Inkopolis
The sun was setting in the city of colour
Creatures of all sorts were heading back home, content after another peaceful day.
There was a hill, overlooking a small docks, where creatures who could survive contact water were finishing up their day, carrying a haul of fish.
The hill also overlooked the ocean, yet hardly anyone ever came here.
Neon sat on the hill, her Scoped E-liter lying in the grass just beside her. She gazed off into the distance, at the puffy clouds floating around and the glowing sun setting beneath the horizon.
She liked this place, it was quiet, peaceful, a good place to clear your head.
Deep down, she wondered if she deserved to witness such a sight, especially after what she had done.
First she tried to splat Victoria and Kal out of boredom
Then she abandoned Sky to a bunch of Octolings
She also couldn't beat that Octarian saucer, if Callie and Marie hadn't shown up, they would all have been splatted or taken prisoner.
And then, she chose to come back to Inkopolis early instead of going with Kal and Inker to warn Victoria, because of that Victoria lost her family.
All because of her stupid choices.
Neon could not live it down.
Even the stuff she owned reminded her of her problems.
Her Splatterscope only reminded her of nearly splatting Victoria, so she buried it under a pile of laundry.
Her unscoped E-Liter 3K reminded her of abandoning Sky, so it was hidden in the back of her closet.
Sure she could run to Inkopolis tower and forget everything in a couple of turf war matches, but one couldn't live by playing turf wars forever.
Inker turned out to be an agent protecting Inkopolis in the shadows.
Kal had plans to become a diplomat and even seemed to have a relationship with Victoria
And knowing Sky, he probably had his future planned out as well.
'They all surpassed me, probably for the best anyways.'
Troubled by the past and afraid of the future, Neon had spent the last few days doing nothing but ranked battles.
It was the only thing she wouldn't mess up and the only way to get her mind off her problems.
Neon gazed toward the sunset again, taking in the orange glow reflecting off the waves in the distance, another day had passed and once again she did nothing productive.
She had played so much ranked matches over the past few days that she had made it to S+ for all three modes. (Because this is before Splatoon 2)
Now what was left for her? There was no higher rank at the moment, so all she could do was watch the days go by.
All she had was those unpleasant memories, clawing at her from inside.
"Are you lost?"
A voice brought Neon back to her senses.
"Or are you just looking for a place to be alone?"
The voice bore minimal emotion, maybe it was because it came from the one who was always fed up with her nonsense.
"Sky." Neon didn't have to look to know who it was.
"What are you doing? I know you only love turf wars and its the only thing on your mind, but at least return our calls."
'The only thing on my mind?'
"Sky, do you really think that I would ignore everyone just for turf wars?"
"Yeah, it's what you are doing right now."
"..."
Neon didn't move, she kept watching the sun go down.
She remained calm and still.
"It's no surprise you see me that way given my usual behavior, but even I have times where I want to enjoy some peace and quiet, tell me, doesn't the sight of one gazing into the horizon seem picturesque?"
Sky agreed, but was a bit confused, Neon was acting different from before.
Shouldn't she be hopping around talking about sniping, or ranked battles or something?
What made things different this time?
"Hey, you aren't really Neon are you? Maybe you are the Octarian spy disguised as my friend?"
"Octarian spy? Haha no, its me Neon, in the flesh."
"Then why won't you turn and look at me? You are not the Neon I know."
"Do you really want to see me? I'm the one who almost let you get splatted by the Octarians after all."
'Oh right' Sky recalled that time, when he and Neon left for Octo Valley in search of Inker, only for Neon to get carried away and leave him behind.
"You are still thinking about that? Weren't you the one who said "forget about it"?"
"Yeah I did say that, I say that everytime I screw something up… I guess I say that because, I can never forget about all those mistakes."
"Is that all? We all make mistakes, stop raising such a big fuss over it. Everyone is worried about you."
"Really? You are all worried about me? Well i'm fine, but I think it's best if you all forget about me for now."
"Why? What is bothering you this time?"
"Don't you see it Sky? I'm an idiot who can only screw things up: I would have splatted Victoria and Kal if Inker and the Squid Sisters didn't show up, you would have gotten splatted in Octo Valley if the Squid Sisters didn't show up and finally Victoria lost her family because of me."
"What are you talking about? I understand the first two, but the last one wasn't your fault."
"Is it not? I was the only one who chose to return to Inkopolis, Callie and Marie didn't have a choice because they had a show to do, but I had a choice to make and as always I made the wrong one. Remember how I told Inker and Kal that the death of Victoria's family wasn't their fault? That's because it was my fault, if I had chosen to stay and help out, then things would have been different."
'So even though she pretends to be happy all the time, deep down she has her own problems huh.'
"Well that may be true, but what happens happens, you can't change that now, so as you always say: just forget about it and move on."
"I can't, no matter how hard I try I keep getting reminded of those mistakes, everytime I see my Splatterscope I'm reminded of nearly splatting Kal and VIctoria, everytime I see my unscoped E-Liter I think of you being nearly splatted by Octolings."
'Is that why you kept changing weapons?"
"Yes"
'So that's why she started using a Scoped E-Liter during that splatfest, despite not being used to it.'
Neon finally turned to face Sky.
"You guys are amazing, you know that?"
"?" Sky was confused, he knew that Inker did some amazing things, Kal too perhaps, but himself? He just sits on the sidelines.
"All of you, I heard Kal planned on becoming a diplomat someday, I even saw him and Victoria dating recently. Inker has his Agent 3 gig and hangs out with celebrities like Callie and Marie. I don't even need to ask to know that you probably have something planned, you always do."
Sky thought about it for a moment, what did he plan to do to make himself useful in the future?
"... Well that is true, I was thinking about learning the Octarian language and being a translator for when the Octarians are eventually accepted back to the surface."
Neon smiled and went "oh" before turning her back on Sky again to stare off into the sunset.
The sun was more than halfway set
"So you have everything planned out, I knew it, you are all amazing, compared to you guys, i'm just..."
'What does she mean by that?' Sky wondered 'There is nothing incredible about having goals or plans for the future.'
Sky noticed something sparkling on Neon's cheek.
There was a tear there, catching the light from the sunset as it made its way down Neon's face.
'What a troublesome girl' Sky sighed, he sat beside Neon and looked at her. "Alright, what's wrong?"
"I'm scared." Neon's voice was barely audible, but it didn't sound scared at all.
Neon looked like a lost child, gazing at the future.
"Of what? Making mistakes?"
"Of time."
"What's there to me scared about?"
"Everything, all I've ever been good at was turf wars, but everyone knows you can't just go on playing turf wars forever."
"Well you still have a long time until then, i'm sure you could find something else that sparks your interest.."
"I tried, I couldn't. You know why I love fighting so much? It's because it's the only thing I can do. In the past I tried all sorts of things, painting, singing, dancing, but no matter what I did, I just couldn't ever get into it, I just couldn't understand or get any better no matter how hard I tried."
'And now she's monologuing, great….' Sky wanted to complain, but it was very unusual for Neon to act this way, Sky felt that he should listen, maybe he could help out.
Neon continued her monologue
"But then came my first Turf War match, I still remember it as if it was yesterday. The moment I stepped out of the spawn point something just clicked, like a light being switched on inside of me, I don't know how it happened, but after the first few minutes I immediately understood everything: the importance of positioning and height, how to predict your opponent's movements, when to hide and when to fight. I had never felt that way in my life before, it was as if the world suddenly aligned itself in front of me, everything just made sense. For the first three months, I won every single match. It was wonderful, for the first time ever I felt like a winner, as if I had finally accomplished something in life. Of course I know Turf Wars is just a game, but it's all I can really do, overtime it has kinda become my solution to everything, whenever something goes wrong I go play a few rounds to clear my head, but my recent screw ups have been far worse than anything else and I can't get them out of my head. So please, just forget about me, I can't be handling those life or death situations that you guys are getting into, it will be safer for all of you if i'm not there to screw something up."
Neon smiled again and wiped away a tear, she was practically saying goodbye to everyone.
Sky needed to process this
He never expected that this carefree friend of his, who was always cheerful and full of energy, could have such simple things troubling her.
Still, didn't she call herself an idiot because she always made wrong choices? Yet she's making another bad choice.
"You really are an idiot."
"Huh?"
"Weren't you aware that you always screw things up? Well you just did it again by isolating yourself."
"Sky…"
Sky grabbed Neon's shoulders
"Just listen to me, I don't know what you see yourself as, but you need to stop worrying over mistakes and start seeing all the times you did good. You were able to find Victoria hiding in Inkopolis when not a single other Inkling, not even trained detectives could find her. You were able to go head on with an army of Octolings without any experience whatsoever and emerge unstached, and I saw what happened during that battle against that saucer, if it wasn't for you, Kal would have been sniped and Inker captured. You say that we are amazing and that you can't compare to us, yet you are probably the most talented Inkling I know, I mean who else can just enter Turf Wars for the first time and immediately understand everything?"
"You say that, but in the long run, being good at Turf Wars is pointless."
"No it isn't, if you like Turf Wars so much then maybe you could coach some newbies and pass on your skills, why are you even worried about the far future anyways? Things change and Inklings change, it's too early to worry about that."
"... I guess so."
Sky stood up and sighed
"Okay look, if you want to stay alone and play Turf Wars all day I won't stop you. But at least stay in touch with us. Me, Inker, Kal, we were all worried about you, I think Victoria was too. You should also stop looking down on yourself, sure you made some mistakes, but you also did many things right, in fact I once heard Inker mention that he thinks you would have made a better Agent 3 than he is, beside we are your friends, we can forgive a few mistakes. So stop doubting yourself and go back to being the talented, happy go lucky sniper you were before.
"... Okay."
Sky started to leave, but he stopped again after noticing that Neon hadn't moved yet.
"So are you just going to sit there all night?"
The sun had almost completely set, there was just a small slit of light over the horizon.
"Don't worry about me, i'm just enjoying this sight for as long as I can."
Sky was leaving again, but Neon's voice stopped him
"Hey Sky."
"Yeah?"
"Do you forgive me, for almost getting you splatted?"
"Yeah sure, it was your first time fighting in Octo Valley anyways, besides if I wasn't such a coward I could have taken care of myself."
Neon smiled
"Oh, well then, thanks."
Sky left Neon to herself.
Neon stared ahead, watching the last bit of sun disappear beneath the horizon before heading home.
With the sun set, darkness reigned in Inkopolis.
A few hours into the night, an old squid with a Bamboozler as a walking cane and a well built squid wearing a suit met up in a now empty park.
The two looked around, without making any sudden movements, checking if anyone was watching them.
Finally they sat together on a park bench
"Uncle Craig, good to see you again."
"Arcus my boy, good to see you too. So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
"Just a few things I thought you should know, and a small request too."
"Oh?"
"The prime minister still doesn't want to reform the army, so instead I suggested we support the Vanguard movement. When the time comes, make sure Octo Valley is accessible from Inkopolis."
"Agent 3 just came to me a while back telling me not to let them through, now you are suggesting the opposite?"
Arcus nodded
"Yes, suddenly making an official army would throw Inkopolis' economy out of whack, so believe the Vanguard movement would have to do."
"That's a dangerous game you're playing, there is so much to lose and not much to gain."
"It may satisfy the public though."
"But is it worth it?"
"I think so, but I'm no decorated officer like you."
"Well I think it's a bad idea, tell me, do you think that because my New Squidbeak splatoon did so well, then that means this Vanguard movement would also work?"
"Yes"
"Well, that is the exact reason why I keep the New Squidbeak Splatoon secret."
"So you are against sending the Vanguard movement to Octo Valley."
"Yes, I believe it would only get more creatures hurt. But if you insist, then come by the manhole tomorrow."
"You know I can't keep sneaking off like this.'
"Well yes, but I want you to hear the opinions of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and not just me."
"Why?"
"Because only those who have actually seen battle, will understand what I am saying."
Inkopolis Plaza
The next day, Inker heard from Cap'n Cuttlefish that he was needed over at the manhole.
Interestingly, he said to bring his friends along too, especially Kalus and Victoria.
Apparently Callie and Marie were called as well
Normally he would bring his Hero Shot and wear a jacket over his Hero suit, but apparently there wasn't going to be any fighting involved.
So Inker, along with Kalus, Sky and Victoria made their way to Inkopolis plaza and headed for the manhole.
However before they made it, they were spotted by a friend of theirs, who ran up from behind them at full speed and leapt on Inker and Kal.
Both Kal and Inker went "Oof" as an Inkling slammed into them with open arms, wrapping her arms and tentacles around their shoulders.
"Hiya! Did you miss me!?"
It was Neon, back to her usual self.
Inker rubbed his head
"Oww, hey Neon! Where have you been all this time?"
"Oh don't worry about that!"
Neon looked at Sky who was squinting at her and pointing at Kal and Victoria with his eyes.
He was probably telling her to stop trying to forget everything and accept it.
Neon realized that if Inker asked where she had been, then Sky probably hadn't told them why she left.
First she let go of Inker and Kal, then turned to face everyone.
She spoke with an apologetic tone "I'm sorry for troubling you all, but I felt that I wasn't doing any good with you, so I spent some time in Inkopolis Tower avoiding all of you. Sorry if I worried you."
"Uhh okay no worries, but what made you think you weren't doing any good?" Inker asked
"Yeah, its thanks to you we made it out of that ambush alive when rescuing Lila." Kal added
"Really? I gee I always thought it was all thanks to Callie and Marie."
"Maybe, but it's thanks to you that we survived long enough for them to arrive."
"Thanks guys, again i'm sorry for just vanishing without notice."
Inker found it a bit strange for Neon to suddenly worry over all this, but it didn't matter.
Judging by the odd gestures Sky was making, Inker deluded that he probably spoke to her sometime before.
"Hey no problem, at least you are alright."
"Besides we could always use your help." Victoria added
"Ahh" Neon recalled one last thing, she had to apologize to Victoria too.
"I'm sorry for what happened to your family, it was my fault, if I had stayed with Inker and Kal instead of coming back to Inkopolis for turf wars, things may have gone different."
Victoria twitched, she didn't want to think about that anymore, but Neon looked genuinely sorry even though Victoria didn't blame her at all.
"It wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault okay."
Neon looked at everyone
"Really? So, none of you hate me for all the dumb things i did?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Almost splatting you and Kal, leaving Sky behind in Octo Valley, nearly splatting your father the first time I saw him and going back to Inkopolis instead of going with Inker and Kal to warn you that the Octarian army was on to you."
"To be honest, I probably wouldn't have even remembered all that if you hadn't brought it up just now."
Inker agreed "Yeah, no need to worry about all that, we all make mistakes now and then, that's no reason to hate someone."
Kal nodded "It doesn't matter if you did screw up some things, you are still real fresh, awesome with a Charger and most of all you are our friend, so don't go hiding from us again."
Neon beamed
"Thanks guys! It's great to see you all again!"
She opened her arms inviting her friends for a quick group hug.
'What was I thinking, worrying about all that stuff. Of course they would forgive me, they are my friends after all.'
Once they were done, Neon had to catch up on what was happening.
"So, Whatcha doing?"
"Apparently the Cap'n needs us over at the manhole for something." Inker said
"Oh perfect! I have my E-Liter ready!"
"There won't be any fighting, apparently he need to talk about something."
"Oh okay, I'm still coming along though since I got no idea what's been going on recently and should probably catch up."
"Sure, suit yourself."
"Alright! Lets go!"
Even though Inker said there would be no fighting, Neon still took out her E-Liter and flipped it around happily
She was back to her usual self, just a bit more careful this time.
Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley
Due the minor distraction named Neon, by the time Inker and the others arrived, Callie and Marie were already there trying to convince Arcus to stop supporting the Vanguard movement.
When they arrived, they could hear Callie, Marie and Arcus debating over the risk of letting the Vanguard movement enter Octo Valley.
"Cap'n what is going on?"
"Ahh you're all here, good."
Callie, Marie and Arcus stopped when they heard Cuttlefish and saw the new arrivals.
"Agent 3" Callie waved at Inker
"You're late" Marie added
"We got a little distracted, what's going on?"
Cap'n Cuttlefish cleared his throat
"Well, you've met Defense Minister Arcus before and I'm sure you've seen all the talk about the Vanguard movement."
"Yeah, kinda hard to miss it."
"Well, Arcus here wants to use the Vanguard movement as a substitute for an Inkopolis army, so I brought you all here to talk about it."
"I think its a bad idea" Callie added
Marie agreed as well
And so did everyone else but Arcus
"You see what I meant?" Cuttlefish said, referring to their discussion last night "Once you've actually seen real combat, you quickly realize that it's better to avoid it."
"That's a problem then, because almost all of Inkopolis hasn't seen combat for decades." Arcus pointed out "Right now, most are in favor of war against the Octarians, yet they aren't thinking of the consequences. Even if we deny the Vanguard movement access to Octo valley, there will still be civilians calling for war, eventually they'll demand that the current cabinet steps down so that another can take its place."
"Is this about doing what's right? Or about keeping your job?" Victoria asked
"Both"
Arcus paused a bit at the sight of the strange Inkling wearing a helmet
Instinctively, Victoria looked away.
"Why can't you just reform the Inkopolis army like you wanted to earlier?" Inker asked
"We don't have the budget for that, if we did reform the army then we would have to raise taxes, which means many citizens of Inkopolis will suddenly find themselves in need of work to make ends meet. But if we simply helped the Vanguard movement it would be far cheaper and we could have some sort of army to protect Inkopolis."
In other words, the issue was money.
"And what would happen if the Vanguard movement gets wiped out by the Octarians?" Victoria asked again
"That is why I need to convince the cabinet to support them, we could construct spawn points nearby in Octo Valley, or maybe make more equipment similar to the Hero Suits to allow limited respawns."
"Even if you did that, I don't think it's possible to save everyone in war." Victoria said, still somewhat trying to avoid making eye contact with Arcus.
"Well there is no other option, besides we don't control the Vanguard movement, even if we don't support them, they will still end up attacking Octo Valley."
"But you are the minister of defense." Sky pointed out "Should you be able to do something about it?"
"All I can do is have the IPD stop the Vanguard movement through use of force and if I did that it would ruin our approval rating even further. I'm telling you from a political standpoint, supporting the Vanguard movement is the only option I have."
"It's a bad idea, once the Vanguard movement reaches Octo Valley they will either all be splatted, or rampage through Octo Valley splatting everyone in their wake." Victoria did not want to imagine what a army of angry Inklings could do to Octo valley
"I don't have much of a choice, I can't stop the Vanguard movement and neither can any of the other cabinet members, all we can do is either let them fail or help them succeed, to be honest I'd rather help them out."
"If you do that, you may end up causing the deaths of countless Octarians."
"I can't help it, it's either us or them now, I wouldn't want either side getting hurt, but since its come to this I would rather it be the Octarians."
Kal could see Victoria slowly make a fist.
She may be living in inkopolis now, but she was still an Octoling and a soldier at that, she would not tolerate the Vanguard movement nor any threats to her kind.
'Is she going to assault the defense minister of Inkopolis?'
But Victoria knew better, sure she wanted to sock that old politician in the face, but doing so may cause unwanted consequences for Kalus and Inker.
Those two had helped her out enough times by now, so she wouldn't do anything to hurt them or their reputations in Inkopolis.
"Well then go ahead, help out those militants, maybe someday you'll be known as the one who allowed the slaughtering of Octarians, or the one who let a bunch of Inklings walk to their deaths."
Arcus blinked and a smug expression made its way to Victoria's face as she noticed Arcus' worry.
Arcus however had already considered that possibility
"Sure that may happen, but if I do nothing then the current ministers will be replaced, honestly I'd rather be known for making a mistake than for doing nothing during a crisis."
Arcus sighed and rubbed his eyebrows, he felt like he had fallen into a hole and couldn't climb back out of it.
Once again he looked at this girl with the helmet, who he had never even seen before yet was criticizing him so much.
Arcus had known about the New Squidbeak Splatoon for a long time, he knew everyone who was apart of it, yet he had never seen this girl before.
The same could be said about the cyan Inkling with glasses, the red Inkling who kept eyeing the helmeted one and the bright green Inkling who seemed to busy doing tricks with her E-Liter to care about their conversation.
'Though judging by the helmeted girl's understanding of the situation, it wouldn't be unlikely for uncle Craig to recruit her for the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Lucky….' Arcus concluded
"Well then, I can tell you are all against it, but there is still an issue with the public calling for action against the Octarians."
"If that's the case, then maybe let things develop a bit further, maybe then you can see which choice is right." Victoria had experience behind those words, although she wasn't exactly proud of it.
After all it was by sheer luck that Kal wasn't boiled to death during the time she spent waiting.
As Victoria and Arcus conversed, Neon stopped playing around with her E-Liter and begun eying something in the distance.
"Oh! We got company, watch this!" Neon suddenly interrupted Victoria and Arcus
With a twirl Neon had her back facing Octo Valley, she held her E-Liter 3K behind her head, upside down and pointing and someone in the distance.
She was probably trying to do some sort of trickshot.
As for the being in the distance..
"Ehh! Didn't the captain tell you I would come by?! Why am I being threatened again!?" Lynn cried out as the laser from Neon's E-Liter hovered between her eyes.
She waved her hands in a panic, probably trying to get the attention of Agent 3.
"Hey wa-"
Inker and Kal were both about to stop Neon, but her E-Liter had already charged up.
However Neon put two and two together, realizing that this pony tailed Octoling meant no harm, she quickly lifted her E-Liter, firing directly upwards, the green ink flew up then fell back down on top of her harmlessly.
As Neon happily shook of the ink, Lynn, Kal and Inker all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Umm, I know it's unusual for Octarians to be here, but I will likely be making contact with you often, so please stop welcoming me with sniper fire." Lynn said as she approached the group.
Arcus watched Lynn approach suspiciously, he then turned to Cap'n Cuttlefish with an expression which read 'What have you been doing?'
Cuttlefish laughed a bit at Arcus' confusion
"Surprising ain't it? After locking up my old pal Octavio, we've been getting some visits from non hostile Octarains. Guess the Calamari Inkantation is doing its work."
Arcus nodded in understanding, but he still seemed uneasy with Lynn standing within firing range, even though Lynn did not have her Octo Shot in her hands.
Inker decided to introduce Lynn to Neon and Sky "Neon, Sky, this is Lynn, I had just met her a few days ago when she requested that the New Squidbeak Splatoon rescue her splatoon from execution."
"Sup" Neon waved
"Nice to meet you" Sky followed
"Nice to meet you too, are you all agents?"
"Nah I just help out every now and then."
"Same here, though I can't really fight."
"Oh, well anyways, the captain sent me here for two reasons and to update you on her progress. We were able to easily find the rest of the splatoon, now we are setting up a small camp somewhere discreet, soon we will start making moves against Octavia."
."Alright then, did you need our help?" Callie asked
"No, the captain does not want to get you involved again, however she does want to invite that Octo-" Lynn was pointing at Victoria when Kal interrupted
"Hey! Okay hold on Lynn, I need to say a few"
But it was too late, Arcus realized immediately what was going on.
"Octoling huh, come to think of it, your eyes are quite different from an Inkling's"
"You didn't know?" Lynn added
Even though she had not seen Arcus before, she predicted that he was some kind of important figure in Inkopolis due to his suit, his posture and because he was speaking with Cap'n Cuttlefish.
"No I didn't."
Now that she was exposed, Victoria was a bit worried, but regardless she calmly removed her helmet.
"Yeah, I'm an Octoling and i'm a former soldier of the Octarian army."
"Well that explains your views on the Vanguard movement."
"Yes, but it's also because I know what the Vanguard movement is thinking. They believe that everything will go their way, that they will head out and be victorious. The same thing happened to me during my time in the army, I along with many other recruits believed we would endure training, splat tons of Inklings and return as heroes, instead we all got massacred by him." Victoria said, pointing at Inker.
"When you put it that way, it makes me feel guilty…" Inker mumbled
"Don't be, we deserve it for being so foolish in the first place."
"I Understand, by the way how long have you been in Inkopolis?" Arcus asked
"Only a bit longer than a week."
"Hmm"
Arcus rubbed his chin, probably wondering how nobody noticed an Octoling in Inkopolis.
Lynn continued her message "Well anyways, the captain would like to invite you to join us in overthrowing Octavia."
'Overthrowing Octavia, is such a thing even possible?' Victoria wondered
Though she wasn't against the idea, but she didn't want to go just yet.
"I'll take some time to consider it. Though you do know why I'm hiding in Inkopolis in the first place."
"Yes we are aware. You are Victoria Holter, who is wanted for treason just like the rest of us, you'd fit in nicely. If you want some time to consider it, that's fine."
Lynn turned to Inker
"My other objective was to find out if you've caught the Octarian spy in Inkopolis yet."
"Octarian spy?!" Arcus exclaimed
Inker nodded
"I need to get this to the IPD immediately." Arcus declared before leaving in a hurry.
"We still have no clue who it might be." Inker said to Lynn
"Well then, I suggest to figure it out quickly, the captain also wanted me to tell you more about Octarian intelligence gathering. Instead of sending in an intelligence officer, they will usually look for either someone who does not stand out, or someone influential, once a candidate as been selected, there are various methods of securing their cooperation ranging from bribes to brainwashing. You should take that into account when searching for the spy."
"Now that Arcus is gone, I guess we can head back to the studio, bye everyone! Stay fresh!"
Doing their signature pose, Callie and Marie left as well.
"Is there anything else we need to know?" Inker asked Lynn
"None at the moment, actually there is something else on my mind."
"Go ahead."
"I have a feeling that the captain is conflicted on whether or not we should seek help from you again."
"While I don't want to bring down another Octarian leader so soon, you should let her know that we don't have to be enemies, so she can ask us for help at any time."
"I don't think it has anything to do with being enemies, rather it has something to do with you being an Inkling. I don't know honestly."
"Nothing I can do about that."
"Yep, well anyways I'll likely be back again after a few days, can you please not welcome me with sniper fire next time?" Lynn eyed Neon
"Hey, it usually happens only once, don't worry about it."
"Only once?"
"She's kinda like that, don't worry about." Victoria assured
Inkopolis Plaza
With Lynn and Arcus gone, Inker and the rest head back for inkopolis to pass the rest of the day.
Unsurprisingly, Neon was quick to challenge Inker again.
"Now that that's over with, come and fight me in the Battle Dojo."
She grabbed Inker's arm and began to pull him away.
"Hey what gives?" Inker asked
"We hadn't dueled in a long time! Besides last time you won three out of five rounds, but i've gotten much MUCH better, see!"
Neon pulled up her ranks on her squid phone.
She had S+ in every ranked event.
Inker on the other hand, had been too busy to play ranked matches, so he was still mostly ranked A, with A+ in tower control.
Though he did have any weapon sets with him at the moment.
"Alright alright, I'll face you in the Battle dojo so stop pulling my arm, I need to go back and get my Splattershot Pro first."
"Why don't you have it with you now?"
"I wasn't planning on running into you, nor playing turf wars right after meeting the Cap'n, give me a sec i'll be right back."
Inker left for his house, leaving Neon with Kalus, Victoria and Sky
"Alright! Hurry back though! It's going to be quite boring without someone to fight with!" Neon yelled after Inker
It was somewhat good to see Neon back to her normal self.
Inker made it back home, grabbed his Splattershot Pro and left for Inkopolis Plaza again.
However by the time he had returned, there was a mob there.
Inklings of various colours and various ages, holding various weapons were gathered in the Plaza.
What were they doing there?
Inker went around them, looking for his friends.
"Hey over here!" Neon waved
Neon didn't seem to care about the sudden mob, she ran up to Inker and asked if he was ready.
"Hold on a sec, what is going on over there?"
"Who cares, let's go to the dojo!"
Sky, Kal and Victoria showed up behind Neon.
Sky and Kal looked at the crowd with equal curiosity, while Victoria seemed a bit nervous.
"It's the Vanguards…." she whispered
Victoria recognized a few of them from yesterday.
"Not that guy again." she added as she spotted Laven approaching them
"Hey guys!" Laven had a completely different reaction to seeing them today.
First off he was happy to see them, and greeted them with open arms as if they were all good friends.
"Laven? what is going on?" Inker asked
"This is the first wave, heading to Octo Valley."
"Already!? And are you saying there are more "waves"?"
"Yup, this is going to be great, by the way, are you sure you don't want to come along? You should be used to Octo Valley."
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, no need to hide stuff from me."
Laven quietly whispered "Agent 3"
"Whatever you think you know, it's not what you'd expect." Inker immediately answered.
"Lila told me everything, I can't believe you were the one who not only rescued her, but also retrieved the Great Zapfish and defeated the Octarains' leader."
"What? Well that did happen, but how did Lila know about Octavio?"
"I told her." Kal had a bit of a regretful expression.
"When?"
"At Melanin prison, sorry about that, back then I felt like I wouldn't make it out of there alive, so I had to tell someone."
"That's fine, I guess secrets reveal themselves sooner or later."
"So what do you say? Want to join the first wave of the Vanguard movement?"
"I told you before, no. Anyways you are making a big mistake here, you cannot respawn in Octo valley without the proper gear, not only that but the Octarians don't all fight like Inklings, it's really dangerous for that many Inklings to all go in at once."
"But you beat them all by yourself didn't you?"
"Yes but it wasn't easy, besides they had divided their army to guard each separate Zapfish so it was much easier and I had help from other Agents too."
"Well, we got a forty Inklings who can back each other up, this will be a piece of cake, are you sure you don't want to come along?"
"No, I won't."
"Well suit yourself then, hey when I come back, we should grab a bite together sometime."
"Huh?" 'what a strange twist, first he's crying over his sister, then he can't stand me, now suddenly he's talking to me like i'm his best friend?'
"Besides, I want to know more about the hero who stopped DJ Octavio." Laven added
"Sure, but be careful, I still suggest you stop this whole Vanguard this now."
"It's too late for that man! We've been planning this and preparing ourselves for too long to stop now, I'll see you all soon! Oh and thanks for saving my sister!"
Holding a Blaster, Laven joined the crowd of Vanguard movement members as they made their way to Octo Valley.
"What should we do?" Sky asked, as the crowd funneled through the manhole.
Inker shook his head
"There is nothing we can do, I just hope that they realise that Octo valley is no turf war and turn back before something bad happens."
"So no dojo?"
Everyone glared at Neon
"Yeah yeah I get it, just joshing ya. We should be following the Vanguard movement right?"
"I will follow the Vanguard movement, you guys just stay here."
"No way i'm going with you!" Neon swung her E-Liter around
"We'll come too." Kal added
"Kal, you and I have no weapons, what good would we do?" Victoria chimed in
"Well then we should hurry back and get some! I still have that Hero headset the Cap'n gave me, once we get back, Inker can tell us where they are."
As Kal planned to run back home, the sound of sirens could be heard, and several police cruisers pulled up around the manhole.
"Now what?"
Inker walked up to a police officer
"Excuse me officer, what is going on?"
"Defense minister Arcus has just ordered us to block off this area, you should stay away from your own safety."
They had been cut off…
Octo valley
"Hey! You shouldn't go any further!, that's Octarian territory!" Cap'n Cuttlefish's warning fell on deaf ears as the forty Vanguard Inklings continued deeper and deeper into Octo valley.
The further they got from Inkopolis, the more tense they felt.
This was a creepy place, dark, gloomy, not at all like Inkopolis.
There were also the sounds of metal twisting and Octarians screaming as more accidents occurs.
Quickly, the Inklings started feeling scared, but they felt safe in their large group.
"Lila, do you recognise this place?"
"Yeah I saw it on the way back."
Both Lila and Laven were there, their parents Wister and Mauve had also come along.
So did the family of Bogs Mire.
As well as several other families of squidnapped Inklings and Inklings who wanted to take matters into their own hands.
Out of the forty Inklings, five of them had actually been squidnapped, the sight of Octo valley again, brought back some bad memories.
"Lila, do you know where to go from here?" someone asked as they reached an industrial area.
"Yeah, I remember seeing this place from the helicopter, we go through here."
Lila led the group through the rig.
The darkened area and abandoned machinery did little to ease the fear.
Some of the younger Inklings had already begun to regret coming here.
As they ventured on, the Inklings became more and more tense as they kept a lookout for Octarians.
"Lila stay close to me." Laven said as he took Lila's hand.
"Are you alright dear?" Mauve asked Laven
"I'm fine mom."
As the huge group of Inklings made their way through Octo valley, they were unaware that the Octarians were expecting them.
Because the Octarians had gotten a message from their spy.
'Rainbow trout is approaching the slaughterhouse.'