Chapter 2. My warning of single player story spoilers will be bearing fruit now.
I own OCs. Everything else is credit to their respective owners.
Hum looked out the window of her bedroom. Many tall, grey buildings blanketed her vision, but far, far off in the distance, stood the tower of Inkopolis Plaza.
Suffering from far-sightedness, she needed her glasses to perceive objects close to her. Fortunately, what she was trying to look at was already in the distance, making her glasses unnecessary for this occasion. Though, with the morning sun illuminating the tower so splendidly, a near-sighted squid would have been able to see it perfectly.
Wrapped around the tower was the Great Zapfish, and the electrical power siphoned out of it served as the backbone for Inkling society. There were hundreds of other, smaller Zapfish, but it was the Great Zapfish that their society simply could not live without.
Which is the reason why it was more than a bit distressing, two months back, when the Great Zapfish suddenly vanished. Then, about a week after its disappearance, it suddenly reappeared on the tower. It seemed like no one really knew what, precisely, had happened to it.
Probably just some dumb publicity stunt. Hum thought to herself. It wasn't gone for long, all the disappearance really accomplished was making some Inklings mildly uneasy. Yet it was back before anyone could truly panic. She could imagine some local authorities laughing up a storm over the Great Zapfish.
And how horrible it was to think of the Great Zapfish being used like that. Hum thought the Great Zapfish was adorable looking. As were the smaller Zapfish. She might have tried to cuddle one, if it weren't for the fact that they discharge electricity and would probably kill her. So, she had to settle for spending time with a little Zapfish doll her brother brought her out of the blue once.
She held said doll in her arms. It looked exactly like a real regular Zapfish, ignoring the fact that it was obviously made of fabric. It even had whiskers on it, as well as a silly blue hat on top of it. Hum did wonder why the doll had the hat at all. Though she did feel that it made the doll look even cuter.
Behind her, Lum peered into his sister's room. He had a curious sack over his shoulder, and it seemed he didn't want his sister to detect his presence.
Hum was preoccupied looking at something in the distance. A perfect distraction, Lum grinned. He began to creep past the doorway.
As his foot came down, the floor creaked. Hum suddenly turned around. There was no one in her doorway. She blinked once, twice, then turned back toward the tower.
Lum entered into the plaza. At first glance he looked like he was heading for the tower, but then he suddenly darted to the right. He opened the sack he was carrying, contained inside was a curious set of clothing. A strange black and yellow uniform, very distinct and completely unlike anything sold in Booyah Base.
He took his glasses off. While his sister wore glasses to correct vision problems, he just wore them because he liked the way they felt on his face. However, where he was going, it would be better to not wear an article of clothing that could possibly be a distraction.
Switching his clothes, his body melted into squid form, and he slipped down a sewer grate.
Octo Valley. The home of the Octarians, and where Lum found a second life for himself.
He landed on a second grate, then immediately stood up and made a salute.
"Cap'n Cuttlefish! Agent 3 reporting for duty!"
"Bucko!" Cuttlefish, an aged Inkling, and a veteran of the Great Turf War, greeted the arriving Lum.
Many days had passed since Lum first came here. He entered the sewers to be by himself for a while after another 'friendship' had ended on a sour note. By coincidence, it was the same day that the Great Zapfish vanished. He never could have expected he'd be swept up into a great battle with the Octarians. Creatures that he, along with every other Inkling of his generation, had only seen in history books.
As it turns out, the Octarians were the ones behind the stolen Zapfish. Lum ended up having to get them all back, one by one. Fighting with the Octarians was not always an easy battle, but it was one he eventually won. He prevailed over the Octarians and reclaimed the Zapfish in a battle that most of Inkopolis would likely never know happened.
"Agent 3!" A girl wearing a similar outfit to him, but with different headwear, suddenly ran up. Agent 1, a black haired girl, and one of his comrades down in Octo Valley.
At first she looked happy at seeing Lum, but her relieved expression quickly changed. A change that gave away the fact that trouble was afoot. Lum glanced around, and he noticed that there was someone who wasn't here.
"Where's Agent 2?" Lum queried. Normally there was a second girl with milk white hair, and a mouth mask that was hard to miss. Today she was nowhere to be seen.
"We need your help to find her, Agent 3." Agent 1 said. Lum gave her a confused look.
Cuttlefish spoke up. "I sent Agent 1 and 2 on a scouting mission. It looked like safe territory to me, but they were suddenly ambushed by some octo-jerks! Agent 1 made it back safely, but they captured Agent 2."
Lum's eyes widened, then narrowed. Agent 1 looked at him expectedly, and he was ready to make an appropriate response. His words came with confidence. "Okay, I can take there of that fast."
"Lum?" Hum walked through her house, looking for her brother. "Lum, where are you?" She paced through the hallways, up and down the stairs several times, but there was no sign of her brother anywhere. Had he gone to the plaza to participate in the Turf Wars? Hum had specifically asked him to tell her where he was going if he was heading to the tower.
Or had he just vanished again? He had this habit of disappearing, it started ever since the day the Great Zapfish temporarily vanished. Hum thought she saw a connection and was sure that he wouldn't vanish after the Great Zapfish returned, but he continued to disappear. To this day he remained tight-lipped as to where he was going, and Hum, who tried to be a good older sister, didn't like it.
He'd always come back perfectly fine, though more often than not he looked like he had been doing something quite exhausting. He always seemed to be in a good mood when he returned, but there was no telling what he was doing.
"Lum, if you're still in this house, do something!" She glanced around, no action graced her vision, nor did any noise register on her ear. "Lum, please!"
She was met with nothing. She sighed. "Well, if the wounded sister trick didn't work, then he's obviously not in the house."
"Y-yes, I know it's not the one you wanted, but if you'd-"
The Octoling suddenly jerked back from the radio and covered her ears, wincing in pain. Her superior was not happy. Not happy at all.
The plan they had formed some time ago was perfect. Relieve the Inklings of a considerable number of their Zapfish, and reactive the Great Octoweapons. After some preparation, they could have conceivably assaulted Inkopolis itself.
Yet that perfectly calculated stealthy kidnapping of the Zapfish was all for naught. Cuttlefish recruited a new agent. His other two agents were nothing special, but this new one ripped the Octarian army apart like it was a casual pastime for him. Even the reactivated Great Octoweapons couldn't stop him, despite the history books singing of their effectiveness in the Great Turf War before that unfortunate plug was pulled.
Assaults, ambushes, pincer attacks, you name it, that new agent overcame it. They tried kidnapping Cuttlefish, but that only made the agent even more determined. Their leader, Octavio, with the power of the Great Zapfish, was able to hold his own in the fight for quite some time, but even he was defeated by this lone Inkling.
Now the Octarian army was in shambles and a splintered mess, but a new plan was quickly formed. No matter the cost, they had to splat this new agent that Cuttlefish had recruited. It was for this reason the ambush was planned in the first place.
"I never saw the Inkling who wrecked our army. If I'd been told what he looks like, I wouldn't have wasted our time with-"
She jerked back again. Her superior could bust your ears when she was angry.
There was the sudden sound of a light scuffle on the other side of the radio, then another voice, distinctively male, was speaking.
"Sir?" The Octoling quietly listened to the words she was hearing. "Ah, yes sir! If that boy does show up, I'm sure that will give me an advantage over him."
The radio fell silent. The Octoling sighed. Her superiors were overwhelming. She was one of many who felt that there was no choice but to follow individuals of such presence, but their personalities also meant that no one wanted to report bad news to them.
The Octoling turned, Cuttlefish's Agent 2 was sitting on the floor, tied up and gagged.
Agent 2 glanced at her captor. The Octoling couldn't see it behind the mouth mask and the gag, but she managed to grin. The attack was meant to capture Agent 3, one could only imagine what the Octarians would do to him if he was at their mercy, but their ambush caught the wrong Inkling.
And it was only a matter of time before Agent 3 showed up. With what she had seen the boy do during the Zapfish incident, there was no doubt that this group of Octarians wouldn't last long.
"You're lucky. You have some further use for us." The Octoling glanced at the Inkling on the floor. "A hostage situation would likely make Agent 3 become very... agreeable. You get to avoid being splatted, provided that boy does show up. If not-" She glanced at her Octoshot, then gave a sinister grin.
One Octotrooper patrolled outside the fortress, he cast a careful glance around as his mobile platform carried him above the Octo ink. Presumably, there would be some sort of rescue attempt made for the Inkling they had captured. If it was just the other female agent it would likely be no problem to repel her, perhaps even capture her as well. However, if it was that boy... they would have to fight with more than they had if they wanted to win.
Cuttlefish's Agent 3 had become the source of horror stories among the Octarians. Skill of his level was legendary, but unfortunately he was an Inkling, not an Octarian. Stories of his talent were dime a dozen at this point. Each story had the same basic plot, a perfectly planned out and coordinated ambush, which was then defeated by the amazing adaptability and skill of this one Inkling.
The Octotrooper found himself shivering at just the idea of Agent 3 being who showed up. For now, there was no sign of any Inklings coming, with any luck no one would. They could be called back to safer territory and-
A Splat Bomb suddenly flew through the air, and landed right on the platform the Octotrooper was standing on. He only had the time to widen his eyes in doomed realization before it went off.
Lum shifted to his squid form and waited. Some other Octarians were already moving to investigate the explosion.
"Um, Agent 3? Why aren't you just charging the Octo-fort?" Agent 1 asked. She was still with the captain, communicating to her comrade long distance, her voice registering in the earpieces Lum was wearing. "I mean, after what you were capable of with the Zapfish kidnappings, I don't think-"
"Agent 1." Lum interrupted. "I like to think I'm a bit more calculating then that. I'll get inside the fortress before announcing that I'm here like that."
"Alright, Agent 3." Agent 1 conceded. She thought it was awesome when 3 did run in guns blazing, but she also liked that calm, cool attitude he had when on a mission. "Gramps and I'll just help you out from over here, just like in that incident."
Lum blinked. "What? You never helped me at all. You just yapped pointless comments while I did all the work."
"Oh, right. Well, Agent 3, good job on doing a song and dance number that interfered with Octavio's machine."
"I-" Lum trailed off. "Alright. You win."
Agent 1 beamed a little.
"Agent 2's probably at the top of the fortress, Agent 3." Cuttlefish said, moving the conversation along. "Same place you'd expect them to keep a Zapfish."
The Octarians took a long look at the yellow ink that laid where an ally of theirs had been previously. They collectively made uncomfortable glances around. After several minutes, they began cautiously re-covering the area with octo ink, all the while scanning the area around them.
Lum swam forward, weaving through the Octarian ink as they cleaned, eventually stopping in a small bit of his ink that the Octarians didn't re-cover. As the Octarians huddled together, Lum saw his chance.
Suddenly springing out of his ink, he attacked. This group of Octarians must have been well trained, one of them managed to shoot twice before Lum took them all down.
With that done, all that was left to do here was enter the fortress. He inked himself a path to follow.
Hum looked at an old photo in her parents' bedroom. An old, gray photo depicting a group relevant in Inkling history. The Squidbeak Splatoon of legend.
On the left of the image was the leader, Cuttlefish, and Ammoses Shellendorf. What she took note of, however, were the two individuals on the right of the image. One male and female Inkling, they had not achieved the fame that the two on the left had, but they had a special meaning to Hum.
Grandpa and Grandma. Hum smiled softly. Her grandparents may not have achieved the recognition that their colleagues did, but they were still an important part of Inkling history. She remembered how she was dazzled when she learned that her grandparents were a big part of the reason why she and the rest of her family could live easy and comfortable lives. Lum was even more intrigued then her when he learned about it.
The Great Turf War between the Inklings and the Octarians. As the history books told it, it was very different from the mostly consequence free Turf Wars of the modern day. Rather than be a pastime for the participants, it was a fierce battle for territory between two species that had once been cordial with each other. At the end, the Inklings won and the Octarians fled.
As she looked at the picture, she silently hoped that she and Lum would someday know even a fraction of the courage that their grandparents must have had.
The Octarians inside the octo-fort were tightly organized into guard patrols. Their apparent routes allowed them to constantly thoroughly check all areas of the fort. In one small corner, Lum waited in a small patch of his yellow ink that nobody seemed to be noticing. Had he a proper mouth in his squid form, he would have grinned.
Sneaking was a futile measure here, and it wasn't exactly his style either. Lum allowed himself to go completely on the offensive. He opened up with a few seemingly anonymous Seekers, then let loose all of his skill. It didn't take long before the Octarians realized that they had an intruder in the fort. They surged in oppressively large waves. Some Inkling would have fled screaming at the sight, but Lum met the charge with all his might.
The first waves met his charge. Twintacles led the Octarian vanguard. Many of them were splatted before they could even fire. Those that did manage to fire were lucky to even finish their first round of inkfire.
One fat, bird-like Octarian spat out a bomb. Lum simply ran under the falling bomb and inked the Octarian from beneath. The Octarian exploded, the yellow ink that came from him did in a few Octarians who were standing too close.
Lum was already turning, a unit of three Octotroopers was coming. They shot blobs of octo ink, Lum nimbly dodged before throwing a Splat Bomb. The unit broke their formation and tried to flee, two of them didn't escape the inky explosion. The third swiftly erupted after Lum shot him.
He suddenly inked a random patch of the ground. A charging Octoball and Twintacle didn't react fast enough and fell into the paralyzing yellow ink. They tried to flee, but were both splatted by Lum before they could escape.
"Yes! Get 'em, Agent 3!" Agent 1 cheered. She always thought it was so cool to watch this. Agent 3 did with ease what no one else in the team could even dream of doing. Watching him in action was almost a pastime for Agents 1 and 2. Cuttlefish certainly enjoyed expressing his fondness of the sight as well.
The Octarians came in more formations. Each fell one after the other. Agent 3 was far too formidable for them to take head on, and whatever strategy the master of the fortress wanted them to use was clearly lackluster.
Cuttlefish suddenly shouted a warning. A squadron of five Octolings were launching a pincer attack. Two coming from his left, three from the right. Lum sent a Seeker out at the group of two, who both retreated in fear of the Seeker targeting them. Turning to the remaining three, those three Octolings stopped in their tracks when they realized the situation wasn't as advantageous as it seemed earlier. Lum grinned and charged at them.
At the top, the Octoling in charge of the base was hearing a report of how the battle was going.
"Idiots! How hard can it be to deal with one Inkling!? Stop him!"
A voice crackled back through the radio. "Stop him? What do you think we've been trying to do? Offer him girl scout cookies?!"
A sudden sound of an inky explosion came through the radio, and then came the speaker's shaky words. "Oh... um, A-Agent 3, could I interest you in some cookies?"
Another inky explosion, and then the radio fell silent.
The Octoling growled and spun on her heel. She heard the stories about this boy, but never expected anything like this. While she did believe this boy had taken down entire troops of Octolings, bested ambushes, and defeated the Great Octoweapons, she thought the stories were at least somewhat exaggerated. Now she found that the stories didn't give Agent 3 enough credit.
Seated on the floor, behind her gag Agent 2 made a muffled laugh. The Octarians might have been a force that could have caused some trouble, but any threat they represent comes to an end the moment Agent 3 enters the picture.
Agent 2 suddenly had an Octoshot thrust in her face. The Octoling snarled. "I won't be laughed at by a prisoner. Your little champion is going to be splatted once and for all today."
For a second, it almost looked like the rage of the moment might result in a pulled trigger. Agent 2 uncomfortably leaned away, prompting a smirk from the Octoling.
"Good." She raised her weapon with a condescending tone. "Now if only more Inklings would know to not try to have an attitude with-"
The door suddenly opened and Agent 3 ran in. Upon seeing her adversary, the Octoling immediately pointed her weapon back at Agent 2's head. Yes, yes, this was the plan her superior told her to put into action. Threaten the hostage, and make Agent 3 surrender.
"Watch it, boy. Cooperate with me if you'd rather this girl not become stain on-"
"Hold that thought." Lum released a Seeker, the Octoling instinctively jumped over it, letting it explode on the wall behind her. Landing back down, she swept her vision across the area around her, but the boy had vanished. Agent 2's facial expression shifted into a look of confidence.
Behind her goggles, the Octoling squinted, making a panicked scan of the room. She swung her weapon around, ready to fire at even the slightest movement. Where had the boy gone? He wouldn't leave, not with an ally of his an Octarian prisoner. So where...?
The trail that Seeker left! Her realization came too late. Lum emerged from his ink, right beside the Octoling. Before the Octoling even had the chance to look shocked, Lum shot her square in the face. She tumbled back and crashed into the wall before exploding in ink.
The master of the fortress had fallen. That should be the end of the day's biggest challenge.
Lum turned to his comrade. "You okay, Agent 2?" Lum asked as he took the gag off of her. With both the gag and her little mouth mask, she must have been smothering.
"Good enough." Agent 2 responded as Lum untied her and helped her up. "I can't say I cared much for being the Octarian's houseguest."
They may have conversed for a second longer, but a massive squadron of Octarians suddenly flooded into the room. Twintacles, Octobombers, and Octolings formed a massive wall of enemies, all with the focused intent of preventing the two Inklings from escaping.
Such an intimidating force, but Lum seemed unimpressed at the challenge. "Please stand back, Agent 2." He rubbed his Hero Shot for a moment. "This should only take a minute."
"You're back!" Agent 1 shouted with joy at seeing Agents 3 and 2 return. Lum smirked, all his time Turf Warring was pretty much practice for his secret life. If only the people in his regular life knew what he was doing, but Cuttlefish had told him to keep this all secret.
"Thanks to Agent 3." Agent 2 said, moving toward him and putting her elbow on his shoulder. Her ally's fight with that last mini-army of Octarians still a fresh memory in her mind. "He's so cool when he's fighting like that."
Lum gave a nervous chuckle. His fellow agents endlessly complimented his skill in his days in Octo Valley, to the point that it sometimes got embarrassing. Hum was a supportive sister, but she didn't go on about his talent nearly as much as these two did.
"We got out of that one safe and sound." Cuttlefish said. He sighed with deep relief, he didn't have to lose a grandsquid of his today. "You remind me of some old friends from the Great Turf War, bucko."
Lum wasn't sure how to respond to that comment. So, he changed the subject. Specifically, to the reason Agent 2 got captured in the first place. "Um... what exactly was that scouting mission about?"
Cuttlefish pulled on his cuttles with his free hand, then looked away to his maps tacked onto his shed. "Those Octo-jerks became disorganized when we defeated Octavio. However, I can tell that a storm's brewing. I sent Agent 1 and 2 to scout a place I thought was safe, but I guess there were already Octarians there."
Lum crossed his arms. 'A storm's brewing'? Well, if the Octarians were trying something, he was ready to match their plans move for move. He'd already experienced great success fighting them. If even Octavio couldn't defeat him, what else could the Octarians do?
"Should I head out and-"
"Come on, Agent 3." Agent 1 suddenly tugged his arm. "We're all safe, let's wait for another day to be serious again."
As Cuttlefish continued his watch of the Octarian movements, the three agents sat down together.
Lum had no friends in his regular life, his attempts to make friends always seemed to result in him finding poisonous individuals. However, here in his second, secret life, Lum believed he had found three true friends in Cuttlefish and his fellow agents.
Despite that, the memories of friendships that soured persisted. He had told them precious few facts about himself, he didn't want to risk that emotional pain again. He wondered if his friends noticed he was sometimes a bit defensive with them.
He also wasn't sure what they thought of him. They did fret for his safety at times, though. He fought for them, and they obviously cared for him. Perhaps that was a good enough relationship.
"Hey, Marie." Agent 1 whispered to Agent 2 while glancing at Agent 3, who was obviously thinking about something. "Think we can tell him?"
Agent 2 seemed to be in thought for a moment, then nodded. They both turned to Lum collectively. "Agent 3." It jolted him from his thoughts, he gave the girls his undivided attention. "Try not to be surprised, but your fellow agents are-
"The Squid Sisters?" Lum asked in a rather bored tone.
"Hah, no, we're actually the-what?" Agent 1, Callie, started to speak, then her mouth hung open when she realized what Lum said.
Marie looked just as shocked, but she managed to actually form words. "How did you figure it out?"
Lum shrugged. "Well, you two doing a Squid Sisters song and calling it 'our song' back when I was fighting Octavio was not the definition of subtle." As he had told Hum yesterday, he was a bit of a music illiterate, but he did know a few Squid Sisters songs at least.
Regaining her composure, Callie laughed a bit, then she and her cousin moved to sit down on Lum's opposite sides. "Okay, can you tell us your real name, Agent 3?"
He looked down for a second. "Well, it's no name that would impress you, but I'm Lum."
Marie tilted her head to the side, thinking a little. She didn't recognize the name. She then smiled at Lum. "You have a cute name."
Lum looked at Marie, then over at Callie. How many other people in Inkopolis could claim that they were friends with the Squid Sisters? For that matter, how many would have been jealous that he could enjoy such interaction with them on a regular basis? That he could be this physically close to them so frequently?
In his life as Agent 3, this wasn't the first time he had been in such close physical proximity to them. These moments led to this weird feeling. He supposed it was how true friends felt for each other, not that he would know. Did friends feel unusually warm around each other, find their words sometimes stuck to their throats, and feel like nothing was more important than their friends looking at them with approval?
Maybe Hum would understand what he was feeling. Provided he could actually remember to ask her one of these days.
Still, for now, he just enjoyed their company. Now that they all knew each other's names, he wondered what else he could dare to tell them.
"Your plan was a failure." One Octoling, seated on what could be described as a throne, slouched as she grumbled. Her fist pushed into her cheek. "What a waste your ambush was."
The room itself was moderately lit. Legions of Octarians were here, manning computers, or standing guard. Others rushed around on errands their superiors had given them. It was clear that this was an integral location to the remaining Octarians.
"As always, sister, you are wrong." Another Octoling, this one male, responded coolly. The boy stood almost motionless as his sister made an angry shift on her throne.
"Do not take that tone with me. We are not peers." The girl growled. Her brother only smirked. "Your trap caught the wrong Inkling. Then your intended prey rescued her. How did anything go as planned?"
The male Octoling turned away. "Oh, splatting Agent 3 was never my intention. At least, not for today. You know as well as I do that we can't engage him without a plan. But this plan, rather than splat him, was only ever intended to draw him out."
He snapped his fingers. Monitors lit up on the wall. Each displayed a recording of what went on inside the Octo-fort that Cuttlefish's agent had taken down almost single-handedly.
"I just wanted to see him in action. Our other recordings of him are dated now. I need new recordings for analysis."
His sister slouched a little further in her throne. "You and your need for 'analysis'."
"I'm a scientist, sweet sister. Analysis is something I do, yes." He looked at the monitors. His specially designed Octo-goggles extracting data from the recordings. He turned his head to the side to more monitors. The tiny movement supplied legions of new data on Agent 3's movement and combat style.
"We are the New Octarian Army, as you saw fit to name us. We must know what we're up against if we wish to win. Or do you wish to be just another fool who challenged Agent 3 and exploded in that Inkling's ink?"
His sister grumbled under her breath. Behind her goggles, she tightly shut her eyes.
And that's chapter 2.
The black and white photo Hum is looking at in his chapter would be the image in Secret Scroll 15 in Splatoon's single player. I head-canoned that the male and female Inkling on the right side of that picture are the grandparents of Agent 3/your player character well before I conceived my OCs or this overall story.
Hope you enjoyed.