Splatoon: The Drafted Squid
Squad Field Day
"We're almost there." Ophi notified the group of squids behind here, nodding as she turned back around, staring out towards the great expanse of grass, her animal necklace dangling in the wind.
Phish's scuffle had finished, but Ophi herself was far from it. She and the two other squids at the camp whom she had chatted with throughout the long stretch had equipped themselves with their Bamboozler weapons, the titular bamboo canes. They were filled with their own respective ink, which happened to be blue. They trudged on, having not yet seen heads or tails of any other Inkling or enemy Octoling aside from each other.
Cocking her Bamboozler, she spun around, staring over the bamboo exterior, finding nothing but grass. "...See anything Portic?"
Blinking, one of the other Inklings looked out at the fields, emerald eyes staring out at the wild expanses. As if he needed a better look, he stood up, tilting his helmet back, standing up tall. He was not unlike a tree, with his lean stature and tan skin, thin tentacles akin to that of branches. For a while, he pivoted around in his spot.
"Hmm…" Portic hummed, narrowing his eyes.
"What is it?" Ophi asked, glancing up from her aim.
One of Portic's legs lifted up into the air. It remained suspended behind him as he stared out into the great beyond. The other male Inkling that had tagged along simply grunted, finding a newfound interest in the sky as he awaited a response. The thin Inkling pursed his lips, and, for a moment, his eyes lit up. Then faltered almost immediately, his expression growing lame.
"What?" Ophi spoke up, eagerly awaiting his response.
Placing a finger on his mouth, he frowned, his other hand on his hip. "Huh. I thought I saw something move in the fields of grass…"
Ophi blinked, then scrambled for her weapon, cocking the long gun towards the grass.
"But then I took a closer look." Portic stated, setting his other leg down, shaking his head, "Silly me! It's just the wind rustling the grass!"
The would-be sniper sighed, letting her Bamboozler rest on the hill, staring up at Portic rather irritably. "That's not helping Portic. Be serious."
Pouting, Portic shook his head. "Now now! You were the one who said that we should look up and be positive. After all, stress is the number one cause of anxiety!"
The other Inkling at the side, sitting on the incline of the hill, staring up at the clouds mumbled something. Portic cocked an eyebrow, staring at the other Inkling curiously, who simply glanced away without a word, finding a new interest in the grass altogether.
"What was that?" The thinner Inkling asked, leaning in with one hand placed by his ear, "You think that Ophi should ease up and stop being so uptight? Besides, if you think otherwise, tell me I'm wrong!"
He just turned on his side away from Portic's probing eyesight, laying his head down on the side of his arms, his thick tentacles serving as a cushion in itself. Frowning, the other Inkling just shook his head, glancing at Ophi, who continued aiming in anticipation of an enemy, biting her lip. The sky grew gray above them, the male Inkling lying on the soft ground keeping an eye on the clouds, scanning their movements.
"...What's up Rinse?" Ophi asked all of a sudden, eyes also gravitating towards the sky, "Think it might rain?"
"Rinse", as he was referred to, pursed his lips, glancing up at the sky, studying the clouds. "...Stratoculumbus."
"Hmm?" Ophi blinked, glancing back at him.
"See how low the clouds are?" He pointed out, the lumps of white hovering overhead, "That and their shape… They've gotta be stratoculumbus."
Portic furrowed his brow. "You mean like the thunder ones?"
"Cumulonimbus. Those are the clouds you might be thinking of." He closed his eyes, "These ones are harmless, unless you dislike shade."
"Huh, smart guy." Ophi commented, turning back to the fields.
Rinse simply shrugged, turning back on his side in a proud, sheepish fashion. "It's nothing, just paying attention to the sky."
Portic nodded. "Darn right it's nothing. What's so special about watching clouds?"
The male Inkling next to him frowned. "Nature is an integral part of life. Without it, we would not exist. It's helpful to look out for her warnings."
Shrugging, Portic just sat back on the hill, yawning. "If you say so."
All of a sudden, Ophi stuck her hand up into the sky, hissing a warning for silence. Immediately, the other two stuck to the ground like glue, all three Inklings staring out towards the grasslands. Ophi kept a careful eye on both the trigger and the grass. The others stared at her, frowning, whilst simultaneously gazing out to the hills and flatgrass ahead of them, searching for any signs of movement or colors. Waiting a while, they finally found what she had spotted, tension building in their minds. Octotroopers. What appeared to be sentient octopus tentacles patrolled along, large purple lips scrutinizing the details of the grass, yellow eyes staring to and fro. The blue tentacled squadron shuffled back uneasily, keeping an eye on the suspicious creatures.
"...So what's the plan, Stan?" Portic asked, keeping a hand on his own Bamboozler weapon, glaring holes at the Octarian forces.
"There's at least a dozen of 'em." Ophi pointed out, "Doesn't look good. Plus, I don't like the look of… 'those'."
She pointed directly under the Octotroopers. While under normal circumstances, tentacles by themselves would probably just flop on the ground, these strange creatures hovered just above the ground on platforms of sorts, violet ink spewed out of a hose attached to the front, creating a path of purple wherever they tread. Rinse tensed up, gritting his beak.
"They're making a mess." Portic commented, "Lucky them. That's their job?"
Ophi stopped and stared, eyes narrowing. "I dunno… It seems weird. Why would they aimlessly spew ink everywhere?"
"..." Rinse glared at the enemies, raising his weapon, shuffling up the hill ever so slowly.
"I know right! That's stupid!" Portic said, bobbing his eyebrows up and down, "Almost as stupid as… Uh… Rinse charging in?"
His female teammate's eyes shot open, glancing to the side quickly. Her silent companion had left a sizable impression in the grass. Redirecting her attention to the field, already she could see a large Inkling charging towards the Octarians, wind blowing his thick tentacles from underneath his helmet, his bamboo weapon aimed with a fierce accuracy. Watching from the sidelines, Portic and Ophi's mouths gaped in awe, staring at their reckless comrade as he commenced his attack. Smirking, Portic, grabbing his gun by the nozzle, began charging in as well, leaving a bewildered Ophelia behind to watch, now doubly as shocked. The shock was quickly replaced with a mixture of fear and frustration, and an irritated scowl.
"Uh… O-Okay then. No plan." She shook her head.
Taking aim, Rinse shot a line of ink towards an Octotrooper, knocking him clean off of his mobile perch. The single blast alerted the others, who spun around, aiming the platform nozzles towards them. Blots of fuschia were launched through the sky. Rinse grit his teeth, switching into a squid, dodging the spheres of ink, retaliating with another Bamboozler blast, practically blowing the octopus off into the great beyond and back, at least through the octopus's point of view. As he brawled and tackled the octopuses, Portic began sneaking up, still wielding his bamboo as if it were a staff.
An expression of glee dawned on his face as he began winding up for the pitch. Staring straight ahead, he set his sights on one of the Octotroopers, grinned wildly, and swung, launching the weapon through the air, where it whirled through the sky, eventually coming down to strike his teammate. Watching the stick smack into Rinse's head prompted him to take cover. He frowned, briefly wondering if his attack had been caught in the wind. His thinking was cut short when he saw a red tentacle with its face pounded in fall flat on the floor next to him.
"Good one there!" Portic called out, staring back at the grass with the purest of intentions.
Rinse huffed, glancing towards the side. One of the octopuses stared at him with a blank stare, which he in turn answered with a glare. It was at that point when they had decided that perhaps retreat may be a better option. Stuttering about, they began to move away on their platforms, neglecting to shut off the hose nozzles, which were still spewing more violet ink all over the grass. Eye twitching, Rinse began sprinting, picking up his companion's dropped Bamboozler, (with Portic nervously hiding in the background) and charged towards the remaining Octotrooper helplessly sliding away, took both of the bamboo weapons, and swung. Over the hills the Octotrooper flew, angrily hissing back at the Inklings as it vanished over the large green mounds of flora.
Lowering the Bamboozlers, Rinse crossed his arms, staring at the ground. The once perfectly natural look had been sullied with a hue of violet. Shaking his head, he glanced back towards Portic, who attempted to blend in with the grass. Which is easier said than done when you have a color like the sea in an ocean of green. Walking over towards him, Rinse hefted up one of the Bamboozlers, stopping just above him. Portic switched back into an Inkling form, glancing at the most intimidating sight.
"Here. You must've dropped it in the fight." Rinse said, offering the fallen weapon to him.
Grabbing the bamboo stick, Portic gave Rinse a thumbs-off as the heftier Inkling began ascending the hills, Portic grinning like a madman.
"Thanks Rinse!" Portic smiled, "I didn't get a swing, though…"
Atop the hills, Ophi stared at the fields of violet, as if the battle had still been raging on. Her pupils were about as small as the dots on her tentacles. For a moment, she had not realized her companion had ascended to her resting place. However, she finally did so, as Rinse crouched down to give her a reassuring pat on the shoulders. Before he could say or do anything, Ophi acted purely out of instinct and surprise, by pulling the trigger of her weapon. A blast of blue launched out of the Bamboozler, where it soon headed for Portic, who dusted himself free of any grass debris. As the shot travelled, it sunk into the earth, where it stained it a fine blue, creating a line which led from her to her companion.
"Oh!" Portic blinked, staring up at the hill, "Nice try Ophi, but if you wanna fight me, get down here yourself!"
Ophi immediately began shaking her head, to which Portic frowned. "No, no thanks."
"Sheesh, it's just a joke," Portic spoke up, climbing up the miniature river, "We can't splat each other either."
"...Right." Ophi rubbed the back of her head.
"...Speaking of fights, I didn't see you assisting us, Ophi." Rinse spoke up, lying down, staring at the sky.
She turned towards Rinse, placing her bamboo weapon down sheepishly. "I… Didn't want to add to the mess? You looked like you were doing great without me."
"..." Rinse nodded, staring up at the clouds, "Our ink can fade. I don't know about theirs."
Ophi blinked, crossing her arms, glancing towards the violet ink. Climbing up next to them, Portic took up a seat by the two.
He grinned at the two. "Eh, first day of war and we've already beat back a squad of goons! Up high!"
Raising his hand in the air, he glanced from Rinse to Ophi, who just stared at the clouds in the sky, sometimes tending to their weapons.
"Yeesh." Portic lowered his hand, shaking his head, "Didn't realize that sticks get more love here than actual Inklings. If this was the warm reception I would be given, I would have rather stayed with the other guy."
"Hey!"
Glancing back, the group sat up quickly, taking aim. Halting just before he hit the slope of the hill, Phish raised his hands harmlessly, a holstered weapon at his side.
"Ah, see? So friendly! He's willing to abandon his post to see us!" Portic spoke up, "Unlike you grumps."
Ophi simply shook her head, pushing away the taller Inkling. "What's up Phish?"
Phish stared back for a second through the empty fields, looking side to side cautiously. "Alright, so I was guarding the camp,"
"An enemy force is headed there now?" Rinse asked from his stationary position.
"Huh? No, nothing like that, there was this one girl- She and I battled- I think I won?" Phish frowned.
"Calm down there." Portic shook his head, "We'll talk about it from this spot where you can see where we massacred a bunch of octopuses."
"..." Phish gave them a face that practically shouted, "Okay-did-I-miss-something-vitally-important?".
"We'll fill you in, as long as you fill us in." Ophi spoke, Phish nodding, already attempting to climb the hill.
"Yeah! Like, what's with the suit?" Portic asked, offering a hand to the other Inkling.
"It's a Shirt and Tie." Phish corrected him.
"Eh, whatever. So, you were attacked, huh…"
As he reached the top of the hill, the two parties, if you can count Phish himself as one, discussed their encounters, all while the violet ink in the background remained stagnant, blue ink drying up nearby.
While the squadron of squids discussed their battle endeavors, most of them at least, far across the plains of grass, there laid another battle altogether. Squid against octopus, an all out shootout on the plains bordering the flowering city of squids in the background. Staring out to the battle was one Octoling, standing elegantly poised, glaring down at the battle. She was soon approached, the Octoling turning around towards an approaching group of Octotroopers. Who were in somewhat of a sorry state.
"...The scouting mission didn't go well?" She frowned, glancing down at the Octotroopers.
They just nodded solemnly. She sighed, shaking her head.
"I apologize." She hung her head just as well, "Perhaps I should have accompanied you. Inklings may be without honor, but they certainly do have skill."
As she said that, she did not take her eyes off of the battle. Squids continually hopped in and out of ink, dodging attacks and reloading their bamboo sticks, which they used to frighteningly effectiveness. Attacking back and forth, the group of squids hardly noticed the shadow looming over them.
"...Any sign of M-41?" She asked the small squad of tentacles, which shook their head with an air of sadness, distressing the other Octoling more, "...Alright. After this attack, we leave to find her."
Staring up, the Inklings stopped hopping, staring at the shadow. A metallic groan and creak sounded off, just before a laser trained itself on the group below. With that done, the Octoling began walking off through the fields, listening to the cries of panic and cheers that sounded off with the sound of an explosion, to which she smiled.
"Our troubles will be over very soon." She had thought to herself, it was the first day in the war, and the weapons in their arsenal seemed like they could decide the favor of the battle from the very start.
AN: And done. Whew, that's another chapter down. Wonder if we'll get more exposition for the Great Turf Wars someday, it might render this story obsolete, but it would sure be something.
Theoretical canonicity aside, time to get to the reviews. Thanks Ultrapyre for reviewing!
It's probably a recurring theme going on here, but I'd like to think that the later generation would inherit quite a few things from their parents aside from their basic personalities. You are definitely not off on that observation, either.
Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, itchy itch itch.
Darn mosquitoes.