"Welcome to my humble abode. I live alone in case if I were to forget my meds. It's to protect my parents." He entered the kitchen. "The blender's in here. I need to find my meds. I'll be back."

He took a look back at Commander as he left for his room. He hated how he had to keep taking more rounds of medication as he got older. It just started with one a week; how did it possibly go up to five a day? He opened the lid and checked inside. Only two left. He needed to pick up more. His ear twitched.

"Why haven't I heard the blender yet?" He went back into the kitchen and gasped. "What are you doing?"

Commander looked up from the cups on the counter. "[Following the directions. Why? Did you need one of these cups?]" Commander didn't sound robotic to him.

"Directions?"

Commander nodded. "[My eye is telling me how to repair the melting I'm suffering from.]"

"Please don't use all of my dishes."

"[Rodger.]" He dropped a few AAA batteries in one of them and carefully dumped it into the pan cooking on the stove. "[After this, it might tell me how to repair the virus! Isn't that great?]"

"I suppose." He reached for one of his pills. "Wait...I was just holding them. Where did they go?"

Commander shrugged, keeping focused on whatever it was he was making. "[A little bit of this...]" He grabbed some of the ink making up his body and dropped it in, along with the hair tentacles.

"I'm going to look for my meds. Please don't make a mess."

"[Rodger!]" He dropped it all into the blender and turned it on.

He went back into his room and checked under his bed. He checked in his closet. He lost them in there once while groggy from missing his meds. He shook off his light-headedness and closed it, seeing as it wasn't in there. He went back into the kitchen.

"Commander...? I need your help..." He leaned against the doorframe to keep himself stable. "If I can't find my meds...you might be in danger..."

Commander held up the strange drink he made. It matched the pattern and color of his hair. "[I did it! I made my cure!]" He gulped it down, getting a disgusted look from Ivory. He wiped off his face after he finished. "[Alright, what were you saying?]"

"My meds...I lost them..."

"[What do they look like?]"

"Pink circles..."

Commander froze. "[In...an orange bottle...?]"

"Yeah...How did you know? Wait...You used my meds, didn't you? You took them when I wasn't paying attention...!"

"[I can explain...]"

"Commander...I need those." His pupils changed into slits again. "I told you I needed them. Why did you do that?"

"[The recipe said that I needed them to fix my melting! But now that I'm better, I can grab some more!]"

He staggered over to Commander. "You better, or you might get hurt..."

Commander grabbed his hand. "[And we're leaving. Now.]"

"I'm fine for now, Commander...You should leave me here...Just in case..."

"[You have approximately twenty minutes of medication left. We can make it with shortcuts.]" He started dragging Ivory out the door. "[I know we can make it!]"

"You have unending confidence, Commander. I respect you for that..." He grabbed his head. "So much pain...I forgot how much it hurt..."

Commander sped into a run, Ivory having to keep up.

"Wait, you're fast..."

"[We need to hurry! Fight it off, Ivory! It'll buy us some time.]"

"Do you even know how to get there...?"

"[My eye knows the way!]" He went through an alleyway, coming out in the middle of a round of Rainmaker in Marine Market. "[Aah!]" He ducked under a shot by the Rainmaker. "[Watch it, [ERROR]!"

"Sorry!" The Inkling called back. "Move out of the way, we're coming through!"

Commander dodged the teams and continued on. Ivory pulled his hand out of Commander's grasp, the Octoling coming to a stop.

"Commander, look...I appreciate your help, but this needs to stop...You're making it worse."

"[No, I know we can make it! We're almost there!]"

"Commander, stop...Please..."

"[No! I'm losing everything again!]" He grabbed Ivory's sleeve and forced him along. "[We need to try! We can make it!]"

"Commander, please..."

"[I see it!]"

"Wait, you do...?" Ivory decided to cooperate and staring running with him.

Commander stopped in front of it and shoved Ivory through the doors. "[Go! I told you we could make it!]"

"Thank you, Commander..." He stumbled into the building.

Commander crossed his arms and started tapping his foot. He glanced around, his attention coming to a blue-haired Inkling off to one side. They and the Jellyfish they were communicating with were far enough away, Commander couldn't hear them.

The Inkling noticed him staring and turned their head to stare him back. The eyes were a deep blue, like their hair. The hair was curious, as it looked almost like a galaxy. They had dark skin and their attire consisted of a suit and tie with a small, black hat sitting on top of their thick hair.

Something about their stare seemed almost familiar...

Ivory returned, holding two orange containers. "I got one for you, in case you start melting again." He handed it to Commander. He followed his gaze. "Why are you staring at that Inkling? I wonder if they're new here. I've never seen them before..."

Commander swore he saw them say "Follow me" before rushing off. "[Huh...Well, [SLANG NOT FOUND], Ivory.]" He accepted the bottle. "[You didn't have to do that.]"

"It's fine. You seem nice enough. Do you know that Inkling?"

"[I...don't know. I feel like I've seen them before but...]"

"No memories. I understand. What if I help you recover them?"

"[Huh?! You'll do that? For me?]"

Ivory nodded. "I don't like seeing you worry. It makes me stressed. And stress can lead to my aggressive state, so it's a two-in-one. You recover your memories, and I stay rage-free."

"[ERROR] so much!]"

"O-of course."