Cosmo: A Splat Force Story; Chapter 1

(Thx for the feature! ^^)

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W E L C O M E ! ! !

This is Nomad! Today I am starting the spin-off series to Splat Force: The Gifted called: Cosmo: A Splat Force Story!

This story will be going into the backstory of Alyssa Frida, aka Cosmo which means that it will be set during The Gifted Wars. Some familiar faces from Splat Force: The Gifted will show up, but younger. In addition, this spin-off will also introduce a key character to the Splat Force lore.

Just a heads up, this first chapter is quite the long one as a lot of characters will be introduced in this, and we'll be exploring a day in the life of Baxter Village residents.

Now without further ado, let's get into this!

(This Chapter has been Remastered)

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(Chapter Hub)

C H A P T E R  1 :  T H E  B L U E  H A I R E D  G I R L

"Mommy, I got a question for you?"

A young, blue-haired Octoling asked, gazing into the beautiful night sky.

"What is it my darling?"

The mother asked, stroking her daughter's hair.

"Why are there stars in the sky?"

She asked her, curious as to why the night sky always lit up with an endless army of stars.

The mother didn't reply straight away, she knew the answer but didn't want to confuse her daughter, she ended up giving a cleaver answer, one that was easy for a child to believe.

"Well you see, the stars are here to guide us through the night, they're there to tell us that even in the darkest of times, we will eventually step into the light."

She explained, she knew that she wouldn't understand the whole gas balls in the sky explanation, so she gave her a more simple one.

"What will happen if there is no light?"

The girl asked once more, she was young and didn't quite understand.

"There will always be light, even during the most hopeless of times, the light will always be there to lighten up everything."

The mother assured, stroking her daughter's forehead.

"We should probably go to sleep, it's pretty late."

The girl was too tired to move, she had already become comfortable lying back on a large stone. Her mother picked her up and held her in her arms as she walked over to the purple tent, she placed her inside of a warm and toasty sleeping bag, making sure that she was warm. She closed the tent door and got into the same sleeping bag.

"I love you, mommy..."

The young girl whispered before closing her eyes.

"I love you too, sweet dreams my little Cosmo."

The mother whispered back before closing her eyes. The sound of the waving trees put them to sleep.

B E E P ,  B E E P ,  B E E P ! ! !

"Ugh..."

A blue-haired Octoling groaned, she reached out towards her alarm, turning off the alarm. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, trying to get fully woken up.

Her room was just your average small bedroom, bed in the centre of the room, against the back wall. Cupboard to the left-hand side of it, mainly containing a small category of clothes. Two small desks to each side of the bed, the left one holding a small lamp and the other holding an alarm. The walls were made of stone, rather brownstone at that.

The Octoling finally had the motivation to get out of her bed, open up her cupboard and get changed into casual clothes, after all, you can't go outside in your pyjamas.

She put on a plain grey shirt, a skirt with black shorts and a torn pair of shoes, she didn't wear any socks as she didn't have any.

Once she was dressed, she opened the door and walked out of the room and into her bigger, more open room. The room was the shape of an octagon. On the far left side, there was a small, individual sofa, which only looked comfy because of the number of pillows on it. There was some bookshelves against the wall, one holding a small TV, which was opposite the sofa. The other shelves contained books for her to read, she was very much into reading.

On the back right side of the room, which was just right from her bedroom door, was a small kitchen, which contained some cupboards and fridges containing food, a toaster, oven and sink. On the top of the kitchen area was a table to eat from.

On the other side of the room, from the bedroom door, was the front door, with a letterbox. The door had a small carpet in front of it, mainly so that anyone entering her house would have somewhere to wipe their feet, her house was already pretty dirty enough as it is.

The Octoling walked over to the kitchen and placed some bread inside the toaster, she then walked over to the table and pressed play on a small radio device.

"Good morning Baxter Village! I hope you all are comfortable on your sofas or in your beds or whatever. As we all know today is a brand new day, oh who could've guessed! I'm your host Daniel Cope, here to tell you the latest around our beloved village! The weather for today is luckily going to be sunny and bright, a nice relief after having to be stuck inside, shielding ourselves from the rain, phew man I don't like the rain; it just stings ya know. For today's top stories: a fellow villager of ours has reported sightings of what he described as a group of armoured Inklings whilst on a hike. Our source didn't hear any conversation of theirs but said they looked like they were heading in the direction of our wonderful village. What do you think about this folks, why not give guesses in my suggestion box? Right, enough of me being a fool, I'll let you all get on with your day, this has been Daniel from the Baxter News Channel, thank you for tuning in!"

The radio broadcast ended, this broadcast raised some very concerning questions, group of Inklings in gear, what did that mean?

K N O C K ,  K N O C K ,  K N O C K ! ! !

The Octoling's train of thought came to a halt after being somewhat jump scared by the door knocking. She went over to the front door and opened it up.

"Hello?"

She asked. To her dismay, nobody was outside. She looked both left and right and saw nobody. At first, she thought it was a ding dong ditch until she looked down and saw a note on the ground. She picked it up and took it inside.

"Dear Miss Alyssa Frida

Your tasks for this day are to look after the nursery children during their lunch break, do try to be more social! Angie has told me that you haven't been interacting with the children that much, I wish to see an improvement on that! For the remainder of the day, you are required to go around and pick up any more scattered litter from the ground. Thank you for your continuous commitment to the Baxter Village Community!

Yours sincerely, Mayor Terrador."

Alyssa Frida sighed heavily when she was told to be more social. She placed the note on the kitchen table and closed her eyes for a brief moment. Alyssa walked over to her sofa and sat down, trying to relax for the day ahead.

M E A N W H I L E  O U T S I D E  O F  T H E  V I L L A G E . . .

Five of the group of armoured Inklings approached the village, four of them followed behind their leader. They all wore near identical clothing, from the kevlar bulletproof vests, each of which were in different colours depending on the hair colour of who wore it. They all wore long black sleeves and charcoal cargo tros, both of which had padding. What united them all the most was the golden badge with the black squid logo that rested above the left handside of their chest.

Their leader had short wavy brown hair and wore a dark brown scarf around his neck, making him more distinct then the other four Inklings. As for the others, the first Inkling had spiky, purple hair Inkling and wore a purple bandana, the second had long white hair, the third had slitback orange hair and the last of them had short green hair.

The all arrived at the outskirts of the Village the four Inklings and huddled together as their leader took a closer look.

"So, this is it, huh?"

The purple-haired Inkling said, starting a conversation amongst themselves.

"Yeah, it sure is, Jamie."

The white-haired Inkling replied, he held his stomach, feeling uncomfortable.

"I can't be the only one who feels uneasy about this, right?"

"I honestly agree with you, Chester. The plan that Henry wrote for all of us just confuses me, I even have it written down!"

The orange-haired Inkling replied, getting out a note from his pockets and starting to read it out.

"Step one: approach area with stealth and caution, step two: jump into action and ask them to surrender, step three: If they are hostile, attack. It's Insane! what does he even mean by 'jump into action when it clearly says 'Approach area with stealth and caution' like which one is it, Henry?! Ollie buddy, you're with me on this, right?"

"Calm down, Barry. It may sound confusing in hindsight but what he means is jump out when you're ready, not just run up and do a battle cry!"

Oliver explained, he wanted to facepalm at Barry's confusion but couldn't but didn't have the energy to.

"But how would we even approach with stealth? We would obviously stand out!"

Barry asked. He wasn't really wrong however, the gear they were wearing was very distinctive. It was unlikely that someone in Baxter village would be wearing their gear.

"I could make some disguises."

Jamie offered.

"Yeah, we don't have material to make disguises."

Chester said, tilting his head sideways, trying to figure out what Jamie was planning.

"Maybe I could sneak my way into someone's washing line and take some clothes."

He suggested.

"Yeah but what if you get caught, you would be hopeless!"

Chester exclaimed to him, trying to talk him out of this risky move.

"Buddy, I don't want to lose you to something as little as this!"

"I'll go with him then!"

The fifth Inkling offered. He had overheard the conversation from ahead and had turned around to face the group of four. His short but wavy brown hair waved in the wind as he walked over. He placed one hand on his hip and gave them an assuring smile.

"If he gets caught, at least he'll have some backup."

"Commander Allen, a-are you sure about this?"

Oliver asked him, feeling as if it was too much of a risk, even for his Commander.

"Of course! I've been through some major fights during these past couple of years, whether that be the attack on Inkopolis Subway or during the bank heist, which by the way, Jamie over here was the one to stop Jordan Lance during that fight, so I'd advise not under estimating him!"

Rex Allen told to the group with a very confident smirk.

"Walking into a danger zone should be a walk in the park! Besides, it's still relatively early, I doubt anyone would be outside yet."

"Alright then, what do you want us to do?"

Chester asked, hoping that he, alongside Barry and Oliver would be given at least something to do.

"Try and stay out of sight and think before you do anything. You never know what could happen!"

Rex replied, giving them a small nod.

"Alright, let's go! The quicker we do this, the quicker it will all be over."

"Understood!"

Jamie muttered. The group split up to do what was assigned to them, with Chester, Barry and Oliver deciding to hide behind a Bush.

Jamie slowly entered the village, Rex followed from behind. It was still early and not many of the village folk were out yet. They walked steadily along the pathway, trying their best to act casual and not look suspicious. The village itself was a large open square area with a fountain in the centre, a large number of small stone buildings, the majority of them were houses, the bigger ones were either schools or churches. All across the village were empty market stands with baskets on them, covered by blankets to keep the food within them fresh whilst its owner slept.

After wondering around the sleepy village, they both managed to find a house with a stacked washing line.

"You go loot them, I'll cover you!"

Rex told him. Jaime approched the washing line, trying his hardest not to make a sound. Rex stayed in the open, looking at every direction to see if anyone was coming their way.

Suddenly, the door of the house Jamie was at opened up and an old, blonde Sea Slug walked out. Hearing the door, Jamie quickly bolted away from the washing line, leaving the clothes on the floor. He ran around the corner of the house and stood still whilst the Sea Slug checked out her washing.

"Oh dear!"

She exclaimed with a sorrowful look as she walked over to her washing and hung them back up on the line.

After she was done, she began to walk in the direction that Jamie was hiding. In panic, Jamie went into his Squid Form and quickly slid away from her as she turned the corner. Luckily, he had only barley managed to escape.

Seeing that no one was there to mess with her, the Sea Slug headed into the town centre to manage her market stand. At last, the coast was clear. From across the street, Rex sighed of relief and wiped his forehead as he saw Jamie come into view, exiting his Squid form as he escaped the Sea Slug. Jamie ran back to the washing line and acted quickly.

From the washing line, Jamie snatched five of the eight shirts, both of the two caps, one beanie, one trapper hat and all three grey jeans.

"Commander Allen, could you please give me a hand?"

Jamie asked, only managing to carry the jeans and the shirts in his arms.

"Of course!"

He whispered back, he looked down the pathway before heading over to Jamie. He put the trapper hat on and placed the beanie inside of one of the caps. They both made their way out of the village as quickly as possible.

The other three were amazed to see that their mission was a success, with Barry having to hold in a victory cheer.

"Bingo!"

Jamie whispered as he placed the cloths behind the Bush.

"Yeah! I knew you could do it!"

Oliver quietly exclaimed, causing Barry to raise an eyebrow.

"Bro, you were literally panicking a minute ago..."

He told him, putting a frown on his face.

Oliver glared into his eyes, a glare that Barry found amusing.

"Shut up, Barry..."

"Hey...Truce?"

He replied playfully, giving him the V-sign. Oliver slowly began to smirk before he gave Barry the V-sign in return.

"So, what did you get?"

Chester asked whilst Jamie and Rex sorted each of the clothing into their own sections.

"I've managed to get five shirts for each of us, that was priority number one because...you know!"

Jamie answered whilst pointing to his gear.

"I've also managed to gather some jeans, however only two of us have to wear what were are currently wearing."

"We might have to get rid of our padding, so that we don't break the emersion."

Rex added. The four of them took note of it and began to remove their paddings, hiding them deep within the bush.

"Lastly, I've got some hats. Commander Allen, as you can see, has already chosen which one he's wearing."

The purple-haired Inkling commented, putting another smirk on his Commander's face.

"I've also got two caps and a beanie. It's best that I wear the beanie because as Commander Allen said earlier, I did take down a few of them during the bank heist so their more likely to recognize me."

"That's a fair point."

Chester said before turning to the other two.

"You two have the caps, I'm fine without head-wear."

Jamie nodded at his friend before turning to Rex, hoping to hear the next orders from his Commander.

"We should each get changed. Chester, you take one of the jeans, we need some more under cover clothes on you. The rest of you decide amongst yourselves."

He ordered them.

"Commander Allen, aren't you forgetting something?"

Barry asked. Rex looked at him confused until he point at his own neck, visualising his scarf.

"Oh, I'll keep my scarf on, since it matches that winter theme that I have with this hat."

He explained before walking away, holding a light grey shirt.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, I just need to get my disguise on."

M E A N W H I L E  W I T H  A L Y S S A . . .

It was now approaching mid-day and Alyssa's first task was starting shortly. As much as she didn't feel up for it, Alyssa knew that she really didn't have much choice since doing tasks was the only way in which she could get gold coins to spend for food. She got up from her sofa and approched her front door, opening it up and entering the outside world.

At this hour, the village was now very active and awake. There were now villagers at market stands, selling food to customers, kids were running around the place and playing games, there were even small little circuses where a villager with bright red hair and lime skin was performing for people, doing all sorts of tricks with vines and plant life. The village seemed so peaceful and full of life.

After a short walk across the village, Alyssa finally arrived at the small school building. All the kids were still inside learning, it was going to be a while before any action was going to happen. She leaned up against the stone wall of the school and rested her head to the time.

2 0 M I N U T E S  L A T E R . . .

The door to the school swung open and a group of twelve kids bolted out of the door, screaming with excitement, running around like headless chickens. The teacher slowly walked behind them, stopping just outside of the door, she tapped Alyssa on the shoulder to wake her up.

"Miss Frida! So glad that you could make it!"

She exclaimed in relief. Alyssa was able to tell that the teacher was already exhausted.

"You know what to do, right?"

Alyssa nodded, not having the energy to look after kids, especially after being woken up from a peaceful nap.

"Awesome! Just babysit them for about half an hour. They'll be running around at the playground. Let me know if anything happens, okay?"

She told her before dashing back inside the building and shutting the door in a flash.

Alyssa slowly breathed in and out as she looked over at the hyper kids. She walked to the small, stone playground and was greeted by a small Octoling girl not five seconds upon arriving.

"Hello!"

She screamed at her, instantly putting the Octoling woman off.

Alyssa was taken aback by the young girl and simply replied with an awkward wave as the girl looked at her with puppy-like eyes. Eventually, the girl finally left Alyssa alone to do an airplane run around the playground.

Despite what the mayor had asked of her in her morning letter, Alyssa didn't feel up to socialising with the kids. Instead, she found a nice tree to lay back on next to the playground. She walked over and sat against it. She figured that she needed to relax herself more whilst watching over the kids.

L A T E R T H A T A F T E R N O O N . . .

The five men now roamed the streets of Baxter Village in their disguises. They all sat by the fountain, eyes down on the ground in an attempt to not get any glaring looks.

"So...Are you gonna do anything or what?"

Barry asked as he tried to short out his cap, trying to see if he felt more comfortable with it forward or backwards.

"You can stop playing with your clothes, that's for sure!"

Oliver groaned as he grabbed ahold of Barry's left arm, pulling it away from his hat.

"But you do have a point, for once. Commander Allen, what exactly shall we do?"

"Well, seeing as Fred sent us here to look over the place, we should all split up into different sections of the village to see if we could find anything."

Rex answered before standing up.

"Is that alright with you four?"

"SIR, Y-"

Barry yelled before getting his mouth covered by Oliver. He yelling had caused a few of the residents to quickly glance over at them.

"Ollie, you can let go now! In fact, you two go together and check out the East of the village."

Rex ordered. Oliver let go of Barry's mouth and lightly jabbed his right arm.

"Jamie and Chester, you two check the North and South respectively. I'll go to the West. Am I clear?"

The four men nodded at their leader before going off to their respective directions. Whilst Jamie went South, and Chester North, the untrustworthy duo headed to the east and had an encounter with the same Sea Slug that Jamie had evaded earlier.

"Excuse me! Those are my clothes you have on!"

"No wonder it's all slimy!"

Barry quickly grunted.

The old Sea Slug closed her eyes and reached out to them. The duo looked each each other and then back at the Sea Slug, confused at what she was trying to do.

"You two aren't from here, I can sense it!"

She grunted, opening her eyes.

As the duo fully realized that they were dealing with a Telepath, they both looked at each other. They both thought of a plan within seconds out of panic.

"Shall we?"

Barry whispered with a smirk.

Oliver nodded before the two looked back to the Sea Slug. Oliver gave her a serious, straight-faced look, which contrasted to the sinister smirk that Barry was giving her.

"One...Two..."

Oliver whispered to Barry as the two prepared to pounce like a lion to its prey, concerning the Sea Slug.

Meanwhile on the west, Rex stumbled across the playground. All of the kids stopped what they were doing and began to stare him down, making him nervous.

"Sorry sir, you don't have access here!"

Alyssa called out from behind him.

Immediately, Rex turned around and saw Alyssa leaning against the tree. He approached the Octoling woman and lightly chuckled. The kids went back to what they were doing before.

"Oh, haha. I'm truly sorry, I'm new here."

"I thought Mayor is usually hesitant about new people. He must've changed his mind..."

Alyssa whispered to herself, feeling hesitant to start a conversation with the undercover Rex Allen.

Hearing her quiet words, Rex had seconds to think of a reasonable lie.

"I-I...I know right! I'm grateful that he allowed me and my boys in!"

"Huh...That's cool."

She responded, keeping her words short.

"So, have you got anything going on?"

"Not much right now, if I'm honest!"

Rex answered with a smile. He wanted to show kindness towards the Octoling, despite the controversial publics thoughts of her species.

"Say, do you know where Mayor Terrador goes around this time?"

To the anti-social Alyssa's relief, the teacher walked out of the school building and blew a whistle.

"Kids, come back inside now! You only have one lesson in the afternoon today as Mayor Terrador will be coming!"

She told each of the kids with an excited tone of voice as they all bolted into the building in record-breaking time. Rex managed to overhear the woman's words and felt happy. Moments later, the teacher noticed the stranger with Alyssa and rushed over.

"Shoo! You're not allowed near the school grounds at these hours unless specifically told to!"

"Understood! I apologise, Ma'am!"

He said. Before he left, Rex quickly looked back to Alyssa.

"I'll see you around!"

As Rex walked away into the city, Alyssa turned back to the teacher who looked mildly worried.

"Who was that man?"

"I don't know him. He said he was new here though."

She answered truthfully as she glanced at Rex, who was walking towards the village centre. She felt some mild discomfort over the whole thing.

"Ah I see. Well going back to the topic at hand, thank you again for helping out with the kids! Please take this as an award!"

The teacher told her. She held out her hand and gave Alyssa five gold coins. Alyssa placed the coins into her pocket.

"Thank you. I guess I'll see you soon..."

Alyssa said before walking away, leaving the teacher to her kids.

Now having the money for food, Alyssa walked to the village centre. It was now packed with villagers, some were walking around, some were talking to one another, some dancing, and some were playing instruments.

There were stands for many different types of fruit and vegetables, one stand had two boxes, one full of green apples and the other red, some stands had boxes full of Bananas, Carrots, Cabbage, Potatoes, Tomatoes among much other fruit and veg.

Alyssa walked up to a vegetable stand and gently placed her gold coins on the desk.

"Hey, would I be able to get some potatoes please?"

She asked, knowing basic manors despite her lack of social skills.

"Of course madam!"

The old market seller answered with a jolly smile. He was not in the best living condition, with dirty clothes and dirty hair, which was normal for a Baxter Village resident. The elderly Inkling reached out to the top row behind him and put six potatoes in a plastic bag and placed them on the front table. He took three of the five coins.

"Thank you very much, enjoy your day madam!"

"You too."

She said quietly as she walked away with the bag of potatoes in her right hand.

Whilst walking down the street, she ed a small band that used frying pans as drums and small thin twigs as guitar strings. The singer sung out loud with a croaky voice, which turned just about anyone away. Alyssa, however, decided to stay and listen to what they had been cooking up.

As the song concluded, Alyssa reached into her pocket and handed them one of her coins.

"T-Thank you, M-Ma'am!"

The trembling lead singer exclaimed. Instead of responding, Alyssa nodded and gave them a small, yet light smile before walking away towards the south pathway of the village.

Alyssa walked down the pathway for almost half a minute before arrived home. She opened up the front door and stepped inside, placing the bag on the kitchen table. She decided to leave the front door open for fresh air.

Alyssa unpacked all the potatoes and placed them on the outside of the bag before getting the work. She took out several important pieces of equipment, that being: a peeler, a potato masher, a pan, a bowl and some butter. Once everything was set up, she began to cook.

Whilst the water was on the stove boiling, Alyssa peeled each of the potatoes, trying to be as careful as possible as to not mess up the potatoe. Once one of them was peeled, she placed it on a sheet of tin foil. Once all six were peeled, she placed them all into the pot of water to boil.

L A T E R T H A T E V E N I N G . . .

Rex stood above the school building, still in his disguise. He shuffled around the roof to hear the conversation better as he couldn't barge in and hear the plan. After shuffling after nearly a minute, he finally managed to make out a conversation going below, but only barley...

"It's true, they are right on our tail as we speak! They could be here either by next week at the latest."

A woman said with paranoia.

Rex was made worried over those words. They knew that they were here, if not at least they knew that they were coming. However, what was said next by an older man caught his interest.

"I'll schedule an announcement for tonight, we need the village to be aware."

He ordered, unknowningly fascinating Rex.

Rex grabbed his walkie talkie and started to communicate with his men.

"I over heard a conversation, apparently a meeting will be scheduled for tonight. Meet me at the West outskirts, asap."

He informed his men before putting away his walkie talkie, back into his utility belt underneath his disguise.

The door of the school building opened and four people walked out, three Inklings and one Octoling. The male Inkling had light blue slit-back hair and a navy blue jumpsuit, the blonde Inkling woman had long blonde hair and wore brown sweatpants and a light orange crop-top to contrast to her lightly tanned skin, the purple-haired Inkling wore a grey shirt with deep purple padding all over. The Octoling had long red hair tied back into a ponytail and wore dark grey robes.

Rex looked down at them, recognising only the Inkling women. Suddenly, the Octoling stopped in his tracks. Worried, Rex ducked next to the edge of the roof as the Octoling glanced over at the rooftop. After nearly ten seconds, the Octoling left. Rex quickly shuffled his was to the otherside of the roof before climbing down.

Rex ran as fast as he could until he reached the exit. Afterwards, he sat back near a bush and took time to catch his breath, feeling better now that he was out of the potential danger zone.

Moments later, he was ed by Jamie and Chester and a minute later, Barry and Oliver caught up.

"Oh boy! I can't wait to tell you what me and Ollie did!"

Barry exclaimed.

"Now is not the time, Barry. Maybe later though!"

Rex replied. Both Barry and Oliver smirked at each other before giving each other the v-sign.

"Now, I'm sure you've all heard what I sent over to the four of you and I want you all to the discuss-"

"I'll go in!"

Jamie answered, accidentally causing a group disagreement.

"I'll go in, you've already risked yourself earlier, I can't let you do that again!"

Chester exclaimed, placing his right hand on Jamie's right shoulder.

Jamie moved Chester's hand off him and stood up tall.

"I'll be okay! If I managed earlier then I think I can manage it now.

He said before moving over to Barry and Oliver.

"What about you two?"

Oliver gave Barry a small nudge forward. Barry's eyes widened as the attention fell to him.

"I'm a hundred percent not going in there alone! So if I have to come in then-"

"Yes, I'll be with you..."

Oliver said exhaustedly.

"Okay, okay!"

Rex called out, ending the increasingly loud discussion amongst them.

"How about this: we'll all go in and stand in different places amongst the crowd, assuming there is one. That way we can all be there and take in the information that way. Does that sound good?"

"SIR, Y-"

Barry yelled once more, only to again have his mouth blocked by Oliver's right hand.

"Barry, you really don't need to say that in front of me! If Fred was here then, yeah do it, but he's not here now so don't bother!"

Rex told him with a light smile before going back to the task at hand.

"We'll stay here until he see a crowd, only then will we go in."

L A T E R  T H A T  N I G H T . . .

Alyssa was lying down on the sofa, having a small nap. Next to her on the floor was a finished bowl of massed potatoes. Unfortunately, her nap was abruptly interrupted by a telepathic voice of a woman in her mind.

"Villagers of Baxter Village, Mayor Terrador wishes to speak with you all. Go to the village centre, now."

Alyssa was creeped out by the voice, not knowing what it was all about. However, not even ten seconds later, she began to hear conversations from outside her open windows.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"This must be urgent!"

"Why does Mayor Terrador want to speak with us?!"

Alyssa ran to her front door and walked outside. She saw a crowd form around a large rectangular stone stage in front of the Water Fountain. She approached the crowd but was hesitant to . Instead, she stood away from the crowd and watched from afar as Mayor Terrador finally made his appearance.

The Mayor was an old Inkling, looking as if he was in his late fifties. He had a grey buzz cut and wore charcoal shaded tuxedo. The stare he gave the audience intimated Alyssa. Unlike most of the villagers, she never felt safe around him.

"Thank you for ing me tonight! For years, we have all been treated poorly by citizens of places, such as Inkopolis, for being different, for being gifted..."

He sighed as he raised both arms, both his palms opening up, two stone pillars emerged from the ground just seconds after raising his arms.

"There was recently a news report about a group of Inklings, presumably from Inkopolis, all wearing identical gear being sighted not far from where we are. That group of people have been identified as the Splat Force. It appears as if the gods have given us a choice: we either stay to fight the stampede or we could save our resources and venture into new horizons. As the Mayor of this beautiful village, I have set our destiny in stone. As sad as it will be, we will have to depart from this beautiful village and split up."

There was mixed reactions in the audience. One half were struggling to cope with the sudden news, feeling awful knowing that they had to leave. The other half were happy to be going to new places. Alyssa didn't have much of an opinion, she was too distracted over the lack of emotions in Terrador's voice, despite his upsetting words.

"Can the following please come forward: Jordon Lance, Kamala Sabrina, Bobby Tundra and Bolton Vulcan"

He called out. There was loud applause from the crowd as the same three Inklings and the same Octoling Rex saw earlier walked onto the stage and each shook hands with the Mayor.

"These four individuals have been by my side for quite some time now and are all working together to create the greatest possible future for us all. Jordon Lance will be leading Tinker Village, located East of here. Kamala Sabrina will be leading Colley Village, located Southeast of here. Bobby Tundra will be leading the Swamp Village, Northwest of here. And lastly, Bolton Vulcan will be leading Bohan Village, located across the forest heading East. Now, I must ask you all to remain quiet as I sort you into your respective villages."

Mayor Terrador grabbed a folded sheet of paper from his breast pocket and unfolded it, placing it on the stand before him. The procedure was long, taking up a lot of the night. Name after name was dropped. When Terrador finally reached the last village, Alyssa's name was called out, confirming that she was going to Bohan Village.

"Thank you all for coming tonight, I know this is going to be difficult for you all, but tonight, we as a community have planted the seeds for an extraordinary destiny! May the gods bless you all with a glorious future!"

Terrador told the village before disappearing off the stage.

Slowly, the number of villagers crowd began to decrease. Whilst there was still noise, Jamie activated his walkie talkie.

"Commander Allen, we need to inform the others!"

"You're right. When everything calms down, meet me outside the village, only then can we inform Fred and the others about all of this..."

Rex replied. He had pain in his eyes, knowing what will happen.

Eventually, only Alyssa was left as everyone had either went to the outskirts of the town or went to their homes to sleep. Alyssa began her final task of the day. She began to tidy up the village, getting rid of all of its litter, starting with the centre.

Whilst cleaning up the fountain, she was approached by the Mayor, who came from behind her on the North pathway.

"Hello, Alyssa Frida, am I right?"

He asked. Terrador's greeting made Alyssa jump. She stopped what she was doing and looked at him, nodding. Terrador took a second to look at her, memorising her whole body before glancing around the place.

"I don't think I've seen you around very much. However, you've done a good job with all your tasks so far. The gods are very pleased with you, keep it up!"

And just like that, Terrador was gone, leaving Alyssa to finish off her work. The Octoling didn't know how to feel about the small exchange of words with her Mayor, but she was glad that he got it over and done with very quickly.

1 H O U R  L A T E R . . .

Alyssa returned to her house and locked the doors. She gently placed her head against the door and signed heavily, exhausted from both the riot and the hour long task that she had just put herself through. It was approaching midnight and she needed to sleep. Alysssa walked past her messy living room and kitchen and headed straight for her bedroom.

Alyssa took off her clothes and put them into the wash, she opened up her cupboard and took out a pair of pyjamas and put them on. Alyssa climbed onto her bed and wrapped herself in her bedsheets. Alyssa grabbed ahold of her small brown teddy bear and cradled it like a baby. Alyssa turned off her lamp and closed her eyes. During her sleep, she began dreaming once again. It was similar to the dream that she had the night before.

I N  T H E  D R E A M . . .

"Mommy, I'm hungry"

A young, blue-haired Octoling said, she was sitting on her mother's shoulders as she was walking.

"Me too honey, hopefully, we could find some food soon!"

The mother replied. They were walking through a forest, seeing nothing but leaves and trees. Not only did the mother have to carry her daughter on her shoulders but she also had to carry a massive bag, full of camping equipment.

"When are we going to stop walking?"

The young girl asked, resting her head on her mother's dark blue hair.

"When we find a safe spot to camp. Let's make a promise, okay? I promise that one day you'll be living in the promised lands."

The mother told her. The girl couldn't see it but her mother was frowning.

"What is the promise lands like, Mommy?"

The girl asked, she didn't know what to expect about the promised lands.

The mother had to think about the answer, not knowing the best way to explain it.

"Do you when Daddy used to talk about a place full of delicious foods and grassy fields before he...went to a better place? That's the promised lands."

"I wish we would go there one day."

The girl said as she started to play with her mother's hair.

"Me too my darling, me too..."

The mother replied coldly. She continued to walk through the forest, being very steady with her daughter making sure she doesn't fall off her. One day, they'll all be in the light, soon...

T H E  N E X T  D A Y . . .

Alyssa woke up to her radio playing, she didn't it being switched on, so it came as a little surprise to her when she started to here rock music. What was a surprise to her was that people were already out and about. She checked the time only to be severely disappointed with herself as it was past mid-day, thirty minutes ed. She immediately dashed out of her bedroom, still in her pyjamas.

She cut a piece of bread into two slices and put them into the toaster. She walked towards the front door and saw a note on the floor that read:

"Dear Miss Alyssa Frida

Your task for today is to go around and fetch some litter. Thank you for taking your time to help with the litter problem last night, it helped quite a lot! If you could repeat that today, but at an earlier time, that would be splendid. In addition, Angie told me that she saw you talking to somebody who claimed to be new here. I want to ask that if you see that man again, report him immediately as I've never let anyone into this glorious village! Thank you for your continuous commitment to the Baxter Village Community!

Yours sincerely, Mayor Terrador"

Once Alyssa had finished reading, she jumped at the sound of the toaster. She rushed over to the toast and felt its lack of warmth. Alyssa groaned at it before picking up both slices, one in each hand. Both of her hands started to glow light blue and the toast started to warm up. Once it was warmed up, she placed both slices onto her plate and took it to the sofa to eat, forgetting to put anything on top.

She started eating the toast, after one bite she almost choked because of how hot it was. Alyssa rushed to the kitchen table and placed the plate on it, leaving it to cool down. Alyssa went back into her bedroom and got dressed in her casual clothes, that being another plain black shirt, skirt and torn shoes, and went outside to start on her task, to the time.

She walked into the main area of the village once more, starting to pick up any litter that she found. Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot out. She assumed it was because of her efforts the night before. After putting the litter away, Alyssa saw something fly in the air and land into the main area, it wasn't a stone, or a stick or anything. It was a Splat Bomb...

B O O M ! ! !

The Splat Bomb went off, shocking the entire village, causing many started screaming.

"This is the Splat Force! You have the right to remain silent, surrender now and we don't have to fight!"

A voice from an increasingly huge crowd called out. Many villagers dashed towards their homes and hid inside, whilst another group decided to go and confront them.

A red-haired Inkling stood forward in the group, she raised her arms in the air and veins started to wrap around the Splat Force .

"Why should we?!"

She clenched her fists and the veins started to squeeze into the , preventing them from breathing properly. This didn't last long however because their leader managed to through a Splat Bomb towards her.

B O O M ! ! !

The bomb exploded, stunning her. She went into one knee gasping in pain. She looked back up to see their leader stood above her, N-Zap aimed towards her. She closed her eyes...

B A N G,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

The Splat Force charged into Baxter Village, firing at all the villagers. The villagers gave it all they got and fought back. Handheld weapons weren't the only damage dealers, however, Ink Tanks began to roll into the village through each of the entrances and down the small hills, firing at the houses.

B O O M ,  B O O M ! ! !

The Ink Tanks exploded, released their deadly strikes, taking down building after building. As a result, this ended up killing off many of the villagers.

Alyssa dashed towards some potential cover when all of a sudden, she heard someone screaming, charging at her she aimed her right arm at him. It began to progressively glow light blue. Once charged up, a light blue energy beam flew out of her arm and hit the man, knocking him back.

Alyssa hid behind some rubble, hoping not to get caught. However, things got difficult when she saw an Ink Tank aimed directly at her. She screamed in fear and aimed her arm towards the Ink Tank and fired another energy beam the tank, blowing it up.

B O O M ! !

Alyssa opened up her eyes again and looked at the destroyed tank. She had no time to properly take in what just happened, as she was still in the middle of a massive battle. She knew that by blowing up that tank, people would be attracted to her location, due to the noise. She got up from her hiding spot and looked in every direction to see if there was anywhere safe to go, all she saw was chaos.

On her right was the church, which was in the direction of her home. It was surrounded by Splat Force soldiers and villagers. Straight ahead, the fountain, where the heart of the battle was. On her left were destroyed house after destroyed house. None of the Splat Force were there, nor the villagers. She took the chance and dashed over to her right.

M E A N W H I L E  O U T S I D E  T H E  V I L L A G E . . .

Rex and his squad were fighting off anyone trying to escape. Unlike those within the village, the goal of Rex's squad was to not take their lives, but to hopefully keep them alive to be taken in

"Chester, status?'

Rex asked through his walkie talkie upon knocking out a Salmonling with a bunch to it's nose.

"Well all the ones escaping seem to be hostile on my end. Barry, Ollie, what's your status?"

Chester asked through his walkie talkie, whilst punching a hostile villagers lights out.

"Well Ollie is of fighting loads of gifted villagers, he's not standing too good of a chance but he's still standing, sane with me."

Barry answered before moving onto the final one.

"What about you Jamie?"

"Not much action going on which is both great because nothing bad is going to happen to me but also bad because it could mean more for the rest of you."

Jamie answered, walking back and forth until his next battle happens.

"Alright, everything is all good-"

Rex said before getting cut off by a large bolder hitting him, knocking him to the ground. He groaned for a moment before coming back to his senses. He looked up and saw the Mayor walking towards him.

"Hello there!"

"Commander Allen, you're a bold one!"

Mayor Terrador exclaimed. The Commander and the Mayor had a small staredown before the conversation between them continued.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Best make it quick, I don't want to waste time!"

Rex answered as he stood back, refusing to let his guard down.

"When those in power fought back against an attack from the underdog, they're seen as the hero. But when those in power start the attack against the underdog, with innocent lives caught in the middle, what does that make them?"

Terrador asked. Throughout his question, both hands remained held behind his back. When the question was done, they both came forward again.

"The gods have given you the impression that you are the hero, when in actuality, nobody is. We are all fighters destined to destroy and spread fear wherever we go."

The old Mayor's questions flew over the young Commander's head. Instead of wasting more time, Rex grabbed his N-Zap and stood his ground.

"Enough philosophy! You've taken countless lives, Terrador, it's time we end this!"

"Very well, you have made your choice. However, I won't go easy on you!"

He muttered before raising his hands, lifting hard stone from the soil into the air and sculpting them into sharp spikes.

"Your move!"

Rex yelled back with a snarky smirk before Terrador threw each of the spikes towards him. Within a split second, Rex went into his Squid Form and began to jump between each of the spikes. Everything felt as if it was in slow motion. After all of the spikes had been dodged, Rex went back into his Inkling form.

"My reflexes have improved since our last encounter. It's gonna take more then that if you want to hit me!"

Without saying anything, Terrador carried out his next attack. He raised his left hand and thick, stone spikes began to rise out of the ground. As soon as Rex felt the vibrations below, he leaped into the air, out of the way. He began to jump to his right, causing Terrador to send more spikes over to the right. Unknown to Rex, Terrador had just developed a new plan.

As soon as Rex's feet touched the ground, Terrador raised both hands, causing the ground below Rex to wrap around his feet. Rex's body slowly began to get dragged into the ground slowly. Every second of it was discomforting for the Commander.

"Even after our many encounters, you still can't beat me, even when I'm only using a fraction of my power!"

He said as Rex's discomfort slowly turned into pain.

"Today was your last hurrah. Now, you will perish just like the rest of them!"

Suddenly, Rex's body began to sink faster. It felt as if he was drowning in quick sand. Within seconds, the lower half of his body was already underground and his upper half was soon to follow with it. However, Terrador lacked something that Rex had: companionship.

B O O M , B O O M , B O O M ! ! !

A trio of Splat Bombs flew at Terrador, the first one knocked him off guard, causing him to lose his grasp on Rex, setting him free. However, the next two failed to do anything against him. With one hand raised, a thick stone wall was summoned before him from the ground, taking the damage of the Splat Bombs. When all was done, he clenched his right fist and turned the wall into small, but thick boulders before sending them flying to the direction of the Bombs.

Chester, Barry and Oliver jumped out the way of the small boulders and landed before the Mayor. The three of them aimed their weapons at Terrador.

"On the count of three."

Chester said. Both he and Oliver looked determined and focused on the mission. Barry did to, but his serious look was accompanied by a small smirk.

"One!"

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

The three of them purposely fired their weapon two seconds earlier in an attempt to gain the upper hand against Terrador. Unfortunately for them, Terrador saw it coming. Just before they fired, he raised both hands and picked up stone from the ground and turned them into thick pebbles to contrast with their bullets.

Chester, Barry and Oliver jumped out of the way of the firing. Whilst Terrador was occupied with them, Jamie ran up from behind and helped Rex up on his feet after freeing him from Terrador's torment.

"Thanks Jamie, I owe you!"

He whispered before looking back to the rest of his crew. Terrador was slowly approaching them as they prepared to fight again.

"Fall back! Fall back! We'll have our chance again later!"

Each of them nodded at their Commander. Terrador turned to Rex and saw him and Jamie run away, shortly followed by the rest of his men.

"Run on, Commander Allen, but sooner or later the gods will cut you down!"

He muttered to himself. He had the chance to continue to fight and potentially end them, but he instead chose to focus on more important matters regarding the great plan.

As soon as they ran out of the view of Terrador, they all stopped running to catch their breath.

"Thank you all for the help! I don't know where I'd be without you lot!"

Rex said with an exhausted chuckle.

The small group of Inkling men each celebrated amongst themselves. Jamie and Chester gave each other a fist bump whilst Barry and Oliver gave each other the v-sign. In the midst of the small celebration, Rex noticed something the in the distance. It's sound grew louder and louder as it came closer.

The rest of the small group each took wind of it.

"What is that?"

Barry asked. As it came closer into view, it began to duplicate. Only then did they all realize what it was.

"Take cover!"

Rex yelled as the group of missiles flew towards the village. The five men took cover by the bushes and watched in worry as the village was bombed.

B O O M ! ! !

Several explosions devoured the whole village, wiping out Splat Force soldiers and villagers alike. Everything went quite, no more gunfire, no more screaming, it was all quiet. As the dust settled, everything came into view. Buildings were destroyed and lives were lost. Luckily, a lot of people from both sides cleared out the way of the missiles before they struck.

Rex and his squad dashed back into the destroyed village through the South enterence and saw the destruction up close.

"Oh my..."

Rex whispered to himself.

"What now?"

Chester asked, looking directly at Rex for guidance.

"Search the village for survivors. I'll go and find Fred."

Rex answered, looking down at his golden and black Splat Force badge whilst speaking. He began to think of Terrador's question again, who were the Splat Force after this?

As his group ran off to find survivors, Rex stood still and looked at the destroyed village feeling guilt from what had happened. He knew that they had gone too far. Terrador's big question still bounced around in his head, he still struggled to find an answer. His thoughts were interrupted upon hearing footsteps coming from his left.

He turned to his left and saw a spiky green-haired Inkling with the same gea and scraf, just shaded Green like his hair. In addition, he wore a dark green visor.

"You know Fred, I was planning to find you but I guess the opposite happened, as per usual."

Rex said to the Inkling, trying to form a small smile.

Commander Frederick Evans looked at the other, more tired and stressed Commander.

"It's good to see you, Rex..."

"I'm glad to see you too Fred..."

Rex replied panting. Frederick walked over to him and patted him on the back.

"What even happened?"

"I told Henry to bring this conflict to an end, I told him to do this..."

Frederick answered, he knew what he had done, he sounded colder than usual.

"Well look what happened here..."

Rex replied, he was aware of how harsh Frederick had been lately, especially with other , he knew that he wanted the fight to be over but he didn't expect this to be the solution.

"Fred, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine..."

Frederick replied instantly after Rex asked. It became apparent to Rex that everything was indeed not fine.

"Look, how about you just go and see if anyone is still alive after that, if any of the gifted are still alive either take them in or take them out."

"Alright Fred..."

Rex said, he didn't exactly know how to feel about Frederick's cold tone, he knew something was wrong. But he didn't ask him about it, because he knew how sensitive he could be.

Rex slowly walked down the pathway of Baxter Village. Everything was all ruined. All the market stands were destroyed, the playground was destroyed, many houses had fallen to the ground. Baxter Village had now lost its peaceful atmosphere. He stood alone at the fountain, everything was starting to fully clear up.

Suddenly, Rex heard a noise coming from his right, coming from the East pathway. He squinted his eyes and looked closer. He saw Alyssa stood ahead in the middle of the pathway. As soon as he took notice, she ran to hide in a destroyed house to her right.

He breathed in heavily as he pulled out his N-Zap and ran over to the destroyed house. Upon turning the corner, he saw Alyssa sat down against the rubble. She was shivering in fear. Upon seeing her current attitude, Rex put the N-Zap away in his utility belt and approached her.

"Hey, hey!

Alyssa shielded her face with her both arms.

"P-Please don't kill me! I didn't want to be part of any of this I promise!"

She screamed, on the verge of tears.

Rex stared at the horrified Octoling as a small section of Terrador's question lingered: that being the innocent lives caught in the middle.

"I-I-I'm sorry...I'm so sorry! I never thought that it would escalate like this!"

He said as he raised his hands in the air. Hearing Rex's words, Alyssa slowly dropped her arms and looked at him. Rex instantly recognised her blue hair and her species.

"I-It's you!"

Alyssa looked confused at Rex's sudden change of subject towards her.

"W-Wh-What?"

"You're the Octoling woman I met yesterday at the playground."

He told her. Rex went down on his right knee

"Do you ?"

It took her a few seconds for it to finally hit her but once it did, everything started to make sense. The eyes, the voice, the face. She also took into that she was told that he wasn't brought in by Terrador. It all made sense to her now.

"W-Who are you?"

"My name is Rex Allen, I'm one of the two Commanders of the Splat Force."

He answered.

"When I first formed the Splat Force, I never suspected that we would be the front runners of a war, and I never expected us to cause despair. I want to make things right."

Alyssa looked at him. To her, he looked and sounded genuine, more genuine then her own Mayor.

"I-I just want this all to be over. I want to live freely without being judged for my species or my gifts."

She told him.

"I-I know how you could make things right."

"How?"

Rex asked.

"Did you hear about what Terrador told us last night?"

She asked him, hoping he had so she could tell him what he could do.

Luckily, Alyssa didn't need to tell him anymore. Rex thought back to the night before.

"The four villages...That's it!"

Rex exclaimed, sounding hopeful again. Alyssa began to smile whilst nodding.

"I'll go over to each of them and try to make amends! But, I don't know how to get there..."

"I know the way to one of them. I-I used to do hour long walks there when I had no tasks."

She told him, peaking his interest.

"I could take you there, if you want!"

Rex thought about her offer. On one hand: she seemed innocent and looked genuinely horrified when he approached her a minute earlier. On the other hand: what if it was a trap? What if she lured him somewhere and then back stabbed him? In the end, he chose to give her a chance.

"Yeah, I would like that, thanks!"

He answered before offering his hands. Alyssa looked at the Commander's hand. She took in a deep breath before taking it. After being helped up by Rex, the Commander smiled at her, happy about her decision.

"Thank you for doing what's best! Come on, we don't have a moment to lose!"

Both Rex and Alyssa dashed to the exit of the village. Once they reached the exit, Alyssa looked back at the ruined village and felt bad. Despite the fact that she was never a social butterfly, it was still her home. Of course it was going to be tough leaving it behind. After one final look, The Octoling turned around and left the village behind, following her new ally as the ventured into the forest.

T O  B E  C O N T I N U E D . . .

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T H X  F O R  R E A D I N G ! ! !

Thanks for reading the first chapter of Cosmo: A Splat Force Story. This spin-off series has been something I've wanted to do for quite some time and so far I've enjoyed writing it! The next Chapter will be a shorter one but it will expand more on the characters so stay tuned for that! Until next time, stay safe out there! ^^

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