Splat X: The Bate Bros.

"There are mechas in your world?"

A pair of slightly wet brothers trudged through Inkopolis, towels covering the two almost like a cape gently swaying in the wind. They attracted some weird stares from Inklings on their way home, which was shrugged off as always. Reaching the end of a sidewalk, the two of them switched to squid form, Super Jumping away towards the hills, the towels floating off abandoned.

Once in the sky, Splin sighed, attracting Sharq's attention.

"What's on your mind?" Sharq asked, spinning, his tentacles swiveling like a shuttlecock through the air.

Splin looked at the clouds as they flew past. "...Just thinking about all the stuff happening lately. Alternate dimensions, robots, it's all so strange…"

Sharq laughed. "Strange, huh? Look at yourself now! You're literally flying through the air!"

"Not talking about logic, Sharq. It just seems unnatural. Gone are our days of simply playing in Turf Wars, now we have a mother of two omnipotent siblings staying at our house, a cube that can summon almost anything, an Inkling stuck as a trophy, a sentient alarm clock, and a sea snail." Splin explained, spitting out part of a cloud that blew past his face.

"Don't forget Rem and Ix!" Sharq added.

"...Right."

Splin and Sharq closed in on their home, soon to be landing. Seconds later, the brothers scraped by a rock, landing closely on the soft grass. Splin panted, looking back at the rock, then at his body to make sure he was fine, switching to a humanoid form to inspect his limbs better. A few scratches, nothing major. He turned to Sharq, who was already bounding up the hill to the house. Splin sighed, standing up, fiddling with his headphones, dashing up the hillside to join his brother. Sharq had entered the house first, taking a seat by the kitchen counters, while Splin came in, looking dead tired, flopping down on the floor a minute after. Maria sat inside, watching the television broadcasts as usual.

"Tough day?" Maria asked, shutting off the television.

"Sort of!" Sharq told her, lounging.

"Nearly drowned, but aside from that, fine." Splin muttered, dragging himself across the floor.

"What?! Are you okay then?" Maria asked, swiftly going to Splin's side.

"I'm fine, Maria." Splin reassured her, making a peaceful pushing gesture with his hands. "Just need to lie down…"

With that being said, Splin turned into a blue, exhausted squid, pushing himself over to his bed using his tentacles. Maria watched worriedly, Sharq following her gaze.

"He'll be fine." Sharq said. "Hey, didn't Rem and Ix say they'd be back by now?"

Speaking of which, a loud whooshing noise was heard, as well as something landing nearby.

"That must be them. Excuse me." Maria said, leaving the house, closing the doors behind her.

Curiosity taking the best of them, Splin and Sharq made their way to the windows, minding the broken glass, and peered through, Rem and Ix standing outside.

"There you are, what took you so long?" Maria asked, lying against the house's exterior.

"Well, we were out in the middle of the ocean. Even at Supersonic it would take us a while to get back…"

Sharq turned to Splin, an astonished expression covering his face. "They Super Jumped at a supersonic speed over here?! Awesome!"

Splin bit his lip. "...I'm thinking it was something else."

All of a sudden, Ix left, dashing towards Inkopolis. Rem turned to the house, glaring at Splin and Sharq for some reason. The brothers luckily took the hint, and walked back inside, sitting by the kitchen counters.

"Sharq, I've been meaning to ask you." Splin began, one of his hands on his chin, elbow on the counter. "...How exactly do you feel about all of these strange occurrences?"

Sharq snorted. "What, is this an interview, you a reporter now Splin?"

Splin glared at Sharq, an aura of pure seriousness surrounding him. "Sharq..."

Sharq stared back, sighing. "...Sorry, you're serious, right?" Splin nodded in confirmation, Sharq nodding as well. "Well… I mean, it's pretty odd, but I don't think it's much to get riled up about, in my opinion. Why do you ask?"

Splin looked down at the counter. "...Just wondering."

The two sat in silence for a while, absentmindedly looking around their small house. The silence would be quickly shattered.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!? YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN KILLED!" Maria screamed, startling the two, the brothers jumping up a little.

Splin gulped, standing up straight. "I'm just gonna… Um, take shelter just in case…"

Sharq nodded, looking around. "Where are we gonna 'take shelter'?"

Splin rubbed his chin, inspecting his entire house. He turned to the pair of beds, Ann-Gel standing by the alarm clock nonchalantly. He swiftly turned back to the counters, Salty napping by the Tele-Cube tranquilly. Splin got an idea, an imaginary Great Zapfish shining above his head.

"Shockwhisk!" The Zapfish exclaimed, vanishing suddenly.

Splin walked around the counter, ducking into squid form, and reached underneath, opening a cabinet underneath. He stowed himself away, giving Sharq a salute with his tentacle, shutting it behind him.

Sharq blinked, smiling. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Just then, a light, hardly noticeable shaking in the ground seemed to have hit. Sharq wobbled, though he stopped quickly, the shaking passing.

"Hey Splin, did you feel that? Man, Maria must not be happy or something." Sharq asked.

Rapid, terrified knocks answered him, grabbing Sharq's attention.

"Sharq?! I think I'm stuck in the cabinet, help please!" Splin called out, banging on the inside of the counter.

Sharq gasped. "Hold on!"

Sharq pushed down his cap, and leapt over the countertop, landing on the floor behind the counter, reaching and jiggling at the small cabinet's handle. The door didn't budge, Sharq gritting his teeth in worry.

"Okay, so Splin, I think you're uh… Trapped in there. For a while." Sharq chuckled, though on the inside he was running around in circles screaming.

"..." Horrified silence came from the cabinet.

A moment later, Maria came dashing through the house, grabbing pillows left and right.

"Oh, right!" Maria exclaimed, turning to Sharq. "You don't mind if I borrow these pillows, do you?"

"No, but-"

"Thanks!" Maria said, about to speed outside, Sharq blocking the door.

"Wait!" Sharq panted. "Splin's stuck underneath the counter!"

"What?!" Maria shouted, dropping the pillows on the floor.

She ran around the counter, switching to squid midway, and nearly ran over Sharq, headbutting the counter cabinet in, splintering it, pulling Splin out, dusting him off, gave him a hug, and ran back outside with the pillows, all within the span of a few seconds. The two brothers simply sat there, their squid eyes glowing with amazement.

"Splin, you gotta admit, things have been pretty AWESOME ever since the inkslide park incident!" Sharq said, gripping his squid head with his tentacles as if to make sure that he was actually seeing correctly.

"And sort of terrifying." Splin admitted, slowly gasping for breath.

The two reverted to humanoid Inklings, walking out from the kitchen area, back towards the television. On their way there, they noticed Rem with her face in her palms, Maria comforting her. One thing that stuck them as odd was that Rem no longer wore much on her upper body save for a bra, which under normal circumstances would probably lead Splin and Sharq back into the house, but something was amiss. The brothers walked outside, gently opening the doors, and stood in front of the house, Sharq clearing his throat.

"Hey…" He spoke up gently, "Are you two alright?"

"Rem's a bit… upset." Maria told them, hesitantly.

"Maria, I think she's a little bit more than 'upset'. She's crying her eyes out." Splin said, pointing over at the weeping teenager. "Rem, can we help at all?"

Rem sniffled, shaking her head, though a light smile was on her face. "Thank you, you two… but it's something I think only I can handle." Rem stood up slowly, heading inside the house, the doors shutting close with a quiet clack.

Maria furrowed her brow, stooping down, picking up what appeared to be Rem's hoodie off the terra. "We should probably give her some time to herself." Maria glanced at Rem's hoodie, slinging it over her shoulder. "I'll go put this in the wash, then how about we go for a walk or somethin'?"

Splin nodded. "I think it would be best to leave her alone for a while." Urging him to leave was his stomach, a warning growl from Splin's stomach alerting him. "Guess we should go get some food while we're at it."

Maria nodded, taking one last look at the house. She shifted into squid form, gesturing at the boys to follow her, the two brothers changing into squids as well. Together they leaped into the sky, leaving the female Altezio sibling to herself.

Splin and Sharq as always had difficulty nailing the landing, though their experiences beforehand managed to net them a good spot this time around, landing mostly harmlessly on a wooden bench in the plaza. Maria landed smack dab in the middle, standing up as soon as she landed, though Splin and Sharq slid off stagnantly, hitting the cement with hardly a care. Maria inhaled sharply, picking up the two, setting them straight.

"Thanks." Splin said, shaking his head to relieve some of the dizziness from the fall. "So, where we going?"

The three began walking along the plaza, taking in the sights and sounds of the city as they went.

"I was thinking maybe we could get some pizza, drown our losses from that Splatfest, maybe?" Sharq suggested.

There we go!

"Buckos! I need ye help!" Cap'n Cuttlefish suddenly burst out out of the Octo Valley manhole, gasping for breath.

"Cap'n?" All three said in surprise.

"Ah! Agent A, B, and 3! You're all here, perfect!" He exclaimed excitedly, taking his cap off and waving it, attracting some odd looks from passerby.

"...How did you…?" Maria stuttered.

Cap'n laughed heartily. "You just seem like a 3 to me! Come quickly, thar be no time to lose!" With that being said, Cap'n ducked into the manhole.

The three stood in silence, looking at one another.

"...Should we?" Splin asked.

Maria, having already sprinted away, smiled nervously. "Um… D-Don't worry about me, just picking up some food for us!"

A bead of sweat rolled down Splin's face, the blue Inkling shaking his head. "...It's a good thing I brought these with us."

Splin reached at his back, inexplicably taking out an Inkbrush covered in blue, and Sharq's Strange Krak-On Roller, odometer shining proudly, ink tanks with him.

"Whoa, where'd you stash those?!" Sharq questioned.

Splin blinked. "...I honestly have no idea."

Guilty.

"Really?! Thanks voice!" Sharq spoke, taking the Krak-On Roller and an ink tank, strapping it to his back. "Let's go Splin, Cap'n's waiting!"

Splin smirked. "Sure, thanks again voice!"

No problem you two, get a move on, the plot awaits!

Splin nodded, and Sharq saluted using two fingers. Both of them switched to their squid form, and hopped through the manhole grates into Octo Valley.

Popping out of the manhole immediately after the short trip through the pipe, Splin and Sharq stood straight, searching for the Cap'n immediately. Cap'n Cuttlefish stood next to his shack, a large photo spread across a bulletin board built onto the side.

"Welcome you two!" Cap'n waved with his left hand, his cane propped up using his right. "Wish I could say I invited ye two in for a little chat, but we got some pressing matters! You see this?" Cap'n tapped the billboard behind him with his cane.

Splin and Sharq squinted their eyes, spying the picture behind them. On the wall, the mech the Octarians were developing was spread across it, clearly visible.

"...Yeah?" Splin said.

Cap'n Cuttlefish scratched the back of his head. "Well, it just so happens that an Octoling, an Octoling, can you believe it? One of them came around bringing this photo, shouting somethin' about rampages and whatnot… I couldn't make heads or tails of what she meant."

"...Well then, what exactly did you call us down here for?" Splin asked.

"On the bright side, I know what she meant now!" Cap'n said, gesturing for the brothers to follow him.

The three Inklings walked over towards the kettles, when suddenly a large machine flew by, the impact of the flying object pushing the three down to the ground. They stared in awe at the machine, the mech flying throughout the dome with ease.

Sharq looked at the machine, then back at the photo. While the mech retained the same features as described in a previous chapter, a single eye on its head was now glowing a deep blue.

"...I see what you mean." Splin said.

"We're gonna need some help with this…" Sharq said.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing."

The two turned around to see Tai, Aussie, and Chi, all equipped but Tai with their Octoshots, the lazier of the Octolings standing with an Octobrush by her side, along with a squadron of multiple other Octarian forces standing behind them. Jerry floated nearby, spinning his Octocopter propellers rapidly, DJ Octavio floating up behind the force, his arms crossed. Cap'n Cuttlefish stood up, beginning to say something.

"If you get your 'agency' involved, 'Cap'n', Tai and I will make positively sure that you will NOT have anymore granddaughters." Chi growled.

Cap'n Cuttlefish frowned. "Age got to me first, missy."

"I assume you've seen the Skell fly by?" Tai asked, offering a hand to the two brothers.

The brothers took her hand, standing up, nodding.

"Nice! Where'd it go?" Tai asked, looking around.

Splin and Sharq looked in the direction the Skell flew away, blinking. They noticed a large hole smashed into the valley wall, rocks dropping from the hole in the wall.

"...I might have an inkling of what might've happened." Splin said.

Everyone went silent, a few Octarians coughing though Tai and Chi seemed to snicker somewhat.

"...Agent B, I suggest that you keep the puns at a low level." Aussie stated, putting two fingers to her goggles in irritation.

"...Right, sorry. Let me check really quick." Splin said, hopping through the manhole, the cover closing with a clang.

Splin popped out of the manhole, checking the skies. He half expected a robot Octoling mech to soar through the skies as he went, though most of the plaza seemed extremely calm. Lowering himself back into Octo Valley, he peered right back up when he noticed a newscast broadcasted right now onscreen just above the plaza.

"Hold onto your tentacles…" Callie began.

"It's Inkopolis News time! But no time for luxuries, we have breaking news!" Marie stated.

"Aw, that was my line…" Callie pouted, clearing her throat. "Anyways, first of all, we apologize for our mistake on the news, apparently Saltspray Rig is still intact…"

Splin sighed in relief.

"...But a mysterious machine was spotted in the ocean!" Callie said.

"Oh of course it was." Splin groaned.

"In other news, be on the lookout for a new threat, an Octarian defense machine of some kind has been seen flying around Inkopolis skies!" Callie said dramatically.

"You mean like that?" Marie questioned, pointing upwards.

The Skell dashed through the sky above the plaza, raining down bursts of ink blots onto the plaza from cannons, sending the populace of Inkopolis into a panic. Upon seeing the Skell's attack, Splin ducked back inside the manhole, sliding through the pipe, the ink bullets following him down through the pipe.

Everyone back in Octo Valley sat around, fiddling with their weapons. Sharq sat by Cap'n Cuttlefish and Octavio, checking his odometer on his roller.

"I need to use this thing more often, I hardly have any splats!" Sharq said, looking over the roller.

"Kicking tail in Turf Wars, Agent A?" Cap'n asked.

"Noice, remixing faces huh?" Octavio said, poking Sharq's roller.

"For sure!" Sharq exclaimed happily.

Tai watched the three males, grinning. "Heh."

"What's up Tai?" Chi asked.

"I'd imagine this is something our two races would do before those Great Turf Wars, you know? I mean, there's no cool fighting, but…" Tai sighed. "It's peaceful, people talking like nothing's happening. Even when there's a huge difference between us, at least a few of us can still get along."

"..." The other Octarians remained silent.

"Or maybe I'm just crazy and these Inklings are the only ones worth salvaging." Tai grinned, exposing her sharp teeth this time.

"Yep, there she goes again." Jerry sighed, floating about.

A rattling of the manhole alerted everyone, heads snapping in the direction to the two way entrance and exit, a squid swimming up, transforming to the headphone wearing brother in an instant.

"Well? You find the Skell?" Octavio asked.

"Yeah." Splin said.

Blots of ink fired out from the manhole blasted Splin away, the brother rolling onto the ground, though he managed to shake most of it off.

"I'm pretty sure." Splin told them.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We should be going up there right now, and take back what's ours!" Tai said, the Octarian crowd murmuring in agreement.

"Not so hasty, Tai." DJ Octavio said, making a stop signal with his robot's hands. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we don't have a good entranceway to the surface available to accommodate all our forces."

Tai groaned. "Come on, I just wanna fight something!"

"T-41, we're not here to destroy or splat anyone, this is an extraction mission, remember?" Aussie reminded her. "We take back the Skell before it causes significant damage, and get back, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah." Tai waved Aussie off.

"Hey, if you don't mind us asking, what's the deal with this Skell? It seems like it has a mind of its own." Splin said, wiping off Octarian ink. "Almost like it went rogue."

The nearby Octolings turned to Tai and Chi, Jerry slowly descending nearby with a guilty face.

"...Heh, funny story about that." The two of them smiled innocently.

"This is the defense mechanism we've been working on!" Tai told Chi, Jerry, and Tek, standing in the Octarian hangar, showcasing the large Skell, deactivated. Chi and Jerry stood in awe, though Tek seemed indifferent.

"...Meh, I've seen better." Tek scoffed.

"Oh ho? Really, now?" Tai grinned. "Well then, I hope you're ready to have your mind blown when I show you this baby's abilities." Tai walked over to a control panel stationed nearby, her hand hovering over a button. "This thing is capable of artificial intelligence, we can just tell this thing what to do, who to splat, you know, the works, and it does it with ease! Watch this."

Tai stamped her hand on part of the panel, the panel glowing violet under her touch. The Skell began to rumble, the blue light serving as its eye on its head beginning to glow blue, a faint sea green light emanating out of the thrusters on its back. Tai tapped in some commands, words coming up on the screen on the panel, the Skell suddenly coming to life, its thrusters on its back firing neon green bursts, the Skell posing somewhat heroically.

"Ha ha!" Tai laughed.

"Amazing!" Jerry cheered.

"Dude, with this, we're practically unstoppable! Inklings will think twice before messing with us." Chi grinned.

"Whatever." Tek shrugged it off, reading a manga, looking away from the Skell.

Tai scoffed. "Yeah, Miss, 'I'm never impressed by anything' over here was a great asset to my audience." Tek said nothing, continuing reading her manga.

Tai fumed, her fist trembling on the control panel, when an alarm on in the hangar suddenly went off.

"Wha?" Tai looked up at the Skell, which was beginning to rise. "Wait, what?!"

DEFENSE PROTOCOL ACTIVATED. Have a nice day. :)

After that surprisingly nice message at the end, the Skell burst through the hangar doors with a high speed tackle, flying outside the base. Tai stood, deadpanning at the events, while Chi and Jerry stood wide eyed and wide mouthed.

"...Get Octavio." Tai said, facepalming, though one eye was poking out from her fingers, watching the mech escape.

"I feel like it was sort of worth it." Tai shrugged. "Don't regret much."

"So… What's the plan, Octavio? How are we going to transport all our forces to the surface through that small entrance?" Chi asked.

"Ah. Yeah, it's pretty simple, we don't send all our forces." Octavio said plainly.

Aussie glared at Octavio. "Sir?! What are you suggesting?!"

Octavio laughed. "I'm saying we don't send an army, instead, we're sending these slimy little helpers out here with a small Splatoon accompanying them, they'll be responsible for taking down the Skell. Besides, if we somehow were to jam all our forces down there," Octavio pointed to the manhole, "Who's to say we'd all make it back? After all, some Inklings up there aren't exactly on speaking terms. That's why we just send one or two first, then send back-up if it proves too much."

"...Octavio's lost it." Aussie said, shaking her head. "Too many parties, knew it was bad for his health."

"Hah! I assure you Aussie, I am still sane. Anyways, Tai will accompany these two," Octavio gestured to the Bate Bros. "To the surface, take down the Skell, and the rest of the Octarians will help lug it back!"

"Wait, whoa whoa, that's your plan?!" Splin asked. "How do you expect us to take down a weapon of that caliber?!"

"That's for you to figure out! We cannot bring too many Octarians, as previously established, so you will have to go up yourself with Tai, and disable the machine yourself! What do you say, Inkling?"

Splin frowned, turning to the others. Tai leaned back on her Octobrush, smirking, and Sharq was spinning his roller around.

"...I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Splin sighed. "...Fine."

"You hear that?! They'll do it!" Octavio shouted to the Octarian crowd, who were bursting into cheers, though some were doubtful this would work.

Splin motioned for Tai and Sharq to follow, phasing through the manhole grates as a squid. Sharq followed, waving to the crowd, Tai leaving last, blowing a small kiss to the Octarians, before dropping down the hole.

Cap'n Cuttlefish sighed. "Really Octavio?"

"Really." Octavio responded simply.

The three cephalopods, two youngsters and a teenage octopus leaped out of the manhole, weapons poised. They already spotted the Skell, flying off across Inkopolis, the sky already dark.

"...Wait, did we ever think about getting you past all the Inklings unnoticed?" Splin asked, looking at Tai, who shrugged. As if to answer his question, Inklings of all sorts ran past the three, less concerned about the Octoling and more about the robot. "Suppose even rampaging robots have their perks."

"Splin, Sharq? Are you there?" Maria's voice called out.

The three stood still, Maria running through the plaza towards the three, panting somewhat.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you two! You've seen… THAT, right?!" Maria asked.

Splin, Sharq, and Tai all looked down at their weapons, then towards the Skell practically raining ink down on Inkopolis, nodding.

"Okay good, well-"

A laser beam charred the plaza asphalt closeby.

"Maria, there isn't much time to explain… We need to get to that Skell!" Splin sighed, looking at the sky.

Maria glanced at the Skell, flying through the sky. "That's what it is?!" Splin nodded. "...Why would you want to go near it?"

Tai sighed. "Long story made short, I screwed up, the Skell was released, and we need to get it back to HQ!"

All of them turned to the skies.

"...Okay… What are we waiting for, then?" Maria asked, taking out a Splat Charger.

"You're gonna help us?" Sharq asked excitedly, Maria nodding.

"...Where did you get that Splat Charger? Voice?" Sharq asked.

Nah...

"I… Had a feeling that something like this could happen. So, you ready?" She asked.

Tai grinned. "Heh. This is really getting interesting."

The other two nodded in confirmation, shifting into their aquatic lifeforms. Maria did the same, and they all launched themselves through the sky, the mech in their sights.

AN: Don't worry guys, I'm not going "completely off Splatoon topic" with this one, there are still going to be Splatoon elements in this Skell encounter, just… You know, with a giant robot.

Aside from that, time to respond to reviews! Thanks to Dread Angel and Ultrapyre for reviewing! I'm rooting for you Dread, make the Hawaiian Pizzas proud! Ultrapyre, I can assure you, Rem is not going to be a Shoggoth, more like a Giant Squid, good sir. Thanks for the Splatfest advice, as well. Thanks again for reviewing, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, time to work on my holiday budget, see you later!