The next day at school, Fuchsia walked through the long halls-thinking about the current situation revolving around the planned assassination of Kosami's father; as she walked through the halls, she heard the chatter of her fellow schoolmates talk about the upcoming tournament that the Elites would be representing the school in: The Winter Tournament, known as one of the big events to showcase the talent of inklings in turf wars and other similar types of events. She shook her head, knowing as much as she'd like to go and root on Sky and the others, she had to brainstorm how to take down the monster known as Saint Henry, future PM of Inkopolis.

Fuchsia enters her classroom, looking to her left and seeing most of the classroom empty except for a select few early birds; Kosami was sitting in her seat and on her phone-focused on whatever was on the screen. Fuchsia walked over, calling her name so she wouldn't surprise her if she suddenly appeared; Kosami looked up-smiling as she waved. Fuchsia took her seat next to Kosami since they were neighbors.

"Seems like you're an early bird, rarely do I ever see you not here early." Fuchsia said in a friendly tone, unpacking her bag so she'd be ready for the day.

Kosami took out her half-rimmed glasses and cleaned them, putting them on; she had her hair out in a different hairstlyle-her long wavy hair was combed over to the right and the left side was slightly shaved. "I'm usually ready to start the day the moment I wake up, so I rush here to get some nice alone time…"-she turns her phone off, resting it off to the side- "This is the first time we've ever spoken like this, is it related to the mission with my father?"

"oh no, I just felt like clearing my head since a lot has been going on…and I thought this might be a good chance to get to know you better…"

Kosami's eyes shine and her face turned red, "By getting to know me…do you mean, learning about my feelings for Azule!?" she said in a flustered tone putting her hands to her cheeks and blushing.

"N-No! It's not that…!"-Fuchsia denied with a bright tomato red face, closing her eyes while doing so and shaking her hands swiftly- "It's about the thing with your dad. It was totally about the mission."

Kosami began to laugh, "I had a feeling…"

It got quiet for a moment; Fuchsia was aware that Kosami had feelings for Azule since she made it obvious the first day she came in, but for Fuchsia, romance was something she'd like to keep away from for the moment since her meltdown with Violet. Kosami looked around the room, unsure of how to end the awkward silence; Fuchsia played with her hands under the table, not wanting to ruin a potential friendship before it can even start.

"I'll take care of the recruiting, so later let me show you around Inkopolis…" Fuchsia said looking away at the window.

Kosami was puzzled, "You'll handle it? Isn't that what Pastelle said she'd take care of? And why do you want to show me around Inkopolis so suddenly?"

"I can ask Azule and Cobalt to come later and talk them into it, knowing Pastelle…"-She thought about how Azule always looked charmed by Pastelle's beauty, becoming jealous and wanting to outdo her close friend- "She'll probably mess up; she can be clumsy sometimes…"

"Oh…? I never knew that…" Kosami said, dumbfounded by the falsehood.

Fuchsia continued to play with her hands, "You see, the reason why I want to show you around Inkopolis is because you're still new and maybe you're not very familiar with the area…"

Kosami smiled, "Actually, I'm well situation with the area. I appreciate the off though…"-she held out her hand and smiled, closing her eyes- "Let's be friends, and hangout later to celebrate it?"

Fuchsia stared at her hand, unaware that Kosami saw through her plans; she smiled once she realized she made another friend, "Sure…"

The bell rung, students filed in and soon class was ready to start; Fuchsia notified Azule that she'd need to speak with him later during lunch on the rooftop, to which he agreed. Sally overheard the conversation and asked why Azule, Cobalt and Tangie were the ones to go and not the other members of Squidcom, Fuchsia responded with a heavy look in her eyes-"It's personal matters…"-Sally got the message and knew it was something that wasn't any of her concern, something personal that involved Azule, Cobalt, and Tangie; she realized after class exactly what it might be related to, but decided that it was best to keep her nose out of this one, advising Violet and Reice to keep out of it, although they were avoiding conversation with the other.

During lunch Azule, Cobalt and Tangie made their way to the rooftop after Cobalt and Tangie got their food from the cafeteria; Azule made himself some sandwiches before left, like he always did. Azule's phone buzzed, receiving multiple messages-one from Spyke and one from Dr. Sinclair-he reads both messages but doesn't respond since his friends were nearby and he preferred they didn't read about his private life, he didn't want to act like he was hiding anything from them, but he couldn't let them know about his personal business-especially with Spyke; the message from Spyke was about meeting him in inkopolis square whenever he got the chance, and that he had some good news and bad news to shar ewith him. The message from Dr. Sinclair was similar: she had news to share with him-both good and bad. After they took a seat and ate their lunch over by a bench that had a beautiful view of the city and the skyscrapers that kissed the sky, Fuchsia arrived with her lunch, as well as Kosami and Pastelle.

"Thanks for coming, guys…"-she said as she took a seat next to Cobalt and Tangie; Azule had already finished his meal and had his arms crossed waiting for them- "I called you guys here today because we've got something to share with you…"

Pastelle jumped in and bluntly told them the entire situation about Kosami and what she wanted to do; Azule and the others were shocked by the news, but Azule showed a ferocious glare in his eyes once he connected the dots, realizing exactly who Kosami was from his past. He stared at her with those ferocious blue eys, studying her face intently- "You're her…"-he shook his head in disbelief- "Sister Barbara's daughter…"-he put his hands over his cap and covered his face with the brim of his cap- "To think the next time I'd see you again would be in a circumstance like this."

Kosami looked away-blushing, ashamed and embarrassed that her identity had finally been revealed by him; Cobalt and Tangie were equally surprised but both didn't harbor the same feelings as Azule, instead they related with Kosami. Tangie put her arm around Kosami and smiled, "You must have missed us…"

She nodded-still looking away, "Very much so…I felt so helpless being alone…"-she teared up, covering her face as Tangie comforted her; Azule's anger settled down, understanding that it wasn't her fault for having any relation to him-she too was probably a victim of his acts.

Fuchsia could relate to the loneliness that Kosami felt, since not too long ago she was in similar shoes. She confirmed everything that Pastelle mentioned and then proceeded to eat her lunch, awaiting their response. Pastelle leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, looking over her shouler at the city in the background; Azule and Cobalt exchanged looks as Cobalt finished his lunch.

"It's no pressure…" Pastelle said, looking in Azule's direction.

"I won't help. My sister said to stay away from him…" Azule said half heartedly; Pastelle shook her head.

"Your eyes say different. Your eyes tell me you want ot kill that man more than anyone else on the continent…" she said with a serious look, matching Azule; she was right, Azule's intensity was as high as ever. He finally found the source of all his problems right before him with an opportunity to exterminate it immediately.

Azule looked at the floor-his eyes covered by the brim of his cap, "When do we start?"

"After the winter tournament, we'll execute the plan. Over the time that we have until then, we'll gain as much information as possible so that we can strike him down as swiftly as possible without grabbing any attention." Pastelle said with a smirk, knowing Azule wouldn't let her down.

"If it's an assassination on someone as important as him, we'll need to be very wary of the tight security…" Cobalt added, pointing with his index finger.

"That's where I'll come in. leave all the tech stuff to me…" Fuchsia said with confidence.

"Fuchsia will be on navigator duty but what about you, Pastelle?" Tangie asked.

"We'll be the main unit that carries out the assassination: Azule, Cobalt, and Tangie. You three will accompany me. Kosami will serve as the decoy, being in the location giving us the details of what her father is doing while we sneak in."

"Sounds like a plan…" Kosami said in a soft and nervous tone; Fuchsia gave her a pat on the back.

"We'll pull this assassination off."

After that, Fuchsia welcomed Kosami into Squidcom-to the delight of Tangie; Fuchsia and Tangie explained the situation going on within the team after Pastelle left, notifying her of the rift in the team. Although she was coming in at a time where most of the crew wasn't communicating, Kosami felt happy to know she made new friends, and reunited with old ones. Later that same day, there was a meeting at Sky's apartment with her team and their support; the eve of the tournament would be tomorrow, and there would be plenty of hungry rivals looking to take advantage of the seedings. The meeting was about the idea of changing weapon choices, since the winter tournament would be occurring on a mixture of maps from both Inkopolis plaza and Inkopolis square: the two biggest hubs for turf wars.

So far, the lineup for the team and their weapons were: Aaron would use the Splattershot Pro given his role as the leader along with the tactic of being the essential attacker in dealing heavy and long range attacks, Sky would take her E-Liter 3K scope serving as support for both Aaron and Austin, Austin would take Carbon roller to prioritize speed and mobility along with getting one-hit splats, and Pearl would take the Dual squelcher to as the versatile attacker and defender; their setup seemed balanced compared to some of their opponents previous weapon choices. It was a stressful process since this was a tournament that had heavy influence on what would happen in the future tournaments. In a sense, the winter tournament was the first major tournament that would set the stage for the Spring invitational and Nationals.

The apartment looked lively and bright-partly due to the bright sun's intrusion on lighting up more than half the room-with the entire Elites squad gathered together, some drinking coffee or soda to stay energized while others closed their eyes trying to relax. Sky looked at the stat sheet that displayed all the current stats of every team and their members. She saw the current rankings of all the team in the nation, seeing the Elites of Squid Academy jump into the top 10 at number 7. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the perennial top 4: Special Forces, Beacon Hills, Octo Valley, and Squidops. The elites had proven themselves worthy of being considered a member of the big 4 in Inkopolis-after all, they defeated the number 4 and 3 teams to win the preliminaries, but the best they got moved was to the 7th spot; this was because Squid Academy wasn't very popular on the national level despite producing 3 players that were all within the top 25 of the best players on the continent-tied for the most from any school on the top 10, yet they didn't get the recognition they deserved.

"Expect all the other teams to change their weapons as well…"-Chlora said while scrolling through the profiles listed on her tablet- "The preliminaries was the warm up for them to try out different weapons, more than likely…"

"Either way, this tournament will be very competitive this year. The 4 giants of Inkopolis will be baring their fangs in this tourney-though it's got a smaller number of participants compared to the others, it's still a major tournament." Ollie said, taking a sip of soda afterwards.

"This might be our best chance to earn some silverware for Squid Academy…" Pearl crossed her arms.

Aaron was playing with a pen in his hand, sitting on the couch next to Sky-looking at the wall behind Apollo and Austin, absorbing the information being given. He looks around at his pool of friends, seeing Apollo and Austin across from him, Ollie to right sitting at a table near the window-doors with his eyes closed, Chlora and Cannola behind him at the kitchen counter both with their mugs of coffee on the counter, Pearl over to the right of them, and Sky-sitting right beside him-resting her hand on his his. His face turned serious as a single drop of sweat trickled; he halted his fidgeting of the pen and leaned forward, clasping both hands as he focused his stare on the coffee table.

He looked up, "After this tournament, I will be retiring…" he said with resolve, sitting erect; everyone's eyes widened, their mouths dropped, and all had the same question ringing in their mind from the utter shock: why?

Pearl and Austin looked stunned, as did Chlora and Cannola who nearly spilled their coffee, Ollie and Apollo however, weren't so surprised to see him make such a decision. Sky appeared the most hurt, with genuine confusion in her eyes-trying her best to not understand his decision. Aaron looked at all of them, and then stood up taking the center stage. Aaron was a thinker, never was he one to say something unless he'd thought about it carefully. But with this, something felt strange from his reaction-he didn't seem like his usual self.

He crossed his arms, "I have decided to retire after the result of this tournament."

"Why…?" Sky said, beating everyone else to the question.

He kept quiet for a moment as he sorted his thoughts-putting his hands in his pockets, "I realized that my time as the captain in soon expiring. I don't mean to discourage you guys, since the tournament is closely upon us. But I can't help but feel like I must tell you all what I'm feeling…"

"You still aren't answering the question…" Ollie said plainly.

Apollo put his right hand on his right hip, "Tell us everything. We're your team, after all."

Aaron smiled, "I sense a new wave of change approaching. Younger talent that will wipe away us old third years. Talent…like Azule, Todd, Pastelle, and others."-he balled his fist and stared at them all- "I don't want you to think for a moment that I'm quitting on you guys-I still want to win this damn tournament and continue our campaign, however, if we lose, I'll retire and give way to the future of Squid Academy-they'll carry the torch."

"What you're saying is…"-Sky shook her head, her body shaking with frustration as she laughed- "All we have to do is win this tournament and you won't retire?"

Aaron nodded, "It's something I decided on my own. After seeing the many failures we've gone through trying to live up to the lofty expectations of critics, I've come to realize that our next failure should be my last. No longer will I allow critics to soil the good name and future of our school."

Pearl came forward, "Then I'll retire too."

"Same here…" Austin said raising his hand.

Sky looked at all three of them, "I'll take my gamble and join in this, I'll retire as well."

Aaron felt as though his heart would break, "Guys, there's no need for you to retire…"

"What team would we be if we didn't have our leader?" Cannola said.

"If you're going down, then so are we…" Ollie said.

"We're a team no matter what. You're our captain and nothing will change that. Whatever you do, we'll follow without hesitation!"

Aaron smiled, accepting the wishes of his team-should the Elites lose at the Winter tournament, should they fall short of capturing silverware for Squid Academy, they would all retire immediately. This would potentially be their last tournament as the Elites, unless they found victory, which would be no easy feat against the tough opponents that awaited them.