Missing Agent

Chapter 3

The captain was still thinking about what the blind octoling had said when the trio meet themselves face to face with a furry blob. 

"Okay, shouldn't be much of a problem.", Three said, digging into her pouch and pulling out a few golden eggs. She tossed them into the blob, and the small fry that accompanied her ran towards the blob. With the scent of the eggs in mind, he ate up the blob, furry free. Four stared in awe with her mouth open, and the captain nodded in an approving manner. They all continued into the town slowly and cautiously. A few octarians decided to mess with them, they defeated them. A few more blobs covered the way, the small fry ate that. But still no signs of Eight. Until they found an octoling. She was sitting on a rooftop, scouting the area.

"HEY!", Four yelled. Captain Three got startled.

"What are you doing?! You're going to get us splatted!", she said covering the agent's mouth. But it was to late, the octoling had already spotted them. She exclaimed something in octoling and jumped down to greet the trio. Three pointed her stringer at the octoling. 

"Don't try anything!", she growled, baring her teeth. Her small fry also yapped and growled at the enemy. The Octoling held her ground. Four shoved Three aside.

"Okay! Thanks Miss pointy arrow thing! I've got this. Hi there fuzzy octo! Look, we're looking for another octoling, and she hopefully isn't fuzz-i-fied. She's about yea tall and yee wide, and she usually has pink ink?", Four said, giving gestures to explain Eight. The octoling just looked confused. Three glared at Four, and Captain Three thought. 

"Hold on, let me try...", she said clearing her throat. Four chuckled and Three was still glaring at her fellow agent. 

"Uh, hi?", she said in octoling. The octarian stepped back in shock.

"You can speak octarian?", she asked.

"Yes, I can speak your language. My friend taught me."

"And you understand?"

"Yes, I will understand everything you say."

"Interesting"

"We are looking for someone."

"Who? Wait a minute..", she paused. A look of desperation washed over the octoling. She grabbed onto Captain Three's shoulders.

"Look, octolings and octararians are being captured and tested on. I was one of the lucky ones that survived. I don't know who is doing this or why, but can we please have a truce between us octarians and inklings? Please? We need help!", she cried out.

"Don't worry, we will accept your truce. We will help. But, if we help you, can you help us?", Captain Three said, taking her hands into the Octoling's. She nodded, and wiped her tears away.

"You are a lot kinder than Octavio said you were. But, I will help you find your friend. What's her name and what does she look like?", she said taking her glasses off, revealing bright orange eyes. 

"She has pink eyes, pink ink, she's about 5 and a half feet tall, and she was left behind here when everyone evacuated.", Captain Three said. 

"Hmm...I don't think I've seen her. But maybe someone around has. Follow me.", the octoling said. The captain nodded and turned to the others. Four had her mouth gaped open and Three stared impressed. 

"Since when did you know Octarian?", Four exclaimed. The captain rolled her eyes.

"Eight taught me when we sent letters to each other. She also gave me some lessons when we visited each other. Now come on, we're following her.", she said, following the octoling. 

Meanwhile...

Back at the bench were Ilyzia sat, she was humming to herself, enjoying the peace and quiet of her surroundings. She had been thinking about her strange encounter with the agents. But the Captain interested her the most. It was true that Eight had talked her ears off about Eight, but it was a fascinating story non the less. Ilyzia sighed and closed her eyes. She could understand why Eight...no, that part she could never say out loud, but, oh would she love to be there when the two would meet. She opened her eyes and stared into the sky. But a scream pierced the air, and she disappeared from her spot on that bench. All that remained, was a drop of ink on the ground, the same color of cotton candy.

"You sure this is a good idea, Cap?", Four asked, walking faster to match the captain's pace. But she didn't hear her. Something was bothering her, something she hadn't told anyone. Ever since the battle with Tar-Tar, the evil telephone thing, she'd been feeling...different. Every now and again, her fingertips would burn, and a blue ooze would start forming. A few minutes later, it would crawl up her face and burn as well. She could feel the ooze trying to take control of her, but she resisted, every time. She would always end up passing out from exhaustion, but the goo would go away. Well, her fingertips started to burn, and she was getting worried. She couldn't just pass out when she was on an important mission like this! She touched the blue scar on her left cheek. Agent Four once pointed out that she looked like a character from a show. What was it called? The...the something house. What was the character's name though? Hunter?She pushed the though aside and stuffed her hands inside her pockets. This was not the time to think about some show about a girl in another world, right now was the time to think of a way to avoid passing out!

"Cap? Captain? Earth to Captain Three? Hello?", Four said again, waving her hand. 

"What? Oh, sorry. My mind is just...wandering.", Captain Three replied, looking down. 

"Uh-huh. Well, never mind, keep wandering.", Four said slowing down to match Three's pace. The Captain didn't notice and winced at the burning pain flowing through her finger tips. Four eyed Captain Three suspiciously, tapping on Three's shoulder.

"Hey, is it just me, or is the captain acting a bit...off?", she said turning to face her fellow agent. Three nodded.

"She's kinda just been...in her own world. It's not like her to do that.", she replied.

"Do you think something's wrong?"

"Maybe, I don't know."

"I tried talking to her, and she just spaced out. So weird."

"...You ever think what would happen if an octoling and an inkling got together?"

"Oh! Oh, I knew that I would like you! I've been thinking the same thing actually."

" Has it even happened before? An inter species relationship?"

"Yea, I'd say so. I mean, take 'Off the Hook' for example. Pearl and Marina have been getting along nicely."

"I guess...but that's idle stuff! This is Agent stuff! Or if others meet us, regular citizens stuff! Don't you think that Eight and the Captain might be prone to more criticism, because they're just normal residents to others? And then there's the fact that they're both girls! I'm just worried for them...", Three said crossing her arms. Four frowned.

"That's true.", she said. They continued walking side-by-side, following the octoling and the captain. Meanwhile, Captain Three was struggling to keep her strength, for the control was growing stronger. The ooze had already consumed her hands, and it burned badly. She tried to think of other things to distract her, but nothing came into mind. Then, she thought of Eight. Her smile, her laugh, her hugs, everything about her. Captain Three started to feel warm and fuzzy inside, in the good way. The pain started to recede, and so did the ooze. It moved back to just her fingertips, the burn only feeling like running fingertips through semi-hot liquid. The captain didn't think about how thinking about Eight worked, but it did, and that's all that mattered at the moment. Especially so, because they had just arrived at the base camp of the fuzzy octarians.