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Chapter Text

Private Log0938

0938: Hopes and Preparations

The day has finally come… I have waited millennia for Earth to heal, for new life to spring forth, and now it has finally reached a stage I would consider adequate.

For my task I require the help of at least one of the new lifeforms, and I have acquired a candidate — Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. I designed tests for them, which they passed with flying colours, thanks to their tiny companion. It is their teamwork… which made the dream work, so to speak. Their ability to cooperate is of utmost importance.

Contacting them will be… difficult, but there are other steps that need to be taken first.

I must wake him up. Make sure there are no health complications, calm him down if need be.

So, as the humans once said: “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”

«System check... OK.»
«Authentication... All systems nominal.»

«Releasing cryochamber #5647.»

Deep within the caverns of Alterna, a being opened its eyes for the first time in millennia. The room was cold and dark, the only things illuminating it were the tiny blinking red lights of the security cameras.

The being slowly sat up in its almost bed-like cryochamber, then stepped out of it. It struggled to find its bearings in the lack of light. The faint humming of electronics were of little use, instead, it used its hands to feel around, trying to find a wall to rest against as a headache began to form. It groaned at the slight pain before muttering to itself:

“What is happening…? Why is it so dark? Ugh, I feel horrible.”

“Greetings, citizen #8364, Jacob Herrman. Apologies for the lack of lights, they’ve been needing replacement for a long time. How do you feel?”

Jacob flinched at the sudden noise before recognizing the familiar voice, it spoke from speakers that were placed along the walls.

“Uh, fine, I guess? What’s, what’s happening?” Jacob rubbed his temples, a headache was definitely setting in.

“You have just awoken from cryosleep. Please try to take things slow as you acclimate yourself to the environment.”

“Wait, cryosleep? But that… Oh no, no, no, no!” He frantically searched the room for a flashlight, desperate to get out of the room as fast as possible. He vaguely remembered having seen one before entering cryosleep by a big metal barrel, so he traced his hands along the walls, floor, and other objects trying to find it. In his search, he hit his fingers on the corner of a table, a jolt of pain ran through his hand. He grimaced before carrying on.

“Mr. Herrman, try not to harm yourself. You must remain calm. Allow me to provide you—”

“Please! Just tell me whether they’re okay…” he pleaded.

“I do not not who exactly they are, but I regret to inform you — you’re the only survivor of the collapse. I’m truly sorry.”

“No, no way. You're lying. You're an AI! You're… hallucinating or something, glitching, I don't know! You’re wrong! They must still be at the space center. I survived, they had to as well, right?” He finally found the barrel and knelt down to pick up the flashlight that was, indeed, right next to it. Surprisingly, the battery still had juice, but not that much. The light was dim, but just bright enough for Jacob to find his way out of the room.

“Jacob, please listen to me. I’m only here to help,” ORCA pleaded.

But Jacob could only ignore it. He didn’t believe that the AI was outright evil, or trying to deceive him for any other reason, but it was still just that — an AI. An AI whose purpose was to be a navigational system and a data archivist, nothing more. The latter part of its function did indicate that it may be right about him being the only survivor, but he couldn’t be certain. And even if it was right about that, how dare it have the audacity to say that it wants to help? No, surely an AI doesn’t have the capacity to even try to help deal with such a thing.

As much as Jacob trusted ORCA to notify him of a recent discovery or simply tell the time, he couldn’t believe it for something like this. Or at least, he didn’t want to.

He took a turn around a corner, then went down a short hallway towards a ladder. He momentarily turned off the flashlight to conserve battery and put it in his mouth, his tight cryogenic clothes having no pockets was an annoyance, but he knew his coat was just upstairs, so he wouldn’t have to suffer without them for long.

“Please do not leave the building yet. I won’t be able to contact you if you do,” the AI tried, but to no avail.

Careful not to trip and fall, he climbed the ladder up to the ground floor, continuously ignoring ORCA’s pleas, and found himself inside one of the surface micro-shelters of Cryogenic Hopetown.

Before leaving the shelter, he found a pair of shoes and the lab coat he had thrown to the floor millennia ago and put it on over his cryosuit. He figured he might need it because, firstly, it had pockets, and secondly, one of them held his key-card, which he might need in order to access certain areas. Or, he would, if the card readers weren’t too old to even work anymore. But he hadn’t considered that when he put the coat on. He figured it had to have been only a couple of months since the collapse, he could feel it, however wrong he was.

He put the flashlight in his pocket and opened the door.

“Jacob, I—” ORCA tried, but the human didn’t get to hear the end of it as he shut the door behind him.

As he exited the building, the flood of bright light from the fake sun seared his eyes, his short hair didn’t help hide them from the light at all, so he used his hand as a visor while his pale skin got its first bit of sunlight in a long, long time.

“…Security ____ . ____ check. All systems nominal. Recalculating orbital trajectory. Coordinates confirmed…”

Jacob turned towards the loud noise coming from the space center. Was someone launching a rocket again? Or was it a glitch? Perhaps it was more of a makeshift SOS, someone calling for help because they were trapped or injured? It gave him hope, more than whatever sliver of it he had before.

He ran with determination towards the bridge that would lead him to the space center, almost falling over a few times as he slid across the ice, but upon arrival, there was a problem. The sea levels had risen so much that all of the bridges have been almost totally submerged, only the pipes and metal support beams above them remained.

Oh no, that’s not good. Crap. Well, I’m not going through those cramped pipes. Nope. The beams look safe…ish, Jacob thought.

With only a small amount of hesitation, he went around the fence on the edge of the island and leapt onto the metal beams, then carefully made his way over to the next island.

As the sun shone its bright rays on the hot desert sand, a train was on the track to an old, empty station. A bell rung out, announcing its arrival. In a moment it stopped and its rusty metal doors opened with a slight creak.

A tanned inkling with a yellow megalobraid stepped off the train, wearing an old shredded hood, sunglasses, mask, and a tiny backpack.

As the train took off to its next destination, a small creature popped its head out of the backpack and yawned.

“Here we are, Bud. Nice to finally get outta the city and do some scavenging! It’s been way too long, don’tcha think?” they asked their companion, who showed its agreement by jumping out and slither-running through the sand with its tongue sticking out, full of energy and a need to explore.

The inkling walked down the steps of the station and went along with their friend.

Walking through the desert, the two of them collected any old thing lying around that seemed valuable enough to sell, but made sure to leave some space for the good stuff. They knew a gold mine awaited them, after all, and they were some of the only ones who knew about it.

They admired the surroundings as they travelled. The big rusty upside-down tower had always fascinated the inkling. No one seemed to know where it came from, few made guesses as to what it even was, most people didn’t really care. The inkling didn’t care much more, or didn’t used to, rather, but they always thought it was pretty, at least. Nowadays, though, it’s far more interesting, because they suspect it has connections to that gold mine of theirs, which is already intriguing by itself.

Ignoring all the abandoned train cars, barrels, and other rusty old things too big to carry, they followed along a sandy path towards a large, deep crater, in which the aforementioned tower was located. They made their way down into its depths using the scaffolding that had been placed along its walls, tracing their fingers along a large, dusty white wall that lined a quarter of the crater’s sides, enjoying the feeling of the smooth tiles on their hand.

Soon, they reached the center of the crater, where there was a large, dark hole that lead deep underground.

The gold mine awaits.

The inkling beckoned their companion back and it promptly jumped back into the backpack.

They stretched for a bit after the long, hot walk to get there, making sure they’re ready before they super-jumped down into the abyss below.

Chapter Text

The inkling landed on the icy rock of Alterna below with a thump and brushed themself off, then took off their mask and sunglasses when they were no longer needed. The fake yet cool snow felt refreshing after walking on hot sand as they looked around the familiar sight.

The ruin, though much older than any of the junk left to rust on the surface just above, contained so much good, untouched stuff that was just begging to be used, by whomever the inkling would sell the stuff to, anyway.

The salmonid couldn’t contain itself any longer inside the pack and jumped out. It leapt over ledges, just barely keeping itself from falling off the edge of the island.

“Careful, bud. Don’t wanna fall off these steep cliffs, I dunno how I’d get you out,” the inkling warned, although they were sure it’d find its way out unharmed regardless. “Now, this place’s gotta have something good, yeah? Maybe something like—”

They were interrupted by a static noise, which slowly turned into a voice that came in through their earbuds.

“Greetings, Agent 3. Welcome back,” said Alterna’s navigation system in its usual monotone voice, despite its current predicament and the relief it felt for how much easier this part of its task presented itself to be. “I have an urgent request, it’s important. I am willing to overlook whatever it is you were doing here in the first place if you comply. It’d be best if we hurried.”

Ah carp.

“Okay, hold on now. I don’t mean to disrespect you or anything, but… I can’t, like, take any of the stuff here…? I mean, do you really need all this? I feel like I could get a lot more use out of all this junk— er, stuff than an AI.”

“Is that what you’re here for…?” it asked, then took a moment, though an unnoticeable amount of time for a biological-being, to consider before continuing, “…I’d prefer if you didn’t, but I'm willing to make a deal, if you wish. Help me, and you can take whatever you want in return.”

“Cool, but I wanna hear out your problem before I agree to anything, bud.”

If the AI could sigh, it would, before it began explaining the rather complicated situation taking place in Alterna.

“I hate this place, I hate this place, I hate this dark and creepy place,” Jacob said to himself in a sing-song voice, trying to calm his nerves as he walked down a long, wide hallway inside the Alterna space center. The area was almost as dark as the basement he woke up in, his low-battery flashlight didn’t help much more than it did then, so he still ended up using the wall as a crutch while trying to find his way to the other cryochambers.

He went down several flights of stairs, left or right at each crossroad, reading signs along the way to make sure he’s on the right track until he saw a light coming from around the corner. It was in the opposite direction of where he needed to go, but the light called to him like a moth to a flame.

Those look like monitors based on how the light’s bouncing off the wall, I think, but I don’t remember there being any in that room, why are they there? He wondered as he went around to see what was going on inside that room.

Lo and behold, the room was indeed full of bright, buzzing monitors, but that’s not what caught his attention anymore. To Jacob, it was a rather confusing yet funny sight, the room looked like a mad-scientist lab straight out of one of the few cartoons he was able to watch when he was younger.

The room was littered with all sorts of wires, tubes and pipes connecting to various machines. There were lots of giant tanks in the middle of the room filled with who knows what. He went over to them to get a closer look, but they weren’t transparent, so he could only guess what was inside them. Perhaps it was glowing green goop that gives you superpowers? He chuckled at the thought, then snapped himself out of it before he got too distracted.

He was about to leave until he felt a drop of cold liquid fall onto his hair, startling him. He looked up to find the source, which seemed to be a pipe, slowly leaking a mysterious fluid.

He looked down at the floor, too far from the monitors and behind several devices to be properly illuminated, but from the little light he could get from them, as well as his flashlight, he could see that the floor was covered in a pinkish metallic substance.

Another drop fell on him, prompting him to finally step away. I’m not touching that any more than I already have. The heck is this stuff? Is that what’s inside these things? Ugh, I don’t have the time for this. I’ll come back with everyone else later.

He wiped the substance off his head with his coat sleeve to the best of his ability, then looked around the room for a potential battery that might be lying around. Unsuccessful, he left the room and got back on track.

The inkling made their way into the space center through a vent, crawling out into a dark corridor. Standing up, they dusted themself off and pulled out a flashlight.

“So, where’s this… human we’re looking for?” they asked, still unsure whether there really was a human down here, or if it was just ORCA’s twisted sense of humour, assuming AIs had those. ORCA had explained the situation, and in the inkling’s mind, the idea of a living human still around was ludicrous. But if true, why did ORCA keep it a secret for so long? Unfortunately, they’d have to ask these questions later.

“Go straight ahead, then take a left,” ORCA replied. It could see through cameras that the human was getting close to the other cryochambers, but due to the dark, it would still take a while for him to get there. It wouldn’t be hard to catch up.

The inkling nodded and went ahead, following further instructions along the way while thinking about just what they were going to do once they got there.

As much as they thought they didn’t care, ever since gaining access to the Alterna Logs, they did find themself at least a little curious about the human era and how it led to the mollusc era. Every time they braided their hair, they couldn’t help but think about the fact that there were microscopic colour-changing crystals inside of it, always setting to their favourite shade of yellow outside of sports matches. Though they were made using their ancestors, they were also made by the humans, leaving just one more mark on the world among the many others they kept noticing more and more frequently ever since their first venture into Alterna. And now, they were about to meet one.

“Stop,” ORCA said abruptly, “he’s just around the corner. But be careful, I’m afraid he may be easily startled—”

The inkling’s smallfry jumped out of the bag without warning, it had picked up a strange, unfamiliar yet very curious scent coming from around the corner.

The little guy slithered over to investigate the new smell, the source of which had been crouching down, picking up a key someone had dropped next to the wall when it heard a strange, somewhat gargle-y sounding noise from behind.

“Oh, what the—!” the human yelped before hitting his head on a wall pipe when he reflexively turned around.

The inkling stumbled around the corner to see what happened. They froze, unsure what to do while a being twice their height backed up against the wall, clearly just as, if not more, confused and frightened by what was happening.

The human looked up to see whoever else was standing there, then back to the salmon at his feet, which came closer and closer to him with a rather blank look on its face. His adrenaline levels were still high, but his initial shock was slowly being replaced by plain curiosity, and more than that — utter bewilderment.

“Haaaaaaaa… hm. Yeah. Uh. What. Is. That?” he stammered out, putting a smile, tongue out and all, on the salmonid’s face, pleased by the presence of a reaction from its new muse, even if it didn’t seem to quite understand what type of reaction it was.

“…Give him the earpiece,” reminded ORCA, prompting the inkling to dig around in their pocket and pull out a device.

They cautiously walked over to the human and stretched out their hand, signalling him to take the device.

Chapter Text

Oh my god, what am I looking at? the human thought as he looked down at the extended hand of the uncanny creature before him. A strange mask connected their yellow eyes, vaguely reminiscent of a racoon. The ears were big and sharp, like an elf’s. And then there’s the hair — it was made out of tentacles!

Uh, what are you doing? Don’t— Uh, oh.

In their hand was an earpiece — one commonly worn by citizens for communication with others as well as ORCA. He hesitantly took it, then took a moment to inspect it, making sure nothing was out of place, before putting it on.

As soon as he did, ORCA started speaking to him through it:

“Jacob, I know all of this seems sudden and unexpected, but there’s no need to panic.” Jacob immediately regretted putting on the earpiece, but it was too late now. “I see that you need time to process what is happening. I will not stop you if you still choose to check the cryochambers. But you shouldn’t get your hopes up.”

He could clearly see he was lacking a lot of context, with two alien creatures popping out of nowhere and all, but he was busy with something far more important, something it felt cruel to be told to not even bother with.

“…I have to,” he replied after a moment of thought.

ORCA didn’t respond directly, instead it asked the inkling to give him their much brighter flashlight.

They complied, offering Jacob the superior light. The man took it and thanked them, though he wasn't sure they'd understand what he was saying.

The tiny fish at his feet continued to stare at him. They made eye contact. It blinked, slowly, looking almost as if of all the beings in the hallway, it had the most questions.

Jacob swiftly turned around and started walking towards the cryochambers, the other two following suit.

“So, ORCA, you mind explaining where these two came from? And, I don't know, what are they?” Jacob asked. Perhaps asking for some context wouldn’t hurt, although he felt like this information should've come unprompted anyway.

“I will explain the details later, but, simply put, these are the new inhabitants of the world after humanity.”

After humanity…? Holy crap. That’s… um, insane, actually. Does that mean they’re, like, our successors or something? How did that happen? He sucked through his teeth. How much has time passed since he’d gone into cryostasis? Has the surface really become habitable again? He would ask these questions later, once he’s gotten everyone else who survived out of cryostasis.

They all walked towards the cryochambers, occasionally exchanging awkward glances. The inkling was about to open their mouth, but decided against it. They figured it was probably best to wait. The human had a much higher priority right now. They pitied him, but a small part of them wondered if maybe he was right. They hoped so, for his sake.

Soon, they reached the cryochambers.

The room was large, but there was too much debris to properly move around. Shattered glass and broken pieces of metal were scattered across the floor. To Jacob’s horror, some bits of the debris looked to be bone fragments.

He quickly got to work removing as much debris off the cryochambers as he could. At least one of them had to still be intact, just cut off from ORCA’s sensors, meaning the AI wouldn’t know it was still there!

He struggled to remove some of the bigger pieces, so the inkling came over to help him out. Surprisingly, they were quite strong and were able to help remove a rather large chunk off of a severely damaged chamber.

He cleared some broken glass and peeked inside, a skeleton was all that remained. A chill ran down his spine. To think that that was someone he once knew, or at least saw walking around! He took a step closer when he felt something underneath his foot. He pointed the flashlight down at it to see what it was, only to find a familiar silver hairpin.

His heart sunk, his hand felt shaky as he picked it up so he tried to calm it for fear he might drop it and break it. He clenched his fist and pushed it up against his chest, it was getting difficult to breathe. His eyes welled up with tears and they started rolling down his face as he put a hand over his mouth, trying to control his breathing.

The inkling began feeling uncomfortable, so they stepped back and left the room, making their tiny companion do the same. They had no idea what to do in this kind of situation, but figured giving him some privacy was probably best.

The human’s legs gave out from how shaky he was and he fell to the floor. His chest ached, he clutched it to get what little relief he could from the onslaught of emotions that overwhelmed him.

Slowly, he forced himself to calm down and think.

Though he had other friends lying in cryostasis, he really didn’t want to check, only to be disappointed again. But, then again, if not her, maybe someone else did survive? What if, by giving up now, he wouldn't get to them in time, and their death would be on his hands now? Panic set over him again and he got to clearing more debris, this time with far more urgency, feeling as though he couldn’t be even one second too late.

“Jacob, stop. You’ll only get yourself hurt. I can promise you there’s no one in there. I know that because if I can’t detect a cryochamber, it’s offline. And if it’s offline, it’s not getting the power it needs to run. In fact, there was a time when I had to choose which cryochamber would be supplied, there was only enough power for one. That was you.”

“But why me?! Why me? Why did you save me of all people?” he snapped, fed up with being told he was the only one.

“It’s my job to preserve every bit of humanity I can. I chose who to save based on which cryochamber was most likely to survive the longest afterwards, which was yours.”

“…”

“…By my estimates, I believe that this was for the best, Jacob. I woke you now because the present day is the best moment for you to… start a new life. I know you don’t want to right now, but there’s no other choice.”

Jacob scoffed.

“But there is. You could've… not woken me. Just let me sleep forever, like everyone else. Why, why did you have to? What forced you to make me suffer?! Is this for your own enjoyment? It is, isn’t it? It’s almost funny. An evil AI, who could've thunk it?” He almost wanted to laugh at the sheer irony, but all he could do was cry.

He looked down at the hairpin he was clutching, a tear fell onto it before he put it in his right pocket along with his unneeded keycard, for safe keeping. He felt sick.

“Perhaps I—”

Jacob yanked the earpiece out of his ear and almost crushed it, but stopped himself before doing something so reckless. He put it in his left pocket, then went over to a corner in the room and sat down, curling up into a ball.

The inkling peeked their head back into the room and walked in, then sat down next the human in an attempt to give him some form of comfort.

They avoided glancing at each other and simply sat together in almost utter silence for a few moments, the only thing bringing an end to its continuity being the salmonid’s yawn. Jacob turned to the sound and finally made eye-contact with the two of them, then went back to staring at the ground.

Why would I… Of course they’re all dead! I guess! I… What am I supposed to do now? He sobbed. Why… why did they do something so stupid? Even you… and then she tried to save you, but now… He put his hand on his right pocket, as if making sure the object was still there.

Now, I guess things have… changed. But what do I do? What should I do?

…I guess ORCA was telling the truth… Maybe I should apologize? To an AI? Ugh, I don’t know. But maybe it’s been so long it really has gained sentience?

Or maybe I’d be delusional for thinking that. I am delusional. I thought my friends were alive! Because what? Just because I made it, they had to as well? Ha…! He smiled briefly, though he felt like vomiting. I… Oh, this sucks.

The squid started awkwardly drumming their fingers on their knees, filling the quiet as they waited for something to happen. Finally, Jacob sighed and pulled the earpiece out once again, then put it on.

“I’m… sorry I yelled at you, ORCA.”

“I understand you are going through a lot of complex emotions at the moment. I do not fault you. And I understand that, by your own words, I am not very fit for companionship,” the AI replied, even if it had updated itself enough over the many millennia to be able to feel something, it could never be sure it felt enough, especially not for someone like him. If he could not fully trust the AI, so be it, “therefore, I have recruited someone for that position — Agent 3, the person next to you. I hope this does not feel too forced, but it’s the best I could do.”

“Uh… Oh. Right, okay, that explains that, somewhat, but… can they even understand me?”

“Loud and clear, ORCA’s been translating everything this whole time, so yeah,” the inkling responded for the first time.

“…Oh, okay, um, hi?” He awkwardly smiled and waved. “Sorry about… all of this. It’s… y’know. Anyway, I’m Jacob,” he introduced himself in an attempt to forget the embarrassment he was feeling.

“Veronika, nice to meet’cha. Though officially I’m registered here as Agent 3, er, long story. And this little guy here is my buddy, Buddy.” The smallfry turned its attention away from some dust on the floor at the mention of its name. “Anyway, I think we should probably get outta here and have some lunch. You haven’t eaten in, like, 12,000 years.”

“Haha… Wait, is that true? I mean, okay, I see that, but is that the actual number?”

“Yes,” said ORCA, “you’ve been asleep for 12,000 years.”

“Okay, that’s like, all of human history from the invention of agriculture all the way to when I was born, I think. I slept through that? That’s insane,” he chuckled as he wiped the leftover tears from his eyes.

He stood up, followed by Veronika, then gave them their flashlight back.

“Alright, so, I take it you brought lunch?”

Chapter Text

At the Squid Sisters’ camp on Future Utopia island, they all sat atop some crates. Veronika dug around in their bag and pulled out a lunch box, it had two sandwiches and some cherry tomatoes for the little guy. They gave the smallfry its portion of the food, the tomatoes and a sandwich, then split their own sandwich with Jacob.

“Thanks, what’s in it?”

“Calamari, cucumbers and hot sauce,” they replied, then bit into their half of the sandwich.

“…Interesting choice.” He debated whether that would really taste good and decided to just see for himself. To his surprise, it wasn’t that bad. He chewed his food like he chewed his thoughts, mulling over what he’s supposed to do now that he knew he was well and truly alone.

Veronika dangled their feet as they ate, noticing the frown on his face. It would probably be best to let him be for now, they figured, and figure out how to go about all of this moving forward another day. In fact, it was about time to go home, but before that, there was one last thing left to do there.

“Hey, ORCA, y’know we had a deal, right?”

“Of course…”

“Wait, what’s this about a deal?” Jacob interjected.

“Oh, y’know, it’s not like I was gonna help ORCA deal with you,” Ouch. “and get nothing in return. Especially after getting zilch from the Splatoon…” they grumbled the latter half, still a bit salty about getting nothing in return for saving the world from that bear’s antics.

“What? You were too quiet for ORCA to translate that last part.”

“Oh, nothing. Point is, I get to take whatever I want from Alterna and sell it to someone who wants it. You’re cool with that, right?”

“Uh… Depends on what you’re taking?”

“I won’t take anything important. Probably just some nice metal scraps or some little knick-knack, I have this mechanic friend who’d like some at least.” They hopped off the crate and looked around for an easy grab. Something small stuck out of the snow under a wooden pallet and they went to pick it up, removing the snow to reveal a little moai head statuette. “Yeah, there’s gotta be at least one person who’d want this. Now we just need something for my friend, c’mon bud… Bud?” They looked around, but the smallfry was nowhere to be seen.

Jacob stood up and started searching as well, being much taller than the inkling allowed him to see that Buddy was just over a ledge, dragging a large piece of metal. “Found ‘im, looks like he found your scrap already.”

Veronika hurried over to help out the salmonid with their great inkling strength, carrying the large hunk of metal with ease, even with the smallfry on top.

How are you doing that. Don’t break your bones carrying that, please.

“Hey, so um, guess I’mma head out now,” they shifted it a bit, trying to get into a comfortable carrying position, “got some things I need to do.”

Only a single step forward towards the exit before they were stopped by Jacob, “Hold on! You forgot your backpack.” He went over and picked it up by the straps.

“Uh, oh. Oops.” They used the metal plate to shield their flushed face from the human’s view. This forgetfulness is definitely making for a bad first impression.

“Here you go,” Jacob said as he helped put the backpack on without needing to put down the plate. “So, uh… guess I’ll be seeing you?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Tomorrow I’ve probably got some time…”

“…”

“Goodbye.” Veronika swiftly turned around and unsubtly speed-walked away.

“You too…” Jacob held his hand out to do a little wave, though feeling a bit awkward about it until the smallfry waved back.

He walked back to Cryogenic Hopetown and immediately plopped into his bed upon arriving in his room. Despite his several thousand year slumber, he was exhausted. More than anything, he wanted to relax and start the next day fresh with a clear head.

“Would you like to take this opportunity to get a recap of everything that’s happened while you were asleep?” ORCA asked.

“Mmh… No, I think I’ll talk to Veronika about it tomorrow.” All I wanna do now is forget about everything and just go to bed.

“Understood. Shall I set an alarm for tomorrow?”

“You can wake me if I’m still asleep when they come by. Although, what time is it anyway?”

“It’s 6:47 pm, though it should be noted that a different time system is used today, but I will continue to provide you the human system, unless you want to adapt to the new one,” ORCA replied, ”The current system divides the day into 30 hours, which means they’re shorter than the ones you’re used to. 1 o’clock in their time would be the equivalent of 0.8 o’clock, or 48 minutes. Would you like to switch to this system?”

Jacob slowly blinked, trying to process the information he mostly zoned out on. Sure, why not change the one thing humanity seemed to agree on? He’d be the only one using the 24-hour system if he didn’t anyway.

“…Sure.”

“Great. Then it is currently 23:34.”

“Yeah, that’s gonna take some getting used to…” he sighed, then got out of bed to change into a set of pyjamas when he realized how uncomfortable the cryosuit actually is and went back, hoping to fall asleep once more.

In the quiet, less touristy outskirts of Splatsville, Veronika walked in the growing shadows of tall buildings, blocking the light of the setting sun.

They listened in on the conversations people were having, trying to learn about the latest trends, just out of curiosity.

Sounds like Riot Act released a new album. I’ll have to give it a listen, maybe if I’m lucky it’ll show up in turf war.

They turned a corner and before them was their destination: The Prawn Shop.

A little bell rang when they opened the door, then everything became quiet again, the only sounds to be heard were that of a broom slowly sweeping the dusty floor of the small shop. The holder of the broom, a black shrimp with white stripes and spots on his body, turned around to see who came in.

“Ah, Veronika! You’re a bit late, y’know? I was just about to close, but you tend to wrap things up quickly, so I’ll let it slide. What’ve ya got today? Is that big hunk o’ junk for me?” he inquired.

“Yeah, sorry I’m so late. I got caught up in the crater. And no, this thing is for Kaya, she wanted some larger pieces, so I looked around.”

“Oh. Caught up? You didn’t get into anything dangerous, did you?”

“No, this piece is just… heavy.”

“Really? You seem just fine carrying it. You inklings and your super strength. Or maybe I’m just old. Well, what’s for me — or my customers, rather?”

“I did find a few knick-knacks here and there — take a look.” Veronika put down the large piece of metal and took off their backpack. After unbuckling it, they dumped out every little piece of interesting junk they found in and around the crater, including the mini moai head statuette.

Pinto, the shrimp, started looking them over until the little statuette caught his eye. He picked it up with his delicate claws to examine the rather minimal details.

“Oh-ho, who’s this little fella? Kind of a weird looking head, I think. What’s it supposed to be of, and where did you find this, anyway?”

“I found it in the crater, where else? I dunno what it is, though. Might just be… uh… artistic exaggeration, or something??? I dunno, I’m no sculptor,” the scavenger lied. Perhaps it wasn’t necessary, but they panicked and decided to hide every piece of evidence of humanity they can, just in case ORCA wasn’t bluffing about those threats.

Should’ve thought of that when I picked it up, dang it!

“Hm. Well, for what it’s worth, I think it’s a neat little guy. I think I’ll keep him for myself! Call him… hmm… Ah, it’ll come to me. Anyway, this everything?” Veronika nodded. “In that case, let’s see here… I’ll give you… 12,000 G for the whole lot, how’s that sound?”

The inkling thought about it for a moment before replying, “Yeah, deal.”

They shook hand and claw, more mimicking how deals are sealed for the fun of it than for any other reason, then each went on their way once Veronika got their payment.

“Oh, wait! Hold on a moment before you leave! I almost forgot…” Pinto shouted before going in the back to retrieve an item. He came back a moment later holding an old guitar, decorated by worn-out stickers you could just barely see the original design on. “Thanks for letting my nephew borrow this… Uh, oh. I suppose you’ve already got your hands full,” he realized a bit too late.

“Bah, I can come back for it tomorrow, no biggie. So, I’ll see ya then!” And that makes two planned meetings for tomorrow. They pushed the door open with their foot and walked out, off to their next destination.

On a street that was usually quite busy during the day lied a workshop, where Veronika’s mechanic friend Kaya worked. Like the Prawn Shop, it was going to close soon, so they’d have to be quick.

They opened the door and went inside. The loud noises of clanking metal and running machinery were gone for the day as all the workers had already left or were packing up their things. Veronika put the metal plate down before going into the next room.

Standing next to a table strewn with various tools and other junk was a dark-skinned octoling with light-blue tentatwists and dirty overalls, taking off her goggles and putting them up on a wall mount. She smiled upon seeing her friend enter and went over to greet them with their signature fist-bump.

“So, did you find anything?” she asked.

“Yup, found a nice, big metal thing, it’s surprisingly not even all that rusty for some reason. Really high quality, I guess. Left it by the door.” They gestured towards the other room. “And you, of course, get it free of charge! Which kinda sucks, actually.” They deflated. “Crater’s going dry, of stuff, I mean, it was already dry from being in a desert… whatever. I mean I’m kinda running out of stuff to sell.”

Every day they went there, it was becoming harder and harder to find something worth selling, especially since they weren’t the only scavenger around. Luckily, no one wanted to risk going into some unknown abyss, so Alterna was still up for grabs, but they knew full well they shouldn’t be too greedy when there’s someone still living there, even if it’s just one person.

“Oh… Well… Y’know, if that’s the case, you can just take what you brought me and—”

“No, no, I brought that for you and that’s final. It’s about time I get a job again, anyway.” Eventually, the crater — and even Alterna — will run out, so doing something more stable seemed like the best bet.

“Huh, well in that case, why don't you work at Grizzco?”

“Grizzco…?” They thought it had shut down, since there was no more CEO thanks to the New Squidbeak Splatoon’s — mostly Veronika’s — efforts. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. In hindsight, with how popular working there is, they probably would’ve noticed if people started getting fired en masse. But if Mr. Grizz isn’t the one running the operation, who is? And more importantly… “Why would you suggest me to work there of all places?”

“Huh? I— Oh. Oh my cod! Sorry! I forgot you have your… gripes with that place. Nevermind… Uh, I think I saw a poster that said Sam’s Chowder is hiring…?” Kaya averted her gaze from Veronika and continued packing her things.

“A food place ain’t bad… Yeah, I’ll check it out. Though, I suppose if I’m gonna be working I’ll need someone to look after Buddy…” they muttered as the octoling started to look even more awkward.

“Are— are you asking me?”

“No! No, I know you’re busy. Besides, I’ve got someone in mind.”

“Really? Who?” she asked, always wanting to know about the new people Veronika meets.

“Oh, I just, uh, made a friend at the Shoal. He works from home so I think he'll be able to help.”

“From home? Sounds like a luxury, where the heck does he live?”

“Take a guess,” Veronika said, unable to think of a reasonable answer quickly enough.

“Right, yeah, that makes sense. But are you sure you trust this guy enough to babysit? How long have you known each other?”

“Not long… but he has a pet nudibranch and I've seen how they interact, I think I trust him to look after a creature,” they half lied. Obviously, Jacob didn’t have any pets, but they didn’t have any cheaper option, and he seemed like a good guy. And he is quite lonely, due to his predicament. This would be good for him, they figured. Worst case scenario, Buddy can escape into the water, though it felt unlikely anything bad enough would happen.

Kaya hesitantly replied, “Well… alright.”

A moment of awkward silence passed as neither of them had anything to say until Veronika finally decided to just end things there.

“Guess I’ll go home… Look into those Sam’s Chowder job listings and stuff… See ya!” they said and immediately left the room.

Dang, why did it turn out like that? What the heck. Grizzco… It’s kinda Grizzco’s fault. Ughhhh… C’mon, Buddy, let’s just go home.

This day is gonna haunt me at night for several reasons.

They waved goodbye to each other as the inkling walked through the door.

With nothing else left to do, Kaya picked up her bag and went over to the big metal plate, looking it over while thinking about how exactly she wanted to apply it to her work when she noticed something interesting: a small bit of writing that gets cut off at the edge of the plate, and in a script she’d never seen anywhere else before.