Chapter 5

5 minutes Later…Otis's POV

"-and I got up in such a hurry, that I almost came here in my jammies!" Sarah laughed. "Can you imagine how un-fresh I would've looked?"

"What's un-fresh is the fact that you still call them jammies." I can't believe she still does that. "What're ya, five?"

"Hey, I can call them whatever I want! You can't stop me!" She was making that 'you can't change my mind' pouty face again. Some things never change.

"Alright, just don't come crying to me when people call you a dork." I said, rolling my eyes.

The pouty face got worse. I think it's time to change the subject.

"Hey, wanna play some Turf?" I asked. "I'd love to see you in action."

Her face immediately brightened up.

"Heck yeah!" That got her excited. "I can't wait to use my new Inkbrush!"

"My little sister's a brush user, eh?" That's intriguing. "That'll be interesting to-"

Her phone started ringing.

"Hold on, I gotta take this." She said.

"Alright." I took another sip of my drink.

"You?" She brought her voice down, clearly not wanting me to hear.

"How'd you-I don't remember giving you this number…" That caught my attention.

"Right now? Seriously?" Who's she talking to?

"O-okay, I'll be right there." She hung up.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Something important came up. We'll have to turf later." She said, clearly hiding something.

"Uh…okay…bye, I guess." I said, suspicious.

She then ran out. I walked over to the door to see where she ran off to. She was going to the other side of Deca Tower. I walked out the door to get a better look. She was talking to someone next to the weapons shop. Who was she talking to? It almost looks like…no, she'd never hang out in a place like this. And in those clothes…Yeah, must be someone else, right?

"Hey!" That caught my attention. It was an annoyed jelly. "You forgot to pay your bills!"

"Oh, right. Sorry" I walked back in. Great, Sarah. Not only do you leave under mysterious circumstances, but you leave me to pay for both of our meals. Sarah, when I catch you, you'll have a lot of explaining to do.

By the time I got back out, both Sarah and the mysterious squid were gone. Sarah, where the shell did you run off to?

Sarah's POV

"Marie, you owe me bigtime!" I said, annoyed.

"Why? Did I interrupt something?" She asked?

"Oh, not much, I was just hanging out with my brother who I've barely seen in two years!" I nearly yelled out.

"Oh…um…sorry…" She couldn't look me in the eye.

I sighed. "It's fine, I'm just going to have to come up with a good excuse for leaving out of the blue like that."

"I can relate to your, um, situation." She told me. "I'll make it up to you…promise. But for now, we've got work to do."

"R-right!" What did she mean by that anyway?

Hours later…

Alright, one more kettle to go before the boss Kettle opens. I sure hope there aren't any more Octohurlers because those were just…ew. I braced for the worst and dove down the kettle.

So far the stage hazards were more dangerous than the Octarians themselves. I honestly don't understand why Marie couldn't have done this herself. I then arrived on the other side. I saw…inklings? Wait, no. Their tentacles are different. Also I've never seen anyone dress like…that.

"Octolings!" Marie yelled. "And they're guarding Mini-Zapfish. Apparently eight of them have the power of one normal Zapfish"

"Wait, what? What's an Octoling?" I've never heard the term before.

"Basically they can do everything you can do." Marie explained. "Be prepared for a fight!"

"Marie, I can tell ya one thing. They can't do everything I can do." I boasted. "This'll be just like Turf Wars!"

"Love the enthusiasm," Marie added. "But they say pride cometh before downfall."

"Right, right." I rolled my eyes. "I'll be careful."

I quickly inked a path and swam through to where I was above the nearest Zapfish. A single Octoling was guarding it. I threw a bomb, landing just past the Octoling. It-she noticed and quickly swam away from the blast…right into me.

*Splat*

Her ghost flew off into the distance. So this was like Turf Wars. Cool. Unfortunately, the others seem to have taken notice of that. Soon enough, three more came my way. I quickly dove into my ink to catch them by surprise.

As they searched the area, I could get a better look at them. What was up with those shades? With the one red eye look, they look like they came off the 'Splatinator' poster.

Unfortunately that thought was cut off when one of them said "Ink the area! Find that Agent!" The others quickly started spraying ink all over the places I did.

Carp! I needed to think fast. One came close to where I was hiding.

"Well," I thought. "It's now or never."

I quickly jumped out of the ink, catching one by surprise. I smacked the weapon out of her hand and knocked her down. I turned and splatted one of her buddies. I then grabbed the unarmed Octoling and shoved her toward the third one. As they collided, I let my ink fly, splatting both of them.

"That was close." Marie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah," I said. "But it wasn't too hard. I'm sure the others will be a piece of cake."

"Hey," Marie said. "I just thought of another baking pu...uh-oh…"

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I-I'm going to have to call you back." The radio then went silent.

"Agent 2?"

No answer…

"Agent 2?"

Still nothing…

"Marie?"