Nautilus base, Octo Valley
Another day as usual, getting up, making breakfast, small talk with Violet, heading to Nautilus base, a day of training, random conversations in the mess hall….
"Hey guys!" loud mouthed Kevin the Octostriker plopped himself between a bunch of his squadmates, Victoria included.
"Alright big guy, you look like you got something to say." came the voice of an Octosniper
"Well indeed I do, you're going to like this."
"Oh great it's one of those stories, everyone plug your ears, otherwise you'll fall asleep." Victoria joked
"No seriously you want to hear this, a prisoner died yesterday."
A chill went down Victoria's back as if those words became icicles and stabbed her in the back.
"Say what?"
"A prisoner, you know, an Inkling."
"Which one!" Victoria nearly shouted at the large Octostriker.
"What's up with you all of a sudden, I don't know which one, I just wanted to let you all know that we aren't just taking prisoners anymore, oh right, and the second wave of Elites in Inkopolis are going to return today."
"Before you get to that, tell me in detail what happened at the prison."
"Yeah I want to know too." and Octotrooper added
Feeling happy to have an audience, Kevin happily told his story.
"Well you see what happened was…."
Melanin prison, eight hours ago
Kalus was trying his best to sleep, a task not made easy with Bogs punching the door.
"Haven't you lot heard of a fair fight!"
Kal wanted to get him to stop, but it was obvious that he wasn't the type to listen….
So instead Kal stayed quiet and hoped that he could fall asleep eventually.
Kal heard the cell door opening, he and the other captured Inkling got up to see who was coming in.
It was the captain of the guards, followed by four Octolings.
Bogs was silent all of a sudden, as if the captain's presence had drained all his strength to speak.
"You" the captain pointed at Bogs "you are the first one."
"First one for what?"
Nobody replied, instead Bogs was quickly bounded and gagged by four Octolings, once they were done he was left squirming.
"Take him to the boiling pit!" the captain ordered
'The WHAT?!' Kal wondered
Both he and the purple Inkling watched as two Octolings carried Bogs away, off to someplace called the "boiling pit".
The captain noticed the two Inklings watching, she smiled at them and left the cell.
"You two" the captain addressed two Octoling guards "Keep that cell open just a bit, I want them to hear this."
The captain then walked off to another room, leaving doors open behind her.
When she reached the boiling pit Bogs was in a panic, he struggled and with all his might tried to break free, but to no avail.
The captain then decided to ungag him, as soon as she did, she kicked him into a pit of boiling water.
If Bogs had fallen through the grate and reached the water he would have been spared from what would soon be the worst moments of his life.
See normally Inklings stay away from water as they were unable to survive in it, or in other words they dissolved when exposed to too much water. During the Great Turf Wars the Octarians had taken advantage of that and built the horrible thing known as the boiling pit, a thirty feet deep hole with a grate at the bottom, below it water was boiled to extremely hot temperatures, sending hot steam flying upwards. What did this feel to the poor Inklings who were thrown in? Well it felt like how humans would feel if they were scalded.
The steam did what boiling water would have done to humans, instead of causing instant death, it brought the victim close to it, first blisters would form all over the affected area, followed by a rapid loss of bodily fluids, leading to dehydration then finally a loss of skin leading to a high risk of infections.
It was enough to make anyone wish they had died a long time ago
"AHHHHH!"
Bogs' screams brought pleasure to the captain and her guards, after all they believed that the current living conditions of Octo Valley were far worse then what the Inkling was experiencing now, so what they were seeing now was considered justice in their eyes.
"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! PLEASE!"
Now the captain had planned out everything, the boiling pit alone would not finish off Bogs, no the Octarians had their own ethics in mind, the boiling pit would not end anyone's life, but rather test their will to live.
"PLEASE NO MORE! I'LL DO ANYTHING PLEASE! LET ME OUT!"
Bogs was begging to be let out, his previous acts as the tough guy now disappeared when faced with such an awful feeling.
His cries echoed through the prison, loud enough to be heard by Kal and the other Inkling, they both covered their ears, trying not to imagine what the boiling pit was, but it was not enough, Bogs was screaming at the top of his lungs, every shout made Kal wince, he hoped he would never find out what Bogs was going through.
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
As the water in the pit was starting to run low, the captain dropped her Octoshot down the pit, it was filled with the Octarians' magenta colored ink so even if Bogs climbed out, he would not be able to use it against anyone.
Another precaution was that the Octoshot was not attached to an Ink Tank, so it could fire five or six shots, this way the Inkling would have no way of defeating the guards.
But Bogs couldn't even think about shooting someone else now, as soon as the Octoshot reached him he picked it up, and turned it on himself. Not willing to suffer any longer Bogs pulled the trigger.
"Not so tough now are ya!" the captain shouted into the pit, where Bogs had reduced himself to a puddle of ink.
This was not a Turf War map, so there was no spawn points, nor any respawning in general, not in a place which was lacking sufficient power to keep itself from falling apart like Octo Valley, Bogs was gone forever.
Once the screams stopped Kal heard the Octolings outside lock the cell again, the captain had planned to torment the Inklings even further by letting them hear Bogs' cries for help, and she succeeded.
Now everytime a guard, no, when anyone walked by Kal and the other Inkling would close their eyes and hope that their time hadn't come, to them, the sound of footsteps became the sound of the grim reaper, in fact now they would ever fear the small Octotroopers who guarded them during the daytime.
The little purple Inkling was crying again
Kal tried once again to comfort her, maybe it was because nobody else had said a word to her in the last few days, or maybe because what they had just heard was just too terrifying, but this time the purple Inkling seemed to quiet down a bit to listen.
"Everything will be fine, we can stay on their good sides, what happened to Bogs will never happen to us." Kal lied, he had to, after all he wanted to believe that what they done to Bogs was out of revenge for his earlier ramblings.
The purple Inkling calmed down a bit
"There you go, be strong, nothing will happen to us here."
"I want to go home." the purple Inkling was on the verge of crying again.
"Yes, I do too, but right now we need to be strong."
The purple Inkling nodded and fought back tears
"My brother, my brother is probably worried about me."
"Don't worry, i'm sure he is out there looking for you, you'll both be fine, I promise."
"Do you?" the Inkling asked
She looked like she would cry again if Kal said no.
"Yes, I promise you will get out of here safely, and you will go back to Inkopolis and see your family again."
Kal suddenly remembered that he didn't know this one's name yet.
"By the way, i'm my name Kalus, but my friends call me Kal, what's your name?"
"Lila"
"That's a great name."
"I… I shouldn't be here"
Lila was about to cry again
"There there, I told you everything is fine, no need to cry."
Despite his comfort Lila began to cry again, this time in Kal's arms
Kal gave her a pat on the back to help calm her down.
'Huh, that's not normal.'
When Kal gave her a pat on the back it seemed to make a ripple through her, that was not normal for an Inkling who could transform freely.
Not only that but now that he could feel it, Lila felt oddly soft.
Stranger more, she looked just like a normal fully developed Inkling, so she had to be at least 14 or close, but she still felt like an underdeveloped Inkling, basically a squid who couldn't fully assume a kid form yet. if that was the case then why could she transform freely?
Lila was still going on about how she shouldn't be here.
"Why is that?" Kal asked, now curious.
"I shouldn't have been in Inkopolis tower."
"Why not? It's open to everyone, you are more than allowed in there."
"No I wasn't I was too young but mommy and daddy told me I was lucky enough to start early."
"Start early?"
"Yes I didn't reach the age requirement."
So she was younger, but her skin and kid form looked just like any other Inkling, the only difference was her size, she was abnormally small for a 14 year old.
"That's fine, I know a guy, Sky, he started when he was 13 cause he grew faster than others."
Lila cried a bit less
"In fact many Inklings play turf when they are 13"
"I am different."
Lila had stopped crying, she began to remember things from happier times, times when her whole family was by her side.
"Mommy always said I was gifted." Lila said
"I'm sure you are."
"I was at the top of all my classes, I learned faster and grew faster, my brother called me a prodigy."
Kal gave Lila a warm smile, she was now distracted from reality, just enough to calm her down.
'She must be smart but underdeveloped, that could explain why she feels weird.' Kal thought
"So when I began to look like this, my family suggested that maybe I could begin Turf Wars early, I wanted to play Turf Wars like my brother so one day I asked him if I could come along."
Suddenly she was back to reality "Now I'm here, I shouldn't have went to Inkopolis tower."
"Don't worry about that, like I said many Inklings play Turf before they are fourteen."
"But I am much younger than all of them."
'Is she even younger then the thirteen year olds?'
"How much younger are you?"
"Three years younger."
"Oh my gosh….."
'Lila wasn't someone with more brain then brawn, she wasn't underdeveloped, she was just a very young Inkling who developed her kid form three years early.'
"You are only eleven years old?" Kal said shocked
Lila nodded
"But you look like any fourteen year old Inkling I have seen."
"My parents did say I grew fast."
'That is what she meant by gifted, that's why she felt so weird, she can do things no one else her age could do.'
At that moment, Kal vowed to never let anything happen to this unfortunate child, after all, who could let an eleven year old die in a place like this? If the captain ever wanted to throw someone in the boiling pit again, Kal would gladly volunteer.
Present time, Inkopolis
"Did the cops give any information at all?"
Inker was on the phone with Marie, asking her for information on a recent news broadcast.
"Sorry, we don't know anything that wasn't already said on TV, is something the matter."
"Yes, the way the IPD and Det. Vert is handling things, all they did was get a false confession out of some random guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
What were they talking about? well it was what Inker had just seen on Inkopolis news: Laven had confessed to the squidnappings of Inklings Kal, Bogs and Lila.
This didn't feel right, Inker was sure that someone else had to be behind this, thus he called the squid sisters for more information.
"It's possible but i'm not sure, do you think maybe the Octarians are involved?" Marie asked
"Yes I did, but the Cap'n says he didn't see any Octarians enter or exit Inkopolis, regardless the way the Inklings disappeared so suddenly without a trace definitely reminds me of the Octarians and the theft of the great Zapfish"
"That's what I think, but it's pretty strange for gramps to miss something like an Octarian slipping in to Inkopolis."
"I know right, the Cap'n always seems so paranoid when it comes to the Octarians, it would be strange if he really did miss something."
"Speaking of strange ol gramps hasn't been asking us to get groceries for him recently, not that i'm complaining, but I still need to worry if he's got enough food."
"Wait, you and Callie buy the Cap'n groceries for him?"
"Yeah he keeps saying something about never leaving his post or something, maybe you should check on him again."
"Guess I should, anyways if you hear anything from Det. Vert let me know okay? Thanks."
"Stay fresh!"
Inker hung up, then proceeded to Inkopolis plaza.
Naturally it was as busy as always, so many sea creatures everywhere, one could hardly see past the sea of faces.
As usual Inker ran into Neon and Sky, they had all seen the news and none of them would believe it.
"I mean who would, think about it, Laven is already depressed after losing someone, then we got Vert harassing him everyday, no wonder he would go and make a false confession." Inker said
"The problem is we have no idea who really is behind this." Sky replied
"I still think it's the Octarains, are you sure Cuttlefish said nothing was happening in Octo Valley?"
"Yep"
"That's strange."
"Well we can't do anything about it now, how about we go for a round of Turf Wars!" Neon exclaimed
"Excited as always huh."
"You guys go on ahead I have to run an errand."
"Does it involve storming a few Octarian lairs?"
"Do you have to ask that everytime I say I need to do something? No i'm not, I just need to check on the Cap'n, no fighting involved."
Neon looked disappointed, but she quickly smiled again and waved goodbye.
"Okay then, see ya later!"
Nautilus base, Octo Valley
Victoria was shook
Kevin the big mouthed Octostriker had just told her of a prisoner's fate.
On the surface she made it look like she didn't care for who died, in fact she and her squadmates praised the actions of Melanin prison's guards, but deep down Victoria hoped it wasn't Kal.
'It couldn't be Kal could it? There were two others so it is 1 out of 3'
Yes it was unlikely that Kal died, but still who was to say that he wouldn't be next?
It was probably the most difficult decision to make, but Victoria had been considering either going to Melanin herself, or ratting out the Octarians to Cap'n Cuttlefish or Agent 3.
Of course from what she had heard, Octavia was trying to start another war, believing that the Octarians would have the advantage, if war did break out many lives would be lost in the process.
But if the Octarians did win the war, then they could use the Zapfish and rebuild Octo Valley to be better than ever, and if they lost then nothing would change, it seemed like at this point the Octarians had nothing left to lose.
Plus if the Inklings are defeated by the Octarian army that doesn't necessarily mean the Inklings are done for. right?
Besides, Inkopolis is in great condition right now, so if the army took the Zapfish for a few years nothing bad would happen.
Still, Victoria could not shake the feeling of being indebted to Kal and Inker.
With that in mind Victoria made her choice.
'I love my people yes, but if I leave Kal to die i'll never live it down, I owe him, him and Agent 3. Plus, there is no guarantee that war will benefit us at all'
Victoria had made her decision, it was time to tell Inker of what happened, she went home to make preparations.
Since the Octarians' couldn't splat each other with their regular ink, Victoria went to a printer in her home and removed the Ink cartridge.
Victoria then took several Splat Bombs and replaced the normal ink with black ink from the printer.
'Hopefully Violet isn't planning on printing anything soon.' Victoria thought.
Unfortunately there was only enough ink to fill two Splat Bombs but it would do, Victoria wasn't planning on fighting her own race, but took those two splat bombs along just to be safe.
Next was her clothes, she couldn't walk around Inkopolis in Octoling armor, so she grabbed the Inkling clothes she had borrowed before, and left for Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack.
Meanwhile back in the Nautilus base, Octavia and several other Elites were waiting anxiously for the return of their fellow Elites, one by one, they got confirmation that they had returned from Inkopolis, and with another batch of prisoners too.
Like before they brought the new prisoners to Melanin Prison, and a few of them stayed behind to watch for Inkling activity.
Unfortunately for them they were so busy watching the manhole they did notice Victoria arriving behind them.
Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley
Victoria had arrived just minutes after the latest squidnapping, however before she reached her destination she saw something that made her heart skip a beat.
Victoria froze, right there in front of her were two Elites.
'Have I been caught already?' was Victoria's first thought
Luckily they hadn't noticed Victoria's arrival yet
'What should I do? I only planned on telling Inker about Kal, I didn't plan on fighting my own people!'
She might regret this later but now she had no choice, those Elites were watching Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, if they saw her they would probably send a squad to her apartment and she would be tried for treason, and they might even accuse Violet of being an accomplice. Plus they might have been waiting to ambush the Inklings when they arrived, Victoria had no other choice, she forced herself to get rid of these Elites.
Of course Victoria was just your normal Octoling, she could not take on two Elites, at least not in a fair fight.
Since they hadn't noticed her, Victoria took the element of surprise, the two Elites were lying down on their bellies to avoid being seen by the Cap'n, this meant it would take longer for them to get up and counterattack, plus they were close to each other so that they could whisper to one another.
Good thing Victoria paid so much attention in training otherwise she might not had succeeded here, of course back then she planned to use that knowledge to fight the Inklings, but now here she was about to splat two Elite Octolings in order to save an Inkling, the world works in mysterious ways.
A well placed Splat Bomb was all she needed here.
Just as predicted, the Elites noticed the Splat Bomb the moment it hit the ground, but before they could move away the bomb burst, splating both of them, leaving nothing but their equipment behind.
Victoria knew that Octoling goggles transmitted live footage back to base, so before doing anything else, she made sure they were destroyed without ever getting her face into view.
Back at the base, Octavia and the other Elites only saw the Elites get splatted, then somebody must have smashed their goggles because they lost the feed after that.
"Agent 3 must be here" Octavia concluded
Well she wasn't exactly wrong because Inker a.k.a Agent 3 would be coming in a moment.
Before that moment however Victoria had reached Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, she threw on the Satin Jacket over her Octoling armor and put on the Tentacles Helmet from before, that way she wouldn't spook anybody once she got to Inkopolis, shoes didn't matter because who looks at strangers' feet anyways?
'For someone who gave the Octarian army so much trouble before, this guy can't seem to notice anything going on around him.' Victoria thought as she approached Cap'n Cuttlefish, who did not even notice her yet.
Victoria couldn't have timed her arrival better, because at that moment Inker came bursting through the manhole, saving Victoria a trip to Inkopolis (where she would likely have gotten lost anyways).
Inker was here to speak with Cuttlefish again, he didn't expect to see what appeared to be an Inkling wearing a helmet.
Also the Cap'n was still busy eating Crabby Cakes to notice them.
'How convenient, Agent 3 is here just in time, i'll just tell him to go the Melanin prison and-'
"Excuse me, are you lost?" Inker asked
"Huh?" Victoria had forgotten that she was wearing Inkling clothing.
"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude but shouldn't you be in Inkopolis?" Inker had no idea this was Victoria wearing the Helmet she borrowed from Kal.
"Of course not, why would I be there?"
"Oh umm okay."
"Why would an Inkling other than me Callie and Marie be here?" Inker wondered
"Wait a second, are you Neon?" Inker asked, remembering how badly Neon wanted in on the whole Agent business.
Victoria got angry, how could Agent 3 not remember her? And how could he mistake her for an Inkling?!
"DO I LOOK LIKE AN INKLING TO YOU!"
This finally caught Cap'n Cuttlefish's attention
"Whoa, when did y'all get here?" he asked, but Inker and Victoria didn't hear him
"Sorry, but you look like any Inkling with a Tentacles Helmet, I can't really tell what you are."
"Oh right! I forgot I was wearing that, heh heh, my bad!"
Victoria removed the Tentacles Helmet
Inker recognized her instantly "Victoria! Right I forgot you still had that from before."
And then Cap'n Cuttlefish scrambled to his feet
"OCTARIAN ATTACK! Agent 3 go defend Inkopolis, I'm takin' Octavio and doin' what we call a tactical retreat!"
"Calm down Cap'n, it's just Victoria."
"No it's an Octoling."
"Victoria is that Octoling from before, the one that wandered into Inkopolis, remember?"
'I didn't just wander into Inkopolis!' Victoria wanted to say, but right now saving face might cause more harm than good, so to draw attention away from her faults, she decided to draw attention to the Cap'n's.
"Speaking of Inkopolis, how do you manage to miss three teams of Octolings entering and exiting Inkopolis?"
"Hmm? I didn't see any Octolings passin' by"
'Jeez this old squid is useless, why don't they put a proper armed guard here?' Victoria's opinion of Cap'n Cuttlefish was never very high to begin with, now this idiot couldn't even notice Elites taking prisoners from Inkopolis right under his nose (does Cap'n Cuttlefish even have a nose?).
Victoria's words caught Inker's attention
"Wait a sec, are you saying the Octarian army had been to Inkopolis recently?"
"Yes, that's what I came to tell you about."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I'm still part of the Octarian army, I can't just go around talking to Inklings and revealing military secrets."
"Kal has been missing for a week now! Secrets or not you should have told me earlier!"
"Now is not the time to be lecturing me, you need to go to Melanin prison now!"
"I'm on it!"
Inker had only swam two feet before he noticed a small issue
"Umm where is this Melanin prison anyways?"
"It's pretty far underground, the fastest way their would be you need to head upwards, enter the Kettle to the Rig, then find your way to the Undercity, then hea-"
Inker was feeling dizzy listening to all these directions
"How about you just show me the way."
"No way, I can't be seen with the feared Agent 3."
"Feared?"
"There are all sorts of silly rumors circulating in Octo Valley."
"Is that why you were so scared of me when we first met?"
"I wasn't scared! not of you or anyone in Inkopolis!"
"Of course you weren't." Inker said sarcastically "but how will I find my way through Octo Valley then?"
"You did it before didn't you? When you stole the Zapfish."
'You were the ones who stole the Zapfish' Inker wanted to say, but Cap'n Cuttlefish beat him too it.
"The Zapfish were ours to begin with! You Inklings are the real thieves!" Victoria shouted back.
Now was not the time to get sidetracked so Inker answered Victoria's question "Well the Zapfishes were always left pretty close to the Kettles, so I never needed to go far into Octo Valley, in fact I'd probably get lost if I tried finding my own way."
If Inker got lost deep inside Octo Valley it could cause a panic, especially if anyone saw him, it would be best if he was kept out of sight.
Knowing this, Victoria reluctantly agreed.
"Alright I guess I owe you, but you better stay out of sight, I have a life in Octo Valley and I don't want you ruining it!"
"Jeez I get it, i'll make sure nobody sees me, can't be too hard right?"
Inker equipped the Hero Suit and Hero Shot, then followed Victoria into the first Kettle, unfortunately it would seem that Inker had a totally different idea in mind when he said he would keep out of sight.
"Stop spreading your ink all over the ground!" Victoria tried her best to keep quiet
"Why not? I need to keep out of sight right?" Inker said, poking his head out of his ink in squid form
"Exactly so stop leaving a trail of ink everywhere!"
"How am I supposed to hide then?"
In previous missions in Octo Valley, Inker snuck around by inking turf and hiding in it so that the Octarians could not see him, but in this case they needed to hide the fact that he was even in Octo Valley to begin with, and to do that Inker could not be leaving blue ink everywhere.
"Just stay close, and don't go out in the open." Victoria said, hoping that the blue ink would disappear soon.
"But covering turf is important in combat."
"This isn't like before when you fought a few Zapfish guards, right now if anyone sees you the whole damn army is going to come marching over here and I have no intention of being seen as a traitor!"
"But isn't that what you are doing right now?"
"Shut up! I'm just returning a favor, be grateful that i'm helping you instead of warning my splatoon."
A few minutes later another problem popped up.
"Uh oh I forgot why I came here in the first place."
"What that?"
"Marie asked me to see why the Cap'n hadn't been needing groceries recently."
"Seriously, how is that more important than rescuing your friend?"
"Don't worry this will only take a second."
The Squid phone had no reception in Octo Valley, but Inker could at least talk to the Cap'n through comms.
"Cap'n, agents 1&2 are worried, you haven't be-"
"Munch munch munch"
"Cap'n are you listening?"
Victoria pulled Inker's headgear off.
"Just ignore him, we need to keep moving otherwise we won't get to the prison in time!"
"Alright fine, just give me back my headgear, wait! I promised Neon I'd bring her along if I planned on doing any missions in Octo Valley."
Victoria was getting impatient
"Seriously you are full of distractions, you can impress your girlfriend later, come on! It's a long way to Melanin prison by foot, and we can't have you taking public transportation."
"Alright alright i'm coming, and fyi; Neon is not my girlfriend."
"Whatever, just keep up with me."
Inkopolis Plaza
"Woomy! I'm going to be an S+ in no time!" Neon had just finished a Ranked battle.
"Did you just get to S right now?" Sky, who had spectated the match from a blimp, asked.
"Yep! And at this rate I'll be at the top in no time!"
"You know you will only be facing stronger opponents now right?"
"Of course I do! It's more of a challenge! I can't wait!"
Neon was glowing with excitement, then again when was she not?
Sky on the other hand lacked experience so he always tried to make up for it with careful thinking.
"You should probably try something other than a charger type weapon now, since you always seem to be so aggressive."
"I'll fight my own way, speaking of which where Inker? I'm S overall and he is still A+ I want to rub it in his face!"
"I doubt he'd really care since he doesn't seem to worry about winning or losing."
"Yeah yeah hold on i'm texting him now."
They waited for quite a while and still no response
"He's not back yet maybe?"
"I don't think a quick visit to Octo Valley would take that long."
"Octo Valley eh!" A voice boomed from behind
It was Det. Vert again, when did he get here?
"So that's where your criminal friend is hiding."
"What are you talking about?" Sky asked
"None of your concern." Vert turned away and hurried to the precinct.
"What is up with him?" Neon wondered
Her question was answered soon enough as Inkopolis News time came to tv screens across Inkopolis, and with it another report of more missing squids.
Precinct 15, Inkopolis
Vert addressed a team of four officers
"Alright, the suspect is an Inkling named Inker, he was previously suspected of squidnapping but we let our eyes off him when another Inkling confessed, he is now hiding in Octo Valley, pack your stuff, we are moving out in ten minutes."
"Are we allowed to go into Octo Valley? I mean it's not our territory." an officer asked
"Of course it is, after all we own the land above them, plus the Octarains have been quiet for a long time now, I'm sure there will be no problem." Vert assured his men
It's a shame that the New Squidbeak Splatoon couldn't make it's exploits public, if they did what happened next could have been prevented.
The officers and Vert marched right into Octo Valley, ignoring Cap'n Cuttlefish's warning not to proceed.
"The Octarians will not do anything stupid, otherwise what happened in the last war would happen again." Vert declared, believing in the superiority of his race.
They had no idea where they were going, so they started from the first kettle, making their way into Octarian cities.
Nautilus base, Octo Valley
"Acting leader! A group of Inklings are combing through the lairs, the troopers stationed there cannot communicate with them, what should we do?"
Octavia smiled
"Interesting, they think they can walk around our territory without consequence? I think i'll have a little word with them."
A/N: so apparently Inklings are unable to change form until they are at least 14, but I wanted to have one of the prisoners be very young to make the Octarians seem more ruthless in their quest for revenge, so Lila is going to be an eleven year old who can already change to kid form. Second note: you may recall Victoria referring to her military unit as a "squadron" in Behind Enemy Lines, however in this chapter she says "splatoon" this is because until two days ago, I did not know that "squadron" referred to an air force squad, since Victoria and probably no other Octarian, pilots fighter aircraft I changed it to 'splatoon".