Chapter Thirteen:

The Splatastic City of Color

Inkopolis was a dazzling sight for Mario to behold.

It may not have been like the Mushroom Kingdom and many of the worlds surrounding it, but the place was so colorful from Inkopolis Tower with the Great Zapfish surrounding it's base as it provided power to the city to the jumbotrons flashing various squid brands to all of the shops selling Fresh items.

However, somewhere in the back of his mind, faint memories from another life he never experienced fizzled in, all involving this city. Meggy led him around, showing the plumber the hub of Inkling culture while some of the squid kids and Octolings in the city waved to him.

Stanley (aka SMG4) quipped up about how he'd visited the city a few times at one point, even recounting the time he'd come to pick up a friend for a party. Mario assumed that Stanley was talking about one of his birthdays, either that, or he was talking about a wedding party.

A couple Nintendo representatives caught up to Mario, pulling him aside for a quick shooting for the crossover game. Meggy and Stanley acted casually and let the plumber go make the next Mario X Splatoon crossover game scene, which was set in Inkopolis Square and involved a battle with a pair of rogue Inklings.

Red ink blotches soon popped up on part of Deca Tower and in the streets with the lighting making it look like it was taking place at dusk. At the start of the scene, an Inkling boy with a beret stepped forward, looking around nervously and then...

"Here we go!"

Mario dove in and fired off a shot at the Inkling, knocking him out in seconds. As the squid boy fell, Mario landed in a superhero-style position and pumped his fists.

The bell rang a second later and that was that, the Nintendo crew went off to get something to eat while the producer made a remark how the game was turning out so well.

Not long after the crew departed, Mario was approached by Meggy and Stanley. Meggy held up her Splattershot with a casual smile and said, "Ready to train?"

"Let's-a go." Mario agreed.

With Stanley/SMG4 in tow, Mario and Meggy headed down to the Skatebelly Skatepark, the decided spot for training. Meggy set up some fake squid targets and stood aside as Mario took aim, squeezing the trigger like he hadn't already, and opened fire on the targets. Meggy looked at the plumber, almost unamused and unsatisfied.

Then her face brightened up as an idea clicked, she tapped Mario on the shoulder and pulled out her Splattershot. She took aim at Stanley, who was standing by the training targets, and fired off a shot at him.

"AH!" Stanley ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Seeing this, Mario was unamused with what Meggy did. "That's no good." He said and walked off, leaving Meggy more unimpressed than ever. Stanley called out to her.

"Don't be a ditz!" He said.

SPLAT! Meggy gave him a face-full of ink, knocking him out cold. Regardless, Meggy decided to continue the training, she knew she and Stanley could succeed in getting through to Mario... even if he wasn't acting like the friend they knew and loved.

Splatdune Village, a desert town in the middle of the Splatlands outside of Inkopolis. It was usually a quiet environment, but it had recently become a Turf War stage in which players could ink up the town.

Green-colored ink tainted the streets of the village's east district as an Inkling boy in a gas mask and a straw-hat wearing Inkling male in sunglasses held their ground, Splat-weapons ready, as they kept an eye out for attackers. It had been two minutes since the Turf War started and they had their eye out for the opposing team.

"Where are ya? Where are ya?" Reyker asked warily.

"Here." Lougin replied.

"No, not you. The ones we're keeping an eye out for…"

"Well, they could be poppin' up at any..."

A squeal perked the duo's attention as they looked up, seeing Splatfest champion Meggy Spletzer coming for them, wielding a tri-shot bow, the latest in Splat-weapons technology.

She pulled back on the cord and let loose, the barrels exploding with rows of orange ink that knocked out the two green Inklings in one fell swoop before Meggy landed on the ground.

Stanley emerged and splatted up the surrounding territory, then he threw a Splat-Bomb on the ground, which exploded in his face. Mario popped up and dropped a Splat-bomb in front of himself before flashing a thumbs up to Meggy... right before his Splat-bomb exploded.

Meggy facepalmed, she could not believe that these two would be this dumb, especially with how smart SMG4 was, not to mention he'd played Splatoon before. Mario, on the other hand, with his current state, was relearning.

It was almost as if the other Mario was bleeding through, but not in the way that Meggy was hoping it would...

After the Turf War ended, the trio reentered Inkopolis Plaza to find a large crowd of Inklings of various colors gathering behind some barricades with rows of seats set up.

As soon as she heard the lively pop music playing, Meggy realized that a Squid Sisters performance was about to begin. But, it was no ordinary one, it was the Big Man's Birthday Extravaganza that Callie and Marie had planned.

Meggy got some tickets for herself, SMG4/Stanley and Mario, and without a delay, they took the seats in the middle at the front row, watching the two idols taking to the stage with their performance already in gear as the neon Squid Sisters logo flashed above their heads.

The two Inkling cousins sang City of Color with Callie's bubbly and energetic vibe flowing in sync with Marie's dry and calm vibe, every squid and octo went nuts hearing these two sing. Meggy pumped her fist, feeling just as energetic as Callie, getting to hear Inkopolis' favorite idols sing live again for the first time in so long.

Mario found himself tapping his feet to the music and clicking his fingers while humming the song, even if it sounded quite off considering that squid music and Inkish were both hard to replicate.

Regardless, the song ended and Callie took the microphone with mike feedback echoing over the plaza more-so than the cheers of the audience.

"Alright, everybody! Here he comes, the manta you've been waiting for..." Callie announced.

"Get excited, folks..." Marie said into her microphone, "Because..."

"HE'S BIG MAN!" The Squid Sisters cried in unison.

A gray manta made his appearance and the Inklings squealed with unison. Meggy was almost at a loss for words, she'd heard about Deep Cut and seeing one of their members make an appearance in Inkopolis when the whole group was stationed in the new Splatsville was just inkredible.

"Shiver and Frye send their regrets and regards!" Callie said, "They couldn't make it as their schedules are a little tied up with their Splatcasts and other important matters, but the Big Man was able to make it."

"And they gave us their blessing to play one of their hits..." Marie added, "This is for you, Big Man.

"Without further ado, the top song of Big Man's birthday, we give you... Rainbow Anarchy!"

New music blared over the sound-speakers and colorful spotlights beamed across the stage, Chaka drums beat followed by horns blaring, as Callie and Marie began dancing with Big Man dancing as well while a recorded chorus sang up.

Rainbow Anarchy filled the plaza, making the crowd more excited than ever, even though one audience member in particular appeared to have fallen asleep...

Mario.

Stanley and Meggy noticed the sleeping plumber and slapped him, trying to wake him up. It took a while, but they managed to wake Mario up in time to see the rest of the unfolding performance. Meggy rolled her eyes and glanced at the plumber with an uncertain expression, was this even working?

"Heh-heh, remember this, Mario?"

Stanley sat on the rotating chair with a fake mustache upon his face, his arms wide, while he made goofy "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" noises.

The concert had just ended a while ago and the group was in the midst of another training session, working their Splatoon skills, when Stanley and Meggy decided to do some goofing around with the latter suggesting the spinning chair.

Mario watched Stanley's antics, almost confused by what was going on. They were supposed to be training for whatever the next big upcoming Splatfest event was, not to mention they had another Turf War to do really soon.

"Ah, never mind." Stanley tossed aside the fake mustache, got off the chair and grabbed a Splattershot, "Back to trainin', come on, Mario."

"Thank goodness you stopped doing-a whatever that-a was." Mario replied.

"Yeah, sorry..." Meggy said sheepishly and scratching her head, "That other guy did that on the day we first met, he was a real dummy, took a while for him to take the whole thing seriously, but he was very funny."

"Even I can be funny." Mario remarked.

Meggy giggled and tossed the plumber his Splattershot before heading off to shoot some fake squid targets, joining Stanley/SMG4 as Mario soon joined in, getting back into the swing of Splatoon...