Orion found himself cornered again, a spotlight shone on him but only shadows beyond it. Shadows with glowing red eyes and wicked grins surrounded him. The two biggest ones towered over him. “No… Not again!”

“I’m already picturing it now, you could do a lot with a bit of physical therapy - get yourself some nice hips…”

Orion gasped in panic as he felt his hips and thighs widen. “Wait…!”

“…a big chest that’ll make all the boys turn your way…”

Something tightened in his shirt, as a large pair of breasts appeared under it, about as large as Iris’ pair, one of his shirt buttons popping off. “No, stop!”

“…and make that little derriere even bigger.”

The same happened with his rear end. He tried looking for an escape, but the walls blocking him turned into mirrors, more directly showing the changes. He was going into a panic once again, as the shadows began to close in on him. “Please… Just leave me alone…”

“Almost perfect, just one thing to get rid of…”

And then he felt something disappear between his legs. It felt so… Wrong. “STOP!”

“There we go! The perfect girl-toy, just for us.”

He turned towards the shadows, trying to put up a fighting stance, “I’m warning you, stay awa-”

He screamed as shadowy hands lunged at him, beginning to violently tear away his clothes…

❖

Axl was awoken by a scream from the bunk below, and he immediately jumped down. “ORI!”

Orion was sitting up in bed, eyes wide and tears streaming down his face. He looked utterly miserable and terrified, breathing frantically. He had an arm around his chest and between his legs. It didn’t take Axl very long to put two and two together.

He glanced at the nearby alarm clock. 2:36AM.

Axl put his hands on Orion’s shoulders. “Orion. It was just a dream. It’s okay now. I’m here. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

Orion sniffed, and then hugged him tightly. Axl hugged back. No words were needed.

“Holy carp… I’m not even gonna ask if you’re alright,” Liam groaned as he sat on the side of his bunk. “I’m gonna f*#king kill those two if I see them again.”

“I hope that’s hyperbole, boss,” Koji said, as he got out of bed, coming over to Axl and Orion. “Cod… I really don’t want to know what your nightmare was about, Ori. You want me to make you a cup of hot chocolate or something?”

Orion sniffed, nodding. Koji nodded back, going to the kitchen area to make something.

It took about ten minutes and a bit of hot chocolate for Orion to finally calm down. And even then he still looked miserable. “I shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t feel like I want to be a girl, but people will just call me a freak if I look like one while still being a guy-”

“-Ori. Stop.” Koji sat down on the bed, “this isn’t about what other people think. It’s about you and being the person you want to be. I’ve been on the flipside of where you are, being a girl trying to look like a dude. The bullying sucked, and I’m still not all of the way to where I want to be, but I still feel so much more comfortable in my own skin than I ever did as a girl. You won’t be living your best life if you don’t figure out what kind of body you want to have. If you give up on finding out what you want to do with your body or stay as you are even when you find out you need to change, is that really going to make you any happier? Besides. You have close friends and family who will support you no matter what you do. Does the opinion of strangers or even those of the people you don’t like matter more than that?”

Axl decided to let Koji handle this, considering his own experiences. He felt just staying close to Orion was helpful enough for keeping him calm.

Orion took several seconds of deep breathing before he spoke up again. “I-I know you’re right, it’s just… It’s just hard and scary.”

“I know it is,” Koji nodded.

Liam snorted. “You’ve faced scarier things. You’ve beaten giant robots and travelled through time. You’ve helped save Inkopolis multiple times over. If there’s anyone who’s earned the right to look and be what he wants, it’s you. Anyone else who thinks otherwise can take a damn hike for all I care.”

That actually got Orion to giggle. “Yeah, you’re right. I really do want to find myself.” He turned to Axl, “Axl… Can you sleep in my bed and stay close to me tonight? So I know you’ll be there to protect me even in my dreams.”

“Oh, good, Ori avoided the more unfortunate phrasing of that question,” Koji chuckled.

Axl grinned, “yeah, sure! And if those jerks come knocking in your dreams again, I’ll just splat them. That’s a promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, octo-bro,” Liam chuckled. “Alright, once Ori’s done with the hot chocolate, let’s try and get back to sleep, okay?”

Once the mug was finished and washed up, Liam and Koji went back to bed. Axl snuggled into the bottom bunk with Orion, hugging him around the waist from behind. He felt a bit awkward at first, but it didn’t take long for him to notice Orion had fallen asleep again, snuggling up against Axl unknowingly.

Axl just smiled, giving Orion a light kiss on the neck, and went back to sleep.

❖

Ciel had initially been unsure of how to solve the problem of enabling Ethan and Ayane to catch up with the phantom thief until she had recalled the cache of weapons Ayane’s team had brought back the other day from the Octarian base. One of those items was a bionic arm. She already had it brought to her lab for analysis when it had been secured, but now she had ideas.

The bionic arm itself was fairly old even by human standards when they had gone extinct, though it had seen numerous upgrades over the years. It was too bulky for civilian use, but the power output and its likely uses suggested it was a military-grade set of cybernetics for use with navigating hostile environments and as an offensive tool against enemy combatants. The first part is what interested her the most.

Of course, she wasn’t planning on implanting Ethan and Ayane with their own bionic arms, that was not an elegant solution, and frankly completely unnecessary. With the technology Ciel had on hand, she could do far, far better than that. But testing with the bionic arm with help from one of her assistants using it (specifically Buster Rod G, who was more than happy to take it for a spin) certainly illuminated what kind of power and strength requirements would be needed for a viable grappling hook.

Ciel smiled as she looked over her finished plans. “This should be about right.”

“Interesting design, Doctor. Are you sure it’ll be able to work as intended?” Ballade asked, crossing his arms.

“We won’t know until we test it,” Ciel said, allowing the scanner to identify the required parts, triggering the fabrication processes, “but I’m certain it will. I wasn’t on the Zipcaster design team, but I picked up enough from them from afar that I have a decent grasp on how to match it with a mechanical substitute. The grappling hook needs to be able to reach across buildings, attach to any surface without damaging it, stay rigid as it pulls the user when needed, and be able to hold the full weight of the user. Besides, I think Arcadia Corp could potentially sell it - imagine the potential applications for civilian use.”

“You certainly have a point. Very well, let’s get started.”

❖

Artemis nearly choked on her lunch when she heard Orion’s proposal. She took a moment to swallow properly before speaking up. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that? Because it sounds like you want to fuse again.”

Orion actually nodded. He looked surprisingly resolute after what happened the day before. “Yeah, I do. Sis, you’re the only person here who I could do it with without making it… Weird. I want to try experiencing having a mixed sex body again, this time in less stressful conditions. Please? I need to do this if I want to know for sure.”

Artemis felt so proud of her little brother for having the courage to stick with his exploration of himself, and also for taking the initiative to suggest this particular plan. She grinned, “you kidding? Of course I’ll do it, if it’ll help you figure out what kind of body will make you the most happy.”

There was a collective whoop across the table - everyone felt a lot more happy about this than they were yesterday.

“Though… How the heck are you gonna do it? Last time it was all six of you stuffed in a blender,” Karlene pointed out.

“Sure, but the blender was only the facilitator of the conditions that lead to the fusion,” Orion explained.

That sparked something in Artemis’ mind, and her neurons were immediately firing on all cylinders. “Yeah, the important part is breaking down the fusion into its essential conditions. The first part was us together in a mixture of ink, stuck in a mid-transformation state. The second part was the ink vat. The third part was maintaining our individuality and separation of our minds.”

Orion nodded excitedly, “I was thinking about it too, sis! We could totally recreate those conditions. Sure, it’s gonna take some practice, but if we have a pool if ink and try to mix together while transforming-”

“-we could potentially be able to fuse bodies! Heck yeah, twin power~!” Artemis grinned, reaching over for a high-five, “I am so proud of you, little bro.”

“Sis, you’re only the elder sister by fifteen minutes,” Orion chuckled as he high-fived her. “And I’m still taller than you.”

“Shut,” Artemis grumbled. When did Orion was able tease her like that?

And then she noticed half the table was staring at her in shock. Iris was giggling, however, and both Karlene and Hinata were laughing at the others. “What?”

“Sorry, we’re just… Not used to you being that smart,” Liam said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Artemis pouted. “I can be that smart when I want to!”

“Yeah, when you’re not staring out the window in class,” Iris teased. “Or looking into my eyes~”

That got a snort out of almost everyone else, and caused Artemis to blush. First her brother, now her girlfriend?!

“Okay, that’s enough of teasing Artemis,” Karlene chuckled. “Let’s try it out after school. We can use the training room using a custom layout.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Artemis grinned.

❖

Orion was nervous as he looked over the half-meter high pool of ink in the middle of what was basically just a flat arena. Sure, he had suggested this whole idea from the beginning, but now that he was about to do it, doubts were creeping into his mind. What if it simply didn’t work? Or somehow went horribly wrong? Maybe they wouldn’t be able to separate even if it worked?

“Hey. Bro. Don’t sweat it,” Artemis smiled as she took his hand. “Let’s just dive right in and try our best!”

He glanced back over his shoulder, seeing everyone else watching,. Even X and Zero had turned up when they had learned of what they were trying to do.

Orion nodded. “R-Right… Here goes nothing, I guess! On the count of three. Three… Two… One… Go!”

They both jumped into the pool, and started to shift as they made contact, trying to merge together.

All that did was cause their swim forms to bonk their heads together. They floated on the surface, the collision having stunned them.

“Ah-ha… Guess that didn’t work,” Artemis said, laughing in her daze.

Orion groaned, changing back to humanoid form. “Ow…”

“That probably wasn’t going to work the first time,” X smiled, peering over the edge of the pool at them, “keep trying, you’ll probably be able to feel it out as you go.”

Orion and Artemis nodded, and they tried again.

And again.

And again.

They experimented with different timings, how much of the ink they were immersed in, that sort of thing. Orion felt like they were on to something, they were establishing a link briefly, but not quite enough. After their latest attempt, he rubbed his chin. “We’re onto something, but we can’t establish a link for longer than a moment…”

“Maybe you’re not in sync enough before you try merging?” Hinata suggested.

“Yeah… When fusion tends to happen in cartoons and anime a lot of the time it’s a ritual, often dancing,” Artemis nodded, “maybe we could try that?”

Orion nodded, and tried to think of what kind of dance they could perform. “A dance, huh…?”

“What about the dance the Squid Sisters do when they do the Calamari Inkantation?” Liam suggested. “I bet Artemis has it down, easy.”

Ethan nodded, “the Inkantation would be perfect. Ayane?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it,” Ayane said as she began setting up. A large screen with a paused video showing Callie and Marie about to perform the dance came down from the ceiling. “Just follow their moves and you should be fine.”

“I’m… Not good at dancing,” Orion said, his doubts creeping back in again.

“Even if your movements aren’t perfectly in sync, it’s the vibe that matters,” Zero chuckled, “you’ll do fine.”

“Just do your best, Ori,” Liam grinned.

Koji chuckled, with a nod, “and hey, might as well have some fun and get some dance practice while you do it.”

Orion looked into Axl’s eyes for reassurance, and he grinned back. “You’ve got this.”

The younger twin took a deep breath, and glanced to his sister, matching Marie’s pose. “Okay. Let’s do this, sis.”

“ALRIGHT! Start it up, Ayane!” Artemis grinned, matching Callie’s in turn.

As Ayane started the video, Orion saw the Squid Sisters begin to move. He brought his right arm up in time with his sister’s left, and the two of them began to sing along, trying their best to keep up with the movements of their seniors.

Artemis was obviously having the time of her life, and considering she was matching Callie’s movements with ease, Orion knew she had spent a lot of time practising. Orion hadn’t been one for TV before they came to Inkopolis, but Artemis couldn’t get enough of the Squid Sisters.

Orion, of course, felt a bit clumsy trying to emulate the practised and refined movements of Marie. But at the same time, just being there, dancing with his sister as their friends cheered them on and the Inkantation flowing through him? It was exhilarating and just fun. At a certain point, he almost forgot why he was even dancing in the first place.

At the end of the chorus, however, their hands made contact. And without even thinking, they clasped together, bringing each other into a hug as they transformed, ink swirling around them.

Orion could feel their bodies melding together, minds connecting. This wasn’t their first rodeo, however, and keeping their minds at arms length was almost trivial for them, now, which was especially important for the purpose of this whole exercise in the first place - Orion needed to be completely separate from his sister mentally so her thoughts and feelings didn’t influence how he felt about the result.

Ink swirled around them as they rose into the air, and exploded outwards, splattering the area around them as they floated back down to the ground. Orion felt taller.

“Holy carp, it worked!” Artemis said, speaking from their shared mouth. It took a bit of coordination for them to climb out of the pool.

Iris rushed over with a large mirror, “wow, you look really cool!”

“Thanks,” Orion and Artemis both said almost simultaneously, almost mangling the word from trying to say it at the same time with just one mouth.

And then Orion saw their reflection.

They were a good six feet tall, and their hair was a mixture of Orion and Artemis’ original hairstyles. The outfit was basically just the same Hero Suit they both wore. They had rather pronounced hips and thighs - he was glad the pants were pretty stretchy, too. Orion didn’t even need to see their bust size to notice they at least matched Iris - probably because of the need for their combined mass to go somewhere and also Artemis being jealous of how curvy Iris was.

Artemis was the first to comment. “Dayum, I like this look! Though maybe this is a bit much, I like having junk in the trunk but size might be a bit-uh… Bro?”

Oh. Right. He was crying, wasn’t he. But not because he was sad. ”This… This feels so right. Even though this isn’t entirely my own body… I’ve never felt so…”

“Oh, Ori… Is this what you were looking for?”

Orion nodded, smiling, struggling to contain his joy. “Yeah, it is. I’m… I’m so happy…”

He noticed both Karlene and Koji looked utterly overjoyed to hear this more than anyone else. Ayane turned down the music.

X came up to hug them. “Congratulations, Ori. I’m so glad this helped you figure out what you were missing.”

Orion sobbed, “thanks… But it’s gonna be so hard going back to how I was, even if it’s only temporary…”

“Don’t sweat it, bro. Let’s just focus on splitting up again, okay?” Artemis said, as they deepened their mental connection.

The nameless fusion looked at their hands. It was astonishing how even a relatively smaller strengthening of the mental connection could do for the neural duo’s perception of themselves. “I guess I need a name for this fusion…”

“The hunters merged together, huh…? Diana, the Roman counterpart for Artemis,” Zero suggested. “You have a more feminine look, so I think it makes sense.”

Diana nodded, “yeah, sounds about right. Well-”

And then they got swarmed by all of their friends (except Ayane, who just gave a thumbs up), eager to hug and congratulate them.

X, however, was quick to break it up, to ask them if he could draw a set of blood and ink samples from them - for research purposes, of course. Who knew what these fusions could do for biological understanding. Diana agreed, of course.

After that was done, the exhaustion from being overwhelmed by all of this was enough for them to suddenly split apart in a burst of ink.

Orion gasped, seeing Artemis across from him. The absence of the extra parts Diana had was rather acutely felt in that very moment. “I need to start physical therapy right away-”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, squiddo,” Ethan said, hands on Orion’s shoulders. “Give yourself a bit of time to settle down and think on it before you dive right in to making that kind of choice. Not like you can start immediately, anyway. We’ll take you to a doctor after school tomorrow if you’re still sure.”

“Seriously, geez, you figured out what you wanted in record time. I guess being able to get a general preview of what you wanted helped a lot, though,” Karlene smiled.

“Hold on, before he can do that, his parents need to know and give their permission,” X noted. “He is still a minor, after all.”

Oh. Right. His parents. Now Orion felt nervous again. What would they think of him transitioning to become non-binary or even intersex if possible…?

❖

Iris couldn’t be more delighted for Artemis and Orion, for them both fusing and for the latter seemingly having figured out his gender identity.

“Hey, Iris…” Her attention was drawn by Artemis getting up and coming over to Iris… Extending her hand with a curtsy, “may I have this dance?”

It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Especially with Colonel prodding her to respond a bit more mischievously than she would’ve otherwise. But then again… Artemis was fun to tease, and just adorable when flustered.

Iris smiled, taking Artemis’ hand and pulling her close, taking her other hand, “my my, Artemis, skipping to third base already? You’re awfully impatient with romance. Is my body too alluring for you?”

She immediately got cold feet when she saw the colour drain from Artemis’ face and the guffawing from the usual suspects around them. Iris panicked on the spot. “I-I’m sorry! Was that too much? I was only going to-”

Artemis recovered her composure, and gave her a seductive look. “Hey, I’m not gonna complain about being ‘inside you’, babe~”

And now it was Iris’ turn to want to die due to the sheer embarrassment. “Touche. Um… I’d love to try fusing with you, Artemis.”

“Okay!” Artemis brought them over to the pool, and as they stood in it, “uh, how are we gonna do this, then? Calamari Inkantation, or-”

“I’m used to more classical dancing. Just follow my lead,” Iris smiled, bringing their hands and arms together for a classical ballroom waltz, something she was well-versed in. Artemis had no experience with it, so it was on Iris to coach her. “Back… Left… Forward…”

Ayane had turned on some more classical music, to fit the mood of the dance.

“I’m not used to dancing all fancy-like,” Artemis blushed, moving with Iris with each step.

“Practice makes perfect,” Iris chuckled, “you’re doing just fine so far…”

As the music hit a high point, Iris extended Artemis outwards while still holding her hand (nearly causing the Inkling to lose her balance) and then brought her back in, bringing her close for a kiss, which Artemis reciprocated. And then their bodies melded in a surge of ink.

What emerged from the pool was both Iris and Artemis, and yet not at the same time. The nameless fusion did a twirl as they looked in the mirror Iris had set down - a hybrid of Inkling and Octoling features, one eye green and one blue. Her Hero Suit had elements of the classical Octoling Armour. She was at least eight feet tall - she swore a third of the mass went to her height, the second third went to her muscles, and the third went to those places, which embarrassed the part of her that was Iris but excited the part of her that was Artemis. “Wow, this is so unreal…”

“Thinking of a name for you is a bit tricky… Hmm…” X rubbed his chin, “I think I might have one… Artris?”

“It works,” Artris smiled. She noticed Liam and Koji were staring, and smirked, shaking her hips, “like what you see, boys~?”

Both of them were snapped out of their stupor, stammering out excuses while being red as tomatoes. Cod, Artris felt so confident. She felt like she could feel like this all the time - it was like she was more than the sum of her parts.

“Whoa… How’re you feeling?” Orion asked.

“Like a million bucks, little bro,” Artris grinned.

❖

Ethan noticed someone else arrive in the arena - Ciel, with Merga at her side, the pair each carrying what looked like an arm-mounted device. Ciel noticed the fusion, and smiled, “oh, you’re managing to figure out how to fuse! Marvellous!”

“Yo, Ciel! Yeah, this is fresh!” Artris laughed, doing a backflip on the spot. “Seriously, this is super mega special awesome!”

“Good to hear, just make sure X records data so he can show to Professor Gaudile,” Ciel smiled, turning to Ethan and Ayane, “I’ve cooked something up for you two that might help you catch up with the phantom thief. They’re grappling hook devices I whipped up after examining the bionic arm Ayane’s team brought back. Would you like to test them out?”

Ethan looked them over - they definitely looked the part, though the ‘hook’ part looked more like some kind of sponge. “You sure these’ll work as grappling hooks?”

“No worse than the Zipcaster the thief uses. If anything, you won’t have to worry about whether it’ll find a grip or not,” said Merga, demonstrating hers on a nearby wall - the hook attached to the wall almost like some kind of suction cup. “They’ll stick firmly to almost any surface, and will easily hold your weight. The rope can become fully rigid or flexible.”

Ayane took the other one from Ciel, put it on the back of her arm, just next to her wrist, and aimed, firing it off at the wall. When it attached, she pressed the pull button, causing her to zip right over to the other end, where she was able to get the ‘hook’ to pop off the wall with only a circle of ink left behind. “Okay, this’ll definitely come in handy.”

“Alright, let’s re-assemble the layout so we can practice with these things while the juniors have their fun figuring out how to fuse,” Ethan chuckled.

❖

Unfortunately as night began to fall, so did rain. And Ethan had neglected to bring an umbrella to the training venue today, meaning he was dashing between cover on the way to the station. That wasn’t great.

Fortunately he found some reprieve when he finally reached the station and got on the train. It felt a bit lonely, travelling home like this.

Though he wasn’t lonely for long, as he spotted a familiar face as he looked for a seat - Marino was sitting by herself on one of the longer train seats. He smiled, sitting by her, “surprised to see you here, babe.”

Marino blinked, and then chuckled, kissing him on the cheek, “likewise, but I’m not complaining. What’s up?”

“The juniors were practising how to do fusions. Only Artemis, Orion, Iris and Axl managed to figure it out so far. Ayane and I didn’t join in,” Ethan chuckled, kissing her back.

“Fusions? I heard about ‘Leviathan’ but I thought that was a special case,” Marino blinked. “Is it really possible?”

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Ethan nodded. “It’s pretty incredible. I guess you’re coming home from a photo shoot?”

Marino chuckled, “yeah, had to travel a bit further than usual, but it went pretty well.”

“Nice. Do they usually go well?”

“Yeah, but like all things sometimes you get amateurs who don’t really know what they’re doing. I don’t get the ability to step in and make suggestions as much as I’d like.”

“Speaking of things not going as well as they should…” Ethan decided he needed to bring up this particular topic with her. “You heard of the phantom thief going around?”

“The one robbing ethically bankrupt corporations? Yeah, I’ve heard of them.”

“Well, Ayane and I want to catch them. We have reason to believe they’re an Octoling. Marina and Ciel think they’re using a prototype special developed by the Octarians.”

Marino’s eyes widened. “Oh, I see. But they’re not really doing any harm to anyone who doesn’t deserve it, so… Why go after them?”

Ethan sighed. He knew this wasn’t going to be an easy discussion. “Because if they get caught by the authorities and word gets out that an Octoling was behind the thefts… It might cause problems for Inkling/Octarian relations.”

Ethan could see the realisation dawning in Marino’s eyes. “Oh. I see what you mean. That… That could be a problem.”

“Yeah. We don’t really want to bring them in, we just want to get them to stop. What they’re doing is too risky. I know they probably have good intentions, but if something goes wrong, it could go catastrophically wrong.”

Marino looked out the window, which was being splattered with rain. Ethan could tell she was torn about this. “I… I hope you catch her and get her to stop, I suppose.” He suspected she wasn’t being totally honest about that. “It’s gonna be hard, though.”

“Eh, I think we’re confident,” Ethan grinned. “If I could beat you… You got any ideas on who it could be?”

Marino shrugged, turning her head back towards him. “Not a clue. Could be any of my old comrades.”

They made small talk until the train came up to Ethan’s station. Before he got off his seat, Marino gave him another kiss. “I’ll see you at our next date, then, if not sooner?”

“Sure, sounds good. Seeya,” Ethan smiled, kissing her back before getting up, and then departing the train.

As he walked down the station steps, he groaned. What was going to come next was going to be hard. He just hoped his suspicions were wrong.

Soon, he got back to his apartment, and settled down for the evening. But only a few hours later, he got a text message.

She contacted me tonight. She wants to hit Tau Enterprises. Beyond that, it’s up to you. - Spider

He texted back. Gotcha. We’ll catch her.

Soon, Ayane texted him. Looks like we’re skipping training tomorrow to stake out Tau. You in?

Ethan took a deep breath, but kept texting. Yeah. I’m in. Let’s do this.