With a bounce in his steps, Khal eagerly ran along some streets in Inkopolis until he reached the entrance of the Square. The boy couldn't wipe off the smile on his face; With his injuries fully healed and no sign of any creepy monsters or other things around and permission from his parents, there was nothing stopping him from playing again. Today it would just be him having fun with his friends–!

Wait a minute. He couldn't see anyone around upon taking a glance at the Square…

"Where are they?" He asked worriedly to himself, and at once he set off to search for his trio of 'friends'. However despite asking around every cephalopod and sea denizen he came across and looking forwards and backwards through every nook and cranny of the place, his search bore no results.

With a whine, and a slumped waist, Khal dragged his feet to the nearest table and sat down in a huff. Of course something had to go wrong..

"Seriously, where has she been? It's been more than a week and Jade hasn't said anything," The boy complained sadly. "And Salem and Yzel haven't bothered to come back either. Ohhh, this suuucks…"

Some 'friends', those three were. Ditching him without a word..

Khal's ears picked up the sound of a loud, familiar jingle emanating from the Grizzco building. No later than a second, the iron bars blocking entrance slid open, and already he could see a few inklings making their way inside.

Khal looked around for another minute, hoping-begging- that he'd find one of his friends in the square. But yet again, it was to no avail.

"Guess it's just me again," Khal grumbled and stood up from his seat. At least he could pass the time by playing, though going at it alone sounded boring. He glanced at the Grizzco office and slowed to a stop in his walk, then looked between it and the Deca Tower.

The latter wouldn't bring him any harm. The former would help him worry less about those disgusting salmons. But without the others by his side, it seemed… scary. And if that humanoid creature was involved…

"No!" He quickly shook his head. "D-don't think about the monster. It's gone, a-and it won't hurt me.. It can't…"

With a shaky breath, he walked up the slope that led to the office and stopped at it's doorstep. The boy stopped and gave one last look back at the Square.

"I just want to see you again, Jade.." He lamented aloud, as if his words would ever reach anyone.

So without another moment to spare, he briskly stepped inside the walls of Grizzco, with 3 others joining suit.

"The squids have come! Dirty egg thieves have come!"

These were the news that Jade had come upon the morning after the Griller ceremony. It was sudden too: One moment after waking up she was minding her own business and playing with Skipfin, the next she glances over and notices a commotion among a group of salmonids, and the one after that, well…

Not very pleasant, to be sure. The cohock who brought the news was shouting up a storm, and the salmonids around her were either arguing amongst themselves or giving bizarrely nervous or angry glances and mutters to one another. Jade couldn't recall any previous occasion in which she's seen a salmonid- or a whole school of them for that matter- scared at the mention of inklings. She even saw a nearby Steelhead look very much angry, and that Salmonid was the biggest and likely one of the strongest of them all! What did he have to worry about?

She couldn't blame them; her fellow squids usually gave no quarter to the fishes and tirelessly wiped any hordes that came without a second thought, along with taking what she now assumed was something very important to them.

She almost regretted her time under the employ of Grizzco. Almost.

Even Skipfin, who was currently sitting on her right shoulder, had a dread-filled expression on his face. Jade frowned and moved her hands to pick up the smallfry and hold him in front of her.

"Don't worry, Skipfin. They're not gonna lay a sucker on you," Jade reassured, stroking his short mohawk gently. It managed to relax his shivering body, but Jade could tell he was still uneasy.

"B-but what if squids come? W-what if they hurt Jade?!" Skipfin blubbered as his eyes started to water. Jade shushed him once more, however.

"C'mon, Don't be silly; they don't know where we are!"

Yet for as much as Jade continued to try reassuring her friend, the smallfry still had a pout on his face. Just looking at it caused the inverse of what she desired; now she was frowning and worried too!

"Go now!" The same cohock shouted, "Squids cannot take! our! EGGS!"

The cry prompted cheers and hollers from a dozen or so salmonids, and at once they rushed out in all directions. Frying pans, forks, spoons, anything and everything that could prove useful was taken along for the trip; it wasn't long before most of the nearby salmonids gathered near the shores, looking as if they were heading to war. Given the current circumstances, that might as well be the case for them.

Jade remained in place, however, still mulling over the news.

Her fellow inklings were formidable. These salmonids would never stand a chance even if they tried their hardest against them. She could get hurt, too, or worse: have her dual nature revealed to Grizzco if she were to leave the island. The entirety of Salem's plan could fail if she was careless.

Yet despite having this knowledge in mind, staying in the island seemed like such an boring, pointless idea. No way was Jade going to sit down and cower while a bunch of clueless salmons got themselves splatted; She would help them as a backup, their trump card to push back Grizzco's mooks, along with giving said unsuspecting inklings a warning.

Besides, the chances of her actually getting splatted were slim to none. It might even prove fun to experience a salmon run from the other side of the battle. Hm, perhaps she could even teach the fishes how to actually defeat an inkling..

"Stay here, ok? I'll be back soon," The salmonling informed her small companion, before setting him down and proceeding to jog behind the group of salmonids that were leaving. Though, perhaps she should've expected Skipfin would grab onto her foot and try to keep her from leaving. He shook his head furiously, pouting at Jade with big puffy eyes.

Jade sighed and knelt to the smallfry's level. "Skipfin.. I'll be fine," She cooed. Again, it failed to convince Skipfin, who shook his head again. Just what did it take for this fish to calm down?

"C'mon, don't you trust me? I won't go down as easily as the others, not without a fight."

"Squids too strong.."

"We can be strong, too. If we work together along with the other salmonids, I'm sure we'll be able to kick those squidiots out of here! Heck, this could be your chance, Skipfin!"

"For what?" The aforementioned smallfry asked helplessly.

Jade's mouth curled into a devious smile,"... Aren't you tired of being picked on by the others? Don't you wanna show them how strong and tasty you can be? Don't you wanna teach those mean bullies and squids a lesson?" Jade asked in a strangely dramatic and emotive voice, prompting Skipfin to nod fervently. "What better way to prove them wrong than by taking on and beating one of the squids yourself, eh?"

Suffice to say, Skipfin was left mesmerized by Jade's offer, and he eagerly leapt to her shoulder once more. "Yaya! Skipfin wanna kick and beat dirty squids!" He beamed, shifting and bouncing with such enthusiasm that it looked as if his previous worries never occurred at all.

"That's the spirit!" Jade praised with a grin, grabbing the smallfry and placing him on her shoulder once more. "Now come on, the others are about to leave!"

She sprinted to the edge of the shore just as the salmonids began jumping into the sea one by one. She managed to hop onto the back of a Steelhead and held on tight with her hands. She received an annoyed glance from said Steelhead, to which she shrugged in response. It didn't take long for them both to get used to one another, and soon the steelhead slithered out into the sea along with the two passengers resting from its back.

"Just you wait, Skipfin," Jade told the smallfry, "We're gonna teach those idiots a lesson…"

"... And force them back into the holes they came from!"

"...Uh-huh. Cool story, bro."

The fair-skinned inkling boy from which the yell came from looked down at the girl sitting next to him on the boat. "What, ya don't believe me?" He asked.

"Oh, I do. It's just that you didn't have to yell it out loud ya know," The dark skinned girl non-chalantly answered.

"I found it inspiring, personally! Now I really wanna kick some salmon tail!" Another girl praised with a grin, sitting parallel to the pair.

"Good to know there's at least someone appreciating my work," The boy had a smug smirk as he sat back down, to which the dark-skined girl scoffed. "Maybe you could learn a thing from her, Cerise."

While the trio of eager inklings continued to bicker and talk, Khal remained silent at the very back of the boat, his mind wandering to other things. Other individuals..

His ears began to hurt, and he had to rub a finger in one of them just to stop the slight ringing that followed. His gaze turned to the parting waves as he readjusted his cap. The swashing and bouncing water, the smell of the salty breeze slithering in and out of his nostrils, the ever-so welcoming sun gazing back at him all looked and felt pleasant, but together? Together they somehow put the boy at ease. A smile already started to form on his lips without Khal realizing it. He could lay down and experience the sensations of the sea for the entire afternoon and forget about his troubles for all he cared. Why stop something nice, after all?

But reality, and especially his nearby teammate, cared not for his comfort. A gloved hand suddenly whiffed into Khal's field of view and began to snap it's fingers continuously, making the boy flinch and unfortunately causing him to trip.

"Whoops!" The taller male shrugged, "You okay there, little guy?"

With a grunt, Khal sat up and eyed his coworker with thinly veiled annoyance. "Yeah, sure, what is it.."

The coworker chuckled, "Just wanted to check if you heard the memo."

"Um.. something about holes?"

The coworker could only shake his head. "Boy, you sure need to get those ears checked. I was saying-"

"Knock it off, Luka," The dark skinned inkgirl, Cerise, cut in with a huff. Luka merely shrugged in response before returning to the girl's side. "Just hope you're not as dense when the actual work starts," he expressed off-handedly.

Khal grit his teeth at Luka's words. Can't this idiot keep his mouth shut?

Nevertheless, Khal pushed his annoyance aside once he was given the signal to superjump onto the island. He couldn't distract himself on the job, despite wanting to get away from the other three as soon as possible. As a squid, he launched himself into the air and with his teammates fell on the landing point placed in the middle of the Spawning Grounds. He slowly and quietly surveyed the area with his eyes, remembering each spot where the salmonids would come.. along with the spots that they could easily surround him in. It'd be best not to enter any pits or lower areas.

Soon, he could hear the indistinct chatter of Mr. Grizz, along with a series of quick beeps through his earpiece. He mentally counted down with the beeps and braced himself for the chaos that would surely ensue.

3…

2…

1…

GO!

Off in the distance he could see it; one salmonid after another hopping out of the waters, all commencing their slow trudge towards the quartet, flanked by a Stinger nestled atop a stack of multicolored pots.

"There!"

Of the four, Khal was the first to dash into action, shooting up a path and swimming closer to the advancing salmonids, yet upon getting face-to-face with the horde he didn't directly shoot any of the fishes, content with merely dodging their swings and lunges, alternating between swimming around them as a squid or sidestepping them in his bipedal form. Those that got too close were merely pushed aside with a swing of his splash-o-matic shooter.

He moved around in a zigzag-like path when the murky green beam of the Stinger fired, up until he was right below it. A quick glance behind showed Khal that more salmons were closing in on him. He needed to act fast, or else he would've wasted these crucial first few seconds. So he circled the stack of pots and continuously knocked them away with his constant unloading of ink globs, bringing the Stinger down closer and closer to ground level, until finally getting to splat the fish itself.

Yet upon picking up one of the discarded golden eggs he turned around to see that he'd been surrounded during his assault. Chums and Cohocks alike looked down in him and blocked his path and left Khal with little options beyond the groping of the ocean behind him. Thankfully, such a disadvantageous situation didn't last long.

The two Cohocks suddenly vanished, wide puddles of pink ink remaining where they once stood, and the rest of the chums surrounding him similarly popped out of existence as a series of loud bangs could be heard. From the platform near the egg basket in which she was perched, the dark-skinned girl from earlier gave Khal a thumbs up, a splat charger held in her other hand.

"C'mon! I'll cover you!" Cerise yelled, and Khal gave a nod in response.

As he ran back to the egg basket and dropped his two eggs onto it, he couldn't help but give another look at the shore just to make sure it was still clear. The girl was busy splatting the salmonids that moved about on it, however something else caught Khal's attention. Some of the water was bubbling up, and ever so slightly increased in size and intensity with each passing second. His lips parted, and his purple eyes trained on the water.

"Huh? What.. is that..?"

Riding on the back of the Steelhead under the water was as slow as it was mind-numbing, and Jade could only shudder with anticipation for what she would find at her destination. At last, the Steelhead had risen out of the sea floor and stepped onto the shores of the Spawning Grounds, the salmonling and her smallfry friend hopping off the large boss salmonid soon afterwards.

It was not a pretty sight that Jade was greeted with. The field had been stained with splotches of pink all over, and dozens of scattered eggs of both the normal and golden type strewn about. No trace of any salmons either..

"Oh no.. the run's already started?" Jade lamented, kneeling near one of the golden eggs to pick it up. "They've shot down so many already.."

She's seen this before. She's caused it before. Nothing more than another batch of dumb fishes that swam to their deaths— the usual really.

She's never questioned it before, but.. are these jobs truly the right thing to do? Sure, they've helped her pay her bills and keep the salmons in check, but they're basically slaughter and thievery all at once. As far as she knew those were wrong, so...

"Urgh.. Maybe I'm just overthinking all this, but either way I'm not gonna let Grizzco win. Not this time." Jade affirmed with determination.

Upon training her gaze dead ahead, she could see ink flying and hear the yells of salmon and inkling alike, likely caught in a struggle on the other side of the island. One inkling sat near the basket and was taking shots at something below her, which meant that the other three had to be fighting below the walkways, on the flat platform.

"Squids winning.." Skipfin blubbered, his worry from earlier seemingly resurfaced.

"Not if I have anything to say about that. Stay close to me."

Jade changed into a fish and dove into her puddle of ink. She crept closer and closer to the sniper, making sure to swim at a slow pace so as to not cause any unneeded noise. Even after positioning herself right behind her and casting a large shadow over her body, the inkling girl didn't suspect a thing and continued with her charger duties.

If she so desired, Jade could have laughed in the girl's face for her cluelessness and incapacitate her all the same. Tempting as the notion was, not a single one of the workers could know of her presence.

So taking them out quickly and quietly felt like the best approach. In an instant, Jade sweeped a leg under the inkgirl's ankles and tripped her up, then grabbed her by the fabric if her shirt and swiftly threw her aside onto the sea. She could faintly hear her scream as she was splatted in the water, giving an uneasy glance at the remaining lifering on the sea below before turning to the warring cephalopods on the ground level.

"Sorry about this.. but you four can't be here."

The salmonling hopped down and immediately hid inside another puddle of ink. She tried to do the same approach as with the charger on the two inklings holding their own against the myriad of chums, to varying degrees of success. The girl with the brush was so focused on keeping back a quartet of chums swinging at her that anything in her peripheral vision was lost, including a trail of green ink ever so slightly encircling her. Skipfin latched himself onto the fair skinned girl's face as a distraction, and in turn Jade briefly hopped out of the ink and gave the girl an ever so slight push with a crane of her snout, just enough to send her right into the clutches and jaws of the chums.

They swiftly finished Jade's work, wailing on the poor inkgirl until she was but another ink-filled lifering hopping about.

Less inklings running about meant less dividing and more conquering for the salmonids. The rest of the salmons mobbed around the remaining inklings, eagerly launching themselves and their weapons against the bipedal thieves.

Jade hung in the back, however, and used the salmonid mob as a cover to take a moment to relax in her bipedal state. "Alright, good job!" She cheered as Skipfin leapt into her arms. The smallfry nuzzled with Jade in response, and the pair looked to see the two salmon runners somehow punch a hole through the mob and swim up the ramp with far too many golden eggs in hand than Jade was comfortable with.

"Stay here and help the others rescue all the eggs. I'll be back soon," Jade quickly instructed the smallfry upon setting him down, and with not another second to waste she dove into the ink and chased after the two. The closer she got, the clearer Jade could hear the two inklings' bickering.

"Stupid bassholes! How did they corner us like that?!" Luka yelled upon reaching the central area, a fistful of golden eggs held close to his chest.

"I-I dunno!" Khal swam right behind him, a pair golden eggs strapped to his net. "The others vanished so quickly, I didn't notice!"

"We always notice when someone gets splatted, there's a beacon for that! The girls should've signalled us by now-!"

Jade almost felt bad for tripping up Luka, but his voice was starting to grate on her. Downed and on his knees, Luka jerked his head around the sides, yet found nothing but a trail of green ink rapidly encircling him. His shooting did nothing to stop or even slow down the salmonling creating it, and before he could even get up Luka was struck from behind and burst into a puddle of green.

All too easy.

"Why is it always me?!" Though hidden by the oversized cap on his head, terror framed Khal's face as he hurried away from the salmon's trail. Joining the few eggs discarded by Luka with his own, the boy scrambled to slot as many eggs as he could into the nearby container. For all he knew, nothing mattered aside from the eggs in that moment, Unfortunately for him, that single-minded act of confusion was exactly what Jade was looking for, as he was left wide open for Jade to sneak up behind him and lunge.

"Gotcha!" Jade pounced on the inkling and slammed him hard against the ground. With a grin, she raised a claw, yet as soon as she laid eyes on her prey the salmonling froze. All manner of satisfaction vanished from her face once she recognized her prey. Her friend.

The small, stiff and silently panicking form of Khal.

Instants stretched into moments, which stretched into seconds, which stretched into a minute, as purple and green eyes were locked in a silent meeting. Both wide and in disbelief. Both filled with fear.

'Shock' didn't even begin to describe what was now going through Jade's mind as she held down the inkling boy, her claws still tightly wrapped around his arms. Questions, doubts, fears all crashed and mixed abound, all sending mixed signals to Jade. This wasn't supposed to happen- He wasn't supposed to see her again in her current state, and especially not so soon after what happened before. The sight of his wide, frantic gaze and quivering mouth almost broke Jade's heart, and she'd rather look away anywhere else other than at Khal.

She could even feel his body tremble in her grip. Jade dared not to speak or mutter any sound, even faltering on her grip. But even the smallest of slip-ups were capable of being exploited, for Khal wasted no time in freeing his right arm, pulling out his splash-o-matic and unloading as much ink as he could onto Jade's face.

"SALMONLIIIIING!" Khal shrieked, pushing Jade off him with a kick to the face and breaking into a mad dash as far away from the humanoid beast as possible. With cries of pain, the salmonling writhed on the ground, clawing at her face in an attempt to wipe the searing ink off it. Jade was soon on all fours and began to crawl away from the basket into the nearest cover she could find, away from sight.

Jade did find a pillar wide enough to hide behind, and sluggishly propped herself up into a sitting position on it. Her eyes were closed, her breaths were ragged, and her face hurt. Everything hurt, actually, so much so that Jade didn't want to move.

"Oww.." Jade moaned, moving a hand to caress her face. For some reason it felt soft and also very short. Her hand felt.. looser, too. What Jade was greeted by upon opening her eyes,however, made her gasp. Her hand..

It wasn't gray anymore. The claws and webbing were.. gone as well?

Jade then crawled hesitantly to the shore on her right and leaned forward. She didn't see a salmon-like monster in the water, however.

A girl with yellow tentacles instead greeted Jade, holding the same disbelief in her eyes.

Khal wanted nothing more than to run. To where wasn't a concern to him— He simply let his feet carry him across the dirt and metal ground away from his coworkers, from the battle, and especially from the salmonling.

How did that thing get here?! Why was it here?!

So racked with confusion was Khal that he wasn't aware of the salmonids that suddenly sprung up in his path until he bumped into the school's leading cohock without looking. The inkboy looked up to see the fat salmon growl at him and raise his frying pan high in the air, and just as he swung the utensil down, Khal ducked below its reach with a yelp.

"I'm sorry!" He cried out, swimming away from the cohock and company back to the central area. The salmonling had vanished somehow, but Luka's lifering still lay where he was splatted.

At once, Khal moved to reanimate him with a couple shots from his weapon, filling the lifering with enough ink so that it could encase his tiny spirit and then reconstitute his body.

"Took you long enough!" Luka chided, springing to his feet and immediately setting his eyes on Khal.

"I-I know, but listen-!"

"We were sneak-attacked, I get that! Let's just reanimate the girls and get going again!"

"It's not only a sneak attack, the salmonling was here!" Khal warned with a pleading look in his face.

"...Are you jo-"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I'M JOKING?!"

"Okay, sheesh! Fine, we will go after it, but we need to take care of ourselves first. Now go help the others, I'll cover you."

Khal nodded at Luka's words, then swam off to the lower area again. As expected, there were a few salmonids moving about, most notably a Scrapper vehicle.

"Oh, come on.." A whine escaped his lips as he stared at the horde, his eyes filled with distraught. As soon as one of the fishes spotted him, Khal went on the move again, and proceeded to swim past and around all who tried to attack. He was yelping and crying out in fear all throughout, but nonetheless reached brush girl's lifering and reanimated her.

"A-are you ok?" Khal asked the girl, pulling her up to her feet with a hand.

"Yeah, thanks! Sorry I didn't do much.." The pink-tentacled girl looked down with embarrassement, shifting her feet.

"Don't worry, we haven't lost yet! L-let's just try to get back on our feet, ok?"

"Alright!" The girl nodded, soon turning around to hack away with her brush at the Scrapper that somehow came up behind her unnoticed. In turn, Khal continued on his way, swimming through the island as fast as he could and pushing away any salmon that came near. For some reason there were more salmonids out to get him than before; Actually, there were more salmonids out in the field than just some minutes before, and for every fish he took out another took its place.

And why was this one smallfry so intent on chasing him around?

Serving as a pseudo-salmon magnet brought no joys or favors to Khal. At least he managed to snag a golden egg from a blue-finned salmonid.

He spotted the third lifering on the shortest of the three piers, off on the side of the island to his left, and banked towards it. Out of nowhere, a Cohock dropped from above, blocking Khal's path. With a gurgly cry he swung his short bat at Khal, yet his small size and quick reflexes allowed him to dodge and retaliate with a couple of shots and a splat bomb. His aim was a little off upon throwing the pyramid-like item, as it merely flew over the Cohock's head and did little to distract the beast.

It merely knocked the inkboy aside with a swing of its bat. With a grunt, Khal looked up to see the Cohock loom over him, eyeing him hungrily and licking its lips. Yet just as it was about to strike down Khal, the cohock exploded into a shower of pink ink.

"Thanks for the assist, my guy!" Cerise yelled from the edge of the pier. Khal merely gave her a thumbs up and a wide grin in response. Now the shift could definitely turn around for them with everyone up and about again. In fact, that's exactly what happened.

Together, Khal and Cerise easily pushed aside or otherwise splatted all the salmonids in their path, with Cerise providing sufficient cover for him to reach the egg basket and slot his one egg into it, Cerise soon following suit. Luka and the other girl with the brush coincidentally swam up to them with golden eggs of their own and dropped their prizes onto the basket.

"Well, that's everyone," Luka confirmed, sharing a glance with Khal and the girls. "Can we all just agree that the near-wipeout we got earlier was nothing but a terrible dream? 'Cause personally speaking, that was pretty embarrassing."

"Meh, it was a small delay," Cerise shrugged.

"Phew.. Hopefully it won't happen again.." Khal added, fidgeting with his weapon.

"Nah, I'm sure it won't! Whaddya say we show these scalies who's boss?"

"Yeah!" Cerise and brush girl cheered in unison, pumping their fists high.

"Right.." Khal added in half-heartedly, his gaze wandering away from the group and to the island, as if looking for something. Not everyone was accounted for; a certain someone was still missing, even if they haven't attacked for some time now. Even if there was no trace of it —her— that his eyes could catch, Khal was sure the salmonling was still hiding somewhere. Waiting.

From his pocket, he pulled out a small gray ball with a grizzco insignia and stared at it for a few moments, before storing it again and settting his sights on the swarming hordes again. For now, Khal would remain vigilant while supporting the others, and whenever the salmonling decided to rear its ugly head again, he would be ready to defend himself and his coworkers.

What. Just. Happened?

Even after rubbing her eyes to make sure her brain wasn't playing tricks on her, Jade was at a loss on her current situation. Her current appearance.

She shuffled back to the pillar she rested on and looked down at herself. She was naked, sure, but otherwise she looked just like any other run of the mill inkling girl. No scales, no claws, no strange feet or tail— everything about herself looked how it was supposed to.

"B-but how? I—I was a salmonling a few seconds ago!" She exclaimed in disbelief.

It was then that Jade noticed something else. Her forehead felt dry and smooth when she rubbed a hand on it, and she saw no pink stains on her fingers upon looking down at her right hand. The ink on her face couldn't have simply vanished during her change, right?

"But our ink does vanish after a little while. Even when we're hurt, it's not for long, it either drips off our bodies or.."

Jade's eyes widened. The ink on her face didn't drip off, she still felt it even as her body throbbed and changed, seeping into her skin. Of course!

"The ink... I had to have changed back because of it! M-maybe once it stuck to me it triggered something in my body!" She exclaimed to herself. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a puddle of salmonid ink nearby and looked down in thought. If inkling ink changed her back, would the inverse apply if she dipped a hand in this puddle, then?

Just before she could test that out, her ears picked up the sounds of yells nearby, and from her hiding place she took a peek at the scuffle that currently embroiled the spawning grounds. Khal and his team looked to be holding their ground against the hordes surrounding them, and they seemed to be getting more and more golden eggs on their nets. Nothing unexpected.

Yet as she continued to look on, Jade involuntarily lifted one of her hands and reached out to Khal.

She brought her hand back down, however. Even if her entire being longed for his company, there was no use in reaching out to him now. Not when she still wasn't ready.

Besides, Skipfin still needed help in dealing with the inklings. What kind of friend would she be to leave him behind?

With her mind made up, Jade retreated into the pillar and dipped her hand into the puddle. It didn't take long for a familiar sensation to ram into Jade suddenly, bringing her to her knees. Hearts temporarily stopping before beating furiously, limbs trembling uncontrollably, and an excruciating level of pain everywhere all at once as she felt her body contort.

The pain subsided, and with bated breath Jade stood up and looked down at herself. A salmonling once more, just as she predicted.

"Woah.. This could come in handy," Jade gaped. Although, she could ponder this development later. She had some business to attend to.

She stepped out of the cover of the pillar and into full view. The runners were near the sandy shore, so occupied by the salmonids surrounding them that they couldn't notice Jade. And this time she wasn't even trying to hide..

Curiously, Jade could see a small object flying in the air and rapidly descending. Once she actually realized what the shape was, she quickly moved in to catch it before it could hit the ground. Nestled in her palms was the bruised form of Skipfin. He could barely lift a fin, and to open one of his eyes to gaze at Jade took a bit of struggle.

"Sorry for leaving.. Can you hold on for just a bit longer, buddy?"

The smallfry weakly nodded, and Jade set him down. Her attention turned to the inklings, eyes narrowing into a glare, and she stomped over to them. Her steps were loud enough To actually alert them, and the other nearby salmonids stopped to gawk at Jade as well, but by the time they turned around it was too late to act.

Jade loomed over the quartet, looking down at them with disapproval. Her height and shadow cast over the kids created quite the imposing image, leaving them frozen with fear. The taller male could barely emit a stammer before he was swiftly silenced by a clawed finger placed over his mouth.

"So curious to see people like you four around here, trespassing on my territory. Now, I want you to be good little squids and leave while you have the chance. It's okay, I won't hurt you if you do!"

Luka was the first to escape his fear-induced daze and quickly aimed his splattershot up, only to have Jade immediately grab his wrist and hold it in place. The salmonling shook her head in faux disappointment, "Wrong choice, squiddo."

The others tried to follow suit, but they were too slow to react. In one swing of her claws, Jade struck down the inklings where they stood, once again confining them to their liferings.

"You three should've known better than to… wait, three?"

She could hear footsteps close by, and as if on cue, a dozen or so salmonids began to yell and cry foul, and with a glance behind her Jade spotted Khal's rapidly departing form. She dived into her ink and swam after him.

Nearly every remaining salmonid on the island, both big and small, set their sights on Khal and proceeded to chase him down. With their wide spread on all fronts, the dastardly fishes cut off any and all routes of escape, finally cornering the lone inkling at the edge of one the grated catwalks behind the egg basket.

There wasn't much Khal could do either, unless he wanted to skip to the moment of his being splatted by the fishes, or give up and jump to the sea. It's not as if he could slip under the grates, either, there were Maws below ready to chomp on him as soon as he touched the ground. At least he didn't have to wait long before getting smacked dab in the face by a frying pan and sent careening off the platform. A small steel ball fell off his pocket as well, and was picked off the dirt by a trio of smallfries.

Yet just before he could hit the ground, Jade jumped in and caught him midair. They crashed and rolled along the ground less than gracefully upon hitting it, but at least they managed to land away from the rest of the hordes. At once, the salmonling slid out from below Khal's weight and effortlessly pinned the squirming inkling against the dirt. Once again, their eyes were locked, though Jade's were much firmer.

"Listen to me; Drop your weapon and the egg, and I can let you go safely. Just touch a red button on your lifering and you'll superjump back to the boat without having to get splatted."

"W-why should I trust you?!" Khal stutter-yelled in an attempt to sound fearless, "You splatted the others just fine, so why not finish me off instead?!"

"Because you are not like them." Her voice was much softer than before, and her grip on his wrists loosened considerably. "I can tell you don't enjoy being here, and you almost never try to attack anyone. You're.. scared, aren't you?"

Mouth agape and eyes quivering, Khal merely stared back at the salmonling before glancing away almost shamefully. Jade merely sighed as a response, and soon let go of his wrists and pulled him up with one hand, then pressed a button on his lifering with the other. With that, he was launched away and streaked along the orange sky and back into the distant Grizzco boat, with the other three liferings following suit.

And that was a wrap. All the salmons in the spawning grounds erupted into cheers, and some even started to break open the egg basket. Jade merely stared wordlessly at the departing boat.

Her brows furrowed. Hopefully the workers didn't feel too sore about their loss...

The minute the crew returned to Grizzco, Khal threw his working clothes off and made a break for the exit without looking back. How did it all go so wrong? And just what was up with that salmonling?

Salmonids can't actually speak, right? Right?! And her voice.. Why did it sound so familiar..?

So much dwelling meant Khal wasn't looking where he was going, and as a result ended up bumping his head against something. He looked up to see Salem bearing down on him with his usual frown.

"O-oh, hi Salem! H-how's it been?"

"It's been alright.." He looked away for a moment before focusing his sights on Khal again, "Are you healed up? Everything ok?"

Khal nodded yes a little too fast for comfort, though. "Juuuust peachy! No siree, noproblemsinhereafterallespeciallynotthehumanoidmonsteronthespawningrounds—"

"Hold on, did you say 'monster on the spawning grounds'?"

"Wh-no, of course not! That's ridiculous, haha!"

"Are you.. sweating?"

"Nope! Oh, I gotta go now, s-see ya later!"

Khal ran off without so much as one last glance, his shoes kicking up dust with every step, and leaving behind a very puzzled Salem.

The yells from Grizzco that followed suit didn't help matters either. Salem found a trio of inklings on their knees and looking as if they've just heard a shocking revelation.

Salem had no reason not to approach them, especially the fair-skinned boy blubbering incoherently.

"Hey, snap out of it! What's wrong?"

"I-it's still out there..."

"Look, I know your last shift must've been pretty bad, but I'm sure it's nothing too—"

"THE SALMONLING IS COMING!" Luka finally screamed, snapping towards Salem with a wide, horrified stare. He had already leapt to his feet and dashed in a screaming frenzy before Salem even had a chance to respond. The blue haired inkling looked to the other two similarly distraught girls, then to the gates of Grizzco.

His gaze steeled.

The first thing Jade did upon returning to the mainland, meanwhile, was find the nearest hot spring and sink right into it. Indeed, The salmonids actually had a few lying around, to her initial surprise. Nothing else would've been befitting of celebrating a victory.

She sucked in a breath and let out a long, relaxed exhale as she felt the water massage and caress her body.

"Man, these are the best," Jade drawled. Other salmons shared similar sentiments, they too relaxing in the spring. Jade moved an eye open to oversee Skipfin playing in the water and nodded approvingly before closing it.

"We did good today, Skipfin.. and I'm sure tomorrow will be even better."

The smallfry nodded with a chirp and nuzzled alongside the salmonling.

Elsewhere on the island, a trio of smallfries were happily playing catch with one another using a gray metal ball, a smidge too big for them to hold with a single fin. One of the fishes couldn't catch it in time when it was thrown, and as a result it bonked him in the snout. The other two laughed before running off, however the first one stopped to look at the ball more closely.

What a strange little logo it had, it even had a small fish in it, just like the smallfry! And curiously it had a small spot that was flashing and beeping a red color..

The smallfry tilted its head in confusion with a pause..

Then turned around and swam after its kin. It was probably nothing. Balls are harmless, after all.