Author's Note: This is continued from my story "Life in Inkopolis: The Tournment" so you may be confused as to who some of these characters are if you haven't been reading my other stories.

Into the Salmon Lands

Chapter 1

Captured…

Inklings and an Octoling.

They will be forced to fight for their lives.

May the odds be in their favor…

Days Earlier…Sarah's POV

Callie, Guyver, and I were put on a Flying Saucer with Finnia the Salmonling. We could've taken Terry as well, but we decided to leave him behind because he could still hold some useful information in case we lose Finnia somehow, so we can claim to hold him hostage as a bargaining chip and the fact that Callie didn't want to risk getting bitten again. I can understand that.

Marina would be remotely piloting the UFO since Callie and I didn't know how to operate Octo tech and Guyver only worked on parts for the aircraft.

We just got to the region the Rivers should be in when we had to start asking Finnia for directions.

"Errrr…" Finnia was looking around. "Where we?"

"We're in the region." Guyver told her. "Shouldn't you know the rest of the way?"

Finnia was looking out the window, squinting her eyes.

"Oh!" She turned to us. "No know. I swim!"

"…Oh…" Callie turned to us. "She doesn't recognize it because she usually swims there."

"What about landmarks?" I asked. "Any familiar ones?"

"Um…" Finnia looked around. "Ooh, ooh! Aaarrrr!"

She pointed to an old possible pirate ship that was wrecked along a small island, barely a block wide.

"North!" Finnia pointed.

The ship then made its way North. It was about an hour before Finnia started looking out the window again.

"West!" Finnia said and the ship turned West.

"So how much longer?" I asked.

She was about to answer when the outside a window, we saw five Salmonid Motherships rise from the water.

"What do we do?!" I started panicking.

"Oh!" Guyver pulled Finnia over to the window.

He started waving and urged Finnia to do the same.

After a few seconds of waving, the motherships started heading in a certain direction, clearly guiding us. We had the ship follow.

You know, I'm starting to feel we're extremely unprepared for this…

After another while, we started seeing land. It was a river delta.

This is it.

"So what's the plan for getting down there?" I asked.

The comms then turned on to reveal Marina's voice.

"You three are going to jump off when you're close enough to the ground." Marina told us. "I'll then take the Saucer away while you explore. If you run into any trouble you can't handle, I'll bring the saucer back."

"Alright." Guyver replied.

"We got this!" I bragged.

"Let's find us a DJ!" Callie cheered.

We waited until we were low enough, and then jumped off. We landed in a forest. Guyver than pulled Finnia up.

"Alright, where to now?" Guyver asked.

"Follow river!" Finnia answered.

I guess that was obvious.

Well, time to walk…

Two Hours Later…

"Soooooo tiiiiiirrreeed!" Callie whined.

"My feet are killing me…" I groaned.

"Sorry…" Marina apologized over the comms. "If I'd known it'd be such a long walk, I'd have told you to wait before jumping."

"I'm not used to walking long distance…" Guyver remarked.

"Water…" Finnia whined.

"Here." I handed her a water bottle.

Finnia opened the bottle and splashed the water in her face.

"Don't waste water!" I shouted.

"No waste!" She pointed to her skin. It was getting a bit scale-y and flaky.

"So you dry up after a while." I noticed. "Is it dangerous?"

"No…" She started scratching herself and splashing more water on. "Itchyyyy…"

Well, at least we know she's not in danger…wait, she's our prisoner…why should I…okay, I care…I guess she's just been too friendly and helpful for me not to.

After yet another few minutes, Finnia started looking around and then stopped at a bunch of bushes..

"Here!" She pushed leaves out of the way.

Beyond the leaves was a large lake with many rivers flowing into it. There were several buildings on the land and in the shallow parts of the water. Many looked like they were put together with random things the Salmonids found, some were made of stone/marble and clearly very old temples and colosseums, and some others were made of metal and looked like they were made in recent decades.

I brought out my binoculars.

It seemed lower-class fodder like Smallfrys, Chums, Snatchers, and Cohocks lived in the makeshift houses, the different boss Salmonids worked at the metal buildings, and the Goldies hung around the old stone/marble buildings.

I could see different Salmonids popping out of certain parts of water. Probably just born. They each looked different depending on where they came from. My guess is their looks are determined by where they hatch. Wait, I think that's in the handbook…

Wait…

"Where'd you come from?" I asked Finnia. "I don't see any Salmonlings being born."

"I from those." She pointed to the metal buildings.

Yup, definitely a lab experiment.

"So we'll probably find Octavio in one of those buildings…" Guyver guessed.

"But how do we get close?" Callie wondered. "We don't exactly blend in."

"Maybe I ask?" Finnia suggested.

We then saw the Salmonids gather together as a Mothership lifted off.

"A run must be going badly for them…" I guessed. "The manual says sending the mothership is a last resort."

"Except for those times when they come first wave." Guyver added.

"That's our ticket in!" Callie said. "We'll move when they're watching a Mothership leave!"

"But remember the Salmonids have a wicked sense of smell." I reminded her.

"Wait." Guyver turned to us. "What if I went in with Finnia? Octarians have trade deal with the Salmonids. Maybe if I come in with Finnia the two of us can explore more."

"Are there Octarians around here?" Callie asked Finnia.

"M-hm!" Finnia nodded her head and pointed to the metal buildings.

"Then give it a try." Callie liked the idea.

Guyver nodded his head and took Finnia down to the settlement. It seemed the Salmonids were buying it and Guyver and Finnia were able to get into one of the metal buildings.

One Hour Later…

Callie and I were sitting around, bored for an hour. I'd text my friends, but my phone has zero reception here.

Guyver's been radio silent for a bit. He hasn't activated his distress beacon, so he must be staying radio silent not to get caught.

"So…how are things between you and Otis?" I asked.

"Oh, it's going well." Callie answered. "He took me to the park the other day. Had to disguise, obviously."

"Ah." I nodded my head.

"…So, um…can I ask you something?" Callie wondered.

"Sure." I shrugged.

"Do you think Otis is the type to get serious?" Callie asked. "I-if it gets to the point of getting serious, of course."

"Of course." I answered. "A Ligo commits. That's one of the family phrases, anyway."

"Oh?" Callie seemed intrigued.

"Basically when someone in my family finds someone they really, really like, they commit, no questions asked." I told her. "My gramps committed to my Gram-Gram, my dad Committed to my mom…and step-mom…and I'm sure Otis'll commit if you want to get serious."

"…Does that mean you'll commit to Guyver?" Callie smirked.

My face immediately went red.

"I-if it gets to that point, m-maybe…" I replied. "I-I don't wanna think of that stuff yet…"

"It's fine!" Callie hand-waved the matter. "You're 14. You don't have things figured out yet. Heck, I'm 19 and I still don't have everything figured out."

"Y-yeah…" I nodded my head.

"Hi ho!" Finnia appeared from the bushes.

"Finnia?!" I shot up. "Where's Guyver?"

"Oh, forgot!" Finnia remembered. "Papa say Sur-y-endar? Or splat."

"…Papa…?" Callie was hesitant to find out who that was.

Before we knew it, several Salmonids came out of the bushes and surrounded us.

"I-it's okay, Cal!" I whipped out my Brush. "I'm an Overachieving Profreshional!"

I swallowed my words as a frying pan hit me from behind and everything went to black.