Worlds Unknown
By Fatal Melody
Chapter 1: A New Day
10 seconds to the destruction of Inkopolis
Agent 8 pulled the trigger on her Octoshot one last time, hitting the final Hyperbomb and covering the last of the statue in magenta ink.
"The statue has stopped charging!" Marina said with glee over the radio. Done with her part, 8 jumped off the inkrail she was riding and super-jumped back to the platform, tentacles whipping around in the wind.
As she landed, she heard Marina again, this time in a much more concerning tone. "Energy readings don't indicate a full charge, but it looks like it's going to fire anyway!" said the Octoling.
8 looked up at the statue, where Tartar, the A.I. that had tried to kill her, was talking.
"Number 10,008… No test subject has worked so hard to spoil my plans… But now you will blend into the perfect world the professor envisioned!" the small phone said, a sickly bright-green light starting to grow brighter at the front of the giant weapon coming out of the statue. "Farewell, 10,008. Farewell to you and that worthless cesspool of a city!"
At that moment, Pearl dropped from the helicopter above, landing next to 8 with a thud.
"Great work, 8, but I've got it from here." Pearl said, giving 8 a friendly slap on the shoulder.
"HEY, STATUE!" Pearl shouted at the now magenta behemoth, her tentacles now glowing a bright pink. Pearl did a front flip, pulling out a massive device that, even though she didn't recognize it, 8 knew had an equally massive potential for destruction.
What happened next, 8 didn't quite know. The large cannon of the statue fired, and at the same time Pearl screamed into the device, the noise coming from the giant Killer Wail making it impossible for 8 to hear exactly what Pearl said.
The two beams of ink collided, pushing back against one another. At first, it looked like the statue's beam was gaining traction against Pearl's, but then the sickly bright-green was replaced entirely by hot pink, piercing the statue through its 'mouth'.
A few seconds went by, everyone present too shocked by the display of raw power to move or say anything. After the shock wore off, Marina jumped down to join Pearl, tackling her partner in a hug.
Looking back at the duo, 8 noticed that Agent 3 was waking up. Their eyes met, and Agent 3 smiled up at 8, who returned the smile.
Their brief eye contact was interrupted by Pearl and Marina nearly rolling over Agent 3.
After a few minutes, Off The Hook had calmed down, and they got off the floor. Dusting herself off, Pearl looked at Agent 8 and gave a thumbs-up. "I told you I got it!"
8 nodded and smiled at the small Inkling, and then looked over at Agent 3, who was staring at the ruined statue in bewilderment. Noticing the attention, 3 looked up at 8 and spoke.
"You did that?!" Agent 3 asked in absolute astonishment. 8 shook her head and pointed over at Pearl.
"What?" Pearl croaked, her voice now incredibly strained.
"What did you do to that thing?" 3 asked the shorter Inkling.
"Yeah! I keep a special-pack with me at all times!" Pearl answered happily with a voice of gravel, grinning at the stunned agent.
The helicopters started moving towards Inkopolis, the sun rising behind the city. Pearl sat down on the platform, taking in the view. Marina joined her, standing next to her friend. Agent 3 sat down on the edge, legs dangling over the water. The agent looked back at 8, motioning to come join her.
8 walked over to Agent 3, sitting down on the platform like Pearl.
"It's not every day you get to see a view like this." Agent 3 commented, taking in the sight. 8 stared out at the city, amazed at how beautiful it was with the rising sun behind it.
Agent 8 fell backwards as her arms gave out, exhaustion now replacing the adrenaline. A large amount of pain was radiating from her left calf.
Agent 3 noticed the grimace on 8's face and stood up from her place on the platform, kneeling next to the Octoling. "Hey, you ok?" the agent asked.
8 shook her head as the pain grew. Agent 3 noticed a small pool of blood gathering under her leg.
"Oh, that looks bad. Hold on." 3 said to 8 as she grabbed her tattered cape. 8 heard a loud ripping sound as 3 tore a piece off the bottom, starting to wrap it around the wound.
"That's… a LOT of blood," Pearl commented, amazed at how much blood 8 had been trailing around the platform.
"Well, that should hold you over until we can get you some real attention. How do you feel?" Agent 3 asked with concern. 8 just shook her head, everything starting to spin as she grew lightheaded. "Ok, I want you to do me a favor and try to hold your left leg in the air. Can you do that for a few seconds?" the inkling instructed gently. 8 nodded slowly, trying to keep her leg up.
8 heard some shuffling and moving to her left. She looked over to see 3 moving a large speaker case, just tall enough to hold 8's leg up. Sliding the case under the Octoling's leg, 3 grabbed 8's foot and led it down to the case.
At this point, 8 was starting to lose consciousness. Agent 3 saw 8's eyes slowly close, and she knelt down to the Octoling. "You're going to be just fine, 8. We'll get you some help." Said the agent.
8 could only nod once before falling to the realm of sleep.
"Is she really going to be ok? There are puddles everywhere…" Marina asked, concern laced into her voice.
Agent 3 looked back at the DJ Octoling, worry clear on her face. "I-I don't know… She's lost a lot of blood already, and I don't know how effective that fabric will be at stopping the flow…" 3 said as she looked down, a hint of fear in her tone.
"She'll be FIIIIINE you guys!" Pearl said, confident that her new friend would be all right, "I mean, yeah she's passed out and bleeding, but she's survived WAY worse than this, right?"
"Those were tests. They were controlled, and she was only in danger of being splatted." Agent 3 replied. 3 noticed that blood was beginning to seep through the makeshift bandage. "Damn it!" she breathed as she tore another piece off her cape.
"What's wrong?" Marina asked.
"The fabric isn't clotting the blood fast enough. I'm going to have to cut her circulation a bit." Agent 3 replied as she wound the new strip of fabric very tightly around 8's thigh, right above the knee.
"I've told the pilots to hurry to the hospital, but I'm not sure how long it will be until we get there…" Marina said, concern on her face.
The group waited in dead silence. The only sound was the rhythmic whirling of the helicopter blades. Marina had gone back up into the helicopter while Pearl stayed on the platform. Agent 3 was right next to 8 the entire time, removing the tourniquet when the bleeding had slowed to a much less dangerous rate.
As the helicopter neared the center of Inkopolis, Agent 3 felt 8 shift. 3 looked down to see 8 opening her eyes slowly.
"Hey! You're awake!" 3 said gently, kneeling over Agent 8.
8 groaned, a headache taking over from blood loss. She tried to sit up, but her body was weak.
"Don't try to get up, ok? We're almost at the hospital, and you're gonna get some help." 3 reassured the Octoling.
Just as she said that, she heard Marina yelling from the helicopter above. "We're coming in for a landing!" the Octoling said, giving a thumbs-up and a smile. Agent 3 returned both, looking back down to 8.
"See? We're already landing at the hospital." 3 said to the girl. 8's response was to slowly reach up and grab Agent 3's left hand before passing out again. 3 blushed lightly at the action, smiling when she realized that Agent 8 meant thank you with that gesture.
As the platform touched down, nurses and doctors rushed onto the platform with a stretcher and picked up Agent 8.
One hour later, the doctor called for the group.
"Well, she's not in the best shape, but all she really needs is some rest. We had to give her some stitches for that gash on her leg, so keep her off of it as much as possible." The doctor told them. All 4 of them nodded.
The doctor opened the door, revealing an awake, albeit tired, Agent 8. She looked at her friends, smiling as the doctor left to give them some privacy.
Agent 3 breathed a sigh of relief that her new friend was ok. Her face then turned to a small frown. "You scared the ink out of me, 8." The agent said, frown turning back into a small smile, "But I'm glad to see you're ok."
Marina, Pearl, and Captain Cuttlefish all took their turns talking to 8. After a few minutes of Marina acting like a mother, Pearl spoke up again.
"I just realized something." Pearl said, gaining everyone's attention. "We never got your name, 8!"
Agent 8 frowned at that comment. Agent 3 spoke up, having been told the situation by Captain Cuttlefish. "Agent 8 doesn't remember her name. She had amnesia when she woke up in the metro." Agent 3 said sadly.
Pearl thought for a second. "That's fine! She can just choose a new name for herself!"
8 was confused by that. The only thing she'd ever named was her Octoshot, which she had named Carly within the short time she'd had the weapon.
After a minute of silence, Pearl and Marina caught on to something.
"Um, Agent 8, I don't mean to sound rude, but are you mute?" Marina asked pensively, not wanting to offend the Octoling.
8 nodded her head. As far as she could remember, she'd never been able to speak.
"Well, I guess she can't choose her own name then." Pearl said, disappointed.
Agent 3 leaned in and looked into 8's eyes. 8 grew a little uncomfortable at the closeness, and a blush appeared on the Octoling's face. 3 squinted in concentration, thinking hard. She suddenly snapped her fingers and pulled back.
"Ami*!" 3 said, looking at 8 with a smile.
"Ami?" Marina asked, confused.
"I've just decided that her name is Ami. That is, if she likes it?" 3 looked to 8 for confirmation.
'Ami' nodded her head, smiling wide.
"Alright, Ami it is!" Pearl said, fist up in the air. Marina giggled at her friend's enthusiasm.
Ami chuckled silently. Agent 3 joined in with a soft, gentle laughter.
The group laughed for a little while, until a nurse came in to tell them that visiting hours were over, and that Ami would have to stay at least one night to make sure she didn't have any complications with the stitching. Before she left, Agent 3 told the others to give her and Ami a second to talk.
"So, unless you've been lying this whole time, I'm going to guess you don't have a place to stay once you get out of here." Agent 3 said, receiving a nod in reply. "Well then you can just come stay with me!" the Inkling offered, grinning at her friend.
Ami threw her fists up in the air and smiled, giving a positive answer. Agent 3 giggled at the overexaggerated response, and gave Ami a hug before leaving, a quick "See you tomorrow!" as she went out the door.
Ami blushed at the contact, only able to return the hug for a second or so before 3 had pulled away.
As the lights turned off, Ami drifted into a well-earned rest.
A/N: Hello everyone.
Quick message for you all: I'm going to continue on this story again. I just put in a few quick changes to this first chapter so things made a bit more sense.
*Pronounced as AIM-ee
I hope to see you all in chapter 3.
-Melody