Chapter 29: The Flooder Zone

"All right," said Agent 1 when Roenaldo emerged, "One down, two to go! Let's see what's in store for us!": Roenaldo smiled; the mission he went through was harrowing, it was short, so he expected the next venture to be of a similar nature. With that, he proceeded to ascend the next flight of stairs before diving into another kettle with no hesitation.

Roenaldo appeared in front of a large building that was uncharacteristically colorful and bright-looking. Placed on the front was a cutesy picture of an Inkling girl with long, orange tentacle hair and foreign text beneath her. "Hmm," muttered Roenaldo as he looked at the weird letters, "Maybe I should get to learning this language. It would really help with knowing just what's going on here." Deciding to ignore any nagging thoughts related to the display of a member of his species, Roenaldo instead headed through the automatic doors. Upon doing so, he noticed that the interior was mildly darker than the exterior, looking reminiscent of a dimly-lit shopping mall. Everything looked normal (there was no sign of any Octarian-esque trends like floating objects) except for one aspect: there were a bunch of balloons shaped like Inklings of all genders and sizes doing activities such as looking at magazines, talking to each other, or browsing items from a shelf. "Aw," said Agent 1, "How cute! It's like a museum of Inkling-kind!" Agent 2 added, "I wonder why they're just now showing interest in us?" As Roenaldo approached one of the inflatable objects, a female one with a brown dress said cheerfully, "This way!" "Wow," said Agent 1, "How lifelike! I almost thought that was a real person!" Agent 2 responded, "In fact, that sounded exactly like a real person. How would that be the case? Last time I checked, Roenaldo was the only Inkling that came down here." As the two other agents pondered this fact, Roenaldo heard the rolling of wheels, and one of his hearts stopped. From a hallway to the left arrived, lo and behold, a Flooder. The terrifying machine turned towards the dummy that Roenaldo was standing towards, training a beam of red light towards it before moving towards it at a high speed. Roenaldo quickly backed away before the Flooder positioned itself above the balloon. A shower of purple ink then covered the fake Inkling in a flash, popping it instantly. However, the robot was not done; it quickly turned around to face Roenaldo, who widened his eyes in complete terror. The squid attempted to ink an escape path, but this Flooder was much faster than the one in the factory. Though he tried as hard as he could to swim away, Roenaldo was ran down and caught by the Flooder. The pain he felt was unbearable; it was like being stabbed by a hurricane of sharp stalactites that rained down with an unrelenting fury. In the span of a second, the agent was brutally splatted.

"Aw, man," said Agent 1 as Roenaldo respawned back at the entrance, "I didn't think that the Flooders would return!" Agent 2 then stated, "This must be where the Flooders go after being built. If you think about it, this could be their training area; those balloons remind me of those targets in Ammo Knights." Roenaldo, even after hearing that Agent 2 was familiar with Ammo Knights, remained silent; he was very much shook by his recent experience. As Roenaldo stood there shocked, Agent 1 said, "Yikes. So much for this being a celebration of Inkling culture…" Agent 2 added, "Yeah, this is no casual trip to the mall. Agent 3, you saw how that balloon made that noise to attract a Flooder, right? Do you know what you have to do now?" Agent 1 gasped before saying, "Ohh, I get it! You've gotta be sneaky! Just don't make much noise and be careful around those balloons and you'll be fine!" In his petrified state, Roenaldo thought, "Sneak? Past those things? Would that even work?" He thought about the situation a bit before shaking his head. Although he figured that the Flooder would have keen observational skills, he knew that this was the only viable way to get out of this mission alive. So, he gathered his courage and walked back into the mall, albeit with shaky steps.

Fortunately, the Flooder had already returned to where it came from, allowing Roenaldo to venture forward unimpeded. However, it was not long before a male inflatable squid interrupted the peace and quiet, letting out a loud shout of "Booyah!" Roenaldo made a stifled noise and looked around for a place to hide; he only had a few seconds before the Flooder remerged. He ran over to a wet floor sign, transforming into his squid form to conceal himself as much as he could. As he did so, he heard the characteristic whir of the Flooder as it mercilessly splatted its target. With no other recognizable things to attack, the Flooder returned to its hidey-hole. "Ah," said Agent 2, "I guess this one likes to do the old-hit-and run technique. Well, this should be no problem; just move when there's no danger and hide when the Flooder appears." Roenaldo did as Agent 2 said, moving as carefully as he could through some aisles filled with plastic items. As he was doing that, Agent 1 asked, "Agent 3, are you doing okay? Your Hero Suit's showing me a very fast heart rate." Roenaldo continued tiptoeing as he tersely whispered, "How do you think I feel walking around this mall with a bunch of killer robots?" As he said that, he heard the sound of another Inkling near him, prompting him to hide in an empty slot between two serial boxes. While the Flooder whirred past Roenaldo, Agent 1 said, "Oh right, that was a dumb question…y'know what, I think what you need is a little calming down. Why don't we talk for a while?" Roenaldo waited until the Flooder left before answering, "Are you crazy? I thought we were supposed to be quiet!" Agent 1 retorted, "Come on, it's fine as long as we whisper! It'll be fun." Roenaldo sighed; he was not fully on board with this plan, but he didn't want to downturn someone's request, especially not a girl's. "Okay," he said, "I'll try it." Agent 1 quietly cheered, "Yay! So, what to talk about…you play Turf Wars, right? What would your favorite weapon be?" Roenaldo walked forward, answering, "Definitely the Splat Roller." Agent 1 suddenly squealed, causing Roenaldo to frantically hush her. "Sorry," she whispered, "It's just that I absolutely LOVE Rollers! Care to tell me what exactly you like about that class?" Roenaldo smiled slightly before responding, "If you promise not to scream like that again, then I'll tell you all about it…"

As it turns out, Agent 1 was right; talking really did help calm Roenaldo's nerves. The squid's steps grew more confident after leaving the 1st section of the mall, and he transitioned through the food court, clothes district, and playground with ease, avoiding the Flooders that roamed those areas with a cool head. The threat of the Inkling balloons giving away Roenaldo's location was made less apparent due to the riveting conversation he was having. Before he knew it, he was near the end of the building. "So," said Agent 1 as Roenaldo walked past some props that were flirting with each other, "You said that you have a Carbon Roller right now, but you're not liking it's power. Were you thinking of upgrading?" Before Roenaldo could respond, Agent 1 interjected, "Cool it, Roller-heads, I'm detecting a Zapfish around here. Get your head in the game and start looking for it." Roenaldo promptly shut his mouth and got to searching, looking for any possible places where the catfish could be held.

Eventually, he found a slightly open hatch that he lifted to reveal a dusty staircase. Feeling curious, he defended the stairs to end up in a dark room that was illuminated only by the faint glow of wires that ran through the ground and crackled with electricity. "Uh huh," said Agent 1, "This looks like a Zapfish zone, alright! Question is, where are they hiding that thing?" Roenaldo held his Hero Shot at the ready as he explored the vast basement, keeping an eye out for anything that could jump out at him in the dark. "Oh, Zapfish," said Roenaldo quietly, "Where are you? I've spent just about enough time in this fancy place." As he wandered, Roenaldo came across a point where the ceiling was darker than usual. The agent went to that spot and looked around, noticing some peculiar objects. "Huh," he said, "That's strange. There's some pillars here. Let's see, 1, 2, 3…4…" His eyes widened in realization as he realized the situation he was in. A mechanical hum that was much louder than usual filled the room, and Roenaldo ran forward in a panic. Standing just a few feet behind him was a giant Flooder, larger than all the others by a long way. "Holy shrimp," said Agent 1, "It's the mother of all Flooders." The machine's red eyes flickered to life and the whole machine crackled with electricity. Not having any intent of knowing how it felt to be splatted by this behemoth, Roenaldo inked a path forward and jetted away. Although the Flooder was large, it was evidently empowered by its own electricity, and it chased its target with incessant devotion. Roenaldo, fueled by his ever-rising adrenaline, swam faster than he ever did before. Along the way, he ended up bumping into various, unseen objects, prompting some, "oofs" and "ouches" from Agent 1. At some point, Roenaldo came to a dead end; there was no ground in the area in front of him. He looked behind him with a face of absolute fear, seeing that the Flooder was seconds away from his location. He looked back in front of him to see the faint outline of a ledge. He quickly prayed before crouching as a squid and jumping forward recklessly. Fortunately, he landed on solid ground afterwards, allowing him to escape death. Unfortunately for the Flooder, it was not so lucky; it rolled straight into the pit, resulting in its top shattering. Roenaldo smiled and laughed; for that machine's size, it was quite frail. Looking closer at the Flooder's head, he noticed a characteristic glow coming from it. He jumped onto the rim of the cylinder and rummaged around to find a Zapfish, which gave him a complimentary shock. "Wow," said Agent 2, "So that's where they were hiding it. Thank cod there was that hole there, or we would've never figured it out! Well, that's another one down; you're free to return, now." Roenaldo happily took the Zapfish in his hand and bolted up the stairs and out of the mall, running past a cartoon of an Inkling boy with a topknot waving happily. He had experienced enough scares for a day.