Splatoon: Number's Game
Chapter 12
8 looked down wearily at the ocean water crashing onto the beach she was walking on. Though inklings and octolings inherently didn't mix well with water, the sounds of the water was quite relaxing. With the sun going down now, it was hard to deny the romantic setting she and Alex were walking through.
However, romance definitely wasn't on either of their minds now.
"This must be the girl, hmm?" Marie asked, spinning her umbrella a bit as Alex and 8 approached her. 8's eyes fixed on Marie in recognition before drifting over to the speedboat she was standing by.
"Yes. 8, this is Marie. Marie, this is 8." Alex introduced them.
8 rubbed her arm self-consciously and waved at her.
"Nice to meet you, 8. Hey, Alex, didn't you say that you had someone else coming?" Marie asked.
"Yes, Marina is coming. She said that she'd be here soon." Alex nodded to confirm.
"Marina? You wouldn't be referring to Off The Hook's Marina, would you?" Marie raised an eyebrow and tilted her head inquisitively.
"Actually, yeah, that would be her. Turns out she's kind of an expert on octoling strategies. She seemed like the right person to bring in after I talked with her." Alex explained.
"Huh, alright then," Marie nodded. "Well, when will she be joining us?" She asked.
As if to answer her question, the sound of an engine revving broke through the natural ambience of the water crashing. Everyone's heads turned and watched as Marina arrived at the beach on a motorcycle with riding gear to match. She removed her helmet, grabbed her weapon, and made her way over.
"Hi. I'm sorry I'm late. Are we ready to go?" She asked.
"Yes. We are. Thanks for coming, Marina." Alex said with a polite smile.
"Yes. It's nice to finally meet you officially, Marina. I'm Marie." She introduced herself. Marina peered a little closer in the dark and recognized her now.
"Marie! From the Squid Sisters! Wow! You've been such an inspiration for me!" Marina exclaimed, losing all professionalism. Marie smiled lightly.
"Thank you. I hear that you can tell us a lot about what the Octarians could be planning?" Marie asked, taking a step into the speedboat and gesturing everyone else to do the same.
"Yes, um, if you take me there, I can take a look around and see what it is that they may have taken or were looking for." Marina promised as she climbed into the boat. Alex climbed in as well and helped 8 to do the same.
"That's good to hear. In that case, let's not waste any time, okay?" Marie glanced back at everyone before starting the boat up.
The four of them finally approached the head of the broken, ancient statue. As Marie dropped anchor right by it, all four of them looked up at it.
"It looks so much bigger now than it did the last time that I saw it. But I was never this close." Marina commented.
"What is it supposed to be?" Alex asked strangely.
"I'm not sure. Maybe some extinct creature?" Marie wondered aloud.
Alex glanced at 8 and noticed that she was looking over the statue with a degree of familiarity in her eyes. She was the first to step off of the boat and hop onto the actual structure of the statue. She pulled her weapon out and began to make an ink trail leading up towards the broken top of the head.
"Well, let's get going then." Alex said, following her up. Marina and Marie did the same, swimming up 8's trail until they had all united at the crown of the statue. They looked inside the huge gaping hole down into what appeared to be a viewing area.
"Not what I expected to see on the inside of this thing." Alex said, shooting some ink inside. It splattered onto the ground. He jumped down and landed in the puddle in squid form before standing up. The others did the same.
"This place gives me a bad vibe." Marie commented, taking a look around at the emptied space. They began to make their way around, looking for clues.
"Marina, anything you can tell us about this place?" Alex asked curiously, looking up towards the higher ceilings.
"Ah, I think Marie covered it well enough." She said with a nervous chuckle.
8 took hold of Alex's sleeves suddenly, tugging at it to get his attention. He looked at her, and she directed his attention to an open archway in the center area of the room.
"Hey, guys? 8 sees another room here. It looks like it leads to a staircase." Alex said as he made his way to archway and looked inside.
Indeed, within the archway was a very long staircase winding downwards in a square shape. The stairs seemed to go down the length of a skyscraper, deep below the surface of the water. The stairs themselves were littered with strange bits of rounded metal.
"What is this?" Alex asked, rolling some of the metal bits with his foot. They rolled off the edge of the staircase, falling far down below and clanging against the stairs as it went down.
"They appear to be small little cases," Marina observed after crouching down to pick one up and look at it. "See the opening here? Something would be packed inside of it. I don't know what though."
"Do you think it's related to what they were here for?" Marie asked.
"Could be…" Marina brought the case over, giving it a sniff and looking inside the opening. "I need to take a closer look at this." She decided, sticking the casing in her pocket. Everyone else scooped one up and did the same thing.
"Do you wanna go in deeper and look closer?" Alex asked. Marie and him took another look down the deep chasm leading into the unknown below the water.
"We don't know how structurally sound this thing is. We shouldn't go down there." Marie determined.
"I agree. I think that we should take a quick look around whatever we can find up here and then call it good." Marina agreed. Alex and 8 both nodded.
"Alright."
After sweeping the area some more, they didn't find anything else but more metal casings and some remnants of the A.I. machine that 8 had destroyed with the help of Pearl and Marina. However, it was clear that if anything else of value had been there, the Octarians had gotten to them first.
"Well, I'm sorry I couldn't be much more help. I'll definitely take a closer look at this when I get home though." Marina promised as the four of them got back in the speedboat.
"Yes, please do. Thank you for coming with us and agreeing to help despite the potential dangers." Marie thanked everyone.
"Of course. We all gotta stick together." Marina smiled in reply.
"I'm just doing my job, heheh, it's nothing new." Alex answered with a nod.
8 simply smiled and nodded her head.
"Right. Well, for now, let's go home." Marie said with a sleepy yawn…