Hello there and welcome to the first chapter of this little story I'm writing (and the first chapter I've ever posted on this site, so here's hoping it's a good one). I really hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is set more-or-less straight after the end of the Octo Expansion. And yes, this is an Agent 4x8 Fanfiction. If it does well, I might write an Agent 3x8 story in future, possibly with female 3 and male 8. Who knows, I need to get this story completed first, which I fully intend to do.

Disclaimer: Splatoon, Splatoon 2 and the Octo Expansion are not owned by me, they are owned by Nintendo.

Not again…

Was the main thought running through the mind of a ponytailed Inkling boy named Katsuo Tataki as he struggled to stop himself from screaming in frustration. His hands hurt from how tightly he gripped the .52 Gal in his hands as he looked at the result from his latest ranked match, letting out an annoyed huff as he did so.

Defeat.

He knew exactly what that meant. He kept looking at the screen in front of him in the lobby showing him his rank, and his grip tightened even more when his meter shattered. Whilst he had enough meter to avoid de-ranking to C, he was back at square one for B rank. He declined playing another match and tossed away his weapon before he stormed out into the square, fists clenched at his sides. Despite it being early in the morning, the square was decently populated. Katsuo didn't care though, as he stormed towards Ammo Knights.

"Can't believe my dear little brother can't get out of B rank. It took me less than a day and you've been stuck in it for what, a couple months now? I made it to the top of S+ in that time." The voice of his older brother taunted in his head as the image of that smirk flashed in his mind. He stopped just outside the shop and released a deep breath, trying to cool his head. His fists slowly started to unclench, but then he suddenly wobbled in place for a moment before bracing himself against the wall to his left with his arm. He stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, his tired green eyes shut.

I'm fine… I just need a moment's rest is all… just need a minute to recover… maybe I should've gotten up a bit lat-

His squid phone suddenly buzzed in his hoodie pocket, cutting off his train of thought. After a moment of trying to grip it the right way around, he removed it from his pocket and checked the message he'd been sent, and his eyes widened as far as they could the moment he saw it was sent by Marie.

"Hey Agent 4, mind popping over to my apartment real quick? There're some people I'd like you to meet. Here's a list of directions from the square to my apartment, it shouldn't take you more than a few minutes." Katuso barely had time to process what the message said before another one popped up.

"And hurry the squid up, I think Callie's about to burst from excitement." Whilst he stared at the message, a mixture of emotions welled up inside him, including but not limited to; excitement, interest, a rather hefty amount of nervousness and a decent dose of confusion.

I've just been invited to Marie's apartment… but to meet other people… but I've still been invited to her apartment! I wonder who's going to be there… she mentioned Callie… so who else could be there… His thoughts occupied with wondering who he might meet, he slowly walked off, following the instructions to the best of his ability.

He still managed to get lost at least once.

*Some time later, inside an apartment building. *

…Just how many people am I supposed to be meeting? Katsuo wondered, feeling slightly alarmed at the racket coming from the door that was supposed to lead to Marie's apartment. However his speculation was cut short when the door flew open so fast, he was surprised it didn't fly off its hinges and flatten him against the wall.

"AGENT 4!" Marie hadn't been joking, Callie was bouncing with energy.

"Wha-"

Before Katsuo could even finish his sentence, Callie dragged him into the apartment and slammed the door shut before dragging him to the middle of the 'living' room. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Agent 4! Agent 4, say hi to Agent's 3 and 8, Gramps, Pearl and Marina!" Callie said, excitement radiating from every word. Katsuo blinked a few times and looked around for a moment before he got his bearings.

The first thing he noticed was how everyone in the large, decorated room was now staring directly at him, which caused him to awkwardly scratch his neck and shuffle his feet slightly. The second thing he noticed was that there were only two people standing up, one of which was him. He nervously ran his eyes across the group in front of him…

…And felt his eyes widen in shock as his breath caught in his throat when he saw that a pale Octoling was sitting at the end of the sofa on the right. A pair of curious, yet slightly nervous, blue eyes looked at him, although the former emotion was much more noticeable than the latter, especially with the slight frown that was visible on her forehead.

She noticed he was now looking at her and her gaze flicked up slightly to meet his. After a moment or two, the Octoling tilted her head slightly, and suddenly a thought popped into Katsuo's head, seemingly out of nowhere.

She's really cute.

As soon as his brain fully processed his own thought, he felt his face rapidly begin to heat up. The longer he kept eye contact, the hotter his face got and the clearer the pounding in his ears got.

D-D-Did I just seriously call an Octoling cute!? B-W-But aren't I supposed to be fighting them!? C-can i even think that about an Octoling!?

He quickly snapped his head to the left and looked at the rest of the group, trying his best not to think about it.

"Um… hi… I'm… Agent 4… wait you already know that. Carp… Um…" He stammered out quickly. Unawares to him, Marie had noticed his little stare with Agent 8, and a small smile was spreading itself across her lips.

"Well at least now we only have three missing agent spots to fill." A female Inkling wearing hero gear, albeit also with a cape, said with an amused look on her face. When Katsuo just stared at her in confusion she clarified. "We now have Agents 1,2,3,4 and 8, since apparently Cap doesn't know how basic numbering order works."

"It was the best I could come up with at the time, Agent 3." Cap'n Cuttlefish shot back. Before Agent 3 could reply, Pearl suddenly interjected.

"With Agent's three and four, you know the score!" Upon hearing Pearl's rap, Cuttlefish fired off his own lines.

"Cause these two agent's, who've never been complacent!"

"They're gonna show…" And so, the two descended into firing rap lines back and forth. Marina, who'd taken notice of the fact Katsuo looked like a fish out of water, spoke up.

"Sorry about that Agent 4, Pearl's gotten the captain into rapping and this turning into a bit of a habit of theirs." The Inkling boy stared at her for a few seconds before something occurred to him.

HOLY SQUID I'M IN THE SAME ROOM AS OFF THE HOOK AND THE SQUID SISTERS. Katsuo nearly yelled out loud, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. But before anything else could happen, Marie stood up and loudly cleared her throat, silencing Pearl and Cap'n Cuttlefish and drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"Right. Callie already mentioned who everyone was, but I'll got over it again for you, Agent 4." She walked over to him. "That over there is Agent 3." She said, pointing at the female Inkling.

"Yo." Three said, giving Katsuo a smirk and a thumbs up. "Nice work in Octo Canyon. Heck maybe with you around I could retire." She said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Three, you're only 16." Marie said with faint exasperation. "You can't 'retire'." Three just shrugged in reply.

"Well then how about 'passing on the mantle of defending Inkopolis to the next generation'? That sound better?"

"You're just being lazy."

Three clutched her chest and feigned looking absolutely horrified. "Me? Lazy? How dare you accuse me of such a thing."

"Moving on, that's Cap'n Cuttlefish, me and Callie's grandfather."

"A pleasure to meet you, young man. Anyone willing to help in the fight against the octarian menace is a friend of mind." He said. Katsuo stared at Cuttlefish for a few moments before his eyes widened in amazement.

"Captain Cuttlefish!? The leader of the legendary Squidbeak Splatoon?!" He asked excitedly, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "The decorated war hero who managed to turn the tides of countless battles in favour of the Inklings!?" Everyone else in the room, sans the captain himself, blinked in surprise. Cuttlefish seemed to straight his back out slightly more than usual.

"I see you know your history young man." He commented, his voice bearing a hint of approval. Katsuo nodded eagerly.

"It was one of my best subjects at school!" He said excitedly, a grin on his face. Marie felt the edges of her mouth twitch upwards into a smile. It's a shame he doesn't smile like that more often… On the other side of the room, a smile had snuck its way onto Agent 8's face as she'd been watching him.

"Anyway, moving on, I'm sure you know who Pearl and Marina are."

"That's me, Pearl! Aka MC Princess!" She swiftly struck a pose. "And this is Marina! Aka DJ_Hyperfresh!" The aforementioned other member of OTH simply smiled at Katsuo and gave him a small wave. When it looked like Pearl was about to say something, Marie swiftly started speaking, eager to get the introductions over with.

"So, a quick bit of a story update for you 4. Gramps and Three were off on patrol when suddenly they ended up trapped in some kind of underground complex. Before they ended up there though, they bumped into an Octoling, who ended up being trapped down there with them. Long story short, that Octoling helped them escape back to the surface and is now a member of the new Squidbeak Splatoon and is currently sitting in this room. Agent 4, I'd like you to meet, Agent 8."

Katsuo looked at Marie for a few moments before he turned his gaze onto Agent 8. The Octoling smiled at Agent 4 and gave a small wave. "Hi Agent 4, it's nice to meet you!" She said as cheerfully as she could. Katsuo felt his face heat up slightly.

"Nice to meet you too Agent 8!" He said, also trying to sound as cheerful as he could.

"Right, so with introductions out of the way, are we gonna resolve the issue of who's gonna teach 8 about how things work in Inkopolis?" Agent 3 asked, leaning back in her chair. "Cause I sure as cod can't, I've gotta go see how my parents are doing and then get back on patrol. The Cap'n can't do it cause… well he's Cap."

"Agent 3!"

"Just saiyan'."

"Pearl and I need to get to the studio in the next hour or so for the morning news." Marina said.

"I thought you said today was your day off." Agent 3 asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Turns out that's tomorrow, we've just got a late start today." Pearl added with a slight grumble, her expression soured slightly.

"Don't worry Pearl, we're gonna have a great day today!" Marina said as cheerfully as she could, trying to lift Pearl's spirits. It had its intended effect, Pearl's mood instantly improved.

"Yeah!"

"Well Callie and I can't, she's gotta be at a photo shoot in half an hour and I've got a commercial to shoot in an hour, so we can't do it." Marie added. Katsuo's eyes instantly widened as far as they could, and his gaze snapped to the squid sister closest to him. Then that just leaves…

Callie, who'd been sitting on a beanbag until now, suddenly shot to her feet, eyes twinkling with excitement as she looked at Marie.

"I know! Agent 4 can show her around!"

Katsuo just looked at Callie and then turned his head to look at Agent 8. He blinked when he saw her smiling at him. Then she spoke.

"I'm fine with that."

And that's it for my first chapter, thank you so much for reading! Sorry if it ended in a bit of an awkward place, but I hope you enjoyed it regardless! Please do leave a review if you enjoyed, and I hope to see you in the next chapter.