"This pink signature inked on the back of this golden weapon… Thank you, nee-san… I will do my best with this."

Nanami sat in her room, admiring the Aerospray RG she received from her sister earlier today. She continuously looked at its golden texture and the oh-so-familiar signature on its tank."

"Hey, Nanami." Celia said as she opened the door to Nanami's room. "Today was a long day… why are you still up?"

"I like this weapon." Nanami nonchalantly responded. She didn't even look away from her Aerospray. "so shiny…"

Celia chuckled a bit at Nanami's attitude towards her weapon. "Oh, by the way, me and Orbee will be a bit busy tomorrow, so you're having a playdate with Ethel again! You cool with that, sis?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Nanami nodded in response and started to hug her weapon. "Oh… thanks again for this weapon, Celia-nee-san."

"Heh, you're welcome." Celia looked at Nanami with an intimate smile. "Well, good night, Nanami."

"Good night~"

Celia exited Nanami's room and entered hers. She laid down on the bed in her plain black shirt and shorts, and began to gather her thoughts.

"Come to think of it… I've haven't even met Ethel's family yet. The only time she ever invited me to her house was when she was home alone…"

Celia started to theorize about Ethel's family. She wanted to know so much about the Swumpy family that she snuck out her oPhone and started to search it secretly…

The Swumpy family was a race of scientists. They experimented on many things about inkling anatomy.

"…scientists?" Celia wondered. "I thought Ethel hated science… she even joined me on Team Art last September… must be some family rebel."

As Celia read more she saw that the Swumpy's are still making anatomical breakthroughs, even today. That was when something caught her eye…

Early Humanoid Control
Achieved on 10/20/14111
Researched by Soni Swumpy, aged 15

"Soni Swumpy…?" Celia exclaimed inside her head. "This was four years ago… So he's 19 today?"

Beside the information bit was a picture of a male light blue inkling posing with a female yellow inkling.

"So whoever that is must be the first one to gain this ability early… I thought it was just Nanami... I should question Ethel tomorrow after their playdate." She turns off her oPhone and falls back asleep.

Celia never even scrolled further down… The research was still incomplete, and she never even saw the girl's name…

"Bye, Celia-nee-san! Bye, Orbee-kun!" Nanami called out, waving at Celia and Orbee who were just about to leave her at Ethel's home. The couple, holding hands, slowly walked away.

"See ya, Nanami!" Orbee called.

"Hope Ethel takes care of you!" Celia called too. "I really hope she does…" Celia glared at Ethel, who was standing beside Nanami.

As Ethel shut the door, Nanami immediately grasped Ethel's arms and asked.

"What will we do now, Ethel-nee?"

"Well… uh…" Ethel started rubbing her own chin, thinking of what she should be doing with Nanami

"I can't play Turf Wars with Nana-chan here at home… Plus I really hate facing Aerosprays…" A confused face appears on Ethel. Nanami just stared at her with a big grin, waiting for an answer. "Maybe I should show Nana-chan to…" Ethel's eyes widen like a filling ink sac as an idea comes into her mind, but retracts them gain. "No… we can't do that today." She gives a sigh and turns back to Nanami with a simple, casual response.

"How about we just play Squid Kart 8?"

"Ah~ Sure! I've never played this before, but I'll try!"

The two played Squid Kart 8 for a long time, and switched games to Squid Smash Bros. 4 and Ikámon XY as the time passed. Eventually, playing video games got boring and the two played Turf Wars in the house, completely disregarding Ethel's original idea. They turned to board games, drawing, and after two whole hours of various activities, they just simply started chatting.

"So, when is your birthday?" Ethel asked in the midst of their casual conversation.

"June 22! I can't wait to turn… eleven… next year..." Nanami gave a cheerful reply; the peppy smile on her face gradually fading away. She looked at her humanoid hands and clenched them, giving out a sigh. "Why did this happen so early…" she mumbled quietly, showing no clear emotions.

Ethel saw Nanami as she questioned her state. "She can't know yet…" Ethel quickly thought, slightly panicked about this situation. "I should change the topic quickly. H-hey, don't worry about that now… uh… h-how about another Turf War here?"

"Sigh... Okay, Ethel-nee, but this is the last one." Nanami responded, picking up her Aerospray RG.

"Oh yeah, s-sure. Whatever you say, Nana-chan."

The two played a somewhat boring turf war in their home again, only intensifying whenever they encountered each other. At one point in the game, Ethel was chasing Nanami at an inkredible speed throughout the entire ground floor.

"OH I'M GONNA GET YA!" Ethel roared, tossing a disruptor at her target.

"N-no you won't!" Nanami finds a nearby drawer next to her path and slides into its tiny gap without opening it, and gets hit by Ethel's disruptor right before fully escaping.

"You can't hide, Nana-chan!" Ethel warned as she came to a stop. "Disruptors can show me where you're hiding!"

Back in the drawer, Nanami stayed as quiet as she could, slowly swimming to the back side of her hiding spot, being further hindered by the still effective disruptor. It's lucky for her that Ethel has poor reflexes and field of vision. Nanami however had good night vision. That made her notice something peculiar in the drawer – there was nothing even in it.

"strange…" Nanami thought, looking at the not-so-dark empty insides of the excuse of a drawer. She started to back up some more, only to feel her squid fin drooping down, as if there was no floor at the very edge of the "drawer". This got her attention again, and when she tried to turn her entire body around to see it, her tentacle slipped and, with a loud scream that alerted Ethel, she fell into a deep pit, landing in a light blue pit of ink.

"Gotcha!" Ethel exclaimed as she tugs the drawer sharply, only to find nothing but a drop of mint green ink by the back edge…

"Thirty-eight minutes…" a male voice sounded as Nanami woke up in an artificial mint green spawn point.

"Please… it's too early to try it on her…" a somewhat familiar voice pleaded. Nanami's vision and hearing were still blurry and garbled. "Can't we wai–"

"Shush…" the male replied, moving closer to Nanami's slowly reforming squid body. "Some things… have to be rushed."

Chapter 7: Some Things Have to be Rushed

"*pant*… *pant*… only NOW you disrupt her!?" the male, light blue inkling yelled at his… partner.

"My friend trusted me with her!" his partner, lime green with… Splash Goggles and… a Bobble Hat on her head, retorted. Muffled cries of help were heard a reasonable distance away from the two. The disruptor had prevented the captive from filling her ink tank, rendering her unable to attack. She couldn't move in the light blue ink she was trapped in. She tried to scream for help but no clear word was heard. The screams eventually began to annoy the male.

"OKAY! You can talk now! Just stop being so dramatic!" the infuriated male screeched, stripping the muffler off of Nanami's mouth. She panted heavily as she tried to catch her breath. "So." The male began. "Who are you."

"Seriously? You're asking me that?" Nanami retorted, infuriated with the mysterious inkling's question.

"Yeah, why didn't you introduce yourself first?" his partner continued.

"Wait…" Nanami turned to the lime green partner, a bit suspicious of her. "E…Ethel-nee…?" She pulls the "Splash Goggles" from the girl's face and plops it onto the "Bobble Hat" she dons on her head. It formed a Squid Nordic, perfectly matching her Zekko Hoodie and Crazy Arrows in a familiar sort of way. Without a doubt, that was Ethel. The two stayed silent as an awkward realization struck Nanami.

"L-look I swear. This guy had everything do to with thi–"

"And how is it my fault, exactly!?"

"Well, I know it's not my fault!"

"That doesn't mean it's not her fault!"

"K-keep me out of this!" Nanami interrupted the argument, throwing her Aerospray RG at the man.

"Ow!"

"N-Nana-chan…" Ethel muttered quietly. "You can trust this guy."

Nanami turned her attention to the light blue male. "So… who are you?"

"I…" the man paused, straightening his Golf Visor. "am Soni Swumpy." Nanami's eyes widened a bit, shocked hearing his surname.

"Ethel-nee… has a brother?" Ethel nodded lightly to Nanami.

"Aside from my sister here, the Swumpy's were one of the most well-known scientist generations throughout Inkopolitan and Calamarian history. You see, four years ago, I was the one who studied on the first case of what I named 'Early Humanoid Control Ability Mutation, or for short–" Soni was cut off by Nanami's cough. "…yeah. EHCAM." Soni said, imitating Nanami's cough to pronounce that acronym. "It's a really strange mutation and can happen any–"

"UUUUGGHHH." Ethel groaned, cutting off Soni again. "Get on with it, S'onii-chan!" Nanami started to giggle and hide her amusement.

"D-don't call me that, Ethel'sis!" Soni blushed as he countered Ethel. Now she started to blush. Nanami just kept snickering, covering her mouth with her hands. "J-just listen to me… uh, I never really caught your name…"

"Don't you call her 'Nana-chan'. That's my nickname for her." Ethel said.

"Well… I'm Nanami Avers…"

"Nanami, huh. Cute name."

"Hey! I sai–"

"Shh now, Ethel'sis. Listen, Nanami…" Soni walked over to the mint girl, still stuck in the pool of light blue ink. Soni walked over it completely unaffected. "Due to your condition, you need to increase your stamina."

"Wha…?" Nanami just stood there, confused by Soni's big words.

"You also have to undergo this crazy operation to confirm how you got this ability early."

Nanami just stared blankly at him.

"He means…" Ethel butted in. "We'll train you and open you up!"

"What!?" Nanami panicked. "Screw that I'm outta here!" Nanami tried to escape, but still found herself stuck in light blue ink.

"How about we just train her first?" Ethel whispered to Soni. Nanami continued to trudge slowly from the light blue ink. Ethel nonchalantly throws another disruptor on her, further reducing her speed.

"Sure…"

"48…
"49…
"50."

Nanami slowly morphed back into her humanoid form, panting heavily.

"See? Because of your early ability, you're completely exhausted from just swimming laps as a squid." Soni remarked after counting Nanami's laps around a tiny circuit of ink. "This is why you need to increase your stamina."

"Hah… hah… how do I i-increase it…?" Nanami questioned, still trying to catch her breath.

"Swim more laps."

"Wh…WHAT!? B-but… it's so… t…tiring…! A…and I ju…just s-swam fi…fifty la…ps… I ca–" Nanami was interrupted by a brief burning sensation, and again found herself splatted by Soni's Sloshing Machine.

"What was that for!?" Ethel yelled at Soni. "Why'd you have to–"

"shh." He put his finger on the lip of Ethel's mouth. "Just wait. 3…2…1…" Nanami again respawned in Soni's artificial spawnpoint.

"Déjà vu…" Ethel mumbled under her breath.

"Splatting someone partially refills their energy."

"Hwaa~" Nanami sighed, feeling completely exhilarated as she hopped out of the spawnpoint. "Let's do this~!"

It was a long day of training for Nanami. She swam hundreds of laps, slipped through tens of grates, and dodged thousands of bullets. She was splatted by Soni, feeling energetic every time she respawned. Within a few hours, Nanami's low stamina, a result of her mutation, grew gradually during the training. She seems completely ready for Turf Wars, and to an extent – Ranked Battles.

"Now that you're done training…" Soni remarked, taking a box from a nearby shelf. "I'm afraid I have to open you up now…" Nanami just stayed quiet and nervous, twiddling her two thumbs together–

"Nana-chan! Think fast!" Ethel called out, throwing a net of light blue color towards her. Nanami quickly reacted and turned into a squid that penetrated through the light blue net.

"Nice. You've got quick reflexes. Unlike… some people." Soni glanced at Ethel. She just pouted.

Nanami shifted back into her humanoid from, finding herself colored light blue, with her tentacles' tips shaded green, just like in a Turf War.

"When I did this to the first patient…" Soni began. "she refused to come back ever again, afraid that I would force her into the operation."

"But it's ok…" Nanami finally spoke. "It's for… someone on my team."

"Who? Your sister?"

"No…"

"Ethel'sis?"

"No."

"That noob, Hanz?"

"NO!" Nanami suddenly screamed. She sighed to calm herself down. "For… Orbee-kun."

"Orbee...?" Soni rubbed his chin.

"Yeah… Orbee Gaws."

"Gaws…" Soni started to remember some things he knew about the man, more specifically, his sister. "I see… Don't worry, the operation wouldn't hurt if we're the same ink color."

"Ok…"

The day was long yet again as Soni started to operate on Nanami. Just like what he said, she felt nothing but a few tickles as Soni prodded her brain. Ethel just covered her eyes, not being a fan of uncensored surgery…

"Research is now complete…"

The doorbell rang quietly, alerting the mint green girl after recovering from her operation. Slowly yet excitedly, she walked over to the door, while Ethel and Soni were dozing off. Nanami opened the door and found the couple picking her up.

"Nanami! You're okay!" Celia let go of Orbee's hand and hugged Nanami tightly. Her face never even moved a bit. This bothered Celia.

"I'm fine… Celia-nee-san…" Nanami nonchalantly said as she slowly hugged her sister back. "I just… want to thank you…"

"Hm?" Celia pulled herself back a bit. "What for?"

"Not for the Aerospray RG… for your love and care for me… without you, I never would've gone this far…" She proceeded to hug Celia tighter, starting to cry tears of joy.

"Sisters…"

Author's Notes

Ugh, this was a tough chapter. This chapter was rushed too. Get it? *laughs*

Well, I've nothing to say for now aside from:

MAHI-MAHI RESORT IS COMING!

Oh, and SLSL~

- o.O