The L Guy

@Corrupt_Phoenix I agree. From the numerous splatoon human fics I read, most of them either make the MC overpowered, or make the MC's adversaries weak/incompetent. That in itself isn't inherently bad, so long as the story is interesting. Honestly, I'm glad those stories are the majority, otherwise I probably wouldn't have gotten the idea to make Akikta the opposite.
            
            I like Akikta being weak since it means he can't brute force his way through objectives like Sake. Plus, him being stronger than most of the people in the new world wouldn't make sense. He's a child, granted, a very smart one. I think he shows his intelligence more in the last story, but he's always been like that. But he never liked applying himself, so it's a shame the circumstances he found himself in basically forced him to "mature" more quickly. Even then, that didn't stop him from making stupid mistakes. It's human nature to do so, after all.
            
            As for Nakji and Inka, I gotta admit, aside from Sake, Nakji might be my fav OC I've made thus far. There's a lot I have planned with her in the future, but if we're just talking about SoA, I mainly made her as a way to show the audience that, even though Akikta lost everything, there's nothing stopping him from building a new. The thing is, he's mentally stuck in the past and still craves human interaction, which pushes him to do the things he does. It's also why he's dense towards Inka.
            
            Granted, I initially had no intentions of even making a love interest for Akikta, since I felt plenty of splatoon human fanfics already did that. Though, to me, I saw no other way for Inka to just willingly uproot her whole life for two people she just met. Love is blinding, so if she did it out of that, it'd make perfect sense. I'll admit tho, regarding Inka's love, I might've ended things off a bit more tragically than needed.
            
            Regardless, yea. I wanted to do something different from the norm, and while I don't think I nailed it, I hope it kept you and others entertained

@TheLGuy Then, there is of course Nakji and Inka, the two that stand next to Akikta. I'm going to admit, even thogh Nakji has the clingy sister trope (or something similar), I feel like it does very well, espeially considered how they develop throughout the story. She had nothing, or seem to have anyting even while being a pirate, but one decision to travel with him, and she felt a genuine bond, as both wanted to protect each other and support each other like family. Of course she wouldn't want anything happening to her brother. Even though they don't even share blood or race, they were family, thousands of years apart, united.
            Then there is Inka, the love interest of Akikta. Another person that was lonely, didn't seem to have anything or anyone, especially since Astro spent most of his time in the metro. Akikta ended up being her light, and after Akikta showing his emotional side, she fell in love, despite him admiting his lies. She helps him despite the very obvious risks. She likely categorizes into the type of person to fall in love very easily, but again, it feels so nicely set up that it isn't obvious or worsens her character. She's rational, even knowing when she is to emotional herself as seen with her confession to Akikta. Or at least, thats how I see it, probably glossing over other details. Like Nakji, she cares for her friends/crush, she has what I think is unique character, something I don't see in other fanfics.

@TheLGuy You're welcome man. But yeah, part if not most of what gets me so hooked on the major Splatoon fanfic storyline, or specifically SOA was that the main character, Akikta, had actual flaws that don't seem to be present or weren't presented well in other human splatoon fics, and that their choices and mistakes actually impacted everyone's lives and continue to still affect others.
            For example, Akikta's first mistake: unleashing Aku. In a desperate attempt for human interaction, he woke up an artificial creature that eventually killed so many inklings, octolings, etc, meaning that he has inadvertently killed so many due to his mistake. Then there is trusting Sake/believing he is human, in which his consequence was that he had the whole Squidbeak after him, not to also mention that he was clearly weaker than most of them, really only being able to beat Neo 3/Metta and occasionally 8 when she didn't plan on fighting her. There was also the other consequence of finding out the truth after blindly following him. Of course, I can talk on and on such as him poisioning himself due to hunger, protecting Marina, fusing himself with Aku, etc. Point is, his flaws and actions led to actual consequenses that didn't just go away, it just led to more and more problems, changed others. 
            While this rant isn't probably my best analysis, the main point I'm trying to say is that the storyline doesn't feel as cliche, or follow similar tropes that I feel are way too present in other fics. Akikta isn't overpowered, even with his and Aku's fusion. He's lucky, but it doesn't feel like he's lucky to the point to where he wins through plot armor. It feels like his luck is borrowed, and that he actually pays the price for it later, potentially ending in a cycle of being blessed then being cursed and so on. He feels genuinely human, he makes mistakes, he wants to amend those mistakes, he connects to others despite being a different race, and he actually acts like many others would.

@look_under_there69 I am as well, but it is not likely to be the case, at least in Zero to Hero. Unless the subject of Akikta is important later in the book, we likely won't hear anything important/new of him. However, I am also curious for the reactions of each one of them, especially Sepia's (if she is included in that discussion) if Aku is also mentioned, since Aku did kill those close to Sepia. 

@Corrupt_Phoenix My bad, I definitely missed this. But yeah, I can say the same. I had a fun splatfest

@Corrupt_Phoenix The salmonids used to do us dirty, now we're the ones doing them dirty 

@TheLGuy oh and also, I just realized, the recent big run could also be part of the reason in your story (if the salmonid population decrease is mentioned more in detail) why there is such a decline. We got like 1.5 million eggs, 3 eggs for every boss, also not accounting for any missed uncollected eggs, players for sure decimated the salmonid population.

@TheLGuy well I'm team present, but if you do pick future, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you give it your all

@EwanKidner 1. Akikta would no doubt be confused about what happened. He'd wonder why there was a fake body of himself, though at the same time happy that he doesn't have to worry about being trapped in Atlantis. Still, he'd want answers and would most likely scour the Earth in search of them. All while also looking into a way for him to free/subdue his brother, who is currently residing in the fake body of his. He probably wouldn't let the others know since he'd be unable to explain the situation to them. Well, everyone but Nakji and Inka, I'd think.
            
            2. Akikta would be extremely relieved and happy at first upon finding out his adventures were just a big fever dream. Though after having some time to soak in it, he'd miss the people from the dream, especially Nakji and Inka. I can see this dream becoming some sort of traumatic experience for Akikta. So much so, his personality changes and he becomes a lot more caring for his family rather than becoming eager to see the surface. At the same time, he'd most likely be trying to have the dream again, so just so he can the NSS and the others.
            
            3-4. You're right, I feel like Akikta in this version would be a henchman type villain in this au since he was the one who was sent by the other humans, meaning he has superiors to take orders from. Nonetheless, his intelligence and tendency to manipulate the others is very reminiscent of Eosalmo, though the intelligence part he actually has. I would say that'd come from his detachment for the new life like he did in the beginning of Best for Last, so he'd only care about the other humans who are far away from his current situation. I can see Akikta being this way if he were a bit older and had a harsher life in Alterna growing up. As for what happens with Atlantis, assuming everything basically played out the same, I can see him detonating Atlantis entirely as he'd believe none of the new life should get their hands on old human tech. After, he'd return to the other humans.

Let it out at alterna so he could use it throughout the story), he pretends that Aku was taking over him and he had no control over himself, he takes out Sal later, then pretends to go on a rampage knowing that he would be left to go back to the bottom of the ocean, so that everyone wouldn’t know why he was really there, and everyone would think he was trapped and perhaps eventually dead, then he would escape after easily taking control over aku through sheer willpower, then he either takes an escape pod out, or, since HE was the one who hacked the place before once he found a computer room, he easily knew how to hack it again, so he resets the machines to gain control over them, before taking the submarine very deep and far away then escaping somewhere where nobody would find him, maybe even remotely sending the submarine back incase anyone comes to check if it’s still there, do he escapes, and everyone else is non the wiser, and even hypothetically speaking if the Splatoon did decide to come back, they would have no clue what happened to him, as he left ages ago, and he could of just removed any camera footage to get rid of the evidence.
            
            4. This isn’t a scenario, just a question, don’t you think that 3’s Akikta would have been a pretty good and intelligent character(maybe villain) if that was what happened?, I read your story and thought that I all these situations could have got into a story like that, so I wrote Akikta in an alternate universe like this.

After getting rid of the pirates, he still makes friends with nakji, however he is only saying the stuff he is saying to trick her into working for him, by saying the same stuff, after that it goes on as usual, with him doing stuff for Sal to continue to gain trust, when he meets coral, he only pretends to lose to her, knowing that he might encounter her again, he does this so that next time coral encounters him, she will underestimate him and not be able to win, when he meets 8, he pretends to be fooled by Sal still, and the rest goes on as usual, when he meets Inka, he fakes kindness to manipulate her weaker mind into helping him, as he can quickly tell that Inka is the kind of person to love him for kindness and then do that for him, after that, he abducts Marie to fully gain Sal’s trust, and throws away her phone to look like he is taking precautions but is secretly wanting the Splatoon to follow by intentionally having Inka to forget to throw hers away, this is so that if Sal ends up being a traitor or finding out about the group of humans, he can use the Splatoon to make getting rid of him easier, when he fights them on the boat, he holds back to look weak, but is intentionally just waiting for the salmonids to arrive, when he gets to Sal it turns out that while he wasn’t aware of other humans, he did betray the fake salmonid group that the humans had made, he pretends to get injured by Sal before retreating, not wanting anyone to know he was stronger than he showed or why he was really here, most of the rest happens the same, but let’s say Akikta is still doing things like pretending to get hurt, let’s even say that he made a fake arm to make it look like he lost an arm, or was using a fake body sometimes to stay with the Splatoon while secretly being somewhere else, such as him going to meet the Splatoon with 8, he used a fake body in case something went wrong with forming an alliance, but after absorbing the Ink demon (by the way let’s say he intentionally

@TheLGuy Don't worry about telling me if it's right or wrong: it is most likely the case that my theory is very wrong since as far as I know, there isn't a lot of evidence to even support my theory. It was a shot into the potentially infinite possibilities of Akikta's possible origins. Plus I do want to see the development in real time unless it is very unlikely that the info will not appear in the time line. Also regarding your points:
            1. I feel like with my theory, 8 years can still work with my original theory/scenario, and also its interesting that Sal and Cal are 8 years apart as well, either I must not have caught that or it wasn't mentioned before, so thats something interesting.
            2. I do remember when I asked for the presence of Akikta's mother back when he was thinking about relationships/Inka, back in SOA: FR. I realized then that his mom really wasn't talked about too much, and part of me even after figuring out she died giving birth to him wanted to believe something was off about the situation at hand, since while I know women can die from childbirth, there has to have been something that occured such as a health condition or something alike for her to have died.
            3. Yeah looking back, I may have been a little harsh to Axe Jr calling him a deadbeat, maybe he did need to be working most of the time. There are really two responses to losing a partner: clinging on to the children that the dead partner had to unfortunately left behind, or neglecting them all together, and Axe Jr chose the ladder from what it seems. I also agree that he would drown himself deep into work like an alchoholic trying to forget a traumatic/unfortunate event in their life. 
            I don't really have anything for 4. Looking back on my scenario, there are probably a few more details that I would like to add to it, but I may not respond with them right away.

@Corrupt_Phoenix That's a pretty interesting theory you got there- I won't say whether it's right or wrong unless you want me to, but I will correct/address a few things
            
            1. I should've made the dialogue a bit more natural so it's easier to tell the age difference, but Chaska is 8 years older than Akikta (which, funnily enough, is the same age difference between Sal and Cal), so by the time Akikta is put into cryostasis, Chaska is 25.
            
            2. Your theory uses the idea that AM dies after giving birth to Akikta, which is exactly what happened and why she isn't present in his life (don't know if I mentioned that in SoA: FR or not).
            
            3. Axe Jr wasn't intentionally being a deadbeat to Akikta. I like to believe the death of AM drove him deeper into his work. It would've been easy for him to be neglectful to Akikta, whether intentionally or not, due to his grief, and the fact he was a head scientist.
            
            4. Father Axe said that because around that time, they were building the Spirit Lifter, so that would've taken huge chunks of the already little time Axe Jr spent with his family, hence his absence during the months before Akikta was put in cryostasis.

@Corrupt_Phoenix regardless, while I don't think my example scenario does my theory justice especially as I feel like it gets worse over time, I still want to stand by the theory that something is off with Akikta, and that he himself, even before fusing with Aku, isn't exactly a true human. 

@TheLGuy Hello, friend. It's been a good while. I hope you're well, if there's any other available way to contact you.

@WizzyRadius16 Then of course you got the future. Like you said, it might be similar in concept to Order. The way I see it, future would be a type of enemy that's never been seen before and has no relation to the past or present. Order was a step in this direction I believe, with it being a newly created AI and all. But obviously, it had ties to Marina. Still, I think the Jelletons were pretty neat and the best new type of enemy aside from the Salmonids (or maybe I'm only saying that after nearly a whole decade of dealing with the Octarians).
            
            The only type of enemy I can see working for future is maybe similar to Order, a newly created AI (but this time maybe not by Marina) and taking place in a virtual world. Either that, or maybe it'll be a completely new type of species that has evolved on Earth and has no relation to the sea creatures we currently know of. Those are my guests for what this splatfest could be leaning towards, but again, I could be totally wrong.
            
            Also, out of morbid curiosity, what did you mean by Sal was a step in the right direction? You might've already explained this to me in DMs, but I would like some elaboration-
            
            You know me. The villain fanatic is, of course, gonna wanna hear some feedback on his villain so he can make a better one, lol

@WizzyRadius16 On the other hand, if my theory of the splatfest representing the next type of enemies in the next Splatoon saga is correct, then I see Salmonids representing the present quite nicely.
            
            They've already been shown to be quite intelligent, as they have their own culture, beliefs, and (albeit, crude) technology, similar to the Inklings and Octolings. They also aren't anything new, as they've been around for probably as long as the inklings and octolings, and are even mentioned in the sunken scrolls.
            
            Plus, with the release of Splatoon 3, it's been shown we don't know everything there is to know about them. The reveal of the King Salmonids is a clear indication of that, and for all we know, there could be many more King Salmonids.
            
            Not sure how it would go story-wise, but I'd be willing to bet the Salmonids would break their agreement with Octavio after octolings start participating in Salmon Run and perform frequent attacks on both civilizations. Since they're migrating, to them, it's just a way of life. But for the cephalopods, it's a fight for their life.
            
            Salmonids also might not be considered for present-type enemies, since again, they're migrating, and that's bound to end eventually. They might bring in another fish-like enemy for the saga, or maybe even do something with Lil' Judd, who's already been hinted to be malicious, at least to Judd.

@TheLGuy, that’s fine, if you can remember them, or come up with more then that would be fun as well, you can go back to the old comment and think some up if you want,
            
            If you decide to tell me then it would be nice if you told me both what the insults are, and who says which insult.

@EwanKidner Imma be so honest with you chief, I really don't remember the insults I had thought up for them

@RadGamer14 Scooby Doo ahh type plan 

@RadGamer14 Weaponizing water is definitely an avenue they could exploit

@TheLGuy You're good bro. Take anytime you need to rest and gather your thoughts. We will all be patiently waiting for you.
            And yeah, I feel bad for Akikta. He didn't even know that the everyone wanted to bring him back but couldn't cause of Aku's power. Its also terrifying that Aku grew smarter since it didn't fall for the water tower trick and instead, opted to use the trap to attack the Squidbeak. I knew it would grow smarter over time, but to even recognize a trap quickly and counter it to make it work against them was terrifying. 
            I'm just as excited for the next book of the series as I am with the other works you will cook up.