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Lucas Splattington was your average, everyday inkling. His friends would describe him as kind, funny, cool, and overall radiates lovable goofball energy! He first moved to Inkopolis Square when he was about 18, the summer after graduating high school, with the goals of finding a good job, meeting new people, experiencing new… experiences, and having fun and enjoying life. Now he was almost 19, and he’d grown to love the city. That’s saying a lot because he lov3: a lot of things!
He loved his family (of course), his friends, ink battles, video games, and he loves music! Fun fact, he was inspired by all the hottest bands in Inkopolis, from Ink Theory to Chirpy Chips. Their songs got him to get more into music, and even occasionally write his own songs. Sometimes he would just be in his room, playing his keyboard, either learning other people’s songs or coming up with his own melodieses, being sure to document anything he though sounded great. He wasn’t interested in a music career, so he just makes music as a hobby.
His #1 choice for a career when he graduated high school was game design. At the time he worked part-time at Ancho-V Games as an intern. He didn’t do too much but so far it was enough for him to get money and be happy. Yeah, he programs. He’s kind of a computer geek, and basically a huge nerd, but he’s not as introverted as that would make him seem. He genuinely enjoys hanging out with friends and meeting new people, but he doesn’t mind chilling by himself.
He also studies humans, the highly-advanced species that went extinct 12,000 years ago. Sometimes he would nerd out and share a bunch of facts that he would learn. He could be annoying at times, but his friends still liked him a lot. He also enjoys shopping for new gear and weapons for him to show off his style, even though he typically wear the same outfit every day.
His looks were relatively average. He had greenish-grayish eyes and orange-ish skin. He was a bit taller than the average inkling, about 175 centimeters. His go-to outfit was a Squidvader Cap, a Takoroka Nylon Vintage, and a pair of Orange Arrows. His eyes may be an ordinary color, but there was something about them that made it so different. His eyes had a sort of triangle-shaped sparkle in the corner. This special sparkle came from his mother, who was part firefly squid. One would expect him to be short since he came from such a small species of squid, but thanks to his dad being a Humboldt squid, he was actually taller than the average inkling!
Okay, what else... um, oh! Let me tell you his stats! He's a level 36 (at the time when this was first written) and his highest rank is A- (he's good but not THAT good). He also takes Salmon Run very seriously but still tries to have fun. After all, he IS a profreshional.
Now, there's two more things you need to know about him. Okay, don't tell anyone, but he was Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon! Well, not YET at least. He doesn’t get recruited until a little later, but we’ll get to that. The final thing you need to know is that he had this HUUUUGE crush on a certain celebrity.He’d always had the hots towards Marina, one of the members of Off the Hook, Inkopolis Square’s famous pop duo, and it wasn’t much of a surprise. It was near impossible to find someone who didn’t think she was even a little attractive. Whether it was her pretty face, her heavenly voice, or her gorgeous outfits. Whatever the reason, everyone loved her, not just for her looks, but for her fun and loving personality. Yep, everyone loved her... especially Lucas. The first time he saw her, he immediately fell in love, his hearts pounding with passion. Every day after that, he would walk by the window, wave to her (and Pearl, the other member of the duo), and they would always wave back. He would get so flustered around her sometimes to the point where he could hardly talk. He’d get this tight feeling in his chest, as if all his love for her was about to bust out of it like a burst bomb. He was aware, however, of the possibility that he may never get together with her, especially whenever Marina was already in a relationship, but she still remained #1 on his crush list.Now let me tell you how they first met. It’s a funny story, actually! It was a week since Lucas first moved to the place. He was on his way to Ye Old Clothe Shoppe since he was finally fresh enough for a new shirt when he was interrupted by the sound of screaming fans. He went over to see a group of inklings jumping up and down, who seemed to be surrounding something. Lucas moved closer to see that they were surrounding Pearl and Marina, begging for autographs.He was star struck at the sight of Marina, who held up her hands in a "hold up" sort of manner and said, "We'll get everyone's autographs!" There were only 10 people in the crowd (including Lucas), so it would be quick. Pearl and Marina sat at a nearby table, and the inklings all formed a line, with Lucas in the back. When he finally reached the table, he could barely move, he was so anxious, but not anxious enough to not talk. "H-Hi," he said, holding out a piece of paper, his hands a bit shaky and sweaty. He gulped, which hardly helped to moisten is bone-dry throat, and continued, "C-Can I have your autograph?""Sure," said Pearl and Marina simultaneously, and they signed the paper, quickly and smoothly with pens matching their color. When they were done, Lucas sighed and smiled and said, "T-Thanks!" He walked back, and when he was out of their sight, he yelled to himself! "Ah, stupid stupid stupid! Pull yourself together man! You can't just stutter like that, you'll seem like a weirdo! Alright... just calm down, you'll do better next time. At least you got an autograph-" it was just then when he realized he had successfully gotten an autograph. ”Holy shit I GOT AN AUTOGRAPH!” he said. He couldn't be happier. He didn't notice, however, the two girls talking about him behind his back."Pfff," said Pearl, rolling her eyes, "what a weirdo!""Oh be quiet!" said Marina, "he was just a little nervous. I mean we can’t blame him, he’s clearly new here. He seems like a nice guy, actually...”This was about 38 weeks ago, though, back when the band was really starting to get popular. He would still see them often in the Square. Sometimes, the girls would go out again, but in their casual outfits (or their “octo expansion” outfits for you normies, lol), or even in disguises. Lucas was able to recognize them though, but he'd never interact with them, especially around other people, because he wouldn’t want to embarrass himself if he said something stupid.Still, he enjoyed seeing the girls around.!He'd be a bit disappointed when he doesn't see Marina in her original outfit, but he liked her all the same, no matter what. Even during that one time when he was on an Agent 4 mission where he first encountered Octolings.He told Marie (AKA Agent 2) that he saw they had suction-cups on the outside of their hair instead of the inside, and that Marina had that same thing. Marie told him that it was because Marina was an Octoling. Lucas was shocked to hear this. He thought, "Why would they let an Octoling into Inkopolis Square?! I just don't understand!" Marie was able to explain to him that Marina became good and came to the surface to live in peace and harmony with the inklings, and that no one knows she's an Octoling (though they had to keep it secret!). Lucas didn't care what Marina was, he still liked her a lot.He was absolutely thrilled when he heard there was a job opening for a roadie for Off the Hook. He would help to transport band equipment wherever they would have a performance. It had good pay, and Lucas was strong enough to lift the gear. He has a membership at Musselforge Fitness and he worked out there 2 times a week. It really pays off. His roadie shifts were really the only opportunities he had to actually talk to the girls. Eventually, he became friends with them, and was able to get the nerves to talk to them normally without being too awkward, but he'd still get a little nervous around Marina. Sometimes some fans would come backstage and annoy Pearl and Marina when they were simply trying to relax, but Lucas was able to be their "bodyguard" and keep them away. Let me tell you about one time when that happened...It was the intermission of the show in the Inkopolis Amphitheater. Backstage, Lucas was helping to move some speakers. He was wearing a small headset, a leather jacket with the word "ROADIE" on the back, a name tag on the front, and a pair of slick black tennis shoes. After he moved what he needed to, he saw Pearl and Marina. He took a deep breath, straightened his jacket and went over to talk to them. "Hello," he said awkwardly. The two girls stopped talking and looked at him."Hi," they said at the same time."You must be one of our new roadies. I don’t think we’ve met before,” said Marina.“Oh, well I'm Lucas," he said. He didn’t have a name tag or anything, so this was one thing he couldn’t avoid saying“Sup!” said Pearl, nodding her head once. “Wait, I feel like I know ya from somewhere... Gah but where?!""Oh!” Lucas wasn’t expecting the girls to actually have a single memory of him. “Um, you probably don't remember me, but I… I got an autograph from you that one time"It hit Marina, "Oh yeah!" she said, "I remember you now!" Lucas smiled. His crush actually remembered he existed! "Yeah," said Pearl, "you were the kid who was super nervous.”“Pearliiiie! Don’t embarrass him like that,” said Marina, angry at Pearl’s rudeness.“Hey I wasn’t trying to!” said Pearl, pointing her palms towards the ceiling.“No, she’s right. I was super nervous, but at least I got that autograph. I’m… really a huge fan of you guys. I love your music.”“Doesn’t everyone? Ha ha! But thanks.”“Yeah thanks, we’re glad to hear that!” said Marina He was relieved that he could finally have a conversation with the girls. He was still pretty nervous, but he was doing better.Suddenly there was a sound of something banging on a door. Lucas and the girls looked over to the left to see a jellyfish bodyguard struggling to hold down a door that was being pushed on by fans who were trying to get in the backstage. The jellyfish failed to hold the door any longer and it swung open. The fans came through and started screaming while running towards the table where Pearl and Marina were sitting. The two girls stared in fear, and put their hands in front of them as to fend off the crowd, until Lucas turned around and put his hands out and blocked them. They tried to get passed him but failed, since a couple more bodyguards ran in and helped to block the crowd. "Sorry," he said sternly, "you can't get any closer. You're not allowed back here without passes, now please leave!"The crowd aww-ed in disappointment and went back out the door. "That's right," said the jellyfish bodyguard by the door, "Move along people!""Wow," said Lucas, putting his hands down, "can’t believe that worked.""Oh my cod, thank you, Lucas!" said Marina."Yeah thanks," said Pearl, "There was no way we coulda survived that!"“Oh, y-you’re welcome!,” he said.“Hey,” said Marina, “you should come hang out with us at the after-concert party tonight! Whadaya say?"Lucas froze when she said this. Hang out, and possibly be friends, with the two members of Off the Hook?! It was a dream come true! He unfroze and tried to look normal. "Yeah... I’d love to!" he said. Everyone smiled.
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After some concerts, the girls and the whole crew would go over to places and party. Most times, it would just be at a restaurant, reserved for the whole crew. After Splatfests, there would be late night parties that might last till sunrise! These were all times where Lucas would have the opportunity to talk to Marina.When that concert mentioned in the last chapter ended, everyone moved all the equipment back to the trucks, then everyone just chatted until it was time to head out to the party. Marina was sitting down on a sofa, scrolling through social media on her phone, in the VIP area where most of the crew was hanging out. Lucas was there, staring at her with love in his glowing eyes. That was until his jellyfish friend, Jerry, interrupted him. Jerry was always a big help to Lucas. He showed him the ropes when he first started becoming a roadie and is always by his side (when working as roadies). He was also very supportive of Lucas.“Hey what’s up?” he asked Lucas with a bubbly attitude.“Oh, hi Jerry!” he replied, snapping out of la-la-land.“Excited for the after party? I know I am!” Jerry jiggled with delight.“Yeah, I’ve never been. I hope they’re as good as they sound.”“Oh they’re great! You can socialize, eat all the junk you want, and even talk to the girls themselves!”“Uh-huh…”“Speaking of which, I saw what you did back there, with the mob of fans. Great job! We’re lucky to have inklings like you to hold back the eagerest of fans.”“Thanks! I don’t know how I did it, but I did. Plus I got to talk to the girls, which was great, but I think I was still really nervous.”“Hey buddy, just be yourself. I know talking to famous people can be nerve-wracking, but you got to face your fears,” Jerry then noticed Marina on the couch. “Hey look, Marina’s right over there!”“Yeah. I was just about to go over there and talk, well, try to talk to her.”“Haha, Yeah. And I know you’re nervous also because you’ve got a wicked crush on her-”“SHHH not out loud!”“Calm down,” said Jerry, lifting his tentacles in exaggerated surrender. “I wasn’t talking that loudly! Just go over by her and chat. Get to know her more.”Lucas took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m going”“You got this, bud!”Lucas slowly walked over to Marina, his head starting to drip with inky sweat. His hearts pounded like the drums in one of those songs that plays in Salmon Run. Marina suddenly noticed him and waved to him. “Oh, hi Lucas!” He awkwardly smiled and waved back. He couldn’t seem to calm himself down. Marina put her phone down and patted the spot on the couch next to her, “Come here, let’s talk a little.” Lucas gulped, and he carefully sat down on the couch, his body shaking a bit. He hadn’t been this close to Marina before, or had ever talked to her alone. To his relief, Marina started the conversation. “So, um, thanks again for, protecting us from those fans.”“N-no problem...”“Tell me a little about yourself, I’m interested in getting to know you. It’s kinda hard to make friends when you’re famous, especially with inklings,” she giggled, and Lucas blushed, forgetting how adorable her laugh was, “So when did you start being a roadie?”“Like… a few weeks ago.”“Cool! Are you enjoying it?”“Yeah, for sure! I-I mean I get to go to these concerts for free, and see you guys up close... n-not in a weird way!” You a fan of our music?”“Yeah, I think you guys are really talented.”“Aww thanks!” Marina folder her hands in appreciation.“So, which of you does more work?”“Well, we both work really hard on our music, but I guess I technically do more work, since I edit the music, synthesize sounds, all of that.”“Oh, okay…” Lucas regretted asking that question, he realized it was a bit rude. “Sorry.”“It’s fine. We both still put a lot of effort into our songs. We don’t have very many songs right now, but we’re totally going to make more.”“Great to hear!”“How old are you, Lucas? Just wondering.”“Oh I’m 18, and you?”“Same here.”“That’s cool, we’re both the same age! What month?””October. I turn 19 this year, actually. And you?”“June, so I just recently turned 18.”“Sweet! How does it feel to be a legal adult?”“Pretty good, actually! You know I wasn’t expecting you to be almost a year older than me.”“Are you calling me old?”“What?! No no no I-I just meant-”“I’m just kidding!” she laughed. Lucas laughed too, realizing it was a joke.“Heh, sorry, I’m not one to always take a joke.”“Yeah, I’ve been there.”Suddenly, Pearl came into the room and cake for Marina. “Yo, Marina! We gotta go!” she said.“Oh, okay, I’m coming! One sec.” she said to Pearl, then she turned to Lucas, “it was nice to meet you.~” She held out her hand, and Lucas shook it, hoping it wasn’t sweaty. “You’re comin’ to the party, right?”“Yeah, I’ll be there.”“Awesome! See you later, Lucas.~”“Bye!~”As Marina walked away, Lucas went back to the trucks to go to the party. He smiled. He finally got to talk to Marina, and couldn’t wait to start doing it more often.Everyone left the Amphitheater on the way to the restaurant where the party was. Marina drove her motorcycle, with Pearl in the side car. Pearl did have her own car, but she didn’t use it often. “Were you talking to that inkling kid we met earlier?” she asked her bandmate.“He’s not a kid, he’s 18, but yes.”“Ooooh you were flirting with him then, weren’t you?” Pearl squinted her eyes smugly.Marina groaned in annoyance. “Oh shut up! You know I’m already taken.”“Yeah yeah…” At the time, Marina already had a significant other, but that relationship didn’t last too long. “So what did you two talk about?”“Ourselves, mostly. So it turns out he’s only started just over a week ago.”“Ah, well he ain’t doin’ so bad for a rookie. He’s still seems like a weirdo, though.”“He’s not even that weird, I don’t think. We don’t even know that much about him.”“Then let’s talk to him some more.”“Yeah, of course.” After that, they went to the party. The girls started to socialize with Lucas a bit more over time, at each party and concert and everything. Lucas was glad he was really getting to know the girls, especially Marina. Lucas loved absolutely everything about her, and his love grew with each new thing he learned.At the Square, He would always check in on the daily news, and crack up whenever Marina roasts Pearl (and vice versa, though he didn’t like seeing his crush get roasted, as much). As a roadie, he would prepare and attend Splatfests every chance he could (prepare as in help set up the stage), and just party all night, listening to Color Pulse on repeat, watching the girls dance (guess which one he watched the most? Lol!), and inking as much ground as he can in the turf wars. He was a really great guy to have around. You could say he’s an introverted extrovert. He enjoys his alone time, but he always makes sure to spend time with his friends. His never stopped having feelings towards his favorite Octoling, but he had yet to figure out that soon, she would have a crush on him, too! (WOOOAH!)The night when she first started getting a crush of him, she was at a restaurant for an after-concert party. Lucas went over to sit with the girls at a booth. They greeted each other normally, but Marina let out a weak “Hey…” and rested her head on her fist, looking down at the table. Lucas noticed immediately she was upset, and though he was a bit conflicted with whether or not he should talk to her about it, he decided he would.“Are you alright, Marina?” he asked with concern.“Huh? Oh y-yeah I’m… fine. Well... not really, actually. It’s just that…” she sighed, then continued, “My girlfriend and I broke up...” “Oh.” Lucas wasn’t expecting that. Although he was happy that Marina was single and he could have an opportunity to get with her, he hated to see her so sad, and wanted to show her some sympathy. “I’m… I’m really sorry to hear that. You still played a great concert tonight, though.”Marina looked up and smiled a little, nodding. “Thanks,” she said, before her smile turned back into a frown.Pearl patted her on the shoulder. “Yeah. It’s just been a tough day for her,” she said to Lucas.“I’m... guessing you don’t want to talk about how it happened?””Yeah, sorry,” said Marina. “It’s just gonna make me feel worse.””Right...” Marina looked at the table again. Lucas thought hard about what he could say to make her feel better. “I- I’ve never been in a relationship before, but I know how hard it must be for you.”Marina nodded again, then looked back up at Lucas, “Mmm hmm... I guess it’s even harder because, like, it’s the one thing I’m missing in my life. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I really love my life, my friends, my career, all that stuff, but I just need that last thing: Someone who I can truly love and who I can spend the rest of my life with...” Lucas’s hearts sank like anchors. He felt her pain. This was almost exactly how he felt about his own life. Pearl kinda felt the same way, too. She put her hand on top of her friend’s in an effort to comfort her more. Marina shook her head and looked away. “Sorry, I know that sounds really mushy...””No no it’s okay! I get it.” Lucas leaned forward a little and put his arms on the table. “Don’t worry, Marina. I know you’ll find the right person for you. There’s hundreds of people out there who would love to date you.” Marina sat up more and looked at Lucas. “I mean? Who wouldn’t want to date you? Y-you’re amazing!”Marina’s eyes lit up and she smiled. This was exactly what she needed to hear. “You think so?”Lucas scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed. “Well... yeah! You’re super talented too, and you put smiles of everyone’s face.”Marina’s smile grew bigger and bigger as Lucas kept saying this. In the end she laughed with glee, and Pearl laughed along with her. “Awwww, thank you SO much, Lucas!”“No problem. I’m just stating facts, I guess.”Marina folded her hands and tilted her head to to side a bit. “You... you just made my day!~””Bahhh no I didn’t!” Lucas shook his hand off, denying what she said.”Yes you diiid~!” Now everyone was chuckling.”Yeah, that’s what I’ve been tryina tell you, Rina!” said Pearl, patting Marina on the back. “You’re awesome, girl!””Thanks, Pearlie.~ I guess I just needed a second opinion.” Marina was significantly less upset about her recent breakup now. She couldn’t wipe her smile off her face. The rest of the night, the three of them just talked until Lucas had to go. Marina waved by and watched him exit the restaurant. As she watched, she rested her chin on her hand, cocked her head to the side a little, and smiled...When the party was over, Marina dropped Pearl off at her mansion on Mt. Nantai. The inkling hopped out of the side care and went around to hug Marina goodnight. “See ya tomorrow,” she said.”You too.””And hey, I know this breakup’s been tough, but just remember what we were saying back there. You’ll find someone, the right someone!””I know. Thanks.~” They stopped hugging, and Pearl went into her house as Marina rode away. Back at her apartment, she got ready for bed, but couldn’t seem to sleep. She just laid in her bed, eyes wide open, hugging her Pearl pillow, her mind wandering about Lucas.
Do I really like him?” she thought to herself. She shook her head suddenly. “Don’t be ridiculous, Marina! You literally just had a breakup!! You can’t start crushing on someone right away!” She rolled over so she was facing the other direction. “Well... why not? I mean, I should move on, right? And I’ve known Lucas for a while! We seem compatible enough. We like some of the same stuff, and he’s actually nice to talk to, even if I don’t talk to him daily. He… seems like a really great person! He’s sweet, he’s funny, and he’s a bit quirky and awkward, but... in a charming and adorable way... He’s actually pretty cute himself.~” Marina started to smile. “And he seems really caring and understanding too, like... he’s the kind of person who will be there for me when needed most!...” Marina giggled, and hugged her pillow, completely flustered. “Ohhhh... I’m crushing on him...~” She fell asleep with a passionate smile.
Ever since that day, Marina would be even more excited to get to talk to Lucas. She would even start to show signs of crushing: talking in a higher voice, looking away when Lucas looks at her, and laughing more when he talks. However, poor oblivious Lucas missed all of these signs, but he still retained his own crush.Marina was never entirely aware that Lucas had a crush on her. She just thought he was nervous to talk to her because she was famous and because he’s a bit awkward. Pearl still had a feeling that Lucas had a crush on her, but never mentioned it to Marina, because she didn’t think she was crushing on him in return… until now!
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It was Monday morning. Lucas woke up, feeling refreshed and happy. Those two dates he had with Marina were unforgettable. He couldn't stop thinking about them. Anyways he got dressed and came out of his room to eat breakfast. Henry was already in the kitchen. He poured himself a bowl of Frosted Webern Flakes, and Henry did the same."I'm proud of you dude!" said Henry."Oh thanks," said Lucas with a mouthful of cereal."You planning on going out with her again?""Yeah maybe, I was thinking of inviting her over here.""Oh, really?""Yeah, if that's okay with you..""Yeah, it's totally fine! I can get out of the place so that you two can be alone.""Oh, well thanks, bro!" After breakfast, the two went down to the Square to do some ink battles.Meanwhile, Pearl and Marina were in the booth talking. "He's such a great guy Pearl! I like him a lot!" said Marina. She couldn't stop thinking about the dates she went on, she was actually starting to fall in love with Lucas (oooooh!)."Yeah, he does sound great," said Pearl, "you're going to go out with him more, right?""Well, I remember him saying that I could come over to his place sometime.""Oh boy... are you sure about that?""Yeah, why not? I'm sure his place will be fine!""I don't know, you two will be ALONE together, and I'm just worried that he’s gonna go for your... you know..." Pearl gestured her hands towards her bust."Wha- oh- PEARL! He's NOT going to go for my breasts!""How do you know that?""He’s really nice and I don't think he's just gonna go and do something like that. He likes me for me, and not just for my looks. I know he does!""Well, okay then. Yeah you’re right, I don’t think he’d go and do something like that, he does seem pretty nice.”"Thanks, Pearl!""Well, when are you going to his place?""I don't know, I'll have to text him and find out."Marina got her phone out and texted Lucas."Hi Lucas!""Oh hey Marina!""Those dates were fun weren't they?""Yes, they were! I'll never forget the time we spent!""Awww!~ Anyways, when would you like me to come over to your place.""I was thinking tomorrow night, maybe?""Yeah, sure! I have a day off on Wednesday, so maybe I could stay for the night?"Lucas was surprised. Marina wanted to sleep over at his place, that was absolutely perfect! He texted back. "Oh sure, you can stay for the night! But uhhh I think it’s too early for us to be sleeping together, so maybe I could let you sleep in one of the two beds at my place?””Oh haha it’s WAY too early for that! And yes that will do nicely.” Marina was relieved that Lucas was willing to take things slow. The last time things went too quickly in a relationship for her, it didn’t end well.”Cool! I just want you to feel comfortable.”Marina smiled. She loved how considerate he was. "Thank you. I'll bring some spare clothes and a toothbrush. Should I bring a blanket?""Yeah, you can bring a blanket and a pillow if you want.""Okay, thanks! So where you live?”Lucas sent Marina his address. “Floor 3, Room 315""Got it! I get off of work at 8, so I can be at your house at around 8:15, sound good?""Sounds perfect! I'll see you there!""Thanks, bye!""Bye!"Marina closed out her texting app. "It's settled, I'm going over to his place on Tuesday!""Yay!" said Pearl, "Don't forget to bring your Pearl pillow so that you don't forget about me!""Aww, don't worry, I won't forget it!" The two girls hugged each other. Just then, Lucas saw them through the window. He waved to them. The two girls quickly stopped hugging and waved back. Lucas laughed, and he made his way to the lobby. Marina blushed. She just couldn’t wait.Tuesday finally came. The cameraman let the girls go at 7:00, as planned. Pearl hugged Marina goodbye.”Hey, have fun tonight, okay?” said Pearl.”I will,” replied Marina. “Ohhh I just can’t wait.””And I cant wait to here who makes the first move, heh heh!””Oh you! I’ll see you tomorrow morning, bye!””Bye!”Marina went home, packed her things, and drive to Lucas’ place on her motorcycle.When she got there, she stared at the building for a few seconds. It was very big, with shining blue walls and bright lights. "Angelfish Apartments," She said (that was the name of the building) to herself, "I can't wait to hang out with Lucas!" She grabbed her bag and made her way towards the building. She went through the entrance and up to the main desk."Hello," said the jellyfish working at the desk, "can I help you, ma'am?""Yes, I'm, uh, looking for Room 315.""Okay then, it's up on the third floor at the far right of the building.""Thank you!" said Marina. She went over to the elevator at the center of the lobby, went inside and pressed the "3" button. The elevator went up and stopped when it reached the floor. She then walked down the right hallway and stopped when she reached the room. She knocked on the door and wasn't surprised to see who answered it."Heyyy, Marina!" said Lucas, with a huge smile on his face."Lucas!" said Marina. They both went up and hugged each other. "I'm so happy to see you!""Me too! Why don't you come inside?"Marina didn't hesitate. She went inside and took her boots off (because they were unzipped, they could just slip off easily), and her headphones off, revealing curved ears. She looked around the place. It wasn't perfect, but it was still pretty nice. The walls were a pale blue color, and the ceiling too. The room you first enter is the living room. There was a TV and gaming system on the left wall, and a couch in the right. Up ahead was the kitchen. You enter on the right side, while the left side was a wall, with a large rectangular hole in it that you can see through (I don't know what they're called!)"You have a nice place here!" said Marina."Thanks," replies Lucas, "I mean, it's not luxurious or anything, but it's a pretty cozy place." Just then, Henry came up from behind the wall in the kitchen and could be seen through the large hole."Is this the plus one?" he asked. Lucas and Marina were startled to see him suddenly pop up, but they laughed after."Hello there," Marina said to Henry.Henry walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. Lucas walked up next to him."Marina," he said, "this is my roommate and best friend, Henry!""Nice to meet you," said Henry. He reached his hand out to Marina and they shook hands.“You too," said Marina."Now, I'm going to go to a party at Sam's place (Sam was another friend of Lucas and Henry's). I'll let you guys be alone for a bit. See you later! Have fun!"Sam became friends with Lucas and Henry a few months ago, about a day after the news announcement that “inklings with new haircuts” were appearing in Inkopolis. He had pale white skin and bright green eyes. His go-to outfit was a pair of Octoglasses, a Varsity Jacket, and a pair of Red Hi-Tops. The thing about him, though, was that he was a male Octoling! Lucas didn't have a problem with it, though, because he knew the whole thing about the Calamari Inkantation making Octolings turn good, Marie told him everything. He didn’t talk about it though. He became good friends with Sam, he was really friendly! Okay, back to the story!"Okay, Bye!" said Lucas. Henry waved back, took the room key and went out the door. "Ah, now we have the whole place to ourselves!""Yay," said Marina, hugging him again.Lucas smiled. "Now, I'm going to go out some comfortable clothes on, you can wait on the couch if you like. I'll be right back!""Okay!"Lucas went into his room and slipped on fresh underwear, a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt. After that, he came out and sat on the couch next to Marina. She looked at him and noticed that he had a bit of muscle on his arms."Wow, you're arms are jacked!" she said, blushing a bit."Oh, you think so? Thanks!" said Lucas, blushing a little, "I work out at Musselforge, about twice a week. It's hard work but it totally pays off!"“I can see that!" Marina read he's out for his arm, "Um, c-can I?""Oh, sure! said Lucas. He flexed his bicep and Marina felt it. They both blushed."Solid!" she said."Yeah, I guess it is..." said Lucas. Lucas wasn’t like SUPER jacked, he was strong enough that you could see the veins on his arms and legs (stop saying he’s a Gary-Stu, he’s not!). “You’re pretty muscular yourself!””You think so?””Yeah, your arms are pretty bulky actually.””Thanks, but I’m not like, SUPER strong. I haven’t worked out in a while.””It’s okay. You’re muscles still stayed.” Lucas poked her biceps a little, and she giggled.There were a few things I wanted to ask you on our date on Tuesday, but I was a little nervous to do so. Can I ask you them now?""Go ahead! You don't have to be nervous, it's just you and me!"This made Lucas feel more confident. "Okay then. This one’s a little random." he said. He looked down at Marina's stomach. "Your belly button piercing. When did you get it?""Oh this," Marina pointed to it, "I got it after Pearl and I released our first album. Thought it was cute.""I see," said Lucas. "Yeah," he said, "Wait before I get to the next question, I feel like I should show you around the place. Would you like a tour or something?""I'd love a tour!"The two got off the couch and Lucas showed her around. They walked into the kitchen."This is the kitchen," He said, "if you hungry, you can help yourself to anything in the fridge.""Oh, I'm fine!" Marina lied. She didn't eat anything before leaving and was a little hungry, but she just wanted to spend time with Lucas. Lucas then showed Marina over to his bedroom."This is my room," said Lucas, "sorry if it's messy.""Oh no, it's fine! My room is like way messier than this!" The two laughed. Marina looked at his bed and noticed he had a Marina pillow. "Is that a Marina pillow?!" she said.Lucas looked over to his bed and picked up the pillow. "Yeah!" He said, "I saw this at a store and I couldn't help myself, I HAD to buy one!""That is so sweet! Pearl has a pillow just like that!""Really?""Yep, and, hold on!" She went over to the living room where she put her bag. She unzipped it and took out the Pearl pillow. She brought it back to the room to show Lucas."You have a Pearl pillow?! That's adorable!" He said."Yeah, I usually bring it with me when I go somewhere without Pearl." She hugged it tightly, "it like she's always here!""Awwwww, that's so sweet! You two really ARE great friends, aren't you?""Yeah, we are!""She's lucky to have a great friend like you!""Aww-w-www, thanks!” She widely "Cool, so what other weapons do you have."Lucas then showed her over to a closet in his room. He opened the door and it was filled with weapons. "All of them!" He said.The two laughed, Marina was in awe to see a whole closet full of weapons. She had one herself, but not as big as Lucas'!"Wow, this is insane!" she said, "Do you have the Octobrush?" Lucas dug through his closet and pulled out his Octobrush. "Nice! What about the Splat Brella?" Lucas pulled that one out from the bottom of the closet. "Awesome! Those are my two favorite weapons! Anything else you want to show me?""Well, I do have a few rare weapons somewhere in this closet, hold on a sec!" Lucas climbed inside his closet and looked for the weapon. "Here it is!" he said. He came out of the room and showed Marina the weapon. "This is the Hero Shot Replica!""Woah! That looks amazing. I’ve never heard of a Hero Shot. Where did you get it?""Uhhhh..." Lucas froze. If she told Marina the truth, she would find out he was Agent 4, and he didn't want her to know. He feared that if she found out that his main job is to hunt Octarians, she wouldn't like him anymore. He had to come up with a lie. "Sheldon was able to get me one of these using his... nerd skills!"Marina laughed, "Yeah, he is kind of a nerd!""Yeah, but he's pretty nice once you get to know him. This weapon isn't much though. It's just a regular Splattershot with a new design.""It looks really cool though!""Yeah..." Lucas was so happy to see Marina so impressed. It warmed his hearts! He could already imagine spending the rest of his life with her if he can keep this up. "Anyways, I think I pretty much showed you everything. Except for Henry's room, but he doesn't want me to go in there when he's not around.""Oh, hehe, okay!"Lucas was a little unsure of what to say next, until thankfully, Marina’s eye caught something else that took her attention away from the Hero weapon: a book on Lucas’ nightstand. “Hey, whatcha reason there?””Huh? Oh it’s just a book about humans. I study humans, but not like, for a living, just for fun. They’re so fascinating!””Oh that’s so cool! Yeah they are fascinating. I don’t know too much about them, though. I know they have small skulls, so they probably weren’t very bright.””Thats actually a common misconception. Humans were actually the smartest creatures of their time. In fact, they used a lot of the stuff that we use today, just not as advanced as they are today?””Really?! That’s incredible! You’re so smart Lucas, you really are.””Thanks, that means a lot. They didn’t tell us much about humans in high school, but I was so interested in them that I got some books about them. I don’t read very often however, which is a problem, and it probably explains my bad vocabulary, heh heh.””Oh it’s okay. It’s still great that you decided to expand your knowledge on something that isn’t even that important to know, just like me?””Really?””Yeah, I learned a lot of extra stuff in school that I didn’t even need to know, but I went and learned it anyways.””Talk about dedication! No wonder your so good with machinery and stuff. I mean, I’ve never seen you use any but I’m sure you’re great at it.””Yeah I am, thanks! Lucas you’re such an interesting person!””Really? Nawwww I’m basically an average inkling.””Not really. You’re super unique and special in your own way, I like that!””Awwww thanks. So are you!””Thanks!” They both smiled brightly at eachother."Um... do you want to watch TV or a movie or something?""Sure! I’d love to!"The two walked back to the couch, and Lucas picked up the remote and searched for a movie. "You like comedies, right?" he asked."Oh, I LOVE comedies!""Okay then, I'll look for one for you." Lucas selected a movie and pressed "play" on the remote. He put the remote down and the movie started. He turned over to Marina. "I like your hair!""Oh, thanks!" she replied."It's very cool and unique! Does it ever get in the way?""Sometimes, but my hair is incredibly light, feel it!"Lucas reached out and felt Marina's hair. It was very soft and smooth and rubbery. He lifted it up, it almost felt like he was lifting air. "Wow, it’s pretty light!" Her hair tentacle started squirming in his hand. Lucas moved his hand back."Sorry," Marina said, "sometimes it has a mind of its own!""That's fine, it’s still really nice!"Marina giggled, "Cod, you are just SO kind!”Lucas smiled. Marina brushed her hair back behind her ear. “Your ears are nice too.” Marina’s smile faded a little, but not too much. Lucas noticed her ears, her octoling ears, and now she was a little worried. “They aren’t pointy like most inklings,” Lucas said, “they’re more... round and one of them is a little different than the other.”Marina said, “Uh, y-yeah. It’s just a genetic thing I was born with. One ear has a hole, the other doesn’t, they’re curved. Yeah, not a lot of... inklings have that sort of thing.”“Oh, well that’s fine, they’re still nice, they’re actually pretty cute, I just, never knew what they looked like behind your headphones because you wear them all the time.”Marina laughed a little, “Heh, yeah, and thanks. I guess they are cute but, not as cute as your little inkling ears!”They both giggled. Then the two sat back and watched the movie.The first 15 minutes passed. Lucas looked over at Marina. "Oh man," he thought to himself, "she looks so cozy! I just want to snuggle with her! I should scoot closer to her." He then scooted slightly to the right, and Marina scooted slightly to the left."Ohh, I just want to lay on his shoulder so badly!" she thought. She then scooted a little closer to Lucas until they were almost shoulder to shoulder. Lucas made the first move, and he slowly put his right arm around Marina’s shoulders."Oh my cod!" thought Marina. She was nervous to make the first move, but luckily Lucas already did. Marina then laid her head on Lucas’ right shoulder.“Yes!” Lucas thought. They both smiled and leaned their heads on each other. Nothing could ruin this moment...They laughed through the movie and just enjoyed the time they spent together. Lucas couldn't be happier. For once in his life he was confident enough to actually interact with Marina.After a while, Marina admitted to being hungry. Lucas said he was hungry too, and offered to make dinner."You'd do that?" she asked. She was expecting that they’d order pizza or something. No one has cooked for her in a while."Sure, why not? You’re my guest“Well thanks, that's really thoughtful of you."They both walked over to the kitchen. Marina sat in a chair by the dining table. "Sit tight Marina, it might be a while!" said Lucas from the other side of the room."Okay!" she replied, "I can wait!"Lucas spent the next few minutes cooking some food. He made some grilled chicken and mashed potatoes. He cut up the chicken and put it on a large platter. He then separated it onto two other, smaller plates. He also scooped out some mashed potatoes onto the plates. He got out two forks and put them on the plates. He put one of the plates done on the table in front of Marina. "Enjoy!" he said."Thanks so much!"He went to the fridge and got out two orange soda cans. He gave one to Marina. They both silently ate their dinner."Mmm," said Marina, "this is really good!""You think so?""Of course!""Well thanks!"”Yeah, you’re a good cook! I mean, I cook sometimes but usually I just make instant stuff, like ramen, ya know.””Heh, yeah.”They continued to sit and eat, and talk a little bit. Marina already finished her plate, and Lucas was shocked to see her plate empty. He only finished about half of his plate. "Wow, you must've been pretty hungry!" he said, "Do you want seconds or anything?""Yes please, thank you!"Lucas brought the platter over to Marina and gave her some more chicken. When they both finished their food and drinks, Lucas took the plates, put then in the sink, and then he got the two empty soda cans and threw them in a recycling bin. "Are you full?" he asked."Yeah, I'm a little full,” she replied."Well, I hope you saved room for dessert!"Lucas went to the fridge and prepared dessert. He got out a tub of vanilla ice cream, and ice cream scooper, and two small, fancy glass cups. He scooped some ice cream in each cup and went back to the fridge and got some chocolate syrup to put in the ice cream. He then pulled out two spoons and put them in the cups. He put everything else away and brought the cups over to the table. Marina gasped and smiled. "I know how much you love ice cream!" said Lucas."Oh thank you so much! I DO love ice cream!" Marina replied. The two are their ice cream and enjoyed every spoonful. When they were done, Lucas took the cups and put them in the sink."I'll wash them later," he said."That was really good," said Marina, "I'm going to go change now, where's the bathroom?""It's on the right of my bedroom door!" he said."Thanks!"Marina took her bag and went to the bathroom. She put on a bra, fresh underwear, a pink, cropped pajama shirt, and pajama shorts. She took out a blanket and her Pearl pillow, and put her other clothes in the bag. She came out of the bathroom and sat next to Lucas on the couch.———-The two were quiet for a few seconds. "Marina," Lucas asked, "why are you so adorable?"Marina turned her head around, "W-What?... hehe... well," she said, "why are YOU so adorable?!""Awwww!" he said, “I don’t know, I guess that’s just me.” The two of them then just watched TV and enjoyed every moment. After a while, Lucas fell asleep, his head laid against the side of the couch. Marina noticed and smiled. Then she moved closer up to Lucas’ face, and kissed him on the cheek. She picked up the blanket and put it over her and Lucas. She grabbed her Pearl pillow, laid back down on Lucas and fell asleep. Lucas smiled and put his arm around Marina (he wasn't entirely asleep)...It was about 10:00 when they both fell fast asleep. Henry just came back from the party. He opened the door to the apartment, went inside and closed it behind them. He saw that the TV was on, so he went to turn it off, but when he picked up the remote that was on the side of the couch, he looked and saw Lucas and Marina sleeping together. "Ooooh ho ho hooo!" He smirked. He took his phone out and snapped a quick photo. Then he turned the TV off and went to bed.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Lucas woke up the next morning. He felt stiff for some reason, then he realized that Marina was still sleeping on top of him. He gently shook her awake. "Hey, Marina! Wake up!" He said quietly.Marina's eyes adjusted to the light and she yawned. "Yeah?" She said tiredly."You're still on top of me!""Oh... sorry." Marina slowly got off of Lucas and stepped onto the floor. Lucas got up from the couch. He looked over into the kitchen."Why don't I make you some breakfast?" He asked."Okay!"Marina had to get to the studio just before 8 AM to do the first stage rotation, but by some miracle, she and Lucas woke up at around 6:45, which was plenty of time for them to eat breakfast, and for Marina to stop at her apartment to drop off her stuff.Lucas went and poured two bowls of Frosted Wyvern Flakes. "Thanks," said Marina, "this is my favorite cereal!""It's my favorite too!" Lucas walked to the fridge and got a jug of orange juice. He poured a glass for himself and Marina. They both ate their cereal and talked a bit more. "Did you have fun last night?" Lucas asked."Yeah," Marina replied, "it was fun hanging out with you!""Aww, that's good to hear. You know, if you ever have the time, you can come and visit any time!""Really? That sounds great! Is your roommate okay with that?""Maybe, speaking of which where is he? Oh, I think he's still asleep. I'll wake him up later.""Okay. Anyways today is my day off, we can spend all day together!""Oh yeah, I can't wait!""I'm probably gonna bring Pearl along if that's okay.""Yeah that's fine, Henry will probably want to join along too. Hey, maybe he and Pearl can meet up, I think they'll get along well!""You think so?""Yeah, I mean, they're both pretty cool.""Well, I don't know Henry very well, but Pearl is also really cool! Maybe they can get to know each other!""Yeah, and with them out of the way, we can have the whole day to ourselves!""Awesome!! So where should we all hang out?""Well, I think Wahoo World is open today. That could be a fun place to hang out!""Yeah, and maybe we can do some ink battles too!""Yeah! I can bring some friends along too, that would be fun!""I can't wait!"The two finished their cereal and juice and Lucas put them in the sink. Marina went into the bathroom, brushed her teeth and got dressed in her casual outfit. Lucas waited for her at the door. She picked up her packed bag and said, "I'm just going to drop this off at my house.""Okay," replied Lucas, "I'll meet you at the Shoal.""Alright then, bye!""Bye!"The two hugged eachother goodbye and Marina walked out the door. She was so excited to spend the day with Lucas. Lucas went into Henry's room and shook him awake."What?" He said sleepily."We're going to have fun today! You gotta eat something!"Marina made it back home. She sighed of happiness. She honestly really enjoyed the date, even after an embarrassing stomachache and everything else that happened. She decided she would video call Pearl and tell her all that happened. (Well, not ALL that happened!)Pearl answered the call and they greeted each other. "How was it?" she asked."Oh, it was great! He's super nice and very thoughtful!""Awesome, did you two snuggle?"Marina blushed, "Yes...""Oooooooh!""Oh be quiet!""Whatever... did things get awkward at all?””Yes but it was all okay. The awkward moments were brief. ”Oh good. So he ain’t bothering you in any way?”“Believe it or not, no. I still like him a lot. Anyways I'm going to unpack and get ready for our day off."”Okay then. Wait, what exactly are we doing today?""I’m going to hang out with Lucas and his friend, do some ink battles and then we’ll go to Wahoo World later together.""Oh... sounds fun." Pearl was disappointed."But of course," said Marina, "it wouldn't be entirely fun without you!""Wait, what are you saying?!""You're coming with us!""YAAAAAAY!!!!!!! Okay okay, I'm gonna get dressed.”Marina felt a little embarrassed, seeing as she video called Pearl when she was still in bed, and she didn’t sleep in pajamas last night. “Okay then, bye!””Later!”Marina hung up and got ready for work.Pearl and Marina made their way to the Shoal after they announced the first stage rotation, running from a few fans who wanted an autograph. When they got in, Lucas, Henry, and Sam were there waiting for them. Marina went up and hugged Lucas. "Hi, Lucas!" she said."Glad you could make it!" said Lucas, hugging her back."Well, I didn't want to miss out on today!"Sam looked at the two girls, wide-eyed. "Dude!" He said, "You didn't tell me you were bringing Off the Hook!""I wanted to keep it a surprise!" said Lucas.Despite being an octoling, Sam Octo (that's his last name) was pretty awesome (and good looking!). He had bright green eyes, peach skin, and he wore a pair of Octoglasses, a Varsity Jacket, and a pair of Red Hi Tops. He sometimes gets nervous around new people but it always happy to make new friends!Marina let go of Lucas, and he introduced everyone. "Marina, you know Henry." He said"Sup?!" said Henry."And this is my friend Sam.""H-hi there..." Sam said.Marina looked at him, realizing he was an Octoling. "A male octoling?" she thought, "You don't see that everyday! And he's friends with Lucas? Does he know he's an octoling? No, he'd probably flip if he found out! Or wait, does he know anything about the Octaria-"Pearl jabbed Marina in the side with her elbow."Pay attention!" she said."Oh sorry," said Marina, "Hi, Sam! Nice to meet you!" Sam smiled awkwardly and waved. "I think you all know Pearl," she continued."Hi, Pearl!" said Lucas. He held his hand out and Pearl high-fived it."Yo!""Pearl, these are my friends: Henry and Sam."They both said hi. Pearl stared at Henry and blushed a little, but then she got back to her senses, tried to look cool and said, "Hey!""Big fan of your music," Said Henry."Oh, thanks!"The jellyfish at the counter spoke up, "Um, so are you guys going to do something here or what?""Oh yeah, sorry," Said Lucas, "Private Battle for five please!""Alright then, write your names down here and you'll be good to go!"They all signed their names on the paper but realized there were only five people. It wouldn't be a fair match, but then, three more kids came in to fill up the remaining slots. After that, they all went to the battle stage.The battle was at New Albacore Hotel. (In the Lucas Splattington Universe, this stage came out BEFORE the events of Octo Expansion). It was Pink vs. Yellow. Lucas, Marina, and Sam were on the same team. Lucas had his New Squiffer, Marina had a Sorella Brella, and Sam had a Ballpoint Splatling. The other person on the team was a squid girl who had a Jet Squelcher. Pearl and Henry were on the opposite team. Pearl had Dark Tentra Dualies, and Henry had a Rapid Blaster Pro. The other people on their team were an octo girl with a Sloshing Machine Neo, and a squid boy with a Gold Dynamo Roller. Lucas and Marina were excited to be on the same team together. "Are you ready?" Asked Lucas."Readier than ever!" Said Marina. The battle was on!Lucas always starts out by inking the spawn area, and then gradually moving towards the center. Meanwhile, Pearl heads straight for the middle. Marina and Sam take the path on the left, inklings turf as they go along. Lucas takes the right path focusing on covering as much ground as possible. The inking girl on their team tries to cover up some missed spots and faraway spots in the middle. Henry makes paths of ink which his blaster to swim through quickly as he takes the left path. The octoling girl on their team covers up missed spots while heading towards the center, and the inkling boy rolls on the right path. All was going well until eventually, the teams met up.Lucas was able to use his baller, so he activated it and rolled towards an large un-inked area. The baller ink-sploded, then Lucas went around and kept inking turf until he saw the slosher girl coming up near the second bridge. Lucas climbed to the top of a nearby platform, patiently waited for her to get closer, and then BAM! A direct hit. "Yes!" He said as he covered some yellow with his pink ink. He didn't have much time though, because Henry was making his way across the bridge and he saw Lucas. Lucas quickly made a path of ink to swim across and try to escape from Henry as he started shooting at him. Lucas reached the end of his path and charged up a shot, but it was too late, and Henry splatted him. "Shouldn't have stood still, buddy," he said.Lucas respawned and covered some missed spots while moving towards the middle. Pearl spent most of her time moving quickly across the map and looking for opponents to splat. The squelcher girl came across the left bridge and tried to shoot at Pearl, but she dodge-rolled (or slid, technically you slide when using the dark tentra dualies) her way around her and splatted her. "BOOYAH!" She shouted, "HAHAHA!!! Who's next?!" She started shooting around in circles and didn't notice Sam, who was atop a platform, with his splatling at full charge. He released the charge, and at first it was in turfing mode, where it covered a small area of ink, but then it switched to ranged mode, where he was able to shoot at Pearl and splat her. Sam was so happy he flopped up and down in his octopus form.Meanwhile, Marina was moving across the map and inking turf with her brella, until the inkling boy with the Gold Dynamo Roller came by. She threw an Autobomb at him, but he was able to escape, and it exploded, nowhere close to him. He went up the ramp closest to him, around, and on top a platform. He activated his Ink Armor, then he jumped down and splatted Marina with a vertical swing when her back was turned. The jet squelcher girl respawned, came up to the roller boy, and started shooting. He tried to squash her with his roller but he was out of ink and got splatted. Lucas looked at the map and saw that Marina was splatted. "Dang it!" He said. He super jumped to where Sam was and covered more turf. Sam activated his Inkjet and flew around the map, firing at nearby opponents. He was only able to splat the Sloshing Machine girl before he launched back to his starting point.Lucas and Sam were in the middle of the map when they saw Henry, who jumped to a nearby platform, and started firing at them. Sam threw a Toxic Mist at Henry, and he was caught in it. His best move was to jump down from the platform in order to avoid the shots from Sam, who was now firing at him. However, when he reached the ground, Lucas had a charged shot and he splatted him. He high-fived Sam. Suddenly, the slosher girl came up from behind, after respawning and swimming back to the middle of the map, and started hurling spirals of ink at Lucas. He did his best to swim away, and then he threw an Autobomb and splatted her. Then he heard a large splash from behind him. He turned around to see that Sam was splatted by Pearl who used a Splashdown on him. "That's what you get!" She shouted. Then she caught sight of Lucas who's weapon was pointed at her. She swam away and Lucas chased after her. Pearl was at a dead end, and Lucas was right behind her. Pearl turned around and saw Lucas about to fire, but she slid away and threw an Autobomb at him.Its mechanical legs moved quickly as it ran towards Lucas, who had no choice but to run from it. After it missed him and exploded, he turned around and saw Pearl chasing after him. He was running low on ink, so he ran away. "Little help here!" He shouted. Suddenly, Marina super jumped to his position and protected him with her brella. "Marina!" Said Lucas."I got you!" Said Marina. She launched her canopy and Pearl tried to shoot at it, but then she stopped and rolled out of the way."No fair!" She said. Marina activated her Splat Bomb Launcher and started throwing bombs everywhere. Pearl was unable to escape and got splatted."Thanks for the help!" Said Lucas."No problem!" Said Marina. Suddenly a yellow Ink Storm appeared in the sky, which came from Henry. Lucas and Marina scattered.A minute left until the battle ended, and a lot was going on. So far the yellow team had covered more turf than the pink team. The pink team had to step their game up. Henry was getting slightly closer to the pink respawn area. He threw a Toxic Mist at Sam, who tried to shoot him but ran out of ink after being caught in the mist, so he swam away. Henry then realized that an Autobomb from Marina was following him, so he ran away. Marina used this opportunity to cover more yellow with pink, and she caught up with Henry and splatted him. Lucas was covering as much turf as possible, while also dodging shots from Pearl's dualies. He hid behind a wall, charged his Squiffer, and then went out and splatted Pearl. When Pearl respawned, she covered a bit of uncovered ground until she had her special ready. Lucas was currently fighting off the Gold Dynamo Roller kid, who threw a splat bomb at him, and Lucas escaped a little late and took damage from the bomb. Luckily, he was swimming in his Ink and he had a charged shot, so when the kid wasn't looking, he came out and shot him. After that, he saw a yellow marker at the same spot where the roller boy was splatted. Someone on the other team was super jumping to his position. Lucas prepared a charged shot so he can kill the player right when they land, but unfortunately, that player was Pearl, who used a splashdown in midair and splatted Lucas. "HAHAHA!!" She laughed, "Vengeance is mi-" until she was splatted by the Jet Squelcher girl.30 seconds left, the two teams were just about tied. The Neo Sloshing Machine girl threw a Point Sensor at Sam, and she started attacking him. Lucas was behind her and shot her with an unfully charged shot. She turned around and lobbed ink in his direction. He threw an Autobomb and the girl ran behind a wall, fast enough so the Autobomb couldn't get her. Thanks to Lucas' thermal ink ability that came with his jacket, he was able to see the girl through the wall and he charged a shot, swam to her, and splatted her. The squelcher girl used Toxic Mist to help splat the roller boy. Marina used her brella to protect from the shots from the slosher girl, but when the shield broke, she threw an Autobomb to send the girl running away. Everyone inked like crazy until eventually, the game ended. Everyone super-jumped back to the Shoal and looked at a TV to see the results. The ink bar filled up and, BOOM! Lil' Judd fell over on his back as Judd pointed a pink flag in his direction. The Pink Team won! 52.3 to 36.9!Everyone who was on the pink team cheered. Lucas high-fived Sam. "Awesome job, bro!" said Sam."You too!" said Lucas, then Marina came up to him and hugged him."We did it!!" She said."Yeah! That was so much fun wasn't it? You did great!""Thanks, and yeah, that was fun!"Henry went up to the pink team and shook everyone's hand. "Good game," He said to each person."I can't believe you guys won!" said Pearl, a little upset."Ohh, don't pout, Pearlie!" said Marina, pinching her cheek and moving it around a little. Pearl brushed her hand away."Okay okay, fine! You guys did good, but our team is SO gonna win next round!" She said."We'll see about that," said Lucas, "now, the winning team gets to choose what to do next, so we're gonna decide." The pink team huddled up and decided that they would do a ranked battle next: Rainmaker! "Okay then," said Lucas, "if anyone wants to change their weapon or gear, do it now." Everyone, except Sam, decided to change their weapon (he wanted to keep using his favorite splatling). When they did, they all super jumped to the next battle stage.The next battle was at Piranha Pit, and since it was Rainmaker, the stage was arranged differently. The colors were Green vs. Blue. Like the last game, the players were randomly assigned to either team. Lucas and Marina were put on the Green team, as well as the inkling boy and girl. Pearl, Henry, Sam and the octoling girl were put on the blue team. Lucas had an H-3 Nozzlenose, Marina had a Sorella Brella, the inkling boy had a Bamboozler 14 MK I, and the inkling girl had an inkbrush. On the other team, Pearl had the Emperry Splat Dualies, Henry had a Clash Blaster, the octoling girl had an N-ZAP '85, and Sam still kept his Ballpoint Splatling. Seconds later, the battle started. (Author's note: since I'm lazy and I don't want the chapter to be TOO long, Ima skip tot he end of the battle). The battle ended when Pearl slammed the Rainmaker onto the green goal. They all super jumped back and looked at the results, though they didn't need to since they all saw what happened that ended the game. Lil' Judd pointed his flag at Judd, who fell over. Blue team won!"HA HA!!! I DID IT!!!" Yelled Pearl, excitedly. Everyone on her team looked at her like they were waiting for something. "Ugh, okay fine, 'WE' did it!" She continued."Aw man, we lost!" said Lucas."Aww it's okay Lucas, we did our best," said Marina, patting him on the back."Thanks!" Lucas went over to Pearl, "Hey great job out there!""Yeah thanks, I told y'all I'd beat ya next round!""Whatever, let's keep playing!" And so the group of kids did several more assorted battles, and were all having a great time until they all got hungry, so they went down to the Crust Bucket.The group of friends walked and talked and tried not to make eye contact with any fans who called out, "Hey, isn't that Pearl and Marina!?" The girls' casual outfits didn't hide their identity very well, but they didn't mind. Okay anyways, they made it down to Crusty's Food Truck, and Lucas slapped down two tickets on the counter. "A Crusty Seanwich and an Ink-Saver Lemon please!" he said."Coming right up, squiddo!" said Crusty Sean.Everyone else ordered their food and drinks and sat at a nearby table."Man this food is just amazing!" said Lucas. Everyone agreed."I know right?!" said Pearl."Yeah I mean, who doesn't like this food?" said Sam, "If I ever meet anyone who doesn't like this food, I will CRUSH THEM!!" Everyone went silent."Geez dude, calm down!" said Henry."What? I was joking!" Everyone started to laugh. Lucas focused on eating his sandwich until something caught his eye.Up ahead in the distance, by the glass building next to the Shoal, Lucas could see a dark figure, staring in his direction with glowing pink eyes. It didn't move, it just stood there. Lucas just kept looking at it, and he felt a little uncomfortable. Marina looked over to him. "Lucas?" she asked. Suddenly he got back to his senses."Yeah what?" He said anxiously."Are you okay?""Yeah, I was just... staring off into space.""Oh.""Yeah he does that sometimes," said Henry, taking a sip of his Swim-Speed Apple. Lucas decided to change the topic."Um," he said, "so you're all having fun right?""Oh yeah, definitely!" said Marina, and everyone agreed."So what else are we gonna do?" said Henry."Well I was thinking that after we eat, we could do a few more battles and then go to Wahoo World," said Lucas.Sam almost choked on his drink, "Were going to Wahoo World?!" He said."Yeah, why not? It'll be fun for all of us!""Alright then, let's go!" Everyone finished eating, and then they went off to enjoy the rest of their day. The creepy figure in the darkness turned away, even though no one was looking. They were wearing a headset, and they pressed and held a button on it and spoke into the microphone. "Hey, Tenessa," they said."Yeah, what is it?" said the voice from the headset."I got her!"————————————————————————After they did some battles, the group of friends made their way to Wahoo World. They looked around at the large rides and colorful lights, it was truly the place to be. When they made it to the entrance, Henry said, "Alright, I'm going to the roller coaster!" He ran ahead, but Lucas grabbed him by the back of the shirt and stopped him."Woah woah woah, hold your seahorses!" He said, "We gotta buy wristbands first!""Oh yeah...""The ticket booth's up ahead, let's go," said Pearl. The group of friends went up to the ticket booth and purchased their wristbands."Okay, what's the plan?" Said Sam."The plan is we do what we want for the next, um... 3 hours (He checked his watch, it was 4:00 pm), and then we meet over by the food truck area to get something to eat. If you get lost, send any of us a text and we'll come to find you. Otherwise, have fun!""Alright then, I'm going to the roller coaster!" said Henry, running towards the ride."Me too," said Pearl, following him."Me three," said Sam, also following him. Lucas and Marina stayed behind."So... what do you wanna do?" Asked Marina."I don't know," said Lucas, "you choose!""Do you want to go on the Death Drop?""Oh uh, sure!" Lucas has never been on that ride, and he really didn’t want to go on it, but he decided he would, for Marina.The two made their way tot he Death Drop ride, luckily there were just enough people in line so that they could get in for the next session. They showed the ride operator their wristbands and went on the ride. They were seated and buckled in as the handlebars went over their bodies. Lucas held on tightly to the bars, and the ride started to rise. Marina was enjoying it, but she looked over at Lucas who was heavily breathing and got worried. "Are you okay, Lucas?" She asked."Yeah," he replied, "it's just... I've never been on this ride, and I'm really nervous."”Uh oh,” thought Marina, but then she spoke."Ohh, don't worry, it'll be fine! I went on this ride with Pearl for eight hours straight one time!""I don't know... does it drop fast?" Lucas kept panicking, and Marina started getting worried."It's okay Lucas, just calm down!" Marina reached her left arm over and held Lucas' hand. It made him feel better. The ride stopped when it reached to top, and then, after a few seconds, it suddenly fell down to the ground. Lucas screamed at first, but then he started laughing and cheering. It slowed down when it reached the bottom, and the two got off the ride. "So how was it?" said Marina."That was actually awesome!" said Lucas."Yay!! I'm glad you're not afraid anymore!""Let's go check out the other rides!"They went over to the roller coaster ride, and it turns out the line was longer than they thought, so Pearl, Henry, and Sam had to wait for a whole session before reaching the front of the line. "Back already?" said Henry."Yep, I finally went on the Death Drop and it was great!""Ha!" said Pearl, "You went on that ride for the FIRST time?! Wow...!""Oh be quiet, Pearl! Are you even tall enough for this ride?""Not without these thick-soled boots I'm wearing." Pearl pointed down at her feet and everyone saw that she wasn't wearing her usual Pearlescent Kicks, but instead, as she said, thick soles boots. Suddenly the gate to the ride opened up. "Hey let's go!" said Pearl, as she, Henry and Sam went through the gates and into the coaster. Lucas and Marina walked away from the ride and went to go on another. Eventually, they all met up and rode the roller coaster together, it was fun. They also went on the Death Drop and Ferris Wheel a few times too.Once it was 7:00 pm, everyone met up by the food trucks like they were supposed to. They all brought funnel cakes and large cups of lemonade, then they all sat down at a 5-seat round table. "Man," said Sam, "it is so great to get to hang out with you guys!""Thank you!" said Marina."Huh? Oh yeah, thanks," said Pearl with a mouthful of funnel cake."Ya know, I think this calls for a group selfie!" said Henry. Everyone agreed and gathered around the table. Henry held up his phone and everyone posed for the picture. "Smile!" Said Henry, and he took the picture. Everyone looked at his phone to see how the picture looked."Aw man!" said Pearl, "I had powdered sugar all over my face!" Everyone laughed.[Ima just skip to the part where it gets good!]It was nighttime now, there were lights everywhere, "all sparkly and junk" as Pearl once said. The group of friends was currently on the Ferris wheel, Lucas and Marina in one lift, and the other group of friends in another lift. Lucas and Marina were on the top of the wheel. "Wow," Said Lucas, "you can see the whole city from up here!""Yeah," said Marina, "it's beautiful!"“But not as beautiful as you.””Awwww Lucas!” Marina smiled.Lucas put his arm around her and she cuddled beside him. “This is it,” he thought to himself, “the perfect moment. Just ask her...” He hesitated for about a minute, then he spoke."Marina..." he said."Yeah?..""Um, we've been dating each other for... quite some time, and I think I finally wanted to ask you...""Yeah?" she said, "Ask me what?"Lucas took a deep breath, then he put his arm back down, reached out and held Marina's hands. He looked into her gleaming eyes and said, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"Marina gasped. "Are you kidding me?!" she said, "Of course I would!!""Really?!" said Lucas, surprised."Yes!" Marina leaned over and hugged him tightly, "I thought you'd never ask!""Awww thank you," he said. They closed their eyes as they embraced each other, smiling through it all. “Thank you so much Marina!””No, thank YOU, for being so awesome!””Awwwww!” The two held eachother tightly, smiling wide, until eventually, they made it to the bottom and the ride came to a stop, and they got off. The other group of friends also got off. Lucas and Marina walked back to them, holding hands."So," said Henry, "did you all have fun?""Oh yeah!" said Henry."It was great!" said Sam."Mmm hmm," said Pearl."Definitely!" said Marina."Great! Well, I guess it's time we all head home...""Yeah," said Pearl, "I gotta get my beauty sleep! See y'all!" Everyone waved bye. "You comin' Marina?""Oh yeah!" She said, "One second." She hugged Lucas. "Bye..." she said, and then she went off. Everyone else waved bye."Okay I'm going home," said Sam, "goodnight guys!" Luck and Henry waved bye, then they walked back to their apartment.When they got back, Lucas hoped onto the couch and laid back. "That was so much fun!" He said."Yeah, it was!" said Henry, "We should really do this more often.""And guess what?""What?""Marina and I are officially boyfriend and girlfriend!""NO WAY!! Dude, up top!" They high-fived, "I knew you had it in ya!" Lucas smiled. He couldn't possibly be happier, he had a bright future ahead of him now...
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Okay, so Lucas and Marina have been dating for about a month and a half now. Lucas recently told his parents about his girlfriend and they couldn’t have been happier. Another thing, Lucas was successfully able to save the Great Zapfish and rescue Callie. Marie was very thankful for his hard work. A few days after that, Callie appeared at Tentakeel Outpost, and Lucas was so happy to see her. Now he stopped by every now and then to chat with them, and see what's up. Later on, Marina was able to go over to Lucas’ place again. Henry was out for the night, so he wouldn’t be a problem. She had everything prepared and went over. When she got there, Lucas immediately hugged her when she opened the door. “Hi, Marina! Glad you could come!”“Nice to see you too,” she said, with a smile on her face.“Come on in, you can put your stuff down inside and then we’ll hang out.”Marina put down her bag, and she took off her headphones, bandana, necklace, and slip-ons (She was in her casual outfit). “So what are we gonna do first?”“Whatever you want I guess, are you hungry?”“No, I ate before I got here.”“Alright then, but if you want anything I’ll get it for you.”“Thanks, uh, oh!-” Marina took sight at the game console by Lucas’ TV, “I didn’t know you had an Ancho-V Zii!” (This is the name I made up for that one videogame console you can see at Ancho-V Games)“Wha- oh yeah, I’ve had this for a while, I play on it when I have spare time here at home. Do you have one?””I don’t have one, but Pearl does. I sometimes play it with her when I go over to her house”Oh, so you don’t live with her?””Huh? Oh no, I have my own apartment. We’ll, I don’t OWN it, I have to pay rent, but I live it it.””I see.””Pearl DID let me move in with her when we started to work on music together. But once I was able to get enough money to live on my own, I moved out.””Well, that was sweet of her!””Yeah, you should come visit her place sometime. The view from the top of the mountain is breathtaking!””Yeah I could totally come some day, but I already got a beautiful view right here!” Lucas put his hand under Marina’s chin.She giggles and blushed. “Awww, heh heh, thanks!””So what games do you play?” Lucas asked.”Oh, well Pearl recently got the demo for Mussel Odyssey, it’s pretty fun!””Oh, well I got the same game right here! You wanna play?””I’d love to!””Alright then, I’ll set it up.” Lucas turned on his Ancho-V Zii and loaded up Mussel Odyssey. “I already got through most of the game, so I hope there aren’t too many spoilers.””Oh no it’s fine,” said Marina, “I won’t tell Pearl anything that happened. We haven’t gotten the full game yet, and she’ll kill anyone who gives out spoilers!””Oh cod!” Lucas and Marina laughed, “Don’t worry we won’t tell her anything!” They both picked up a V-Con (The Ancho-V Games Version of a Joy-Con) and they started playing. “You can be Mussel if you want,” said Lucas. “Oh no it’s fine, I’ll just be Carpy!” Marina replied. (Carpy is just Cappy but in the Splatoon universe! XD) “Okay then, let’s get started!”Lucas selected his file and it loaded to where he last saved. He was currently in Crumbleden in the Ruined Ocean (instead of Kingdom). “Wait I haven’t gotten this far, what’s going on?” asked Marina. “Okay basically the ship crashed here and we have to find Power Suns (instead of Moons) in order to repair it.” “Okay then.” Marina used her controller to control Carpy, and she just made him circle around Mussel. Lucas laughed, “Marina, what are you doing?” “Wheeee!” she said as she moved Carpy far across the map. They both laughed. Marina moved Carpy over by a wall on the left and something caught her eye. “Hey, there’s some sort of railing on this wall.”Lucas saw it too, “Oh yeah, there must be something back there.” Lucas controlled Mussel to move across the railing and into an area behind the wall. There was a treasure chest surrounded by coins. Lucas controlled Mussel to throw Carpy at the treasure chest, and it opened up with a Power Sun inside. “Ooh, good eye, Marina!” “Thanks!” She replied. They went back around the wall the other way, and they took the path they were supposed to take. It was a tall slope of dark bricks which lead to a pin stuck in the ground. Marina moved Carpy towards the pin and he removed it from the ground and an ink-rail appeared (instead of a pylon, it’s an ink-rail in this game, but the same thing more or less!).Lucas made Mussel through Carpy onto the ink-rail and he possessed it. He then rode across the rail all the way up to a large, circular castle platform floating in the sky. When they got there the game switched to a cutscene. Marina didn’t know what was going on in the cutscene, and she was surprised to see an enormous sea dragon (instead of the large dragon that was in Super Mario Odyssey) come out from underneath the castle. It was time for a boss battle!”Oh cod!” said Marina, “what do we have to do?!””We’ll figure it out as we fight,” said Lucas.the first thing the sea dragon did was shoot a lightning bolt from its mouth onto the center of the platform, and from it spawned three rolling discs of purple lightning. Lucas controlled Mussel to dodge them. Then the sea dragon slammed its head onto the stage and created paths of lightning, which Mussel jumped over. Then the sea dragon stopped. Lucas controlled Mussel and jumped on top of the sea dragons head.”Hey look,” said Marina, “those pin things are in his head.” Marina controlled Carpy to move towards the pins and remove them. There were only three, and when she removed them. The sea dragons crown came off, revealing a glowing patch on its head.“That must be his weak point!” said Lucas. He controlled Mussed to jump in the air and perform what was called a “ground-pound” making him slam onto the weak point. “I think we hit it!” “Nice job,” said Marina.Suddenly the sea dragon flung his head up and Mussel was launched back onto the platform. The battle continued and the sea dragon used the same moves, only each time he shot more lightning, the number of discs increased, and when he slammed his head down, the paths of lightning were harder to dodge. Also, the number of pins in its head increased. Lucas and Marina worked together and they eventually defeated the boss. “Woohoo, we did it!” Said Marina.“Yeah!” said Lucas. They high-fived. The sea dragon slammed its head down in defeat, and from it came a Multi-Sun (instead of a Multi Moon). They collected the multi-sun and went back to the ship, where they repaired it. “Nice, we can travel again.””All right!” said Marina, “that was fun!” “Yeah it was, you know, this game has such a good soundtrack. The music is so catchy!” said Lucas.”Yeah it does,” said Marina, “Wait, don’t you play an instrument?””Yeah, I have a keyboard, do you want to see it?””Of course!”“Okay then, uh, should we keep playing the game or do you want to stop?””I’m good, I don’t want to get too far into the game.””Okay then.” Lucas took Marina into his room and brought out his keyboard. He turned it on, “What would you like me to play?” He asked.”Whatever you want,” replied Marina.”Okay then.” Lucas played an excerpt from Muck Warfare. Marina gasped as she immediately recognized the song. As Lucas continued playing, Marina started singing the words and going along with the song. The two of them laughed until Lucas eventually played a wrong note. “Aw shoot!” Lucas cringed and stopped playing, “sorry about that.””No no no that was amazing!” Marina said, clapping. Lucas blushed.”Thanks,” he said, “I think it’s safe to say that’s my favorite OTH song.””Oh so you have a favorite?””Yep!””What do you like about it?””Well it’s in G Minor, and you know, ANY song in G Minor is the best song ever!”Marina cracked up. “I didn’t know you were a music nerd TOO!””Heh, yeah, I guess I am.””Hey uh, spoiler alert: Pearl and I MIGHT be working on a new song, and it MIGHT be in G Minor!””Oh SHELL yes!” They both laughed. “Anyways are you SURE that was good? Cuz I’m sure you’ve heard WAY better!””Actually no I haven’t, Pearl can’t even play as good as you!””Does she even play an instrument?””...No actually.” The two laughed.”Did I ever tell you that you have a beautiful singing voice?”Marina blushed. “...You really think so?””Yeah, it’s like,” Lucas rested the side of his head on his fist, “listening to an angel sing...””Awwww,” Marina tilted her head a little as she folded her hands and brought them to the side of her face, “you’re too sweet!””Thanks... so, do you want to do something else?””Sure, maybe we can just relax and watch TV air something.””Okay then.”The two lay on the couch cuddled up by each other and watched some TV. Lucas turned and wrapped his arms around Marina. “Oh Marina,” he said, “you’re the best!”She giggled, “Awww no, you are!” They both giggled and got closer as they nuzzled each other’s heads. Lucas, seeing his chance, kissed Marina on the cheek. Her eyes widened, and as she turned her head towards Lucas, he turned his head away in embarrassment. But then, Marina’s surprised expression faded into a smile. “Awwwww,” she said, and she hugged Lucas tightly. Lucas did the same, and they just stayed like that for a while, embracing the joy and warmth of their partner, feeling happier than ever."YES YES!!! I FINALLY DID IT!!!!!!!!!" Lucas thought. He noticed his hands were near Marina’s stomach. He smirked, and then suddenly started tickling it. Marina cracked up and rolled around, trying to escape the tickle torture but she couldn’t. “STAHAHAHAP!!” she yelled.”NEVER!!!” Lucas yelled in return. He kept tickling her tummy until she turned into an octopus and escaped. “Aw man!””Sorry Lucas. Fun’s over!” They both smiled and got back to cuddling.It was a bit late at night, Marina yawned. “Hm hm, you tired?” Lucas asked.Marina nodded in agreement and said, “Mmm hmm...” She rubbed her eyes, “Are we just gonna sleep on the couch again tonight?””Well actually,” Lucas said, “since my bed is big enough for two people, I was wondering, if you’d like to, maybe... sleep with me in my bed?”Marina turned to Lucas, slightly wide-eyed. “Oh, I’d love to, Lucas!””Okay then, let’s get ready for bed then.”Lucas went into his room and changed into a nightshirt and shorts. Marina changed into a long sleeve button-down pajama shirt and pants (the same outfit she wore for the Breakfast Splatfest). She went into Lucas’ room, and Lucas was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for her. “So are you left side or right side person?” he asked.”Right side is okay,” Marina replied.”Okay then.”Marina crawled in on the right side of the bed. “Ooh, it’s so comfy!” she said, kneading the mattress with her hands.”Yeah I guess it is,” said Lucas, “But I’m sure you’ve seen better mattresses and probably bigger beds.””Yeah my bed is a bit bigger than this but I really like this one too.””Alright then,” said Lucas. Marina laid on her back and looked up at the ceiling. Lucas turned over to face her, “So do you fart a lot in bed?””W-what?” Marina laughed as she looked over at him, “No, not really... do you?””Ehhh,” Lucas said, as he looked up and tilted his hand from side to side. They both laughed, and then they sighed and smiled as the looked into each other’s eyes. “Welp, goodnight Marina.” “Goodnight.”Lucas turned over and turned off the lamp and laid down on his back. Marina was turned so that her back was facing him. Lucas closed his eyes pretending to sleep, then he opened them, scooted closer to Marina, turned over and hugged her. Marina opened her eyes and said, “Awwww,” then she also turned over and hugged him. Eventually, they both fell asleep, wrapped around each other.—————————————————————While the world up above was asleep, down below, deep underground, something was lurking, something devious.A figure in the shadows was preparing a deadly weapon. She picked up a silver dart with a picture of a skull and crossbones on it. She rolled it across her fingers feeling the smooth texture and then loaded it into a dart gun. It entered with a click. A second figure walks towards the first from behind. “So you found her?” The second figure asked.”Yes.” said the first figure, “We’ve located her above the surface, just like I said.””Perfect...” said the second figure. The first figure placed the dart gun into a pocket on her belt. “Finally,” She says, “after all these years, we finally found her!”“Just to make sure, tomorrow, we go to her, take her, and then we will strike at some point, correct?” Asked the second.”Correct,” said the first, with a devilish grin, “but I’ll be in charge of that.” She laughed, “you and the other soldiers will wait for me down at the canyon, and stay out of sight until I come back. Understand?”“Yes ma’am!” said the second figure, and she walked back to where she came. The first figure once again laughed diabolically and rubbed her hands together across her leather, fingerless gloves.“That traitor. She’ll see what happens when she messes with us, with the Octarians! It’s time she gets what she deserves...”
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The sun rose, shining brightly through the window of Lucas’ bedroom. The light shone into Marina’s eyes, forcing her to slowly open them. She yawned as she stretched out her long, slender arms and legs. She looked over to her side and sees Lucas still asleep. She smiles. “Rise and shine!” she said. Lucas uncomfortably hummed a little as he opened his eyes. “Mmm, good morning Marina.” He said, as he wrapped his arms around her body (They stopped hugging when they both fell asleep last night). She hugged back. She looked at the digital clock on Lucas’ dresser, it said 7:40. Marina’s eyes suddenly opened wide, “Oh shoot”, she said, “I gotta go!” She tried to get off the bed, but Lucas held her tightly. “Lucas,” she said, grunting as she tried to escape his grasp, “C’mon!” “But you’re so warm!” He said, pulling her closer to him.”No! Ugh, Lucas, seriously! I’ll be late for work!” Lucas didn’t listen and kept hugging her. She pried his arms off of her and got off the bed. Lucas looked at her with a surprised expression on his face. “Just listen for a second!” Marina said angrily, walking out of the room. Lucas watched her walk out, then looked down and puts his hand in his face. His stomach growled a little, indicating he was hungry. He patted his stomach, then got up out of bed and got ready to start the day.He got dressed, then walked into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal. In the meantime, Marina was busy in the bathroom quickly getting herself ready and dressed in her studio outfit (she brought it with her along with her casual clothes). Then she went into the kitchen.Lucas didn’t get a bowl out for her or anything, so Marina started frustratingly searching the cabinets. “Oh I’ll get that for you,” Lucas says.”No, I got it!” Marina says. She found a bowl and a spoon, the sat down at the table and poured herself cereal. After only two bites, she sighed and looked up at Lucas. “Look, I’m sorry I got mad at you. I just don’t like waking up late, because I can’t miss the first news broadcast.”Lucas replied, ”I’m sorry too, I didn’t understand you were running late.” “Well dude, I clearly said it to you, but you wouldn’t listen!”“Yeah that’s the problem,” he sighed sadly, “I kinda have problems paying attention and focusing on important things.” Marina looked up at him. “Also I can be very forgetful at times. I probably should’ve told you all this when we first started dating. So if it ever looks like I’m ignoring you, I’m not doing it intentionally. I literally can’t control it.””Oh, I had no idea, thanks for telling me.””Yeah...” Lucas looked down sadly as he eats his cereal. Marina felt bad. She reached across the table and held Lucas’ hand. “Hey, it’s okay,” said Marina, “we all have our downsides. I still really like you!” she smiled.Lucas’ frown slowly merged into a smile. “Thanks.” He said, holding Marina’s hand. He gently rubbed his thumb back and forth on Marina’s tender hand. She did the same, as the two smiled, staring into each other's eyes, glistening from the sunlight.They finished up their cereal, then Marina went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she got out, she asked Lucas, “How much time do we have left?”Lucas checks his Squidphone. “We got like 7 minutes to spare. The square is only about two minutes away.”“Oh,” said Marina, suddenly realizing her mistake. “Sorry, I’m just used to waking up a little earlier since my place is farther away from the Square than yours.””So you yelled at me for no reason?” said Lucas, a bit harshly.“Well, sorry! I was just worried I’d be late.”Lucas groaned and sighed, “It’s okay.””I guess we could just talk a little before I leave.””Yeah...” Lucas thinks about what to say, “so I hear you like heavy machinery, doesn’t it like, remind you of your childhood or something?”“Yes, well, the good parts at least... and I told you I don’t really like to talk about my childhood!””Oh sorry, I forgot.””Lucas wasn’t kidding when he said he was forgetful!” thought Marina, then she spoke, “But yeah, I do like heavy machinery a lot! It just always seemed so fascinating I guess.””Yeah, I kinda like machines too. When I was in school I’d sometimes do some robotics and build things, it always seemed pretty interesting.””That’s so cool!””So, you like, use some machinery to build your stages?””Yeah, first I make the blueprints, then I help make the stage itself, along with help from some other construction workers. I just love operating the equipment!””Now that’s amazing! I think you’re a really creative person, Marina.””Aww, thanks!””I’m also pretty creative too. I draw occasionally and I create my own music sometimes too!””You make your own music? Sweet!””Yeah, I guess I got inspired by several bands, like the Squid Sisters.””Oh, I LOVE the Squid Sisters!”“Me too!””I was into music before I knew about the Squid Sisters, but when I heard them for the first time, I TRULY got inspired!””Nice!””Yeah, anyways I better get going.””Okay, do you need me to drive you?””No I drove here myself, it’s okay.””Alright, oh! Don’t forget, we’re gonna do some Salmon Run today!””Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me. We’ll be ready after we announce the first stage rotation.””Okay.”Marina picked up her things and opened the door. Then Lucas stopped her. “Oh wait,” he said, “before you go.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Bye!”Marina smiled and kissed him on the cheek back. “Bye!” She stepped out the door and walked down the hall to the elevator. Lucas waved bye as she walked away, then his eyes widened, and he stepped back inside his apartment.”Oh shoot!” he said, “I forgot to brush my teeth!” He got a text from Henry.[Hey dude, are you up?][Yeah, I’m guessing you slept over at Sam’s?][Yup, crazy night again, as always. Almost put a lampshade over my head lol! Anyways I’ll meet ya down at the Square][You gonna grab some Crust Bucket food?][Nah I already ate a bit][Alright just making sure, also don’t forget salmon run today!][oh yeah! Can’t wait! See ya!][Later]Lucas put his phone away, then went to brush his teeth. Marina was able to make it in time to do the first stage rotation of the day. Lucas went down to the Square to catch up with his friends. He found a table where his friends Sam and Caroline were sitting.Caroline was a good friend of Lucas’. She was a 16-year-old inkling girl with magenta eyes and light apricot skin. Her go-to outfit was the Pilot Goggles, the Slash King Tank, and a pair of Annaki Arachno Boots. Her go-to weapon is the Foil Flingza Roller.She can be described as a loose cannon, but she’s calm when she needs to be. She’s cool and kind and loved to hang with her friends. She also had quite a muscle buildup like Lucas, so she has no problem attracting boyfriends. Although, she can’t keep a boyfriend because they'd ditch her for a hotter looking girl that they look at and immediately fall in love. It is upsetting, but she’s learned to live with it and hang out with her friends in the meantime until she can find a good boyfriend.”Lucas, my man!” said Caroline, high-fiving him and giving him a pat-on-the-back hug. “How’s it goin’?””Pretty good!””Cool, so Sam and Henry told me, you’re dating Marina now? Like THE Marina?””Yep, not kidding, she's my girlfriend.””Dude that’s soooo amazing!””Thanks, we’ve been doing really good with our relationship lately!””Sweet! Man I wish I could have a good relationship...” Caroline looked down, a little sad.”Daww, hang in there Caroline,” Lucas patted her on the shoulder, “I know you’ll find a great guy out there someday because you’re one cool girl!””Thanks, Lucas.” She perked up a bit.”So um, where’s Henry?””He went into a turf war battle, he should be back in a few minutes,” said Sam.”C’mon he could’ve just waited! Oh well. Wait what were the stages? I missed the newscast.””One of them was Starfish Mainstage,” said Caroline.”Okay that’s not far, he should be back shortly for us to do our Salmon Run shift. You guys wanna do one later?””Nah we’re good. Besides they can only take 4 people.””I meant AFTER this shift.””It’s okay we’ll just do some turf war,” said Sam.Back at the studio, Pearl and Marina talked a bit before getting ready to go do the Salmon Run shift. “Sooo... another night with Lucas, huh?” said Pearl, a bit smugly.Marina snickered and giggled, then replied, “Yes.””How was it?””It was great, actually! Well, this morning we got into a small argument but it ended quickly.”“Argument? About what??””We’ll I though I was gonna be late for work but Lucas wouldn’t listen and tried to keep me from leaving the bed.”Pearl cracked up while the Octoling blushed a little. “Hey, you still made it in time!””Yeah. Turns out Lucas is a bit forgetful and doesn’t listen sometimes, but it’s not that bad. I don’t hate him for it or anything.””We all forget stuff sometimes. I don’t think he intended to upset you.””I wasn’t that upset but yeah, Lucas is too sweet to purposefully do something like that.” Marina rested her hand on her fist and looked off into space, thinking about Lucas.”Besides him forgetting stuff, how is he? Do you really like him?”Marina giggled and focused her attention back on Pearl. “Oh Pearl, he’s the BEST! He’s so very sweet, caring and thoughtful. He’s also creative, smart, funny and goofy in the most charming way and... ohhh he’s just too adorable~!””Wow, you must really like him then!””Pearl, of course I do! He means so much to me! He amazing in almost every single way and I just... I... I...””What?” Pearl leaned in close. “C’mon girl! Spit it out!”Marina was becoming a flustered mess, trying to hide her face, but then she perked you and finally spoke. “I love him!” Pearl quietly gasped and put her hand over her mouth. “I really really love him, Pearl.”The small Inkling was building up so much happiness in side. “OhhhhhHHHHHH Marina!! I’m so happy for you!”Marina laughed, still bright red. “Thanks, Pearlie!””You really think he’s the one?””I do... I really do...” She put her head down. “Gahhhh I just don’t know how to tell him!””You just gotta wait for when it’s right, you know? When the perfect moment comes, just tell him! Or maybe wait till he tells you first but... you sure he loves you back?””I’m POSITIVE he loves me back! I think I’ll just wait for the right moment. Thanks so much!””Of course! I’d really like for you two to stay together. I mean you’re both so quirky and everything and it’s like you’re PERFECT for eachother!”Marina giggled again. “I guess so... well we should get going.”The two girls got up and walked outside. Marina was flustered inside and out, but she was also a little nervous about telling Lucas her true feelings. When would the moment come? What if she says something wrong? What if he... doesn’t truly love her back?! The questions raced through her head, but she tried not to think about them so much.Lucas saw Pearl and Marina in the distance. They were walking over to the table in their studio outfits. Some fans noticed them and started to crowd around them, but Pearl and Marina just waved and walked on by. Lucas was about to shoo them away but there weren’t as many and they already had it covered.”Hi Lucas!” said Marina, coming over and giving him a big hug. Lucas hugged back, but it didn’t last too long since he saw some people staring. He wondered if people would be aware of his relationship and he’d be all over the news. That worried and excited him at the same time. “Waddup, yo!” said Pearl coming in.”Hi Pearl,” said Lucas, then he looked to his side and saw Caroline staring in awe. “Oh! Pearl, Marina, this is my friend Caroline.”“Hello!” said Marina, waving. “Sup!” said Pearl, holding her hand up for a high-five. Caroline shortly hesitated and high-fived her hand.”Oh man! It’s an honor to get to meet you guys! I really love your music!”Marina laughed, “Well who doesn’t?””Good point, and Pearl, I just wanna say that you are one shell of a rapper!””Ah! Why thank you! I get that a lot,” said Pearl in a fancy-like tone. They all laughed. “So uh, where’s Henry?”Lucas replied, ”He’s coming back from a battle, he should be here any min-”, just then, Henry came out of the Lobby and waved to everyone in the distance. “Hey, guys!” He shouted, then he ran over to the table.“About time!” said Lucas.”Calm down dude, it was just one battle!””It’s fine, anyways are you ready.””I was born ready, dude.””Excellent, let’s go, see you guys later!””Bye!” said Caroline.”Have fun!” said Sam, and then Lucas, Marina, Pearl and Henry walked over to Grizzco Industries. When they arrived they were immediately greeted by Mr. Grizz. “Right on time kids! There’s work to do!” He said, “What’ll it be today?””We’ll do a Freelance, all 4 of us together.””Alrighty then, get your gear on and let’s head out! Those golden eggs won’t catch themselves!”The four friends went into the changing room, got their gear on, then they headed out to the back door where the boat docks were. They all boarded the boat and floated off to Lost Outpost, where today’s shift was located.They sat in the front of the boat staring out at the ocean. The boat gently swayed up and down as they went across some waves, but nobody minded, except Marina. Lucas was taking in the view until he looked over to the right and saw Marina looking down sickly. Her face looked slightly green and she groaned silently. “Are you okay?” Asked Lucas, worried. “Y-Yeah I’m f-fine,” said Marina. She hiccuped a little and puffed her cheeks. Lucas was worried she’d throw up, he didn’t know what was happening. He put his hand on her head, “You look sick...”Pearl looked over to Lucas, she was sitting on Marina’s right side. “Yeah she gets seasick pretty easily,” she said, “it helps if you hold her hand.” Pearl did so, putting her left hand on Marina’s right.”Thanks, Pearlie!...” Marina said, smiling a little. Lucas did the same, holding Marina’s left hand, their fingers interlocking. She turned to him and her smile grew a little more. “Aww, thanks, Lucas.” She leaned her head on his shoulder, but due to them having the exact same height (probably should’ve mentioned that near the beginning of the story), she had to scoot to the side a little so she had room.Lucas smiled and leaned his head on hers, her soft, comfy tentacles making for a great headrest. Without anyone looking, he kissed her on top of one of her hair tentacles. Marina felt happier and less sick. Lucas didn’t even notice that Henry reached over and put his hand on top of his. Lucas looked over and saw him trying to keep a straight face. “Dude!” he said. Henry couldn’t hold it in, he smiled then laughed. Lucas shook his hand off. “Yeah, VERY funny!” he said.”Yeah that was hilarious,” replied Henry, “Anyways...” he looked around to make sure the two girls weren’t listening, then he whispered to Lucas. “You really love her, don’t you?””Wha?! Uh- um...” said Lucas, getting a little nervous.”Just admit it, dude...”Lucas took a deep breath and whispered back, “Okay so I do, but... how do I tell her that?””You haven’t confessed yet? Well, it’s okay, you just gotta wait for the right moment.””You think I’ll be able to do it?””I know you will dude!””Thanks, man...” Everyone suddenly realized they finally arrived at Lost Outpost.“We’re here!” said Pearl. They all super-jumped off the boat and landed in the center of the area. The weapons were set: The Splattershot Pro, which Lucas got, the Heavy Splatling, which Marina was equipped with, the Splat Dualies, which Pearl wielded, and the Inkbrush, which Henry obtained. Marina was happy to get a heavy-machinery weapon. “Woohoo!” She said, “I love this thing!” Pearl was also happy to get her dualies, “Yeah boy, let’s show these salmonoids who’s boss!” Suddenly, the egg basket sprang up, and the first wave started.They finished that wave successfully, and the second one as well. When the second one was over, everyone jumped back to the center and got new weapons. Lucas got the Heavy Splatling this time, Marina got the Splattershot Pro, Henry got the Splat Dualies, and Pearl got the Inkbrush. “Last wave guys,” said Lucas, “Let’s do this!” The tide went down, revealing a larger area over by the one side of the Outpost. “This way,” shouted Marina as they inked and swam their way to the other egg basket that popped out. “The egg basket is ready, now go get me some more eggs!” said Mr. Grizz.The wave started, and two horns sounded. That wasn’t a good sign. A Steelhead came up from the water, followed by a Maws on the other side of the area. Lucas went over to take care of the Steelhead. He charged up, shot some Chum that were down below, then he went for the bomb above the Steelhead. He didn’t have enough ink to make the bomb explode, so the Steelhead threw it down, and Lucas quickly swam away. He tried again and this time he could defeat the Steelhead and get its eggs, he tried to collect one but got swarmed by Salmonoids and was Splatted.He collected an egg from his lifesaver and Pearl came over to revive him. They worked their way through large areas of green ink and put the eggs in the basket. Meanwhile, Marina was trying to kill a Drizzler until she was swarmed by some Chum and a large Cohock. She backed away and tried to avoid, for she was out of ink. She screamed, but then Lucas came to the rescue and killed the Salmonoids. “Thank you so much!” She said to Lucas.”No problem, I didn’t wanna see you get hurt.””Awww!”Lucas noticed that Henry threw a Splat Bomb in the Maws’ mouth, and it exploded and left some eggs. Lucas and Henry retrieved the eggs and added them to the basket. Pearl saw a Stinger spawn in the distance, along with some more Salmonoids. She used one of her special pouches, a Stingray, and she fired at the distant Salmonoids. The Stinger’s own ink laser hit her a bit, but she was fine. She yelled at the others to go get the eggs. Marina refilled her ink and tried to fight the Drizzler. It shot out a torpedo and Marina shot the torpedo and it flew back towards the Drizzler, killing it and leaving behind eggs. The wave was getting intense, with Salmonoids and unclaimed eggs everywhere. Lucas was getting swarmed, but he used his special pouch, a Splashdown, to kill the surrounding Salmonoids, although he didn’t last long after because he got attacked by a Steel Eel. They were currently at 13 out of 17 required eggs. There were a few eggs scattered around, but they were snatched by Snatchers. Lucas tried to swim over to the egg basket, but he moved slowly due to him being in his lifesaver. Marina put an egg in the basket and tried to save Lucas, but she got swarmed and moved back. She then used her special pouch, a Splat Bomb Launcher, and hurled bombs at the Salmonoids. Lucas was revived and he put his egg in, but he was Splatted after taking care of some Salmonoids on top of the nets and he went into his squid form and fell into the water.Marina’s Launcher didn’t last long either, for she was eventually killed by a Cohock. Henry used his special pouch, an Inkjet, and he soared into the air, shooting at Salmonoids down below. He helped Pearl kill some Salmonoids with his ink blasts and her Inkbrush strokes and helped her get an egg to the basket, but she was pummeled by a Scrapper after. Henry’s special ended, and he landed back onto the ground. They just needed one more egg, Time was running low, and everyone but Henry was splatted. They tried to scoot closer to him so they could be revived, but they were blocked off by some Salmonoids. Henry has to do something quick. He quickly killed the Scrapper and grabbed an egg, then doing his best to dodge the Salmonoids approaching from all around, he jumped towards the egg basket and at the last second, he shoved the egg into the basket. They won!Henry cheered and as the Salmonoids went back into the water, he revived everyone else. They all cheered from happiness and excitement. Marina jumped towards Lucas and hugged him tightly. “WE DID IT!” She shouted happily. Then she went over and picked up Pearl and hugged her tightly. “WOOHOO!” She cheered.Lucas and Henry high-fived, “Nice save, my dude!” said Lucas.”Yeah, thanks!” Henry replied.Mr. Grizz then interrupted the joyous moment. “Great job you guys, now head back to the boat.” Everyone did so, super jumping all the way back to the boat. It lifted its anchor and floated back to Inkopolis.They arrived back at Grizzco Industries. “Nice work out there, that’s the type of performance I’m lookin’ for!” Said Mr. Grizz.“Man wasn’t that exciting?!” Said Lucas.”It was,” his girlfriend replied, “so much fun!””Man you did great out there,” said Pearl to Henry.”Oh, thanks! I think everyone did great honestly,” said Henry.”Let’s get this gear off then get something to eat, does that sound good guys?”Everyone said “Yeah.”Pearl and Henry quickly got undressed and walked to a table in the Square. “We’ll see you guys at the table,” Pearl said. Lucas and Marina said “Okay” from behind their dressing rooms.The two finally got undressed then sat to rest on a bench in the workplace. “We should totally do this again sometime!” said Marina. “Y-Yeah, totally,” agreed Lucas. He scratched the back of his head, then asked, “Hey Marina.””Yeah?””You know,” he said, reaching out and holding Marina’s hand. “This is your big moment!” he thought, then he spoke. “You’re a really great person, and... I just wanted to say that I... that I- I-...” The words wouldn’t come out, but then, Lucas looked outside (he was facing the entrance) and saw Pearl being overwhelmed by a crowd of inklings and a few octolings. “I think Pearl is being swarmed by fans!” Marina smile faded, then she looked behind and saw.”Uh oh!” she said.”Don’t worry I’ll help her out.” Lucas ran outside.”Okay, but wait!” It was too late, he already went. Marina looked down sadly, but then she smiled and rested her head on her hand. Then, her daydreaming was interrupted.An octoling, standing on top of the roof of a wall adjacent to Grizzco Industries. She silently climbed down behind the shadow of the building, and slowly crept through the light and she entered the building. Mr. Grizz saw her and said, “Oh hi, welcome to Grizzco Industries. What can I help you with?” Marina looked up and saw the figure standing in the doorway. Her expression faded from happy into curious and worried. “Uh... w-who is that, Mr. Grizz?””I don’t know,” he turned back to the figure, “you seem new here, would you like a tutorial?”Suddenly, the Octoling pulled out an Octoshot and sprayed Mr. Grizz in ink, knocking him off of the cooler he was standing on. “Mr. Grizz!” shouted Marina. She looked up and saw as the figure slowly walked towards her. She stepped backward until she was up against a wall. “W-w-who are you?” She trembled. “What do you want from me?!”The octoling spoke, “After all these years, we finally found you...”Marina repeated a little louder, “Who are you?!””You don’t recognize me?” The octoling went forward more and stood underneath a light, clear enough for Marina to see who the figure really was.She gasped, “OCTAVIA!!”Octavia laughed, “Yep, it’s me!”Marina tried to be a bit more reasonable, but she still trembled in fear. “Uh... h-h-Hey, how's it going? N-n-nice new glasses you g-got there.” (This was the first time marina saw the remodeled octogoggles, now called the octoshades)”A lot has changed ever since that fateful day... but let’s cut the small talk, you know why I’m here.””N-no I don’t!” Marina’s hearts were racing.”You left our society two years ago, abandoned everything, you basically left us to rot! Coming to the surface... you just wanted t side with the Inklings, didn’t you?! You were a great engineer, why did you have to leave?!””I-it’s not my fault! Octavia, those glasses, t-that music, it’s all controlling y-”“YOU SHOULD’VE STAYED!!!” Octavia shouted, pounding on the walls.”Y-you don’t understand!””How could you possibly live with these horrendous inklings?! They’ll only betray you, like how YOU betrayed US! Last chance Marina, rejoin the society, and live the life you should've lived all along...”Marina got mad, “NO! I not gonna go back to a society that hyp-“Octavia did an evil laugh, interrupting Marina, “That’s too bad. You know, I was going to let you off easy, but now you’ve left me no choice but to continue our regularly scheduled plan...” She grinned.“W-What’s that?”“Let’s just say, that when I’m done with you, you’ll never see the light of day again!”Marina panicked, then she called for help, “LUCAS!! PEARL!! HENR-”Octavia put her hand over Marina’s mouth. “You’re Inkling ‘friends’ won’t save you now!”Marina angrily pushed Octavia away from her, and stances herself to fight. “Please Octavia. I don’t want to hurt you. Just listen to me!””I’m not gonna listen to a traitor!” Octavia threw a punch, which Marina dodged. She threw some more punches, angrily, but didn’t hit Marina. Marina saw that she could rub right out of the building. She swiftly swept her leg under Octavia’s, making her fall over. “GAH!!” she yelled, “Whyyy YOU!!” Marina got up and ran for the exit, until Octavia grabbed her calf, making her fall forward. She let go of her leg and moved closer to her and tried to grab her, but Marina quickly turned into and Octopus and slipped away. Octavia shot some ink near Marina, but not directly at her, because she didn’t want to kill her YET. Marina touched the ink and uncontrollably went back into humanoid form. “No no NO!” she said, panicking. She grunted as she tried to trudge out of the ink, but she didn’t make it out, as Octavia pushed her into a wall again. She gripped her shoulders tightly, grunting and baring her teeth, while Marina grabbed her wrists and tried to pull away. She wasn’t as strong as she used to be.Octavia quickly reached over and punched a nerve between Marina’s neck and shoulder. This made her cringe and caused her to uncontrollably turn into an octopus. On the floor, she tried to jump away, but Octavia grasped her and picked her up. Then she pulled out a jar from her backpack and stuffed Marina inside it, then screwed the lid on tight. It had holes in it, so Marina could still breathe, but she was trapped! Marina tried to turn back into a humanoid, but the space was so small, she was stuck as an octopus. “Hey, let her go!” said Mr. Grizz, on the floor. Then Octavia threw a bomb at him, covering his whole body in ink. “Ouch!”In the meantime, Lucas was helping Pearl and Henry clear away the fans, when he heard Marina’s screams. “Guys, did you hear Marina?”Pearl replied, “Yeah I think so, was she screaming our names?””Something might be wrong...” said Henry. The three inklings then ran up back to Grizzco. Lucas was leading the way. Octavia, putting the jar back in her backpack, ran out of Grizzco, but slammed into Lucas. They both fell on the floor, cringing in pain.”Gah! My head... watch where your going, dude!” Lucas, coming to his senses, looked up and saw Octavia. He then realized, the hair, the glasses, the kelp, he was looking at an Elite Enemy Octoling! Octavia panicked as the group stared at her, then she looked back and forth, then got back up and jumped into the manhole over by Ammo Knights. Lucas was frozen, he just stared at the manhole. “Was that a...””Lucas are you okay?” said Henry, walking up behind Henry.Pearl said, “That girl slammed right into you!...””N-no, I-I-it can’t be!” Lucas then ran into Grizzco, and saw that there was magenta ink with glitter in it spread out all over the floor.”Woah,” said Pearl, “What happened here?” Lucas picked up a bit of the ink with his finger and felt it across his fingertips. It burned, and he quickly wiped the ink off on his jacket.“No... no no no!” he thought. Then everyone saw Mr. Grizz lying on the floor, covered in ink. “Mr. Grizz!” They all shouted. They helped him up and put him back on the cooler. “Thanks, guys,” he said.Henry asked, “What on earth happened?””I’m not entirely sure. First, I see this person comin’ into the building, and then BAM, they shoot me. I lost transmission for a second there, then I saw and it looked like that person was taking Marina!”Everyone has a surprised expression on their face. Lucas put his hands on his head in panic. “Nononononononono!””Someone TOOK her?!” yelled Pearl.”This CAN’T be happening!”Down below in Octo Canyon, Callie and Marie were sitting by Cuttlefish Cabin having a fun little conversation. However, it was shortly interrupted when Octavia appeared out of the manhole. They looked at her and panicked. “GAH!” shouted Callie, hugging Marie in fear, “An octoling!””What the shell?!” replied Marie, “How did they get passed us?!”Octavia walked past the two girls and yelled, “Alright girls, you can come out now!”Suddenly, a bunch of other octolings emerged from Tentakeel outpost and came up to Octavia. Callie and Marie were terrified. “What did you DO THIS TIME, OCTAVIO?!” Shouted Marie at DJ Octavio, who was being held inside a snow globe in the corner.”I swear I got nothin’ to do with this!” replied Octavio, “I’m not controllin’ these guys, but they still got their shades on! OCTAVIA, WHAT’S GOING ON?!””Can it, DJ!” said Octavia, “You don’t lead us anymore, we lead ourselves now, and we’re gonna rebuild this society better than you could ever imagine! After we do just one little thing...”Octavia then took off her backpack and revealed the jar containing the once-evil octoling that everyone loved. She unscrewed the jar and Marina came out and went back into her humanoid form.”MARINA?!” Shouted Callie and Marie. Marina was confused, but looking around, she suddenly realized where she was.”Octo Canyon...” she said silently.Then she looked over and saw the Squid Sisters. “C-Callie?! Marie?!” she said. Then she saw Octavio and was even more confused. “What’s going on??” Before she could get any sort of answer, she was picked up by two octolings and pinned against a wall by the rock arc. She grunted as she tried to escape. “Help!!” she called out to the two girls by the cabin. Marie put down her parasol and grabbed out a Hero Charger that she had hidden under the bench. She charged the gun. “Let her go,” she said.”Yeah!” Callie joined in, “or you’ll have to go through us!”Octavia rolled her eyes, then she clapped twice and a group of octolings, all armed with weapons, walked towards Callie and Marie, with their weapons pointed at them. The cousins stepped back and held their hands up, then Marie ran behind the Cabin, grabbing Callie’s hand to take her with her. They escaped just nearly missing the ink shots from the octolings that followed them. Marie opened the sliding door behind the cabin and the two hid inside. The shots from an Octo Splatling could be heard slamming on the door. Marie blocked it off so they couldn’t get in. The octolings, however, banged on the door even though it was locked. Callie and Marie were absolutely horrified. They could never survive against Octarian ink! Callie hugged Marie tightly as they scooted back to the farthest corner of the cabin. “What do we do? What do we do?!” Callie said, frightened.”Hey, shh shh shh, it’s okay,” said Marie, patting Callie’s head to try and soothe her, “We’ll get through this, don’t worry... I know! Let’s call Agent 4!””Yeah, he’ll know what to do! He’ll show those octarians who’s boss!”Marie pulled out her phone and dialed Lucas. In the meantime, Callie looked through a thin window near the ceiling of Cuttlefish Cabin, so she could see what was currently going on.Marina was still pinned to the wall, but she tried to escape by turning into an octopus. This let her slip out of Octavia’s hands, but they caught her again, flipped her over face down, and then Octavia pulled out this weird-looking chip. It’s was a silvery-bulky cube, on top was a screen that showed a silhouette of an octoling octopus, on the bottom were four sharp wires each coming out of the bottom corners. Octavia took this chip and pushed it right into the back of Marina’s head. The pain of the wires stabbing into her skin made Marina squeal, then all of a sudden Marina uncontrollably turned back into a humanoid. The picture on the screen then changed to a silhouette of a humanoid Octoling. Marina tried to change back into an octopus, but she couldn’t, she just morphed back into a human before she was halfway into becoming an octopus. She was confused. “Ha, I thought you were smart!” cackled Octavia. “That chip right there prevents your ability to turn into an octopus, now you won’t slip away this time.” Marina panicked and try to pull the chip out, but she couldn’t. It was too painful and it stuck in her head.The octolings once again pinned Marina to the wall. “Hand me the rope,” demanded Octavia. Marina tried to shake free, for she knew what they were gonna do next, but she couldn’t. The next thing she knew, Octavia was wrapping the rope around her, starting from her legs, that working herself up. Marina tried to kick her legs around until they both were pinned down by an Octocharger. She couldn’t resist as her legs were tightly tied together. The octolings forced her hands down and the rope pinned her arms to her body. Marina struggled more than ever but it was no use. Soon her whole body was tied. “Let me go!” Marina finally shouted, grunting, trying to get out of the robe”You can’t always get what you ask for, Marina.””Oh, YOU’RE one to talk!” Octavia grew angry, then she signaled a nearby octoling, and they handed her a white bandana. As it approached Marina’s face, she tried to move her head away and shake her body free, but the surrounding octolings puked her hair back and held it steady. No matter what she did, it was no use. “Nonononononono- mmph!” Octavia tied the bandana around Marina’s mouth, now she couldn’t speak! Octavia grabbed one of the loops of the rope and held up Marina.“Hahaha, we got you now!” Octavia laughed diabolically, then she looked around noticing no one else always laughing. “LAUGH!” she demanded. The octolings obeyed, awkwardly laughing beside her.Callie gasped as she saw all of this. “Marie,” she said, bending back down to the ground, “they got her all tied up!””Uh oh!” her cousin replied, “Agent 4 better get here soon!...” Lucas paced around the building. “No no no there is NO WAY this is all happening.” Suddenly, his phone buzzed. He was getting a call, so he picked up the phone and saw the name of the caller; It was Marie.”Marie is calling you?” Asked Pearl.”Like, THE Marie?!” Henry added on.Lucas shushed then both, then press the answer button. (Note, for this chapter, anything in “{}” represents a phone call){Hello?}{Agent 4! I’m SO glad you were able to answer!}{What’s going on?}{Uhh... we got a bit of uh, situation down in Octo Canyon...}{...W-What kind of situation?}{D-ahh it’s uh, nothing TOO big, we just need ya to come down and uh-}”UGH!” Callie interrupted, then she swiped the phone from Marie’s hand and shouted, {WE’RE BEING INVADED BY OCTOLINGS!!! AND THEY GOT MARINA!!}Lucas was so shocked when he heard this, he almost dropped the phone. {I’ll be there as soon as I can!!}Lucas hung up the phone, then he slowly put it back in his pocket, as he just stared off, keeping the same expression on his face.”What happened?” Henry asked.Lucas responded in a bit of a monotone, “Marina’s in trouble!...””WHAT?!” Pearl and Henry both said in shock.”You mean,” Pearl said worriedly, “she’s literally been kidnapped?”“Yeah...””You’re joking!” said Henry.”I swear this is not a joke!”"No no no no NO!!!” yelled Pearl, as she punched the wall next to her. “WHO DID THIS?!”"I don't know!" said Lucas.“Pearl are you okay?” Henry asked.Pearl stormed out and sat down on the bench over by where Judd and Lil' Judd was. “Who would do such a thing?!" she ranted, "If anyone tries to do anything bad to her I'll, I'll, I'll RIP THEM APART!!"”Hey, hey, calm down,” said Henry, trying to comfort her. He patted her on the back, “It’s going to be okay...” Henry honestly didn’t know if it was all gonna be okay. This was all too much for him."This is NOT okay! Where was she taken to?!""Yes, I know where I need to go.” He pointed to the manhole, “down there!””Eww, in the sewer?” Pearl said.”It’s not just any s- Look it’s a long story, but I don’t have much time, I need to save her!""WAIT!" Pearl perked up, "That person you ran into. She went into the sewer after leaving Grizzco! SHE was the one who took Marina!!""That's right," continued Lucas, "Now like I said, I'm going to save her."Pearl stood up, "Well I'm coming too! I’m not letting that girl do ANYTHING to Marina!!”Lucas panicked a bit. He didn't want Pearl to know about Octo Canyon. "No, Pearl, you need to stay here. I'll get her back.""No way! I'll take down whoever that girl was!""Pearl please no, I know what I'm doing. Just stay here! Please..."After hesitating, Pearl plopped back down, frustrated. She closed her eyes and sighed. "I just... I just want her to be okay. I just want to protect her, but now THIS happens..."Lucas felt her pain, she knelt down and put his hand's on Pearl shoulders. "Don't worry," he said, "I promise you I will get her back. I'll make sure she comes back safe and sound. Everything will be okay. Just trust me..."Pearl looked up to him. after a few seconds, she finally spoke, "Okay... I trust you. You better know what you’re doing!”Lucas smiled. “Thanks. Don’t worry. I can handle this. If something happens... I’ll call you guys for help.” He looked over to Henry, “Henry, you stay here and watch Pearl. Don’t let anyone else know what’s going on, we don’t want to start any panic. I’ll be back with Marina once I save her.””Alright,” said Henry, as Lucas was about to go down the manhole, but then he interrupted and said, “Wait, Lucas!””What?” he asked.”...Good luck down there!”Lucas smiled and nodded, then he turned into a squid and went down through the manhole and made his way to Octo Canyon, to save the love of his life...
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“So is he coming?” Asked Callie, nervously.”Yeah don’t worry,” Replied her cousin, Marie, “he’ll be here as soon as possible.”There was a banging on the door of the cabin. Callie jumped back in fear. “We have to get out of here!””We just can’t get shot.””Don’t you have your parasol? That can block the shots!””No, I left it outside.””Shoot!” Callie looks over by a corner next to a desk in the cabin and sees her Hero Roller. “Hey, my roller! I forgot it was in here! We can get out now.””Alright then,” said Marie, “hopefully we can hold them off until 4 gets here. On the count of three, I’m gonna slide the door open, and you’ll splat the octolings waiting there, Okay?””Alright I’m ready!” said Callie, standing in position.”One... two... THREE!!!” Marie quickly swooshed the door open, and Callie slammed her roller down and splatted the octoling by the door. Then she ran out and splatted the other few octolings who were guarding the cabin. Marie stepped out, following her cousin from behind. She ran to the front of the cabin and picked up her parasol. Octavia turned around and saw that the two girls escaped. She firmly gripped her Octoshot, which she held behind her back. She then whipped it out and shot at Callie and Marie, but the shots were blocked by the canopy of Marie’s parasol.”Nice try you filthy Octarian!” said Marie. Callie then prepared herself to do a horizontal swing with her roller and hot Octavia. However, right before she swung it down, Octavia held Marina, who was still tied up, in front of her, and the Ink hit Marina! She closed her eyes and curled up when the ink hit her, and she muffled in pain, but luckily, it wasn’t enough to splat her. Callie screamed in panic, “OHMYGOSH I’M SO SORRY!!!””If you guys wanna splat me,” said Octavia, “you’ll end up splatting HER instead! And she won't respawn since she LEFT us! Might as well finish her off,” she held out Marina, who was frightened as ever, “it’ll make our job easier.”Callie stepped back, she didn’t want to hurt Marina. Marie reached down to the ground with one hand to try and pick up her charger, but Octavia shot at her hand. She immediately jerked her hand back and shook it to try and ease the pain. Any slight movement could lead the two to get seriously hurt from the enemy ink, or worse, splatted! Octavia stepped back, still holding out Marina. “Welp, we’ll be on our way,” she said, “we gotta give Marina was she really deserves!” Marina let out a panicked muffle, and as Octavia turned and started to walk, and looked down at her with an evil grin, she thought it was all over until help finally came! Lucas popped out of the manhole, dressed in his agent outfit, grabbed his hero shot, and aimed at the octolings and yelled, “STOP RIGHT THERE!”Octavia and the other octolings froze. “4, you made it!” Shouted Callie.Octavia, holding Marina in front of her, slowly turned her body to face Lucas, and rotated her arm so Marina was now behind her, out of sight from Lucas. “Well well well,” she said, “if it isn’t that little inkling hero we’ve been hearing about!” she said, devilishly. “YOU’RE the one who’s been splatting all of our soldiers?! Pff, what a joke! I mean just look at you!”Lucas angrily gripped his Hero Shot, still being aimed at the octolings, “Shut it!” He said, “where’s Marina?!””Oh, looking for someone?” Octavia held Marina out in front of her. She made muffled noises, calling out Lucas’ name in panic, but she could hardly be heard with the bandana wrapped tightly around her delicate mouth. Lucas gasped and reached his arm out to her, though they were standing like 10 feet away from each other. Lucas’ face filled with rage. He clenched his fist and pointed his weapon directly at Octavia. “Let her go!!” he yelled. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen!” said Octavia, “She’s in OUR hands now!” Marina squirmed around. “Quit it!” She yelled at Marina and slapped her right across the face. The others gasped and Marina yelped. “Yeah, wait till you see what else we have planned for you, Marina.””Why are you doing this to her?!” Yelled Lucas. “She doesn’t deserve this at all! She’s a great person!””Because she betrayed us!”Lucas lowered his gun a bit and gave a confused look, “What do you mean?” Octavia looked down at Marina, “You mean you never told him?” Then she looked back up at Lucas, “If you don’t know already, she’s an Octoling. For years she’s worked with us, the Octarian menace. She built robots and weapons and everything. She had a good life, living with us... until that fateful day. You listen to some stupid song and BAM! You leave our society! You leave everything behind! All your hard work wasted! We could hardly find anyone to replace you! You could’ve stayed with us and lived a better life, but NOOOOO! You had to betray us all and move to the surface and live with these DISGUSTING INKLINGS!!!”Lucas once again got angry, and pointed the gun, “HEY! It’s not her fault she listened to that song. It was her choice to leave, and she’s happy to be up here with the inklings, we’re not as bad as you th-””Ha!” Octavia interrupted, “How could she be happy with you people?! You inklings are nothing but trouble.” She looked back down at Marina. “You had a good life Marina, we thought you cared about us, but NO!” She started yelling, “You left us behind, treated us like GARBAGE! Well, guess what? YOU’RE the one who’s garbage! You BETRAYAL! You TRAITOR! You CARELESS, WORTHLESS, PIECE OF CARP!! You make me SICK! You’re a DISGRACE! A HORRIBLE ABOMINATION!! You‘re NOTHING!!” And she went on and on. With each insult, Marina jerked her head back and curled up, then she started crying. Lucas finally spoke up. He was absolutely furious. “STOP IT!!!” he screamed.”Ohhhh, and what are YOU gonna do about it?”Lucas held up his gun, “I’ll shoot you!””Oh come on! It surprises me that you’ve taken out multiple octarians, I mean look at you! I’ll bet you can hardly even handle that thing! Hah! You’re worthless, but not at worthless as her!” She pointed at Marina, “She deserves this! She left us all behind!””So what?! Lots of octolings also heard the song and escaped, why are you doing this to HER?!””She was the best of the best, and people followed in HER footsteps. And once we’re done with her, all the other octolings of the surface are next!””What do you mean? W-what are you gonna do to her?”Octavia grinned. “Well, we were gonna start with a bit of torture,” she glared at Marina, “PAINFUL torture! Wait till you see what we have prepared! And then eventually, we’ll KILL HER!!”Lucas was wide-eyed, and Marina panicked. “You can’t do this to her!!” “Oh yes I can! Ugh, why am I still wasting my time here with you? We got a lot to do. Anyways we’ll be on our way, it’s time to take Marina down to the surface where she will get what she deserves! Farewell!”Octavia and the other octolings started to walk down to the kettles of Tentakeel Outpost. Marina turned her body and yelled for Lucas in several muffles, but Octavia quickly jerked her back. Lucas panicked, and his arms started shaking, he didn’t know what to do. “AGENT 4, DO SOMETHING!!” Yelled Marie. Lucas then pulled out his Hero Charger, charged it up, and with his arms still shaking, shot and splatted a random Octoling in the group. The octolings froze. Octavia slowly turned around, with an angry expression on her face.”I warned ya,” said Lucas.Then, out of nowhere, Octavia yelled at the top of her lungs, “ATTACK!!” Suddenly, all the octolings in the group started charging at Lucas. He panicked again, but then he picked up his Hero Shot and started to fight.Luckily, all of his weapons were fully leveled up, so his Hero Shot could fire rapidly. He quickly took out most of the octolings in the front lines, not getting too much ink on him since those octos didn't have much time to shoot. He was slowly approaching Octavia in the back, who still help Marina in her grasp. He was running low on ink, and octoling were shooting ink at them with their varied weapons. He quickly made a path for him to swim in and he went around the octolings. He shot a few until one of them kicked his weapon out of his hands. He quickly submerged in his ink and switched to his hero charger (he had every hero weapon equipped with him at the moment. He spring out from the ink, quickly charged his shots and fired at more octolings. he tried to aim at Octavia, but she was really speedy. She did all sorts of acrobatics in midair to evade Lucas' shots and find a place to stay safe. The octolings kept coming, Lucas' charger wasn't holding them off too well."Guys!" He said to the Squid Sisters, "I need some backup!" Marie obeyed and got out her own Hero Charger and swiftly sniped at the enemy octos. Suddenly, a large group of octolings super jumped to Lucas out of nowhere and started dealing heavy damage to him."YAAAH!" said Callie as she grabbed her Hero Roller and smushed the octos. She started rolling across the floor squishing more octos who attempted to hide in their glittery pink ink. More octos appeared, one of them pushed Callie to the ground and charged up their octo Splatling. Lucas quickly switched to his Hero Brella and covered Callie. The splatling shots slammed against the canopy of the brella and destroyed it, but the splatling was almost done shooting when it broke, and only a few shots hit Lucas. When the splatling stopped, Lucas fired bursts of ink from his brella and splatted the octo.Octavia growled as she saw her army was slowly withering down. She called into her walkie talkie, "Guys! I need back up, bring as many octolings as possible! Make sure most of them are elites!" More octolings slowly started coming down from the farther parts of the Outpost towards Lucas. He switched to his own hero splatling, charged it up, and took out the first few octos running towards him. It still wasn't enough, octolings soon started filling up the platform. Callie quickly ran around and hopped onto the roof of the cabin. "Hey!" she shouted. The octolings looked at her and realized she was wielding several splat bombs filled with pink inkling ink. "BOMB RUSH BLUSH!" she shouted, "YAAAAAHHH!!!" as she launched the bombs everywhere onto the ground, splatting several octolings, as Lucas switched to his Hero Roller and helped with the splatting. Octavia backed away, trying not to get even a small stain on her. She grunted and yelled into her walkie talkie again, "MORE!!!" Lucas noticed the octolings gradually coming towards him in the distance. He made a vertical swing with his roller but it wasn't enough, so then he threw a curling bomb, which made the octolings run away. A few of them got splatted from the explosion. Lucas switched to his Hero Blaster and charged towards the octolings, splatting them one by one. Octavia filled with rage, and she had enough. She threw Marina to the ground and charged towards Lucas. She pummeled him to the ground, which knocked the blaster out of his hands. Marina screamed in panic, though it was muffled from the bandana. She tried to squirm towards Lucas but she could hardly move. Lucas quickly pulled out a Splat Bomb and threw it. Octavia ran away before any ink could get on her, and went back towards Marina. Lucas switched to his Hero Slosher and ran towards her. Octavia quickly gripped Marina's roped and lifted her into the air. Lucas hurled the bucket back and splashed ink towards Octavia, but she turned around and made the ink hit Marina. She winced as the yellow, glittery ink splashed all over her, luckily not splatting her. Lucas screamed. "Sorry!!" Octavia grinned evilly. Suddenly an Octoling sprang up from behind Lucas, locked her arms around his neck and pulled him back. Marina yelled again in panic, but Marie sniped the Octoling and saved Lucas. Callie was currently busy over by the far end of the bridge, holding back the Octarians who were approaching the Cabin. Lucas used his shosher to splat a few Octolings who made it past Callie. Marie kept an eye out for any Octolings trying to sneak past but found none. Octavia called for more reinforcements, but she got furious when the response on the other line was, "We can't send any more Octolings, it's too risky, too many have died already!" She slammed Marina to the ground in fury. Marie heard the slam and drew her attention to the corner between the cabin and the rock arch where Octavia has been for the longest time."If you wanna take down the enemy," said Octavia, "you gotta take 'em down yourself!" She ran towards Lucas and shoved him to the ground. He swam in his ink to a safer spot, and stared down at Octavia, as he switched to his Hero Dualies. She grinned, "Ha, and I thought we were aggressive!""Depends on who you're talking about," said Lucas, spinning the dualies around his fingers, ready to fight. It was just him and Octavia now, a literal fight to the death. Shots of pink and yellow were flying everywhere. Lucas did his best to dodge roll away from any incoming shots, and Octavia dodged too, only more skillfully than Lucas. "How are you doing this?" he yelled while still firing."Well, eight years of intense military training will really prove to be useful," she responded. Marina painfully watched the two fight, worrying that Lucas would lose, and it would all be over. Her eyes started to well with teal-colored tears, but then Marie jumped down in front of her."Don't worry, I'll help ya," she said confidently. "Yeah, Marie, you untie Marina," said Lucas."I'm workin' on it, 4!""Callie, how's it going up there?"The pink inkling yelled back, "That's the last of em'!""Alright, come back here and help me."As Callie was running back towards the cabin, Marie was busy untying Marina's ropes. They were knotted several times, so she had to use her sharp teeth to help cut the ropes. Once the ropes were off, she removed Marina's bandana. She was free! Marina quickly leaned forward and gave her a big hug. "Thank you!" she said, with a big smile on her face.Marie hugged her back, "Heh heh, no problem." She helped Marina off the ground and looked towards Lucas and Callie, who were busy fighting Octavia. She dodged the swing of Callie's roller and suddenly started shooting her. Lucas quickly pushed Octavia to the ground before she could do any more damage to Callie. Marie panicked and ran to the battle with her Charger. Lucas ran to Callie and tried to help her. She submerged into her own pink ink and recovered. Marie charged up a shot with her Charger and fired, but Octavia dodged. "Shoot!" she said, then she remembered, "Hey Four, Marina's free.""Thank you so much!" said Lucas, until Octavia shot him. He dodge-rolled to safety and went by Marina. "Are you okay?""Yes I'm fine," his girlfriend replied, "Gimme a weapon, I wanna help fight!""Okay, here take this." He handed her his Hero Brush. "Wait, can you still attack with it?""Yeah, it's just connected to your ink tank, yeah? I can still use this, just try not to get any ink on me.""Alright, let's do this!"They ran into the battle together. "No!" Octavia screamed, realizing Marina was free. She ran towards her until Marina swung her brush and knocked her back. Callie swung down her roller, Marie fired a short burst, Lucas shot a few bullets. Octavia was now almost entirely covered in inkling ink, and she lied on the ground in massive pain. The four slowly closed in on her, ready to finish her off, when all of a sudden, she activated a splashdown. "ENOUGH!!!" She said as she leaped into the air. Everyone ran back, but still couldn't escape its range, and they were all knocked back with her splashdown. Marina wasn't hurt since it was Octarian ink. Lucas and Marie were only minorly damaged, but Callie was badly hurt. "Callie!" Marie shouted, running to her aid. Lucas sat up a bit. "I didn't know you guys could use special weapons!""There's a lot you don't know about us," replied Octavia. Suddenly, she pulled out a small gun from her holster. "Now this!" she said, "You see this dart gun? Each carefully-crafted dart that it shoots is filled with the DEADLIEST poison on the planet! Anyone shot by it will die a slow, painful death." She grinned and pointed the gun right at Marina.Everyone gasped. Marina tried to grab her brush, which she dropped after the explosion, but Octavia kicked it out of the way. Marina crawled backward and tried to run away, but suddenly, two Octolings super jumped to her left and right side, blocking her escape. "Okay, I was able to send in two recruits. Hope that helps," said the voice from the walkie talkie. Octavia grinned evilly. Marina was practically cornered against the fence. She couldn't turn into an octopus because the chip was still stuck in the back of her head. She hugged her legs and scooted farther back until she couldn't go any further. "Any last words?" said Octavia. Marina said nothing, she only made several scared noises as she stared hopelessly at the end of the gun. Lucas knew that if he didn't act soon, the love of his life would die. Quickly he ran towards Octavia. "Huh, that's too bad," she said, about to fire. Marina shut her eyes and prepared for her to get shot when suddenly, WHAM!! Lucas screamed and shoved Octavia to the ground. She fired the dart, only it didn't hit Marina. Octavia was pushed to the left and the dart went right between Marina and the Octoling, and fell into the canyon. Lucas had Octavio pinned down, fury in his eyes, and the dart gun was just out of her reach."NOBODY TRIES TO KILL MY GIRL!" he shouted at her. The other octolings just stared and watched, too scared to do anything. Octavia grunted as she escaped from Lucas. She pointed her Octoshot at him, but he knocked it out of her hand and pointed his gun at her instead. Lucas had her cornered, and she was out of ink, with no nearby puddles to jump into. She held her hands up in surrender as she tried to think of her next possible move. Lucas got closer to her as she backed away, until she reached the fence.”That’s it,” she thought. She got up on the fence, looked back for a second, then jumped off.Everyone looked over the fence and saw Octavia getting smaller and smaller as she kept falling. Lucas breathed deeply and angrily, then finally sighed of relief. Marina looked back at Lucas, at first with a surprised and slightly scared expression on her face, but then it turned to a smile. Lucas smiled back and held out his hand to help Marina off of the ground when all of a sudden, the other Octolings pointed their weapons right at him. "Uh oh..." he said.Before he could react, the octolings rapidly shot at him, knocking off all of his armor as he flew back towards the couch. He fell over in immense pain. Marina yelled, "LUCAAAAAS!!!!!!"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Marina was terrified, her hearts beating rapidly. Lucas was just shot by two enemy Octolings, badly damaged, and they slowly approached him to finish the job. Quickly, Marina picked up the Hero Brush Lucas gave her and aggressively splashed yellow ink all over the Octolings, splatting them. Marina breathed heavily, then she looked up seeing Lucas' body, doused in Octarian ink. Marina's anger faded to worry in the blink of an eye, and she dropped her Brush and ran to Lucas. She knelt down by his body. He was lying face down, so Marina turned his body over. He groaned and winced in pain. All of his armor fell off, he was shirtless. Marina teared up and put her hands on his shoulders. "Lucas?" she said, "Lucas! Please, please wake up!" The ink slowly started to fade away, Lucas was recovering, he was going to be okay.Lucas slowly opened his eyes, seeing as his blurred vision faded into focus, and he saw Marina over him. Callie and Marie came over to make sure he was okay. He groaned a bit, then started to speak, "M-Marina?" he said weakly. Marina was immediately relieved, "Oh! You're alright!"Lucas blinked a few times and saw that there were several stains of yellow ink on Marina's body. "Oh no!" he said, "Marina, the ink, it's hurting you!""I don't care," she said as the ink started fading away, "I just want you to be okay!" Lucas smiled a bit and 'awwed' quietly. Marina got scared again when she saw Lucas' armor was in bad shape. he was only in shorts and socks and his boots were badly damaged. "Oh no, Lucas, your gear!""Don't worry, it regenerates." After he said this, his full armor came back. "See?"Marina sighed in relief and helped Lucas sit up. “I... I can't believe it, you- you saved my life!" she said."Huh?... o-oh, yeah, I- I guess I did-"Marina hugged him tightly. "Thank you!..." she said in a slightly emotional tone."Awww, no problem, I'm always there for the ones who mean the most to me!" They both smiled, Lucas continued, "I guess you saved my life too. One more hit and I would've been a goner! Thank you."They hugged again and Marina nuzzled him a bit. Callie and Marie smiled (they were already aware that Lucas and Marina were a thing). After hugging, Marina looked into her boyfriend's eyes and smiled, but then she looked down, sadly, and sighed. Lucas frowned in worry and confusion shortly after."I guess I have to come clean now..." said Marina."W... What do you mean?" replied Lucas.Marina inhaled, "I... am an Octoling." Lucas was slightly surprised after hearing this, same with Callie, and Marie has a slight 'I knew it' expression on her face. Marina continued, "I- I know, you probably don't really understand, which is, understandable, but basically I-""Wawawawait, Marina, Marina!" Lucas interrupted, "The truth is... I knew the whole time."Marina was legitimately surprised and wide-eyed. "You did?!" she said."Y-yeah...”"Well, w-what gave it away?""M-mostly your appearance. Your, suction cups are on the outside of your hair, that's, only possible for Octolings. Also, your ears aren't, pointy like an inkling's, and there's no black line between your eyes and, everything else... also your logo is literally an octopus," he chuckled a bit, "I'm surprised nobody else knew."Marina looked down in shame as she heard all of this, "O-oh," she said."You don't really need to explain, I know the whole thing about the Calamari Inkantation turning the Octolings good and they make their way to Inkopolis.""Oh, okay. Yes, that's correct.""Does Pearl know you're an Octoling?" asked Lucas."No.""She doesn't?! Then why does she make octopus jokes?""She thinks that I'm just PART octopus, not, like, an actual octoling. I'm not even sure if she knows what an octoling is.""So you never told anyone? Not even your best friend?""No, I just couldn't. I mean, I TRIED to explain it to Pearl, but she didn't quite understand, and just went with whatever info she had. I never thought anyone would understand, so for the past two years, I've tried to cover myself up and everyone just assumed I was an Inkling. W-Why didn't you say anything if you know??""I-I honestly didn't know what to say. I guess I just wasn't entirely sure, and you weren't saying anything about it, so I just went with it. I guess I was just trying not to scare you if I said that I knew you were an Octoling.""Oh... I see.""I don't blame you though, for everyone not understanding. I mean honestly, Inklings are kinda dumb." Marie nodded in agreement after Lucas said this.Marina chuckled a little but was still sad. "I'm sorry Lucas...""It's okay.""No, it's not okay. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry that I've been lying to you this whole time," Marina started tearing up, "I mean, I've lied to you about so much, almost everything! I lied to you about my past, my appearance, and *sniff* well, the truth is...... I never had a real family!" She started sobbing right after she said this, her hands covering her eyes as a waterfall of tears started leaking from them, her mouth agape as she whined.Lucas felt so bad, seeing his girlfriend cry almost made him want to cry. He looked over and saw as Callie and Marie sadly, and helplessly watched this happen. "Hey," Lucas finally said to Marina, "It's okay..." He opened his arms and hugged Marina, wrapping his arms around her arched back, rubbing it a bit with his hand. Marina didn't hug back, she just kept crying as she leaned into Lucas. “It's okay," he repeated. Callie and Marie came over and put a hand on her shoulders, trying to help comfort her.Marina finally spoke as her crying barely subsided, "I've just been so lonely my entire life, and I didn't want to lose my friends. I thought that if any inklings knew who I really was, they would... I don't know, they wouldn't want to be around me anymore. I'm really sorry that I got you roped into this, I honestly didn't think this would happen! I thought... I just..." Marina couldn't finish, but Lucas understood what she was saying."Hey, hey, It's okay Marina," he replied."No, it's not! I've probably lost all of your trust.""No, you haven't, Marina. I understand. It's okay. I forgive you. Just calm down..." Marina did so, her crying lessening to only short sniffles. After wiping away some of Marina's tears with his thumbs, Lucas continued, "Listen, I never really cared that you were an octoling," Marina looked up, "If you were an Inkling, I wouldn't think of you any differently."Marina perked up a bit, "Y-You wouldn't?" she said."Of course not! I mean, you'd have a different past and all but, you'd still have your amazing personality. It's not about what you are, it's who you are, and you are an amazing person Marina." "He's right," Callie said to Marina, "you're super fresh!""Yeah," Marie chimed in, "you're about one of the greatest octolings I've ever met."Marina smiled a little, "Awww, thanks, guys."Lucas continued, "It's alright to keep it a secret, but just saying, whether or not people knew, I don't think anyone would think of you any differently. It's okay that you lied, you were only trying to protect yourself and others, that's totally understandable!" Lucas hesitated, and frowned, "I know how you feel... you're not the only one who's been keeping secrets.""Wh-What do you mean? What's your secret?"Lucas inhaled, and spoke, "I, am Agent 4, of the New Squidbeak Splatoon." He tilted his head down and closed his eyes in disappointment. Marie was okay with him spilling the beans, he pretty much didn't have a choice in the matter, Marina had already seen too much.Marina looked at him in confusion, "I- I don't understand. What is that?""It's a secret society of Inklings who fight against the Octarian Menace and rescue Zapfish to protect Inkopolis." Marina was a bit shocked, she had no idea this was a thing. Lucas continued, "I- I didn't want to tell you because, I thought, if you found out, then, you wouldn't like me anymore," Lucas started tearing up himself, Marina grew concerned, "Because, how could you possibly like someone who practically hunts down your own kind?... *sniff* and to think I was going to actually try and protect you... I only put you in danger... and I'm so sorry!" Now Lucas was the one who was crying. Marina put her hand to her mouth in realization and sadness. Callie and Marie once again tried to comfort.Marina spoke up, "Oh, Lucas, it's okay, don't be upset." She tilted his chin up, but he refused to make eye contact, he didn't want her to see him like this. "I forgive you."Lucas sniffed, "You do?" Marina nodded. "But, but why?"(This is where it gets sweet and emotional! :3)"How could I not forgive you? You're the sweetest, smartest, funniest, bravest, cutest, and the most thoughtful guy I've ever met!" Lucas smiled as she said this, but was still upset"But... I’m hurting innocent people. They’re all just innocent people hypnotized to do bad things, right?”“Right, but Lucas, you do realize that we hurt innocent people all the time, right? In turf war. We shoot ink at people.”Oh... oh wow you’re right. I never thought of it that way. But we don’t splat people with the intention of hurting them, we just do it to push them back.””Exactly, and it’s not like you hurt the Octarians because you have a grudge on them. You just do it to push the Octarian forces back and stop them from taking over the world. You’re defending Inkopolis, Lucas. That’s not a bad thing at all!”Lucas stopped crying, he started to understand."She's right," said Marie. Lucas turned around and looked at her. "You're not the enemy, Agent Four."Callie chimed in, "You're a hero!""Yeah, I mean, you saved the Great Zapfish.""And you saved me!"Marina stared at Lucas in awe, "Really? YOU did all of that?!""Yeah," he said, smiling, "And I saved you." He stroked her face as she smiled and closed her eyes in pleasure.She opened her eyes back up and spoke, "I don't care if you hurt those Octarians, Lucas, because I know you'd never try and hurt me... outside of turf war.”Lucas laughed and smiled, "Of course I'd never try and hurt you, Marina! You're the kindest, smartest, funniest, most talented, most beautiful, and most amazing person I've ever met in my entire life." Marina's smile grew wider as he said this. He continued, "And I wouldn't even THINK about hurting you!" he took a deep breath, and said it, "Because I love you, Marina..."Marina blushed and looked at Lucas, surprised and lovestruck at the same time. "You... you love me?" she said quietly. Lucas nodded. Marina hesitated, then started crying tears of joy. "I love you too!" she said, right before leaning forward and hugging Lucas tightly. He hugged back and gently stroked Marina's hair as she cried in his arms.Callie and Marie both 'awwwed' at the sight. Callie then suddenly hugged Marie. "I love you too," she said to her. Marie smiled and hugged back. Lucas and Marina stopped embracing each other, and held hands as they looked into each other's eyes. Lucas blushed and looked off as he scratched the back of his head. Marina also blushed and looked off, brushing her large tentacle away from her face. Then they both looked at each other and started to lean in for a kiss.Callie gasped, as she realized what was happening, "They're gonna kiss!" she said."I know!" Marie said. They both eagerly watched, but before their lips even touched, they were soon interrupted...Marie looked down and saw a pink super-jump landing point. She didn't know what it was until she looked up and saw Octavia. "LOOK OUT!!" she yelled."Huh?" said Lucas, but it was too late. Octavia grabbed Marina by the neck from behind and held her into the air. "MARINA!!"Yup, Octavia’s still alive! What a twist!! She never fell to her death. After everyone stopped looking over the fence, Octavia grabbed a grappling hook she had in her utility belt (assume she had that the entire time, obviously). She shot the hook and hooked on to a ledge on the island that was far from the cabin. Nobody heard or saw it happen. Octavia zoomed up towards the hook, and reach the ledge. She lifted herself up onto the island. She saw as Lucas flew backward from the shots of the other Octoling. She laughed, the hid behind the rock arch and waited for the perfect time to strike. As she peeked at every moment of Lucas and Marina's conversation, she grew more and more disgusted. Once she found out they were in love, she knew that would be the perfect, most dastardly time to strike. Out of nowhere, she super jumped, landed right behind Marina, and here we are now.Marina clutched at Octavia's hand as it tightly grasped her neck. She made several gagging noises, indicating she was choking. Her pupils dilated and her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. Octavia pulled out another dart gun and held it up to the side of Marina’s head. Lucas stared in absolute fear. "What, you thought I was dead?" said Octavia, cocking her head to the side. Lucas quickly searched his pockets and pulled out his Hero Shot, pointing it at Octavia, threatening to shoot her. "Don't even think about tricking me into hurting Marina again, let her go!" he said, frightened. Lucas' hands shook as he continued to hold his gun. Callie impulsively rushed forward with her roller she picked up, screaming as she was about to attack Octavia, but she saw her coming, and Octavia spun around and kicked her right in the gut, launching her off to the side. She fell onto the floor and doubled over, clenching her body."CALLIE!" Marie shouted, quickly rushing to her aid. "Drop your weapons," said Octavia, moving the gun closer to Marina's face, "or she GETS IT!" Lucas' hands continued to shake. "I-I-I.. c-can't! If I do it, will you promise to let her go and leave?""Yeah, yeah, sure." Lucas had a hard time believing her.Octavia pushed the gun back into Marina's face, "Drop the weapon!" Marina choked out.Lucas didn't have a choice. He quickly did so, tossing his Hero Shot onto the ground.Octavia furiously pushed the gun ever further into Marina's face, "ALL OF THEM!!!" she shrieked. Lucas terrifyingly threw every weapon he had out of his pockets, then he held his hands up in surrender."Okay okay," Lucas said, his hearts nearly beating out of his chest, "Just please don't hurt her." His eyes started to tear. Octavia didn't check to see that Marie was reaching for her Hero Shot, but she hesitated and moved her hand back. If she tried to shoot Octavia now, she'd risk hitting Marina as well. Octavia hesitated for a while. Marina was running out of breath, her choking grew more and more quiet and short, and Lucas grew more and more worried. Suddenly, Octavia finally dropped Marina onto the ground. The inklings let out a sigh of relief. Marina inhaled deeply, then started coughing, then started crying. She crawled over into Lucas' arms as he calmed her down and reassured her that she was okay. "Now, as promised," Lucas' said angrily, glaring at Octavia, "leave this place, and never come back!""Yeah, about that," Octavia said, pointing her gun at Marina, "I changed my mind!" Lucas and Marina hugged each other in fear, pinned against the couch. "I had a job to do when I came here, and I'm not leaving until it's done! I have more than one dart you know, I can kill all of you, but I'm taking out my main target first!" Lucas held Marina closer, and when he did, she quietly, scaredly whispered into his ear."Lucas..." she said, "Use a bomb, I'll make a distraction.""B-but what if the blast hits you""Don't worry, we'll run, and make it out just in ti-""HEY!" Octavia interrupted, as the inkling and octoling jumped, "What are you whispering about? Are you trying to stop me? You don't stand a chance, no one can stop me!"Marina looked out of the corner of her eye and saw that Marie had her Charger in hand. Marie sensed what she had to do. "Now Marie!" Marina shouted. Marie charged up her gun, and Octavia noticed the laser that pointed out from the gun, and she turned around."HEY!" she shouted, "You wanna die first?!" She pointed the gun at Marie. Lucas knew this was the time. He whipped out an Auto Bomb and dropped it on the ground right next to Octavia. When the beep sounded, Lucas and Marina ran away. Octavia looked around confused at all the noises, and then she looked down and saw the bomb. "Huh? OH-" Before she could even take a step, SPLAT!!! The bomb exploded and Octavia's spirit floated into the sky."YES!!!!!" Lucas and Marina shouted, hugging and spinning around. Everyone cheered."WE DID IT!" said Marina."Yeah!!" said Lucas. They both giggled and looked at each other. "Now, where were we?" The two leaned into each other and kissed.(BOOM! HAHA IT HAPPENED!!!)They embraced each other, closing their eyes passionately as their lips overlapped. It. Felt. Great. Callie and Marie stared in surprise. Marie put her face into her hand and smiled, "Oh my cod..." she said, shaking her head. Callie was still watching, savoring the moment, until Marie tried to block her eyes. "No, no..." she said. When Lucas and Marina stopped kissing, they looked at each other and said, "Wow...""That was... amazing," said Marina."Yeah..." said Lucas, more amazed, having never kissed a girl before. Then he blushed and covered his mouth. "My breath didn't smell bad, did it?" he asked.Marina cracked up and hugged him. Lucas smiled and hugged back. "You're okay now, right?" he asked his girlfriend."Yeah," she responded, "I mean, my clothes are a bit scratched up, but I have extras, don't worry.""Oh, you do?""Yeah! What, you think I wear the same exact outfit every day?""Uhh... yes?..." Lucas said, slightly embarrassed at his ignorance. Everyone laughed. "Marie always wears the same outfit," Callie joked.Marie lightly punched Callie in the arm and chuckled. "Shut up," she said.Marina came over and hugged the two. "Ohhh thank you, thank you guys so much!" They hugged back.Lucas joined the hug. "Yeah," he said, "We couldn't have possibly gotten past all those enemies without you guys!""Awww, no problem, we're just trying to protect the citizens of Inkopolis," said Marie."Stay safe you two, and have fun!" said Callie.Lucas and Marina waved bye, until Marina suddenly remembered, "Oh wait!" she said, "This chip is still stuck in my head. I should be able to transform again if we just remove it." Lucas and Marina grabbed the chip and slowly pulled it out of Marina's head. She winced and yelped in pain as this happened, but soon it was out. Lucas threw it onto the ground, and Marina kicked it off of the island.Lucas noticed that the punctures where the chip was inserted were bleeding on the back of Marina's head. "Uh oh! You're bleeding," he pointed out."Don't worry," said Marie. She went into the cabin and came out with a large square-shaped bandage, "I got you." She placed the bandage onto the back of Marina's head and smoothed it out. The cuts were underneath one of Marina's back tentacles, so it covered up the bandage so you couldn't see it. "All better," said Marie."Thanks," said Marina, smiling, "It should heal eventually.""Welp, goodbye guys!" said Lucas. Everyone waved bye, and he and Marina held hands and walked back to the manhole. While walking out, Marina looked at DJ Octavio, who was inside the snowglobe the entire time, watching the whole thing, not saying a word. They just stared at each other, awkwardly, until Marina and Lucas submerged into the manhole and went back to Inkopolis Square. Callie sighed and sat back down in her usual spot by the cabin. "What's wrong?" her cousin asked, concerned."Aw nothin'," said Callie, "It's just... I really liked Agent 4..."Marina immediately felt empathetic, and put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Me too..." They both sighed, then Marie continued, "But, as long as he's happy... we're happy, right?""Heh, yeah, right," said Callie, turning to Marie and smiling, "and I'm happy that I have you.""Awww!" The two of them hugged, then Octavio made an 'ugh' sound and said, "get a room you two!"The Squid sisters looked at him, unamused. He looked away, and thought for a moment, what would become of his long lost Octoling... Octavia's octoling spirit swirled back down to a respawn point, somewhere in Octo Canyon, far from Tentakeel Outpost. She gritted her teeth and stomped her feet on the ground. "NO NO NO!!!!" she yelled in fury, "I WAS SO CLOSE!!! WHY DIDN’T I JUST SHOOT THEM ALL RIGHT THERE AND THEN?!?!!" She looked to the sky and shouted, "THIS ISN'T OVER MARINA, WE'LL BE BACK, AND WE WILL STOP AT NOTH-""GET OVER IT!" yelled Tenessa, "We are NOT doing this again!""But Marina is still out there!""Yeah, but who knows where she is now?! She's probably gonna move away from Inkopolis, we can't track her down anymore. Her whereabouts are once again unknown..." The other soldiers who respawned nodded in agreement."W-we can get back while we still have the time-""No we can't, they probably sealed the exit too. She knows that she shouldn't be left alone in that Grizzco place anymore, we'll never get to her without causing a scene! Please, just let her go, chief!""HEY!! I give the orders around here!""I refuse to take orders from a child like you!”"CHILD?! WHY YOU- DO YOU WANT ME TO GET ANOTHER POISON DART?!?!""CHIEF!!!"Octavia raised her finger to speak, but she hesitated and put her hand down, grunting. She clenched her fists, her veins clearly visible, she was still frustrated."Look the bright side, nobody was killed. Every soldier has safely respawned. And listen, maybe Marina will just suffer up there on her own. You know how awful the inklings are, right?""...Yes.""Don't waste your time, we don't need Marina, but we don't need to kill her." Octavia looked down and sighed. Tenessa continued, "Let's just forget about her. If she would rather be stuck up there with those monstrous inklings, then that's her problem. Please, chief, let's not put our soldiers out there like this." "...""C'mon, we can breed a better Octoling, a whole new generation, one better than she could ever be!" Everyone yeah-ed in the background"...You're right, we've got the tech, we can do this!""But for now, let's rest easy for a while.""Okay..." Octavia sat down on a nearby chair. She was calm, but her mind still raced. She wondered if she might disappear like all those octolings did that fateful night... at the concert she never attended.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Pearl and Henry were still sitting over by the sewer grate. Pearl whimpered and was a bit teary-eyed, as she worried deeply for the return of Marina. Henry spent the past several minutes since Lucas left trying to comfort her. "I just, like..." Pearl sniffled, "I don't know what I'm gonna do without her...""Hey, it's gonna be okay," said Henry, patting her shoulder, "I'm sure everything will turn out okay. I know Lucas would never let anything bad happen to her."A few minutes past when finally, Lucas and Marina emerged from the sewer grate. Lucas was changed back into his regular clothes, Marina was still in her studio outfit, very slightly tattered up. Henry and Pearl looked up and gasped. They were okay! "Marina!" Pearl yelled, jumping from her seat and running towards her."Pearl!" Marina yelled, holding her arms out wide. The inkling leaped into her friend's arms, as Marina had her up and spun around. The smiled and closed their eyes as they embraced each other. Lucas smiled as he watched them, then saw Henry walking up to him."You alright, man?" said Henry."Yeah, I'm fine," Lucas replied."Okay, good." Henry hugged him, and Lucas hugged back. They both looked and saw that Marina and Pearl were still hugging. Pearl cried in her arms."I was so worried," she said, looking into MArina's eyes, "Don't EVER scare me like that again!""I won't, I promise!" said Marina, as Pearl buried her face back into the octoling's chest. Marina kissed her forehead, and the inkling smiled and laughed a bit. She put down Pearl then looked over to Lucas, who looked slightly confused and concerned. "Oh, it's just a friendly thing we do, don't worry Lucas.""Oh, okay," said Lucas. The couple walked towards each other and held hands, and smiled."So what the heck happened down there?" Pearl said. Lucas and Marina got concerned. They couldn't talk about the NSS or the octolings.After a few seconds of "uhh" ing, Marina spoke out, "It's a long story, but, in the end..." she leaned into Lucas, "Lucas here saved my life...!" Lucas smiled and wrapped his arm around her.Pearl and Henry stared in shock. "You DID?!" Pearl shouted."Awesome job man!" said Henry, legitimately impressed.Pearl walked over to Lucas and looked up at him. He stared down confused, then suddenly, Pearl hugged him tightly. "Thank you!..." she said, burying her face in his sweatshirt. Lucas hugged her back "Seriously though, I'm nothing without Marina!""Aww that's not true," he replied, "you'll still always be Pearl.""Yeah, I just meant, like, it's not Off the Hook without the two of us, and, well... you know, I really care about her a lot." Marina 'awwed' in the background."Heh, yeah, I really care about her two. In fact, that's what motivated me to save her," he walked over to Marina and held her hands, "my love for her..." The two blushed."So you finally confessed?" Henry asked."You bet! You mean the world to me, Marina. You're my everything!""Awww," Marina laughed, "you're too much!" The two leaned in and kissed.Pearl and Henry did not see this coming. Pearl gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth. Henry just stared with his jaw dropped and said, "NO... WAY!..." A few other passersby also saw they were just as surprised. When the two were done kissing, they giggled and looked into each other, then they looked over at Pearl and Henry, who were staring, flabbergasted. Lucas and Marina immediately blushed and made several embarrassed noises. Pearl's excitement started to escalate, as her voice's pitch rose from behind her hands, and she started tapping her feet on the ground until she could no longer contain herself. She squealed and leaped into Marina's arms once again. "AAAH!!" she yelled, "Marina! You got your first kiss!!"The two laughed. "Technically it's my second kiss," Marina said."Even better!" "Two times on the same day?!" said Henry, as he approached Henry, "Dude! Way to go! You never fail to impress me!""Awww thanks, bro," Lucas replied, as the two hugged.Everyone was happy and ecstatic, what a day it was."Now c'mon," said Pearl, "let's go eat!"The four friends happily walked over to the food truck. The sun was setting up above, painting the sky in vibrant warm colors. The Great Zapfish swam overhead. Marina watched as it gracefully slithered across the sky. "This place is so beautiful..." said Marina."Just like you, Marina," Lucas replied, "just like you..."The two smiled, hand in hand.THE END.