"Oooh look! It's starting already! It's only a little longer, Shiv! You're gonna be just fine, trust me! You're joining something HUGE, Shiv! Bigger than banditry. Bigger than those pencil pushers down at the Splatoon. Bigger than Splatsville! Somethin' MASSIVE."
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"
"Oh don't worry. You will..."
"They all do..."
===
Shiver jolted awake, consciousness birthed through a strangled gasp.
Her world began to spin uncontrollably, colours dancing this way and that. She felt sick, she could feel bile pooling in her stomach, stinging her throat. She gripped whatever was to the side of her something fierce; it was soft and plush in the hands, as if that would do much to calm her nerves. She remembered to breath once more, and then did so. In, out, in, out. Taking long, deep breaths to try and stabilise herself. She placed a shivering hand to her chest, feeling her hearts beat like a pair of jackhammers, only to slowly less their rapid pace. Before long, the world stopped spinning. Her heart rate returned to something resembling normality. And with a final deep breath, she opened her eyes once again.
Strange. She was in her old dressing room back in Splatsville. It looked a little worse for wear, sure; some posters were missing, there was a hole punched in the wall (maybe she was in Frye's?) and a few spilt bottles of makeup littered the main desk. But it was otherwise almost as she remembered it. Shiver breathed a sigh of relief; it was all just a dream, after all. That Agent failing to defeat Grizz. The world becoming a giant fuzzball. Losing her friends and...partners, to that damned ooze. All just a horrible nightmare. She smiled peacefully, flopping back down on the...wait a minute.
She was on a bed! Usually they didn't have beds in their dressing rooms. Sure, maybe a long couch-like seat they would sometimes take a quick nap on between Splatcasts, but never an actual bed! Navy blue covers, oddly clean. Like it was all just for her. Shiver narrowed her eyes, taking another look at the room. Yes, it was still a dressing room but now things looked...off. There were beds, dressers, even a cooking stove set up in the corner of the room. The damage wasn't just physical, there was water damage with a high mark. But on the dresser, there were...guns? Ye olde human guns, scattered on the desk with bullets lying around as well. What on earth was happening in here?
"...H-Hello?" Shiver called out, coughing as her throat objected to such an action; her voice came out as a raspy cough more than anything. Nevertheless, she tried again, "Helloooooooooooo!"
This time, a response. The door handle jostled a bit. It wiggled up and down, the door thumped as it failed to open. A fair bit of growled swearing behind the door, but not in Inkling. It sounded like...Onagan! Finally, with a shout and a shattering crash, the door bust open. Well, off of its hinges would probably be more accurate. And barrelling into the room, was Frye!
But...this wasn't the Frye Shiver knew. She wasn't coated in fur, for one thing. But even then, this Frye dressed so different to the colourful smocks and baggy pants she was used to. This Frye wore what could only really be described as military gear; a black jumpsuit of sorts with pockets on the torso area and slightly baggy pants. She still wore some form of socks that bared the front of her feet, but were now in a sort of desert camo pattern. But it was hard to ignore the massive, grey army coat that she was wearing like a cape, secured to her torso with a rope sash around her chest. And atop her head, a big blue army cap that Shiver was SURE she remembered someone else wearing before, only now it was utterly ruined and wrecked, and the golden emblem had been replaced with a rather strange one; black background, with many red scribbled lines in the shape of an...eye, of sorts.
Frye coughed as she wafted away the dust from breaking down the door, eyes shut tight. She horked up more dust from her lungs, "Haaaah, achchhe bhagavaan that was rough..." coughing the last of the dust out, she then turned to the Octoling still lying on the bed, and her face twisted into a wide smile; "Shivy! You're awake!"
She opened her eyes, and...oh no. They were also black. As in, the bit that was usually white was black. And her irises, a brilliant and deep cyan blue. They shone beautifully, yet ominously in the dim light of the dressing room. And yet it made Shiver's head hang low. Those eyes were in her dream. Which meant it wasn't one. This was all still very real.
"Frye..." Shiver coughed back in response, "This isn't...something's wrong, I...what, happened?"
Frye's face fell from this question. She sighed, "Oh dear. Still a bit confused, eh? Well don't worry maari vaahli, I'll get you up to speed. Wanna see your Type?"
"My...Type?"
"Yeah! What eye colours you have!" Frye beamed back.
Shiver's stomach dropped at this revelation. One hundred percent, now. This was NOT a dream. She took a few deep breaths, "I-I don't understand..."
"Aww not this again," Frye whined, "Here, let me show ya!"
Frye reached over to grab a hand mirror off of the desk and gave it to Shiver's trembling hands. She slowly lifted the glossy surface to her face and gasped so hard she almost yelled. Her eyes were black too. Only her irises weren't blue, but a vibrant purple. Her skin was clammy and riddled with cuts and bruises from the world gone mad, but she couldn't take her eyes off of...themselves. She slowly reached up to rub the side of her face to frame them just a little better.
"Oh my Cod..." a panicked Shiver slowly placed the mirror down, "What have I...what AM I?! What does this mean?!"
"What it means, Shivle..." Frye smirked, like she was enjoying this massively, "Is that from this day on, you are reborn. You ain't just Shiver anymore. You're WAR Shiver. In the same way I'm now War Frye! Nice to meetcha. Again," War Frye lifted the door off to the side and approached Shiver, "Come on, let's shake off the cobwebs on those legs of yours. I'll get you up to speed..." she held a hand out to the Octoling, "I promise."
War Shiver gulped down her fear and took Frye's gloved hand in hers. Her grip was strong, stronger than even Shiver remembered her having. With unsettling ease, she was lifted to her feet, and the two departed the dressing room with careful haste.
===
This wasn't War Shiver's Splatsville. This one was alive.
...Just.
"Okay, so, I'm sure you have quiiiiiite a few questions about what exactly this place is, right?" War Frye asked as she merrily skipped down the main plaza road.
War Shiver didn't have one. She had several. This was Splatsville, sure, but everything looked ever so slightly off. The place was in a state of intense disarray. It honestly looked like several bombs had gone off. And not just, like, a Splat Bomb or the like. Actual, explody boom bang bombs. The walls and floors alike had huge cracks within them, gashes stretching across entire city blocks. The giant buildings up above them were tilted this way and that, threatening to collapse were it not for the crude steel supports holding them all up. And everything was waterlogged, sodden, reeking of saltwater and fish.
And yet...people were out here. No signs of Turf War maybe, but people were walking the streets, working the shops. Getting on with their every day lives. Stuff was made of scrap and dreams, sure. But they were still HERE.
"I'm going to be honest..." War Shiver moped, kicking an empty drinks can down the street before it tumbled off to the side and lay abandoned as they passed, "Several."
"Good! That's what I like to hear!" War Frye slowed her skipping and walked backwards through town, "THIS is...well, it's Splatsville I guess. But it's not yours and it certainly ain't mine!"
"Wait, what?" War Shiver asked, her mind already reeling, "The heck does that mean? If it's not your and not mine, then..."
"Ha! I told you there was something bigger goin' on here, ladakee!" War Frye took an apple off of one of the Inklings walking by and took a bite of it, "Multiverse Theory! Love it when ya see it! My world's kinda just dead and yours is...uh, ALSO, dead. Yes. But this place? This place is super chill, baby! Super cool! Super-"
"Frye cut to the chase why is this place a wreck?"
War Frye stopped suddenly, nearly slamming into some poor Inkling as he wheeled his scrap-cart of vegetables down towards the central plaza. He quietly made his excuses and stumbled off down the street. War Frye paused even longer, looking at War Shiver's grumpy expression. She then burst out into a soft cackle, "Ahhh, Shivy. Still got some sting to your tail, I getcha! Alright, well it turns out in this timeline, these stupid inkstains decided the best place to build this city was on a fault line! One slip of the tectonic plates later, and we've got one hell of an earthquake goin' on!"
"Ah. So that's why there's so much water everywhere..." War Shiver grimaced.
"Yep! MAHOOSIVE flood! Washed away half the city. Other half's still standing...just. But it's fair to say society as a whole has kind of ended. Need to rebuild. And I needed a place to call home after problems with...my place. So this is my domain, now! MY city!" she stopped, did a mock-curtsy and grinned in a devious manner War Shiver had NEVER seen from her Frye, "Welcome. To Cutsville!"
War Frye was expecting a lot of possible reactions. Excitement. Relief from having each other back. But War Shiver dropping to her knees and hugging herself, breath coming out in panicked gasps, was not one of them. Tears streamed from her eyes as strangled gibbers escaped her lips.
"Ey, ey Shiv!" War Frye leapt down from her high horse and knelt by War Shiver's side; she shook her like a ragdoll, the poor Octoling being thrown around by a pair of strong arms, "Calm down it's going to be okay!"
"IN WHAT WAY?" War Shiver shrieked back, shoving War Frye off of her with a defiant grunt. War Frye tumbled to the ground and slowly got back into a sitting position, looking at a distraught War Shiver. She swallowed and spoke in shaky breaths, "I'm sorry...sorry I just...oh my Cod this too much to take in. My world is...gone."
"Not GONE, per-se," War Frye waggled a finger as she placed her other arm gently onto War Shiver's shoulder, "We can go back to it - what's left of it - anytime ya fancy!"
"Okay, okay..." War Shiver babbled. The two slowly got back to their feet, rather shaky ones in the Octoling's face. She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, "Just...so this is another world, yes?" she looked up to War Frye, who responded with a simple nod, "And this one had another me and you, yes?"
There was a pause here, as War Frye mulled over her memories on the matter. She jumped up and looked towards the Octoling; "Oh yeah! Poor little squiddies. Absolutely battered by the flood, they were!" she pointed back to the studio they had come out of a few meters back, "I promised to take this place off of them so they could go back to banditry. We don't do Splatfests or...really any of that crap anymore, but it's using land we'd otherwise just abandon. And it helps keep those pencil-pushin' pricks the Splatoon off our backs, eh?"
"Then where is he?"
The plaza went quiet. Not everyone had heard that question. But enough did. They looked at the two as a small standoff occurred, tugging at their collars or just choking back sobs from the memory. It became so quiet that a mere pin dropping to the tarmac would ruin it.
"...Ah," War Frye broke the silence after a while, grabbing War Shiver with both arms, "Shiv I don't think-"
"WHERE. IS. BIG MAN."
War Frye felt her arms, grabbed at by the wrists, be thrown down to by her sides. War Shiver looked up at her, face wrapped defiantly in anger, black eyes going pink and puffy under the strain of tears. When the Inkling refused to move, let alone speak, she looked to the also silent crowd for any sort of answer. Some, joined by others, pointed in the direction of the studio once more. Towards the giant glass window that separated the recording studio with the outside world, once upon a time.
Loosening her vice-like grip on the Inkling's hands, War Shiver made a mad dash for the studio. They had passed it on the way out, but deep in conversation and out of a side exit at that. She could see the damage still affecting the main plaza; while any excess water had long since evaporated, there was still a scent and sight of...moistness, clinging to everything. The great window had shattered into shards, though taped off and cleaned up a bit. And there, in the middle of the old studio, propped up against the TV he used to stand by...was a statue. A big golden statue of the lovable Mantaro himself. Looking high and mighty, towards the horizon. And inscribed upon the base;
"BIG MAN, [illegible date] - 20022. A Big Guy with a Big Heart."
War Shiver's resolve collapsed just as fast as her body did before the statue. She looked up at it, tears streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry, Shiv..." War Frye said solemnly, softly pattering into the studio and avoiding any leftover shards of glass. She knelt down by her partner and rubbed her back, "He didn't make it. Storm blew the window open and he was impaled by some of the scaffolding. But they told me he died protecting you. Right 'til the bitter end."
Another awful, gaunt quiet filled the studio. War Shiver would shed more tears, if she had any left to do so. She looked at at the statue of her friend, her father figure. Of those days where she was super homesick, missing her clan dearly, but he'd be there. Frye too. Cans of cola, a crummy movie, it would be forgotten about within hours. Now? This wasn't even her world. Hers was buried in sodden pink slime. This time there would be no Big Man. Not really Frye as she remembered her.
Yet again, Shiver felt...alone.
"What do I do now?" War Shiver sobbed, getting to her feet but leaning shakedly on the statue. She turned to War Frye and whined. She grabbed War Frye one final time, "WHAT do I DO, Frye?!" before collapsing in her arms. War Frye, her once chipper demeanour all but vanished, simply returned the contact.
It felt wrong. It felt cold. Unemotional. But it was best they had this time.
"I've got nothing left..."
"Oh Shiv..."