Quick E3 Observation: Well, Nintendo's E3 was okay in my opinion… Felt kinda underwhelming with the amount of games. Oh well, at least The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Pokémon Sun and Moon looks fantastic. BotW looks rather appealing for its nonlinearity so far, though I hope the story is not put to the side like MGSV. Eh, sorry, jus wanted to give my two cents.
With that out of the way, off to the story.
Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
The Hierophants of Fate and Squids
The last time he had entered Inkopolis was when Xarius had attempted to rob a pharmacy to keep him and his crew nourished on food. That single handedly changed quite a bit. Now that he was back in Inkopolis for the second time today, he felt as if there certainly was some sort of mystical forces at work here. Strange as it was, there were hardly any Inklings outside at the moment despite all of the chaos recorded on the television. For the most part, anyways. The only exception the captain could notice was him, Sharq, and Maria, all anxiously watching themselves and the perimeters around them. There had been smoke on the television screen, and yet there was an eerie silence, as if the fire had already been snuffed out.
Cautiously, they made a simultaneous sneaking motion forward. Now, the actual range of sensing an Inkling's ears are debatable, but considering the loud whirring noise going through the air coming closer, it hardly took a genius to realize they should probably duck for cover. They did just that, the four of them hitting the deck as a tentacle shot out above them, poised to strike. Crouched below, the three gazed up at the tentacle as it wriggled overhead. The cyan coloring of the tendril indicated that it was Ityl herself behind the strike.
"Oh." Sharq muttered, reaching up to feel the tentacle.
"Sharq!" Maria sighed, taking his hand, planting it down on the asphalt.
Which was good, considering that another tentacle was incoming. Similar to a spear, it attempted to skewer Sharq's hand, but thanks to Maria's forewarning sense of danger, the biological weapon missed completely, a glad Maria grinning at the prospect of having prevented a loss of limb. Sharq blinked, staring up at that new tentacle. He reached for that as well.
"Stop, please." Maria spoke in a sweet yet dangerous tone.
Sharq slowly lowered his arm. On the other side of the ground, Xarius cursed under his breath, rolling towards the sidewalk, eventually switching to a bluish-red squid. He hopped onto the solid gray cement, beckoning with his tentacles for the others to do the same. Noticing his gestures, both of the others reverted into their primitive cephalopod forms, crawling over the black road next to the safety of a building. Slowly, they changed into Inklings, standing upright, cautious for anymore of those ballistic tentacle missiles.
Xarius huffed, readjusting his own captain's cap. "Figured as much."
"What?!" Maria scowled at the pirate.
Said Inkling rubbed the back of his neck. "This is kinda a battle thing that uh… Long tentacles do."
Maria glared at Xarius for a full minute with her hands accusingly on her hips, staring down the pirate angrily.
"Alright, look, it HAD crossed my mind." He muttered, "I may have neglected to tell ye about the stabbings."
"Stabbings." Maria repeated in a deadpan tone, then repeated again, "Stabbings."
Xarius frowned, glancing away. "Yeah, it's sort of an offensive technique-"
"And Sharq could've gotten his arm chopped off." Maria muttered, obviously less than impressed with his current track record. "Great job, uncle."
"Oy! Why are you so irritated?!" Xarius scowled.
Maria frowned, suddenly taking ahold of Sharq, lifting him up to Xarius' face, the younger Inkling waving despite having no idea what Maria was doing. "This."
"...Hi Sharq." Xarius waved back, arching an eyebrow.
"Come on Xarius, you gotta take responsibility." Maria huffed.
"You're telling me now?!" Xarius' mouth gaped open as he gestured towards the tentacles currently having a scuffle next to them, "I hardly knew he was my nephew until yesterday! Give me a break!"
As Maria and Xarius continued to have an untimely conversation about being a legal guardian, Sharq stared at the tentacles brawling on the streets. Flashes of light blinked in between the tentacles as they slashed at each other rapidly. Neither of them seemed to let up, and the eldest brother of the most recent generation of the Bate family line seemed interested in watching the sparks fly between the two colors as they flung themselves without a care in the world. Eventually, Sharq could hear their bickering behind him grow louder.
Turning back towards the other two Inklings, Sharq could hear something about "new responsibilities" which was responded to with a "since when do pirates do" and so on and so forth. Not exactly on the level with their speech, Sharq spun back towards the tentacles. He stared at the lot of them for a while.
"...One. Two." He counted, pointing at each one individually, "Three, four, five…"
"And another thing, I just realized-" Maria began, only to be stopped when she had caught a glimpse of a few shadows.
Xarius blinked, looking over her shoulder. Both Alabaso's and Ityl's tentacles wiggled in a deadly fashion, a few of the separate strands striking each other occasionally. Lifting his Takoroka Mesh up to get a better view of the mass, Sharq continued his count.
"Twenty, twenty-one… Hmm. Well, I don't have an exact count, but that sure is a lot of them." Sharq nodded, placing his hat back on his head.
His single movement seemed to attract the attention of the tentacles. They froze, their tips sharpened, ready for an attack. As the tendrils paused in midair, the same effect happened to the Inklings on the sidewalk.
"...Don't move a muscle." Xarius whispered, staring at the tentacles.
Sharq resisted the urge to turn his head. "Why?"
"This was a strategy these Inklings used once upon a time." Xarius sighed, adjusting his pirate cap, the tentacles seemingly aiming in his direction, "Closed in spaces would serve as a bunker while these guys' tentacles would stab at enemies. 'Course, the Inkling behind it couldn't use their eyes. They'd need to concentrate."
Maria frowned. "Then…"
"Alabaso, Cod da… I guess he and his lady got into a spat." The pirate closed his eyes.
Very slowly, Xarius reached for his Inkbrush in its wood sheath, pulling it out slowly, the red ink on the thin brush glimmering as sunlight introduced itself. The thin predators waited as the motion of the brush being pulled was felt through the air. Quickly, one of the fingers on the weapon's hilt shot out towards a nearby building. A red blob of ink dripped off of the Inkbrush and launched itself towards a skyscraper, splattering across the wall. Interested, the tentacles followed the sound and movement of the crimson ink.
"Alright, let's run!" Xarius commanded, dragging his two companions by the arms.
They caught on quickly, starting to use their own feet to make haste. After the tentacles discovered the ruse, they turned right back around, ready to strike again. The others dashed away across the sidewalk, Sharq sneaking a cautionary glance over his shoulder as they made their way around a building. He gulped, starting to dash faster as he noticed that they were returning with quite the vengeance after being rabble-roused by Xarius' scheme.
Though they were too absorbed in the chase, after a while, the troupe of Inklings realized they were practically running in circles with little direction; they attempted to avoid all of the tentacles at every twist and turn, however, they could not run forever. Despite the feud ongoing between each set of their elongated pursuers behind them, the tentacles seemed bent on stabbing them. Farther away as they sprinted through the city, they noticed a sanctuary in the form of a restaurant. Grinning, Xarius picked up speed, gesturing for the others to follow. Dodging the appendages flapping behind them, they reached the front door of the food establishment, and without hesitation, leaped in through the doors.
"Ow Cod!" Xarius yelped, rubbing the shards of glass he got from JUMPING INTO A GLASS DOOR.
"See?!" Maria pointed out, gesturing towards the sky. "Even voice thinks you need to shape up!"
Well technically-
Xarius scowled, glaring back at the squid mother. "What does jumping into doors have to do with-"
"Watch out!" Sharq exclaimed, the entirety of the group diving further inside, landing on the hardwood floor, sliding off until they hit the side of a table.
Rubbing his head, Sharq, stood up slowly, staring over at the tentacles that invaded the restaurant, wriggling dangerously.
He frowned, glancing at Xarius. "I don't get it. Why are they fighting?"
The captain bit his lip. "Well, picture this. You get sent up into space because of your husband, and now you're back, and he wants you to stay with him regardless. Ain't rocket science. ...For the most part, anyways."
Eventually, as the group stopped and stared at the angry appendages, they stopped attempting to impale them. Almost as if they had a change of heart, instead, they went back to stabbing each other, starting to move away from the restaurant. They blinked, all simultaneously frowning.
"Huh. Happened to you too Sharq?"
Noticing the voice coming from behind, Sharq whirled around. A cluster of sea creatures, including Willie, Zip, and Pela, had barricaded the counters with tables and seats, each one staring curiously at the handful of bizarre Inklings who had just escaped the awfulness that was the tentacles.
"Crusty Sean?" Sharq suddenly asked, noticing a prawn ducking behind the counter.
Perking up, the orange prawn in the purple beanie gave a small wave, along with his trademark, "How you doing squiddo?"
Sharq gave a short wave back as Willie sighed, gazing out the broken windows. "You guys had a run in with the tentacles too, huh?"
"Things showed up out of nowhere and started stabbing people." Zip commented, folding her arms on the side of the counter next to the cash register.
Suddenly the owner, Pela, in all her apron-covering-Turf-War-gear-glory stood up. "Worst thing is, no one's buying any food! What the shell?!"
"Pela's also been on edge." Willie pointed out, "Girl's been losing it since the profits have been lost."
"Losing it?" Pela frowned, glaring down at Willie, "This is a business we're running here! We can't afford to stand around NOT making food."
"Well Pela," Zip sighed, glancing at the kitchen behind the counters, "You go ahead and try to reach any of the ingredients in there."
Huffing, Pela adjusted her chef's toque planted firmly on the top of her head, and started for the kitchen, stomping across the polished floors irritably. She turned to her employees, waved her hands, placed them on a handful of food ingredients, and waved them in the air mockingly. Of course, that only succeeded in attracting more tentacles, which promptly started pecking at her from the ventilation system and the back door of the restaurant as if they were a flock of irritated avians, causing her to yelp. Frowning, the two of them got to their feet and approached the kitchen, picking up utensils from the shining counters, brandishing knives at the tentacles.
"Hey! Shoo, get outta here!" Willie shouted.
Presumably Alabaso's tentacles responded by taking the knife and flinging it towards them. Luckily, the lack of proper eyesight made it miss, but only by a narrow margin. Staring down at the knife embedded in his shoe, Willie gulped, retrieving it with shaking hands. Zip bit her lip, staring at his foot in fear. Experimentally, Willie wriggled his toes. A sigh of relief escaped their mouths when they noticed his feet were still in one piece. Still, the fact that the collection of tentacles was still on the loose was less than reassuring, so the trio made their way back towards the front, ditching the food.
"Okay." Pela frowned, glancing back.
Sharq glanced up at the tentacles, which retreated almost as quickly as they had appeared. "Hmm."
"What is it?" Xarius arched an eyebrow.
"I don't get it." Sharq frowned. "How come they're not coming closer? We're right here."
That statement seemed to unnerve the rest of the refugees stuck in the restaurant. However, Xarius on the other hand nodded knowingly.
"My best guess is that they aren't too keen on wiping anyone out except each other." Xarius commented.
Sharq perked up, staring at Xarius. "So then…"
Xarius frowned. "Until one of 'em drops dead, Inkopolis is pretty much stuck."
"What?! That's awful!" Sharq stated, getting to his feet, making for the door, "We gotta stop them!"
"Hold on there Sharq!" Xarius shouted, grabbing Sharq by the back of his White Anchor Tee, keeping him from making it farther, "I ain't letting you go out and let yourself get splatted now. Those two aren't going to spare anyone who's foolish enough to run out into the middle of a battle."
"We can't just let them keep fighting though!" Sharq cried out.
Xarius sighed, shaking his head. "Listen, I get that you wanna help. But I ain't letting you get splatted trying. Besides," He leaned in to whisper by his ears, "I… Honestly don't wanna get scolded anymore than needed."
Sharq frowned, his shoulders drooping. "Oh…"
"...Listen," Xarius smirked, placing him on the floor, "How 'bout I go out there and-"
"I'll go." Maria grinned, sneakily taking Xarius' Inkbrush from him.
Xarius blinked. "What?! You wanted me to be the cool uncle-"
"And I'm the cool random mom who was teleported to this universe." Maria told him with a smirk, "I'll handle this."
"...Huh?" Xarius tilted his head.
"Look Xarius, I haven't done anything for a couple of days. You on the other hand have been adventuring for years." Maria stated, shuffling towards the door.
"...Is this just another scheme to get me to 'be an uncle' or something." Xarius asked, though he was already certain of her little plan.
"Mm." She shrugged, opening the glass door.
The door practically fell apart instantly due to Xarius' headstrong nature from earlier. Maria blinked, waving goodbye with the Inkbrush in her hand.
"You don't even know how to use that." Xarius retorted.
Maria laughed. "It's basically a sword. I already know a guy who uses one."
"...Fine." Xarius rolled his eyes, "But if you die I'm pretty sure you'll have nothing to blame but the 'sword'."
"Yeah, like a little 'sword' is going to do me in." She laughed, "See you two later!"
With that, she sprinted outside, wielding the Inkbrush in both of her hands, the refugees cheering somewhat despite the general uneasiness of the group, the employees of the eatery awaiting the impending success, while Xarius and Sharq sat down, staring out at the buildings bordering the restaurant.
"Oh, I get it! Foreshadowing!" Sharq suddenly spoke up, slamming his fist on the palm of his hand.
"...I don't catch your drift." Xarius said, rubbing the back of his head.
Edging around a building slowly, Maria stared out from the safety of the bricks that made up the building, noticing a stream of black lines hovering over the road. Just then, Maria realized something vital.
"What exactly do I do?" She wondered.
She had intended to stop the onslaught of tentacles, but still, she was a bit reluctant to do so. Alabaso, sure, she could probably beat him up, but Ityl on the other hand seemed like a nice girl from the glances she shot at her. At the very least, she thought of the ever classic ideology that was "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Of course, despite having three daughters and a son, she was not entirely sure of how the concept of revenge properly corrupted one's mind. She assumed she was angry with Alabaso, that much was certain, but seeing as how she had not stopped at even spearing innocents…
Her chance hovered in front of her. If she wanted to do something, she would have to do it now. Raising the Inkbrush over her head slowly, she walked up to the road, and attempted to swing down.
The ink completely faltered and dripped down from the brush onto the tentacles almost harmlessly. Her eyes shot open. Suddenly, the tentacles twitched, and from a distance, Maria could see the tentacles returning to attack. She smacked the tentacles again with the brush, the ink flying everywhere except her intended target. Scowling, she wanted to sheath it somewhere, only having realized that there was no sheath to return it to. Frowning, she set it on the ground, and put up her fists.
"Oof!" Maria shouted as a dozen tentacles zipped across her face, leaving a red mark.
Frowning, she rubbed her face, immediately getting back up to her feet. Essentially, the next five minutes were akin to getting fish slapped a couple thousand times in a row. Eventually, that left a Maria on the ground. Despite her multiple injuries, the only thing that actually hurt was her pride.
"Come on Maria! It's just a couple of tentacles." She coughed, getting back up.
Almost instantaneously, Alabaso's tentacles came by and practically sucker punched her to the ground, where she sat dazedly.
Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!
After her dizziness began to fade, Maria shook her head, glaring back up at the tentacles, then grinned somewhat.
"Alright, alright." She muttered, getting up with her fists up and ready.
Like a boxer with no air game, Maria dashed towards the tentacles. Almost as if expecting this, the tendrils launched towards her, poised to strike. Unfortunately for them, the punch they were expecting never came. Instead, they found themselves in a bit of a tight situation. While they had no lungs of the sort, they felt choked as they were grappled by Maria, who promptly began slamming them into the asphalt over and over.
"Ha! Gotcha now." Maria stated triumphantly.
As she said that, she hardly noticed the cyan tentacles coming around the corner. Blinking, she stepped back cautiously. She had no plan, and her hands were tied in almost a literal sense. With no other options, she put up her guard, with the tentacles still attached. A loud smack ensued as the mess of strands crashed into each other.
Staring at the rolled up ball of tentacles, Maria noticed that they attempted to escape one another, though uselessly. Looking around the city, she noticed that the tentacles began to curve up. Frowning, she glanced back down at the tentacles. She gave a tug on each end.
"..." For a moment, there was silence…
"...aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAGH?!" A set of voices yelped.
Maria looked up, then froze. Looking to and fro, she attempted to run, only for the other two Inklings she had ensnared to land on top of her, the mess of Inklings groaning on the ground. Ityl and Alabaso laid dazed on top of the heap.
"...Oh, dang."
Maria opened one eye. Standing across from them was Xarius, who inspected his Inkbrush as he stared at Maria, Sharq sitting on the sidewalk.
Xarius smirked. "I can see you really put the brush to use. Bravo, ooh, bravo Miss Maria."
Had Maria not been crushed underneath two other Inklings, she would have probably strangled Xarius. However, she mentally reassured herself that traumatizing Sharq by murdering his uncle in front of him was not the best plan of action.
"You caught the guys who were beating each other up? Wow!" Willie spoke up.
Sharq sat at a table, having been readjusted and put on its side, with Willie and Zip sitting next to him.
"Nice one Sharq." Zip grinned, "Saved the day yet again."
"Aw." Sharq blushed, "I can't really take any credit for that. Maria and Xarius helped out the most!"
"Hey, where are those two anyways?" The female in the Sporty Bobble Hat asked.
Lifting up his Takoroka Mesh, he frowned. "Maria went home, and Xarius had to go, he said he needed Alabaso and Ityl's help. I dunno why, but he dragged them off and said goodbye."
"Man, that's harsh." Willie frowned, "You meet your uncle and then he's gotta leave."
Sharq smiled. "He'll be back soon."
"Ahem." All of a sudden, Pela showed up, standing by the table, "I'd like to formally thank you."
"Huh?" Sharq blinked, staring at her, "Oh, you're welcome?"
Pela grinned, gesturing towards the rearranged tables . "You managed to help save my business. For that, I'm eternally thankful. I'd like to give you a bit of a reward for your efforts."
"Aw, it was nothing." Sharq grinned.
You can say that again.
A bead of blue sweat dripped down the side of Sharq's face. Nevertheless, being the Sharq Sharq was, he gratefully extended his hands. Reaching into her apron, Pela placed a single slip of paper in his hands, and she bowed, walking back off into the kitchen, leaving them to their own. The trio of Inklings gathered around the table stared at the ticket in his hands.
"...'10% off'." Zip read out loud in a deadpan voice, "Gee, how generous Pela."
"I know right? By the way, you two should get back to work if you wanna get paid!" She called out from behind the counters.
The two lovebird/employees sighed, waving to Sharq. Watching them go, he stuffed the coupon in his pockets, and lounged on his chair, staring at the ceiling.
"...Hmm, why do I get the feeling I'm forgetting something?" Sharq tilted his head.
"I don't think that's how a Squid Beakon is supposed to look." Splin spoke up.
"How so?"
Splin examined the machine. "For starters, you put a cricket on the satellite dish."
"AFFIRMATIVE. That's the antenna! :3"
Splin and the Skell stared down at their "magnum opus" that was the beacon. Constructed on top of the house, it looked more like a house for crickets than anything else. The fact that a pizza stone was place where the satellite dish would normally be and a cricket lounged in the sun on top of it was rather… Interesting, to say the least.
"...Does it work though…?" Splin asked with an intense, almost foolhardy curiosity.
From the sky, Splin could notice a light green glint flying towards them. Maria had switched from squid form to Inkling form to wave at Splin as she flew by. "By" being the key word. Flying over the house, a resulting crash could be heard that might have leveled a whole city had it hit anywhere else, and with that, the Squid Beakon disassembled in an instant. The young brother sighed, letting his headphones fall to his neck.
"I think you need to work on it a bit…" Maria groaned after falling to the ground for the umpteeth time today, with the added sounds of dirt scraping across her feet.
Splin stared up at the Skell. Almost like a child without any patience, it simply began hovering off, leaving them behind. Now without any assistance to rebuild the machine, Splin shook his head, and began making his way off to roof to assess Maria's damage report.
"...This Pirah… She's important to you, yes?" Ityl murmured.
"Clam straight." Xarius spoke in a gruff voice, "Sorry, but I'm in kind of a hurry. I'd like your answer sooner or later, we need all the help we can get."
Ityl stared down at a photo containing the mother of the brothers for a while, eventually closing her eyes. "Very well. You seem as though you know what you're doing. I will do everything in my power to help you find your sister. On one condition."
"What's that?" Xarius asked.
On the deck of the ship out at sea, Ityl glanced over her shoulder. "Keep me far away from this man."
Sitting right next to her, their tentacles still folded into a knot was a grumpy Alabaso who sulked, somewhat embarrassed the battle had ended with Maria practically slamming them into the ground. Xarius sighed, nodding, and as they drifted out to sea on the ship, a few of the crew members onboard staring at them as if they were bizarre statues, he went to work on undoing the knot.
"...We're coming, Pirah." He thought to himself.
The sea carried the ship over the horizon, Inkopolis fading into a speck in the background, until both faded from each other's' viewpoints.
AN: I could've made an Emerald Splash reference somewhere, but that reference might be a bit "indigestible" if you catch my drift.
...I feel remorse for my actions.
Uh, thanks write n wrong for reviewing! Sorry, there wasn't much marriage counseling. Mostly just running.
Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you sometime that isn't right now.