*Obtains Battlefield 1 shortly after creating the second chapter of this story*
*Finishes playing Battlefield 1*
*Sees this Fanfic which has been neglected for over 6 months*
*Notices it's almost the end of summertime* "Man, I really should get back to this..."
*Gets roped into a real "gem" of anime shows and reads fanfics of said show without actually watching it*
*Summertime ends and schooling starts*
*Tears in eyes* "...It can wait."
In all seriousness, if anyone was annoyed with the unofficial hiatus of mine and/or thought this story was dead, I'm sorry about that. Just had to get some bearings down in life. Nothing serious, just life in general. That, and I have no idea where this story is going to go. I had a plan, but that consisted of adding more concepts that heavily rely on Splatoon's lore. Seeing that I only own Splatoon 1... yeah, I'm not searching through Reddit's forums for conspiracies and theories. For now, though, I will be planning on developing whatever people call two characters interacting with each other. And ultimately leading that up into something out of a cheesy drama straight out of your mother's movie list on Netflix. But before that, have some Agent 4! (Warning: Names will probably not make sense, so forgive me for trying to be creative.)
With the intro aside, if you haven't already check out Teevz and her art on social media, you should do it. Don't expect Octo Bros. though; they've died out like 2 years ago and since then been replaced with a bunch of stuff, including a relatively cute Australian. Said Australian is an anthropomorphic kangaroo, so whether that's good content or bad is up to you guys. (It's the former for me, so does that mean I'm a furry?)
Anyways, let's start up this train-wreck of a Fanfic. If I don't derail the story in the next few chapters, then that must mean I'm doing something right.
Pain.
Oh god, there's so much pain.
I haven't felt this much pain since-
Since...
...N-nevermind that, no time for bad memories Tai. Pāru wouldn't want you to remember them anyways...
...
It was morning for the residents in one of the many apartment complexes scattered throughout the city surrounding Inkopolis Square. Off the Hook's tracks could be heard coming from the city's hottest block, just a few minutes walk away from this certain building. As the morning sun's rays of deadly sunlight crept up to the unsuspecting inhabitants of the building and made their ways through anyone's un-curtained windows, the building slowly rose to life; squids, jellies, and sea creatures of many species opening their eyes and kissing the breath of a new morning.
It was a kiss that Shi Ruof hated.
Ironically, she would possibly be the only one that could be able to give a kiss back to morning if it was a sentient being. Did she even brush her beak?
Eww.
Anyways, the 4th Agent of the New Squidbeak Splatoon woke up with sunlight on her eyes, her non-existing bones aching, and her favorite track of the ten-out-of-ten-tackle-n'-bait duo, Off the Hook, playing at full volume from her current destination for today. Her tan skin illuminated by the sunlight that assaulted her soft, yellow eyes as they immediately hardened into a glare at the aspect of waking up today. Her bed, soft and comforting, made all her moves slow and dull as the alluring piece of furniture promised the continued bliss of rest and relaxation. All she had to do was close her eyes and think happy thoughts once more, and sleep would come again...
But if she fell asleep, how could she listen to her favorite song?
"Man, I love that track." she yawned.
Shi reluctantly got up and went with the flow to the ebbs of the song that could be heard throughout the complex building. Her glare now turning into an expression of tiredness mixed with happiness as the song rounded to its' infamous beat drop. Most Inklings residing in the building which was called the Krabby Kove (despite the fact that the whole mood of the structure was rarely ever Crabby) woke up this way, and with happier moods than ones that didn't have the fortune to stay so close to Inkopolis Square as to use their plaza music as a free alarm clock. A very loud, ineffective alarm clock that still led to Inklings oversleeping 'till noon, but a free one nonetheless. After walking over to take a shower, Shi noticed that she would have to go to Mako Mart tomorrow to get more toiletries lest she forgets like last time.
Her expression turned into that of disgust as she remembered an unforgiving memory that still haunted her in her dreams.
Splatting Octos out in the valley? A piece of cake. Taking on a huge Rubik's cube with three faces? A little less than a piece of cake, but not as hard as she'd thought it would be.
Seeing her non-biological brother's 11th tentacle because they had run out of shampoo in their bathroom?
Now that's something not even trained agents can deal with. To be fair, it was an accident. How it physically happened though is up for anyone's guess. Shaking the memory and the following image of her brother's second ink-shooter, she finished her shower and climbed out of the bathtub to dry herself off.
...
Speaking of her brother...
Where was he?
She had been informed by Marie that her brother, San Eerht, had gone with Cap'n Cuttlefish on some missions regarding Octo Valley. Back then, it didn't mean anything to her since he always came back by the end of the week, but this week had been different. Not only did he leave a note that made her worry for her brother's safety, with all the "Things have changed, have to go away for a bit longer" bull-squid, but San hasn't come back to the apartment he and Shi shared at least 2 weeks since she had last seen him. Whether San was in trouble or not worried her, but Marie had assured her that they'd come back in one piece.
They always did.
That, or they lugged the portable re-spawn point to wherever they got splatted. God, how she hated being the one to revive her brother whenever he got unexpectedly splatted on one of his missions. Granted, he had done the same whenever she got splatted, but unlike her brother, she could handle whatever Octavio threw at her. Compare what she faced to whatever Agent 3 faced in Octo Valley and you could very well say that he had his work cut out for him.
Sometimes she liked to think what her brother would be like, getting back the Zapfish from the Octarians in Octo Canyon rather than the Valley.
Maybe then he wouldn't have gotten a long-distance relationship with the first Octoling he laid eyes on.
Now that Shi put on her clothes and adjusted her tentacles to her liking, she went into the kitchen to think about what her plan for today would be. Other than going to Mako Mart when it wasn't hosting Turf Wars, she would get some done herself later today since she needed the funds for the apartment's upcoming monthly rent. She was a pretty good Roller-main after all, so being able to afford an apartment as nice and cozy as this one was easy via her winnings from multiple Turf Wars and the occasional Ranked Battle. After earning enough coins to pay off the apartment's rent and next week's meals, she'd stop by Octo Canyon to visit Marie and see if she had any news on her brother. Or his girlfriend; though she preferred the former for many reasons.
*RING*
...Or maybe she could visit Marie now since she's calling her over.
And here she thought it was her break-week from doing missions for Marie. Sure, she was an agent of a skilled group specialized in combating Octarian forces, but even then both sides needed rest. "Oh well," she thought with a frown as she picked up her Squid-phone 7. Whenever Marie called, it had to be something important. Whether they were vital missions that gave the New Squidbeak Splatoon an edge over the Octarian forces down in the canyon or just a new briefing on enemies she has yet to face. Whatever it was, it had to be important.
But was it important enough to walk down to Inkopolis Square immediately? It had been only 9:00 in the morning since Shi got up, and already Marie was pulling her leg to something acute to either a history lecture or spec-ops mission from those FPS games she and her brother played on the weekends.
"Man, what does Marie want now..." Shi sighed. God, she hoped the problem wasn't either vital to the New Squidbeak Splatoon's progression on their current goals that consisted of rescuing the Zapfish and beating Octavio's takoyaki balls (again) or a waste of her break. Don't get her wrong, she didn't have any ill-will towards the Squid Sister, her own role as an Agent, or what she was facing up against via said role; she was just concerned about making the most of her days off from continuously working as an Agent.
If only she could figure out what Marie wanted without dragging herself down to the Canyon to hear about what Maie had to say.
...
...
...
Suddenly, Shi got a very bright idea.
...
"Hello?"
Marie held back a shocked gasp. "Agent 4 picked up her phone?!" She wasn't sure if she dialed a wrong number or an Octarian had gone and figured out how to tap smartphones.
She never picked up her phone at all whenever Marie called contacted her and instead came down to see what the occasion was. In fact, it had been the last time she'd ever heard her voice over a voice-line was when they were testing out their contact! Then again, Marie never had to contact her during one of her break weeks... was she busy doing something right now? Was this a friend?
"...A-Agent 4? Is that you?"
Marie was answered with a subtle 'Yeah' from her own squidPhone as she now tried to piece together current events that had transpired in the last 2 hours. An old face shows up to be with the enemy, and now this? What's next?
"Are you sure? You never answered your squidPhone whenever I called you until now!" Marie practically screamed into the phone. "What's the deal with that?"
On the other side of the current call, Shi physically tensed when Marie called her out on being lazy towards her agent duties. Hesitantly, she spoke back. "T-that's being worked on..."
"Oh yeah?" Marie practically sassed at the young agent. "And why wasn't this being worked on the last 21 calls, hmm~?"
"You were calling me about how I don't answer my phone or..?" Shi deadpanned.
With a sigh, Marie spoke back. "We'll get back to this, 4. Watch yourself."
"Fine, fine. So, what's this all really about?" asked Shi. "If it's about training then I already told you. I'm good."
Marie had to resist the urge to shake her head. "No, this isn't about training. You're good... for now, at least."
"Hey!"
"It's true, Agent 4. Sooner or later you'll have to brush up your skills, and not just on the Hero Shot. Before you know it, you'll be facing even bigger tentacles before facing the biggest one of them all." Marie said with a tone that of a worried mentor. 'She's great at doing her job, but she needs to become better before she faces off Octavio. Who knows what he has in store now...' Marie silently thought to herself.
"So... I'm training to handle tentacles now, huh? What ways should I practice in dealing with them first~" Shi dragged out as sultry as she could.
"That's beside the point." Marie quickly replied. She took a few seconds to realize the innuendo behind the statement, and a bit of ink rushed to her cheeks. "4! What's wrong with you! I thought your brother was the only one interested in our enemy!" Marie yelled as Shi snickered behind her squidPhone.
"You're right. But between the 2 of us, I'm the one who's more forward. Besides, have you seen how my bro acts around that Octo chick? Too sweet for my taste. Hasn't even asked if they wanted to mate for-"
Agent 4 was cut off with a heavily-blushing Marie as she yelled into the line. "THAT'S NOT THE POINT AS OF NOW, 4."
"Then what's the dang point!?" Shi yelled back into her squidPhone. Realizing her unprofessional behavior to a celebrity figure, she quickly responded with a, "...If I may ask?"
With that being said, Shi got her bearings down as she was met with "...".
Silence.
'Uh oh. Pissed off Marie... Again.' The agent solemnly noted to herself.
"Marie? Hey, are you still-"
"I got an Octoling locked up," Marie said.
Agent 4's breath hitched and for a moment she couldn't speak.
"I'll be there in a few minutes," Shi said as she closed the call and started gearing up in her hero suit.
Things just got serious down in the valley if the enemy was on the move.
Noting this fact, she grabbed her Hero Shot, just in case.
...
"Agent 4." Marie regarded the agent as she popped out of the manhole that led to Octo Canyon from Inkopolis Square. The agent nodded back, her Hero Shot gripped firmly between her hands with a finger on the trigger. Marie could remember a time when she had the same mindset back in her old agent days.
"So... where is the enemy?" Agent 4 asked Marie in a voice that resembled a vicious predator.
"Whoa, whoa. Slow down there, agent. The last thing we want is another unnecessary mess to clean up." Marie said as she calmed down the twitchy agent. She knew how 4 could be around Octarians; Agent 3 having one as a love interest didn't help to simplify matters in that department either. As precise and skilled as she was out in the splatter-field, she was equally brutal and merciless to anything that was considered 'Octarian'.
Marie casually wondered if 3 had anything to do with 4's attitude towards the other species. Influence? Nah, Agent 3's never been that hostile towards any Octarians. Perhaps something happened between her and 3's girlfriend-
"Yeah, yeah, I won't splat the little bugger. Though they totally deserve to be though..." Agent 4 said to Marie as she trailed off her few last words. Marie decided that it wasn't her business as of now, and if Agent 3 and Gramps came back, maybe she'll look into it a bit more. "You sure?" She asked the agent; seeing as 4 still had a finger on the Hero Shot's trigger.
Agent 4 sighed as removed her trigger-finger off of the gun and slung it on her shoulder. "Yes, Marie..."
"Good. He's currently knocked out and tied up to one of the spare chairs in the Cuttlefish Cabin." Marie said as they both walked over to it. "I put him inside and checked to see if he had any trackers or radios on him. The idiot didn't have either..."
"Probably around here somewhere. Octarian scouts don't just drop their equipment in the middle of nowhere." Agent 4 said as she walked with the squid idol towards the wooden cabin that was the home of operations for the New Squidbeak Splatoon in Octo Canyon. Marie shook her head at the suggestion.
"That's where you're wrong, 4. You see... this isn't one of your normal Octarian scouts." Marie began as the two squids peered into the cabin's interiors.
Agent 4 gasped immediately.
...
Tai woke up to the sounds of duct tape.
'Duct tape?' he wondered to himself as he tried to breath in through his mouth.
He then knew why he heard duct tape.
Regaining his composure after failing to breathe for a second, he cracked open his eyes to find an Inkling wearing an all-too-familiar kimono facing away from him.
The same kimono that he saw when he battled her a while back.
A flash of pain came to him in the form of remembering times that seemed decades ago. Tai scrunched up his face as he tried to block out the painful images of him and her before he had to go away. He tried closing his eyes again in a futile attempt to shut his mind up about what could have been...
Before having one hell of a bitchslap delivered to him, courtesy of Agent 4.
"WHY?!" Shi yelled at the former rockstar as his eyes widened to dinnerplates after enduring the stinging sensation of a female's hand smashing into his right cheek.
"I swear I wasn't doing any Wasabi superior! It was Kou that was dealing it out! I have proof!" Tai yelled out, clearly shaken out of all his senses as he whipped his head back and forth in an attempt to dodge anymore slaps aimed at his face.
Unfortunately for him, Shi has an impeccable aim.
A few more slaps and the 4th Agent of the Squidbeak Splatoon almost achieved her first Octarian unarmed kill before Tai heard her speak up. "That's enough, Shi." Agent 4 paused her assault on Tai's (ugly) face and turned to look at her before walking up to the older inkling. Tai, who had the ever-loving crap beaten out of him by the feisty inkling, couldn't hear the next words exchanged between the two females.
To him, it looked like his life depended on it.
To Marie and Shi, it was just a discussion on why Tai was in this mess in the first place.
"Why is Tai from the Octo Bros. siding with the enemy forces!?" Shi whisper-yelled at Marie, both inklings showing their backs to the aforementioned Octoling. Said Octoling was looking at their backs with a grumpy expression. You couldn't blame him though; no one likes having their face beaten up by someone else.
"Remember how his band retired a few weeks after Off the Hook became the new inkopolis news show hosts?" Marie asked Shi as she pondered for a bit.
"Yeah, but it was less like they got the job and more like they replaced you and Callie." Agent 4 received a slap to the back of her tentacles with her response.
"It's not like that at all. Callie and I quit the job because of both of us wanting to delve deeper into solo careers." Marie snapped back with a hint of venom in her voice.
"Sure... nothing about Callie having too much salt in her eyes." Shi deadpanned back. Marie's face began to puff up before she let out a breath and shook her head solemnly.
"Anyways," Marie started, "I'm guessing you know about that major deportation of nearly 88% of the Octarian population living in Inkopolis that happened around a year ago." Shi nodded her head towards this. "Yes, I know. But the few Octarians that stayed were given special permission due to them being big figures in Inkling society. That's why Marina's still here and not fighting against us in this damned Canyon."
Marie couldn't help but agree with the younger Inkling's point. "Mhmm. Thank Pearl for that. She was the one who got Marina those citizen papers done in time. If only the rest of the populace were as lucky as her..."
Agent 4 couldn't help but ponder when Marie trailed off her sentence. "I thought you said that most of the Octarian populace got citizen papers for both Inkopolis and the Valley?" Marie looked at Shi and shook her head. "They did, and they were official too. Rules, regulations, everything. And before you ask, yes. The Octo Bros. applied for dual citizenship as well." Shi quickly shut her mouth seeing that her next question was just answered.
Marie continued, "Which leads me back to the Octo Bros. retiring. You see, they're actually..."
Before Marie could finish her sentence, she noticed a slight rustling coming from behind both of their backs. Taking a quick glance over her shoulder, Marie stifled a laugh and saw Tai, bent in an uncomfortable-looking position trying to cut the duct tape that held him to the chair he was currently taped to. Seeing as how he was able to cut past more than half the tape during the relatively small time Marie and Shi were talking with each other, Marie feared that the Octoling was seconds away from escaping.
Shi noticed this and did something Marie was expecting her to do.
"HEY!" The agent yelled towards the rockstar as she bounded towards him in a single leap, her HeroShot found its' barrel inches away from Tai's face.
Tai stared back at Shi; his expression telling to both her and Marie that he was kinda ticked off about being slapped earlier. He started to yell profane words at both of the Inklings before taking a look at the weapon pointed at his forehead. In order to avoid getting shot by the agent, he held back his words for the time being and chose to express his hate for the both of them with an angry-looking face.
Shi was unamused with Tai's attempt.
Marie, confirming that their 'visitor' wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, she walked up towards the two and looked at the enemy that she had an agent currently held at gunpoint.
He looked back at her, face unchanging.
"So... this is how we meet each other after all these months..." Marie solemnly noted to herself.
"He looks... different."
"Agent 4?"
Marie caught the attention of both Shi and Tai, with only Shi responding to her. "Yes, Marie?"
"I think its time we put him out of his misery."
Tai's eyes widened in fear after those words left her mouth.
"With pleasure," Shi responded.
*SPLAT*
*SPLAT*
*SPLOOSH*
In the Cuttlefish Cabin, there stood a chair with duct tape wraps covered in yellow ink.
Mari sighed to herself. "These next days will be a bit more interesting..."
She almost noticed the faded photo of her and Tai sticking out of the yellow ink of where Tai used to be.
Tai is dead end of story kids go home and don't come back until I make the next chapter
With that aside, I do plan to include Agent 8 and the Octo Expansion into this story, hopefully after the main plot with Tai and Marie gets done with. Bear in mind I'm doing this solo without any editorials besides myself (and Grammarly), so expect a rushed plot that really has comedy as its redeeming quality with sprinkles of blushing cephalopods and shit-eating grins, courtesy of Agent 3 and Tai respectively. And before you ask, no, I'm not looking for editors as that'll be too much of a hassle for me regarding communications and work ethic. Mines, to be specific.
All of that and more will hopefully be clarified in the future... after I think of more things to add to the story. Maybe shine some light on the subject of Kou? Guess we'll both see once I type up the next few chapters. With that said, hope you guys didn't feel cheated out of your time, and until then, away I type into the sunset...