A/N: I kinda ran into some writers block while making this chapter, so it took quite a while to get out. I know what to write for the next chapter though, so hopefully the next one will be out much quicker.
Nautilus base, Octo Valley
There was a meeting for the Elites.
Octavia was present, along with every other Elite Octoling.
Well except for a certain captain.
"Alright, I want all of you focused on dealing with Emily Vale's little group of traitors." Octavia refrained from calling Vale a captain. "The sooner we are done with her, the sooner we can turn our attention back to Inkopolis."
Octavia had a list of names.
"Here is a list of the families and known associates of everyone in Vale's splatoon, I want them all rounded up and imprisoned, preferably somewhere other than Melanin since Vale would be familiar with that place. After that we will use them to force Vale into surrendering."
Octavia planned on dragging more Octarians into this conflict.
There were some Elite who were unsure about that idea, but they kept their mouths shut.
The others followed along with Octavia of their own accord, even adding their own ideas to the table.
"In case Vale doesn't surrender, we should brainwash a few of them to help us spy on Vale and her splatoon." One Elite suggested
"That would depend on Vale showing up to rescue them, but if that's the case then we could sneak in a few of our own soldiers and have them pretend to be civilians imprisoned by us."
"We should also make sure that Vale doesn't gain any more allies. Lets find out what colour of ink she's using, then have a splatoon of our own attack the Undercity using that colour. That will destroy Vale reputation and ruin any chance of her getting more help."
"They are all good ideas. You may all proceed how you see fit, just make sure you deal with Vale as quickly as possible. Also keep in mind that the Vanguard movement might show up again soon." Octavia reminded
"We don't have Lila to control them anymore, how are we supposed to know where they are?" one Elite asked.
"They don't know Octo valley like we do, nor are they very experienced in combat. Chances are they will follow the same path as the previous attack wave so that they won't get lost."
"Well then, we won't have to worry much about them."
"Mmhmm."
Octavia stood up
"I'll leave the matter of the Vanguard movement in your hands, I'm going to focus on Vale."
"Yes Ma'am!"
Octavia left the meeting room, on the way back to her quarters she passed by a few Octolings welding Rollers.
The same Rollers she told Vale to destroy.
She had initially thought that the whole Roller concept was flawed and would never prove useful in battle, so when it was revealed that Vale had made her own Rollers for her splatoon, she ordered her to get rid of them.
It wasn't until she saw Agent 1 with her Hero Roller that she was convinced to give the Rollers a shot, sometimes she wondered if Vale had the same mindset.
'Oh well, Vale was a subordinate back then, and a subordinate only exists to bring rewards to those above them.
Just like with Octavio….'
'Besides Vale is a traitor now, not the captain she once was.'
Guerilla camp, Octo Valley
While most of the splatoon was asleep for the night, Vale stayed awake along with the few on night guard.
She knew that Octavia had been compiling a list of everyone's names.
It was really nagging at her, Octavia was planning something.
Something, but they had no idea what.
Vale wouldn't risk contacting any of her old associates, the only other option would be to head back to the Undercity and find out for themselves.
It would be a risk to head back to the Undercity, but they needed more information.
Glancing at a map of Octo Valley, the captain wondered where would be an appropriate entry point.
There was also the question of who to send.
They would need to send a squad of Octolings of course, Octotroopers were too slow and Octoballs left a noticable trail of ink if they rolled.
They didn't have any flying Octarians available to them either.
"Hmmm"
The captain wondered if Victoria was any good at making herself scarce, maybe she would put her in charge of gathering information.
What were the other options? Lynn?
'No, Lynn still has trouble trusting her own judgement, she isn't suited for leading a recon mission.'
Then the image of Agent 3 came to mind.
Vale remembered the time when she was the captain of the guards at Melanin prison, not only did Agent 3 manage to move through the Undercity undetected, but he also got to Melanin four days earlier than expected.
'Agent 3 might be the right one for the job. If he agrees to go that is. If I put Eliza on the recon squad, she'll probably look for an opportunity to leave him in Octavia's clutches. That would be a quick way to rid-'
Vale noticed what she was planing and stopped herself.
'There it is again, why is it that I do such unreasonable things when Inklings are involved? I never said it, but I wanted Agent 3's help didn't I? Agent 3 should be adept at sneaking around, though he isn't one of my subordinates so I can't exactly order him around, unless of course he volunteers first.'
Vale always hated Inklings, but when asked why she hated them, her mind always came up empty.
Now she noticed that she sometimes starts plotting against Agent 3 without intending to do so.
It was all very strange.
Oh well, right now she had to figure out a way to get Agent 3 to join the recon mission.
'Maybe I can get Lynn or someone else to try and convince him. Actually, what are the others doing around Agent 3 anyways?'
Maybe she should have somebody observe him the next day.
The next morning, Inker and Neon slept too much again.
Inker slept soundly, until he felt something on his face.
It was cold, no wait it was hot, no it was cold, yet it burned.
"Gahh!"
Inker shot up, wiping his face on his blankets.
"Ahhh!" Beside him, Neon did the same.
Inker glared at two Octolings, who were standing in the room, smiling and holding empty cups.
"You poured water on me!?" Inker shouted
"Wake up on time or it will only get worse." one of the Octolings said before they left the room with smiles on their faces.
Inker was starting to hate being here.
"Inker! Hows my face!?" Neon lept up from her bed and dashed at Inker.
"Uhh it's fine I guess."
The parts where the water had been left her skin red, Inker assumed his face looked the same right about now.
"It's fine?! Are you sure? Cause you got all these red parts on yours." Neon exclaimed
"Yeah I thought so, don't worry it will heal later... I think."
Inker thought about what the Octolings had said, how things were only going to get worse if they didn't wake up on time.
Pouring water on them was already bad enough, it wasn't a lot of water, but it was still painful.
Inker assumed that they were just unhappy with his presence and taking every opportunity to make his stay unpleasant.
"We should probably get used to waking up at this hour." Inker said
"What? But it's soo early!"
"Well unless you want those Octolings to keep waking you up like that, you should get used to waking up early."
"Booo…"
Just like yesterday, breakfast was not good.
Inker made sure to check his seat of any nails this time before sitting down.
While their breakfast went undisturbed, someone had tripped Inker on the way out.
Inker caught a glance of that same Octoling from before.
'Seriously, what's her problem?'
Once again left with nothing to do, Inker and Neon wandered for a bit before coming across the marching Octarians again.
Victoria came by, intending to join the march, however she stopped when she saw Inker and Neon there.
The marching Octarians were singing the same song from yesterday.
"The officers will smile with glee!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!
And toast the death of Agent three!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!"
"Puehehe." Neon was holding back laughter, finding that song to be funny..
Inker simply looked on with curiosity.
"Is that what you normally sing during a march?" Inker asked
"Well yes, although these guys changed the lyrics for some reason." Victoria replied. "By the way, the captain is assembling a reconnaissance team to sneak into the Undercity, I figured-"
"Let's do it!"
Victoria was cut off by Neon before she could finish.
"Neon, it's a recon mission."
"I know."
"Do you know what reconnaissance is?"
"No."
"Why are you volunteering to eagerly then?"
"I dunno, I'm just bored of being cooped up in here all day, so even though I don't know what reek on a sense is, it's gotta be better than staying here right?"
"Recon missions involve sneaking around, gathering information and avoiding combat."
"Oh, nevermind then."
Neon immediately lost the will to participate.
"I'll do it." Inker volunteered.
"Huh? Why though?"
"Well I don't like being left in the dark, I doubt Captain Vale is going to tell me what's going on so I figured I need to find out for myself, she seems to trust you so can you tell her that I want in on this recon thing?"
"Sure."
"Okay I'll go too then." Neon suddenly added.
"Didn't you just change your mind two seconds ago?"
"Yeah but I changed it again, nothing wrong with that. I can tag along right?"
"Uhh sure." Victoria didn't sound too sure though.
From what she had seen, Neon was far from being the quiet type, her strange love for combat would also make her ill suited for this kind of mission.
She whispered to Inker "Do you think it's a good idea bringing her along?"
"I don't know, Neon is... well…. Neon, it's hard to say what goes on in her head."
"Mmhmm, at this point, it might as well be considered the world's biggest mystery."
"Hey why are you two whispering to each other?" Neon asked
"Oh nothing, I'll see if the captain needs you on the mission."
Inkopolis, Cephalic hospital
"I did not expect to see you here again so soon Mr Fields."
Kal was visiting Dr Asio again, but this time things were different.
"Laven? Why do you need to see a doctor so suddenly? Are you not feeling well?"
Clinging on to Kal was Lila.
Ever since Deep and Aurip's visit Lila had become even more clingy than before.
Dr Asio knew that Kal was acting as Laven, so she played along, referring to him as "Mr Fields"
"Lila, you really don't need to come with me, you can just wait in the lobby, I'm not going anywhere." Kal said.
"No, I don't want too. You wouldn't visit a doctor unless you are unwell right? I need to know what's wrong, after all we are siblings, we should always look out for each other and never let each other go."
'Yeah I figured as much'
After being thoroughly and forcefully reminded of her family's death and the Vanguard movement, Lila's condition had only gotten worse.
It also didn't help that Deep and Aurip had pointed out all the differences between Kal and Laven to Lila.
Lila was desperate to cling on to that fantasy of hers, so now she was clinging on to Kal and doing everything to tell herself that he was Laven.
Kal looked at Lila, who was hugging his arm and smiling...
Although she looked happy, Kal knew that she didn't have a lot of time left.
Lila was treading on thin ice, one wrong move and she'd fall into the depths of insanity.
Though Kal still had no idea how to help her.
He had come to Dr Asio for advice and to update her on what happened with Deep and Aurip the other day, but they couldn't talk about all that when Lila was in the room.
So Asio kinda asked Lila to leave the room "I'd like to speak with your brother alone, so can you please wait in the lobby?"
"Hmm? Why can't I stay?"
"Some things must remain confidential between me and my patient and cannot be disclosed to other parties."
"But Laven and I are family. There is an exception for that right? There has to be."
"..."
Asio paused for a sec
'What's wrong with her all of a sudden? Oh wait I think I know.'
Last time, the doctor did everything by the book. She wouldn't even give Kal information on Lila without approval from the IMPA.
She would probably do the same today, but she had to pretend that Kal was indeed Laven.
Technically if Kal was Laven, Lila would be free to stay, but he wasn't. Yet to Lila, Kal was Laven, so Asio had no reason to make her leave.
Kal assumed that was why Asio stopped all of a sudden.
He wouldn't be surprised if smoke and sparks started flying out of her head.
"Lila, just listen to the doctor and wait for me in the lobby, I'll be fine."
"Really? You'll be fine? Are you sure?"
"Yes of course, what could possibly happen to me in a hospital?"
"Umm alright."
With a dejected and lonely expression, Lila dragged herself out of the room.
'Last time she was happy to wait for me in the lobby. Damn you Deep and Aurip, you two definitely broke Lila even further.'
As Kal noted yet another change in Lila's behavior, he was now free to talk with Dr Asio.
Asio noticed the change as well.
"Her behavior has changed since the last time you came, hasn't it?"
"That obvious huh."
"Well I believe I know why you came to see me on such short notice, can you please explain what caused Lila to behave in such a way?"
Like last time, Dr Asio had a notepad and was ready to note down whatever Kal said.
"It all happened yesterday morning, Lila wakes me up saying that one of Laven's friends called but then she forgot what he said. Then said friends actually show up to bring Lila back into the Vanguard movement, can you believe it? Dragging someone like Lila into a warzone, what are they thinking… Where was I?"
Kal's recollection of events slowly turned into a rant.
"Oh right, anyways so two of Laven's friends show up, they are called Deep and Aurip by the way, Lila tells them that Laven is with her, so she tries to get me to greet them. Of course I don't want too, but then Deep and Aurip decide to let themselves in. Now I'd expect them to at least wait for an explanation, but no they start yelling "imposter" and calling the cops while telling Lila that Laven is dead with the rest of her family. After all the hard work I put into steering Lila away from going crazy, those two just show up out of nowhere and ruin everything. Oh right, did I mention they went so far as to attack me in front of Lila?"
"Please stay on topic, if you want to rant about your life then visit a therapist."
"Oh sorry, well anyways yeah Deep and Aurip basically told Lila everything she didn't want to hear. Then Lila started freaking out so I acted like Deep and Aurip were just playing a prank and taking it too far, yet Lila still ended up like this."
"It was an appropriate course of action, don't worry."
Kal assumed that meant he did the right thing.
"But what now? You saw the way Lila was acting, I don't think she's getting any better."
"Of course not, after all she is having a psychotic breakdown."
"What!?... Is that?" Kal didn't know what that was, but it sounded serious.
"Well think of it as an episode of psychosis, a break from reality. Since Lila witnessed the death of the entire Vanguard movement's first wave, it is safe to assume that her breakdown is caused by immense post traumatic stress."
"Lila's been seeing me as Laven for days now, couldn't you have figured that out earlier?"
"Oh I already knew, I just couldn't really say it last time due to certain complications."
'Right, she mentioned something like that last time. Well then…' "What can we do to help her?"
"You haven't given me enough information to reach a clear conclusion. We know that Lila went through alot while under the influence of the Octarians, her family's death alone would be enough to trigger a psychotic break, but there could be more to it then just that."
"What else could there be?"
"What happened during your time in an Octarian prison?" Dr Asio suddenly shifted the topic.
"Hmm? Well all I remember was being shut in a cell for weeks, along with Lila and another Inkling named Bogs."
"What happened to Bogs?"
"The Octarians took him to some place called the boiling pit, he died there."
"Does Lila also know this?"
"She knew, everyone trapped at Melanin prison knew, all of us could hear him screaming the night he was taken away."
Asio wrote that down.
"And what about before? Think further back."
"There is nothing else important, all I remember is being knocked out, waking up on a stage and being beaten to the cheers of Octarians."
Dr Asio tapped her cheek with her pen, deep in thought.
It seemed like she was really trying hard to figure something out.
Kal felt somewhat relaxed seeing that Dr Asio was really racking her brains.
"What about in between? What happened with Lila in between the Vanguard and boiling pit incidents?"
"Lila was really scared, she probably thought what happened Bogs would happen to us. Of course I did my best to comfort her, but the Octarians threw her into the boiling pit as well."
Asio noted all of that down
"Well I think I can see why Lila's mind chose you to replace Laven. But keep going, what happened afterwards?"
"I didn't see Lila again until after her rescue." Kal said, but he was having second thoughts.
He did see Lila before her rescue, because he was the one who helped rescue her.
The New Squidbeak Splatoon had to remain a secret, but maybe it would be okay to tell Asio.
The doctor did keep things confidential, the only way the New Squidbeak Splatoon's existence could possibly escape her mouth was if by sheer chance Kal's family spoke with Dr Asio.
Yeah, it was probably safe to tell her…
"Actually that was a lie, I did meet her again before she was rescued."
Dr Asio raised an eyebrow, while crossing out something she had just written.
"Just to be sure, you won't tell anyone about me or Lila correct?"
"Of course."
"Very well, I did see Lila again, because it wasn't the IPD who rescued her. That story was a coverup made by defense minister Arcus."
Dr Asio began to furiously scribble notes.
"There is a Splatoon run by Cap'n Craig Cuttlefish and it's not just a rumor. It was this splatoon that brought back the zapfish, saved me and the others from Melanin prison and rescued Lila. Though I'm not sure if it was an actual rescue seeing as to how Lila was meant to be a spy for the Octarians."
Dr Asio wrote all of that down.
"And after all that, you were on good terms with Lila?"
'You aren't at all curious about the New Squidbeak splatoon?'
"I can't say for sure, after all she was being controlled at that time so I don't know."
"Hmm, alright then.."
Dr Asio once again went silent to think.
Kal looked at her with eyes full of anticipation.
"Well? Do you know how we can help Lila go back to normal?"
Sadly, Dr Asio shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but I just can't reach a solid conclusion, I need more time."
"More time for what?"
"To figure out the effects of Octarian brainwashing and what Lila had personally experienced."
"But that's not possible, Lila won't talk about anything that happened after being squidnapped and the only way to understand Octarian brainwashing is to speak with an Octarian."
"Yes I know that, I'm trying my best here Mr Kogia, but I can't act unless i'm absolutely certain I can help."
"So you're saying you can't do anything? Is a mental asylum the only option here?"
Dr Asio nodded
"Sadly yes."
"What?!"
"Can't you see that Lila is treading on thin ice? That encounter with Deep and Aurip should have made it clear: one wrong step and that ice with break, Lila will fall into the depths of insanity."
Kal could understand this, in fact he would have gotten it without that "thin ice" metaphor.
If Lila was already on the verge of insanity, then something had to be done.
"Well then doc, I should leave before Lila gets too worried…. Actually before I go there is one last thing I need to ask."
"Go on."
"Last time you said that anyone would seek revenge if somebody killed their loved ones, are you absolutely certain about that?"
"Yes, though it isn't necessarily revenge, rather anyone would seek closure to a traumatic event such as losing a loved one. Some may try to bury it, but deep down everyone would want closure for such an event."
"Closure, that would help someone recover from traumatic events?"
"Yes, that's what we've been looking to give Lila right? We just aren't sure how."
"Alright thanks, I'll take my leave now."
As Kal left the doctor's office, "closure" was all that was on his mind.
He met Lila in the hospital's lobby, where Lila hugged him again and refused to left go. She held Kal's arm for the entire trip home.
But Kal didn't mind, he had other things to think about.
He had only spoken with Dr Asio twice about Lila, yet he was trying to piece things together.
Dr Asio couldn't do anything to help Lila, but that didn't mean Kalus couldn't do anything.
Dr Asio also mentioned helping Lila accept reality by giving her a sense of closure.
If that was her goal, then Kal would go for something similar.
He looked at Lila, clinging on to his arm.
'So you're saying you can't do anything? Is a mental asylum the only option here?'
'Sadly yes.'
An image of Lila in a straitjacket flashed across Kal's mind.
Kal didn't want that to happen, he may not like getting into troublesome events, but he also didn't want to see someone like Lila suffer so much.
It was a similar feeling, Kal had felt the same way with Victoria back then.
Back when he hated Victoria for using him and Inker to steal the Great Zapfish, those feelings were wiped away the moment Victoria explained how terrible Octo Valley was.
After that Kal's attitude towards her had turned 180 degrees.
Maybe he saw a bit of Victoria in Lila, just like how Lila saw Laven in him.
'Lila doesn't have a lot of time left, what can I do to help her?'
It was impossible and unfair to seek revenge on the entire Octarian army.
But that wasn't needed, all Lila needed was some sort of closure.
No not necessarily closure either, Lila needed to face the facts and accept reality.
The best way to do that, would probably be to relive that day when Laven and her parents were lost.
Kal thought about the Vanguard movement and how they were still going to try a suicidal attack on Octo Valley.
It was the closest he could get to recreating the scenario where Lila lost her family.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
If he didn't act now, Lila would be lost.
Kal didn't want to get into more troublesome events, but there was no other choice.
'I will join the Vanguard movement's second wave. The Octarians will definitely ambush them again, when that happens, i'll force Lila to open her eyes and accept that Laven and her parents are dead. As soon as she accepts it, we'll pull back, hopefully seeing a different outcome gives Lila some sort of closure.'
It sounded cruel and brutelike, but it was all Kal could think of.
He didn't want to die like the previous Vanguard movement members and he wouldn't.
Because if the New Squidbeak Splatoon knew that he was doing something so dangerous, there was no way they'd sit idly by.
Neither would Victoria…
Kal felt a bit guilty doing it, but he had no other choice.
Pulling out his phone, Kal texted Sky, telling him that he would be part of the Vanguard movement and that he'd like everyone's help.
A bit of an unreasonable request but it was for the best.
Undercity, Octo Valley
Inker and Neon quietly lept from roof to roof.
They had their eyes on an Octarian saucer doing rounds around the Undercity.
First it was stopped flying in and unloading troops, after a while the troops had returned, dragging other Octarians along.
Inker's job was to keep an eye on a certain address.
He didn't know who's it was, but the captain had her suspicions.
Thus he, Neon and a few other teams of 2, had risked coming back to the Undercity.
According to Captain Vale, going around in teams of 2 was extremely dangerous, a team of 4 was the safest option, but it would be more noticable.
Vale's Octoling teams snuck into the undercity using various methods, ranging from acting as civilians to entering from the sewers.
Inker was glad that Vale had let him do his own thing, he really didn't want to crawl through Octarian sewage, especially when he didn't have a bath of his colour down in Octo Valley.
They had spent the last few hours waiting, of course Neon complained, but Inker kept her quiet.
"Oh, here it comes."
Inker spotted the saucer flying in.
He and Neon changed into squid form and peeked over the rooftop once the saucer had landed.
"Did it see us? It saw us right? Can I shoot it?" Neon was overly eager to do something after seeing zero action in the past few days.
"No don't, nobody saw us, besides we can't attract attention here."
It was one thing to fight in a lair, fighting in the heart of the Octarian civilization was another.
Also their job was to simply observe what was going on.
If that was the case, then Sky and Cap'n Cuttlefish could have simply hacked into the Undercity's CCTV network again.
Captain Vale had been shocked to hear that they could do that, but she still insisted that they send a few recons teams instead.
It was a good call too, because the area went into another blackout shortly before the saucer appeared.
Clearly something important was going on.
Inker watched as a few Octotroopers, Octocopters and Octolings entered the building he was told to watch.
A few moments later they returned, holding another Octoling at gunpoint and forcing them to board the saucer with nothing but a single suitcase.
He should report that to Captain Vale's teams.
"This is 3, the saucer showed up as excepted, they are taking someone away, please advise."
No reply
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
No reply
'They wouldn't just abandon me and Neon, would they?'
Well if their Octarian allies weren't responding, then they would just turn to Sky and Cap'n Cuttlefish.
"Mission control, what the quickest way out of the Undercity?"
Hearing this, Neon stood up.
"We are leaving already?"
"Yep"
"But why? We haven't even done anything yet!"
"Neon, I think they abandoned us here."
"That's fine, it will be a bigger challenge."
"Not taking that risk, let's head back to Captain Vale's hideout, I have some words for her."
"Aww."
Inker and a very dissatisfied Neon left the Undercity as quickly as possible.
Guerilla camp, Octo Valley
The first thing Inker noticed when he came back, was that everyone was giving them as suspicious look.
He also noticed that the other teams were back already.
Whatever, Inker had to give that captain a piece of his mind.
Inker stormed to the captain's quarters, with Neon in tow.
They passed by Victoria along the way, who exclaimed.
"You're back! Where have you been?"
"Recon." Inker replied, not stopping for Victoria.
He burst into Captain Vale's quarters.
"Vale! What the heck is going on?!"
The captain looked as surprised as Victoria did.
"What are you doing here so late? Didn't you head back to Inkopolis?"
"Who told you that? I was still on that recon mission you gave me."
"Huh? That mission was over four hours ago, didn't you hear the call?"
"What call? Nobody told me anything. Where you perhaps trying to abandon me and Neon to the army?"
"Of course not, I wouldn't do that."
Inker didn't believe her.
Well technically she wouldn't do anything to Inker and Neon at the moment.
But when Octavia was gone, who knows?
"Did none of the other teams inform you that we were pulling out?" Captain Vale asked
"Nope"
'Then that means somebody purposely kept him in the dark. I think I know who.'
"Alright, give me a second."
Captain Vale picked up her phone and called for her adjutant.
"Lynn, tell Eliza Pierce to come see me ASAP."
"Right away ma'am."
Vale hung up the phone.
"I am so sorry for this incident, it won't happen again I'll make sure of it."
"Thanks." Inker replied
He didn't want to drag things out and he didn't want to point fingers at anyone either.
Sure he was kinda upset that they straight up abandoned him and Neon in the Undercity, but he could let it fly, just once.
If it happened again, he would come back and lecture Captain Vale and make it clear that he and his friends were not tools for her to weld.
Inker and Neon left Vale's quarters, leaving Vale to wait for Eliza.
'I should have expected Eliza to do something unnecessary.' the captain thought.
'Wait a second, I did expect that. Didn't I tell myself not to put Eliza on the recon team with Agent 3?'
She caught herself doing something against her own plans.
How strange…
Inker sighed as he collapsed into his bunk.
"Tired? How are you tired? We did nothing today?" Neon asked
"I'm not tired, I guess I'm just somewhat disappointed by recent events maybe?"
Neon nodded
"Yeah yeah! So am I, it's only been three days and we've been doing basically nothing."
"Not that, I came here thinking that with Victoria and Lynn's help, we could befriend the Octarians here and start getting rid of the distrust between our two races. But its nowhere near as easy as I expected."
Listening to Inker, Neon kept her usual happy attitude.
"Well whatever you need to do, you can do it."
"You don't understand a thing do you..." came Sky's voice over their headsets.
"Well… umm… yeah I don't, but that's fine, I'll just do what I can and ignore the rest!"
"Troublesome girl…" Sky muttered, it was barely audible through their hero headsets.
"Stop calling me that!" Neon whined
"So Inker, how is everything on your end." Sky quickly changed the subject.
"Hey don't ignore meeee!" Neon pouted
As for Inker he began to think about any progress he had made towards befriending Captain Vale's splatoon.
"Well the Octarians still hate me, either that or they don't trust me. Aside from Victoria, there is only one other Octarian here that is on good terms with me and I can't begin to understand where Captain Vale stands here."
That captain was pretty strange, on one hand she seemed to be trying to keep her troops from bothering him and Neon, but there are also times where she seemed to be acting against them.
"Well, if you want to go away for a while, Kal needs our help with something." Sky said.
"Huh? What's going on with Kal?"
"I don't know, but apparently he and Lila are joining the Vanguard movement's second wave, which is going to be attacking Octo Valley by the end of this week."
"What?! Why?! What is Kal thinking?"
"I don't know, all he did was send me a text saying that he would need some help."
"Oh! I know! Kal must be bored sitting around in Inkopolis by himself!" Neon suggested
"I don't think that's the case, knowing Kal he'd probably want to avoid the Vanguard movement…" Inker pondered
Kal must have been planning something.
But what could it be?
Did he want them to help the Vanguard movement defeat the Octarian army?
Or maybe it was related to Lila?
"Hey wait, if Kal's with the Vanguard movement, then he and a bunch of other Inklings are going to end up fighting the Octarians right?" Neon asked
"Obviously." Sky replied
"Alright! I'm in! Finally! I've been so bored over the past few days I can't wait!"
For some reason Neon was shivering.
"Umm, are you cold?" Inker asked
"No no no! Not at all! I'm incredibly excited!" Neon was quivering in excitement.
"Troublesome girl…" Sky muttered again
Neon was too busy imagining the fight ahead to care though.
As for Inker, he had no reason not to help his best friend.
"Tell Kal to keep us updated, we'll be there when the time comes." Inker said
"YAY!" Neon couldn't help but cheer.