K is for Kamabo (Splatoon)

Chapter 3

Friday, 2:00 p.m.
Bottom of Mount Nantai

Natalie wiped the sweat off her forehead and peered up at the mountain looming before her. Mount Nantai was one of the high peaks on the border between Inkling and Octarian territory, normally a full day's hike even for someone as physically fit as Nat. And she had already powered through several hours of Octo Valley crags—after packing up her gear and taking a cab out of Inkopolis, she had walked the rest of the way here. Anyone else in her position would probably be exhausted from traveling and intimidated by the size of Nantai.

But Nat Tilus didn't like stopping for breaks. She didn't like stopping for anything. As she began her ascent, Nat focused her thoughts, driving away distractions, worries, and second guesses. If she got into trouble, then she would need her mind and body to work together at one hundred percent. That meant she couldn't afford to waste brainpower on any irrelevant concerns. Focusing her thoughts kept her mentally rested and ready, which was more than enough of a break.

At what she estimated to be 150 meters up, she stopped on the trail and unslung her pack. She zipped open her backpack on the ground and pulled out a black suitcase. Inside the suitcase was a host of surveillance gear—binoculars, a drone, a small tablet computer—and Nat removed a container of bark putty along with a point sensor beacon. Putting the tube of putty in her mouth and sticking the beacon in her pocket, she shimmied up a cypress tree. On the second-lowest branch, she fastened the point sensor beacon to the branch. Then, she pointed its camera towards the trail in the direction she came from and turned the beacon on. Finally, she squeezed the tube in her mouth and molded bark putty around the beacon's strap to better camouflage it on the tree. The point sensor beacons were hard to spot with the naked eye already, but the putty blended them in with their surroundings even more.

She climbed back down and picked up the tablet from her suitcase. She clicked the tablet on, and the screen revealed a video feed from her deployed beacon. These old, low-resolution cameras were outdated tech, but they got the job done well enough, letting her keep tabs on her surroundings and track anyone passing by. Concealable, cheap, and remotely destructible, the point sensor beacons were Nat's choice for quick, in-and-out jobs in places without existing surveillance infrastructure. Like a mountain in Octarian territory, for example.

Satisfied that the first beacon was working, Nat nodded to herself and packed her things back up before continuing down the trail. For an hour or so, she installed another beacon every few hundred meters, then abruptly broke off the trail to cut through the woods. After another hour of weaving through trees, clambering over rocks, and scaling inclines, she reached a small clearing with a cave. Here, she set up camp, unrolling her sleeping bag inside the cave and dumping her pillow on top. The former Agent 3 set up six more beacons in the trees around the clearing, then ate a granola bar while checking on them. They were all operational, with no activity detected thus far.

Nat plopped onto her pillow and closed her eyes, leaving the tablet running. She didn't want to go any further before the sun went down—if there really were Octarians on Mount Nantai, then she would need the cover of night to keep herself hidden. Furthermore, she had learned the hard way that it was important to get some shut-eye whenever possible. Nat hated staying in place for any length of time, but resting up and waiting for nightfall was probably the most productive thing she could do right now.

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Friday, 4:49 p.m.
Near the summit

Eight stared out the window of her cable car. The view was by all accounts beautiful, but Eight had never able to appreciate the wonders of nature. Where her friends saw gorgeous mountain vistas, Eight estimated round-trip hiking distances, and where her friends oohed and aahed at colorful sunsets, Eight searched for places where an enemy might hide in the coming darkness of night. To her, nature was just the set of conditions she had to deal with.