Chapter 13: Disaster at the Splatfest
"Join the Party."
By the Splatfest's start, starry skies, flashy spotlights, and loud applause were the sights and sounds Akikta became immersed in.
Nakji's guess was right on the money. There were a ton of people here tonight—more than Akikta expected. The crowd of primarily inklings and octolings gathered at the center of a wide circular area, with buildings and alleys on either side. Behind them was a main road, and of course, front and center were the one and only Squid Sisters.
Inka gave him the impression Callie and Marie were extremely popular, So he expected the coastal area to be crammed. But this was outright ridiculous.
It felt like he got packed into a can of sardines. Did all of Inkopolis come to see them or something? He looked at the buildings and saw even people inside had their windows opened, cheering for the Squid Sisters.
Considering how many people were present, Akikta thought the main attraction would be hard to see. But Callie and Marie were propped up onto separate trucks, both of which were converted into mini-stages, equipped with speakers and spotlights. Callie's stage had mainly purple and pink colors, whereas Marie's stage boasted a bright lime green.
His first time seeing them in person was as surreal as seeing them dance.
Differences between the two cousins' movements and expressions stuck out. Callie looked eagerly excited and happy, being fairly active in her steps. Conversely, Marie sported a less unenthusiastic look, but her motions flowed elegantly, like a squid gliding through water.
Their performance of a song called 'City of Color' had the crowd raving hysterically. The audience grooved with the Squid Sisters, but their dancing was subpar compared to Callie's and Marie's. Not to mention the duo's heavenly singing.
Callie's voice was high-pitched and gave out the right energy. Marie's pitch was slightly lower, but still hit every note gracefully and perfectly.
Akikta now understood why they were so popular. They had genuine talent.
However, all of this was... a bit much. The blaring noise, the bright lights, the large crowd; it was overwhelming. And it distracted him from what had to be done.
It was time.
Akikta shimmied through the crowd into a nearby alley. A ladder was out, leading onto a scaffolding staircase connected to a building. He used that to get on the roof. Once at the top, he went to the edge of the building, getting an eagle's eye view of the entire concert. If someone looked up, they'd see him, assuming they stared long and hard enough.
Even with the flashy spotlights, the area was still quite dark. Plus, the crowd had their attention on the Squid Sisters, and vice versa. He didn't have to worry about being spotted.
"Should be any second now-" A loud boom, accompanied by a colorful bright light, echoed from above. Fireworks, the thing he'd been waiting for.
Each time one exploded, it gave just enough light for Akikta's whole body to be visible. He put up both arms and looked forward.
Past the Squid Sisters' trucks was a lower deck of the circular area. And past the railings of that deck was the calm sea and a short dock leading to the Manta Maria.
Akikta made out a tiny black silhouette next to the railing, and once they saw his arms go up, they hurried onto the Manta Maria.
When they disappeared from view, Akikta scanned the crowd until his eyes landed on the small figure of Nakji. She was leaning on a wall next to an alley, staring at him.
Akikta lowered both arms, pointing them at the crowd. In response, Nakji stopped leaning on the wall and began prowling through the cheering masses toward the trucks.
Both arms returned to his side, the plan now set into motion.
With Inka's guidance and Nakji's recon intel, the three had planned in great detail how they'd catch Marie and disappear into the night.
Thanks to Inka's firm knowledge of the idol, Akikta knew there was no way people wouldn't notice Marie going missing. They just had to ensure no one knew they were the culprits. Nakji's intel suggested it would be easy enough since the area had no nearby cameras, and the Squid Sisters were conveniently without security.
It was a miracle the idol duo decided to perform next to the Manta Maria, as that would be their means of escape. According to Inka, the ship was decommissioned ages ago. Nowadays, it is only used as a location for turf war battles. However, she was confident in her technical abilities to get the ship in operable conditions.
While she did that, it was Nakji's job to inch her way closer to Marie without seeming suspicious. Akikta couldn't do it since he would've stuck out like a sore thumb the closer he got. He had already given Nakji the immobilizer and taught her how to use it. It was up to Nakji to actually get Marie.
As for Akikta, he had the responsibility of coming up with a distraction. The distraction had to be loud enough to catch the attention of everyone within the vicinity, as well as big enough to hold their attention during and long after the operation.
Akikta only now realized he had the hardest assignment out of the trio. He pondered what to do next.
He had a few ideas prior to his arrival, but after seeing firsthand how truly massive the Splatfest was, those ideas seemed insufficient. Everyone's eyes were practically glued to Callie and Marie. Anything he did would most likely go unheard and unseen.
The trio didn't have any earpieces to communicate with each other while this operation was ongoing, so they only had one shot.
In hindsight, it would've been better to think of a solid distraction before giving Inka and Nakji the signal to begin, but his nerves got the best of him. The most anxiety-inducing thing he's ever done was sneak into the control room of Alterna's Space Center, and that didn't stress him out half as bad as this did.
Either way, it was too late now. He had to come up with something before Nakji reached Marie.
As Akikta paced back and forth on the rooftop, biting his inner lip hard enough to draw blood, his instincts suddenly twitched. He no longer felt alone.
His head shot over to the next building over; perched on the ledge like a hawk was a small figure with a long rifle pointed at the crowd. Their focus was on the masses below.
The person looked like an inkling with short orange hair. They wore some sort of glowing headphones that took the shape of and covered their pointy ears. Covering their torso was a large yellow-green hoodie. Enormous black puffy boots protected their feet.
Their appearance perplexed Akikta. This individual, whoever they were, came too well prepared to be some ordinary security guard. Maybe they were a hired hitman here to assassinate someone?
After giving the situation some logical thought, Akikta realized who the weapon was pointing to. Nakji.
SHIT! They overlooked a crucial piece of information in their plan. Marie, and by proxy Callie, were part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, so that meant they had protection. He knew it looked suspicious that there were no visible guards.
They hadn't accounted for another agent to be watching Marie's back. How could they? Inka had no clue the platoon existed, and the thought slipped from Akikta's mind.
With no way to warn Nakji, Akikta got a running start and took a leap of faith, jumping the gap between buildings. He landed on the inkling's building with a rough roll, unintentionally alerting them. They quickly sat up, aiming at Akikta.
He stood there and waited for the inkling to shoot, planning to move on them during their shock that the ink did not harm him.
Fireworks went off again during his wait; the light revealed the inkling's full figure. They were a female with concentrated orange eyes. Akikta's mind wandered elsewhere.
Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single male agent yet. He wondered if all the agents in the platoon were female.
The sounds of running feet snapped Akikta out of his thoughts. The agent wasn't firing; she was coming straight at him with closed fists. She must've already known about his immunity to ink. Word sure travels in the platoon, I guess.
Akikta watched the inkling charge at him. Her speed didn't decrease. She was really about to come at him swinging. Not like he was going to let her land any hits. He learned his lesson from Metta and Coral. Especially Coral.
When the inkling got into striking range, she leaped into the air and attempted to roundhouse kick him in the face. Instinctively, he grabbed her leg and turned his body in the same direction she kicked. Keeping the momentum, he threw her onto the other side of the roof.
"Whoa," Akikta impressed himself by catching her attack.
She didn't stay down long. After a short roll and a light groan, the inkling swiftly got back up and rushed Akikta again. This time, she started throwing punches.
He dodged her first few swings by backstepping, only to trip and fall. When he landed, he found himself on the edge of the roof where the agent had been, with an upside-down view of the crowd as his head hung off the side. Despite the ruckus they were causing, no one noticed them.
During the single second his attention shifted from the fight, the agent pounced on him and attempted to hold him down.
Akikta grabbed at her arms, only to find this agent was stronger than her slim body led on. It was hard for him to pry her off, especially with one hand, as he used the other to keep his hood from flipping off.
While he struggled with the inkling on top of him, he noticed Nakji had grown dangerously close to Marie's truck. She was ready to grab her; she merely waited for the audience's attention to be directed elsewhere.
The inkling kept Akikta preoccupied, but even if she didn't, he was far from coming up with a distraction!
Dammit! Akikta gritted through his mask as the agent tried to keep a firm hold on him.
As Callie and Marie neared the end of their first song, frightened shrieks from the crowd gradually replaced the sounds of upbeat music and noisy cheering. This shifted the agent's and Akikta's attention from each other to the commotion.
One green-inkling boy and a blue-inkling girl were being held up by their tentacles. The person holding them was none other than Subject 7, towering over the crowd at a height of seven feet.
Before those inklings even had a chance to scream, black ink oozed all around their body, completely covering them. They tried to wail anyway, but their cries sounded like they were drowning. The black ink that covered them shrunk, adding to Subject 7's mass. Just like that, they were gone. Akikta was mortified.
Those who witnessed the scene screamed and panicked, only to scramble in every direction away from Subject 7. Unfortunately for them, there wasn't much room to go anywhere with how packed it was.
Akikta felt the agent's grip loosen. He turned back to see her face was ghostly pale. She looked beyond terrified, reasonably so. "I'm sorry." He muttered enough to get her attention before quickly flipping her off the building and into the crowd. He watched as she landed on a group of inklings, thankfully breaking her fall.
Akikta stood on his legs, only for Subject 7 to let out a deafening screech. It sounded exactly the same as when they first met.
He looked over to Callie and Marie, as at this point, everyone noticed Subject 7, including them. Callie had wide eyes with a hand covering her mouth. Marie also had wide eyes, but her arms were at her sides, her mouth agape.
Nakji, somehow unphased by the mayhem, lunged at Marie and connected the immobilizer to her chest. Marie could only react to the immobilizer being put on her before she suddenly spazzed, then fell to the truck floor, limp.
Nakji hurriedly collected Marie into her arms and flipped the unconscious squid over her shoulder before retreating amongst the panicked crowd.
No one, not even Callie, seemed to notice Marie being snatched up. Everyone's eyes were on the monster who gobbled up any inkling and octoling that crossed his path.
Suddenly, the Manta Maria's exterior lights came on, garnering the attention of no one but Akikta. That was his cue to get the hell out of there.
He got down the building the same way he got up and ran out amongst the screaming crowd, pushing past panicked citizens towards the lower deck.
"Marie? Marie?!" someone suddenly cried out. He turned to see Callie had noticed Marie was gone. The magenta popstar trembled as she called out for her missing partner. Was she shaking because of Subject 7 or because her cousin suddenly vanished? Probably both.
"I'm sorry," Akikta mumbled. She obviously couldn't hear.
Another screech came from the ink creature, this one not as loud. He turned to see what Subject 7 was doing—the two locked eyes. "Shit!"
Akikta sprinted toward the deck, hoping the presence of water would slow or outright deter his brother. He didn't dare look behind him.
As he approached the Manta Maria, he saw the ship had begun to move. Inka and Nakji frantically waved to him, which motivated him to run faster.
By the time he reached the end of the dock, the Manta Maria was a short distance away. Akikta used whatever strength the Great Spirit would give him and leaped into the air, slamming into the side of the ship. Nakji caught one of his arms, while Inka caught the other. Together, they hoisted him up onto the ship.
Akikta took a short breather, only to see Marie's unconscious body a short distance from him. The sight freaked him out, so much so that he immediately stood to attention, only to see the carnage left behind by Subject 7.
Surprisingly, there was no sight of Subject 7 himself. It was as though he disappeared the moment Akikta turned around. But he was sure they locked eyes, and knowing Subject 7, he would've given chase.
Akikta leaned over to peek at the ship's side, dreading but expecting Subject 7 to be hanging on. He wasn't.
Where did he go? Fear set in as he knew Subject 7 couldn't just disappear like that. Or could he?
Inka and Nakji didn't react to him being chased, so maybe he lost Subject 7 the moment he broke into a dash. That still begs the question of where he went.
Akikta looked back to the concert, the scene snatching him away from his thoughts on Subject 7's whereabouts.
There were so many distressed inklings and octolings. Evidently, some didn't notice Subject 7 had disappeared; They ran around as if they were still being chased, fearful for their lives.
These people came here to have a good time. But because of him, he unintentionally led Subject 7 to them. He got people killed.
No longer was the music blaring; it was silent. The crowd wasn't cheering anymore; they were weeping. The splatfest was a disaster, and it was his fault.
Inka and Nakji's lips were moving around, apparently speaking to Akikta. Their words fell on deaf ears.
Akikta looked away from the ruined concert and stared at the star-filled sky. Only two words could muster the courage to leave his lips. "I'm sorry."