Getting to know Lumiose and Angela

Lumiose instructed me to sit with his sister at a table while he talked to a glasses-wearing tiger prawn at a yellow truck. He soon came back with trays of good-smelling, albeit weird-looking food. "Okay," said Lumiose, "I got you your Triple-Fried Galactic Shwaffle, I have my Super Seanwich, and Basstian…well, I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I got you the basic Crusty Seanwich." I looked at the item that was presented to me and peered at it quizzically. From what I saw, this "Crusty Seanwich" consisted of a hard, red shell that enveloped a brown, vaguely cylindrical object with bread crumb-like bits on it. I inspected the food items closely and asked, "What is these?" Lumiose answered, "Like I said, it's a Crusty Seanwich. You know, something you eat?" I narrowed my eyes at the foodstuff, unsure whether or not to trust its safety. That being said, this was a gift, wasn't it? It would be rude to not accept it. So, against my better judgement, I took a bite. As I expected, the texture, especially the outside, was very crunchy, but the inside was somewhat softer and juicy, being some sort of meat. Unlike the clams that I enjoyed in my previous camp, this Crusty Seanwich tasted quite fatty and greasy, so it was certainly not what one would call healthy. Despite that, I found myself enjoying the taste quite a lot; it was a pleasant contrast to the food that I was used to. Especially since I was growing hungry after my recent feat, I consumed the food in a short while. I looked at Angela, who was still in the middle of finishing her Triple-Fried Galactic Shwaffle, which looked like an unholy statue of greasy meat topped with white and black substances. "Wait," I stated, "Crusty Seanwich is fat and grease. Why you eating big food?" Lumiose answered for his sibling, "That's what I'm saying. All of those saturated fats aren't good for you, Angela. Your arteries are going to be screaming with all the cholesterol you'll be getting. Not to mention all of that diabetes-causing cream and chocolate." Angela swallowed and retorted, "Shut it, nerd. You're just jealous that you don't have as much sugar as me." I looked at the two of them in confusion as I inquired, "Cream? Chocolate? Sugar? What are them?" Angela looked at me with wide eyes, asking, "Dude! You've never had those things?" I shook my head and answered, "No. Only boring food on Octo Valley." Angela stared at her plate in absolute shock, saying with disbelief, "A life…without…sweets?" She pulled out a wad of paper money from her green blouse and slammed it on the table, exclaiming, "Lumiose, get over there and buy another Triple-Fried Galactic Shwaffle! Tell Sean to put extra chocolate on it. This guy needs the sweets!" Lumiose narrowed his eyes and replied, "Calm down, Angela! I'm pretty sure our friend doesn't want another sandwich. Isn't that right, Basstian?" I nodded and answered, "Correct. Butt thanking for offer." Angela looked at the two of before scoffing and stating, "Whatever. You'll be sorry." After that minor altercation, the two Inklings finished eating their food.

"So," said Lumiose as he wiped his hands with a napkin, "You said you were Agent 8, right? How did you get that title?" I clasped my hands together and answered, "I have fight with Agent 3 in Mount Nantai. We fall in big challenge house and I do work. Later, I leave and rescue Inkopolis from bad robot. Cuttlefish say I Agent 8 after." Lumiose looked at the sky thoughtfully and said, "Agent 3…I swear that I heard that name somewhere…" His eyes lit up as he stated, "Oh, yeah! Marie, who is Agent 2 if you didn't know, told me about Agent 3. Said that he was on a research mission or something. Is that where he was?" I raised my eyebrows with intrigue. As it turned out, Agent 3 was sent to Mount Nantai for the same reason as me! "Yes," I responded, "Where Agent 3 was is same as my! Difference is he is running among subway until end." Angela then asked, "A subway? You mean like that one over there?" She pointed towards a sign to the right of us. Looking closely, I could see that it read "Entrance to Deepsea Metro". I could not believe my eyes. "What?" I said in a surprised tone, "Challenge place is here? Not a secret, far place?" Angela shrugged and answered, "I mean, it's right there, but none of us can go down there. They say only certain adults can go." I looked again at the black sign. So, I was toiling right under an Inkling hub this entire time. The very thought was baffling. "Okay," said Lumiose, "Now I know you can be trusted. I'm sorry If I seemed frantic earlier. It's just, well, you already know my job as an agent, you know?" I nodded and replied, "I have understanding. Was needed for you home." I looked towards the banner and TV-covered tower in the back of the city, noticing that the one and only Great Zapfish was wrapped around it. If what Angela said was true, then Lumiose likely battling DJ Octavio for the acquisition of this legendary creature. Though I felt somewhat bitter about our kind losing access to a power source again, I had a different outlook on the situation. Perhaps the Inklings needed the Great Zapfish more than us. After all, we were known to be very resourceful; my brethren probably found another way to power their homes. Lumiose then stated, "If it makes you feel any better, then I want to tell you that I splatted as little Octarians as possible. You could say that I went the pacifist route." Angela rolled her eyes and said, "More like the beach route." I found the word placement to be odd, but I brushed it aside as one of Angela's mannerisms. I smiled at Lumiose and said, "Thanking you. But is no need. Is have revive machines; only rare do they work'nt." Lumiose raised his eyebrows and replied, "Oh, is that so? Well, at least I can sleep with a clean conscience." I smiled half-heartedly. In reality, I was only telling part of the truth; we did indeed have respawn bases, but they were not advanced enough to completely prevent casualties. Their life-saving power could only account for a few Octarians, which is why they were reserved for squads of Octolings; more common Octarians were left to die. Such was the way of life.

"Also," I said, "Only Lumiose and Angela see me as…foreigner. Why?" Lumiose replied, "Chances are that no one here knows what a you-know-what is or looks like. They must just see you as an Inkling with weird hair." At this, Angela inquired, "What's up with that, anyhow? If you look at us…" She motioned to her head, where some blue tentacles were wrapped in a double bun, and her brother's, whose tentacles were flattened against his head. "We're believable. But what about you? How does your hair work?" I raised a finger and explained, "Is simple! Using heat of machine and touching, can shape tentacles onto ball shape. Like play of dough!" Truthfully, the process was much more complex than that, or at least the method my parents arranged for me was, but I did not have the language capability to discuss the procedure in great detail. Angela responded, "Whatever you say, man." Evidently, she was not truly interested in the origins of my hairstyle. I suppose that it would have been useless to explain the science behind it after all. I looked at Lumiose and asked, "Bee cause I was ask question, I will ask question. Why are you shine?" Lumiose groaned in exasperation before answering, "Wow, even newcomers are asking about my condition. The reason for me glowing is a medical condition called hyperluminosis. It flares up whenever I get excited or scared. If affects glow squids such as myself." This was news to me; I was not aware that such variants of Inklings existed. "Ah," I said, "I am interested. You are good when light is needed, yes?" Lumiose did a small laugh before responding, "You could say that." Angela groaned and said, "I'm bored! When are we gonna tell him about Turf Wars?" I stared at her with shock and exclaimed, "Turf War? More are happen?!" Lumiose shook his head and answered, "No, not that one! It's a sport that we Inklings play." How peculiar. An age-old, deadly struggle between two species…trivialized into a mere game. Despite that fact, I was interested. "I am wanting to join," I stated, "Sounds fun." Angela grinned and replied, "Let's go! Lumiose, you comin'?" Lumiose shrugged and responded, "I guess." Angela replied, "That's what I thought. Let's go!" Thus, the three of us made our way to the large tower and through some black, automatically opening doors, where the next events would take place.