Marie had imagined all sorts of consequences to being caught exterminating the crab gangs – army, rather. But never had she imagined anything like this.
Most of the attack on the crab's bayside stronghold was a blur to her. She vaguely recalled using a rope to tie up some giant crabs and then a bright flash. From there, it was all emotion and… red. She knew she had lost control to the beast, for the first time since she was eight years-old. She could only imagine the damage she had done. For the time being, however, she was dealing with the damage done to herself.
Marie couldn't do much more than wiggle. Her whole body had swollen into an almost football shape. Her arms and legs were little more than stumps sticking out of a round, blimp-like body. She couldn't even move her neck to look around, and lying on her front, she looked like a beached whale. Rather, Callie, across the aisle from her, looked like a beached whale, but Marie knew she was in the same condition.
"It's mostly swelling as a result of unusually high blood and ink flow," the doctor explained. "You two were actually worse yesterday. Honestly, we were all worried about the strain on your hearts, but they seem to be putting up with it fine."
"I don't need two family members with heart problems," her mother grumbled, almost glaring at Marie as she said it. "Do you two realize they almost needed cranes and heavy trucks to haul you two off that wharf?"
Mother, I'm lying on my stomach and nearly at eye level with you, I don't need to be told how big I am; I'm painfully aware.
The doctor tutted. "Now, Mrs. Sansea, I'm sure they've suffered enough embarrassment. Besides, most people are talking about how the Squid Sisters single-handedly defeated and then devoured two monster crabs that threatened to destroy large parts of inkopolis."
Devoured? Oh… so that's why I'm not hungry even though I've not eaten for two days. She remembered the large crabs in her hazy memory of that day and imagined eating one of them and how big she'd get as a result. This was something she would never live down. She didn't even want to know how much she weighed right now.
Huh… I'm oddly calm about this, aren't I?
"Speaking of which," the doctor said, interrupting Marie's thoughts. "The digesting and movement of nutrients from such a large meal is one of the reasons you two are so swollen. Thanks to yun'brennen, all those nutrients are being put into your growth and development. Now, I've spoken with your regular doctor and it seems you two have been experiencing an usually intense yun'brennen. We're going to see what kind of data we can collect and have specialists look at it to see if we can learn anything new, but I'm afraid you'll both be here for a while."
Callie and Marie both groaned. They figured that would be the case but having it confirmed didn't make them feel any better.
"And what exactly will happen to them between then and now, doctor?" Silvie asked.
"It's difficult to say. Our instruments are having trouble getting through all the… um… flesh in the way and what's left of their meal. All we know is that they're bodies are growing as they normally would, except much faster. They've already grown about ten centimeters in just these two days."
Ten centimeters? That's impossible!
"How can that be?" Her mother demanded. "Marie has no giant or colossal blood on either side."
"But they are also part dreadnought squid, are they not?"
The doctor's statement brought a crushing silence into the room.
"It's true the dreadnought gene rarely has much of an effect on people; however, there have been cases where it's resulted in dramatic deviations from inkling norms. We should be open to the possibility that this is one of those cases. We don't know exactly how big they're going to get but at least their present physical condition isn't new. It has been known to happen if girls eat excessively during yun'brennen; although, not quite to this extent. Don't worry though, the swelling will go down eventually and there should be no adverse affects to their health. This might even get their yun'brennen over faster."
"I certainly hope so," her mother said, worry creeping into her voice. "I don't want to imagine what else it might be."
The doctor chuckled, her mantle turning a reassuring green colour. "Don't worry, Mrs. Sansea. I assure you there's nothing to worry about."
Marie wasn't sure if her mother caught it, given all the thoughts and emotions she was currently dealing with, but Marie herself was an actress with a not insignificant amount of practice interrogating people, and she knew, without question, that the doctor was lying.
"If I could reach I'd whack both of ya'. You attack crabs that have been well entrenched for over a year after doing such shoddy intelligence gathering? Of course it's going to turn into a disaster!"
Three and Four hung their heads low, their mantles a submissive white as Captain Cuttlefish berated them. They had no excuse.
"I think it's a little unfair to criticize a couple of kids for something like that," the Chief Pein said, watching the scene with no small amount of amusement in his eyes. "Besides, you should be proud of them for how they succeeded in spite of everything that went wrong."
"Of course I'm cursed proud of 'em!" Captain Cuttlefish shouted. "They put the safety of Inkopolis over their own, even willing to sacrifice their own freedom to do it. They've already got you, of all people, on their back. Don't mean I can't criticize 'em either."
"Fair enough. I don't know what else you've been up to but, for now at least, that doesn't matter. What we're concerned about now is dealing with the fallout of all this. We've nipped the Consortium's plan in the bud but there will still be consequences, and we have Bellchora's safety to worry about. At first, we thought our coast guard would be able to do enough, but seeing how far the crabs are willing to go, I think it's safe to say that they won't be."
"Obviously. So, what, you've come to me for a solution?"
"They insisted," he gestured to Three and Four. "They said that you, better than anyone else, knew how to defend Calachora."
Captain Cuttlefish met the eyes of both girls. Three could only imagine all the things he could be thinking. They had effectively just undone much of what he had been working towards for decades, with the secrecy of the New Squidbeak Splatoon effectively gone, but she and Four both hoped this could give him something else.
"Same thing I've been saying for years: we need a standing army, or at least a militia. Had my crew not put an army together for you, you'd be up to your necks in rampaging crabs right now."
"I'm well aware, painfully so. Unfortunately, the investigation is still ongoing and the monarch can't decide on her own to raise an army without the approval of the Assembly, and that's assuming she wouldn't oppose it herself. She's been an ardent pacifist her whole career."
"And before that," the Captain groused. "It's partly her fault that the Octarians remained a threat after the war."
"I'm not here to talk about what happened a hundred years ago, I'm here to talk about now. If we were to raise a militia, could you help train it?"
Captain Cuttlefish stared at him. For once he had actually been stunned silent.
"OrvenIi would never accept me," he said. "She hates my guts."
"And more besides, I'm sure, but if the Assembly decides to create an army, and public opinion is strongly leading towards that right now, then she will have little choice. The trainers for the enforcers train them for police work, not soldiering. Only our veterans have the necessary experience for that and, despite what Orveni might say, you were one of our best."
"And my agents were so effective that you want as many of them for yourself as you can get."
"I'm under no such delusions. We might be able to make some kind of special forces unit made up of people like them, but even I know that they aren't something that can be replicated."
"Not really. But if you want an army of people who would be able to hold their own, I can do that. I might know some friends who would be willing to help."
The chief smiled, slipping his hands behind his back. "I'm glad to hear that. So, you accept then?"
The captain let out a wheeze that passed for a sigh. "Well, since the NSS is probably going to be bust at this point and my kids won't shut up about me retiring, I guess this is a way to get around that. Assuming you can somehow get this past Orvenii."
"She doesn't need to know, for now, and she doesn't decide those things, I do. Anyway, it wouldn't look good for her to have past grudges affect her better judgement. There are plenty of people who would call her out for it."
"Fine then. If it happens, you can call me."
"I'll be sure to do that. Thank you." The chief bowed and nodded to Three and Four before he left the room.
Three and Four remained, standing silently, staring at Captain Cuttlefish who was looking down at his lap.
"This isn't how I expected it to end, you know? I always thought either we'd be caught by one of Orvenii's spies, exposed by having to stop an Octarian invasion openly, or I died before any of that happened."
Four's mantle turned a mix of orange and blue. "Well, we did end up having to stop an invasion openly, so I guess you weren't totally wrong."
"I never thought we'd have to fight crabs," Cuttlefish muttered. "They were always too busy fighting each other to worry about anyone else. Their resistance to ink makes things even harder."
"We had to use a lot of makeshift weapons to fight them most effectively," Three said. "Four and her splatoon did that the most. They held off hundreds of small crabs, soldier crabs." She brought her voice down to a whisper. "Even the Octarian Army officers were impressed."
"Cursed better well be. Wait, does the chief not know about the Octarians?"
"I never told him," Three said. "They assume it was the octarians already in the city that helped us. They didn't know we brought in an army from outside the city."
"That was another stupid thing you did." He grunted. "Well, I guess it was a good thing she did it in the end, but that's only because Callie and Marie did so many other things wrong."
"Anyway," Four interjected, "the point is, the fact we've been dealing with the Octarian government and their army is still a secret, at least for right now."
"Probably best to keep it that way, but we're going to end up losing that secret pretty soon too, I bet. We'll just have to make sure it's on our terms when it happens, understood?"
"Yes, Sir!"
The captain smiled proudly. "Good. Now, tell me more about these giant crabs you fought."
Avrika stretched as she got out of the vehicle. The ride had been unbelievably smooth and comfortable, even compared to the buses they had ridden to the staging point for the operation. The comfortable seats were welcome after having to adjust to being out of the water. The past couple of days she had spent in the hospital tank had been oddly refreshing, but she was also eager to report back to the Dictatrix.
The vehicle had driven to the inklings cabin rather than making them take the pipes, which was a welcome change. The air was much colder; however, making her shiver.
"This is as far as I can drive you," Agent 3 explained. "Sorry, I know it's cold."
"Indeed. Had we tried fighting today, our ink weapons would have frozen."
Aishi turned to her. "We've made contact with the outpost. They'll be waiting for us."
"Very good." Avrika couldn't help but look around. She had been hoping to see Vella before she left. She'd visited her in the hospital yesterday and told her she would be quite busy the next few days looking after the casualties and taking care of various other things that were coming up in the aftermath of the operation.
Well, at least she seems satisfied. The same could not be said for the other young one who had attached herself to her.
Tephilla held onto her hand, her eyes looking up at her, as if pleading for her not to go. It broke her heart, not the least of which because her actual children had given her a similar look the very last time she saw them. Those eyes always haunted her.
"Could you give us a moment?"
Agent 3 and her escorts looked at each other then slowly walked towards the cabin. Avrika opened the back door of the vehicle and genly ushered Tephy back inside before closing the door behind them, encasing them in warmth and quiet.
"Tephy, are you alright?"
"I guess," she said quietly. "I just… I guess I just got used to being with you, even though it was just a little while."
Avrika had gotten to know a lot about Tephy over the past few days. That she had been abandoned, what life had been like for her growing up. Her blood still boiled from learning about that, and yet, she couldn't shake the notion that there wasn't a lot of difference between what Tephy's mother had done and what she had done with her own daughters. Even the slightest comparison ate at her.
"Tephy, I know you've found it difficult to trust people, that you've been lonely, and yes, it is important to cherish the few people you can trust, but you can't let it hold you back either. You're past the age where you are permitted such luxuries. You need to grow up. From the way you handled yourself during the battle, you seem more than capable of doing that."
Tephy stared out the window, back towards inkopolis. "I just… I grew up thinking I knew what was going to happen to me, what I was going to do. Now, I don't."
"Then you've just become like most people in inkopolis, I imagine. We Octarians might not have the same freedom as you do, but at least we are never lacking in purpose. You need to find a purpose for yourself. Are you not still serving under Agent 4?"
Tephy bit her lip. "I don't know. I guess, until I hear otherwise."
"Then look to her. I might not know her very well, but I am sure that if you need a purpose, she could find you one. If the gods sentenced you to serve her, then do so. An assignment from the gods is something most people can only dream of. I don't think it was ever really a punishment."
Tephy hummed. "I guess you're right. But I don't know if she really trusts me yet."
"Then earn her trust. Show that you can do things on your own initiative. Show her that you are loyal through your actions; words alone are hollow. If you don't want to be alone, then be the kind of person other people want around."
Tephy flashed green through her mantle and then, very slowly, released Avrika's hand. "Okay."
"Good."
Avrika gently touched the girl's cheek and then, with a lingering look, opened the door and left the vehicle.
Aishi and Kalisha emerged from the shack a few seconds later, hefting their octoshots and falling in behind her. She and Agent 3 exchanged a nod, and then they headed away.
She resisted the urge to look behind her at where Tephila was. The girl had a lot of potential and a pretty good head on her shoulders, but she'd clearly been sheltered and isolated. She hoped she would find what she needed.
Gangrin sat on the floor of the library, crouched in the corner with his knees to his chest, staring down at nothing, thinking about nothing and yet, thinking about everything.
He had been about to die, he'd been sure of that. Sure, he knew that Scylla, as he'd learned her name was, had only been bluffing to distract the crabs from the team trying to rescue them. He never would have thought splatting as an optimal solution, but given that they had all survived he wasn't going to complain. But the feeling of fear and helplessness in that moment still shrouded him like a spectre's cape. He hadn't slept well since.
The priestesses had been very understanding and respected his wishes not to return to fishing. And so, while most of the other orphans had gone with Work Detail, he remained behind at the hall. They were worried he might be traumatized, but in truth, he just felt numb.
He hadn't seen the actual fight take place, but he had seen the participants, and the aftermath. Waking up on board the Salty Maiden, he had hoped that everything that had happened was a dream. When he'd gone on deck to get some air, however, he'd been greeted by the horrible stench of rotting flesh and spilled blood.
After seeing that, he would never be able to forget it. Nor could he forget seeing Tani's blood covered figure walking among the corpses while shouting orders to the octolings, all of whom obeyed instantly and without question.
Try as he might, he couldn't quite match that image to the person he had once known as just some girl who thought she could just boss him around simply because someone else said she could. Now, he believed that happy-go-lucky girl was nothing but a persona, a public image to hide who she really was. Combining all that with seeing the Squid Sisters there and the sheer shock that a literal war had been waged right within Inkopolis, he felt as though he had to reassess everything he knew.
"There ya' are."
Gangrin looked up to see Miazama leaning against the doorway, arms crossed. Her mantle indicated wariness and caution, with an underlying layer of mild scorn.
"You're one to talk," he said. "I haven't seen you for days."
"Been busy. Been 'elpin' Tani with all the stuff that's been goin' on. Cleanup, I guess ya'd call it."
Gangrin eyed her, his mantle rippling with suspicion. "Did you see what happened?"
Miazama left the doorway and walked towards him. "Aye, I was there," she said softly. "Saw the crabs ready to snip your necks too. Sorry you 'ad to be put through all that."
"You're not gonna' make fun of me?"
"What d'ya take me for?" She asked, rippling with offense. "Not really somethin' to joke about. Anyone could'a been caught like that."
"Except Tani, apparently."
Miazama sat next to him, her mantle turning a soothing blue. "Look, we were all wrong about Tani. Sure, she mucked up a bit too, but she's really a good person, and she put 'er life on the 'ook to save us."
"So can you tell me what all that was about then?" He looked directly into her eyes. "Security was really vague on what happened. I don't think they even knew themselves what was really going on."
Miazama pulsed a darker blue. "I don't know everythin' but, as far as I know, your captain was picking up the stuff that the crabs used to make those two giant crabs. Since he knew you were coming, they took you all hostage to try an' stop us from wiping them out. I don't know how we found out about that before we got there but we did, so Scylla kept them distracted while a rescue force went in to rescue ya'." She smirked. "Guess the crabs forgot that inklings could swim."
"Fine fine, but what was going on before all that? Scylla didn't tell us much either. Told the captain she'd tell him later. From what I saw, it looked like a full on war in the middle of Inkopolis."
Miazama's mantle turned a melancholy grey with ripples and blotches of reds and sorrowful blues. "Yeah, nobody expected it to be that big of a scrap. A lot of octolings were killed or 'urt bad. I even saw one being tortured to death in a dark alley. 'eard she'll live though.
"Basically, the crabs were planning to invade Inkopolis, or at least cause enough trouble to keep Calachora too busy to help the jellyfish stop any invasion into Bellchora from the Crab Consortiums. Seems like Callie and Marie were the only ones willing to do somethin' about it so they got a bunch of octolings together and put Tani and Three in charge of some of their splatoons." She shook her head.
Gangrin saw her shudder. "Tani and 'er splatoon were ambushed and surrounded by a whole swarm of zombie-like soldier crabs. By the time that fight was over, there was only 'alf of 'er splatoon left, and they still went an' fought in that last fight on the wharf. Amazin', right?"
"Yeah… amazing."
Miazama gave him a questioning look. "So what's eatin' ya'? I know it ain't the shock anymore. Gotta' be somethin' deep botherin' ya'."
"Not that deep," he said. "I just don't understand why they did it. Why not just tell the government what was happening and let them deal with it? Why risk their own lives, their careers?"
"Ahhhh," understanding rippled across Miazama's tentacles and she adopted a sage-like expression. "You never did understand selflessness."
"Is it really that weird? The only people my parents cared about were me and each other."
"And that worked out great for 'em," she replied caustically. "Being selfish like that means you have no friends and no family, nobody you can count on when you need 'em. Like how someone saved your neck, hm?"
Gangrin flinched and looked away. "Yeah… I guess so…"
Miazama's mantle returned to her natural dark-purple. "Look, I know 'ow you feel. I used to think I couldn't trust anyone outside my shoal except for some people in Security and the Ecclesiarchy. But my Shoal wasn't really much of a shoal, just a bunch of people who didn't fit in anywhere else and they didn' 'ave strong bonds. That's why I was taken away from there and brought 'ere in the first place.
"I used to be mad about that, being taken away from the only family I'd ever known, but now I know better what a real family is. I saw, that night, what real family does for each other."
Miazama looked straight at him, her gaze resolute. "That's what I want, that kind of family. You want a practical reason not to be selfish? Look at how many people Callie and Marie 'ad with 'em. I know they weren't being paid for it, so you can't say that. That's what kind of people they are. They look after people and care about 'em. They don' just throw money at charities, they actually do stuff. Tani had a sister who charged through hundreds of crazed crabs to save 'er, how all of 'em fought 'ard and risked their lives to save all of Inkopolis."
"All of which had to involve doing things that were illegal," he pointed out. "They're not going to get away with that unscathed. There'll be consequences."
Miazama pulsed grey. "Maybe, but if there is, I'm going to be there anyway I can ta' 'elp. 'Cuz I wanna' to be the kind of person people wanna' 'elp like that, and I want to be with other people like that."
Gangrin crossed his arms and sighed. "So what do you think I should do?"
"Forget about what you thought before an' start fresh," she said. "That's what I'm tryin' ta' do, and it's workin' out. You're frustrated because you're not as great as you thought ya' were? Then become that person. Gods know we'll be needin' some good quality males soon once we're old enough to start mating. 'ave to save the species an' all."
He arched an eyebrow at her. "Are you serious? You really you can fix the population problem by spitting out as many eggs as possible?"
"Got no choice, really. If we don' start, there won't be a country's worth of inklings by the time we're old, and we'll be in serious trouble." She grinned. "'Sides, I can't think of any way to insult those shells more than by making lots more inklings. You wanna' prove how great you are, do what the inkyar of the old days did and have a nice big family."
She stood up. "Any idiot can look after themselves, but that's not livin', that's just survivin'. I'm gonna' live. You figure out what you wanna' do."
With that, Miazama left, leaving Gangrin with only his own thoughts and her final words.
"I guess your own accomplishments don't matter much if they go up in smoke the minute you died," he said to himself. "Even Mom and Dad had me." He finally smiled. "Maybe Miazama's right; maybe I can do even better. If I can't do it through turf war then maybe I can find another way."
He stood up and hurried out of the library to High-Priestess Gallora's office.