Chapter 5

When Amber dreamt about meeting the Squid Sisters, she imagined it being at a concert, lights ablaze, along with other rowdy fans around her. This… this was not what she expected.

"But Marie! I've seen her fight, she can be a useful member!" Marie shakes her head, glaring at Ika. "She is just a child, and from the looks of it, she only just turned into her bipedal form. She cannot fight!"

Amber just stares, wondering what the hell was happening. One second she was in awe at seeing her two idols, and the next, Ika is being lectured by an irritated Marie. Even Callie seemed confused.

Ika frowns, then says "Marie, you can't use her age. Me and Callie were 15 when we started!"

Marie's eye twitches, then she says "And what about battle experience? We had training from gramps long before we joined. How good is she?"

Ika freezes, then says "Um…" He turns to Amber and says "Was that Turf War your only battle?" Amber nods.

Marie gestures to Amber and says "See! She admits to having little battle experience. You can't just bring someone in like this Ika!"

Ika just frowns, then says "But… she was amazing on the battlefield. In that one match, she managed to get a kill on pure instinct, painted the most turf, AND snuck into the enemy base, when an enemy was there! She would've gone without a death too if she didn't… freeze when she got a special."

Marie raises an eyebrow and eyes Amber, filing the info Ika just gave her for later. Ika then says "She has stealth, and an innate battle sense. Not to mention a good aim. She has almost all the skills needed to be an agent."

Marie turns to Ika and says "Almost all of them? Care to tell me what the missing ones are?"

Ika frowns, then says "Besides the obvious lack of experience, she also seems to have trouble working under pressure. Also, there's that odd… issue she has with specials."

Marie's eyes narrow as she takes in the information. "Even if this is the case, she shouldn't go out there. It's dangerous, much more dangerous than anything anyone has ever done.'"

Suddenly, Callie decides to step in. "Hey guys, how about we let Amber decide? We tell her the qualifications, and she can decide whether to join."

Ika looks at his sister for a bit, before nodding with a smile. "Sure, I'm fine with that."

Callie turns to Marie expectantly. Marie stares at her cousin, then sighs. "Fine. We'll do what Callie said."

Callie grins while Ika breaths a mental sigh of relief. Ika smiles and turns to Amber. She looks at him expectantly, telling the older inkling that she knew what was going on. He then says "Alright Amber. If you wanna be an agent, you need to know some things first. One, you need to train, A LOT. If this means turf wars or just your own personal training, it doesn't matter. Just know you need to be fit and stamina filled. Two, you need good stealth skills. A lot of our missions involve sneaking around, and being loud is NOT an option. And finally, the most important part. You will be fighting a whole civilization with only us at your side."

Amber's eyes widen immensely at this. She knew they were secret agents, but a whole civilization?! How could they do that? She voices her thoughts, making Ika chuckle. "Good question. You see, we fight them through various means. Sometimes we take out an important person, or maybe we disable their factories. Or maybe we just mess with them so much they can't get anything done. No matter what happens though, we are always in the dark, far from where we can be seen. If we ever do get caught, we run like hell until we reach home."

The younger inkling's resolve seems to dim greatly at this. She knew this wouldn't be easy, but to be THIS difficult? It seemed impossible. But… she had to protect the city. If their thoughts were right, then the Octarians did something bigger than they've ever done before.

Marie sighs, not knowing what was going through the younger inkling's head. "You see, she's scared. She can't do i-" "I'll do it."

Marie freezes as she hears the sudden declaration. She turns to Amber and stutters out "W-What?"

Amber frowns, her eyes blazing with determination. "I said, I'll do it. I'll be an agent."

Marie blinks in surprise, while Ika and Callie grin, each for their own reason. Marie stares a bit longer, then coughs. Trying to gain back her dignity, she says "W-Well then, this was unexpected. Are you sure about this?"

Amber just nods and says "Absolutely."

Marie frowns, then sighs in defeat. "Alright. Ika, you still have the vest?"

Ika nods and brings it over. Marie grabs it, then walks over to Amber. "Well… um…."

Amber grins and says "Amber." Marie chuckles, then says "Well, Amber, you are now officially Agent 3. With this vest you promise to protect the city from any and all threats, no matter the cost. Do you accept this oath?"

Amber giggles at the little initiation, then nods. Marie makes a small smile, masking her inner thoughts. "Then you are one of us now."

Amber grins widely, then jumps in the air. Ika cheers with her, while Callie claps in congratulations. Marie smiles a bit, then frowns. "She's just a kid. She can't do missions on her own. She needs assistance, but Ika won't let me help. Although, I AM a sniper. Maybe I don't need to DIRECTLY help."

Smiling with her plan in mind, she walks over to the group. Ika was talking, saying "Alright. Now that you are an agent, you need a weapon. From what you used earlier, I already thought of the best one."

Ika reaches behind him, then shows Amber her new weapon. Amber's eyes go wide with awe, and there's no wonder why. The weapon was a shooter, that much was certain. It had a sleek black and yellow design, along with an odd contraption on top. It had softly glowing blue lights in it, shining just a bit in Ika's hands. Amber takes the weapon hesitantly, then says "F-For me?"

Ika nods. "That is the Hero Shooter. It is a military grade weapon designed to hit harder than normal weapons, specifically to punch through armor. You need that in the field, as almost all the Octarian soldiers wear high-grade armor."

Amber grins widely, then hugs Ika, startling the older inkling. "Thank you!" She pulls back, a small blush of embarrassment on her face. She coughs, then says "S-So, what do I do now?"

Ika grins and says "I believe a mission is in order to test out your skills some more. Right guys?" Callie nods, Marie more reluctantly.

Before Amber can voice her thoughts, Ika pulls out his phone. He frowns, looking at the available missions. "Aha!" He grins and says "Here's one! Low skill enemies, only a few of them, and a lot of cover. No octolings either. It should be simple."

Amber goes over and looks over Ika's shoulder to see a display on it. It showed a map, along with various enemies inside and their skill, if known.

Ika scrolls down, then shows her a set of numbers. "You can jump using coordinates, right?" Amber nods. That was a skill almost all young inklings learned early on.

Getting his answer, Ika then says "Alright. One more thing before you depart." He runs back to the cabin, then returns with what looked like a headset. Ika hands the headset to Amber and says "This headset will let you communicate with us on missions, along with telling you when your armor is in critical condition. If it beeps red, get to cover and proceed with extreme caution. We can't fix vests until we get here."

Amber nods in understanding, then puts her headset on. Oddly enough, she could still hear outside of it, despite the device completely covering her ears. Ika, seeing that she was now ready, says "Alright Agent 3. Good luck out there!"

Amber grins and nods. She takes one more look at the coordinates, then she turns into a squid and blasts into the air. She flies for just a couple seconds before landing in another area of the valley.

She lands with a small thud and converts back to her humanoid form. She looks around, wondering what to do now. Suddenly, some static is heard in her ear, and then a voice. "Three! Can you hear me?"

Amber nods, slightly relieved to hear Ika's voice. "Yeah, I can hear you Ika."

There was a slight pause, then Ika says "Hey, don't call me by my real name out here, alright? We go by agent numbers as long as one of us is in the field."

Amber frowns, then says "Sorry." Ika chuckles, then says "No need to worry. Just don't do it again. Anyways, see that kettle beneath you?"

Amber blinks, then looks down. There was in fact a kettle there. Voicing her confirmation, Ika then says "Alright. Go into the kettle. It'll take you to that area's cavern. Your target location should be to the right of the kettle exit."

The younger inkling nods, then slips through the bars. She feels herself blast through the pipe at high speeds, quickly reaching her destination.

Amber pops out of the kettle, then looks around cautiously. There were buildings around her, but she seemed to be in some sort of alley. Ika's voice then says "Jump up."

Amber nods, then super jumps up to the roof tops. She hers Ika curse suddenly, and then he says "Sorry. You didn't know this, or how to jump silently, but try not to super jump your missions. They are noisy and could attract unwanted attention."

The new agent frowns, then nods. She looks to her right, remembering what Ika said earlier. She narrows her eyes when she still sees nothing but buildings. Deciding to jump in, Ika says "You see that large warehouse?"

Amber looks for a bit, before noticing the big building on the outskirts of the area. Ika then says "Your target is inside. Hurry over there."

Needing no other initiative, Amber quickly runs across the various buildings to the warehouse. She looks around in curiosity, but also nervously. The area was quiet, eerily so. She shivers unconsciously, then focuses on her mission.

Amber leaps across the last building, landing on the rooftop a few feet from the warehouse. She jumps over to warehouse roof, moving quieter now that she knew enemies were beneath her.

She quickly moves over to a small skylight (which seemed unneeded underground, but whatever), and opens up the small entrance panel. She grips the edge, then silently lowers herself onto the metal walkway.

Ika watches the whole thing with a small smile, Callie and Marie right behind him. "Not even half done with her first mission and she already knows some of the more basic stealth tactics. Impressive for a beginner."

Callie nods. "She's so good, you'd think she's done this before. Right Marie?"

For a bit, no response was given. Callie and Ika turn around, Ika saying "Marie?" Behind them was a distinct lack of silver and green. Ika looks for a bit, then turns back to the screen. He suddenly sees a flash of green, just for a split second, through the cameras. He frowns, knowing exactly what this was.

Amber slowly makes her way across the walkway, careful to keep her steps as quiet as possible. She had looked down earlier to see a couple enemies moving about, two of them guarding a small, bulb-like container. She instantly knew that bulb was her target. Guard meant something important.

After what felt like an agonizingly slow walk, she finally reaches a set of, thankfully, stone stairs. She gets off the walkway and made her way down to the next walkway. She continues down until she reached the bottom of the warehouse.

Amber looks around, quickly locating an enemy. Just as she is about to shoot, Ika says "Careful when you shoot Three. Those weapons may be silenced, but ink splatters can bit a bit too loud."

Amber frowns and nods. Instead of shooting the enemy, she decided to look for a different way around. She turns to the other pathway through the various crates, peeking out to see if the enemy was there.

She blinks in surprise when she notices the enemy gone. She frowns and steps out cautiously. She moves forwards slowly, looking for any sign of the enemy she was sure was there just a bit ago.

Soon, Amber finds herself at the next corner. Her frown deepens as she looks back. Seeing no one there, she decides to ignore it for now. She never noticed the splatter of green ink between the crates.

Amber peeks around the corner and sees one enemy guarding the back path to the upper area she needed to reach. She carefully brings her gun around the corner and aims down the sights. Then, she pulls the trigger.

The ink flies silently through the air, before hitting the odd tentacle that was her enemy. The Octarian barely has time to register it was hit before it was knocked off of its pedestal. It hits the ground and doesn't move again.

Amber breathes out a sigh of relief, stepping around the corner. She quickly makes her way to the stairway, pausing at the Octarian's body. She stares for a bit, then shakes her head and continues forwards.

Callie chuckles and says "She's already better with kills than you are." Ika just grumbles to himself in response, making Callie giggle.

Amber runs up the stairs to the raised platform in the middle of the warehouse. The bulb was in front of her, and the guards were staring ahead. She walks up slowly and carefully, not willing to take it quickly.

She sneaks up behind the first Octarian, then slams the butt of her gun onto the Octarian's head. It crumples like a puppet with its strings cut and falls to the ground, its pedestal sitting there silently.

Amber turns to the other Octarian, only to blink in surprise. The other guard was lying on the ground, a small patch of green ink on its chest.

Amber looks around, surprised, and wondering what just happened. She doesn't see anyone, then shrugs. She turns to her target within the bulb.

It was a small, yellow catfish, electricity coming off of its body constantly. It stares at her with wide, fearful eyes, but otherwise makes no noise.

Amber looks at the bulb, wondering how to get the zapfish out, when she notices a panel. She opens the panel, then grabs the zapfish. She gasps quietly when the electricity zaps her, but she held on. The wires in the bulb detach from the fish, and Amber holds it close to her.

She looks around, not seeing any enemies. Deciding her next course of action, she runs back the way she came, up to the rooftop. She gets on the roof and runs across the other rooftops, back to the small alley the kettle was located in. She takes a deep breath, then says "Hang on little zapfish. This is going to be a bumpy ride."

Amber eyes the kettle, then falls off the building. She closes her eyes, waiting for the impact she half expected to happen. Instead, she feels her body convert to ink and fall into the kettle. She shoots back up to the surface, appearing on the kettle entrance.

Ika, after a while of silence, finally says "Nice job Three. Come back home." Amber nods, then super jumps towards the cabin.

She lands on the ground, still holding the zapfish. Callie comes over and grabs the little fish, bringing it somewhere. Amber looks at Ika and says "Did I do good?"

Ika nods with a grin. "You were amazing! Tell me, what happened to that fear I saw in turf wars?"

Amber frowns, then says "I was still scared, but I didn't let it get to me. It also helped that there were so few enemies!"

Ika nods, a twitch in his eye as he knew why. "Right. Anyways, it's time for you to go back to Inkopolis. We can continue a later time."

Amber frowns in disappointment, then nods. She waves at Ika, who returns the gestures. Then, the young inkling jumps into the pipe, returning home.

"So, you finally returned. How was the little trip, Marie?" Marie frowns as she walks to Ika. "What trip? I just went to check on the kettles."

Ika turns around and glares at his cousin. "Don't lie to me Marie. I saw you on Amber's cameras."

Marie looks at her cousin, then sighs. "I should've known you would've found out." Ika raises an eyebrow, and Marie puts her hands up defensively. "She's too young! She needed help!"

Ika sighs, then says "I would argue, but I am in a good mood. We'll talk about this later." Ika walks to the cabin and enters without another word, leaving Marie standing there, wondering if she made a mistake.