Chapter 1: Rebel

Agent 3 emerged out of the spawn point and stepped into the arena Kelp Dome. His mission was to defeat the Octolings and obtain the caged Zapfish. As he progress through the level, knocking each Octoling off the map, he noticed a figure from afar standing on top of the walls. Eager to not miss a single enemy, he ran towards the figure.

"One more Power Egg and I can get an upgrade!" he thought with a grin across his face.

As he got closer, he recognized the figure was another Octoling. The Octoling didn't attack; rather she didn't bother noticing him at all despite his loud footsteps. She looked preoccupied looking at the rest of the level before her. Confused, Agent 3 continued to quietly observe her, wondering when she would make the first move. For a moment, he also began to notice a few differences of this strange Octoling compared to the others. First, she didn't wear the usual goggle head gear. Second, her tentacle like "hair" was of a bright color red. Lastly, she lacked an ink tank on her back, but she at least had her gun. Within a few seconds, she turned around and looked at him. Agent 3 quickly raised his gun in defense, but the Octoling didn't. Instead, she carefully looked at him with curiosity.

"Hm?" Agent 3 thought as he kept his gun up, "why isn't she attacking?"

Before the Octoling took another step, a sharp noise coming from Agent 3's earpiece echoed out.

"HEY SONNY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

It was Cap'n Cuttlefish's voice, which startled the Octoling to make her fall backwards behind the wall.

"YOU SHOULD BE ATTACKING! AIN'T NOTHING GOOD ABOUT THOSE OCTOLINGS!"

Agent 3 felt his ear go temporarily deaf. He quickly muted his ear piece in annoyance. Not knowing if the Octoling was still there, he quickly shot the wall with ink and transformed into a squid to swim up the wall. As he got on top of the wall, he transformed back. He looked around for any signs of the Octoling, but she was nowhere to be found.

"I need a report Agent 3! Please see me," Cap'n Cuttlefish advised as Agent 3 exited the level he was in.

Agent 3 sighed and turned off his headset. The last thing he wanted to hear was a lecture. As he reached the main entrance to Octo Valley, Cap'n was standing at his usual spot in front of the large sign board. He didn't look too happy, but he wasn't angry either.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what happened earlier. But I wanted to investigate why that Octoling acted differently than the rest," Agent 3 explained before Cap'n could say anything.

"It doesn't matter how differently they're acting. That Octoling is the same as the rest of them! We can't take any chances," Cap'n stubbornly replied as he tapped his cane.

"But how do you know? There has to be at least one that's the least hostile," Agent 3 spoke feeling a little optimistic.

But Cap'n merely shook his head, "We have to protect ourselves first."

Agent 3 didn't argue any further. He knew that after years of war, Cap'n grew somewhat of a stone cold heart towards the Octarians.

"I'll be sure to keep my headset on Captain," Agent 3 assured while changing the subject.

"Good, I'll keep ya safe kid. With me around, you can be sure that those Octarians won't take advantage of you!" Cap'n replied with a firm nod.

"Understood," Agent 3 replied nodding in return.

It was the same each day after that, Agent 3 continued on his missions. There was no trace of seeing that strange Octoling, but Agent 3 kept an eye out for her anyways. She was different, but what made her different? Each of the Octarians he encountered had the same mindset; they were driven to attack anything and everything. But she, she only looked at him with curiosity, she didn't raise her weapon. Furthermore, she lacked the gear, which was very odd. Every Octarian he fought were well equipped. His mind lingered with these thoughts.

As Agent 3 advanced in his missions and collected more Power Eggs, he found one of the Sunken Sea Scrolls he had been missing. He didn't speak any of his findings to Cap'n, due to he felt Cap'n would beat around the bush rather than speak the truth. Agent 3 carefully looked around and saw no camera following him. He turned off his headset right away. As he continued walking forward, he found two walls with a little bit of space in between and slipped inside. When he saw the coast was clear, he opened up the Sea Scroll. It revealed a familiar image of what looked like Cap'n speaking with a high ranking leader of the Octarians. They were both smiling as if they were having a pleasant conversation. At the bottom of the page, was a small message:

Before the Great Turf War, there were amicable relations between the Inklings and the Octarians. They couldn't have dreamed that rising sea levels would force them to battle fiercely over the remaining territory.

Agent 3 let out a sigh, "So that's what happened, no wonder Cap'n was over protective."

He began to wonder what would have happened differently if the Octarians and Inklings had gotten along. Would there be peace? A world filled with mixed species perhaps?

Realizing the time, Agent 3 slipped back the scroll into his shirt and carefully walked out of the walls. But before he could fully emerge out, a familiar face caught him.

"AH!" Agent 3 cried as he took a step back and nearly tripped. He caught himself on the wall behind him.

Looking back at him was the Octoling from several days ago. Her red tentacle "hair" gleamed in the brightness of the sun. She looked the same, same clothing and carried only one gun with no ink tank. She appeared more cheery than cautious the last time they had met.

"I'm sorry for not saying anything earlier," she apologized, "I didn't know how to approach you."

"Oh!" Agent 3 replied feeling surprised. He didn't think she'd talk at all, "t-that's okay!" he began nervously, "I didn't know how to approach you either."

The Octoling sighed with relief, "then the feeling is mutual!" she giggled. This made Agent 3 feel flustered as he felt the heat rise in his facial cheeks. He took a step closer to her.

"I'm Agent 3," he said reaching his hand out for an introductory handshake.

The Octoling tilted her head a little and looked at his hand. She didn't know what to do. Agent 3 felt awkward. He pulled his hand back.

"Sorry, it was just a greeting," he said explaining himself, "Um…Do you have a name?"

She looked back up at him and looked to the side, again unable to really answer him.

"A name?" she questioned shrugging her shoulders, "I don't think I have that…"

"Oh…," Agent 3 said not sure where else to carry the conversation.

"I know what I am. I'm an Octoling! Maybe that's my name?" she said speaking out loud, wondering if that was a good enough answer.

"Well I don't know if I'd want to call you 'Octoling', that's what you are, it's your species," Agent 3 tried to explain.

"Then that's who I am! I'm Octoling," she stated finally.

"I don't think that calling yourself an Octoling is saying that's your name. It has to be something you want to personally identify with, something different and unique maybe?" Agent 3 tried to suggest.

"Do you think Agent 3 is a different and unique name?" she retorted as she crossed her arms.

"Well I um…" Agent 3 began. He didn't know what to say in his defense…He was given that name after all…

"Then it's settled, my name is Octoling" she finalized with a sense of not wanting to argue any further.

"Ah, all right," Agent 3 replied in defeat, "if that's what you want."

Octoling smiled and Agent 3 gave a small smile in return. He looked down at his watch and noticed that ten minutes had passed. He felt a bit anxious wondering if Cap'n was searching around through the cameras. Not wanting to waste any more time, he looked back at Octoling.

"Is there a way for us to meet again? I wouldn't mind getting to know you a bit more," Agent 3 offered.

"There is. I know many parts here in Octo Valley, just say the name and I'll be there," Octoling answered with a nod.

"I don't know the true name of it exactly here in this world, but it has a lot of brick walls. In my world it's called 'BlueFin Depot', maybe you're familiar with it?" Agent 3 asked wondering if his description was enough for her to understand.

"I think I know what place you're talking about, I can meet you there early tonight if you'd like," Octoling offered.

"That sounds good. I'll see you then," Agent 3 confirmed.

~to be continued…