Epilogue

No emotion, devoid of reason

No devotion and full of treason

"Cover him, Marie!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!"

"Take the right, Vee! I'll kill the ones on the left."

"Don't expect me to save you, now, Callie."

"Touché."

"They're up on the roof! Shoot them, Sheldon!"

"Don't worry. I got them!"

"Keep protecting Leon, Annie!"

"O-Okay."

"We've got it covered, pop-star! Don't worry bout us."

"Spyke, you know what you're doing?"

"Not at all, Sean! How in the bloody 'ell do I create this bloody serum?!"

"I'll handle it. Just take my gun and shoot the octos on the roof."

"Now that sounds like a betah role, Sheldon. Don't mind if I do."

"Just mix these two...pour a little of this relaxant...and finally...There! Injecting Serum!"

Sheldon stares at Lee as he is administering the serum. Lee groans as he slowly opens his eyes. He's in a small hospital room with one wall completely gone. A slightly red-tinted evening sky is the second-most prominent source of light, as a bright ass light bulb that hung from the ceiling filled the room with light. Lee was laying down on a stretcher.

Callie, Vee, Marie, and Spyke defended the group as Sheldon tended to Lee. Annie was protecting an unconscious Leon, who was also in a stretcher.

Sean was keeping an eye on Leon, occasionally checking his pulse and temperature. Sean had a worried look on his face.

"He's coming to! Lee is coming to!" He shouts.

"Oh, thank god!" Callie said, all too excitedly.

Vee shrugged it off and focused on killing the last of the attacking octarians.

"Don't worry, buddy. We'll fix ya up." Sheldon said.

"What's his temperature?" Annie asked.

Sheldon put a thermometer in Lee's mouth and plucked it out moments after.

"Almost 2 degrees below normal." Sheldon answered.

"Wounds?" Annie asked.

"Yeah...he's pretty banged up. His body's somewhat littered with damage, but all blood has stopped flowing out of him...which is a good sign."

"He'll live, love. I'd be more concerned about the other lad. Hasn't quite been responsive." Spyke said.

"This kid, Leon, doesn't look too good." Sean said.

"Well, just keep an eye on him." Sheldon said.

The octolings' numbers completely dwindled, Callie and Marie finishing off the last few. As soon as their fight was over, Callie, Marie and Vee collapsed on the ground, heavily breathing. Spyke just rested Sheldon's gun in the corner of the room as he took a seat.

"W-Was that it? You got the last of them?" Sean asked.

"Y-Y-Yeah...We...got...them...all." Callie said.

"Every...single...one...of...them." Marie added.

"Fucking...finally!" Vee yelled.

"Thank god! Now this war is over. With Octavio gone and his octarian forces dealt with, Inkopolis can rest." Sheldon said.

"Where's...Cuttlefish?" Lee asked.

"Last time I checked, he was hidin' civilians in some bunker." Spyke answered.

"I...sure hope...granddad...is alright." Callie said.

"Ah, that...old man's fine. War is...almost a...school game for him." Marie said.

Lee slowly sat up, wincing from the pain.

"So...that's it? We're done here?" He asked.

"Almost. All that's left now is...well...to inspire people again." Sheldon said.

"What do..ya mean?"

"Many inklings died today, Lee, as well as some other...minorities. People's spirits aren't exactly high. When they see you and hear how we've won, I'm sure they'll be more than motivated enough to rebuild our city."

Lee's eyes widen as much as they could.

"H-How much damage was caused?!" He asked angrily.

"Lee, whatever you do, don't turn into that monstrous version of yourself." Sheldon said.

Lee relaxed himself in a shameful manner while Callie and Vee shook their heads.

"I...I don't have dark powers anymore." Lee told Sheldon.

"Excuse me...you don't have what?!" Sheldon asked.

"Xavier took my goddamn powers, ok?! Jesus fucking Christ!" Lee lashed out.

"But how?"

Lee's tears and balled up fists told Sheldon to leave it alone. Lee's not ready to talk about his losses.

"...The city was damaged greatly, Lee. The octarians did quite a number on us." Sheldon said sadly.

"Let me see it.." Lee meekly demanded.

Callie, Marie, Vee, and Sheldon helped Lee up. Once standing, he could walk by himself, but barely.

"Are you ok, Lee? Can you walk?" Callie asked.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm not helpless, ok? Just get off me." Lee responded bitterly.

Lee slowly made his way outside to a dim version of the city in ruins. Streetlights were broken. Buildings scarred with holes and cracks. Pavement now loose slightly slid when Lee walked on it. Many buildings were nearly engulfed in flames as the screams of helpless inklings bolted from them.

Ambulances, fire trucks, even police vehicles Lee had one thought gone and forgotten to time were blaring through the streets. Several dozen inklings were scattering all around in front of Lee, as the rest of them were scared stiff deeper within Inkopolis. The road dipped downwards and back upwards, creating small hills to link to the top of the road, of which Lee is on.

Even though his powers and his worth were stripped away, his courage and anger remained with him. They were pen ink to the madness's eraser. Callie frantically ran towards Lee, assuming his next move.

"Don't do anything stupid, Lee! We can't have you die on us, or get even more injured." She pleaded.

"I had everything, Callie. Everything that could've prevented this...and yet I couldn't stop it...Trust me when I say, 'I've learned from my arrogance and I'll have to suffer for it.' Saving a few more lives...is the least I can do."

"Don't blame yourself. You did what you could. No one could've prepared for this."

Lee started walking foward, limping slightly.

"That's the point. I was supposed to do what no one could...but ended doing what every failure does. I was made to protect...so no matter what, I'm gonna protect who and what I can."

Marie grabbed Callie's shoulder as Callie was about to follow him. She pulled her into a hug, putting Callie's head on her shoulder.

Lee reached the top of the last hill on the road. From here on were terrified people, in need and previously needy. Some inklings are seen mourning their loved ones, on their knees, slumped back, and even while holding them. Lee clenched his fists while he stared at one burning building. It was a bank, nearing its collaspe.

Death-ridden, helpless people

Life forbidden with no sequel

No savior, no traitors

Weird behavior from burning neighbors

Lee carelessly runs towards the building, earning questionable reactions and comments from the people of Inkopolis. The bank's closed entrance was blocked off by a wall of fire. The glass to the bank was cracked, almost broken. Lee took a couple steps back and ran as fast as he could. He dove into the bank through the window, almost landing perfectly.

Only two inklings were trapped. They were huddled in a corner behind a support beam that was just now catching on fire. The building was going to come down any second. Without another thought, he from the two from the corner under the slanted support beam. He had to lift with all his strength to get them under the beam.

"You two...jump...through the window...Hurry!" Lee told the two.

They were hesitant at first, but, encouraged by their fear, did what Lee said. After jumping out, they received some cuts from the broken glass. Lee caught his breath while below the heavy smoke that was soon leaving the room. He reached the window, cleared the glass, and slowly crawled out, coughing up blood.

His head was spinning and spinning and spinning. He slowly got up and started walking to the next burning building. He was stopped by an inkling paramedic who was wearing a "Hello! My name is" tag. Written on it was "Wilhelm."

"Vait! Herr human, you are in great need of ze healing!" He said.

"I'm fine." Lee told him.

"B-But you are bleeding. Your movements show just how dazed you are. Ze medical attention is crucial!"

"Listen, Wilhelm, I know you're doing your job, but-"

"Vilhelm."

"..What?"

"Vilhelm."

"That's what I said. 'Wilhelm.'"

"Vilhelm."

"Wilhelm."

"Vilhelm."

"Wilhelm."

"Vilhelm."

"L-Listen, whatever. I don't care. Worry about the others."

Lee limped away, headed straight for the next burning building. It was a small convenience store about a block or 2 away from the other building.

There's no dreams, not one desire

All in the City of Fire

Lee was nearly unconscious. His determination was the only thing that kept him up and going. Unfortunately, before he could heroically save more innocent lives, 3 firemen confronted and detained him. Said that it was too dangerous and that it was a job for the professionals.

"Let me go!" Lee shouted.

Showing signs of violent resistance, a pair of paramedics sedated him.

When he woke up, he was on a stretcher, inside an ambulance truck. The doors were wide open and Lee didn't even have an IV in him. The paramedics are probably still dealing with other inklings. Either that, or they felt like Lee was a liability to the whole thing.

Lee jumped out of the stretcher, falling onto his hands outside of the truck. A paramedic saw him fall out and helped him back up. Lee pushed him back and walked towards the plaza. He was stumbling over his own feet while the paramedics took care of the injured. The firemen did what they could to extinguish the fire, but couldn't save the inklings trapped inside.

In the plaza, thousands and thousands of inklings screamed and panicked as they were running in all different directions. The stage from before was still standing, but crooked and had 2 holes in it. Lee pushed through some inklings and found a bullhorn sitting on a stand not too far from the stage.

He grabbed it and walked up to the stage, taking his sweet ass time doing so. He turned on the bullhorn and activated its siren. The inklings that were once terrified and moving were all surprised and inert. All eyes on Lee, he turned off the siren and quickly thought of somethings to say.

Hundreds of inklings' whispers rung loudly throughout the plaza. The whispers died down a few moments afterwards, as Lee firmly held the bullhorn close to his mouth.

"Citizens of Inkopolis. Our dark times are not over, but the light afterwards is seeping through. The octarians have lost. Most, if not all, of their army is dead. We have won and brought back all we could. Unfortunately...Octavio escaped.." Lee said.

This sends the inklings in an uproar, a mix between fear and anger.

"I know, I know! I know you all wanted him brought to justice, but he has escaped! For now, he's gone, but it is not my fault completely. I was stopped by a person..." Person would be a stretch for Xavier. "..A robot, of sorts, actually...His name is Xavier Commons and he fought me while Octavio fled like a bitch. We were evenly matched overall...until Xavier..."

The inklings, all asking the same question, turned to each other and back to Lee.

"Until Xavier took my powers away...for good. I am sorry...I cannot change into that thing you all saw anymore. My incredible strength, speed, and usefulness are no more...but this doesn't mean the end for you all, of course. You are strong. You are fast. You are useful. In due time, everything will be alright."

Doubt was obvious as it has painted itself on the inklings' faces. Lee looks at the stage and the buildings around him, most of which have taken some amount of damage.

"Do you see this stage, everyone? Do. You. See. This. Stage? Technically, it's broken...it has been damaged...these holes are proof of it...but it still stands. It still stands, everyone."

The crowd admires the stage's durability for but a second.

"Your buildings, while damaged, still stand, don't they?"

The crowd looks at the buildings around them, noticing that not a single one has completely fallen.

"Now look at yourselves. You are broken...damaged...and yet you still stand...If this stage can withstand the octarians and the buildings could withstand the octarians...why do you pretend that you cannot? Do you know what happens to things that become broken? I do...I know what happens. We are given 2 choices: We can toss it away and accept whatever new thing replaces it...or...or we can fix it."

Some inklings start to perk up, slightly. Their hopes were rising.

"When you break a table leg off of a table you cherish dearly, do you just replace it or do you attempt to fix it? I think you all can agree that you would try to fix it, yes? If a table leg is worth fixing...then so is Inkopolis. You all are understandably hurt. The pain you feel today won't feel any better tomorrow if you give up. We need to rebuild Inkopolis. We need to rebuild this stage...We need to rebuild you."

The inklings started to agree, now believing that Lee isn't just speaking nonsense.

"You inklings are the dominate race, in terms of numbers and numbers alone. You have built your lives from the bottom up. From the bottom. up! There is no reason you can't rebuild it from the middle up. The octarians are no longer a threat! We have fucking won! We beat them! We do not need to worry about enemies. The hardest part is over. All that there is left is to fix Inkopolis. Restore our city to its former glory. Anyone that has lost a loved one understands that their death doesn't grant uselessness. You know they would want us to fix their city."

Some inklings teared up and nodded their heads.

"Not one of us hasn't lost something during this fight. We have all made sacrifices. We must all continue to sacrifice if we ever want things to return to normal. It is up to us to fix what the octolings have ruined. Every able-bodied being is going to have to contribute, but soon enough, Inkopolis will return to what it once was. The present will soon be the past as the past will become our future, for we have to forget what troubles we have now and remember the troubles we have had. Our past must become our future if we ever want to prosper again."

The inklings halfheartedly yelled in agreement. Lee clears his throat.

"I bet you all like splatfests."

The crowd bursted into cheer.

"Alright, alright. Settle down. We all want splatfests back. We all want Turf War back. We want all the modes of play we've come to love back. We want the stores back and supplying our need for weapons, fresh clothes, shoes, and so on! Well, we can't have them back until we get our old Inkopolis back. Now, I bet that there isn't a single one of you that would argue all I have said. I have only spoken the truth, as I'm sure you realise. It's time to dry our tears, heal ourselves, pay our respects to our fallen, and bring our Inkopolis back to life!"

The inklings wholeheartedly cheered, whistling and raising their arms and tentacles in the air.

"It is time, inklings! Even though I don't have my powers, I will see to it that the octarian race never destroys this city like this ever again and I will do my part in rebuilding this city. So what are you gonna do?"

"Our part!" The inklings yelled.

"Who do we pay respect to?!" Lee asked.

"Our fallen!"

"What event are we bringing back?!"

"Splatfests!"

"What will we do?!"

"Fix our city!"

"And when are we gonna fix our city?!"

"Now!"

Coughing up blood, Lee yells, "Then let's start the fixing by extinguishing these damned fires!"

The inklings scattered excitedly, doing what they could to help. In mere hours, all fires had been put out and any inkling in danger was saved. Shelters were established and stores overrun with volunteers. Any debris was being taken care of as well as any octarian body still lying around. Inkopolis was ready for it's rebirth.


Lee is now laying down in a hospital bed. A nice, soft hospital bed. Vee, Callie, Marie, Leon, Sheldon, Spyke, Annie, and Sean crowded Lee's bed. Lee opens his eyes as everyone was staring down at him, smiling.

"Gah!" Lee screamed.

"You're finally up." Callie said.

"Ugh...How long was I out for this time?"

"Just two weeks. Probably shouldn't start moving about just yet." Sheldon answers.

"Yeah, mate. Best give yaself some shuteye." Spyke added in.

"I'll try to this time." Lee said.

"You did good, Lee. You did good." Marie said.

"We all did." Lee reminded.

"Yeah. We sure did, but we wouldn't have won without you." Sean said.

"Y-Yeah. You were...amazing." Annie shyly said.

"Meh. You weren't half-bad, kid." Moe said.

"We put our best foot forward afterall, Lee." Vee said.

"You gave us more than yourself...you gave us a chance." Leon said while a blindfold covered his eyes.

The blindfold contained something shining red, as evident from a dim red light piercing through the black blindfold. Lee stared at Leon, confused as to why he's wearing the blindfold.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Lee asks.

"Oh, uhh," Leon says as he fumbles with the blindfold, grabbing the part that covered his eyes and lifting it up, "Not exactly sure. But it's pretty cool."

Lee widens his blue and red eyes, awestruck as Leon's eyes were the same shade of red as Lee's once were. A mirror behind the group of Lee's friends showed that Lee's red eye was paler than before. Looking back at Leon's eyes, he noticed how bright and brilliant they were. Like flashlights halfway through it's battery, illuminating the room with a red light.

"...Let's worry about that later." Lee said.

Vee wraps her arms around Lee and says, "I'm just glad it's over and you're gonna be ok."

Lee holds Vee's hand and chuckles.

"Yeah...me too." He said.

Lee and Vee locked lips passionately, sensually and carefully. Their lips were respectful of each other, not pressing too hard or too soft.

"Me...too.."


"Well...I guess I'm ok with this ending...for now."

"But for how long, Rami?"

"Mordecai, now isn't the time."

"Lee failed, Rami. He failed. Octavio and Xavier are still out there, probably plotting on how to destroy our world."

"This is good enough. He'll just have to deal with them later on."

"But how?! His powers are gone."

"I'll give them back."

"You know good and well that you can't! Us gods can't abuse our powers like you have. You've tampered with Earth too many times. Giving those kids a sample of your powers, allowing a mortal to manipulate those powers to their selfish benefit, giving Lee those powers back...The council's not happy with you. They are giving you one more chance.."

"Those jackasses barely even care about their own universes. Why listen to them?"

"Abusing your powers is dangerous. It could come back to bite us in the butt. As gods, we maintain our universes, balancing the good and evil in them. Nothing more, nothing less. We cannot misuse our powers."

"All I'm doing is protecting my universe."

"Protecting...or making it worse?"

Rami groans.

"Don't you have a universe to watch over?"

Mordecai sighs and creates a portal to the dimension he cares for. He turns his back.

"I want the best for my old dimension, Rami. The best for my old world...and what it has become over the millennia."

Rami faces Mordecai, growling and baring his teeth.

"Then you should let me do what's best! You say you want the best for Earth, but you aren't acting like it!" He yells.

Mordecai starts walking toward the portal.

"And you are?" He asks, entering the portal.

Rami, enraged, destroys several planets in his universe.

"Shit...Control your temper, Rami...control your temper. Meh. Those planets weren't all that populated. Doubt the council would pick it up...Now...Just in case Xavier comes back, what can I do to stop him? Yeah...what...indeed.."

Peril rains from above

Seeking the ones we love

Safety is a rubber band

Stretched farther than it can withstand

Feet stomp the damaged ground

Yet some don't make a sound

Hell and Earth become one

Creation's now undone

So, tell yourself it's okay

While our world decays

Reality bent sideways

It doesn't matter anyways

No emotion, devoid of reason

No devotion and full of treason

Death-ridden, helpless people

Life forbidden with no sequel

No savior, no traitors

Weird behavior from burning neighbors

There's no dreams, not one desire

All in the City of Fire

The land that once was

At the mercy of what one does

Hopeful hopeless heathens

Knows only when it begins

The pain is searing

Screams we're hearing

Flee if you can

Death heeds to no man

Mistakes are made

Memories we'll cascade

"Give each other a hand"

You all still don't understand...

No emotion, devoid of reason

No devotion and full of treason

Death-ridden, helpless people

Life forbidden with no sequel

No savior, no traitors

Weird behavior from burning neighbors

There's no dreams, not one desire

All in the City of Fire...


All right. That's the end. An Inkling World is now completed. The sequel will begin sometime later this year, but until then, stay tuned for my next story. Good night.