Maize was walking to his home. The sun had set a while ago when he had spent the rest of the day with the Squid Sisters. Callie had needed both of them to help get everything prepared for Bondi. After they had spent the first hour trying to convince Marie that it was a good thing, which was the hardest part of it all, things started to calm down. The yellow squid was drained but felt pretty good to have gotten that squishie a loving parent to care for it. Suddenly, he heard his phone make a beeping noise, indicating that a text message had been received.
"Oh? It's from the cap'n," Maize noticed while viewing the text message from Captain Cuttlefish, but it was not the usual message he expected.
"Please come right over to Octo Valley."
He was unsure how to feel about this. He had not been to Octo Valley ever since the great zapfish had been stolen. He hoped nothing bad had happened, but as far as he was aware, everything was normal. With his splatterscope and his ink tank on his back, he was ready for anything. He thankfully was not too far from the Inkopolis Plaza either, so he began to make his way over, seeing the street lights starting to illuminate the streets. He was glad to see how calm everything was tonight, especially after that hectic day.
"Wow… and I thought it was crowded earlier today," Maize said when he arrived to the main plaza. There were two huge trucks there amongst the crowd of inklings and squids who were here to do some turf battles. Maize knew what these trucks meant. It was a sign that the next splatfest was going to begin within a few days. He had voted for team planes, but he never told the Squid Sisters what he voted for, because whatever he voted for was whom he sided with.
Maize went toward a corner off to the side, where he saw a huge hatch beneath it beside some vending machines. He stepped on top of it before looking over his shoulder. No one was paying too much attention. He changed into his squid form and fell between the pipes of the hatch, falling into the tunnel below.
The tunnel had went on for a short time before he reached the other end of it. He turned back into his inkling form, and he reached up and grabbed onto a small ladder. He pushed the hatch open and climbed on through, popping his head out and viewing the area. He appeared to be in some odd area that was hidden very well outside of Inkopolis.
"Ah! Squiddo, glad you're here," Maize heard, pulling himself out of the tunnel, the hatch closing behind him. He saw Captain Cuttlefish standing nearby. Beside him was a wooden board full of various articles of paper, writings and pictures. On his other side was a snow globe like object, containing within it a small red octopus in a golden helmet floating within.
"Hi, cap'n… and DJ Octavio," Maize greeted them. DJ Octavio was the former leader of the octolings, a race similar to inklings, but they had evolved from octopuses instead of squids. The agents and Captain Cuttlefish had all been doing their best to make sure no attempts at war broke out. The great zapfish being taken was a horrible step toward that, but thankfully Agent 1 2 and 3 handled it. DJ Octavio gave his usual hate induced glare.
"Eh, don't worry about Octavio here. He's just in a bad mood," Captain Cuttlefish stated. It sure seemed like that the DJ was always in a crabby mood after his defeat.
"What is it you needed from me, cap'n?" Maize then asked. He wondered if he was informed yet about the adoption or not, but it appeared that he had not heard the news yet. The captain looked positively happy.
"Well, first off, let me say good job, Squiddo! You and the other agents have made a great name for Special Squid Services. We're gaining a marvellous bundle of reviews that are absolutely positive," Captain Cuttlefish exclaimed. All the hard work that Maize Callie and Marie had been putting in was paying off already. The site only had been up a few days, but now Squelp was positively booming with reviews.
"Anytime, cap'n. I owe you a lot, after all," Maize saluted his leader. The elderly squid rested his cane aside and sat down on a small wooden chair he had lying around. The elder did not appear to want to bring up the past.
"I have a mission for you. Well, someone else does actually, but first, it's sleep time, Octavio," Captain Cuttlefish grabbed a small blanket off the floor, throwing it on top of the snow globe the DJ octopus was trapped within. They heard some furious tapping. Clearly DJ Octavio did not enjoy being treated like a pet bird. Maize chuckled, enjoying hearing the fury.
"So who needs my help?" Maize asked, the captain tapping his cane on the board beside him, making a loud clacking noise that echoed.
"C'mon out now, darling. You've got nothing to be afraid of," Captain Cuttlefish called out to someone that Agent 3 could not see. It only took a moment before his eyes went wide with shock at what he saw emerge from behind the wooden board.
"N-no way!" Maize had his hand on his splatterscope already. He saw an octopus girl who was his age. She had messy tentacles for hair stuck up in a spiky pattern around her head, and wore an odd pair of goggles that hid both of her eyes, and a metal piece of armor on top of her black shirt and bottom.
"Whoa, don't slather me!" the octoling begged, throwing her hands up defensively. Maize was used to the rouge inklings that occasionally attacked him. He wondered why he should not attack her however. This seemed like a pre-emptive invasion, like some kind of recon duty. But he had no idea what she meant, by slather. He presumed it was the octoling preferred word for splatter.
"Ease up, squiddo. She needs the Special Squid Services' help," Captain Cuttlefish insisted, but when the yellow inkling did not immediately let go of his grip on his weapon, he hit him in the head with his cane.
"Ow! Fine… so why are we helping an octoling?" Maize requested while fixing his glasses. They were going to help someone that they considered an enemy. It had to be startling if the captain himself had not already activated one of the many emergency traps he had prepared nearby. The octopus girl came off as shy, initially after their greeting.
"Ask her yourself," the captain insisted He not interact in a hostile manner with the red tentacle girl. Maize nodded, rubbing his own head, feeling somewhat nervous on the matter.
"So you need the Special Squid Services? What's going on?" Maize asked, feeling uncomfortable in this situation. He really had to wonder if their website was getting this popular that it was spreading to areas outside of Inkopolis. If that was true, there would be a lot of out of town requests that he did not even want to imagine it. The octoling reached up to the goggles on her face, taking them off, revealing light pinkish eyelids and her brown eyes underneath.
"It's my sister. I'm an inventor, you see, and once a month, there is a special event held. The best invention gets picked to be more commonly produced and have investors research it further. My sister gave me a great idea, but before I knew it, the other octolings competing had broken into our workshop! They burnt my blueprints and kidnapped my sister!" the octoling explained to the best of her ability. Maize was not expecting to hear that. He wondered if this was even remotely related to the octoling army.
"Wow… I've never heard of anything that competitive before," Maize commented. He wished that was a true statement, but lately there had been way too many other squids taking ranked turf wars too seriously. He could tell that the female octopus was upset over what happened.
"I know where they took her though! My sister has a photographic memory. I need her back if I want a chance to even build that invention," she added, that pleading look showing on her face. The yellow squid looked to the captain who seemed more occupied, viewing his phone, appearing very confused.
"Well… we can't let a good invention go to waste. How old is your sister?" Maize quirked, seeing her rubbing her own tentacles to try to calm herself, but that was not the best way to under a horrible situation.
"She's only five years old! I do my best to take care of her," she claimed. The squid boy was horrified to imagine that someone would kidnap a young octoling like this all over an invention competition. Were the investors really that important, he wondered. The octoling in front of him that was his age appeared eighteen at most.
"Alright. Well, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Maize of the Special Squid Services, and I will save your sister!" Maize declared, though his sudden volume increase to his voice startled the octoling into hiding behind the board again. That made him feel a little guilty.
"Re-really? …I'm Octoronia," Octoronia introduced herself, wondering if he really will help save her sibling from the other octolings. He nodded, giving a thumbs up.
"Nice to meet you. Don't worry, your sister will be back safe and sound. I promise," he reassured. That seemed to help calm her down. She was beginning to relax around him. Maize came off quite reassuring when he was not unintentionally yelling.
"I'll be coming with you," Octoronia insisted. Maize didn't argue with that, aware that if it was his sibling in danger, he would be nowhere near able to rest easily.
"Let's get going then. You lead the way," Maize instructed. Octoronia nodded. The two were about to walk away, but Maize wanted to see if everything was alright with the captain first.
"You alright, cap'n?" he asked worriedly. The elder squid chuckled.
"Oh yeah. I just think I need glasses. I'm not reading this text right," Captain Cuttlefish presented his cellphone which showed the text message from Callie to her grandfather.
"You're a great grandsquid now!" Maize read it silently for him.
"Uhh…" Maize sheepishly smiled. Octoronia tilted her head, wondering why the atmosphere got a lot more awkward.
"I'm reading this wrong… right?" Captain Cuttlefish repeated the question. The yellow inkling just turned around and grabbed the octoling's hand.
"Congratulations, cap'n! I-I had no idea! I'll see you later!" Maize ran off, not sure how Captain Cuttlefish would take the news, especially if Callie had adopted the child through the yellow squid's suggestion. He was dragging Octoronia along toward the direction she had intended on taking him through. She was not exactly enjoying trying to keep up with him, but she hoped this would work out.