Underground Escape

The Discovery

It was a regular day in Splatsville for everyone but the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Nobody was aware of what the day's events would bring to everyone.

.          .          .

Callie had caught a cold, so Marie stayed at home to take care of her.

"Just making sure she gets the rest she needs instead of going out watching the latest turf war battles and news and whatnot," she said to the Captain, who had come to visit to make sure everything was okay.

"So you want us to patrol and clean the entirety of Alterna ourselves? What about sites 5 and 6? You guys aren't even gonna be there!" Captain exclaimed. Boy, this is gonna be a lot of work. And just near my free days!  Captain thought.

"I know this is hard on you, and that it was supposed to be our turn, but please watch over Alterna for us for the time being."

It was almost impossible for Captain to be mad. He was a kind and understanding type of inkling. "I guess so, ok."

"Thank you so mu-"

"But you'll make up the days that I patrolled for you, right?" a smile spread on his face. He also knew how to make things fair. Marie sighed, "Alright, it's a deal."

"Yes! Tell Callie I say Get Well Soon!" He skipped out the door.

"Stay safe and good luck!" Marie shouted back.

If I can just get through the next three or four days without any problem, then I'll get an even longer break from work! It'll be totally worth it! the captain eagerly thought. He secretly entered the kettle to Alterna when nobody was looking.

"Watcha smilin' about?" asked agent 4 once Captain arrived in Alterna. She knew something was up; everyone knew. Captain didn't usually smile.

Always punctual,  he thought to himself, before announcing, "If we all work hard over these next few days while Callie is sick, we get extra free days!" he opened his hands wide in exaggeration.

"WHAT?? HOW DID YOU CONVINCE MARIE??" she blurted.

"We've gotta work hard. I need that break! There's lots of stuff I can finally get done if I get it," said agent 8, determined as always.

4 leaned on the wall, "These next few days are gonna be so easy. All we gotta do is clean up the sites. Their actually haven't been many octarians lately!"

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," 3 walked in.

Captain said sternly, "Your lucky we didn't start yet."

3 sighed and said, "My Grizzco shift took too long. Of course, we had an Xtrawave on the day I requested no, but at least I got good pay." 3 had some issues with money, so he tried balancing many jobs. Often 4 supported him.

Captain sighed and said, "Alright, moving on.." he announced the sites everyone was assigned today.

"4, you're site 1."

"Yes!" she cracked her knuckles.

"3, sites 2 and 5"

"Aw c'mon man, I don't want to do an extra-" 3 stopped upon seeing Captain glare at him.

"And 8, sites 3 and 6. I'll do site 4."

"Ok."

"Alright, let's go!" They all super jumped to their assigned patrol areas.

.          .          .

Captain was cleaning sector 4, ridding it of any leftover fuzzy ooze. It reminded him of the battle with Mr. Grizz. He still remembered every moment of that battle; Gramps, agent 3, Calamari Inkantation 3MIX, the fuzzy ooze again, DJ Octavio, Deep Cut, and everything else that occurred along the way.

He was almost finished tidying the site when he noticed multiple loot anchors in a straight line. He immediately became suspicious. He started shooting them cautiously.

After years of experience in the New Squidbeak Splatoon, he had developed a strong instinct of when something was wrong. He called the others from his transceiver.

"Hey guys, are you finished? I need some help over here."

"Sure, I'm finished." 4 replied, "I'll head over." She quickly super jumped over to Captain. She took in the sight and whistled. "Yikes. Did this just appear?"

"Yep. I've never seen anything like it."

"Want me to call Marie?"

"Nah. She'll be busy with Callie. Let's not bother her."

"Alright. I'll contact the others, though, so they know what's up.

.          .          .

Time skip: evening

Everyone was exhausted from the day's work. "Who knew there could be so many loot anchors in just one site..." 8 almost whispered.

They had all spent the afternoon shooting the thousands of loot anchors once they finished cleaning their assigned sites. It had, however, taken the Captain an hour of decision making for him to declare shooting the loot anchors safe.

"We should just camp out here tonight. I'm too tired to go home," stated 3. Everyone agreed. They all set up a tent they brought from site 1 and made a little fire.

"We're gonna have to clean this all up in the morning..." Captain spoke as he set up the tent.

"It'll be totally worth it, though. This is awesome!" said 4, collapsing onto a pillow.

They set up camping bags and quickly fell asleep, skipping dinner. They all woke up, however, to the sound of a horn.

"w-w-what was that.." whispered 4.

Captain motioned to them, saying for them to get into his tent so they could talk. 3 and 8 brought their blankets to hide in, and 4 brought her pillow, to fall asleep on.

"There's definitely something going on here. First, the loot anchors, now this. I think we should-"

"ESCAPE," 8 nearly shouted. "Shhhh!" 3 frantically told her. 4 had fallen asleep already.

Captain rolled his eyes at the drama. "No, we can't escape - 4, WAKE UP - we're here to solve this issue. We've got to get to the bottom of this. Now go change into your hero suits, and then get back in here quickly. I don't want you guys being noticed by anyone, if there is anyone out there."

They did so, and went back into the tent. "We're going to get out on the count of three. Be prepared to shoot the enemy if there is one. On my mark," the Captain commanded in a whisper. "One, two, three!" They all jumped out and shot at nothing. 

"Omg please don't tell me this was just a false ala-WHOA WHOA WHOA SOMEBODY HELP M-" 4 fell into the ground beneath, which closed up what was a hole a second ago.

"4! What are we gonna do now? We have to save her! C'mon! Dig a hole or something!" He was about to bend down until something pulled him in too, just like 4.

In a split second, he was gone.

"8, stay alert. Don't let anything suck you i-" he went in to.

8 was all alone, one of her biggest fears. She gripped her octoshot and looked at the ground, unsure but ready to defend herself. She wanted to see what had pulled the others in. After what seemed like forever, she felt a - it was a hand! It wasn't something, someone was pulling them all in. On purpose. And she had an idea of who it might be.