Review Time:

StRAnge ToASt - I really need to play the series myself. And yeah, I knew I had to include the Majima scene.

Demdrops - Hey if I can get someone into one of these games by accident, then I'd be pleasantly surprised.

Chapter 39 - Splatoon

Graduation loomed ever so closer, as the girls continued to alternate their studying with the usual group sessions of gaming. Although Chiyo was worried it'd be a distraction, she did think it was a good way to take a break and not tire herself out.

She was working on something when her parents called her downstairs.

"Mother, Father, is something the matter?"

"Well Chiyo….your homeroom teacher called us. You've been tutoring other girls while you play video games with your teachers?"
"Well….er…..you see…." Chiyo sighed. "Miss Yukari and Miss Kurosawa have been a part of this for a while. If anyone could tell us when to stop it's them!"

"Chiyo, we're not mad. Your grades haven't slipped. We'd rather not overwork you, so these breaks are important, right?' her father asked.

"Yes exactly!" Chiyo was relieved. "Today we actually had some free time. Chihiro said she'd have a game for the Wii U you bought me!"

"Marvelous!" her mother said. "We're so proud of you, Chiyo. So diligent and you've made so many friends! You're so close, don't give up!"

"I won't!"

They opted to give her privacy as they often did, so Chiyo hurried to finish her chores: she fed Mr. Tadakichi, she ironed her clothes for tomorrow, she swept, and got snacks and tea for her guests.

XXXXX

DINGDONG

"I'm coming!" Chiyo opened the door to see Chihiro, Osaka, Sakaki, and…. "Miss Yukari? Are you feeling alright?" her teacher moaned. "Aw, still got that stomachache?"

Yukari mumbled some form of confirmation.

"Will she be alright?"

"Well, she drove us here and we're not dead, so…." Chihiro glanced at the pale Osakan. "Uhhhhh, yeah. Let's pop this game in! Your wifi's working, right?

Chiyo blinked. "The family computer is in the den….?"
"Den? You're a riot Chiyo. C'mon.

Yukari plopped down on a beanbag chair and sipped some tea. "Ahhhh. Thank god Tomo isn't here, I don't need more stress. My head is killing me."

"Dontcha have a stomachache, Yukari-chan?" Osaka asked.

"Uhhhhh. Yes! I do. Achoo. Wait….what the hell is that?"

"It's my Wii U!" Chiyo said proudly as she helped Chihiro set things up. Yukari nearly spilled her tea when she burst out laughing.

"That old fossil? Chiyo the Switch is gonna come out, why don't you save for one of those babies?"
"What's a…..Switch?"

"Uhhh it's the newest Nintendo console," Chihiro explained. "Highly anticipated, but the Wii U was the originator of the series we're gonna play today." She used the Gamepad to load a colorful looking game. "We're gonna play Splatoon!"

The player took the form of a squid-like teen. The female one had their tentacles in the form of pigtails, and the pad was handed for Chiyo to customize skin tone.

"What…what is this?"
"An Inkling!"

"In this universe, aquatic life are the survivors. They evolved to the point where they're humanoid like this one right here. Inklings gain the power to shift from this form to a more squid-like state when they turn 14. Their enemies? The Octolings," Sakaki said dramatically. "They engage in turf wars for fun, shooting ink to gain terrority. They enjoy high fashion and being fresh."

The others all blinked.

"O…..k," Chiyo said. "I understand!" The tutorial helped her learn how to shoot ink, swim in the ink to refill the gauge, and manuever around.
"Say is there red ink?" Osaka wondered.

"That'd look like blood, Osaka."

"Brown?"

"That'd look like-"
"moving ON!" Yukari shouted. "I know this game, I've played it! Kicked a lot of butts! But it's a little annoying. You need to use the Gamepad to view the map but you need to look at the TV to see!"

Chiyo had to press X to see the map. But she didn't mind the coordination.

"Wow we're in a huge city!"
"That's Inktoplis. There's shops you can check out for gear, but you can't really buy anything yet. We could try the single player first then multiplayer!"

Indeed, a strange old man had caught the player's attention before slipping through a grate.

"Okay!" But Chiyo saw two idol Inklings chatting in one of the buildings of the city. "Who are they, Chihiro? They look….important."

"Chihiro, allow me." Sakaki cleared her throat. "The Squid Sisters, Aori and Hotaru. Aori's the one with black tentacles while Hotaru is the one with short white ones. They're the most popular act in Inktoplis."

"Wow!"

"Huuuuuuh?" Yukari blinked. "They're called Callie and Marie, Sakaki. Well in the English version they are, which is what you girls should be studying!"

"Oh, then let's play the game in English then!" Chiyo offered, wanting to study some more.

"The Wii U is region locked, Yukari!" Chihiro sighed. "But she's right. It's like how Choshitto Caduceus was Trauma Center: Under the Knife and Biohazard was Resident Evil."

Osaka's head was spinning. "C-Can we just play? Ah'm seeing stars…."

The old man was a soldier of the previous Inkling-Octoling war: Atarime (Yukari insisted the English name was easier to remember). He wanted the player - Agent 3 - to help him take down a new patch of foes. He gave her some armor and a weapon, and off she went into the first level.

"Wait a minute, I don't want to kill things!"

"You're not!" Chihiro insisted. "Inklings and Octolings just….dissociate in enemy ink before respawning. Neither can handle water at all."

"But they're squids and octopi, Chihiro."

"Evolution, I don't know! Just take it nice and slow…."

The first level had Chiyo get used to the thrill of the action. Octolings would shoot their own ink at the player but there was ample room to get the drop on them. Shooting everywhere was an advantage as it also provided more terrain for her to hide in.

"Oh no, they're bursting!"
"It's fine! Sakaki, help me out!"

"It's true," the taller girl said. "Alas, if Octolings and Inklings could stop their petty squabbles, their society would be a happier place…."
"Yer pretty philosophical about this game," Osaka said.

At the end Agent 3 freed an electrical creature named the Zapfish, the source of Inkling power. The goal of every level was to find them, but there was a side objective to find the Sunken Scroll, which gave art and pieces of the lore.

"Okay now I'm bored." Yukari beckoned for the Gamepad. "I sunk over 200 hours into this game, so let a pro show you how's it done!"

XXXXX

"ARGH I HATE THIS CONTROLLER!"

Yukari played much quicker than Chiyo; she shot a path to slither through the ink to cut down on walking, and her aim was pretty spot on. But she was getting visibly frustrated at how clunky the Gamepad felt to her. She looked around for a Pro controller but no luck.

"Should we go back to my house to get one?"

"No, it's fine….." Agent 3 used her ink to travel through rails. "It's what it is. Good thing the Switch doesn't have a garbage controller like this."

Chiyo pouted. "I like it!"

"Well everyone's entitled to their opinion!" Yukari sighed. "Nintendo is pretty inconsistent about this if you ask me. Like the Wii felt good, and the Gamecube had a great controller! But then there was the N64 controller….uggggh. You kids didn't experience the horror of the C buttons!"

Yukari powered through both the second and third level, which then unlocked the route to the first boss. "Osaka, take over, I need to piss."

"…huh?"

Agent 3 landed in a secluded arena with no other enemies in sight. But as soon as Osaka went forward, a cube-like Octoling arrived and roared.

"GAH! S-Scary!"

"You can do this, Osaka! Press ZR to shoot!" Chiyo advised. But the Osakan was so freaked out she was practically smashing the button.
"It's not working, Chiyo! It's still alive!"

"Osaka you're out of ink! Stop pressing the button!" Chihiro exclaimed. The boss smashed its face onto Agent 3, destroying the armor Yukari had kept through the last two levels. But in the process, it had fallen and couldn't get back up immediately.

"There's the weak spot, the tentacle!" Chiyo gasped. "You need to shoot it!"

"B-B-But I can't aim that high!"

"You can shoot surfaces Osaka," Sakaki suggested. "The boss is basically a giant metal box."

Indeed, some of the frantic ink had stuck to the boss's side. Since Inklings could swim through ink they themselves shoot, the answer became clear. But Osaka ran for it and tried to get her ink back.

"Lookout! Projectile!"

Agent 3 got covered in the enemy ink. Chiyo quickly pressed the button to swim in the ink for Osaka….and the other girl saw she had been cleaned off.

"I get it! Chiyo, you gotta be my good luck charm!"

"I'm with you, Osaka!"

Together the two dodged the boss and shot the next revealed side, allowing Agent 3 to swim up to the boss's tentacle and shoot it until she rocketed off it, beginning the next phase. Luckily, the game created a checkpoint. Now the sides of the boss had moving parts.

"H-Huh? What's happening?"

"See the panels, Osaka? It means you have to shoot the ink in a more concise pattern. The panels need to line up so you can hit the boss!"

"Uhhh….you be my eyes!"

The two girls waited for the boss to faceplant again, and Agent 3 took the shot. The non-paneled portions had flowing electricity which meant timing was important. She swam up when Chiyo gave the signal. More ink was pumped into the boss's appendage.

"One more time!" Chihiro shouted.

Again the two girls worked in tandem, with Osaka shooting and Chiyo directing movement. Within a minute Agent 3 was able to finish off the boss and free its Zapfish!

"We did it, Osaka!"
"YAHOO! Yer the best, Chiyo!"

Yukari came back with some rice crackers. "Good job, Osaka. Let's get the REAL meat of the game!"

Back in Inkpolis, Agent 3 walked around and saw all the other Inklings of other players. Like Sakaki said they were dressed in much trendier and more colorful clothing.

"Wow, how do we get some of those?"

"We want to earn coins from matches," Chihiro said. "Guess we can start."

"What the….there's a cat sitting there!"

"That's Judge-kun," Sakaki explained with a content smile. "He was frozen from the era where water hadn't engulfed the world. He declares the winners of turf wars."

"Basicially you just need to cover more," Yukari filled in. "Man, my headache's finally gone!" She caught the looks of her students. "Uhhh…..did I say headache?"

Chiyo entered the lobby to wait for a match. On cue, the Squid Sisters announced the maps in rotation.

"What's this?"
"Ah, some maps you play at certain times. It's kinda random," Chihiro said. She sweatdropped at both Osaka and Sakaki being visibly captivated by the idols.

"Bored again! I wanna see Chiyo show off her skills!" said Yukari. They had to wait for a queue to join, but the match needed 8 players. "Let's hope this doesn't take too long….."

Three minutes went by before something loaded.

XXXX

4 vs. 4 in a Turf War. The stage? A warehouse setting with a mostly rectangular outlay. All of Chiyo's teammates were dressed in much more flashy accessories, but her Inkling was obviously the level 1 newbie just starting the game.

"Wow! That one has an alien helmet!" Osaka said.

"It's gametime Chiyo! You just need to help your team cover the most ground!" Chihiro instructed. "Use that button for your bombs and use that command there to jump through the air near the teammate!"

"Wait….what?"

Off the other players went; poor Chiyo took an extra five seconds to head out and start splatting the area. But it was clear she was completely outmatched. All of them were zipping and shooting around.

"Chiyo you don't need to make your ink uniform! We're not aiming for neatness!"

"I-I'm trying my bes-WAAAA!" Her Inkling got disintegrated by enemy fire. But it soon respawned at the starting point. "That wasn't very nice!"

"Chiyo you're wearing the default gear, people know you're a greenhorn! You being so clumsy with fire isn't helping!"
"Yukari's right, you're a huge target."

Eventually the match ended. A top-down version of the map displayed to show off the areas of color; the enemy team (yellow) certainly outnumbered Chiyo's team (blue). Judge-kun called it 71.5% to 28.5% in favor of the enemy.

"I lost!"

"It's okay, Chiyo, I lost my first match too," Sakaki reassured her. "I didn't start winning until my tenth match or so."

Yukari being Yukari was the complete opposite field of advice. "You should've seen me! I crushed some snotty American kids while one of my teammates got disconnected!"

"Um….Chihiro, please show me how to improve!"

This time the enemy was green while Chihiro's team was pink. The stage was the other one in rotation, a skate park with lots of concave area. In the middle was a great vantage point to both shoot the ground and snipe opponents.

"Alright, Chiyo, the key is just being quick to react." Chihiro was off in the flash, shooting and manuevering around. "Standing in one spot is a death sentence. Sprinkle here, sprinkle there."

"We need a better weapon! The default weapon sucks!" Yukari grumbled. "But grinding up coins makes things a total chore."

"You need those for better gear, right?"

Sakaki nodded. "With better rank, you also get more of a variety of shirts, shorts, shoes, headwear….a lot of clothing options come with a secondary effect."

It was clear Chihiro had plenty of experience. She hadn't gotten hit once while also taking out two of her opponents. She threw a bomb to splat a little piece of the land. "Bombs also drain ink, so be careful."

"Y'all know this game so well!" Osaka sighed. "Don't have a Wii U myself…..Ah'm saving my money for the Switch! But Mom said if Ah failed my exams, Ah can't get it…"

"Hmph! My parents bought THIS for me, so I don't want to get a new toy so soon!" Chiyo pouted.

Judge-kun called the match. This time, Chihiro won by a 69.2%-30.8% margin.

"And that's how it's done. It takes a LOT of practice, Chiyo, so don't feel so bad. This game came out two years ago! I got it on launch and played it for a long time."

"Well….okay. Thanks, Chihiro! Miss Sakaki, why don't you try the next match?"

XXXX

The taller girl wished she had her plushies of the Squid Sisters but she settled for petting Chiyo's dog that just walked in. The stage went back to the warehouse.

"Wonder how good Miss Sakaki is," Osaka whispered. "She's so mysterious like that."

"Good luck Sakaki!" Chihiro cheered.

The match started and….

HUH?! Chiyo, Yukari, Osaka, and Chihiro were shocked. Sakaki was even better than Chihiro. Not only did she not get hit at all, she was a total pacifist and didn't shoot any of her opponents. She just concentrated on terrority. She had played the stage so often she knew where the best zones to cover were. At one point her ink surrounded the spawn point on the other side.

The other girls didn't know how to react so Sakaki mainly played the match in complete silence. Perhaps helping was the fact that Mr. Tadakichi laid his head on her lap.

Judge-kun called it. 90.1% to 9.9%.

"Sakaki…..I…..I never got that ratio before…..!" Chihiro blinked. "How often do you play this game?"

"Not that often," she said humbly. "I just learned how to improve without harming any of the Inklings. It's a shooter I can get behind."

"Sakaki…..there was an opponent with MAX LEVEL and rare samurai gear!" Yukari couldn't make sense of it. "You'd better show Chiyo how to be better!"

"If she'll have me. Chiyo?"
"Oh! Of course, Miss Sakaki! You, Chihiro, and Miss Yukari can teach me while Osaka serves as my good luck charm!"

"Wait!" Osaka reached for the Gamepad. "Ah'll try one match!"

"Heeheehee…."

"Osaka, why are you so happy? You're not gonna pull a Sakaki! ….are you?"

"Ah just got a good feeling is all." All of the previous opponents had shuffled out leaving a new lobby to be formed. The good play also meant Chiyo's Inkling hit level 2. (Victories yielded more exp versus losses). "Wow! Lots of American folk."

"Be careful, Osaka! They'll have no pity on an Osakan bumpkin like you!" Yukari exclaimed.
"But Ah'm from Kobe…"

The stage was the skate park again. When the match began, it looked like Osaka was totally out of her league. At one point she exploded on her own bomb.

But then….

"Internet connection unstable? Ah crap, the connection is too far!" Chihiro groaned. "They never made a matching system by region!"

"L-Look! The enemy!"

Two of the opponents were….missing? This meant Osaka's experienced teammates could carry the match a lot better. Even Osaka had more freedom to shoot (when not draining her ink completely). Then the connection glitched out more where only one opponent was visible.

"Heehee! Now Ah got you!"

Osaka managed to splat the remaining player while her teammates worked even harder. The last enemy kept jumping around the map thanks to the bad connection.

"We're gonna win!" Osaka looked down at the map to see the color. Hardly any pink to match her team's green.

"Will…..will we see the 100% special?!"

"Yukari, that's impossible to get even WHEN your connection is glitching out!" Chihiro replied. But Chiyo, Sakaki, and their homeroom teacher had the feeling it was gonna happen.

"The match is over!"

Osaka's eyes were shining so brightly. Finally, a game she won.

You have been disconnected.

And all the light immediately faded from it.

"O…Osaka?"

"Osaka, you okay?" Sakaki asked. Chiyo touched the girl's shoulder. Osaka promptly fell on her side, expression frozen and eyes hollow.

"Yeeeeep. That's Nintendo netcode for you," Chihiro sighed. "Let's just wrap it up for today, huh? Osaka, you still there?"

"Judge-kun….betrayed me…"

Chiyo went to get a blanket and a pillow while Yukari patted her shoulder, Sakaki held her hand, and Chihiro rubbed her back. Even Mr. Tadakichi nudged up to her sympathetically.

To be continued...

Yes I have a Switch game in mind before this is over, and it's a pretty significant one. Japanese names for the characters were used for a bit more contextual sense, although I kinda cheated that with Pokemon. Well, cuz it's Pokemon.

I'll admit I wanted to end the fic this year but I dunno if my slower pace (a combination of having like 5 fics and pandemic-related things) will achieve that. More on that when we get to the end, but that's why I'm making these pics really significant. Anyways sorry for the wait.

Next Game - Professor Layton and the Curious Village [Chiyo, Osaka, Kaorin, Kagura, Tomo, Yomi]