Agent 38: In The Making

Chapter 32: Shenanigans

*Minor side note: AGENT 4 POV BUCKLE UP*
     See, Agent 3 was the type of guy who rarely let himself have fun. So when a miraculous Octoling sauntered into his best friend's life, smashed down his 5,000-foot thick wall, and revealed the true Alexander... Well, Aaron was about ready to be her lifelong servant if Eight ever wanted it and lick her boots for the rest of eternity. Aaron was the guy who was always considered the fun, comedian guy he wanted to be seen as. He was the one who endlessly took a jackhammer to Alex's wall and tried to drill through it, but to no avail. So when he relented to Eight... He snatched him by the wrist and sprinted full-tilt to the nearest costume store.
     Aaron burst through the doors of the massive warehouse and smiled, with Alex panting and wheezing behind him. Eight came through the doors a moment later with a small purse slung across her left shoulder. She stared at the warehouse with wide eyes full of wonder, exactly the wonder he wanted to see.
     Finally finally finally! Aaron thought excitedly. I can finally welcome my best friends to my world and show them what fun is like! YES!
     Three was also staring at the costumes and masks and hats and suits with a much less excited expression. It almost dimmed his mood, but then he remembered that nothing dimmed his mood and he was always confident and happy and never got sad.
     "Couldn't you have let us change before you dragged me here?" Alex grumbled, glaring down at his singed clothing and Eight's burnt body. "We look like homeless people."
     "NOPE!" Aaron said. "I am not going to waste any time at all because I know you would change your mind. Let's go!" He quickly led them to his favorite aisle in the store, since it was the longest and had a variety of absolutely everything that was stored on the racks of the warehouse. He remembered his mother bringing him to this exact aisle for the first time his first Splatoween, when he was about three years old and two feet tall. He remembered the ecstatic excitement that coursed through his half-formed veins like lightning, charging him to walk the entire aisle without stopping once. He'd dressed up as a zombie that first time.
     The second time, he'd been a werewolf. The third time, an "evil" Octoling. The fourth time, Squidenstein. The fifth time, a villain from a comic he'd read about earlier in 2nd grade, and so on, and so on. Aaron turned and saw Eight staring around the massive aisle with wide-eyed fascination; even Alex looked a little overwhelmed. He led them to the basic area with all of the  beginner costumes and gave a few suggestions as to what they should wear. They were lucky the costumes came in all sizes, or it would be very hard to find costumes for the couple. Eight had a very attractive body; she was a beautiful hourglass shape with perfect proportions to every part of her.
     Alexander was probably the guy everyone read about in stories; he was dark, brooding, mysterious, kind, compassionate, brave, courageous, and devastatingly handsome. He had a muscular shape with slightly broad shoulders, a slim, muscular waist, and perfectly toned legs.
     As Aaron led them through the aisle, Eight abruptly stopped, snatched a costume pack to which he nor Alex saw, and hid the name and example picture of it from Alex while he told Aaron what it was. He was extremely pleased when she explained. A little while later, as they neared the end of the aisle, Three chose out a very impressive and detailed vampire costume pack and seemed very happy about it, although he tried to hide it. It gave Aaron a breakthrough of hope that Alexander had maybe always wanted to do something for Splatoween but never found the courage to.
     Aaron showed them to the end of the aisle that was chock-full of horror videogames. It was his favorite place in the ENTIRE WAREHOUSE. Like, seriously, who WOULDN'T love literal mounds of videogames!? And videogames designed to jumpscare you, no less! Anyone who didn't like videogames seriously needed to be forced to play one until their brains were corrected.
     "Woah." Three breathed, eyebrows raised. "You really are a videogame addict, aren't you, Aaron?"
     He laughed. "Heck yes, dude! Videogames are life!" Aaron turned and nudged Eight's shoulder. "I gotta teach you how to play one sometime."
     She smiled. "I'd like that lot. But... why are we in the videogames section?"
     He reddened with embarrassment. "Um... I guess I like to look at them?"
     They both laughed, which warmed his hearts. The trio quickly made their way to the check out section where they bought the costumes and left. Three and Eight said they'd go back to the apartment and meet him at his house after they had changed, but he said it was fine, and they could come over even if they looked like a mess.
     Aaron lived near the crowded places of Inkopolis because he'd found a townhome that was right down the street from the costume warehouse, a comic book shop, and his favorite videogame shop, SquidStop. It was crowded because it was right around the corned from the Deca Tower, which was also a massive advantage, since the walk from his house to all the hustle and bustle was rather short. He opened the door and sauntered into his house with Alex and Eight close behind him. His house had a preferable layout; the dining room (The table was littered with computers and tablets) was just to the left of the front door with the kitchen beyond it, and the living room was to the right. He had an absolutely massive TV with two Nintendo Switches beneath it, along with a mass of chargers and cables and power strips and cords.
     From the front door, you could see into the hallway that led past the kitchen. The first door on the left of the hallway contained the bathroom, and right across from it on the other side of the hall was the guest bedroom. If you walked all the way into the hall, you'd end up in the master bedroom; a huge bedroom that had always been and would continue to be 15% bedroom and 85% gaming room. His bed lay in the corner, messy and unmade, while the rest of the room was quite neat and filled with stacks of videogame packs, thin plastic boxes that contained either disks or chips that could be inserted into a Nintendo Switch or an Xbox or a PS5.
     They remained in the living room for the sole purpose of not tripping over every remote control he had in his room (Also because it would be embarrassing to show his best friends how messy he could be). Aaron dug through a big box of videogames that lay next to the mass of cables and found "Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity" in it. With a smile, he put the chip in the Nintendo, slid it into the console, and unclipped the Joy-Cons from the sides so he could teach Eight how to play. He sat down on the couch on Eight's right side while Alexander sat on her left and handed her the neon pink Joy-Con that matched her hair's color.
     He kept the neon green Joy-Con in his hand and booted up the game, quickly explaining the backstory and controls to her while a cutscene of  Urbosa and Zelda played. They were mere seconds into the videogame battle when Eight started smashing buttons and decimating everything in her sight as Impa. The character's controls were complicated, so apparently she maybe had played a videogame before, in her past life as an Octarian solider. He was actually quite impressed, and found it funny because she bit her lip quite hard when she was about to deliver a fatal blow or go on a killing thrust.
     After almost an hour of playing and nearly getting to the end, she put down the controller, politely told him she didn't want to play anymore, and settled against Three with a sigh. First they talked about Splatoween, and it took Aaron every ounce of his will not to start rambling excitedly about it. Then the conversation drifted into the Sanitized Empire. Eight quickly started to look uncomfortable, but she didn't say anything about it and carried on with the conversation.
     "I feel like we should go train in the Metro." She said suddenly. He and Alex turned to stare at her with bewildered eyes. "Look, I hate it more than anyone here, but my training down there helped me to become a better Agent. I think we have to go down there if we want to win against the Empire."
     Three visibly tensed up, and his eyes drifted towards the TV as if he were thinking about the options.
     "I vote we don't go down there," Aaron tried. "Just to be safe. And, no offense, but look what happened to Three after you two were there. I don't want the other Agents in danger."
     "Neither do I." Three said. "It's too dangerous. We'd be risking the lives of everyone coming with us, and probably resparking some old trauma, too."
     Eight sighed. "I'm going to suggest it, just to see what the Squid Sisters and Cuttlefish say." She said stubbornly. "I suspect it'll be a no, but it's worth a try."
     Three shrugged, although Aaron could tell he was trying to hide how unsettled he was. "We need to get back to the apartment... Can't be clogging up your place all night long."
     "You're always welcome to stay, if you like." He said. "But I'm a bit messy, in case you haven't noticed."
     "It's ok, we'll go." Eight said with a smile. "G'night, Four."
     He walked them out and led the couple to their apartment, then left to go back to his.
     Aaron trotted back home through the deserted Square, humming a tune from a videogame so the darkness wouldn't freak him out.
     Shuffle shuffle said the shadows.
     Four instantly paused and glanced around, looking for the maker of the noise. There was no one on the benches, or near Grizzco's shack, nor in the dark alleyway. No one in the manhole either.
     What...? He thought, confused. Am I hearing things? Or... is someone watching me?
     But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it.
     A Sanitized Octoling, peeking its head out from the Deca Tower.

Hilo! Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter is Agent 8 POV btw
Word count: 1792