The next day in the submarine, while Aenon ate with Voltare and Joule as his clothes were being laundered, him and Aquarius were discussing what they had learned about the Octarian's actions. It disturbed the both of them that the Octarians had such a keen interest in human technology and locations to the point of putting their bases nearby or inside structures that, by all accounts, should have crumbled to dust long before sea life evolved to live on land.

Aquarius let out a low grunt as he processed the information. "I can sort of see using the mine that humans left behind for materials; they seem to be a more industrial race than the Inklings."

Aenon scratched his head as he interacted with Voltare and Joule in his lap. "What I don't get is how they managed to get their tentacles on human drones. The fact that they're using a crashed human ship that's connected to that aquarium as a launching platform, if the scans from Neptune are to be believed, frightens me. Are they really that desperate to take Inkopolis for themselves that they'd stoop to using humanity's more dangerous tech?"

"May be. While it may have been in conflict with what Professor Kamabo wished for Neptune, perhaps it is for the best that we are helping the New Squidbeak Splatoon in stopping them."

Aenon thought for a moment before remembering something. "Marie had mentioned that, between her own accounts and her grandfather's, Agent 3 never went through anything like this during their time in Octo Valley. I almost feel like I… interrupted some sort of space-time continuum with my existence."

Aquarius sighed at that. "That line of thought is not productive; it's bordering paradoxical. What I'd much rather know is what the purpose of that lab you went through is. It looked like it was stripped of most of it's equipment save the generator, which begs the question of why they needed a zapfish for that location, and that single pod that looks suspiciously similar to the cryo-stasis pods developed for this submarine."

Now it was Aenon's turn to sigh. "So many questions, not enough answers. I guess the only way to find out is to capture Octavio and get him to talk about what his plan was with these facilities. The only way to do that is to keep saving all of the zapfish. Speaking of, I should probably go back to Octo Canyon and see if they'll need my help with the boss kettle."

With that, after putting on dry clothes, a quick maintenance check on Neptune, and replacing all of the old cushions and pillows in the power slot with fresher ones, Aenon headed back to the cabin. When he landed, he noted that Marie was already awake and messing around with her own tech. "You're a bit late today, Agent 5. Were you doing something?"

"Aquarius and I were trying to understand why the Octarians were moving into human structures. As you can probably tell, we didn't get very far. What are you up to?"

"Trying my best to identify who or what is in the boss kettle so that we can avoid any nasty surprises like the last boss kettle. It's getting frustrating just how well shielded these kettles are to scanners, when normally we can at least identify what the area below is called."

Aenon adopted a thoughtful posture. "Perhaps more human tech they managed to somehow salvage. There were plenty of humans who developed anti-scanning measures before the final war of humanity wiped them out."

Marie sighed as Coral popped out of the nearby grate. "Maybe so." Turning to the younger Inkling she says, "Agent 4, All my attempts to get you info has ended in failure. If you want to go in without Aenon again, he'll at least be on standby nearby in case something like the Octo Berserker happens."

Coral nodded at that. "I've pretty much accepted that getting information from those kettles is like finding a needle in an algae stack. I'm fine with Aenon being on standby with Neptune incase things go south, but hopefully that won't happen."

Aenon nodded as he went back to Neptune. "Shall we get going over there then? Might as well knock it out while the day is young." Coral nodded at that and super jumped away as Neptune took off.

Marie contacted them as Coral platformed her way to the boss kettle. "I should probably say this now, but I tried contacting Perch a little while ago and I got no response. I hope she's alright or just inside a kettle currently."

Coral scoffed. "Marie, she's an Octoling who's seen plenty of carp in her life. If anyone is hardy enough to survive anything, it'll be her."

When she got to the boss kettle, Sheldon managed to contact her. "I hate to be a burden, Agent 4, but could you use the hero dualies for this kettle? I need more practical data from them and I figured that mobility will be good for you."

Coral let out a very happy woomy at that; dualies were quickly becoming her favorite weapon class, right up there with blasters. "You got it, Sheldon!" With that, she dove into the kettle.

Aenon started subconsciously holding his breath as he watched the feed Neptune was receiving from Coral's headset. Unlike the arena where they fought the Octo Berserker, there was a giant pool of Octarian ink at the far end of the arena with a zapfish hanging over it.

When Coral used the jump pad to land on the arena, a tentacle came up from under the ink's surface and grabbed the zapfish. Aenon figured that it would just be a pool of ink, only for him to discover that there was solid ground under that ink. "How does that work?!"

Marie giggled at his reaction when she realized he's never seen that phenomenon before. "Let's just say the ink is deeper than you'd expect. And don't ask why; some things are best left unexplained." All she got was an undignified huff in response.

As the boss slowly came up from the ink, Coral found herself staring at a huge pair of eyes and what looked like a giant set of lips on a stamp as it roared like the Octo Oven.

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!

Octostomp

Marie stared at the feed in disbelief. "Wait, I know this guy! It's Octostomp!"

That greatly confused Sheldon and Aenon. "Octostomp? But didn't Agent 3 take him down years ago?"

"I guess he's back for more. You've got this, Agent 4, even without Aenon's help. If Agent 3 could take him down in the past without a fancy suit of human armor, I'm pretty sure you can."

Aenon chuckled as he watched Octostomp attack. "I'm pretty sure Neptune would be complete overkill anyways. And going down there without Neptune is completely out of the question; us humans can be very vulnerable to getting crushed and my mobility is molasses compared to you Inklings swimming in ink."

Coral grimaced at that as she dodged Octostomp's dash and faceplant. She's all too aware of Aenon's single life on any mission as opposed to her 4 lives total for each kettle, not counting lives restored by a new checkpoint in normal levels.

Thankfully, the only two tricks Octostomp had up its nonexistent sleeve was getting a new, uninkable coat after the first hit and two more faces after the second. All Coral had to do was attack the coat's buckle enough for it to pop right off, allowing its body to be inked again. After bursting the tentacle on its back three times, Octostomp was finished once again.

Marie sighed as things began to unwind from that fight. "Agent 4 and Agent 5? I just want to say thank you for everything you're doing here and how much help you two have been. This might be overdue, but I think it's time to tell you my other purpose in asking for your help, especially yours, Agent 4."

Aenon and Coral were a bit confused as she said, "Was there something you didn't tell me when you first recruited me on the day we met Aenon?"

"Well… you recall that I was searching for the great zapfish, correct? I think I told Agent 5 about it too." Marie got two hums of confirmation. "I'm afraid that's not the whole story and I'm sorry about not telling you two. You see… Just as much as I want to find the great zapfish, I also want to find my cousin Callie. She vanished on the same day as the great zapfish."

Coral gasped. "I remember Off the Hook bringing that to attention a week ago or so, which was the same time the disappearance of the great zapfish was headlined too."

Marie breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you already knew, Agent 4, but I'm afraid Agent 5 is a bit more in the dark."

"That's what happens when you're basically an alien or living fossil to the new dominant species of Earth." Aenon chuckled.

"Hush you. Anyways, just in case you were wondering, I'm Agent 2 and Callie is Agent 1 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. You guys already know about Agent 3, though the reason she isn't here is because she's out with our grandpa, Cap'n Cuttlefish and won't be back for an unforeseeable amount of time."

Coral wondered if that was the reason why Perch called her a "fine successor to Agent 3" a few days ago. "You can't try and radio them to come back and help?"

"Sadly no." Marie let out a defeated sigh. "What makes matters worse is that I was supposed to protect Inkopolis while they were away but… Callie… the great zapfish…"

Aenon quickly tried to cheer her up. "Marie, don't worry too much about it. We'll find Callie and the great zapfish no matter what!"

"I agree!" Coral piped in. "That just motivates me even more to knock out these kettles as fast as possible. If anything, you should have told me sooner!"

Marie let out a small laugh at that. "Yeah, sorry about that. Regardless, we'd be totally suck without the both of you and for that… I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I KNOW we can find Callie through this and your statement says to me you're willing to see this through."

"Lea… No… LEAVE NOW!"

Everyone jumped at that, especially Marie. "I THOUGHT the radio acted up after that fight with the Octo Berserker. Whoever this is, you'd better watch out, or you'll have to contend with both Agents 4 AND 5!"

Coral exited the kettle with an amused look. "I doubt they'll listen, Marie. If anything, they'll be throwing more dangerous challenges at us in the up-coming area."

"I never got the logic of throwing your weaker legions at the enemy first…" Aenon sighed in disappointment. "I'm not complaining, mind you. It just makes more logical sense to throw your strongest troops at a serious threat first; if they fail then you know for sure you're doomed from the start and don't waste time and resources."

"They kind of did that in regards to the Octo Berserker, though I get the feeling that one was more unintentional." Coral stretched a bit; while Octostomp was nothing too severe, she still had to get rid of her adrenaline rush.

Marie was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Do you guys want to take the rest of the day off? I know you just reaffirmed your determination to see this whole thing through, but there's no need to overexert yourselves after a boss fight. Besides, I think it'll do Aenon good to be exposed to our culture a little more."

Aenon looked at Coral, who thought about it before nodding. "I guess it wouldn't hurt today. Besides, I could show you more turf wars and, maybe, mingle with other Inklings; I doubt you'll get far just by interacting with me and Marie here in Octo Canyon. I'm going to stop by my apartment complex first as there's something I want to grab there."

"If you're certain. Did you want to fly with me to Inkopolis, or are we going to meet in the square?"

Coral hummed a bit at that. "As enjoyable as rides in Neptune are, I think it'll be better if you wait for me in the Square. I doubt you want to wait for me right as soon as we enter." With that, she super jumps away.

Aenon merely shook his head as he boarded Neptune and took off for Inkopolis, though not before dropping by the cabin to say goodbye to Marie. He reached the spot he used last time to hide the suit and entered the city from there; he could remember his way around from his last visit.

When he got to the square, he opted to sit in one of the larger chairs that was nearby Crusty Sean's food truck. With nothing to occupy his time, he observed the comings and goings of Inklings and noted some size disparities among them: some were almost as big as he was, some were smaller than Coral, and other still were either slightly taller or the same size as Coral.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Aenon turned to see Coral wearing what looked like a blue bandanna (FishFry Biscuit Bandana), a lime green shirt (Lime Easy-Stripe Shirt), and a pair of white and pink shoes (Orca Passion Hi-Tops). He was so used to seeing her in her hero suit that he was stunned at seeing her more casual clothing. "Right, you never seen me wear anything else. This is my preferred attire for going into turf wars and, hopefully, will be fully optimized for when I can go into ranked."

Aenon managed to stop gaping at how nice she looked and gave her a confused look. "Could you possibly…?"

Coral facepalmed at that. "Right, you don't know. We should probably try and keep this quiet so that nobody gets suspicious." She got two drinks and sat down as Aenon leaned in to listen. "The general gist is this: turf wars are ink battles where the only thing on the line is extra progress points and cash. Progress points, or exp as some squids call it, help determine your level of "freshness", which dictates a lot of what you can do as an Ink battler; from Sheldon offering a wider selection of weapons to stores selling higher star gear.

"I went into exp and level because in order to do ranked, you need a level of 10 in order to access ranked battles, while a lot of other services are available at level 4. Ranked battles and, by extension league battles, use different battle rules than standard turf wars, with the current ones being Splat Zones, Tower Control, Rain maker, and Clam Blitz. I'll explain those more once I have experienced them; no sense talking about something I don't know about."

Aenon frowned at the whole "Level of Freshness" thing. "Why do shop keepers only look at your level? Wouldn't that kind of neuter their businesses?"

"Well, for one they have an image to upkeep and they don't want Inklings who are too "unfresh" wearing the clothes meant for ink battles; non-ink battle clothes can be bought by anyone. Secondly, reaching level 4 isn't very demanding; even if you keep losing, you'll reach it within a day of dedicated turf wars."

"I guess it would be a bad system if it wasn't at least somewhat forgiving. It's more so to look to see if an Inkling at least knows what they're doing in ink battles."

Coral beamed. "You pick up fast. It's almost a shame you're… well, you know." Aenon nodded solemnly at that when the Inkopolis Square monitor suddenly shifted to an Off the Hook announcement. "Wow, can't believe it's already 2pm today. Time flies when you're having fun."

Pearl and Marina went through the introductory segment before Pearl suddenly said, "Let's try a little something new today. I call it "Inkopolis Fashion Focus"!"

The confusion on everyone's face in the Square was mirrored by Marina. "Uh, Pearl… what are you doing? I don't see this anywhere on the script at all!"

"Relax, we're just going to highlight some fresh new styles around Inkopolis." Pearl looked like she was full of confidence.

Marine went from confused to amused in that span of time. "Did you even run this by our producers?"

Aenon was very amused at this point as well. "Talk about going off the rails rather than off the hook."

Coral giggled at that. "From what I hear, Pearl has always been like that. Guess her upbringing didn't stop her from being incredibly outgoing."

"Let's dive into our first feature!" Marina did her record scratch transition and what appeared caused both Aenon and Coral to do a spit-take back into their drink containers: A picture featuring an Octoling male and female. "All of the cool squidkids seem to be sporting these weird hairstyles lately."

Marine suddenly started acting very awkward. "Oh… um… yeah, squidkids…"

Aenon shook his head. "Poor Marina. Aware of the truth and became awkward on camera because of it."

Coral looked baffled. "I thought they wouldn't be noticed all that much. Was there enough of an influx for Inklings to take notice?"

Pearl pressed on in spite of Marina. "Pretty sure its only a matter of time before it becomes a full-on fad. Though I get the feeling I've seen these hairstyles before…"

Marina, clearly wanting to shift the subject, quickly said, "Alright Pearl, I'm getting word that we are out of time for this segment."

"Ugh, fine! Be sure to tune in for more Inkopolis Fashion focus."

"And when exactly is it going to be next time?"

"Eh… pretty sure we peaked on that one, so probably never!" That got a facepalm out of Marina right before a transition into the stages.

Coral shook her head. "Hopefully us saving more of them doesn't reveal their identities too prematurely. Though if that happens, Marina's status as an idol can help their case." Aenon nodded as Off the Hook went over the stages currently in rotation. Now that he was more informed of how ink battles worked, the rotations made sense.

When the duo got to the League rotations, they first showed an area called The Reef, which looked similar to one of the Octarian kettles, before ending off on Shellendorf Institute. "I heard they have human bones here!"

"I wish humans were real." That one comment from Marina amused Aenon so much that he tried, and failed, to contain his laughter. Coral was initially confused, but as she looked between the screen and him, it clicked why he was laughing and quickly joined in, much to the confusion of a few nearby Inklings. In the distance; Judd, Lil'Judd, and Marie were infinitely amused as well.

Off the Hook did a quick blurb about a company called Grizzco Industries before signing off while Aenon and Coral caught their breath. "Okay, that's just pure irony right there."

"No kidding. Anyways, did you want to spectate a few more turf war matches today or- "

"Coral!" Coral jumped at a female Inkling suddenly calling her name before suddenly being hugged from behind. "There you are! I was wondering where you've been."

"O-Opal! You scared me!" Coral took a second to catch her breath again before looking at Opal, who released her from the hug. "You always have this bad habit of sneaking up on me!"

Opal was a similar size to Coral but had pink hair and wore Pilot Goggles, a Green Cardigan, and a pair of N-Pacer Ag's. "Keeps you on your toes! Anyways, where have you been? I haven't seen you play turf wars and we haven't done any matches together in a while." She looks across the table at Aenon and suddenly had a coy smile. "Or... do I happen to know who's sitting at the table with you?"

Before Aenon could respond, Coral quickly said, "If you know that this is my uncle Vamp from the Calamari County, then yes."

Opal now had a flat look on her face. "That's boring. Here I thought you had a Colossal Squid boyfriend or something that was eating up your spare time."

"He's a Colossal Squid, but we're related so no dice." Coral sighed as she pats her friend on the arm. "Sorry I haven't been hanging out with you or Toda lately, but there's something in my personal life that has been requiring my full attention. I hate to say it, but it's something you can't help me with, but I'll be sure to let you two know if it's been resolved."

Opal smiled at that. "I never doubted you, Coral. I was just worried you forgot about us is all."

"I understand. How about, to make it up to you, we play some turf wars together today. Vamp didn't bring any of his ink battling gear, so he's just going to spectate."

Opal was suddenly beside Aenon and pats his arm. "Sorry to hear that. However, I think you'll find spectating just as fun!"

Aenon nodded as he made his voice sound a bit deeper. "Thank you for being such a good friend to my niece. I'm sure you two will have some great battles."

"Then let's go!" Coral found herself getting dragged to the Inkopolis tower. She shot a pleading look at Aenon, who merely shook his head in amusement as he followed.

She has an interesting friend. At least she isn't by herself here in the city, though I wonder about the rest of her family. Does she stay in contact with them?"

The two friends had played two matches before they were joined by another girl, presumably Toda who had green hair. They played turf wars all the way till 10pm, when the tower closed down for the day. During that time, Coral had gotten all the way to level 12 from level 8, finally allowing her to access ranked battles. The entire time she played, she mostly stuck with her blaster, though she did dabble a little bit with the splat dualies.

When all four of them left the tower due to closure, Coral's friends bid her goodnight and left the Square. Coral yawned after that. "I'm sorry to say this, Aenon, but you're going to have to go back to Neptune on your own tonight. All those turf war matches have left me beat for tonight and I want to go to bed."

"No worries. If anything, this will help you prepare for anything thrown at you at… you-know-where. Besides, you looked like you were having fun and that's all that matters. Just remind me to never cross you while you're using a blaster; you're a monster with that thing."