Alrighty then, chapter 17, hope you all enjoy it!

I got a PM asking why I went with yuri for my first fanfic, well yuri ships are pretty prominent in the Splatoon shipping universe from what I've seen, and I've always shipped 3 and 8 together ;)

Though it didn't have to be yuri, it could have been Sara shipped with a Male Sam instead of Female Sam, but really it actually just depended on who I was in the first Splatoon, which was the inkling girl, and thus the gender I picked for Octo Expansion.

Also DAMMIT, Team No-Pulp lost!? This is the 3rd time I've chosen the majority, yet the other team wins all the battles! *sigh* gg team pulp, I still think your disgusting (jk), but gg.

Another PM I got was whether I planned on continuing this for a long period of time, well I think I mentioned this in another chapter, but I plan on keeping the story going for a while, but it will end eventually, after that, honestly I'm gonna have to give some thought XD, I love these characters so much, so maybe I'd make a sequel with a more understandable time skip, or maybe make another story in the aftermath of the expansion using different characters, different story, and different ships, who knows?

I might go into Pokémon ships, I'm already working on a fic for an anime I'm watching, which will be shorter than this fic, will I get into making Breath of the wild fics? It's all something I'm putting a lot of thought into, I love the Splatoon franchise so I'll definitely keep doing stuff about it, I might even make a smash fic, who knows? But until then, all effort is going into here.

Anyways, let's get started!

It was friggin OVERTIME!!

And still nobody had won yet!

Green team would NOT leave the tower the second Overtime started, pink team was in the lead after all, if they abandoned the tower, their loss would be guaranteed.

Ink was flying freaking everywhere, Bob Ross Octo (that's his name now, courtesy of Kelly), was actually doing pretty well, until he didn't, and was splatted.

This overtime was way too long for a game of tower control, someone should have won by now, but it was constantly in green's favor now, but being contested constantly by Pink's efforts, but if they didn't get the tower soon, it would pass the distance they had made, and then they would probably-most-definitely-lose.

Kelly was once again battling Ian and Orion, Orion has activated his special, the inkjet, and was now attempting to blast her away, unfortunately for him, he was currently covered in a lot of ink.

One burst bomb was all it took.

Meanwhile, she had to deal with the fact there was a squid she didn't know trying to inkbrush her, and Ian in a baller trying to explode on her.

Turns out, it was a Krak-on-splat roller, not a regular splat roller.

She threw a burst bomb at him, knocking him back a bit, she dodged to the other side of the tower as she shot at the brush user, he was splatted, but Ian was already back on.

Time went slow-mo for a second, Ian's baller started to fill with ink, her teammates weren't going to be able to get on the tower, and she was about to be splatted.

In a split second decision, she kicked the baller as hard as she could.

And he went FLYING.

She did not know she could kick that hard, but she did, the second Ian left the tower, pink gained control, and the game ended with a sharp whistle as the baller exploded and Kelly was hit by the splatter, she wasn't splatted, but she was almost completely covered in the green ink.

Judd and Li'l Judd tallied the score, and obviously, Pink team won, Li'l Judd fell down in defeat while Judd brandished his flag.

Kelly celebrated by yelling loudly, the rest of her team was doing the same, it was a clutch victory as the Green team rubbed the back of their heads in defeat.

Kelly saw her name and her ranked gauge, it moved up and it showed her rank change from S to X, she had a bit of a freak out as she put her arms across her chest in an X.

"Congratulations" Ian said, clapping as he walked over to her, "Rank X now eh?" He said looking at her X pose, she blushed a bit and put her hands down, "thanks..." she said to him, smiling like an idiot, she was now Rank X in everything, even Clam Blitz, and that was freaking hard.

Ian extended a hand, and Kelly took it as they shared a firm handshake, but it was interrupted by a yell from another green inkling male, with the shaved hairdo, "THIS IS BULLCARP!!" He yelled angrily, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room, including the Judd's, "Hey man calm down, what happened?" Said the other green inkling male in the room, who had a ponytail hairdo.

"I RANKED DOWN!!" He yelled angrily, throwing his Splattershot Pro on the ground, everyone in the room went nervous, ranking down was an awful thing to happen, yet it still happened, "Well... I'm sure you can work back up to S eventually!" Said Ponytail (named by their hairstyle, courtesy of Kelly), attempting to lighten the situation, but it didn't work, it made things worse.

"Of course I can!!" Yelled Shaved, causing Ponytail to back up, "But I wouldn't have had to if the damn Octoling wasn't on my team!" He said angrily, Kelly gasped, so did everyone else in the room, except Ian, who glared daggers at the other inkling, and Orion who didn't seem to notice, or maybe he didn't care? Either way, he just kept looking at his phone.

He was given multiple responses from people in the room, all shut down by a yell to the face, "dude, what the heck!" Yelled an inkling boy with small spikes for his hairstyle, "YEAH I SAID IT, WHAT YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT!?" He yelled back, Spikes said nothing and backed off.

"Ayo man that was uncalled for" said Bob Ross Octo as he walked over to him, "LIKE YOUR ONE TO TALK YOU 8 LIMBED FREAK!!" He yelled back, the Octoling stopped where he was, he didn't move from that position, he just looked shocked, "YOUR TEAM WON, YOU WERE CARRIED TO THAT VICTORY AFRO-ASS" he yelled again, earning more gasps, as people didn't normally swear outside of "Carp" in inkopolis.

He stormed over to Orion, who seemed oblivious to the whole thing, "Hey f—k face!" He yelled, earning more gasps for the bigger swear, the Judd's watched, as though they were trying to think of how to intervene.

Orion didn't respond, he must have heard, Shaved-head was right in his face, but he said nothing as he tapped away on his phone, "Hey!" He yelled again, smacking the phone out of his hand, "I'm talking to you!" He yelled again, Orion stood frozen for a moment, his hand in the same position it was in before when his phone was in his hand, he looked up, and made eye contact with the inkling, who glared at him, Orion gave off a look that said, "does it look like I care?" Before bending down, picking up his phone, and going back to what he was doing.

The inkling shook with rage and, raised his fist ready to strike, Orion looked up, his eyes widening, everything went slow-mo again, Orion dropped the phone and began to raise his hands to block, time went fast again, and Orion was holding the Inkling's fist with one hand, now paying attention to the situation at hand, Shaved-head raised his other fist to strike, but he had already made a grave mistake.

In an instant, Kelly was behind him, she grabbed his free arm and twisted it behind his back, he yelled out in pain and backed off from Orion, not that he had a choice anyways.

She went menacing, "if I hear you talking carp about Octolings, ever again" she said in a whisper that could still be heard throughout the room, "this foot, that just kicked a baller away from the tower, will go full force into your crotch" she said menacingly, "UNDERSTAND?" She said sharply, twisting his arm a bit more, causing another yelp of pain.

"Yes, YES, I UNDERSTAND, UNCLE!! UNCLE!!" He said hastily, Kelly released him from the hold, and walked away as he rubbed his arm.

But he shook with rage again, and charged at her full speed, he was actually pretty fast, Kelly didn't have time to react, his fist closed in on her face until...

In another instant, he was on the floor, his arm being twisted again, with Ian sitting in top of him, "did you not hear what the girl said?" He said, twisting his arm more, yells of pain coming from the inkling, "well I'm gonna add to it" He said calmly, "one, don't come near us ever again *twist, two, never insult my friend, again, *twist, and three, never insult an Octoling in front of us again, got it? *twist*" he said, twisting his arm more until the shaved head was yelling in pain.

Ian released him, and as he got up, he noticed that everyone else was glaring at the bully as he laid on the floor, then, Judd came and gave him an orange slip of paper, he read the paper, and yelled, "BANNED FOR A MONTH!?" He yelled in shock, to which Judd replied, "we do not tolerate physical fighting here" as he walked back to Li'l Judd, "but they attacked me as well!" He said in protest, only to get the response, "clearly in self defense" from the cat.

Then he was lifted up by the Bob Ross Octo and the Ponytail inkling, and tossed out of the room.

Everyone cheered as they shut the door behind them, "thanks..." Kelly said to Ian, who smiled and said, "wouldn't be very gentlesquidly if I didn't stop someone from hitting a girl would I?" He said, grinning, Orion picked up his phone and continued doing what he was doing earlier, obviously not seeming to care anymore.

"Well I've gotta go, being Rank X now and all..." she said shyly, "ah I see" He said, still smiling, well me and Orion were gonna grab a bite to eat at Crusty Sean's, wanna come?" He said to the girl as Orion put away his phone and stood next to him, Kelly smiled and said, "sure!" And smiled, she had just made some new friends today.

~meanwhile, in Octo Valley~

Agent 3 and Agent 8 were just finishing up their patrol, they were making small talk as they went along, everything was normal (except for the blushing faces as the previous event still played through their heads) so far, but that was about to change.

"Stop right there!" Yelled a female voice, they both took out their weapons, but when Sara heard the voice, her head started hurting again.

"An Octoling stepped out from the shadows, more specifically, it was Coral, she was grinning, she was holding a blue Octoshot with the octarians pink ink inside, Sam and Sara aimed their weapons at the Octoling, Sara's head hurt, but she could still think clearly, it was just annoying.

"I'm going to give you one chance" she said to them, "drop your weapons, and ink tanks, and kick them away" she said to them, Sam grinned, "as if!" She said cockily, "last I checked, we outnumber you!" She said grinning, only to get a punch in the arm from Sara as she whispered, "Don't jinx it dammit!", however Coral heard and said, "it doesn't matter Clara, I didn't bring anyone with me" she said confidently.

Sara aimed her gun, "where is Octavio?" She said as she pointed her gun at her still, she groaned and said, "somewhere in Cephalopod HQ, I dunno" she said lazily, "now unarm yourselves!" She said again, "no way!" Sara said in response, Coral signed, "have it your way..." she said sadly, she turned away for a second, before snapping back towards them and throwing something at them, before they could react it slipped underneath Sara's arm and struck Sam's arm, earning an "ow!" From Sam, it was a needle, and it stuck into her arm.

Sara responded by shooting at Coral, however she ducked behind cover before she got hit, "maybe you should check on your little girlfriend first!" She yelled from cover, Sara growled, she took a look at Sam, and she didn't like what she saw.

Sam was on the floor, breathing hard, gone limp.

Sara dropped her gun in panic, she held Sam up, "Sam! What's wrong! What's going on!?" She said panicking, "I-I dunno... I-I can't..." she tried to say to the Octoling before her breathing became incredibly fast and rough, Sara pulled out the needle in her arm, her skin was turning purple from her arm down and up, her hand was about to become purple, and it was reaching her shoulder as well.

"What did you do to her!?" She yelled, tears beginning to form, "I used a new experimental Octarian weapon on her" she said casually, "it's one of our more... lethal, weapons" she said calmly.

"Make it stop..." Sara said softly as she looked at Sam's limp body, "what was that?" Coral said in response, "I said..." Sara started, "MAKE IT STOP!!" She yelled, the waterworks really working it's magic in her tear glands, she was crying a storm, a very angry storm.

"Okay sure" Coral said to the Octoling, "take off yours and the inkling's ink tank, and throw them far away" she said to the girl, "weapons too" she said as well, Sara hesitated, but then Sam started screaming, "I should probably tell you..." Coral started, "the symptoms include intense pain, burning, and as you can see right here, hyperventilation" she said pointing at the suffering girl.

"I have the cure right here" she said holding a vial filled with red liquid in it, "but if you don't give it to her in the next 5 minutes, well... she won't die I'll tell you that" she said calmly, "but she will explode in a splat, and it will be very, very painful" she said grinning.

"There will also be lasting side effects if she splats" she said afterwards, "she won't be able to move properly for a long period of time, intense fever, bad things all around" she said to her, "so if you don't do what I say right now, your girlfriend is in for a bad time" she said maliciously.

Sara gritted her teeth, she knew she it was a bad idea, but what choice did she have? She needed that cure.

And so she unstrapped her ink tank, and threw her gun and the ink tank as far away from her as she could, her head was hurting too much to make a better plan, she began to unstrap Sam's tank, the purple was already all over her arm, she had taken off her Hero suit and was just seen in anything else she was wearing and a sports bra, her screaming was now softer, but she grabbed Sara's arm as she undid the tank.

"Don't... don't do..." she started before she screamed loudly again, the purple was all over her chest and back, and it was spreading up her neck and cheeks now as well.

Sara quickly took off her tank and weapon, and tossed them near her things, she looked at Coral and said, "there! Now give me the cure!" She said desperately, "sure..." Coral said, smiling, she tossed the vial at her, she yelped and dived for it, catching it before it hit the ground, "read the instructions Clara" she said, her tone now changing to disgust, "and no, I didn't make it" she said to her, Sara read the label on the vial, her heart started beating fast and her face went red, she looked at Coral, who shrugged at her.

She had no choice, she had to do it.

She opened the vial and poured it into her mouth.

Substance alone cannot cure, requires Octarian Saliva, to be mixed in, however saliva is canceled out in the substance unless...

Sara swirled the liquid around in her mouth, tasted like cherry.

...substance is mixed and then immediately given to victim...

She looked at the girl, she wished this was under better circumstances, but she had no choice, the purple was already covering her legs and body, only her head was left and that was halfway done.

She held Sam's head up, so they looked at eachother, Sam was barely breathing, she was sweating a storm, so Sara, with the cure still in her mouth leaned in.

And kissed the agent on the lips.

It was a full on French kiss man.

...orally, meaning you have to kiss, and you gotta go all out, French kiss the victim, and transfer the cure, from your mouth, to the victim's mouth, do not ask why, we don't know why either, we literally tried everything else, this was the only process that worked, heck we're still working on a less embarrassing solution but still nothing, have fun.

Sara wanted to question it, surely there were other ways of doing it, get a machine that mixes it together and then have it poured into the victims mouth? But if she could think of it, so could they, and if they tried it and it didn't work... well...

Besides, she didn't have time to question it, so she did it, and now here she was, forcing Sam to drink a cure, through... this.

It was so WEIRD.

Honestly the entire tension of the situation took a 180 degree turn, Coral averted her eyes, seemingly disgusted at it.

But it was awful for Sara.

She was so conflicted, she wanted this, so badly and here she was doing it, but under the current circumstances... tears were gushing out as she locked lips with the agent, her love, the most important person to her.

It was working though, the purple on her skin was retreating, going back into the point on her arm, she was calming down, breathing easier, opening her eyes, she didn't stop what they were doing, even if she wanted to, her body still ached all over, she could barely move, so she just had to accept it.

A minute passed, until the purple finally receded, they stayed that way for another 10 seconds, before separating and taking breathing deeply, Sara smiled at her, tears in her eyes, before saying, "your okay...", Sam smiled back.

Then Coral ruined it.

In an instant she was there, she delivered a quick blow to Sara's neck, knocking her out cold, "No...!" Said Sam, reaching for her gun, only to realize it wasn't there, not that it would have mattered, she could barely move anyways, her body still recovering.

"Aw, poor thing..." Coral said to the inkling, "next time don't steal my best friend away from me" she said angrily, "I'll leave you here, so you can watch me go" she said as she pushed two fingers into Sara's heel, unconsciously transforming Sara into her octopus form, "neat little reflex we have in common, don't we?" She said kindly, as she picked up Sara, "tell your friends exactly what happened here, Kay?" She said kindly, as she walked off.

"Get... get back here!" She yelled as she walked off, a UFO appearing out of nowhere, Sam tried to crawl towards them, she had to do something, but it was in vain, tears started to form in her eyes, "Come back!!" She yelled weakly, as the UFO flew off, with Agent 8, and Coral, inside it.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN, Sara's been taken away! Oh noooooo!

Looks like I've just set up a cliffhanger haven't I!

As I'm gonna be traveling soon (last leg of the journey!), there will be another time gap between my next update, so you must suffer this cliffhanger even more! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Notice how the weapon, as stated by Coral, would not kill Sam, that's about as dark as it's gonna get in this story, extremely freaking painful, but not deadly, besides, if you think about it, Commander Tartar tried to turn Agent 8 and Cuttlefish into a smoothie, if anything that's darker than an extremely painful poison.

Anyways, thank you for reading and supporting me! And I'll see you next time! Byeeeeee!