Disclaimer: I do not own Splatoon


The Journey Begins!

"I should have asked for a insulated helmet with heating and an air filter." Said Jafn as he was walking through a strong snow storm.

He was currently five hundred kilometers away from Fort Everest and for the pass two days of nonstop marching; he was getting tired. It just made him relived that in a few more kilometer he will soon stop the caravan to set up a new relay for Gwen to keep in contact with the base to keep it running. This is going to be the second one; the first has already finished its completion an hour ago from what Gwen has told him. The WC-3 drones he left behind to do the job are now on their way back to the caravan and should be at the camp site by the time they leave.

"But you're already wearing one." Said Gwen as she was trailing right behind him.

She has adapted to her body quite well. She has been walking in a strait line since this morning. Her only problem is that constant smile she has had stuck on her face since she transferred into it. He solved the problem fast though. She is currently wearing a helmet similar to his which he made from scratch after he finished the upgrades to the other drones. He even made them for the other X's. They all had similar features; white with red one way eye shaped visors and small horns protruding on the side of the forehead.

"Mine may be insulated, but I couldn't find the parts for a much needed air filter, I wasn't given a tooth brush... Should have asked for one of those too." Said Jafn bitterly as his shrouded hood blew over him.

"Well you will be pleased to know that the advanced team you sent ahead have already found the small city of Nagqu. They are have even found a droid plant... though it needs major repairs if it's to ever run again." Said Gwen in her happy toned voice.

"Have the rest of the 3's move ahead of us and begin to cannibalize the city for parts... except for places of knowledge like libraries and schools. Have them restore the fusion generators and the plant... And find me a tooth brush." Jafn finished as he slowed to a halt near a ridge.

He can now see the city... Whats left of it anyways. The flooding must have been worse than he first thought. He can see dead coral sticking to buildings and rusted mettle beams of what used to be many buildings infrastructures and support. In the distance he could see the rest of the 3's marching towards a building and dismantling it for parts. He he stood there watching as more of his 3's passed him by all wearing their shrouds and carrying supplies.

"We should prioritize the fusion core fist Jafn. The 3's are not built for expeditionary adventures. They will need to power up soon." Said Gwen as she stepped next to him.

"Very well. Have all of them focus on fixing the local core... It is times like this is were I should have payed more attention in class on those mini cores. Could have made some back at the base. So far my knowledge is limited to the basics of ancient tech. If we had a certain type of material I may be able to make a Z-P-E device." Said Jafn as the 4's started to line up next to him.

"Z-P-E device?" Asked Gwen as she made a motion of thought.

"Zero Point Energy. It pulls the energy strait out of the universe. No need to use resources like Helium 3 to power the fusion cores. It has been the foundation of our empire for over five thousand years." Said Jafn as he began to walk toward the ruins.

"Are all of the human united? Last record I have of your spices; there were only twenty nations left during the flood." Said Gwen following Jafn down the ridge.

"Some what. There are free moons, continents and cities that have a large amount of autonomy and only answer directly to the 'Emperor'." Said Jafn with venom in his voice.

"You don't like that guy I'm guessing?" Asked Gwen.

"We never saw eye to eye." Jafn said as he sighed to calm himself. "He is the reason I am here. I failed in my attempt to have him... deposed." Jafn said the last bit with a growl. "So as to humiliate me; I was banished, making me give up my titles and family name." Jafn finished.

"Well what did he do to warrant an assassin?" Asked Gwen.

"He ordered the complete genocide of an entire primitive people to make room for a new colony which is one of the many reasons I have for wanting him dead. If I would have succeeded in the attempt... My rival; he might have became emperor and would have resend the previous orders he has done in secret from the people. Then again he might have banished me too." Said Jafn bitterly.

"Wont there be an uproar about this, even a civil war?" Asked Gwen.

"No. What makes it all worse is that most of the empire will never know about this except those with connections to the expeditionary branch. The expeditionary branch can be considered as the Emperors personnel levy and were the only ones to receive his orders." Jafn said as he swung the sac he was carrying under his shroud, trying to get something.

"I don't feel happy any more..." Said Gwen as she lowered her head.

"I was born into a large military family so it's not all flowers and sunshine especially since I have connections to that damned branch so most of the information I have is mostly bliek." Said Jafn as he grabbed a Twinkie from the sac.

"It's jus- ... how strange." Said Gwen as she quickly turned towards a the largest building that was still standing.

"What is it?" Asked Jafn as he turned towards the building also.

"The 3's have found an antenna that it still intact at the top of that rundown scraper. I recommend restoring that building Jafn." Said Gwen as she pointed towards the top of said building and really want to to change the subject.

Jafn stopped in his tracks to think of what to do next. With all this scrap mettle and rocks around he could build up a nice outpost. Add the fact that there is a drone factory near by; he could build himself an entire workforce to speed it up. The tall building is a plus as well, it would make a good listening post for Gwen to monitor the primitives.

"Gwen go ahead with the restoration and make this the base of operation here. This is going to be our outpost for now. Once the core is online have all of the threes restore the factory. Have the others work on gathering resources from mining and collecting scrap. We shall stay hear until we have a force large enough to continue without us." Said Jafn.

"Orders have been sent... The core is almost complete Jafn." Said Gwen as she too started moving some rocks around. "But why do they need to continue? Just a few would be needed to run and maintain the base." Asked Gwen.

"I used to be in command of thousands if not tens of thousands of troops every day Gwen. I need something to keep me occupied. Building bases and watching the primitives are just a few things I can think of to pass my remaining days here." He said somberly and turning his back from her, signaling that he his done talking.

They remained quite for the rest of the day until the sun had set. By this time their power systems were online and they were now just getting the factory to run. For Jafn though; he was currently in the process of upgrading the factories computer system so it may reprogram the drones to his standards. He was just about done when he heard Gwen walk in. She didn't say anything and just found a spot to sit and to watch Jafn finish up his work. After some time he sat up from the chair and walked up to a console and gave it some commands.

"Is their a reason you are watching me? It's distracting." Said Jafn as he was about to put in the final commands.

"None at all Jafn, but I might as well give you an update to our progress. The restoration of the factory is almost complete and the heating will be turned on shortly. On another note the resource teams have stalked up on the necessary parts and minerals to manufacture six hundred more WC-3's. What purpose will you give them once they are finished?" Gwen asked as she continued to sit in her spot.

"I want them to set up a rail system from here to Everest base and to any other basses we may set up along the way. I am not going to walk back to Everest once I am done observing the locals." Jafn said as the computer shut down.

"I should also inform you that the antenna is up and running. I have a Strong connection to the Everest base and I am getting a more clearer signal from the 'primitives'." Gwen Said as she went deep into thought.

"Anything on their end that stands out?" Asked Jafn turning towards Gwen.

"Yes... Their language. It seems to have some Korean and Japanese words that I can recognize. But their gurgling is making it harder to understand. There are also some words I can make out as a bastardized form of English."

"I guess some humans must have survive long enough after the flood to pass along some words to them, but clearly not enough to maintain a stable population." Jafn added his thoughts on the matter. "Can you compile a translation from what you are hearing?" Asked Jafn.

"No... Maybe. They use human words rarely, but with context I might be able to. It might be even easier to just capture one and learn from there."

"Well keep on listening to their radio waves. I am going to take a much needed nap; I haven't slept since I got here... actually I haven't slept for ten years." Sad Jafn as he blurted out a yawn.

"Shouldn't you be hallucinating then... Or dead?" Said Gwen as she now realized he had absolutely no rest this whole time.

"You should know that modern humans today all receive genetic augmentations. Those in the military even more so. We really don't need to sleep as much unless we are severally injured, sick, or exhausted." Said Jafn as he approached the exit.

"If you don't need sleep then why are you going to nap?" Asked Gwen as she followed him.

"Because I need a break once in awhile and I want to try it. Wake me once it is noon or when the drones are complete. Which ever is first." Said Jafn.

Jafn then walked out of the room he was in and headed for the main offices. It took him a few minutes to get there though do to all of the 3's walking back and forth. Once there he lied down on the floor using the old moldy cushions from the chairs that managed to survive over the years as a bed. He used his sac as a pillow and just laid there thinking of what he should do next after he gets to Xi'an.

'I could capture one of the primitives like Gwen had suggested.' thought Jafn as he tossed and turned to get cozy. 'But what should I do after I learn what I can from them?' He tossed again trying to change the subject in his mind. 'I could try to build and up grade more drones. Maybe I could make my own A.I.'s and make an artificial society? Nah. There is already one on in the crab nebula. No need for another one.' He then shut his eyes thinking of anything else he might be able to do.

'I might be able to build my own boats to get to the Mt. Fuji base.' He then started to chuckle to himself, but after a few seconds he sighed. 'What the hell am I thinking. Even if I were to get there and repurpose those anti gravity engines, what then? If I made it to Mars and hijacked their more modern space craft, I will still be an exile not worth the time of day to anyone who might recognize me.' His thoughts ended on that as he tossed one more time and found a more comfortable position.

His thoughts then drifted to something else. 'What will these primitives be like? What would they look like?' His thoughts were becoming more and more blurred as he became more relaxed. For Jafn he never really slept, but he did meditate so that his body could refresh itself when exhausted. It has been quiet some time since he last fell asleep. Which was ten years ago or a bit more, he cant really remember. The darkness that was taking him felt weird, it felt foreign and it unnerved him a bit. But he went on and kept allowing it to slowly take him until everything was black.


It was now mourning and Silica's radio was playing some music from New Inktown. Apparently they are now in range to receive the public broadcasting. She has been listening to it for some time to pass off the boredom of nothing to do on the ship along with her new friend Irene. There was nothing to do as she already explored explored the ship for two days with Irene and just finished exploring the engineering room yesterday. Her and Irene were just wondering around till they came to said room. It seemed Irene was already familiar to it and payed it no mind until Silica asked if she could take a look inside the room and after a few moments of thought she agreed.

Once inside they had met Hector down there working on the engine and for a guy with no arms he made a good engineer. She didn't know much about boats and their workings and so to past time she kept on asking question after question. Hector to his credit answered all of them while still managing his work. He seemed to have experience on instructing, hence his patient and willing attitude to answer questions.

Once she was done she spent the rest of the day with Irene in her room. They kept on talking about what they would do when they get to New Inktown and what they hope to accomplish. They both ended up falling asleep until the alarm rang to wake them up the next day. And now they have been sitting there for about an hour debating on what to do next.

"I haven't had sleep over since I was your age Sil." Said Irene as she stretched to get up.

"Well having you over has really help to get rid of the boredom. But now what should we do for today?" Silica asked.

Irene was deep in thought thinking on what they should do. She then thought of something that could help pass the time instantly.

"You like books right?" Irene asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah... do you have some we could read?" Silica asked back.

"Yes... But I wont be able to read with you for to long though. My shift will begin at noon. So lets get dressed and leave quickly." Irene said in haste as she quickly took of the cloths she has been sleeping in. "I am going to use your shower. Is that all right?" She asked.

Silica didn't feel the need to reply and so just gave a nod. She then turn her attention toward her bags and stated to pick out her close for today. She put on a brown tank top with a light green jacket mainly because it was getting colder. She then put on some form fitting pants that ended above her ankles with orange and white stripes running from her pockets. Once she was done she put on her brown boots and sat in on her bed waiting for Irene to finish showering.

As she sat their she looked back at the clock and waited for the time to pass by. But as she sat there she realized something. 'Today is the seventh day on bored this ship.' she said within her mind. She quickly grabbed her cloths all over the room and started to pack them up. She then knocked on the bathroom door to get Irene's attention.

"Irene! Today is the seventh day on the ship."

"What!" Irene yelled over the running water.

Just as to confirm this the ships com system went off.

"Attention passenger. This is your captain speaking. We are about three hours away from the port of New Inktown. Pleas use the time you have to check on all of your belongings. And please meet on the upper deck withing two hours. Thank you and have a nice day." The transmission then ended.

Silica then herd the shower turn off and a scampering at the door.

"Sil I need to get to my room now, I have to many things to pack! I'll see you after I get my final pay from the captain. I know where the expedition site is, so wait for me at on the dock and I'll show you kay!" Said Irene went off in a hurry as she ran out of the room with nothing but a towel covering her upper half.

Silica just stared at the open door. Wondering why Irene didn't just ask her for help so that she could at least have time to put on something decent. 'She was probably to panicked to think strait.' thought Silica as she tried finish up her own packing. 'Maybe I should go over to her room and help her pack.' She thought as she was nearing completion of her own packing.

It didn't take long for her to pack as she made sure to put her close away neatly. Once that was done and over with she picked up her luggage and went strait to Irene's room to help her pack. The walk was short as her room was only strait down the hall near the stairs. Once there she knocked on Irene's door and waited for a response.

"Who is it?" Asked Irene as she made a lot of noise getting towards the door.

"It's me Silica. I thought I might help you pack. You did say you had too much stuff." Replied Silica as she observed the door being open.

"That is nice of you, but... Just give me a second to unlock my door." Said Irene as she quickly closed the door.

"Okay." Said Silica as she heard the sound of locks unlocking from behind the door.

"Okay. Don't mess with the pink bag and just help me fold my cloths. I'll handle the books." Said Irene as she somewhat dragged Silica in her room.

"Alright then." Said silica as she began walk into Irene's room.

But as she stepped in she soon realized it was a good thing she had came by, because Irene's room was an ink stain of a mess. Her cloths were strewn about all over the place and there were a few books lying on the ground. 'Might as well start with the cloths.' Thought Silica as she bent down to pick up some shorts and fold them moving books into a pile of their own which Irene quickly organized as if she was looking for a specific book. She continued like that for the next ten minutes until she came to the bed digging stuff out from under it.

She found more cloths and and another book. She folded up the cloths first and that seemed like those were the last of them. Then she pick up the book and turned it over. She took one quick glance at the book and quickly turned it back and blushed a deep red even to the point that her tentacles changed color. She now knows why Irene seemed to be looking for a specific book.

Irene took notice and to her embarrassment quickly grabbed the book from her. Her pink tentacles being more pinker than usual. She then put the book in the Pink back and said nothing as she continued to clean as if nothing happen.

"Listen if it makes you feel better... I've have similar books back home." Silica lied trying to make Irene feel less embarrassed.

"I appreciate the lie, but please just ignore it. We are almost done." Irene said as she took a deep breath to calm herself and go back to her normal shade of pink.

"Okay. But there is no rush. We have around an hour left till we reach port." Said Silica as she tried to change the subject.

"There is a rush. The Octlings always make sure the passengers are off first and fast, So that their cargo can be transported with little people around as possible. If I had not forgotten I would have been top side by now. Ask for someone to help me with my bags and let us get going." Said Irene as she grabed the pink bag and held onto it for dear life.

Once Silica got help they were quickly escorted to upper deck. Along with the other passengers. Which for some reason was surprisingly few. Only fifty of them to be exact. Well Irene said they do carry cargo so this could explain the short amount of passengers, but what kind of cargo are they carrying.

"Irene." Said Silica trying to get her attention.

"Yeah Sil." Replied Irene.

"What kind of cargo does this ship carry? Food? Supplies? Equipment?" She asked in succession.

"All though I worked here for almost two weeks and been on the boat for three. I really don't know. I was never allowed to go in the cargo area. But there are many rumors from advanced flying craft to just seismic equipment for the expeditions that go further in towards the uncharted mountains." Irene finished as she looked out towards the west.

Silica did the same and squinted. Seeing a large broken object protruding from the water. And some land beyond that.

Though those things sound cool, why would they not used their advanced flying machines to get here?" Asked Silica. "If that they indeed have them it, this boat is completely useless." She finished as she looked on to see more of the objects in the water.

"We there are lots of theories ranging to playing the dumb fool to being scared of... something." Said Irene now noticing what Silica was staring at.

"But why play the fool? Most Inklings already know they are smart. Plus what would they be scared of?" Asked Silica as even more of the objects began to show through the water.

"Ah so you noticed some of the ruins." Said a voice behind her

"Wait those are the ruins? But I thought they were farther inland?" Asked Silica turning towards the voice.

It was the Captain.

"Captain! You didn't he-"Irene began but was cut off.

"I heard everything Miss Coral." Said Captain Serena as she got closer. "Try to stop spreading these weird conspiracy theories." She said in exasperation as if this was not her first time asking her this.

"Yes Ma'am" Said Irene as she straitened up.

"Good. Miss Bloteye please watch over this little pink ink stain. She tends to be very compulsive at times." Said the Captain as she gave a surprise hug to Irene.

"Yeah I seamed to have noticed." Said Silica as she gave a small sigh of relief.

Irene just seemed to have blushed a bit from the hug and returned it back and then they broke it up.

"As for your question. Those ruins are part of the ruins in land. These are from what we can tell was the center of a city once. The ruins near Inktown are just the outskirts of this once mega city." Said the Captain as she handed Silica a pair of binoculars.

Silica took them and looked at the passing objects.

"They look like the top of the buildings back home!" Said silica excitedly as she bounced up and down. "Are they like this in port?" She quickly asked.

"No. In port they are being demolished for their construction method because they lasted all these years threw floods and storms." She then noticed that Silica's smile vanished. "But don't be discouraged from that, there are still more sites like these in the mountains." The Captain quickly added.

"I hope so." Silica said as her smile slowly came back.

"Anyway I just want to say good luck to Irene here. I have to get back at my job soon." She added as she walked away.

"So were do we go when we get there?" Asked Silica as she went back to looking at the ruins.

"Well the first expedition site is right by the security station. Just follow me and you'll be there in no time." Said Irene as she too kept on looking at the ruins.

"Okay then." Said Silica as her happy mood showed itself again.


The growing colony of New Inktown looked like any other town back home to Silica. In fact its town square was in a similar design to the city center in Inkopolis. The only noticeably major difference was that every thing was new and the architecture was heavily influenced by the ruins she can see in the distance. Each building had and up turned roof that looked similar to a leaf near the edges and some buildings were even based strait off of the Octarians own architecture.

Speaking of Octarians; they were everywhere. She can't even remember the last time she saw this many of them walking around. They did make more than half of the population, but she quickly ignored all of these things for the obvious fact that was there or lack there of.

"Were are all the zapfish?" Asked Silica as she now looked around for any local power station that may house a zapfish, but to no avail.

"Oh yeah most people from out of the colony don't know yet." Said Irene as she head strait towards a direction Silica assumed was the way to the colonial out skirts.

"What don't we know yet?" Asked Silica as she followed Irene.

"We only have a few zapfish on hand for emergencies, but the colonies main source of power comes from the main building over there on that mountain. Some new kind of generator the Octlings built or something. Still in its prototype stage and wont be mass produce for a few more years."Said Irene as she looked to were Silica was looking at now.

"And the buildings design. Those are all new to me. Are they inspired by the ruins that were once here?" Asked Silica as she pointed to a building that had said designs.

"Yep! But shrunken down to our size." Said Irene.

"What do you mean to our size?"

"Last time I was here, there was an intact ruin right over there in perfect condition. It was open to the public so I went to look at it. Turns out who ever built them must have been taller than an Urchin or they compensated for something." Said Irene as she smiled at her own joke.

"Well maybe I might get lucky and find one buried or something. The ones at the museum are incomplete or hunched over in a piece of stone... So how much farther?" Asked silica as she looked at another ruin inspired building.

"I'd say about thirty minutes on foot so if you got any music on that phone please play it. It is going to be a long walk." Said Irene.

"There is no transport system in place yet?" Asked Silica as she played the radio off of her phone.

"None yet, but soon there might be. I heard that the next shipment on the scuttling crab was to be large transport vehicles." Said Irene as she now was listening to Silica's radio.

"Well I hope so. I don't really want to walk all the way to and from the campsites all the time." Said Silica as she too began to listen to her radio.

Which she was now content to listen to the rest of the way. Not that she had nothing to talk about with Irene, but it was just to distract her from the forest they were now going into along a dirt path. All of the trees were very tall with wide branches. They gave off weird feeling as if they were sentient and watching them. She never really like going out into nature, but she will need to get over it soon though.

'It is going to be my job the rest of the year to look at ruins and... graves in old forested areas.' she quickly thought to herself.

They continued on walking until they came upon a patrol that was going in the opposite direction. They just smiled at her and Irene and went on there way. And true to Irene's word they did make it there in thirty minutes.

When they came close to the camp site it looked rather large. If it was any larger actually it might have been considered a small village. In the center of the camp there were permanent dwellings and a fairly used dirt path that went strait through the camp and onto the other sites.

"Okay Sil. This is where we part ways. Over in the center is where you want to go, just ask for an escort to your teams location."

"Why an escort?" Asked Silica

"Remember the furry animals I mentioned before, the ones that travel in packs." Said Irene as she saw that Silica had nodded. "Well they seem to have a taste for sea food." Said Irene in a monotonous voice.

"Oh... Well now I am more nervous." Said Silica as she frowned at the thought of herself being eaten by a fury beast.

"Don't be. Those things have really sensitive noses. A smelly ink shot keeps them away. Anyways have a safe walk towards your camp site. I hope you find an awesome fossil." Said Irene as she gave Silica a hug and wave good bye.

Silica reciprocated the gesture.

"Thanks. And I hope for your guard duties to be safe ones." Said Silica as she turned and made her way towards the nearest escort.

She Walked up to a male octarian in a perfect humanoid form. Which stuck her as odd as this was her first time seeing one maintain this form instead of the average tentacle with legs. She got closer until to him and then spoke.

"I am Professor Merlin's apprentice, Silica Bloteye. I need an escort to her camp site." She said as she got a better look at the octarian.

He had four short orange tentacles with two of them being longer on the front of his head. He had purple markings around his green eye, but what stood out was his other eye. He just wore a patch over it as if it were no longer there. He also wore heavy armor that looked like it had bite and claw marks on his chest plate and forearm protectors. He kept his gaze on her as if he was doing the same thing she was.

"You are in luck, I am the last escort for the day. Lieutenant Geo Giovanio at you serves. I was about to leave for the mountain camp in twenty minutes where Professor Merlin is right now. I also recommend changing your boots for sneakers. It will be almost a days walk to the camp." Said the Octling as he pointed toward her brown boots.

Silica just stared at her boots for a second before setting her sac down and digging through it for her other pair of shoes. She found what she was looking for and quickly put them on. They were both a light pink pair of shoes that could handle the long walk.

"So when do we leave?" Asked Silica as her tone could not hide her excitement.

"We leave as soon as my partner gets back from his lunch. Which should be soon." Said Geo ad he went back to doing what ever he was doing before Silica went up to him. "Just sit tight and wait." He added.

"I'll try." She said as her nervous jitters slowly turned itself into excitement.

Silica just sat there and waited for about fifteen minutes. It felt long, but she would have to enjoy the small rest. The walk to her destination would be awhile. 'I hope I can see one of their ruins in tacked.' she thought to her self before noticing a tall urchin walking towards her and Geo. He was similarly dressed as him but had a larger gun that looked more like a canon than anything else.

"Miss Bloteye let me introduce my friend here. Lieutenant Keven Spear here will also be with us on the journey towards the mountain campsite. I just have a few rules when we are in between sites." He paused for dramatic effect. "Number one. Stay on the path. Two. Stay close. Three. If you see one of them furries, I want you to scream as loud as you can. They have sensitive ears plus it makes them panic and run like idiots." He said with a small smirk.

Silica just nodded and with that the made their way out of the camp and through the forest.


Authors Note: Sorry about delay on the update last week. I have had a busy two weeks with my new job starting and all.

Any way I hope this chapter hold you all over for the next week or two.

Until then happy readings.