An Unexpected form of Help

My return to my seat must've awakened Cuttlefish, since he was now stretching his muscles. I cringed slightly as I heard the crinkle of his hardened cartilage sliding back into place. Yawning, the elder said, "So, how was yer 1st test, Agent 8? Did ya do well?" I nodded, replying, "My time there was certainly peculiar, but I would say that I did quite a fine job completing the objective." Before Cuttlefish could respond, his green shirt started to vibrate. "Oho," he said, "Agent 8, do ya hear this? I'm getting a call from someone! It must be Agent 3 coming to rescue us!" Agent 3? I got a weird sense of déjà vu from hearing that name. I watched as Cuttlefish pulled out a bulky, black telephone from his shirt and speak into it in his native tongue. I became even more confused when a loud, feminine voice screamed back at Cuttlefish, who leaped out of his seat in surprise. What sounded like arguing erupted between the two before another soft, female voice came in to stop the scuffle. Desperate to know what was going on, I asked Cuttlefish, "Could I please have a word with these people? I don't want to be left guessing over here!" Shrugging, Cuttlefish handed me the receiver, into which I said, "Hello? Would one of you people be Agent 3? If so, is it true that you are coming to rescue us?" Suddenly, nothing but silence came from the two females. The louder one uttered a sound of confusion before the quieter one gasped. "Hello," she said, "Who is this? Are you alright?"

My eyes widened in shock. Previously, this lady was speaking in a language unknown to me, but now she was starting to speak in a more familiar tongue! I exclaimed, "Are my ears deceiving me? Can you truly understand and speak to me?" The female said something to her louder partner, who was supposedly asking a question. She then answered to me, "Yep! I can understand you loud and clear. Please excuse me and my friend Pearl. We were just wondering if anything bad happened; we were taking a hike at Mount Nantai until we saw a sinkhole leading to an abyss." Cuttlefish interjected, "Hold on there, Agent 8, I wanna hear what's going on too!" I held out the phone in the air so that the lady could say to us both, "What's this? Does this person also speak your language? How interesting!" Cuttlefish replied, "Yes ma'am, I happen to be fluent in the Octarian language. You must be quite the scholar if you can also understand the language. But never mind all that, who are you people?! I was expecting Agent 3!" The female responded, "I'm Marina, and the other Inkling that you heard earlier is Pearl. As I already said to your friend, me and Pearl were visiting Mount Nantai when we found a sinkhole, and I also picked up sone radio signals emanating from the sinkhole. Using those signals, I set up a communication device so that I could talk with you. Now that we've introduced ourselves, why don't you both tell us about yourselves?"

Cuttlefish responded, "I'm Captain Craig Cuttlefish, leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon! The Octoling that you were chatting with is Agent 8, my newest recruit." Hearing this, I interjected, "Actually, Marina, my name is Basstian Brine." At this, Cuttlefish looked at me and said, "Basstian Brine? That's your name? I thought that you lost all of your memories." Marina spoke again, "Wait a second, did you say that Basstian lost all of his memories? How did that happen?" Cuttlefish answered, "My hunch is that he bumped his head a little too hard when we both fell down here. But it seems like he's slowly healing now." I nodded, saying, "Cuttlefish is right. Although I do not remember any sort of fall, I was able to recall my name and childhood by eating this fascinating 'mem cake'. The mem cake is now in the possession of that crustacean Iso Padre over there, if you want to take a look." Marina took the time to talk to Pearl for a bit before saying, "Wow, it really is fortunate how we were able to reach you both, huh? I caught Pearl up to date on what's going on, and she says that she's willing to help. Don't worry, Craig and Basstian, we'll get you back to the surface in no time! According to my readings, you guys are in the Deepsea Metro right now, correct?" I affirmed, "That is correct, Marina. This conductor named C. Q. Cumber told me that I have to complete tests and find 'Thangs' if I want to leave this place. So far, I've completed one test." Marina replied, "Oh, really? That's great news! Well, now that we know what to do to get you both back to safety, you can expect me and Pearl to be with you through and through. In order to do that, I'm gonna go ahead and modify that CQ-80 device that you have there, okay? Give me a second."

Very quickly after she said that, my CQ-80 device started flashing on and off with green lights. "Okay," Marina said, "I'm done! Now me, Pearl, and the Captain should be able to see your progress as you complete your tests." Cuttlefish, whose phone had also been given access to my device, exclaimed, "Marvelous! You sure know your way around technology, don't you Marina? With this, we'll be outta here in no time!" Marina continued, "Alright , Basstian, you know what to do. Go on and travel to another test site so that we can find the Thangs!" Relieved that I was finally gaining help, I turned on my CQ-80 device and selected a station to the right of the Fake Plastic Station and braced myself for the speedy travel of the train.

I stepped through the now-open doors to enter yet another room with a weapon-dispersal unit in it. I stepped inside if it and was surprised to find that I was not granted a gun of any kind. Instead, the ink tank on my back simply had a battery placed in it. Curious as to what this meant, I asked C. Q. Cumber, who had followed me to the station, about what my objective was. "This is the Roll Out station," he stated, "Here you must used the Kamabo-issued Baller to roll your way to the goal under a time limit. If you should fail to get to the goal on time, you will have to retry from your last checkpoint. The purpose of the battery placed in your ink tank is to facilitate unlimited use of the Baller, as it usually disassembles after some time. Safe travels, participant."

C. Q. Cumber left me to move past the turnstile, which had a hollow, spherical object about my height at the end of it. My CQ-80 device chimed, and I heard Marina say, "Would you look at that, it's a Baller! Okay Basstian, all you've gotta do to control one of these is step into the hole and run in place. It's very simple!" Taking heed of her advice, I placed my body inside the Baller's hole. As soon as I did that a circle beneath me turned purple, and a timer popped up on my wrist indicating that I had 1 minute to complete the test. Feeling a sudden sense of panic, I started to run as fast as I could. Alas, I was not prepared for the environment of the Baller, and I only ended up tumbling forward out of control. I crashed straight into a metal wall, and I looked around in a dizzy stupor. "Ooh," said Marina, "That's unfortunate. Don't worry, no one gets the hang of using the Bubbler on the 1st attempt. Just relax and use your hands for support while you're running." I shook my head and did as Marina said, moving my hands along the front of the sphere as if I were walking on all fours. I found this method to be quite effective, as I was not falling as much as I had been before. With a smile on my face, I rolled across the metal platform, leaving behind a trail of my own purple ink as I went. I came across a zigzagging pattern and halted, unprepared for this scenario. Knowing that one wrong move could spell death by falling into the abyss below, I carefully traversed the zigzagging path, keeping my breath steady and my movements calculated. By doing this, I was able to get to the other side of the path. Before I could celebrate, however, C. Q. Cumber's voice popped through my device, saying, "You've ran out of time. Test failed." After he said that, a green balloon inflated itself on my ink tank, and it burst violently before I could even process what was going on. I was promptly splatted, with my ghost travelling back towards the circle that I had previously passed.

Once my spirit reached said circle, it dove into the purple area and had a regenerated body formed around it. I looked at my wrist again and saw one symbol taken away from a group of 3, as was the case in the last mission. "Whuh," sputtered Cuttlefish, "You just got blasted to the high heavens! Is that what happens when you fail a test down here? Well, Agent 8, let's try not to let that happen again!" Marina added, "What he said. I know that I told you to relax, but try and speed up a bit, okay?" I sighed before stepping back into the replacement Baller that was presented in front of me. This time, I moved my hands and feet more quickly, and when I got to the zigzag section, I simply executed the actions that I performed before at a faster pace. It may have been stressful, but I still made it through regardless. My reward was another checkpoint that when passed over granted my an extra 15 seconds to my timer.

Grinning, I rolled forward at maximum speed before coming across a blue and green tentacle creature standing on a small machine. "Ahoy," said Cuttlefish, "It's an Octotrooper! But doesn't it look a little bit weird?" Marina replied, "You're right, Craig. In fact, I'm not even detecting any sort of pulse from that Octotrooper! It's best to ignore it for now and head for the exit." As I was doing that, the Octotrooper suddenly noticed me and made an irregular, droning noise. It then pressed a button on its machine, causing light green bouncing globs of ink to be shot my direction. Although the Baller protected me from the ink, I was getting pushed backwards slightly, which impeded my progress. Desperate to move past this enemy, I ran as fast as my legs could muster before the Octotrooper could hit me again. I had just managed to get past it when it launched one final shot at my back, accelerating me forward. Although this was technically beneficial, I was knocked off balance and once again tumbled out of my will. I found myself crashing into yet another wall, and I laid on my belly in pain.

"Get up, Basstian," said Marina, "The clock is still ticking!" Shaken awake by her words, I got my act together and rolled forward to find my path blocked by a gap. "Marina," I said, "What do I do about this?" She answered, "Roll backwards and jump over the gap! Just pull back your arms and strike the top of your Baller if you want to leap over this pit." I quickly made a U-turn and rolled forward, doing as Marina advised and punching the roof as hard as I could. This provided enough force for me to make it safely to the other side. Seeing that there was a whole series of gaps ahead of me, I braced my mind and jumped over and over again, spurred by the pressure of the timer. Once I got past that section, I was rewarded with yet another 15 second-granting checkpoint. I looked ahead to see a horrifying sight: a floor filled with rotating sticks covered in green ink. "This isn't good," said Marina, "You have to somehow dodge all of these Ink Sticks in order to make it through. Jump to the best of your ability!"

Looking with dread at the gauntlet that awaited me, I exclaimed, "okay" before rocketing forward, knowing that there was now 45 seconds left on the clock. I was rolling forward until I was met with a looming Ink Stick. I struck the roof of my Baller with the intensity of a shark, launching my body up into the air to evade the deadly object. I repeated the process for the other approaching Ink Sticks, my breath hastening as I progressed further and further. Eventually, I reached the final checkpoint, which was placed in front of an extremely tall wall. "Okay, Basstian," Marina said, "You're almost there. Just jump not that wall and run like you mean it!" There were now only 30 seconds left, so I swiftly jumped onto the wall and moved my appendages as fast as I could. My muscles were aching, but I could not afford to falter here, not when it was such a crucial time. The clock ticked down ever further, and I moved my legs faster and faster. It seemed like all hope was lost until I could see the reassuring edge of the wall's top. Gasping with sheer amazement, I pushed my body to the absolute limit, my mind set on victory. The timer ticked down:10..9..8..I finally reached the top of the wall, and I had stored a large amount of energy from the climb. As a result, I was sent rolling forward at maximum speed onto a ramp placed at the top. I was launched into the air, hurling towards the ground at a great velocity. 5..4…3..2..1. Just before the timer ran out, I crashed into the finish line, and my Baller opened itself to let me out. I was now standing in front of an exposed men cake dispenser, and I could hardly contain my excitement. "Marina exclaimed, "Yes! You did it! I knew that you had it in you." I took a second to catch my breath after that arduous exercise before exclaiming, "I can do it!" Filled with an overwhelming sense of triumph, I happily claimed my mem cake and travelled back to the train.