Chapter 6

Up and at 'em, runt!

*Thwack*

I practically jumped out of my seat as I woke up. Well, actually I fell out of my seat. To my surprise, I fell on someone. Once I regained my senses, I got off the person and I noticed it was an Octoling girl just lying there on the floor for some reason…weirdo…

"Hey." I put my arm on her shoulder to shake her awake. "Hey!"

I got closer to her ear.

"Hey, wake up!"

"Huh-huah!" She shot up, her head smacking my jaw.

I fell backwards.

"I-I'm sorry, sir!" She hastily apologized. "A-are you okay?!

"Yeah," I was rubbing my jaw. "I'm fine…"

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you…" She kept apologizing.

"It's fine." I assured her. "What were you doing on the floor?"

"M-my head started hurting and I just…everything went…" She tried explaining.

"You have head problems too?" I asked.

"Y-yeah." She said. "I can't remember anything…"

"Same…" I said. "So you're Agent 8, I assume?"

"Yeah, well, that's what the Captain calls me." She answered. "Are you Nine?"

"Yup." I answered. "I must say this is an awkward meeting…"

"Heh, yeah." She rubbed the back of her head. "Again, sorry."

"You don't have to keep apologizing." I told her.

"R-Right, sor-"

She was cut off by me giving her a look.

"Sooo…how'd you get here, anyway?" She asked. "Last thing I remember was some kind of attack, and then I woke up with the Cap'n right next to me."

"Heck if I know how I got here." I told her. "All I remember was fighting some kind of monster and waking up in a school janitor's closet."

"M-monster?!" She sounded shocked.

"Not literal monster." I said. "I meant someone who was stupidly strong."

"Right…that would be…" She seemed embarrassed.

"…I'm hungry…" My stomach was growling.

"Yeah, me too." She said.

"Hey Cap…Cap?" He was gone.

"Where did he go?" Eight looked around.

As if on cue, the train stopped and he stepped on holding some cups and bags.

"Ah, you're awake!" Cuttlefish said.

"Where'd you go?" I asked. "What's with the bags?"

"Oh, these?" He placed the bags on the seat next to him. "I was hungry, so I asked Iso Padre where we could find some grub. I got some extras thinking you'd be starvin' too."

"Thank you, Mr. Cuttlefish!" Eight grabbed a bag and a cup.

"Thanks." I grabbed a bag and cup too.

"The shop just had donuts and juice, so guess we'll have to make do with that for now." He explained.

"That's fine." I told him.

After eating, I took my CQ-80 out and looked at the map.

Toastmaster Station? I selected it. Soon enough, we arrived. I walked off the train.

"See you when you get back!" Eight waved goodbye.

"If you wanna get out of here quicker, I'd suggest doing a test instead of waiting for me." I told her.

"Oh, uh, right…" She seemed down.

"Hey, we'll meet again later." I assured her. "Don't worry."

She smiled and nodded right before the doors closed and the train departed.

I turned to face the boss room, swiped the card, and took the Launchpad down. Up out of a pool of ink rose a very large structure.

Extra extra delicious!

Octo Oven XXL

The giant toaster oven?!

"We've got this same oven at home!" I couldn't tell if Pearl was joking or not.

"I bet that bread is super stale." Marina remarked.

"Wow, that has to be a month's-worth of bread in there!" Eight said over the comms.

"Bread rations had to be cut for that long to make enough yeast for that thing!" I told her. "Wait…how do I know that?"

I couldn't dwell on that because I had to dodge the bread trying to hit me as well as Octotroopers on the top shooting at me.

Those weren't there before…wait, how do I know that?!

Eventually it shook and all of the bread loafs popped out. I inked trails upward to the top and splatted the tentacle. I jumped off right after.

"Smooth like butta!" Pearl said.

After landing, I saw it gain more defenses. It now had less-inkable walls, sprinklers on the sides, and Aerial-Troopers above it.

"Those are definitely new!" I shouted. "How do I know these things?!"

I ignored these thoughts as I repeated the process, only with more things to avoid. Eventually I got to the top again, splatted two Octocopters, and splatted the tentacle. I managed to find a Sting Ray on top. I grabbed it and leaped off again.

"Crisp!" Cuttlefish chimed in.

This time it had gotten Octosnipers and Splash Walls.

"Let's toast some bread!" Pearl amped me up.

Suddenly, out from the machine came the glazing arm. I had to ink a trail and swim away to avoid it. Eventually it finally stopped. I used my Sting Ray to take out a Splash Wall and an Octosniper. As it tried smacking me with its loaves, I made sure to stay on the side that I weakened. Soon, all the loaves popped out. I inked a trail up, splatted the Octosnipers, and splatted the tentacle. I then jumped off one last time.

"IT'S THE LISH!" Pear cheered.

All the loaves popped out as the oven started shaking, sparking, and glowing. Finally, it exploded.

TEST PASSED!

I made it back to the station and received a mem cake. The inevitable boring wait had come.

"I'm glad that thing's gone…" I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You sounded like you knew a lot about it." Marina commented.

"Know about it?!" I could feel memories flowing back. "I helped build that thing!"

"Really?" Marina asked.

"Well, I just made parts for it as well as help mix ingredients. Someone else put it together." I admitted. "But I always hated that thing! I always thought it was a huge waste of time and resources! I mean, building the bio-technic systems required to make sentient bread loaves isn't easy or cheap!"

"So…does mean you were a mechanic or a baker?" Pearl asked.

"I'm not a baker, I was an engineer!" I remembered. "We were just told 'here's a design, go build it'!"

"You're remembering things!" Marina noticed.

"Y-yeah…" I realized. "I mean, there's still a bunch of empty spaces, but now I know something."

"Wait, if you were an Octarian engineer, why are you so good with weapons?" Pearl wondered.

"Octarian society required all citizens to undergo at least 2-3 months of military training before going into any career." Marina answered.

"Wow, how do you know that, Marina?" Pearl asked.

"I-um…read about it in a magazine…" Marina told her. "I forget which one it was….so…"

"Eh, it's fine." Pearl was oblivious. "Oh, hey, Eight's starting a test!"

"We'll call back later, Nine!" Marina said. "We're just going to help her out for a bit.

"That's fine." I told them.

They hung up and I waited for the train to come back.

I was an engineer. Cool. That's something I know now. I hope Eight has as much luck with her memories as I'm having…

I took out the mem cake. It looks like Squid Sister, Marie from the magazines in the metro. Even she seems familiar. I've never met her in person, I'm sure of that, but she seems familiar...

I hear…something…a sound…some kind of song in my head…?

My head hurts again…

Author's Note: New story follower! Thank you ales1698 for following this story, I'm glad you like it, and I hope you continue to enjoy it.