It was around eight in the evening, and as of this hour, Maize was in his home. He had his laptop set up in the kitchen, and he was sitting in front of it. Meanwhile in the back of his kitchen, ECO was sitting at the table, taking apart his splatterscope. The pieces were scattered around the table beside her. Also on the table was the rocklike egg still in its glass case.
"And… these squids and octopi are desperate to be humans?" Fulvous's voice chimed.
"They sound really mad, even more than our dad," Fallow spoke up. Maize was talking to Agent 6 and Agent 7 over webcam, using a software called 'Skipper'. It was not the best, but it worked efficiently. Agent 3 had been explaining everything to them that had occurred out of warning, though once again, Maize realized that he was still the only boy in all of the Special Squid Services. It was certainly an odd coincidence, but he did not mind. He just found it a little awkward.
"I don't see the perk of being human. But I want you two to stay on your toes anyway, in case," Maize requested, wanting them to be prepared in case something went crazy by surprise. These worshipers wanted the egg for a reason. If it was this sacred item they wanted, then it sure did not look anything special.
"You know I will bro! We'll all be ready for the show!" Fallow rhymed gleefully. She sounded too excited and happy to know that a lot of lives in both Inkopolis and Mollusk Metropolis were on the line. However they then saw in Maize's cam, a small fire burst out from some of his splatterscopes parts messing up from afar. ECO just grabbed a nearby cup of water and splashed it on the fire with little care before tossing the cup away.
"Sorry. Sometimes that happens," the mechanical octoling apologized. The yellow squid sighed, hoping this weapon repair did not run the risk of burning his house down.
"Okay, well… I'm gonna go see what I can do with this egg. You two take care," Maize bid his sister and friend goodnight. They said the same to him before he closed the laptop. He got up and approached Agent 5.
"How goes the repair?" the yellow inkling requested, hearing his mechanical friend sigh in annoyance as she laid back in the chair, her emotional cortex's light glowing purple.
"Horrible. You somehow trashed two important parts to the splatterscope. I can fix it, but I don't know how you managed to do this," ECO claimed in confusion. It was astounding how much harm he had done to the charger, but she knew that he was a hard fighter and sometimes he had no choice but to use the weapon as anything but its intended purpose. He had other chargers and all of the mementos he received from his missions that contained a few weapons, but he truly would want to only use a splatterscope as long as he could.
"Sorry. Everything's been a little crazy lately," Maize apologized as he went over to one of the kitchen drawers, beginning to rummage around through it until he pulled out a small claw hammer from it. He picked up the glass case the egg was in and rested it in the nearby trash can.
"What are you planning to do with th-" ECO tried to finish when she saw him bash the top of the glass case, breaking the case into tiny shards. Maize put the hammer on the counter before he reached in and pulled out the egg. It had blue stripes in random patterns on it, though it still felt like a solid rock when being held. He felt an overwhelming fear course through his body. It was far worse without the case to house the egg. His bare skin touching it made him feel like he was terrified, but he suppressed that fear, taking in a breath to calm down.
"…you know, you probably could have just pulled the case off," ECO stated, seeing him come over and sit by the table, resting the egg on it. At least it somehow was able to stay upright on its own.
"I figured this would be quicker," Maize claimed while poking the egg. He had no idea where to begin with this. He wanted to still attempt to hatch it, even if he had minimal ideas about how eggs hatched or what they needed. This egg seemed more confusing than anything.
"Hmm… it just needs to be warmed like it was in an incubator… right?" the yellow boy asked, seeing a look on his robotic friend's face that gave her answer.
"What do you mean? This is not a chicken egg! It's thousands of years old! It's probably not even an egg, but a rock that got oddly colored by the minerals in the ground," ECO tried to restate her disbelief. She refused to see this as an egg. Scientifically, it made no sense for something to survive thousands of years or even take that long to hatch. If there was anything in that egg, it was long since deceased. Maize did not seem detoured by her outburst, however. There was one thing they both agreed on. Somehow or someway, this egg filled whoever held it with overwhelming terror and despair, and for some reason, those squids and octolings who were desperate to be humans craved for it.
"You don't know until you try, right?" Maize responded. ECO could not tell if he was optimistic or had a low intelligence level. But she suspected both. She was just amazed at how he still thought there might be a squishie in the egg. Agent 3 took notice of her purple chest light, which had been like this ever since she came to his house. He decided it was now or never to talk.
"Uh… you didn't want to come to my house just to fix my splatterscope, did you?" the yellow inkling tried to start while adjusting his glasses after cleaning the ink off it, and thankfully there was no permanent damage to it. The robotic octoling looked at him nervously.
"…Yeah… I don't hide it too well, do I?" ECO responded honestly, putting down two pieces of the splatterscope back with the other dozen parts lying all over the kitchen table. He put a hand on her shoulder, having a concerned look on him.
"You're in love with me… are you?" he jumped straight to the point. He saw her chest light change to a mix of pink and purple. She was embarrassed, but she could not deny it.
"Yes… who told you?" ECO requested while standing up. He thought that being honest here would be the best route to take. He had promised Agent 5's sister that he would work everything out.
"Octoronia told me you had a crush on me. She also told me about your last boyfriend," Maize added. ECO seemed ashamed of being reminded of her past. The last boy she fell in love with did take huge advantage of her, and she had been oblivious to it all along. It took Octoronia practically torturing the poor octoling to get him to leave ECO alone.
"I'm sorry. I can't help who I fall for," ECO apologized, the atmosphere beginning to feel tense. He realized this conversation was not going anywhere if he waited for her to try and continue it.
"Why me, though? I really have to ask, why did you fall in love with me? I'm not strong, smart, or really anything special," Maize requested to know. If she had any clue anyway. He did not want to go questioning her emotional cortex's decisions, as he thought it would be insulting to her, or would it be a compliment to say she had great programming? He was not in the mood to dive into a whole deep thought process of wondering if robots even felt love. All he knew was that she loved him, and he was not going to think any harder than that.
"I… you're very special, Maize… not just to me, but to everyone you meet," ECO countered now. He was more lost than before. Maize felt like he lost control of this conversation in seconds. He watched the mechanical octoling take his glasses off his face, looking into those innocent eyes of his.
"You always do everything you can to make everyone happy. You don't hesitate to put others before yourself, and you don't care what is in the way. You always stay focused and quick on your feet," ECO exclaimed. Maize could see her fine without his glasses, because she was so close to him, but he wondered if he really was like that. The quick on his feet comment, he found accurate, because nothing seemed simple anymore. He always had to stay on his toes, and be prepared for anything crazy that was bound to happen.
"I've never seen someone so strongly driven by something so small," ECO added to the list of reasons why she liked him. She was referring to his promises, the ones he had taken up as his decision for the Dagenhart tradition, all because his mother had gone somewhere unknown, and he wanted to keep her close in his own way. ECO, however seemed to be hiding another reason for her crush on him.
"Every person I cheer up and help… every Dagenhart had to pick what they wanted their tradition to be to help change the world. I chose to do it with my promises, and each one I make… well, my promises fill me with determination!" Maize continued his honest answers. His eyes shimmered with the strong determination that he unintentionally embodied.
"…you're so cheesy," ECO commented, almost lost for words. Maize sighed once again from being called cheesy by another friend. He wondered if being cheesy was a bad thing. However he was starting to realize how off topic this conversation was going.
"Look, ECO… you're a great friend. I don't care that you're a robot or not, but… I really don't know how it would work," Maize informed her, leaving out the fact that he was recently divorced from a marriage he was not even interested in. He saw that chest light of hers stay purple. He was starting to wonder if she had truly told him everything.
"…my heart…" she muttered.
"Huh? …your emotional cortex?" the inkling recalled that her cortex was her heart, and he did not need to be reminded of the time he had to fiddle with it to reactivate her.
"Maize… you treat me like I'm alive. You treat me like I'm a real octarian. Ever since we met, you've acted like I have not one robotic part at all, even after you touched my heart. That's why I stood up for you back when you thought you were a murderer," ECO sniffled. She looked ready to cry. Maize was surprised that she had that as a feature. He saw her chest light turn a mixed color of blue and green. He hated recalling those times where he thought he had killed Cyan, but Maize was still thankful she did that for him, even if no other squid beyond Fulvous was actually accusing him of being a murderer.
"Well, I mean… why wouldn't I? …to me, you're not a robot. You're alive. After all, you're ECO the octarian," Maize spoke his true thoughts. He had that same thought process ever since he had met her, and he had no other way to phrase it than that. Agent 3 got pulled into a tight hug by Agent 5. He heard her sobbing, and he could feel his shoulder get slightly damper. He let out a sigh. This was not getting anywhere. He questioned if it really was that important how others saw her.
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you cry. You can spend the night here if you want," Maize apologized, feeling horrible to have made her cry.
"N-no… I'm not sad… I'm happy… you make me feel complete," ECO admitted, grateful for his offer, thinking it would be best to spend the night here instead of walking all the way back to Mollusk Metropolis. Not being able to turn into an octopus at her own will was a problem.
"…Look, ECO… I'll think on this, alright?" Maize agreed to consider the thought of a relationship. He could not deny that some feelings were in return, but he still was not interested in starting a relationship. He was not actively pursuing one, but if he had the chance for one, then he was going to consider it. The main problem to this however, was he had feelings for someone else entirely.
"Thank you, Maize…" ECO said as their embrace was broken. She returned his glasses to him. He smiled, putting them back on his face. The two looked at the egg that still rested on the table. No matter how old it was, Maize was going to make an effort to try and hatch it, no matter what he was told. ECO was planning to try and visit often to keep an eye out on him in case more of these odd cult followers appeared. The two had a long night ahead of them. With the awkward conversation dealt with, ECO had to fix his splatterscope, and Maize was going to try anything to try and hatch this rock of an egg.