Chapter 19

Otis's POV

We finally got off the elevator. It was another long hallway. I guess Octarian interior design consists of either large, empty domes filled with floating platforms, or large domes filled with long hallways.

Suddenly from around a corner came a familiar Octoling. One who splatted me a few times. This time, his bandanna was pulled down and his goggles were on his belt. Apparently Octoling males have slightly different eye markings than the females.

"Sharp, you're back!" Cass called out, lifting her goggles. "I see you used the workshop to put your baby back together."

He nodded and held his charger, then looked at Cass with a confused expression.

"I tricked those suckers into letting me outta sight." She boasted.

He seemed to be studying her face, occasionally looking behind her at us.

"And now I'm stuck babysitting these rookies from Octo Valley." Cass explained. "Gonna take them to get a crack at our Inkling prisoner before they fight the real thing."

He nodded and went on his way. Cass put her goggles back on and we were on our way.

"Not too much longer and we'll be there." Cass informed us.

A few minutes later and we turned down…another hallway. Thankfully, a shorter one this time. There was a door with two Octoling guards at the end.

"Captain Cassandra." One said. "We've been expecting you."

"You have?" Cass feigned ignorance.

"Indeed." The guard said. "That doctor spoke rather highly about you over the comms."

"Aaawww, she's so sweet." Cass commented.

"You may enter." She opened the door.

"Thank yooou!" Cass said, and then led us inside.

Inside was a large room with a table at the end. Someone was lying on top of it.

"There's the Inkling!" Marie's voice came through our comm. "Quick, see who it is!"

Before could get closer, the doors locked behind us. Cass started backing away from us.

"Cass?" I narrowed my eyes. "What's going on?"

"Fahaha!" She laughed. "You idiots!"

"Figures she'd do this." Sara rolled her eyes.

"I gave Sharp a signal, and you morons never even noticed!" Cass bragged.

"GYAH HA HA!" Speakers came on as a voice came through. Cass stood in a salute.

"Oh no." Marie said.

"Now this was unexpected," The voice said. "But nice work, Captain."

"Who are you?" Sarah called out

"Me?" The voice started. "Why, I'm da beatmastah! The hottest wasabi Disk Jockey in the world! The name's Octavio! DJ Octavio!

"And you best bow your heads outta respect!" Cass added. "Cause he's about to turn up the heat!"

"And it'll get hot as wasabi!" Octavio continued. "When I show you my latest pet project!"

"Pet project?" Marie asked.

"I can hear ya, girl!" Octavio laughed. "And yes, for you see, I've got a new fan who just loves ma beats! He listens to them all the time!"

We could hear a faint sound coming from the table as the Inkling got up. It was an inkling boy with Purple hair and weird headphones, wait…Arnold?!

"3.5!" Marie shouted.

"Arnold?!" I shouted.

"You know him?" Sarah asked.

"Y-yeah, I've battled with him before!" I explained. "I didn't know he was involved with the Splatoon!"

"Well, consider this a happy reunion!" Cass taunted.

I shot her a look before turning my attention back to Arnold.

"G-Get away from me…" Arnold finally spoke, holding a Splattershot.

"3.5, what's going on? What did they do?" Marie sounded panicked.

"I've been using him to test out some new beats." Octavio elaborated. "Some that even Inklings can sway to."

"Marie!" Arnold shouted. "W-when I…splat…these w-worthless hipsters…I'm…c-coming…for you!"

"What?!" Marie shocked.

"GYA HA HA!" Octavio laughed. "I can make this fool say whatever I want!"

"Octavio," Marie got angry. "You slimy-"

"Think of it…" Octavio was getting excited. "Soon enough, I'll be able to use ma beats to sway you squiddos by the thousands. I won't even need an army to take y'all down! Things'll finally go my way! No more annoyin' agents, not more cowardly posers running from the fight, and no more worthless hipsters DITCHIN' ME 'CAUSE THEY HEARD A STUPID SONG!

He sounded really mad at that last part. Maybe Marie know more.

"Marie," I got her attention. "I think he's being controlled through those weird headphones."

"A'ight" Octavio continued. "Captain, you and Arnie here put these agents down."

An Octoshot dropped from the ceiling into Cass's hands. A twisted grin appeared on her face.

"Yes sir!" She aimed at us.

Arnold took aim as well.

We had to make due with Octoshot replicas.

"Now drop 'em like a spicy hot wasabi beat!" Octavio ended his transmission.

The Fight…Otis's POV

They started firing, we dodged and fired back. While Cass was as skilled as Cass usually was, her paired with someone like Arnold made the fight more challenging. Sarah went after Cass while I went after Arnold.

This wasn't good. I've splatted him more than a few times in the past, but he's splatted me more times than I can count. I dodged his shots and got in close. I kept getting hit, but I managed to grab his weapon and head-butt him. He stumbled back, but quickly regained his footing. I tried grabbing the headphones, but he smacked me away with his splattershot. Before he could turn it to fire at me, I grabbed it again and tackled him to the ground.

I tried grabbing the headphones again, but he knocked me off, jumped on me, and started punching. I kept blocking his blows as I turned to see Sarah in a similar situation to mine. Cass was yelling something to her. I turned my attention back to Arnold, who held one of his punches. Whatever they did to him, it was clear they didn't have full control. I took that opportunity to finally grab the headphones and tear them off. Arnold started holding his ears and screaming, then he fell to the ground, unconscious.

I got up to see Cass was actually winning her fistfight with Sarah. I grabbed the Octoshot replica and walked over. Any blows she was trying to make on Sarah stopped when she felt the weapon touch the back of her head. She turned to see me and then slowly got off of Sarah.

Sarah got up, grabbed her Octoshot replica, and aimed it at Cass.

"W-well, here's your Inkling friend, as p-promised…" She tried ignoring the previous events. "I guess you can go now."

I took my weapon and decked Cass in the head with it. She fell to the floor.

The Fight…Sarah's POV

Cass wasted no time firing at me. I was doing fairly well, but there were occasional shots from Arnold that gave Cass the advantage. It soon was a 1v1 for both of us. Otis fought Arnold while I fought Cass. Eventually we both ran out of ink and Cass threw her weapon at me. I blocked it, but while I was distracted with that, she tackled me to the ground. We then were trading blows.

"Why do you keep doing this?!" I demanded an answer. "What do you even gain at this point?!"

"You've humiliated me three times!" Cass shouted. "I won't stop till I've beaten you, captured you, and get everything I deserve!"

"Deserve what?!" I was bewildered. "Aren't you in some commander's personal squad or something?"

"Him?!" She started getting angry. "Not a day goes by where I'm not afraid he might kill me! I don't want to live like that! I want to be respected! Admired!"

Geez, what kind of life did this lady have to make her like this?

After a short while of this, she stopped and slowly got up. Otis had his weapon aimed at her head.

I got up, grabbed my Octoshot replica, and aimed it at Cass.

"W-well, here's your Inkling friend, as p-promised…" She tried ignoring the previous events. "I guess you can go now."

Otis took his weapon and smacked Cass in the head with it. It was a pretty loud smack. She fell to the floor.

After the Fight…Sarah's POV

"Well, what now?" I asked.

"We get Arnold out." Otis answered. "I'll carry him and the headphones for Marie to look at.

"Remember the way out?" I asked.

He took a second to think.

Get Cass back up.

I walked over to Cass and shook her a little. She wasn't getting up. Then I noticed something bad.

"Otis, I think you hit her too hard." I told him, pointing to Cass's bleeding head.

"Oh, wow." His eyes widened. "I wanted to knock her out, but I didn't mean to do that."

"Well, we can't leave her like this." I lifted her over my shoulder. She was a little heavy, but not impossible to carry.

Otis nodded in agreement and carried a now squid Arnold in one arm with the headphones on his belt.

"Marie?" Otis called in. "Any ideas on how to get out?"

"We're already looking into the dome's systems." Marie said. "We can trigger a Dome Collapse alarm. That'll unlock the doors and light a way out of here, but it may get hectic."

"Better than trying to fight our way past security." Otis replied. "Do it."

"Well, here goes…" Marie wished us luck.

Suddenly the lights cut out for a second before emergency lights turned on and an alarm sounded. The doors opened and the guards from earlier had started bolting for an exit. We followed them to where the elevators were. They took the stairs while we went in the elevator. We could at least remember the floor we came from and pressed the button.

When we got off the elevator, we could see what Marie was taking about. Tons of people were rushing to get out. We turned to see that doctor from earlier pointing people toward the exits. She then noticed us and motioned us to come over. Good thing we were still wearing our Octoling gear.

"Down that way and take two lefts, then a right!" She pointed down the hallway. "Wait, what happened?!

"Cass needs help!" I told her. "Can you take her off our hands?"

"Y-yes, of course!" She took Cass from us. "I'll make sure she's okay, you two get out!"

We nodded in agreement. I felt kind of bad for the poor doctor. Hope she doesn't feel used. She seemed nice, but at least we don't have to carry Cass anymore. Plus Cass is awful, but I'd feel bad if someone got permanent brain damage because of us.

We kept running down the hallways towards whatever looked familiar. Eventually we came upon an exit and we dived right in.

We got to the other side to see the sun shining, but then we realized we were actually in one of the Resort Domes. I guess these domes are more connected than we thought. We just went through it as normal until we got to the Kettle entrance, back to Octo Canyon.

We didn't find Callie and Cass turned on us at the last second, but we still rescued someone and stopped a crazy plan in the process. I'd say mission accomplished.