An Inkling of Sympathy Ch. 2

Author's Note: Hello Splatoon community! I was super pleased to receive the positive feedback from the first chapter, so without further ado, I present to you the next chapter in the series. Please, feel free to keep your reviews coming, and if you like I'm always excited to talk to fans. Enjoy, and best of luck in life and literature! - Kiba

As the limo rumbled along, my eyes watched the landscape scroll past me. "Excited?" Callie asked me, a cheerful grin on her face.

"No." I lied, taking in all of my surroundings. Holding up my wrists, the chain of the handcuffs rattled in protest. "Are these truly necessary? Where am I going to go? I'm unarmed, and Inklings don't have much of an opinion of us."

"Us?"

"Octarians." I clarified.

Marie let out a scoff. "Sorry, but we're not taking any risks. We'll uncuff you, but only when we get to the concert. You can do your little electric magic trick, and we'll let you go after that."

Callie, despite the looks of protest her cousin gave her, slipped over to my side of the seats. "I'm sorry you won't get to see the concert." She whispered, her eyes shimmering. "But if you want, we could dedicate a song to you."

"Callie, we're not going to do that." Marie quickly objected, causing the pink musician to visibly sink. "Why do you care anyway? He's our enemy, remember?"

"I don't know." Callie admitted. "I just thought we'd try something nice. He volunteered to help us with the concert, so we should be thankful, right?"

Her cousin shook her head. "I swear, you just don't get it. He's a prisoner! He isn't volunteering for jack. He's doing this because he has to, not because he wants to."

"I'm sitting right here." I chimed in. "And if you recall, I was the only one with a functioning weapon. I gave myself up, but that was just a thank you for aborting the inkstrike. The next time we meet when you're trying to steal one of our zapfish, I'll end you myself. Understand?"

The Inkling that sat beside me smiled and wrapped her arms around mine. "Don't worry, you don't have to act so mean. You're our friend now, so we'll just do stuff for eachother. Ooh! Maybe you can follow us to all our concerts, and we'll set up neon and pretty lights. With you, we won't ever need another zapfish again!"

I tugged my arm from her grasp before returning my gaze out the window. For once, I agreed with Marie. Callie was foolish for thinking such childish thoughts. After this 'oh-so-important' concert, I'd vanish back to my home and relax for a bit, maybe take a vacation from Squad Duty to put this whole thing behind me.

Soon, the roaring of a crowd could be heard outside of the Limo. Marie gave me a harsh glare before giving me an order: "Make yourself scarce. It wouldn't do to have them see you." I returned her gaze with an angry look of my own, but I obliged anyway. As soon as I faded into the leather seat, Marie rolled down the windows.

Her features immediately changed, as with a knowing grin to her cousin, the two began to smile and wave to the masses that had assembled. "This is the best part." Callie whispered to me as she continued to grin and show her affection to her fans. They didn't act like most celebrities I knew. DJ Octavio, one of our celebrities (and Military commanders) was cold and uncaring towards his audiences.

Peering over Callie's shoulder, I could see dozens of signs with their pictures on them. Some would read things like "Marie is BAE" or "Callie FTW", but most of them were emblazoned with the two girls and the words "Stay Fresh!"

"Stay Fresh?" I asked.

"It's our slogan, shut up." Marie replied, her smile not fading as she continued to wave.

"Usually," Callie explained, "we also wave our fingers like this." She demonstrated, calling out, "Stay fresh!" With that, there was a thud against the side of the Limo as a flailing teenage Inkling poked his head into the Limo.

"We love you Callie and Marie!" He screamed before a security officer grabbed him and dragged him away with an apologetic nod to the two.

"We love you too, crazy guy!" Callie called after him. "See why this concert is so important now?"

"To be honest, not really." I muttered, causing her to look sad for a moment before she remembered that the crowd outside could still see her. The grin came back to her face quickly, though slightly embarrassed that she'd let it slip.

When the windows rolled up a few moments later, Marie let out a sigh before taking off her gloves to look at her hands. "That was close Callie, if he'd gotten in…"

"I know." She muttered apologetically. "I just wanted to show Mr. Octoling our 'Stay Fresh' wave. I didn't mean to make the fans go crazy." As they talked, she also looked beneath her gloves cautiously.

"What are you two doing?" I asked. "You don't strike me as the germophobic type."

"Show me your hands." Marie demanded, grabbing the chain of the cuffs and yanking them closer. The unexpected tug caused me to fall forward out of the seat onto my knees. "Did that fan touch you?" She asked.

"No. What's the big idea, anyway? I thought you loved your fans."

"We do." Callie replied softly. "But these fans...we can't let them come too close to us."

"He's clear." Her cousin declared releasing my hands.

None of this was making any sense. "Clear of what?"

"Cryptocaryon Irrithans." Callie whispered.

"Cryptowhat?" I repeated.

"Cryptocaryon Irrithans. It's a parasite, also known as Ich. Water is usually teeming with it, but thanks to filtration it's removed before we get to it. Poor families, however, sometimes get it anyway." Her words were soft and sombre, and I could tell it weighed heavily on her heart.

"It starts with white spots that form on the hands, but eventually it spreads throughout your body." Marie continued. "It's an awful disease, and it's expensive to get treatment. Even with treatment though, it can leave scarring. The parasite has a swift life cycle, but reproduces super quickly."

"How have I never heard of it?"

"You live underground." She explained. "Ich hates warm stuffy places, so it makes sense that it'd either die out before it got to you, or all the filtration your water goes through would get rid of it."

"Which is why we're throwing this concert, so that we can raise money to treat more people who have Ich! We make lots of money usually, so we just put it all back into the community...and clothes...and shopping...and…"

"I get it." I interrupted. "You guys are regular saints."

"It's not just that." Marie scoffed. "This is personal for Callie and me, alright? So don't go making this to be some light-hearted joke!"

Callie's hand rested on my leg, causing me to look into her glistening eyes. "I know you didn't know, Mr. Octoling, but our parents both contracted Ich when we were young. First was my father, then his brother, Marie's dad came to help. When he realized what it was, he sent both Marie and me to live with Grandpa."

"He'd tried to send my mother too, but she refused to leave their sides. It wasn't long before the disease became severe for all of them. They had to be quarantined to prevent further spreading. That's when Callie and I first started singing. We won the folk singing contest to raise money for our parents, then we became sensations over night."

I nodded my head, listening with great interest. "I see. So you treated your parents and wanted to do the same for others? A noble goal, if there was one."

"Shut up!" Marie snapped. "You just don't get it, do you?!" Immediately, Callie was up and beside her cousin squeezing her hand to calm her down.

"He wasn't being sarcastic Marie. Calm down." She whispered before turning to me. "After we had our parents admitted to the hospital, we found out that we didn't have enough money to treat all of them with our winnings." She explained. "My dad was the worst off, so we treated him first, then Marie's dad made us treat her mom before himself."

"I see." I muttered. "I'm sorry, Marie."

"It wasn't just me." She replied. "The treatment didn't stick with Callie's dad. he passed away within the month. My father went alongside him."

"The only one who survived was Marie's mother." Callie explained. "If you could call it that."

"Stop talking about it Callie." Marie warned.

"Wait, please...I want to know." I assured them.

She sighed for a moment before nodding. "Fine. My mother responded to the treatments, but they left her body weak. She still can't leave the hospital, so she's laying in a bed, unable to even move. Are you happy now?"

"Happy is not the word I'd use." I replied, causing her to let out an angry snarl. "But I get why the concert is so important to you now. I'm more than happy to help. Whatever concerns you had about me escaping before, you can be even more assured now that I intend to stay."

"The handcuffs still don't come off."

"Fine by me. You'll have to uncuff me later though, otherwise I can't power the concert."

"How does your trick work anyway?" Callie asked, attempting to change the subject. "I didn't know that Octolings could store electricity in their bodies."

I scratched my cheek, struggling to find a way to explain. "Well...essentially, our brains are a little different than yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It wasn't an insult. Watch." I reached up towards my head, where the short crimson tentacles were bound into a small knot. With a grunt of pain, I tugged one off causing both girls to open their eyes in shock.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Marie cried, as Callie covered her mouth in horror.

In response, I simply held out my hand, revealing the tentacle. After a moment, the tentacle leapt from my hand, scooting towards them and causing both to immediately draw their legs up onto their seats. "It's still moving." Callie whimpered. "That's so creepy. Why is it still moving?"

"An Octarian's brain is spread throughout their entire body." I answered. "Because of that, after a piece of us is separated we can still control it for some time. My 'trick', as you called it, involves absorbing electricity into my neural pathways. All I have to do to power your concert is the same way we power our machines. Plug myself in, expel the neural electricity." As I finished explaining, the tentacle writhed for a moment before falling limp. "As you can see, I lose control eventually. The smaller the piece the shorter the time span. Don't worry though, it'll grow back...in a week."

"See? Isn't this n-nice?" Callie's voice was shaking from the demonstration. "We're learning a lot about each other. I told you we could all be friends."

"We are not friends." Marie emphasized. "In fact, the sooner this freak is out of our lives, the better."

"Seconded." I agreed, turning to look as the limo finally came to a slow stop. Phasing back into my camouflage, the three of us stepped out of the car. No sooner had we done so, that a large cat came bounding down the way.

"Meeoww!" He exclaimed, hugging both Marie and Callie in turn.

"Hello to you too Judd." Callie giggled, squeezing the robust creature in her arms. "Are you doing well?"

"Meow, meow meow? Meow meow meow meeeow!"

"Yes, we found a solution to our electric problem." Marie assured him. "Just tell us where the socket is and we'll get everything set up."

His arrow shaped tail pointed behind him towards the back of the stage as he began to meow after them. As we walked towards the area, I whispered quietly to the two. "Can you really understand what he's saying?"

"Yep." Callie whispered back. "It takes some time, but eventually it gets easier. He's a surprisingly helpful manager." My eyes returned to the odd cat, now sniffing around the limousine with a curious gaze. "Something wrong?"

"Just a bad feeling I can't shake." After a few moments, the cat bounded off to who-knows-where. Turning back towards the socket, I slid my wrists from the handcuffs, causing them to clatter to the ground before Marie could unlock it.

"How did you…?"

"No bones, same as you." I explained. "Now let's just get this over with, alright?" Stepping up to the large pedestal, my wrists extended outward to grab tightly onto the cables on either side and I planted myself into the socket. Already, my body could feel the tingling drain. "Plugged in." I stated, as the machines began to hum with energy.

"Awesome. We'll be heading on now." Marie replied, turning towards the front. "Callie, are you ready?"

"Of course." She answered with a wink. "Thanks again Mr. Octoling. You're a life-saver."

"Don't mention it." I grunted, trying to keep my mind on the strain that was being placed on my neurons. "How long is this concert anyway?"

"About four hours."

"Crap." I muttered.

"What is it?" Callie asked, a tinge of concern in her voice. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll handle it." I lied. The truth was, I only had about three and a half hours of charge. "Go on stage, your adoring public awaits."

Callie beamed and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, causing Marie to give a sigh of disgust before the two ran towards the stage on the other side. On the other side of the platform, I could hear the sound of the two pop-stars calling into the mic. "Hello Inkopolis! Are you ready to rock?"

A resounding roar from the excited crowd spurred me on. I opened the gates to flood the system with electricity. I could hear the crowd erupt into cheers as the music began, the dazzling display flashing brightly to the rhythm. I'd just have to take it slowly for now.

"So this ain't the end, I saw you again...today and had to turn my heart away."

Taking deep breaths between pulses, I gave the girls the energy I had. At the very least I could give them the three hours. Even if it didn't work out after that, he could at least say he tried.

"Smile like the sun, Kisses for everyone! And tales it never fails."

The crowd was going absolutely insane, and I found it difficult to believe that it was truly the two secret agents I'd met singing the song. That's when I noticed the cat from earlier, bounding back towards me with something in his mouth. My tentacle! He must have snagged it from the limo when he was inspecting it. He was rushing from the arena at break neck speed. "No, wait!" I tried to cry out, but a painful burst kept me stuck where I was.

"You're lying so low in the weeds...I bet you want to ambush me. You'd have me down, down, down on my knees, now wouldn't ya, Barracuda?"

An applause from the crowd led me to believe that one of the girls must have performed some sort of stunt, but I ignored it for now pressing against the barrier as hard as I could. "Come back!" I cried, though the words were immediately drowned out by the music. If he got that tentacle to the authorities, who knew what would happen.

"Back over time, when we were all… trying for free, you met with porpoise and me."

I could just barely see the vague outline of the pudgy feline as I strained desperately against my self-imposed bonds. Something was wrong, the energy was flowing away much too quickly, but again I shoved it to the back of my mind. Another attempt at escape led to a coughing fit and more of the tingling pain.

"No right, no wrong. Just selling a song, a name! A whisper game."

A weakness in my body drove me to my knees, my arms trying desperately to oblige my body's commands to release me from the grasp of the stage. I wheezed as my lungs began to struggle for air between hacking coughs. I began shifting rapidly between my octopus form and my humanoid form against my will. What was happening to me?

"And if the real thing don't do the trick, no; you better make up something quick. You're gonna burn, burn, burn down to the wick. Now won't ya, Barracuda?"

I was draining far too quickly. At the rate my energy was being sucked from my body, I'd be lucky to make it through the song. My chest burned and ached as I tried to control my now chaotic breathing.

"Oh! Barra-barra-barracuda!"

The music was beginning to overtake me as I slumped weakly in my bonds, now unable to even struggle as it sucked me dry. It'd taken almost all of the Zapfish's excess electricity, and it'd even begun absorbing the electrical impulses of my brain.

"'Sell me, sell you', the porpoise said. 'Dive down, deep down, to save my head. You...I think you've got the blues too!"

Once all of the excess was gone, I took a deep breath and managed to tear away one of my tentacles from the socket. On stage, the lights began to dim and flicker as a confused murmur settled over the crowd. But even still, the girls knew they had to finish their song.

"All that night, and all the next, we swam without looking back. Headed for the western pools. Silly, silly fools."

The music continued on for a little bit, drawing to an end as the stage lights vanished completely. Even the mics had become disabled. Stepping forward, Callie cleared her throat. "S-sorry everyone! We seem to be having some technical difficulties. Give us a moment, I'm sure we'll be able to get everything back in order soon."

Marie grasped her cousin by the shoulder, turning her to face her before whispering, "Callie, I swear to you... if your stupidity ruined this concert I'll…"

"I know, Marie." She answered quickly, not letting her cousin finish the threat. She knew that Marie would never truly hurt her; that she was just lashing out because of how important this was to her, to both of them. The last thing she wanted was for her cousin to say something she'd regret. "Let's go check on Mr. Octoling, maybe something went wrong."

"I'm pretty sure he is that something." She muttered in response, before the two ducked backstage. As they made their way to the socket, they could hear weakened groans.

"Oh no…" Callie whispered, rushing from her cousin's side to crouch down next to where I'd finally collapsed after managing to free the final arm. "Mr. Octoling, are you alright?" She asked. "Please, wake up!"

Grasping my shoulder, she shook me, trying to get me to open my eyes. "Callie, get away from him!" Marie exclaimed, tugging at her cousin.

"Marie, he needs our help!" She argued, but her partner was strong enough to overpower her and drag her away from me. "I can't believe you, Marie! I know you don't like him, but he could be hurt! He may need a doctor."

"He does, but you can't touch him. Look!" Marie pointed, revealing the shiny white spots that'd begun to form over the tentacles on his head. The dark-tentacled Inkling fell to her knees in disbelief as her cousin snapped open her phone, dialing an emergency number. "Hello? Yes, I need an ambulance for pick up behind The Walrus and Carpenter Ampith-" Her words were cut off when Callie snatched the phone from her hands and threw it as hard as she could on the ground, shattering it into bits.

"No! No ambulances. We can't let anyone know he's here, otherwise who knows what will happen to him, not to mention us."

Marie looked down in shock at the remains of her phone, her fingers curling into a fist. "Callie...you could have just hung up instead of breaking it." She growled causing her cousin to flush in embarrassment.

"Sorry, I guess I got a little excited."

"You owe me a new one. But anyway, what should we do then? We can't just leave him here to rot, as much as it pains me to say so."

Callie paused to consider it for a moment. "What about Gramps? He can help. Maybe he knows some sort of home remedy we can use."

"Good thinking!" Marie agreed, looking around herself. "Two things though: 1) How do we move him? 2) We're kind of in the middle of a concert. I know we can't play without electricity, so what do we do?"

The two glanced down at my crumpled form in deep thought. "Okay, Marie you look for some sort of tarp. I'll apologize to the crowd and tell them we'll do a free performance some time in the future."

"Judd's not going to be happy to hear that." She pointed out, but Callie just shook her head.

"We'll tell him that our plan didn't work out as well as we hoped. No point in even mentioning Mr. Octoling. We managed to get through one song, and we'll just need to make a longer set for the free performance to make up for today."

Marie took a deep breath, running out the plan in her own head. The more pessimistic of the two, she wasn't sure that lying to their manager would help. But Callie was right, they had to help the Octoling, for their sake if not his. "Alright. I'll start looking for something to wrap him up in. We'll get him back in the Limo before our driver gets back, tell him the concert was canceled, get him back to Gramps, and then douse ourselves in gasoline before lighting ourselves on fire to prevent infection. Sound good?"

"Everything but the last part." Callie giggled. Even in the most stressful of times, her cousin could still make her laugh. "I'll get back out there. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck." Marie replied, having already found a large plastic cover that was sitting over a spare speaker set.

As the black-tentacled Inkling slid to a halt on stage, her eyes went over the gigantic crowd staring up at her expectantly. "H-hi everyone!" She greeted nervously. It wasn't often she was struck with stage fright, but she always hated giving bad news. But at this point in time, she preferred it to the possibility of seeing Mr. Octoling die before getting the chance to help him. "So, I checked with our technicians, and as it turns out something busted. I'm afraid we have to cancel the concert tonight." A resounding wave of boos and jeers came from the audience as she quickly held up her hands. "Wait, wait. Don't get too upset." Almost immediately the crowd quieted, much to her surprise. "We have a plan. We know you're all very disappointed, and while we can't give you all a refund, Marie and I have decided to make it up to you by playing a free show in the Plaza, come next Splatfest."

The mob was surprisingly still as Callie took a sharp breath, waiting for their reaction. Just as she thought they were going to riot, Marie took to the stage beside her. "And we'll wear kimonos!" She offered, causing the crowd to murmur. "Gah, fine you perverts. We'll wear bikinis. Happy?" With that, the crowd all began to cheer as her cousin pulled her to the side.

"I thought you were supposed to be taking care of Mr. Octoling." Callie hissed, but Marie just smiled at her.

"Already did. Besides, you seemed like you could use some help. You just have to know what the kids want these days." Waving to the crowd, the two girls quickly made their way to the Limo as everyone started to file out.

Slipping in the backseat, Callie gently placed a hand on the tarp that was wrapped around me. "Do you think he can breathe in there? He's probably having enough trouble as it is."

Her cousin draped an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, it'll be okay. It won't take long to get him back to Gramps. He'll know what to do, I'm sure of it." Just then, I began to cough as I struggled to unbind myself from the substance wrapped around me. "He's waking up."

"Mr. Octoling, just relax. We're taking you back to Gramps, but you mustn't strain yourself."

I could recognize the voices of Callie and Marie, but I couldn't see them for some reason. "H-how'd the concert g-go?" I asked weakly, not listening to her instructions.

"We had to cancel it." Marie informed me. "Ran out of power."

"Sorry." I wheezed, before turning my head and coughing violently into my canvas prison. "I didn't expect it to drain me...so quickly." My coughing was calmed by the feeling of someone's hand resting on mine through what my body now realized was a tarp. "Where am I?"

"In the limo, we're getting you help." Callie repeated, her cousin already able to see the pain welling up in her eyes.

"I appreciate the concern, but I'll be alright. I just need to take it easy for a bit."

Marie leaned closer to Callie with a frown. "I don't think he knows. As much as I'd usually jump on the opportunity to blame him for it, he doesn't know."

"Mr. Octoling, you've contracted Ich."

"What?" I groaned. "That's not possible."

"It must have happened when the fan jumped us in the car." Marie muttered. "Maybe it took a little longer to manifest since your body is adapted to underground environments."

"N-no hospitals." I muttered, trying to sit up, but immediately weight was pressed on me to keep me down, driving me to another coughing fit. When I'd relaxed, the weight left me.

"You're right." Callie agreed. "No hospitals. That's why we're taking you to Gramps. He'll know what to do."

As the car came to a halt, I could feel the two of them dragging me out as the limo sped off into the night. Already, the door to the shack opened and the old man watched the two girls struggling with the tarp. "What are you two doing?" He asked as with another grunt the Squid Sisters dragged me further towards the shack.

"Gramps, we have an emergency!" Callie explained. "Mr. Octoling caught Ich. We couldn't bring him to the hospital."

"Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! You brought him here? Oh my, oh my. Alright step aside girls, let me take him off your hands." He grabbed on to the tarp and with surprising strength for his age, he managed to drag me inside, albeit not so gently. Turning back to the girls he nodded towards the door. "Now you two girls go home, okay? I know you're worried, but it's better you not be here when I do this."

Marie nodded in understanding, pulling the reluctant Callie after her. I could hear her consoling her cousin, just before the door shut. Cap'n Cuttlefish began unwinding the tarp before I had to shield my eyes from the light. "What are you doing? Aren't you worried you're going to get infected?"

"Nonsense!" He chuckled. "I contracted Ich way back when in the great Squid Wars. I managed to survive it, mind you. Once you've had it, it never comes back. Well for us Inklings that is."

I could hear him rustling around in his kitchen as I weakly laid my head down. "What does that mean?" I asked, just as he appeared over me once again.

"It means, we'll have to do something extra special for you, young man." I barely had time to register the crabhammer in his hand before it sent my vision back into darkness with a heavy thud. Cap'n Cuttlefish sighed to himself tossing aside the hammer and retreating back to his kitchen once he was sure I was unconscious. "I hate to do this to you soldier, but I'm afraid I don't have much choice." Turning back around, he approached closer, the gleam of the metallic kitchen knife reflecting throughout the shack.

To be continued...