Chapter 28: Risky Ramparts

Roenaldo wanted to wake up early in the morning, the massive amount of exertion from yesterday ensured that he stayed in bed for a few more hours. When he awoke and noticed this, he did a facepalm and shook his head in disappointment. "Darn it," he grumbled to himself, "I overslept. I better hurry up if I want to make the most of my time." With that in mind, he slipped on his usual, unwashed clothes. At this point, he had started to notice the smell, but he ignored it for now; he was going to change into his Hero Gear anyway. So, he ran out of his house with his stained, yellow shirt and faded, brown pants to his destination, this time being sure that his entrance through the manhole was seen by no one.

Roenaldo arrived at the other end of the pipe and promptly began changing into his battle clothes. Once he had everything ready, he began making his way across the 4 floating islands. As he did so, he noticed a slightly strange fact; the pieces of land followed a spiraling path that reached for the sky. Roenaldo initially found this to be intriguing, but he ultimately wrote it off as just another weird thing that the Octarians did. As the Inkling island hopped, Agents 1 and 2 began to speak through Roenaldo's headpieces. Agent 1 cheerfully said, "Heeey! Nice to see you again, Agent 3!" Agent 2 added, "Are you in the right headspace now, or do we have to let you marinate some more?" Roenaldo answered, "Believe me, I'm completely rested and ready!" Agent 1 responded, "Wonderful! Lucky for you, there's not much left to do. According to our data, you only have one sector left to visit, and we only detected 3 energy signatures coming from it!" Agent 2 elaborated, "That means there's only 3 more kettles to get Zapfish from. But judging from the fact that you're headed to the most dangerous parts of Octo Valley, I'm sure that this will be no cakewalk. Are you up to the task, Agent 3?" Roenaldo nodded and responded, "Yes, I am! You said 3 kettles, right? This shouldn't be that difficult!" Agent 1 cheered, "Love the confidence! Don't let your vigor go to waste, though. Get out there and show us what you're made of!" Roenaldo gripped his Hero Shot before jumping to the 4th island, which now had a launch pad on it. Using the yellow circle, he was propelled to a piece of land that had a tall, black tower in the center of it. Ascending the pillar using the stairs that lined it, Roenaldo could see that the kettles were completely visible unlike all the ones that came before then. "Huh," said Roenaldo to himself, "It's like they want me to come at them! Well, I won't disappoint! With that, he dove into the 1st lair entrance that was at the end of the first flight of stairs.

The agent landed at the entrance to a large, stone castle with red, Octarian flags plastered at the front. The screens on the walls of the lair were set to simulate a dark, stormy sky, which Roenaldo only assumed to be for dramatic effect. "Hey," said Agent 1, "What is this? We weren't sent back in time to the medieval age, were we?" Agent 2 answered, "Octarian technology is pretty advanced, but I don't think it could do something that amazing. This is just theming. Agent 3, show these chumps how outdated they are!" Roenaldo proceeded forward, but he was interrupted by some Octotroopers who were manning catapults on the top of two ramparts. Giant spheres of solidified, purple ink were launched at the squid, and he had to quickly swim forward to avoid them. However, he was not completely safe, as ink-based shrapnel cut into his back. He winced in pain before swimming forward some more, not wanting to take anymore damage. The Octotroopers were relentless, launching projectile after projectile in an attempt to splat their unwanted guest. Fortunately, by swimming as fast as he could, Roenaldo made it to the wooden doors of the castle and out of the catapult-users field of vision.

"Woah," said Agent 1 as Roenaldo gasped for breath, "How intense! I guess that this is the Octarian's way of giving you a warm welcome." Roenaldo looked behind him at all of the carnage before struggling to open the heavy doors in front of him. Leaving just a gap for him to squeeze through, he entered a long, upward curving hallway. However, since this was no ordinary place, the ground was split into many floating sections, with pits separating each one. Roenaldo peered into one to see that there were purple spikes at the bottom. He shivered; he did not want to know how it felt to be impaled. So, he laid down a path of yellow ink and prepared to make a swimming leap across the first gap. He took a deep breath before going into his squid form and performed the jump, and he ended up sticking the landing. However, something seemed off: the ground had compressed beneath him. "Agent 3," yelled Agent 2, "Above you!" Roenaldo looked up to see a large cube descending onto him, and he quickly had to roll out of the way. With a mighty thud, the object struck the ground where Roenaldo was previously standing. The impact was so powerful that Roenaldo was knocked both several feet into the air and off balance. He teetered off the edge of the platform, frantically waving his arms to regain his balance before steadying himself on the ground. "Oh, fry me," said Agent 2, "This place is booby-trapped! I would watch your step if I were you, Agent 3." Roenaldo looked ahead of him, saying to himself, "Watch my step? How am I supposed to do that when every part of this floor looks the same? This lighting doesn't help, either…" He used what little space that the heavy object didn't take up to ink another runway and jump onto the next platform. Unfortunately, he fell victim to another trap, this one being a swinging pendulum made of solidified fluid. Although he avoided taking major damage, he still took a hit to his tentacle hair, which hurt as much as any other body part did. Seeking to relax, he shot the ground beneath him and dove into his ink, using his shrunken profile to avoid the pendulum the 2nd time it came around. Once he was ready, he took the time when the dangerous object was away from him to jump across the remaining sections. In the worst of outcomes, Roenaldo triggered every single trap, causing the arrival of hazards such as a wave of ink-tipped arrows, a deluge of electrified ink, and even a gas that caused coughing fits and nausea. Despite the harrowing situation, Roenaldo simply powered through, figuring that the best way to proceed would be to blitz through. Fortunately for him, this plan worked, and he reached the end of the hallway.

"Woo-hoo" said Agent 1, "You did it! But man, were those traps brutal. I've never seen things like that in my life! Well, at least nothing that comes from this century. But you're in the clear now, at least." Roenaldo gave a thumbs up in approval before going through a small set of doors to the outside of the castle. There, he found a cylindrical, metal thing—a vault. "Oh," said Agent 2, "One of these things. Alrighty, then, where's the key. Roenaldo ventured forward some more to find a courtyard where a bunch of Octarians circled an Octarian that was shaped like a long tentacle—an Octosniper, no doubt. However, this one was different; it was standing on a machine that was equipped with a much thicker nozzle for ejecting ink. As Roenaldo approached closer, one of the Octobombers noticed him and called for its brethren to begin attacking. It was then that Roenaldo realized the true power of the special Octosniper. A humming sound filled the area as the long tentacle creature took a deep breath through its bulging lips. Thankfully, Roenaldo had the hindsight to jump out of the way, and it was a good thing that he did. The purple laser that came out of the Octosniper's weapon was so insanely powerful that it blew part of the wall to smithereens. Roenaldo's heart rate went up multiple notches as he looked at the destruction that was caused, knowing that he could've suffered a similar fate. "Hey now," said Agent 1, "What's this all of the sudden? I thought the weapons here were going to be old-fashioned. That looked like something straight from a Starfish Wars movie!" Agent 2 then said, "But look! All of that power had a cost: that Octosniper isn't moving anymore!" Roenaldo looked forward, seeing that Agent 2 was correct; the Octarian was recovering from its own attack. Roenaldo laughed and said, "Nice! That just leaves these bombers." Roenaldo ran forward, aiming his gun towards the sky to take out the big targets that were the Octobombers. He then Super Jumped to the spot where the Octosniper was standing before quickly taking it out so it couldn't attempt another attack. In the remains of his fallen fie, Roenaldo found a shiny key. "Aha," said Agent 1, "There it goes! Let's see where that vault takes us!" Roenaldo tucked the key into his pocket before making his way to the locked barrier.

Upon slipping the key into the hole, Roenaldo was met by the base of an Inkrail. He shot it to reveal a line that led to a glass bulb atop a tall pillar of the castle. Traveling there, he noticed that the area behind the glass was very futuristic compared to the rest of the building. After stepping through some automatic doors, Roenaldo noticed a bunch of Octarians of all types floating in clear liquid behind glass walls, all of them closing their eyes in concentration and paying no mind to the Inkling in the room. Roenaldo noticed that wires ran from the bottom of each octopus tank towards a giant monitor in the room. Inspecting the display on screen, Roenaldo saw a bunch of foreign letters fly by accompanied by blueprints for all sorts of designs. He recognized a few, one of which being the Octostomp-like thing that almost flattened him. "Oh my cod," said Agent 1, "I think this is the place where they're making all of these deadly weapons!" Agent 2 added, "I guess this explains why we've only seen such powerful inventions here. This place must be some sort of testing ground. Well, Agent 3, what say you put a cork in this weapon development? I sense a Zapfish nearby, and I bet that removing it will stop this whole operation. Roenaldo nodded before looking around the area. He eventually found what he was searching for in a test tube-shaped electric barrier, which he broke open to reveal a Zapfish. This time, he attempted to do something different; he simply smiled at the electric catfish. However, this did not save him from receiving a shock. Agent 1 laughed, saying, "Wow, this is like the 8th time this happened! Gotta say, I'm feeling pretty sorry for you." Roenaldo laughed off the pain and responded, "Don't worry, I'm fine. Just get me out of here." Roenaldo made his way out of the development room and stood by for the incoming drone, which transported him back to the world above.