Octo Valley?
A city so loud…
Cars beeping and many people chattering, tourists should shut up and give some peace.
Opening her eyes, a silver haired inkling girl wakes up as her cloak luckily covers her whole body before some octarian sees her.
Picking herself up, the survivor looks at her own hand that is dried green ink that is from the sanitised.
"Where am I? Hm?" The survivor halts as she scans many inhabitants as they appear to be different sea creatures and inklings are also tourists. "Weird… Is this Inkopolis?"
Turning on the map, the survivor stops after witnessing she's out of the Deepsea Metro.
"Dang it. It's Octo Valley… Octo Valley… It brings back horrible memories…" Lowering her head, the survivor can tell that her flashbacks involved her friends' gruesome death right in front of her, even though the octarians aren't at fault except for that one ambush.
The weather is snowy as the survivor can feel a small ball of frost that's landing on her silver turned magenta tentacle hair.
"Sorry, ma'am." A blobfish walks past which surprised the survivor as she moves aside.
As far as she can remember, she encountered a horde of sanitised octarians which gave her horrific flashbacks which was one of her friends' deaths. Luckily, she survived but ended up at the surface after getting knocked out by one of the Deep Cut trio.
"Tch! I guess they know what's up. I'm gonna need backup." The survivor sighs.
A crowded city is still lively and both inklings are reading the phone.
"Are you serious!? Snowing again!?" Inkling girl A shouted.
"Huh. They weren't kidding about snowing in summer." Inkling girl B puts her phone in her pocket and her friend yells out of frustration.
"It's not fair! I brought my swimsuit yesterday!"
The survivor then ignores both inkling girls who are distraught that their summer plans are about to be cancelled, leading the survivor to shrug as public places aren't her thing anymore, unless there's some more pop culture.
Looking around, there's no hostiles as she's walking past an inkling leaning on a rail.
"Hey. I heard a lot about you." An inkling boy's voice called.
"Gh!?" The survivor realised that her anonymity is being compromised as she's trying to keep quiet.
"You're that inkling who lost the turf war on your first day. Surviving without being splatted. I'm surprised you're one of the few that does it."
"Why do you ask?" The survivor asks.
"Because that uniform you're wearing is similar to the one I used to wear." Said the inkling boy as he stood in front of the survivor. "Let's go to the bar. Don't worry, I won't order some alcohol for underaged kids like you."
"Um… Thanks." The survivor then follows while pulling up her hood.
The inkling boy appears to wear a baseball cap, black vest and green loose shorts, as if he's not prepared for snowy weather.
As the duo entered an octarian bar while walking through an oriental eastern styled city which is below other cities, the inkling boy and the survivor of an inkling girl takes their seat as the bar is surrounded by a group of adults.
"How old are you?" The inkling boy asked.
"Sixteen." The survivor answers without hesitation.
"Hm. Then no alcohol for you. Any drinks you want?"
"A fizzy drink will do." The survivor answered.
"Hey, bartender! Give this girl a cherry apple fizz! Beer for me!"
"Sure thing!" The octoling man with a beard, appears in a white shirt, fills a glass cup of cherry apple fizz and then slides it towards the survivor and then a glass of beer to the inkling boy.
The survivor turns her head around out of confusion and then looks back at her drink.
"How old are you?" The survivor asked.
"Twenty. Why do you ask?" The inkling boy asked.
"You said you worked there before, right?"
"Hm? Oh yeah. I see you worked with Callie and Marie who're Agent 1 and 2." The inkling boy laughed.
"But why didn't you come back?" The survivor is curious to know why this inkling never returned, despite working the longest.
The inkling boy looked down and then moved his eyes towards her.
"They kept on relying on me after I took the octarians down as well as saving Agent 1 and 2. I was formerly Agent 3. Too much pressure, so little payment. I left this place and will never come back, even if they pay better." The inkling boy drinks his beer and then sighs after a chug down.
The survivor takes a sip as she's interested, knowing that other inklings have a life before working at the New Squidbeak Splatoon.
"Daigo… He was my brother…" The inkling boy muttered.
"Your brother?"
"My little brother!" The inkling boy snaps as tears are bursting out.
The survivor gasps as not only her friend has a younger sister, but an older brother, leading her to hold her chest.
"I'm sorry…"
"Huh?"
"I let him die… But I didn't murder him. I'm finding those who killed not only Dai, but Saki and Sayaka as well." The survivor lowers her head out of guilt, not even crying about her own sins.
"Saki and Sayaka? You mean the sisters?" The inkling boy asks.
"Yeah… They're also dead. Because of me, I'll be the one to shoulder the burden I gave all of you." The survivor closes her eyes while bowing.
Then a hand pats her head.
"Huh?"
"Kid, what happened to my bro isn't your fault. From what I can tell, those murderers are doing this which made them no better than the octarians!" The inkling boy growls as rage fumes onto him after hearing the truth about his friends and family.
Then the inkling boy takes a swig of his beer and then bangs the desk.
"It's actually my fault! If I hadn't left, then none of this would've happened to my brother!"
"You're wrong! It's my fault that I led them to die!" The survivor retorted.
"No! It's my fault!"
"It's my fault!"
While both inklings blame themselves for the sins they committed, a scream was heard from outside.
"Huh?" The inkling boy halts.
"Someone's in trouble." The survivor grunts which led her and the boy to rush outside by the door.
Outside the bar, the duo have witnessed a group of sanitised octarians as there's 2 Twintacle Octotroopers, an Octocommander and an octoling boy who was on all 4 of his limbs like an animal.
"The shell!?" The inkling boy gasps.
"Hey, runaway, do you know anything about the sanitised?" The survivor asked.
"Excuse me, I have a name! It's Neku." Neku revealed his name.
"Oh? So you're Neku, huh. I'm Rei, the survivor and also a subject of the Kamabo Co.'s test." Rei introduced herself.
"Kamaboko?"
"You haven't heard? I'll explain later."
Holding out her Hero Shot 0, Rei pierces a glare towards the sanitised Octocommander and then fires as hasty as she could.
The Octocommander growled and took a deep breath while repeatedly being fired at, stopping the sanitised Twintacle Octotroopers and then turning around as both of them roared.
Then…
Instantly dodge, Rei slides backwards, yanks Neku and hides behind the building entrance as the citizens gasp.
Holding out her Splat Bomb, Rei tosses it and then…
SPLAT! Quick hit both Twintacle Octotroopers as they're out of their misery.
"You're Agent 3? My replacement…" Neku gasped as he witnessed the speed and reflexes from an inkling girl.
"I'm assigning you as Agent 3.5." Said Rei after morphed herself into a squid and filled up her own ink.
"Why?"
"For your brother's sake, I need you to take his place." A squid form of Rei answered and then morphed back to her humanoid form with a new model of a Hero Shot that looks like a submachine gun, FN P90. "Here."
To Neku's surprise, Rei is trying to stop the sanitised from going to the surface and terrorise not just Octo Valley, but Inkopolis as well.
After Neku was given a Hero Shot, a sanitised Octocommander fires as the citizens are avoiding as some of them are hit, leading Rei and Neku to dash out, despite Rei moving a lot faster.
The Octocommander halts as both inklings dive towards him and then fires on both his sides.
Then SPLAT! Another octarian that is now resting in peace.
Finally, they're facing a sanitised octoling boy who was surrounding a noodle limbed girl who appears to be an unusual sea anemone with a black clownfish in her head.
"Oh? You wanted to kill me, right?" The sea anemone girl asked.
"I… I can't… Please… Help me…"
"We'll help you. Now stop whatever you're doing." Rei calls as she and Neku raise their Hero Shots (in different models) at the octoling himself.
"I… I can't!" The octoling boy cries as Rei pities this octoling.
"Ah. Who are you?" The anemone girl asks while tilting her head.
"Eh!? Shouldn't you be running by now!?" Neku exclaims.
"I'm just asking."
The octoling boy then screams as he's clenching his own head and then glares at both inklings.
"Neku, he may be hurt, but we need to put him down." Said Rei.
"Alright…" Neku grunts as he feels sorry for this octoling boy.
As the octoling boy dive towards Rei, Rei then dodges and fires as the octoling runs like an animal, leading Neku to fire along.
A mix of yellow and magenta has caught a sanitised octoling in his octopus form, causing him to scream out in agonising pain and then…
SPLAT! Successfully splatting the octoling down, the octoling boy's ghost closes his eyes as he sighs and melts.
"Thank you…"
Neku lowers his head as Rei turns around and picks up a skinny anemone girl.
"Geez… Why didn't you run?" Rei asks without a hint of anger and worry, but concern.
"Hmm… I was just curious, that's all." The anemone girl answers as she places her finger on the bottom of her lip.
"You know it's not safe. Why are you guys even here?"
"Oh. I was on a holiday with my group."
"I take that you're from the ABXY also known as the Chirpy Chips." Neku asked while raising his eyebrow.
"Oh? Yeah I am. My name is Harmony Paruko, but my real name is Glenna Nalira." Harmony raises her hand.
Both inklings are silent as Rei raises her hand and shakes Hamony's hand.
"So, miss. Harmony, why are you on holiday again?" Rei asks.
"Hm… I dunno."
Both inklings grunts as Harmony has no idea why she's in Octo Valley and was almost killed.
"Just go. It's not safe there." Rei warned.
"Okay." Harmony sighs and then leaves the duo.
Afterwards Rei and Neku look at each other as Rei presses her headset.
"Gramps, can you hear me? Gramps?"
[Oh? Seems like the connection's fine after all.] Cap'n Cuttlefish's voice called.
"That's good. I don't know who Neku is, but I found him as the former Agent 3. The agent I took place with." Rei calls.
[Wait a minute… Neku? Turn off private mode.]
"Okay."
Beep.
"It's off."
[Neku! It's been three years you haven't returned! I'm so glad you're coming back to us!] Cap'n Cuttlefish cheers.
Neku sighs and lowers his head. "Look, old man, I'm only doing this because of my brother Daigo."
"I don't think he can hear you." Rei whispers to Neku.
"I see. Tch! Learn to get this thing upgraded. Speaking of upgrades, I have a friend that can give this 'upgraded' thing a major update."
"For eel?" Rei asks.
"Yeah. She'll make sure to work on Sheldon's pieces and fix some bugs." Neku answers with a grin.
"Thank you. I appreciate it." Rei bows out of gratitude which makes Neku blush.
"Y- You don't have to be formal. I'm okay with cheerful little girls like you. I mean you used to be when I saw you."
Neku is right about Rei as her cheerful behaviour isn't from a lack of education, but her enthusiasm for adventures, fun games and pop cultures.
"Heh. Wanna come over to gramps' cabin? I'll give you something you need and you'll give me something in return." Rei finally pulls a positive smile while asking for an offer to Neku.
"Alright. Since you accept my offer, then I'll accept."
"Hehe. Looks like we're equal. Now let's go see your sister." Rei giggles.
"Mirai!?" Neku gasps.
"Seems like Dai never talked about you, huh." Rei frowns as she finds it hard to understand why Daigo only talks about his little sister and not his big brother.
"It's a long story…" Neku sighs.
Then both inklings are marching as they're leaving Octo Valley to somewhere above the valley which contains a frontline base made by the octarians.
Octo Canyon, Tentakeel Outpost
Standing by Cuttlefish's Cabin while snowing under the yellow sky, Rei picks up a photo of 3 inklings as she sees herself with Callie, who is Aori, and Hotaru, who is Marie, leading her to sigh out a steam and lower her head.
"Mama Aori… Mama Hotaru… I'll be back soon." Rei whispers as her magenta hair fades to her silver hair which is her natural colour.
"Yo! Are you gonna give me a uniform or what?" Neku calls as it surprises Rei.
"Sorry. Just remembering something I missed the most."
"Hm? Is that you with Callie and Marie?" Neku takes a look at a photo Rei is staring at.
"Yeah… They're my mamas."
"Wait what!? How!?" Neku exclaims after hearing what Rei said.
"My real mama was a horrible person. That's why I ended up living with the Squid Sisters as their daughter." Rei answers with a bitter smile.
"I see… I'm sorry to hear that."
"You don't want to know more about me. My mamas, your brother and a few others are actually shocked about my life before going to Inkopolis." Said Rei as she puts the photo down and then enters Cuttlefish's Cabin.
"I say it's for the best. Sometimes not everything has to be told." Neku takes a seat on a bench that is luckily blocked by an umbrella from the snow.
A few moments later, Rei finally comes out with a uniform that is similar to hers like a black jacket and a high visibility vest along with Sheldon's upgraded gear.
"Here. Your new and old uniform, Agent 3.5."
"Thanks."
"Also, these are the ones who're responsible for killing our friends." Rei sends out 3 Kamabo Co.'s tests IDs which reveal the trio such as Frye, Shiver and Big Man.
"Eh? Who are they?" Neku is surprised to see an inkling girl, an octoling girl and a manta ray man on a holographic device.
"Deep Cut. These are the clowns I'm after. I need your help to capture them."
Neku can see why Rei is hunting for them is to avenge Daigo, Saki and Sayaka, the agents that were involved 2 years ago and died in battle.
What shocks Neku more is that his sister, Mirai, who signed up as Agent 4, is next in line along with Marie who is Agent 2.
"Alright. I'll make sure to know their faces. Thanks, Rei, no, Agent 3."
"Call me the survivor. I'm only keeping myself hidden from the Kamabo Co."
"Then Survivor 3 will do. What do you think?" Neku grins, which has Rei grinning back.
"As long as I'm kept a secret, then Survivor 3 will do."
"Sweet! Let's go to my place. I'll hook you up with some upgrades."
Finally, Rei, Survivor 3, agrees as both she and Neku morph themselves into squids and leave Octo Canyon for something useful.
The next objective is to visit Neku's friends at Inkopolis.