It had only been a few years since the Inklings and Octolings lived in peace. With DJ Octavio locked up (again), and the AI known as Commander Tartar defeated, it seemed that things would stay that way. As such, the Inklings began focusing on more scientific exploits as well as attempts to discover more about the human race. The hope for the latter was for them to find more about the human race that dominated the planet in the past. Plus, they would be ready if something like Tartar showed up again.

The archaeological expeditions led mostly into the underground tunnels that the humans once inhabited and was now used by the Octolings, though they were now moving their home aboveground and were in the process of building a neighbor city to Inkopolis. Findings of value were few and far between as most of what the humans had left was either destroyed beyond repair or missing entirely. However, their luck changed when they began finding other remains of the past in open areas of land that hadn't been built over yet. One of them, however, would provide them with much more than just clues...

...

The site was teeming with Inkling and Octoling workers as they dug around the mountainous area. What they were digging up wasn't entirely clear as of yet, but it was no mountain. It seemed to be an old fortress of some kind, dominated by the elements after so many centuries. What was obvious though was that a huge war had taken place there. There were bodies scattered all over the place, but what was interesting was that they weren't human, but rather some kind of machine that looked like people. This only gave rise to more and more questions.

Agents 3 and 8 were currently walking through the site, having been sent to look into something an archaeologist had, rather excitedly, reported, having discovered something deep within the empty hallways of what remained of the fortress. As the two entered to corridors, 8 pinched her nose.

"Ugh" she groaned in the Inkling's language, "That smells...really bad."

3 was also disgusted, but was a lot better at maintaining her demeanor as she continued further into the passage. The hallways had been rusted as well as coated in dirt and plants. Any remnant of what it once was...now long gone. The two agents considered themselves lucky that the ceiling didn't collapse on top of them. Eventually, they arrived at a massive chamber, where a few Inkling archaeologists, alongside Captain Cuttlefish, were waiting for them.

Cuttlefish was first to notice them and approached, waving a greeting. "You got here fast."

"I'm surprised you're even down here" 3 bluntly replied.

"Well, I couldn't resist it when the boys said they found something, or rather...someone."

8 perked up, "Human?!"

"Not quite" one of the archaeologists said, walking up to them, "I'm sure you saw all the bodies we were carrying around outside."

Agent 3 nodded. "Robots?"

"Of some kind. We were collecting the more intact ones to send back to the team at Inkopolis. Then one of our demo boys found this guy stuck under some kind of makeshift hiding spot in the rubble."

He gestured to what the other three Inklings were looking at, and 8 gasped in surprise. It was another robot, slightly taller then they were, but this one was almost entirely complete, save a few scratches and dents. He was red with white and silver on different parts of his body as well. A long bundle of yellow hair come from the back on his head like a giant ponytail, and his face seemed human. His eyes were closed, however, and he made no movements.

Curious, Agent 8 walked over to it to get a closer look, dragging her finger over the metal armor. Suddenly, she gasped as her finger felt a small heat coming from the robot's chest and immediately pointed out to the others. One of the archaeologists pulled out a scanner and looked the bot over.

"Holy-!" he gasped.

"What?" Cuttlefish demanded, "What is it?!"

"You're not gonna believe this" the Inkling replied, "But whatever 8 did to that robot activated something. I think this guy's still alive!"

Everyone looked in shock at the robot, half expecting it to wake up right there. However, it remained still.

"We should get this back to Inkopolis as soon as possible" Agent 3 then declared, "Maybe someone there can figure out what he is."

"I was thinking the same thing" the lead archaeologist said, "Well, let's get to it."

A short while later, the Inklings, and Agent 8, managed to get the robot's body secured and on a helicopter that was immediately heading back to the scientific team at Inkopolis. 3 and 8 decided to hitch a ride back on this same transport, sitting across from the metal container carrying the robot.

8 looked at the box anxiously.

"Relax" 3 said, "Even if it did wake up, it can't bust out of there; its inner working are probably too damaged to do much. I'm sure of it."

8 seemed to relax only a little bit, but 3 knew she was lying to 8 as well as herself. In truth, she had no idea of what that bot could do. Heck, she didn't even know what it would do the second it woke up in Inkopolis. She sat in silence for the rest of the trip back...

...

Soon, the helicopter returned to Inkopolis, landing on the helipad just on top of the tower that housed the research labs, where a team of Inkling and Octoling scientists came rushing out to greet Agents 3 and 8 as well as take the metal box containing the robot. Suddenly, 8 began following them.

3 looked surprised. "Where are you going?!"

"C'mon, Three!" 8 said excitedly, "Don't you want to see it when it wakes up? I'm not missing it!"

With that, 8 ran inside the building. 3 shook her head, unamused. 8 was newer to the job, but she was a little too curious most of the time. However, once her mind was on something, there was little hope of changing it. Admittedly, 3 couldn't deny that she herself was rather curious to get a better look at the mysterious robot. After a few moments of thought, she ran into the. building to follow 8. Fortunately, she didn't have to run far; the scientists had brought the robot into a lab close to the doors. They had removed the robot from the box (fortunately, it hadn't woken up yet), and now propped it up on an examination table while someone called for a mechanic to try and repair it.

8 was waiting outside the lab, looking into it from a viewing window when 3 arrived. 3 could see 8 was mesmerized as she stared in wonder at the robot.

"I've never seen anything like it" she gasped.

3 was amazed at the sleek and almost human-like design of the robot, but she wasn't as open about it as 8. As the two agents watched, the scientists hooked up various tubes to the robot (in rather random areas since they weren't fully aware the inner workings) and the tubes began to glow a bright yellow as electricity from a tank full of zapfish was channelled into the robot's core. the mechanic had also arrived and was doing what he could to polish up the scratches and dents. As 8 excitedly watched the process, 3 simply looked on with concern; it was only a matter of time before that robot woke up, and there was no telling how that would affect not just the future of Inkopolis, but of the entire world...

It's a bit rough and I might come back and edit some more later, but let me know what you think so far!