Mr. Grizz's dialogue is taken from Splatoon 2.
Yuri's PoV
Sighing, Yuri plopped onto his bed, twirling a new backwards cap around his finger. He took off his headphones and set it on his nightstand. After celebrating his birthday, he felt absolutely exhausted. He thought about going to sleep when suddenly, his phone chimed. The dark-skinned inkling picked it up to see a message from Bonnie, asking him if he wanted to do a Salmon Run on this November night.
I didn't even know it was open! He sent her a message replying yes, and he lifted himself off his bed and put on the backwards cap. As quietly as he could, he walked down the stairs and left his house, jumping into the car and driving off towards Grizzco Industries. When he parked, he immediately saw the inkling with the double bun, leaning against the wall next to the entrance and texting on her phone. The dim lights illuminated her head
"Bonnie!" Yuri called. The beige-skinned inkling snapped up from her phone and looked over at her approaching friend. She smiled and waved. "Ready for the Salmon Run?"
"Of course. I've been waiting for a while." Bonnie looked up at the sky. "It's getting pretty late. We should hurry."
"Right, right." The two inklings walked into the building and were met with the site of the familiar bear statue. Mr. Grizz said his normal greeting, followed by the spiky-haired inkling asking, "Can you send us on a shift?" An elevator soon popped up, and the two walked into it. It descended as the two stood in stifling darkness, and soon the floor of the elevated hissed open, revealing the grate. Yuri and Bonnie slipped into it, and soon, they were on a boat.
On it were two inklings, already in uniforms. One was a fair-skinned inkling with green, slicked-back hair and matching green eyes. Though he previously had a smirk on his face, he frowned upon seeing their arrival. The other inkling was familiar, having beige skin and purple eyes. Long hair the color of the ocean draped over her shoulders. Within an instant, he recognized her as the girl that wielded the Splat Dualies from the Flight vs. Invisibility Splatfest. Upon seeing Yuri, she turned her attention from her nails to the dark-skinned inkling and scoffed.
"Oh, splatling boy," she greeted coldly. "It's you."
"My name's Yuri," he corrected.
"Whatever." She resumed her attention to her nails.
"You know her?" Bonnie whispered to her friend.
"I battled against her once." He didn't feel like elaborating.
"Funny you say that," she noted. "I battled against that guy there during the last Splatfest," she then added, pointing to the green-haired inkling. Turning to him, the inkling with the double bun asked, "…Which one are you?"
"Devin," he replied. "Seven doesn't like Salmon Runs, so I sneak out in the middle of the night to do these."
"Mask guy. Alright..." Bonnie muttered.
"Are you part of a team?" Yuri then asked to the boy, who appeared younger than them. It was logical to assume so.
"Yeah, the Splatteruplets," he confirmed. "Y'know, because we're quadruplets… and we all use the Splattershot."
"Can you two just get dressed," the girl demanded. "We'll be there soon."
"Geez, alright," Yuri stated, annoyed. He and Bonnie did not say another word, not even to each other as they took the uniforms hanging on the clothesline and walked below deck towards the changing room. As Yuri dug through his pockets to take out his possessions for storage, he found something unexpected within them. Huh?
In the palm of his hand was a small coin made of bronze. In the middle of it was a hole, complete with a language he did not recognize engraved on its surface. It did not take him long to remember how he got it. When his siblings got home from school today, he decided to go play with them outside. As fate would have it, he dug up the coin and decided to keep it. Apparently, it did not take long for him to forget about it. He smiled and plopped the coin into the box laid out for him to put his stuff in.
Soon, Yuri arrived back on deck, with the other two inklings talking to each other. Devin appeared to be flustered, covering his mouth.
"For the last time, I'm not telling you how I got that!" he hissed at the purple-eyed inkling.
"…Got what?" Yuri interrupted, curious.
"He has this scar on his lip," the girl replied. "I just want to know where he got it from."
"C'mon!" Devin cried. He turned his back to them. "I'm not gonna even talk to you."
The spiky-haired inkling decided not to elaborate on the matter, respecting the boy's wishes. The girl, on the other hand, continued to prod him about his supposed scar, with him turning away each time. At one point, the yellow-eyed inkling caught a glance of a small line running through the fair-skinned inkling's lip. Curiosity started to egg its way into Yuri, though he didn't want to anger Devin any further.
Some time later, Bonnie arrived above deck and shouted, "What's going on here?"
The three inklings looked at her, and conversations ceased. The dark-skinned inkling gulped. Things were about to get serious.
"Uh… nothing!" the fair-skinned inkling lied. "Nothing at all!" He threw his hands out hysterically.
"Don't be silly," the purple-eyed girl snapped, pulling on Devin's ear. "You never answered my question."
"O-o-ow… You were harassing me about it!" he cried, gritting his teeth in pain.
"Knock it off, you two," Bonnie demanded. "We need to work together if we want to this Salmon Run to be successful."
"It's her fault!" the green-eyed inkling blamed, pointing at the other beige-skinned girl. He groaned. "This is gonna be the worst, I just know it."
"Can't we all be friends?" Yuri tried to compromise.
"No, we can't," the long-haired inkling replied bluntly. "Not everyone gets along."
"At least try to work together. Just this one time. Please…? For my birthday?" he begged.
"Wait, it's your birthday?" she realized, bewildered.
"Yeah, I'm 17 now."
"17?!" Devin exclaimed. "That's so old!"
"It's not that old…" the inkling with the double bun murmured, putting a hand on her arm.
"Happy birthday, but it doesn't mean I'll be nice to you now," the purple-eyed girl warned.
Yuri looked over the deck, seeing the sky shift into a sunset. In the distance was an artificial island of some sort, with docks sprawling off of the central building. It was the Lost Outpost, and since it was abandoned, it was the perfect place for salmonids to gather. He tipped his hat and smiled.
"Ready?" he asked.
"We're already there?" the green-haired inkling asked. Everyone around him nodded. Without much question, they all changed their ink colors to hot pink. A few moments later, everyone launched away from the boat, towards the inside of the central building.
When Yuri reemerged from the puddle of ink present on the spawn point, he found himself holding a Jet Squelcher. I guess this will do. He started to fire it, covering the area inside the building. Devin and the girl with purple eyes started covering the area outside the building.
"The egg basket is ready and waiting," Mr. Grizz's voice echoed as an egg basket shot up through a ramp that was up against a wall. "Now go get me some golden eggs!"
A few seconds later, a foghorn sounded, followed by a scream. Running to the source, he learned two things. One, the tide was high. Two, and more importantly, the purple-eyed inkling had been swallowed by the waves, and now she washed up shore in a lifesaver. He quickly revived her, where she simply let out a huff in response. To their dismay, something tall began emerging from the water. The girl was knocked over as pots slammed into her, with Yuri pulling her out before she could splat again.
"Stupid Stinger…" she grumbled, holding down the trigger of the Mini Splatling she was holding. She rose to her feet, and a moment later, she let go of it, letting a fast stream of ink shoot towards the boss salmonid. Yuri started shooting at it to help her, and before it could shoot a beam of green ink, it exploded into three golden eggs.
"Over here!" the dark-skinned inkling called, snatching one of the golden eggs. As he pushed his way through the crowd of lesser salmonids, he and the girl managed to drop the ones they collected into the egg basket. However, as they tried going back to collect the third egg, a Scrapper appeared, blocking the exit. Some of the ink from the exhaust pipes squirted onto them, covering their uniforms in the harmful green goop.
As they shot it in order to break down its shield, footsteps started coming closer and closer, and Yuri whipped his head around to see who the newcomer was. Bristles down on the floor, Bonnie was wielding an Octobrush, and now she bolted towards them. She threw a golden egg into the basket and swung around the now-stunned Scrapper, flicking pink ink at its tail. It did not take long for the boss salmonid to splat, leaving behind more eggs for the group to collect.
Though Yuri picked up one of the golden eggs the Scrapper left behind, he peaked out of the doorway to look for the last golden egg from the Stinger. Near the edge of the water was a Snatcher, waddling towards safety as it carried something shiny. He pressed the trigger on his Jet Squelcher in an attempt to splat it, but it dove into the water before the bullets could reach it. Though he was a little disappointed that they were unable to get the final egg, another opportunity rose as a Drizzler leaped out of the water.
"Where's Devin?" Bonnie asked suddenly as the Drizzler landed.
It shot a green missile into the air, which the purple-eyed inkling started shooting as she replied, "I don't know."
"Should we look for him?" Yuri asked as he fired his Jet Squelcher at the overturned Drizzler. Though the torpedo did not end up firing back towards it, he managed to get a sustainable amount of damage on it before it hid itself under the umbrella again.
"I'm here…" moaned a voice. Turning around, the dark-skinned inkling saw a lifesaver inching towards them, a pink ghost bobbing within it. Barreling past him was a Steel Eel, facing them as it snapped its metal jaws. "That got me over there."
"Oh, for cod's sake." The purple-eyed girl pulled out a bomb and threw it towards him. Devin huddled towards it as it exploded, reviving him so he could join the fray. Immediately he swam towards the driver of the Steel Eel, shooting at it with the slow, yet powerful bullets the .96 Gal produced. The boss salmonid's machine soon collapsed, leaving behind some golden eggs at the end of it.
"Booyah!" the inkling with slicked-back hair cheered. He started tossing the eggs into the basket as the Drizzler flew overhead. Once it landed once more, it fired another missile into the sky. Before anyone could shoot it down, it exploded into a green cloud, raining down enemy ink.
"Quick! Splat it!" Bonnie demanded, running towards the squirming salmonid. Weapons started firing at the boss salmonid, and soon it splatted, leaving behind three golden eggs. The victory was short-lived as a green bomb landed next to them, starting to glow as it expanded. "…And now we run!"
Everyone leaped out of the way of the bomb, with Yuri landing on the ground on his belly. The explosion hit him directly in the back, the ink burning as he then submerged into the ink to heal. Some Smallfries started racing towards him, so he quickly reemerged to throw a bomb at the ground before hiding again. It exploded, ridding the area of Smallfries. Now, as he transformed back once more fully healed, he looked straight towards the front entrance. A Steelhead stood in the doorway, towering over the inklings as it charged up its bomb once more.
Another bomb was unleashed from the Steelhead, dotted with pink ink from the few shots the team managed to land. It launched in Yuri's direction, so before it could explode, he jumped out the open window towards the thin strip of land situated outside the building. Some Chums and Cohocks started lumbering to him upon his arrival, but Yuri simply started to fire his Jet Squelcher, hoping to eventually push through them.
As the dark-skinned inkling walked back to the central building entrance, he heard whirring overhead, followed by a more distant explosion. He stopped firing to look up at the Flyfish that had just arrived, hovering around for a little bit before opening its launchers to fire. He saw its bulging eyes glance down towards him, and a few seconds later, a green target marking him circled his feet. Carp!
The spiky-haired boy threw a bomb at the salmonids' feet and swam past them in attempt to avoid the missiles. However, as soon as he stepped into the central building, green glowing rings started hovering around him. As he heard the missiles come closer and closer, he used the last of his ink to throw a bomb towards the ground, allowing the Maws that lunged into the air to eat both him and the bomb. He screamed as the boss salmonid devoured him, though not long after it exploded into pink ink from the bomb it swallowed.
"Got splatted, huh?" he heard the purple-eyed inkling jest as he respawned. She was giggling, though a Scrapper quickly ran her over, splatting her as well. At this point, Yuri started to get nervous. The Flyfish was still out there, and now there was a Scrapper and a Steel Eel swarming the building. His eyes drifted up to a familiar figure floating into the air, a launcher in hand.
"Hold still!" Bonnie called as she piloted the Inkjet. She pulled the trigger, and a blob of pink ink sped towards him, reviving him on impact. That bullet was followed by another one, this time aimed towards the purple-eyed inkling's lifesaver. Almost immediately after she was revived, she began charging up the Mini Splatling.
"Take out the Steel Eel," Yuri advised. "That'll make things a lot easier."
"Don't you talk to me!" she snapped. She started firing at the Scrapper.
"Bu-"
"We need to survive, not golden eggs."
"Taking out the bosses would help us survive," the inkling with the double bun pointed out as she flew back to where she activated the Inkjet. The long-haired girl simply ignored her, continuing to fire at the Scrapper until its shield broke down. From there, she whipped around it to take it down. Quickly she did, as it exploded a few seconds later.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yuri saw someone leap into the air, ink swirling around his fist. It was Devin, preparing a Splashdown as the Steel Eel and other lesser salmonids cornered him. He crashed to the ground in a vortex of ink, splatting all the salmonids around him. With that, everyone rushed to grab the golden eggs the boss salmonid left behind, and as they put them into the egg basket, more missiles came crashing down on the team. Bonnie received a direct hit from one, splatting her. The others were hurt as well, but they were now simply stuck in the ink.
"Oh no…!" the inkling with fair skin gasped. Suddenly, another round of missiles came crashing down on them, splatting them all.
"Ooh, crew wipe," Mr. Grizz commented over the radio. Once all four inklings respawned as lifesavers, they all super-jumped back to the boat in which they arrived on. "Let's see how many golden eggs ya got. 17? Not terrible."
"Not terrible?!" Devin cried as soon as they revived. "That is terrible!"
"Don't fret, Dev. At least we met the quota for this round," Yuri tried to reassure him.
"I dunno, we didn't get through the rest of the rounds," the girl with purple eyes pointed out.
"True," the dark-skinned inkling agreed, "but it's the fun that counts, right?"
"Right," Bonnie chimed, pumping a fist.
"No, it's the money that counts," the green-eyed inkling grumbled. "We won't get paid if we keep losing."
"Why not try another one, then?" Yuri suggested.
"It won't work out, not with her here at least." Scowling, he pointed at the long-haired inkling.
"What's wrong with me?!" she cried.
"You're selfish and intrusive!"
"Well, you're stubborn and incompetent!"
"What?! Am not!"
"Oh, yes you are!"
The two inklings continued arguing while Yuri and Bonnie hung to the wall, awkwardly watching them in silence. He sighed. Perhaps they should find another crew to work with. He inched towards the door leading below deck, his fingers wrapped around the handle.
"You leaving?" the blue-eyed inkling whispered to her friend. He nodded. "Mind if I come with you?"
"Oh, not at all," he replied. "I'd hate to leave you here with these guys, after all."
"Aw, thanks." Bonnie smiled.
"Oh! Can I show you something?"
"What?"
"You'll see." Yuri opened the door and stepped inside. "C'mon!"
Bonnie nodded, and she followed the dark-skinned inkling inside. Racing down to the storage room, the spiky-haired inkling excitedly pulled out the box that contained his belongings. Opening it, he saw the coin he had found, laying right next to his phone. With the beige-skinned inkling watching with curious eyes, he picked it up and threw a hand forward, balancing the bronze piece between his fingers.
"Ta-da!" he announced. "I found it earlier today."
"A coin?" she puzzled as her expression dropped. "Looks old."
"Yeah, I bet it is. Look at the writing on this thing!" He handed Bonnie the coin for her to inspect it.
Placing a hand on her chin, she nodded. "Mhm. Looks old alright."
"Ya think humans used it?"
"Yeah." She gave the coin back to him. "I do."
Yuri simply smiled and put the coin back into the box. "Well, I'm getting dressed now." He grabbed his clothes from the clothes rack near the entrance. "See you soon!"
"See you soon, Yuri," Bonnie's voice called as he walked farther and farther away from the room. "See you soon."
A/N: At last, author's notes return! I didn't say anything for the last few chapters because, well, I had nothing to comment on. Anyways, this chapter is one of the first lengthy ones in quite a while! I feel like it was rushed towards the end, but I hope you enjoyed the dynamics between everyone and this failed Salmon Run. Leave a review if you want, and Branchwing, out!