Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tsukasa eavesdrops on a Emu and Saki are having.

“HAHAHA, are you two talking about ME and HOW GREAT I AM?!”

Setsuna retorts, “Uch so loud”

Setsuna and Saki start attacking Tsukasa because of his breach of privacy. He quickly dodges, “Whoa whoa whoa whoa!”

(Emu says nothing, she just has the :0 emotion on her face.)

Tsukasa’s mini bunny plush falls out of his pocket because of all of the dodging. “Ah my rabbit!” he says, as he and Saki turn around to see it rolling away. Saki uses her dualie dodge rolls to chase after it, saying, “Leave it to me Oniichan!” Tsukasa watches her.

“Wow!” Emu watches in awe. Tsukasa is only worried about his bunny, even if he could live without it.

Setsuna interjects, “You think rolling will help?!”

Tsukasa, being an idiot as always, somersaults along with Saki “I’ll chase it too!!” he says.

“JUST RUN AFTER IT!” Setsuna says annoyed.

Setsuna, irritated and Emu, amazed watch as the Tenma siblings go straight into the Grizzco building.

“OOOH they went into that creepy building!” Emu exclaims.

Tsukasa and Saki find themselves inside of an area they’ve never seen before. They look around, confused.

In the plaza, Leo/need notices, “Oh!” “That place is…!” Setsuna and Emu look confused.

As soon as the Golden and Peach inkings enter, a bear shaped radio suddenly says, “Right on time kid, I’ve got work for ya” Saki, surprised, says, “What?” While Kasa observes, “A talking wooden bear!”

“Good luck out there, kid” the bear continued. Saki questions, “What? What do you mean?”

Suddenly, the pair find themselves wearing rubber boots and gloves, a rubber smock, a Grizzco branded hat, and an inner tube-shaped ink tank, standing on a boat. “What?” Saki repeats.

“We’re on a boat!” Tsukasa says.
*insert meme here*

Tsukasa peaks around a corner to find Akito, who acts the complete opposite of Tsukasa.

“WHATTTTT?!?!” Saki exclaims, once more.

“It’s Akito!”

Extremely irritated, Aki yells, “WHAT IS TENMA DOING HERE?!”

“Quiet.” The trio look to their left to find Toya sitting there.

“TOYA?!” Akito says.

“Omg toya hiiii!” Saki says, excited to see her brother’s childhood friend.

“WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING WORKING AT THIS PART TIME JOB?!” Akito yells.

“Part time job?” the other three asked.

“THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!!”

“I have a part time job at wahoo world. THIS SHOULD BE A BREEZE FOR A STAR SUCH AS MYSELF!” Tsukasa says.

“Look, it’s not like that.” Akito says, covering his ears.

*A tune plays on the boat’s loudspeaker.*

Rushing, Akito says, “Just hurry up! Follow me!” as they all superjump off the boat. “Where are we going?” Saki asks as they make their ascent.
“Spawning grounds!” Akito says, mid-flight.

When the group lands, they find themselves in a deserted terrain with a basket sitting in the dead center.

When the four land, they scope out the area. “Where are we?”, Tsukasa curiously asks.

“Hm.” Toya remarks.

“It doesn’t look good in a photo, either.” Saki comments, looking for a good selfie angle.

“Are you guys tourists or something?!” Akito rolls his eyes.

Akito shoves everyone's weapons. Tsukasa, a Splattershot. Saki, Splat Dualies. Toya, a Splatterscope. And Akito had already brought his own Dynamo roller.

“Here they come!” Akito shouts.

Chapter Text

After their Salmon Run shift, which, by the way, was a struggle. Literal chaos. Fortunately the four made it.

“Time's up! Quota fulfilled!” The Bear statue, Mr. Grizz says.

“Oh, The salmonids are leaving.” Saki notices.

“Of course! Goodbye Salmons!” Tsukasa says.

“Not bad” Toya comments.

“Now I can buy the CD I wanted!” Akito says, looking more excited than he ever has.

“Well done, that's the last of them, now get back into the boat.” Grizz continues.

“Yeah, let's go back.” Akito says.

The four proceed to super jump back to the boat, but as they land, they notice that one inkling is missing.

“WAIT WHERE DID TSUKASA GO?!” Saki exclaims.

The three on the boat look down at the water to see Tsukasa drowning in the sea.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH” Tsukasa screams.

The boat starts to make its way back to Inkopolis. Leaving behind the struggling inkling.

“Move the boat over to him.”

“The boat is returning automatically!”

“Tsukasa!!”

Those were the last things Tsukasa heard before he blacked out.

...

...

...

...

When Tsukasa wakes up, he finds himself deep underground, a strange figure approaching him. “An inkling…?” the mysterious person asks.

Chapter Text

“An inkling…?” the mysterious person asks.

Tsukasa gains full consciousness. The figure comes to the light. “An octoling?!”

He is a tall, skinny octoling, with purple curly hair, and an almost smug expression on his face.

The octoling must've heard something, because he says, “..who’s there?” and quickly goes into a battle stance.

All of a sudden, looking to their left, they notice tons of weirdly colored octotroopers. “OCTARIANS?!” Tsukasa exclaims.

The mysterious octoling makes quick work of them, as he takes all of them out with his blaster.

“COOOOOOL!” Kasa yells.

“Are you alright?” the octoling asks.

“I’m fine!” Tsukasa says, “Are you an Octoling?”

“Uh huh, I think so.” the unnamed octoling replies.

“You think…?” Tsukasa asked, confused. “Oh, these octotroopers!” Weirdly colored, hmm... “Aren’t they your friends?”

“...”

Another face appears, “He has lost his memory” Tsukasa recognizes him, “Kaito!”

“Howdy Agent 3! Long time no see!” Kaito replies. Wow he is still just as loud as when I met him. he thinks.

Kaito and the octoling guide Tsukasa into their tent, offering him food.

“This is Agent 8” Kaito says.

“Agent 8?” Tsukasa asks.

“I don't know what my real name is.” the octoling replies, tinkering with a Splattershot.

“It said NO. 10,008 on his wristband…”, the old man explains, pointing to the plastic bracelet strapped around the octoling’s arm, “...so i call him Agent 8!”

Bro you don’t have to name EVERYONE an agent.

The inkling thinks a bit, trying to decide a better name than just A NUMBER.

"I got it! You protected me when I was vulnerable, and are far different than any octarian I have met, in a good way of course! I’m gonna call you Rui!!

My name is TSUKASA TENMA!!!”

Ignoring the loud Inkling, the octoling mutters the name, “Rui…?”

“Oh! That’s a nice name too!” Kaito remarks.

I like it… Rui smiles, “Nice to meet you Tenma!”

“Skip the formalities! Just call me Tsukasa!”

“Oh? By the way, where am I?” Tsukasa asks.

“I don’t know, but we seem to be deep underground.” Kaito replies.

“I think you fell through that hole, Tsukasa.” Rui comments, pointing to a hole in the ceiling.

“OH RIGHT! I got washed away in the sea on the way back from my part time job!” Tsukasa recalls, “I have to go back!”

“Well… Unfortunately, we don’t know how to go back either.” Cuttlefish says, disappointed.

“I dont think this station is being used.” the Purple octoling observes.

“I see…”

“Agent 8 and I have been here for a few days already.” Kaito explains. “We were at Octo Valley when we were suddenly attacked by someone… then we woke up in this place, that's when Agent 8 lost his memory.”

Tsukasa looks back at Rui, who is snacking on some Ongiri. “You don’t remember anything?”

“I don’t… but I feel like I wanted to go somewhere.”

Bluntly, Kasa says, “The toilet maybe??”

“You mustn't hold it, it's not good for you.” Kaito adds.

Oblivious, Rui replies, “but I don't think it was the toilet!”

“At any rate, lets go back to the surface!”

“Okay!”

“Surface…” Rui says, hesitantly.

“Come with us Rui! It may help you remember something!”

“Okay…!”

“Come on! Let’s get back to the surface!!”

Chapter Text

As Tsukasa, Rui, and Kaito leave the tent, they notice tons of enemies waiting for them.

"AAAAAAAH!!” Tsukasa screams. “MORE OCTARIANS!”

“Are you sure they’re not your friends?!” Kasa asks Rui, in a hurry.

“I don’t think so!” Rui replies, “They keep attacking!”

The trio sprint, trying their best to fend off the octotroopers on their tail.

“I don’t have any weapons on me!!” Tsukasa realizes. He is lacking any suitable equipment. No ink tank, no weapon, no protection.

“Take this!” Kaito gives him a uniform.

“And use this!” Rui tosses Kasa the splattershot that he was tinkering with earlier.

“I found it nearby and fixed it!”

“COOOL!” Tsukasa said in awe. Struggling to put on the new fit.

A few seconds later, Tsukasa jumps out, “Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“A suit!” Rui exclaimed.

With the new, upgraded attire and an actual weapon, Kasa helped take out the enemies.

“We did it!”

Rui notices a light at the end of the hallway they were in.

“Oh! That looks like the exit.” He says.

The trio follow the light and find themselves in a spacious train station. A telephone is waiting for them in the center of the station.

“...!”

“This place is huge!”

Tsukasa and Rui explore the new space. “Where are we?” Rui wonders.

“This looks like the platform of a train station.” Kaito observes.

Tsukasa notices the telephone that is randomly placed in the center of the hall. “Hey look!” he points to it.

The others hurry toward the mysterious phone. “Call for help!”

“I’ll have ramen!”

“Fried rice for me!”

Rui sighs. “No, we should call for ACTUAL help first.”

…

『ZZT… BEEEEEEEP』

“Oh?” Tsukasa notices.

*banger telephone theme song starts*

『GREETINGS 10,008!』

“?! The telephone spoke!” Rui gasped.

“Do you know Agent 8?”

『MY PRIMARY FUNCTION IS TO FACILITATE YOUR JOURNEY TO THE PROMISED LAND』

『AND YOU ARE APPLICANT 10,008.』

“When’s the ramen coming???” Tsukasa asks the telephone, not paying attention.

Ignoring Kasa, Rui wonders, “I’m an applicant?”

“For what?” Kaito adds.

A train pulls up on the dark, damp tracks.

*klak-klak klak-klak*

“Oh. Train’s here.” Tsukasa notices.

『YOU’LL NEED THESE TO RIDE THE TRAIN.』

The telephone drops a key card and a telephone-like device from… somewhere.

Rui and Tsukasa thanks it.

The train doors open. “I’ll stay here. You two go and take a look.” Kaito waves the kids off.

“Okay!”

“We’ll be back!”

The two run into the train.

“Take care!”

『GOOD LUCK!』

『...』

『...WITH YOUR JOURNEY TO THE PROMISED LAND…』