Splatoon: Number's Game
Chapter 7
"Hello?" A sleepy voice answered on the other end of Alex's phone call.
"Hey, Evan! You got anything going on today?" Alex asked curiously.
"Mmph… No, not really. Just unpacking. Why?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot that you moved recently. Well, okay, so listen, you're a pretty tasteful guy when it comes to things relating to fashion and appearance, yeah?" Alex asked.
"Uhuh, yeah? Go on."
"Well, you see, I got a girl over here who is in need of a wardrobe expansion. I could use some help picking out some proper gear for her." Alex explained.
"Oh," Evan said, his voice picking up some. "So you're going clothes shopping for your girl, huh? That's cool. I don't mind helping out." He answered.
"Heheh, no, she isn't my girl. She's just a girl I'm helping out. Can we meet in Inkopolis Square around…say noon?"
"Sure, Alex, we can meet there. I'll help you out in exchange for lunch." Evan replied teasingly.
"Haha, alright, sure. Why not? See you around, bud. Thanks again!" Alex said before hanging up the phone...
Evan entered into Inkopolis Square around noon as Alex had requested wearing a white sweatshirt and shorts. He found Alex sitting by himself at one of the metal tables sifting through his phone.
"Hey, bro. Where's the girl at?" Evan laughed, coming over and linking hands with Alex. Alex chuckled.
"Hello to you too, buddy. Our girl is picking up lunch at Crusty Sean's. Her name is 8, by the way." Alex informed him. Evan looked through the line of inklings at the food truck across the square.
"Which one?" Evan asked.
"Uh… Oh, she's the octoling at the front of the line." Alex pointed 8 out. Evan looked at the octoling at the front. His eyes widened at the beautiful appearance of this octoling wearing black gear and a skirt.
"Dude… You said she wasn't your girl, right?" Evan asked quickly.
"Heheh, no she is not." Alex chuckled as 8 made her way back to the table carrying a tray with everyone's plates and drinks on it. She set it down and sat down with them.
"Hey, 8. This is my friend Evan that I told you about. He will be helping us figure your wardrobe out." Alex introduced the two of them. 8 looked at Evan, smiling and nodding politely to greet him.
"Um, hey, nice to meet you. Your name's 8, huh? That's- That's you, uh, I mean, cool. That's really a cool name. You. Yeah." Evan said nervously. 8 just smiled again...
"So, 8, what's your aim like?" Evan asked as the three of them entered Sheldon's weapon shop: Ammo Knights. 8 looked at him in confusion.
"She's a good shot. She went on a Salmon Run with me once and she hit just about everything she shot at." Alex said, vouching for her.
"Yeah, well, Alex, just hitting your target doesn't make you a good shot." Evan pointed out.
"But…it does…?" Alex said slowly.
"Nah nah, it's all about feeling the shot out. Hey, Sheldon." Evan greeted Sheldon as they approached the front counter now.
"Hello, welcome to Ammo Knights! Good to see you, Evan! And you too, Alex! How're the sisters?" Sheldon asked.
"They're doing good, Sheldon. This is my friend, 8. 8 here needs a starter weapon for Turf Wars. She's never competed before, you see." Alex introduced.
"Ah, how exciting! Well then, what can I get you? Are you interested in single shots? Dualies? Snipers? Rollers? Inkbrushes? Buckets? Umbrellas?" Sheldon listed off in quick succession. 8 leaned back in confusion, feeling overwhelmed at all the choices.
"Hey, Shelly, come on now. You can't just bomb the poor girl with all the choices. Ease up." Evan quickly came to her defense.
"Right, right! Sorry. How about we start you off with a Splattershot Jr., and you can test whatever you like from there?" Sheldon suggested.
"Now we're talking. Let's go." Evan said, grabbing a Splattershot Jr. for 8 and leading the way into the practice range.
8 looked around curiously around curiously at the large metal warehouse-like space full of targets. Evan spun the gun around on his finger and turned towards 8, now assuming the role of instructor. Alex simply stepped to the side to watch this play out.
"Alright, 8, Alex says you're a good shot, and I believe that, but I'mma show you a little about form. Just watch and do as I do," Evan said, handing her gun to her. He then proceeded to pull out a set of Splat Dualies, but holstered one of them to demonstrate.
"You want to extend your arms out, but not fully. Keep them just a little bent for the recoil. Eye your target, and take the shot." Evan said, acting out each step with the proper form as he spoke. 8 did the same thing, shooting one of the targets dead center.
"I'm pretty sure she's got that." Alex commented with a chuckle.
"Yeahhh," Evan agreed. "Now you just gotta get the movement down. Check this out." Evan said, taking out both of his dualies and turning towards some of the targets in the room. He took in a breath and closed his eyes.
Evan shot a path of ink underneath a target on an elevated platform. He swam through it, popping up and shooting one target on the floor. He threw a sticky bomb under the target above and swam away. He popped up to shoot one more target, doing a few sideways dodge rolls as if the target was shooting back before getting splatted.
"Wooo, someone's been practicing!" Alex laughed. 8's eyes widened; she was impressed. She clapped her hands a few times approvingly.
8 stepped forward and approached Evan. She looked down at his dualies and pointed to them with a curious expression, looking at him again.
"You wanna try 'em out? Go ahead." Evan said, handing them both to her.
8 stepped towards where Evan had started before proceeding to demonstrate his skills. She took in a breath as well, surveying where each target was.
8 pointed a dualie at two different targets, spinning around and walking in a diagonal path. Once one was shot down, she swam towards the other one. She popped up and tossed a bomb at the final target before shooting the second one down. She swam back to Evan just as the bomb exploded, holding the dualies back out to him.
"Woah…" Evan said with widened eyes, becoming transfixed on her.
"Looks like we got a winner. I'll let Sheldon know to get a dualie set ready." Alex said with a chuckle...
Evan watched as Alex and 8 sifted through shelves of shoes for ones that she could wear for battles. He looked down a set of boots that he liked, shuddered at the hefty price tag, and put them down. He looked at them again sadly.
His move into a new apartment had taken its toll on him financially. Sure, now he had his own place and all of his stuff was soon to be set up, which would make for an awesome studio and entertainment center, but he hardly had money to buy anything aside from essentials.
Meanwhile, Alex seemed to be in a much more lucrative position, able to freely buy nice things for himself and for others with hardly a second thought. In fact, as 8 held up a pair of red and white sneakers that she liked, Alex simply took them and didn't even glance at the price tag. He wasn't worried at all about money.
"Hey, 8." Evan approached 8 privately once she had separated from Alex in the next store.
8 looked at Evan, turning her attention towards him.
"You wanna play a dope game? I think you'd like it." He offered.
8 thought for a moment then nodded with a smile.
"Come on." Evan smiled, gesturing for her to follow him. They made their way out of the store and across Inkopolis Square towards a dancing arcade game.
"Ever played this thing?" Evan asked.
8 shook her head.
"Well, I'll go easy on ya. I think you'll like it. Just gotta keep up with the arrows by stepping on them." Evan explained, leading 8 onto the dance pad.
8 looked down at the different arrow pads curiously. She tapped her foot on the different ones before stepping off. She sat down to take her heel boots off, and then stepped up onto the dance pad again barefoot.
"Alright, ready?" Evan asked, selecting the first song. 8 nodded her head.
8 did her best to follow along through the first song. Evan courteously gave her a slow song to allow her to accustom to the game. Once she had it figured out, Evan ramped up the difficulty for the next two songs, and soon they were both dancing intensely.
It was hard for Evan to focus on the game. He kept missing arrows because he was looking at 8 as she danced. She was fun to watch as she danced along with a grin. Before they knew it, Evan had run out of spare change.
"Man, you two were really grooving." Alex said with a laugh, giving them a round of applause as they stepped off the machine. Neither of them had realized that Alex had walked up behind them.
"Haha, you know I had to introduce 8 to my game. She's good too. Maybe pretty soon she'll be getting close to my…" Evan went silent as he looked on the screen of the game and saw that 8 had placed a new high score above his. She clapped her hands proudly.
"Oh… Well, I'll just have to reclaim my spot." Evan said with a smile.
"Haha, yeah. Well, while you two were dancing the night away, I went ahead and finished up." Alex said, gesturing to a row of bags that he had set down behind the dance machine while they were distracted. Evan whistled.
"Jeez man, you always know how to go overkill." He said teasingly.
"Haha, of course. Well, 8, just about all of this is for you. You can try it all on at 3's place and see what you like and what fits." Alex said.
8 looked at all the bags with widened eyes. It was hard to believe that everything they contained would belong to her. She hugged Alex appreciatively. He chuckled and hugged back.
"Yeah yeah, you're welcome," He said. "Well, we better get going. I gotta drop you off at 3's house before my Salmon Runs tonight." Alex said.
8 nodded her head in understanding. She turned back towards Evan and gave him a hug as well, which he was quick to return. She smiled at him before she helped Alex scoop up all their shopping bags.
"Thanks again for coming along, man! I'll see ya round!" Alex said to Evan as they began to leave.
"Yeah man, anytime. I'll let you know when my place is all put together. I'll have you both come by." He offered.
"Sounds good. Take care man." Alex said with a wave. 8 looked back at him and waved as well. Evan waved back with a sigh, watching them go…