CrownGamer's Splatoon OC Lore: The Agent Archives

Chapter 4: How to Be a Squid

A scream rocked the apartment building that morning. Jewel immediately sat up, her agent training kicking in. She leapt out of bed and crashed into Derek as the two panicked Inklings scrambled out of their rooms to the source of the scream.
    "Autumn, what's wrong?" Jewel called out to the source of the scream: Autumn on the living room couch. The two got up and ran over to the couch to find a golden yellow squid sitting on it, staring at her arm tentacles in fear. Squid-Autumn was quiet for a moment, before crying:
    "I'M A SQUIIIIIIIIIIID!!!" Jewel and Derek blankly stared at their amnesiac roommate, their green eyes turning into those anime dot-eyed expressions (although white-colored on their black eyemasks).
    "What," was all that came out of Derek's mouth, despite all of the confused questions he wanted to ask. Autumn began sobbing into her suction cups.
    "Did...did you not know we can do this?" Jewel asked cautiously. Autumn tearfully peeked at her.
    "WE CAN?!" she exclaimed, looking back at her tentacles. "IS THIS SOME KIND OF SECRET AGENT POWER?!"
    "No no," Derek said quickly. "All Inklings can do this." He and Jewel sat down on the couch on either side of Autumn.
    "Yeah," agreed Jewel. "It's a skill we start to develop at age 13 and fully get control over at age 14."
    "It's completely normal," Derek added with a nod. Autumn stared at her tentacles in awe.
    "Sooooo coooooool," she said with newfound appreciation of her form, eyes sparkling anime-style. She looked at Jewel. "How do I get out of this form though? I want to be me again."
    "Have you tried thinking about your Inkling form?" Jewel asked. "Really concentrate on it." It took a second but Autumn suddenly blooped back into her humanoid Inkling form with a slightly surprised look.
    "How did you discover your squid form?" Derek asked.
    "I dunno, I just kinda sat down and-" Autumn let her body relax and blooped back into a squid. "Like this."
    "Yeah, that's something we can all do naturally," Jewel explained. "Octolings have the same ability, but they turn into octopuses instead of squids."
    "It's so cool but weird at the same time," Autumn said, studying her hands. "Is there a purpose for it?"
    "Yeah, mostly for being stealthy and refilling ink into our tanks in Turf Wars," explained Derek. Autumn gave him a baffled look. "Have you never been in a Turf War match before?"
    "Josiah's gang never had time for any matches," Autumn replied, shaking her head. "I don't even know what they're like." Jewel and Derek looked at each other.
    "Well, I think I know what we're going to do today," said Jewel.

The three Inklings raced towards Deca Tower.
    "If we hurry, we can go on a recon before the morning matches begin- OOMPH!" Derek ran face first into a security guard, falling backwards. He sat up, adjusting his headphones, and Jewel and Autumn helped him back up to his feet.
    "Nice try, you three," said the Inkling security guard, crossing his arms. "You're still banned for that little locker room stunt you pulled earlier this week."
    "Oh yeah, we kinda forgot about that," Jewel said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Autumn. Guess we'll have to wait a couple more days before we can start teaching you."
    "It's fine," Autumn reassured her friends. "I can wait." The disappointed Inklings turned and started to leave the suddenly-
    "Hooooold up just a moment!" Sheldon jogged out of his shop with Jewel's .52 Gal Deco, Derek's Inkbrush Nouveau, and a pair of Splat Dualies. "I've been contacted by Officer Carol Coral, and she's letting the kids off of the ban early for good behavior." He turned to the kids. "Your curfew is still in affect though, so don't stay out too late." The security guard raised an eyebrow.
    "Allow me to contact Officer Coral to check this," he said, turning away and making a call on his radio. Sheldon in the meantime handed the Inklings their weapons.
    "I know you used Dualies back when you worked for Josiah," he said to Autumn, "so I thought you might do well with this extra pair of Dualies I had laying around in the back of the shop."
    "Thank you," said Autumn gratefully. Just then, the security guard came back.
    "Enjoy your matches," he said with a smile, stepping aside for the excited Inklings.
    "Thank you!" all three of them said, running in. Sheldon smiled, happy that the agents finally had some time to just be kids.