Stratagem Formulation
"Yes…I'll be staying over at Mei-Lin's house tonight… Why? Oh, nothing special. It's just a harmless sleepover… No, no, it's okay. I'll be back by tomorrow… Love you Mom."
Katelyn sighed as she terminated the call, looking at her phone briefly before pocketing it. Half an hour had since passed after the team had left Octo Valley and returned to Inkopolis to contact their family members as well as procure weapons and supplies for the journey ahead. Being the first to return to the manhole that led to the valley, Katelyn had to wait patiently for the others to follow suit, but not before she took the time to make an important phone call.
"Hey, you're ready for this trip yet?" A voice asked. Turning to the source, Katelyn watched as Cobalt approached her, wielding the Sploosh-O-Matic and the Neo Sploosh-O-Matic he had been using yesterday.
"Yeah, I am." she replied, pointing to the Inkbrush Nouveau strapped to her back. "I just decided to bring this with me. I also left Salty at my home, I don't really want him getting hurt while we're traversing through Octo Valley."
"Hmm." Cobalt mused, twirling the weapons in his hands. "You sure it's safe to leave Salty at your house?"
Salty's eyes flickered lazily as he looked around outside the windowsill. It was a beautiful day outside, and Katelyn's apartment provided a very remarkable view of it.
The Super Sea Snail exhaled a breath of content as he enjoyed the view, the warm rays of sunlight cascading onto his shell. Inkopolis Tower… a couple of oddly shaped clouds… a lonely shack on top of a distant hill… a seagull flying straight towards him…
Salty squeaked in surprise as the seagull collided into him head-on, the bird squawking irately as it tried to peck at the critter. Fortunately, the flying creature didn't notice the obvious exposed flesh that was Salty's face, and just proceeded to nip uselessly at the shiny shell.
Irritated, the seagull squawked angrily before proceeding to pick Salty up by one of the pointy bits on his shell, and proceeded to fly straight out of the window, carrying the bewildered Sea Snail with it.
"I'm sure he's okay." Katelyn said, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
"I'll take your word for it." Cobalt replied, leaning towards the vending machine, before looking around the plaza. Aside from a few inklings sitting around the plaza, the place was mostly deserted.
A few moments passed as a windy breeze blew through the area, the gust briefly interrupting the quiet atmosphere, before it settled down again. The two inklings looked around the plaza, not focusing on any singular object along the way.
"So…" Cobalt finally spoke up, "who was that you were talking to?"
"Oh, that was just my mother." Katelyn replied, looking at the masked inkling, but failing to meet his gaze. "She… well. Honestly I don't even why I bothered to call her, she's always busy. Even when I see her at home, she's still busy with work and doesn't really have much to say."
"You don't seem very happy to talk about your mother… do you hate her?" Cobalt asked.
Katelyn met Cobalt's gaze, a somewhat forced smile on her face. "Oh… no, no I don't. I love her all the same, even if she doesn't show it. But…"
"Hmm." Cobalt mumbled, turning away from Katelyn.
There was a brief silence in the air as the two inklings stared into the distance, their eyes unfocused.
"…Okay." Katelyn sighed. "Perhaps… I do feel alone sometimes. I do what I can to make her happy, but I just wish… I could get some recognition."
"Well… I think your mother is a lucky woman," Cobalt spoke, his voice devoid of emotion. "To have a loving daughter like you, I mean. Cherish it. You don't really know what you're blessed with until you lose it."
"Lose… wait, are you-" Katelyn began, but stopped herself before she could continue, looking at Cobalt with eyes of pity. Noticing this, Cobalt simply waved his hand dismissively at her direction.
"It's okay. I'm used to being alone by now. Besides… I got Chris, whether I like it or not." The masked inkling looked straight at her, chuckling. "I'm fine as it is. I'm very strong, remember?"
"You're right. But I suppose… it never hurts to ask for help, you know?" Katelyn said, approaching Cobalt and giving him a pat on the shoulder. "We're friends now, you can always count on me to help you out, okay?"
"…" Cobalt didn't reply, looking around the plaza lazily. Eventually, his gaze landed on two approaching figures, and he got up away from the vending machine. Katelyn looked at Cobalt's retreating back for a moment, before shrugging and occupying the vacated spot the inkling was earlier, leaning on the vending machine.
"Hey, what took you two so long?" Cobalt shouted at the approaching figures of Chris and Mei-Lin as if nothing was wrong. Both had the weapons they were using the day before.
"You do realize that an overnight trip means that we need to pack food, right?" Chris replied with a slightly irritated tone. "It's important to consider every factor before going on large excursions like this. After what happened yesterday with Tetanus, I don't feel like taking any chances."
"I packed whatever I can find on Octarian history, but there isn't much written about them." Mei-Lin continued. "Not sure how it's going to help at all, but…"
"So what about your folks, Chris? Did you…?" Cobalt asked. Chris noticed Katelyn fidgeting slightly, but thought nothing of it.
"I decided to tell them the truth, that we'll be exploring Octo Valley overnight." Chris replied, prompting a bit of surprise from the others. "My parents reckoned I was capable enough of taking care of myself though, so there's that."
"Well that's convenient. What about you, Mei-Lin?"
Mei-Lin hesitated for a brief moment, before blurting out her answer. "I'm… fine."
"Then let's get going. I'd rather not keep Octavio waiting for us any longer." Cobalt said, before running back to the manhole and hopping in, with the others following suit.
"Ah, you're all back!" Octavio said as the four inklings emerged from the other side of the manhole. "I presume y'all prepped up for the trip into Octo Valley?"
"We've packed weapons and supplies, just as you said." Chris replied, "So have you contacted Cuttlefish and the other agents about our plans?"
The octopus looked around in his snowglobe prison, and groaned. "I tried. But Captain Cuttlefish had one of his lil' moments, and refused to help. I can't contact my troops while I'm stuck in here, either."
"Hmm. Is there anything we can do to help you?" Katelyn asked, looking at DJ Octavio's rather unorthodox confinement.
"There is. If my memory serves, there oughta be a few switches on the base of this snowglobe. Just right around…" He waved a tentacle around the back of the support, "…there."
"'Kay. Lemme just take a look…" Katelyn began to approach the snowglobe to get a closer look, when…
"STOP RIGHT THERE, CIVILIAN!"
"Step away from him, he's a dangerous criminal!"
The group was taken aback by the sudden interruption, and instinctively turned to the source of the voice. Right where Captain Cuttlefish was seen standing around earlier, there was now two young female inklings looking right where Katelyn was approaching. One had black tentacles and was wearing a pinkish shirt and matching beanie alongside a pair of sunglasses, while the other had whitish tentacles and wearing a lime green shirt with a matching cap, along with a surgical mask covering her face.
"Yeah, what Mar- Agent 2 said!" the black and pink inkling said, "Step away! If you let him go, you'll let loose a psychopathic menace!"
"The four of you should not be here. This is a dangerous place." The inkling known as Agent 2 added. "How did you come here?"
Katelyn eyed the two inklings before her, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Who are you two?"
The sunglasses inkling saluted, while the surgical mask inkling stood up straight. "I'm Agent 1, and this is Agent 2!" the former said, "At your service!"
"Oh, are those the agents that Octavio mentioned he was beaten by?" Chris remarked, looking at the two inklings before them. "Are you-"
Katelyn stopped Chris mid-sentence with a wave of her hand and a knowing wink, before turning back to the agents. "Agents 1 and 2, eh? You know, I'd love to believe that we just almost helped a crazed psychopath escape, but I would've believed it if the two of you weren't lying… Callie and Marie of the Squid Sisters!"
The two inklings flinched simultaneously from the accusation, before Agent 1 spoke up first.
"W-What makes you think me and Mar- Agent 2 are those amazing pop stars?" She stammered.
"Yeah…" Agent 2 mumbled, "Do you even have any evidence of your claims? Accusing the authorities of slander is a major offense!"
"Well, it's VERY simple." Katelyn shot back. "Firstly, there are your appearances. Priestess Saika told us that monochrome tentacles and golden cross-pupiled eyes are extremely rare amongst inklings. Not to mention that your choice of clothing is pink contemplating black, and lime contemplating white. Seem familiar?"
"There are… plenty of inklings dressed like that! Like our… um…" Agent 1 mumbled.
"Secondly!" Katelyn continued, "DJ Octavio told us that the two agents that defeated him took after his own childhood self. Given that he has a talent for theatrics it is only natural that the two of you are acting as well! Besides, I know that double-act gimmick when I see it!"
"But… he must be totally lying about his childhood, have you considered it?" Agent 2 replied, fidgeting uncomfortably on the spot.
"Yeah, I considered that possibility. BUT!" Katelyn shouted with a knowing smile on her face. "Agent 1 here just unintentionally gave the game away by calling you Marie before correcting herself. What do you have to say about that?"
There was a brief awkward silence as Katelyn crossed her arms triumphantly, and the two Agents before her stared at each other for a moment, before Agent 2 unexpectedly screamed in frustration, and tore off her surgical mask, revealing that she was, indeed, Marie of the Squid Sisters. Chris was chuckling from Katelyn's impromptu detective schtick, while Mei-Lin and Cobalt were staring in surprise.
"DAMMIT, CALLIE!" The now not-so-disguised pop star shouted in irritation. "That was the three-hundred and seventh time you gave the game away to the others prematurely!"
"Uh… oops?" Agent 1 said, taking off her sunglasses and subsequently making her identifiable as Callie in turn. "Wait, did you seriously keep score on how many times I screwed up the script?"
"No, not really. But it felt like it was THAT much."
"Heh, now that was amusing to watch." Cobalt remarked. "But as much as I liked seeing the two ladies that always announced the stages embarrass themselves, why all the cloak and dagger?"
"Well if you all know about the situation here from Octavio," Callie replied, "We're supposed to be playing our parts as awesome secret agents! Being all sneaky is part of the job description."
"That's not the only reason of course…" Marie continued. "Given our status as Inkopolis' pop culture icons; we have to disguise ourselves whenever we show up in public. As much as we love our fans, a few of them can be quite…weird."
"Yeah, remember that story that one fan wrote about us?" Callie grimaced, "The one involving us, him, and a Slosher?"
"Oh good grief, don't remind me." Marie gave an involuntary flinch as she recalled something unpleasant. "That took three months of therapy to slash out of my brainpan."
"That disguise doesn't really work though. Katelyn recognized the two of you so easily…" Mei-Lin remarked.
"Actually, normally it does." Marie replied, "I put on this surgical mask, nobody is able to recognize me as who I really am. It's so easy to the point that sometimes I wonder if they really know who I was and are just fooling around."
"Maybe you're right, Marie." Callie interjected. "Honestly though, this Katelyn girl here was the fourteenth quickest inkling that deduced our real identities through sheer logic."
"Who was the fastest one that recognized the two of you?" Katelyn asked out of curiosity.
"Someone that recognized us by our exact measurements, our specific bodily imperfections, and our SMELL." Marie cringed. "We gave him a complementary restraining order and a slap to the faces for good measure."
"Okay, I think we're rapidly goin' off-topic here." DJ Octavio interrupted. "Can you let me out? I need to contact my troops to tell them something important."
"Yeah, just wait a little bit, Octavio!" Callie replied, turning to the group. "Well, I know now that this peppy girl here is Katelyn, but what about the three of you?"
"I'm Chris. The one in the gas mask is Cobalt, and this one here not in standard Turf War garb is Mei-Lin." Chris said, offering his hand which Marie shook, "Nice to meet the actual sisters in person."
"Well, nice to meet your acquaintance." Marie replied, "But we're not really sisters, more like cousins."
"Doesn't really make any difference, though!" Callie added happily, "We're totally in sync, regardless! Anyway, I should probably ask, why the four of you here are wandering about in Octo Valley?"
"I just assumed that Gramps would've made them Agents the very moment they first set foot in here, but by the looks of things they've rejected it." Marie continued. "Don't suppose any of you would explain to me why?"
"Oy, just lemme out already!" Octavio complained, turning around frantically. "I'll bring the two of you up to speed; they told me everything while the two of you were away. I don't think these squiddos would want to repeat themselves."
"Oh okay, fine. Jeez…" Marie groaned, walking up to the snowglobe, and knelt beside the base before fiddling with something the other inklings can't see. Before long, the glass globe with the octopus still inside unscrewed itself off the base, rolling off the sloped side and coming to a stop next to the shack.
"Finally! I badly needed to go to the bathroom after being in there for so long." Octavio said, climbing out of the globe and looking around, before taking off in a random direction and disappearing from sight.
"…guess we'll wait till he comes back, huh?" Callie remarked, with the others nodding in agreement.
Some time has passed since Octavio returned from his impromptu break, and explained the situation to the Squid Sisters. Armed with the knowledge, Callie and Marie had temporarily left to contact the agents within Octo Valley on the situation, while DJ Octavio had wandered off elsewhere to do the same with his troops. Waiting for their return, our heroes now sat huddled in a circle on the floor, next to the billboard. In front of them were the supplies they had gathered, alongside four sets of Agent headphones.
"So…what's taking the three of them so long?" Cobalt finally asked, idly looking at the billboard with photos of various members of the Octarian race pinned on it.
"You saw how many agents there were, Cobalt." Chris replied, "I'd imagine contacting each one of them individually will take a seriously long time. I doubt Octavio would have an easier time, either."
"On the contrary," a voice interrupted, "It doesn't take as long as you might think." Rounding a corner, Captain Cuttlefish hobbled right out of the shadows, wiping a few crumbs from his beard.
"Oh hey, Captain Cuttlefish." Katelyn greeted. "You didn't tell us that your grandkids were the Squid Sisters! That was quite the pleasant surprise."
"Well, I wouldn't say it's that much of a surprise, I expected them to go far ever since they won that singing contest when they were still children!" The elderly inkling replied, "But I digress. Those Agent headsets in front of ya allows long distance contact with home base, which makes information easy to relay, so take those along. On that note, my offer to join as Agents is still open!"
"We politely decline." Mei-Lin said, nodding courteously. "I'm not really that much of a fighter anyway…"
"Even if you're not going to join our little gathering," another familiar voice said, "I would advise keeping those headsets with you anyway." Emerging from another corner, Callie and Marie made a reappearance, once again donning their disguises.
"It's mostly for convenience." Callie continued, "While the four of you are down there, we can keep in touch, in case something happens."
"Oh, my beloved grandsquids!" Captain Cuttlefish exclaimed, walking up to the duo. "So, did the other agents find anything?"
"We're just about to get into that." Marie replied, "Agent 395 mentioned something about a local octarian telling her about a 'Point of Power' deep inside the Smokestack Geothermal Plant."
"I see. Was there anything else?" Cuttlefish asked.
"There's one problem." Callie continued, "This 'Smokestack Geothermal Plant'… None of the other agents know anything about it. I don't get it, our Agents must have explored every inch of Octo Valley by now, why wouldn't they know anything about it?"
"I can answer that." Yet another voice interjected. From a nearby kettle entrance, DJ Octavio emerged with a receiver in one tentacle. "That power plant is located in a sector of Octo Valley that's been closed off, or to give it its proper name: Sector 0."
"Wait, there's another sector of Octo Valley?! Why haven't you told this to me?" Captain Cuttlefish spluttered, his eye twitching. "What other secrets have you been hiding from me, you-"
"Oh, excuse me for a moment." Marie interrupted, withdrawing from her pocket what appears to be a pastry topped with a filling of crab meat and fish roe, and waved it in front of the livid sea captain. Seemingly snapping out of it, Captain Cuttlefish snatched the treat out of her hands and devoured it messily in one gulp.
"Well, I can say for certain that you're well prepared." Katelyn chuckled.
"Mmhmm, thanks for the crabby cake!" Captain Cuttlefish mumbled, wiping the remains off of his beard. "Now, where was I…?"
"The power plant?" Callie reminded him.
"Oh, right!" The elderly inkling mumbled cheerfully. "So… old friend. What do you mean that the sector it is located in is closed off?"
"So, as I was saying…" DJ Octavio continued. "Well, this was only a few months after we were relocated to Octo Valley. Our power reserves were already running a tad low at the time, so we were looking to alternative ways of generating power. Smokestack was one of our first attempts at self-sufficient power generation… at least that was until something went seriously wrong."
"What happened?" Mei-Lin asked.
"Well you can't just go and make a geothermal plant without disturbing the rocks a bit, see." Octavio replied, "It was one our better ideas at the time, since we were building far underground anyway. A geothermal plant would've been perfect, a lot more efficient since we don't have very far to reach the mantle. Unfortunately, our efforts triggered an earthquake which not only made the prospect impossible, but we also lost our lowest domes to the resulting collapse. We lost a good quarter of our population with it, as well."
"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss, old friend." Captain Cuttlefish replied apologetically. "Probably shouldn't have tried to make you bring it up."
"Ah, it's okay. You helped saved my people; I can take being shouted at a few times." Octavio waved his tentacle dismissively. "What I do know is this: There are four entry points into the collapsed sector, but it is impossible to send in too many troops into each one at once due to the unstable structure. It made initial rescue efforts utterly impossible as a result, we just can't get enough people out in time before the whole thing likely falls on our heads. In the end, I had no choice but to leave the remaining survivors to fend for themselves, we just didn't have the resources to mount a mass rescue at the time."
"Man, you guys just can't catch a break, can you?" Katelyn remarked, "Why are you guys supposed to be the villains, again?"
"Nevermind that." Chris interjected. "So what's the plan here? From what I can gather, we're venturing into dangerous territory. Aside from the fact that the place could fall on top of us at any given moment, the collapse occurred before the Zapfish incident, didn't it? Any Octarians we're likely going to run into down there aren't going to be very pleased to see Inklings in their turf."
"I'm getting there." Octavio replied. "I believe that with Cuttlefish's Agents on our side alongside their resources, we now have the ability to mount a proper rescue for any Octarians likely still stranded down there. My kind are a resilient bunch, I doubt anything outside of being splatted by ink can bring down a battle-hardened Octarian that easily."
"Don't worry Octavio, we got your back." Marie remarked, nodding. "I can vouch for the support."
"If she's in, then so am I!" Callie added, "C'mon Marie, let's go contact the agents. They'll need to be prepared for this." With that being said, the duo wandered off and disappeared round another corner, with Cuttlefish following suit.
"Well, there they go." Katelyn said, looking back at where they wandered off. "So what are we supposed to do, anyway?"
"Ah right. I'll be telling the Agents to assist in reinforcing the structure around the collapsed sector so the whole place won't fall apart when we eventually venture into Sector 0 ourselves, but I am certain this will likely cause the deterioration of the sector to speed up." Octavio continued. "That's where the four of you come in. Until you all reach this cross located within it, we'll have to postpone the rescue effort in case the increased activity from our efforts buries it completely. This mission to restore the spirit of Inkopolis does take priority over the rescue of any survivors within Sector 0, after all."
"There are four entrances into this collapsed sector." Chris said, putting two and two together. "I would guess we'll need to split up and enter Sector 0 on our own?"
"Not necessarily, I'll explain along the way." DJ Octavio motioned the group to follow, but not before stopping short. "Say, that masked friend of yours seems awfully quiet for a while now. What's wrong with him?"
Chris turned abruptly to Cobalt, before slapping his forehead in exasperation. While the entire stratagem was being discussed, Cobalt had fallen fast asleep and was now snoozing peacefully on the rock floor.
"Ugh, not again." Chris grumbled. Turning to Katelyn, Mei-Lin and Octavio, he motioned them to go on ahead, while struggling to pick up the snoring inkling from the floor.
"Does that happen often?" Octavio remarked as he wandered ahead alongside Katelyn and Mei-Lin, the former two stopping to pick up the headsets on the floor. "Falling asleep from all that exposition?"
"Apparently he relishes in it." Katelyn laughed. "Poor Chris, he has to put up with it the most."
Eventually, the group stopped next to a massive kettle imbedded onto the ground. DJ Octavio jumped right in, with Katelyn and Mei-Lin turning into squid forms and hopping straight in after him. A few moments later, Chris grunted with effort as he dragged Cobalt's sleeping body along, before unceremoniously tossing him straight into the kettle while he followed suit, the kettle clanging loudly as the limp body impacted the sides, with an extra loud 'CRASH' as Cobalt landed on the bottom.
"Oh, is it over?" Cobalt's voice emanated from the kettle. "Thank goodness!"
AN: Hmm. I feel like this chapter and last chapter did lay a bit heavy on the exposition. I am trying to accommodate other readers on the serious offchance they haven't played the Singleplayer campaign for whatever reason, so maybe I've been using a lot more words than really necessary. That's a problem I realize Hideo Kojima had with his Metal Gear series and I don't think the man himself actually noticed just yet.
Regardless of such, I seriously appreciate the support that you guys have been giving me so far (well, the two of you giving frequent reviews at least), but it does never hurt to try and find a few faults here and there. Nitpick if you want, even mistakes in the little details mean a lot.