This was probably the worst case scenario. The kind of situation that was so awful, there was just no way to prepare.
Mira couldn't even be mad that her fears were founded after all. The relaxed posture that the inkling took as soon as Cammie was splatted told her that Cammie was the last of her squad to be defeated.
She watched as it scuffed its boot against the ground where Cammie had fallen, muttering to itself. Then, it pressed its hand to the side of its headphones – listening, maybe?
After a few seconds, it responded, quietly, so Mira had to strain her ears to understand.
"... The octolings are all not here, I think… No, I am okay."
It wandered closer. Mira held her breath as it crouched down by the gutted data collector case, only a foot or two from where she was hiding. It didn't bother to cover up the ink on the ground, simply walking through it, and Mira had a moment of gratitude for its lack of caution.
"There is… thing here," It poked at the case. "It is black… thing? Box? Like you carry, um, kettle thing before… case? Yes, I think that is the word."
Accents were hard to identify when listening in a second language, but Mira had been learning inkling for most of her life. She was consistently at the top of her class for every language – not just inkling, either! Urchin, lamprey, anemone… all electives that she had jumped on. Of course, she'd only been allowed to take that many non-combat, non-engineering classes because of how well she'd done in weapons.
All that is to say… Mira felt that her proficiency in inkling was enough that she should not only be able detect accents, but also identify them. And yet…
It seemed the mystery inkling also had a mystery accent.
"... Yes. I stay until they arrive," It paused to listen for a few seconds. "Oh! There is time to see the Squid Squad? I am happy!"
It sat on the ground, crossing its legs, still not paying attention to the purple ink around it.
Mira would sneer at the arrogance of the inkling if she wasn't so scared.
The inkling muttered a few more answers to whoever was on the other end of the line before finally cutting it off with a soft 'yes, goodbye'. It then slumped down with a sigh.
It was silent for only a few seconds before it started talking again, this time to itself.
"W uso'h qdrwdfd hxnjd hxwoyj… octolings, W ygdjj hxdb'kd usrrdi. W ygdjj W iwio'h ydh s ynni rnnt qsut ewhx hxd pwjjwrd nod, qgh… hxdb'kd hxd jspd, qgh iwzzdkdoh?" Mira couldn't make out any of the words except for 'octoling'.
It tapped its fingers on the case. "I just don't get it. And they have their own language, too."
It huffed, and took its hand off the case. Then it sighed again and put its face in its hands. "Hxwj enkri… wh'j jn unozgjwoy, soi iwzzdkdoh. Xne rnoy uso W tddm hxwj gm, sobesb?"
Mira was so close to the inking that when it took its hands off its face, she could see the colour of its eyes: dark brown.
She filed that away in her mind. The bandana it wore wouldn't let her see its full face, but any information that they could collect on the unknown inkling would help. The only identifying feature that they'd had before was that it wore its tentacles long. Now they had two more bits of information: brown eyes and, more interestingly, an unknown accent.
The inkling pulled Mira out of her thoughts by muttering to itself again, this time with a scowl. "W ewjx W ungri suhgsrrb zgutwoy dcmrswo exsh'j xsmmdodi hn pd. Jhgmwi rsoygsyd qskkwdk. Hxngyx wh'j onh rwtd W uso dfdo dcmrswo wh hn pbjdrz dwhxdk esb…"
Mira then watched as it put its hand back on the case and uncrossed its legs, still muttering. "W jxngri mknqsqrb ydh s rnnt wo xdkd. Wz hxdb qnhxdkdi uskkbwoy jnpdhxwoy hxwj xdsfb wh'j mknqsqrb wpmnkhsoh…" It lifted it open. "Ssssoi wh'j qkntdo. Gyx, hxwj uwkugwhqnski'j wo zgutwoy mwdudj! Hxdkd'j on esb W'p ynoos qd sqrd hn zwc hxsh."
Abruptly, Mira realized that the inkling was distracted. It was shifting through the torn wires and crushed circuitboards, scowling, but it had completely ceased paying attention to its surroundings.
Had it… forgotten her? Mistakenly thought that it had splatted Mira? She didn't know. Did it matter?
She could… she could shoot it, splat it before it even knew what happened. It's weapon was a good foot or two away.
As long as it was here, Mira wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. And it had mentioned the possibility of reinforcements. She could be the first octarian to defeat the inkling. She could escape.
Splat it, grab the mini zapfish, get out.
Or…
Mira turned her eyes to the mini zapfish.
It was curled up, miraculously silent still. Its eyes were closed and it wasn't giving off any sparks, which was probably why the inkling hadn't noticed it despite being only feet from it.
Mira still had the rubber gloves on.
One good squeeze to the poor creature, and it was bound to give off a good shock. Not a lot, but…
Enough to knock someone unconscious.
Mira wouldn't be able to capture the inkling and escape on her own, but she could pull down that toothy bandana. She could learn its face, retrieve the mini zapfish, and return to Octo Valley in triumph.
Yes.
Yes.
That is what she would do.
Act fast. Reinforcements could come at any second.
The inkling was still absorbed in its own world, still muttering. "… Qgh W ino'h jdd s mnedk jngkud? Hxwj pgjh qd exdkd wh esj… s asmzwjx, mknqsqrb. Qgh exdkd…?"
Mira lunged. She transformed faster than she ever had in her life, hearts pounding. With rubber gloves, she grabbed at the mini zapfish, which squealed at being handled so roughly.
At the sound, the inkling flinched and sprang to its feet. It turned its head to Mira, swinging its arms up in a defensive position, but Mira could see in its wide eyes, pupils mere pinpoints against brown, what they both already knew.
Too slow.
Mira shoved the zapfish forward, under the inkling's guard. Right against its right torso, she squeezed the zapfish.
The whiskers made full contact with the inkling's side. It froze, eyes locked with Mira, as the electricity ran through its body, and shrieked in pain.
The shock was strong enough that a spark leapt from the zapfish and over Mira's gloves. But that small shock to her left arm wasn't nearly enough to make her drop the catfish.
The whole attack took less than five seconds.
The zapfish stopped its charge and the inkling slumped to the ground like a puppet cut from its strings. There were two charred spots on its shirt where the whiskers had made contact and a burnt scent. The aftershocks made it twitch and convulse for a few seconds before it went completely limp, eyes shut.
Mira, even as she held the exhausted and scared zapfish, couldn't believe her eyes.
She stared. A few more seconds after it went limp, she nudged it with her foot.
No response.
…
She did it.
She did it.
"I did it…" She muttered, eyes wide. "I actually did it…"
And she was wasting time. She pulled the case out from under the inkling, where it had collapsed, then placed the now glaring zapfish back inside. The data collector was ruined, but she'd bring it back anyway to keep it out of the inkling's hands.
Click. Mira locked the case, stood up, and turned back to the inkling. Her hands were shaking.
They continued to shake, even as she reached toward the bandana. She felt almost faint in disbelief. The adrenaline of the moment left her vision bright and spotty.
Wait…
No.
That light wasn't her eyes, it was…!
Mira turned her head up, wide eyes staring into the beam of a distant charger, and was spatted back to Octo Valley before she could blink.
Meant to post this earlier and forgot lol. But this chapter marks the tentative end of this "arc"!
Had this ending planned out for a long ass time too. I was trying to figure out the best way to get Etta to speak her own language without having to translate something and canonize her language. And the I thought, hey! Just use a cipher, dummy!
Translations from Etta (it's an alphabet substitution cipher. Use this on : squidzyxwvtrponmlkjhgfecba - it's the word "squid" followed by the reversed alphabet):
"I can't believe those things… octolings, I guess they're called. I guess I didn't get a good look back with the missile one, but… they're the same, but different?"
"I just don't get it. And they have their own language, too."
"This world… it's so confusing, and different. How long can I keep this up, anyway?"
"I wish I could actually fucking explain what's happened to me. Stupid language barrier. Though it's not like I can even explain it to myself either way…"
"I should probably get a look in here. If they bothered carrying something this heavy it's probably important…"
"Aaaand it's broken. Ugh, this circuitboard's in fucking pieces! There's no way I'm gonna be able to fix that."
"… But I don't see a power source? This must be where it was… a zapfish, probably. But where…?"