Hello fellow readers and fanfiction writers. Before I get started there is a few things I need to explain first...

First off I actually don't own this game and most of my information comes from watching "Let's plays" and general research of the game, (I really do want to play this game though,) which could potentially mean inaccuracies of information, (I'm hoping some of you will tell me if that's the case that way I can fix them when they do occur.)

Also fair warning there will be spoilers from the single player mode in this fanfiction. Not like "what the final boss is" spoilers, but spoilers none the less.

Thank you for reading and enjoy.

Chapter 1: A Lost Cause

Marlin knew the mission had failed when the sound of a scream had rung through his ears, making his blood run cold.

Looking over at his partner, Ploosh, he could see in the green Inkling's emerald eyes the same signs of worry as he felt within himself, "That sounded like Inka, Marlin."

"I know" Marlin answered as he peered around the wall they were currently hiding behind, looking for the enemy they were fighting. Seeing no one he turned back to Ploosh, "The coast seems to be clear for now, let's see if we can track down the other two before the Octarians have a chance to."

Ploosh nodded in agreement and together they rushed out from cover and alternated between running in and out of safety and hiding in puddles of their own ink by shifting into their squid forms when signs of the enemy was evident. It took them a good hour's worth of searching before Marlin and Ploosh were able to find the other two.

"Psst... Marlin" Marlin turned and quickly spotted the deep blue eyes of Squil, the third member of their team, glittering in the gloom underneath a metal ramp they had recently gone over while in mid-search, "We're under here."

"But where's Inka?" Ploosh asked as he darted rapid nervous glances around the area.

"I'm right here stupid!" Inka, a purple eyed, purple haired, Inkling girl declared as she tried to climb out from under the ramp. She didn't get far, however, before she promptly grabbed her side and slumped down to the floor with gritted fangs.

Rushing towards her Marlin kneeled down next to where she had fallen and gently pulled her hand away from her side to reveal a deep gash where there was a black fluid oozing out of the wound.

"Inka you're bleeding!"

"It doesn't hurt that much Marlin."

"It doesn't matter, we can't finish the mission if one of the team members is injured, it's too risky." He said as Squil helped her get to her feet.

"But we're so close to saving the baby zapfish to quit now." Inka insisted as she tried to push Squil away from her so she could stand on her own.

"I'm sorry Inka but it's too..." Squil started to say before Marlin quickly covered his mouth from behind. He turned and glared at him for a few seconds before he saw Marlin pointing above them.

Following his gaze Squil, Ploosh and Inka looked up in time to see, much to their horror, a series of deep-treaded boots walking above them on the ramp they were hiding under. The thunderous sound they were making caused all four of them to shiver in fear until the last of them had left and the sound of their movements had died down into nothing.

"Octolings," Marlin whispered, "we have to get out of here." Cocking his ink gun he headed out first while Ploosh and Squil carried Inka between their two arms. It was then that Marlin also noticed Inka was limping and favoring her right leg. The same side her wound was on. He raised one of his eyebrows quizzically at her.

"I don't want to talk about Marlin. Let's just go and get out of here before the Octolings come back and find us," she responded to his voiceless question with purple eyes glaring and fangs bared.

Traveling through the Octarian base the team was slightly surprised to see not even a single Octarian or Octoling in sight. Even when they had reached the abort point, which was a special type of portal the team had left behind in case of an emergency so that they could leave the place quickly.

"You guys help Inka get through."

"I can do it myself!" Inka replied as she pushed the other two aside. The light coming off the portal had been dim until she had stepped onto it and it washed her in a bright green light. Once the light had died down the remaining trio could see that she had safely been teleported out of there.

"Ploosh..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it" Ploosh responded as he also stepped onto the portal and was teleported out of there.

"Marlin you should go next."

"No Squil, I'm going last so that I can cover your guy's back. I've been doing these missions far longer than you three have and I know what I'm doing a lot better than you do."

"But Marlin-" Squil started to say when suddenly something hit the back of Marlin's head hard. Marlin reached behind with his free hand only to quickly pulled it back when he felt a stinging sensation on the tips of his fingers. Bringing them up to his orange eyes he quickly saw the cause of the pain was from the sticky purplish-pink ink that was now making his fingers stick to each other as well as sting. By this point the back of his head had already started to hurt as well.

"There they are!" Looking up Marlin saw five Octolings coming towards him and Squil. One or two of them had already fired off some shots, of which one successfully had hit Squil in the face. Crying out in surprise he quickly wiped it away but Marlin could see that the pain was already setting in from the direct contact with the Octarian ink.

They were out of time.

"Squil go! I'll be right behind you." Marlin shouted at him as he prepared to guard him from more shots from the oncoming Octolings.

"But..."

"I said go!" Marlin repeated as he shoved Squil at the portal. Stumbling onto it Squil barely had time to turn around before the light surrounded him and teleported him as well out of there. A look of horror was plain on his face before he disappeared.

Slowly backing towards the portal Marlin prepared to escape as well when the Octolings finally got out some more good shots with their ink guns which forced Marlin to the ground in pain. Blinking through tears he saw that they were now almost on top of him. It was then that he knew there was no way he could get through the portal in his current condition without risking letting the Octolings follow him through and putting the others in danger.

He now not only had no time but also no more options about what to do, except one.

"I'm sorry about this guys," Marlin whispered softly as he raised his ink gun and started to hit the edge of the portal with the butt of it.

At first the hits seemed to be doing nothing but after the fourth hit the portal's light started to flicker and after the fifth time it died completely proving that the portal was no longer functional.

Smiling mischievously Marlin looked up to see that one of the Octolings already had an ink gun trained on his head. The kelp on its helmet told him right away that she must have been some form of captain. Smiling even wider Marlin push himself up partially from the floor before addressing his captor, "Thought you guys had seen the last of me, didn't you?"

Instead of answering him she promptly shot him straight in the face causing him to fall on his side, unable to move from where he laid. As Marlin started to lose consciousness he was just able to hear the conversation the Octoling who had shot him was having with another Octoling and what he heard made his blood run even colder than before.

"Run ahead to main headquarters and report to Octavious that we have finally captured Agent 3 and we are bringing him in even as we speak."