Splatoon 2: Lost In The Dark

3- Endangered Strangers

"Could it be? Has this heavenly melody been etched into your very soul?!"

Etched? Sounds magical.

"..."

And painful. Magically painful.

"........."

"I'll take your stunned silence as a YES! I've heard of octarians whose souls were etched by those squidtastic grooves..."

Squidtastic, "Hmph", that's not a word.

"But that was a couple years back, during Agent 3's battle with DJ Octavio. Still...I can't shake the feeling that this is related somehow."

That makes one of us. She sighed, whether Cap'n was right or not she couldn't feel the connection or any clues about her past for that matter.

"In any case sorry for siccing Agent 3 on you back there."

She attempted a small smile to say something like: "Don't worry, I already forgot about it."

Cap'n bobbed his head like he understood, or maybe that was just his arthritis.

"Any fan of the Squid Sisters is a friend of mine! I mean that with all of my hearts."

Friend. The word felt unfamiliar, yet filled her with a warmth that washed away the drafty underground air.

"Now dust yourself off and find your land legs. We need to get moving!"

Arms trembling, she pushed herself off the concrete while Cap'n struck a ridiculous pose.

"Let's find a way out of here!"

Good plan. She took in the dingy scene. Yellow tape littered the walls. Harsh light came from long, overhead fluorescent bulbs on thin wires. One hung lopsided, it's cut wire emitted sparks.

She tiptoed across a ramp onto a stagnant subway. Her steps echoed on the cold metal. Inside the subway graffiti littered the walls, like an abandoned message in a time capsule. She traced the paint. Where did the artists go? The subway lights flickered, plunging the train into momentary darkness. Nope, nope, nope, nope. She sprinted across the rest of the cars and slipped out onto the tracks. Up ahead a square of golden light lit up the exit.

Panting, she left the tracks. Turquoise ink bags hung from the walls of a brightly lit lab with white boxes stacked all over the floor. The concrete walls were either half-built or half demolished. Half built, hopefully. Don't want a cave-in from damaged interiors. She teetered from foot to foot debating on whether to wait or accept that the darkness ate Cap'n when the clunk of a cane on concrete pounded up the railway.

"What the devilfish is this place?" He crowed, "Proceed with caution."

Together they stumbled across a glass vault blocking the path.

"Hey--that's an Octarian vault! You need a key to open it. You know, being an Octarian and all, are you sure this place doesn't look familiar?"

She inspected the vault. Behind the glass, her reflection caught her eye. Four magenta tentacles. Two golden eyes. Octarian. Me. She pulled away from the glass, shuddering. I don't even know my own face, much less why this vaults here. She stumbled onto a pad that lit up with her ink color. Next to it, an inkline activated. Ooh. Immediately, she swam up the line, past a blockade, and onto another pad. This time glass walls enclosed her. Woah! Some sort of gun hung on the walls, she picked it up and the glass receded. She stepped forward then back on. Poof! The walls came back up. She swayed on and off, smiling as the walls jumped up every time she tried leaving with the weapon.