Yuri's PoV
Yuri sat in front of the TV, controller in hand, playing a fighting video game. His younger brother had come over to watch, now clinging to his leg.
"Augh!" he cried out. "I lost!"
"Why didn't he explode?" his brother, York, asked.
"I knew letting him watch was a bad idea..." the spiky-haired boy muttered in his breath. In a more confident voice, he explained, "York, we explode when we splat because we're made out of ink. Fish aren't made out of ink, so they don't explode."
"OK." The young inkling simply nodded. "Can I play Keeplier now?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Yay!" York swiped the controller out of the dark-skinned teen's hands and proceeded to start playing the popular turf war video game. Yuri rose from the couch and walked to the kitchen. He approached the refrigerator to grab an apple out of it, when his yellow eyes drifted to the note his mother had left for him and his siblings.
'I'll be back on Thursday,' read the note. 'Do your homework, and York—I am not buying you clam bucks. Stop asking.'
He simply smiled and grabbed an apple like he intended to do. He took a bite out of the juicy snack, eating slowly to savor it. He pulled up a stool to the counter and pulled out his phone to look through while he ate.
Just as he finished his apple, the cellphone vibrated as a new text message came through. The text, which was from Perry, asked if Yuri could listen to the purple-haired boy's latest song. Yuri couldn't come help his friend because he had to babysit his siblings, but he still asked to listen to it after it was finished. The spiky-haired inkling put in his earbuds and began listening to the rap song.
The lyrics were relatively simple—just another generic love song. Though Pearl was not mentioned, he just knew his friend would make the idol listen to it in a heartbeat. The beat wasn't anything special, but it was an improvement from Perry's previous songs. Maybe he's trying something new? After the song concluded, he sent the purple-haired boy a text that it was a good song and put his phone away.
Yuri climbed up the steps, towards his room. He opened the door to it, and the first thing he noticed was a ruined box of chocolates on his dresser. He frowned. Jade gave him those chocolates on Valentine's Day—he wasn't sure why, but he took them anyways. Regardless, he was going to eat them at some point. The yellow-haired boy grabbed the heart-shaped box and examined it. A few yellow spots of ink were slowly receding.
It can't be York, and Yasmin's at her friend's house, so... He walked over to the room where the twins slept and began pounding on the door. "Yana!" he demanded. "I know you're in there!"
"Uh..." said his younger sister. "Yana isn't here right now!"
"I have chocolate."
The yellow inkling immediately opened the door and asked, "Where?!" She looked up at Yuri and grimaced. "You tricked me!" she whined.
"Speaking of chocolate, though..." he started, "you ate mine, didn't you?"
"No...?"
"Yeah, you did."
"No, I didn't!"
"Hmm..." A smile came across his face. "I might have to give away the Princess Seapony concert tickets."
"Fine, fine! I ate your chocolates! I'm sorry!" Yana began to pout. "Don't give the tickets away..."
"I wasn't, don't worry." He patted his sister on the head. "Just don't eat my chocolates next time." At least White Day's not until next month, he commented silently.
"I won't! I promise!"
Yuri turned into a squid and sat up, holding out his tentacle. "Tentacle promise?"
Yana picked him up and grabbed it with a stubby hand. "Tentacle promise."
The dark-skinned inkling slipped out of his sister's arms and reformed into a kid. "Good." He walked back to his room, where he cleaned up the box of chocolates, threw it away, and, finally, retired to his bed. He plopped down on it and got out his phone, proceeding to look through Squidsagram. When he found nothing interested, he groaned and put it on his nightstand.
His yellow eyes drifted over to his record player. He rose to his feet and started looking through his vinyl collection. He found the newest one he had—a Squid Sisters record from the days when they still hosted Inkopolis News—and put it into the player. The cheerful jingle of City of Color began playing, and Yuri started to hum along to it.
As the song progressed, he remembered how Callie was still missing. She has to be somewhere, right? He refused to believe the possibility that the idol was dead, even if it had been about six months since her initial disappearance. That being said, it had been about six months since the Great Zapfish disappeared, too. Yet, Inkopolis showed no signs of losing power. Hmm...
Yuri walked over to his desk and opened his laptop. He sat down in his chair and began searching up conspiracy theories out of curiosity. He found a forum discussing and began reading through them. The most popular conspiracy theory? Callie was kidnapped by the Octarians. The notion that the Great Zapfish was captured by the Octarians was a popular theory as well, as well as one detailing how the Squid Sisters are actually secret agents.
The yellow-haired boy laughed at their absurdity. They're just conspiracy theories, he thought. None of these are true... right? Regardless, he still liked looking them up. He always thought of them to be pretty funny.
More time passed, and Yuri found himself yawning. He came to the conclusion that he needed to take a nap and closed his laptop, plopped onto his bed, and threw a blanket over himself, wishing to fall asleep. When he woke up again, he felt a chill and rubbed his arms. He looked down at himself to find that someone had taken off his blanket... and his shorts.
"Oh..." He got up and started walking downstairs, where he found the twins running around, playing with paper Inkbrushes. At the kitchen counter sat Yasmin, who was watching them in amusement.
"Yuri!" York ran up to him, wearing pants that were clearly too big for him, and tapped his nose with the paper brush. "Wanna play?"
"I'm the hero, and York's the villain!" Yana added. She was using Yuri's blanket as a cape.
"Yasmin's the princess," his brother whispered, pointing to the young inkling. She looked up at the dark-skinned inkling and waved.
"Can I... have my pants back?" he asked.
"No!" the youngest sister replied. "You're gonna be the Underwear Dragon!" She picked up a Princess Seapony mask and threw it at him.
Yuri looked at the mask for a few moments before putting it over his face and striking an intimidating pose. "Roar! You thought York the Terrible was the final boss? No, it is I, the Underwear Dragon!"
"Umm, I'm York the Strong," the boy corrected.
"I, Yana the Good, will defeat you!" the girl boasted. She poked the paper brush at her elder brother's chest, causing him to fall down dramatically.
"Oh no! I have been defeated!" Yuri exclaimed. "I guess you can save Princess Yasmin now."
"Yay!" Yana ran up to Yasmin and hugged her.
"I'm saved," Yasmin cheered unenthusiastically, pumping a fist.
"Let's do it again!" Yana pleaded.
"Alright, but I'm the hero this time," York announced.
"Will you be the Underwear Dragon again, Yuri?" his youngest sister asked him.
With a smile, Yuri replied, "Sure."
A/N: Hey guys! Just a cute, fluffy chapter for today. I feel like out of all the Rainbow Squids, Yuri appears the least, so I wanted a chapter just to focus on him at home, with his siblings. Now, next chapter... next chapter is the final Hero Mode chapter! Isn't that sad? Regardless, I'll make sure to make it big and grand for you all. Stay tuned for next week, and Branchwing, out!