"Family is nice, I guess, but there's nothing better than a close friend." - Marina Ida

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Nem-Nem held my hand in hers, guiding me through the crowd of cheering inklings. It was the first night of Splatfest, and I was so excited that I wanted to bring her along to watch me play. I was eager to show her the skills I'd learned from Bryson, along with a few tricks from Ace.

"Oh, wow. What a mess of people," said Nem-Nem, her hair lighting up in a beautiful glow. "Someone could easily get lost in here."

"Thanks for coming with me, Nem," I said, smiling up at her.

"Well, what can I say? I'm happy to cheer you on," she replied, looking down at me with a smile of her own. "Just don't jump in front of any rollers while I'm watching, okay? You know how my stress gets to me."

"Ay, Yo! Pearlie's in the house!" I heard, looking up at the stage that was recently built into the front of Deca Tower, just above the entrance. There was a large setup of speakers and lights, along with a few confetti cannons as well.

On the stage was a light-pale inkling with cream-colored tentacle hair, with a smooth transition to pink at the tips of them. That was Pearl, who was part of a duo called Off the Hook, and she was known for being pretty loud when she's on the stage.

Standing behind her, working the tech, was Marina, a dark-skinned inkling with the most beautiful style of tentacle hair I had ever seen. Some of them were hip-length, which made me wonder if other inklings could have hair like that by choice or not when transforming.

Her tentacles were black on top, with a white surface underneath, and at the tips, they were a smooth fade to green. Even her fingertips were green. Giving her this style that many inklings fawned over.

"Pearl and Marina are really popular, huh?" asked Nem-Nem. "I remember back in high school when Bob Dub was popular. That dude had a cool attitude."

Nem-Nem would often listen to slow-paced music, mostly Bob Dub or some other band, like Wet Floor, known for their wide variety of genres. Although most younger inklings were into the fast-paced beat, there were still the adults who enjoyed the slower-paced music.

As we listened to the music, I found that Pearl would often take charge of the song's flow while Marina sang in the background. It made me kind of want to hear Marina more, her voice just being more interesting to me. There was something almost hypnotic about it, with her ability to hit the high notes perfectly. Pearl's rapping went well with it, mixing the bluntness of the rap with the grace of the singing in just the right way. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Marina was the main attraction, even if she was in the background.

While we walked through the square, I heard someone calling to me. "Hey, kid! You like fortune-telling?"

Nem-Nem and I looked in the direction of The Shoal, an arcade place. In front of it was an adult female inkling with mixed colors in her hip-length tentacle hair. The colors ranged from pink to blue, to purple, to red, and even to green, the hanging hair glowing in the dark as her luminous yellow eyes looked my way.

Next to the inkling was a table, and upon it was a bowl filled with small seashells, making me wonder if this was something some inklings ate, but I doubted it, as I had never seen an inkling eat anything a human wouldn't.

"Beatrice? Is that you?" asked Nem-Nem. "I haven't seen you since high school!"

Nem-Nem pulled me along, her hand tightly gripping mine. "Who is she?" I asked.

"Amelia, this is Beatrice," introduced Nem-Nem. "She's a friend of mine from high school. She can be a little..."

"Eccentric," finished Beatrice. "I tell fortunes, and I see something within you," she said, pointing at me.

I took a step back, getting behind Nem-Nem. With any problem, I used to turn to Nem-Nem for help. I guess this was just a leftover instinct. I looked up at her, our eyes meeting. I hoped she'd interpret what I wanted to say.

She patted my beanie-covered head. "I'm here with you. Don't worry," she said. "She may seem odd at first, but she's fun to talk to, and she's very friendly."

A sense of security fell upon me as she said that. If Nem-Nem trusted her, so would I. I looked at Beatrice and asked, "C-Could I have my fortune told?"

I was a little curious. I had never had my fortune told before, and my mother, she was always interested in astrology and other myths, being someone who researched pseudosciences. My dad still loved her, of course, even though he disagreed with her beliefs.

Even in the end of humanity, my mom had believed that someone out there, who was above all of us, was punishing us for our mistakes. My dad had often disregarded the claim, saying that there had to be another explanation for the water still rising, despite all the ice having melted.

I didn't know what to believe. Dad would tell me he'd still love me, regardless of what I believed. In the end, I chose to simply take life as it is and just hope there was something more out there. I didn't know what made the universe, whether it was a big explosion or a being from above, and I was just fine with that, because I just didn't want to think about it too much. Maybe one day I would find out.

"Ah, I can see many things," said Beatrice, looking into my eyes. "You are more than who you appear to be.~"

I was a little startled. Did she know I was human? I decided not to ask. "I don't know about that," I replied.

"I do," said Beatrice. She motioned to the bowl of small seashells. Picking it up, she shook it for a full minute, muttering something under her breath, her eyes staring into mine. I gripped Nem-Nem's hand tightly, a little unsettled.

"Huwah!" she shouted, holding the bowl out to me. "Push your hand under the shells and grab a handful. No looking! Take out the handful and show it to me."

I looked at the large bowl, wary as I slipped my hand under the many shells, grabbing a bunch without seeing what I had within my grasp. I pulled it out and opened my hand to show her. She stared, looking very interested as she inspected the different types of shells I had.

"Ahh," she said. "This is interesting."

"What is it?" I asked, a bit worried.

"Don't ever let him go," she said with a crooked smile.

I became very confused. Don't let who go? My brother? "What do you mean?" I asked, wanting a clearer answer.

"Ah, you don't see it yet," replied Beatrice. "Don't worry. The situation will become clear to you in time. Perhaps you haven't hit that stage just yet."

Nem-Nem giggled to herself, then said, "Thank you, Beatrice. You always were very mysterious at times."

"It's really nice seeing you," replied Beatrice, bowing her head to Nem-Nem. "We really need to go get a drink together sometime. My kids can be difficult to handle, so I think some time with an old friend would help me relax."

"You too?" asked Nem-Nem. "They didn't turn fourteen, did they?"

"I'm afraid so," replied Beatrice. She leaned against the wall, looking up at the fireworks as they went off. "They've been going into ranked games lately, already worrying me sick."

"Oh, dear," said Nem-Nem, gripping my hand a little tighter. "I know what you mean!"

"Um, Nem-Nem? Can I go meet with Ace?" I asked, remembering that I had promised to meet him. "We need to start prepping."

Nem-Nem let go of my hand. "Yeah, go ahead," she said. "I'm gonna talk with Beatrice a little and then I'm heading over to the seats to watch."

I nodded and ran into Deca Tower, then selected the option for the Splatfest Lobby, an area reserved for participants who were preparing for their upcoming match. After it teleported me, I found myself in a white room, with lockers on one end where our gear was kept.

In the center of the room was a blue holographic screen, displaying the current clout, which was also known as influence, and Team New seemed to be gaining a lot of it. I was beginning to worry that we'd lose, my anxiety acting up.

I suddenly felt a hand touch my shoulder, startling me. Turning around, I saw Ace, smiling at me. "Hey, Amelia."

"Ace, you scared me," I admitted, blushing from embarrassment.

He laughed nervously. "Sorry about that. Um, hey, Amelia, could we... talk?"

"Sure," I replied. He then grabbed my hand, taking me to a corner of the room.

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking down, avoiding eye contact. "So... I, um... How do I say this...?"

I was confused. "What is it, Ace? Is something wrong?" I asked, now a little concerned, wondering if something bad had happened.

"No, no," he replied, shaking his head. "I, um... gah... Amelia, hi!"

"Hello?" I greeted back, very confused now.

"Would you like to, um, go with me to see a movie after tonight's battle?" he asked.

I smiled and replied, "Sure! Are the others coming along?"

Ace stopped smiling. Bryson walked up from behind him, with Liv walking next to him, both of them waving at us. "Yo, Ace," greeted Bryson. "You ready to get your butt whooped?"

"L-Let's try to be friendly about this," I timidly said, a nervous smile on my face. I was certain Bryson could see through my false confidence. Bryson got up to me really close, lowering his sunglasses and staring directly into my eyes.

"Am I sensing... cowardice? Hesitance?!" he shouted in question. I leaned back as he leaned in. "You've got a lot to learn about Splatfest! In Splatfest, there is no hesitating! If you flinch, you'll be splatted in mere seconds!"

"S-Sorry!" I replied, raising my hands in defense.

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT BEING SORRY?!" he shouted even louder.

I swallowed hard and stood firm, standing straight. "Not to apologize if I can make up for it."

"Good," he said. Looking to Ace, he asked, "So did you do it yet or wha---"

Ace clamped his hand over Bryson's mouth, who seemed surprisingly calm about it. I almost thought Bryson would have exploded in fury from such disrespect. Then again, this was his best friend. Even so, why did Ace just...?

"Yeah," said Ace. "It's all good. Just stop talking about it. I'll tell you more after the matches are over."

Bryson looked at me, then said, "I get it."

"Get what?" I asked, genuinely confused by the conversation. What was Ace doing that he wouldn't want Bryson to talk about..?

"It's nothing," said Bryson. He put a hand on my shoulder. "Good luck, noob. Maybe you'll face me tonight. If not, then tomorrow."

I don't know why, but... I felt a sense of calm wash over me. I then replied, "Yeah. I'll see you on the battlefield."

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As I stood on the respawn pad, I looked at my teammates. Bryson had brought his Hydra Splatling, looking tall and proud. Liv had her blaster, looking sure and confident, as Hector was right next to her, holding a Kensa Octobrush. Yes. In this world, they had giant paint-brushes, and these weapons were surprisingly effective.

He wore this black vest with some kind of metal sash-plate layered on top of it, and had leather fingerless gloves. What was even stranger were the two belts worn across each other on his waist in a criss-cross. His boots were leather as well, with metal buckles and a metal heel that was raised, making them some form of high-heel boots.

If anything, he looked a little feminine, which didn't really strike me as odd, but it did make me wonder how octoling society worked when it came to fashion. Did they all wear armor like this? Did inklings have this kind of armor?

We were in the Shellendorf Institute, a museum that housed inkling history, along with fossils from ages gone by. Up above us was a massive skeleton of what looked like some prehistoric water beast.

While intimidating, it wasn't going anywhere, suspended by very strong string supports on the ceiling.There were three aisles, one on the left, one on the right, and one in the middle. There was also an option to go up on the glass ceiling that was just below the large skeleton, but I was going to go underneath down the middle aisle.

The reason was because Nem-Nem was watching, and knowing how stressed she'd get, I wouldn't dare climb onto such a high place. Looking to my right and my left, I could see that there had been seats set up for this Splatfest battle, and as I suspected, Nem-Nem sat in the front row. Looking at us from above the raised platform, she drank from her soda, her eyes on me.

My phone beeped, the match starting, and I rushed ahead, and as I did, I was immediately outpaced by Ace and Hector while Liv stayed behind with me, having my back. I wasn't sure if she did this because she still felt guilty or not, but I didn't question it. Right now, my eyes were on a familiar foe walking casually down the middle aisle.

"Oh, look," he said, "It's the freak."

It was the hockey-masked inkling, holding his blaster, and it certainly didn't look like he was with his original team. Were they in another battle elsewhere? I raised my dualies, as if to challenge him.

I shouldn't have done that.

He dove into his own ink, splashes being made as he swam towards me at high speeds. I aimed and fired, but he was too quick for me. In almost no time at all, I felt his blaster against my back, and just as I thought he was about to pull the trigger, I felt his blaster shaking slightly.

Looking back, I saw Liv, with her own blaster to his back. "Idiot," she muttered, pulling the trigger. He exploded in a mess of our team's ink color, which was a sparkling bronze. Team New had an even shinier silver paint color, which made me wonder if the color designers were biased.

"Thanks," I shakily said to Liv.

"No problem," she said, smiling with a bit of red in her cheeks.

As we continued to cover turf with bronze ink, I looked at the glass cases embedded into the walls. There were so many fossils, all of them dating back to human times. Morbidly enough, I wondered if inklings saw us the same way we saw dinosaurs, or how we saw cavemen.

I bumped into a stone structure in front of me, not paying attention due to my fascination with the human bone fossils. Upon fixing my gaze, I saw that it was a stone sarcophagus, and on it were depictions of inklings.

Mesmerized by the artwork, I didn't see the inkling approaching me. Ace quickly blasted him away with the Hydra's ink, saying, "Amelia! Snap outta it!"

"G-Got it!" I replied. What was with me? I fired to my left, hitting an inkling who was swimming through the ink. I was slow, but my aim and my prediction were certainly getting better, thanks to Ace.

I raised my hand, a sprinkler materializing out of thin air, then threw it as far as I could, watching it land near their spawn point. Sadly, it didn't last long, an inkling quickly getting rid of it with a few shots of its ink.

I was pelted from behind, feeling the sting of a .96 Gal Deco. The inkling holding it stared when she saw that I wasn't splatted. "S-Sorry," I said, trying to keep calm about it. "I, uh, can't be splatted...?"

Staring, she simply fired again.

As the shot hit me in the arm, I said, "Ow, yeah, th-that hurts!"

She just blankly stared, intrigued. She looked up at the crowd, then at me, looking very puzzled. I really wished that I had some easy way to explain my situation to her. After some thinking, she merely inked the ground around me and swam away.

I just... felt embarrassed. How could I just play Turf War like this when I was only a human? As she ran off to ink more turf, I just stared at the ground beneath me, inking it with bronze-colored ink. Was I in the wrong for just wanting to play? I probably was, but... it's all I could ever find passion in.

I didn't want to stay cooped up in some small apartment all day. I didn't think my sanity could've taken it. All those days, knowing that I could've had a life just like any other inkling. But... when I look at everything, I would come to the realization that this wasn't my world, and it would only make me cry.

"Yo, Amelia! C'mon! We've got 'em on the ropes!" said Ace as he ran to the enemy's side of the museum.

I gripped my dualies tighter. I wouldn't cry anymore. I'll thrive here. I rushed to Ace's side, holding out my dualies and spraying the ground, replacing enemy ink with mine. I was hit with a few shots from a Jet Squelcher, a long-range weapon. It fired rapidly, my front hit. Luckily, my helmet's visor was able to keep the ink from sticking to it. It simply slid off that part.

I raised my hand, materializing another sprinkler, and throwing it onto the ledge in front of us, making the inkling that was shooting me step back to a safe distance. We had them cornered in by their spawn point.

Or did we?

I was grabbed from behind, two arms wrapping around me. I cried out, and Ace turned around, his Hydra at the ready. He fired, the ink missing as the inkling pulled me down, Ace's ink flying over me. My head hit the hard ground, but I was safe, as the helmet had incredibly effective padding inside. Thank you, inkling tech.

I felt a weapon jab into my side, and I looked down, seeing the familiar blaster. It fired, and I was shot point-blank, a massive amount of pain spreading through my abdomen. Ace fired his Hydra again, but the inkling had already let me go, jumping back in squid form.

"What's wrong, freak?" the hockey-masked inkling taunted and he reverted to humanoid form. "Can't handle the pain?"

"You're a prick!" I shouted, getting up, my side hurting. That hit was enough to make me shed a few tears. Eyes blurry, I aimed my dualies at him, running and screaming as I fired. He laughed as he dove into the ink, dodging my line of fire and swimming to my side before jumping out with another blast to my hip.

I fell onto my hands and knees. Not again! I can't handle it again!

Ace unleashed a full charge, and as he did, the hockey-masked inkling swam off, narrowly dodging. "Come back, coward!" shouted Ace. "Haven't you faced a real splatling main before?!"

I held my side, the pain still present. I felt like something was wrong, but we were still in a match. I stood up, ignoring the pain, trying to stay positive for Ace and Liv. Speaking of Liv, where was---

I was answered with a scream from the hockey-masked inkling as Liv pinned him against bronze ink-covered floor. "H-Hey! That burns! Let me go!"

"You think it's funny, huh?" she asked, a cold look in her eye, a look that made me worry. This didn't sound like her. Her expression was so serious, so full of malice. "You like causing pain? Could've just inked the area around her. She's not as fast as the rest of us. She couldn't even keep up with you. You also know she can't be splatted, so why just torture her?"

"C'mon, l-lemme go and I'll leave the freak alone!" he bargained, his eyes wide with fear. "Seriously, It's getting through my clothes!"

Liv put the blaster to his head, pulling the trigger. He exploded once again in a mess of bronze ink. I shivered, running up to her. She looked up at me and asked, "Bullies don't think, do they?"

"Th-Thanks," I said, smiling, wondering why she got like that.

"It's no problem," she said. "I can't stand those kinds of people. Some just wanna hurt others for being different, and that's a problem we're facing these days. Being who I am, you'd know what I'm talking about."

That made sense. Inklings and octolings didn't exactly get along. Initially, it was the rising waters that caused them to fight, but propaganda made it even worse. No one knew what the octolings went through.

It was only when I had found out that Liv was an octoling that I had accepted them. I used to think they were all enemies, but I was wrong, and that guilt still burned. "Yeah," I replied. "Let's keep fighting, alright?"

She smiled. "No need to."

I was confused until she pointed to the enemy spawn point. Hector had somehow gotten up there, leaning on his brush, throwing the occasional suction bomb. Every time an inkling tried walking off the spawn, he threw a bomb, the inkling forced to step back onto spawn.

They all looked at each other, discussing something. I couldn't hear what they said, but I didn't need superhearing to know what they were talking about. They all immediately rushed him at the same time. He couldn't splat all of them, right?

As they ran up to him, he just stood there, looking calm, smug. He continued leaning on his brush. I was about to call out his name, but I was wrong about his situation.

In a split-second, he stood up properly, twirling the massive melee weapon with ease. He knocked one inkling into another, then spun as the other two closed in on him, his brush rotating at high speeds, both ends hitting the inklings, one exploding into bronze ink, and the other one simply getting knocked out.

The hockey-masked inkling, the one who had been pushed into one of his teammates, fired his blaster as soon as he'd gained realization that one of his allies had fallen. He walked forward steadily, his blaster having an advantage with its explosive radius. Hector only grinned and ran towards him, using his brush to pole-vault high up and over the enemy

As soon as he landed, he jabbed his elbow into the inkling's back, sending them stumbling, then Hector swung his brush diagonally as he quickly turned to face the enemy. The hockey-masked inkling exploded, leaving Hector with only one opponent left.

It was a girl inkling with twintails, looking like a novice, a white headband on her head. She wasn't moving an inch, holding her ground, a newbie with determination, like me. It looked as though she were about to run, but then... her eyes seemed to change. There wasn't determination anymore. There was now some kind of insanity in them. She rushed him, not seeming to care for her own safety, the tenacity only a true inkling would have.

Not surprised in the slightest, Hector twirled his brush, swinging it diagonally at her, but she quickly darted to the side, firing her Splattershot. She gained a pretty good hit on him, but before she could cause enough damage to splat him, he did a quick backflip.

She smirked, something in her eyes telling me she wasn't going to go down as easily as the others. There was something about her, something unnatural. Then, what she did sent a chill down my spine. She lunged, landing a kick to his raised brush after doing a frontflip. Kicking off of him, Hector was sent off the ledge, where Liv caught him.

The inkling came jumping down, firing her Splattershot. Snapping out of my shock, I ran to intercept, my dualies firing. To dodge my shots, she shrank down into squid form, spinning in between the globs of flying ink, just barely avoiding them.

She hit the ground, back in kid form, doing a quick roll and landing with a quick shot to Hector's head. His wide eyes as she unleashed her power showed great puzzlement right before he was splatted. Next was Liv, who had tried to retaliate, but she was quickly kicked down, a shot to her face taking her out.

Then it was Ace who went down, the expert quickly falling to this newbie-turned-god of Turf War. The way she was able to just run so fast, dodging his Hydra's long burst, astounded me. While charging his gun back up, she simply rolled forward and jumped onto the barrel of his weapon, firing her Splattershot in his face and taking him down.

And then... it was my turn. She looked at me with the gaze of a predator, a true squid warrior ready to strike down the last enemy. I was frozen stiff, my fear keeping me in my place as prey. I didn't think I could be so scared, but...

She ran at me, and I aimed my dualies, firing, but like all the others, she quickly dodged to the side, too fast for me to keep up with her. My human reflexes weren't enough. They could never be enough. She stuck her Splattershot to my head and fired, my body jerking and falling to the ground.

Seeing that I hadn't been splatted, she fired again, then again, ink pummeling me in the sides and my limbs. She didn't even look confused. In fact, she seemed to only enjoy it even more that I couldn't die like any normal inkling. There was a sadistic feel to her eagerness.

I heard Nem-Nem's cries, telling me to get up, my caretaker trying to cheer me on. How much time had passed? It felt like forever with all this pain. Where was my team? Shouldn't they have spawned by now? I cried out as a burst of ink hit my neck, the suit unable to soften the impact by much.

I looked at my enemy, tears blurring. "Stop, please!" I begged.

Her smile vanished, the inkling lowering her gun, eyes staring into mine through my visor. "No mercy for the weak," she replied, her sinister grin returning, even wider than before. As she raised her weapon once more, I held up my arm, scared by this inkling who had simply gone mad. Why was she so strong?!

Before she could pull the trigger again, a fist came flying, swinging across her face. It was Ace, an angry expression on his face. "STOP IT!" he shouted. On the ground, she looked up at him, her eyes no longer looking as insane as they did earlier.

Her eyes showed remorse.

She got up, scrambling, not as graceful as she had been earlier, almost as if her previous fighting wasn't even her own doing. She cried loudly, running off the battlefield, her teammates running after her and looking worried.

Ace quickly ran up to me, helping me up. "Are you okay?" he asked, sounding very concerned.

I blushed, having been saved yet again. "Y-Yeah... I don't know what happened. She didn't act normal."

Ace sighed and said, "That... is normal, actually."

Confused, I asked, "What do you mean...?"

"It happens sometimes in inklings," said Hector, walking up to us, Liv standing behind him.

"What does?" I asked.

"In inklings, there's untapped talent," he replied.

"We, uh, tend to get over-excited when we're close to losing badly," said Ace. "Most newbies can't control it, but as we get older, we tend to lose some of that tenacity. That girl was probably hit with a bad case of what we like to call Turf Madness."

"B-But she kept shooting me!" I exclaimed. "She looked like she would've killed me!"

"That's what Turf War is all about," said Hector. "We are killing. We just come back."

He was right... What was I thinking? Turf War was killing. The spawn point simply made it easier to turn Turf Wars into a game. Was I... ?

It took me so long to realize it, but...

I'd been killing.

I'd been killing inklings, and I felt nothing, simply because I knew there was a spawn point. Was this even right? I shook my head, clearing myself of the thoughts. No. I had a dream, and I was determined to live it. As long as the spawn points were there, no one could get hurt.

...Right?

Our phones beeped, the match over. It would take some time before Judd came by to look at the ink, so I simply followed my friends back to the lobby, and on the way there, I caught a glimpse of the inkling girl who had wreaked havoc not too long ago. Her teammates surrounded her, looking concerned for her. Even the hockey-masked inkling looked worried.

Her gaze caught mine, the inkling showing regret in her expression. I looked at her, giving a reassuring smile, trying to make her feel better. I couldn't let her feel bad for something she couldn't control. Her eyes widened and, grateful for my forgiveness, she smiled back.

As we entered the lobby and put away our weapons for the night, Ace walked by and asked if I wanted to go to see the movie. He showed such enthusiasm, and it would've been rude to say no, so... I immediately said yes.

When I asked the others, they apparently all had other plans, saying I should just go on without them. A little saddened, I nodded, not wanting to ruin their own schedule. At least Ace was going. As we got to the theater, we got our snacks and went into the movie room after paying.

It was surprisingly empty tonight, but then again, it was obvious why. Everyone was still celebrating Splatfest. Ace, however, seemed happy to be with me. The movie of choice was agreed upon by the both of us, which was a flick about an inkling and his platoon in the Great Turf War.

The movie grew tense, with the inkling sneaking through the trenches into enemy territory. I was certain he'd be attacked from behind, because the poor guy had no one to cover his back. Suddenly, a huge explosion rang out, and I jumped, startled.

Something cold clasped my hand, and when I looked over, I saw it. It was Ace's hand, holding mine in what I assumed was an attempt to comfort me through the more suspenseful parts of the movie..

I didn't know what to say. He was simply watching the screen, smiling as he enjoyed the movie. I couldn't help but smile as well, his cool touch being more calming than I would have imagined it to be. Watching the movie seemed to be a lot easier because of it.

As we kept watching the movie, our hands stayed interlocked, and I couldn't help but feel warm inside. His hand felt safe, the same hand that wielded a Hydra and saved me on multiple occasions.

It felt nice...

Throughout the rest of the movie, we stayed like that, enjoying each other's company. There were several times where I'd tighten my grip whenever the inkling soldier was almost caught. His spawn point had been damaged, and if he were to have been splatted, it would've been over for him.

Thankfully, he clung to life, going through the enemy forces with everything he had. Although it was just a movie, I had found out before going into the theater that it was based on a real person, someone who had been awarded an entire series of medals for his brave actions.

I enjoyed this time with Ace, and... looking at him, I couldn't help but smile. I didn't realize it until now, but he was kinda cute. I just wasn't sure if he felt the same way about me. Although our hands were touching, I couldn't tell if it was just him trying to comfort me or if he...

I wasn't sure if it was wrong to like someone outside of my own kind, but... to me, he seemed more human than many of the people in the world I used to live in. Was it wrong that I had these feelings for him? I don't even know where these emotions came from in the first place. They were just there, hiding, I guess.

I just didn't know if he liked me the same way.

After the movie, we walked around outside, simply looking at all the different graffiti art that inklings had painted on the walls just for the Splatfest. The artwork was like nothing I had ever seen back on earth. There was such creativity in their works. Some were random, some were carefully-designed turf war depictions, others were simply jokes.

I enjoyed every bit of it, and I wanted to see more of this world. Now that I was free of confinement, I could easily go out and about around Inkopolis with my friends! I almost squealed from the excitement.

Ace sipped his Tentacola with mild interest. He said to me, "You should take up graffiti. If ya wanna be like us, then wall-posting is a must."

"Won't the jellyfish be mad?" I asked. "I wouldn't wanna make them clean it up."

"Just use canned inkling ink," said Ace. "It disappears after a while, but the canned stuff is made to last for at least a day."

I was intrigued at how they could alter their ink with such ease. They were masters of their own biology, something my dad would've been obsessed with. "You really think so?" I asked. "What if I'm not good at it?"

"Don't gotta be good," said Ace. "Just gotta find your own style. Don't need fancy realistic drawings. Even a simple circle is fine."

I grinned. "Sure!" I replied. "Where do I get this stuff?"

Ace pointed to a shop across the street. "You'll need to try when Splatfest finally ends, because most of the supply stores are closed during big events like this. Food shops are the only buildings that are open during Splatfest. Everything else is just shut down."

I nodded, vowing to myself that I'd take up the artform of graffiti. I'd never done it before, but I remembered my brother doing it at times. He also loved drawing, and he'd often make sketches of various sea creatures to further his skill.

I wondered if he would've drawn here, too...

"Amelia? What's up?" asked Ace. "You're sulking."

"S-Sorry!" I said, smiling as best as I could. "My mind was just wandering."

"You seem to do that a lot," said Ace. "Something on your mind?"

I didn't know where to begin, honestly. I said to him, "Just miss my brother, is all."

Ace had a look of sympathy on his face. "I can understand that. You wanna talk about it...?"

"I wouldn't want to bother you," I replied, smiling sheepishly. "I don't think it'd be right to bother you with such--"

He put his finger to my lips, saying, "None of that. C'mon, tell me. If I can't at least listen to your problems, then what kinda friend would I be?"

After he removed his finger from my lips, I blushed, saying, "I just wish I could find him. It's been so long, and I'm afraid of never seeing him again."

Ace nodded in understanding. "C'mon," he said, grabbing my hand, dragging me.

"W-Wait, where are we going?" I asked.

"My place," he answered. "I got a little brother who's insanely smart. If anyone can help, he can."

"But won't he tell someone I'm human?" I asked.

"Nah. We're tight like that," said Ace.

As we went further and further away from the square, the buildings were less densely-packed. Eventually, it just looked like a typical span of neighborhoods. At the end of one of the streets was a very old house, with faded blue paint, the chips having flaked off over the years. Being two stories high, it was good for an entire family, but some of the rotting wood would probably make one second-guess that.

Through one of the front windows, I saw an adult female inkling, sitting in a plush swivel chair and polishing an E-liter 3K, an obsolete weapon that was replaced with the E-liter 4K in Turf War combat. It was very rare to see such an older model of any weapon being used by current competitors.

As Ace opened the front door, he shouted, "Mom! I'm home!"

"Did you bring back a souvenir for your little brother?" his mother asked from the other room.

"Yeah, I got him somethin'," replied Ace, guiding me into the room where I saw the female inkling. Still polishing her E-liter 3K, she looked up at us. Now that I had a closer look, I saw that she had very long bangs, and on her ears were very shiny pearl earrings.

"Who's this?" she asked, looking at me. "Is this one of your friends?"

"Mom, this is Amelia," said Ace, pushing me gently forward. I quickly stopped myself in my tracks, looking at her with awe. She was very pretty, and her willingness to keep such an old weapon in good condition made me want to smile.

Her orange eyes looked over my form before she asked, "What are those?"

Seeing that she was pointing to my shoes, I immediately replied, "Kensa, ma'am."

"Hm... Don't take any offense," she said, "but you don't strike me as high-tier. Do you have a main?"

"Light Tetra Dualies," I responded. Why was I feeling so nervous around her? Was I going through some kind of test?

"Very good, very good," she said with a sincere smile. "I can tell you're new to the game. You still have that innocence in your eyes."

Innocence...?

"I am new, yes," I responded. "I'm doing my best."

"You'll go far with my son helping you," she said. "Isn't that right, Ace?"

"I'm doing everything I can, Mom," he said proudly, a big grin on his face. "She'll be in the higher tiers in no time."

"Good," she responded. She then looked to me and asked, "Did you know he used to cry when he couldn't shapeshift properly? Was so worried that other kids would judge him."

"M-Mom!" Ace objected. "Don't tell her that!"

"Silence," she commanded, and he stood still, nodding, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face.

"All I'm saying is that every newbie goes through challenges," she explained. "Now my boy is in the big leagues, and I'm very proud of him.~"

Ace blushed. I just couldn't help but smile at the wholesome conversation. Ace had a very nice mother. She just radiated confidence and pride, something I wish I had. "I'll do everything I can to reach the top," I said.

"Good," she said. "I bet your parents are very proud of you."

I hesitated a little before I replied, "Y-Yeah..."

Her eyes looked at me, an understanding in them. "Ah... I'm sorry," she said.

I nodded, wondering if my parents would have been proud of what I'd been doing. Would this be bad in their eyes, considering the ethics? I didn't know, and I probably never would.

"Mom, if it's okay, may I go and introduce her to Dimitri?" asked Ace. I could tell he was trying to end the conversation for my sake. I didn't mind the talk, but I did appreciate the gesture. His mother nodded, and Ace led me out of the room and up the stairs.

"Sorry about that," said Ace, going down the upstairs hallway to a door with a poster of some scientists on it. He knocked on the door and asked, "Hey, bro, you got a minute?"

The door opened, a slightly shorter inkling than Ace looking up at us. His wide green eyes, looking through large square-framed glasses, immediately locked onto me and he said, "That's a huma--!"

Ace quickly barged into the room, interrupting and pushing past his little brother, saying, "Close the door. Don't want mom hearing."

As we entered the room, I took note of all its contents. In one corner, there was a large machine with blinking lights, looking big enough for someone to step inside. Next to that machine was a large desk, a personal computer set up on it.

The desk itself was cluttered with many stacks of papers and pencils, a few of those papers laid across the keyboard. Something told me that organization wasn't on a list of this inkling's priorities. The monitor displayed several colored graphs, some of them moving up and down to indicate a change in whatever they were calculating.

On the other end of the room was a small bed with a large bookcase next to it. On the bookshelves, I could see a lot of old books, each of them reminding me of the books my dad used to have, all of them being about biology, technology, or any mixture of the two.

The small inkling boy closed the door and asked, "Ace, what did you do? Did you suddenly go back in time? Did my machine work?"

"Sorry, lil bro," Ace replied. "You still can't travel through time."

"Darn it," replied the inkling. Upon further glance, I noticed he had the same bowl cut as Ace, their hairstyles very similar.

"Amelia, this is Dimitri," introduced Ace. "He's insanely smart, and he even rivals Annaki scientists."

"I'm not that smart," said Dimitri. "I'm smarter."

Plopping onto Dimitri's small bed, Ace sighed and looked up at the ceiling, saying, "I know, little bro."

Before I knew it, I saw Dimitri pulling a measuring tape out of his computer desk drawer. He ran up to me and began measuring my arms and legs, muttering to himself, "Impossible..."

I looked at Ace, worried. "How does he know I'm a--"

"Ears don't match that of inklings or octolings," stated Dimitri. He quickly licked his finger and wiped off a bit of the makeup from around my eyes. "Eyes are also different. Most inklings wouldn't notice, but that's because they're not smart enough. I mean, with all the octolings walking around, you'd think inklings would know by now, but most are normally dumb as rocks."

I raised a finger in objection. "Hold on a minute, that's not very nice to say."

"Ace, what's twenty-eight times seven?" asked Dimitri.

"Don't care," replied Ace with a grin.

"Perhaps I should rephrase that," said Dimitri. "They have the potential to be smart, but they're lazy. Hence, they're normally dumb as rocks. All inklings care about is fighting, so... yeah, that's why weaponry and gear is pushed as far as it is."

Dimitri threw the measuring tape aside and went over to his desk, writing down in messy inklish handwriting. "Ace, I don't know how you did it, but I owe you," he said.

"Don't thank me," said Ace. "She won't be around this house for long. I only came to you to help her find her brother."

I could see Dimitri's shoulders lower, the inkling sulking. "Darn it... I'm guessing you want this to be a secret too, huh?"

"Eeyup," replied Ace as he sat up. "You're the smartest guy I know, little bro. We really need your help."

"What do I get out of it?" asked Dimitri, crossing his arms, his lower lip sticking out just a tad.

"I got you what you wanted," Ace answered, pulling out a blue USB drive from his pocket.

"No way," Dimitri replied, eyes wide. He ran over and yanked it from Ace's hand, asking, "How?"

"Mr. Grizz was in a generous mood earlier today," said Ace, smirking. "Right before Splatfest started, I did some of the work I owed him, and even got him to lighten up enough to give me a 'bonus'."

"Bonus?" I asked, really confused.

Dimitri plugged the USB drive into his computer, and as he looked through the files on it, he let out mischievous giggles. Never before had I seen someone so giddy. "This is incredible!" replied Dimitri.

"Dimiiiitriiiii," said Ace in a sing-song tone.

"Whaaaaat," replied Dimitri, his eyes glued to the screen as he scrolled through the gibberish code on the files.

"Our human friend," reminded Ace. "She needs our heeeelp.~"

Dimitri sulked again. "Ugh... fine."

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling bad about ruining his magical moment.

"It's fine," said Ace. "He gets over things pretty quickly."

"It's trivial," replied Dimitri. "What's the problem?"

As I explained my entire situation to him, including the cryopod, he had a variety of expressions on his face, mostly of intrigue. Sometimes there'd be some concern, but those expressions would fade quickly as he'd ask for details, such as my brother's interests, his relationship with me and my dad, and his favorite food, oddly enough.

Dimitri turned to his desk, typing up a storm, multiple windows appearing on the screen showing Earth. "If I'm right, your brother is most likely alive if he's as smart as you say he is. More likely, he'd be in hiding as well, not as likely to go out as foolishly as you do."

"H-Hey!" I shouted in protest. "I'm not foolish!"

"You were found out by a ten-year-old," Dimitri said, pointing to himself. "Foolish."

"Don't you study human anatomy?" asked Ace as he continuously stared at the ceiling, looking bored.

"Yes," replied Dimitri. "It's important. It's not something you would understand."

"All I understand is that Amelia is a person, not a subject," retorted Ace.

"Regardless, I know where your brother is," said Dimitri.

"Where?!" I asked, my voice a little louder than I thought it'd be.

Dimitri sighed, then said, "If he's an intellectual, then he's bound to converse with other intellectuals. There's the possibility of him working with one of the big brand companies, but I find that unlikely."

"Then where is he?" I asked again, this time a little calmer.

"You're not going to like it," warned Dimitri. "The only place with creatures smart enough to be on par with him or I are the Octarians."

My heart nearly skipped a beat. Would he have really gone with Octarians? "Are you sure?" I asked. "He wouldn't just leave me in that cryopod."

Dimitri seemed to have a look of indifference. "It's likely that the Octarians wouldn't want to let such a subject as fascinating as a human to leave if he came into contact with them. He'd have knowledge of human technology, correct?"

"I don't know how much he knows," I answered. "He's talked about weird things with my dad before, but..."

"Right," said Dimitri. "Unless you can get into Octo Valley, I don't think you'll be able to find him. There's still the chance he could be working with an inkling brand company, but... I highly doubt it."

What was my brother's note made from...?

"Enperry!" I shouted. "He wrote me a note on one of their papers!"

"Enperry...?" queried Dimitri, typing on his keyboard. On the screen, the Enperry company website popped up. "These guys mostly deal in sportswear."

My hopes were immediately dashed. Was my brother going to be forever out of reach?

"Too bad we don't know any Octarians," commented Ace. "If we did, we could just ask them. Then again, Octarians aren't exactly the friendliest guys around."

That was where Ace was wrong. Although he didn't know it, we had Liz on our side. I couldn't tell him now, though. I didn't want to betray Liv's trust, even if she betrayed mine. It just didn't feel right.

"Maybe we'll find someone," I said. "For now, let's just head back..."

Dimitri quickly responded with, "Could I make an unusual request?"

I stared with confusion. "Unusual?"

"Yes, please," he said. "I just want a single strand of hair. I don't know when I'll get another opportunity. I just want to scan it and look at the DNA."

"Gee, Dimitri, that's kind... creepy," commented Ace.

"It is creepy," I agreed.

"Neither of you would understand," said Dimitri, crossing his arms, his lip pouting again.

Thinking over it, I didn't really see any harm in it, so I plucked a single hair from my head, wincing from the tiny split-second of pain, then handed it over. "Here. Just don't ask again," I said, hoping he'd take my words seriously.

"Agreed," he said, pulling a test tube from his desk drawer. Putting the hair in, he said, "You have no idea how much you're contributing to science."

I wasn't sure if I wanted to know.

After that, Ace walked me back home, and I honestly appreciated his company on the way there. Tomorrow would be another night for Splatfest, and I'd definitely be asking Liv for help finding my brother, Mark.

Wherever you are, Mark, I'll find you. I promise.