New Squidbeak Splatoon: Ascension

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Days Later

The massive, green planet of Axcia had continued to sit still in the uninterrupted silence of the cosmos, forever decaying just as it had been left. No one had been to this planet, no one had gone near it, no one had even looked for it. It wasn't until this particular day that a swarm of big Octarian ships appeared from the darkness, appearing out of thin air with the usual flashes of light that they emerged from.

With their advanced technology based on an improved version of Marina Ida's designs, that had been developed faster than could be imagined, it didn't take long at all for these Octarians to close in on the planet itself. Then, in a similar fashion to what the massive Octarian station had done in the original timeline, they moved to extract many crystals and a large amount of Axcian energy from the planet, doing so as efficiently as quickly as they could. As suddenly as they had arrived, they then left, disappearing into more flashes of light as they promptly jumped straight back to Earth without a single issue.

Such a feat had used nearly the last of the completed Axcian energy the Octarians already had, but as they reemerged into Octo City, they now had more of this energy than they knew what to do with.

Marina-2 was watching from the landing pad balcony that stretched out from Octavio Tower as these ships closed in one at a time and opened up. She watched as each of the ships were emptied, with Octarian scientists carrying in everything they had collected, including crates of dead extracted crystals, and large battery-like energy cells that now contained the extracted energy. Once all of the ships had loaded out, she followed them inside and used her watch to seal the entrance shut.

Lydia, some Eightfolds, and King Octavio, once again in his mobile throne, were watching as they passed them in the hall on their way back toward the lab. "No issues?" Octavio asked.

"No issues reported." Marina-2 replied as she stopped to face him. She double-checked her watch. "My teams completed their quotas and then some. We're officially ahead of schedule."

"Yesss..." He turned his throne, and they headed down toward the lab together. "To think that all this time, it was going to be this easy. That all we needed was the research from your annoying doppelganger. But even then, you've outdone yourselves. Kudos to you for that."

"The future of our society and scientific knowledge have driven me to such, my King. We're now only a few more steps away from achieving a better future."

"See to it, then. I want more results in the coming days." He finished, and she nodded at him before they went their separate ways down the halls.

As Octavio continued on his own way, he was interrupted as one of his own Eightfolds, Eva, followed him. "My King."

"Hm?" He turned his throne ever-so-slightly toward her.

"I don't mean to pester you, and I know that there's been a lot going on, but... I still haven't been able to return to my scheduled break, and-"

"And what? I thought we had you assigned to look after the Tecca anomaly."

"And... no problems have arisen with her."

"Then I trust that you'll keep it that way, until further notice. We'll discuss breaks at a later time... when things are far less hectic, and this rebellion situation is dealt with. You hear me?"

She paused. "...Yes, my King."

"Good." As he continued along as if the conversation never happened, Eva stood where she was, staring blankly ahead for a few moments before she turned around.

Finding some privacy for herself outside in the hall, Eva looked around to make sure she wasn't seen before she stood in a corner and got on her watch. The fact of the matter was... with how busy she had been, she hadn't been home ever since she had first received that anomaly report in the first place, and in turn, hadn't seen her children since they were able to visit her here in the tower. The exhaustion and the deep, sad ache in her gut had only grown and grown, especially in the past few days. She longed to rest... to see them again...