Undercity, Octo Valley
"Bzzzt"
"Vrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
"Pshhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Noises like these could be heard all over the place as Inker ran around Octo Valley via rooftops.
The buildings here were really run down, usually you wouldn't hear all these noises, it was yet another reminder of how Octo Valley was nearing its end.
To save Octo Valley without conflict had been Inker's goal ever since he defeated DJ Octavio, he thought that without Octavio's influence the Octarian army would be pacified, every life he reluctantly took was to that goal, with the army pacified maybe the Octarians and Inklings could have worked something out, they must have done it at some point since there was evidence that the two races once lived in harmony.
For now that goal had to be set aside, Inker's current goal was to survive and save the squidnapped Inklings, a task that should easily be attainable by someone like him, yet here he was, injured and on the run.
Inker wanted to stop swimming and leaving a large trail of ink, but in his current condition walking would be far to difficult.
He had been swimming around the rooftops for kraken knows how long now, trying to get out of the Undercity.
While this part of Octo Valley was still new to him, Inker at least remembered that the outskirts of the Undercity didn't have any skyscrapers.
If he could just get to Melanin prison again he could free the captured Inklings, including Kal, he would not be distracted this time.
Inker stopped, he had finally reached the outskirts of the city now
He left a huge trail of ink behind him but it didn't matter now, his objective was close.
Hoping that nobody would see him, Inker leapt down the building, Inklings didn't get hurt easily from falling so it didn't injure Inker any further.
All he had to do now was find landmarks that he had passed on the way to Melanin.
Rumble at the Rig, Octo Valley sector 5
Callie and Sky had arrived long before Neon and Marie, who were likely still losing their tail.
Sky was still somewhat shaken from his earlier encounter, he sat in a fetal position as he thought of recent events, seeing this Callie decided to leave him alone for now.
"How do you do it?" Sky finally spoke again after sitting alone for a while
"Huh?"
"How do you do it? Cuttlefish said that you can't respawn down here, how can you bring yourself to splat those Octarians?"
"Well…"
Callie wasn't sure how to reply, it was a pretty difficult question to answer.
"Could it be because of some natural instinct? I know that Inklings and Octarians are supposed to be natural enemies, but I still can't even think of splatting somebody permanently, even if its an Octarian." Sky was the type to think more than act, so no surprise that he already came up with his own theory.
"Natural instinct? Nah I don't think it's that, besides no one can say for sure that Inklings and Octarians are supposed to be natural enemies."
"Then why are you, Marie and Inker are down here fighting the Octarians in your spare time?"
Callie scratched her head, not sure how to reply, luckily for her Marie and Neon arrived.
"Agent 2! Why are we fighting the Octarian army?"
"Because they squidnapped a bunch of Inklings."
"Not that, I mean before."
"Because they took the Zapfish."
"No I mean like why did gramps create the New Squidbeak Splatoon!?"
"To counter the Octarian army, because we are stuck in a cycle where neither of the two races can afford to live without Zapfish, so we end up fighting over them; they attack, we counterattack, rinse and repeat."
Callie turned to Sky "there you go! That should answer your question."
"Weren't you the one who asked?"
"No, before you got here Sky asked how do we put up with splating the Octarians and it led to him asking why the New Squidbeak Splatoon exists."
"I get it."
Marie decided to answer Sky's earlier question
"Normally everyone expects people to sit down and talk things out, but that only works when both parties agree to do so, the Octarian army doesn't discuss things, they just attack out of nowhere. I understand that splatting someone here is different from splatting someone in Turf Wars and that every Octarian we encounter has their own family and stories to tell, but as long as the Octarians keep executing unprovoked attacks, we need to fight back."
Sky nodded "Okay, I just can't bring myself to permanently splat someone, if I did what would their friends think? how would their family feel? and what about their dreams?"
Marie cut Sky off "Listen, it's good that you think about these things, it shows how considerate you are towards other people, but if you are in the middle of a fight, you don't have the time to think about all that, if you overthink things you will end up with no time to act. I'm not asking you to stop thinking, I'm just saying that it could be dangerous if you overthink."
"Are you done? Then let's get moving." Victoria had arrived while Marie was talking with Sky.
She was wearing the Inkling clothing she had borrowed from Kal, and held the Tentacles helmet in her hand, probably planning on wearing it so that any Octarians who saw her would assume she's an Inkling.
"Victoria! Long time no see! How's Octo Valley?!" Neon seemed happy to see Victoria.
"...fine I guess, Anyways we need to get going, but before we move on I want you all to promise not to hurt any Octarian unless they are armed okay?"
"Of course! Who do you think we are anyways?"
The Inklings prepared to move along.
"Sky, are you feeling any better?" Neon asked
Sky, had not moved from his fetal sitting position "Sure I guess, lets go."
"Sorry for leaving you behind, you know how I can be when i'm in the middle of a fight."
Sky stood up "That's what i'm afraid of, well at least now we got more allies, so I should be fine if you leave me behind."
"What's wrong with him?" Victoria asked, noticing Sky's condition
"He has trouble bringing himself to splat people." Marie anwsered
"Ahh so he doesn't want to lose his innocence."
"What?"
"When a soldier takes the life of another, we call it a loss of innocence."
"Then that means the majority of the Octarian army have yet to lose their innocence."
Marie said this because there have been nearly no Inkling casualties in the past 100 years.
"grrrrrr" Victoria clearly did not appreciate this remark about the army, especially since she was one of them.
"Anyways we don't have time to waste, Elite Octolings are looking for Inker so we need to get moving, follow me and don't mention my name once we reach the Undercity."
Melanin prison, Octo Valley
With an Octo Shot aimed at his back, Kal walked through the degrading hallways of Melanin prison, supposedly the captain of the guard wanted to see him, and the Octoling pressing her weapon against his back was bringing him to the captain.
Kal had no idea what the layout of the prison was, so he had no idea where he was going, he did notice however, that he was now in an area that looked abandoned with nearly no guards.
It was also an area where he could not hear that techno-like music that was being played all the time.
There were two other Octolings in this area, they left their post and joined the Octoling that was moving Kal along.
'Wait this doesn't feel right.' Kal thought as he noticed there were now three Octolings behind him.
One of the Octolings walked in front and opened a door which was hanging on only one of its hinges.
They were now outside the prison building, but still inside the compound.
The three Octolings each looked a different way before turning to each other.
"All clear?"
Another nodded
"All clear."
As if on cue, all three Octolings turned their attention to Kal at the same time.
A chill went down Kal's back 'Wait why did they take me here?'
Kal looked around and noticed that this particular area was unguarded and unwatched, it was a blindspot.
It was the perfect place to do something without anyone noticing, which made Kal nervous.
"You said you know Agent 3 correct?" one of the Octolings asked
'That question again? Maybe they are afraid of Inker?' Kal thought, recalling all the silly rumors about Agent 3 that Victoria had heard of.
'But if I say yes, what would happen? Inker fought the army before, if they are mad at Inker for splating their comrades would they take their anger out on me?'
"No" Kal quickly lied
"Really, then why did you say you knew him the last time we talked?" another Octoling spoke up
'The last time we talked? Is this that Octoling who was asking me and Inker before? It's kinda hard to tell them apart.'
"We talked before?"
"Yes, a few days ago I interrupted your storytime and asked about Agent 3, back then you spoke slower, and your eyes would glance towards the left when pausing."
It was no doubt the Octoling from before, Kal made a mental note to try and figure out a way to distinguish the Octolings he met.
"Do you know what that means?" the Octoling continued.
Kal had no idea why the Octoling had brought all that up.
"Umm no."
"As the captain's aide I often need to question her troops to make sure everything is in order, therefore I know how to tell a lie from the truth, when someone unconsciously rolls their eyes to the left while speaking slowly it means they are trying to recall something, while someone who speaks quickly is likely to be nervous because they are not sure what to say."
This certain Octoling seemed to be confident in her ability to tell truth from lie.
"So we ask you again, you know Agent 3 correct?"
The Octoling's voice wasn't comforting, nor threatening and all three Octolings had the same expression as any other guard Kal had seen so he could not tell what their intentions were.
Since one of the Octolings could tell he was lying, Kal decided to answer truthfully and hope for the best.
"Yes"
"Good."
Another Octoling spoke
"Listen we'll do you a favor."
Kal blinked 'Do me a favor? Could these Octolings be Victoria's friends? Are they going to help me escape?'
The Octoling who could tell truth from lie noticed Kal's expression.
"We won't be doing something like breaking you out, so don't get excited."
'Aww'
"But we can tell you that Agent 3 is on his way here, so you won't be staying here for long."
'Ahh I see, these three must have heard of those silly rumors about Inker, so they don't expect to be able to stop him.' Kal concluded though it didn't explain why they brought him here just to tell him that.
"Also something else you should know, the purple Inkling who was tossed into the pit the other day, she survived."
This got Kal's full attention
"What? Lila survived?"
"Yeah it shocked us too, she's a tough kid."
"What about Bogs? The big orange guy."
"Oh that guy, he's dead as a doornail."
Kal was even more surprised by this 'So Bogs, who was probably several years older then me, who looked very fit and always acted tough died, but Lila who was only eleven, frail, scared and probably naive, survived?'
"Don't expect anyone else to survive though, the purple girl was the first Inkling to have survived that pit, Quite surprising for someone who was only eleven years old, the captain seems to have taken an interest in her and sent her to the infirmary to heal."
Kal was relieved to hear that Lila had survived, as for Bogs, he didn't like him much but was still bothered by his death.
Hearing a noise, one of the Octolings grabbed Kal, put her hand over his mouth, and pushed him against the wall, the two other Octolings went towards the direction of the sound, a moment later they returned.
"Just some garbage blowing by, nobody in sight."
The Octoling who was holding Kal then let go of him and continued speaking.
"Also there were more Inklings brought in over the days and held in other cells, tonight when your dinner arrives in the dumbwaiter there will the a map of the prison underneath the plate, the circled areas are where the other Inklings are held."
'So in other words these three want me to guide Inker when he gets here so that he won't have to explore and fight through the whole prison, and therefore there will be less of a chance that they run into Inker, these three must be cowards.' Kal thought
"Why are you doing this?" Kal asked
"Well, we want a favor from you in return for this information."
The three Octolings each pulled out a scrap of paper and handed them to Kal.
"144 Lamella Ave, 86 Radula Blvd, 1408 Dolphin Ave, wait are these addresses? Why are you giving me addresses?"
"From what we heard, Agent 3 enjoys rampaging through Octarian lairs, so he would probably do the same in the Undercity."
'That is just a bunch of made up rumors, Agent 3 would never do something like that unless absolutely necessary.' Kal wanted to say, but he decided not to.
He must have been amused by this development because the Octoling noticed his mouth twith upward a bit.
"Were you about to smile? Why would you do that? Do you want to see a rampaging Agent 3 in Octo Valley's most populated area? Do you know how hard it is for us to live here without his interfering?"
Kal quickly replied
"No no, i'm just glad that someone is coming for me." this wasn't a lie, so the Octoling didn't go any further and let her fellow Octoling continue explaining.
"So when that time comes please keep Agent 3 away from these places." the Octoling continued.
'Since when did Agent 3 break into houses and splat its occupants? I really want to correct them but in this situation it's probably best to keep them a bit scared.' deciding not to tell the Octolings that the rumors they heard were greatly exaggerated Kal turned his attention to the addresses instead, why did they want to keep Inker away from those places, could they be hiding something important there?
"What so important about these places anyways?" Kal asked
If they avoided the question then there would definitely be something important to the army there.
However the Octolings answered
"Our families."
Following that the Octoling who could tell truth from lie spoke
"It may be new to you but I want you to think about us Octarians for once."
"What do you take me for?"
"Someone who was entitled to live in a safe and clean city while an entire race suffer below you."
Clearly just because these Octolings wanted a favor didn't mean they needed to like Inklings.
"Anyways, my name is Claire,1408 Dolphin is where my family lives, my parents are too weak to work and get sick easily and I have two sisters and a brother, all too young to work, so i'm the only one supporting my family, as you'd expect we are poor, so please do not let Agent 3 harm us any further."
Hearing this, Kal made sure to remember Claire's appearance, so that he would not mistake this unfortunate Octoling for any others, he noted that Claire's skin was a shade darker than the other two and had what appeared to be a scar on her right cheek.
The next Octoling spoke up.
"I'm Lynn, 86 Radula Blvd is my parents home, i'm an only child and both my parents are gravely ill, because of this they depend on me to send medicine and save up enough money for a doctor. They could not possibly do anything to hurt any Inkling, so please keep Agent 3's rampage away from them."
Like with Claire, Kal made sure to remember Lynn, who had her tentacles tied up in a bun, different from the average Octoling.
The last Octoling spoke "The last address in mine, I'm Madison, I live with my younger sister who is twelve, I had an older sister, but Agent 3 got her already, I also had a brother but he died along with my parents when the apartment building we used to live in collapsed, my little sister is too young to be a soldier, please keep Agent 3 away from her.
Kal noted that Madison was the tallest of the three Octolings present, although he couldn't see anything else that could make Madison stand out.
'These three, they aren't doing this because they want to survive, but because they have to support their family.' Kal thought.
"I'll do what I can."
With that, the Octolings brought Kal back inside, and Lynn took Kal back to his cell.
Despite it still being lonely inside this cell, Kal was glad that he wasn't killed off today and now he had quite a bit to think about.
'Claire, Lynn and Madison, each of them had a similar reason to be working in the Octarian army, why take such a dangerous job if they had people who depended on them back at home? I can't understand it. If I ever get to talk with Victoria again I should tell her about these three, yes an Octoling would probably understand better than me.'
Kal couldn't really understand the Octarians' mindset, yet he was starting to become interested in it. A couple months ago he thought that Octarians were just the natural enemy of Inklings who wanted power to themselves
Then he met Victoria and learned that most Octarians are just trying to save their city
Then he saw the captain of the guard who seemed to hate Inklings for no apparent reason
Now there were the trio of Octolings who would were more worried about their families than themselves
Kal could decide whether they were bad or not, in fact he was starting to understand why Inker wanted to make peace between the two races.
'There is still so much we do not know'
Undercity, Octo Valley
On the rooftops of the Undercity were five trails of ink, each a different colour.
Unlike before time was of the essence as Victoria knew that the Elite Octolings were searching for Inker, they couldn't afford to move unseen, they had to move fast so Victoria didn't stop anyone from shooting ink everywhere.
Following Victoria was Callie, Marie, Neon and Sky.
Having recovered from his earlier shock, Sky was not about to turn tail and head back to Inkopolis, besides with waves of Octolings washing across the lairs looking for them there was no way he could make it all the way back.
So here he was, trying not to think about splatting an Octarian.
A flying saucer flew overhead landing a good distance away from them.
Since she was an Octoling, Victoria easily recognised it: the one from Nautilus base, flown by an Octostriker, often accompanied by Octocopters and Octobombers, and since Octavia came into power she used those saucers to ferry her and the Elites between points of conflict.
"That saucer would only land if it was dropping off Elite Octolings or picking them up." Victoria informed the Inklings behind her.
"Which means we will likely run into trouble if we keep going this way, then should we go around it?" Sky asked
Victoria was about to agree since she could not afford to be seen helping Inklings, but then she remembered something else.
"The Elite Octolings were searching for Agent 3, that saucer could be picking him up if the Elite had managed to capture him, even though I doubt they would bother capturing him."
"It could also be dropping off reinforcements if they were fighting Agent 3 nearby." Marie suggested "I think Agent 1 and I should take a look."
"I'll go too" Neon added
"You guys should remember that I can't afford to be seen working with you so if you are heading over to that saucer I'm heading back." Victoria reminded the others
"Then we should split up, we will go look for our fellow Agent, Victoria, you take Sky and Neon to Melanin prison."
Assuming there would be guards at Melanin prison Neon quickly agreed
"I'm down with it, What about you Sky? Are you okay with it?"
"Yes"
"Are you sure you are okay with it? I cannot guarantee that i'll be there for you if you freeze up again."
"Don't worry about it, ill be fine, just don't leave me behind this time."
"Alright then, we will meet up back at the rig once we get Kal out of there."
"No need, Melanin prison is in that direction right?" Callie asked Victoria, pointing to the direction of the saucer.
"Yes"
"Once we determine whether or not the Elite Octolings have Agent 3 we will head towards the prison, it shouldn't take long."
And with that, Callie and Marie separated from Victoria, Neon and Sky.
The rooftops of the Undercity are relatively barren, objects like Gushers which the Agents could use to their advantage were nowhere to be found, a fight here would be a direct one.
However there were still ways to get the drop on your opponent here.
As Callie and Marie approached the place where the Octarian saucer had landed a moment ago, they discovered the reason as to why it landed here.
A blue trail of ink, that could only mean one thing: Agent 3.
Following the trail of ink was five Elite Octolings, they were still a good distance away so they did not see Callie and Marie yet.
Marie whispered something to Callie, who then hopped down, Marie approached the Elites alone.
Getting in range, Marie charged a shot, however the Elites had noticed her, and quickly dropped Splat Bombs and scattered.
Expecting this to happen, Marie stood still, knowing that the Octolings would have to come up sooner or later, and if they didn't it would be fine.
That was because Callie dropped down to the streets below so that she could come up right in front of the Octolings by climbing the building that they were on.
However the Elites were coordinated, they all lept out of the ink at once, Marie shot one, then started backing up.
"And here I thought I'd get some payback on Agent 3, looks like you will have to do. Surround her!"
"Understood Acting Leader!"
It would seem that Octavia was leading this small group.
The three Elites each charged bravely towards Marie, each one attacking from a different side, however the one who had given the orders stood back.
'Psh, their leader is a coward, alright then, i'll go after you.'
Marie splatted the Octoling in the middle, leaving a good trail of green ink behind, Marie used this trail to swim past the two other Elites and go after the leader.
'Huh?'
Probably anticipating Marie to go after her, Octavia had hidden in her ink.
Marie was planning on finishing off Octavia with a single shot as soon as she put some distance between the other two Elites, but she could not see Octavia anywhere.
Knowing not to stay put, Marie threw a Seeker and swam behind it, before popping up to take another shot.
However, Octavia popped up right beside her, without time to fully charge her Hero Charger, Marie fired the half charged shot and dove back into her ink.
Octavia shrugged off the hit she took and started covering Marie's ink with Octarian ink.
The other two Octolings had also caught up and also begun covering Marie's ink.
Octavia saw this as her win "Well well, looks like you're trapped Agent 2, you Inklings may have gotten lucky before, but you won't get lucky down here."
There was only a bit of Marie's green ink on the edge of the roof that they were on, Marie hopped out of the ink.
There was not a single trace of worry on her face.
The two other Elites ran towards Marie
"This is the heart of Octo Valley, we rule these lands, give yourself up and I promise you will be the last Agent to die." Octavia continued as she slowly walked towards Marie.
"You talk to much." Marie said before backflipping off the roof.
Since no Inkling nor Octoling would die from a fall the Elites ran to where Marie had hopped off, intending on chasing her.
However as they reached the ledge Callie appeared right in front of them with her Hero Roller held high.
"Surprise!"
Callie brought her Roller down on one unfortunate Elite, the other fell backwards before transforming and swimming away, with Callie giving chase with her Roller.
Marie hopped back onto the rooftop, the two agents watched as Octavia and her remaining Elite Octoling hopped off the rooftops.
It wasn't long before the same saucer returned to pick them up.
"Easily overconfident, talking too much and quick to retreat." Callie commented on the retreating Octavia
"What a generic villain." Marie added
With that out of the way all that was left to do was follow the trail of blue ink.
Undercity outskirts, Octo Valley
The landmark that Inker was looking for was the house with an Octarian tentacle and an Octoling in octopus form sprayed on it's wall, and he had found it, upon closer inspection there were also words written underneath the spray painting.
"Guided by duty, serving with honor." Inker read the words.
It was probably written by an Octoling since Inker could read it.
'Definitely something i'd expect to see on an Octarian army recruitment poster, whoever lives here must really support the Octarian army.'
As he was thinking about this, he heard the sound of an E-Liter 3k firing, bright green ink landed beside him.
And swimming up to him was none other than his perky sniper friend Neon.
"Hiya!"
"Neon?! Why are you here?"
"I'm here to help obviously!" she then noticed Inker's damaged Ink Tank and Hero Suit "Whoa! You look like you swam through a woodchipper!"
"Nevermind that, how did you find me?"
As Inker asked this Victoria and Sky came running.
To answer Inker's question Neon threw one of her arms around Victoria "My good friend Victoria betrayed the Octarian army and led us here!"
In response Victoria shoved Neon aside "Don't say something like that out loud, I didn't betray the army, i'm just returning a favor!"
'And betraying the army in doing so.' Inker wanted to say
"Huff, We are not alone, Callie and Marie are here too. Huff" said Sky, who was out of breath from running after Neon.
"Yeah they went to go fight a few Octolings in a flying saucer and said they would meet us at the prison once they were done!" Neon explained
Inker felt happy 'So everyone came, Neon, Sky, Callie, Marie and Victoria too, thanks everyone, i'll treat you all to something once we are done here.'
"Hey what are you daydreaming about? Let's go break Kal out of prison!" Neon said as she charged her E-liter, in order to make a trail of ink to swim in.
Inker looked to Victoria, who had previously been against Inklings leaving ink everywhere in this heavily populated Octarian city.
Knowing what he was about to ask, Victoria said "Cover all the turf you need, just don't mess up this time, oh and don't any of you mention my name while you are at Melanin prison, I don't want anyone finding out that I've been secretly helping you."
The sound of Neon's E-liter rang through the streets, as Neon swam ahead.
The group as still standing in front of a house so its no surprise that its occupant would come outside to investigate after hearing the loud E-liter.
It was an adult Octoling, and also the first male Octoling Inker had ever seen, he even had two tentacles coming out of his nose making a small mustache.
"What's going on? Huh? Is that you Victoria?"
An adult male coming out of the house Victoria grew up in, take a wild guess as to who this Octoling is.
Neon brought up her E-liter to fire at that Octoling who had just came out of the house, but Inker, Sky and Victoria all grabbed her weapon.
"That's not even a soldier! Don't go around shooting everyone in Octo Valley!" Inker yelled
"Are you deprived of sleep again?" Sky said
"I won't let you splat innocent Octarians!" Victoria yelled "come on! Melanin prison is that way, just ignore the bystanders and follow me!"
Victoria lead the others away from the Undercity, hoping that her father would not sell her out to the authorities.
A couple minutes later Melanin prison was in sight.
"Alright, you know the way from here." Victoria said, having no intention of fighting other Octarians.
"Thanks alot, hey don't be afraid to drop by Inkopolis sometime!" Inker said as he, Neon and sky waved goodbye to Victoria.
'Inviting me to visit Inkopolis, did he forget that most Inklings still see Octarians as natural enemies?'
With Victoria gone, Inker, Sky and Neon prepared to fight through Melanin prison.
As expected there were guards all over the place, mostly Octolings and Octotroopers, some shielded.
Knowing that this was probably his friends' first mission in Octo valley Inker decided to take on a leader role.
"Okay we should stay together, unlike in Turf Wars we don't change colour so be careful not to hit each other, a place like this should be crawling with Octarians so…" he was interrupted as soon as he mentioned: "crawling with Octarians".
"ALRIGHT! heeeeyyyaaaAAAAAAAAAA!"
Surging ahead of the group like an arrow was Neon, who should have been the one providing cover fire from afar.
"Idiot" Sky muttered
Inker sighed, Neon was no different here.
"Come on we can't let her leave us behind, watch her back and try to keep the enemy in front of her."
'Okay"
The two ran after Neon, who was charging towards Melanin prison's front gate.
A/N: Sorry for the long delay, I have been busy these past few weeks, and i'm going away for a vacation on the 28th so I won't have time to work on this story for a while, if the next chapter is not uploaded before the 28th of july then it will not be uploaded until I after come back from vacation, which will take eight days.