The person had an interested look on his face until he saw that Roenaldo noticed him, after which he made a beckoning motion with his hands before diving back into the sewer. "That was odd," thought Roenaldo, "what would an old person like him be doing in a sewer? And was he trying to tell me to follow him? Seems pretty fishy…"Despite what his reasonable voice was telling him, Roenaldo's natural intuition was prodding him to follow the strange Inkling. Eventually, he decided to take a chance, and headed to the hole after putting his bag of coins in a safe place behind a tree. When he lifted the manhole cover, instead of seeing a normal, muddy hole, he instead saw a specialized, metal tunnel. Intrigued, Roenaldo made sure no one was watching before he jumped in. The ride down was very exciting, and the slick steel walls provided a zippy descent.
Eventually, Roenaldo crashed into the end of the tunnel, thankfully not breaking anything due to his lack of bones. Dazed, Roenaldo looked up to see a grate that had a latch attached to it. He opened the door and rose to find a very open landscape. All around the area were floating islands, concrete buildings and low cut grass. To Roenaldo's right was a shack constructed out of scrap metal and pieces of cloth, with the old Inkling standing in front of it, holding a cane. "T-T-The," stuttered the senile Inkling, "Oct-Octarians….THE OCTARIANS ARE COMING!!" Noticing that Roenaldo was standing behind him, the squid quickly composed himself. "Whew, sorry about that," the inkling said, "I lost my composure for a second there." Roenaldo was not surprised by this elderly person's behavior; he had a grandpa who acted just like this at home. "Excuse me sir," said Roenaldo politely, "Who are you, and why did you lead me here?" "Well stab me with a fork and call me calamari," exclaimed the man, "You're the first young'un to give a hoot about me. Usually everyone I meet goes right back up that pipe! But I'll tell you my name since you asked so nicely. You're looking at Captain Craig Cuttlefish, the freshest squid around!"
"So you're the leader of an army," said Roenaldo, "that's pretty interesting." A downtrodden look fell on Craig's face. "Well, you see I'm all by myself now," Cuttlefish admitted, "All my comrades in the Squidbeak Splatoon met their ends in the Great Turf War. Curse those Octarians…" Roenaldo had learned about the Great Turf War of 11915 in middle school. As far as he knew, the war began over a struggle of land between the Inklings and a race of intelligent octopus called the Octarians. "My friend's efforts were not in vain though," explained Cuttlefish, "Because thanks to them, those slimy Octarians are living here in Octo Valley where they belong! Since then, I've formed the New Squidbeak Splatoon to replace the old force. Although our forces are small and the other members are 'busy' at the moment, I've been keeping diligent watch over the Octarian menace with my bulging eyes!" "Sadly, those brutes were too sly for this old coot," murmured the Inkling disappointingly, "And they managed to snag the Great Zapfish from right under my nose! I just know that they're using it to form a revenge attack, I can feel it in my cuttlebones." Roenaldo was deeply concerned over this; not only was Inkopolis slowly losing power, but the power source was possibly being used by an enemy military force! "This sounds important," said Roenaldo, "And you must be overwhelmed right now. Is there anything that I can do to help?" "I knew that you would say that," said the captain happily, "You have that look in your eyes that befits a hero! Anyway, since the other 2 members of the NSS are away, you can be the 3rd one." Craig then went into his shack to retrieve a black and yellow set of shiny clothes reminiscent of a safety vest as well as a black medium sized ink gun. "Here's your Hero Suit and Hero Shot," said Craig, "It's gonna be your one-way ticket to success in your missions. You'll notice that it also has a headpiece so you can receive instructions from me. Go ahead and put it on." Roenaldo went behind a nearby tree to change.
He found the suit to be quite stylish; yellow was his favorite color after all. The Hero Shot also looked powerful compared to his Splattershot Jr. "Fits nice doesn't it," said Craig upon Roenaldo's return, "It's pretty good for a hand-me-do-I-I mean tailor made product! With this, I now deem you Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon!" "Now as for your first mission," said Cuttlefish as he pointed his cane towards a concrete area, "You will rescue one of the common zapfish from that area. But let it be known that the Octarian bases are invisible and need to be revealed using ink." "Now get going," exclaimed Craig as he struck a dramatic pose, "I'm counting on you to kick some Octarian heinie!" On that note, Roenaldo diligently went to the rocky area. He did not know what exactly he had gotten himself into, and most sane people in his position would have turned away and never looked back. However, he was driven by his innate desire to help others, and he also respected the elderly.
"Alright matey," said Cuttlefish through the earpiece when Roenaldo reached the area, "Just ink as much as you can around this place. Eventually, you should find an Octarian kettle." Listening to his instructions, Roenaldo proceeded to ink like there was no tomorrow. He shot left, he shot right, and he finally found his first kettle after he shot backwards. "Good job mate," praised Cuttlefish, "now just dive in there as a squid and we can get started." Roenaldo seeped into the tiny hole of the steel kettle as he contemplated what he would find in this new world. His ink turned blue with anticipation." When he entered the kettle fully, it whistled with steam as a suction mechanism sucked Roenaldo down a pipe similar to the one that he took down to this land.
After a relatively quick trip, Roenaldo was popped out into a new landscape. The area was significantly more detailed than what was above the pipe; Roenaldo could see many different buildings and neon signs floating loosely in the air. It was truly a surreal sight to behold. "Alright, you're in," said the voice from the earpiece, "Now jump using the launch pad in front of you, and start looking for that zapfish." Roenaldo ran over to the blue launch pad and leaped over to a floating concrete stretch of land. In the distance, Roenaldo noticed 3 figures among wooden crates sitting on top of small machines. Roenaldo approached closer and hid behind a box.
Upon closer inspection, he saw that the creatures were a group of sentient octopus tentacles with large eyes and purple lips. Talking to each other in a foreign tongue, they gave off a primitive yet dangerous aura." Those scallywag are called Octotroopers," explained Cuttlefish, "They're the primary forces of the Octarian army. Be smart and take them all out with your Hero Shot!" Roenaldo surveyed the situation and decided what he should do next. "Ok, this shouldn't be too difficult," Roenaldo thought to himself, "It's just like Turf Wars." With that thought in mind, Roenaldo let out a battle cry as he jumped into battle, guns a blazing. The surprised Octotroopers started up their machines, causing the contraptions to shoot globs of purple ink from attached nozzles. Fortunately, the ink bubbles traveled quite slowly, so Roenaldo was able to successfully dodge the blasts as he shot down the enemies, using the boxes as cover whenever necessary. After a quick struggle, the atmosphere became calmer as the Octotroopers exploded in a blue burst. "Well done my boy," said Craig, "Now move on over to the next area using that ramp." Roenaldo did a triumphant fist pump before inking the fabric ramp and taking a swimming jump over a small gap to the next section.
Around the bend, he could notice a small blue platform similar to the platform near his base in his Turf War battle. "That there's a respawn point," said Craig, "If you ever happen to get splatted, you will be able to get rejuvy-nated with this doohickey. But watch how many times you get hit; the respawn pads only work 3 times." At first Roenaldo was disgruntled by this information; he just realized that his life was potentially on the line. That being said, he was confident in his own abilities, so be pushed that worry aside and moved on. Past the checkpoint was a lone Octotrooper with some sort of a metal shield. "Ahoy, shielded Octotrooper ahead," Cuttlefish exclaimed, "You're going to have to find a way around that scoundrel's shield if you want to maroon him. Try throwing a bomb as a distraction!" Roenaldo was not aware of the fact that he had access to bombs. "What bombs," he asked Cuttlefish, "I don't see any." "Look in the compartment to the right of the handle on your Hero Shot, kid," informed Cuttlefish, "You should find some splat bombs inside." Sure enough, when Roenaldo opened a hatch on his gun, he found a triangular object with a hollow inside. When he removed the bomb from the Hero Shot, the bomb expanded as it filled with blue ink. Roenaldo then hid behind a convenient wall and threw the Splat Bomb towards the Octarians' exposed backside. Hoping to not get exploded, the Octotrooper turned his shield towards the Splat Bomb, which Roenaldo swiftly used to his advantage. He quickly shot the enemy in the back, causing it to drop a small, electronic chip. Upon hitting the ground, the chip caused another launch pad to appear a few feet away. There were also some spherical, orange objects surrounding the launch pad that looked like fish eggs. "Hey, ," Roenaldo asked the captain, "What are these things? They look important." "Those gems are called power eggs," explained Cuttlefish, "They can be one heck of a power source. Collect as many as you can and we'll see what we can do with them." Roenaldo took that to heart and collected the eggs before jumping away to the next island.
Moving on, Roenaldo encountered an area muddled with purple octopus ink, with a set of three Octotroopers standing strategically on top of crates. "Prepare yerself for battle, squid," warned Cuttlefish, "These ones look formidable." Without a moment's haste, Roenaldo sprinted into action, making sure to replace the purple ink with his own blue ink to give himself the advantage. The Octarians fired with all their might, some even managing to land some blows on Roenaldo. Despite their efforts, they were splatted all the same, and Roenaldo launched away using the launch pad that appeared.
"Looks like those octojerks haven't learned their lesson," Cuttlefish remarked as Roenaldo approached 2 more shielded Octotroopers on a wall, "Use the same strategy as before!" As prompted, Roenaldo threw one of his Splat Bombs behind one of the enemies, taking advantage of it's gullibility. Roenaldo then reached for another bomb only for the Hero Shot to lock the bomb in place, preventing its' removal. "Check yer ink tank," advised Cuttlefish, "Yer Hero Shot won't be able to generate bombs without enough ink. Dive into your own ink to recharge." "Excuse me for asking," inquired Roenaldo after checking his tank, "but how do you know how much ink I have in my tank? You're not even here." "I attached 360 degree camera onto your Hero Suit," explained Cuttlefish, "in order to monitor yer progress." Acknowledging this, Roenaldo went into a puddle of his blue ink, causing him to become nice and moist. When he emerged, he observed that his ink tank was topped off. Using his replenished ammo, he fired off another bomb towards the unwary Octotrooper, repeating the same process as before. With the drop of yet another electronic chip, another launch pad appeared, allowing Roenaldo to move on.
As he soared through the air, he could notice a faint, yellow glow in the distance. Curious as to what could be causing such a sight, Roenaldo pressed on to find the source. The next area contained many long, sturdy pillars with various crates scattered at the bases. At first glance, there appeared to be no enemies, just a floor covered with purple ink. Right before the towers was another checkpoint, which Roenaldo made sure to activate. He carelessly approached the area only to be met with a nasty surprise as 3 Octotroopers with scuba goggles suddenly erupted from the ink. With absolutely no time for Roenaldo to react, all 3 of the troopers fired a glob of ink at him, with the cumulative damage resulting in his demise.
"Better keep your eyes peeled, youngster," scolded Cuttlefish, "those Octarians are a crafty bunch of fiends. They have many tricks up their tentacles!" Disappointed at falling for such an easy trick, Roenaldo plunged into the area again, making sure to keep his wits about him. Octotroopers popped out from the ink as before, but Roenaldo was quicker on the draw and managed to get them first. After the enemy was seemingly exterminated, Roenaldo attempted to move on, but was met with a metal barrier at a dead end. Looking closely, he could notice a key-shaped slot in the center of the construct. "Avast ye, a vault," exclaimed Cuttlefish, "Yer gonna be needing a key to open it. I have a feeling that looking in those crates may help…" Deducing that shooting the crates would break them, Roenaldo blasted away, leaving no box unbroken. Following the destruction, he heard the crisp jingle of metal hitting the floor as a golden key fell out of the rubble. Roenaldo held up the key triumphantly and was preparing to head for the vault, but decided to investigate the area. "I reckon that I could climb these pillars," thought Roenaldo, "Let me try to ink these things." He proceeded to shoot the tower, resulting in the façade becoming blue with ink. Roenaldo then jumped into the ink and began swimming upward." At the top of the tower, he was rewarded for his curiosity with faded text of unknown origin. "This looks interesting," mused Roenaldo, "I'll have to investigate this later, when I have the time." Back to the matter at hand, Roenaldo went towards the locked capsule. With a turn of the acquired key, the capsule quickly opened, causing a collapsing mechanism and revealing yet another launch pad.
Roenaldo then traversed to the final island of this mission, the end steadily drawing near for now. However, there was a long, enemy ink covered path standing in his way. "Ahoy Agent 3," signaled Cuttlefish, "there's an armor pack to your left. I would advise making use of it." True to his word, there was a black briefcase on the ground nearby. Roenaldo opened the pack and found a bicycle helmet. Despite it's looks, it felt firm to the touch, so it would be an excellent source of protection. Roenaldo donned the headgear and moved on. Everything was going smoothly on the trek across the Octarian-riddled path; Roenaldo expected some surprise attacks at this point, so the Octotroopers swam around in the ink for nothing. After some minor struggles, Roenaldo reached the end of the path, with his goal now in sight. He could see a winding tower with the light-producing entity that Roenaldo had observed earlier resting at the top. Guarding the creature was an entire militia of Octotroopers led by a sinister looking one that had 2 tentacles rather than one. "Zapfish off the port bow," informed Cuttlefish excitably, "Time to feed the fish, bucko! CHARGE!!" Spurred by his orders, Roenaldo sprang into action. With a fiery glint in his eyes, he rushed all across the battlefield as ink bullets flew through the air in a chaotic array of violence. The double-tentacled Octotrooper was the most challenging enemy on the field; it's weapon was significantly more advanced than its' brethren and was capable of firing rapid barrages of ink at a time. Roenaldo tried his best to dodge the rapid assault, but was soon overwhelmed by the by his enemies. Just when all hope seemed to be lost, the helmet that Roenaldo picked up had its' turn to shine. Instead of letting Roenaldo get splatted, the helmet somehow formed a reflective shield when enough enemy ink was launched toward it. With this miraculous second chance, Roenaldo quickly blasted all the dumbfounded Octarians. "Phew," thought Roenaldo as he stood breathless in the light of his heart-pumping victory, "That was intense!" He then traversed up the tower to claim his prize. Sitting behind a electric force field lied a small yellow catfish. "There goes one of the Zapfish," said Cuttlefish, "Bust through the shield using your ink!" At that order, Roenaldo shot the electric orb, causing the force field to dramatically shatter as the Zapfish yelped in surprise. "Don't worry little guy," assured Roenaldo with a friendly smile, "I'm here to rescue you." The electric catfish was not amused with this display of kindness, and promptly zapped Roenaldo as soon as it was grabbed. Roenaldo was shocked at this act as he said, "Quite the feisty one, aren't you…" He then contacted Cuttlefish saying "Ok Captain, I've got the Zapfish, for better or worse. How do I get out of here?" "A drone is coming your way to pick you up Agent 3," said Cuttlefish, "Just hop in when it arrives." A short time later, a flying capsule with a drill on top flew towards Roenaldo. It positioned itself in front of him, presenting an opening meant to be stepped into. Upon entering the machine, the doors closed as the drone quickly shot upward. Later, Roenaldo could feel the drone shaking as he heard the sound of a drill rapidly spinning.
About 30 seconds later, the drone popped out next to the kettle that Roenaldo entered. He then returned to Cuttlefish's cabin. "Excellent work rookie," said Cuttlefish when Roenaldo handed him the cheeky Zapfish, "I knew you had it in you. I sure know how to pick 'em!" After placing the Zapfish in a protective glass jar, Cuttlefish said, "Say kid, where are my manners? I haven't even asked for your name!" "My names' Roenaldo, sir," said Roenaldo, "Pleasure to properly meet you." Smiling, Cuttlefish said, "The feeling's mutual. I have a feeling in my tentacles that you will be the best agent I ever had. You may be a little wet behind the ears, but you showed prowess on the battlefield." Roenaldo was elated to hear this information; he felt valuable knowing that he was contributing to the safety of Inkopolis. That being said, Roenaldo's wrist watch read 5:00; he still had to set aside time to manage his living arrangements in Inkopolis. "Excuse me for asking Captain," asked Roenaldo, "But I was just wondering if we could resume these missions tomorrow? I have important matters to attend to in Inkopolis." Cuttlefish nodded understandably, saying, "I don't see a problem with it. After all, I know you young folk have a lot to do these days. Just don't forget about this old rouge! Also you can't tell anyone else about your activities here. Wouldn't want to cause a commotion." Taking this information to heart, Roenaldo went inside of the pipe that he took to Octo Valley. He noticed a switch near the opening of the tunnel and flipped it while laying on his back. This caused a jet of ink to rapidly propel him up the pipe, which he responded to by turning into a squid to make the travel smoother.
Soon, he rocketed out of the same manhole to arrive in Inkopolis. Fortunately, no one noticed Roenaldo jumping out of the manhole; they would've asked too many questions otherwise. "Alright then," thought Roenaldo, "Where am I going to live?" He looked around the Square to find a helpful source of information and eventually found a building labeled "Inkopolis Help Center". He entered the sliding doors and found a smart-looking snail woman with a blue suit sitting on a chair behind a computer. "Good afternoon sir," greeted the attendant, "How may I assist you today?" Roenaldo reached into his back pocket and retrieved the passport that he had stored there, saying "I would like to redeem this pass for a place to stay, please." The snail received the pass using of her slimy extensions and placed it under a street light shaped scanner. "Just a moment, sir," said the attendant, "Your pass is being processed." After a while, the snail's computer displayed a picture of Roenaldo's face along with his apartment number and password. The snail person printed out a copy of the image and reached inside a drawer to get Roenaldo's apartment key. "Here you go Roenaldo," the snail said, handing Roenaldo a slightly moist key and identification card, "You can find your apartment by following the path to the right of Inkopolis Tower. Thank you for your time!" Roenaldo said his thanks before heading out the doors towards Inkopolis Tower, making sure to not forget his suitcase that he carried to Inkopolis.
He followed the aforementioned path until he came to a clearing with a few small trees and a large series of apartments. His identification card told him that he was assigned to apartment #24, and he unlocked the door using his key. He stepped inside to find a bare room with only an oven and a couch in the main room, a toilet, sink and bathtub in the bathroom, and a lone bed in the bedroom. He placed his suitcase inside his bedroom for future use before thinking, "Looks like I'll have to spruce this place up eventually, which I will get to after I get something to eat! Roenaldo had noticed a set of restaurants further up the path to the apartments, so he went back to the tree where he had stored his cash(mildly surprised that no one had stolen it) and traveled to the restaurants' location. He headed inside a building labeled "Joe's Fish Shack" and had a look on the menu. To his joy, the restaurant was serving his favorite dish: buttered salmon! He ordered the salmon along with a side of broccoli and can of grape soda and took it to go for 500 coins. On the way back to his apartment, he went to the nearby grocery store called Makomart to get some food for the week. After reaching his apartment, Roenaldo enjoyed his fish dinner. Feeling satisfied by his meal, Roenaldo tucked himself in for bed. As he rested, he thought about all that had happened today: He had arrived in the place of his dreams, won a battle of skill against his peers, and started a mission to save the most important creature of Inkopolis! As Roenaldo yawned himself to sleep, he said, "I can't wait to see what this world has in store for me next!"