Some of Mr. Grizz's dialogue is taken from Splatoon 2.

Inigo's PoV

Two inklings held their hands tightly as they walked along the boardwalk. Seagulls flew around, picking away at litter on the beach. However, Geneva and Inigo were contempt just staying on the wooden platform bordering the beach. Inigo held a cone of chocolate ice cream in his hands, and he licked it while the green-haired inkling was talking.

"You really know salmonids in-and-out, huh?" Geneva commented.

"Yeah," the indigo-haired inkling replied. "My grandpa likes to tell me stories of his salmonid hunts back in his younger days." He shrugged. "My family owns a big fishing boat, too, if that helps."

"Like I said, I've only seen their eggs—and even then, I didn't know where they came from until you started telling me about them."

"Where did you see salmonid eggs, again?"

"Oh, umm… I saw a few lying about while taking care of a zapfish."

"Oh, yeah." He chuckled. "I forgot." Inigo ate the last of the cone, and threw the wrapping towards a trash can. It missed.

Geneva noticed this, and she tore herself out his hand to go pick it up. "And remember, don't litter." She tossed it into the trash can. Smiles crossed their faces, and they burst out in laughter. "Let's stop here," she said finally.

Inigo agreed, and then the other inkling grabbed his hand and they ran towards the fencing. Holding hands once more, they leaned against it, gazing out into the cerulean sea. The boy let go of her hand to throw his arm around her. They pressed together, side by side, with huge smiles on their face. They took a moment to look at each other. With a silent agreement, the two of them closed their eyes and leaned towards each other. Excitement coursed through Inigo's body. This was it!

…What Inigo got was a mouthful of cotton.

When he opened up his eyes, he found himself face-to-face with white. He pulled himself upwards, and the pillow fell to the mattress. Realizing what had happened, the inkling tried to spit out the stuffy taste to no avail. In the meanwhile, rays of sunlight shone through the window of his room, highlighting the deep indigo blanket of his bed. He threw it off of him and stood up now on the grey carpet. He did a few stretches and got dressed.

As he got ready for the day, disappointment lingered in his mind. He shouldn't be surprised; it always lingered after those kind of dreams. The ones where he still had a girlfriend. He shivered. His attempts to get another one have so far have been unsuccessful. Will he never date again? To Inigo, this was a horrifying thought. But, he had to remain optimistic.

He walked out of the townhouse and entered the streets of Inkopolis. It was not too terribly crowded today, but it still just felt like a normal. His phone rang, so he pulled it out. An advertisement for Grizzco's popped up as a notification. Inigo pumped his fist. He could do a Salmon Run today! But first, he would have to tell his friends about it. They probably knew by now, though. Regardless, as he walked in the direction of the square, he was bent over his phone, texting away.

By the time he reached the square, he had gotten some responses back from the people he expected—Octavia, Yuri, and Bonnie. They usually escorted him on a Salmon Run. He lifted his head, looking around for his friends. He then saw Roy at the Rainbow Squids' usual table. He was on his phone as usual. Inigo straightened and walked over to him.

"Hey," he greeted.

The boy with his hair swept to the side focused his red eyes on the indigo inkling. "Hey." He adjusted his bandana and said, "I got your text about Salmon Runs."

"Are you interested?" he asked.

"You know I'm not," he grumbled. "I don't wanna be around fish all day."

"It's not all day. Only a half hour at minimum."

"I thought we agreed to do some ranked battles today?"

"You said this afternoon. It's morning right now."

Roy let out a deep sigh. "Alright. But if you don't come back here by three o'clock, I'm kicking your butt."

"Don't worry." Inigo smiled. "I'll make sure of it."

The indigo-haired inkling headed off towards Grizzco's, happy to see that the bars usually blocking the entrance were missing at the moment. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside the shady building. Neon signs flickered, as if the place was affected by the Great Zapfish's disappearance. The air felt suffocating, yet at the same time, it was comforting. He glanced over at the familiar statue resting on top of the cooler.

The radio attached to the statue buzzed to life, and a voice said, "Right on time, kid. I've got work for ya."

"Can you wait a sec, Mr. Grizz?" Inigo asked. "I've got friends coming over." The statue did not respond. "Yeah? Good, good." The indigo-haired inkling sat down on a steel beam, and pulled out his phone. Via texted him that she was on her way, but nothing else. To occupy his time, he decided to play a phone game.

After a while, all three of his friends entered the building at the same time. Inigo glanced up from his screen, and smiled.

"Hey there, Inigo!" Yuri greeted. "Ready for a Salmon Run?"

"Yep." The fair-skinned inkling put his phone in his pocket and walked over to the statue. "Alright, Mr. Grizz. Get us on the boat."

"Will do." An elevator suddenly popped up in the middle of the room. The four inklings crowded into it, and once they did, the door shut, leaving them alone in the darkness.

"You know," Octavia started, "the elevators here are very much like the elevators in the towers. Both Inkopolis and Deca."

"Except dark," Bonnie added.

Whirring could be heard as the elevator went down and down, and then it came to an abrupt stop, a hissing sound following it. The floor opened up beneath them to reveal a grate. The inkling slipped into his squid form to slide through, and down he went. He swam through the pipe, and then he popped out at the oceanfront, a trail of indigo ink following him as he launched towards the boat. The four reformed on the boat's deck.

"Well," started Yuri, stretching his arms out, "time to get dressed." The dark-skinned inkling took off his headphones. "I really don't want to ruin these."

Octavia walked over to the clothesline, which had four identical suits hung on it. "I've never really liked these," she said, taking one of them. "They're so… not fresh."

"Well, someone's gotta do the gross jobs," Yuri remarked. "Even they can be fun!"

"Right," Via agreed. "It's practically the only reason why I even do Salmon Runs—it's fun."

"Let's just get dressed," Bonnie interrupted, taking one of the suits. Without another word, she walked inside the ship. Without any arguments, the other inklings proceeded to do so as well. Inigo entered a dressing room and put on the suit. He put his everyday clothes on the rail and walked back out. He threw his hands over the railing, looking out at the sea. Luckily, none of his friends got seasick easily. Except Perry.

When Yuri came out onto the deck, he threw his arms out and stretched. "This breeze feels so fresh, 'ey, Inigo?"

"Yeah…" A frown slipped onto his face. His dream last night still unnerved him.

The dark-skinned inkling seemed to have noticed this. "Is something wrong?" he asked, taking a moment to adjust his hat afterwards.

The indigo-haired inkling did not say anything initially, but he then shook his head. "No," he replied. "I was just thinking of something."

"Lemme guess, Geneva?"

His eyes widened, with a slight blush coming across his face. "How—I-I mean, no!"

"Come on…" A playful smile came across Yuri's face. "You're lying."

"Alright, alright, you're right." Inigo slumped. "I am thinking about Geneva."

"…Any particular reason why?"

"It's nothing, I swear. Just a dream I had last night."

"You're just gonna ignore it?" Inigo nodded, and the other inkling shrugged. "…I guess if that works for you, then so be it."

At that moment, he heard footsteps approaching them. They turned around to see Bonnie coming out onto the deck, sunlight reflecting on her blue eyes. She most definitely put on contacts, since glasses were considered 'a safety hazard' out on salmonid grounds.

"Hey," she greeted. "I'm ready."

"In case you're wondering," Inigo started, trying to muster a smile, "we aren't there yet."

"I figured," the beige-skinned inkling replied. "It usually gets darker by the time we get to…" She turned around to look at the paper plastered onto the entrance below deck, detailing the job. "…The Spawning Grounds."

"That applies to anywhere," the fair-skinned inkling replied. "No one knows exactly why, but being in the presence of salmonids has a strange effect of making it look like it is sunset, or sometimes, night."

"I never would have guessed," the girl said unenthusiastically. In a lighter tone, she then explained, "Via's still getting dressed." In a whisper, she added, "I bet she's putting on make-up."

Why bother? Inigo wanted to point out. It's gonna get ruined anyways. He explained this to his orange-haired friend the first time they did a Salmon Run together, which was a few weeks ago. He did not know how well she listened. He chose not to say anything in response to Bon-Bon's remark. There was really no need to.

"Alright, then," Yuri simply responded, leaning on the railing. "We'll just have to wait."

The indigo-haired inkling looked up at the sky, which was getting ever-so darker. "…We might not have a lot of time left."

More time passed, and the Spawning Grounds started to come within view of the three inklings. Via had still not come out yet, but by the time the land was completely ingulfed in a sunset, Octavia came bursting outside, her hat sloppily put on.

"Sorry!" she apologized. "I got lost."

The three other inklings looked at each other, skeptical about her excuse, but then they all simply shrugged. "It's fine," Inigo then spoke up. "You're right on time, too." Anticipating a launch into the island, they all took the time to change their ink color to a deep purple.

"There," Bon-Bon said. "Now we're all prepared." The four changed into their squid forms, preparing to super jump. And within an instant, purple streams of ink raced across the sky. They landed into a splotch of ink on the ground of the Spawning Grounds, and hid momentarily. When Inigo reemerged, he found himself holding a Splattershot Pro.

"Interesting…" the ponytailed inkling muttered. He looked over at his friends.

"Hey, Via," Yuri started, walking over to the aforementioned inkling, "have any tips on how to use this thing?" He held out an Inkbrush, which he assumed he got for this wave.

"Well, you have to swing it to spread ink," she explained. At that moment, the water began to rise. Just what they needed. "Just holding it does not work. At all. Neither if you just roll it along on the ground."

The dark-skinned inkling gave a nervous smile. "Well… I dunno how this is gonna go, but I'll give it a try."

"I don't think this is gonna go too well," Bonnie interrupted, swinging an Aerospray MG. "Aerosprays do not have a range at all!"

"Not with that attitude, it won't," Yuri encouraged, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You just gotta give it your all."

At that moment, a boat horn blew, signaling the arrival of a boss salmonid. "Guys, we really have to go, now!" Inigo commanded. He shot some ink at the ground to swim around in.

"Right!" All of the inklings went their separate ways, each inking their own paths. Inigo stopped at the edge of the grate, looking around. No salmonids were in sight.

"This way!" Octavia cried. "I could really use some help here!"

Inigo ran back on the ground and slipped into his squid form. He could not ignore a coworker in need, especially when that coworker is his friend. He arrived at the other side of the island to see salmonids jumping onto the platforms, all armed with frying pans. The bronze-skinned inkling backed up as she charged her splatling, and soon enough, ink pellets shot out of it, hitting some of the salmonids. Power eggs flew towards her as each one went down. Bonnie was backing her up, with her Aerospray firing at a rapid pace. Yuri, on the other hand, was chasing after the boss, a Drizzler.

The fair-skinned inkling emerged and looked up at the sky. An armored torpedo flew overhead, so he began to shoot it. Luckily, his aim was true, and the torpedo went down, disappearing into the water. This gave his friend the chance to swing his Inkbrush back and forth at the boss salmonid to finish it off. Soon enough, it burst into three golden eggs.

"Booyah!" Yuri cried. He turned to face the other inklings. "Hey, we got some eggs over here!"

Via gasped and started running over to the platform the spiky-haired inkling was standing on. "Coming!"

"What abou-" Before Bon-Bon could finish her sentence, she tripped and fell into the water. She struggled before she was dragged down to the ocean floor in a cloud of purple. Luckily, she reemerged, but Inigo was more focused on gathering the eggs at the moment. "Help!" she then cried.

"I'll get her," Yuri declared. He turned to the other living inklings. "You two need to get the eggs up there…and find out how many we need, too."

Another horn sounded. "Another boss is coming," the fair-skinned inkling realized. "We're gonna have to act fast."

"That's no problem." She saluted to the dark-skinned inkling and ran off, with Inigo following her soon after. The two inklings made their way up to the basket and plopped the eggs in. They looked at the egg count on the base of the basket. "We need ten eggs," Via read. "That isn't so bad."

"We have two right now, and we'll get three more once that dies," Inigo followed up, pointing over to a Steelhead approaching them.

Octavia looked at it, and smirked. "That's no problem; I have a splatling." She held down the trigger, allowing it to charge up. As they advanced, the boy shot at incoming lesser salmonids. Quickly, though, he had to hide back into the ink. Curse this high-ink consumption. No wonder Geneva never liked these.

The Steelhead stop, and it grunted, the green bomb appearing on its head. Via let go of the trigger, and a stream of ink flew out of the Heavy Splatling. The bomb became covered in more and more purple ink until it exploded, causing the boss salmonid to go down with it.

"Booyah!" the orange-eyed inkling cheered. "Now, we just gotta get to the eggs."

Inigo emerged from the ink and began shooting again. He heard footsteps behind him, assuming them to be Bonnie and Yuri. When there was an opening, he swooped in to grab an egg and quickly snapped back to the main platform. By the time he reemerged, he heard yet another horn. Salmonids were pouring onto the mainland, followed by a Steel Eel. He chucked his egg into the basket and squeezed behind it. It passed by him, making Inigo wonder who it was targeting.

"Watch out!" he called. "Steel Eel coming!"

"What are you standing there for?" Octavia called back. "Shoot it!" She looked behind her as the boss salmonid swooped around the bend, heading towards her. It ran over Yuri in the process.

"I wish I could," he replied, "but these salmonids really want sailor calamari right now." The ponytailed inkling was firing at the creatures coming his way. When he ran out of ink, he had no choice but to jump down onto lower ground. In the form of a squid, he plopped into the ink and swam. He flinched as he swam through the toxic green ink, forcing himself to reemerge. He coughed, looking behind him. He swung around and shot at the incoming salmonids.

Another horn sounded, much to Inigo's dismay. He heard the whirling of a jet overhead, tipping him off to the presence of a Flyfish. He swam up to the basket, hearing his friends' cries for help. Pulling out a bomb, he threw it towards Yuri and Bonnie, both splatted. He hid in the ink to recharge his tank, but he heard the explosion, causing him to let out a sigh of relief. Another horn sounded. When Inigo reemerged, the first thing he noticed was the Steel Eel falling apart.

"I did it!" Bonnie cheered. "I splatted a boss with this thing!"

Figuring that he should probably get over there, Inigo slipped back into the ink and made his way over to where they were fighting. He had to get through a few salmonids in the process, but overall, it went pretty well. That is, until a green beam of ink suddenly pierced him. He let out a squeak as he started running away from the beam. But it was no use; he was a Stinger's target. Soon enough, he splatted. A few moments later, he reemerged in his life preserver.

"Help!" he then cried, inching towards the other inklings. Yuri was already running over towards the Stinger, while Bonnie walked over to him and shot him. He felt himself heal, quickly standing on his own two feet again. He thanked her and went their separate ways. The beam of ink suddenly ceased once Yuri brought it down, so Inigo made his location his next destination. He maneuvered himself over there as best as he could, shooting down salmonids when they came to attack him. He snatched one of the golden eggs and started to head back over to the basket.

Another horn meant another boss. Yet another Steel Eel emerged from the water, and now, its target was Inigo. It slinked towards him, just as he made it to the basket. He let out a cry of alarm and jumped down to the grate. To his dismay, a stream of green ink was falling next to him, and everything around him was just a little target. He looked up. The Flyfish, with two launchers still intact, was firing at his friends. The indigo-eyed inkling so badly wanted to help, but he was becoming cornered.

"Hold on, Inigo!" Via called. "I'm coming!" As the Steel Eel passed her, she ran towards the Flyfish and pulled out a bomb. She threw it towards the open launcher, but it just barely missed. She growled and took one of the packages from her hat. She teared it, and in her hands appeared a bomb launcher. She started throwing them rapidly, all aiming for the Flyfish's open baskets. However, they closed before they got in, and the Flyfish floated around once more.

Inigo, on the other hand, was running low on ink by now. The Steel Eel was inching closer and closer by the second, and he did not know how much longer he'll last. Suddenly, he got an idea. What if he jumped in the water? When he was revived, he should have a full ink tank. Regardless, he was not too entirely sure if that was a good idea. Before he could make a decision, the boss salmonid rammed into him, knocking him into the water.

"Seriously?!" the wavy-haired inkling cried as he went under. When Inigo reemerged onto the grate, he saw the Flyfish crash down to the ground. Another fog horn sounded, much to his dismay.

Bonnie ran over to him with her Aerospray MG and quickly sprayed him with it. Inigo thanked her and immediately grabbed an egg dropped from the Flyfish. He ran back up to the basket when he saw a lure bobbing around in the ink. Maws. Of course, another boss would try to attack him as soon as he recovered. He tried his best to outrun it, managing to put the egg into the basket at the very least.

A glowing green ring hovered in the ink, giving him the cue to throw a bomb there. He pulled out one, filled with deep violet ink, and threw it into the circle. The Maws launched, and it swallowed the bomb. Within an instant, it exploded in purple ink, leaving behind three golden eggs. Bonnie returned from the shore to plop an egg into the basket, when she noticed other eggs lying on the ground. She looked at the ponytailed inkling and gave a thumbs-up. Inigo simply nodded and continued on with the fight.

Two more screams were heard as Yuri and Octavia were splatted. Salmonids flocked them beforehand, and now the horde set their sights on the remaining two.

"Do we have enough eggs?" Inigo asked the girl with double bun, worry laced within his voice. She gave a frantic nod as a responsible. "Well, we have to get to them now."

"There can't be that much time left," Bonnie argued. "We can just wait it out here."

A look of dismay crossed his face, and he threw out his hands. "Do you see how many salmonids there are?! They'll get us before the clock runs out!" Inigo turned around to see a Cohock swinging its pan at him. It hit the side of his head, causing him to explode in green ink.

"Umm…" Inigo heard the rapid fire of the Aerospray MG nearby, and then suddenly, it ceased. The salmonids returned to the ocean, and all the inklings found themselves launching through the air again. They landed in a spawner on the boat, and quickly, all of them reemerged from the ink with no injuries what-so-ever.

"Ooh, crew wipe," Mr. Grizz said through the radio attached to their gear. "Let's see how many golden eggs ya got." Everyone looked at each other nervously, without saying anything. Even Yuri seemed a little upheaved from the failure of the Salmon Run. "13? Not terrible," the raspy voice finally concluded. Bonnie gave out an audible sigh of relief.

"I'm not really surprised," Via admitted, breaking the silence. "When that swarm of salmonids came on land, I knew we were doomed."

"Okay, we lost, but… can we try again?" Yuri asked. "I really want to win this time!"

"I kinda can't," Inigo replied. "I promised Roy that I would be back by three. And it's…" The fair-skinned inkling walked over to a clock hanging over the poster detailing the shifts. "…Not three, but still, it takes a while to get here."

"What are you gonna do with him?" the bronze-skinned inkling asked.

"Ranked battles," he responded. "I think it's supposed to be Rainmaker, then." Rainmaker was Inigo's favorite ranked mode, and the one he was best at. There was just something so satisfying about putting the Rainmaker on the hill, locking it in place.

"Rainmaker?!" Octavia cried. "I'm terrible at it!"

"I like Rainmaker," Bonnie muttered.

"It's not my favorite, but at least I don't suck at it," Yuri commented.

"Rainmaker's my best," Inigo added. Which was a little weird, since it was Geneva's worst. She'd never play with me when that came up.

"So, your point is, you'd like to go back?" the beige-skinned inkling inquired.

"Yeah," he clarified. "I don't want Roy to get mad at me." He shuddered. The last time that happened, Inigo ended up having to get a new phone.

"Understandable," she said. Bon-Bon touched her radio set and then said, "Mr. Grizz, bring us back to Inkopolis."

"Got it." The boat then turned around from the island and started its course back to the place where it all started.

"Guess I'll have to change back," Octavia muttered.

"You don't have to," Inigo pointed out. "Only I have to."

"Well, that Salmon Run was embarrassing. I don't feel like doing another one today."

"Aw, Via…" Yuri started, throwing an arm around the wavy-haired inkling. "You don't need to get yourself down because of it."

"It was still a complete disaster!" she argued, turning into her squid form to escape her friend's grasp. Once she landed on the ground, she slinked away from him, and once she was out of his reach, she transformed back and ran inside the boat. Everyone simply stared at the display.

Eventually, Bonnie just shrugged. "Eh, what can I say? That's Via for ya."

"Well, I'm gonna change. See ya in a little bit," Inigo announced.

The rest of the boat ride went along pretty smoothly, with no interruptions. Once it arrived back at Inkopolis, Inigo and Octavia said their goodbyes to their friends, and they agreed to go look for Roy. The red-haired inkling happily let Via come along, and together, the three of them played Rainmaker with little to no interruptions.

For a day that initially started bad, it turned around, in Inigo's mind.

A/N: Hello! Hoped you liked this chapter. If you did, maybe leave a review. I'll admit, this chapter got progressively harder to write, as I was hit with a bunch of ideas for future chapters... chapters that won't happen for a longgg while. But in the end, I managed to finish. Stay tuned for the next chapter, and Branchwing, out!