Through It All... (Agent 8 x Agent 3) [FINAL BOOK]

Chapter 10 ~ The Malfuntioned Mask

Agent 3's (Sarah's) P.O.V:

My adrenaline was pumping as I swam through the ink, making sure not to lose track of the inkling boy and girl we were trying to save. Not to mention Mike as well. I'd hate to lose him in all  this warfare.

I could still hear all of the shooting and explosions of ink going on around us due to the battle raging on.

As we continued to swim down the street through the ink, we had realized that this battle in this part of Inkopolis was raging on around us, in a certain radius. I was shocked to figure this out to say the least. "How could the battle have gotten so big, so fast?!" I thought to myself in my head as I tried to drown out the sounds from around us.

"Sarah! I'll ask for help!" Mike exclaimed, popping out of the ink he was swimming in and stopping in front of a truck that had just got there.

The octoling quickly asked if they were able to take the inkling boy and girl back to the shelter, back to safety. Not only that but it seemed as if Mike had asked for a spare weapon, and got handed (luckily) another roller they had in the back. The soldier driving the military truck had seemed to understand and agree, even as he looked around flinching at the loud, echoing gunshots going around.

"Let's go!" I called to the two inklings, who rose up from the ink along with us. They followed us immediately as I quickly led them to the military truck.

"Here get in!" The soldier gestured inside, frantically moving his hand. The inkling boy and girl looked over at us, and even though I couldn't hear their drowned out voices, I could tell they were giving us their thanks. The inkling soldier shut the door and quickly drove back to the shelter, getting the two civilians to safety as fast as possible.

"Sarah! Take cover!" Mike yelled, quickly sprinting to me and tackling me down onto the floor suddenly. We both landed with a splash, since our whole bodyweight came down suddenly, the ink on the floor splashed suddenly. I hadn't even noticed what happened until I hear the ink shot go off. My eyes widened as I saw a high pressured string of ink soar through the sky and hit the place where I was standing. "You almost got hit," Mike said worryingly, his breath picked up the pace.

I was breathing heavily, the sounds of warfare going on all around us. Even though I should be able to handle this, why did this feel overwhelming?

"L-Let's take cover," I stated loud enough so that Mike was able to hear me. The octoling nodded and quickly led me somewhere safer, somewhere where I was out of the charger's sight.

He led me inside an abandoned convenience store. There were racks of snacks fallen over and food all over the floor. It looked like a mess.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked, placing his hands firmly on my shoulder. I lifted my hand up to place above his and nodded reassuringly. "I'm okay, I'm just a little unnerved." I gripped onto my Splattershot Pro harder.

Mike tried giving me a warming smile in return, and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm glad babe. I can't blame you, after all, we are in war right now."

I nodded.

"But we do have to continue fighting. There are plenty of soldiers out there losing their lives as we speak. We can't afford to have so many casualties."

"I understand. Let's go." I responded, putting my game face on.

Agent 8's (Mike's) P.O.V:

As I charged forward with my roller, trying my best to avoid getting hit, I took a moment to observe the enemy's locations. There was a frontline charging through the main street, aggressive Octarian soldiers with rollers, brushes and any other close combat weapon. However I noticed that the long distance soldiers, the chargers more specifically, were camping on top of the surrounding buildings, taking out several of our soldiers.

It was scary seeing other people losing their lives right next to me. It's weird however, I've splatted Octarians, my own kind, many times before...So why do I feel worse seeing inkling get splatted? I think I'm messed up, or maybe it's just the anger of what they're doing to ruin my new life.

I do want to liberate them, both the inklings and octarians, I really do. Unfortunately, due to this Great Turf War II, it will be costing lives.

"Everyone!" I yelled, the gunshots still going on throughout the battlefield. "There are chargers camping out in the side buildings picking us off one by one!"

Everyone who had heard me had understood, and almost immediately after, a few inkling soldiers began to raid the side buildings in an effort to stop the chargers, while the foot soldiers kept fighting on ground level. 

I super jumped to another nearby roof after spotting where one of the charges were sitting and began charging at the octarian.

"H..Hey! You shouldn't be up here!" The Octarian cried out, trying it's best to shoot at me and splat me. He was doing that thing where the charger didn't have enough time to shoot a full powered shot, so it was spamming weak yet quick shots in an effort to get me. 

As I swam towards the enemy in front of me, I swung my roller every second or so to create a zigzag pattern, making it harder for me to get hit. 

"H..Hey! W..Wait!" The soldier cried out, dropping his weapon and raising his hands, telling me he surrendered. "I'm not brainwashed!"

As I jumped out to deliver the final blow, I quickly moved my body in a way so that my roller wouldn't connect with his body, or for the ink to miss him. 

"What was that..?" I asked again, looking at him and raising a brow.

My eyes widened as he sat down and raised his hands to his face, placing them on his Octarian goggles. Slowly, he took it off, revealing his eyes, a pure look of fear in them. 

"You're...not brainwashed..." I whispered softly to myself, still trying to take it in.

The Octarian soldier lowered himself so that he was out of sight of everyone but me, and I followed along. I was so confused yet surprised as to how he has been back to normal. Could it be possible he heard the Calamari Inkantation..?

"I'm not...I haven't been for awhile.."

"H..How..?" I asked, trying to figure out the answer behind my question.

"I'm not exactly so...sure," He stared at the goggles in hand. "I believe it might've had a malfunction..But I'm not 100% sure on it.." 

If it were a malfunction, I'd consider him the luckiest Octoling since it almost never happens. But why is he still fighting against us..?

"If you're wondering why I'm still fighting you guys, it's only to blend in with the Octarian Army..." He sighed. "I had hoped that with this battle, I'd be able to escape and stay here on the surface where everything is a lot better..."

"It was a lot better, well, until now," I added. 

"But aren't you an Octarian too?"

"Yeah, I'm allied with the inklings," I explained to him. "I managed to arrive to the surface awhile back, learned the ropes and now I'm fighting here."

He tugged on my sleeve.

"My name is Drake, what's yours?"

"Oh it's uh, Mike."

"Say Mike, do you think that you can help..."

"...free myself from the Octarians?"

~

A.N. I'm sorry if the writing got bad near the end of the chapter, I'm just really tired :P

Word Count: 1285