The Agents of the Squidbeak Splatoon: Aftermath of Octo Expansion

Chapter 3 - Bomb Rush Blush

Once they reached the surface, Itazura gawked at the surroundings in awe. Lorelei nudged him. "I'd say it's pretty cool."
"Yeah! You live up here?"
"Sure do! We are housed in an apartment."
Itazura took a moment to think. "I'm gonna have a looking around. Meet later?"
"Later!"
Itazura went off, being bombarded with many questions from kids in the Square. All of them were excited to see that octolings were finally being accepted into the surface, this being their second one.
Cherry wheezed and finally caught up with Lorelei, collapsing face forward. Lorelei snorted and helped her up.
"Don't—" Cherry said breathlessly, "do that again— wait, where did he go?"
Lorelei pointed at the crowd of children.
"..oh. Hey, we never went shopping like we said we would! Maybe-"
Cherry was interrupted by someone running towards them with a stern look on her face and a few popcorn crumbs on her cheeks.
"Where the heck did you guys go?!" Soda cried, pulling them both into a hug. "I thought you ran away!!"
Cherry bit her lip, trying to decide wether or not to tell her about Octavio. She should know, right? But... she didn't know why she didn't trust her with this information.
Lorelei looked at her expression and decided to stay quiet about the whole thing, though very hesitant. Soda let them go and wiped her eyes.
"What were you guys doing?" She asked, attempting to calm down.
"Shopping," Cherry shrugged. She nudged Lorelei and she flinched.
"A-ah, yes! Much of the purchase of clothes!"
Soda formed a smile. "Okay, that I get. You guys really need to wear comfy clothes."
My outfit is comfy, Cherry thought with defiance.
"...but it looks like you guys don't have any money to get anything. Here!" Soda pulled out her wallet. "I can pay until you guys get more money. I work at Grizzco!" She then beamed.
"Grizzco?" Lori and Cherry asked at the same time, Lorelei bursting into little giggles at that.
"It's a business where you work with three other people to stop Salmonids and get their eggs. It's super fun and scary!" Sodapop mused. "You guys are tough, so I bet it's the perfect job for you!"
Cherry and Lorelei exchanged glances. This sounded extremely sketchy.
Cherry also didn't expect someone like Soda to be doing something like that.
"Um. We'll consider it," Cherry said awkwardly. "Thanks, by the way. You don't have to."
"Anything for my heroes," Soda said nonchalantly.
Heroes? She must be insane, Cherry thought. If I were her, I'd be my own hero.
They then went off to shop for new clothing. Soda was being awfully friendly, which only made Cherry feel all the more guilty. She really shouldn't doubt her. She deserves to know.
Doesn't she?

After going on a shopping spree, the girls walked back out onto the square with loads of bags in their arms. Soda even got some stuff for herself.
"Hey, quick question," Cherry said towards Soda, Lorelei's expression full of curiosity and concern.
"Quick answer," Soda said back.
Cherry bit her lip. "How would you react if we told you.... um..."
Lorelei's eyes widened in alarm.
"...that we appreciated what you've done for us? You're very under appreciated, and wrongfully so."
Soda narrowed her eyes. "That's a weird way of complimenting someone... but... thanks."
There was a long awkward moment of silence before Soda snapped her fingers, almost dropping an armful of bags. "Oh, yeah! I need to introduce you guys to Callie and Marie!! They should be spectating the party tonight, so you might wanna get to know them."
"Okay," said Lorelei simply. Meanwhile, Cherry's heart skipped a beat. So they were here! It's been so long... she remembered being a lot younger and hanging out with them. She wouldn't have been able to steal the zapfish back without them. They were her best and pretty much only friends for a while..
"I already know them," Cherry piped up with a bit more excitement in her voice than intended. "But it's been so long that I can't remember much! What're we waiting for?!"
"Us to put our bags away," Soda sniggered.
Cherry's face went red. "O-oh, right. That."
Bags put away and new clothes on, the agents set out on a quest to find the squid sisters. Well, it wouldn't be too hard since Soda knew they way, but it felt like hours to Cherry. She was extremely excited.
Cherry was wearing a simple gray hoodie with contacts and blue slip ons. Lorelei had on a yellow sweatshirt with some sort of art on it, her special golden toothpick (where she got the idea that it was used to be put on her head, Cherry had no clue), and some golden sneakers of a popular brand Cherry wasn't aware of. Wait.. oh, yeah. Those were hi-horses. Golden ones.
Get a grip, Cherry.
Soda, however, was wearing a tank top with a cap and some crazy arrows. Those shoes were way too colorful for Cherry to look at.
"Anyways, have you guys ever thought of the Squid Sisters' name? I know them personally, they're cousins. So I was thinking... what if they called themselves the Calamari Cousins? Eh?" Cherry was saying, looking at Lorelei expectantly. The girl nodded.
"Yes, very catchy. Agree many."
"I think the Squid Sisters is just as catchy and iconic," Soda chimed in. "To me it feels like they chose that over something with cousins in it because they feel like sisters, yanno?"
She did have a point. Why hasn't Cherry thought of that?
Was she trying to say I'm STUPID?! No, she didn't say anything like that. Unless it was a hidden message...
"Agent 3, you look like you just ate a lemon whole," Lorelei giggled, pointing at Cherry's sour expression.
"Who? Me? Pfft, I've done that before. All part of my training."
"And when are Octarians ever gonna make you eat whole lemons?" Lorelei asked.
Cherry cursed under her breath. "...you wouldn't understand."
"I would. Very much, yes. It would be common sense to just shoot you and get it over with instead of torture you with lemons. Icky."
Finally, they arrived to some sort of manhole with a grate over the top. Soda stepped on it and turned towards Cherry's unamused expression and Lorelei's oblivious look.
"Alright, fellas. Here's the dealio. You gotta go through these grates by- you probably know, you guys have been through stuff like this."
"Yep," the two both said.
"Ehehe.. whatever, you'll be a lot more excited when I show you. C'mon!!"
Soda then saluted and fell through the grates with a splash. Lorelei made an 'ooo' sound before following. Cherry had no choice but to do so as well.