Quick AN: Hey guys it's ThePizzaLovingTurtle. So, I've decided, this chapter will be the last chapter in a long time, possibly the last of this story, I apologize. But, in the meantime, I have a little spin-off story in the works, who knows? Maybe I'll post it soon. While you're waiting, have one last challenge, fresh from Ari Jabin himself. Hope you like it.
Splatoon: The Bate Bros.
Ari's Really Cool Challenge of the Ages
Sharq had a dream. He dreamt that he was Super Jumping, except instead of falling down towards the ground, he was flying through the sky, not a care in the world. His squid tentacles twirled happily as he soared over the landscape, squids and jellyfish pedestrians down below stopping in awe. Grinning widely, he couldn't help a giddy feeling as he flipped and dipped through the skies' formation of clouds. He landed perfectly in the middle of Inkopolis Plaza, Tai, Maria, and Splin nearby each giving scores via scores. Everyone but Splin had up a perfect "10", whereas Splin held a decent "9".
"Splin!" Maria sighed.
"I'm just being honest." Splin retorted.
"This is his dream, dude, just roll with it." Tai said, rolling her eyes.
Splin sighed, and added a "1" behind the "9", giving Sharq an almighty score of "19". Sharq smiled widely, walking over to the judges and hugging Splin tightly. Splin sighed almost robotically, Maria smiling sweetly at the sight, Tai nodding nearby.
Sharq woke up feeling extra positive today, like nothing could go wrong. Standing up, he leaped out of his bed, stretching his arms, legs, and tentacles. Retrieving his Takoroka Mesh cap from the dresser adjacent to his and Splin's beds, he planted it on his head, strolling along towards the kitchen counter, wary not to wake up his brother, still snoozing.
"Good morning Sharq."
Sharq blinked, then turned towards the stove, where Maria was standing by, flipping a pan full of what he assumed to be something delicious.
"Morning Maria!" Sharq greeted her cheerily. "What are we doing today?"
"Don't you usually ask Splin that question?" Maria asked.
"Yeah, but I'm sure he's having a good dream right now." Sharq said with a grin, pointing his thumb towards his brother, who was stirring somewhat in his sleep.
Splin gulped, looking around his dreamscape. He noticed some form of fighting in the distance, squinting his eyes to perceive the action. He ducked into squid form, sliding to the side, barely dodging two individuals fighting with fury, running almost at the speed of sound. Looking closely from a safe distance, he saw that both individuals were Inklings of sorts, one with multiple tentacles appearing strikingly familiar. Before he could question what was happening, a chunk of debris dislodged from the ground from the battle was launched towards him, about to smash into him.
"Wow, he is really sound asleep." Maria commented, staring at Splin yet keeping tabs on the breakfast she was creating.
"Yeah. I don't think he's going to wake up anytime soon." Sharq commented, hopping off his chair towards his brother.
"AAAAGH!" Splin screamed and squirmed, throwing his bedsheets and pillows off his small cot in the process.
"Looks like I was wrong. Hey Splin, how'd you sleep?" Sharq asked.
"Not very well! I had a dream where Rem smashed me with a chunk of sidewalk!" Splin said, gasping.
"That doesn't sound nice." Sharq said with a semi-genuine pout.
Maria turned, keeping the pan on top of the stove, hands on her hip, frowning. "It's just a dream, Splin. I'm sure that Rem wouldn't ever do that...on purpose." She tried to reassure him.
"I suppose you're right, it was just a dream. Geez, it felt so realistic though. It's like I was there..." Splin murmured with a sigh, then hopped off his bed. "I'll get started on breakfast."
"No need Splin, I've already gotten that covered." Maria said with a smile, flipping the contents of the pan.
Now gracefully suspended midair, a golden omelet flipped, shining beautifully, catching the eyes of Splin and the stomach of Sharq. The two brothers felt obligated to clap, and so they did, providing a round of applause for Maria's cooking.
"Thank you. I suppose my cooking's getting much better." Maria said, flipping the omelet.
Just then, she made a slip-up, and the omelet dropped flat on the stove. Maria flinched as the omelet burst into flames near immediately, leaving a charred, coal-like meal on the stove. She turned the stove off, grinning nervously.
"Ta-da…?" She said.
Sharq shrugged, reaching for a spatula lying on the counter nearby, flipping the egg onto a plate, digging in immediately.
Splin sighed. "Leave it to my brother to consume anything physically inedible."
Maria pouted jestingly. "Are you saying my cooking's bad, Splin?"
"What?! No, no, I meant-"
"I think I might have to kick you out of the house for that." Maria said, winking.
"Please don't." Splin said, backing up towards his bed, sliding underneath the covers in squid form, staring back at Maria from the comfort and safety...actually, the comfort of his own bed.
Maria smiled motherly. "Maybe now you'll think before you speak, Splin."
"Yes, I get it, completely on me. Ha ha." Splin grumbled, rolling out of the bed sheets.
"What's the agenda for today, Splin?" Sharq asked curiously, through bites of the burnt omelet.
"I was thinking something along the lines of practicing in Turf Wars. Sharq, we're pretty much useless in battle."
"Aw, don't say that." Maria reassured Splin.
"Technically it's true, we only manage to provide low to average support, I've noticed our most effective, and almost primary way of dealing with threats is running away. I don't want to keep on having to retreat while a menace is at large." Splin explained.
"So, we're going in Turf Wars to hone our skills, so to speak, and beat other teams?" Sharq said.
"Precisely, bro. After all," Splin turned away. "It's not like YOU want to watch a bunch of Inklings running away for the tenth time."
"Ooh! Are we finally talking to the audience?" Sharq asked.
"Audience?" Splin asked, turning away from Maria.
"Oops." Sharq said, looking away. "Nevermind."
"That's not a very solid way to start off a chapter, Sharq." Splin said with a smirk.
"What are you two talking about?" Maria asked with a tilted head.
Okay that's enough.
"Nothing! See you Maria!" Both of them piped up at once, leaving the house, Super Jumping away, tentacles flailing.
"Those boys…" Maria said as she watched them go, shaking her head, walking back inside.
"...Voice, what was that about? I think we kinda lost our focus there" Sharq asked.
Nothing to worry about. Just a goodbye gift.
"To Maria? I don't see what she'd find so interesting in-"
AS THE TWO BROTHERS HURDLED TOWARDS INKOPOLIS, ahem, they shrugged off the oddities of that exchange, aiming for Inkopolis Plaza as usual. Sharq grinned, feeling the wind underneath his tentacles, though Splin looked a little concerned.
"Sharq, look out!" Splin cried out.
Sharq looked down at the plaza. His eyes went wide once he realized that there was another crowding of sea creatures covering the asphalt below, the plaza looking similar to that of a undersea reef. Sharq veered towards the right very gently, nodding at Splin to do the same. Together, the brothers made their way to a safe landing zone, and smashed into the Battle Dojo roof.
R.I.P. Splin and Sharq, alright ladies and gentlemen, for the rest of the series, we will be reading from the POV of Aqua-
Splin and Sharq rose unsteadily, small crack sounds coming from their limbs, which they responded with squeaks of unease.
Nevermind, good to see you two unharmed.
The Bate Brothers rolled their eyes, descending carefully down the Battle Dojo. Once on the second level, they had a clear view of the plaza, Inklings of all shapes and sizes staring towards the tower.
"What's the matter? Is the Great Zapfish missing again?" Splin wondered, looking up at the tower.
The Zapfish remained coiled up on the great green tower, staring down at the crowd of Inklings.
"I guess that's a no. C'mon Splin, let's get in closer!" Sharq said, hopping off a railing into the ground level of the plaza.
The brothers quickly dived into the crowd, who all suddenly fell flat on their faces.
"Oh no! What'd we do wrong?!" Sharq asked, looking down at the crowd.
"Sharq, we've been duped." Splin said uncharismatically. "Take a closer look."
Sharq stared down at the crowd, and realized that they were all made out of cardboard. Sharq stared at them with a look of befuddlement, glancing at the Booyah Base to his left as if the shopkeepers had some insight on this problem. Each shopkeeper continually knocked on the glass and pointed behind them. Splin and Sharq stared at them, walking towards the shops to help just in case they locked themselves in or something, when they felt a cloth wrap around the two of them, the both of them quickly getting abducted in a burlap sack.
"Ha! See? You could learn a thing or two about luring in suckers from your old man." Ares said with a sneer.
"Yeah, like how to act like a complete buffoon." Ari said with a scowl. "That's not how you're supposed to challenge rivals, you ignoramus."
"Pff. What would you know? You're just a dumb teen, always have been." Ares growled at Ari, minding the muffled protests coming from within the sack he had slung over his shoulder.
"I was always a dumb teen? Might need to exercise that dinosaur brain of yours, father." Ari said with a snicker. "It's getting ancient with every passing day, might as well donate you to a museum and call you a tyrannosaurus."
"Ooh!" Ari's female squadron cheered in the background, each staring at the conflict from a safe place, the sanctuary in question being Spyke's alleyway.
Spyke groaned at the crowding in the small space. "Appreciate it if you'd leave some elbow room, loves."
"Yeah? Least I don't act like a jester from the 15th century." Ares scoffed.
"Looks like someone actually paid attention in history class. First time you actually paid attention to something you cared about." Ari said, crossing his arms.
"Shut up." Ares sneered. "At least I-"
"Are you two going to insult each other all day, or are you going to release us?" Splin's voice called out from within the sack.
"Yeah! It's getting crowded in here…" Sharq said.
An audible representation of Splin rolling his eyes could be heard, somehow. "Just switch into squid form!"
The bag slung over Ares' shoulder lightened in weight. Ares grin intensified, as did Ari's displeasure. Sari, Rit, and Bas walked out from the alley, crossing their arms
"Alright, let's do this stupid task." Ares said, walking off.
"Challenge! IT IS CALLED A CHALLENGE."
"Potato tomato." Ares said.
"Potato Brain is more like it!" Ari cried, running after his father, his female friends following behind, sticking to them like glue.
"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?!"
After hours and hours of insufferable dad and son bond time, Splin and Sharq were dog tired, each of them slumped in the sack, resting their heads on each others' shoulders. They felt like they had already traveled miles, even confined in their tiny prison. From what they've gathered over the walk was that Ari appeared to be challenging them to prove some sort of point to Ares.
"How...long has it been…?" Sharq asked, blinking.
Splin reached into his pants pocket, pulling out his barely used phone. Turning it on with a flick of a button, he made a quick estimation using the clock in the phone.
"Four hours. Four hours of THIS." Splin said, sighing.
"And another thing, I'd call you a bonehead for letting mother go, but you don't have any!" Ari said with a growl.
"Yeah? Oh yeah, is that SOOOOOO?!" Ares roared.
"Yeah it is SOOOOOOO!" Ari shouted back.
"I just want this to endddd…" Splin said, covering his face using his hands.
"You and me bottttthhhh…" Sari said with a groan.
"Why are we talking like thisssss?" Rit asked, Bas shrugging nearby.
Suddenly, Splin and Sharq began to shake. The two hit the ground, still in the bag, hard, groaning as they hit the ground. They crawled out of the sack in squid form, their eyes adjusting to the outside light. Their eyes shot open once they realized where they were.
"One last challenge!" Ari said.
"I'd like to see your 'rivals' get past this." Ares said with a smirk.
The Bate Bros. were on a spawn point, metal platform Ari, Sari, Rit, Bas, and Ares stood watching them. The two gasped in realization, finding that they were standing on a spawn point painted blue, overlooking Saltspray Rig. Thousands of deadly traps from Splat Bombs being launched randomly to machine firing Inkzookas automatically layered the stage, all coated in a red-orange ink which, quite frankly terrifying the brothers.
"Oh, they will! I'll prove you wrong!" Ari yelled.
"WHAT THE SHELL IS HAPPENING?!" Splin shouted.
"...oh." Sharq gulped.
Splin and Sharq began tearing up at the sight of such carnage, all clearly meant for them. Ares grinned evilly, pushing the two off their spawn point, into the gauntlet, the two landing down into a middle area between two spawn points, on top of a box with no ink coated on it. The orange ink awaited the two, bubbling suspiciously like lava billowing from a volcano.
"Uh, Ari?" Sari piped up. "I don't mean to challenge your um, genius, but this doesn't seem too...fair."
Ari growled. "Yeah, that's because my dad over here built it."
"It's a masterpiece!" Ares laughed. "The culmination of impossible engineering only made possible by someone like me!"
Splin frowned. "At least now we know where Ari got THAT from."
"I dunno about you Splin, but I'm too scared to move from this spot." Sharq said, nervously eyeing the ink.
"You two have an hour, because I'm fair, to complete this challenge! Paint the entire rig blue, and you'll be set!" Ares said with an evil laugh.
"With no weapons?!" Splin asked.
"Yeah, dad, the two need weapons to make this fair." Ari said with a scoff.
"Oh, right! Fairness! 'Look at me, I'm Ari, I suddenly know how to play by the rules, despite having not listened to my dad at all'!" Ares said with an uncharacteristic mocking personality.
Ari sneered. "'Look at me, I'm Ares, I chase away my wife because I'm a jerk!'"
Splin and Sharq sat on the boxes, listening to the rambling for quite a while. Neither of them bothered to set foot in the treacherous goop.
"Something tells me they aren't having the nicest of family talks." Sharq said, watching the two.
"Yep." Splin said.
"What are you two waiting for?! GO!" Ares shouted, shooting the two with a .96 Gal ink shooter, the two yelping from the sudden impact.
Maria lounged on her mattress, covered in a soft blanket, when suddenly her eyes shot open. Maria sat up straight, a glare on her face. Tai suddenly crashed into the house from the roof, dusting herself off.
"Hey Maria, have you seen Splin or Sharq anywhere? I was gonna ask them if they wanted to hang out, target practice is slow again." Tai said, looking around. "...Maria?"
Maria's glare seemed to burn a hole through the wall of the house, in the direction of Inkopolis, Ann-Gel's trophy form seeming to sweat under her anger.
"You okay?"
"Someone's going to die today." She muttered, grabbing a nearby Splattershot, heading outside.
Tai blinked, then grinned ominously. "I'm interested to see where this is going."
Splin and Sharq flinched, their eyes closed in anticipation of a burning sensation from the red orange ink, opening their eyes cautiously, feeling at their backs.
"This ink doesn't hurt." Splin said.
"What the?" Ares said, shaking the gun.
"Should've double checked your equipment, then you might have realized I had sabotaged it!" Ari laughed.
"Um, hey, Ari…?" Splin began, but was cut off by the two others spiraling into another unstoppable argument. "Nevermind…"
The two stared down at the orange ink.
"...Should we?" Sharq asked.
"One step." Splin said, dipping his shoe in the ink.
Boom, Splin disintegrated immediately, and Sharq did so following after. For the rest of the story we will be reading from the POV of Willie and Zip-
"I'm fine." Splin said, kicking away some of the orange ink.
Oh okay, moving on.
Splin and Sharq trailed through the ink like snails, making little forward progress. The two boredly trudged for fifteen minutes, the sounds of machinery and arguing blaring in the background. Just then, Sharq tapped Splin's shoulder, pointing to an obstacle ahead of them. On two sets of elevator platforms leading farther up the rig, two makeshift cannons were firing Burst Bombs rapidly, a stream of the projectiles pouring out from the cannon nozzles into the sea, breaking immediately below.
"How are we going to get through that?" Sharq wondered. "Wait a minute…"
Testing the waters, so to speak, Sharq walked in front of the Burst Bombs, and-
"Was fine!" Sharq chimed in, walking through, ink bouncing harmlessly off him.
The ink also had no effect on Splin, who walked to meet up with his brother on the other side of the barrier of harmless bombs. The two continued up the rig, weaving slowly through a ramp leading towards the top.
"'Look at me, I'm'- HEY!" Ari suddenly shouted, ceasing his arguing.
"That's the worst one yet!" Ares said with a laugh, then followed Ari's stare. "HEY!"
Much to their surprise, Splin and Sharq were already halfway near the top, though without a defined goal, they were confused as to what to do. Ares fumed at their progress, though Ari seemed rather pleased with himself, and especially boastful.
"See? Told you they could make it." Ari said, gleaming with pride, his female squad posing fabulously, crossing their arms, light practically bouncing off of them.
"Grr. We'll see about that." Ares said, rolling up his sleeve, marching over to the two with one arm raised in anger.
"And what do you intend on doing, mm?" Someone asked behind him, the sound of a gun cocking following the voice.
Ares frowned, whirling around, finding a rather angry Maria, a box containing you-know-who at her side, the Octoling smiling viciously from within.
"Oh, hey. How's it going." Ares said with a flirty smirk, turning back. He whirled back around, eyes wide open. "You?!"
Maria peered through the scope of her Splatterscope, aiming the gun nozzle straight at Ari's face.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop tormenting these poor boys." Maria said with a deadlier version of her normally warm motherly voice.
"The ink here doesn't actually hurt!" Sharq exclaimed, rolling in the orange.
"This whole challenge amounted to nothing." Splin said, agitated. "What was the point of this?"
Ari and Ares looked in opposite directions of each other. Sari standing by cleared her throat. Splin and Sharq stared from the rig at the girl, hardly caring about the orange ink their feet were submerged in.
"Well, I suppose I should finally explain, um..." She began. "It...started a while ago, when Ari turned fourteen."
"He was pretty young, and his mum was still around, uncle over here were having the time of their lives together, right?" Rit continued, Sari nodding.
"Then tragedy struck… To put it simply, the two of them got into some, like, argument about whether Ari should go to a battle academy or straight up try for a Turf War team." Bas explained, the other two nodding.
"When the two didn't agree, it actually hit him harder than it should've, and, well…Ari's mom left his dad." Sari said, pointing towards the pair of bickering egomaniacs. "Ari...didn't take it too well."
"So the challenges then…" Splin said.
"I thought if I could impress someone strong with my challenges, they'd help me get into a professional squad." Ari huffed, lowering the brim of his Jungle Hat. "There, you happy?"
"It all makes sense now!" Sharq said
"Not...really." Splin said. "Why'd you always pick on us?"
Ari's face seemed to glow red for a moment, the teen placing his hands in his Varsity Jacket pockets.
"always thought you were co…" He muttered.
"Hmm?" Splin and Sharq hummed in confusion.
"I always thought you were cool!" Ari admitted, blushing red in embarrassment. "Fighting giant robots? Getting through my challenges halfway yet still finishing with a smile?! Taking us all out somehow the first match we had?!"
"Whoa." Sharq said, smiling.
"I used to think you were a good for nothing scrub! You turned out to be the BEST RIVALS I'VE EVER HAD!" Ari shouted, everyone's eyes expanding in amazement.
"..." An awkward, somewhat impressed, somewhat bashful silence followed.
"Uh...thanks?" Splin said carefully.
"YOU ARE WELCOME!" Ari shouted, shoving his Jungle Hat down on his head, trying in vain to contain his newfound embarrassment.
Maria lowered her weapon, sighing. "That was certainly something."
"Yeah." Ares said, walking over to Ari, who flinched at his father's approach.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Ari practically screamed, backing away.
Ares grinned. "That was a pretty dumb move you just pulled there."
"Yeah?! SO?!" Ari shouted.
Ares patted Ari on the head. "Ha… Ha ha… HA!"
"What's so funny?" Ari demanded.
"You remind me of a younger me, trying to propose to your mother! The embarrassment, the red face, it's all there!" Ares said with a hearty laugh.
Maria blinked. "So, um… That means…?"
"It means for once, you're not a complete fool!" Ares bellowed. "You're finally using that passion for something good!"
Ari smirked. "W-Well, yeah! What would you expect from a Jabin? Nothing less!"
"Jabin? Of course! We strive for only the best!" Ares shouted.
"Of course, nothing less!" Ari joined in.
"Haha! My son is back!" Ares said triumphantly.
"My dad is back!" Ari said triumphantly.
"Momentary respect!" Ari's female squad chimed, their tentacles flowing heroically in the wind.
Splin, Sharq, and Maria stared at the odd family moment, Splin shrugging at this normal scene in a normally strange universe.
"All's well that ends well!" Sharq said with a grin.
"I...suppose." Splin said uncertainly.
Maria shook her head. "Boys, if our experiences have taught us anything, it's that we should just go with the flow."
"Welp, that was stupid." Tai said, lounging back in the box.
"To Oahu! We celebrate this moment!" Ari shouted, pointing to the sun.
The cast now sat in the restaurant of Oahu, a large table with a feast catering to the family's whim. Splin, Sharq and Maria sat at a table nearby, Splin appearing unamused by the events, while Maria and Sharq simply lounged in the chairs, Tai sitting in a chair, still staying hidden in the box, though she was rather fine with it, the scent of food keeping her put.
"To us!" Ares declared, raising a glass filled with what appeared to be a wine.
"To us!" Ari, Sari, Rit, and Bas repeated, raising glasses of their owned filled with liquids containing less alcohol.
As the family cheered and downed their food and drinks, Willie and Zip looked on, shrugging, just happy that they weren't causing too much of a ruckus compared to other Ari visits. Zip twirled over to the Bate Bros. and Maria, leaning on their table.
"What'd you guys do? This is the first time I've actually seen Ari with his dad. And pretty darn happy too." Zip commented.
"We somehow solved a family dilemma by accident." Splin explained.
"Ah. Well, good job." Zip said, quickly pulling out a small clipboard. "Tonight's order is on the house."
"Gee, thanks!" Sharq said.
Zip smiled. "Of course, anything for our four 'heroes'." She said with a wink.
Tai began sweating nervously.
"I don't know why you constantly have to carry that box around, but if it's for leftovers, I won't judge." Zip said.
Tai smiled, silently blessing the Inkling world for not being complete murdering evildoers.
"I have to warn you though, I don't think this peace will last." Splin said, adding in his order discreetly.
"Eh, might as well bask in the moment, right?" Zip said.
Willie stared at the odd sight from the counter, chin on his hands.
"Loudmouth's having a blast. This world must be coming to an end or something." Willie commented.
A pan being clanged over his head made him cringe and change into a squid instinctively, Willie turning back, glared at Pela, who was standing above him using a small stool, descending with a pan and dough roller in her hands.
"If it is, it's one heck of a successful end, huh?" Pela said.
"You disrupted my hearing just to say that?! Devil woman!" Willie shouted, Pela curling her tentacles with a mocking cackle, Zip dashing inside of the kitchen.
Suddenly, the doors of the restaurant opened, the guest star of the century, Aqua, making one, possibly last, cameo appearance. Aqua peeked her head from the doors from outside, looking at the scene.
"What's g-going on? Is someone having a party?" Aqua asked meekly.
Ari stared at the door, grinning. "Well now."
Pela quickly ran out from the kitchen, inviting Aqua inside, brandishing a knife towards Ari, with a look saying, "No flirting with the cute girl or I'll kill you". Ari grumbled, going back to his celebration, Pela escorting Aqua over to a table of her own, chatting quietly.
Everything seems pretty good, doesn't it Splin and Sharq?
"Yeah!" Sharq said, taking his Takoroka Mesh cap off. "This is great! No challenges, just food!"
"...You know what Sharq, you're right. Everything's right as rain...although it may be...too fine."
A car could be heard crashing outside. After a minute, the doors to the restaurant flung open, Callie, or in this case, Agent 1 judging by her current attire, was being carried in, dizzy swirls in place of her normal eyes. Agent 2 grunted, carefully laying her cousin onto a chair, sitting down next to her.
"Is that it? Well, I guess things really are ending up fine." Splin said.
Splin lounged back on his chair, looking out the window.
Hope you two are going to enjoy your time off from all that adventuring.
"Voice?" Splin wondered aloud.
Yep.
"Where are you heading?" Sharq asked.
Just going for a bit of a break. See you two later.
"Oh, okay! See you later voice!" Sharq said happily, waving the narrator off.
"Goodbye. Hope you have fun I guess." Splin said, also waving him off.
As the two brothers waved them off, Zip came back, with plates of burgers and pizzas covering the platters, as well as an extra plate with a sandwich on it for Maria.
"Hooray!" Sharq cheered.
"Huh…" Splin said. "Thanks Zip."
"No problem Splin." Zip said, walking back to the kitchen, her tentacles bobbing.
Everyone in the restaurant enjoyed their time, resting easy, spending the rest of the night chilling.
AN: A Thank You: Sorry for the abrupt "ending", but hey, there really wasn't an easy way of "ending" this fic. I want to thank everyone who helped me continue this story over so many months. In fact, I got a list! If your name doesn't show up in multiple categories, that means you helped me more than described!
CREDITS
People Who Helped "Make" This Story, With Spectacular Reviews
Anon360 - Thanks for being the first reviewer, inspired me more than you know!
nintendosegapokefan - Thank you for guiding me through the early days of this story as well, trusted reviewer!
sebastian G - Danke schon, even if you are bored with fanfiction and aren't reading this, thank you for helping me continue!
Dread Angel - Thanks so much for helping me with the Splat X crossover chapters, inviting me to the group, and being a good friend!
Mr. Loner - Even if they were just a few appearances here and there, thank you for reviewing, hopefully this year you can use a costume idea without Sharq stealing it!
OctoInkling75 - Thank you for the idea of Aqua! Hope every story you read is fantastic, sorta like you!
Ultrapyre - Quite the critic you are, but thanks for helping me improve my story with moral support!
Darkstar248 - Thanks for telling me you love randomness, sometimes a little randomness goes a long way!
Hoopa679 - I appreciate your bubbliness as well as going with the flow of my bad jokes!
qwertzuiopas701 - You really supported my decisions with the direction the characters took, thanks!
You guys inspired me with words of advice, amazing memes, and great suggestions.
Those Who Followed, Playing Another Role in Supporting This Story
CooledFilBell7
Fuuga GF
Slulldom
The regular squiddy
deepcauldron
the story guys
You may not have reviewed, but moral support is always great, hope I didn't flood your e-mails or something!
Favorited, Thanks guys.
litosns
Favoriting a story is like upvoting a comment, it may not seem like much in the long run, but dang it makes me smile stupidly.
I believe that is all. Thanks one and all for reading this story, this has been ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to play… Splatoon, eh?
…
…..
…
"Wow, this place is pretty cool!" Sharq said.
"Sharq, there's nothing here, it's all white." Splin said. "Where'd you teleport us off to now?"
"Dunno. Wanna go back home?" Sharq asked.
"...Yeah." Splin said. "Well, wait a second."
"What?"
"You...wanna stop by Rem and Ix's universe for a bit? You know, see how they're doing?"
"..."
"Right, that was a dumb question, sorry."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"...Heh, I can always count on you, can't I?"
Post-Story Author's Note: Er, by the way, if you happen to be reading this, this story now has a sequel. If you want to check it out, that's up to you. It's better than the abrupt ending, that's for sure.