Boy from Nowhere

Rise of the Octarians!

Nemesis let out a yell as he pulled his gun from its holster, drilling the target in front of him with ink. It imploded with a satisfying thump under the steady stream of fire.

"C'mon, lad! You're so close, don't you slack off now!" He grinned, switching forms and charging up a superjump. Rocketing into the air, he switched back into his Inkling form, landing in front of the captain.

"And that's time!" The young male groaned as he straightened up, a tired smile creeping onto his lips as he shook out his legs.

"Anything for the scoreboards?"

"Not quite, but you're still going strong, lad. That's impressive by any standard, we'll probably have you battle ready within the month. You're dismissed, go shower and we'll start on food." The smile faded from his face, replaced by a weak grimace.

"Yessir." His hearts clenched a little as he set the gun down. Too slow. The ink tank was unslung from his shoulders, thunking gently against the ground. Weak. Then the jacket, exposing his shoulders to the cool mountain air as he folded it neatly. Useless. "Could I go for a little jog before that? I think I need to wind down some more, my hearts can't really keep up yet."

"That's fine. Just try to get back before dinner starts or I'll eat your portion too." The captain chuckled a little.

"Will do, captain."

— — —

Nemesis panted as he jogged slowly along one of the ridges, his abdomen still aching from his superjump practice. Coils of anger wound tightly around his chest, forcing him on despite his fatigue. Some soldier you are. You won't be ready by the month's end, I think we both know that. Sea slug.

"Can it..." He hissed to himself, taking a ragged breath in. The orange-gold hues of the setting sun flung themselves weakly against the dark gray stone, casting long twisted shadows across his path. One wrong step and he could slip right over the edge. Coming to a shaky stop, the Inkling dropped to a knee. His chest heaved as he took shaky breaths, struggling to draw in air.

A quiet hum caught his attention, low and rumbling. The hum of machinery. Nemesis instinctively reached for his weapon, but his fingers brushed against an empty holster. Oh, damn. He'd left his gun back at the shack, and there was no chance he'd be making it back in time. His eyes scanned the surroundings for any place to hide, a tree, an overhang, anything... but the ridge was nearly completely exposed from every direction. Calm down... don't panic, think...

The hum grew louder, forcing the young male to scramble for the nearest cluster of rocks he could find. Peeking over the top, the agent scanned the valley below for the source of the noise.

There, under the massive octopus formation in the distance. Two disks emerged from under the massive stone structure far in the distance. Several little figures slowly wandered over their flat tops, their features smudged and fuzzy from such a distance. Odd... he'd never heard anything from that direction before now. Or seen anybody, for that matter.

As they approached and their details came into focus, he blanched. A massive bloated beast with a little helicopter helmet floated just above one, flanked by several smaller ones that looked like misshapen tentacles. Their bodies were puffed up painfully, almost like fish pulled up from the depths of the oceans. He hoped they didn't smell as strongly as his deepwater prey did.

But even compared to the malformed tentacular figures, what stood on the other disk truly unnerved him. Five people, somewhat Inkling-like in shape. All of them were decked out in what appeared to be metal armor, their faces partially obscured by thick, red tentacles and a set of goggles. The ancient enemy of the Inklings, alive and in the flesh.