Sorry this chapter took so long. I can't just write whenever any more since I'm back in college now. Chapter releases may get quite slow. Nevertheless, enjoy.

"Engineer, what do we have?" Doc walked into the workshop, his eyes widening at the mess of machinery within. "Oh... Interesting..."

Most of the floor space was dominated by a large teleport pad, one that was noticeably bigger than Engineer's field counterpart. For a start, it had four arms, each with a vent on the end. Facing inwards were tesla coils, each of them sparking occasionally. Dell had built a frame around it as well, a chamber of sorts, the walls of which were bristling with wires and components. Several thick cables were attached to the nearby generators. Putting down a soldering iron, Dell turned to Medic.

"Oh, hi Doc, I was just getting ready for another test. I'm going to try and bring back that bread we sent a while ago. If you just want to flip that switch there, we can begin."

Doc did as he was asked, pulling down on the lever, the lights flickering as he did so. The arms began to spin, slowly gathering speed over the course of a minute before the coils in the centre arced, lightning flashing between the nodes. The light built up, Doc shielding his eyes from the glare as the machine hummed with a higher pitch, the floor of the building shaking as it reached capacity. One blinding flash and electrical discharge later, and two pieces of a loaf of bread were sat on the platform. Ensuring that the machine had grounded properly, Dell picked up the charred pieces.

"This wasn't the teleporter. The bread was incinerated beforehand." He looked at Doc. "It works. It works! If I can boost the output and get it to lock onto Heavy, I can pull him back through!"

"I bet he left some material on those Sandvich plates. That would work."

-Shore-

"Shh, Corlu is safe now." Misha carried on untying Corlu, who had managed to stop crying. She still groaned in pain whenever Misha brushed past a burned area, which only spurred Misha to work faster.

"How can Misha make pain stop?"

"Green ink..."

Looking about the cave, Misha saw the small pistol had been knocked into the corner. Picking it up, he used his little finger to pull the trigger, the ink still inside spraying across the pink ink on the ground. Picking up Corlu who sagged in his arms, he lowered her in, the girl sighing as soon as she made contact. Her face dipped below the surface momentarily, and when she resurfaced, her burns had been healed, as had her cuts. Heavy let Corlu float in her own ink while he did his best to clear the pink ink away.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Corlu whimpered.

"You don't have to if you don't."

"N-no, I'll talk. An Octoling came in here."

"What is Octoling?"

"They're the elites of the Octarians, the Inkling's counterparts. They've been gone for decades, but they have returned, clearly."

"What did it do to you?"

"She tied me to a chair and..." Corlu sobbed. "She tortured me for no reason..."

The girl burst out crying again, and Misha pulled her out if the ink and into a hug.

"Misha will not leave you alone again. Come. We report this."

He lifted her onto his shoulder. While Misha looked calm on the outside, inside, he was burning up. He knew that while Corlu looked unhurt, she would have psychological scars. Misha had some of his own.

No child should have such scars.

He walked back into Inkopolis.

"Corlu, where can this be reported?"

"Security station. That way."

She pointed down one of the main roads and Misha followed her directions, coming up on a well-lit building. He ducked through the door, the urchin on duty flaring his dull red spines when he saw it was Heavy who had entered.

"Yeah?"

"Reporting Octoling attack."

"An Octoling? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright. What happened exactly?"

Misha turned to Corlu, who in turn hid her face.

"Octoling tortured Corlu." Misha pointed to the girl on his shoulder. "Left her strapped to chair, covered in ink and cuts."

"When was this?"

"Today."

"How long ago?"

Misha looked to Corlu.

"Two hours." She mumbled

The urchin scribbled down the details before handing the paper to Corlu.

"I need a signature, just there."

Corlu scrawled her name across the line before the urchin took the paper.

"Alright, we'll look into it. Can't promise we'll find anything, since no-one believes the Octarians-"

"Are you calling Heavy a liar?" Misha bellowed. "Corlu has scars no child should have. Heavy knows. Heavy saw Octoling."

"R-right. Sorry."

The urchin filed the report away, and motioned for Misha to leave the building. Snorting, he turned around, Corlu holding onto the collar of his jacket to avoid falling off. They headed towards the shore, the dark ink having faded away. Grunting, Misha opened the door, Corlu jumping off his shoulder to pick up her Splattershot. Misha picked up Splasha, allowing the weapon to hang by his side. He knelt down.

"Does Corlu want to go battling?"

She looked at her Splattershot, and then to Misha.

"A-alright."

Later on, Misha and Corlu stood alone on a spawning pad, five beacons spread across Saltspray Rig to show the capture points. Misha looked across the rig to the opposite team, seeing two Rollers, a Charger and a Shooter. Corlu was sat on his shoulder, her Splattershot sat in her hands. She noticed that Misha's shirt had become a neon green, much like her own tentacles. She tightened her grip when Misha tensed and leant forward slightly, preparing for the start of the match- barely a second after the whistle had sounded, he was running, Corlu spraying a path behind them on the off chance they got splatted. Misha completely neglected the side routes and low path, making a beeline for the centre point, Splasha spinning up as he came close, a deluge of green on the unfortunate Roller that turned the corner. The point flashed blue, the Roller having done just enough to capture it before his run-in with Misha. Corlu saw the second Roller approaching from behind, aiming to capture Misha off-guard while he recaptured the centre. She took cover behind Misha's arm, avoiding the initial flick of the Dynamo Roller before she returned fire, the Roller meeting her end. Misha was running again, moving to capture the next point. He noticed the laser just in time, spinning and grabbing Corlu out of the air when he mistakenly shook her off to shield her from the Charger. Misha threw Corlu up, and she hurled a Burst Bomb at the Charger, knocking her of her perch and into the water. Corlu landed on Misha's shoulder, steadying herself before nodding. Misha ran forward, ink spraying over a wide cone in front of him, the next point flashing green. Misha didn't even slow down, allowing Corlu to perform what amounted to a drive-by on the Krak-on Roller. What Corlu didn't notice was the boy beneath them, smirking behind his mask as he rose up, setting his sights on Corlu and pulling the trigger. She had no time to react, and was splatted, the force of the explosion knocking Misha sideways. He turned, the boy paling as he emptied his tank into the Heavy to no apparent effect. He was swiftly dispatched by a burst from Splasha. Misha grin grew as he glanced at the spawning pad, the entire enemy team looking panicked and nervous as they charged forward again. Corlu landed on his shoulder, fierce determination clear on her face.

"Come. We finish this."

He went to run forward, cringing as pain seared through his upper back for several seconds before vanishing. Frowning, he looked around before focussing on the objective.

"So, how long till we're live?"

"Callie. You asked this less than a minute ago. We still have an hour."

"Ugh, but I'm booooooooored! And all the sweets are gone!"

"A proper breakfast helps."

"Mine was proper!"

"Oh? Do tell."

"Marshmallow pieces."

"The key word was proper, Callie."

"Oh really? And what would you call prop-"

"Shhh!"

"Don't you shush me Marie!"

"No really, listen."

She held a hand to her ear, before turning to the window. Misha was stood outside, tapping on the glass. Marie smiled and waved at him before realising he was holding up a sign.

Need talk.

Marie pointed to the door. Moments later, Misha was inside, the sisters looking questioningly at Corlu. The smaller girl hid her face behind her tentacles.

"Who's the girl?" Callie asked.

"Under my protection."

"From what?"

"From Octoling."

Callie snorted.

"Come on, you don't actually believe..." She trailed off when she saw thunderous expression on Misha's face. "Never mind."

"Hey, what's your name?"

Marie extended a hand up to Corlu, who briefly peeked out from behind her tentacles to shake her hand before turning away, muttering incomprehensibly.

"Is Corlu." Misha said.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Corlu."

The girl whimpered slightly. Callie smiled before turning to Misha.

"What brings you here?"

"Fights are too easy for me."

Callie and Marie were silent for a few seconds before the latter spoke up.

"Well, the only way we could make it more difficult is if we made you an objective. But there's only one of you, so you could only take part in one match at a time, instead of having two simultaneous matches in different places. We'd also need to know how much damage you can take."

"Do that now."

"Are you sure? It'll be painful."

"Misha can take it."

"If you say so."

Opening a cupboard, Marie took out the Eris Charger. Misha noticed that it looked different. The barrel was shorter and tapered off, a small golden apple ornament hanging from it. A compressor was attached to the chassis in front of the ink tank.

"Weapon is different."

Marie cracked a smile.

"I thought you'd notice. In short, I redesigned the old one and made it so it charges really fast and has a high range, but less power. The Eris 2.0 is far superior to the original. Stand here, please."

Corlu jumped from Misha's shoulder as he took his position and Marie took aim, a spawning pad activating behind him. Marie fired, the green-white shot causing Misha to stagger. She fired again, the rifle bucking slightly, a small gold ornament swinging from the barrel. After fifteen shots, Misha keeled over and disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing on the spawning pad, coughing to remove the ink from his throat.

"Fifteen shots. That's about... Eight hundred and fifty five damage in total before you get dragged back to your pad." She noticed the ink he was coughing up. "Wow, I guess you actually drown before being respawned."

"Is perk of working with Medic."

"They sound like a good person, to be making you so resilient."

"He took out heart and replaced it while still conscious."

Marie paled. Callie paled. Corlu remained blissfully unaware of the conversation that just took place, listening to her music contentedly.

"...right." Marie started. "Well, now we just have to make you an objective somehow. Any ideas?"

"Da. Is simple. Two teams vs me. Winners are team who get most kill shots on me."

"If there's going to be two teams, I'd have to talk Sheldon into making you a shield of some kind, because damage can build up fast out there, as you've no doubt discovered."

"Oh, he could carry a shield like the Rainmaker!" Callie exclaimed.

"Yeah, that could work. Misha, you need to give this a name so it can be-"

"Juggernaut. That is name."

"Alright then. I'll see if I can get that pushed through for the Ranked Battles."

"Thank you."

As Misha turned to leave, he was driven to his knees by the same intense pain from before, only this time it had increased tenfold. He groaned, falling forward onto one hand, the other pressed against his head. He could hear the sisters trying to talk to him, their forms swimming around the edge of his vision while Corlu was stood directly in front of him, panic written across her face. He tried to force himself upwards, only for the pain to increase again, laying him out flat and dropping him into unconsciousness.

"Scout, water, now! Doc, shut that thing off!"

Dell detonated his auxiliary power lines as Medic deactivated the main cables, smoke pouring from the machinery, thickening the air. A dreadful heat billowed from the exit, and Dell was quick to dump the contents of the bucket retrieved by Scout onto it, the water hissing and evaporating upon contact with the metal. Several buckets later, the chassis cracked, the smoke beginning to fade as windows and doors were propped open. Dell let out a deep sigh, wiping his brow with the back of his hand before sitting down heavily.

"Damn it, we almost had something then. I saw it, felt it! There was displacement of the air!"

"Eh, better luck next time, hard hat."

"But the trial worked perfectly! It pulled the bread back through! Now I'll need to start again. Damn it!"

He kicked the sundered chassis, the arms spinning slightly on their joint. He lay back, sitting back up and turning around when he heard the unmistakable sound of Spy decloaking. The Frenchman was holding several components, all of which he held out to Dell.

"Two heat sinks, four pipe conduits, one sealed canister of liquid nitrogen. I did all I could."

"Thanks, Spy. You know you didn't have to be here, right?"

"Heavy is my teammate too. I want him back just as much as you do. Is that all?"

"Yeah, that's all. Thanks for your help."

"Not a problem."

The Frenchman vanished, and Medic sat down next to Dell.

"The chassis needs better cooling. The containment is good, but the vital parts melts before we could pull Heavy back. Heavy must need much more energy to be safely teleported."

"I guess so." Dell stood up, removing his glove and flexing his robotic hand. "Well, no use in standing around. Let's rebuild it."

"Misha, can you hear me?"

"He moved!"

"Misha?"

"He's fine, he's waking up."

"Misha!"

Misha groaned, pushing himself onto his back and breathing heavily. He sat up, looking around, seeing that he was still in the studio. The sisters and Corlu stood around him, concern written into their faces. Outside, another crowd of Inklings had formed.

"What happened?" Misha asked.

"Well... You collapsed." Marie replied. "And... Well. See for yourself."

Marie pulled a mirror out of her cupboard and threw it to Misha. He caught it, frowning when he saw the black markings on his face, scowling when it didn't come off. He also felt a weight on his back. Reaching around, he realised that three pairs of tentacles had sprouted from his back, each one at least as long as his arm.

"Tell Heavy is joke."

The sisters shared a look.

"It's not a joke."

"Heavy hates magic." He said, letting out a deep sigh.

Callie walked around Misha, looking closely at his tentacles, inspecting the red flesh and the yellow tips.

"Looks like you've become like an Inkling."

Taking one of the appendages in his hands, Misha felt the muscle underneath the red and white flesh, trying to flex them. He managed to make them twitch slightly.

"Misha, try turning into a squid."

"I don't know."

"Honestly, it's easy. Put a load of ink on the floor, that'll help."

Misha did as instructed, Corlu, Callie and Marie stepping back so as to not get caught in it. Callie nodded.

"Good. Now, the best teacher is instinct, so..."

Misha didn't even see Callie move before she was looming over him, Tethys Roller in hand. Roaring in surprise, Misha dived sideways, melting into the ink as he did so, only his eyes and the six tentacles from his back visible. They arranged themselves in front of him defensively. Corlu giggled.

"There you go. One freakishly oversized squid."

Misha pulled himself back together, standing up shakily. It took almost a second before he could straighten up and move.

"Good. Now just practice transforming between the two."

Misha's face contorted in concentration before he turned red and began to melt, slower than when he desperately avoided Callie's attack. This time, a lot of his body was left visible, his eyes just above the floor.

"Getting better. You'll just have to practice to make the change quicker."

Misha rumbled slightly before realising he had no proper mouth. He reformed himself.

"Is... Strange." He inhaled deeply. "Come Corlu, we go home."

The sisters watched the pair leave, the door swinging shut behind them. Marie turned to Callie.

"They said an Octoling. Gramps was right!"

"Then we can let Gramps deal with it. It's not our problem at the moment."

"It is totally our problem!" Marie yelled. "We can't just let this Octoling run free! What if more come?"

"I don't know. We could tell Gramps..."

"I bet he already knows. He's always hanging around that Octo Valley."

"We may have to go back too."

"Ugh, let's just see how this plays out."

-Shore-

Upon arriving on the shore, Misha didn't even look at his cave home, instead walking over to the place where he had appeared the week before, searching for the glassy shards that had formed in the heat of his arrival. He began to scoop the sand away, motioning for Corlu to do the same. As the sand came away, Misha soon felt a cold metal beneath his fingers. Quickly clearing the dust, he stood up and inspected the construct buried in the sand.

A spawning plate.

"Makes sense. Must have brought Misha here."

Turning around, Misha caught a glimpse of a figure closing the door to his home. He grabbed Corlu and forced her downwards onto her front, doing the same himself. When the figure didn't immediately emerge, he took out Splasha and approached slowly, trying to remember the time Spy had taught him to move silently. He came upon the door, and threw it open, spraying a line of ink in front of him to prevent the Octoling inside from escaping. She looked at him from behind large goggles, a grimace on her face.

"Fool!"

"I have question. You will answer." He revved up Splasha. "Are you one who hurt Corlu?"

"Doc, I've run a few more tests. I think I've found the problem."

"Well? Out with it!"

"Whenever we try to teleport him in, we can't contain the energy and the chassis melts, right?"

"So?"

"I ran the diagnostics, and something is dragging him away. My teleporter works by breaking someone into atoms, suspending them, and reassembling them a the other end. But in this case, something on Heavy's end is interfering. Something is keeping him together against the force of the teleporter and as a result, every time I try to warp him, the teleporter has to compensate and overpower this other device in order to create a stable link that his atoms can pass through. But the problem is that it takes too much energy to do so, which throws out a lot of heat, melting the chassis before the link can be sustained."

"So... More heat sinks?"

"Hah, they'll help, but we'll need more. A lot more, according to these graphs."

Dell handed over a sheaf of papers, Medic leading through them and considering the data on each page. His expression fell with each successive page.

"These readings... So much energy... We can never contain or conduct something like this!"

"We can't, no. But... We were able to send the bread there, remember? Given, it came back toasted, but that was done before it was pulled back..."

"How does that help?"

Dell removed his hat.

"We can send him a message. Get him to destroy what's holding him there so we can pull him back."

"Engineer, the energy involved cindered the bread. What can we send that can hold a message?"

"The teleport didn't destroy the bread. But, the energy will definitely destroy paper, so we need something more robust. A slab of rock should keep its shape. I need a chisel."