Chapter 51

Octo Valley was a large valley located on the outskirts of Inkopolis. It was mostly barren, other than the odd octopus-tentacle shaped rocks giving the valley its name. A few floating platforms serving as the hubs to the underground domes littered the valley.

Seven trails of ink suddenly appear in the sky of Octo Valley. They all were aimed for a large cliff shelf in the valley. They all hit the ground at roughly the same time, and the ink takes the shapes of their users.

The agents look around at the barren land around them. The sound of rushing water and various animals hit their ears, but the place was not well maintained.

Ika looks over to his left and notices his grandpa's old hut. It seemed to be in good condition, but small vines were inching their way up the walls.

The other agents also begin to look around the valley, while the elite just looks on with a solemn look. Octari goes to the edge and peers down. She gulps as she sees the massive drop and quickly backs up from the edge.

Amber had her arms crossed as she looks at the kettle hub. The various floating platforms were cracked, and some were missing all together. She turns slightly to the elite and says "What happened here? This place looks like a dump."

The elite walks over and looks around, much more solemnly than Amber. "After you defeated Octavio, we all abandoned Octo Valley. It was never much more than a military station. Octo Canyon was our real home."

The elite brushes a long tentacle from her eyes and looks around more closely. She takes in the state of the floating platforms, watching as a small piece crumbles away right before her eyes. "Judging from the poor conditions of the platforms, this place has run out of power, and for a good while. At this point, these platforms are only floating from residue power within them."

Amber grimaces and as she sees a piece of stone fall from the platform. She looks down and eyes the drop with nothing short of worry. "Best we keep this quick then. We don't want to have these fall down when we are on them." The elite nods in agreement.

Amber turns to the octoling and says "By the way, what's your name? I never did catch it."

The octoling nods and says "My name is Sergeant Octema." Amber smiles and says "Nice to meet you Octema." Octema just bows in return.

Amber and Octema's ears perk up as they hear movement coming to them. They turn and see the agents all walking up to them. Marie looks at Octema and says "So, where is this 'Octo Valley Weapons and Uniforms' place anyways?"

Octema presses a button on her shades and the holographic screen appears again. It shows five kettle hubs, similar to Octo Canyon. Octema points at the bottom right hub and says "It is located within the Octo Valley Military Camp within this hub."

Everyone looks at the coordinates and nod. Marie turns back to Octema and says "Anything else we need to know?" Octema shakes her head.

Marie nods and turns to the other agents. "Be sure to stay put when we land. We don't want any splats here."

Amber nods, her arms crossed. "Especially since Octema here said that this place has no power."

Marie turns around and raises an eyebrow. "Octema? Who's Octema?" Amber points a thumb at the elite. Marie nods and turns back to the agents.

"Everyone have their coordinates?" The agents nod. Marie smiles under mask and says "Alright, let's go." Seven trails of ink fly off the cliff shelf, angling for a secluded part of the valley.

They all land on the hub at about the same time. The ink takes the shapes of the inklings and octolings. Their eyes narrow or widen in worry as a low rumble is heard through the area, not loud enough to be a sign of danger, but certainly hearable.

Octema straightens herself from her tensed position and looks at the platforms. These were just as bad as the ones in Area 1, so they had to be cautious. She turns to the agents and says "I'll take the lead. Watch your step, and be sure not to apply too much pressure to the platforms. They could break otherwise."

The agents follow the elite forwards. They all grimace or flinch when the platform would creak, or a piece of stone would fall from the higher ones.

After what felt like an eternity, but was just a minute or two, the group finds themselves in front of a large kettle. Octema inspects the kettle some, searching for something. She nods when she sees a green light on the side of the kettle, indicating it was active. She turns to the agents and says "Let's go."

Octema jumps into the kettle without another word. The other agents quickly follow suite, not wanting to be left behind.

Once they all pop out of the kettle, they look around in slight awe. The area they were in looked like a giant field. There were various metal buildings everywhere, and what looked like a factory in the back of the cavern. A chain fence surrounded the area, a gate at the end of the road the kettle was on.

While the agents looked around with curiosity and wonder, Octema's eyes narrow. She saw something that didn't fit the previous abandoned feel. "I think I may have found our culprit."

The other agents look back to Octema, then at what she was pointing to. The factory in the distance had its lights on. It didn't take them long to realize that shouldn't be the case in a seemingly abandoned area.

The other agents instantly grab their weapons and begin moving forwards, their eyes trained on the factory. They reach the gate of the facility and look around, wondering how to get in. Octema goes to the gate and, putting her gloves on, tries pushing it open. The gate doesn't budge.

Octema takes her gloves off, looking around for a way to get in. "The gate is locked, and that proves that someone is here."

When the agents look at her with confused expressions, she explains. "It's protocol to lock the gate when this camp is being used. If not used, or in our sense abandoned, we keep the gate unlocked for easy access. We never stored valuables here, so it was a safe practice."

Octema looks at the fence and the factory beyond the chained walls. "The fence has the same water coating as the bars in the prison, so that isn't an option. I wonder, where did Kai say that secret entrance was?"

Octari looks at Octema, then up at the large amount of space between the fence and the ceiling. She walks up to the fence and looks up, the other agents watching with confusion and curiosity. She closes her eyes, and her legs suddenly turn red. Ika blinks in surprise, then awe as Octari jumps a few dozen feet off the ground, easily going over the fence and landing on the other side.

"Hey Octema, I got in!" Octema stops her search and instantly turns around. Her eyes widen in surprise when she sees Octari waving from beyond the fence.

"How did you get in there?!" Octari shrugs and says "I jumped over."

Octema's mouth drops open slightly, and she looks between the 15 foot tall fence, and Octari. "But… we have a shield situated around the fence that stops anyone in their squid or octopus forms from entering. That was how we stopped super jumps!"

Octari suddenly perks up in realization. "Oh, is that the problem? Well, that's fine then." She lifts her leg up and shows as it turns slightly red with ink. "I didn't have to turn into an octopus to jump over. I just made my legs springy!"

She demonstrates her point by jumping up and over the fence again without turning into an octopus. Octema just gapes at her with eyes wide enough to be seen from beyond the shades.

Octema suddenly coughs and regains her disciplined posture. She then says "Well, that is certainly a useful ability. May you explain?"

Octari nods and says "Amb-" Amber instantly swipes a hand across her throat, the universal sign to stop. Octari blushes in embarrassment and says "I mean Agent 3 taught me how to do it. You just focus on turning your legs slightly into your squid or octopus form. After that, you are springy!"

Octema raises an eyebrow at the explanation. "Is it really that simple?" Octari nods, a big smile on her face.

Amber looks over to the elite and says "If you know how to super jump, you can do this. It's quite simple after that."

The elite nods, then looks at her legs. She concentrates on making her legs slightly inky, like her octopus form. She gasps lightly to herself when she sees them get coated in a small layer of purple ink. She presses on her leg, then lifts up. She gets shocked when she flies a few feet into the air instead of the normal foot or two.

After she lands, she presses on both legs. She jumps back into the air, much higher but more steady since she was expecting it. She lands, then looks at the fence. She jumps up, easily sailing over the fence. She lands without any problems.

The other agents also began to experiment with this new ability. They all picked it up fast, easily clearing the fence. They all had to admit, it was quite easy.

Octema, now feeling empowered with this new ability, turns back to the agents with a small smile. "Come on, let's go."

The agents begin running down the road between the metal buildings. They all had their weapons out were looking around in caution.

After a minute or two, they eventually find the area to space out some. A wide plaza area was situated in front of the factory, multiple trucks and cargo boxes strewn about.

The agents all look around in curiosity and suspicion. Someone was definitely running this place as the cargo looked fresh, not old and rundown like the other areas of Octo Valley.

"Do you have any idea what the commander wants with all this stuff?" The agents instantly snap their gaze over to the factory entrance when they here the sudden voice. Two octolings were walking out of the doors, both of them strangely dressed. The agents instantly hid behind a pile of cargo boxes and watch the octolings.

They both wore a black army suit with a set of metal plates on the outside. They both wore a small army cap with an insignia on it. It was a design of a red octopus with a set of shades over its eyes.

Ika's eyes narrow dangerously as he sees the insignia. "That's Octavius's marking. These must be his followers that escaped in the war."

The Squid Sisters nod, both of them recognizing the marking as well. Octema growls lowly from behind the boxes, instantly recognizing the insignia as well. "Octavius, the damned traitor. What could his lackies be doing here?"

The other agents had no answer and instead watched as the octolings began loading a truck with cargo boxes. The first octoling, his tentacles short and completely hidden behind his hat, just shrugs. "I don't know why, but you know how temperamental the guy is. I certainly don't want to be thrown into the pits."

The other octoling, his tentacles longer and set in a small ponytail thrown through the back of the hat, shudders. "Agh, don't talk about things! I hate hearing people in them. So horrible."

The first octoling shrugs and says "Well, you can't bother him about it, and I am certain the captain about it. That guy is more prone to anger than even the commander."

The octoling nods as they put another set of boxes in the truck. He is about to speak again, when another voice comes from the factory. "Hey you two! Get back in here, the commander wants to see you."

The octolings look over, then instantly pale at the sight of their captain. The other agents are also very surprised by the octoling in the doorway.

The octoling was wearing a similar suit to the other octolings, except his armor plates had a golden star emblazoned on it. He was a massive octoling as well, easily reaching 6'5". His purple eyes narrow dangerously from behind the set of shades on his head, his long tentacles hanging down his back. "Hurry up and get in here before I have to carry you both."

The octolings gulp and nods fervently, instantly rushing to the door. The quickly slip by the massive octoling and into the factory to find this 'commander'. The captain turns to go back in, when he hears a small scraping noise.

He turns back with a grunt, searching the loading area. He stands there for a minute, then grunts louder. He walks back into the factory, slamming the doors shut behind himself.

Behind the boxes that held the agents, they were all frozen in silent panic. Callie had slipped when trying to get a better view, causing the scraping noise. Luckily Marie had caught her and covered Callie's mouth before they could be discovered or make noise.

Marie helps Callie back onto her feet, the black-haired inkling trembling with nerves. "That… was too close."

The other agents nod in agreement. Octema looks back at the facility, then says "Something is obviously going on in there, but it also seems to be filled with Octolings, and not friendlies either. With a group this large, we'll never get around without being seen."

Marie looks at the factory, then back to the agents. Some of them did better going stealthily, while others were best at going to the front line with a loud roar. She looks at the available agents, then closes her eyes. There were less fight for this job than she realized, but she wasn't going to risk others.

Marie turns to Octema and says "Me and Agent 7 will go in." The other agents' eyes widen and they begin protesting. When a few of them begin to get to loud, Marie levels a heated glare on them. It instantly shuts them up.

Octema notices how loud the other agents were, but also how quiet Ika was being. She nods in agreement, already seeing Marie's point. "You two are the most quiet, and the most stealthy, correct?"

Marie nods. She turns to the agents, already sensing the protests. "This has to be done. There are too many of us to get this done quietly, and me and 7 have the best stealth experience. We'll be back soon, ok?"

The other agents all seemed conflicted, but they reluctantly agree. Octema nods, then looks at the roofs of the buildings around them. "We can go up to the barrack rooftops to hide. We'll wait for you there."

Ika and Marie nod in agreement. They watch as each agent goes up to the rooftops, hiding behind various exhaust pipes or machines on top. Now being the only two on the ground, they turn to the factory. Ika takes a deep breath, then says "Ready?" Marie nods without turning, and Ika can tell she's eager to start. With a wordless signal, the two bound across the loading area without a sound.

-Author Notes-

And now things begin to heat up. I won't say anything and leave it to you guys to guess what'll happen. Hope you enjoyed!