Myo continued to struggle against her captors, monstrous creatures at least twice the size of an Inkling. They towered over her, the cuffs they had her in were unbreakable.

"H-hey! Where are you taking us!? L-let me go!" Myo gurgled in protest against the giants on either side of her, holding back her tears and stuttering in fear.

"Ytsief elttil slamina t'nera yeht? Yeh, t'nac uoy nrael? Uoy t'nac kaerb esoht sniahc!" One of the creatures shouted at Myo in a language she could not understand. It's harsh deep voice was unlike anything she had ever heard. She could only assume they did not understand her either, so trying to reason with them was pointless. Morphing into her squid form also wouldn't help her, she had already tried that, and electrocution wasn't very comfortable.

Soon enough they came across a behemoth of a structure; a massive steel whale in shape, with hulking legs digging into the grass and dirt beneath it. A space cruiser, large enough to cast half of Inkopolis into shade. They dragged Myo up a large ramp and into its interior, and she beheld broad, sterile halls and great doors. Other cases of giants carrying chained Inklings were funneled in around them.

Eventually their grip on her tightened as they removed her binds and tossed her into a small room, her moist skin hitting the floor with a splat. "Uhg… Wh-what? You can't just leave me in here!" Myo's bubbling voice fell on deaf ears as the towering beings swung the metal door shut. The cell they left her in was the size of a closet, empty and cold, lit by a single white light.

There was a small window on the door but it was too high for her. She jumped, reaching for the ledge and found it, pulling herself up to see. She saw other member's of the tall race dragging fellow chained Inklings through the steel hallways, some still struggling others completely limp and sobbing.

Only a few hours had passed since fighting had broken out on the outskirts of Inkoplois. These beasts had stormed the city, completely unphased by squid weaponry. At first everyone had believed them to be some new kind of Octarian weapon, or perhaps giant Octolings. But no, these beings were much too cruel. Octarians were persistent, but they never killed their foes in such quantity.

She, along with hundreds of other Inklings had rushed to their city's defense but were completely unprepared for what they met. There had been no ink, no color in that battle, only fire and death. In the commotion Myo had been completely separated from her two best friends, and she worried for their safety, and her own. She did not know what these creatures wanted with them, but it couldn't be good.

Myo dropped back to the floor, she couldn't bear the display any longer. Finally letting go of her tears, she cried in fear and confusion. There was so much she did not understand. Who were these monsters? How could they do something so horrible?

X

It was quiet and dark. A lot of time had passed since the muffled activity outside her cell had ceased. It was likely night outside by now, and the single light in the room had switched off on it's own, implying exactly that. Myo had long since grown exhausted, she couldn't cry any more. Now she attempted to nap on the floor of her room, but it was no use. The floor was cold, hard and dry, it was nothing like home.

The young Inkling now had time to properly panic, thoughts raced through her head tirelessly, fear of what would happen to her. She tried to rest but sleep would not come. By now, Inkopolis had no doubt been completely overrun, the fighting was over. How many Inklings had died today? The weight of that question crushed her.

X

The light returned and suddenly voices could be heard outside in the hallway, jolting Myo to attention. "It can't be morning already…" she complained. A restless night would weigh her down for the whole day.

The door to her cell flew open, one of the giants reached in and tugged her out by the wrist. Myo noticed this happening to all imprisoned Inklings, who began walking down the hall, guided by one of the monsters at the front. She soon found herself forced to follow. Everyone wore the same bright orange colored mantles, it was the collective color they converted to in the battle yesterday. There were quiet murmurs of uncertainty between them as they marched forward, giants on standing guard on the sides.

Myo felt someone tap her on the back, she turned to see an Inkling boy, he was a bit shorter than she was. His dark blue eyes exaggerated by the opposing orange on his head "C-Cepha!?" he gasped. "Oh... Sorry I thought you were someone else. She kind of looks-... looked like you. She even had these pink eyes, like yours."

"I-… Sorry." Myo shook her head lightly. The boy's wide eyes fell to the floor, and Myo turned away, only to feel him tap her back again.

"H-hey, I'm all alone here… Y-you don't mind if I hang around with you. Do you? " He begged.

Myo thought about it briefly "Alright." she said. "I need to look for my friends, I don't know what happened to them. So maybe we can work together?" Myo offered.

The boy smiled shyly "That would be really great. My name is Psid."

She smiled back at him "My name is Myo. I wish we could have met each other in a happier place…" she lamented.

"Yeah." Psid's gaze returned to the floor.

The two of them kept close together so as to not get lost in the crowd. Myo described her two friends to Psid as they went, and he promised to keep an eye out.

looking at the uninhabited halls they intersected, Myo considered simply running off through them, finding the ramp through which she entered and escape. But then she looked to the creatures, they held those weapons in their hands, the ones that brought instant death with a single flash. They would easily strike her down if she dared venture.

"Psid. Do you know anything about these giants? have you ever heard of them before?" Myo knew nothing of them, she hoped her new friend might have some idea.

"Um… No." Psid answered flatly after brief thought.

"I think I know what they are." the Inkling boy beside them interjected, cracked glasses over one healthy, and one bruised eye.

"Y-you do?" Psid said wide eyed.

"Yes." the Inkling continued. "Pretty sure they're 'The Ancients', we have fossils of them in the Inkopolis Museum. Haven't you been?"

"No. I haven't." Psid said, feeling uneducated.

"The Ancients? But... aren't they extinct?" Myo asked, astonished at the revelation.

"Apparently not. Look at them, they are the spit image. To think a twelve thousand year old civilization would still exist…" The Inkling finished almost talking to himself.

Ancients they were then. But where have they been all this time if-?

Myo's thoughts were interrupted with a sharp bang, followed by the horrified screaming of the entire crowd. She soon spotted the cause of the chaos, a girl had attempted to run off and was now lying face down... unmoving. An Ancient ran to drag the girl out of sight leaving a red trail on the glossy floor. It was not ink. Myo diverted her gaze and Psid started crying hysterically.

The crowd continued it's terrified wail as the remaining Ancients fought to regain order. "Ecnelis! Encelis!" one of them boomed in its deep voice, running towards another Ancient, grabbing him by the shirt "Toidi! Kool tahw uoy evah enod! T'nod od taht niaga!"

"Ti saw gnitteg yawa!" the other shouted back, pushing him away.

"Revetahw. Pleh em mlac eseht sgniht nwod." they separated. And began to slowly restore peace.

"Hey, Psid… Hey." Myo whispered, trying to soothe the bawling squid next to her. "It's alright. We're safe. Okay?" It was not exactly true, but she did her best to comfort her new ally. While he did revert to a sob, Psid refused to to be fully pacified, memories from the day prior fresh once again in his mind.

"T-they're… they're all… gone..." he choked on his tears.

Myo could say nothing in response, she could hardly believe this was all happening. While they demanded to be released, she decided to hold back her tears, to appear strong and give Psid some level of comfort. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gently tugged him to continue following the crowd, which continued on its way. Once her face was out of Psid's view again, she quickly wiped away anything that escaped from her eyes.

X

The Inklings were fed in a gymnasium sized room filled with tables too large for them, but they made do. They were given fish but it did not taste very good, nobody complained since everyone was hungry, and it was at least cooked. Myo in particular had not eaten since breakfast the day prior, her constant stream of adrenaline keeping her from taking notice of her need for food.

Upon exiting, the Ancients forced them into a single-file line. Psid stepped in just behind Myo, who looked ahead to see what the reason for the line was. She spotted an Ancient, but he looked different from the others; clad in white rather than the usual grey camouflage. He closely looked at the Inklings in the crowd one by one before sending them off. They seemed to be splitting into two groups upon leaving.

"You're gonna stay with me right? I don't wanna be alone…" Psid held on to Myo's arm, shaking nervously, praying he would not have to be separated from her.

"I don't think is our decision to make." Myo stated. She too did not want to be left alone, having company brought this experience much closer to being bearable. But she had no choice if it came to it.

Before long it was Myo's turn, and she was given a better look at the white coated Ancient. She noticed he was actually smiling. Myo supposed it must be some kind of bemused or sadistic grin. He grabbed at her limbs with his gloved hands and thoroughly inspected her face, as if discovering something for the first time. At last signaling for her to join one of the groups.

Myo dared not disobey, but she looked back at Psid who now began his inspection. The Ancient seemed to take very little interest in him and quickly sent him off into the other group. Psid silently gave a look of desperation at Myo, clearly afraid to be left alone, but the two had no choice.

X

Myo's group was quickly led into a much messier and technology driven area of the ship. They did not stay in a group though, they were led into separate rooms.

Once alone, Myo was observed by white coated Ancients from behind a glass wall as she was presented a series of colors on a screen. She did not know what they intended, but as a bright yellow appeared on screen she instinctively converted her mantle to match it without noticing.

She turned to the Ancients in the glass booth in confusion, only to see their eyebrows raised in surprise at her color swap, jotting down notes on their clipboards.

Myo looked at her tentacles which dangled down from her head, they displayed her new color. "Oh." she said upon realization. Another color was brought on screen, a cyan blue. She matched it without even thinking, resulting in more impressed expressions from her observers.

More colors followed, deep reds, blues, vibrant greens, even black and white. Sometimes new colors flashed within seconds of the last. She instantly matched them all with ease. "This is pretty easy." she remarked out loud, though she doubted the Ancients knew what she was saying, or even noticed that she spoke at all.

Before long they moved on to a test of her memory: Showing colors in an ordered pattern Myo needed to remember, and then replicating it with colored cards she was given by one of the Ancients. The patterns were not particularly hard to remember, only a few items to remember at a time.

"Heh, I feel like I'm in preschool again." She chuckled. It was almost funny how after wading through hellish death and brutality she was now presented with basic cognitive tasks. The Ancients seemed even more impressed with these results than with her last test.

"Pmar pu eht ytluciffid. Tel su ees eht tnetxe fo s'ti ecnegilletni." One of them nodded in understanding. From behind the glass their speech was muffled and even more distorted than normal. Myo was quickly given a new pattern to memorize, but this one was longer, more challenging. She scratched her head for a moment, her mantel actually flashed the various colors as they came up.

Myo then attempted to replicate the long pattern with the cards as best she could. Perhaps if she had been better rested she would have completed the pattern more easily. She was certain she had mixed a couple of them up, but the Ancients still seemed impressed regardless.

X

Spending her entire day carrying out simple tasks was the last thing Myo expected to be in store for her. Clearly the Ancients knew nothing of the Inkling race if they were surprised at her color changing abilities.

She now purposefully shifted the color of her mantle back to the orange of everyone else. As she was guided back into the room they had eaten that morning, Myo stood on her toes to see over the heads of the returning crowd, looking for Psid. She felt a tap on her back.

"Hey Myo." Psid had spotted her first.

"Oh, there you are." Myo turned to greet him, but was shocked to see him bloody knuckled, and his clothes covered in mud and tattered. "W-what happened to you?"

"Um, well they took us outside to work." Psid explained. He panted for a moment, still out of breath from the trials of the day. "We did some digging, and construction, and stuff like that."

"That does not explain how you got like this."

Psid turned his head away, as if ashamed of something. "Well… some of them they had whips. Y-you know… In case we slowed down." he turned to show his back, the shirt had a large tear in it revealing a huge stripe of red crust on his back.

Myo clenched her fists and bared her teeth-like beak. She glared death at one of the Ancients standing guard. He stood straight and tall, his weapon close to his chest, small beady eyes staring into the void. His resolute stance demanded respect, but these beings deserved none. "Bastards! Haven't they done enough already?" Myo snarled.

Looking around at the other Inklings she saw that many of them had large bruises and cuts as well. Myo reached out to look at Psid's wound more closely, he flinched when she touched it. "H-hey! Don't! That hurt!" he yelped, turning back around to face her.

"Sorry." Myo apologized, she should have expected such a reaction.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you…" he looked at the floor, ashamed of his outburst.

"You don't need to apologize. It was my fault." Myo placed a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, I'm going to make sure I'm with you tomorrow. Alright? I don't know how, but… I'll make it happen." Psid's wide eyes looked up at her, and he gave a warm smile.

X

The Inklings were given a small supper of fish, it tasted just as terrible as it did for breakfast. But again: it was at least cooked. Then they were all guided back out of the room into the maze of corridors. Nobody tried to run this time, they knew exactly what would happen if they did.

"Um. Goodnight, Myo." Psid offered.

"Goodnight. Try to get some rest okay?" Myo knew he deserved all the rest in the world.

The Ancients began to open the cell doors and shove the nearest Inkling into them. Noticing this, Myo simply walked into a cell so as to not be mishandled. She then instructed Psid to do the same.

The steel door swung closed and the activity outside was instantly muffled into near silence. Myo slammed her fist against the wall, the steel absorbed her blow completely. "The 'Ancients' huh? I hate them!" She growled in her bubbly voice.

She slept better than she did the night before despite nothing about the cell changing. She hoped Psid had pleasant dreams.

A/N: for those wondering, 'Myo' is pronounced 'Mio,' and 'Psid' is pronounced 'Sid.' The names both come from the word 'Myopsida' which is an order of squid that has only one eyelid and no hooks on it's tentacles.