Arc 2 Chapter 25

Back at the inn where the squid sisters and Blake were staying. Marie carried Callie back to her room still unresponsive. She laid her on the bed as Marie left out to gather her things out of the girl's changing rooms. After a moment Callie slowly opened her eyes and came to her senses still in squid form lying on the bed. "What happened?" asked Callie to herself. She looked around and noticed she was back in her and Marie's room. She slowly remembered about her dropping on the other side of the divider to stop Sunny from doing the unthinkable to Blake and landing on Blake's lap falling right on his... "Oh, Cod!" shouted Callie in her mind. She changed back still naked and hid under the covers of the bed in a fetal position. She was unbelievably embarrassed at what had happened.

Marie had made her way back to their room with Callie's things and noticed a hump under the covers. "Callie? Is that you?" asked Marie.

"Don't look at me!" shouted Callie under the covers.

"Callie what's wrong?" asked Marie with deep concern.

"I don't wanna talk about it!" she shouted again.

"Cal, what happened? why are you acting like this?" asked Marie as she went to try and uncover Callie. But Callie clinched the blankets even more and whimpered.

"(sigh) C'mon, tell me what happened?" asked Marie again as she sat down on the bed next to Callie who wouldn't come out.

After half a minute, Callie finally spoke up and gave a deep breath. "I...I... don't know how to explain this...When I fell off the divider, I...landed on something," said Callie as she was fighting to keep her composure under the covers.

"landed on something? What sunny...blake," guessed Marie unsure why Callie was making a big deal about the situation.

"Umm...Blake" said Callie meekly.

"Ok, so I'm sure he's fine," said Marie.

"Mmmm..." hummed Callie. "It wasn't so much Blake it was...uh," Callie said hesitantly.

Marie raised her eyebrow and was confused by Callie's behavior. "Callie, you're not making any sense, why are you..." said Marie as Callie uncovered her head and looked at her cousin dead in the eye with a bright red face. "I fell on it! And it went..." shouted Callie as her cousin looked at her with a shocked expression. "Wait, it?..." responded Marie to her cousin's estranged outburst and finally pieced together what had happened. Marie's eyes widened and her face turned red. Her cheeks puffed and she covered her mouth. She tried to contain her laughter as tears formed in her eyes. Marie finally burst into a laughing spree and fell on the floor holding her stomach.

"Marie! This isn't funny! I've never been this embarrassed not even as much as the folk singing contest from years ago.

"I'm...I'm...sorry Cal, it's just...(snicker) I've never laughed so hard in my life!" shouted Marie as she went into another fit of laughter.

"Well I've never been embarrassed in all my life!" shouted Callie who was getting flustered by her cousin's laughing.

"Ok, Cal I'll...stop, just get your clothes back on and I'll go check on Blake," said Marie trying to contain her laughter.

"I'll go with you," said Callie putting her shirt on.

"Umm, I think you should stay here, I think he would feel the same way you did," advised Marie.

"Well, I wanna talk to him, I don't want him thinking I hate him or something, I...hate to admit it but...I kinda liked it," said Callie as she gave a bright blush.

"So you mean to tell me that you wanted to beat that inkling hussie to the punch then," said Marie giving her cousin a smirk.

"What! Shut up, Marie! It's not like that!" shouted Callie with a red face.

"Calm down Cal, I'm just squiddin' Ya, let's head over to Blake's room," said Marie as Callie gave her cousin a displeased look with her arms crossed.

Meanwhile, Blake was laying across the bed after he had gotten dressed. Blake had his eyes closed deep in thought wanting to forget the hot spring incident between him and Callie. He rubbed his face and moaned falling into deep regret even though it wasn't his fault. He stared back at the ceiling and thought to himself. "I should just leave and not tell the girls, I'm just mortified about what happened. Callie and Marie might not talk to me for a while. I don't blame them though," said Blake feeling remorse.

He sat up and started packing his things before anyone else found out. After a couple of minutes, someone had knocked on his door. He was expecting it to be Marie's father wanting an explanation. "I guess I better face the music," said Blake as he walked toward the sliding door.

When he partially opened it and peered out, He had a grim look on his face. "Marie?" he said in shock.

"Hey...Blake, can we come in?" asked Marie meekly.

"We? Who else is..." said Blake as he spotted another figure behind Marie. It was Callie rubbing her arm looking down.

"Blake...I wanna talk," said Callie looking at him seriously.

Blake gave a sigh and downed his head. "well, come on in," said Blake as he waved them in the room.

Marie noticed that Blake's bags were packed. "Blake? were you leaving?" she asked.

"Yeah, after what happened...I didn't you guys would wanna talk to me," said Blake sadly.

"What? That's not true! It was an accident, I was the one who fell over the divider, When I saw Sunny moving in on you, I just couldn't...stand it anymore," said Callie starting to blush.

"Cal, it's not only your fault. It was my idea to boost you over the railing and besides Sunny is to blame for all this, If I ever see that squid again, I would yank her tentacles off and turn her into my father!" exclaimed Marie in an angered tone.

"You guys, I know you're trying to make me feel better but the damage is done, I just wanna head back to Inkopolis," said Blake as he walked away.

He felt a hand on his shoulder as he turned around. It was Callie giving him a forgiving look, she turned him around and gave him a hug. "Callie?" he said in confusion.

"Blake it's ok, I'm not mad, I just wanna continue our little vacation, me and Marie were talking about the festival coming up and we were talking about doing a performance for our home town. I'd love you to stay and watch us sing. I've been eager to perform for you since we met," said Callie looking at Blake.

"I...are you sure?" asked Blake.

"Yes, I'm sure, C'mon Blake," said Callie tugging on Blake's arms.

"Yeah, Blake, lover girl here has been waiting for us to sing in front of you for some time now, I think this is the best time with the same contest that me and Cal got our publicity start at," said Marie with a smile.

"That sounds awesome, I have been wanting to see your guys sing since you told me you were pop singers, Alright, I'll stay!" said Blake with a smile.

"YAAAHHH! This is going to be so fresh!" shouted Callie as she jumped up with a fist pump.

Marie gave a smirk and shook her head. She turned back to Blake with a calmer composure. "I do wanna know something, though," commented Marie.

"Yeah, what is it?" asked Blake with curiosity.

"I'm assuming you were aroused by Sunny for Callie to land on you as she did," said Marie narrowing her eyes with a wide grin.

"Huh?" said Blake and Callie in unison as they turned to each other. Callie's face turned red with anger in her eyes. Blake went wide-eyed and placed his hands in front of him in defense. "No! It wasn't like that I swear!" exclaimed Blake in defense. "Marie! Why did you have to bring that up!" shouted Blake toward her with his arms up.

"You were, weren't you! You actually got swooned by that loose squid! I can't believe you!" shouted Callie in irritation.

"Callie, please let me explain! (Sigh) I can't win for losing," said Blake downing his head as Marie was chuckling off to the side.

The three eventually made up minutes later after Marie calmed things down and everything went back to normal if you can call it that.

Flash and his team were in the Musselforge fitness getting ready for their match. They were laying on a spawn pad in their squid forms, they all changed back to their bipedal forms and got ready. They were all green including Izzy. Their opposing team was pink on the other side of the stage. Izzy was extremely nervous, but Flash was assuring her that she would be fine and his team had her back. She gave a smile to him and got ready for the start of the match.

The whistle blew and they started coating ink all over the area around them. "Alright guys, just start covering everything and move forward as you go," ordered Flash.

The team coated nearly 1/4 of the stage on their side and didn't run into the opposing team yet. Izzy was being extra cautious coating the floor in front of her as she pushed toward the middle of the arena. Flash was rushing toward the center of the stage with Ben and Jazz behind watching for any pink team members.

Izzy noticed that Flash and his team weren't around and she started to panic. She stopped covering her path with ink and got behind an obstacle. "Flash? Where are you guys?" said Izzy nervously. She heard footsteps approaching as she turned looked. It was a pink team member carrying a slosher. He was coating the area with a lot of ink as he scanned the area for any green team members.

Izzy hugged the wall and clutched her splattershot jr. nervously. The slosher user was getting closer and she planned on attempting to splat him before he got too close and spotted her. She rushed around the corner facing the inkling. She shot at him but nothing happened. "What?!" exclaimed Izzy. The slosher user sneered and slung the slosher at her splatting her with his ink. She burst with her clothes and weapon left behind as an apparition of a small squid floated away and got drawn back to their spawn pad.

As Izzy formed back she had a look of fear on her face. "(gasp) what...happened? I thought I was dead and now I'm back here!" exclaimed a stunned Izzy.

"That's how spawn pads work! I assume you must have gotten plated. You better make sure your ink tank is full next time before you try to splat an opposing team player," said Flash on the squidcom.

The squidcom was a radio built on the squidwatch, so team members could communicate with each other as well as radar for the stage. "I didn't know! I was just caught up in the game, this sucks!" said a frustrated Izzy.

"It's fine Izzy just be mindful next time. Me and my team are in the middle of the fitness center. Just focus on covering the floor with ink that we might have missed and watch for the pink team," said Flash.

"Ok, then," said Izzy as she ran forward and started coating the floor with ink again.

Flash and the rest of his team were about to run onto the pink side as they got ready. A squiffer user on the pink team was lining her shot on Flash and his team as they got in her range. She focused on Jazz and pulled the trigger. Jazz was splatted in a burst of ink and her ghost floated back to the spawn pad. As she formed back she swung her arm in frustration. "Ah, Shell!" she shouted.

"Watch out for that Squiffer!" shouted Flash.

"Got it!" replied Ben.

The two of them rushed from cover to cover getting closer to the squiffer user but around the corner was a hydra user getting ready to ambush Flash and Ben.

Meanwhile, Izzy was still covering the area with ink. Jazz spotted her and rushed over toward her. "Let's go ahead and catch up with Flash and Ben, They'll get overwhelmed if we don't and we'll lose ground," said Jazz.

"Alright," said Izzy as she nodded. The two them headed toward the middle of the arena.

The hydra user jumped out from the corner spinning the hydra and aiming it at Flash and Ben. "Hydra! Take cover!" shouted Flash. They both squid formed and dove into their ink, evading the hydra user. The inkling started shooting ink over their ink hoping to hit them.

Izzy and Jazz heard the hydra firing and hurried to Flash and Ben's position. Ben was almost hit and Flash managed to get behind cover. He focused on shooting at the hydra user but the squiffer user shot at him making him take cover again.

"Carp! What do I do?" said Flash thinking of a plan.

Ben managed to get behind his own cover with the hydra user moving in on him.

"Ben hold on!" shouted Flash. All of a sudden a splat bomb fell in front of the hydra user and he didn't have time to evade it and splattered into ink.

Flash and Ben looked and saw Izzy was the one who threw it with Jazz beside her. "You guys alright?" asked Jazz.

"Yeah! thanks for the save," said Ben.

"Good job Izzy!" praising Flash with a thumbs up.

Their little victory was cut short by the squiffer and slosher user. They were cut off guard as they saw another inkling fly in the air using their dualies from the pink team. The inkling landed down in front of them on a large obstruction. The inkling was a female welding dualies like Flash. She raised them up to the green team and sneered. It was the same inkling that Izzy ran in back at the square. It was Suki and she noticed Izzy among the group.

"Hmpf...so you finally got on a team. I guess they ran out of experienced players and had to scrape up the leftover rookies in order to compete," she said.

"Hey don't talk to Izzy like that you stuck up squid!" shouted Jazz.

"Well unfortunately for her, she'll find out what turf matches are all about," jeered Suki.

"What are you waiting for! show us your moves and quit talking!" shouted Ben.

"Ok then, since you put it that way, SPECIAL WEAPON: TENTA MISSILES!" shouted Suki.

The missiles flew down splatting Flash and his whole team as they didn't have time to evade the attack. The team respawned back at their pad with Flash kneeling down punching the floor in anguish. "GAAAHHH! I can't believe she would be leading this team!" shouted an angered Flash.

"What? You know her?" asked a puzzled Izzy.

"(sigh) she used to be my...girlfriend," said Flash dropping his head.

"girlfriend!?" exclaimed Izzy in shock.

"Yeah...me and her used to see each other for some time, until we broke up a month ago," explained Flash with defeat.

"What happened?" asked Izzy.

"Hey, I don't mean to break up this...awkward conversation but we a match to get back to," said Jazz.

"yeah, the pink team has already covered over half of the stage, we gotta catch up!" said Ben.

"You guys are right, let's get back to the match," said Flash clutching his dualies. He turns back to Izzy and looks at her. "Izzy, I'll talk about it later. Right now, I'm just focused on beating her and her team, I just hope I can stay focused," said Flash turning his head away.

"Flash, I'm sorry I brought it up," said Izzy rubbing her arm.

"It's...ok Izzy," said Flash as he gave her smile and they returned to the match.

In Octo Canyon, the recon team was compromised after Melvin's bumbling and had to disperse soon after the octarians were alerted. The sergeant hid in one building, Melvin and the young female ran into a large commissary, and the last team member went missing. Once the octarian forces searched the area where the team was spotter they spread and searched around the abandoned town.

Inside the commissary, Melvin and the female were hunkered down in a small office hoping the octarians didn't find them. After a moment of waiting they presumed the octarians left and got out of the small office. "Well, I guess their gone, for now," said Melvin. He turned to the female and asked if she was ok.

"I'm fine, I just hope the others got away as we did," said the female octoling.

"Yeah, me too...hey, I didn't catch your name since we started the mission," said Melvin rubbing his head.

"Oh, I'm Private Selena, this is my first time out in the field," said Selena.

"really? me too, I admit, I didn't expect to be put in the sarge's unit," said Melvin.

"well what do we do now?" asked Selena.

"I'm not sure," said Melvin looking around. "Right now, I think we should stay out of sight, maybe there's another way out, so we don't draw attention," suggested Melvin.

The two of them walked through the building. The shelves that once held food were vacant and the floor was littered with trash and debris. "What is this place?" Selena asked as they were walking.

"It looks like an old commissary for the octarian factory workers. Seems like it's been abandoned for years, probably right after the great power outage years ago," said Melvin.

"Great Power Outage?" asked Selena.

"In the octarian history books, the great power outage, I think it happened 50 years ago when the zapfish were losing their power and dying off. It caused the power to the domes to go offline and all the remaining zapfish were transported to Octo Valley to the octarian capital. The factories were considered non-essential which caused some protest among the workers, but we had no choice," said Melvin.

"That's horrible, so they all had to leave and abandon the factories?" asked Selena.

"Yeah, unfortunately, Octo Canyon had to be vacated and everyone in it had to come back to the valley," said Melvin.

As the two continued on through the commissary they heard what sounded like something drop of the floor. "What was that?" said a startled Selena.

"I don't know, but we gotta hide again," said Melvin as he grabbed Selena. The two of them rush through a set of doors into a back room on the other side of the shopping area.

The two of them peeked out through the doors and heard a humming noise getting closer. They turned and looked to the source of the noise and saw an octotrooper on a platform scurrying down the walkway scanning the inside of the building.

"Oh, Carp! Octotrooper, get out of sight!" exclaimed Melvin quietly. The two of them hid while the octotrooper passed by. He turned toward the doors and gargled.

Melvin and Selena were hiding behind some old crates praying the octotrooper didn't see them. The octarian decided to go through the doors, once inside he looked around looking for any threats. Melvin and ducked down and did their best to sit still while the little octotrooper looked around. After a couple of minutes, the octarian left out through the doors concluding that it was clear.

"Shew, that was close," said Melvin in relief.

The two of them got up from their cover and spotted a hallway going further into the back. "Maybe there's an exit this way," said Selena pointing down the hallway.

The two walked down the empty dark hallway being watchful of there surroundings. The hallway split into two paths, one going straight and one going right. "Which way should we go now?" asked Selena.

"hmm...let's go straight," said Melvin as they continued on.

At the end of the hallway, they came into another room, it appeared to be a storage room. It was cluttered with crates and other items, but in the far corner was a metal safe.

"What's that?" pointed Selena.

"it looks...like a safe," said Melvin.

The two of them walked over and studied it. Melvin crouched down and tinkered with the tumbler but it was already open. "Huh...it's open," said Melvin.

Melvin opened the safe and saw a small book inside. "What's this?" asked Melvin as he grabbed the book. He looked through it and suddenly a picture fell out. He picked up the picture and placed the book aside. It was a picture of an octoling overseer for the factory, telling by the uniform she was wearing. The picture was old and dusty with a name on the back of it. "Matilda," said Melvin reading the name.

"Matilda?" asked Selena.

"She must've been over the factory floor when it was operating years ago. The picture looks pretty old," said Melvin before he put the picture down and turning back to the small book. Inside the book was a work roster and other personal notes. Much of the writing was worn and unreadable. The last page read:

It's the last day until the factory shuts down. Me and my family are struggling to keep food on the table due to the power shortages. I'll miss everyone and its been a pleasure working with them. I can only hope things get better, we've already lost some octarian workers due to no power and insufficient pay to buy food and supplies. Me and my family are moving back to the valley tomorrow before the dome completely shuts down. I'm sorry everyone and I wish you all the best.

-Matilda

Melvin slowly placed the book down feeling saddened by the note. "Melvin...let's keep finding a way out," said Selena placing her hand on Melvin's shoulder.

"Yeah, let's keep moving," said Melvin as he placed the picture back into the book and set it back in the safe.

The two of them left the storage room and continued through the old commissary looking for another way out.

It was in the late evening in Calamari County. Blake and the squid sisters were heading to the village center where the festival was starting and the folk singing contest was being held. Both Callie and Marie were wearing traditional kimonos while Blake still in disguise was wearing a formal outfit like the one he wore back during the great turf war. Seeing the stage and all the villagers was a reminder of his past experience with the inklings when Cuttlefish and Octavio revealed his identity among the village.

Callie and Marie would perform before the folk singing would start, giving the village a show for the opening of the festival. The two of them stayed by the stage getting ready for the performance while Blake walked around admiring the booths for the festival. As he walked along, he spotted a figure wearing a pink kimono with their back turned. He walked toward them as the figure turned around and it was Mimi. "Mimi?" said Blake.

"Blake?" she said slightly surprised.

"I'm glad to see you again," he said followed by a smile.

"Me too, this brings back old memories from years ago doesn't it," she said, smiling back.

"Yeah...It does. I never thought before to ask, but I never met your husband, where is he?" Blake asked.

Mimi's face soon turned gloomy as she turned her head. "He...passed away years ago, I've been alone for sometime now, but my children kept me company until they moved away to the city and my granddaughter has been helping me at the shop," she replied.

"I'm...sorry to hear that. Do you wanna go talk in the garden for old times sake," asked Blake.

Mimi turned her head back to blake and gave a smile. "I...would love that," said Mimi as she grabbed Blake's hand and the two walked off toward the garden.

In the garden, Blake and Mimi were recanting old times. Blake even mentioned about the hot springs incident but left out some parts he didn't want to bring up. The two were sitting on the bench like before. After several minutes of talking. Mimi looked at Blake with her eyes glued to him. "Blake I miss the good ole days...back before the war when everyone got along. When you, Cuttlefish, and Octavio were good friends. When me and you met for the first time," said Mimi as turned back to the small pond.

"Me too, Mimi...but things have changed. I'm just glad that I got to see you and Cuttlefish again. I'd hoped that me and you would get married and start our own family but things didn't work out like that," said Blake as he gave a deep sigh.

Blake went into deep thought and the two remained quiet for a couple of minutes before Mimi turned back and looked at Blake.

"Who am I kidding, I mean...(sigh) I don't things would've worked out anyway," said Blake.

Mimi jarred from Blake saying that. "What do you mean?" she asked him.

Blake turned towards her. "I mean...you're an inkling and I'm a human. I don't things would work if you know what I mean. It's why I didn't want to start a relationship with Callie. I don't think anyone would've accepted it anyway," said Blake in a melancholy tone.

"Blake, it doesn't matter. Like I've said before, We're not that different. I've always loved you and I always will. I..." said Mimi as she stood up locked onto Blake.

"Well, it wasn't meant to be anyway and I never found my family. Everyone I love I seem to lose," said Blake depressingly.

"Don't talk like that, I don't like seeing like this. I wish things would've worked out between us to but I had no choice but to move on," said Mimi consoling Blake.

"Mimi I..." started Blake as he was cut off by Mimi grabbing him and pulling him into a kiss. She fell over him as they landed on the ground. Blake was caught up in the moment, feeling like he was reliving the time he had back when he and Mimi were seeing one another. he didn't resist and accepted her kiss. She rubbed her old mark on his neck and soon pulled away.

As she looked at him with a smile on her face her expression soon changed to that of shock and sadness. tears starting to form in her eyes and she quickly got up. "Mimi? what's wrong? What is it?" Blake asked with great concern.

"Its just...I'm so sorry Blake, I gotta go!" said Mimi resisting from crying. She turned away and rushed out of the garden and squid formed as she disappeared into the night.

"Mimi wait! I..." said Blake as he rushed to get up and had his arm out running after her but it was too late. Blake dropped to his knees filled with conflicting emotions. He wanted to cry himself but he held back as he slowly got up. He walked away depressingly back to the village center to go watch the performance not feeling in good spirits.

Blake managed to get back to the village square before Callie and Marie started their performance. Callie spotted Blake as she got on stage giving him a wave and grin. Blake waved back with a fake smile as Callie noticed. her expression soon turned to concern but she continued to focus on the show. Marie had noticed too and the two decided to ask him about it after their performance was done.

For nearly an hour the squid sisters sang multiple songs like: Calamari Inkantation, Maritime Memory, and Callie sang her solo: bomb rush blush followed by Marie's solo: Tide goes out.

Blake was mesmerized by their singing and the gloomy mood he was in went away and he soon felt like his cheerful self. After the show, Blake had teared up and gave a standing ovation with all the other villagers.

The squid sisters waved as they got off the stage and headed to the back before they got swamped with fans. Blake walked toward the back to be confronted by a guard, but Callie and Marie interfered allowing Blake to reunite with the cousins.

"How'd you like the show Blake?" asked Callie anxiously with pleading eyes.

"I think you were guys were fresh! I've never heard such beautiful singing, I really enjoyed it you guys," said Blake.

"You did? oh Blake," said Callie blushing as she gave Blake a hug.

The two pulled off while Marie gave a smirk. "hey, before we forget, you seemed out of it before the performance, what's the matter?" asked Marie.

"Oh, nothing, just going through old memories is all," said Blake rubbing the back of his head.

"you sure Blake, you seemed sad for some reason," said Callie.

"i...don't wanna talk about, I'm just ready to head back to the Inn," said Blake. He walked away back to the Inn with Marie and especially Callie worried about him. They decided not to bother him for the rest of the night.

"I hate that he's feeling down all of a sudden, I wonder what's the matter with him?" asked Callie.

"Cal, I'm sure he's glad to be back in the county to see the village that he and Cuttlefish grew up in, but it's probably drudged up painful memories too," said Marie.

The two of them decided to spend some time exploring the festival and headed back to the Inn not bothering Blake an hour later.

Sergeant Maxie continued on to the octoweapons factory without her team. She walked down the street until it ended over the ledge of the floating landmass the town was perched on. She saw multiple floating platforms that led to the front of the factory. She saw there were no octarian rebels around and jumped from platform to platform until she saw an Octobomber ahead, guarding the way to the factory. She didn't have time to hide and the octobomber spotted her. It shook and gargled as it spotted her and flung a splat bomb toward her. She evaded the bomb and shot at the giant flying octarian. The octobomber dodged the shot and flung another splat bomb at the sergeant.

"Damn!" shouted the sergeant when she missed the octobomber. She spotted another bomb coming at her and hopped to the next platform. She was closer to the octobomber almost under it and took no time and shot at the giant octobomber before it could react. The octobomber dropped as soon as it was hit and the sergeant jumped forward to avoid it falling on her. She jumped to the next platform because as soon as it landed it splattered and cause the platform it landed on to fall down and plummeted toward the bottom.

"That was close, well I won't be going back that way," said the sergeant as she saw the platform she was on gone and had fallen down below. She turned back in front of her and continued on until she reached the landmass that the factory was on. She saw that the front of the factory was being guarded by some octotroopers with an octosniper perched on the roof. "I need to see if I get past them, maybe's there's another way into the factory," said the sergeant as she octo formed and slithered around the building. she made her way up a ramp and into a small yard. She changed back and saw that the back entrance to the factory was clear. She slowly approached the back door and walked in with her octoshot ready. As she entered a figure could be watching the sergeant walk into the building. It decided to hop down off the platform it was on and trailed her but kept a distance.

Inside, she saw the factory floor. Multiple octotroopers were assembling octoweapons and building more octoshots for the rebels. "This isn't good, I gotta get a closer look," said the sergeant.

She moved up behind some equipment but didn't notice the figure also hurried behind her and got behind a crate watching her movements. She peered from her cover and watched the tentacled workers and saw octocopters flying above them watching for anything. She then turned and noticed an office overlooking the factory floor to her left. There was an octosniper scanning the area to ensure there were no interruptions.

She moved up again until she got close to the stairs that led up to the office. She got from behind cover and approached the stairs until she was hit in the head from behind. He fell down blacking out noticing a blurry figure approach her from the side. It kneeled down with a couple of octotroopers behind it. The sergeant finally blacked out and everything went quiet.

Hours had passed as the octoling slowly got up and moaned. She shook her head and opened her eyes. The room was dark but she could make out a figure in front of her. "Where am I? Who are you?" she demanded.

The figure approached her. She went into shock to see who it was. It was Obi, the male octoling that was in her recon team that disappeared. "Corporal Obi? What's going on?" she asked.

"I guess you didn't figure it out yet, I've joined octo rebels, I'm the one that alerted the rebels of our coming, I was hoping the octarians would react faster than that back at that square, but a least I managed to catch you," said Obi taking his goggles off.

"What! You traitor! How could you betray us like this!?" demanded the sergeant ready to kill the octoling.

"Don't worry I'll find those other two, this will give you some time to reconsider switching sides," said Obi as started walking away. She attempted to grab him but her leg was chained to a heavy steel ball. Obi walked out of the room and opened a small cutaway on the door. He peered through back at the sergeant. "oh and sergeant, don't even think about escaping, have a good day," said Obi as he closed the cutaway.

She gave the octoling boy a hand gesture as he closed the window. She gave a deep sigh and laid down on the floor only hoping that Melvin and Selena would complete the mission and report back to HQ.

As she laid there, staring at the ceiling, She had thought about all the events that had transpired for the past month. She had contemplated how to get out of her dilemma and feeling regret over getting caught and failing the lieutenant, her only and true friend.