The Deepsea Metro. A labyrinthine series of tunnels, train tracks, and stations situated underneath all of Inkling and Octarian society. Due to a recent catastrophe, much of the metro had either been destroyed or closed by authorities in order to examine the recent "Sanitization" phenomenon, an experiment carried out by the Kamado Corporation to create a new Ultimate Lifeform.

The thing about exploring and examining a location as big as the Metro is that it's not something that can be done in a short period of time.

It had been five years since the examinations began, and there was still a vast amount of the Metro that had yet to be explored. The authorities of Inkopolis had only managed to explore the sections of the Metro that were directly under the city and some surrounding locations.

Deep within the metro, a cloaked figure was running through the linoleum floors of a station. Their silver cloak, splotched with a sickening hue of blueish green ink was tattered from a long period of time of use and abuse. A few meters behind him were a small horde of Octolings, their tentacles colored a similar hue as the ink that adorned the figure's cloak as the horde seemed hard pressed to take him out. The cloaked figure seemed desperate, focusing more on running away from the small group that was closely pursuing him. As they kept running through the ground, the figure pulled out a black and silver weapon, the ink tank filled with a light blue ink. They fired the ground in front of them and shifted into their octopus form, speeding away from the figures pursuing them. From the position they once stood, they dropped a Splat Bomb, enough to take out two of the Octolings that were behind them, but now enough to take out the full group.

The hooded figure, looking ahead, noticed a fork in the road, a small alleyway veering off from the main path ahead. They were a decent distance away from the group of Octolings, perhaps their gambit could possibly work?

They pointed their weapon at the pathway ahead of them and fired several blasts of ink ahead of them onto the main path forward and, while they still had time, they ran into the alleyway, running as fast as they could in order to not throw off the suspicion of his pursuers. They needed to get as far away as possible and they only had a few seconds to do so…

The figure moved through the alleyway, carefully making sure not to shoot any ink and to hide within the shadows as much as they could. The sounds of the Octoling's cries were getting quieter and quieter, a natural byproduct of their growing distance between them. The figure continued running through the alley until it opened into a more open area. The figure looked around, noticing it was a section with an open area in the center, tracks aligning the ground. Naturally a section where the train would typically pick up passengers. But that wasn't what the figure noticed.

A small trickle of light was visible through the ceiling, on the ground level, a set of stairs could be seen, though they were in incredibly shabby shape, likely due to the potential years of unuse.

Underneath the hood, the figure's eyes were lighting up. Could this be what they had been searching for all this time? Years of navigating the Metro, all of their attempts ending in failure to find a way to the surface finally coming to an end? No. They needed to curb their enthusiasm after all. There had been plenty of times where their hopes were quickly dashed and any and all exits to the Metro were either destroyed from the incident from five years ago, or led to an area that was seemingly completely uninhabited. No, if they had any chance of surviving outside of the Metro, they needed to find a civilization, a place they could get actual food. Destroying vending machines in the Metro could only satiate them for so long…

And yet this exit was right there, a few meters away from them… Could it possibly be…

They walked up the stairs in a deafening silence, the only break away from such a thing being their footsteps hitting the linoleum stairway, the entrance coming closer and closer… And finally they made it.

They stood in front of a hallway teeming with luminescent lights, but it wasn't the lighting of the room that invited them, but it was the door that stood in front of them. Rusted and with incredibly weak hinges, it took merely a bit of finagling to get the obstacle out of their way. They stood in front of the door, and, pulling out their weapon, slammed the butt of the gun into the hinges, causing the foundation to be destroyed. A simple kick in front of them and the obstacle was no more. They walked forward and the sight in front of them was enough to change the cautious optimism into pure excitement.

In front of them stood a mass of yellow and black tape written in it. He silently thanked the years he had spent learning how to speak the Inkling language as he read the words printed on them

"Do not Cross."

These words had both a positive and a negative effect on the figure. For one, the area had to be inhabited. There would be no purpose in blocking off a location as dangerous as the Deepsea Metro if there weren't people to keep out of the location. But on the other hand, the prospects of the location being populated by Inklings was enough to make them uneasy. After all, the Inklings were supposed to be the enemy, right? But that couldn't be, the notes of the song proved it, didn't they?

They were lucky that their arrival was at the dead of night, otherwise a figure such as themselves appearing would have definitely caused a commotion, and the last thing they needed right now was to be branded an enemy in what could have very well been their salvation. No, the thing they needed to do right now for the time being was to do reconnaissance and lay low, that way they could determine if this was a safe location, though integration in a society that did not deem them an enemy had its own issues…

Their thought process was interrupted by their own growling stomach. They shuffled about from underneath the cloak and through that realized that they had no food on their person. First priority in this strange place is to find some food. Stealing from a store wasn't an option, too much attention. That left another, more unsavory thought to come to pass, but after spending five years in the metro, they didn't seem to mind the uncleanliness.

The figure veered through the "Do Not Cross" signs and looked around. Clearly their suspicions were quickly made correct as they definitely found themselves in a city, if not, a large settlement. Through the cover of night, they wandered through the town, looking for their next meal.

Two weeks later

The Splatlands were famous (if not completely infamous) for the Turf War Battles. Originally starting and getting popular from Inkopolis, it wasn't long before the extreme sport had made its way to other corners of the map. Of course, when it becomes transferred to a location known for its lackadaisical approach towards rules and general conventions, there was some creative liberties that had been taken in some regards to it's Turf Wars, which in turn, gravitates a new group of people to the town causing a mutual growth.

It was nearly night time when a blue-tentacled Inkling boy had left the main lobby of the building that facilitated battles in the Splatlands. His hair was slightly curled and had a certain style to it, if not a bit undefined. On top rested a set of goggles that matched impeccably. He wore an Orca Bolero sweater, a rather popular set of equipment during this time of year. His leggings were rather ripped to the point where an onlooker would have a difficult time discerning if it were due to the fashion, general wear and tear, or an amalgamation of both. Finally, he wore a pair of Red Hammertreads, the general condition of the shoes proving that the owner took immaculate care of them. On his shoulder rested an Inkbrush, a popular weapon for its mobility as well as its power. He hadn't gotten too far before he was called by a magenta haired Octoling.

"Oi Kenshin! Had enough for the day?" The Octoling called, not getting off of the table he was situated at.

"Nah." Kenshin responded. "Clam Blitz was on rotation and I would rather get squished by a Roller than have to deal with that while I'm on a losing streak. Plus, I had some things I needed to take care of and I didn't wanna wait till night to get it done.

"Mmm, well you still owe me and my team a match! You better not flake out again!" The Octoling called out to Kenshin.

Kenshin stifled a short laugh. "Yeah yeah, I'll put ya on the list. Say hi to Danny to me, k?"

The Octoling gave a short salute as Kenshin went on his way, walking to the major supermarket where all residents often did their shopping without making an hour long commute to Mako-Mart.

Kenshin was wandering around the aisles when he overheard a conversation between two young inklings, looking to be no older than fifteen.

"I'm telling ya! I saw it for real!" the first one said.

"Nuh uh! There's no way! You know darn well that ghosts don't exist!" the other one said, rolling their eyes at their friend.

"But I saw it! They were wearing a super spooky silver cloak and everything! They had to be a ghost!" The first one manically waved their arms about trying to convince their friend.

"It's the city dummy! There's tons of weird people about! You probably saw an eel or something! Those guys are always around at night!" The second one said,

"No no! I know what an eel looks like! I'll bet my meal tickets on that! What I saw was definitely not a freaking eel!" The first one pouted, crossing their arms around their chest.

"Yeah yeah." The second one said, patting the other on the back. "Come on, we gotta get to Hotlantis before it closes!"

Kenshin let out a light chuckle. This wasn't the first time he had heard about the rumors of the "Ghost of the Splatlands", they had been quite the talk of the town, but he scarcely believed such a thing, after all, ghosts weren't real! "Those kids and their crazy stories…" he said to himself as he continued on his way through the market.

An hour later, night had fallen and Kenshin had finished carrying his groceries to his apartment, a relatively spacious area in the main residential corner of the town, about fifteen minutes away from the main square. He placed his bags on the ground as he dug through his hoodie and grabbed his key from his pocket, using it to open the door of the apartment. He grabbed the bags, but unknowingly left one on the ground in front of his apartment, going inside and shutting the door behind him.

Unbeknownst to Kenshin, the figure clad in the silver cloak had found themselves in the residential areas close to Kenshin's apartment, digging through some of the trash cans and dumpsters that were on the property. It wasn't the most sanitary way of life, and there were some nights where they went hungry, but they weren't terribly concerned about that right now, they were more concerned with filling their belly. As they finished working through a trash can, they noticed the bright lights of a patio light, highlighting an unattended bag filled with groceries. They immediately stopped what they were doing and made their way towards the bag, unknowingly making much more noise than they intended to.

Back inside the apartment, Kenshin was going through his bags making sure he had everything before he started putting it all away. He quickly noticed some of the food he had purchased was missing from his collection, most notable his teriyaki flavored bag of potato chips, something that he frankly couldn't live without. As he headed closer to the door, he heard what sounded like footsteps, followed by the sounds of a bag rustling. Unsure what he would see on the other side of the door, he grabbed his Inkbrush and an Ink capsule as he opened the door to a rather shocking sight.

Outside, the figure in the silver cloak was eating Kenshin's bag of teriyaki chips, though for the first time, the hood was down and the figure's face was revealed for the first time to anybody in the Splatlands. They had light blue tentacles that were relatively long, going down to the side of their face, deep blue eyes, and notably, a pair of goggles, typical for a member of the Octarian army, though one of the lenses were cracked beyond repair. Kenshin was puzzled for a moment, but quickly discerned that this must have been the "ghost" that he had heard rumors about and that whoever they were, they were incredibly hungry to the point of not noticing that he had opened the door.

"Enjoying the chips there?" He said trying to strike up a conversation with the individual.

The false ghost's widened as they threw the chips to the ground, and took out their weapon, pointing it at Kenshin.

"Easy, easy! I ain't gonna hurt you, you know! I honestly don't care about those, you can have the whole bag if ya wanna!" He said as he placed the Inkbrush on the ground, trying to ease the stranger's nerves about the whole situation.

"..." The stranger put their weapon to the side. While they were still on edge about the situation, they had accurately discerned that whoever this was both not an enemy, and had no intentions of harming them at the moment.

"There, that's better.. That's better." He said, sighing a slight breath of relief knowing that his life wasn't in danger at the moment.

His thought process was interrupted by the sound of thunder coming from the skies. Even though the rain was not as harmful as being submerged, it was still unpleasant for a myriad of reasons to be caught in a storm. Kenshin looked at the Octoling standing in front of him and noticed that they looked rather nervous about the incoming storm as they placed their hood back on and prepared to run away, but Kenshin, realizing that this individual seemed completely harmless, opened the door wide for them.

"Hey, come on. You're gonna get hurt if you stay outside in a storm. I don't mind if you stay for the night…" He said as he outreached a hand to the Octoling.

The Octoling seemed perplexed. The act of kindness being shown to them was quite unfamiliar to them, both due to being stuck in the Metro for so long, not to mention their own preconceived notions regarding Inklings… Did they really hate Octarians? His thought process was being interrupted by the drizzle falling on their hood… Oh what the hell?

The Octoling ran into the apartment, Kenshin following closely behind.

"You can leave your cloak over there if you wanna." Kenshin gestured to a coat rack that was situated next to the front door.

"...Thank you very much…" The Octoling said as they put their cloak on the rack, adjacent to Kenshin's goggles.

Kenshin looked over the resident. If the weapon hadn't proved it, their outfit definitely did. They were dressed in an Octarian army uniform, though the outfit had clearly shown much more wear and tear than those who appeared in Inkopolis five years ago. The outfit was ripped in several locations, and the weapon looked much more shabby than the pristine ones he had seen before.

"So you do speak?" Kenshin said, trying to lighten the mood. "Heh, I'm glad that you seem more relaxed than you were before." Kenshin put out his hand. "I'm Kenshin, Kenshin Amos. Pleased to meetcha!"

The Octoling hesitated for a moment, looking over Kenshin. He studied his face for a moment, before he reciprocated his handshake.

"I-I'm Eliwood… Eliwood O'Kala…" He nervously said.

"Eliwood eh? Nice name. Well, for the time being, feel free to make yourself at home! Once the rain stops, I'll walk ya to your place!" He smiled, patting the Octoling on the back.

Eliwood groaned as he looked on the ground.

"Huh? Something wrong?" Kenshin said as he tilted his head.

"I-I'm so sorry…" He said, recoiling as he headed back to the door, though Kenshin was quick, a skill picked up from his endless hours of Turf Wars and Ranked Battles.

"H-Hey! Chill man, it's okay! You don't have to head out man!" He said, trying to calm down Eliwood.

"I-I can't intrude on you… Y-You…" He nervously said.

Kenshin slowly got a grasp of the situation.

"D-Did you just arrive in the Splatlands?" Kenshin asked

Eliwood nodded.

"Do you have a place to go?" He continued.

Eliwood shook his head.

"I figured as such… Well today is gonna change all of that you know! You're free to stay here as long as you want!" He said happily.

Eliwood's eyes widened. This wasn't adding up, why was this complete stranger being so welcoming, so kind? This didn't make sense, it had to be a prank of some sorts! It just had to be! That or he had already passed on and he was dead on the street or something… Though why would some random stranger be so nice to him even though he was… Gah! This wasn't adding up, and more than that, he couldn't fall for such tricks.

"...Inklings are supposed to hate Octolings… I'm not going to… I can't let you capture me…" He muttered as he shakily reached for his weapon.

Kenshin proceeded to slap Eliwood across the face.

"Dude, seriously. I ain't gonna capture you. And Inklings don't hate Octolings, even in Inkopolis they're walkin' round the streets like normal, not to mention here in the Splatlands… Look, I can't imagine what you've been through, but you don't haveta struggle anymore ya know! I'm gonna help you man! So please, just put the weapon down and trust me okay!" Kenshin said half out of desperation and half out of annoyance.

"W-Why…" Eliwood said as he fell to the ground, sitting on his knees. "I-I don't…"

"I wanna help you. See, you look like a nice person, and if anything, I'm gonna help a good person get through a hard time, k? Come on man, trust me for a sec man." He said as he led Eliwood to the couch. "Have a seat, relax for a minute. I'll make ya a cup of tea."

Eliwood was taken aback by the plush feeling of the couch. After spending all of his time sleeping on benches in the Deepsea Metro and the barracks of the Octarian bases, feeling something so comfortable was incredibly jarring, though not in a bad way.

Kenshin headed to the kitchen and put a teapot on the stove. "Do you have any preferences?" He asked Eliwood who was staring at the floor rather intently.

"Huh? Mmm…" Eliwood shook his head.

"Aight." Kenshin said as he got back to work. After a few moments, he gave Eliwood the teacup. "Here, drink up buddy. It'll help ya regain some energy."

Eliwood stared at the teacup. From a glance, it seemed to be some green tea, a flavor of tea he had no particularly strong feelings towards one way or the other. Instinctively, he began sniffing it.

"I promise I didn't poison it." Kenshin joked as he sat on a recliner across from the sofa, sipping his own cup of tea.

Eliwood felt slightly embarrassed, looking down at the ground before he took a sip from the teacup, not wanting to offend his host more than he had already done. Immediately his eyes widened as he began taking more and more sips of the drink, finishing it within seconds… Man, he really missed eating actual food and drinking something other than the crappy things he could pilfer from the vending machines.

"Heh, it's nice that somebody enjoys my tea. Mr. Sakura is always saying my tea is missing a certain pizazz but I know he's just speaking some Bullhead."Kenshin said as he sipped his drink at a slower pace.

"It was amazing!" Eliwood said with a passion that took Kenshin slightly aback. "I haven't drank anything so flavorful in my life! I…Er, I'm sorry…" He said shrinking down slightly.

"Hey come on man, it's all good. I was just surprised to see you so happy, you've been like a scared dogfish this whole time. It's nice though, you know. You're all right Eli!" He said as he got up from his seat. "Tell ya what, how bout tomorrow we go into town and I show you around! Ooh, I know this great bakery down the road that has crab cakes that are to die for!"

Eliwood began sniffling, he raised his hands to cover his eyes but it was incredibly apparent to the Inkling that his guest was crying.

"H-Hey, it's…"

"I-I don't know how to thank you… You're so nice to me.. I-I promise I'm going to find a way to make it up to you… I-" He was speaking through his tears, it was clear to Kenshin that Eliwood wasn't crying from sadness, a factor that made him sigh from relief.

"Come on man, it's fine I promise. Oh, but we might need to find something to wear… Hmmm." Kenshin's train of thought was broken up by his stomach grumbling. He proceeded to the kitchen in response. "Ah darn, all this excitement I forgot to make dinner. Well no matter, good thing I bought some instant noodles. Plus I already boiled the water. Heh, funny how things work out. Ya want some?" He asked Eliwood as he opened a package and began pouring the water in.

"Yes please." Eliwood responded as he stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen, putting his teacup on the counter. "Um, do you need any help?"

Kenshin smiled as he opened up the second package of noodles. "Nah, I gotcha." He put the kettle down as he handed Eliwood his package of noodles. "It's hot, be careful k?"

Eliwood nodded as he twirled the noodles around with his chopsticks. It had been forever since he had hot food, let alone noodles. He was gonna take the time to savor these… at least that was his intention before he immediately gobbled it up and was pretty much complete as Kenshin sat down to start eating.

"Thank you, it was delicious…" He said as he put the chopsticks in the sink and tossed the package in the nearby garbage pail.

Kenshin was downright impressed, he knew some big eaters but this Octoling could give any of them a run for their money. "Heh, glad you enjoyed it. So, if it ain't too presumptuous, mind telling me your story? You don't have to tell me everything, but still I wanna know more about ya, you know?"

Eliwood nodded as he sat on the couch again. He began to tell Kenshin how he had been traveling the Deepsea Metro following the concert with Callie, Marie, and Agent Four approximately five years ago and how he had practically survived on stale snacks and crappy soda from the vending machines he was able to find in different stations throughout his journey. Though he was careful to omit some aspects of his adventure, particularly his experiences with the Sanitized Octarians as well as some of the more… unsavory aspects of his journey.

"Damn, five years huh? And all the way to the Splatlands? Heh, you're a fighter, Eliwood! Makes me wonder how you'd do in a Turf War!" Kenshin said with his ever-present optimism.

"Turf War?" Eliwood said as he tilted his head in confusion.

"Ah yeah, that's right. Well don't worry your good friend Kenshin will show ya the ropes!" Kenshin yawned. "Ah, well not right now. Tell ya what. Why don't we call it a night? Tomorrow I'll show ya all there is to the Splatlands, got it?"

Eliwood nodded. "Y-Yeah, I wanna do that!"

Kenshin smiled, enjoying the enthusiasm being shown by his new friend. It was kinda infectious seeing the formerly terrified Octoling so excited and happy. He knew he had made the right decision to help him get back on his feet.

"Aight, well follow me, you can sleep in the bed for the night." Kenshin said as he got up from the seat he was sitting in.

Eliwood shook his head. "N-No, it's only fair if you sleep in the bed after all you've done, please let me sleep on the floor, it's only fair!"

Kenshin sighed. "Look, I ain't gonna make you sleep on the floor man. Hmmm, I got it! How bout you sleep on the couch, at least for the time being, it shouldn't be too difficult to get another bed in the apartment, it is a twin bedroom after all."

"Y-You're gonna get me a bed? Y-You don't have to. I'll buy it eventually! I'll just need to find a job!" He said as he clenched one of his hands into fists out of determination.

Kenshin chuckled. "Heh, now that's the fire I like to see. Well let's get some sleep for the night."

Eliwood nodded as he lied down on the couch, and he was almost instantaneously asleep, once again impressing his host with his uncanny abilities.

"Heh, he deserves a nice sleep after everything he's been through." Kenshin smiled as he grabbed a comforter from the nearby closet and covered Eliwood's sleeping frame with it. Once he confirmed that everything was in place, he shut the light and headed to his own room. It was gonna be a big day tomorrow, and he needed to get a good night's sleep to get ready for tomorrow.