7 Years Ago
Octo Valley
The sun is shining on the blue sky as a place that is nested by the octolings are busy with their technologies and gadgets.
Watching on the rooftop are both inklings that are Neku, who was 14, and Cap'n Cuttlefish.
"Hmph! Look at those octoslobs, thinking they can dominate us when we have better technologies!" Cap'n Cuttlefish hissed.
"Really old man, I think your hatred towards the octolings have gotten a bit too overblown. What's next, the biggest dick contest between us inklings and the octolings?" Neku sighs.
"Oh, come now, Agent 3, I know us inklings have bigger tentacles than those freaks." Cap'n Cuttlefish is flaunting which causes Neku to cringe.
"I- I see…" Neku pulls his cap down out of embarrassment, knowing his captain is acting more childish than him. "Come to think of it, who is that girl who worked with you and won?"
This had Cap'n Cuttlefish stopping and then put his binoculars down and took a seat on his rocking chair.
"Who told you that?"
"Elsa. But that demon part is a fake anyway." Neku laughs bitterly.
"Fake? Ohoho, young lad, you don't even know the half of it. I remember a young girl who has an inner demon called 'Milady' which is honestly kind of a strange name. She wasn't as bad as a few made her out to be." Said Cap'n Cuttlefish.
Neku turns towards Cap'n Cuttlefish as he is curious to know what he's talking about.
"This poor lassie wanted to help others out, even her demon wanted to help her move on. Unfortunately, this poor soul is now Milady's. It's a shame because she wanted to know more kids like you." Cap'n Cuttlefish sighs.
Neku lowers his head while pitying the girl who was mentioned.
"So, how's your granddaughters?"
"Oh? They're aight. Middle school to them is… I forgot." Cap'n Cuttlefish couldn't remember which made Neku chuckle.
"Sorry about that. Hm. Were there more inner demons around?"
"Well… I don't know, but my six senses tell me there's a literal devil on the loose and they're hiding behind us. They won't show up until the one alive takes their toll." Cap'n Cuttlefish explained.
"Geez… That sounds scarier than Elsa's explanation…" Neku slowly takes back what he said earlier.
Finally, Neku and Cap'n Cuttlefish are standing together while seeing 4 octoling girls armed with just the Octo Shots.
"P̶u̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶h̶a̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶i̶r̶!̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶b̶u̶s̶t̶e̶d̶." One octoling girl pulls a grin after speaking octarian, leading Neku to pick up his Hero Shot.
"Heh. You guys are the ones who pestered us, huh? Well, this'll be fun!" Neku chuckles while changing his amber ink to orange, preparing to take 4 down alone and protecting Cap'n Cuttlefish.
This time he'll be taking on the demons and the octarians at the same time.
Click!
Present
Abyss
Cackling like a maniac, Frye slides a pungi out and then blows it by summoning a horde of eels out of the floor in a room full of mechanical bodies taller than the trio, Frye, Neku and Zero.
"You two don't even know that this room is humanity's greatest weapon before they become obsolete." Frye shakes her head with disappointment and frowns at the duo.
"Huh? You mean Project K N T I?" Zero asks.
"Wait, these things?" Neku asks before Frye laughs.
"Wrong answer you two. We're in a room full of dead bodies." Frye calls out.
"Dead bodies?" Neku stops after hearing what Frye just said.
"Old humanity. They've been experimented on since a long time ago." Zero points out.
"Correct answer, Zero. At least you did your research." Said Frye.
"Tch!" Zero clicks her tongue and points her Hero Shot 0 at Frye again.
"Project KANTAI. It used to be humanity's weapons against their old enemies before extinction. I couldn't bear to have humans replaced by a bunch of animals like you." Frye sounded solemn after explaining her reason. "In 2013, the project was a success, but more are added as years have passed, named after the historical warships and have these memories planted onto those human girls. They're living weapons that's sole purpose is to kill those nesting in an abandoned place, the Abyss."
"And the dragon?" Zero asks.
"I discovered the black crystals on it. It seems to be a living infection that kills organic and inorganic life, man, animal and machine. They dub it 'the abyssal virus.' Oh, and it's also fatal to fishes like you, not that I care or anything." Frye answered the question Neku and Zero needed.
Before the moray eels are diving down, Zero and Neku drop their guns after realising that they're facing something worse than what Frye described.
But something whispers into Frye's ear as it's telling her something…
Leave…
Leave her.
"Huh?"
Little did Frye know, a heavy buzzing has caused her to drop down and grunt in pain as her head is splitting so hard.
"G- Aaah! W- What!?"
You heard me…
Let her go…
"U- Utsuho? I thought I splatted you!" Frye gasped.
Guess again…
This led Frye to yell out in pain as Zero and Neku remained silent as Neku was the most shocked.
"What the shell?" Neku gasped.
"Who's there?" Zero points her Hero Shot 0 again with a glare.
"Ngh… This'll hold him… Hey."
"Utsuho?" Zero gasps with shock after seeing her alive.
"Actually, it's her inner demon, Frye, the EEL deal." Frye pulls a grin and slowly picks herself up while struggling to take full control of the body Commander Tartar possessed.
To their surprise, Frye's eyes are different as one is golden with yellow pupils and the other is lifeless yellow which is Commander Tartar.
"Why?" Zero asks.
"I can't explain much. You need to save your friends. Shiv's been acting strange every day and Fuuka is nowhere to be found recently." Frye chuckles.
"I know. She's been running around and was on a murder spree as well as hunting for treasure."
"So why did Utsuho kill my brother out of enjoyment? I can tell by her eyes and her smile before her disappearance. So tell me why!?" Neku snaps, which intimidates Frye.
"You see… It's not what I want for Frye to do. Shiver's manipulation isn't the reason, but her inability to listen and she and Shiver playing the part, which all started with Shiver's manipulative means." Frye is struggling to explain as she's twitching. "Just go! I'll take care of this guy!"
Both Zero and Neku take a few steps back and then nod to each other.
"Thanks, Frye. So long, little eel." Neku says his final words to Frye by holding his Hero Shot and then…
SPLAT!
Frye, going out with a smile, is now a puddle of magenta ink thanks to Neku.
As for the eels, they vanished as well.
The bigger question is: who is the real Frye if Utsuho is gone?
"We need to leave now." Zero hastily turns around as Neku can see a horde in front of them in a lab.
"Yeah. Maybe we should."
"Damn it. The sanitised, already? Tch, Commander Tartar isn't letting us go until we're splatted to death." Zero grunts and then gasps after Neku grabs her arm and makes a run for it.
"No kidding!"
With the duo leaving the sanitised horde, the sounds are actually crying for salvation and freedom after being chained down by Commander Tartar and use them as disposable tools to kill the innocents.
Later outside the building, Neku pants as Zero sighs and then stands in front of Neku.
"Now you see the truth."
"Tell me, Zero… Who is that? Why is Utsuho alive when she's been taken by that telephone monster!?" Neku sounded bitter after seeing the truth behind Frye.
"Frye… As far as I could tell, she holds similar memories and behaviour as Utsuho, like she's actually her. After what happened to her friend, she finally released herself from the shackles and forced herself to stop Commander Tartar, which we just witnessed earlier. Normally, our purposes are similar, but seeing Elsa, Empress, Shiver and Frye, Frye's reason is justified; no one takes her friend's body or else they're facing the wrath of an inner demon." Zero answers as Neku puts his hands on the wall between Zero and looks her in the eyes.
"So what you're saying they're at risk of losing who they are!?"
"Mama Hotaru was obviously. Same would happen to Fuuka if she doesn't stop herself. Nothing we can do to stop them unless you're willing to die without a spawn point." Zero lowers her head, worried that things'll end horribly.
"No… Why? Damn it!"
Neku now lost his cool after knowing the full truth about humanity, inklings, octolings and the inner demons, leading him to fear for his friends and their upcoming fates.
"Neku… I'm sorry about your friends." Zero can feel a bit of grief inside of her as she's been suffering similarly to Rei, pitying her and her friends like Neku.
A few moments later…
Everything calms down as Neku is sitting next to Zero while drinking a bottle of beer as well as giving Zero a bottle of fizzy drink.
"Feeling better?" Zero asks.
"Yeah. But I'm still pissed about this situation. How on earth did you survive this shucked up world for years?" Neku sighs and turns his head towards Zero.
"Rei survived it, so maybe you should ask her that." Said Zero.
There's a lot to unpack about the secrets behind humanity that haven't been covered up in the sunken scrolls.
But this'll wait for another time.
Neku opens his mouth first. "Zero."
"Hm?" Zero has caught Neku's attention while curious.
"If you're separated from your hosts, how do you guys reproduce?"
"Ah, now that's the issue. We don't."
"Wait, what?" Neku stops and turns in shock and confusion.
"We're infertile, so I'm pretty sure we will be once your body becomes ours."
"Oh. So you don't give birth in this actual inkling body like yours?"
"Unfortunately. Our bodies may be similar to yours with five senses, but fertility? Inner demons can never reproduce, unless you're Elsa and she never chose to reproduce because this body was her old friend's." Zero explained.
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."
"Nah. Just like Rei, I only see people as friends. Neither of us engage in romantic relationships." Zero answered.
"Heh. That explains Rei's inability to fall in love." Neku laughs.
As Neku laughs, Zero giggles as she also laughs along.
Then the duo sighed.
"Let's go back." Zero stands up and prepares herself.
"Huh!?" Neku stops and then picks himself up.
"We need more information. Humanity's history and their machinery from centuries ago."
"Ngh… Fine. I guess there's no other choice." Neku closes his eyes and then looks away with worry and follows Zero. "Hold on for a little longer, sis."
Afterwards, the duo are returning back to the building after the sanitised stop following them which gives Neku and Zero the chance to do more research on the history of the world.
Spawning into a very different location, Frye is crawling while grunting in pain while clenching her fists on the ground.
'She' realised that the real Frye is still fighting back against the body snatcher.
"Y- You… Why!? Why're you still alive!?"
"Because they're my friends! If you try, then I'll eat you alive myself!" The real Frye's voice calls white preventing Commander Tartar from trying to do more damage.
"I will not lose… I will kill them all no matter what! I will bring humanity back!" 'Frye' growled and picked 'herself' up by walking towards a different city and glancing at 2 inklings and an octoling walking together.
After seeing it all, 'Frye' grins, waiting for the moment to end more lives before that inner demon stops her again.
"No matter how you fight, I'll stop you!"
"Try whatever you want… You'll be the first inner demon to die when I take control of that brat Atarime Rei and sanitise her!" 'Frye' laughs and then walks forward without hesitation, only to gain what 'she' needed.
As 'Frye' keeps on going, she's thinking about Shiver and Big Man succeeding their task before getting to them after she deals with 3 individuals.
"While they deny it all but… Their fates are coming regardless of their situations."