THREE
Rina struggled to keep her eyes locked on Blue.
Her bobbing pale hair-bow was barely visible through the screaming Inklings surging all around her, pushing past and crying out to each other. I guess I'm one of them now, Rina thought to herself as she yelled out to Blue desperately. "Come back! Blue!"
Finally the petite Inkling girl turned around and Rina nearly ran into her. They clutched onto each other to avoid being separated in the crowd.
"Rina! We have to get weapons!" Blue shouted to her, eyes wide with adrenaline. "Let's go to Sheldon, quick!"
And they set off, clinging to each other's arms and pushing through the crowd. They reached the doors and ran inside.
"W-what's happening?" A cowering Sheldon jumped in surprise at the Inklings sudden entrance.
"We need to borrow weapons, no time to explain." Rina said quickly, grabbing the nearest gun. A Luna Blaster. Blue hurriedly followed suit, darting back out of the shop with a Splattershot in hand. "Make way!" Rina screamed, trying to push through the crowd.
She felt her breath hitch in her throat as a shrill scream echoed above the rest. "CALLIE!"
No no no...This can't be happening. "Let me through!" Rina's voice cracked with desperation, she was moving as fast as possible now. There was another familiar shriek, "NO! Let go of me! Someone help!"
Rina noticed some Inklings weren't running. Some were watching with wide, horrified stares. Others appeared to be throwing anything nearby in a desperate attempt to retaliate against whoever was attacking...
Rina hesitated for a moment when she saw the scene before her.
...Octarians. Octolings. They were dragging Callie and Marie away. There were so many of them.
"NO!" Rina screamed, running directly at the enemy. She pulled the trigger of her weapon, letting loose a blast of orange ink. It didn't even hit them, they were too far away.
An Inkling rushed forward with the new distraction, slamming into an Octarian. It was Binke. The others looked around in confusion and yelled something to each other.
Then Blue was shooting at them, too. The enemy quickly got out of the way, not being sprayed enough to do much harm. They were retreating.
Rina could hear Callie and Marie struggling in vain, calling out to her. She shot another blast. Their ink supply was running out fast. An Octarian stumbled forward, covered in orange ink, but kept running. Even the one Binke had wrestled with was now fleeing.
"Come back here!" Rina shouted angrily, her weapon was depleted. In more of a frustrated outburst than an attack, she threw the Luna Blaster at their backs. It clattered to the floor of the ink-covered plaza.
They were gone.
Rina fell hard onto her knees, feeling completely defeated and helpless. Why...why would they come here. Why would they take Callie and Marie. Did they somehow find out about their identities as Agents 1 and 2? If so, why didn't they come for Agent 3 as well?
"R...Rina?" A timid, shaky voice sounded to Rina's right. A small hand touched her shoulder and orange eyes met blue. Rina hadn't even noticed that she had been shaking horribly.
"I couldn't do anything..." Rina whispered and shook with a small sob. "I'm so weak."
Blue kneeled down beside her as Rina put her face into her hands. "You're not weak. Not at all."
"I'm a coward." Rina rubbed her eyes pathetically. She could feel gazes turning to watch them. The immediate danger was over, Inklings were coming back to survey the damage. Rina could hear their voices calling to each other, "Where are the Squid Sisters?"
"You're wrong!" Blue shook Rina and pulled her hands away. She suddenly placed her hands on either side of Rina's face and forced her to look at her. "You're so brave! You rushed right in there to help your friends."
"But they're gone." Rina tried to turn away, but Blue held firm.
"No. Look at me. I wouldn't have been able to face them if I wasn't charging alongside you. We can still get them back. We can save them."
"How?" Rina whimpered.
"Because you won't be alone, this time." Blue smiled weakly at her. Rina stared back in silence for a long moment as her emotions finally spilled over. After all those months of hiding away, someone finally knew. Someone who was going to stand by her. She knew she couldn't face this alone.
"Thank you." Rina sobbed, falling onto Blue in a hug.
After Rina had calmed down a bit, she finally released Blue from her hold. "Sorry..." She mumbled an apology, rubbing her eyes.
Blue just smiled and stood up, offering Rina a hand.
"Where are they talking the Sisters?" A small voice called from the crowd. Many apprehensive faces were turned towards them.
"I don't know..." Blue muttered, glancing over at Rina nervously.
"What should we do?" It was Binke. He came over to stand beside Rina, gazing at her with concern. Purple ink was streaked across his face. Rina sucked in a shaky breath and exhaled slowly. She looked sideways at Blue and nodded, as if letting her know she was okay now. She was ready.
Rina stepped forward and scanned her eyes over the returning crowd. Everyone looked so small and afraid. Just like how she felt. But Rina knew now what it meant to be Agent 3. She had to be brave. She had to be here to help her friends and fellow Inklings in times of need. She had to be strong.
"We'll get them back." She spoke as confidently as she could. "We'll save them."
"How?" A voice came from the crowd. "We haven't fought Octarians in years."
"I have." Rina gulped nervously as murmurs erupted throughout the crowd. "I-I was the one who got the Zapfish back. I've been to Octo valley. I've fought DJ Octavio." She looked back at Blue, who smiled in reassurance and began to speak.
"A-and I'm going to help her! I'll help Rina rescue the Squid Sisters." Blue called out timidly, stepping forward to stand beside Rina.
"I will too!" Binke said quickly, moving to Rina's side as well. "I want to help."
Rina smiled and whispered. "Thank you, guys." She turned back to the crowd. "Don't worry! We can win. We've done it before."
The next day the news of what had happened quickly spread throughout Inkopolis and beyond. The city was in a crisis. But at least they had a little hope to hold on to.
Blue and Binke had gone to Rina's apartment to start brainstorming their plan of action. The three young Inklings were all sat in a circle on Rina's floor, the morning sun washing over them.
"Well, they must have taken them back to Octo valley..." Binke stated, obviously unsure of where to start.
"Yeah, but unfortunately Octo valley is actually pretty big." Rina sighed, rubbing the back of her neck anxiously. "And dangerous. I don't want you guys to get hurt."
"It'll be fine, Rina." A small smile spread across Blue's face. "We have each other, and if we act fast we can catch up to them soon. They can't have gotten too far."
"But how will we tell they have the Sisters without getting too close?" Rina groaned. "That was a large force of Octarians, and they had quite a few Octolings with them."
"Octolings?" Binke raised a blue eyebrow.
"Yeah, they're kinda like Inklings but much more hostile..." Rina shuddered at the rising memories of outnumbered battles with the dangerous Octolings.
"Oh.. well um, I have a friend who's really good with an E-Liter 3K Scope." Binke shrugged.
"What." Blue blinked in confusion.
"You know," Binke rolled his eyes. "A charger with a crazy long range."
"Okay..." Blue mumbled, looking at the ground in embarrassment.
"Who?" Rina looked at the Inkling boy sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"You remember Cream, right?" Binke took out his phone. "I can call her over right now!"
Blue giggled. "Cream? That's a weird name."
"Your name is a color." Rina snickered at her. She blushed.
"W-well, yeah. It's a nice color though..."
"Hey, Creamy! It's B." Binke said enthusiastically into the phone, a grin spreading over his face. "Yeah, I'm alright. No, I wasn't hurt last night. I was wondering if you'd wanna come talk. I'm at Rina's place; remember where that is? Okay, I'll see you soon!" He laughed at something said over the phone. "Yeah, you too! Bye."
Binke shoved his phone back into the pocket of his Forge Parka. "She's coming."
Rina smiled slyly at him, "You two sound pretty close."
"It's not like that!" Binke frantically shook his head.
"B has a girlfriend!" Rina cooed at him. He leaned back and kicked at her, she rolled away with a laugh. Blue giggled.
"I'm kidding..." Rina grinned. "Geez, I haven't teased you in such a long time. I've forgotten how fun it is."
"Oh, shut your word-hole." Binke huffed with a smile, throwing a nearby pillow at Rina who swatted it away.
"So you two are old friends, then?" Blue spoke up, looking between the two Inklings on the carpet.
"Yeah, I suppose so." Binke rubbed his cheek and looked at Rina. "I can't believe the reason we haven't talked is because you were busy saving the Great Zapfish... I'm friends with a super-squid!"
Rina scoffed and looked away, "I didn't do that much... I had some fellow 'hero's' guiding me."
"Well, you're pretty cool Rina. All of Inkopolis thinks so."
"Being cool won't rescue Callie and Marie." Rina muttered darkly, sitting up with a sigh. "Let's stop talking about that and focus on the problem at hand, how about?"
"Yeah... Sorry." Binke mumbled at Rina's suddenly sour attitude.
"So you think Cream will be willing to help?" Blue asked nervously, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, of course! Me and Cream have always been battle-savy. We love fightin' the good fight, y'know?" Binke grinned, a passionate glimmer in his eyes that Rina used to know.
"No, not really..." Blue laughed awkwardly, fidgeting with the bow on her White Sailor suit. "I don't battle much, but um that's good! That... that you guys do battle."
"It's not the same as Turf Wars, Binke." Rina said quietly. "It's not fun. It's dangerous, and there's no respawn." Binke looked at her nervously, but she still wasn't looking back at them. "We need to make sure we're prepared. Good, reliable weapons and gear."
"I think we're basically good to go with that. Sheldon has offered to borrow us the best he has in order to help." Binke said with a triumphant grin.
"That's nice of him." Blue smiled to herself.
"Yeah, that is. I guess we should just talk with Cream and get ready to head out." Rina sighed. "We might be out there a while though, it would be best to bring some food and extra clothing perhaps."
"Aw, really? We're gonna go camping in enemy territory?" Binke groaned.
"Unfortunately, we probably have to. I'm not going to lose them for good..." A worried look spread across Rina's features, distress imminent in her eyes as she glared down at her hands curled in her lap.
"We'll find them, Rina. I know we will." Blue said gently.
"We will if we move fast enough." Rina said in a hard voice, looking up at the pair of Inklings sitting in front of her. "Are you both sure you want to do this? You might be horribly injured...or worse."
Binke and Blue exchanged nervous glances at these words, but after a moment they both nodded.
"I want to help you, Rina. I don't want to be weak anymore." Blue's voice shook ever so slightly, but she looked determined.
"Me too." Binke grinned with determination, as if he was about to win a match of Turf Wars. "I'll stay by your side until we taste victory!"
"Good." Rina smiled weakly. "Then we'll leave tonight, under the cover of darkness. We'll find Callie and Marie."
Finally, chapter 3 appears! And with it the conflict of this story, as well as the promise of a new character! As always, I love hearing feedback since I don't get much time to revise chapters. These are basically just first drafts, though I try my best to keep them decent. Is the squidnapping a good dilemma or is it lame? Are the characters enjoyable and engaging? Should I fix/change/add anything?
Thanks for reading! Staaay fresh fellow kids ~~