12 Line A- Part 1

"Woah... what is this place?" Kai's eyes grew bigger as looked around the Train.

"I don't know! Maybe it's a train!" Niki blurted out in a sarcastic tone.

"Well you two, I'm pooped. I'm going to rest my weary cuttlebones for a bit." Captain sat down in a seat in the train.

Niki's face went pale, "Okay, I did not need to know that."

A few moments passed, and then suddenly a blue, green, slimy creature came crawling through the door from another train car. "Thank you for using Deep Sea Metro!"

"Woah! What the heck is that!? It looks cool!" Kai looked at it, his eyes wide and a look of astonishment was plastered on his face.

"I think it's a sea cucumber," Niki said turning to look at Kai.

"Why that is exactly right. You can call me C.Q. Cumber."

"Okay! I trust you completely! I trust you with my life!" Kai said, oblivious as ever.

"Here's the deal, we are in a vast underground facility operated by the Kamabo Corporation. Also known as a series of test chambers connected by this subway system."

"So what is the point exactly?" Niki questioned.

"The point is that you must complete a series of tests in order to get to the Promised Land. Those things that you are holding, they help you choose what level you want to do. You have to get the Four Thangs in order to get there. The Four Thangs will be located in different areas. But the only way to get there is if you complete the level before it." 

"Wow, that's a lot to take in," Kai started to break into a sweat. "Could we die?"

"No you can't die.... but you can get extremely hurt so be careful. All of these levels are dangerous."

"Well, that's very encouraging...." Niki played with her tentacle, trying to mask her fear.

"Excuse me, Mr. C.Q. Cumber? I have a question."

C.Q looked a Kai, "Yes, what is it?"

"What is the Promised land like?" Kai looked at him as he fiddled with his fingers, an innocent look on his face.

"Well, it is very exclusive. Not many people can get there.... though I believe that you three can."

"Okay... Thank you," A smile came onto his face and suddenly he felt hopeful.

"Well, why don't you two get started. Just click the button and then the first level will be presented to you."

"Okay!" Kai clicked the button and clicked on the first level.

"Kai! Wait! I don't think he was finished explaining!" Niki yelled.

"That is true indeed, I didn't finish. The last thing is that-"

"Wait! Where am I going?!"

"Kai!"

"The last thing is that you both can't do the same levels."

"What?! Why didn't you tell us before!" Niki screamed, furious. "Now Kai is out in some test level and he could get himself really hurt!"

"That isn't likely, it's one of the easiest levels. All you have to do is fight off the sanitized Octarians."

"What the heck are those!?" Niki's eyes went wide.

"Oh, they're just Octolings that have been made stronger and more efficient."

"What?!"

----------------------------------------------

"...Hello? Where am I?" Kai looked around the small room. The same capsule that he had seen earlier appeared in front of him again. "Okay, this is weird..."

Kai took a step forward and towards the tube. It enclosed around him, and let him choose his weapon. Grabbing his weapon, he walked towards the door. It showed him a small opening where he was to pay a fee. He put the card into the slot, and he was shoved  into the level without any warning.

"Okay, this is... fine." Kai swallowed hard and his voice cracked.

Kai took a deep breath and he started to walk off further into the level. as he walked, his eyes caught sight of a tree with an unusual I.V bag hanging from one of its branches. Kai walked up to the tree and shook it to see if he could get the strange thing down. He shook it and the bag fell to the floor. Its teal-blue contents splattered into a puddle on the floor next to his feet.

"Eww!" Jumped back, startled, then he curiously walked back over to it and squatted next to it.  Kai smelled it to try and identify what it was. He jumped back at the stench of the foul liquid.

"What the heck is that!? It smells like rotting cephalopods!" He picked up the remnants of the bag and searched the back for a label. The only words he could decipher were "Sanitation" and "test sub. 20".

Kai released the bag back, and it rolled onto the floor. While questioning what the words meant, he continued to walk forward. A pillar was placed in the middle of the wasteland, with no one in sight. Suddenly, there was a loud BOOM! Kai looked up and saw a female octarian dressed in armor. He couldn't tell exactly what, but she seemed off. Her skin was a slimy green, and her tentacles faded into a sickening blue. Glasses covered her face, and her breath's were shallow, almost nonexistent.

"What the-?"

The girl jumped down from the pillar and looked Kai straight in his eyes. Kai froze in fear, not knowing what to do.

"Uh h-hello... um, Ms..." She stayed still. No signs of life were displayed on her features. "So... how about we become friends?"Kai laughed nervously. She looked at his eyes, and pointed her weapon in his direction. He dodged as best as he could, barely missing her shots.

"What the- what did I say?!" Kai found himself shaking.

She once again launched herself in his direction. The "ink" she shot hit his body, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Cough cough wow, Cough that really hurt!" Kai winced and grabbed his stomach instinctively. 

The girl marched towards him slowly. Kai backed himself towards the wall, grasping on to his weapon as if his life depended on it.

"P-please! W-we can talk things out, right?" Kai trembled. The girl raised her weapon towards his forehead. He winced. Thoughts flooded his mind about the last few minutes. He grasped his weapon tight, but then he remembered. I can fight back! Kai shot a stream of ink behind her, and swam as fast as he could before she pulled the trigger. As soon as he was behind her, he ink the area around him as fast as he could.

"AHHHHHHHHH! This is what you get for trying to kill meeeee!" He closed his eyes and started shooting as if he was in a turf war. After a few minutes of him shooting aimlessly at the ground, he listened for her call, there was no response. He splatted her.

"I...I-I did it!" Kai took a deep breath and collapsed to the ground. He regained control of his breathing, "That was it? That was the test? That was easy!" He whispered to himself, still trying to catch his breath. Suddenly, a loud noise was heard from the other side of the area. Two sides of a door screeched open, revealing a new plot of land.

"Oh come on! Wasn't one enough?" Kai breathed heavily as he sauntered his way to the door. Looking through the door, he saw two of the same pillars he had saw earlier. He inked a path towards the closest one, then BOOM! Another Octarian girl landed on the top of the pillar. He looked at her directly in the eyes, determination filling his own.

"You're going down!" As she jumped down from the pillar, she shot "ink" in his direction. Tumbling past her, Kai inked a path to the other side.

"This will be easy!" He said confidently, his lips curled into a smile. Once again, a large crash came from behind him. He looked back and spotted another Octarian girl running towards him.

His eyes widened as a stream of ink hit his back. His knees scraped the ground, and suddenly he felt dizzy.

A cloud of black surrounded the edges of his eyes. He picked himself back up,despite the pain,  but the two girls looked at him and aimed their weapons and shot at his head. Kai tumbled back on to the floor without a word. The two girls started to look around. They determined that he was dead, and moved back to their stations.

"I'm okay!" Kai croaked and sat up, "Man, that really hurt." He forced himself off the ground, and held his weapon up high. The two girls looked at him for a moment, and then started to shoot. Kai sprung up into the air, and flipped out of sight. They both stood on guard, waiting for him to reappear. He took his weapon and shot the first girl, then the second once her guard was down.

Kai was out of breath. "I had no idea that I could do that." He squat down, gasping for air.

From the corner of his vision, he saw another door opening. Kai walked through the opening, and sighed. He located the last pillar in front of him. He once again heard the noise, and he took his stance.

"Okay, now I know what to expect. I dealt with two, so this probably won't be so hard, right? Right!?"

The girl jumped down from the pillar. Instead of shooting at him she paused for a second. Kai looked at her confused. why wasn't she shooting at him? The octarian looked at him for a moment before she did something that Kai wasn't expecting. She used a special he had only seen in Turf War, an Ink Jet.

"Oh no," Kai dodged her the first two times but then she hit him. He flew back into a pile of boxes and accidentally broke them. Kai's vision faded to black for a moment.

"Ow!" He slowly got up. He shook his head, and look at what one of the boxes had inside of it. It was a splashdown! He recognized it immediately, as if he had used it before. He jumped up, and used the special on the final girl. Her Ink Jet collapsed, and she was gone. The final door opened revealing a glowing pen-like machine. He shot at it once, then twice, and the outer barrier exploded. He grabbed the inside, and got taken back to the train. He wobbled on his feet and fell to the floor.

Niki ran up to his body, "Kai! Are you okay!? What the heck happened? Kai!"

"You okay, Kiddo?" Captain Cuttlefish asked.

Kai didn't say anything. He didn't move, he just laid there with his eyes closed.

"Kai?" Niki's eyebrows turned upwards with concern.

Kai moved a little. His eyes opened he let out a small burst of coughs. "That was ack harder than I thought it would be." Kai smiled weakly.

"Oh my goodness Kai!" She gave him a hug.

"I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm just tired and sore." He got up off the floor and sat down on one of the seats in the train.

"Thank cod....Why the heck did you do that!" She pushed his shoulder.

"I don't know! I was curious! Well, now we know what will happen, and maybe next time we should ask what would happen at each level."

C.Q spoke up, "Oh, I forget to mention this. We can communicate with you when you are doing your tests. We can see what you're doing."

"What?! Why didn't you tell us!" Niki looked at C.Q angrily.

Kai shook his head, "We could have really used that! I had no idea what was going on!"

"Don't worry, that was only one test. You still have many levels to do. That was only the first one. Now, you three should probably get some rest. Tomorrow you are going to complete a large amount of levels."

"Oh great." Niki said, exasperated, flinging her arms in the air.

"Well I don't know about you Niki, but I'm going to get some rest. Good night!" Kai walked off to another subway car and took off his ink tank. He laid down on the train's seats and peacefully fell asleep. In the other car, Niki stared at the device that the weird phone gave her, examining each and every part of it.

"There is something really off about this..." She finally gave up, and left to get some sleep in the other train car, preparing for the next day's challenges.