Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
It's Game Time
An older squid brother, ignorant to the fact his young pirate uncle had realized that he was indeed the uncle of two squids, carrying sacks containing gold coins dragged himself through Arowana Mall while other humanoid squids played in the background, a few shots of ink splashing on the glass in the distance. So far, it was shaping out to be a normal day for Sharq. And Tai as well.
"Hold on, stop." A feminine voice emerged from one of the bags Sharq hefted behind him.
Sharq paused his walk, glancing over his shoulder. A tooth emerged like that of a beak of a fledgling bird, Tai's Octoling eyes sticking out from the darkness within the bag. Chewing two holes symmetrically aligned, she spat out two patches of the bag, and stared through. Only one of her eyes poked out, and violet tentacles could be seen writhing in the darkness.
"Gah. I made them too close together." Tai frowned.
"Want me to help?" Sharq asked, setting the bags down.
"No way Sharq, we're on a mission, remember?" Tai exclaimed out of the bag, which Sharq nodded at, "We can't stop until we buy enough video games to rub in Aussie's face. Also to educate them so hard that… Uh… Just make sure to get a bunch."
Sharq nodded once more, continuing on with his ever vigilant stride. "Okay!"
The two cephalopods continued their "journey" over towards the nearest electronic game store, Sharq passing by other sea creatures going about their business. Various glances and sidesteps whenever Sharq passed by obviously meant that the crowd had taken notice of Sharq's collection of coins. While Sharq continued forward, a few Inklings took notice of Tai's eyes glowing in the dimness of the bags, gulping. With a well directed hiss towards the crowd, she sent them scattering, much to the Octoling's amusement. Eventually, the pair of them made it into a familiar shop.
A bored, grayish green tentacled Inkling yawned as Sharq entered, dragging the bags behind him. The Inkling at the counter laid his head down boredly.
"Welcome to Game- Whoa." The employee got to his feet, his eyes opening up dramatically.
"Oh, hi! ...Prothe!" Sharq read the nametag on Prothe's shirt.
"...Haven't I seen you before once? You look different, man." Prothe commented.
"Huh? Oh, you know, thanks I guess! I DID wear my hat differently." Sharq replied, reaching up, patting his Takoroka Mesh with a grin.
Prothe blinked, wiping his eyes with the back of his knuckles, blinking again. There was that same, sickly Inkling he sold a Wii U to. Was it? He looked… Better. Certainly was not colored as if he were a poltergeist.
"Err… Where'd your headphones go? Your shirt is the opposite color, too." Prothe pointed out, narrowing his eyes.
"Hmm? Oh! You must have the wrong guy." Sharq spoke up. "I'm actually his-"
"Okay this is taking too long," Tai groaned from within the bag, attracting the two's attention, "Hey pal, mind stocking us with games?"
Prothe stared at the cloth satchel dangling over Sharq's shoulder that just spoke. Frowning, his eyes narrowed, and he leaned in as if expecting the bag to try something sketchy. Which Tai was totally willing to do if it took too long. Glaring out of the bag, her eyes were less than a comforting sight. The tired Inkling across the counter blinked, spotting the glowing green orbs Tai used in a less than discreet fashion considering how close she was to the holes in the bag.
"..." Prothe blinked.
Almost as if she were an actress committing to a role, albeit a very, very particular and modest role, Tai cleared her throat, glaring back at Prothe.
"What's the matter?" She asked, "Never seen a talking bag before?"
"...No." Prothe frowned.
"Oh. Ship." Tai frowned, shuffling about in the bag across a puddle of coins, "Well, today's your lucky day, Frank."
Prothe frowned, glancing at his nametag.
"You're going to help me and this dude-" Tai nudged Sharq with the heel of her boot through the bag, prompting him to wave, "Educate."
"...Educate." Prothe frowned, placing his elbow on the counter, propping up his face.
"Exactly. So give us your video games!" Tai shouted from within the bag, shaking it somewhat.
Prothe rolled his eyes. "If you're planning a robbery, half of the games won't work unless I activate them via register. And all of them are on the shelves behind you."
"Well that's just peachy!" Tai spoke up, "We've got money!"
Prothe shrugged. "Alright, cool. You going to buy something then, bag?"
"Oh- OH! We are going to buy stuff, man. Just you wait!" Tai shouted, rattling the satchel more, with the added side effect of bystander Inklings outside the store looking in curiously through the glass panes.
Prothe smirked, he was certainly getting a hoot out of this "bag". "Alright."
He leaned on the receptionist counter, staring at the bag with an intentionally disgusting, cocky smirk that could start wars. Within the darkness of the bag, Tai grit her teeth as Sharq walked over to the rack of games on the wall, glancing at Tai.
"What was that?" Sharq asked, tilting his head.
"I forgot how much I hate Inklings." Tai frowned, crossing her arms.
The air seemed to grow tense for a moment. Tai cringed once she realized the impact her words might have, but froze for an entirely different reason when Sharq hugged the bag she was in good naturedly. Tai blinked, sighing.
"Darn it, how does that work?" Tai frowned, relaxing in a minute, "Okay Sharq, you win."
"Hooray!" Sharq threw his hands up into the air as the two others stared at him.
AN: I'm not actually finishing the chapter this is just a joke.
"...You gonna buy something?" Prothe asked again, "Or is your bag going to go on another tangent?"
"I'll show you a tangent!" Tai snarled, hopping towards the counter.
Sharq quickly pulled the bag back, patting the top of it as if it were an enraged canine.
"You're never safe!" Tai shouted back at Prothe, who smirked again, only irking her more.
Dragging the irritated Octoling away from the hardly paid employee over at the counter, Sharq approached the library of video games stacked in front of him. From handheld cartridge games to polished discs, Sharq could see it all beautifully on display, just waiting to be played. But from Tai's perspective, it was Sharq's legs.
"Do me a solid and lift me up?" Tai asked.
Sharq blinked, turning towards the bag he had place on the ground, giving it a curt nod. Taking the bag, he lifted the side with the holes cut in to face the collection of digital goodies. Tai hummed, scanning each and every one of the cases.
"Oh, I should warn you, not all of these games are too good." Sharq spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Tai asked as she scanned the shelves.
Sharq frowned, glancing to the side. "Splin says that video games nowadays are usually rushed or not as good as they used to be."
"Splin sounds like an old man." Tai frowned, glancing up at him.
"Just saying." Sharq spoke up.
After a few minutes of searching, Tai cleared her throat. "Alright, I've got it."
She stuck a finger out of the bag, though switching to her humanoid Octoling form weighed down on Sharq somewhat, the Inkling's struggles to heft the bag being the major indication, she pointed towards a game. Then another. And another.
"Er…" Sharq scratched the tentacles on his head.
"All of them. We're buying all of them man." Tai smirked.
"What? Really?" Sharq stared over at the collection of games again, then back to the loot accumulated in the bags.
"It's easy, man." Tai spoke up, "Besides, even if we don't have enough now, I can just steal some."
"Uh…" Sharq began sweating, though with a grin, "You're really making me feel like I'm actually robbing something here."
Tai grinned. "Don't worry then, Sharq. Just grab the games, and let ME do the talking."
The Inkling carrying the bag stared over at the video games. Frowning, he reached over and grappled a handful of random game cases, dragging them and Tai's bag over towards the counter, where Prothe was waiting. Sharq placed the games on the counter, which Prothe glanced at with a sigh, scanning each and every one of them with the most nonchalant of expressions. Eventually, a number came up that included zeros on it that could rival that of the amount of times "zero" was used as a swordsman's name.
"No offense sir, but I doubt your 'bag' will have enough to pay for it." Prothe spoke up, leaning on the counter.
Tai once again perked up at his challenge, scowling from within the bag. Nevertheless, the important thing to her was messing with Aussie to cure her boredom. Grabbing a handful of coins, she reached out of the sack, dropping money handful by handful until the counter looked similar to a mountain of gold. Prothe blinked, staring in awe of the mound of money that was stacked directly in front of him.
"There. Put that on your uniform and wear it, 'Frank'." Tai sneered through the eyeholes of the bag.
Prothe rolled his eyes, simply scanning each game individually. He smirked again, shrugging after the last one, then stacked all of the games on top of one another.
"I'd ask you if you'd want a bag, but…" Prothe grinned.
Tai's face shifted to a blank expression from inside, as she knew what was going to happen next. Prothe took the bag, and while her identity could have well been blown, Prothe was too busy shoving in the games, slamming them into her face.
"Ow! Jackwad!" Tai yelped.
"Have a nice day." Prothe waved to Sharq, who just nodded, leaving quickly.
As soon as the two made it outside the store, Sharq made sure to clamp the opening of the bag down. His instincts served him well, as Tai began punching and kicking rapidly, making it look like a wild animal was trapped inside. Which was not technically wrong.
"Let's get to Octo Valley, huh?" Sharq suggested with a smile, dragging Tai away while she raged on, the clattering of boxes being one of the telltale signs she was less than happy with how things were turning out.
"...Oops! I forgot, we need to get a game console!" Sharq piped up, skidding to a halt.
Tai's eyes glinted. She took one of the games and patted her open palm using the game like a paddle, smiling evilly. "That's fine."
"...What is this?"
A gathering of octopuses, ranging from the ever vigilant Octosnipers to the Inkling counterpart that was the Octoling, sat patiently, mostly patiently at least if one would overlook the workaholic that was Aussie tapping her foot, in the briefing room of the Octarian base. Underneath the shard of ceiling remaining prevalent, somewhat like a statue were a collection of shredded sacks with games poking out of the debris. Across from where Tai was gloating in the glory of the random collection of games, Chi and Aussie, geared in their Octoling uniforms with spots of ink, possibly from an early skirmish, inspected the games cautiously.
Again, there were exceptions, as Chi and the other Octarians were awestruck, feeling the corners of the boxes as if they were golden.
"Tai! These are so shiny!" Chi spoke in a gleeful, almost hypnotized tone, "Are these peace gifts? They're certainly decorative."
"Cod, I remember what these are." Aussie frowned, lifting up her Octoling Goggles, her eyes narrowing, eyeing the games distastefully.
Across from them, Tai rolled her eyes. "Look, Sharq helped me out, he took time out of his busy schedule-"
Off somewhere else, Sharq was gleefully rolling through slopes on a battlefield. A skatepark full of squids served as the Turf War stage, and using his Krak-On Roller, he happily charged through as the world practically destroyed itself, drenching the field in blue and orange, Sharq occasionally squishing other squids in magnificent explosions of blue.
"-to get us these." Tai finished.
Aussie simply crossed her arms, staring in the other direction, finding a newly found interesting in the walls of the base. Tai scowled, slamming her palm down on the table, spooking the other Octarians, who promptly took a step away.
"Oh, geez." Chi muttered.
"What's your deal?! C'mon, I try to do something nice for once," Tai began, despite her early intentions being less than altruistic, she was starting to get unnerved by Aussie's aversion, "Do you know what I had to do to get these?!"
"I thought Agent- Sharq," Aussie corrected herself stiffly, holding her head high still, "Was the one who got these."
"I helped!" Tai shouted at her.
The commander sighed, the seaweed stalks on her head seemingly wilting at her subordinate. She glanced at the video games, then began to reflect on her duties and her role in the Octarian army. She at the very least was supposed to help expand their territories, assist the other Octarians, keep the peace-
She grabbed one of the games quickly, hugging it as close to her chest as possible, shocking the others. It made a clang noise as it collided with her chest armor.
"..." Aussie frowned, keeping her goggles on for fear of blushing.
"Well now." Tai smirked.
"Aussie?" Chi asked, staring at her superior worriedly.
"I saw a few on my scouting missions, alright?! I just wanted to…" Aussie trailed off, "You know what, no, I can't. I have responsibilities- Then again…." She blinked, still hugging the video game, "Perhaps I can glean information from Inkling life or work- NO! No no no!"
The Octarians lacking humanoid features slowly slid out of the room, letting their commander cool off. Both Tai and Chi glanced at each other.
"Hey… Uh, I think we might have another rebel problem, and I really need to convince Octavio that I'm not a traitor anymore or… Um…" Chi fumbled with her words, searching for an excuse.
"Go on Chi, I'll look after our crazy commander." Tai smirked, waving her off.
"Thanks." Chi spoke up, quickly running up to her, giving her a quick hug.
"Aw. Get out of here." Tai sighed, failing to keep in a smile.
Chi withdrew her arms, shrugging as she walked backwards. "Hey, I'm just paying you back for earlier!"
Tai sighed, nodding, as her sister-in-arms walked off, turning back to the real problem in have. Aussie's conundrum had intensified, at this point it seemed like she had developed two split personalities devoted to the case of whether or not she should take a couple minutes off just to play a video game. So far, neither side made any progress.
The Octoling commander frowned. "Okay, it's a short time period, I start playing, then I'm done- Nope! You've got work to do! Octavio's probably going to assign you to something-"
Aussie paused when she noticed a heavyset-looking object hurdling towards her. She quickly held out her hands, catching the video game console that flew through the air, barely keeping it from hitting the ground. She grunted, glaring at the Octoling who had tossed it to her, receiving a smirk in return.
Before Aussie could say anything, Tai chimed in. "You could drop that video game console and break it and get back to work. Or you could help me set it up, we play for a couple minutes, then get on with our lives. Your choice."
Aussie scowled at Tai. Despite the weight of the console and all of the cords wrapped around her arm, she could lift it easily. Tai herself inspected a pair of controllers, glancing up at Aussie, arching an eyebrow. The Octoling sighed, adjusting her goggles.
"...Five minutes." Aussie spoke up, "Nothing more. Alright?"
Tai blinked, setting the controllers down on the table. Aussie continued staring at the floor, rubbing her arm. Tai cracked a grin.
Aussie seemed to notice, frowning. "Alright, let's go."
Carrying the game and the console, Aussie strode off, with Tai following with a Gamepad and remote controller closely behind. This could be fun. Both of them thought that as they made their way, looking for a spot to set up.
One embarrassingly short failed mission in a Star Fox-esque game later, the two watched as other octopuses continued to entertain themselves with the console in the recreational space left in the Octarian HQ. Octarians gathered around a television screen and watched as Chi and another Octoling paid close attention to the screen, mashing the buttons excitably.
Aussie and Tai on the other hand were sitting by a table, Tai looking less than pleased, draping her arm over the back of her chair, leaving her feet dangling in the air as Aussie attempted not to attract the gaze of any other octopuses, the excitable leaps and bounds of a certain live power source accompanying the hype surrounding those playing in the background.
"I said, 'Do a barrel roll', not… Whatever it was that you were doing." Tai frowned.
"You meant an 'aileron roll'!" Aussie frowned back at her.
"You have no sense of tradition." Tai closed her eyes.
"How would you know?!" Aussie argued.
"Ahem."
The low, booming voice behind them signaled the arrival of a boss. The two Octolings turned around, and were greeted by an octopus sitting behind a turntable.
DJ Octavio glanced over at his forces currently engaged in digital combat, then stared at Tai and Aussie for a long time. Suddenly, the faint sounds of chuckling could be heard escaping from Octavio. Both of the Octolings gave him an odd look before he began laughing with more magnitude.
"Ah, thanks you two! Really saved me a lot of trouble." Octavio laughed, wiping his eyes.
"...Eh?" Aussie blinked.
"A couple of the others kept complaining about having nothing to do." Octavio frowned, "Which is stupid, since the people who come down here keep bringing them company or at least a challenge. This really keeps me free."
Aussie's mouth gaped open, and for a moment, she took the time to scrub her goggles to make sure that they were not malfunctioning. Then she promptly realized that goggles do not affect hearing and pouted. Tai grinned at Aussie, wiggling her eyebrows with a smirk.
"Good work, ladies." Octavio nodded.
"Oh, you see? Video games solve problems." Tai stuck her tongue out at Aussie playfully.
"I highly doubt that'll work more than once." Aussie sighed, planting her head on the table.
The rest of the day, the Octarians rejoiced, as they had found something that could waste their time efficiently and entertainingly. Had it been December, this may have passed as a Splatmas miracle, but since it was not-
"However, I do need you two to work overtime with an old base of ours-" Octavio began.
Tai imitated Aussie, slamming into the table, shaking it somewhat. Octavio scowled, planting one of his tentacles on his face.
"Yep, that seems right." He remarked with a shake of his head.
AN: Small short chapter, I know, I'm trying to think of something, and with the introduction of two other new stories of mine that I have to update in tandem with this one, I think I might have jumped the Sharq in ideas. I mean sharq. SHARK.
Alright, let's see here, thanks write n wrong, Darkstar248, and sebastian G for reviewing! Glad you still enjoy this story, and enjoyed that little Star Squids Nothing story as well! Good to see that you think my story is of a nice low temperature, Darkstar. Thanks again, sebastian, and nice rhyme by the way.
Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle. Off to brainstorm, see you.