The next morning, the squid sisters, Octoling and human, were eating another helping of waffles that Marie had requested for her victory meal. Judd was curled up on Drake's lap, and purred while getting stroked. "I still can't believe I won splatfest." Marie said, while eating her meal. "Though it would have been a lot more fulfilling if so many squids hadn't sabotaged the other team."
"Yeah, but some of my team did it too, the jerks. But you still won, Marie! Congratulations!" Callie responded.
"Thanks, Cal," Marie returned to finishing her waffle, and Otome looked up.
"Wait, sabotaging? Seriously?"
Callie and Marie both looked embarrassed. "Well, there's always a few that will do anything to get the theme they want to win, but I've never seen this much before," Marie said. "I guess they just got too wound up. I'm just glad that none of our friends did that."
As they finished up their meal, Otome looked at the clock and pointed. "Thanks for the breakfast, but we need to get going. You don't want to keep the Emperor waiting," she said.
"Right, you are! But we should check in with gramps first," Callie responded.
("Do what you must to insure we never go through that horrible war again") Judd said, as they left the lounge. The squid sisters changed into their disguises, and Otome and Drake put on their armored uniforms. They left the studio, and headed towards the pipe that leads to Octovalley. After checking that the coast was clear, they jumped in, and started walking down the pipe.
At Cuttlefish's shack, the other four squidbeak agents were already assembled, and getting the old Inkling caught up on what had transpired the previous day. Levin waved over the other group when he saw them emerge from the pipe. "Hey, guys. Um, Shara thought it would be best to tell the Cap'n what happened last night." The group looked over at Shara, who was leaning against a tree.
"I-is she okay?" Otome asked, which surprised everyone.
"I'm fine," Shara said, and walked over. "I hate to say it, but the idiot's simple mindedness is contagious."
"It takes one to know one!" Levin said, as he dodged a tentacle slap.
Shara turned to Otome and Drake, and bowed. "Thank you for standing up for me last night. I don't know what Gull would have done if you hadn't stepped in."
"Indeed," Cuttlefish said as he walked over. "While getting into a fight was foolish, protecting your friends and comrades is commendable."
"Well, I don't... I mean, we aren't-" Otome stumbled.
"What she means to say, is we only did what was natural. Right, Otome?" Drake said, and Otome just nodded while trying to recompose herself.
"That being said, I'm not too thrilled to learn that the Inklings found out about you," Cuttlefish said to Drake. "Though, I guess there's no helping it. I just hope both your race and ours, are as open minded as our little group is."
"You worry too much, gramps. The kids loved Otome after her turf war debut, and they were really interested in Drake," Callie said.
"Yeah, the living fossil over here, even has a couple of fan girls. Isn't that right, lover boy?" The smirking Neptune chimed in. Drake rolled his eyes.
"Don't remind me of that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the only ones who know about the other Eden survivors are you guys."
"Well, if that is squared away, mind doing something about that flying thing? Darned thing woke me up early," Cuttlefish said, and pointed to an object hovering in the sky. It was the Eden drone, and it appeared to be searching for something.
"Must be looking for me," Drake said, and approached the drone. As soon as it spotted him, his radio immediately signaled an incoming call.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU ARE IN?!" A loud voice flared up as soon as he set the connection.
"Good morning, Mclarrin," Drake responded.
"DON'T GOOD MORNING ME! YOU'RE LUCKY YOUR FATHER COVERED FOR YOU, OR YOU WOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO SET FOOT IN THE BASE AGAIN! GET BACK HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
"I can't do that. Not yet, anyway."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T RETURN!?"
"Listen, commander. There's a political situation going on here that could start or prevent a war."
"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH YOU?"
"If you would quit SHOUTING, I would tell you. I've, uh... well, I've been requested to attend the peace negotiations," Drake responded, trying to keep cool.
"YOU, WHAT? OH, NO. YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE ALREADY, GET BACK-"
"Bridget, give me that." Commander Mclarrin was suddenly cut off. "Drake, it's your father," Manfred said, replacing Mclarrin on the radio. "Are you certain you know what you're doing?"
"I do, dad. Don't worry, I won't interfere. I've made friends on both sides, and I just don't want to see them make the same mistakes we did."
"Well, Mclarrin said that if it ends up being a problem for us, you will never again be allowed to return. Are you okay with this?" Drake looked back at the group, who were looking at him with concern.
"I'm sure. I'll contact you with the results as soon as I get back. Drake, out!" Drake turned off the radio, and the drone flew back to Eden.
"I'm sorry. It looks like I dragged you into our problems again," Otome said, while looking down.
"It's okay. Remember what I said when you decided to come to Inkopolis?" Drake said, while putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Y-yeah. That you would stay with me until you got me home."
"And I intend to do that. Besides, can we finally agree that we are all friends here?" Otome looked around, and nodded in response.
"I-I think it's really sweet of you to want to help us too," Callie said.
"Thanks, Callie. Well, should we get going?" Drake responded.
"About that. How do we get to Octoburg?" Marie asked.
Otome pointed to the other side of the valley. "There's a kettle right on top of octo rock. The problem is getting to the other side. We can take the long way and go around, but that means going through Inkling army checkpoints. The fastest way would be through dome fifteen, but that's Mariner territory." Otome glared at Octavio, who was surprisingly relaxed. "My recommendation would be to go through Ceph, but I don't know if the Mariners still patrol the area."
"Agreed, but if that's the case, take the kids with you. They can at least go part of the way." Cuttlefish turned towards the other agents. "Come to thank of it, you seem plenty familiar with my grand-squids, but I think the squiddos should reintroduce themselves. Agents! Front and center!"
Levin walked up first. "Levin Akkoro, Agent 3. I like video games, and my blaster! It's awesome I get to work with a human and a cute Octoling!" Levin's intro was cut short by a whack to the back of the head.
"Shara Taiga, Agent 4. I like.. Ramen? And I guess it's my job to keep certain idiots in line."
Kirk was next. "Kirk Kelpie, Agent 5. I hope we can all be friends."
"Neptune Sireness, Agent 6. Are you going to be my big brother too?"
"Neptune, do you ever get tired of that?" Said the dumbfounded Kirk.
"Only when I'm busy splatting in a turf war," she responded, as the rest of the group laughed.
"Actually, I have a question," Marie said to Drake. "How old are you?"
"I'm twenty one. Why?"
"No reason." For what ever reason, Marie said this with a smirk, and glanced at Callie, but she was didn't notice, and ran to Cuttlefish's side.
"Oh, Gramps! Before I forget, we got you a new phone!" Callie handed him a brand new squid phone.
"Didn't want to resort to telegraphs," Marie said. "After all, we only use the communicator when we're actually in the field."
"Thanks, girls. Been thinking about getting a new one, ever since Octavio broke my last phone," Cuttlefish responded.
"We got phones for you two as well!" Callie handed Drake and Otome a pair of squid phones. Drake powered his up, and was immediately lost on the main screen.
"I don't know if I can use this," Otome said. "I mean, talking is one thing, but I can't read the writing, so just getting it to work will be hard. Never mind text messages. As for him..." Otome looked over to Drake.
"I can't use it at all. Like her, I can't read the writing, but the autotran won't work on a phone, so talking is also out," he said. Marie walked over to show the two how to work the menu.
"Callie and I stayed up thinking of how to solve that. You know about emotes, right?"
"Yeah, our own phones had those," Drake responded.
"Well, we thought of using emotes as a sort of a code system. You guys pay attention too!" Marie called over the other squidbeak agents. "So basically, a smile means meet at the studio, and two means meet at the shack. A frown face means we need help." They spent several minutes coming up with emote codes, and Drake was able to figure out how to work the basic features.
"Okay, now can we finally get going?" Otome asked.
"That would probably be wise," Cuttlefish responded. "Don't know if I'll be seeing you or the human lad again, so take care of yourselves." Otome was unable to respond, due to the conflicting emotions she was being hit with. She turned away, and lead the agents to the kettle that would take them to Ceph. The Inklings shifted to blue to match Levin.
"Make me proud, agents!" Cuttlefish shouted, as the group departed in the kettle, with Otome dragging Drake the whole way. As they emerged, they took a look at their surroundings.
"No matter how many times I come here, I never get used to it," Shara said. "The floating debris, the creepy silence, the fact that a Mariner sniper could be hiding in the buildings..."
"This place looks like a war zone," Drake said.
"That's because it is. One of the worst battles of the great turf war took place here," Shara responded.
"Excuse me, Otome. Why do the Octarians bother coming here at all?" Kirk asked.
"Hell if I know," Otome responded. "Though I did hear rumors that Octavio planned to force the Inklings to live here as well as the domes after reclaiming the surface. Probably another part of his stupid revenge scheme."
"Well, he's not going anywhere. All that remains is to finalize the peace agreement, and he's done!" Said Shara. Otome nodded, and they group started moving through the city. After walking for a few minutes, Marie suddenly told them to stop.
"We're being followed," she said, and pointed to what Drake thought was another amoeba creature.
"It's just a jelly, Marie." Callie turned toward the creature. "Awww, did you get lost little guy?"
"That's no Jelly," Marie responded. "I know that's you, Owen. Come out of there, and get back in your normal form!" The figure emerged form behind the shadows and changed into a bipedal form. He a wore green clothing, and a mask over his face. The exposed parts of his body appeared to be semi-transparent.
"I-is that an Inkling? I could have sworn it was a jelly," Kirk said in surprise.
Marie started explaining to the confused Inklings. "This is Owen. He's a junior private detective, and I've had dealings with him before. As for his looks... well he has an extremely rare skin condition. The outer layer of his skin doesn't form correctly, leaving the inner layer exposed. It serves him well in his line of work because, as you two pointed out, he looks like a jelly in his squid form." The group turned back towards Owen.
"Please don't stare..." Owen said.
"What kind of condition is that? I've never heard of such a thing," said Shara.
"That's because I'm the first case in the last twenty years. Is that a problem?" Owen responded.
"But if you're here, then your partner is..." Marie looked around and spotted another Inkling crouching on a wall. "Get down from there, Jack!" The Inkling jumped down and took position by Owen. "And this would be Owen's partner, Jack."
"Welp, now that we've been discovered, nice to meetcha," Jack said, and walked over to where Drake was. Jack leaned in and took a close look at the human. "I knew you were elder race when I saw you at the old dude's place. Hey, take a look at this!" Jack took out a very old looking revolver.
"Wow, that thing is old. Where did you get that?" Drake asked, and he leaned in for a closer look. Jack pulled the revolver back.
"Touch it, and you die."
"Thanks for letting that slip, Jack. Now we know who told the government about our activities." Marie glared at them with a very annoyed expression.
"W-well, we can't really refuse an order like that," Owen said. "You know how scary our boss can be."
Shara suddenly walked up to them, and glared so hard that Owen retreated a few steps. "Were you the ones who told Gull about Drake?" She asked. It was obvious her anger was about to explode. "We went through a hell of a lot of trouble because of you two!"
"Ah, that was all him," Owen said, and pointed to Jack.
"Would you look at the time? I think I left the pizza oven on back at the office. See yah!" Jack took off running, but his path was blocked by Otome and Neptune, who had sneaked around them during the exchange.
"Where yah going, little guy?" Neptune said with a devilish grin.
"I assume you don't want to be known as a couple of squids that made the squid sisters angry, do you?" Marie said, with her signature smirk.
"O-of course we don't!" Jack responded.
"Good, because I'm willing to let this go. IF you do me a little favor, of course." Marie leaned in closer, and whispered something to the two Inklings.
"W-we can't do that! We could get arrested if they find out!" Owen yelled.
"Aw, that's too bad. I guess my friend Shara, will have to show you just how disappointed we are that you didn't take my generous offer."
"W-wait! We'll do it!" Jack responded.
"Good. I expect that they will come for him first thing in the morning, so keep an eye on him and call me if anything happens," Marie said. The two ran off towards the kettle.
"You're evil sometimes," Callie chimed in. "Anyway, what did you ask them to do?"
"Just to keep an eye on Octavio."
"What? Why? Gramps is already doing that."
"Callie, did you actually read the peace agreement? The Octarians are allowing the Inklings to officially arrest Octavio. I just want to make sure nothing happens until he's locked away for good."
"That's a good point," Otome said. "What he said the other day has been bothering me."
"My thought's exactly. Otome, can you take the lead again? We still got a ways to go before we reach the kettle to Octoburg."
...
In Octoburg, a male Octoling was sitting at his desk, when he heard a knock at the door. After signaling them to enter, he looked up as a pair of Octoling elites entered the room. It was his twin body guards. The female was Typhoon, and the male was Vortex.
"Major Octarias, we brought the new recruits and their files that you asked for," Vortex said, and handed the files to Octarias.
"Good, bring them in," he responded. Vortex saluted, and left the room.
"Sir, are you still worried about.. her?" Typhoon said.
"Well, she is my fiancee after all. Why shouldn't I be?"
"But she's made it quite clear that she doesn't value our traditions. She's just going to keep blowing you off."
"She'll come around eventually. Besides, getting the peace treaty signed is more important right now."
"Sir, Octarias, you could have any woman you want! Why settle for someone who is beneath you and doesn't intend to honor the arrangement!"
"I'm not going to have this discussion with you again, Typhoon. I appreciate your concern, but this isn't up to you."
"Y-yes, sir! Sorry." Another knock at the door interrupted them. Vortex returned with another Octoling in tow.
"You two, wait outside," Octarias said, and the two nodded in response. As the body guards left, Typhoon gave the recruit a sharp glance. The recruit sat down in front of the desk, and Octarias glanced over her file.
"So, Briki, It says here that you were once a Mariner, and that you deserted them. Is that true?"
"I-it is, sir. My sister and I, never wanted to be soldiers in the first place. They forced us to join the day we were able to control our transformations."
"Well, everyone has to serve at some point. Even us male Octolings are getting drafted these days, but it's too bad you ended up with them instead of the Guardian Corps. Anyway, how did you get away from the Mariners?"
Briki looked around uncomfortably before continuing. "I was part of the attack on Kelp Dome. The cowardly act of poisoning food was the last straw for me, and I managed to slip away from the group. Then out of nowhere, this Inkling, I think he went by Agent 3, starts attacking the other four in my squad. He managed to take down three of the four with out splatting them. He even de-splatted the leader, who almost killed him! I saw more mercy from a single squid than I did from the entire Mariner force!"
"Is that why you and your sister have been living at Inkopolis for the last few days?" Octarias said.
"H-how did you know that!" Briki yelled.
"Calm down, private! If there's one thing the Guardian Corps has over the Mariners, it's our ability to gather information. I had all that on you're file, but I wanted to hear it from your mouth."
"S-sorry sir, but I don't want my sister dragged into this. That's why I made the decision to return."
"Well, Briki, I'm sure Vortex already briefed you on the current situation with Inkopolis. I have an assignment for you, that I think you will be perfect for. If you do your duty to the Corps, I'll allow the both of you to remain in Inkopolis."
"Really! Thank you so much, Sir!" Briki beamed a smile at Octarias.
"Don't thank me yet, kid. I'll give you the details with the rest of the team, but I need to interview the other recruits first. Go wait outside, and send the next one in."
"Yes, sir!" Briki enthusiastically replied. As she left, Octarias sat back down, and turned his attention back to the files.
'I guess even these misfits can be useful sometimes.'
...
"So what the heck is that?" Levin and the others were taking cover near a ruined building, and were watching a large group of Octarians. In the center of the group, was a large robot that was pouring out purple ink to block off the main road. Surrounding the robot, was a flight of Octocopters, and Octobombers. There were also a number of Octotroopers on the ground, as well as Octoballs.
"Cuttlefish would probably know, but I still can't get through to him," Shara responded.
"Then it's a good thing you have me with you," Otome said, and the group turned to her. "It's called a flooder, and it's damn near indestructible." The group turned back to look at the robot.
"So how do we kill it?" Levin asked.
"You have to get on top of it, and throw a bomb down the maintenance hatch, which is hard enough to do when you aren't being shot at by the escorts. Also, you see that antenna on top of it? That's what's been disrupting the communicators for the last few days. The Mariners must have stuck a jamming device to the top of the damned thing."
Marie stood up, and walked to the front of the group. "Okay, since we can't get a hold of gramps, I'm taking charge of this. Callie, Kirk, Neptune, you guys go after the ground forces. Levin, Shara, and myself, will go after the airborne targets. Otome, you deal with the flooder, and Drake stays back and covers us from here." Otome nodded, and dropped another tampering capsule into her ink tank.
"Just make sure to get the Octocopters first. Otherwise they will go get reinforcements," Otome said, and the group moved in to engage the Octarians. Keeping their distance from the Octotroopers, they made a circle of blue ink around the edges of the large purple pool the flooder had created. Noticing the new ink lines, one of the Octocopters moved in to investigate. As soon as he was close enough, Levin popped out of the ink, and blasted the Octocopter dead center.
"Ink stains on our six! We're under att- GWHAA!" Another Octocopter shouted to warn the others, but Shara emerged on his side, and took him out with a burst from her pro. A shot from Marie's charger took down a third Octocopter.
"Get back, and call for reinforcements!" A bomber yelled to the last remaining Octocopter. As he attempted to move out of range, Marie followed him with her charger. Just as he was about to get away, she fired a shot, and brought him down. The Octocopter hit the ground, and burst into a puddle of blue ink.
"Damn it! We're on our own, guys!" A Twintacle that appeared to be the leader said. "Ground forces, move in! Bomber squad, cover them!" The Octoballs moved in first, and three of them made a line straight for Kirk. He quickly charged his splatling, and used his rapid rate of fire to slow them all down and halt their advance. Callie immediately rushed in, and literally rolled the Octoballs over.
"Thanks, Callie!" Kirk yelled, and she responded with a grin. "Wait, where's Neptune?"
"I thought she was with you!" Callie replied. Suddenly, after several loud cracks, an Octobomber fell dead, right next to where they were standing. They looked over, and saw Drake making a cover gesture with his hands and pointed towards Otome.
"Troopers! Defensive formation! They're going for the flooder." A number of Octotroopers moved in to guard the flooder, and began taking shots at Otome. "Bomber squad! Take out that snipe- AGGGH!" Neptune suddenly jumped out of an ink trail she made during the confusion, and managed to kill the lead Twintacle with her gal.
"Neptune saves the day again! Breath easy, guys," she said, and dove back into the ink to avoid the angry Octobombers.
"Shara! Move in with Kirk, and thin out those Octotroopers! We can't let the flooder escape!" Marie yelled.
Shara dove into the trail that Kirk quickly made with his splatling, and moved towards the Octotroopers that were blocking Otome from jumping. As Kirk unloaded on the troopers nearest her, Shara swam around, and eliminated several Octoballs that were trying to charge down Otome. An ink ball few past Shara's head, and an Octobomber dropped down to her right.
"Thanks, Levin!" Shara yelled. "Otome, you're all clear to-"
"Shara, look out!" She looked to where Levin was pointing, and saw that the flooder had started barreling down on her. As she dove out of the way, one of the flooder's ocular sensors suddenly shattered, thanks to a well placed shot from Drake's rifle.
"Otome, it's now or never!" Marie yelled. As the agent's began moping up the remaining Octarians, Otome launched herself onto the top of the Flooder. She bashed the lock on the maintenance hatch several times with her octoshot, causing it to break free.
As she opened the hatch she heard Drake yell, "Catch!" Otome reached out, and caught the grenade Drake tossed her. "Pull the pin, toss it in, and run like hell!" He yelled. Otome tossed in the grenade and jumped off the Flooder. A few seconds later, the flooder went up into a spectacular fire ball.
"Everyone all right? Anyone get dead?" Neptune yelled, as she came out of the ink.
"Well, my arm is a bit numb, but I think everyone is okay," Kirk responded, as he rubbed his right arm.
Marie switched on her communicator, and tried to get int touch with cuttlefish. "Gramps, can you hear me?"
"Agent 2? When did the ... start working again?" There was noticeable static and voice cut outs, but it appeared that some of the jamming had been cleared due to the destruction of the flooder.
"Octarians placed a jamming device on a flooder. We destroyed one, but there might be another one somewhere," Marie said.
"On a flooder ... say? Crafty ... buggers. Do you think ... can make it ... Octoburg by yourselves?" Cuttlefish responded, still cutting out.
"I think so, why?"
"Send ... others back. I want to ... that other flooder. We ... get the ... working again"
Marie looked around to the other agents, and Levin nodded to her. "We got this! Now that we know what to do, those flooders don't stand a chance."
"Levin, I swear, you don't learn," Shara said, and walked up to Drake. "But if we're going to do this, can I borrow one of those... capsule things?"
Drake looked back at her with an expression of concern, then sighed. "I really don't think that's a good idea, but..." Drake unhooked a grenade, and handed it to her. "Be extremely careful with that. DO NOT pull the pin until you are ready to throw it."
"I'm guessing the other flooder is somewhere closer to the Inkopolis," Otome said. "If I know the Mariners, your best bet is the forest." The other agents started making their way back to the kettle they used to enter Ceph.
"By the way, I saw something in the building over there," Neptune said, and pointed to a window on the third floor.
"Good eyes, Neptune! Think we should check it out before continuing?" Callie asked
"I think so. It could be a Mariner spy," Marie responded. Before splitting up, Kirk turned back to the squid sisters.
"Good luck, guys. I know you can do it!" He yelled, and ran off to catch up with the other agents.
The squid sisters, along with Drake and Otome, entered the building, and made their way to the third floor. The inside of the building was ruined, and rubble and fungus covered the hallways. It reminded Drake of the launch bay back at the Eden facility. As they neared the area that Neptune pointed to, they raised their weapons and slowed their pace. Callie slowly opened the door to the next room and entered first, followed by Otome. Drake and Marie covered the rear. The inside of the room was cleaner than the rest of the building, and showed signs of recent habitation.
"Someone has definitely been living here," Marie said. As soon as those words were spoken A figure suddenly jumped out from the shadows, and lunged at Otome. She jumped back, and they both pointed their weapons at each other. Then, just as suddenly, they lowered them.
"Otome?" The figure said.
"What the- KELLY?!" Otome yelled in response. While it seemed like an eternity, several seconds passed as they stared at each other. Then, Otome rushed to the Octoling elite, and the two shared an embrace. "I don't believe it! I thought I would never see you again!"
"My thought's exactly, Otome," Kelly responded, as the two separated. "When I finally managed to deal with those damned sharks, I came back and saw that you disappeared. I thought you had been captured."
Otome turned, and glanced at Drake. "Well, um... he saved me. And those two have been letting us stay at their place."
Kelly took a close look at Drake, then at the squid sisters. She then lowered her head into a bow. "My name is Lieutenant Kelly Scylls. Thank you for taking care of my subordinate and friend."
"It was nothing," Drake responded. "We, uh, just wanted to help."
Kelly raised her head, and looked at Otome. "Not a bad catch, girl. Never pictured you with an Inkling," she said, mistaking Drake for an Inkling.
"Not you too," Otome responded. "We aren't like that."
"Yeah, for now maybe," Kelly said with a smirk. "But enough of that. What's the situation with Inkopolis? I haven't been able to get through to the commander, thanks to those Mariner jammers."
"Our governments have been working behind our backs, it seems. They've already drafted a peace treaty, and we're heading to Octoburg to finalize it."
"Really? That's wonderful!" Kelly said with excitement.
"That isn't all of it." Otome's expression changed to one of glee. "Those other Inklings we were with, captured Octavio."
"What? Seriously? Maybe now we will finally have another chance at co-existence. Still, they shouldn't be keeping that bastard alive! I would have turned him into a land shark meal."
"Geez, I think you hate him more than most of the Inklings," Callie said.
"Yeah, you never told me why you personally hate him so much," Otome added.
Kelly looked around for a minute, before responding. "I guess it's time I told you the truth." Kelly started to remove her goggles, which was a first for Otome. She had never seen Kelly with out them, as she always showered and slept alone. As the goggles were removed, Otome's eyes widened. Kelly's eyes were shaped and colored similar to a normal Octoling, but instead of a purple ring, her eyes had a black mask that met in the middle.
"Y-you're an Inkling?" Otome said, and the whole group was stunned.
"Half inkling, actually," Kelly responded. "My father was an Inkling. My mother met him during her days in the army. They never told me the details, but I guess it was during a patrol."
"I didn't even know that was possible," Marie said, who could barely keep calm.
"Well, I'm living proof, aren't I? Anyway, we used to live in one of the agricultural domes. My father was a hard worker, so most of the other Octarians didn't bother us much. But one day, Octavio came through with a battalion of Mariners. Naturally, he wasn't too happy when he found us out. My mother begged him to spare us. He agreed, but only if she would join the Mariners, since he knew she was once a respected officer in the Guardian Corps"
"S-so what happened?" Callie asked.
"After a few months, my mother ended up taking her own life. She couldn't go through with hurting my father's people. As for my dad, he ended up being exiled from Octoburg, and they left him at one of the worst parts of Octovalley. I was later sent to military school, where Octavio hoped he could... re-educate me."
"That... that's horrible!" Otome yelled, "I'm so sorry! I never knew!"
"Thanks, Otome," Kelly responded, and put her goggles back on. "But that's why Octavio can't be allowed to drag us into another war! Who knows how many more families on either side will be destroyed."
"We'll stop this. I promise we will," Marie said.
"I'd love to catch up, Otome, but it sounds like you'd better get moving."
"Oh! Why don't you come with us? The more, the merrier!" Callie said, who excited to have made a new friend.
"I would, but I want to stay here and keep an eye on Mariner movements for a while. Can you inform the commander of the situation?"
"Sure, Kelly. But be careful. I think there's a traitor at HQ." As the group turned to leave, Kelly suddenly spoke up again.
"Wait! I almost forgot." She rifled through her equipment bag, before pulling out a small necklace. In the middle of the necklace, was a small pendant with a pearl embedded in it. "It's a day late, but happy 18th birthday!"
Otome stared in shock, as Kelly handed her the necklace. "Y-you remembered? Thank you so much! I completely forgot with everything going on!" The two shared another embrace, while Drake and the squid sisters joined in on wishing her a happy birthday.
"Alright, now get outta here and get that peace treaty singed! That's an order, corporal!"
"I-it's Sargent now, but I'll do my best, ma'am!" The group left the waving Octoling elite behind, and continued the final part of the journey to Octoburg.
The next hour was uneventful, but they eventually reached the kettle that would take them out of Ceph, and to the opposite side of Octovalley. After coming out of the kettle, they took a break so Drake could recover, as he was clearly fighting the urge to vomit.
"Drake, are you going to be okay?" Callie asked.
"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that ride," Drake responded, "But I think I'm okay now."
Otome walked over to the final kettle that would take them into the heart of the Octarian homeland. "I'll do my best to keep you safe, but I can't promise anything. If anyone wants to back out... well, now is the time." The group exchanged glances, but said nothing. "Then let's get going," she said, and they were shot towards the Octarian capital.
A/N: OC credit for this chapter:
Owen – Jewelfire – Splatoon animo
Jack – Yzor – Splatoon amino
Briki – Briki – Splatoon amino
Vortex and Typhoon – Vortextion – Fanfiction net