Splatoon | Project B.I.R.D. (READ DESCRIPTION)

Chapter 8 - Served Up, Splatundra Style

The hustle and bustle of the city was in the air. Inklings and Octolings exited the train station, flashy ads for Tentatek, Inkline, and all sorts of brands played on the large screens scattered throughout the square. It was an ordinary day in Splatsville.

Only one thing was out of the ordinary - Ammo Knights. The store, which usually only had a few ink fish in at a time, had a gigantic line running into the rest of the open square streets.

"Sheldon was supposed to open up shop two hours ago! What's taking him so long?" An Inkling loudly complained from the front of the line.

"I dropped my Luna Blaster Neo into the Hagglefish Market waters, I need it repaired..." an Octoling sighed. She held up the semi-transparent blaster, filled with water and actively sparking.

"You know Cora, that wouldn't have happened if..."

The words drowned out. They were inaudible to Sheldon inside the store, sitting in front of a laptop. He was accompanied by none other than the Squid Sisters, dawning their Alterna outfits.

"Alright, now I believe if I connect your phone to this system..."

The horseshoe crab clicked and dragged a file over to a program. A loading screen appeared.

"Fantastic!" He exclaimed, "This has set up a direct connection to Agent 3's Hero Mindset. We should definitely be able to get in contact with her now."

Callie & Marie sighed a breath of relief. "I'm super duper glad. I think we've called her almost 20 times, she didn't respond once..."

"Not even Pearl or Marina would pick up my calls! And Pearl ALWAYS responds to me." Callie groaned.

The progress bar on the loading screen filled. The three leaned forward in anticipation.

ERRR! ERRR! ERRRR!

The screen turned a blood red and began screeching an awful alarm. "WHAT THE EEL?!" Callie yelled. "MAKE IT STOP!" Marie cried.

Sheldon quickly scrambled away at the keyboard. The noise stopped, but the screen remained.

"Ugh. That was louder than some of the crowds at our shows" Marie remarked.

"I don't understand! That should've given us a direct connection to Agent 3..." Sheldon rubbed his chin. "I can only assume someone is interfering with the signal, somehow..."

"With how much brain everyone on Octavio's mech had combined, they probably figured that out already." Callie shot back.

"Woah, Callie. Your Inkopolis News sass is showing."

"I'm sorry, Sheldon... I'm just really worried!"

The horseshoe crab let out a brief sigh. "You're forgiven. I'm just as worried... I mean, who would do such a thing?"

"The only person I can think of is Octavio..." Marie said, "But that just doesn't add up. This isn't something Octavio would think of. All those conversations I've had with him while he was in the snow globe taught me that."

"Agent 3 and Smallfry obviously wouldn't... Pearl and Marina are out of the question... what about Diade?" Callie questioned.

"Maybe... but at the same time, he doesn't seem capable of all that. No shade."

"We didn't think Mr. Grizz was capable of trying to mammalize the whole planet!"

As Callie and Marie 'discussed' (mostly argued) about the culprit, Sheldon was analyzing the screen. His large eyes lit up. "Callie! Marie! I discovered something!"

The cousins quickly silenced themselves. "Huh? What is it?"

"The text on this screen... it's not in any language I recognize. I've never seen anything like it!"