Kelp and Lyra stepped out of the apartment building, Shiro still dance walking behind them with Cerata and Inkay bringing up the rear. Shiro stretched when he stepped onto the ground and let out a pleasant groan.

"Aaaaaahhh, feel that sunshine! Feels good out today!" He said holding his head back to fully catch the sun's rays.

"The mall isn't too far from here," Kelp said mostly to Cerata since everyone else knew the location of the mall. "If we super jump we can be there in no time," Cerata flinched at the idea but Inkay spoke up before she could.

"How 'bout we don't? Like Shiro said, it's a nice day out today. We should walk," Shiro placed his arms behind his head and smiled.

"I'm fine with walking. A little sun never killed nobody," Lyra held her wrist behind her back, walking into a position so she and the rest of the group made a circle.

"I don't mind walking. The sun does feel really good on my skin," Kelp looked between the group and just shrugged, indifferent to whichever they did. Cerata however took a mental sigh of relief. If she had to super jump, there were roughly three seconds where she would have to be an octopus just sitting on the sidewalk in Inkling society. That was not a good situation to be in.

"Then what are we waiting for?! Off we go!" Shiro called walking ahead as the rest followed behind. They took a few paces forward before Lyra spoke out as she turned towards Cerata.

"So Cerata, how did you and Inkay meet?" Cerata flinched and brought her finger to her chin in thought.

"Obviously on my trip to Squiwaii with my sisters," Lyra did a gesture not much different than Cerata.

"Oh yeah. I remember you had to leave for a week. Poor Shiro was heartbroken," She said jokingly with a smile.

"Sure was. I howled like a dogfish at the absence of my dear friend," Shiro said slowing down in order to wrap his arms around Inkay and pull him into a walking hug.

"I swear, if you don't stop touching me…" Inkay whispered as Shiro let go with a chuckle.

"I don't remember you mentioning her though. What's with the sudden visit?" Kelp asked from the far side of the group.

"Um, Inkay and I weren't really that close during his visit, but we started messaging and grew closer that way," She glanced over to Inkay who gave her a "nice response" look with his eyes.

"Ah. That makes sense," Kelp sounded more pleased at Cerata answering his question rather than Inkay. Inkay was a close friend and all, but he knew his way around a lie. His sister made sure of that.

"So Inkay, any more friend girls you would like to introduce us to?" Lyra asked turning towards all the people now walking behind her.

"Not at the moment," He responded with the same smile.

"Good. You can't be keeping such big secrets from your friends," She turned back around so as to not trip over herself as they walked. They turned a corner and the mall could be seen in the distance, it being pointed out by Shiro for Cerata's sake. Wouldn't be long now.

Octavio sat in his dome prison. His four "arms and legs" crossed in a sitting position as he angrily glared out into the distance.

"Lunch time," A voice called. It was about damn time. He was starving. He wouldn't admit it, but he couldn't wait to eat. An elderly Inkling walked out of the shack beside Octavio's prison with a big platter of fish and clams. "Even went and got you some Crabby Cakes," The Inkling placed the plate into a compartment at the bottom of the snow globe, transferring it inside where Octavio could reach it.

It appeared in front of the Octarian leader as he didn't move. He would eat his meal when that accursed Inkling left. There was a small thump sound. Octavio, who had kept his gaze far into the distance, glanced to his side. The Inkling had sat down a chair beside his prison and had begun to eat his own, much smaller plate. He stared into the distance as well, though without the malicious look in his eye Octavio had. Octavio's eyes narrowed.

"You can leave now," A growl escaped from his nonexistent lips as he scooted further away from the Inking.

"I know I can ," Silence. Octavio didn't want to be anywhere near this Inkling, glass dome or not.

"Your presence is bothering me,"

"Terrible sorry," Silence.

"Are you going to leave me alone?"

"Maybe after lunch," A low growl then silence.

"I utterly detest you,"

"I know,"

"Just go away," Octavio said, adjusting his position so that his back was to the Inkling.

"Octavio I-"

"Don't you dare utter my name!" Silence. Octavio heard the sound of his dome being touched but didn't bother to turn and look. There was the slight sound of movement and plates clinking. Octavio waited a few moments before peeking over his shoulder. The Inkling was gone, his half eaten plate sitting on his chair. Octavio turned towards his plate and slowly began eating. Finally. He could eat in peace.

Alone.

"This is the mall! Adventure and fun for all!" Shiro stated as the group walked in the front doors. Cerata awed at the size of the place and all the Inklings of different ages and colors.

"Wow. It's so big," Cerata gaped at the building with all the shops.

"Heheh. That's what sh-" Shiro was instantly elbowed in the side by Kelp.

"So guys. Are we gonna split up like usual?" Lyra asked as the group made a circle out of the way of the entrance.

"Not sure. We have an odd number now. How would we do that?" Three sets of eyes turned towards Cerata who instantly stiffened.

"W-what?"

"Usually we would split into groups of two, and whenever we ran into each other, we would switch," Inkay explained. "But now we don't have an even number, so we can't do that,"

"I say whatever we do, it should revolve around Cerata," Lyra said. Four sets of eyes turned towards her.

"B-b-but why me?"

"Well, you're kind of the biggest stranger in the group. This gives us a chance to know you a bit better," Lyra then hooked her arm with Cerata. "Don't worry sweetie! I'll be your first guide. There will be a chance we won't run into them so we can have a girl's day out! Come on! Before they interject!" Lyra began moving away from the group, Cerata's mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. She turned back to the group as Inkay mouthed a "Be careful," From the back of the three remaining males.

"So," Shiro muttered as Kelp looked over to him and Inkay watched the girls leave. "What should we check out first?" There was a calculating silence as Kelp brought his finger to his chin and Inkay tilted his still staring head to the side slightly. Kelp brought his finger down from his chin in an idea.

"Video games?" The two boys turned towards him and smiled.

"So…is there any particular place you're going to take me?" Cerata asked as Lyra finally came to a stop.

"Nope. Not exactly," She turned towards Cerata with a smile. "I was just getting away from the boys," She giggled as a small smile crept across Cerata's face.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because!" Lyra jumped and linked her arm with Cerata's slowly moving forward. "I'm the only girl in our group, and we are so close that we very rarely make outside friends. I needed to hang out with another female for once," Cerata nodded in somewhat understanding before looking around the bustling mall.

"So I don't know anything about this place. Where do you recommend we go?"

"Well…"Lyra started as she too began looking around. "We're going to avoid the video game store. The boys are gonna head there first no doubt," Cerata tilted her head slightly.

"Video…Games?" She questioned. Lyra turned her head towards the disguised Octoling and gave a confused look.

"Do you not know what a video game is?" Cerata flustered. She just shouldn't question anything anymore.

"Um…yeah! I just…uh…never got the chance to…play one?" Lyra turned her head forward and began looking over the different stories in the mall again.

"What a sad life to never have played a video game…" Lyra perked up almost instantly and turned towards Cerata. "We should go shopping!" Cerata raised a confused eyebrow at the Inkling girl.

"Isn't that why we were here to begin, with!?" she squealed as she was suddenly yanked in the direction of some unknown store.

The boys reached the video game store and awed at the giant selection. Inkay stood in the middle with Shiro to his right and Kelp to his left. He raised both of his fists to either side of him. Without turning towards him, Shiro and Kelp gave him a fist bump before they all yelled "Break!" and shot off in different directions inside the store.

Inkay went straight for the platform games while Kelp went for the puzzle and RPGs. It wasn't long before Shiro gasped in amazement and caught the attention of everyone in the store. He began a mad sprint to his nearest friend and shoved the game in his face.

"Kelp! Kelp! They have it! They actually have one copy in stock!" Kelp gave Shiro an annoyed look over his shoulder.

"Quit it. You're acting like a child," He whispered.

"But they actually have it!" Shiro almost squealed.

"Have what exactly?" Inkay's voice said over the isle as he came around the corner.

"Inkay!" Shiro shifted all his attention into showing Inkay the game clutched tightly in his hands. "Look! They have it! They actually have it!" Inkay raised an eyebrow as he looked over the cover of the game case and read the name of it. The front obviously had a Turf War going on.

"Splatoon?" Inkay questioned. "What is this? Some type of Turf War simulator?"

"Why would you want to play Turf War on a video game? Don't we do enough of that in real life?" Kelp responded, his own game in his hand.

"But this isn't just a Turf War! This is Advanced Turf Warfare! There's this inkstrike special that splits into three missiles in the air so it bombards three times the area! And the Kraken can whip its tentacles and either bring an enemy closer to the body or go ahead and splat a wounded foe! There's even an ink laser weapon that is definitely going to be nerfed because it takes like three seconds to charge up but it fires one big continuous stream of ink for like five seconds!"

"This all seems unnecessary," Kelp scratched his head as Inkay shuddered at the thought of all the times he would've died if those weapons were real.

"Exactly! There's no kill quite like overkill!" Shiro called making the two staring at him sweatdrop.

"Well then…"Kelp said placing a hand in his pocket. "And might I ask how you plan to afford paying for that game?" Shiro froze, silly smile still plastered on his face.

"I'll go put it back…" He said sadly as he turned around slowly and sulked off.

"Mhmm. Maybe now you'll think twice about buying everything you see," Shiro simply shrugged Kelp off over his shoulder. "I swear, why do we put up with him?" Kelp muttered. He got a small shoulder shove from Inkay and a smirked.

"Don't act so high and mighty. You of all people know he's a good guy where it counts," Kelp let out a sigh.

"I guess you're right," Kelp walked away from Inkay and towards the direction Shiro left. "Hey Shiro, don't put it down. Someone else might get it. But you owe me one!" A loud "yahooo!" Echoed through the store as Inkay chuckled to himself and returned to his game isle.

"Come on Cerata! Let me see!"

"No! I don't want to come out!"

"But I'm sure it looks great on you!"

"It doesn't!" Lyra sighed. She was currently wearing a pink dress that darkened towards the bottom like her tentacles and stopped just below her knee. The dress was cut on one side up to her mid-thigh to allow more leg movement. It was a somewhat tight dress, showing off the few curves Lyra had. She didn't have an hour glass figure like she hoped when she was little, but she knew she looked good regardless.

"Cerata! If you don't come out, I'm coming in," Lyra threatened, her hands on her hips.

"Please don't…." Cerata whispered. Lyra's brow furrowed as she rolled up her nonexistent sleeves and pushed her way through the changing room curtains. Cerata turned with a frightful expression towards the entering Inkling. She wore a dress that started off a light blue that darkened into a deep purple at the bottom. The dress became frilly at the waist and poofed out to about mid-thigh, being extremely bouncing. Like Lyra's the dress was sleeveless, but unlike Lyra, her dress was also strapless. Cerata had her arms crossed over her chest as the dress showed quite a bit of cleavage that she wasn't too keen on showing.

"Wow. You look amazing," Lyra said to Cerata's blushing face. Cerata hugged herself tighter and looked away.

"I don't know…I don't really like this dress. Don't you think this is a little…revealing?"

"Revealing?" Lyra questioned. "This isn't revealing at all! There are some dresses here that are a lot less modest than that one. That one is actually really adorable," Lyra told her. Cerata simply blushed more.

"I don't know…I still feel a little…exposed…" Cerata wined as Lyra chuckled.

"You look really nice," She grew a smirk and a playful look in her eye. "I'm sure Inkay would like it," Cerata instantly flushed more and turned her back to the Inkling girl.

"W-wh-what?! Why would it matter whether he likes it or not?! This isn't about him, it's about this dress making me uncomfortable!" She quieted down a bit. "Besides…even if I did like this dress, it's not like I have money to buy it…"

"Leave that to me!" Lyra called out. "Anything that helps you look good for your first Splatfest! I'll buy it as a gesture of goodwill!" Cerata turned towards the girl in confusion.

"But why?"

"Wynaut?" She gestured with a playful smile. "Besides, if Inkay invited you to stay at his place just to see Splatfest, then he obviously has a thing for you. He just doesn't realize it yet," Cerata almost laughed at how off that was. "So a little slap to the face from your feminine wilds should get those gears turning," Cerata stayed quiet. "And if not for him, do it for yourself. Have fun," Cerata looked into the smiling Inking's face and returned one of her own.

"Ok then…I guess I can bare wearing the dress," Lyra giggled and clapped her hands together.

"Wonderful!" She placed a hand on Cerata's shoulder and put on a suggestive smirk. "You know to successfully woo Inkay, we have to pick out what goes under the dress too," Cerata flushed deeper than ever before as she squealed out

"I'm not trying to woo anybody!" Lyra simply laughed as she exited the changing room.

"So boys, where do we go next?" Kelp asked as he lead the group forward. Inkay was eyeing the stores around them while Shiro was practically drooling over his new game. Inkay held a game known as Squid Emblem: Awakening while Kelp held Super Squid Maker.

"Where do you think the girls are?" Inkay asked as Kelp turned to him with a smirk.

"Why? You wanna ditch us or something? Sorry bro, but I call next on time with Cerata," Inkay rolled his eyes.

"That's not the reason I asked," Kelp shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

"What ever you say. I promise you, I won't make a move on your girlfriend, so don't get so offended,"

"She's not my-" Inkay was cut off as an arm wrapped around his neck. Shiro reached forward and put his other arm around Kelp, pulling the young man back as well. Shiro turned the entire group with a 180 degree turn with a silly smile on his face.

"Shiro? What the heck are you doing?" Kelp questioned annoyed. Shiro chuckled before he opened his eyes and his expression darkened.

"Ex-bitch at six o'clock," Inkay and Leviathan raised a questioning eye before peaking over their shoulder. In the distance an Inkling girl with dark orange tentacles sat at the food court. She was surrounded by two other Inkling girls with purple and green tentacles. Inkay and Kelp both narrowed their eyes at the girl before turning back towards the direction Shiro had faced them.

"Good eye Shiro. I'm impressed," Inkay praised.

"Same. I thought you were too entranced by your game to notice your surroundings," Shiro put on a smirk but his eyes and voice remained serious.

"Yeah well, I can smell bitch fits a mile away,"

"Unlikely. You would've warned us when we walked into the mall," The group began walking away, still linked around the neck by Shiro.

"Hey," Shiro chuckled. "Shut up,"

"I don't think I need any of this," Cerata flushed as she held the lacey black garments in her hand. Unlike the dress, there was no way she was trying this on.

"Come on Cerata! Cutesy on the outside, sexy on the inside," Lyra had another suggestive smirk on as Cerata stared at her a bit.

"I am not trying to be sexy for anybody!" She whispered yelled at the girl. Lyra sighed before giving a shrug.

"Okay fine. We don't have to get you any. Let's just wander around a bit then,"

"Thank you," Cerata said letting out a sigh of relief. She was honestly having fun hanging around this girl, but she seemed hell-bent on trying to get her and Inkay to hook up. She placed the undergarments back where they were and she and Lyra exited the store holding the bags of the two dresses they bought.

"Well I'm having fun. Are you having fun Cerata?" The disguised Octoling smiled at her new friend.

"Yeah. I'm enjoying myself," The two smiled at each other before Cerata noticed that Lyra carried a smaller bag. "And who are you getting sexy for?" She questioned. Lyra chuckled and placed the smaller bag into the larger one with her dress. She brought a finger to her lips.

"That's a secret," She winked at Cerata as they both laughed and continued walking. "I'm having a good feeling hanging out with you Cerata,"

"Well well, if it isn't Lyra," Lyra froze as she turned towards the voice, Cerata following the voice and Lyra's gaze. There sat an Inkling girl with dark orange tentacles giving a cocky look to Lyra. Lyra's shoulders visibly slumped as she crossed her arms.

"Oh. Hi Molly," She practically hissed out. The Inkling girl rose from her seat, her entourage following her up.

"And how have you been Lyra? It feels like it's been ages since we last talked," Lyra scoffed at the Inkling before responding.

"Well it's not like we're sisters or anything,"

"Really? I always saw us as sisters. We used to be so close," Lyra narrowed her eyes. Cerata noticed some obvious animosity between the two Inklings but chose to simply stay out of it. "Who's your friend?" Well apparently she was being pulled into it.

"Why do you care?" Lyra spat, much to Cerata's surprise.

"I'm just trying to be nice. What's your name darling?" The Inkling asked turning towards Cerata.

"Um…Cerata?" She answered causing the orange tentacled Inkling to widen her smile.

"Aww, isn't she adorable? She seems so like the submissive type. What Lyra? Finally decided to take control of something?" The Inklings accompanying Molly giggled at the joke while Cerata and Lyra both narrowed her eyes, Cerata not liking be called submissive again while Lyra didn't like what the Inkling was implying.

"Is there a reason you're talking to me?" Lyra growled causing Molly to smile.

"Yes actually. How's Kelp doing?" Lyra flinched and her eyes narrowed again.

"He's fine without you. Thanks for asking,"

"Oh is he? That's fine. But I still think we're long overdue for some catching up. He has such…nice hands. And magic fingers," Cerata noticed Lyra grip her arms tighter but didn't say anything.

"Don't you have to be a bitch somewhere else?" Cerata wasn't really surprised at the comment by now. She was however, surprised at the response.

"Maybe if Kelp's there. Maybe I should go find him," With that she gave Lyra a halfhearted goodbye and a wave as she left and her entourage followed. Lyra growled as she turned towards the food court and plopped down on a seat.

"Good feeling's gone," She growled. Cerata walked up to her new friend and sat beside her.

"What was that about?" Lyra sat quietly at first, so Cerata wasn't going to push deeper into the apparently touchy subject. There was a sigh.

"Molly used to be a really close friend of our group," Cerata turned towards the now sad looking Inkling but stayed silent to listen. "She was the friend I talked to most. We discussed our secrets, hopes, dreams…she was my best friend…One day…we were discussing crushes over at my place. She told me hers and I told her mine…"Cerata tilted her head.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lyra let out a distressed sigh and brought her legs to her chest.

"I told her that…I…have a crush on Kelp…" Cerata let out a small gasp.

"But…she said…have you?"

"Told him? I'm too scared…If it was Inkay or Shiro I'd have no problem but…Kelp…"

"So Kelp, how's mom doing?" Shiro asked as the boys entered a suit store. Kelp let out a sigh before looking through the suits on the rack.

"She's not doing too well. She's got about another week before…" Inkay placed a hand on Kelp's shoulder and gave his friend a sympathetic smile. "What makes me feel so much worse is how she's…so calm about it…She just…accepted it…" Shiro was the next to place a hand on Kelp.

"Hey man. She's just being strong. For your sake. So that means you have to be strong for her right?" Kelp looked at Shiro. Though his eyes showed no type of sadness, he wiped them as if he was about to cry.

"When you have your serious moments, you actually have some smart things to say," Shiro giggled and rubbed his nose.

"Come on man, you're making me blush,"

"So Kelp," Kelp turned towards Inkay, who had just pulled a suit that caught his eye off the rack. "What do you plan on doing with the place? I mean have you planned anything?" Shiro chuckled again and stepped closer to Kelp.

"I'm going to let my older bro have the place and I'm gonna move in with Shiro for a while before getting a place of my own,"

"We're going to be roommates!" Shiro said hugging Kelp, who simply rolled his eyes and patted the Inkling's shoulder. "And I've already laid down the ground rules. I need my beauty sleep and I can't have him ruining that,"

"You would never wake up if sleeping made you beautiful," Inkay joked. "So Kelp, you're not gonna be keeping Shiro up huh?" Inkay raised an eyebrow and smirked while Kelp simply rolled his eyes.

"Don't insult me. My side is always quiet,"

"No way…Kelp? But he seems…"

"Calculated? Smart? Well that doesn't stop him…" Lyra let out a saddened sigh. "I really want to tell him, but….He changes girlfriends more than Turf Wars change stages…" Cerata didn't quite get the comparison, but she got the point. "I don't want to be a temporary thing and then ruin our friendship…"

"But that doesn't explain what Molly has to do with anything,"

"Like I said, I told her that I had a crush on Kelp…and at the time, she had a crush on this guy called Krako or something like that. Unlike how close Kelp and I were, Krako and our squad were more of a "wave from across the room" type of friends. But somewhere along the line, Krako gained a crush on me,"

"And Molly didn't take it well?"

"She didn't even tell me!" Lyra screeched. "Instead she decided to make me feel bad by dating Kelp behind my back, then announcing it out of the blue,"

"So what happened?"

"I slowly started slipping away from the group. Usually when Kelp got a girlfriend he would take time away from the squad…but since he was dating a member of our squad, I saw firsthand how he treats his girlfriends. So I got more and more jealous and spent less and less time with the others. And then Shiro happened,"

The boys exited the store, bags of new outfits in their arms.

"So what ever happened to Em?" Shiro asked as the eyed the other stores.

"Emily?" Kelp asked doing the same. "She's actually doing fine. We stay in touch every once in a while, and she's planning to visit in a few weeks,"

"Neat. So uh…think you can put it a good word?"

"Seriously Shiro? You asking for Kelp's sloppy seconds?"

"Inkay, calm yourself. Emily and I didn't do anything. She had this child-like innocence I couldn't bring myself to break,"

"So…good word?" Shiro asked giving Kelp the puppy dog eyes.

"Fine. Good word,"

"Yes!...uh oh…"

"Well hi Kelp," The boys narrowed their eyes at the Inkling girls approaching them.

"What do you want Molly?" Inkay groaned out.

"I just wanted to talk. How have you been Kelp?" Molly approached Kelp who in turn took a few steps back.

"Don't act like we're still friends. I don't want anything to do with you," Kelp spat. Molly put on a hurt expression.

"Come on Kelp. What could I have done to make you hate me so much?"

"I don't know," Shiro said stepping in front of Kelp. "Maybe dating him to spite one of his best friends, leading him on, while simultaneously dating someone else on the sidelines had something to do with it," Molly narrowed her eyes at Shiro.

"Oh. It's you. I hardly noticed you without a cop on your back,"

"And I hardly noticed you without semen on your face. But I guess even basic bitches have at least some decency," Kelp and Inkay chuckled behind their smiling friend.

"Don't you have to be stupid somewhere else?"

"Not until four. And then I'll be hangin' with my friends. About the same time you'll be taking two Turf War teams," Molly growled and her fists balled up. "You seem angry. Let me tell you something, momma didn't raise no douche. As a man who respects the fairer sex, I will not hit a girl. Unless they hit me first. Summed up, I won't hit you first, but I guarantee if you mess with my friends or me, I will hit you last," Molly huffed before turning and stomping off. Her entourage doing the same. Kelp and Inkay burst into laughter at the retreating Inkling.

"Shiro, I swear I forget how brutal you can be at times," Kelp said placing his arm around Shiro's neck.

"Yeah well…I don't really like people messing with my friends. You're kinda all I got," Inkay gave Shiro a noogy and smiled at his friend.

"I knew there was a reason we kept you around,"

"I thought it was because you loved me," Kelp and Inkay chuckled.

"That too,"

"Wait, so Kelp took Molly's word over Shiro's?"

"Yeah. Apparently Shiro had a crush on Molly for a while, so when he told Kelp that she was cheating on him, he chalked it up to jealousy. Kelp actually started shunning Shiro so our squad was in shambles. But Shiro wasn't having any of that," Lyra chuckled at the thought. "He actually stalked Molly. Did some spy work and caught her in the act. He of course ended up caught and arrested. Put up a pretty bad fight and got himself hurt. He was sent to the hospital, but not before he sent Kelp the evidence. Kelp, pretending he didn't know, asked Molly to pardon Shiro so the charges would drop. Then he dumped her ass,"

"So you all became friends again," Cerata said with a small smile.

"Yeah. You should have seen Shiro's face when all three of us walked into his hospital room. Stiff limbs, all types of bruises, black eyes, and he was smiling like an idiot. It was then we vowed never to let anyone tear us apart again," Cerata smiled. Honestly she never faced such drama. All the drama in her life came from war and fearing if she were to run into Agent 3. She looked around when she realized that he could be anywhere, but she quickly composed herself and turned towards Lyra.

"And where was Inkay during all this?"

"Inkay tried to keep everyone together, but at the time he had to deal with his sisters. I'm sure he's told you about that," Cerata was about to object but figured that may get her questioned if this was common knowledge. "Anyway, we've wasted enough time. We should get back to shopping!" Lyra said standing up. Cerata stood and stretched as she followed.

The sun was setting as Inkay and the squad left the mall, each carrying bags of food, clothes, and random trinkets and such.

"Well today was fun. We should do this again some time Cerata," Shiro said nudging the girl. Cerata chuckled.

"It was fun. I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime," Came Cerata's honest response. "So, what time tomorrow does Splatfest start?" She asked the group. Kelp fought his arm from under the bag straps and looked at his watch.

"About 5 hours from now. So midnight,"

"Midnight? So when does it end?"

"Midnight," Cerata gave Shiro a confused look as Inkay and Lyra chuckled.

"Splatfest lasts 24 hours. To get the most out of it we're probably just going to go to bed as soon as we get back, then it's a 24 hour party. With lunch breaks of course," Lyra explained. Cerata had never really partied before, but she was sure 24 hours was a little too long for one.

"Care to explain what exactly we'll be doing?" The squad went silent.

"Why don't we discuss that as a bed time story?"

Greetings. Yes yes it's been awhile. I know. And I'm sorry for that. But school is a pain. Had to drop a class, and still getting butt kicked by Cal III and the like.

Personal tragedies aside, I've been on break for almost a week now, and I've done nothing but read stories, play video games, and procrastinated all types of homework. I wasn't planning on updating this chapter for about another half a week or so, but then thelonelyinkling reviewed and I felt bad so I worked on it. I hope the chapter is enough to entertain you until the next chapter gets done.

Speaking of chapters, I have mixed feelings about this one. I know a lot of people were looking forward to some Cerata interaction with the none-Inkay-Inklings, and there was a little bit of that with Lyra. I wanted to give a little more insight on the squad's background and add a little info on some of the characters background. I honestly think I did a crap poor job with it. I got some stuff across, but I think the format was kind of lack luster. I promise next chapter will be better.

And of next chapter, it'll include the long awaited splatfest. Along with something else. So far, all my chapters have been between 4500 and 5500 hundred words, so, since the next chapter is going to be big, would you all mind a chapter of 7000+? Because all the things that are boiling in my think pot are saying it may be a long chap. If that seems too much I'll shorten it. Like always if you have an opinion on the matter voice it in the reviews.

So this chapter. There was a few insights on the characters. Lyra has a crush on a Kelp, who apparently can't keep a girl. More on that next chap. Shiro is revealed to value his relationship with his friends over his own well-being. That's loyalty. Honestly I had a lot of character development set for the Splatfest events, but everyone seemed to want a little background at the mall so I tried to add a little in. Again, I hope it satisfies you all.

Not much happening on the Octarian side of the story. Trust me, that'll change next chapter. Read that as you may.

Like always, I thank you for reading, special thank you to those who reviewed, and I hope you enjoyed. Until next time.

Astalabyebye,

Bang