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If its current tripod chassis had hands, Tartar would strangle the life out of the sleeping lifeform before him.
How dare they? How could they? This is what humanity thought to be the Ultimate Lifeform? It was a near-identical copy of the inferior beings rattling on the surface, so joyfully revolving their existence over their meaningless trends. Even the sleeping creature’s garb was as…outlandish as its brethren.
Yet, the reports weren’t lies. It had read, analyzed, and tested them for however many cycles until it finally relented in face of the truth.
This was an adaptable and transformative being that unlocked the secrets of immortality, broke through the limitations of medicine, and had even foreshadowed the future of the planet-eons in advance–by possessing the same shapeshifting abilities– and even more.
In the eyes of its masters, this truly was the Ultimate Lifeform.
Tartar ran through the aging circuitry and data of the cryostasis pod one last time. It took many months to pinpoint the pod’s faint distress signal, and just as long to reach and recover it with such limited resources.
But it was worth it. Not only had its masters provided the perfect servant, but also the perfect plan. An invention capable of cleansing this dirty world with a downpour of fire and metal. It had the right tools to recreate this plan–the inferior beings left them lying all over the place–but not the power. Power that would be child’s play to retrieve with this new wildcard.
Tartar entered the awakening sequence, ignored the various warnings of a preempted awakening, and watched the capsule creek open. It rolled a ball of sanitized ink–the last in its disposal–in its pincers, then leaned forward to touch the sleeping Octoling inside.
“Kaori, are you alright?” Hachi asked as he leaned in close. He gently grabbed Kaori’s arm and stopped her from rubbing her stained eye yet again.
“Is your eye ok? Do you need to go to the clinic? Do you need your patch-”
“Hachi, please,” Kaori huffed as she reached into her backpack and fumbled for one of her moisturizer eye patches. “This isn’t anything new, you know that.”
Empty. Kaori clicked her tongue in annoyance.
“But it’s been a long time since your eye acted up again, hasn’t it? Do you need a check up?”
“It’s Sanitization.” Kaori waved her hand. “Marina hardly scratched the surface of what exactly it does. It’s probably just a twitch that’ll go away after a while.”
“Now arriving at Inkopolis Square Station.”
“Gotta go, I’m out of patches.” Kaori stood up. “Say hi to Sean for me, Hachi.”
“Will do! See you later!”
As the two friends waved goodbye from behind the train window, Kaori’s right eye was starting to twitch.
Why now of all times? Why right during finals week, when a study group was all that stood between graduation and a retaken class? She’s still behind on her Precursor Study term paper from hours of writer’s block. Exposing her second life as the Captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon wasn’t worth using her exclusive access to humanity’s last residence and their classified databases as sources.
Reading out of one eye and needing to explain the eye patch to everyone else was just an insult to injury. She shuddered remembering all the questions asking about the origins of the permanent green stains on her face.
As Kaori jogged over to her apartment, she quickly sent an apology in her class chat room for the delay and detour. Their regards were unread, as Kaori froze upon seeing her gaping open front door.
Did she forget to lock it? Was it a break in? Kaori snarled as she pulled out her trusty Hero Shot from her backpack. If someone touches her DJ gear, they’re splatted on sight!
Kaori snuck over to the side of her door, took in a deep breath, and stepped inside.
Her Hero Shot’s sights landed squarely on a dark-skinned Octoling sitting smugly in her office chair. A collar of sickly green ink glowed on his neck.
“Hello, Agent Three. The Commander requires your services once more.”
Kaori was too shocked to pull the trigger, too shocked to dodge the black and green lance that appeared in the Octoling’s hands.
The ink splattered onto her face was thick and familiar. Ten thousand voices screamed in her mind once more as she blacked out.
Surume grumbled as she punted a metal shard into the sea. All of her coworkers during this Salmon Run shift were all on edge; not because of an incoming Salmonid wave, but because there hasn’t been one yet. The seas were calm, the sun was just setting, and there wasn’t a single sign of a fight to come.
“Come on, give it a rest, Surume,” one of her coworkers asked. “It’s been half an hour of nothing. The helicopter’s gonna pick us up any moment now. There’s no point in walking yourself tired.”
“Just staying on my toes, guys. That’s all,” Surume muttered as she paced back and forth along the shore. She thought back to all the time spent fighting the Octarian army; the quiet domes and darkened platforms bursting to life from a sudden ambush, the next few minutes blurring in an adrenaline-fueled fight for survival.
She wasn’t going to let that happen, not to her unaware coworkers. And right on cue, a great wave surged upwards. Surume raised her Grizzco Dualies, ready to dodge out of the way of whatever boss emerged-
And a Flipper-Flopper smashed onto shore, its eyes dim. Jet-black ink covered its chassis and standing over it was an Octoling, his back turned away from shore.
“Wow,” Surume thought as she stared at the Octoling’s dark jacket. “Talk about edge.”
The Octoling shook himself dry, then raised a Golden Egg procured from the defeated Boss Salmonid.
“It all starts with this… Eggs containing the ultimate power.” He raised the egg in his hand for a moment before chucking it into a bulging cloth sack on his back. Surume’s eyes widened at the sight of the countless Golden Eggs already stuffed into it. Was this Octoling why there weren’t any Salmonids this shift?
One of her coworkers dared to point their Charger at the intruder.
“Hey, you! This is our shift! Go get eggs elsewhere!”
The Octoling turned around and Surume gasped at the sight of the sickly-green ink collar around his neck. She had only heard the stories from Hachi and Kaori; wasn’t that Sanitized Ink? Why was it back again?
She shuddered at the memories of Kaori’s nightmares; her clawing at the stained portion of her face and screaming of voices in her head. Was Tartar back? Who was this Sanitized Octoling?
“Ah, Agent Four. The Commander mentioned you briefly,” the Octoling sneered.
What? How did he know about that?
“Unfortunately, I don’t have time to play games with you. The Commander requires these eggs more than your company. Farewell!”
The Octoling threw the Golden Egg into the sack, jumped into the air, and dived into the sea. Before Surume could even scoff at the audacity of an Octoling jumping straight into water, something huge erupted out of the waves.
A black Kraken-like beast leapt gracefully into the air before diving back down. Surume subconsciously shuddered at the sight of the monstrosity. It had the bipedal form of an Octoling, but the proportions, eyes, tentacles, and most importantly, jet-black ink of its octopus body were all unnatural. What kind of monster did Tartar create?
She ignored her coworkers’ confusion and questions as she dialed Kaori’s number. If Tartar was back, then the Captain had to know first.
Her call was sent to voicemail. She tried again and again, but Kaori–Captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon–didn’t answer.
Kaori floated in a tank of green liquid. But this wasn’t Sanitized Ink, but something else entirely.
She remembered the Octoling ambushing her in her apartment, sanitizing her, and here she was now. But it felt different from when she first had the ink splashed onto her years ago.
Instead of a green tinted nightmare filled with the voices of those who were blended, Kaori was trapped in something that felt real. She could feel the liquid on her skin; not permeating like water or ink, but thick enough to suspend her in a relaxed pose. Yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move an inch. She couldn’t even move her eyes away from the glowing glass tank surrounding her. All she could see in the dark room were numerous glowing computer screens.
What was going on?
Then, lights. She couldn’t even blink as the laboratory revealed itself. Someone ran into the room, their shoes clattering on the white paneled floors. The person pressed their face against the tank and Kaori mentally gasped.
“Cheer up, Shadow! The tests are going to be soon and Grandfather says that there’ll be a visible meteor shower right after! Let’s go look together!”
Kaori wasn’t sure which shocked her more; the face of a young girl from a long-extinct species or the red eyes and black tentacles of the Octoling that splatted her today in the reflection of the tank.
Somehow, she was looking through his eyes.
“Commander.” The Octoling brushed off the foreboding atmosphere of the ancient silo and stepped out of the shadows. He handed over the bulging sack of Golden Eggs to the artificial intelligence currently hooked up to a set of monitors, the only source of light in the room.
“Shadow. Seven eggs delivered on schedule.” Tartar snatched up the bag and opened it with its pincers. A quick count later, it tossed the eggs into a box and connected it to the monitors serving as the main operation hub of the base. Wires extending out of the central terminal suddenly sparked, and lights and machines a millennia old continued their constructed purpose.
Countless missiles, bullets, laser apparatuses, whatever cruel weapons humanity had thought of in its last days revealed themselves. In the isolated environment of the silo, they were perfectly preserved from the elements and retained their lethality.
“The last of the weapon deposits left by the war.” Shadow glanced around. “Enough firepower to wipe a country off the planet.”
“If we get enough power, the fabricator will give us enough for the world.” The artificial intelligence sounded displeased as numbers and code scrolled across the screen that it was currently connected to.
“Do you require more eggs?” Shadow asked, the collar around his neck glowing.
“No. Too small. Weak. We need something more sustainable and permanent. There is one such power source in the heart of the city. You will need some assistance in navigation and extraction. She will lead you to it.” Tartar raised a claw and pointed to the side.
Agent 3–her face completely covered in a mixture of black and Sanitized ink–stepped forward. She stood ready for assignment, like a perfect soldier in her Agent gear and Hero Shot. Shadow nodded and strode towards the exit, ready to head back into the city.
“Let’s go. For the world Maria deserved to live in. Not this farce.” His eyes glowed green as he transformed and dived into a grate on the floor.