Splatoon: The Bate Bros.
A Change of Face
"This is not looking good." Splin muttered, backing away from the vortex.
The black hole overlooking the beach increased in intensity, nearly everything in the surrounding area being swallowed up by the dark void's nonexistent maw.
"Hey man, it could be much worse!" Sharq exclaimed, ducking under a stop sign that flew just over his head.
Splin closed his eyes, his eyebrows descending irritably. Turning to Sharq while keeping the same face, he opened his eyes again, a questioning look on his face.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing, or are you in some sort of alternate dimension right now?" Splin asked him, then looked down to the side. "Actually, with what's been going on, that wouldn't be too surprising."
"This place is practically a battlefield right now!" Sharq yelled. "I beginning to think should've listened to you when you wanted to stay home!"
"Sharq, it's alright, I'm more concerned about how Maria's doing." Splin said, looking over to Maria, still sitting in the sand, sobbing into her hands. "...Man, this is much different than back home. Wonder how it's going over there..."
Splin had to cut his thoughts short, quickly shifting to squid form and ducking into the sand when a large car flipped over his head, being dragged into the sky.
Sounds like a plan, my man! See you later Splin.
"Wait voice, I didn't mean that literally!" Splin shouted, but was answered with the noise of the vortex. "...Shoot."
"Look out!" Sharq shouted, pushing Splin and himself out of the way of a mechanical battle robot of sorts flying past.
"I swear to Cod, voice, this was the worst possible time!" Splin groaned, dodging more flying objects, running up and down the beach. "We need your help now! Don't leave-"
Willie sighed, his eyelids drooped dreamily, lying his head down on a counter, looking at his girlfriend serving customers.
"Darn it voice!" Splin's voice called out, crashing noises coming off in the background.
While the two brothers kept themselves from getting hit by cars that aren't being driven, Willie and Zip were working the day shift at one of the more prestigious spots to dine in Inkopolis, Oahu. The name was derived from an ancient text that was painstakingly translated, ordered presumably by the owner to make this place look fancy. It wasn't exactly five stars however, more of like a diner you'd go on a good night, rows of tables and seats comfortably built inside, a hardwood floor and a decent sized ceiling covering the vertical parts of the restaurant, booths of all sorts lining the walls, which had their fair share of windows and decorations for the upcoming Squidsgiving holiday celebration. Outside the restaurant looked small compared to the towering skyscrapers and crowded apartment buildings of Inkopolis, though the restaurant was nothing to scoff at. Willie and Zip had donned their uniforms that they had worn on Shalloween, though they were cleaned thoroughly since then, hardly a stain of ketchup to be seen.
Willie continued watching Zip, holding on to nearly each one of her movements, watching her tentacles twirl slightly with each movement as if she were in an elaborate dance. Until a loud clang shook him out of his observing.
"Snap out of it!" A young feminine yet authoritative voice shouted, banging a pan repeatedly over Willie's head with a spatula.
"Yipe!" Willie said, covering his ears. "Dang woman, don't have to be so loud, geez!" Willie shook his head and adjusted his glasses, huffing.
"Well maybe if you took your eyes off your girlfriend for at least a couple seconds, I wouldn't have break these fine utensils over your thick head." She huffed.
The "woman" in question happened to look only a year older than Willie, standing tall and proud. Her hair tentacles were cut shorter than average Inklings, the tentacles growing only slightly longer than her ears. She wore a chef's uniform, though under her toque was a White Headband worn just under the white hat, an Aloha Shirt sticking out of her apron, and an odd pair of Blue Moto Boots, though she stood wearing the footwear proudly.
"Pela, calm down, what's so wrong with a man wanting to watch his girl work it?" Willie asked, going back to staring at Zip, when he was smacked on the head with a spatula. "Yow!"
"Let's see, hmm… I got two reasons;" Pela stated, pointing her index finger up to emphasize. "One, you're supposed to be working, and two, that's freaking creepy." Pela said, smiling ominously.
"Yeah? Well talk to me when you get a boyfriend, I'll wait." Willie retorted, ducking under a barrage of flying pans, chuckling slightly.
"Grr…"
The entire restaurant turned to the entrance, Ari busting through the doors, his Jungle Hat tilted down to cover his face. His female squad accompanied him, pushing others out of the way as if to match his mood. They all took a seat at a booth, Zip already going to wait the table, a notepad looking almost as if materializing in her hands, her hands a blur.
"Welcome to Oahu- Ari?" Zip asked, looking over him.
"Hmph." Ari grunted, rubbing his cheek.
Zip looked over at the females for an answer, which they gladly answered.
"Ari… Uh, tripped in the plaza." Bas told her. "Like, really hard."
"Really?" Zip said, intrigue etched on her face, an amused smile on her lips.
"Yep, dude completely fell over flat ground, nothing, should've seen it." Sari added, Ari glaring angrily. "Uh… How dare the ground assault my cousin!"
Uh, yeah. That's the excuse I'm going for.
"The grilled salmon and the orange juice, make it snappy!" Ari shouted, pointing his index finger in the air.
"...Please…?" Zip informed him, smiling evilly. Ari groaned, lying his face down on the table.
"We'll just have what he's having." The females chimed in at the same time.
Zip nodded, already writing in the orders in, then whirled about, speeding off to the kitchen.
"Gah!" Ari said, throwing his hands up in the air.
"What's up, leader?" Rit asked.
"...At least those scrubs have the decency to go through a challenge before I get beaten up." Ari muttered.
"Aww, you miss Splin and Sharq already?" Sari asked, eliciting snickers from the other team members.
"...YES." Ari admitted out loud, startling multiple other customers. "They're the best rivals I've ever had! Plus, they don't try to beat me up after I lay down a wisecrack!" Ari told them. "Grr, I'll give that jerk a taste of what Ari can do. ...As soon as I remember exactly who did it. Hmm."
"Hey, we find them, then? Pretty sure you can get Splin and Sharq to participate in a 'challenge', then sic 'em on him. How about it?" Rit asked.
"They only come to Inkopolis ever so often, I'm convinced that the scrubs must live out in the boondocks." Ari grumbled.
"You mean like, the hills and countryside?" Bas said, Ari nodding in response. "Don't be silly, they have headphones. They can't be living in some, like, barn without electricity."
Zip went over to the counter, placing the orders written down on the counter, in front of Willie with a grin.
"Four orders of the salmon and orange juice," Zip said, winking at Willie. "Special order from a certain Loudmouth."
"Ari? Oh no, is he gonna try and recruit us again?" Willie asked, handing the order to Pela, who nodded and ran off inside a set of doors behind a counter, round windows revealing a nearly spotless kitchen, soon to be stained with ingredients.
"Nope, doubt it." Zip said, leaning on the counter, looking over at the normally-proud-now-distraught Inkling ringleader, slumped down in his chair. "He keeps going on about how he tripped on landing on his face or something."
"Loudmouth got owned? Finally!" Willie asked, Zip giggling.
"Probably. Dude had it coming after all those times he messed with everyone else. I don't think he tripped though, probably got slugged in the face somehow based on the way he's acting. He's also fawning over Shady and Music Man." Zip said, pausing. "Man, you're really rubbing off with those nicknames of yours."
"Heh, just means we're spending just the right amount of time with each other." Willie said, his eyelids closing slightly. Zip's eyelids also lowered.
The two leaned in, lips at the ready, until Pela came back, interrupting them with a splash of water aimed at Willie's face. The water seemed to have been diluted in some way, dripping mostly harmlessly off of Willie's face, his eyes closed in irritation.
"Work, now. Need help in the kitchen." Pela told him, pointing back at the double doors.
Willie grumbled, wiping his face clean, careful not to damage his Retro Specs. He trudged back to the kitchen, not before winking back to Zip, who smiled in return. Pela turned over to Zip, slight disappointment plain on her face.
"When I paired you two together for work, I had meant for you two to work harder." Pela said, hands on her hips. "What do you see in him?"
Zip looked through the windows to the kitchen, where Willie was rhythmically preparing the food, a cutting knife expertly chopping garnishes and fish up, tossing the unused fish remains away and sending the meat onto a grill by the side. Applying juice straight from a lemon squeezed onto the salmon as well as other salts and seasonings, he appeared to be straight at home in the kitchen, though scraps of food left unused spread messily throughout the kitchen.
"His energy and passion, I suppose." Zip smiled. She flinched when she noticed him slip over a small spill, but was eased once she saw him recover miraculously, standing straight, blushing in embarrassment once he noticed Zip looking through the window, waving nervously.
Zip waved back, sighing. Pela simply rolled her eyes, going back into the kitchen to assist him.
Ari, on the other hand, was still sulking, the females talking gossip to each other. Looking down at his Varsity Jacket, he groaned, placing his hands into the jacket pockets.
"Don't be down, cous." Sari reassured him, placing a hand on his back. "You're the great Ari Jabin, next time he shows his face, you can just get your goons to beat him up! Also us!"
Ari sighed, a hopeful smile looking up at Sari. "Really?"
"Yeah! You never gave up trying to beat the scrubs, besides, what's one scrub to two?" Sari said.
"You're right! Ha ha, that does it, we're going to have our revengeance on him!" Ari laughed, his squad of girls swooning dramatically. "That's our leader!" They said in unison.
Zip walked by, dropping steaming plates of salmon on the table in front of them.
"After this lunch!" Ari declared, digging into the food. The females did the same, though more eloquently than the male leader.
Zip curtseyed politely, though on the inside she was cringing at the lack of manners, fish bits and greens flying off of Ari's plate.
"U-Um, hello? Are you open?" A quiet recognizable voice asked meekly, the owner of the voice stepping inside.
The small yet cute Aqua walked into the diner, a recording of a studio audience applause accompanying her, though she hardly expected such a noise to follow.
"W-Who's there?!" Aqua asked, ducking behind a table.
Zip smiled. "We'll be right with you."
Ari stood out of his chair, a grin growing large on his face. "Ayy, baby!" His squad of females posed almost mechanically to his voice, epically crossing their arms and legs while looking down, drawing the attention to their leader.
Upon hearing and seeing him, Aqua freaked out, her eyes opening wide. She squeaked, ducking with more intensity beneath a table. Ari, who never knows when to quit, slid over to her on his feet somehow, making flirty poses.
"Hey girl." Ari said, pointing to Aqua, who shrinked into her lap. "It just so happens that I'm looking for treasure, can I look around your-"
Ari was interrupted by his head getting smashed by a pan that had flown from over the kitchen, falling onto the hardwood floor underneath with a thud.
"It's one thing to be rude to my co-workers. Now, assaulting another customer…" Pela murmured, patting a large wooden spoon on her open hand menacingly.
"Urr." Ari gulped, standing up. "Thanks for the meal, gotta go!" Ari yelled, snapping his fingers, his squad picking up the food and running outside with them, following after him.
The entire diner sat in silence for a while, when a laugh track recording went off. Pela, having nothing of that, threw another utensil blindly, smacking a recording device in the background, a fizzling sound and the laughing track shorting out being the telltale signs of destruction.
"Had just about enough of you." She muttered, walking about to the kitchen.
Zip stared in awe, then looked back at Aqua, who slowly began rising to her seat, though she constantly checked the seat to ensure it wouldn't explode or burst into flames, not willing to risk anymore surprises.
"...I-Is he gone?" Aqua stammered, looking around.
Zip nodded, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Taking out her notepad quickly, she smiled patiently.
Zip gave her a quick thumbs up. "Don't worry about it, now, about your order…"
"Just a pink lemonade, please." She asked.
Zip took a quick look over her, taking in the color of Aqua's rosy tentacles. "...And here I thought you'd order the side of chips." She sped off, holding her notepad.
"Hah." Willie said, looking over the scene. "Guess things aren't so boring without those two!"
Well, I think things are going well in that world. Hey Splin, Sharq, you doing fine?
"Just peachy voice." Splin shot back sarcastically, trapped underneath a car on the beach.
"Uh, really could be better honestly." Sharq groaned, attempting to crawl out using his squid form's tentacles.
Oh, let me give you a hand with that.
The car slid away from them easily, Splin and Sharq stretching their tentacles after their freedom.
Splin dusted himself off. "Alright, now-"
A large shard of metal shot out of the black hole, wires shooting out sparks as it went, landing nearby the brothers.
"Okay! Let's get everyone out of here." Splin said, running over to Tai and Maria, Sharq following behind closely.
AN: Sorry, I'm trying to see how to go about writing the Splat X portions, but in the meantime, uh… Here's this. Sorry again, might as well call me Napstablook, not really feeling up to it right now. But uh, apologies besides, reviews once again. Thanks to Dread Angel, Ultrapyre, and Anon360 for reviewing. I believe you Dread, good work with the memes I suppose, and thank you for telling me I did good with the characters from your story. Ultrapyre, thanks, I'll continue to try and work on their interactions with the world, making sure they fit. Finally, Anon360, it's totally fine, you're probably busy. Besides, it's almost Thanksgiving, go out and have fun! Ahem, anyways… Thanks for reading once again, as always, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, time to waste all my money on the Nintendo Badge Arcade, have a good day, afternoon, or night!