Octo Valley
"The rainbow trout has arrived, all units engage."
"They are coming from the right! No the left! No everywhere!"
The first wave of the Vanguard movement came under attack by the Octarian army.
Octotroopers arrived in large numbers some with shielded hovercrafts, Octolings jumped and swam about, Octoballs rolled circles around the group and an Octostriker fired Inkstrikes at the Inklings.
They were caught completely off guard.
Laven and his family stayed close, Laven fired his Blaster at approaching Octoballs to little effect.
The other Inklings also tried their best, but they had no idea what to do.
"Those rolling things! They can't be splatted!"
Nobody had told them about Octoballs, which had to be submerged in ink first to be splatted.
There were also Shielded Octotroopers which needed to be flanked to be splatted, at least that was somewhat easier to figure out.
A tornado of ink struck the center of the Vanguard movement Inklings, splatting several in one blast.
"That was an Inkstrike! Where did it come from!?"
"Up there! They can fly too!?" One of the Inklings pointed at an Octostriker, before being splatted by a shielded Octotrooper.
"We need to find some way to stop those things, otherwise we are screwed!"
"I'll distract them, go try hitting em from the back!"
It was a mess, a few Vanguards were trying to work together, but to little success.
The Octoballs which seemed unaffected by ink, the continuous Inkstrikes fired from the Octostriker and the seemingly unsplattable shielded Octotroopers were picking off the Inklings.
Fear and panic overcame them, some tried to run while other tried to fight back the Octarians.
"What the hell! That shield blocks everything, that is totally unfair!"
"We got bigger problems to worry about!"
As the fighting started Laven, along with Lila, and their parents Wister and Mauve, did their best to stay together.
Laven kept firing and swimming, but the fear was getting to him.
His aim worsened and his legs felt weaker and weaker.
A few moments later he realized that he wasn't with the group anymore.
Where did Lila go? Where did his parents go?
He saw a group of orange Inklings fighting a group of Octotroopers, recognizing them as Bogs' family he tried to group up with them again, but as he approached another tornado of ink came down from the sky wiping out the Inklings before Laven could get to them.
Laven watched as the tornado of ink faded, leaving behind nothing but the clothing and weapons that once belonged to Bogs' family.
He ran away from that place, passing more Inklings fighting for their lives and covering some turf with his Blaster.
Laven frantically looked around at the scene of real battle 'How many of us are left?'
He came across a bit of purple ink.
"Mom? Lila?"
"Shh"
They were hiding from the Octarians.
Laven changed to his squid form and hid in a puddle of purple ink with his family
"Where's dad?" he asked
"They got him already."
A wave of dread washed over Laven if they weren't in danger, he would have cried.
As more Octarians ran past, the three spotted a few Octotroopers start inking the ground with a happy expression on their faces.
'Did the others all get splatted?'
The Octotrooper was getting closer.
"Mom, Lila, we need to get out of here."
He felt Lila to his side, but what about his mother Mauve?
"Mom?"
Laven turned and saw only a puddle of dark magenta where his mother was just a second ago.
'What the?'
In a panic Laven took Lila and ran, he blasted the Octotrooper but the noise attracted a few Octoballs which gave chase, rolling quickly towards Laven and Lila.
Laven fired a few shots at the Octoballs but they were only knocked back.
'What can we do to stop these things?'
He understood now why Inker was warning him not to go to Octo Valley.
Real battle was not like Turf wars, nothing was fair, nothing was clear, it was just chaos.
If only he'd listened.
"Lila, you need to run, just run anywhere, try to get back to Inkopolis."
Lila nodded
"But what about you?"
"Just go!" Laven gave Lila a push and ran back towards the Octoballs, firing his Blaster wildly.
'Dammit, why was i so stupid! why didn't I listen to Inker! Why why why!?' Laven cursed himself as he did his best to hold off the Octarians.
A few Octoballs got stuck in his ink and he was finally able to splat some.
Another Inkstrike hit in the distance, Laven assumed it wiped out more of his fellow Vanguards.
There was a blur as several Octolings superjumped near Laven, they swam after him, tossing splat bombs and firing their Octoshots.
The sight of familiar tactics and weapons was oddly comforting to Laven, even though those Octolings were trying to end his life, it was strangely relaxing to see them fight in a way which he understood.
He kept moving away from the Octarians, firing whenever he had the chance, but he was losing ground, even with a Blaster he was missing as his aim became shakier by the moment.
It wasn't long before he was backed into a corner.
Fear and fatigue finally overcame him as he collapsed to his knees, dropping his Blaster, Laven looked up to see tons of Octarians bearing down on him.
There was not an Inkling in sight.
Not a single silver of hope.
A few Octolings approached him, grinning with the thought of promotion.
Laven began to cry.
He looked up at the Octoling, who raised her Octoshot preparing to finish him off.
'If only I had listened...'
Kal's home, Inkopolis
The moon was high, Inklings everywhere were sound asleep by now, But Kal couldn't sleep for some reason.
Something was keeping him up, was it because of the Vanguard movement?
After being unable to sleep for an hour or two, Kal got up and quietly made his way to the washroom, for natural reasons, on his way back to his room though, he heard Victoria called out to him from the living room.
"Can't sleep?" She asked
"Nope, sorry if I woke you."
"You didn't, actually I can't sleep either."
Kal walked into the living room, Victoria was lying on the couch, relaxing with her hands behind her head, but she was wide awake.
Without thinking, Kal flicked on the lights.
"Ow!" Victoria, who's eyes were wide open and staring at the ceiling, was blinded by the light.
"Ahh!" Kal quickly flicked off the lights again
Victoria sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Sorry, I didn't expect you to be eyeing the light." Kal apologized
"Don't worry about it, just give me a warning next time you do that."
Leaving the lights off, Kal sat with Victoria on the couch
"So what's bothering you anyways?" Victoria asked
"I don't know, it's probably the whole Vanguard thing, I'm probably worried about what's going to happen to them."
"You too huh. Yeah same here, i'm worried for the other Octarians."
"I think they'll be fine, I doubt the Vanguard movement could have gotten very far."
"Why is that?"
"Octo Valley is very different, they way you guys fight is different too, that's why i'm so worried, I feel like a disaster is happening to those Inklings and there was nothing we could have done to stop it. Not only that but with all the attention they are getting, there is no doubt that the Octarian spy alerted the Octarian army."
Kalus hoped that Lila and Laven were alright, maybe the Octarians would just capture them alive and then Inker could go rescue them again.
He also noticed Victoria twitch a bit when he said Octo Valley, maybe she still hasn't gotten over her grief.
"I think the other Octarians are in for a shock, you know I always wondered how Inker could have beaten us so badly back then, but after what you showed me at Inkopolis Tower I think I understand now."
Kal was confused, what did Inkopolis tower have to do with Inker and the Octarian army?
"You've turned the great turf wars into a game and a popular one at that, you use actual weapons of war, but nobody gets permanently splatted. The most skilled players must end up becoming better soldiers than any of the ones we could train."
Kal never thought of it that way.
In his group of close friends, Inker and Neon were the best at turf wars, while Kal himself was average and Sky was well, not very good to say the least.
It all carried over to Octo Valley: Sky knew he couldn't fight well so he stayed with Cap'n Cuttlefish to become their mission control, Inker was able to fight back the Octarian army with minor difficulty and Neon was just unstoppable.
If that's the case, then maybe the Vanguard movement might make it out, abelt with a few losses.
"Are you worried about anyone in Octo Valley?" Kal asked Victoria
Victoria twitched a bit then spoke
"Well there's no one in particular."
"Not even Violet? Didn't you two share an apartment for a long time?"
'Violet' Victoria hadn't really thought about her since she came to Inkopolis.
"Well sure she was my roommate, but that's really it, we didn't really see eye to eye."
"Then what is keeping you up?"
"Just the other Octarians in general."
"You miss Octo Valley don't you?"
Victoria twitched again
"Why do you keep doing that? I noticed that you kinda shake a bit everytime someone says Octo Valley." Kal pointed out
"..." Victoria wondered how to respond to that.
"Well I guess I do miss Octo Valley, Inkopolis is great and all, but it just doesn't feel right, I can't go outside without covering up my hair, I can't talk to anyone other than your guys, I feel like I don't belong here… Octo Valley might be a dangerous place, but it's also the only place where I can be myself."
Kal didn't see why Victoria would want to return to Octo Valley, but maybe there is some sort of emotional attachment to that place.
Kinda like how he didn't want to leave Inkopolis.
"Well if you really want to go back, you can always accept Lynn's offer."
"Hmm" Victoria wondered what would happen if she joined Lynn and that famous captain.
Could they really overthrow Octavia?
Even if they did, wouldn't the captain just free Octavio and make war against the Inklings again? After all the captain should still be loyal to Octavio even if she dislikes Octavia.
Victoria couldn't decide what to do, she couldn't pick either side at the moment.
If they do succeed and the Octarians managed to conquer Inkopolis, maybe she could shelter Kal and his friends?
Not like there was any chance of that happening.
"And if things don't go well?"
"Well then you can always come back to Inkopolis, we'll be here for you, promise."
Victoria smiled
"Thanks."
She closed her eyes, feeling a bit more relaxed now than before now that she had the chance to express her thoughts.
Victoria yawned, then unknowingly leaned on Kal's shoulder
She quickly sat upright again
"We should probably try and get some sleep."
"Yeah, I hope we get some good news tomorrow. Good night."
The first thing Kal did the next day was power on his laptop and try to find out what happened to the Vanguard movement.
It seemed that a few of them made it back, there was a trending article about the Vanguard members returning with a picture of several Inklings, tattered and tired from battle.
They had declined to be properly interviewed.
Looking at the photo, there was about ten or so survivors, Kal recognized Lila in the picture, but could not see Laven anywhere.
Kal could only guess what had happened.
The article also stated that the minister of defense had sent the IPD to close down all routes to Octo Valley, yet they were too late.
Apparently the Inklings that had returned were stricken with grief over the members they had lost, but were planning to learn from their mistakes and plan a better attack.
'Then they haven't learned anything at all.'
Kal met Victoria downstairs, where Kal told Victoria the news.
Victoria was somewhat relieved
"I feel sorry for those Inklings who got splatted, but at least they were stopped before they splatted too many Octarians."
It was hard being part of both sides.
Maybe if they could find the Vanguard movement again, they could at least convince the survivors of the first wave to stop attacking Octo Valley.
Both Victoria and Kal wanted to do this, but their previous encounters with the Vanguard movement didn't bode well.
"Actually, that purple guy knows that Inker is Agent 3 now right? Maybe he'll be more reasonable than the others if Inker spoke to him again." Victoria suggested.
"Maybe, well since there is no big event going on everyone else should be in Inkopolis plaza later, we'll ask him then."
Inkopolis Plaza
Kal and Victoria met up with Inker, Sky and Neon as usual.
They had some talk about the Vanguard movement, Inker felt that he should have went with them and saved more of them, Sky felt relieved that any of them made it back at all, Neon on the other hand didn't really have an opinion on the matter and would rather head to the Battle dojo again with Inker.
"Seriously? The Battle dojo again?" Inker asked
"Yeah! Why not?"
"Well maybe because we still have an Octarian spy to deal with and a movement of angry Inklings."
"It's not really our responsibility though, but sure we could do that."
"Not out here though, if we are going to talk about that you should quiet down first."
"Then where else could we go?"
"I don't know, find a more secluded place."
"How about that alleyway where Spyke stays all the time?" Sky suggested
"Oh that's not a bad idea, I still have the super sea snails from the splatfest." Kal added
"I don't think Spyke would like the company though." Inker pointed out
"Well as long as we got sea snails for him, I don't think he'll mind."
As the group made their way to Spyke's alleyway they talked about less concerning things.
Kal was worried about the rumor that the squid sisters might disband soon but didn't want to ask Callie and Marie directly.
Sky asked Victoria if it was possible for her to teach him how to read the Octarian language.
And Neon was going on about her strategy with the E-Liter 3K.
"Looks like I got quite the lineup today, hope you got the goods for it." Spyke said as the five friends showed up.
"Yeah we got super sea snails."
Except Victoria of course, who was confused as to why someone would want super sea snails or what they were doing with this shady guy in the first place.
Spyke put down the screwdriver he was holding and rested his arm on his leg
"A'right then, what do y'need."
"Oh Oh!" Neon exclaimed
"Quiet down, you'll attract attention."
"Sorry~ Anyways do you think you could find a Varsity Jacket like the one she is wearing? With the same abilities too?" Neon pointed at the Varsity Jacket Victoria was wearing.
"Sure i'll put in an order for one."
"And reroll this straw boater please."
"Yeah a'right gotcha."
While Neon made use of Spyke, VIctoria was looking up at Inkopolis tower again.
She had been back here before once, would this Spyke character remember her from then?
As she was worrying about it she heard an unfamiliar voice. "Alright everyone, put your hands up."
Everyone turned to see an Inkling blocking the alleyway.
No it wasn't an Inkling, it was wearing Inkling clothes and had its tentacles hidden beneath an Inkling's hat, but it did not have the black lining between the eyes.
It was an Octoling, disguised as an Inkling.
'Why are there Octolings here?'
"You heard me! Put em up!"
As the Octoling kept threatening Inker and company, Spyke pulled a Splat bomb out of nowhere, and tossed it at the Octoling before she could even react.
"Huh?" The Octoling had just seen the splat bomb before it burst, splatting her
There was more than one though.
Several more Octolings arrived, all with Inkling gear.
Neon had already drawn her E-Liter after the first one showed up, she took out another Octoling as soon as it rounded the corner.
Inker joined in with his Splattershot pro, and in this straight forward alleyway, Neon could not possibly miss.
After two more Octolings showed up and got splatted, they could hear the others run off.
"What was that?" Inker wondered
He was briefly interrupted by Spyke, who shoved him aside as he ran off somewhere, probably to avoid attention.
A few seconds later a few other Inklings showed up, attracted to all the noise.
"What happened here?"
They looked at the splotches of ink, the Inkling clothes on the ground, and Inker, Neon, Kalus, Sky and Victoria.
Inker and Neon had their weapons drawn, and there was a ton of ink and gear on the ground.
They could not have possibly known that there were Octolings disguised as Inklings.
"Hey someone call the cops!"
"No wait, this is a misunderstanding!" Inker tried to explain
"What happened to Spyke? Did you spat him?" the Inkling asked
"No he took off when the Octolings showed up."
"Octolings? Here? That's ridiculous."
"I'm telling the truth! This was out of self defense!"
It was no use though, the police soon arrived and fingers were pointed at Inker and Neon, who were the only ones holdings weapons at the time.
The officers questioned everyone else present.
Inker and Neon maintained their innocence claiming that they had been attacked Octolings and acted out of ht self defense.
But the lack of Octoling armor and Octoshots made it hard to believe.
"They are telling the truth, I was surprised when it happened, had they not splatted them I think we would not be here now." Kal said to one of the officers.
Sky was also saying the same thing, "Yes it's hard to believe and yes there are no cameras back there, but there really were Octolings!"
Victoria was also being questioned and she had it the worst because if they decided to take her back to the station and remove her helmet, it would be the end for all of them.
Despite that, she wasn't going to lie to find a way out.
"There were Octolings here, no this wasn't some planned crime, somehow Octolings have managed to sneak into Inkopolis."
However they were asked a difficult question
"What were you doing in that alleyway in the first place?"
The majority of Turf War players knew about Spyke, but not the authorities.
"Well it's uh, a quiet place to hang out." Neon lied
"Yeah, nobody really goes there anyways and its not some restricted area." Inker followed up
However Victoria did not know about Spyke at all, she still assumed that he was some homeless creature living in poverty until today.
"There was some shady guy back there selling something."
And so, Inker and Neon were taken away, while Kal, Victoria and Sky were lectured about dealing with the black market and let off with a warning.
They watched as Inker and Neon were driven away.
"Umm, did I say something wrong?" Victoria asked
"You have no idea do you? That guy Spyke might seem creepy and the stuff he does seems shady, but he doesn't exactly do anything illegal, he just doesn't want to be hounded by big companies for his skills related to rerolling gear. Its just that the way you phrased it sounded really suspicious." Sky explained
"Oh…."
"Don't worry, it won't take them long to figure out that Inker and Neon weren't trying to buy anything illegal and they'll run tests on the gear left behind to find out who was splatted, it may be a while, but they'll realize that we were telling the truth."
"Yeah but still, I just got them arrested."
"They'll be fine, its Inker and Neon we are talking about after all, Inker has some good connections and Neon is a really good fighter. They won't be gone for long."
"Okay, but I think we should leave, I have a feeling those Octolings will be back again."
"Yeah good idea."
Precinct 15, Inkopolis
While Sky, Kalus and Victoria went home, Inker had to call Cap'n Cuttlefish and explain what was going on.
Since Neon and Inker had been cooperative, they were allowed to make a reasonable amount of phone calls before their questioning.
"Cap'n I need your help."
"What happened?"
"I kinda got arrested?"
"Arrested? Well sorry 'bout that, but I can't have criminals in the New S-"
"Hey I didn't do anything wrong okay! Look there were Octolings and I splatted them."
"Octolings? In Inkopolis again?"
"Yes, but this time they were disguised as Inklings instead of wearing Octoling armor and using Octoshots, so now they think I splatted another Inkling."
"What? How did the Octarians get gear as fresh as ours?"
"I don't know but can you at least come and vouch for me or something? Oh and Neon is here too."
"Yeah alright i'll come over in a while and have a word with the officers."
"Thanks"
There was an officer who was waiting for him to finish his call.
"Do you still claim that you were attacked by Octolings, and that you were not dealing with illegal substances in that alleyway?"
"Yes."
"Alright then, follow me."
The officer led Inker to a interrogation room, where Neon was already seated.
Despite being in jail Neon remained as cheerful as ever and waved to Inker as he was brought in.
Inker had an urge to ask how the heck she was able to stay happy in this state.
The room was similar to the last one he had been in, back when detective Vert was questioning them on the squidnapped Inklings.
There was a one way window so that others could watch and listen to them, usually a detective or another officer in charge of investigating the crime.
"They are the ones being suspected?"
"Yes, they were found in an alleyway welding weapons and standing over several puddles of ink, a witness told us that they were dealing with someone, however they claim that they were not dealing with anything illegal and acted in self defense when a group of Octolings disguised as Inklings showed up."
"Did you run tests on the remains of the splatted creatures?"
"Not yet, but we doubt that we will find Octoling DNA."
"You will."
"Hey wait, defense minister, don't go in there yet."
Inker and Neon's questioning was interrupted by a buzzer as the doors unlocked and Defense minister Arcus walked in.
"Those two are innocent, release them."
Under orders from Arcus, Inker and Neon were released while the forensics started investigating the remains of sea creatures splatted in the alleyway.
"You know, nobody ever claims to be attacked by Octolings wearing Inkling clothes, so when I heard that an individual arrested for a suspected crime claimed to be attacked by Octolings, I needed to come immediately. You could imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw you two."
"Sorry about that, but we really didn't do anything wrong." Inker explained, while Neon was busy getting her stuff back from an officer.
"I believe the Octoling part, but what about the other thing about dealing with illegal substances?"
"That was a misunderstanding, we were just meeting a street urchin who could reroll the sub abilities on our gear for super sea snails."
"Rerolling abilities huh, someone can actually do that without buying a copy of the same gear?"
"Yeah, I think so, that's probably why he doesn't want too many squids to find out about him."
"Well then I won't look to far into it, what i'm worried about is the Octolings in Inkopolis, how could they have gotten past Cuttlefish?"
"I have no idea."
"I should let him know.'
"He knows already, actually he was coming to bail us out before you showed up."
"Guess I saved him the trip then, but if there really is Octoling in Inkopolis we will probably have to lock down the city again."
"WHAT!?" Neon shouted, possibly startling everyone in the building.
Everyone turned and stared at Neon, who covered her mouth and said "oops, sorry"
After that she retrieved her custom E-Liter 3k, her dark urban vest and her squash headband before leaving to change.
"I'm going to save her the trouble of asking, how long will it be before the city goes on lockdown again?" Inker asked
"I already told them to speed up the investigation, so it won't be any longer than a day."
"Alright, well thanks for your help, I need to call the Cap'n and let him know he doesn't need to come here anymore."
Kal's home, Inkopolis
Kal and Victoria didn't head out anymore for the day, it was almost night time when Kal got a text from Inker letting him know that he and Neon were released and that he should expect a lockdown of Inkopolis again soon.
Not that it would bother him much, but Kal felt bad for whoever would break the news to Neon.
At least it wasn't him.
Kal called out to Victoria
"Hey Victoria, good news Inker and Neon were just released."
"Oh that's great. Actually can we see them again tomorrow?"
"Of course, they're always around."
"Good, cause i've been wondering, is it really by sheer coincidence that we were the ones attacked by Octolings?"
"What are you saying."
"I think they were after me."
"Come on now, no need to be paranoid, there is no way they could have known about you."
"There's a spy somewhere in Inkopolis remember? What if that spy can recognize me through that helmet?"
Victoria was genuinely worried, what would have happened if Inker and Neon weren't there?
Maybe Kal would have been splatted and she would have been brought back to Octo Valley, forcefully changed to a different colour and shot in front of a crowd.
She looked at Kal, the kind Inkling who had been helping her out ever since she got lost in Inkopolis.
Was she endangering him just by living here?
"I'm calling it a day, see you tomorr-"
Kal was interrupted by the sudden sound of glass shattering
'CRASH!'
"What the!?" Kal exclaimed.
'CRASH!'
More windows broke, as Octolings came crashing into Kal's house.
Their first action was to shoot at Kal
"No!"
Victoria leapt to Kal's defense, blocking the dark magenta ink from striking Kal
Victoria would not be hurt by another Octoling with the same ink colour are her, so she protectively hugged Kal, blocking a barrage of ink
The Octolings knew they could not splat Victoria, so two of them approached her and tried to grab her.
As soon as they got closer, Victoria let go of Ka and punched the first Octoling she saw.
Kal ran upstairs to his room, narrowly avoiding being shot on his way up while Victoria engaged in hand to hand combat.
He shut the door to his room, and quickly blocked it with his desk.
He heard the door slam against his desk as the Octolings tried to get inside, quickly, he grabbed his Heavy Splatling and put on an ink tank.
Instead of going back out the door, Kal leapt out his window, then entered back inside from a window that the Octolings had broken.
Victoria was having a hard time fighting the other Octolings with her bare hands.
Kal quickly spun up the Heavy Splatling and fired towards them, being careful not to splat Victoria.
Kal splatted one Octoling while the others backed away, Victoria took the change to grab her helmet and run.
There was a splotch of red ink on her.
"D-did I hit you?" Kal asked
Victoria didn't stop "Don't worry about it, just run!"
Kal wished he had picked his Slosher because it was hard to run with a Heavy Splatling, Victoria grabbed him and pulled him along.
Once outside they ran a good distance from Kal's home, constantly looking back in case they were followed.
It seems like the Octolings weren't planning on chasing them outside.
Noticing that they had gotten away, Victoria and Kal stopped in the middle of the street to catch their breath.
There was hardly anyone around at this hour, anyone who saw them would probably assume they had just came back from a late game of turf wars.
"Huff….. what was that? …..Huff…... How did they know." Kal said, tired and still a bit shocked at what just occurred.
"I told you, they were after me, that spy must have figured out who I am and snuck those Octolings here." Victoria didn't seem as tried as Kal.
"huff…...But who….huff…... could have known?"
"We will worry about that later, first we need to get somewhere safe."
"Huff… Yeah I got it."
Inker's house, Inkopolis
There was a quiet knock on Inker's door, strange since it was dark out already.
Looking through the peephole Inker saw Kal and Victoria.
He opened the door.
Kal was sweating and out of breath lugging his Heavy Splatling with him, he also had some dark magenta ink on him, but not nearly as much as Victoria had on her. Victoria looked completely soaked in dark magenta ink, there were also a bit of red ink too.
"Whoa, what happened? You two didn't get into a fight did you?" Inker was surprised, he let the two inside and locked the door.
"They came to my house…..." Kal said, now that he was safe he could start feeling angry, angry at the fact that the Octolings had trashed his home.
"What?"
"The Octolings, they came to my house." Kal grit his teeth
He felt violated, his home was the one place where he could relax in safety and privacy. But whatever semblance of safety his house provided was shattered along with the windows when the Octolings broke in. Even though he was tired from running Kal slammed a wall in anger.
"My freaking house! You know what that's like? I can't go home anymore." Kal screamed
"Alright, I'm shocked, I don't know what to say, are you sure nobody followed you?" Inker peeked outside
"I have no idea."
"I didn't see anyone" Victoria added. "But we can't let our guard down, i'm certain that those Octolings are here for me. We won't have seen the last of them"
She looked down and muttered, "If i'm here, then nowhere is safe.."
Inker wondered how those Octolings got inside Inkopolis in the first place.
He put a hand on Victoria's shoulder and gave her a comforting smile.
"Don't worry, you can count on me: Agent 3, to keep the other Octolings away."
Inker looked at the two, who were both tired and dirty.
"Well then, you guys get cleaned up and have a rest, i'll stay up tonight in case the Octolings show up again. Just leave it to me." Inker suggested
Kal agreed "Sure, but it kinda feels unfair."
"How about we take turns instead, you stay up until midnight then switch with me, I'm trained to fight with minimal rest anyways." Victoria suggested
"Yeah good idea, and wake me up at like four or something and I'll keep watch." Kal added
"Then it's settled, you two should probably shower and get all that ink off first, i'll be here in case anything happens." Inker said as he picked up his Hero shot and being shutting the curtains, taking one last peek outside.
"Suits me" Kal said, before heading off to the washroom.
Once he was done Victoria went inside to get washed up, after that she volunteered to sleep on the couch, so Kal slept in Inker's room while Inker stayed awake with his Hero Shot in his hands.
By 10 PM everything had gone quiet, Kal and Victoria both fell asleep quickly while Inker sat in his dining room alone.
10:30 PM, Usually at this time, everyone would be just getting to sleep, therefore even the quietest noise could wake them up, so Inker sat alone watching the time go by.
11 PM, Inker quietly did a tour of the house, he didn't check his room though as to not wake Kal, he also made sure to move quietly as to not disturb Victoria.
11:30 PM, Inker was bored sitting alone in the dark on guard duty, every now and then he would take a peek outside looking for anyone hanging around.
12 PM, Inker was supposed to wake Victoria by now, but he felt that it would be better to let her sleep a bit more, so he waited a bit longer.
12:30 AM, Inker gently poked Victoria's arm, "Hey are you awake?"
VIctoria rolled over and yawned
"Is it time already."
"Yep, take your time to wake up, I'm not going anywhere."
Victoria stretched a bit while Inker removed his Ink tank and emptied the contents, once Victoria was up he offered her the Hero Shot.
Victoria's eyes widened in surprise when Inker offered her the weapon.
"Really? Your Hero Shot?"
Inker nodded "It shouldn't be too different from the Octoshots you normally use, so I think you'll me fine with it."
"But this is the Hero Shot."
"I know, I'm trusting you with it."
Victoria had surprised WOW expression, the same expression anyone would have if they were suddenly surprised with an expensive gift.
She took the Hero Shot and equipped an Ink tank while Inker went to sleep on the couch.
1 AM, Victoria sat idly deep in thought. 'To think that I would be welding the Hero Shot…' she stared at the weapon in disbelief.
'Agent 3… you are too trusting, did you forget that I'm the reason why we need to stay on our guard tonight?'
She looked at Inker sleeping soundly on his couch.
'Then again, the whole reason why I wasn't splatted back when we first was because you were too trusting.'
1:30 AM, As Victoria silently patrolled the house she could hear light breathing as she passed by the couch and the bedroom.
A peaceful sound it was.
Inkopolis was a peaceful place, well it was until she got involved.
2 AM, Victoria removed her Ink tank and quietly headed for the door….
If anyone wanted to move unseen this would be the best time because everyone would be in a deep sleep, it would be difficult to wake someone at this time.
Victoria knew this, because during her time as an Octollng soldier she had erratic sleep schedules and noticed that everyone had trouble getting up at this time.
If you tried sneaking around before 1 AM it would be easy to wake everyone as they would just be getting to sleep, but if you tried sneaking around past 4 AM there would be the same result as everyone would be starting to wake up.
Victoria put on the Tentacles helmet she wore so often in Inkopolis, before heading out she looked back at the Hero Shot Inker had entrusted her with.
She had left it on the dining table, because it would be problematic for Inker if the Octolings were to get ahold of it.
She was planning to turn herself in.
Whatever semblance of security Inkopolis offered her was destroyed the moment those Octolings started showing up, the longer she stayed the longer she endangered those near her.
'Kalus, Inker, both of them grew up here, a place with hardly any problems, a padded and gilded city where you didn't need to worry. To think that they would both end up worrying so much about my problems, they really are good creatures and not the hellspawn Octavio made them out to be.'
Victoria looked back, they really deserve better, they shouldn't have to stay up at night worrying for their lives.
She left Inker's house, gentilly closing the door behind her to avoid making noise.
Looking ahead, Victoria was greeted by the night scene of Inkopolis, she could even see the Great Zapfish on top of Inkopolis tower in the distance.
She smiled, taking in its majestic sight, then headed back to Kal's house, where she would likely find the Octolings again.
'Looks like i'll see Octo Valley soon.'
A/N: Somehow I managed to get this chapter done much quicker then usual, anyways this arc is coming to a close, so it was about time we focused a bit on the Octarian spy. Oh and something else I forgot to mention, most of the Inkling side characters that have been named have a theme, for example Lila and Laven are named after shades of purple, just wanted to point it out.
Stay tuned for the next chapter.