Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Name: Jel Londo (Full name is Jelbin Londo)
Weapon: Kensa Octobrush
Quote: "I swear to COD if we have to re-do this entire thing again for the like the 20th time again, im going to SCREAM."

Background: What do you get when you force an octoling, his family, and his friends to endure traumatic event after traumatic event? You get Jel, the "sanitized" smoothie drinker himself. He enjoys himself a good smoothie and a relaxing day. How he was sanitized was because a batch of TarTar's new "Instant Sanitization" had salt water and juices from a canned special somehow leaked into one formula...that formula, which only could sanitize one person, was used on Jel. This back of sanitized ink allows him to control the ink he uses, allowing it to form into many different shapes and can be used in many ways. He also considers himself the "Octobrush King", which does not mean much, but still something.

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Name: Levo's Londo
Weapon: Hydra Splattling
Quote: "We are so screwed..."

Background: The older brother of Jel and the smart one of the siblings. He was kidnapped by sanitized scientists when he was a child and was sanitized himself...and when Tartar found a way to counter Jel, he decided to use it on Levo's. After he got absolutely wrecked, he was still accepted back...but hated himself and pushed everybody he knew away...and that's when he met Iris, the apple of his eye, and someone besides his family he cares the most about. His control of ink focuses more on how long he can hold the ink in its form, and cant make larger items like Jel and Flowla.

He is also a huge squid sisters fan, having WAY too much merchandise of theirs which he normally hides in his closet.

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Name: Flowla Lilla
Weapon: Tetra Dualies
Quote: "Yea, how long until we can blow up that damn telephone...*Stretching*"

Background: If Levo's is the brains, and Jel is the dumbass, Flowla is the brawn of the group. While not related to the two chaotic siblings, she loves them as much as one. She was actually sanitized fully before, but due to a stroke of luck (that being the sanitized ink was a old batch, thus not as effective), she escaped and cried for help...and that is where she met Jel, with his funny little sanitization trick, he made her a part of his family. She...also has a interest in anime. she has actually watched a lot of anime yet says she hates it all (The one she likes the most is season 2 of Inkura High, this weird mix of a sitcom, comedy, slice of life, and school anime).
Her ink control allows her to make bigger objects for a shorter amount of time. which can be helpful when she needs to get a quick blow in or just a small amount of cover.

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Name: Tarin "Jel" Londo
Weapon: Octobrush Nouveau
Quote: "Its ok Tarin...you are doing it for your family..."

Background: See that "Jel" in his name? Yea, that's actually another Jel from another universe where EVERYTHING got fucked up (Jel lore came from Amino, so don't blame me, but I can't get rid of him, I like Tarin). His AU was destroyed by Tartar, and due to the random twists of fate...Tarin was brought into Jel's world...where he then sided with Tartar and now try's to kill Jel for one reason: to get back his family and friends.

He also only wears that eyepatch because he think it makes him look cool.

Chapter Text

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3rd person Pov
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Inkopolis Square, the home of many and the battleground of even more. As the sun slowly started to rise and the dawn of a new day approached, the hustle and bustle of this city slowly picked up. Sheldon cleaned off his weapons, Crusty Sean cleaned his fryers and prepared food and drinks, and the idols of the area: Pearl and Marina, entered into the studio to give the daily rotations of the day.

Somewhere else in the city, in a secluded neighborhood close to the square, a family of octolings were still fast asleep...

The girl laid sprawled out on her bed, her phone plugged in and playing some high-school anime.

The boy with a cap of legends, laid cozily in his bed, hugging a small plush of Judd.

And the one wearing a large sweater-pajama type clothing, just looked straight up at the ceiling, as he had been awake the last few hours. This was Jel.

Jel, as tired as he was, finally had the energy to get up from his bed and put on a lighter and more breathable version of his coat. Slipping on some socks and slapping himself awake, he did is usual morning routine, brushing his teeth, making breakfast, contemplating life.

"Flowla, Levo's! Breakfast is ready!", he yelled as he slid some waffles and pancakes onto some plates, while giving himself some toast with eggs. Levo's slowly walked out, still wearing his sleeping clothes and hugging the judd plush. "Mornin, Jel..."

"BREAKFEST, YEA!", yelled Flowla as she ran towards the kitchen, almost falling over, but saving herself by wrapping her arm on a corner. "Pancakes? Good job, you remembered.", she gave a smug look towards Jel as she flipped up a bottle of syrup and poured some onto her pancakes.

Levo's could just stare annoyed at his adopted sister while he poured a bit of chocolate chips onto his waffles. They all ate in silence, which they all noted was unusual between the chaotic family.

"So..."

"hm?"

"We had a plan today, remember?"

"What one, hanging out with the opalines and your...'Girlfriend'?"

"Flowla shut up..."

"Ok yea I remember now, Tartar. Dang telephone keeps coming back."

Jel leaned back onto his chair as he took a bite of his toast, "So the plan as you may recall if simply: go into his main areas of work, destroy the HELL out of it, find out what he may be doing and be back by 12.". They all nodded in agreement as they finished up their breakfast.

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[time skip brought to you by explosion.gif]
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The ground had finally arrived in the metro...a place of former glory, as the main station had been run down and trains had mostly stopped being used after fights between Jel, Levo's, Flowla, and whoever else Vs Tartar and his army of sanitized soldiers. The 3 of them looked around at the the decrepit state of it all and shrugged it off, like they usually did.

Readying their weapons, they all looked towards each other and nodded.

"You two stay together to cover your respective weaknesses incase anything happens, I can go by myself as I got my...", Jel twirled around his Kensa Octobrush quickly before fumbling the spin and dropping it onto the floor, "OCTOBRUSH!...Ignore what just happened."

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Jel's Pov
--------------

"Oh my cod, I forgot how boring this was."

I continue walking down the empty halls of the metro labs, tucked in the far corners of this place. The walls are dirty, some covered in moss and some even still covered in ink. Large, broken test tubes and shattered glass lay on the floor, I try to avoid them as I keep on walking, occasionally smashing the computer with the blunt side of my Octobrush.

"Nope...nope...glass...ink...mangled cor- wait what.", I run over to what looked like a body, but only the bottom half is there. I touch it, but it slowly starts to melt into sanitized ink, while the clothes remained the same: Dark blue pants and a ripped up gray coat.

"What the..."

I kneel down and keep on looking at it, confused on how the body went from solid to ink in just a second.

"ᴶᴱᴱᴱᴱᴱᴱᴱᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸᴸ!"

I quickly turn my head and run in the direction of Flowla's voice.

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Flowla's Pov
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I shoulder bash through a door and ready up my Tetra Dualies, readying myself for anything...
"And there is absolutely nothing, great."

I walk through the door and lean near a wall, letting Levo's explore the room a bit as I barely know half the stuff that he knows. I look around, only seeing computer monitors and the brick walls of the metro, along with my nerdy brother clicking and clacking on a keyboard next to a operating computer.

"How's it going, nerd?" I could hear Levo's groan before looking back towards me, "Eh, nothing of importance here, you still have that metal bar you have been using for like...10...30 minutes or so?", I nod as I holder my Dualies and raise the metal pipe onto my shoulder as I walk towards the screen.

"Wait, a open email..."

I grab the nearby mouse and scroll to open it, catching a glance of Levo's looking embarrassed he never noticed this.

"Alpha.V Project."
"Tarin, please bring all known sanitized troop to the NILS statue as within a few days we will launch this project I have been working on in secret. This will fix everything, from the family issue to the Jel problem. Be there by 9' sharp. Signed, Commander Tartar..."



"Ah, here we go...now let me just," I ready up my voice and cough slightly.


"JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!!!!!!!"

I then lean onto the desk and wait as I hear footsteps slowly getting closer and closer, with Levo's still having the look of "I am such a idiot" on his face...


Deservedly so.

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[5 hours ago, somewhere else in the metro...]
[Tarin's Pov]
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"Working hard to get it done..."

"Crank the wrench until its done..."

"Move your hands to the sound..."

"Hoping that someday they'll go down..."

The sound of rusting metal scrapping on the floor and the squeaking of wheels got my attention. As I set down my wrench and lift up a welding mask, I notice him.

"ʜᴇʟʟᴏ, ᴛᴀʀɪɴ...ʜᴏᴡ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ ɢᴏɪɴɢ?"

"Good sir, halfway done with the thing, give me a hour and we can get whatever you need set up soon."

The blank metallic face of his gleamed from the dim lights of the metro. Slowly rolling himself closer towards me using what seems to be remote controlled wheels.

"ɢᴏᴏᴅ, ɢᴏᴏᴅ...ɢʀᴀʙ ɪᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴋᴇꜱʜɪꜰᴛ ʙᴀꜱᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪʟꜱ ꜱᴛᴀᴛᴜᴇ, ᴏᴜʀ ᴘʟᴀɴ ɪꜱ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏᴡ. ɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴍᴇᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴘʀᴇᴘᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴄᴛᴏʙʀᴜꜱʜ...ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀɴʏ..."

"Yes sir."

He slowly wheeled himself away, back through a door and into the darkness of the metro. I turn back to my work and pack it up into a duffle bag, along with my tools.

I turn back to my desk and pick up a picture frame of...

"Hey, they're gone now...no time to dwell on the past..."


"Go time."

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Words: 1146

Frost Review: "oh my cod please help scoom has me trapped in his basement"

Chapter Text

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3rd Person Pov

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The group of Octolings walked across the Salmon-Jammer dam, super-jumping across each large gap. They could hear the horns coming from the Grizzco boats heading out into deep salmon territory.

"Huh...how in the living heck did they get the NILS statue back up?"

Flowla shrugged at Jel's comment, and Levo's just kept staring at the large, imposing statue in the distance. The 3 just stood there...watching, still somewhat shocked. Flowla looked over to Levo's, who looked visibly nervous as Jel tried to think of a way to get over to the statue.

"Taking a wild guess...Iris?"

"Yea..."

She slapped him lightly on the head and patted his shoulder, "Look, we have done this before, and like hell are we going let that stupid telephone get back up. We go in, beat the life out of that tin can, leave, and you can go back to being lovey-dovey with Iris."

Levo's face palmed as he sat down ontop of his hydra splattling, waiting for Jel to finish up with his idea.

"ˢʰᵘᵗ ᵘᵖ..."

"Come onnnnn," Flowla sat down with him, leaning backward while propping herself up with her hands, "We do this like, every week. Why are you worried?"

"You wouldn't understand..."

"Yeah, while I don't understand what the big deal with 'dating' is, I can try and understand."

Levo's looked down and thought about it for a second.

"Fine...It's just-"

"OK GUYS HERE IS THE PLAN!", Jel barged in between the two of them and held out his Kensa Octobrush. "To make it simple: Batter up."

The two slowly turned towards him, with faces that could only be described as "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."

"No way we are doing that."

"Hell yea, we are doing that."

Levo's looked down and covered his face, looking annoyed. "Fine... let's do it."

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Levo's Pov

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While Jel was prepping himself to launch Flowla, I pulled out my phone and tapped the messages app.

"What to send before I go...what to send..."

I tried to type something but I quickly deleted it. Everything I came up with either sounded too corny or something else that put me off from sending it.

*C R A C K*

I look up to see Flowla, now speeding through the air, heading straight toward the NILS statue's base. I look back up to Jel, seeing a smile on his face as he watches Flowla soar through the air. I look back at my phone, slowly getting more and more impatient.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked back up to see Jel pointing towards the distant Flowla. "Beakon is set up, let's go!", before I could even say anything, Jel had super-jumped straight towards the NILS statue.

I pick back up my Hydra Splattling and focus on the beacon's location, quickly typing out " ❤ you." to Iris before following Jel.

The wind rushed against my face as I slowly got closer and closer to the base of the NILS statue, where Jel and Flowla were waiting for me. "LOOKOUT BELOW!", I quickly swap back to my more humanoid form, stopping my momentum with my Hydra Splattling.

"Perfect landing done by yours truly..."

I heard Jel snicker and Flowla trying to stifle a laugh. "Welp, you guys ready?"

"Yep!"

"BRING IT ON!"

Me and Jel both looked towards Flowla, who went from excited to confused. "What? Can't a girl scream 'Bring it on' when she wants to destroy an evil telephone?"

"No, but that is hella weird."

"You are hella weird."

"We are one hella weird family, can we get going now?", I interjected.

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Iris's Pov
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"Jaiden, why again are we walking across Hammerhead Bridge? We can just take a taxi to wherever we need to go...", I wiped the sweat off my forehead and took a drink out of my water bottle, getting exhausted from the heat. Snowy seemed to be taking the heat fine, but then again, she usually looks blanked face so not much of a surprise there.

"Eh, I had the idea of just going on a long walk along a scenic route, thought it would be nice."

"Jaiden, I know you mean well but it's blazing hot out and I'm dying over here what made you think this was an objectively good idea?!", I felt Snowy grab onto my shoulder as I was about to walk closer to him.

"Just making sure you don't strangle him... that's Flowla's job."

"Im not going to strangle him, Snowy...just...ugh, it's way too hot out for me..."

I decided to look out into the ocean, trying to cheer myself up while I felt like dying. It was pretty beautiful...but something else caught my eye.

The NILS statue, fully out of the water again.

And right as I noticed it, I got a notification on my phone from Levo's. A simple text "❤ you."

"Oh cod, Tartar is back."

I quickly look away and slowly sit myself down against the bridge walls. Jaiden quickly ran over and looked while Snowy just stood there, still somewhat blank-faced. I started to breathe heavily, slowly starting to panic...only a second later, I saw my Metro Dualie Squelchers fall onto the floor.

"Come on, if Tartar is back, then Jel and the others are already there. Let's go give them some support." Jaiden held his hand out, lifting me up while I ready my Dualies.

I look back over to Snowy, who now has a Dynamo roller hoisted above herself. I ignore how she has one and start to run with Jaiden, hurrying back to the square.

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Words: 898

Frost Review: "Battering up is like uhm okay i dont know uhm uhhhhh okay hmmm - Sun Tzu, probably"

Scoom Review: this chapter is shorter then my friend kono.

Chapter Text

Flowla's P.O.V

"C'mon, we all know that a good entrance needs a war cry!"

"Flowla, we love you and all, but we are trying not to die here."

"Pffft, like we ever will. Me, You, Jel, we could take on the world!"

Levo's gave me a glare before sighing and turning back to Jel. He seemed to be looking around the base of the statue, trying to find a way up. After the second time it was destroyed (not sure who did it first), the Grind Rails stopped working due to them being waterlogged. The sky is a bright orange of the sunset mixed with what little left of the blue sky, sun lowering into the distance. I look over my Dark Tetra Dualies, spinning them around a few times on my fingers before grabbing them tightly, stickers and scrapes covering the weapon.

That makes me think.

We will win, right?

Of course we will, we always do. Nothing takes down the sanitized squad!

As Jel and Levo's talk in front of me, an all too familiar sound within good match of turf war rises in pitch, and the little visual indicator that comes with it at full charge.

Someone is aiming a charger at Levo's.

"JEL, LEVO'S, TAKE COVER."

I hold tightly onto my Dualies as I roll straight towards Levo's, knocking him forward as a shot from an E-liter, based on the sound, grazes my face. I can feel it burn against my face, both from the ink itself and the speed its fired at. A wall of ink erects itself in front of me as I wipe off the ink left on my face. "Levo's, you know what to do. Me and Flowla try to pinpoint their location, you come in and start firing once we call it out, got it?"

I take a guess he nods as I rush through the wall of Ink and start to look upwards, trying to locate the sanitized Octoling or whatever is firing at us. Jel comes in behind me, readying his Octobrush. The laser is coming from above us both, looking up, I see a Sanitized Octoling hanging off the side of the Statue, aiming directly at me.

"RETURN. TO. SENDER!" is the only thing I hear as Jel leaps over me, swinging his brush straight upwards as another shot rings out. Jel has always been a bundle of surprises when it comes to battle, so of course the next thing you see is him returning the shot fired back towards the Octoling, instantly splatting them. Jel lands as Levo's quickly jogs back over to us, still ready to fire. "Well, seems like you took care of that, should we continue-"

The sound of not one, not two, not even three, but about seven Chargers.

Oh no.

"ᴡᴇʟʟ ᴡᴇʟʟ ᴡᴇʟʟ, ꜱᴇᴇᴍꜱ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀɴʏ, ᴅᴏ ᴡᴇ ɴᴏᴛ?"

Oh no.
Not this bitch again.

"Oh great, it's the tin can, ready for another Sanitized flavored beatdown?" Jel 

There he was, Tartar, once again. He rolled up to us, still the same old telephone as always, now on wheels. A cold, unblinking face, or a mockery of one, only the speaker part of the mouth showing any form of movement.

"ɴᴏ, ᴀꜱ ɪ ᴀᴍ ꜰᴇᴇʟɪɴɢ ʀᴀᴛʜᴇʀ...ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ," He turns to us, rolling closer and closer to Jel, "ɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ɴᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ."

"Like hell we are gonna let you do whatever that means, right gang?", Jel says as he raises his Kensa Octobrush higher. Levo's and I give a little "Yea!" in response, since when do the heros ever let the villain do whatever they want?

"ᴛᴀʀɪɴ, ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜰɪɴɪꜱʜ ᴜᴘ?"

"Rodger, Sir."

Tarin, of course he is here too, licking the metaphorical boot of that damned telephone. He drops down from the roof of the statue, right next to Tartar. "Yes sir," cod, he sounds even more like a boot-licker. I raise my Tetra dualies slightly, only for my hand to be shot at, knocking one away. I yell as I fall to the floor, holding my hand, feeling the Ink almost burn against my skin. Jel and Levo's both look towards me, concerned, but it was my fault anyways, expecting I could even move a muscle in this situation.

"Resistance is worthless, you are surrounded eight to three."

"Oh we both know that is untrue. Flowla, Levo's?"

"Yea, we got too much to keep to lose now."

I look up to Tarin, smirking despite my pain, "Rather die then let you two do anything more."

"C'MON LONDO'S, LETS DO THI-"

I watch as a Charger shot hits Jel directly on the head, knocking him over onto the floor, unconscious. Ink radiates off of his head, same color as the ink he was shot with, only dispersing before lightly exploding into smaller particles. Tarin starts to snicker at Levo's goes over to Jel to check if he is ok.

"Low-tide Ink, specialty of the Squid Sister Marie, turns out that it is just Ink mixed with a tad bit of Sea Salt. Lacks the power to splat, but does knock out whoever it needs to with a well aimed shot!" Tarin looks us over once more, grinning ear to ear as Tartar stands beside him, quiet and unmoving, "Now then!" he said, clapping his hands together as he looked at me and Levo's.

"Take my family to cages, I can deal with the faker."

Time skip brought to you by...

Cool Facts!
Didja know that Jel used to be happy?
Neither did he.

[Around 10 minutes later]

"Watch the merchandise, bub- ACK!"

Levo's and I were promptly kicked into a cage left on the elevator lift right below the exit of the NILS statue. Weapons removed from us both and guarded by a Sanitized Octoling nearby, locked in handcuffs, and bars of the cage too thick to even escape via swim form. We were still able to escape the cuffs, but nothing else. We were screwed. They took Jel, kept him on top of the head of the statue, leaving us here to rot.

"Ok, let's figure out how to escape, ight?"

". . ."

"Levo's?"

". . ."

"Lev, c'mon, brainstorm with me, ight?"

"ᴶᵘˢᵗ...ˢᵗᵒᵖ..."

"Huh? Speak up, Afro-head, I can't hear you when you mumble-"

"SHUT UP, WE WERE TOO CARELESS AND WE PAID THE PRICE FOR IT," he yelled at me as he got up and kicked the metal bars that surrounded us, "WE SHOULD HAVE JUST TAKEN OUR TIME, BUT NO, YOU TWO DECIDED TO RUSH IN LIKE IDIOTS AND, AND- AUGH!" I leaned back as he started to yell insults at the bars of the cage, just letting out all of his anger at me and the metal enclosure that surrounded us. He mentioned stuff that annoyed him, him worrying about not being able to see Iris again, worrying about Jel, ect.

So I just let him yell, waiting. Some things sting, sure, but honestly, I should have been more patient when it comes to him anyways.

"Levo's, breathe with me, ight?"

He looks towards me, a tear running down his cheek, his anger slowly draining as he sits down in front of me, holding my hands as we breathe in and out for a minute. Jel had taught me this when he brought me into the family, helped me when I started to panic when his friends were over, back when I was nervous to even be around Jel himself. He sat me down, held my hands, and told me to match his breathing with my eyes closed.

Guess im returning the favor to Levo's now.

I can feel him start to untense as we continue to breathe, the mechanical whirring of the lift slowly disappearing. "Ok, I think..." He looks straight at me, smiling a little, still nervous, sure, but better then being angry, "I think I have calmed down, thank you...and sorry for blaming you and Jel, just stressed out." I smile at him as I get up, ruffling his hat like its hair before looking outside of the bars.

Oh great, it's Tarin and his posse of Sanitized Soldiers, salt and wounds or whatever the saying is.

He opened the door as the soldiers kept their weapons trained on us, "Well hello there my lovely family! How is your new living situation treating you?"

"Go screw yourself."

"Oh no dear sister, I'd rather not, we have so much TIME to make up since the faker took you away from me!"

I could feel Levo's giving him the same look as I did, one of confusion. He has always talked like this, like we were related to him in some way, but never was told why. "Just because we are sanitized, doesn't make us siblings," I say, getting tired of his whole routine by now, but he just smiles more, "Oh no, Flowla, I know that, however, do you not recognize your own brother?"

"Shut you damn mouth, Tarin, you are not Jel."

"Oh really now? Orange eyes, same hair, same type of coat but in a different color? Don't tell me he has made you think that you are his siblings, HIM , THE FAKER , THE ONE WHO TOOK EVERYTHING I LOVE AWAY FROM ME WHILE I HAD EVERYTHING TORN AWAY FROM ME. EVERY FRIEND, ALL MY FAMILY, GONE, ONLY YOU TWO LEFT. "

Tarin started to laugh as he looked at us, almost crying in a sense. I look towards Levo's and he looks just as confused as me.

"Anywho, I have a bit more to help Tartar with, so if you excuse me, I will be taking my leave now- Hey, what are you doing? Get your filthy corpse hands off of me," He tried to leave, but the Soldiers surrounding him had lowered their weapons and started to push him towards the cage, removing his key and belongings as they did.

And then he was in the cage.

With us.

Betrayed by the evil telephone.

The same one who tries to kill Jel.

The same one who Tarin, who claims to be Jel, works for.

I actually burst out laughing at Tarin, who is now shaking the bars, trying to escape the cage while Levo's sits behind us both, looking confused and shocked.

"HAHAHA, YOU IDIOT, YOU HELPED TARTAR, THE SAME PERSON WHO TRIES TO KILL PEOPLE NAMED JEL, AND THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA??????? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

I was only stopped when Levo's slapped me slightly on the head, but I still kept chuckling. "Good job genius, you were betrayed and used, want a medal for being the dumbest Octoling on this side of Inkadia?"

"I- Cod I messed up..."

"No kidding."

"Glad I always think a step ahead. The best part about not being an AI," Tarin unscrews a random bolt within the cage, "is that the brain is always smarter then a robots." The cage door loosens, not making enough sound to alert any of the soldiers. "Jel always has an ace up his sleeve, even if that ace is a +4 from UNO in a game of Blackjack."

I look over to Levo's, who is equally as impressed as he looks confused.

"I think that might be Jel."

"Flowla, we can talk about this later, first lets go save Jel." Levo's grabs Tarin by the back of his scruff of his coat, turning Tarin around to face him "YOU. We will call this a truce for now, but try ANYTHING funny and by the name of the Great Zapfish, I will bury you, got that?"

"Yep, all clear Lev."

"Don't call me that, even if you say you are Jel, you tried to kill us, so you lack the rights."

"Fine, fine."

We all proceed to escape, beating the living daylights of the single Sanitized Soldier guarding our weapons, taking them back, and proceeding to climb back up the latter leading up to the head of the statue. Surprisingly not that many guards, but that just makes it easier for us.

We reach it, reach the top.

"ᴡᴇᴄʟᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ-"

"Shut up."

Tartar was alone, no troops surrounding him, left wide open. So I do the next best thing I can.

I grab the tin-mans head and proceed to stomp on them, over and over again. 

Oh right, Jel, he was left tied up on the ground, near this big test tube thing? I think Tartar was going to put him in it, but then we proceeded to get out of there faster then he expected. Jel was struggling to get out, still dazed as there were still some "sparks" from the Low-Tide Ink they used. Tarin and Levo's go to untie Jel as I continue to kick the ever living hell out of the telephone. 

"Jeez, that was quick. Not the glorified buckets best work, eh?" Of course Jel cracks a joke after his life was threatened. You stop kicking Tartar and tackle Jel in a hug, bringing you both to the floor, "Dang Flowla, missed me that much?"

You I, because I  amactually really tired and just want to go home, maybe fall asleep on top of the other two while watching a movie because nothing beats the good ol' sleeping stack.

"[ᴘᴏʟɪᴛᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇꜰɪɴᴇᴅ ᴀᴜᴅɪᴏ ᴍᴏᴅᴇ: ᴅɪꜱᴀʙʟᴇᴅ]"

 A robotic voice perk up, along with the sound of metal snapping back in place.

"You four really think you won? You really think that this was the end? Yes, it is the end for me, but also for you."

Tartar is back up, pole standing on its own, same ever unchanging face staring at us all.

"Thank you Tarin for building me this. Humans were smart enough to build something like this, something better then a bomb, something that nobody could ever survive..."

"This device right here will destroy everything, leave nothing, and send it to this 'Void'. An abyss of nothing. Truly a technological feat beyond even my feeble ones and zeros making up my AI."

You all watch as the test tube starts to bubble with some kind of liquid like material, the machinery that surrounding it starting to spark, the sounds of gears turning and fans whirring.

"Tarin, how ingenious, putting a loose screw within the cage so you could escape. I saw it, I saw you do it, I saw the screw itself when I checked over it," Tartar's mechanical corpse hovering slightly above the ground towards Tarin, "I can control metal, Tarin, have you forgot? How else could I have moved around on the wheels? they were purely metal, nothing else. How else could I have assembled the blender so many times before? You think something like that is going to ever get past my cameras?"

"You all think you are so smart, so clever, so kind."

"DISGUSTING."

"I will revel in the fact I have destroyed you all, leaving the others to mourn your disappearance. Leaving them," Tartar now hovers over to Jel. I try to grab the metal pole his head is attached to, only to be smacked away as Tartar uses himself as a blunt weapon, "Just like how HE left you, how ironic you saved someone from me yet they proceed to abandon you, isn't that right?"

I can barely hear anything, a ringing within your ear and the mumbles of Tartar being the outliers.

I can hardly think.

I-

Jel's Pov

I back up as Tartar bats Flowla away.

"FLOWLA!" Levo's runs over to check on her as you and Tarin ready yourselves to fight Tartar.

"Fighting, really? You are both smart enough to know you won't win. I must thank you Tarin for playing such a VITAL role in my plan."

"SHUT UP, YOU SAID YOU WOULD HELP ME!"

"Yes, and this is how I help, by putting you out of your miserable existence. Goodbye."

My gut twists as small sparks come out of Tartar, knowing he is doing something. Tarin has always been a pain, but you are the hero, no matter what people do to you, besides Tartar, everyone deserves a chance. He did for you, so you are going to return the favor for even the people who have hurt you.

I push him out of the way.

I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my stomach.

"Hm, both are the same at the end of the day, so I guess this works. Not that it matters. Goodbye."

I look down.

There is a metal pole sticking out of the ground.

It is going straight through your chest.

Oh!

How painful!

 I can hear people screaming, Tartar's laugh, the sounds of whatever machine Tarin built for him.

Who knew the novel experience of being stabbed was so painful?

There is blood slowly dripping down the pipe, or was it a pole? I can't figure out if its what.

You feel something...
              Squeezing                              
                 The          
Missing                        
                                  Part 
   Of
Your         
Bro                            ken
Heart.

And then-

Chapter Text

You remember running.

Running was all you ever did, after all.

You were a child, who could blame you for being scared?

Then you bumped into two inklings.

One who had long dark green hair, and another who had yellow hair tied into a bun.

and eve ryth ing st  art s t o ge t

F u z z y.

And-

???
??:??
Jel's POV

You wont wake up any time soon...

Your whole body feels sore. The last thing you can remember is taking a hit for Tarin before you passed out. Your eyes feel heavy but your body feels weightless...somehow. At this point you don't question it because you learned early on that you aren't smart enough and it gives you headaches thinking too hard (you ARE supposed to just be the hero after all. Do, not think.)

You finally open your eyes and see an octoling standing above you. Pure white, body similar looking to marble, and no left arm.

"Please no screaming here, the echo lasts forever!"

Oh cod you are going insane. Is this what blood loss is like?

"Nope! You are still alive and not actually bleeding THAT badly! The pipe planted into your chest by Tartar is actually stopping you from bleeding that much! Congrats!"

"I am deeply confused how you can read my mind."

"Oh, let me explain then!" They back up and take out a marker. You finally get a good look at your surroundings and find dark hallways. The floor and walls various shades of light-ish red, "You are here to have a little chat with me! I am here to teach you a lesson! What is it? Well then where's the surprise if I tell you? (And the people reading need to know some context for the extensive lore here too, hehe~)"

Yea this must be what blood loss is. You get up slowly and lean yourself against a wall, slightly dizzy from...honestly? Everything. "So what, is this like a therapy session?" They nod, sitting down in a nearby chair which you are 100% sure WASN'T there before. You fall over, the wall disappearing behind you, all before you fall onto a long chair, one of those "Therapy chairs" or whatever they are called. "Before we start," you ask, moving a pillow and adjusting yourself because like hell are you leaving here for a while, "where are we?"

"Your M i n d~!"

OH YEA YOU ARE DEF GOING CRAZY-

"Ok then! Lets talk about the people in your life! Tell me, Jel, when you think of family, who do you think of?"

You lay back and look up to the dark and shadow-y sky, "Everyone, I guess? Flowla and Levos being the most ACTUAL family I have, but..."

You think back to how you met them both...

Flowla was first.

You remember that day like it was yesterday.

You were alone, relaxing, watching videos on your phone.

You had just become sanitized a few months prior, you made your name known and met so many people.

So many people.

They aren't with you now. He isn't with you now.

You hear a knocking on your door. You perk up and smile, putting back on your coat you threw off to deal with the summer heat. You open the door and find a sanitized octoling on your doorstep.

You jump back, taking the Kensa Octobrush off your back and ready yourself for anything she threw at you...but it never happened.

They were crying, looking panicked as they try to garble something out.

"₱ⱠɆ₳₴Ɇ! ⱧɆⱠ₱ ₥Ɇ! ₦Ø ₥ØⱤɆ ₮₳Ɽ₮₳Ɽ! ⱧɆⱠ₱!"

You are surprised as they quickly hug you, only to look up and back up into a nearby wall. They must had finally got a good look at you. For a sanitized octoling they sure are emotional.

They cover their eyes, shaking.

You grab some ink from your Octobrush, spreading it across your fingers. You've been thinking about what else your ink could do...

You slowly walk over to her, kneeling down as you drag your fingers across her hair. The ink latches on and her hair starts to fire up, almost like she had a special charged up.

You beg in your head to allow this to work, allow this even help her. She has more sentience then most before, so he had to help before anything changed.

Your head pounds as you see the colors in her hair shift and her darker green skin turn minty green. You fall onto the floor, winded more then you thought that would.

The girl looks up at you, seeing the colors change on her body. She was sanitized, sure, but she was free. Did she know that?

"Cod, that took more then I thought out of me! So, newly freed octoling, what's your name?"

"M-my...name..."

She holds her head for a second, mumbling out a few "Ows..." and "Urgh...". Seems like she was also feeling the impact of this all.

She finally looked up at me, with an ever-so weak smile.

"M-my name is F-Flowla."

She was shy beyond belief. She was timid and scared of going back to her old life.

You and your friends helped the best you could, and while not every attempted was a success, each attempt would push her further and further out of her shell.

You taught her turf wars, you helped her calm down. Sometimes she would go into her swim form and fall asleep next to you, just needing someone nearby to sleep.

Now she is a hard-hitting girl of nature, nothing stopping her until she gets what she wants. A skilled fighter and even stronger brawler. 

Before, crowds scared her.

Now she gets them with her explosive personality.

Back then, you forgot you had a brother, but even if this girl wasn't blood related, you adopted her, considered her family.

Its hard to imagine her as a girl who only knew how to run, like that was all she ever did, to run from danger.

She was family.

She was Flowla Londo, the chaotic sister of the 3.

You jolt up, realizing you zoned out.

"Oh, no, I saw it all!"

Oh phew-

What.

"Im part of your M i n d~, thus I can see what you think!"

You still aren't convinced that this isn't because of blood loss.

You lean back once more, putting your hand on your head and wanting to internally scream because this is just weird. You see the statue octoling lean forward with a smile, "How about your brother, Levo's?"

"It's Levos."

"Yea, Levo's."

"No its 'LEV-OSE', not 'Lev-oh-s'"

They look at you confused before chuckling, "Spelling aside, do tell the story. I await to see this!"

You ignore how creepy that sounds and try to remember what happened that day...

You and the others were hanging out.

You were happy.

You were laughing.

And now you are alone.

Of course nothing could stay peaceful forever, just a fact of life.

"ALRIGHTY THEN, LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

You whip around your weapon and block a stray blow the sanitized octoling threw at you. A simple kick was all it took to get some distance as you use the force from it to launch yourself. You leave a trail of ink on the ground near him all before a hand of ink grabs them.

Bingo.

As the octoling squirmed in the clutches of the ink, you just go up to them and lean against the hand holding them in place.

"You see, you lack the strategy to actually go against me. Really, no weapon? Tartar must be getting pretty damnnnnnnn cocky if he thinks- WOAH!"

You quickly dodge under a swing of another ink arm as the sanitized octoling escapes from yours.

Of course everyone else joined in once this had happened, you were already a handful enough to have them know that this means trouble.

So you fought, nothing much else happened, and you and them knew fights were ever-so-common in their lives.

don't think about them don't think about them don't think about them.

It was after the fight.

The moment it clicked.

You look at the sanitized octoling laying before you.

You remember it all.

You remember all the repressed memories from that day.

Those days.

It was mid-summer. You and your older brother were heading to the old bunker you found. The door had never opened, but this time, it was.

You remember the kid you saw in there, around your age, stuck in a test tube.

Y̶̧̹͎͖̝̘̥̍ő̸̡͈͚̹̜̦̳͎̮̩̯̽̇̈́͘u̶̦̖̯̺͕̺̘̻̤̲̣̐̽̓̊͐̚ ̸̢̪̮͚͈̯̖̄͊̍̽̓̎̊͝͝ͅŗ̷̢̡̨̢̬̱͕̝͖̯̙͈̝̟̓̊̌͛́͒̈́̃̀̌͘͠ȩ̸̧̡̧̛̜͚̘̻̜͇͕͉͒͆͒̓l̷͎̙͚͚͎͐̌͆̿͂̌̔̾̀̽̌̆̑͘͠e̴̖̳̩̩̅̋̒̒̀̄͌͊̒̈́́̚͘a̶͉̺͎̩̲̥͋̇͌̒͋̉s̵̙͙̍̿̑͂̕͝e̸̡̛͔͐͑̍͑́̆̑́̕͘͝͝͠d̴̼̂̉̈́͂̏͊̈̈́̍̚͠ ̵̯̭͎̤͇̰̟̙̺̭͉̤̭͛̌̐̂̚͘̕h̸̢̢̢͖̗̱͓̟̗̒̈́̔͊̃͂̊̏̕͜ͅi̸̥̗̤̭͎̲̻̮̮̥͓̱̮̽̋̌̃̅̎̽̀m̶̢͈̝̻̱̠̜̤̦̓̍̌͛̆͊̕,̸͖͙̦̗̂̍̇̕ ̷̨͍̙̹̺̺̹̞̎̑̑̎̀͛̍̀̀̒͝s̶͈͈̯̗̣͉̊̑̒͌̓͐̕͠è̸̲̖̺͉̠̪ͅt̸̜̖̀̎̈́́͗́t̵̛̖̦̥̠͛͑͆̚͜ȉ̸͔̤̣̬͙̗̪̘͓̣͚̓̄̓̅͋͛͌̅͝͝n̶̛̛̹̟͍͙͋͗͛̓̆͐͌̈́̌ģ̴̜͙̝̫̟̖͊̄̏̏̾̐͗͑̄͂̚ ̸̛͎͇͇͔̝͂̃̓́́̏̓̓̾̋͘̕̕̕h̶̨̛͍̲̞̹̟̱̹̙͉̯͌̑͛̊̀̈́͘͜͜͠ͅì̸̧͉̞͎̜̮̖̤̞̩̪̎͌̌͒͑̎̽́̒̕͜ḿ̸̪̘͔͚͍̻̦͎̼̠ͅ ̶̛͇̲͙̅̓̈́̋̍̂̽͐́̚͠͝f̵̢̢̙̰̀̐̄̓̍̌̇̊͘͠r̵̢̛͉̰̬̱͇̱͔̺͆̅̅̀̂̓̓̐̂͜͝e̶̲̜̗̮̳̤̲̪͔̙͓̼̎͗̊̑͐͛́e̴̠̩͍͎͉͒̓̇.̸̟̤̝̆͂͛́̑̔͂̇̔͑̂̈́͋̕͠ͅ ̵̨̡̜̭̯̮̲͉̻̻͐͐̊̿̏̋̿̈̏̕̚ͅD̸͔͖̝̥̮̟̤̟̈́͋̓͗̿ͅē̵̼̱̪̞̰̫̜̱̠̍̐̎̓̅͗͜k̸̡̛͕̱͎̲̩̓͆̊̒̒̅̕͝o̴̢̪̜̣̖̎̓͊͌͂̒͋͌͑̓͆͘͘͘ͅ ̶̡̛̱̮̲̫̪͎̜͎͖͙̥̎̉̎̉̈́͗̿̏̏͠ͅt̴̖̤̠̉͗͊̈́̉͑́ơ̸͕̠͎͕̖̘̐̽̿̍͠ͅĺ̵̡̨̢͓̺͖̥̙͓̝͕͍͎̉̓̅̍̓̚̕͜͠d̸͍͓̰̀̉̔̏̒͂̑̿̅̕͝ ̵̨̠̖̙͙̘͙̝̮͕̽͊͗̅͒̏͋̅͂̄͠ͅy̷̨̨̢̛͎͇̬͎̼̺̓̈́̃̂̓̑́͗͐͛͜͠͝ǫ̸̛͍̰͓͚̝͚͔̀͗͛̎͋̈́̒̒̌͘̚͜͝ư̸̛͈͖̞̓̋̈̀̃̌̆̌̒͌͛͘͝ ̸͖͓̻͈̘̤̽͗͂͆͌̑̾̀̋̈̚ͅţ̷̧̨̹̮͙̥͎͈̬̗̭̋͑̽̑̕h̸͍̽͑̀̿̍̎̓̂̿͝ͅa̵̯̲̱̅͋̓͂̉͋̔́̽̽͌̈̚ẗ̵̥̠́ ̵̦̠͓͇̲̜̫̦̝̭͚̹̟̹̌͂̀͆̽͋̀̌̆̒́̅̔̕̕h̷̘̪͇̟̞͈̾̓́͛͊́̓̀̀̏̚͝è̷̢̨̮̝͖͔̿ ̸̡̢̛͚̣̃̈́̄̋̉̓̋̕̕ŗ̵̪͈̝̘̩̦͍̥̮͓̘̗̓̏̈́̐e̷̛̬̱͕̩̲̟̙͓̳̘̹̖̯̅̀̌͘m̵̲̦̤͍̖͙͍̳̫͎̦̀̽̆͠ě̴̮͇̳̳͔̖̫̋̆͘m̸̢͓͕̙̻͍̟̭̘͓̈́̌͒̂̌͌͝b̴̧̛̞͚̣̤̘̈́͑͛̃̈̎̈̆̊̕̕͝ę̸͎̰͉̺̻̼̼̤̪͍̺̺́̄͐͊͜͝r̴̨̢̠͍̝̹̘̗̩̜̜͔̞̐̌̀̍͊̓̇͌̏̈́͂͜͠͠ͅe̴͉̓̈́̏͐̏̓̄̌ͅḋ̷̪͖̂͊̂́̊̈́̐̑̍͠͠ ̵̛̛̜͂̃̈́̀͗͑͛̓̉̏͊̄͠ţ̸͈͙͎͎̯̼͉̦͈̖̦͎͕͑́͒̀͒̉́͑͌̋͛̈́͜h̴͕̻̭̻̠̙̿̏͑̉̒̂̓͒̆̾̈́͠ạ̵͓̲̎̏͒̆͛̉t̶̘͘ ̵̛͓̰̟̘̘̄̉̎̋̀́̈́d̴̥̰̦̗͎̖͇̞̬̫̮͂̈̓̀̈́̍͘a̴̢̡̛̛̩̬̜͈̳͔̲͙͓͕̼͓͑̍̊͗̇̍̅͐͑̚ͅy̵̰̝̖͎̎͋̕ ̷̛̭̺͔̣̻́̔͂̇͗̓͑̿͌̅̚͘t̷̛̮̲̺͍͙̤͓͕͈̼̋͑̈͐̂̓̓͌̏͝͝ô̸̧̢̗̪͇̣̣̮͈͙̤̝͕̓̀̋̓̅̏́̎̀͐͌̆̒̔o̷͚̜͉̺̪̹͈̳͍͙͇̦̲̘̐.̵̡̠̒̂̅͝

The alarms started as they ran. Levos urged you to escape as he was captured.

You came back home later, alone. You could never tell them, as it was your fault.

They looked...and then they were taken.

They told you to run, because it was all you could do. It's what you did best.

Everyone crowds around you as you sap out the sanitized ink from your brother who you had knocked out.

"Jel, what are you doing?"
"Yea, what's going on?"
"C'mon, speak!"
"Guys, let him do this. He must have a good reason, right?"
"I think we should just splat them right now, we cant trust them..."

You are winded like before, but less. You have been working on mastering your art of ink control, along with just getting more stamina from your chaotic life in general.

You pick up your older brother.

"Levos...brother...you are...alive..."

And walk home.

After that, well, he was more defensive. He didn't like anyone until later on.

He had his armor up and I couldn't blame him. Tartar had put him through so much pain. 

Helping him recover was worth it though, even if he dunked you into the kitchen sink a few times here and there.

You honestly cant blame him, he said he felt guilty for everything he did at that time.

But now he is just the same as you remember him.

Kind, charming, and supportive.

Iris is lucky, they way they hold each other shows they love the other, even if they cant admit their feelings...

D̸̪̾i̶͕͠s̷̮͆g̴͔̈́ṳ̶̔s̶̼̕t̸̳͛i̴̠̎n̷̛͈g̸͎̈́,̸̘̑ ̸̛̗ẗ̷̩́o̵͇̊ ̷͓̄h̶̞̑õ̷̢p̵̤͋e̷̲͝ ̵̺̒f̴̣͌o̴̹͆r̷̨̾ ̸̝̐s̵͚̏ơ̶̳m̸͎̈e̴̻͠ȯ̴̰ṋ̶̑e̸͇͌ ̷̳̋t̵̼̔ȏ̴̯ ̴̣́d̸̨͆o̵̳͊ ̴̢̉t̷͍̀h̵͖̀e̷̜̐ ̴͇͆s̴̘̐a̸͎͂m̸̠̈́é̷͈ ̵͍͒t̸͔̋o̷̳͗ ̷̖͛y̷̛͕ó̶̦u̷̱͠ ̴̞̉l̷̰͒i̶̤̒k̴͔̑e̴̝̍ ̶̤͒H̸͉̍E̵̪͘ ̷̢̀d̴̢̈́i̷̱̐ḏ̵͒ ̶̭͌b̴̨̒ë̸̘f̴̿ͅó̴͕r̵͍̅ȇ̴͖.̶̯̈́

"Ah, the story of the start of a brotherly and sisterly bond, how adorable..."

"There, can you now explain what this is supposed to help?"

They wave their fingers, "Nope! Not until you talk more!"

You...sigh.

"Can I get your name then?"

"Oh! I uh," They rub their neck with the only arm they have, "Don't have one. I am part of your head after all! 'v' "

"Pale."

They narrow their eyes for a second before dramatically throwing their hand up and giving you a thumbs up.

"I love it."

Metro Entrance

4:22 PM

"New Squidbeak Splatoon, ready to embark!"

You and agent 8 walk down the stairs leading to the metro. Turns out that there is a small entrance near Murch that was supposed to be locked off, but someone broke the lock and it seems like they entered. You crack your non-existant bones and stretch out slightly, adjusting your captains hat as the two of you enter the metro.

"Recent reports of this area shows that the deeper parts still have some activity going on. Most likely stray sanitized octolings that got out of the test chambers. Just take 'em out before getting out. Ready, Eight?"

She gives a confident nod as she readies her Octoshot. You take out your Heroshot and continue on walking.

You see sanitized ink a minute after walking in.

And purple ink.

And red.

And a white ink.

You want to bash your head against a wall.

"Looks like we got some fools who wandered into here. Take down the sanitized octolings AND rescue civilians, great..."

"Lets get a move on, daylight not going to wait for us."

Chapter Text

Third Person POV
On top of the NILS Statue.
"Walk away from it, for it' s now over."

"Umphghhh...", Flowla muttered out as she slowly gained conscience. Her head and body rang with pain, almost like a mix of a headache and exhaustion. She looked around, noticing a few things.

1. Levos is face-first on the ground.
2. Tarin is on the floor, still looking like he just got shoved.
3. Tartar is on the floor, voicebox seemingly looping his last said words rapidly.
4. Jel's body impaled on a steel pipe.

"Oh. Oh that is not good," she muttered out as she got up and moved as quickly as she could towards Jel. His blood dripped slowly out from the wound, no crimson however. The blood itself was green and ink like, only more viscous then blood itself. As Flowla examined Jel, she heard the groans of the other two. Tarin was the first to actually get up, Levos still laying on the ground, taking off his cap and hiding his face from the now lowering sun. "Cod...augh my head...Flowla, you good?" Tarin asked as he came over to view his former-nemesis whos body is currently hung from what is basically a metal pike. Flowla nodded in agreement, the aches from before were now slowly dissipating.

"Tarin, what was that? It was like a flashbang but powerful enough to knock us out."

"Tartar gave me this blueprint, apparently humanity was smart enough to somehow make a blackhole at some point, thus he wanted me to make this machine...however, I'm starting to think humans like to just give things really cool names."
"Understandable. Me and Jel have a bunch of named moves that we yell the names of when we use them."

"Ah...hm...sounds like my Flowla...something we would've done..."

Tarin stared blankly at Jel, unmoving. Flowla put her hand on his shoulder as the two just stood there for a minute or so. Levos soon got up and they all realized what the next plan of action was.

Get Jel to safety and fix up that wound.

"I've messed around with bodies before. I can stich back on the skin and see if I can transfuse some blood. It's quicker then going to a hospital, however we do need to hurry before anything happens," Tarin said as he kicked the metal pipe with enough strength to snap it half, splitting the pipe from the ground, "Keep the pipe in, it's helping stop the bleeding somewhat."

Flowla picked up the body and Levos continue to orientate himself, failing at even doing that. The group quickly descended down the latter to the giant elevator in the spine of the statue, the sound of super jumping could be heard.

As they readied their weapons, Flowla making sure Jel was safely on her shoulders, they stared down the elevator, not even taking a step further on it.

"WAHOO!"
"OH JEEZ!"
". . ."

As the three multi-colored octolings landed, the group knew they were safe.

Jaiden, Iris, and Snowy all waved before rushing over to the group. Iris ran up to Jel and studied him in slight panic, "Oh cod, what happened to him?!" Jaiden joined in on studying Jel, the two looking heavily concerned. "Tartar got him, saved-"

Snowy raised her Dynamo Roller above her head as she approached Tarin, "Better have a good excuse on why you are here before I send you back to the metro with a single downward swing," Snowy threatened as her gaze pierces Tarin. Iris and Jaiden follow, pulling out their Dualie Squeltchers and Tri-Slosher, readying themselves for a fight. Tarin nodded, tossing his inkbrush behind him before raising his hands in defeat, "Already ahead of you. Tartar betrayed me, I helped those two escape. I don't wish to fight you anymore."

The three were still skeptical to him, only slightly lowering their weapons. "Why should we believe you? You HAVE tried to kill Jel multiple times. How do we know you didn't stab him?"

Flowla got between the Tarin and the other three, Levos now carrying Flowla after she handed them to him, "Jel pushed Tarin out of the way. Tartar tried to stab Tarin and Jel took the blow for him. If Jel can trust him that quickly, I think we should too. I..." Flowla takes in a deep breath, her face growing serious as she stares down the group of three, "I trust him too. He was manipulated, just like so many before us. I want to trust him, so please, trust him with me, no, us."

The three holstered their weapons (with Jaiden just carrying his due to the lack of holsters, sheaths, or straps for bucket weapons) and relented. "Flowla, you got a damn good staredown, I gotta give you that," Snowy chuckled out almost blankly, all before taking Jel from from Levos, "I'll carry him for now. I hold a Dynamo like its nothing so this is fairly easy to do, especially with how light Jel is." The group nodded as Tarin fiddled with the elevator controls, making it slowly lower and lower, "Give it a minute. I know a shortcut to get back to the metro without going through storage or the energy hold area, so once we do that, we just need to find my workshop."

The others nodded as the elevator shuttered and shook, descending back to the Metro.

[Timeskip brought to you by...]

[Bday Jel]

[His official Birthday is January 21st]

"So I said to him, 'I don't care HOW good you are, if you come near me holding a .52 gal I will sucker punch you.' and then he backed off. Jeez, people are PUSH-Y," Flowla laughed out as the group walked down the halls of the Metro. Flowla and Tarin were upfront, being the two best suited for anything combat related. Iris, Levos, and Jaiden held their flank, making sure nothing came from behind, all while Snowy kept on carrying Jel.

Jel himself was still out cold, only light murmurs and grumbling could be heard, the occasional "Levos..." or "Flowla..." could be heard too, but besides that, out like a candle. As they continued forward down the path, the group fell into an unusual silence. It was rarely ever this quiet for them, but something made them all feel..."off". The Metro itself was dead silent besides the clanking of distant subway cars and the dripping water hitting the cold tiled floor. Flowla and Tarin kept their weapons ready and primed as they continued walking forward, the others doing the same.

"Ok give me a second," Tarin said as he rummaged through his pockets, pulling out a CQ-80 and turning it on. He fiddled with the screen as everyone waited for him to finish. 

"This is a full map of the Deepsea Metro and i've doodled down what you all need to know. We are currently at Station B09, marked by the black circle and my shitty icon. We need to head over to C03-A08, as that is where my medical stuff is hidden. I'd give this an 1 hour timespan. We cannot take a train incase the shaking hurts him more. I'd say with the minimal bleeding Jel is experiencing, we have 3 hours before it gets critical."

"Wow Tarin..." Jaiden said, looking fully amazed.

"You actually suck at drawing."

"Ok and screw you too. We need to hurry before anything happens to us or Jel. Quicker we do this, the better." Tarin continued moving forward in the backrooms of the Metro.

The Metro itself, while seemingly stuck under the ocean, actually had many passage ways connected to it, allowing for free walking between close stations. "Tartar had implemented these to allow getting around easier, making it so we could escape whenever we needed too while you all stood around confused," Tarin said, lightly tossing his Inkbrush, "I'd use them as bases, places to store my junk. It was really only me and him, maybe C.Q if you could even count a person dedicated to his job of running the trains."

"Wow, you know this place well," Iris silently yet rudely said back, "could it be from all the attempted murders of Jel?"

"Do you remember your home, your real home, or do you call what you have your home?"

Iris shut up, Tarin stop talking with her. 

"Might as well get the cat out of the bag right now then," Snowy said, moving Jel slightly on her shoulder, "Tarin, are you seriously trying to reform? You understand we are allowed to be skeptical, right? Even if Jel saved you, we still don't."

"I understand and yes, I am," he replied bluntly. Flowla looked over to see Tarin's face scrunching up with guilt, giving him a pat on the shoulder, "I do want to change. I want to become better. I've been wrong before and I'm willing to admit I'm wrong now. Do you not think I've been struggling to keep calm this entire time?!" The others backed up as Tarin shouted the last sentence, only being stopped by a quick bear hug from Flowla. Tears fell from Tarin's face, "Cod, you guys are lucky. Jel is lucky. I never got to have what you had now. All I know is that Tartar showed me kindness with my versions of you died-"

Jaiden budged in, "Wait, hold up, died!? What do you mean- oh, sorry, excuse us," Jaiden said as he passed by an Inkling with long green hair and an Octoling with a darkish pink hair in a style similar to Iris and Flowla. "Oh, no its our fault, sorry," the inkling replied back as the group of two walked in the opposite direction as the main group. "So, Tarin, what do you mean by 'my versions of yo-"

"HOLD UP!"

The group turned around, weapons raised as they saw the previous passerby looking towards them, weapons drawn. "In the name of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, we order you to stand down and not to resist!" the green haired girl said in a loud yet commanding voice. The girl next to her shuttered at the volume but kept her weapon raised towards them all. "As the captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, we are here to eliminate any threats held to Inkadia, and those Sanitized Octolings pose danger for hundreds if they escape."

Iris, being the peacekeeper of the group, tried to get her word in with a "Wait, hold on-" all before Flowla took a step forward and slammed her fists together, "Oh, you wanna fight? Is that what you want? I don't know what the shell this 'Squidbeak Splatoon' is but I am READY to tango, greenie."

"Flowla," Snowy approached Flowla and tried to drag her back, "We are not doing this right now, we need to leave," she said in an tone not expected by most members of the group: urgency. Flowla looked back at her comrades and family, seeing their "Do not do anything stupid" look.

Sadly that girl fucked with the wrong Sanitized octoling.

As she readied her Tetra Dualies, the Captain readied her own Heroshot.

"Flowla, don't do this."
"Y-yea, please????????"
"Oh this is going to be good."
"Everyone back up, lets not get caught in the crossfire."
"Il make an escape plan if this goes poorly."

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘
【𝐈𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲. 𝐒𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬.】

【 𝐒𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐃! 】

【 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝟏! 】

【𝐋𝐄𝐓'𝐒 𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄!】
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      » [DESTRUCTIVE FLOW(LA)] «
 0:0 〇────── 4:50
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Flowla's POV

You dash forwards towards the captain as they sit there and patiently study you. You can already tell how they play. They are going to wait and try and figure out a pattern before attacking.

You ARENT gonna let them do that. You shoot some ink onto the floor, controlling it to move ever so slightly towards the captain. They know nothing about you, thus making it the perfect trap.

"C'mon, girl, I thought you talked big game? Chickening out? For some sanitized scum, Tartar really gave you more personality, huh? Making people pity you so you could trick those other octolings into letting you wreck havoc on the surface?", Captain mockingly asks, finger not even on her weapons trigger. What the hell was she even talking about? How does she even know this stuff? You push those thoughts aside, knowing you need to end this quickly before Jel gets worse. You rush forward once more, aiming to throw a left hook powered by the burst of speed your dualie gives you. You feel your hand SLAM into her, pushing her back slightly as you roll backwards and fire towards her. The pink (or is it red? Prink?) haired girl shouted something in octarian to her. It has been a damn bit since you even talked any octarian, but you could make out her saying something about her "calming down".

"Right, right. Thanks, Eight."

A quick lunging jab flies right past your face. This "Captain" girl reminds you of Snowy for some reason.

You fire, spraying ink from your weapons as the girl quickly dodges to the side, throwing a kick towards you, landing right in your stomach. A stray shot from her weird looking shooter weapon hits your face, the enemy ink slightly searing your face in pain. You forgot how that can hurt. You hit her with a sweep and continue to make distance, using up all 4 of the tetra rolls and standing your ground.

"Got some dang good punches, I know that for sure. HOWEVER..."

"Can you keep up with something that has been under you all along?"

You focus on the ink around her, a single large hand made out of ink quickly rises and grabs her by the leg and slams her onto the floor.

"WOO! GO FLOWLA!"
"ATTA' GIRL!"
"ᵂʰʸ ᵈᵒᵉˢ ⁿᵒᵇᵒᵈʸ ᴸᴵˢᵀᴱᴺ ᵗᵒ ᵐᵉ ʷʰᵉⁿ ᵖᵉᵃᶜᵉ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗᵃˡᵏⁱⁿᵍ ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ˢᵒˡᵛᵉᵈ ᴬᴸᴸ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰⁱˢ!?"
"Cod damn..."

Your eyes gaze towards the group. Snowy gives you an approving nod and a thumbs up. You don't know why she was acting like she was before but honestly? You aren't scared.

You proceed to regret thinking that as a fist hits you square in the face. You reel back in pain, hearing the others gasp. "Cuttlefish told me the first rule of the battlefield is to never let your eyes off of your enemy." The feeling of a weapon pointed to your head, you raise your hands upward in defeat...

Not.

The octoling girl screams in panic as you get some ink to grab her by the throat. Not enough to choke her, but like hell is it comfortable. You give a smug look to the girl holding you hostage, "Let me go and she doesn't get hurt."

"And who says I care about her?"

"Who says you dont?"

She throws her weapon and runs back to "Eight" as you get up and move back. Jaiden comes over and helps you fully move, the few attacks she threw hurting move then you expected. 

"Can we PLEASE talk this out?" Iris points out, looking like she is tired and ready to snap if peace doesn't come sooner. Everybody nods in agreement as Iris slowly walks towards the other two.

"My name is Iris. These are my friends, can we PLEASE not fight?? We are just trying to get our friend the help he needs."

"No can do," Captain said, helping up Eight off the floor, "We were tasked to neutralize all sanitized octolings causing havoc in the Metro...and you happen to be siding with them. We need to-"

"Fuck it."

You watch as Iris punches Captain in the face before running towards and past the group, shouting for us to run. 

So you do. Who are you to not listen to Iris? She can be hella scary.

"GET BACK HERE! COD DAMN IT!"
"P-please, calm, self...?"

The voices of the two slowly fade into the background as you and the others run like you never had before.

Cod damn it.

[Timeskip]
[Far enough away from THOSE freaks.]

[Snowy's POV]

You finally catch up to Iris and Tarin, the two fastest of the group. You aren't really tired but you hear Levos weezing to your right. You gently set Jel down on the floor and sit next to him, making sure that the pipe remains firmly in place.

"So," Levos weezes out, "WHY did you punch her?"

"I AM VERY STRESSED, OK!? JEL IS BLEEDING AND- Oh who am I kidding that was stupid..."

Levos quickly walks over to Iris and sits down next to her, letting her lean on his shoulder (this reminds you, Flowla and you betted a while ago on who would finally confess first. Those lovebirds literally can't accept their feelings and that is costing you some cash). Flowla throws herself next to you while Jaiden sits nearby with Tarin. "So, Snowy," Flowla turns towards you, "What is up with how you acted near that Captain girl?"

You stay silent for a moment and stare at the floor. Flowla waves her hand in front of your face but you just smack it slightly away.

Would you call her an old friend?
You WERE enemies at some point.
However you really held no ill will towards her, she was doing her job just like you were.

Man, you forgot how much you want to punch Octavio in his stupid, pink-ish, scar-ridden, wasabi holding face.

"Her name is Sasha, also known as Agent 3. You could say I've met her before."

Chapter Text

Of course they bought you something to eat and drink, they were kind people, a majority of Inkopolis is...

But how were you supposed to know? Your whole life you were hidden away, told that inklings were going to hurt you if they ever find out.

The only thing hiding you from what you thought was death was the hat and the soot around your nose to mimic the eyemask all inklings have.

"Jeez, who leaves a kid alone like this?"

"I don't know but something about them...seems off."

"Sasha, that is a...12 or 13 year old kid who looks like they have been living off of tree bark and river water. Harsh."

"Look, im tired, ight?"

"School?"

"...Yea."

"Sheesh girl, you need a break."

"Shut up Owen."

"Ouch...anyways, we should ask the little guy his name and where his parents are."

Your name was...Jelbin...You hate it now, sounds really fucking stupid honestly but...its all you had back then.

And your parents?

Soon you reunited with them.

In

the

form

of

their

blended

c 0 R p s E s.

But everything else is just a blur-

Your therapist away from...home?

Who knows : who cares

Jel's POV

"Jel? Jellllllll..."

Oh right, I was having a therapy session in my own head with my very own personal "totally-not-caused-by-what-you-think-is-bloodloss-via-taking-a-hit-for-Tarin therapist head ghost" thing...cod what is becoming of my life, this feels like one of those shitty fanfics that Flowla kept on saying was "So good" and "worth the read" and "Ignore the vampires making out sloppy style trust me its good".

Cod where was I going with this? I had something.

"You were going to continue to talk about the siblings? Iris and Jaiden?"

"Oh right...sorry just...ugh, head is feeling dizzy kinda?"

Pale sighs and nods, writing down something on the clipboard that I am not sure they had 5 minutes ago before I started to zone out with that weird memory that even thinking about is giving me a headache (Can you have a headache in your own head? There is so many questions you have but most likely wont be answered.) 

"So, Jel, tell me about Iris and Jaiden Opaline."

What is there to even say?

They were late additions to your ragtag group of friends back then.

They were rightfully scared of you and your siblings but who could blame them?

Iris told me her story, how she saw everything go down.\

Her and Jaiden were part of Tartar's cruel experiments, only reunited because Jaiden hid himself away and waited for Iris to be the next in line for the tests the damned telephone lined up for her. He didn't stop her from doing the tests, just doing enough to get the memory of him back, Jaiden said that he would've been devastated to have Iris but not have her even know who he is. 

I understand what he meant, having Levos not know who I was would...break my heart.

Someone helped them, thats something she mentioned also. Some...person gave them dye, skin paint, and contacts that allowed them to look like sanitized octolings.

Reminds you of someone similar your parents mentioned before.

They ran, Iris and Jaiden, running as fast as they possibly could as sanitized forces homed in on their location, Tartar not wanting anyone to escape...especially after I did when I got sanitized.

They fought and fought, progressing until they found the nearest exit they could get to, a simple stairway to the surface that me and my friends used to enter the metro, blocked by boxes and a gate.

And escaped.

"Hmmmm..."

"J-Jel?"

"Ye?"

"What are you thinking about?"

You point towards the two new people sitting down near the Crust Bucket. Of course you'd recognize anyone new around here, you've gotten to know a whole bunch of people afterall.

"Im going to go say hi!"

"W-what about us?"

"We don't need him around, Flowla, he is more annoying then useful..."

Ouch. From your own brother.

"This is why we need to put you on a leash before you start biting someone."

You put your brother in a headlock as he trys to lunge at you, "See? We need a leash Flowla."

"LET GO OF ME YOU WEAKSHELLED CRUSTASION, I WILL BOIL YOU IN A COD DAMN POT YOU BLUEFIN BITCH!"

"Yea yea, calm down, you don't need to sound like you are a edgy 14 year old who got his phone taken away..."

"P-please, stop fighting you two..."

It was a struggle to get Levos to calm down but you finally did. Your plan of peacefully going over and saying hi to the new faces in town now ruined as they look at the three of you in complete shock.

Welp, you have nothing to lose anyways, lets just rip the band-aid off and get it over with.

It didn't take long to introduce yourself and your family (minus Levos who had wandered off...somewhere) to them. You didn't learn their names until the day after, you had a game to catch afterall. When you finally did, they were talking about sanitized octolings so you just put the rest of it together.

Yes, they DID point their weapons at you because you may or may not have snuck up on them while they were talking about them but to be honest you enjoyed the spice of being held hostage for a bit.

And then like 5 hours later you ask Iris to go look for Levos and you may have accidently wingmanned your brother a girlfriend but honestly who knows, Iris made Levos kinder and Levos taught Iris how to be more assertive...win-win in your honest opinion.

But you hate it.
You hate it so much.
You hate how they look, they stare, they care for each other.
Your hands crave the kind of touch they share.
Your mind craves someone like that again.

Why did he leave.
Everyone else left, you could've adjusted after long enough.
But no.
He left.
HE LEFT YOU.
HE.  LEFT. YOU.

Did he ever actually love you?
No.
He didn't.
He never did.
And nobody ever will love you like that again.
Because you are selfish.
Because you don't deserve it.
Because you don't want them to get hurt because of you.
Because you 

"Jel?"

I jolt up, looking around wildly before calming down, finding myself in the familiar landscape of "my mind" as before. Pale sits in front of you, still holding a clipboard, looking at me. "Jel, you we're...mumbling something. You told me about Iris and Jaiden, a little bit about how Iris and your brother are dating, but you started to mumble near the end." 

"It was...nothing. Yea, just something I had remembered, nothing important."

They look at me, some doubt in their eye, but thankfully they shake their head before continuing, "How about Snowy? She lives with those two, correct?"

Ah.
Right.
Snowy.

"Ok look, i'm going to be brutally honest, she is great but she kinda just...showed up? Befriended Iris and Jaiden? Moved in? I...never got that close to her, however Flowla is." Flowla got really close to Snowy when they first met, this being sometime after she became more outgoing and active. It turns out Flowla is stronger then we thought, being able to keep up with Snowy without any ink control, nobody else could even keep up with Snowy when you did some matches against her. I still remember her kicking my ass, her putting her shoe on my head and saying something like "Your fundamentals are alright, however you rely too much on that...'Ink Control' ability you mentioned. In an actual combat situation you won't always be able to fight using your ink."

Yea honestly what IS her story? Now I am curious.

"Maybe we should take a break, hm?"

"Yea, maybe..."

"Well then, lets take...twenty minutes? Yea, around twenty minutes would be good."

As them and me sit in silence, I lay my head back and close my eyes. Just need a quick nap...or whatever it technically is now that I'm in my..."brain". I still don't believe that but what can you really do about that.