Chapter 3: Prophet Rising

Splatoon HQ (Klara's POV)

"Hey! Captain! Let us in! I have something you'll want to see!" I shouted, praying the old man hadn't fallen asleep.

We waited for five minutes before Akali got impatient, and I didn't want to see her go into a rage so I had to try to lockpick the door. When I opened it, oddly enough, no one was home. The Human was fast asleep, and Cap'n wasn't here so I let Akali sleep on the couch for a bit, and after watching the news for a bit, I decided to join her in dreamland.

30 Minutes later...

I woke up to the door opening, the Cap'n was finally back.

"Where have you been?" I asked him.

"Business with the other units." He replied.

"Well next time can you not take so long?"

"Why?" He questioned.

I prodded Akali in the back until she sat up.

"Yuh?" She asked while yawning.

"Agent, are my eyes seeing things correctly?" He asked.

"Yes sir, this is a hybrid. Her name's Akali."

"A Human, a hybrid, what's next? A Samonling?" He joked. "Well done agent. I think you've earned a bit of rest, but that's gonna come later, because look at what I have!"

He pulled out a tablet that seemed to mainly function as a translator.

"We're gonna have a chat with our extinct friend over there." He said.

"Wonderful. Anyone need anything or am I good to get some shuteye?" Akali sarcastically questioned.

"You're good for go to outpost dreamland, squiddo." Cap'n said.

1 Hour later

"C'mon this has to be the right one!"

Cap'n had been trying to find the right language through alphabetic order. Every time since the Human shook his head to signify it was the wrong one. Finally, we found one called "English", and the Human perked up and nodded, and we all cried three cheers.

Swap POV (Shepard)

The squid kids and the old one had been trying forever to find out what language I spoke, and finally after a short eternity they found English. We went back and forth using the translator for communication, and it went fairly well. From there on the old one started to teach me two languages: "Inkish" and "Octarian." Luckily, I'm a fast learner, and I had the basics of both down in roughly a year.

It was a pretty boring year, and it was mostly due to me staying in the shack. Reason being the old one warning me of "danger" outside. I wanted to head out, but I didn't want the old one to have a panic attack should he find me not in the shack, so I stayed. To be fair though, I got food, water, and sleep for free, so I'm good. Eventually, I learned enough to where I could hold a decent conversation, so I started going out a little. Today I even got to talk to the squiddos in the plaza, and I let them take some pictures with me, apparently I'd become a bit of a celebrity. Eventually, I left to head back to the shack, an my heart felt a little warmer. A nice, warm, content feeling made it's home in me by the end of the day.

This is gonna be the start of something beautiful.

And so it was. The day after that little stunt, I was watching the news with the old man, when suddenly;

*Inkopolis Live!*

Breaking News!

Those two that I'd been seeing everywhere, whether it be on posters, tv, or books, they were there. Pearl and Marina, the hosts of Inkopolis news and the most popular music artists Inkopolis had at the time. Their little intro played out, and then;

"Y'all know what time it is!"

"It's Off the Hook, coming at you live from Inkopolis Square, with some breaking news!"

"Yesterday, crowds of hundreds gathered at the square for something absolutely unbelievable!"

"Dear viewer, a human was seen yesterday, yes that's right! A human was walking the square, and taking selfies with anyone willing to ask!"

"We soon expect that Off the Hook may soon even be able to interview him, as he was supposedly striking up conversations with not only Inklings, but the Octolings around the square too!"

"It sure is a time to be alive, eh Marina?"

"It sure is, Pearlie. Well, that's all for the breaking news!"

"Don't get cooked! Stay Off the Hook!"

The broadcast ended, and moments later, the doorbell to the shack rang out. I wondered what it was for, so I picked myself up, walked over and opened the door to check it out. There were four packages laying on the top stair, all signed with the return addresses of various vendors through the square.

"A tribute to a god." I chuckled to myself.

In the packages, there were four different clothing articles, not including a stack of underwear and socks in a smaller box. Those gifts were: a damn fine pair of black, white and gold sneakers, some grey joggers, a black sweatshirt with some white and gold stripes and patterns, and a metallic golden Kensa Logo on the back, with the final package containing a gas mask with gold tinted lenses, that weirdly enough didn't tint your vision when looking through them. Sorta like a one way window, but stained glass. Weird, but who the hell am I to not accept gifts from my fans? I put the clothes on my bed, and decided to write some "thank you" letters to the companies that tossed me some of the best clothes I'd ever had the pleasure of wearing for free. Afterwards, I decided that because no one besides the old man was home, I'd pay Pearl and Marina a visit and take them up on their offer for an interview.

Well... after I showered, of course.

Twenty Minutes Later…

I had my clothes on, I was showered, and I was ready for anything. I stepped out into the square, and took a minute to admire the view of the ocean, with the gentle, cool spring breeze that could be felt all throughout Inkopolis Square. It was a great day, and I was ready to get a move on. I headed towards the broadcasting station where Pearl and Marina kept Inkopolis up to date on their daily news channel. I knocked on the door after taking the mask off and holding it in my hand, and Marina was actually pretty quick to answer. You'd think the security or something like that would answer so no one had front door access to the two most influential Inklings alive, but whatever.

"Hello, do y-" She was looking at a tablet when she opened the door, but after she looked up and realized who I was, her expression went from indifference to shock very quickly.

"Hey, you still up for the offer on a interview?" I tried my best to not laugh at the look of absolute shock that had probably enveloped her entire being by now.

"Ummmm, yeah! Yeah just follow me." She tried to regain her composure, but her excitement had already gotten the best of her.

We walked for a bit through some brightly lit hallways, with records and photos of the two performing on stage, eventually coming to the main broadcasting room.

"Pearlie, look who I found!" She called out in a sing-song voice.

"Who is i-." The very same look Marina gave me a second or two ago covered Pearl from tentacles to toes. Marina was the one this time trying her hardest not to laugh.

We sat down and talked for a bit, mostly about how I found my way here, and also my opinions on the squiddos here and the square itself. Eventually, Marina got everythign together, and prepared the broadcast. The cameras were ready, and so was I.

"Y'all know what time it is!"

"Off the Hook is coming at you live, with a very special guest!"

"That's right ladies and gentlemen, we're here to interview one of the last humans on Earth, and as of right now, the only one to find Inkopolis!"

"Without further ado, let's get this started!"

The questions came quick, but I was ready for most of them. They were pretty simple for the most part.

"Let's start at the very beginning, Jackson, how'd you find Inkopolis?"

I had to think about my answer for a bit, as my rescuers seemed to be a part of something pretty secretive, so I went with a bit of a lie but still 98% true.

"Well, my preservation pod opened after it's timer finally went off, I gathered my bearings, swam up to the surface, and two inklings saw me at the docks. They wantedme to follow them, so I went with it. Soon enough they taught me to read, write, and speak decent Inkish and Octarian, and one and a half years later, here I am now."

"Nice!" Marina seemed to be trying her hardest to not be in awe, but the whole time Pearl sat there wide-eyed, gobbling up every last word I'd uttered.

"So, now that you're here, what do you think of the square? And also, what do you think of those you've met since you found us here?"

I answered with "Honestly, I think the square's a great place. It's absolutely breathtaking, and that's not even to talk about how Most of you guys seem to be very polite and accepting of absolute strangers, and you all impress me with your love of working towards something greater than yourselves. To be perfectly honest, you guys get along better with each other than humans did back in the day. Thanks to you guys, I'm not going to lose sleep anymore about Earths future, now that I know she's in safe hands."

"Thanks, that's actually really nice." Marina looked like she was about to tear up, but then asked her last question.

"What do you plan on doing during your stay here?"

That was by far the hardest question to answer.

"To be frank, I have no idea. I'll just go along doing whatever I feel, but I used to be a half decent musical artist back in the day, so that might be where I gravitate back towards."

"Oooh, watch out Pearlie, we have competition."

We shared a laugh, waved bye to the cameras, and the broadcast was over. I thanked Pearl and Marina for their time, and headed out to the square. I waved to some onlookers and took a few pictures, but afterwards, I was off on my way back to the shack. Dusk was already fading into night, and as the sun gave way, a bright, white moon appeared in the sky.

"Night, Inkopolis. See ya tomorrow."

I entered back into the shack, the old man greeted me, afterwards complimenting my performance. Apparently the latter half of the Inkopolis populace saw the broadcast.

Guess really am a celebrity now.

And with that thought floating around my head for a bit, I laid down onto my bed, and drifted off into sleep.