Splatoon: Agent 3 Begins
Chapter 7: First Time in the Field
After a minute of free-falling, I found myself landing feet-first into a shallow pool of lime green ink. I also noticed that my hair tentacles was the same color. Usually, in a Turf War, I was able to choose what color they were, but this time, I guess I didn't have a choice. I looked around and saw that I was standing on top of a building of some kind. Above me were several bright lights and screens showing a sky, and together, they gave the impression that the area was outdoors. I was beginning to get nervous.
"Nice going, genius," I said to myself. "You just jumped down into some kind of underground city or something without asking why first?"
"Oops," I heard the Cap'n say in my Headset. "Did I forget to mention that?"
"Uh, yes. So, I'll ask: what am I doing here and why?"
"Would ye like the shorter version or the whole story?"
"Um, shorter version, please?"
"Okay, bucko, listen closely. Ye remember who the Inklings fought in the Great Turf War?"
"Oh, yeah. Those octopus people. The, uh, Octa-somethings..."
"Octarians."
"Yeah, those. I've read about them in a book about the Great Turf War. They would've won the war if someone hadn't accidentally unplugged one of their super weapons. At least, I think that's how it went..."
"Oh ho ho! Somebody's done his history research. But anyway, those Octo-jerks are the cause of this missing zapfish crisis. I'm afraid that they've stolen it."
"No way."
"And now it's up to us to find it and bring it back. And by us, I mean ye and the other agents."
"Fantastic...so where am I and what am I doing here?"
"Right now, we're in Octo Valley, their home turf. Ye're in one of their bases, and ye're gonna search for the zapfish in it. Once ye find it, make yer way back here where I am. But keep an eye out for Octarians. They're not gonna just hand it over to ya so easily."
I began walking forward from the ink pool. "Where did land anyway?"
"It's a landing point, bucko. That reminds me. There are checkpoints that I set up in these bases that act like respawn points, but they have limited power. If ye get splatted twice, ye will be sent back to the last one ye went past."
"What happens if I get splatted a third time?"
"Ye'll be sent back to the fully powered one I have back here. So be careful."
"Great..." I sprayed ink on the floor and swam toward a swirling puddle of green ink. However, once I touched it I squid-jumped (involuntarily) toward another rooftop.
"Swirling ink equals squid-jump to next section. Good to know," I thought in mid-air. I landed on a roof with some wooden boxes and saw that most of the ground was covered in dark fuchsia ink. "This is a bad sign..."
As I walked toward the ink to observe it, a large blob of the fuchsia ink floated slowly over my head and popped behind me leaving a mess on the ground. I turned and saw the source of the shot: an Octarian. Those guys look weird. Most of them looked like severed octopus tentacles with big green eyes, a mouth and two stubby legs. The one that fired at me was standing on some kind of hovering vehicle getting ready to fire again. I sprayed an ink trail past it and swam behind it. It somehow didn't notice that I was behind. I stood out of the ink and shot it with ink until it burst.
"Yes!" I cheered.
"Nice shootin', bucko," Cuttlefish said. "But don't rest yet, there's still more around."
He was right. As soon as I turned around, three more Octarians shot at me. However, the shots seemed to move in slow motion, so I simply swam in my ink and sprayed it on the ground when I needed to keep moving. I got behind them all and splatted them quickly. Once I finished, another swirling ink launchpad appeared. I swam to it and launched over to what I assumed was a checkpoint on another rooftop. As soon as I landed, more Octarians appeared. I splatted them, and another launchpad appeared.
"I'm sensing a pattern here..." I said as I launched over to another rooftop. "By the way, where would the zapfish be? I haven't found it yet."
"Be on the lookout for a big lightbulb-shaped object with a yellow fish in it," Cuttlefish explained. "Once ye find it, shoot the 'bulb' with yer ink and grab the fish."
"So, you don't know...?"
"Uh...nope, sorry..."
I sighed. "I'll keep an eye out..."
After splatting over 20 more Octarians, I finally saw a yellow light on top of a tall structure. I squid jumped on top of the structure and faced the lightbulb-shaped thing that Cap'n Cuttlefish told me about. Inside of it was a small yellow fish with a big orange mouth and glowing yellow whiskers.
"Zapfish, ahoy!"
I got up to it and tried to grab the fish. However, the bulb that surrounded the zapfish was some kind of electric container that was powered by the zapfish's whiskers...and I quickly got electrocuted as soon as my hand hit the container. And It was NOT a good feeling.
"Ow," I groaned. "That really hurt..."
"And that's why I told ye to shoot the thing first before ye grab the fish," Cuttlefish said.
I promptly did, and the container dispersed. I grabbed the zapfish and squid-jumped as fast as I could back to the starting point. The fish wiggled under my arm happily.
"Okay, I got it," I said. "So how do I get out of here?"
"Swim down in the pool at that starting point, and you'll find a pipe."
I swam down into the ink pool with the zapfish and found the pipe. I felt myself get sucked into it, and the next thing I knew, I came up out of the kettle. I also noticed that the sun was starting to set.
"Oh ho ho!" Cuttlefish chuckled as he greeted me. "Ye did it! Mission accomplished."
"That was...um, interesting," I said handing him the zapfish. "Although, it did seem like a lot to go through just to save a little fish. I thought the Great Zapfish would be bigger than this."
"Actually, bucko, this is a younger zapfish. We use these for the city's reserve power in case something's wrong with the big one...or it goes missing." He went over to a ledge by his shack and tossed the small zapfish over into a giant fishbowl with several others swimming inside of it. They all seemed pretty happy see their friend again. The one that I saved came back to the surface of the water and shot water out of its mouth into my face.
"Hey! What was that for?" I said while wiping it off.
"That might be its way of saying 'thank you'," Cuttlefish said. The same one splashed me with water again.
"Well, you're welcome, little guy." I wiped off the water from my face and glasses.
The zapfish made a gurgling sound and back-flipped back down into the water.
"Well, bucko, that should be it for yer test today."
"Test? What test?"
"If ye succeeded in rescuing the zapfish, ye would officially be a part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. But if ye run away or give up, ye wouldn't."
"So I passed?"
"Aye, lad. Ye passed."
"Sweet!" I stopped and looked around for Callie and Marie. "Um, where are Agents 1 and 2?"
"They wanted me to tell ye to meet them at the plaza once yer done with yer mission."
"Okay." I turned to leave but stopped in my tracks. "Should I take off the Agent 3 suit?"
"That'd be a good idea. Ye don't want to look suspicious."
I quickly changed back into my normal clothes, put my agent clothes into my backpack, and got ready to leave.
"Come back tomorrow, bucko," Cuttlefish said. "We have more zapfish to find."
"Yes, sir." I dove into the grate that led back to Inkopolis. Once I came out of it, Judd got startled and fell off of his sleeping spot. "Oh, sorry if I scared you, Judd. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Nothing broken," he yawned while getting back up on the garbage bin. As soon as he did, he went right back to sleep.
"Wow, that is one sleepy cat..." I said quietly. I walked out trying to find the Squid Sisters. While going near an alley way, I heard someone.
"Hey, who're you lookin' for, mate?" the voice asked in a low tone. I looked down the alley and saw a lanky sea urchin with a spiky afro and a poncho sitting on a rug while surrounded by blue sea snails and empty shells. (I didn't want to know if the shells had snails in them before, but I could've sworn that I saw a small screwdriver near him...)
"Uh, I-I'm looking for two friends of mine..." I said uneasily. "I was supposed to meet them in the plaza..."
The urchin looked at me curiously. "Huh. If you have red eyes, I'd help you out, love."
"I do have red eyes."
"You're not joking, are you, mate?"
As much as I didn't want to get closer to him, I forced myself to walk over to him so he could see me clearly. He smiled, pulled out a small cellphone, and called someone.
"'Ello, love. Your friend's out here with me. You want me to have him stay put? No? Right. He'll be there. Cheers, love." He hung up.
"What was that all about?" I asked.
"The sisters want you to come into their studio. Just go through that door next to you there."
On my left was a door leading to the studio building. "Oh, okay. Thanks...uh, sorry, what's your name?"
"Name's Spyke. Been a pleasure to meet you, mate."
"Likewise." I went inside of the building and went up some stairs. If I was right, their studio should've been up there. I was lucky when I came across a room that was clearly labeled "Inkopolis Newsroom." I knocked on the door, but it was already open. I carefully went in, but the entire place was empty. I then heard two voices coming from another room with a light coming from under a closed door. I knocked on the door.
"Hello? Callie? Marie?" I called out.
"Fin? Is that you?" Marie answered.
"Yeah, it's me. What's going on?"
"Marie and I were going out for dinner," Callie said. "We were thinking you could come along and tell us about your first...um, you-know-what."
"Oh, sure. I'd love to go. But I'm not paying for your meals this time."
"It's cool. We know a place we can go, and we can pay for it."
"Sounds good. Also, this question is off-topic. Is this your dressing room?"
"Yup. So, don't come in. We're still changing," Marie said.
"Don't worry. I won't." I waited for them to come out. I leaned on the door which in reality was not a good thing. Apparently, the door wasn't firmly closed, and when I leaned my weight on the door, it flew open and I fell into the room.
"Ow." I looked up and instantly saw Marie. As soon as she saw me, she covered herself up and screamed in horror. I covered my eyes and closed the door.
"I JUST TOLD YOU NOT TO COME IN!" she yelled angrily.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-I honestly d-didn't mean to do that!" I said nervously as I felt my face start burning again. (I was serious, by the way. I'm not that kind of guy, and I did not see anything.)
I went outside of the studio room and waited for them. Soon, they came out in there disguises, but Marie was blushing red with anger and embarrassment.
"Uh, l-look, I-I..." I started to say. She quickly cut me off by slapping me across the face. That girl has a mean slap.
"I thought you were better than that!" Marie said while turning her back to me.
"I-I'm so sorry! The door was still opened, but I didn't know it was. I leaned on it and fell in."
"You really expect me to believe that?!"
"I don't know, Marie," Callie said skeptically. "Finley doesn't seem like the type of Inkling to do something like that willingly..."
"She's right! I'd never do that on purpose!"
Marie glared back at me for a second. "I can't say that I completely believe you, but...I'll let this one pass if you're truly honest about it."
"Cross all three of my hearts and hope to die. I did not mean to do that on purpose."
"You said that already."
"I know, and I've never broken a promise whenever I've said that."
"Really?" Callie said. "For real?"
"That's my special promise. Whenever I speak the absolute truth, I always say that."
Marie still didn't look at me.
"Marie, please?"
"Whatever. Let's just go to the restaurant." She took off in a huff down the hall.
"So, am I forgiven?"
"Not just yet."
Callie looked at her then at me.
"Don't worry, Fin," she reassured as she rested a hand on my shoulder. "She'll get over it in a little while. She always gets like this whenever I do something bad to her."
"When do you think she'll get over it?"
"Uh...I...don't know..." she said uneasily. "But, hey, she didn't say you couldn't come with us anymore." She laughed uncomfortably.
I sighed hopelessly. "Let's go. Where are we eating, anyway?"
AN: Oh, boy. Looks like Finley found himself on Marie's bad side. And after such a successful mission, too. Anyway, hope you guys like this chapter. Chapter 8 will come soon.
