Prologue: Test Run
"Nothing can possibly go wrong! ...Right?"
Finally, the day Craig had been waiting for arrived at long last.
Today would be the beginning of the end for the octarian menace. No longer would the dreaded DJ Octavio threaten the livelihoods of the Inkopolis residents. And more importantly, the New Squidbeak Splatoon would finally get an extended vacation.
Lately, Craig felt like he's been working his poor agents down to the ink. He didn't like thinking that way. After all, everyone who joined did so of their own free will and knew the dangers involved. Well, maybe everyone but Agent 2.
Regardless, the days of his agents risking their lives for Inkadia's peace and security would soon be history. Craig had high hopes for today's meeting.
The old inkling maneuvered his way through Inkopolis's square, which was relatively quiet. That was to be expected. It was early in the morning, so there weren't many people out and about yet. That would probably change in half an hour. Luckily, Ammo Knights wouldn't be expecting any customers until then.
Once at the front doors to Ammo Knight, Craig knocked four times in rapid succession, then paused, only to knock one last time. It was an odd way of knocking, but this way, Sheldon would know it was him.
Speaking of, a quick 'click' came from the double doors before they swung open, revealing the little horseshoe crab. "Mor-" Before Craig could get his greetings out, Sheldon abruptly grabbed him by the arm and yanked him in. "Whoa!" The elder yelped, barely catching his balance.
Sheldon shut the doors almost as quickly as he had opened them. "Captain! You're not gonna believe this one!" he stammered, locking the doors fast.
When Sheldon turned to face Craig, he noticed how red his eyes were. Had the crab waited all day, or rather- all night for him? "The energy signature- its molecular make-up- OH! Don't even get me started on its output! Everything about it is just amazing! Amaz–"
"You've got quite the spring in you today!" Craig interrupted, knowing how the boy could get when he was enthusiastic about something. "I know you're excited, but try to keep it down. Don't want the whole city to hear you, do you?"
Sheldon blinked before nodding his head. "Sorry, Captain."
"No need for apologies, youngin'. And we're not on mission; you can say my name." The inkling assured, which Sheldon responded to with a slight bow. That's when his eyes noticed something.
"What's that?" Sheldon pointed.
In Craig's hand was a small white briefcase. "Just a little something I brought for today. Nothin' major." He answered. "Now then, I got your message, and I'm here. And it seems like you've got a lot to share, so let's hear it!" Craig said, eager to hear whatever Sheldon had to say—not something that happened often.
Sheldon gestured for Craig to follow him. They went behind the counter and through the 'employees only' door. "So, remind me again, where'd you say you found this?" Sheldon inquired as he led Craig through a long hallway with doors on either side.
"Well, it's like I said the first twenty times you asked! After Agent 8 gave that statue a royal whoopin', I did some snoopin'. Y'know, to see if I could find what made it tick. Then I found that white thingamajig." Craig recounted.
Sheldon opened the door at the far end of the hall, leading into a stairwell that spiraled downward. "It's a crystal! Or, well, a shard of one, I think. Though it'd be pretty nerve-wracking if this was only a piece of something bigger..."
"Nerve-wrackin'? How?"
"Well, to put it in simpler terms, I don't think that statue used even a fraction of what this shard is pumping out. 'Cause if it were, hohohoo, man. I don't think we'd be having this discussion right now." Craig paused while descending the stairs, only to quickly snap out of it and catch up with Sheldon. "This shard has power equivalent to one hundred- no, one thousand Great Zapfish! Maybe even more! Every time I try to measure its energy, my tools fry."
"Holy Kraken," Craig muttered in response.
"That's not even the most interesting part," Sheldon admitted as they reached the bottom of the stairwell.
Soon, the two entered a large circular room with a square metal pedestal smack dab in the center. Above the pedestal hovered a see-through glass ball being propped up by four robotic arms. Two extended from the ceiling, and the other two extended from the pedestal itself.
In the center of the glass ball was none other than the white crystal shard, hovering in the center like some collectible item from a video game. It was in the shape of a crescent moon, shining brightly like a mini sun.
"It's... unique," Sheldon said, mesmerized.
"Yeah, kinda like this room," Craig commented. All around them were the usual stuff. You know, computer terminals, screens mounted on walls, gadgets on tables—the type of stuff kids nowadays watch in those sci-fi shows.
"No, nothing like this room," Sheldon responded hastily. "In the six months since you handed the shard to me, I've analyzed its insides probably a thousand times now; I've got nothing. No ore, mineral, or any other element even comes close to matching this thing. It's... It's mythical." Sheldon explained, unfortunately not in a way Craig understood.
"Meaning...?"
"Meaning it's not from our world." He clarified, adjusting his goggles before walking to a nearby terminal. "Or if it is, then we're the first to discover anything like it."
"If this shard ain't from our world, how'd the old bot get his...uh...ooze on it?"
"Beats me. But if I had to guess, he didn't know how to harness its power."
Craig tilted his head. "But you know how to, right?"
Sheldon chuckled. "As a proud member of the tech team, I'm happy to say that my brain power beats an old AI's algorithm."
There was a brief pause in the conversation. "So you do?"
"Y-yes, yes. I do."
"Good." Craig placed his briefcase on a nearby table. "Then we can do some testing." He said happily, resulting in Sheldon jolting from his terminal.
"T-testing?"
"Yes, sir! I mean, the whole reason I brought this thing to you was to see if it could be used."
Sheldon rushed over to Craig. "I-I appreciate your enthusiasm. But I've only just learned how to contain it properly! To utilize its power... I'd need more time!"
"How much more?"
"I don't know! At least a year or two."
"We don't have a year! Those octarians could be cooking up a plan right now. In fact, they probably already have and are waiting to strike!" Craig insisted.
Considering they've already stolen the Great Zapfish twice, there was no doubt in Craig's mind that Octavio would try something reckless soon. Especially considering what was going on with his army. Had it not been for the run-in with Marina and Agent 8, Craig would've never thought his troops were actually defecting from him.
The old DJ was bound to get desperate. And Octavio wasn't a pleasant sight when he got desperate...
"I understand your concerns, captain- really, I do. But come on! Even if they were a week away from striking, I'd have nothing ready. We don't even have anything to test the crystal with!"
Craig chuckled. "That's why I brought this," he said smugly before opening the briefcase.
Sheldon peered inside. "Is that a... Squee-G?"
"Sure is." Craig patted the fish-shaped machine, and it turned on with a small beep. He'd take it out of the briefcase, setting it down on the floor.
"Nabbed this little doohickey from an octarian warehouse out in the valley."
"You nabbed this?"
"Well, Agent 3 did most the heavy lifting. She didn't mind, though." Craig pointed to the Squee-G as it crawled around the floor, looking for ink to clean up. "Harmless and one hundred percent octo-tech. A perfect target."
"Well, like I said, captain. I'm nowhere near being able to harness the shard's power to—"
"You don't need to harness its power." Craig interrupted, earning a perplexed glare from Sheldon. "If the shard's as strong as you claim, then all we'd need is its raw energy. A little shock from that bad boy should fry the Squee-G."
He informed, making Sheldon rub his chin. "I mean, that's totally possible. But it's still dangerous..."
"Y'know, I heard what you did," Craig suddenly said, causing Sheldon to perk up.
"What?"
"Back at Octo Canyon. Marie told me what you did," He clarified. "You helped her and Agent 4 save my granddaughter."
"Oh, that? That was nothing."
"Not to me, it wasn't." Craig turned to fully face Sheldon. "You went deep in enemy territory to help save my Callie. I've got no way of ever bein' able to repay you for that."
"Please, you make it sound like I actually did something. All I did was drive around..."
"Doesn't matter. You got in there and helped. But my point is, you've done dangerous before."
Sheldon shook his head. "That was different. I mean, of course I'd help the New Squidbeak Splatoon! I'd do anything for you guys. But, more importantly, I knew what dangers I was getting myself into then." Sheldon looked at the crystal shard. "But that... I've barely begun to scratch the surface of its power! Who knows what might happen if something goes wrong?!" He exclaimed, clearly worried about the underlying issues that could come with testing the crystal.
"You think wars are won through certainties, sonny? Well, they ain't! They're won through actions. And sometimes, actions come with risk."
"But this isn't war–"
"But it could be!" Craig raised his voice a bit. "That darn Octavio gets bolder and bolder with each passing month. The worst was stopped only because the Squidbeak Splatoon was there to stop it!" He shook his head. "Shell, this goes beyond just the octarians. The last crisis wasn't even them!" Craig shouted, making Sheldon jump. After realizing he was being a bit too aggressive, he calmed down.
"But, imagine this. Weaponry, machines, hostile AIs, all of it, deactivated with the click of a button! We wouldn't need to fight anymore. We'd truly be safe!" Craig wrapped an arm around Sheldon's shoulder and pointed his bamboo cane to the crystal. "That's what this power could do for us!"
"Or it could vaporize the entire planet."
"Oh, come on, you're one of the smartest lads I know! And besides, if that AI didn't destroy the planet with it, there's no way you could." Craig turned to Sheldon again. "Please, Sheldon. I'm begging ya here... I don't know what I'd do if I lost another one of my granddaughters again..." He pleaded, being met with silence.
Sheldon pondered what he should do. "Well... if I lower the energy output and make the shard emit a small shockwave, that alone should be enough to fry just the Squee-G's circuits..." Craig smiled, waiting for Sheldon to finish. The horseshoe crab let out a sigh. "Alright, alright. We'll do one test. I'm gonna put everything to its lowest setting, so if that doesn't work, we'll have to try again at a later date."
"Works for me." Craig cheered, happy he could convince Sheldon to do this for him.
The crab reluctantly walked over to the terminals and typed away, booting up the main system.
The room's lights dimmed significantly, causing Craig to move next to Sheldon. Tiny electrical sparks emitted from the shard, filling the area with static electricity. Then, the four robotic arms that propped the ball up spun. It went round and round and round, becoming so fast that they were just a blur to Craig.
"You might want to wear this." Sheldon handed him a welder's mask, which he graciously put on. They both then backed away as the shard did its stuff. The arms continued to spin around the glass ball, and everything seemed to be going well.
Then, the ball unexpectedly began vibrating. At first, it wasn't noticeable. But as the seconds ticked away, it became so violent that they could almost feel the vibrations, despite standing a reasonable distance away.
Those static whiffs of electricity turned into powerful sparks that streaked across the inside of the glass ball. The shard released these sparks in all directions, only to shake wildly, somehow vibrating worse than the ball itself.
Sheldon would flip a table over, allowing him and Craig to use it as a shield.
The next few moments would be adrenaline-inducing. Craig was waiting for something to happen, half-expecting the place to explode.
Suddenly, everything just... stopped.
Craig and Sheldon peeked from the table to see what was happening, nothing. The vibrations, sparks of electricity—It all ended abruptly.
The two remained silent as they stared at the shard.
After nothing had happened for a good while, Sheldon spoke up. "Well, that was anti-cli–" The shard emitted a white shockwave that rippled throughout the room and beyond, blowing him and Craig off their feet, despite being behind cover.
The two quickly scrambled to their feet to see the glass ball had cracked. Aside from that, nothing else happened. The computer terminals were still working, and the lights returned to their original brightness, indicating the process was done. Craig looked over to see the Squee-G had not only not been knocked around by the shockwave, but it was also still completely operational.
"Fish sticks," Craig mumbled, seeing that the EMP trick didn't work.
"Sorry, captain. I guess the shockwave wasn't strong enough..."
Craig didn't respond. He just stared at the Squee-G as it went about its business. He didn't believe the shockwave wasn't strong enough. It knocked them right off their feet, for cod's sake! The likely scenario was the shard had no EMP properties.
The revelation bummed Craig out. He thought he'd finally have one over the octarians once and for all, as well as any other would-be enemies.
Though, all wasn't bad. Even if they couldn't disable octarian weaponry, they could still apply the shard's power to something more... destructive.
After making himself content with the possible alternative, Craig turned to Sheldon. "Well, I guess that..." he trailed off, experiencing a weird tingling sensation throughout his body as his white, tentacled beard shuddered. Then his face dropped into a serious expression. Even his wide, bulging eyes seemed less goofy and more... concerned.
Sheldon noticed his sudden mood change. "Captain? What's wrong?" He asked nervously.
Craig looked around, scanning the room. "I... I don't know. But..." He stopped and looked up at the ceiling. "I feel a storm brewin'..."