Chapter 7: Chapter 5: Raging Tides

The group of six went right into Grizzco’s office at the Square. It was open and nobody else was there, as expected. Orion laid eyes on the wooden radio depicting a bear eating a salmon.

Orion didn’t have a good feeling about any of this. He felt like maybe he should back out, but… The extra money was enticing, and his sister and their friends were all for it. How could he say no at this point?

“That was a quick response. Hmm… Just six? That’s slightly disappointing,” said a familiar voice from the radio. Orion realised that this wasn’t a text-to-speech message that Mr. Grizz normally used, it was more natural speech.

“We’ve got one more who’ll be here in a minute, he’ll more than make up for it,” Karlene said.

Suddenly teleporting in was X, in his full armour. “I’m here.”

“What the… You’re… Hrm. You look human, but you’re not,” Mr. Grizz said.

“My name is X. I’m a robot created by the late Dr. Thomas Light, recently unearthed and activated,” X said, buster forming as a demonstration. “I’m here to help these six handle this shift, and make sure nothing goes wrong. I have a chargeable solar-powered buster that will probably make short work of anything it hits. Is that acceptable?”

There was a pause from the radio, before Mr. Grizz chuckled, sending a shiver down Orion’s spine. “Normally I wouldn’t allow doing this so out of the blue, but considering how urgent this is, I’ll let this slide. Get me as many eggs as you can, and you’ll get paid too. The rest of you have decent records, I think this’ll work well enough. Inklings, get dressed in your uniforms, and your weapons, I want all seven of you on the boat in ten minutes tops. X, I’ll send you teleportation coordinates, get on the boat and start reading the manual.”

The Inklings quickly got dressed, and they used a manhole in the office to head out to the harbour, where a boat waited. X was already on board, reading the manual.

“Just be warned, X, we’re not showing the Salmonids any mercy,” Karlene said, as the seven of them rode the boat out to sea. “They’re absolute lunatics, the lot of ‘em, they’ll kill and eat anyone and anything they get their hands on. Apparently they will rush perceived intruders fearlessly because they do not fear death, seeing it as becoming one with the world. In ancient times they brought about chaos, death and destruction with absolutely no provocation.”

“And Grizzco is letting teenagers fight these things? Good grief,” X frowned.

“Hey, we ain’t saying Grizzco ain’t shady as heck, but they keep their respawn points fully powered and will extract employees if things get bad enough,” Liam said.

“Talked to Dad about it once. He actually approved of it - said it would keep me sharp and gives city Inklings a taste of the dangers you can find out in the wilderness,” Artemis nodded. “Not sure I agree with him, but I can see where he’s coming from.”

Orion cut in, “the Salmonids also sell their power eggs to the Octarians in exchange for technology.”

“I’m not keen on tarring an entire species with the same brush, and we are intruding on their territory. But as I said, I wanted to see what’s going on for myself,” X said. “Crazy to believe that salmon have evolved into something like this.”

❖

Orion could only twiddle his thumbs, E-liter 3K Scope Charger propped up against his shoulder. The tension in the air was almost utterly palpable as everyone waited.

Said tension was immediately broken when the radio sounded with Mr. Grizz’ voice. “Good grief, I can smell the mood from here. Not even small talk?”

Orion nearly jumped out of his seat in panic, but he calmed down. He decided to ask a question that had been on his mind this whole time. “Mr. Grizz, sir… What’s going on? It’s gotta be something big and important if this is all on such short notice and with such a large crew.”

“Excellent question, kid. The Salmonids are gatherin’ around a specific location, and I’ve already got facilities set up there,” Mr. Grizz said. “You’ll have plenty of verticality to work with, but expect a lot more enemies to splat. I can only spare one Special Weapon for each of ya this time. Coordination is gonna be essential for this one. You’ll want your robot friend handling the troublesome Salmonids.”

“So he’s on Flyfish duty, basically,” Artemis remarked.

“Heh, basically. But this also means your quota is much bigger this time. Get as many Golden Eggs as possible. Depending on your performance, I might even triple the payout. This is a huge opportunity for you kids, so don’t mess this up,” Mr. Grizz replied.

Gee, no pressure, Orion thought as the boat neared their destination, somewhat far out from Inkopolis. Orion’s eyes widened as he saw why this place was so notable - the tail of an enormous spaceship could be seen above the water line, with the ruins of some of the rest of the ship strewn around the area.

“This is a human spaceship…” X stood up, putting the manual down. “No wonder the Salmonids are interested in this place.”

Orion could see the Grizzco-made structure in the middle of all of this where they’d make their stand, consisting of a series of spiral ramps going up three levels. It was possibly the largest Salmon Run area Orion had ever seen, more than enough for the team of seven to work with. Multiple ride rails circled around the structure, leading right up top.

They all launched up to the top, where the egg basket was waiting. Orion blinked when he noticed something else was there, on the corner of the top level. “What’s that doing there?!”

It was another of the Light Capsules - he had seen the first two after they had been retrieved, but this was unexpected.

X stepped up to it, and Dr. Light’s hologram appeared. “Inside this capsule are the Head Parts. They will not only provide additional protection for your head components, but also provide additional sensors and a radar system for keeping track of aspects of your environment. In addition to that, the helmet is able to allow you to attack with your head, if you so need to. I’m counting on you, X.”

X stepped inside the capsule, and immediately after, he stepped out with a new helmet, now matching the rest of his upgrades along with a pair of gold fins on top. “This might come in handy. Alright, everyone, let’s ink this place up and get ready!”

There was no disagreement as everyone rushed to do their part in preparing for the incoming horde. Everyone’s loadouts were mostly similar to what they were when they went to fight Octavio, with the exception of Artemis and Karlene swapping weapons. Orion knew Dualies had always been his sister’s true love, even if she didn’t trust herself to use them responsibly when her life was on the line, because she had a bad habit of doing stupid stunts with them. Orion felt this was still not the best time to be tempted by Dualies, but he knew she was good at using them here.

Orion himself was perched up top, spraying lines of ink as he kept watch. He nearly jumped when he felt X put a hand on his shoulder, but knowing X was right there with him and already charging his buster was enough to at least somewhat calm his nerves.

And then the alarm sounded. The regular Salmonids started emerging from the waters, and even from a distance Orion could see the crazed look in their eyes. In fact, to call them crazed was putting it mildly - the only times Orion had ever seen Salmonids look more bloodthirsty than this were when glowflies were active.

He started focusing his aim towards larger targets, waiting for Boss Salmonids to appear. Right on cue, a Steelhead emerged from the waters, and immediately went after Liam, who was mopping up the smaller foes with his Roller. Orion charged up, taking careful aim, and the instant the inflatable bag emerged from the top of its head, he let loose. The shot hit home, piercing the bag and causing it to erupt and splatting the behemoth instantly, causing it to drop its cargo of Golden Eggs.

Then he saw a Flyfish emerge, and cursed to himself. However, X immediately acted, firing off a charged shot that instantly destroyed the flying menace and dropping its cargo. “Leave foes like that to me.”

Orion nodded, and started dashing around the edge of the platform, watching for Boss Salmonids he could potentially splat. Meanwhile, his teammates were tossing Golden Eggs up from lower levels, which he and X deposited into the basket at the first opportunity.

As it turned out, the old steel used by the Salmonids were not particularly resistant to X’s charged shots. Steel Eels usually broke down swiftly, leaving them sitting ducks for Orion. Drizzlers were immediately deprived of their umbrella or outright splatted. Scrappers also broke down completely. And Stingers no longer had the height advantage.

The group worked like a well-oiled machine. Eggs were coming in fast and piling up in the basket, his teammates got splatted only a few times, and while the horde was stressful, after everything they’d been through, this felt almost manageable by comparison.

“Maybe we can do this. Maybe this’ll actually wrap up without a hitch,” Orion muttered, as the second wave ended and the Salmonids retreated into the water.

And then the alarm came. Mr. Grizz’s voice came over the radio, “heads up, they’re really putting out the stops this time. Not only is a Mothership incoming, but they’re sending in Grillers as well. So you gotta deal with both as well as the Smallfries and the Chinooks.”

“Me and my big mouth,” Orion moaned as he saw the Mothership emerge from the sea, and Grillers starting to emerge as well, focusing on his teammates at lower levels. He always found Grillers incredibly creepy, he just couldn’t fathom why Salmonids would so willingly throw themselves into them to be cooked.

“Start shooting down those fliers, I’ll handle the grills,” X said as he leaped off the top. He charged up a shot, and as he got close to one of the Grillers he aimed for the back legs, causing them to snap and rendering the Griller completely immobile. Now Orion just felt kinda bad for the enemy, they were just completely unprepared for what X had to bring to the table.

No, no, focus, Orion, target those Chinooks, Orion thought to himself as he looked to the sky to see flying Salmonids carrying styrofoam coolers. He took aim, and started blasting them out of the air, one by one. Fortunately, they were slow and moved fairly predictably, and X handling the Grillers allowed the others to start refocusing their efforts more towards the Chinooks, alleviating the pressure somewhat. Okay, I can handle this, no problem, I can-

“ORI! INCOMING MAWS!” Koji called out from below.

Orion was briefly startled, but the warning was enough for him to quickly look at his feet, as a fishing bobber poking out from the ink came towards him. He leaped backwards, just in time to dodge the enormous salmon that shot out of the, snapping at where he had been just moments earlier. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me! Maws as well?!”

As the Maws disappeared into the ink, it began moving towards him yet again. Orion took out a bomb, waited for it to come to him, and dropped it right at his feet as he leaped away once more. The bait was swallowed, and the Boss Salmonid exploded into ink, leaving behind more Golden Eggs which Orion quickly deposited, along with any others that had been tossed up.

He looked back up at the sky. The Mothership was moving towards the egg basket. “Aw, carp. Mothership is moving in, someone help me fend it off!”

“You called~?” Hinata came riding up on one of the rails, carrying a Golden Egg which she quickly tossed into the basket. She brought up her Heavy Splatling. “Let’s teach that big box a lesson!”

“Thanks, Hinata,” Orion nodded, taking aim at the Mothership and firing. Fortunately the Mothership was a fairly easy target for the pair of them, and the suction tube barely had time to even reach the basket before the Mothership was forced to retreat. “We gotta do that a second time once it recovers…”

Until then, all he and Hinata could do was shoot down the fliers and grab the eggs as they came, while evading and splatting incoming Maws. The Mothership began coming back down again for another attempt, but this time multiple Stingers emerged as it did, targeting the pair up top, forcing them to evade instead. Orion was now starting to panic as he tried to deal with one of the Stingers first. There was no way he’d be able to do-

Suddenly, a charged shot ripped through the Mothership, the container itself unable to properly withstand the attack, and it damaged the anti-gravity systems, sending the whole thing tumbling back into the ocean. The Stingers were knocked off their towers in short order with quick energy shots and well-aimed Charger snipes.

“You two alright?” X asked, landing on the top level as he started throwing in more eggs. “That was a tricky situation to deal with.”

“No kidding, we owe you one, again!” Hinata giggled. Everyone else was mopping up the stragglers. “We’ve gotten ourselves a massive haul!”

Orion took a deep breath, as the wave timer finally expired, and everyone regrouped back on the top level while the basket disappeared into its hatch. “We actually made it through that whole shift…”

“Excellent work, that was a fantastic haul. I’m more than impressed,” Mr. Grizz said over the radio. “Everyone back to the boat, that should be enough to scare off those Salmonids at least for a long while-”

The waters around the structure started shifting violently. An emergency siren that Orion had never heard before echoed through the air, as something massive emerged from the waters.

It was a giant, grotesquely obese Cohock with a mohawk, with two bulging glowing white eyes, chains around its neck, and a pair of pants with two belts barely holding on to its enormous girth. The Salmonid unleashed a tremendous roar that shook the entire structure.

“WHAT THE SHELL IS THAT THING?!” Liam pointed in genuine panic.

“That’s… New…” Karlene nodded. Orion had never seen her actually look so panicked before, either.

“Cohozuna… A King Salmonid,” Mr. Grizz said, with a grim tone that chilled Orion to the core. “I didn’t think one would actually leave the deep. I should’ve prepared for this. Not gonna be able to extract you kids for the moment with that thing around, you have to either take it down or hold out for long enough. Good luck.”

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“It’s being escorted by other Boss Salmonids,” X said, spying a Steelhead and a Scrapper come out onto the structure as well. “I’ll keep them busy, you handle the King Salmonid.”

“Good plan. That big lumbering lummox won’t be able to keep pace with any of us,” Koji grinned, “I bet it can barely move on land-”

Suddenly, the Cohozuna launched itself high into the air, enough to easily land on top of the whole structure with little effort, and it did, sending the group scrambling as it crashed down. Parts of the structure actually crumpled from the weight and force, bringing a huge chunk of the top level down to the middle.

“I stand corrected. That is so, so not fair,” Koji winced.

“If we make it out of this alive and unscathed, I’m gonna have one shell of a story to tell to Dad,” Artemis gulped, as she unloaded her Dualies on the massive Salmonid.

With X handling the Boss Salmonids, everyone except Orion started pulling out their Special Weapons to unload on the king. Orion, however, couldn’t afford to use his Sting Ray, as it’d easily make him a sitting duck, and the Cohozuna was throwing its weight around quite literally, making staying near it precarious at best. So he tried to keep his distance as best he could, firing shots to do as much damage as he could muster. But even with all of them focusing most of their fire, the Cohozuna was absorbing an astounding amount of damage.

And then a Flyfish threw a spanner into the works before X could destroy it, targeting him with missiles. Orion, in his panic, dashed away from the splash zone before the missile barrage came down, but found himself right in front of the massive Salmonid, which looked down on him with an evil grin before shifting its weight forward.

“BRO!” Artemis cried out, rushing over to Orion and shoving him back as hard as she could. She tried her best to dash out of the way as well as their enemy came down for a belly-slam.

Orion heard the chilling scream his sister made as her body was crushed by the massive weight, exploding into ink.

The Cohozuna’s face was right in front of him, making a distorted cackle of triumph.

Orion saw red.

He grabbed the monster’s mohawk with one hand as he activated his Sting Ray, slamming his foot down inside the beast’s jaw and yanking its head upwards with all of his might, shoving the nozzle into its mouth sideways before twisting it to jam the arc at the front inside its jaw, locking it in. “Don’t. You. Dare. Hurt. My. SISTER.”

The Cohozuna forced itself back into standing position, but Orion still held on, trying to force its head up as much as he could, and pulled the trigger, firing off a massive stream of ink right into its maw and into its insides as he screamed bloody murder right into his enemy’s face.

The monster started trying to shake him off, but he held on for dear life, trigger held firm. He witnessed the sheer panic in its eyes. Good. Enjoy your last moments in terror, you son of a fish, he thought.

The monster began to expand, howling and gurgling its last as it exploded violently. Unfortunately, this also launched Orion high above, tumbling through the air until he crashed into the sea, the panicked cries of his friends muffled by the water and the ringing in his ears.

He tried to swim back up to the surface, but he was quickly losing consciousness. Before his eyes closed, he saw something enter the water in front of him, extending a hand…

❖

Orion coughed up water as he regained consciousness, briefly struggling to breathe before oxygen safely entered his lungs. He was actually alive.

“ORION!” Someone was hugging him tightly and crying. It took him a moment to register that it was his sister.

“You really gave us a scare, dude. Good thing X dived in to save you immediately,” Liam said, sitting next to him. “What you did was reckless as all shell, but it worked.”

Orion groaned, sitting up, and took a few breaths. “I dunno what came over me. I saw Sis get splatted, and… I just saw red.”

“Either way, it’s over. I know this was a special case, but good grief, if this is something you do regularly…” X sighed, hands on his hips. “I’m just glad you all made it out unscathed.”

“It was certainly a bit touch and go at the end there, I’ll admit, but you did an amazing job,” Mr. Grizz spoke up. “You got me a massive haul and took down a King Salmonid. You kids have a future here, I reckon, this’ll definitely go in your performance eval. Especially you, Orion, that Sting Ray stunt was risky but clever. And having a Robot Master in your corner certainly tipped the scales quite a bit. All of you are getting a massive bonus for this one. You guys might be my go-to team for dealing with stuff like this, I’ll make sure you’re better prepared for what the sea might throw at you next time.”

Artemis let go of her brother, wiping her tears and making a tired grin. “Dad’s gonna be so proud.”

“Let’s just get back to Inkopolis, get our pay and back to the dorms,” Karlene said. “I can’t believe we actually did that…”

“It was really fun, though! Let’s do it again sometime!” Hinata giggled.

Cue a resounding “NO!” from everyone else. Nobody but her wanted to do that again anytime soon.

❖

When the six Inklings got back to the dorms, they were absolutely beat. Still, Liam and Koji volunteered to make dinner, as they felt Orion more than deserved to take a good long break.

As he rested on the couch, Orion noticed his phone ringing. He picked it up, seeing the name on screen, and answered. “Hi, Marie.”

“I heard from X what happened today. What were you guys thinking?” Marie said with a stern voice, making Orion wince. “Grizzco is way too shady for you kids to be getting involved with.”

Orion bit his lower lip as he struggled to come up with a satisfactory response. “Sorry, Marie. I felt like I needed the extra money, and we didn’t think it’d get that crazy.”

Marie sighed on the other end. “I suppose so. I wasn’t expecting you to be so reckless, though. Your sister, sure, but you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Orion.”

Orion couldn’t help but mumble something too quiet for the receiver to properly pick up. He wanted to say something, but he felt nervous.

“Orion, what was that?”

“I… Um… You see…”

“Orion. Take a deep breath. What’s on your mind?”

“I had my doubts, I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but… I didn’t want to let everyone else down by backing out,” Orion sighed. “I just couldn’t help but go with the flow.”

There was a pause on Marie’s end. “Oh, Orion. You shouldn’t be ashamed about not going along with something you’re not comfortable with.”

“I guess so, but… The team would’ve been down one more person, and… I didn’t want to let everyone down. I didn’t want to potentially ruin that opportunity for them.”

“You should learn to stand up for yourself a little more, I think. Besides, they’re your friends. They know you well enough by this point, I’d think. I’m sure they’d understand.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right. Thanks, Marie.”

“Also X told us about that AWESOME STUNT you pull on that huge Salmonid!” Callie’s voice surprised Orion somewhat. Before he could respond, she started rambling, “You’re supposed to be the shy kid and yet you just shoved a freaking Sting Ray down its mouth and pulled the trigger like a BOSS! I don’t care what anyone says, you’re totally agent material!”

Orion laughed sheepishly, “t-thanks, Callie.”

“Okay, Callie, that’s enough, shoo,” Marie said, with the sound of a shove on the other end, and Callie’s giggling fading out. “Don’t let the praise get to your head, but you need to have more confidence in yourself. You’re capable of amazing things, Orion. Callie and I know it, your sister knows it, X knows it, all of your friends know it.”

Orion smiled softly. “Thanks… Hey, Marie. Would you mind helping me with Charger practice sometime?”

“You bet. You’ve got the potential to be a better sniper than me, kiddo,” Marie chuckled. “Alright, I’ll let you get back to whatever you’re doing. Have a good night, Orion.”

“Goodnight, Marie,” Orion said, before hanging up. He couldn’t help but feel warm. Marie and Callie felt like two big sisters he could rely on alongside Artemis. Well, Callie was perhaps less reliable, but Marie was definitely someone he could turn to for advice.

He stood up, and turned around to see how his dorm-mates were going with the cooking. They were standing there, looking sullen. He blinked. “Guys?”

“I should’ve noticed you were uncomfortable with going along with the Salmon Run, Ori,” Koji frowned. “I also should’ve figured you wouldn’t have been able to tell us you thought it was a bad idea.”

“You were listening,” Orion winced.

“Yeah, and we feel like carp for not asking you how you felt,” Liam nodded.

“Guys, it’s all water under the bridge now, what’s done is done,” Orion walked over to them. He hated making them feel bad for something he didn’t have the courage to do. “It was my fault for not speaking up when I should’ve.”

“No, it’s just as much my responsibility as team leader for not asking how you felt about it. We’re a team, Ori, your opinion matters just as much as mine or Koji’s, and you’re pretty smart on top of that. Next time we consider getting into something sketchy or risky like that, we’ll make sure to ask you how you feel about it, and whether you think it’s a good idea or not. I promise,” Liam said.

Koji nodded in agreement, without a further word needed to be said.

Orion smiled. These two were some of the best friends anyone could ask for. “Thanks, guys.”

“Alright, enough sappy stuff, let’s get to eatin’ already. After that mess I’m starving,” Liam said.

“Yeah, I couldn’t agree more,” Orion laughed sheepishly, feeling his stomach rumble. Despite everything, he didn’t feel nearly as tired anymore.

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