Splatoon: Number's Game
Chapter 6
Agent 8 stared out towards the oceanic post, feeling a sense of discomfort as it drew closer. They were far out from the shore; so far that the city was beginning to sink behind the horizon. She looked down at the manual that Alex had given her, resuming her reading up on the task ahead.
"Who's your friend, Alex?" An inkling girl with a lower voice asked, approaching 8 and Alex sitting next to 8.
"Oh. Sandy, this is 8. 8, this is Sandy, one of my coworkers. She's one of the best I've ever worked with." Alex introduced them.
"Of course I am," Sandy said with a confident chuckle. "What about you, though? You able to handle yourself out there?" Sandy asked 8 directly.
"She can handle it," 3 answered, coming to her defense. "She'll catch on quick." She said. The boat stopped suddenly, and an alarm began to go off on the boat.
"Hope so. Time to make the jump." Sandy said, gesturing for them to get up. They all began to make their way up to the front of the ship.
"Don't worry, 8. You got this." Alex said with an encouraging smile. 8 nodded.
The four of them all made their way to a spawn point on the front of the ship. They stood on it, dropping down into squid form. They shot over to the outpost, landing in its center. All four of them stood up again, their weapons in hand.
The three inklings on the team began to cover as much territory as they could, all while an automated countdown from 5 made its way down to 1. Clutching her familiar Octoshot in hand, she and the others all spread out.
A horn sounded, followed by an eerie silence. 8 looked around, waiting for these salmonids she'd read about to show. It didn't take long for Sandy's voice to pierce the silence.
"This way!" She shouted loudly. Immediately, all three of her team members followed the voice, ending up on a series of net-like bridges over the water. Salmonids of various sizes and kinds were crawling out from the water towards them.
"Look alive now!" Sandy shouted to 8 as she whizzed past her, firing her dualies at some of the oncoming Salmonids. 8 swallowed and began to fire at them as well.
"Throw a bomb!" She heard Alex's voice shout. She looked up and saw a Salmonid piloting some sort of flying machine with two carriers full of missiles. The hatch doors of these carriers opened, and immediately Alex threw a bomb into one of them.
8 reached for her bombs and grabbed one, throwing it. It bounced out of the second carrier just as Alex's bomb caused the first carrier to explode. Missiles began to shoot towards 8. Her eyes widened, and she immediately retreated from them.
"Come on! Get with the program!" Sandy shouted back at her, in the midst of shooting at several larger Salmonids.
8 stumbled out of squid form, nearly tripping as she spun back around. The Salmonid in its little flying machine opened its carrier again, but 3 threw a bomb into it before 8 could do anything. When her bomb exploded, the Salmonid crashed to the ground and exploded into pink ink, leaving behind 3 golden eggs.
"Take them to the basket!" 3 instructed, as she and Alex took two of the eggs. 8 swam through the ink to the final egg, looking at it curiously for a moment before putting it in her carrier basket. It had a strange glow to it, but she didn't have time to admire it now.
"Did you bring a fresh newbie onto our profreshional ship crew?!" Sandy yelled at Alex as they attacked a Salmonid in a little moving shield with wheels.
"I told you she can handle it!" Alex shouted back, crushing the Salmonid from behind with his splat roller. They quickly took the eggs back to the basket, meeting up with 8 at the basket.
"Look, kid, you need to move faster, or we're not gonna make it past round 2." Sandy said to 8. 8 looked at her, saying nothing but looking a bit fearful and apprehensive. She was clearly out of her league here.
Another alarm sounded and the first wave came to a close. The team of four returned to the spawn point where they had started, trading out weapons. This time, 8 was given Sandy's dualies, which she felt more comfortable with.
The second round began, and they spread out again to find where it was the Salmonids were coming from. 3 found them first this time, calling the rest of them to her. They all swarmed in and went on the offensive against two Salmonids in machines that resembled ink-spraying eels.
8 fired at the heads of the eel machines with no success. She quickly had to dodge roll to the side to avoid getting splatted by them. She looked through the sprays of ink and saw 3 take one of them out by attacking the Salmonid piloting the machine from the back.
8 understood what she had to do, and began to run towards a ledge. She sprayed it with ink, jumped into the ink, swam through it, and made a jump over the water to land on the bridge behind the eel. Before it could turn itself fully around, 8 took out the other Salmonid pilot, leaving 3 more golden eggs for them to pick up.
"Nice shot!" Alex shouted to her as they went back and forth putting these eggs in the egg basket. Now getting her bearings on what was going on, the second round went a lot smoother and quickly came to a close.
"Alright, maybe I spoke a little hastily about your girlfriend, Alex. Keep it up." Sandy said as the third round countdown began, swimming outwards once again. Alex didn't respond; he just gave a thumbs up to 8 and spread out as well.
Luna Blaster in hand, 8 swam out to look for Salmonids. The horn went off, and silence overtook the air once again. 8 looked around in confusion, not seeing them anywhere. She turned a corner, and her eyes widened in shock and fear.
Before her stood two huge Salmonids, much bigger than the big ones she had faced early. She fired at them with no effect. As she took cautious steps backwards, green pouches full of ink began to form from their heads. They were ink bombs getting ready to explode.
"Clear the area!" 3 yelled at her, urging her to swim away. 8 found herself frozen in fear, to the point where 3 had to physically step in and push her out of harm's way.
8 fell to the ground, looking over and watching as 3 disappeared in the explosion of green ink with a shriek. She gasped in shock, scrambling to her feet and trying to fire at them again. Her blaster, however, didn't have the range to hit their heads where the bombs formed.
"Get in closer!" Sandy shouted from behind her. With the splat roller, Sandy wouldn't be much help against these huge Salmonids. It made little difference though, because she was quickly splatted by a green laser coming through the wall and shooting her down, causing her to explode and disappear in green ink same as 3.
8 dropped her Blaster fearfully, but scooped it up again before starting to rush away. She bumped into Alex coming back. They both stumbled back but caught themselves before falling.
"Where're you going, 8? The basket's that way." Alex said, going around the corner and seeing the two huge Salmonids. He quickly swam back to 8, narrowly avoiding the same fate as 3.
"Crap. Uh, follow me!" Alex said, creating a new path for himself and swimming around the area where the basket was now being guarded by the two huge Salmonids. 8 timidly followed him, and they made their way around to the other side of the post, now able to approach the basket from the other side.
"Let's see how they like this one." Alex said, clicking a button on his bucket weapon. The bucket quickly shifted and transformed into a huge laser gun that Alex held in both hands. Alex grinned as he had a clear shot.
However, before he could fire it, another mechanical eel blindsided him from behind, causing him to explode into ink the same as the others. As it turned towards 8, she swam back to the middle area behind the post where Alex had led her.
8 swallowed again, hyperventilating and unsure what to do. She looked down at her Blaster and saw that it had the same button as Alex, so it must do something similar. However, in order to use it, she would have to get in closer to those things.
With nowhere else to go and Salmonids closing in from both sides, she had to make an effort to get into the middle and use her attack. She swam back towards the way she'd first come, using her blaster and bombs to fight off the smaller Salmonids.
As the bigger ones started to aim towards her and come in closer, 8 found herself low on ammo. She used the last of her ink to shoot a path leading directly to the basket. She swam past the huge Salmonids right into the center, quickly pressing the button in hopes for the best.
Immediately, she felt a huge surge of power run through her. Leaping into the air almost by instinct, she saw a ball of ink form in her right hand. She immediately came back down into the ground, slamming the ink ball down and creating an explosion that immediately took out all the Salmonids in the immediate area.
Her teammates gasped as they came out from the pink ink left behind. They quickly began to gather up the golden eggs left behind by 8's game-saving move, all the while giving her praise for what she had done.
"Heck of a move, 8! Nice!" 3 said...
"Not bad out there. You can ride with me anytime." Sandy said to 8 after the run was over and as they all made their way back into Inkopolis Square. She tapped 8 on the arm and waved to everyone before breaking off from the group.
"I suppose you'll be staying with 3 tonight then?" Alex asked 8. She nodded her head.
"I already got your room set up. I'll see you later, Alex." 3 said with a wave, making her way towards the subway. 8 lingered by Alex for a bit.
"You did good today, 8. Next time I see you I'll pass along the money you earned from today's venture. You think you'd like to work with me on a regular basis, doing these runs?" Alex asked.
8 very quickly shook her head. Alex began to laugh.
"Haha! Alright, that's fair. Anyways, I'll see you around, kay? Rest easy." He said, giving her a fist bump before they went off in separate directions…