Inkopolis plaza
The vast City of Inkopolis was filled with skyscrapers, some even surpassed the clouds, It was a busy city, Inklings everywhere went about doing their business, younger ones excitedly ran for Inkopolis tower, while some older squids calmly followed their everyday routines of work, and some toured the shops, looking, or at least hoping to make a good purchase.
Many of the buildings in Inkopolis Plaza had large screens which displayed all sorts of advertising, but every now and then, they would tune in to Inkopolis News Time, starring the two celebrities, none other than Callie, and her cousin Marie.
"Hold on to your tentacles…"
"It's Inkopolis news time!"
This was followed by a brief transition to Stage news.
"Let's unveil the current regular battle stages!"
Inker watched as Callie and Marie introduced the audience to Camp Triggerfish, followed by Mahi-Mahi resort, then the ranked battle stage: Blackbelly Skatepark.
Normally Inker and his friends would turn away from the screen once the stages were announced, but today was an exception.
They waited anxiously for the missing squids news, a subject that almost never came up in Inkopolis, in fact, this would be the first time in two years that Inkopolis news did a story on missing squids.
"Just yesterday three Inklings went missing?"
"That is definitely not normal."
Behind Callie and Marie, were pictures of the three missing squids: the first was Kal, which Inker, Neon and Sky immediately recognised since it was they who reported him missing, and gave them that picture, the second was a larger Inkling, probably eighteen or nineteen, he had orange tentacles and looked strong, the third was a young female Inkling with light purple tentacles, probably the one that other squid from yesterday was looking for.
"Authorities have found no trace of any of these young squids, all they know is that they disappeared at the same time in the same match."
"This is starting to sound like the plot to a movie."
"If anyone has any information please let authorities know right away!"
"Or talk to our Inkopolis news team, if you want a friendlier face."
"That will be all for now!"
"Stay fresh!" the squid sisters shouted in unison.
"Wait that was it?" Inker blurted out, he was expecting some more information, and not just: please contact authorities.
"I thought for sure they would have found something, are there really no clues left behind?" Sky wondered.
Neon shrugged "Hey if you want, I could take a look around." she joked
Sky gave her a look of disapproval
"Actually maybe you should." Inker said
"Huh?" Neon was surprised
"I'm serious! Remember a few months ago, you found the Octoling me and Kal were hiding, all by yourself and in a couples days time."
"Oh right, I think I did do that."
"You think?"
"Well I was half asleep at the time since I was so determined to get Inkopolis tower opened again, so I didn't sleep a wink those days, and I can't exactly remember what I did, heh." Neon said, scratching the back of her head.
They didn't notice it before, but just a few feet away from them was the light purple haired Inkling from yesterday.
Once he saw the news, he had buried his face in his hands and was silent for quite awhile.
Then he quietly began crying.
It was then Inker, Neon, and Sky noticed him, and remembered that he lost his sister yesterday.
"Are you alright?" Neon asked
The purple Inkling looked at Neon, and didn't say a word
"Don't worry" Inker said, "I'm sure they will find your sister, soon."
The pink inkling put his face back in his hands, he probably started crying again.
"Oh Lila, why did I make you start Turf Wars so early?"
Inker, Neon and Sky exchanged glances, 'What did he mean by, so early?'
Inker gave him a pat on the back, "Don't beat yourself up, it's not your fault."
"Yes it is, she wasn't even supposed to be in Inkopolis Tower, why did I make her go? WHY?!"
"Calm down, you shouldn't lose hope so early, what's your name?"
"Laven"
"Don't worry Laven, they will find your sister, just believe."
"No you don't understand, she has never done anything on her own before, I told her it would be better if she got into Turf Wars early, now she's gone."
Inker, Neon, and Sky did not know how to comfort Laven.
"Excuse me, are you Inker, Neon, Sky, and Laven?" someone asked.
It was an adult Inkling, probably in his thirties, he wore formal looking blue clothes.
"Yes we are." Sky replied
"I'm Detective Vert, I would like to ask you a few questions regarding the whereabouts of your friends."
Neon and Sky looked confused
"Sure, why not?" Inker said
"Hey, what about you?" Vert asked the crying Laven "mind helping us out?"
"Okay…" he said
"Good, come this way please."
Vert led Inker, Neon, Sky, Laven and everyone else who played in yesterday's match to the nearby police station, where he would soon begin interrogating them.
Octo Valley, Nautilus base
"Why are we all gathered here?"
"What's going on?"
"Did you know anything about this?"
"What is this important announcement the acting leader has to make?"
Questions like these spread among the Octarian troops.
Of course, some were also making small talk, but since there were so many Octarians gathered in one place it was difficult to hear what anyone was saying.
Victoria was amongst the crowd, which was composed of every Octarian soldier currently on duty at Nautilus base.
"Hey look! Even the Octo Valley news crew is here!" one of Victoria's squadmates said.
Behind the large crowd there was indeed a news crew, their cameras were focused on a hastily set up stage, they were likely broadcasting all over Octo Valley.
'It would be a shame if another blackout hit right about now.' Victoria thought
Acting leader Octavia stepped on stage and spoke into a microphone "Alright everyone, settle down."
The well disciplined troops stopped their chatter immediately, letting a brief silence fall upon the base.
Octavia then began her speech
"For too long have we been trapped here, we have suffered greatly at the hands of the Inklings and the other surface creatures. For years, our magnificent city has deteriorated, due to the Inklings' selfish decision to steal and hold every last Zapfish out of our reach. They stood by and watched as we suffered every day, we began to fear living in our own homes due to the state our city as fallen into, but soon we won't be the only ones living in fear."
Three Elite Octolings brought forth their captives, tossing them on stage by their tentacles.
'Huh? Is that, Kalus?' Victoria wondered as she saw a red Inkling amongst the captives.
Kal had no idea where he was or what happened, last thing he remembered was playing Turf Wars in Arowana Mall.
Where was he? Why did his head hurt? What was all this noise he was hearing?
"The Inklings are afraid of an all out attack, but they have turned a blind eye from smaller groups, we will whisk away their citizens one by one! We will force them to come to us! And when they do we will all be ready, we will make them suffer as we have!"
The Octarian soldiers who blamed the Inklings for everything that has happened to Octo Valley begun cheering.
"Long live the Octarian race!"
"Down with the Inklings!"
"Perfect, everything is going just as I had planned" Octavia thought
She turned to the captives, the next thing to do would be to show that they had nothing to fear from the Inklings. There was a red Inkling of average proportions, a light purple Inkling who looked younger than the others, and the last, an orange Inkling who looked taller and stronger than your average Inkling, he was the perfect choice.
Octavia turned and drove her foot into the Orange Inkling's face.
Seeing this, the cheers from the crowd got even louder.
"YEAH!"
"PUNISH THEM!"
Hearing this the other Elites on stage began beating up the captives, stomping and kicking them all over the place.
It was as Octavia had planned, she would fuel the Octarian army's anger, then would be restless and eager to fight, then the moment the Inklings come to rescue their captives, the whole army would fight on without fear, it was effectively boosting the morale of the troops.
"The Inklings think they are safe hiding in Inkopolis but that is their biggest weakness, we can sneak into their precious city anytime we like, soon they will be forced to attack us, but we rule the underground not them, they will stand no chance, soon Inkopolis will be defenseless!"
Most of the soldiers were cheering now, Victoria however turned to leave, not wanting to hear anymore of this nonsense.
'That idiot has left her initial victory get to her head.'
Victoria had been to Inkopolis, and she knew things were very different there. For starters even if the army does manage to defeat Agents 1,2 and 3 they would still run into opposition, she saw that almost everyone in Inkopolis had access to some sort of weapon, and apparently they have some sort of combat training that they actually enjoyed. If the army invaded Inkopolis they would be fired upon from all directions.
Octavia kept on going, with her speech
"We will wash through Inkopolis as a crushing tide of magenta ink, we will descend like lighting from a cloudless sky! We will erupt from the ground like geysers in an open field!"
Victoria didn't hear what Octavia said after that, but it was probably some more propagandic seahorse manure, so she paid it no mind.
Instead she had other things to think about, most importantly what she should do now, Octavia seemed determined to restart the Great Turf War, actually no that was decades ago, this would be the second Great Turf War, and like with the first it wouldn't end well for the Octarians, at least not in her opinion.
'What should I do now? Do I help my people, or repay my debt to Agent 3 and Kal?'
The debt in question was probably from that incident a few months back, she had been sheltered from the less peaceful Inklings by Agent 3 and Kalus, ever since then she had seen the Inklings from a new light, but also felt that she had to repay them somehow.
'The door to Inkopolis will always be open for you.' Kal's parting words to Victoria echoed in her head.
'Then should I go warn Agent 3 and get him to rescue the captives?' Victoria thought 'But even if I did, how would he know where to go? Nautilus base is already deeper underground than any of the lairs he had previously been to, and I doubt Octavia plans on keeping any Inklings nearby.'
Not only that but Victoria was well aware of the rumors surrounding Agent 3 that still circulated through the Octarian population, if any normal citizen saw Agent 3 they would likely be scared out of their wits, because DJ Octavio had painted him as a ruthless killer who gave no mercy, that way the soldiers saw him as a monster would have no trouble shooting him down in the name of justice.
Unfortunately Agent 3 ended up beating the Octarians he fought, since there were hardly any survivors of Agent 3's attacks more rumors surfaced, now most Octarians hoped they would never see that terrifying blue Inkling ever in their lives.
So what would happen if they saw him here? They would probably raise the alarm as fast as the could.
While silencing a few of her own fellow soldiers might have been okay, Victoria was not prepared to open fire on any civilian to keep them quiet, so if she did bring Agent 3 to the Undercity of Octo Valley she would need to keep him out of sight.
But then again this was Agent 3, he could probably find out about the captives on his own, with that in mind, Victoria decided to sit by for a while and see how everything played out.
Precinct 15, Inkopolis
While the Inklings had no proper army ever since the end of the Great Turf War, every city had some sort of law enforcement, however Inkopolis was peaceful city, and the only time anyone really had to be thrown in jail was for using counterfeit coins, or for cheating in a ranked match.
Due to the lack of severe cases such as squidnapping or homicide, one could say that the Inkopolis PD were inexperienced to say the least.
Another officer questioned the Inklings that Det. Vert had brought in, all while he and another officer exchanged opinions behind a one way screen.
Neon was first to be questioned
"So you were friends with one of the missing squids?"
"Yes I am."
"What were your feelings when you were put on the opposing team? Were you angry, or maybe sad perhaps?"
"Nah I didn't really mind."
"Excuse me? You didn't mind having to face off against your friend?"
"Of course not? It happens all the time in Turf Wars."
"Did you ever think about purposely losing a match because of this?"
"Nah."
"Really?"
"Of course not, who cares if it's a friend, a relative, or an enemy, I'm always giving it my best in Turf Wars, if I didn't I wouldn't be getting any better."
"So you are saying, in a turf war there is no sort of friendship or anything?"
"No, i'm saying it doesn't matter."
"Very well then, did you feel like you would lose the match at any given point."
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"I'm better than Kal."
That was all Vert needed, he made a mental note of Neon's answers and emotions, next up was Inker.
"You are friends with with one of the missing squids am I correct?"
"Yes."
"And you were put on the opposing team right?"
"Yes."
"How did you take being put on opposing sides?"
"Well i'm fine with it really, it happens all the time."
"And you didn't feel the need to maybe do something to save face?"
"Well it wasn't a ranked match, so I just played for fun anyways, it doesn't matter if I won or lost."
"Is that so?"
Inker nodded
"Then please tell me, how long have you known your missing friend?"
"Well Kal and I are kinda childhood friends, we knew each other in elementary squid school, long before we could transform."
"Then you must know him very well."
"Yes"
"Does he seem like the type to run away from a losing match?"
"No, like me, Kal played that match for fun."
Next up, Laven, who was still feeling down.
"So your sister was one of the missing squids."
"Yes"
"I heard that you brought her to Inkopolis tower despite her not passing requirements, and that you even supplied her with your own gear for her first match."
"Yes, I was just a regular match, I didn't think it would be a problem."
"Normally that is enough for some sort of punishment, but right now there are more important matters, do you care for your sister's well being?"
"Yes, absolutely."
"Was she with you during the battle?"
"She was."
"Then why weren't you there with her when she left the match?"
"I got splatted by a Heavy Splatling, and by the time I respawned I couldn't find her."
"Then why didn't you leave the match immediately to go look for her?"
"I didn't want to let my teammates down, plus its not like her to wander off anywhere without me, so I assumed she would be waiting outside."
"You realize she could have been kicked out of the match if someone found out that she wasn't supposed to be there."
"Yes, but it was my encouragement that made her want to join a Turf War, so I'll take the blame for that." As Laven said that he began to tear up again.
"Do your parents know about this?"
"Yes."
The next one to be interrogated was a random Inkling they did not know, since she did not know anyone, her questioning was over quickly, finally is was Sky's turn.
"You were on the same team as two of the missing squids, how well did you know them?"
"Kalus, the one with the Heavy Splatling was one of my friends in that match, I didn't know the one with the Charger."
"When did you notice he was missing?"
"Shortly after respawning I noticed our Charger wasn't there anymore, I assumed that since Kal would have retreated to him that they both gotten splatted, so I waited at the spawn for a while but nobody came."
"How did you get to know Kal?"
"I met him and Inker after one of my matches when I was a beginner, unlike most people who just yells at beginners for being "bad" Inker gave tips and pointers on things that didn't involve a specific weapon, things like positioning, vantage points on certain maps, ways to tell where someone's blindspot was, I played with him a few times after that to use the skills he taught me, since Kal is his best friend I ended up knowing him as well."
Surprisingly that was all they wanted to ask Sky, the interrogator let him leave, then told the all the Inklings they were free to go now.
Meanwhile Det. Vert and the interrogator discussed what they had heard.
"What do you think? Do you suspect anyone?" the interrogator asked
"Well from how I see it, this wasn't something that just happened, it had to have been planned ahead of time, I mean three kids don't just disappear, what kind of connection can we find between the victims?"
"Nothing, they seem to have been taken at random."
"Well that's odd, I doubt such a well planned squidnapping would happen without a target."
"Maybe they were only after one of them, and the two others just got in the way."
"If that's true, one of those five we brought in had to be an accomplice."
"Or maybe the accomplice pretended to get captured too in order to get out safely."
"That's possible but I have two suspects already drawn out, Inker, the blue Inkling is ranked too high for someone who claims to play for fun, he has to have done a lot of practice somewhere before so I think he lied to us, then there is Laven the purple one who keeps crying over his sister, yet he didn't quit immediately to go find her."
"Is that really so odd?"
"Yes it is, if someone I knew left without saying anything I would to the same and find out why."
"Why would he squidnap his own sister though, I don't see any motive."
"Don't worry about that, sooner or later they will confess, I want an officer watching them for the next few days, and don't be subtle about it, I want them to feel IPD breathing down their necks."
"What about the others?"
"Ignore them, Grass didn't know enough to have done anything, Neon is too simple minded to be capable of something like this and Sky is too inexperienced and young."
(If anyone is wondering who Grass is, she is a random Inkling who happened to be in that match, and not important to the story)
Obviously the extreme lack of experience clouded Vert and the IPD's judgement.
Meanwhile, Inker, Neon and Sky had just left the precinct.
"Why are they questioning us of all people?" Neon asked
"Because it's the easiest place to start." Inker replied
"Or maybe they are following one of their theories and they already suspect someone." Sky added
"Yeah that's possible too, but I think they won't get to the bottom of this anytime soon." Inker said
"Huh? Why not?"
"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but the way it all happened; in the blink of an eye, no witnesses, and no evidence, it's similar to when the Octarians took the Great Zapfish."
"You should tell them that."
"No I shouldn't, the Cap'n told me that secrecy was a key element to the New Squidbeak Splatoon, plus the IPD are limited to operating in Inkopolis, so I doubt they can just waltz on into Octo Valley and start arresting Octarians."
Neon's eyes lit up, Inker was talking as if he knew the Octarians were behind the squidnappings "I'm getting the feeling you're about to go do something dangerous, and there will be alot of fighting involved, right?"
"No"
Neon frowned "aww, why not?"
"Because I just can't think of a reason for the Octarians to squidnap three absolutely random Inklings, maybe I should look into it more, dig a little deeper, maybe one of them has connections to someone important."
Sky went "Ahem" while looking at Inker, basically reminding him that since he played a huge role in Octavio's capture he could be the one they were trying to get too.
Inker dismissed his assumption "No way, all I did was retrieve the Zapfish and happened to run into Octavio along the way, plus I had help from everyone else in the New Squidbeak Splatoon, I doubt they would go after just me."
"Guess not."
Neon wasn't giving up the chance to enter a bigger battle yet, she had only been to Octo Valley once before, and it was awesome, a giant robot square thing attacked them and she sniped it's tentacle along with Marie, it was the most exciting moment of her life.
"Maybe you should go to Octo Valley and find out if they did squidnap those three."
"I don't want to do anything rash, I might even end up causing more friction between our races, so unless the Cap'n finds evidence that the Octarians have been in Inkopolis recently i'm not doing anything."
"You won't find any evidence sitting around either."
"I can't act on instinct."
"Why not? Sometimes to gotta act first, otherwise it will be too late."
"Wow somehow I didn't expect to hear that from you."
"Why not? I do it all the time."
"Guys" Sky cut in "Don't look now, but someone is watching us."
Indeed there was, an officer from the precinct was eyeing them from a distance.
Inker decided to stop talking about Octo Valley and the New Squidbeak Splatoon.
"Well then, what should we do now?"
"Probably get some real food, those seaweed sticks from the precinct vending machine tasted awful" Neon suggested
"I just got Squid Racer a few days ago, I haven't played it yet." Sky said
"We got time for both anyways, let's just try to lose this guy."
Melanin prison, Octo Valley
When one heard the word prison, they would think of some gloomy building where the scum of society resided in, a building that limited the freedom of some, to safeguard the safety of others.
Melanin prison got the gloomy part right at least, but this place hadn't seen use since the Great Turf War.
This was the place where the Octarians kept their P O Ws (prisoners of war, in case anyone didn't know) and since the last great war was a century ago nobody had bothered to maintain this building.
Many of its cell doors were rusted, the plumbing didn't work in some cells, and the lights flicked.
Despite this, Octavia had the maximum security area fixed up "Inklings should be kept in a prison made for Inklings." she said, thus one small part of this decaying building was crudely restored and stood out from the rest of the prison, with the rest of the prison awaiting further maintenance.
It was here where Kal and the two other captives were held, the only cell that was not rusted over, here they were thrown in by the Elites, their whole bodies in pain from the beating they received from the Elites, they didn't even move once they were thrown in, it was just too painful.
Somebody dropped something in the cell, but Kal didn't see who it was probably cause his eyes were closed; he had a pretty good idea of what happened to him now, but he didn't want to open his eyes and confirm his fears.
Yet it was undeniable, he may have heard someone speak his language but others spoke in another that he didn't recognize, the odd language he heard was definitely not Inkling, not only that but that speech, the whole thing about washing through Inkopolis,only the Octarians would say that, they were the only ones who were only taught the bad parts about Inklings, so only they could happily wish such painful things upon him like they did.
Maybe an hour passed, or maybe two, Kal didn't know, all he knew was that he was hungry and that he couldn't lie here forever.
Finally he opened his eyes and for the first time since he got here, he looked around and listened to what was happening, he was in a small room with two others, a large boy with orange tentacles was yelling at a big metal door, in another corner a small light purple haired girl was nibbling on seaweed.
Aside from a stall, a dumbwaiter and a sink, the plate of seaweed was the only thing in the room, still hungry, Kal reached for a piece.
It was stale, salty and hard, but Kal forced himself to eat it anyways as he had no other choice.
The large Inkling who had been yelling insults at the door came over.
"Good to see you're finally up, what's your name?" he asked
"Kalus, but my friends call me Kal."
"Well Kalus, my name is Bogs, I'd tell ya the name little girl over there but she seems to scared to talk right now, anyways down to business, I have been insulting the guards for probably half an hour now, they're going to be pissed and come in here, so we overpower them and get the heck out of here."
'So that's why he was yelling at the door' Kal thought
Kal walked over to the door, there was a small window where he could barely see outside, all he saw was a hallway, and two Octotroopers guarding them.
Kal then remembered of Inker's stories as Agent 3.
"I don't think that will work, the Octotroopers can't understand our language."
"What! How would you know?"
"I umm, know someone who fought in the war, apparently the only ones who can understand our language are the Octolings."
"Who is that someone? Care to tell?"
It was obvious that Bogs wasn't exactly the trusting type, however Kal couldn't tell him about Inker, and even if he did, nobody would believe someone as young as he was fought against the Octarian army.
"Cap'n Cuttlefish of the Squidbeak Splatoon" Kal lied.
"Really" Bogs replied, it would seem that everyone had heard of the old Cap'n nowadays "I always thought the old squid was crazy."
Kal chuckled "He kinda is, but he does have experience."
"Well then how do you recognize these err Octolings huh?"
"It's simple actually, they look and talk like us, but they have different tentacles."
"Well then you can wait for someone like that, I'm gonna keep yelling at these short things."
"Seriously don't bother, they can't understand you."
"I'm not waiting for some special kind of Octarian to arrive to start breaking out."
"It's the only way your plan can have some chance of succeeding."
"You got a better idea?!"
"Nope"
"Then shut up and wait for the guards to come in."
'What is with this guy.' Kal thought to himself, already disliking Bogs
Meanwhile Kal noticed that the other Inkling, the purple one, had not said anything this whole time. However as soon as she felt any of them looking her way she would turn around, maybe she was shy, or maybe she was scared of them, maybe both.
Since Bogs was too fed up with his own plan, and the purple Inkling (who's name Kal did not know) was not ready to talk to anyone, Kal quietly went to his own little corner of the cell, he didn't know what time it was but he was getting tired, maybe it was night time outside? He didn't know.
Outside the cell, Kal's assumptions were right, the Octotroopers outside did not understand what Bogs was yelling at them, in fact Bogs' voice was blocked out by the door anyways, so they could not really hear him either, unless they turned on the two way communicator.
Luckily at night time there was a shift, two Octolings arrived to take the Octotroopers' spots
"We are we being replaced?" one Octotrooper asked
"Not exactly, the captain says that we need to be extra careful at night, so we will guard them now, you will return here in the morning." an Octoling explained
"Okay then."
The Octotroopers left, seemingly glad to have some rest, and the two Octolings took their spots.
"Hey Kalus." Bogs whispered
"Yeah?"
"Are those the Octolings you mentioned before?"
Kal peeked through the small bit of glass, there was indeed two Octolings guarding the cell now.
"Yes they are."
"Alright then" Bogs rubbed his hands together as he prepared another round of insults.
Because they were taller than the Octotroopers the Octolings easily saw through the glass, and thus they saw Bogs who seemed to be saying something.
"What an idiot, doesn't he know we can't hear him." one said
"I wonder what he's trying to say." her partner wondered
"Probably begging to be let out or something"
"That would be fun to hear."
"It would, turn on the two way, let's hear what he's saying."
One of the Octolings hit a button next to the cell, allowing Bogs' voice to come through.
"Cause you're too short, guess what i'm a real cop and not some guard, and I must say you guys' standards are really damn low, I mean come on, what is that stupid aluminum foil breastplate, are you a guard or a…."
The Octoling shut off the the two way, she knew exactly what he was planning, a slight grin crept to her face.
"Get the captain."
"Psst guys! I think it's working, one of them is leaving! They are getting someone to open the cell!"
Kal and the purple Inkling were both trying to sleep, but that was made impossible thanks to Bogs' constant yelling.
"Wake up you two!"
The purple Inkling shot straight out of bed, Kal yawned and slowly got up.
"Okay once they come in i'm charging right into them, Kal you watch my back, and whatever your name is" Bogs said, pointing at the purple girl "go for their eyes or something."
"This is a bad idea."
"I didn't hear you coming up with any ideas."
"These guys are trained soldiers, and we are unarmed."
"So what? I'm a S ranked pro, this will be nothing."
"If it does work, where will we go?"
"No time to think about that, get ready."
A black haired Octoling with seaweed on her head appeared, Kal and the other two heard a metallic clicking sound, the cell was unlocking.
"Alright guys, get ready!" Bogs said, as the cell door swung open, revealing an Elite Octoling flanked by two normal Octolings and two Octotroopers.