Bonnie's PoV
In Inkopolis Square, it was a party. Of course, this was expected during a Splatfest. The theme this time around was Vampire vs. Werewolf, and Bonnie was on Team Vampire. She even decked out in a pair of false fangs that stuck out of her mouth. They were uncomfortable, but considering that Halloween was approaching, it was festive. It even garnered a few chuckles from her friends.
"Where'd ya buy those?" Perry asked. "Maybe I should buy a pair for myself."
"But you're on Team Werewolf," Octavia pointed out. She was on Team Vampire, too.
"Hey! Werewolves have fangs too!" the purple-eyed inkling snapped.
"Well…" The fake fangs had given the inkling with a double bun somewhat of a lisp. "I bought 'em from a costume store… Flatflage, I think?"
"I've been to a Flatflage store," Roy grumbled. He was on Team Vampire. "The manager of that one was very mean."
"What happened?" Inigo asked. He was on Pearl's team, too.
"Roy and I were going to buy a costume for my little sister," Yuri piped in. He was on Team Werewolf, like Perry. "She wanted a princess costume, so we found a princess costume."
"Before ya continue, Yuri," the pale-skinned inkling chimed in. "Which sister was it for? The twelve-year old or the twin?"
"The twin," he clarified.
"Alright, alright." Perry leaned back in his chair. "Go on with the story."
"Alright, so, the manager, who was just walking around, walked up to us and just…" The tanned inkling did a swiping motion. "Bam! He ripped the costume out of Yuri's hands and told us we're not little girls!"
"I tried telling him it was for my sister, but he wouldn't listen," the dark-skinned inkling added.
"That's horrible!" Bonnie gasped. I'm glad I never encountered anything like that at Flatflage!
"Your sister did get a costume in the end, right?" Via asked. "I would hate coming home without one."
"Oh, yeah," the spiky-haired inkling reassured. "We just went to another store."
"I'm still mad about it," Roy growled. "Even though it's been a week since then."
"Well, the past is the past," Yuri said. "We can just forget about it and move on."
"Right…" Inigo muttered, giving a small smile. "Anyways, shall we go to Deca Tower?"
"Before we go…" Octavia heaved an orange bag up on the table and opened it to reveal several skull bandanas. "I bought these for us to wear."
"You only bought six, right?" the red-eyed inkling asked. "Because I'm already wearing one."
"Don't worry, Roy. I made sure of it." The wavy-haired inkling put on one of the bandanas, and then the other inklings at the table took one. Afterwards, Via showed him the inside of the bag. "See? It's empty."
"Good," he grumbled.
Bonnie took off her glasses, and suddenly, everything became blurry. She popped the false fangs out of her mouth and put on the skull bandana. She wished she brought her contacts now, as poor eyesight would not help her much with aiming her Classic Squiffer. To be fair, Via's reveal of the skull bandanas was sudden, so she had no time to prepare.
"It's weird to not have a hat on," Perry commented as he set his king flip mesh down on the table.
"It's weird to have anything on my head," Inigo added.
"Well, you have a ponytail," the inkling with spiked bangs pointed out. "I don't."
"…True," he admitted.
"Anyways, ready to have some spooky matches?" Alexis asked, standing up from her chair. She would be joining Yuri and Perry on Team Werewolf. "I bet this Shifty Station is extra fresh!"
"I think all the Shifty Stations are fresh," commented Bon-Bon. "But I still like the normal stages, too."
"Kelp Dome is especially pretty in the nighttime, don't you think?" Inigo added.
"There's a lot of plants in there, that's for sure," the wavy-haired inkling then grumbled. "When the Squid Sisters still did Splatfests, I got lost in there once. It was a nightmare!"
"You still think about that?" Roy exasperated. "It's been two years since then!"
"Hey, it was a bad day for me!" Octavia protested.
The inkling with the double bun couldn't help but give a small chuckle. During the Cats vs. Dogs Splatfest, everyone was very enthusiastic to explore the new nighttime stages. Unfortunately, when Via decided to explore Kelp Dome by herself, she got lost. By the time everyone noticed, a few inklings went into the dome to search for her. She was later found wandering into the middle of another match, and she was quickly escorted out of it. Nowadays, everyone just laughed about it, but Via was still bitter about the experience.
"Anyways, isn't Kelp Dome a stage you can play on right now?" Bonnie then asked.
"It is," Inigo confirmed. "That's why I mentioned it."
"Man, it makes me want to play a match already," Yuri effused. "Seriously, we really should!"
"Right," the inkling with his hair swept to the side agreed. "Why waste our time talking when we can get out there and kick Werewolf butt?"
"…You do realize three of us are on Team Werewolf, right?" Alexis pointed out.
"…Oh yeah." The tan-skinned inkling scratched his head. "I forgot that."
"Anyways…" Perry got up from his chair and started walking to the Deca Tower, twirling his hat around his finger. "Let's go, shall we!"
"Yeah!" The rest of the Rainbow Squids soon followed him into the tower, where it was crowded, like everyone expected. The inklings slipped their way through the mass of inklings towards the interface where they would open the storage room their weapons were in. Roy opened the room, causing the panel to slide open. They rushed downstairs, grabbed their weapons, and returned to the ground floor, where they would search for the elevator that would lead them to a stage.
"Okay, Via, Bon-Bon, Inigo, and I will go into that elevator," the red-eyed inkling decided, pointing to one of the free ones. "So, Yuri, Perry, and Alexis will go into another one."
"Well, duh," the wavy-haired inkling said. "How else would we do it?"
No one said anything in response, so everyone just shrugged and started walking towards the elevators. The inklings on Team Vampire crowded into one of the elevators, where a group of inklings wearing orange t-shirts with a werewolf on it awaited them. All of them were male with fair skin and green eyes, sporting a hairstyle where their hair was slicked back. They also all wielded the Splattershot and wore canary trainers on their feet. The only way to distinguish them from one another was their hats.
"They all look the same," Bon-Bon whispered to Octavia.
"I know," she responded softly. "Not much we can do about it."
The elevator door closed shut, and it started to descend. Quickly, the grate under them opened, and everyone slipped into their squid form to head to the next match. A few moments, later, Bonnie spawned on top of a circular platform, with a glass dome stretching above them. Kelp Dome, she realized. We were just talking about it; what a coincidence!
Soon, her teammates launched off the spawn point and started covering the area around them with purple ink. Bonnie started firing her squiffer rapidly, allowing her to ink the surrounding area faster. While Inigo and Via took the left walkway, Roy took the right one. The inkling with the double bun figured she might as well follow him; he might need someone with long range to back him up. She ran after him, inking the surrounding area as much as she could.
"Hey, Bon-Bon," the red-eyed inkling greeted. "You sure you don't wanna follow the others? I can hold my own just fine." He inked a ramp leading to another section of the stage before jumping from it.
Slipping into her squid form momentarily, the beige-skinned girl joined him over the glass containers. "Thought you might need some range," she replied.
"…I guess," Roy agreed. "Just stay behind me, OK?"
"OK." As the two inklings advanced, more and more orange ink quickly came into range. It was clear the other team was trying to control the middle of the stage before the Rainbow Squids could. Suddenly, a boy with a backwards cap emerged from the ink, shooting ink from his Splattershot at them. An inkling with a Firefin facemask soon joined him. There's two of them! Bonnie threw a point sensor at the two inklings, causing a purple arrow to start swirling around them. Via, Inigo, please come quickly…
Bon-Bon started charging up her charger, aiming at them. She wasn't sure which one to hit just yet, but she knew she had to decide quickly. Roy fired his Luna Blaster right in the face of the boy with the Firefin facemask, instantly splatting him. Smiling, she aimed her Classic Squiffer at the other boy and fired. He splatted as well.
"Booyah! Two are down!" the inkling with hair swept to the side cheered.
Soon, Inigo ran into view, panting. "What happened?" he asked.
"Two of the squids attacked us," Bon-Bon explained.
"But we took them down!" Roy finished.
"Why'd you throw the point sensor, then?" the indigo-eyed inkling asked.
"Just in case they overwhelmed us," she replied.
"Well, it's glad you took them down," he said. "Tracking doesn't last forever, y'know."
"Yeah, I know," the inkling with the double bun pointed out. "But, the Carbon Roller and the Octobrush are both f-"
Before she could finish her sentence, another inkling with a Splattershot emerged from orange ink and splatted Inigo, catching the others off guard. This one wore studio headphones, much like Yuri. Growling, Roy rushed up to him, but the newcomer was quick, and he launched a burst bomb at him before finishing him off with the shooter weapon. Bonnie gasped, stepping back as she charged up her weapon. Looking around, she noticed that orange ink started to surround her, and another inkling splatted her before she could fire her shot at the inkling with the headphones.
When she respawned, she heard Roy yell, "Darn it!" before diving back into the ink himself. Looking around, things were grim. The purple area was shrinking, being replaced with orange. Bon-Bon fell her jaw drop. How could a team of just Splattershots cover so much turf in so little time?!
"Just who are you, anyways?" she heard Via ask. Bonnie swam over to her to check things out. Octavia was standing on the edge of a ramp, looking down upon the inkling wearing the headphones and the inkling wearing the backwards cap.
"We're the Splatteruplets," replied the inkling with the headphones. "Evan, Kevin, Devin, and me—Seven!"
"I guess your parents ran out of ideas," the wavy-haired inkling remarked. "Seriously, who names their kid Seven?" she then whispered to Bonnie, who just shrugged in response.
"Hey! Seven's the freshest brother in the world!" the inkling with the backwards cap defended. "He's the best Splattershot main around, and he knows all the latest trends, too!"
"Wouldn't it hurt to at least get different hairstyles?" Bon-Bon queried, hostility edging her voice. In the meantime, she charged up her Classic Squiffer. Maybe I can catch them off-guard.
"What? No!" the inkling next to Seven cried. "The Slick hairstyle is the freshest there is!" Once he finished his sentence, the blue-eyed inkling released the trigger, sending a beam of purple ink right through the inkling with the headphone's chest, instantly splatting him. The inkling left standing gasped and snapped, "How dare you!" He threw a burst bomb at them, though both girls swam away before it could land.
The two jumped down to the ground and swung around the bend, where the inkling with the backwards cap awaited them. Via ran up to him and started swinging her Octobrush Nouveau, quickly splatting him. Gesturing for Bonnie to follow, the wavy-haired inkling put the bristles down to the ground and started running, leaving a trail for her friend. The beige-skinned inkling slipped into the ink and swam to the middle area, which had been covered in orange ink since they had been splatted. On the top of the center platform was an inkling wearing a tennis headband. Once his green eyes spotted the inklings, he aimed the Splattershot at them.
"So, you splatted Seven and Kevin?" he gibed. "How? Did you dance, so they decided to splat from embarrassment?"
"Hey, I'm a good dancer!" Octavia protested. "I took ballet classes as a kid!"
"So did I," Bonnie added, "but I'm still not a good dancer."
"Well, you'll have to dance if you want to splat me." The boy with the headband shot a few bullets of ink into the air before rushing towards them. He leaped into the air, a glowing orange circle appearing around him and the girls.
"Splashdown!" Via cried. "Run!"
Slipping into her squid form, the blue-eyed inkling barely managed to escape the ink splash spawned from the Splashdown. However, some of it still managed to get on her, but she ignored it as she threw a point sensor at her attacker. Noticing the swirling black arrow, he growled and started running towards her again. Gasping, Bonnie dove into her ink and swam away towards the Rainbow Squids' spawn point. The inkling with the headband continued to chase her, covering the area in orange ink in the process. Once she was far away enough, she started charging up her squiffer. When it was full, she shot out the ink beam, but he jumped over it, the shot narrowly missing him.
Soon, a wave of ink crashed down in front of her, though the other inkling swam back towards the middle, causing it to miss. Looking beside her, she saw Inigo and his Carbon Roller, though he frowned when he realized it missed.
"Inigo!" the inkling with the double bun exclaimed upon his arrival.
"Hey," he greeted, standing up after kneeling. Orange ink started to push its way back into their side of the map, the boy with the headband reappearing. This time, he was joined by the boy with the Firefin facemask. "I splatted again, but now that I've respawned, I figured I should go help you."
"Thanks," Bonnie started, "but now's the time to fight." The two brothers had inked a circle around Bonnie and Inigo, trapping them.
"And there's no way you can escape," commented the boy with the facemask. "You're trapped."
"Not if we get one of you first," the inkling with the ponytail teased, attacking the other inkling with a vertical swing. The boy with the headband stepped out of the way and started shooting at his opponents. At the same time, the blue-eyed inkling shot a charged shot at the boy with the facemask, though he dodged the shot as well.
"You're gonna have to be faster than that," the boy with the headband sneered. "Too slow, aren't ya?" He threw a burst bomb at the two squids, and they leaped out of the way, causing the bomb to land at his brother's feet instead. The two quickly inked a spot where they could stand, and they readied their weapons again.
"Are you faster than this?" Inigo threw an autobomb at the ground. It stood there for a moment before it started to waddle on over to the inkling with the headband.
"Agh!" He took a few steps back before looking over at the boy with the facemask. "Devin! Do something!" He opened his mouth to respond before a purple beam pierced through him, splatting him. The autobomb stopped moving and started to expand, causing the remaining inkling, presumably Evan, to scramble away. The resulting explosion got some purple ink on his back.
"I'll go after him, Bon-Bon," the fair-skinned inkling announced. "Stay here!"
"Will do." She watched as her friend put the roller down, pushing it along to create a trail of ink. With that, she covered up the orange ink with purple ink and turned around to see the other side of the area. Seeing it was purple, she decided to swim until she came across orange territory again. She reemerged from the ink on the top of the ramp she followed at the beginning of the match, seeing that the area was now covered in orange. She started shooting her squiffer to cover it back up.
A few seconds later, however, a whistle blew, marking the end of the game. Sighing, she sat down with legs crossed, looking at the turf her team managed to cover. We lost for sure, she concluded. Now, all she had to do was to wait for Judd and Li'l Judd to arrive.
Some time later, the two cats did. They were positioned on top of the glass domes near where Bonnie was sitting. Moments later, they did a little dance before Li'l Judd struck out an orange flag, causing Judd to fall on his belly. I knew it. The beige-skinned inkling stood up, and then she prepared to super jump back to the tower, soon launching into the sky.
The inklings arrived at the room displaying their results. The Rainbow Squids could only get as far as inking the entire walkway leading to the center of the map. The rest of it was covered in orange ink, as expected. Still, Bonnie had a frown on her face as she watched the Splatuplets celebrate.
"We won!" Kevin cheered. "Team Werewolf is gonna win for sure!" This only earned glares from the opposing team. None of the brothers commented on the matter.
"Well, it's only the first match," Inigo tried to assure his friends. "Maybe we'll win the next one?"
"And if we're lucky, Team Vampire will win the entire Splatfest," Bonnie added.
Roy gave a slight grumble before saying, "That defeat was still humiliating…"
"Well, we're done with you," Seven suddenly piped in, walking towards the exit of the room. "C'mon, boys, let's find someone else to beat."
"Yeah!" the other three inklings cheered, and they promptly left the room.
Seeing the other team's departure, everyone slumped onto the ground, awaiting their next challengers.
"Let's try to win the next one, then," Octavia chimed in. "I'm not letting that leave a black mark on me." Everyone else murmured in agreement. Hopefully, they would charge into the next battle with renewed courage.
We're not gonna be pushed down this time!
A/N: Though the Final Splatfest has passed, at least past ones can be embodied through the Splatfest chapters! Speaking of the Final Splatfest, my plan is to end this story once we get there... which won't be for a few more years. So, you still have plenty of content to enjoy before we get there! Regardless, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and Branchwing, out!