Notice: This chapter touches on events of Octo Expansion.

Inigo's PoV

As Inigo drove on the streets of Inkopolis, he glanced at his phone—which he was using as a GPS—every once in a while. The coordinates to Tiffany's apartment were loaded in there. The lady had texted him that she wanted to see him. For what? he wondered.

"You have arrived at your destination," the robotic voice of the phone informed. He parked in front of the building and walked inside. This apartment complex wasn't much different from the one Geneva and Asher lived in, though it was certainly more lively. Pictures of various residents were framed along the walls, which were painted with a variety of colors. Even the receptionist was lively, as her eyes immediately lit up upon seeing the boy.

"Welcome to Chromaments!" the manta ray greeted. "How may I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm here to see Tiffany Teuthis," he requested.

"Teuthis, Teuthis..." She started typing in the name into the computer next to her. "Ah ha! Room 216 is where she lives."

"Thanks."

"No problem! Come back soon!"

He walked over to the elevator, entered it, and pressed a button that made it rise to the second floor. As he waited, thoughts started invade his mind. Please don't be mad, please don't be mad. I would have been killed if I didn't give it to them. The determined faces of the three ladies that attacked him flashed in his mind. And now, the Vigilante was no more. Now, he was just Inigo... again.

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. He stepped into the hallway and started walking down it. Unlike the lobby, the walls were painted orange. He recalled there being up to seven floors, so he started to wonder if each hallway was painted a different color of the rainbow. He didn't have much time to dwell on it, however, as he soon arrived at Tiffany's front door. He raised a hand and started knocking on the wood.

"Hello? Tiffany?" he called. "It's Inigo Sable."

The door opened, and once more, he stared into the lady's dark eyes. "Hi, Inigo. Come on in."

Greatly contrasting the rest of the apartment complex, the walls were painted grey. The boy with a ponytail sat down on a plaid couch, while Tiffany rested in a cushioned leather chair across from it. She picked up her tea and started drinking it.

"So, I heard you don't have that roller I gave you anymore," she started. "Is this true?"

He hesitated. "Umm..."

"I'm taking that as a yes," she deduced after taking a sip of her tea. "What happened?"

"These ladies attacked me, demanding that I give the roller back."

"Describe them."

"They all had green ink." He faced her dark eyes. "Like Marie! Y'know, of the Squid Sisters?"

"I'm aware. Continue."

"Well, one of them looked a lot like my friend. Bronze skin, short hair, orange eyes... you get the idea. She even had dualies! Another lady had a Hero Roller, with black hair and pale skin. I never saw her eyes—she was wearing sunglasses. Though now that I think about it, she kind of reminds me of Callie. The last lady had a Hero Charger. With grey hair and pale skin, she reminds me of Marie. I think her eyes were... gold? I'm not too sure, to be honest." After his description, he cleared his throat and asked, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Boy, you're asking the wrong questions."

"I am?"

Tiffany got up and walked up to his chair, kneeling in front of him. She tapped his nose and continued, "You're the Vigilante; no one can stop you. Not even if you lose your weapon. Those ladies were a test to your commitment. And you failed it."

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again!"

"Good."

It's stolen property. And Sheldon's offering a big reward for its return. The words of Alexis's doppelganger echoed in his head. For a moment, he thought about mentioning it to the red-haired lady, but he ultimately decided against it. There was no way Tiffany could be a thief. She was so kind, even if she was snappy at times. Thus, he was determined to keep her trust. She's done so much for him in such a short period of time; he had trouble imagining where he would be right now without her. I'd still be a loser, still flirting like I used to. "So, what do I do now?" he asked instead.

"I have a new weapon for you," she replied. She pulled out another roller that resembled the new Hero Roller, but in actuality, it appeared to be a repainted Carbon Roller. "It's just a Carbon Roller," she explained, confirming his suspicions, "but this fresh new coat of paint should fool people into thinking you still have your roller."

"Fresh!" Inigo snatched the roller out of her hands and put it away. "Thanks!"

"No problem." She pumped a fist and announced, "Let the Vigilante rise again, rise again to be envied by all!" She lowered it and whispered, "Oh, and don't forget that girl I was talking 'bout at the Splatfest. I still haven't found her."

"Got it." The boy with the ponytail put the new roller away and started leaving the apartment. "See you later."

"You too," she called back. "Keep me notified!"

"I will, I will."

At first, he quickly walked down the hall, eager to get back to his car, but as he neared the exit to Chromaments, some thoughts started popping up in his mind. Now that he had a new roller than looks a lot like the old one, he could become the Vigilante again. Yet, he hated spending so much time away from his friends. But, if it helped him reach his goals, it was a risk he was willing to take. On the other hand, the Rainbow Squids seemed so relieved when he showed up to their table in Inkopolis Square again for the first time in a few weeks. Perhaps the Vigilante should come back tomorrow, then.

The fair-skinned boy crawled into the vehicle and drove closer to the square. He parked at the parking space nearby—cars were not allowed in the square for obvious reasons—and hopped out, running to his next destination. As he journeyed over there, he suddenly had the fear that he would drop his new roller before remembering that it was concealed, making it impossible to drop. In the midst of the heavy breaths he took, he managed to let a sigh of relief escape his lips. At last, he had arrived at Inkopolis Square, stopping to catch his breath and gripping his knees. Afterwards, he rose, and he strolled his way towards the Rainbow Squids.

"Hey, Inigo!" Yuri immediately greeted. "Did you see Pip's story on Squidsagram?"

"...What story?" The indigo-haired inkling pulled out his phone and immediately opened up the social media app, directing himself to Pip's profile. He clicked on their icon, which led to a preview of Pip and another inkling, standing outside of a subway entrance. "This one?" he asked, showing the group his phone screen.

"Yeah, watch it," Octavia confirmed.

"OK." He turned the device back towards him and tapped on the screen, allowing it to play. He could not hear the audio very well, but he still understood what was happening. The two inklings ventured into the subway tunnel, entering a dark area, with only a flashlight illuminating the surroundings. They started talking among themselves when suddenly, the light caught a glimpse of green ink that stained the side of the tunnel. It was edged with strange turquoise ink, almost as if someone had splatted right there.

Inigo turned the volume up and was immediately met with a feminine scream echoing off of the walls. Pip and their friend looked at each other, nervous. Footsteps sounded, steadily getting closer and closer to them. It was then they started screaming expletives and bolted out of the subway tunnel, back into Inkopolis Square. The video ended, and the fair-skinned boy lowered his phone.

"Now ya got it?" Perry asked. "A bunch of squids have been heading down there 'cause of Pip's video, and now everyone's been calling that thing you heard a ghost."

"They've been chased out by the ghost every time," Alexis elaborated. "And I wanna get to the bottom of this."

"Everyone does," Via noted.

"Which is why we've agreed to go down that subway tunnel," Roy concluded.

"What?! Without asking me?!" Inigo exclaimed in disbelief. They almost always consult me on everything!

"I mean..." Bonnie scratched the back of her head. "You haven't been showing up a lot lately."

"Whatever we choose without you still happens to work out," the purple-haired boy pointed out. "So, whatever."

Inigo released the tension from his shoulders and sighed. "Yeah, I guess."

"To be fair, you wouldn't really know what happened while you were gone until we tell you," Bon-Bon considered.

"Mhm," he agreed. He put his hands together and started, "While I don't think this is a really good idea, let's go check out that spooky ghost in the subway!"

"Yeah!" everyone cheered.

They rose from their seats and started heading towards the entrance past the studio, towards the direction of Starfish Drinks. They pushed the gate opened and descended underground, with Roy leading them. He used his phone as a flashlight, a beam shining just below the camera. Unsurprisingly, given the humidity, water dripped off the ceiling, sometimes landed on the group of inklings. Merely an annoyance to them, the curious Rainbow Squids only had but to trek on.

It did not take long from them to find their first sign of life—green ink and turquoise ink was splattered onto the floor, now slowly disappearing. There was less of the former than the latter, an oddity if one assumed that they appeared at the same time.

"This weird-lookin' ink..." Bonnie kneeled down and touched a beige hand to it. The goop stuck to her, dripping off of her fingers. "It's thicker than normal."

"I don't think you should be touching that," commented Alexis, grimacing.

"What? It's just ink," she puzzled, her blue eyes looking back at them.

"You said it yourself, it looks weird," Perry noted.

"Yeah, I did. I'll stop now." She glanced at her hands. "But it's just sticking to me. Hmm..." Bonnie changed her ink color to green and hopped into one of the green puddles, submerging in it as a squid. She emerged a few seconds later, the turquoise ink now absent from her hands. She stepped out of the ink puddle and changed her color back to blue.

"Alright, let's not step in that, then," Inigo concluded, navigating himself around the ink puddles. "Let's keep going."

The Rainbow Squids continued walking, seeing more and more ink puddles as they headed deeper inside, some puddles being more recent than others. Oddly enough, they heard no screams as of yet, puzzling Inigo. That's weird, he noted silently. I would've thought we would hear something by now.

Eventually, they came across a fork in the tunnel, splitting off into three different paths. To the left, straight ahead, or to the right. Roy started heading straight, but the indigo-haired boy was quick to stop him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait," he said. "What if the others want to go another way?"

"Why not this way?" the other boy questioned. "We won't get lost if we keep goin' straight."

"I know, but who knows what fresh things we could find if we go a different way?"

"You're not making sense, Inigo. We're going straight."

"Yeah, it would be better to go straight," Alexis piped up in agreeance.

"I don't know, I kinda wanna explore this whole thing!" Yuri disputed.

"Same," Perry agreed.

"I think we should go straight," Bonnie mused. Via nodded in agreement and looked over at Yuri and Perry.

"Majority rules," she sneered.

"Oh, fine," the purple-haired boy groaned.

"I mean, that's fine with me." The yellow-haired boy simply shrugged.

And thus, the group continued heading the same direction as before, heading deeper into the subway. Some moans could be heard from overhead, sending a chill down the fair-skinned inkling's back. The subway slowly became more and more decorated as they headed deeper in, now being decorated with various posters. Fluorescent lights hung above them, and a few booths and vending machines were set up. The rails the subway trains would ride around on started to become evident.

"Wow," Octavia muttered. "I don't think anyone else has gone this far in."

"Yeah," Yuri agreed. "That has to be a good sign, right?"

"I don't know. It's quiet..." Inigo muttered. "Too quiet."

Suddenly, rapid footsteps sounded from above, causing the Rainbow Squids to freeze in their tracks.

"W-What was that?!" the wavy-haired girl gasped, hiding behind her beige-skinned friend.

"I don't know," Alexis announced. "Stay alert." She then pulled out an orange weapon that appeared to be some kind of shooter.

"What? Alexis! What are you doing?!" Via called.

"Via, don't worry," she assured her sister. "It's just a weapon."

"Well, why did you pull it out?" she demanded.

"What if something jumps out at..." A small piece of notebook paper suddenly floated down on her, getting in her face. She swung her arms to grab it, and the paper crunched in her hand. She unfolded the wrinkled paper and read it. "...'Leave, now.'"

"Ha!" Roy cheered. "So there is a ghost!"

"No, that's a bad thing!" Bonnie cried. "If the ghost wants us to leave, then we should, or else we're probably gonna be dinner."

"You worry too much, Bon-Bon," Perry noted. "I doubt some random ghost would want to hurt us."

"Uh, did you even listen to the videos?!" she argued. "There's always a feminine scream."

"Quote, 'feminine,'" he countered, doing air quotes.

"So by 'us', you meant you and the guys," Octavia concluded.

"Yea... Oh."

Alexis snickered. "See? Now ya got some sense!"

"Let's keep going," Inigo suggested.

"Oh, alright..." Bonnie let out a sigh, and they moved onward.

The tunnel gradually became more and more open, making way for even more posters to decorate the walls. He spotted a security camera or two, but he figured it was nothing serious. No one really used this particular subway anyways, so he figured that the cameras would be practically useless. The entire time, though, footsteps sounded above them, putting the entire group on edge. Alexis had her weapon out at all times, ready to fire if needed. Of course, they spotted the occasional green and turquoise puddles, but there was no life to be found outside of them.

Suddenly, after some minutes of walking, Roy held out his arm. "Look," he whispered, pointing to a platform above them.

Standing on top of something raised was a funny-looking inkling girl about their age, with curly, magenta hair and matching magenta eyes. Her light brown hands beheld a small, textured object, but Inigo couldn't make out the exact details. Her clothes were black and leather, with her boots doubling as heels. Two yellow bands circled around one wrist and one ankle. A glowing, blue sea cucumber beckoned her inside the subway cart. She put the object away and walked inside. With a hiss, the train sped off, leaving the Rainbow Squids behind in the smoke. They coughed and moved their arms around to dispel the gas.

"That was...a bad idea," the indigo-haired boy concluded, still coughing.

"But we learned something," Bonnie noted. Her words were interrupted with a cough. "That door there leads to somewhere."

"You're right." Yuri smiled. "Let's check it out!"

"Yeah, it can't be that bad," Octavia agreed.

"Then it's settled. Let's super-jump up there," Roy commanded. Everyone nodded, and, turning into squids, they flew up to the platform. The red-haired inkling happened to land on the raised platform the mysterious girl was standing on before, and on contact, a glass barrier appeared around him. "Woah!"

"Roy, what's goin' on?!" Perry demanded, bewildered.

"I dunno! I..." He studied the holographic screen that had popped up in front of him. Inigo went behind him to read whatever text had popped up, only to find out it was not in Inkling. However, there were pictures of weapons on the screen. "I think it wants me to choose a weapon?"

"A weapon?" Alexis stood next to the boy with the ponytail, studying the screen. "I don't trust this thing," she muttered, eyes narrowing.

"There's a Jet Squelcher, a Rapid Blaster Pro, and an Octobrush," Yuri commented.

"So, which one will ya pick?" asked Inigo.

"Personally, I wouldn't pick any of them."

The Rainbow Squids looked around for the source of the new voice. Suddenly, something, or rather, someone, dropped from the ceiling. Landing on her feet, a green-haired inkling girl rose from a kneeling position to a standing one, and now she stared at them with tired eyes. Her fair skin seemed to be paling, and she wore a classic hero suit, accented with sky blue lights, alongside a battered cape. In one hand was a Hero Shot.

"I told you, you need to leave," she said. "It's too dangerous down here, and I don't want any of you squids getting hurt today."

A/N: And here we are! Part one of the Season 2 finale at last. I've always planned for the Rainbow Squids to explore the Deepsea Metro, but what would originally happen was totally different. It was only going to be one chapter, and they brought home a sanitized octoling instead of what they will be doing next chapter. Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, as the story evolved, I ultimately decided against it, leading to what we have today. I hope you like it! Stay tuned for part two tomorrow, and Branchwing, out!