Splatoon: The Bate Bros.
amiibro
Splin laid back, a sigh of relief escaping his mouth. He was sitting in the Inkopolis Plaza on a bench, headphones around his neck, watching planes fly by and Inklings walk around the plaza. He lied there on the bench, eyes closed, peacefully breathing. After the terrifying and somehow miraculously beneficial Tower Control incident, Splin had decided to take a reasonable time off from playing in Turf Wars or the like. While Sharq was down in Octo Valley hanging out with Octarians, Splin relaxed in the city, taking in the sights and sounds.
Having a good time there, Splin?
Splin opened one eye, looking at they sky. "Nothing I have to deal with, hardly anything out of place today. Sharq and Tai haven't asked me for food, nothing weird has jumped out and threatened to splat us, I feel pretty good! Everything's nice, thanks!"
A squad of squid kids paraded out of the Inkopolis Tower, jumping as cephalopods all over the plaza. Another squad arrived shortly after, sulking and dropping high tech ink weapons to the floor in bad sportsmanship.
"Erm, for the most part." Splin observed, looking over at the scene.
Splin settled back into his seat, but quickly leaned back forward spying a glint in the pavement. Blinking, he looked over at the shimmering light, shaking his head.
"Okay Splin, this is your chance. Just let the curiosity die down, don't walk over to the-" Splin stood up off the bench. "...Thanks for having self-control."
He walked over to the glint in the ground, and crouched down as a squid, inspecting what appeared to be a trophy lodged into the ground, the flat pedestal.
Splin's eyes squinted. "...What?"
With a careful hand, he picked up the trophy, and rubbed it on his t-shirt. The figure on the pedestal resembled an orange tentacled and eyed Inkling girl, no headgear seen, wearing a White Tee and a pair of Pink Trainers, poised in a battle ready position with a Splattershot and a determined smile on her face. Splin inspected the trophy, eyebrows raised.
"This is pretty detailed." Splin looked everywhere, holding up the statuette. "Excuse me! Did anyone happen to drop this?" Splin shouted out to the plaza.
"NO! STOP YELLING YA SCRUB!" Moe the Clownfish answered back from inside Annie's hairs and the Cooler Heads store, Annie shyly shaking her head. Other Inklings took a quick peek at the trophy, shaking their heads as well, going back to their business.
Splin sighed. He continued looking over the little Inkling, running his fingers over some of the details. ...You know what I mean, stop giving me that look. Feeling under the pedestal, he turned it upside down, spying a small note attached discreetly underneath.
The note read, "Look to the right."
Splin's eyebrows furrowed. The vague note description confused him, but nevertheless, he looked to his right. By the ramp leading up to the Battle Dojo, a large plastic box was placed by the wall, with the words, "Splatoon", "Nintendo", and "amiibo" on it. Of course, for the sake of the very little logic this story has, let's just say that Splin couldn't read the English text written on it.
"...What the heck? Was that always there?" Splin jogged over to the large box, checking out the details on the top of the box.
The trophy Splin was holding onto began to shake gently, in the direction of the plastic box. Splin noticed, dropping it by the box in surprise. Suddenly, the statuette began to disintegrate, and Splin's eyes widened in panic, suspecting that he had done some sort of mistake. His panic state switched to intrigue and confusion when the model on the trophy became a living person. Inside of the large packaging, the figurine girl was standing, breathing, alive, at a normal Inkling's height.
"Yo! Thanks for finding me man! I was stuck in the ground forever, you don't even know." The orange Inkling girl stretched, yawning in relief afterwards.
Splin stared in bewilderment at the girl.
The Inkling girl chortled a bit. "What's the matter, never seen an amiibo before?"
"...amiibo?" Splin asked.
She paused. "Oh. Wow, you really don't know?"
Splin shook his head, still rather confused.
"Well that's cool, I'm here to teach you! The name's Ann-Gel!" She smiled.
Ann-Gel reached out her hand for a handshake, when it collided with the plastic cover of the box.
"Oh, right. That doesn't matter much, right now I probably need to explain." Ann-Gel cleared her throat. "So, I am an amiibo, like it says on the box!"
She pointed at the bottom of the packaging, Splin crouching down and looking closely.
"You can understand the writing?" Splin asked.
Ann-Gel shrugged. "...Yeah, I dunno. Just comes to me naturally for some reason. But as I was saying, I'm an amiibo! I can grant you sweet bonuses if you manage to pass my challenges!"
Splin stood in silence, thinking over the information. "...What kind of challenges?"
Ann-Gel hopped in joy, or at least hopped as high as the condensed space she was contained in allowed. "You're in? Great! Just tap the 'A' button on the Wii U Gamepad, and I'll show you some of the challenges!"
Splin's mouth gaped open. "I… Gamepad?" He frowned, checking through his pockets, albeit still not clearly understanding. He grasped for an object, retrieving the Turf War Gamepad he retained from the Tower Control Incident. "...You mean, this?"
She nodded, pointing at the set of buttons on the right side of the controller. Splin looked down, pressing the button with an "A" lightly painted on it, and a large menu of icons featuring Octarian forces popped up.
"That's interesting…" Splin said, looking over the options. "...Are you serious. Is that Tai?"
One of the boxed in choices held an Octoling with tousled tentacles. This specific Octoling waved, smiling. "Hey Splin, what's up? I'm in the Gamepad! Oh hey, you should totally choose the mission with the Octotrooper on it." The miniature Tai pointed to the upper left corner, a scared Octarian troop shaking his head rapidly.
Splin's eye twitched in disbelief, the miniature Tai laughing her butt off at his reaction.
Just go with it Splin.
"Alright…" Reaching for the back of the Gamepad, he slid out a small stylus, and gave the Octarian picture a light tap.
Splin stood underneath a dome of artificial clouds projected by panels, as well as a subterranean stalactite ceiling, on top of a green painted spawn point situated on a floating building, other floating architecture surrounding him. He reached up to check his tentacles, pulling them free off the headband he normally wore, and took one in his hand, and not surprisingly, the tentacle color was green as well.
"That was quick." Splin admitted, wrapping his tentacles back up, taking in the scenery.
"So, your objective is to get over there, to that glowing Zapfish cage and free the Zapfish. I'm sure this will be a walk in the park." Ann-Gel's voice echoed.
Splin lifted a headphone ear, finding that his voice communicator he used with Cap'n Cuttlefish was somehow placed by his ear as if he was in a mission. He placed his headphone ear down, looking down at the spawn point, he spotted a Hero Charger floating at his feet, picking it up with ease. He inspected the weapon from nozzle to trigger, nodding.
"Ah. Wait, do I have to splat Octarians to do this?" Splin asked uncertainly.
"So you know about the Octarians already? Well, you don't have to worry about much, this is just a simulation! The Octarians you'll face here aren't real, which is good because I'm sure we'd both get sued for war crimes. Anyways, get over to that Zapfish platform and finish the level, I'll have a reward for you!" Ann-Gel's voice cut out.
Splin nodded slowly, and ran forward. Stumbling upon a Super Jump Pad, he contemplated altering it, but ultimately decided to just jump in. He leaped into the swirling vortex, launching himself back out to another building. Landing safely, he immediately spotted an Octotrooper in front of him, positioned on top of a wooden box. Splin inhaled sharply, and jumped back, expecting a barrage of shots. The Octotrooper shot a round, slow blot of ink at Splin, who simply walked out of the way. Splin stood there in silence, the Octotrooper attempting to attack Splin, desperately firing the ineffective bullets, Splin sidestepping, easily avoiding the shots. The Octotrooper groaned in frustration, trying to fire one last blast, but was splatted by a single uncharged Charger shot.
"That was… Ahem." Splin shook his head. "Sorry…"
Splin continued on, rushing past unaware Octarians, try as they might, they couldn't get a lock on the briskly jogging Inkling. He didn't mind, dodging barely accurate blobs, leaping from building to building, and encountering giant keys.
Speaking of which, a harsh bang could be heard as Splin collided with one huge floating key. "Agh!" Splin fell back, rubbing his head. Growling, he swiped at the key, which suddenly disappeared. "Huh?!"
"Alright, you got the key! All you gotta do now is find the container for the key, and you'll unlock the Super Jump Pad to the next area!" Ann-Gel's voice chimed joyfully.
Splin grumbled, still reeling over his mishap with the key, spying a large metallic cylinder. He fired a charged shot at it, jumping into it as a squid and swimming in the newly created ink path, re-appearing right next to the cylinder.
"Alright… What do I need to do here…?" Splin asked himself aloud, leaning on the side of the container.
The container lifted, and faded into thin air, exposing a Super Jump Pad underneath.
"...I'm already beginning to regret my earlier choice." Splin admitted.
He cast himself into the pad, Super Jumping to the middle of the area. He landed on his feet, eyes spotting the electrical barrier encasing the Zapfish just above him, on an elevated platform. Splin looked around the perimeter, easily wiping out Octarian resistance with short Charger bursts, coming across a red crate. Smashing the crate with a Hero Charger shot, he picked up another oversized key. Upon finding yet another locked Super Jump Pad, he marched over.
"Ahh… Finally. Maybe after this I can just-"
Then a squadron of three Octotroopers ambushed him.
"AH- WHAT HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?!" Splin yelled, shooting back.
Rapidly firing short spurts Charger blasts, he managed to somehow splat all three of them.
That's gotta be embarrassing for them.
"..." After a prolonged silence, Splin sighed, making his way over to the Super Jump Pad.
Leaping in for a final time, he was catapulted to the platform imprisoning the Zapfish. Splin smiled, panting slightly, assuming it would be worth the barely mentionable scuffle. His smile disappeared quickly when he realized that it was in fact just a plushie Zapfish.
"There's the Zapfish! Grab it and you're all set!" Ann-Gel's voice hummed.
Splin's nostrils puffed out a bit of smoke, and he shattered the barrier with a Charger shot, and grabbed the Zapfish Plushie.
Mission Complete!
The headphone wearing Inkling had the plushie Zapfish by his side. He shook his head, patting the head of the Zapfish lookalike.
Splin was now suddenly back in Inkopolis, by the amiibo box. The plushie Zapfish was gone, not that Splin seemed concerned, more agitated.
"NOICE! You totally nailed that challenge!" Ann-Gel congratulated him, but gulped when she saw his visible anger.
"I… What was the point of that?! You mean to tell me that you had me walk through a bunch of Octotroopers just to retrieve a stitched replica of a Zapfish?" Splin fumed, scaring the poor girl.
Ann-Gel backed up. "S-Sorry! I thought you might be interested in the rewards."
Splin huffed, calming down. "...No, no. I apologize for getting angry. I should've known things like this would happen. ...Wait, reward?"
Ann-Gel nervously grinned. "Uh, yeah. You completed the challenge, so um… Here's some coins." She held her hand out.
Splin tilted his head in befuddlement. Ann-Gel pressed her hand to the box, nodding. While this seemed absurd, he still decided to go along with it, pressing his hand against the plastic as well. Reaching back, he found a pile of coins clustered in his hand.
"Oh." Splin looked over the coins. "Um, I appreciate it."
Ann-Gel smiled, and pointed to Splin's pockets. "There's more where that came from."
Splin checked his pockets, taking out the Gamepad again. One of the boxes was checked off, and there were still multiple ones left. He sighed, looking up to his new amiibo acquaintance, who winked. Going back to the Gamepad screen he tapped on one of the other icons.
"This is going to be a long day, I can tell." Splin stated.
"Alright Splin, this time you gotta get through this Octoling held area, and save that Zapfish, you know the drill!"
"Gotcha." Splin observed his surroundings, a rendering of the Kelp Dome Turf War stage surrounding him.
He marveled at the scenery, looking beneath him. The ink in the spawn point was a light orange. Splin acknowledged this, gripping his Hero Charger and advancing forward, off the spawn point and into the fray, jumping clear off the top of the tower the spawn point was built on, landing safely on the ground. Immediately after thrusting himself into the battlefield, Octoling soldiers began assaulting him with pellets of deadly ink. Looking to his immediate left, he ran up a ramp onto a large bridge connecting throughout the entire stage. He treaded across with ease, Octoling and Octotrooper AI trying desperately to take him down, but still failed as the intelligence the game put in was not very precise. Sounds of frustration and disappointment echoed after Splin, who couldn't help but crack a cocky smile. Easily arriving at the Zapfish container, he smiled, putting one foot by another Super Jump Pad close by.
"Alright, well this seems simple enough…"
That's when an Octosniper attempted to blow his head off.
"Agh, I knew it!" Splin said, ducking for cover.
Splin switched to a squid form, hiding behind a box. The Octosniper scanned the area around him, when a Splat Bomb was tossed next to its side. The Octosniper attempted to back up to try and avoid the blast, enough to avoid getting splatted. While the bomb exploded mostly harmlessly, grazing the Octosniper, a laser sight landed steadily on the Octosniper, and a Hero Charger blast knocked him out.
"Phew. Finished." Splin stated, moving to the Super Jump Pad.
Once inside, he bounced straight up, onto the tower holding the Zapfish lookalike hostage, and shattered it with a well timed Splat Bomb, grabbing the Zapfish plushie on his way down.
"Zapfish secured." Splin said aloud. "...These missions are really getting to me."
"Nice job Splin, just twelve more levels to go." Ann-Gel's voice chimed, however, with a hint of longingness.
"...Right." Splin deadpanned in realization, but perked up at the depressed tone of Ann-Gel's voice. "Um, Ann, are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry man, just thinking. Go ahead and pick another mission when you're done with that one!" Ann-Gel spoke up, before going silent.
Splin opened his mouth to speak in hesitation, but stopped, pulling out his Gamepad. He looked to the sky worriedly, tapping another mission icon screen, and whooshing away.
After about an hour's worth of getting shot at by Octarians, who have become increasingly more accurate every new level, Splin had completed all of the challenges, with flying colors. Granted, most of the Octarians didn't do much in their power to prevent him from taking back a Zapfish, but it still worked out in the end. Ann-Gel had provided with more than enough coins to save up for repairs on his home, which let Splin rest easy. On the ground, because he was extremely wiped out from the challenges.
"Huff… Ann-Gel, I've completed them all." Splin sat on the ground, quietly panting. "Whoo. That was… Surprisingly fun." Splin smiled, looking at Ann-Gel, staring at Splin with a sad smile.
"Congrats dude. Here's your final reward." She said, pressing her palms against the plastic again.
Splin stood up, pushing against the plastic, and received a large, cardboard box, out of thin air. Splin exhaled slowly, mostly ignoring the impossible delivery.
"Huh. I suppose this might make transporting Tai easier." Splin said. "Thanks Ann-Gel."
"Open it." She told him softly.
One of Splin's eyebrows rose, and he opened the box, a schoolgirl uniform folded neatly inside, with other… Clothing materials.
"Uh… Thanks…?" Splin said slowly, red-faced.
Ann-Gel giggled. "Look underneath that, I think you'll like those better."
Splin looked back inside the box, digging under the feminine clothing with a blush. The redness in his face was replaced with clear interest, happening upon a video game cartridge, a schoolboy uniform, (again with more questionable clothes placed nearby) and a fresh looking Hero Charger.
"Wow…" Splin murmured, inspecting the cartridge and the Charger. "Thanks again, Ann…"
He turned to thank her, only for the amiibo box to be empty. Confused, Splin looked at the ground, where her statuette remained. He picked the trophy up, and turned it upside down again, where sure enough, a note was placed.
However, the note this time was different. This one read, "Thank you so much for playing, Splin. Hope the gear you got gets put to good use. I have to leave, my mission here is done. I'm so glad we got to hang out though, see you later. -Ann-Gel."
Splin's eyes widened. Placing the trophy back by the box, he expected her to reappear on inside. She didn't, still staying in a tiny trophy form.
Splin's eyes lowered. "...You're welcome." He took the trophy, and kept it safely in his pocket.
"Hey Splin!"
Splin whirled around, Sharq running towards him. Splin waved slowly, his brother arriving in front of him quickly.
"So, you're not gonna believe what we found out… Hm?" Sharq paused, his brother's face gloomy. "...What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's fine." Splin lied, not convincing Sharq in the slightest.
"I know that face." Sharq smiled reassuringly. "You always make that face when you're down. Come on, what is it?"
Splin's eyebrows lowered, his eyes closing, and opened as soon as they shut, saying, "I… Met a girl today."
Sharq's smile turned into a goofy grin. "My bro's got a girl? Niiiiice."
"...No, not like that! She uh… She had to leave." Splin sighed.
The cap wearing brother wrapped an arm around the other's shoulder. "Aww. Don't worry Splin, tons of other fish in the street! We'll find you another girl, I promise!"
"Friend." Splin corrected.
"Girlfriend? Man, you two must've hit it off quick." Sharq teased.
"Ah, shut up man!" Splin laughed, slugging his brother on the shoulder, only eliciting more laughs out of him.
The two of them transformed into squids, speedily using a Super Jump, leaving the Inkopolis Plaza behind, whooshing through the clouds.
Already miss her?
Splin soared through the clouds, saying, "...Yeah."
"Hey Splin?" Sharq asked.
Splin turned to his brother, who was looking through the cardboard box, which was hurdling through the sky alongside the two.
Sharq tilted his head. "...Why do you have girl's clothing in the box?"
Splin flushed crimson, and his tentacles sprang up in alert. "S-She gave them to me as a bonus! W-Wait! I didn't mean-"
"Man, she's looking out for my lil' bro, already prepping you for another girl! Maybe you could gift them to Tai?" Sharq grinned openly, elbowing Splin with his tentacle.
Splin's blush disappeared as he stared at his brother, and playfully whacked him with one of his longer tentacles. Sharq didn't mind much, instead laughing all the way through the sky, Splin shaking his head in a mix between amusement and embarrassment.
"And lose an eye to her for that? Yeah, that'll be the day!" Splin smiled.
Although the two brothers couldn't hear it, a small female voice was laughing as well.
"Hmm..." Tai had her hand on her chin, elbow placed on a table.
"What's wrong?" Aussie asked, appearing to be stocking supplies.
"I'm not entirely sure why..." Tai took her hand off her chin. "But I'm gonna screw with Splin tomorrow." She took off in a sprint, the sound of a kettle banging as she left.
Aussie paused, hands together in prayer. She whispered, "Oh, please don't let Tai kill those Inklings."
AN: I felt a little bad when the Splatoon amiibos' challenges were finished, there really wasn't too much to them afterwards besides that and Super Mario Maker costumes. So, I thought this chapter might reflect what an amiibo might think when their purpose is through. Although, you could probably leave them in the plaza if you wanted to. Once again, responding to reviews! Thanks to Anon360, Dread Angel, and Guest for reviewing the story! Anon360, I have to be honest once again, this story's plot is probably going to become less and less believable. I apologize in advance for any confusion. Thanks Dread Angel for the group invite, if you need anything, feel free to ask. And for Guest, thanks! But once again, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to prepare for October's Halloween chapter. See ya next time!