The guy who runs the ferris wheel yells at me for puking. Luckily, he accepts my bribe to let us back in when it's clean. Once the park... cleaners? Janitors? Whatever, they clean up my puke pretty quickly. I buy water from a nearby vending machines to wash out the puke out of my mouth. Cora holds my hand. I let her, but I still hesitate holding back.
"Are you alright?" Cora asks.
"I feel so embarrassed. What am I, a child?"
"Well, you look 17. And you are a kid in a way." Geez she's right. My age and how I'm still a child. A kid. How long has it been since I felt like a kid? Since I thought myself as a kid. Well, those government guys gave me the fake age of 19 when I took the job.
"Cayden. Do you want to go home?" Cora asks. I shake my head when I took a sip of water.
"Honestly, I just want to go back on the wheel."
After "borrowing" a nearby hose and washing the sushi puke off our shoes, we head back to the ferris wheel to continue our ride. The sun's gone and the stars show up. There's a window on the ceiling in the car so we can stare up at the night sky. Well, when we get the chance. Whenever the wheel lowers our car and the car above us blocks our way, we look out the window. I want to break the silence and talk to Cora about how I feel.
"I'm sorry about the whole panic attack thing." I said. Cora looks down in shame, like she did something bad.
"It's not that I don't like you Cora. It's just that I'm….Well, scared." She looks at me curiously.
"Scared?"
"It's mostly about Nadine. I never did tell you what happened to me and Nadine. Did I?"
"W-well, you said that it ended badly and that was it. I didn't want to force it out of you."
"There's a lot more to it than "it ended badly"." Cora looks down. Almost like she's afraid to ask something. I know she wants to know about Nadine.
"Nadine….she was never the same after our first Saiju encounter. I never noticed, but she changed. A lot. To a point where she was no longer the Nadine I fell in love with."
(Many Months Ago)
"Hey kids. Welcome to yer first day on the job."
Me and Nadine meet up with Grizzo on a Wednesday. Today not the day Salmon Run happens. Today is a day where we hunt down Salmonids. We go into the locker room as usual and put on our Grizzco uniforms. It feels so uncomfortable to not walk out with Leo and not seeing Sarah walk out with Nadine. Nadine hasn't said a single word since Sarah's funeral. I tried to get her to talk to me, but nothing. Some wimpy looking kid accidentally bumps into me.
"Oops! Sorry!" he says as he power walks into the boy's locker room. Is he working here with us?
We make it to Grizzo's office. In it is a tough, muscular looking guy with tattoos all over his body. He looks like he's ten years older than us. His hands are cuffed and his eyes looked crazed. Me and Nadine are both scared of him as he glares at us.
"Hey squiddos. This guy right here is Mack Moores." This Mack guy continues to glare at us. Unmoving. "Don't be scared of him. Don't let it bother ya that he's a convict. He agreed ta help ya kids on this secret Salmon Run mission."
We only look at him with concern. This is the first time we actually meet a criminal. Like an idiot, I try to talk to him.
"Soooo. What did you do to get yourself thrown in prison?" I ask nervously. I'm just asking for trouble. Mack gives me an unsettling smile.
"I stabbed a teammate who screwed around during Turf War and made me lose. Stabbed him GOOD. He shouldn't have stood there like a f #$ing r #ard and made me lose the match. I ran from the law and killed every guy like him on my list. One time, I nail gunned a guy's hands into the road. Then I killed his parents, stole their car, and slowly ran him over. He tried to get away in squid form, but I flattened him. Hahahaha! Ahh, brings a smile to my face everytime. Went from Rank A to B because of him."
I slowly backed away on the part where he mentioned the parents. Nadine holds my arm in fear.
"Alright Mack. This ain't prison. You don' gotta impress no one with yer killings." said Grizzo in an annoyed voice.
"Just because I accepted this deal, doesn't mean I can't have fun Mr. Grizz. Killing Salmonoids or whatever the Hell they're called. It's all the same to me."
I can't believe we have an actual criminal in our team. A hardened one at that. We're probably the first people to ever do that in history. Our talk was cut short when that kid I bumped into earlier ran into the room.
"Sorry I'm late Mr. Grizz!" he says as he tucks his pants in. "Please don't let this affect my community service hours."
"Don't worry kid. With Cayden and Nadine there, your safe. Stay away from the big guy, Mack." Mack gives an unsettling grin.
"Aww c'mon Mr. Grizz. The kid and I can have a lotta fun together."
"Stay. Away. From. The kid. Mack." Grizzo says in almost a growl. Mack lifts up his hands to show that he'll comply.
"Okay. Y'all are now a part of the Off Day Crew. Why's it called that? Cause all of yer all fighting the Salmonids on days Salmon Run ain't open to the public. You four will work as a team and treat this as Profreshional Ranked of Salmon Run. Four of you already know the existence of Saijus, so watch out for 'em. All right. Briefing done. Get on the boat all of ya."
Three of us felt nervous. It feels so weird not working with Leo and Sarah. I kept Sarah close to me and the new kid. I don't trust Mack and I don't know why Grizzo would employ an actual criminal. This doesn't feel right. When we get on the boat, I try to get to know the new kid.
"What's your name?" I ask.
"O-oh. I'm Seymore."
"I'm Cayden and this is Nadine. What're you here for?"
"Well. I went to prison. "
"Wait what!?"
"Yeah. I'm a hacker and I tried to steal money from the Lone Sea Star bank." I raise my brow.
"Preeety stupid move. Especially trying to steal from the world's most well known bank." I say to him. The kid laughs nervously.
"I thought I could do it. I did it a bunch of times on smaller banks. But Lone Sea Star has some super advanced software. I took too long and they found my location and the police arrested me. Then I was given a five year sentence. But thanks to Mr. Grizz I didn't have to. Mr. Grizz told me that I just gotta do this for half a year as community service and I won't go to prison." My eyes widen. Jeez. How much pull does Grizzo even have!? How connected is he to the government that he can pull strings like that?! Me and Seymore talked a bit more about other stuff like Off the Hook, Squid Sisters, Squid Squad, DJ Lee Fish, etc while Nadine said nothing. It takes a while until we get to where we're supposed to go.
So this place is nothing, but a small island with nothing on it. It's barren and round. There aren't even any trees. It doesn't even have a name. I became immediately suspicious about this. The water cannon on the boat sprays some weird stuff on the island. It stinks real bad. It smelled like rotten fish, eggs, and milk. Grizzo tells us to squid jump on the island and get ready to fight. We did just that. We're all equipped with a Grizzco weapon. The best weapons to have in Salmon Run. I got the Blaster, Nadine got the Brella, Seymore get the Charger, and Mack the Slosher. But the strangest thing is we all got knives. Actual, real life, sharp, and tough enough to chop fingers off by accident. Except Mack for obvious reasons.
"What the actual Hell Grizzo?" I said to him wide eyed.
"Saijus ain't somethin' normal weapons can deal with. Sometimes, ya gotta use some dangerous ones." The boat drives a safe distance away from us. I can see the new kid nervous like a newbie doing Turf War for the first time.
We waited until Grizzo told us that they're coming. We begin covering the island's surface with ink. Soon enough, I see a mohawk like fin coming out of the water. It's just a Chum. I shot at it before it completely came out of the water. It pops like a balloon, just like the rest. Then from the murky depths, a crapton of chum came up. Yup. Here we go again.
I unloaded my Blaster into the horde that's coming. I look to my right to see Mack throwing his Slosher full of ink into the flanking chums. When he's out of ink, he punches the last remaining chums. They pop like water balloons after three punches from this convict. I make a note to myself to keep him from arms reach. The kid is basically keeping his distance as a sniper should. Nadine seems to be back to normal. She's actually smiling again, but her eyes still look like they're stressed out. Later two Maws, three Steelheads, two Flyfish, three Steel Eels, and three Stingers appear at the exact same time. This doesn't happen in Salmon Run. Boss Salmonids usually appear one at a time, at fastest one after another, but not to this level. But then again, this isn't actually Salmon Run. I call everyone to regroup to me near two Stingers. Nadine does it by instinct, Seymore took a while, but Mack completely ignores me. He's too busy putting the Steel Eel's pilot in a headlock. I then hear an audible snap from the pilot's neck. The Salmonid falls to the ground and melts as the Steel Eel explodes. I've never seen that happen to a Salmonid before. I swallow hard and take out the two Stingers as Nadine throws a Splat Bomb into an attacking Maw's mouth. Seymore takes out two Steelheads with ease. Everything is going fine. It actually felt like Salmon Run. After a good ten minutes of fighting, the Salmonids finally retreated. We're all tired. I guess off days don't follow the same rules.
"That was actually fun!" said Mack. We look at him to see a still living Small Fry in his hand.
"Uhh. Why do you have that?" Seymore asks.
"Oh this little thing? So I could do this." Mack puts both his hands between the Small Fry's head and crush. Mack starts laughing like someone said a joke.
"Who knew Salmon Run is so much fun!?" he said still laughing.
"This isn't Salmon Run you freaking psycho." Nadine said. Mack stops laughing. His smile became an immense frown.
"Sorry. Ink's blocking my hearing. What didja just call you call me?"
"I called you a psycho. What did prison make you a f#$king moron too?" Mack stomps towards her. I tried to get Nadine to shut up, but he pushes me away.
"Uhh guys." said Seymore. We're all too busy to pay attention to him.
"B#$ch, the next words that come out of your mouth better be an apology." Mack said with clenched teeth. I try to stop Nadine, but she pushes me away again.
"Uhhh g-guys!" Seymour says in a panic.
"Sorry for stating the truth? No. You don't scare me, tough guy. I've seen scarier." Mack then grabs her by the throat.
"Scared of me now, b#$ch!?" Mack shouts as Nadine gags. "What's that? Harder? You're one kinky c#$t."
I try to stop it as Mack elbows me in the eye. I get back up with my knife. I then stab Mack in the hips. He grunts in pain as he releases Nadine. Nadine coughs and gasps for air. I help her up and backed away from Mack.
"I've been stabbed harder from a shank made from a pair of glasses!" Mack spat as he forces himself up.
"Guys! I-i-is that a Saiju?!" said Seymore. We all stop this fight as we feel a rumble on the ground. We all look to see a Saiju now on land. Walking on top of the beach and looking at us with the same rage and hate in its eyes.
(Author's note: Sorry I haven't posted any new chapters for an month. I've been busy with the usual stuff. Work, school, new games, etc. Hope you enjoy this new chapter. Feel free to ask me any questions.)