"Hi!" Luigi replied.
Dimentio elbowed him in the side.
"Who are you, what are doing here, and how did you get those Zapfish?" Dimentio questioned, still pointing his weapon at her.
"Dimentio, don't be rude!" Luigi exclaimed.
"It's fine, Agent, I can answer those." The Octoling replied, "My name is Dr. Drisy, though people call me Drip, I came here after being chased out of Cephalon HQ, and I stole the Zapfish from those lairs. I mean, they HAVE night-vision goggles! They'll be fine without 'em."
"OK, well... What are you doing with those Zapfish?" Dimentio asked, lowering his weapon.
"Trying to replicate the time machine I made." Drip stated.
Luigi paled.
"T-time machine?" Luigi questioned.
"Yeah! I made a fully operational one believe it or-" Drip paused, "Wait..."
She looked Luigi up and down and then a huge smile broke out onto her face.
"You're the human I brought back!" Drip exclaimed, "But I thought you escaped back into your timeline?"
"Human? Time machine? What is that Octoling talking about, 4?" Marie asked.
"N-nothing!" Luigi replied.
"I would like you to know that your clone was a COMPLETE success, by the way." Drip stated, "I saw that you already had another personality in your brain from previous hypnotism, so I just gave that personality the body."
Dimentio almost choked on words.
"Y-you made L come back?!" Dimentio exclaimed.
"Mr.L? Yeah. I was able to turn a human clone into an Octoling! It was a breakthrough!" Drip said cheerfully.
"YOU TURNED L INTO AN OCTARIAN?!?!" Dimentio screamed.
"An Octoling male specimen, and yes~! But do not worry, it could be returned to normal if wanted." Drip replied, "I made him with the hope of using his knowledge of the past to better our technology and progress, but General Octavio realized he could use him for revenge and carp so now here I am, kicked to the curb~!"
"What is Mr.L being used for?" Luigi asked.
"If I had to take a guess, probably gonna be used to kick your butts." Drip replied.
"Can you all please fill me in on what's happening over there?" Marie asked over the coms.
They all ignored her.
"Anyway. I know that the green one here goes by the name of Luigi, based on data from his memories, but what is your name?" Drip asked Dimentio.
"His name is Dimentio," Luigi stated.
"Dimentio, huh?" Drip mused.
Dimentio turned to Luigi.
"Why did you tell her my name?!" Dimentio exclaimed.
"Because if you did then I'm sure you would have done your whole introduction thing and we'd be here until dark," Luigi replied.
"But she's an Octarian!" Dimentio harshly whispered, "And she'd be able to figure out-"
Drip gasped and Dimentio paled.
"Luigi is the man in green, and if I remember my history right," Drip started, "You must be tha-"
Dimentio quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
"What is that Octoling talking about?!" Marie demanded.
Luigi sighed.
"We need to be honest," Luigi stated.
"What?! No!" Dimentio exclaimed, "I'm not revealing anything!"
"Then I am!" Luigi retorted, turning on his headset, "Marie, we haven't been completely honest either."
"Okay..." Marie replied.
"Dimentio and I aren't from here. We're from about 150,000 years in the past." Luigi stated.
There was a long pause.
"Why, Luigi?!" Dimentio hissed.
"But that would have to mean that..." Marie trailed off.
"Yeah... I'm actually a human and Dimentio is... Well, I don't know what Dimentio is, but he disguised both of us as Inklings and Octolings when we came to search for our friend." Luigi explained.
Another long pause.
"So..." Marie began to process aloud, "He's THE Dimentio... The Dimentio from the myth of the Chaos Heart... And you're the man in green from that same myth... He's ALIVE and the books clearly stated he was dead..."
"To be fair, he WAS dead before we came here..." Luigi murmured.
"You're working TOGETHER when you supposedly hated each other's guts, to find the evil brainwashed version of you that he actually KILLED..." Marie finished.
"...Yes..?" Luigi replied.
Another very long pause.
"I need some time to think..." Marie said flatly.
The line disconnected. Luigi let out a sigh.
"Can I talk now?" Drip asked through Dimentio's gloved hand.
Dimentio removed his hand from her mouth.
"Now. About my time machine." Drip started.
"We don't have time to worry about your machine! We need to worry about what Marie is going to do now!" Dimentio exclaimed.
"Ohhhhh man... She's gonna call the police on us!" Luigi panicked.
"Luigi, we ARE the police!" Dimentio stated.
Drip coughed, trying to get their attention.
"Yes?" Dimentio asked.
"What I was trying to say, is when you rescue your friend, you can turn him back into a human AND get back to your own time by using this time machine~!" Drip exclaimed, motioning to the heap of metal that was beginning to take shape.
"I could transport us all back just fine, thank you," Dimentio stated.
"Yes, but your timing is off. You can only select the year of your destination, not specifics like day or place." Drip elaborated, "So you could end up anywhere! You could end up safe and sound or..."
"Back in the Underwhere or Castle Bleck..." Dimentio finished.
Drip smirked.
"Fine. What do you need?" Dimentio asked.
"Really? We're gonna do what she asks?! We've been fighting Octarians all day!" Luigi exclaimed.
"If it's any consolation, I've heard the Inkantation." Drip stated.
"What is that supposed to mean..?" Luigi questioned.
"Oh, I remember, Marie said that Octarians that have heard the Inkantation aren't mind-controlled," Dimentio stated.
"Oh. I still don't know..." Luigi murmured.
"All you have to do is lend me some electricity and magic!" Drip exclaimed, "And I know you have both. Plus! I already took almost all of the Zapfish."
"How many do you have?" Luigi asked.
Drip took off her ink tank and emptied its contents onto the floor. Down dropped twelve Zapfish in total.
"All of the ones from Cephalon HQ and Slimeskin Garrison except for the Great Zapfish, the one in the boss kettle, and one more in Cephalon HQ." Drip stated, "I know how to manipulate the Octarians that haven't heard the Inkantation. Just play some music to sway them and they topple like dominoes!"
Dimentio chuckled at her simile.
"Nevermind, I like her." Dimentio laughed.
"O-okay!" Luigi replied, "If Dim trusts you then I'll trust you! You said that you need the Zapfish from the boss kettle?"
"Uh, huh. I already opened it too. But I'm no match for an Octoboss." Drip stated.
"Don't worry, it's my turn to go against the boss!" Luigi exclaimed.
"Turn?" Drip questioned.
"If you insist Luigi." Dimentio replied, ignoring Drip's comment, "Marie might not be on coms, but I shall be here."
Luigi nodded and super jumped off to the boss kettle.
-----------------
Marie's POV:
I can't believe that guy was a villain! Er- Is a villain!
I sat in Cuttlefish Cabin with the tape I recorded for his interrogation, replaying it to see if I missed something. The tape made funny noises as I replayed it again.
".....Okay, I think that this is good enough. But one more question."
"Hm?"
"Who was it you said you were searching for?"
".....Are you certain this recorder is a closed line?"
"Oh, yeah."
"Someone I love dearly... Mr.L. I-I miss him... *Sob* D-don't tell Luigi about this conversation, got it?!"
I clicked off the tape with a sigh.
"The lie detector said he was telling the truth... But he's a villain, right? Villains don't love people!" I exclaimed to myself, "But he's been helping get back all of the Zapfish PLUS search for Callie... And he REALLY seems to want this L guy back..."
A faint memory passed through my head. I remember from all of the history books and stuff that gramps told me and Callie, he and Octavio were friends before the Great Turf War. Up until now, I've been thinking that Octavio attacks because he just wants to be cruel. Maybe it's because deep down... he misses gramps?
Great, now I'm getting all philosophical, blech. Better apologize to 4 and 5. Agent 5 doesn't really seem that bad, right?