Accomplice

Glow

I pressed myself against the wall as octolings advanced towards me. My eyes widen, seeing the amounts of octolings in front of me.
An Elite octoling drops in front of me from a platform.

"Mie, get me that dose," the elite said to one of the octolings.

"Yes, my elite." the octoling said and pulled out a metal tray with a syringe. It had some pink gooey liquid inside it.

I began to panic and shift my fingers side to side, trying to find an escape route. Then the Elite pinned my arm to the wall.

"Hello, Callie. My name is Yuriko. I'll be your leader, and you will address me as your elite." The octoling gazed creepily at me and I flinched.

"Wh-what are you going to do with me?!" I scream.

"We're going to... ah, help you open up to the DJ's new tracks." Yuriko smiled and spun the syringe. With my exposed shoulders from my idol outfit I couldn't get away with whatever side effects the dose had.

"Tray," Yuriko said, and Mie came back with the metal tray. She placed the syringe on the tray and flapped her hands like she was telling her to go away.

Suddenly the pain kicked in my shoulder. My vision began to blur and, limb by limb, everything collapsed and numbed.

I fell to the ground and my eyes blurred before closing them shut. The last thing I heard was Yuriko's echoing laugh.

~*~

"You're all set now," Yuriko said, fastening the shades on my face. "Whew. Finally."

The shades whirred for a while before adjusting to my face. I finally see something, first some odd colourful swirls then finally everything.

"Welcome to the field team, Callie, or should I say, Elite C. You can call me Elite Y or Yuriko, Yuri or Riko, all that jazz." Yuriko laughed. "Now, allow me to introduce you to your soldiers and teammates."

I stared at a sheet of paper on the wall next to a big square of perfectly lined octolings.

Members of the Octoling Attack Crew
• Natsumi
• Mie
• Yua
• Miqia
• Sorei
• Hiyonya
• Kebako
• Ao
• Jūmisa-n
• Sumika
• Mishikō

I admired the girl with the name Hiyonya. I felt like she and I would be pretty impressive mutuals.

As if someone was reading my mind, an octoling walked up to me.

"Heya, Elite C. I'm Hiyonya~" she giggled.

"Damnit, I pushed my luck," I muttered.

"Hm?~" Hiyonya grinned. When I didn't answer she continued. "So you're the new recruit. Hm. Elite Y doesn't always recruit new elites~" Hiyonya placed her hand on the wall next to the paper and put her other hand in her hip.

"Oh and, call me Hiyo, to save time." she added with a kinky smile that made me cringe. I slowly backed away. "I'm going to Elite Y now." I say to her. "Bye, Hiyo." I sigh. What was Yuriko thinking when she was recruiting these... weirdos?

Then I bump into Yuriko. "S-sorry." I apologize. Yuriko brushes her shoulder. "It's no worries. I was looking for you." she replies. "I have some news that I'd like to give to everyone here."

"Oh. What is it?"

"Agent 10 and 11 are coming." Yuriko replies.
What?

The room filled with gasps. The entire attack crew witnessed the announcement before the designated time.

Then what I thought looked like Natsumi gasped. "GREAT~ Let's show the Squidbeak Splatoon who they're messing with!" she screamed.

Kebako grinned. "Of course! Elite C, what else shall we do!" she snarled happily, almost getting quite the look from Hiyonya.

All eyes darted at me. "Uhhhh.." I look at Yuriko. She nods at me and stares at the crowd now looking at me like a thousand dogs waiting for their treat. "W-well.. why don't we just train?" I reply. "We can train and train before the time comes, and--"

"Elite C... they're coming today." Yuriko cuts me off with worse news.

Everyone gasps again.

"Today? It can't be THAT early." I gasp.

Yuriko shakes her head sadly. "Of course it's that early. The Echolocator sensed them just now." She replied.

Great, I just reunited with my family. Why are those stupid Squidbeak Splatoon squidiots trying to squidnap me?! Then I proceed to sit on the floor anxiously.

"Don't worry," said Yuriko. "They are just newbies. We can defeat them."

By now I should've expected a boom, crash, beep, something to signify that the Agents have arrived. But I don't see anything. Everyone is just staring at me.

"Th-they are NOT coming." I stiffen my shoulders. "I don't hear anything."

"There's something wrong," Yua replied. "I can't exactly sense them anymore."

The air feels cool. Everything engulfed in silence.

No one had arrived.

We had been sitting there... waiting

p a t i e n t l y .

fin. ~