Pearl's one line of dialogue and a little bit of Flow and Craymond's dialogue is from Splatoon 2.
Octavia's PoV
Following the encounter in Octo Valley, the Rainbow Squids became bedridden. Octavia's parents had asked her why she had gotten sick all of a sudden. She considered telling the truth, but thankfully, Alexis had jumped in and fabricated a lie that a disease had been going around. They recovered a week later, and since then, everything had been peaceful.
Come the morning of August 18th, Off the Hook started off the news with something new—a Splatfest announcement.
"Which utensil is more useful? The fork or the spoon?!" announced Pearl, looking at the camera as she gripped the sides of her beanbag.
As soon as she finished, Perry burst out into laughter, kneeling over and pounding a fist on the metal table, causing the sound to reverberate among the other inklings.
"Oh my cod! Hahaha, Fork vs...ha, Spoon!" He continued to laugh, and soon Yuri chuckled too, his laughs growing louder until he was also kneeled over next to the purple-haired boy.
"What's so funny?" Alexis puzzled.
"Ya see, Alexis," Perry began to explain, still donning a goofy smile, "Fork sounds like-"
"That's enough," Via interrupted.
"But Fork vs. Spoon is still a pretty silly theme," Inigo remarked with a smile, putting his hand on his chin. "Right?"
"I guess," the short-haired inkling admitted. She looked over at the green-haired inkling, who was surfing through her phone. "What are you doin'?"
"Ordering holy water," she stated. "I thought Perry would need it."
Yuri looked up, tears pricking his eyes as he wheezed. "H-Holy water! For Perry! Hahaha!" The other boys started to laugh as well, though to a lesser extent.
The wavy-haired girl snickered. "I'm surprised they actually sell that."
"Just kidding," Geneva imparted. "I'm just looking at Squidsagram. Nothing else."
Inkopolis News reached its end, the screen switching to a graphic of green squids swimming across the screen. A jellyfish grabbed a beige sheet that was covering the Splatfest terminal and pulled it off, revealing the choices. More jellyfish waddled up to the terminal, holding Splatfest tees. The inklings nearby walked over to it, casting their votes and receiving their tees.
"Well, let's vote," Bonnie suggested. "And we're basing our choices on utensils only. Not for any other reason, got it?"
"What if I prefer neither?" asked Alexis.
"Then choose your favorite color," Octavia replied. "Or your favorite member of Off the Hook. Either works."
"Alright." Roy pumped a fist. "Now, Rainbow Squids, let's go!"
Another week passed, and with it came the Splatfest, with Octavia proudly representing Team Spoon. Once again, Pearl and Marina were positioned on the stage, singing and dancing to Color Pulse. She could hear it from inside Headspace, where she examined a pair of half-rim glasses.
"You'd like to buy that, darling?" questioned Flow's voice. Startled, Via turned around to see that the sea slug had approached her.
"Will you?" blurted Craymond, gripping onto his friend's mantle.
"Uh... Sure." She pulled out some coins out of her pocket and placed them on the counter next to her. "Here's the money for it."
"Thanks, sweetie." The sea slug grabbed the coins and stowed it away in the nearby cash register. "Remember, if you're looking to renew yourself, just equip it."
"You're welcome," the bronze-skinned girl said, lifting a hand and waving it as she exited the shop.
"Don't be strange!" the emperor shrimp called after her.
Octavia took off her classic straw boater and replaced it with the half-rim lens she just bought. The frame of the glasses turned into a dull turquoise the same color as her ink, matching the color of Team Spoon. She looked for her friends, finding them outside the Shoal. Bonnie was glued to the arcade screen, playing Squid Beatz 2 as the other squids on Team Spoon cheered her on.
"Perfect!" cheered a robotic voice. A gold badge flashed on the screen.
"Oh!" the girl with the double bun gasped, a smile spreading across her face. "I didn't expect that."
"Huh?" The wavy-haired inkling approached the group. "What song did you do?"
"Muck Warfare," she replied, gesturing to the screen. "See?"
"Ooh, fresh," Via complemented, examining the screen.
"It was intense!" Yuri chimed in. "It's like her fingers were moving at the speed of light!"
Geneva, who stood next to the dark-skinned inkling, shrugged. "Eh. She does play chargers a lot. I'm not surprised she has good reflexes."
Bonnie turned to look at the other two squids that were part of her team, blushing. "Um... Thanks. I play a lot of rhythm games when I'm bored, so...yeah."
"Could you do another one?" the spiky-haired boy then asked, eyes getting wider.
"Yuri, we have to do the Splatfest," Via pointed out with a sigh. "We won't get any points for Team Spoon if we just sit around all day!"
Yuri rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. I got too carried away, didn't I?"
"No!" the beige-skinned girl assured him. "I can do another song on Squid Beatz 2 after the Splatfest!"
"You don't have to," the bronze-skinned girl reminded her.
"But I want to."
"Oh... Alright. Let's go now."
The group walked away from the arcade machine, to the Deca Tower, pushing through the crowd of inklings around Pearl and Marina. The Rainbow Squids on Team Fork had already gone ahead and started matches, so they had to get to it if they wanted to catch up. They walked to the side of the lobby and opened their storage room, going down to grab their weapons.
The weapon Geneva picked up was not her normal Splattershot. In fact, it was black, and there were some glowing blue lights on it. ...Like the original Hero Shot.
"Isn't that a Hero Shot Replica? An old one?" Yuri asked her.
"Yeah." The long-haired inkling started to spin it in her hand, her other hand on her hip. "Since you squids know about...my job, now, I decided to use it more."
"Wouldn't it still have Burst Bomb Rush though?" Bonnie puzzled.
"I had Sheldon look at it last year," she explained. "It's been like this for a while."
"Oh..." The girl with the double bun frowned, lowering her Classic Squiffer. "OK."
They walked up the stairs and closed the storage room, the paneling sliding back over the entrance to hide it once more. The group then started to head towards an elevator, where they would await their next match. Octavia leaned against the wall, putting the bristles of her Octobrush Nouveau to the ground next to her.
Unsurprisingly, Octa Prisma walked in—Giovanni, Oscar, and Iris specifically, all wearing Team Fork shirts. A few seconds later, another inkling walked in, wearing a Team Fork shirt, a white headband, and cream basics. She quickly recognized the inkling as Tess through her haircut and the Splattershot Pro she was holding.
"Tess!" Via exclaimed. "You're...still wearing starter gear."
"Huh?" Geneva lifted her head. "Tess?"
The younger girl seemed to ignore the wavy-haired inkling, running over to her sister instead and hugging her. "Geneva!" The long-haired girl was taken aback, but she soon hugged her. After they let go, Tess looked up at her eyepatch. "What happened to your eye?"
"It's, uh, a long story," she answered. "Don't worry about it?"
Bonnie looked over at Octa Prisma. "I hope you guys based your choices off of the utensil."
"I did," Gio said, smirking. "Forks are much more pleasant to put in your mouth than the spoon. There is a good texture to it."
"What? Spoons are better!" Via argued. "The smoothness allows you to eat things without it falling through!"
"What about macaroni and cheese? Would you eat it with a spoon?" the boy with the mohawk challenged.
"My youngest sister does," Yuri piped in. "She loves mac and cheese."
"I think that example is no good," Oscar muttered.
"Well, what about you?" the beige-skinned girl started, turning to the boy with the afro. "Why did you choose Team Fork?"
"The team color is orange; it is simple," he explained.
"Well, it's better than the other two options," Via remarked. "Those being: Pearl is your favorite member of Off the Hook, or for inappropriate reasons."
"Forks are able to be the used...a weapon," Iris spoke up. "Is that, you are thinking, inappropriate?"
"Uh..." Bonnie scratched her head. "It's violent."
The elevator door closed behind them, and they began to descend deeper into the tower.
"Woo!" Tess cheered, holding her Splattershot Pro in the air with an open-mouthed smile. "I'm gonna fight my sister! I bet Geneva's super good."
"She is," the octoling with poufy hair grumbled.
"I can go easy on you," the long-haired inkling pointed out.
"I don't know..." The girl with the ends of her hair cut off examined her sister's weapon. "I've never seen something like this. Do they give it out to the best players in X Rank?"
"I'm in S+," she corrected.
"Oh, then, uh, S+ Rank. But either way, that has to mean you're good!"
"Yeah..." Geneva gave a sad smile.
The elevator stopped, causing the floor beneath them to slide open, revealing a grate. They turned into their cephalopod forms and slipped through it, traveling to their next destination. She emerged on a spawn point, reforming into her kid form a few seconds later. Various buildings were lit up in the distance, the lights being reflected off of the water surrounding the stage. Jellyfish were floating around in the water, some on inflatable rafts, others swimming. She didn't particularly like this area, but she had to appreciate the atmosphere of New Albacore Hotel. It just seemed so relaxing to be in.
The match started, blue-green ink firing from everyone's weapons. Geneva had gone ahead, covering as much turf as she could with her Hero Shot Replica. Octavia started to follow her, putting her weapon down to the ground and running after her. Geneva stopped firing as soon as she reached the bridge, but Via sped past her. She inked a small spot on the ramp connected the bridge to the mainland and rested in it to refill her ink tank.
Giovanni had climbed on top of a box, spreading red-orange ink across the sandy area. Some ink landed on the wavy-haired girl's puddle, forcing her to emerge from it. She swiped her brush and started to run away, but her escape was quickly interrupted when a roller crashed down on her head, splatting her immediately. Iris stood where she had splatted, a smile on her face as she started to roll her roller.
Octavia respawned and swam on the rightmost path, arriving at a building that gradually dropped down to the center of the stage. Yuri stood on top of a box in front of the tower, spreading blue-green ink across the area. She swam up to the base of the box and placed a squid beakon before leaving for battle once more. She swung her Octobrush Nouveau, inking as much turf as she could.
Tess had jumped down to the central area, tossing a point sensor out in front of her. A swarm of black arrows circled around where it landed, tagging the bronze-skinned inkling. She gasped as the younger inkling started to direct her attention to her. She placed her brush to the ground and zig-zagged around her shots, much to Tess's confusion. Via swung around her and attacked her from behind, splatting her. She turned around and started inking the surrounding area once more. Iris emerged from her team's ink, covering her face as drops of blue-green ink flew onto her. Gritting her teeth, her hair glowed, allowing her to activate her special weapon—Baller.
"Carp!" she blurted, turning around and swimming away. She turned left, climbing up a small ramp. She leaned against the container of balls next to her, wiping her forehead clean of sweat. However, Iris climbed up the wall, knocking Via over and causing her to fall into the water. She struggled briefly before dissolving into an ink cloud and a pile of clothes, a ghost flying away from where she splatted.
She respawned once again, rubbing her head. Was she doing something wrong? No... That couldn't be the case. She was just playing the way she normally did. Perhaps she was just unlucky? She shook away the thoughts and jumped down, turning into a squid and jumping from the crate Bonnie stood on, where she proceeded to splat people with her Classic Squiffer. Via emerged from the puddle she landed in, throwing her arm out in front of her and pointing her brush to the area in front of her. Now getting cocky, she ran across the bridge, hoping to invade her opponent's base.
Oscar jumped out in front of her, swinging his Inkbrush as fast as she could. She swung her Octobrush Nouveau back, backing up to avoid his strikes. A super-jump marker appeared between the two of them, much to their confusion. A blue-green circle then surrounded them, much to the octoling's alarm. He tried scrambling away, but it was too late as Geneva slammed her fist down to the ground, creating an explosion of ink that splatted Oscar. After the vortex cleared, the long-haired inkling stood up, pumping her arm.
"Wow..." Via breathed, eyes growing wide with wonder. "That was fresh!"
The fair-skinned girl turned around and smiled. "Thanks." She turned her attention back in front of her. "Let's keep going."
"Mhm!"
Only a minute had passed in the match, and Team Spoon was doing quite well. Geneva and Octavia continued to remain in the other team's base, splatting anyone who happened to drop down to their level almost immediately. Tess dropped down there once, causing the former to hesitate a little bit. The latter jumped ahead, splatting her quite quickly.
"Hey, maybe we should stop," Geneva spoke up.
Via turned around. "What? We're winning, so why leave?"
She opened her mouth to speak, but she was quickly interrupted when a roller slammed down on her, splatting her. The wavy-haired girl jumped at the sight, eyes widening as Iris lifted her roller with a glare.
"Hmph," she huffed with a smirk. "That should have occurred years ago." She raised her roller, preparing a vertical flick. "Now, to be splatting you!"
"Ah!" Via jumped out of the way, narrowly dodging the wave of ink that was hurtling towards her. She stepped on some orange ink that now stuck to the bottoms of her sandals, impeding her movement. Her orange eyes focused on the next wave of ink hurtling towards her, which proceeded to splat her.
When she respawned once more, she surveyed the area once more. As it turned out, Octa Prisma had moved in to the central area while she and Geneva were preoccupied, and now Team Spoon was losing. In the distance, she saw enemy ink cover Bonnie, splatting her. An octopus leaped over to the box, forming into the shape of Giovanni. He jumped down to the walkway to continue firing his Octo Shot, but a wave of blue-green bullets started to pelt him, and he splatted. Via let out a sigh of relief and swam down to where he once stood.
Looking up, she saw Yuri through a splash wall he had put up, smiling. She gave him a thumbs up, and he grinned for a few moments before climbing back up to the box in front of the building, charging up his Heavy Splatling Deco once more.
Octavia climbed up the box in front of her and surveyed the area. Slowly, the area was being covered up with blue-green ink, but the majority of it was still a red-orange color. With a shrug, she jumped down and started swinging her brush once more. Soon enough, her hair glowed, and she revealed her special weapon, Tenta Missiles. She locked them on to some enemies on the other end of the stretch of land and pulled the trigger, sending several missiles their way. They crashed down on the sand, exploding into puddles of ink. An octopus-shaped ghost flew away in the distance, much to her satisfaction. She put the bristles down on the ground and ran over to the other end to ink some more turf.
Seeing as her work was done, she decided to super-jump back to spawn and go elsewhere. She walked down the glass ramp and jumped up to the building. She climbed up the box, standing next to Yuri. Tess had crossed the bridge, firing her Splattershot Pro. The dark-skinned inkling directed his fire towards her, splatting her. He jumped down onto the sand and pulled out a bubble wand, swinging it and creating three giant bubbles. Via ran after the bubbles and attacked them, causing them to fill up with blue-green ink.
Panicking, Tess ran back to the bridge and crossed over to the other side. The bubbles exploded when she was halfway across the bridge, covering her backside with enemy ink. She jumped over to a platform connected to the bridge, picking up a life preserver and shielding her face with it. A beam of ink bounced off of it, knocking it out of her hands. The life preserver now floating in the water, she picked her weapon back up and started shooting her attacker. Via started running across the bridge while Bonnie dodged Tess's shots, hoping to ambush the fair-skinned girl while she was distracted.
She turned the bend and started swinging her brush, but someone else decided to ambush her instead, dropping a bomb at her feet. Feeling the frame on her heels, she rolled to the side, landing right into enemy ink. She swiped some ink at her feet and started running away, only to bump into Oscar. The boy with the afro donned a serious expression as he swung his Inkbrush back and forth, orange gaze unwavering. Already injured from the splat bomb, she proceeded to splat.
Shortly after Octavia respawned, the hotel's jingle began to play through the speakers, followed by a familiar tune.
"One minute left!" she called. "It's now or never!"
She returned to the center of the stage to see that not much had changed about it. She spotted Iris rolling along, though Geneva was inking a path behind her. She aimed her Hero Shot Replica at her, and the poufy-haired octoling exploded into a puddle of blue-green ink, allowing the inkling to move on. Octavia shrugged and continued to ink whatever turf she could.
Eventually, the Rainbow Squids managed a good hold on the middle, pushing the other team back into their base. Via soon had enough points to activate her special. Aiming the Tenta Missiles towards the spawn point, she fired them, and the missiles proceeded to ricochet off the barrier surrounding the enemy's spawn point, creating puddles of ink surrounding it instead. A few seconds later, Oscar was running towards her, a red-orange streak trailing behind him. He lunged towards her, but the wavy-haired girl merely jumped out of the way. She started running away from him, but he ran in her direction, soon matching her pace. They ran around the bridge and started to circle around the box in the middlemost part of New Albacore Hotel, trying to catch each other.
Oscar, being faster than her, managed to catch up with her and knock her off her feet, causing her to scramble away. She turned onto her back and looked up at the octoling. He pulled out a splat bomb and threw it up in the air, catching it as it fell back down.
While, Octavia presumed, he pondered on what method he should splat her with, she rose to her feet and struck him with her Octobrush Nouveau. He stumbled backwards with wide eyes, dropping the bomb. It began to expand, splatting Via as it exploded. A whistle blew, causing everyone to go still. The match had ended.
After Via respawned, she returned to the center of the stage. Tess and Geneva sat on the right bridge, the former showing her sister something on her phone. Oscar had remained where he was, leaning against the box. Giovanni approached him, and the two octolings began to converse. Iris sulked on a box on her team's side of the map, laying her roller next to her. Yuri lied on his back nearby, holding his phone in front of his face. Finally, Bonnie sat on the left bridge, scrolling through her phone.
The wavy-haired inkling joined Bon-Bon on the bridge. "Ya think we won?"
The beige-skinned girl looked around the stage, and then back to Octavia. "Yeah," she merely replied. "We did."
A few minutes later, two familiar cats arrived on top of the box Gio and Oscar were next to, causing the two boys to back away. Judd and Li'l Judd surveyed the area, and their final judgement came swiftly. Doing a little dance, the larger cat struck out a blue-green flag, marking Team Spoon as the winner of this match.
"Yes!" Yuri exclaimed, standing up. "We won!"
"Of course we won," Via teased, crossing her arms. "We had control of the stage for most of the match!"
"Yeah, yeah, but it's still fresh," he remarked.
"Geneva was really good!" she then heard Tess remarked. She looked over at the girl with the ends of her hair cut off. She had stood up, putting her hands on her hips. "All those Splashdowns... Wow!"
"You super-jump to do those fast Splashdowns," the long-haired girl explained. "But you have to activate your special right when you land, or else things will go terribly wrong."
"Maybe I should buy a Splattershot..." Tess mused. "But I like the Splattershot Pro."
"You don't have to," she remarked.
"Well, I'm going to," she resolved. "I have a lot of money from Salmon Run. I have to spend it on something other than rent, bus tickets, and food!"
"Where do you..." Geneva shook her head. "Never mind. Let's get back to the tower."
"Right," Giovanni spoke up. "We must keep fighting."
"Yes, Team Fork will win," Iris agreed. "Team Spoon...will not."
"We'll see," Bonnie snickered. "We'll see."
The group turned into their cephalopod forms and super-jumped back to the Deca Tower, ready for their next match.
A/N: Sorry this is a day late guys. Saturday sucked, and when I was finishing it up on Sunday, I wasn't liking out it was turning out. The weekdays? You can blame the 1.6 update of Genshin Impact for taking up my time. In the end, I moved it to today to see if I could improve on it. I'm still a little iffy on it, but I do think it's better than what it was yesterday. I've been anticipating writing the next chapter, so hopefully it will come out on time next week. Anyways, if you follow any Nintendo-related news, you should know that the E3 direct is tomorrow! I think we should get some Splatoon 3 news; it has been almost four months since it was announced. I'm expecting some gameplay, but a story teaser would be nice. Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow, and I'll see you on Sunday. Branchwing, out!