Author's Notes: Hey guys I'm back and hopefully I'll be on a little less of a hiatus kind of mode now due to me having more time to potentially write. So hopefully there will be more regular updates of both this one and SOTI.

Anyway, don't forget to review at the end of the chapter, I really appreciate them.

Enjoy.

Chapter 6: The Captain's Plea

"Holy ship!" I fell backwards as I tried to back away from the old Inkling as quickly as possible only to end up backing into a tree, "oh my cod, I'm so sorry! I didn't know anyone lived down here!"

"Relax Bucko, I'm not going to get you in trouble if that's what you're wondering," the elder Inkling insisted as he waved his arms for me to calm down. If it wasn't covered by his scraggly white beard I probably would have seen his mouth curl into a smile when he said it though.

I stared hesitantly at him for a moment, "You won't?"

"Of course not Bucko," he looked me up and down for a bit, "you can't be much younger than my own granddaughters by the looks of it actually..."

"Oh...r-really," if this elder squid had granddaughters I would have hated to be in their shoes. By the looks of it he didn't eat as much as he should since you could see his entire frame and at first glance he might have looked a little senile to some people. Keeping an eye on this elder probably wasn't easy for them...assuming they even knew he was down here... "w-well I really am not that old sir..."

"How old are you then Bucko?"

"14 sir and actually my name is Marlin, Marlin Colorian," getting up from the ground I realized he wasn't that much taller than me since he was leaning very heavily on a cane he was holding in his right hand.

"Marlin huh..." he stroked his beard thoughtfully for a moment as he looked me up and down some more, "that look in your eye...it's a look I haven't seen in a long time..." he half muttered under his breath as he continued to look at me.

"What look in my eye sir?" I couldn't stop myself from asking him.

"That look of someone with a great deal of courage," he answered, "you actually might be just what I'm looking for..."

"What do you mean?"

"What do you know about the Great Zapfish Marlin?"

"The Great Zapfish?" the sudden change of topic caused me to have to quickly wrecked my brain for information as I tried to remember as much as I could it, "um...a big electric catfish that wraps around Inkopolis tower and gives Inkopolis a lot of its energy, also recently it went missing."

"All true statements...except it didn't go missing...it was stolen."

"S-stolen?" I took a step back only to once again thump my back into the tree behind me, "stolen by who?"

"Only one group would be so desperate to take away our limited source of power..." turning his gaze to an old shed behind us he groaned, "sadly I wish I was wrong about it though..."

Following his gaze I realized attached to the wall was an assortment of objects. Some of it was random newspaper clippings, others were various camera pictures and others still were pieces of paper with words or pictures rapidly scrawled onto it before they were tacked up with the rest of the stuff, "what is all this?"

"This is all my research on the oldest of our race's enemies...the Octarians."

"Octarians?"

"Yes Bucko," he finally looked away from the wall, "like our ancestors the Octarians origins is in the sea. While we evolved from squid the Octarians evolved from another sea creature known as the octopus."

"How come I've never heard of them?"

"Because adults don't want to scare young squirts such as yourself Marlin. A long time ago our two races were at peace but no longer and now our two races are bitter rivals."

"Why is-"

"It doesn't matter..." he answered, cutting my question off, "what does is the Octarians have taken the Great Zapfish."

"But...how you be so certain it was them though?"

"I've been keeping an eye on them for a long time but somehow they slipped away with it right from under my nose. While looking for some clues I found small traces of a type of ink only they produce and because it's so unique to them if a Inkling touches it it will burn an Inkling's skin...accidental consumption of the stuff can be fatal even. After discovering it I was making my way back here when you ran into me earlier."

My eyes widened, "So it was you!"

He nodded, "Yes it was me...normally I really don't travel too much aboveground but in order to figure out if it really was the Octarians I had to take the risk."

"Why is the Great Zapfish such a big deal anyway?"

"Because if we don't have it Inkopolis will lose all its power. Not right away but it will happen eventually...those so called Turf Wars of yours will become very dangerous without any way to respawn after being splatted.

I shuddered at the thought of never being able to respawn because the respawn points suddenly lost power, "What can be done to get it back?"

He placed a hand on my shoulder, "Well Bucko...that's where you come in. I need you to help me get the Great Zapfish back."

"What?! M-me?" I pulled away from him as I tried not to completely freak out, "s-sir, I'm just a kid and you make these Octarians sound pretty dangerous."

"They are, and I would do it myself but I'm getting old Bucko..." he sighed heavily, "I can't even really produce ink anymore..."

"Surely there is someone else who can..."

"Marlin, I've been looking for quite some time for someone to help me and frankly you aren't the first young squid to accidentally fall down here, all of them missing something that would be crucial to be of any use to me. When you ran into me earlier I knew you'd be just right to help me and you falling down here I don't think was a mere coincidence."

"But...I can't sir..." I shook my head rapidly as tears threatened to well up at the corners of my eyes, "I'm sorry...but you must have the wrong person...I can't help you..." I turned to go back to the sewer grate to leave.

"Wait!" even though he was old he still was somehow able to get in front of me to block my path before I could get away, "alright I understand, if you don't want to but even if you won't help me could you at least help me with something else?"

I sighed sadly, "yes...sir?"

"When the Great Zapfish was stolen several dozen baby Zapfish went missing as well. I recently found out where one of the little ones are but I don't have anyway to get it...if you could just rescue it that would help me a lot with finding the others. What do you say?"

He stared at me hopefully as I debated what to do. After several minutes of thinking I sighed again, "just the one baby Zapfish...right?"

"Yes...and then you're done. Sound fair?"

"Will I have to fight any Octarians?"

"This baby Zapfish isn't really guarded so you'll probably be able to sneak it out of there pretty easily."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

I hesitated another several seconds, "Okay...I'll do it sir."

"Oh thank the starfish young lad!" he made a move to hug me but stopped when I took a step back from him, "err, right...actually Bucko I'd prefer you not to call me 'sir'...it makes me feel older than I already am. Call me Cap'n Cuttlefish or just Captain if you don't mind?"

"Oh...okay Captain," I nodded, "in that case could you please not call me 'Bucko' anymore? I'd prefer you call me 'Marlin'."

"Sure, but I can't use you real name out in the field...how about I call you Agent 3 instead?"

"Agent 3? Are you saying...?"

"Yes...you aren't my first agent. Agent 1 and Agent 2 have been very helpful to me over the years."

"Are they...?" I slid my finger across my throat.

"Dead? Of course not!" he stared at me in disbelief for a moment, "they still regularly help me from time to time but they are more or less retired from active agent field work."

"Oh..." I faintly blushed in response.

"However, I'm gonna give you something of theirs," hobbling over to the shed he went into it and came back several minutes later with a wrapped bundle in his hands, "these are hand me downs from Agents 1 and 2 but they should still fit you pretty well."

Unwrapping the bundle revealed a black long-sleeved jacket with high collar, a bright yellow reflective vest, black and yellow shoes and a headset that would have easily slipped over my ears, "what are these for?"

"That is your agent gear Agent 3. It will give you added protection against Octarian ink and a method for you to communicate with me so I'll be there every step of the way. Go ahead...try them on."

"Um...alright," unzipping the jacket I slipped it over my shoulders and zipped it back up before doing the same with the vest. Kicking my cream colored sneakers off I laced up the black and yellow ones up and stood up with the headset hanging around my neck, "they fit pretty well actually Captain."

"Great! One last thing I need to give you," pulling his hands from behind his back he held up a ink weapon with similar design to the gear and an ink tank.

I raised an eyebrow at him confused, "I thought you said I wouldn't be fighting Octarians?"

"I did, these are precautionary just in case you run into some accidentally. This is what I call the Hero Shot which works more or less like a regular Splattershot...you have used one right?"

"Uh...does the Jr Splattershot count?"

"Close enough," he handed it to me as well as the tank, "also if by some rare chance you do run into trouble there is a small handful of respawn points but they only hold enough energy to revive you a few times before they run out of energy, after that if you get splatted it's game over."

I swallowed nervously, "Right...got it."

"Good, the entrance to the area where the baby Zapfish is just over there," he pointed to a spot about ten feet away from us, "the entrance is currently being cloaked with some form of device but hitting it with your ink should disrupt the cloaking device on the entrance."

Strapping my ink tank on I started shooting orange ink at the area he indicated and after a few shots I heard something fizzle out before a grate on a raised dome revealed itself, "okay...here goes nothing..." climbing on to it I stood on top of the grate as I turned back to Cuttlefish, "is there any other advice you have for me?" I called out to him.

"Yes, don't get hit!" he answered as he gave me a thumbs up.

"Yeah, thanks Captain...I'll keep that in mind," muttering under my breath about how stupid this was I pulled the headset up onto my ears before, with a final shuddering breath, I shifted into squid form and slipped through the grate and into the unknown.