Guerilla camp, Octo Valley
Inker couldn't sleep.
Sure there was a lot on his mind: what are base duties? How do Octarians train? Would he be safe in this lair full of Octarians who had no reason to trust him?
That would already be enough to keep anyone awake, the mystery of tomorrow and the slight fear of being attacked in your sleep.
But that wasn't the reason here…
"Urfff… Haha…. The tenth time…. Not going back to Automo!... Not Cherie… Chargers are the way to go….. Fight me!"
Neon, who fell asleep surprisingly fast for a bundle of energy, talked a lot in her sleep, as Inker just found out.
"This is great!... Move here… by myself."
He wasn't sure what to make of it either, it was probably some nonsense going through her mind about Chargers and turf wars.
"So much praise!... Love this place!... Better than that island."
Inker groaned and rolled over, facing away from Neon's bunk and covering his ears with his pillow.
'Oh come on! You are noisy enough when you are awake, why do you have to talk so much in your sleep!?'
Inker made sure to ask Lynn or Captain Vale for a separate room as soon as possible.
Every few minutes or so Neon would go quiet, but just as Inker was drifting to sleep she would mutter something else.
"...I don't wanna learn business!..."
'At this point I might as well leave and sleep outside.'
As he was thinking that, Inker noticed a bit of light sweep across the room accompanied by a slight squeaking sound.
Someone had opened the door..
He didn't turn around, but looking at the wall he could see the shadow of someone entering the room.
The figure stood wordlessly for a moment.
Inker wanted to turn around and see who it was, but didn't.
Meanwhile Neon kept sleep talking.
"...It's what I like!... All I can do is!... Cherie is too….."
The figure was startled, Inker could see its shadow twist as the figure turned to check Neon.
She slept ungracefully, not only did she talk in her sleep while tossing and turning, but she also randomly changed forms in her sleep.
"...Leave me… If you want to…. Let me live on my…"
Believing that Neon was harmless, the figure approached Inker's bunk.
Inker was wide awake again, if this unexpected visitor tried something he would have to move on a moment's notice.
Inker observed the shadow on the wall, the figure raised an arm and was holding something.
An Octoshot? A Splat bomb?
Inker stealthily and slowly moved his leg under his blanket, positioning himself to deliver a swift kick should he be attacked.
The figure stood there for a moment, Inker didn't know who it was, but judging from the shadow it was an Octoling.
After a brief pause the figure lowered whatever it was holding
"Soon…. You deserve this, but not now…."
"Hmm?! Is that you Inker!?" Came Neon's voice
Apparently the Octoling's voice was enough to instantly wake Neon.
"!"
The figure beat a hasty retreat, quietly dashing out of the room.
"Hmm? Who was that?" Inker heard Neon mutter.
'Why was she so easily woken up? Wait! If she's awake then it will be a while before she falls back to sleep! Alright I have to fall asleep before she starts sleep talking again!'
Determined to get some rest, Inker did his best not to think about what just happened and fall asleep before Neon.
6 AM, time for everyone to wake up.
The Octarians were used to getting up at this time, but for Inker and Neon, they predictably did not wake up by themselves.
A few Octolings had the solution for that.
"WAKE UP!"
The moment the clock reached 6:01, two Octolings kicked their way into Inker and Neon's room, leapt onto their beds, landing on the two in the process and proceeded to slap them awake.
It wasn't a soft wake up slap either, there was a lot of hate behind their hands.
'Smack smack smack'
Inker and Neon immediately woke up and began flailing around.
"Ow ow ow!"
"Hey! get off me!"
Satisfied, the Octolings left, leaving Inker and Neon to rub their cheeks in pain.
"Ouch, what kind of a wake up call was that?" Inker grumbled.
"Wahh! I miss Inkopolis!" Neon shouted
As he sat up, Inker felt somewhat dizzy.
Probably since he didn't get to sleep for half the night thanks to Neon's sleep talking.
Neon however showed no signs of fatigue, she was already fully awake and really for the day.
She looked and laughed at Inker's face, which now had red handprints on both sides.
"Hahaha!"
Ignoring Neon, Inker closed his eyes and sat for a while, prompting Neon to wonder what was up.
"Hey Inker what's wrong? Didn't sleep well!?"
"Who's fault do you think that is?"
"Huh?"
"Did you know that you talk a lot even in your sleep?"
"Ehhh!? What?"
"I'm not blaming you, but I couldn't sleep last night because you kept sleep talking. Mumbling things about Chargers, turf wars, and islands."
"Oh, well then maybe you should nap a bit more?"
"So those Octolings have an excuse to slap me again? No thanks, let's just go for breakfast, hopefully it's not was bad as yesterday's dinner."
It was…
As Inker and Neon once again found themselves sitting alone at their own table, attracting death glares from the Octarians around them. They glanced down on today's breakfast.
Rationed butter, hardtack and powdered milk mixed with water.
"I miss eggs and bakey." Neon muttered
"We've only been here for a day and you are already missing home?"
"How can I not? The whole reason why I moved to Inkopolis was because I loved that place!"
"Like I said you don't have to stay here, I can handle it on my own."
"You also said there would be a battle soon, so i'm staying until I see one!"
Inker laughed "Alright suit yourself."
"..."
Something felt cold on the side of Inker's leg.
"?"
When Inker looked, he saw a large nail sticking out of the bench right beside him.
He and Neon had been seated in the same place as yesterday, so someone probably hammered it into the bench with the intention of spiking Inker with it.
If he had sat a few inches more to the right, it would have been a painful experince.
Inker got up and used the unbelievably tough hardtack to help remove the nail.
"Dammit!" Inker heard someone's voice.
It came from a familiar Octoling, she immediately averted her gaze once Inker looked in her direction.
Inker was sure that it was the same Octoling who shot him yesterday, maybe even the same one who was thinking of attacking him last night.
He made sure to remember her face and have a talk with her later.
After breakfast the Octarians all seemed to know their schedule and left in different directions, leaving Inker and Neon to wonder what they were supposed to be doing.
As the Octarians were leaving Inker scanned the crowd for the one Octoling who had a ponytail.
"Hey Lynn!"
Lynn, who was heading off somewhere, stopped as soon as she heard Inker's voice.
"Yes! What do you need Agent 3?" Just like with the captain, Lynn was obedient around Inker
"Well first off, what are we supposed to do now? Do we just hang around until Captain Vale has something for us?"
"I guess so. I'm sorry but the captain didn't have anything planned for you so I guess you should train like the rest of us."
"Training?"
"Yes, if you aren't doing base duties or fighting, you train. That's a motto of ours: Fight like you train and train like you fight."
"Ohh! That sounds cool! Train like you fight and fight like you train! I'm going to say that from now on!" Neon chimed in, having taken a liking to their motto.
"So do we just go around doing physical exercise or something?" Inker asked
"Yes it's all up to you, there is a weight room, a firing range and a sparring room too, also the main room is probably being used for jogging. Do what you like to pass the time, just try not to get in anyone's way."
"Alright thanks."
"You go head Inker, I want to say something to her first." Neon said, looking at Lynn.
"?"
After learning that the Octarians couldn't respawn she felt the need to apologize for splatting so many of them in the past.
She obviously couldn't go up and apologize to the other Octarians, but since Lynn seemed okay with Inker, Neon decided to talk to her first.
With no reason to pry into Neon's intentions, Inker left.
"So Lynn, you guys were the guards at Melanin prison right?"
"Hmm? Ah y-yes!" Lynn sounded a bit nervous.
Neon clasped her hands together
"I'm sorry for splatting so many of your fellow guards!"
"Ehh?! N-no need to apologize, seriously there's no need."
"Huh? But I splatted so many of your back then. You don't hate me for splatting your friends?"
"Well umm, they weren't really my friends, the only guards I really knew were Claire and Madison, but they are gone now."
"I'm sorry for splatting Madison and Claire!"
"Seriously you can stop apologizing! And you only splatted Madison and not Claire! Besides we are just fodder, so it's normal for us to be splatted."
That last part of Lynn's sentence sounded off
"Just fodder? But they got splatted right? They won't ever come back."
"Yes but that's normal around here, sure it's sad that Madison and Claire are gone but it could have easily been me instead of one of them. Actually I still think that it would have been better of Claire was here instead of me…"
Lynn's shoulders drooped, she started to look sad
"Hey come on now, your life is important you know."
"Not really, you don't have to worry about a low ranking Octoling like me, but I guess that's just the difference between Inklings and Octarians."
"Still have a bit more confidence in yourself!"
"Yeah I guess, sure ma'am."
"Ma'am? Seriously? What's with that? My name is Neon." Neon laughed at the thought of being called "ma'am"
"Yes but you seem close with Agent 3, so I assume you would likely be higher ranked than me… Though I don't know where "Agent" would go on the military hierarchy."
"Don't worry about that, just call me by my name. Besides…" Neon glanced and Lynn's chest and concluded: "You are probably older than me."
"Huh?! Does ma'am lean that way?"
"Seriously you don't have to call me that."
Lynn started wondering what else she could call Neon "Would you prefer Agent? Madam? Mistress?... Umm maybe if you have certain preferences I could call you sir?"
"What no! For the record i'm not like that, anyways I'm not even part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon! I'm just Neon! Your average 16 year old girl! Besides, being called ma'am makes me feel old. So just call me Neon."
"Ahh! Sorry, I can do Neon, I-I mean I can call you Neon from now on."
It was strange seeing Lynn act nervous and address her by a title, so Neon assumed it was because she almost shot her when she showed up at Cuttlefish's shack.
"Hey if you're worried I'll splat you, don't be, that one time at Cuttlefish's shack was a misunderstanding kay?"
Neon offered a friendly smile.
"Ahh d-don't worry, it wasn't the first time I was welcomed like that, honestly I should have expected it."
"Good! So you don't have to be afraid of me! Let's be friends then!" Neon extended a hand towards Lynn.
"Friends?! Umm you aren't planning on asking me to do something unreasonable under the guise that friends should help each other out right?"
"I'm just trying to make some friends here 'kay? No need to be suspicious."
Lynn fidgeted about "But umm, my loyalty is to the captain and you are an Inkling… Although I do owe Agent 3 a favor, I'm not sure if its a good idea for us to be friends, since we may end up fighting each other in the future…."
"Hey don't think that much about it, you'll always regret something sooner or later, so just do what you want now! I won't ask for anything of you, so don't worry about a thing! And if someday we do end up fighting each other, I'll go easy on you!" Neon said proudly, still extending a hand to Lynn.
"Ahh, sorry for worrying so much, I'm just not used to making my own decisions…. You know, you kinda remind me of Claire in a way… Sure let's be friends."
Neon smiled
Maybe if she was friendly enough with Lynn, the other Octarians would stop being so cold.
Meanwhile Inker seeked out the Octoling from earlier.
It was indeed the same Octoling who shot him when he first arrived: the one named Eliza, who had a talk with the captain the day before.
Although she agreed to work with Agent 3, that didn't mean she had to make his life easy.
She was busy taking inventory, making a list of all usable weapons and remaining rations when she noticed Agent 3.
"Unless you have something important to say, leave me alone." Eliza said, keep her back towards Agent 3
"You don't like me very much, do you?" Inker asked
"Gee, whatever gave you that impression..." Despite her sarcasm, Eliza continued to take inventory.
Inker had more to say
"You were the one who shot me yesterday right? You were also the one who put that nail in my seat."
Eliza turned around, she held a notepad in one hand, her other hand went for the Octoshot on her waist "Yeah, what about it?"
Inker continued "Last night, someone came into my room and held a weapon at me, before getting startled by Neon. Could that have also been you?"
"And what if it was?"
"..."
Eliza didn't have her goggles on, so Inker could see the cold expression in her eyes.
She must really hate him.
"I get that you don't want to work with me, the one who took back all the Zapfish, but could you save the hostilities for when we aren't working together?"
'He thinks the just the zapfish I care about.'
Eliza tightened her grip on her Octoshot in anger.
"Do you remember the Octoling named Eileen?"
"Huh? Should I?"
Inker didn't recall who that was, though the name was familiar.
That only made things worse.
Eliza nearly snapped her notepad
"She was one of the Octolings at the Kelp Dome! One of the first Octolings you encountered! The least you could do was remember her name!"
It was an absolutely unreasonable request
"How am I supposed to know the names of every Octarian? Besides there were umm..."
Inker couldn't even recall how many Octolings he fought in the kelp dome.
'Was it 5? No there was probably more, somewhere between five and ten... I think….'
This pissed off Eliza even further.
"Ohh I see, so if you splat a lot of us, we become a statistic rather than individuals. You disgust me."
"Hey, in the first place, it's normal for one to get splatted if two enemies meet on the battlefield."
"Oh? Then that means one of us won't be leaving this room!" Eliza drew her Octoshot, firing a burst at Inker.
Inker quickly leapt back.
"I'm not fighting here."
"You are right, you can't fight here. After all if i'm splatted, the rest of the splatoon will take you down before you can explain. Nobody would trust Agent 3 after all."
Inker hastily avoided another barrage of ink.
He could beat this Octoling no problem, but if he did there would definitely be a misunderstanding, he would ruin whatever chance he had at convincing this splatoon that they didn't have to remain enemies.
Dodging ink, Inker sent a Seeker towards the door, then swam out of the room.
"Well then, you better make sure I don't get away, otherwise Captain Vale might find out what happened here." Inker taunted
'She won't make a scene and chase me through the lair right?'
Inker left, already regretting that taunt, he was caught in the mood of battle and said it without thinking.
It didn't help his goal of befriending the Octarians here.
That being said, he had no reason to go to Captain Vale about this incident, he wasn't hurt after all.
Inker looked back and thought about the name Eliza had mentioned.
'Eileen… now that I think about it, that name did seem familiar...'
Regardless of who that was, it was clear to Inker that the specific Octoling he just met held a grudge.
She wouldn't be very easy to approach.
Fields family household, Inkopolis
"Laven... Laven are you awake?"
Kal awoke to Lila calling him a name that wasn't even his.
"Good morning Lila, is something the matter?."
After thoroughly washing the blankets and bedsheets Kal was okay with sleeping in Laven's room, although he still found it weird, he endured it as it was necessary to save Lila from the pain everytime he did something out of character.
Lila smiled
"Deep called….."
Lila stopped mid sentence, her smiled being quickly replaced with a sad expression.
"…. Huh I forgot what he said."
"Hey don't worry, if it was important you wouldn't have forgotten." Kal said, with a comforting tone.
Although he knew what this meant
Whoever "Deep" was, probably called to talk about the Vanguard movement.
'Knowing Lila's condition, she probably hung up the moment "Vanguard" was mentioned. That would explain why she's claiming not to know what he said.'
If someone was calling about the Vanguard movement, then that probably meant their second wave was preparing to move on Octo Valley.
'What a bunch of idiots, so many of them have already gotten killed, yet they are still going to attack again.'
Though for Kal the bigger problem would be Lila, she was already pushing away reality, not accepting that the Vanguard movement even existed in the first place.
If the Vanguard movement members started showing up to try and bring her back into the fold, it wouldn't be good.
"Laven, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, i'm just wondering if errr… Deep will show up again." Kal almost forgot Deep's name for a second there.
"Why are you making a face as if you just answered a hard question?"
"You can tell huh..."
Lila was getting sharper around Kal.
He would have to mention that to Dr Asio the next time to saw her.
"Well that aside, you didn't have breakfast without your big brother did you?" Kal did his best Laven act.
"Of course not!"
Kal and Lila had a good balanced breakfast, it wasn't until later on that trouble showed up in the form of two Inklings.
When the doorbell rang Lila answered instead of Kal, since technically he wasn't supposed to be here in the first place and didn't want to run into an acquaintance of Laven.
"Hello Lila!"
Two Inklings were at the door, one was a tall green Inkling with his hair swept back and a roller slung across his back and the other was a pink, dark skinned and strong looking Inkling with the common ponytail hairstyle for Inkling boys.
They were Laven's friends, as well as members of the Vanguard movement. The green one was named Deep and the pink one was named Aurip.
"Hi Deep, hi Aurip, are you looking for Laven?"
Unfortunately to Lila, everything was still normal, so she talked as if Laven was still alive and with them.
Deep and Aurip looked at each other, both visibly confused.
"Umm Lila? Isn't Laven well…. you know…."
"Hmm? What do I know? Laven is here, I'll go get him."
Deep and Aurip watched Lila run upstairs.
"Come on Laven! Stop struggling, Deep and Aurip are here." they heard Lila say
"No wait Lila, I don't think I should go." came an unfamiliar voice to them.
Something was wrong.
Since they were familiar enough to Laven and his family, Deep and Aurip let themselves into the house.
"Lila? Is everything alright?" Deep called
"Laven is being stubborn!"
Then they saw Lila pulling on the arm of someone they had never seen before.
"Who the hell are you!?" Aurip shouted, pointing at Kal who was dressed like Laven.
"I'm uhh." Kal began, but Lila cut him off
"It's Laven! Don't you recognise him?"
"That's not Laven! Lila who is that?" Deep said
Aurip on the other hand took a more direct approach, he ran forward and grabbed Kal by the collar
"IMPOSTER! Call the police!"
Lila tugged Aurip's shirt "Umm what are you doing to Laven?"
"Open your eyes Lila! This isn't Laven! He's not even the right colour!"
"H-huh?" Lila's voice became shakier "y-your n-not L-Laven?"
Kal panicked "uhh no don't listen to him, its me Laven."
"You creep!" Aurip pushed Kal onto the wall, still holding onto his collar "What are you trying to do with Lila?"
"If you would let me explain."
"What is there too explain?! Deep call the cops."
Deep reached for his phone "I got it, you keep him pinned."
Aurip looked at Lila, who appeared to be quivering for some reason.
Aurip assumed it was out of fear.
"Lila take a good look at this guy, he's not Laven."
"Don't listen to him."
"Shut up!" Aurip shouted as he slammed Kal into the wall again.
Deep put a protective hand on Lila's shoulder.
"Don't worry Lila, come with us, the other Vanguards and I will keep you safe."
Vanguards…..
Lila closed her eyes, she shook herself free of Deep's grasp "No Laven is Laven and that is Laven!"
"Dammit Lila! Take a good look at this red guy!" Aurip shouted "This isn't Laven! Laven is dead!"
Vanguards….
Dead….
Deep once again tried to comfort Lila in his own way. "Lila, I know you miss Laven, we do too, but he was splatted by the Octarians, so don't-"
Vanguards….
Dead….
Octarians….
Laven….
Everything Lila had been running away from was forced back onto her.
"LAVEN! Where's Laven!" Lila panicked again.
"Hey hey calm down." Deep said as Lila started to struggle
"No I need to find Laven! LAVEN!"
Lila ran for the door
"You idiots!" Kal shouted
Still pinned against the wall, Kal brought both his feet up and kicked hard into Aurip's chest.
Since he was supported by the wall, Kal easily sent Aurip flying towards Deep, who caught Aurip before he fell on him.
Now free Kal switched to squid form to hop past Deep and Aurip, quickly transforming back and embracing Lila before she could run outside.
"Lila don't worry I'm right here."
"Laven?" Lila was on the verge of tears and barely got the name out.
"Yes it's me."
"Wahh!" Lila cried in Kal's arms
"Lila get away! That is not Laven!"
Kal glared at Deep and Aurip
He had unwillingly taken the role of Laven to help Lila get better, now those two jerks showed up and nearly broke Lila even further.
Kal wanted to give them a piece of his mind, but he couldn't explain anything if Lila was still here…
"Shut up you two!" Kal shouted "Seriously you are taking this joke way too far!"
"Huh?" Both Deep and Aurip said at the same time.
"Joke?" Lila asked, equally confused
"Yeah! Seriously I'm right here and alive! Stop pretending that I died! And what this Vanguard nonsense? Do you think it's fun to make Lila cry?!" Kal yelled at Deep and Aurip, still holding Lila.
Lila started to recover
"It's was a joke? I knew it! I hate you Deep! I hate you Aurip!"
This put the two in a panic
"Wait why are you agreeing with him?" Deep asked
"I trust Laven! Only Laven! He's right here after all! He's not dead!" Lila shouted with all her might.
It was clear that she still couldn't accept Laven's death.
"Lila can you go to your room for a while, I need to have a little chat with…. Deep and Aurip." Kal said, nearly forgetting the names of the two Inklings.
Lila nodded, she still had tears trickling down her cheeks "Okay."
Wiping away tears, Lila walked upstairs to her room, angrily glaring at the very confused Deep and Aurip as she passed them.
Kal, Deep and Aurip all stood by as Lila went away, keep quiet until they heard her close the door to her room.
As soon as they heard it, Deep drew his Roller and Aurip raised his fists.
"Alright the IPD is on their way, don't even try to run." Deep said bringing his roller to Kal's chin.
"I won't try to, the IPD already knows what's going on." Kal replied "Who do you think put me in charge of Lila in the first place?"
"Huh? In charge? You work for the IPD?" Deep asked without lowering his weapon.
"No, but pretending to be Laven was their request, well rather the request of Inkopolis' defense minister, who basically controls the IPD."
"Not buying it, why would the cops send some stranger to impersonate someone else?"
"If you would let me explain i'm sure you'll understand. First off i'm not Laven."
"No squit." Aurip commented
Kal ignored him and continued
"I am Kalus, but I had to start impersonating Laven for the sake of Lila's health."
"What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you notice Lila's condition? She can't accept that Laven and her family is dead. So now she's living in her own world. For some reason she thinks i'm Laven, I tried telling her exactly what you did, that Laven is dead, but in response Lila only started hurting herself. So to prevent Lila from breaking even further, I started pretending to be her brother."
Deep and Aurip stared at Kal, who made no signs of lying.
"What do you think Deep?" Aurip asked his friend
"I think we should wait for the cops first." Deep replied, keeping Kal at the edge of his roller.
Kal sighed "Alright, but they'll say the same thing. It's not like I wanted to impersonate Laven in the first place. Also stop talking about the Vanguard movement when Lila is nearby... Out of everyone in Inkopolis why did I have to be stuck with Lila..."
It was as Kal said, the officers that arrived told Deep and Aurip the same story.
Lila was crazy and Kal was there to help her recover.
It was not exactly easy to believe, but Deep and Aurip were convinced after the IPD officers explained everything.
Even though Kal was angry that these two had shown up suddenly and made a mess of things, it wasn't exactly fair to blame them.
As for why they showed up in the first place:
"You wanted Lila to go to Octo Valley again?! What are you thinking?"
That was Kal reaction to Deep and Aurip explaining that they wanted Lila to come with them and the Vanguard movement's second wave.
"We didn't know Lila wasn't doing well! We thought that she'd be glad to keep supporting the movement she and her family created." Deep explained
"Why would you even consider taking an 11 year old to a warzone in the first place?"
"I… well… Lila should be unhappy with her treatment in Octo Valley right? So wouldn't she want a little payback?"
"Are you serious…"
Kal couldn't believe these two.
"Hey if Lila isn't well, then she can stay home, we're not about to force her into the Vanguard movement anyways. We just thought it was right for her to tag along, after all it was her family that created the movement in the first place." Deep explained
"Well then you should leave now, in the meantime I have to go make sure Lila's alright."
"Sorry about earlier, I had no idea what was going on, so I probably made a mess of things." Aurip apologized
"Me too, I probably shouldn't have shouted all that stuff about Laven's death." Deep followed
"You really did make things worse. But I guess it's to be expected, after all a stranger like me is impersonating your dead friend, if I was in your place I'd probably react the same way."
"Yeah I guess. Hey if Lila gets better, tell her about the Vanguard-"
"No" Kal cut Deep off as soon as he mentioned "Vanguard".
"What do you mean "no"?"
"Look, I think the Vanguard movement is a bad idea. I was also squidnapped by the Octarians and I saw them fight. They are much more coordinated than a turf war team, and they come in large numbers too. It's more than we can handle."
"Hmph. Well that's your opinion, but when Lila comes too, let her decide for herself. Oh and keep in mind that the second wave is moving on Octo Valley in a week, so if Lila gets better before then, let us know."
"Alright fine." Kal said, but he was just saying that so he could get these two out of his sight.
Once Deep and Aurip were gone, Kal went to check on Lila.
The moment he opened the door to her room, Lila burst out of it.
"Laven! Why were there police cars outside!? Did Deep and Aurip get arrested? I hope they did!" Lila said, wrapping herself around Kal.
"Uhh, isn't that a bit harsh?"
"What do you mean? They attacked us in our home, that is something only criminals do."
"Yeah but… Deep and Aurip are our friends."
Lila twitched
Kal knew what that meant 'Oh no, I said something wrong didn't I?'
"Well my friends at least." Kal corrected "Don't worry, I made sure they won't play such a harmful prank again."
"Thank you dear brother!"
"Whoa!"
Lila suddenly leapt onto Kal, latching onto him completely with her arms and legs wrapped around him.
It was like a koala on a tree.
'Is it just me, or is Lila being even more clingy now….' Kal wondered
Perhaps it was time to see Dr Asio again.
It was also time to visit Cuttlefish's shack to update them on the Vanguard movement.
Guerilla camp, Octo Valley
Inker toured the lair, still unable to read any of the signs.
Just like yesterday he was met with mean looks everywhere he went.
The Octarians in the weight room were doings all sorts of physical activity, but when Inker passed by they shouted: "What are you looking at squid!?"
Meanwhile the ones in the main room were jogging together in a single file line.
They noticed Inker stop by and observe them, so they began to chant loudly:
(To the tune of When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again)
"Octarians marching one by one!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!
We splatter Inklings just for fun!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!
The troops will shoot, the balls will roll
Octavio's song will guide our souls
And we'll all feel safe when the army comes marching home."
There was a brief pause, all you could hear were the sounds of marching Octolings…
"The citizens will cheer and twirl!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!
To welcome home our daring girls!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!
Then everybody will sing along
For every soldier knows this song.
And we'll all feel safe when the army comes marching home."
A catchy tune, but it wasn't Inker's kind of music, so he left and proceeded to the firing range.
"Stop it! Stop shooting my targets!" came Neon's voice.
Inker doubled his pace to the firing range, as he was sure Neon might be getting into trouble again.
When he got there, Neon was wrestling with an Octoling, while two Octotroopers tried to pull her away.
"What are you doing?" Inker asked
Seeing Inker, Neon let go of the Octoling, only to tumble backward onto the Octotroopers who had been pulling on her with their single tentacles.
Neon quickly picked herself back up
"Inker! This is so annoying! Everything here is at such close that I can't make full use of hte E-Liter! And everytime I try to shoot something, those Octarians steal it from me!"
It was probably their way of making Neon feel unwelcome.
"Don't blame us for your poorly designed Inkling weapon." one of the Octolings said
"It's a Charger! They are supposed to charge their shots!"
"Pfft, what good is a weapon if it can't fire on demand? The Octoshot is far superior."
"Alright that's it!"
Inker held Neon back as she tried to attack the Octoling again.
"Learn to control yourself will ya? If you want to fight goto the sparring room." the Octoling said again.
"We can fight here? Alright!" Neon calmed down and cheered up instantly
"Come on Inker, let's find the sparring room!" Neon said, tugging on Inker's arm
"Okay okay, I'm with you, no need to pull!"
Cap'n Cuttlefish's mission control, Octo Valley
Sky and Cuttlefish were already checking in on Inker and Neon, when Kal showed up.
"Hi guys."
"Hi Kal, umm don't you have your hands full with Lila at the moment?" Sky asked
"Well yeah but something else came up, I came to tell you that the Vanguard movement's second wave is coming in a week."
"You know you could have just texted me that." Sky pointed out, Kal already knew, but really he just wanted an excuse to check on Inker and hopefully Victoria too.
It would be a good way to remind him of his real life, and not his fake Laven life.
Kal glanced at the screen in front of Sky and Cuttlefish.
Inker was following Neon somewhere.
They passed by the main room and the jogging Octarians once more, however this time they weren't noticed.
The Octarians were still chanting as they jogged, although they had a different tune this time.
(To the tune of I Don't Know But I've Been Told)
"I don't know what i've been told!" shouted the lead Octoling
"I don't know what i've been told!" repeated the others
"Octo Valley is good as gold!"
"Octo Valley is good as gold!"
"Sound off!"
"One two! Three four! Two two three four!"
"They told me the other day!"
"They told me the other day!"
"We're in a game that people play!"
"We're in a game that people play!... Wait what?"
"Is that a normal thing for soldiers to do?" Inker heard Sky ask
He had almost forgotten that Sky and Cuttlefish were back at mission control, monitoring him through his Hero suit.
"Maybe, but what's with the silly tune?" That was Kal's voice.
"Oh Kal's with you guys?" Inker asked
"Yeah I just got here, how's everything on your end?"
"Awful!" Neon complained "everything is bad and everyone is unfriendly, well everyone except for Victoria and my new friend Lynn!"
'Neon befriended Lynn?' Kal wondered
Inker and Neon continued on until they reached a room with mirrors on the walls and mats on the floor.
The sparring room.
There was already a few Octotroopers and Octolings here.
The Octotroopers were not doing much but swinging their head, hitting each other with their single tentacle or tackling each other.
As for the Octolings, they fought using martial arts, Inker could tell by a glance that they were pretty experienced with it.
He also noticed Victoria, who was busy sparring with another Octoling.
Victoria and the Octoling traded blows, blocking each other's punches and dodging each other's kicks.
Victoria spun and kicked at the Octoling's head, who promptly ducked and avoided it.
Victoria's heel landed behind her opponent, noticing this Victoria twisted and sent her elbow at her opponent's neck.
The Octoling tried to duck, but she took Victoria's elbow to the face which knocked her back, making her trip over Victoria's heel.
The Octoling hit the ground hard, she winced, before opening her eyes.
Victoria helped her opponent back on her feet.
Despite just being knocked down, the Octoling looked unhurt, she and Victoria started complimenting each other and exchanging tips on how to improve.
But were interrupted when Neon gave Victoria a hearty slap on the back
"That was awesome! Good job Victoria! I bet Kal will be proud!"
"Neon I told you before-" Kal began, but Neon ignored him and focused on Victoria
Victoria was surprised to see the two of them here.
"When did you two get here?" she looked back at the Octoling she was sparring with earlier, but she had already left upon seeing Inker and Neon.
"I heard you can fight here, so I came here as fast as I could." Neon said
"It's not the kind you like, this is the sparring room, you fight with your bare hands, no weapons."
"Aww, how do you win then?" Neon asked
"What do you mean "win" this isn't a game Neon, this is how we train for hand to hand combat."
"What's the point of that?"
"You never know when you might find yourself in a situation where your only weapon is your own body, so it's important to practice fighting without weapons."
"You'd know wouldn't you?" inker commented
"Huh? Oh right that time…"
The time she ended up in Inkopolis with no weapon.
"Let's not talk about that here." Victoria whispered
"Alright then, hey wanna fight me?" Neon asked
Victoria wondered if Neon could fight without that sniper weapon of hers.
"Hmm? Well I guess I could be your sparring partner. Are you sure you can fight without a weapon?"
"Yeah yeah! Totally! Fighting comes naturally to me!"
Before Neon and Victoria could spar however, they were interrupted by someone shouting: "Attention!"
Victoria saw the captain enter the room and promptly saluted along with the other Octarians in the room.
"As you were." the captain dismissed them.
She had come here at an interesting time.
"Well well, I came to check on Holter, but I didn't expect to see you here Agent 3. Are you entertaining the troops?"
"I just got here, I haven't had to chance to spar with anyone yet." Inker replied
The captain smiled
"Well then, how about you be my sparring partner? I'd like to see what the infamous Agent 3 can do."
With no reason to decline, Inker agreed "Alright, why not."
"Umm Inker, I don't think that's a good idea." Kal said "I saw that captain easily take down Bogs back in Melanin prison."
"I think it's fine, it's just training after all." Inker said as he faced off against Captain Vale.
The other Octarians in the room all stopped to watch, they were eager to see their captain in action and against Agent 3 of all sea creatures.
"Hey Neon, could you ask Victoria-" Kal began, but Neon removed her Hero headphones and pass them to Victoria.
"Kal wants to say something."
Victoria looked at the headset, she didn't know how it worked, but apparently Kal was able to talk through it.
She put them on
"-eon? Neon? Can you say something?"
"It's me." Victoria said
"Huh? Victoria?"
"Yep, why didn't anyone tell me that I could contact you on this headset?"
"Well you can't really, i'm just here for a while cause I wanted to check in on you... And Inker of course. Heh. Anyways do you think Inker stands a chance against that captain?"
"Nope."
"What?"
"Not a chance, that captain is famous for hand to hand combat, I don't see anyone being able to beat her in that aspect."
"But Inker is Agent 3."
"Maybe, but he fights with the Hero Shot and all kinds of other gear right? He's at a disadvantage here."
"Should we stop Inker?"
Inker heard everything through his own Hero headset
"Seriously you guys, have some more confidence in me." Inker said
"Well alright, good luck." Kal said
Under the gazes of Victoria, Neon and many other Octarians, Inker stood face to face with Captain Vale.
Vale was older, taller and tougher looking and Inker, but he wasn't intimidated at all.
He had splatted more than enough Elite octolings in the past to a point where he no longer feared them..
"Are you ready?" Asked Captain Vale
"Yes" As soon as he said that, Captain Vale attacked with an unusual move.
Vale tucked and rolled past Inker, but as she rolled her foot shot up and connected with Inker's jaw.
A rolling kick
Inker had never seen a move like that before and was caught completely off guard.
"Yeah! Way to go captain!"
"Good move captain!"
The other Octarians cheered
Inker wasn't ready to give up, he knew a decent bit about martial arts.
He tried to punch Captain Vale but Vale was quick to dodge and land another kick on Inker.
She didn't stop at one, using the momentum from the first kick, Vale spunthe opposite way and landed another kick, repeating this process three more times, knocking Inker back..
The Octarians cheered again.
Inker knew he was outmatched
So he decided the try something else
Leaping towards Captain Vale, Inker swtiched to squid form and slipped past her, he quickly transformed again, and struck Vale with a back kick.
Vale was quick to react however, she also landed a back kick on Inker.
At least Inker scored a hit.
Vale never stopped at one attack though, she followed through with her elbow, swinging it at Inker's face as she turned around, going into a spin and launching a flurry of kicks.
Inker narrowly avoided the attack, he ducked and hit the captain with a strong uppercut.
But the captain quickly leaned backward and avoided it, before Inker could bring his arm back, she grabbed it.
Then Captain Vale turned with all her might, yanking Inker's arm and getting him to lose balance, before letting go and kicking him in the side, sending him flying a good distance.
Inker sputtered, composed himself, and preformed a roundhouse kick, only for Vale to quickly step forward, grab his leg with both hands, and spin in the same direction as the kick, using Inker's own momentum to send him flying.
The Octarians stood aside, letting Inker have a heavy fall.
"I guess it's over." said Captain Vale
Inker sat back up, with a lot of pain
"Oww, that was cold, you didn't have to go all out like that."
"What can I say? I was expecting more from you."
The Octarians were happy
"Way to go captain!"
"You showed him captain!"
"No one can beat you captain!"
The captain beamed.
Beating Agent 3 was good for morale.
The Octarians who saw her beat Agent 3 would spread the word to the others very soon.
Neon rushed to her friend's side and helped him back up.
"You okay?"
"I've felt worse."
Since Inker was okay, Neon immediately hopped over to the captain.
"Okay now fight me too!"
"Huh?"
Captain Vale did not expect the other Inkling to challenge her right after witnessing Inker's loss. She expected her to be intimidated, not encouraged.
Still it shouldn't be hard to beat her, after all she couldn't be better than Agent 3.
"Neon what are you thinking?" Kal asked
"Neon can't hear you, I have her headset remember?" came Victoria's voice.
"Oh right."
Inker asked the same thing
"Seriously Neon? This is not turf wars or anything."
"Hey I can fight without my E-liter, why do you doubt me so much? Remember fighting comes to me naturally, so don't worry. I'm up for the challenge!" Neon shone with confidence
Inker looked at the crowd of Octarians
"Come on captain you got this!"
"You beat Agent 3! You can beat her!"
'Is this a training room or a fight club?….' Inker wondered
"Alright are you ready?" Vale asked
"Yep!"
Captain Vale started with a different move this time, she thought that Neon couldn't be better than Agent 3, so she decided to start with a flashier spinning kick.
But as fast as she was, Neon managed to intercept the kick with her arm.
"?!"
Vale spun and kicked with her other leg and to everyone's surprise Neon managed to block it with her other arm.
"!?"
Now was Neon's turn, she raised her leg and kicked hard into Vale's chest, but the captain was quick to step back, avoiding it.
Neon recoiled her leg so fast that Vale could not grab it and retaliate.
Neon and Captain Vale went around attempting to punch, kick or knock down the other, but to everyone's surprise, they were evenly matched.
Neon was quick as a cat, ducking and dodging endless punches and kicks, but so was Captain Vale.
For some reason Captain Vale started feeling fired up, she hadn't felt that way in a while.
So did Neon, but that was because she didn't play turf or anything like it in a while.
The two started moving even faster, attacking and blocking each other at lightning speeds.
On the sidelines, Inker, Kal, Sky and Victoria could barely believe their eyes.
Captain Vale was definitely a professional fighter, capable of chaining many moves together and didn't waste a single second.
Yet somehow Neon was able to keep up, attacking, blocking and adapting equally fast, even managing to mimic some Vale's moves.
Captain Vale did all sorts of things, rapid kicks, jabs, the rolling kick she performed on Inker and even did a handstand, spinning with her hands while trying to kick Neon at face level
Neon was nimble enough to dodge almost everything but she couldn't get past Captain Vale's defense either.
"Come on captain!"
"Don't lose captain!"
"You got it captain!"
The other Octarians cheered even harder
For some reason Inker, Kalus and Sky all started getting the urge to cheer for their odd friend.
Maybe it was the competitive spirit of Inklings, or maybe because Neon was doing something unbelievable to them.
"Go Neon!" Inker shouted
"Yeah don't give in Neon!"
"I'll cheer for you this once Neon!"
Even though she wouldn't hear them, Kal and Sky also cheering, shouting at the screen
"Com'on put that captain in her place!" Even Cuttlefish joined in.
Only Victoria remained quiet, she didn't know who to cheer for. Cheering for Neon felt right, but cheering for the captain did too.
After a few minutes of fighting, Neon and Captain Vale started to slow down.
Then, after more blocked blows, they both stopped.
"Huff huff"
Both Neon and Captain Vale were sweating and breathing heavily.
The captain smiled "Huff…. Not bad….heh "
So did Neon "Huff…. You weren't so bad yourself…. Haha."
They were both tried out from that wild melee.
The Octarians ran to Captain Vale's side, except for VIctoria, who ran to Neon's side with Inker.
"Captain are you alright?"
"I'm fine Eliza, just a bit tried, that was definitely a surprise though, who knew that green girl would be a match for me? Nobody has ever pushed me this far in hand to hand combat."
For some reason, despite not being able to beat an Inkling, the captain felt refreshed.
As for Neon, she wiped away sweat and collapsed onto Inker and Victoria.
"Hey! Don't just fall on us without warning!" Inker said as he and Victoria caught Neon.
"Its a trust fall! Haha!" Neon stood back up "Still that was great! Who knew sparring could be so fun!"
"You have to teach me how to do that." Victoria for once, saw Neon to be more than the trigger happy fool she knew.
"I don't think I can, it just all comes to me naturally, I can't even begin to explain it, heh." Neon rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment
Victoria noticed a few Octarians stealing glances at them.
Were they judging her for checking on Neon instead of the captain?
The Octarians whispered to each other.
"Looks like we need to keep a close eye on both Inklings…"
"Yeah, I thought the captain could handle Agent 3 and we could deal with that girl, but it seems like it won't be that easy."
"We should probably avoid saying this to Victoria too, she seems to trust them more than us…"
Following Victoria's gaze, Inker noticed the Octarians eying them as well.
More specifically they were eying Neon.
"Hey Neon, I'm glad you had your fun, but I think you just painted a big target on the back of your head."
"Huh?"
Inker assumed that with Neon being able to take on the captain, the Octarians would shift their attention to her.
It wasn't safe for them here.
"Captain, where have you been?" Lynn asked, once the captain finally returned to her quarters.
"Oh I was busy observing our guests. Do you have something for me?"
"Yes, a report from the scouts and informants. It seems that Octavia has been gathering the names of everyone in our splatoon."
"Their names huh? That shouldn't have taken very long, you know what this means right?"
"No ma'am, I do not have your military knowledge and experience."
"Well then take the chance to improve, you can't stay as a low ranking Octoling forever."
"Yes of course, I shall do as you say."
The captain wondered how she could shape Lynn to be more like Claire, her former adjutant.
"Well anyways, we may have some trouble on our hands, though I can't say for certain yet. Go spread the word among the troops that there may be a battle coming."
A/N: Whoa okay so the last two chapters have mostly been long filler chapters, this one took me quite some time to type. I plan to stop for a while after reaching chapter 30 in order to go back and reread the older chapters and hopefully find and correct some mistakes.
Also, me and some other authors have been working on a collection of one shots, which will likely be uploaded by April 29th. The author posting it will be ZygardeFusion, so look out for that.