Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
Honey, I Shrunk the Brothers, Part 2
Splin could only hang on tight each time the seagull squawked and shivered, Maria smacking the bird each time she ascended or descended from a Super Jump. The young Inkling brother felt bad for the seagull, the bird was probably just trying to eat a snack to survive this cruel world and it was getting bombarded repeatedly for doing so. Maybe he'd protest to Maria's frightening bouts of strength if it weren't for the fact that HE was the snack in question. All he could do in this state of weakness was hang on to the bird's talons and hope there was something soft under them each time Maria smacked the bird. At one point during the flight, Maria grabbed onto the bird in her squid form, punching it with her tentacles, which was akin to getting slapped by a fish Cod knows how many times.
"Let. Go. Of. Splin!" She emphasized with each punch.
Finally, the seagull had decided that this wasn't worth lunch, so the bird released Splin. Maria gasped, pushing herself off the seagull, rushing towards the ground to catch Splin, when a cloud passed by, quite literally clouding her vision.
Meanwhile, Tai and Sharq watched from the hillside, Sharq looking like a less majestic falcon perched upon Tai's shoulder. Sharq felt his gut tighten the moment the seagull dropped Splin.
"Tai! We gotta go help!" Sharq exclaimed.
"Are you kidding? Sharq, I know Splin's in deep water, but Inkopolis is straight ahead, I can't go in there. Trust me, it wasn't too pretty trying to Super Jump here in the first place." Tai argued.
-In the first place-
Tai poked her octopus head out of the manhole, glancing to and fro around Inkopolis Plaza. A shrimp wearing an extremely puffy coat laced up his shoes...all of them, six jutting out of his abdomen, two regular long legs planted on the ground, but not for long, the shrimp taking off in a swift jog out of the plaza. Other than that, the plaza was mostly empty, the beats normally blared off of plaza's oversized black speakers by the tower were nonexistent, the speakers shut down for lack of Inkling activity. So, literally all Tai had to do was slide out of the manhole, under the snoring nose of Judd no less, and jump away towards the hills, chuckling at her luck.
"Shh! He doesn't need to know that!" Tai shushed towards the sky.
"Well, what do we do now?" Sharq asked, pacing back in forth worriedly. "Splin could get really hurt at that size!"
Tai pursed her lips, eyebrows down in thought. "...I dunno man."
Sharq could only stare ahead at Inkopolis. Maria did seem to do a decent job of keeping Splin from falling to the ground at the very least. Sharq repeatedly paced back and forth on Tai's shoulder, up until the point where Tai had to place her hand on his head to keep him in place.
"You're kinda irritating my shoulder there, Sharkie." Tai told Sharq with a frown and a roll of her shoulder.
Sharq paused as his platform of skin moved and sighed. "Sorry Tai...wait, Sharkie?"
Tai shrugged, causing Sharq to rise up into the air slightly, falling down as her shoulder did the same. "Splinny, Sharkie, dumb nicknames, you know?"
Sharq managed a light grin in spite of the two other squids falling towards the ground. "That's silly."
Tai rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I guess they'd be 'silly'. But whatever, they don't really matter too much."
"Why are you guys just standing around?!"
Startled, the two cephalopods spun around, or at least Tai did, Sharq held onto her shirt sleeve, where Ann-Gel was trudging slowly through the grass, making her way to the two, feebly hopping up and down, her pedestal weighing her down tremendously.
"Splin's in danger and you're just sitting there!" Ann-Gel cried out.
"That's what I've been saying!" Sharq exclaimed.
"I'm not charging towards where a bunch of Inklings are hanging out. Sorry, but I can't risk getting krilled." Tai told Ann-Gel firmly.
"So you're just going to stand by let Splin fall?!" Ann-Gel asked somewhat angrily.
"Look, I get that Splin's in danger, but I just don't feel like getting out there! I came here to rest, man, I've already had Aussie and Ari yak on me for an entire day now, and besides, barreling into enemy territory is the last thing I want on my day off." Tai pointed out with a hint of irritation in her voice.
"Tai, please...I can't just sit back and watch Maria, I need to help!" Sharq pleaded.
Tai grimaced at the two small Inklings, staring over to Inkopolis. Though a blurry dot in the distance, Tai could definitely see the plaza. Taking her Octoling Goggles off her neck and adjusting them to fit on her face, she could spy a handful of Inklings readying themselves for Turf Wars and Ranked Battles. Splin, though still a miniscule dot despite the zoom function of her Octoling Goggles, could be seen shifting into a squid above the plaza, bracing himself for the fall.
Tai sighed, taking off her goggles. "Alright, fine. Splin's probably going to get himself krilled without our help. ...That's the next last thing I'd want."
Sharq cheered on her shoulder, hopping up into the air, Ann-Gel nodding with a serious expression on her face. Tai noticed the little Inkling girl, looking to the side, lowering her hand to Ann-Gel and taking her up to her left, specifically unoccupied shoulder, where she settled in nicely, sliding her pedestal so that it dug into Tai's armor as to anchor herself to the Octoling.
"But first things first, I'm not going there without any weapons." Tai said, closing her eyes with a sigh. "I uh...sorta forgot. Darn it Ari…"
"Ah!" Sharq perked up, raising his index finger up into the sky. "When I was stuck in the bed, I remember Splin and Maria talking about how she was just given a bunch of ink weapons!"
Tai's eyebrow raised in interest. "Weapons, huh?"
"Yeah! In the house!" Sharq pointed towards his humble abode.
A light smile surfaced on Tai's face. She jogged towards the house, slammed open the door, then leaped straight onto the box by her bed. With a less than graceful swoop, she lifted up the box, a heavenly light shining from within.
"Oh my Cod." Tai gasped at the beauty of it all. The Blasters, Roller, Splatterscopes, and Splattershots lining the insides. "...Now I've seen some pretty murder weapons back at the base…but you Inklings..."
Tai reached inside, retrieving an Ink Tank, which she slung over her back, strapping in, fuchsia ink turning violet as it collectively pooled up in the glass canister. She grabbed as many weapons as her hands could carry, sticking ink carrying bombs to her head's tentacles, looking like a mobile arsenal with the amount of guns she carried.
"Noice! Less go!" Tai mumbled as she carried a Burst Bomb in her mouth, storming out the door.
"Wait, why are you bringing so many weapons?! We just need to get Splin back before he might get stomped!" Ann-Gel gasped, hanging on for dear life.
Tai simply spun her head around to Ann-Gel, a murderous glint in her eyes, a smile that exposed her sharp teeth. Ann-Gel gulped, inexplicably beginning to sweat under the Octoling's dangerous gaze, immediately shutting up. Sharq didn't seem to mind though, having too much fun hanging onto Tai's shoulder, excited at the prospect of adventuring to save his brother at his size despite the perils (and the collateral damage) that could be caused. Tai switched to an octopus, Super Jumping off, holding the two small Inklings in her tentacles as she flew off, the Inklings' reactions ranging from nervousness to ignorant glee as she did so.
Splin on the other hand wasn't having a great time. Smashing into the asphalt below at his regular squid height was bad enough, but for whatever reason his vision took a much longer time to reset than usual. Still, he shook his head and pressed on, trying to walk off the impact, stumbling about the plaza mostly unnoticed. He ended up stumbling into a familiar alleyway, attempting to shake off the dizziness, only ending up smacking into a hollow surface. Hollow. Splin felt around the new surface. Hard, almost crystalline, with multiple parts jutting out.
"Oy, what d'you think you're doing with that Super Sea Snail shell, mate?"
Splin's vision snapped back into reality. "...Spyke?"
Spyke looked down, his one exposed urchin eye glaring down at Splin suspiciously. "Wot's this then?"
Splin backed up in an almost instinctive fear, like prey startled by a predator. Spyke reached over slowly, picking up Splin with skinny fingers, eyeing Splin carefully.
"Huh. Didn't know they made amiibo of Inkling's like you. Thought it was jus' celebrities." Spyke commented.
"Spyke, I'm not an amiibo- Wait, you know what those are…?" Splin trailed off.
"Got it little'un, not a lot gets past ol' Spyke." Spyke said with a smirk. "That amiibo box over there ain't just for show."
"Hmm." Splin muttered.
"So, how's about you tell me how you shrunk?" Spyke asked, eyeing him curiously.
Splin sighed. "...I don't even know, because magic?"
Spyke shrugged. "Yeah, seems about right."
"Wait, really? You're just going to take that as fact?" Splin asked curiously.
"Eh, I got bigger fish to fry, Splinny boy. Nothin' wrong with taking an innocent's word as truth from time to time." Spyke replied casually, tapping his free hand's finger on the ground rhythmically.
"Whoa, what?! How do YOU know about that nickname?" Splin shouted in indignation.
Spyke chuckled, showing off his sharp pearly whites. "Ah, that Octoling ain't so bad."
Splin frowned. "That's just great."
"Now I know you're definitely that boy who goes around with his brother. Couldn't recognize you on account of your headgear situation." Spyke said.
Splin felt around his neck and head. "Right...guess my headphones didn't shrink with me."
Spyke smirked at the little Inkling. However, his smirk vanished, shifting back to his normal frown, spying an Inkling in a black dapper suit walking towards them, followed by another one. This Inkling had a suitable bruise on his head, the Inkling following behind him wearing just as hostile, with the same suit on as her associate.
"Oy, back for round two eh?" Spyke smirked.
With a discreet hand, Spyke enclosed Splin in an empty Super Sea Snail shell.
"Huh?!" Splin exclaimed from within the shell.
"Trust me, this isn't going to go well. You're better off in that...shell." Spyke grimaced at his rhyme.
From within the shell, all Splin could hear was the echoing of the music in the plaza. Then he was greeted by sounds of ink being shot rapidly, screaming of random Inklings, and lots and lots of crashing. Splin gulped, switching to squid form as if it might help drain out the noise. All of a sudden, the shell was lifted up.
"It's fine now, you don't have to keep crouching." Spyke reassured Splin.
Splin looked up, switching back into Inkling form. Chillingly, the only thing left in the plaza was blots of multicolored ink. Splin looked over at Spyke incredulously.
"Don't worry, it ain't what you think." Spyke told them.
"I'm getting my refund someday Spyke! YOU HEAR ME?!" An Inkling was heard shouting.
"Ah, put a sock in it!" Spyke shouted over the wall he normally sat by.
"We'll get our revenge someday!" A feminine voice joined in.
Spyke shook his head, chuckling to himself. Splin stared up at Spyke curiously.
"Ah ha...unsatisfied customers." Spyke explained.
Splin nodded, looking out to the plaza. Almost like nothing had happened, a few Inklings returned, walking about in the plaza, speaking of the skirmish as if it had transpired years before. Splin stared up at Spyke, who simply stared back at the young Inkling.
"Well then? Aren'tcha going to go unshrink yourself?" Spyke asked.
"Oh, uh, right." Splin said. "Thanks for your...time...Spyke."
Spyke nodded, waving him off. "Cheers, love."
Splin walked out of the alleyway, hearing the distant rhythmical tapping over Spyke's finger behind him. The younger brother went through the plaza cautiously, making sure to keep out of sight. Eventually, Splin made his way towards Judd's pillow pillar. Seeing no other good alternative to rest by, Splin simply sighed and slumped down by the column with the snoozing feline. Splin looked over at the plaza, searching for head or tentacle of his friends. Zip, nothing, nada, big fat goose egg. Splin stared up at the sky with an eye cocked at the absurdities of the voice. He didn't reply, just sighed, resting his head against Judd's perch, resting his eyes.
"Attention, Inkopolis Plaza!"
Splin's right eye shot open, blue veins running across the eye. Ari, full of ego and charisma stood atop the second floor of the plaza, overlooking everybody from the balcony, the Squid Sisters leaning back in their chairs as they watched Ari, Callie with a patient curiosity, scrunching up her cheeks with her hands, Marie looking ready to call security with a bored facial expression. New in their studio there was a large snowman and a sandcastle behind them for whatever reason, but aside from that, they were normal as usual, as normal as this universe gets at the very least.
"Now, I understand that a new Splatfest is right around the corner." Ari announced.
Most of the Inklings went on with their lives. Ari's eye twitched, before he ultimately just gave up. Callie seemed pretty disappointed at the lack of a speech, scrunching her cheeks up angrily while Marie simply yawned, leaning back in her chair contently, almost snoozing off.
"Even my speech game is off…come on Ari! If you can't win the hearts of a girl, at least win the hearts of an audience!" Ari scolded himself, smacking himself on the forehead.
Splin stared at Ari with a hint of pity. However, the pity quickly shifted to dizziness when Judd left his platform. The cat ref must've been in a hurry again, as one of his fleeting paws smacked Splin towards the Booyah Base, Splin having turned into a blue squid as to avoid major damage, ending up slipping through the thin crack of a door into one of the base's shops.
Maria, while Splin was hurdled like a pinball, was panicking. She may have had a few mishaps with her children before, but they were at least large enough to the point where she wouldn't have too much trouble to spot them. Now she was scrambling on the ground as a sea green squid, searching frantically for Splin. Or at least what might have been left of him. After a while, she sat on one of Inkopolis' sidewalk street, stuffing her face into her hands in shame. No one seemed to be out and about at the moment, leaving Maria alone to her silent suffering.
That being said, Tai smashing into a sheet of glass didn't really help. "Gak!"
Maria's head raised up quickly. She gasped, staring over at the sound of the crash. Walking out of a store filled with, or used to be filled with glass nicknacks was Tai herself, brushing glass out of her tentacles with somehow little to no sign of injury.
"Hay Marii." Tai mumbled through clenched teeth.
As she greeted Maria, the Burst Bomb ripped and exploded in her mouth, causing Tai to drop her mountain of weaponry and fall onto the ground, spitting and sputtering the ink out of her mouth.
"Ugh! Aw, sick!" Tai sputtered, landing on her knees, almost heaving her insides out trying to get rid of the ink, wiping her mouth repeatedly.
"Maria! Where's Splin?" Sharq asked, hopping out from Tai's grasp out out to the street, attempting to cross.
Maria's eyes went wide. "Sharq! Don't just stand in the middle of the road!"
Sharq looked to his left and right. "It's alright Maria, it doesn't look like any cars are coming by anytime soon!"
As Sharq said that, a truck zoomed right over Sharq, causing his tentacles to blow slightly in the wind in the direction the truck went.
"That didn't count, that was a truck." Sharq said with a smile.
"Sharq...I'm sorry, but I couldn't find him." Maria sighed, shivering somewhat.
"Maria?" Ann-Gel muttered, poking her head out of Tai's armor, hopping over to Maria as well.
"It's my fault, now he could be hurt somewhere, or a tiny blue smear across the floor!" Maria cried out.
"Maria, it's okay…" Ann-Gel tried to comfort her, hopping across the street, another truck running by, Ann-Gel barely avoiding it.
"No, it's my fault!" Sharq suddenly piped up. "I was the one who tried to help, and only ended making things worse…"
"Okay, you know what I think?" Tai joined in, finally getting rid of the offending ink. "You guys are making a big deal over nothing, alright? It wasn't any of your faults. Now stop being dramatic sad sacks and- AHH!"
Tai was cut off by a limousine running her over. The three Inklings mouths gaped open, watching as the limousine simply honked its horn, slowing down exponentially. Tai eventually was released from the tire's grip, looking like roadkill as she left the grasp, tire tracks all in a straight line on her body. Tai growled, picking up a few dozen Splat Bombs, chucking them at the limo. They all landed on top of the limo, and while some rolled off the top, the triangular explosives that managed to stay flashed, before the limousine exploded, ink going everywhere, what appeared to be an eel of sorts flying out of the limo. The three Inklings were speechless, only gawking at the angry Octoling. Tai turned back to the three with a terrifying grin.
"Ha ha! Alright, that was pretty fun-" Tai managed, before a tire from the destroyed vehicle rolled back and hit her in the face. Tai caught it easily, growling, before she randomly tossed it behind her. "Take that...uh, car!"
Tai chuckled to herself. The three other Inklings decided to stop blaming themselves, clearing their throats to get rid of the unnecessary tension they imposed upon themselves, smoothing out their tentacles and looking to the side absentmindedly. Immediately though, an explosion sound came from the area Tai chucked the tire.
"Are you f-" Tai growled, spinning around.
Smoke and fire rose from behind them. They all turned.
"...That's just great." Tai sighed. "More things to report. Aussie's gonna krill me by boredom by this point."
"Wait…" Maria squinted, spying a certain electric catfish struggling to escape the flames, coiling up further up his tower perch. "...Oh good, Splin could still be okay in the plaza!"
"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Sharq piped up. "Let's go!"
"Into the place currently burning down?" Ann-Gel pointed out.
The cephalopods stared at the smoke and sparks flying.
"...Do you have anything better to do?" Tai asked, shifting into an octopus. "Besides, you said that Splin's probably in there, right? If I'm going to waste my time today, I'm going to save a life at least. Saves myself from boredom."
The others glanced at each other. They all switched into squids, except for Ann-Gel. Maria let Ann-Gel hop onto the tip of her squid head.
"Alright, hang on tight…" Maria cautioned.
Splin wasn't having the greatest time either. Moe the clownfish was already loud, imposing, with a short temper. Now he was taller than Splin. Annie stayed the same though, if anything, her timidness was the same at any height. That being said, being the "strong guardian" type, Moe's first reaction to noticing Splin was:
"WE'VE GOT A PEST! CALL THE EXTERMINATORS, CALL THE NAVY! DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY'RE INFESTED WITH ROBOTS, CALL 'EM ANYWAYS!" Moe called out like an alarm, momentarily leaving Annie's colorful mess of tentacles.
"C-Careful Moe!" Annie called after him, reaching for a cap hung on a rack.
Moe chased after the little Splin, who was attempting to explain his situation, only to no avail, Moe slapping his fins in an attempt to smack Splin silly, his tailfin waggling swiftly as he chased the Inkling. Headgear of every shape and size was knocked off shelves and racks, until eventually a baseball cap fell off, landing on top of Splin.
"GOTCHA, NERD!" Moe shouted at the cap.
Annie glanced at Moe for a bit, eyeing the cap nervously. She spun the cap around a bit as if it might help somehow. The cap remained stagnant. She reached for the cap, attempting to lift it up, when a siren sounded off. Red lights flashed in the Booyah Base.
"O-Oh no, do we have to e-evacuate again?" Annie wondered aloud.
"YOU KNOW THE DRILL, ANN!" MOE- Cough, cough, I meant Moe, shouted, "swimming" up to her hair, nestling in the tentacles.
"Whoa, wait, what?!" Splin shouted, attempting to leave the cap. He slammed into the fabric multiple times, causing the hat to budge very slightly.
"Eep!" Annie backed away in fright.
"LET'S BOUNCE!" Moe exclaimed, Annie nodding in affirmation, the two leaving.
"...Well." Splin muttered, leaning back on the inside of the cap.
Splin sniffed, sighing. Then he sniffed again.
"Smoke." Splin concluded. "Of flipping course."
The plaza caught fire, a burning tire in the middle of the plaza quickly spreading from building to building. One of the buildings happened to be the Booyah Base, the fire creeping towards the doors slowly. Splin couldn't see at all under the cap, but he could count on his luck streak that the fire was probably not friendly.
"Heh." Splin chuckled.
Aha, you see? Puns are getting to you.
"Eh, not like it matters much." Splin said, the smoky smell intensifying.
Giving up so soon? It isn't your time yet, you know.
Splin shrugged. "...Just a little tired of this stuff constantly happening to me."
Chin up, it'll get better. Probably.
Splin stared up at the ceiling of the cap, sighing. Smog and smoke began to cloud his vision somewhat. Splin coughed experimentally to rid the burning sensation in his mouth. It didn't work. Splin then tried holding his breath. All that did was make it more intense. Coughing more and more, the brother shook his head as if to shake himself, keep his consciousness up and running. For whatever reason, that worked. The smoke was fading, his lungs felt just barely less scratchy. Splin slumped down on the back of the cap with a sigh. Then fell onto the floor once the cap was removed.
"Oh my god….Splin?" Maria asked, looking down at the little Inkling.
Splin blinked, rubbing his eyes, nodding. "Y-Yeah? Maria?"
Maria responded with what she meant to be a hug at first, then realized that Splin would probably be sent to the shadow realm or be absolutely crushed by her arms. She opted for a bit of a high five, raising her hand to Splin. Splin shrugged, giving her a small slap on the hand, which was akin to a fly landing on her hand. Maria smiled, picking Splin up, letting him ride on her shoulder. The two left the Booyah Base, where most of Inkopolis Plaza was still on fire. Tai, Sharq, and Ann-Gel were outside, greeting Splin with a smile. Tai, on the other hand, was spraying the plaza with water using a Splattershot, a frown clear on her face.
"I go up here to relax…" Tai muttered.
"You were the one who started this fire mess, now you have to clean it up." Maria told her matter-of-factly.
"I guess I won't have to report this to Aussie if I douse the fire. But still! I was planning on sleeping all day, Maria! C'mon!" Tai groaned.
"Oy, I'm suffering business because of you!" Spyke protested.
"What is this, 'Make Tai Work Day'?" Tai muttered.
"It could be worse." Ann-Gel commented.
Before any punchline was put into action, a random Inkling left from Inkopolis Tower, carrying a Roller weapon. He seemed blissfully unaware of the fire, up until the point where he stopped and breathed in the fresh air. Noticing the smoky fire smell, he stared over at the plaza. Everyone froze. He stuck to the ground like glue, as if his brain was going into overdrive to process this. Eventually, his eyes went over to Tai, who stood there with a blank expression on her face.
"Yeah, uh, this isn't what it looks like." The Octoling said.
As if frightened by the events, the Inkling held up his Roller, raising it above his head shakily. He was then punted to the side by a certain orange tentacled Inkling.
"HA! Huff huff, the great Ari- *wheeze* Has arrived in the nick of time!" Ari declared between pants.
Everyone then stared at Ari. Tai didn't seem too pleased with him.
"Man, you see?" Tai said, gesturing to Ari. "He's always trying to do some sort of fancy gesture to try and get in my pants."
Ari's ego, as well as his frame, deflated somewhat, Ari slouching over with a sad look on his face. "B-But-"
"Screw it, you know what? I'm relaxing at home, I don't care if Aussie's going to scold me or something, I can deal with it." Tai growled, pushing past the others, heading for the manhole.
"...Bye Tai." Sharq waved.
Splin stared at Ari, shaking his head. "You...uh, tried."
Ari's mouth was agape, the older Inkling falling on the ground face first next to the Inkling he had pushed over. Maria blinked, staring at the two.
"Oh dear. Young love can be blind." Maria commented, shaking her head. She looked over her shoulders, where three Inklings sat, Sharq assisting Ann-Gel in climbing up Maria's arm. "You three ready to go?"
Splin looked over at the still burning plaza. He attempted to say something.
"Great, let's go." Maria said, shifting into a squid, holding all of the three in her tentacles.
"Er, Maria, the plaza?" Splin attempted to point out.
"Splin, chillax. We've all had a long day." Ann-Gel yawned.
"What?! The plaza is literally burning to ash!" Splin protested.
It was too late, as Maria was already Super Jumping off into the hills. Splin could only watch from Maria's tentacles as the plaza began burning down. Or at least it would have if a random rain cloud hadn't have rolled over, rain drenching the plaza in an instant.
"...Did you know that would happen?" Splin asked.
Maria nodded as she passed through a fluffy white cloud. "Mm-hm. Since Miss Tai over there's too lazy."
"This universe is weird." Sharq laughed.
Splin could only silently agree as they flew towards the house.
Splin and Sharq stood in front of the Tele-Cube, which vibrated on the floor softly. Ann-Gel and Maria stared from the sidelines, watching intently.
"Tele-Cube?" Splin asked, tapping the cube. "Are you...are you there?"
The cube whirred quickly. A start up noise could be heart, a logo floating by its screens.
"...'Pizza Turtle Industries'?" Splin read.
Whoops, forgot about that start up feature. You know, you should really conserve energy by shutting off your Tele-Cube.
At the sound of the words, "shutting off", Tele-Cube reactivated immediately, waving round saws around, directed towards the ceiling.
There's our favorite murder robot! Other than...you know, every other murderbot in existence.
The Tele-Cube's saws retracted back into its cube frame, Splin backing away carefully. The cube hovered over to Splin and Sharq, looking over the Inklings strangely. The cube backed away suddenly, flashing a "Sorry!" on its screens.
"It's cool!" Sharq grinned.
"Just be sure to be careful next time." Splin added.
Tele-Cube nodded. It hovered up into the air, flashing light. Maria and Ann-Gel tensed up, ducking behind cover, keeping an eye on the two other Inklings. The cube released a burst of light into the boys, reshaping them in seconds. Once the light faded, Splin and Sharq blinked, looking around them.
"Hang on-" Sharq said.
Sharq took a step towards his bed. Then another one. He began walking until he reached his bed in a matter of seconds. Carefully, he took his hat and gently and very slowly began placing it on his head. Splin rolled his eyes, walking over to his own bed quickly, taking his headphones from the bed, placing them on his head.
"We're back to normal Sharq, you can stop now." Splin told him.
"Hang on! I need to get a FEEL for this hat, you know? I've gotten so used to not wearing a hat." Sharq explained, instinctively sticking his tongue out as he pushed down from every angle.
Splin rolled his eyes. He walked over to Sharq, pressing down on his head. Sharq fumbled about with his hat, smiling contently, then gave Splin a quick hug.
"You know me so well!" Sharq exclaimed, Splin only rolling his eyes.
Maria smiled warmly at the two, who simply smiled back. The three's eyes gravitated towards Ann-Gel, who was sitting on her pedestal, eyebrows lowered, face downcast.
"...Ann-Gel? You okay?" Sharq asked.
"...Yeah." Ann-Gel said, looking up.
Splin and Sharq glanced at each other.
"No, really guys." Ann-Gel said, perking up. "Sure, it's kinda a bummer that I never got to grow to your height and roam around...but hey, I still had fun outside the house."
"Really? Despite the whole…" Splin made a sizzling noise.
"I mean, aside from that, it was pretty good!" Ann-Gel smiled. "Thanks for bringing me out of the house, guys."
Splin nodded. "Of course."
"You're welcome!" Sharq declared.
"Now, with that over and done with…" Splin began.
Splin walked over to his bed, face planting into the mattress. He rose up momentarily, staring over at the other Inklings.
"I think we all deserve SOME rest." Splin said.
The three other Inklings glanced at each other, then silently nodded in agreement. All three went over to their respective bedding arrangements, Ann-Gel hopping over to the countertops, where she stood there motionless. Once on their beds, Splin and Sharq stared up at the ceiling.
"That was quite a day, huh Splin?" Sharq smiled, optimistic as ever.
"...I'm honestly not too happy about it." Splin sighed. "My lungs still feel sorta fatigued, Tai and Ari don't seem to be doing too well...just being shrunk on its own was exhausting. I mean, how much stranger and more complicated can our lives get?"
"Guess we'll have to wait and see, huh?" Sharq grinned.
Splin looked up at the ceiling out to the sky. "...Yeah, I suppose I asked for it, didn't I?"
AN: Okay, so a good news/bad news I got for youse. Good news, I found out that I still have quite a few story ideas, helped in part by you guys reviewing! Bad news, turns out I'm getting burnt out pretty easily. I'm just not really feeling too motivated to continue writing as much, back when Splatoon was all new and hype, I was all for it, you know? But as popularity reaches its peak, alas, I'm starting to lose motivation for writing this story. That isn't to say I'll quit, I think I'll just take a bit of a break for a while.
On that cheery note, let's move on to the reviews! Thanks Dread Angel, Ultrapyre, Rynowm, RMVHXtreme, and Anon360 for reviewing!
I suppose Maria's not all action rough and tumble, I'll be sure to incorporate her caring side in more, Dread! Ultrapyre, I wasn't implying too much on the superpower side, mostly just a joking matter of strength, but I suppose that could be a side-effect of the writing. Rynowm, I appreciate the ideas, thanks again, writing this was a pleasure. RMVHXtreme, I suppose our Octoling doesn't always put a one hundred percent focused thought process on hindsight, eh? And finally, Anon360, nice to see you back! Sorry for that whole mess of having to read the previous story up to that point, I don't really know whether or not you really did, but I apologize regardless.
Well, I think that's it for tonight, thanks again for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to...rest, I guess. See ya.