Arc 2 Chapter 4
It was getting late as the sun was setting on Inkopolis. The plaza was still filled with turf war players though shops were closing early making final preparations for the square opening. Inklings were hanging out talking about turf wars, the latest fashion and the square opening as usual.
Cassie was walking through the plaza and made her way to the tram station. She got on board and made her way to the Bluefin Depot on the other side of the city. When she got off the at the station near the location she squid formed and slithered to the abandoned area.
The Bluefin Depot was an abandoned coal mining area that was used as a turf war arena. Cassie remembered playing turf wars at it some time ago and had to often worry about inklings sniping from the railway that ran over the area. She looked around and seen that area was clear with not a soul around until she spotted two figures on a platform in front of her.
Cassie recognized them as Marie and Callie in their disguises. She squid jumped to the platform to meet with them.
"Agent 3 I'm glad you made it, now what can you tell us?" asked Marie.
"Well, I encountered a mysterious figure at Urchin Overpass, it had its face covered by a pair of goggles, and part of its body was hidden by a cloak. I tried to subdue it but my ink didn't stop it though I could tell it was hurt. Oh... and it threw this at my head when It ran from me. It looks like a squid badge," said Cassie as she handed the brass squid badge to Marie.
"That does look like a squid badge," said Callie as she looked at the badge that Marie was holding.
"This doesn't make any sense, how on earth did it have possession of this though it looks old and its made out of brass instead of plastic like the one I issued you," said Marie as she examined the brass squid badge.
Cassie shrugged unsure why the mysterious figure had a squid badge.
"I think we ought to take it to gramps, maybe he would know something," said Callie to Marie.
"I think you're right Callie If anyone would know it would be gramps," said Marie.
"What else can you tell me about the figure," asked Marie as she faced Cassie.
"It was kinda tall to be an inkling or even an octoling, I mean my ink didn't have a lot of effect on it when I shot it in the back when it ran away from me, unless it was wearing splat armor which I doubt it did," explained Cassie.
"Where did it go?" asked Marie.
"I lost in an alleyway on the far side of the overpass that led to the plaza, I don't think it would have run through the plaza as busy as it was, it disappeared in the alley somewhere, I'm not sure," said Cassie.
"This is getting strange, I'm wondering if this is the same creature that got away at the Shellendorf Institute, so many questions and not enough answers," said Marie as she pondered.
"We appreciate all the information you gave us an agent, will inform Cuttlefish about what you saw, hopefully, we'll get to the bottom of this," said Callie to Cassie.
"Alright agent 3, you can head home now, me and agent 1 are gonna take this to Cuttlefish maybe he can tell us something about this old badge," said Marie.
Cassie nodded and squid jumped off the platform and headed back to the tram station while the squid sisters vanished off the platform and headed to Cuttlefish's. What they didn't know was that two figures were watching them eavesdropping on their conversation. The figures appeared to be two inklings hiding behind a container below the platform the three were talking on.
One inkling sneered and looked back at the other inkling.
"We need to tell Camper about this immediately," said the sneering inkling.
"Then let's go," said the other inkling.
The two inklings squid formed and slithered into the shadows out of sight.
Cassie finally made it home at Flounder Heights. It was a neighborhood full of apartment complexes and small parks. As she made it toward her apartment she saw a yellow tentacled squid girl waiting for her, it was Izzy.
"Hey, Cass! where've you been? I've been trying to call you!" exclaimed Izzy slightly frustrated.
Cassie pulled out her phone and saw that Izzy had called and left messages.
"Um... I was busy with something, sorry I didn't answer," said Cassie as she downed her head rubbing the back of it.
"It's alright... did you ever find out who that figure was or anything," asked Izzy.
"no, I haven't found out anything," said Cassie in a meek tone.
"Is something the matter, your acting odd," asked Izzy.
"Hmm... It's nothing, Hey, you wanna come in and watch a movie or something?" asked Cassie trying to change the subject.
"Sure!" said Izzy happily.
The two of them walked in Cassie's apartment. In the lobby, they made their way to the elevator. Cassie pushed the button and made their way up to one of the upper floors and got out. Down the hallway, they made it inside Cassie's apartment.
Cassie's apartment was not very big consisting of a large den, small kitchen looking into the den. two doors on the right side of the den. the door on the left went into the bedroom while the door on the right into the bathroom.
In the den was a couch looking toward a flat-screen tv perched on the wall alongside a bookshelf. The apartment seemed overall average like the rest of the other ones.
"Wow, this is nice Cassie, I can't wait until I can afford my own apartment," said Izzy looking around the room.
"Wait, you don't have your own apartment, then where have you been staying?" asked Cassie curiously.
"With some friends of mine, but they had to go out town for a family emergency back at the county," answered Izzy.
"Well, you could stay with me then, if you want," said Cassie.
"I can, oh thank you, Cass," said Izzy in excitement as she rushed to hug Cassie.
Cassie gave a grin and rubbed the back of her head.
After a while, they got done watching a movie as they were sitting on the couch. Cassie stretched and got off the couch to the kitchen to get her and Izzy a soda. Izzy looked over toward the bookshelf as a book was hanging out from the rest of them. Izzy was curious and walked over towards the bookshelf.
She picked it up and opened the book unable to read it. "Cass, what kind of book is this, I can't read it and I don't recognize any of the letters," asked a puzzled Izzy.
Cassie closed the fridge with two sodas in her hand and looked over the bar towards Izzy.
"Oh... I think that's a human book that was found at one of the excavation sites, I can't read it neither since it's in human language", explained Cassie.
"A human book? Then why keep it if you can't read it, shouldn't it belong in a museum or something," said Izzy.
Cassie walked back into the den towards Izzy and laid the sodas down on the small table.
"I've been fascinated by human artifacts and history since I learned about them in school. Both inklings and the octarians don't know much about them besides digging up their old technology and artifacts. They were lucky enough to dig up a fossil of a human not too long ago and put it in the Shellendorf Institute," said Cassie.
"wow, a human fossil? I wonder what they were like?" asked Izzy.
"nobody knows, we can't read any of their books or magazines they keep finding, no one can decipher their language," explained Cassie.
"wouldn't it be cool to meet one and learn about them," said Izzy as she put the book back on the shelf.
"Yeah, I guess it would, though the fossil at the institute showed they had small heads and were taller than an inkling," said Cassie but just then she froze in thought.
After a moment Cassie had a concerned look on her face as she was stuck in thought. Izzy looked at her with concern after a moment she responded.
"Cass? Cass?... CASS!" shouted Izzy bumping Cassie back in reality out of thought.
Cassie shook her head and turned back to Izzy.
"Cass, what's wrong?" asked a worried Izzy.
"I just thought about the fossil and that cloaked figure we saw at Urchin Overpass, but that would be impossible," explained Cassie.
"what do you mean Cass?" asked Izzy.
"That metal pod in the back room could've been that... no way, humans have been extinct for thousands of years," mumbled Cassie.
"What did you say, Cass?" asked Izzy.
"It's nothing, Let's get ready for bed I'm getting tired," said Cassie as she changed the subject.
Cassie grabbed two sleeping bags and threw them on the floor in the den. Izzy laid on one and Cassie on the other. The two of them stayed awake for a moment until Izzy broke the silence as she sat up from her sleeping bag.
"Hey, Cass," asked Izzy.
"yeah," responded Cassie.
"Thank you for letting me stay over," said a grateful Izzy.
"You're welcome Izzy," said Cassie.
"Hey, Cass, what do you wanna do tomorrow?" asked Izzy.
"I'm not sure, I heard the square will be finally opening tomorrow, but the new tower for the turf war games won't open until a week after the opening since the great zapfish has to move but the stores will be open though," said Cassie.
"Cool, I'd love that. I still haven't bought a weapon yet or practiced for the turf war games since I've been here," said Izzy.
"well we can head to Sheldon's new store and get you a starter kit then head over to the tutorial area for training if you want," said Cassie.
"Alright, I'd appreciate it, Cass. I can't wait until tomorrow gets here!" said Izzy excitedly as she threw her arms in the air and fell back down.
"Goodnight, Cass," said Izzy as she turned over toward Cassie and gave a wide smile.
"Goodnight, Izzy," said Cassie as she smiled back and rolled over.
The two of them finally fell asleep eager for the next day.
While all of Inkopolis was asleep one figure down below was having a hard time sleeping. Blake was unable to sleep on his back due to the stinging from when the green tentacled inkling girl chased him threw the overpass area and shot him in the back with her ink gun.
Blake was jerking around in his sleep as he was trying not to lay on his back.
"Dang! that ink gun that inkling shot me with stung, I'm glad I'm not an inkling or I would've been splatted for sure. I didn't expect such a hostile encounter like that. I didn't mean to scare them. guess they've never met a human before," said Blake as he rubbed his back and gave a long sigh.
Blake's stomach growled as he pressed it.
"I'm gonna die of starvation if I don't get something to eat soon, I'll have to try and sneak past all the inklings in that plaza and hunt for some food, I've no choice but to risk getting caught and if I do maybe they'll let me explain myself. hopefully, I won't get shot at," said Blake.
Blake yawned and tried to lay down. "But, it can wait in the morning, I gotta try and get some sleep seems like the pain is starting to go away," said Blake as he turned over on his back clinching.
Blake's eyes slowly started to close and he finally fell asleep.
Blake was dreaming about his time with Cuttlefish and Mimi and the others. recounting the good times and the events that conspired in the great turf war. After a while, the memories had stopped and a new vision had occurred.
Blake was seeing three humans that had landed on a beach on a life raft. One was an older male in his 40s as well as an older woman around the same age with a young girl that looked like she was in her teens. They got off the raft and looked around on the beach.
"Dad! I don't see Blake or that metal pod he was in," said the young girl.
"Hopefully we might see his pod floating somewhere offshore," answered the older man.
"James, I hope Blake is alright," said the older woman approaching the man with a distressed look.
"Me too dear, me too," said the man as he hugged the woman.
"What do we do now?" asked the girl.
"I'll see if we can get in contact with the Ark, I'm gonna have to head back to the rescue shuttle and use the comms on it to get a hold of the main ship, I'm hoping someone will answer before they all go into cryostasis," said the man as he walked back to the raft and pushed it back into the sea with him jumping back on it.
"Be careful James!" shouted the woman as the man looked and waved to them as he drifted off toward the floating small ship that crashed in the water they were on.
The man slowly made his way back to the rescue shuttle. Onboard he headed to the cockpit and got on the comms.
"Hello! Hello! This is doctor James Carter. I and my family are stuck on a deserted island. he had obtained a rescue shuttle onboard the Ark Polaris to retrieve a pod that my son had ejected from the ship and landed back down towards the earth. I and my family need to be rescued immediately before the ship and its crew goes into cryostasis. Please send a rescue team immediately," reported the man but no response was given.
"I hope someone up there heard my message and that it's not late," said the man in distress.
The man walked out of the cockpit to notice that water was entering the shuttle. It was slowly sinking and the man panicked.
The man frantically grabbed food, water, and supplies and threw them on the life raft. The shuttle was soon completely submerged and the man swam out of the side hatch and clung on to the side of the raft catching his breath.
The man soon climbed aboard the raft and made it back to the island.
He jumped off the life raft once he got on shore and bent over from exhaustion.
"James! are you alright, we saw the shuttle sinking and we feared the worst," said the woman as she raced towards him hugging him.
"I'm ok! I called the Ark and told them about the situation but I didn't get a response back, hopefully, someone heard it and they didn't go into cryostasis yet," explained the man.
"Dad! I was worried," said the girl as she was hugging him.
"don't you worry, I did manage to get everything off the shuttle before it sank. We'll be able to have enough supplies and food surely before the ship sends a rescue team down here to come and get us," said the man with assurance.
"I hope so James," said the woman.
"Well, let's keep a lookout for that metal pod and establish a shelter for now," commanded the man.
The three of them scattered about to retrieve stuff for building the shelter with and to search for the metal pod Blake was in. The vision fades to black and Blake soon wakes up.
Blake sat up and held his head. "I had one of those visions again, like back when I was with Cuttlefish... oh my head, when will this end, I just wanna go home," said Blake as tears started to form. He sulked for a moment and got up. He decided to try and go look around hoping to find food as his stomach growled.
The squid sisters were asleep in the studio but they were soon woken up by an alarm clock. Callie moaned and turned then finally sat up to turn the alarm off and looked toward Marie who was laying down facing away from her.
"Marie, we gotta get up," said Callie as she was rubbing her cousin.
"mmm... do we have to," mumbled Marie.
"yes, we gotta go see gramps soon and the plaza will be closing today for the square opening," explained Callie as she was pulling on Marie's ear.
Oww... Callie, don't do that!" said Marie holding her ear in frustration.
"Sorry Marie but you wouldn't get up," said Callie apologetically.
"(sigh) what am I gonna do with you? Alright I'll get up," said Marie as she got out of bed.
The squid sisters got ready and got dressed in their disguises and made their way to the main studio floor. Once there, they looked around in distress knowing they were going to miss giving the news for Inkopolis.
"(sigh) I'm gonna miss this place," said Marie.
"Me too Marie, I wish we could stay," said a saddened Callie.
"Cal, you know we can't. The plaza won't be open anymore and we won't be giving the news or announcements of turf matches," said Marie aggravated that they had to leave.
A tear ran down Callie's face as she started to sniffle. her cousin looked at her and felt guilt from the tone she gave Callie.
"Cal, I'm sorry, I didn't mean too..." said Marie comforting her cousin.
"It's ok Marie, I know you're frustrated at the fact that we lost our jobs and all," said Callie hugging her cousin back.
"I at least we don't have to worry about getting mobbed by fans anymore and see family more often," said Marie.
"Yeah I guess so, It's gonna feel strange, I mean not going on missions since we're at peace with the octarians," said Callie looking back at Marie.
"Yeah no more excitement, no more adventure," said Marie.
"No more working with gramps," said Callie in a saddened tone.
"speaking of gramps we better leave and go talk to him about the squid badge Cassie had gotten from that thing she chased, we're supposed to talk with him at the storm drain near the vending machines," said Marie as they walked out of the studio and down toward the plaza.
The two walked across the plaza and looked around. The plaza was vacant and the stores were closed even Crusty Sean's.
"Man this place feels like a ghost town, It's strange it's not busy like it used to be," said Marie.
"Yeah, it's kinda creepy," said Callie.
The two made their way to the storm drain and were greeted by Captain Cuttlefish.
"Well grandsquids did you find out anything?" asked Cuttlefish.
"Well sort of, Agent 3 reported to us about a strange cloaked figure she encountered at Urchin Underpass. The creature had its face concealed with googles so we don't know what it was. She said it was tall so that may leave out it being an inkling or octoling. It also threw this at her as it got away," said Marie as she handed the squid badge to Cuttlefish.
"Also when Agent 3 shot it in the back the ink seemed to have little effect on it and she lost it down an alleyway leading to the plaza," explained Marie.
Cuttlefish examined the old brass badge and a look of utter shock appeared on his face.
"Gramps, what's wrong!" exclaimed Callie in worry.
"This... can't be..." panned Cuttlefish as he stared hard at the badge.
"Gramps, what is it?" asked Marie with concern.
Cuttlefish remained silent for a moment not saying anything until.
"I wanna be left alone for a little while," said Cuttlefish as he downed his head and clutched the squid badge.
"What? Gramps I..." said a confused Marie.
"Just go! Just go report to agent 3 and try and get more information on the figure she encountered," commanded Cuttlefish.
"But Gramps, what is this all..." exclaimed a confused Marie as she was cut off.
"That's an order!" shouted Cuttlefish pointing with his bamboo cane.
Cuttlefish hoped back into the storm drain as the girls turned away.
"What was that about?" asked Marie still pondering at what had gotten over Cuttlefish.
"I've never seen him like that, what's going on," said Callie with concern.
"I don't know Cal, but let's give him some space, maybe later we can get to the bottom of this," said Marie as her Callie walked out of the plaza and onto the tram.
Meanwhile, Cuttlefish hoped out of the storm drain back at his shack in Octo Valley. he walked into the shack and headed to a dresser in his bedroom. He pulled out an old photo at the bottom of the drawer. He looked at the photo of him, Octavio, and Blake from long ago. He then held up the brass squid badge in his other hand.
"It can't be bucko, this doesn't make any sense, your supposed to be dead," said a saddened Cuttlefish as a tear ran down his cheek before he sat on his bed looking at the photo.
That same morning Blake had made his way to the plaza from the alleyway before the squid sisters met up with Cuttlefish. He saw that the plaza was empty and took this opportunity to look around for food. He looked around and was shocked that the plaza wasn't busy as it has been.
"I wonder what happened to everybody?" Blake pondered.
As he walked he saw stores and a studio off to the side with a walkway. He also noticed the tall tower overlooking the plaza with the great zapfish curled around it. "Woah, what the! Wait, is that the... It can't be! That's the great zapfish! But the octarians had it and... wait..." said Blake as he was bewildered and took another look around the plaza.
"This place looks familiar to me, but I've never been here. Something strange is going on," said Blake as he then heard a door open. It was coming from the studio to his right.
Blake panicked and ran behind a trash can. He saw two tall inkling girls walk out of the studio and down the walkway. They appeared different from other inkling girls he had seen. One had black and magenta tentacles that were tied up and the other had shorter grey and green tentacles. Their eyes were gold-colored with an X-shaped pupil as well as their ears were longer and more pointed.
"They look different from other inklings, maybe I better stay out of sight, I don't want another encounter like the last one," said Blake to himself.
The both of them walked across the plaza talking to themselves until they got to the far side of the plaza toward some vending machines and a storm drain.
All of a sudden another figure popped open the storm drain and climbed up. It appeared to be another inkling also different in appearance. He appeared much older than the females with a beard and walking cane. He was wearing tattered clothes with medals on them. He was also wearing a captain's hat that somehow looked familiar to Blake.
The older looking inkling was talking to the tall female inklings. He was soon given an item that he couldn't make out from the grey-headed inkling. The older bearded inkling was looking at the item and sounded upset. He soon pointed to the girl inklings to leave and went back in the storm drain as the female inklings left out of sight.
Blake was unsure about the situation and came out when the inklings finally left. He thought about the captain's hat on the old inkling and wondered for a moment.
"It couldn't be," Blake said to himself. Blake shook his head and focused back on finding food. He went over towards Crusty Sean's but it was closed and there was nothing inside.
Blake's stomach growled as he looked around desperately. He then remembered the vending machines he spotted near the storm drain and rushed toward them.
Blake looked at the vending machines and saw small snacks in them. He tried to reach inside and grab a snack but he was unsuccessful. He then attempted to shake the machine but was still unsuccessful.
Blake was frustrated and saw a brick lying on the ground near him. He soon picked it up and threw it at the machine. It bounced off the glass and came back at him but Blake managed to duck in time. Blake turned back to the machine and kicked it as he walked away. He then heard a snack fall down and land on the bottom tray. He perked up and ran back to the machine to grab the snack and ripped it open.
Blake took a bite and spit it out. "What is this!" said Blake in disgust.
Blake took a look at the bag and saw that it was kelp chips. Blake was unsure what kelp chips were but he didn't care for them. He threw the bag down and walked away with his stomach growling.
As Blake was walking he thought about the old inkling he saw with the captain's hat thinking somehow he was familiar but unsure why. Blake continued until he made his way to another alleyway hoping to find food somewhere else as he was getting weaker and more tired.