Time Tour

Bessie the inkling felt like she had been turned inside out. She tried to stand up but was immediately thrown off balance. Her attempt at composing herself only made it worse and she fell on her side.

"What has this machine done to my brain?!" she demanded of her boyfriend.

Marie was still seated, with her upper body spread out over a table and making groaning noises. Callie was still on her seat, too, but stared blankly ahead as though nothing had happened.

"The time machine travels to the past by converting itself and everything inside it into antimatter shielded in an invisibility and intangibility field before entering stasis for the amount of time it is set to travel back." Callum explained. "Your bodies are still recovering from the shock of being converted back after 14'000 odd years as antimatter. I suggest that for the next half hour or so, everyone try to keep their movements as slow and symmetrical as possible."

"I actually think I'm fine." Callie sounded as cheery as ever, rising from her chair. "Normally my balance is quite-…" She immediately began to lean to her right before rocketing into a nearby wall.

Callum carefully reached under his seat and pulled out a box containing some travel snacks. He passed around a few packets of savoury biscuits. "Here. The salt will help you reach equilibrium again and the dryness should ease up any queasiness you might be feeling."

Marie managed to raise her head. "I don't ever want to go through this again."

"You won't," Callum assured. "Travelling forward is completely different. Plus, the effects are at their worst for first time travellers."

"When does the first show begin?" Bessie asked later as the yellow colour was returning to her tentacles

"Not for a good couple of years." Callum replied

"What are we doing so far back?" Callie asked, still nibbling on a biscuit.

"My dad left me a few pointers in the Thinking Cap. We can't exactly step out of a time machine and into a concert venue packed with people, can we?"

"But he said… will have said… that it was all certain to… will… have happen…-ed." Marie struggled a bit with the relative tenses.

"It is, but we make it happen first. The humans can't prepare a stage for you if they don't know you exist. We have to plant the seed in their minds. Everyone, wait here. I'll be right back."

It was close to midnight in the city where they had materialized, which was in the exact same spot geographically as Inkopolis would be millennia later but on this day was called Tokyo. Callum was still wearing the Thinking Cap and, as he used his octo form to sneak into a human's place of residence, he was uploading everything he knew about Inkopolis, the world of the mollusc era and the Squid Sisters onto the device's massive storage drive. As he crept toward the sleeping human, he removed the device from his own head and placed it on the sleeper's, sharing his knowledge. Some basic concepts were downloaded as is, while others were stored in slow-release pockets, programmed to be telepathically shared with anyone the human communicated these new ideas to, before manifesting as what would seem to be their own ideas for this apparently fictional world. Callum did not know the exact course of events that would lead his intentions to fruition, but he trusted in the causality, based on his knowledge from the future, that everything would eventually culminate as destined.

As it happened, this human worked for a video games company which had been working on the beginnings of a paint shooter game that, up until now, had been intended to feature white rabbits.

Back in the time machine, Callum opened the red cap which hid the dimensional axis swivelling drive and entered a temporal destination before engaging the drive. Four dimensional space twisted so that the directions of the flow of time and the vertical line exchanged places, and gravity pulled the time machine a few years into the future.

"We're here." Callum said at last. This is your first concert venue.

The four walked toward a large convention centre, buzzing with an air of hype and hedonism.

"So, how does the world know the Squid Sisters?" Bessie was anxious to know. "And how do they plan on getting them on stage if they don't know we're coming from the future?"

Callum connected the Thinking Cap to the internet and did some research. "It says here that in this time, Inkopolis exists in a video game world. The game is called Splatoon and is mainly a multiplayer game based on our Turf Wars and Ranked Battles, although there's a single player mode recounting the events of Bessie recapturing the Great Zapfish. Callie and Marie have pretty much the same role in the game as they have in our world. But the only songs of theirs the general public currently know about are Ink Me Up, Now Or Never, City of Colour and Calamari Inkantation, so it's best we stick to those."

"Aww! I wanted to do my solo!" Callie pouted before gesturing toward where the bustle was coming from. "So what's happening here?"

Callum connected the Thinking Cap to the electronics in the convention centre which housed their would-be stage. "They're playing that game right now!"

The octoling passed the goggles around so that everyone could have a chance to marvel at the recreation of their home and at the humans' battling skills.

"They've got projectors and screens that they plan to use to make it look like you're performing live on stage." Callum finally said after some more research.

"Well, it looks like they've got everything together, then." Marie sounded somewhat disappointed "Did we come to this time to put on shows, or to let projections of us put on shows for us? What are we here to do?"

"Sneak inside and go wait backstage by the photo booth that's made up to look like the Inkopolis News studio and wait for my signal," Callum said as he began to assert his dominance over the inferior human computers that surrounded them. "And then do one of the things you do best: Override!"

"And what am I gonna do?" Bessie asked with an air of excitement.

"Go watch the show, what else?" Her boyfriend replied.

"With all those people in there? Someone will see me!"

"They'll think you're just a human in really good cosplay!"

The cousins were sitting patiently in the photo booth backstage. The next moment the distinct sound of the Squid Squad, a rock band from back home, boomed from the speakers.

"I'll bet that's Callum!" Marie said as they stood up and got into position. "Are you ready?"

Callie was brimming with confidence until a countdown began. The audience chanted the dwindling numbers as they came up and for a moment something inside Callie shook loose. The excitement was building up to a peak and Marie could hear Callie breathing heavily. After the countdown had run its course the familiar Inkopolis News jingle played and both of them calmed down and composed themselves again.

"Hold on to your tentacles…"

The travellers were seated at breakfast the morning after the second concert, all except Marie, who was sulking in squid form near the window.

"I said I was sorry!" Callie said half pleadingly, half exasperated. "Anyway, you didn't need to perform your solo, too!"

"No, I didn't. Not until you announced it and Captain Computerbrain over there started playing the intro! I wasn't prepared!" Marie turned her head. "What part of 'don't perform your solo's' didn't you understand? What if I'd made a mistake? What if I'd embarrassed us both?"

"Then nothing! I always miss that first shimmy after the bridge in Now Or Never and no-one has ever noticed! It wasn't that bad!"

"Wasn't that bad?" Marie calmly turned to Callum. "What was the damage, can you find out?"

Callum searched for the latest news about the Squid Sisters. "Ah – well, the general public knows about your solo numbers now. And it seems the video games company that owns us were inspired by your little stunt to announce something called Amiibo for you two. I detect a hint of panic. Someone probably got fired. … It says here Amiibo are little figurines that interact with the game in some way or another." He said, and added: "… and I think I want one."

There was silence for a while.

"Well, I think that was your best performance yet." Bessie finally said

"Just stick with the program from now on!"

Another jump to the future and a stowed-away flight later, the cephalopod company found themselves on a new continent a small ways outside the city, a day before their third and final performance. Bessie had taken Callum aside.

"I think the stress might be getting to the girls. I hate it when they fight!"

"You're right," Callum agreed. "They've had plenty of rest in between the concerts but it's always in hiding or cramped in this little time machine. I think a day of bonding and sightseeing would do them good."

"There's the matter of their appearance, though. They're not only famous here, but they're supposed to be fictional. It's okay to be seen at the concerts, but everyday life in the city isn't really any place for a human girl made up like an inkling."

Callum's eyes brightened with an idea: "Then how about an inkling girl made up like a human?"

"Let's do something with your hair." Bessie said, trying to sound unsuspicious.

"Why?" Marie asked.

"Because I said so. Now, sit your squid butts down over here." Bessie indicated to the two chairs in front of her.

"Yes, Ma'am." Callie went along with it and Marie followed.

Bessie loosened the bow on Callie's head and the tentacles relaxed, and withdrew themselves from their usual stretched state. She brushed Callie's fringe slightly to the side, as well. Marie's bow was loosened, too, and the tentacles were tied together in a ponytail which Bessie hung over the front of Marie's right shoulder.

"What do you think?" Bessie asked Callum, who suddenly showed up.

"Perfect!" He replied

"Perfect for what?" Callie wondered

"Perfect for two non-squid human girls out seeing the sights in Paris!" Callum produced two sets of clothing. There were two striped Breton shirts, one blue and one pink, two pairs of ladies jeans, a boater hat with a pink and black ribbon, a large pair of sunglasses and a pink ascot tie. "

"Did you… steal those?!" Marie demanded. "You could get into trouble!"

"I don't think anyone is going to believe that merchant when she tells them a giant octopus jumped on her face. I doubt she believes it. Now, put these on and go get some air. That's an order."

Callie and Marie practically felt instant relief when they took their first step outside the time machine. It was a beautiful warm day and the air was delicious.

"Marie, look! Marie, look! They have an Inkopolis Tower here, too!" Callie was beside herself with excitement.

"I think tha-…" Marie began

"Inkopolis Tower!" Callie squealed. "We should get a picture with it!"

"Callie, I told you, my squidphone is not for taking selfies."

"Please, Marie! Pleeeaase? My phone's memory is full!"

"Oh, alright." Marie just couldn't say no to her cousin when she wanted something that badly.

As Marie took the picture, she saw Callie's wild grin on the screen and was reminded just how easily her cousin could let go of a grudge. She felt bad for scolding Callie earlier and wanted to give her a sign that all was well again. Marie had the idea when the two tourists walked by the concert venue.

The last concert was well under way with their opening numbers done when the Squid Sisters were engaged in their usual between-song banter.

"So, Marie, remind me… What song were we going to do next again?"

"Uhhh… Oh yeah, that's right! Next up are our solo numbers!"

The audience couldn't see it, but Callie's eyes brightened up dramatically when her cousin made her aware of the change of heart she had had. For the rest of the concert, Marie felt like her heart was back in the performance in a way it hadn't been for a long time, and she could read the same sentiment from Callie.

The show was over and all the viewers had left the venue. All except Allan Kidman, who sat gloomily on the edge of the stage, staring at something he had bought that day at the expo that the show had been part of. Allan considered himself one of the biggest Squid Sisters fans of his time, tied only with his brother. He had been over the moon when he won the all-expenses-paid trip to France to come and watch the concert, and was convinced that once he had attended such a show, his life would be complete. And although this night had, hands down, been the one story he knew his children would one day tire of first, he felt a certain emptiness as though once he had seen the projections in real life, that little subconscious part of his brain that wouldn't grow up was confronted head-on with the reality that the Squid Sisters, Marie in particular, were fictional, and he just needed to deal with that.

"Well, Marie…" Allan said in his head as though he was telepathically communicating with the figurine he was turning over in his hands "I guess this is as real as you'll ever be…"

Bessie peered out from backstage and saw the troubled looking human. She beckoned Callie and Marie closer and directed their attention to him.

"That human looks sad." Callie whispered.

"At least he's got my Amiibo." Marie pointed out.

Allan was joined by his brother Edward, carrying a figurine of his own, and with something like a cardboard tube strapped to his back. He sat down next to his brother and the two sighed in chorus. Words were not necessary.

Bessie's eyes suddenly widened as she realised something: "Those humans!" she tried her best not to whisper too loud. "Take a good look at them!"

"They look kinda' the same." Callum noted. "Only one is wearing green and the other is wearing purple."

"A bit like me and Marie." Callie added.

"You believe they're somehow important to our visit here?" Marie asked.

"With all my heart." Bessie replied. "I feel like we should go talk to them or something…"

They cautiously crept up to them and Marie reached out a hand which she gently put on the shoulder of the man holding her miniature likeness. Allan turned his head and when he saw who was behind him he turned around, fell off his perch and landed on his feet in one autonomous reflex. He called out do his brother who turned around and stared in astonishment. There were three inklings and an octoling standing just three feet away from him and one of them was Callie!

Allan slowly walked toward these apparitions and reached toward the yellow inkling girl. They shook hands, if nothing else to convince Allan he wasn't seeing things. Next he inched toward Marie and carefully motioned toward hugging her. Marie slowly reciprocated the gesture and the two of them embraced. Upon seeing their interaction, Callie's arms darted toward Edward and she hugged him, too, with unexpected force. Edward babbled something that the visitors from the future couldn't understand. When finally Edward could let go he took the cardboard tube from his back and opened it. Trembling, Edward took out three posters and a pen, which he passed to his and Allan's idols. When the three posters bore two signatures each, Allan and Edward each hugged the entire company, and dashed off like two people whose lives had found new meaning.

The four snuck onto another aeroplane and departed for the city that would soon be their home once again.

"Is that it?" Bessie wondered. "Is that what we came all this way for? So Callie and Marie could sign those posters that set us on this trip in the first place?"

"Who can say?" Callum mused. "We know we've introduced an entire new culture to the world of Inkopolis, but exactly what effect this would all have on our world… we may never know."

When the Splatoon at last arrived in Tokyo on the spot where they arrived, Callum slung the folded-up time machine off his back and began to set it up again. Callie and Marie stood arm in arm as they took one last look at the world that would remember them until the ocean swallows it up.

"I'll try to be nicer to you from now on, Callie." Marie said to her cousin.

"Our last Splatfest is coming up." Callie said. "We really should make the most of these times while they last."

"All set!" Callum called. "Next stop, Mollusc Era!" Everyone strapped in as yellow sparks flew from the dimensional axis swivelling drive. "Wait, that's not supposed to hap-…!"