Chapter 8

Ika yawns widely as the sun rises, his fangs quite visible. He blinks a few times to adjust his eyes, then sniffs. Something smelt good. Encouraged by the smell, Ika pulls himself out of his bed and goes to find the smell.

He enters the hallway leading to his room and enters the living room. He looks to his left and sees Callie in the kitchen, cooking pancakes. Ika licks his lips and goes to sit down. Callie looks back at Ika and smiles "Good morning, Ika. Sleep well." Ika just nods, his foggy mind focused on the pancakes.

Callie giggles and says "They'll be done soon." Ika nods again, then tries waking himself up more. By the time the pancakes are done, Ika is fully awake. Callie and Ika eat their pancakes with a large amount of enthusiasm.

They soon finish their pancakes and find themselves on the couch. Ika groans and says "MAAAANNNN. I wish you could stay, but I know you can't" Callie just giggles and says "Funny you say that. The big boss called in and says me and Marie have the day off. Someone broke all their speakers and microphones." Ika's widen and he says "Wow, that is a lot of destruction."

Ika then smiles and says "Well, how about we go for a stroll then? I'm sure the morning sun will feel nice this time." Callie nods and says "Yeah. The sun is nice here in July." Callie then hops off the couch and says "Alright Ika, let's go!" Ika chuckles at the sudden energy and gets up.

A couple minutes later the two of them are leaving Ika's house. They enter the Inkopolis plaza and simply stroll around, enjoying the summer air. Soon, they were in front of a large tower. Next to the tower though, was something interesting.

"AND STAY OUT!" A door opens on a building next to the tower and a tall blue inkling throws out a smaller inkling. She has a simple white dress/jacket hybrid, along with a crown on her head. She also had white tentacles that faded to pink at the bottom. The inkling gets up and yells back "W-WELL… I NEVER WANTED TO JOIN ANYWAYS!"

The white inkling grumbles and dusts herself off. Callie and Ika sees the entire exchange and runs over. Callie puts on a concerned expression and says "Hey, you alright?" The inkling looks up and says "What's it to you?"

Callie simply smiles and says "Well, I wanted to make sure you are alright. I saw what that guy did to you." The inkling grumbles and just looks down. Callie looks at her with a curious expression and says "So, why did you get kicked out?"

The white inkling blushes slightly and says "I sang too loud and broke their equipment." Callie blinks, wide eyes "So that explains the call." She then chuckles nervously and says "R-Really? That must of been some loud singing." The inkling nods and says "I really try to avoid singing. I can't control my volume, and it can be dangerous with how loud I can be. But I also love singing. I just don't know what to do!"

Callie nods in understanding. She had a similar situation when her and Marie came to Inkopolis. The modern day music was so different to their traditional styles. Callie then looks up as she thinks. "Hmmm. What style of music goes without singing much?" Callie racks her brain for the answer. She can feel it on the tip of her tongue! Then, suddenly, it clicks.

Callie snaps her fingers, startling the inkling and says "Rapping! You can do rapping!" The inkling tilts her head and says "Rapping, huh? That's… actually not a bad idea." The inkling puts on a determined face and says "Yeah! I'll become the best rapper Inkopolis had ever seen!"

Callie giggles at the girl's enthusiasm and says "That's the spirit! It'll get you far in a rapping career." The inkling smiles at Callie and says "Thanks, Callie. Oh, by the way, name's Pearl." Pearl puts out her hand, and Callie grasps it. The two shake as Callie says "Nice to meet you Pearl. I wish you the best of luck in your career."

Pearl nods and says "Thanks." Pearl goes to leave, when Callie says "Wait!" Pearl turns around and looks at Callie curiously. Callie then says "See if you can find a DJ. They are a rapper's best friend!" Pearl grins and flashes a thumbs up. She then runs off to another section of Inkopolis.

Callie smiles at the retreating girl. Ika steps up next to her and says "She seems nice." Callie nods and says "Yes, she did seem like that. I hope she can follow her dream." Ika raises an eyebrow at his sister and says "That's some pretty fancy stuff coming out of your mouth Callie. Better stop before I think you're an imposter." Callie giggles and says "Oh, stop it!" Ika just chuckles.

Callie then says "Well, why don't we go visit grandpa? I'm sure he'd like to see us." Ika nods and says "Alright, sound good." The two of them turn around and head to the grate that leads to Octo Canyon. The two hop in without hesitance.

-Octo Canyon-

The two of them pop up in Octo Canyon, Marie's Calamarian shack in front of them. Outside was Cap'n Cuttlefish, lounging about in his chair. He appeared to be sleeping. Ika turns to his right and sees Octavio, who also appeared to be sleeping. In fact, Octavio seemed more tired than he's ever looked, even asleep.

Ika nudges Callie's shoulder and says "Look at Octavio. He seems to be drained of everything." Callie looks over and notices the same thing. "Has he been getting fed enough?" Ika nods and says "Should be. But I think this is emotional, not physical." Ika then shakes his head and says "Let's not worry about it. Octavio is not something on my 'To worry about' list." Callie nods, but she can't help but look at the exhausted octopus.

Ika then walks forwards to Cuttlefish. Ika taps him on the shoulder, and Cap'n almost instantly snaps awake. "WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS THE DANGER!?" Cap'n had his fists up, his eyes wild. Ika steps back, a little alarmed, and says "W-Woah there gramps! It's just me and Callie!" Cap'n blinks a few times, and the wild look disappears. "Sorry squiddos. Must've been a dream."

A sudden groan then goes out. "UUUUGGGGHHHH! Can't you stay quiet and let me get some sleep for more than five minutes!" Octavio cracks an eye open, then frowns. "Oh, it's you two." He shuts his eyes again and says "I ain't dealing with this. Cross…. Fade-to…. Blaaaaack." Octavio begins snoring on the 'black' part. Callie had to put in a lot of effort not to laugh.

Ika shakes his head and looks back at his grandpa. "So, anything new gramps?" Cap'n shrugs a little and says "Nothing much. Orange and Blue helped 4 get a house and introduced him to turf wars. He seems drawn to Dualies." Ika nods.

Ika shrugs and says "Pretty uneventful then." The old inkling nods. "Yes, it is. Anything else you want squiddo?" Ika shakes his head and says "No, but we did wanna see our gramps. Callie got the day off." Cap'n smiles and says "That is very kind of you two, but why don't you go do a turf war instead? I know you two love playing together." Ika looks uncertain, but nods. His grandpa always means what he says, even if it is a little strange sometimes.

Ika walks back over to Callie and says "Alright then. Bye gramps." Callie waves enthusiastically and says "Bye grandpa!" Craig just chuckles and says "Goodbye squiddos. Have fun." The two inklings nod, then jump in the grate. Craig then stretches and goes over to his chair. He sits down on it, and soon falls asleep.

The hours pass by quickly, and soon it is midday. Octavio shifts slightly as he hears a noise. It sounded like… the hatch on the snow globe opening. Octavio cracks an eye open and looks down, wondering what Craig was doing this time. But… it wasn't Craig.

Instead of his old enemy, Octavio saw a single Octoling. And this wasn't any Octoling either. She had black-purple tentacles and seaweed on her head, a symbol of being an elite. Octavio narrows his eyes and says "Took you long enough, Octari." Octari doesn't look up, her focus on the panel in front of her. "I am sorry, my lord. We couldn't get out of the underground easily. It became even more difficult with all the agents."

Octavio shrugs and says "Whatever. Just get me out of here." The Octoling nods and continues her work. After a couple more minutes of silent work, the hatch of the globe opens. Octavio is then able to slip his way out. He chuckles and says "Freedom, finally. The DJ is back!" Octari then shushes Octavio and says "Shush, Octavio! You can't wake Cuttlefish!"

Octavio shrugs again. He is fairly certain he could take out Craig easily, but Octari wanted silence. He could roll with that. It wouldn't be long before his spicy beats are rolling again anyways.

Octari ushers Octavio over to the side and shows him a small ship. Octari slips inside, Octavio not far behind. But, while Octari slips inside, Octavio gets stuck. His eyes widen and he begins struggling. But nothing he did worked.

Octavio tries one more push, but to no avail. He sighs and says "Gosh, I hate this form." Octavio then gets covered in magenta ink and falls into the ship. Octavio lands next to Octari in his humanoid form. He wore a standard samurai suit, his helmet still one his head. He also had a mustache and small beard.

Octari blinks and says "M-My lord! I didn't know you could still switch to your humanoid form." Octavio glares at Octari and says "Of course I can! I am general Octavio, and I can do many things better than most." Octari gulps at the sudden hostility and says "O-Of course, my lord." Octari then turns to the ship controls and inputs a few , the ship is hovering well above the air. Then, with one final charge up, the ship blasts off.

"OCTAVIO IS BACK, BABY!"