Spike walked around Inkopolis Square after finishing up a battle. When Off the Hook was on the news this morning, they had mentioned Grizzco was hiring. He had hated Salmon Run in the game, since the weapons he was loaned were almost always the ones he was horrible with. He pulled out his cellphone and saw that the weapons that were being loaned were Dualie Squelchers, an Octobrush, a Splattershot Pro, and a Luna Blaster. He said to himself, "Those are some decent weapons... might as well go for it." He walked down to the Grizzco building, which always looked shady.
He was greeted by the radio shaped like a bear with a salmon in its mouth, "Hey kid, you must be here for the job. I assume you read the training manuals if you're here. There's a crew getting ready to head out, get changed and head out."
Spike went and got into the Grizzco uniform, and then got on the boat to the Spawning Grounds. When they arrived and made it to land, Spike was loaned the Dualie Squelchers for his shift. He noticed the tide was going out, so that meant there'd be much more areas for Salmonids to come out, especially if it went out all the way to the shoreline.
One of his co-workers, a girl, looked at him and said, "First time working a Salmon Run shift? Keep your guard up and stay with the group, going out on your own is asking for trouble."
Spike nodded and said, "Thanks for the advice. Looks like the Salmonids are on the move, they're coming up the shoreline."
The four workers moved out to the shoreline, working together to splat as many Salmonids as they could. The strange thing though, was that no Boss Salmonids were spawning. Mr. Grizz contacted them and said, "There's no point in this run. Something ain't right. Alright crew, get back to the boat and pull out, no sense in putting yourselves in danger when there's no rewards. Since there weren't any Boss Salmonids, I'll compensate you guys with a bonus. Pick it up by the window."
As the crew was riding the boat back, Spike said to the co-worker who gave him advice, "This isn't normal. I've never heard of a shift not having Boss Salmonids. I've got a bad feeling about this."
Another co-worker nodded and said, "The kid's got a point. Everyone and their brother who works Salmon Run shifts could tell you about the Boss Salmonids... We were out there for two hours, and not even one came out. That doesn't sit right with me."
The girl sitting next to Spike said, "I've heard rumors that the Salmonid migration is reaching its peak, and that's the worst time to be going on Salmon Run shifts. But still, the migration hasn't ended yet, so there should still be Boss Salmonids. Something's definitely wrong here. You've got to admit, those Salmonids are smarter than they look, so they might be planning something."
As they were almost out of sight of the Spawning Grounds, they could all hear a giant mechanical roar. They rushed out onto the deck and what they saw terrified them. Spike shuddered at what he was looking at, an enormous salmon shaped robot. "Holy shit! Th-that thing's enormous! It's bigger than Deca Tower! Good thing we got out of there when we did, we wouldn't have stood a chance against that mechanical monstrosity!"
When they returned to the Grizzco building and changed out of their uniforms and went to meet with Mr. Grizz's radio, the radio said, "I saw that... thing, while you were leaving. You kids are lucky that thing didn't go in the water to chase you back. Hell, we're all lucky. If that thing got to Inkopolis... We'd have been screwed. I'm going to be closing down, for now. If the Salmonids can make something that dangerous, I don't feel comfortable putting people on the frontline against them. You earned your bonus, so go get it. For now, keep this incident between the four of you. It'll cause a huge panic if people find out about that thing."
The four inklings nodded and went and got their bonuses before going off on their own. Spike's bonus was two meal tickets he could use at Crusty Sean's Crust Bucket. He sighed to himself, "That thing... I don't think Mr. Grizz could pay me enough to fight that monster."
When Spike got home, Twilight saw him and said, "Hey, I heard you worked a Salmon Run shift. How'd it go?"
Spike gulped and said, "Pretty good, got myself a bonus." He gave Mr. Grizz his word he wouldn't tell anyone about what happened, and that meant he couldn't tell his sister.
Twilight smiled and said, "Good job. I'd go over, but dinner's almost ready."
During dinner, Spike didn't eat much. His mother said, "Something wrong Spike? You've barely touched your crab casserole."
Spike sighed and said, "Just a rough day with my Salmon Run shift and all. I'm just not that hungry after that."
Twilight raised an eyebrow and said, "Seriously? After a few Ink Battles, you're starving by dinner time."
Spike rolled his eyes and said, "It's going to come out eventually. Ok, I'll tell you what happened during my shift, but promise, what you hear at this table stays at this table."
His family shared a look of concern, but nodded and Twilight asked, "What could have happened at work that's making you so nervous?"
Spike started explaining, "The shift started out normal, bunch of lesser Salmonids. But then we noticed something. There were no Boss Salmonids coming out of the water."
His father said, "That certainly is odd, defeating Boss Salmonids is part of the job. How long did this go on?"
Spike continued and said, "We were out there for two hours before Mr. Grizz called us back to the boat. While we were on the boat back... that's when things got scary. We heard a loud roar, and rushed out to the deck. And what we saw... I can't even describe how terrified I was. It was a massive salmon shaped robot, it was even bigger than Deca Tower..."
His family's eyes widened and said in union "What!?"
Spike nodded and said, "Mr. Grizz gave us a bonus to make up for the fact there were no Boss Salmonids showing up, but he couldn't pay me enough to fight that metal monstrosity."
His mother said sternly, "You are not to go back to work for Grizzco until that thing is dealt with!"
Spike nodded and said, "Don't worry, he's closing down until he learns more about whatever that thing was. But remember, this conversation-"
His family nodded and said, "-Never happened." before continuing with their dinner.