Chapter 3: Seeing the world through a cyan-tinted lense
A/N: I just spent all day at the Ford auto reveal. I can't tell you what I saw caused I signed a paper and yada yada, but they were REALLY cool. I think they release info on wednesday, so have fun with that. By the by, do you guys want constant updates (1-2 a day on weekends, 2-4 a week) and short chapters? Or do you want longer updates (1 for the weekend, 2 a week) and longer chapters? Also, I am aware my grammar and knowledge of Splatoon physics is not amazing, so seriously, PM or leave it along with a review so I can revise it! I also enjoy as many reviews as possible, even negative ones. Negative ones are usually the best, as they tell me what I am doing wrong (if you are not a jerk about it :P) but the positive ones are always nice to see. Also, no, this is not the end of world/character building. I just wanted to make sure this story actually relates to Splatoon and is not just a crappy sci-fi story :D. By the way, I am a learning artist, so if you guys want me to draw a cover depicting what I think Izzy looks like, I will give it my best shot. Also, I add in a reason on how Izzy will communicate with inklings… it may be fairly stupid though, so fair warning.
(POST A/N:) Oh boy, I sure royally fucked up this one. Not only did I NOT post the ORIGINAL Author's notes the first time, I also realized how stupid this chapter is. But I need to keep it in for plot reasons, so prepare for only some minor grammatical and phrasing tweaks that I caught. And yes, I did see the Continental, Raptor, and da other one in person before most other people did. I even got a photo with Bill Ford! I kind of really want a Raptor now.
"Well that was strange." Callie murmured as she pulled out some blood that had landed on her tentacles. "And what is this stuff it was leaking? Pretty sure this isn't ink." Marie tapped her foot and scratched her chin. "I dunno, I guess the best thing to do is finish surveillance like the Cap'n asked us to."
oo0OO0oo
Izzy sped through the underbrush, adrenaline pumping through his body, the green of the forest turning into a blur as he raced pass. Izzy was fairly certain they would catch him if he didn't find a hiding spot soon, the wound on his leg tearing slightly wider with every step. It didn't help he left a trail of blue behind him, a stark contrast to the colors of the forest. Izzy stopped at a small clearing, bending over to catch his breath, his heart hammering in his chest. He didn't hear any sounds of pursuit, so he slid to the ground against the back of a huge oak tree. Breathing heavily, he touched his now reopened wound. He instantly regretted the decision, and withdrew his hand, hissing loudly.
He sat there, drifting in and out due to the profusely bleeding wound. After an hour or two, he checked his leg, the wound had resealed once again, but the tissue had left a major scar this time as a result. Sighing before running his hand through his hair, he dragged himself to his feet, and paused. There, a bush rustled every so slightly, and only a slight growl could be heard before a wolf-like creature leaped out, jaws bared for Izzy's neck.
Shocked for a moment by the abruptness of the attack, Izzy took an wobbly step back, tripping over a tree trunk and falling onto his back with a loud thud. The creature pounced on his chest, teeth gnashing as a liquid akin to paint or ink dribbled from its' mouth onto his exposed skin. Izzy brought his right arm around, and attempted to strangle the beast, when the spiderweb of blue light once again blossomed in his arm. As soon as he made contact with the wolf, however, time seemed to freeze
Izzy found himself quite low to ground, making his way swiftly across the forest floor. He didn't know where he was going, but instinct told him he had almost made it… so very close! His vision then cut to him pinned against a wall by several of the wolf creatures, drawing in closer, jaws snapping and popping as they sized up their prey. He was then limping through the forest, licking his wounds when he picked up a scent almost forgotten to his nose. Human. He broke into a full sprint, passing other startled animals. There, the human had its' back turned to him. He was about to bite into the soft flesh of the neck when… wait. That was him. Izzy was staring at himself, his mouth gritted as his right arm came around and…
Izzy gasped loudly as he returned to his own body, the wolf slumped over next to him, unconscious or dead. His whole body shaking wildly, he looked at his arm, now pulsating with waves of blue light. The wolf had started to stir, its' eyes darting around before settling once again on Izzy. "Stop" Izzy said. The words felt weird, almost alien, something was off about it. This seemed to have an immediate effect on the beast, as it stopped growling and now stared at him with intense curiosity. "Human speak lupus?" the beast said. Izzy stopped cold, did the wolf just speak to him? "Do you just speak?" Izzy said, questioning the canine as it put its' nose between its' paws. "No, you speak lupus to me." it replied, ruffling the fur across his body. "I... " Izzy stopped himself, and made a monumental effort to speak English. "Can you understand me still?" The creature paused, before saying "Human went back to gurgle, is okay to eat?" It took Izzy a moment before he realized the gravity of his situation. He tapped into the memories of another sentient being, and absorbed knowledge from it. Staring at the wolf, he tried his best to go back to lupus. "No, go find something else to eat." content with the small whine that accompanied his statement, Izzy brushed himself off before attempting to find a path out of the labyrinth of a forest he was in.
The wolf had seemed to stay put, and Izzy heaved a sigh of relief. It was one thing to be pursued by humanoid squid creatures, but to be accompanied by a talking dog? That was just plain ridiculous.
It was pretty clear Izzy had no idea where he was going, he wandered around for another hour before grunting in frustration and taking a break. "Too many tree." Izzy complained. He blinked, before realizing what he had just said. "Great, now I even talk like a wolf, too." He was about to stand up and continue on his way before he felt a great deal of ASL fluid boil his stomach. Izzy moaned, before coughing up a mixture of blood and ASL. He fell back to the ground, his head breaking out in a feverish sweat. Guess this is stage two Izzy glumly thought. Resigned to another night of sleeplessness, he crawled over to a tree and rested his head against it.
oo0OO0oo
"Cap'n Cuttlefish!" the excited voice of Marie called out. The door to the ramshackle hut opened, and the old inkling in question peered out before grinning widely as he recognized his grand squids "Come on it, lads! I have some leftover crabby cakes and some tea for ye." he said. Callie trailed behind Marie, mumbling quite intensely to herself. One the trio was comfortably seated at the small wooden table, Marie started blabbing about everything that had happened in such a rapid pace, even Callie could hardly understand her. "Woah woah,slow down bucko." the Cap'n said. "Give me the gist of the situation, ye hear?" Marie paused and took a deep breath, before Callie cut her off. "We went to investigate the site like you ordered, and found a suspect. And before you ask, no it wasn't an octoling. We aren't exactly sure what 'it' is, but it was obviously wounded, and was leaving behind a fluid from its' leg. I managed to catch some, and it appears to be acidic to the touch, but appears to be very similar to ink. I also scanned around at the actual explosion site, and found shreds of a weird substance." She put a capsule containing the waxy paper fragments from the envelope Izzy had torn a while back.
The Cap'n absorbed all Callie had told him, and examined the contents of the container. He frowned, and scratched his bushy mustache, deep in thought. "The only other time I saw something similar to this kind is when I first met Judd…" he trailed off. His eyes lit up like fireworks before grinning widely. "Girls, I need you to do one more thing for me…"