Still sitting on the place he was assigned, Drake found himself sweating cold, while the scientists finished their preparations to begin making studies on him.
Until finally, Binz approached him with a syringe in hand, making the human even more nervous.
"Mr. Drake, could you please give me your arm? We'll start by taking an ink sample" the old inkling asked.
Feeling doubtful, Drake followed Binz's order and lifted his right sleeve before extending his arm towards the head scientist.
Binz carefully cleaned the area with a piece of cotton and then slowly inserted the needle into his skin and right into one of his veins.
Everyone present got closer to look at the extraction process, since they wanted to see what type of 'ink' the ancient ones had, and letting out a gasp of surprise upon seeing the unusual color of it.
"Wow, your ink sure is weird" Callie commented, getting closer along with the others.
"I've heard about red ink before, but this one is very unusual" Binz added while removing the needle from Drake's arm, and putting another piece of cotton on the wound.
"That's because we don't have ink, we have blood, we're warm-blooded" Drake corrected Binz, catching his attention.
"Ohh, so that means that Jenny's theories were right" he said, taking his eyes off the syringe and putting them on his niece.
She could only look away with a smile and a slight blush on her cheeks at the compliment.
"Now, Mr. Drake, would you kindly take off your clothes? We want to make an X-ray of you" said the Doctor while giving the syringe to one of his coworkers.
"Wait... You're not asking me to strip in front of everyone, right?" Drake asked, feeling uncomfortable at what he was being asked to do, and also because of the fact that the girls in front of him were already trying to hide their flushed faces.
"Please, we just want to be sure about the bone structure of the ancient ones. There are many questions we want answers to about its structure" Binz said while helping other scientists set up the X-ray machine.
Drake thought about it for a second, and decided to accept his proposal... Kind of.
"Alright, but the boxers stay on" Drake tried to bargain.
"B-but you must take them all off! Or the X-ray might not come out as expected" Binz gave his argument, turning to look at the human.
"Boxers or no X-ray, take it or leave it" Drake made a final offer, giving the Doctor a serious look.
Noticing that that there was no way to make him comply, Binz sighed in defeat and went back to his task.
Meanwhile, Drake was about to start removing his clothes, starting with his T-shirt, but stopped upon seeing the other inklings, and octoling, that were staring at him.
"Can you tell them to leave, please? It's gonna be even more uncomfortable with their eyes glued on me" Drake asked.
"Oh, of course not! w-who knows what you might try while w-we're not watching you" Callie said, stuttering a little and with her cheeks flushed, making it very obvious that she was lying.
"So we're just gonna stay here and make sure you don't cause any trouble" Marie added, being slightly calmer than her cousin but having her cheeks flushed as well.
Letting out a grumble, Drake decided to not argue with them and keep taking his clothes off, removing his T-shirt and exposing his torso, earning a gasp from every woman in the room, but they were also starting to feel curiosity, seeing that his torso had quite the amount of scars on different places.
Drake was now about to take off his pants, but then was reminded of how the ladies were looking at him. Swallowing his shame, he kept going and removed it as quick as he could before the shame took control over him, though he wasn't as careless as to reveal the gun he brought with him.
And right now, the black tentacled idol was covering her eyes with her hands, but opening them just enough to peek through.
Marie on the other hand, took on a thinking pose, with a hand holding her chin and devouring Drake with her eyes.
Meanwhile, Nary could only gulp while growing a little bit impatient.
And Otome, she tried her best to look away but her eyes betrayed her, making her look at Drake every once in a while.
"Now, Mr. Drake, please stay still" Binz asked, placing the machine in front of him.
Drake begrudgingly followed the Doctor's orders, standing still and closing his eyes, but the moment he did, he felt a flash and heard a shutter sound coming out of someone's phone.
"Did someone take a picture...? Did someone take a picture!?" the human exclaimed, turning to the group of inklings in the room.
Of course, everyone denied having done such a thing, well, most of them, since 'for some reason' Nary was covering Levin's mouth while Marie covered Nayls'.
But before Drake could interrogate the group, Binz interrupted him.
"Mr. Drake, could you stop moving around, please?" he said, to which Drake just let out a grumble and went back to standing still, wishing for it to be over already.
"And done... Ohh... Ha! See, Jason? The femur was in their legs, not their arms!" Binz exclaimed, looking at one of his coworkers.
"Tch, anyone could've made that mistake!" replied the aforementioned scientist, crossing his arms.
"Are we done here?" Drake asked with a bitter tone, frowning at the old scientist.
"Almost there! now turn around, please" Binz replied, making some adjustments to the X-ray machine.
Drake turned his back against everyone, and the moment he did, the Squid Sisters, Nary and Otome placed their eyes on the human's firm buttocks. And just like Marie, the other three took on the same pose as her.
But while our protagonist was feeling the ladies' gazes drilling holes into him, he saw two flashes behind him, making him turn back around, now completely red with embarrassment.
"Alright, who's taking pictures!?" he yelled while pointing at the group.
Nayls was about to say something, but Marie quickly shut him up by shoving one of her gloves into his mouth. And now knowing what awaited him if he spoke up, Levin decided to stay silent.
"Mr. Drake, stop moving!" Binz scolded him, fed up at the ancient one's attitude.
After about an hour and a half, the scientists had finally finished making every type of exam on Drake, whether they were physical or mental, one of them consisted on keeping his hand in a jar full of water for fifteen minutes. Some other samples, and a couple questions that the scientists wanted him to answer.
Though there was something else that the researchers wanted, but for some reason they chose Jenny to ask him.
"Umm... Mr. Drake?" the young scientist called him, while Drake was checking for something behind him.
"Now what...?" he asked reluctantly, making Jenny even more nervous than she already was.
"Before we're finished... There's one last sample that we'd like you to give us..." she asked, trying her best not to leave her sentences half-finished.
"Well, you've already sucked my blood dry, so I doubt it's that... I'm starting to feel anemic..." Drake replied.
"Oh, don't worry... that's not what we're asking you for..." she said with her hands on her back, and looking away from the human.
"So what do you want? Saliva?" asked Drake.
"N-no" Jenny replied quietly.
"Nail clippings?"
"No..."
"Tears?"
"Nuh-uh"
"Hair"
"We don't need it."
"Urine...?"
"What!?"
"So what is it then? If you say 'liver' I'm just leaving..." Drake said after their little back and forth.
"N-no, we just wanted to ask for a sample of... Your seed" Jenny finally said, her face as red as an apple with embarrassment.
"Seed...? I... Think you got confused again, We're not plants" Drake said with a bit of confusion.
"W-we know you ancient ones are mammals, but I was referring to... Another type of seed" Jenny continued, trying her hardest to maintain eye contact with the human.
"I don't understand, what type of seed are you talking about?" asked Drake.
Now fed up with her own shyness, Jenny swallowed her shame and finally said what she meant.
"I want you to give me some of your reproductive seed!" she exclaimed almost yelling, clenching her fists and closing her eyes shut.
"What does that even me-...?" Drake tried to ask, only to leave his sentence half-finished upon realizing what Jenny actually meant, making his eyes widen in surprise.
"Ohh, no! Absolutely not...! Screw you! You have your samples, your exams, and your answers, I'm outta here!" Drake exclaimed as he made his way to the exit, catching everyone's attention.
"Hey! Where are you going!?" Callie asked as she saw the human almost kick a door open.
"Drake, where are you going?" now asked Nary.
"Anywhere far from these maniacs!" he said, walking down a hall leading to the exit.
Of course, the Squid Sisters, SquidFire and Otome couldn't just stand there, so they started following Drake, confused about his sudden change in behavior.
And as they walked through the halls, some of the scientists that were also following him tried to convince him to stay, including Jenny and her uncle.
"But Mr. Drake, think of our research!" said one of the scientists.
"No" he said dryly, without even stopping to look at them.
"It doesn't have to be a big sample; a little bit would suffice!" said another in an attempt to convince him.
"Don't wanna" Drake refused their offer once again.
"We even have a room where you can be in private and-...!" Jenny said, but she was interrupted by the human.
"Don't care" he said.
"But-...!"
"Nope!"
"We-...!"
"Nein!"
"If you-...!"
"нет!"
"Mister-...!"
"いいやだ！"
And so, they kept going, each time confusing Drake's companions more and more, until the group finally reached his breaking point.
"Alright, that's enough! BRUCE!" called the human with a light tick in his eye, before his robotic companion appeared in front of him.
"You called, sir?" Bruce asked.
"If any of these lunatics gets any closer than six meters to me, shock 'em!" Drake ordered it referring to the scientists, returning to walking towards the exit afterwards.
(T/N: 6 meters is about 20 feet)
"Understood" said the floating robot, placing itself in front of the group and taking out an extendable wire with two electrified prongs on its end from its bottom compartment, generating a visible electric arc between them and making an intimidating crackling sound.
The scientists couldn't do anything but stop in their tracks in fear of being electrocuted by the robot.
Now outside, Drake let out a weary sigh while the Squid Sisters followed him closely.
"You want to tell me what happened back there?" Marie asked, crossing her arms.
"You don't want to know, trust me..." Drake replied to her.
"Well, at least we're done here, so we better go to our hideout before someone else asks for 'a favor'" said Callie, getting a little anxious.
"Agreed, we've wasted too much time so we better hurry up before it gets any darker" Marie continued. And as she finished saying that, a jellyfish that was passing by recognized the idols and the newly arrived ancient one, quickly taking out its phone to call their friends.
"Or get surrounded by our fans!" Callie said in slight panic as she ran away along the group.
[Octo Valley]
[30 minutes later]
Across the forest, an octoling squad was heading towards the ancient vault's location.
And this squad was none other than Otome's, who had gone back in search for her.
But this time, they were led by the now former Private, who had climbed up the ranks until becoming an elite octoling soldier, with two pieces of kelp decorating the sides of her goggles showing her current rank.
But going back to the main topic, the squad kept moving across the dense forest until finally reaching the cave's entrance, which made the sergeant let out a smirk.
"Mind telling us why we're here yet again?" asked one of the lower rank octolings.
"To save the lieutenant, of course" replied the sergeant, keeping her eyes on the cave.
"It's been two weeks, sergeant Irian. And pardon my ignorance but do you even know if she's... Alive?" asked another one of the sergeant's squadmates.
"I just know she is" Irian replied.
"Are you su-...?" the same octoling tried to insist, but was interrupted by the sergeant.
"Look, just stop asking. Ever since I ranked up, I've been begging Octavio time and time again to let me go on this rescue mission, and we're not leaving without the lieutenant!" Irian exclaimed.
A little confused, the group followed their black tentacled leader deeper into the cave and arrived at the vault's door, which was now open, making the octoling squad stand on guard.
"Alright, you two stay here and guard the door, everyone else, follow me" Irian ordered, choosing two members of her team before making her way into the vault through the crack on the old door.
Irian and the other octolings advanced cautiously through the vault, reaching a great number of halls that none of them knew where they led to.
"Lieutenant, do you copy...? Lieutenant Otome, can you hear me?" the sergeant tried to contact the aforementioned octoling, adjusting her intercom's frequency to match Otome's, but upon hearing nothing but static, she could only curse her luck.
"Everyone spread out, we'll cover more terrain that way, and try not to get lost. Keep your intercoms on at all times. If you see any sign of the lieutenant, or notice anything out of the ordinary like that thing we saw, contact everyone else. And stay out of combat if you know you're outmatched, now move!" Irian ordered before taking a random path, but she was stopped by a member of her group.
"Sergeant, can we ask you something?" a rookie asked, placing her hand on Irian's shoulder to stop her from leaving.
"What now?" she said reluctantly.
"Why is the lieutenant Otome so important to you?" asked the rookie, while the rest of Irian's team stared at her.
She only let out a deep sigh in response while looking at the floor for a moment, then looked back up at her team.
"She's my big sister..." Irian finally said before heading deeper into the vault, leaving everyone else surprised at the revelation.
After an hour, the octoling squad had regathered back at their starting point, and gave a report on what they've found.
"Found any sign of the lieutenant?" Irian asked, looking at each member of her team.
"This whole place is like a maze; I couldn't find anything but more halls" said one of them.
"I found what appeared to be a cafeteria, but no sign of the lieutenant..." added another one.
"I found a hall with lots of doors but all of them were locked, save for one but it was just a room with a bunk bed inside" said a third member.
"And I found some doors as well but they were all locked or barricaded..." added the last member of Irian's team.
The sergeant let out an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Maybe they're not even here, maybe they've already left, that would explain the blast door being open... Come on, maybe we'll have some luck next time" The sergeant said as she gestured at the others to follow her.
"Do you still think we'll find her?" asked one of her squadmates who had gotten close to her to talk.
"I don't 'think'... I'm sure of it" Irian replied.
"And how do you know she's out there?" asked the same octoling.
"Because... She's the lieutenant Otome, and she wouldn't go down without a fight, besides... I'm sure she would survive a sight against someone using some rags as a loincloth" Irian said, putting on a playful smile at the memory of her first encounter with Drake.
But as they headed for the exit, they didn't realize that they were being recorded by a security camera.
[Inkopolis city]
[Inkopolis plaza]
"ACHOO!" Drake suddenly sneezed, catching the attention of his companions.
"Shut up! We don't want anyone to hear us!" Callie whispered to him.
"I'm sorry, it just happened... I think someone's talking about me" Drake whispered back.
"At least half of the city must be talking about you right now" Levin commented.
"It's a saying..." Drake argued.
"Guys, stop! Remember that we don't want to be seen!" Marie scolded them in whispers before peeking outside the alley they were hiding in.
"You still haven't told me who's this person you want me to meet" asked the human, giving the two cousins a questioning look.
"Oh, you'll know" Marie replied.
"The only thing we can tell you right now is that we're not just your average idols" Callie continued, making Drake feel a bit doubtful about them, not to mention that Nary and Otome were left intrigued by what Callie and Marie just said.
Seeing as their destination was clear, the group left the alley and approached a grate leading into a manhole.
"You're kidding, right?" Drake asked, not sure if he'd like to go into the sewers again.
"Don't worry, this isn't a regular manhole" said Marie with a smile, she then took on her squid form and jumped into the grate.
Nayls, Levin and Shara immediately followed after, leaving Nary, Drake, Otome and Callie behind.
"Come on, it'll be fun!" Callie exclaimed enthusiastically as she was about to go through the grate.
"Wait! I think I may have a little problem" Drake stopped her before she left.
"And that'd be?" asked Callie as she turned to him.
"You probably forgot that us humans can't change forms, right?" Drake asked with his arms crossed.
"That's easy, we just lift the grate!" she replied as she lifted said object.
"How funny" Drake commented sarcastically before climbing down into the manhole.
After Drake had left, Nary put on a playful smile, changed into her squid form and jumped into the grate as well.
Callie was about to leave as well, until she turned to look at the octoling who just stood there, holding her arm and looking away.
"Hey, you coming?" she asked, catching Otome's attention.
"Me...? I-I don't know..." she replied, briefly looking at Callie before looking away once again.
"Come on, don't be shy!" Callie said as she grabbed her arm and almost dragged her to where the grate was.
"What are you doing!?" Otome exclaimed, trying to not trip and fall.
"What...? Afraid of the dark?" Callie teased her, making claws with her hands to appear scary.
"It's not that, it's just... I still don't trust you..." said Otome, turning away with her arms crossed.
Callie only gave her a smug smile, not believing one thing that Otome said.
"Alright, miss 'I don't trust you', you can come in anytime" she said as she stood on top of the grate, and then gave one last look at Otome.
"Or maybe you can just stand there and wait until we're back" she said still keeping that smug grin on her face, then took on her squid form and slipped through the grate.
Otome on the other hand, stood in place thinking if she should follow them or not, but then remembered that Drake was also with them, and would most likely get distracted by the inklings, making him take even longer to go and help her people, or at least that's what she wanted to think, since the fact that he would be also spending time with Nary gave her a strange feeling in her chest.
"I-I just don't want them to distract him..." Otome said to herself before turning into a little octopus and going through the grate as well.
Meanwhile, Drake climbed down the ladder and caught up with the group that was waiting for everyone to come down.
And inspecting the place, Drake noticed that it was just like Marie said, it looked more like a tunnel than the sewers, but he wasn't so sure about it since the place was a bit dark.
Moments later, Nary arrived, letting herself fall in squid form and turning back into her humanoid form before she touched the floor, gaining Drake's attention.
He still found it quite odd that they could turn into little squids and back into humanoids in just a second.
"So... Is this the place you wanted to show me?" asked the human, still looking around the tunnel.
"Of course not, but this tunnel leads to that place" Marie replied while getting close to where the ladder was.
"What's taking Callie so long?" she asked to herself, seeing that her cousin wasn't coming down.
But in that moment, Callie dropped and landed just like Nary did earlier.
"Finally... Is the octoling not coming with us?" Marie asked with her arms crossed.
But Callie didn't say anything, instead, she just put her hand in front of her, closed her eyes and made a countdown from 3 with her fingers, when finished, she pointed to the manhole and they all saw how Otome also dropped down. Upon seeing everyone's eyes on her, she slightly blushed with embarrassment and looked away from them.
"W-what...? I just didn't have anywhere else to go" said Otome, still looking away from the group.
"Alright, now that everyone's here, we can finally go" Marie said, starting to walk towards the agents' hideout.
"This place is too dark, don't you need something to see where you're going?" Nary asked, trying to see where the tunnel led to.
"Don't need it, we've been here so many times that we know this place like the back of our hands" Callie said as she walked besides her cousin.
Following the two idols, everyone kept following them without losing sight of them, though Drake didn't seem to have much trouble navigating around the dark, since he was focusing more on looking around, and that made the others feel a bit curious.
"Hey Drake, can you see where you're going?" Nary asked while looking at him.
"Not that much... But my eyes are getting used to the darkness" the human replied, making the group even more curious.
Somewhere in Octo Valley, sitting next to a shed, Captain Cuttlefish was taking a little nap with his hand resting on his cane, not to mention that he was also snoring.
But an odd sound coming from the kettle in front of him woke him up, opening one eye to look at it.
And then, two green and pink squids came out of it and instantly turned into their humanoid forms, revealing that they were the Squid Sisters themselves.
"Hi gramps! We're finally here!" Callie exclaimed excitedly while running up to her grandfather.
"Ohh, welcome, girls. You took longer than I expected" the captain greeted them with a smile, though it wasn't really noticeable through his beard.
"Yeah, we're sorry about that... We just had a few... setbacks" now said Marie, also approaching her grandfather but in a calmer manner.
"Well, that doesn't matter, what matters is that you came back" said Cuttlefish while standing up.
"And we brought some people along with us!" Callie added as she and Marie turned to the kettle, and as if waiting for Callie to say that, the rest of the agents came out of it, followed by Nary, and to the old inkling's surprise, an Octoling also came along with them.
But what really impressed him was an arm lifting the grate, before someone far taller than an inkling climbed out, but he also knew who this knew individual was, so the veteran slowly approached him.
"What is this place?" Nary asked in amazement, looking everywhere to get to know the place.
"This is our secret hideout, where we watch over and protect the well-being of Inkopolis" Cuttlefish explained, now standing in front of Nary, Drake and Otome.
"Secret... Hideout?" Drake asked very confused, since to him it didn't look very 'professional'.
"Hmm..." Cuttlefish murmured while walking circles around the human, analyzing his features.
"So you're that slippery ancient one everyone's been talking about" the captain commented, returning to his previous position and now placing his eyes on Nary.
"And this must be the inkling that got 'kidnapped', right?" he continued, letting out a light chuckle.
The squid girl only scratched the back of her head and gave Cuttlefish a nervous smile in response.
"And you... You probably didn't end up here by mere accident did you?" the captain now spoke to the octoling that came with them.
Otome just stood there with her arms crossed, completely silent.
Cuttlefish decided to ignore her attitude and just laughed some more.
"Ah, octarians, ever so kind" he joked, to which Otome frowned since she didn't find it funny, but she refrained herself from making a 'joke' about the inklings.
The captain then returned to look at the ancient one, scratching his beard.
"Before we start, let me apologize if my granddaughters caused you any trouble, they can sometimes be quite... rough... with their tasks" the veteran said while bowing to him.
"It's alright, don't worry abo-..." Drake stopped mid-sentence as something clicked in his head upon hearing the word 'granddaughters', making turn to the two idols, then to the captain, and once again to Callie and Marie, repeating the process a few more times.
"Did you really bring me all the way here just to meet your grandpa?" Drake asked with a raised eyebrow, making the two cousins glare at him.
"Hey! Put some respect on him!" Callie exclaimed with an annoyed tone.
"He's done more than you can imagine for us!" Marie continued, just as annoyed as her cousin.
"It's okay, girls, don't worry about it... Oh right, where are my manners? Let me introduce myself... I am Captain Cuttlefish, veteran of the Great Turf War, and leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon" the old inkling introduced himself to the human and his companions.
Drake felt a little doubtful about that, he thought that if this inkling was who he said he was, he should've looked more like it.
"Don't be fooled by the unconventional place and clothes, son. This team has gone through very dangerous missions to make sure our city is safe... And I suppose that you already got to know my granddaughters, the agents 1 and 2, also known as the famous Squid Sisters" Cuttlefish continued, now introducing his two most loyal agents.
"I told you we weren't just idols" Callie said with her hands on her hips and a prideful smile.
"And we're not the only members on this team, right, agents 4, 5, and 6?" said Marie, turning to look to Nary's three friends.
They just stood there in silence, a little ashamed. But then, Nary shot straight towards them.
"YOU'RE AGENTS!?" she asked almost hysterically, looking at her three friends with a dumb smile on her face.
"Since when are you agents!?" she continued, regaining her composure but still nervous.
"Since two weeks ago, actually... We became agents a day after you got trapped back there" Levin answered her.
"And why didn't you tell me before?" Nary kept interrogating them.
"You weren't expecting us to tell you in front of a whole crowd, were you?" Nayls said, scratching the back of his head.
"Ohh, I get it now... Wait a minute... 4, 5, 6... Where's agent 3?" Nary asked, confused at the lack of an agent 3.
"Well, about that..." Shara said, who had been hiding something behind her back this whole time, revealing that she was holding an agent uniform.
"You'll be our agent 3" Levin finished, leaving everyone completely silent.
"Huh...?" was the only thing that escaped Nary's mouth, completely petrified and with a confused grimace.