Authors Note: Before you begin reading this epilogue, the last chapter of the Special Squid Services. I want to say some things. First of all, I never ever planned to make this a daily update type of story, I was inspired to start this story by TheLuckyMiltank, And Tehreign I owe a lot, for introducing me to a great chat of authors that also helped me a lot, I'm glad to know them all. When I started writing I just couldn't stop. So after I had 4 chapters the day after the first chapter was posted. And I am glad I did, I made sure this story always was updated once a day. Even when I was in the hospital.

I'd like to thank The-Irish-Clover of Deviantart, for helping me proofread. I'd like to thank WarioSuperstar for all his constructive criticism, ever since I started this fic he's been giving me more and more criticism, to help me improve. Which I am grateful for, it helps me improve. And I doubt I'd of fixed half of my mistakes without him. I was happy when writing this story, I poured my enthusiasm into it. I love Splatoon so much, the world the possibilities it gives so many ideas to expand upon. Which I tried my best to do here, I wanted to make every character memorable, whether they be minor or major. Did I succeed at that? I don't know, will I make a sequel to this fic? Definitely, but not anytime soon. Will my next story be a splatoon fic? You bet, I already have part of that written. My enthusiasm, my passion for writing. I thank you all for reading this story, and following it. I hope you all have a good day, and take care. Sorry for the long Authors Note.

Another two months had passed as fast as they had come. The streets of Inkopolis were nearly all coated with leaves that had fallen from their branches. The season of autumn had begun to take its effect, not that it detoured any of the inklings or octolings at all. One figure in particular was walking through the streets. She was wearing a scarf around her neck with a green wool cap around her head, and she was wearing a white shirt under her coat and sweatpants. The older squid was smiling, looking around to see all the various aged squids and octopi enjoying the bundles of leaves. It was a nice sight to see. The two cities had started to get along quite well. She was heading for a certain club after passing around the corner on Mudskipper Street the woman saw a bright flashing sign and a lot of people trying to get into the club.

"Pardon me," she made her way through the crowd. The two front door guards stopped her.

"Back in the line, lady," they ordered. She rummaged around her coat pocket and pulled out a golden sand dollar that used to signify membership of the club.

"Oh… uhh, sorry, ma'am. Didn't realize you were MVP. Welcome to Sand Heights," the guard stepped aside. She pocketed the golden item before continuing inside. The club had a different atmosphere to it. Now things were slightly darker in tone. There was the sound of smooth jazz playing through the air, and the place seemed packed. The club had decided to no longer be as private and shady as before and change it to where the people who wielded the golden sand dollars just took priority in lines for Sand Heights, instead of being the exclusive members. Now anyone could get inside.

The woman focused on one table in particular, which seated Rose, Auburn and Cobalt. All three of them appeared to just be trying to unwind after a long set of turf wars earlier. They were all enjoying some spaghetti and drinks the club had really kicked it up a lot in terms of service

"Excuse me. You're the manager correct?" the older squid requested, gaining all three of their attentions. The woman looked like she was at least fifty years old. The club owner raised an eyebrow, swallowing her mouthful of food.

"Go ahead, ya guys. I'll deal with the old broad," Rose insisted her friends go on without her. They were going to when the woman spoke up.

"I'd prefer to speak to all three of you. I'd also prefer if you just called me broad," she stated. The trio did not seem to have any problems with this. They weren't in the mood to stop eating midway. However, Auburn and Rose seemed to be the only two who were taking this seriously, like a health inspector had just kicked in the door to raid the place.

"So what is it you need to talk to us about?" the pink squid requested her to go on, glad to perk up her ears.

"You're all members for Special Squid Services, right?" she asked the first of a few questions.

"Heh, yeah! I'm Agent 8 now," Cobalt smiled, those big sharp teeth of his not seeming to care how full his mouth was. The older inkling gained a small smile herself from seeing him like this.

"I'm Agent 9," Auburn added.

"And I'm 10. Can ya get on with what you need us to help ya with?" Rose stated, presuming that she was here to request help personally instead of over the website. The Special Squid Services had grown in numbers and had accumulated a grand lot of new agents, all of who so far had happily started doing their jobs with no complaints, aside from when things went crazy, then there were nothing but complaints.

"It's nice to meet you. Can you tell me how the service has helped you?" she requested. That question confused them, wondering why this old woman wanted to know more about the Special Squid Services' progress. Rose was about to call for security, but Auburn motioned her friend to relax, aware of how uncomfortable the club manager got when being interrogated.

"Oh! My brother was missing and I requested help. Before I know it, Agent 3 was over and had promised everything would be fine. Later that night, he showed right back up with my brother," Auburn explained. She hated to lie to an elder, even if her friend and sibling did not exactly share the same demeanor on the matter of respecting elders. Cobalt was stuffing his mouth and the other was tapping her fingers along the table, paranoid.

"Yeah. She blackmailed me for free labour," Cobalt pointed to Rose without hesitation to remind her of the events back then.

"He-hey! We made amends, ya dork! But yeah… after Agent 3 beat some sense into me… I'unno, after what that yellow squid did to me, I had to track these two down to apologize, and we wound up being friends. Now they're partial owners to the club as well," Rose finished explaining. After all of this, now they were all proud agents, glad to help out others whenever they could.

"I see…" the elder stood up from the table.

"Hope we were of help," the light blue boy said with a smile.

"You were young ones. That smile of yours reminds me of my son's. I hope you have a good day," the old woman bid them goodbye after stating the memory of her son. She began to leave the club, letting Agents 8, 9 and 10 go back to their meals.

"Sheesh… what was that about? Was she a cop?" Rose muttered in worry.

"Hey, it's not like you've got anything illegal going on here anymore… do you?" Auburn quirked an eyebrow to the nervous club owner.

"Haha! Ahh… I'm glad to have you two in my life," Cobalt happily spoke up, finding the scene very funny to him, though he doubted Rose would ever be able to give up committing at least minor crimes, as long as no one got hurt. They really had little care for it, or at least the blue inkling did. His sister, on the other hand, not so much.

The old woman had taken two hours to head to another part of Inkopolis a part that could really only be referred to as a rough part of the city, mostly because a lot of potential in the land there got taken out fast and changed into prisons to hold criminals. No city was without its flaws, and the Great Barrier Reef Prison was probably the biggest one of the bunch. She went through the check points within.

"Alright, just step through the scanner. You have an appointment for who you're visiting?" the security guard working there asked as she was letting the scan go on to make sure there were no weapons on her.

"Yes, I'm visiting Arylide," she responded. He scribbled down a few writings on his clipboard as the scanner gave the indication that she was clean.

"Alright, ma'am. You got thirty minutes. We'll have him there in a second," he pointed her ahead to the visitor's area for the prison.

"Thank you," she then headed toward there, seeing the usual set up for this prison, which was about five Plexiglas windows set up with phones on the sides. She approached and took a seat, waiting patiently. It only took around a minute before the familiar Arylide appeared, wearing a blank white prison jumpsuit. He approached, taking his own seat and pulling the phone off the wall, while she did the same.

"Well, I didn't expect to get any visits from you. Are you here to pay my bail? You're about a month late for my trial," Arylide spoke in his snarky tone, seeing her shake her head, not taking this as fun of a visit as he was seeing it.

"This is the last time I'm going to be near this prison. It might be my last trip through Inkopolis, as well," she said, before delivering a menacing glare.

"You murdered a child. That's unforgivable, you angler," she stated. Agent 3's father chuckled.

"I've already been given two life sentences. Now you decided to come here to give me a scolding, too?" Arylide requested her to get to the point. He saw her tap the glass. That gaze of hers was piercing him quite immensely.

"Tell me your real sentence. I know you didn't even get one life sentence," she spoke. He rolled his eyes, giving in.

"Fine, I'll talk. I'm going to be given a lethal injection in two months. They believe my murder was very premeditated. Not having any of my family in court to act as character witnesses helped nothing either," Arylide explained that he did not have much longer to live. These white jumpsuits were given to the prisoners on death row.

"I was at your trial. I'd say I'm sorry for you, but you've had this coming for a while. Is there anything you want to say to me before I go? Or do you at least have any regrets?" the older girl requested, letting him think deeply on this. Arylide had come to terms with his inevitable fate, if he had to pick between life behind bars or death, he would gladly choose the life behind bars. Sadly that option wasn't up to his choice. Trials in Inkopolis only lasted for three days since they had to be processed fast.

"Yeah. I got a big regret, for how long I stayed married," Arylide said. She put the phone back on the receiver and got up from her chair, taking in a deep breath to calm herself.

"I regret that, too…" she nodded before beginning to walk away. She had only spent twelve minutes in there at most, and now Arylide was stuck awkwardly in the room, waiting for the time to pass so he could go back to his cell.

The old squid had left the Great Barrier Reef prison, and then she had taken a bus all the way to Inkopolis plaza, where she was noticing that the plaza was booming as usual today with a lot of squids and octopi who were ready to play in any turf war available, or just to hang out in general. Her focus was on the new shop that was recently set up alongside the rest of the Booyah Base. It was named 'Pawn Planners', a title that indicated a chess theme going on. The elder squid approached the store, caring little that the front door had a 'closed' sign on it, since the door was unlocked. She made her way inside.

"Nooo! You put it in the wrong place!" one voice whined.

"So-sorry! Sorry! I'll get it out!" another panicked voice exclaimed. The elder squid hoped she had not walked into an odd situation. The inside of the store was quite small, but there were a good few amiibo stocked as well for sale to both octolings and inklings. There were various miniature models of turf war locations, too. This was a store made to sell strategic plans or to let people come in and play with their amiibo to set up plans for upcoming turf wars. On the window, there was a poster reading 'Supported by the Special Squid Services'. It seemed that they were a popular enough group now to help advertise.

"Hello?" the elder squid called out, only to hear the sound of tools clattering.

"Grah! I can't even take a nap without you two breaking everything!" another angry voice spoke before she saw the door behind the counter fly open, and two figures quickly fell out and onto the ground, before out stomped a familiar octoling.

"Oh. Uh… sorry, we're closed right now," it was Octoronia, and she looked very tired. She approached the counter, the elder squid approaching instead of turning away.

"I came to talk about the Special Squid Services," she stated. Octoronia smiled. And out sprung up her sister, ECO, and the medicine maker Amaranth from beside her. They were the two who had gotten tossed out of the back after that racket of noise.

"A mission? With pleasure!" ECO gladly allowed the elder in, despite the closing hours, her emotional cortex glowing bright green in enthusiasm.

"My, you're a feisty one," the elder squid smiled, glad to have some good reliable youth.

"But we had work to do…" Amaranth sighed, seeming disappointed. He wanted to work with the pair of octarians more right now than do a mission.

"Don't worry. I'm only here to talk for a moment," the elder reassured that they could go back to whatever they were doing after she was done.

"So are you all agents?" she popped the first question. All three nodded.

"Yes! I'm Agent 4, Octoronia, and this is my sister, ECO," Octoronia introduced the two of them, her mechanical sibling bowing slightly to the elder.

"Agent 5. It's nice to meet you," the metallic octoling hummed.

"I'm Amaranth, Agent 11. What do you need to talk to us about?" Amaranth requested. The three were all ears to the elder. She was glad to have some nice people to talk to for once who actively welcomed her.

"I want to know how the Special Squid Services helped you all," she requested the same thing that she asked from Agents 8, 9 and 10. The trio looked to each other unsure where to begin they had done so much with the Special Squid Services more than they had done for them.

"Well… I met one of their agents through the founder of the website, when my sister was kidnapped… or robotnapped. Agent 3 had no care about the odds or how many were against us. He just needed a weapon in his hand and he was ready to go," Octoronia explained how Maize had helped her. This elder was specifically looking for information on him, and only him it appeared.

"Yeah, and after I was saved, he offered us to become agents, and we gladly accepted. However, we've all been through a lot," ECO continued for her sister, letting the light pink squid boy beside them go next.

"I couldn't go a day without my pain medication. When my boss was taken to jail, I thought I was finished, but that yellow squid promised me that things would be fine. So I made sure they would be and made my own little variation of the medicine. Now I'm looking to be a billionaire by the end of the year," Amaranth explained. He had become a rich man now that he had created an efficient pain killer. The scar on his arm from part of his muscle being cut out no longer brought him any discomfort.

"And together, we're working on something great!" ECO added before Agent 11 went back toward the door.

"Hey, Taupe! You can come out! You don't have to be shy!" Amaranth called out. The elder squid quirked an eyebrow, but was happy to hear how they were doing so far. She saw an odd sight, the grey inkling coming from the back room. It was, indeed, Taupe, the leader of the defeated cultists. However, his head stubs now had new bionic tentacles attached.

"Oh my… you've certainly suffered a lot, I see," the older woman commented.

"…I… did…" Taupe nodded, showing a smile. He had sharp teeth once again, though they seemed made out of another material instead like dentures.

"I got a lot of people hurt. I was willing to punish myself after what I've done, so I became the guinea pig for them to test, so we can help make things right. I promised I would, after all," Taupe chuckled, shaking his head. Maize had really gotten to him after their fateful encounter.

"We made mechanical tentacles for those missing the most important limbs to any squid or octopi!" ECO happily chimed.

"And with these dentures made with Tentatek material, we're helping replace the teeth they let be taken out," Octoronia added, pointing Taupe out like he was a living skeleton, but this was what Taupe believed he deserved. Back in court, none of the cultists received punishment. They were all able to get out with only fines, because they pleaded insanity, and no one doubted them for a second when they heard they had their tentacles cut off, all but Taupe himself.

"I was looking to get a life sentence, but Agent 3 acted as my character witness and attested to my change of heart and mind, and got me the insanity plea," Taupe explained. With his defeat and reformation aside, the grey squid was out to help others as well and fix the damage he had caused.

"So you're Agent 12?" the elder squid giggled. He seemed a little embarrassed at that comment, but he nodded.

"Sure… I'm Taupe Lackey Blomgrum. Agent 12, though I do not go on missions as often as other agents," Taupe spoke his full name.

"Wait… your last name's Blomgrum?" ECO chirped.

"Isn't that an expensive lamp?" Octoronia added to her sister's confusion. Amaranth was more focused on the metal tentacles to make sure they were working right. The four of them were putting their heads together to help repair any damage that Taupe had caused, and also help improve technology and medicine if they could. The elder inkling just happily shook her head before leaving, letting the group of four friends go back to their work.

The older squid had made her way up the steps of Inkopolis plaza, heading for the studio. When she got to the entrance, there were two others who were bickering with the security guard of the front door.

"I've been here for five years. I'm not falling for whatever ya say until you gimme your ID," the guard stated.

"Now look here! This is my fiancé you're insulting! She is the CEO of Tentatek!" Onyx roared, an annoyed Aero standing beside him. She had forgotten her wallet, and thus her identification and proof of her position of power were missing. They were here to talk to the owner of the media station about camera prices and other topics related, but this guard was too stubborn.

"Pardon me. You two are members of the Special Squid Services, correct?" the old squid spoke up, breaking into the fight. The three looked at her, the door guard relieved.

"I'm Aero, CEO of Tentatek Corporation. And this is the best bodyguard alive, Onyx. We're Agents 13 and 14," Aero introduced them both. Ever since they had become agents, things had been a lot more relaxing, now that they were able to take breaks from the stress of their jobs respectively. If anything, now that they were the Special Squid Services' biggest investors and supporters, they had gotten so much more business. Oddly enough, the Tentatek Corporation's future was looking quite bright.

"Do you have a mission for us?" Onyx quirked, liking the idea of getting away from this aggravating door guard. The elder squid shook her head.

"I'm just curious to know how the Special Squid Services has affected your lives…" she stated the same thing she wanted to know from every agent she knew and could find. The light blue inkling seemed more than happy to answer, loosening the tie of her business suit.

"Well, it's kind of a long story… I was married to the very agent who helped change our lives. He never was happy in the open marriage we had back then, so I divorced him to make him happy. He helped save me when I was held captive by a lunatic trying to ruin a splatfest and our company reputation," Aero elaborated.

"The way he fought just filled me with inspiration. I needed to be a stronger person for Aero. If it hadn't been for him and the other agents, we'd be out of jobs. We also are engaged now!" Onyx added, explaining how Maize had inspired him so much. The older inkling was happy to hear to hear both of their experiences.

"Thank you for your time. Do you think I could get inside?" she requested from the door guard, seeing him shake his head.

"Lady, I won't even let these two fakers inside! Why would I let you in? Can you three just go? Ya're just making my job more annoying," the guard requested. He was at least trying to be polite about the whole situation. The old squid sighed.

"Onyx, did you know that a good straight hit to the chin has a high chance of instantly knocking someone out?" the elder spoke to the black inkling.

"…don't mind if I do," Onyx gained a devious grin across his face. The door guard gulped, and just like that, one strong punch knocked him out cold on, bringing him to the ground.

"Thank you!" Aero let out a sigh of relief, the three heading inside. Once they got inside, Aero and Onyx were off to hurry to their meeting. The elder was happy to be of help. She began her walk down the halls, approaching the door to the Squid Sisters' news room.

"I do hope I'm not going to be a bother… but sometimes, choices are lacking," she muttered before grabbing the door handle and pulling it open. Inside, she noticed a rather live audience today. Aureolin and Basil were sitting off to the side, happily watching the news report.

"And uhh… err… stay fresh?" Callie confusedly spoke with two cameras rolling on her and her cousin. Marie let out a huff of frustration.

"Alright, cut! You two messed up the teleprompter again…" Marie exclaimed for the cameras to be stopped. Sadly, without the teleprompter, the black inkling lost all ability to talk, and her stage fright would then take over due to not having anything to focus on. Thankfully, this was a recording session for later updates in the day and not live on air.

"Well sorry, ma'am. It's hard to work with manacles binding my wrists," a familiar voice spoke up. Behind camera one was Cornell, the familiar inkling in handcuffs. He no longer had a trench coat, but a regular sweater. He was looking quite annoyed at his new job.

"To be fair, it might have also been my incompetence that messed it up, too," Mauve added from behind camera two. They had become the new camera crew for the Squid Sisters' studio. Basil and Aureolin wanted to make sure a heated argument didn't break out.

"Umm, guys, there's a visitor," Basil spoke up from beside his girlfriend on the small sofa, they had been offered to watch their performance. The old squid saw the Squid Sisters step out from the wall they normally stood at.

"Oh, welcome. How can we help you?" Marie welcomed the elder inkling. However, Callie seemed more surprised to see the face of this elder. It looked all too familiar to someone they knew, and her white tentacled cousin was picking up on the same train of thought.

"You're all members of the Special Squid Services, correct?" she asked that same question once more. Cornell raised one of his handcuffed hands.

"Not me. I'm only here under the new prison work program. I get to do work daily, but I have to go back to the prison at night," Cornell answered. At least he was able to work to help reduce his personal jail sentence on the grounds of good behavior, which was not as long as he anticipated it to be. Cornell only received eight months of jail time for the assault on the splatfest. Needless to say, everyone was stunned originally when they found out about the sentencing.

"Yeah! We're Agents 1 and 2," Callie happily answered, letting the elder take a seat at the table that she and her cousin normally sat at for breaks. The black inkling got a spare chair from nearby and brought it over, Marie taking a seat as well.

"I'm Agent 15, Mauve," Mauve introduced himself.

"Agent 16 is me," Basil chuckled.

"I somehow got stuck with Agent 17," Aureolin sighed, wishing she had gotten a lower number. For some odd reason, the number 17 bugged her, but she was happy to be an agent with her boyfriend. Cornell went off to attend to his own matters and repair the teleprompter.

"So… what are you doing here, Apricot?" Marie immediately popped the one question. This was definitely Maize and Fallow's mother who had been going around interrogating each agent, all for some peculiar reason. Marie had seen pictures containing Apricot, and Maize had told his girlfriend all about his mother over a date.

"Please. It's for personal reasons. Can you tell me how my son has helped you all?" the yellow elder requested. Marie seemed particularly embarrassed a bit to recall that.

"Well, he helped save my sleep schedule, though I've been fired three times since. Working as a cameraman for the Squid Sisters is the first job I've ever had outside of construction," Mauve exclaimed. It seemed like no matter where he went to work, his luck was poor, and one thing after another happened. It was like the cursed Hammerhead Bridge had placed a bad luck curse on him that vowed to follow him for the rest of his days. However, the purple inkling was glad to be working for the Squid Sisters. They were a lot more merciful than any of his previous bosses. The purple squid then went to help Cornell.

"There are so many things Maize has done for us. Heck, it's impossible to recall every one of them. The three of us fought an army together and saved Inkopolis without anyone knowing… the second time we saved Inkopolis was acknowledge by everyone. But I think the biggest thing Maize has done for me is give me my son," Callie explained. She had no regrets for the adoption, and she knew that she never will. Bondi was at home with Judd as the squishie's babysitter. Basil and Aureolin seemed a bit upset at the reminder of their son, but they still knew that he was in good hands.

"Yeah I messed up a lot and ruined my entire family… he had to beat a lot of sense into me" Basil added, looking to his yellow tentacled girlfriend who nodded.

"I had Maize promise me that he'd find Bondi a caring loving family. He fulfilled it, and because of him, our relationship is repaired. We owe him so much. That's why we became members for the Special Squid Service," Aureolin continued for her boyfriend, aware that he was still having trouble coping with the guilt for all he had done. Maize's mother seemed happy to know her son was able to help out so much. She looked to Marie, who seemed to be in a similar position as her cousin. Once again they synced up too well.

"Err… well, rescuing our grandfather and somehow changing so many people's hearts… it still astonishes us a lot… and how he saved the entire Cars vs Planes splatfest from Cornell… he helped restore my spirits as well, and we started dating a couple of months ago," Marie explained the best she could think up of the key moments that had all popped up in her head, but once again, Maize had such a list of things he had done for the two of them.

"And you're pregnant… right?" Apricot guessed. All eyes in the room fell on Marie as she gained that nervous grin.

"He promised to help me have a squishie if I wanted one after a month of deciding. I'm only a month and a half along in the pregnancy," Marie nodded. She was indeed pregnant with Maize and her squishie. Mauve clapped in congratulations. However the atmosphere in the room was too awkward aside from Cornell who was just focusing on his work.

"Wo-wow! Marie! That's great! You decided to go through with the in vitro fertilization?" Callie said in glee after processing the news. She was quite happy to hear that she was going to be an aunt as well.

"Ah, jeez… and I thought Maize made things awkward…" Marie muttered, rolling her eyes, looking embarrassed. Apricot however seemed to show the same smile, glad to know she was going to be a grandmother.

"But no, we didn't go through with the in vitro. I convinced him that we should do it more… naturally, so to speak… needless to say, he was flustered, worked up, embarrassed and awkward, however else would describe him. But we got it done," Marie explained, and just like that, the awkwardness was back for more. Maize was fully aware he was going to be a father. However the two were planning to not tell anyone for a couple of months, mostly out of fear of Captain Cuttlefish's reaction.

"He's really that bad in bed?" Basil quirked, only to get punched in the back of the head by his girlfriend for even imagining that scene. They watched Apricot stand up, not losing that same smile her son always had when he was happy.

"Well, congratulations. I hope you two have a good future. Maize is the first person in the Dagenhart family tree to fulfill his decision to the tradition... I need to go I have one more stop to make before I leave Inkopolis," Apricot explained. Everyone in the Dagenhart family tree were raised, believing that trying was everything. No one ever had successfully changed the world like Maize had done, which was just to bring two races to peace, but it was still great. Before Maize's mother could get out the door, Marie spoke up.

"He-hey, wait! How'd you know I was pregnant, anyway?" Agent 2 had to ask. She had no real signs of her pregnancy yet, not even food cravings, and she had not yet put on any real noticeable weight. Apricot winked to her.

"You had a radiance about you. After all, I've raised 4 children and birthed three of them. It's just easy to tell after it all," Apricot explained. She had one more thing to say before she took leave.

"Please don't tell Maize I was here. I don't want him to try searching for me," the yellow elder inkling requested to not let her son be informed of her presence in Inkopolis.

"Why not? Maize misses you a lot," Callie requested an answer, wanting to know one reason why they shouldn't tell Maize the truth. His mother was working quite elusively for one reason or another. This seemed to strike an emotional nerve for his mother.

"…Inkopolis and Mollusk Metropolis may have peace, but outside of them, there are still many problems that are occurring… I hope to be of help to those in need while I still can be, and I do not want my son to worry just about me so horribly. I prefer him to keep me in his heart, than in his mind," Apricot explained. Aureolin, Basil, Mauve and Cornell knew they were not going to remotely get out of this room until they agreed to keep quiet by some insane threat by the Squid Sisters. Callie and Marie understood, watching Apricot close the door behind her as she headed off to leave the studio.

"Wait… did she say she had… four children?" Callie looked to her cousin. The white inkling was just as shocked by this. It seemed Maize and Fallow had more family than they were aware of, and maybe they will never know about it. Any chance they had to inquire with his mother was now gone.

At another part of Inkopolis, Maize's brand new splatterscope dangled from his shoulder as he walked through one big building. His one tentacle also dangled off to the side of his head carelessly. He lost care for keeping his hair in a good state. A green and purple sweater was firmly coated around him. He entered through the front doors, to see a rather empty room. There were a few sets of doors ahead.

"Oi, Maize," a familiar scratchy voice rung out. He saw Umber nearby with his ink brush on his back.

"Hey there, Agent 19," Maize greeted as the two began to walk together, heading through the second door from the left. It was a long hallway that was full of pieces of art that looked to be poorly kept maintained.

"I have a name, y'know," Umber reminded, chuckling. He had become an agent shortly after everything that had occurred.

"Sorry. Guess I'm just excited to know how big the Special Squid Services is growing," Agent 3 apologized as they entered through the door. He had recruited Umber to be a trainer, one of the few he had to hire for the jobs he needed for each role. They entered through the door at the end of the hall, arriving to something of a large gym, where inklings and octolings were seen exercising.

"Yo, bro!" Fallow's voice chimed. They saw her hopping toward them, seeming blissful while wearing a whistle around her neck.

"Hey, Fallow. How's the usual regiment going for them?" Maize asked.

"It's really jive! Also today, we got another five members. With all of them, and you'll clearly know how, we may have over sixty agents now!" she exclaimed. They had recruited so many agents these last few months, all of who were learning every day how to improve their skills or basic combat, or even how to handle any situation that may arise, considering calm ones were not that rare now.

"That's great, sis! Me and Umber are gonna go see how the cap'n and Octavio are doing," Maize told her. His sister nodded before blowing loudly into her whistle at the group of drained and sweaty agents.

"I saw some of you slacking! No backing out now! Fifty push ups!" Fallow ordered in rhyme, hearing some dismayed groans of the training agents. Basic exercise was a lot more draining than any of them expected it to be. Agent 6 was more than glad to play drill sergeant to them. Maize and Umber continued through into the next room.

"Ah, this is my place," Umber chuckled. In this room, not four, but tons of walls were set up. There were three mini turf war arenas set up, and within there appeared to be a training spot for weapons, specifically from sloshers to splatling guns, to chargers and rollers. Here they saw more inklings and octolings, but instead they were being trained on how to be used effectively.

"Glad you two showed up as late as usual," they heard, seeing Fulvous nearby. She was working with the splatling gun agents, and a lot of them looked like they were having enough trouble lifting the heavy weapons alone.

"Ey, don't go looking at me. I had to wait on'im. I better go meet up with my students," Umber wandered off toward the ink brush wielding rollers, which were his personal students. Whatever weapon they picked decided what teacher they then received for said weapon. The exercise was required, though the agents rotated separately throughout the day, about who was exercising and who was training, and the current group handling missions at the time.

"Where have you been?" Fulvous asked. Maize chuckled. He was the trainer for chargers, which had a huge target range set up to handle targets from all sizes and heights for hard training.

"Calm down, Fulvous. You know the first key to being a charger is being patient and calm… or at least that's my excuse," the yellow inkling responded, very cheerful today. Agent 7 sighed, rubbing her head.

"Yeah, your students will buy that. Captain Cuttlefish wants to see you," Fulvous pointed him to up ahead, where the hand to hand inklings and octarians were training.

"Thanks. You take care," Maize told Fulvous before splitting off, letting her get back to the agents training with splatling guns, noticing one of the new agents who had accidentally dropped his splatling gun and dented it.

"Hey! You've gotta treat your weapons like they're your family! Don't forget that! I should know I lost Sasha and Natascha!" Fulvous exclaimed. Her weapons had been broken months ago during the showdown with the Abraliopsis Morisii, and now she had to settle with new weapons.

Maize approached the hand to hand training area, where more inklings and octolings were practicing different styles of combat on each other. Captain Cuttlefish and DJ Octavio were overseeing this. The two of them were having troubles agreeing on how to train the agents, but it was working out.

"Oh! Hey there, squiddo!" Captain Cuttlefish greeted, Maize all too happy to see him.

"Greetings," Octavio welcomed Agent 3. They had gotten along together a lot better ever since they had saved the two cities.

"I was told you needed to see me?" Maize asked, wondering if something was wrong with some of their agents. Of course there were some problems that needed overseeing, which usually the two elders could handle.

"Yeah. We've got two promising agents on our hands. Their first mission went horribly off the rails, but still they pulled it through," Captain Cuttlefish explained before whistling, stopping all of the practicing students.

"Turquoise! Octotyne!" DJ Octavio called for them. They saw two young ones approach, both barely looking to be fifteen years old. One was a light blue inkling with his tentacles tied up behind his head, wearing a pink shirt that had an odd yellow star on it. He had an eye patch on his left eye and an odd scar on his cheek below the eye. Beside him stood an octoling in a red coat, his tentacles done up into an odd style on the side of his head that looked like a side Mohawk.

"Yes sir?" they both said, bowing to them. It was DJ Octavio's teachings that had made the agents training do that bow, to show respect to the ones teaching them.

"This is Agent 3," Captain Cuttlefish introduced them. The two kids looked awestruck to see one of the many heroes of the city, but Maize was also an inspirational squid who made all other agents aim to do their best and help everyone they could, no matter what it took.

"It's nice to meet you, Turquoise and Octotyne," Maize smiled shaking their hands. They seemed like the youngest agents in this entire building.

"Wo-wow!" Turquoise stuttered, astonished, so much that he had almost gone numb.

"You are so cool…" Octotyne added in awe.

"Do you mind if I asked what happened to you, little guy?" Maize requested to Turquoise about how he wound up needing an eye patch. The light blue squid scratched his head before grabbing the octoling's hand in his for reassurance.

"A-about that… …a few years ago… Dad fo-found out about my secret boyfriend and decided to take a-a heated up knife to my face…" Turquoise honestly answered Maize felt horrible to know that had happened to a squid before they were even a fully developed inkling

"He's got life though… wh-when we saw the advertisements to join the Special Squid Services academy, we wanted to join immediately!" Octotyne exclaimed. DJ Octavio chuckled, Captain Cuttlefish finding it admirable to know that they had turned a past of pain into a hope to help make others' lives better.

"Heh. You two are pretty crisp and fresh," Maize claimed, saluting them. They saluted back in awe.

"We-we're Agents 39 and 40. We'll do our best!" they said in unison. The young boys' relationship made them sync up as well as the Squid Sisters did, which was quite eerie. Captain Cuttlefish heard his cellphone begin ringing an odd ring tone one. He seemed a bit confused to hear.

"You squiddies show Agent 3 here your new moves. I'll be back in a minute," the elderly inkling requested, grabbing his cane before beginning to walk away. Maize was glad to take over for the captain and let the young agents show their best to him.

"I didn't think you'd return my call, after ya ignored the last one when I needed ya," Captain Cuttlefish spoke while walking through a side door on the left that seemed to lead toward outside.

"I did! I informed Fallow anonymously that everyone was in grave danger, and then she went and saved you all!" Apricot responded over the phone. Cuttlefish was referring to the time when Taupe and his cultists first attacked him and DJ Octavio ages ago. He had tried to ring up Maize's mother to request for help. Sadly, there was not one answer, which led him to ditch his phone on the table before Taupe captured them. Apricot had anonymously contacted her adoptive daughter and informed Fallow to get as much help as she could to save Maize and company, or else Inkopolis and Mollusk Metropolis would have been doomed to destruction and death. Thankfully, Fallow did just that and saved the day with the backup of the early on new agents.

"Oh. Well, my apologies then. Where are ya?" Captain Cuttlefish asked as he exited into the outside. There was a small brick wall and a lot of trees and bushes around outside a window that looked into the training room.

"I'm right beside you," Apricot answered, putting her cellphone away, almost giving the old war veteran a heart attack. He tried to calm down, pocketing his phone.

"What brings ya here? You agreed when we traded phone numbers, we'd only use them whenever we needed each other's help," Captain Cuttlefish reminded, though noticed her looking through the window, inspecting Maize and Fallow. The yellow squid's sister had come to her brother to request help with adjusting her oxygen tank. Apricot was looking quite upset.

"I do need your help, captain. I need you to watch out for Maize and Fallow for me," Apricot requested. This confused him as he looked through the window as well. The bushes and shadows kept them well hidden.

"Umm… I know it's not nice to talk about, but you do know I probably only got at least a couple more years left in me, right? I'm glad to have been of help to you and ya family, but my time's almost up. Maybe it's time to show yourself back into their lives," Captain Cuttlefish responded. As sad as it was, the old inkling doubted he would live another ten years. He would be lucky if he made it another five, and Maize's mother was not even half his age yet.

"Yes… but I only have a few months. I have to attend to my other children and make sure they're alright … but I had to come see Maize and Fallow one last time," Apricot sniffled. The two were somewhat secret acquaintances. The captain was not happy to be keeping a secret from two of his best agents, but that was the deal to help her get back on track with life.

"Apricot, y'know as well as I do that your two kids there don't need me to watch over'em. And don't worry, they got each other and all their friends and close ones," Captain Cuttlefish reminded the mother of four. He saw her wipe her eyes, turning to the even older inkling.

"You helped me… all those years ago. Do you remember that?" Apricot asked. He nodded, chuckling.

"Yeup… I found you crying right by the drain pipe to Octo Valley. You told me all about how your husband had abused you, and you had drove off and ditched your car so he couldn't track you…" Captain Cuttlefish began, recalling the time all too long ago that they first met.

"You transferred me a million coins from your own personal coin card, just so I could start a new life outside of Inkopolis," she continued while rummaging around in her pockets, looking for something.

"And you promised you'd make it up to me. But really, your son's made it up to me by tenfold," Captain Cuttlefish reassured. However his eyes went wide when he saw her pull out a large pearl and holding it out to him. Pearls were worth bundles of money and were quite rare. Whenever one was found someone could make millions off it.

"I'm a Dagenhart, captain. I need to fulfill my promises, after all," Apricot tossed him the pearl. He caught it, amazed that he was being given this. He watched Maize's mother begin to walk away. She had to go see her other two children, that were unknown to the captain. The elder squid looked inside through the window once more. He could see Maize and Fallow, who both had Octotyne and Turquoise on their backs and having Fulvous take a picture of them for the young agents. Captain Cuttlefish gained a smile, nodding.

"You Dagenharts are the best thing that has happened to our cities in a long time," Captain Cuttlefish spoke to himself before he pocketed the valuable pearl and headed back to get inside, ready to move on and continue training the new agents. He was going to keep things quiet from Maize and Fallow, exactly what their mother requested, and what he was going to keep for her. When he got back inside, the old squid saw Maize teaching Turquoise about chargers, keeping that bright smile.

Everything had changed so much over the course of just a few months, and in the end, nearly everyone was better off for it. Lives were changed, the world was evolving, and these agents were going to help the world change even more lives for the greater good. If any more problems arose, they would be ready, no matter what.