Authors note: So... Less then a month turned out to be over two in the end. At least I am still keeping this alive, so no worries about that. Perhaps if I don't promise you anything, the next chapter can be out in a more reasonable time span. Sorry for the wait, and as last time, may your day be a good one.
Three had led Seven and Eight out to the training dummies and Four had put on her suit and followed after, herself followed by Devon. "How did they go from seeing one another as ruthless killers to accepting one another?" Mira just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that not only did Three seem way more friendly that Marie had made her out to be, but also that somehow an octarian soldier could go from fearing them to acting like she was her superior. "Maybe that is just a coping mechanism for her."
The group of six, consisting of the captain and Three in the front, followed by Seven and Eight, with Mira and Devon trailing behind, made their way over to a small open area that had a few balloons set up. Only now did Four realise that she hadn't seen Octavio, nor the snowglobe that imprisoned him, anywhere.
"Captain. Where have you put Octavio?"
The captain didn't even bother to turn around. "I've hidden him from -" He was cut off by the octoling in the back.
"You are keeping Octavio prisoner here?!" Devon cried out.
"Well… that..." The captain continued.
"So it is true? Why did you only capture him instead of taking his life?"
"We go back… I have my reasons." Even Four could see how he was reminiscing his past.
"Then what are tho-"
"Enough!" Four snapped at her. "At least she listens to that, quite sad actually."
The six reached the open area and Three immediately went over to a large wooden crate that stood to the side of one of the balloons. She pointed at the ink tanks that lied next to it, and somehow Eight translated that gesture into an order to distribute the tanks to the five of them. The captain didn't join in, he instead went to sit down on a small rock to watch them go at it.
Four almost failed to catch the duelies that were thrown at her. Hadn't it been for her looking to see why Three had bent over to react to the bottom of the crate, she would have most likely been hit on the head instead.
"What do you two want to try out first?" They could hear the voice coming out of the box.
"I think that I will first try out a blaster." Eight answered her. She had to quickly hand Devon the ink tank that she was holding so she could catch the blaster that now flew into her general direction.
"And the red one in the back?"
"A charger, ma'am." Devon answered in the same fashion she had talked to Four before. She now got a charger flung at her like a dart, making her have to jump out of the way to not get hit.
"A bit more care please." The captain shouted from his comfortable rock. "Because they're now in mainstream production doesn't mean I could buy a new one because you felt like throwing them around willy nilly."
Three didn't reply. She instead popped back out of the box with her old hero shot and put on an ink tank herself.
"T-Th-Three?" Seven stuttered. However, Lia ignored him. It seemed he had trouble with his inktank, since he hadn't put it on his back.
Four walked over to see what the problem was. She could see that Three clearly didn't bother to check, as she was now watching Eight unload blaster shots on the balloons and dummies, each and every shot making a loud, distinct 'Bang' whenever it hit directly or exploded mid-air.
"What's the problem?"
"...are…empty…" He stammered, pointing at the inktank. "and… no... w-wa…" He gave up on what she assumed to be the word weapon as he instead made little finger guns to indicate what he meant.
Mira took the tank in her hands and made it start to fill up with her yellow ink. She handed him the tank and walked over to the crate that Three had left unattended.
"What weapon would you like?" But all she got as a reply was him shrugging his shoulders as he came walking over to have a look for himself.
Will started to pull out weapons one by one, holding them in his hands for a bit before putting them back. Mira left him be and only now noticed that Devon wasn't right behind her anymore. "I should be relieved, but I fear that it can only be the foretell of something bad."
She saw the octoling standing still next to where she had had to dodge the charger that she was now holding in her hands. The weapon was being turned around continuously by the nervous soldier. Four walked over to she what was bothering her.
"What's the matter?" She asked, startling her.
"N-nothing, ma'am." The answer followed by the Octoling pulling herself straight and firmly grasping her weapon, albeit with her left hand at the trigger, which struck Four as odd.
"Do you always hold it with your left hand?"
"I'm sorry ma'am." Devon turned the charger around.
"No no no." Mira tried to excuse herself. "If you always use your left hand to fire, that is fine."
"But one is supposed to always hold their weapon on their right side."
Four let out a sigh. "It's not important how you handle the weapon, what's important are the results." She could see in the corner of her eye how Seven had picked a roller and was now repeatedly pushing it against a dummy without flinging or rolling it. She couldn't help but chuckle.
"But what were you thinking 'bout?"
"Well… It's that… how can I say this?..." She left off with a pause before finding the right words for what was troubling her.
"You found me, alone and without a weapon, but instead of splatting me, you took me here and even gave me a weapon again. Why would you think that I would not just shoot you and run off?"
Four couldn't help but smile at what she had just heard, almost breaking out in laughter. "Did you think that you could take on all of us? With a charger?" She let one of her dualies spin around her finger. "I have no clue as to why Three didn't just do what we would usually do, but you're here now. I've had a lot on my mind as well, and take it from me, just roll with it."
Both stood there, the silence being pierced by the blaster explosions and slight thuds that could be heard every time the roller was pushing into something. Four couldn't see behind the shades that Devon was wearing, but she could almost feel the octoling looking right at her.
Devon suddenly shot forward as she dropped the charger and took Mira into an embrace, making her drop one of her dualies.
"Thank you…" She muttered into her ear. "You are the kindest superior I have ever served." "So I am an officer to her then…"
Fours train of thought was brought to a halt by the captain yelling at them.
"Great that the two of you are getting along, but we're here for training, not a tea party!" The captain shouted as he had looked at why he could hear weapons falling on the ground again.
Devon let go of Mira, picked up the dualie and handed it to Four before she even had the chance to bent over to pick it up herself.
"Sorry ma'am." Devon bowed to her. "It will not happen again."
"Please don't excuse yourself for your feelings." Mira knew that that was not always the right thing to do, but the octoling brought it to a whole new level of ridiculous.
"Sorry ma'am." She said again. "Does she think she always has to speak to me like that?"
Four thought it would be better if she changed the subject.
"What's with the shades? Why are you wearing a pair of Callie's old broken ones?"
"I have been told to always wear one." She explained. "It feels weird not to wear them. Next to that is all the sunlight here on the surface. It is much more bright than down in Octo Valley, one could say it is almost blinding."
Four couldn't tell if she was slowly breaking up, not that she was good in that anyway. What made it even harder was that Devon seemed to be excellent at retaining a calm manner of speech, even when she was crying. Mira thought it would be best to change the subject again, before she fell victim to another one of Devon's emotional outbursts.
"Now you have your charger, I'd suggest you take aim at some of those targets. I'll be over there helping Seven if you need me."
"Yes ma'am." Devon replied, picking the charger back up and taking aim while holding the trigger with her left hand, showing how she had understood what Mira had told her.
Mira walked over to Will, who seemed to have discovered that one could indeed use a roller to roll over the ground, thereby covering it in ink. It took her a little bit to see that he was periodically shaking his torso, like he was shivering.
"Why are you shaking like that?"
"To feel… amount…" He replied in a manner that was already way better than it had been that morning.
It now was her turn to take a bit of time before understanding what was going on. She then realised what he meant: the inktank on his back. He was shaking it to guess the amount of ink that was in it. "So humans cannot gauge ink tanks when wearing them." It was something most inklings could do without even thinking about it, like feeling what temperature it is outside, or estimating the time one had before becoming hungry again. "Speaking about food, I'm starving. I hadn't had breakfast and it is already past lunch time. Guess I'll grab something to eat on my way home."
They had been busting targets for a good half an hour now. The captain had already walked off and they hadn't seen the others since they left the cabin. Seeing how the sun was clearly past high noon and now heading for the horizon again, Four decided that it was enough for today, as she had gotten tired and even hungier from having to not only refill her, but also Will's tank. She had also joined target practice like Three had done after having told Eight what to do. Not that the two needed it, the targets didn't stand a chance. In hindsight she should have just submerged to refill her tank, but all the standing still made limbs feel stiff.
Four walked over to the weapons crate, dropped her dualies in it, and took off and emptied her inktank, readying it for another use. She looked over to see that Will and Devon had followed her example, although Seven seemed to struggle with turning off and emptying his tank. He was fiddling around with the lid and somehow found a way to mess it up so badly that he instead created a splat bomb. He looked surprised at first, but somehow seemed to already know what it was that he was holding, since he threw it towards one of the dummies, covering it with the yellow explosion of ink.
"So that be how she did." He mumbled to himself before finally finding how to open the tank and drain it. Four quickly took the tank from him and did the same as she had done to hers. "These tanks are great and all, but it isn't 'that' hard to figure them out, right?"
Three and Eight now also came walking over. Kim took of her tank and put away her weapon like the rest, but Three just seemed to want to announce something before continuing her training. "How can someone enjoy standing still for so long? At least do some other practice as well to at least keep it interesting."
"This will have to do." Three stated. "Tomorrow afternoon we will be investigating the point that Devon described as the place where many seem to disappear." She looked at the rest, staring at each one before continuing to the next, seemingly skipping Will.
They stood in silence, waiting for her to continue.
Three let out what could have been described as a sigh as much as a grunt. "That's all, now get lost!"
Four turned around and saw how Devon saluted Three. She walked over back to the shack and doffed her suit that she had for the time being just put over her regular clothing to save on time by not having to change. She had to correct herself when she wanted to not use the platform but the kettle connected to the manhole. Not only was it a force of habit, but she was also almost lost in her own thoughts. So much so that she didn't even look back to see if Seven and Eight had followed her, just assuming they did because of the footsteps that she had heard behind her.
"So, let's set this straight. These two days so far have been a real rollercoaster. Not only did we get a human at our door, we got a bunch of new members for our team, not to mention that wretched statue and the company that is housed inside. Three did clearly state that it was a place to surpass nightmares.
This Three, or Lia as she is called if I recall correctly, Marie always told me she was cold, but she seemed beyond cold. Heck, even a leftover ink splatter showed more emotions that she did. Although it did seem that she was capable of them, or at least act them out. When they found Devon, she seemed like a completely different squid. Was that all just for show, to get the octoling to calm down?
And then about octolings, there was Eight, or Kim… Can't remember her full name, should ask her that again. She seemed completely different from the octarian soldier. And she seemed to know, together with Three and the Captain, what had happened in that stone behemoth. Since I won't be getting any answers from Three, maybe I could ask her.
Then there were Marina and Pearl, they seemed to know more about that place too. I couldn't really understand any of what they had to say. I couldn't even figure out if they were friends or if Marina was Pearl's guardian or something. Maybe I should advice Marina to get some sleep though, it seemed like she had been up all of last night.
Just like the human… I really should stop calling him that, it's denigrating. Will… something. I'm not the best with long names, should ask him too sometime. At least he can understand us now with that custom headpiece. I should have asked Marina if I could have kept that one, Will's vocabulary is still severely lacking, although I find it most impressive that he has managed to even speak at all, since I only hurt my throat when I try to only imitate his language. Makes me wonder if he can hear the difference between an Inkling and Octoling speaking, I can barely notice it at times, so he most likely can't. Still got the feeling that he might surprise us one day though.
Speaking of surprising people, Callie had really been going at it the last few days. That mischievous, almost villainous look in her eyes was never the messenger of good news. She meant no harm, but she could be a bit clumsy at times." Only thinking that last part made Four's foot act up again. "How does Marie even put up with her?
Marie had been acting weird the last two days, or at least, different from usual. Her normally calm demeanor had made way for some sort of disdain, maybe even resentment. She seemed cross with Three as well, and she didn't seem happy either. What had come in between them?
Maybe it had been when Three had brought in Devon. Why she had done that is a complete mystery to me. It didn't seem like anything such a squid would do. Maybe there was something about this specific octarian that made her do this. Maybe because she could feel, or did they all have feelings behind those shades.
Did I take down actual people? I usually just assumed to be mindless drones. It had to be said that Devon seemed completely overwhelmed by not having those shades on, so maybe they were nothing more than drones when wearing them."
Four shook her head trying to stop thinking about it. She noticed how, when the platform had reached the edge she had walked straight for her apartment. She could hear footsteps behind her, confirming that they were following. "I guess we'll drop by my place first. At least I can freshen up before we're going dining."
The roads seemed devoid of any life. Mira knew that most of the people in her neighborhood were turf war players, so they would all be found in the center of the city at this time of day, but somehow, this area always seemed eerie when it was empty.
She went up the stairwell, which was a lot easier when no one had to pull large boxes up them. Again, footsteps behind her confirmed that her guests were tagging along.
Mira opened her apartments front door, and heard it close behind her as she went into the kitchen. She took a bottle of Salmon Lime out of the fridge and went to the cupboard to get a glass. She could hear her guests sit down in the living room and thought that to be a good host, she should ask if they wanted some too.
"You guys want something to drink?" Mira screamed towards the living room.
"Yes!" she heard the voice of Kim answer her.
"Y-yes." Will stammered.
"Yes ma'am." another voice said.
Mira would later be happy that she didn't yet have a glass in her hand and that she had decided to stop by her apartment first, because when she popped her head out of the kitchen, she saw three people on her couch instead of the two that she expected. She did then remind herself that Six might have told her about it already, but that just must have slipped her mind.
On her couch sat not one, but two octolings. Devon had apparently followed her back home as well. Mira could only imagine the chaos that would have ensued if she had taken them straight to a restaurant. While most inklings only knew what octarians looked like from vague pictures and old posters, they would not even doubt that she was, or at least looked to be, part of their army.
It was something she could remember well, her first time coming into contact with an Octarian. Admittedly, it was nothing but a simple trooper. However, at the time, that was already enough to make her startle. Almost everyone knew that the Octarians had been driven off the mainland and had taken refuge in the underground cave systems and the nearby canyon and valley. Some even thought that they had gone extinct. Four had always been on the fence about it all, but that first encounter was all she needed to accept that she hadn't even accepted when a celebrity had told her: the Octarians were still out there, and they were waiting for their chance.
She took the three glasses of soda to the living room and put them on the table. Her three guests all picked one. Each of them took a sip, but what surprised Mira was how Will then kept the glass at his mouth and just threw his head backwards, emptying the entire glass in a few seconds. "How does one drink soda like that? Does he not feel-" Her thoughts were interrupted by Will belching and then excusing himself the best he could.
Mira went back to get her own glass and sat down on her sofa. Looking back, it had always seemed like a stupid idea to get oversized furniture, but now it came in handy.
The two octolings sat side by side. Only now did Four get to clearly see the differences between them. Eight indeed did look different from any of the octarians that she had fought, but Devon seemed like a carbon copy of a standard soldier. The broken hypnoshades didn't help either. Sure, it may not have any shining lights on it, but that didn't take away that her outfit was just one that they all seemed to wear. "Great, now I got to find her something to wear too."
All of them sat in silence and the ones who hadn't yet finished their soda drank the rest of it. "Should I perhaps turn on the radio or tv, it's so silent. Why won't they just talk?"
Mira stood up, but before she could even take a step, Kim spoke to her. "Finally!"
"That was a nice drink. Can I have some more?"
"Me too ma'am." Devon added.
She took the two's glasses and then saw how Will also held his one up to be collected. The glasses were put back on the table again and Mira let out a sigh as she walked over to the fridge and took the bottle. She put it on the table, next to the two glasses she had just put down, and poured them all another glass.
"If you want some more after that, just take it."
Mira took another look at her guests as they all took what she had just poured them. "Should look for some clothing for Devon now, better just get that out of the way." She walked to her bedroom and opened her dresser. "Let's see if I have another stupidly large hat."
It didn't take long for her to find something that she was looking for. Somehow her dresser just kept on giving. A patched hat that had somehow been sold like that, not that it was ever going to be fresh, clothing that was made to look shoddy, but she had it anyway, apparently.
It didn't take her long to find a matching colorful jacket and shirt. Mira didn't even bother with shoes as she figured that the boots Devon was wearing wouldn't be all too suspicious. she pulled out some pants as she heard her kitchen tap running.
Mira almost threw herself into the door to the living room, making it slam open. Devon, who sat on the couch, looked up. Will and Kim stood in the kitchen with a bottle of what appeared to be dish soap and the four empty glasses. She could hear the sink now slowly filling up as she took a deep breath before walking over to the octoling on the couch.
"Here, try this on." She handed her the pile as she stood up.
As she suspected, Devon didn't really understand the concept of fashion either. What she didn't suspect was that she was even worse than Eight. She had put on the hat and put on the jacket straight over her chestplate and sleeved gloves. The jacket hid the chestplate very well, and even covered the belts that she wore without them sticking out. If she were to take off her gloves, it would already be what she assumed to be an effective disguise. "How just a few pieces of clothing can come a long way."
After having her take off the gloves and putting them in the jackets pockets, Mira looked over to the kitchen again to see and hear how Will was checking the cupboards to check where he had to put the now cleaned glasses.
She pointed him to the right cupboard and put away the dish soap. What puzzled her was that the rubber gloves that she always had to wear when doing the dishes still lay in the same spot that she had left them yesterday morning. They were still dry.
The four of them were on their way. Four had changed her mind every time they had rounded a corner, so they had been walking back and forth for a good while now and all of them started to feel how hungry they really were. Eventually, Mira had made a final decision that was mostly based on 'we are closest to this place' and had taken them to a diner called: 'the Fish Frigate'. She had been there on the occasion and knew that their cooking skill was mediocre when it came down to it, but it was at least a place where one could eat in peace and quiet.
A jellly with a small apron came walking by and put 4 menus on the table without even looking at them. It was weird to see the look on Will's face when the waiter passed, even though she knew that he had most likely never gotten a good look at a jelly before, although he must have seen some when they went to Grizzco this morning. They all took a menu and took a look at what it had to offer.
Four put it back down shortly after. There hadn't been any changes since her last visit, so she would just take the fried vegetables like the last time. Opposite of her sat Kim, who was going down the list, finding it hard to chose. On Mira's left, next to the wall, sat Devon, who was skimming the card and wondering what most of the dishes even were. Opposite of her sat Will, who, to no one's surprise, had no idea how to even read the language, indicated by him holding the menu upside down.
A dark blue inkling with his tentacles in a bun and a notebook in his hand came up to their table. Since the rest of the place was empty apart from a single inkling at the bar Mira couldn't understand why they even had more than one waiter going around.
"Welcome to the Frigate, what can I get for…" The inkling stopped as he looked around the table before resuming. "What can I get for you?"
"The fried vegetables." Four then continued, seeing as no one had made up their mind or even figured out what the menu listed. "And a tuna pizza, fried shrimp and some… some nuggets."
"And do you want something to drink with that?" The waiter continued as he scribbled down the order.
"I'll just have some water." But before she could tell him that the rest would be fine with water as well, he turned to Kim.
"And what would you like to drink, miss?"
"Do you serve cold, bottled beverages?"
Four could see how the waiter took a few seconds to process what she had just asked, and prayed to the Great Zapfish that he would just shrug it off. Lucky for her, he did.
"Yea, we have your run of the mill apple and orange juice, to soda's like Cod Cola and Salmo-"
"That one!" Eight almost yelled as she shot up out of her chair.
"Salmon Lime?" the waiter asked, dumbfounded.
She just nodded as she sat back down again, so he wrote down her order.
"And you two in the back?"
"Same for me." Devon replied. "Luckily she doesn't speak to strangers like she does to me."
"Me too." Will forced out of his throat, making the waiter drop his pen. He was staring at Devon, but then directed his attention to Will, who now uncomfortably sat as far in the back of his chair as possible. Four froze as she realized that he might have caught on to the fact that there were three people pretending to be inklings at the table. Eight didn't seem to be bothered with that, as she bent forward to pick up the pen.
"Here you go." She handed the pen to him. "I did not know you also had these."
He didn't even seem to listen, but still grabbed the pen and wrote down the last of the drinks that were ordered.
"I'm sorry, but I can't help but notice…"
"Oh no! He's onto us!"
"...that you aren't from around here, are you?"
Not only Mira, but also Will and even Devon let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that only Kim hadn't caught on how close they were to being unmasked. The waiter didn't seem to notice the sudden switches in atmosphere at the table, which was for the better.
"I haven't seen your faces before, so let me say: welcome to Inkopolis. Hope you'll like it here." And with that he turned around and wasted no time getting to the kitchen.
Mira let herself fall back into her chair. She hoped that he indeed hadn't figured it out. For all she knew he had hidden it and was now calling for whatever one would call for in this situation. It didn't really matter, if he knew, they were all in deep troubled water.