Abyss

After waking up, Ryu, Hachi and Cap'n Cuttlefish are the only ones left stranded in a place called Akihabara, one of the ancient cities.

While marching together, Ryu turns on his newly made headset speaker as he's calling for information.

"Sheldon, I think we're lost." Ryu said.

[I see. Also there's monsters roaming around, so be careful.]

"Sure. How's Neku, Elsa and Sora?" Ryu asked.

Sheldon grunts as he knows.

[Neku is with Zero, so he's okay. Elsa and Sora… They stalled Tartar, but they're unfortunately the next victims to Tartar's murders.]

Ryu stops as he realises the answer to what happened earlier.

As Hachi gestures in sign language, Ryu follows up by asking.

"Shiki is asking what's going to happen if we're stuck there."

[Actually, there's a way out. Thanks to Neku's navigational device, I can detect an area that is most likely a death zone, but it's the only escape route I can find.] Sheldon answers.

"Thanks." Ryu sighs as he nods.

Then…

A Thud has caught Hachi and Ryu's attention as they heard a cough from an old man.

"Ah!" Hachi hastily picks up Cap'n Cuttlefish as she's worried.

"Oi, Captain, are you alright!?" Ryu asks as he squats.

"Yeah… I'm getting old." Cap'n Cuttlefish grunts.

"No. These black stuff on you. What the hell is this?" Ryu grunts as he's about to reach his hand towards the black stone.

[Don't touch that! Don't touch him.] Sheldon exclaims a warning.

"What?"

[These black crystals are a sign that he's infected. The virus is getting worse.]

"Virus?" Ryu halts.

'What virus?' Hachi gestures.

[The thing you see is an Abyssal Virus. Some say its origin we're from the monsters from the deep, others say it's from an ancient android, but as far as DJ Hyperfresh and I research, it's actually older than these two.] Sheldon explains.

"How so?" Ryu is curious.

[Organic and inorganic. It all started with God's prayers. I know it's hard to believe, but I heard many ancient species called humans are calling it 'the will of the gods' which can be described as humanity's greatest sin. We're no exception to this stuff and I heard that Shiver and Frye are infected like Captain Cuttlefish.] Said Sheldon.

"The will of the gods? Unbelievable." Ryu isn't buying it.

[I wish I could say the same, but I did a lot of research on that thing and its origins are far more disturbing than you ever think.]

Ryu and Hachi have witnessed the truth as Hachi covers her mouth and Ryu grunts.

"Ngh… I guess youngsters these days are capable of doing more than me. Looks like I won't be able to return to Takowasa…" Cap'n Cuttlefish croaks.

"Mm." Hachi shakes her head and gestures to Cap'n Cuttlefish as Ryu quotes.

"Shiki says but you're now different to how we first met. You used to hate me back then, but you finally let go of the past. I'm glad I get to work with you, even helping you, papa Hime and everyone."

'Thank you, Gramps.' Hachi finishes her gesture with a smile.

"Hachi… Ryu, when you see Rei, tell her that she's now promoted to be the captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon Unit." Cap'n Cuttlefish chuckles.

"Of course, Captain. When we die, see you on the other side." Ryu points his Hero Charger at Cap'n Cuttlefish as he's staying calm.

In the end…

SPLAT!

Cap'n Cuttlefish is now a puddle of white ink as Hachi clings behind Ryu out of worry.

"It's okay, Shiki. It's okay." Ryu quietly said and then stared at the tree. "The Tree of Order. Now's our chance to escape."

Hachi nods and then holds Ryu's hand, which motivates him even more.

"Let's go."

"Mm." Hachi nods.

This leads both Ryu and Hachi to run away as they're leaving Cap'n Cuttlefish to rest and let them finish the job.

He used to see the octarians with prejudice, but has come to a realisation that they're not as different as inklings. Hachi has opened his eyes and sees the difference.

In the end, he didn't apologise to DJ Octavio.

Rest in peace, Atarime Yoshio, Commander Captain Craig Cuttlefish.

Tree of Order

Hours have passed, Ryu and Hachi are charging inside as they're barging through a bunch of crystal monsters as a Hero Charger and a Hero Roller 0 are breaking through the unusual beasts that are nested in a place like this.

"Don't stop! Hurry!" Ryu shouted.

"An!" Hachi nods.

They're both like a car as they charge through without contacting any of them.

As the duo made it this far, what caught Ryu's attention was a familiar inkling boy and an inkling girl running as fast as the duo.

"Neku? Zero?" Ryu gasps with surprise.

"Ryu?" Both Neku and Zero gasped.

As 3 inklings and an octoling slide, the 4 are standing right in front of each other, knowing that it wasn't a dream.

"I see Shiki is with you as well." Zero said.

"Yeah. It seems we bump into each other, Zero." Ryu asks with a smug smile.

"Tch. You never change much, Ryu. You still have a vendetta against me, I get it." Zero sighed.

"Huh?" Neku and Hachi halt as they're hearing what Zero said earlier.

"Yeah. That's why I called Rei by your name two years ago." Ryu said.

"You…" Zero grits her teeth and furrows her eyebrows out of shock and anger.

"Neku, Hachi, I need to tell you two the truth." Ryu closes his eyes and walks ahead as he takes a deep breath.

The corridor is less dimmer than the earlier floors as they're seeing the white sky is fading yellow.

"You know who Mirai is, don't you, Neku?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Neku asked.

"Well, I too am a demon." Ryu answered.

"What?"

"Eh!?" Hachi gasps in shock.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Shiki, I just want Zero. He's the reason why my mother died, regardless of the timeline." Said Ryu.

"Still on about your mother? Why do you have mommy issues?" Zero groans.

"Because my mother is the woman I loved as her son. You know what you did when working with her." Ryu growled.

Zero halts as she goes backwards to see what she had done.

Previously, Zero worked for Ryu's mother who was an elite as well as working in Grizzco Industries.

Her illness is caused by the sanitisation as Zero accidentally splatted a disguised octoling that is actually sanitised.

Her death is the result of blood loss and the sickness that she couldn't resist.

And it happened every single time.

Zero lowers her head and then looks straight at Ryu's eyes.

"You're right. I did kill her."

"So you admitted it." Ryu growls.

"But you're also wrong. Sanitisation is one of the reasons why I am going to the past. Whether it's your mother's fate or not, I'll prove my innocence to you. I'm not the one you're after, Tartar is." Zero reveals the past while looking into Ryu's eyes.

Before the group says anything, a splatting noise is crashing in front of them as they witness Shiver's body covered in black metallic crystals and her sarashi is loose.

"Fuuka!?" Neku exclaims.

"Shiver…" Ryu picks up Shiver's dying body as the sharks are shown to be melting and splashing everywhere.

"Tch… I messed up… But I won…" Fuuka laughs softly.

Hachi shrieks as she's pointing at a crystal covered Frye that is from her cheek, her arm and her stomach as she's in critical condition like Shiver.

"You…" Zero pierces a glare at Frye while seeing Frye dropping too much out of her body.

"You! Don't even think about going to the past! THE FUTURE IS MINE!" Frye roared.

"Yours!? I think you mean ours! Don't think you can take it away from us!" Zero snaps.

"Damn you! Why is Utsuho's body not strong enough!? I was able to beat Fuuka, but why!?"

[Because you sealed your own fate.]

Bzzt!

"What?" Frye gasped.

Bzzt!

[Ironic, huh? You took away my friends and now you want to change our pasts.]

Bzzt!

[How pitiful, you cheater.]

Afterwards…

A heavy buzz has caused Frye to yell out in pain as she's falling to her knees and plant her head to the ground in agonising pain.

"I- Is this pain!? Make it stop!" Frye screams.

"Leave me be… You need to warn Inkopolis about the virus and the sanitised." Fuuka croaks.

"But-"

"Do as she says. It's not worth standing here with this omnicidal maniac nearby." Zero warned as she interrupted Neku's protest.

Neku can tell why they're in such a horrible scenario, but he couldn't help by wanting to take Fuuka back to the surface.

He knows he's an idiot for letting 2 demons help him and then almost lead him to his death.

Neku finally follows the group out of reluctance as Frye growls.

Click.

"Huh?" Frye realised what's going on as a gun clicks behind her.

"Don't even think about running away from us, Tartar." Rei calls from behind as she, Aori, Serika and DJ Octavio pointed their weapons at Frye with cold blood. "You lose."

"10013… You finally showed up to get me. Congratulations…" Frye chuckles bitterly.

"Quiet! You killed my family! You know they're about to fall into your hands!" Serika yelled.

Frye knows she's on the receiving end as she can see why the inklings and octolings are looking at her with bloodthirsty eyes.

Finally, Frye pulls a psychotic grin, wishing death upon those inhabited in Haikara.

Where the top of the tree is a way out towards the Rollout Station, leading towards the train and the stations, finally leaving out through the hole of Deepsea Metro and finally, the surface.

Freedom is ours.

Haikara, Mount Nantai

14017 August 5th

It's early after midnight as Zero, Neku, Ryu and Hachi are panting in a forest, even though they're still followed.

"Shiki, Ryu, Neku, we may be out, but don't let your guard down. Tartar is still hiding behind the trees somewhere." Zero called.

"Damn it! How the hell are we going to rest when this fake inkling is still after us!?" Neku exclaimed as Hachi nodded.

"Like Rei does, we'll straight up kill it!" Ryu concluded.

"Indeed. Let's stop Tartar once and for all!" Zero ordered.

"Right!" The group nods.

Before they split up, a laughter is coming from the background as it leads Neku and Zero to gasp.

"Rei!"

"It seems that Rei and the others caught up to Tartar at the surface." Said Ryu.

Hachi nods in agreement.

"Well, what are you waiting for!? Let's get 'em!" Neku shouted.

Finally, Zero's team are rushing towards the sounds as it's coming from a battle.

On Rei's side.

Ink is splashing everywhere, both silver and yellow are covering the trees and the flowers as both squids are super jumping and class a Hero Slosher 0 and a Tri-Stinger as Rei and Frye glare into each other's eyes.

"It's over, Tartar! I have the upper hand!" Rei shouted as she got serious.

"Heh! It'll take more than that to kill me, Zero's vessel! Or better yet, MY vessel!" Frye giggles as she and Rei kicks each other and charge towards each other with Rei swapping her Hero Slosher 0 to Hero Dualies.

"I'm nobody's vessel!" Rei snapped while firing her dualies which led to Frye bursting out tentacles out of her body.

Before the tentacles hit Rei through the trees, more silver ink explodes on the tentacles and an inkling slashes a Hero Roller 0 by spreading silver ink at Frye's body.

Then Frye crashes onto one of the trees as she's slowly losing her balance and her touch.

"Look at yourself. All messed up, it hurts to see you like this." Rei said as she approached Frye.

"You're on death's door. Give up, Tartar." Zero said as she approached Frye.

Then…

Both Hero Shots are onto Frye's head, only to reencounter each other.

In Rei's eyes, Zero is actually the real deal.

"Zero?" Rei gasped.

"Rei…" Zero grunts.

"FIRE!" Aori yelled.

Then SPLASH! Frye quickly ducks as she grabs both Rei and Zero and chucks them onto the same tree and points her Tri-Stinger at the inkling twins.

"Your buddies missed, but I can finally kill two birds with one stone." Frye chuckles while charging her arrows.

"Rei, how did you…"

"I heard that you're in trouble, so I came to help you." Rei laughs. "Also, I have something to take from Tartar after what he did to my friends."

"You and me both. We have unfinished business with this inkling wannabe telephone." Zero sighs as she and Rei stand up together.

"Aww, how sweet! Rei and Zero finally get to face me together like how they're destined to be! How disgusting!" Frye's expression has gotten from glee to disgust after seeing both inklings that are the same person work together to splat her down.

"Look who's talking? A literal object that wants Rei's body for his own gain. Sorry, but I can't let you do that." Zero slides her foot on the ground as she blocks Rei.

"Tch! I like your attitude, but I hate your guts, squid. It's pissing me off even more, listening to your nonsense!" Frye hisses.

Before Frye takes action, a silver ink out of nowhere misses as Frye ducks in a split second, only to have witnessed Ryu on a tree.

"Missed." Ryu clicks his tongue as he keeps charging his Hero Charger.

"Scared that you're outnumbered? Hmph, you should think twice before trying to off us." Serika asks as she circles around Frye along with Hachi.

Hachi nods.

Frye is slowing down for a lot of reasons, knowing that she's actually done for.

Then, she collapses to her knees.

"I… I can't…" Frye is now finished.

Coming from behind is Aori who was swinging her Hero Roller as hard as she could, only for Frye to instantly block it with 2 crystal covered eels on a Tri-Stinger, until Aori quickly lets go and releases a familiar weapon out of her waist.

Then swipes as fast as a dolphin, Aori successfully slashes Frye's abdomen by releasing silver ink on her.

The pain is getting sharper and sharper as it's everywhere, causing Frye to growl and hold the pain.

"Sh- Shiver!" Frye can tell whose Splatana Wiper was.

"This is for Callie." Aori said as she did it for her alter ego.

5 inklings and 2 octolings are now ready to finish off the very thing that caused them nothing but despair as Rei yells "Now!"

Afterwards, an all out attack comes to play as Hachi and Aori keep on beating Frye with a roller until she's being lifted up, only to get shot repeatedly by both Ryu and Serika's fully charged chargers, then Neku bounces from the ground as a squid and morphs back by repeatedly firing his Hero Shot at Frye, giving Rei and Zero the chance to finish this.

The can was taken and Rei and Zero leaps upwards as their inks are glowing bright silver and instead of their hands, their feet are covered by ink as the duo dive, kick and yell.

Finally, Frye gets the boot until an explosion of silver ink SPLATS all over the forest which feels like an actual explosion.

In the end, Commander Tartar has lost.

Panting, both Rei and Zero are exhausted from facing Frye who is admittedly a worthy opponent to face against.

Then they land on their backsides.

"We did it, Zero…" Rei sighs out of exhaustion.

"Yeah. I guess you finally get to see me in person." Zero opens her eyes as she sees her other self again.

"Heh. I guess you're not as different as I was." Rei chuckles.

As both inklings pick each other up, they're watching a mess that is silver ink as they realise that Tartar's defeat is overkill, yet deserved after all the things he did to them.

As the sun rises…

Tentacles are coming all over the forest as eels are moving everywhere like missiles.

From what they can tell, Frye is not and never gives up until her targets are dead.

"Rei!" Neku yelled as he fired the eels.

Ryu arrives by firing the tentacles with his charger, knowing that Frye is spreading all over the forest like some sort of an eldritch abomination.

Before Ryu charges forward, he instead gets slammed by a tentacle as Neku was piled on by the eels, leading Rei and Zero to get grabbed which gives Rei a flashback of Daigo and his demise.

"N- No! Dang it!" Rei grunts as she's trying to free herself while her Hero Shot 0 is stuck under the tentacle, preventing her from shooting her ink at Frye.

"Damn you! Why won't you die already!?" Zero yelled.

"Hmph. You're not the only ones that's out for blood." Frye's body is getting worse as ink and blood is leaking from her body and the black crystals are covering most of her arm and growing on her face and stomach. "And Rei, remember what happened to Reaper's big brother? You'll suffer a similar fate as your best friend."

"What about using me as a vessel?" Rei grunts in pain.

"Considering you can't accept my blessings, I'll have to give you punishment. Execution." Frye answered.

Even for an AI, Commander Tartar is no longer sane, especially when 'Frye' is focusing on one single goal against Zero.

Even Serika, Aori and DJ Octavio are struggling to face Frye's tentacles and eels that are spreading everywhere.

But what about Hachi?

As Hachi watches a massacre of Frye and her friends, she comes to a realisation that all the fights the inklings and octolings have are not just the Great Turf War and the Great Zapfish, but Commander Tartar himself was the reason why bloodshed is happening recently.

Now she's going to bear witness to her big sister following the steps towards her aunt.

As she was reminded, she wanted to do the same as what she did before and Serika did recently.

She will save her big sister and her friends.

"Serika…"