SCENE III: IMPENDING

Chapter I: Affinity

"You can't outrun me, Kosh!" Whinter shouts from behind me as I desperately attempt to keep running from him but cursing myself for taking a path that had enemy ink on it. We lured me into a trap! Even though I spray a path through the enemy ink, all of my thoughts cease when his Roller catches my right foot and stall my progress long enough for him to roll over me with a roar of triumph. Before I explode into a puddle of dark blue ink, I smile grimly when I hear a Blaster spraying nearby. It's not just us, Whinter, despite what you think. My spirit floats above my body before rushing back towards the spawn point, my head shaking lightly to get the access ink off once I'm rebuilt.

"Nice plan but reckless, Kosh. Do any of your plans avoid your suicide?" Flurry gloats over the comm, a smile crossing my face at her snarky response. She's sounding more like the others each day. "It worked, didn't it? I knew he couldn't resist an easy target," I retort but already move as I switch off the comm on my headset. The sound of a Splat Charger from nearby causes me to jump behind a nearby wall as a reaction only to realize that Drosyn is engaging the out of position members of Team Splat Jam as planned, her weapon sounding twice with two popping sounds in the distance confirming the kills. "Confirmed splatting of Logan and Vadelma. Moving positions," she states into the comm, my head peeking around from behind the wall and looking for her. I groan to myself as I turn my holo on, chastising myself for recklessly using my eyes instead of the map display. She was prone on top of one of the towers...that's clever...

I shut down my map and will myself to calm down as I start to move out of cover cautiously back towards Flurry's position. The sound of an inkstrike takes me by surprise as it whistles through the air, my body lurching back behind the wall as I check my holo again. I frown slightly when I see the dark blue stain where Drosyn and Sheldon had been, both of their icons now crossed out. Zapfish. Marian was just waiting for them to reveal themselves. I try to move a few steps out of cover again before someone grabs my shoulders and pulls me back into it, a yelp of surprise escaping me before an E-liter spray splashes where I just was. "One minute left and you're distracted? Disappointing," Flurry voice gloats from above me as I crane my head upwards to look at her. She doesn't let me as she starts to rub my hair tentacles with a hand, my eyes starting to close momentarily from the sensation before I shake my head in protest with a snarl and growl in frustration. "You really can't do that when we're in a turf war. It's really distracting-"

"And I'll continue to do so anyway," she retorts gently as she rubs my hair tentacles briefly, a groan in frustration my response as I bring up the holo to check the map progress. "Let's see...most of the turf is theirs...one minute left...any ideas?" I say aloud while asking her, her response to turn me around. The smile on her face tells me everything I need to know and another sigh of frustration escapes me as I draw the Blaster on my hip. "Fine...we'll do this your way..." She nods and flicks her tentacles upwards, my body sailing over the top of the cover as the Blaster in my hand sprays to cover the top with ink to dive into. An E-liter shot whizzes past my face and I trail the trajectory of the shot, Logan lining up another before Flurry throws a Disruptor Bulb at him, the bulb hitting him in milliseconds as Flurry rushes him with her blaster.

I don't have time to see the outcome because Whinter and Vadelma burst out of nearby dark blue ink puddles with weapons raised that were also on top of the cover. We stayed still too long. They don't attack me immediately, instead using the time to cover the top area with ink to give me enough time to dive to the left when my feet touch the ground. The slide across the ink barely gets me out of the way of Vadelma's Luna Blaster spray when she does decide to attack me, the edge of the blast catching my right leg as I grit my teeth against the wound. My dive also brings me right into Whinter's path who's raising his Roller to flick ink at me with another grin of triumph. I really need to stop getting ambushed-

Before the ink flies of his Roller, a Sting Ray spray hits him square in the chest and causing him to explode into purple ink. The beam sweeps to try and catch Vadelma and I angle myself while sliding to aim my Blaster at her, loosing off a poorly aimed shot that she evades as she dives off the edge of the platform to avoid the high-pressure spray. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to stop my slide and the trajectory takes me off solid ground and into the open air. Thinking quickly, my head angles upwards towards the ground as I bring my Blaster up to spray ink at the concrete, instincts and training causing me to go inkling form while dodging to the left to avoid a line of ink thrown at me by Marian. I rise out of the ink and dodge backwards as she shouts at me in frustration. "How!? There's no way you could've known I was here!"

I throw myself to the side as she throws another spray of ink at me, smiling darkly as I see someone approach from behind her. Right where she needs to be. Before she can attack me with her Slosher again, Flurry's Blaster catches her from behind to explode her into a puddle of purple as Flurry lowers her weapon and walks towards me with a wide smile. "You do realize we lost, right?" she says while stepping over Marian's puddle, the holo on my headset activating at a thought to confirm her assessment with a sigh. We may have a higher splat count but turf is what wins turf wars... The ending whistle sounds moments later with Marina shouting from the loudspeakers. "Match over! Let's see how they did!" A snarl escapes my throat as I holster my Blaster and round on Flurry. "I told you it wouldn't work. Two blasters are too many."

"And I told you that it's non-negotiable. Or did you forget?" she retorts with a snarl, her hair tentacles rising threateningly as I feel my hair tentacles doing the same. Anger floods my system as I feel the urge to strike her. If I wasn't so attached to her, I'd- I throw the thoughts out of my mind with irritation, recognizing it as thoughts of the Kraken's rage as I exhale deeply to calm myself, forcefully lowering my hair tentacles to fall down my back again. In response, Flurry's hair tentacles surge forward and seize my body gently to bring me into her chest with a giggle, my face blushing at my closeness to her. "You didn't try to strike me that time. Your control is improving," she states as she starts to rub my head again, my eyes closing as I let myself calm further with a happy sigh. This is nice...

"Sister...if you keep doing that, we'll keep losing matches..." Drosyn says from behind me but I barely hear her as I move my hair tentacles and arms around Flurry who sighs happily as I return her embrace. "He doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he looks like he's enjoying himself-"

"I never really knew my mom..." I hear myself saying sadly, the mood shifting rapidly to sad as I continue. "It was Glag taking care of us...Scurry and I...but then he died...and it ended up being me alone..." Flurry's embrace tightens slightly as she sighs sadly, rubbing my head gently with a hand in understanding. "You aren't alone anymore...so many squids are with you now...and I know that we can't undo what's been done but...we can move on from it..."

"I don't think we can..." I say glumly before growling and shaking my head viciously to throw the thoughts out, angry at myself for having these emotions that I couldn't contain. These new emotions catch me off guard every time...being an octarian is hard... "Sorry about that-" I start to say but Flurry keeps gently rubbing my head, causing me to lose focus again as I start to feel sleepy. "It's OK...a years not a lot of time to learn how to be something else-"

"Kosh having another breakdown again?" Marian asks from behind Flurry who turns me around and turns us towards her, my head dropping slightly from sleepiness before Flurry shakes me to wakefulness. "It's getting better...but I can honestly say I feel...a lot more than before..." I state in embarrassment at allowing Flurry to put me to sleep again. Whinter walks forward with his Roller over his shoulder and interjects from Marian's right with a grin. "Yeah, no kidding. I've never seen you cry this much nor be this happy nor get so angry. It's like you aren't even the same squid from two years ago."

"Well...I'm mostly an octarian now..." I say while moving my hair tentacles off Flurry to show him my eight hair tentacles, my face grinning to reveal sharpened teeth. Suddenly, Flurry turns away from the group and I look up in confusion before she starts walking towards the spawn point, my mind finally remembering what else was happening today. "As fun as this is to talk about everything, we need to get moving now. The others are waiting for us and you know more than anyone that it isn't wise to upset them," Flurry states to me as I exhale in response and nod idly, removing my Hero Headset Replica from my head with a hair tentacle as she carries me away.

"I guess it's time to tell Inkopolis what I've been up to for a year..."

When we rise out of the spawn point in the Battle Lobby, Scurry, Maria and Callie are standing nearby in their kimonos with looks of frustration that grow worse when they spot us. "What took you guys so long!?" Scurry exclaims immediately with arms crossed, Marie and Callie showing similar expressions of irritation before Flurry answer for me. "Kosh was having difficulty controlling himself again...he started reminiscing about not knowing his mother..." she states gently and the expressions change from irritation to concern. I feel myself get irritated but throttle it down, knowing that Flurry is speaking the truth. I don't like this feeling of vulnerability... "I'm fine and we have somewhere to be. I've held us up long enough," I say casually but Scurry snorts at my brash statement and retorts. "You sure sound alright...I think Flurry is becoming a bad influence on you-"

We all share a brief laugh before Flurry sets me down gently and unlatches her hair tentacles from me, one of the tentacles pushing me forwards playfully as the other three rush forward to hug me tightly. I grunt in pain as Callie exerts too much force again and exhale for her to go easy on her grip, her grip loosening as she giggles sorry. Marie and Callie move to my left and right respectively, Scurry keeping her arms locked around my neck and rubbing her face against mine affectionately. "You spend so much time with Flurry now...when do we get a turn...?" she says in mock seriousness as I groan in frustration. "We spend every afternoon and night with each other...do you want me to spend every waking moment with you?"

"Well...if you don't mind-" she whispers before I push her cheek with mine with a grunt of irritation, her giggle followed by further rubs of my cheek with hers. "You're becoming so needy, Scurry. It worries me," I say gently but she responds by snorting and backing away from me with a wide grin. "If you didn't keep giving into my demands, maybe I wouldn't be."

"We're going to be late, friends. Move and talk," Marie orders, all of us turning towards the exit as a smile crosses my face. She's the Leader of Inkopolis now...I'm surprised she accepted that burden at all... Marie notices my gaze and waves to me gently, Callie jumping on my back with a yell of excitement and pointing over my shoulder to the exit. "Giddy up! We don't want to be late!" she shouts, my smile becoming a grin as I tell her to hold on as my hair tentacles wrap around her back to keep her on. I nod to the others as my body surges forward, my rapid footfalls being echoed as the others bob and weave with me through the crowds out of the Battle Lobby into the streets of Inkopolis.

I wonder what personal questions they'll ask me this time?

"It's Off The Hook, coming at you LIVE from Inkopolis Square!" Pearl states with a bright smile before continuing the broadcast, Marina moving the camera with her controls to encompass the seven of us sitting on the two couches. This all seems so familiar... "Today's show is another special broadcast!" Marina states excitedly as I try to keep smiling and subtly move Scurry's hand off my head. "With us again is the Cyan Kraken, Kosh, now also know as the Magenta Blur! Kosh, good to have you back on the news!" Marina states as I shrug in response with a smile. "It was only a matter of time before I ended up here again. It's never a dull moment for us-"

"Exactly!" Pearl exclaims, almost rising out of her seat before settling with a grin. "You now lead two teams of squids, though some say that team Magenta Splash is not as...skilled...as your main team, Cyan Kraken. Care to comment on that?" I look over at Flurry who gives me a smile and a nod before I turn back to answer Pearl. "We're still getting our team dynamics down and although the teams are similar, Flurry fights in a way that I don't yet understand nor can turf war with easily. It's gonna be a while before we can adapt to it-"

"Years, probably," Scurry interrupts while brushing my head playfully, my head shaking to throw off her hand again. They know I can't focus when they rub my head yet they still persist...that's not fresh at all... "Flurry is new to our group of friends and it'll take years minimum for us to adapt to her way of fighting and...being." Marina chuckles with a hand over her mouth before continuing. "Speaking of Flurry, there's plenty of questions for her as well. Would you mind we jump to them, Kosh?" she asks and I shrug and wave dismissively to indicate that I don't mind. Marina looks down to read the notes on her desk. "Now, where to begin-"

"It would be easier if I tell you the story from the beginning," Flurry states abruptly with a smile while Marina looks up from her notes in surprise at being interrupted. "Um...sure...we can do that..." she says timidly as she looks at Pearl for confirmation but only receives a shrug before she turns back. Flurry continues to smile as she puts a hand under her chin in contemplation. Try and leave out the more outlandish claims please- "To start, my full name is Flurry Jiai Octavio, granddaughter of Daigaku Jiai Octavio-" My hand immediately goes to my face at the bold claim and Pearl nearly leaps out of her seat at the statement before collecting herself. "You mean...DJ Octavio!?...like stole the Great Zapfish DJ Octavio!?" she blurts and Flurry's smile widens as she nods. Pearl asks a follow-up question soon after. "So...is being a military ruler a family tradition or something?"

"That wasn't by choice. My position in the octarian military meant that I had to become a ruler in time. Marina, are you familiar with this?" she states gently but everyone in the room can feel the tension rise as Pearl's head turns towards Marina. Marina fidgets slightly with her hair tentacles before answering. "I...do know this...but I haven't served in a long time-"

To everyone's surprise, Flurry rises slowly from her seat in a threatening manner and begins to cross the room slowly, eventually moving around the desk while Marina springs from her seat in surprise. My body tenses when I see Flurry snarl and square off with Marina, both of their sets of hair tentacles rising in challenge as they growl lowly at each other in a growing confrontation. Don't do anything rash, Flurry...not on live broadcast... The moment stretches for a good minute as everyone tenses, my body starting to sweat underneath my outfit before Flurry slowly lowers her hair and sighs sadly. "I understand why you went left...why you chose to forget about your heritage...and why you now live here in Inkopolis...I'm...I'm sorry for misunderstanding..." she says slowly as she extends her hand slowly forward to offer it to Marina. Marina takes the hand and shakes it immediately with a sad smile of her own. "And I'm also sorry...I shouldn't have abandoned my sisters when they needed me...and now...there's so few of us left..." she says as her head lowers, Flurry nodding in understanding as they share a sad handshake. No small amount of shame on our part...the Squidbeak Splatoon and even the Octarian Liberation Splatoon has had their fair share of splatting octolings...

"And that's why we need to stick together...now more than ever...it's time for us to move on..." Flurry states with growing confidence as she gently nods and turns to regard Drosyn and I. Marina follows her gaze and has the same look of apprehension as I look at Scurry who moves off my lap with a grin. To my right, Drosyn puts an awestruck Sheldon on the couch cushions and rises swiftly to move towards Flurry and Marina who are now moving to the centre of the room. I can't help but feel nervous as all eyes fall on me, my body rising slowly to join them. OK...just do this right and as we practised...

The four of us form a rough circle and I extend my outermost hair tentacles to hold the tentacles of those to my left and right, our combined hair tentacles forming a circle as one hair tentacle from each of us moves forward to form a plus in the centre. Flurry closes her eyes and we follow her example as she starts the moment. "May this be a new beginning for our kind, not forged in battle but forged in friendship. Let us forget the transgressions of the past and embrace a new future where we are gifted with new lives and new beginnings."

"Woomy..." I whisper in ending, the others repeating the line as our tentacles release and return to their positions on our backs. All of us move forward for a quick embrace with our arms and I'm reminded at that moment that I'm the shortest one there, the top of my head only reaching their chins. Height is not one of my gifts... I have to shake my head again in annoyance when Flurry tries to rub my chin with a hair tentacle and when I open my eyes, I see each of them with their eyes still closed but in tears. Thankfully, the tears are ones of joy instead of sadness. I've never seen Marina cry...this is a first.

The embrace lasts a few minutes before we finally release each other, hair tentacles wiping away tears as they give sad smiles to each other. Marina looks on the verge of a breakdown as she wipes her tears away. "I never...I never thought you'd just forgive me...thank you..." Marina stutters between sniffles before Flurry puts a hand on her shoulder gently and eventually hugs her again. "Don't thank me...someone else taught me how to love again..." she whispers and I can tell she means me, my face smiling as I blush in response to the sudden attention. Marina exhales a few times and wipes away more tears but doesn't release her hug. "We should get back to the news now," she says before gently trying to pull away, Flurry holding her for a few more seconds before allowing her to return to her seat.

Each of us nods to each other as we move back to our own seats, the other squids in the room surprised and confused at our display as we sit back down. We didn't actually tell anyone what all that was. Marina is quick to move on from the topic even though her emotions were still recovering. "Flurry...will you eventually try to lead the octarians again?" she asks with a minor tremor but Flurry laughs at her question, her laughter loud and sincere before she answers. "No, I'm certain I won't bother at all. I'm fine with there just being squids without the labels of octarian, inkling, jellyfish, or whatever else. Since Octaria is now in control of another group, I think it's time we make new traditions," she concludes as Marina smiles broadly in response and seems far more confident. "Is there anything else you'd like to add? We kinda...interrupted your story-"

"Since we decided on new beginnings, my story has become phenomenally shorter. The only thing you need to know now is that Kosh is my Kurippu Shokushu after we resolve the current conflict in Octaria." Marina moves from confidence to bewilderment while Pearl tilts her head in confusion at not understanding what was said. "OK, you'll have to explain that to me and the audience since I don't understand octarians and only a select few who are watching will understand." Pearl waits patiently for a few seconds but has to shake Marina by the shoulder slightly to break her bewilderment, Marina finally stating a response. "He's her husband...or equivalent...but that's...usually reserved for..."

Marina looks at me with growing apprehension as she slowly continues. "That's reserved for male octarians..." All eyes turn on me again and my head looks around in confusion and embarrassment as they wait for my response, my throat dry from all the attention. "I have already...shared ink with Flurry...and it...changed me into this..." I say slowly as I extend my eight hair tentacles and display my teeth for the hosts to see. Marina immediately blurts out a retort. "But that's not how that works! At most, it changes your ink colour or adds minor changes to your behaviour. It's not supposed to change you into an octarian!"

I look to my right at Sheldon, gesturing with a smile and a hand for him to continue as he readjusts his glasses and clears his throat. "That's true, Marina, but Kosh isn't a pure inkling by ink standards. I did some analysis of his ink samples before and after his change-" He's a researcher as well as an engineer. Why isn't he a doctor by now? "-his ink already has octarian genes in its strain but I didn't know what it was at the time. I assume that getting his ink mixed in with Flurry's activated the dormant parts of his genetics that I now recognize as octarian." He turns his head towards me with a wicked smile as he asks his next question. "Kosh, why don't you show them what else you can do?"

Scurry giggles to herself and moves off me again as I stand and slowly move to the middle of the room, embarrassed at being put on the spot but willing to try. "Well if you insist, Sheldon..." I say glumly while mentally preparing to show them, rolling my shoulders and shuffling my legs. It makes me uncomfortable when I do this. My eyes close as I concentrate, imagining the image of another squid and letting my body do the rest. With a smile, I open my eyes and do a twirl to my right with my arms outwards, my entire body shifting into a short inkling with pink hair tentacles as I move my right hand to my head to salute Pearl and Marina with a wide grin. I twirl to the left in a similar fashion and change into another inkling with long lime green hair tentacles and smile gently at them with my hand over my mouth in embarrassment.

Now fully in showmanship mode and with bewildered show hosts my audience, I flip backwards and morph into what I looked like before all the changes, two cyan hair tentacles going down my back as I look at our hosts with a tilted head, a smile and arms crossed. Just for added amusement, I flip forwards and shift one last time, turning to my right towards Sheldon who looks at me in shock and outrage at what I became. "Kosh! You said you wouldn't do that!" he blurts as I chuckle at him with his own voice, running a few circles around the middle while changing back to my normal appearance. With an exhale, I let my eight hair tentacles fall down my back and my normal height return to me, shaking my body and head slightly before moving to sit back down on the couch.

Smiles greet my performance except for Marina and Pearl who look at me in confusion. "Yeah...I'm...not sure about this either..." I state to them but Sheldon interjects with his analysis. "His shape-shifting is part of a rare genetic trait known as the Kraken gene. After some research, I learned that only one in every million squids born has the chance to have it and the gene is mostly a recessive trait. Kosh, Flurry, and Drosyn are the only squids I know who have it in pairs." This time, Pearl does leap out of her seat, standing up swiftly and knocking over her chair with her hands on the desk. "Wait, the Kraken gene!? That's not real, is it!? I mean, this is some kind of elaborate joke! A squid that can change into a Kraken at will doesn't exist! It's just a fairy tale!"

Marie gently rises from her seat on my right and pulls me gently out of my seat by the hand, Scurry once again sliding off my lap with a grin while I get up. Mid-walk, I let my arms and hair extend into longer tentacles and wrap them around Marie gently from behind as I put my head over her shoulder, smiling with my sharpened teeth and a feral grin of excitement as Marie's hand rubs my head and responds with a playful challenge.

"I think they're real...don't you?"