Chapter 14

Spinal Phase…Mei's POV

Agent 3 looked over her shoulder. Some goop covered the side of her head.

"Agent 3's mind was hijacked by that crazy phone!" The Cap'n yelled.

Agent 3 spun around, did a somersault, and dove towards me.

"Inkoming!" Pearl yelled as Agent 3 landed in a Splashdown.

I jumped away before she landed and fired back. She rolled out of the way and unleashed a barrage of curling bombs. I kept dodging the bombs and firing back. Soon enough, she collapsed to her knees before jumping back to the flying saucer that the Cap'n was tied to.

From this angle, I could see Guyver was tied along with the Cap'n, but wasn't conscious.

My sigh of relief was interrupted when Agent 3 jumped back into the arena. She'd activated a Baller.

"Are you serious?" Pearl shared my thoughts. "This is way too many specials!"

"It looks like Agent 3 removed her limiter…" Marina guessed.

I kept swimming away and firing to keep her at bay. It wasn't long before she Baller exploded and Agent 3 began firing. We traded shots for a short while until Agent 3 collapsed and jumped away again.

From the saucer, Three pulled out a Sting ray and fired it right at me. I had to ink several trails to get closer and throw bombs at her, getting her again. It got quiet now.

"Did we do it?" Pearl hoped.

"It's not over yet!" The Cap'n shouted as Three jumped off for another Splashdown.

Then…another Splashdown?

I quickly dodged out of the way.

Then another Splashdown.

I kept firing at her in between Splashdowns. Soon, she just started firing at me. I fired back, she was almost fully covered in ink. She then went for another Splashdown, but my shots knocked her back before she could complete it and she collapsed backwards onto the floor, her weapon sent flying out of her hands.

I ran over to check on her, when she got back up. The goop was starting to fall off and was dripping down, but Three still had that hypnotized look in her eyes. She had no weapons, so what could she do?

It was then that Agent 3 pulled out another Special can.

"Wait, Agent 3?!" Cuttlefish was startled. "When and where did you get that?! Run Octoling, Run!"

I quickly jumped back as Agent 3 turned into some kind of Giant Squid.

"Woah, what the heck?!" Pearl shouted. "But they were banned years ago, why does the have that?!"

"What even is that?!" Marina asked, confused.

"It be the Kraken!" The Cap'n yelled. "Ya can't damage her while she's in that form! Ya gotta run!"

I quickly inked a trail and swam away. The Kraken gave chase. I circled one of the boxes in the arena for some cover when Three popped up on the other side and jumped in the air towards me. I rolled under her just in time. I kept inking the arena and swimming away, but Agent 3 was gaining on me. I was eventually backed into a corner. The Kraken was about to splat me when she turned back into inkling form.

I aimed my Octoshot and fired point black at Three's head, sending her flying back and knocking the goop off.

She was out cold…again.

"Well done!" The Cap'n cheered.

The elevator rose upward again. It stopped at the largest ladder I've ever seen. After untying Guyver and the Cap'n, we made our way up. I noticed Guyver had some kind of Golden pin stuck in his hair…weird, but I like it.

After using the saucer to take us up, skipping a lengthy ladder climb, I hopped on the ladder to climb out.

When I got out, I could feel the wind in my hair. The Sun was rising, so it must've been pretty early in the morning. I could see Inkopolis. The sight of it, the smell of the ocean, it was incredible…

"Mei…" I heard a voice say.

"Mei!" Pearl shouted again as a fleet of helicopters was heading our way. "WE GOT YOU!"

After a few minutes, we were all on the surface, being flown away from that place.

"Alright, just a few minutes and we'll be back at the station." The pilot said.

"Thanks, Gene!" Marina waved.

"So, uh…why'd we need a fleet to pick up a few people again?" He asked.

"Uh, because style, Gene!" Pearl remarked. "Somethin' you wouldn't understand."

The two pop stars turned their attention to us.

"Phew…we can breathe easy now." Marina said.

Pearl looked like around like she was about to do something.

"WE FLY HIGH, TOUCH THE SKY!" She challenged the Cap'n to a rap battle.

"FIGHT HARD UNTIL THE DAY WE FRY!" The Cap'n was not to be outdone.

"NO LIE WE DON'T QUIT, DON'T YOU EVER FORGET!"

"Here we go again…"Marina rolled her eyes.

"WE STAY FRESH, NEVER FROZEN!"

"REIGN SUPREME LIKE THE ONES CHOSEN!"

I heard a sound and looked over to see the facility we waked out of started moving.

*sigh* "You guys…" Marina sighed.

She then noticed the Octostomp in the room.

"Um…Are you guys seeing this?" She got everyone else's attention.

They both looked over.

A large statue rose from the sea.

"What…is…that?!" Pearl asked, a little freaked out.

"That form…But they were said to have been destroyed so long ago." The Cap'n recognized it. "It's…HUMAN!"

We could see the phone in the statue's eye.

"Huh? Not that phone again!" The Cap'n shouted.

"TARTAR IN DA HOUSE!" The phone said. (DISABLING CONTEMPORARY SPEECH MODE)"

"I am TARTAR, an AI construct created 12,000 years ago by a brilliant professor." Tartar explained. "My prime directive is to pass humanity's vast knowledge on to the next worthy lifeform."

That's good…right?

"When your kind became self-aware, I hoped that my long wait was finally over." Tartar continued. "But as I observed your evolution, I WAS DISGUSTED! You wage war over minor genetic deviations. You obsess over trivial fashion choices."

I didn't like where this was going…

"And so I created a new prime directive: destroy this world and start anew! From the best and brightest test subjects, I created a sludge of supreme DNA. A primordial ooze from which the ultimate lifeform will emerge. Today it the day my vision becomes reality as I destroy Inkopolis and everyone in it!"

The statue opened its mouth, revealing a giant canon that had several giant Thang blenders attached to it.

"Yo…What the heck is that?!" Pearl shouted.

"Gimme a sec…I'm analyzing it." Marina took out a computer. "I'm picking up a massive amount of energy emanating from that statue."

"Uh…That doesn't sound good." Pearl correctly stated.

"So yeah…That statue is charging up enough energy to destroy the entire world." Marina said.

"HOW DO WE STOP IT?!" Pearl needed an explanation.

"Did that thing just say it's going to destroy the world?!" The pilot started freaking out. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

"SHUT UP, GENE!" Pearl yelled. "WE'LL EXPLAIN LATER, MAYBE!"

"Hmm…let's see…" Marina said as a plan formed in her head.

Whatever the plan was, I could tell it needed to be done fast…

Next up: The Finale of The Octoling's Trials.

There will be an epilogue though and possibly a bonus chapter.

Author's Note: So yeah, I decided to give the Agent 3 fight an extra phase since a fight against the protagonist from the first game with a remix of a song from the first game would naturally do well with a special attack from the first game. Honestly surprised they didn't do that in-game.

I also decided to include their pilot's thoughts since they brought a fleet of helicopters and getting thoughts from one of the pilots sounded like a fun idea.