A Chapter for Dread Angel, (and to that extent literally everyone else who reads) hope you enjoy!
Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
Agent 3's Crash Course in Agent-ing
Splin and Sharq sat on their beds, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere their home had to offer, Maria also basking in the relaxing atmosphere by lounging on her bed. Ann-Gel stood rigid on her trophy pedestal like always, the Tele-Cube sat on the counter deactivated, and two giant reptiles were prowling through the kitchen. All in all, a normal day so far.
"You'd think after a few hours Tele-Cube would be up and running." Splin sighed, hand on his chin. "We really need to get these guys back home."
"...What do you think these Pokémon things eat?" Sharq asked, staring over at the two.
The orange dragon grimaced, nipping at the large blue turtle's tail. Needless to say, he didn't particularly like that. The turtle raised its fist and planted it on top of the dragon's head. The two then began squabbling, the atmosphere becoming rife with a dangerous tensity, until Maria stood up and glared at the two, silencing them. The two grumbled, sitting in the kitchen with less than amused expressions.
"Thanks Maria. The last thing we need with all that's going on is the house burning down." Splin said, leaning back on his bed.
"You're welcome." Maria said with a smile.
"You know, you never told us specifically how you became so skilled." Splin murmured, looking up at the ceiling. "Seems like you've been carrying us through everything."
"She used to be an agent, Splin! I bet they had like huge training facilities and stuff!" Sharq said, Splin nodding in agreement.
Maria bit her lip, leaning on the counter. "Eh...not really. We pretty much just did everything on the field. It was like learning on the job."
"Hmm...speaking of training, the Splatfest is coming up very soon and we're sort of out of practice, wouldn't you agree?" Splin said, glancing at Sharq.
"Yeah, when was the last time we ever really played in a Turf War again?" Sharq wondered aloud.
About a story ago.
"So does that mean we should practice?" Sharq asked.
Splin shrugged. "Well, you know what they say-"
"Practice, huh?" Maria asked, smiling.
"Ooh…" Splin cringed. "Shoot."
"Hang on you two, I'll be right back!" Maria said, dashing outside.
Flinging open the door, Maria dashed across the hills, leaving everyone befuddled. Splin and Sharq glanced at each other, the two Pocket Monsters in the kitchen looking around absentmindedly, growling every once in awhile at each other.
"I feel like we should be worried." Splin gulped.
"I'm sure it'll be fiiiine. Besides, whatever training you'll do, I'll be there every step of the way man!" Sharq said, grabbing his brother by the shoulder. "We'll suffer through it together!"
"That doesn't exactly reassure me." Splin muttered, looking at the door.
Maria then came bounding back inside, a bit of excitement present on her face. "Alright, you two bring a few ink weapons, any one of them is fine! I'll be waiting!"
"Wait, what are you-" Splin began, Maria dashing back outside the house. "Okay then."
Sharq hummed, walking about the house. Walking over to the set of beds, he reached for the dresser in between them, digging through them, searching for something. After a minute, he retrieved a pair of Inkbrushes, coated with ink, out from inside the dresser.
"Catch!" Sharq called out, taking one of the Inkbrushes and tossing the other one.
Splin managed to catch the Inkbrush, the tip pointed towards his chest. He stared at his brother incredulously.
"..." Splin squinted his eyes at Sharq.
"Sorry, sorry, I'll be more careful next time!" Sharq apologized, rubbing the back of his head with a nervous grin. "Let's get going, yeah?"
"Sure…" Splin said, taking the Inkbrush and slinging it over his shoulder.
The Bate brothers began walking out of the house, letting the two beasts in the kitchen sulk in silence, walking outside. The two surveyed the hills curiously, looking for Maria.
"Maria?" Sharq called out.
"Yes?" Her voice called back.
"Where are you?" Sharq asked.
"Down here!" Maria said, her voice sounding closer.
Splin and Sharq looked towards the bottom of the hill. Maria was standing there, smiling.
"What are you two waiting for?" Maria asked, hands on her hips.
Sharq nodded, shifting into squid form, sliding down the hill. Splin followed behind, the two glancing at Maria curiously.
"So, what'd you bring us here for?" Splin asked.
"This." Maria said, stepping aside.
Splin and Sharq gasped. Flat in the grass was an elaborate obstacle course, complete with platforms and ink spread across. A series of raised pillars served as the platforms, violet ink being spewed out by machines like a cannon, the ink blobs rolling cleanly across the platform. Fans were attached to certain platforms, and machines constantly assaulted the platforms in a mechanical rhythm, the entire course complete with a finishing line at the end.
"What do you think?" Maria asked.
"Whoa." Splin stated, impressed yet somewhat scared by the amount of weaponry.
Sharq turned to Maria, his face beaming. "When did you have the time to make this?"
Maria grinned. "Hard work and determination."
-A "Hard Work and Determination" ago-
Maria walked up to the Tele-Cube, looking around the house as if to check if anyone was there. She tapped the cube, then began to speak.
"Hey there...um…" Maria began, clearing her throat. "Could you...um...build a humongous obstacle course?"
The Tele-Cube flashed a large question mark on all of its screens.
Maria sighed. "I just want Splin and Sharq to get stronger. If there ARE Great Octoweapons out there...I don't want to see them get hurt." Maria told the cube. "Training them might not work...but I'm going to try anyways. Please?"
The cube remained silent. After a while, Maria had assumed it denied her request, so she went back to her bed, frowning. Suddenly, she heard a crash. Spinning around, she saw the cube bursting out of the doors, glowing brightly. She followed the cube outside, watching it work. A bright light shot out of the cube, materializing just what Maria had asked for. Maria's face slowly shifted into a smile. After a few moments, the cube stopped glowing and fell to the ground with a "thunk", Maria picking up the cube, looking it over. She hesitated, checking her surroundings once more, then ran up to the house, went inside, and planted the cube on the counter, worriedly looking it over. She sighed, patting the cube, then went off to her bed.
"Wow!" Sharq gushed. "Is there anything you can't do?"
Maria smiled, then gestured to the obstacle course. "There are...but let's not get into that right now. Here's how it will work. This is a light representation of what I went through as an agent. The ink doesn't really hurt, either, though I'll ding you points each time you get hit. All you have to do is make it to the finish line."
Splin and Sharq stared across the obstacle course, pondering whether or not it was safe. What caught their eyes was a machine that was smashing into the platforms like a hammer. That and the other gauntlet-style machines such as the machine turret spitting ink or the turrets with laser sights aiming down the lanes leading up to the finish line.
"Uh, Maria? This doesn't look safe at all." Splin admitted.
"Don't worry Splin, I'd thought you'd say that." Maria said sweetly, walking over to the obstacle course.
Maria climbed up to the deadly-looking weaponry, and stood directly underneath one of the hammer machines. Splin and Sharq began freaking out, to say the least, the two reaching out for her, when the hammer slammed down on top of her. Splin and Sharq had no words, each staring at the spot Maria once stood at. The machine lifted, the two too horrified to speak. Shockingly, Maria stood there, completely unscathed, though she had to wipe some of the violet ink off her tentacles. She walked off the platform, onto the grass, and gestured to the obstacle course as if it were a prize on a television show.
"See? Give a try, you won't be disappointed!" Maria said. "Oh, and I'll walk you through, don't worry."
Splin frowned, turning around to Sharq. "I don't know about this Sharq. Should we?"
Sharq blinked, turned to Splin slowly, and opened his mouth. He then rushed down the hill, giddily transforming into a squid, hopping for the obstacle course. Splin sighed, shaking his head, following after him, taking his Inkbrush and brandishing it as he entered the course.
"Alright!" Maria began, running up parallel with where they were on the obstacle course. "All you have to do is make your way through the course. This first part is simple."
The two brothers walked up onto a hexagonal platform. Maria hummed, looking it up and down. Spying a button underneath, Maria pressed it carefully. Two Octarian targets popped out.
"Now...say that these were...evil Octarians. Not the ones we have here." Maria emphasized.
"Okay…?" Splin began, raising his weapon.
Sharq tapped the Octarian target, chuckling at its blank facial expression.
"Now, imagine they're your greatest enemy! Slice them into submission!" Maria ordered, frightening the two.
In a spur of the moment fashion, the two brothers unsheathed their Inkbrushes and began mindlessly swiping at the targets, managing to cover the targets head to tentacle in ink. They began breathing deeply, holding their brushes in front of them as if they expected the targets to bite back at them.
Maria smiled. "Good, good! But if you really want to cause some damage…"
Maria reached behind her back, inexplicably pulling out a Splat Charger. Taking precise aim, she blasted both of the targets, shattering them in an instant, the force quickly scattering the pieces off the platform into the dirt below. The brothers went wide-eyed at this, shivering somewhat at Maria's burst attack.
"You're done here! Move on to the next area." Maria told the two, running ahead.
The two brothers stood there, shocked, but shook their heads and proceeded anyways. Ascending a staircase, the two found themselves standing in front of a series of mechanical cube-shaped platforms with fans attached to the tops. Splin and Sharq started by walking over to one of them.
"How do these work?" Sharq wondered aloud, blowing on the fan. When that didn't work, he removed his cap and began fanning the fan, but to no avail.
"Sharq, this is like that Ancho-V Games map they announced a while ago. You have to attack the fan." Splin explained, raising his Inkbrush.
Splin swung his Inkbrush repeatedly at the fan, the fan rotating quickly, but the platform hardly budged. Splin stopped to catch his breath, eyeing the fan suspiciously.
"That's strange…" Splin said between gasps.
"Here, let me help you with that." Maria offered, tossing up a Splat Bomb behind the fan.
The brothers' eyes went wide again, before the bomb began to shine. The brothers braced themselves, ducking behind the fan, when the bomb finally exploded, speeding the platform along. The two brothers held onto the fan for dear life, the platform they were on making enough laps in its enclosed space to rival a go-kart tournament's number. By the time the platform was finished, the two brothers holding on to the fan and their lunches.
"Are you two okay?!" Maria asked in a serious tone.
"Blurrr…" Sharq murmured, sinking while simultaneously changing into squid form.
"I'm on my way to A...don't worry-" Splin managed, before falling face first onto the top of the platform.
Maria adopted a look of pity and slight melancholiness. "This was a bad idea...we can quit now if you want to, guys."
Splin and Sharq shot up to their feet upon hearing her. Wobbly, but quickly, they shook their heads.
"Nonsense! We're already halfway there, we're not quitting now!" Sharq declared.
"Y-Yeah, don't worry Maria, we're fine, ready when you are." Splin reassured Maria, shaking his head.
Maria frowned, hands on her hips. "Okay...but if one of you hurls or passes out, I'm shutting it down."
Splin blushed. "We're not THAT fragile."
Maria suppressed a smirk. "Well, once you're done shaking that off, go straight ahead."
Maria walked across the dirt below, leaving Splin and Sharq to their own devices. Splin noticed Sharq's eyes tracking nonexistent birds and stars. Splin tapped him on the shoulder, Sharq hardly reacting. Splin sighed, taking his Inkbrush coating the panels ahead of him in blue, then pushed his brother in. Sharq swam in the blue ink for a minute, before he popped out completely revitalized.
"What's next?" Sharq asked, looking at Splin.
"Probably our favorite of the obstacles." Splin said sarcastically, turning Sharq around.
A flat platform strip laid in front of them, hammers slamming up and down the track in a mechanical rhythm. Splin observed the metal hammers closely, noticing an obvious trend.
"This might actually be the easiest ones yet." Splin said with a smirk.
"Huh?!" Sharq asked, looking ahead.
"There's only three hammers, Sharq. Whenever the middle one comes down-"
The middle hammer slammed into the platform, the other two rising up as it did so.
"The other two come up." Splin told him.
"Ah! I get it, I get it." Sharq said, taking out his own Inkbrush.
Splin shook his head. "If we rely on speed alone, we'll just get stomped. Sharq, we're just going to have to time this carefully. As soon as the first two hammers come down, we'll wait, then we'll move forward, understand?"
Sharq nodded. "Okay. Let's go!"
Splin turned to the hammers, carefully making his way over to the first one. As soon as the machine came crashing down, Splin tensed up, Sharq following his lead. The hammer rose up, allowing Splin and Sharq to move ahead, their progress impeded by yet another hammer slamming down in front of them. The two nervously waited for the hammer to rise, which it eventually did, the brothers sliding underneath just as the hammer behind them closed down on the floor beneath. Splin and Sharq anxiously awaited the next hammer, which just began to rise up into the air. Immediately, the two made a break for it, jumping out of the hammers' reach, landing on the other side, breathing heavily.
"You made it!" Maria exclaimed excitably. "Alright, there's only one leg left to go."
The brothers glanced up, gawking at the scene ahead of them. Multiple turrets lined the sides of the walking space in front of them, some with beams tracking for movement, others firing ink sporadically, the entire runway coated in violet.
"Yeah, at this point, I'm not exactly sure this is 100% accurate." Splin muttered, still catching his breath.
"Have to give Maria credit, she's given us quite the workout." Sharq said, smiling despite having to lean on Splin for support.
"Just one last leg and we're done, right?" Splin asked Maria, staring ahead.
"Yes. You're close to the end, you can do it!" Maria shouted supportively. "Dash through the ink like...um. Well, I don't have a simile for you, but you have my support!"
"Sharq, you ready?" Splin asked, raising his Inkbrush.
"You know I am." Sharq said with a smirk.
Both of them deployed their Inkbrushes on the floor, looking straight ahead, nothing but determination etched in their features. They took a step forward…
And made a mad dash for the finish line. They hardly cared much that ink was bouncing off of them as they ran, instead solely focusing on making it to the finish. Reaching the checkered line, the two of them slipped on a puddle of violet, crashing down at the finish line, raising their hands to give Maria a thumbs-up. Maria inhaled sharply through her teeth, running over to the two, gently lifting them up from off the ground.
"I have to admit…" Maria said softly, staring down at the two. "That was really impressive you two."
"Uh...did we pass?" Splin asked, tilting his head.
"You just ran straight through the deadliest part. Look how purple you two look." Maria said, stifling laughter.
Splin and Sharq glanced at each other, smiling.
"It's a good thing I'm not a judge." Maria said, setting the two on the floor. "Because you would've gotten seriously dinged for that. I'm just glad you two are okay…"
Sharq tilted his head. "Why? The ink didn't hurt us."
"You could've overexerted yourselves." Maria pointed out. "But in my book you passed, even if you are technically supposed to be dead right now."
The brothers sighed, Maria smiling down at the two. Just then, Sharq perked up.
"Oh shoot! The Splatfest's gonna start soon!" Sharq exclaimed.
Sharq stood up, giving Maria a quick hug, much to her surprise.
"Thanks Maria! C'mon Splin, time to put that training to use!" Sharq called, running off to the top of the hill.
Splin and Maria couldn't help but grin at Sharq's optimism. Splin looked up at Maria, Maria doing the same except from a taller standpoint.
"Thanks Maria. Even if it was kinda…" Splin paused, searching for the right words to use.
"Stupid?" Maria suggested, ruffling Splin's tentacles and headphones.
"...Sort of." Splin admitted.
The two laughed quietly. Splin then reached his arms out for a hug, then pulled his arms back, staring in the other direction absentmindedly. Maria rolled her eyes, then gave Splin a quick embrace, pushing him away.
"Well, you two better get going, Splatfests don't come around every week." Maria said, beaming at the younger squid.
"Oh, er, right!" Splin said, walking away. "Bye Maria."
Maria waved to Splin and Sharq, who made their way up to the top of the hill. Both transforming into blue squids, they burst up into the sky, parting the clouds as they flew away. Maria smiled at the two squids, then glanced over at the obstacle course sitting at the bottom of the hill.
"What am I going to do with this?" Maria wondered, looking at the course.
The obstacle course shook for a moment, before the entirety of the course crumbled in on itself, starting at the hammer obstacle, the hammers finally smashing in itself.
"Well, that's convenient!" Maria smirked.
As she made her way up back to the top of the hills, Maria couldn't help but remain ecstatic and proud.
AN: Finally, sorry it took so long Dread. Apologies if these chapters don't have enough "adventure" in them lately, I'm working on a bit of a special set of chapters up next, so I apologize for being a lazy author. :|
Reviews are like boxes of chocolates. Technically you're supposed to know what you're going to get if you buy the box, but I mean, it can still be kinda unexpected if you've never seen the insides of one before.
...This isn't helping. Thanks Ultrapyre for reviewing! I must say, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is quite the game series, I enjoy the surprising amount of story content in a game about talking mystical animals. I must commend your willpower to not have a video game console now that you're in a university, being a weaker man, I'd probably have gone crazy.
Anyways, thanks for reading like always, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to flaunt the new Fire Emblem Fates keychains!