It had been two hours since Maize had finished his encounter with his dad. It was a stressful time explaining it to the authorities, but they had it handled and hopefully he would not need to see his father again during the retrial. The yellow inkling had the biggest smile on his face while he was walking back home. The sun was setting and he was ready have a nice night's rest. He felt like the entire world had been lifted off his shoulders in seconds.
"Oh! I should let the others know the good news," Maize grinned while pulling out his cellphone, noticing the texts and calls he missed. The most recent call attempt was made from Octoronia, yet he did not recall sharing his phone number with either of the octolings. He recalled her and waited for an answer.
"Hello?" Octoronia's voice chimed.
"Hey! Octoronia, sorry about missing your calls. The heat of the moment, y'know?" Maize chuckled. She was very happy to hear her friend was back to his cheery self.
"It's okay… I've been spending the last few hours with Fulvous at the plaza. How did it go? Did you find your dad?" Octoronia was sitting inside the weapons shop Ammo Knights at Inkopolis Plaza. The shop owner, Sheldon, was a very nice person and allowed them to use his tools to fix the small dent in the splatling gun.
"Yeah… just that I don't see him as a dad anymore. He's going to jail now. I'm near the plaza, so how about I come meet up with you?" Maize suggested, trying to ignore the topic of his father at the moment. He wanted to enjoy the great peace of mind while he had it.
"Sure! …I have no idea where I'm going around in Inkopolis," Octoronia confessed, sounding nervous to be walking these streets alone. Even if there weren't that many scary things in Inkopolis, she did not feel safe to travel through unknown locations. The yellow squid had a good idea in mind, since he especially wanted to see Fulvous.
"Be there in a minute," Maize hung up, hurrying along. His splatterscope dangled off his back with his ink tank once more as he ran. He never felt dragged down by either of them, since he was so used to carrying both items. It was weird when he did not have them on his body.
At the Inkopolis Plaza weapons shop, both Octoronia and Fulvous sat and waited. Ever since the orange squid was talked to by the agents about who the true killer was, she was stuck in a sea of guilt for what she had done. They heard the front door bell for the shop ring as the door opened.
"Hey! Look who's here!" a voice chimed out. Fulvous looked over to see the shop owner coming from the back room. He was wearing a helmet on his head with a pair of goggles, and was dressed in a khaki scout uniform with a red scarf around his neck. He was Sheldon the horseshoe crab, a huge military fanatic. Maize used to come to the Ammo Knights store all the time when he was new to turf wars. Trying to become fresher and viewing every new weapon was an exciting experience.
"Hey, Sheldon. Sorry, I'm not here to shop. I'm just here to talk to my friends," Maize apologized. Sheldon looked disappointed. Business had been a bit slow lately. Despite his efforts at making new weapons, they did not seem to meet any squids' standards. The horseshoe crab went back to counting inventory in the back room.
"…wait a minute. You really think of me as a friend?" Fulvous only could say. Agent 3 stood in front of her with a wide smile. He pointed a finger at the stub from the tentacle that she had bitten off.
"It wasn't your fault, Fulvous! I know what it's like to let anger build up for a long time. In hindsight, I did kind of deserve the biting… but still, I'll gladly consider it a fair sacrifice in pursuit of the truth," Maize exclaimed. He saw this tentacle stub now as just another reminder of part of the past being left behind. However he sure would have loved to keep both of his tentacles. He felt sorry for whoever found that amputated tentacle out there randomly, he knew it was going to shock some squid.
"…so Arylide really did it?" Fulvous questioned.
"Yeah. I've dealt with him for you, and he's gonna serve one long period of jail time," Maize nodded, positive that Arylide was facing a long jail sentence for the murder. The large sum of coins he had won from the scratch tickets were also going to just go to some legal fees that were left unattended by him, and they were quite a large sum of cash. The orange squid buried her face in her hands, sniffling.
"He-hey! Why are you crying?" Octoronia asked rubbing a hand on the orange inkling's back. Her splatling gun was repaired and now the real murderer was caught. This should be a joyous thing, but Maize could guess why she was upset.
"I-I did all th-this! Cyan wouldn't have wanted this… but I did it. I just went nuts and attacked every ye-yellow squid with glasses. I bit someone's limb off with no care! And now look at me… I feel like a monster… yet I-I'm still being treated nice for it. I don't de-deserve any of this!" Fulvous sobbed, her guilt succeeding at aching her heart. Agent 4 looked at Agent 3. Maize tapped his chest, aware that simply reassuring that everything was fine was not going to cheer her up, if his previous statement had not. He had another idea in mind.
"You really feel that bad for it? Look, I have an idea that might make things better," Maize started, gaining her attention. Her tear filled eyes looked up at him like he was her hero. He partially was just right now, but that was mostly for finding out the true killer and being so brave in the face of danger.
"Wh-what?" she sniffed, wiping her eyes.
"You can join the Special Squid Services," Maize held out his hand in offer to her, giving her the opportunity to become an agent for the Special Squid Services. Fulvous had heard of this group before the website had become quite popular, and there had been nothing but positive things said all the time.
"Re-really? …but why?" Fulvous responded in confusion. She felt like she deserved to be behind bars herself for her rage-induced assaults.
"The Special Squid Services is out to help everyone they can," Octoronia explained, letting Agent 3 take over from there.
"Cyan wanted to help the world. He wanted to cheer the world up with his painting. If you really feel bad for what you did, then turn it around and help others in need. For all I know, Cyan would want this from you," Maize added his hand still extended toward her Fulvous missed cyan a lot and remembered how much fun he had painting she grabbed the yellow squids hand before standing up
"…I'll do it! I'll turn these years of anger around to nothing but making others happy!" Fulvous happily agreed to become Agent 7. Maize and Octoronia had bright smiles, and before they knew it, she had grabbed her splatling gun and approached Maize, holding it to him. He confusedly held his hands out, and she carelessly dropped it into his arms. He fell straight to the ground with the heavy-weight gun.
"I want you to have Sasha… as thanks from not just me, but from Cyan, too," Fulvous insisted.
"I just fixed her, too…" Octoronia sighed, wishing she had received something for a gift, but was aware that Maize had done a lot of the work for this personal mission.
"Oof! …wow, s-she's heavy… you're sure I can have her?" Maize questioned if it was alright to have her splatling gun. At times like this, he wished he was muscular. Normally they weren't that heavy, but sadly this was a special brand model of splatling gun, so it had a bit more complex tech inside of it.
"Yes! Don't worry, her sister Natascha will serve me just as well as Sasha did," Fulvous happily responded. Before the two knew it, Agent 7 was out of the store and heading off to get back home. She seemed all too eager to do some missions as an Agent.
"Well… this has been a very long day… and I'm ready to pass out," Octoronia stated, feeling drained. Maize presumed all of the agents were equally tired.
"I know how you feel… Let's head to the Squid Sister's place. I'm sure everyone'll be there," Maize recommended they go regroup with the others and give them an update on the results of their searches, aware that if Marie Fallow Callie or ECO could not find anything, they would certainly have returned to Flounder Heights, especially if they had no contact with the yellow squid himself for any information.
"Yeah, let's go! …I'll help you carry her," Octoronia groaned, grabbing the other end of the splatling gun and beginning to help Maize out of the store. She wondered how he was going to get this weapon home by himself. The two were going to head for the Squid Sisters apartment. Maize had not forgotten at all about this supposed crush ECO had gained for him, and he had not the faintest idea how to go about handling it. He was going to try and brush it off tonight and let her work through it. The yellow squid was certainly not going to add any more stress or drama to today than he already had.
Things were a little more peaceful in the Squid Sisters' apartment at the moment. The rest of the agents were there. Callie had accidentally fallen asleep on the couch right next to her grandfather. Fallow was lying on her back in the floor, fading in and out of sleep. ECO was working on the inside of her arm, with it open wide and exposing the wires inside.
"If you're still worried about Maize, don't be," ECO heard looking over her shoulder, seeing Marie standing there and still having some energy. She was feeding Bondi a bottle of formula, not wanting to wake up his mother.
"…I appreciate your concern for me," ECO responded. The Squid Sister rolled her eyes. The robotic octoling did not hide that worry well at all since her emotion cortex was constantly showing a blue light in worry.
"I'm concerned for everyone lately. Everything's going so crazy…" Marie admitted. She had been growing only more and more concerned for her dear friends and family. Each day that passed and each mission seemed to be drastically different, though the white squid did not ever expect to be friends with an octoling, let alone a robotic one.
"Squee…" Bondi tiredly yawned once he finished his bottle. Marie gained a smile, seeing the sleepy squishie.
"What's bothering you?" ECO requested, noticing that odd look in the white inkling's eyes. It looked like a mix of joy and sadness. Marie looked at Agent 5 confusedly, trying to not let it bother her while she cradled Bondi in her arms.
"I dunno. I guess ever since Callie adopted Bondi, things kind of are being put in perspective for me…" Marie claimed as she walked away to go put the squishie in his crib to rest. She could not be any happier to be the aunt to the adopted squid, but she couldn't deny the odd feelings she had lately. Her thought process however was broken by a knocking at the door.
"Let's hope things went well…" ECO tried to remain calm as she opened the door, seeing Maize and Octoronia standing there, the splatling gun right nearby.
"Hey!" Maize happily greeted the metallic octoling. This greeting call seemed to wake up all the other agents.
"Maize! Sis! I'm glad you're both alright," ECO sighed in relief to see her sibling safe and everyone happy once more, wondering what had occurred. She tried to keep the lights toned down somewhat, though she was confused by the heavy weaponry they were carrying.
"Bro! How did it go?" Fallow got up from the floor tiredly. Callie got off the couch, rubbing her eyes. Her grandpa however stayed slumbering. The black squid was happy to see their friend again as she approached her cousin.
"I'd like to say well, but I've never been in more of a chaotic scene in my life. Good news is… I'm about clear of all charges," Maize gave a thumbs up. He heard a group cheer, but that woke the squishie from his sleep. Marie handed Bondi back to his mother. She had already put him to sleep once tonight.
"We need to do something to celebrate!" Callie exclaimed, though it seemed like everyone was far too drained to even remotely consider going out anywhere or doing a turf war for fun. Maize was glad no one pressed him more about the matter.
"Callie, I think going to bed early would be a good celebration," Marie commented, much to the disappointment of her cousin.
"Today's been a long day… and I owe you all a lot. Sorry for making you worry and think I was the criminal there," Maize apologized, trying his best to avoid the million coin debt he now had to the white inkling. Even so, he admitted that it was worth it. That hypnotist session really worked wonders.
"I'd like to say it's fine, but it really isn't. That was a very horrifying lie," ECO claimed with that purple light on her chest flickering. Maize chuckled, unsure how to take that. Octoronia got worried, approaching her mechanical sister.
"Let's head home. It was nice meeting you all," Agent 4 claimed, very happy to have met all of the agents, but just wishing the circumstances could have been a lot better. The feeling was mutual.
"Same to you. Just never thought I'd be friends with an octoling," Marie admitted, aware that not all octolings were evil. It was just a bad blooded history between squids and octopi. That more so prevented any contact between them. It was nice to see that there were those who had minimal care for the past war. They watched Agents 4 and 5 take their leave.
"See you both later," Maize bid them farewell, even if ECO had that eerie crush on him. He heard the same be bid to him from the octolings.
"I should probably get home if I could. Maybe if it were more fun, I'd help carry your gun," Fallow said in her usual rhyme. Maize gave an unamused glare.
"Gee, thanks sis… love ya too," Maize responded. His sister hugged him before she left the Squid Sisters' apartment. Maize looked at the Squid Sisters. Things seemed to be back to normal now, and with a new agent to the Special Squid Service to help out others in need. Today seemed to be at least positive toward the end.
"You wanna spend the night? That splatling gun looks heavy," Marie extended an offer to their dear friend to crash here once again, Captain Cuttlefish still slumbering away on the couch. Callie was rocking Bondi in her arms, trying to sooth him back to sleep. The squishie was upset from being awoken from his sleep once already.
"Thanks for the offer, but I need to go home. I got a few things to fix," Maize kindly turned down the offer, though sounded annoyed to head home. He had to repair his broken doorknob to the front door, and clean up any traces of his blood that still remained, and the rest of the mess after treating his own stub of a tentacle.
"Alright. Well, you take care," Callie bid Agent 3 goodnight, Maize giving a smirk. The Squid Sisters were glad to have that happy blonde squid they knew back. They watched him pick up the splatling gun with both arms, groaning before he made his way out of their apartment.
Maize was at the elevator when he put down the splatling gun, panting.
"Ugh… jeez, my back's gonna get thrown out at this rate," he coughed, regretting not being stronger, but he preferred chargers for a reason. He was not one to go running around with the heavy weaponry on the front lines. However lately it sure felt like he was thrown to the front lines with just his splatterscope. Challenge was challenge, but it was starting to get a little out of hand.
"Maize! Wait a second!" he heard, looking back to see Callie coming to him. He wondered if something was wrong.
"What's up, Callie?" Agent 3 greeted the Squid Sister, hoping another surprise mission had not forced its way into the agent's attention.
"I need to talk to you a bit… it's about Marie," Agent 1 started. Maize was concerned already, but she seemed completely fine in there as far as he could tell. Anyhow the yellow inkling was not very good at telling when others were lying.
"Does she have a mission for us?" Maize asked. Callie couldn't help but slightly laugh at that response.
"You think everything is a mission lately. No, I want you to keep an eye on her if you can and check up on her. She's acting strange lately," Callie claimed. She was actually very worried for her cousin. Agent 3 could tell how upset it was making Callie, to the point where she was rubbing her own tentacles for comfort.
"How strange? And why me? Can't you or the cap'n take care of her? …because this sounds like a family matter," Maize admitted. He did not like sticking his nose into other families' affairs, but if his best friends needed his help, he was not one to shy away from the problem then.
"I'm afraid I might be the reason why she's acting strange. I would prefer to not talk to gramps about it. Ever since I've adopted Bondi, Marie's been acting more down than ever. Whenever she sees me with him, I'm worried she's jealous," Callie explained what she thought it was. That made Agent 3 quirk an eyebrow. Marie and jealous were two words that did not go together often. Usually others were jealous of her.
"Jealous? …for you having a squishie?" he asked, wanting to know if he was following along well.
"No. I think just jealous that I'm spending most of my time at home with Bondi. Can you please make sure she's alright, if you can? I don't think I'd be able to sleep well knowing I'm upsetting her so much…" Callie repeated her request. Maize really had trouble believing Marie would be jealous of her cousin spending time with her son. The Squid Sisters sure seemed just as active in media as before and they seemed synced up perfectly normal. But he nodded.
"Alright. I'll promise to keep an eye out for her, don't worry," Maize agreed. Callie sighed in relief, hugging her friend.
"Thank you so much. You have a good night," the black squid bid her friend goodnight.
"Same to you," Maize said, watching her return to her apartment. The yellow squid had a bad feeling that something was a lot more wrong than he imagined. He tried not to let it bother him, wanting to blame the season changing from spring to summer on Marie's mood change.
"Ugh… I still gotta lug you around, huh Sasha…" Maize muttered down to the weapon while hitting the button for the elevator. He picked up the splatling gun once the elevator reached his floor, and then entered. He hit a button to go back to the ground floor. He wanted to head home, clean and repair everything and then get a good night rest. Today had been physically and emotionally exhausting, and now he had to worry about his friend as well.