Without the Great Zapfish to power the entirety of Inkopolis, our electricity was cut out. Well, if I had to choose between nightlights or Turf Wars, I'd go with Turf Wars. Besides, this gave us more time to hang out inside Lyra's treehouse. When we were alot younger, we used to hang around at the treehouse that stood in her backyard. We'd play some fun games, talk about a variety of things, and sometimes gaze up at the stars and wonder if there was a lot more we didn't even know yet... Of course, Linny didn't like hanging around at the treehouse. Don't get her wrong, she likes all that stuff. She just... well, rather has a strong distaste for camping out at night; she's afraid of "nightstalkers"...
Lyra was already fast asleep, so it was just me and Linny gazing out into the stars. "Stupid Zapfish Theif!" Linny pouted. "I would've been nice and safe from the night monsters if they hadn't stolen it! Who would take away the power and leave me defenseless against who-knows-what?" I kept my hands on hers. "Don't be afraid," I assured her, "Just keep hold of my hand, and you'll be fine." Linny took a strong grip at my hand. Though it does hurt, I felt content with the full knowledge that I can help my friend overcome her phobia. To help pass the time until she starts falling asleep, I talked with her about a memorable time.
"Say Linny, remember when we first met each other?" I asked her. She seemed to have fully calmed down, instantly forgetting about her paranoia. "Yeah, that was on the first day of summer camp at Triggerfish." I started laying down, getting a perfect glimpse at the heavenly stars above. "You still remember how that song went, right?" Linny groaned. "Oh please, that was really, really corny."
I then took a deep breath. "Ooooooooooo~"
"Please, tell me you're not gonna sing that..."
"Hey, don't be like that! I liked that song."
"Fine. I kinda did like your singing back then."
Oooooooo~h
Lock and load, hit the road
Fulfill your greatest wish
Triggerfish, Triggerfish,
Pull that trigger, fish!
We swim the seas, climb the trees
Those moments we relish
Triggerfish, Triggerfish,
Pull that trigger, fish!
No seabear will keep us frozen in our tracks,
No searhino ever will throw us off our backs,
There's no creature of the dark, whether nasty bite or bark,
That will ever take us down so long as we're on the attack!
I started feeling Linny's hand uncontrollably gripping my hand tighter. I almost forgot, she had an incident at that camp on the first night that involved getting lost in the woods. That was what started her fear of the dark. We had to cut that part off from the camp song to keep her calm. I could suddenly hear her breathing heavily. I guess that fear of the 'nightcrawlers' finally came back. My stupid mouth...
"Sorry about that, how about this?" I decided to try telling her a joke. "We sometimes do Turf Wars on it, and Spyke is never without it. What am I thinking of right now?" Linny took a good ponder at this. "Uh, I dunno." she finally gave up. Well that was no fun, she didn't even guess a single time. Regardless, I tell her the answer: "Urchin Underpants!" That paranoia filling her entire body was suddenly replaced with huge fits of laughter. It was relieving to calm her down again. "Wow, that was funny!" she said. "Tell me another one!"
"Alright." I tell her. "Let me think..."
So, an Inkling walks into a doctor's office to get his tonsils removed and the doctor performs an operation on him.
Her hand started shaking again... Crab, forgot she hates doctors. Maybe I should get to the punchline quick.
During the operation, the doctor accidentally cuts him in half. But after removing the left side of his body, he was all right!
"Stupid Gary!" she started pouting, "You're making things worse!" her hand now clenching mine tighter than ever. If I don't do something quick, she may yank my hand out of my arm.
Luckily, I remember bringing a flashlight with me before visiting the treehouse. Why I never thought of bringing it out before, I will never know. But with the light here, this will really calm her down. I turned the light on and flashed it on the wall. Her attention shifted from her fear to the light. Her gaze completely overtaken by the huge, yet limited light, I decided to amaze her with some of my shadow puppet skills. I arranged my fingers and placed them before the light. At first, she jumped.
"Meow~ Do not be afraid, it's only me! Judd!"
She then approached the light again. "Wow, that is cute! Do another!"
"Yarr! I'll be taken ye down to tha lockers today!"
"Cool, a pirate!"
"You are vigilant, Pirate-Kun. But can your blade match my shurikens?"
"Wow, a ninja!"
"Whoa, that looks like Annie!"
"Ha, that's a good looking Jelonzo!"
"A heavy splattling! I've always wanted one of those!"
"It's a kid now!"
"It's a squid now!"
"Holy- ROY!? Gary, how did you do that!?"
Roy? My shadow puppet was supposed to resemble Sheldon. What gave her that i-
"Hao!" a voice said. I looked back and my jaw completely dropped. It was Roy, not really surprising. But he was holding a Zapfish, and that was surprising! I was at a loss of words... "Roy... How in the Cthulu did you even get that?"
"I told ya..." an extremely drowsy Lyra replied, "He's from Squitzerland, home of the greatest Inklings ever..." Roy brought over the Zapfish into the treehouse and noticed that Linny was carefully eyeing it. He decided to hand the Zapfish to her. She hugged the Zapfish, feeling it's light and warmth as she drifted to sleep. Though somewhat jealous, I am thankful Roy came in; my hands were getting tired after all that. Roy picked a corner from the treehouse and napped there.
"Squitzerland, huh?" There's something fishy about that, and it's NOT the Zapfish that's fishy. I pulled out my SquidPhone and did a search on Squitzerland.
...Hmm? Was I seeing things? I must be sleep-deprived. I refreshed the page. Sure enough, I got this:
0 results found for Squitzerland.
The next morning, the four of us headed to the cafe for a quick breakfast. We each got our own meals (Lyra had to split hers with Roy though,) and discussed some things.
"Wow," I said to Lyra, "You are the only Inkling I know in this entire world who introduces someone to the Squid Sisters 3 times. Are you sure you're not into Squidsistism?"
Lyra briefly turned bitter. "It's not a religion, it's a thing that Roy needs! It'll make him fresh! ...Aside from a healthy dose of pancakes."
"Speaking of what Roy needs..." I looked around to make sure that we were the only ones here. The cafe's policy was self-service, so I didn't have to worry about any cashiers. When the coast was clear, I took off Roy's helmet, revealing his true identity. Both Lyra, Linny, and Roy gasp in surprise.
"Not that I don't trust you as a friend, but you're going to tell me EXACTLY what's going on..."
