Chapter Eighteen:
How I Became The Octo-Kitty
Atop the wall overlooking the Starfish Mainstage, Bruckner, wearing the symbiote suit, made sure to get as many photos as possible. Despite some of the pictures being unclear, no thanks to Enimagico's... special effects, the brash Inkling was able to get a clear shot of the villain before his defeat at the hands of the two Spider-Inklings.
"Oh, the boss is going to love the scoop." Bruckner said with a mad grin as he studied the clearest of pictures, then he spotted the catsuit-clad Octoling on the stage, "Maybe one more image would suffice..."
He licked his lips, and zoomed in on Octo-Kitty as she was holding up her whip while facing off against the Inkling in the black spider suit, making sure the angle was good enough...
...then he took the photo, with her face in the shot. And then, Bruckner zoomed in closer, and lowered the camera before taking another photo, with the shapely Octoling's cleavage on full display.
'Yummy.'
Once he got back to the Bulge, Bruckner dropped off a photo of Enimagico at Jameson's desk, along with the first image of Octo-Kitty. Natalie stood close by, giving the "smooth" Inkling photographer a light and flirty smile. Jameson studied the photos that were turned in, and nodded as he looked at each one.
"We'll use that one." He said, holding up the clear Enimagico image, "And as for the picture of his associate, we'll put this on file in case she becomes highly important later. Did you get any other photos?"
Bruckner turned over some of the other photos that showed the battle at the Mainstage with all the misty special effects going on, and Jameson looked over the pictures with comprehension.
"They're carp! This is carp, carp, mega carp." Jameson remarked, "300 sea coins."
"Two minutes to deadline, sir." A secretary told him.
"Grateful for the update, pal." The chief editor chuckled, "Right when I got the idea for the headline; 'Masked Menaces Partake In Mad Magician Antics!'"
"Spider-Squid and the other guy are not a menace!" Someone shouted.
Serlinka gasped, her eyes shut with a brief wince, as she struggled to break out of the web that bound her and kept her stuck to the alley wall, courtesy of Spider-Inkling. The black-clad super squid stared at her with white eyes, almost menacingly, and the attractive Octoling looked at him half-anxiously, wondering what the next move would be.
"Spiders usually eat their prey when it becomes trapped in their webbing." Spider-Inkling said to her, "But a spider can't eat octopi... or cats. This spider is just keeping you company until the authorities get here, my associate probably told the boys in blue about your involvement."
An uneasy Serlinka locked eyes with the web-slinging squid as he perched himself atop a closed dumpster. "You don't have to let me get sent off to jail..." The Octoling told him, "We... we could be partners..."
"Doing what exactly?" Spider-Inkling asked in a half-sarcastic manner, "I doubt you've heard of Agent 8."
"The Squidbeak Splatoon agent who defected from the Octarian army?" Serlinka giggled, "You must be very close associates with her, closer than I thought you two would be..." She gave her 'captor' a thoughtful smile, "I could go on about how we were friends in school back in Octo-Valley."
"You expect me to believe that you grew up in the same hometown as Agent 8 and were friends with her?" Spider-Inkling glared at the Octoling, "I know Agent 8... and she never told me about YOU!? Were you in the Octarian Army?!"
Serlinka closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. "If I told you that I served in the Octarian Army, what story would there be to tell...?" The Octoling said somberly, "Octo-Valley was already hell for me to live in, and serving the Octarian Army would've brought more pain to my life..."
"And what's your story, Octo-Kitty?" She heard him ask, and it was time to learn the truth, to know who Serlinka was, and what led her to this point in her life...
She walked alone through the dusty streets, shivering in the evening cold. It had been just another day at school, with nothing but algebra, language class, and history. And during recess, the girls who aspired to be soldiers in the Octarian Army had mocked Serlinka as she sat alone, studying her math, with one hitting her on the back of the head.
It hurt, terribly, and those girls were mean.
"Serlinka..."
She turned, seeing her friend, the pink-haired female Pacific Octoling who'd attended school with Serlinka. Actina caught up to the white-haired Octo, and hugged her, making Serlinka feel warm again on the inside.
"You won't stop being friends with me, just for not joining the Octarian Army, right?" Serlinka asked.
"Why would I abandon my friend?" Actina inquired, "But you have to learn how to fend for yourself, Serlinka. Most of the women in school take self-defense class, why aren't you taking those classes?"
"My mother didn't pay for them... We don't have enough money. What about you, Acti? Where are you going once you've graduated from school?"
A tear formed in Actina's eye and she wiped her nose in a sad manner. "They're recruiting me into the army..." She told Serlinka, "Octavio and his guards came and I was one of the handful selected to join as soon as our classes were over. I didn't want to join them, but the... the Inklings... and the Zapfish..."
Serlinka's heart was filled with dread, and she hugged Actina intensely. Graduation was months away, and the white-haired Octoling thought of the moment, when her friend would be sent off to join the army. And meanwhile, she would never see her again, but Serlinka hoped their friendship would remain as strong as possible.
"Well, well..." Someone hissed, "Good evening..."
Actina gasped and morphed into her octopus form, then she launched into the air, leaving Serlinka alone in the streets as she faced the ragged-clad brown Octoling male with cuffs in his hand.
"Care for some fun?" Ruff asked with a mad gleam in his eyes.
"G-Get away from me, Ruff..." Serlinka whimpered, "I don't want anything to do with you..."
In a flash, he was right behind her, with the first cuff around her wrist, and the aggressive stalker grabbed the defenseless Octo-girl by her shoulder. He caressed her slowly, and leaned over to lick Serlinka's neck. "But I like you..." Ruff whispered, "Don't you remember the fun times we had at your house, babe?"
His hands looped around, and Serlinka gasped as her ex-boyfriend groped her chest, causing her a sense of unease, before licking her neck again. Then, he dragged her into a nearby alley, and cuffed her to a pole, grabbed some rope and began tying up the helpless Octo.
"Please stop!" Serlinka whimpered, but her pleas were cut short as Ruff groped her once more, and kissed her upon the lips before the sound of shredding clothes filled the alley, followed by gasping...
Months passed, and Serlinka was alone, watching as her friends graduated. She didn't get much from her graduation, but all she had was her mother. She'd been kind to her for all those years, since the day Serlinka was born, even without her father. They lived in a poor area downtown in a dusty old house.
In the evening, Serlinka sat by her mother Drika's bed, holding her hand as she dabbed her mother's forehead with a cloth. Serlinka's mother had been sick with a fever for a long time, and their family didn't have enough money to get the medical treatment that Drika needed.
"Don't cry, Serlinka." Drika said to her daughter, seeing the tears in her eyes, "It doesn't help..."
She started coughing, and a hint of ink dripped onto the bed.
"MOM!" Serlinka hugged her ill mother, even as she kept coughing for a moment.
"Dear..." Drika said, "Open the chest in the closet..."
"What for?"
"I want you to have it, there might not be much time remaining. You've grown into such a big girl, a big beautiful Octoling like I was... and now that you're older, I believe it's time for you to take what is in the chest..."
She saw the weak smile on her mother's face, and Serlinka moved to the bedroom closet, finding the chest on the other side. Drika gave Serlinka the key, and she inserted it into the hole, then twisted it to unlock the casket. The shapely, lonely Octo opened the chest, finding a folded up white-dark catsuit inside, complete with a whip and a mask.
A curious Serlinka looked to her mother, and she held up the catsuit and the mask. The ill Octopus smiled weakly, with a tear in her eye and briefly coughed.
"I fashioned it myself..." Drika said to her, "And the whip was passed down from an old friend in the Octarian army, who was skilled at a special kind of interrogation. Do you remember those stories I told you, about the seductive cat octopus burglar, the Octo-Kitty?"
"Wh-what?" Serlinka asked with surprise.
"Yes, daughter..." Drika smiled with closed, tearful eyes, "I was Octo-Kitty, stealing Zapfish and jewels, using my charms on unsuspecting men in Octo-City and in Inkopolis. It was during one of my nightly prowls when I met your father, and he was such a dashing octopus in that army uniform. I fell in love with him, and seduced him from so many angles in that costume...
"After we were married, and before you were born into our lives, I gave up the mantle of Octo-Kitty and decided to let you take it up when you were older enough... even when your father vanished from our lives. You're the Octo-Kitty now, be strong as I was..."
"I don't know what to do without you, mom!" Serlinka hugged her weak and ill mother, "My ex-boyfriend asserts his dominance over me, tries to make me his again, and I never took up a proper defense class. I've been stalked, and treated as a pleasure toy by perverts in school and in the alleyways since... since..."
"Shh, shh, shh!" Her mother hugged the sad, helpless Octoling, "You'll find your way. Be brave and strong for me. Train as best you can, fight like a cat, wield the whip. Remember me, Serlinka. Your father wouldn't want you to be sad. Keep a brave, beautiful face, and use the family charm. You inherited my beauty, use it as a weapon... And remember I'll always love you, even when I'm gone."
'Be strong.'
Serlinka remembered her mother's last words of advice, just as she remembered every inch of sadness she felt the moment the former Octo-Kitty drew her final breath. She recalled burying her in the ground, saying her final farewells to her, accompanied by her old classmates and her aunt. And after the funeral, she began wearing the costume, and embarked as the Octo-Kitty.
Only a month after her mother's death, as she trained and set out on many evening prowls, her sultry charms finally emerged. At a lone bar, deep in Octo-City, Serlinka made her move as many Octarians and charming Octoling males gathered to drink and enjoy themselves.
For her first move, she'd knocked out the DJ, and set up a seductive music track that her mother once used when charming her father. As spotlights danced around the stage, as 'Can't Fight The Call' began playing, Serlinka stepped into the light with her eyes upon the crowd and made her way to the pole in the middle of the platform.
Full of confidence and energy, she unzipped the catsuit, just enough to expose her cleavage, and every Octarian was watching. Serlinka batted her eyes seductively, and grasped the pole, then she made her leap, and swirled around it as a white light beamed down upon the shapely Octoling. A whistle reached Serlinka's ears, telling her that she'd gotten someone's attention.
Now she was letting loose. She crouched and spun around the pole, twirling, and swinging her legs while twisting her body in many sultry manners. She stuck her tongue out, and made a seductive licking motion, letting her long dormant seductive energy out in one moment.
She danced and spun, maneuvering around the pole, dancing to the tune and keeping her eye on the crowd. Lights flickered, and a few Octarians fell out of their chairs as glasses shattered. An Octoling girl in full armor scoffed, and left the room, even as a male soldier began begging for her to come back.
'Liking what you're seeing, boys?' Serlinka thought.
And just then, loud record scratching filled the bar, and the music stopped. And then, it started back up again, but sounded different. Serlinka heard Inkling pop music, a duet of two Inkling singers, vocalizing a heavenly melody. The Calamari Inkantation resonated through the bar, and pink-green lights flashed across the walls.
Octarians buzzed with confusion, and Serlinka, listening to the song carefully, was among the first to let this tune sink into her mind. She found herself memorizing every lyric, and every note, and was struck with the desire for freedom, to go out into the world beyond... and see Inkopolis.
For so long, she'd been living in this land, with a fake sky, full of pain and despair. Perhaps the Inkling world was kinder, and she wondered if the Inkling boys were more nicer and more handsome than... Ruff's crowd.
Serlinka cut loose. She twirled around the pole once more, and brought out the whip, smacking an Octarian's tentacle off. Several Octos gasped, and the Octo-Kitty came down, attacking patrons with a catlike yowl. Many of these Octoling boys had taken advantage of her, when she refused to join the Octarian Army, and now, she could have her payback before heading to the world above...
