Chapter 15: Chapter 11: Hostile Takeover (I)

Artemis took a deep breath as she sat down at her desk, waiting for homeroom to begin. It had been a week since the rather climatic end to the Deepsea Metro incident.

Zero was apparently still undergoing repairs. X had been working with the Cap’n and the Squid Sisters to clear out the tunnels he used to reach the Metro, in hopes of getting everyone still trapped down there out, and so they could extract a santatised Octarian for full analysis by a professional. And while Marie had assured her that Iris and Axl were just fine and had been recuperating, and that there was simply some ‘administrative stuff’ to work out, Artemis hadn’t heard from either of them ever since they had parted ways.

At least, until Iris walked through the classroom door, in a full school uniform. Artemis stared at her in surprise as she stood in front of the whiteboard, writing her name in proper Inkling. Oh, wow, I guess that explains a lot, guess she’s my classmate, now? Also she looks SUPER CUTE in that outfit!

“Alright, everyone, settle down. We have a new transfer student joining us from now on,” the teacher spoke firmly. “Please give her a warm welcome.”

Iris bowed respectfully, “I’m Iris Mizuno. Pleased to meet you all.”

Yeah, a transfer student… Never thought that old anime cliche would ever happen to me, but here we are, Artemis thought… And then checked the seats around her. The only empty one was directly behind and to the right. Okay, so I guess she’s not sitting directly behind me. Close enough, though…?

“Hello, Artemis!” Iris smiled, as she walked over on the way to her desk.

WAIT SHE’S JUST STRAIGHT UP SAYING HI?! That blindsided Artemis a bit, but she smoothly concealed her surprise. “Oh, hi, Iris! Guess you transferred to my class after all, huh?”

“Hold up, you know her, Arti?” One of her male classmates blinked.

OH CARPBASKETS NEED TO COME UP WITH A CONVINCI-

“We know each other online,” Iris said a bit shyly. “Um… She knew I was transferring here, but it’s just coincidence that we’re in the same class.”

Knowing Marie, it’s probably not a coincidence whatsoever, Artemis thought to herself, before nodding, “yeah! Iris is new to Inkopolis, so, uh, please be nice to her. And give her a bit of space, she’s shy around new people.”

The first thing Artemis noted now was that Iris’ command of the Inkling language wasn’t perfect. Sure, she was perfectly understandable, but she was a bit slow here and there. Still, it was obvious she had some practice and it was evidently enough to get by.

Thankfully her classmates gave Iris the space she needed for the time being. Artemis just wished Marie had given her some heads-up so they could get their combined story straight sooner.

Suddenly, Artemis got a text. Apparently Iris had her number.

We talk more at time lunch with others.

Ah. Turns out she would need a lot more practice with written Inkling, apparently…

❖

Meanwhile, Orion had to deal with something a little different.

“Hey, name’s Axl! Meased to pleet you folks!” Axl declared, standing in front of the class with a huge goofy grin.

I don’t think that spoonerism was deliberate… Orion thought to himself. Having him around as a classmate was going to be… Interesting.

❖

X had little time for rest over the past week. While the Kamabo Corporation effectively ceased to exist with the demise of both Tartar and Dr. Wily, there was still much work to be done regarding the Deepsea Metro. According to both Ayane and Ethan, it turns out the Metro wasn’t purely a testing ground, but also had an entire underground corporate city.

That made potentially moving everyone to the surface significantly more complicated and problematic, but even without Kamabo Co., it seemed that daily life seemed to go on as normal for the people who used the Metro for the most part. So X had decided a more patient and long-term approach was needed to find a solution.

Fortunately, the conductors of the Metro, all named ‘C.Q. Cumber’ (who were, well, literally sea cucumbers), had been very helpful in providing information, which was a little baffling, but considering Kamabo effectively was a non-entity now, corporate secrets were no longer really a priority.

“Your concerns are indeed valid. Now that Kamabo Co. is unable to fulfil its original purpose, the sanitised Octarians are now redundant,” C.Q. Cumber said. “We are still very much not sure what to do with them. We do keep them in stasis when testing is not being performed, so it is not like they just stand around aimlessly.”

“Ugh, ‘sanitised’, how disingenuous,” X sighed. He was currently in his casual outfit, though with some modifications to his legs to allow for dashing even without his armour. “Sanitised of what?”

“Free will. That is what the former executives of Kamabo believed was the root cause of human extinction,” C.Q. Cumber explained. “The entire goal of the project was to analyse individuals, and by combining the best individuals together, a newer, superior human being would be born that could bring about a harmonious world.”

This nearly made X laugh from the sheer absurdity. Here he was, the first robot with true free will, being told that the executives of an illicit corporation wanted to get rid of free will in living beings. The sheer horrible irony would’ve also made him puke if he had been capable of it.

“Anyway. There is one exception to the stasis procedure.”

“An exception?” X raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. Our main music producer, Dedf1sh. That’s ‘fish’ with a 1 instead of an ‘I’, by the way,” C.Q. Cumber said. “Her primary function is producing music for the Metro and the testing chambers. You have no doubt heard quite a bit of her music.”

“Interesting. Where can I find her?”

❖

X could hear the music echoing through the station as he stepped off the train. It felt haunting to him, somehow.

As it turned out, this particular station (not available on the standard maps) lead to a full-fledged recording studio. But aside from himself and C.Q. Cumber, only one person was here - a single sanitised Octoling girl, who looked no older than Iris. She wore the same shades as the other sanitised Octolings, but instead wore a black and grey cap, a black shirt and pants. She seemed completely absorbed in what she was doing.

“Excuse me, you’re Dedf1sh, right?” X asked, as he walked over.

“Correct,” she said in pure monotone Octarian language. “Please leave me alone. I need minimal distractions.”

“You do understand that Kamabo is defunct, right?” X frowned. “Your old purpose is-”

“I must follow orders. Please leave me alone.”

“I did warn you, I’m afraid,” C.Q. Cumber said. “Unless you have the right authorisation from Kamabo Corporation, she is not going to listen to you. And unfortunately, Kamabo Corporation is no longer operational, so there is no-one capable of providing that authority.”

X pondered what to do. A couple of minutes passed before he had an idea. He activated his communicator. “Hey, Marina, I need a favour.”

“Oh, hi, X. Um… Sure, what’s up?” Marina replied.

“Now that Tartar and Wily are gone… Can you hack into Kamabo Corporation’s network and gain administrative access?”

“Sure, I guess, it’ll take a little bit of time, but… Why?”

“I’m thinking having full administrative control of the now-defunct corporation would probably make things somewhat easier. Also, since we defeated Tartar and Wily, Kamabo basically belongs to us. Might as well make it official.”

“Not gonna argue with that logic,” Marina chuckled. It took her several minutes, but… “Done. Patched access and administrative rights into your CQ-80. With the old security system basically now nonexistent it was pretty easy.”

“Good thing I borrowed this, then,” X said, looking down at the CQ-80 that Ayane had previously been carrying. “Thanks, Marina.”

“This is rather unusual, but all things considered… I recognise you as administrator and CEO of Kamabo Corporation, Mr. X,” C.Q. Cumber said, saluting with one of his extendable legs. “If you need anything from me, I would be most happy to assist.”

Even Dedf1sh herself seemed to immediately stop what she was doing when that was confirmed, turning to X. “Mr. CEO, sir, do you have any orders for me?”

Good, we’re getting somewhere… Though I’m not really fond of being called Mr. CEO, X thought. “What’s your name? Your real name, not your stage name.”

“My real name is Ahato Mizuta, sir.”

“Ahato, you will accompany me to the surface for analysis so we can determine how to reverse your ‘santisation’,” X said.

“Reverse my… What? W-Why?” Ahato asked. “I don’t… I don’t understand…”

“What don’t you understand, Ahato?”

“Why? I was given the choice to be sanitised… So I could focus on my work… My music,” she said, her monotone voice starting to tremble. “No distractions, no doubts… Why?”

X frowned, “Ahato-”

Ahato took off her shades, revealing blue eyes surrounded by black sclera, consistent with other sanitised Octarians. Her expression revealed a faint hint of pleading. “Please, don’t… I don’t want to be miserable again…”

X was mortified by what he was hearing. Had she really willingly allowed herself to be sanitised? Was she being forced to work even before that? Did she feel losing her free will meant… An escape from the pain?

Ahato looked like she was on the verge of outright attacking him, but her ‘programming’ was holding her back as tears streamed down her face. “I… I won’t let… You… ”

He took a deep breath. “You misunderstand me, Ahato. Once you’re restored to your old self, your employment will be null and void. You’ll be free to take your own path, live the life you wanted to live. You wanted to go to the surface like the other Octarians, right?”

“But… That doesn’t make…” Ahato fell to her knees, clutching her head, screaming in agony, “I DON’T UNDERSTAND!”

“I believe what you’re telling her is conflicting with the ‘programming’ caused by sanitation,” C.Q. Cumber said.

“It’s okay. We’ll fix you, Ahato, and all the others,” X smiled, picking her up in a bridal carry. “Come on.”

“You’re… So… Warm… Please… Stay with me…” Ahato said, in-between sobs, holding on tightly to him.

As X began to carry her back to the train, he thought to himself, if that damn telephone wasn’t already dead I would seriously consider setting him on fire right now.

❖

Once lunch break came around, Artemis immediately grabbed her lunch and made a beeline for what was basically now the ‘Squidbeak Splatoon table’ outside. All the agents past 5 were there, including Iris and Axl.

“Heeeeeeeeeyyyyy!” Artemis grinned, sitting herself down. “The gang’s all here, 5 to 12!”

“1 & 2 are too old, and we’re only missing 3 & 4 otherwise,” Karlene said. “I’m pretty sure Ayane and Ethan both go to our school as well.”

“For real?! That’s dope! Where are they, anyway?” Koji asked.

“Right over there, actually,” Orion said, pointing.

Artemis turned, and lo and behold, Ethan and Ayane were walking together just casually talking a short ways away. Both of them immediately noticed that the entire table were looking at them expectantly.

Ayane immediately spun on her heels in the exact opposite direction of the table and started walking. “Yeah no I’m out.”

Ethan put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. “Oh, no you don’t. You haven’t spent time with our new friends ever since last week.”

“Ethan, I have a reputation.”

“And that reputation ain’t gonna change if you don’t socialise more.”

“Ethan that is not what I meant. Ethan… ETHAN-”

Despite her protests, Ethan shoved her right onto a chair, resulting in cheers around the table. Ayane grumbled, “I am going to strangle Marie when I see her. Seriously, how did we triple the number of agents all of a sudden?!”

“Eh, the more the merrier,” Ethan chuckled, parking himself on a seat as well. “Looks like we’ve all got our own little club right here. It’s good to finally hang out with all of you… Well, outside of risking our lives and being exhausted afterwards.”

“Well, this is also Iris and Axl’s first day here,” Artemis smiled, turning to the two Octolings, “you guys doing alright?”

“Yes, thank you,” Iris smiled. “It’s just so much different and less strict than the academy underground.”

“Yeah, but… Apparently my Inkling need work,” Axl laughed sheepishly.

“He kept butchering words all day. Also, it’s ‘needs’, Axl,” Orion said.

“Really, Axl? After all the time we spent practising?” Iris sighed.

“No offence, Iris, but your texts in the group chat need work too. You’re not great at typing,” Liam pointed out. “Seriously, if it wasn’t for auto-correct I’m pretty sure you’d be doing way more typos.”

“Oh. I guess I’ve got a ways to go as well,” Iris sighed.

“Man, it feels good to kick back and relax after saving the world… School aside,” Hinata stretched. “Like… Everything’s been wrapped up, right?”

Ayane nodded to Ethan, who nodded back to her. Ayane leaned forward, “yeah, about that - I was considering talking to you guys about this over at the Canyon, but here is fine. Look, I’ll admit that you guys are pretty good. You’ve got what it takes to be agents. Your handling of both DJ Octavio and everything to do with Kamabo was pretty impressive. But ‘pretty good’ isn’t good enough if you wanna stay in the Splatoon, in my opinion. And you guys are certainly not going to rest on your laurels. Take it from two seniors who’ve been at this for two years - the Octarians aren’t going to stop anytime soon. And I want to make sure all of you can handle yourselves on the battlefield in any situation.”

“I see where this is going - you’re going to put us through a training regimen,” Koji winced.

“Yep. She’s pretty adamant about this, and I gotta say, so am I,” Ethan said. “Ayane and I are going to be putting you guys through the wringer, so you better bring your A-game. We want you guys to all be at S-rank.”

“Okay, no problem. At least each of our teams has a full roster now… Provided that Iris and Axl want to join in,” Karlene said.

“Are you kidding?! You guys are awesome, of course I’d love to be on a team with you guys,” Axl grinned. “I’ve been itching to do ink battles!”

Iris nodded enthusiastically, “yes, that’d be great!”

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“Hold it. Sure, you’ll be practising with your main squad compositions, but we’ll be regularly rotating setups. The first will be you guys in your regular teams. Second will be entirely randomised teams, meaning you’ll have to adapt sort of like you would if you were playing solo,” Ayane said. “And lastly, you’ll have pure solo practice, as in, you’ll be going through battle simulations entirely by yourselves.”

“And before you ask, we’ve already talked to the Cap’n, Callie and Marie about it, and they approve,” Ethan said. “We’ll try not to overwhelm you too much so you can also focus on your studies, but yeah, if you wanna keep doing this gig…”

“Uh, question: how?” Liam asked. “It’s not like we have our own dedicated training facilities like, you know, some professional teams.”

Ayane actually smirked. Artemis found it badass but she seemed to terrify everyone else at the table. “Oh, ye of little faith. Don’t forget we have a comically rich gremlin pop star and two incredibly smart Octarian engineers in our corner.” She pulled out her phone, and showed the group some photos of a couple of abandoned warehouses undergoing complete renovations. “We’re getting our own training facilities. They’ll be able to be configured to any layout we could possibly want, and they’ll also include simulated enemies for you to fight against. They’ll be ready in another week. That’s the time you have to relax and recuperate.”

“Wait, Pearl is paying for this?! How obscenely loaded is she?!” Axl asked.

This… This was one of the coolest things Artemis could’ve ever wanted.

“Okay, I was wary at first, but frankly this is sick as all shell,” Artemis grinned. “Like, I’m not the only one thinking that, right?”

“I would be absolutely insane to turn this down,” said Karlene. “Right, Liam?”

“Oh yeah no question, you guys are just pulling out all the stops,” Liam nodded.

“It’s gonna be rough, and I’m kinda nervous about it, but after everything we’ve done… You’re not wrong to want to do this,” Orion nodded.

“I swore to protect my new home. I’m not going back on that promise now,” Iris said.

Axl nodded, “yeah, me too.”

“Hey, if Liam’s cool with it so am I,” Koji said. “We’re going straight to the top.”

“This is the coolest $#!^ ever and I am totally here for it,” Hinata grinned.

“Well, guess that’s that,” Ayane said. “Good. You guys didn’t chicken out. I would’ve been pretty disappointed if any of you had.”

“Girl, if it weren’t for you and Ethan we’d probably all be literally freaking dead at this point,” Artemis pointed out. “I want to be as cool and awesome as you are. And if we gotta save the entire world again and being as capable as you want us to be is the difference between success and everyone potentially dying a horrible death, well, some rough training is a pretty small price to pay for that.”

Artemis thought she saw Ayane briefly crack a smile. “I like you, Small Bean.”

“SMALL BEAN?!” Artemis gasped indignantly.

“Aw, but your size makes you look more adorable!” Iris giggled, patting Artemis’ head.

Oh, how the turns have tabled… Artemis thought to herself, grumbling as she blushed.

“Oh, speaking of training… Anyone know a good gym around here?” Iris asked. “I do need to keep up my exercise regimen.”

Artemis blinked. Wait, she works out?

“There’s a place near the Square that Liam and I go to every so often,” Koji said. “Run by a crocodile named Massimo. Dude looks kinda scary at first but he’s a big softie.”

“Honestly, I think everyone getting proper workouts doesn’t sound like a bad idea, you never know when you might need that little bit of extra strength,” Ethan chuckled.

“Honestly it kinda sounds like fun,” Artemis grinned. “We could definitely make a day out of it sometime.”

“That’d be wonderful! I’ve… Never worked out with friends before,” Iris blushed.

I swear this girl is going to make me die of cuteness and it will be so, so worth it, Artemis thought to herself.

Suddenly, her phone started ringing. Artemis took out her phone, and found it was a video call from X. “Oh, it’s X!” She turned around so the camera could see mostly everyone before answering, “hey, X, what’s hangin’? The whole gang’s right here.”

“I’m holding onto someone right now, actually,” X said. On the video feed, he was looking down at a sanitised Octoling wearing casual clothes, whom seemed to be sleeping in his arms. “This is Ahato Mizuta, aka DJ Dedf1sh. I’m taking her to the university hospital for study and treatment. Hopefully we can find a way to reverse the sanitation process.”

“That’s dope! If we can find a way to fix everyone down there, that’d be so many lives saved,” Axl grinned.

“Uh… X, is it just me, or are you using your eye feed instead of your phone camera?” Karlene asked.

“Yeah, kinda hard to hold a phone when you’re holding a cold, scared girl in your arms and she really just wants to be warm.”

Artemis thought her heart was going to explode from all the cuteness.

“Just let us know when we can visit her at the hospital,” said Iris with a smile. “I’m sure she’ll want to make new friends up on the surface.”

“Heh, will do!” X chuckled. “Alright, I’m almost at the central station. I’ll be taking her outside of the Metro and then teleporting straight to the hospital once I’m clear. You guys have a good rest of your day, alright? Seeya.”

“Bye, X!” Artemis grinned, before ending the call. “Man, he’s doing some amazing things. I hope all the Octarians down in the Metro can be fixed up.”

“They just wanted to live on the surface in peace like us. Damn that stupid telephone, I’m glad he’s dead,” Axl grumbled.

“Speaking of living, where are you two gonna be staying?” asked Koji.

“Oh, I’m gonna be living at your dorm. Iris is gonna be dorming with the girls,” said Axl.

Iris nodded, “it made sense considering you guys have open spots. Ethan and Ayane have their own apartments, but we wouldn’t be able to pitch in on the rent right now.”

“Yeah that makes sense. Sweet, we finally have someone filling that fourth bed!” giggled Hinata.

“Well, I suppose I can’t think of anyone better for joining our dorm,” nodded Orion.

“So what’re we doing after school? Turf War?” asked Liam.

“Actually, I was thinking we could check out that gym you mentioned. Probably should be in a bit better shape for when training starts, even if it’s just a week away,” said Karlene. “We can help Iris and Axl become a bit more comfortable living in Inkopolis before we dive right into ink battling again.”

“Yeah, makes sense. And we still have plenty of cash left over from that insane Salmon Run, I think,” Liam mused.

“Ethan and I heard about that. You guys are reckless, you know that?” Ayane said.

“Kinda, but to be fair we had no idea how absolutely insane it would get,” said Liam with a groan. “Not doing that again anytime soon.”

“The last two weeks have been pretty crazy,” Karlene agreed.

“Yeah, but now we’ve got another week of free time! Well, mostly,” grinned Artemis. “Iris, Axl, we could show you guys around town after school.”

Iris blinked, and seemed to shrink a bit, “w-well, we don’t want to impose-”

“-impose? It’s no problem, really! Ori and have been where you two are now - strangers in the city who didn’t know where everything is or what’s up or down around here,” said Artemis. “But we had friends who were happy to show us around and help us get our bearings here in Inkopolis. I want to do the same with you guys.”

Orion nodded with a smile, “yeah, it’d be fun!”

“I mean… I’m all for it, Iris. Whatcha think?” Axl smiled, turning to her.

Iris smiled sweetly. “Thank you so much… I’d be absolutely happy if you’d do that for us!”

Artemis was trying not to die on the spot from the sheer cute factor. Again. This was going to be a running thing with Iris, it seemed...

❖

X carrying a sleeping Ahato into the lobby of Inkopolis University Hospital certainly turned some heads, but when he told the people at the counter he had an appointment with one Professor Gaudile, they were quick to point him in the right direction.

The hospital was one of the leading medical research facilities in Inkadia, and over the past week arrangements had been made so X could meet with the good Professor, who was already studying Tartar’s ‘primoridal ooze’ and was more than happy to help with a potential cure for the affected Octarians. X hadn’t met the Professor in person yet, been too running around and trying to clean up Tartar and Wily’s mess.

X knocked on the door to the Professor’s main lab. “Professor Gaudile?”

An Inkling girl in a nurse’s uniform opened the door - she had a yellow ink colour, with three short tentacles at the front and the other three at the back almost looking like wings when she was seen from the front. “Oh, you must be X! The Professor has been waiting for you. I’m Cinnamon, a post-grad student and his assistant. Please, come in.”

“Thank you,” X smiled as Cinnamon stood aside, allowing him in. The lab was spotless, as one would expect from a medical lab. Cinnamon directed him to put Ahato down on the examination table.

“So that’s one of the ‘Sanitised’ Octarians… She looks so normal, and yet her colouration…” Cinnamon mused. “Oh, sorry. Professor, X is here!”

“Oh, right on time! Excellent!” A slightly shorter figure nearby working with some equipment stopped what he was doing, turned around, and walked over. X quickly realised that he was a bipedal platypus person with blue eyes and wearing a proper doctor’s uniform. He had seen various evolved sea creatures of varying anthropomorphism, and both Judds, but this was new. The Professor extended a hand to X, smiling, “welcome! I am Professor Marcus Gaudile, doctor of medicine and one of the head medical researchers here at the university, including of medical technology.”

“Oh, a pleasure to meet you,” said X as he shook his hand. “You’re the first evolved mammal I’ve seen since I was activated.”

“Yes, unfortunately we mammals absolutely got the short end of the stick in that department,” sighed Gaudile as he began looking over Ahato. “There’s so few mammalian species left, and even fewer so miraculously evolved like the sea creatures did. It’s rumoured that Mr. Grizz of Grizzco is supposedly a bear, but the man is famously private, nobody has ever seen what he looks like.”

“That’s unfortunate… Anyway, what’ve you learned so far, Professor?” asked X. “We’re still having trouble accessing Kamabo’s data files, even if I’m technically its CEO now…”

“The ‘primordial ooze’ created and used by Kamabo Corp is incredibly fascinating… And disturbing beyond compare,” Gaudile shuddered. “My hypothesis is that the blender technology forces victims into a half-transformed inky state, keeping them alive but scrambling their consciousness, and when mixed with other victims, their minds partially meld, preventing them from properly regaining their senses, nevermind their sense of individuality and self.”

That triggered red flags in X’s head. “You’re saying the ooze is still alive.”

Gaudile turned to him, nodding grimly. “That’s correct. I’ve confirmed this by detecting multiple distinct sets of neural signals in the ooze, along with what I believe are rudimentary nanomachines used to control the signals. Tartar was able to control those affected by the ooze directly, influencing their minds to think in an intended manner, and suppressing memories, using the neural signals to do so.”

“Doesn’t explain why the sanitised Octarians don’t have any pulse or life signs,” X frowned.

“Now isn’t that a mystery, eh? Let’s take a look, then. Cinnamon, please carry the patient to the full-body scanner,” Gaudile said.

“Of course, Professor,” Cinnamon nodded, picking up Ahato and carrying her over to what looked like an old-fashion CT scanner device. She stepped away as Gaudile began to operate it, and the scanner moved across Ahato’s body, scanning her whole body from head to toe twice over as it went forward and then back to its original position.

Gauldile gasped as the results came in. “Good heavens. She literally has no blood! It’s all been replaced by the ooze!”

X came to see for himself. “That’s impossible… Her body should’ve completely shut down.”

“Not if the ooze can act as a viable substitute for the blood,” Gaudile noted, “there’s still active ‘blood flow’, but it’s not being driven by her three hearts. The ooze is literally moving by itself, rendering the hearts redundant. The body still needs energy and nutrients, but otherwise… It’s brilliant. Absolutely insane, of course, but brilliant.”

“Is there a way to fix it?”

“As a matter of fact, I do have an idea – restart the body’s blood cell production, restart the hearts, and begin injecting normal ink back into her,” said Gaudile. “We’ll slowly drain the body of the ooze until it is no longer necessary to keep any more in for the body to function, at which point we’ll drain the rest. This will be a bit of a slow process at first, of course, since this is an untested treatment, but I am certain it will work with minimal complications. Cinnamon, your thoughts?”

Cinnamon nodded, “I think you’re correct, Professor. We should begin treatment right away.”

“<Mr. CEO… X…>” Ahato stirred, speaking in Octarian, “<what’s going to happen to me…?>”

“<We’re going to fix you, Ahato,>” X came over, putting a hand on her shoulder. “<I promise. You’ll be free once the treatment is over.>”

Ahato smiled weakly, and Cinnamon carried her back over to the examination table, putting the Octoling under anaesthesia, so she and the Professor could begin to work.

“Poor thing… She just wanted to go to the surface, like the other Octarians, didn’t she?” Cinnamon sighed, as she and Gaudile began preparations.

“You know about the Octarians coming to the surface, Cinnamon?” X blinked.

“Oh, yes, of course!” Cinnamon smiled, “in fact, I’m good friends with one. Her name is-”

❖

“Our producer really sprung this one on us, huh…?” Marina sighed, as she and Pearl took a break between Inkopolis News sessions. “A promotional interview with a fresh new up and coming fashion model… He only bothered to tell you the details, Pearlie…”

“Oh, come on, Marina, it’ll be fine! She’s an Octoling like you, from what I’ve heard!” Pearl grinned, as they started heading backstage. “In fact, she looks a lot like you.”

“You said the same thing about Iris too,” Marina deadpanned.

“I really mean it this time, though! She’s gorgeous!” Pearl said, as they kept walking, coming around the corner, “heck, funny thing is, her name is-”

Marina then spotted the Octoling model in question waiting backstage, and gasped. “Marino?!”

Wearing a stylish pink and white dress was an Octoling girl with an even curvier figure than Marina herself, and slightly older than her. She had ocean blue eyes, and had the same hair colours as Marina, except with a very different style, her three tentacles forming bangs on the sides and the middle curling into a shell-like shape, and her fourth being a significantly larger ponytail that also curled.

Marino stared at Marina in surprise for a few seconds as they recognised each other, but she then smiled in that familiar, affectionate way that made Marina knew she wasn’t mistaken. “Well, this is a surprise. Hello, little sis.”

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