Chapter Text
Kaori's eyes fluttered open, met by a slowly dimming sky and the bottom of a helicopter, a stark constrast to the last solid memory she held of kicking open that giant blender in the metro.
Her body felt heavy, like it was full of bricks. A sour and salty taste coated the inside of her mouth, making her feel a bit sick to her stomach. Distantly, she could hear explosions and the sound of splattering ink. And... Upbeat music? Cheers?
“FLY, EIGHT, FLY!!” She heard a vaguely familiar voice shout from above. “I'M DROPPING MORE HYPERBOMBS IN 5 SECONDS!”
Her vision felt off, and her lucidity was only about halfway there. Her right eye... As she slowly and experimentally blinked each of her eyes one at a time, she realized her right eye's sight was dim and a bit blurry.
In the moment, she was so utterly exhausted that she wanted to just pass right back out, but nonetheless she racked her brains in search of answers.
Her lucidity smacked her right in the face. She... Had gotten the strange octoling and her Cap'n out of that blender, yes. But then after she woke up, she'd had a shot of teal-y turquoise ink blasted at her head by some talking phone, and then-
Kaori's hearts picked up their pace. She'd tied up Cap'n. She tried to kill- Not splat, not fight- Kill that octoling she had seen the captain with.
Kaori never fought to kill.
She suddenly remembered it so clearly- The complete lack of feeling, the booming thought- No, maybe not even a thought, a compulsion, perhaps- of needing to hurt, to kill, to ensure some vague thing greater than herself would come to pass, and-
She needed to stop thinking about this.
Kaori slowly sat up, pushing up with a shaky arm as she cradled her aching head with the other. She blinked groggily, and then her eyes widened at the scene before her.
There was- Well, where to start? There was a giant statue before her, with what looked like some kinda massive, menacing ink gun sticking out of its' mouth- Which, was that thing a human? She was no expert, and hadn't paid too much attention in school, but Kaori was pretty sure the statue was made in the image of one of the extinct humans.
About half the damn thing was coated in a layer of magenta ink, and there were some ride rails surrounding it. Kaori had little time to ponder this before she heard a voice cry out from beside her, one she recognized as her cap'n, somehow cutting through the sound of the choppers.
“YES!! KEEP GOING, KIDDO! JUST ONE MORE MINUTE!”
Kaori squinted a bit, seeing a figure coming around on one of the ride rails, trying to focus her sights despite her new and troublesome vision problem.
And then her hearts dropped into her stomach as she realized who it was.
It was the octoling from earlier, and she was- she was inking the statue, shooting at some massive bomb-like objects that would then explode in blasts of magenta.
In that moment, Kaori realized two things: The statue's ray of certain doom was aimed right towards the shore of Inkopolis, and this octoling, the very one she'd been battling- How long had it been, a month?- ago was an ally. She was trying to stop this thing from firing off at the city.
In the wake of her epiphanies, Kaori lurched forward, aiming to hop up onto her feet and superjump over to assist- She was Agent 3, she wasn't going to sit by while the city she lived in was at imminent risk- But she didn't expect to fall right back down onto her knees, screaming in pain.
Her face, dear COD, the entire right side of her face was BURNING. It was... So much worse than the enemy ink burn she was used to feeling. This burn permeated her very being, digging deep below her skin and settling into a duller ache deep in her ear and head.
Kaori blinked back tears, her vision in her right eye becoming temporarily smeary and out of focus, disorienting her further. She screamed again as another flash of pain irradiated her skull. Cap'n stopped his cheering and crouched down to Kaori's level as fast as he could in his old age, using his Bamboozler to help lower himself.
The younger inkling dry-heaved and huffed, her breathing raggedy and uneven. She was easily in the most pain she'd felt in her entire life.
“Woah, Three, take it easy, now,” Cap'n warned, gently grabbing the teen's hand. “You don't look good.” He gazed at Kaori's face with a frown, seeing the right side of her face was still a sickly green, and over the past 15 or so minutes was settling into a color that was startlingly close to the shade of sanitized ink.
Kaori took another heavy, choppy breath. “Cap'n, I need- I have to go-” Her thought process was interrupted by another wave of pain in her face and head, sending her slumping to the ground with another cry. In that moment, any semblance she had of composure dissolved away, and she found herself sobbing, unable to cope with how much pain she was in. What exactly did that sanitized ink DO to her?
“GRAMPS!” Kaori roared. For the first time in years, she felt helpless, lost, and exhausted, as if she was a deathly ill child. She clawed at his arms, trying to get closer to him. “GRAMPS! Help! HELP ME! HEAD-!” The young inkling's voice cracked into a new series of pained cries.
“Hey, now. Hey. You're going to be okay.” Cap'n gently held Kaori's frantic arms, and glanced back at Eight before returning his gaze to Kaori. “Don't move so much, it'll make it worse.”
Kaori whimpered slightly, trembling as she shut her eyes momentarily. Sure enough, staying still helped the pain. “[What happened...?]”
Cap'n quickly gave her a rundown of everything that had happened since she'd passed out. As he continued filling in the gaps between Kaori's memories and what she'd been unconscious for, her eyes widened in horror.
“[I need to help,]” Kaori signed frantically, pointing off to the NILS statue. She almost tried to get back up, even knowing it'd hurt, but was stopped by Cap'n gently pushing her shoulder down.
“No, Kaori. Rest. You've done more than enough today, you hear?”
Kaori frowned at him, unpleased. Deep down she knew he was right. Still, she felt the need to argue. “[How can one chick ink this entire statue by herself? I need to get out there!]”
“Marina up there,” Cap'n began, pointing to the chopper above, “Came with some prototype bombs that are super strong! Eight's been blasting away up there!”
Kaori glanced over to witness one of the hyperbombs in question exploding, tossing a frankly ridiculous amount of magenta ink all over. She was about to respond, but was interrupted.
“And I'M the hype man,” Cap'n said, a smug grin plastered across his face, or, Kaori thought he had one on under his beard, by the way his eyes were squinted just so.
She slowly lifted her head and gazed back up at Eight, who was zipping up towards the statue's head on a ride rail. For a moment, their eyes locked, and the pit that had steadily been forming in Kaori's stomach caved in, her fear about the current situation spiking. Her face, in a rare show of emotion, contorted into an expression of fear.
Eight, or Haven, as Kaori would know her soon, flashed a meek smile and a gave a wave towards Kaori before returning to her mission, a renewed look of determination settling onto her face.
That night, many things would change for Kaori- Her vision, her face, her feelings, and her relationships; but for now, she was exhausted, and soon felt herself slipping out of consciousness again, her head falling gently into Cap'n's hands.