-> [A Sea Of Dried Paint] (Classic Edition)

[Chapter 3 - Light of Day]

Unizo opened his eyes.

Once his vision stopped blurring, he was able to take a look at his surroundings. He was no longer in the laboratory. He was inside a house, laying down on a bedroom's bed. Judging by the light coming from outside, looks like it was morning. He slowly sat down on the bed and looked outside.

It seemed oddly quiet. Wind blowing, birds chirping...
"...well, this is much more peaceful."

He just stood there in front of the window for a little while, feeling the wind blow on his face. A refreshing feeling compared to what he went through.

After enough time, he decided to figure out where exactly he was. He got up and walked towards the door. It was unlocked. He slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open. A hallway awaited him on the other side, with more doors leading to other rooms. Uni was at the far left end of the hall. Seemed mostly silent, except for this one door at the middle of the hallway. He could hear chattering from the other side.

"How are we going to work around this? All the Zapfish are gone, and the backup generators don't last forever."

That voice sounded familiar.

"We're still studying our options. I could try to work on a power generator using another energy source...but it would take time. A lot of time."
"We need to consider the fact that our current stations require a lot of power constantly."

Unizo gathered the courage to knock on the door.
"Come in."

He opened the door. In front of him was Abigail and...the Lab Man and Pix?

"UNI!!"

Before he could even say a word, Abigail rushed up to hug him tightly.
He slowly hugged back.

"I thought you were dead! What happened to you?"
"...I...went to sleep that night And when I woke up...I was in that laboratory..."

He looked over at the two scientists.

"...but what are they doing here?"
"We discovered the secret lab you were kept at after digging through the Elite team's files. On our way here, we found the girl, Pix, and we found you and Zaire inside the lab." Abigail said.

Zaire, the scientist, just waved at him awkwardly.

"...so then...what happened? Some sort of power outage?"
"Well...yes. All the Zapfish taken back. By the Squidbeak Splatoon." Pix said.
"...THE Squidbeak?"
"Yeah. Cuttlefish was leading a team of 3 agents. They defeated Octavio and took everything, including the Great Zapfish. Now this place is out of power again." Abigail added.
"...well, I'll be damned." Unizo said.

Abigail offered Uni to sit down on the bed with them, and he did so.
"It was a crazy battle. Everyone was there. And the Squidbeak unleashed some sort of...audio weapon?" Abigail said.
"Weapon?" Zaire seemed interested.
"Well...it's a song. But it apparently had a impact on most Octarians."
"What sort of impact? Injuries?" Uni asked.
"No no no, no one was injured. But it appears that the song somehow overpowered Octavio's Hypno-Goggles. The Octarians were freed from its control." Abigail explained.
"...seriously?"
"Yeah. I can't believe it either. The song was catchy too..." she added.
"But then, how is everybody?" Pix asked, concerned.
"They're fine. Octavio was captured by the Squidbeak, so they're just wandering around. Leaderless. Go see for yourself, Uni." Abi said, pointing at the open window.

Uni went to look, and saw what Abigail said. Just a bunch of Octarians, wandering around, chatting, etc.

"...so then...what now?"
"First, we must find some sort of new way to gain power. We can't utilize some essencial equipment without it." Zaire said.
"...hmm..."

"...hey. Uhh...Unizo." he looked at Unizo, and he turned around to face him.
"What is it?"
"I'm...deeply sorry for what you had to go through. I still remember...the things I did for Octavio...I don't know if I'll--"
"No no no. Don't blame yourself for any of this. I could tell you weren't doing willingly. You were under the control of...whatever those shades were." He said.
"Hypno-Shades. We were testing out a prototype for a new version of the Hypno-Goggles, one that was more potent and power efficient. At least...that's what Octavio made us do. The generator turned off when the power outage happened." Pix explained.
"Those goggles were getting kind of uncomfortable." Abi said.

Unizo held his arms. Thinking back.

"You may still remember some things you did while under the effect of the hypnotization. Because Zaire remembers a lot." Pix added.
"Octavio is captured, but none of us know where the submitted weapons and machinery went. If they were to fall on the wrong hands..." Zaire said.

Abigail patted his shoulder.
"They won't. We'll find them."

Unizo just stayed silent.

"How do you feel, Unizo?" Pix asked.
"...like I've been cursed and blessed at the same time, honestly. It's weird." He responded.
"I get you. Though I must say...that new look is nice on you." Abi commented.
"Oh uh...thanks. I guess."

He looked outside a bit more. After a few seconds of silence...

"...you said you needed a power generator, right? I could try to salvage some materials and maybe build one which uses solar power."
"Solar power?...will it really generate enough?" Zaire asked.
"I could try to modify pre-existing models. Or create a new one altogether."
"...you sure you can pull it off?" Abigail asked.
"With Zaire and Pix's assistance, yes."

The two scientists looked over at Uni.

"...that's...nice of you. To consider us." Pix said.
"I know you two want to do some good after all that happened. Well, here's your chance."
"...well...if you insist." Zaire got up.
"How do we begin?"

It took a little while, but the trio started working on a solar power generator, once again putting Unizo's new gift to good use. They utilized unused materials left by the previous engineers and also salvaged materials from the abandoned locations, with Uni sometimes specifying what should be modified to make the generator more efficient and powerful.

During testing...

"...it looks like it's working. How much is it generating?" Uni asked.

Pix went to look at the laptop.
"...it's generating power equivalent from that of ten Zapfish. But I'm not completely sure it's enough to fuel the whole place." She responded.
"Most Octarians are gathered near this area here. So I think this could do, for now." He said.

While work was being done and Zaire was writing down the progress on the clipboard, Abigail walked over to them. And with her was another Octoling girl. She had a green ink color, a brown jacket and blue eyes, looked to be around 19 years old.

"Yo, scientists. There's someone here you might want to talk to." Abi said, causing the trio to pause their work to walk over to them.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Uni asked.
"Zaire said one of the things you three built was some sort of memory eraser, right?"
"...yes. Why?" Pix asked.
"This girl. Her name is Petra Sylvester. I believe the machine was used on her."

To be continued...