It's been a week since all that Octarion craziness. Cora's adjusted living in my apartment pretty well. She fixed a lot of things like the lights in my room, the plumbing in my sink, and upgraded my T.V to have 1080p. We sleep together in the same bed and that makes me really happy. Sometimes we can't control ourselves. Today is no exception. We lie together on my bed, closer than we have ever been. My arm around her and her head on my chest. Something felt off though. She seems a lot quieter than usual.
"What's wrong Cora?" I ask her.
"Well…." looks like she wants to say something, but didn't.
"You can tell me what's wrong Cora." I said holding her hand. She squeezes my hand.
"Did...did those Octolings say anything?" she said. Cora and I hadn't talked about the Octolings at all. I decide to tell her the truth.
"They said they wanted you Cora. They said you're a spy and your last name's Ebisu." I said. She squeezes my hand harder. She didn't say anything for a while. She takes a deep breath.
"Yeah. I'm a spy. At least I was. Life in Octarion society is mostly militaristic. Our futures were decided for us. We all were either repairmen or soldiers. And if we're lucky idols, but they mostly do propaganda or anti-Inkling songs. I got to be an agent. Lucky me. Only a select few get to be agents. I was given an important mission to infiltrate Inkopolis, find groups of AWOL Octolings, and report their locations. There are apparently places funded by Callie, Marie, Marina, and most recently Pearl that hide and protect escaped Octolings. I had to pretend to be one in order to find them. I eventually found their locations, but before I send in my report, I discovered how much I love this city. All of us were taught that Inklings are the enemy and they must be destroyed. But I began to think differently while searching for Octolings. It's wonderful. Everyone's happy. Everyone's free to choose what they want to be. Even the Octolings I found are free to be what they want. Which is why I became homeless. I didn't want the Octarions finding me and the rest of the escaped Octolings. I was a crucial asset to the operation. They'll find me no matter what. In order for me to hide, I stayed away from Octolings as much as possible. Never know who else is a spy. "
"Geez Cora." I said. I'm having a rough time comprehending this. "Here I thought I had problems bigger than anyone."
"Well. That's kinda why I stayed with you. You got a big secret and so do I. But recently, I've been thinking that we shouldn't be together anymore." I quickly get up. Then again, any sudden break up will do that.
"W-why?" I ask.
"Cayden. You almost died because of me. I barely stayed here a few hours and the Octarions already found me. You got lucky, but I'm scared they'll be smarter next time." I smirk at that.
"Cora, I'll be fine. I've taken on many Saijus. Monsters that can actually kill or maim me. If they couldn't kill me, I doubt a bunch of Octarions can take me on." I said brimming with confidence. Cora wasn't amused. In fact, she's really angry.
"Cayden, Octoling agents aren't giant lumbering monsters! They're trained assassins!" she yells. I jump a little bit.
"They almost killed you! This isn't a Turf War or any 4 on 4 match! There's no spawn point for you to get back to! There won't be hand shakes or throwing fits after losing!" Cora's at the verge of tears.
"You got hurt because of me! You almost died because of me! Maybe you're used to the thought of dying, but I'm not!" Cora begins crying. "If you died Cayden, whether it's an Octarion or Saiju. If you died. I-I-"
Cora then sobs. I feel like a jackass now. I hold her tightly.
"Cora. It's okay." I said. She's still sobbing.
"Cora. I'm not used to death. It still scares me stiff. I get how scared you are. I feel that fear each time I face a Saiju with a newbie, but I do what I can to stop that fear from coming true."
"Cayden." she sobs. "I...I never felt this way before. I'm sorry. I'm just...I'm just scared."
"It's fine." I let her sob a bit more.
"I love you Cora." we snuggle close. I wipe away her tears.
"I love you too Cayden. Stay with me forever."
"I'll always will Cora. I promise." I said kissing her.
(One month later)
Here I am. Killing Salmonids. Killing Saijus. Just another day of it. I'm with two guys and a girl. A brown skinned teen name Ted, an adult named Arno, and the dark skinned girl name Darya. Don't know Darya and Ted very well, but I did work with Arno a bunch of times. We talk a few times, but he stopped talking after his son passed away. All I know is that they have experience fighting Saiju. We landed on the uncharted island where me and Nadine had our final Run. Hate coming here, but I got used to it. We took down a lot of Saiju. Seem to appear more frequently lately. Maybe that's why I'm working with these guys. We took down the last Saiju as I did my usual tactic of shooting a Sting Ray while inside their eye socket. After washing the flesh off me near the water, I regroup with my team.
"Mr. Grizz." said Arno in his earpiece. "We're done here. Take us home."
For some reason there's static.
"Grizzo. Answer!" I said. Still static. As me and Arno try to make contact, Darya hits us in the arm.
"What was that for!?" said Arno.
"Saiju! Ten o'clock!" said Darya. We look that way to see the Saiju emerge from the water. We get our weapons ready. It's just another day in the Off Day Crew. However, something was different. I hear falling water behind me so I turn around. Something enormous is emerging out the water.
"Impossible." I thought. I then shout, "Saiju at your 6!"
Arno turns around ticked off.
"What are you stupi-" his words cut off when he sees what I see. A Saiju emerges out of the water. We both turn around. Two more Saiju appear. TWO. MORE. SAIJU.
"What the Hell?!" Ted shouts. "I thought Saiju only show up one at a time!"
"Stop whining and just kill em!" Darya yells back as she swims towards the Saiju. All three Saiju start gargling and fire their rays at us. It misses us at we swim towards the Saijus. The three took on the two and I took on the one. I did my usual tactic of climbing its body using my knife and popping the eyes. This time I got two different specials. One's a Sting Ray, the other's a good ol' fashion Inkstrike. They stopped making these, because the gamepads broke easily and randomly striked anywhere when they do. Fixing them is annoying and expensive and everyone eventually stopped using them. Grizzo stocked up a ton of em and they're mine to use. The Inkstrike popped open from the case and I leave it in the Saiju's socket. I press the gamepad's touch screen and the missile shoots its way through the skull and into the brain. The Saiju claws at its own face until the missile explodes in its head. The tornado that it makes swirls its head, until it blows out of its head. The Saiju falls onto the ground dead and its flesh melts into the sands. Geez it reeks so damn bad. I can never get used to the smell.
My team dispatches the Saijus pretty quick. They all follow the standard procedure that I use on dispatching a Saiju. The last two fall and melt into the ground. We regroup for a moment to catch our breath.
"Grizzo! We need help!" I shout. Still nothing but static.
"What's going on!?" said Arno. "Since when did Saijus appear more than one at a time!?
"I don't know. This is weird. I still can't connect to Grizzo." I said.
"Let's just squid jump back on the boat!" said Ted as he attempts it. He squid jumps high into the air, but plops right back down.
"Why are you back?" Arno asks angrily.
"The boat! It's in freaking pieces!" said Ted. We all look at each other with worried expressions.
"Crap! Another Saiju at our 6!" shout Darya. We turn around to see five more come from our six.
"Holy mackerel! There's more!" shouts Ted.
"We have eyes kid!" said Darya.
"No! I mean right behind us!" said Ted. We turn again to see three Saiju emerge from the water. All simultaneously shoot their rays.
"Run!" I shout as I ink a way for me. I was hoping they will follow, but all took their own ways. All the Saijus fire their beams. It's like multiple stingers firing at us in Salmon Run. Only difference is, we die if we get hit. I master dodging multiple Stinger attacks, but this is way too much. My weapon is damaged, but I make it unscathed. My team however, isn't very lucky. Darya got Vaporized completely. All too familiar. When a Saiju shoots its mouth beam and hits someone, they disintegrate. Nothing left. Screams were cut abruptly. Argo loses his arm and his head is a little grazed from a beam. Ted gets away, but his Grizzco Brella is broken.
"Ted! Ted come back!" I shout. Ted is in full panic mode as he runs for cover. Not that there is any. He makes one by desperately digging a hole in the sand. Of course, the Saijus get their beams ready again and fire on Ted. He screams on top of his lungs. Crying for his mom. I try to fill my ink tank quickly, but I'm too late. Ted's cries went abruptly silent.
"Arno, we gotta get outta here!" I shout to him.
"No." said Arno. Walking towards the Saijus. "I'm taking these sons of b #ches down. " I look at his head to see part of his brain exposed. Pieces of it are missing. That beam did way more damage than I thought.
"Holy crap. Arno. Your head." I said.
"Gotta get that money, kid." said Arno as he takes out a knife. "Gotta pay off Andy's surgery bill! Just one payment left!"
Without another word, Arno charges at the Saiju. I try to stop him, but he outran me. I try to ink a path, but my Grizco Blaster's spills all the ink out. I try to fix it, but the Saiju's beams fire at me as I run the Hell away. Arno completely ignores the Saiju ink. Surprisingly it didn't slow him down. The Saijus walk near him. When Arno gets close enough, he stabs one Saiju in its leg. It roars in anger and kicks Arno so hard he splatted. A lifesaver floats out. His squid form stretches his tentacle out at the sky.
"Hey Andy! Daddy's right here! Andy! Throw the clam in the basket! That's my boy!" he shouts waving his arms with a happy look on his face. The Saiju raises its foot over him.
"Arno!" I scream on top of my lungs. Arno lowers his tentacles and picks up a fictional baby.
"Weeee! Weee! My boy! My little baby bo-" CRUSH. The Saiju's foot smooshes Arno and his lifesaver. I've seen a lot of deaths by these things, but that one will haunt me as badly as Sarah's. I try to fix my Blaster, but no good. The holes in its tank are too big and too many for me to fix. I had nothing. Nothing to defend myself. I look at my situation. Saiju's are surrounding me. I knew this is the end.
[Author's Note: Sorry for being gone for a long while again. I've been dealing with a lot of personal stuff lately. Hard to find time writing this. I just got a 4, maybe 5 more chapters left to end this story. See you guys soon and thank you so much for reading this!]