Anonymous reviews:
ika tako gamer: Well, at least Chicken vs. Egg is a question people ask. Fork vs. Spoon and the toilet paper Splatfest... Now those are weird themes. (Fun fact: A lot of themes in Japan are food-related, especially in Splatoon 1. Interesting...) As for how long a 1000% Octo Expansion speedrun would take? I've said before that it took me a year to complete it, and that was playing the game normally. Looking up speedruns, I did find someone who fully completed all stations with all weapons, plus IA3 in about six hours and forty minutes. That's a lot! I don't think I can manage that.
As for the second question, I did decline them. I want to keep every character in this story original and made by me. I might reference a SplatTuber or two eventually (with a spoof name, as with most things with real life counterparts (ex. Squidsagram is Instagram, Bubblify is Spotify, Keeplier is Fortnite) in this story, or possibly just a description of their main inkling), but I haven't found a place to do so yet.
Well, on with the story.
Inigo's PoV
"Never knew there were so many rooms here," Inigo remarked, trudging through the musty halls below the Grizzco boat's deck in his uniform. His hand was clasped together with Naomi's as she guided him, fingers intertwined.
"Yep! I know just about every room here," she chirped.
"How come?" he asked her, eyebrows raised in curiosity.
"Well, I get bored a lot when it's sailing to salmonid territory. So I try to figure out all the rooms down here!" They stopped in front of a door, and she pushed it open. Immediately, a strange smell hit his senses. Just what happened down here? "This one's a bedroom it looks like!"
They stepped inside of the room, confirming Naomi's words. The bedroom was rather simple, consisting of a large bed with multiple stains on it, two ruined dressers, and a cracked mirror. The walls had graffiti drawn on them, the contents of them varying greatly.
"Looks horrific," he remarked.
The olive-skinned inkling did a snort-laugh. "Yeah, of course it does! No one's bothered to clean it up! Not like we would clean it up in the first place."
"I hope it was well-kept when whoever owned this boat still used it," the fair-skinned inkling murmured.
"Probably. No one wants to sleep in something so abhorrent. Not even if they were an Octarian." Inigo simply nodded in agreement. "C'mon." Naomi grabbed his hand. "Lemme show you another room!"
She pulled him out of the bedroom, and the two traveled the halls together, to an unknown destination. They stopped in front of two large doors colored a light green, which she proceeded to push open. Inside were boxes upon boxes, some stacked on some shelves, while others were scattered around the large room. He spotted some useful things inside the boxes—life preserves, uniforms, spare weapons, et cetera. There was only one conclusion as to what this room could be: a storage room.
"Wow," was the only word he found himself able to say. He didn't think there was any use for a storage room here, but he guessed he shouldn't be surprised.
"Neat, right?" Naomi said. "Me and Wyatt used to make out here sometimes."
Inigo blinked. "Wyatt does Salmon Runs?"
"Of course! Who doesn't do Salmon Run?"
I can name a few people, he thought of a retort. "Do you wanna make out?" he asked instead, the thought coming to mind.
"Eh..." She rubbed her neck. "I wanna keep exploring."
"So... That's a no."
"Yeah." She frowned. "Sorry."
"It's OK, it's OK. Besides, I think we would get left behind if we started making out anyways." He gave a half-hearted laugh. Why did I forget that? "And our coworkers would be mad if we left them behind."
"True, true. Shall we go check up on them?"
"If you insist."
They started walking through the halls again, hands held together. Of course, Naomi led the way. She knew this place better than anyone. From unfamiliar hallways to familiar ones, he soon found himself more and more confident as they got closer to the stairs leading up to the deck. They let their hands go to climb up it, and immediately, orange light filtered through the doorway. They were getting close; he could feel it.
Standing by the railing were their coworkers for this shift. One was a fair-skinned inkling boy with green eyes and his hair in a ponytail. For a moment, he thought that squid was Asher, but upon closer inspection, it was a different person—his shoulders weren't as broad as Asher's, his eyes were a different shade of green, and he wasn't smiling, either—Geneva's brother did have a habit of putting on a smile and brushing things off like everything was fine.
Speaking of Asher, he hadn't seen him in months. I wonder how he's doing. He figured he should give him a visit after this shift...but Asher didn't know he was the Vigilante back then. How would he react if he showed up now?
The other inkling had tan skin and hair styled into a bowl cut, a hand on his chin. He noticed the newcomers first, giving a light punch on his shoulder to let the boy he was talking to know.
"Hey, the others are back," the tan-skinned inkling remarked. He scanned them, and then his eyes widened as he focused on Naomi. "Hey, didn't you date the Vigilante?"
"Yeah, I did," she confirmed. "What about it?"
"We were just talkin' 'bout him, actually," he revealed. "Forrest had a crush on him back when he first became popular, and my ex dumped me to date him. They broke up two days later! Seriously, I don't understand girls sometimes..."
"Did you really have to mention it to some randos..." the other inkling, Forrest, groaned. However, he quickly perked up when he saw Inigo. "Hey, weren't you in the Deca Tournament last year?" he asked, pointing at the indigo-haired boy.
"Yeah, I was," he replied, taken aback. "You remember who was in that?"
"I mean, half of your team got second place." He rubbed his shoulder. "And my team lost to them in the semi-finals, so...yeah."
"I see."
"You two friends?" Naomi asked them, pointing at the two of them.
"Yeah." The boy with the bowl cut threw an arm around his friend. "I met him last year during a Splatfest. He's in the grade above me, and we go to different schools, but we hang out sometimes." After he finished, he closed his eyes and gave a wry smile. "You're a senior, right? So you'd be the same age as Forrest."
"Fresh. And yeah, I am a senior." She put her hands on her hips. "Inigo's a senior, too." The indigo-eyed inkling nodded in confirmation.
"I figured..." The tan-skinned boy leaned against the railing. "I'm the youngest... Dang."
"Well, you might still be good," he tried to cheer him up. "My friend's sister is a sophomore, and she's really good at battling. Better than most of my team, in fact."
"Eh, I'm only good at Salmon Run. I'm literally B-ranked in every mode."
Inigo sighed. "If you say so."
Forrest turned around, looking out into the distance. "Hey, I can see Salmonid Smokeyard."
"Booyah!" Naomi pumped a fist, changing her ink color to match the two boys: a nice shade of orange. Inigo proceeded to follow. "It's egg-catching time!"
The boat came to a stop a few minutes later, allowing the group to super-jump to their next location. They landed around a metal platform with the Grizzco Industries logo on the top of it, and emerged in their kid forms a few moments later. Inigo felt the weapon in his hands. From how it tapered, he guessed it was a Squeezer, and looking down at the weapon confirmed it.
Naomi opened the canopy of her Splat Brella and lifted it above her head, twirling it around. Her yellow-green eyes drifted over to Inigo, and he felt his heart skip a beat. Despite usually being energetic, Naomi could be quite graceful when the situation called. Perhaps that was what attracted him to her.
"Hey, we gotta focus," the tan-skinned inkling scolded her. "The wave's 'bout to start!"
"Alright." She lowered the brella and closed the canopy. "It's time for battle!" she then declared.
A fog horn sounded, and immediately, Inigo pressed down on the trigger of the Squeezer, the weapon making a popping sound as it changed from its semi-automatic mode to its automatic mode. He started walking to down to the beach, only to realize that the water had risen. It was high tide. A chum leaped out of the water and tackled him, spreading its green ink onto him and causing him to fall on his back. He quickly aimed the squeezer and pressed the trigger twice times, splatting the chum.
Quickly, more lesser salmonids rose from the depths, surrounding a Steelhead. Inigo turned into a squid and swam back to get some distance between them and reformed so that he could attack. On the ramp, the Steelhead made a grunting sound as the bomb on the top of its head began to expand. He looked up and aimed his Squeezer up at the bomb, but there wasn't enough damage to splat it. He scrambled backwards as the boss salmonid launched the bomb, landing where he once stood. It glowed as it expanded, spreading green ink everywhere.
Though the situation may seem tricky now, Inigo was confident that he could take out the Steelhead the next time it tried to lob a bomb at him. ...He just had to get close to it first. Thankfully, Naomi stepped in front of him and fired her Splat Brella, spending the canopy out to push back lesser salmonids, leaving an orange trail for him to approach. The boss salmonid took a few steps forward and grunted again, the bomb forming once more. Together, the couple attacked the bomb on its head, causing it to explode in a puddle of orange ink, three golden eggs floating down to the ground from where it once stood. They dashed over to the eggs and grabbed them, placing them inside the egg basket.
They couldn't rest yet, though. Inigo heard whirring above him, looking up to find that a Flyfish had arrived. Behind him, more fans whirred, and he took a look over his shoulder to find Forrest rolling off of the propeller lift, tossing an egg in before rolling back on it, standing back up and twirling one of his Dapple Dualies around his finger. He turned his attention back onto the Flyfish. The crates opened, and it fired, green missiles shooting into the sky.
"Bomb, now!" he demanded, pulling out a splat bomb. He tossed it into the crate, blowing it up.
Naomi made a throwing motion, but she quickly realized what was wrong, lowering her hand to look at it. "I don't have enough ink."
It was then a Sting Ray cut through between them, angled towards Inigo. He winced as the green beam pierced his body, paralyzing him with pain. A normal Sting Ray from an inkling already hurt, why did Stingers' Sting Rays have to hurt even more? He tried his best to dance around it, but he couldn't keep it up forever, especially with the threat of more salmonids and the Flyfish looming over him. He glanced over at Naomi and pointed at the Flyfish, motioning for her to throw a bomb at the other crate. It took a few tries for her to understand, but at last, she was able to throw a splat bomb at the Flyfish, bringing it down, but not before it was able to send another batch of missiles towards the two. One slammed into Inigo's back, causing him to splat.
A life preserver holding a pool of orange ink emerged from where he had splatted, a small squid-shaped ghost bobbing around in it. Inigo inched towards Naomi, who was bringing eggs to the basket, jumping up-and-down to try to get her attention. He attempted to cry for help, but his voice was too quiet to be heard. Eventually, Naomi swung her head around, eyes wide. She fired a shot from her brella, reviving Inigo. He stretched as he regained his body, getting a feel for his weapon again. Now, the battle could continue.
Thankfully, their other coworkers had dealt with the Stinger attacking them earlier, but now another Stinger emerged from the water, this time on Inigo and Naomi's side. The former was quick to react, rushing towards the boss salmonid and pressing the trigger on the Squeezer rapidly. The Stinger fell, allowing him to collect the eggs. However, their pursuit wasn't over yet—a Steel Eel was now climbing out of the water, orange eyes glowing.
Inigo popped a golden egg into the basket as he watched the Steel Eel emerge, maneuvering itself towards Naomi as she backed up onto the grate. Her heel hit the edge of the grate, and she faltered, eyes scanning the area for what to do.
I have to save her! He rushed towards the pilot of the boss salmonid, firing his Squeezer. The pilot's bulging eyes risked a glance over at him, setting the Steel Eel off course briefly. It rolled its eyes and scoffed, focusing on splatting Naomi once more. The olive-skinned inkling seemed to grow smaller, thinning her lips and closing her eyes. The pilot became covered in more and more orange ink as it neared her, and Inigo felt dread seep in, worrying that he wouldn't be able to save her.
At last, the pilot blew up into orange ink, causing the Steel Eel to collapse, crushing some smallfries under the weight of metal. Naomi opened her eyes and cheered as she bounded back over to Inigo, grabbing the golden eggs left behind. She kissed his cheek before patrolling their side of the area once more, her resolve renewed.
Forrest stumbled onto their platform, a golden egg attached to his ink tank. He could see the shape of a Drizzler fly over them, landing on a raised platform behind them. The boy with green eyes tossed the egg into the basket before being knocked off the platform by an incoming cohock, causing him to dissolve into a cloud of orange ink. Inigo proceeded to direct Naomi to deal with the Drizzler. While its Ink Storm rained over them, he splatted the cohock and revived his coworker once his life preserver popped up. Forrest simply thanked him and hopped on the propeller lift again, inking it so that he could reach the other side.
After the green-eyed boy reached the other side, the boy with the bowl cut hopped on the propeller lift in his place, looking up and shooting at the torpedo the Drizzler shot with his Rapid Blaster while he waited for the propeller lift to return to its resting position. The torpedo fell into the water, neutralizing it. Finally, the boy with the bowl cut placed a golden egg into the basket before returning to the other side again. Afterwards, Inigo proceeded to join Naomi in taking down the Drizzler. It was mostly covered in orange ink by the time it hid under its umbrella shield again, flying into the air. With the salmonid exposed, he fired his Squeezer at it from underneath it, causing it to splat and reveal three golden eggs. Together, they placed the eggs it dropped into the egg basket, giving each other a high-five.
The rest of the wave went smoothly, with the two groups cooperating to clear both sides of the Salmonid Smokeyard. It was rare to see a group work this well together. Usually when Inigo participated in a Salmon Run, high tide on Salmonid Smokeyard felt like he was being punished for every single bad thing he had ever done. It was rare that he was able to win in this situation.
When the salmonids began to retreat, Inigo turned into a squid and super-jumped back around the egg basket, allowing himself to recover before the next wave began. He emerged a few seconds later, his new weapon light in his hands. He looked down to find that he now had a Rapid Blaster. It wasn't the worst weapon, but he didn't like blasters in the first place. He would manage, though.
The water began to recede, revealing some docks out in the distance. Realizing where the salmonids were going to attack this wave, Inigo used the Rapid Blaster to ink a trail towards the docks, calling for his coworkers to follow. As soon as they got down to the egg basket, however, fog started to gather, a chill crawling down the indigo-eyed boy's back. He had a bad feeling about this...
"Smells like a school of salmonids have spawned by the shoreline," Mr. Grizz's voice commented. "Curse this fog..."
Soon enough, a fog horn sounded. "Stay together," Inigo advised. "We can't risk getting separated."
"Nah." Naomi started heading off towards the right side of the dock. "I think we'll get more if we spread out."
"Wha- Naomi!" He started running after her, but she was already out of sight. He turned to his other coworkers and scowled. "You squids seriously don't think that's a good idea, do you?"
"I mean, she has a point," the boy with the bowl cut argued.
"I-I'd rather stay together," Forrest muttered, looking around. "This fog looks terrible..."
Inigo fixed his hat. "Since Naomi went to the right, we'll go the right." He gestured for the boys to follow him, and the trio went further and further from the egg basket, soon coming in view of the shoreline. Lesser salmonids hopped out of the water, slithering towards them. However, they were no match for them. With their combined power, the salmonids quickly fell, save for some smallfries who were crossing the grated bridge over to the other side. Inigo started to cross it when a Scrapper emerged from the water, blocking his path. He ran back over to the right side, and the Scrapper followed, allowing his team to attack it from behind while he attacked it from the front. Its shield broke, causing the vehicle to break down, but it couldn't withstand much more damage—it splatted a second later, leaving behind three golden eggs. They grabbed it and swam back to the egg basket.
At the egg basket, Inigo recognized someone. Naomi popped an egg into the basket and swam off again, this time to the left side. Determined to meet her again, he started swimming faster, but she was gone by the time he arrived. He cursed to himself and placed a golden egg into the basket. He raised the Rapid Blaster in the air and pointed it out towards the left side of the docks, signaling for the boys to follow him.
Once again, he couldn't see Naomi. And it felt like the fog was getting even thicker. He could barely see in front of him! He glanced behind him. He could still see Forrest and his friend, but they were rather hazy from what he could see.
A pair of orange lights shone through the fog. The indigo-eyed inkling readied his weapon. A Steel Eel. But which direction would it take? It slithered past them, leaving him to conclude that it was targeting Naomi. After he could see the pilot, he started running after it, firing his Rapid Blaster, and soon he was joined by Forrest. The inkling with the bowl cut launched the canopy of the Splat Brella behind him and proceeded to attack the pilot with the others. Quickly, the Steel Eel collapsed, allowing for three golden eggs to be collected. They put the eggs into the egg basket, but Naomi was still nowhere to be seen. Inigo crouched down to look at the quota. They needed 16 eggs. Right now, there were 9 in the basket.
It's still early, he reminded himself. We have time.
"Help!" someone then called, snapping Inigo's attention to the voice. Naomi!
"I'm coming!" he replied, running towards the source. His coworkers started calling his name, but he didn't care. He had to revive Naomi. He reckoned she would be mad if he didn't.
Unfortunately, the fog only seemed to grow thicker. "Naomi?" he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Are you there?"
No answer.
"Naomi...!" He continued running, only stopping himself when he reached the edge of the docks. Water lapped at the edge, and he could see his faint reflection in the green waves. Strangely enough, he couldn't see or hear any salmonids. "...Naomi?" He walked around some more. Then, he stopped. It was too dangerous right now—the fog became so thick that even extending his hand out in front of him made it seem hazy. Besides, he didn't want to accidently fall into water.
"Naomi!" he tried calling her name again. "I'm over here!"
When he didn't hear a word from her, he threw his hands down and sighed. She was probably revived by now. Meaning he separated himself from the group for nothing.
"...You're scared."
He lifted his head. Who was that voice...? He could tell the speaker wasn't from Inkopolis, yet they seemed fluent in Inkling.
"You want to find your friend, but why?" the voice challenged. "You can handle this alone."
"She's not just my friend," he countered. "She's my girlfriend. I have to keep her safe."
"She can handle herself," they argued. "As can any other person. Do you just need someone to protect? Is that why you're scared?"
He growled, pulling out the Rapid Blaster and clenching the handle. "I'm not scared." Yet, something in the back of his mind told him they were right. He didn't want to lose Naomi. Especially after Geneva stopped talking to him. He couldn't bear losing another friend.
"That's what a scared person would say," they snarled. "There's a lot on your mind... It's clear on your face. Yet, you seem to be set on a single track—find her. You're ignoring the twisted hunt your kind partakes in just to find one girl."
He took a few steps back, narrowing his eyes and gritting his teeth. A golden light shone through the thick of the fog. A Goldie.
"Everything withers away eventually," the voice continued. "You must make the most of your life, and accept loss when it arrives. You can't hold onto everything forever."
"Stop," Inigo demanded, taking a few steps towards the Goldie, aiming his Rapid Blaster at it as tears pricked his eyes. "Stop reminding me of that bullfish."
"If you ignore it...then you'll just bring yourself down some more," they replied. Meanwhile, the Goldie lurked closer. It was then he noticed something off about this boss salmonid—a long, thin scar ran across its face, reaching down to the base of its neck. Inigo fired a shot at it, but it simply shrugged it off. "You really are truly consumed by your selfishness, I suppose." As the voice spoke, the Goldie's mouth moved.
...The voice was coming from the Goldie? What did they know about him? Sure, they may be excellent at reading him, but they still couldn't get into his head. Only he and he alone knew himself best.
They raised the frying pan they held and smacked on Inigo's shoulder, knocking his weapon out of his hands and nearly causing him to fall into the water. He glanced to his side as the Rapid Blaster sank into the water, orange ink escaping from the barrel. Eyes wide, he returned his attention to the Goldie. They swung their pan again, splatting Inigo at last. They stared at them for a few moments before jumping back into the water, the fog starting to clear.
When he could see again, he realized that they had failed the match. He felt himself flying back to the boat, landing on a spawn point with the rest of his coworkers. He respawned, turning back into a kid. He looked at the boys, who weren't too happy.
"Why'd ya run off?" the boy with the bowl cut complained. "We could've won if not for you!"
"I was trying to find Naomi," he defended, crossing his arms.
"You didn't have to come after me," she tried to comfort him. "I would've found my way back, and everything would've been fine!"
"You were crying out for help," he pointed out, swinging around to look at her. "I couldn't just leave you there!"
The olive-skinned inkling rubbed her head. "It was really foggy..."
"Yeah, that was the most fog I've ever seen," Forrest admitted.
"Actually..." Inigo put a hand on his chin and started to pace around the deck as the boat departed from the Salmonid Smokeyard. "I saw a really weird Goldie when I ran out. They had a scar on their face, and they could speak Inkling." He leaned against the railing and sighed. "And then they started to spout a bunch of BS. It was stupid."
"A Goldie with a scar on their face?" Naomi spoke up. "I've heard of that."
He straightened. "You have?"
"Mhm." She nodded. "They call them the Lurker. Because of how they show up during thick fog and lurk around, usually isolating one inkling and splatting them before leaving. No one's been able to splat them."
"And you're saying they did that to me today."
"Yep, pretty much. Kinda want to see it one day."
"Maybe if we all team up and come across this 'Lurker' again, we can finally splat them," the boy with the bowl cut commented, giving a toothy smirk.
"She literally said they isolate inklings," Inigo argued. "I don't think we can."
"Anyways..." Naomi took her place next to him at the railing. "Wanna to do some more Salmon Runs?"
"I don't think I can," he admitted, gripping his head. "Especially after...that."
"Aw... OK." She pouted. "Next time, then."
"Yeah," he assured her. "Next time."
He looked up at the sky as they sailed back to Inkopolis. Even with how much he hated to hear the Lurker's words, he can't deny that there was some truth to them. He just didn't want to admit it.
...He was going to have nightmares tonight for sure.
A/N: A good way to develop characters is to place them in unfamiliar situations and see how they would react. That's pretty much what happened here: Inigo was placed in an unfamiliar situation (being isolated from the rest of his coworkers during fog), and he was forced to hear a hostile entity judge him. The Lurker may be a good judge of character, but they don't get everything right. I'm quite certain Season 1 Inigo would've reacted differently to them. Being the Vigilante did change him quite a bit. The next chapter is also kind of similar - Perry is placed in a unfamiliar situation, but unlike the Lurker, the character Perry meets in the next chapter is friendly. Now that you got that tidbit... See you next week, and Branchwing, out!