Splatoon: Number's Game
Chapter 9
Late night came over Inkopolis; a dark and cloudy night. Alex looked up at the moon trying to peek through the wispy clouds. He adjusted his jacket as he stepped towards Marie waiting for him alone with a Brella gun in her hand.
"Hey, Marie. What's the situation?" Alex asked, getting right to the point. Marie gestured with a tilt of her head for him to follow her, and they began to walk towards the beach.
"Do you recall the mysterious statue head with the cannon that rose out of the ocean not long ago?" Marie asked, spinning her Brella around and resting it on her shoulder.
"I do. It's still out there, isn't it?" Alex asked.
"It is, yes, and it seems that the octolings are taking an interest in it. They're there right now." Marie informed him as they approached a speedboat. Alex's eyebrows furrowed and he looked out towards the dark ocean.
"If that's the case, don't you think we should have more people with us?" Alex asked worriedly, hopping into the boat anyways.
"We're not gonna try to drive 'em off. Unfortunately, we'd be outnumbered either way. We're just gonna check it out, see if we can get an idea of what they're doing." Marie explained.
"Alright. We'll just have to stay under the radar then. Do you know how to drive a boat? How to steer a boat?" Alex asked, looking back at Marie. She chuckled a bit.
"Obviously." She replied, starting the speedboat up. Alex hummed and sat down, holding onto the side.
"Do we have a spawn point activated in case something happens out here?" Alex asked nervously, looking down wearily at the water.
"No worries, we're not gonna run into any trouble. But if it really worries you, I'll plant a jump point." Marie decided, planting a radar signal for them to super jump back to if they needed it.
"That makes me feel better at least. Still, I'm not trying to die tonight. Still gotta work out that dinner with Callie." Alex said, making a joke despite getting more anxious the further away the drifted from shore.
"It'll be alright, Alex. It'll be in and out. I want to avoid any battling at all costs, especially since we don't have a spawn point to go back to if we get splatted." Marie said reassuringly.
"Well that's a relief." Alex said under his breath, turning and watching the wake in the water behind their speedboat.
"It'll be a while for us to approach the ruins. In the meantime, how are things with you?" Marie asked, making conversation now.
"Things have been fine. Been putting in more hours with Grizzco. It's hard to really get insider information though. The work is very direct, and there's very little interaction with anyone besides our coworkers. I've only spoken with Mr. Grizz a few times."
"I see. Well, keep at it. There's no rush there. We'll deal with one thing at a time. I spoke with 3 recently. She said that you and her have taken in an octoling named 8?" Marie asked.
"Ah, yeah, right. She's staying with 3 tonight. No worries. But yeah, she seemed kind of lost so I helped her out. I didn't even know that she knew 3 when I offered to help her out." Alex said with a slight ironic chuckle.
"Well, you sure know how to pick 'em," Marie said with a low chuckle. "3 was telling me that she was trapped in an underground testing lab and broke out with help. Evidently, whatever happened to her had something to do with these ruins appearing now." Marie informed him.
"Really?" Alex's eyes widened in surprise, "3 and I haven't really talked about her in detail yet."
"Did 8 not tell you herself?" Marie asked, glancing back at him.
"She…doesn't really…talk." Alex said slowly, still taking in this new information.
"We're here." Marie said abruptly before Alex could even process everything he'd just been told. He stood up and walked up next to Marie.
"Woah…"
Marie and Alex stared ahead at the huge head of a broken statue belonging to a time long past. They could see several squadrons of octolings approaching it and entering it. It seemed that they were analyzing it, figuring out what they could take from it.
"It looks like they're salvaging the metal." Alex guessed, looking at Marie to see her take on it. Her reaction seemed very similar to his.
"Whatever's in there has been there for a long time. There could be…who knows? Ancient materials, information, weapons even?" Marie guessed worriedly. Alex looked back towards the scene before them.
"I see. You should talk to your gramps about it. He'd probably know more about what could be in there than anyone else." Alex suggested. Marie nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. You're probably right. Let's head back real quick before we get spotted." Marie said, turning the speedboat around and steering them back to the beach. Alex held onto the control console, taking a somber breath.
"What do you think we should do?" Alex asked.
"I don't know yet. I'm worried that by the time we figure out what we could do, they'll have already made the first move." Marie admitted. Alex looked down and shook his head.
"We'll figure it out. For now, let's just… You should talk to your gramps. Maybe something he says will make something click, you know?" Alex suggested again, trying his best to be encouraging.
"Yeah. He was part of the Great Turf War. I'll call him tomorrow when he's awake. Maybe you should try and talk to 8 the next time you see her. Maybe you can get her to open up?" Marie suggested, giving him a hopeful look.
"I'll see what I can do."