Chapter 12

Sarah's POV

"Why?" I cried. "Why did this have to happen to him?"

"Don't worry." Marie tried to calm me down. "We'll find him."

"Yeah, I will!" I got up "Cod knows what those Octojerks are doing to him."

"No, you won't!" Marie stopped me. "You aren't fully healed yet!"

"Who else will go?" I asked. "You, Sheldon, or No-Shows 1 and 3?"

"I will." She answered.

"I wondered when you'd finally do something." I mumbled a little too loudly.

"That's enough!" Marie shouted. "Look, I know how you're feeling, more than you know, but you don't see me snapping at you!"

"I…" I wasn't sure what to say.

"We'll find your brother." Marie reassured me. "He'll be alright. I won't let those Octarians hurt him."

"…Sorry Marie…" I apologized.

"It's okay," Marie told me. "Now, I need to get my gear ready."

"...Marie?" I said.

"Yes?" Marie stopped

"Are there any Octarians that aren't…horrible?" I asked her.

She seemed surprised by my question.

"You'd be surprised." She responded.

"Yeah…I would." I really would.

Marie entered the cabin, coming out a couple minutes later in a mostly green outfit with a cap and white face mask, she was holding a charger.

"You look cool." The best compliment I could come up with.

Marie looked at me. I could tell she was smiling.

"You and Sheldon watch the cabin." Marie ordered. "I'll check the other Kettles."

We both nodded as Marie took her leave.

10 Minutes Later…

I was sitting on the bench watching Marie's progress while Sheldon was fiddling with some sort of whatchamacallit.

"Soooo…is someone else running the shop when you're here or what?" I asked Sheldon

"I come here to help build things the Splatoon orders from me during my legally required break." Sheldon explained. "Since Marie asked me to help watch the Cabin, I had to close up shop for today, but worry not, my friend! I'll always find ways to keep myself busy and improve my skills! Just now, I'm taking notes from some of my Grandpappy's old blueprints and combining them with my knowledge of-"

I just put my headphones on. I may as well listen to some of the Squid Sisters' music that my brother was raving about.

Ink Me Up

I hear two singers. One's definitely Marie, while the other one must be Callie. Hm, not bad. I decided to listen to some more.

City of Color

Another good song. I'm liking these so far.

Now or Never

I've heard other versions of this song before. Still, a pretty good song.

Maritime Memory

I'll play this one later. So far it sounds more like an End-of-the-Journey kind of song

Bomb Rush Blush

This one's very energetic. Only one singer this time. It clearly wasn't Marie though. Must be Callie. She's pretty good. I was bobbing my head to this.

Tide Goes Out

A Marie solo song. It's very nice. My body's swaying to the beat. I take back everything bad I ever said to Marie. Except the part about her lame puns. She deserved that.

Calamari Inkantation

A modern cover of an ancient melody? This ought 'a be interesting…

A nice start….I -

Suddenly I felt my body moving to the beat. My head was banging. I was bouncing around in my seat. I then jumped out of my seat and started dancing. I couldn't dance, so it looked awkward, but I didn't care. Sheldon was looking at me like I was a mad-squid, but then my earbuds accidentally got unplugged, letting the song flow out. Sheldon immediately saw what I was on about started doing a little dance too. We both looked like idiots, but we were having too much fun to care.

Then the song ended.

"Aaww, it's over?" I whined. "Come on, let's hear that again!"

That idea was cut off by a call from Marie.

"I cleared through the Dance Floors and the Parking Garage." She informed us. "According to our intel, the next area has a high concentration of Octolings. If I were a betting squid, I'd guess he was there."

"Alright!" I cheered.

"Something happen?" She asked. "You seem a lot more upbeat now."

"It's, uh, well…I'll explain later." I told Marie.

After a couple of minutes, we were watching Marie go against the Octolings. She was good. She had charger skills like no one I've ever seen.

"Five Mini Zapfish, twelve Octolings, and still no sign of your brother." Marie bluntly stated. "I'm beginning to think he isn't here."

"He has to be!" I shouted. "Do you at least see that sea-witch?"

"If she's here, she's probably hiding somewhere." Marie noted.

As if on cue, Cass jumped out of a puddle of ink and immediately started shooting at Marie. Marie dodged all her attacks and sent a charger blast to her side. The hit caused her to fly backwards and faceplant on the ground. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, I guess you beat me…" Cass said. "I admit defeat."

"Cassandra, you're many things…" Marie noted. "Spineless, arrogant, spiteful, sadistic, but stupid is not one of them, and attacking me head-on by yourself is a stupid move."

"Stupid?" She asked. "Stupid is not bringing someone to watch your back."

At that moment Marie immediately jumped out of the way as charger shots flew from behind her. She quickly ran for cover.

"Oh, Carp!" Marie groaned.

Interesting info: Apparently "Thingamajig" and "Whatchamacallit" are actual words recognized by Microsoft Word. You learn something new every day.