Chapter 1: Of Agents and Childhood
Do I look like I own Splatoon or its sequel? Or even its DLC?
A/N: While I do check over my own content, I'm still just one person. If you spot any funny sentence structures or mistakes, feel free to message me by either PM or review.
Also the first paragraph of every chapter will be a memory from Carol's old life, not in chronological order.
P.S. I really feel like I rushed this, don't know why. It probably is.
Edit 1: To that guest who asked who Morales was, I give you a question in return. You see that OC tag?
He's basically the real world equivalent of a scientific researcher. Or Historian. Who knows.
"Mom, why can't I play with big bro, I'm old enough, aren't I?" I cried. Mom only shook her head and sighed.
"Sweetie, I know you want to be like your brother, but you could get hurt! What will you do then?" she asked, patting me softly on the head.
I huffed, and glanced out of the window, where our backyard was, watching my brother sprint and evade the oncoming monoliths of human flesh. It seemed as if he was enjoying it, but I could see the heaviness in his eyes, as if this was not just a sport, as if he was fighting for his very life.
In a way, I guess it was true.
"Come on sweetie, let's get some ice cream. You like it don't you?" Mom asked.
I nodded my head and rushed to my room, ready to change for a trip to the local ice cream store.
Mom sighed, and I could barely make out her next words, "God knows I don't need another child turning into one of those."
"So, Miss Octoling here found a cloning chamber, which you had a poster of, and then you made what is basically a younger clone of her, except it has the brain of an extinct species, using a LOT of electricity from the Great Zapfish, which tired it out and caused a massive blackout in Inkopolis and its neighbouring cities?"
Morales muttered to Marie, "They're almost the same age, but yeah, that sums it up."
Marie rolled her eyes at the Scientist's antics.
"Callie, whack him on the head for me, please?" Marie asked. Callie happily complied, briskly walking over to Morales and slamming her fist onto his head. "Ow!"
Marina had her laptop plugged in to the broken machine, searching its data for any use. She heard Marie approaching, and after a few seconds of typing, closed the lid and stood up.
"The machine may have once been working, but it's definitely done for," Marina said, turning to the steaming pile of metal and glass shards. "I'm surprised there's any data still intact, but all we can do now is try to find out how it got in the hands of Commander Tartar."
Marie sighed, and glanced at a nearby clock
"Callie, we have a concert tonight to prepare for," she called, and left. Callie hastily dropped the book she was holding and rushed after Marie.
Morales stood still for several seconds, then rushed over to Agent 8 and not-so-aggressively shouted, "You're friends with Marina, from Off The Hook?!" Agent 8 nodded, surprised that he had not reacted to the Squid Sisters and instead fawned over a television… never mind.
Marina smiled and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Marina, A.K.A. DJ_Hyperfresh. This is my friend, Agent 8 A.K.A. Erica," she introduced, ignoring the glare from the Octoling.
"My name is Morales. So, can I have your autograph?" he asked, not quite fangirling. Close, though.
0*0*0
Agent 8 was feeling rather peeved. She walked home with Marina by her side, who was also slightly annoyed, for a different reason.
Which was that Agent 8 had made her carry the kid home.
"Rica, you know our apartment is already tight enough with us and Pearlie," Marina complained. Erica shrugged, and pointed to her pockets.
Marina sighed. "What are you even doing with all the money you earn from Turf Wars?" she asked.
Erica stopped for a moment, then pointed to the kid resting in Marina's hands.
"Ha, as if you planned this whole thing from the start," Marina countered.
Erica smiled and kept walking.
0*0*0
Morales fell on his bed, exhausted after a long day of translating human text into Inkling. He stared up at the lone bulb in his room, fluctuating between intense and barely glowing.
Right, he had almost blown his house to bits.
He turned to the side, watching the sun as it begun its descent below the horizon. Maybe he should have drawn the blinds, it would be irritating to try to sleep with the sun in his face.
But it didn't matter. Already, his eyes were forcing itself shut in an attempt to get him some very well-deserved rest. He fought to watch the sunset a little longer, basking in the orange glow.
Then he was gone.
He walked quickly down the quiet path, glancing around for any sign of his pursuers. The coast seemed clear, so he turned the corner leading home. He had spent several hours under the tutelage of his teacher, so he was mostly dead on his feet and wanted to go to bed as soon as possible.
An abrupt motion had him jerk away, but he was too late and something pummelled him into the wall, knocking his books out of his hands.
"Hey girlie, we really need some coins, so why don't you lend us some? Say, five thousand?" the huge figure threatened, lifting Morales up by his neck.
He struggled in the strong grip, trying to kick his books away from the oncoming danger. Once he deemed most of his books safe, he clawed into the hands of his pursuer, trying to pry them out by sheer force, before his brain made the connection that it probably wasn't going to work. Instead, he drew in whatever air he could, and spat out, "What you need is a brain."
The next thing he knew, he was on the other side of the road, bones jarring from the impact, and tentacles hurting from being used like a rope. He probably shouldn't have said that, but it got him out of being strangled to death and probably hurting worse.
Morales heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching him like a mad charging animal. He quickly got to his feet and leaped to the side as soon as he could, avoiding the mad charge of an enraged squid. He didn't wait to see the damage he caused. Grabbing any books he could reach, he bolted off in the opposite direction of the bullies.
He never noticed the car on the next street. All he saw was a flash of light, and-
Morales gasped as his side hit a hard surface. He stared with unfocused eyes for a minute, wondering why he wasn't bleeding out, and after a look around, realised what hit him on the side. He groaned, another nightmare, and pushed himself up to prepare for the new day.
Falling off his bed was an embarrassing way to start, and he was glad no none was around to witness it.
0*0*0
The Calamari Inkantation had some interesting effects. Some fled to the surface after Octavio's second defeat. Others moved to the Canyon, not willing to socialise but wanted better homes.
And then there was him, not quite wanting to leave his childhood in pursuit of the surface.
Well, that and the fact he was the only remaining electrician in Octo Valley. The others had left for the surface, leaving him by himself to keep their former home running, and if it weren't for those squid-darn octarians who were doing cod knows what during the Calamari Inkantation and its Spicy variant, he would already be busy rewiring the entire valley before moving out of the canyon... valley... that's not the point. The point is, who connects everything to a single breaker?
Octavio learnt his mistake and hired actual /competent/ people for the Canyon's electrical system.
He pulled a screwdriver from his toolbox and started to unscrew the old power box, humming to the songs blaring through the P.A. speakers around the canyon... vall-oh who cares.
There were advantages to his job; Blaring songs from the surface into the whole city.
Alright, the only reason he could do that was because he was the only person in Octo Valley, but it still housed the old generator that he had to keep running, otherwise it trips a rather faulty mechanism that cuts off all power, especially to the Canyon.
He should probably fix that.
His hands eventually found the issue in the power box, and all his attention momentarily moved to the task at hand, hands slipping through the wires to repair and reconstruct circuits that had disconnected or had poor wiring. He worked for a little more, then connected the last wire and put everything back together. Thinking his job was done, he packed his tools in the case, and took one last glance around.
It was when he was about to leave when he noticed a particular piece of electronics resting on the recently closed power box. It seemed he had put it aside in pursuit of fixing the actual power system. He picked up the strange circuit board, observing the card and tracing its electronic paths through the series of strangely designed transistors, resistors and the likes. He pushed it into his pocket, deciding he could show it to Morales later.
If anyone could figure out what something was, it would be him.
0*0*0
Agent 3 was not having a good day. Sheldon had 'accidentally' broken her roller, she had lost several rounds of Splatfest to really bad teammates, and then the whole of Inkopolis shut down while she was on the Subway, so she had to walk to her apartment several stations away.
Cassidy 'Agent 3' Reier, walking through the night's cold winter.
Nu-uh, she was really bad at rapping.
She neared her apartment, walking up the stairs to her room. Hearing a familiar voice echo across the corridor, she sighed. Great, was Pearl rapping in the middle of the night again?
She was about to walk into view, but Pearl stopped shouting abruptly, as if there was an argument between her and a person she couldn't hear.
Turning her head slightly to witness the scene, she saw Agent 8 sleeping in Marina's hands, Pearl shouting in protest, and Erica signing back in sign language.
She moved back into the corner, deciding to wait until the argument was over. What happened to Erica to make her have an argument with Pearl? Did Erica get hurt?
Wait, what?
She turned back sharply, trying to get a second look at the double Ericas. Only too late did she realise her legs were still moving the other way, and she tripped. Hard.
Three out of four faces turned to face her dramatic entry. She stared at them, slowly got up, moved to her room next to Pearl's, got in and slammed the door shut.
Only then did she indulge in her emotions, dropping to the floor and covering her face in embarrassment.
She was having a really bad day.