Anonymous review time!
ika tako gamer: Thank you! I was thinking about anime and how reactions tend to be overexaggerated throughout my writing of the story, especially during the first season, so I could definitely see "The Rainbow Squids" as an anime. Though, if Splatoon does ever get an anime, I'd be interested to see what they would come up with. (And don't worry, it's not strange that you call, assuming you're talking about the inklings on Splatoon 1's cover, the orange inkling woomy and the blue inkling ngyes. I've seen lots of people do that.)
Now, to the story!
Yuri's PoV
The day after the Splatfest, Yuri woke up to not his alarm up, but to the sound of children cheering. He struggled to open his eyes, curled up on his bed. He had been playing into the night—everyone was asleep when he arrived home at his townhouse. Not even his mom noticed his return.
He lifted his head before falling back on the soft pillow. Just give me five more minutes...
Yet, the cheers persisted. With realization, he jolted up, tired eyes wide. He immediately stood up and opened the door, only to be met with two yellow inklings running by. Yasmin was chasing after them, yelling their names.
"York! Yana! Come back- AH!" The yellow inkling slipped on a skateboard, falling to the ground with a thud.
Yuri stepped out into the hallway, still wearing the clothes he wore to the Splatfest yesterday. "Yasmin!" he gasped, helping her up. "Are you OK?"
She rubbed the spot where her nose would be. "...Yeah," she replied after a pause. "I'm good."
York walked over to the skateboard and picked it up. "You didn't see it?" he puzzled. On the top of his head was a blue birthday hat.
"No," she replied. "I was too busy chasing you that I tripped on that. Why was it even if the hallway?!"
"We wanted to skate down the stairs," Yana answered. "York did it with his friend, so why can't we?"
"Huh? Skate down the stairs?" Yuri repeated. "What? No! You could get hurt!"
"But it's fresh!" York whined.
"I..." The spiky-haired boy closed his mouth, pondering what to say. He didn't want to deny his brother from being fresh, but he didn't him or any of his siblings to get hurt, either.
"See! You think it's fresh, too!" the little girl concluded.
"I didn't say anything!" he blurted out.
"He thinks it's fresh!" Yana teased. York started jumping up and down, causing Yuri to lift the skateboard higher.
"No, I don't!" he defended. "If you wanna skate, do it outside!"
"That's not fun," the little boy muttered, frowning.
"Instead..." A smile crossed the dark-skinned inkling's lips. "How about a birthday party!"
"A birthday party?! But I didn't invite anyone!" Yana exclaimed, bewildered.
"Me neither," York added.
"We can just have it with my friends," he suggested.
"Uh..." The twins looked at each other before looking up at the older inkling. "OK," they both said.
"Great!" he cheered. "I'm gonna go call the Rainbow Squids right now!"
Yuri ran down the stairs to check what time it was. It was just after 8 AM, which explained why he couldn't see his mother at all. She left for work at 7 AM. He looked at his phone, the time reflected on the screen.
Maybe later, he concluded.
He went upstairs to the bathroom so he could take a shower. A half hour later, he came out wearing his usual black v-neck tee, some denim shorts, and yellow sandals. A towel draping around his neck, he grabbed his phone and walked back down to the kitchen, pulling up a stool and leaning over the counter. He pulled up the Rainbow Squids group chat and started to type up an invitation.
After Yuri tapped the send button, the doorbell suddenly rang. Huh? Who's here?
He jumped out of his seat and walked over to the door. Opening it, he was met a familiar set of faces—Patch, Tackle, and Zip. They stood on the steps, with the boy with the bowl cut holding a box containing a birthday cake with yellow and purple icing. Instead of being happy, though, Yuri stepped back in alarm, eyes wide with surprise. He forgot he invited them too!
"H-Hi!" he quickly greeted them.
"Hi," replied Patch. "Like the cake? Zip made it."
"You didn't have to say that..." the almond-skinned boy grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Can we come in?" Tackle asked.
"Uh, yeah!" Yuri stepped out of the way, allowing the group to enter. Maybe York and Yana can have two cakes instead of one... No, that's kind of unhealthy.
As they walked inside, Yasmin looked up from the couch. "Who are they?"
"These are my friends," the yellow-haired boy remarked with a nervous smile. He bowed as he gestured to the boys. "Yasmin, meet Patch, Tackle, and Zip. Patch, Tackle, and Zip, meet my sister, Yasmin. Though, uh, Patch and Tackle already know you."
"Wow," the boy with the bowl cut muttered. "Your sister's grown since I last saw her."
"Of course she's grown," Tackle snapped. "It's been eight years since we last saw her."
The yellow inkling shrugged and returned her attention to her phone.
"Be nice..." the spiky-haired boy scolded her.
Yasmin lowered her phone, scowling. "Uh...nice to meet you."
Patch looked over at Yuri. "Where do you want me to put the cake?"
"I'll show you." He directed his friend to the kitchen, gesturing to the empty counter. The pink-haired inkling set down the cake, while the yellow-haired inkling proceeded to throw a beige cover over the box. He gave a thumbs-up to Patch, and the boy proceeded to pat him on the back. They walked to the couch, where Zip and Tackle were sitting.
His younger sister looked over at the group. "Is that your boyfriend?" she asked Yuri.
"Who?" He tilted his head, confused.
"The guy with the fishing hat," she clarified.
"Patch? No," he replied. "He's just a friend." Though I wouldn't mind it, he found himself thinking. Just not now.
"Oh." She frowned. "OK." She returned her attention to her phone.
"Does she ever go off that thing?" Tackle whispered to him.
"Occasionally," he answered. Louder, he asked the group, "Did any of you bring other birthday stuff? Like presents?"
"Isn't just being here enough?" the honey-skinned boy retorted.
"Well, the twins are probably expecting presents."
"You...never sent us a birthday list," Zip pointed out.
"Hope they like cake," Patch snickered. "Else they'll go through their terrible twos again."
"They love cake," Yasmin interjected. "They'll eat all of it if you don't hide it."
"Well, why not go out and buy some presents?" he proposed. Yuri walked back to the kitchen and removed two pieces of paper from the front of the refrigerator. He returned to the living room and handed Patch the lists. "Use these."
"You're not coming with us?" the pink-haired boy questioned.
"Nah, I gotta watch over my little brother and sisters," he explained. "Don't want them getting into trouble."
"Makes sense," Tackle remarked. He stood up, and so did the other two inklings. "Let's go."
"Bye Studio," Patch called as they exited the house. "Don't eat the cake."
After they left, Yuri let out a sigh of relief. He had more time to figure out what he was going to do with both the group from East Inkopolis and the Rainbow Squids coming to his house. He did have a backyard...perhaps he could throw the party out there? He searched up the forecast, and as he expected, it was going to be clear the entire day. At least they could relax in the sun.
He walked back to the kitchen and started pacing around, lost in thought. He was stopped at York's voice. He perked up before looking down at the young boy.
"What's under that sheet?" he asked, pointing to the cake.
"You'll see later," he replied. "Now, uh, go play Keeplier or something."
"But what if Mom bought me clam bucks?" he countered.
"You can play it later, too."
York huffed. "I'm playing InkKart!" He stomped away, puckering his lips.
The spiky-haired boy gave a chuckle and walked outside. The backyard was rather small, white fencing surrounding it. On the pavement was a small white table and a few chairs. He grabbed them and pulled them into the grass. He went back inside to grab a colorful beach umbrella, which he unfolded and leaned against the table, shading it slightly. After he finished, he stepped back onto the pavement and put his hands on his hips. A job well done, he supposed. Now, it was time to wait.
About an hour or two later, the doorbell rang again. He gulped, hoping it was his friends from East Inkopolis and not the Rainbow Squids. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the three inklings in the doorway, holding bags of presents.
"We're back," Patch announced, gesturing to the bags. "We all pitched in for this one."
"Fresh," Yuri remarked. "What did ya buy?"
"Everything on the list," Zip interjected bluntly.
Yuri took a step back, eyes wide. "Woah woah woah, everything?!"
"Except the games," Tackle added. "We figured your mom bought those."
"Yeah, might as well make them happy," the boy with the ponytail finished.
"Well, uh..." The yellow-haired boy rubbed the back of his head. "Put the gifts next to the cake."
They followed his instructions, and after the gifts were set down, they returned to the living room, where they proceeded to chat.
"Did you like, spend your life savings on them?" Yuri pondered, still surprised at their words. "That's a lot of stuff..."
"My mom has a lot of money," Zip explained. "It's left over from her days of doing ink battles in the eighties. So, she's given me quite a bit of it." He sighed. "Yet, she still won't let me..." He trailed off with a frown, eyes heavy.
Underneath his helmet, Tackle's brows knitted together. "That sucks," he muttered.
"Yeah..." he agreed. "Can we talk about something else? This is supposed to be a happy day."
"Sorry," the spiky-haired boy apologized.
"It's fine," Zip assured him. "I just started thinking about that, that's all."
"Now, I got a question," Patch started, sitting up. "Is anyone else comin'?"
Might as well tell them now, Yuri thought. "The Rainbow Squids are! Y'know, my team?"
"Who's on that again?" the honey-skinned boy inquired. "I know there's Perry, Inigo, Bonnie..."
"There's more than that," added the boy with the bowl cut. "I've seen them on Squidsagram. There's also Roy, Octavia, Alexis, and Geneva."
"Alexis was supposed to be temporary," Yuri supplemented. "Though, I guess she's here to stay. It would be weird without her now."
"I see," the almond-skinned boy merely murmured. "Eugh, now I'm thinking of the seventh grade school dance," he stated with a shudder.
"W-What happened at the seventh grade school dance?"
"I-" His voice cut off as the doorbell suddenly rung, and he shook his head. "I'll tell you later."
Yuri stood up from the couch. "That must be them," he proclaimed. He started running over to the door and opened it.
"Hey, Yuri," Perry greeted, sticking his tongue out as he winked. "We're here."
"All of you?"
"Yep, all of us." The inklings filtered into the house, and the yellow-haired inkling did a head-count. His purple-haired friend was right, every member of the Rainbow Squids was here. This time, Geneva held a cake, though this one was slathered in chocolate icing.
"Wow," he gasped. "I didn't think you squids would all come!"
"I didn't have anything planned," Via pointed out. The others murmured in agreement.
"I made a cake," the long-haired girl explained. "Which is why it took a while for us to get here."
"We also had to go out and buy birthday presents," Bonnie added, holding up a box-shaped gift. "We even wrapped them!"
"We bought one gift each," Inigo finished. "Just like we normally do for birthdays."
"Thanks a lot, you guys," Yuri remarked, smiling. "Follow me. I'll show you where to put everything."
They walked back to the kitchen, the group becoming puzzled upon sight of the first cake and the gift bags.
"Who made the yellow cake?" Alexis asked. "Looks good."
"Uh..." Yuri gave a nervous laugh. "Ya see, my friends from East Inkopolis are here, too."
"Heyo," Patch greeted from the living room couch, directing the Rainbow Squids' attention to him.
Roy returned his attention to the spiky-haired inkling, annoyed. "Ya didn't tell us?"
"I forgot, OK!" he defended himself. "I swear!"
Geneva sighed and put her cake down on the counter, using the cover on the first cake to cover hers as well. She started calling York's name, only to get an angry response from him. She shook her head, disappointed. Octavia had started to call Yana's name, and she was quick to arrive. Red lipstick was apparent on her lips.
"There's one twin," Inigo commented. "Where's the other?"
A few minutes later, York stomped into the room, crossing his arms. "I lost the InkKart race! A hacker sped past me! It wasn't fair!"
Yuri smiled. "Maybe they're just better at the game than you?"
"No, I'm super good at the game!" he argued. "There's no way he could've beaten me!"
At the comment, the indigo-haired inkling dug his face into his hand. "Why am I not surprised..."
"Anyways..." Yuri took the blanket off of the cakes, causing the twins' eyes to go wide. "Ta da!" They started jumping up and down, trying to reach for the cake. Patch walked over and grabbed his cake, while Geneva grabbed her cake. "Ya can't have it yet! Wait until we get outside!"
"Outside!" Yana exclaimed. "Yay, outside!"
"Aw, I wanted to play Super Smash Bros..." York whined.
"Play it later, then," Patch suggested. "You can smash any time, but ya can't eat cake any time."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," the little boy conceded.
"Let's go!" Yuri cheered, pumping a fist.
Grabbing the presents, everyone walked outside. Yasmin arrived a little later than everyone else did, holding her own gift. They placed the cakes on the table and set the presents off to the side. The twins sat down, adjusting their birthday hats. Zip pulled out a candle depicting a nine and placed it on the center of the squids from East Inkopolis's cake, while Geneva pulled out nine thin candles and placed them around the perimeter of the Rainbow Squids' cake. Yuri lit them, and they proceeded to sing happy birthday.
"Make a wish!" Alexis enthused.
Yana closed her eyes and took a deep breath, soon blowing out all the candles. York stared at her for a few seconds before blowing on the candles himself, dispersing the smoke that hovered over the cakes. Yana opened her eyes and threw her arms up in the air, cheering.
"Alright, now let's eat!" Yuri announced. He walked back inside to grab a knife, coming back outside with it a few seconds later to cut the cake. He let the twins choose what cake they wanted to eat. Yana ate the yellow cake, while York ate the chocolate cake. He served a slice to Yasmin, then a slice to himself, before letting the rest of the inklings present cut their own pieces of the cake.
Perry and Yuri sat down next to each other, eating the yellow cake. "Wow," the former remarked, some crumbs falling out of his mouth. "This is superfresh. Who made this?"
"Uh... My friends from East Inkopolis bought it from the store," the latter lied, remembering Zip's reaction to Patch revealing that he made the cake.
"Well, this store cake is better than any other store cake I've eaten," he commented. "Kudos to the chef!"
Yuri gave a small laugh. They continued eating their cake, with York and Yana eating multiple slices. After York attempted to get a fourth slice, Yuri slid the cakes away from the twins.
"You can eat more later," he told them.
"Aw, but it's my birthday!" York whined.
"Yeah, but Mom will be mad if you eat too much," he pointed out.
"Oh..."
"Present time!" Roy declared, holding up his gift bag. Perry helped Yuri put the cakes away, while the others brought out their gifts and placed them on the table. When they returned outside, the twins were already trying to take out the contents. Via grabbed the bags and held them up, much to their disappointment.
"Now we can open them," the spiky-haired boy announced.
"Yay!" Yana cheered. "I'm the older twin; I'm going first!" She grabbed a glittery red bag and took the gift out. In her hand was a sketchbook. "Uh..."
"You draw in it," Roy explained. "With a pencil."
"Oh... OK." She set it off to the side.
"Me next!" York declared. He grabbed the big bag that contained the gifts the squids from East Inkopolis bought.
"Hey!" the little girl complained. "That's the biggest one!"
"Yeah, and you start with the biggest one first," the boy jested. He opened the bag and started taking out the contents, his yellow eyes wide with wonder. "Wow! A monster truck! A Flying Squid action figure! And a SuperSquid action figure, too! And... Holy carp! Clam bucks! Now I can buy the Pearl skin in Keeplier!"
"A Pearl skin?" Perry whispered to Yuri. "Your brother's got good taste."
"Say thank you to Patch, Tackle, and Zip," the yellow-haired boy then told his brother.
"Huh...?" Zip raised a hand and waved it. "Oh! Thank you, Patch, Tackle, and Zip."
"You're welcome," the boy with the bowl cut said, smirking.
"Now I'm opening the big bag!" Yana announced. She opened it again recited the contents. "Ooh, Pearl and Marina dolls! And Princess Seapony PJs! Oh, and a Princess Seapony coloring book! And Princess Seapony mac and cheese!" She leaped up and hugged Patch. "That's from you, right? Thank you!"
He patted her head. "Again, no problem."
The twins continued opening gifts, and thankfully, they liked them all. Yana went around hugging everyone, while York had immediately took his Clam Bucks card and ran inside the house to redeem the code on the back. Yuri crossed his arms, smiling.
He turned to the group and said, "Thanks you squids for coming." He grinned. "I think you just made their year."
"No prob, Yuri," Geneva responded, pumping a fist. "Always fun hanging out with you."
"Yeah, and we got to see your siblings for once, too," Inigo agreed.
Tackle chuckled. "We also got to see your other friends," the honey-skinned boy added. His friends nodded in agreement.
Perry's phone rang, and he took it out of his pocket. "Oh, Splat Zones is the ranked mode right now!" he revealed. "Gotta do some matches and get my rank up. See ya, Yuri."
"I'll go with him," Alexis interjected. "Bye."
"Bye!"
After the two inklings left, Yuri walked inside and put his hands on his hips.
Well, things didn't go nearly as bad as he thought. That, he could take comfort in.
A/N: Now, I was excited for this chapter, but turns out I'm not liking it as well as I thought as I would. Oh well, I'm sure you guys can see the good in this chapter. You do tend to be your own worst critic sometimes. I hope you guys can infer some things mentioned in the chapter, though. It shouldn't be hard to figure out. About E3... We got nothing regarding Splatoon 3. Sad. But at least BOTW2 and Metroid Dread exists, for those who are fans of those franchises. I'm personally excited for the new Super Monkey Ball game, since I played it a lot as a kid. We'll get Splatoon 3 another day, then. Branchwing, out.