Suggested by Rynowm
Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
Trophy Life
On the top of the roof of the Bate household, staring out at the azure sky, Ann-Gel sat on her amiibo pedestal among the plastic orange ink. As slow days pass by in her world of larger household appliances which tower over her, she could only sigh as she remained stagnant upon the flat top of the house. Time and time again, even after the fiasco that was the shrinking incident, all she could think of was how rather slow her life really was, being a small statuette and all. She was limited; every so often, she could change how her tentacles looked, though it was restricted to orange and green for some reason, as if she was just a marketing ploy.
She had thought long and hard about it. It was not exactly bad, she did not need to eat or drink. ...Though with the amount of food Sharq would bring home, it was more of a curse watching him consume delicious albeit generally unhealthy snacks. It was maddening, almost. It was not limited to just them, either. Everyone with a hint of natural sentience always irked her on the inside.
Maria was a wonderful woman who would always treat the little trophy with respect everytime she walked by her, for instance. But...She was not of this world. Not just in a fantastic, compliment-like way, but the fact that she had a weird degree of strength and apparently two superpowered children somehow was sort of scary.
There was also Salty. At this point, she was certain the snail was avoiding her for whatever reason. Each time the snail seemed to be around, he would just shoot her a tired, passing glance, and hop up the stairs, slowly but surely, to "enjoy the outside breeze". But for some reason, whenever he went up to "enjoy the breeze, he would seem to vanish off of the face of the Earth!
The only thing that seemed to keep her completely sane was of the brothers. Yes, the very same brothers responsible for almost tearing the fabric of their own universe apart. Out of all of them, she found a sort of kinship between them. Sharq was a silly squid to be sure, inviting her to play using the game console somehow despite the controllers being too large for her, he was nice. Splin was too, seeing as how he was quite possibly the reason she was still alive and not stuck in the ground somewhere. They were a constant in this world of interchangeable wackiness, and she could respect that.
An irritated buzz could be heard coming from the side, quickly startling Ann-Gel as she sat on her pedestal, glancing around the roof. Eyes gravitating towards the staircase, she immediately found the source of the noise in the form of a bright, multicolored cube that sat on top of the trapdoor that led into the Bate household.
"...Hi Tele." She spoke softly, sighing shortly afterwards.
Straight after she said that, she could hear the noise of thumping. When she glanced to her left with an eyebrow arched, she felt a bead of artificial orange sweat drip down her face as Tele-Cube "rolled", for lack of a better word, over towards her until the cube was smack dab in front of her. A frowning face popped up on the screen facing her, prompting her to shoot a very slight smile back in its direction.
"Look, it's nice that you popped up to check in, but I'd rather be alone right now…" She said, hugging her knees.
The cube's frown just tightened. Looking about, an electronic humming filled the air. For a moment, the cube hovered in the air, spinning about as if it were a top. Arching an eyebrow, Ann-Gel frowned as the electronic humming began to grow, prompting her to cover her ears with her hands, the little amiibo girl staring at her pedestal sadly. All of a sudden, a noise akin to a crash erupted behind her. Jolting up once again, she spun around, noticing that the hole in the ceiling had gotten larger. But that was hardly the tip of the iceberg. If she listened carefully enough, more crashing noises sounded out underneath her.
"Whoa!" A young male's voice yelped in surprise, "Tele-Cube, what are you-"
More crashing ensued. For a minute, Ann-Gel started to stand up, but remained in place for fear of something else going awry. A collection of noises that under relatively normal circumstances would sound like a chaotic barnyard. She pursed her lips and glanced from side to side, the silence filled with sound of seagull cries in the background. Then, for a brief moment she turned around out of curiosity. She froze in place, eyes growing wide and mouth nearly hitting the floor.
Tele-Cube floated just above the hole in the roof, but the object was not alone. Snagged on the top-left edge facing Ann-Gel, a certain Inkling was held up by his White Anchor Tee. Staring at Ann-Gel in shock with his Takoroka Mesh cap dangling off his shoulder, Sharq smiled in confusion and waved, his legs dangling from the ceiling.
"Oh! Hi Ann-Gel!" Sharq beamed, waving his hand, "Tele-Cube said he you wanted company!"
Frowning, the small amiibo managed a smile. "Did it?"
Behind Sharq, the technicolored cube bobbed up and down in a nodding fashion. One day, Ann-Gel would find out wherever that object's circuit board lay and she would seriously give it a scolding.
Regardless of her irritation towards the cube, she just blinked, her orange irises hinting at a sense of forlornness. Well, the closest for a literal trophy at least. "Well, thank you, but I'm fine now…I'll just be…Cloud watching."
Ann-Gel said politely as she glanced at the spotless sky above her. Still hovering in mid-air the two started humming, albeit each reason for completely different reasons. Glancing away from the two of them, she continued to sulk to herself. Unbeknownst to Ann-Gel, an optimistic squid hovered by the grip of a cube, staring down at her as she sat and sighed to herself.
"...Hey." Sharq piped up.
As if she thought that her message was not clear enough before, Ann-Gel crossed her hands in front of her shirt, making a face despite the fact she faced away from the larger Inkling. Frowning, the older Bate Brother just pursed his lips, staring up at the sky as the Tele-Cube started to drop altitude, a "Danger!" sign flashing on its screen.
All of a sudden, Sharq seemed to have an idea, swinging his arms up. "Hey, Ann-Gel AGH!"
Perking up once again for at least the third time, Ann-Gel rolled her eyes and turned around slowly. "Sharq, please, I'm totally fi…"
A disoriented blue squid hung on to the edges of the hole in the ceiling, eyes rolling about in a daze. By the side of the hole, the Tele-Cube shook itself rapidly as if to relieve dizziness caused by about a centimeter (smaller than an inch) long fall. Exclamation points blinked on its screens when it glanced towards the squid, who also snapped himself out of his bizarre daze.
"You- Ow," Sharq muttered, plucking a splinter from his arm, "Sorry about that, you wanna go on a walk?"
For a moment, Ann-Gel wanted to raise her voice, shout at Sharq and the cube, and tell her to leave her alone to her misery. Eventually, her irritation faded as the two of them stared back at her with innocence beaming in their eyes. She just frowned back at them. The two just stared harder, Sharq even going the extra mile with a tilt of his head. The amiibo just pouted back at the two, making sure her arms were crossed and that her hands were wrapped around her elbows tightly.
A minute passed, and Ann-Gel's pout began to diminish, replaced with yet another sigh. "...Okay, Sharq, fine. I'll go with you on a walk. One walk."
"Hooray!" He cheered as he hopped into the air in his diminutive squid form, the cube just floating upwards to compensate.
Just shaking her head in disbelief, she standed up slowly, Ann-Gel glancing up at Sharq as he stood tall over her in his regular humanoid self, his Takoroka Mesh shading his eyes. Without a second to spare, she suddenly found her pedestal rising up from the floor. Her irises expanding, she immediately took hold of the base, for fear that something may go horribly wrong if she were to be disconnected. ...Well, it was a hunch, but regardless of that, she soon found herself perched on top of Sharq's shoulder, who attempted to balance the amiibo somewhat clumsily.
"Alright, hold on." He spoke up, making sure to stand precisely still.
As soon as she stopped sliding over his arm, Ann-Gel simply gave him a curt nod, gripping onto his shirt sleeve. "Promise to walk slow?"
In the blink of an eye, suddenly Ann-Gel found herself holding onto the tip of a blue tentacle tightly, the squid aiming at the sky while simultaneously staring back at her. "Yeah! I'll walk slow when we get there."
Before Ann-Gel could get a chance to comprehend what he meat, she felt herself lift off into the sky, gripping Sharq's tentacle for dear life, flapping around in the air along with the very ecstatic, flailing tendril. A burst of blue ink splashed off onto the roof, leaving a mark right next to the cube, which laid behind alone on the roof. The cube tilted to face the floor, and made a noise akin to a sigh that passed through an electronic fan. Its top flipped open, a gloved hand carrying a dustpan and duster springing out. It went to work on "cleaning" the ink by brushing over the paint splatter as the other two Inklings aimed for the city of Inkopolis, hopefully warranting a good enough landing.
As she fell through the clouds, suddenly Ann-Gel had a pretty good idea of why Splin came home tired with complaints aplenty. The whole, "Oh my Cod we are literally falling to Earth right now I just saw a seagull fly past I have clouds in my eyes" thought process was not only terrifying, but doing it constantly could prove enough to disturb a lesser Inkling. Though, the jittery way Splin slept nowadays might be a whole different issue altogether…
Nevertheless, all mental debate had ceased in place of sheer terror, and it seemed as though Ann-Gel had forgotten how to scream. It was probably the idea of smashing into the pavement and falling apart on impact. Sure, Sharq was fine, she had seen him return with just a scratch at worse, though a meeting with the asphalt was not on her agenda at all. Well, it was too late now. Already, the sight of Inkopolis Tower and the ever motionless Great Zapfish coiled around it entered into view, and so did the ground that threatened to break her into pieces. With fear clouding her judgement, she scrambled up the tentacle she held onto, Sharq still flopping about the clouds like a ragdoll wildly, hardly noticing her as he brushed past the fluffy fragments of cirrus.
"Oh, please. If someone or something out there is watching, please let there be a soft place to land." She thought frantically as she hugged Sharq tightly.
As they parted another set of clouds, it revealed more land, a few flat building roofs, a few skyscrapers in the distance, and a plane that swerved by. Maybe there was someone out there who watched, they just thought it would be funny to screw with her. She started hyperventilating, inhaling and exhaling as if she actually needed it. Instead of breathing, she just shut her eyes once she realized she hardly needed the oxygen, waiting for the whooshing and air whistling to stop.
It finally ceased after a minute. Ann-Gel had her face buried in where she imagined Sharq's tentacle was before her passing. She opened her eyes slowly but surely, expecting either a patch of clouds extending across a bright azure sky with light shining down, a rather ominous pit of fire and brimstone, or at the very least, a nice shelf where other trophies went after they left the mortal realm. Instead, she was greeted with a bustling street, Inklings of all sizes and shapes walking and conversing among tall markets and retail stores, looking rather healthy. None of them had halos or horns extending out of the heads either much to her relief. They just sat at dining tables outside under awnings or walked about with their Turf War Ink Tanks already strapped to their backs.
"Here we are! Inkopolis! Be sure to tip your cabbie." Sharq winked at the amiibo still perched on his shoulder somehow.
Blinking, Ann-Gel took the time to stare at Sharq. She found herself still hugging his tentacle for dear life. Instead of his arm, however, she now found herself gripping one of the unfastened tentacles which were left to droop freely over the back of Sharq's head. Seeing Sharq without his hat was somehow...Unnerving. Not that his tentacles were bad, they were certainly a sight to see and they kept her from falling to her doom alone, but…
She just had to say something. "Sharq, where's your cap?"
As soon as she finished, she immediately regretted bringing the cap up. Instead of irises, Sharq's eyes could have been refitted for use as dinner plates.
"Oh no!" He yelped, reaching up to his head with his right arm, patting around the blue tentacle hair, "Shoot! I can't believe I lost it! That was a gift from dad-"
Then, with his free hand, he raised up a familiar Takoroka Mesh, ruffled by the wind and a bit faded due to time, but it was definitely there. Sharq tilted his head slightly, shooting a smirk towards Ann-Gel. Sighing, she just pushed his cheek as if she were actually his size, the only result being a slight poke on the other Inkling's end.
"Darn it, don't scare me like that Sharq!" She groaned, making sure to keep her pedestal balanced on his shoulder.
Chuckling somewhat, Sharq placed his cap back on his head with a grin. "Well, thanks for worrying for my hat."
"No!" She screamed suddenly, irritation replacing the vertigo and fright she had felt once before, "Don't jump into the sky! Like, give me a warning next time instead of leaping up into-"
She paused suddenly, glancing around. As if a boy and a trophy falling from the sky was not enough, her little outburst seemed to had attracted quite the onlookers. A few of the younger Inklings had smartphones at the ready, the camera reticles rising slowly as they attempted to cash in on the bizarre trend of talking statuettes. Glancing back to Sharq, she noticed a rather gloomy stare on his face as he stared at the ground, his left hand rubbing the back of his neck out of shame.
Figuring that since she already bulldozed the sense of "normal" in the air with her first statement, she cleared her throat and spoke again, "Staring is rude, you know! Shoo! This isn't the weirdest thing you've seen!"
The handful of curious Inklings with their cells ready withdrew their recording devices, kicking away at the pavement as they walked away disappointed. Surprisingly, everyone continued with their daily schedule, hardly paying the amiibo a second glance. It was a relief that she was no longer beholden like the next million views on a vlog or something, but at the same time somewhat disappointing…
She turned back to the morose Sharq, lightly patting him on the shoulder. "Sorry. Just, um, please be careful next time."
The other Inkling glanced up, the light from a phone shutting off as he did so, his previously low eyebrows lightening up with the rest of his expression. "Hmm?"
"...Were you- Is that a phone?" She asked, eyelids lowering as she spoke.
Smiling, the other Inkling raised his phone, clear to see. No cracks, a white simple phone with a triangular top like a squid and a notable button on the bottom by the screen.
"Yeah, Splin helped me get this new phone for *free! I just needed to call 1-9155-4009-2147157317 and I got this phone with a *free year's supply of talking and texting!" He spoke up with a smile, then coughed, "*Provided you pay the first few thousand coins."
Pursing her lips, Ann-Gel arched an eyebrow. "...How did you call them in the first place? I've never seen you with a phone before."
Sharq blinked once, glanced down at the phone, then frowned. "Well, there goes my joke."
Finishing with that, he tossed the phone off into the street. Not long after its tumble onto the asphalt, a pick-up truck drove on by, crushing the electronic underneath one of its tires.
The amiibo just frowned again. "I mean, I guess you could have made the call from Splin's phone-"
Just patting Ann-Gel on the head quickly, he began jogging away from the street. "Hey, how about we just go for a walk or something?"
Before she could argue, Sharq made a dash away from the phone as if it were a rotten apple spoiled to the point of stench. With the amount of logic that had been shoved to the side just then and there, it probably was not too much of a surprise that someone would want to ditch the joke. Sharq smiled as if nothing had ever happened while Ann-Gel just stared behind at the phone lying in pieces, other vehicles rolling over the parts repeatedly until it was flattened to the point where it could have been one with the road and no one could have noticed.
She just shook her head, sitting back on the pedestal, and decided to enjoy the sights of the city. She had not been out much, and the one prevalent time she did remember staying in Inkopolis was when she had whisked Splin away to the amiibo missions she had in store. She hummed, it was nice that someone managed to complete them, but now that her task was all set and done...Now what? For whatever reason, a feeling of dread began washing over her. Her purpose in life was to provide for missions, and that was it. What else could she do? Thoughts ran rampant in her head as she stared around at the scene.
If there was ever a comparison for her artificial brain activity, it might just be the people rushing around them. Every single Inkling seemed to have a purpose, whether it be walking about to work or towards the Inkopolis Tower with their friends, ready for a fight to the finish. Her mind boggled while the Inklings lived their lives in the background. Sighing, she hung her head, staring down at the sidewalk which also seemed to outpace her, moving along as Sharq's shoes lifted up in a rhythm.
After a few minutes of sulking on the other Inkling's shoulder, her glare at the ground softened as she noticed Sharq's pace slowing. Looking up, she gazed out, somewhat surprised. Instead of an urban jungle, a solitary park with grass plumes rising over hills and yonder as far as the eye could see, enclosed only by a brick wall that encircled the park. Glancing across the road, Sharq hummed, glancing for any incoming vehicles that threatened to bulldoze them into the pavement. After the brief safety precaution, he stepped out into the road, walking across with a hum.
For a moment, he caught a glimpse of Ann-Gel's downcast frown, so he turned around, careful not to accidentally smack her off, and smiled at her. "We are going on a walk, right? Might as well take you someplace nice!"
For a moment, Ann-Gel just smiled back, though she still felt somewhat miserable on the inside. Without a word, she allowed herself to be carried through as Sharq walked along, none the wiser. Passing by trees and benches, she let her thoughts cloud her vision. She let her mind wander, thinking about the hows, the whats, and the whys. Namely, how was she alive? What was she doing here? Why was she sitting on someone else's shoulder? Frowning, she realized that each and every one of those questions could be attributed to self-consciousness about her existence. These were things she wanted to talk to Splin about.
Yet here she was, hanging out with the older brother she would usually flash a smile at and expect one in return and probably goof up everyone's breakfast. Compared to the rest of Inkopolis, the park was devoid of any hustle and bustle. For the most part, reserved Inklings just glanced up at the clouds or doodled on benches, nonchalantly. It was strangely serene, but she assumed that it was the entire point of this area. It was like the hills the brothers lived on, only a smaller slice.
"Huh…" She murmured, glancing around a bit.
Sharq just flashed another one of his regular grins. "Nice, isn't it?"
Arching an eyebrow, Ann-Gel glanced towards his face. "Sharq, you've been here before?"
"Nope!" He admitted, beaming as if it were something to be proud of. "I've walked by it on my way to lunch and stuff, but I haven't really gone in myself. It's like something I'd imagine Splin enjoying though."
Without a word, the amiibo just nodded, dangling her legs, still attached to the base of her, plastic orange ink forever splashing up into the air where her Pink Trainers stood. For a moment, Sharq looked around and whistled, walking up towards a shady tree. Ascending a small knoll that rolled across the park in a stationary, wave-like position, he sat underneath the branches shrouding him with cool shadows, sighing in relief.
"Hmm." He hummed, glancing from side to side.
"...Mm." Ann-Gel just hummed along.
For a while, they just sat in the shade. While the grass certainly looked inviting, Ann-Gel had grown quite fond of her shoulder perch. Staring out at the rays of sun that peered through openings in the leaves, silently watching, she started swinging her legs back and forth, the pedestal still following her feet around as they swung to and fro.
"Hey, Ann-Gel." Sharq piped up, glancing in the amiibo's direction.
"Yes?" She muttered, still staring at the sky.
"You have any dreams?" He asked all of a sudden.
The amiibo tensed up, biting her lip. She continued to swing her legs, albeit with a hint of awkwardness this time around.
Sharq seemed to notice, eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Really? Nothing?"
Ann-Gel just glanced away, lowering her head into her lap. "...I don't really think so."
"Why not? Everyone has some sort of dream." He spoke up, "Well, I mean, not just the sleeping kind. I've never seen you napping that much."
As small as a statement that was, Ann-Gel suddenly felt a tinge of annoyance. She slept! Sure, if "sleeping" was standing up straight, eyes closed for the duration of the night, then yes. She did, indeed sleep.
Regardless of the technicalities of the trophy's sleeping habits, Sharq continued. "You know, something to look forward too. Something that you work for, like a job, except...Um, you get paid with happiness, right?"
"...I guess." She spoke up.
She did know what aspirations and dreams were. She just did not know what she wanted to do. She did not know what she could do anymore, for crying out loud. Ann-Gel felt like shouting at Sharq, but at the same time held against it. He did not know what being an amiibo was like.
Huffing, Sharq, crossed his arms. "I'm pretty sure you have a dream, you just don't want to tell me. It's alright."
Again, Ann-Gel held her annoyance in. She grit her teeth, closed her eyes, and sighed, reassuring herself that Sharq was just trying to be nice.
"How about this?" He spoke up suddenly, his Takoroka Mesh bobbing up. "I can tell you my dream! But you know, you'll have to tell me yours in exchange."
"...Sure." Ann-Gel muttered, her hands folding into her miniature pockets.
"I wanna be the president!"
The amiibo almost fell over the back of Sharq's shoulder and would have plummeted towards the grass headfirst had it not been for her pedestal holding onto the edge of his shirt collar. Her arms spun around to keep her balance, but it was not doing a great job. The edge of the platform began to slip off. Grunting, she grabbed hold of the White Anchor Tee's collar with both hands and pulled, letting her pedestal swing off the side with her legs. Gasping for breath, she climbed back up to Sharq's shoulder, staring at him incredulously.
Unlike before, Sharq's glare was directed towards Ann-Gel, it was that of an untapped disappointment.
"..." He glared a hole in her face, or at least he would have if he had heat vision.
Ann-Gel took a step back on the shoulder but made sure not to slip off of the edge. "Whoa, whoa! Sharq, no, that's cool! That's fine!"
Sharq's glare seemed to harden somewhat more considerably, as if he was trying to figure out a spot to bury the trophy in the park. Ann-Gel folded her hands together and crossed her legs and glanced off into every corner of the park imaginable. Any corner that avoided Sharq's fierce mien, of course.
But then, Sharq just sighed. "...It's okay. I get it. You don't think I'm cut out for it, huh?"
Eyes growing wide, Ann-Gel turned back towards the larger Inkling. "Oh, no, it's a great dream, it's just-"
"I know, right!" Sharq grinned, glancing up to the sky.
She nearly fell over again. "...Yeah, uh-huh. You seem rather confident."
Sharq blinked, staring back at Ann-Gel. "Well, it's a little more than just a fancy job."
"Oh?" She arched an eyebrow, hands on her hips.
"Yeah. I don't just wanna become a president just because." He spoke up with a less jolly demeanor than usual, only further piquing Ann-Gel's interest. "There's still a lot of things that need fixing here. Like people's attitudes towards other people. I mean, Tai and all of the other octopuses…They're still stuck down in Octo Valley, right?"
The amiibo's eyes lit up. She had seen the invasive Octoling troop who would occasionally lay around the house on a pile of comforter, yawning and snuggling into the mattress like it was the most important thing in the world to her. Now, the concept of Octo Valley was somewhat familiar to her, after all, she did host missions there. Once. But the idea of a whole different people suffering? Had not quite crossed her mind.
She waited patiently as Sharq continued with a sigh. "...When I was little, I had to watch Splin a lot. Mom and Dad went off one day, telling me something about a problem they needed to take care of. I wasn't that old at the time. But when they left Splin and I alone…That was it. He was the only family I had left, and I was his."
Staring up at the sun, Sharq pursed his lips. "We were left food and money and stuff...But we had so much of that already. Heck, sometimes I think Splin and I are kinda spoiled. We didn't have to go to school or anything like the others. We just somehow got off well. Now, here we are…"
He turned to the amiibo on his shoulder and smiled brightly. "With a bunch of different friends and a whole bunch of adventures. I want to give everyone a chance like that. THAT'S why I wanna be the president!"
Sitting there on his shoulder, Ann-Gel found herself with a lack of words. Well, it was rather that she was somewhat awestruck. This was quite literally the first she had heard the brothers' situation in a clear sense. It was not explained by Splin either. His older, friendlier, dopier brother had just said all of that. She found herself smiling.
"...Is it still silly? I mean, it is going to be pretty hard..." Sharq arched an eyebrow, rubbing his chin with his right index finger. "Man, I thought that I made some pretty good points."
"No, far from it Sharq." She beamed up at the larger Inkling. "That was...That was great."
As if he were a mirror, he reflected her beaming face. "Alright! Well, now it's your turn."
"...Uh?" Ann-Gel murmured.
Sharq smiled and started to lay down on the dirt on his chest. "Yeah! What's your dream? C'mon, I told you mine!"
"...I, uh…" She muttered, mulling over her thoughts. "Oh geez. What do I say? That I want to be a real girl or something? Uh...Huh. What DO I want?"
It was at that moment, while she attempted to think of something, anything, she noticed a glint in front of her. Narrowing her eyes, she diverted her stare towards the sidewalk that weaved through the park. There was something shining in a sizable crack in the sidewalk. ...One or two of them. All of a sudden, curiosity got the better of her. Hopping off of Sharq's arm, she landed on the soft grass below and began sprinting- Or, uh, sliding down the knoll towards the sidewalk.
Sharq scowled, crossing his arms. "Hey! That's not fair."
"I'll get back to you on that, Sharq! Sorry, but I need to check this out." She spoke up, walking over towards the concrete as she hit the bottom of the hill.
Although unhappy that the promise was put on hiatus, Sharq sighed and followed suit, changing into a blue squid, sliding down the hill. The two Inklings slowly advanced on the shining objects embedded in the sidewalk, Ann-Gel's suspicion rising. Perhaps it was just a collection of loose change or something someone dropped, but she was still going to take a glance. There was something familiar about this…
Stopping in front of the objects, she reached her small hand towards them, taking hold of the smooth surface. Grunting, she attempted to dislodge the mystery items, but to no avail. In her frustration she did not notice Sharq reaching over her, up until the part where he brought his hand down and gripped the objects in his palm.
"Oh!" She squeaked as she backed away from the larger appendage. "Right, thanks."
"No problem," He grunted as he tried to pull out the objects stuck in the floor, "But you still have to tell me something! It's a promise, remember."
Ann-Gel simply nodded, staring at the strange material curiously. It was a circular, flat coin-shaped object, but it was large. There was something attached, something vaguely familiar. Before she could take any guesses, however, Sharq lifted the mystery objects free of their concrete prison with a yank. Grinning in triumph, as he stopped to take a look at them, his face lit up even more so.
"What? What is it?" The female amiibo spoke up, staring at his hand eagerly.
Smiling, Sharq just started lowering his hand. "See for yourself."
Frowning, Ann-Gel was just about to ask him what he meant. Before she could say a word, Sharq placed one of the objects on the ground. Ann-Gel froze. She stared at it...More specifically, him. She was not sure what to feel. Happiness, confusion, it was a blur of feelings. There was one fact that was apparent.
There was another Inkling. He was like her. Blue tentacles and plastic eyes, blinking back at her from a miniature pedestal.
"Uh...Hi. My name's Seamond. Care for a challenge?"
AN: Yeah that's one of the longer chapters I've put out in a while. Hoo, boy. I feel accomplished. But now I'd hope that it was worth it, what with all of the sudden exposition.
Also, a friend of mine pointed out that Phish being in the Great Turf War is confusing because it was like, one-hundred years old. Never fret, that will hopefully be explained if my "real life" issues don't use up anymore of the precious spare time I need for these stories. Goodness me, with the delayed upload schedule, I think you can kinda tell that it is already pretty much a pain in the butt to do anything anymore without anything interrupting you. Quite a shame.
Ignoring that, thanks Ultrapyre, write n wrong, and CathyMirii for reviewing!
I mean, I would not make a main character completely self-absorbed, Ultrapyre. Unless I wanted to continue with making Ari a complete jerk like in the older chapters, now that would have been different. I do want to try to make most of my characters sympathetic to a degree where you can still laugh at their silliness while still shoving in a bit of "plot", if you can call the bizarre events in this story that.
write n wrong, thanks once again, the orphan card was one I wanted to pull for a while. But Splin and Sharq still having parents to a certain extent may not have been the way to go. So, dear Chi with a still mostly ambiguous past (at the moment) would have to do.
Finally, last but not least, thanks CathyMirii for the review of both the story and my Gmod posing. I'm more of an amateur at the whole posing business, but I'm glad that people still enjoy that. Makes the one hour of agonizing Octoling arm moving worth it.
Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.