Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley
The lair was filled with either rebelling Octarian soldiers, or refugees forced to flee from the Undercity due to their connections with Vale and her rebelling splatoon.
The soldiers spent their days training or trying to think up new methods to overthrow Octavia, while the refugees looked after each other.
Meanwhile, Sky was doing neither of those things.
In the room shared by him and his fellow Inklings, Sky sat on a bunk bed, with a pencil and notebook in hand.
He did not wear high level gear like Neon and Kal, nor a high tech suit like Inker, instead he wore a simple t-shirt and shorts, along with his usual glasses.
He looked like a high school freshman studying for his first exams.
Sky was reviewing the notes he had taken while learning how to speak Octarian.
Slowly he was beginning to understand and communicate with Octotroopers and Octoballs, but it wasn't enough, Sky planned to keep going until he was fluent in the language.
He didn't come to Octo Valley for a vacation after all.
There was the sound of rapid footsteps, to Sky's vexation they belonged to Neon.
"Hey Sky!"
"If you are just here to bother me for your own amusement, please leave."
"Urf… giving me the cold shoulder huh…."
Neon observed Sky who was deep in studies, Sky didn't even bother to look up at her.
"Don't you ever get bored of all that mind work? Learn to let go sometimes! Give your brain a rest and your body some fun!" Neon shot her fist into the air to demonstrate her enthusiasm behind those words.
"There's a time and place for that, but not now." Sky replied.
"Oh I get it…. It's because we're in Octo Valley right? Well worry not!"
"I'm not worryin-"
"Because I'm heading back to Inkopolis!-"
There was a brief pause as Sky wasn't paying much attention to Neon.
"Are you trying to get me to come with you?"
"Well Inker is making me take Kal back, so I figured I may as well take you too. Since I figured you are bound to be done and bored with those language lessons by now."
"Then you don't know me very well, I'm not going back to Inkopolis yet."
Oh well, you're gonna miss the Splatfest then!"
"Don't care."
Neon gasped "How could you not care about the SPLATFEST! Oh! I know! It's because you lost last splatfest right? Don't worry, with my powers of observation, I can tell you with side is gonna win! So you won't have to feel sore about losing the final Splatfest!"
Sky tried to interrupt several times to correct Neon's completely fallacious view of him, but failed.
Neon continued rambling with little regard to what Sky wanted to say.
"After all, Vale is busy procrastinating in her office all day so nothing's gonna happen anytime soon, may as well head back to Inkopolis and enjoy the pre Splatfest atmosphere."
"Didn't you just do that a few days ago?"
"Yeah but you know, you can't really enjoy something when you have another thing to do. By the way, I'm not coming back this time! At least until the Splatfest is over maybe…."
"Good."
"Hey! What do you mean by 'good'? You guys are gonna have a real hard time without me backing up you all! Right? I'm really really useful here! right?"
"Are you looking for praise or something? Just go to Inkopolis already."
"Ahh I see, you are an introvert, you actually are reluctant to see me go but hide those feelings."
"What? No! Fine you want to know what I think? While you might be a little better at Turf Wars, you still act like a bumbling buffoon all the time and Inker is much more reliable! Go back to Inkopolis already, I don't care." Having his study time interrupted, Sky was now angry.
Neon was stunned for a brief moment.
"I get it….."
Then she reverted back to her cheerful self and pointed at Sky.
"You are grumpy cause you're losing sleep! Don't study too much! Get your 9 hours of sleep, kay!?"
With that Neon left and Sky was free to go back to reviewing his notes.
Though he quickly realised that he could no longer focus.
'Damn that troublesome girl!' Sky thought.
Sky tried hard to go back to his earlier mindset but failed, Neon had ended up distracting him for the time being.
After all he was also looking forward to the final Splatfest.
What Inkling could possibly miss such a big event?
With his studying mood dissipated, Sky tossed his things off to the side, and lay back into his bunk grumbling.
He wasn't going to lie and pretend he wasn't also considering running back to Inkopolis for the final Splatfest, but he also wasn't selfish enough to actually do it.
'Although, when you really think about it, isn't it fine?' Sky wondered
He was speaking with the Octarians more and more often to practice his new language, so he knew well what was going on around him.
Vale was extremely enthusiastic about her whole 'revolt against Octavio' message, yet she is completely idle now.
Also, rations were running lower and lower in the lair.
Victoria and some Octolings had even left without informing the captain to take matters into their own hands.
'Since Vale wasn't doing anything, would it be fine to head back to Inkopolis?'
Sky wondered if Neon thought the same, then he wondered if Neon even thinks to begin with.
'No I shouldn't go that far, despite her usual behavior Neon is quite clever.'
It originally seemed like Neon could do nothing but fight, but over the last few months Neon would occasionally surprise them.
'Maybe Neon also realised that returning to Inkopolis now wouldn't really matter since Vale isn't doing anything.'
Now he was starting to feel guilty about yelling at her.
Though Sky did mean everything he said, it could have been phrased better…
Besides, while Neon may seem annoying at times, Sky and the others still enjoyed her company.
'I should go apologize before she leaves.'
Unfortunately Neon and Kal were long gone.
As Neon and Kal left for Inkopolis, Inker was informing Captain Vale that she would have to go to Cuttlefish's shack to fix Lila, as they were not about to risk bringing Lila this deep into Octo Valley.
Vale had no argument against it.
"So once you've fixed Lila, we'll get back to removing Octavia from power right?" Inker asked
Though he wasn't eager at the idea of more needless conflict, he was asking to test his theory on Vale's mind conditioning.
"Of course." replied Vale.
"Great, then we should replace her with a more Inkling friendly leader once Octavia is gone. No more Octavio and his old feuds."
Inker purposely added that last part to test Vale.
He had been guessing that Octavio's control over the Elite Octolings wasn't very direct.
That was how the Elite Octolings could continue Octavio's legacy without orders from Octavio himself.
In other words, Vale and the other Elite Octolings retained their free will to some degree, but anything that involves opposing DJ Octavio directly was forbidden.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, there is still much to do."
Vale didn't disagree, nor did she agree, instead she just tried to ignore the idea.
Inker decided that much as enough for now, if he keeps emphasizing on getting rid of Octavio, Vale would definitely become suspicious.
"Ahh I see, well then we should get ready to leave for Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack."
"Yes of course, oh right, do you know where Victoria went?" Vale asked
"Uhh, no not at all."
"Hmmm, are you certain?"
Inker nodded "Why?"
"That girl somehow convinced two whole squads to leave with her on an unsanctioned mission to Octo Valley's Undercity and they still haven't returned."
"They are missing? Then we should go looking for them."
"Not yet, I'd like to focus on the task at hand, I'll properly lecture and perhaps congratulate Victoria once she returns."
"And if she doesn't?"
"Nothing else we can do about that, though I am surprised Victoria could gain so much support, considering she should be the least familiar with the others. I'm impressed."
Speaking of which, Victoria, Eliza and the other Octarians accompanying her were already on their way back.
As Victoria predicted, the Octarian army was too busy dealing with riots to notice them.
This should have been the best time for Vale to act, yet she wasn't.
Victoria expected Vale to be less than happy to know that she took some of her troops away without even consulting her first, but it didn't matter.
They had to take advantage of the chaos they created.
If Vale wasn't going to do anything, then Victoria would.
Inkopolis Plaza
"Yay! Home sweet home!" Neon ran and twirled around the plaza.
The final splatfest was on everyone's minds and Kal could hear Callie and Marie's names mentioned everywhere.
It was to be the event of the century.
Neon, being the ball of energy that she was, completely forgot about Kal the moment she stepped foot back into Inkopolis and ran about greeting and speaking to random Inklings in the plaza.
How Neon manages to chat with strangers so easily is something Kal would never know.
Well it didn't inconvene Kal in any way, he didn't need Neon for this next part.
He was supposed to find Lila and bring her to the manhole in Inkopolis plaza.
If Lila agreed that is.
Kal wasn't going to bring Lila into more trouble, not after all the pain and suffering she has been through just over a month ago.
Kal had promised to visit her sometimes, though he hadn't had the chance since he was trying to help Victoria overthrow Octavia.
He felt kind of guilty that his first time visiting Lila would be to ask her if she wanted to see the same Elite Octoling who tossed her into the boiling pit at Melanin prison.
But if Vale was really willing to help Lila, then it could be worth it.
Before Kal could do anything, he returned home.
Like Inker, Kal couldn't shower in Octo Valley since the ink there was all dark magenta and would hurt him.
Since Neon kept saying that Inker was beginning to smell, he assumed he was just as bad.
After a quick shower, Kal realized he couldn't just show up unannounced and take Lila away.
Luckily he still had a certain doctor's number from when he had to play as Laven.
"Asio speaking."
'Strange way to greet someone' Kal thought
"Hi doc, it's Kalus Kogia, remember me?"
"Mr Kogia, I didn't think you'd have a reason to call now that Lila's case is closed."
"Yes well about that, you still haven't figured out how to undo whatever the Octarians did to her right?"
"Regrettably yes. If you are calling out of concern, you'll be pleased to hear that the Mother Superior of the Molluscs of Mercy Orphanage has been keeping a close eye on Lila incase something happens. So far no one has taken advantage of Lila's trigger words."
"That's good to hear. I think I may have a way to fix Lila."
"I'd like to hear it."
"Well umm, I don't know any other way to say this… But it involves bringing Lila to a rebelling Octarian captain."
"Octo Valley…."
"Yes."
"I can't imagine Lila being too fond of that place."
"Neither can I, but if anyone can fix Lila, it's a former captain and Elite Octoling."
"So what? You are just going to take Lila to Octo Valley?'
"I'm going to let her decide, so can you speak to whoever is incharge of that orphanage and let them know I'm coming?"
"Very well. The topic of Octarian mind conditioning is very intriguing, do you think I could come along and observe how this Octarian captain cures Lila?"
'What's so interesting about mind control?' Kal wondered
"Umm.. I'm not sure that's a really good idea. There's...well…. alot going on in Octo Valley."
"Yet you're bringing Lila there?"
"I'm not sure yet, I'm going to explain everything to Lila first and let her decide. If you really want to learn about undoing Octarian mind control, maybe you could meet with the Octarian captain once things have died down?"
"Just what is going on in Octo Valley?"
Kal wasn't sure how he was supposed to slip anything past someone like Asio, so he decide to just lay it straight.
"A civil war."
There was a brief pause on Asio's end
"Hmmm… okay then, I'll let the orphanage know that you will be visiting Lila soon."
"Today." Kal insisted, he wanted to get this done and over with so he could get back to Octo Valley.
"Okay, today."
According to Asio, Lila was now spending her days in a place known as the Molluscs of Mercy Orphanage.
Kal thought about calling Neon, but he assumed she had already ran off to Inkopolis tower, so he left for the orphanage on his own.
The Molluscs of Mercy orphanage was run by a religious organization, one that believed the Great Zapfish was a messianic figure which had parted the seas, allowing sea creatures into the promised land which became Inkopolis, thus the son of cod.
So it was no surprise that the orphanage would be run by various cephalopods in navy blue outfits resembling those of human nuns.
The first thing Kal noticed was the variety of creatures here.
Not just Inklings, there were clams, cuttlefish and other sea creatures.
This was because there were hardly any orphans in Inkopolis to begin with, so they were all mixed together in the only orphanage in Inkopolis.
Kal was greeted by a gentle and kind looking Inkling who introduced herself as Mother Superior and was invited inside to see Lila.
A few moments later Kal heard the pitter-patter sound of running feet.
"Kal!"
A happy looking purple Inkling came running up to him.
"Hi Lila, good to see you again."
Lila was looking much better than ever.
"Good to see you too Kal!"
Seeing Lila so happy made Kal wonder if he should just forget about bringing her to Octo Valley.
"Kal? What's wrong?"
"Ohh nothing, so how have you been?"
"I've been great! Everyone here is so friendly! Though I kinda miss my old home sometimes…"
"Work hard and you'll be able to buy it back once you get older."
"I will!"
Lila smiled and Kal smiled back.
"I will grow up and make money from Turf Wars just like my dear brother Laven did!"
The look of dreams and expectations filled Lila's eyes as she imagined buying back her family's house someday.
Lila was still so innocent.
'Now how am I supposed to explain Vale, civil war and brainwashing to her?' Kal wondered.
He had steeled himself to come here and bring Lila to Octo Valley, but upon seeing Lila, he was having second thoughts yet again.
Kal quickly reminded himself that the sooner he could get this done, the sooner they could get back to what mattered most.
"Say Lila, you remember what the Octarians did to you…. Right?"
Kal noticed a brief twitch in one of Lila's eyes.
It seemed like Kal brought back some unpleasant memories.
'Ahh wait! Was I too straight forward?'
"Yes…" Lila replied.
The cheerful atmosphere from before was gone, though Lila still smiled it wasn't as pure as it was moments ago.
As for Kal, his face was now full of seriousness, something that was rare for him.
"If there was a chance to reverse what was done to you, would you mind coming with me to Octo Valley?"
Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley
"Honor to the valley."
'click'
Victoria had returned.
They didn't run into any resistance at all and what's better was that they knew much more about the situation in the Undercity.
'First: the Octarian army is completely focused on the Undercity now, as Octarians continue to riot despite martial law.
Second: Even Elite Octolings had to be deployed to oversee the army handling the citizens.
Third: Octavia is squirming around, trying to convince the population that everything Vale told them was a lie, but to no avail.
Fourth: The population is divided into three groups, those that support Octavio but disown Octavia, those who disown both and those that are indifferent or are too scared to act.
All this comes to show that now would be the best time to strike, Octavia might have her back against the wall in Nautilus base, but that doesn't mean we can't start by getting rid of some of the other Elite Octolings.' Victoria planned to tell all this to Captain Vale.
"Victoria, everyone! Welcome back!" Lynn greeted her comrades.
She was followed by some other soldiers and Octarians.
As they went around welcoming the troops back, Lynn whispered to Victoria.
"The captain wants to see you and umm…. Well she's less than pleased."
"Really? Well I was kind of expecting that."
Indeed Vale was angry when Victoria went to see her.
"Did I give you permission to leave the lair on your own missions?"
"With all due respect ma'am."
"Answer the question!"
"No ma'am"
"Running off on your own is one thing, but roping in eleven other Octarians is unacceptable! How did you manage to get them to follow you?"
"With all due respect, I'm not the only one who feels that we are wasting time here."
"We aren't wasting time, we are waiting for an opportunity."
"And that opportunity is now! I've seen the riots, heard the news, the Octarian army has their back against the wall dealing with protests on a scale never before seen to Octariankind!"
"That isn't your call to make! Don't forget that I am still captain of this splatoon and everyone here is supposed to follow me!"
That didn't sound like Vale.
"Is this what this is about? Asserting your dominance, not changing Octo Valley for the better?"
"Ahh…."
'Right that was my goal.'
Vale had done it again, she caught herself betraying herself.
'Why am I angry again? Didn't I plan to simply lecture Victoria then praise her for taking a leadership position?'
Vale shook her head clear.
"Sorry about that, please forget what I just said." Vale apologized
"Don't worry, everyone here already knows about your condition."
"They do?"
"It's not exactly subtle."
Vale thought that maybe Lynn would figure out that she's still being affected by Octavio's influence, but not the whole splatoon.
"Everyone knows huh."
"Mmhmm. We all still believe you have everyone's best interests at heart, but well, we can't keep waiting for you to step up and lead us anymore."
"I see."
Vale took what Victoria said one step further.
She was already considering the possibility that she had to exclude herself from her splatoon for their sake.
She couldn't keep on leading now that her goal was the overthrow Octavio while working with Inklings. There were too many times where she had to catch herself going against her own plans.
If there was a way out of this mess, Vale wanted to find it now. How can she protect the future of her splatoon and Octo Valley if she was struggling with herself?
'Maybe I should step down and leave someone else in charge… No that won't stop me from trying to sabotage their efforts… Would it?'
It was never good to abandon one's comrade on the battlefield.
Vale didn't want to go, but she wasn't sure how to proceed here.
How did she manage to turn so much of Octo Valley against Octavia in the first place?
"Just go round up everyone who went with you and take over the janitor's duties as a punishment for now." Vale dismissed Victoria.
"Ahh wait! there are some things you should know about the situation in the Undercity." Victoria protested
"You'll have to come back to me on that." Vale said, and hurried Victoria out of her office. "Oh and since you were the one behind all this! I want you to clean all the toilets, with a toothbrush!"
Then she let out a massive sigh as she sank into her seat.
A moment passed and Vale found herself silently clutching her face.
She knew Octavio had done something to her and the other Elite Octolings.
She knew what they were being forced to do.
What she still didn't know was how to avert all of it.
Was it even possible for her to do?
Vale considered prioritizing the other Elite Octolings as high value targets, as well as handing over leadership to someone else, but she shut those ideas out….
At least she believed it was her who shut those ideas out.
Vale sighed again.
Suddenly she found herself longing for the days of the past.
The times of the Salmonid war, where everyone knew what they were getting into and everyone was on the same side. Octavio, Maria, Octavia…
Granted she did secretly backstab one of her officers, but that was only because she wasn't making logical decisions.
The saying back then was: "The Octarian army is a well oiled machine. And like all machines, it needs every nut, bolt and part inside it to function. If one part breaks, replace it with a new one."
One of the Colonels back then took that a bit to literally and using her troops as bait or meat shields, under the idea that there were always more Octarians to replace them. That led to a bit of a power struggle between her and Vale.
From a bystander's perspective, that would put Vale on a similar level to Octavia; two ambitious and dangerous officers who would screw over their superiors to advance in the ranks.
'But I'm different!' Vale assured herself 'I'm not like Octavia, who doesn't give a damn about casualties as long as she gets all the power.'
Just like that, Vale spent about an hour trying to justify herself, before getting lost in nostalgic memories again.
What snapped her back to reality was Lynn.
"U-umm captain? Why haven't you picked up your rations for tonight?"
'What a great adjutant, coming to check on me when I forgot to leave for dinner. Though I wish she could learn to lose the nervousness in her voice everytime she speaks to me.' Vale thought
Then she realised it, Lynn was here calling reminding her to eat dinner, which meant she wasted an entire day in her office doing nothing.
'Cod dammit!'
Meanwhile, Victoria, Eliza and a few other Octarians had finished their punishment of cleaning the lair.
They arrived at the mess hall a bit later than everyone else, not that it mattered since rationed food would always taste the same.
They were greeted by an Octoball.
"Yo! Finally done cleaning up?"
This one particular Octoball had gone with them to the Undercity, but he did not help clean the lair as he lacked arms, tentacles, or pretty much anything to hold stuff with.
"Yes of course…" Victoria was only slightly annoyed that this stupid ball had gotten off easy.
"What took you so long anyways?" Another Octoling asked.
"You guys had it easy! Since I was the one behind our little unsanctioned mission, the captain made me clean the toilets with a toothbrush!" Victoria replied.
The Octarians who heard this, chuckled a bit at Victoria's misfortune.
"Well, my condolences." the Octoball added "I'd have helped but well, I can't stand the smell of grime! Haha!"
"We know." Eliza cut in "That's why I told Victoria to use your toothbrush."
"...what?"
Victoria nodded in confirmation, then could no longer stop herself from smirking.
"Oh get over yourself!" huffed the Octoball
At that point they noticed Lynn and the captain walk in.
Lynn had already eaten, but she took a seat with Victoria and Eliza regardless.
As for captain Vale, she grabbed her share of rations and left.
"Geez, what's wrong with the captain? She's been holed up in her office for days now." Eliza commented.
The nearby Octarians all gave various shrugs.
Inker noticed Vale's rapidly changing behavior as well.
If he were to guess why Vale was acting like this, it would be because she's trying to figure out how to free Octo Valley from Octavio on her own.
Inker wondered if he should just come clean about the Inkantation, surely Vale could understand if she'd listen to the song for a bit first right?
Or what if everything he knew was a lie and it was actually the Inkantation that brainwashed creatures?
Inker shook the thought out of his head, this was no time for paranoia.
He hurried past Victoria, briefly meeting eyes with Eliza, who frowned upon seeing Agent 3, but did her best to quickly turn away.
With his squid phone in his hands and the Calamari Inkantation selected, Inker took a deep breath, called Cap'n Cuttlefish over his hero suit to double check on what he knew about the song, then he proceeded to explain everything to Captain Vale.
How the Calamari Inkantation was a song which countered I Am Octavio.
Vale's first thought was that Inker was admitting to trying to brainwash her to suit Inkopolis' needs.
Inker insisted he had no such plans.
"Then what about Cuttlefish? I know that old squid is always watching through this." Vale said, placing a finger on Inker's chest.
She was pointing directly at the hidden camera on Inker's Hero Suit, the one Cuttlefish used to check on him at any time.
"Tell me, doesn't Cuttlefish listen in on every one of our exchanges?"
"I wouldn't say that."
Though Vale had guessed correctly, Cuttlefish was listening in every time he spoke with Vale, as he was still suspicious of Vale's change of heart.
She could keep on complaining about Cuttlefish eavesdropping and doing things behind her back, but something stopped her.
She was on the verge of remembering something. It had something to do with that song, it was on the tip of her mind, yet she couldn't figure it out.
Inker looked, confused as to why Captain Vale was making strange facial expressions, as if she was trying really hard to answer a difficult question.
It took a while, but Vale remembered feeling this way before.
Yes, she felt this same feeling back when she was giving a speech to her splatoon about their new goals, she was trying to speak out against Octavio directly, but even though those words, those ideas were right on the tip of her tongue, she couldn't force herself to say it.
'Could this be another part of Octavio's mind conditioning?' Vale wondered
"Play that song." she ordered.
"Huh?" Inker exclaimed
"Play it now." Vale commanded in her usual stern voice, yet there was a hint of uncertainty in it.
Inker obeyed, moments later the Calamari Inkantation resonated throughout Vale's office.
Vale took a deep breath and closed her eyes, as if meditating.
The song was familiar, she had heard it a few times by now.
That's when she remembered, she heard this very same song when she and Victoria took that captured Elite Octoling to Inkopolis for questioning.
She heard that song, not long before meeting Octavio and openly declared her desertion. Then she heard it again when Inker told her about it shortly before she broadcast her message to the Undercity.
In these moments Vale's thoughts and memories became clear.
Octavio's control was deeply rooted into the minds of the Elite Octolings, that's why Vale was unknowingly slowing herself down.
Victoria had been right, with the chaos in the Undercity, now was the best time for this small group of rebelling Octarians to prepare for the upcoming conflict.
But the shock and chaos generated by the rioting populace wouldn't last long, it wouldn't take very long for Octavia and the Elite Octolings to steel themselves and put down those protests in Octavio's name.
'Yes, even if Octavia pretends to lead Octo Valley on her own, she's still a puppet of Octavio, just like me and all the other Elite Octolings.'
"Umm, are you all right?" Inker asked.
Vale had spaced out ever since the Inkantation started playing.
Vale shook herself back and straightened up.
"Yes I'm fine."
The reason she had spaced out, was because she saw how risky it was for things to continue on like this.
She needed a way out, a way to remove herself from the equation, but not doom her subordinates.
"By the way, when are you leaving for Cuttlefish's place? Kal should have brought Lila by now."
"Lila?" Vale looked confused
"You are still going to undo Octavia's brainwashing on Lila right?"
"Oh yeah right! Of course. We'll get going right away!"
Vale wasn't sure why she had offered to do such a thing.
She wasn't against it, but just the timing couldn't be worse, clearly Octavio was clouding her judgement.
Vale wondered what she could possibly do to remove herself from her splatoon without ruining everything for everyone else.
"Lynn!" She called out for her adjutant.
Lynn quickly rushed to Vale's side.
"Yes ma'am!"
"I'm heading out, go gather all the information you can from Victoria and the others, I want a full report done by the time I return."
"Y-yes! Right away!"
Inkopolis Plaza
Back on the surface, Kal and Lila had returned to the manhole.
Lila didn't look too happy to return to Octo Valley, but she still agreed to come.
Kal correctly assumed that Lila knew the dangers that those trigger phrases in her head could pose, thus she was willing to bear with Octo valley and all the bad memories it brought back.
Kal knew how much Lila wanted to stay away from Octo valley, after all he was the one who helped her broadcast that message to Inkopolis telling everyone to stay away from Octo Valley and disband the Vanguard Movement.
But when he mentioned that there was someone in Octo Valley who could remove the trigger words from her, Lila accepted immediately.
Lila's determination to make things right, reminded Kal of a certain someone currently hiding out in Octo Valley.
Lila hesitated a bit when they arrived, but she took a deep breath and hopped into the manhole to Octo Valley.
Kal followed shortly after.
Cuttlefish was there to greet them.
Kal looked to the side and saw what appeared to be DJ Octavio's snowglobe, though it was now wrapped thoroughly in blankets and pillows so he couldn't catch a glimpse of Octavio.
"What happened to Octavio?" Kal wondered
"Listen here bucko, you can never be too careful around your enemies. I ain't going to risk Octavio speaking and using Lila to escape."
"Oh I see."
Though Kal questioned whether or not Cuttlefish should be called paranoid or thoughtful, maybe a bit of both.
"You just happen to have a ton of blankets on hand, in case you need to shut up Octavio?"
"Nah, I had to borrow some from my grandchildren… Hey what's with that look of yours?"
Some of those blankets covering Octavio's snowglobe were used by Callie and Marie.
As a huge fan of the Squid Sisters, Kal felt the urge to nab one for a souvenir, but he didn't know which was which, so he shut that idea out.
Inker was late.
Or rather they didn't set a time to meet up, nor did they have the Octarians' innate sense of time.
Kal and Lila had to awkwardly wait for almost half an hour before Captain Vale and Inker showed up.
When they eventually arrived, Vale and Cuttlefish stared each other down once again.
"So you trust me now? Or do you need to watch a few more hours of me and your agent co-operating?" Vale called out Cuttlefish on his eavesdropping through Inker's hidden camera.
"I have better things to do than watch my agents all day, don't super jump to conclusions just cause ya know how to spot a hidden camera."
Sensing a fight brewing between the two captains, Inker started playing the Calamari Inkantation to hopefully calm Vale down.
Understanding his intentions, Vale laughed and looked at Inker. "What? Did you think we were going to shoot each other?"
Then she turned her attention to Lila.
Lila recognised Vale in a flash, in a bit of a panic, she instinctively grabbed Kal.
"It's her!" Lila whispered to Kal
"Yeah, she's the one who going to fix you."
Lila rapidly glanced between Vale and Kal.
"Are you sure? Do you remember what she did to us in Melanin prison?"
"Yeah but.. well she seems to have changed for the better after she was chased out of the Octarian army."
Vale eyed Lila and Kal whispering back and forth.
"I see Lila's is less than thrilled to see me, oh well, if she changes her mind now that's understandable."
"No, I'm fine." Lila insisted
Vale turned to Cuttlefish.
"And I assume the good Cap'n will want to stand by and watch because he still doesn't trust me?"
"Nah, just get it done and get outta my house." Perhaps feeling a bit guilty after being called out earlier, Cuttlefish agreed to leave Vale to do her own work.
"Good, now Agent 3, hand over your phone, I don't want to mess this up, so I want to hear the Inkantation at all times."
"I can take care of that, you just run along bucko." Cuttlefish added
Finally Vale looked at Lila again.
"Well?"
Lila moved towards Vale, but Kal stopped her for a moment.
"We'll be out here, so scream if anything goes wrong."
Lila nodded, then she and Captain Vale disappeared into Cuttlefish's shack together.
Kal and Inker waited patiently outside the house.
They could hear the muffled sounds of Calamari Inkantation playing within, it had been on a loop for the past 15 minutes now.
Kal, growing uneasy, went inside to check on Lila, but so far everything seemed fine.
Vale didn't seem to be hurting Lila in any way.
When he came back outside, Inker was speaking the universal language to a jellyfish who had just came through the manhole.
The jellyfish however, only presented Inker with a receipt.
"What is this? I didn't order anything. Hold on let me see that. Hmm the name says…"
"Ahhh! That's mine!"
Out of nowhere Neon snatched the receipt, signed it rapidly and shoved it back to the jellyfish.
"Gahh! Where did you come from!"
"I was just making my way back!" Neon glanced around "Is Sky not here?"
"No, why would he be here?"
"Oh…" Neon showed just a hint of sadness.
Meanwhile the jellyfish took one look at the receipt, then left.
Moments later he returned, with a few more jellyfish wearing matching outfits.
The Jellyfish of Inkopolis were linked to one another in a hive mind, so they were regarded as a well coordinated workforce in Inkopolis. That was shown here as the Jellyfishes' walked perfectly in sync with one another as they carried crates through the manhole and left them in front of Cuttlefish's shack.
"What's the meaning of this? Why are these jellies unloading crates into Octo Valley?"
"Oh that's simple! So you know how I'm not coming back until the final splatfest is done? Well to be honest, I may have felt just a tiny little bit guilty about that. So I'm helping Vale restock on rationable food before saying goodbye! It's not that much, but I think it can feed the whole lair for a few more weeks."
"Wha… wait so this is all non perishable food? There's so much! How much money did you spend?!" Inker exclaimed
"It's nothing I can't afford, actually if you know the right suppliers and plan to buy in bulk, they often offer you discounts so that they can guarantee the sale."
"Since when did you know all that? Hold on, you said it's nothing you can't afford, are you secretly a rich girl or something?"
"I'm loaded with normally useless knowledge remember! Haha!"
'What a weird thing to brag about. Though this is Neon.'
Even though they had known each other for quite some time, Neon was still full of surprises.
"Nah, I just have alot saved up cause I only need one Custom E-Liter to dominate ranked." Neon proudly announced.
"But you bought that E-Liter recently. Actually you bought several.." Kal pointed out
"So what? Hey don't tell me you are secretly a gold digger, sorry but you should stay on the Victoria route."
"That's not what I meant!"
"Yeah I get it, I'm just playing with ya."
Neon turned and prepared to leave again, then she remembered something else.
She grabbed Inker and shouted into his Hero Suit
"Heyyyy! Sky! Can you hear me?"
"Even if he can hear you, you won't be able to hear him." Inker reminded.
"Ahh right! I'm too used to Sky being mission control… Anyways! See Sky! I'm not a buffoon! I'm actually very thoughtful!" Neon ignored what Inker said and continued shouting at his Hero suit, just in case Sky was wearing his Hero headset and was listening.
"Well that's that, you'll have to carry everything back to the lair. I'm off to Inkopolis now! Inker you take care and try to stop getting splatted, Kal good luck with Victoria!"
Before any of her friends could reply, Neon dashed for the manhole.
Though she stopped for a brief moment and looked back.
Perhaps so part of her wanted to stay, but the splatfest meant everything to her.
If she had to choose between freeing Octo Valley or the Final splatfest, she would pick the Splatfest, that's the kind of Inkling she was.
Not hero, just someone out for a good time.
Neon had made up her mind, she wasn't going to come back until after the final splatfest.
Inside Cuttlefish's shack, Vale worked on Lila while the Calamari Inkantation was still playing.
She didn't want to unknowingly mess things up and turn Lila into a servant of Octavio, so she made sure that song was always playing to keep her head clear.
There were certain tools and drugs needed to fix Lila, luckily Vale had all she needed on hand.
She held up a syringe, which contained a mixture of various elements.
There was one last thing she needed.
She turned to Lila, who lay comfortably on a sofa.
"I know I wasn't exactly friendly when we first met, but right now I need you to trust me for this to work." Vale said
"I do." Lila replied
She might say so, but Vale could tell when someone was lying.
Like she always told Lynn and the rest of her splatoon, there was no point in proceeding with anything if there was no trust.
She sighed, and put down the needle.
"Do you know why I'm doing this? Lila."
Lila shook her head.
"I was wronged, being forced to do things I didn't want to do. Just like you were."
This got Lila's attention.
To Lila, Vale was a very strong character who was the type to give orders and be in control, not be controlled.
"Do you remember the name Claire?" Vale asked.
"Yes."
Back when Lila was imprisoned at Melanin prison, Claire was the Octoling who was assigned to look after her after she survived the boiling pit. So naturally Lila trusted Claire.
In reality, Claire was Vale's right hand, Vale had plans for Lila back but for them to succeed she first needed Lila to develop feelings of compassion and trust someone who could act as her handler.
Unfortunately Octavia took Lila off Vale's hands before she could follow through with her plans.
Luckily now she could use Claire to try and get Lila to trust her and make this un-brainwashing process much easier.
"Claire and several others were killed by our Acting Leader, an Elite Octoling named Octavia." Vale continued "She was my protege, and she died protecting me."
There was a hint of sadness in Vale's usually stern and commanding voice.
Lila could tell she meant what she was saying.
"Then after that, I thought to get revenge on Octavia by getting rid of her and freeing DJ Octavio. But then I found out that DJ Octavio was not who I thought he was, he controlled me, he used me." Vale explained "So now here I am, trying to make up for everything I did under his sway."
Lila nodded.
"I understand, I really do. I understand how you feel."
Lila went through similar things.
She lost her beloved family to the Octarians, then she realized she was being used for Octavia's goals.
Right now, Lila felt that Vale was not the captain from Melanin prison, but someone who had been through the same troubles she had.
Lila wasn't as experienced as Vale when it came to reading microexpressions, but to her the emotion behind Vale's words was enough to make her believable.
Naturally, that made her begin to trust Vale.
"I was forced to lure dozens of Inklings into Octo Valley, only for them to be splatted one after the other….."
"I know, I heard all about from Agent 3, the Vanguard Movement, the trigger words, a shattered girl."
The two were vastly different, one was a young and naive 11 year old, another was a 35 year old veteran of war. Yet the two had such similarities in their lives.
"Do you ever feel the need to get back at the Octarians? Or rather Acting Leader Octavia?" Vale asked.
"U-umm well, it's bad to hurt people right? and I can't do anything, it should be left to Agent 3."
"Hmm…. of course."
Vale came upon a realization.
The 'way out' that she was seeking, had been lying in front of her all along.
There were also people she could depend on.
'Agent 3, Lynn, Victoria and all those others. If I can't stop Octavio myself, I should make it so that I can leave it to them.'
Well that was for later.
For now she should get this little distraction out of her way.
"I think we understand one another, with that comes trust. Let's proceed, though you'll probably fall asleep after this."
"I don't mind."
With Lila's approval and trust, Vale began her work.
A/N: I've mentioned before that Neon was my favorite character to write due to her peculiar personality, so even though I'm the one running this story, it's sad that I have to take her out for the time being. Anyways, I was kind of stuck for a bit here trying to tie previous events together, but I think it worked out well.