How long had it been? Three days? Five days? A week? It seemed too long. Usually the Octarian forces were swarming around Octo Valley leaving no piece of turf unchecked.
Safety. The idea of safety seemed like a delusion, but it had been far too long since she had made her last splat. Just what were these Octarians up to?
Peeking out from behind the run down shack, which looked to be hastily cobbled together with aluminium sheets and planks of wood, she crawled to the dusty blue recliner, relaxing her back against it as she felt her whole body melt into it. The grate to her left had been blocked off some time ago, a grate that would have allowed her transport back to Inkopolis, a grate that she would have used some time ago given the chance.
Paranoia was this girl's best friend as the calmness suddenly betrayed her, making her whole body shiver in fear as she grasped her Splattershot and fired, the ink soaring across the air and landing with a squelch against the stone ground. There was no enemy, no Octarian soldier, no threat. Maybe she'd have to start moving again, but where? Into the kettles? Topaz rolled onto her stomach and groaned, looking to her right and toward the first kettle.

Before now, even the outer base of Octo Valley had been overrun with Octarian patrols, UFO's and marching soldiers, but now it was silent. Octo Valley's outer base was dead, but looking to the horizon, Topaz could see the skyline of Inkopolis, and the situation was much worse. UFO's circled the city, the grand Inkopolis Tower was broken, and the girl swore she could hear the screams of Inklings being corralled and rounded up by Octarian invaders.
It just didn't stop. Inklings from around the world were being hunted down and splatted as the Octarian army and their machines laid everything they set their eyes on to waste. The Great Zapfish was the first to go, captured by the Octarian King at the start of this conquest. Whether it was alive or dead, Topaz didn't know, but she had seen sight of smaller child Zapfish in Octarian lairs that gave her hope that the great fish was still alive. Topaz clutched the Splattershot handle tighter, she needed to conserve her ink, but the urge to just splatter everywhere was too great, a fiery rage consuming the girl as she climbed to her feet.
She brushed her hair from her eyes, the long pink tentacle stuck to her face in the heat. From her Red Check Shirt she pulled a Camo Mesh Cap that was pink like her hair and placed it on her head. Her purple eyes looking to her Trail Boots as she sighed, the sight of Inkopolis on its knees reminding her all too well of when the Octarian troops stormed into the Arowana Mall. She was in the food court with her family, celebrating her fourteenth birthday and enjoying the fabulous chips on sale there. She bit her lower lip, the memory of her parents becoming overwhelmed by the thought of those chips. Not just paranoia, but now hunger was getting to the girl.

She had been nothing but a developing squid when they attacked, a great Octoweapon bursting into the mall and storming through everything in its path. Her father had tried to defend them with an E-Litre 3K, and while that worked great against several Octotroopers, it was no match against the Octoweapon. Her father was caught by an Octobomber and was splatted before her eyes. Her mother fared no better, her Krak-On Roller no match for an Octosniper who splatted her from a distance. Scared and confused, the girl subconsciously used her Inkling ability to become a squid at will and melded into the remaining ink. It hurt though, like a poison that seared the skin. She could never answer why she stayed so long in the purple Octarian ink, she could only remember that it hurt, and she cried out, but no voice escaped her. On one tentacle, it saved her. On the other, had she known how badly this Great Turf War would go for the Inkings, she'd have happily been splatted.

Arowana Mall was first to go. Saltspray Rig and Port Mackerel had become docks for Octarian shipping and transport. Blackbelly Skatepark and Camp Triggerfish had become Octarian training grounds, where they molded all new Octarians into killers. Walleye Warehouse was converted into a munitions factory. Her memory was hazy on what had become of Bluefin Depot and the Kelp Dome, but as with the others it likely wasn't very good.
After the attack on Arowana Mall, Topaz was later found by a group of Inklings resisting the Octarians. She was brought into their fold at the expense of her Squimanity. She was young, inexperienced, and frightened beyond all belief. She was the perfect decoy for the Octarian forces as the so-called freedom fighters ambushed them at every turn. For the next few years this frightened young girl became an angry, bitter, conniving and forward thinking Inkling. She had learned to channel that anger however, channel it down the barrel of her Splattershot as she began to hunt down Octarians in some measure of revenge. This change in personality had served her well however, Topaz rising through the ranks of the freedom fighters that took her in, eventually becoming their leader and boss.
Her life now had become about survival in what should have been a Wonderland for the Inkling rogue, her hardened expression becoming one of annoyance as she kicked the dirt beneath her feet. She needed to eat, and there were Octarians to splat. She'd take her chances in Kettle One and hope for the best.

Kettles were an odd thing Topaz thought; a holdover from the defeat of the Octarians in the previous Turf War. Octarians dwelled in a world deep underground. The individual caves in which they lived were connected by a network of transport devices known as 'kettles'.
Becoming a squid, and seeping into the first, Topaz found herself in the Octotrooper Hideout. When you thought of the words "Octotrooper Hideout", a vast metropolis where one got by by jumping on rooftops was not the first thing to come to mind Topaz thought, and yet that's exactly what it was, though maybe metropolis was stretching the truth even then. The Octotrooper Hideout was more like the remnants of a metropolis, with building literally falling to their side with damaged neon lights hanging off of buildings like hotels or casinos. The rooftops of these buildings however were littered with Octotroopers and the occasional Shielded Octotrooper.

Topaz had been through here before, but found no way to street level as the buildings were so tall that she would only be splatted if she ever fell off, but there didn't appear to be any way IN to any of these vacant, decrepit and unused buildings. So just what was the point of them she wondered. And if there was no way in, just how were the Octarians getting out? They didn't appear to be patrolling for anything particular as their dumb, derpy looking faces stared vacantly out into the skyline. Though it wasn't really a skyline, and if Topaz had any sympathy left in her heart, she might have extended some to the Octarians. Their skyline was a lie. Panels littered and lined up along the cave walls, projected the image of a skyline that cycled through dawn, dusk, day and night.
Tired of living a lie. Tired of living a fallacy. It was no wonder they revolted again. It was no wonder they wanted the freedom the Inklings had. But that didn't excuse it, they were lesser beings in every respect as far as Topaz was concerned, dashing out from behind a wall and blasting a surprised Octotrooper in the face with a few rounds of her ink until it splattered, leaving a puddle of Topaz' ink were it once stood. She moved on quickly, smashing some crates in the hopes of finding some supplies before moving to the next area via the Super Jump Pad. She landed on the next walkway, a trail of her ink already left over from a previous run through the area. Topaz quickly ran towards it, becoming a squid and swimming down the walkway, her ink tank refilling as she went. There was a Shielded Octotrooper on the platform ahead of her, as easy to splat as a regular tentacle, but that shield was tricky and the next Jump Pad wouldn't open for her without splatting the enemy Octarian. Topaz filled up a bomb and tossed it up onto the high platform where the Shielded Octotrooper was waiting. It took the bait, turning to examine the bomb and that's when Topaz struck, splatting her enemy before moving forward again.

She'd been through here a few times, and each time the way forward remained the same, but the powers that be were either stupid, or just toying with her as the gross living tentacles of the Octarian forces were just replaced ad infinitum. She might have enjoyed hunting them, but these were nothing; stupid and unrefined. They were quite literally living tentacles - tentacles with legs, eyes and a mouth that controlled their turrets with the tip of their own heads. These weren't the troops that a lack of made Topaz paranoid and upset, almost insulted by. These were cannon fodder and every part of the Octarian Army knew it, but them. Swimming forward, Topaz timed a bomb with the movement of the Octotroopers and splatted both with the same bomb.

In the next area, Topaz decided to amuse herself, shooting a trail of her ink around the bases of the Octotrooper's turret transport machines. The looks on their big silly, bulging green eyes and warping of their disgusting big, purple lips as Topaz casually walked toward them, changing into squid form to avoid their fire as they sunk into her ink. It seemed to hurt them as much as touching theirs hurt her and she revelled in it as they gonked and croaked before the Inkling girl caused them to splat. A grin pursed the Inkling's lips. These were too stupid to live, let alone be afraid of.

Before long, the area was Octarian free, but just how long until the next wave were deployed she wondered. Her mind then moved to her crew and how they were doing without her against the Octarian's. Had her whole crew come to Octo Valley, maybe it wouldn't have taken so long to figure out, maybe they'd have found the Great Zapfish and been able to use its great powers to help Inkopolis and the world beyond. But that was a pipe dream and the girl knew it. The days of those sorts of dreams fleeted, withered and died with the revival of all of the Great Octoweapons. With those monstrous weapons of mass destruction on the loose, outside the confines of the Octo Valley kettles, the world was doomed. Not even Topaz and her band of 'Freedom Fighters' could withstand the Octoweapons. That didn't stop her from wanting to try however, she had her reasons after all.

Right now however, throwing her life away wasn't on the agenda. Her life was about to be on the line however as an enemy unfamiliar to the area had ambushed the girl. A Splat Bomb, an ink filled bomb in the shape of a pyramid, landed at her feet, the girl's eyes bugging out of her head as she jumped to way the wayside. The residual blast of the bomb caught her however and she was thrown to the edge of the skyscraper she was on, clinging to the side of it with one hand, and to her Splattershot with the other, grasping both for dear life as she took aim at the enemy who had caught her off guard, an Octobomber.

An Octobomber was a large gelatinous blob of an enemy with two massive wing like tentacles. It had keen sight and aim and actually flew through the air using the propeller on the metal hat it wore which also functioned as its primary weapon as it tossed bombs at foes from this hat also. Not only was this one out of the Splattershot's range, but Topaz was struggling to aim her weapon for a proper shot and keep her grasp on the building's edge. The Octobomber drew closer, preparing to splat the Inkling for good, and leaving Topaz with little choice as the blob moved closer. Topaz let go of the skyscraper, falling from it and toward the ground.

The Octobomber moved closer to the edge of the skyscraper letting out a 'womp' of a noise as it confirmed that the Inkling Topaz was no longer hanging from the edge of the building. An audible 'kshh' was heard, the sound of a radio that the Octobomber was communicating through.

Much like the Octotroopers before it though, the Octobomber's eyes suddenly bugged out of its head when communications ended, as a squid suddenly leapt into the air in front of the Octobomber, changing into Topaz and loading the Octobomber up with ink until it splatted.
Inklings are an ingenious species. They can hide in their own ink when in squid form. This allows them to traverse terrain quickly and efficiently as well as refill their ink tanks. They can however also climb walls using this same tactic. When Topaz let go of the building, she disappeared into her own ink which was sprayed on the wall of the skyscraper from when she was hastily trying to aim at the Octobomber.

Catching her breath, Topaz removed her cap and wiped her brow. That was too close for comfort. This was the Octotrooper Hideout, so why was there an Octobomber flying around? Were there any others? Is this what they wanted? To lull the Inkling into a false sense of security and splat her when she was overwhelmed? It was going to take more than one Octobomber to do that, but now she knew, the powers that be were letting her live in the outer base of Octo Valley. They weren't coming to get her yet because they had no reason to. Something else was coming. This was warning. Topaz quickly left the area and found herself back in the quiet Octo Valley. Looking to the highest platform, she performed a super jump to get there and looked out into the landscape again, her eyes on the massive octopus shaped rock formation that gave the Valley its name, and then to the ruins of Inkopolis. Her eyes then fell to her feet. She was standing on another kettle. If the Octarian's were now moving around the caves, every kettle could be a death sentence. There was no cannon fodder only. Topaz super jumped back to the shack to think. It was the only thing resembling a safe haven in all of Octo Valley and as the Inkling scrambled back onto the blue recliner, she fidgeted at the television, feverishly pressing buttons and turning dials, trying to get a signal from the dish, moving to mess with the dials on the contraptions in the shack, hoping for some kind of response. Nothing happened. She glared at the broken, oversized snow globe next to the shack.

Topaz kicked the television in annoyance. Thing was probably too old to get anything decent.
What was a girl to do? No plan, no backup, no weapon worth its weight in coins. Topaz just smirked. This could be fun. A romp through familiar territory but with mixed results. It might just help her get to the bottom of what's going on she thought, making a bee line for Kettle Two. Who knew what she could find? Octarians moving through the caves, searching for her and making plans for her splattering. It made her ink pressure run high.

"Time to Get Fresh!" she taunted, seeping into the second kettle.