Chapter 8: The Deepsea Metro

"All Aboard."

"A...? Akikta? Akikta!" A voice shouted, bringing Akikta out of his pit of unconsciousness.

He blinked a few times, finding himself lying flat on a cold floor. He groaned before lifting up. A terrible soreness coursed through his body as he sat up, mainly affecting his neck and stomach. Akikta rubbed the front of his neck, wincing in pain. "Damn..."

He coughed before examining his clothes. Like before, the ink had magically vanished. Not a trace of it was left.

As he wondered how and why that kept happening, the radio crackled. "Akikta?!" It was Sal. He must've been the voice Akikta heard right before coming to.

"I'm here. I'm here." The teen croaked as he unhooked the radio.

A sigh of relief came from the other end. "Thank the rings. You're alright."

"Yea, sorry...about that. I don't know what happened. We just got attacked and-"

"I know."

"You do?"

"I was checking in on you and saw the whole confrontation. I had been telling you to get out, but maybe your ears aren't all there." Sal stated with an added insult at the end.

Akikta frowned. He hadn't heard Sal at all. Maybe he was too quiet, or their fighting was too loud? "Hey, it's not my fault that-" A small groan interrupted Akikta.

He turned to find Nakji lying on her side with her purple blade a few inches from her. He hurried onto his feet, his quickness hindered by the sore injuries.

After limping to Nakji, he kneeled by her side to examine her. She looked absolutely rugged. Bruises were visible, and her light skin tone was a bit red in certain areas. If Coral had bruised Nakji any worse, she could've been considered roadkill.

Akikta gripped her shoulder. Immediately, his heart sank. Her usually warm skin was eerily cold.

He shook her gently. "Nakji? Nakji, are you ok?" He asked worriedly, receiving no response. Akikta bit the inner walls of his lower lip as his body grew tense.

Coral had caused him great pain with just a few hits. He agonized at the thought of what Nakji had experienced, and whether or not she was able to endure it.

He shook her again and waited with bated breath. This time, her eyes opened, albeit slowly. Her gaze fixated on Akikta. "Aki?" She murmured. Luckily, she wasn't dead. Akikta sighed, relieved.

He'd plop down on the concrete ground, sighing with relief. "She's alive."

"Your friend, I presume?" Sal asked.

Before Akikta could respond, Nakji perked up more. "Who's...that?"

"O-oh, this is the friend I mentioned. The one I'm doing the favor for. Mr. Sal." Akikta answered.

"Please, just call me Sal." Sal reiterated. Nakji made an unapproving face, but Akikta turned the radio so Sal couldn't see.

"Well, looks like that little scuffle you had sent you a bit further from the target," Sal informed.

"Whoa, hey now. Don't just gloss over the fact we got our asses kicked! I thought you said they'd be harmless to me!"

"Nuh-uh. I said your target would be harmless to you. I said nothing about Captain Tenta."

"Well, how was I supposed to- wait, who's Tenta?"

"What do you mean? You literally just fought her." The man responded quickly. Too quickly for him to realize what Akikta's question implied. Akikta raised his mask so Sal could see the stern look on his face.

There was a moment of silence before Sal grumbled on the other end. "You didn't know... did you?"

"Didn't know? No shit, I didn't know! You're telling me you knew someone like her was out here, and you didn't think to warn me?!" Akikta angrily barked. His raised voice echoed through whatever area they were in.

"A, calm down. As I said earlier, I would not put you in a situation I wasn't sure you could handle. I did not expect you to be put on her radar." Sal said in defense.

Akikta sighed. "Can you at least tell me who she is?"

There was some more silence before Sal responded. "Her name is Coral Tenta. And she's the new captain of a secret platoon."

"New? What happened to the old one?" Akikta questioned.

"Retired. An agent has to call it quits someday, right?"

"Agent? Wait, are you telling me the government is after me?"

"I- er... not exactly. They seem to operate as an independent group. Officially, they're known as the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Don't ask me why they're called that." Akikta closed his mouth right after he opened it, bummed out that Sal knew he would ask. "They normally target actual threats. I don't know what you did to earn the captain's attention, but whatever it was, we'll have to pick up the pace on getting that criminal."

"What? Why?"

"Because they're in the platoon," Sal revealed.

Akikta's facial expression exaggerated greatly. "Wh- huh?! You're only telling me now that Marie is part of a group of probably highly skilled agents!?"

"The criminal herself isn't that big of a deal. At least not up close. And besides, by the time you captured her, the others would've been none the wiser! What did you even do to get them on you?"

"How am I supposed to know? I didn't even know they existed until now!" Nakji stared at Akikta as he went back and forth with Sal.

He mulled through his memories, trying to understand why such a deadly group was after him. "Oh wait, I did kidnap that smallfry. I think he was the pet of an agent."

"Really?"

"Yeah, her name was Metta."

"Metta? I don't recall anyone named Metta as one of their agents."

"Well, she was with Coral. Even referred to her as captain!"

Sal grumbled. "I see..."

"So when you really think about it, this is all your fault," Akikta stated. He wasn't wrong either.

"If I had known they recruited a new agent with a young one accompanying them, I don't think I would've told you to grab them, now would I?" Sal snarled, irritated. Akikta went silent. "Do you at least still have the smallfry?"

Akikta swallowed hard. "I...um...lost him..."

"Of course you did," Sal groaned. His annoyed tone didn't last long. "You know what? This is fine. We can still bring that criminal to justice. The platoon has no clue what your goals are, nor do they know your location. And the bright side is, their captain is their strongest member, so whatever you just went through, don't expect it to get worse than that."

Nakji grabbed herself at the mention of their captain. Akikta could tell she didn't want to see Coral again, and he didn't blame her.

As he stared at Nakji's reaction to Coral's name, a thought crossed his mind. "You said the Squidbeak Splatoon was secret, right?"

"New Squidbeak Splatoon." Sal corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, if they're so secret, how do you know so much about them?"

"Well, let's just say...I had an inside source once," Sal claimed.

The claim made sense in theory, but Akikta's curiosity wanted to know more. Who exactly was this inside source? And what happened to them? Considering how Sal's irritation dissipated, for the time being, he wouldn't risk bringing it back by prying.

"Just be careful going forward from now on, alright? Since they're after you, things will be riskier. Whatever you do, don't let them find out you're a..." Sal stopped himself, remembering Nakji was there.

"A human?" Akikta finished. "Don't worry. Nakji already knows."

"See to it that she remains the only person to know," Sal warned. "Now then, where are you? I don't recognize that place at all."

Akikta looked around from where he sat, whereas Nakji stood up, dusted herself off, and sheathed her blade.

The place was dark. Dim lights hung from the ceiling, illuminating a giant tunnel. "It looks like we're in a tunnel. It's pretty dark. Maybe we're underground or something?" Akikta said, suggesting they were underground because of how cold it was. It was colder than Alterna, but still a nice change of pace from the sizzling heat the Splatlands offered.

"Look," Nakji said as she pointed to something.

He waltzed over to see train tracks along a trench-like trail. "I think we're in a subway."

"A subway? There's no...oh..." Sal's tone abruptly changed. He sounded frightened.

"Sal? What's the matter?" Akikta asked.

"It looks like you were knocked to the Deepsea Metro."

"Is that... bad?"

"Let me put it to you this way. I've got good news and bad news."

Akikta gulped. "What's the bad news?"

"Bad news is, the Deepsea Metro has a strange little phenomenon. I don't know exactly how it works, but if you're not a denizen of the deep, you'll lose bits and pieces of your memories the longer you stay. Eventually, you'll forget about whatever life you had before the Deepsea Metro."

Hopefully, the good news is a lot less grim. "What about the good news?"

"Good news is, there should be a train that'll take you directly to Inkopolis." As if on cue, Nakji and Akikta heard the honks and wheels of a nearby train. Bright lights appeared down a tunnel entrance, gradually getting brighter as the honks grew louder.

"Welp, guess that solves it then. I'll check on you periodically. Try not to forget the task at hand..." With that, the radio went out.

"I don't trust him," Nakji said, practically waiting for the radio to turn off.

Her guarded tone caught Akikta by surprise. "Huh? What are you on about?"

"You say he's a friend, but he didn't seem to show any concern for you." She said, eyeing Akikta as the subway train came to a stop.

"He's probably really busy," Akikta said while putting his mask back down.

Nakji raised an eyebrow. "Busy enough to not at least give you a heads-up on those agents?"

He shrugged. To Akikta, Sal's behavior was similar to his father, a head scientist at Alterna. At worse, the man was dismissive. But not uncaring. Perhaps Sal had a lot on his plate.

Nakji crossed her arms in response to Akikta's shrug. "I do not like him. He gives off a bad vibe."

"Oh, now suddenly you don't trust a human?"

"He's... human?" She asked uncertainly.

"Of course he is!" Akikta yelled defensively. Then, the doors to the train opened. A large group of humanoid sea creatures poured out from the different carts. They all resembled animals belonging to the deep waters.

"How can you be sure... have you ever seen him?" Nakji questioned, doubt prevalent in her tone.

"N-not yet. But I just know he is."

"Aki, I don't think-"

"If you don't trust him, that's fine. But don't you dare try to tell me he's not-" Akikta stopped, noticing they were getting looks after he raised his voice.

Nakji's face softened up in response to his aggressive tone. "Just come on, man." He huffed before boarding the train. Nakji sheepishly followed.

What nerve does she have to say he isn't human? She hardly even knows him! If anything, she's not human! Akikta yelled in his head, not hiding his anger well as he stomped through the train's carts.

"Welcome aboard, weary denizen." A proper voice called out, which caused Akikta's bubbling anger to subside. He looked around to find the voice, though no one was seated on either side of the train. "Down here." The voice said.

Akikta looked down to see a blue slug no bigger than a foot staring up at him. Well, he assumed it was staring at him. It had no eyes. The thing reminded him of a sea cucumber, that is, if sea cucumbers wore black conductor hats with a foreign logo on the front.

He stepped back from the creature, his foot a little too close for comfort. "Hey, uh, sorry talking sea slug. I didn't see you there..." Akikta apologized.

The blue slug tilted the front part of its body. "Pardon me? I take it this is your first time riding with us?" Akikta looked at Nakji, who looked just as confused as he did under the mask. He nodded to the sea cucumber. "Right then. Welcome to the Deepsea Metro. I am your humble conductor, C.Q. Cumber, pleased to make your acquaintance." The slug wiggled. Had it not been for its politeness, Akikta would've snorted at C.Q's pun of a name.

"Allow me to introduce you to my assistant." Again, as if on cue, a new face emerged from the front train cart. It was a five-foot-tall inkling. They had smooth cyan-blue hair accompanied by glasses with a heavy cyan-blue tint, which prevented Akikta from seeing their eyes.

"Hello, my name is Astro Mahi. It is an honor having you ride with us on this day." The inkling said with a slight bow. Their voice was just as proper sounding as C.Q. Cumber's.

When Astro stood up straight again, Akikta noticed the inkling wore a neat black suit with a white jacket underneath—a cyan-blue tie paired with it. Like C.Q. Cumber, Astro also wore a black conductor's hat with a cyan-blue-colored logo on the front... This inkling had a rather excessive amount of cyan colors on him.

"How may we be of service to you today?" Astro asked politely. Meanwhile, C.Q. Cumber crawled up Astro's black-colored boots and suit pants and rested on the inkling's shoulder.

"We heard this train can take us straight to Inkopolis. So we were hoping to catch a ride." Akikta said.

"I'm terribly sorry, but denizens of the deep are forbidden entry to the surface." Astro solemnly informed.

"But I'm not a denizen?"

"While I am not insensitive enough to ask you to lower your mask to prove it, I have no other way of knowing if you're telling the truth."

Akikta looked at Nakji and sighed before pulling his hood slightly back. Not enough to where his hair was exposed, but just enough to where the inkling could see his round ears. "You see, I'm an Octarian, same as her." Astro's smile faltered slightly, and he looked at C.Q. Cumber. "Is that an issue?" Akikta asked before flipping his hood fully back up.

"No, not at all." C.Q. Cumber answered. Astro's smile returned, though somewhat confused. "Apologies, but the journey to Inkopolis will take about two days. We hope this doesn't inconvenience you."

Two days?! How far off did we drift from Hammerhead Bridge? "N-no. Not at all." Akikta said, his words conveying a different tone than his thoughts.

"Excellent. Feel free to relax and make yourselves at home while we prepare for departure." C.Q. Cumber said. Astro nodded before turning and walking back to the front cart.

Nakji and Akikta looked at each other, then they both sighed, exhausted.