Chapter Text
Part 1 - At Rock Bottom
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Chapter 1
Octavio honestly didn’t see it coming, but the self-deprecating part within him wasn’t so surprised by the turn of events.
He figured that being dismissed from his position as the leader of the Octarians and its army was just a matter of time, considering that he wasn’t getting younger.
But being exiled from his own people, his own land, the home he lived in for almost a century?!
That, he didn’t expect at all.
He wasn’t even sure of how to react to this, it all happened so rapidly.
And as a result, in the face of everything that he lost, he felt his head spinning from the multiple thoughts rushing through his head.
He lost his job, his troops, and his home…the realization that he was now homeless hit him like a piercing stabbing in the stomach… and he didn’t know what to do.
Thankfully, he was still able to figure out an idea of where to go.
He decided to wander far away from Octo Valley, far from Inkopolis even.
To avoid being completely homeless, his only hope, for now, was to go back to Alterna, where he still had left his Octobot King L3. Gs, or at least the remains of it.
Living in his mecha would be uncomfortable, but he could get used to it, and it was currently his only livable place until he got his situation under better control.
With this plan in mind, Octavio traveled across Inkadia and the Splatslands by night to avoid any further attention to himself. He suspected that Splatsville wouldn’t know about his current situation, but he would rather not risk it.
The fewer people to know of his situation, the better it would be for him…and for his pride.
However, one thing his plan did not take into account was the very cold temperature around the Splatsland crater at night.
And after what was an exhausting couple of days, Octavio’s energy ran out before he could notice and he collapsed in the middle of the desert.
Octavio woke up to the sweet aroma of food.
As he regained his senses, he noticed the sound of someone moving nearby telling him that he wasn’t alone anymore, and not completely lost…Trying to find his grounding, slowly his surroundings came into focus and he noticed that he was in some sort of camp with a blanket over him…
“Oh, are you finally awake?”
That familiar voice!
Octavio almost wanted to scream when he whipped around to see his longtime enemy nearby, Cuttlefish!
To his surprise, the Inkling was offering him a warm smile with what appeared to be a look of relief on his face. This made Octavio feel even more alienated with his surroundings.
Was he in hell?!
“ YOU !” Octavio finally managed to say with a stern tone and voice strained. “What are you doing here?!”
Craig simply stroked his beard in confusion.
“Hum…you are at Camp Cuttle right now. My camp to be more precise.”
Octavio looked around for a short moment to take notice of his whereabouts. While he definitely didn’t recognize the camp, the events of the last days immediately rushed back to him.
Craig scratched the back of his head, noticing the other’s confusing expression, he offered an explanation.
“I found you passed out near my camp last night. So I asked the Captain to bring you here. These days, it can get really cold at night around here.”
“Hmph.”
While Octavio stood still on his spot, chewing on all this information and trying to calm the feeling of nervousness still sitting in his stomach, Cuttlefish finished preparing some warm tea and breakfast.
“Here, I made some breakfast if you want.”
“I do not want your pity food!” He snarled.
Wrong! His stomach wanted it very badly and immediately betrayed his words.
So he took the plate begrudgingly without a word and started to eat.
Cuttlefish tried to resist a chuckle from how quickly Octavio changed his mind, but it only made the Octoling angrier, not once faltering the menacing withering glare towards the Inkling.
Furthermore, Octavio was completely confused by Cuttlefish’s seemingly friendly behavior. He did not understand why the Inkling was suddenly being so kind to him.
For a mere second, Octavio wondered if the food he got from the other was poisoned. However, as much as he tried, he felt it was too delicious to stop eating. Either this was the cause of not eating for over 2 days or because the meal was legitimately good…now that he thought of it, it might as well be both reasons. He remembered that Craig always had been a relatively good cook; a memory that just increased his bitterness towards the other presently.
There was a long and awkward silence between them.
Octavio just kept his attention on finishing his meal. He was sure that Cuttlefish would start asking questions after he finished, so he took all his sweet time with it.
“Mr. Cuttlefish!”
The voice cutting through the air, as friendly as it sounded, made Octavio jump. And without giving a second thought, he decided to hide. By reflex, he jumped into the first empty crate in proximity. His heart began to race as if he were in danger, and while he couldn’t quite understand why he acted this way, he tried to comfort himself that his reaction was for the best as he wanted to avoid anyone seeing him presently. He blamed it on the accumulation of stress he had gotten from the recent days.
“Oh, if it isn’t our new Agent 3!” Cuttlefish mentioned waving at the young Inkling with their little Smallfry following suit. “Nice to have you for a visit! Right on time too! I just finished breakfast for our new guest.”
“A guest?” The Inkling asked, confused by who the other was referring to.
The question prompted Cuttlefish to turn around and see that Octavio wasn’t there anymore. This left the elderly man perplexed, as he frantically looked around, but the teenager completely ignored it.
“Look, Mr. Cuttlefish! I got a new weapon today! Ta-dah!” They took the weapon from their backpack and showed him the new Stringer they just got this morning called Reef-Flux 450.
“Ah! Is that one of those new Stringler? Or how did ya call it?”
Agent 3 laughed at the elderly man’s confused reaction.
“A Stringer! ”
“Ah! Yeah! I can’t seem to remember these names these days,” Craig said, brushing it off with a light laugh.
“It’s alright. I tried it today in battle and I won! It gives a lot of coverage. But I still need more practice. I still prefer my old Tri-Stringer,” Agent 3 explained.
The retired man looked at the weapon, turning it around in the air. While he was investigating it, Little Buddy -Agent 3’s Smallfy- followed the weapon closely around and jumped to try to get it, thinking that Cuttlefish was brandishing the object to play around with them.
“I wondered if Captain could have some feedback and suggestions for me,” Agent 3 said, now a bit shyly.
In the small time they spent tagging along with the Captain in the missions in Alterna, Agent 3 ended up admiring them a lot. And while Agent 3 got rapidly accustomed to the Captain’s silence, they were still not fully sure when they were bothering them or not. “If they can of course…”
“Of course, I’m sure they would love to! They just went to town this morning, but should be back soon.”
This reassured the young Inkling, they smiled brightly, although the smile withered a little when their eyes ended up on the plate of food that was next to the retired Cap’n. Without thinking, they brought a hand over their stomach, now noticing how hungry they were.
“Do you want something to eat?” Craig asked, noticing the gesture.
“Can I?!”
Craig chuckled lightly, he immediately made a plate for the teenager.
“There will always be some for you, champ. You will never intrude.”
The welcoming words made the young Agent smile. Without waiting, they sat down exactly at the spot Octavio was a few minutes ago and started eating, offering some portions to Little Buddy as well.
Octavio, who had been witnessing the conversation still hidden in the crate, cursed and grumbled irritably under his breath.
As much as this moment could be considered tender, he was unhappy that apparently, someone else got his breakfast. And judging by how quickly that kid was eating, he could definitely imagine there would be nothing left for him.
Still, in frustration, he took a deep breath trying to calm himself.
It didn’t matter in the end, he comforted himself. After all, he wasn’t going to stick around much longer. In fact, this opportunity thankfully made him avoid spending more time with Cuttlefish.
So while the two Inklings and the Salmonid were distracted chatting cheerfully, Octavio carefully escaped from the crate and left the camp.
He desperately needed to get to Alterna.
It took a while, but when Octavio finally made it down the crater and arrived at where he had last seen his Octobot King L3.Gs; he was devastated.
The sight in front of him was a complete disaster!
His Octobot had been completely destroyed, dismantled into little pieces, and scattered around the snow.
He remembered that the mech had taken damages from the fight against Grizz and from the gravitational impact of coming back to Earth from Space. But, when he left Alterna, it definitely wasn’t destroyed in thousands of pieces like that, in a broken mess.
It was in a disposition that no matter what he could do, he wouldn’t be able to repair it.
He felt rage consuming him just from the sight.
Someone had to have come and destroyed it!
Someone was ruining his life!
Someone didn’t want him to repair his own mecha!
Someone wanted him out of their way!
And as for many things that didn’t go well for him, his first thought was to accuse the one person whole was the blame for his misfortune for a century.
He could feel the boiling rage rush through his entire body…to then leave immediately, leaving him feeling so tired and devoid of drive momentarily. With that came the reasoning that Cuttlefish was probably not the person who came here to destroy the mech and sabotage his plans right now…
A wave of sadness washed over him as if it was trying to drown him. A type of sadness he didn’t feel in so long…A hopeless kind of sadness. The feeling of uselessness nipped at the back of his mind, reminding him that no matter what he could try there was nothing he could do to regain what he had lost. And it left him feeling so exhausted.
After staring at the sight in front of him for over an hour in stunned silence, his eyes turned faraway.
He remained in Alterna for the rest of the day, disassociating until the fake sun in the sky left. Then decided to retract in his steps, although he wasn’t sure where to go.
He continued to wander around the Splatlands desert until he noticed a familiar camp again. Although, this time it was completely dark, meaning that the campers were asleep in the tent.
Yet, as Octavio approached, he noticed a small lantern still lit up near the campfire, along with a blanket and pillow next to it.