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Coraline squinted as light shone through the window beside her bed. The sun was bright today, and it took her a moment to sit up as her eyes got used to once again being open. She looked at the splat charger resting against a shelf, the typical spot she’d leave it after a long day of ranked battles. A smile came across her face, and she knew it was a good day for ink battles.
Opening her door, Coraline heard the familiar jingle of Inkopolis News play on the TV. She walked down the hallway to the living room and into the kitchen as she waved at the figure on the couch, “Morning, Reeve.”
“Good morning, Carol,” a sly smirk on her brother’s face only added to the annoyance of him using the nickname she hated.
Coraline rolled her eyes, “Guess you’re volunteering for aiming practice today.”
“Like you could hit me.”
“Watch me.”
“Hold on to your tentacles…”
the news anchor said, interrupting their back and forth, giving Coraline time to figure out what she wanted for breakfast. She had finally decided on a cereal brand when she overheard the broadcast.
“Inkopolis’s Great Zapfish has…vanished!”
Both Coraline and Reeve looked up in astonishment. The news had mentioned something about a UFO as well, which confused them further. As the new finished off with the day’s arena and game format rotation schedule, the two shared concerned looks. The broadcast ended with the Squid Sister’s signature,
“Stay fresh!”
phrase and motion.
“So…maybe we shouldn’t head to the tower,” Reeve suggested, looking more than a little disturbed as he stood up from the couch.
Coraline frowned, “It’s not like we have anything else to do today.” They almost always went to the plaza and battled, sometimes with friends, other times with randos they were matched with. She didn’t really know what she could do other than battle.
Reeve shook his head, “I’d rather not risk another UFO sighting. What if they attack this time?”
With a sigh, Coraline finished her breakfast and shook her head. “You can stay here if you want, but I feel like battling today.” Reeve didn’t seem to have a response, so Coraline shook her head and returned to her room to get ready.
Usually, the walk to the plaza was interesting. Granted, Coraline almost always had some sort of distraction or conversation happening, whether it be Reeve or one of their friends. But today, it was just her. Coraline and her thoughts. The walk was short, due to their apartment’s close proximity to the plaza, but it felt a lot longer. And now that she was there, it was even more obvious she was alone. Coraline didn’t
know
anybody there.
Good thing the battlefield didn’t require you to know people.
Walking towards the tower, Coraline wondered about which splat charger she should use when she caught a strange sight out of the corner of her eye - an elderly man…popping his head out of a sewer grate? She looked around to see if anyone else was noticing this, but everyone else seemed preoccupied.
Coraline turned her attention back towards the elder, and they made eye contact. Despite her better instinct, she took a few steps towards the distant grate. The old man quickly disappeared into the hole, and she realized she may have caught a crime in action given his reaction. She quickly ran over, went into squid form, and fell through the grate.
It felt like a long time pass before Coraline came back into the light. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a strange place. It looked like it was on the outskirts of town, with plenty of abandoned items and structures. The place felt so distant from the Inkopolis she knew, but she could see the city skyline in the distance behind her.
However, the abandoned structures were not the only things here. The old man was also there. He wore a ragged shirt - or maybe it was a poncho? - that had a few items pinned to them (were those medals? Weird thing to wear on a poncho…). He had a walking cane that looked like a Bamboozler stripped of its parts, but the most peculiar thing was the hat he wore. It seemed like a military hat, but she couldn’t place the emblem that sat in the middle of the front.
The old man started shaking, looking unwell as he stammered “T-T-The...Oc-Oc-Oct…” Coraline almost asked if he was okay or if he needed help. She thought he was a criminal moments before, but clearly, he was in crisis. However, he then yelled, “The Octarians are coming!”
She was stunned speechless, and Coraline was just trying to figure out how this delirious old man made it out of his retirement home when he continued. “Oh, uh, hi. Guess I lost my cool for a minute there! I’m Cap’n Cuttlefish, leader of the legendary Squidbeak Splatoon!”
Finally regaining her composure, Coraline blinked at him and started, “Uh, nice to meet you, Captain. My name’s Coraline.”
The Captain took a moment to inspect her from afar, mostly her face. “That look in your eye…” he started, “It’s the look I’ve been lookin’ for!”
“The what in my eye?”
“Nevermind that, the Great Zapfish that powers Inkopolis has been squidnapped!” he hollered, ignoring her question. The Captain continued, “Nobody believes me, but it’s the work of the Octarians, I just know it! They want revenge for the Great Turf War of 100 years ago!”
“Like, the Octarians that live in Octo Valley?”
“Of course! I’ve been keepin’ an eye on them this whole time.”
“So, are you a spy now or something?”
The Captain had a sad look in his eye, “No, I’m more of a mercenary that keeps Inkopolis safe from the Octarian menace.” His voice began to have a tone of frustration as he continued, “But they stole the Great Zapfish right out from under my nose! Please! You gotta help me rescue the Great Zapfish.”
Coraline was beginning to understand what was happening. Captain Cuttlefish was looking for a recruit so that they could protect Inkopolis when he was retired (which, given his appearance, was not far away). The Bamboozler must’ve been his primary weapon in the war, so her use of the Splat Charger would make sense for a like-for-like replacement weapon.
But why should she be the one to help? She was just a teenager! It’d be silly of her to help in a covert operation against an entire civilization. She was good at Ink Battles, but those are for fun. She’d probably be out of her element.
Just then, the thought of Reeve, clearly shaken and scared of what the Great Zapfish’s disappearance could mean, entered her mind.
“I’d rather not risk another UFO sighting. What if they attack this time?”
If the Octarians were to use the Great Zapfish’s power to attack Inkopolis, Reeve’s worst fears would be realized. Coraline put her doubts aside and nodded her head, “I’m in.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Coraline’s time in Octo Valley taught her a lot. The first area they scouted and cleared out of Octarians was pretty small, but Captain had already given her a lot of moments to learn from. She was so used to Ink Battles in Inkopolis, where getting splat wasn’t a huge deal because the respawn platforms were always calibrated to their gear. But Coraline found quickly that she had to play a lot safer and carefully. “The Octarians won’t restrain themselves. If you let them, they will splat you for good,” the Captain said, something she had to be reminded of after a couple of close calls in the first base they infiltrated.
Part of her struggles initially may have to do with her preference for the Charger weapon class, but that wasn’t an option for this mission.
Once she adapted her fighting style to be harder to splat, she managed pretty well. The next couple of bases went pretty well, Coraline learned about new types of soldiers the Octarians deployed. Her least favorite to deal with was the Octobombers. They always seemed to fly just a little out of range, and the danger of Splat Bombs was enough for her to keep her distance. They weren’t hard to take out, per se, but the threat of their attacks was far more dangerous than most attacks coming her way in Octo Valley so far.
The final base of the area was fairly simple, Coraline just needed to be swift and stay on her toes. The Octostomp was dangerous if not for her speed, but with her mobility, it only took a few minutes to defeat the Octostomp.
Saving four Zapfish probably should’ve felt better, but knowing she had a long way before actually finishing her mission made every Zapfish feel less special than it perhaps should’ve.
Coraline left Octo Valley for the first time since arriving a few days later. It was her decision to stake out with the Captain, but she made sure Reeve knew that she’d be gone for a few days. She had said she was “staying at a friend’s house”. She wasn’t yet prepared to tell Reeve what she was really doing, but she knew she’d have to talk about it eventually.
That said, Coraline opened the door to their apartment and sighed. “I’m home,” she said, putting her bag of new equipment down. Looking up, Coraline saw that the apartment looked more or less the same as the last time she was there.
The apartment almost seemed abandoned, if not for the light shining beneath the door of her brother’s room. As she moved into the kitchen to eat something for the first time in days, Coraline heard a door open and soon saw her brother enter the kitchen.
The silence as Reeve stared at her with a blank expression was confusing, and as Coraline took out some food, he rushed over to her and hugged her tightly.
Reeve didn’t hug often. Not often enough that this would be normal behavior.
Coraline hugged him back, lightly rubbing his back and keeping quiet until he was ready to talk. It wasn’t long before he spoke up.
“I have been trying to save power,” Reeve said, keeping his head resting on the top of Coraline's shoulder. He relaxed a bit into her as he continued, “It's been lonely.”
The rising hero of Inkopolis grimaced as she hugged him a bit tighter for a moment. “Hey, it's alright,” she said, thinking quickly what to tell him to reassure him. “I’m sure the Great Zapfish will be back soon.”
“What if it doesn’t?” Reeve challenged as he pulled back, keeping his hands on her shoulders, as if she’d vanish if he didn’t keep hold of her.
I’ll make sure it will
, Coraline wanted to say, but she couldn’t tell Reeve what she was doing yet. He might want to tag along and help if he heard, and Coraline would not let Reeve do that unless absolutely necessary. At the moment, she was doing fine with just the Captain’s support.
Instead, she responded, “Well, someone’s gotta find it eventually, right? Its not exactly small.”
Reeve processed. He could probably tell it wasn’t that simple, but Coraline could tell he was probably letting that lie keep him sane for now. “Yeah, that's true.”
Coraline thought for a moment, then said, “Why don’t you go hang out with some friends for a while? Get your mind off things, do some ink battles, play at the arcade.”
Her brother tilted his head. “You won’t come with?”
“No, I’ve got…” she thought for a moment, trying to find a convincing lie. Then, she realized she didn’t need a lie, just a half truth. “I have a new job that needs me to be away for a bit.” She saw his expression fall a little before she continued, “I’ll keep in touch! I won’t be too far away either, so I can join you on a couple outings if you want.”
Reeve looked at her suspiciously, but it seemed like he let it go for now. This apparently included letting go of her physically as he began to turn. “Fine. I’m gonna call some peeps and see if any squids wanna hang out for a few days, make plans.” He looked back at her. “I’ll let you know when we’re out, in case you can join.”
He walked back into his room and closed his door, and this gave Coraline a moment to sigh in relief. That could’ve gone a lot better.
Still, if Reeve’s main concern was power and stress about the potential UFOs (Octarians, she reminded herself), then this was probably the best way to go about that.
After getting some food, Coraline wondered what might happen next in her crazy adventure through Octo Valley. So far, it had been pretty easy.
She hoped it’d stay that way.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Coraline had gotten the hang of using the Hero Shot by the time she had to face the Octonozzle, which made the fight easy. Its attacks were too slow for her to worry about getting hit, and its weak points were not protected. She went through its three separate phases pretty quickly and was happy to take the Zapfish away from yet another Octoweapon and return it to Inkopolis.
On her way back, the radio the Captain used to communicate with her on her missions apparently malfunctioned. He said he should get it replaced, but she could have sworn she had heard “Cuttlefish” out on the radio. Coraline wondered if she was just hearing things or not, but with how blase the Captain was about the strange malfunction, she decided it wasn’t worth pursuing further and decided to ask him something else.
“What are your grandsquids like?” she asked suddenly.
They had only just arrived back at their base of operations, but the Captain definitely jumped a little in surprise. “How did you know about them?”
Coraline shrugged, “After a mission, you had mentioned something about how I reminded you of them.” She sat down at the bench that she usually slept on (she had a pillow and blanket, but it was far from comfy) and looked back at him, continuing “you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I have just been wondering about them, is all.”
The Captain shrugged, “there’s not much to talk about. They’re great singers and just about the best grandsquids a squid my age could ask for.” His mouth was covered by his facial tentacles, but Coraline could hear the fond smile he likely had.
Shifting in her seat, Coraline questioned, “How do I remind you of them?”
At that, the Captain laughed. “You’ve got their spunk, Agent 3! I remember hearing you mention you were a charger specialist, right?” He paused to see her nod in confirmation, then continued, “One of them loves those too. Suppose she may have gotten that thanks to my love of the Bamboozler. You’re like a combination of one’s bluntness with the other’s curiosity.”
Coraline smiles, the joy the Captain’s voice exudes being infectious to her. “Sounds like you love them a lot.”
“Of course!” he exclaimed, waving his Bamboozler in the air above him as he sits down. “They’re my pride and joy! I couldn’t imagine life without them!”
The agent considers that for a moment before cautiously asking, “Is that why you do this? Fight the Octarians?”
Captain Cuttlefish settles down, lying his Bamboozler in his lap as he nods. “I’m one of the last soldiers from the Great Turf Wars in Inkopolis. I know how dangerous Octarian technology can be, and up until a few years ago, I was fully capable of fighting myself. Thankfully, the Octarians hadn’t been up to much since those years.”
“And now that they are, you needed help, so you found me,” she finished his short synopsis.
“Exactly,” he nodded, wiping his Bamboozler.
Coraline thought for a moment, her recent conversation with Reeve coming to mind. A question she had been thinking about since then surfaced, and she asked her captain, “Do they know about all this? That you do all this?”
The Captain nodded, “They caught me going on patrol a few years back. All but begged me to take them along. The two of them are capable agents, not bad fighters at all, but I couldn’t forgive myself if something happened to them.” He laid down, and Coraline could tell he was starting to succumb to sleep.
“I get it. I feel the same about my brother. I haven’t told him, it’d just make him nervous and want to tag along to keep me safe,” she said. “I’ll tell him when everything’s over, but not before then,” she declared, though she soon after heard a loud snore. She looked where the Captain was laying down and saw he was definitely asleep. Coraline donned a small smile and decided he was right. They both needed sleep to take on Area 3.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The Octowhirl reminded Coraline exactly why she needed to be proficient with weapons aside from chargers. While she preferred to pick enemies off from a distance, Coraline couldn't simply pick off the rampaging spiked orb that nearly splat her for good. She initially thought to simply shoot until it stopped, but narrowly avoided death when that proved ineffective. “Careful, Agent 3! It’s too large and fast to stop by shooting at it! Find a different way, stall if you have to!”Hearing the captain in her comms reassured her, even if he didn’t have the greatest insight on how to defeat this thing. I don’t exactly have any options to stop it at the moment. Stalling, it is.Coraline quickly began inking the ground around her. The more ink on the ground, the easier it would be to dodge and stall for any signs of weakness. But she didn’t have long, as she heard the Octowhirl rev up yet again before barreling straight at her. With no ideas on how to defeat the Octowhirl yet, Agent 3 knew she had to get out of the way. As soon as the weapon rolled toward her, she swam to the side, making her escape as far as possible.But halfway through her escape, her comms sounded again, with Captain Cuttlefish commanding, “Now, Agent 3! It's stuck!”Coraline came out of the ink and looked towards the Octowhirl, examining what happened. It seemed that, halfway through the surface she inked, the giant ball got stuck and revealed its tentacle in distress.With that new information in mind, the fight became easy. Coraline began rapidly inking the ground between herself and the Octowhirl, keeping the patch of ink between herself and the weapon to keep the upper tentacle. This forced the Octowhirl to attack prematurely, and as expected, it got stuck. A few dead on shots from her hero shot and the Octowhirl was sent packing.The same strategy worked twice more, which earned them yet another Great Octo Weapon down and another zapfish saved."You're on fire, Agent 3!" The captain praised on the other end of their comms, and Coraline felt herself beam with pride."The Great Zapfish will soon be back in Inkopolis," She declared, posing to herself. With how everything was going thus far, it felt like it was only a matter of time until everything was back to normal.“Huh? What was that…?”Coraline blinked and fell back to her normal body language. “Uh, what do you mean, Captain?”“Eh, I’ll just go take a quick look for myself!” The captain said, and Coraline could hear a door open on the other end. He continued, “By the way, I’ve been meaning to introduce you to Agents 1 and 2. Once we’re all assembled, I’ll bake us some crabby cakes!”Coraline laughed, “Yeah, Captain, that sounds great! I’d love to-”“Cut…tle…fishhhhh…” a voice rang from the comms, one she didn’t recognize. It had a sinister growl to it that made Coraline’s skin crawl. Her anxiety spiked, Agent 3 began booking it back to their main base.Captain was still on the other end, to her relief. “No…YOU?! It can’t be!” He cried, terror in his voice evident even through the comms. The way his voice shook made Coraline pick her pace up ever so slightly, determined to get there. “Who is it?! Captain?!”A disturbing laugh erupted from the other end before she received an answer. “Time to face the music, old-timer…” Coraline could hear the sound of footsteps, large metallic clanging, and the cry of the Captain as the line slowly went quiet. She was so close. A few moments later, the base was in sight. If they were still inside, she could stop whoever that was on the other end…But the door was wide open when she got there.Frantically, Coraline went through the base like a hurricane, searching for any sign of the Captain. And eventually, she did. Swinging open the door to the map room, Coraline saw a lone bamboozler on the ground, and that’s when it all hit her.The captain was kidnapped, and she wasn’t there to protect him.Picking the bamboozler up, Coraline held it in both hands and set it down on the side of the map of Octo Valley. She looked across the map, seeing what areas they had to visit still and what weapons were unaccounted for.Slowly, her sadness was replaced with anger and frustration. Agent 3 looked towards area 4, staring menacingly at the main base labeled on the map. Her determination flared, and she quietly declared, “I’ll save you, Captain. Just stay alive. Your grandsquids still need you.”