The Fall of Inkopolis

Stella

Six o' clock in the morning every day, alarms ring and buzz, and everyone marches out together in a single-file line. We all grab our weapons, sub-weapons and train, and train, and train…and train…and you guessed it, train.

It's the same boring thing here in what used to be Octopia. The idea of stealing all the Zapfish, including the Great Zapfish sounded great when DJ Octavio first pitched it to us. But now, it's lead us to nothing. It's dark, damp, and many of us have not survived in these terrible, terrible conditions.

Anyways, because we only have so many Zapfish left, Octavio makes us train twice as hard while he sits and relaxes back in that large DJ machine of his. Seriously, I don't ever see him do anything else other than making pointless remixes.

"C'mon Stella! Those targets aren't going to shoot themselves!" I hear someone shout behind me.

If you didn't know already, I don't care about fighting for the Zapfish stuff. Despite what they've done to us, I think the Inklings are amazing! Their fresh gear, their powerful weapons, and their beautiful, magnificent city!

"STELLA! GET OUT OF YOUR FANTASY WORLD AND GET TO SHOOTING!"

Stifling a groan, I reluctantly grabbed my gun and pulled its trigger, releasing blobs of purple ink at the squid-shaped targets ahead of me. Each popped after two to three shots.

If this is what it means to be an Octarian, then pleeease, somebody, anybody, splat me now.


Seven o' clock, our remaining lights go out, everyone retreats into their dens, not a single sound except the distant trains and the crumbling of our once beautiful utopia falling apart.

I couldn't sleep, and no, not because of the scary sounds.

I'm tired of all the 'Wake up, Stella! Shooting time!' or 'Stella! Stop dreaming and get to training!'. Today, all that changes. Quietly, I crawled out of my bed and pushed open the creaky door to my den quickly.

What? You thought I was gonna be slow with it? It'll make more noise if I do that! Silly squid-kid!

Sliding on my goggles, I tip-toed my way through the long hallway lined up with rooms of sleeping Octarians. Being quiet is very important here; Octarians are very, very hostile and will not hesitate in attacking if they hear any strange noises.

Minutes later, I finally made it to what we call the 'Main Station'. As the name implies, it's sorta like a train station except wackier and random. No Octarian ever remembers where any of the trains go and DJ Octavio won't be bothered to help us with it. Our trains also go in all sorts of directions, up, down, left, right, sideways, upside down...it's painful to ride.

Luckily, I don't need a train to get to where I'm going. I grinned upon seeing my destination, a large red grate, one that leads to the outside world.

I sighed in relief. I didn't ge-

"Stella?"

I turned around and let out another sigh of relief. It was just one of my fellow comrades, Tashia. She's the only Octarian that fully respects me and my opinions.

"What are you-" She began.

"Shh!" I interrupted. "Do you want the whole valley to know I'm here!?"

She shook her head.

"…I-Wait. Can I trust you to keep a secret? And it's not just any secret. It's big, important, and can cause some major changes…for someone in particular."

She tilted her head at first, but soon nodded. "You can always trust me, Star! We're best friends, remember?"

I smiled, but quickly stopped. "OK…so I've been thinking for a long time now, and…I-I…"

"You…what?" She asked, curiosity levels to the max.

"I'm gonna try and escape Octopia, Tashia. I'm…I'm tired of living like this!"

Tashia stared at me for a few moments before grabbing hands.

"But where are you going to go!? Those awful Inklings will splat you right on the spot if they see you wandering around in their territory!"

I stared at her in disbelief. It's hard for me to remember that even someone sweet as Tashia can still be harsh to others.

"Tashia, I-"

"What are you two chit-chatting about?" A voice behind us asked.

We both turned to see Gale, one of the rudest Octolings I've ever met. And you know what the worst thing is? Everyone loves her; shes been nominated best Octoling four times in a row!

"Well?" She asked, tapping her foot impatiently.

"We were just talking about how things will start looking better for Octopia…!" Tashia butted in, shaking. "Stella's been feel-"

"Don't care!" Gale interrupted. "Just quit yapping, otherwise they'll strip us from night duty and move us to battle duty!"

"I don't see anything wrong with that." I shrugged, grinning. "Are you afraid you might get splatted?"

I for one would be grateful if Gale got splatted. I mean, that's a terrible thing to think as we don't have re-spawns like Inklings do. One splat and you're gone, forever.

"Of course not!" She snorted. "I prefer this job so I don't have to protect stupid Octarians who can't even protect themselves. Honestly, there's a reason we lost the war, y'know."

Gale is one terrible liar.

"Wow, aren't you a caring person!" I replied sarcastically. "Let's nominate you for best, rudest Octoling!"

"What was that!?" She shouted.

"Nothing. Don't you have somewhere you need to be, Gale?"

"Actually," She began, an evil grin forming. "I was wondering what you were doing out here! You're not on night duty; you haven't even been assigned to a job yet!"

"OK, and your point is?"

"You're a loser, Stella."

"All because?"

"You. Don't. Have. A. Job!"

"Oh! Right! I don't have to do anything like you do! I could be relaxing in my room right now, no one to bother me for anything."

She glared and stuck her tongue at me before storming off.

Finally, just me and Tashia again. I turned to her and winked.

"And that's how you piss off a Gale!"

"Star..."

"Hm?" I tilted my head.

"You really should consider staying here. There's no life for Octolings above ground. And maybe...if you take training a bit more seriously, you'd get promoted and would have your own job..."

I paused, but quickly nodded afterwards.

"You know...you're right."

"Really?" She asked, mouth agape.

"Yup! I'm gonna take my training super seriously tomorrow."

"Yeah...?"

"And I'm gonna get promoted!"

"Yeah?"

"I'll finally get a job down here!"

"Yeah!" She beamed, excitement glittering in her eyes.

"And the job I'll get..." I paused for the dramatic effect.

"Yeeeaaah?"

"Battle duty!" I finished, walking back towards my room.

"Yeah! W-Wait! Battle duty!?" She questioned. "B-But Stella!"

I was already out of her view at that point. Yes, if I choose battle duty, I will either be lucky and train for another day or I will be forced to join my comrades and take on the one who restarted the falling of our utopia, Agent 3.


Author's Note: I almost gave up on this story completely, but now I have a full working plot! Goodbye writer's block! Also, I hope you're all enjoying the story so far! It may seem bland now, but I hope I can spice it for all of your enjoyment! That's all for now!