Chapter 5: A Shepard and a Showdown

*Edge of Inkopolis (Shepard's POV)*

I've been up for about an hour now, roughly since five in the morning. I was sitting on a bench near the guard rails out by the docks, waiting. I don't know why, or for what, to be fully honest with you. I just did. So I sat there, waiting, watching the moon fall down below the horizon, the waves washing up against the concrete, listening to the breeze gently pass me by. It may be weird, but I kinda enjoyed it. I nearly fell asleep once, maybe twice, but afterwards I splashed my face with sea water to try to stay awake, and it worked. Now, for obvious reasons it would've been pretty damn off-putting so just see a human in gold, black, and grey clothes just sitting on a bench, staring off into the sea for an hour, but I didn't think about it at the time. Occasionally I looked back towards the square, devoid of the bright neon lights you'd usually see lighting the place up, but instead of it being creepy, or surreal like how it would seem to basically everyone else, I thought it all just seemed pretty nice and peaceful.

1 Hour Later…

"Hey, you ok?" I turned around, and the tall one was standing a foot or two behind me.

"Yeah. I'm good." I replied before turning out to face the sea.

She walked over and sat down next to me. Seagulls were starting to fly around in the distance, woken by daylight piercing through the long night, leaving the golden and orange horizon to wake Inkopolis. Eventually, she seemed bored and started to chat back and forth with me for a bit.

"So, I saw the interview between you and Off the Hook. Inspiring stuff for the most part. Nice job." She complemented with a pat to the back.

"Thanks, honestly though, it wasn't as big of a deal as everyone's making it seem. I got on there, I spoke my mind, and here we are. Not to say I don't appreciate everything that's happened though." I clarified while looking at my Kensa sweatshirt. "I just feel as though some of these people aren't used to speaking their mind."

"Well, a few of them aren't." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, before you arrived, not everything was all sunshine and rainbows. Octolings were sorta a giant target for discrimination, and prejudice. The worst of which by far went to hybrids like me."

"Why?" I wondered aloud.

She went on to basically explain how Inklings and Octolings used to not be on very good terms for an extremely long time. The Octolings around the square, however untrustworthy in the eyes of their peers at the time, did manage to shift the way most Inklings view Octolings. She also explained that the leader of the Octarians, a guy by the name of "DJ Octavio" was sort of a dictator in a way, and did not like Inklings, given he was alive for something referred to as "The Great Turf War". She also explained that most Octarian soldiers were brainwashed by propaganda or hypnotized to the point where they'd gladly shoot a Inkling on sight, believing them to feel and act the very same as the soldiers who'd abandoned them in the underground all those years ago.

It was a lot to take in, and a bit of a shock given the nearly utopia-like image of Inkopolis, but I just shook my head, remembering the effects of the Civil War in my home country the all those millennia ago. Even a century after it finished, people were harassed and even killed just for the color of their skin. I thought to myself "There's a way to stop this. I'll figure out how if it kills me. The Octarians and Inklings don't deserve to have to suffer through the same mistakes that lead to the extinction of those before them."

After thinking for a bit, I turned to her and asked one simple question.

"How do I fix this?"

"I don't know. You'd have to a prophesied savior of Inklings and Octarians alike to fix things at this point." She said only half seriously.

"Well, I'm the last known standing member of a bygone race, I'm dressed in Gold, grey, white, and black, and my last name is Shepard. Sound close enough?" I said to her with a smile.

"Fits the bill to me, my lord." She replied, returning the same smile I was giving her.

So, after we returned to the shack, I thought and thought for hours on end about a negotiation to end the split between the Octarians and Inklings, and after three hours, it clicked.

Fusion Generators!

The entire reason behind the Octarians suffering was a general loss of power, and receiving a practically unlimited power source from their worst enemy was sure to break the cold war between the Octarians and Inklings, and could fix everything in one fell swoop!

There was some issues though. They were rare, I didn't have the blueprints, and I damn well didn't have the resources to build it. But I did however know someone with connections who could get someone to make it. The old man.

OK, so the plan went as follows:

Talk to the old man.

Find (or create) blueprints for the generator.

Wait until the generator is done being manufactured.

Present to Octarians in power.

World Peace.

Take a vacation to a tropical island.

Issues with the plan:

Step 2.

Step 4 not going as planned.

There may not be any more tropical islands.

So, I waited for the old man to finally get back to the shack, itching to spread the idea around.

Meanwhile… (Jacqui's POV)

Cass bought us all drinks after our victory at the fortress, and Cass being herself, made me an offer.

"How about this, whoever holds out the longest wins. You win, and you get total freedom to freely roam any Octarian controlled territory or settlement for one whole day. If I win, you get a big smooch from yours truly." She said with a malicious grin.

I thought about it for a second, and replied "You're on, sister."

"Joe! Keep 'em coming!" She called to the bartender.

We each held out for way longer then we should've, eventually I beat Cass by two drinks, and she nearly fell off the bar stool before admitting defeat.

"A'ight, ya win newby. *hic* Let's go bac to the *hic* barricks." Sharp payed for our drinks, and Cass lumbered off in a drunken daze.

"Yayy, I *hic* wen!" I feel into Elise's lap, everything faded to black, and I slept for a while with a warm, fuzzy feeling in my gut. Probably vomit, but who knows.