Chapter 25: Low-temperature Loading Zone

After appearing back on the surface, Roenaldo simply laid on the ground; he was completely pooped. As he remained motionless, Agent 1 said, "Great work again, Agent 3! I can see why the captain thought so highly of you." Agent 2 added, "I'll admit it, you did manage to impress me. I would ask if you could do more, but you look to be down for the count." Hearing this, Roenaldo took a sharp breath and picked himself, a defiant look in his eyes. Brandishing his Hero Shot, he said, "Think again! I think that I've just got my 2nd wind! Come on, I can take it!" Agent 2 replied, "Yeah! Go, Agent 3!" So, the squid proceeded forward with a renewed sense of vigor.

Even after going through 3 more missions involving levitating and shifting platforms, long brushes that spread Octarian ink, and even a new type of enemy that attacked with a weapon not unlike the Splat Chargers of Inkopolis, Roenaldo didn't stop to rest once. "Wow," said Agent 1 as Roenaldo exited out of the latest kettle, "You're on a roll!" Roenaldo wiped his forehead, which was glistening with sweat from the immense amount of work, and replied, "You know it! With all of those Zapfish I saved, I should only have a few left, right?" Agent 1 responded, "Correct! In fact, you've only got one more to get, by the looks of it!" Agent 2 added, "Yeah, but are you sure you want to get another Zapfish? You look pretty out of it." Roenaldo shot ahead of him and answered, "Of course I want to keep going? What sort of agent would I be otherwise?" With that said, Roenaldo dived into his ink and swam around the area, preferring to use his fins rather than his worn out legs. By doing this, he eventually came across an invisible kettle on an isolated platform that was reached via an Inkrail. Roenaldo took a deep breath to regain some energy before diving into the Octarian lair.

Roenaldo travelled through the pipe and out the other side to end up in a dark, empty room. Using what little light was available, the squid could see that he was in a homey café, albeit with deactivated coffee machines and unoccupied tables. "Hey," said Agent 1, "Where'd everyone go? Is it a slow day here or something?" Roenaldo answered, "Don't let the look of this place fool you. It's just meant to conceal the way to the above ground. Watch, there's going to be a hole or something anywhere around here." After some snooping around, Roenaldo found a refrigerator that was strangely warm. He opened it to find not any sort of beverages or foodstuff but rather a large, gaping hole. He noticed that there were some fluffy coats hanging on the right door of the fridge, but he refrained from taking one. After all, he was a little on the chubby side, so he got warm easily. Besides, the clothes were not his size. So, he jumped into the circular chute, and two halves of a metal sphere closed around him. From there, he was rolled down a long, winding pathway to his destination.

Roenaldo was ejected rather recklessly at the other end of the chute, with the ball cracking open to release its passenger. Now aware of his surroundings, Roenaldo could see that he was in a large, icy building with large, metal crates of many colors all over the place. It was then that Roenaldo, the cold-blooded creature, realized why there were jackets provided earlier; the fact that he was naturally more insulated than the average Inkling did little to diminish the effect of the extremely low temperature. As the agent stood there shivering, Agent 1 said, "You said that this place is above ground? I don't recognize anything here." Marie replied, "You've never heard of this building? This is the Fridge, a warehouse where cold things are stored. Creative name, I know. You should know about this, Agent 1; it's where that restaurant you like so much used to keep their ingredients." Agent 1 responded, "Okay, way to diss Moby's like that. Anyway, I don't see any workers around, so are you sure that this is the place you're talking about?" Agent 2 answered, "Well, the truth is that this place was abandoned some time ago. I guess that people realized they can keep their cold stuff in their iceboxes or something. Now that I think about it, this place has changed since last I came here. Do you think that the Octarians took it over?" As Agent 2 was talking, she noticed that Roenaldo was still standing in place. "Agent 3," she asked, "What are you doing just standing there? What, are you trying to get put in the freezer, too?" Roenaldo rubbed his hands together, answering, "I w-w-was just w-w-waiting for orders." Agent 2 returned, "Since when do you need those? Get a move on before you become a squid popsicle!" As Roenaldo took shaking steps forward, Agent 1 advised, "If you're feeling chilly, why not just move around a lot as you go? Let your muscles warm you up!" Roenaldo thought about this; he at first judged this to be a silly plan, but he didn't see any other option.

So, Roenaldo decided to incorporate some aerobics into his walk. He did jumping jacks, arm pumps, and even spinning around as he moves forward, looking as if he were doing a dance. He may have looked foolish, and the two other agents were having a laugh, but at least Roenaldo was warm. As he traversed, the Inklings came across a group of 4 Octolings packing items into a yellow containment unit. However, something was unusual about these Octarians: they had seaweed attached to their tentacle hair, which was a deadly black unlike the usual red. Feeling threatened by the new octopi, Roenaldo attempted to turn around only to slip and fall on the slick, icy floor. Unable to stop himself, he careened into one of the Octolings, who had just finished locking up the crate before she was knocked to her feet. "Ah," said Roenaldo as he got up, "Sorry about that. Darn floor is so slippery. Anyway, what--" Before Roenaldo could get another word in, he was shot and splatted by one of the Octolings without hesitation.

Thankfully, Roenaldo had danced over a mini respawn base on his way to the hostile octopi, so he was able to return to his usual form. "Geez," said Agent 1, "Forget what I said about there being no workers. Those were Elite Octolings you just faced, Agent 3!" Agent 2 added, "They don't mess around. Whatever's happening in this must be important if those girls were assigned here. Are you sure that you want to take them on, agent?" Roenaldo jogged in place, answering, "Yeah, I'm sure! Besides, this is good practice for me." With that, the squid moved past the small base and towards the jacket-wearing Octolings, this time being a tad bit more prepared. Upon seeing their enemy approaching, the Octarians ran forward to meet Roenaldo, who noticed that the opposition had traction-giving boots to prevent slipping. Although Roenaldo was at the disadvantage, he decided to make the ice floor work in his advantage. With his unfettered momentum, he zipped across the battlefield, crashing into the storage containers to stop himself when necessary. Although this method was jarring, it proved to be helpful in dodging the enemy fire. Soon, after some sliding and gunning, there was only one foe left. Roenaldo smiled; he knew how he wanted to end this. "You know," he said as he pushed himself towards the Elite Octoling, "My ma told me to never hit girls, but I think that now's the exception!" He then tackled the octopus with full force, putting her in a daze before splatting her with his firearm. "Well," said Agent 2, "That's one way of doing it, I guess…" Agent 1 added, "At least you looked cool during it! Let's move on, shall we?" Roenaldo laughed before dancing his way forward.

As Roenaldo moved along through the storage facility, Agent 1 inquired, "You know, I wonder why the Octarians decided to take over this place in particular. I mean, it's so cold in here!" Agent 2 replied, "Roenaldo's about to crash into the reason right now." Hearing this, Roenaldo tried as hard as he could to lessen his speed; he did not want a repeat of last time. Thankfully, he was able to catch himself on the edge of a forklift, thereby preventing him from barging into the 4 Elites ahead. From his safe place, he observed how the Octolings were still loading items into a red cargo crate. "Okay," said Agent 1, "Now's your chance to sneak in an see what those girls are up to! Stay safe!" Roenaldo proceeded to do that, approaching the enemy from behind an orange rectangle. Just when he was about to confront the Octolings, Roenaldo started to feel the effects of not moving enough. Unfortunately, the chattering of his teeth drew the attention of one of the octopi, causing her to peek over Roenaldo's hiding spot. Upon noticing the intruder, she blew a whistle and ran back to her friends, who all came back to the squid with tin cans in their hands. In unison, all of the young women tore off the lids of their containers and gulped down the contents. From there, chaos ensued; one Octoling formed 4 bubbles of protection around her and each of her teammates, another let out an echoing shout that shook Roenaldo to his core, yet another started launching exploding spheres of ink from her palms, and the final one used an ink bazooka to finish her prey off. Simply put, Roenaldo did not stand a sliver of a chance.

"Dang," said Agent 2 as Roenaldo was revived, "That was intense. I guess that's what's in all of those boxes." Agent 1 added, "And I bet that every single one of these containers are chock-full of those cans! Imagine what would happen if this cargo were to be shipped out. Nothing good, I know that!" Agent 2 continued, "Agent 3, you've got to find a way to sneak past those Octolings; that respawn pad you're using has no more uses left. Try to ignore the cold, yeah?" Roenaldo shivered from both the fear and the ice. He didn't like it, but Agent 2 was right; the only way to get past those scary octopi was to slowly move past them so as not to attract attention. With this information in mind, the agent jogged in place for some time to warm himself up before making his way back to the point where he was viciously splatted.

By the time Roenaldo got to the place where the Octolings were, he was freezing. It took all of his willpower to not cause a racket; he had to bite his hand to prevent his teeth from clattering against each other. As he shuffled behind a cargo crate, he couldn't help but think about how nice it would be to snag one of the food canisters for himself. After all, he was starting to grow hungry after all the work he did, and some food would help both his stomach and his warmth problem. Although his cautious side was screaming for him to sneak past the enemy, his body won out, and he jumped over the orange crate with a crazed look in his eyes. The two other agents screamed in terror as Roenaldo made a mad dash towards the open container, not caring about the Octolings that were grabbing their guns. He swiped a random tin and tore it open with his teeth to reveal…a squid? Roenaldo was somewhat disturbed by this, but he was desperate. Besides, this was not the same species of squid of his kind; it was not as evolved. Therefore, he scarfed it down, almost choking due to his hastiness.

As he was about to get shot, Roenaldo's tentacles started glowing especially intensely, and the sense of power he felt was vastly more pronounced than any he had felt before. Without even willing it, he transformed into his squid form, allowing him to dodge the initial fire from the Octolings. Then, the unexpected happened; he started to rapidly grow in size and bulk, his skin turning from a bright yellow to a dark green with yellow dots near his fins. Furthermore, the intense excitement he felt worked to warm up his body to unprecedented levels. He turned towards his enemies, who had backed up several feet, and stared at them with piercing, dark eyes. His voice lowered multiple octaves as he boomed, "I…am…ALMIGHTY!!" From there, he surged towards the Octarians, lunging at them with his powerful muscles while secreting massive amounts of yellow ink from his pores. The Octolings tried to flee, but they couldn't escape from Roenaldo's wrath; they were spearheaded, crushed, smacked, and torn limb from limb. After completing destroying his enemies, the giant squid roared with triumph. At this point, he was nothing like his former self. The Inkling turned savage beast then went on a rampage, crashing into all of the food-containing crates and leaving gaping holes in them. Barely conscious, he traveled on a path of destruction through all of the colored canisters, eventually ending up in front of an encased Zapfish.

He showed no hesitation in shattering the barrier that the fish was in, and he gripped his potential prey tightly with his strong right tentacle. Glaring at the Zapfish with hungry eyes, Roenaldo prepared to consume it with his sharp beak before suddenly stopping in his tracks. With his sanity returning to him, Roenaldo began to shrink in size, going back to his normal squid form with the Zapfish still wrapped in his tentacle. As if to bring Roenaldo back to reality, the electric creature gave a jolt to the squid, causing him to revert to his humanoid form. "Ugh," groaned Roenaldo as he rubbed his head, "What happened? Last thing I remember, I was standing in front of some Octolings, and now I'm here…" Agent 2 chuckled slightly, responding, "That must be your first time using the Kraken special, huh?" Roenaldo rubbed his chin, returning, "Kraken?" Agent 1 then clarified, "Yep! That squid you just ate gave you the ability to transform into a giant monster! I won't lie, me and Agent 2 were terrified of what you were doing, but you got the job done, regardless. And hey, you did bust some of those containers that the Octolings were using as well as removing the power source for their devices, right? Now they won't be as much of a problem." Agent 2 replied, "Speak for yourself; I was enjoying the carnage. Well, except for the part when you almost ate the Zapfish. Oh well, at least the special ran out before that happened. Nice work, Agent 3." Although Roenaldo was still confused over the whole situation, he decided not to question it, instead exiting the facility through the pipe he had entered through.