Yuri's PoV

As Yuri stepped out of the Deca Tower, Yvonne suddenly jumped out at him, throwing her hands up towards the sky, and a startled scream escaped his lips.

"Yvonne!" he gasped. "Don't scare me like that!"

"My apologies." She lowered her hands and placed them behind her back. "You were the first member of the Rainbow Squids I see since coming here today."

He chuckled. "It's fine, it's fine. If it were Roy, he'd be chasing you through the streets right about now."

"Yes, he is quite scary," she admitted. "Now, my question: do you want to do the Salmon Run?"

"Salmon Run, eh? Is it open?"

"Of course! I would not ask you otherwise."

He nodded. "Guessing no one in Octa Prisma wanted to come?"

"Yes... They busy with their own things." After her brief lament, Yvonne perked right back up, grabbing Yuri's hand. "Let us go! I do not want to make Mr. Grizz wait."

They ran into Grizzco Industries, where the bear statue proceeded to greet them before going silent. They stepped inside one of the elevators, waiting for other inklings to enter. A few minutes later, he was surprised to find two octolings entering instead—Trace and Victor. They were talking to each other in Octarian.

Purple eyes fell on the duo, and Victor gasped. "Oh! You two are here!"

"We are!" Yvonne confirmed. "I am happy to see more octolings here."

"We just finished training," Trace explained. "I still do not understand why we are hunting salmonid eggs."

"For money, duh," Yuri replied. "Why else would we? It's the reason why you do a job in the first place."

He frowned. "Is that the only reason?"

"Lighten up, Trace," Victor remarked, patting him on the back. "This is what the inklings do. If they find it fun, then so should we."

"Yes! It is fun!" the girl with the pigtails corroborated. "I think you will like Salmon Run."

Trace huffed. "We will see."

The door slammed shut behind them, and Yuri saw the octoling boys jump at the sound. The elevator creaked as they descended, eventually coming to a shuddering stop. With a hiss, the floor beneath them opened up to reveal a grate, and everyone turned into their cephalopod forms to slip through it. Moments later, they arrived on the deck of a ship. Yuri looked out towards Inkopolis. The Deca Tower rose high into the sky, Inkopolis Tower just behind it. And now, they would be leaving it. Within an instant, the boat started to drift out into the sea, the skyline growing smaller and smaller.

"I heard Eden is scared of water," Victor commented, leaning against the railing. "I want to confirm it, but I won't lie, she is a little scary to talk to."

Yuri raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you two on the same team?"

"Yeah, but we have not been together for very long," he reminded him. "I would not say we are good friends...yet."

"We are trying to be a better team," Trace interjected, joining them. "This is one effort."

"Wouldn't it better to bring Eden and Valerie, too?" the spiky-haired inkling puzzled.

Now, it was Victor's turn to speak. "They were not available."

The octoling with the mohawk sighed. "A shame..."

"A shame indeed," Yuri agreed. A smile touched his lips. "But hey, you got us now, right?" He searched the deck for Yvonne, but he saw no sign of her. "Speaking of us...where's Yvonne?"

"That girl?" Victor crossed his arms. "I think she went below deck."

"We need to change into our uniforms," Trace instructed. Yellow-green eyes fell on the inkling. "Do you know the way?"

"Of course! Follow me!"

Yuri opened the door for the two octolings, and together, they went below the deck, Yuri relying on his navigation skills to lead the way. Eventually, they reached the dressing room, yet Yvonne was still nowhere in sight. He picked some medium-sized uniforms off the shelves and handed them over to the two boys.

"I hope they fit." He patted the shelves. "There's more here if it doesn't."

"I think they will," Trace said. He studied the uniform. "...It might be a little short, though."

"We're not that much shorter than you, you know," Victor added.

Yuri shrugged. "Hey, one size fits all."

Trace sighed. "Fine." The boys proceeded to enter separate changing rooms, and a few minutes later, they stepped out of them, wearing their Grizzco uniforms. Yuri adjusted his hat and signaled the octolings to follow him. They complied, and in no time at all, they arrived back on the deck of the boat. It took him a few seconds to spot Yvonne—she was already suited up, studying a piece of paper stuck to the wall.

"All weapons are random today," she revealed. "I hope I get the Hydra Splatling one wave."

"That weapon is slow, is it not?" Trace interjected. "You want mobility, especially when fighting salmonids."

Yvonne giggled. "You are needing confidence, Trace. It is my best weapon. I can do well with it."

He huffed. "We will see."

As they approached Marooner's Bay, the sky started to turn from a brilliant blue to a bold orange, clouds dotting the sky. In the distance, a giant ship sunk into the sandbar, and just barely, he could spot some docks outstretching from the ship. Towers of giant food rose high into the sky, colorful against the backdrop of rocky cliffs. They approached the sandbar, and the ship came to a stop. Yuri's leg started to bounce, itching for a fight. He was ready!

Victor, on the other hand, was curiously not as enthusiastic. Yuri could tell he was nervous, worry etched into his face as he stared out at the stage.

"C'mon," he encouraged him, patting his back. "I'm sure Mr. Grizz arranged an easy job for us to do. We'll be back before you know it."

"I know," he acknowledged. "I just have something else on my mind, that is all."

"What are we waiting for?" Yvonne chirped. "Let us go!"

"Yes, we must be going," Trace agreed.

Now that they were close enough to Marooner's Bay, they changed their ink color to an indigo color and super-jumped to the stern of the ship, landing around the egg basket. A few seconds later, Yuri emerged from the ink to find himself holding a Splash-o-matic in his hands. Patch's face came to mind upon seeing the weapon, and he couldn't help but smile.

A foghorn started, marking the beginning of the wave. Yuri scanned the shore, but Yvonne was already barreling down the ship, a thin trail of ink following her. Immediately, she swung the Inkbrush, toppling a Stinger's tower over before it even had the chance to shoot out a beam of piercing green ink. A light shone where it once stood, and Yvonne picked up a golden egg, swimming back to the egg basket to plop it inside. Yuri started to swim towards the shore himself, picking up one of the remaining golden eggs and shooting down lesser salmonids along the way.

When he returned, he spotted neither Trace nor Victor. He started to wonder where they could've run off to when a glowing green ring appeared around his feet, the soles of his boots sticky with salmonid ink. Summoning all his might, he leaped out of the circle, narrowly avoiding the jaws of a Maws. It sank into the ink moments later, snapping its mouth full of sharp teeth. A green trail began to chase Yuri around the egg basket, but this time, he was prepared. Once the Maws came to a stop, he placed a splat bomb underneath his feet and rolled out of the glowing green ring. The boss salmonid lunged, swallowing the bomb and splatting it, leaving three golden eggs behind in the indigo explosion. After throwing the egg from the shore inside the basket, he placed the next three eggs inside as well.

Hearing some shouting from the docks, he peered down to see a Steel Eel emerging from the water, the machine groaning as it heaved forward, its sights set on an unknown target. His eyes drifted further, and he spotted a panic-stricken Victor running away from the Steel Eel. Though he couldn't hear what he was saying, Yuri could only assume it was a cry for help.

He was going to wait until the pilot emerged to jump down and splat the boss salmonid, but he was forced to jump off early as he heard missiles approaching him. Before they could land, he leaped off the ship, immediately pressing his back against the hull as the Steel Eel slithered past. Eventually, the pilot appeared from beneath the murky water, eyelids heavy as it felt its mask. He pointed the Splash-o-matic at it, but it didn't even blink, instead focusing on its target. In an instant, he fired, high-speed ink pelting it. Still, it did not flinch, taking the brunt of the ink without showing any signs of pain. Yuri was about to finish it off when he felt something bite into his heels. Wincing, he looked down at his feet to see smallfries jumping around, one hanging off of the back of his boot. He fired the Splash-o-matic at his feet to splat them, leaving power eggs behind. He checked his boot for damage before running after the Steel Eel, determined to splat it.

The Steel Eel had started to climb up the ship, though it hadn't gotten very far before ink pierced through the pilot, splatting it. Without anyone to guide it, the machine crashed to the ground, disappearing and leaving a trail of indigo ink behind. Yuri looked towards the source of the shot, and standing on the platform above him was Trace, an E-liter 4K in his hands.

"Dude, that was overkrill," he muttered, unimpressed.

"It still splatted," he defended, stoic as ever. "Now, get the golden eggs. We must meet the quota."

"The quota's pretty low," he commented as he picked one egg up. "But the more the merrier, am I right?"

"Indeed." Together, they swam back to the egg basket, placing them inside.

Trace swam off to grab the remaining egg, and a propeller lift rose up the stern of the ship, Yvonne and Victor bolting off of it to place their own eggs in the egg basket. Some smallfries and a chum had arrived with them, so Yuri splatted them before they could splat his coworkers. Once they were gone, Victor leaped off the edge, leaving just Yvonne and Yuri.

"Victor is eager," the former commented.

"Yeah," the latter agreed. "Should we help him?"

"No," she simply replied. "He will be fine."

"If you say so." Besides, if anything went wrong, Yuri and Yvonne would be there to back him up, if Trace didn't reach him first.

Yuri looked out towards the docks again to spot another Stinger emerging from the water, looking around before shooting a green beam towards the ship's bow. In a panic, he jumped down and began swimming towards the Stinger, emerging once he was close enough to fire and shot it down. Before it could shoot another Sting Ray, the tower it sat on collapsed to the ground, leaving behind three golden eggs. He took one of them and swam back to the egg basket, splatting lesser salmonids along the way. Yvonne was gone by the time he returned, but where she went to was unimportant. At least someone had taken down the Flyfish.

The rest of the wave proved uneventful, as it ended without much fanfare. Yuri walked back up the ramp, towards the egg basket, as Victor let out a whoop, putting his hands behind his head. The dark-skinned inkling looked down at his Splash-o-matic. It had served him well, but alas, he could not keep it. Though, he was tempted to pull one out for turf wars later. He hadn't used it in years, but it's nothing a quick upgrade couldn't fix.

Yuri turned into a squid and shot up into the sky, super-jumping towards the egg basket again. Soon enough, he found himself holding a much heavier weapon—a Hydra Splatling. Trace and Yvonne both received Tri-Sloshers, while Victor held a Grizzco Blaster. The boy with the afro tried scouting ahead, but as the tide rose, he forgot to transform back into a kid, and he ended up falling through the grate, landing in the water and dissolving a few seconds later. A life preserver then popped up where he had fallen off, and Trace swung his slosher at him, splattering ink onto him and reviving him.

"Sorry," Victor apologized. "I did not think I would land in water."

"It happens," Yvonne assured him. "You are fine."

A foghorn sounded, and a Flyfish rose out of the water, hovering around before opening its launchers. It fired several missiles into the sky, targeting the group and forcing them to scatter. Green ink splattered onto the land in which they once stood, and Yuri had only gone further from the approaching salmonids. Nonetheless, he charged up the Hydra Splatling and inked the area back up. He crossed the bridge before charging it up again, though he was interrupted as a Steelhead launched a bomb towards him, forcing him to cancel the charge and run away. Ink splattered onto his back, and even though it stung, he would not go down just yet.

Near the boss salmonid, Victor shot at his feet, obliterating any chums and smallfries that ran towards him. The Steelhead prepared another bomb, but this time, Yuri was prepared. Before it could launch it, he released the trigger on the Hydra Splatling, bullets speeding out of the barrel as he aimed it upwards. Moments later, it exploded, allowing his team to take the golden eggs back to the egg basket.

Victor splatted some more salmonids and laughed. "Wow! This weapon is strong!"

"Yes!" Yvonne chirped. "It also illegal!"

"Yet I use it anyways." He took a few steps back as a Scrapper drove up to him, stopping it in its tracks. Trace proceeded to splat it, and they took the eggs back to the basket. "Well, that's a shame. It is a fun weapon to use."

As he talked, a glowing green ring suddenly appeared around Victor's feet, and a Maws proceeded to gobble him up, the octoling boy letting out a scream as it devoured him. The boss salmonid sank back into the ink, hunting for its next victim. It decided to target Yuri, though he managed to get out of the ring and throw a bomb at it before it could splat him. The Maws exploded, leaving behind some golden eggs. Once it was gone, Trace revived Victor, and together, they took them back to the egg basket.

"OK." Yuri adjusted his hat, looking out towards the horizon. "What next?"

Another Steelhead rose from the depths, bulging eyes studying the land as it lumbered over towards the egg basket. Once again, he charged up the Hydra Splatling, aiming it towards the top of the boss salmonid's head. It went down quickly, and together, his team placed the golden eggs left behind in the egg basket. A few seconds later, a Steel Eel crawled out of the water, snaking towards the egg basket and running over Trace. Upon crossing the bridge, it took a right, snapping its metal jaws towards Yvonne. She began swimming around, circling the basket. Victor fired the Grizzco Blaster at the pilot, and a few seconds later, it splatted, the Steel Eel crashing to the ground. With the boss salmonid gone, everyone let out triumphant cheers.

The second wave ended as quickly as it came, though Trace and Victor clearly thought the opposite, exhausted from running away from salmonids. To Yuri, though, it was easy. He's dealt with much harder situations than this one. At least this way, the octoling boys would be able to receive a raise, no matter how badly they did. Everyone super-jumped back to the basket, sinking into the ink to prepare for the third and final wave.

As Yuri emerged from the puddle of indigo ink, a Classic Squiffer in his hands, the water started to recede, revealing the shore behind the ruins of the ship. The sky darkened, and as Yuri jumped off the stern, falling down to the shore, he quickly became concerned as he spotted no fog rolling in or cannons emerging from the sand. There was only one other occurrence it could possibly be.

A Mothership had arrived.

A giant, box-shaped machine rose from the sea, a tube dangling from its bottom. Trace and Victor looked up at it, flabbergasted as their mouths fell open. Yvonne pointed the Grizzco Blaster she held up towards the sky, determined.

"I do not know why you are here," she declared, "but you are going under the surface!"

"'Going under' is good enough," Yuri whispered.

Chinooks rose from the Mothership, hovering down to the shore. Yuri shot some of them out of the sky, golden eggs floating down the ground. With the ones he could grab, he tossed them into the egg basket, scanning the horizon for any snatchers. The coast was clear. But before he could shoot another chinook out of the sky, his face fell upon seeing one of the boxes explode, leaving magenta ink behind.

Instead of salmonids, there were Octarians. Not octolings—textbook Octarians, their bodies consisting of only one large tentacle.

These Octarians wore snorkel masks, and despite how silly they looked, they advanced towards him. A few of them were spraying the ground with their own ink, but the rest of them were on the offensive, shooting bouncing blobs of magenta ink at him. Yuri dodged them and sniped the Octarians, splatting them in one hit. Surely enough, they dropped power eggs, just like the salmonids would.

"Why are there Octarians here?" Yvonne shouted, firing her blaster at some approaching Octarians just like the ones Yuri had just fought. "They never show up before!"

Trace kicked some small, round Octarians into the water, causing them to dissolve into wisps of ink. "Did you forget, Yvonne? We have a trade agreement with them!"

"I know," she acknowledged. "They never attack with salmonids, though."

Victor smirked, rolling around with his Glooga Dualies and splatting some singular-tentacle Octarians. "Well, maybe things changed."

Yuri glanced over at the two boys. "Would one of you happen to know a thing about this?"

"Why would we?" The boy with the afro dodged some more shots coming from an Octarian made up of two tentacles. "We're not with the Octarian army anymore."

"He is right," Yvonne agreed. "They would not know."

"Even if we did," Trace started, "there are more important things to attend to." He lifted his head, the bit of his mohawk poking out from underneath his hat flapping in the wind. Loudly, he commanded, "Shoot down the chinooks! The golden eggs are more important!"

The group scattered, doing their best to shoot the salmonids out of the sky. Though, Yuri's assault on them was quickly interrupted as enemy ink pelted his back, splatting him. His gear collapsed to the ground, and soon, a life preserver sat in its place, his ghost bobbing around in the puddle of indigo ink it had created. Weakly yelling for help, he started to crawl back to the egg basket. Thankfully, a bomb landed near him, and the residual ink splattered onto him, reviving him. He stretched as he resumed the form of a kid, rejuvenated.

Mr. Grizz's voice grabbed his attention. "My egg basket! Don't let those slimy salmonids touch my eggs!"

Indeed, the Mothership was moving towards the egg basket. The green lights on it flashed as more chinooks poured out from the top of the container, only spawning more Octarians. While Yvonne dealt with them, everyone else fired at the Mothership, slowly covering it up with indigo ink. Still, it eventually latched onto the egg basket, using all of its power to suck eggs out. Yuri thought they were finally able to dislodge it when he suddenly splatted, letting out a scream as he exploded into a puddle of magenta ink.

When he could move around, he saw no sign of Victor nor Trace, Octarians in their place. The egg basket was almost empty now, and as loudly as he could, Yuri started to call for help. Yvonne had to be around here somewhere, right? He didn't want to assume the worst, but if there were so many Octarians here now, then perhaps she, too, had splatted.

But if that was the case, then they would be forced back to the Grizzco boat. Were Victor and Trace still alive? If so, why did they leave the egg basket alone? His cries for help only became more frustrated, though his voice sounded rather strained due to the lack of an actual body.

Soon enough, he spotted a group of octolings with red, poufy hair crowding on a straight stretch of the beach, all wearing black, skin-tight uniforms that had their midriffs exposed. In the midst of it all, he could barely make out the top of a Grizzco worker's hat. Despite the danger, he inched closer to it. An indigo bomb hurled over the enemy octolings, landing near him and exploding on contact, allowing him to reform. At the sound, they turned their attention towards him, the red light of their shades gleaming ominously in the darkness.

"Yuri!" a high-pitched voice called. Yvonne. "What are you doing?"

"I should be asking you that!" he fired back.

"I was splatting Octarians, but..." She trailed off, her face donning a rare frown. "I cannot splat other octolings."

"Yvonne..." Now Yuri found himself frowning. "They're working for DJ Octavio. Whatever they're planning, it can't be good."

"I know," she snapped. One octoling grabbed her arm, and she let out a squeak. "We were like them once, Yuri! Everyone in Octa Prisma, and the team of Eden! We were only being controlled—we did not know any better."

Yuri faltered. She did have a point—if this same situation happened, with the exception of Yvonne being a soldier and a different person being cornered, he would've splatted her without hesitation. But at the same time, he couldn't risk her being taken away.

Still keeping his weapon pointed at the octolings, his gaze fell on the one holding Yvonne. "Why are you here?"

"Order," she simply replied, her voice thick with an accent.

"What were you ordered to do?"

He felt the barrel of an Octo Shot press up against his temples, and a different octoling whispered in his ear, "Why tell? You enemy."

Yuri swung the Classic Squiffer at her, forcing her to drop her weapon. She stumbled backwards and fell into the water, causing her to dissolve into a puddle of magenta ink. An octopus-shaped ghost flew towards the sky, eventually disappearing completely, and her gear washed up onto the shore, never to return to its wearer.

A few soldiers winced, but most of them readied their weapons, pointing them straight at Yuri. Yvonne stared straight into his yellow eyes, begging for him not to fight back.

But what else could he do? Sure, he would be fine if he splatted, unlike the octolings, but if he let himself splat, then they would likely take Yvonne away to who-knows-where. No one would like that. Thus, he had no choice.

He aimed the Classic Squiffer at the octolings and fired, indigo ink piercing through them and clearing a path to Yvonne. Shades and chest plates crunched underneath his shoes as he ran towards Yvonne, shooting at whatever octoling he saw. Enemy ink pelted him, sliding off his uniform, but he had to ignore the pain that accompanied it. He had to get to Yvonne.

With one final shot, he splatted the octoling holding Yvonne, and then he splatted himself, his gear crumpling to the ground, right in front of the girl with pigtails. Yet, instead of fleeing, she merely stared down at him, frozen in horror. She didn't even try to revive him once he had control of the life preserver.

The sky started to turn an orange hue, and the octolings scattered, super-jumping back to the Mothership before it flew away, growing smaller and smaller until it was nothing at all.

Mr. Grizz's remarks were scathing. "Time's up! Let's see how many golden eggs ya got. ...Just 23? That's a shame."

In an instant, they super-jumped back to the boat, Yuri landing in a spawn point. Seconds later, he found himself in the form of a kid again, looking down at his hands. Flexing his fingers for a few moments, he turned his attention towards Yvonne. Her back was turned away from the group, her arms crossed.

"Yvonne...?" he called warily, stepping off of the spawn point.

She didn't respond, remaining still. From how tightly curled her tentacles were, Yuri could feel her apprehension. After the stunt he pulled just a few minutes ago, it wasn't unwarranted.

"Look, I had no other choice," he continued. "It was either you get taken away, or I splat them."

"What happened?" Victor interjected, stepping up next to Yuri. "I thought you two were friends."

"It seems like they had an argument," Trace mumbled. He glanced over towards him to find him leaning against a wall. "That would explain why no one came to revive us."

Yuri explained what happened, and the two boys simply nodded. Yvonne only grew more tense at the account, to the point where he started to wonder if it was possible to splat from stress.

Victor sighed and approached her. "You have a big heart, Yvonne," he said. "I admire that about you. But I think the soldiers knew the risks they were taking when they took that job."

She muttered something in Octarian in response, and he argued, still speaking Inkling, "I know, I know! But we would have done the same if we were not freed by the Calamari Inkantation. We were raised like that." Yvonne said nothing else in response, proceeding to ignore him and walk below the deck. "Huh? Wait, come back!" When no answer came, he groaned. "Dang it..."

"Sometimes I can't tell what's on her mind," Yuri admitted. "She bounces back quickly, though. I'll talk to her later."

He guided the octoling boys back to the changing room and swapped out of the uniforms, back into their everyday clothes. When they arrived back on the deck, Yvonne remained nowhere to be found. Yuri waited for the boat to arrive back to Inkopolis, the sky continuing to take on an orange hue as they neared the city. Soon enough, it stopped, and Trace and Victor said their goodbyes, super-jumping off of the boat.

Yuri waited, waited, and waited. Still, he saw no sign of Yvonne. Just where could she have gone? A new duo was arriving on the boat now, consisting of two inkling girls he didn't recognize. Figuring he would not be speaking to the dark-skinned octoling again today, he super-jumped back to Inkopolis and retired for the day.

Best-case scenario, she would be willing to talk to him tomorrow. If not... He didn't want to imagine it.

A/N: I keep forgetting to mention this, but "The Rainbow Squids" has finally reached 10,000 views on here! Thank you everyone for reading this far, and I hope you all enjoy the rest of Season 5. Anyways, Nintendo sure is taking its sweet time with the direct, huh? Granted, it's still June, but I'm starting to wonder if it will still actually be this month. The Splatoon Twitter also surprised me by revealing a new stage (Undertow Spillway) this past Friday - something I thought they would save for the next direct. Well, that's my thoughts. Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes comes out this week, and I'm sure I'll be playing that a lot this weekend. On the other hand, the next chapter is an important one. Hopefully I can have most of it written before Friday. Hope you guys liked this chapter, and Branchwing, out!