Agent 2's POV

Ahhh, at last. Agent 5 and I were back at the hut, safe and sound. I'll be honest- it wasn't easy. Enemies continuously attacked, from those Octolings with their annoying giggles to those ant-sized Octostamps. They kept getting ink all over my uniform- it was such a turn-off. Nonetheless, I fought off my opponents AND keep Agent 5 as well as the Zapfishes asleep. As long as Agent 5 is safe and the Zapfishes are in good hands, things should be just fine.

"Oh, thank holy Zapfish she's alright! I swear, I almost had a panic attack when I suddenly lost connection with Agent 5! I was afraid that something happened to her. Thank you so much for taking time off your schedule to come to Octo Valley and assure Agent 5's safety.", Cap'n Cuttlefish immediately burst into tears of joy as he stopped his pacing once he noticed me carrying Agent 5 along with her little Zapfish friends. He then opened the hut's door for me, so I could rest Agent 5 on his bed.

"Anything for my grandfather.", I giggled through my mask as the Zapfishes crawled on my shoulders while I carefully placed a warm blanket over Agent 5, a tiny puddle of turquoise drool dripping from her mouth.

"She deserves her rest. Let's not disturb her. Doh, I can't help but not stay mad at Nibs! I mean, just look at that precious face!"

"Shhh, let's talk about this outside.", I whispered as I placed the Zapfishes on a small table, rested Agent 5's Hero Shot in a plastic container so it can be repaired later, and gently closed the door behind me.

"Honestly, I'm so relieved that you brought Agent 5 back all in one piece. Well, despite your little…argument earlier with Agent 1."

"Yeah, about that. It was all Agent 1's fault for causing the argument anyways. She refused to follow orders and almost cost us our lives. That explains why she's not here right now.", I scoffed, adjusting my hat so it didn't slide off. As Grandfather shook his head disappointedly, I rolled my eyes in disgust.

"To be honest, Agent 2. You need to stop being so harsh on Agent 1. She's not only your partner, but, she's also family. I honestly don't understand why you must always boss your own cousin around and bully her. Not only do you do it during missions in Octo Valley, but, you also do it up in Inkopolis- in front of all those other Inklings. I don't want those Inklings to start disliking you, because I know you're a good person. Listen, I love you with all my heart, but, can you at least just try to- "

"HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?!", a slightly monotone, yet angry voice echoed through the manhole as it interrupted whatever Cap'n was going to say.

"Kyaa!", Nibs squealed as she suddenly sprouted awake from her little nap.

"AW SHI- SQUI- GAH! WHATEVER! I'M OUTTA HERE!", an unknown female voice squealed as an unknown object surprisingly flew into the air.

"What the squid is that?!", Cap'n questioned as I swiftly aimed my Hero Charger and charged at the mysterious item. That turned out to be a big mistake.

As soon as that spear of ink hit the unknown item, colorful violet smoke immediately emerged from it. The vibrant smoke showered the entire area surrounding the hut, making everything impossible to see. However, throughout the hazy purply mess, I noticed somebody Super-Jumping away.

Oh no you don't, I confidently spoke to myself as I charged a shot at the mysterious figure through the haze.

"AHHHHHH!", the unknown voice squealed as she immediately started to fall. I continued to blast her while she started to tumble away, hoping it would slow her down. But too no such luck.

"You'll never take me alive, you salty slime balls! NEEEVEEER!", the obnoxious voice then began to fade away as the figure dashed away.

"Just great. Another weekly headache, on top of last week's headache. I'm lucky I took my ibuprofen this morning, so it's not that irritating.", the monotone voice echoed once more as he fanned away the purple foggy mess with a grassy tentacle.

I couldn't help but giggle as a glasses-clad dark-skinned Inkling sporting grass green ink and amber-orange eyes sighed annoyingly once he popped out of the manhole, carrying a large picnic basket and a black drawstring bag on his back.

"Welcome back to Octo Valley, Somen Nyumen. Hehe, I mean, Agent 4. We missed having you around to help out.", Grandfather saluted my fellow comrade as he walked over to help him carry the basket.

"What can I say, I'm happy to be- "

"GAAAH!", Agent 1's grouchy voice interrupted Somen as she stomped her way back to the hut, angrily dragging her roller behind her.

"Back…"

"W-welcome back, Cal- I mean, Agent 1. H-How did your mission- "

"Awful. Just plain awful. That disgusting Octostriker totally ruined my makeup! Now I'm a mess!"

"Oh, come on. I'm pretty sure it wasn't that bad."

"No, grandpappy. It was!", my pissed off cousin disagreed, placing the Zapfish on Grandfather's hat, then stomped her way over to the hut. As she placed her hand on the doorknob, she made this shocking statement whilst gazing at me angrily with those golden-yellow orbs.

"Maybe if you were there with me, you'd understand how traumatizing that mission was. It's really disappointing that I got stuck with the short end of the stick while you get to sit back and watch me suffer."

A sigh escaped Grandfather's mouth as he stated, "See, Agent 2? This is exactly of what I was afraid was going to happen. I understand that Agent 1 was disobeying my orders, but she was just concerned for Nibs. Doing all those missions by herself put a lot of pressure on her- physically, mentally, and emotionally. Even if you didn't agree with Agent 1's plans, you didn't have to punish her for not agreeing with yours. You should really think about what you did earlier tonight, Agent 1. If this kind of behavior continues, we'll be the ones raising the white flag."

Grandfather then walked toward the hut and slowly closed the door behind him, leaving me and Somen outside.

"Ugh!", I grumbled, angrily ripping the mask off my face, tossing it on the ground, and covering my face with my hand.

Look at what you've done, Agent 2. You managed to anger your cousin and your grandfather. What kind of Agent am I?!

As if Somen read my mind, he walked over to me and pulled me into a calming hug.

"One who never gives up and doesn't back down from anything. You made a mistake- everyone does- and it's ok. Things are going to get better, Agent 2. I promise.", he calmly whispered in my ear.

"I hope you're right.", I replied as I didn't hesitate to hug him back.

Agent 1's POV

Hmph. I can't believe the nerve of Agent 2- forcing me to complete the mission all by myself. This blows! What kind of team player is she?! Refusing to listen to me and then leaves me behind to sore out my muscles?! Well, let's see how she likes it when I plot my revenge...

"Aaaaand…done!", I cheered, applauding myself as I soon as finally finished applying the final layer of lily pink lip gloss on top of the sakura pink lipstick on my lips; completing my makeup.

Asides from the primer, moisturizer, and face powder foundation, I also applied some midnight blue eye shadow on my eyelids to add a cool smoky eye effect on my black eye markings. Speaking of my eye markings, I used some matching shimmering eyeliner to the wing-like points to add a little sparkle. Before I applied on the lipstick-lip gloss combo, I dusted on some magenta pink rouge to my cheeks.

Once I was satisfied with the completed look, I carefully sprayed on some setting spray so my makeup will be able to last all day.

Beautiful…, I sighed happily as I gazed at my lovely face in my adorable hot pink squid-shaped compact mirror as soon as I finished spraying. I couldn't help myself from making a bunch of faces; some silly, others more content- imagining myself as a model getting my photos taken by a professional photographer for a popular magazine. However, I suddenly stopped when I noticed a nervous-looking Nibs out of the corner of my golden-yellow eye.

"Oh…sorry about the noise earlier, Nibs. Did any of us wake you?", I quickly apologized, snapping my compact mirror shut.

"Don't worry about it, Agent 1. It wasn't the noise that woke me up anyways. I had trouble getting myself to fall asleep. I had this scary dream- more of a nightmare I should say. I had a rematch with Octivia, but then her older sister appeared…next, she dropped a smoke bomb…and then Ikameshi started crawling out of a mysterious puddle of horribly colored ink and he…wasn't himself…and then…the-these multicolored chains restrained me and pulled me down…and then…"

As Nibs began to tell me what occurred in her "dream", she immediately started shaking and holding her head- as if she were about to have another panic attack. Afraid it would happen again, I immediately got up from the chair and dashed over to the bed.

"Shhh, let's take it easy, ok? You can't be able to fight the Octarians if you're always afraid of what's going to happen in the future.", I reassured Nibs, gently rubbing her back as I pulled her into a hug.

Poor Nibs. An Inkling as young as her age shouldn't be traumatized like this. I feel as if these panic attacks are just going to get worse and worse once we advance towards the next mission. We can't have Nibs fear her own death or the fate of Inkopolis at this rate. I should help her maintain a positive attitude if we ever want to beat the Octarians, an idea popped in my head as I pulled away from the hug once she calmed down.

"Let me ask you a question, Nibs. How can you expect to move onwards to the future if you keep doubting yourself in the present now?"

She shrugged her shoulders confusingly as I carefully tugged on one of my obsidian black tentacles, undoing the ribbon-like hairstyle. Wearing that all the time starts to ache, to be honest.

"I mean, there's nothing wrong with thinking about the consequences of your actions. Even I get afraid of messing up too. Sometimes, I think I'm making the right choice, but, by the time I realize it wasn't, I- ", I continued as I was gently grasping Nibs' turquoise blue tentacles, however, Nibs finished up the sentences, stating-

"-also realize that's too late to go back and undo it, right…?"

"Well…y-yes. But that doesn't mean it's too late to make up for it! To put it simply, sometimes mistakes can be a good thing. You just really need to take your time to think about how to properly patch them up.", I continued, pulling out a beautifully decorative hair tie out of my vest pocket and used it to tie it around Nibs' tentacles. It was a large iridescent lily flower that shone beautiful rainbow rays once exposed to the light.

"But what does all this mistake stuff have to deal with worrying about my future? I just don't get it.", Nibs questioned confusingly, hugging her knees against her chest.

Aw squid, this is starting to get more difficult to explain. Maybe I should use an example to help Nibs understand it better…

"Look, I know what it's like to think that you've made the biggest mistake in your life. Even some well-known Inklings did some terrible things that made them think that they made the biggest mistake in their life. Let's say…oh- your beloved Squid Sisters! Every Inkling thinks they're so perfect and talented, but, in reality, they're just your average Inkling girls that deal with all sorts of issues. Like, there was this one time when Callie ate the last custard purin that was really supposed to be for Marie. Oh boy, was she pissed when she caught her red-handed! Marie called Callie out, saying she was "selfish" and "needy". Callie could see how upset her cousin was, so, she decided to prepare homemade purin to make it up to her. It was, like, a really BIG purin so Marie had enough to enjoy for a few weeks. Haha, crazy, right? I'm sure Callie won't be making that mistake anytime again soon.", I began to laugh as I recalled the hilarious memory while gently grasping the end of one of Nib's tentacles at the same time.

She then gazed up at with a rather confused look on her face. I looked back at her, feeling kind of stumbled herself. As I awkwardly gazed around the room, hoping to fully understand the situation, I immediately took notice of Gramps rocking in his oddly quiet rocking chair.

Huh, I don't remember him coming in. Must've been because I was talking too much, heehee…

As I exchanged a glance with him, he just returned an awkward stare and a small shrug of his shoulders.

Ummm, I think I used the wrong situation to explain this whole "mistakes affecting the future" thing. Ok, let's try it again…, I thought to myself as I decided to undo Nibs' slack ponytail and start over.

I then spoke, "Ok, but, seriously though, the Squid Sisters do have their share of mistakes. Big ones in fact. There was even this one time when their budding career almost went in jeopardy. Weeks before the Great Zapfish was stolen, Callie and Marie were being interviewed on a popular radio station in Inkopolis. They were being asked questions about their careers going steady, how they got started, the success of the 1st Splatfest, other interests they had besides singing- you know, all that good stuff. Everything was going swell until one particular question came up…"

As a solemn expression came across my face, I carefully pulled the delicate flower from the velcro it was attached to on the gray hair tie. I then pulled out a large gray hair clip that had its own piece of velcro glued on it and attached the flower to it. Once I carefully placed the custom hair clip on my lap, I gently grasped the ends of Nibs' tentacles once more.

"W-what was the question, if I may ask?", a curious Nibs questioned, slightly wincing when I crossed her tentacles into an X and tucked one under the other.

"Well, long story short, the question was "Which do you desire more? Love or Money?". Callie went for Love while Marie picked Money. I…I don't want to go into every little detail, but, it basically led to an argument between the cousins."

"Wow…the Squid Sisters must've felt pretty embarrassed knowing that everyone in Inkopolis heard them arguing over something so small, huh?"

"Definitely. Callie felt humiliated for acting so childish, and not to mention, shaming her own family member…"

I sighed as the upsetting memory played back in my head as I carefully grabbed one end of Nibs' tentacles and formed a loop with it.

An awkward silence filled the hut as I completed the hairstyle- Nibs' tentacles now had the signature "Squid Sisters" ribbon-like hairstyle. To add a little more bling to it, I picked up the hairclip and clipped it in the center of the "ribbon".

Gramps finally broke the awkward silence by clearing his throat, "I hate to barge in on your discussion, girls, but, I just wanted to comment on who brave you two are for admitting that you're willing to undo the mistakes you made to improve yourselves. I should know what that feels like- I've made plenty of mistakes back in the old days…B-but, I'm going beside the point. We can't expect everything to go the way we want it to. None of us are perfect- I want you two to remember that."

Wow…I think that had to be the most influential thing Gramps ever said. Usually, he wouldn't stop babbling on about the Octarians, the Great Turf War, or crabby cakes.

"Now, enough being worry warts! Agents 2 and 4 have planned a special picnic for us. Besides, we all must be starving after dealing with a bunch of unnecessary drama. Come along now, Agents 1 and 5- there'll be delicious crabby cakes~!"

Annnd, I spoke too soon…

"Finally! I could use an energy refill after defeating that boss!", I cheered, as I leaped off the bed and did a couple stretches to ease my slightly sore muscles. I then tied my shiny black-and-temporarily turquoise tentacles using the scrap gray hair tie. I wasn't to let my "hair" flow around and get in my face while I was enjoying my meal. But, just as I was about to head outside, Nibs suddenly called out-

"Callie, wait!"

I immediately froze in place, my eyes shrunk. How the squid did she find out my identity?!

Unable to find the words to say, I gazed at my grandfather- who was just as stunned as I was. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Agent 2 standing by the door, her hand slightly covering her mouth.

"Ummm, Callie who?! I don't know any named Callie around here! I-I think you have me confused for someone else, Nibs. Hehehe!", I nervously fibbed, as I slowly turned around and gave her an awkward smile.

But, of course, Nibs didn't buy it. She now had this "Are you kidding me?" look on her face.

"Enough the act, Callie. She already figured us out. There's no point in trying to trick her into thinking we're someone else.", my cousin sighed between the small crack of the door.

"Ugh, fine! You won, Agent 5! We're really Callie and Marie- your beloved Squid Sisters! There, I said it! You happy?! What are you gonna do now- spread the word all over the Miiverse?! Huh?!", I angrily stamped my sneaker on a loose board- which led to it knocking me upside the head- disappointed that Nibs discovered who we really were.

"Honestly, no. If I told everyone about this, that's bad news for us since it'll blow our cover. Second, even if I wanted to do that, I don't have access to the Miiverse because there isn't really Wi-fi down here. Besides, the only reason I called back to you was…to say thank you. Y-you know, for spending time with me…and the free hairstyle.", Nibs admitted, as she nervously played with her hair.

"O-oh. Sorry, I kinda overreacted there. Heehee. And, uh, you're welcome…you know, for the new 'do.", my face flushed red as I chuckled nervously. I felt a little embarrassed about my behavior.

"Well, ahem, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's go dig into that picnic, shall we? I won't let those crabby cakes get cold on my watch!", Gramps exclaimed, holding his cane up in the air and marching outside of the hut.

"Yes, sir!", I giggled as I took Nibs' hand in mine and dragged her outside. Man, to believe that one of our partners is a Squid Sisters fan! Oooh, this is just such exciting news!

Once we got outside, I kept questioning Nibs about everything Squid Sisters: how long has she been a Squid Sisters fan, her favorite song, how much of our merchandise she has, how often she listens to our songs and most importantly, who was her favorite Squid Sister! Oooh, I hope it's me!

"Well, hehe, actually, I-", Nibs nervously began to answer my last question before Marie interjected.

"Sorry for the interruption, but, Callie, can we talk?"

"N-now?", I asked confusingly.

Nibs went ahead without me so we can have our conversation.

"Look…I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier…and for leaving you behind. I was just concerned for Nibs' safety since she's been suffering a lot with her injury and all.", Marie gazed at me apologetically, folding her arms.

"I really appreciate it your apology, but, can this wait until later? We still have loads of missions to complete, Zapfishes to retrieve, and the fate of Inkopolis resting in our hands. Now, come on- you know Gramps won't start eating without us, and, you don't want to see him all grumpy when he's hungry.", I glanced at my cousin sincerely as I gestured her to follow after me.

From the small sigh that escaped her mouth, I could tell that she wasn't happy with my response.

"About time you girls got over here. Now, we can eat!", Cap'n Cuttlefish cheered, staring in awe the delicacies carefully laid out on the soft blanket.

Before our very eyes were the treats Somen brought for us; a bottle of my favorite Kirin Lemon Tea, a bottle of Kirin Milk Tea for Marie, bottles of water and orange juice, sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, a variety of flavored cookies, fruit bars, onigiri- some tuna mayonnaise, others red salmon, various fresh fruits, and, of course…crabby cakes.

"Great Zapfish- it's been a while since I had a meal this big!", Gramps cheered as he grabbed a sandwich and a couple of crabby cakes then began munching away.

I couldn't help but giggle as I eyed Gramps enjoying his meal. However, he wasn't lying when he said that he couldn't remember eating such a big meal. I'll have to remember to invite him over for a family gathering in the future- poor guy must be so lonely, all alone with no one to talk to in Octo Valley for all those years.

The once tense and difficult atmosphere immediately died down once we all got together and enjoyed one another's company. Now, that I was surrounded by friends- old and new- and close family members, I began to feel a more content, at ease ambiance lingering in the air. You know what? Thanks to this, now, I don't feel like plotting my revenge against Marie- I'd rather not ruin this moment by doing anything stupid. Eating together, laughing, and conversing with each other just felt so much special to me. So special that I didn't want it to end.

But, I know it won't last forever. We won't always have moments like this since we'll be working our butt off trying to save our city from falling apart.

So, for now, I'll just have to hold onto this memory for now and hope we'll get more once we save the Great Zapfish…

You better watch out, Octarians. You may try to tear apart our city all you want, but, you don't stand a chance in tearing apart our friendship!

Hey everyone! DiamondPencilsZ here! Wow, it sure feels good to be back after so long! I do apologize for my absence-as usual- and I hope I didn't disappoint anyone. Now that I'm on summer break, I have more time and freedom to work on Fanfiction. Yay me! :3

Although this chapter might feel odd to you guys since we don't hear anything from Nibs' perspective, I'm actually glad I decided to it. Besides, we normally don't get a lot of focus on the other characters. I thought it felt nice to finally give other characters a chance.

Speaking of such, this chapter was actually going to be longer and feature POVs from other characters. But, seeing as how I'd rather not stress myself out by writing a whole lot and frustrating you guys by making you guys read a whole lot, so, I decided to split Ch. 13 and use the rest for Chapter 14. So, I hope I didn't disappoint anyone that was expecting this chapter to be longer...

Anyways, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and remember- STAAAAY FRESH!