ATTENTION: This chapter covers content from Splatoon 2's Hero Mode.
Some of Marie's, Sheldon's, Callie's, and DJ Octavio's dialogue are taken directly from the game.
Alexis's PoV
It was time.
Time to save the Great Zapfish. Time to save Callie. After six months of nothing, Inkopolis would finally have both their greatest power source and their beloved pop star back. Or, at least, Alexis hoped so.
"You sure you're ready?" Marie asked back at Tentakeel Outpost.
"I am," the younger inkling confirmed. "Are you?"
The idol nodded. "Yeah. Sheldon's setting up the truck. But Four, remember." Her golden eyes looked down at the bronze-skinned girl. "You're the only one that can defeat DJ Octavio and save the Great Zapfish." She smiled. "And Callie."
"I know." Alexis gave a nod. "That's why I have to try my best. So I can save everyone."
Marie gave the agent a quick hug before placing her hands on her shoulders. "Go, now. I'll be there as fast as I can. See you soon."
"Mhm." The orange-haired inkling prepared to super-jump, and moments later, she flew through the air, towards the cavern hosting Cephalon HQ. She landed on the boss kettle, which was stationed on a metallic platform decorated with various stickers. Several glowing, purple dots surrounded the pillow the kettle rested on. From within, she could hear the roars of a crowd, though she did not know who they were cheering for. She peered through the grate and took a deep breath. Here I go. She turned into a squid and slipped into the boss kettle.
As Alexis travelled deeper within, she felt the area shift around a little bit before hearing something lock above her, which only heightened her fear. Soon, however, she spawned in the kettle, shaking some green ink off of her. In the background, she could see various lights in the audience, and right in the middle of the stage stood a figure. In her hands, she held the Hero Shot—Sheldon asked her to use it beforehand. The short-haired inkling stepped onto the launchpad, which brought her right to the arena.
"Let's go, Agent 4!" Marie cheered over the headset. Agent 4 landed onto the pavement and took a few steps towards the figure. She stopped when she realized that this was another inkling. A familiar inkling—she couldn't remember who—with long black hair tipped with the hot pink color of her ink. The stage she stood on caved a little bit, and speakers lining the frame were silent. A few seconds passed as Alexis absorbed this information, and then Marie let out a saddened gasp. "Wait... Is that...?" Realization struck the agent—the grey-haired inkling's earlier prediction was correct. "CALLIE?!" the idol cried out in anguish.
At the mention of her name, Callie looked over her shoulder, donning a poker face and some shades not unlike the ones enemy octolings wore. She pivoted around to face Alexis, crossing her arms.
"I told you to leave..." the black-haired inkling said, her shades flashing a colorful diamond pattern.
"Callie... Why?" Marie murmured, her voice cracking.
Striking a pose, Callie announced, "Now you leave me no choice..." She slashed her arm through the air and shouted, "Prepared to be rocked!" She pointed her fingers towards the air. "Hey, DJ!"
The stage began to shake, and the background lit up behind the pop star as she rose into the air. Occupying the level below her was a red-violet octopus wearing a black-and-gold helmet and golden shutter shades. A green scar glowed on one of his muscular tentacles, not unlike the tentacles controlling Octobosses. Wasabi stalks occupied his turntables, and attached to the front of the mechanism were two golden fists, letters in the Octarian language engraved on their knuckles.
There was something else that caught Alexis's attention, though. Hanging off the bottom of the machine was none other than the Great Zapfish. The machine rattled as the creature was sucked into it, energizing the machine. It crackled with electricity, prompting a horn to sound and the crowd to cheer. A jumbotron in the background displayed some subtitles in both Octarian and Inkling, which read, 'DJ Octavio feat. Callie: Octobot King II.'
"I'll save you," Alexis muttered her breath. "I promise."
"Octavio in da houuuuuuuuse!" the octopus immediately introduced himself. He seemed to be fluent in the Inkling language, but like the octolings of Octa Prisma, he spoke with an accent.
The girl's immediate response was to laugh. "Hold up, you're DJ Octavio?" the short-haired inkling perplexed. I thought he'd be more menacing. This guy is laughable at best!
"Gyah ha ha!" DJ Octavio laughed. "You think I'm a pushover? No wonder my troops call you the Dauntless. Well, no matter: Take this—I remixed Callie's brain!"
"Huh?!" Agent 4 gasped for more reasons than one.
Callie snickered. "Time for our first song of the night: Bomb Rush Blush!"
"Time to drop the beatdown!" the disc jockey followed.
A tune so upbeat, yet ominous, began to play as the black-haired idol told him, "Spin it, DJ!" As the machine floated in the air, one of its golden fists began to glow magenta as a hissing escaped from it. It propelled itself towards her, causing Alexis to jump out of the way to dodge it. The fist dug itself into the pavement before retracting back into the machine.
"What?!" she gasped. With a running start, she tried going towards DJ Octavio, only to be blocked by some sort of barrier once she was close enough. "Ow..." she muttered, rubbing her head as she fell to the ground. Magenta ink dripped off of her hoodie. The machine backed up and began to shoot another fist at Alexis.
"Shoot it!" Marie commanded.
Shoot it? The bronze-skinned girl inked a spot of green around her feet before firing her Hero Shot at the incoming fist. She backed up, now trudging in Octarian ink as it got closer and closer. Just before it could hit her, the fist glowed green and started twirling right back at the disc jockey, causing a bunch of dough balls to fall out of it. Callie almost lost her balance, but she continued singing anyways.
"Graaahk!" DJ Octavio cried.
"That's it, Agent 4! Show no mercy!" the grey-haired inkling cheered.
Alexis threw a curling bomb towards the opposite side of the arena, in hopes of creating a gap between her and the Octobot King II. She started inking the ground around her, when another fist was shot at her. She started shooting at it only to find she was out of ink. She hid in the ink to refill her ink tank, and the golden fist landed next to her. She emerged early to start inking it, only for it to retract back into the machine. DJ Octavio launched the other fist next, but this time, Alexis was prepared. She shot at the other fist until it glowed green and rammed into the machine.
Now, both fists were glowing a magenta color, and moments later, they were shooting towards her. Agent 4 stepped to the side and finished off the fist she had previously inked before focusing on the second one. It dug into the ground again, though spots of ink still dripped off of it. The machine heaved as it tried to pull the golden fist out, allowing her to cover it up and send it straight back to the octopus.
"Blushing faces covered in pink! / Rushing bombs, exploding ink!" Callie sang as giant splat bombs rimmed with gold spat out of the machine. Alexis threw out a curling bomb again and swam to the side in an attempt to dodge them. Unfortunately, one of them landed right on top of her and exploded, breaking her hero suit. A puddle of green ink surrounded where she would have splatted. Her swimming slowed to a crawl as the Octobot King II's fists began to glow again.
"Watch out for his spinning punches," Sheldon advised. "They can't be bounced back!"
"Huh?!" The fists spun faster and faster until they launched, heading straight towards Alexis. "Ah!" She swam as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding the impact of the fists. After they landed, her hero suit regenerated, and she emerged from the green ink. The fists withdrew back into the machine and immediately did DJ Octavio send out another one. This time, Alexis was ready as she charged towards it, pressing a finger against the trigger. As the fist become greener and greener with ink, she tried to be dramatic and send it off with a kick, but she failed. Her foot recoiled when it hit the incoming object. She stumbled backwards, and while she heard the octopus cry out in the background, all she could focus on was the sharp pain in her leg.
"Four!" Marie gasped.
"It's nothing I can't handle, Marie," she told her. "Just stick to the plan!" Another fist planned to smash her into the ground, but she pointed her Hero Shot at it and fired it until it barreled back towards Octavio.
"Hnnng! Come on, Octavio!" Callie egged.
"Snap out of it, Callie!" the grey-haired inkling begged. As she finished her words, another wave of splat bombs came flying out of the machine. As they neared, Agent 4 now noticed that they had a squid design on them. Callie's name was written in bold underneath the graphic.
Oh no... The short-haired girl gulped. Can we still save her? She shook her head and turned into a squid to evade the bombs. I can't start doubting myself now. Everyone's counting on me. Callie... The Great Zapfish... Inkopolis... I have to save them. I can't let anyone down.
In the ink, her leg pain had dulled, but when she emerged, in flared right back up again. The two golden fists started spinning around again, and they launched towards her. Alexis was once again forced to throw out a curling bomb and dodge to the side. DJ Octavio immediately followed up by launching two normal punches at the same time. She quickly sent one of them flying back towards her while the other dug into the ground. She scrambled back towards it, but it managed to pull itself out in time and retreat back to the Octobot King II. A few seconds passed, and the first fist was once again flying towards her. Determined, she shot the fist down, and with this punch, Octavio flew out of his machine, tumbling towards the ground.
"Octavio is exposed!" Marie exclaimed. "This is your chance, Agent 4!"
Agent 4 threw out another curling bomb, which bumped off of the octopus. She emerged right in front of his eyes and started inking him up the same green color the mechanical fists were covered with. Soon, DJ Octavio was the one barreling into his machine, dough balls flying out on impact.
Callie regained her balance and adjusted her shades, shaking her head. "Hmph," she scoffed.
"Callie!" the idol called out. "It's me," she said. She took a deep breath and continued, "Your cousin, Marie. Try to remember!"
The black-haired inkling simply shrugged off her cousin's attempt to reach out to her and shouted, "DJ!" She slashed her hand through the air again and demanded, "Drop that spicy wasabi beat!" With her final words, the ink dissipated from the concrete, making for a confetti effect.
DJ Octavio repositioned himself in the operator's seat, steadying his wasabi stalks on the turntables. "Gyah ha ha!" he laughed. "Comin' with that hotness!"
"Don't hold back, Agent 4!" commanded Marie. The Octobot King II started to rise, which prompted the idol to gasp and exclaim, "He's rising up!"
"Is that a bad thing?!" Alexis asked, frantic as the machine prepared to send out another punch.
"Depends on your definition of 'bad.'" The fist started to come crashing down on the short-haired girl, but before it could connect with her, she started firing at it. Like most other times, it soon turned green and spun back towards DJ Octavio. Trying not to fall off, the octopus held onto his seat and spun a disc with a stalk of wasabi, prompting the next fist to come out of the machine, towards Alexis. It came so quickly that Alexis barely had time to react. She jumped to the side as it dug into the ground. After it landed, she tried inking it, but it retracted back before she could completely cover it.
"Yeah, it's a bad thing," she concluded.
Instead of sending out another punch, however, the Octobot King II hovered back towards the ground, and a tray rose from above the bottom speakers. Alexis recognized its contents as the dough balls that sometimes fell out of the machine whenever Octavio was hit. A moment or two later, they popped out of the tray, towards the bronze-skinned girl.
"Something's coming!" Marie noted. "Can you shoot it down?"
"I don't know, but I'll try." She tried shooting one of them, and it didn't take long for it to explode into pieces. "Huh, you're right." Before she could shoot down another one, one of the dough balls landed in her arms. A pink octopus tentacle was stuck through it, hanging limply. Combined with the dark sauce lathered over the top, it actually looked... quite tasty. Letting her hunger consume her, she opened her mouth to take a bite out of it when it suddenly exploded into a whirlwind of magenta ink, breaking her hero suit. She was pushed back a few inches, and looking around, she found herself surrounded by the same twisters. Through them, she spotted one of the fists spinning, slinging droplets of green ink everywhere. She barely managed to jump out of the way of the spinning punch, though to her dismay, her hero suit had yet to recover.
I can't give up, she told herself. I have to keep going. She rose to her feet, wiping some magenta ink off her shoulder. Her suit regenerated, and she clenched the Hero Shot tighter. DJ Octavio decided to raise up into the air again and send out two punches at the same time. Alexis targeted the fist that had previously spun at her before, making up for her failure to cover it up last time a normal punch was sent out. It knocked into Octavio, allowing her to attack the other fist. She finished inking it up while it was stuck in the ground, sending it back. While the octopus recovered, she took it upon herself to start painting the land around her.
Still remaining in the air, the machine starting spinning one of its fists again, and it flew towards Agent 4 again, followed by a normal fist. She successfully dodged the first punch and immediately started to focus on the other one. Just before it could retract, it glowed green and rammed into the Octobot King II once more. Following this, it returned to the ground and started sending out giant suction bombs.
"Another Bomb Rush!" the grey-haired inkling exclaimed. The suction bombs this time were rimmed with gold, much like the splat bombs. Again, Callie's name was written on the front of them, but they also had a design with angry squid eyes and sharp eyelashes above the writing. She had no doubts that those eyes were supposed to represent the black-haired idol's eyes. Throwing out a curling bomb, Alexis was forced to flee them as she watched them cover the arena back up in magenta ink.
Following the Bomb Rush, the machine rose into the air again, and one of the fists began to glow magenta. Once again, the short-haired inkling took it down quickly.
"Graaahk!" DJ Octavio screamed upon impact.
"Agent 4!" Marie called to get the agent's attention. "I'll be there soon. Hold out just a little longer!"
"Got it." Octavio next prepared two spinning punches for Alexis, which she dodged with the help of a curling bomb. After they returned to the machine, it hissed as magenta ink spat out of it. It was pushed backwards as a waterfall of ink started ejecting from its front speakers, fire spitting out of its exhaust pipes. This can't be good.
"He's gonna hit you with his shower attack!" the idol warned. "Dodge to the side!" Her advice came a little too late, however, as the shower promptly ran over Agent 4 and broke her hero suit again. Over her headphones, she heard Marie groan in frustration.
As one would predict, the Octobot King II rose into the air again and sent out more punches, one normal and one spinning. She had to dodge both of them in order not to get splatted. After they withdrew back, her hero suit recovered, and she could once again go on the offensive. DJ Octavio sent out a normal punch again, which Alexis quickly deflected. He returned to the ground again and sent out another wave of dough balls. Smarter, now, she began shooting down as many as she could, which was not much. After they exploded into ink twisters, he sent out two more punches. She deflected one, but was unable to deflect the other. Afterwards, the octopus once again tried his shower attack, which she successfully dodged. All while Callie continued her song, seemingly unfazed by the constant attacks on the machine.
Following one final punch, DJ Octavio was sent flying out of the machine again. "Octavio's down!" Marie informed. "It's all you, Agent 4!" Though her leg pain was fading, she still decided to swim up to him and cover him up in green ink, eventually sending him back to the machine and slamming into it, causing a small explosion in her color.
Up above her, Alexis heard the whirring of some engine. She looked up, and flying around the Octobot King II was a Squid Sisters truck, complete with thrusters emitting green fire and a stage on its roof. She spotted Sheldon in the driver's seat, and Marie on the stage with a fancy charger, presumably a Hero Charger, in her hands.
"I'm here!" the grey-haired inkling announced. "Hold on!"
She aimed her charger at Callie, and a few seconds later, a stream of lime green ink came flying out of it. It hit the black-haired inkling's head, knocking her shades and some of her hat off.
"NOOOOO!" DJ Octavio cried. "The hypnoshades!" Looking up at the other idol, Alexis saw specks of lime green ink flying around her head as she gripped it.
"YES!" Marie cheered. "That was a direct hit with my special low-tide ink!"
"Unnhhh..." Callie groaned.
"Now, Agent 4! While Callie is stunned!" the grey-haired idol demanded. "Make DJ Octavio pay!" As the ink cleared from the battlefield, she started to sing a more desperate rendition of Tide Goes Out.
"Time to turn the tables!" the octopus announced. "Spicy speed mode!"
Marie interrupted her song to say, "He's fast! Watch out for his dash punch!"
Like Marie had said, the machine dashed to the side, preparing to send another fist at Alexis. She strafed to the side, preparing to ink up the fist and send it back to DJ Octavio. And she did just that. As dough balls fell out of the machine, it flew itself back towards the center of the arena. During the downtime, she started inking up the arena some more. The Octobot King II's next attack was another Suction Bomb Rush, proceeding to send out even more bombs than before. The girl just barely managed to escape the explosions without her hero suit breaking, though magenta ink now dripped off her back.
"Agent 4, keep it up!" the grey-haired inkling encouraged. "I'm gonna sing from here!"
Immediately after the suction bombs finished exploding, the machine rose back into the air and prepared another spinning punch to send at Agent 4. She swam past it to focus on inking up the punch that followed. The punch collided with the machine once more, and as it flew down to send out another dash punch, Callie suddenly interjected Tide Goes Out with her own singing, drowning out Marie's voice. Feeling quite startled about this, she neglected the need to dodge the punch, causing her to fly back and her hero suit to break. On the jumbotron, Marie, who was the current focus, showed shock and worry in her features, causing her own singing to falter a little bit. Yet, she kept on going.
Alexis pushed herself off the ground with a growl, her orange eyes narrowing as she shot a glare towards DJ Octavio. He took this chance to start sending out another round of dough balls. One was flying straight towards her, but she kicked it away with her good leg. Before the balls could even explode into twisters, the machine rose back into the air, preparing two fists to hit the inkling with. Without a second thought, she threw a curling bomb in front of her and swam past the fists. The bomb bounced off the barrier and met its end when it collided with one of the twisters. Alexis, on the hand, emerged from the ink trail after the golden fists had landed. They returned to the Octobot King II, and afterwards, the agent's hero suit repaired. It flew back a little, where the eyes of Alexis and Octavio met.
"You're scum, you know that?" she snapped at him. "Stealing the Great Zapfish and kidnapping Callie? And on top of that, you're trying to kill me now."
Octavio laughed. "You tore through my defenses, and now you resist my sick beats, just to save one fish and one squid?" he sneered and pounded a wasabi stalk on the turntable. "You slimy little hipster!" Another fist shot towards Alexis, which she started inking. "So naïve, thinking you could lay the beatdown on me? Well, no matter." The fist he sent out soon punched his machine, causing him to cry out in pain. Once he repositioned himself, he rose into the air and declared, "I'll spin you into your grave!"
"We'll see about that, Octavio," Alexis made her own declaration. "You will fall today!" She walked backwards, inking the area around her, as he sent out two spinning punches, landing just in front of her feet and splattering ink on her clothes. The fists returned to him once more, and once again, he returned to the ground and dashed to the side to prepare another punch. She shot it down as quickly as he sent it.
During the instrumental break, Marie cried with a voice choked with emotion, "WAKE UP CALLIE!" Looking at the jumbotron would allow one to see that tears had formed in the corner of her starry golden eyes. The black-haired idol's only response was to let out a groan of pain. Meanwhile, DJ Octavio performed another dash punch, one Alexis took down as well. After it collided with the machine, he sent another spinning punch, which the short-haired inkling narrowly avoided. Soon, the Octobot King II rose into the air again, magenta ink pouring out of its speakers.
Another shower attack, she quickly realized. While she swam away, the octopus laughed as he sped across the arena, deadly ink trailing behind him. Following the attack, he sent out more giant suction bombs, followed by another dash punch. Overwhelmed, Agent 4 swam towards the edge of the arena, making her unable to react to his attack. After the bombs were gone, DJ Octavio dashed to the side again, this fist spinning around rapidly. Would this be a... spinning dash punch? she wondered. Guess it is.
Octavio followed up his spinning punch with a normal punch. It crashed into the ground, giving Alexis just enough time to ink it up. It glowed green and punched into the machine, just like before. He immediately followed up with another dash punch, one she took down as well. Afterwards, he sent out the dough balls again, and she shot some of them down again. After the ink towers formed, DJ Octavio sent out one final dash punch, one that caused him to fall out of the Octobot King II.
"Octavio's down!" Marie exclaimed. "Get him, Agent 4!"
"My pleasure!" Running towards him was a mistake, as her leg pain flared up again by the time she reached him. Regardless, Alexis inked him up with her Hero Shot, causing him to fly back into the machine once more. While DJ Octavio recovered from the devastating blow Alexis dealt, Sheldon drove the truck in front of the Octobot King II, where Marie could face Callie head-on.
"My... My head..." the black-haired idol moaned, squinting to reveal the same starry eyes her cousin had.
"The low-tide ink is working!" the grey-haired idol exclaimed, hope flashing in her starry eyes. It was then she pulled out a radio with a squid design embedded in the middle. Throwing her hand out, she pled, "Callie! Remember!" A poppy beat started up as she set it down. "That heavenly melody!"
"The one and only..." Callie started. Trembling, she reached her hand out towards her cousin. She opened her eyes, now filled with realization. "I... I remember..." she muttered. Now, with a running start, she leaped off the stage, towards the flying truck.
"YEAH!"
A pink glow surrounded her, and hot pink ink trailed off her as she somehow changed into the stage outfit everyone knows and loves. Landing onto the stage set up on the truck, Marie helped Callie to her feet, and the Squid Sisters began to sing a familiar tune as the beat dropped.
"Ya, weni, marei, mirekyarahire."
Wait, I know this song! Alexis realized.
"Juri, yu mirekerason."
"The Squid Sisters are back!" Sheldon cheered.
"Kire, hyari, yoriherahe nyurahera / Nunnyara unera yurawera nyimerani."
Agent 4 dropped her Hero Shot as one of Sheldon's drones flew overhead, carrying a case. It stopped in front of her and dropped it, allowing her to open it up. Inside was a peculiar weapon.
"A... Rainmaker?" she perplexed.
"Yes!" Sheldon confirmed. "I brought you a modded version of the Rainmaker! You know how to use it, right? Hold down the trigger to build pressure, then release it to shoot an ink missile."
"A modded version, huh?" She smiled. "I can work with this."
"All right, Agent 4," the horseshoe crab started. "Show me what you can do with that modified Rainmaker!"
DJ Octavio's eyes focused on the inkling, and his eyes widened on the sight of the golden weapon. "Rainmaker!" he gasped. He flew up into the air, making him impossible to hit him from the ground.
Before Alexis could ask anything, a green launchpad appeared in the center of the stage. "Follow him, Agent 4!" Marie commanded. Now that she was reunited with Callie, she sounded... happier. "End this!"
She turned into a squid on the launchpad, sending her up towards some ride rails. In an effort to relieve her leg pain, she remained in her squid form in the rail.
"Charge up the Rainmaker, and rain on Octavio's parade!" Sheldon exclaimed.
"Hmm..." How will I hit him? She emerged and held down the trigger. The Rainmaker charged up in a much shorter period of time than the original, allowing her to safely deflect the incoming punch from the Octobot King II. A stream of green landed on the fist, and moments later, it exploded, making the fist turn around and hit the machine. After it collided, she turned back into a squid and jumped to the outer ride rail.
DJ Octavio flew more towards the center, where one of the machine's fists began to spin faster and faster, accompanied by a pink glow. "Agent 4! Jump to dodge the spinning punches!" Marie advised.
The spinning punch launched towards the short-haired girl, and she reformed into a kid to leap up into the air and dodge it. As a consequence, her pain returned once again when she landed, causing her to hide back in the ink. Much to her dismay, she found herself jumping again due to Octavio sending out yet another spinning punch. He followed up the attack by dashing to the side, sending out a normal punch. She charged up the Rainmaker and sent it back, hitting the machine once again.
This pattern of attacking and dodging continued for a while, considering that DJ Octavio did not have much to spice up his attacks. On the other hand, now that she did not have to focus on moving around and inking the stage that much, she noticed some additional details about the area. While the jumbotron had previously displayed images of DJ Octavio and Callie, they now focused on the Squid Sisters on their truck. Their logo even showed up every now-and-then. Even the octopus seemed to be enjoying it, as he danced around while operating the Octobot King II.
Contrary to his actions, DJ Octavio growled, "I can't...resist the groove... any longer!" He slammed one of his wasabi sticks into the wall of the machine's interior. "Splat you, Squid Sisterrrrrrrs!"
In response to his words, Alexis jumped to the inner ring and quipped, "Not so spicy now, are you, Octavio?"
"You dare challenge me?!" he roared at her. He sent out another spinning punch, which Agent 4 simply jumped over. "I'll fry you into calamari!" The machine dashed to the side and sent a normal punch towards her. One fully-charged shot of the Rainmaker later, it rammed into it.
"Face it, you've lost," she sneered. "Who's naïve now?" He sent out one final punch at her, which she deflected with one final shot. Upon impact, sparks flew across the Octobot King II as it short-circuited and crashed to the ground with a loud thud. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized what just happened. "Yes!" she cheered.
"Agent 4!" Marie called to get her attention. "Head for Octavio from the inner ride rail!"
"Will do!" Turning into a squid, she awaited her arrival at the new ride rail, which she jumped into when she reached it. From inside, she looked down at Octavio, who was flailing his limbs around, trying to get himself off the machine.
"Now! Jump and hit him with the Rainmaker!" On Marie's words, Alexis emerged from the ride rail in her kid form, the golden weapon in her hands. She slammed the Rainmaker on the octopus, causing a green glow. The Spicy Calamari Inkantation stopped, and the truck the Squid Sisters rode flew down to the ground. Agent 4 hopped off of the broken machine and took a few steps towards the truck.
"Guh..." DJ Octavio moaned as the backdrop behind him glowed several different colors. "Not again... Cross-face to blaaaaaaack..."
The Octobot King II groaned as it trembled, a green light glowing from within. It swelled before exploding into a huge mess of green ink, practically covering everyone in the arena, including the audience. Thankfully, no one seemed to have splatted, including the disc jockey, who now laid unconscious in front of the machine's remains.
Alexis heard a moan from behind her, and she turned around to watch Callie struggle to stay on her feet. She threw an arm around Marie's shoulder, while Marie caught her before she could fall.
"You OK?" the grey-haired inkling asked her cousin.
The black-haired inkling nodded. "Yeah..." She gave a weak smile. "Getting hit by that weird ink just threw me off." Her smile grew. "But I'm back!"
Marie pulled her into a hug. "Welcome back, Callie," she said, a tear escaping her eyes.
Callie, on the other hand, burst out into tears. "Ohh, Marie!" she cried. "I missed you!"
"Me too," she confessed. "Me too."
They let go, where the black-haired lady proceeded to say, "Let's never split up again."
"Ha." The grey-haired lady wiped another tear from her starry eyes. "Just what I was gonna say."
Sheldon, who had gotten out of the truck, pumped a fist and cheered, "Squid Sisters forever!"
"That's right!" Callie agreed. "Squid Sisters forever!"
Alexis walked up to the group and looked at Marie, who nodded. "Squid Sisters forever!" both of them cheered.
After the exclamation, the bronze-skinned girl looked over her shoulders and saw it. The Great Zapfish. It appeared to be unharmed, and it was looking straight into her orange eyes, electricity crackling off of its whiskers. She approached it and placed a hand on its forehead. Seeing as it wasn't electrocuting her, she placed her forehead against it as well.
"I saved you," she whispered. "I never thought I could, but look at me now." She stroked a hand on its dark blue, slippery skin. "DJ Octavio can't harm you anymore. If he tries to, I'll make sure he doesn't. You can go back to Inkopolis, and everything can be normal again." She smiled. "Finally."
Not much could be said out of the Great Zapfish's perpetual smile, but it seemed to have understood her message. It bowed its head, as if allowing her to climb on.
She looked back at the others, who all seemed surprised at the events.
"Wow, you must be something if it's letting you ride it," Callie commented.
"It wouldn't let even Agent 3 ride it!" Marie added, giving one of her signature smiles. "And she's the one who saved it the first time!"
"Go ahead, uh..." the black-haired idol started. "Agent 4, was it?"
The grey-haired idol nodded. "We'll deal with Octavio. Just get back to Inkopolis."
Alexis climbed onto the Great Zapfish, resting just behind its head. "Will I ever see you again?" she asked, frowning.
"Oh, yeah," Callie replied.
"You can still visit us," Marie followed. "It's not like we're gonna lock you out forever. Besides, there's still stuff to do in Octo Canyon."
"No matter what, there's still gonna be Octarians here."
"Until they decide to move somewhere else, that is."
The group laughed. "Alright, see ya," Alexis said as the giant fish rose into the air.
"Bye!" the Squid Sisters finished, waving.
The Great Zapfish shot out of the dome, breaking into the darkness that was Cephalon HQ. It looked around before towards the opening that led into the cavern in the first place. For the first time in a while, Alexis saw the blue sky again. It actually looked prettier, now that she had spent months collecting zapfish from the Octarians' lairs. She surveyed the canyon, seeing the rocky formations that formed tentacles and octopuses. The Great Zapfish hovered over the area briefly before flying back towards Inkopolis.
The fields soon became populated with houses, and soon those houses became an assortment of compacted buildings. Finally, they arrived in Inkopolis Square. The Great Zapfish lowered itself towards the ground to allow the bronze-skinned inkling to hop off. The bottom of her shoes touched the pavement, and she looked back at the creature, which stared at her with its big eyes for a few more moments.
"Thanks," she said, "for everything."
The Great Zapfish curled around the Deca Tower once more, causing it to glow with energy. As it returned to its rightful place, she heard murmurs from her fellow inklings.
"Hey, it's the Great Zapfish!"
"The Great Zapfish is back!"
"Who's that girl?"
"Man, I wish I could ride the Great Zapfish!"
A few moments later, she saw two figures emerge from the manhole that led to Octo Canyon, one with pink ink, the other with lime green ink. Callie and Marie. They walked up to Alexis, smiling. As expected, more comments escaped the other inklings' mouths.
"It's the Squid Sisters!"
"The Squid Sisters are back!"
"Callie's back!"
"Where was she?"
The grey-haired idol scanned the short-haired girl briefly and whispered to her, "You should probably change out of that."
The bronze-skinned inkling looked down at herself and realized she was still wearing the hero suit. "Oh, yeah. I should probably do that." She dashed into the Deca Tower, towards the dressing rooms. She closed the door behind her and pulled out her normal clothes. She changed her ink color back to orange as she let out a sigh of relief. She was actually glad she still wore the hero suit when she arrived; if she had arrived in normal attire, her friends would likely recognize her and start asking questions. Yet, by arriving in hero attire, people would start questioning who she was and why she rode the Great Zapfish back to Inkopolis. It wasn't a great outcome, either, but it was better than the other option.
Now that she was back in her normal outfit—a bobble hat, a pirate-stripe tee, and FishFry sandals, she returned outside, where a crowd had gathered around the newly-reunited Squid Sisters. She made her way towards the front of crowd, where she could watch whatever they had planned. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed that even Pearl and Marina had stepped out of the studio to watch the commotion. Upon sight of Alexis, Marie glanced over towards her and winked.
"Hey there, squidkids!" Callie started, chipper as ever. The crowd quieted down to listen to her speak. "It's me, Callie! It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"It's been a rough day," Marie added.
"Anyways, I'm here to announce that I'm back, and so are the Squid Sisters, better than ever!" she continued.
"Once Callie's recovered from... recent events, we'll be working on a new song."
"So, we'll see you soon, and remember..."
"Stay fresh!" the two of them concluded, striking their signature pose.
The crowd cheered as they walked back to the manhole they arrived from. Alexis made her way over to them, expectant. At first, they seemed to ignore her, but then the grey-haired inkling looked over at her, smiling.
"Hey, Sheldon told me to tell you he wants you," she informed. "I wouldn't keep him waiting, Alexis."
Why does Sheldon want me? she wondered. "OK," the orange-haired inkling replied. "I'll go there now."
The bronze-skinned girl started walking to Ammo Knights, where the horseshoe crab had just switched the sign from 'Closed' to 'Open'. He scurried back behind the counter, and Alexis walked into the shop.
"Hey, Sheldon," she greeted.
"Ah!" He looked around the shop before saying, "Four! I have something to give you!" He pulled out a black case and set it on the counter. "Open it up!"
Inside were a pair of familiar dualies. "The Hero Dualies!" she marveled. Her orange eyes focused on the horseshoe crab and she puzzled, "You're giving them to me?"
"Well, it's your signature weapon, isn't it?" he replied. "Like how Callie's is the Hero Roller, Marie's is the Hero Charger, and Agent 3's is the Hero Shot! Original versions, of course. Besides, you can use them to gain even more pratical battle data!"
"Isn't this a little OP?" she questioned. "They're upgraded, so they're much more powerful than some plain old dualies."
"That's where the power of technology comes in! I placed a special limiter on it, so that whenever you take it into a battle here, it'll revert it into something less powerful, making it functionally the same as the Splat Dualies. I even gave it its kit, too. It's the same process I use for the other agents' weapons to make them eligible for battle. Oh! And I've also included a setting that will change the color of the lights on it, too. Right now I've set it to blue, but you can make them red, like its upgraded version, too. Or you can make it green, orange, purple... whatever color you choose!"
"So, they're just fancy dualies now?"
"Well, they'll revert back to their upgraded version in any other scenario. So, in Octo Canyon, they still have their upgraded potential."
"Fresh." She spun one of the dualies in her hand. "I'll be sure to make good use of this."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and battle!"
"You're right...!" Alexis started running out of Ammo Knights. "See ya, Sheldon!"
"Bye!"
As she entered the lobby, Alexis felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Now that the Great Zapfish had been saved, and DJ Octavio was no longer a threat, she had nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about at all...
?'s PoV
In the dead of night, a green-haired inkling girl emerged from a subway entrance located in an alleyway near Inkopolis Square. Her visits to the square were rather frequent, seeing as it was the only way she could substantially eat nowadays. However, she made a point to visit when no one was watching. That way, she could reduce whatever conspiracy theories popped up about her.
This particular visit, however, had her spot something odd. The Great Zapfish now curled around Deca Tower instead of Inkopolis Tower. She only had one question—why? She supposed it was because all the youth had moved to the square, but she suspected a more sinister reason. If two years protecting Inkopolis had taught her anything, it's that she should never take anything at surface value.
She walked to Starfish Drinks, a membership card in her pocket. The girl had bought a year-long membership a few weeks before she left for the cape, and after she and Cap'n Cuttlefish were separated, she decided to put it to good use. She entered the establishment, and after a short wait, she approached the cashier.
"Hey," the cashier, a young adult inkling named Hazel, greeted. "Same as normal?"
She nodded. "Same as normal." As the cashier entered in the items, she slid the card towards her, which Hazel promptly scanned and gave back to her. "Have you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"The Great Zapfish and Callie came back today. Well, yesterday, considering it's past midnight now."
"Wait, what?" Then, it dawned on her. DJ Octavio had broken out of his snow globe prison once she and Cap'n left, and for some reason, he decided to take Callie as well as the Great Zapfish. I wonder who saved them. Marie? No, she's too busy. It was a question for another day, it seemed.
"You didn't hear? It was all over the news six months back."
"No..."
She snickered. "You're a strange girl, you know that? Since November you've been showing up here in nothing but that dirty hero suit and that old cape, you don't have a phone, and now apparently you don't watch TV."
"I used to be fresh," the green-haired inkling pointed out, crossing her arms.
"I could tell. But, do you wanna know something else?"
"What?"
"When the Great Zapfish came back, a girl in a strange hero suit was riding it. Then Callie and Marie showed up, and she ran away."
The girl couldn't help but feel a little jealous. It didn't do that for me. "OK." She started heading towards the order pick-up. "See you later."
"You too!"
If Hazel's words confirmed anything, it was that an Agent 4 was now part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. A few minutes passed, and another worker called her name, handing her a cream-filled coffee and some bread rolls. She sat down to eat her rolls before departing from Starfish Drinks and returning to the subway entrance. Once again, she returned to the lair of darkness and strange Octarians, drinking her coffee as she traveled through the tunnel.
Don't worry, Cap'n. I'll find you soon, and then we can figure out what the heck happened while we were gone.
A/N: Agent 1? Saved. Agent 2? Happy. Agent 3? Very confused. Agent 4? Also happy. Sorry this a few hours late; I got a little too caught up in gaming. Anyways, this is THE longest chapter in The Rainbow Squids. Over 7,000 words? That's a new record! And there's just so much stuff that happens in this chapter. Most importantly, this is the final Hero Mode chapter, and Agent 4's journey has come to a close. Is there more for her to do? Of course! But not now. This chapter in particular is one I wanted to get to, and we finally have reached it. Thank you for following Alexis on her journey, and here's to more to come! Let's not forget the ending section... I'll admit, that was last minute. I got an idea, and I decided to put it into written form. We'll see her again, I promise you. Thank you all, and Branchwing, out!