Chapter 20
Deep within the palace of Octavio, said king and his number one fighter were speaking with each other. "Are you sure it was Agent 7 that is operating currently?" Kai nods. She trusted her soldiers' words completely.
Octavio, now in his octopus form, looks to the side in thought. "So, Craig's grandson is running around and taking the zapfish? He may be just the person we need." Octavio looks at Kai and says "Try to contact Agent 7 and his commander. Do not engage, but fight back if necessary." Kai salutes, then leaves.
Then, without turning around, Octavio says "Agent 1, it is time to test the other agent's abilities. Get ready for a fight." A shadowy figure then steps out of the light slightly. Clad in sparkly leggings and short shorts, she instantly gave the vibe of a very sassy person. The figure smirks and says "Oh, this'll be good." Lights flash as she speaks, roughly around the same place her eyes are.
-Tentakeel Outpost-
Ika once again finds himself ready to go on another mission. He is sitting next to Marie and listens as he munches on a salmon sandwich.
"Your next location is the boss in Beaker's Depot. We know the zapfish is their, but the boss is unknown. Be careful when you enter." Ika nods and prepares to super jump. Marie expects this and grabs her umbrella, opening it up. This inadvertently causes Ika to move forwards slightly. He then shoots off in a trail of ink.
As Ika goes to land, he notices something strange. He seemed to be off point slightly. He was trying to figure this out, when BANG! A wall suddenly appears in front of him. He slams into it in his squid form and just slides down, too dazed to move.
He snaps out of his daze once he hears Marie laughing over the communicator. He turns back to his humanoid form and lands on the kettle below him. "Oh ha ha. I think you did that on purpose." Marie struggles to get a response out since she is laughing so hard. "I-I didn't m-mean to, b-but that was H-HILARIOUS!" More laughter ensues. Ika just rolls his eyes and jumps into the kettle.
Luckily, by the time he arrived at the platform right before the boss, Marie stopped laughing. Ika steps onto the jump pad and jumps into the arena. He looks up and once again finds a zapfish being lowered into the arena, right above the large pool of purple ink.
A tentacle bursts out of the ink and pulls down the startled zapfish. Once again a bright light erupts from the ink, causing Ika to squint in order to see. He watches as another large figure comes out of the ink, but this time… it seemed to be a living creature.
Then, as suddenly as the light appeared, it vanished, leaving Ika with a sight he would never forget. Standing in front of him was the largest Octarian he's ever seen! He wore a motorcycle jacket and was holding a giant roller. Curiously, he seemed to be a mix of an Octarian regular and an Octoling.
The giant Octarian hoists the roller onto his shoulder and says "My name is Hanzo Octarius. I am the Octo Samurai, and your challenger!" Hanzo looks at the brush in Ika's hands and says "I see you know the ways of melee combat. This is good, for we may now have an honorable fight!" The giant then slams his roller on the ground, issuing a challenge.
Ika slams his brush onto the ground, grinning widely. Two opponents slamming their melee weapons on the ground was a traditional way of beginning a melee dual. It's been a long time since Ika has been challenged like this. "Alright then! I am Agent 7 of the new Squidbeak Splatoon! I accept your challenge."
Hanzo doesn't change expression, but Ika sees a glint of satisfaction in the giant's eyes. "Then let us begin." Hanzo lifts the roller over his head, then slams it on the ground again. This time, ink flies forwards in a very far vertical line. Ika, already expecting this from a roller, moves out of the way.
Hanzo watches as Ika moves around the arena at an incredibly fast pace. "I see you wish to use your speed against me. I am sorry to inform you that it WILL NOT WORK!" As Hanzo yells, he spins in place, his roller moving along the ground.
Ika's eyes widen as he sees a torrent of ink flying towards him. He stops running and enters his ink trail, backtracking rapidly. He only just barely avoids the ink.
Popping out of trail again, Ika notices that Hanzo has disappeared. He looks around in confusion, when suddenly "IKA! Behind you!" Ika turns around and watches as Hanzo emerges from his ink, his roller already above his head. "HA!" With a mighty roar, the giant brings his roller down on top of Ika.
Hanzo lifts his roller and finds Ika laying there, covered in ink. Ika's breath comes in short bursts, and he suddenly shakes violently. He turns himself over and begins coughing violently, purple ink flying out of his mouth.
Marie stares in horror as her cousin is laying there, drenched in ink. How could he fight this?! Her eyes widen as she suddenly remembers something. Sheldon always put a single Squee-G in his drones in case of an emergency. She could use that.
Hanzo raises his roller to finish off Ika, when he suddenly hears a whirring sound. He looks up and finds a quad-copter lowering itself to Ika, a squee-g in its clutches. "I would normally destroy that drone, but I too have illegal weapons. Use it as you wish."
Ika looks up slowly, his expression not going away from the extreme pain he felt. His insides felt like they were being melted, and his skin was burning to the point of feeling like he fell in a fire. He watches as the squee-g is lowered on him, then begins to suck up the ink.
Ika instantly begins to feel better as the ink is removed. The foreign ink in his system leaves naturally, and Ika stands up. Placing some ink around him as an escape, Ika then looks at Hanzo. Hanzo nods and says "Let us continue."
Ika instantly backs up as Hanzo slams his roller on the ground horizontally. Ika runs around, using the same tactic as before. Hanzo watches and says "If that tactic didn't work before, why would you believe it would work now?" Hanzo lowers himself into his stance, his eyes flashing.
Ika's eyes narrow as he sees this. He turns into a squid and compresses himself. As Hanzo begins to spin, Ika shoots himself into the air. The ink flies harmlessly below him as he turns back into his humanoid form.
Hanzo looks around, trying to find his opponent. Ika takes advantage of this and slams his brush right on top of Hanzo's head. Hanzo's arms fly up in shock and he accidentally drops his roller. Ika lands next to Hanzo and begins covering Hanzo in ink. The giant tries to fight back, but without his roller, he couldn't do anything. After enough ink hits him, Hanzo falls over.
Ika stops running, panting slightly. He moves over to Hanzo, the giant watching him. "I-It is finished, A-Agent 7. F-Finish me." Ika doesn't respond, his face neutral. He raises his brush over his head and watches as Hanzo closes his eyes. Hanzo smiles as Ika prepares to finish him off. "I-It was an h-honor to die i-in battle."
Ika freezes at this, but then begins to bring his brush down. "Oh I don't think so, Iky boy!" Suddenly, a wave of rainbow colored ink slams into Ika's back. Ika hisses in pain and looks back, glaring at his attacker. But as soon as he gets a good look, his eyes widen in complete disbelief.
His attacker had long black tentacles tied in a bow at the top of her head. They ended in a magenta color, and she also wore a set of color flashing shades. Her outfit looked like a skimpy version of Callie's stage outfit, and an octopus tattoo was on her hip.
Ika tries to find his voice, but nothing would come out. After mustering enough strength, he mutters out "C-Callie?!" Callie smirks and strikes a pose with her Krak-On Roller. "In the flesh, Seveno. But I ain't here for anything sentimental, so let's leave it for another time. Right now, we have a melee fight to do!"
Ika stands up, his face suddenly grim. He closes his eyes and breathes deeply. He suddenly glares at Callie and says "You aren't Callie. She would never work for the Octarians."
Callie just smirks again and waves a finger at him. "Tsk tsk tsk. You should know better than to think that Iky. You can't deny the facts." Ika's mouth forms a thin line and he begins shaking.
Marie, completely stunned the entire time, then says "I-Ika, she's telling the truth. That is Callie." Ika frowns and he says "I know, but I didn't want to admit it."
Callie smirks and says "Well, know that you aren't in denial and all that schmuck, let's get to the beatdown!" Callie slams her roller on the ground and instantly takes off after Ika.
Ika's eyes widen and he instantly turns and runs. He tries to lead Callie away from Hanzo so he could have more space to fight, when Callie suddenly begins singing.
Blushing faces covered in pink!
Rushing bombs, exploding ink!
As Callie sings this, she pulls out some curling bombs. She throws them on the ground towards Ika, all of the diverging in his path. Ika's eyes widen as he sees the bombs flying at him. He falls back into his ink puddle and moves back.
Callie smirks at Ika as she watches him avoid the explosion. "Nice moves Seveno! But this fight ain't over yet!" Callie then puts her roller on her back and pulls out a strange charger.
"That's the same charge the sniper used!" Ika's eyes widen as he sees Callie take aim at him. He lowers his brush to the ground and takes off. Callie tries to hit him, but can't seem to land the shots. Callie frowns and says "I was good yesterday. What gives?" She puts the charger back and says "Whatever. Melee it is!"
Ika watches in the corner of his eye as Callie runs at him. He narrows his eyes as a plan formulates in his head. He waits as he sees his sister raise her roller, then bring it down horizontally.
Callie smirks as she sees Ika disappear into the wave of ink. Then, she frowns as she sees him gone. All that was left was a mess of rainbow ink, tiny red splotches throughout the splash. She walks forwards carelessly, looking for Ika.
As she passes the point that she 'splatted' Ika, a single splotch of red begins to rise. It forms into an ink covered figure, and then Ika is standing there. Callie spins around, suddenly getting a bad feeling, only to get hit in the face with a wave of red ink.
Ika lowers his brush as Callie falls on the ground. The shades were covered in ink, and Callie was struggling to get the ink off. "Owowowow. Burning ink and I can't see! I can't fight like this!"
Ika glares at his sister and says "Callie, why would you do this?" Callie stops rubbing the ink, and Ika suddenly is able to see her eye through the shades. The ink must've removed some of the dimming paint.
Her eye was normal, but he could see tears forming in her eye. "I told you already that I ain't doing the sentimental stuff. Anyways, I'm out of here. Come on big boy!" Callie turns into a squid, and then jumps away.
The arena suddenly begins shaking as Hanzo turns into a giant octopus. He also super jumps away, a large amount of ink left behind him. Ika watches as the two disappear into the distance.
"Ika, you ok?" Ika closes his eyes as he registers Marie's voice. "I'm fine Marie. I'm coming back. This mission was a failure." Marie doesn't say anything as Ika makes his way back home.
-Tentakeel Outpost-
Ika shuffles over to Marie, his mind stuck on the fight and revelation he just recieved. Marie walks over, her umbrella in hand, and says "Ika? Are you ok?"
Ika suddenly clenches his hands and says "She didn't want to." Marie blinks, then says "What was that?" Ika then glares at Marie and screams "SHE DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT!"
Marie jumps back, startled at Ika's outburst. Ika continues to glare at Marie, but he wasn't focused on her. "I saw her eyes! She was tearing up as she spoke! She doesn't want to do this, but something is forcing her! I… I just can't believe I let her down so badly." Ika's rant eventually begins to degrade from anger into sadness.
Marie, still cautious of any outbursts, moves to Ika slowly. She wraps her arms around her cousin and says "It's ok Ika. We can save her now that we know where she is." Ika doesn't respond, a sniffle being the only sound.
Marie brings a hand under his chin and lifts his head so he is looking at Marie at eye level. "We'll get her back. We can't ever be kept apart forever." Ika still only continues to cry, but he does nod.
Marie smiles slightly and says "Come on, let's go rest." Ika follows Marie as she moves to the cabin. His crying eventually stops, and he begins speaking again. Marie smiles as she converses, but neither could go far from what happened previously.
Callie was back, but not in a way they thought. She was being controlled, and the cousins would stop at nothing to get her back. Nothing.