Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
Sharq-Infested Waters Pt. 3
The two Inklings dashed across the wooden deck, overgrown tentacles onboard smashing and flailing nearby, splintering the wooden floor beneath their feet, water spraying up from the sea as the kraken rampaged on deck. Sharq skimmed the deck, searching for random objects to hurl at the kraken with. Objects included, but were not limited to:
A barrel, which shattered into pieces with a swing of the kraken's tentacles, the kraken's large beak screeching at Sharq as it did so. A lantern, which Sharq had intended to try and burn the kraken with. That was also destroyed, the flames scattered to far and too weak to be considered anything more than weak embers. Finally, he attempted tossing a plank of wood, which bounced harmlessly off of the kraken's eyelids. The kraken seemed to yawn.
"Come on! That should've been a crit!" Sharq shouted.
The kraken hardly took Sharq's video game knowledge as anything more than random insults, so he smacked the little captain across the deck, where he slammed into a room on the top.
"Sharq!" The two cried out.
The younger Inkling immediately shook his head, poking his head back out of the room, giving them a thumbs-up. The sound of irritated squawking from the room meant that Hueli must have fallen off his delightfully comfortable perch. A tentacles smashed into the room Sharq was in, sending Sharq reeling onto the deck, scrambling to Maria and Xarius's side, holding what appeared to be a wooden broom up for defense.
"You okay captain?" Xarius asked, glancing down at Sharq.
"Hey! How dare you break this ship! This ship is Xarius's, you can't just wreck it just because you want to!" Sharq cried out.
The older Inklings stifled a laugh at Sharq's supposed naivety. The kraken continued thrashing about, the other Inklings avoiding would be tentacle smacks as they lashed about. Xarius stared down at Sharq while Maria prepared her Splatterscope, aiming it at the kraken.
"Get him!" Sharq shouted.
"Is that an order, captain?" Xariu asked, steadying himself, his hand still on his brush's sheath.
"...I guess? Just go beat him up!" Sharq shrugged.
Xarius smirked, loosening his grip. "Any specific attacks while I'm at it?"
"No. Just try and slice it, you know." Sharq told Xarius, patting him on the back reassuringly.
"Hey, pirate, can you stop chatting and give me a hand over here, I'm getting-" Maria grunted, before she was promptly squashed by a tentacle.
"Oh no!" Sharq gasped, staring at the deck where Maria was squashed.
His fears were cast away with the brine of sea when Maria revealed herself to be alright, holding the kraken's tentacle up with her immense strength. She grunted, tossing the tentacle overboard, where it splashed into the water. She took aim once more, staring at the kraken's eyes, and shot, the burst of green ink scoring a direct hit in the eyes of the beast.
"Yes!" Maria grinned.
The kraken blinked, shut its eye, submerging itself under the sea. (Down where it's wetter, here take a sweater, under the sea) It soon reemerged from the blue, blinking, the ink from its eye completely washed away by the tide of the sea. It resumed slamming its tentacles on the ship, shaking the ship.
"No!" Maria grimaced.
"Uh, it's alright Maria!" Sharq shouted in an attempt to keep morale high.
Maria, completely unfazed, just smiled at Sharq. "Maybe your pirate friend can lend a hand. Ahem."
"Alright, alright. No need to get all huffy." Xarius told Maria, unsheathing his Inkbrush, which glowed with a crimson-orange sheen.
Xarius dashed, his body low, towards one of the tentacles assaulting the bow, slashing left and right as he ran, disrupting the tentacles' attacks on the ship. The appendages recoiled in pain, cuts running across their surfaces spewing black ink, while not wholly anatomically precise, still served as an indication of the amount of damage the kraken took. However, despite the kraken's new scars, the ocean-dwelling monster pressed on, shaking the mast and tearing the sails of the ship.
"Blast it all! Even if we did somehow slay the kraken, it'd probably take us down wit' it!" Xarius snarled.
"Ink doesn't seem to hurt it, either." Maria scowled, dipping herself in a puddle of green, recharging her ink, appearing once more to deliver another blast, which only managed to leave a small mark in its forehead. "If I were able to use some form of insurmountable power… You'd be dead already!"
"Hmm…" Sharq hummed, poking a shorter tendril strewn about the deck, which twitched slightly. "Do we have any other weapons on board? Any huge ones? That could, you know, reeeaaaaalllyy hurt this kraken?"
"What are you gettin' at, Sharq?" Xarius raised an eyebrow.
"You know, pirate weapons. Cannons…?" Sharq asked with a light smile.
Maria's face lit up, nodding with glee. "That's a great idea! We can take it out with a few volleys from a cannon!"
"Oy, oy! Who said we're the stereotype pirates who go about blasting other ships out o' the blue?! That's not how all pirates work!" Xarius frowned.
Sharq and Maria stared at the swordsman curiously, splinters and screeching in the background continuing.
"So you don't have cannons?" Sharq asked, tilting his head.
After a moment of quieter thrashing in the background, Xarius could only scowl.
"...There should be three on each side, port and starboard in the brig…" Xarius sighed in defeat, waving them off.
"Thank you." Maria waved.
"You heard him Maria! Let's go blow a giant squid up!" Sharq grinned, dashing down below into the brig of the ship.
Below in the brig of the ship, Sharq made his way through past tons of pirate lackeys, stopping by at the nearest open window, some grunts taking shelter. Noticing their day-elected seafaring leader, they shook their heads, all staring with wide eyes as Sharq scattered about the brig, searching it from head to toe.
"Quick! Someone get a cannon! Xarius said there were some down here!" Sharq ordered.
"But captain-" One of the other Inklings piped up nervously, Sharq spinning around.
"What's wrong? We need to help Xarius and Maria!" Sharq called out.
"Y-Yes, well, that's good 'n' all, but… The cannons are currently… Out of commission." The Inkling spoke shyly, staring down at the floor.
"Huh?" Sharq blinked, staring at her.
She bit her lip, then went over to a less lit area of the brig, darkened. Out of the darkness loomed a large tip prodding out of the dark.
"Ooh! Is that-" Sharq asked with gleeful curiosity.
"That is the cannon. But captain, unfortunately…" The Inkling grunt sighed, taking off her pirate bandana on her head, wiping her hands casually.
She jogged over to the cannon, the rumbling of combat still shaking the ship. With a grunt, she began pulling the so called cannon out, the light soon revealing what her cautionary words meant. Sharq blinked, staring at the ruined cannon. Its barrel and nozzle were rusted, and the set of wheels it was mounted on were misplaced and scratched. There was hardly any ammonition in sight too, the only sign of some were a set of mishapen, dented cannonballs with faded colors, rolling about after the cannon was brought into view.
Sharq stared at the cannon in a mixture of disappointment and awe. The Inkling crew member sighed.
"I'm sorry captain, we should've told you, we ain't really the type for large scale battles. We haven't used any cannons for a long time now." She stated, her bandana in her hands lowered as an apologetic act.
"That's fine!" Sharq beamed, hurrying behind the cannon, beginning to push it.
"Wait, you're still gonna use it?" She asked, Sharq nodding.
"I'm sure it'll work somehow!" Sharq cheered.
The pirate grunt remained silent as Sharq pushed up the lopsided artillery weapon up to the deck, frowning. The thrashing the kraken continued pressing on the ship shook the brig dangerously, the Inkling immediately opting to take shelter with her peers, hoping to wait this storm of tentacles out.
Maria gripped a tentacle in a tight "headlock", repeatedly punching the sucker on the tentacle, which at this point began resembling a bruised fruit. After deciding it had enough of Maria's knuckle sandwiches, it decided to take its anger out on the chef, reversing the headlock, wrapping around Maria, shaking and rattling her rapidly, then finally tossed her to the side, a disorientated Maria flying through the air above the ship. Landing in the sails, Maria bounced off the fabric, falling towards the wood below.
And landing safely into Xarius's arms. She shook her head, staring up at Xarius, who merely smirked, Maria smiling warmly back.
"...Alright, alright, you can let me go now." Maria laughed.
"You sure? You're still looking a wee bit dizzy there. Maybe I should lay you down to rest somewhere?" Xarius joked.
"Oh, and I'm the one who should watch my words?" Maria retorted.
The two laughed good heartedly.
While the two shared a good natured, friendly laugh, a certain swordsman elsewhere subconsciously screamed.
The two's banter was interrupted yet again by a tentacle, which dragged itself in the middle of the deck, the both of them stepping back in alarm. They stared up at the kraken, which glared at them, its tentacles poised to attack, all appendages pointed at the Inklings. Maria and Xarius stared down the kraken, a silent standoff aside from the waves washing across the boat ensuing. Once again, the quiet was broken, the rattling of wheels approaching from behind the two. They turned around, Sharq pushing the cannon towards them, the cannon barrel bouncing unsteadily.
"Hey! I found the cannon you were talking about Xarius!" Sharq called out across the deck.
"...We actually kept a cannon?" Xarius muttered, shaking his head. "Uh, nice work captain."
"Now we just need ammo." Sharq declared.
"What?!" Maria snarled, dodging another tentacle. "Sharq, there wasn't anything we could've used as ammo down there?!"
"Well, the cannonballs were all ruined." Sharq frowned. "Sorry."
"...Oy, don't you Inklings have some sort of new bomb technology you can use?"
"New?" Sharq tilted his head. "They've been around for a while, actually."
"Oy, I don't keep up with the times, captain." Xarius commented, slashing away at another tentacle which creeped up the side of the ship. "But yeah, that'll do. Better than that squirt gun at the very least."
With a frown, Maria spoke up. "Ink isn't harming it." Maria said in protest. "If it hasn't worked before, I doubt it will now. It's not like your brush is doing anymore than I am."
"If we do manage to score an explosive hit in its eye or maw… Who knows?" Xarius muttered, staring at the kraken. He then glared back at Maria. "Hey!"
"...Sharq." Maria muttered, smirking at Xarius in good humor, which he rolled his eyes at. "Get the cannon ready."
Sharq perked up, making his way behind the cannon, making sure to pivot the cannon to aim at the kraken. Maria's tentacles began glowing, her hand behind her back. Sharq opened the back of the cannon, exposing the barrel. Swiftly, Maria's tentacles glowed a bright green, the older squid stuffing Splat Bombs inside of the cannon with great speed. Soon after her luminescence wore off, Maria turned to Sharq, who shut the cannon barrel. A fuse sticking out the back of the cannon and a nod of the head from both adults was enough to motivate Sharq. Taking hold of the fuse, Sharq stared at the kraken, and uttered one taunt:
"Sorry, but we're in a hurry!" Sharq shouted, pulling on the fuse.
The cannon rumbled for a second, and the others feared that it had been long destroyed. Suddenly, the nozzle erupted, green ink and Splat Bombs alike burst out towards the kraken. Upon noticing the bombs, the kraken froze, its eyes widening. The ink and bombs smacked into his eyes, exploding, the impact enough to send the kraken reeling.
"Nice shot!" Xarius spoke up.
The kraken's tentacles removed themselves from the ship, all covering up the kraken in defense. Maria and Xarius glared at the larger squid, then were immediately surprised as to see each of the tentacles waving white flags somehow.
"Alright, alright, I surrender! Let up your assault, please!" The kraken wailed in a language decipherable to everyone onboard.
The revelation that the kraken could and was speaking was astounding. Nobody budged. Maria soon broke that state of stasis and aimed her Splatterscope at the kraken.
"Why were you attacking us?!" Maria demanded to know with a glare.
The kraken blinked, staring back at Maria dumbfounded. "...Odd. You don't seem to… Hold on a minute." The kraken cleared its throat experimentally, then spoke again, "Excuse me, miss?"
"...What?" Maria asked.
Maria's short response elicited a tremendous reaction from the kraken, the larger squid flailing its tentacles, holding two up to its face in shock.
"You can understand me?! Preposterous! These bloody pirates and their witchcraft are growing ever stronger! They're even growing tentacles!" The kraken shouted.
Xarius deadpanned. "And I thought I was out of touch."
"Growing tentacles? We've always had these." Sharq told the beast, sitting on the side of the cannon. "And can't you understand us too?"
"...Uh. So then, you're not…" The kraken blinked.
"We're not...humans, if that's what you're asking." Maria stated, the other two Inklings on deck glancing at her with odd looks.
After the brief explanation, the kraken seemed to lighten up. "Then the squids have overtaken the lands?!"
All of the Inklings stared at one another, nodding and shrugging in affirmation. This made the kraken very gleeful.
"Haha! Our kind has finally taken a step out of the water into uncharted territory! Evolution has spurred us forward!" The kraken cheered, waves forming due to his excited movements.
"So…you attacked the ship because you thought these… Humans were screwing about on-board?" Xarius asked with a frown.
"Ah. Apologies my brethren. You hit the nail right on the head." The kraken spoke, seemingly in an embarrassed tone. "I grant you passage through my domain. That is the least I can do to atone for my mistake."
"Uh, thanks!" Sharq spoke up, staring up at the kraken, "But you know, accidents happen. You don't have to be so hard on yourself."
"Young squid…thank you." The kraken murmured. "I suppose I'll just have to wait for a man-made vessel to pass by. Until then, I bid you all adieu."
With that said, the previously rabid kraken sunk beneath the waves, leaving the battered boat to itself, bubbles rising as the kraken fell. The adventurers on deck however could hardly believe that had just happened.
"That was kinda dumb." Sharq spoke up.
"..." Xarius frowned, shaking his head. "Krakens."
"Well, we managed to live. So that's a plus." Maria spoke calmly, stretching her arms.
Xarius nodded, looking over at the water. On the horizon, the sun began dipping lower than the clouds, sinking over the sea, the light fading from the land quickly. Xarius sighed, inspecting his ship. There were multiple tears in the sails, the wood was splintered everywhere, railings were smashed in, and it looked like a mess.
"So, how's about a break, yeah?" Xarius asked everyone.
"Okay! Where do I get to sleep?" Sharq asked, hopping off the cannon, which finally gave in to all of its stress, the wheels buckling under the weight of the gun.
"Sharq, you're the captain now. Go ahead, you can sleep in your quarters." Xarius spoke up, gesturing to the room Sharq was tossed in earlier.
Sharq frowned. "But then where will you sleep Xarius?"
Xarius blinked, looking about the deck. His eyes made their way up to the mast, where a ladder extended down the pole, a flat and steady enough looking lookout spot lying at the top. Sharq, having tracked Xarius's eyesight, stared up at the mast. Sharq pouted, then walked around, behind Xarius. Xarius blinked in confusion. Then he frowned when Sharq began pushing him.
"Oy! Sharq?!" Xarius yelped, Sharq continuing to push him towards the room.
"No buts Xarius! You've already done way too much for me, and as captain, I say you're going to sleep in your own bed!" Sharq announced, shoving Xarius into the room.
"Ah-"
"I'll see you in the morning!" Sharq called, before slamming the door on Xarius, Sharq dusting his hands off with a hint of pride.
The young Inkling grinned, beginning to ascend the mast via ladder, but was stopped by a questioning cough.
"What are you doing?" Maria asked, arching an eyebrow at Sharq.
"I'm taking Xarius's place. He doesn't have to sleep in the cold now!" Sharq smiled.
Maria huffed. "Sorry Sharq, but I can't let you do that."
"Why not-" Sharq began, then Maria smiled.
"Not unless I come with you to keep you company." Maria grinned at Sharq, who stayed on the ladder.
"Oh. Okay! That's fine." Sharq said, resuming his climb.
Maria beamed, then followed Sharq up to the mast, the ocean breeze beginning to pick up. As soon as Sharq made it up, he switched to a squid and laid on the side of the lookout spot's enclosed railing wall. When Maria made it up however, she took Sharq, wrapped her tentacles around him, and yawned.
"Just to make sure you won't get cold." Maria told Sharq with a polite smile. "Y-You know."
"Thanks Maria…" Sharq yawned, resting back on Maria. "Do you think Splin is still alright back at home?"
Maria stared up at the sky. Hints of red and orange glowed as the sun dipped below the horizon. She sighed, nodding, a reassured yawn passing out of the younger squid, before he was taken in by the comforts of slumber. Soon, Maria felt herself begin to tire, and the two, on top of the pirate ship, began to doze off, awaiting the next day, whether on sea or land.
As the others dozed off, Xarius sat inside of the captain's room, a desk stacked with charts and maps of all sorts assorted messily on the desk. Hueli, the macaw, sat perched on a potted plant, sleeping peacefully. Xarius stared down at the paper, overlooking his desk. His eyes gravitated towards something else perched upright on the table. A picture frame, of a Xarius from beforehand, not a scar to be seen on his face, nor any pirate garb to be seen, standing next to a shorter, female Inkling. Xarius sighed, staring at the frame, then planted the picture frame face down, standing up, and walked off, planning to retire for the night.
AN: That wraps up the kraken. Ancient sea monsters don't have newspapers, so I'd assume that some wouldn't get the memo that humanity has been extinct for quite some time. That's what inspired the kraken. Also, as of late, I appear to be in some hot water with the Shared Universe group. I don't really understand why yet, but I'll figure it out soon enough. In the meantime, I might have to let up on the mentions of Maria and other characters from other stories, which is somewhat troubling.
Well, now that that's over and done with, reviews are on the menu. Thanks Ultrapyre and write n wrong for reviewing! Who knows what Tai is feeling, Ultrapyre? I suppose a bit of an in depth look at her would have to suffice later on. Apologies write n wrong, but the Sharq and Chi pairing is not to come to fruition, simply a bit of a tool Chi was trying to use to get her point across.
Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to try and earn a golden watering can in Animal Crossing, see you l