Splash, splash.

The chilled waves come lapping into shore along the northern coast of Prince Edward Island. The shoreline is indecisive about freezing or staying thawed, but it's Canada, so it's ultimately going to stay frozen.

It's a sandy beach, but not one that folks spend time relaxing on. No, this is a business beach. While it is fairly empty at spots, a walk along the shore would have you smelling very strong odors. These odors, of course, are from the fishing docks and cleaning stations.

It's a rough job working in Canada for the fishing profession with all the ice chunks in the water. This doesn't only make it harder to make a catch, but it's also harsh on the boats. Seems like someone would think up the idea of moving a couple hundred miles southwest to the United States where it's not frozen year-round, eh?

There's more than meets the eye for these fishermen, though. Unknowingly, they have rifted a once peaceful situation by establishing their businesses on Canadian shores.



DUN DUN DUN.



Far below the surface and away from the coast, a particular naval outfit is training for battle. This is not a typical water-based outfit, though.

This is squids.











Yeah, squids.

These squids, long ago, discovered that the people from above the surface did not care at all for the squid kind. While they did watch from afar as fishermen hunted and killed other aquatic creatures, the embers flared up into massive flames when just one squid became a victim. And so the squids began building a force...

Arming themselves with the best weapons they could come up with, along with abandoned harpoons left by ships from above, these warrior cephalopods prepared for the most important test of their lives.

A few of the brave squids whose names were Ralph, Vincent, Cedric, Jacques, and Carl, volunteered for a reconnaissance mission before the squid army would launch a full-scale attack. This recon would be done to avoid mass casualties. It would be dangerous not having full armed forces, but nevertheless, they laid out the plans for their mission, and appropriately titled their efforts


CANADIAN SQUID MISSION

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And with that, the group of squids set off for the surface.

As time passed, the surface-bound squids drew near to a vessel floating on the water. Carl pointed out to the others that it was a fishing boat.

"What makes you think that, Carl, eh?" Cedric replied.

"Brilliant observation there! What told you that it is one of those awful ships?" Vincent added.

"It has fishing nets on the sides." Carl answered.





...





...





And so they continued on their mission. The original plan involved them secretly boarding the ship, but of course, Carl got caught in the net because he swam too close to it.

This changed the mission's objective: To rescue Carl.

This problem wasn't nearly as bad as having your cover blown in a typical recon mission, though, since no one was suspecting squids of anything in the first place.

Then suddenly, the net was dragged up out of the water. The other squids rushed to the opposite side of the boat. While the people on the boat were distracted by the catch, Carl's teammates climbed aboard the boat via the net on the other side.

This required quick thinking. It was either a noticeable attack to save Carl or a sneaky effort to remain undercover. There were a half-dozen men on the deck, so either would be a dangerous attempt.

Jacques really wanted to make this save completely unnoticed, but he only speaks French and Carl is their translator, so Ralph made the call to attack.


OOOH, ACTION TIME.


Fling! The squids flew off the railing, each aiming at a boatman.

Splat! Every one hit their target successfully!

They clung to the fishermen, but with only four squids and six men, they needed to do more than just that. Ralph and Vincent leapt towards the other two men, and smack! They hit the two boaters and knocked them both down.

Carl had worked his way out of the net, and the other squids jumped from on top of the fishermen who were now lying on the ground. All five of the mission's participants soared over the edge of the boat back into the water.

This whole situation unintentionally accelerated the operation, as the fishermen immediately headed for shore to avoid another spontaneous attack. This was when the squids began their pursuit.

Swimming just below the level where the clear blue surface turns to a deep navy expanse, the Canadian Squid Mission crew followed the vessel until it approached the docking zone.

The men from the excursion hurried off the boat and tried to explain what they experienced on their trip, but no one thought their story was legitimate.

At this point, the squids knew the location of the fishing establishment so the first phase of their operation was complete. They swiftly turned around and headed back to their base...


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