ATTENTION: This chapter covers content from Splatoon 2's Hero Mode.
Pearl's and Marina's dialogue, as well as most of Marie's dialogue, is taken directly from the game.
Alexis's PoV
A week after the release of Perry's latest song, an urgent broadcast suddenly came on the giant screen situated on the tower. It was an odd time, as the latest stages were announced only a few minutes ago. Everyone looked at each other with confusion. What was going on?
"Uh… Why is our producer freaking out?" Pearl asked. "Read the teleprompter, Marina!"
"Huh? Let's see here…" Marina started. She scratched the turntable, and an image came on screen. "THIS JUST IN! The Great Zapfish has… disappeared?!"
The announcement came with gasps of shock and fear, mostly from the younger inklings. The most that affected Alexis was anxiety. From school, she learned that the Great Zapfish powered all of Inkopolis. What happened if it disappeared?
Octavia must have noticed her shaking, as she put a hand on her shoulder. The young inkling looked up at her older sister. "Don't worry," she tried to calm her. "This happened a few years ago. It came back within a month or two, no problem."
"But what if it doesn't?!" she cried. "Inkopolis will go dark!"
"Wait, like, for reals?!" Pearl exclaimed from the screen. "I feel like I've heard this story somewhere before…" Strangely enough, her statement echoed the start of the sisters' conversation.
"It's like Via said," Perry added. "It'll come back. Just gotta give it time."
"Maybe it went on vacation or something," Yuri joked. Everyone laughed at his joke except Alexis. The bronze-skinned inkling frowned. She hated being left out of the loop, especially when the Rainbow Squids treated her as if she was Geneva. She just didn't get it. Why is no one else worried?! said the frantic thought that popped into Alexis's head.
"There's more!" Marina added. She scratched the turntables once more, and an image of a black-haired inkling popped up on the mini-screen. "Pop superstar Callie of the Squid Sisters has gone missing!" Again, more gasps, more than the previous announcement, were garnered by the revelation.
"Not Callie!" Bonnie cried. "Oh, I hope Geneva doesn't hear about this…"
"NOOOO! NOT CALLIE!" Pearl cried. "This is terrible! Do something, Marina!"
"Uh… OK, I'll put together a search part-"
"Whatever." The short inkling suddenly interrupted. "I'm sure they'll turn up at some point. In other news…"
"But shouldn't we form a search party or someth-" The screen suddenly cut, with Pearl announcing that they ran out of the time. With this, Off the Hook did their outro, and the screen resumed to be flashing images of various media.
"Okay, I was fine with the Great Zapfish going missing… twice," Roy started, a determined look sparkling in his red eyes, "but Callie going missing? That's too far."
"Okay, can you guys explain to me why you're so calm when the source of all power goes missing, but freak out when some random pop star goes missing?" Alexis chimed in.
"Oh, Callie isn't just any old pop star," the tanned inkling pointed out. "She's the pop star. One of the world-famous Squid Sisters!"
"Again, she's a pop star," the inkling with chin-length hair deadpanned. "Still didn't answer my question."
"It came back the first time around," Inigo commented. "We don't really have a reason to be worried."
"I don't remember the first time around," Alexis protested. "Please, I'd really like to see the report for the first time?"
"Give me a sec." The indigo-haired inkling pulled out his fittingly-indigo phone, and after a few minutes, he showed the screen to the young inkling. It was a SplatTube video, and he began to play it. It was eerily similar to Off the Hook's recent broadcast, but it instead featured a black-haired inkling and a grey-haired inkling. "You see, this," he said while pointing to the black-haired inkling, "is Callie, and this," he continued while pointing to the other inkling, "is Marie."
"Okay…" She raised an eyebrow at the whole ordeal. "What did you guys think the first time the Great Zapfish went missing."
"Trust me, we were freaking out," Via replied. "Especially since it was around the time we first formed the Rainbow Squids."
"Have I mentioned that Geneva's learning how to be an electrician?" Yuri added. "She started an apprenticeship about the time the Great Zapfish came back."
"Is that related to her vacation?" Alexis asked.
"Oh, no!" Perry was the next inkling to speak up. "She just went because she wanted to. Doubt it has anything to do with zapfish."
"Back to the Great Zapfish," Via snapped. Everyone went quiet as soon as she spoke, and in a gentler tone, she continued. "Like I said, you really shouldn't be worried. It'll come back."
"And if doesn't…?" Alexis probed.
"Oh, that's when Inkopolis would really shut down. Everyone would be freaking out." The bronze-skinned inkling tried to suppress a giggle. "But, it shouldn't get to that point. Callie, on the other hand…"
"She has to come back some time!" Roy interrupted. "Oh, I really hope Marina goes through with those search parties."'
The young inkling clenched her fist. Would they stop talking about idols for just one second?! She did not care for any of them. The only reason why she knew the members of Off the Hook's names was because of their constant, frequent appearance on the big screen on Deca Tower. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lip curled, revealing part of her pearly-white teeth.
"Alright, I've had enough," Alexis snapped with such ferocity that even Via was taken aback. "If you squids are just gonna talk about Callie all day, then I'm leaving." She turned her back on them and started walking away from their usual table. "Bye, bye. See you tomorrow."
"Alexis!" Octavia yelled. "Come back here!"
The orange-haired inkling didn't even bother answering. She continued walking towards the tower, but all of a sudden, she noticed something unusual in the corner of her eyes. She turned her head around to look back at the Rainbow Squids. Immediately after her departure, they all went back to looking at their phones. Typical. She refocused her attention on the strange sight. A woman holding a green Brella stood on top of a grate. From what else she could see, the inkling wore a kimono, but the umbrella hid the rest of her from sight. Alexis took a few steps towards her. The mysterious inkling looked over her shoulder, and, with a small gasp, she suddenly dissolved through the grate in a blob of lime green ink.
Alexis walked over to the grate, peering into it. It seemed to be an ordinary grate, disregarding the fact that an inkling just went through it. She sat on it, and pulled her knees to her chest. What was she going to do now? The mysterious inkling showed no signs of coming back, though perhaps it had something to do with Alexis's presence on the grate. She stood up, and looked into it again. She looked back at her sister's friends. They still remained at their usual table. Her orange eyes refocused on the grate. I suppose no one would notice if I go investigate. And with that, she let herself go into squid form, and she slipped through the grate.
She travelled through it, and the inkling popped out on the steel base of a grassy, floating island. A few feet in front of her lied a small pink-and-green shack, complete with lanterns and a symbol on a curtain. The mysterious inkling from earlier stood with her back turned to Alexis, but now she could get a better look at her. Her hair was tipped green, though the majority of it was a pale grey, almost white. Oddly enough, she looked familiar…
"Hmm… The Octarians…" muttered the woman. Alexis raised an eyebrow. Octarians? Weren't those the creatures mentioned in her history textbooks? The inkling turned around, revealing her golden eyes, like stars. "Hey… You showed up!" she exclaimed, the inkling giving a small smile.
"Yeah… What about it?" asked the bronze-skinned inkling, scratching her head.
"As soon as I saw you aimlessly wandering around the square, I knew you were the one," the other inkling replied. "I'm Marie. I know you're probably a bit starstruck, but I need you to get over it."
"What?" This was getting confusing. Marie was the name of the other Squid Sister, right?
"Yes, I'm THAT Marie," she clarified, doing a hand gesture to prove her point. "You know… from the Squid Sisters." Alexis just gave the other inkling a blank, yet confused, stare. When no reaction was garnered, she gasped, "You've never heard of me? For eel?"
"I mean, my sister and her friends talk about you a lot," the orange-haired inkling clarified. "But me? Not really."
The tips of Marie's mouth pointed downwards ever-so-slightly, and then she said, "Well, you obviously aren't very cultured, but you'll have to do."
"What do you mean, I'll have to do?!"
"See, I've got a little… thing I need some help with. By now you've heard that the Great Zapfish that powers Inkopolis Square is missing."
"I know!" Alexis exclaimed. "But everyone I've talked to seemed more concerned with your sister-"
"Cousin," Marie interrupted to clarify.
"Whatever. Anyways, I'm pretty sick of squids talking about Callie. And it's only been like, what, ten minutes since that was announced."
The idol paused and let out a sigh of exasperation, but she continued her explanation afterwards. "Well, it's not just missing—it's been squidnapped by the Octarian menace!" The inkling with chin-length hair gasped. "How do I know this?" Alexis cursed silently. She was just about to ask this question! "On the surface, I may just look like an absurdly talented pop star… But in truth… I'm Agent 2 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, a secret society of heroes who save the world from Octarians!"
"My sister's friend dressed up as a hero for Halloween once," Alexis interrupted. "She has a picture of herself and her friends dressed up from an old Splatfest years ago in her room."
"Trust me, we aren't exactly the heroes you're thinking of," Marie clarified. "We don't have superpowers or anything, just ourselves." She cleared her throat. "Anyways, I've been trying to keep an eye on the Octarians in my downtime, but I'm a busy girl." She muttered something quietly, and then she made a bold declaration: "I need YOU to go get the Great Zapfish back from those slimy Octarians!"
"What?!" The cry was so loud, she bet that even Geneva could hear it, wherever she was. "Me, getting the Great Zapfish?! There's no way I can do that!"
"Of course you can do it," Marie encouraged. "Agent 3 confessed she had those same fears to us a little while after she saved the Great Zapfish the first time around. And I'll admit—her skill is amazing. If she could do it, I'm sure you can, too." She smiled. "So, what do you say? Are you in?" Alexis looked around nervously. Whoever Agent 3 was had mad skill, according to Marie's praise. She could never live up to her expectations. She wasn't sure what to do. Eventually, the older inkling just stated, "I'll take your awkward silence as a yes."
The inkling went back inside her shack, and she quickly came out with a set of clothes, alongside a shooter. "Welcome aboard!" she greeted, presenting the clothes and shooter to Alexis. Not sure what to say, she simply took the clothes and weapon from her. "You are now Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. I even bought you a brand-new Hero Suit as a signing bonus. Go try it on."
Alexis gave a simple nod, and she went into the shack to change. She examined herself in the mirror present there. The headset felt a little heavy on her head, but she did like the hoodie she was wearing. It was only the boots that bothered her. They looked kind of ugly, in her opinion. Though Marie's earlier statement might prove otherwise, the outfit did remind her of the hero costume Geneva wore for Halloween one year. The bronze-skinned inkling then picked up the weapon lying on the dresser and came out of the shack. She tried to manage a toothy smile.
"And look at that!" the other inkling exclaimed. "It fits like a glove!" She muttered something, and then she declared, "Now, let's go tear those Octarians from limb from limb from limb…" The idol trailing off garnered another blank stare from Alexis. Once she realized this, she finished, "Well… you get the picture."
"So…" the bronze-skinned inkling started, tapping her foot on the ground. "How will I do this?"
"The entrances of the Octarian realm are invisible," explained Marie. "You'll have to ink them to reveal them."
"Seriously?!" she cried. "I just have to throw ink around until something pops up?"
"You'll have a faint idea where they are once you're near one," the fair-skinned inkling replied. "They're kind of like giant boxes—just ink them until it breaks, er, pops up."
Alexis nodded and started walking across the bridge. In the main area, parts of the land were covered in a magenta ink. She ignored them for now.
"Remember," called Marie. "If you see anything weird-looking, blast it with ink!" The first thing Alexis noticed was a kettle of some sorts, so she walked up to it and began to ink it with the shooter. She was used to having only one weapon to shoot with, so this was kind of a new experience for her. "Not that, silly," the other inkling in the area shouted. "The Boss Kettle only opens when you've retrieved all the zapfish in the area!"
Alexis groaned, and heaved herself over the pot. She looked around, and noticed something glinting a few feet in front of her. She walked up the ramp, searching for it. Yet, she couldn't find it. Then, Marie's reminder to ink anything funny-looking popped into her head. She put a foot out, which was stopped by something invisible. Determined that this was the location, she began shooting it with ink. A creaking sound was heard as the ink was suddenly thrown off of it to reveal a metal grate, shaped like a miniature version of the Boss Kettle. Deducing that this was somewhere Octarians resided, she slipped into the grate.
She reappeared in a rather strange area, the sun shining in her eyes. Sprawled out in front of her was a path of teal ink. She looked down at her spawn. It, too, was teal. Assuming this was the color she changed into when she arrived here, she stepped into the ink. Nothing bad happened.
"Swim through that ink," the voice of Marie said. Alexis jumped, searching for the source of the sound. "We're communicating through radio," she explained. "Though, I can also see what you're doing. Makes things helpful."
"...Okay…" Alexis slipped into the form of a squid, swimming to the end of the platform. She was revealed when she landed on a swirling teal circle, and felt herself prepare to super jump. She then felt herself flying through the air, and she landed on a smaller, teal circle.
"Cover enemy ink with your ink to move through it," explained Marie.
"Uh, I kind of already know that," she pointed out, "but thanks, anyways." The bronze-skinned inkling started to cover the magenta ink from above with her own. With that, her companion went silent. She inked the area, collecting the orange orbs floating above it. When she got past the wall, she saw a strange creature. When it noticed her, a blob of magenta ink shot out of its hose. She gasped and hid behind a wall. "…What is that?"
"That, my friend, is an octarian," the other inkling explained. "An Octotrooper, to be specific. They're pretty easy to take down, don't worry."
With a little hesitation, Alexis stepped out from behind the wall and began shooting the Octarian. Within a few moments, it burst into teal ink. The machinery it was riding on crashed to the ground and disappeared.
"Good. Now, jump through that squid ring." She did as she was asked, and swam down the trail of teal ink left there. She arrived in an open area, where another Octotrooper, though with a shield covering its face, stood in the center of it. "Not a lot of cover here. Hide in the ink and move slowly so it doesn't see you. Though, I don't see anywhere go can go from here. It might be best to throw a bomb to distract that shielded slob, so you can splat him from behind."
I have bombs? Alexis reemerged from the ink, and searched her pockets for the aforementioned the bombs. She pulled out a teal bomb and threw it behind the Octarian, and then hid in the ink quickly. It turned around, confused, but the agent took the chance to strike it from behind. When it exploded, another swirling circle was revealed.
"Ah, a launchpad," Marie said. "Better jump on it."
Alexis swam into the launchpad, and she was launched upward and landed on another glowing circle. Directly in front of her was a grate, though she could see magenta ink sprawling out on the platform below. She stepped onto the grate and looked below her. Three Octotroopers were gathering beneath it. She started shooting one of them, and it splatted quite quickly. The other two noticed this and sent two blobs of ink towards her. She quickly shot one of the remaining two, and stepped out of the way of the blob. Unfortunately, it grazed her shoulder, but that didn't stop her from splatting the final Octotrooper.
"Hmm… Not bad," Marie complimented. Alexis slipped through the grate and swam through the ink present. She popped out at the end, where there were a few crates. She shot them, and more of the orange orbs flew towards her. She swung around the corner, where another Octarian was waiting for her. She splatted it and pushed forward through the mass of crates she now faced. She let out a squeak of surprise when she saw the last group of crates. It was shaped like a pyramid, with an Octotrooper on top of each box. They all began to shoot at her. Alexis inked a small spot to hide in, raising confusion in the five present.
"Remember, you have bombs!" the inkling on the radio reminded. Oh, yeah! She reemerged from the ink and pulled out another teal bomb. The creatures, however, noticed her and began to shoot again. Luckily, the bomb exploded, taking most of them down. She finished off the ones that were left, and a launchpad appeared where they were. "Woo! I'm impressed," commented Marie, "Now, hop onto that launchpad."
She super-jumped over another building and landed on the glowing circle on the top. Past the wall was a big, puffed-up creature with blotches of teal ink on it. It was connected to something she couldn't quite make out. She broke the boxes to investigate.
"Hit that balloon fish with some ink to pop it," she instructed. So, that's what it was. She held up her shooter and shot it. It quickly exploded, covering the area like a giant bomb. She smiled. Convenient. Past it were more Octarians. They were guarding a silver, cylindrical object with an orange logo. "Ah, a vault. We'll need to find a key to open that." Alexis splatted the two Octotroopers present and took a sharp right. She slipped through the grate to find a mass of boxes. She broke a few of them, only to reveal more Octotroopers. She gasped and began shooting wildly.
Panic really began to rise when her tank ran out of ink. She quickly submerged herself in the ink, hoping that the Octarians would forget about her. However, as soon as they forgot, their hoses began spraying magenta ink on the ground below them. Soon, she was becoming cornered. When she had no more space to go, she began shooting the remaining Octarians, and the area became covered in teal ink again. She turned back around her to take down the rest of the boxes. In one of the crates, she found a key.
"There's the key. Now, take it, and use it to open the vault," Marie instructed. She did so and swam back down to the vault. She used the key to open it, and Alexis found a launch pad in its place. "You're a natural," the other inkling complimented. "Onward!"
The inkling with chin-length hair jumped off the higher platform and found a few boxes blocking her path. She broke them, and suddenly, a suitcase emerged from one of the boxes.
"You want that armor. Trust me." Alexis picked it up, and suddenly she found more weight on her body. She walked towards the group of Octarians, and Marie advised, "If you're hurt or overwhelmed, retreat and catch your breath. That's combat 101!"
"No need to," the bronze-skinned inkling boasted. "I can do this." She threw a bomb towards the group of Octarians, and it exploded, covering them in ink. She finished them off, and she moved towards the end of the dip to shoot the rest of the Octarians. She moved up the ramp, and she jumped when two Octarians suddenly appeared in a burst of magenta ink.
"Don't forget to strafe and backstep while you're shooting," the other inkling reminded her. Alexis groaned. She was getting a little tired of hearing Marie's advice. She splatted the two Octotroopers that popped up, garnering an audible gasp from the inkling on the radio. "You… You're still alive!" she exclaimed in awe. "This crazy plan might work after all." Alexis stepped on the circle and dissolved herself into the teal ink present. She swam up to a shielded Octotrooper who was just sitting there. Recalling the advice given earlier, she popped out of the ink and threw a bomb over the creature's head. It turned around, confused, giving her the chance to splat it from behind.
"Well done," Marie said. Alexis inked the wall and climbed up it to access the launchpad. It was a weird position for it to be in, but she could work with it. As soon as she touched it, she launched to what felt like the other side of the world. She jumped onto the narrow platform when the other inkling said, "Don't look down." She paused. "Or do. Whatever." She crossed the platform to find her path blocked by some crates. She broke them, and positioned herself on the grate where she could go through the squid rings at the same time she was falling down. She slipped into her squid form, and down she went.
Alexis turned the corner when she was met with another shielded Octotrooper. Both them became started as they shooted at each other. When she noticed some of the sticky ink got on her body, she slipped back into the ink and swam away. She rested for a moment and swung around the wall again afterwards. The Octarian had started to cover the area with its own ink again.
"Remember: bombs are your best friend," Marie reminded.
"I know, I know." She reemerged from the ink and threw a bomb behind the creature before hiding again. Luckily enough, it turned around, allowing her to shoot it in the back to splat it.
"Stay alert," commented the inkling on the radio. "You never know what might be on the other side of the wall." Alexis rested again to recharge her ink tank, and then she pressed forward to break the crates. She shot a balloon fish that stood in the middle of a wider area, which burst to reveal some hiding Octotroopers. "AMBUSH!" Marie then cried. "Cook these clowns!"
Alexis and the Octotroopers dueled, teal and magenta ink flinging back and forth. She used the balloon fish to her advantage, blasting it once it regenerated it. The ink blast was so strong that it managed to knock the shield off the shielded Octotrooper. With this advantage, she splatted it, and moved on to the launchpad behind the balloon fish. She launched and landed on yet another glowing circle, and broke the small crates. One contained a can, while the other contained armor.
"Tenta Missiles!" Marie exclaimed as soon as she picked up the can. "You can activate them and set the target on those slobs below you. Then, fire!"
"Will do." She broke the can and a pair of launchers appeared in her hands. Considering that she usually used her Splat Dualies to fight, using these were a piece of cake. She locked her targets, and fired. The missiles shot into the air, and soon enough they crashed down on the Octotroopers. They all exploded in teal ink, and one of them left behind a key. Alexis jumped down to the ground and picked up the key. She used it on the vault, which opened to reveal yet another set of Tenta Missiles.
"Well done," the other inkling said. "From what I can see, you probably want to use the second can of Tenta Missiles."
"Really?" She turned around to see more Octarians on the platform below. "Oh…" She broke the second can to obtain another pair of launchers. "There really is a lot of them here!"
Marie chuckled. "You are in one of the Octarians' realms. What do you expect?" There was a moment of silence before she said, "Now, cook these Octarians!" Alexis took a few steps back to ensure all of them were targeted by the Tenta Missiles. She fired them, and the Octarians started to run around frantically as the missiles headed towards them, to no avail. They all exploded into teal ink, and three keys were left behind. "Now we're cookin'!"
The agent hopped down to the platform below and picked up the keys. She used them to open up each vault. In two of them were red-orange cans containing a lot of the orange orbs she had seen floating around. The final one contained a launchpad. Once she got the cans, she swam over to the swirling circle, and she launched into the sky. She landed on a small platform, with a yellow creature with whiskers a few feet in front of her. It was surrounded by a yellow, glowing barrier. A zapfish!
"There it is! Bust in and grab that zapfish!" Marie exclaimed. "…By inking it, by the way. Just in case you didn't know."
Alexis nodded and started shooting the barrier. It burst, and the zapfish let out a raspy, yet high, cry. She put the shooter behind her back afterwards. Excited, she leaped towards it and grabbed it, holding it tight while it squirmed around.
"I got it!" she exclaimed. "Take that, Octarians!"
"Great," the other inkling said. A launchpad spawned from behind the zapfish's holding place. "You'll want to take that launchpad back out. It'll take you back up to the surface."
Alexis nodded, still holding the zapfish. She walked over to it and turned into squid form. She launched up towards the sky, the zapfish screaming all while doing so. She popped out high above the grate, which was open to accommodate for the zapfish not being made out of ink. As soon as they were above ground, the grate closed, and Alexis landed cleanly on it.
Turning around, she noticed Marie walking up to her, Brella still in hand. "And there it is," she said, smiling.
"So…" The bronze-skinned inkling looked down at the zapfish in her hands. "What do I do with it?"
"We've been sending rescued zapfish back to the power plant where the electricians manage them," the older inkling explained. "We send them anonymously, of course."
"Solid plan." She gently passed the zapfish on to the other inkling. "I suppose you can handle it from here."
"I can." Marie started walking back to her shack. "Great work, Agent 4," she then started. "Inkopolis may not be doomed after all."
"Um… my name's Alexis," she pointed out. "I've never said that earlier, but now's better than never."
She looked over her shoulder again, and shrugged. "Whatever. You're Agent 4 here, not Alexis. By the way, you did the first job perfectly." She smiled. "Up for another one?"
"I don't know…" Alexis scratched her head. "My sister might be worried sick about me. How long has it been?"
"Since you first showed up? Not very long," Marie replied. "A half-hour, if I had to guess."
"It's only been a half-hour?!" The bronze-skinned inkling plopped down on the now-stickered grate. "So much has happened since then!"
"I don't blame you. But, the only thing now is to keep pushing forward. Inkopolis is counting on you, Agent 4."
The inkling stood up, and gave a nod. She pulled out the shooter again, and continued the search for the next grate.
A/N: And, here it is! If you were interested in reading it, I hoped you enjoyed it. In regards to the computer situation-the new one is due to arrive Tuesday. In regards to the next chapter, it is finished, but I feel like it's too... short? It's rather calm compared to the last few chapters. I'll probably tweak it over the week to try to add more to it. However, I would still need to transfer the files over to my new computer once I get it, which would eat up a day. So, hopefully you are fine with just this. Branchwing, out!