After finishing their tour of the Eden facility, Callie and Marie were changing into their stage outfits in the women's barracks. The room itself was unused, as the few female security officers hadn't survived the cryosleep. Otome was talking to one of the guards outside the room, and the kids were playing games in the lounge with Takeshi.
"Hey, Cal, are you feeling any less nervous?" Marie asked her younger cousin.
"I think so. Hanging out with Drake's friends helped a little, and the tour was pretty exciting." Callie finished Dressing, and turned to Marie. "But even still, it is the elder race we are about to perform for. How can I not be nervous?"
"Just pretend it's like the folk singing contest. You know, back in Calamari County."
"That's not helping, Marie. You know how scared I was that night." Callie blushed a little, which made Marie chuckle.
"I don't get it, Callie. You were pretty eager to perform for Drake the other night."
"That's Different! I mean Drake was-" Callie stopped when she noticed the smirk on Marie's face. "Ugh, very funny, Marie. Do you ever get tired of messing with me?"
"You know you'd miss it if I stopped," Marie replied. "Besides, it looks to me like you aren't nervous anymore. Shall we get going?" Outside the barracks, Otome was telling the two guards the full story of the fight Drake was in the previous night. They found the crotch kick to be especially amusing. Reggie looked over, and he saw that the two had finished changing.
"Are you two ready? I've been looking forward to this!" Reggie said, excitedly.
"Yeah, he wouldn't shut up about it," Matt added. The squid sisters nodded in response.
"Shouldn't we get Drake first?" Otome asked. Matt nodded, and they followed him down the hall, to the main security bunks.
As soon as they reached it, the PA system suddenly came on. "Security to the mess hall. Repeat, security to the mess hall."
"Dammit, what now? Sorry, but we gotta run. I'm sure Drake can take it from here." Matt and Reggie ran off, and Otome walked up to the door. She knocked several times, but got no response. She knocked again, and this time they could hear several loud voices from the inside. Worried about Drake, she quickly opened the door, and went inside. The group was stunned at what they saw in front of them.
"I SAID, GET BACK!" Drake standing at the far side of the room, and was yelling at the other two security guards. His eyes were wide, and his face was drenched in sweat. But what alarmed the three the most, was the fact that he was pointing the barrel of his handgun at the side of his head.
"Drake, you need to calm down and think about this logically. What happened to the ship isn't your fault," Justin was actively trying to talk down Drake, while Brandon looked for an opportunity to disarm him.
"You don't get it," Drake responded. "It should have been me on that ship, but I just had to give her my pass. I should have died on that ship, not Hannah! I KILLED HER!"
"No one could have predicted that! Come on, Drake! Wake up and-" Brandon took a step forward, and Drake pointed the handgun at him for a split second, then returned to pointing it at his head.
"D-Drake, why are you doing this? Please stop!" As Callie pleaded, Drake eyes went even wider.
"W-what? Why are they here? You should have gone to the mess hall!"
Marie stepped forward. "Drake, did you forget about our promise? I don't know what happened, but I do know that I will never forgive you if you make Callie cry! And you said you would be my friend too!" Marie looked to Otome for backup. "Otome, say something!" Otome was too busy to think of a way to stop Drake to respond to her.
A minute went by as the stand off continued, though it felt more like an hour. Then, a soft voice could be heard at the back of the room. Marie looked over, and saw her cousin gently singing Maritime Memory. At first, she wondered why Callie thought it was appropriate to start singing in this situation, but when she saw Drakes resolve begin to falter, she realized what Callie was trying to do, and joined her in singing. Little by little, Drake's hand began to lower, and as the song progressed, the gun was eventually pointed at the ground. Otome quickly took advantage of this, and fired several pellets at Drake's chest with her octoshot, causing him to fall backwards and drop the handgun.
"Holy shit!" Brandon yelled, and both he and Justin turned to Otome.
"Relax, he's fine. Our ink isn't very effective on a human." As Drake's shaking hand slowly wiped the ink off of his face, Otome picked up the handgun. "That was good thinking, Callie."
"You could have warned us!" Brandon said in an angry tone.
"S-she d-did the r-right thing," Drake said, while coughing up ink. Having calmed down, Drake looked towards the girls that had stopped him from taking his own life. Callie ran up, and slapped him in the face.
"YOU JERK! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO US!" Callie smacked him again. "How do you think I- we would feel if you just..."
"I-I have no excuse," Drake said in response. "It's just... When I found out that a close friend of mine died because of a decision I made... I just lost it."
"And I keep telling you that isn't your fault," Justin added. "You were trying to help her. How could you know that the ship would be lost? We were the ones that were supposed to parish, after all."
"Y- yeah, I know. It's just that-" Drake stopped, and looked at the three girls and his team. "You're right. Callie, Otome, Marie... I'm sorry. Thank you for stopping me. That goes to you guys too, of course."
Drake slowly got up, and Callie hugged him, while the conflicted Otome turned away. "So, does this mean I'm forgiven?" Drake asked.
"If you cheer the hardest for us tonight, then I'll forgive you," Callie said, with a pout. "And I want to try some of that food Otome had."
"That goes double for me," Marie said, and Drake could tell that she was serious. Making both her and Callie worry had clearly angered her. Otome continued to be silent.
Suddenly, the PA system started up again. "Drake, this is Mclarrin! We're all waiting for you in the mess hall!"
"I guess that's the end of that. Brandon, can you take those two to the mess hall? I'll catch up when I've recomposed myself."
Seeing that Drake was no longer a danger to himself, Brandon nodded. "Alright. Follow me, you two." As he and Justin lead them out of the room, Drake walked over to Otome, who had remained behind.
"I suppose you're mad at me too," he said.
"No, it's not that. I'm just mad at myself." Otome looked up at Drake, and locked eyes with him. "I promised myself that I would return the kindness you've shown me, but All I managed to do was shoot you. I couldn't even do something so simple, like what Callie did."
"Honestly, you did what needed to be done, and no one else was willing to take that risk. Sure, Callie and Marie's singing distracted me, but who knows how long that would have lasted. You disarming me was what truly stopped me from... doing something that could never be taken back."
"I-I see. I'm glad to have been able to help you." Otome paused for a minute, before continuing. "I-I saw a picture of a female with you. Was that... her?"
"Yeah, that was Hannah. She.. meant a lot to me."
"I won't pretend to know what she was to you, but I think you have plenty of reasons to be here with us. You saved my life, and helped prevent another war from breaking out. Your life is more than justified, if you ask me."
"I guess I can't deny that. Thanks, Otome." Drake was finally starting to look like his old self again.
"O-of course, Drake." Otome was about to hug him the same way Callie did, something she had restrained herself to do because of his race, when a voice made both of them jump.
"And you have two other friends that feel that way!" Callie and Marie had returned to the barracks instead of heading to the cafeteria. Brandon just shrugged, as he stood behind them. Otome quickly returned the handgun, and recomposed herself.
"Callie, I thought we were supposed to be mad at him?" Marie said with a slight grin.
"This and that are two different things!" The group continued to exchange banter, as they made their way to where the other humans were waiting.
Inside the cafeteria, the four squid kids were sitting behind the tables that were being used as a makeshift stage for the squid sisters, and were trying to answer the many questions the humans were throwing at them. Manfred was busy recording the event, and Mclarrin was doing her best to keep order. Reggie sat at the computer terminal they had brought in, and was setting up the prerecorded music tracks for the concert. Takeshi was passing out glow sticks to the crowd, and teaching them the fine art of Japanese pop concerts.
"Takeshi, what are you doing?" Brandon asked, as the group of five entered the room.
"Dude, when are we ever going to have a concert of cute squid girls on our own doorstep again? We gotta do this right!"
Ignoring him, Drake took position at the front of the crowd, while Otome and the two cousins sat next to the squidbeak agents. "I suppose most of you are still unsure about the people we now share the world with, so I asked them to come here to put your minds at ease. Please welcome Callie and Marie, the squid sisters. The same duo that we heard on the radio."
As Drake moved to the other side of the room, Callie and Marie took position on the table tops. "I-its an honor to be here for the people that walked the planet before us," Callie said, "I'm Callie, and i-it's nice to meet you!"
"I'm Marie. Are you humans ready to rock?" Callie and Marie switched off their autotrans, and signaled to start the music. They sang and danced to a number of their popular songs, including ink me up and now or never. The human crowd had gotten into it just as much as their squid fans, and were waving around the glow sticks and moving along with the rhythm. All 70 surviving humans in the room had forgotten the fact that those performing in front of them, were evolved squids. Or perhaps they just didn't care, as this was the first time that they were all enjoying their lives since the flood 12,000 years ago.
An hour later, the concert had ended. The humans finished getting autographs and shaking hands, and most had gone back to their rooms to sleep off the euphoria. Manfred had finished thanking the squids on behalf of the humans, when Drake remembered he had something to ask his father. "By the way, dad," he said, as they walked out of earshot of the squids. "You remember our little pet cat? You know, the one that was released two thousand years before us? Well, he's still alive."
Manfred gave Drake a puzzled look. "What? Drake, are you feeling okay? You know cats don't live that long, right?"
"I know it's him, because he somehow learned to speak with telepathy. He mentioned both of us by name, and you can ask them if you don't believe me." Manfred's eyes went wide, as he knew the mutagen had something to do with this. "He also said you injected him with something."
Manfred looked around to make sure that no one was listening. "Drake, I only did it because I wanted to make sure he could survive. I had planned to use it some of the other animals, but... I had an accident in the lab, and the rest of the mutagen leaked into the ocean."
"The ocean? wait, you don't mean-"
"I'm afraid so. They didn't evolve naturally. I asked those girls for a quick DNA sample, and both theirs and the Octoling's, had traces of the mutagen in them. I... changed the natural course of evolution." Manfred's face became conflicted. "I was just trying to help Judd and the few animals we had left, but that doesn't excuse what I did. If you want to hit me, then now is the time."
Manfred turned his face towards Drake, fully expecting to get punched, but instead he was hugged. "Thanks, Dad," Drake said.
"Huh? What for?" Manfred was clearly confused.
"If it wasn't for you, we would be alone and hopeless in this world, and I wouldn't have several really good friends." Manfred felt the burden he had been carrying on his shoulders lifted, and returned the hug. "Well, I'm going to see how they are doing. Later, Frankenstein." Drake walked back to the table the squids and octopus were sitting at, and saw that most of them were noticeably tired, which was understandable after the long day they had.
"I think we need a vacation after this," Marie said with a yawn. "Especially after what happened with Drake."
"Huh? What's going on with Drake?" Shara asked, and looked at him with worry. Marie cursed herself for not thinking.
"It's nothing. Just some built up stress," Drake responded.
"Are you sure, dude? You don't look so good. Maybe you should relax with some games," Levin said.
"Yeah, you guys missed big brother getting creamed by me!" Neptune said, with a grin.
"That only happened because you distracted me!" Levin yelled back.
"You just keep telling yourself that, big guy."
Ignoring them, Marie looked over to her cousin, who was being unusually quiet. She looked like she was thinking about something, and that meant she was coming up with another extreme idea. Kirk also noticed her pensive state, and spoke up. "Um, are you okay, Callie? You look like you are troubled by something."
"No, I was just thinking about what Marie said," Callie responded, then turned to the group. "Say, what do you guys think about visiting a hot spring?"
Marie immediately face palmed. "Callie, please tell me you aren't talking about-"
"You bet I am!" She stood up and did one of her stage poses. "Tomorrow, we're taking a trip to Calamari County!"
...
It was early the next morning, and three armored vans were traveling on a rarely used road in downtown Inkopolis. In the back of the center vehicle, was Octavio, still in his sphere shaped prison. Unknown to them, several inklings and and a number of Octolings were watching and waiting.
"Target is confirmed to be inside the center van. Are you ready, Jade?"
"If we're really doing this, then I'm ready as I'll ever be. Are the ink mines in place, Pearl?"
"We'll know in a few seconds. Get your inkzooka ready." The two inklings armed their inkzookas, while the Octolings on the ground readied their octoshots. Suddenly, the lead van struck a mine, and was knocked on its side, which forced the other two vans to stop. The two inklings fired their inkzookas on the van in the rear, and disabled it before it could retreat. Several government agents attempted to climb out of the vans to return fire.
"Don't let them escape!" Pearl yelled, and the Octolings on the ground jumped into action. The guards were killed in a matter of seconds. Pearl jumped down from her perch, and approached the van that was carrying Octavio, with her tentatek splattershot ready. The driver of the center van attempted to surrender, but Pearl mercilessly splatted him on the spot.
"Damn, Pearl! You didn't have to go that far," Jade said, as he caught up to her partner.
"You know what the boss said. No witnesses," Pearl responded. Jade just sighed, and climbed into the van to retrieve Octavio. He took out a drill, and began cutting away at the prison that was holding the Octobot King.
"You took your damned time!" Octavio said, as he was finally freed from his prison.
"We can talk about that later," Pearl responded. "But for now, the boss wants us to move you to a secure location. He said you will get new instructions when you arrive."
"You ink squirt runts always forget your place. Fine, let's go. I'm getting tired of the smell." The two Inklings lead Octavio to the escape vehicle the Octolings had prepared. They sped away, and the scene of the ambush was now completely silent. Having witnessed the events that just transpired, two inklings slowly came out of the shadows.
"It was just as Marie feared. She isn't going to like this," Owen said, and turned to his partner.
"Yeah, but did you see? There were inklings helping them! Damn traitors!" Jack yelled, and Owen quickly covered his mouth in case there were still a few Octolings nearby.
"It's out of our hands now. Let's give Marie a call, and she can decide what to do with this information."
"Fine, but I still think we should have just gone in splattershots blazing."
...
"Alright, thanks. It's too late to do anything now, but I'll let gramps know. Yeah, I forgive you, and make sure to tell Owen. Bye, Jack." Marie ended the call, and turned to her cousin. "The convoy that was taking Octavio was ambushed, and he managed to escape. It's too late to stop him now, but hopefully gramps can put together a plan to deal with him when we get back." After calling Cuttlefish, Marie put her phone away, and turned her attention back to the magazine she was reading. It would be another half hour before the train they were riding would reach Calamari County. The seats in the car they were in were lined up horizontally, and were facing each other.
Callie, who was sitting to the right of Marie, looked around to see what the rest of the group was doing. Drake was sitting next to her, and was working on his data pad. To his right, Otome was actively looking around the car, as if scanning for threats. It saddened her to see that Otome refused to let her guard down around the other Inklings, but it also made Callie a little happy when she remembered that Otome had admitted that she considered Callie a friend. On the opposite side of the car, Levin was sleeping on his gear bag, while Shara texted her father. Kirk and Neptune were arguing about turf war tactics.
"It helps if you don't just run when I'm trying to jump to you!" Kirk said.
"Hey! When I'm trying to be stealthy, your jump beacon will just give me away! If you're going to do that, at least wear stealth gear!" Neptune responded.
"That doesn't mean you should just let your teammates get splatted!" Kirk snapped back. The conversation had been rather heated for a while.
"It could be worse, you know. I once played with a squid that would immediately swim away, and yell, 'don't frigging jump to me!'"
"Or, you could just jump to someone who isn't in the middle of an ink fight," Shara butted in, after finishing her text. Kirk gave up, and Neptune flashed Shara a thumbs up. "Something I wish Levin would learn."
"Huh? What? Wha'd I miss?" Levin asked, as he woke from his nap after hearing his name called.
"Nothing, Levin. We'll be in Calamari County before long, so you might want to stay awake." A sudden beeping noise ended the conversation, and the group turned to Otome. She was clearly surprised that her communicator was still in range of her team.
"Kelly? What's wrong?" Otome asked.
"Hey, Otome. We dealt with those rogue Octolings. It was the strangest thing. They weren't wearing the usual army uniform, and they didn't have any recognizable symbols on them. I'm not sure they were even Mariners. Anyway, I'm ready to return your team to you."
"Oh, right. About that. I got caught up in something, so do you mind keeping an eye on them for another day?"
"Ha! I'm sure we can find more traitors wondering around. I'll have Ceph squeaky clean by the time you get back." Otome could hear the groans of the other Octolings, as she ended the call. Before anybody could say anything, the train came to a halt, and it was announced that they had reached Calamari County.
"Well, time to show you guys our hometown," Marie said, as she lead them off the train. The town its self, was rather rural looking, but the buildings looked to be more of an Asian style. Fore once, Drake wished that Takeshi was around to tell them if it was of Japanese origin or not. Though that question was quickly answered when they spotted a pair of middle aged Inklings wearing Kimonos.
"Ah, crud," Callie said. "Uh, why don't we go this way?" The two inklings in Kimono's must have heard this, because they turned towards the group. Their faces lit up.
"Aori!" Said the one on the left.
"Hotaru!" Said the on the right. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming?"
The group looked around, as they were confused as to who they were talking to. Then, they all turned their attention to the two cousins, who had red faces and were looking down. "Come on, mom! We changed our names when we moved out, and nobody calls us that anymore! Not even gramps does!" Callie said.
"Whoa! Those are Callie and Marie's moms?" Levin asked, while clearly staring.
"You will always be my little Hotaru," said Marie's mother, which embarrassed Marie further. "So who are they? Your new friends?"
"Did my Aori get a boyfriend, perhaps?" Callie's mother chimed in. "Oh, is it the elder race man that was with you the other night?" All eyes immediately shifted to Drake.
"N-no, he's my friend," Callie said.
"Then is it the blue one?" Her mother asked.
"NO WAY! I'm not dating anybody," Callie responded.
"Ouch, Callie. No need to deny it that strong- OUCH!" Shara whacked Levin on the top of the head, and told him to be quiet.
"We would like some grand squids of our own sometime, Hotaru. Anyway, why don't you stay at our inn for the night? I'm sure your friends would love the hot springs."
"That's what we are here for!" The embarrassed Marie responded. "Come on, let's get a move on." The two cousins took the lead, and dragged the rest of the group to another part of the town.
"So what did she mean by 'our inn?'" Shara asked. "Does your family run a hotel or something?"
"Actually, both of our families run the local resort up here," Marie responded." My dad takes care of finances, and my mom does the cleaning. Callie's dad is maintenance, and her mom is the cook."
"So now you know where I learned to cook," Callie said, as the group approached the inn. "Anyway, don't worry about expenses. It's on us." After showing them to their rooms, the boys obviously being in a different room, Callie took them to where the entrances of the hot springs were.
"So, are we taking turns in the hot spring? Are the girls first?" Kirk asked.
"Dad recently put in a divider, so both groups can go in at the same time," Callie responded.
"So don't get your hopes up, big brother," Neptune said. "We will be vary angry if you try anything."
"What? Why me?" Levin yelled.
"Because you're the only one that would be dumb enough to try that," Shara snapped.
"Speaking of trying things," Neptune reached over and grabbed Otome, who was trying to sneak away. "You didn't think you were getting out of this, did you?"
"You can't blame me for trying," Otome said with a sigh, as Neptune and Callie dragged her into the changing room. Drake and the boys, entered the other changing room. As he disrobed, he wrapped a towel around his waste, and followed the two boys into the indoor hot spring. As Drake sat down in the corner of the spring, he noticed that the two boys were taking their time getting in.
"We, uh, have a natural aversion to water," Kirk said, as they meekly got in. "If it's even a little polluted, we will dissolve in no time. If it's salt water, we're screwed no matter what."
"Plus, we can't swim," Levin added. "I wouldn't even shower, if I didn't have to."
"Levin, that's gross. Still, this hot spring is quite nice. I wish I had known about this before. I would have come here more often."
"It's also my first time doing this," Drake said. "There was nothing like this in the area I used to live in." Drake leaned back and closed his eyes, intent on just enjoying the hot bath. After a while of soaking, they could hear voices from the other side of the divider. "Sounds like someone is having fun over there."
"It kind of makes you curious, doesn't it?" Drake opened his eyes, and saw Levin standing right in front of him, and he was leaning in.
"Uh, what are you doing? You're a little too close there, friend."
"Shh! Not so loud. We don't want them getting suspicious," Levin said. "Drake, you're pretty tall. Think you can help a guy out?"
"Y-you aren't thinking what I think you are, are you?" Kirk gave Levin a dubious look.
"How can I not at a time like this?" Levin responded.
"Levin, did you forget what Neptune said? Besides, it's wrong," Kirk said.
"That just means she wants you to, man! And if not Neptune, then what about Callie? You might never have an opportunity like this again."
"Wha? Well, uh, I mean... I guess you have a point, but.."
"Then it's settled!" The two turned to Drake with expectations in their eyes. Drake sighed, and shook his head.
"Teenagers... No, we're not doing that. Don't try to drag me into this. What is this, an anime?"
"Aw, come on, man! Help a squid out!" Drake shook his head again. "Tch, fine. Hey, Kirk, let's try sneaking into the changing room."
"Stop!" Drake stood up, and approached them. "I guess you are determined to do this no matter what. I'll help you, just this once, if you promise to keep it short."
"That's the spirit, dude! I knew you were one of us!" Levin said.
"But if you get caught, I had no part in this." Drake moved to the side of the divider, and bent down. "And don't you dare drop that towel." Levin climbed on his back, and Drake stood up, allowing Levin to grab on to the side and pull up enough to peek over the top. Then he did the same for Kirk, and moved to the side of the divider.
"There's a lot of steam on that side, but I think I see Shara. I hadn't noticed before, but she's pretty."
"Dude, check out Neptune. She's looking nice."
"H-hey, Levin, there's Marie. Wow, I can see how she won splatfest."
-Thump- "Are you two done up there?"
"Let me see! Wow, you're right. This is the best! Oh, there's Callie!"
-Thump- "Seriously, get down."
"Sh-she's as beautiful as I imagined her to be. Wait, is that- so that's what an Octoling looks like under that armor."
"Dude, she could be the third squid sister with a figure like that!"
-Thump- "Dammit, guys! Thanks for making this even more awkward!" Drake leaned against the divider, but hadn't realized just how recently it was installed. Due to it not being bolted in yet, the wall started to lean.
"Whoa! What are you doing! Stop, dude!" Levin's warning came too late, and the divider fell over. The two Inklings were thrown forward, and tumbled right into the female side of the bath.
"Ah, shit!" Drake said. Fighting the urge to take a quick look, Drake ran out of the bath, hoping that the girls were too busy screaming at the boys to notice him. He quickly grabbed his cloths, and entered the dark hallway, which thankfully was empty. "I think I got away," he said to himself. Just then, he heard more screaming, only this time it wasn't the girls screaming. "Serves them right." Drake went back to his room, and tried his best to get some sleep.
The next day, Levin woke up, and rubbed his new bruises. He looked over, and saw that Kirk wasn't much better. "Ow, this is going to sting for a while," Kirk whined.
"Totally worth it, though. Best vacation ever," Levin responded, still rubbing his bruise.
"Speak for yourself. Who knows how long they will be mad at us. What if Callie never talks to me again?"
"You worry too much. I'll bet it will be like nothing happened." Seeing that Drake had already left the room, the two left, and headed to dining room for breakfast. Inside, they saw the girls eating a fresh batch of waffles Callie had made, and Drake had just been handed a plate of his own.
"Oh, more waffles! I've been dying for another serving of those!" Levin said, excitedly.
"What makes you think you get any?" Shara said, with obvious irritation in her voice.
"W-what? But why?" Kirk said.
"Did you already forget about last night? Be thankful we're even talking to you."
"I told you he was a perv. I expected more from Kirk, though," Neptune chimed in.
"Now wait a minute! How come Drake gets to eat! After all, he-"
"We already know," Marie said. "First off, I assume you two talked him into it."
"Second, he didn't try to look at us," Callie added.
"And lastly, he confessed and apologized to us with out us having to ask," Otome finished.
"Honesty is the best policy," Callie said, and dropped another batch of waffles on Drake's plate.
"Ah! The squid sisters hate us!" Kirk moaned.
"B-but you can't just starve us!" Levin protested.
"Pipe down! I got you covered. It's about time you learned to respect ramen anyway," Shara plopped two bowls of ramen in front of them.
"A-are you serious?"
"Dead serious. You should know that by now."
"You should be thanking Shara. I was in favor of letting you two not eat," Neptune said.
"I don't know. I was thinking of giving you a tour of our hometown, but I think we should leave them behind," Marie said with a wide smirk. Levin and Kirk immediately dropped down and prostrated themselves in front of the girls.
"We're sorry! We'll never do that again! We swear!" They said in unison.
"C-come on, girls. I think it's time we all made up," Callie said.
"You're the best, Callie!"
"You are way too soft on them," Otome said, as the group left the inn. They spent the rest of their time off seeing the sites of the squid sisters homeland, while carefully avoiding anyone who would refer to them as 'Aori' and 'Hotaru'.
A/N: Reader OC credit for this chapter:
Owen – Jewelfire – Splatoon amino
Jack – Yzor – Splatoon amino
Jade and Pearl – Vortextion\Game Nation – Fanfiction net