Unsure how to continue, Tory led his new-found friends towards the indicated back alley. As they approached the Street Urchin smiled at them knowingly.

"Wot's up, Tory?" Spyke mustered, looking up from his pile of little Sea Snails. He idly tapped his screwdriver as he awaited a reply. Tory smiled down at him, aware of the guy's true nature, although Ciera and Charron seemed near breaking away and running for cover. They obviously felt unnerved by the drowsy teen who would, on his feet, tower over them.

"An Anemone sent us here. I doubt you're unaware that I've been banned from the mainstay shops." Tory announced, and Spyke clucked his apologies.

"Too bad, Tory," he said, though it was obvious he could read the truth. "Ya know my sea snails and I are always here for ya. Order fings from me and you'll be fresher than any King strutting 'bout the plaza." He smirked. Tory smiled back. Spyke always knew what to say. Charron and Ciera, seeing that Spyke and Tory were acquainted, approached cautiously, although they still felt unnerved.

"Well, I'll be needing your help getting some gear sooner or later," Tory mentioned, looking back and signalling to the shops. "I've got a great hat, courtesy a concerned bystander, but I'll still need some sets of clothes and shoes. You can consider me a future customer." He stopped, and thinking carefully, he decided that Spyke would have best judgement.

"I think I'm going to try and whip up a personalized weapon in the lab downstairs." Spyke perked up visibly. "I know I'll have to run it past the Squid Sisters, but as long as I don't make it too overpowered I'm sure things'll be fine. I just need you to help me get some subs and specials, and a good clothing set, too."

Spyke requested that he get the blueprints the moment they were done. He seemed thrilled. Ciera patted Tory's shoulder questioningly.

"This is where his heart lies, really," Tory explained. "He always wanted to build weapons for Sheldon. When the Squid Sisters announced that they wouldn't allow new weapons for a while he felt crushed." She shrugged and backed off. Tory left the alleyway and headed for a small grate outside Inkopolis Tower.

"Hey, wait, where're you going?" Charron asked.

"I have some stuff to deal with, nothing big," Tory replied. It had been a long day, and this was always soothing. "Just need to check up on a friend of mine." With this statement he turned into Squid form and leaped down the sewer lid.

Surfing his way through the passage, his excitement grew at where he was about to go. He had been asked a while ago to help out with a simple task - but he couldn't help but come back, even though there was a girl there now to take care of the task entirely. Dropping off inside a dome with a synthetic sky, he looked up to see his old friends.

"Hey-low, Tory!" Marissa called, holding a makeshift doll in her hands. She handed it to Cap'n Cuttlefish, who appreciatively placed it inside a small cardboard box for storage.

"Hey-low, bucko!" Tory replied, smiling. Marissa's cheery attitude was really refreshing. It was always so peaceful here...

"Come to see the baby Zapfish again, huh?" she asked, walking towards a shack outside the sewer grate. "They're doing well! Zony and Zickerburg have been a little grouchy recently, but Ziara has been doing excellently! I'm sure she'll be glad to see you!" She stepped inside, and opening the door a few seconds later, a whole charade of Zapfish came piling out. Each one was young and chipper - they'd have a long way to go before they could power all of Inkopolis. One of these little guys would some day go into the peace effort between Octarians and Inklings, he had heard, although he doubted it would be for a while yet. Stooping down to pick up the ones closest, he gave them a big hug. Their antennae glittered in joy.

Zapfish were definitely better than people.

He spent about an hour in the small home with the Zapfish before he started thinking about leaving. His sister would probably get mad if he stayed any longer...

"TORY!" A feminine voice screamed from the sewer pipes, making everyone jump. He heard something similar to a wild child's scream before Charron leaped heroically from the sewer grate to glance around, as if searching for danger. His eyes widened when he was met with the scene.

"Tory, what in the Zapfish's name is this...?" he asked, staring at the huge numbers of baby Zapfish. Zion, the youngest Zapfish, hobbled over to Charron and smiled up at him, sparks flying haphazard. Charron seemed barely able to stop himself from doing something drastic.

"So. Cute." he murmured, dropping his Squelcher. His eyes seemed to say that he didn't really know what to do any more. He just stood and stared in confusion at the small boy who stared up at him.

"Hey, Charron, you okay up there?" Ciera called. Tory realized she was the feminine voice who had called. She peeked up from the grate, and seeing the situation, she leaped out, concluding things were safe.

"I may as well explain," Tory said reluctantly, as Marissa herded the Zapfish back into the hut. "I used to work here, caring for the Zapfish, until I was hired full-time at the Lab. These're the children of the great Zapfish. Marissa here takes care of them." He pointed to his friend, who had just left the shack. She turned to Tory's friends and smiled sheepishly.

"Wait, Tory, you have a job? At the Squid Research Lab!?" Ciera asked, voice increasing in volume. She didn't even believe for a second that any 14-year-old would be doing anything but turf wars.

"Yeah. Is that weird? I studied, I was smart, a guy there gave me a job. Simple as that, really." He turned back to the two Zapfish he had in his arms. Pointing to the shack, they reluctantly returned to the small abode. Zion didn't want to leave, however, and clung to Charron's leg.

"Heh, Zion likes you, bud," Marissa laughed, seeing Charron's uncomfortable stance. He couldn't put his leg fully down or he'd step on Zion, but he didn't want to lift his leg or shake him off either. He reluctantly bent down in an attempt to pull the child off his leg. Zion tugged harder.

"C'mon, little guy, now's not the time," Charron moaned, as he struggled with the Zapfish. Zion shook his head violently, as if refusing to leave.

"You can have him, if you want him," Marissa suggested, laughing. "He's the runt of the litter and has a little trouble controlling his electricity. He's a good boy, though." Charron sighed in resignation, accepting his fate of being forcibly put into the role of adoptive parent. With a little help from Ciera and Tory, Zion was pulled away from Charron's leg, and they left with the stubborn Zapfish in tow.

After saying their goodbyes, Tory made his way under the cover of darkness to the squid research lab. His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, but there wasn't much to hide from. When Splatfests weren't on, most inklings rushed home by 10 for some beauty sleep. Inklings loved their beauty sleep. He remained vigilant regardless, hunching his back and walking slowly, careful not to let his shoes make more than the necessary amount of noise as they hit the pavement. He walked past Spyke, who was asleep in his 'shop' again, and snuck into the building to the right of the sleepy Urchin.

Climbing down abandoned stairs, he arrived in the main area, which was connected to the restaurant nearby underground. The lights off, he waited patiently for his eyes to adjust. Once he felt ready, he crawled past the many tables and chairs set up cafeteria style, through a few doors, and finally arrived in the sector he was hoping for; Weapon Study.

He turned cautiously before continuing, looking for the right door. He trained his eyes on a metal door which read across the top, 'beta creation room'. Creeping inside, he nearly had a heart attack when someone beyond his line of vision began to speak.

"Hello, Tory!" Sheldon said, turning on the lights and walking towards the worktable in the center of the cluttered room."I thought you'd be here, so I waited. See how predictable you are?" He picked up a beta weapon that Tory had practiced with. "This is the second weapon that was approved by the Squid sisters just this morning. I'm going to release the N-ZAP 85 to the public tomorrow, and the Inkbrush a while later... but I've gotten permission to lease this one to you early. Since I'm giving it to you, it doesn't count as being sold." He handed the weapon to Tory, and accepting it, he held it up to the light to see its features.

"It won't be permanent," Tory admitted, "but I promise to use it until its official release. Thanks, Don-Don." He smirked. "Can you come back at the same time tomorrow? I want to get started on a beta design for my private weapon." Sheldon saluted proudly, glad to be of service, and they spent a good hour on the design, discussing its strengths and weaknesses, what it ought to do, and how it ought work.

"It'll just be for you," Sheldon mentioned, "so I don't think you'll be able to have something that hasn't been done already to a certain extent...but I'm thinking a sword. We'd started out on a decision not to because of the implications, but I think it would be okay. As long as it's design was similar to the Inkbrush..." he sketched a basic sword on the blueprint. The handle was a simple manner with buttons along the side to activate subs and specials, and there was a circuit running out from it that went in a long, thin oval back to the handle.

"It would be unique in that it wouldn't use ink for anything but subs," Tory pointed out. "It has to use ink for something other than specials as a rule." Sheldon slapped himself, as if scolding himself for forgetting, and stared hard at the blueprint. He had already gotten fond of the design.

"We could do this" Tory drew a sketch on the side of the blueprint - "and then it would comply. It would also be pretty cool. It's not like the rules say you can't have a part that doesn't use ink, anyway, so we can keep the original functions, too. We'd just have to get creative trying to build that circuit." Sheldon's eyes widened in excitement.

"It's perfect!" he cried, jumping for joy. Tory mentioned that he'd allowed Spyke to choose the sub and special for him, and Sheldon agreed to show the blueprint to the Street Urchin. "We'll work on it together tomorrow," he announced. "But first, we need to get home before people start waking up." Tory looked at the clock. It was 2 AM.

"Are you sure?" Tory asked, disbelievingly. "No inkling would wake up before 9 at least."

"You don't know horseshoe crabs," Sheldon shivered. "They wake up early. Like clockwork. I needed to set five alarms to make sure I actually managed to be awake at the right time for this." Tory nodded in understanding and they left the lab to embrace the quiet of the early morning.