Splatoon Afterworld

by drz1990

Explained in the intro

4. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

It was a more than an awkward moment between Seth and the now awaken octoling girl that had frozen in sight by the human. Seth's response made things even more unsettling when he told her she was a prisoner. She panicked and then gave a shriek, that caused Seth to flinch. She quickly octo formed and swam under the bed.

"Hey! I'm not gonna hurt you," he said before looking under the bed. She quickly squirted ink at him. hitting him in the eyes. The ink burned a little causing Seth to jerk back and away from the bed as he rubbed his eyes. "Shit, that stings," he said trying to wipe his eyes.

The little red octopus peeked from under the bed and watched Seth struggling to clean his eyes. She stared at him, seeing he wasn't an octoling and certainly not an inkling but he was dressed like a soldier. Seth feeled around for a towel or something to wipe the ink. Once he could see he looked back over the bed and saw the octopus staring at him from under it.

"You know that wasn't nice, I was only trying to help you," he told her.

The octopus still kept her guard up and waited to see what the human would do. Seth decided to squat down, so he wouldn't appear so big and intimidating to her as he pulled off his gear. He tried to smile, reassuring her he wasn't a threat to the girl. "Listen, I need you to cooperate and ask some questions for me if you'd please. I'm not gonna hurt you but my team, I'm not so sure about," Seth said.

She crawled out and turned back into her humanoid form. "I don't know what you are but my octarian brethren will come back for me once they figure out I'm missing," she said, keeping a defensive stance.

"I have no quarrel with you, my only goal is to find my family. You see, I'm a human and..."

"Ha! You think I'd believe that! Humans are extinct whatever you are... I don't know what you take me for but I won't fall fo any tricks,"

"I'm telling the truth, what else would I be then. I don't have tentacles on my head and I certainly can't produce ink,"

"You...have a point, what does it matter, I will get out of here even if that means beating the ink out of you,"

"Well good luck with that, Listen I just need to know if you've seen another human like me. If you work with me then I'll talk to my commander about working out some kind of deal with you. You just have to answer my questions,"

"I'm not answering any questions for my enemy, I will never betray my brethren you thing! Long live Octavio!" she shouted before she tried to tackle Seth. He quickly evaded the octoling and grabbed her. She resisted his grasp and bit down on his arm. "Gah! What the hell," he jeered before he released her, which in turn she quickly spun around and landed a roundhouse kick into Seth, making him fall back against the bed.

"You're not so tough! I've fought jellyfish that put up a better fight than you!" she taunted with a malicious smile.

Seth got up and noticed his arm was bleeding from the bite. He winced a little as he moved it before looking back at the snide octoling. "Alright, no more mister nice guy, I tried to negotiate but you've forced my hand. I didn't want to fight you," he told her as he got into a fighting stance.

She rushed at Seth trying to take a jab at him but he dodged her punch. He then landed a punch of his own and struck her, throwing her back but she quickly bounced back up. "Not bad, but I'm not giving up,"

She cut a somersault and tried for another roundhouse kick. Seth grabbed her leg before she could touch him and tossed her against the wall. This time she didn't recover. Now lying on the floor, trying to pick herself up, struggling to move her now sore body.

"I don't wanna keep this going! If you're unwilling to comply then I'll have to detain you. Don't make this harder than it should, I'm not your enemy," Seth told her.

"Just...who are you?" She asked him, giving him a hateful glare.

"My name's Seth. I woke up yesterday not knowing what had happened to me, to put it in simpler terms me and my family were placed in cryostasis, prolonged sleep for 2,000 years by what I've learned. I'm just looking for them. Now like I said before I'm a human and I just wanted to know if you seen any other humans like me,"

"How can I be sure you're a human," she asked, still not believing he was a human.

"I don't have time for this, look I am a human. My friends told me your people came across the fossilized remains of my species and the technology we left behind. I have no reason to lie to you about being a human. You wouldn't be talking to right now If I hadn't intervened from my commander wanting to splat you. I saved you so I could get some intel, I was even kind enough to treat you but you didn't seem hurt, so I placed you on the bed and waited for you to wake up,"

The octoling took this in and was beginning to believe him. She then remembered the scuffle between her unit and Mirage's. "So, what about those traitors, where are they at?" she asked.

"They left some time ago, If you cooperate with me then I'll see if I can get them to go easy on you,"

"Why are you being so hospitable?" she asked him.

"Because I choose to be... I know your kind is as Mirage put it, apathetic and subservient. Humans... we can show compassion at times. I didn't want my team killing a defenseless girl just because she's the enemy,"

"Should I be grateful... I think not, compassion is weakness and just because you saved me doesn't mean I should trust you and for your question, no I haven't seen a "human" as you've called yourself," she told him as she finally climbed back up.

"That's... a shame. I was hoping you did but maybe I should've expected that answer. (deep sigh) Guess my only lead is that note and the campsite they came across. I guess our discussion is done then. I'm gonna inform my commander that you're awake,"

"I'm assuming that's the turncoats. Interesting that they would allow a creature like you in their unit but then again they are traitors that are willing to reach the surface and live among those inkstains. Know that I'll never give in and I pledge my allegiance to Octavio and my people,"

"You're devoted to your cause. I honor that but this isn't my fight. As I said before I'm only interested in finding my wife and son, it was nice talking to you though,"

Seth left the room and locked the door behind to ensure she didn't escape. During this though, the squad had left 10 minutes prior and headed back to atrium, except Mirage who went into her office to be alone. The private was concerned for her commander, seeing she didn't wanna be around them, thinking it had something do with Seth taking in the enemy octoling.

"Guess, Seth's playing babysitter now," Luna popped off.

"Wonder how long until she wakes up?" asked Star.

"Who knows. Mirage is stewing in that office of Her's and I don't what we're supposed to be doing next,"

"I know what we should do. We need to look at those antennas outside that's hooked up to the comms network. We still got a lot of static the other day and if we could've fixed it then we would've known ahead of time about that enemy unit if we could've caught their radio traffic and been better prepared before they attacked the complex. I say we go look while we got the chance,"

"OK, I guess...Vee, you comin'?"

"I'd rather stay here and keep an eye on things. You two go ahead without me," she told them.

"Alright then, me and Luna will head up to the surface and see why we're still catching static on the long range network," Star replied as both and her and Luna made their way to the elevator. The two of them chattered on the way up.

"Still bugging me a little," Luna said.

"What about? Seth and that octoling?"

"Yeah... I still can't get over the fact that he would want us to spare her. It's just not in our ink to do that. We've always been trained to splat our enemies even if it means our own. Humans are confusing but then again they're not around anymore are they. It's hard to understand that guy but I still think he's cute,"

"I agree but I'm not gonna question his motives. I'm focused on getting the comms repaired and preventing another attack like we just had. You gotta remember, Seth doesn't think like us either. His mindset is hard to comprehend, I think that's why Mirage is getting irritated by it. Not so much Seth's actions by why he does it. It's really bothering her,"

"Like I said, she's got a crush, her and Vee, it's amusing really,"

"Um you're one to talk, you've been trying to get a tentacle wrapped around that guy since day 1,"

"You gotta admit too, that I think you have a thing for him, don't think I've caught a blush here and there,"

"Huh, S...Seth's just...charming, I like that about him but you are the other hand just wanna..."

"... get to know him better,"

"Not the words I would've used but in mild terms I guess you call it that,"

The two were back on the surface and stepped off the elevator. I remembered seeing those cluster of antennas somewhere," Luna said looking around.

"There they are," said Luna pointing toward the top of the outer structure of the complex.

A large concrete structure was erected out of the ground on top of the hill behind the elevator access. It was surveillance tower that had sunk over time but the arrays and antennas were still exposed on top of it. "Good eye, now let's get up there," said Star. The two them got closer and octoformed so they could shoot themselves on top of it.

They changed back and studied the equipment. "Seems like there's power being transferred. I could hear the converters humming. The dishes look like they're in good shape," said Star.

"What exactly should we be looking for, I don't know anything about this junk," said Luna.

"Anything broken or not working but I can't see anything wrong with it," said Star as she examined the equipment.

As they continued, Star saw the main antenna was down and leaning over one of the arrays. "There's the problem, I bet that's the main antenna that broadcast the radio frequencies," said Star pointing at it.

"Ok so what now?"

"We gotta try and stand it back up. Maybe's there's tools back inside I can use. It looks like the mounts broke off, that could be easily repaired,"

"You engineers are such geeks,"

"Well this geek has gotta fix the main antenna, what would've you done if I weren't around huh?"

"OK, you made your point. Let's get back and hunt for the tools so we can get this over with,"

They shot away in octo form and landed on the ground to get back in the facility and locate the tools Star needed to repair the antenna. They descended back down the elevator but to there dismay, it stopped and was stuck between the hatch and the bottom floor leading to the facility,"

"Are you squiddin' me! It's one thing to repair that antenna but now our only way in and out of this place is broken too, that's awesome," said an irritated Star who punched the controls to the elevator.

"Looks like something else you gotta repair sergeant," Luna said in a smug tone.

"Don't start, Luna. I don't have time for your crap right now, ugh,"

"Let's just swim down in our octopus form. The bottom's not that far,"

"Got no other option,"

The two octoformed and swam down the incline until they reached the gates and changed back. "Guess we better tell everyone we're stuck down here until we get the elevator fixed," she told Luna.

When they reached the atrium, Vee was gone. They decided to head to Mirage's office and inform her on the elevator situation. When Luna and Star approached the door to her office they noticed the room was empty. "Lieutenant?" called Star. "She's not here...maybe she's gone to check on Seth and our prisoner," Luna said. They decided to leave and head toward the room Seth and the octoling were. Luna's prediction was right, she heard Mirage's voice and Seth's echoing down the hall heading toward the room that was holding the enemy octoling.

It was a few minutes earlier that Seth had informed Mirage about the girl waking up and locking her in the room. When the two left to check on her, the private spotted them exiting her commander's office and followed behind quietly. Curious she tailed them until they unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Seth and Mirage stepped in and spotted her sitting on the bed. She looked to the two as she gave a glare and bared her fangs at the elite glaring back with her goggles on. "So you're finally awake, you better be lucky my sergeant saved your butt from getting splatted. That human may have been hospitable but I won't be, you try anything and you'll regret it so don't bank on him sparing you again," she told the octoling prisoner.

"tough talk coming from a traitor, your threats don't phase me. I assume you're the commander of that pitiful little outfit we battled," said the octoling smugly. Her green and blue eyes locked onto Mirage.

"That pitiful little outfit kicked your octopus butt and the rest of your unit. You disrespect me and my squad again and I make sure you'll be picking your beak off the floor," snapped Mirage.

"You won't get me to talk, so you might as well have splatted me," testing the elite's nerve.

Mirage's eye twitched as she bared her fangs at the defiant octoling. She pulled her weapon out and was ready to make the girl eat her words. Seth stepped in seeing the elite's patience was nearly gone. "Wait Lieutenant, don't harm her," he said, blocking his hand in front of the octo shot.

"You just heard what she said. This is nothing but a waste of our time, I'm just about ready to give this room some color if she doesn't shut her... what happened to your arm?" Mirage didn't finish. spotting the bandaging around his arm.

"It's nothing," Seth told her. Before he went into her office a few minutes ago, he retrieved a med kit and wrapped his arm up. The bite was deep enough to cause bleeding but he also noticed something else. He saw the same bite marks on a skeleton in the atrium when he first went up to surface.

"Did she hurt you?" she asked.

"She bit me...only because I tried to restrain her," he answered.

She then turned her sights back on the octoling and gripped her octo shot. "I should just go ahead and splat your slimy butt right now!" she said angrily.

"Lieutenant I'm fine, it's nothing really. There's no sense in getting bent out of shape over it," Seth advised her.

"Seems you're protective of that human if that's what he really is. Are you two mates too?" she asked spitefully but somewhat curiously.

"What's it any of your concern... but no we're not mates. Keep on talking octo winch and I might just pull the trigger on this octo shot and then I won't have to hear that mouth of yours anymore," said Mirage getting more infuriated.

"You're in heat... no wonder you're getting aggressive,"

"In heat?" replied Seth who turned toward Mirage, seeing her freeze by what the octoling said.

Mirage quickly turned red with embarrassment before she backed away and fled the room. Vee, Star and Luna were listening in on the conversation for a few minutes outside the room that was housing the prisoner and where Seth and Mirage were talking to her. They saw Mirage run out of the door and past them as if a blur, not even paying attention to her squad. "Geez where is she going in such a big hurry?" asked Star.

"I think I know why," said Luna.

Vee just looked toward the direction Mirage fled and a look of concern and sympathy appeared on her face. She closed her eyes and decided to try and catch up with her to see what was wrong. Luna and Star looked at each and after a moment decided to follow Vee.

Seth was back in the room consorting with the girl. "Why did you have to go ahead and do that? And what did you mean in heat?" asked Seth who was not pleased with what had happened.

"It made her leave didn't. To answer that question it's obvious you're a male. You've been around her long enough that nature has decided to call. We octoling females hunt for a suitable mate and go into heat, after we find one, we latch on to them until well... I'm sure you know the rest but the biggest question is why you? You're not even an octoling... how disgusting that she would go into estrus over you... though I have to admit, you're not bad looking...maybe I shouldn't blame her,"

"Estrus! Then that means... oh god," he said, nervousness consuming him.

In Mirage's office the elite sulked behind her desk curled up against the wall. Her googles laying on the floor after she took them off. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. at the door. "Lieutenant," called Vee.

With no answer from the elite, Vee turned the knob and stepped inside, seeing her commander sitting against the wall. "M...Mirage," Vee said to her. "What...is it," she replied with her face buried in her knees.

"Lieutenant, what's this all about?"

"Look just...leave me alone,"

"Mirage I'm here for you, please talk to me,"

"Vee, I'm ordering you to leave me alone,"

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong, has it got something to do with Seth?"

Mirage tightened her grip around her legs and buried her face deeper. Vee could tell that Seth triggered whatever was wrong. "So I guess that's a yes. So what did Seth do?"

"I'm not talking about it,"

"C'mon Mirage, we're sisters. We help one another, you've always comforted me, remember when we first met. So why won't you let me help you,"

"Because I don't need your help,"

"What happened for you to just run away like that? Me, Star and Luna were listening to you and Seth talking to that octoling,"

"Then you must've heard what that octo brat said then,"

"No...I..."

Mirage got frustrated and just simply relaxed her legs before reaching into her shorts and pulling out her hand, revealing that she had inked herself as purple ink covered her index finger. It wasn't just normal ink neither and put out an odor. Vee's expression then changed to surprised with a mix of pure awkwardness, realizing what Mirage was insinuating. "Mirage...I didn't mean to push the issue, it's just... I was concerned was all. I didn't expect... this,"

"You know now (deep sigh) Vee we've only known each other for so long. I can recall when we first met, you were lost and afraid. I took you in even though you were nervous around us. I know you wanna prove yourself by being helpful and all but I don't think you can help me. I've...never felt this way before and I'm even scarred about it,"

"Your scarred of your own emotions lieutenant. You've always tried to be tough and show us what kind a devoted leader you were... and now Seth's in the picture and things have changed. I'm guessing that's what caused all this,"

"Do you like him?" asked Mirage, who stared at Vee for a reaction to her question.

"I...guess so, he's a part of the squad now," she replied. Mirage knew she was keeping it to herself and dodging her question.

"No, as in like him, like him. You know where I'm getting at," said Mirage.

"He's a friend and ally and I don't see anything more. I'm glad we got to know each other, where are you getting at?" asked Vee.

Mirage gave Vee a good hard look, she could tell what she was getting at now. Vee was conflicted by this and preferred to not reveal her true feelings for the human. She could now see that Mirage indeed had a fixation on Seth and why she went into etrus after being around him for so long. "I can't do this anymore, I hate to say it but... Seth may need to leave even if I promised to help him find his family," she told the private.

"But why!?" responded Vee who was utterly stunned that Mirage would suggest a thing.

"He can't stay here...not around me, things will only get worse. I can't function being around him...eventually instincts will kick in and I don't wanna hurt him," she told her before downing her head.

"You can't take control of this? Seth's a part of this squad and we stick together like you've told us. I think you're being pretty irrational. Running Seth off is not a solution, you know as well as I do that Scarlet's forces are out there waiting to retaliate. It was because of Seth they retreated and it's because of Seth that you spared that octoling. I don't think we would've made it without him. If it weren't for him we'd be captured and brought back to octo base or splatted. Do you really wanna get rid of Seth and break your promise?"

Vee's words were seared into Mirage's conscious. Mirage wouldn't admit that Vee had a undeniable reason to keep Seth from leaving and that he had been a trusting and supporting ally but how could she cope with this in the shape she was in. It was evident that she had to come to terms that Seth was a friend and teammate. Mirage had to make a decision soon on how to approach her debacle. She looked at Vee who gave her a soft smile before smiling back before the private gave her a hug in which she returned it.

"I can say you're a stronger person than I am private. Not everyone can fight and win all their battles and this has proven me that. As much as I've trained and devoted myself to the octarian army and now my squad, I would've never prepared myself for this. Thanks for the advice Vee, I appreciate it,"

"Think nothing of it sis, we gotta watch each others backs,"

"How touching, This is quite a revelation, though I'm not completely surprised," said Luna who walked in with a smirk. Star stepped in behind her as the two had been listening in from outside the doorway in the hall.

"H...How long have you two been eavesdropping?" she demanded, both nervous and angry at them.

"Enough I guess you can say," replied Luna.

"Not one word of this or so help me I'll PT you both until there's nothing but a puddle left," snapped Mirage.

"Easy, lieutenant. I wouldn't tell that human a thing," said Luna.

"Yeah, your secret's safe... I think it's kinda cute," replied Star.

"Cute, I'll show you two cute. I don't appreciate you two being flies on the wall. If you do something like this again I'll be sure to it you never do it again, am I clear," said Mirage.

"Yes, ma'am," they both said in unison.

"Hey, where's Seth? Did you leave him with that octo brat?" asked Mirage noticing Seth wasn't around.

They looked behind them and shrugged. Mirage facepalmed and gave a growl before she got off the floor. "Inkheads... let's go check on Seth and the prisoner before anything's happened," she told them as she grabbed her goggles and placed them on.

"Oh, Lieutenant, also we wish to report the um, elevator is broken too," said Star, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well go fix it then," she told her with slight irritation. Luna and Star left to go hunt for tools. Mirage and Vee headed back to the room holding the octoling to see Seth was outside of it, rubbing the bite mark the octoling dug into him. "Seth, you ok, did she say anything else after I left?" Mirage asked trying to keep her composure.

"No, not really... she decided to lay down so I left... are you ok?" Seth asked.

"I'm not sure how to answer that question," she replied.

"I wouldn't neither, look if we need to talk then let me know...right now I think I'm going to go check my wound," said Seth, he clearly felt uncomfortable being around Mirage after what had happened and wouldn't dare press the issue after what the octoling had said. He rubbed it and started to walk away. "Seth! We'll talk but...at another time," she said to him. He gave a nod and headed for the lab to check the wound.

"At least he was willing to talk about it," commented Vee.

"I'm not sure how this going to go over though," said Mirage.

Luna and Star returned to the elevator after they found the tools. They had to change into their octopus forms and swim back up the incline to the elevator. When they hopped on the platform, Star walked over to check the control panel. "Hm, now let's see," she said. She examined it and smacked on the main button, after a few seconds the elevator started working again. "Huh, button was stuck I guess. It's working now," she told Luna.

"Well that's good news, not sure it'll be that easy for the antenna outside though," commented Luna.

"The antenna needs the support mounts replaced, that shouldn't take to long,"

They ventured up top once Star pressed the switch for the elevator to ascend to the surface. The two octolings shot up to the tower to fix the antenna. Star grabbed some bolts out of the tool bag and a wrench. "OK, Luna, I'm gonna need you to push the antenna back to where it's supposed to be. As you're doing that I'll secure it in place with the new bolts," directed Star.

"Let's just get this over with," Luna said before she pushed the antenna back. It was heavy though the elite was quite strong for her size. "Alright, c'mon sergeant!" she commanded as she leaned against the antenna. Luna grabbed the bolts and began fastening one side of the base. Then she moved to the other side and fastened it. "You can let go now, I think's stationary, I'll just replace the last two and we should be done," said Star.

"Good, I hate to pull my back out," she said, letting go of the antenna. "So what you think about Mirage and the human?" prodded Luna.

"The lieutenant is having a hard time accepting her feelings for Seth. I'm sure things will play out," she told her as she tightened the bolts on the new mounts.

"So you think, I don't know...curious to know how that could work between an octoling and a human. He's equipped the same way octoling males are,"

"OK, lieutenant you're getting to a topic I don't feel comfortable talking about, let's just leave it alone,"

"Well I'm not... this is just too juicy, seeing Mirage getting in a twist over this. It's pretty amusing,"

"Luna, that's not funny. You got a dry sense of humor. She's our commander and she's done a lot for us. If it weren't for her we wouldn't have made it in the valley and I'd appreciate it if you just drop the subject," she told her teammate after she had just finished with the last mount.

"Fine, so are you done,"

"Yeah but we need to head back to the comms room and see if that helped anything. I'm hoping that fixes the static problem and the channels are cleared up, not to mention we outta have better range. Now we'll be able to catch the octarians's traffic I hope,"

The two headed back inside to reach the comms room and see if repairing the antenna did anything. Star turned the equipment on and checked the stations for interference. Most of the static was gone and they receiving frequencies they hadn't had before. The octoling scanned through the channels to pick up anything and caught faint chatter on one of them.

"Hey, stop! I heard talking," said Luna. The two listened but the chatter was broken. "Still a little interference though but that could be different factors. I'm gonna keep scanning, maybe it's clearer on a different channel," said Star.

After 10 more seconds they heard some more chatter but it was clearer and louder. "Whoa who's this?" said Star.

"Come in, anyone (static)... this sergeant major Maxine (static) Me and my detachment got separated. It's just me, my specialist and some inkling prisoners. We're being pursued and have taken refuge in Tentacle Town in the outer domes. Please if anyone is hearing this then please send support, our supplies are dwindling and I don't how much longer we'll be able to hold out, over," said the voice.

"Did you hear, it sounds like they need help. What do we do?" asked Star.

"Why are you asking me!? We need to inform Mirage about this," replied Luna.

"I wonder who that was and what they were doing with inklings,"

"Sounds really fishy,"

"Do we need to answer back?"

"No! We don't know who they are, it's obvious she was an octoling, probably from an enemy unit. What else would they be doing way out here?"

"They said they were being pursued and that they were in tentacle town, I think that was the place we came through before we got here,"

"You're right, now that you brought it up. That was that abandoned little town we explored. I thought it was empty,"

"Looks like it ain't anymore, c'mon let's got tell the lieutenant about this,"

"About what?" asked Mirage who appeared out of nowhere. This caused the two jump and turn around to see their leader looking at them.

"Lieutenant!" shouted Luna in surprise.

"We uh...were just," Star stuttered.

"How about giving us a fair warning in stead of sneaking up on people!" snapped Luna.

"My name's Mirage for a reason and don't forget that lieutenant, You're already on my shit list. So what was that you needed to tell me, this better be important,"

"We got a distress signal," answered Star.

"We think it might be a distress signal. We're not certain just because they say there in trouble," Luna followed.

"Just tell me what they," Mirage said, wanting them to get the point.

"A sergeant major Maxine and her specialist apparently got separated from their unit. They're accompanying inkling prisoners as well. They were being pursued and ended up in tentacle town, which is in the next dome over through that tea kettle on the other side of the housing down the hill," informed Star.

"Sergeant Major Maxine...I've heard that name but I can't put my tentacle on it. It's out of the ordinary she would bring inklings up if she was putting out a broadcast to any nearby units but I wonder who was pursuing them. We may need to investigate. I sense something's wrong but we need to be very cautious. I'll go tell the private and Seth," said Mirage.

"You left those two together...again," Luna said irritating her leader.

Mirage just gave her an unpleasant look and flipped her off before leaving. "No sense of humor, I swear," said Luna.

Seth was in one of the labs, unwrapping his arm. The bite was itchy all of a sudden and still bleeding a little. As he examined it, Vee stepped into the room after she had her talk with Mirage. The two went they're separate ways and the private decided to just check up on Seth.

She walked over and saw Seth's arm. "Is that where she bit you?" she asked him. "Yeah, it's really sore but itchy too, I think my arms starting to go numb. I'm having a hard time moving it," he said.

What Seth didn't realize that octolings can inject what they call octo-venom into anyone they bite but only at will, meaning if they choose too. Octo-venom was a primitive defense mechanism used by octolings that they never utilize but instincts got the better of the octoling prisoner so out of fear and survival she bit Seth, infecting him with the paralytic poison, thankfully it wasn't deadly to him.

"What's that red stuff? I thought humans couldn't produce ink," asked Vee looking at Seth's wound.

"That's not ink, it's blood. If I bleed too much then I'll die," he explained to her.

"What! Then do something before you run out!" she panicked.

"Relax, private. I'm not going to die. It's trying to heal but the bite's pretty deep, she had some strong choppers on her, like a bear trap. You octolings are strong, really strong. I could barely handle that girl when she decided to attack me. I couldn't imagine what the military would do if they had soldiers with strength like that...super soldier comes to mind not to mention how quickly the lieutenant's gunshot healed up...super soldier? I think... no that's crazy, there's no way," she drifted off.

"What's wrong? You're tone changed a bit,"

"I just remembered something that's all,"

"Well ok then, I'll leave. I enjoyed talking to you,"

Vee was wanting to say something but yielded and Seth could tell. She exited the room and Seth was about to disinfect the wound when soon he stared at the bite mark. It was healing but not quite as fast as Mirage's. The three indentions closed up as if he had never got that beak dug into his arm. Seth was in disbelief, he couldn't believe the wound would just heal up that quick. The feeling in his arm was also coming back and the soreness and itching went away.

"What...the..." was all he could get out as he started to move his arm. He flexed it then he looked at it again. "How..." he got out. Perplexed by what he saw, an average human could not heal from a wound that fast. He didn't bother to wrap the arm back up and he left the lab still a little dumbfounded by what he had witnessed.

When Mirage had learned about the distress call, she had gathered her squad in the atrium where she would brief them on the next mission, locating sergeant major Maxine and the inklings. Vee was shocked to hear this, especially when inkling prisoners were brought up.

"Alright everyone gear up! We're leaving ASAP and making our way to that dome to investigate. I want you octopi to stay on high alert. Those octarians are out there waiting for us to make a move. This could be a ploy so watch each others tentacles. Is everyone ready!" Mirage commanded.

The squad nodded and held up their octo shots with determined faces. "Good, let's head out and Sergeant Seth, you're staying here to hold the base down and keep an eye on the prisoner," she told him. "Private you're staying too, I don't want you tagging along for this mission,"

"Let's head out!" shouted the elite as Luna and Star followed her to the elevator. When they left Seth and Vee looked at each other.

"Guess we take turns? I can watch her while you head to the comms room to listen for radio traffic. If the squad gets into trouble then notify me and we'll go give them support," suggested Seth.

"Oh ok, then..." she said but then she stopped before she was out of the atrium. "Hey Seth...what was she like?" the private asked.

"What was who like?"

"You're mate...or whatever you called her,"

"You mean my wife? Sarah...she...was my life, friendly, looking out for me... I couldn't begin to describe how much I miss her and my son, why are you bringing it up?"

"I was just wondering is all...so her name was Sarah...well, I hope you are reunited with them Seth," she told him giving a smile as she left for the radio room.

Seth pondered on why she was interested about Sarah before he exited for the room holding the octoling but now that Sarah and his infant was mentioned, he couldn't help but think that he could leave and go check that campsite that was brought up by Mirage and the others. He wanted to leave but knew the commander tasked him with watching the prisoner. He thought of something but it was really risky. He headed to the room and planned to use his idea to locate his family even if that meant compromising his squad and their hideout.

He entered the room and woke up the sleeping girl. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Hey, I need to do something important and I want you to be compliant understand," he told her. She narrowed her eyes and wondered what the human was up to.

"Why would I listen to a human like you. You're with those traitorous octopi and don't you dare pull a fast one on me,"

"Look, just consider this parole but you'll be under my supervision, got it. No funny business and no attempts of escape. I need to go investigate something but I'm not gonna leave you unguarded neither,"

"What's your game, why are you doing this?"

"This is no game, I'm serious. Just please bear with me. I have no quarrel against you and your people like I said before. My only interest is locating my family,"

"Family? What's that? Are there more humans like you?"

"I hope so... look I'm going to place zip ties around your hands. I don't wanna have to resort to any other measures,"

She looked at Seth and gave him an untrusting expression but she went along with it, being he brought up freedom. She wondered what he was up to and saw this as an opportunity to escape when the moment came.

Seth left a note on the door for Vee if she came looking for him and the two left for the elevator to reach the surface. Their trip was quiet until they started making there way down the trail that led to the campsite. She began pondering on the human and why he was attached to the squad of defectors. "The lieutenant said those two walked down a path in the woods to the campsite," he said to himself.

"Where exactly are we headed human," she asked with an attitude.

"A camp, somewhere at the end of this trail, A note was left behind by my wife," he told her.

"What's a wife? A human term for your leader or something," she replied raising an eyebrow.

"I guess I can refer to her as my leader but no. I know you octolings can't comprehend the concept of marriage so in your perspective she would be my mate,"

"Mate huh, and you're trying to track her down I assume,"

"Yes,"

"Why? Why locate your mate? That doesn't make sense,"

"I didn't expect it to for you and neither the lieutenant and the rest of them. I'm not going into the details just don't try anything and I won't have to hurt you,"

Seth and the octoling made it to a fork. He was deciding where to turn and then his intuition told him to head to the right. He kept going with the octoling beside him but before they would reach the camp. Someone or something was already there. A mysterious figure, scanning the little camp and shifting the pile of ashes of the unlit fire pit. Were they looking for something? They looked inside the tent and saw nothing of interest, then they heard something coming, walking from the trail. It was Seth and the octoling, the figure bolted to a near by bush and hid out of sight, looking through the shrubbery to see who it was.

When they saw the octoling, they narrowed their eyes but with Seth they widened. They anxiously watched the pair approach the camp. Seth looked around as the octoling just stood there. "It looks like it hadn't been inhabited for a while. Sarah, Virgil, you gotta be here somewhere," he said to himself.

"Looks empty, don't know who the shell would stay out here," commented the octoling.

"I don't have time for your remarks. You octolings might not have families of your own but I do and I care about them,"

"Whatever you say human,"

The figure behind the bush watching them gripped a weapon they were holding, it looked like a compound bow by the appearance. They pulled back the cord with an arrow and got ready to make a move on the two.

"You done yet? I'm getting bored,"

"Look could you please keep your beak shut. I was nice enough to bring you with me instead of leaving you cooped up in that room,"

"Oh, yeah I'm real grateful that you tied my hands and drag me out here... but I am thankful that you've given me the perfect opportunity to escape. So thanks, I'll be seein' ya and I mean that as with an octo shot in my hand splatting you and your team when I reunite with my unit. Thanks for the location on your secret hideout you dumb fossil! (Laughing)," she told Seth as she octoformed causing the cuffs to just slide of her tentacles.

The little red octopus scurred away down the trail as Seth was in pursuit. She hopped over a downed log and Seth jumped over trying to catch up with her. "Freeze! You're not getting away!" shouted Seth as he held up the rifle on the octopus. She got farther from him and reached the fork in the trail, she stood on a hill changing back and gave Seth a malicious smile.

"Stupid human, no wonder your kind went extinct. I'll be sure to be the one pulling the trigger with that octo shot pressed against your head (laugh)," she taunted. Seth growled and aimed the weapon sight on her but before he took action. She gave out a loud gargled yelp before bursting into yellow ink.

Seth stared and looked at his weapon. He never pulled the trigger so what happened? Then her heard a twig snap. On the fallen log behind him laying across the trail, stood a figure. It was aiming the compound bow at him giving him a hard look.

As Seth studied the figure, he saw they were human in appearance but they had tentacles for hair, sort of like the octolings but they were yellow. One was long and dangling on the side of its body while another was twisted in a pig tail style on the other side. Their skin was tan, their eyes were yellow with a mask around them. Their ears pointy and visible.

Was this another octoling? Their physical features were different and it wasn't in an octarian uniform but a worn and ripped shirt with a black bra underneath it. They wore thin black shorts and white boots. Seth seen they were armed with a bow of some kind with the projectile pulled back, ready to fire.

"Don't move!" it commanded him. Seth was stunned, he wasn't expecting to be held at gunpoint but in this scenario I should say arrow point. When they barked at him, Seth noticed their dialect was different but still understandable to him.

"Look...I don't want trouble, I'm just..." he started to say.

"Quiet you! You don't look an octarian...who are you and what were you doing with that octoling soldier?" they asked, narrowing their eyes and gazing at Seth.

"I'm not an octarian, I'm a human...and she was my prisoner I guess you can say,"

"A...human? Humans are ex..." Surprised by what he said before she interrupted.

"Extinct I know, I get that a lot. I'm being truthful, just..."

"Lower that weapon!" she demanded seeing him holding the SIG MCX Virtus.

"Seth gave a deep sigh and placed the assault rifle on the ground. "Don't try anything or I will splat you like that octoling," the creature threatened him, keeping the bow pointed at him.

"Splat me then, I hate to break it to you but your ink based weapons aren't that effective, well they are to an extent," Seth told her, not faltering to her assertiveness.

"I said keep quiet, you say you're a human...you don't have tentacles or eye marks and you're tall. Too tall to be an inkling or octoling. I saw two octolings an hour ago rummaging through that camp and now I see you and the one that I just splatted. What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for clues," he answered.

"Clues to what?"

"Finding my family, two more humans like me. One a female and the other an infant. Have you seen any other humans?"

The creature gave him estranged look, he could tell she hadn't. "No, I haven't...what's your name?"

"Name's Seth. Yours?"

"Sam...so...you're a human, a real human, you're not pulling my tentacle are you?" she told him, keeping her guard up and lowering the bow.

"No I'm not... so what's your story? I've never seen an octoling with tentacles like that,"

"Octoling! I'm not an octoling! How dare you compare to one of those octopi. I'm an inkling!"

"Inkling?...wait I remember Vee mentioning something about a squid based race called inklings. I've never encountered one before. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you,"

"It's ok, I wasn't sure what you were neither. That octoling referred to you as a human but I don't trust her race. She also said something about a secret base. Care to iterate,"

"If you got some kind beef with the octolings then their maybe a conflict of interest. You see as crazy as this may be I'm part of a squad of octolings. They've agreed to help me if I help them,"

"You're in their squad...that is really strange. A human with octolings, boy would agent 3 get a kick out of that one but...I'm out here trying to find my sister. She's an inkling like me. Her name's Izzy. She's also a squidbeak agent that goes by agent 4. She went missing a week ago and I'm trying to track her down. Last I heard she was believed to be spotted in octarian territory but I'm not sure,"

"I haven't came across any inkling, maybe my team would know. I just woke up a day ago,"

"Woke up? What do ya mean?"

"I'll explain everything when we get back to base but you have to promise me that you won't harm my squad in any way,"

"Sure...I hope their friendly, every octarian I've ran into so far has wanted to splat me. Inklings and octarians are enemies just to let you know...not sure if I can keep your promise, they better not try anything,"

Seth told Sam about being in cryostasis for the last 2,000 years and his encounter with the octoling squad and the events that conspired after that. When she heard talk about the octolings fighting their own, she was confused to why but she was utterly mind-blown from Seth being able to survive this whole time.

Seth commented on her weapon the ink bow. "You like it, what about your human weapon. I've never seen anything like it and where's your ink tank?"

"Ink tank? (chuckle) I'm a human, we don't produce ink,"

"Then..."

"It shoots bullets not ink. If you stay I'll show you in that range me and Vee made,"

The two hopped on the elevator. Sam was a little nervous as the platform descended. "What is this place?" she asked.

"It was a military facility where they tried to preserve humans like me but unfortunately they didn't make it. I'm hoping my wife and son did though,"

"That's who you're looking for I guess,"

"Yeah, I'm hoping they're still alive. The commander said she would help as soon as they could,"

"Surprised the octolings would even help a human. I've always been told they were ruthless cephalopods bent on conquering and splatting all the inklings on the surface for banishing them underground. I'm sticking my tentacles out to come here because agent 3 wouldn't do it. She wanted me to join the squidbeak squad but I declined after she wouldn't help me. I couldn't believe she wouldn't try to find my sister and her best friend. Things have changed so much,"

"I know how you feel, believe me," said Seth as she looked at him.

The elevator finally stopped and the gates slid open. "We're here. Let me see if we can find the private," said Seth but then all of a sudden he heard something coming down the corridor toward them into the processing area where he and Sam were. A red octopus appeared and changed forms. It was Vee holding the note Seth left on the door.

She stopped once she spotted the human. "Seth! You got explaining to do! Why would you..." she said but then she saw the inkling beside him with her ink bow ready. Her sights locked on the inkling girl who was leering back at her. "An inkling!" she shouted.

Sam wasted no time and pulled back an ink bolt and readied for the octoling to attack. Seth saw this and quickly got in front of her line of sight. "Hey!" Sam shouted.

"You promised not to hurt my friends, she's friendly, unlike the other octolngs you've run across," Seth told her as she relaxed her weapon.

"W...who is she!? And what is she doing here!?" Vee pointed at her defensively.

"We came across one another before she splatted that octoling. Her name's Sam and she's looking for her sister. Sam this is private Vee, she's harmless,"

"Hey! I'm not harmless! I can fight...sometimes,"

"You sure don't act like any octoling I've ever run across, so what's your deal?"

"Me and my team left the valley or at least tried to. We wanna leave for the surface, we're hoping you inklings might, I don't know, take us in or at least hoping to anyway,"

"Leave octarian territory? Why? I thought all you octopi were loyal to Octavio or should I say before agent 3 and my sister kicked his butt for stealing the great zapfish. Didn't think your kind would wanna live among the inklings. I thought you hated us,"

"Not all of us, there were some like me and the others that broke from Octavio's influence after agents 1 and 2 sang calamari inkantation. We didn't know how to react. it was like waking up for the first time. We were confused and leaderless, so we left. I formed a bond with my teammates and we've stuck together since but now we're having to run away from Scarlet's forces. They're hunting down defective octarians to imprison and assimilate or splat them permanently,"

"The octarians would do that to their own, how vile can they get. I'm sorry I came off so hostile, it's just I saw you as an enemy that's all,"

"Apology accepted umm..."

"Sam,"

"Sam... you said you were looking for your sister,"

"Yes, she's a squidbeak agent, I heard a report that she may have been spotted in octarian territory but I wasn't sure. I came here because agent 3 wouldn't help me locate her. Said she doesn't do field work anymore and took on leadership of the new squidbeak team,"

"I haven't seen any inklings since we came here, I'm sorry but I hope you find her soon. Being here I hope she didn't get captured. As a matter of fact we got a distress call from an octoling. They were being pursued and they had inkling prisoners with them,"

"Maybe my sister is among them. Did they say where they were?"

"Tentacle town, it's in the next dome. You take the kettle on the other side of the valley to get to it,"

"Thanks octoling, I'm gonna head there and check," Sam told them as she started to make her way back to the elevator.

"Sam, wait! My team and their leader left to go investigate. I don't think you should risk getting hurt if you go. Why not stay here until they get back," advised Seth, trying to persuade her.

"I'm not waiting. I've come too far to give up. I'm going to hunt for my sister before something happens to her," said Sam as she shot out of the elevator shaft and back to the surface.

"Sam! Dang it," he shouted. "Don't know if I should go after her,"

"It's odd seeing an inkling down here but agent 3 came down here years ago to retrieve the great zapfish. I guess that could've went worse, at least she was reasonable,"

"Maybe so but I think she's too zealous in finding her sister. I feel a lot better if I tailed her and made sure she didn't run into any trouble,"

"I can't get over how humans go out of their way to help others. It's truly astonishing,"

"Not all humans were like that I'm afraid, if that were the case we wouldn't have driven ourselves to self destruction. You coming?" Seth asked as he headed for the elevator platform.

"You bet," she replied, following him.

It had been some time since Mirage, Luna and Star left and had made their way to the other side of the dome to the tea kettle. A large shop sat on the far side of the dome near the tea kettle. Abandoned, dilapidating and littered with rusty vehicles and scrap around it. The shop appeared to be an old gas station and store with a workshop station inside. It peaked Star's interest when they first arrived in the dome.

Mirage threw open the lid and they went inside one by one in their octopus forms until the pot boiled over and shot the three of them to the next dome. Once they reached their location, the screens around this dome projected a sunset sky above them. The kettle and them were perched up a floating platform. Below was a path way leading to the town which they could see from where they were at. The town itself was sitting on a large landmass floating in the center of the dome. Around it were multiple but small landmasses and floating debris and other junk.

"Let's get down there and remember to keep your eyes peeled," said Mirage.

"Roger that," said Luna.

The three octoformed and ventured down a path to the town. There were multiple floating blocks and platforms they had to cross and jump over to reach the outskirts. Once they made it they could hear something deeper in the town. The outer area of Tentacle town was comprised of the residential housing. The inner area was the downtown district made up of shops and in the center was the municipality building, a large structure where the local government was established.

The trio scanned their surroundings, watching for movement as the moved on through the housing with their octo shots ready for anything. At the end of the path was a ramp that elevated upward into the business district. They could now hear ink fire above. They octo formed and swam up. A main thorough fare went through the business district and headed straight for the town hall.

There were multiple shops with octarian signs and billboards. Little octopus shaped banners were hung across the street from street lights. There was even a tavern off to the side though it looked like it had been abandoned for a while. The street was littered with trash and debris, old worn out and rusty cars provided good spots to hide behind.

They huddled up behind some cover and ahead of them were multiple octotroopers shooting at a figure on top of the town hall building at the end of the main street. "Keep inking!" shouted a twintacle. Then another figure appeared on top of the building welding what appeared to be a charger, an ink-based sniper weapon.

They splattered one of the octotroopers below. The other figure wielding splat duelies shot another one off its vehicle.

Mirage and her squad mates watched the little skirmish and moved up and out of sight to avoid detection. The twintacle, still alive was calling in reinforcements seeing that it's unit was killed by the duo up above. Once Mirage and them got close enough she raised her octo shot and aimed it at the twintacle, it saw her as it's eyes widened before it could react, SPLAT! the tentacle was no more.

The trio looked up at the two figures on the roof before thy octo formed and stood in the middle of the street. The duo of the building were two octolings, a female with dark red tentacles wielding the duelies and the other a male octoling holding a charger. When they saw each other the two octolings on the building quickly aimed their weapons on the squad below.

"Hold it right there! Don't move or you'll end like those troopers!" the dark red-head female commanded holding her duelies on Mirage and her team.

Mirage held her arms out to signal she wasn't a threat. "Are you sergeant major Maxine! We received a distress call on the radio. Don't splat us we're friendly!" Mirage said.

The octoling lowered her duelies and gave a nod, "Yes, that's me, what do you want!?" she shouted.

"We came to see what was going on. We're defectors of the octarian army. Me and my squad have a base in the next dome over. You mentioned something about inkling prisoners,"

"There's four, they're tired and very hungry. We're about out of supplies and those octo jerks have been chasing us for quite some time. Do you have supplies on you?"

Mirage shook her head. "Very well, come in and don't try anything!" commanded Maxine.

The octoling male octoformed and jumped down a pipe going inside as well as the female. Mirage ordered her team to head in and meet with the two. Once they got in, there were more octotroopers in the building. Mirage and her team took cover as they watched the troopers scurry on the platforms above.

"Oh, great more dumb tentacles," said Luna. She aimed her octo shot at one of them, splatting it while another reacted and shot back. Star returned fire and blasted the tentacle off its vehicle. "C'mon let's move up!" Mirage ordered.

The town center was immense on the inside making a large elevated atrium that was surrounded by balconies and rooms. Above, the ceiling was nothing more than skylight windows, allowing the fake sunlight to beam through and light up the interior.

A gate was locked in front of them and they turned to see an alternate route around it. They octoformed again and swam down a corridor to another room but then an octoball rolled toward them. They splatted it and moved on to the next room. Another octoball appeared and like the other was neutralized. The squad entered through multiple rooms and came upon an opening. A ramp leading up to next level. As they traversed, an octosniper appeared on a suspended platform over the ground floor and took aim at them. Star squealed when a stream of ink came close to hitting her.

"Watch it!" Mirage shouted. They octoformed to evade the octosniper's fire and swam in another room. They could hear gurgling in a room further down and snuck up on two octotroopers. They splatted them before they could react and kept going. Another ramp led to the highest floor of the building. One octotrooper was patrolling a hallway in front of them. Once it's back was turned heading the opposite direction. It was encapitated before the trio headed out and onto a balcony. They spotted the octosniper again and before it aimed it's mouth mounted weapon on them. Mirage shot it between the eyes and it fell to lower lever below, splatting on impact. "Enemies cleared!" shouted Mirage.

A door opened at the end of the balcony, it was the male octoling wielding the charger, he waved for them to come over. Mirage and them headed into a room the octolings and inklings were taking refuge in. The male laid the charger against the wall, then closed the door behind them before walking over to a computer terminal.

The room was fairly big. Multiple desks, chairs, filing cabinets as well as the computer the male octoling was skimming through was inside it. It was apparently the mayor's office at one time but now being occupied by the two octolings and a small crowd of inklings.

The sergeant major approached them holding her duelies. "I should thank you for saving our tentacles. I didn't catch your name octoling," she asked.

"Lieutenant Mirage, this is lieutenant Luna and sergeant Star," Mirage directed as the two gave a wave.

"There's just three of you,"

"No, there's two more but they're back at our base. Can you tell us what's the situation with you and the inklings,"

"Sure, I was part of the octarian army until that squadbeak agent defeated Octavio and took back the great zapfish. Electricity was slowly dwindling in the valley and many of the octarians abandoned their posts and dispersed. I stood back with the recovery efforts even though that song broke my influence. After Octavio was taken out of the valley and captured we were leaderless until... she assumed power over the valley,"

"You must be referring to Scarlet," said Mirage.

"Yes... at first I thought their would be hope but as time went on that power went to her head. She began splatting her own people for questioning her decisions. She even wanted us to attack the inklings and steal the zapfish again even though our army was in disarray. Then she began ordering us to hunt down traitors and deserters to bring them back in order for us to rebuild the octarian military," explained Maxine.

"Me and my squad managed to get out of the valley, we insisted on going to the surface to start a new life, knowing without the zapfish the domes wouldn't be sustainable. I've heard reports of her trying to rebuild the, as she put it the proud octarian empire. We're being tracked down too, as a matter of fact we were attacked today but we repelled them back, wasn't sure if your distress call was a trap of some kind," said Mirage.

"Negative lieutenant, We've been on the run for a couple of days. My unit got separated near the octoweapons factory a day ago. I haven't heard from them since we got attacked there. I lost some of my unit already and a few inklings too. We came across this place and hid out but the octarians still found us and I'm sure there's more to come,"

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here and back to our base,"

"Really appreciate the help,"

'Are they really going to help us? This isn't some kind of trick is it," asked one of the inklings, a purple headed female with a double bun style wearing worn clothes. She looked at them with her arms crossed, unsure whether to trust the three octolings.

"They're friendly, I trust them if they're willing to get us out of here," said Maxine.

"So they say, how can we be sure?" the inkling continued.

"Enough! We're not staying here that's for sure," scolded Maxine.

"What if they get us splatted!"

"Jazz that's enough, We have no other options but to leave. That's a chance we'll have to take," said a cyan headed inkling with a mush cut wearing a jacket.

He held her hands and gave the inkling girl a look of assurance. "We'll get through this, I promise," he said before hugging her.

"Yeah that's what everybody said before they got splatted," said another inkling, his hair was orange and spiked. His skin was dark. His eyes were covered by sunglasses as he gave a stoic expression.

"You're such a buzz kill Dexter, you got a better idea?" said a displeased female with a long wavy lock running down her face. The male just turned his head and gave a smug look.

One figure out of the group that stood out and was clearly not an inkling or octoling was sitting on a couch, keeping calm and quiet. She was sort of human-like in appearance but she wore a long droopy hat with what looked like horns sticking out. Her clothing consisted of a long garment covering her body, a necklace and sandals on her feet. She was a sea hare.

"Who is she?" asked Mirage looking at the creature.

"She doesn't say too much, we found her wandering around down here before we got attacked outside the factory. She's been with us ever since. She's kind of a peacemaker among the inklings, always trying to calm them down. Don't know where she came from," said Maxine.

Mirage walked to her as she stared into space. "Excuse me but who are you?"

"My name's flow," she said softly. "I knew you were coming before we even met,"

"You a fortune teller or something, how could you have known I would be rescuing you?" asked Mirage.

"I just knew and I also know about the human," Flow revealed.

The inklings attention was quickly gotten as well as everyone else. Mirage stumbled by her acknowledge of the human's existence. The elite shook her head and looked hard at the sea hare who was giving her a comforting look. "How...did you know about..." she started. "Seth, I saw him in a vision. I know a lot," she finished.

"How?" Mirage asked suspicious of her.

"(deep breath) Call it... destiny," Flow replied with a smile.

"Destiny?"

"You have strong feelings for him don't you, I can sense it,"

"I... don't know what you're talking about?" Mirage flustered, trying to hide her blush.

"Yeah, what is she talking about, why did she bring up a human?" asked Maxine.

"It's... a long story and we shouldn't be focused on that but trying to get out of here. I suggest we do that now, that twintacle I splatted called in reinforcements. We need to get out of the town before they arrive,"

"So what are we waiting for!? Let's go!" shouted Jazz.

"Hold up, I heard something," said Mirage waving the group to pipe down. They started hearing a loud propeller sound as it got closer. The male octoling heard the source and opened the door to the room. All of a sudden the roof fell through and an octoseeker was hovering over the building. "Oh shrimp! We got company!" he shouted.

"What now!" said Star.

"We go kick some ass that's what," commented Luna holding up her octo shot.

"Hold up, we'll ambush them as soon as they dismount. Get the jump on them before they have time to react," suggested Mirage.

Octolings jumped down from the octoseeker and landed down on the upper levels. "Spread out and hunt for those traitors!" commanded an enemy elite.

Outside the tea kettle in the other dome where the base was located. Sam, the inkling with the bow was looking around the area. She decided to explore the abandoned shop for anything useful. She scavenged anywhere she went and the shop peeked her interest but something was inside scurrying around and rushed out of sight as she stepped in.

It peeked around the corner of a counter top looking at the inkling. The creature was a small fry salmonid. It's eyes were bulged out with its red fins in the shape of a little mohawk rested on top of its head. Though it had no legs it could still shift around on the ground.

Sam stepped into a garage area and spotted a work table. She placed her bow on it and adjusted the pull cord using a tool laying by. It seemed like the perfect place to set up and collect things when she went to go rummaging. "Cool little hang out, I may come back but first I gotta get to that other dome. Hope my sister's with those octolings," Sam said but when she turned around she spotted the small fry at the door and aimed her ink bow at it.

The little fish jumped and ran behind the doorway. She lowered her weapon and saw the creature was a afraid and alone. "(deep sigh) Come here, I won't hurt you little guy," she said as she crouched down and held her hand out.

It slowly approached her and sniffed her hand. "You all by yourself...well not anymore," she told it. The small fry rubbed its head against her hand. She stood back up holding it as it gained trust with the girl. "How about I call you...lil' buddy," she said smiling at the little fish. It flapped it's tail and gave a joyful look.

It jumped out of the inkling's hand and went into the other room to fetch her a part for her weapon. It came back and laid a large bolt in front of her feet. "Oh, you are handy. I can repair my ink bow with anything you find. Wonder what else you can fetch me?" she asked. It gave a noise and did a circle on the floor.

"Hey, listen... I want you to stay here. I'll come back later. I need to locate my sister and I don't want you tagging along. Maybe I'll find you some grub," she told it. It gave a depressed look and stayed behind at her command.

Sam made her way to the tea kettle and popped the lid. "Man I hate these things. The octarians could've come up with better way of travelling, oh well," she said before squid forming and jumping inside. The kettle boiled and shot her to the next area where Mirage and them were at.

Seth and Vee just watched her climb inside the kettle and shoot off. "Too late, she's gone... I'm not sure what to do now," he said to Vee.

"Well we could help her, we just climb inside the kettle and follow her,' suggested Vee.

"Um, one problem. I don't think I could fit into that thing and two, I can't change forms. I don't think that would work," Seth informed her.

"Oh right, my bad,"

"Is there any other way of leaving?"

"I'm afraid not,"

"Crap! Guess I'm stuck then. There's nothing else we can do. I suggest we head back and listen to the radio. I hope nothing's happened but we won't know until we head back to base,"

"It's your call, sergeant,"

"Then I say we head back,"

The two of them headed back to the facility seeing that it would be futile to try and catch up with Sam. It seemed the inkling has met a human for the first time and a companion with the little salmonid she encountered in the decrepit shop, waiting for her to come back.

In the meantime, Mirage and her team as well as the two additional octolings readied themselves to take the enemy forces by surprise. As they dispersed they could take them down easier as they made their way to the exit. "On my mark...Ink em!" Mirage shouted as she and her team burst through the door and splatted a few of the stunned octolings, not expecting to be ambushed.

Mirage inked the path ahead of her and hid in it in her octo form. Star and Luna did the same thing and moved to cover. They splatted the remaining octolings including the elite after they exchanged ink fire. "That was easy," said Luna.

"We're not out of the woods yet, bank on them regrouping," said Mirage. Then the octoseeker lowered down as far as it could and aimed its mounted splatlings at the octolings. "Take cover!" shouted Mirage.

The twintacle pilot pelted ink toward their direction. Maxine rolled out of the room with her duelies spraying the octoseeker to get its attention. "Sigma! Aim for the cockpit!" she commanded the male octoling.

"Got it!" he said. He held up the charger and shot a stream of ink at it, only covering the window of the cockpit. The pilot couldn't see and the aircraft bobbled around and lost control. It soared downward and was about to crash toward the squad. They octo formed and swam away before they got smashed by the disabled octoseeker as it exploded.

"Is everyone ok!?" shouted Mirage.

"I'm fine," answered Star. "Ditto," replied Luna.

"You guys don't mess around do ya," complemented specialist Sigma.

"You do whatever it takes with whatever we got, speaking of which, Lieutenant! Grab that splatling off what's left of the octoseeker. I have a feeling we're gonna need it,"

"Oh you don't have to ask me twice," she said, yanking the weapon off the destroyed craft.

"Head up to the roof and provide cover fire. Me, Luna and Maxine will head below and fight them from the ground. Specialist I suggest you provide sniper support form the other side of the roof. Let's get into places before they retaliate," commanded Mirage.

"What about us?" asked the cyan headed inkling.

"You squids need to stay here where it's safe, once we've cleared out the opposition we'll signal you to come down," Mirage told him.

Mirage and the rest of the octolings left and got into their positions for the final assault. Both Luna and Sigma were on the roof while Luna, Star and Maxine were down below in front of the municipal building behind vehicles. While they waited for more octarians to show up, Flow could sense something coming. The inklings noticed her fearful expression and asked what was wrong. "I...see something, I'm not sure what it is but it's big with sharp teeth. I hope they're prepared to fight it,"

"Fight what? What is it Flow? Should we be worried?" asked Jazz.

She closed her eyes and didn't reply. "Oh, please. She's babbling on about one of her visions, so don't get your tentacles in a twist," said the yellow-headed inkling girl with the wavy tentacle.

"She hasn't been wrong before, she predicted us getting attacked near that octoweapons factory a day ago," shot back the cyan-headed inkling.

"So what, that doesn't mean she's necessarily right...I hope," replied the yellow headed girl.

Down on the ground level, the three octolings spotted movement on the other end of the main thoroughfare. They saw multiple octopi swim up and take cover behind vehicles and debris but one elite appeared in the center of the street. She was the leader of the octoling reinforcements that had been dispatched to assault the town center. Mirage recognized her as the same one that lead the octolings to the facility site.

"So, we meet again...can't say this is a pleasant surprise, traitor," she scoffed. "At least I'm not a coward!" Mirage shot back.

"Ha! You won't be saying that while you beg for your life. How about I be generous and give you two options. Option A you throw your weapons down and surrender or option B we ink the crap out of you!"

"How about option C , I blow that beak right off your face. Don't think we're at a disadvantage because their are more of you or how about you be a real octopus and look me in the eyes in tell me that, you sea slug,"

"You got guts, I'll give you that. Unfortunately for you guts isn't gonna save your ass! The option still stands, just make this easy on yourself, I ain't got all night,"

"What an octo winch," said Star.

"Better name than I would've chose," said Maxine.

"What is it? You want me to pick for ya...fine then. How about...SPLAT!" scoffed the elite before she was splatted by Mirage.

"Option C it was," Mirage said, with ink dripping from the nozzle of her gun.

The octolings froze, seeing their leader get splatted in the middle of the street. Then they all unloaded a barrage of ink and started lobbing splat bombs at the trio. "Attack!" one of them shouted. Some of them charged, ink a blazing, rushing toward Mirage and the other's positions.

Mirage shot at the nearest octoling, Maxine took down an octo brush user and so did Star. Sigma was picking off targets from the roof and Luna was laying fire down below with the splatling. Once their charge stopped Mirage and her group advanced, moving to cover and splatting the retreating octolings. Some enemies layed down cover fire. another attempted to throw a bomb but she was splatted and the bomb detonated prematurely.

"Don't you dare run away! Fight you spineless cephalopods!" jeered one the octolings. Mirage and the rest kept up the fire until a few octolings were left. Two more were splatted with one tripping on the ground and dropping her octo shot. Seeing Mirage approach her with the weapon pointed at her. An expression of pure fear appeared on her face as she scooted back but before she could say anything. Mirage shot her in the face as she fell back and exploded into ink.

Mirage and the rest of them regrouped midway between the main street from end to the other. Sigma and Luna octo formed and launched for the street below to meet up with their teams.

"Guess that's over with, I say chalk another win for us," said Luna proudly.

"So I guess it's safe to say we can move out," said Sigma.

"I'd say so, we're gather up the inklings and head out for that base then," said Maxine.

The inklings watched from the windows the octolings battle one another, thankfully for them Maxine and Mirage's group were the victors. They cheered seeing the enemy unit defeated and were anxious to leave but their victory was cut short when all of a sudden ink missiles launched from out of nowhere and toward the group of octolings.

"Incoming!" shouted Mirage.

They dove for cover near the buildings and watched the missiles impact and cover the street with purple ink.

"What now!" jeered Luna.

"I thought we beat them, where did that come from!?" shouted Star.

"Look!" directed Maxine, pointing to the far end of the street. The ground shook, followed by something busting through the street, throwing rubble and creating a large dust plume. Then, before the plume could clear. Two glowing purple eyes appeared in the cloud. It gave a mechanical growl and locked it's gaze on the octolings that were watching in horror.

Once the dust cleared, It had been revealed that whatever Flow had envisioned could be the octoling's biggest threat they've faced so far. It was an octoweapon and not just any octoweapon, it was a rebuilt Octomaw. The one destroyed by agent 3 and put back together. It sparked and gave a mechanical roar that sent shivers down the inklings' backs that watched from inside the office. "What the shell is that!" shouted the cyan headed inkling.

All the inklings stared in amazement and terror at the sight of the robot. The octolings were certainly dreading that they would have to take down one of their octoweapons. "Um, Star any suggestions, you were an engineer. How do we beat this bucket of bolts!" panicked Luna.

"I thought the octomaw got destroyed!" fretted Star.

"Well it looks they rebuilt it unless its a figment of my imagination," popped of Luna.

"Shut your beaks and get ready to kill this thing. Star does it have any weaknesses," asked Mirage.

"It's teeth, break it's teeth off until that tentacle exposes itself!" she informed.

The octomaw shot the octolings a menacing glare before it gave a mechanic battle cry. It dove down into the purple ink and vanished like a shark going under. "W...where did it go!?"

The octolings looked around for movement in the ink and then a fin popped up and headed straight for Maxine and Sigma. "Sarge! Look out! It's headed straight for you!" shouted Star. The fin disappeared in the ink and then sudden a circle of sharp teeth encircled the two. They froze in place before Mirage acted and shot at the metal fangs. The two of them octo jumped out of the ring of teeth and the octomaw emerged and stood up out of the ink.

Mirage shot at it's head but wasn't phased but instead locked it's sights on her. The giant metal fish pounced toward Mirage though it missed it's prey once the elite octo formed and jumped out of it's way. The octoweapon vanished in the ink again and the octolings were leery what it would do next as it swam around in the ink undetected.

Sam had made it to the outskirts a couple of minutes ago. She heard a commotion coming from the town. She squid formed and hoped from platform to platform until she enemy octolings were converging into the town. She watched Mirage and the others take down the enemy octolings as she moved closer. What a spectacle she got to watch seeing the octolings get splatted by their own. She rushed down an alley way to avoid the fighting and watched them get finished off by Mirage's squad.

She cautiously stepped down an alleyway leading toward the main street with intentions to meet the octoling group and question them about any information about seeing her missing sister but before she could, like the others her attention was grabbed by the octomaw appearing out of nowhere and starting battle with the octoling victors. She stayed hidden in the conjoining alley and decided to squid jump on top of one of the shops and watch until the robot was defeated. Seeing the octolings were having a difficult time facing this new robotic foe, she felt she had help them out if it meant locating her sister Izzy aka agent 4. Would Sam save the octolings in time and defeat the octomaw and find her sister? Stay tuned and find out.

New characters update:

Sam

Sam is an inkling with an unknown backstory at this time. She ventured into octarian territory after hearing about her sister's disappearance aka agent 4. She got word of her last whereabouts by an unknown source that she was last seen in one of the octarian domes. Going to agent 3 for help in locating her sister, she didn't get it and instead went to go find her on her own. She's a tan complected girl standing at about 5'7", presumeably in her late teens. Her tentacles are yellow, one bang drooping down while the other twisted. She wears a worn out white shirt, black bra underneath it and tight black shorts. On her feet are white boots fastened by Velcro straps. The inkling wields a new weapon called an ink bow, having the appearance of a compound bow that shoots ink based projectiles at its targets. Sam comes off as a passionate and determined inkling whose goal it is to find her sister. She strikes the traits of a tom boy and was utterly fascinated by Seth, being the only human she had ever met and became fast friends with.

Sergeant Major Maxine

Maxine explained to Mirage that she was in the army until she got enough Scarlet's leadership. She left the valley but like Mirage and her team was tracked down for dereliction of duties. It's unsure right now why she is escorting inkling prisoners and where they came from. She managed to obtain splat duelies, a non octarian weapon based on two sprayer pistols. She's almost as tall as Mirage with dark red curly tentacles. Her face has been covered by her goggles this whole time, it's assumed her eyes are green and purple. She dons a typical octarian uniform with the octarian insignia scratched out, signifying she is no longer loyal to Scarlet and the army.

Specialist Sigma

A male octoling with very short red tentacles. Like many octoling males he was assigned as an engineer. He helped construct ink weapons for the army and left when he was effected by the squid sisters' song. He snuck out of the valley and stumbled across Maxine, who he feared would turn him in but on the contrary they left together and rounded up more octarian defectors along the way. He wields a charger, another non-octarian weapon to blast targets from afar to avoid detection. He's a computer whiz and is very fascinated by human technology and their culture.

Jazz

Jazz is a female inkling, with purple tentacles tied into a bun. She is constantly fretting about something happening to her and her friends after they escaped the octarians. When she was in Inkopolis she was a shop assistant and always wanted to be a painter. Fascinated with her hobbies instead of turf wars, it's unknown how she ended up becoming a prisoner.

Bill

An inkling that tries to coax the others into stay calm even under stressful situations. His tentacles are cyan in a mush cut. Mature and calm demeanor, before he was a prisoner, he was determined to be a great turfer.

Dexter

Dexter is very reserved and stoic, he has a shady upbringing, was part of a gang of delinquents and tried to smuggle banned weapons in turf games to sell. His tentacles are orange and spiky. He keeps to himself and his distraught that he even became a prisoner in the first place. More than eager to get away from the others and get back to the surface.

Lily

Lily is pampas, looking down on others at times. She is a preppy inkling from a well off family that sent her to college to better her life. Her tentacles are yellow with a long wavy bang . She is only fascinated in fashion and could care less about turfing. It's unknown how she became a prisoner but she despises it. Being in octarian territory with inferior inklings.

Flow

Flow is a sea hare with the appearance of a hippie. She ran a shop in Inkopolis square and it's unsure how the heck she ended up wandering around the octarian territory. The inklings recognized her and took her with the group. She doesn't talk a lot and doesn't remember how she ended up down there but apparently she has the gift of foresight and predicted many events she and the others went through. Even the knowledge about the human Seth.