Dual Fates

A Splatoon Fanfic

By The Impartial Hand

Chapter 1: Overture

Earth, Location Unknown, The Far Future

Deep within the Octarian base of operations, dim lights shone down upon dozens of Octarian agents busy at work, constantly scanning the Inkling internet for any potentially useful information. The front line in a war many believed was long since over, this elite division in DJ Octavio's army was constantly developing invasion plans, cyber-attacks, and missions to steal back Zapfish recovered by the Inkling's own elite force, the Agents. At the center of the room, an Octoling stood at attention before a looming, menacing figure. "Now, Operative 07-34. State your name, and mission objectives"

"Unit designation 07-34. That is the only name I have ever known in our long secret war against those accursed inklings. But today… Oh ho ho. Today I am to take my partner, 07-35, and infiltrate the belly of the beast. Today… We infiltrate Inkopolis."
"Dramatic as ever, 07-34. You'd do well to ditch the bravado. State your acceptable mission parameters."

"The acceptable mission parameters are as follows: Inkopolis is to be infiltrated. As long as Inkopolis is infiltrated, any and all loss of personnel is permissible as long as said loss of personnel results in no intelligence breach. Other parameters have been previously discussed and are not to be repeated for the sake of secrecy."
"Correct. I have a contact in Inkopolis who will inform me if your mission was successful. Stay embedded for as long as possible. Do not fail me."

"Of course, your excellency."

An Octoling elite soldier, 07-35, sat in her corner of the battalion 07 barracks, thinking about her certain doom. Attempting to calm her nerves, she wrote down her thoughts in her journal- forbidden for Octolings to have, but as a member of such an esteemed unit, she was afforded a more lenient inspector who was willing to look over such an infraction. That benefit, however, would surely be swiftly revoked if anyone were to ever read what was in said journal:
Today is the day… I can't expect to return alive. Honestly, I'm half expecting to exit the sewer and immediately get splatted- for good. What was Octavio thinking!? The agents live in Inkopolis. THE FREAKING AGENTS! Slaughterers of Octarian forces! Merciless hunters who steal our only power source! I've told my family- what's left of it. My brother will miss me. And the worst part is that we are expected to hide there until the theoretical invasion. That could take years! Octavio is a fool if he thinks we can hide there that long! Those ruthless Inklings will kill us! Ruthless, murderous, evil, thieving Inklings! Curse them! I just hope that Octavio is satisfied when we are splatted and doesn't try this again.
Closing the journal, 07-35 sighed before getting ready. The mission was to commence in only 2 hours, and knowing the commander, she would be expected in no less than 15 minutes.

Earth, Inkopolis, 2 hours later.
A lone inkling, a weaponsmith by trade, walked down an alleyway alone. Green-Jaune was practically yelling over the phone as he headed towards Inkopolis Plaza.
"I don't get it. How could they reject my design!? Too much like a roller!? The ink blade is nothing like a roller! Is it because one of the models broke? The models were for demonstration purposes, not vigorous testing! Mine, for example, is the quality the ink blade would be made to, not the cheap plastic the models were! Gah! They don't know craftsmanship when they see it, obviously. If they did, they would order ink blades by the thousands! It makes me so mad! What? Er- Yes, I'm still in for tonight, don't worry. Anyways, Spyke asked me to watch his stuff while he was running errands, so I'll probably head over in a bit so he can go. It'll take me an hour, tops, can you just watch the shop for a little longer? Thanks. See you later. Yep, bye."

Boy, am I lucky or what. Cobalt was, indeed, very lucky. Him and his girlfriend, an orange Inkling named Persimmon (Persi) were both in excellent standing, whether that be with the law, or academically, or in turf wars / ranked battles. He was in excellent health, standing at a solid 6'2" with a semi-muscular athletic build, and currently, both Inklings were enjoying a picnic on the benches at Booyah Base. Cobalt browsed his phone while Persimmon debated which weapon she would use in the day's turf wars.

"Something on your mind, Persi?"

"Oh, no, I was just wondering what weapon I should go get."

"Maybe you could grab a new one from Ammo Knights? It's been a while, you deserve it. My treat."

Persimmon blushed at the gesture, but declined "Thanks, but I've already got more weapons than I know what to-" Her sharp eyes, useful for her usual sniper role on the field, picked up movement. Movement definitely out of place, as that was a sewer grate leading to... "Cobalt, I think something's in the sewer."

"Oh no, it might be an alligator- wait, you're serious?" Cobalt was just getting up to check it out when all shell broke loose.

07-34 climbed out of the grate, then turned around quickly to pull 07-35 out. They were both pleased with their supposed 'undetected infiltration' until…

"O! O-o-octo...Octolings! EVERYBODY RUN!"

The Octolings jumped, startled by the noise, then quickly realized just how big of a mess they had just created.
"So much for a quick, easy stealth op. I knew something like this was going to freaking happen."
"Hm. Appears our intel was off. Octavio will need to be informed."

It was just then that both octolings saw a orange inkling pull out a Custom E-litre 3k Scope, and the blue inkling beside her start rolling towards them. To an onlooker, it looked like a natural "fight" response compared to the flight responses of many nearby, but to the trained eyes of the Octolings...

"35! Go right! I'll go left, rendezvous at Point Bravo! Go!" With that, the female Octoling ran towards Ammo Knights and the male ran into an alley. Cobalt, knowing Spyke was usually in that alley, took off after the female, Persimmon providing cover fire whenever 07-35 shot at them.

07-34 ran down a twisted maze of alleyways, the screams in the background getting further and further. Stopping to catch his breath, he tried to get a sense of where he was.
"Finally, I think they lost me, that was clo-"

"So, you're an Octoling, then? Or is this just some new style the kids are trying these days?"

07-34 whipped his head around to see an azure Inkling male covering his only exit. Scanning up and down, 07-34 quickly assessed the threat. The Inkling seemed to have some baton at his side, but no other weapons. Slight size advantage, but nothing egregious. Getting into a fighting stance, he taunted,

"Well then? I can take some kid with a stick."

To 07-34's surprise, the "stick" was confidently drawn by the Inkling, the end erupting into an inky blade

"Yeah, sure. "Stick." Oh, and by the way… It can deflect Ink. Your move."

"Bold of you to give away such a useful surprise." With that, 07-34 launched himself forwards, spraying a wide arc of ink. Green jumped back, bouncing back forwards off a dumpster and slashing wide, narrowly missing 07-34's face. The Octoling failed to notice, however, that the attack had created a small cut in the tube running from his tank to his weapon. 07-34 then caught Green with an uppercut straight to the Inkling's undefended jaw. Green tried to jump back and get more room, but the Octoling was experienced. Keeping close, he prevented Green from being able to use his sword, delivering powerful, targeted blows to the Inkling's throat and chest, and it wasn't long before the Inkling was on the ropes. 07-34 caught the inkling with a blow to the liver, the Inkling crumpling like a deflated balloon, and just as the Octoling prepared to deliver a devastating blow to the Inkling's neck, a police officer stumbled upon the fight. Officer Evergreen was… Surprised, to say the least.

"Octoling!? Freeze, Police! Drop the weapon and put your hands up!" As he shouted, Officer Evergreen drew his sidearm. 07-34 took a moment to consider his options, then looked at the Moray.

"Well I can't say it wasn't fun. Ta-ta" With that, the Octoling jumped up the walls of the alley, escaping to the rooftops.
"Dammit! This is Officer Tesla Evergreen, I've encountered one of the Octolings and an Inkling in bad condition. Requesting backup and medical support."

With an ambulance on the way for Green's very battered body, Officer Evergreen and his backup went off to search the rooftops. Once the officers were out of earshot, Green pulled out a small communicator. "Agents… We have a problem."

Cobalt and Persimmon also had a problem. The Octoling they went after was proving… difficult. She maintained enough of a lead that nothing Cobalt did touched her, and she kept turning corners, costing Persimmon her shots. Additionally, Persimmon and Cobalt were running out of steam. They couldn't keep chasing forever. Then, Cobalt glanced right, and yelled back to Persimmon. "What's the stage rotation today!?" At first, Persimmon was confused, then she saw what he was looking at: Hammerhead Bridge. With it's incomplete state making it lead directly into the bay, it was a perfect corner to back the Octoling into. Persimmon super-jumped a few blocks ahead at a time, corralling the enemy towards the bridge. 07-35 noticed the bridge, of course, but she assumed that it was just that: a bridge. So when she found herself cornered, it came as a surprise. Cobalt, too, was surprised when the Octoling executed a double frontflip, kicking him in the chin and knocking his roller away. He felt a pang in his heart when it skittered over the edge of the bridge, plummeting into the deadly water. Now, in hand-to-hand combat, Cobalt was inexperienced, but had the strength Green lacked, and backup to distract the enemy. Plus, he was pretty pissed about his loss of a roller. The Octoling got in many powerful strikes, but compared to the experience of her commander, her attacks just didn't pack the same punch, and she didn't have the advantage of her opponent trying to use a bladed weapon. Cobalt had just knocked the Octoling out when his communicator received Green's message.

07-34 had given the police the slip, sitting down and trying to regain his bearings. Noticing a new alert on his mask, he open it up on his HUD.

+Alert: Unit 07-35 has been incapacitated. Current vital analysis suggests that pill 03-C was not administered. New mission objective: ensure unit 07-35 does not breach Octarian Intelligence+

"Well, that's just fantastic." The Octoling cursed to himself. "Of course someone as inexperienced as her would get herself captured so quickly. Could've sent 07-24 or 07-14, but nooo, just had to be 07-34, and she just had to get captured early-"

"Of course who had to get captured?" 07-34 whipped around, caught unaware by the green Inkling standing before him. How did he-? No.. this Inkling was different. Before 07-34 could demand that the Inkling to leave, he was met with a punch square to the gut. 07-34 countered with a left hook, but the Inkling blocked it and countered with a kidney shot. 07-34 took the opportunity to drive his knee up, the Inkling's eyes widening as the pain flared up from this cheap shot, but he powered through it and hit 07-34 again, this time in the throat. He kept pushing, forcing the Octoling to either back up or lose oxygen. 07-34 chose to back up, pointing his Octoshot and squeezing the trigger, only to be met with an empty click.
"Hey, Octo-man. You're out." The Inkling followed up his obvious comment with a low kick, sweeping 07-34's legs out from under him, then proceeded to stomp the Octoling's throat, grinding his foot down until his foe passed out, struggling to breathe. After tying up the Octoling, the Inkling pulled out a communicator, turning it on.

"Yeah, Green? That wasn't so hard. I'm taking the package back to Safehouse 2. Morado out."

Cobalt had just finished setting up a makeshift detainment cell in his apartment's spare room, some plastic sheets firmly affixed from floor to ceiling with a clear plastic sheet for a door, padlocked shut from the outside. 07-35 was still out cold when he got Morado's message.

"Persi, 6 is bringing the other Octoling here. I'm sorry about our date, but I'm going to have to make another cell."

Persimmon frowned. She had been waiting for this date for a long time, it had been so long since they both had a day free of Agent work and these two Octolings had just ruined it. She understood, though, that putting both Octolings together was asking for trouble, so it was best not to rush. "Okay. I'll be going, then. One of us should probably make sure 8 isn't beaten too badly."

Green was, in fact, beaten very badly. It seemed that Agent 1 was already there, however, as when Persimmon entered his hospital room, she walked in on 1 giving him an earful.

"What were you thinking!? Going after a commander with no weapons? He nearly squidin' killed you!"

"Couple things. One, I had not idea he was a commander. Honestly, what type of commander just waltzes into the freakin Plaza? Two, evidently he wasn't that good, 6 got him in no time flat. Three, the doctors said all my bleeding was internal, that's where blood is supposed to-"

"Not in the mood for jokes, 8! You nearly died, hell, you still could!"

Persi walked up to Agent 1, placing a hand on her superior's shoulder.

"Look, One, I know you're upset and all, but beating him up while he's already down won't fix anything."

Green sat forward before standing up, drawing attention to him. "Look, One, Seven, I'm fine. The Doc said I can go in a few hours. He just wants to make sure I'm not poisoned or anything."

"Ugh! Fine! I'm leaving!" With that, Agent One stormed off, muttering to herself about how stupid Green was. Green then took another look at Persimmon.

"So, uh, why'd you come in Agent gear?"

"Because I didn't know that One would be here. Guy gets attacked by an Octoling, they'd think it was odd if one of us didn't show up."

Earth, Unknown Location, some time later

"Is that so, Morado? An Octoling attack, in broad daylight? Ah, but it sounds like you four took care of it. No, no, I need to stay here for just a while longer. This job is proving more difficult than I thought. Of course, it's harder than my employer thought, too, cuz they just upped the pay by a cool three million. I'll be back as soon as I can. See ya." Vermillion ended the call. He had bigger fish to fry.

Authors note:

I think I started writing this... 5? years ago? Unfortunately, it seems my writing skills still need to improve.