As always, most of Mr. Grizz's dialogue is taken from the game.

Octavia's PoV

"I can't wait!" Alexis cheered from in her room. "The new Splatfest is tomorrow!"

"Flight vs. Invisibility, huh?" Octavia, who was sitting on her bed, remarked. Personally, she had picked Team Invisibility. "Hopefully, it shouldn't be as lop-sided as Mayo vs. Ketchup." She still shivered at how hard it was to get into a match against Team Ketchup members. Even in a room as bright and vibrant as her sister's.

"Didn't Mayo win?" the young inkling recalled. "Sure, it didn't have that many squids in it, but they still won!"

"Yeah, I know. But still." Via lied down on the orange-and-white checkered blanket and put her hands on her belly. "Those kinds of Splatfests suck sometimes."

"Why?" she asked. "That one was my first one, and it was great!"

"It kinda feels like everyone is against you when the team you pick isn't popular." The bronze-skinned inkling lifted a hand off herself and waved it around. "And if you pick the popular team, you play against people of the same team a lot."

"Well… those matches are still fun!" Alexis argued. "It's like any other turf war. They don't have the competitiveness of true Splatfest matches."

"You don't like variety every now and then?" she pondered. "It's why I played ranked battles a lot. Sometimes, I get sick of turf war, but I still wanna ink stuff. And, the rotation changes every few hours, so you'll never get bored of them!"

"Ranked is too competitive for me. I just wanna have fun, and turf wars are just so addicting!"

"They are, they are," the wavy-haired inkling agreed, twirling the long tentacle around her fingers. "Variety isn't a bad thing though."

"Speaking of them," her sister started, lifting herself off a red bean bag, "I have to go."

"To where?"

"Uh… I told my friend I would meet up with her after school today," Alexis replied. "And now that it's after school, I have to go now."

"Oh, okay. That's fine." Via smiled. "See ya later."

"You, too." Alexis dashed out of her room, and after some footsteps, she exited the house and was gone. The elder inkling decided that it was time to get out of the house as well. Her mind drifted back to the failed Salmon Run from a while ago. She had done a few other Salmon Runs since then, but none of them went as badly as that one. She smirked. It was time to get payback.

She, too, left the house and started walking towards the square. She could not tell where Alexis was anymore, since she was far ahead of her, but it did not matter. She was with her friends, she knew that. Today, Octavia's mind was set on Grizzco Industries. She arrived at the familiar dark entryway, with the strange music played inside emitting out of it. She took a step into the building, letting the dim lights settle in around her.

"Right on time, kid. I've got work for ya," the statue greeted. She frowned. It was always the same greeting he gave whenever she entered. Sometimes, she wondered how much Mr. Grizz actually cared about his workers.

"I'm going freelance," Via said to the statue.

"Then get on the boat," Mr. Grizz instructed. "Some other kids should be comin' pretty soon."

"Alright, I'll get on it." Octavia headed to the elevator, and a few moments later, she appeared on a boat. Looking around, she saw a few suits hanging on the clothing line spread across the ship. Oddly enough, one suit was missing. "Hello?" she then called, taking one of the suits. "Is anyone there?"

"Octavia?" someone answered. A jolt went through her when she heard her own name. Who was on this ship with her right now? Soon enough, a familiar boy with amber eyes emerged from below the deck.

"Will?" she asked. She had not seen the boy since the last Splatfest, and to be honest, she thought she would not see him again.

"Yeah, that's my name." He took off his cap, revealing his slicked-back hair, and dipped his head and winked before putting it back on. "What brings you here?"

"Well, this place gives me money," Via started to explain, "so I work here. Sometimes. It can be gross." She muttered the last sentence with a hint of bitterness.

"Hey! Salmonids are cute!" Will protested.

"Whatever." Via started to head towards the entrance to below the ship. "I'm changing. See you in a little bit."

By the time the bronze-skinned inkling had gotten fully dressed, two more inklings holding suits passed her as she was heading back up. She did not know them, but with how excited they were, she assumed the two were friends. Or, they're just excited. She couldn't exactly determine which was correct. When she got back on the deck, the boat had already detached itself from Inkopolis. It was drifting farther and farther away from her home, and the smell of the salty sea drifted around her. She leaned against a wall and crossed her arms, letting out a sigh.

"You don't look excited," Will remarked.

"I'm not," she confirmed. "I just wanna beat up salmonids for what happened a week or two ago."

"…What happened?"

"My friends and I got utterly destroyed by them! Me especially!" the wavy-haired inkling cried, throwing her hands out. "If splatlings didn't suck, then maybe we could have been fine!"

"You don't have to worry about them today." The amber-eyed inkling walked over to the poster dictating the weapons available to them today and put a rubber finger on it. "No splatlings whatsoever on here."

"Well, that's one good thing. Let me see that." Will stepped out of the way for the older inkling to look at the poster. Her mind drifted to Bonnie when she saw that the Classic Squiffer was a possible weapon. She would love today, she silently remarked. Maybe I could convince her to do a Salmon Run with me after this one.

Octavia heard more footsteps, and this time, another inkling emerged from the ship. "I'm ready!" she exclaimed. Her violet hair was tied into shredded pigtails, and one of her teeth was chipped.

"We have a while before we get to the Marooner's Bay," the boy informed. "It hasn't gotten dark yet."

"Aw." The girl, who was clearly young, plopped onto the ground. "I wish it didn't take so long to get there." She then squinted at Via. "Y'know, you remind me of a girl I know. Except older. And your hair's more of a plain old orange, and not a yellow-orange."

"I do, now?" The bronze-skinned inkling raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah! There's a girl in my grade named Alexis. We're not friends, though." The violet-haired inkling smiled. "Just acquaintances!"

"…What school do you go to?" Though she was sure she was referring to her sister, she just wanted to make sure.

"West Inkopolis High School, why?"

"Yeah, that's my sister you're talking about," Octavia revealed. "Of course we look alike."

"Oh, cool," she simply said. "My name's Maggie, by the way." The girl got back up to her feet. "I came here with my friend. Her name's Bella." She glanced over at the entryway. "She's still down there."

"Eh, I don't know anyone there," Will commented. "I go to Central Inkopolis."

The wavy-haired inkling looked up at the sky. The previously blue sky now bloomed in shades of pink and orange. She gasped, causing the other two inklings present to look up at the sky, too. Maggie started to call for her friend's name, and soon enough, another young inkling with short pink hair barreled up onto the deck.

"So sorry!" Bella apologized. "I was just looking at the pictures under the deck!"

"It's fine," her friend assured. "It's the timing that counts."

Octavia looked past the ship and into the distance. Some cliffs came into view, and near it was an abandoned ship stuck to a chunk of land. Marooner's Bay. The orange-eyed inkling was never a big fan of the area, with the propellers especially bothering her. They always messed her up. The boat soon stopped, and it was soon time to super jump. Everyone's ink color shifted to a nice orange, and a few seconds later, everyone launched off the ship.

Via landed near the square where the egg basket would pop up, and she emerged from her puddle of ink with a Splat Brella in her hands. She shot a stream of ink out of it just to test the waters, and soon the canopy came up to protect her.

"Just having it up isn't effective for inking," Bella advised. The older inkling turned around to face the girl currently wielding the Splat Roller. "You have to pull the trigger again… and again… and again."

"Good call." Octavia put down her shield and started firing as much as she could. It was no Undercover Brella, but from what she has seen, it still fired at a good pace. She smiled. She knew for sure that this run would turn out better than the last one with her friends.

"The egg basket is ready and waiting," Mr. Grizz informed through the radio. The bronze-skinned inkling could faintly hear the mechanism shifting to reveal the aforementioned basket. "Now, go get me some golden eggs!" A foghorn sounded, and then the raspy voice commanded, "You've got a boss salmonid incoming. Do your job!"

"Over here!" Will called. With the ink the group had put down, she slipped into it to swim over to where he was at. A Flyfish whirled ahead, floating around before it stopped to open its launchers. "Now! Throw a bomb!" He himself threw a bomb at one of the launchers, and it managed to land. Via emerged from the orange ink to throw a bomb at the other launcher. She succeeded like her teammate, and the boss salmonid went down soon after it launched its missiles.

Octavia started to run as the green targets appeared on the ground. She ran back over to the egg basket and watched as orange ripples made their way through the ink, heading towards her location. She smiled. As long as one egg from the Flyfish was in here, they would be good.

"Woah, woah, another one!" another voice called. Via walked over to the edge of the bow and looked down at the sand. A Steel Eel had emerged from the water, and Maggie was running from it, the Classic Squiffer in her hands. She made her way on the abandoned ship and looked down at her weapon. "Things are going badly! I barely know how to use this thing!"

"Maybe you should try staying on high ground," the bronze-skinned inkling advised. She looked over at the boss salmonid, whose eyes were set on the young inkling. "…Though, you might wanna run." Maggie nodded furiously and slipped back into the ink to run. The girl with pigtails dropped down to a pier, so the Steel Eel curved around the ship. When the salmonid manning the machine came within range, she began shooting at it until it exploded into orange ink. The other machine parts came crashing down and disappeared within an instant. "Come back up, Maggie," Via called. "It's safe." She then proceeded to grab the eggs the Steel Eel dropped.

"U-Uh, okay!" Via heard Maggie arrive on the top of the ship, followed by the charging and firing of the Classic Squiffer. "I'm best staying up here, like you said. I'll take your word for it," she then told her.

"Good." Once she was finished putting the eggs in the basket, she started to search for another boss salmonid, its arrival marked with yet another horn. She heard the roar of an engine growing near, cluing her to the presence of a Scrapper. The wavy-haired inkling looked around, her orange eyes darting around the area. The sound grew louder and louder, and the girl looked behind her. She started shooting it until sparks flew out of the machine the salmonid road, and the metal slumped. She swung around it and shot it until it golden eggs burst out. "There's more eggs over here!" she shouted before taking one herself.

"Well, we need help here!" she then heard Bella call. Octavia made her way over to the opposite side of the ship to see two Steelheads closing in on her and Will. They launched their bombs, and the two inklings dove out of the way. Soon enough, Maggie arrived next to her.

"What do I do?!" she cried, firing her charger rapidly.

"Charge up a shot and aim for the bombs," Via commanded. She noticed other salmonids closing on them, the ones that are much, much weaker. "I'll deal with them."

"Um… alright!" The girl with pigtails lifted her squiffer, and she stepped back as the boss salmonids wandered around. In the meantime, the bronze-skinned inkling shot at the Chums and Cohocks coming their way, easily bringing them down. She heard a grunt, followed by the firing of the Classic Squiffer. One of the Steelheads exploded, and three golden eggs floated to the ground.

Regarding the other one, Bella tried doing a vertical swing with her roller, and succeeded somewhat. Orange ink now spotted the green bomb it was charging, and quickly did another bomb come crashing down on the ship. Bella screamed as she was caught in the explosion. Will, who narrowly evaded the explosion, gasped, and started to shoot where she had splatted. It was in vein, though, as several Smallfries assaulted him, causing him to blow up in green ink, too.

"Time for the shield." Octavia pulled out the canopy and positioned herself where she could get both fallen co-workers when it launched off of the handle. Understandably, salmonids started to attack the shield, green ink splatting onto it. Soon enough, she saw the canopy detach from the main body of the Brella. It managed to revive Will before another Chum hit it, breaking it. In the background, she heard the second Steelhead explode into bits of metal and orange ink.

"Booyah!" the amber-eyed inkling exclaimed, taking the moment to revive Bella. He snatched one of the golden eggs and hopped on the lift to return to the egg basket. Once the area was cleared of salmonids for the most part, all of the other inklings present took the eggs back to the basket, one at a time. Quickly, more boss salmonids breeched the surface and began their attack on the inklings.

Notably, a green beam of ink shot through the air, surprising Via for a moment. She turned around to see a Stinger towering above the ship. She started to make her way over when the pots it stood on started to come crashing down. Soon enough, she could see it no more, and she heard the ping of golden eggs appearing. She smiled and arrived to collect them.

The rest of the wave went normally, with the team working together to bring down boss salmonids. Whenever one of the workers went down, every did their duty and revived fallen co-workers. With the quota already met, Octavia was confident that this Salmon Run was going to be a successful one. Soon enough, the egg basket went down into the ground, and the salmonids started to retreat.

"We did it!" Maggie exclaimed. "We made it through a wave!"

"Don't get too cocky," Will advised. "Everything could turn bad the next wave."

The team started to cover the green ink back up with orange ink, when they were launched back to the egg basket. When the wavy-haired inkling reemerged from it, she found herself holding the weapon belonging to her own friend. The Classic Squiffer. Nothing particularly interesting happened as the countdown started and the egg basket appeared once more. All she did was ink until the horn sounded once again.

The second wave went similarly to the first, except the first boss salmonid to appear this time was a Maws. It caught Maggie, who now held a Splat Roller, off guard, and she was gobbled up once Maws made its move.

"Oh no!" Bella cried. She pulled out a bomb filled with orange ink and chucked it towards the green rings that appeared around Octavia. She jumped out of the way, letting the boss salmonid eat the grenade instead. Orange ink covered the area around where the bomb had landed as golden eggs floated down from Maws's remains. "There, now we're good!"

"What about me?!" the fallen co-worker cried, emerging from the ink as a life preserver. "Someone revive me!"

"Oh, yeah." With the Splash-o-matic she now held, the short-haired inkling shot the life preserver a few times, and her friend bounded right back up.

"Now," started Will, twirling the Splat Brella in his hands, "we can fight some more."

"Then let's get to it." Everyone looked at each other and nodded, and then they charged towards the attacking salmonids. Boss salmonids fell, and from there, there was a steady stream of golden eggs flowing from the battlefield to the egg basket. The group met the quota early on and being splatted was rare in this wave.

Soon enough, the egg basket disappeared once again, and everyone cheered. They launched back to the spawn points, and Via appeared once more, this time with the Splat Roller in her hands. The land around them shrunk, and darkness quickly fell over the land. Uh oh, the bronze-skinned inkling thought. This can't be good.

"An event!" Maggie exclaimed. "I wonder what's gonna happen!"

"I hope we see Grillers," Bella enthused. "I love those!"

"Grillers?" A grimace crossed Octavia's features. "I hate them."

"Whatever." The short-haired inkling leaned against the railing. "Let's just stay close."

"Yeah, good idea," Will agreed. He started charging the Classic Squiffer. "Just in case."

"The salmonids are restless," Mr. Grizz noticed. At that moment, glowing bugs started dancing around Maggie. She squeaked, trying to swat them away. "Oh, I see why—there are glowflies here. Once they start glowing, buckle up."

"Ugh, glowflies," Via remarked. "They suck."

"Inkcoming!" Bella yelled. Running next to her friend, she put up the shield of the brella she was holding as the salmonids started to swarm onto the bow. The canopy soon detached itself, and it started to roll through the red-eyed salmonids. Will, on the other hand, started firing charged shots as much as he could. The orange-eyed inkling decided to help by swinging her roller down, letting any salmonid coming their way to be crushed. As soon as the short-haired inkling took down an incoming Goldie, the glowflies on Maggie dispersed and flew over to Will.

"Dear cod," he muttered, pressing tightly against the railing. Via saw panic swarm in his eyes as his aim became messy. She ran over to him and brought down the Splat Roller, slowly inching towards the grates connecting one side of the ship to the other.

"I'll clear a path, and maybe we can get on the other side," she explained.

"Is that really a good idea?" Maggie questioned. "We haven't met the quota, and going over there would just make it harder."

The wavy-haired inkling's shoulders relaxed, jaw falling open a little bit as she realized her mistake. For a moment, she felt dumb. Dumb for thinking her plan was a good one. Maggie had a point—they would certainly fail if they proceeded with her plan. It was not until she dropped the Splat Roller when she returned to her senses. She gasped as salmonids swarmed around her and Will and picked the roller back up once she shook off the disbelief. She circled around the olive-skinned inkling and crushed the salmonids under her roller.

"Another Goldie!" Bella announced. She started shooting it as it lumbered towards the group, and she brought it down like she did with the first one. Golden eggs floated to the ground, and the group took the brief opportunity to pop them into the basket. The glowflies around Will disappeared, now appearing on the short-haired inkling.

"Jokes on you, salmonids!" she jested, sticking a tongue out. "I have my trusty shield with me!" The canopy of the brella flared out, and soon enough, it launched towards the salmonids. "…Or maybe not," she murmured, losing her previous bravado.

"Just try to get away," Will commanded. "I'll shoot the Goldie once it pops up."

"And for the time being, I'll be your steamroller," Octavia added. With the roller still down on the ground, she walked over to Bella and stood in front of her, standing tall. With the younger inkling directly behind her, the salmonids charged head-first into her roller, and they all splatted. She smirked. The ones smart enough to go around her were splatted by Maggie and Bella instead.

Soon enough, she saw a flash of gold in the distance. The Goldie. The girls backed up, allowing it to come within range of the Classic Squiffer Will was holding. Soon, a stream of orange pierced the air, and the Goldie exploded into orange ink alongside it. Everyone grabbed the eggs and tossed them into the egg basket.

"We only need… two more eggs," Maggie read. "So, one more Goldie to shoot down!"

"That's good, 'cause I see another one already," Will commented. He charged up the squiffer again and held it up. "Just needs to come closer…"

The bronze-skinned inkling's eyes widened when she saw a glowing bug fly past her face. And then another. And another. Soon, she saw the salmonids swarming towards her. It was then she realized that she was the creatures' next target.

"Oh, no you don't!" She slammed down her roller, a wave of orange ink sweeping towards the crazed salmonids. Ink splatted onto them, and the other girls were able to finish the injured salmonids off. Without any more commands, they did as Via hoped—take down the salmonids rushing towards her. She gritted her teeth as the sound of buzzing grew loud in her ears. She was determined to make it through the night.

Will shot down the boss salmonid, leaving behind golden eggs. Yet, the glowflies around her still did not disperse. She frowned. "Go away already," she muttered, using a free hand to swat one away. Maggie and Will went past her in order to collect the eggs, but she grew nervous again as another golden glow appeared on the horizon. She took a few steps forward, the salmonids running towards her still being crushed by the roller. All of a sudden, the glowflies around her disappeared, and the salmonids turned to Will.

"Again?!" he cried. Via ran over to him, rolling over the Chums in her path. Her eyes widened when she noticed the net containing the golden egg, still on her back.

"If you still have an egg…" she started, trailing off. "…Then we still need one more to meet the quota."

"I'll get it," Bella said. A Snatcher snuck up on the remaining egg, snickering. "Shoo," she hissed, shooting the thief with orange ink. She swiped the egg and threw it into the egg basket. "There! Now the quota is met!"

"I still nee-" Will's voice was cut off when three Chums swung their frying pans at him simultaneously, causing him to splat. The glowflies around him disappeared, and now they surrounded Maggie. She screamed and started to shoot wildly. Octavia, too, started to swing her Splat Roller wildly at an attempt to ward off the salmonids. In the process, she managed to revive Will once his life preserved bobbed up to the surface. When she whacked his head instead of the ground, the bronze-skinned inkling put the roller down on the ground to stay there, restarting her previous method.

The glowflies continued to cycle through the inklings until the sky grew brighter again. The eyes of the salmonids lost their devilish glow, and all of them returned to the sea.

"We did it!" Maggie cheered. "We survived!"

"We would have survived anyways," Octavia remarked, "but yeah, we survived."

"Well done," Mr. Grizz congratulated. "That's the last of 'em. Now get back to the boat." All of the inklings transformed into a squid, preparing to super jump. Promptly, everyone launched off the island, their target the boat. When Via landed on the vessel, she bowed and then stretched.

"Woo," she huffed. "We're done." And I got my payback.

The radio on the boat started to buzz to life, and then the familiar voice said, "Let's see… You harvested 43 golden eggs this time. Nice haul."

"Thanks, Grizz!" Maggie chirped.

"Can he even hear you?" Will pondered.

"I dunno," the pigtailed inkling replied, shrugging. "Maybe. But nothing's better than showing your appreciation!"

"So, who all's gonna stay for the next round?" Bella queried, pounding a fist into her hand. "Can't wait to beat up more salmonids."

"I'm going back," Octavia answered. "I've done what I needed to do." She took off the workers' hat. "I don't need to be here anymore."

And with that, the orange-eyed inkling returned to Inkopolis with her revenge fulfilled.

A/N: You may have noticed that I updated this chapter on a Monday. Why? Well, last night, I was playing on the Marooner's Bay stage and realized I made a mistake - the propeller lifts from Salmonid Smokeyard snuck their way into Marooner's Bay in this chapter! So, I took the time today to remove all references to the aforementioned lifts. Luckily, there weren't as many references as I thought, but it's possible I might have missed one. Hopefully, that clears things up. See you on Sunday, and Branchwing, out!