Another day, another story, is what I always say. This time though, it's a Splatoon story! This particular story, however, will mostly contain Splatoon 2 elements. I have no idea what Splatoon 1 was like, and I'm too lazy to look that shit up, so I'm doing only what I know.

ALSO! Of the squid sisters, I have to say Marie is my favorite. She just has this charm that Callie doesn't, I don't know. But that doesn't mean I don't like Callie at all! Oh no, Callie is fine with me, just like Marie more.

Anyway, I'm gonna stop with the pre-story notes. Relax, and enjoy the story!

An Octoling girl gazed longingly out at the semi-lit city below her, a hand softly pressed against the reinforced glass window, feeling that, as a side note, the glass was cool to the touch. The girl took in a breath, and released it in the form of a sigh, her fingers slowly trailing down the window before leaving the surface completely.

"Mortem city…" The Octoling breathed out, her words barely above a whisper. "I promise, I'll do everything within my power to bring us back up to the top." She was almost lost to the seemingly endless stream of her own thought, but her attention was immediately drawn to the doorway behind her, after hearing a knock on the door.

"Madam, soldier Lynel is here to see you, as you requested." A female voice came from the other side of the door, announcing her presence to the Octoling in the room.

"Excellent. Thank you, Alexa. Send him in." The female Octoling stepped away from the window, going to the desk and sitting in the swivel chair behind it. She folded her hands and propped her elbows onto the desk, then rested her chin atop her folded hands. This was how she was supposed to be seen. A serious general in charge of commanding the Octoling forces against the Inklings in the war they were currently fighting in. Her forces all knew her as General Venus, the mostly strict, yet kind leader of the Octarian forces.

The door leading into Venus' office opened, and in walked an Octoling male. He wore the standard Octoling gear, but he attached a black leather hood to the back of the chestplate to put over his head. When asked why he did this, all he replied with was 'This is for my grandfather, to remember him by,' and the issue was dropped.

The male Octoling, Lynel, loved his grandfather very much, going as far as to say his grandfather was closer to the boy than his actual father. When Lynel was younger, his grandfather would take the boy and tell him war stories, sometimes for hours on end and well into the night. Now, normal parents would have tried to prevent their child from exposure to war stories, but they saw how happy their son was, so they left it alone. Most of the time, after Lynel's grandfather would finish a story, Lynel would play around and act out as much as he could remember, including the clothing his grandfather wore during the war.

The grand-Octoling was well known, and feared by many Inklings, for his prowess on the battlefield in his youth. No one on the opposing side knew of what his facial features were, for he had a black leather hood on at all times during battle. Only one squid could match the Octoling on the battlefield, and that was Cap'n Cuttlefish.

Both men were old and retired now though, so no one had to worry about them.

However, 2 years before Lynel's 17th birthday, his grandfather died of natural causes. Though he died peacefully, his grandson didn't enjoy the passing of his grandfather. Lynel was depressed for a while, choosing to stay cooped up in his room for a few days before actually coming out. When he did come out, the most noticeable change was the way determination flared in his eyes, like a never ending forest fire. Next to that, he had crafted a hood, a replica of his grandfather's during the war, and began to wear it excessively. He never really took off that hood, only ever doing it when sleeping and showering, which was when he had all the privacy in the world. The others around him had noticed, after a month of this happening, that…

He was taking the place of his grandfather.

"Ahh, Lynel. Thank you for coming here so quickly, and on such short notice too. I'm sorry for that, by the way." Venus sounded genuinely apologetic, knowing that the male Octoling was probably doing something important prior to this.

Lynel casually waved off the apology, not at all worried that he was needed in such a short amount of time. "It's fine, chief. Just cash in your order, and off I go."

"Glad to hear you're so eager to receive your mission." Venus giggled softly into her hand. "Alright. So, as you probably already know, a few patrolling Octarians were found dead just outside the location of the kettle leading to an unknown area near Inkopolis."

Lynel nodded and sat down in a chair on the opposite side of Venus' desk, his aura turning from laid back, to serious. "Yes. A straight shot through the head, speculations leading towards a sniper."

"Very good, then I can assume you're up to date with the situation?" The general asked, staring into the area of his hooded visage where his eyes were located.

"I am. Including the one just outside city walls, all of the zapfish in Slimeskin Garrison have been stolen, effectively causing shortages of power across the city."

"Your intel is spot on, soldier." Venus praised the Octoling in front of her, giving him a small smile as well. "However," she then got up and faced the window behind her, looking down at the city once more. The general frowned at seeing a few lights go off in several buildings at once, knowing the cause of it. "your information is slightly incorrect. It wasn't just the zapfish in Slimeskin Garrison, but also the zapfish in Tentakeel Outpost, Suction-Cup Lookout, Beaker's Depot, and even from the HQ."

"And I'm guessing whoever took them didn't stop there, did they?" Lynel's question was more of a statement than anything. The male knew that if the zapfish at the Cephalon HQ were stolen, then their hostage, Callie of the Squid Sisters, as well as the Great Zapfish, would be gone.

Venus nodded, immediately catching on to what Lynel was implying. "That's right. They took everything, including DJ Octavio as their own little hostage."

Honestly, the way Venus revealed the DJ's defeat made it sound like she didn't care for it too much. And she didn't. Countless times, Octavio went off on his own to try and help the city, and the only good thing he did was get the zapfish to power the city, even if it was temporary. She found that he had a huge ego, which lowered her tolerance for him when they were around each other since the DJ would often brag.

"I see. . .and I'm guessing my mission is to retrieve the zapfish?"

"Yes. This will be a long term mission, but I want weekly reports on your progress, understood?" Venus turned her head enough so she could see Lynel out of the corner of her eye.

"Crystal." Lynel got up from the chair and stretched, sighing in satisfaction when he felt a few pops from his back. "See you in a week, chief." He did a two fingered salute and walked out of the room, going to prepare for his mission above ground. In Inkopolis.

Under the hood, Lynel gained a savage grin. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"

The male Octoling reached his single story house 15 minutes later, pulling out the keys and entering the house.

Lynel's house, as mentioned before, was a single story house, containing a kitchen, bathroom, dining room, bedroom, and storage room. His house wasn't big, but just enough to accommodate him and possibly one other person. He never had any visitors though, so he didn't have to worry about satisfying another.

The soldier went throughout the house to get to the storage room, which was where he stowed away his gun and ink tank, gear, souvenirs, and other items from previous missions he had participated in. He already had on his gear, so all he needed to grab was his weapon and tank. Lynel swung the backpack-like ink tank onto his back, and holstered his guns, Dapple Dualies, onto the outside of each leg. These Dualies were based off of the Inkling's weapons, and were made after the Octolings were forced down underground. The main purpose of having the Dualies, as well as other weapon types, manufactured was to provide a variety of weapon options to the Octarian army. Having an Octo Shot as the only gun just wasn't making the cut anymore.

"And now for my earpiece. Can't afford to forget that now, can I?" Lynel chuckled silently to himself, moving to the kitchen to grab his earpiece, which was on the counter. He placed it in his ear and turned it on, the small piece of technology giving off static before evening out. After making sure that everything was in order and he was ready, Lynel headed out the house, locking the door behind him.

A slight crackle from his earpiece alerted Lynel that someone was contacting him. "Lynel," Ah, it was his general, Venus. "the fastest way to get to Inkopolis would be to take the kettle just outside the city, and then use the launch pad to arrive near the sewage gate leading to the plaza."

"Understood."

"Be careful out there, soldier. We need you to succeed with your mission and return back to base. Alive. You're an important piece to winning this war." Lynel glanced over to the right, the direction that he needed to go in order to reach the kettle. "Good luck." With those parting words his earpiece went silent, signaling the communication between the two was cut.

The soldier, now officially on active duty, adjusted his hood to make sure it covered the entirety of his face, keeping his identity away from the world. He then started on his way to the kettle, fully prepared to tackle the mission head on, and succeed.

Not long after leaving his house, Lynel arrived at his destination outside of the city. The kettle was just a few feet in front of him, his gaze on the grating at the top of the metallic object. To anyone watching, it seemed as if he was spaced out, lost in his own world. However, Lynel was actually going over his plan for the mission.

'So, once I enter Inkopolis, I should probably try to be as stealthy as possible. The Inklings won't take to having an Octoling in their city too lightly.' He went into his octo form and dove into the kettle. 'Although, if it's an Octoling who went rogue, then maybe it would be a little different. . .' Ultimately, it was decided that the latter option was optimal for this mission. Stealth typically doesn't last too long, and with the sudden zapfish disappearances in the future, the difficulty of the mission would increase tremendously. It would be best not to use stealth for this.

After a few more minutes of being in the pipe leading towards Inkopolis, having to twist and turn his octo form body so as to not get stuck, Lynel finally reached the end of the pipe. He popped out through the grate and turned back to his bipedal form. The first thing he noticed was that it was dark outside, meaning it was night and people were most likely asleep. The soldier looked around and noticed that he was on a small platform, measuring maybe 20 square feet by 15 square feet. On the opposite side of the platform was a magenta jump pad, and way off in the distance, Lynel saw the lights of Inkopolis city. Once he got onto that launch pad, there was no going back.

"Okay, operation Rogue is now in effect." Lynel muttered to himself, giving his plan an operation name on spot. He jumped into the air and went into his octo form, falling into the launch pad's ink, and then flying towards Inkopolis city at blistering speeds.

That's all for now folks! I really hope you enjoyed what I have to offer so far, and please remember to fav and follow if you did enjoy! Also, drop a review if you have anything you want to say. I am open to all sorts of comments, criticism, and of course praise. See you next time!