Chapter 8: The Pursuit of the Precious
Coming out of The Path to Perfect Penmanship Kettle are Tyler and Sammy. The duo finds Captain Tyler, Chris, and Owen using their phones, and they look frantic.
"Hello, Squidhunk! Co-Captain Taylor, do you read me?! Hello?!" said Captain Terry.
"Seafoam! Corey?! Agent 4.5, do you copy?!" said Chris.
"Come on, why won't my Prince pick up?! I can't even get Elliott on the line," said Owen.
"(Should we be concerned?)," Sammy asks.
"I let them be. Let's go to the signal kettle," said Tyler, running off.
Then O.R.C.A said while Tyler and Sammy arrived, "Unauthorized personnel prohibited beyond this point."
"Whatever," Tyler continues forward.
"The reading is coming from just up ahead!" said Marie.
When Tyler launchpads himself into the field, Callie says, "It's Gramps! It has to be!"
Then a voice said, "Stop where you are."
"Now, what?" Tyler annoyed.
With a cage lowered to surround the battlefield, Shiver appears with her shark mask on the left side of her face.
She then said, "After the treasure? You have excellent taste. But you're too delicate to claim this particular item. Don't you agree?"
Tyler is confused by her words while Sammy says, "(I don't get it.)."
She continued, "Ah, I see. The cold-shoulder routine. Guess you're pretty wicked after all. We'll have to teach you some manners."
"We'll?" Tyler and Sammy ask.
"Join me, Master Mega!"
"Master Mega?"
Just then, her megalodon with saddle rocket boosters swam over to the field. Shiver then hops on him before roaring.
"(She is the Cold-Blooded Bandit, Shiver. Big Bro, it's all coming down to us to bet her and her pet shark.)," said Sammy.
"A shark? How peachy," Tyler rolled his eyes.
"Pedal to the megalodon!" Shiver shouted while sticking her tongue out.
As the battle commenced, Shiver continued, "Share your wisdom, Master Mega!"
Master Mega then leaps out to vertical fire slashes of ink at the duo, but Tyler cartwheels away from them.
"What is Shiver now? A biker ice queen chick?" Chris confused.
"Watch out! They're gonna strike from below!" Callie warned.
"I see the fin. Get ready, Sammy!" said Tyler, preparing the throw.
"(Wait?!)" Sammy shouted in fear.
"You'll be fine."
When Master Mega opens his mouth, Sammy is tossed into the mouth. This caused Master Mega to explode out of the ink and get on the field. Sammy quickly returns to Tyler's Ink Pac as he fires at the shark and Splashdown.
"They're out in the open! Now's your chance!" Callie said.
"You don't need to call it out, Callie," said Owen.
When Master Mega got back in ink, Shiver said, "We'll shred you this time for sure! Time to feed the fish! Hahaha!"
"OK!" Tyler said while tossing Sammy into Master Mega's open mouth.
Exploded again, and Sammy returned to the Ink Pac while Shiver said, "Master! Get us back in the water! NOW!"
Callie then said when Shiver came off of her shark, "Look! Shiver fell off!"
Quickly, Tyler shoots her until she's splatted.
"Good work!" said Marie while he super jumps.
Shiver then respawns while getting back on Master Mega.
She then said, "You're pretty tough…for an appetizer. Master! I need you to REALLY focus this time, OK?"
After he roared and jumped, Shiver continued, "Attaboy, Master Mega! Let's FINish this!"
When they got back into the water, Tyler said, "I'll admit that was a good comeback."
"That was just a rehearsal. The real show starts NOW!"
"Good, now I can teach everyone how to cook Shark Fin Soup! And you two are the main ingredients!"
"I didn't know you could cook, Agent 3," Captain Terry said while he dodged vertical ink slashes.
"How else am I going to feed Sammy?"
"I see."
With ink tornadoes created, they climb on as Shiver said, "Let's swirl things up-way, WAY up! Haha! Awaaay we go!"
Master Mega fires a beam of ink straight forward, but Tyler is too quick to be hit.
"The mouth is open! You're on, Sammy," Tyler said before throwing.
Making Master Mega explode and on the field for enough time for Tyler to begin covering him in ink.
"Ink it NOW before it gets away," said Marie.
"OK, Master Mega. Show your pearly BITES!" Shiver said.
"BITE THIS!" Tyler yelled while throwing Sammy into the mouth.
"UGH! Master! Get it together!"
With the shark-covered ink, Shiver falls off, and Tyler shoots her until she's splatted, as Marie says, "She fell off again! Let her have it!"
"Nice, Agent 3," Callie commented.
When Shiver respawned again, she said, annoyed, "Oh, come on! What is WITH you?! Master, you had better get serious…or else!"
When he hopped, she said, "Yeah! That's more like it! Time to show you our Real power!"
"Our power? You let him do all the work!" Tyler shouted.
"PEDAL-and I mean it this time-TO THE MEGALODON!"
"That catchphrase is getting old," Chris commented while ink slashes and tornadoes were made.
"Can you handle THIS?!" Shiver yelled as Master Mega fired their mega beams of ink.
"(He needs to brush his teeth!)," Sammy yelled.
"Let's help him brush 'em," said Tyler, throwing him into the mouth.
"They're out in the open! Now's your chance!" Callie said when Master Mega got on the field.
Tyler quickly shoots at as much as he can while Sammy gets on his back.
"Ugh. Stop embarrassing me, Master!" Shiver said.
"That's good to hear. Let me make it better," Tyler throwing Sammy again.
Shooting the shark once, Tyler made Shiver fall off.
"She's megalo-DONE! Now finish her off," said Callie as he took Shiver down.
With her splat, Marie sang, "Sooo gooood!"
After respawning one more time, Shiver said, "Owww… I think that's enough of a lesson for today… But you haven't seen that last of Deep Cut."
When she takes out a smoke bomb with her fan, she accidentally drops it, saying, "Until next time. Huh? OH N-"
It caused her and Master Mega to be sent flying away.
"Heh! We showed them good, right, Sammy?" said Tyler.
"(Yeah. I'm going to take a shower after this.)" said Sammy.
When the vault of the place opened, the 2nd Treasure thing came out of it.
Tyler takes a launchpad to it as Marie says, "It wasn't Gramps… So frustrating! Guess we'll just take this as a consolation prize."
A few minutes passed, and the Inkling-Smallfry brother duo returned with the 2nd thing at the Squid Sisters' base.
Marie said, "Good work, Agent 3. I mean, we didn't find Gramps, but we found another "treasure." That's something!"
Then Cuttlefish's transmission is heard saying, "Ksss-ksssh! Kssssssht! …Do you read me? Come in!"
"Gramps is on the line! Hellooo, Gramps!" Callie said.
"Oh, Agent 1. Good to hear your voice. I'm, uh…still locked in some kinda room. Finding the exit is like lookin' for a needlefish in a coral reef!"
"Using a reverse of a pun. Classic Cuttlefish," Captain Terry commented.
"OH! I mean, oh… I better shout whisper. SOMEONE'S COMING!"
"It must be his captor. Let's listen closely, Agents."
Then a voice is heard, "Ah. You've woken from your hibernation, have you? CUTTLEFISH!"
Then Cuttlefish replied, "Hmph! That's uh…former CAP'N Cuttlefish to…whoever you are! …Who ARE you, anyhow? Identify yourself!"
"Grrrahahaha! You're lively for an old bag of… Does your species have bones? No matter! You can call me…Mr. Grizz."
"WHAT?!" Captain Terry, Chris, Owen, and Tyler shocked.
Then Cuttlefish continued, "…izz? Ksss-kssh! …know any Grizz… Ksss-kssh! …mister or otherwise! KSSSSSSHT!"
Callie then said, "Nooo! It was getting so good! Gramps? Are you still there? Arrgh! I think we lost him. But we'll find him for real if we keep tracking the signal. That's all you, Agent 3. Let's go!"
"Um, did you forget that the captor is Mr. Grizz, the CEO of Grizzco Industries?! The place where the .5 Pack works part-time," said Chris.
"Yeah. The boys could be in danger if they work right now," said Owen.
"Mr. Grizz…" Tyler said.
He then goes through a memory where his 10-year-old self witnessed Sammy's parents being splatted by four Inklings while he held onto Sammy's Golden Egg in terror.
"Hey, kid. Are you alright?" one asks him.
"MG was right about the Salmonids abducting an Inkling," said another.
"We'll have our pay once we bring them in," said the 3rd one.
But when the Inklings saw littler Tyler was gone with Sammy's Golden Egg, the last Inkling said, "Hey, where'd go?"
Little Tyler was running away until he came into Splatsville. As soon as he caught his breath, Sammy's egg hatched, and Sammy started at little Tyler. He then cuddles him, which makes him smile.
When the memory ended once, Captain Terry said, "We need to continue forward to figure out what the heck is going on with Alterna. Find Cuttlefish and see if we can't teach Mr. Grizz a lesson."
"MG must mean Mr. Grizz…Could he have sent those Inklings?" said Tyler.
When they go into the pipe to Site 5, Marie says, "What did they even DO with these pipes?"
The Agents then arrived at Eco-Forest Treehills for Callie to say, "Phew! You've made it pretty far, huh? It looks like you can get to another site from there."
"That pipe must be the way back. Hm… Still no response from Gramps. Figures," said Marie.
"Well, let's see what we can find here. Good luck!"
"Hey, Captain, Agents 4 and 8. What do you see in the Salmonids?" Tyler asks.
Captain Terry responds, "What do we think? Hmmm…I never did much interacted with them. But I do envy them for being able to survive on water. I wish to ask how they do it that way; it will be better for both Inklings and Octolings."
"I see them as cool species. Their lifestyle and taste in action. They're unbelievably awesome," said Chris.
"They're very mysterious and interesting. I would like to study them, like in an interview with them," said Owen.
Their responses make Tyler surprised but touched.
He then shows a genuine smile while saying, "I see. Then we better get going."
This made the three girls blush, but they quickly shook it off, saying, "We already have boyfriends! We already have boyfriends! We already have boyfriends! Oh, where are they?!"