Chapter 46: Food Truck
"Well, I hope the shopkeepers found new places to set up shop." Callie said as she looked at the now boarded up stores. She looked around the plaza and noticed multiple differences since she was gone. Inkopolis Tower had lots of Caution Tape covering the door and speakers. The shops were all boarded up, with the exception of the Ammo Knights, which had its door wide open. That strange, glass box that sat in a back corner was no longer there. She hadn't even gone up the ramp to the window of her and Marie's old studio yet.
"Heh. Even Spike's not in his alleyway anymore." Adstrum said as he walked out of said alleyway.
Cici walked into the Ammo Knights, with Jack following in after her.
"Something you looking for?" He asked her.
"Heh" She was playing with the boxes.
Jack smiled and gently rubbed the top of her head. "You enjoy those boxes, cutey."
"Gun" She took out a metal gun.
"Woah. What kind of weapon is that? Please put it down." His eyes widened.
"I dunno."
"It reminds me of the weapon that Rubert had."
A loud bang was heard and a hole appeared in the wall.
"Yeah. Put it down. Now, Cici. Please." He slowly approached her.
She put it down.
"What the hell is that doing here? Did Sheldon get it before this shop closed and he forgot about it?" Jack kicked the weapon away a bit.
Cici climbed onto the ceiling.
"The hell was that?" Adstrum asked as he walked into the shop.
"A gun" Cici replied.
He followed Cici's tentacle as she pointed to it. He walked over to it and picked it up. "A pistol? What's this doing here?"
"You know what it is?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. It's a weapon humans used long ago." He pressed something on it and put it in his pocket. "I'll find a use for it. Maybe reverse-engineer it for ink or something."
"Rawwr!" Cici jumped onto Adstrum.
"Heh. Hi, tiny." He smiled and pulled the small squid off his head. "Ah! Help! She's so scawy!" He playfully ran from her.
"Hehe" Cici ran after him. She seemed to slow down a bit.
"You okay, Cici?" Jack asked.
She fell over onto her side.
"Cici!" He ran over to her side.
"I think she's just out of energy. She looks like she needs a nap." Adstrum suggested.
Cici seemed to be peacefully resting. Her tentacles lightly glowed with her breathing.
"Oh, thank goodness." Jack sighed in relief and hugged her close.
"I'm tired…" She muttered into his shoulder.
"Finally, tuckered out. All it took was her climbing the tower..." Marie sighed.
"Yeah. Jeez." Jack smiled and held Cici in his arms as he walked out of the shop.
"Hm, the door to the firing range is open." Adstrum muttered and walked through it.
"Yeah, it's free training area." Blue replied as he walked in.
"Just thought it would have been boarded up or replaced with something else." Adstrum shrugged and looked around. "Still the same as when I last saw it."
"Sheldon gave me the key… So I thought it would be nice for it to be open for everyone."
"Nice, man. Nice." He smiled and nodded.
Blue shrugged.
While Adstrum and Blue looked around the firing range, Callie was at the top of the walkway looking into the window of her and Marie's old studio. Minus the equipment, it still looked intact. "Well, it's nice to see it's not damaged or raided." She smiled.
Marie avoided looking at the studio, "Yeah."
"I wonder how many people we confused by not having an obvious door. Heh. Even I can't see it from here." She looked at a wall that seemingly had nothing there.
"Uh huh."
"Hey, what about the entrance to Octo Valley?" Callie said as she headed over to the end of the walkway and looked down.
"I poured cement into it… since I moved the shack to Octo Canyon instead."
"Oh, smart!" She smiled at the grate and then at Marie. "Good thinking." She jumped off the walkway and headed into Spike's old alleyway. "Wonder if the vending machine still has that 'problem.'"
"Huh?"
Callie gave the vending machine a slight kick and a bag of mini cookies fell down. "Yep!"
"Oh, that's what you meant."
She opened the bag and put a cookie in her mouth. "Still good. You want one?" She held the bag toward her cousin.
"No thanks" Marie shook her head.
"Okay." She walked out of the alleyway and took another look around. "Shame this place isn't being used anymore. But glad we could come and see it again."
"Yeah… I guess."
Callie sighed and walked over to Blue. "Should we get going to other places now, or…?"
"Oh, um, where would you like to go?" Blue asked.
"Um...I don't know. Where do you think would be a good place to visit?" She shrugged.
"You guys haven't been to the square yet… So I can take you there."
"Yeah, I guess we can go there. And that's where Pearl and Marina are, right?"
"Um, they aren't at the studio. But I guess they should be somewhere around there."
"Okay. Let's get going to the square! Would be nice to see the newest hot spot of Inkopolis." Callie smiled.
"Okay, follow me" Blue walked ahead.
Marie looked at Blue and then back at Jack.
"What?" Jack asked as he carried Cici.
"He really does look like you…"
"I know. I'm freaked out, too." He nodded and followed after him.
Cici snuggled into Jack's shirt as she napped in his arms.
"Wait for me!" Adstrum yelled as he ran out of the old Ammo Knights. "Ari, come on!"
"Eh? Oh!" She ran after him.
As the group got closer to the square, more and more squids started to appear.
"Yeah, we have to be approaching the hot spot." Adstrum said as he followed the blue squid.
"Should we be worried? I mean, you guys are celebrities…" Arisara pointed out.
"Well, half these squids seem to look at Callie and Marie with looks of 'who are they' while the other half have looks of amazement on their faces at seeing them." Adstrum pointed out.
"Hey… your squid is gone again, three." Blue pointed to Jack's empty arms.
"Huh?" Jack looked down and groaned. "Cici!"
"Getting squidnapped by the kids…" He watched her get carried away.
Jack ran after them and took Cici back. "Leave her alone." He hugged her close again.
Cici slapped a bow on the kid and they happily squealed. She snuggled up to Jack again.
"I'm going to get you a leash…" He muttered and kissed her forehead.
"I didn't do anything… They just carried me."
"How did you get out of my arms then? I didn't see them come up to me." He sighed.
"You just didn't noticed them."
"You two are like an old, married couple." Adstrum chuckled. "So cute."
"... No" Cici turned red and hid her face in her tentacles.
Jack smiled and kissed her cheek.
Cici nuzzled into him.
"Heh, they are so cute" Arisara smiled.
"Yes they are." Callie nodded.
"So this is it. That's the Inkopolis Square. The shopping center is across there."
Everyone looked up at the Deca Tower, which the Great Zapfish was currently wrapped around.
"Yeah… I know. That's why I'm here. I need to make sure that stays there… and the sanitized stay down there." Blue pointed to the subway.
"Ah. Gotcha. Glad you are here keeping Inkopolis safe." Jack nodded.
"Hey, my house is down there…" Arisara crossed her arms.
"Right… um… I can't let you do that…"
"Excuse me?"
"You can't live in a supply closet, eight…"
"Yes I can… It's fine. I have a bed."
"You. Are. NOT. Living. In. A. CLOSET." One of Blue's tentacles twitched.
"You can't tell me what to do."
"I'll fight you."
"Huh?" Arisara raised her brow at him.
"I'm willing to make you." He put his hand on his splattershot.
"Seriously? Why does it matter?!"
"Nobody should live like that!"
"I don't know. Cici has lived in a box for years." Adstrum pointed out, reaching into his jacket.
"Fine. Let's see what you got."
In a quick second they both drew their weapons at each other.
Adstrum blinked and took a step back. "Nevermind."
"Um...should we...stop this?" Jack asked.
"I dunno..." Cici replied, "But everyone is staring…"
"Right. Um...is it really that big of a deal, guys?"
"Sorry. I actually am kinda with Blue on this. Ari can't live in a dump" Marie answered.
"I feel like Ari's arguing because...well, it's hard to leave a place you've called home for a while." Adstrum replied.
Arisara took a step and Blue fired at her. She dodged him and fired back.
"Woah! Hey! Knock it off!" Adstrum yelled before a shot hit him in the face. "Rude."
Cici took out her fan and whipped a wave at them.
Jack's eyes widened a bit. "Cici, please don't…"
Blue shielded Arisara and splatted.
"Ow…" His tiny ghost flew off into the center of the square.
"No fighting" Cici replied.
"Huh. There's a respawn point there as well." Callie muttered.
Arisara walked to Blue and helped him up.
He rubbed his head and followed her back to the group.
"Blue is right though, Ari. I know moving will be hard, but you shouldn't live down there." Callie looked the octoling in the eyes. "We'll help move all your things to a new place if you want."
"It's my house." Arisara replied getting a soft bonk from Blue, "Stop it Blue..."
"I'm not letting you live down there." Blue stated.
"I'll fight you."
"I will cut your clothes right here if you try to fight again" Cici glared at them.
"Jeez, Cici." Jack's eyes widened.
"..." The two humphed at each other and turned away.
"So...Um...I'm going to go explore the square." Callie said and wandered off.
"Yay! Esplorin'!" Adstrum said and ran after her.
Cici swam up to Jack's head.
"I'm going home" Arisara walked to the subway.
"You aren't going by yourself" Blue followed her.
Arisara ran off and Blue ran after her.
"Should we...go after them?" Jack asked.
"Up to you… I feel grumpy…" Cici nibbled his head.
"Oh, why, cutey?" He gently pet her.
"I am exhausted…" She started 'attacking' his fingers.
"Let's go find a quiet place, okay?" He wandered off toward the back of the square.
"Okay..."
Callie walked up to the food truck in the square. "Something smells delicious." She walked up to the window. "Hello?"
"That voice… No way! Callie?!" A shrimp in a crunchy looking jacket asked.
"Crusty Sean!?" Her eyes widened and a smile spread across her face. "Hey! How you been!?"
"Home girls back in town! What's Kracken? I thought the worst when ya disappeared. Glad to see ya good."
"Nah. I'm alive and kicking! And glad to be back. Even if it's for a little bit. But so glad to see you… running a food truck? That's interesting."
"Oh yeah. It was kinda my dream. So umm… so where's Marie? She's not… um…"
"She's…" Callie looked around a bit. "Oh, right over there. Sitting in a chair."
"Thank goodness…"
"She is going through something right now, though. But I will help her through it."
"I know. Spyke and Annie were keeping an eye out for her. She tried some stuff… glad we were able to stop her… She looks a bit better. More colorful than when we saw her off."
Callie let out a small whine. "Well, glad she looks better than before. I don't like hearing she tried to…" She whined again.
"Oh, right sorry, sorry. Hey, I'll get ya two something special. For ol' times sake. It's on the house for my two favorite idols." The shrimp smiled.
"Thank you, Sean." She hopped onto the counter and pulled the prawn into a hug.
"It's good to see ya."
"Good to see you, too." She replied. "Hey, you mentioned Spyke and Annie. They around?"
"They hang out in the cafe there in the Deca tower."
"Oh, cool. I'll go say hi in a bit." She waited patiently for Sean to finish cooking.
"Hey, Callie." Adstrum walked up. "You hungry, huh?"
"Aight Cal, here you go. Kraken Squid Sister tempera sundae" Sean held out a large deep fried ice cream piled very high, with their icon on the top.
Callie was drooling at the confectionary set in front of her. "It looks so good." She took it, her eyes sparkling.
"Go on, tell me what y'all think now. Oh, why not call Marie too? Ya can't finish this ya self."
"The look in her eyes tells me she wants to try to." Adstrum chuckled. "Also, hey Sean. How ya been, you crispy shrimp?" He smiled.
"Trust me, even that hobo couldn't. Sheldon told me to feed her it as a joke."
"Hobo?" Adstrum asked.
"Marie!" Callie yelled and gestured her to come over. "Come look at this."
"Hm?" Marie walked over and looked shocked at the treat.
"Sean made it for us." She grabbed two spoons and handed one to Marie. "Shall we dig in?"
"Green tea and strawberry ice cream. I remembered what you liked. Enjoy girls. And welcome back." The shrimp smiled.
Adstrum smiled as Callie and Marie began to eat the sundae together. "Hey, Sean. What hobo were you talking about?"
"The hobo is an octopus who helped Sheldon with something back then."
"Arisara." He nodded. "Gotcha."
"Jack, this place smells tasty…" Cici bit into the shrimp's tail.
"AAIIIIIYYEEE!" Sean jumped.
"CICI!" Jack pulled her off. "I'm so sorry about her, Sean."
"Hmm?" Cici opened her eyes.
"Cici, we don't eat people. No matter how good they look."
She nipped him, "Nom."
"You saying I look good?" He smirked and smiled at Sean. "How much for...um, you see something you want, Cici?"
"The ice cream tempera?"
"Just take it! Keep 'er away from my tail…" He handed it to them.
"Again, I'm very sorry, Sean. She's a handful." He took the sundae and sat down at a table, placing it in front of Cici. "Enjoy, you cute pain." He winked.
Cici flashed pink and nipped him again.
Blue walked up to the group holding Arisara in his arms. Both of them looked beat up.
"Seriously?" Adstrum shook his head at both of them.
"I hate you." Arisara lightly slapped his face.
"I won." Blue looked down at her.
"You cheater… Using Cici's gear isn't fair at all..."
"This reminds me of Jack and Cici right here." Adstrum chuckled.
Cici tilted her head.
Blue fell onto his butt.
"Well, the gangs all here." Adstrum shrugged and sat down, watching Callie, Marie, and Cici eating their sundaes.
"Ya forgetting bout us?" A short pink and cream squid followed by a tall green and black octoling.
"What the-?" He turned around and blinked at seeing Inkopolis's newest idols. "Oh. It's you two." He gave them a smile.
"Hi Pearl! Hi, Marina!" Callie waved at them excitedly before she had a look of pain on her face. "AH! Brain freeze!" She put her thumb on the roof of her mouth.
Cici jumped at Pearl who yelped.
"Cici!" Jack stood up.
"My crown. Hehe" Cici played with Pearl's crown.
"Cici, that is not yours." He gently grabbed her.
"Nah, it's cool. Let 'er." Pearl smiled.
"Oh. Okay. Just concerned considering how you two first met." He smiled nervously.
"Oh, she just spooked Pearlie that day. It was nothing" Marina giggled.
"Rina… You weren't supposed to tell them that..."
"Aw, cute! Nicknames!" Callie smiled.
"Blue! How's your gal pal? Wait, whatcha do?" Pearl looked a bit concerned when she saw him.
"Peachy…" Blue replied.
"We fought over my house…"
"And?" Marina asked.
"I lost… since he kept popping specials and dodge rolling."
"Sounds like Jack. Right, Cici?" Adstrum looked at the small squid as she ate the sundae.
"Really?" There was ice cream and chocolate all over her face.
"Yeah. The Gauntlet, remember?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Aw, Cici. You made a mess." Jack started wiping her face with a napkin.
She put a spoon into his mouth, "Hehe."
"Mm, that's good." He smiled and kept cleaning Cici's face.
"Oh, sounds like you need to do what Blue says now" Marina smiled.
"... You did this…" Arisara growled and spoke in a foreign language.
Marina replied something back and patted her head.
"I think Arisara said a few bad words." Jack chuckled.
"So? Have you heard me when I play games?" Adstrum replied. "Or back when I participated in Splatfests? Yeesh."
"You are staying with me then. No buts about it" Blue spoke more softly to her.
"How bad is your mouth during splatfests?" Jack looked at Adstrum.
"Dude, I make Pearl's early raps seem like children's sing-alongs. I am nasty." Adstrum rolled his eyes.
"Yikes, that's pretty bad then…" Marina covered her mouth, "Pearlie's earlier tracks had to be mainly bleeped out…"
"True that. Because the studio was weak sauce" Pearl crossed her arms.
"Heheheh. I like the way she thinks." Adstrum pointed to Pearl.
Blue seemed to be nodding off.
"You tired?" Jack asked him. "Or exhausted from the fight?"
"The latter" He looked down at the tired octoling staring daggers at him.
"Ah. Gotcha." Jack nodded and looked at Cici, who had gotten her face covered in chocolate and ice cream again. "Agh…You are messy."
"Hmmm?" She looked at him.
He started wiping her face with a napkin again.
"Nooo" She whined.
"I don't want you to be sticky when you inevitably swim onto my head later." He chuckled and kept gently cleaning Cici's face.
She nipped his hand.
"Don't fight it, cutey." He replied and patted her head.
"They are the newest couple amongst us...for now." Adstrum whispered to Pearl and Marina.
"Aww… They are adorbs" Marina widely grinned.
"We are trying for ours too" Pearl moved her head towards Blue and Arisara.
Adstrum smirked and gave her a thumbs up. "Good luck, matchmaker."
"Dangit, Cici. Hold still!" Jack said as he kept trying to clean Cici's face.
"Noooo" She got up and ran from him.
"Cici!" He ran after her.
"She's a handful." Adstrum chuckled.
Cici ran laps around the truck.
"Get back here!" Jack ran around it after her.
"She'll get tired soon." Adstrum said to Pearl and Marina.
Cici jumped into Blue's cape. He did not notice.
Jack sighed and tapped his shoulder. "Sorry, but Cici jumped into your cape."
"Huh? Oh." He reached into his cape and got bit, "Ow."
"Agh." Jack reached into the cape and pulled the pink squid out. "Please just calm down. It's no big deal." He finished wiping her face.
She jumped and gave him a kiss, messing up his face in the process.
"Agh...thanks…" He sighed.
"Hehe" Cici nuzzled him.
"He needs to get a leash for her." Adstrum said and shook his head.
Blue looked down at Arisara who passed out.
"That was soooo good!" Callie licked her lips as she and Marie finished the sundae.
"It was… I haven't eaten like that in forever" Marie smiled.
"I want another, but I couldn't eat another bite."
"Hehe, maybe we can come back for more later."
"Yay!" Callie jumped up with a big smile.
Blue gently set Arisara down beside him and let her rest on him.
"Pearl! Marina!" Callie ran up to them.
"Sup?" Pearl and Marina looked over at her.
"How are you two?"
"We are great. We were so stoked that you agreed to meet up" Marina widely smiled, "We are SUCH big fans! Especially Pearlie."
"Rina… Come on… I am trying to impress… you are killing me…" Pearl facepalmed.
"Heh, that's okay. You don't need to impress us. We already were." Callie laughed.
"Wait, really?" Pearl's face lit up.
"Yeah. Your music is awesome. Inspired me to try rapping a bit." Callie giggled.
Marina squealed and jumped up and down happily, "Did you hear that, Pearlie?! They like our music!"
"If I'm dreaming let me sleep forever!" Pearl threw her fists into the air.
Marina jumped and hugged her.
"Wow, you two are quite happy about this." Adstrum blinked.
"Well, glad to make you two happy." Callie smiled.
"Heh, it's nice to see" Marie smiled at the two.
"Glad to see you two are doing good." Jack smiled at them.
"Yeah, don't worry. We were keeping an eye on everything in Octo Canyon." Pearl gave him a thumbs up.
"You mean make Blue do it" Marina raised a brow.
"Hey, it's not like we could leave the studio without making a scene."
"Hey, is there a reason he…" Jack looked at Blue then pointed to himself. "Looks like me?"
They shrugged.
"I only chose him because he was very good at rank and turf."
"Oh, okay. I just...feel weirded out by him looking like me." He blinked and shrugged. "But what can you do?"
"Hehe" Cici was swimming on his head.
"You are a little pain, you know that?" He picked her up and kissed her.
She hugged him.
"So...what's the plan again?" Adstrum asked the Inkling and Octoling idol pair.
"Oh, um, we were gonna talk about the collab" Marina pointed out. "As a grand finale to your tour."
"Oh, that sounds wonderful!" Callie clapped her hands and jumped in glee.
"That's not for a couple of days so it's no rush really."
"Your manager figured it would be nice for you guys to reconnect here."
"That's great! I would love to look around and see more of Inkopolis with you two." She smiled.
"It would be our pleasure!" Marina cheered.
"Yup, totally down for that" Pearl smiled.
"Well, you two have any idea of what we should see first?" Adstrum asked.
"Well, um, we have turf wars and rank battles…. But you can check out the metrosea station where your agent and 8 almost bit the dust" Pearl suggested.
"Oh, that would be...nice. Maybe we can finish exploring the rest of the square and then go look." Callie said.
"So Ari's house is down there? I'm curious" Cici jumped up and down on Jack.
"We'll go down there and check it out soon, cutey." He smiled and tickled her mantle.
She giggled and wrapped her tentacles around his fingers.
Author's Note: I need to stop making promises I can't keep... I know I'm a week late. But some things got in the way. I was visiting family in other states for two weeks and I wanted to spend time with them. I didn't get much time to write. That, and I was having a bit of writer's block. Here's the next chapter, guys.
Thank you The Bowser Monster and Super lol 72 for leaving reviews. Thank you two so much!
We don't know how she got up to the top of the tower either, Super. She just does what she wants. Or whatever Apikachua writes her doing. We have fun when we write. :D
Alright, well, I'm back in college again as another semester has started, so I am not making promises on when this will be updated. Rest assured, though, that this fic will be updated in the future and before 2020. I promise you guys that. Just need to make use of free time to work on this. Thank you all for reading and I will see you next time!
