Authors Note: Wow, 40 chapters. I'm still amazed that it's been 40 days since I started this, either way I hope you enjoy! Take care!
The group of agents had descended down the very long ladder that hopefully would lead them to DJ Octavio's secret hideaway. The ladder felt like it was going on forever. It was beginning to get creepier as the darkness surrounded them.
"Ow! You stepped on my hand!" ECO chimed.
"Sorry, sorry!" Marie apologized, trying her best not to look down out of fear for how high up they were. They still had no sight of Octoronia. Maize was just yawning, feeling more drained the longer the day went on. After a while they finally heard some good news.
"Hey! I see light," ECO claimed. It was an odd sight that there would be light this far underground. The three of them finally reached the bottom of the ladder, all happy to finally get off of it. They could see some type of underground facility that was in a spherical shape. There were lights dangling from the ceiling that were shining brightly and illuminating the darkness.
"This is Octavio's hideaway? Really feels kind of homey," Maize commented, seeing the grass beneath their feet. There was another small home there and this place. Before any of the agents could take a step, Octoronia chimed up.
"Wait!" Octoronia ordered, popping up from nearby.
"What? Is it a trap?" Maize asked, worried that they had set one off just by disembarking the ladder somehow.
"Err… I found three of the traps already and took all their power, though while I was trying, I found some odd machine and couldn't help but fiddle with it," Octoronia explained, as they felt the entire underground hideout shake. Agent 3 facepalmed.
"Sis, I thought you wouldn't mess with any cool robots without me!" ECO claimed, disappointed.
"Sorry! I couldn't contain myself!" Agent 4 panicked as the rumbling and shaking got more intense. It was beginning to get hard to stand up straight. They suddenly took notice of something in the middle of the area between them and the home of the hideout. The ground began breaking and cracking as it began to open. They saw a huge metal tentacle break through the dirt as it began to tear the dirt apart, trying to get the rest of itself out.
"You activated a robot?!" Marie gawked. DJ Octavio's army had some mean huge ink shooting machines, and they were all equally annoying. Maize hated fighting them all, mostly because of how many times they splattered him before he finally defeated them. It was a painful battle each time.
"It didn't like me trying to siphon its energy!" Octoronia responded in her own defense. The ground broke, and the large multi limbed robotic octopus rose. Of all of the octarian army's designs, this one seemed the most basic in appearance. It began spraying out a dark shade of purple ink from its mouth. The group, seeing the giant machine, they all got their weapons prepared.
"Wh-what the heck?! Does it have a zapfish in it?!" Maize asked, aiming his splatterscope while squeezing the trigger, charging his weapon pre-emptively. Normally the other octarian military robots had their very well exposed weak points, which would be a huge tentacle with a green scar on it like DJ Octavio's own tentacles. However this robot exposed no such weakness like that.
"No! It's got our father's power source in it, and it must be quite a lot!" ECO exclaimed, watching it slam another tentacle on the ground, breaking up the dirt once again. The impression left a lot of its ink behind now. Each tentacle was starting to produce the same colored ink as well.
"And it's wasting it!" Octoronia growled. They watched her charge forward. The mechanical octopus swung overhead at her with one of its tentacles. She froze up in place seeing the shadow of it coming toward her. A burst of green ink shot it and knocked it to the side, making it miss and hit the ground right beside Agent 4, much to her relief.
"Stay calm! No point in dying for whatever it is you're after," Marie reminded her with her Luna blaster aimed at the robot. Octoronia bit her lip, nodding. Maize fired a burst of yellow ink, hitting the head of the giant robot. All that did was leave a stain of yellow ink that seemed to irritate it. The four agents were now splitting up, ECO having thrown off the container on her back so she would not be weighed down. Maize did not want to admit it, but he was presuming the best option they had was to let it burn out all of its energy until it could no longer operate. It upset him, because he knew how important it was to Octoronia, but sometimes situations are far out of their control.
"Here it comes!" Maize shouted, watching the other agents begin trying to take this machine on from multiple angles. ECO really felt bad, wishing that it had not been activated so everything could be somewhat simpler for them, but maybe she could get a nice little upgrade by what they get scrapped out of it. The oversized robot spun around, trying to hit them all with its tentacles, throwing its ink everywhere. Maize threw himself onto the ground under it, and same did Octoronia. Marie jumped back away to not be hit, but got a few of the purple ink splotches over her clothes.
"Ew…! Purple does not look good on me," the Squid Sister muttered. Callie was the one who looked better in purple. She saw ECO hit a button on her slather blaster, activating its special ability. The blaster changed into a megaphone like shape, with paint on it that made it look like a shark.
"Sorry!" ECO apologized squeezing the trigger, right when the giant robot tried to swing at her with another tentacle. The weapon unleashed a loud screech with a wave of light purple ink strong enough to send the mechanical octopus recoiling. It was beginning to topple backwards. She had activated one of the octoling's special weapons, a shark screecher, which was able to send anything thrown right back and anything nearby get sent flying back as well.
"Oh, splat me…" Maize groaned. The big robot was threatening to fall on him. He just began running aside, seeing the big damage it was causing to the ground as it fell. Meanwhile his ears were hurting from the high-pitched sound right now.
"I've got you!" Octoronia ran up, aiming her slather blaster, activating its special weapon as well. It was another shark screecher. She immediately pulled the trigger, another loud screech ringing out. The giant robotic octopus got knocked at another direction. This time it fell over and crashed into the ladder, breaking part of it off. It was beginning to dig its tentacles into the ground, attempting to get back up.
"What does it take to smash this thing?!" Maize asked. It was astounding how much this sturdy enemy could take.
"Activate your special weapon. We'll take it on together" Marie sighed, assuring that the two of them could do some damage with their special weapons. Maize nodded, hitting a button on the side of his splatterscope. Marie pulled back her Luna blaster, watching it change and expand in size, and morph into an inkzooka. They saw the giant robot dig its tentacles further into the ground. They suddenly popped up behind them.
"Gah!" ECO got grabbed by the huge tentacle, which wrapped around her and crushed her in its grip. Octoronia got grabbed by her legs, being hoisted into the air. She just began bashing away at it with her weapon, attempting but failing to try and make it let go.
"Don't hold back!" Maize ran for the boss bot, and then began to throw a lot of triangular shaped ink bombs with his bomb rush special ability. Marie began firing her inkzooka, each blast seeming to momentarily stun the giant robot, leaving a big green ink splotch each hit. The thrown ink bombs then began to explode around its lower body and some of its tentacles, creating a yellow mess.
"Oof!" Octoronia got freed from the tentacle and landed on her back. ECO was able to land on her own two feet, going over to make sure her sister was unharmed.
"Still nothing?!" Marie roared as her inkzooka reverted back to a Luna blaster. Maize's bomb rush had ended and now his ink tank was empty, because he had unwittingly thrown a few extra ink bombs after his bomb rush had run out.
"Wow. I wish I was that resilient," Maize muttered before letting out a long yawn. For some reason this tense battle was not rejuvenating his energy. The giant robot was getting ready for another attack, when suddenly, its bright yellow eyes flickered for a moment before going dark. They watched its tentacles harmlessly plop onto the ground before it stopped moving.
"…is it defeated?" ECO hesitantly broke the silence that was taking over for the group. Octoronia stepped up, burying her face in her hands.
"It… It's all gone, it burnt all the energy up," she sniffled, just sitting on the ground, upset. Maize felt horrible, putting his splatterscope on his back. Marie rested her Luna blaster on her side.
"I'll stay to try and cheer her up. You two go see if you can find this item," Marie insisted she could take care of Agent 4, taking a seat on the grass with her.
"Thank you…" Agent 5 bowed to the Squid Sister before the mechanical octoling went toward the small home in this huge hideout, just to help find any traps. Maize followed along, aware of the damage that had occurred to the ladder now. He was afraid of how they would be able to escape this underground hideaway, but he knew that they could find some way to get back out.
"Why does your sister want this energy her father made so badly?" Maize asked, aware of how the octoling's father had died trying to prove its usefulness, but that did not really explain why Octoronia was motivated to gather the energy. The two stepped into the small home, which had lights inside. It all seemed like a snug, cozy home for a hideout, all things considered.
"…it's because she wants to do what he failed at…" ECO simply answered as they walked through the home. It seemed to have its own layers of dust on it from lack of use. They looked around, trying to find the room that would house the important item that these worshipers were searching for.
"Oh… as in, she wants to improve and make it useful right?" Maize repeated what he thought was right.
"Yes, precisely," ECO nodded. Octoronia wanted to find a way to create the energy herself. She did not care about the risk. She was going to prove that the energy their father made was truly useful and reliable.
"As long as these octarian war weapons that housed the energy exist, she won't stop searching until she gathers enough to learn how to replicate them," ECO added. She was thankful that they had gathered little of the special energy here. Maize hated to imagine either of his friends putting themselves in danger like this. They came across a door that had a huge lock on it with thick chains, with a small plaque on the door that read, 'important storage'.
"Any idea how to get in?" Agent 3 asked. He saw no keys around that would get the lock open. Agent 5 shrugged.
"It's a simple lock mechanism, and it really is out of date… so that means I should be able to just do… this…!" ECO inserted one of her mechanical tentacles into the lock. A few seconds of twisting and turning, and they heard a loud click. She retracted her tentacle, watching the lock fall to the floor with a loud thud, the chains rattling off.
"Wow… impressive." Maize said while they went down the steps into the basement. There was a light switch to the side. He flicked it up, watching the room illuminate. Treasure was everywhere, as well as other items. This basement had gold, silver and platinum, artifacts and fossils, and even valuable looking paintings. The octarian army really did hide anything valuable in this hideout.
"Did Octavio even tell you what this important item was?" ECO requested to know. Maize opened his mouth, initially wanting to say yes. But he grit his teeth once again. A lack of information was their biggest enemy right now, and it had a lot of other squids and octopi lives on the line. The yellow inkling tried to quickly get a rough idea on what they were looking for.
"…he said just holding it filled him with fear… so look for anything that gives you that feeling," Maize suggested, seeing the mechanical octoling tap her chest, hoping her purple chest light would actually work, not wanting her emotional cortex to sabotage their search. The yellow squid sighed, aware he was going to have to inevitably tackle this crush she had on him, but it had to wait until they finished this important mission.
They began to rummage around the room, moving one after another of the valuable treasures. These important items looked like they belonged to museums for both Inkopolis and Mollusk Metropolis if they had the option or ability to even carry half of this they would gladly they were handling each object with care
"…whoa," Maize attention was drawn on something that looked like an egg, resting neatly on a pillow within a glass box. The egg had some odd light blue random patterns to it. The yellow inkling was confused, but when he picked it up, there was no way to take the glass case off. However there was another problem.
"…it does seem scary," Maize admitted. Holding this egg in the glass chamber for some reason gave him a sense of dread. However the yellow squid let out another long yawn as his eyelids began to get heavy.
"Maize? Are you okay?" ECO asked, taking the egg from him almost instantly. Her chest light turned blue as fear overwhelmed her, but she wondered why he was falling asleep.
"I… I think I'm gonna take a nap," Maize instantly collapsed on the floor. Amaranth's medicine that he tested had finally taken effect after hours of working in his body, and had completely knocked him unconscious.
"Maize?" ECO tapped him with her foot concernedly. She grabbed her slather blaster from her side, shooting him with a small splotch of purple ink, hitting his face. Even the usual burning sting sensation that another colored ink had was not even able to awaken him. She sighed in frustration.
"You're lucky you're skinny," the mechanical octoling kept the glass case with the egg under her left arm before grabbing her friend. At times like this, she was thankful to be strong. She began to head back up the stairs, carrying the egg and the inkling she had a crush on out of the basement, hoping Marie and Octoronia would have some way to help.
"Sis! Marie! We have a problem!" ECO called out while carrying Maize and the egg. Both of her arms were full when she noticed something. There were five figures surrounding them all with various ink weapons, but they all were wearing white and black cloaks, so they could not make any details out about them.
"Tell me about it!" Marie growled while getting her Luna blaster ready, but then she saw Maize unconscious, which just irritated her further. Octoronia was holding her slather blaster, getting ready to fight because none of these disguised figures seemed even close to friendly. They could safely presume that these were the very worshipers that DJ Octavio and his former army were afraid of.