Chapter 12: Disappointment

"The Failure Twins."

"You must think you're something real special. Don't you?" Said Sal, pacing back and forth in front of the glass jar with his hands folded behind his back. His eyes were glaring directly at Marie.

He knew it'd take time for the terminal to be fixed and to hear from his children again. So, while he was waiting, he terrorized Marie and Inka for his own entertainment—or rather, attempted to.

Inka was still very much shaken by his mere appearance. But Marie was like a stalwart hero staring right back at the horror that was Sal, with an almost aggressive look in her eyes too.

Maybe it was because of their talks. Maybe it was because help was on the way. Or maybe Marie simply got used to Sal's presence. Whatever it was, the idol no longer harbored any visible fear toward him. In fact, she became a bit more defiant, which annoyed him.

"Well, you are. But not for the reasons you think." Sal clarified, only to suddenly bang on the jar with his fist.

The vibrations and sudden noise made Inka jump. Marie just smirked. "Oh, please. A paralarva could do a better job at intimidating than you."

Sal huffed, backing from the glass. "Coming from someone whose tentacles were trembling just a few hours ago, you sure talk big."

Marie moved her hands to her hips. "Why wouldn't I? It's only a matter of time before the others bust in here and kick your tailfin."

Sal chuckled, finding humor in her optimistic words. "With the Chrome Hog, they have no chance of winning. Especially with my kin using their gifted weapons." He smiled, certain the New Squidbeak Splatoon would crumble.

Marie eyed him for a few seconds. Her gaze slightly shifted to something behind him. A moment later, she grinned. "I wouldn't be so sure about that." Sal's orange brows furrowed in confusion.

"Father..." He suddenly heard Masu's voice, but it wasn't coming from the radio this time.

Sal looked over his shoulder, only to see the Steel Twins looking up at him. "Wha– Huh?!" He spun around, baffled by their abrupt appearance. "What are you two doing here?" His sharp gaze pierced their souls as he questioned them with intensity. They looked down, and his face dropped. "Say it isn't so..." He growled, causing Masu to shiver.

"T-the Chrome Hog was destroyed. And the pilots w-were slain. There was nothing we could do..." she stuttered, unable to maintain eye contact with her father.

"Tell me then. Even with your weapons and the aid of the salmon rangers, how did you manage to fail yet again this time?" Sal crossed his arms, awaiting an explanation.

One never came, as Masu was too scared to speak out loud. Instead, she mumbled quietly to herself.

Huchen looked between the two and, for the first time since Inka had known the twins,—despite this being the first time she's laid eyes on them,—he spoke. "I apologize for our failure, father. But the human and—"

"All of the squidbeaks were too much!" Masu interrupted with wide eyes, catching Huchen off-guard. "They fought fiercely and were every bit as difficult as you said they'd be. Even with our full might, they destroyed the Chrome Hog and killed the salmon rangers. The best we could do was greatly weaken them." She explained swiftly, doing a one-eighty from her initially silent and meek demeanor. Huchen did not interject once.

"It is a pity that this is the best your years' worth of training can accomplish. I expected better from you," Sal said in disappointment; in response, Masu looked down. Though part of her face was obscured, Inka could see she looked depressed.

"Well, I know you didn't come all the way here just to tell me you lost for a third time in a row. So, what is it?"

Masu muttered something before speaking up. "W-we lost the radio."

Sal sighed. "Great." He turned to Clod, who had been hard at work on the terminal the whole time. "Before I get any more bad news, please tell me you're almost done."

Clod turned his head toward Sal. "The terminal should be up and running within the next hour and a half, lord."

Sal raised a brow. "Should?"

"A-apologies. It will be up and running."

"That's more like it." Sal turned away and grumbled. "But it won't matter if Akikta ends up dead."

He had a priority to clone Marie,—but his ultimate goal hinged on Akikta's survival. And he knew the mammal didn't have much time left.

His eyes closed. Inka expected Sal to hurl into a fit of rage at any moment, but instead, he let a heavy sigh escape between his black lips. This was odd. Sal usually threw tantrums and shouted when things didn't go his way. But now he just seemed... tired. He stayed like that for a long minute.

Inka was the first to notice Sal's eyes gradually opening; then his face morphed into one of realization. "Masu, you said you greatly weakened the New Squidbeak Splatoon agents, right?"

"Y-yes, father. That is correct."

"And on a scale from one to ten, how badly would you say they're injured?"

"E-eight."

Sal held his chin, only for a devious grin to grow across his face. "Well, I guess that's settled then." He pointed to the twins. "You two, stay here. Maybe guard duty will keep you from further embarrassing me," he said harshly.

"I'm gonna go get my pans." He stated, hopping on Clod's hovering platform. "I'm gonna borrow this too. You don't mind, right Clod? Ah, what am I saying? Of course, you don't." Clod didn't seem to mind. Or rather, he was too shocked at Sal's previous sentence to care about his hovercraft.

Meanwhile, a concerned look washed over Masu's face. "Father, your pans? But you haven't used those since your rule began. Why get them now...?"

Sal chuckled as the UFO rose. "Well, it's like I always say." He stopped laughing, and his face took on a serious expression. "If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself."

Before anyone could object, the platform zoomed out of the cloning chamber, leaving everyone in a quiet daze.

The silence remained for a few moments longer, only for it to be broken by Huchen. "I don't think it was wise to lie to father."

Masu snapped her head in his direction. "What? You want to tell him the truth? And what exactly do you think he'd do if he learned we were bested by two squidbeaks, one lowly exile, and the human, who might I remind you, is practically on his deathbed?!" Huchen didn't respond. He simply looked away.

"Wait, you didn't weaken those agents?" Questioned Clod.

Masu continued facing her brother, crossing her arms with a huff. "No... not all of them, anyway."

"So, in other words, Lord Sake is running right into the beaks of those tentacled freaks..." The revelation caused Marie to smile wide, same as Clod. "What a delightful..." He paused after seeing Masu and Huchen hone their gazes on him. "...ly bad outcome." He awkwardly finished.

It was clearly not what he wanted to say, but the twins accepted his response.

A few seconds later, a small group of salmonids ran into the cloning chamber, entering from a different entrance than the one Sal left through.

"L-Lord Sake!" The lead chum called out in a panicked tone. Clod and the twins turned to face the group.

"Father has departed from this area. What is it you need?" Masu asked, though her tone showed little concern for the frightened salmonids.

"It's bad! There's a ravenous monster in the lower levels!"

Masu tilted her head and raised a brow. "Ravenous monster? You're not making any sense. We and the exiles fully occupy Atlantis. No other creatures, aside from the squidbeaks and that human, are here..."

The first chum shook his head frantically. "W-wrong! We saw it!"

Masu raised her brow further, giving off the impression that she felt this was all a big joke. One she found zero amusement in. "Really now? And what exactly did this ravenous monster look like?"

Another chum jumped in front of the first one. "Its skin was as dark as the deepest depths of the sea! Their eyes as white as our great moon! And their form... it... it wasn't solid!" Masu couldn't see it, but Clod's expression immediately changed to one of concern upon hearing this monster's description.

"I've never heard of such a creature," Masu stated plainly, clearly not believing their story.

"Neither have we. But it exists. We've seen it! We must alert Lord Sake this instant!"

"We will not alert Father over make-believe beasts."

"But Lady Masu, this abomination is not make-believe!" Another chum hollered.

"If you're so worried about this supposed beast, then have a king deal with it."

"It ate a Megalodontia!" The whole group shouted. Masu and Clod's faces dropped in disbelief. Even Huchen's laid-back posture stiffened out of shock.

For salmonids, being eaten was a natural part of life. So much so, they considered getting eaten by another sapient being to be a great honor. However, the way these chums spoke of the feat... Well, to put it simply, whatever happened to the king salmonid, there was no honor in its death.

"It... ate a Megalodontia?" Masu repeated, still in shock.

"Yes! And it's making its way to the upper levels! We must warn Lord Sake immediately!"

Masu gently pushed Huchen out of the way, getting up in the first chum's face. "Stop trying to scare us! If you think a lie as blatant as that will—"

"Lady Masu," Clod called, gaining her attention. His face was oddly serious. "I don't think they're lying..."

Masu's pupils slightly shrunk, as if registering the possibility there was a beast who could single-handedly defeat one of their king salmonids.

The most capable mollusks on the planet happened to be the cephalopods. They proved superior to salmonids in many ways. However, even their formidable species took groups of specially trained warriors to defeat just one of their kings. The thought that a single entity was strong enough to kill a king on its own was frightening. Plus, kings never fought alone. But it seemed like these chums were the last survivors of whatever attacked them.

"W-what are you saying?" Masu said, fear prevalent in her voice. Clod moved in closer to the group, and their speech became low.

From then on, the conversation was too quiet for Inka to hear. Not that it mattered, since she had an idea of what they were talking about. Judging by Marie's worried expression, she did, too.

They didn't have time to linger on the topic though, as something else grabbed their attention.

A light tapping noise jolted Marie and Inka, making them turn. On the other side of the glass was a chum—No, wait, it was a snatcher. The purplish hair and spotted snout indicated so.

The salmonid looked more nervous seeing Marie and Inka than they did seeing it. "Be extremely quiet. I've come to help..." The snatcher said in a hushed voice, baffling the two inklings.

Marie wasn't so quick to trust him. "Like shell you did!" The way she said it made it seem like she was loud, but in reality, her voice was quieter than his.

"I-I know this is sudden, but believe me, I am on your side. My brother requested I extract you from here as soon as possible and escort you back to your people. With the usurper gone, there is no better chance."

The situation was mythical. One moment, they're stuck sitting in a glass jar while Clod gradually works his magic to fix a machine which will undoubtedly result in Marie and Inka's death when it was all over. And the next, a salmonid claims to be coming to free them.

The snatcher certainly wasn't the type of help Inka was expecting, but she also wouldn't complain. Marie, on the other hand, had a different outlook.

Before she could voice her opinion, Inka mouthed off. "Wait, Marie. Think about it. This could be our ticket out of here."

Marie looked at her, dumbfounded. "Are you crazy?"

Inka had to shush Marie as her voice involuntarily raised a few decibels.

"I'm just as confused as you are. But Sal is out of the picture right now. If what this salmonid says is true, he can take us to the others before Sal reaches them!" she reasoned.

"Inka, you're smart. So think about this, please! His brother, who we don't even know, requested to drag us back to the others. Do you really think salmonids would work with other inklings and octolings?"

"Little Buddy does..."

"He's an entirely different story! Besides, what are the odds of that actually being the case anyway?"

Inka gulped hard, thinking about the odds of how likely this snatcher's story was true. Which wasn't very likely at all. Then again... "What were the odds of a human still being alive today?"

Marie understood what she was hinting at and glared at the snatcher. She lowered her voice further to where only Inka could hear. "And what if he's lying and just trying to take us for himself?"

Inka gave the snatcher a long look. He lightly trembled in response to the stare. His eyes showed a nervous expression as he frantically looked between the jar and the group, who were conversing some feet away. His stance reminded Inka of how she used to be. Actually, she might still be that way right now.

"Compared to the salmonids I've seen so far, he doesn't seem so... malicious. Besides, even if he is lying, there are two of us." She stated, believing they'd be able to handle the snatcher no problem, should the need arise.

Marie continued to give the snatcher a stern look before clicking her tongue. "I hope you're right about this." She relented with a sigh, turning to the snatcher. "Alright, we'll go along with you."

The snatcher nodded at her confirmation. "O-ok. We must be quick."

Inka hadn't realized it, but the snatcher was still in his copter. He used it to fly up to the top of the jar as the propellers somehow made zero noise. "I-I'm gonna release you now. When I do, please climb into the copter with me. D-don't bite."

"I won't make any promises." Said Marie, with a vicious glint in her eyes. Inka couldn't tell if she was joking or not. The snatcher couldn't either, evident by his shudder. Luckily, it didn't change his mind on releasing the two.

He twisted the top of the jar as gently as he possibly could to make as little noise as possible. When he was done, he set the lid down near the jar. Afterward, the snatcher hovered nearby as the squids crawled out from their glass prison.

"H-hurry before they look over." The snatcher urged them to be quicker. Inka and Marie tried their best, but considering how small the copter was, being quick wasn't exactly an option.

They did manage to fit into the copter, eventually. Unfortunately—"HEY!"—Masu boomed. They were spotted.

Without wasting a moment, the snatcher jerked the copter upward, and they began flying away.

Without Clod's UFO or other snatchers around, Masu and the rest of them wouldn't be able to pursue. Inka smiled at that realization. We're home-free! she celebrated, perhaps a bit too soon.

Before the snatcher escaped through one of the various entrances, Masu shot them down with concentrated ink that blasted from the stinger mask, partially covering her face.

The snatcher was somehow able to sense the attack and dodge a direct hit. However, the stream of pressurized ink still nailed the propeller mechanism. They wouldn't go down immediately, but they would go down.

The snatcher focused on getting as far away from the other salmonids as possible before they became grounded.