Author's notes: Hey guys another chapter for you!
Also don't forget to review...how else am I supposed to know if I'm doing a good job at this if nobody will say something.
Chapter 8: Morning Calls
I may be more of a morning person than most Inklings but there's huge a difference between getting up at like 9 or 10 in the morning and getting up at a little after 6.
So when my communicator went off at that before mentioned uncodly hour of six I felt very much like punching something after I jumped at the sudden loud beeping before nearly falling off my cot onto the wood floor.
Reaching up for it I swiftly silenced it before letting out a hissing breath, "I'm gonna get him for this..."
"What the kelp was that noise?!" Whark stumbled into my room looking as irritated as I felt about the rude awakening. Being even more likely to sleep in than me he probably was ten times more pissed than he was letting on.
"Sorry...I forgot I set an alarm..." trying not to draw too much attention I shoved the communicator under my pillow to hide it.
"But why now?!"
"I wanted an early start..."
He stared at me in disbelief, "for what?!"
"T-training..." I bit my lip as I said it. It wasn't technically a lie but it wasn't the full truth either.
He stared at me for another solid minute before walking back out of my room with a groan, "you are so weird Marlin..." a few seconds later I heard his door shut.
Without missing a beat I dove under my pillow for the communicator before grabbing the bag under my bed as well as my key for the apartment which I shoved into my pocket. Walking out of my room I took a deep breath while looking in the direction of Whark's bedroom before hurrying out the door.
"Good morning Agent 3!" Cap'n Cuttlefish gave me a grin as I walked over to him with a yawn, "you get enough sleep?"
"Sorta..." looking up at him I couldn't help but notice that he didn't even remotely look tired at all even with how early it was.
"Well hope you feel up to another mission Agent 3."
"I guess..." I let out another yawn.
"Actually if you can get two more Zapfish there should be enough energy to get to one of the bigger kettles open..." he said little hesitantly.
My ears immediately pricked up, "bigger kettles?"
"Mhm...to be honest I'm not sure what is down them..." his expression turned briefly ashen, "hopefully nothing, but we can't leave a single stone left unturned."
"Of course Cap'n..." with a nod I slipped my headset on, "just two more and we can check this big kettle out?"
"That's...correct," he again hesitated as he said it.
"Give me about five hours and I can get you those Zapfish."
Ducking behind a column I barely dodged the explosion of a strange robot that had started chasing me, it's main body containing large quantities of Octarian ink, "these Octarians surely know how to keep someone on their toes..." with a shaky breath I peered out behind the column to find the coast clear.
Jumping from another Super Jump launchpad eventually led me to a tall tower that as I crane my neck I could see the wink of a Zapfish glow up at the top, "great...how do I get up there..." looking behind me I saw a shorter tower with something I had only seen in history books...until now.
"They use Ink Cannons still...?" Heading towards it I was stunned to see it appeared to be in one piece still. The ancient device being meant as a way to take out large group of attackers by using large quantities of ink excreted by the user in their animal form according to the books I had read.
Looking back towards the tower a sudden thought occured to me, "hm...I wonder..." looking in the reservoir there was small traces of dried purple ink on the sides and bottom but nothing fresh or in large enough amounts to hurt me. Without another thought I hopped in and started releasing ink from my ink sac into the reservoir.
By the time I had enough ink to get it working my lack of sleep was taking its toll. Inklings often use the hours asleep to replenish their ink supply lost over the course of the previous day but since I hadn't gotten much sleep I was becoming light headed from the lack of ink in my system. Shaking my head I concentrated on using the sight correctly as I grabbed a control stick in the tank with a tentacle. Once I had aimed at the opposite tower I pushed the button on the top of the control stick.
The cannon violently shuddered for a few seconds before a giant glob of my ink shot out of it and hit the opposite tower. As it collided the entire structure visibly shook for a good solid minute before settling again.
Climbing back out I shifted to humanoid form and laid against the side of the cannon, panting a little, "ugh..."
"You okay Agent 3?"
"Yeah...just suffering from minor RIL..."
"RIL?"
"Rapid Ink Loss..." I shook my head again as my vision swam a little, "don't worry Cap'n I'm almost done with this mission..." I stood up, wobbling for a few seconds, before moving forward.
With the wall inked it didn't take much for me to climb up it and make it towards the top where the Zapfish squealed at my sudden appearance. Walking over to it I broke the container in a few shots of ink which made it squeak even louder.
"It's okay little guy..." I calmly told it. Unclipping its whiskers I pulled it free, "Cap'n Cuttlefish I have the second Zapfish and am on my way back."
Much to my surprise I was met by static.
"Cap'n?"
More static answered my question.
"Cap'n if you can hear me my headset seems to be malfunctioning..."
"I'm afraid the captain can't at the moment Agent 3...and no your headset is working just fine..."
My blood ran instantly cold as the sound of the new voice, "who are you and what have you done to the Cap'n?"
"Don't worry...the crazy goatfish is untouched...for now," the voice snickered under his breath like he had just heard a joke and I was the punchline.
"I mean it! Who are you!?" I growled a little.
The voice started to laugh again, "if you keep knocking about in my turf I'm sure we'll meet...eventually..." a burst of white noise rang into my ears, causing me to wince before I was met with silence.
"C-cap'n...?" I dared after a minute.
"Yes bucko?" Cuttlefish's puzzled voice made me sigh a little in relief, "is something wrong?"
"No sir...everything is fine..." I couldn't help but start looking around myself as a feeling of being watched crept in, "I'll be back in a few Cap'n," ending the conversation I prepared to make my way back to Octo Valley.
"I think you should rest Agent 3..." he frowned as I nearly ran into a tree I temporarily didn't notice, having taken my headset off I realized my hearing and balance was messed up as well as having the dizzy spells, "that Ink Cannon took its toll on you I think..."
"What about the big kettle?"
"Being the captain of a Splatoon back during the war I had to learn to read my fellow teammates to determine the best course of action in their current condition," he placed a hand on my shoulder, "and what I'm seeing right now telling is me you need some rest..."
"Bu-"
"No buts bucko, you need rest!" He yelled.
The stern look he gave made me immediately shut my mouth as I nodded.
His expression lightened after a minute with a sigh, "you're just as bad as my granddaughters..."
"Your granddaughters?" I couldn't help but him.
"Yes...they don't seem to know when to quit either..." he let out a soft chuckle, "I love them both but they can be a handful..."
"I'm sure you do sir..."
"Yes..." he sighed a little as his mind appeared briefly elsewhere until he returned his attention back to me, "I'm serious though Agent 3, get some rest and go hang out with your friends...a boy at your age should be doing that."
"Okay, okay Cap'n...I'm gone," with a smile I grabbed my bag and headed towards the exit. Looking back I gave him a quick wave before dropping down.
Climbing back up without being seen wasn't too hard since it was still pretty early in the morning. As I lugged my bag onto my shoulder though I couldn't help but stare surprised at the sight of Noi coming out of the hat shop.
Ducking behind a column I peeked out from behind it and watched as she headed into one of the cafés with a shopping bag in her hand, "w-what!? Why is she awake...?"
Curiosity got the better of me as I darted across the plaza. Looking through the window I saw her sit down as a purple tentacled waitress started taking her order.
Taking a deep breath I quickly went over to the door rushed into the cafe only to nearly plow into the same waitress I had seen talking to Noi, "Hey speedster! Watch where you are going!" she glared at me with brilliantly dark purple eyes as she brushed her apron like I had gotten it dirty.
"I'm...s-sorry..." stammering a little I held up my hands in defense, "I didn't mean to run into you."
"You better be sorry!" she snapped, "I could have you kicked out you know!"
"Marlin?" looking behind the angry waitress I saw Noi coming towards us.
The waitress looked over at the lilac Inkling as well, "you know him Noi?"
"Yeah Leef, he's my friend."
She raised an eyebrow, "your friend?"
"Yes, don't worry he won't cause anymore problems..." taking my hand she dragged me towards the booth she had been at while Leef continued to shoot daggers at the back on my head.
"Thanks Noi...I thought she was about to put my head on a plate and serve it to one of the customers."
"Yeah...Leef can go from cheerful to pissed in a matter of seconds. It's even more likely to occur if you say anything bad about her son or younger sister."
I shuddered, "remind me if I ever meet her sister not to say anything bad...most likely I'd just pissed them both off."
"I don't know about that...she's younger than us so it's gonna be a few years before she comes to Inkopolis...you may never meet her."
"Let's hope so..." I laid my head on the table as my stomach gurgled. Whether from how ill I felt or me being hungry I wasn't certain.
"Marlin you okay? You look a little pale..."
"Yeah...I'm fine..."
"Liar," reaching over she lifted my head and looked into my mouth, "your gums are pale too...you look like you're suffering from Ink Loss..."
"I did some training this morning," I told her, using the same lie I told Whark earlier.
"Some training...your body is having trouble coping with the low amounts of ink in your body," she waved at Leef who groaned as she walked over, "can you get him some water and some form of meat?"
She nodded as she walked away, "what's the water and meat for?" I asked.
"Ink is a mix of mostly mucus and animo acids...we need your body to start making more ink."
"Oh..." I watched helplessly Leef came back with a glass and a plate with some shrimp, "how did she know...?"
"How did she know what?" She slid the water over to me.
"That I like shrimp..." I chugged the water down as I realized how thirsty I was.
"I don't know..." she shrugged, "she probably just guessed, now eat! I'm not going to let my friend faint in front of me."
"Wait...you were serious about the 'being my friend' part?"
"Yeah...why wouldn't I be?"
"Um, I don't know..." I could feel my face getting warm.
"Your other friends gonna get mad at me?" her accent suddenly got thicker as a smile broke out on her face.
"No its just a surprise...we only just met."
"Who cares..."she leaned back in her seat, "now start eating or I'll start shoving them into your mouth for you."
Not sure if she was joking or not I started to eat. After consuming about half of the plate and downing another glass my dizziness had faded away, "thanks Noi," I reached for my wallet to pay.
"Oh no you don't! This is on me Marlin Colorian."
"But I was the one who ate it."
"Not all of it..." she took one I hadn't eaten and popped it into her mouth, "I would also suggest getting a nap or something in, it will help you recover more easily."
"I guess you have a point..." I stood up.
Noi stood up as well, "yeah, it was nice seeing you again Marlin...you kinda ran off after that match."
I immediately blushed, "I'm really sorry about that..."
"I'm sure you had a reason," coming up to me she planted a quick kiss on my cheek, "but I hope I'll get to see you more later...both in and out of matches. Anyway hope to see you Marlin," she then walked away from the booth and out the door of the café while I stood there rooted to the spot.
As I stood there my body suddenly began to feel really warm as my chest ached like I had been hit there. After a minute though it faded away as I finally reached my hand up to my face where she had kissed me, "w-what...?"
I could hear Leef behind me let out a sigh of annoyance which made me realize I probably looked very stupid just standing there for no reason.
Blushing a little more I shoved my hands into my pockets only to find something crumpled in the bottom of my right pocket. Sitting back down at the booth I took out a folded plain piece of paper. Unfolding it revealed a short message written on it.
Hey it was fun being part of your team yesterday, hope I can become a permanent member~
Noi Humloche.
Underneath it was a short series of numbers that confused me a good minute until suddenly I realized what it was. Looking out the window quickly I tried seeing if I could spot her but she had already disappeared out of sight.
Looking back down at the paper I could barely keep my hand steady as I folded it back up and put it back in my pocket. Getting up it took all my self control not to run out excitedly like a squirt on Squidmas day at the thought of trying out the phone number later.