9 Years Ago

Inkadia

The orphanage is where children are at and was run by an inkling woman who covered half her face with her tentacle hair.

The atmosphere is chilling as the sun rises and a young inkling boy in a baseball cap named Neku is a humanoid one at the age of 12.

Leaning and watching other inklings play together, Neku had never cared about anyone, regardless if they're innocent or not.

"Neku? Why aren't you playing with others?" A woman asked.

"Elsa? Hmph. None of your business." Neku spat out.

"Let me guess, you got into trouble again?"

"So what if I am? Not like my siblings are good little squids." Neku looks away from Elsa, refusing to explain.

Elsa can see Neku's inability to interact with others, then turns towards a yellow inkling woman, Sora, with 2 little inkling girls that appear to be Saki and Sayaka.

Then, she turns towards Neku and hands out an item.

"Hm? The heck is this?" Neku asked.

"I was thinking of giving you something as a reminder of your own future." Elsa said, revealing an unknown handgun that is black and unusual for inklings to use.

"A gun? Is it a Splattershot?"

"No, but it's a Tokyo Marui Glock 13-AA. I don't know what AA stands for, but I found it while I was fishing. It could be a replica of the ancients' belongings." Elsa explained.

"But why me?" Neku asked.

"Because I can see you as a delinquent with a good heart. Someday, you'll be a saviour."

With Elsa's explanation, Neku is conflicted, knowing that Elsa is actually smart enough to read him like a book.

Elsa sighs and then smokes a cigarette while sitting next to Neku.

"I'll tell you a story of a girl who saved the world. She's from a country called Calamari and left there. She was a young one who was scared due to her low self esteem. She worked for the Squidbeak Splatoon which was run by Captain Craig Cuttlefish. Her duty was to take down octolings. And she won."

"That's it? It's just some clichéd hero defeats villain story but in real life." Neku laughs it off.

But Elsa begs to differ.

"It may start off as an average hero tale, but there's a twist to it. She encounters her inner demon who gave her some tasks to save herself. After saving the world, she also met her fate. Her soul is gone and her inner demon took over for the rest of her life."

"Huh? And what happened to her soul?" Neku asked.

"It was eaten. Devoured by the demon inside. Consumed info nothingness. The body is finally a husk of an empty shell."

Neku gulps, thinking about himself being eaten alive which had him shaking his head in denial.

"Th- That's stupid! I thought the hero was still around, but you're making all this up!" Neku snapped.

"Hm? Well, it may be hard to believe, but you'll find out in the future." Elsa frowns as she lowers her head.

Neku snorts and relaxes back down while Elsa stands up.

"Neku. Don't forget: nobody's perfect. Every creature that exists is just as rotten as we are. You're better than this, so learn from your own sins."

Neku stops and turns towards Elsa which had him grunting and lowering his head.

Is she right? He thought.

"Whatever… But why did she give me this gun?" Neku asked.

No one knows, no one gets it.

Elsa is one difficult lady.

Click!

Present

Abyss

Sitting in an empty café, Neku is looking at his sundae while struggling to gain evidence about Elsa and Zero.

Speaking of Zero, she appears in Neku's newly made and spare Hero headphones while still looking like Agent 3's usual high visibility vest, black coat and shorts.

The girl in this story… Is Elsa talking about herself? That means the real Elsa is dead this whole time.

But why? He never met her, but he has known Milady for many years.

"So basically, you didn't know Elsa was like Rei, the one with an inner demon inside." Said Zero.

"Tell me, why are you guys inside other people's bodies? That's just messed up!" Neku wants to know where Zero, Milady and others come from.

"We don't have a choice. We're manifested by those who're denying the truth and reject their freedom. None of us know our origin." Zero sips her cup of tea and then looks straight at Neku. "I was supposed to rest, but due to falling into the Abyss, Rei and I are no longer one and I can't be as fast as my ally."

"But why would Deep Cut do this to you?" Neku grunted.

"Apparently, it's not Deep Cut, but their puppet master." Zero points out.

This led to the atmosphere to stop as Neku's eyes widened.

"What did you say?"

"Deep Cut may be scummy, but remember what happened to Utsuho, or should I say Frye?"

What Zero said has Neku snapping his head as he can tell her Deepsea Metro ID, 'Cause: Lose her body and splatted in someone else's body.'

"So that body snatcher was the one behind this!?" Neku snaps.

Zero nods and then finishes her tea. "He was once a telephone as I can tell by his broken parts and yellow ink all over it. But he goes by the name 'Commander Tartar.'"

"Commander what?"

"Commander Tartar. I know who he's after, which is one of the reasons why your friend and I split from each other."

"What? I- In other words…"

"Rei's life is inked. She'll forever become a soul trapped in a sanitised cage if we don't do something." Zero concludes.

This had Neku clenching his fists and standing up from his seat while looking desperate and angry.

"You seemed worried." Zero points out.

"And I shouldn't be!?" Neku growled.

"Well, it's normal to worry about a friend, especially when they're stuck in another world." Zero said. "I want to save her as well. Maybe we should cooperate together and find Rei before Commander Tartar does. Her ID was leaked…"

As Zero lowers her head, Neku pats Zero's shoulder and holds out a box.

"Wanna smoke?"

"Y- You know I'm like Rei, I can't smoke like you." Zero flusters while looking away.

"Makes sense. Suit yourself." Neku sighs and closes the packet by putting it in his pocket. "But why Deep Cut?"

"They're disposable pawns to him. So once they're gone, he'll find another victim to toy with and then use another one to end it. His goal was to restore humanity and that was to erase sea creatures as an exchange." Zero answered.

"Humanity… Are they ancient beings?"

"I'll answer once we get to a certain lab. There's some secrets behind the ancients and their origins which have been hardly addressed in these sunken scrolls."

Afterwards, Zero and Neku are preparing themselves with their Hero Shot, different models, and then Neku and Zero turn on their speakers as Neku tries to stay calm about Elsa.

"Elsa, Sora, we're heading to a different location. We're going to learn more about the ancients."

Sora stayed quiet with a grunt before Elsa picked up.

[Alright. Agent 3.5, be alert when a dragon arrives. It may be far more dangerous than the sanitised, but the sanitised octarians are still the toughest to beat.] Elsa calls.

"Yeah. I'll be careful." Neku sighs.

[Good. Hm? Sora?]

[Huh!? Oh, sorry. Be careful, 3.5.] Sora is awake after the truth behind Elsa.

"Heh. You don't have to tell me twice." Neku chuckles.

After hanging up, Neku and Zero leave the café and then dash towards an empty vehicle in order to reach the lab Zero was talking about.

"So why not super jump there if you know this world?" Neku asked.

"Because I have terrible knowledge of the Abyss. That's why we need a vehicle." Zero answered.

Unknown Port

A car has come to a halt as the door opens by revealing 2 squids jumping, splashing and slithering on the ground together.

Then both squids morph into their humanoid forms.

"So… Where is the lab?" Neku groans while moving his neck.

"At the surface. But I heard their belongings were taken here by a different ancient." Zero looks up at the blue sky that is either real or fake.

"But why though?"

"Probably something to do with thievery or safekeeping. Look, Neku, I'm not an expert on this kind of stuff."

"At least you admit your lack of knowledge." Neku shakes his head and moves forward.

With the duo checking their surroundings for the sanitised octarians, Neku opened the building door as it turned out to be abandoned.

"Hm? This building seems empty… It looks like a school building too…" Neku marches on by looking left and right.

"Yokosuka, huh? I guess this place hasn't been used in a while." Said Zero.

"Not really. But why is it so important?"

"I dunno, but there's some important information hidden behind this area. Also there's possibly a thang waiting for us."

"I hope." Neku continues while searching for a certain part of the building.

Finally, the duo splits up as Neku is checking the office that is empty and is full of papers.

Stopping, Neku can see a password on a notepad that is in an ancient language.

"Sora, can you decipher this?"

[Already on it.] Sora calls as Neku's headphones have created a text that reveals itself as well as typing an old laptop keyboard.

"Amano?"

[P̶a̶s̶s̶w̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶G̶r̶a̶n̶t̶e̶d̶.̶ ̶W̶e̶l̶c̶o̶m̶e̶,̶ ̶A̶m̶a̶n̶o̶ ̶L̶o̶u̶i̶s̶.]

"What?" Neku halts after hearing an ancient language.

Then a laptop is booted up, leading Neku to struggle with how to use an ancient laptop due to some language he and his people don't understand.

Nothing is important to him as Neku was thinking about logging off.

But there's something he needs to know and how he will find his friends.

Turning on the cameras, Neku is trying to search for some inklings and octolings that are still alive.

But there's one thing he doesn't get: why is Zero splitted from Rei in the first place despite them meeting each other for the first time.

Then he found the drones that are old and dusty in the camera that reads [Ą̴̶̶̟̙̆͝ķ̵̶̶̡̨̬͉̿̊̑æ̶̶̷̳̗̏̀͛̈́§̴̶̴͔͚̖̿̋̾h̸̶̴̹͇̘̯̔̿͆͘į̷̶̸̡̯͚̈̀̚'̷̶̶̞̥͈͉͌̃ş̶̶̵̖̱͓͂̄̆͘ Arsenal] on the upper right corner.

To his surprise, he can see the timeliness in those cameras, revealing those who entered this area meaning his friends are still alive.

"Thank cod… Hm?" He halts as he witnesses Callie entering inside an unknown lab and then coming out is a dragon that broke through the door.

The very same dragon he and Zero witnessed earlier.

"No way… Did that thing kill Callie or is she still okay?" Neku assumed and then pressed fast forward, only to see no one coming out but Zero coming in at the present time.

And Frye as well.

"Carp! This is bad! I have to stop her!" Neku knows what Frye is going to do to Zero before he comes to save Zero herself from Frye.

Then he rushes while leaving the laptop on.

[3.5, what are you doing?] Sora asks.

"I have to stop one of the Deep Cut members before she gets to Zero!" Neku shouts and turns off the speaker before Elsa and Sora say anything.

Why is he worried about a copycat version of Rei when he knows who she really is?

Inside a lab, Zero marches forward while looking at a bunch of bodies that are unusual to inklings and octolings.

It's as if Milady was right about those bodies, but why are they cold and somewhat metallic on the inside?

"Huh?" Zero stops as she can see a text that is now deciphered that reads an unusual yet smudged and scraped text by making it unfinished. "Project K… N, T… I?"

[Project K N T I? Strange… I remembered it being confidential information about humanity's history. Maybe they're experimented humans that are cloned and become nothing but machines, mostly girls.] Said Elsa.

"Milady, tell me, what does that name mean as a whole?"

[I'm not sure, but I need some research done… Sora? What is it?]

[It's Utsuho, she's near Zero!] Sora sounded desperate before Elsa clicked her tongue.

[Damn it… Zero, you need to leave now.]

"Hm? What do you mean?" Zero asked.

[Deep Cut.] Elsa answers as Zero gasps and points her Hero Shot 0 at the one hanging by sitting on a pile of boxes.

Elsa was right.

"You." Zero sounds calm while preparing her orange turned magenta ink.

"Hello, Zero. Fancy meeting Agent 3's inner demon in person." Frye giggles.

"Why're you here, Frye? Or should I say Commander Tartar?"

The atmosphere is now fierce as Zero is onto 'Commander Tartar,' or Frye, at a gunpoint with a threatening look in her number zero eyes.

This led to Frye laughing after hearing Zero and her threats.

"Silly girl, how could I be… Oh? So you know her original form was dead. Whatever, this lab is what I've been searching for. I've longed for a human body before I bring humanity back. I've suffered countless times to succeed and I failed. But this time, I will not lose to the likes of inksquirts like you." Frye frowns, knowing that 'her' true identity has been found out by Zero.

Although it was already leaked.

"Heh. Nobody knows who took her body, so it's kinda smart of you to call a telephone out on his actions." Frye chuckles menacingly. "But hear me out, Zero. The reason why I split you two apart is that you're lonely without any freedom. Who'd have thunk that Rei is a heartless girl in truth, trapping that poor soul into this rotten squid girl's body. You wanted to see your family again."

The way Frye said to Zero, leaves a massive knife to the gut, but misses as Zero pulls a smirk and snickers.

"Hm?"

"Heh. You really think I would fall for your dumb tricks. Rei is a girl who had a good heart and I have no life ahead. In other words, lying pieces of squits like yourself is nothing but a maniac, a sociopath that enjoys watching other people suffer, innocent or not. And if you really want to be human, maybe you shouldn't have caused so much pain and suffering to those octolings! You don't deserve humanity." Zero concludes while preparing her Hero Shot 0.

"Tch! You annoying little…"

"Take it with a grain of salt water and shut the hell up, you murderer." Zero places her Hero Shot 0 on Frye's forehead as Frye is gritting 'her' teeth out of pure anger.

"Zero…" Frye growls.

Afterwards, Neku arrives while panting.

"Zero!"

"I'm fine, Neku. Did you find anything important?" Zero asks.

"Not really, but I heard Callie went into this very room." Neku answered.

"Callie? Aori? Hehehe…" Frye giggles.

"What's so funny?" Zero has her finger on a trigger, ready to end Frye's life.

"Oh, Callie, you failed to take Aori's life as yours. You should've done as you're told."

This causes both Zero and Neku to stop and then remember Callie being the real Callie's alter ego.

"So it was you. You sabotaged Takowasa's hypnoshades. Why?" Zero growls.

"What!? You mean you turned Callie against all of us!?" Neku snapped.

"Yeah I did it. So what? Those pests aren't going to replace humans! HUMANITY WILL REIGN SUPREME!" Frye bursts a yell, wishing for humanity to return.

That means Neku and Zero are facing an artificial being in the form of an inkling, mocking them and murdering the most as well as playing the puppet master to Deep Cut.

"Fate has already decided for the two of you…" Frye sighs with a slasher smile.

"Are you sure about that, Tartar?"