Author's notes: Sorry about the wait...had trouble figuring out how to do certain parts of the chapter so it got done later then I anticipated. But I eventually figured it out.
Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 9: Between a Block and a Hard Place
"Wow...you got a girl's phone number..." Whark whistled softly as the two of us walked down the street. Two days had past since I had ran into Noi in the café and so far I hadn't dared use the number to contact her and had only decided this morning to tell Whark, which I was already regretting, "...and a cute girl I might add..."
"The fact she's cute doesn't matter Whark!" I insisted but I could feel my face growing warm.
He grinned, "yeah sure whatever you say Marlin..."
I growled, "Whark I'm serious!"
He stopped walking and stood in front of me as he placed his hands on my shoulders, "and I'm serious too...and I really think you need a girlfriend dude."
A mix of panic and disbelief filled me as my eyes grew wide, "What? Why would you tell me that?"
"You two I think would make a great couple."
I frowned, "Whark...since when have you been interested in girls?"
He hesitated for a minute, "we aren't little squirts now Marlin...it's normal to go-"
"That's not what I meant Whark..."
He looked down at his shoes for a second before letting out a shaky breath, "I still think you should find someone."
"Why should I?" I tried ducking under his arm only to have him get in my path again.
"Because you need something else other than training to take your mind off your mom," a look of worry crossed his face, "I know it was getting bad just before we left...Marin..."
I bit my lip, "how long...?"
"A few weeks before we left...I ran in your cousin one day as he was heading home..." he gave me a wry smile, "Ploosh really doesn't know when to stay quiet about stuff..."
"yeah he doesn't...but a relationship won't fix anything dude..." shoving him aside I continued to walk down the sidewalk.
As we walked up to a food court Alga waved at us quickly while Noi simply glanced up while taking a sip of her drink, "about time you two showed up!"
"Why? What's the rush?" I sat down across from Noi while Whark sat next to me.
"We need to plan out training sessions and stuff so that we can get better as a team," she shoved a crab cake into her mouth and swallowed it several seconds later before continuing, "Soral won't get us a second time."
"How can we be so certain we'll win?" Whark asked as he watched Alga continue to eat with a look of disgust.
"Well for one thing you have me and I know how each member of her team plays," Noi answered.
"Actually...I've been meaning to ask you about that..." I started to say.
"Huh?" she gave me a puzzled look, "what do you mean?"
"Well you seem to know Soral pretty well..."
She snorted, "She's a big fat pain in the beak, it's pretty hard to not know of her."
"I guess...but what about Azuse?"
"What about Azuse?"
"How did you know she was colorblind?"
She froze like she had been shot, "h-how did I know she was c-colorblind?"
"Yeah...that's a rather personal piece of information."
"That's a good point Marlin..." Whark stared at Noi as I saw a look of fear entered into her eyes, "how would you know that just from normal interactions?"
"Um...that's a good question...you see I-" she suddenly jumped as a loud beeping rang out. In the process she knocked her cup over, spilling soda all over the table.
As the other three panicked I quickly reached up into my sleeve and pressed the mute button on my communicator. Looking up I saw Whark looking at me suspiciously as Alga helped Noi clean up the spilled drink.
"What the kelp was that...?!" Alga demanded as Noi gained a distant look as she stared at the table.
"That was Marlin..." Whark glared, "...and his stupid watch thing!"
"That was a watch...?"
"Um, yeah it was..." I slowly started to get up, "I accidentally woke up Whark with it a couple of times now..."
"Where are you going Marlin!"
"I forgot I had somewhere to go to...I need to leave now," once I had stood up I pushed my chair in, "I'll see you guys later."
"Oh cod no you're not!" Whark quickly grabbed my shirt, "we are having a meeting. Whatever stupid thing it is can wait!"
"A-actually I should probably return home..." shaking her head Noi stood up as well, "I'm sure we can plan a meeting at a better time."
Whark made a sound deep in his throat as he glared at me for a good solid minute. Eventually he let me go, "fine...let's plan for tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me, see you back at the apartment later Whark," running out of the food court I started heading towards the entrance to Octo Valley. As i rounded a corner I pulled my sleeve up as I brought the communicator up to my face, "Cap'n is it time?"
"It is...where are you?"
"Coming to the entrance as we speak sir. I'll be there in-" the sudden appearance of something solid in my path caught me so off guard that I nearly fell backwards from hitting it, "what the...oh carp..."
"The kelp?!" Soral whipped around to face me before giving me a hiss, "you!?"
"Oh geez...sorry about that Soral," I scrambled backwards as she started moving towards me enraged, "I wasn't paying attention..."
"You asking for a beating hotshot?!"
"No I'm not I swear!" I raised my arms up only to have her pin me to a wall.
"Kinda looks like it..." she raised a fist to punch me, "say you're sorry one more time and I might hurt you less."
"Hey! What are you two kids up to?!" turning my head I saw a police officer coming towards us.
Soral hissed under her breath as she lowered her arm back down, "you got lucky this time...next time you won't be," giving me a shove she walked off as the officer came up to me, giving Soral a frown.
"You okay kid?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"If I were you I'd end it before it gets worse."
"She's not my girlfriend sir..."
"Oh..." he rubbed the back of his head, "either way she looks like she could be trouble...wanna file a restraining order on her? I could take you to the station to do it."
"No thank you...I have somewhere I really need to be," with a nod at him I shuffled away until I was out of sight before running.
Jumping up from the grate into the valley I brushed myself off while looking up to find Cuttlefish watching me, "you heard that, didn't you?"
"I'm afraid so Agent 3. I didn't realize you were having problems with the other kids your age. Perhaps we ought to postpone looking into..."
"No, no...I'm fine, really."
He raised an eyebrow, "are you certain?"
"Yeah, I'm ready," I quickly nodded.
"Well...alright I guess we should get this mission started..." walking ahead he led the way as I followed while slipping my vest on over the rest of my Agent gear.
Standing in front of the giant tea kettle a sudden feeling of dread came to me as stepping onto the grating I looked down through it before swallowing hard.
"Nervous?" Looking up I saw Cuttlefish gripping his cane tightly as he watched me.
"A little..."
Even though I couldn't see it I sensed a wry smile behind his beard, "good...being too confident can cause an agent to become too cocky...but I doubt you'd do that..."
"Um...yeah..." slipping my headset on I dropped through the grate.
The drop was a lot longer than I anticipated so when I finally made it to solid ground again I stumbled a little away from the entrance before looking around, "wow...this place is huge..."
"See anything Agent 3?"
"So far no..." jumping from a launchpad I nimbly landed on a large circular plateform with a large structure in the center, "huh...that's weird..."
"What is?"
"There is a large metal block here..."
"A-a what?"
"I metal block..." I cocked my head to the side, "...kinda like a cube..."
A gasp entered into my headset, "No...it can't be..."
"You know what it is?"
"Yes I do. Agent 3 you need to-" a sudden burst of static interrupted him.
"Cap'n?!"
"I see you decided to ignore me Agent 3...I'm a little disappointed..."
"You!" pulling my Hero Shot out I started looking around myself, "of course I won't give up you have our Zapfish."
"I thought you'd say that...consider this a warning...one of very few me and my master will give you," a loud audible clang rang out as a hatch in the ceiling opened and a container with a baby Zapfish in it dropped down.
I took a step towards the center only to jump back as a large tentacle shot up and grabbed the container with a squeal the Zapfish disappeared into the structure before with a sound of whirring gears the structure lifted itself up onto a pair of legs.
"What the kelp?!" taking another step back I heard laughter as the static returned for a moment before I heard Cuttlefish yelling at me.
"Agent 3 what are you doing?! You're not ready to handle the Octostomp! Get out of there!"
"Octo-stomp?" I yelped as the giant thing turned around to reveal a large face staring at me. Glaring it started wadding towards me.
"Ack! Cap'n how do I deal with this thing?!"
"You were never meant to fight it! I could have sworn Agent 1 and 2 had taken it out..."
"Cap'n, help me!" looking up at it the Octostomp hovered over me before jumping into the air above my head.
Jumping out of the way a wave of Octarian ink hit my back as I kept my head down for several seconds. Looking up I turned my head to find the Octostomp face planted into the ground while it's legs wiggled wildly, "it's...stuck?"
"Agent 3 if you can get up top you can weaken it!"
"What?" Looking at its side I realized the metal surface was clearly inkable. Getting up quickly I started painting the sides as the Octostomp entire body started to shudder.
"No! Don't get up!" jumping into the ink path I had made I quickly climbed up it onto the top and found a tentacle sticking out of it. Aiming at it I shot it several times before it exploded and knocked me backwards off the Octostomp onto the ground.
"Got it Cap'n..." wincing I sat up only to scoot backwards as the Octostomp hopped back onto its feet. Shaking itself several metal panels fell off its side, "or not..."
"It's gonna take more than that to take it out sadly Agent 3..."
"Great...I have to play sea chicken with a giant metal block that wants to kill me..." getting up I started moving around slowly so it would come after me. Just as it jumped into the air again I leaped out of range of the ink it splashed out. Turning around I started inking the panels that were still there before climbing up again and destroyed the tentacle that had popped out before jumping back down.
Shrieking in frustration the Octostomp shook again, sending more panels flying as it came charging towards me.
"Oh carp, Cap-" before I knew it I felt my body explode from being squashed while I was in blackness for several minutes before with a gasp I respawned at the respawn point, "that hurt more than normal..."
"These respawn aren't as powerful as the one they use in Turf Wars which means they can't make the respawn process come as easily."
"Oh no..." placing a hand on my chest I took a deep breath before diving off the platform back into the arena, "hey big guy! I'm not done yet!"
The Octostomp turned around and started coming towards me again. At the last minute I jumped out out of the way and turned my head to see the Octostomp had turned around as well, "you aren't getting me that easily," shifting into squid form I swam away as it slammed into the ground.
Inking the last panels I started climbing up as it shuddered before standing back up.
"Ack!" shifting back I grabbed the edge of a panel as the Octostomp started moving around.
"Hold on Agent 3!"
"I'm trying to sir..." gritting my teeth my knuckles turned white as my arms started tiring.
Finally the Octostomp stopped moving for a second before launching itself into the air and landing on the ground. As it hit my grip let go as I briefly was launched up myself before crashing down unto the back of it while the tentacle wagged in the air.
Groaning I pulled myself up to my knees as I aimed at the tentacle, "and stay down!" pulling the trigger I watched as the tentacle burst before the entire machine started shuddering violently underneath me.
Crawling to the edge I shifted into squid form and fell down into my ink as with a high pitched whine the machine exploded and sprayed large amounts of my ink all over the place as I ducked down to avoid flying pieces of metal.
Poking my head back up I looked to see the Zapfish container laying on its side and the baby Zapfish squeaking in panic.
Getting up I rushed over and broke the container. As it burst the Zapfish leaped up and curled around my neck as its body continued to quiver and tiny arcs of electricity came off its whiskers.
"I got the Zapfish Cap'n."
"Great job Agent 3. The fact they have the great Octoweapons functional again is somewhat worrisome...when you get back there is much we must discuss if you are to see more of them.
"Alright Cap'n..." looking down at the Zapfish it let out a frightened squeal as it looked up at me.
"It's okay little guy...it's over..." looking above I took one last look at where the Zapfish had come from the ceiling before heading back to the exit.