Chapter Text
WHEN SMOKE RISES FROM THE SEVEN RINGS
The Salmonarch was down to its last head. The Mechanic scrambled, dodging the blasts of gold and green-brown that splintered the wood beneath them. They could feel their legs giving out. They collapsed, knees digging into the fracturing wood. They could taste blood in their mouth. Deep Cut had warned them the fight would be tough, but this... this was impossible! Three waves of increasingly gruelling onslaughts was already bad enough, not to mention the pressure of the whole world resting on their shoulders. They craned their head up to look at the sky. The sky looked back. Two shattered heads, hanging limply. Two uncaring eyes from the head that was left, glaring into their own. And seven rings, the mouths of hell, ready to swallow everything the Mechanic had ever known. Their loss would mean doomsday. One octoling against all of doomsday. They were what stood between Splatsville and complete annihilation. The last line of defence.
"Come on, Mechanic!" Frye called from the top of the bot.
"Ay ayay! (We believe in you!)"
Their faith gave the Mechanic new strength. Panting, the Mechanic pushed themselves up to their feet again. Every muscle in their body screamed for relief, burning from exertion and stinging from the salmonid ink. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and they knew in their heart they didn't have enough time. They were going to try anyway. The ground shook with the roaring screeches of the Salmonarch. It was so powerful compared to just the four of then. Still, they kept firing ink. Perhaps they really could make it! Keep dodging. Keep jumping, grabbing eggs, shooting, bouncing, weaving...
POP! A Stringer exploded into ink near the very back of the test range. They caught sight of the familiar golden glow and almost fainted on the spot from relief. That was it! The last egg they needed. Almost there. They dived for their salvation...
And overshot, tumbling into the abyss below.
"MECHANIC!" Shiver cried out from behind them.
They were dangling over the edge of the test range. Nothing was inbetween their feet and complete oblivion. But they weren't falling. A cold hand had grabbed their wrist, tight enough to make it go numb. They couldn't see who it was- they were facing the ocean. For a brief moment, they were captivated by it's vastness. They felt like, for a second, like they were back on the boat again, gazing out into the sea like they'd never seen it before. Knowing that they belonged out here, exploring. Seeing new sights.
"Come on Shiver, pull with all your might!"
And then the Mechanic was a part of reality again. Every part of them felt like it was on fire from exertion and a thousand little scrapes and cuts. They looked down. Bad idea. Their stomach dropped at the sight of it. Nothing but sea below them, hundreds of meters down. The only thing stopping them from plunging to surely inevitable death was one Octoling's hand around their wrist.
Shiver heaved, straining with her whole body. The Nechanic tumbled back onto the platform on their back, gasping and shaking in terror. Their shoulder flared with a sudden burst of pain, wrenched out of place from the opposing forces of gravity and Shiver's pulling. They rolled onto their front, trying their hardest to sit up on their grazed knees.
"the.. the..."
The Mechanic mumbled, pointing at the golden egg.
It was too late.
A horrible screetch flooded their ears and a bright, golden flash lit up the sky.
This isn't how I thought I'd die.
And then the world was gone.
Wood flew everywhere in splinters. They instinctively turned in the air to avoid the shards. They were plummetting towards the ocean at an unstoppable rate. The water was foamy with salty spray. Salmonids waited beneath, surely eagerly awaiting their arrival to the water. Wait- they squinted a little. Those moving shapes in the water- they weren't Salmonid! Before they could question anything else, they were caught in the water by none other than Frye's eels! The impact was still painful, but they knew these eels well from the raids. They were surprisingly gentle. Of course they'd be here, they never went anywhere without Frye!
Wait, Where's Frye? They thought with a start.
They frantically looked around for Deep Cut, fearing the worst, but Shiver, Frye and Big Man seemed unharmed. They were still on top of the bot, clinging to it for dear life. The bot which was obviously on top of Shiver's shark, Master Mega.
"Ay, ayay ay! (Thank goodness you're okay, Mechanic!)" Big Man exclaimed, waving them over. They wanted to respond, they really did. But darkness pressed on the corner of their vision. The adrenaline was wearing off and the pain and exhaustion were flooding in. They managed to give Big Man one weak thumbs-up before their body decided that enough was enough. Filled with sudden relief, they collapsed onto the eels, unconscious.
THE PINKFISH WILL EMERGE FROM THE SEA
The Mechanic didn't know what they were expecting to feel when they woke up, but they sure weren't expecting to be lying on snow. Or what felt like snow, it wasn't all that cold. They could see daylight through their closed eyelids. They shifted their weight so they weren't lying on their injured shoulder, but didn't open their eyes. They felt light, and realised their modified ink tank wasn't on their back anymore.
"Oh, Marie! They're waking up!"
They felt a gentle prod on their left. It felt like metal. They assumed the person talking had tapped them with the end of whatever weapon they were holding.
"Hold on."
Oh, someone else was here. The new voice came from the left. It made them uneasy that multiple people were waiting for them to wake up. Sure they only heard two, but there could be any number of them. They didn't move, trying to hear more.
"I think they went back to sleep. That or they're dead."
"They're not dead, Callie."
Callie and Marie. Those names were familiar. They'd heard them before. Where? Their thoughts were still all foggy.
"The Captain's gonna go crazy when they find out we took someone here."
The Captain? What were they, pirates?
"I'm not too pleased either. This entire place is supposed to be classified."
"Deep Cut trusts them"
"And how much do we trust Deep Cut?"
Callie and Marie had gone quiet. The Mechanic opened their eyes a little and immediately had to squint from all the light that reflected off the snow. The sky was blue here. That was odd. How far away had they gone? And classified? What did that mean? They turned to look up, wincing from the pain. Two familiar-looking Inklings leaned over them.
"Oh, good! You're finally awake!" Said Callie, smiling brightly. "My name's- uh- Agent 1, and that's Agent 2."
They said nothing.
"Speechless, huh!" Callie continued. "You're probably wondering where you are right now. Well you're in-Mmmph!"
The other Inkling- Marie- placed her hand over Callie's mouth quickly. Callie grumbled. Marie took her hand away. The Mechanic tried to stand up, gasping from the sudden pain that shot across their body.
"Hold on- hold on! Don't try to get up too fast! You're all roughed up!" Callie said with worry. She gently helped The Mechanic stand. They felt lightheaded, swaying on their feet. Now that they could see themselves, they realised with a start that they were covered in bruises and scrapes. All their small wounds were clean. They wondered who cleaned them. Their left arm, they realised, was in a makeshift sling of some kind. Probably for their busted shoulder.
"Deep Cut dropped you off here about an hour ago." Marie explained. "Splatsville isn't safe, unfortunately. "
That answered that question.
"Whoa, uh... Octoling... don't cry!"
Marie gave the other inkling a look.
"Hey, it's not my fault they've been too unconscious to give us their name? Oh!" Callie turned to face them. "What's your name? Deep Cut called you 'Mechanic', but that's.. yknow, a job."
"No... Mechanic's fine." They mumbled. There was an awkward pause for a moment. The two agents seemed to expect them to say more. "Uhh.. where am I?" Their throat was so dry it hurt to speak. They wondered how long they'd been unconscious without eating or drinking.
Callie looked at Marie expectantly, as if she was asking for permission.
"This is Alterna. It's an artificial home that humans built for themselves a long time ago. They're gone now, of course. It's been some time since we've been here, but we're using it as our base of operations for now."
"Who's we?" Mechanic asked.
"Oh! Duh! We're the New New Squidbeak Splatoon! We usually have a Captain, and a few other agents, but they're not here right now. We've told them to come, they'll be here soon. I.. uh.. I hope they're okay."
Alterna? New New Squidbeak Splatoon? Agents? This whole situation was just completely bizarre and unfamiliar. They hadn't heard of any of this stuff before, and weren't sure if it was real or some kind of crazy roleplay. They trusted Deep Cut, but where were they?
"You lost them, Agent 2." Marie said.
Mechanic didn't comment. "Where's Deep Cut?" They asked, voice cracking a little.
"Making an emergency news report, apparently. They'll be here in a moment. Come on, let's find you something to eat in our supplies." Marie explained, guiding them gently towards a small pile of crudely-stacked crates labelled 'EMERGENCY'. They seemed... old.
Mmm. Appetising. They thought sarcastically.
DEVOURING ALL THE CREATURES OF THE LAND
"Anarchy Splatcast! We're live!"
"Ay ay! Ayayayay ay! (Attention! Attention! This is an emergency! Splatsville is under attack! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!")
"For those watching in Splatsville, you should already know that hordes of frenzied Salmonid are raiding our city! We've been told the safest place to hide is underground, evacuate IMMEDIATELY from high buildings, as the Salmonid hordes have been known to target large structures in the past! Stay in large groups and take any weapon that you can find in case you end up having to defend yourselves. But do not put your lives at risk and challenge the Salmonid unless you HAVE TO! The best thing you can do is STAY! HIDDEN! I repeat, STAY HIDDEN! No matter your skill, even the freshest of overfishers won't be able to defend against a horde this large! As Big Man said, this is not a drill!"
Frye and Big Man seemed extremely panicked. The broadcast was low quality, and it sounded hastily unscripted. Jellyfish were rushing around behind the set. As the three spoke, blurry pictures of the hostile, crystal-encrusted Salmonid were being repeated on the TV. The lights and the TV were flickering. Perhaps the most unsettling part of the broadcast, however, was Shiver's fear. Her usual unbothered demeanour had slipped. It was clear she was desperate for help, and as she spoke she stumbled through her words like she was trying to finish the broadcast as fast as she could.
"For those watching outside of Splatsville, please attempt to help us in any way you can! If our city is overrun, your city will be next! We need your help!"
She paused to catch her breath, then continued,
"Splatsville was already struggling before the invasion. We need supplies and shelter before we can focus on driving the Salmonid back. Aid has to be immediate! The longer your wait for someone else to save us, the more likely it is we'll all be destroyed!"
Frye frantically gestured to cut the feed, and the screen went black.
Pearl and Marina were watching the broadcast together in their own, currently undamaged, studio. They looked at eachother with concern. As idols, they were responsible for their fans. With little persuasion, they could be convinced into helping Splatsville. Wether or not they were giving their support was out of the question. Not only was it the right thing to do, but the Squidbeak Splatoon were based in Splatsville now. They didn't know most of them, but they sure knew Eight. And if anything happened to Eight, well...
For Marina it would feel like losing a part of herself. She knew Eight so well and trusted her to do so much, that not being able to see her ever again would leave her feeling vulnerable along with her grief. She saw herself so much in Eight that it was almost uncanny. Marina would stop making music if she were gone. There would be nothing to write about, no wonder or curiosity.
For Pearl it would feel like the end of the world. Eight had saved them twice. Life would feel so much less secure without her. Like peace was a fragile privilege instead of a right. Pearl would yell and cry until every breakable object around her had shattered into a million pieces or more.
They knew Deep Cut less meaningfully, but they'd worked together before. Pearl and Marina considered them friends too. Also, how were they supposed to ignore so many people in such dire need of aid? So the question was really-
-"How do we help?" They both asked at almost exactly the same time.
"I think we should-"
"Maybe we could-"
"Oh, you go first."
Pearl contemplated for moment. It seemed to Marina like she was trying to find the right words to state her plan.
"We could 'wail on em?" She suggested.
"No, that wouldn't work" Marina responded. "Well, it would splat the Salmonid, but it might also cause even more structural damage than they would. Plus, it's not a permanent solution."
"Then... we make an awesome video and get loads of people to buy stuff for Splatsville! We've got a bunch of fans. If they all banded together I'm sure we could supply all the resources they need!"
Marina thought that was a little bit optimistic. It would certainly work for some time, but how long could Inkopolis keep donating? She had a suspicion that they'd end up paying for a lot of this out of their own pocket.
Compared to the lives of countless civilians, it was really no contest.
"That could work! But how would we get it there through all the Salmonid? We'd be putting everyone involved at risk."
"The heli, DUH!"
"No, that's too loud. Super jumping is too far, the train is also too loud and probably wouldn't go to Splatsville anyway... hmm.. I think motorbike's our best bet unless Deep Cut has anything quieter and faster."
That choice made the most sense to her. One could drive, one could probably shoot any stray Salmonid that got too close. If they weren't very strong Salmonid, anyway. Admittedly, that logic was wafer-thin. Marina mentally facepalmed at her lack of strategy. She'd been able to come up with a way to save the world- twice- and yet all she could think of now was to just 'drive and hope for the best?' She sighed. It couldn't be a permanent solution. She would have to make something better. A motorbike was still far too loud.
"Alright." Pearl agreed. "We advertise the aid and we get everyone to drop all the stuff they got for Splatsville in a bunch of boxes in the middle of the square. You can't miss it if it's right there!" She said enthusiastically, even though the fact she had to even say that said a lot to Marina about how much faith she had in Inkopolis' collective object permanence.
"Alright. Let's get this plan started- there's no time to waste!" Marina responded, opening her laptop. They were going to need a script for their emergency program, then a plan on how to get the supplies to Splatsville without becoming fish food. She sure had her work cut out for her.