Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
Ink Stained Battlefield
"ATTENTION!"
Sighing, I stood straight. Another day, another dollar. A line of other Octolings stood straight in formation with me. We all stood in a small metallic room with barren walls and floors, the only door shut behind us. Everyone here had their armor and weapons at the ready, even yours truly keeping her Octoling Goggles on her face for once. Aussie stood in front of us in a uniform fashion, "in charge" of our Splatoon. She cleared her throat, inspecting each and everyone of us carefully.
"I called you all of you here because you have potential. Now, let me get straight to the point, NONE of you have tapped into your full potential yet. None." Aussie stated.
Hardly caring, I yawned, not too absorbed in her speech. The other Octolings shifted slightly, looking in my direction.
"But I know, with enough time and effort-"
Yawned again, only much, much louder this time. The other Octolings in my squadron began whispering.
"With training and-"
At this point, my yawns were enough to rival Octavio's music in terms of decibels. The other Octolings were snickering.
Aussie's Octoling Goggle lights flickered in and out. "WITH ENOUGH TRAINING, YOU CAN-"
Pretending to snore standing up, I hung my head back, and made obnoxious log sawing noises up into the ceiling, the other Octolings having difficulty containing their laughter. A few even went as far as to go rolling on the floor. Aussie growled, unholstering an Octoshot, and began firing up into the ceiling, immediately alerting the others. My comrades reorganized themselves, making sure to stand in straight lines, frozen in place. Minus the streams of nervous sweat running down their faces, they were pretty chill. Aussie on the other hand…
"T-41, do you mind asking me why you are so tired today? Get enough sleep last night?" She asked me, hands on her hips.
"Nah, slept like a rock. Your words are too boring, that's all." I told her, the others smiling. "Maybe you should let me be the one leading the group. Less people falling asleep."
Aussie sighed. "You're the only one snoring."
"Yeah, well, if I was in charge, that means one less person snoring, and one less person being boring. Win win."
"Alright then, for a change of pace, T-41 will be the one who comes up here and notifies the group of what we're doing today." Aussie told me with a humph.
"Well, that's the thing. If I knew what we were supposed to do, then I would. But I'm not gonna." I said, smirking.
"Actually, it's rather simple. I have in mind a scouting mission-"
With that information in mind, I shoved Aussie out of the way, taking her place. "Alright ladies, I have in mind a scouting mission to whip you all into shape."
My comrades began giggling hysterically, some having to lean on each other for support.
"Nya-ha-ha!" One cackled, smiling.
"Alright!" Another chimed in.
Grinning, I crossed my arms. "Alright, so today we're going to get out there and kick some Inkling butt. Who's with me?"
The Octoling squadron nodded, some cheering, until Aussie grabbed me by the back of my armor, and began dragging me towards a wall. She shoved me against it, almost glaring a hole into my face, her octopus beak seemingly sharp and ready to bite if I made another bad move.
"T-41, you are way out of line. One more wrong move and I'll have to punish you." She growled.
I smirked. "Ooh. If you're going to do that, at least pull on my tentacles."
Aussie stood silent at my comment, backing off. Her face adopted one of disgust, our fellow Octolings sorta following her example, staring at me blankly.
"Eh, it was worth a shot." I said, shrugging.
"Moving on." Aussie said plainly, clearing her throat to clear out the awkward sex joke. "Innuendos aside, what I have in mind is actually on par with what T-41 kindly cared to inform you all of."
Hot clam, I was right! Before I could tell Auss to eat it, she kept on speaking. Groaning, I leaned back against the wall, the cool metal exterior feeling a little chilly to my tentacles.
"A group of Inklings have been spotted infiltrating Octo Valley dangerously close to the proximity of our home base. If they were to find it and report back, we could face a potential Second Great Turf War, and with all our main Great Octoweapons still in repair or development, we're facing a catastrophic scale of death if we fail. For those who still don't understand, let me put it this way."
Aussie turned around, her back to us, arms folded behind her. "All of your loved ones will die. Those Inklings WILL be sure to splat each and every one of us to take back land. Even as a starting mission, you all will need to give it your best."
The other Octolings in the room began murmuring to themselves. On the other hand, I rolled my eyes. Melodramatic much?
"Yeah, sure." I said.
Aussie spun around to address me. "You think I'm lying T-41? Those things are evil. They're colonizing the surface, plotting to destroy us while we're sitting ducks. It's only a matter of time."
"Alright then, why don't we beat them all up? If they're so evil, all we need to do is go up there right now and slaughter them all." I told her.
"It's NOT that simple." Aussie said with a scowl. "We'd be wiped out with this skeleton of a force we have. Plus, who knows how many Inklings are armed up there? Anyway, that brings us back to our issue, the Inklings scouts."
"You want us to go out and murder these Inkling scouts." I asked.
Aussie sighed, then nodded. "...Correct, though I'd prefer less evil terms. Think of it as...as professional security measures. As soon as you splat them all, report back for briefing. You'll be free to do whatever you want after that."
Nice. Smirking, I nodded to the other members of our squadron, who nodded back. We began to leave the room, Aussie leading us out through a door. Upon approaching, the door opened automatically, letting us go through without any trouble. Although, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we're ready to go out and kick some butt.
We stood outside, in the crisp air of Octo Valley. Dirt and very dry patches of grass surrounded us, topped off with a rocky mountain range and debatably artificial sky. We all were equipped with Octoshot ink guns, violet ink filling the tanks, sloshing with each footstep we took. Surveying the area, we didn't see tentacle nor ink tank of the enemy Inklings. Man.
This was SOOOOOOO boring.
Sighing, I laid flat on the ground, staring up at that pale blue sky. It's been three whole hours since we've left the HQ, and there's nothing. Nothing! Starting to wonder if this is some sort of stupid training regimen or prank Auss is trying to pull on us.
A separate Octoling sitting next to me took her goggles off, grimacing. "Where the SHELL are those Inklings? It's been hours now."
"Yeah, I dunno man." I said, lazily twirling my Octoshot gun. "I'm thinking we should take off if we don't see 'em soon."
The other members of my squadron nodded in agreement. Standing up, I yawned, and made my way home.
"Wait, T-41, I don't think that's a good idea."
Sighing, I turned to the Octoling who spoke. "First of all miss, it's Tai Inaba, thank you very much. Second of all, I DON'T GIVE A SHIP. Three hours of nothing happening. If the Inklings were here, they're probably long gone. I say we all just ditch, if there are Inklings around, they sure as shell ain't here."
"...I suppose you're right." The other Octoling said, toting her Octoshot. "After all, Inklings in Octo Valley? That's stupid-"
Catching a glint of something, I tackled her to the ground.
"Ow, hey! I was agreeing with you!" She protested.
"Sniper." I said, looking up.
"What?!" She asked, attempting to sit up.
I forced her back down. "There's an Inkling sitting up there, looking through a scoped weapon, get down!"
The other Octolings flinched. Looking up in the direction I initially peered at, they stared. Then, a longshot of orange ink burst out, nailing one of us in the chest, exploding the gal instantly. The others gasped, shifting into octopus form, hitting the deck. Crouching low, I aimed my Octoshot, experimentally firing towards the enemy. An Inkling sniper fired towards me from atop a ruined building, luckily missing, an orange streak dangerously running across the ground. Out of the orange streak, I noticed ripples in the ink.
"They're advancing on us, watch out!" I yelled.
The others nodded, firing at the orange ink. Two orange squids popped out, garbed in some sort of futuristic battle outfit, firing at us with weapons resembling their outfits, rapidly shooting towards us. Growling, I shot away from me, painting the ground purple, then shifted into octopus form, swimming away from the enemies. The other Octoling I tackled followed closely behind me as orange began spreading over our trail.
"What's the plan, T-41?!" She asked frantically, jumping out of the way of a Burst Bomb, splattering the turf she once sat in.
"Retreat and regroup, once we find a different locale, we can get the jump on them. Got me?" I explained, her octopus head nodding in confirmation.
The two of us returned to our Octoling forms, then began running for our lives, firing back towards our pursuers. We ran until we spotted a kettle up ahead, a subterranean entrance to what we like to call, "levels" of Octo Valley.
"There! That's where we'll engage them." I said.
"Inside of the kettle?" The other Octoling asked.
"...Not exactly." I said with a smirk. "Follow my lead."
Shifting back into an octopus, I hopped inside the kettle, my comrade following after. As soon as we entered, I stuck to the wall of the inside of the kettle, my ally doing the same. We waited for a while, the sounds of ink being shot slowly diminishing. The sound of footsteps soon followed, however. Making sure to stay out of sight, I peeked out of the kettle, then immediately dropped back inside, two Inklings advancing towards us.
Looking at my companion, I made gestures with my tentacles up to the surface, making sure to stress their importance.
"Huh?" She asked.
"Just follow my lead on 'go', kay?" I told her.
She nodded, gripping her Octoshot in her tentacles. The Inklings were approaching the kettle, I could hear their footsteps. They were just about above us when I yelled.
"GO!"
The two of us launched out of the kettle, bringing our Octoshots to eye level. We looked around quickly, not spotting the enemy. Nervous, I checked everywhere close to me, when I noticed two Inklings lying dazed on the ground.
"...What." I asked rhetorically.
"Nice plan, we knocked them out cold!" My comrade told me happily, poking the Inklings as if to make sure they were unconscious.
"...Yeah." I told her, hands on my hips. "That- That was my plan all along."
The semi-rejoiceful occasion was ended quickly by an orange laser being trained on my associate's head. She froze, gulping. Looking into the direction of the laser, I could tell it was the Inkling sniper from earlier.
He growled. I could tell because he flashed his teeth menacingly, trust me. "Move an inch, and your friend gets it."
"Oh, isn't that typical? 'I'm gonna be the hero by splatting someone and save the day by being the first to report back alive'. Guess what, stupid?" I snarled, aiming my Octoshot at the unconscious Inklings. "I can be a 'hero' too."
The other Inkling seemed to flinch, but shook his head. "...They'll gladly die knowing they helped me."
"Wow. I knew you Inklings were selfish, but...wow." I said, taunting him.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Aussie sneaking up on the Inkling. She grinned, raising her Octoshot.
Smirking, I shrugged, taking off my own Octoling Goggles. "Doesn't matter much, looks like you're about to be-"
"AAAAUUUUUUUGH!" He yelled, getting shot in the back and off his vantage point.
"Aaaaaand you ruined my one-liner." I scowled.
He landed on the ground, covered in a puddle of violet ink. He twitched for a moment, then laid still, though still very much alive, I can tell. Easing up, I glanced over at my companion, who gave me a thumbs-up.
"Thanks for stalling him." She said, relieved to be alive.
"No problem man." I told her, staring down at the Inklings.
"The name's, uh, Chi, actually." She said, smiling.
I grinned for a moment. "Alright, no problem, Miss Chi."
The two of us chuckled, then glanced again at the Inklings.
"What do we do with them? Take them prisoner?" Chi asked.
"...Well, if we do that, who knows? There might be more Inklings around, and if they don't get back, they're going to send more, probably." I explained.
"We can't let them go, though. They'll just blab to their superiors about us as soon as they wake up." Chi said.
Sighing, I nodded. "...Then there's only one thing to do."
Gripping my Octoshot tightly, I raised it towards the Inklings. Chi flinched for a moment, looking at me.
"...Goodnight Inklings." I muttered, pulling the trigger.
There was one shell of a celebration in the Octarian Base that night. Whoo, boy. Octolings and Octotroopers danced it out to Octavio's beats, despite the fact that only three of us actually did anything. Oh well, I guess the others can take the credit too. Some got a little too...loose with their clothing. Not yours truly, of course, nah I wouldn't do that. Until I got older, of course. But, all jokes aside, it was a good night. Aussie, Chi and I sat at a table and drank reasonable for our age drinks 'til we were about to pass out. Yeah, it was great. Though there was one more thing I had to take care of…
Standing just outside of the kettle of our headquarters, I looked around to make sure no one was around. Walking away from the kettle where partying octopi roamed, I made my way to the battle site from earlier, walking among dried up ink that was slowly fading away. Grimacing, I noticed the three Inklings from earlier still there, leaning against the ruined building. Walking close, I cleared my throat, getting the three's attention.
"Alright, squids. If you're all packed, get out, now." I ordered.
One of the Inklings got to her knees and sat on the ground, bowing to me. "Thank you so much, thank you, thank you!" She cried, the others comforting her.
Rolling my eyes, I smirked at this pathetic display. "Yeah, whatever. Get out of here before I change my mind, Cod."
She got up to her feet, and nodded, her fancy headgear sparking as a result of the attack she received earlier. "Y-Yes ma'am!"
The three Inklings dashed away, out of Octo Valley. Snorting, I made my way back to base.
"...If I ever see another Inkling again, I'm crushing them." I promised myself.
...Heh, boy. Was I so, wrong.
AN: Octolings are funny creatures, how do they speak the same language, or a similar language to Inkling? Wonder if their "amicable relations" were a little closer than that. Oh well, I suppose we'll never know for sure. (Until Spla2oon of course)
Thanks again for reading everyone, this has been ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to broadcast Majora's Mask's Talkshow/Newscast on a TF2 Jailbreak server! ...Yeah, TF2 is a weird game. See ya!