Chapter 31: City of Color

The concert area lit up with glowing spots everywhere. The lights were of various colors. It was like looking at a starry night with different colored stars. Arisara seemed to be super happy with her plush as the octopus happily clung to the top of it.

"This is so beautiful…" Marie looked around from the stage.


Callie and Adstrum ran toward the stage as fast as their legs could carry them, looking around in awe at the multiple colors that flashed past them. Callie's eyes lit up as she looked at all the firefly squids heads light up in a vast array of colors and shades.

"This is so pretty! I wonder what it looks like from the stage!"

"Well, the faster you get there then the faster you get to see it!" Adstrum yelled at her as they ran past a crowd of firefly inklings of different colors. "Scuse us!"

"Good point!" Callie smiled and turned into a squid, quickly superjumping toward the stage.

"Well, that works." Adstrum laughed before doing the same.


"Look out below!" Callie yelled as she fell toward the stage.

"Huh, hello Callie." Marie caught her.

"Oh, you made it." Shelly popped open her shell.

"Hi Marie! Hi Shelly!" The hyperactive squid in Marie's arms said before jumping up and turning humanoid again. "Hi Arisara!" She waved at the octopus that was on top of the squid plush.

Arisara wiggled her tentacle.

A 'WHOOSH' noise was heard before a loud smack drew everyone's attention to an ink black squid that slammed into the wall of the backstage.

"Yikes... " Shelly looked at him from her laptop.

A loud squeak sound was heard as he slid down the wall. "Ow. Heh. That hurt."

"You okay, Addie?"

"Yep!" Adstrum said as he turned into his humanoid form. "So I'll go get in my spot now, right?"

"Okay, I guess we should get started, right?" Shelly asked.

"This will be fun!" Callie yelled as she ran toward her spot on the stage.

Shelly walked to the front of the lit stage.

"Eleede Valley's Festival of the Sea's day 1 concert! We are proud to bring you the Squid Sisters! Please give them a warm welcome!"

The curtains rose to reveal Callie and Marie standing with their back to the audience before the music kicked in and they turned around, Callie immediately starting off City of Color.

Adstrum immediately put on his headphones and put on different music, his eye twitching from the small moment he heard the Splatfest music.

The glow from the audience intensified as they cheered on Callie and Marie.

Arisara kept snuggling her plushie watching the glowing squids all around her. Shelly kept working on something on her laptop.

Callie smiled over at her cousin as Marie did her solo, happy to be performing with her.

As the song reached its end the Squid Sisters got ready for the next song, Callie sitting down as she recognized Marie's solo song, Tide Goes Out.


Meanwhile, back in the hospital, a certain orange tentacled inkling moved slightly in his sleep as the concert's music was playing over the radio, his face moving slightly before relaxing again.


As Marie's song ended Callie stood up and got ready to perform Bomb Rush Blush, smiling widely and waving to the audience as she got ready.

Adstrum took off his headphones and smiled as Callie started singing. He loved hearing the joy in her voice as she sang.

The crowd changed colors to match her's. They pulsed to the beat.

Callie's eyes lit up and she sang with more energy until the song ended. As it did Marie stood back up and the Squid Sisters began to sing their most famous song, Calamari Inkantation.


As the festival began to die down Callie, Marie, Adstrum, Shelly, and Arisara helped with the cleanup of the stage.

"That was so much fun! The pretty lights and glowing was amazing!" Callie yelled as she helped by picking up a speaker and carried it backstage.

"Sounded like you guys had fun." Adstrum smiled as he pushed another speaker backstage.

"I hope that the next one will be just as fun" Marie smiled.

"Well, the thing is that the next one isn't for another week. Cici told me to let you guys catch up with your family in Calamari Country." Shelly replied

"Oh, yeah! We're going to Calamari County!" Callie's eyes widened and she dropped the speaker, accidentally having it land on a backstage crew member's foot. "Oh, sorry!" She quickly picked it back up.

"We'll be leaving for there tonight, I think." Adstrum said as he came back and grabbed a couple of speaker wires.

"We will be in no rush to leave so your call when you wanna go" Shelly smiled.

Callie nodded and looked over at Marie. "Should we go see Jack one more time? And then Cici?"

"I wanna see them before we leave."

"Okay. Let's quickly finish this up, though."

"We can finish the rest. You guys go see them." Adstrum said as he started pushing another speaker.

"Um, you sure?" Callie asked as she bent down to pick up another speaker.

"I'm sure. Just go."

"Okay. Shall we go, Marie?" She looked over at her cousin.

"Yeah."

"Adstrum. I got this. You go" Arisara took the speaker from him, "They are your friends too."

"Um...okay. You sure?" He asked as he stood up.

"Totally. As a thank you for this plushie."

"Um...okay?"

"Thank you, Ari." Callie smiled and took Adstrum's arm, pulling him away.


They made their way back to the hospital. After talking to the receptionist and getting permission, they went to Jack's room and found him with a breathing mask on his face.

"He's doing just fine." The doctor said. "Should wake up in two days."

"That's good to hear." Callie smiled and placed a hand on Agent 3.

"He's a fighter, that's for sure." Marie seemed relieved.

"Glad to hear that." Adstrum smiled. "Keep on fighting, buddy."

Callie leaned down and rested her head against him, trying to give him a hug without moving him. His arms lifted slightly before falling back down.

Marie petted his tentacles.

His face scrunched up very slightly and he mumbled very quietly.

Adstrum smiled and gently lifted Callie up. "Let's let him recover. We still have Cici to check up on."

Jack's head moved a bit and he let out a few quiet mutters.

"Bye, Jack. We'll see you later." Callie smiled and wiped away a tear.

Marie quietly closed the door behind them.

They made their way to the eastern wing of the hospital. It looked like a psych ward.

"These are the kind of people you'd see in Carti Ridge." Adstrum chuckled as a guy in a straight jacket was pushed by in a wheelchair. "I feel slightly at home."

"Well… whoa…" Marie stared at the scratch marks all over the door and its frame.

Another guy in a straight jacket walked up and screamed in their faces. "Monkey firecracker!"

Adstrum smiled and cleared his throat. "Pickle fish lips!"

The other guy smiled and nodded before walking away.

Callie and Marie looked at Adstrum with eyebrows raised.

"What? In Carti Ridge insanity is almost a second language in the worse parts of town." He chuckled and kept walking.

Marie turned the knob only to have it fall off.

Callie shrugged and pushed the door open. "Maybe people are too scared to come here and fix it up?"

The room was in ruins with Cici handcuffed to the bed, fast asleep.

"Holy shit…" Adstrum's eyes widened.

Callie put a hand to her mouth. "Oh my gosh…"

"Who let people in?! She may still be awake!" The doctor pushed them out.

"HEY! No touchy!" Adstrum shoved the doctor back.

"Addie! Sorry, sir. We're just wanting to check up on our friend." Callie apologized.

"The patient was incredibly dangerous… I'm sorry. I was just startled by you coming behind me."

"Cici?" Adstrum raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry. We just want to see Cici. How is she doing?"

"The room wasn't like this a few hours ago. Our therapy session stroked a nerve and she went ballistic."

"Oh, what did you bring up?"

"She flipped out when we tried to give Mr. Trench his vaccines. She thought we were trying to kill him or something. So we tried to remove her from his room, and she became violent. She attacked nurses and doctors. All those scratches were from her. She continued rampaging in this room until we knocked her out with gas."

"Oh, wow." Callie looked at Marie. "Guess she really likes him?"

"You gassed her? Is that legal?"

"I'm scared of what she'll do when she wakes up." Adstrum nervously chuckled.

"I hope you guys are feeding her and making sure she's hydrated." Callie looked over at the unconscious inkling.

"Of course, we'll keep her on IV. That probably won't help her physically..."

"I hope Jack can help when he wakes up." Adstrum muttered.

"She's too much of a hazard to keep here if her behavior is this violent. We are still looking at suitable asylums."

"Just...please...keep her as long as you can and keep her hydrated." Callie clasped her hands together.

"Very well, but if she behave like this when she wakes up, we are going to send her asap."

"Understood."

"At least she's...here?" Adstrum shrugged. "At least we know how she's doing."

"Yeah…" Marie looked at Cici sleeping on the bed. Her tentacles were as clear as water.

"Doc, please. At least try to feed her something while she's unconscious. I don't know." Adstrum sounded scared.

"Well, yeah. She may be insane, but she still needs food to live."

He bit his lip before looking back down the hallway. "Let's just go, guys. Cici will be just fine. I swear my life on it."

Marie gently held Cici's hands, which seemed slightly transparent too.

Callie hugged Marie as they walked to the exit.

"I guess we should tell Shelly we are ready" Marie suggested.

Author's Note: Well, took me almost two weeks to update again...I'm sorry everyone. Classes are very hard and time consuming this semester. That and I'm sort of running out of pre-written chapters. Me and Apikachua got to write again soon. Hopefully I finish a bunch of homework to do that.

Thank you The Bowser Monster, Guest, GajeSteel, Agent Cherry, and Devil Dude 42 for leaving reviews. I greatly appreciate most of them guys!

Re-read the story if you want to know what happened to Cici, Guest. I'm not going to say what happened.

I'm glad you like Adstrum's love for weapons, Cherry. He just finds them fun.

Glad you liked the flamethrower scene, Devil Dude. I liked writing it.

Alright, I'll see you guys either next week or two weeks from now. Maybe three weeks. Who knows? Just know I will update the fic again. See you all next time!