2 YEARS AGO
Thunder crashed and lightning flashed as the Inkling boy sprinted towards the condo in the cold rain, his orange rain poncho slipping slightly. His hands fumbled for the front door's keys, and he dropped them. Grumbling, he carefully picked them up off of the wet welcome mat and unlocked the front door with his right hand. The boy darted in, quietly closing the creaky front door. He threw off his wet rain poncho and made for the stairs to his room. He was just a couple of steps up when-
"Derek." The boy froze at the sound of his name and turned around to face his older brother Kevin and his orange Buzz-Cut styled tentacles (or lack thereof considering the hairstyle).
"Kevin," 13-year-old Derek Cephan Jr. said with a gulp. He stepped off of the stairs, trembling slightly. "I, uh, thought you would've been asleep by now."
"You're late," Kevin said in an upset tone, arms crossed. He took a few steps towards his younger brother.
"I was out practicing, just like you wanted me to, and I lost track of time-"
"That's no excuse." Kevin narrowed his tan-colored eyes. "You were to be back two hours ago."
"I'm sorry, I won't be late next time." There was clear fear in Derek's green eyes.
"Make sure you're not," Kevin snapped. "Have you mastered your swim form yet?"
"N-no, but I'm sure I'll have it after I turn 14," Derek said nervously. Kevin shook his head in dismay.
"That's no excuse!" he exclaimed. "I need you to have it mastered now."
"I'm only 13, I wouldn't be allowed in Turf Wars anyways-"
"That doesn't matter!" Kevin yelled. Derek recoiled back a bit. "I can't be a top Ranked Battle player without teammates!"
"Look, what's wrong with just waiting another year-"
"I refuse to wait longer to achieve my life goal," Kevin said in an aggressive tone, his eyes lighting on fire. "That man we called 'Dad' for years has prevented me from fulfilling my destiny, and I will not let you - you who shares his name - to stand in my way." He walked up to Derek, tugging on the boy's long tentacles roughly before turning away. "And we're cutting your hair. It looks stupid when it's long." Derek grabbed his hurting tentacles, seething after his brother who was now a few feet away from him.
"You only treat me this way because you see me as Dad!" Derek blurted out angrily, turning to head upstairs to his room. Kevin whipped around with an enraged expression, his hair glowing. It's unclear what happened next. Kevin would claim it was a horrible accident caused by a misunderstanding. Derek would never speak of the event when asked about it. But residents who lived in the neighboring condos would later report hearing a scream, but the rain prevented them from investigating further. Windows in the neighboring condos lit up briefly before going dark again. And within Kevin's condo, Derek lay in the fetal position on the stairs near the top of the staircase, gripping his right forearm with agonized breathing. Kevin's shadow loomed over him, and the older Inkling's hair stopped glowing.
"You're right. I do treat you this way because you're just like him. Go to your room, and don't you ever talk back to me again." Kevin started back down the stairs. Derek crawled up the remaining stairs like a wounded animal.
"My arm," he said a voice strained with agony. "It won't stop hurting."
"Deal with it," Kevin snapped, reaching the bottom of the stairs.
"I think I need to go to the hospital."
"We'll go in the morning when it stops raining. Go to your room."
"Kevin-"
"Go to your room! I will not say it again!" Derek hauled himself into his room and onto his bed. He lay there in tears, helplessly clutching his injured arm as thunder crashed and lightning flashed.
PRESENT DAY
"Jewel, c'mon, you've been in there forever!" The sound of Autumn's voice pestering Jewel from outside the the light blue Inkling's bedroom slowly stirred Derek from his sleep.
"Hold on, I'll be done in just a minute!" came Jewel's voice from within her room.
"They're reopening Turf Wars today, hurry!" Autumn pleaded. Derek sat up, rubbing his left eye. The prior day, Jewel had kicked his face in a fit of irrational rage. It no longer hurt, the emotional scarring was still there. The two Inklings hadn't spoken since the incident. There wasn't anything more to be said in Derek's opinion. He knew Jewel felt bad, and that he shouldn't hold it against her. It was in everyone's best interest that no grudges should be held regardless of what happened, right?
"Autumn, keep it down! We don't want to wake Derek."
"It's fine," Derek called sleepily from his bed as he slipped on his Zombie Hi-Horses. "I'm awake now." He reached for his Satin Zapfish Jacket and put it on before reaching for his ponytail holder- Wait, where was it? Derek looked on, around, and underneath the nightstand where he always kept it next to Sushi, his plush shark keychain.
No, no, no! he thought anxiously. I need that! "Hey, has anyone seen my ponytail holder?"
"No, I haven't seen it since you were wearing it last night," replied Autumn. "Jewel can give an answer WHEN SHE COMES OUT OF HER ROOM!" She banged on the door even louder. Jewel poked her head out with an annoyed expression.
"Look, prepping the Power Boots takes time, okay?" she said.
"Why don't you just wear your Cyan Trainers?" Derek asked.
"They don't look good with the dress."
"You wear robot shoes with that dress!"
"Don't you have another shirt you can wear?" Autumn asked.
"Well, I guess I do have my White 8-Bit FishFry shirt," Jewel said thoughtfully, going back into her room before coming out shortly with new shoes, a new shirt, and her same old hat.
"Huh, you do have regular clothes," Autumn said.
"What?" Jewel asked with a baffled look.
"What?" Autumn quickly said. Derek rolled his eyes at the girls' banter as he continued looking for his ponytail holder.
"Derek, come on," Jewel urged as she grabbed her .52 Gal Deco.
"I can't find my ponytail holder anywhere," Derek said mournfully.
"Dude, you look fine with your hair down."
"It's not that, it's-"
"No one's going to think badly of you. Lots of guys have long hair."
"It really isn't that, it's-"
"GUYS, COME ON, THEY'RE ABOUT TO OPEN THE LOBBY!!" Autumn exclaimed impatiently, bouncing up and down on her toes with her Dualies in her hands as she pointed at the apartment's door. Jewel ran to join her and Derek groaned, putting on his Designer Headphones and grabbing his Inkbrush Nouveau before joining the girls.
"TURF WAR IS BACK AND IT'S WAY BETTER THAN EVER, BABY!" Pearl exclaimed on the news as the big screen in the Square played the news.
"It actually was never changed to begin with-" Marina said.
"ITS CLOSURE WAS EARTH-SHATTERING!"
"Literally, because there was an earthquake-"
"But now it's back! Inklings everywhere rejoice!" There were multiple cheers in the Square from the crowd of gathered Inklings. Jewel, Autumn, and Derek merged with the crowd as a couple of security officers stepped out of the lobby.
"Listen to all of those excited cheers, Pearl!" Marina said, looking out the window.
"Oh man, I wish we could get out there and do battle ourselves!" Pearl said, getting out of her chair and pressing her face against the glass. "Buuuut we got stages to announce!" Pearl jumped back into her chair. "Hit us with the first stages of the day, Marina!" Marina spun her records on her turntable, revealing Starfish Mainstage, The Reef, and Musselforge Fitness. There were cheers from everyone in the crowd outside, even those who hated these stages because they were so desperate for Turf Wars to happen again.
"Alright everyone, those are our first stages!" Pearl said.
"Remember to respect all rules of Turf War and just have fun!" Marina added. Eager Inklings began to crowd around the entrance.
"Form a line, form a line!" ordered one of the security officers. Derek took a deep breath as he moved forwards with the crowd. He could do this.
"Hey, real quick," Jewel began as they walked inside the lobby, "I just wanted to apolo-" Multiple Inklings pushed in between them, and Jewel got separated from Derek and Autumn. "I'll just tell you later!" she called from the crowd.
"Well, where are we headed?" Autumn asked as Derek checked his phone.
"How about The Reef?" Derek suggested, pointing at his phone. "It's where we taught you basic Turf War knowledge."
"Yeah, that sounds good."
It was looking like a good day for a Turf War at The Reef. Autumn and Derek were on the same team, Team Alpha, which was orange. On the other side of the map was the green Team Bravo, which included the familiar face of Angela and her famous Sun Visor. Derek sighed. He didn't feel the same without his hair up. It was like a comfort to him. It was like-
"Hey, Headphones, focus!" snapped one of his teammates. "The match has started!"
"Huh? Oh!" Derek immediately touched his brush's tip to the ground and began sprinting. I can't believe I did that... he thought embarrassedly with a grimace. The Turf War went as one normally did, with Inklings inking and splatting each other. Considering Autumn hadn't had much experience with Turf Wars, she was doing surprisingly well. Derek, on the other hand, was extremely out of focus, and his tentacles flying around threw him off every time they came into his line of sight, making him think there was an enemy nearby. It was roughly around the last minute that things took a stressful turn. One of the Team Alpha players had finally charged up their special enough and activated it on The Reef's bridge. A Tacticooler popped up, and instinctively everyone went to it. Derek frowned at the extremely sugary flavor but still drank it down anyways before setting up a double Ink Mine trap at the Team Alpha end of the bridge. All four drinks were consumed, and Team Alpha had Angela and a Team Bravo player surrounded on the bridge. It didn't look good for Angela and her teammate when suddenly-
"Oumphf," Autumn moaned, grabbing her stomach sickly. "I forgot Tacticooler drinks don't agree with me."
"Oh shoot, are you okay?" Angela asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'll be-" Autumn gagged and covered her mouth with her other hand with a sick expression. "Nope, never mind. Just splat me."
"Are you sure?" asked Angela's teammate with genuine concern.
"Cod, now I feel bad, I had no idea," said the Team Alpha teammate who had activated it.
"It's fine, it's my fault. I forgot," Autumn reassured him, falling over weakly. She suddenly poofed out of existence.
"Ah, carp, a disconnection," the other Team Alpha member groaned. "We're going to lose now for sure." Derek sighed.
"She was doing so well too," he said. Angela whispered in her teammate's ear and then whistled for her other two teammates, who were busy covering turf.
"Hey, guys! Squid party!" Angela and her teammate immediately started switching between their squid and human forms. Derek's two remaining teammates and the rest of Team Bravo joined in. Derek looked tiredly at the blooping squids with a sigh and turned to walk back to his team's side of the map to clean up any green on their orange turf.
"Come on, Headphones! Join us!" called one of his teammates, followed by a chorus of "Yeah!" from the other Inklings.
"I don't feel like it today," Derek admitted with a downcast expression. Today was not going as he'd hoped.
"BOOOOOO!" the chorus of voices yelled at him.
"Look, I've not had a great start to the day and so far the rest of my day isn't going well either," explained Derek, continuing to walk over the bridge. The chorus booed him again.
"Aw, you're no fun!"
"Killjoy!"
"Squid partypooper!"
"Look, I don't do squid parties, okay?" Derek snapped, walking backwards. He felt something click under his foot, and realized as he looked down that he was one the Ink Mines he had laid down earlier. The squidbagging mess slowly blooped towards him. "WAIT DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" It was too late. One of the Team Bravo members triggered the Ink Mines by getting too close, and the entirety of the green team was wiped out right as the match ended. Derek facepalmed with a loud groan as his teammates glared at him for ruining their squid party with his Turf War tactics.
Autumn was waiting for Derek at Sheldon's shop when the exhausted orange boy entered, with Angela tagging along.
"If I had known that they were going to make fun of you for not joining, I wouldn't have suggested the squid party in the first place," Angela said sadly. "It's my fault."
"No, you were just trying to help lighten the mood," Derek replied, albeit with a note of disappointment. "You can't blame yourself for that."
"What happened?" Sheldon asked from behind his front counter, which he was currently trying to repair.
"Long story short, Autumn got sick from a Tacticooler and couldn't continue, Angela suggested a squid party for the last few moments, everyone partied into a couple of Ink Mines I set up prior to the Tacticooler, and now everyone but Angela is upset with me for both the Ink Mines and not partying with them, including my own teammates even though we ended up winning...somehow," explained Derek. He watched as Sheldon carefully placed a glue-covered glass piece into place on the counter with absolute precision. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"Fixing my counter," replied the horseshoe crab. "There. Good as new." The glass on the front counter promptly shattered into an even bigger mess than it had the night before. "You know what, I'll just call a repair jellyfish."
"Oh yeah," Angela began. "I meant to come in yesterday but I had to go out of town for a last minute family gathering. Wanted to bring in my Flingza Roller for a check-up." Avoiding the glass, she handed Sheldon her Roller.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Nothing really, it just never hurts to get it looked at."
"I'll take a look at it later today," Sheldon said as Jewel walked in. "Good morning. Would've thought you were still battling."
"I was," Jewel said as she set her .52 Gal Deco down. "But I got a text from Age-" She noticed Angela in the room and stopped herself short. "Oh hey, what's up?"
"Oh hey," greeted Angela. "I was just about to head out." As she headed for the door, she added to Sheldon, "I'll actually be back later to try out a couple of new weapons, but I don't expect the Roller to be ready so no rush. Always good to vary your battling style every now and then." Jewel waited for Angela to leave before continuing.
"Agent 2 texted," she said in a somewhat low voice. "Something's happening down at Octo Canyon, and she needs us now."
"I can't go there without my ponytail holder," Derek said, making a fist and pounding it on the seating area table. "I was constantly getting distracted by my hair during the Turf War, and I can't have it distract me during something that could be high stakes." Sheldon took Derek's headphones off of his head and sloppily put up the Inkling's hair in a hair-tie.
"There," he said as Derek adjusted it uncomfortably. "Good as new."
"Um, th-thank you?" Derek said with a slightly confused voice. Sheldon had done it so fast he didn't know what exactly had happened.
"Now go out there and kick some enemy tentacle!" Sheldon said in a supportive tone.
Callie, Marie, and Cuttlefish were sitting around a campfire waiting for the agents when they arrived. The Squid Sisters were wearing a black and yellow outfit and a white and yellow outfit respectively, but their tentacles were still their usual colors. Cuttlefish meanwhile was wearing his old hat and his tropical shirt.
"What's happening?" Jewel asked. Marie wordlessly lifted her parasol up and revealed a shivering Inkling girl, who was sitting behind it. The kids' jaws dropped.
"WHAT?!" all three agents exclaimed.
"I have SO MANY questions," Autumn said, holding the sides of her head in disbelief. The girl waved shyly.
"Hi," she said quietly. "I'm Morgan."
"We found her hiding out in the canyon," Marie explained.
"I escaped from the Octarians' prison," Morgan added. "There were a bunch of Octolings chasing me. They could still be out there." She wrapped her arms around her knees and shivered again. "I- I can't go back there, it was awful!"
"We'll keep you safe, squiddo," promised Cuttlefish. Just then, an alarm went off.
"That's a proximity alarm!" Callie gasped.
"Are they here?" Derek asked.
"Oh no, they're coming for me!" Morgan cried, putting her head in her hands.
"Don't worry," Marie said, putting a hand on the scared Inkling's shoulder. "We're not going to let them hurt you. I promise."
Meanwhile, not too far from the Cuttlefish Cabin, Monica, Alecs, and Kimberly stood around, impatiently waiting.
"Ugh, why are we waiting?" Kimberly moaned, throwing her head back. "We should just go home."
"We can't, that's not the plan," Monica replied. "The plan is to wait until we see the agents and engage battle with them."
"And get our tentacles handed to them," Alecs added with a sigh. Monica also sighed.
"Yeah... Starting to think this plan was just to humiliate us in front of a bigger audience."
"Tch, Kelly isn't even here like she said she was," Kimberly said with an annoyed voice.
"Making promises and not keeping them," Alecs scoffed. "She needs to go jump in the ink lake at the bottom of the canyon."
"I need to what now?" came a voice from behind them, and the three Octolings jumped in fright. Kelly and six of her Octoling underlings walked up to the trio. "Sorry we're late. We needed to make sure we were ready."
"And are you?" asked Monica. Kelly smirked.
"The plan is already in motion."
The whole of the New Squidbeak Splatoon and Morgan carefully ventured a distance away from the camp, where they spotted the gathered Octolings.
"Looks like Monica brought some friends," Jewel said in a low voice as the Inklings hid behind a rock pile.
"They're after me," Morgan whispered fearfully.
"We're not going to let anything happen to you, Morgan," Marie reiterated.
"What's the plan?" Derek asked.
"Charge right in! YAAAAAAAAAAH!" Callie leapt out from behind the rocks with her Roller.
"Agent 1, wait!" Cuttlefish exclaimed.
"Welp, we're going with this plan," Marie said with a sigh, and everyone except the Captain and Morgan jumped over the rocks towards the Octolings. Callie stopped a few yards from where the Octolings were.
"Prepare to meet your doom, trespassers!" she exclaimed as Monica and the other Octolings looked her way.
"I see you brought some friends, Monica," added Jewel as she and the other agents caught up with Callie. Each Inkling stood ready to fight.
"Actually," came a voice as an indigo Octoling with a ponytail stepped into view, "they're my friends." She smiled as her purple eyes settled on the New Squidbeak Splatoon. "You may call me Kelly."
"Who are you?" Autumn demanded. Kelly narrowed her eyes in annoyance. She looked back at Monica.
"I understand why you hate them now."
"THANK YOU!" Monica exclaimed as if her struggles against the agents had finally been vindicated. Kelly turned back to the agents.
"I literally just said my name was-"
"We don't care!" Jewel exclaimed, firing ink at her. The Octoling nimbly dodge-rolled out of the way, holding up her Dualie Squelchers.
"That's a declaration of war if I've ever seen one!" Kelly declared, turning from indigo to magenta. She pointed a Dualie at the agents. "Everyone, attack!"
"Agent 3, we're going to have a little talk later about not starting fights," Marie said as the Inklings turned yellow and began ducking and dodging Octoling ink.
"Look, I'm sorry," Jewel half-apologized. "They were probably going to attack us anyways."
"Well, now we're at a disadvantage," growled Derek as he ducked a shot. "It's five against ten!"
"I'M NOT READY FOR THIS!!" shrieked Autumn as she barely dodged simultaneous charged ink attacks from Monica and Alecs's Splatanas. Callie jumped over Autumn and slammed her Roller down right in front of the two Octolings, sending them flying backwards.
"Kelly!" Monica yelled over her shoulder in an almost strained voice. Kelly dodge-rolled into the fray.
"I got this," she said with a very confident tone as she laid eyes on Derek. The Octoling rushed over to the Inkling, startling him with a battle cry. Derek yelped in panic and dove out of the Octoling's way. Kelly skidded to a stop, Dualies held up by her head. She stared him directly in his eyes.
"So," Derek began as he stood up and dusted himself off, "you're the leader here? What, did Monica fall off or something?"
"HEY!" yelled the red-eyed Octoling from the other side of the battlefield, making a fist at him. Jewel promptly tackled her to the ground. The Inkling and the Octoling began pulling on each other's tentacles as they fought, and Derek and Kelly focused back on each other.
"Let's just say she needed a little help," Kelly replied. "And when help is asked of me, I tend to...take over. Also I technically outrank her." She took a step towards Derek, who took a step back. "So which agent are you? Not sure I can ever keep your numbers straight. Was it 3? Couldn't have been 4..." Kelly made a thoughtful pose, looking up at the sky and pacing in a small circle.
"I'm-"
"Oh, that's right." Kelly stopped pacing and put her hands together, smugly smiling at Derek with narrowed purple eyes that pierced his very being. "You're Agent 5. The left-handed one. The one who almost died because he couldn't fire his weapon at the enemy and had to get his tentacles saved by the old Agent 4." Derek was silent. "That's right. There were witnesses to that. I feel assured that, even if I was at your mercy, you wouldn't have the heart to splat me. You wouldn't even have the heart to harm me in any way." Derek made a tight fist. "In fact, you'd probably even let me go." Kelly shrugged with a smirk. Derek ran at her with a yell, swinging at her. Kelly dodged nimbly before running at a nearby tall rock. She ran a few steps up the rock ninja-style before launching off, doing a graceful backflip in the air. Derek was so entranced by her movement he didn't catch her angling towards him until it was too late. Kelly's boots slammed into Derek's stomach, launching him backwards several feet. Derek shakily stood up and felt Kelly's arm wrap around his neck in almost a chokehold.
She wanted me to react that way so she could do this, Derek realized with a sick feeling as he grabbed her arm, but was too weak to fight back. Ohhhhh. Kelly angled her boot in such a way that she was able to get it under Derek's Hero Shot and kick it up in the air, catching it in her free hand. She clicked the switch on the weapon changing it to Kill Mode. The weapon's ink color went from Derek's current yellow color to the ominous red. The Octoling pointed it at Derek.
"Nononononono-" Derek's panicked cry was cut off as Kelly then pointed it in the air and fired a single shot.
BANG!
The fighting among the others immediately stopped, and all eyes landed on the Octoling and her Inkling captive. Kelly pressed the switch again, and the weapon went from red to Kelly's current magenta color.
"You chicken," she teased Derek quietly. "You're more valuable to me alive than dead. Observe." Kelly looked at the New Squidbeak Splatoon. "You will hand over that Inkling, or else this one comes with us in return." Marie pointed her Charger at Kelly.
"Not on my watch," said the gray and yellow Inkling. Kelly pointed the Hero Shot at her and pressed the switch, changing it to Kill Mode.
"You're at a disadvantage here," Kelly said. Marie reluctantly lowered her Charger, and Kelly lowered the Hero Shot after switching it back to Splat Mode. "Now, drop your weapons and hand over the Inkling. All we want is her, none of you for once." Marie dropped her Charger, and Callie and Autumn followed her example. Jewel hesitated, but ultimately laid it down with an angry expression.
"WHAT," Monica said as her jaw dropped along with Alecs and Kimberly's. "Why can't things ever go this well for us?!" Morgan peeked out from behind the rock she was hiding behind. Kelly grinned as the other Octolings gathered around her.
"Good. Now the Inkling." Kelly tossed down Derek's Hero Shot and gestured for Morgan to approach, and the scared Inkling took a few shaky steps towards the Octolings. Just then, Cuttlefish cleared his throat and stepped forwards.
"Why don't you lot pick on someone your own age?" he barked. The Octolings gave him weird looks.
"What?" Kimberly said, leaning on her Sorella Brella.
"That doesn't make any sense," said one of Kelly's Octolings.
"He's, like, a hundred years older than us-" Cuttlefish's cane promptly smashed down on another Octoling's head.
"IT'S A ONE-SQUID AMBUSH!" Monica yelled. Kelly roughly threw Derek aside, which undid the Inkling's hair-tie in the process.
"ATTACK!!!" she exclaimed. Alecs, Kimberly, and two of Kelly's Octolings lunged at Cuttlefish. The old man threw aside his cane and single-handedly took them all down with martial arts, and the four Octolings scurried back to the others with their proverbial tails between their legs.
"Who's next?" Cuttlefish asked, narrowing his eyes. The Octolings all froze in fear, deciding if they should run or if they could all take him. Cuttlefish suddenly moved as if he was about to charge at them, and all ten Octolings yelped and ran, crashing and tripping into each other as they got away. Unfortunately for the Octolings, all of them fell off of the cliff and into the inky magenta lake below.
"WE'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME, SQUIDBEAK!" Monica's vow was followed by a massive splash. The Inklings all winced in pain. Autumn and Jewel ran up to Derek, who was now sitting up, grabbing his stomach with one hand and holding the hair-tie with the other. He was humiliated by the whole thing, with his hair coming down being the cherry on top. Derek let out a frustrated breath as he grabbed his Hero Shot.
"Here, let me help," Morgan offered, helping him stand to his feet and lean on her.
"Agent 5, are you okay?" asked Callie as the other agents rushed to his side.
"Other than my stomach being extremely bruised and the fact I was humiliated by getting caught like that," Derek said, "I think I'll live."
"Agent 3," Marie began angrily. "What was that?"
"They were going to fight us anyways," Jewel snapped. "Did kinda feel like they were holding back a bit though."
"Holding back or not, you could've gotten Agent 5 killed. In fact, Agent 4 was almost killed by those Splatanas! If the Captain hadn't stepped in when he did, we could've all DIED!" retorted Marie. Jewel's face darkened, and she looked away with a sulking expression.
"Uhhh, hey," Morgan piped up. Everyone looked at her. "I don't exactly have a place to live now that I'm free. Think you could set me up with something? For a little while at least."
"Oh! She could live with us!" Autumn suggested. "I mean until we can find her a more permanent home."
"That could work!" agreed Jewel. The Squid Sisters and Cuttlefish looked at each other.
"Uhhhhhh..." all three of them went.
"I don't know about this," Derek said with a concerned look.
"She's literally helping you stand right now," Jewel pointed out. Derek and Morgan looked at each other.
"It's all good, I get it," Morgan said. "You don't know me, I don't know you. Could be awkward."
"You do need a place to stay..." Derek said, his voice trailing off as he thought about it. "I mean, if it wasn't for too long, I suppose an arrangement could work." Morgan grinned.
"Thanks, chief," she said as she hugged him. "You won't regret this!" Derek struggled to get out of the hug, as Morgan was crushing him already hurting middle. And as Morgan and the agents left, Callie, Marie, and Cuttlefish looked at each other.
"So, uh," Callie began. "Do we have an Agent 6 now?" Marie shrugged.
The glass repair jellyfish carefully pressed the new glass panel into Sheldon's counter as the four Inklings entered Ammo Knights, with the agents dressed in their casual clothing. Derek handed Sheldon back the hair-tie.
"Thanks for that," he said as he sighed over wishing it was his reliable ponytail holder and sat down in the seating area. Sheldon looked at the kids and then at Morgan.
"Why are there four of you now?" he asked with a confused look.
"We'll explain later," said Autumn. "Her name is Morgan."
"She escaped from Octoling captivity," explained Jewel.
"Where is she from originally?" Sheldon asked. "Maybe we could help her get back home." Morgan overheard and looked their way.
"I'm from Splatsville, but I was visiting this little coastal town just a few minutes outside of Inkopolis City when I got snatched," explained the pink Inkling. Autumn's face turned a little pale at the mention of the town.
"Hey, are you okay?" Jewel asked her.
"Y-yeah," replied Autumn as she felt the guilt of not telling her roommates about the weird vision she had after the incident at MakoMart or about anything she found in the files at the police station. "I'm f-fine."
"Oh, hey Der- I MEAN UH -dude," Sheldon said, quickly catching himself before blurting out Derek's name. Derek gave him annoyed look. "Can you take these Tetra Dualies to the range and try them out?"
"Yeah, I can do that," Derek said, taking the two Light and two Dark Tetras in his arms. Morgan followed him out into the back.
The Tetra testing was no more than firing each Dualie once, rolling, and then rolling and firing continuously. Derek set down the Light Tetras he had just preformed this test with and picked up the Dark Tetras.
"Ambidextrous." Derek turned around to face Morgan, who was sitting on a bench behind him.
"What?" he asked.
"You're ambidextrous," Morgan replied. "Thought you were only left-handed." Derek looked at his right hand. "A lot of Dualie users are ambidextrous."
"I...wasn't left-handed by choice," Derek said. Morgan leaned forwards to listen to a potential backstory tale with a serious face.
"...And?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Morgan threw her hands up in the air.
"Man, you really had me thinking I was about to hear an emotional backstory!" she exclaimed with a laugh. Derek fired a shot from each of the Dark Tetras and then looked at her with a hurt expression. "Oh...uh..." Morgan got up awkwardly and walked towards him. "You know what you need?"
"What?" Derek asked. Morgan rested her arm on his shoulder and grinned.
"A day off! You seem stressed." Morgan winked at him. Derek raised an eyebrow at her. He sighed and pushed her arm off of his shoulder.
"I don't know..." he groaned as he put his hands in his jacket's pockets. His face went from downcast to surprised as he felt something. The Inkling pulled out his ponytail holder. Derek held it up with a relieved smile.
"Ha ha," he chuckled. "Well, this is one of my worries gone." Derek put his hair back up. His demeanor changed almost instantly. "Let me finish up trying out these Dualies, then we can go back inside."
Inside, Sheldon was showing Jewel and Autumn his new cell phone as Derek and Morgan entered.
"Dualies tested," announced Derek.
"Oh hey, you found your ponytail holder," Autumn said.
"Yep."
"And you gave us so much grief over it this morning," added Jewel in a slightly sarcastic tone. Derek inhaled sharply with an annoyed frown on his face. He couldn't hold it in anymore.
"What has been your DEAL lately?" he snapped. Jewel recoiled. "First, there's the incident yesterday with the Octoling-"
"Octoling?" Morgan asked nervously. She had the expression of someone who had been caught doing something they weren't supposed to be doing.
"I'll explain later. Then you elbow me in the chest and kick me in the face - while wearing your Power Boots, no less! Followed up by jumping headfirst into combat with no plan or regard for everyone else! We all almost DIED! Now you're making a big deal out of me freaking out over thinking I lost something that I love dearly!"
"I-" Jewel cut herself off and looked away - she knew it was all true. Sheldon cleared his throat.
"Why don't we try to patch things up by taking the first selfie on my new phone?" he asked. The horseshoe crab nudged Autumn, who caught into what he was trying to do.
"It sounds fun! Plus I've never taken a, uh...what's it called? A selfie?" Sheldon nodded. "I've never taken a selfie before," she added. Autumn and Sheldon smiled at both Jewel and Derek, who looked at each other awkwardly and shrugged.
"I don't have an issue with it," Derek said, albeit not super enthusiastically.
"Sure, why not?" added Jewel with the same lack of enthusiasm. All three of the agents gathered behind Sheldon as he stood on a short stool and held the phone up.
"Oops! Look out Morgan, you're going to be in it!" he said with a short laugh. Morgan gave a nervous laugh as she covered up her hair with her hands, angling her arms to where they covered up her ears as well.
"Oh no," she said. "Make sure you get my good side!" Sheldon snapped the picture with him and the agents in the center. Morgan was in the picture's upper corner, partly cut out but her face was still visible.
The sun was setting as the Squid Sisters pulled up to the police station in their car and walked in. Carol Coral was already waiting for them.
"Everything's set up, ladies," said the officer. "Do you have the phone?"
"Here," Marie said with a nod, handing her phone with Maya's files over.
"I know you don't have a lot of time, and we don't want to be here all night," continued Carol. "You two pick out the most important file on the phone and we'll work on unencrypting it." The three Inklings walked over to a computer and plugged the phone in. As Carol scrolled through the different files, Callie and Marie whispered their discussions on what file to pick to each other. Finally, they both nodded at each other and simultaneously pointed at a file called "G.M.O.P." on the phone.
"That one," Marie said.
"G-Mop," Callie added, reading the acronym literally. Carol nodded in understanding and clicked on the file, and it began unencrypting.
"Alright kids, closing time," announced Sheldon, playfully shooing the agents and Morgan out the door. "Go on home and rest."
"Bye, Sheldon!" Jewel said, waving.
"Come on, Morgan!" Autumn urged, grabbing Morgan's hand and pulling her out the door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Morgan replied with a small laugh. Derek said nothing but waved and walked out the door.
"Hey," Sheldon said. Derek stopped and looked back. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," Derek replied with a nod. "Everything's good." He turned and left before Sheldon could ask anymore questions. Sheldon sighed and locked up the shop for the night. He took his phone and headed into the break room, turning on the TV to watch Downton Crabbey, which was already in the middle of an episode.
"Oh Wesley, how will we ever save Downton Crabbey? How will we ever recover from the fire in the west wing?"
"We will recover from this dreadful tragedy, Mathilda. I promise you."
"Oh Wesley!"
That night, Morgan settled into the bed in the extra bedroom the agents had, pulling out a phone. She pulled up the contacts list, which was empty except for one contact, simply labeled as "HER."
I'm in, she texted before smiling smugly, laying the phone down on her chest.
At the police station, Carol, Callie, and Marie stared down at the file on the phone in absolute shock.
"This..." Callie began, struggling to find the words. "This is why Maya was killed."
"This is information on...everything," Marie gasped.
"I feel like I shouldn't have seen any of this," Carol said, scratching the back of her head. "Genetic modifications to young Octolings? Artificial Octolings? None of this makes sense." She looked at the Callie and Marie, whom she still didn't recognize as the Squid Sisters. "But this clearly means something to you." Carol pulled out a USB drive she had, plugged it into the computer and downloaded the file, unplugged it, and handed it and the phone over to Marie. "I don't know who you are, but I'm glad I could help you obtain what you needed." The Squid Sisters, in shock by the file's contents, nodded wordlessly and left. Carol pulled up a chair and sat down to think, deeply disturbed by what she had seen.
Downton Crabbey's credits were rolling. Sheldon was half asleep when his phone buzzed. He picked it up and read the text from Marie.
We need to talk ASAP. Sheldon sent back a thumbs-up emoji and got up to unlock the shop door. As he did, his thumb slipped on his phone and opened up the Photos app.
"Oops, didn't mean to do that," Sheldon said to himself. He was about to close it when he saw the selfie from earlier. "Huh, that turned out-" Sheldon stopped himself and squinted at Morgan up in the corner. "...nice?" Something was wrong with Morgan's eye-mask and teeth. She was covering her ears and hair, but she was clearly trying to hide something.
"That's...that's gotta be some kind of face filter or something," Sheldon convinced himself. "I'm tired. I'm seeing things." He looked up at a security camera in the shop. Sheldon rushed to his laptop and pulled up the footage from that day. Morgan had somehow very conveniently avoided the camera in the shop. Sheldon then checked the camera in the range. Although it wasn't the best footage due to how far away the camera was, Morgan was with Derek, hands away from her ears and hair. Sheldon couldn't believe it.
"There's no way."
The next morning, Morgan was already awake and sitting on the couch when Derek came out of his room, with his headphones around his neck and his ponytail holder in his mouth.
"Mawning," he said through the ponytail holder as he pulled up his hair.
"Good morning, Agent 5," Morgan greeted as he sat down next to her. "3 and 4 left to go get breakfast or something."
"I'm not surprised they left me," Derek said as he fixed his hair. "Probably wanted me to rest."
"You did take quite a beating from that one Octoling yesterday," Morgan said. "Anyways, I had a very rough idea during the night on how we could rescue some of the captured Inklings." Derek looked at her.
"Yeah?"
"We go sneak into their city. I know where they're being kept, we can slip in and out no problem."
"That sounds like a plan," Derek replied. "A kind of not entirely well thought out plan to be honest, but considering we have nothing else, it's probably our only shot." Morgan smiled. "I'll go call 3 and 4." Morgan frowned. "After that, we can-"
"No offense to the aggressive Agent 3 and inexperienced Agent 4," Morgan began, stopping Derek from dialing on his phone, "but I feel like the fewer agents we have go in, the more inconspicuous we can be. They'd be prepared for multiple agents charging in, but not a single agent sneaking in." Derek set his phone down on the coffee table.
"You're probably right," he said. "We don't usually split up, but I suppose this could be an exception. I'll go get my agent gear."
"Good morning, Shelllllllll...don?" Jewel said very confusedly as she and Autumn walked into Ammo Knights to see Sheldon and the Squid Sisters huddling together around Sheldon's laptop.
"I can't believe this," Sheldon said to Callie and Marie. "I thought I was seeing things last night." Jewel and Autumn joined the group.
"What's wrong?" asked Autumn. Sheldon turned the laptop with the security camera footage to them and showed them the selfie on his phone.
"Look at Morgan," he said. "Something is wrong with her eye-mask and teeth. And look at this camera footage. Her ears are round and her tentacles are different."
"That's probably just a funny face filter on your phone," Jewel explained. "And have you checked to see if the camera hasn't been tampered with since Booyah Bargain Day?"
"We got one of Maya's files unencrypted," said Marie. She pulled up one of the file's contents on the computer. "It's about something called the Genetically Modified Octoling Project."
"So?"
"Morgan's a part of this project." Jewel and Autumn squinted at a picture of an Octoling, with green eyes and a Fade hairstyle instead of a Spiky-Haired one. She wore Pilot Goggles, just like Morgan.
"That's just an Octoling that looks like Morgan," Autumn said.
"She's a part of a squadron in the Elite Octobeak where their main ability is being able to shapeshift into Inklings," Calle explained. "It's so accurate that if their DNA was collected as Inklings, it would come out as Inkling DNA instead of Octoling DNA. The only flaw in the squadron's design is that when caught on camera or in a photograph, the Inkling form wouldn't show up. Only the Octoling's original form would."
"Plus, it would explain how she just showed up yesterday morning, and why the Octolings after her didn't put up a huge fight like they normally would have," added Marie. Jewel thought about this, trying to understand it, while Autumn shook her head.
"That's impossible," Autumn said. "That would have to mean that Morgan is...an...Octoling." Her expression and tone changed as she realized Marie had a point, and that the evidence was clear. Autumn and Jewel turned to each other with horrified wide eyes.
"We left her alone with Derek," Jewel gasped.
"No, we left Derek alone with her!" Autumn corrected her.
"We need to go back to the apartment. Right now."
Jewel and Autumn burst into their apartment, .52 Gal Deco and Splat Dualies drawn and ready to be fired.
"Morgan!" Jewel called out.
"Agent 5!" Autumn added. There was no response. It was eerily silent. Autumn went to Derek's room while Jewel checked Morgan's room. They both returned to the living room within half a minute.
"Derek's not here," Autumn said with a worried expression. "His clothes, Inkbrush, and phone are still here, but his agent gear and Hero Shot are gone."
"That lying Octoling's gone too," Jewel growled. "They most likely went to the canyon, where there's probably a trap waiting for Derek. We need to get to them - fast."
Derek and Morgan approached the kettle leading to one of the entrances to New Octopolis City, opening the lid. This kettle didn't have a grate over the top to force someone to slip through in Swim Form, but instead was wide open for a whole body to fit through.
"Are you ready?" Derek asked. Morgan nodded with a nervous expression.
"I'm scared of going back here after what all I've seen but...I'm ready," Morgan replied, completely faking her fear.
"I'll be right with you to protect you," Derek promised with a determined look.
"Thank you, Agent 5," Morgan said with feigned gratitude. "For everything."
"Don't thank me yet," Derek replied. "Wait until we get out of here in one piece." He lowered himself into the kettle, and Morgan followed, pausing for a moment. She glanced at the reader with a devious grin and a wink, and then slammed the kettle lid shut behind her as she went down.
And so begins an arc that Derek would never forget for the rest of his life. For both reasons good and bad.