Chapter Text
It was a quiet ride home. In the back of a dark limousine, the pink Inkling rested her head upon the beautiful tall octoling that sat beside her. She peered with half-lidded eyes out the window, an arm wrapped around the small princess. The streetlights were left behind one after another, shining into the vehicle briefly with each passing. They were coming back from a late night concert, longing for a good night's sleep.
The vehicle suddenly veered off to the side with a screech, jumping the two Cephalopods out of their rest.
The driver Jelly could be heard murmuring with a hushed panic, as he attempts to steady the vehicle, but ultimately it spins out across the highway.
"Marina!?" the inkling cries with fear, clutching onto her bandmate.
"Hold on, Pearl!" Marina replies with a shaken voice, bravery laced around it as she pulls Pearl into an embrace, with the intent to shield her from whatever is about to happen.
The vehicle spins and spins, and the Jelly driver screams as the two lovers can feel the car beginning to tip over.
Bumping into the barricade separating the two directional lanes causes the vehicle to fully roll over, and over, and over.
It finally comes to rest, as the two now lay on the ceiling of the vehicle as if it were the floor.
Marina slowly opens her eyes to the blurry sight of Pearl within her arms, clutching her tightly as she sees her unmoving, but breathing lightly. Her ears ring as her head pounds causing anything she does to result in intense vertigo, looking around with confusion. Was it just an accident?
The car door then swings open, as Marina's Ink turns to ice at the fuzzy sight that was before her.
Two figures with short tentacles that hung just passed their faces, wearing goggles and shades that sported red tinted lenses stood before her, a piece or two of seaweed flowing on the night air. They both wield a weapon each, both capable of splatting her in just a few shots.
She glances around, and reaches for her Brella that was previously stored under the seat, now rolled about nearby due to the wreck. It's just out of reach...
One of the soldiers leans into her radio, speaking in a language Marina hadn't heard spoken by another in a long time.
"<Target located. Attempting to seize.>"
The other rushes forward, grabbing Marina by the arm.
"No-!" she screams out as her weak and wounded body attempts to fight against their grip.
As they slowly succeed in ripping her out of the vehicle, she tugs her hand back with a mighty force, causing one of the soldier's bodies to slam into the roof - or floor - of the car. The soldier rubs their shoulder attempting to alleviate the pain, as they realize she has no intention to cooperate, and attempt to use force as necessary.
The taller male soldier aims his custom made Octoshot at Pearl, causing a fierce scowl to make its way onto Marina's face.
"Don't you dare touch her...!" Marina tries her best to use her body as a shield, her hand being let go as the male soldier speaks.
"<Step out of the vehicle, or we open fire.>"
Marina lays there as she buries her head into Pearl's. Maybe if she stalls long enough, the police will show up...
She thinks for a moment as she realizes she is indirectly putting Pearl in danger. They've come for her, not Pearl.
Would she rather sit here and let them potentially harm or kill her, or just cooperate to keep her safe?
Are they just going to kill Marina anyway...?
She speaks with an accusatory voice, accent thick, but a hint of the surface still seeps into it, after speaking their language for years. "<So, what? You can bring me back down there and execute me? Just shoot me now if that's what you want!>" she snarls, her body shivering with the fear that she attempts to hide.
"<You're being detained, not executed. Come with us, and you as well as your Inkling friend will stay unharmed. New General’s orders.>"
What a damn joke...
Unharmed? You already almost killed her when you flipped our car!
she grimaced.
They wouldn't hesitate to kill her if I wasn't a part of the equation...
her mind swarms with anger, realizing that the only way to keep her safe in her weakened state is to go with them.
But then, her mind then lands on the final part of their sentence.
New General?
Octavio has been replaced?
She supposed that made sense, she quickly concluded. She heard that he had been on the surface. Whatever his business is up here though, is unknown to her. But it seems that this new General has requested for them to search for her. He must have seen her prodigious skill on record.
She obviously wasn’t hard to find, she’s a celebrity.
I'll let them do it then. If I can get out once, I can get out again. she thinks.
She'll focus on an escape plan when she can.
She didn't want to put Pearl's life at risk, knowing the lengths that these borderline monsters would go.
But, with the worst timing on the entire planet, Pearl gently cracks her eyelids open as she looks into Marina's deep seafoam gaze.
Tears find themselves being brought to Marina's eyes, and before Pearl can speak, she whispers, "I'm sorry, Pearl..."
Pearl can barely comprehend her words, as Marina kisses her on the head, letting her go.
The inkling watches with blurry vision as Marina crawls out of the flipped wreckage, towards some other figures who looked a bit like her, with tears falling from her face...
"Marina...?" she spoke, as if she groggily awoke from an afternoon nap. Her lover trailed further and further away.
"Marina...!?" even through her skewed mental state, she could sense something was wrong. She reached out to grab her, but she was much farther away than she initially thought, as her hand slammed down to the ground. She watched as the blurry figures grasped Marina aggressively as she finally exited the vehicle, and rather swiftly pressed a cloth to her face, causing her knees to buckle soon after as the two figures held her to prevent her from hitting the pavement.
Pearl gasped, attempting to stand but her body wouldn't budge. She felt like a rock, stuck in place.
She began to beat herself up even in the damaged state that she was in, as she watched them carry her away...
Her vision began to blur even more than it was already, and eventually darken.
Fear returned to her inkstream, as she called out for her one last time.
"Marina..."
Her 'call' only came out to be a murmur before the inkling's energy ran dry, causing her eyelids to fall once more.
Before her senses dissipated, the final thing she heard was a car speeding away on the cracked road, just within the borders of Inkopolis.
---
It's been 16 hours since the accident.
The annoying, disruptive and muffled sounds of a monitor beeping can be heard.
Mistaking them for an alarm clock, a weak hand attempts to slam down on where a table was supposed to be. But instead, simply wafted the air, her hand slamming down on the side of the...metal bed?
Ow...
That slightly woke her up.
She listens to the beeping as she realizes it's different from her regular alarm clock.
She gently gazes through her slits of vision, opening her eyes further as a sheer light burns her pupils before adjusting.
The room was bare, with all white furniture and walls, luminescent bulbs beaming down on her with a low hum.
She glanced at where her alarm clock was supposed to be, and saw an entire setup of monitors displaying all sorts of information that she doesn't understand, typically that of what you would only see in a hospital.
Wait a minute...
She blinked frantically, attempting to fight the blur still left in her eyes.
Gazing at her hand, she notices an IV drip and a cord or tube, that when followed, connects to the monitor, as well as some other funky little gadgets attached in various spots on her body.
She sighs in annoyance as she looks up at the ceiling, now understanding that she is in a hospital.
Did I really get bruised up that badly? she couldn't help but think.
She thought about what could have happened to get herself here, and remembers Marina...
Her face drops into one of worry, as she remembers.
Something happened to her after the accident.
She knows it wasn't a dream, even though it felt like it was. It just wouldn't make sense. Why else would she be here?
One of the nurses walks into the room, and beams as she sees Pearl.
"Houzuki...! You're awake!" she says with much excitement in her voice.
The Inkling nurse clasps her hands together as she rests her cheek on them, rather chipper for someone in the healthcare field.
Pearl croaks out, her voice broken from laying dormant.
"Where's my phone?"
After her question, she realized it sounded kinda rude... "S-sorry, uh, mornin'" she tacks on.
She giggles, waving her hands in dismissal. "It's in the drawer beside you, sweetheart." she answers, regardless of her attitude.
She leans over, spotting the drawer as she opens it, retrieving her phone.
There was a crack on the screen that wasn't there before...
Oh well, the screen still worked. She can just buy a new one if she really wants to.
She sifted through the hundreds of messages of people wishing for her to get better from her various social media apps, before she clicked into her internet browser to make sure she hadn't dreamt it all.
She began to search up keywords related to the accident, assuming it made some kind of headline due to their bands popularity. It had to have, if it actually happened. Not to mention the messages...how else would they know?
Sure enough, there it was, clear as day.
"Limousine carrying Inkopolis stars 'Off The Hook' suffers nearly fatal car accident…"
The second part of the headline caused her eyes to widen as she felt a chill run up her back.
"...rendering Pearl Houzuki hospitalized, & Marina Ida missing."
Missing...?
Remembering back to last night, she saw Marina in her blurry vision, crawling toward some strange figures before...being assaulted.
She thinks a moment before putting two and two together.
They kidnapped her.
She said something to me, didn't she...?
She thinks hard, accidentally ignoring the nurse attempting to garner her attention. What was it...
I'm sorry, Pearl...
Sorry? For what?
Did she...allow them to take her?
Her head aches as she lays back, the nurse now giving up on speaking to her.
Why would she do something like that...?
She remembers how similar the figures looked to Marina. They wore revealing outfits that reminded her of when she first met her. They must have been octolings.
Weird looking octolings, assaulting her girlfriend who's also an octoling, and kidnapping her...
The only reasonable explanation is some people from her past are pissed off with her.
Considering her military background, it's safe to assume they took her back down there.
Shit.
"I have to go." Pearl states bluntly to the nurse.
She gives her a quizzical glance. "Go? You're still healing..."
"I feel fine." which was partially a lie. Her head hurt a lot, but there didn't seem to be much else wrong. She can take a headache.
"You had minor head trauma...you should stay here for just a little while longer so we can be sure you're alright."
"Just check me now!" she collapses into herself, angry at the thought of being stuck here, unable to do a thing about Marina's disappearance.
The nurse frowns with a worried look, wondering why she was so eager.
She sighs, before speaking.
"I'll get the doctor then." she murmurs, as she slowly leaves the room.
As Pearl waits, she finds herself thinking back once again.
Only minor head trauma? From a whole car wreck? She was passed out for several hours after it happened...how is it only that?
She remembers Marina holding onto her before the vehicle began to flip over. She looks down with an ache in her chest as she realises that Marina most likely saved her...
If she took the brunt of the damage, then what sort of condition is she in?
I hope she's alright.
---
About forty minutes go by after the doctor arrives, doing all sorts of tests, checking up on the back of her head, and using various tools to look for any tissue, cartilage, or brain damage.
Pearl sits and waits, simply restless. If she has to wait any longer, she'd jump out the window just to get out of here sooner.
Luckily, the doctor finally speaks up.
"You seem to be good enough to leave. I know you're eager about it, and I do wish we could keep you just in case... But if you're sure you'd like to go, then you may." he explains to the small Inkling.
"Please come back if you feel anything is off. But, take it easy..."
She only listens to about half of what he has to say before spitting a "Thanks." In a slightly bitter tone, but that was more of an accident than anything. Her sour mood about all this has made her tone a lot more snippy.
The doctor leaves, as she gets up to change out of her dumb hospital gown, throwing on the pastel pink and yellow hoodie, with some slightly baggy black shorts that she finds by her bed. Her parents must have brought a spare change of clothes for her. There's no way they didn't hear about this.
It took her no time at all to be checked out, and she pretty much runs back home to gather her things.
She listens to the murmurs of the people she passes by, exclaiming how they’re relieved that she’s okay, and questioning where Marina is. It’s rare to see Pearl without her.
She's going to go find Marina, but not without a bit of help.
Stepping through the door of her home, she immediately dials Callie’s number, putting her on speaker as she searches her home for her weapon of choice.
A cheery voice picks up.
- "Hello?"
"Callie, I need help." She jumps straight to the point, not wanting to waste any time.
- "Pearl! I'm so glad you're alright! We heard about what happened... "
"So you know Marina is missing then?" she says boldly, trying to not sound aggressive.
- "Y-yes... Is that what you're calling about?"
"Yeah." she finds her pair of Enperry Splat Dualies, twirling them in her hands. She's only ever used these for Turf War, never as a real weapon. In fact, she's never used any weapon as a real weapon.
"Can you guys back me up?"
Callie sits in silence for a moment.
- "You're not thinking of going to look for her yourself are you...?" She says, taking the reasoning side of things, something she rarely does. That was typically Marie.
Without hesitation, and a bit of aggravation, Pearl replies.
"What else do you want me to do? Sit here and let her become another unsolved missing persons case?"
- "No...we can just send Agent Three. Do you even know where she is?"
"She's somewhere down underground. She was kidnapped by octolings, I saw it. Also...I know Three is very capable, but I can't just sit here until I'm brought back potentially bad news." she pauses, sighing soon after.
"I need to be there myself. I need to make sure she's alright..."
She thinks back to that moment. Marina had purposely let herself be captured, or seemingly anyways. She can't help but wonder why... it almost infuriates her. Maybe they tricked her...?
- "If she insists, Callie, we'll let her go. To Octo Valley, I suppose." Marie seems to chime in, deadpan as ever.
- "Three will help you, we were planning on sending her anyway if there wasn't an update on Marina." Callie adds.
- "We'll be in your ear if you need us."
With that, Pearl hangs up the phone and leaves, dualies in her bag as to not garner public suspicion. She'll meet them at the border of Octo Valley.