"I say, Agent 3," said Cap'n Cuttlefish as Roenaldo exited the kettle, "You are performing very well for a new recruit. I don't like to admit it, but the Octarians are quite formidable with their battle tactics and weapon knowledge. For you to breeze past their defenses this easily in a matter of days is incredible!" Roenaldo smiled, responding, "Thanks a lot, captain. I'm glad that I'm able to be a help in this way. You know, since I forgot to come down here yesterday, I think that I'll stay for longer than usual. Besides, I've got time." The captain replied, "How considerate of you! I'm not that mad about you going AWOL earlier, but you're welcome to put in the extra work." Roenaldo nodded, saying, "Believe me, I'm completely willing to make up for my past mistakes. Anyway, I'm going to go find another one of those kettles." As Roenaldo was doing that, Cuttlefish said, "Full speed ahead, whippersnapper!" Motivated by these words, Roenaldo navigated through the vine covered area, discovering an Inkrail that led up to another base entrance hidden by a fake bush. He wasted no time morphing into a squid and diving in.
Roenaldo landed on a singular platform in the middle of a large, vast space. He looked around for a sign of anything else, but he found nothing; all that was visible was the small floating square he was on. "Bwuh," exclaimed the captain, "What is this? Are we stranded?" Roenaldo clasped his hands together in slight worry, answering, "Uh...yeah. It looks like we are. Something tells me that this kettle is useless; there's no point in being here. Can you send one of your drones down here to pick me up?" Cuttlefish responded, "Well, I'm not used to getting you out this early, but I'll see what I can do..." As Roenaldo awaited his escape pod, he decided to mess around with his Hero Shot a little. Pretending that there were floating targets in front of him, he shot forward to hone his aiming skills. He shot to the left, he shot to the right, and when he shot in the middle, something strange happened. Rather than falling into the abyss below, Roenaldo's ink was suspended in midair. Intrigued by this, Roenaldo released some more ink ahead of the puddle he had created, resulting in that ink hovering like the previous fluid. "Hey, cap'n," said Roenaldo, "Cancel that drone arrival. I've discovered something." Waiting a moment to make sure that the old squid was watching, Roenaldo aimed his gun ahead of him and fired, causing more ground to become visible. "By gum," said Cuttlefish, "These Octarians never fail to surprise me. They've invented invisible floors! Luckily for you, you have an easy solution; ink like your life depends on it! And be sure to watch your step!" Roenaldo stepped forward and tapped the inky ground with his right foot, making sure that the path ahead was sturdy. He was assured by the fact that the area in front of him was as solid as the normal square he landed on. With that, he traveled forward with his Hero Shot at the ready.
As Roenaldo trekked, he took every opportunity to paint as much as he could. He kept a calm composure as he simultaneously covered the ground and walked on. As he was doing this, Cap'n Cuttlefish said, "I hope you don't mind me asking, Agent 3, but are you even a little afraid of heights?" Lumiose shook his head, answering, "I used to be. In fact, I remember as a young squid I didn't want anything to do with high platforms or other tall things. Later on, though, I was forced to face my fears; my parents always wanted me to help out with maintaining the farm and the house, and most of the tasks involved required me to get up high. Because of that, I slowly grew to not be bothered by heights." The captain replied, "Oho, interesting, very interesting. I was just asking because this moment reminded me of my dear granddaughter. The girl always lost her marbles when she was more than 10 feet off the ground, and she still does now! I suppose it's good that I have you on this mission instead of her..." Roenaldo continued walking forward, asking, "Wait, is this girl one of the other two agents you mentioned?" The captain answered, "Oops. Well, looks like the catfish's out of the bag. My granddaughters are in fact part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. The one I mentioned is Agent 1 while the other is Agent 2." Roenaldo noticed a gap in the road and jumped over it before saying, "Oh, so is this like a family business or something?" Cuttlefish laughed, answering, "I suppose that would be right, bucko! My dear granddaughters were the 1st to volunteer when I formed the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and they've been very helpful when they weren't busy with their personal lives. I think that you and those two would get along very well!" Roenaldo suddenly slid down an invisible slope, letting out a short grunt in surprise. He then cleared his throat and responded, "I'm sure that I would."
"Wow," said Roenaldo as he continued on, "This mission sure is a breeze. I haven't seen a single Octarian!" Cuttlefish retorted, "Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't get too cocky, bucko. Don't you remember my tip from earlier about not letting your guard down? You must expect the unexpected!" As the captain was saying this, a purple ink bullet appeared out of the blue, hitting Roenaldo on his right arm. He winced as he clutched his damaged body part, saying, "Hey, where did that come from?" The recent projectile was not the last one; many more shots came flying by, leaving Roenaldo confused and disorientated. It was only a matter of time until he fell to the onslaught. Thankfully for him, he had come across a mini respawn base somewhere along the path, so he did not have to rebuild his body at the entrance to the base. "Ahoy," said Cuttlefish, "There goes that unexpected thing I mentioned! But that was unlike anything I've seen before. Are you reckoning what I'm reckoning?" Roenaldo shook his body awake as he revived, answering, "I think I am. I'll see if I can get an opportunity to get past this obstacle."
So, Roenaldo proceeded to get back to the area where he got splatted, getting himself ready for the anticipated ambush. When the firing inevitably began, Roenaldo shot the ground and dove into his ink, keeping his eyes above the liquid so that he could survey the situation. Noticing the path of one of the ink bullets, Roenaldo waited for the phantom enemies to reload before shooting in the opposite direction of the projectile. By doing this, he was able to reveal a sneaky Octotrooper, which he quickly got rid of. "Oho," exclaimed the captain, "Looks like the ground isn't the only thing that can be concealed. Those slimy octojerks have learned how to become invisible too! Keep on doing what you're doing, Agent 3, and teach these no-good ninjas a lesson!" Roenaldo did just that, manipulating and taking advantage of the Octotrooper squad's battle plan. With enough patience and wit, Roenaldo was able to locate and defeat the 7 remaining octopi. After taking care of the threat, Roenaldo started to notice something peculiar: some of the ink he had laid down was starting to disappear. The process started with small bits being removed, but soon larger chunks were being removed at a time. "Sink me," exclaimed Cap'n Cuttlefish, "You must've made those Octotroopers angry. The floor is collapsing under you! Get out NOW!" Roenaldo gripped his Hero Shot tight with panic. No longer would he be able to simply ink a bit of the area at a time while moving at a slow and steady pace; he had to ink faster than he could think. With this fact in mind, Roenaldo went as fast as he could while being wary of not falling off the edge. Shooting as much as possible, Roenaldo revealed the path ahead as the ground crumbled beneath him, each quake of the floor working to increase the Inkling's adrenaline levels. Eventually, he reached the end of the road; there was no more inkable ground to be found. Roenaldo gulped as he looked at the fading path behind him. He held his hand to one of his hearts in regret before falling downward into what he thought would be his death. However, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he instead landed on yet another invisible platform, this one right in front of a zapfish. He clutched his chest in relief before freeing and obtaining the fish, not even caring about the resulting shock; he was too ecstatic to worry about it. "Well," said Cuttlefish as he sent the pickup vehicle, "That sure was eventful, wasn't it? Just one of the many things you'll encounter here in Octo Valley..."