Chapter 15: Let's go shopping!
A/N: Dis is chapter before other chapter today. You no panic, yes?
"I don't see how this counts as a disguise. If anything, it will attract more attention!" Izzy said, still slipping into the outfit regardless.
"It covers your face and main features, doesn't it?" Callie's voice came through the door.
"I look like I stepped straight out of a rave…" Izzy grumbled.
"Well, Hamil told us you can play the squitar. Believe or not, very few inklings are musically talented. We can pass you off as a friend who travels the world; and happened to stop here for a day." Marie chipped in.
Reluctantly, Izzy opened the door and stepped out of the changing room. Since his bodysuit was already black, that just had details etched on, including icy blue decos covering it. He was also equipped with a pair of fingerless gloves, and a space-age looking helmet that was basically a pair of one way sunglasses.
"This thing is REALLY hot." Izzy complained, stretching the neck piece open to allow air in. "Why do you even have this in the first place?"
"For Splatfest special guests! No one has got to wear it yet, though." Marie told him happily.
"Splat… what?" Izzy said, confused. "Nevermind. Tell me later." He finished, walking off. "If we are going together, I suggest you come now or never."
oo0OO0oo
"Before we go to the rest of the mall, we should check in on the Booyah Base strip. I always love saying hi to the shopkeepers!" Marie chirped, almost skipping along as Izzy and Callie were trying to keep up.
"Not to be rude." Izzy started, "But besides the fact I'm here, why are we garnering so much attention?"
Callie gave a small laugh, before realizing Izzy wasn't doing the same. "You seriously don't know? Well I guess you wouldn't have seen us outside the newscasts… Yeah, not to brag, but we are sorta major celebrities here."
"I can't really see that in you or Marie actually…" Izzy teased.
Callie rolled her eyes. "I can't really see how you are so good in combat either."
"So what's this Booyah Base thing Marie was going on about?" Izzy said, switching the conversation. Callie didn't seem to catch his nervous attitude at the question, so he gave a small sigh of relief.
"A row of four shops set outside in inkopolis plaza. They are mostly used to get gear for turf wars, but there is plenty for non-sporty inklings to buy. We better catch up before Marie buys everything." She lightly grabbed his wrist, and pulled him along.
Marie was waiting outside one of the stores, tapping her foot impatiently. "You're lucky I waited for you guys, you're so slooow."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get this over with." Izzy said, his lack of enthusiasm flying past Marie.
Izzy entered the store, and was greeted by the sight of a giant tempura shrimp… Officially weirded out, he stuck in the back of the group as Callie and Marie were greeted by him.
"What up squiddos!?" He said happily. "Always nice to see you two still have time for ol' Sean here."
Marie giggled at the shrimps bubbly personality. "It's nice to see you too, Sean!"
"We have a friend in town, so we invited him around inkopolis." Callie added in.
"Hmmm…. I can tell he hasn't played a turf war before, but I suppose he is fresh enough if he's with you two." Sean said after a moment of scrutiny.
Izzy gave him a wave in response, trying not to talk unless necessary. He trailed along behind Callie and Marie, who were chatting with each other about the 'freshest' gear (seriously, what did fresh mean?) and picked out a few pairs of shoes.
They did this two more times, stopping at Jelonzo's and Annie's shops. Both times, Izzy let them do the talking and mostly attempted to stay quiet, even the supposedly rude clownfish Annie had with her didn't really bother him.
They didn't stop at the last store, and Marie explained it was a weapons store for turf wars, and there wasn't really a need to stop there.
After finding an open bench, Callie and Marie had fans to attend to, so Izzy made himself comfortable.
He was about to doze off when a vision struck him. Izzy clenched his teeth and made a solid grip on the slats of the bench; he couldn't afford to cause a scene here and now.
This was a bystander vision, the one where he relived the event without actually being in his own body. It was weird not having control over what you're doing, but not having control and seeing yourself at the same time definitely wasn't doing him any favors.
For a moment Izzy was confused, he knew he wasn't in a body, and yet he couldn't actually see anyone else around. A electronic glow lit up, and a few feet away was someone working away on a computer, the back of a swivel chair greeting Izzy. Suddenly, the figured whirled around, and Izzy was greeted by an octopus... not an octoling, but an actual octopus. He/she had a mostly pinkish purple body, with two tentacles holding wasabi sticks and two crossed in an eternal lock of dissatisfaction. Oh one of the crossed tentacles, a large green scar resembling an X could be seen. It wore a giant golden crow, the rim slightly broken off from some previous encounter. The remaining tentacles worked as its' 'legs' as it got up and scanned the room.
"I sense... a presence." It commented, giant green eyes narrowing. "Hear this Agent 3... Octavio is back. And this time, I promise ill drop you so hard you'll be bangaranged to pieces!"
"Delta?" Callie called out to him, prodding his arm.
"Whoziwhatzit?" Izzy snapped awake. "Sorry, just tired." He lied, not wanting to worry them about it. Faking a smile, he stood up and stretched. "Better get all this stuff back your place, yeah?"