Chapter 6
Dawn seemed to come faster than the inklings wanted. All too soon they were all packing up their gear after another satisfying breakfast. Shortly after they finished, they were all on the road again.
They began speaking, all of them in a good mood from the rest. They spoke enthusiastically, each of them holding a big grin. Even Marie was smiling at her cousins jokes.
Ika looks back at his cousin and sister, then grins. He loved pranks, and this one would be perfect. Splatting a little red ink on the side as he went, he made sure to make it as unnoticeable as possible.
Once the Squid Sisters passed by where the ink trail was, Ika turns into a squid and falls into his ink trail, moving silently to where Callie and Marie are. The two cousins, blissfully unaware of what was happening, took no notice of the red ink. Or, so Ika thought.
Ika, now in position behind Callie, suddenly jumps out of his ink trail. Squid arms wide, he was hoping to land on Callie and revert back, making her fall. Instead, Callie suddenly turns around with her arms wide, a big grin on her face. Ika's eyes widen and tries flapping backwards, hoping to stop his jump.
It couldn't happen though, and Ika slams into Callie's outstretched arms. Callie closes her arms around the little red squid, grinning like an idiot. Ika tries to struggle his way out of Callie's grip, but he just wasn't strong enough as a squid. Resigning to his fate once more, he stops struggling.
Callie giggles and holds her little brother up to her face. She smiles and says "Iky, wanna ride in my hood?" Ika closes his eyes and nods. He loved riding in Callie's hood. It saved him having to walk.
Callie giggles again and lowers the red squidling into her hood. She looks back and sees Ika lay back, a content look on his face. She squeals a little at the cute sight. No matter if it was her 17 year old brother or not, he looked adorable as a squid. And Callie loved cute things.
Marie glances over and says "You sure let him get away with a lot. I can't ever get you to let me ride in your hood." Callie sticks her tongue out at Marie in a friendly fashion. "He's my little bro. He gets a couple extra privileges." Marie shrugs and says "Whatever."
Soon, they could clearly see the looming walls of Octo Canyon ahead of them. Along with that, they could see the waterfall of ink caused by the pipe breaking. Marie looks points at the pipe and says "We can swim up that and travel along the inside. It'll be easier than scaling the walls." Every agent nods, then pulls out a little device. It was a small box with a button. It was a simple device that reversed the flow of ink in a pipe. This would help them not fall back down.
The splatoon walks over to the pipe, ready to get back home. But as Marie uses her box to reverse the flow, Callie sees something shine in the bushes. Curious as to what it was, Callie goes over to investigate.
She pushes into the bush, her head popping out the other side. She looks around, then catches a flash again. She looks down and gasps in awe. Laying down in front of her was a set of shades. It had a cool design and had a bunch of lights flashing across the front. Callie picks them up, then steps out the bush.
Callie looks at the shades in curiosity. They looked good, and she bet they'd look good on her. She goes to put them on, when a voice calls out "Callie! Come on, let's go!" Callie looks back and sees Ika waving at her. He must of changed back at some point. She nods and calls back "Coming!" She puts the shades in her pack and runs to the pipe. Turning into a squid, she slips into the ink stream and begins making her way home.
Behind her, unnoticed by the inklings, the bush Callie was in began rustling. Behind the bush, an Octoling was on a communicator. She smiles and says "Package delivered." A voice replies from the device. "Good. Step 1 complete. Time to initiate step 2." The Octoling grins evilly, then turns into an octopus, swimming back to the underground.
-Octo Canyon-
The agents all pop out of the pipe, each of them grateful for the shortcut. Soon, Cap'n Cuttlefish runs up to greet them. "Ahoy there, squiddos! I hope you all enjoyed your little adventure." Marie nods and says "It certainly was eventful."
Cap'n smiles and says "Alright then. Now, was it a success?" Marie nods again and says "Yes it was. We located the humans and found out they lost the knowledge of their race. They would be useless to the Octarians." Cap'n nods his head as Marie speaks, then says "Good, good. Don't want those nasty Octarians to get any more power."
Ika then steps up and says "We did find something, or someone, very interesting." Cap'n raises a curious eyebrow, and everyone steps aside. Daniel walks forwards, nervous as to what is happening. Cap'n Cuttlefish investigates him closely, taking in the differences and similarities between him and the inklings.
After one last go-over, Cap'n finishes his examination. "He certainly is a strange one. He seems to be a mix of inkling and human. What can he do?" Marie replies with "Well, he can do basically anything an inkling can. He can even turn into a squid and super jump. But one thing he can do that we can't is go in water."
Cap'n's eyes widen immensely at this and says "Can he now?!" Cap'n then looks at Daniel and says "Is this true?" Daniel nods and says 'Yeah, it is. Why is me being able to go in water such a big deal?"
Clementine leans forwards and says "We inklings dissolve in water. The closest we can go into that is like water is watered-down ink." All the inklings make sounds of agreement. Daniel's eyebrows raise and he says "Ok, now I know why this is a big deal."
Cap'n puts a critical eye on Daniel and says "And you may have many other abilities that have yet to be harnessed. But I do have one announcement." Each agent puts their attention on Cap'n once he says this.
Clearing his throat, Cap'n then says "Due to Daniel's knowledge of our activities, I have no choice but to do this." Holding his cane out over Daniel's shoulder, Cap'n then says "I hereby announce thee as Agent 4 of the Squidbeak Splatoon."
The agents go silent at this proclamation. Even Daniel is speechless, not expecting something so sudden. But then, a deep laughter cuts through the silence. Everyone looks over to the origin and find a large, magenta colored octopus. He had red eyes with green scleras. In his tentacles were two wasabi plants.
DJ Octavio sneers at the agents from within his snowglobe. "Another little ink twerp who thinks he can best me. How funny, Craig." Cap'n Cuttlefish glares at Octavio and says "I thought turned on the soundproofing." Octavio laughs and says "Well, you didn't! Your old age is catching up on you Craig!"
Cuttlefish sighs and goes over to the snowglobe. He flips open a panel and presses a few buttons. Right before he presses the last one, he looks up at Octavio. The giant octopus glares at the Captain. Sneering, Octavio angrily says "You can't keep me cooped up in here forever. I will find a way out." Leaning closer to the glass in a form of intimidation, Octavio then says "And it may happen sooner than you think." Cuttlefish glares back at the DJ and presses the last button. A thin layer of light blue ink spreads over the snowglobe, making it soundproof. DJ Octavio leans back once more, and resides to glaring at the agents.
Daniel shivers at the glare sent by the Octopus. He was terrifying with those eyes. He leans over to Ika and says "W-Who is that?" Without a seeming reaction, Ika says "That is DJ Octavio, leader of the Octarians. Roughly a year ago, Agents 1, 2, Orange, and Blue all defeated him. They brought him to Octo Valley and imprisoned him in that snowglobe."
Amber chuckles and says "Then he escaped while Cap'n went to the bathroom. At the time, all the agents were busy. Having no one to take Octavio back, Cap'n went and found another inkling. That's how I came to be an agent."
Daniel shivers at the prospect of the evil king being able to escape so easily. Seemingly reading his mind, Ika says "Don't worry. The snowglobe is much more secure than the first. Octavio won't be getting out any time soon." Daniel nods, trying to make himself believe that. For some reason, he just couldn't.
Ika then steps away and says "Alright guys! Ima head back to town. If anyone wants to join me, feel free." Callie grins and waves at Ika. Ika smiles at his sister and the two head back into town. Marie then steps up to the pipe and says "I have some things to do. Orange, Blue, try and help Daniel get integrated into Inkopolis." Clementine and Whinter nod.
Amber then steps up to the pipe with a grin and says "Well, since I wasn't assigned a job, Ima go do some turf wars. See yah agents!" Then with a little hop, Amber is gone.
Whinter sighs and says "Welp, now it's our turn." Turning to Daniel with a fierce grin, he says "Ready to be a true inkling?" Daniel gulps, but smiles back. He wouldn't let his nerves get the best of him. "R-Ready as I'll ever be." Whinter's grin widens and he says "Alright, let's go!" Then, doing a stunt similar to what he did Clementine, Whinter yanks Daniel into the pipe. Clementine shakes her head in exasperation and follows them.
Cap'n Cuttlefish chuckles and says "My my. Blue certainly is lively." Turning away, Cuttlefish begins going to his shack. He turns back once though, a worried look on his face. Octavio was twirling a wasabi stalk around, a longing look in his eyes. Craig sighs and says "I am sorry, old friend. You simply can't bring her back." His heart heavy, Cuttlefish enters his shack.
