"...Jack?"
"Yes?"
"...I'm still not sure."
"Not sure of- Ah. Their names."
"I'm honestly stumped. They're special, I know. They need special names."
"I know, I know, I just… Do you want me to name them?"
"Heavens Jack, I just- What?"
"Do you want me to name them?"
"...Really?"
"Of course! What about...Tenta and Tek?"
"...Tentatek…? ...Like the company?"
"Is that a no?"
"...We'll talk about it later."
"...Right. But Maria?"
"Yes Jack?"
"Will you give the names some thought?"
"..."
Splat X: Separation
Tek-nical Difficulties
Tek tenderly flipped the page of her manga book forward. Her legs dangled off above the abyss below. She squinted down at the pages and flipped forward. Then flipped forward again. With a resigned sigh, she placed it down in her lap, and gazed upwards at the ceiling. She hummed to herself as she pushed a solitary tentacle out from her face. It dangled off of her head like a ribbon.
Tek stood up and brushed off her Octoling Armor chestplate and surveyed the immediate area. She peered ahead into the darkness. She squinted. More darkness. Tek took a step forward. Still nothing but darkness.
Tek glowered down at the large pillar she stood upon in frustration. She bit her lip and carefully tried as hard as possible to amble forward without falling to her doom. A sudden vibration shook her pillar slightly. Crouching down low as the tremor went on, she cursed almost silently, gripping the platform embarrassedly.
She shook her head. "I appreciate that. Thanks." Tek shouted out into the dark.
Tek walked over towards the side of the great pillar and glanced down. No matter how hard she might try there was no peering through the thick layer of darkness. It seemed as though the pit below her could extend forever. Tek gazed across the endless chasm solemnly forwards. Through the extreme darkness she noticed another pillar poke out of the ground.
Before she could do a thing she heard a knocking noise echo from across the enormous room and a voice follow. "H-Hey! Octavio's calling for you! You'd better get out here...pronto!"
Swift footsteps faded off into the background. Tek shook her head and walked a short step back. At the back edge of her own platform she crouched in a position befitting of a marathon sprinter. She took off with a sprint the same and pushed off the pillar with the tip of her boots. She sailed across towards the room and landed on the other side semi-gracefully with her hand planted on the platform and her legs stamped down to the pillar side.
Tek shook off the landing without a sweat and gazed across the room. She squinted again, the darkness still obscuring her vision a smidge, managing to make out the familiar outline of metal arranged in the fashion of a door. Once again, she hopped back towards the edge of the platform, crouched low, and started for the door.
Jerry floated around nervously. His propellers fluttered shakily and his tentacle body and his metal stick legs dangled from the metal cap and propeller set holding him aloft. He gazed at the metal door with a gulp.
"Why does it always have to be me?" Jerry thought hopelessly as he floated around. His fuchsia tentacle of a body sagged. "I'm just an Octocopter…"
He gazed at the large, foreboding metal door, and shivered. Jerry's metal propellers spun slower and slower until eventually he found himself stationed on the ground. His thin metal legs stood for a moment then instantly gave way to the ground.
"Get it together Jer." Jerry mentally slapped himself and spun back skywards. "She's just an Octoling." He cleared his...throat, spun back up, and called to the door, "Hey-"
The door rapidly retreated upwards into its door frame. Jerry squeaked, hovered away across the hall, and hid behind a corner. Although to say he "hid" was somewhat of an overstatement. Try as he might, Jerry was not small enough, and only managed to conceal the bulk of his tail. His face stuck out like a sore thumb.
Tek stepped out into the artificial light of the hall and paused. She gazed down the hall and frowned at the Octocopter. "What's going on?"
Jerry gulped and attempted to mentally reassure himself that, again, she was just another regular Octoling. Two long tentacles stretched in front of her face like unusual snakes. Her "default" octopus tentacles stretched behind her head alien to her frontal tentacles. Most peculiar of all were her eyes. Though the familiar triangles stretched off her eyelids so did the worryingly black line that bridged her eyes and nose together like a mask.
Jerry fluttered up to her reluctantly. "...Tenta right?"
She brushed off her red vest. "Tek."
Jerry blinked nervously, his propellers slowed, "Right," he gulped and trembled, "O-Octavio sent me. It's about your sister."
Tek fixed her eyes irritably on the smaller octopus. "What about her?"
"She's screwing around in the lab again." Another voice interrupted.
Tek turned about slowly to her right. A squadron of Octarians glared back at her with one particular Octoling at the head of the squad glowering back at her suspiciously. Although a squad was somewhat of a stretch seeing as there were several Octotroopers stationed cautiously behind the Octoling in a cowering stance as if Tek herself were a nuclear bomb.
The Octoling wore two stalks of seaweed behind her black tentacles. She was garbed in the official ensemble befitting of an elite; a pair of Octoling Goggles meticulously wrapped around her face obscuring her eyes, a steel Octoling Armor chestplate, and a pair of shiny Octoling Boots. She was the pinnacle of classic intimidating Octoling stature.
Tek might have found her more intimidating if she was somewhat taller than Tek's torso. Of course that might have been impossible considering Tek herself towered over the rest of the Octarians peculiarly like a sore thumb.
"Commander Aussie." Tek regarded the Octoling coldly.
The Octoling's goggles flashed underneath her black tentacles, "4U55-13," She corrected her with a scowl. "Although you did at least manage to get commander correct."
"You said something about my sister." A subtle hint of a smile creeped up Tek's expression. "Having trouble containing her?"
Aussie crossed her arms. "Hardly. Octavio sent me." Tek's smile shrunk back into a scowl. "He wants you to help settle her down."
"So you are having trouble containing her." Tek spoke drily and turned around indignantly. "Well good luck with that."
"Should I remind you of your current situation?" Aussie inquired. "Octavio's word is law as long as you're still with us."
"Well quite frankly commander," Tek shook her head, "His laws don't matter to me in the slightest."
Aussie's tentacles twitched very slightly. Before she could reprimand the woman, another tremor rocked the hallways. Unbalanced, the Octarian entourage wobbled unsteadily, and the lot of them grasped for the walls to anchor themselves. Aussie stumbled as did Tek on their two legs as she opened the door to her room. Tek gritted her teeth as she was nearly flung into the abyss below inside of the inky darkness of her room. After a moment the tremor subsided and left a handful of dazed octopuses sprawled out about the halls.
Tek gripped the door frame and pulled herself out of the room and snapped her head towards Aussie who was subsequently startled by the sudden movement. "...Tenta is where exactly?"
Aussie sighed and shook her head. "Takes everything shy of the void before I can convince anyone to volunteer to…" She noticed the impatient expression on Tek's face. "Follow me. Hopefully you'll be able to stop her."
"Right." Tek placed her hands on her hips. "I assume that was her handiwork?"
Aussie simply nodded. "Let's go. Jerry, are you coming?"
The Octocopter in the hall hovered up from his hiding spot. "...S-Sure."
"Good." Aussie nodded. "If we hurry we might not have to spare too much for damages."
Even with the accompanying party of an Octoling commander, an Octocopter named Jerry, and a battalion of Octotroopers on weaponized platforms trudging behind Tek found herself stuck as the center of attention throughout the trip through the headquarters. As they passed through a labyrinth of winding hallways Tek received quite a few odd stares.
She stared at a small troop of Octolings with tentacles ranging from fuchsia to violet laughing amongst each other as they leaned on the walls. For a brief moment, they noticed Tek walk past, and the laughter died down almost immediately. They glanced around absentmindedly and spoke in whispers.
"Don't you all have a training regimen to follow?" Aussie inquired rhetorically.
The gang of Octolings simply shuffled off elsewhere. They brushed past the squad escorting them awkwardly and mumbled all the way.
"The way you carry yourself reminds me more of a general than a commander." Tek observed as they walked.
"Is that a compliment?" Aussie asked as she filed back in with the rest of the squad.
"Take it as you will." Tek stated simply as they walked ahead.
Jerry hovered in to Tek's eye level. "She's one of our finest! Not exactly the strictest, but-"
"Jerry, please." Aussie waved the Octocopter off. "Maybe you could fly ahead and survey the damage."
"Did I say something wrong?" Jerry asked with a frown as he reluctantly hovered ahead.
"It's fine...just check on the hangar." Aussie waved him off yet again much to Jerry's discontent. As the Octotrooper slowly hovered off away Aussie turned to Tek. "You were saying?"
"Hmm." Tek hummed and glanced around. "You didn't need to do that for me."
"Oh, no, that wasn't strictly for your sake." Aussie shook her head. "Someone needs to keep order around here. As for being commander, no one around here seems to acknowledge titles anyways…" She crossed her arms. "...Wish more of my comrades were like you."
"Like me?" Tek quizzed the Octoling.
"Uniform, much more agreeable, less aggravating…" Aussie paused and sighed. "The more I go on the more I feel as though I have an Inkling running amuck the headquarters."
Tek glanced at her own tentacles and felt the two extending in front of her face. Aussie blinked and glanced up at the taller woman.
"Well, more like an Inkling mentally than physically anyways." Aussie remarked.
The lot of them continued through the halls. Jerry hovered at the very ends of the halls and they followed behind as he "scouted" ahead. Occasionally when the halls were empty and almost silent altogether they could hear sighs and grumbles up ahead as the Octocopter veered around a corner.
"Any ulterior motive for sending the helicopter away?" Tek asked.
"No reason." Aussie shook her head quickly. "...He's just a little overbearing sometimes."
"...And them?" Tek gestured towards the Octotroopers around them.
"We're just generic filler troops." One of them spoke up.
Tek simply nodded in affirmation and the rest of the way was spent in complete silence. As they began to near what must have been the end of the hallways a thumping noise started to repeat and grow in volume as they approached. Jerry slowed in place in front of a ginormous steel door and stopped midair in front of it.
"Here we are!" He called towards the rest of them as they walked closer.
"Alright." Aussie snapped her fingers and pointed towards the door. "Get in there."
The Octotroopers behind her hopped to it. "Yes ma'am!"
They all rolled past her on their platforms and rushed past as the doors opened. For a brief moment the sound of clanging and roaring exploded out of the opening. All of a sudden, the Octotroopers paused and gazed in for a brief second, and all of a sudden they performed the standard one-eighty movement and bolted away.
"Hey!" Aussie shouted back at them.
"We're generic, but we're not suicidal!" They called back as they traveled down the hallway.
"See! This is exactly what I was talking about!" Aussie scowled and shook her head.
"Don't worry." Tek rested her hand on the Octoling's shoulder. "I'll handle this."
"...Thanks." Aussie sighed gratefully. She glanced up at her. "...By yourself?"
Tek simply brushed past her and stood in front of the door. With a sigh, Aussie gestured for Jerry, the Octocopter slowly hovering back over towards her with an inquisitive expression on his face. The two of them walked off. Tek could hear her name being mentioned in the conversation as soon as the left. Shaking her head she refocused on the set of doors again. The door opened in but a blink of an eye. When Tek stopped blinking, she glanced in, and frowned at the sight.
The hangar was humongous. Several flights of stairs connected above the just as humongous door frame Tek stood inside. Several mechanical projects laid strewn about with catwalks and balconies overlooking them as Octolings in clean lab coats or rags dirtied with soot and oil crowded about them. Unfortunately for these select cephalopod scientists it was hardly a feasible area for research given the gigantic skeleton.
Some nightmarishly ginormous mechanical monstrosity lumbered around on a set of four mechanical tentacles. The tentacles were unfinished to say the least, with wires sparking and jutting out from the project, and loose panels swinging off as the tentacles slipped and slid about the metallic floor. The tentacles led up to a head, which in reality, was a deteriorated top with a rather enthusiastic pilot at the helm. The pilot could be heard giggling from the cockpit like a madwoman. She turned and swayed with nothing but a barebones control panel at the helm with two comically simple levers to control the machine with.
"Gangway!" She cried out as one of the tentacles smashed into the floor and splintered it. Octolings nearby crouched with their hands over their head for cover.
Her appearance was scraggly and ragged similar to her machine. A red mop of Octarian tentacles rolled off of the back of her head, but in the front, two elongated tentacles danced rampantly in the air as she twirled about on the death machine. She had on a regular pair of Octoling equipment like the commander except for the standard Octoling Goggles. Not as if it mattered, as her eyes glowed with a dangerous light similar to a bonfire growing into an uncontrollable forest fire.
Needless to say the Octolings around her were not taking her shenanigans as gleefully as she was. A tentacle flew overhead and nearly decapitated a scientist as she ducked for cover. Several mechanics laid unconscious on the floor facedown with puddles of oil and ink mixed in a dark-violet pool.
Tek glared up at the machine. "Tenta."
As her name was uttered, the pilot froze as did her machine. She turned her head down at Tek with a ginormous smirk. The tentacles stopped trying to wreck the hanger and positioned themselves in a pool-like mess on the floor. The machine steamed and groaned as it slid across the floor towards the door frame at an alarmingly fast pace. As the prototype slowed to a pause, the pilot popped her head out from behind the control panel, and smiled.
"You finally came out! Hey!" Tenta beamed at her wickedly. "Nice to see you Ms. Bossypants! Wanna help my test flight?"
"...Tenta." Tek glowered back at her. "Stop shaking the HQ."
"Eh! Side effects dear sister!" Tenta smiled down at her. "With every action there is an equal and opposite reaction! So the base is a getting a little shaken-"
"I told you not to mess with the technology while we're here." Tek scolded her. "We have our plans. We don't need more unnecessary complications."
"...So?" Tenta shrugged her shoulders. "You think I'm gonna pass up these babies?" She raised the levers again and the machine shuddered beneath her feet. "These Octoweapons are amazing. They could raze a city in a day!"
"Tenta. Last chance. Stop playing around and get off of the machine." Tek narrowed her eyes at Tenta.
Her sister glared at her back. The both of them had a silent standoff in the middle of the hangar bay glaring at each other. The other Octolings peeked over the other projects and hangar catwalks in anticipation.
Suddenly there came a titter. "Hm." Tenta smiled. "Heh." She laughed. "Ha!"
"What?" Tek demanded with a scowl.
"You're a lot of things to me Tek." Tenta grinned down at her. "You're my sister for one. Always 'looking out for me'. You're also a pain."
Tek's expression darkened. "A pain?"
"You might be a lot of things. But you can't tell me what to do." Tenta smiled. "You're not my mum."
Tek stepped forward. On the very same second Tek slammed the levers forward. As if a ripple of tension had billowed out, the Octoling bystanders hit the deck, and the ragtag machine buzzed and whirred sickly.
"You want me to stop? Then go ahead and stop me sister!" Tenta laughed uncontrollably.
AN: Here's that Splat X spin-off story. Sorry it took so long!
Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you!