ATTENTION: This chapter covers content from Splatoon 2's Hero Mode.
Some of Marie's and Sheldon's dialogue is taken directly from the game.
Alexis's PoV
Breaking the barrier, the short-haired inkling leaped for the zapfish and rolled onto her back, holding the zapfish up into the air. All the while, she had a huge smile on her face.
"I got it!" Alexis cheered.
"Great," Marie applauded over her headset. "You're getting good at this."
"Coming up!" Turning into her squid form, zapfish still in hand, she super-jumped out of the underground lair, and a few seconds later, she emerged from the kettle. Hopping onto the ride rail nearby, she rode it down to the main area, where the grey-haired inkling was waiting. Closing her umbrella and resting the tip of it on the ground, she took the zapfish from Agent 4. "Where to now?" the younger inkling then asked.
"Sheldon's little machine sensed a signal over there," she instructed, pointing towards a building with her umbrella. "You'll need to hop on the propeller lift to reach it, though."
"The one right there?" Alexis asked, pointing to the lift next to it.
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Alright!" Inking a path, she walked over to the propeller lift and climbed on it.
"Stop at the next platform!" Marie called once she got on it.
"Okay!" With the Hero Dualies, the bronze-skinned inkling started shooting the propeller, sending it to a platform with a bunch of boxes on it. She climbed up a wooden plank to reach the very top of it, where she then looked around. "…I don't see it." Past an arch, however, she saw another platform with something strange shining in the light. The next kettle. "Never mind!" She inked the platform and made the leap to it. She heaved herself onto the platform, where she suddenly found herself being pounded with enemy ink. Whipping around, she saw a sprinkler on the arch. She quickly shot it, and it broke down, metal scraps falling off the red arch.
"Umm… Agent 4?" Sheldon interjected as she revealed the kettle on the platform.
"Yeah?" Alexis asked.
"…That's not the one I found," he replied. "The next one's on top of a building."
"Yeah, I know that, and… oh." Taking off her headset, she put an ear to the kettle she just revealed and heard the faint voices of a few octolings. She shivered. The first time she encountered octolings was last week, and it did not go over well. She was splatted several times trying to fight them, and once she finally saved all eight mini zapfish, she was relieved. However, this also made Alexis have the horrifying realization that Off the Hook's very own Marina was an octoling. She's avoided watching the news since. She put her headset back on and announced, "I'm not going there."
"Good call," the idol approved. "I don't think you want to crash their party just yet."
Turning around, she saw a few crates on the edge of the platform she came from. She jumped back to them and broke the crates, with one revealing a ride rail. She hopped on it and soon jumped to one that suddenly appeared beside it. She hid in the rail, passing through the grate and landing on top of the building Marie pointed out earlier.
"That's it!" Sheldon exclaimed. "That's the signal I found!"
"Great." She inked the top of the building, and soon, a kettle appeared in the middle of it. Time to go in. Smiling, she slipped inside and spawned in an area that reminded her of a boardwalk. Directly in front of her was the bulb that activated a rail.
Instantly, a Hero Shot spawned in her hands. "I could really use some more data on this weapon. Can you use it for a bit?" the horseshoe crab requested.
"Sure thing." Agent 4 activated the ride rail and rode it down to a main, sandy area. It was covered in bounce pads. A bounce house?! That's so cool… When she jumped off the rail and landed on a bounce pad, she started to hop on it idly.
"Trying to walk on a bounce pad won't do much," Marie pointed out. "Jumping, on the other hand, will get you some serious air!" Nodding, Alexis tried jumping on the pad, and it launched her into the air. She jumped onto a platform that could not be normally reached, thanks to the bounce pads. She broke the crates, and a few orange orbs started flying towards her. An Octotrooper in the sand noticed her and shot out a blob of magenta ink, aimed towards her. Peering through the grate hanging off of the platform, she pulled the trigger on the Hero Shot, sending out a few bullets of ink. The Octotrooper very quickly exploded into teal ink. She walked over to the bounce pads behind the puddle of ink and started jumping on them.
"Use the bounce pad to bounce up there and barbecue those baddies!" the idol advised as soon as the short-haired inkling hopped on the pads. A shielded Octotrooper noticed her and started shooting out ink blobs. She gasped and hid behind a small wall. It soon went back to what it was previously doing, giving Alexis the chance to shoot it from behind. Quickly did it splat.
"Yes!" Alexis exclaimed, pumping a fist. She jumped into the teal pool it left behind and walked up to bounce pads leading up to even higher ground. From what she could see, two shielded Octotroopers were patrolling the area. She hid behind the wall until the back of one of them was exposed, and she shot it down. The other Octotrooper, alarmed, swung around and shot another magenta bullet at her. Being in the air, she did not have much time to dodge out of the way, and as a result, some of ink got on the hoodie she was wearing. The Octarian ink stinging, she dove into the pool the ink explosion left behind in order to heal. The enemy was smarter than she realized, however, and it shot an ink blob directly at her chest, shattering the Hero Suit.
"You need to retreat!" Marie demanded. "The Hero Suit will repair itself if you lay low."
Wearing only her undergarments, the headphones, a few bracelets, and damaged boots, Agent 4 jumped down to the bounce pad below and shot a puddle of ink next to it, where she hid. When the pain faded, she reemerged with the Hero Suit on again. Waiting for the back of the shielded Octotrooper to show again, she jumped behind the wall and shot it once she had the chance. It exploded into teal ink, and finally the short-haired inkling could move on. She walked over to the launchpad and launched into the air, landing on another wooden platform.
"I must find one of these bounce pads for some… research," Sheldon commented as Alexis approached a platform covered in pads.
The inkling over the headset sighed and informed, "Those moving walls can send you bouncing to your doom if you're not careful."
"Yikes," she muttered as she jumped onto the bounce pads. A moving wall was approaching her, with some of the orange orbs sticking to it. Sitting on top of it was a suitcase of armor. She leaped into the air, the wall passing by her as she plummeted back towards the pad. She continued jumping, watching as the wall stopped and changed directions. Should I get the armor? she asked herself. She was pulled out of her thoughts as ink hit her side. She looked up to see an Octotrooper shooting at her. She gasped and jumped up to the next platform, shooting at it. Soon, it splatted, and only a key was on the wall. She climbed onto the wall and grabbed the key before walking over to the wooden platform where a vault was located. She unlocked it and proceeded to use the launchpad it revealed.
"Well played!" Marie complimented. The next area Agent 4 arrived seemed to be some sort of conveyor belt, with large boxes circling around some bounce pads in an orderly fashion. It was surrounded by water. "Remember to bounce high!" she reminded as the short-haired inkling stepped onto the line of pads. She jumped onto one of the boxes and inked the top of it. Looking behind her, she saw the box approaching water faster and faster. She inked the box in front of her and jumped on it. She continued this until she arrived at the next platform, a sandy walkway with a flooder patrolling it. She quickly inked a path past it and dashed towards the bounce pad up ahead.
It seemed that even Octarians enjoyed the bounce pads, as they were hopping around on some the bronze-skinned inkling was approaching. She quickly shot the Octotroopers down and arrived at another conveyor belt. This time, the boxes were much narrower, though they were large enough to cover the gap between this walkway and the next. She had the bounce pads to save her in case she fell, but Alexis wanted to cross the gap in one go. Walking up to the edge of the platform, she threw out a curling bomb and dived into the ink, swimming across the platform. She reemerged to take out an Octotrooper blocking her path, quickly inked the wall, and climbed up it before the flooder could cover her in magenta ink.
"Awright," Marie cheered as Alexis passed the checkpoint and used the launchpad to super-jump to her next location. The launchpad sent her directly onto a bounce pad surrounded by four wooden poles. She looked down and gulped upon seeing the drop. Passing through some squid rings, the short-haired inkling jumped down to the next bounce pad, and then the next, and then the next. When she arrived at the bottom of the tower, another launchpad awaited her.
That was anti-climactic, Alexis thought, but regardless, she super-jumped to the next set of platforms. When she landed, more bounce pads and moving walls awaited her. Once the wall was at the left edge of the pads, she jumped down to them and splatted the Octotrooper stationed on a platform attached to it. Agent 4 jumped onto the platform where it was and hid in the ink. She emerged to splat another one and jumped to the next platform, which featured ascending bounce pads.
"Well done!" the idol complimented. When the short-haired inkling finished climbing the tower, she was met with another moving wall with Octotroopers stationed on top of it. Interestingly, at the end of bounce pad walkway, there was a large Octarian with goggles and a long, thin weapon. A thin green light signaled its line of sight.
"What's that?" Agent 4 asked. The Octotroopers noticed her and started shooting out their blobs of ink, and the mysterious Octarian noticed her and quickly shot out a line of ink, marked by the laser turning red. The magenta ink hit her stomach, and she clenched it pain. She hid behind a bumper next to her. "That thing has a charger or somethin'!"
"That's an Octosniper," Marie explained. "It can easily splat you if you're not careful. So, stay hidden, and things will be a lot easier."
"I see," the bronze-skinned inkling said through clenched teeth. "It packs a punch."
"Rest for a bit," she advised. "Then, move!"
Alexis nodded and inked a puddle out in front of her. Going into her squid form, she slipped into it and waited until she recovered from the shot before emerging again. With newfound determination, she rushed onto the bounce pads, using the walls as cover from the Octosniper. She grabbed the armor and splatted the Octotroopers without much injury. Now, it was only her and the sniper. Hiding behind the wall, she threw a standard splat bomb over it, hoping the explosion would take out the Octarian. Soon, she heard a gargled cry as orange orbs floated towards her.
"Nice!" the grey-haired inkling cheered. The orange-eyed inkling jumped over the wall and arrived at another tower, where more bounce pads awaited her. She climbed that tower once more, and now, she was face-to-face with the zapfish. She broke the barrier and snatched it from the pedestal.
"I got it!" Alexis declared, holding it up in triumph.
"Great! That's two today!"
The bronze-skinned girl brought down the zapfish to eye level and stared into its beady eyes. "Let's go home," she muttered, and then she super-jumped out of the underground lair. Alexis emerged from the kettle with the zapfish in hand, and she jumped down to the mainland where Marie was waiting. "Here you go," she said, giving it to the idol.
"Thanks." She put the zapfish Alexis had just obtained into a box, which contained the other zapfish the short-haired inkling got today. When they saw each other, they started to emit a few sounds, and the second one started to nuzzle the other's cheek. Marie chuckled. "They'll be good friends, that's for sure."
"Mhm," Agent 4 agreed, nodding. "Y'know, I've been meaning to ask you—you know those orange things that just float around in the Octarians' lairs."
"Power eggs?" the grey-haired inkling asked.
"Is that what they're called?"
"Yeah!" Sheldon suddenly piped in. "You already know this, but you can use them to upgrade your weapon at the Ammo Knights Enhancifier back at the Cuttlefish Cabin!"
"Fresh." Alexis then refocused her attention on Marie and asked, "Can we go back to the cabin?"
"Of course." Marie smiled, and the two started walking to the launchpad that would take them to Tentakeel Outpost, where they would retire for the day.
A/N: And that brings an end to another chapter! I'm not sure if the next Hero Mode chapter will cover a boss or an area 4 level yet, but... I guess you'll find out when the time comes. Hope you liked this chapter, and Branchwing, out!