Team

You're always so reckless!
You can't do everything alone, Callie.
You have classmates, teammates, friends
And family.
They're there to help.

Callie keeps her sunglasses collection in organized, clear cases that hang from the doors to her closet. She owns all the sunglasses that've been sold in Inkopolis since they arrived, of course, most with three or four different colors of frames. She has old pairs, ones she wore before she could shift between squid and kid, most of which don't fit her in either form anymore; the ones she wore on her trip home from the hospital are in a place of honor, right next to the ones she had on that day she and Marie sang at the folk festival and the ones she was wearing when they got an agent and the ones she had on when they got the news job. She even has doubles of several, most gifts thrown at her by fans that she tagged with the date and made a point to wear in public soon after they were given, so everyone'd know she was grateful. And then there are others that—

"Just pick a pair already!" Marie shouts from the door. "The stages change soon, and I wanna be there!"

Callie rolls her eyes and goes for a new favorite, a comfortably beat-up pair she found buried in the sand when they visited the beach last week. Marie heaves a sigh when Callie joins her. "They hide your face, it doesn't matter which one you take."

"Easy for you to say," she retorts, grabbing her keys and opening the door. "All your face masks are white. You should go for pink ones next time, oh! Or patterns!"

Marie rolls her eyes and passes Callie the roller, locks the apartment door behind them. "The idea isn't to draw attention."

"That doesn't mean you have to be dull!"

The two of them bicker and laugh at each other as they make their way on, arriving at Inkopolis Plaza just as their recording comes on to announce the stage change. Blackbelly Skatepark and Moray Towers.

Callie grins at Marie. "Ready to do this, Hotaru?"

Marie's eyes glint over her mask. "Ready, Aori."

The two of them hit the locker room, taking care to keep anyone else from touching their weapons. Sheldon's been working on them, and while the sub and special are still the default for the regular splat chargers and rollers (to keep anyone from getting suspicious) the weight and balance have been altered.

Which, of course, means they need testing out.

"Blue or orange?" Callie asks, as they join four people waiting for a full lobby.

Marie shrugs. "Blue's got one player to Orange's three. Let's stick together."

Also, though the inkling doesn't appear to recognize them, Callie does. It's nice to see Agent 3 having some fun.

The superjump pads gleam when they've got a full group. Callie woops and jumps in first, and the four of them speed over to—to blackbelly! Roller's paradise.

She gets into her first 1v2 in under 30 seconds, ducking and weaving and trying that fancy new flick Sheldon's been working on, when one of her opponents gets splatted. Callie takes care of the other and looks back to see Marie covering her. She grins and gives an overhead wave, which Marie returns.

Together, they can take on anything.

Author's Notes

In a week or two, there'll be a week with only one update between both stories. I want some specific chapters to fall on the same week (I may even post a chapter from each one on the same day) so that's why.

Other news: I'm... I hate admitting this. I'm having some problems financially, and am trying to pick up extra hours at work. Even if I don't, I will be fine, in an instant-ramen-meal sort of way, but this is me swallowing my pride and asking for some help, sort of: I've set up a . ww m/EikaPrime , without the random spaces. I don't have much to offer people I'm not already offering, but I've mentioned before-here and elsewhere-that one of my goals for fanfiction is to always have a healthy buffer, have extra stuff written beyond what I'm posting. The $9-a-month tier will let you read things 2 weeks early. Right now, I've got all of the next 2 week's chapters up for my Splatoon and Sly Cooper fanfics, and have scheduled future posts for all current fics for 5 PM EDT on June 6th and June 13. (Sly fans, I have about 15 chapters/weeks that need to be edited and titled and formatted, that haven't been scheduled. Splatoon peeps, at an average of 2 updates a week for those two fics, I have about 4 weeks written but they need editing and titles and opening italicy things. There'll be more updates.) Whether I get any s or not, any money or not, I will continue updating these things for free. I promise.