AN: And here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it.


Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 3: Unseen Allies

As I was still trying to relax after the test, I heard a staticky sound come from the captain.

"Eh? I hear something!" he said. He pulled out an old radio. "Maybe it's Agent 3. Hello?!"

"MIC CHECK, ONE-TWO, WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!" a loud female voice shouted through it.

"Excuse me?!"

"Didn't see that coming..." I thought. "But judging from his reaction, that probably isn't Agent 3..."

"Pearl!" another softer female voice said. "Didn't anyone teach you to respect your elders?!"

"What in the world?" the captain said. "Who am I speaking to? State your names!"

"Uh, I think I asked you first, dude," the louder voice said. "But whatevs. I'm Pearl, but you can call me MC Princess!"

She then began to make a rap describing herself. I don't exactly remember how it went, but it wasn't bad, I think. Once she was done, the captain looked at the radio in surprise and a bit of eagerness.

"Oh! Check it, kid. Are you stepping to me with a rap battle?" he said. "MC Craig in the house!"

"Wait. His first name is Craig?" I thought as I stifled a laugh.

He began to make a few rhymes about himself, too. This left me completely confused because I didn't expect him to join in with her. They continued to rap until the softer voice over the radio spoke up.

"Okay, you two, that's ENOUGH!" she said in a slightly more serious tone. This caused them both to stop immediately.

"It was...interesting while it lasted..." I thought with a small smile.

"Mr. Cuttlefish, was it?" she continued.

"That's me alright," he said.

"We found a radio here and heard your transmission. Right now, Pearl and I are on Mt. Nantai."

"Mt. Nantai...why that's near Octo Valley where this whole mess started! Agent 8 and I were near there when someone...or something took us deep underground."

"Oh...I see. Do you know exactly where you are?"

"Unfortunately, we don't..."

"Sorry to hear that...but worry not! From now on, you'll have me, Marina-aka DJ_Hyperfresh, supporting you! And I'm sure my partner Pearl will lend a hand or two as well. Right?"

"Definitely!" Pearl said. "But to be honest, I really don't get what's going on, but hang tight. We totally got you!"

"Okay," the captain said. "Anyone who loves rapping is a friend of mine. Thanks for the help!"

"I'll get to work analyzing your surroundings," Marina said. "Hopefully, we'll be of some help to you both."

"In the meantime, we're going to keep testing."

"Testing?" Pearl asked.

"We have to pass these odd tests of some sort and collect some thangs to reach the promised land. We guess that the promised land means the surface."

"Hmm...sounds a little fishy to me...what do you think, Agent 8?"

I shrugged and tried to speak into the radio. Still, nothing came out.

"Helloooooo? You guys still there?" Pearl said.

"You'll have to excuse Agent 8," the captain explained. "She can't speak for some reason."

"Did she hurt her throat or what?"

"Maybe she's just shy?" Marina added.

"She just...chooses not to speak, I guess," the captain said.

I sighed heavily.

"What is wrong with me?!" I thought in annoyance. "I can speak when by myself, but something's holding me back whenever I'm around others. I know I didn't forget how to talk to people...right...?"

"Well, whatever," Pearl said. "She doesn't have to talk if she doesn't want to. We can respect that."

"Absolutely," Marina agreed.

So far, these two seem alright. Maybe they can help us...I hope...

"And...got it!" Marina announced after a few minutes.

"What?" the others asked.

"I've managed to locate you guys through something one of you have. It's apparently called a...'CQ-80'?"

I pulled the device out and saw a teal light blinking from it.

"Ah, the little gadget that Agent 8 picked up," the captain said.

"Okay, so Agent 8 has that. I can communicate with you guys through that and the radio now which means if you guys are going through separate tests, you both can hear us."

"Well, when I said 'We have to pass tests', I meant you, Agent 8. You understand that, right?"

I nodded. (However, in my head, I was really beginning to get annoyed with how he was making me do everything. He's old, sure, but he could probably do something, right?) I pulled out the map of the train lines and selected another test at random. In hindsight, I should've looked more closely to see that this next test was shown as a square rather than a circle. Nonetheless, we eventually ended up at that specific testing area.


Once I got off at the station, I met with the conductor again. This time, the equipper gave me a weapon called a Splash-o-matic without any bombs.

"Now then, here's your next test," he said. "This one is a bit different from the last one. You need to guide the 8-ball to the goal found in this area. It may sound a little easy, but these can get a little challenging. You're going to have to exercise caution and be strategic about where you roll it. Be careful out there and good luck."

I nodded in thanks and paid my points to get past the gate. I was unexpectedly launched out again from the gate and almost crashed into a large ball with an 8 on it.

"Oh..." I muttered. "Guide the '8-ball' to the goal. Now, I get it."

"Whoa! That thing's huge!" Pearl exclaimed. "AND IT'S ROLLING AWAY!"

The force of me bumping into it had made it start rolling forward and down a small incline. Ahead of it were two blue creatures that looked like sentient tentacles with dark eyes eyes and legs. They were mindlessly spreading more of that teal goo on the ground before they began shooting the 8-ball and knocking it around.

I walked up to them, and once they noticed me, they started to fire at me. Their shots were slow, and I managed to step to one side to avoid them both.

"Okay...like those Octolings, these things are hostile," I thought. "Yet, they also look familiar. Except for the color..."

I shot them, and they burst into my ink quickly. They were easier to deal with than the Octolings which put me at ease a bit.

"Those looked like Octarians..." Cuttlefish said. "But they seemed a bit...off..."

"Yeah..." Marina said uneasily. "Hang on..."

After a brief moment of silence while I pushed the 8-ball through the stage to get to the goal, Marina gasped.

"What is it?!" Pearl asked.

"Th-those Octarians didn't show any vital signs on my scanners..." Marina said. "How's that even possible...?"

"No vital signs?! You mean those guys are...UNDEAD?!"

"I'm not sure that's it, but...it's still very strange..."

"This keeps getting weirder and weirder..."

"Stay on your guard, Agent 8. There's bound to be more ahead. And watch out for places without rails. You don't want that ball to fall off the stage you're on."

"Fall off the stage?" I thought. I peered over a railing to see that the entire area that I was in was floating in mid-air. Down in the depths was nothing but a dark abyss. My stomach tightened, and I instinctively gripped the railing tightly as I looked down. The more I looked at the darkness, the more it seemed to actually creep upward toward me. My legs shook uncontrollably, and I fell back and slid away from the edge.

"Agent 8?" Cuttlefish asked worriedly. "Are you alright?"

I tried to say "Yes", but all that came out was a fearful whimper. My hearts were racing fast but were slowly starting to calm down.

"What happened?" Pearl asked.

"I saw that reaction she had," Marina said sympathetically. "Agent 8 must not like heights."

"Pull yourself together, Eight!" Pearl said. "You gotta pass this test!"

I stood up, but my legs were still shaking a little. I was thankful that they were concerned for me, but it wasn't the height of where I was that scared me. It was that abyss. The creeping darkness seemed to give me a feeling of absolute fear. It was almost as if something in the dark was lurking just waiting to pull me back into it...

I shook my head to focus back on the mission. I quickly caught up to the ball which had continued rolling a little closer to the edge of the platform I was on.

I carefully navigated it by shooting it with my weapon. It was surprisingly a little difficult to keep it from rolling off the edges.

Eventually, I could see neon lights with an 8 on them that matched the one on the ball.

"That must be the goal!" Marina said. "Hurry and roll the ball there!"

I moved the ball forward and saw a teetering platform bridging the way between me and the goal. I tried pushing the ball onto the platform, but I misjudged the space between it and the platform I was on. The ball then fell down into the depths below.

"Uh-oh..." I thought fearfully. "If I drop the 8-ball, do I fail the test?"

Suddenly, I heard a rapid beeping sound along with the sound of something inflating behind me. I turned to see a big white sack filling up quickly with that turquoise goo.

"What is that?!" I thought as I tried to get away from it. I then had a horrible realization. That device was strapped to my ink tank. As I scrambled to try to pull it off, I ended up falling forward.

In the end, my struggling was useless. The sack couldn't contain any more of that goo. I screamed in terror as the thing exploded. The blast was so strong that my entire body went numb for a few minutes. I found myself in my octopus form floating in pink ink. I was confused. I carefully poked my head out from where I was and noticed another 8-ball in front of me.

"Agent 8?! Come in, Agent 8!" Cuttlefish said worriedly.

"Wait, I see her!" Pearl said. "She's okay!"

"What a relief..." Marina said with a sigh. "What happened?"

"She dropped the ball off the stage."

"You gotta be squiddin' me!" Cuttlefish said. "A forced splatting as a punishment?!"

"What a load of bull sharks!" Pearl exclaimed angrily.

"Pearl! Language!" Marina gasped. "But, really, though, you're right. That's not fair! You're forced to be splatted if you fail a test?"

"My apologies," C. Q. Cumber's voice said through the device. "That's the fail-safe feature issued to testers. If you fail an attempt at a test, that detonator will activate so you can either restart from the beginning or the last checkpoint. If you were to check your CQ-80, you will see that you have two more attempts remaining for this test. Please do be more careful next time."

I sighed heavily as I checked my CQ-80. Sure enough, it had three icons that looked like small octopi, and one of them was gone.

"Lovely..." I thought. "I guess from now on, I'll have to take these tests even more seriously than ever. I don't even want to know what happens if I lose all three attempts..."

I pushed the ball back to the teetering platform.

"Wait...I can't just push it over..." I thought while looking around. I found some kind of box with a balloon inside slightly covered in my ink. Whatever memory that was trying to come back to me gave me a strange feeling that I should open that box and use that balloon. I rolled the ball over near it.

"I see a balloon fish in there!" Marina said. "But you're gonna need a key to get it out of that box..."

"I see it! It's up there!" Pearl said.

I looked up on steel girders to see a large key on top of them surrounded by a few more of those strangely-colored Octarians.

"It's pretty far up there..." the captain said.

"Yeah..." Pearl agreed. "And after seeing how Agent 8 reacted to looking over the edge of that stage, I doubt she'd want to climb up there."

"Isn't there another way?"

"Hmm...maybe I can..." Marina mumbled. Suddenly, the box opened. "I-I got it! I actually got it opened!"

"Nice, Marina!" Pearl cheered.

"Oho! Splendid!" the captain cheered.

I breathed a small sigh of relief. I looked at the ball and the teetering platform trying to time it just right. My instincts told me to shoot the balloon, and I did when the edge of the tilting platform nearest to us was down. It exploded and launched the ball forward to the platform. It rolled onto the platform on the other side and rolled into the goal.

"Test passed!" the conductor announced. "Well-done."

"Nice work, Eight!" everyone cheered as I launched back to the start of the testing area. As a reward this time, I got a mem cake that looked like one of those Octarians. However, this one was a reddish color. It looked kinda cute honestly...

I boarded the subway again and met up with the captain.

"Oho! Agent 8, you've done it again! Great work!" he congratulated me.

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Pearl said. "But let's not leave Marina out of this. She did great with that hacking trick to open the box that balloon thing was in."

"Oh...i-it was nothing..." Marina said bashfully. "Agent 8 didn't like high places, so...I decided to help her out...it's no big deal..."

I know she did it out of concern for a fear I didn't have, but I still appreciated the help. I had to let her know I was grateful for her help somehow. I took a deep breath and held the captain's radio.

"Hmm? What's the matter, Agent 8?" he asked.

I mustered together as much energy as I could.

"Th-Th-Thank...y-y-you..." I managed to say. It came out in a slightly squeaky voice which made me feel a little embarrassed.

"SHE SPOKE!" Pearl exclaimed.

"I...couldn't exactly catch what she said, though..." Marina said.

"She said 'thank you'," the captain said.

"Oh! Uh, y-you're welcome, Agent 8!"

"Yeah!" Pearl added. "We said we were gonna help in any way we can! You didn't doubt us, did ya?"

I shook my head as I sat down.

As the others continued to talk, I got lost in my thoughts trying to remember my past. I thought back to when I was overcome with fear at looking at the darkness.

"I have a fear of the dark..." I thought. "Of all things, how could I forget that? Was it really a fear of that or something else in the dark...?"

I sat back and sighed. This was way too confusing. My thoughts then shifted to Agent 3 (I at least assumed the boy from my dream was him.)

"And him...I feel like I should know him. It's almost like he played a big part in my life...but I don't remember how..."

My hearts started beating faster, and I felt my face warm up as I thought about him. My hair tentacles slightly curled up a little more than normal unconsciously. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I wanted to see Agent 3 again especially if he was important...

The captain noticed me.

"Agent 8?" he asked. "You seem a little flustered. Are you alright?"

I tried to calm myself down. I then held up three fingers.

"Three? OH! Agent 3? You're wondering about him, aren't ya?"

I nodded.

"You're not alone. I really am wondering how he's doing...and if he's okay..."

I nodded again a bit more uneasily. I hoped he was doing okay, too...


AN: Well, Off the Hook has finally arrived to provide some help to the cap'n and Agent 8, the mysteries of Eight's past are gonna keep unfolding, and Fin is still out of the picture at the moment...let's change that in the next chapter.

If you wanna know how it's going for him, you guys are gonna have to wait...(Sorry. Losing time due to college which is why this hasn't updated for a bit. Don't worry, when I get more time, expect more chapters to appear frequently.)

Until then, I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see you all in the next one.