She threw herself at the glass door, pierced through that which barred her path, and ran deeper into the building. Of course, her pursuers were not far behind either.

The instant she felt blue pellets whizz behind her, she dove for cover behind a nearby pillar. Even shifted into a fish and shrunk onto herself so as to stay as hidden as possible.

But then she heard metal clanking against the marble floor, and a glance to her right showed a small blue pyramid laying a few inches away from her tail. One second, it flashed brightly. The next its surface bubbled.

The next, she hopped away, right before her eyes were smattered in blue and her face burned.

A pained cry ripped through the salmonling as she was blown back by the blast, her back slamming against the floor. She felt dazed and sore; this irritating ringing buzzed in her ears and her eyes stung and her arms and legs felt like sludge. But even with pain flaring all over her limbs, the salmonling did her best to get up.

"There she is! Pull out the nets!" One of the pursuers yelled, and two of his companions brought out strange rifles in turn.

She spat out a glob of green ink at one of them, striking directly in the chest. The second one fired, and the salmonling rolled away in turn. The net merely brushed past her and landed uselessly on the floor, and so she spat another glob at them.

The salmonling crawled over to the nearby fountain and quickly dunked her head inside, wiping the blue ink off her face in seconds. The burning sensation vanished as well.

She felt a hand grab onto her shirt and forcefully pull her out of the water before slamming her onto the floor. Next thing she knew, a blaster was pointed at her face, the assailant's finger about to pull on the trigger. With one hand, she pushed the barrel away and with the other she decked him in the face.

The only remaining worker— a pesky inkling— made his move right then, rushing toward the beast with octobrush in hand. They swung at her a few times, thoughtlessly splashing waves of ink everywhere, likely hoping that even a single drop would touch her. The salmonling scoffed: how foolish of them.

She ducked under his swings effortlessly, even hopped away to keep some distance from the ink. The moment he took pause in his assault was her opening: she dashed toward him, grabbed his neck, spun around and slammed him against the fountain.

The salmonling bared her mismatched fangs at the inkling, and whatever bravery he had in him broke as he began to squirm and choke desperately in her grip. Of course, the prey tried to fight back, but any attempt at getting a good hit on her ended in failure. She lifted him high and was about to slam him onto the fountain when she noticed something in the water.

Burning red eyes. A scowl of mismatched teeth. Haggard strands of orange hair. It was nothing more than her own face.

So why did she feel like running away from it? Why…

Why did her cheek hurt all of a sudden?!

The salmonling quickly realized she was downed on the floor with a dazed sight and a sore face. A side glance and she already traced the culprit; the slimy squid had slipped off her grip and even dared to sneak in a good hit on her while she was distracted. An angered growl rumbled from her throat as she advanced toward him.

"Requesting reinforcements at the south entrance of Evertide Mall. We need backup—!"

He was silenced by a slash to his face and left unconscious and sprawled out on the floor. The salmonling huffed; weak maggots like him should've known better than to challenge her. So what if he sent a plea for help to his fellow nuisances? She'd put them in their place as well the moment any dared to...

What was that noise just now?

She caught wind of murmurs and whispers behind her, and when she whipped around she was faced with a small crowd of [sealings] all wide-eyed and gawking at the scene she'd just made. Their fear was palpable, it was practically wafting off of them, as expected of prey— people.

For a moment the haze lifted, and Jade remembered: When she stalked the streets at night, when she bared her fangs at anyone who even glanced at her funny. When she hit and clawed at people who'd contributed nothing to her plight, even the ones she cared about…

The mutant grabbed her head and shook it violently. What was she doing?! She shouldn't come close to them, shouldn't even be in their presence. They'd get hurt, either by her own hand or Grizzco's. She had to flee—!

"Target spotted! Moving to apprehend now!"

A new voice shouted from behind, breaking the salmonling out of her stupor. Primal rage overcame her once course they wouldn't buzz off… they would never let her do anything else.

More of the orange-clad pursuers rushed inside through the hole the salmonling left behind. The tools they held varied: Blasters, chargers, Brellas, Sloshers, even splatlings. They spread out all over the area she found herself in, surrounded by tables and chairs and the aforementioned fountain as if trying to encircle her.

Before they had a chance to shoot, she grabbed the nearest chair and flung it at one of the hunters, knocking them down and effectively punching a hole in their 'wall'. She spewed a stream of salmon ink toward the fell hunter, then shifted into her fish form and swam on it.

Orange pellets were flying now, some whizzing overhead and all around her and others painting over the trail ahead of her. The salmonling merely turned and zig-zagged around the pellets aimed at her and when the trail ended she leapt out, shifted back and broke into a run.

There was a nearby pillar right where her path ended, and so she jumped onto it. Her sharp claws latched onto its brick surface, and with a heave the salmonling jumped off the pillar and soared higher into the air. She landed on a walkway above the courtyard before shifting into a fish again and swimming away.

"Captain, the salmonling's fleeing the south plaza, headed east. What do we do?"

"What we discussed! Keep it inside the building and lead it onto the roof. We'll corner it there," Nephrys ordered, her voice ringing out from the earpiece.

"But the civilians…"

"I know. The guards here have already started evacuating everyone inside, and I'll send some of our men to keep them out of the fighting. You and the rest of your squad just focus on keeping the salmonling here."

"Understood.." The sea lion sighed before shutting off his earpiece. He signalled to the rest of the Grizzco hunters around him and with a booming command they all moved out in pursuit of the creature.

If there was any semblance of peace and quiet in the plaza moments ago, it had all but vanished by now. Those who hadn't fled the scene yet could do nothing but look on wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Some cowered on their knees, others led outside by a Grizzco employee or two, friends and family held onto each other for meager comfort.

And in the midst of it all stood a short inkling boy with spiky orange tentacles, trembling in place as he stared out at the chaos before him. He couldn't make sense of what had just transpired— Heck, he came across this only a minute or so ago— nor could he decipher why his friend had returned to the way she was that fateful night.

He looked between the plaza and the door outside. He thought of running back to his parents—who were probably still in a café— of warning them about the danger and booking it out of there, but then he thought back to the moment Jade faltered in her assault. When he saw her grasp her head and her eyes flickered green for a moment before the fierce crimson resurfaced.

His face hardened and his fists clenched. He had to do something. He had to get Jade back.

Khal picked up an octobrush from one of the knocked out Grizzco employees, and after coating the pillar to his right and swimming up through it, he set the brush down and dashed after the rest of the squad.

As he sped down through corridor after corridor in pursuit of the Grizzco operatives, Khal felt it necessary to jot down a list of priorities in his head regarding the predicament he's thrown himself into.

1. Get to Jade before Grizzco can, and help her regain her senses

2. Stop the hunters before they can hurt Jade, maybe even distract them

3. Help out anyone he comes across before either Jade or Grizzco can hurt them more.

4. Meet up with mom and dad and explain what's happening to them.

Though if he could help it, Khal would rather not have to slow down and mention every tiny detail his parents could ask for just so they wouldn't hold him back in a fit of panic. Great Zapfish knows what his mother's like when she gets scared out of her mind..

He thought he'd lost the hunters when he could no longer keep up with their movements, but the wayward sounds of shooting and battle guided him to where he wanted to be. Khal ran up to the nearest wall and hid behind it before taking a peek around the corner.

The instant he saw a large thing barreling toward him, he pulled his head back. It whizzed past him in the blink of an eye, before the sounds of a screech and a thud slammed against his pointed ears.

He peeked out again, and to his right lay the crumpled heap of a Grizzco operative, a shrimp by the looks of it. To his left? a raging she-salmon beating up some other sealings in orange with surprising grace.

At least he didn't have to worry much about Jade's safety...

"Okay.. Just gotta trip those guys up and hope nobody notices. Not hard at all, no sir-reee…" Khal muttered as he crept closer and closer to the confrontation.

Once Jade had kicked one of the operatives close to him, he sprung into action. Brush on the ground, he ran up behind them, then splatted them with five quick brush swings. He dove into his ink right after and retreated through the trail he left behind. When another of the operatives hovered close to his ink, he swam through his trail again and positioned himself behind them. Then he saw Jade slash at one of their legs, and took his chance: Khal sprung from the ink, splatted them with another five swings, and dunked into the ink once more.

He was only visible to the salmonling for a short moment, but it was enough for her to take notice. She barely had any time to ponder it before another Grizzco guy came at her.

They continued this veiled team-up for several minutes as more and more enemies descended upon them. With the salmonling crippling them and Khal sneaking up to finish them off, they managed to ward off most of their attackers. Soon, they were down to one.

Khal positioned his short body behind the third one just as he entered a grappling hold with Jade. Suddenly, the operative pushed the salmonling off, whirled around and kicked Khal away sending him tumbling across the floor. They loomed over closer with menacing steps and raised their roller to strike at him.

Until a scaled claw clutched their neck tight and tossed them aside as if they had the weight of paper.

The world came to a halt once he set his eyes upon the altered form of his friend. Tall, hunched over and menacing as before, but something about her felt different. It wasn't the skimpy attire he's never seen before nor the fact that she actually tried to help him just now. Those eyes still unnerved him, but something about Jade's demeanor seemed.. off. The cold, firm gaze she directed at him obviously didn't recognize him as a known friend, but it wasn't the seething rage from before either.

She seemed almost.. puzzled. Curious. Khal was pretty sure she was debating on whether to pop him into a puddle or not, but he was no expert on reading a salmonid's expressions. Whatever it was, it was getting creepy and he really, really wanted something to break the silence.

Something that wouldn't be his parents, at that.

He dared not lift even a finger, not when he lacked in both means of escape and means of appeasement. Heck, what could he even do in this situation? One wrong move and he was sure Jade would change her mind and strike him down on the spot.

"Maybe I can jog her memory? Say something friendly like 'I'm not gonna hurt you, miss Salmon!'... ugh, that sounds stupid."

He had to do better than that if he had any hope of getting out of this unscathed.

Or he could be suddenly grabbed by the hood of his jacket and lifted off the ground to be left dangling in front of the salmonling, staring down the barrel of a Grizzco Brella aimed at the two of them! That works too!

The Brella guy didn't fire immediately, but he didn't lower his weapon either. He tried to wrestle free as the two opponents stared each other down, but Jade's grip was too strong. He was little more than a small, squirming wall between two people ready to rip each other apart..

Faster than they could get a shot in, Jade violently threw the inkling boy at her enemy, and didn't even look back as they both toppled to the floor. Khal shook himself out of his daze first as he sat up, and using the butt end of the inkbrush he hit Brella guy in the head and knocked him unconscious.

"She didn't have to throw me so hard…"

Once he regained his bearings, Khal spotted Jade walking off towards a hallway of some kind, though something about her posture seemed sluggish and stilted. Only when he saw her fall to her knees did he realize she was actually injured. He rushed to her side, even tried to grab onto her shoulder and serve as support. for even if he knew next to nothing about first-aid he still had to do something to help Jade out at least

Her head snapped toward him with such speed that it threw the boy off, and he backed off once he noticed her other claw already raised and aimed at him. Once again he was beset by the salmonling's scrutinizing stare. Once again there was no recognition in her crimson pupils.

"Y-you're hurt," He stated evenly, "Try to take it easy, ok?"

The salmonling grunted in protest. Her snout scrunched up, and with a claw she lightly shoved Khal off her before standing up.

"H-hey! You're just gonna get caught if you go on like this!" He pleaded once more. She paid him no mind as she spat out a puddle of green ink and submerged in it for several seconds. "Probably trying to heal like inklings usually did during splat sports," Khal figured. When that finished, she started to limp away.

Khal cautiously trailed behind the beast as she trudged through another hallway of the mall. Sirens littered all over the roof had begun to shine and spin, and a distant wailing droned on continuously. The shops flanking them looked to be closed and empty inside.

Come to think of it, he hadn't spotted anyone else yet. Obviously whatever people that worked here must've evacuated along with their customers, but there was no one from Grizzco either.

"You'd think they'd be crawling all over the place trying to surround their quarry," Khal pondered. Maybe they got lost in the chaos? Didn't know where to look in a place like this? Whatever the reason, Khal certainly wasn't complaining.

He noticed something move out of the corner of his eye, and promptly rushed to the salmonling's side again.

He ended up catching her before her body hit the floor. She weighed a ton in his arms, and he had to strain himself just so they both wouldn't topple over, but that hardly mattered to him at the moment. He tried to steal a glance at her face and nearly panicked at the sight of her pained expression.

It puzzled him greatly. There were no scratches or ink stains on her body and her face only had some small bruises on it. He didn't see her get hurt too much during their fight, either. So why did Jade look like she was sick?

It was then Khal noticed a strange smell wafting off his clothes, particularly in the spots stained in blue. The same smell came from the tip of his stolen brush as well. The salmonling must've noticed too, seeing as how she was unwilling to even glance in the same direction as him and his brush and tried to limp away from him again.

The ink. There had to be something in the ink that was causing the salmon girl to act like this.

Khal spared a glance at his stolen brush and found something odd in its handle: A small lever tied to a meter with different letters on it: 'H.T', 'R', and 'L.T' they read. It was currently set to 'L.T'. He wished he knew what that stood for.

Either way, it just gave him more reason to steer clear of any fights with Grizzco. He took off his stained hoodie and tossed it aside along with the octobrush. He came up to the salmonling again and tried to keep her steady as she got up. She glanced at the boy confusedly as he did so.

"Sorry about that. C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Why..?" The salmonling croaked weakly.

"Hm?"

"Why.. you.. help?"

It was the same scratchy, roughed-up voice he heard all the way back at the spawning grounds, with none of the eloquence Jade usually had. She almost came off as a cavesquid right now.

"Well… you look like you could use it right now."

The salmonling said no more after that, merely aimed a confused glare at him. She held onto him as they limped on through the hall, and her large frame certainly took a toll on the boy's stamina. Khal chose to look away from her pained face.

At the end of the hallway, they came upon a gray door along with their path branching off in both directions. With the right leading to even more stores and the left being taped off and filled with cops on the other side, that left the door as their only option.

He led her toward the door as gently as he could. Yet the moment he turned the knob and opened it, a boot suddenly came flying through. The force of the kick sent them both sliding across the floor, even pushing them apart.

They regained their bearings quick enough to see a female figure dash out from the other side, with a large roller in hand. A very familiar one.

The last person he wanted to see in this very situation, and her purple eyes were locked right onto him.

"Khal?!" Nephrys exclaimed upon noticing the young boy.

"Nephrys! L-look, I can explain—"

Or he would have, if Jade hadn't gotten to her feet and with a snarl prepared to bring her claws down on him.

The sight was enough to send Nephrys into a rage. "Don't you dare!"

With a wide swing of her dynamo roller, Nephrys sent a wave of blue ink at her opponent. The mutant leaped away before it could hit her, however.

"Get behind me, Khal! I'll cover you!"

They lunged at each other, and soon enough Salmonling and inkling were locked in combat once more, the girl's speed and agility matched by the woman's precise swings to both block and attack.

"Get out of here!" Nephrys yelled before blocking another of the salmonling's swings.

"That's not it!" Khal shook his head. "Listen to me, the salmonling isn't evil she's just—!"

"This isn't time to argue, Khal! Go!"

The woman resumed her assault before Khal could get another word in. Before he could even make any movements, he felt a hand latch onto his right arm and pull him up. A wayward glance revealed it to be another of Grizzco's lackeys.

The worker began to drag Khal away from the fight. The boy couldn't escape his grip no matter how much he kicked and thrashed, and his protests of "Lemme go!" fell on deaf ears. He noticed several more like them make their way inside with all sorts of weapons, all surrounding his two friends as they fought. The last thing he saw was the scowls etched on their faces, eyes burning with determination and animosity in kind, before he was thrown out the door.

The pavement was the first thing to greet him once he was outside. The impact certainly hurt and — yuck— tasting concrete on his lips was the last thing he wanted right now. His arms felt weak too, and to his dismay Khal couldn't muster up the strength to get up no matter how hard he tried.

Stupid noodle-arms..

Until again, he felt someone pull him up, but instead of a forceful tug Khal instead felt two pairs of arms envelop his whole being in a hug. He didn't need to look up to know who they belonged to.

"Honey, are you okay?" Lena said softly

"Where were you? You shouldn't have vanished like that!" Wilbur demanded, brows furrowed haunted by irate worry.

A quick glance, a stutter, and a semblance of an answer followed. "I.. went to the bathroom, like I said I would…"

"There was no sign of you there when we went looking," The man recounted sternly.

"We didn't see you anywhere once we had to leave the mall," Lena continued.

"I-I just… Look, that doesn't matter right now! I have to go back!"

His declaration only caused his parents' grip to tighten. His attempts to pull away were useless.

"Khal, slow down! What reason is there for you to go back inside?" Lena pleaded

"My.. my friends are in there! I have to get them out as well!"

"The police and Grizzco will take care of that, there's no need for you to worry," Willburr assured, though his words did little to ease Khal's worries.

"But—"

The touch of her mother's hand on his cheek made the boy stop. "It's dangerous, Khal. You must stay here, and don't move until we say so. Please."

He didn't care about the danger. Just because some tall, trigger-happy bullies dragged him away didn't mean he was gonna sit by and let his friend get captured— or worse even. But the way his mother and father held him tight, the way they both gazed at him now demanding— pleading even— that he not get himself hurt again…

How could he say no to that? He'd be breaking their hearts...

His gaze wandered over the trashed street and the pandemonium laid before him. Police and Grizzco goons everywhere, civilians either fleeing or looking on with at the crime scene, stains of ink in clashing colors littered all over the area, it was all so much. Just what happened here?

Now he was at a loss. Helpless again. Forced to do nothing but stay put as things spiralled out of control again. All while something feral had possessed his friend and forced her to act as a monster again.

Had he travelled back in time to a few weeks ago? Or did everyone decide to re-enact that night as a sick joke of some sort? It had to be that, for how else could he explain the current events?

He wanted to cry. Nothing was going well.

From the corner of his eye, Khal noticed his dad in the middle of a call— with one of his colleagues from the police, by the sound of it— And after sharing some words with mom he seemed to walk off somewhere else. Lena followed along, which meant Khal did as well. They met up with them and the guy showed Wilburr a tablet with an image

He had to get on his tiptoes just to take a peek at the footage. It showed an aerial view of the mall's rooftop, likely coming from that helicopter above him. All looked still until something violently crashed through the door connecting to the stairs. It was Jade, and she looked more injured than before with blue stains clinging to most of her body. Nephrys stepped into view soon after, with three other goons following her. Even though the salmonling spat out a puddle below her to heal from the excess ink, she still appeared to be exhausted, what with her trembling legs and swaying stance upon standing up.

She tried to back away toward the edge of the roof, but a hail of gunfire from behind her brought that to a halt. Not only did she find freshly laid ink close to her heel, but also a bright light bearing down on her. And from behind the window of the aircraft, a lanky anchovy sending her a malicious grin.

Khal felt his blood run cold at the sight. Nephrys along with her entire squad had managed to corner the girl in a place with no true exit.

He could not hear anything over the commotion at ground level, and there was nothing or no one he could call on for help. Not even Salem or Yzel appeared to be nearby…

She was cornered, exhausted and pushed to the brink. But her head remained high, and the salmonling's gaze remained resolute even as she stood so close to the edge, even as she stared down a roller and dozens of barrels pointed right at her head.

"Not another step," Nephrys threatened in a low tone, "And don't think about jumping off either."

The salmonling did not flinch in the slightest, however, merely kept leering at the inkling woman. She spared a glance at the rest of the troops surrounding her, and then to the street hundreds of feet below her.

All was still for several moments dragging on one after another, not a sound to be made save for the blowing of the wind and the rotating blades of the helicopter.

Until she stepped back. And jumped off.

None could grab her before she left. Shock befell the troops, Constantine screeched into his walkie talkie, Nephrys had to hastily order deployment of a trampoline at ground level, even Willburr tried to call other cops for help. And Khal? He could only watch.

So she plunged deeper, closer and closer to reaching the ground. The trampoline was spread out far enough so that it would catch her no matter where she fell.

Through the storm of panic and confusion, a single thought emerged in Khal. It cried out louder than ever.

He did not hesitate to heed it. Not when he stomped on his father's foot and wrangled free from his grasp, not when he sprinted at full force right toward the trampoline and especially not when he hopped onto it before launching off into the air in a fully-charged superjump.

With every bit of altitude he gained, Jade in turn fell lower and lower. The two were almost at the same level, he only had seconds if he hoped to do what he had in mind.

When he got close enough to the salmonling he shifted back into his humanoid form and spread his arms out wide. When he felt a weight suddenly slam against him he knew he'd gotten hold of her. The boy wrapped his arms around the salmonling as the both of them fell deeper into the trampoline.

And as soon as Khal felt the stretchy fabric brush against his back, he shifted into squid form again and launched off again in another superjump, sailing through the air in a wide arc.

Nephrys was left speechless as she witnessed the orange trail fly away from the area. It all happened so fast, she barely had any time to react, or do anything about it for that matter. She did however manage to track the trajectory of their jump, and upon following the arc closely she saw them land on the roof of an apartment only a few streets away from where she was.

"Miss Nephrys.. who did that—"

"All squads, regroup! I'm going after the target!" She barked out before she shifted into a squid and superjumped after the pair.

And on the ground, a mother could only look on in horror at what had just transpired. She glanced from side to side as if to check on the number of Grizzco and policemen around, then to the direction Khal had headed off.

After making sure her husband had his attention somewhere else, Lena quietly slipped away from the area, and broke into a run toward the very same apartment.

They crashed and rolled along the floor erratically upon hitting it, until they both slid to a stop on one of the corners of the roof.

Khal was the first to recover. His head was spinning even as he sat up, and his limbs were sore all over as well, but that didn't mean he was incapable of standing on his own two feet. Jade was still splayed out on the floor, however.

He knelt down by her side and tried to shake her awake, but she lied still as a rock through every attempt made. She just wouldn't budge.

"C'mon, this really isn't the time to go to sleep, Jade!"

Only after several beats of waiting did Jade show signs of life, as a soft groan came from her. Slowly but surely the girl stirred awake. She sat up groggily and placed a hand on her forehead, grasping it gingerly as her eyes fluttered open. Green eyes stared back at purple ones

"Khal…?"

He never felt so relieved to hear someone utter his name in total confusion before.

"A-are you okay? Nothing hurt?" He asked tentatively, glancing her up and down for any more signs of injury.

"You're here..." The salmon girl murmured, a look of wonder crossing her features.

"O-of course I'm here! Why wouldn't I.. be here..."

Suddenly he remembered why he hesitated in the first place. The sight of her in his house, the initial panic, the uncertainty, the fear. His cowardice.

Oh right. That was the last time he saw her before tonight. And he never apologised.

His eyes darted anywhere and everywhere away from Jade, and he took a few steps back. "W-well, it's just that I saw you enter that mall and you were fighting Grizzco but you were having trouble a-and I felt really bad about a few days ago so I figured I could lend you a hand— N-not that you needed it of course!— and-and now I know you were acting off and y-you didn't mean to hurt me so—"

She glomped on him at full force. He felt her larger arms wrap around him tightly, almost constricting in their grip. Still, his small frame held close to Jade's larger body. They both refused to let go.

"Sorry…"

"No. I should be the one apologizing," Jade said softly. "I hurt you and scared you off. Even now, you almost..."

"It wasn't your fault!" Khal shook his head desperately. "You had no control over that. Tonight was just.. a-an accident!"

"Tonight? Khal, what are you talking about?"

"The mall! You barged in and Grizzco was right on your tail. They cornered you on the roof."

"But when did I.. I could've sworn I was on the street..." She mumbled to herself, putting a hand to her head again.

Just as Khal was about to get another word in, however, his ears caught a faint noise whooshing in the wind. It rose louder and louder, as if something was approaching from the sky..

Then and there, Nephrys landed behind them and immediately swung her roller, the subsequent wave of ink knocking Jade back and coating most of her in blue. Some of it splashed onto Khal as well, but his damage was very little compared to Jade's.

He was left stock still as Nephrys stalked closer to the downed salmonling. While the roller on her right hand dragged along the floor behind her, on her left she held a small pistol with a dart loaded in. A tranquilizer.

Just as she took aim, Khal barged in-between them both. He stood protectively in front of Jade, the apprehension in his eyes betraying his act of defiance. It was enough to stupefy Nephrys and have her lower her weapon.

"Why are you so concerned about this salmonling?!"

"Nephrys, listen! She's not what you think she is!" He pleaded with as much force as he could muster.

"Are you out of your mind?! You can't possibly believe she's anything more than a selfish, dangerous animal. Just look at what happened tonight!"

"That's only what Grizzco wants you to see— What they want everyone to see!" Khal shook his head. "But that's not the whole story.. She isn't hurting anyone just because she felt like it."

"And how would you know that? You never met her, never saw her at a moment where she wasn't ripping an innocent jellyfish to shreds, anyways."

The inkboy offered no retort however, and merely looked away in shame.

".. You have, haven't you?" Nephrys pressed, brows raising in intrigue.

"That doesn't matter! I dunno how, but.. I know there was something influencing her inside the mall, and even when I first saw her. Something she can't control."

"If she can't keep herself in check then she has no right to run free. Now step aside, I've got a job to do."

Khal stood his ground, however. "You're not laying a finger on her!"

"Step aside, Khal. No one has to get hurt here," Nephrys commanded again, taking a step forward.

Khal stood his ground, however, and even spread his arms out protectively over Jade.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY, NOW!"

"MAKE ME!"

The woman was rattled by his declaration. From her stiffened stance to her frown and furrowed brow, it was clear that conflict stirred in her being. Yet the moment passed as quickly as it came, for Nephrys suddenly dropped her roller and used her right hand to lift Khal off the ground only to toss him aside. She aimed at Jade once more, she was about to fire—!

Then a pained groan came all of a sudden. She watched Jade grab her head and writhe on the floor as the ink sunk into her skin. The random, jarring sight left Nephrys puzzled, enough to not immediately shoot her target then and there.

Then.. then she saw the truth with her own eyes.

The salmon was shivering violently, pitiful whimpers ringing out as her body began to forcibly rearrange itself. Her scales receded, her tail vanished, her size shrunk and thinned, her face and limbs became nimbler and softer, her skin regained some color..

And where there was once a beast, now lay a girl like any other. An inkling.

"What…?" Nephrys gasped out, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. She couldn't move, couldn't get another word out, couldn't even lift her weapon anymore. Not while she tried to process what she'd just witnessed.

All the while, Khal lay in his spot mesmerized. Hearing about the change was one thing, but this was the first time he saw the transition with his own two eyes. It looked so painful.. she probably needed help getting up.

He scooted over to her side to do just that, as he latched onto Jade's arm and tried to pull her up at the same time as she picked herself off the ground. Once the pair of squid kids had regained their bearings, they found themselves face to face with Nephrys once more.

If Khal thought himself uncertain of anything, Nephrys appeared to be even more so. Whatever presence the woman had carried with her had vanished after witnessing the transformation. She exhaled with a shudder, her gaze stuck to the floor. Jade didn't appear very sure of herself, either, what with her awkward fidgeting. So Khal took it upon himself to break the ice.

"Nephrys," he called, yet the woman showed no outward signs that she was listening to him. "You don't have to listen to them anymo—"

Nephrys raised her non-gloved hand and held it out as if to signal Khal to stop. The young inklings dared not lift a single finger after that, for fear of what may happen next. However, Nephrys made no moves to attack either. Only continued to glance between them and the floor as words tumbled out of her lips.

"Just.. one thing at a time, alright?"

Again, they gave her a moment of silence.

Once she managed to compose herself, Nephrys faced the pair again. "Now—"

BRZZT

All three of them became alert when that crackling noise suddenly came in. It emerged from Nephrys' walkie-talkie. Khal quickly surmised that it emerged from Nephrys' walkie-talkie. She slowly unclipped it from her belt and held it near her mouth. A garbled voice could be heard, though Khal could not make anything out from where he stood. She spouted a few words into it before the voice came on again, and as she spoke she spared a glance at the night sky.

Two trails of blue sailing through the air, coming dangerously close to where they stood.

Grizzco inklings. They were coming in fast, And if nothing was done quickly, Khal was sure they'd be in a lot of trouble. Fortunately, Nephrys looked like she had a solution.

Unfortunately, it involved firing darts at both youths before they could so much as utter a word. They collapsed unconscious in an instant, even shifting into their squid forms as a side effect.

Nephrys made sure to huddle them together and to position herself so as to shield them once the Grizzco employees finally landed.

"Is everything alright here, ma'am?" Asked the taller one.

"Yes, of course. Target is secure," was Nephrys' automatic response.

"Are you sure? We don't see it anywhere," Said the shorter one

"I've forced her into her fish form, she's inside this bag. Now allow me to rendezvous with Mr. Grizz, I need to deliver him the target."

"Wait, what about Constantine? Aren't you gonna notify him—"

"Do you not trust my word?"

A bead of sweat rolled down both of the employee's foreheads. "We do, captain."

"Then allow me to get this over with. We've caused enough of a fuss already."

The workers nodded nervously. "O-of course!"

"We'll let you be on your way!"

With that they superjumped away.

Nephrys picked up the unconscious form of Jade. As she looked her over, many thoughts and questions sprang up. It should've been so obvious, yet the idea never seemed very plausible to her. But one thing was clear now.

"So it happened to you too, huh?"

AN

Hello to whoever has made it this far. I'm sorry this chapter took longer than usual to come out (though with the pace I've been posting, it's probably the norm by now). Truthfully, I've struggled to write the majority of this chapter these past few months and leave it in a state that's satisfying to me. Hopefully it managed to satisfy some of you instead.

This chapter marks the end of this little trilogy of sorts regarding such an eventful night. Maybe now I can actually move on to the next part of the story.

Until next time, whenever it may be.