't help but find herself agreeing. Her left eye was still a stark reminder of what she had gone through, but the fact that it was receding was a dream come true. It wasn't even her appearance that bothered her all that much, either, it was having to make the agonising decision to lose her free will so she wouldn't feel so miserable working for Kamabo.

But if the telephone was gone and she was on the surface at last? She was truly free at last. And the two people who had inspired her to try and make the journey here had come personally to welcome her. Words could not express her sheer joy.

"Hey, Professor, who's this?" Callie asked, looking over the Inkling male.

"Oh, right, I hadn't introduced you yet! This is Professor Julius Psyche, a colleague of mine at the university. His speciality is engineering, and his assistance was invaluable when it came to optimising the setup for the ooze extraction," said Professor Gaudile, gesturing to the male.

"Yes, I wish I could stay longer but I'm afraid I have other places to be soon. Still, a marvellous pleasure to meet you three. You can also call me 'Dr. Psyche' if you'd prefer," Psyche said as he shook hands with the Squid Sisters, and then X, pausing as he did so. "You're X, then? Truly remarkable, were it not for my keen eye I would have trouble telling that you were actually a robot. I've heard you have some kind of arm cannon weapon?"

X nodded, changing his left hand into an arm cannon, "yes, that's correct. This is my 'X-Buster', technically the Mega Buster Mark 17."

"Marvellous… So powerful and yet so compact and elegant! Your creator was a true master of his craft! Oh, if only we knew more about human technology," Psyche said, with a glint in his eye that unnerved Ahato greatly, but she wasn't sure why.

"Well, perhaps some of it should remain buried," said X, as his arm cannon changed back into his hand. "I guess I appreciate the compliment?"

"At any rate, good to see your recovery is going smoothly, Miss Mizuta. Now, if you'd excuse me, I must go," Psyche said, as he walked out.

"He's a bit odd, isn't he?" said Marie.

"Oh, yeah, he's definitely a bit of an oddball," said Callie, turning back to Ahato, and taking her hand. It was so warm. She… She really liked it. "Anyway! We'll try to visit as often as we can. Our schedules are still kinda packed, but…"

"No, I understand… Just making the effort is enough for me," Ahato smiled, as she sat up against the pillow, taking it slow. She just let the tears of joy flow. "The both of you inspired me to try and make it to the surface. It took me longer than I thought it would, and I thought I've never make it. Just being here makes me so happy."

Callie sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes as well. "Stop, you're gonna make me cry as well…"

"Looks like you two are gonna get along swimmingly," said Marie. A smirk formed on her face as she turned to her cousin, "hey, Callie, didn't you say Ahato was cute?"

Callie's eyes widened and her face became flushed. "N-Not in that way! She's adorable, especially with the peek-a-bang thing she has with her hair-"

"-I think Octavio's brainwashing has caused you to develop a thing for Octolings, cous."

"Nooooooo I don't you're imagining things."

Ahato couldn't help but giggle at the banter. Being around people who cared about her… It just felt so nice.

❖​

"So this helmet thing can transmit data into people's heads, huh?" Ayane said, as she looked over the device Ciel had brought to the training room. She, Ethan and all the junior agents were here in one room, along with one of Dr. Light's capsules.

"Indeed, it seems Wily was tinkering with the idea of transmitting his digitised mind into a new organic body… Whether it be a brand new one, or stealing someone else's, I'm not sure," said Dr. Light.

"Yikes, I don't want to think about that," Karlene winced.

"Well, I've made sure it can't be used to just overwrite someone's mind entirely," said Ciel. "Instead, it can be used to transmit certain types of neural data into the brain safely. I've tested it on myself. Observe!"

She focused, and before Ayane's eyes, she executed a Hadoken. Not a flawless one, but it was still bigger than the ones Orion was throwing. "I used the Anasatsuken data to test it!"

"Wait so we can learn Ansatsuken instantly?!" Artemis said, her eyes sparkling with glee, "I am so ready to do that!"

"It's not that simple, you gotta spend some time developing the muscle memory for it first before you can actually master it," said Ciel. "But it does make the process of learning it a lot easier. Don't worry, it's safe, the worst that can happen is that it just doesn't work. You're free to use it if you want."

"Hey, not gonna pass up instant martial arts training," Ethan grinned as he put the helmet device on. The lights on it powered on, and after a few seconds, Ethan froze up, but he relaxed when it powered down. "Oh wow that feels so weird."

He took off the helmet, and threw a Hadoken of his own. Again, rather imperfect, but the fact that he could do it at all with such proficiency was astonishing. He handed the helmet over to Ayane. "Ayane, you should give it a shot."

Ayane took a deep breath, and put it on. It powered on, and she felt her whole body go numb, if briefly, tingling from top to bottom, and the rush of information was so startling, but all of it swiftly subsided. She took it off, handed it off to Ciel, and focused - it was one thing to know the steps to achieve using her ki, but actually knowing intrinsically how to do it was another matter, which was why her resulting Hadoken fizzled out quickly. She threw a few punches followed by a few kicks. She and Ethan already had some martial arts training over the last two years, just in case, so she had better muscle memory for it. "Neat. I guess I know kung-fu."

Artemis was next to do it (very eagerly in fact), followed by the rest of the agents. As expected, Orion's first true Hadoken was the most well-formed. Artemis tried a hurricane kick and just ended up falling on her face.

"Absolutely awesome! Can't wait to start sparring!" Liam grinned, as he started throwing punches.

"Well, too bad, we're not doing that today. Maybe another time, or in your own time, but today is Charger practice," Ayane said. "Everyone grab your Chargers and get ready to start sniping those balloons, I want to see all of you beat your best times by the time we're done here today."

There was a bit of grumbling, but the junior agents immediately got to it. Ciel said farewell and left with the capsule.

As Ayane watched the younger agents perform their specific time trials, she glanced at Ethan, who was watching beside her. "So. We going after that phantom thief?"

"Maybe. Dunno where we'd start, though," Ethan shrugged.

"I've got something. Did some digging around - there's an information broker rumoured to be the thief's of intel on their targets - name's Spider."

"Not sure we have the cash to pay him, assuming he'll sell to us at all."

"He's a card shark, he'll give away info for free if one beats him at the table. We'll go find him tomorrow night after our matches. You're better at poker than I am, so…"

"Right, right, fair enough. Still, why are you so interested? It's not like the thief has done anything real bad yet."

Ayane sighed. "Marina and Ciel think the thief's using a prototype Octarian special called a 'Zipcaster', meaning they're probably an Octoling. If the public finds out that the criminal is an Octoling…"

Ethan took a moment to process this, and then winced. "Oooooohhhh. Okay, yeah, I get it. So you want to stop them before that potentially happens."

"Look, if you don't wanna do this, I can do it by myself."

"No, it's alright, I'll help."

"Okay. Good. Glad that's sorted."

There was an awkward pause for about a minute before Ayane decided to bring up the elephant seal in the room. "I'm not sure Marino is the right person to be your girlfriend."

Ethan blinked. "What? Why? Is it because she's older than me? You and I are both eighteen now and I think she's like, what, a year or two older than me?"

"That's not it."

"You don't trust her because she nearly killed me?"

"No, I think her apology was genuine. I don't think she's loyal to Octavio anymore."

"Then why? Wait… You can't seriously be jealous, are you?"

That set something off in Ayane, who turned to him, "don't be ridiculous. Our relationship didn't work out, and I'm at peace with that. End. Of. Story."

Ethan turned towards her in turn, "then what is it? I believe you, but unless you can give me a good reason-"

"-I DON'T KNOW WHY, OKAY?!" Ayane snapped.

There was a stunned silence from everyone around her, including the junior agents, staring at her in surprise. That was the most emotional they've ever seen her. With a quick glare from her, they immediately went back to their training.

Ethan frowned. "Ayane…"

"Sorry, it's just a feeling in my gut that I can't really describe… I think… I don't want to see you heartbroken again," said Ayane, rubbing her arm awkwardly. "I thought we had something after Octo Valley, and then… The passion just wasn't there. I don't want you to go through that again. I know she's hot and stuff, but if that's all there is to her…"

"No, I get it, but I'm okay with taking that risk." Ethan hugged her. "Thanks for looking out for me, Ayane."

Ayane blushed, hugging him back, "y-you're welcome."

Then she noticed some of the trainees staring at them, and she did the glare again, causing them to urgently get back to sniping. Now she just felt embarrassed, she didn't mean to get so emotional around the juniors.

But ultimately, at the core of it was that she just wanted Ethan to be happy. Maybe it was because he was like a brother she never had. Either way, she'd make sure he wouldn't be let down again.

❖​

"Seriously, any idea what THAT was about?! I've never seen Ayane get that worked up!" Artemis said, as she walked along with her dorm-mates back to their dorm.

Iris had been rather startled too at the time. Ayane being anything other than kinda stoic was a bit of whiplash for her. Guess she just kept her emotions close to her chest.

"Apparently she and Ethan used to date, but it didn't work out. It was kind of a big story in the competitive scene," said Karlene as they reached their dorm, and she took out her key, unlocking the door.

Iris sighed. "I'm sure they would've made a cute couple, but I understand if they'd rather see other people."

"Speaking of cute couples… You saw Orion and Axl holding hands, right? They've been doing it since yesterday," said Hinata with a giggle as they went in.

Iris wasn't really convinced that meant a lot. "They're just holding hands, though…"

Artemis chuckled. "Eh, I can believe my brother's gay. He's never had any interest in girls, and was always kinda awkward around other guys. Guess it took Axl to open up the closet. I'm happy for him."

"You should know, you're pretty gay yourself," Karlene smirked. "You were blushing like crazy after you had your head on Iris' lap."

While that got Artemis blushing, Iris couldn't help but feel flustered as well. She was still not used to having that kind of attention - the lap thing was something she thought was fairly innocuous, but apparently Artemis had very different thoughts.

Artemis tugged on her collar, "I mean, I didn't really expect it, and… Look, I'm not gonna beat around the bush, Iris is… Attractive! Very attractive."

"You mean 'sexy'," Hinata grinned.

"I'm trying to be polite about it, Hinata!"

Artemis made eye contact with Iris… And then suddenly bowed, as if she saw something in Iris' look that made her panic. "I'msorryI'msuchapervert!"

"I wouldn't go that far, Arti," Karlene chuckled. "It's not like you've been peeping on her or anything…"

Iris was paralysed. She had no idea what to say. Did… Did Artemis like her in… That way? For real?

And then Colonel only made her panic more by suggesting, you should ask her out on a date.

WHAT?! A DATE?!

You're never going to release the tension in this room unless you bite the bullet and ask her out. You know you've had a crush on her ever since you two first met.

At first that sounded ridiculous… Until she recalled the first time they had met. When Artemis pulled her off that ladder and up into the sunlight. That gesture of kindness had resonated with her far more than she had realised.

"So… Um…" Iris rubbed her arm, "Artemis… Would you like to… Um…"

Artemis looked confused for a second, but then apparently she realised what she was asking, because she was now red in the face. "Well, I wouldn't… Uh… Mind…"

"Oh for the love of cod just ask each other out on a date already," Karlene groaned.

"Okay fine!!!" Iris blurted, "Artemis, please go out with me sometime!"

Artemis was stunned silent. But she smiled, and walked over to Iris, kissing her on the cheek. "Sure. I'd love to, Iris."

Iris nearly lost consciousness then and there. But she held herself together, looking down at the floor nervously, "w-well, we could go to that burger place again…"

"I've heard of worse places for a first date. I'm down."

On one hand, it was an absolute relief for Iris to finally get that off her chest.

On the other hand… This was more nerve-wracking than any battle she had ever fought. And that was saying something.

 

[Candescence]

So remember when I said there was more art incoming? Well... I also may have commissioned some music as well. But first!


View: https://twitter.com/CandescenceAria/status/1625324677584556032

Spoiler: Full-res art

More VCampan art, this time depicting the start of the Spinal Phase fight! It came out amazing and I cannot thank him enough for his incredible work.


And secondly... Music. Yes, I commissioned the wonderful RoBKTA to do a mashup remix of X Vs. Zero and Splattack (Octo) in the style of Dedf1sh. He absolutely had a ton of fun working on it, and it sounds phenomenal.


View: https://twitter.com/CandescenceAria/status/1626947333559816192

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSzjCAYDvzI

View: https://soundcloud.com/candescence-766547406/x-vs-zero-splattack-ded1sh-octo-hybrid-mix-by-robkta


But yeah, I'll try and get the next chapter out by the end of the weekend.

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 24: The Pleasant Phantom Thief (IV)​

Ciel yawned as she arrived in the lab the next morning. Ugh, she hated being down so far underground on a nice morning like this, but it couldn't be helped. X said Kamabo did actually have an Inkopolis headquarters that would work nicely for a new office and engineering space, but the building was basically a shell that needed a bit of renovation before it was ready to move all the equipment to.

"Doctor, the parts are all ready, we've properly organised them," Enker said, saluting as Ciel arrived.

"Thank you, Enker," Ciel smiled, looking over the array of parts before her. "We'll get the electronics ready for assembly, then assemble the whole structure, before we overlay the construction with the artificial skin. Hopefully we can get this done and have her activated by nightfall."

"Sheesh, she's gonna be a powerhouse with those specs," Hyper Storm H said, "kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"Oh, suck it up, Pigsy, it's not like she's gonna attack us the instant she turns on," Buster Rod G said, hesitating for a moment, "right…?"

"Let's just hope the good Doctor is as good with AI as she is with the engineering side of the equation," said Ballade.

Ciel giggled, before she immediately got to work. Even if the Wily bots were nervous, she had full confidence in her creation. All that was left was to put her together.

❖​

Callie was beyond thrilled as she sat opposite Zero at the table. Finally, a proper date! And he looked so dashing and handsome. Well, that was always the case, but he looked particularly so today.

They were spending time together at a cafe near the Square, sitting at a table outside. It was a modest location for a date, but for a first one, it was perfectly fine. Callie had to admit that this was a bit sudden, after all she had only known Zero for little over two weeks and only even interacted with him for half that time, but after months of non-stop stress she decided she needed to get back into the dating game, and who better to start with than that handsome charmer?

"This is a pretty nice place. You sure know how to pick 'em, Callie," Zero chuckled, leaning forward with both arms on the table as he put down his coffee.

"What can I say? I know all the best places in Inkopolis," Callie said with a wink, trying to restrain her glee at the compliment. Part of her was chiding her for acting like some lovestruck schoolgirl, but Zero was someone she could trust, and dangit, she wanted to be something other than a 'responsible adult' for the time being. Okay, that didn't sound good when one put it like that, but still.

Zero smiled, "seriously, I can't thank you and your cousin enough for helping me get a foothold here in Inkopolis. At some point I'd like to pay you both back."

"I think going out with me works just fine for now," said Callie. "Though I appreciate that you picked me for your first date. Why not, say, Ciel? I know she's had her eye on you."

Zero sighed, taking a sip of his coffee before speaking, "she's busy now that X hired her. Also, I'm pretty sure she's not quite ready yet for a relationship. Everyone's busy now. X may be paying the rent since he's now a big-time CEO, but I can't just slack off and cruise along."

It was nice to know Zero had a commendable work ethic, at least. Callie took a sip of her coffee as well. "What're you thinking of doing for a living."

"I dunno. Maybe I could spend some time doing Salmon Run shifts, but I don't wanna do that forever, either. Mr. Grizz rubs me the wrong way - especially since X mentioned he knows the term 'Robot Master'. Honestly, I was kinda thinking of getting into music. I'm pretty handy with a guitar."

Callie had so, so many questions about that - she honestly didn't know he could play an instrument. In fact… "Wait, how do you know how to play the guitar? You're a combat robot."

Zero shrugged. "Wily programmed all sorts of weird quirks into his robots, apparently. I'm hardly the first in that regard."

Callie thought back to the battle in the bay against Gamma. Wily's AI was an unforgettable part of that whole affair, but Callie couldn't picture him as an eccentric mad scientist as much as one would think - the Wily they had faced that day was bitter and hateful. "That's not the same Wily we fought two weeks ago…"

She could see Zero stewing over those words, before he shrugged in resignation. "Don't ask me, I was never close to the old man. Partly because during only times I was active back then I was completely insane and uncontrollable. But I remember that he was already old and bitter back then, running out of time. It was kinda pitiable, to be honest."

Callie looked down at her coffee. She had heard the whole story about Light and Wily, so that required no further elaboration on anyone's part. She just felt sorry for Wily, to be frank, even if he did do some terrible things. "Maybe… Maybe he should've just give up on the whole world domination thing and tried to become respected the old-fashioned way. It's not like trying to take over the world ever got him the respect he wanted."

Zero nodded sagely as he took another sip. At this point one of the staff brought them their food, and he nodded to them in thanks. "And the great irony is, he ended up being basically forgotten anyway. What a waste of time and effort."

Both of them were silent as they began to eat, the topic bringing down the mood somewhat. It was not a direction Callie had hoped or expected to take this conversation in, but then again, it's not like they were mad at each other or anything, so she thought of a new topic, remembering the guitar thing, and she decided to-

"So, changing the subject, is it that easy for Inklings to transition?"

Callie nearly choked on her food. What on Earth brought up that topic into his head?! But it was something, so she tried to roll with it, swallowing first. "Excuse me?!"

"Koji and Karlene both transitioned, right? They look and sound naturally male and female," Zero explained, putting down his cutlery. "So are they really completely transitioned? How does that even work when they're still teens?"

Callie tried to recall what she knew about the topic as she cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'm not exactly an expert, but I think it's pretty much entirely physical therapy. We can transform and stuff, right? Our bodies are pretty, uh… Malleable, yeah, that's the word I'm looking for. So when most Inklings transition, it's a pretty straightforward process, though it does take time, and… Well…"

"Well?"

Callie winced. This was the awkward part. "You can't change what's between your legs. That's gotta be done with surgery and stuff. Changing vocal chords and body shape and stuff like that? Much easier. Your sexual organs, on the other hand…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the picture, thanks," Zero said, blushing a little. "Sorry, bit of an awkward topic but it's been really nagging at me."

Yep, time to change the subject to something much less awkward. Callie clapped her hands together, "SO! Guitar! Have you actually had the chance to play it?"

Zero chuckled, getting back to eating, "nope. I've been meaning to borrow one from someone, but you and Marie are singers and I dunno if Pearl or Marina own one either."

Callie tried to picture Pearl trying to play the guitar, and laughed. "Pearl used to be in a heavy metal band but she was the vocalist. Have you heard one of her earliest songs before she met Marina? Axl sent it to me and it's hilarious."

"No? What's it called?" Zero asked, taking in a bite.

"#$@%* Dudes Be #$@%* Sleepin."

Now it was Zero's turn to nearly choke on his food, though this time it was because he was blatantly on the verge of laughing his ass off. He swallowed, and turned to the side, laughing as he held onto the edge of the table. "SERIOUSLY?!"

Callie was laughing as well as she recounted the whole thing, leaning forward and holding onto the table. "Yeah! None of the radio stations would play it, it's the most creatively vulgar song about cussing out bad Turf War teammates I've ever heard! Cod, Pearl's so great."

Zero reoriented himself, wiping away a tear with his finger. "Oh man, that's great. I need to dive into her discography. And yours too. Haven't had a ton of time for music."

"I don't have a lot of solo singles. Probably my most popular is still 'Bomb Rush Blush'. And I haven't performed that one live since that 'performance' in Octo Canyon…"

Another voice cut in to the conversation. "You still can be proud of that one, though. Between it and the Calamari Inkantation, it was a very impressive show."

Callie blinked as she turned to the group of four Octolings that were walking towards them. It took a moment for her to recognise them, but when she did, she was delighted. "Alia, Layer, Palette, Nana! I was wondering where you guys had gone since we locked up Octavio!"

The four girls were of varying height - Alia and Nana were about the same as Callie herself, while Palette was on the shorter end and Layer was significantly taller, since she was a Pacific Giant Octopus, being large in basically all the right ways (Callie was admittedly somewhat jealous). Alia had blue eyes and had her back tentacles draped over her shoulders, Layer had green eyes (not that one could see most of the time due to her hair covering her eyes, made Callie wonder how she could see through it), Palette's eyes were blue and she had the twin-tailed look, and Nana had blue eyes and one of her tentacles was white, giving the impression of a white fringe, which Callie remembered was a biological condition of hers.

Zero blinked, looking them over. She imagined he was probably rather confused right now. "You know these ladies, Callie?"

Callie stood up, wanting to properly greet them. "Yeah, I made friends with them in Octo Canyon while I was brainwashed - they were soldiers who served under Octavio, and they also fought Artemis and Orion at one point. I wanted to get in touch with them again once my head was fixed, hoping to convince them to come to Inkopolis, but I couldn't find them afterwards."

"Sorry if we worried you, Callie, but after hearing the Inkantation and realising you were brainwashed… We wanted to come to Inkopolis on our own," Alia smiled, as Callie hugged the girls individually. "We were trying to figure out how to contact you until we saw you out here."

"Yeah, kind of a weird coincidence but like heck we're complaining!" Palette giggled. She looked over Zero. "By the way, who's this? He doesn't look like an Inkling or an Octoling."

"Oh, this is my boyfriend, Zero. He's a robot who was created 12,000 years ago, like X," Callie explained, gesturing to him with a bit of a blush.

Zero got up from his chair, with a casual wave and that charming smile that never failed to completely disarm Callie, "nice to meet you girls. I hope we get along!"

Layer was blushing as she looked him over. She was always the more quieter and more reserved of the four, so it wasn't a surprise that his charms affected her. "O-Oh, nice to meet you too… Callie, you didn't tell us you had a boyfriend…"

Callie laughed sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Actually this is our first date. We only met like two weeks ago. I just wanted to get back into the dating game again, you know? De-stress after so much time at work and after the whole brainwashing thing."

"Oh, we understand, you told us about how stressed you were at work," Nana nodded. "But now that we've run into each other, maybe we can hang out sometime?"

Oh, Callie couldn't be happier to hear that. "Sure! Let's exchange numbers, I'd be happy to hang with you again!" They looked very happy and excited when she said this, which was why she probably shouldn't have stepped in it by following that up with, "I was worried that you guys thought I betrayed you."

The sudden shift in expressions on their faces wasn't what Callie expected, but they was more awkward and embarrassed instead. Alia sighed, "we kinda did at first, but then the Inkantation hit, and we realised what was really going on. Honestly we were worried that you were mad at us."

Callie was shocked and baffled, gasping almost overdramatically for effect, "me? Mad at you guys?! Why would you think that?!"

Zero spoke up with a smile, "yeah, it wasn't your fault she was brainwashed, and it sounds like you didn't know, either. You don't need to feel guilt over what Octavio did."

Alia and Nana smiled. Layer let out a deep, relived sigh.

Palette, on the other hand, sniffed, and then burst into tears, hugging Callie. "YOU GUYS ARE THE BEEEEESSSSSST!"

"Okay, okay, settle down, Palette," Callie giggled, hugging her back. She was always the most overdramatic. "It's okay. If you guys ever need help settling in to Inkopolis, or anything else, just call."

"Oh, right! Numbers!" Nana said, getting out her phone in a hurry.

They wasted little time exchanging numbers. Callie felt incredibly satisfied to finally be able to contact them, let alone know they were okay.

And then Layer spoiled the mood by turning to Zero, "oh, would you mind… If we exchanged numbers as well?"

WHAT?! He wouldn't-

"Sure, I don't see why not," Zero said, taking out his phone as well.

Callie was aghast as he watched him exchange numbers with them. You don't just exchange numbers with someone else's boyfriend!

"Alright, we should probably get going and leave you to your date. See you guys later," Alia smiled. As they started to move… She gave Zero the 'call me' sign.

Callie was on the verge of sheer outrage right before Alia suddenly turned to her and… Gave her the same sign.

What. WHAT?! Now she was just totally confused! Did she completely misread the whole thing? She was normally way better at reading social cues!

Callie just waved goodbye as she sat back down, her brain currently in 'what the shell just happened' mode. If one could see the state of her brain, they'd see one of those loading circles you'd see on a buffering video.

"They're pretty nice. You have good friends, Callie," Zero said as he sat down as well. He blinked as he looked her over. "Uh… You okay?"

"Alia just gave us both a 'call me' sign! I thought they were trying to steal me out of you for a moment there but now I'm just confused!"

Zero blinked, and then chuckled, arms crossed, winking at her, "look, don't sweat the details, babe. They're just friends, and I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry about me dropping you for some other girl out of the blue, alright? I barely even know them anyway."

That was a massive relief for her. She took a deep breath, hand on her chest, "yeah, you're right, I'm totally overthinking this. Thanks."

"Anytime. Anyway, we should probably finish our food and coffee before they get cold."

Callie's worries about the girls were immediately flushed away by immediate worries of cold food instead.

❖​

Ethan eyed the run-down sign hanging above the bar. The 'Tortuga Taphouse'. Who on Earth came up with that one?

He and Ayane had come to an alleyway in the area between the Plaza and the Square, where less youth-focused establishments concentrated. In particular, they were here for a particular bar that the person they were looking for frequented, and this was it. They were wearing fairly inoffensive clothing for the evening that wouldn't make them stand out - sure, it wasn't absolutely fresh, but right now they wanted to stay under the radar.

"This is the place," Ayane said as she opened the door. "Come on."

Ethan followed her inside. It was a loud, rowdy place, filled with people of various species mingling and drinking. Metal music and the sounds of electronic slot machines echoed through the establishment as a haze of smoke floated around the ceiling area. A big turtle was manning the bar itself, quietly cleaning glasses, and didn't seem to pay the pair much mind. Seems they didn't ask much in the way of questions here.

He stayed by Ayane as she scanned the area, and then pointed. Sitting at a poker table in the corner was a solitary Inkling male, feet up on the table and shuffling cards - he had a set of shoulder-length hair tentacles that curved forward, and a couple at the back that somehow managed to curve upwards and away. He wore a rather nice suit with yellow coattails, and a fedora.

As the pair approached him, the Inkling looked up at them with a smirk, making eye contact with Ayane and then Ethan, revealing his red eyes from under the fedora. He certainly looked a bit sketchy, and Ayane probably didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. "Well well, you're a new sight around here."

Ayane was the one doing the talking for now, as they agreed. "You're Spider, correct?"

"And you two are Ethan Springs and Ayane Higashi, also known as Agents 3 & 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon," said Spider, as he took his feet off the table, that statement alarming Ethan immediately. "Trust me, I know a lot of stuff very few other folks don't. That information isn't as valuable as you'd think, though, which is a bit of a shame, especially now that those movies are coming out."

Ayane sat down at the table, and Ethan followed suit. Ethan wasn't sure he was totally comfortable with this random low-life knowing their secret identities, but right now it couldn't be helped. Ayane continued the conversation, "I hear you've got some information on the phantom thief."

Spider whistled, leaning forward with a glint in his eye, the one that screamed 'opportunity for profit'. "So the Splatoon are going after them now, huh? Now that's interesting. I'll admit, the thief's a client of mine. But they're also a trusted and reliable client whom I have a rather nice working relationship with. You'd have to give me a good reason why I should even consider putting information about them up for sale."

"We believe the thief is an Octoling. And if you know our identities, then you'll probably understand why we'd rather not risk news of the thief being an Octoling getting out," Ayane replied, tapping her finger on the table impatiently. "We're not necessarily out to arrest them, just get them to stop."

Spider seemed to stare into her eyes for a while, likely gauging her honesty. After a short while, he chuckled, continuing to shuffle cards. "Fair enough. But it'll still cost you a very pretty penny. But if you can't pay, you'll have to wager information of equal value in a poker match."

Ayane frowned, but she nodded to Ethan, who nodded back. They knew they likely had to do this. "Alright, but you're the information broker, you'd have a better idea of what we could offer that would have equivalent value."

Spider tapped his chin for a few seconds, and grinned. "Alrighty, then, even with those movies coming out, I think there's quite a bit of information you have that would still be quite valuable to me. But let's not sweat the details, I can decide what you'll have to pay up with after I win. It's more fun and less stressful that way. So, kids, what's it gonna be?"

"Don't call us that. I'll take you on in a game," Ethan finally spoke up, his competitive nature flaring up. He hadn't had a proper poker game in a while, especially not against a skilled opponent.

Spider raised an eyebrow. "You and not the little lady?"

"I'm not as good as him when it comes to card games," Ayane said simply with a shrug.

"Knowing your weaknesses and letting the stronger competitor handle the risk, huh? I can respect that," Spider grinned, putting the deck down on the table. "Barkeep, get a few beers for me and my clients here, on my tab. This is gonna be fun."

Ethan grinned, as a third party came over to be the dealer. "Heard you're pretty good and an honest gambler. Let's see if your rep holds up."

"Cheating in poker is for losers - there's nothing better than the thrill of an honest round of poker with everything you have wagered on the line," Spider grinned back, as the dealer started dealing cards, "let's see if you can handle cards as well as you can handle a roller, kid."

Oh, Ethan was gonna show this guy how well he handled his cards, alright.

❖​

The poker match had soon attracted a crowd. Apparently Spider's matches were known for exciting affairs in this bar, and Ethan revelled in the attention. Ayane was somewhat less happy, but she was still watching with baited breath.

One last round, everything to play for. Both players were staring each other down, trying to gleam anything from their opponent. Spider had a good poker face, but Ethan had figured out from subtle cues that while he had a good hand, he didn't have a great hand, and was trying to bluff. Not a chance.

"Alright, cards on the table," Spider said, spreading out his hand onto the table, "let's see what you got."

Spider had a diamond flush - four, five, eight, nine, queen.

"Sorry, pal. Full house," said Ethan as he laid his hand out. Three sevens and two aces.

The crowd around them was in an uproar. Ayane sighed with relief. Spider was staring at Ethan's hand in shock, before he leaned back, howling with laughter. "Well, squit. Well played, kid, well played. Haven't had a good game like that in a long time. We gotta do this again sometime."

As the crowd dispersed, Ayane interjected, getting right to the point as expected. "You need to hold up your end of the bargain first, pal."

Spider leaned back, feet on the table again. "Right, right, steady on. I'm a squid of my word. Truth be told, I don't know the identity of the phantom thief. You're right on the money about her being an Octoling, though, and she's female, but that's the most I know about her, she's good at keeping her true identity under wraps. What I can do for you, though, is let you know what companies she's looking into when she comes by - she comes to me for info on specific companies to raid. If you're lucky, she might just be asking about one, but I wouldn't be surprised if she asks about two or three."

"We could just stake out the bar, that would be easier," Ethan pointed out.

"Nah, she's paranoid and checks who's around before she comes to me. She'll know you're watching for her," Spider shook his head.

"Then we'll have to stake out the companies instead. That's a pain," Ayane frowned. "But we'll have to make do with that instead."

"Come back anytime. I can teach you some pointers on playing," Spider grinned, gathering up the cards.

After exchanging phone numbers with him, the pair left the bar. Ethan had only a couple of shots. He didn't want to be smelling of alcohol on his first date. "Say hi to the others for me."

"Right, right, you're taking your girlfriend out for a date tonight," Ayane said. She still looked rather unsure about the whole thing, despite Ethan's assurances. "Well, good luck. I really do hope it works out between you two."

"Thanks. Good thing I already bought some flowers earlier today," Ethan grinned, as he walked off. But first, he needed a change of clothes…

 

[Supersonic_Draco]

I hope Octavio gets eaten by the final boss of Splatoon 3 or something because with how well you have written the squid sisters what he did to them is like waiting for your toe to hit a corner while you are mid motion walking into said corner. Also great chapter

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 25: The Pleasant Phantom Thief (V)​

Ethan had agreed to pick up Marino at her apartment that night, so he raced back to his own apartment to perform a quick change of clothes (a nice collared shirt and some jeans) and fetch the bouquet of flowers he had bought for the occasion earlier that day. When he arrived at Marino's apartment door, he took a deep breath, and rung the doorbell.

Normally he wouldn't feel so nervous, but Ayane's concerns had thrown him off. Was Marino really the right girl for him? He knew he was totally into her physically and found her personally alluring, but was there more to it than that? Only one way to find out.

Answering the door was an Inkling girl - Cinnamon, he presumed. She briefly looked him over, "oh, you must be Ethan!" She called out, "Marino, your boyfriend is here!"

Ethan heard a yelp and a crash inside, "oh, squit-coming!"

After about half a minute, Marino stumbled out of her bedroom, but almost instantly regained her composure. Was she just as nervous about this as he was? Or was she just unprepared? Either way, his thoughts about that were quickly pushed aside by the lovely strapless purple dress she wore that, well, accentuated her curves. "Hey, handsome. You're a bit early."

Ethan forced a grin. "What can I say, I don't like being late."

Cinnamon was obviously trying not best not to laugh her ass off, stepping aside. "Calm down, you two, it's just a first date. Where are you guys going, anyway?"

"To a diner. Something nice and simple," Marino smiled as she walked over, noticing the flowers, "oh, is this for me? On the first date? Ethan, you really are a charmer."

"It was the least I could do for such a lovely lady," Ethan said, smiling more genuinely as he presented the bouquet to her.

Marino accepted the bouquet, taking a deep sniff, smiling widely. "Oh, these smell lovely. Cinnamon, do we have a spare flower pot or something to put them in?"

"I'll figure something out," Cinnamon giggled as she took the bouquet, "okay, you two, get going, and have fun! You certainly picked a cute one, Marino. And a big-shot ink battler, too? Pretty impressive for your first boyfriend. Hair's a bit old-school, though, practically every Inkling boy was rocking that 'do back when the Plaza was in vogue."

"Well, it's not like I'd call myself a hipster or anything, it's just nice and simple," Ethan remarked, extending a hand to Marino, "shall we?"

"Sure," Marino smiled, taking it. "Let's go have some fun."

❖​

Artemis bit into her burger as she looked at Iris on the other side of the table. The Octoling girl had barely only taken a couple of bites and was actively avoiding eye contact, having not said much since they'd arrived, squirming and fidgeting on the spot. Artemis had expected her to be fairly nervous, but not this nervous.

The Inkling girl put down her burger with a sigh. "Iris, you're being way too nervous about this. Chill."

"I'm sorry, but courtship is a big deal and stuff," Iris eeped. "If it works out we could get married with all that implies, and if it doesn't it could damage our friendship…"

Oh. Oh, right, she came from an aristocratic family, who likely made dating and marriage an especially big deal to her. In fact, considering what she remembered of Iris' mother from when they were blended together, she wouldn't be surprised if she made it especially clear to her how much of a big deal it was to their family. "Iris… You're thinking about this way too hard and taking this way too seriously. It's just a fun date! If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, it's not like we weren't friends before we started dating."

That seemed to calm Iris down a bit, but she frowned, finally giving Artemis some eye contact, "I suppose you have a point, but you also have a tendency to not take some things as seriously as you should and not thinking about them hard enough."

Ouch. Low blow. Artemis winced, but she said, "okay, fair cop, but still, it's just the first date. We're here to have fun, not figure out if we're right for each other right off the bat. That takes time, and it won't help if you keep worrying about it so much."

Iris bit her lower lip, but she nodded. "Sorry. This just isn't quite what I pictured when it came to courtship. Before I decided to leave for the surface, I was expected to be courting an Octarian nobleman in these grand affairs, but here I am, just sitting out here eating burgers with a normal Inkling girl. I'm wondering if I'm missing something."

Artemis was about to laugh at how high her expectations were, but then she imagined Iris in a big fancy princess dress and suddenly she felt a little hot under the collar. She cleared her throat, blushing, as she tried to get her brain back on track. "Yeah, we aren't that fancy around here. Don't set your expectations so high, dates are supposed to be fun."

Iris picked up her burger, taking a bite out of it, and then chewing and swallowing - she was obviously mulling over her words. "I… I get that. I know it should be, but… I'm just worried that maybe it's too soon for us to be dating?"

"Iris, you asked me out, not the other way around," Artemis giggled.

"Colonel suggested it! She's braver than me, so maybe I thought it was a good idea if she was suggesting it?! Now I'm not so sure!"

Oooooohhhh, so that's how it was. Even without the split personality, it wasn't far-fetched for someone to think something was a good idea only to have second thoughts once starting with going through with it. Artemis sighed, "well, I still think you're-"

"-you've got reservations about this too, don't deny it!" Iris said, glaring at her.

"W-Well, I like you and you're cute and you asked me out, I couldn't just say no!" Artemis stammered out, hands on the table.

"Even though you've only known me for less than a month?!"

"YES! And you wouldn't just ask me out if you didn't like me too!"

Iris' face was getting redder. "You kinda made a big impression on me when we first met! Reaching out to take my hand, surrounded by the morning glow, it was… Kinda romantic…"

Wait… Did Iris have a crush on her from the very first moment they met?! Artemis' heart was racing, and her face was becoming more red as well. "Well, I was watching you in action while you were making your way up to the surface, and you were so cool… You worked so hard to reach the surface, and, well… How couldn't I admire that?"

The two of them looked each other in the eyes.

And then they burst out laughing.

"This is so stupid!" Artemis giggled, nearly falling off her chair, "why are we so worried about this?!"

Iris was giggling as well in such an adorable way, holding a hand in front of her mouth, "I know, we're just getting worked up over nothing! We clearly like each other, so…" She wiped a tear from her eye, "I needed that stress relief. Thanks for talking it out with me."

"Feeling better?" Artemis said with a smile, sipping from her milkshake.

"Much better, yes. You're right, I should stop worrying and just enjoy myself," Iris smiled back, and then leaned forward, elbows on the table, "you never answered my question about becoming a biologist the other day, by the way~"

Artemis was utterly blindsided. She had almost forgotten about that completely. After a moment of being dumbstruck, she cleared her throat. "Well… Um… I've never really thought about it. I do like biology, but I never really considered becoming a biologist…"

"Karlene and Hinata tell me you're easily distracted and need study sessions to keep your grades up," Iris said, coming around the table to sit next to her. Artemis couldn't help but think that was deliberate. "You haven't got a very good attention span."

"I… Uh… Well…" Artemis was awestruck by how pretty Iris' eyes were. "I just… Like to…"

"You're doing it right now!" Iris poked her belly.

Oh geez she was getting distracted. Artemis looked away, blushing, "not my fault your eyes are really pretty."

That got Iris flustered, but she quickly rerailed the conversation. "Don't try to excuse yourself! You need serious mental discipline! I still recall some of your memories from when we were, well, merged. You're capable of incredible things, but you can't keep your mind focused on one thing for long enough unless it's super serious or you have help."

Memories, huh? She could recall memories she had picked up from Iris as well. Those memories felt more like she had watched a movie rather than fully experienced them herself, but… She recalled the abuse Iris suffered from her parents trying to mold her into the ideal Octarian soldier. And how her upbringing had caused others to distance themselves from her - after all, as far as her society was concerned, Octarian noblewoman shouldn't be associating with commoners, as much as Iris wanted to have friends. Axl was her first and only friend until she met X and reached the surface. How heartbreaking was that?

She looked back at Iris. "You're amazing, you know that? You had every reason to hate the world and yet you're still a kind soul."

Iris blushed, "h-huh?!"

"Those memories were a two-way street, Iris. I saw yours, too. You were so lonely for most of your life," Artemis said, taking Iris' hand. "You didn't deserve any of it. And I promise you… You'll never be lonely again."

Iris sniffed, tears welling up. "You… You really promise?"

"Cross my hearts and hope to die," Artemis grinned.

Iris sniffed again, straightening up, "and… I promise I'm going to help you become focused! My Octarian training won't just be for hurting others! You've been so kind to me, and I want to help you become the best you can be!"

Oh. Oh geez, now it was Artemis' turn to start crying. "Iris… I don't know what to-"

Artemis was interrupted by Iris kissing her. On the lips.

Her brief surprise didn't stop her from leaning into the kiss - it was slow, but sensual and passionate. She didn't want to stop.

But it had to end, and after about a minute, their lips separated. Iris smiled, her face red as a tomato, "that felt… Really nice."

"Yeah. Yeah, it was," Artemis smiled softly. "You know, as much as I'd like to stay like this, we don't want our food to get too cold."

Iris moved her chair back to its original position, giggling, "you're right, sorry. I just had a lot to get off my chest, you know?"

Artemis chuckled, taking a bite of her burger. Even if this didn't work out… She had a feeling she and Iris were just plain good for each other.

❖​

Ethan and Marino were sitting opposite each other at the diner he had picked out - the Tasty Trout. He initially didn't go with this one after thinking of the times he and Ayane had gone here when they were still dating, but he decided it wouldn't be that much of a problem. At least, he hoped that was the case.

"I'm used to eating in places like this now, but before I came to the surface? It was just rations," Marino remarked, munching on one of her chips. "I'd say you Inklings don't know how good you have it, but…"

"I've got some ideas, yeah," Ethan chuckled.

"How did you become an Agent, anyway? I know the Squid Sisters are the Cap'n's granddaughters, but you and Ayane…"

Ethan recalled being hailed by the old guy peeking out from the manhole, interrupting the argument he and Ayane were having after a heated match - it was like it was only yesterday. "Right place at the right time, I guess. The Cap'n asked for our help, explained what he was asking of us, and the rest is history. I wanted to make a name for myself. Kinda grew out of that, though."

"I guess your near-death experience at my hands was part of it."

"Sorta. But doin' missions for two whole years and getting to know the Squid Sisters personally put a lotta things into perspective for me. Fame and fortune became a distant second concern after keeping Inkopolis safe." The last two years should've been a blur, but he remembered every mission. Ethan looked her in the eyes, "you sure took your sweet time getting here after that 'underground concert'."

"Not all of us had the luxury of being able to make an inconspicuous disappearance like Marina did," Marino sighed, eating another chip before continuing. "I had to avoid looking like I had been affected by the Inkantation for months before I was able to fully plan my escape. And even then, I was hounded by squads for weeks until I was out of their range. And when I did, I was at death's door. Cinnamon found me and nursed me back to health, and next thing I knew, we were roommates. It was supposed to be temporary, but…"

Ethan smiled. At least Marino's story ended well. "She's a good friend, huh?"

"And as a trained nurse, she's got one shell of a bedside manner," Marino chuckled. The mirth was short-lived, however, as she clenched her fist. "I should've gotten into contact with Marina at the first opportunity. But to her, I was her dependable big sister, and I prided myself on that. And it's that same stubborn pride that made me keep myself away from her until I had found my footing in Inkopolis and made a name for myself like she did. I didn't want to look weak in front of her."

"That's the thing, though, she didn't do it by herself," Ethan pointed out, "she had Pearl's help. And you had Cinnamon's."

"I know. As I said, it was a decision driven by stubborn pride, not logic," Marino sighed. "But I do owe Cinnamon my life, as well as owe her for letting me stay in her apartment. I pay half the rent now, so we're even on the second part, but the first… You know what, nevermind, you get the idea."

She leaned back, her smile returning to her face as she crossed her arms, grabbing a handful of chips, "enough about me, though. I've heard you've become a big-time ink battler. Guess that fame came eventually."

"I'm not a proper professional turfer… Yet, at least," Ethan laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's kind of a dream come true, though, I'll admit."

"Well, it's nice to know you didn't get burned out of doing it."

"I've always had a competitive streak. A good fight always get my blood pumping. Ayane, though… She's been having second thoughts lately. I don't blame her."

"Yeesh, I can relate. Fighting for your life can make fighting for sport less appealing for some people."

There was an awkward silence for a bit, before Marino shifted the subject away from that particular topic. "You and Ayane… Honestly, you two seem more like siblings than partners."

That struck him like a freight train. "Sorry, what?"

"You two just kinda remind me of how Marina and I were back when we were in the army, you know? Well, not in the same way, but-"

Ethan sat back laughing with a hand over his eyes. Of course neither of them would've have figured it out, since they were both only children. After getting the mirth out of his system, he leaned forward again, "sorry, it just… All makes sense now. I was wonderin' why there wasn't any real spark in our relationship, even though there weren't any real problems."

Marino blinked, and then laughed, "oh, good grief, I don't know whether to find that incredibly awkward or hilarious! Figuring out why your previous relationship didn't work out while you're in the middle of a date with someone else…"

Ethan chuckled, "no wonder she doesn't approve of you dating me."

Marino blinked. He could see her mentally connecting the dots, and she burst into laughter again. "Oh my cod, really?! Talk about 'my brother is off-limits' energy!"

"Don't hold it against her. She just wants to make sure I don't get my heart broken."

"I know. I totally get how she feels, too - if Pearl wasn't so perfect for Marina I'd totally be more wary of her. I even gave Pearl some 'tips' about where Octolings are… Sensitive," Marino said, with a widening grin. Ethan wasn't sure what she meant until she leaned in close, whispering, "and no, I'm not giving them to you. You'll have to figure those out yourself… If we get to third base, that is~"

Ethan's face went red as he tugged at his collar. Maybe this girl was in fact actually supposed to kill him… Except in a clever scheme to do so by nosebleed instead of in battle. "You really aren't afraid to get spicy…"

Marino stretched her arms upwards, arching her back, "I know what I've got and I know what I like. I didn't just get into modelling for fun, Ethan - I use all the tools at my disposal to make my way in life, including my body. Marina won't admit it, but she likes flaunting herself too. I mean… Have you seen her idol outfit? I'm pretty sure that wasn't Pearl's idea."

Ethan pictured said outfit, and… Yeah, there was a point to be made there. He couldn't imagine the more reserved Marina admitting to liking that sort of thing, but Marino would know her sister well enough to know for sure. Though, there was one missing element to Marino that stuck out to him that he recalled from their first meeting. "I haven't seen you wear the elite seaweed since two years ago."

"That's just an indicator of rank, not a fashion statement."

"You could make it one. Say you were inspired by old Octarian fashion or something? I dunno, I'm just throwing ink at the wall."

Marino blinked, and then smirked, "That might actually work. I'll give it a shot sometime. Thanks for the suggestion."

"Hey, I'm not smart but I've got a decent grasp of what's fresh," Ethan smirked back.

"You sure you don't want to be a fashionista when you graduate?"

"Might actually be fun, but nah. Maybe I could help with designing new models of the hero suit, though. We're looking at getting some serious upgrades, and not just to handle the Octarians. You fought Quint alongside X, you know what I'm talking about."

Marino frowned, "oh, right. Good thing the Octarians don't have access to that technology."

"They might. Octavio was using one of Dr. Wily's mechs when Artemis, Orion and their classmates fought him recently. And the only reason they found X was because the Octarians were excavating the lab he was sealed in."

"Squit."

"Yeah. That's why we're upgrading. On the off chance the Octarians get their hands on old human weaponry, we need the protection to handle that," Ethan nodded grimly.

"The Emperor's lost his mind. You better keep him locked up this time."

"Trust me, we've got better security this time. And if he does break out, well… We've got X and Zero."

"How on Earth is nobody batting that much of an eye to human-like robots walking around Inkopolis? Seriously, you Inklings have the weirdest priorities sometimes," Marino shook her head.

Ethan just shrugged. Not like he was an expert on Inkling psychology, so he really couldn't say.

The rest of the conversation was pretty much eating and small talk about topics of minor consequence. All things considered? Ethan thought it went pretty well.

As they left the diner, Marino turned to him and smiled. "That was fun. We should do this again sometime."

"Well, maybe I should take you out to fancier places at some point, but yeah, we should," Ethan smiled back. "Glad you enjoyed it."

Marino moved in closer, bringing him in for a kiss, which he eagerly reciprocated. It was a short, simple kiss, but for a post first date kiss, it was pretty good. He really should initiate the kissing at some point, though.

As Marino pulled away, she remarked, "you're a good guy, Ethan. I'm glad I asked you out."

"I try to be. Want me to walk you home?" He asked, stroking her cheek softly.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine on my own," Marino smiled, turning around and walking away. "Later, handsome~!"

"Seeya, babe," Ethan said with a wave. The way she was swaying her butt as she walked away was totally deliberate and he didn't know whether he liked or hated that it was working on him.

❖​

Ayane didn't know what to feel when Artemis arrived at the Outpost with an arm around Iris' waist, kissing her on the cheek when they went to sit down.

She was happy for them, certainly, but the fact that everyone else seemed to be hooking up was making her feel more isolated than usual. Which was weird, because she had already been used to being alone to some degree. Maybe the feeling was worse with Ethan being, well, elsewhere. (The other absentees were Pearl and Marina, who apparently were busy with something on their schedule.) Still, what was wrong with her?

Her thoughts were disrupted by a sudden burst of commotion. Ciel had arrived via teleport, and with someone else behind her.

"Hello, everyone! I've brought someone important who I'd like to introduce to all of you," Ciel grinned as she stepped aside, gesturing to the newcomer. "I've been working on her over the last few days, and she's fully operational."

The newcomer was on the taller side compared to everyone else, and was a robot resembling a blue-scaled aquatic dragon, complete with a full set of fins on her head. She had a long tail, and sharp claws on her hands and feet, albeit currently retracted. Adorned on her body was a full set of black, gold and purple battle armour in the style of X and Zero's sets, a ring of green beads around her neck and on her torso was an old human symbol that she couldn't recall the meaning of. The robot's magenta eyes briefly made eye contact with Ayane's as she looked at everyone present.

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you. I am DCN-001, Hydro Dragoon. But the name I have chosen for myself is… Merga."

---

A/N: If the name 'Merga' sounds familiar, then congratulations, you've probably played Freedom Planet 2. (If you haven't, you should, it's practically my 2022 GOTY and considering the competition includes Elden Ring that's saying a lot.)

I wanted more new robots in the story, and while Magma Dragoon is one of the most popular maverick bosses (to the point of being the first animal-themed reploid to become playable in the entire series), he didn't make a whole lot of sense for Ciel to create. And then I was listening to Freedom Planet 2 music and I realized Merga as 'Hydro Dragoon' would make a lot more sense for both the setting and also to fill a specific narrative role I was having trouble finding a character to fill with. She's very much a hybrid of her original version and Magma Dragon personality-wise and in terms of abilities.

(And yes I do have a full visual design in the works for her, stay tuned.)

 

[SpacePaladin]

She's very much a hybrid of her original version and Magma Dragon personality-wise and in terms of abilities.

Click to shrink...

Well, hopefully she doesn't go and murder a bunch of innocent people because she was bored like her inspiration.

Then again, this is Ciel (...'s alt-verse incarnation?) Creating mass-murder-happy reploids was kinda her thing.

As an aside, I do feel a bit of pity for Copy-X. As monstrous as he was, the fact that Neo Arcadia dumped the weight of the world on him without any sort of guidance and surrounded him with yes-men instead of having a functional line of succession in case anything happened to X was a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Candescence]

Well, hopefully she doesn't go and murder a bunch of innocent people because she was bored like her inspiration.

Then again, this is Ciel (...'s alt-verse incarnation?) Creating mass-murder-happy reploids was kinda her thing.

As an aside, I do feel a bit of pity for Copy-X. As monstrous as he was, the fact that Neo Arcadia dumped the weight of the world on him without any sort of guidance and surrounded him with yes-men instead of having a functional line of succession in case anything happened to X was a disaster waiting to happen.

Click to shrink...

We're not going to cover her full character arc in this particular story arc, but there will be elements of Magma Dragoon's story in there, though perhaps not the mass-murder part.

And yeah, Ciel tried her best (she certainly did better than Dr. Cain when it came to replicating X) but she didn't have the luxury of putting Copy X through decades of ethical testing to make sure he doesn't lose it. But in a way, bits of Copy X will be part of Merga's story as well.

 

[SpacePaladin]

but there will be elements of Magma Dragoon's story in there,

Click to shrink...

I can't wait for her to frame an innocent (well... okay, maybe a little sketchy) organization in order to force X/Zero into a duel to the death for her own satisfaction.

 

[Candescence]

So about that beer I owed ya visual design for Merga...



This was done by ultimatemaverickx over on Deviantart, who specializes in Mega Man art and has done quite a bit of interesting stuff, including designs for armors based on other series. And I'd say he did a phenomenal job with her!

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 26: The Pleasant Phantom Thief (VI)​

Everyone was staring at Merga - apparently the notion that Ciel would create a brand new robot so soon was not remotely on anyone's minds. And she looked fierce, to boot.

X was the first to speak up. "I wasn't expecting you to develop a combat robot first, Ciel. We already have the six others."

Ciel nodded, "I know that it's unexpected, but I decided if you wanted to fully retire from fighting, someone needed to fill the void. I made Merga in case other threats showed up, whether they be expected or otherwise. I'd rather not see a repeat of what happened last weekend. Fortunately, we have Dr. Wily's leftover machines to thank for allowing me to go from the design phase to completion so quickly - she was only just switched on this morning."

"I am fully capable of handling any adversary you have fought so far, and in the future," said Merga. "I am also fully amphibious and can perform search and rescue operations. I was designed to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

"I suppose that's somewhat reassuring, even if you do look kinda scary," said Iris.

"See, Merga, I told you wearing your armour was unnecessary," Ciel giggled. "You don't need to make that kind of impression."

Merga was immediately red in the face, "Mother, it's much harder to look formidable in casual clothing…"

Artemis immediately fell off the couch, howling with laughter. Callie was giggling non-stop, "she calls you 'Mom'?!"

"I keep insisting that she doesn't, but she doesn't listen," said Ciel, now blushing as well.

"She is my creator and brought me into this world, I believe calling her 'Mother' is entirely reasonable," said Merga with a huff. "I suggest that you respect that rather than react with mockery."

It struck Ayane that Merga was the proud warrior type, defensive of herself and of her creator. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was going to add an interesting dynamic to the group.

Artemis got back up. "Geez, we didn't mean to offend. Sorry. It's just so surreal seeing a big dragon robot calling her creator (who isn't even in her twenties) 'Mother'. I mean, makes sense logically, but you gotta admit it's a little odd from our perspective, don't you think?"

Merga glanced at Ciel, who nodded to her, and sighed, nodding, "very well, I accept your apology and concede to your logic."

"You can stand to be a bit less formal, we're all friends here," Zero said. "Come on, take off the armour and relax."

Merga took a deep breath, and her armour teleported out, her casual clothes swapping in - a black polo shirt and a set of jeans that Ayane realised were both likely meant to fit crocodiles. She was surprisingly stacked for a reptile-based robot, and Ayane could see her honed physique under her shirt and on her arms. While Ciel found a place to sit fairly quickly, Merga looked over the entire group, before focusing her gaze on Ayane, walking over towards her. "I recognise all the faces here, but there's one missing. Where is Agent 3?"

"He's on a date with his new girlfriend," Ayane said simply. She had no interest in further elaboration.

"I see," Merga said, sitting down near Ayane and not saying anything more, though she did slouch some, so she wasn't constantly and totally formal.

Koji said, "so, Merga, what kind of combat abilities do you have?"

"My capabilities are mainly focused around mastery of Ansatsuken and water attacks. Not only can I manipulate the moisture in the air around me, I can also efficiently convert my energy reserves into water," said Merga as she held up a claw, a ball of water forming in it. "I can also form energy blades from my claws, and Mother is preparing multiple different wing gliders that allow me to augment my abilities to deal with different situations and opponents."

A bunch of 'oooh's and 'aaaahh's echoed amongst the group. Hianta spoke for most of them when she said, "that's really cool! Ciel really didn't skimp on making you a real super fighting robot!"

Merga actually laughed briefly at the comment, looking rather pleased. "Thank you, thank you, but I'm not merely just a fighter. As I said, my abilities are also tailored for search and rescue, and I have a supply of Kamabo's healing spray integrated into my systems for emergency on the spot treatment. It has its limitations, but it should do a lot for many situations where civilians are injured."

"Of course, you don't have to do either of those things, if you were based off Zero and I you'd entirely have a choice of what you want to do with your life," X said.

Merga nodded. "That's entirely true. But I choose to do what I was designed for - because I enjoy it, and who else can do what I can?"

The last part spoke to Ayane, because that's how she felt about being an agent. The first part, however, not so much. The last couple of years had left her questioning if she truly enjoyed ink battles to begin with, unlike Ethan, who was still very much a battle junkie. Fighting for her life had just drained her passion for fighting for the fun of it, and she hated that so much. "A word of advice - you might lose that passion for battle when you've spent years fighting for your life."

Merga looked at her with an inquisitive gaze. "I suppose you would know from experience, Agent 4."

"I'd rather be called by my name rather than my rank outside of missions, Merga. Sheesh, you're way too formal."

"Sorry. Is just 'Ayane' fine with you?" Merga asked. "I'm not used to social interactions, so I can't help but fall back on professional courtesy. It's just the way my AI was generated."

Ayane shrugged. "Yeah, it's cool with me."

"Excell-uh, good. Very good."

This girl needs to get out more, Ayane thought to herself. But that was a bit of a weird thought to have about someone who was literally only just born today.

"You said your personality was generated? Not completely programmed by Ciel?" Orion asked, eyebrow raised.

Ciel shook her head, "I didn't want to completely determine her personality, so I used a generative process using a set of parameters to what I generally wanted her personality to be like."

"So it's sorta like being a parent, huh?" Marie chuckled.

"Kind of, yes," Ciel blushed.

"And the best way to give her agency rather than determine every detail of who she is from the start. I approve," X nodded.

"Agency… Hmph. You're just a bunch of hypocrites," snorted Octavio from his snowglobe, arms crossed.

"Nobody asked you," Liam said. "You got locked up because you deserve it, don't pin that on us."

"That's right, actions have consequences, pal, you can't just do anything you want," the Cap'n said, knocking on the glass with his Bamboozler.

"Emperor Octavio… How the mighty hath fallen," Merga said with a snort. What she said seemed a bit too contemptuous in tone for Ayane's liking, but it's not like anyone could blame her.

Ciel cleared her throat, "uh, moving on from that… Merga is going to need a place to stay. I don't have room at my apartment and I wouldn't want her to live in the lab, either."

"Even if she could stay at our dorm, there isn't any room for her either," Karlene said. "Pearl and Marina might have room, but they're not here… Maybe Callie and Marie-"

"-nope! I've got a better idea!" Ayane saw Callie's eyes fall on her, and with a familiar grin that made her want to groan. "Ayaneeeeee, you've got room at your apartment! And a spare futon!"

Yeah that made Ayane groan. "You've got spares too. Why are you suggesting my place?"

"Because you need a roommate. Having someone to regularly interact with daily at home would do a lot for your mental health," said Marie.

Ayane knew at this point there was absolutely no arguing with the Squid Sisters, especially not with all eyes on her now. She figured it was likely going to be a disaster, but she sighed. "Fine, but she's paying half the rent as soon as she's able."

"We'll sign her on as an Arcadia Corp employee, so that's no problem," X said. "Might have her working security or on specific assignments. Is that fine with you, Merga?"

"I see no problem with that," Merga nodded.

Ayane wasn't sure how this would get any worse. And then Ethan arrived.

"Hey, everyone, the date went pretty well!" Ethan said as he walked towards Ayane and Merga. "Oh, hey, new person, cool! Sorry, one moment-" He came right up to Ayane, "hey, Ayane… Do you think of me as a brother?"

"What on Earth are you on ab-"

And then it hit Ayane like an Inkzooka. And her eyes widened. All this time and she hadn't even considered this one possibility. "Oh you've got to be squitting me."

That was the second time that Artemis fell off the couch, howling with laughter.

❖​

Ayane turned on the light to her apartment as the pair went in. "Here it is. It ain't much, but it's home."

The apartment itself was actually fairly nice - it was meant for one or two people and had multiple rooms. Ayane was able to afford it due to her ink battling and salmon runs. It was the only reason she wasn't living in a dorm, a studio apartment would've been too claustrophobic for her.

"So you live here? I suppose this will work well enough," Merga said, as she looked around the apartment. "Thanks for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome, I guess." Ayane sat down on the couch, with a sigh.

There was an awkward pause between them. Merga walked over to the couch, apparently having picked up on something. "Are you upset about what Ethan said?"

"Maybe," Ayane admitted, closing her eyes as she slumped back. "I guess I should be relieved, since we finally have a decent explanation for why our relationship fell apart, but… Ugh. The only person I know other than my parents who really gets me and it turns out there's no romance to be had because our relationship is too much like siblings."

"I'm… Sure there's plenty of other people who would be interested…"

"Maybe if Iris' relationship with Artemis falls through? And I'm not even that close with her. Anyone who might've been interested because of my ink battling reputation is pretty quick to lose interest because they think I'm too scary and antisocial. I've pretty much given up on having any kind of love life."

Merga sat down next to her. "I wish I had anything to say that might be at all helpful, but… I have no experience with dating or romance, so I can't. All I can say is that I hope you do find someone."

"Thanks."

There was another period of silence between them. Ayane appreciated Merga's attempt to help, but their mutual social awkwardness was not particularly helping things.

So she decided to just do something, opening her eyes, grabbing the TV remote and turning on said TV, "screw it, let's just watch a movie or something. Something with lots of action, I'm sure you'll like that."

Merga actually looked excited. "Oh, yes, I haven't seen one before! This will be a new experience!"

"You seem rather excited to experience things you haven't physically experienced before. X and Zero don't seem to be like that," Ayane said as she began flicking through the selection of movies.

"It's just how they are. I suppose Mother wanted me to experience the world with entirely fresh eyes rather than feeling like some of it was already familiar. I know about various things, of course, but seeing and experiencing them in person is another feeling entirely. I appreciate that she designed me as such."

"Sounds nice to have not seen it all," Ayane muttered, finding a good flick to start off with. "Hey, so Ethan and I are gonna start going through a crash course on martial arts with the junior agents. You wanna help out? You're got in-built mastery of Ansatsuken, so having you as a third teacher would be helpful."

Merga seemed to consider the proposal for a bit. "I don't see why not. If it'll help your team be more capable during missions, I'd be happy to assist."

"Cool."

The movie started, and the pair stopped with the small talk, though at times they'd occasionally comment on certain scenes. It wasn't particularly social, but it was a good time for both of them.

❖​

Ayane handed out sparring gloves to each of the junior agents. Ethan and Merga stood behind her, the latter wearing her casual clothes. The three of them already had sparring gloves on. "Alright, today we're going to be doing proper martial arts practice. I want each of you to practice each move in succession until you've developed a good enough muscle memory, and then we'll be splitting you off into pairs as sparring partners. Don't be afraid to get rough, we've got respawn points. We'll be here to give you pointers if you need them."

Each of the junior agents had a punching bag they could use to practice on, and they wasted little time getting started, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. While the process of fully learning each move was accelerated, muscle memory still needed to be properly developed. It was only natural that Iris and Axl were the first to finish getting a proper handle on their moves, and moved on to helping Artemis and Orion.

"Shouldn't the two of you need some practice as well?" Merga asked.

"Nah, we've already got martial arts experience, and we spent the first night practising ahead of time, along with sparring," Ethan chuckled. "We're good."

"I'll be the judge of that. I'd like to spar with either of you."

Ayane immediately acted. If Ethan accepted the challenge the two of them would be sparring all evening. "Fine, I'll humour you. Ethan, keep watch on the juniors."

Ethan pouted, but nodded, "aw, fine."

Ayane and Merga stepped away towards a more open space, took a few steps away from each other, and assumed proper martial stances. And then the match began.

Ayane opened with a Hadoken, which Merga sidestepped, attempting to close the distance between them and rush her down. Ayane blocked the incoming punch, but Merga suddenly swung her leg upwards, bringing it down with an overhead heel kick before Ayane could properly raise her arms to defend against it, hitting her over the head. Ayane wasn't stunned for long, however, raising her fist and responding with an overhead punch that struck Merga's 'collarbone'.

The next several moves were a blur of quick strikes and blocks, the pair keeping fairly even until Merga managed to slip a roundhouse kick past Ayane's guard, and followed up with a crescent kick that sent her into the air and knocked her down.

"Not bad," Merga said as Ayane got back up, "but I think the first round is mine."

"I'm just getting warmed up," Ayane grunted, regaining her stance and throwing another Hadoken.

Merga smirked as she side-stepped again, moving to close the distance once more. Ayane realised she preferred to rush down and overwhelm her opponent, so Ayane needed to exploit that.

She put up her guard, blocking a few punches. When Merga raised her leg again, Ayane stepped forward and struck with a strong side kick before Merga could bring her foot down, sending her completely off balance and crashing to the floor.

Ayane chuckled, stretching on the spot, "well, good luck getting a winning streak, because I believe that's one point to me."

Merga huffed, and rushed Ayane again, with a flurry of blows that Ayane could barely keep up with defending. However, one body blow slipped through, sending Ayane stumbling back, and Merga followed with a Hurricane Kick, knocking Ayane down with multiple blows.

Ayane grit her teeth, getting back up, and stepped back, throwing another Hadoken.

"Really? These are too predicable," Merga taunted as she side-stepped, and rushed Ayane. When Ayane performed the motion again, Merga just leaped into the air, anticipating the attack, "you're mine!"

Ayane smirked, stopping the motion halfway as part of a feint, and instead performed a Shoryuken. She could see Merga's eyes widen as the attack countered her flying kick, sending her crashing to the floor in one decisive blow.

"Two for two… Okay, then," Merga grinned, as she got up, "I underestimated you. I think I might actually enjoy this."

"Suit yourself. I'm just here to prove I'm not a pushover," Ayane smirked. "Are you gonna gonna keep talking or you gonna shut your gob so we can keep going?"

Merga laughed. "If you insist…"

The next several rounds were intense, as they traded blows and knocked each other down. Ayane was fully immersed in the thrill of the fight, even if she didn't realise it. Why did this feel so different than other fights? She wasn't a fight-happy idiot like Ethan who just wanted a worthy foe. So why did she feel so alive?

Before long, they were both charging up their ki, for the strongest attacks they could muster. "Shinku…"

"HADOKEN!"

The two surges collided, erupting in a burst of energy that knocked them both down. And even then, they got back up to continue the fight.

"Um… Miss Ayane? Miss Merga? We're ready to start sparring."

Ayane blinked, turning to see everyone else just staring in awe. The Squid Sisters were there, having brought water bottles. Iris had been the one to speak up. Ayane shook her head, "how long have we been…?"

"Fifteen minutes, I think," said Marie, tossing a bottle to her. "You two were so into it that we didn't want to interrupt."

Ayane caught the bottle, and cleared her throat, standing up straight, coming up with an excuse to save face, "right… And that is a demonstration of… The level of ability we want you to reach. I want all of you to be able to spar at that level of skill."

Of course, nobody really bought it, and there were a few chuckles from the crowd. That stopped real quick when Ayane glared at them, though she noticed Merga was glaring as well.

Everyone started splitting off into pairs for sparring immediately, while Ayane and Merga just sat down and watched. Ayane felt exhausted as she took a big gulp of water, but… She also felt really good. The best she had ever felt after a fight in over a year.

"You know, if I had really been fighting at my strongest you would've been splatted in a single blow," said Merga with a chuckle. "So don't get too full of yourself just because you managed to keep up with me in a sparring match."

"But you didn't fight at your strongest. And I don't care. I would've taken you on anyway," Ayane said, without thinking.

Merga seemed to scrutinise her expression for a moment, before throwing back her head and laughing, but not out of mockery. "You're not actually bluffing! You honestly would fight one of the three strongest robots on the planet hand to hand purely to make a point!"

"Yeah. I would. What of it?"

"Nothing. It's just a fascinating observation," Merga chuckled. "I think I like you, Ayane. You're such an interesting person, even if you don't outwardly show it."

"Well, good to know my new roommate thinks I'm interesting. I definitely don't dislike you, at least."

"Good to know. I do think we'll get along quite well."

Ayane wasn't one to socialise a lot with people. But at the same time… She couldn't really bring herself to disagree with that statement.

❖​

Ayane and Merga were walking home after the training session. Fortunately, Merga didn't raise too many eyebrows - perhaps she was mistaken for a regular organic reptile by most people.

Despite a few odd moments, Ayane had certainly felt the afternoon had been productive. All of the juniors had shown a reasonable level of competence for their first proper martial arts training session. And that put Ayane in a good mood.

Unfortunately that mood was quickly ruined when she saw a familiar Octoling on the footpath ahead of her, walking with an Inkling girl.

Marino was quick to recognise her as well. "Oh, Ayane, what a surprise. And who's this with you?"

"I am Hydro Dragoon, also known as Merga," Merga said, "you must be Marino."

"That's right. And this is my roommate, Cinnamon," Marino chuckled, gesturing to said roommate.

"Wasn't expecting to meet you two out here at this hour, but it's nice to meet you both!" Cinnamon smiled. She certainly had a pleasant feel to her.

"Likewise, I guess," Ayane said, before refocusing on Marino, walking up to her. Time to have an overdue conversation. "Look, I'm not jealous of you and Ethan. But I want to make this perfectly clear - you break Ethan's heart and I'll make you wish you never wanted to date him."

Cinnamon winced, and tried to intervene, "hold on, let's not-"

"I'm not a heartbreaker, Ayane, despite how I like to dress," said Marino with a slight smirk. "And it wouldn't be my fault if our relationship just doesn't work out."

Ayane's eyes narrowed, "don't try to argue your way out of this. Ethan's my friend, and I won't let you-"

"-Ayane. That's enough," Merga said, putting a hand on Ayane's shoulder. "You're overreacting."

Cinnamon nodded, "I know you care about Ethan, but anything can happen. You know a lot of relationships just… Don't work out. You should know, you used to date him first."

Damn it this girl had a solid point. Ayane grit her teeth, trying to come up with any kind of retort, but none entered her mind.

"If you want an assurance, Ayane, then I swear I won't just toy with him. I'll do my best to try and take it as far as we can go. If it still doesn't work out, then it can't be helped," Marino sighed. She stared Ayane in the eyes, "I really do like Ethan, and I want this to work out as much as you do. I can't promise it'll work out, but I do promise I'll try my hardest."

Cod damn it. She wasn't lying. Either that, or she was very, very good at lying. And that tore at Ayane even more.

Ayane took a deep breath. She couldn't just spend her time arguing with these two. "Fine, okay. I'll hold you to that, at least."

"Thanks. Now, Cinnamon and I have places to be. Next time you see Ethan, let him know I'm eagerly waiting for our next date," Marino smiled, as she and Cinnamon moved on, the latter happily waving goodbye.

"You certainly are protective of Ethan," Merga observed.

"Call it 'being a responsible sister figure', I guess," Ayane said, watching the pair walk away. "I… I just want her to make him happy in the way I couldn't."

"I'll call it simply 'being a good friend' and leave it at that," Merga chuckled. "Let's get going."

Ayane nodded, and they continued on their way. She didn't want to think about it for the rest of the evening.

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 27: The Pleasant Phantom Thief (VII)​

Artemis was expecting to spend her afternoon after school doing ink battles, but her team was pulled aside by Ayane during lunch to an empty classroom well away from anyone else, and for a reason that in hindsight shouldn't have surprised her, but it did anyway.

"So we're actually going on a mission for once?" Artemis chuckled, "what about the boys?"

"It's basically our turn to handle it, and Ethan's handling Octo Valley today anyway," Ayane said, as she began using the whiteboard. Artemis also recalled that Orion had a bunch of extracurricular activities today, so he'd be too busy as well.

Karlene raised a hand, "it's been nearly a month since we beat Octavio, why now?"

"Because you guys really made a mess of things for the Octarians in the Canyon and they've needed to relocate to new base locations in Octarian territory. It's taken all of this time for them to properly recover from that," Ayane said as she began sketching a simple map of the area. "We've got intel that there's a new weapons production lab in the area between the Valley and the Canyon. They're gathering up old human-era artefacts that they've recovered in hopes of using them to create new and deadlier weapons."

Iris gasped. "That's terrible! We can't let that happen!"

Artemis grinned, punching her palm, "well, it wouldn't be any good if we let them do that. I've been itching for another mission. Gotta show 'em the error of their ways, after all."

"YEAH! Go girl power! Let's kick their butts!" Hinata giggled.

Karlene smirked, a hand on her hip, "sounds good to me, let's do it."

Artemis looked over at Iris, who looked… Somewhat less excited. In fact, she seemed rather nervous, holding her left arm and looking down. "Iris? Are you okay?"

Iris sighed. "I know we need to do this, because what the Octarians are doing isn't right, but… I still don't want to hurt them. And what if they recognise me?"

Oh geez. Bless her heart, Iris was a peaceful soul, but that meant she was more hesitant about fighting other people. She just wanted a peaceful life in Inkopolis, one could only imagine how much it tore at her to fight her former comrades, even if it was the right thing to do.

Artemis went behind her and started massaging her shoulders. "Iris, it's okay. Assuming they've got a respawn point to retreat to, it's not like we'll be hurting them all that much. Besides, we could get a mask for you or something if you're really that worried about being recognised."

"We'll take point and you can watch our backs," Karlene offered.

Iris bit her lower lip, but she seemed to relax a bit from Artemis' massage. "No, it's… It's okay. I've got Colonel to fall back on if I need to. I'm at my best when I'm fighting at close quarters, after all. I shouldn't be hiding myself or my face, now."

"That's the spirit. Handling missions will be second nature to you. Remember, we're doing this for everyone's sake, not just for Inkopolis," Artemis nodded, satisfied that Iris had regained her nerve.

"That's nice, but I haven't even properly started the briefing yet," Ayane said, regaining everyone's attention. "Merga will be joining us, in case the Octarians have anything nasty up their sleeves. Here's what we're going to do…"

❖​

Later after school, the girls gathered at Octo Canyon to get their equipment, before teleporting out to their destination with help from Merga. Super-jumping was nice, but there was something even faster and more convenient about teleportation, even if it took a bit of getting used to.

This was the first time Iris had worn her Hero Suit outside of training. While her teammates seemed to be used to it, she did a feel of unease having it on, like it was a symbol of her new responsibilities. She had sworn to help protect the city she now called home, but… Well, talk was cheap. At least she had her trusty Octo Saber as a tool of comfort, which was odd considering it was a weapon.

The terrain near the base was barren and rocky, with the base itself built into the rocky outer wall of Octo Canyon. The facility wasn't a dome, but rather completely built from scratch by the Octarian military. There were many such facilities dotted around the wastelands, for both military and scientific purposes, and generally their locations as far as most Octarians were concerned was on a need-to-know basis.

They had arrived at a hidden portable respawn point not far from the Octarian base, powered by a zapfish, which Merga had apparently already set up. Ayane pet the zapfish, Charger on her back and Hero Shot in her other hand. "We're here. Our mission, first and foremost, is to secure the artefacts and capture or destroy any weapons being developed by the Octarians."

Iris noticed that next to the respawn point was a boombox. "Miss Four, that boombox… Are you planning to use that with…?"

"Yeah, but after we complete our primary objective," Ayane said. "Otherwise we'll just be giving away our location to the enemy, and we don't want them panicking and doing something stupid, or even trying to make off with the goods."

Iris completely understood the tactical need to prioritise objectives, but she had mixed feelings about it, considering using the Calamari Inkantation could be a viable way to free the minds of the Octarians inside the base. But preventing them from causing more harm came first, however. "Understood."

"Heck yeah, let's take 'em by surprise!" Artemis grinned, spinning her Hero Dualies in her hands. It wasn't remotely a surprise that she was so enthusiastic, though Iris wished she could take this a bit more seriously.

Of course, there had to be two of them not taking this so seriously - "They won't know what hit 'em," giggled Hinata, briefly revving up her Hero Splatling.

"Let's not get too excited, we're on a mission, not fighting a typical match," Karlene said, checking her Hero Shot briefly. "Agent 4, Hydro Dragoon, lead the way to our entry point."

"Of course. I found an abandoned access kettle, figured out where it lead, and covertly opened opened up the other end after teleporting there. But we should move quickly before they figure out it's open," Merga said. "You have command, Agent 4."

"Roger that, Hydro Dragoon. Are there any enemy respawn points detected in the area?" Ayane asked.

"Affirmative, and outside the facility. The enemy will likely escape when splatted, but they won't be permanently harmed."

"Good," Ayane said, putting a hand to her headset, "Cap'n, you receiving our signals?"

"Copy that, Agent 4, I've got you nice and clear over here," said the Cap'n over their communications network. "Good to see you back in action. You're clear to proceed."

They wasted little time making their way to the kettle, keeping out of sight of the main entrance to the facility, which had a normal door built into the slope and covered by security cameras. The kettle required a bit of climbing to get to as they inked their way up the rocks and to it. Ayane went in first, of course, and the rest of the team followed once she confirmed the coast was clear.

Iris was in front with Artemis, quietly checking corners and sneaking up on patrols. The steel corridors were patrolled by bored Octotroopers who were more than a little surprised when Iris and Artemis started ambushing them, covering the floors and walls with orange ink from both weapons and splats.

She hated this. She hated the looks and cries of pain when her adversaries were splatted, even though she knew they'd be alright. She hated that they had to be her enemies at all. The collective Octarian grudge was just so ingrained, and yet from her perspective, now so baffling. The enemy were trying to restore a dying empire when it would be easier and better to just co-exist with the Inklings. But Colonel, for some reason, wasn't surfacing, forcing her to endure having to splat her own former comrades.

But of course, the problem with having to splat enemies was that soon, the alarm was sounded, resulting in sirens echoing through the corridors. Merga turned on the boombox, which began playing the Calamari Inkantation. Hopefully, they'd open the minds of any Octarians still here.

Still, Iris was wondering why Colonel was silent and incommunicado when she opened a door leading to a lab. Inside were a whole bunch of Octarian soldiers and scientists, attempting to grab or destroy their research. But when the Splatoon came in with weapons at the ready, they all froze, weapons pointed back.

Then Iris' worst fear came true. One of the Octoling soldiers spoke up. "Colonel Mizuno? Why are you-" Then Iris saw a flash of realisation on her face. "The rumours were true. You've defected to the side of the Inklings."

This is one battle you need to fight yourself, Princess. That was the first and only thing Colonel said to her the whole mission, at that point.

"Yes. I have," Iris said. "I'm done fighting a war that ended a hundred years ago. The Inklings accepted me as a friend and who I am with open arms. Please, all of you, stand down! We don't have to fight!"

Some of the Octarians hesitated and lowered their weapons. Others were more incensed, and immediately opened fire.

Iris side-stepped some incoming shots, slashing through the first soldier that had tried to shoot at her. The soldiers and scientists who had stopped fighting immediately dropped to the floor, covering their heads as the other Agents opened fire, splatting attackers left and right, with Artemis dodging around fire, Karlene handling the mid range, Hinata providing covering fire, Ayane shooting distant targets and Merga charging targets as she slashed them with energy-ink blades. Ultimately, the Octarians didn't stand a chance.

As the fight approached its end, Iris focused on a scientist scrambling to try and escape with a strange steel shooter-like weapon she had never seen before. He panicked as she approached, and raised the weapon towards her.

"NO!" Artemis suddenly dodge-rolled twice in quick succession towards him, grabbing his arm and forcing it down as they struggled.

BANG.

Iris winced in pain, her ears ringing. Her headphones had muffled the noise a bit, but it was so loud as to be painful. How deadly could that shooter be if just the sound of it firing could hurt someone?!

Artemis was also briefly disoriented by the bang, but fortunately a streak of ink splattered the scientist, causing the weapon to clatter to the floor. Ayane stepped over to them, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, but… Ow, that noise actually hurt," Iris winced, putting her saber away.

"Wow, that was crazy!" Hinata said, coming over to look at the weapon, and extended a hand towards it. Artemis slapped it away. "Ow, what?"

"Don't touch that, you'll hurt yourself if you don't handle it properly." Artemis carefully picked up the weapon, taking it to a nearby workbench, unloading what looked like small metal ovoid objects from it. "Of course it hurt, this isn't meant to be used without ear protection. The fact that it was even loaded in the first place really pisses me off."

"We weren't planning to use it!" Said one of the remaining scientists in a panic, "We simply restored it and were going to test it, not use it on anyone!"

Karlene looked over the weapon as Artemis disassembled it with surprising dexterity and speed. The weapon itself was small, one-handed, double-barrelled and had some kind of rotating chamber with six slots for the ovoids. "Agent 5… What is that thing? And why are you so familiar with it?"

"It's called a 'firearm'. Of course you wouldn't know what it is, they're pretty rare nowadays, they're really only used by hunters like Dad. He has a dedicated safe for the ones he uses," Artemis said, taking a deep breath. Her attitude had taken a complete one-eighty the instant the weapon had become relevant. "They're extremely dangerous, illegal in ink battles, and one of the few things I knew about the Octarians before I became an Agent is that the Inklings and Octarians agreed long ago to only use them on monsters, not people."

"I'm impressed, Agent 5, not many people know about that. That treaty was signed long before even the Great Turf War," Cap'n Cuttlefish said.

Iris could hear Octavio in the background, grumbling, "we're not savages."

Hinata, for once, actually seemed unnerved, mostly by how serious Artemis was being. "I'm not sure I get why it'd be so dangerous to use."

"Ink weapons don't hurt Inklings and Octolings attuned to the same ink colour, Agent 10," Merga said, as she looked over the other weapons in the lab. "Firearms don't and can't distinguish between friend and foe, like energy weapons."

Artemis nodded. "You gotta treat them with respect and be careful where you point them - always assume they're loaded. I learned that the hard way when I was younger. I accidentally shot my dad in the leg while practising with one of his rifles a bit too carelessly."

Iris winced. This explained so much about her attitude towards these things. Artemis didn't want someone else getting hurt by them. "If he had shot me… I would've gotten instantly splatted, wouldn't I?"

"Yeah. You would've. I'm glad that didn't happen, though," Artemis smiled to her, before she immediately started looking around the lab, apparently for similar weapons to disassemble. Ayane was talking to the scientists and soldiers who had surrendered.

Speaking of which, Iris looked at the various weapons on the workbenches and in the glass cabinets around the lab. Ancient weapons in varying states of condition and restoration, none of them ink-based - swords, firearms of different types, some kind of long tonfa-blade, a bionic arm with some kind of grappling hook functionality…

One of the swords caught her eye in particular, a slightly curved blade in a black sheath which had a blue cord likely used to tie it to one's waist. She took a hold of the weapon, slowly unsheathing it partially and taking a look at the details, admiring the diamond patterns on the handle and the gold hand guard, and the blade itself had noticeable temper lines. Whoever had forged this weapon was a true artist.

There was also something about the weapon that was unseen that she could just… Feel. But whatever it was, it was a pale shadow of what it had been. She could imagine that'd be the case after 12,000 years of neglect. "I wonder what kind of story you had…"

"I believe, according to my databanks, that's a 'katana', an old Japanese sword," Merga said.

A name came to mind, but Iris couldn't figure out why. "I… I think 'Yamato' is its name. I don't know why, I just… Get this feeling. It feels like a sword with a proud history."

"Is that so? Interesting," Merga said, as she continued inspecting.

"It's best that we find a safe place to store these. Besides, I doubt we'd be allowed to keep them at the dorms," Karlene said dryly. "This is a pretty cool arsenal, but it's also pretty dangerous."

"I'd say… Wow, this sword has a freaking motorcycle grip?!" Artemis grinned, looking at one of the single-sided swords, which had exhaust pipes and a clutch lever as well. "Would be fun to test out in a safe place."

Iris smiled, sheathing Yamato properly as she walked over to Artemis. "Nice to see you taking weapon safety seriously, Agent 5."

Artemis blushed. "I… I already hurt someone I care about by doing something stupid. Don't wanna do it again."

Iris kissed her on the cheek, taking a strange amount of pleasure in seeing Artemis so flustered. "That's good."

Artemis turned to her, now looking more concerned, "are you alright, though? Between having to splat all those Octarians and that gunshot-"

"I'm… I'm okay for now, Ar-Agent 5. Thank you," Iris smiled softly.

"You sure? I noticed Colonel didn't surface even once that whole time."

Iris was blindsided. "You noticed?"

"I think you underestimate me sometimes, babe, of course I noticed," Artemis smiled, taking Iris' hands. The word 'babe' caused Iris to immediately blush. "It's okay. I know you're not keen on hurting people, but… What we're doing is preventing more people from getting hurt. 'Evil wins when good people do nothing', as my mom says."

Iris knew Artemis meant well, and she probably didn't mean to be condescending, but Iris kind of felt that was how she was acting. Of course she knew that. But to just overcome her personal problems with fighting was not so easy.

She sighed, letting go of Artemis' hands, "Agent 5… I know. But pretty words won't help me overnight. This is something I need to figure out for myself."

Artemis blinked. "Was… That you talking, or Colonel? I honestly couldn't tell."

Iris realised that she couldn't tell either. "I… I don't…"

"But I get what you mean. I'll shut up about it, but if you need help, I'm always here," Artemis smiled, hugging her, before getting back to work.

As Iris helped clean things up, she found herself stewing over the question again and again.

❖​

Ethan was admittedly a bit disappointed there was no meetup at the Outpost this afternoon - between the mission and what came afterwards, the boys being busy with extracurriculars and the idols having packed schedules, it seems everyone was too busy to make time for this afternoon and evening. It left him at a complete loss when he arrived in Inkopolis Plaza after his rounds in the Valley, the sun having gone down and the streets mostly illuminated by streetlights and any stores still open. What was he to do with his free time?

Then he saw a shadow zooming across the sky, given away only by the moonlight and the contrast with the lights below - it zipped across buildings almost like it was flying.

He didn't hesitate, super-jumping straight to the next building the figure was zipping to. He gripped his Hero Roller, immediately splashing ink in the figure's path, "hey, you! A little suspicious, zipping across buildings like tha-"

The figure didn't give him time to finish, somehow extending her arm to the top of a stairwell entrance, and zipping to it. He couldn't identify her properly, only that she was covered in some kind of green, inky suit - a dead ringer for the phantom thief. Her figure was unmistakably female.

"HEY! I'm talking to you! I want to tell you something, geez!" Ethan called out, as he tried to give chase.

The figure looked back at him, standing on top of the stairwell entrance. The look in her eyes was… Pained. But she turned away, leaping off and latching on to the next building.

Ethan wasted no time super-jumping right to the next building, but the problem was that between the time it took to start the jump and the time it took to do the whole jump? His target was moving faster than him. Much faster. And she was fast on her feet, too, as she demonstrated when he tried to chase her down on foot.

Despite his attempts to stay ahead of her? She managed to misdirect his next jump, and slipped away into the night, disappearing from sight. He couldn't even hear the sound of her zipping anymore, either.

Ethan swore to himself, as he sat down to rest. He was going to need to figure out a way to catch up with her next time. Maybe Marina or Ciel could cook something up?

And as for the thief… Something about this felt familiar. Her movements. The fact that she had an experimental Octarian special weapon. And… Well, her figure was a bit distracting with that suit. Seriously, concentrating on the chase wasn't the easiest when he was getting distracted by her-

Nevermind. He had suspicions, but he hoped they were wrong. And besides, he needed more evidence before he could accuse anyone. Time to return to his apartment, and figure out his next move.

---

A/N: Next chapter is gonna be pretty heavy.

 

[Candescence]

BTW I also got VCampan to do a silly little comic where I make fun of ViA's idol obsession, based on a moment from the second-last chapter of Hostile Takeover.


View: https://twitter.com/CandescenceAria/status/1629932801243119616

Spoiler: Alt image in case Twitter is being dumb or goes down

It's silly but I thought it was amusing.




Also, whoever can guess all of the weapon cameos from Chapter 27 gets a cookie. Let's just say that there was a rather large Capcom-based expanded universe prior to the apocalypse in this particular timeline.

 

[Candescence]

Chapter 28: The Pleasant Phantom Thief (VIII)​

Artemis had never been good at maintaining focus during class.

She was taking deep breaths and trying to focus on what the teacher was saying and writing on the board, but her mind was trying to pull her in all sorts of directions. Iris had taught her a couple of mental focusing exercises, but she hadn't had a lot of time to practice them properly, and right now they were only helping so much. Eventually, her mind just gave in and she found it wandering in some other direction, like something out the window, or something on her desk, or Iris… Who would notice and give her that look that immediately shamed Artemis into refocusing on the lesson at hand.

Artemis hated feeling like she disappointed her girlfriend. Like she hated feeling like she disappointed her parents.

"Artemis, you seem surprisingly attentive today. Who was the squid prophet who laid the foundations for modern civilisation?"

Artemis blinked, realising that all eyes were on her. And somehow, she knew the answer to this question. "It was Madai."

The teacher blinked, and smiled, "that's correct. He wrote down all of his prophecies and insights into what we know today as the 'Book of Madai'. He rose to fame in the Splatlands thousands of years ago and is considered to be the progenitor of the modern-day Inkling."

Truth be told, it was a bit of a fluke - Artemis only put those pieces together because she had found a Sunken Scroll in Octo Canyon with a copy of a passage from the Book of Madai, about the Salmonids invading the land, and the imagery had stuck with her ever since. Still, Artemis sighed in relief, and glanced in Iris' direction.

Iris smiled at her, mouthing something that Artemis was pretty sure was "I'm proud of you". Artemis smiled back, and refocused on the lesson.

❖​

Orion had tried the feminine hairstyle and eyelashes for a few days, now, mixing it up a bit by still keeping part of the slicked-back style, but also having the two short side tentacles. It seemed to work well enough to make him still kind of recognisable but still having his own look, and he liked it. So he stuck to it, and hoped for the best. His friends certainly approved, at least, and his sister thought it was cute, so he considered it a vote of confidence.

He was surprised how little attention this new look actually got him outside of the classroom. Sure, he certainly turned a few heads when he first came to class with it and people almost mistook him for Artemis, but his classmates seemed to be okay with it at the very least. Though he also overhead one of his male classmates say something about a "'why' boner", which was probably the opposite of helpful. He tried not to think about it.

His teacher also took him aside to assure him that if he needed someone to talk to about his potential transitioning, they'd be happy to listen. That was very much appreciated.

Things seemed to have been going well… What wasn't appreciated, however, was the attention of two specific giant squid Inkings who had been bullying him the whole year even before all of this - Butch and Shinji. And those two had picked that particular day to ambush Orion and shove him against a wall while he was on his way to another class.

"Hey, there, runt. Don't think we haven't noticed you going around looking like a girl," Butch snickered, as the pair cornered Orion. Axl wasn't anywhere to be seen, he had been held by by one of his other classmates for a conversation.

Orion tried to steel himself. He'd fought worse bullies than these two by now. How could he call himself an Agent if he didn't stand up to them? "Yeah, what of it? You've already come up with enough concocted excuses to make me a target just for kicks."

"It's not like you can stop us. Whatcha gonna do, shoot us from afar? We wouldn't let you," Butch chuckled.

"You'd be surprised. I'm getting better at splatting people at close range, now."

"Heh, bold words from a squirt. We think this new look of yours suits you," Shinji smirked, in a way that sent a shiver down Orion's spine. That wasn't the reaction he was expecting. "You weren't much of a dude, you'd be much cuter as a girl."

"I… I'm not interested in being a girl… I just… Like being feminine," Orion stammered. He hadn't considered the possibility that his bullies would find him attractive like this.

"Oh, come on, in for a penny, in for a pound, right? I'm already picturing it now, you could do a lot with a bit of physical therapy - get yourself some nice hips, a big chest that'll make all the boys turn your way, and make that little derriere even bigger," Butch said with a hungry grin… And then reached for Orion's rear, giving it a squeeze for emphasis. "You've already got a pretty nice butt, just never noticed it until you started looking cuter. How about you embrace your true calling and become our girlfriend instead?"

Orion's hearts were racing as his mind fell apart in sheer panic. He felt sick. How on Earth was he supposed to even process this, let alone-

"I suggest you stop what you're doing, otherwise someone might get hurt."

The bullies turned towards the voice, and screamed in sheer fright. Orion looked towards the source of the voice - Merga? Why was she here? And why did she had… Glowing red eyes with black sclera and even sharper, nastier teeth?!

Merga's eyes were wide, giving the bullies a terrifying glare. "Leave. Now. Or would you like to pick on someone your own size? Because, I assure you, that would be a very bad idea."

"How about they can pick on someone who can fight back?"

Someone came up behind them, and as Butch turned to him, the giant squid got decked in the face, sending him crashing against the wall.

Ethan stood there, cracking his knuckles. "That's the least you deserve for what you just did, you sick freak."

The two bullies bolted, howling with terror as they sped away.

Ethan spat, watching them flee, "cowards. The both of them. Can't take a damn hit."

Orion panted, staring at Merga. "Merga, why are you-"

Suddenly, 'Merga' melted away into ink, revealing Axl underneath the inky disguise. He came over to Orion, putting his hands on Orion's shoulders. "Ori, are you okay? I saw that jackass touch you there, and…"

"Axl, you just used your ability in public!" said Orion, tears welling up. There were a bunch of other students around, staring at them. "You didn't need to-"

"-Ori, I don't care about that as long as I could stop them from hurting you more. Are you okay?"

"No. I'm not. Even if it was just a feel… I… I feel violated."

Axl hugged him. "I won't let them do that to you again. I promise."

Ethan smiled, putting his hand on Orion's shoulder, "we've got your back, always."

Orion erupted into tears, hugging him back. "Guys… Thank you…"

Everyone else around them gave them space as Axl and Ethan escorted him to class.

❖​

"FINALLY, LUNCH!" Artemis groaned, as she walked out of the classroom, stretching. "If I had to endure one more class in a row, I would've lost my cod-damn mind."

"That's because you're not used to having to focus so much in class. I'm sure you'll build up the mental stamina for it," Iris giggled, walking alongside her. "You're not doing so bad. As long as you keep at it, I'm sure you'll get used to it."

Artemis smiled, kissing her on the cheek. "Thanks, Iris. I dunno what I'd do with you."

"Artemis!" Koji rushed over to them, panting. "Have you heard what happened?"

Artemis and Iris looked at each other, and then at Koji. Artemis shook her head, "nope, got no idea whatcha talkin' about."

Koji frowned. "Ori had a run-in with Butch and Shinji."

"Again?! I swear to cod, are they bullying him over him being more girly?"

"They were, but… They were trying to pressure him into transitioning so they could make him their girlfriend."

"… What?" Iris asked, speaking what was immediately on Artemis' mind.

Koji nodded. "Butch even grabbed his butt before Axl and Ethan scared them off. Ori's a wreck right now, barely managed to make it through class."

Artemis' eyes widened, and she bolted for the Splatoon's table. This had to be a joke, right? Butch and Shinji were jerks, but doing this…

She saw Orion was already there, being comforted by Axl. The rest of the school-age Agents were there as well, looking either morose or furious. And her brother looked terrible.

She rushed over to him, and hugged him tightly. "I just heard. Ori… I can't believe they actually did that to you. I… I don't know what to…" There was no point in asking him if he was okay, because he really wasn't.

Orion hugged her back. "You don't need to say anything, sis, just being here is enough…"

"If Ethan hadn't decked that scumbag I would've done it myself," Ayane said with an undercurrent of barely-restrained rage.

As Artemis sat down next to her brother and Iris took a seat as well, Orion took a deep breath. "I don't know if those two were serious or if they were trying to mess with me. I don't know which is worse."

"They crossed a damn line, that's what they did," Liam said, gritting his teeth. "Good thing were were witnesses, that sort of thing should hopefully get them suspended."

"I'm gonna stick by Ori's side like glue until that happens or they get the hint and stay away," said Axl. It seems Orion was keeping him close and holding onto him. That was really sweet of him.

Ethan turned to Orion. "Ori… If you'd like to sit out today's training-"

"-no, I'll be okay. I can't let myself just stay a victim," Orion said, looking up at him. "Next time, I want to have the courage to defend myself."

Artemis couldn't help but smile. When did her meek little brother start learning to stand up for himself?

"Well, maybe when you master Ansatsuken, you can beat them both to a pulp if they try to harass you again," Karlene said. "I have half a mind to do it myself. What you do with your body is your choice, you shouldn't be pressured to do something for someone else's sick gratification."

"How do you think I feel?! I nearly exploded when I found out," Liam said.

"Y-Yeah, we can work on making you tougher!" said Hinata.

Artemis noticed that Hinata wasn't her usual bubbly self. The fact that she was barely able to find an upside to any of this must be tearing her apart.

"Alright, everyone settle down," said Koji. "Let's just sit down and take a breather. We're all here now, let's give Ori some time to recover."

Iris nodded. "Let's put this behind us as best we can."

Despite their best efforts to lighten the mood, that lunch was clouded by Ori. Artemis could only think that, for her brother, putting this incident behind him was easier said than done.

❖​

X was sitting at his desk in his office in the new Acadia Corp building, working on his laptop - he was personally overseeing the renovations, and it hadn't taken too long for his office to be mostly ready and already minimally furnished.

He was trying to occupy his mind with things other than what he heard had happened at school today. He was trying to keep a handle on his anger after what happened with Tartar, but this threatened to set him off again.

Ciel peeked in through the doorway, knocking. "X, I'm here to make my report on the Advanced Hero Suit project… Are you okay?"

"No, not really," X said bluntly. "Sorry, I just learned Orion got sexually harassed at school today."

Ciel gasped. "Cod, you're serious?! Who would do that?!"

"Two bullies who had been targeting him. They noticed he was looking more feminine, and tried to pressure him into transitioning into a girl for reasons I'd rather not get into. One of them grabbed his butt before Axl and Ethan intervened."

"Good heavens… Why are people so terrible sometimes?"

"It's a fact of life that frustrates and confounds me," X sighed, straightening up as he turned towards Ciel. He needed to take the conversation away from this, lest he completely bring the mood down for what was more important right now. "Sorry. Please take a seat, Ciel. You had a report?"

Ciel nodded as she sat down. "While Merga's parts were being fabricated and after she was built, I was focused on the new Hero Suits. I've already drafted up designs based on the specifications you provided." She pulled out a small flash drive and handed it to him.

X plugged it into the laptop, opened the files, and took a good look. It only took him a few cursory scans of the drafts for him to nod, as he ejected the drive. "Excellent, well done. You're authorised to start work on getting the test sets made. Contact Sheldon and ask him is he's interested in a joint collaboration."

"Thank you, X, I'll do that," Ciel smiled as she stood up.

"Oh, and one more thing - Ethan messaged me, he says he and Ayane are gonna need something to catch up with the phantom thief when they find her again. That 'Zipcaster' of hers makes her too fast to chase down, and she's pretty agile."

"Understood, I'll try and come up with something," Ciel nodded, "maybe you should take a break. You've been so absorbed in running the company that you're stressing yourself out. The news with Ori is only making it worse."

Crap. She was right. He was doing that thing again. X turned off the laptop, nodding as he stood up. "Yeah, you're right. I really need to work on that."

Ciel giggled, "maybe you should set aside some time to see your girlfriend."

X blushed, stammering for a moment before he regained his composure. "I'm not gonna argue with you on that. Sure, that'd be nice. You probably need a break too, your work kinda let Callie snatch Zero out from under you."

That caused Ciel to blush as well, but her response wasn't what he was expecting. "I mean, you're not wrong, but… There's still an opportunity there… Zero's really nice and handsome, but Callie's wonderful, too…"

That nearly broke X's brain. "Wait, hold up, are you saying you have a crush on both of them? What do you mean by 'opportunity'?"

"Oh, right, it's an Octarian cultural thing, so you wouldn't know… I dunno if Callie would go for it since she's an Inkling," Ciel sighed. "Nevermind. Let's go see if the Squid Sisters are available."

X was wondering what on Earth she was talking about as they left the office…

❖​

Marie was delighted when X called, asking if she was available to hang out after work. As it happened, Callie was also going to be hanging out with some 'friends', and was willing to expand it to include Marie, X and Ciel, so they agreed to meet up at the Reef. This left Marie wondering who these friends were - were they people she had befriended from work, or…?

And then she saw who it was when Callie arrived, followed by four Octoling girls, which nearly broke Marie's brain. How and when did she befriend all four of them and why did she not tell her?!

Callie laughed sheepishly as they came up. "Sorry we're a little late. These are-"

"Oh, Alia, Layer, Palette, Nana!" Ciel smiled happily, "I didn't know you came up to the surface!"

"It took somewhat longer since we were only recently exposed to the Calamari Inkanation, but yes, we did. It's good to see you, Ciel," Alia smiled. She looked over Marie and X, "oh, you must be Marie! We saw you perform weeks back, it's an honour to meet you!"

Layer nodded shyly, Nana just smiled, and Palette turned Callie into a blushing wreck when she remarked to her in a sorta-hushed voice, "your cousin's pretty hot, Callie."

Marie couldn't help but be amused. "No, no, the pleasure is all mine. I'm guessing you know Callie from when she was brainwashed."

"T-That's right," Layer said. "And… You must be X. We saw you fight Octavio, too."

"Yes, I am. Welcome to the surface, you four," X smiled.

"Also he's my boss, now," Ciel remarked.

"That sounds like quite the story," Nana said as they started walking together.

"Oh, you have no idea."

"Where's Zero? I thought he'd be able to hang with us," Palette pouted.

X chuckled, "he's busy doing music stuff with Marina and Pearl, apparently he might actually become their guitarist."

"Okay that I can't bring myself to be mad about," Palette said.

As the group made small-talk, Marie was just happy to be hanging out with her cousin. While they had been repairing their relationship, it was still kind of a slow process, so every day they had where they could hang out was a blessing. Though that wasn't the only thing occupying her mind right now, because she had noticed the Octoling girls Callie had brought along weren't behaving like they were merely Callie's friends. The fact that Palette was hanging onto Callie's arm half the time clued her in to what they really thought about her. If it was true, it was absolutely hilarious.

While they were checking out a boutique clothing store, Marie quietly took her cousin aside, whispering to her, "I thought you were only dating Zero, you sly girl."

Callie blinked, and looked very confused. That told Marie everything she needed to know. "I am, though?"

Marie chuckled, her grin widening, "I dunno, those four seem awfully possessive of you."

Callie's face immediately went red. "They're just good friends! I mean, sure, they're kinda coming onto me a bit strongly but they were coming onto Zero, too! I don't get it, Alia flashed him the 'call me sign' during our date, and then did the same with me!"

That genuinely seemed to confuse Marie for a moment, until she connected the dots in her head.

And then she nearly fell over, howling with laughter.

"M-Marie?! What's so funny?!" Callie asked, fretting over a joke she clearly didn't get, as the others looked over at them.

Marie calmed down, wiping a tear from her eye. "Sorry, cous, but I'm afraid you'll have to figure this one out yourself. Besides, it'll be much funnier when you do. I just hope I'm there when it happens."

❖​

Eventually, the group split off, with Callie taking her 'girlfriends' back to their apartment, and Ciel heading back to hers. Which mean it was just Marie and X walking back to their apartment building. The usual hangout at the Outpost was cancelled due to what happened to Orion, who just wanted hang with his closest friends at their dorm tonight.

X finally had the opportunity to ask the question that had been tearing at him for a while now. "So what was so funny between you and Callie?"

That got Marie giggling. X had never heard her giggle so much before. "She's way more clueless about how much romantic attention she's getting. I think she's got a harem on her hands."

"Wait, you think all four of them are interested in her?" X chuckled. "Funny you should say that, Ciel confessed that she had a crush on her and Zero, too."

That caused Marie to laugh. "WHAT?! Seriously?! I didn't think my cousin was a magnet for octopu-no, that's joke's too crude, even for me. But if that's true… I'm surprised none of them seemed at all jealous of each other. And apparently they've got their eyes on Zero, too."

"Ciel mentioned it's some kind of cultural thing with Octarians." And then it hit X like a speeding truck. "You… You think Octarians practice polygamy?"

"Maybe?! All I know is that Callie is in the middle of a harem situation and it's hilarious. Then again… Maybe it might be good for her. Who knows," Marie smirked. "I really, really want to see it play out."

They reached the door to Marie's apartment, and X smiled, "well, we're here. I hope you had a good time, Marie. I know I did."

"Yeah. We should do this more often," Marie smiled. "Especially since you're doing that thing again where you get wrapped up in your work."

X found himself being flustered. "I'm… Gonna try and work on that."

"Well. Here's something to encourage you, then."

Marie put her hands on X's cheeks, and pressed her lips against his, bringing him into a kiss, closing her eyes. X initially hesitated, but closed his eyes as well as he leaned into the kiss. It was slow, but passionate, and X didn't want it to end.

Marie soon broke the kiss, and smiled, "I don't deserve you, X."

X smiled back. "I say I don't deserve you, Marie. But let's just agree to disagree on that."

"Sure, that's fine with me. Goodnight, X," Marie chuckled, as she went in, closing the door behind her.

"Goodnight, Marie," X said, smiling widely as he started heading back to his apartment.

He had a feeling he was going to be dreaming of her for a while.

❖​

X had long settled down for the evening when Zero finally returned, a guitar slung over his shoulder. "Hey, roomie. Heard you hung out with the Squid Sisters and the Octoling gals."

"Yeah, it was fun," X said as he looked back over the couch. "How was your jam session with Off The Hook?"

"We're still figuring things out, but it was fun," Zero chuckled, as he went to put the guitar away in his room. "Is Callie doing alright?"

"Yeah, but Marie thinks she's in a harem situation with the Octolings," X said as he turned back towards the TV. "Apparently they have their eyes on you and Callie. Ciel even admitted to crushing on you both, too."

"Is that right? Huh. I suspected something was going on when Alia gave us both the 'call me' sign, but it doesn't seem like a love 'polygon', either," Zero said as he came over to the couch.

He should've figured Zero would've figured it out as well. Still, there were some inherent problems with this state of affairs. "You do realise that could cause issues with your relationship, right?"

Zero shrugged. "Maybe. Depends on what Callie's willing to do. I'm actually not against dating multiple girls at once if they're all okay with it… Especially if they're all dating each other as well."

"I dunno if the last part is true. It's weird, complicated and probably involves some cultural Octarian thing that I have no idea about," X sighed. "Just… Be careful, okay? You better know what you're getting into before you dive right in."

"Relax, I ain't stupid. I'm sure we'll figure something out." Zero sat down on the couch, "anything good tonight?"

As they watched TV, X couldn't help but worry that Zero and Callie were getting into some potentially serious drama.

---

A/N: I hadn't really done a proper school life-focused chapter, so...

And yeah, I was a bit uncomfortable writing that scene too - I feel bad for putting Ori through that, but at the same time I felt it was a necessary hurdle for his emotional development. Originally it was supposed to be a fairly standard bullying scene, but then it occurred to me there was another way that those two could initiate an attempt of a power play that certainly could happen realistically, and, well... Yeah. Sometimes people are assholes.

(Also I blame Lady Reaper on Twitter for the "Callie gets an Octo girl harem" idea. But seriously, check out her stuff, she's great.)

 

[Kruggov]

The weapon itself was small, one-handed, double-barrelled and had some kind of rotating chamber with six slots for the ovoids.

Click to shrink...

A name came to mind, but Iris couldn't figure out why. "I… I think 'Yamato' is its name. I don't know why, I just… Get this feeling. It feels like a sword with a proud history."

Click to shrink...

"I'd say… Wow, this sword has a freaking motorcycle grip?!" Artemis grinned, looking at one of the single-sided swords, which had exhaust pipes and a clutch lever as well. "Would be fun to test out in a safe place."

Click to shrink...

Is this a DMC crossover now? (kidding obv)
Though if that is indeed Blue Rose in the first quote, it's by no means small, the thing is massive.
And I suspect Artemis will surely try to master the Red Queen.

 

[Candescence]

Is this a DMC crossover now? (kidding obv)
Though if that is indeed Blue Rose in the first quote, it's by no means small, the thing is massive.
And I suspect Artemis will surely try to master the Red Queen.

Click to shrink...

More like integrating elements of other Capcom series into the wider universe - in practice nearly all of the characters of those series are long dead, so I wouldn't call it a full crossover. It's a trend I started with the Street Fighter references. The same chapter also highlights weapons from Strider and Bionic Commando.

Blue Rose is a hand cannon, but it's still only really as big as a single Dualie. Splatoon weapons are pretty large. As for Artemis and Red Queen, we'll see!

 

[Gulping]

The Cypher should be salvageable with a new power source to return it to its full plasma/psionic-powered glory. Red Queen should also work just fine since it's not actually a Devil Arm, but it'll need retooling to work with ink instead of the alchemically-enhanced fuel that it once used. The Commando Arm could be used to develop another new Robot, assuming it's not the weird edgy reboot one. Let's not talk about Grin's Bionic Commando any more than we absolutely have to. And of course, there's no guarantee that this is the only lab with a bunch of old human relics. There's plenty of worrying shit that could be used to make a super soldier.

Is Yamato dormant and decayed, the strength of Sparda finally failing... or merely hibernating, waiting for its master's blood to come back for it? Sparda's bloodline isn't exactly known for dying of old age.

And since the world ended in the Capcom Future, it's possible that some of mankind managed to escape Earth before it flooded, assuming that was the only calamity involved... And of course, there's the looming, unresolved question of Makai and the other demon realms.