Inigo's PoV
After school one day, Octavia, Alexis, and Inigo decided to shop in a video store to look for a movie to watch for the night. All the Rainbow Squids were coming over to Inigo's place, and their plan was to just make some popcorn, squeeze onto the comfy couch, and relax as the scenes flicked by. As video stores became increasingly rare, they decided it was best to go here today so they wouldn't make a permanent investment.
As they scored the aisles for something interesting, something caught Inigo's eye. He stopped and backed up to the compelling case to absorb the details on it. The DVD cover depicted the Squid Sisters holding their signature weapons, the Hero Roller and the Hero Charger. It was titled, 'Battles with the Squid Sisters', with the subtitle being, 'Yep, every single battle!'.
"Whatcha looking at?" Via asked, backing up to join him in his examination of the cover. Her eyes widened as she read it more. "Oh! 'Battles with the Squid Sisters'? I didn't even know they recorded them!"
"So that means…" Inigo started, trailing off as the realization hit him. "I'm in one of these clips."
"Wait, you battled with the Squid Sisters once?!" Alexis burst out in surprise. "I didn't know this!"
"Yeah." The inkling with indigo hair glanced off to the side and put a steady hand on his cheek. "With Geneva. We'd only been dating for a little while when we battled with them."
"I remember you telling us about it," the wavy-haired girl remarked. She nudged her sister. "You should have seen the look on Roy's face when they told them!"
"Could you tell me the story, Inigo?" the short-haired inkling asked, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Please?"
"Alright, alright. So, it was a few weeks before the Callie vs. Marie Splatfest…"
Hands clasped together tightly, the couple entered one of the empty elevators in Inkopolis Tower with their weapons in their free hands. They only needed a smile to assure each other that no matter what happens, they won't let defeat faze them. After a few moments of staring at each other intently, they burst out in laughter, letting go of each other's hands to get a hold on the railing. Inigo could see the sparkle in Geneva's green eyes as she looked up and beamed at him.
A little later, some more inklings filled the elevator. Some were cocky, while others hung off to the side, refusing to talk to anyone. Regardless, Inigo and Geneva remained in their own little bubble, passionately chatting with each other.
A silence soon fell over the room when two figures with dazzling outfits and starry yellow eyes walked in. The one with long black hair threw a Hero Roller over her shoulder, smiling confidently as she waved at the inklings. The other one, with short grey hair, gave an awkward smile as she set her Hero Charger down to the ground like a cane and waved. Inigo could recognize these two girls from anywhere—they were Callie and Marie from the one and only Squid Sisters.
"Hey, squids!" Callie greeted. "Ready to have some fun?"
"Callie!" screamed one of the social inklings, a boy with orange hair hidden under a straw boater. He grabbed her arm and kissed her hand. "I'm your biggest fan!"
A look of discomfort flashed on the black-haired idol's face before she bubbled, "Aw, thanks! You staying fresh?"
"Heck yeah I am!"
"Hey, Marie," greeted another inkling, a girl with navy blue hair and Octoglasses situated on the top of her head. "I just wanna say, I'm a really big fan of your music."
"Thanks," thanked the grey-haired idol. "I appreciate it."
"Can you sign my Slosher, Marie?" asked another girl wearing a snorkeling mask, holding her Slosher out in front of her.
"I could, if I had a pen," she remarked.
"Aw…"
The elevator doors close and it started to descend, soon leading to the grates below them to open up so they could travel to their location. During the time waiting, the other inklings pounded the Squid Sisters with questions, some general, some more personal than others. Inigo himself wanted to ask a question, but Geneva simply grabbed his hand and shook her head no. Following along with her decision, he sighed and leaned again the wall, fiddling around with his Carbon Roller while he waited.
"I actually don't remember much of the battle myself," the Inigo in the present day remarked. "I know it was in Walleye Warehouse… and that we won… but that's the most I can think of right now."
"Did you guys kiss?" the younger inkling suddenly popped in.
"No… that was later," he replied.
"Aw, man, we gotta return these shirts now," Inigo grumbled, looking down at the Team Marie Splatfest Tee he was wearing. The last time I'll ever wear this.
"I mean, we could smuggle them," Geneva teased. "Or buy them off the black market."
"What, no! Can't we be law-abiding citizens?"
"I'm joking, Inigo. I'm not stealing these."
"Oh, okay. Good."
The couple started walking towards the t-shirt collectors next to a voting booth that was now forever dim. There was a long line of inklings leading to them, with some wearing their Splatfest tees and some already have taken them off. Some were crying, some were in good spirits. Though Inigo was sad to see the Splatfests go, at least he didn't have the nerve to cry in public.
As they got closer and closer, Geneva suddenly whispered to him, "Before we turn these in… I wanna do something."
"What? What do ya-" Before Inigo could finish his sentence, the girl's lips suddenly pressed against his, catching him off guard. Warmth spread throughout his body, and he led Geneva into an embrace as he closed his indigo eyes. For what seemed like an eternity, it seemed like nothing could penetrate their own little bubble as they were absorbed with each other. When their mouths departed, they slowly opened their eyes and gazed at each other.
"That… was amazing," Inigo breathed, his heart racing.
"I know." The green-haired inkling caressed his cheek. "You're a better kisser than I thought."
"I am?" For his first kiss, he wasn't expecting someone to say that to him.
Geneva nodded. "You are, and keep being a good kisser, would ya?"
"You're smiling."
Alexis's words brought Inigo out of his thoughts, and his expression turned dumbfounded as he looked down at the bronze-skinned girl. "O-Oh… was I?"
"Yeah, you were," she confirmed.
He looked away from the sisters. "I was just thinking about… something."
"Kissing aside…" Octavia started. "Maybe we should rent this, then." She picked up the case. "Maybe that can jog your memory about that battle."
"Via, we still have a movie to pick!" Alexis argued.
"Can't we get both?" the indigo-haired inkling suggested.
"…Good point," the short-haired girl muttered.
"Alright, we're getting this." She put the case under her arm, and then the three continued to search the video store for a movie to watch. Once they rented both DVDs, they traveled to Inigo's house and opened the 'Battles with the Squid Sisters' case to see several DVDs inside, much to their dismay. Octavia paged through the DVDs until she found the last one, containing battles from March of 2016 to the end of the Callie vs. Marie Splatfest. She took it out and slid it into the DVD player on a shelf on the table Inigo's TV was situated on.
Soon, a screen flickered to life, opening with the Squid Sisters' signature pose before cutting to a standstill and displaying a selection screen. They opened the scene selection and clicked through the pages of the selection until they found one scene depicting the Squid Sisters with Inigo and Geneva. Octavia pressed a button on the remote, and the screen went black before cutting to a display explaining what game mode the battle was in. It was Turf War, of course. At the same time, the camera panned over Walleye Warehouse, and the fair-skinned boy could catch glimpses of squids on both ends of the map.
A few seconds later, the screen depicted both sides changing into their kid forms. Starting with the camera on Callie, the match begun, and their team began inking the surrounding area, complete with background music, specifically 'Hooked' by Hightide Era. The black-haired idol immediately slammed her Hero Roller onto the ground and pushed it along, creating a trail of orange ink behind her. She took a back road in Walleye Warehouse, but her further exploits were unseen as the camera panned over to Marie. From one of the crates she had already managed to travel to, she began charging up the Hero Charger. A squid dove into the ink behind her, swam past her, and emerged and took the shape of Geneva as she jumped down to the concrete floor.
Immediately, the girl with the Slosher appeared, flinging ink across the map. Despite pointing at the ground, Marie kept a watchful eye on her, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. A second or two later, she snapped up and fired, piercing right through her and splatting her.
"Nice!" complemented Callie as she rolled by. The grey-haired idol simply winked and gave a thumbs-up. The camera then focused on the black-haired idol once more, who was prepared to ambush someone. The boy wearing a straw boater walked down a rubber ramp to the main area, Permanent Inkbrush in hand. He started swinging it when she emerged from the orange ink and took him down within one hit. At the camera, she gave a gleaming smile.
All of a sudden, the beeping of seekers could be heard off-screen. Callie whipped around to see a barrage of bombs rushing towards her. The source was quickly found to be the girl wearing Octoglasses, who wielded a Carbon Roller Deco. She was cackling as she launched her seekers. The idol started jumping over them, but soon she lost her step and tripped, being splatted by the last bomb launched.
The camera changed focus to Marie again. She made a small gasp as she witnessed the bomb rush. After Callie was splatted, the girl with Octoglasses slammed her own roller down and began pushing it along. The grey-haired idol began charging up her Hero Charger, and seconds later, she let out a piercing beam, splatting the girl with the roller. She jumped off the crate and began lurking around.
On Callie's end, she took another side route to the center—though it was the right route, not the left route, this time. At the end of the hallway popped out a newcomer—a girl wielding an Aerospray RG. She just about fainted upon sighting the idol. She stared her briefly before moving on. Once the girl was out of range of her roller, she slammed it down again, moving it along. The scream of the girl wielding the Slosher could be heard as Callie rolled her over. When she had arrived in the central area, she painted the side of the crate and jumped onto it. The boy wielding the Inkbrush ran by again, so she jumped off the crate and prepared her Hero Roller.
She was about to slam her roller down on him when a beam of orange ink pierced through his chest. He exploded into a pile of ink, and the camera panned over to the source of the beam—Marie. She had emerged from one of the alleyways and proceeded to take the boy down. Inigo imagined she had a smile, maybe even a smirk, on her face as she walked back up to Callie.
"MariiiEeEe!" a younger Inigo yelled off-screen, his voice cracking. Some ripples went by the two idols, and then an inkling emerged in the ink in front of them. "Can I help you? Please?" The present-day Inigo felt heat creep up his face from second-hand embarrassment.
"We're fine, but thanks for asking," replied the grey-haired inkling. The boy with the ponytail threw his arms out in front of him and let out a groan.
"You sound so... young," Alexis commented.
"I was 15 then!" Inigo defended.
"You're 16," she said. On the TV screen, the girl with the Slosher appeared and threw ink at the three of them, and they all splatted.
"I'm almost 17," he pointed out.
"OK, you win."
When Callie, Marie, and Inigo respawned, they all immediately ran off the spawn point, back towards the main area. The camera was focused on Callie again. She stuck a suction bomb to the pile of boxes before running off. In the background, Geneva was holding off the enemy team quite decently. The girl with the Carbon Roller Deco popped out behind one crate and swung her roller. She jumped backwards, successfully dodging the swing, though some blue ink got on her Urchins jersey. Suddenly, her hair glowed orange, and in an instant, she began chucking burst bombs everywhere. The opponent with the roller was caught off guard, and she was quickly splatted with two direct hits.
Marie's perspective included her resting her back against a wall in the corner, aiming at the grate above her. The inkling with the Aerospray stepped onto it and started transforming into a squid, but as soon as the idol fired her Hero Charger, she splatted. She spun her charger around and walked back out to the main area, where she proceeded to witness an Inkstrike land right in the middle of the stage. A vortex of blue ink swirled in front of her, and Inigo heard someone scream.
"Callie!" she cried. She quickly fired a straight line of ink in front of her and swam to the pile of boxes in the middle. She looked over to see Geneva's gear disappear into a puddle of blue ink. "Callie...?"
"I'm fine!" called the black-haired inkling. She popped up from on top of a box on the side and waved. The camera panned back over her, just in time to see the Inigo on the TV emerge from the small path near the base. He saw himself mutter something, but he couldn't make out what it was. The inkling with the ponytail proceeded to start covering up the ink that resulted from the Inkstrike again. "Hmm..." Callie murmured. She made her way to behind the stack of boxes in the very center of the stage and pulled out a giant Killer Wail. She aimed it and a few seconds later, it let out a loud screech as an orange beam fired across the map.
"Booyah!" everyone cheered.
There was at least one survivor of the Killer Wail, however, as the boy with the Inkbrush swept around the corner again and started attacking Marie. She turned around and started firing her charger rapidly, but she was quickly splatted. The camera changed to the grey-haired idol's perspective once she respawned, where she proceeded to super-jump to her cousin. Geneva had returned to the scene, where she was quick in covering up enemy turf.
The enemy team began to group up and push forward, using all of their firepower to ink as much turf as they can. Inigo saw himself swim up to them, emerging with his Carbon Roller prepared, but he was splatted before he could even get a hit on them. Meanwhile, Marie perched on the pile of boxes again, aiming down on them. She was about to fire her shot when the girl with the Slosher started flinging ink at her again. Her charger fired up at the sky as she fled, but alas, another bucket full of blue ink got her splatted again.
Callie and Geneva were hiding out behind a wall, watching their opponents push forward. The black-haired girl put her roller down and took a few steps forward before the inkling with green eyes grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. She shook her head and focused on the other team again. Inigo had super-jumped to his then-girlfriend and stood rather ominously behind her. Geneva looked behind her shoulder and jumped, fully turning around to face him.
"I-Inigo!" she stuttered frantically, her face turning red. "Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized.
Present-day Inigo groaned and gripped his head. What was I thinking back then? he asked himself. Scaring Geneva like that...
Marie then super-jumped to the three squids. "Oh, we're having a party?"
"No, we're gonna do a special attack!" Callie corrected cheerfully.
"A special attack?" the younger Inigo inquired.
"It's a thing," the grey-haired idol replied.
"Me and the Squid Sisters are going to attack them," Geneva explained, adjusting her beanie.
"Do I get a part in this?" the boy with the ponytail asked.
"You... can be a distraction." Marie patted the boy on the back. "Go get 'em, tiger shark."
"Don't worry about it." Geneva placed a peck on his cheek, and with a blush, Inigo rubbed it. "You'll do great."
He nodded, put his Carbon Roller to the ground, and began pushing it. To Inigo's surprise, the match panned over to his own point of view. He moved in a zig-zagged fashion, winding around the other inklings and confusing them. Eventually, his hair began to glow, and he pulled out an Inkzooka. He managed to fire one whirlwind of ink before stepping into an Ink Mine and splatting.
The camera now simply panned over the other team, who were rather scattered thanks to the distraction Inigo provided. Suddenly, voices began to sound.
"One!" Callie prepared a powerful swing of her Hero Roller.
"Two!" Marie began running forward with a full charge.
"Three!" Geneva rushed towards them with her Splattershot.
Once the last girl finished speaking, all of them fired the most powerful attacks their main weapons could muster at once. Callie jumped up into the air and slammed her roller down, sending a huge wave of orange ink towards the group of inklings. Marie fired a high-speed shot of ink that bounced off the crates until it reached the target, losing strength with each bounce. Geneva swept her shooter across the field, firing it as fast as it could manage and hitting all of the inklings. All four members of the team were splatted, leaving the trio the entire map to cover. Loud cheers were edited in the background.
"Wow..." Inigo breathed. A memory from that day resurfaced—he remembered walking up to his teammates and telling them that they were superfresh for wiping out the entire team with one attack. But seeing a recording of it? It somehow made him more in awe of the feat. They all knew what to do, and they did it. He was always under the impression that Geneva had no prior knowledge of the special attack, but now, it seemed like she had done it before. Many times, in fact.
The team was quick to cover up the map, and then the whistle blew. The screen cut to an overview of a map, and stock footage of Judd appeared on the screen. He did a little dance before striking out an orange flag to the left of the screen. Next, Callie and Marie appeared, doing victory dances, alongside two inklings resembling and wearing the same gear as Geneva and Inigo. The inkling girl dressed up as Geneva wore a standard short beanie—the green-haired inkling normally donned a short beanie made with darker thread—while the inkling boy dressed up as Inigo lacked the indigo-haired inkling's cowlick. The camera zoomed in on the Squid Sisters and proceeded to display the statistics of the battle. Callie and Marie were tied for the most squids splatted, while Inigo had splatted the most.
"It's superfresh the Squid Sisters are so good at turf wars," Octavia commented. "That's why I like them so much! They don't just sing; they kick butt while looking good, too."
"So does Off the Hook!" Alexis remarked.
"Well, I like them too," she muttered.
Inigo laid back on the couch and smiled. He watched the screen fade to black, and then another match popped up—this one in Mahi-Mahi Resort. Getting right to it, huh? The same tsunami that closed down the Museum d'Alfonsino a while back had also flooded the resort. It was closed down for repairs, though when it had reopened over the summer, most inklings had moved on to different spots for ink battles. Sometimes Inigo wished he could play there again, but perhaps it was for the best—the new maps brought a lot of things to the table. I guess we could watch one more match...
"Wow, Geneva's good."
At the new voice, the three inklings turned around to see Giovanni, pressing against the back of the couch. His head resting on his gloved hand, his eyes drifted over to them, and he gave a smirk.
"How did you get in here?!" Alexis demanded.
"You leave the door open," he answered. "I also did some following."
"Any particular reason why you decided to watch this with us?" Inigo soon asked.
The octoling snickered. "There is no particular reason."
He doubted his words, based on his expression. "Do you know something?"
"Do you?"
"Of course! I know her better than anyone!"
"Answer his question," the short-haired inkling snapped.
"No need to be so pushy," Octavia tried to quell her.
"OK, let me try again..." the boy with the ponytail started. "Do you know something about Geneva?"
"Perhaps," Gio teased.
He took this as a 'yes'. "How?"
"I never said I knew a thing," he replied.
"Yes, but it was implied."
"My point is still standing."
Inigo groaned. This is getting nowhere.
"OK, Gio," Octavia spoke up. "Please, stop being vague. It's kinda creepy."
"That, and the fact that you followed us here," Alexis added.
"Creepy?" the octoling mused.
"Y'know: disturbing, unsettling, causing discomfort, et cetera..." the wavy-haired inkling elaborated.
"I no do think I am to be creepy," Giovanni confessed. "It is simple... I like to gather information."
"Still creepy..." the short-haired girl muttered.
"Umm..." Inigo bit his lip, nervous. "Do you do the same thing with your friends? Like Octa Prisma?"
"I..." Losing his gusto, the green-haired boy looked down to the floor and scratched his head. "I... No...?"
"OK, I'm gonna say no. Why don't you do this with your friends?"
"They are my friends; they would not to like it."
"Are we your friends?"
"You are draw to the idea of friends... The between an inkling and an octoling. It is silly."
"The Great Turf War happened a hundred years ago!" Octavia butted into the conversation. "This is now! Can't we all be friends?"
"I was raise to think inklings and Octarians are enemies," Giovanni argued, frowning.
"But that's what you were raised to think," she pointed out. "We're in Inkopolis, and you're not working for the Octarians anymore! You can do whatever you want!"
Finally, the octoling sighed, slumping on the couch. "It is not easy," he admitted. "I keep to tell me that I'm in the world of the inklings. But... I have not convinced me yet."
"So..." Inigo started. "Will you think about being friends with us? And not being creepy?"
He immediately straightened and glared at him with his green eyes. "I not promise anything." With that, he promptly turned around and left the room. A few seconds later, the fair-skinned inkling heard his front door open and close shut.
"Finally, he's gone," Alexis said, relieved.
"Honestly, I don't know what to make of that," the boy with the ponytail concluded.
"Well, it's a start," Via assured. "Who knows? Maybe we'll actually be friends with Gio one day."
"I hope so," he agreed. "He doesn't seem like a bad kid. Just... super misguided."
"Moving on," the short-haired inkling interrupted, changing the subject. She stopped the video and then picked up the case for the movie. "Let's set this up; we don't want to keep the others waiting."
"OK," replied the older inklings. As they took the Battles with the Idols DVD out of the player, and the movie's DVD in, there was still something on Inigo's mind.
What did Gio know about Geneva?
A/N: Hey guys! I had this idea in my head for a while, and I'm glad to have finally executed it. Fun fact: it was only the main battle I had to make sure I finished for today. Everything else was written during the hiatus between seasons 1 and 2. Yes, including that ending, with Gio's appearance. Hope you guys liked this chapter, and stay tuned for the next as always! Branchwing, out!