The Creation of Diplomacy

A Splatoon story written by EpsilonProductions, part of the "Creation Trilogy"

What's up, everyone? I am back for round 2, as you can see with this new series of mine that I have planned to work on for quite some time now after the story I scrapped known as the Snowstorm, which I did, due to how unmotivating it was for me, as well as blatantly using characters from other games or what not. Frankly speaking, I don't really like it the way it used to be, so consider the whole story of that as non-canon, even if you've read it. It doesn't exist, and I have no intention of bringing it back.

Anyways, I would like to ask for constructive, helpful reviews to assist me during this series of mine! Those types of reviews are always appreciated, and I am more than willing to listen to what you have to say, rather than whining and complaining about getting the smallest of criticisms! I am looking forward to seeing how I can improve on this story as it comes along!
This is NOT my first story, and I want this series to be my best work of literature here for this archive compared to everything else I've made! So please, do feel free to help me out in case I make a mistake, or if I could make some improvements!

Without further ado, let us begin this series with the first chapter of this story!


Chapter I: Ariel

A stormy, dark night was looming over the landscape known to the inklings and octarians as Octo Canyon, home to the latter of the two that have recently just been defeated a month ago by the New Squidbeak Splatoon, thanks to one of the Squid Sisters and a lone inkling going by the name of Agent 4 rescuing Callie, defeating, and capturing their leader yet again in a fashion similarly to how they won two years ago with Agent 3 at Octo Valley.

Since their recent loss, the hopes of the octarians have reached a record low, seeing as when the Great Zapfish was taken back by the inklings the first time, the octopi people didn't suffer through a whole lot, only needing to worry about a slight lack of power and electricity to the ones living in the valley while some of them moved to live up in the capital of Inkopolis.
However, because of the Great Zapfish having been stolen a second time along with one of the most famous idols known to inkling culture, the inkling's views on them have now changed for the worse, now shunning, and looking down on the octarians staying in Inkopolis out of fear. That is, if there were any octarians to begin with.

Word of a project was reached out to many, a project dedicated to keeping out every octarian in Inkopolis, as well as making Octo Canyon a tourist attraction for the inklings and other races wanting to take in all the sights, even the Squidbeak Splatoon was forced by the creators of the project to make a new rule to make the canyon safe for inklings to traverse through, as well as inhabitable for everyone included with the inclusion of safety rails around every island, and modifications to each sector while the octarians worked all day and night with little to no rest at all.

Even with the slightly overcrowded and dangerous environment, thanks to a lack of safety rails in certain areas along with harsh treatment from some of the more powerful octarians, some of them have tried their best to survive in these conditions. It's all thanks to Cephalon HQ being a safe haven for them to live in, due to their former homes having been forced to be kept under surveillance by the platoon from Tentakeel Outpost, the sector that led to Inkopolis City.

Under one condition, that they were forced to do manual labor, even against their wills.
Anyone that was found trying to run away from work, or do anything that would disrupt the flow of the project would "suffer the consequences," as the elite octolings wearing shades put it.

At the heart of Octo Canyon lies a large, transparent dome covering everyone down in Cephalon HQ, a platform covering half the lake of purple ink so their inkling visitors and overseers could safely walk around their headquarters without getting splatted, while the octarians were being ordered, and watched by a squadron of elite octolings having been forced to work on this project for all the trouble they caused along with the regular octolings, helping the octarians out with the hard work while some of the other stronger octarians like the Octocommanders and Octosnipers were watching the area for any trouble or mischievous behavior.

In the midst of all this work, one octoling in particular unenthusiastically placed down a piece of metal near the edge, sweat trickling down from her forehead, then onto her chin before dripping onto the ground below as she rested her arm on the metal she was carrying, letting out a puff while shaking her cramping arms.

Just as she was about to sit down to take a short break, though...

"Hey, you!" One of the elite octolings caught her slacking off, a yellow light glowing on her shades as she performed a super jump towards the worker. It was none other than her sister, forced to wear the same type of shades one of the squid sisters wore, provided by the Squidbeak Splatoon to the octarians that held a grudge, or act violently towards them or the inklings.
"What are you doing!? You're not supposed to be slacking off at this time! Get back to work!" She ordered as her sister looked up, stressed out from having been yelled at by someone that she once held so close to her.

"I'm sorry, Di-" The octoling feels the elite gripping her shoulders, a distant clasp of thunder being heard as she felt a sense of dread looming over her.
"I am not hearing another one of your excuses, Ariel." Her sister said in a passive-aggressive tone, the light on her shades turning from a shade of yellow to a color of orange. The younger of the two wanted to say something, but was cut off as soon as she opened her mouth to speak. "This is your last warning before you're getting your punishment, do you understand!?" She raised her voice before pushing Ariel back to the safety rail she was resting on, her shades now flicking to a red color as the younger of the two nodded desperately, staring in shock at her sister.
"GOOD! NOW, GET BACK TO WORK!" Ariel's superior raised her voice, Ariel remaining silent and continuing to nod before she began choking, tears starting to well in her eyes as she was stuck on her words.
"I'm sorry, okay!? I just-!" Before she could say anything else, her sister was already gone, scolding another octarian a few feet away for dozing off instead of doing their job as they were told to. "...wanted to talk..." She lowered her hand to her hips, picking up the metal next to her.

"I'm sorry, Dinah..." Ariel thought to herself, feeling like she's disappointed her sister as she attempted to lift the piece of metal despite everything, worthlessly failing to do so due to its weight, as well as her stressed out mood. A lone cough came out her mouth before she spotted a few octotroopers helping each other pick up a metallic girder of some kind, thanks to the forklift one of them was piloting.

This gave her an idea.

"Hey...!" She meekly calls out to them, the troopers along with several others batting an eye towards her as Ariel looked away for a bit, timid as she placed a hand on her arm.
"...could, could you two, um..." Her words trail off, the octotroopers looking at each other, wondering what's up with her way of speaking before hearing her stutter out a few words she emitted. "...please help me with this?" The octoling's tone turned into that of embarrassment, the octarians grumbling something before acknowledging her request for assistance by driving the forklift towards her.

As they picked up the piece of metal for her, Ariel looked around, noticing most of the octarians having become tired over the course of the construction, apparent with how a lot of them were dozing off, only to be rudely woken up by one of the brainwashed elites, including her sister, while some of them were ventilating their stress out into nothing or onto a nearby co-worker, grabbing the attention of the others surrounding them, or were too exhausted to work on the project forced upon them.

It was slowly getting out of control, a common problem that's been happening the past few weeks since the project began. And, soon enough, she could hear one of her kind arguing with someone around the site along with other octarians growing restless from being pushed around too much. She knew what to expect next, seeing as this happened almost every day at one point or another.

She walked over to the source, deciding to take a peep at who could be yelling, and starting a riot this time around.

"...you know it, though! These freaking elites just won't let us have a break, and I'm getting tired of working all the damn time!" One of the octolings she was watching complained to her accomplice, the other looking stressed thanks to the one whining to her, eyeing one of her superiors as they both approached the edge of the platform.
Suddenly, without warning, the octoling that was complaining dropped the piece of metal onto her cohort's feet by accident, emanating a sharp, pained yell ringing around the site as she grabbed her accomplice by the neck, finally having had enough before one of the supervisors noticed the two getting physical towards each other, yelling at them to stop with no good results as the two continued to verbally assault each other, the one that complained now begging for her accomplice to stop before being hit square in the face.

Ariel watched the flock of elite octolings running towards the two, supervisors telling their red-tentacled counterparts to knock it off, stop the fight, and get back to work before things got out of hand, pointing tasers at them.
This, however, incited a reaction from the angrier of the two stomping towards one of her superiors, cracking her knuckles, and threatening her officers with violence, telling them that her co-worker deserved it for annoying her so much. Eventually, the whole argument turned into a fight as the elites were ordered to seize the rebellious octoling for emotional and physical abuse from one of the inkling guards, quickly neutralizing the worker after she landed a solid, hard punch on one of the supervisors as she was taken away to have the same type of shades be put on, thrashing and yelling at her superiors to let her go while the one whom annoyed her just sat there, traumatized by the whole thing.

Ariel never liked to get into conflicts or fights with others, especially against one of her own as she took a step backward after another worker nearby began arguing with one of the guards, happening to be the one that annoyed her accomplice earlier as she was taken away to have those shades the officers had on as punishment for starting a conflict during work.
This, along with the stress was starting to get sickening for her. Everyone around Ariel, including herself have started succumbing to the effects that have been left ever since their recent defeat and denial of forgiveness from the inklings. Octolings being brainwashed, octarians left and right being stressed out, followed by them being taken away for who knows what...

She needed some time alone, some time away from this place as Ariel began to make a quick, yet, steady walk towards the launch pad in the center, having seen too much during her time spent here these past few weeks.

Just as she stood over the launch pad, though, A reminder came to her as she stared up at the ceiling.
If she was going outside the dome, she was going to need an umbrella in order to stand a chance of surviving out there in the rain and wind.

She looked around, before finding a nearby weapon station accessible only for octolings, placing a hand on the scanner next to a locked door before it answered with a ding.
Once the door opened, Ariel enters the building, grabbing a nearby Splat Brella hanging on a row of them, seeing as it could provide some good cover from the rain outside the dome.
She left soon after, running towards the launch pad, and seeing her brethren taking away another neutralized worker for reasons unknown while some of them were calming down the other workers that have had enough stress to cope with for today, announcing that everyone was getting a break to calm themselves down before work resumed.

As Ariel was about to leave, however, she heard her sister calling out her name, turning her head towards where the voice was coming from, and saw, that she was sprinting towards her, the light on her shades a red color along with a taser in hand.

"ARIEL, STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!" Without hesitating, the mentioned octoling goes into her octopus form, submerging herself into the pad before launching herself into the sky, shattering a part of the dome in the process as she heard her angry family member below, screaming at her to come back. She could hear her continuing to yell desperately for her name, before it was eventually drowned out among the harsh winds and rain she had now just entered.


The octoling arrived to her destination a few seconds later, quickly opening up her umbrella upon emerging out of the pad as the cold, biting wind and rain already took an effect on her as she started walking through the floating island known as Slimeskin Garrison.

Even though she felt relieved to have left her workplace, thoughts of her angry sister threatening her were plaguing Ariel as she toured through the empty sector that used to thrive with octarians before they, along with the other inhabitants of each sector were forced to move to Cephalon HQ, and help make it easier for inkling tourists to look around the place until the project as a whole was finished.

And it's all thanks to that stupid DJ that ruined any good relations with the inklings that forced Ariel and her people to live this miserable, stress-induced life of theirs.

Compared to the industrial sounds of machinery and brainwashed octolings ordering everyone around, the sound of pouring, wet rain and crackling thunder was soothing for her ears as she was able find some cover nearby, sitting on a slightly rocky, yet wet surface underneath her umbrella. This should of been a good spot, had it not been for the cold wind blowing onto her from the side, causing the umbrella to move a bit from the force, as well as the wet ground below as she huddled down into a fetal position and tried to warm herself up.
It felt like this storm has been going on forever since it first came days ago, and she barely had anywhere else to go, aside from the other islands around her. Though, assuming the closer she would get to Tentakeel Outpost, the more guarded the other sectors would be as inklings wouldn't allow any octarians anywhere near that island housing the entrance to their home.

She felt like she was stumped in her position, trapped, even. She had nowhere else to go.

Ariel soon realized, that the cover she had wasn't going to be enough in keeping her warm. She needed that crucial part if she was going to be out here, as well as proper shelter before she stood up, her whole body trembling from the overpowering gust of wind as she began to walk again, towards the launch pad closer to the inklings' hideout in a desperate attempt to find a good place to stay for the night.

That's when she feels the cold biting down on her, like a predator ambushing its prey at the right time as a volley of rain comes into contact with her after she loses a bit of control of her umbrella, forcing out a shriek from her as she dives down in front of a wall near the launch pad.

Folding her arms while covering herself, Ariel shakily breathes onto her skin in an attempt to warm herself up, only to no avail, making it all the more worse as much as she begins to feel even colder from the wind blowing onto her, her umbrella almost being lost from her grip as she tightens her hand around it even more.
"Damn it, should of grabbed yourself some armor and a better umbrella!" She thinks before proceeding to let out a cry for help, her voice echoing through the canyon before she buries her face with her one hand, sobbing as her vision started to fade in and out as she looked at her surroundings, noticing just now a security camera of some kind planted on the wall, looking straight at her.

After regaining enough of her sight, she squinted her eyes at the device, wondering what could possibly be monitoring the area before hearing a distant splash where the launch pad is, followed by distant footsteps along with an umbrella opening. Could it be help? Did someone actually hear her cry for help? Was someone actually watching the security cameras at this time of night?
The octoling's questions were soon answered, followed by her face going from hopeful to that of horror as the one she saw what hopped down to her was a yellow, short-tentacled inkling with red eyes, wearing a green jacket of some sorts along with black pants with a stripe of her tentacle's color, as well as black-colored hiking boots, the inkling wielding an umbrella of some sorts similar to Ariel's as she turned to face her.

Both remained in silence, their eyes looking at each other as Ariel couldn't say anything at what she saw.

What exactly was standing before her, was the one who single-handedly foiled the plans of the octarians, her name unknown to even the Squidbeak Splatoon. Always silent, yet relentless, just like a serial killer on their quest to kill anyone standing in their way, as well as the one that saved the Great Zapfish and one of the Squid Sisters whom were kidnapped by Octavio.

"No..." Ariel thought to herself as she felt more terrified than she ever was.
This, was none other than Agent 4. The one that every octarian was afraid of encountering, especially after the defeat of Octavio.

They just continued looking at each other, the inkling seeming to be analyzing Ariel as the octoling just watched in suspense, confused as to why this cold-blooded squid didn't decide to immediately splat her like the other octarians she's encountered. She exactly didn't attack the inkling like her brethren did, which might be a solid explanation for her to come up with as Ariel lets out a sigh, looking down on the surface, not caring what's going to happen to her.

"What are you waiting for!?" Ariel suddenly raised her voice, just loud enough for the agent to hear her, the inkling's brows perking up at the tone of her voice.
"Just finish me off! It's what you do, right!?" She falls silent, simply analyzing the handle of the umbrella as the inkling's footsteps could be heard approaching her. Looking back up with a look of anger, seeing the agent aiming her weapon at her, a subtle look of concern on her as Ariel grasped her hands around the handle of her umbrella, shutting her eyes tight, and preparing to be splatted by what she thought was a remorseless killer.

Instead, she heard the sound of an umbrella opening as she opened her eyes, noticing the inkling standing next to her now, staring at the light coming from the horizon being the dome surrunding the octarians' headquarters. Even when Ariel was this far away, she could still imagine the sounds of elite octolings ordering around the octarians, thanks to those shades that were put on them as punishment for disobeying the creators of the project.

Ariel remained quiet, not knowing how to react to this approach of Agent 4 as the inkling looked at her again, a blank, yet, worried look on her as Ariel faced away from her, anticipating every move to what this unpredictable... "thing" might do to her as it approached her slowly, but carefully.
The octoling was ready to move away from her out of disgust. Hearing those dreaded footsteps alone, made her want to run as far away as possible from the agent, afraid of the chance that she might be splatted by her.

Just when she was about to get up to run, she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder.
At first, fear was her reaction as she prepared to aim her weapon at the inkling. But then, a warm feeling replaced it.
A warm feeling fillng her heart with it as she slowly looked back at the inkling, seeing a hint of a reassuring smile forming on the agent's face as she covers both herself, and Ariel with the umbrella, trying her best to block the rain pouring from their side.

"What...?" Ariel's mouth was open slightly in confusion, completely puzzled by what she was seeing.
Agent 4, whom she had feared so long of meeting up with... was sparing her? "She's sparing me...?"
She couldn't stop asking that same question repeatedly to herself out loud, wondering why in the world someone like Agent 4 that has splatted countless octarians like herself would lend her of all octolings a hand in a nightmarish weather like this. "...But why?"

Surely, this had to be a trap. She couldn't trust this inkling, considering all the damage it, and its people have done to the octarians. She wanted to reject the creature standing in her way, and just splat the inkling out of revenge and spite with her brella. This hatred for the inkling tried to consume her mind, yet, another part of Ariel told her to just come along with the young agent, seeing as she had nowhere else to go, and that the inkling might lead her to a proper shelter to stay for the night.
Of course, she could always go back to Cephalon HQ, but that would mean having to be captured, and taken away to have a pair of hypnotic shades put on her, making her a mindless drone like the other octolings as she sighed at Agent 4's decision. The inkling tried comforting her, even with the inability to speak except for muttering out a few sounds here and there.

Ariel was, for a lack of better word, lost in her thoughts before she started walking along with the inkling, trying to keep herself from crying out of embarrassment. Ariel could tell from this girl's eyes, that she was sent here to help her, and looked to be genuinely concerned as to why an octoling would be sitting out here in the open, especially with deadly drops of rain, and ice-cold winds at this time of night.

They eventually reached the launch pad together, Agent 4 telling the octoling through sign language to cover her as she started tampering with the pad slightly to make it go towards another location instead of Beaker's Depot. Once she was finished, she turned into her squid form, and sent herself flying towards her destination.
Not knowing what to do, Ariel decides to follow the inkling for her own sake, entering the pad as well, and sending herself into the sky towards a lit-up island.