Disclaimer: I do not own Splatoon 2 or it's characters
If you honestly think some schmuck on Fanfiction owns anything they write about, you have only yourself to blame, ya goober.
Chapter 3
Day 2
If it were physically possible for sleep to feel both refreshing and completely awful at the same time, that's what was happening to Agent 4 as he blinked awake inside his tiny room in Cuttlefish Cabin. Despite not having any rigid bone structure in his body, his back was killing him from sleeping on the lumpy, old mattress. That's not even to mention how it felt like his skin had some kind of nasty film over it (Probably a combination of his sweat and Octarian ink he didn't clean off himself the day before). He may have desperately needed a shower and felt sore on the outside, but mentally, he felt completely refreshed. Seeing as he would probably be staying there for the foreseeable future, or at least until he was able to recover the Great Zapfish, he stowed his headphones and backpack underneath the bed before going outside to try and find a place for him to take a shower.
Unfortunately, he caught a whiff of himself as he was getting up. If he had anything in his stomach, he probably would have thrown up right then and there.
"Uugh..! Oh Cod, that's awful…! What the shell… is that me!?" he gagged as he looked around for something to scrub himself with.
He was able to find an outdoor shower attached to the side of the cabin (With a curtain, thank cod).
After thoroughly scrubbing himself and putting on a fresh set of clothes, he made his way back to the bedroom to start getting ready to go. To his surprise, Marie was standing by his door with her hand raised, presumably to knock and wake him up.
"Oh, you're already awake?"
"Mornin'... yeah, I woke up a few minutes ago. Felt super gross after everything yesterday, so I used the shower over there…" As soon as he said 'shower' Marie got a surprised look on her face.
"Oh, uhh… I hope you don't mind… guess I didn't ask if I could use it first…"
"Oh, no, I don't mind at all, really. Just a bit surprised, is all."
"Surprised? At me showering? Why, is that weird or something?" No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't find what would be weird about it.
Marie looked as though she was about to say something, but shook it off.
"No, it's not. Just... reminded me of someone, is all. Anywho, enough about your showering habits. You're awake, so finish getting ready so we can get back to business."
"Right! Where to next?" His excitement from the previous day returned as he zipped up his hero hoodie and grabbed his hero headphones.
"I had a look around before I found you yesterday, looks like we'll need 3 zapfish in total to open up that big kettle over there." She pointed at a big kettle on an elevated part near the center of the outpost. "See it? If I had to guess, I'd say they have an Octoboss down there guarding another zapfish."
"Octoboss, what's that?"
"Big Octarian baddie. I'll tell you more about them later, for now just go over there, into that kettle."
She pointed to another rusty kettle, identical to the one he went into the day before. Except, this one was surrounded on all sides by a tall and equally rusty fence.
"That one behind the fence?"
"Yep, just use your squid form to slip through."
The interior of the second octodome base was just as mind-boggling to Agent 4 as the first, if not more. While the first one looked like a slice taken right out of Inkopolis, this second one resembled an island resort. It even had the walls covered in screens, showing the illusion of the ocean stretching out into the far distance. Despite the marvel in front of him, Agent 4's eyes rested on a slightly more terrifying aspect of the octarian base, the massive pool of water stretching across the entire bottom of the dome. The entire base was made up of platforms stretching out of the water on metal stilts.
"U-uhh… M-Marie…? Is that..?"
"Sea water? Yep. Do yourself a favor and don't fall in, lest you disintegrate."
"That's what I was afraid you were gonna say…"
Despite having to move through it slower due to his completely justified fear of the water, Agent 4 made his way through the octodome with more ease than on the previous day. He certainly wasn't expecting to have to deal with missiles that walk like a man, but he still dealt with it just fine. It was going so well, that Four decided to try and get some information out of Marie while he made his way through the Octodome.
"So Marie, I'm Agent 4, and you're Agent 2…" He began.
"Uhh yeah. Congrats on remembering that much?"
"I'm guessing Callie is Agent 1…" He continued.
"You'd be right… Where are you going with this?"
"Who's Agent 3?"
And just like that, silence.
"Uhh… Marie? You still there?"
"Don't worry about Agent 3. You have a job to do, get back to it." She finally replied, with a cold edge to her voice.
This is usually where Four would leave it, along with an apology, but that response seemed less like her scolding him for getting off task, and more like her trying to dodge his question. So he decided to stop for a few seconds and see if he can get a little more information.
"Aw c'mon, shouldn't I get to know my fellow agents in case….. uhhh... I have to work with them at some point…?"
"Yeah… right… Well it doesn't matter… They're not here now, so get going." She shot back, annoyance evident in her voice.
"I can fight and talk at the same time!"
"Well, for starters, he certainly wasn't as needy, annoying, and apparently easily distracted as you, now get moving!"
"Ouch… Sor-.."
"And shut up while you're at it…" She added, cutting off his hasty apology.
He could tell she was dodging his question again, but this time he decided not to press her any further. Now, based on how he took it when that girl had made fun of him during his first turf war, he wasn't very good at taking insults, but for some reason it hurt even more when coming from Marie. Maybe it was because she was one of his idols. He just silently followed any instructions she gave him through the rest of the mission, not even wanting to fight back against her insults. Even with the new obstacle, sponge blocks, Agent 4 was able to retrieve the Zapfish at the end with relative ease.
He tried to silently drop off the Zapfish and head to the next kettle too, but Marie stopped him halfway there. He decided to keep his eyes down at his boots, not wanting to look her in the eye at the moment, lest he get a death glare.
"Agent 4, wait…"
"..."
"Look… I'm sorry for snapping at you.. You were just curious… but I just….. Don't want to talk about Agent 3 much… ok? Personal reasons, y'know? I'll tell you more about them, Just not yet, ok..?"
"...I'm sorry too... for talkin' so much…. I'll clam up during missions now, no unnecessary chatter…."
"No, no.. It's fine… It's fine if you speak your mind, as long as you stay focused on the mission. Besides… It's… kinda nice to have someone to talk to… even if that someone is you… er.. Sorry, that came out wrong."
"Don't… worry about it.. I know I can be annoying.." He finally looked up to meet Marie's gaze.
"I won't bring up Agent 3 anymore..I'll wait until you're good and ready to talk about them. Promise."
After he said that, he could have sworn he saw a small smile cross Marie's face.
"Well.. good. I appreciate it. Now, go on. Only one more Zapfish until you open up the big kettle."
With a crooked smile crossing his face, he gave his senior agent a salute.
"You got it! Onwards!"
his previous excitement renewed, he made his way to the final regular kettle on the outpost. At least he was until Marie grabbed him by the arm as he walked past her.
"Wait, wait. You forgot this when you left this morning." She said as she held up a small, camo-patterned elastic band.
"Eh..? Oh, I forgot my scrunchie?" He hadn't even noticed that his tentacles were still down.
"Here.. let me." She spun him around and quickly pulled his back 2 tentacles into a neat ponytail.
"Whoa, that was fast… Thanks!" It usually took up to 5 minutes of awkward fumbling to get his ponytail done every morning, unless his sister or mom helped him.
"Now they won't get in your way. Alright, now get moving."
"Right!" Finally, the young agent-in-training sprinted off to the next kettle with renewed vigor.
The third octodome was 4's favorite one yet. Not only was he in a better mood after his little talk with Marie, but the giant monitors on the walls emulated the soft orange and pink glow of a sunset. That coupled with the rock formations on the very top and bottom of the dome made the scenery absolutely gorgeous. It was too bad he couldn't stand around all day and gawk at it, or he probably would have.
"This place is so freakin' pretty…" Four exclaimed as he flew across a treadmill-like ramp that launched him to the other end of a gap.
"I think I can agree with you on that.. Hey, watch those giant ink pistons."
"What giant ink pis- OH CARP!"
He was able to jump backwards at the very last moment before being splatted by a giant spinning pillar of ink shooting out of a wall.
"Phew… Too close…"
"Wow, solid reaction time, Four. Can I call you Four? I'm calling you Four."
The compliment was nice, but almost getting smeared across the ground wasn't. He'd have to watch those ink piston thingies in the future.
As the mission continued, Four had slowly gotten the timing of the ink pistons down-pat. It was going very well, at least until he met a new type of Octotrooper, the Twintacle Octotrooper. When it dropped from the sky on a balloon, it caught Four completely off guard. When he caught a glance at it, he was expecting a single, big, slow shot of ink, like the normal Octotroopers. Instead, he was met with multiple small and very fast shots. So fast that he wasn't able to dodge them in time. He took the ink shots to his chest and the outer part of his armor shattered.
"Agh..! M-My armor…"
It hurt, but he was able to jump off the platform he was on and hide behind it for a few moments.
"Oof… sorry about that. I didn't think you'd run into Twintacle Octoslobs yet… the higher-ups must be onto us… Carp, thought we could go a little longer until they noticed what we were doing…"
"So they're stepping up their game…? 'Cause they noticed that I'm out here stealin' the Zapfish back? Geez… That didn't take long.. Have I really been that conspicuous…?"
"Eh.. don't feel too bad. We were bound to get noticed eventually. After what happened 2 years ago, I shouldn't be surprised if Octavio is a bit more on edge.."
"Octavio? Is he the big boss of the Octarians?" Four asked as his hero suit finally regenerated.
"You got it.. Gramps and… er.. Agent 3 captured him after saving the Great Zapfish last time. He escaped about a year ago… That's why Three and Gramps are away right now. They went looking for him."
"Well… Guess they didn't find him. That or they got captured or something…"
Even though he hadn't met them yet, the thought of his captain and fellow agent being in the enemy's clutches was unnerving to say the least. Marie was able to quell these worries rather quickly though.
"Nah.. I know both of them… they wouldn't get captured so easily. Well.. one of them wouldn't. But I'm still not worried."
"Well, if you're not worried.. then I guess I won't be either!" Jumping back up onto the platform, he was able to splat the twintacle Octotrooper before it even registered his presence.
"Hehe.. how was that?"
"Alright, alright. No need to get cocky. C'mon, Zapfish should be just ahead."
After using the nearby dash tracks to get to the end of that area, Agent 4 faced the final obstacle between him and the Zapfish, a long line of thin platforms and dash tracks spaced apart by ink pistons. All of them were quickly extending from and retracting into the surrounding walls.
"Ok… how?" No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like there was no way for him to get through without being splatted.
"Oh carp… there's a window to get through, but the timing is tight…"
"I… think I can see it…" Four said with a nervous gulp. "That last spawn pad has extra energy, right? So I'm not gonna die if I… well… die, right?"
"Yep. I'd say it has about 3 revives in it, if I had to guess."
"Right.. Ok.."
He narrowed his eyes, slid his hero shot in between his back and ink tank to free up his arms and waited for his moment. After letting the ink pistons cycle a few times to get the pattern down, he sprinted at the first dash track.
"Haaaaaaa…!"
He could hear the ink piston behind him extend outwards as he flew past it, then the next, then the last.
"HO-LY CAAAAAARP!" Exclaimed Marie as she watched him fly through the trap, flipping in the air off the last ramp and sticking the landing on the far platform.
He expected Marie to comment about him showing off with the extra flip at the end, but the rest of the maneuver was impressive enough for her to let the extra flair slide.
Four, on the other hand, was more impressed that his insides weren't currently covering the walls.
"Holycarpholycarpholycarp…. I totally almost died there…"
"Yeah, but you didn't! Grab that Zapfish, I'll see you when you get back." Marie certainly sounded kind of hyped up. As one would be after seeing a daring stunt like that.
After breaking the barrier with a splat bomb and gently grabbing the Zapfish from it's prison, he quickly realized just how hungry he was starting to feel. It couldn't have been that far into the afternoon, but his stomach was growling and he felt ready to fall over.
This agent stuff is more tiring than I thought it would be… think I forgot to have breakfast this morning too… He thought to himself, neglecting to remember that he didn't roll out of bed until around 11:30 this morning, despite Marie saying she was gonna wake him early. Guess it really is true; most inklings were lazy in the morning.
"Alright… returning to base." He said once he had caught his breath.
One super jump later, he was crawling back out of the kettle in Tentakeel Outpost. Marie was there waiting for him as he exited, holding what looked like a sheet of paper.
"Nicely done, Agent 4. That's another one down." Marie said as she peeled a blue squid-shaped sticker off the sheet she was holding and stuck it to the side of the kettle.
"Eh? What are the stickers for?"
"These? Oh, I got bored, so I decided to mark the Octodomes that you have already cleared."
"With stickers?" He had to keep himself from laughing, seeing the usually very mature Marie do something so childish.
"Yeah, with stickers. Something weird about that? Gramps did the same thing last time."
"No, nothing at a- huh?" He was interrupted mid-thought by the loud hiss and wine of the large kettle in the center of the outpost turning and opening, causing steam to lift from the grate within.
"Welp, that's it. That big one has to have an octoboss in it. I'd bet my splat charger on it."
"Right… Let's do thi-" Four was once again interrupted, but this time, by a low growl coming from his stomach. "...uhhhh.."
"You totally forgot to eat this morning, didn't you, Four?"
"...Maybe…. I was excited to get back to it, ok?"
"Mmmmhm, yeah. C'mon, let's take a break. I can tell you more about Octobosses while we eat."
Four followed Marie back up to the Cuttlefish Cabin area of the outpost. Dragging his feet just a little out of slight exhaustion.
"Yikes… guess you're a bit more tired than I thought… We'll have to work on that stamina of yours."
"Sorry…"
"Quit worrying so much. You have some time to train yourself, Octavio probably won't get serious for a while yet."
"Huh? Why's that?" Four asked, taking off his hero headphones, unzipping his hoodie and sitting down on the bench attached to the cabin.
"Knowing him, he'll probably underestimate you. He'll save his better traps and troops for when he sees you as more of a threat. Simple as that."
"Oooooh… That's not all that smart. Why wouldn't he just use his best to take me down before I become a problem?" This question put a half-smile on Marie's face.
"Where's the fun in that? Anyways, you've gotta be starving, and I could certainly eat too.. Stay here, I'll be right back."
While Marie was gone, Four took another shower. It probably wasn't needed, but he'd rather jump off the side of the outpost and into the purple mystery juice below than risk getting THAT smelly again. His mother taught him better than that. Plus, a nice cold shower after a workout was always nice. He just finished drying and re-dressing himself when Marie returned.
"Alright, got us some grub. Courtesy of Crusty Sean's food truck in the square."
When Marie held out the plate of food for him, he thought it was some kind of joke. It looked like someone took a waffle and topped it with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and….. A tempura shrimp…?
"What the shell…? Shrimp on a waffle…? Why?" He was almost at a loss for words at the crime against food in front of him.
"Hey, try it before you call it weird. Trust me, Sean is a genius when it comes to fried foods." She said almost scoldingly as she handed him the plate and pulled out another, presumably for herself.
"If you say so…"
He waited until Marie took a bite of hers, but soon went in for some himself, getting a little of everything on his fork before trying it.
"What th… What kind of food-based witchcraft is this…? These foods should not go together… like, at all. But it's good…. Really good… My stomach is so confused…"
"Four, it's just a Shwaffle. Nothing worth having a crisis over."
"But it doesn't make any sense!"
"Hush. Now, do you wanna hear more about the octobosses, or not?"
This got his attention.
"I do… what do you think I'll be facing in that kettle?" He said as he shoveled more of the caloric catastrophe in front of him into his mouth.
"Truthfully? I have no idea. Could be something I've seen before, could be something new, but one thing is always the same about these things…"
"What is it…?"
"If they're anything like the Great Octoweapons we faced a couple years back… They'll all have one fatal flaw in their design. Something they do will leave them wide open, and that's when you have to strike."
"'Something?' That's kinda vague… what exactly am I looking for?"
"A big tentacle. Whatever you face, find a way to counter it's attacks and reveal the core tentacle. Do enough damage to the core… bye bye Octoboss. All you gotta do is figure out how to reveal it."
"Ok, I think I'm getting it… Are you sure I'm ready for something like this, Marie…? I-I mean.. It's only been 3 missions, an- ow..!" Four was cut off mid-sentence by a slap to the face. "What was that for, Marie..!?"
"For doubting yourself. It's self doubt and hesitation that will get you killed out there, and believe it or not, you're starting to grow on me. So I'd rather not have to see you die for some stupid reason like that."
"What do yo-"
"Four, you're a lot better at this than you think."
"But I-"
"Up-up-up, I'm talking, so listen. Sure your skills with a weapon and the flow of battle need some work, and you could stand to do some cardio every now and again, but I saw something in you in that first turf war you did. At first, I wrote it off as some sort of fluke, but watching you in those three missions confirmed it. Four, you're one of the fastest inklings I've ever seen."
"I'm… fast?"
"Not just fast, you've got some crazy agility, and solid reflexes to boot. I saw it."
"Wait, you said you saw it during that first turf war…?"
"When that girl with the E-liter shot at you and you dodged it? Four, that shot had already left the barrel by the time you even noticed it, and you still were able to dodge it without a drop on you! Do you have any idea how fast a charger's ink shot travels? You had like, less than a fraction of a second to get out of the way and still pulled it off! You didn't even notice it when you did it, did you?"
"I mean… I remember the shot you were talking about… but… that had to be a fluke, right? Maybe she was off her mark and just flat out missed me…?"
"You see, that's what I was thinking too, that was until that last Octodome you went through. You were standing squarely in front of that ink piston and got out of the way no problem."
"But the ink piston wasn't nearly as fast.."
"Yeah, as it still missed you by a mile, you got out of the way so fast. Sure, it wasn't superinkling speed or anything, but dang, man! With flashes of brilliance like that, you've got some serious potential!"
Four really didn't know what to say to this. Sure, it's nice to hear that someone believes in him after yesterday, but he still didn't see himself as anything special. Then Marie spoke again.
"Of course.. You won't be able to do much with just potential. I thought I'd just be able to throw you out there and you'd be fine… but I think some proper training might be in order here... "
"Training? For being an agent? Or an Ink battler?"
"Well, making you a better ink battler will make you a better agent, so both. You might not believe it, but Callie and I have done our fair share of turf wars. Really shakes up the monotony of being a newscaster."
"Wait, so you want to train me..?"
"Sure. Consider it a thank you for blindly throwing yourself at the Octarians to help me out."
"Speaking of that… if I'm busy finding the zapfish, when will I have time to train?"
"We'll make time. After you take down that octoboss, we'll probably want to lay low for a bit. Stay here at Cuttlefish Cabin for a few days in case they launch a counterattack of any sort. We can train then."
"And you'll be the one training me?"
"Well, yeah. I'm the only one here. Got a problem with that?"
"No..! No! Of course not! I'd be honored to train under you!"
Of course he didn't doubt her abilities or anything, she had already taught him so much after all, but even now it was still kinda weird seeing her as anything other than the pop star he'd been a fan of for years now. In fact, he'd probably still be hopelessly starstruck if she hadn't turned out to be so down-to-earth and easy to talk too, sarcasm and Agent 3 notwithstanding.
"Well good. Finish up lunch and get ready to go. You have an octoboss to splat."
"Yes ma'am!" Four exclaimed with a salute before diving back into his shwaffle.
Meanwhile at Cephalon HQ
At the bottom of Octo canyon, concealed within a massive pool of Octarian ink, lays the main stronghold of the Ocatarian army, Cephilon HQ. Within the massive metal stronghold, was the leader of the Octarian army and general of the Octarian race himself, DJ Octavio. He was currently sitting on his throne, receiving news from one of his elite Octolings.
"Gaaaaaahhh…. How many Zapfishhhhh have been lost now?" The octarian general complained, slamming his wassabi stalks on the turntable in front of his throne.
"3 sir. And we expect the final one hidden at Tentakeel Outpost will be the next to be under attack."
"Have you been able to find out who it is taking them..?" He growled, seething with anger that his plans were being interfered with.
"Is it… Cuttlefishhhh.. And that brat, Agent 3…?" Just saying those names again made him see red. Being trapped in that cursed snowglobe for well over a year gave him plenty of time to stew in his anger. Despite this, he was still wary of Agent 3, as the agent had not only single-handedly toppled his previous plan to take the Great Zapfish for himself, but personally embarrassed him in front of nearly the entire Octarian race. Just thinking about their cold, silver eyes simultaneously brought his ink to a boil and sent a chill down his non-existent spine.
"From what our scouts have been able to find, it is not Agent 3. His precise appearance and whether or not he is associated with the New Squidbeak Splatoon is still unclear. But we do know he is a male Inkling, several years younger than Agent 3 at least."
"I see…. Gahahaha… Excellent… has the Octo Oven been prepared to deploy?" Octavio tried to hide his relief that he may not have to face Agent 3 again after all.
"It is already at the site, general."
"Perfect… Let's see how this slimy little hipster handles 425 degrees of pain... Gah hahahaha!"
The Octarian general's laugh echoed throughout the entire base.
Alrighty then, three down.
I feel like I've read and re-read this chapter a hundred times. Despite this, I bet I still missed an awkward sentence or two, but whatever at this point. Honestly, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Good job, past me, there might be some hope for you yet. At time of writing this, I've written a bit more of chapter 5 and honestly I'm starting to get into it a bit. Must be that Splatoon 3 hype getting to me. Back when i was young and stupid, the original plan was to get through Hero mode and roll right into a story about the Octo Expantion. Soooo lets see how far we get, I guess?
As always, any reviews are appreciated. Yes, even the mean ones.
Until we meet again,
~Ghost
