Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
A Crossroad's End
Maria shivered in her sheets as she stared up at the ceiling. The stars here had a habit of blinking every so often. Over the course of the many months that have passed by since her departure, she noticed so many changes. It unnerved her on the inside.
For one, her favorite stores and restaurants were gone. The mall she used to stockpile on so much little squid care items was there. The familiar stores were not. She was certainly surprised to see a GameShark in place of just the simpler GAMINK she was used to passing by ever so often on a shopping spree. Not that her children played video games as often as they did fight people to the death, but still…
Then there were the people. She had certainly encountered her many, many renditions of slimeballs that she had to teach a thing or two to about manners, but she noticed the little circle of friends Splin and Sharq had been so...peaceful. The occasional haywire Octoweapon or bizarre occurrence had popped up in the past, but instead of solving problems with punches, they just shrugged it off like it was nothing. She admittedly found them sort of adorable, though she worried a little about Tai...
Finally, the stars...they honestly scared her. They were as beautiful as ever, blinking and twinkling up in the night sky. Arranged in several constellations she was never too interested in remembering, she would stare up at them every night here.
The scary part was that they looked the exact same as back home.
She hummed to herself and curled up on her side, but she soon found herself whistling a familiar, homesick tune. The sight of orange and blue tentacles invaded her vision. She ceased her merry tune and laid on top of her comforter.
She rolled over so that she faced the ceiling. "Oh…these past days have been torture." She muttered and gripped her head.
"There was that toy plane incident."
Maria rubbed her head in confusion. She crinkled her lips as she stood on top of the grass hills, her hands planted firmly on her hips. Just earlier, she had felt something scratch the top of her head. She had originally believed a bee had swung by for a sucker punch, but she did not feel a fuzzy little carcass on top of her head. The concerned (and somewhat terrified) gazes that Splin and Sharq had on were not reassuring either.
"Maria!" The duo had yelped. Sharq bit his fingers nervously while Splin covered his mouth, his eyes expanded in fright. "Are you okay?!"
She simply smiled and waved back at them with her right hand while she rubbed her head with her left, albeit somewhat confused. "I'm fine. I think a bug bit me, though."
Sharq raised one of his chewed fingers. "Er...you don't feel anything?"
She pursed her lips. Her head did itch a little. "...Sort of?"
"No pain?" Sharq asked with a tilt of his head.
Maria wanted to laugh at his sweet expression. She figured she would answer his question honestly. "No pain."
"That's a relief!" He smiled, though Splin did not look too glad. He seemed to be in a horrified trance, even when Sharq slapped him on the back and said, "I was worried that you weren't fireproof."
Suddenly Maria did not find Sharq cute little question so cute. "...Hmm?"
That was when she could smell it. Among the many scents of the hill, grass, old wooden cottage, and the occasional seagull, she sniffed...smoke?
She glanced down at her pants. Her eyes opened in shock. Fire crawled up her left leg like a snake, with a similar "hiss" sound to boot. Except, instead of toxins traveling up her legs, it served to char her leg and bottom of the pants until they were black with soot.
"...Ah?" She remarked with a calm voice at first.
Then the rest of the grass that surrounded her caught fire.
"AH!" Maria yelped and dashed out of the ring of flames while Splin and Sharq fumbled over each other in an attempt to snuff the tongues of red that lapped around in a loop.
"Then there was the earthquake."
The three biological Inklings, Splin, Sharq, and Maria sat underneath the kitchen counter while they covered their heads. They warily stared up at the ceiling as they felt the ground shake and shift under them. Sharq made a brief habit; he held onto the counter for dear life. However, if they considered the fact that they were marooned on top of a hill with a sizable slope that led down, it might have been for naught.
The house itself was a mess. It was a good thing a quarter of the objects around their house were animate. Ann-Gel held on tight to Maria's Cream Hi-Tops' shoelaces. The Tele-Cube planted itself firmly between the refrigerator and the countertops. The organic Inklings held onto each other tight, the lot of them sweated bullets as the rumbles in the earth's crust continued. All the while, the television buzzed static.
Just then, a noise akin to that of a jet roared by. Maria turned out towards the nearest window and gasped. "Please...no!"
An orange scar tore through the blue sky. For one tense moment, Maria hardly felt the earth as it shook underneath her. The ominous glow in the sky emanated for quite some time, then faded into the blue. She stared at the sky cautiously, then turned back towards the others.
"Splin, Sharq!" She cried out with a gasp, "Are you okay?"
Splin grunted and flopped onto the ground on his back. He twisted his body and switched back into a squid until a satisfying crick sounded off from him. "Never better." He coughed and laid on the ground. "How about you, Sharq?"
The older brother promptly fell back and laid on the floor by the stove. "Great days," He mumbled as his eyes swirled about.
"Yeah, okay." Splin groaned and stood up slowly. "Everybody else good?"
A chirp noise like that of a strangled mockingbird called out. Maria and Splin glanced towards the fridge as a disorientated Sharq attempted to stand straight, though he ended up with his back bent over as if the ceiling was worth the screams of his muscles. The Tele-Cube blinked and sparked, then promptly fell out of its hiding spot onto the floor with a clank. A loud groan sounded off from the box and though it screeched and whined like a small pup, it floated up and chirped back at them.
Splin sighed in relief. "Okay...that leaves...Ann-Gel?"
"I feel fine!" A small feminine voice squeaked. "...Al-Although, I think I need some help."
Maria looked around the house. "Where are you?"
"...Uh, that depends on which part of me you're talking about." She spoke up.
Immediately, Splin and Maria dashed over across the kitchen table. As soon as they found her, they screamed.
"Guys, I'm fine!" Ann-Gel spoke up, "...I think? I can only really feel my face honestly."
She laid on the ground, but not in one piece. Ann-Gel's cream-colored legs stuck like glue to her pedestal, but her torso laid beside the bottom of the kitchen counter. Her disembodied head laid across from both and her plastic tentacles held her up like substitute legs. She blinked and her eyes and pupils still moved, though it looked as though she could not move otherwise.
"Um, I'd like to be put back together... Soon. Please." She whimpered as she stared at her discarded body parts.
She hopped over on her plastic head towards her torso. Unfortunately, she forgot to stretch her tentacle muscles and just fell flat on the floor.
"Oh, geez. Here, let me help with that." Splin spoke up and crouched down.
He pinched the tentacles that jutted off her head and lifted her up. Ann-Gel's eyes spun about and she bit her lip as she spun about from an orange thread. Splin took one look at her and wondered if she would grow motion sick. Nevertheless, he continued on. He picked up her torso and squirmed squeamishly at the touch.
"Uh. Splin?" Ann-Gel spoke up in his left hand's fingers and nodded as best she could to the rest of her.
"...Sorry." He muttered in embarrassment.
Maria watched as he reattached her, head to toe in a literal sense. Behind her, Sharq seemed to finally stop to view the room like a carnival ride and began to check on the Tele-Cube as it hovered just as dizzily as he had moments before.
As everyone else recovered, she stared out the window at the sky. She held her breath and reached out as if she could catch one last glimpse of the orange streak.
She now held her head in between the palms of her hands as she pushed her head into her pillow. Maria shut her eyes tight and kept them closed as if that would help sleep flood her.
Countless other events similar had happened. She recalled blacking out. She bit her lip and slammed her head into the pillow. As if there was a ringing in her ears, she covered them with both pillows on her bed. It was as if the color in the sky, the explosion noises, and every other indication of devastation still lingered.
Oh yeah, and the fact that another loud crash sounded off in the background did not help.
Maria leaped out of bed. She could feel her heart race faster and faster as the moments passed. The sound of pots and pans being rustled and clattered against other surfaces only made her more paranoid. At the sound of a skillet knocked over, she launched a kick towards the direction she assumed it came from.
Her eyes widened. In the split second that she could see what exactly she hit, a cube whined as it was punted out the ceiling. The block made a perfect field goal and launched straight out of the hole in the Bate household ceiling with a whirring noise that sounded like a person screaming. Maria covered her mouth as she watched the lights in the box flicker off as it vanished into the midnight sky.
She then heard a snore. Maria whirled around and glanced cautiously at the brothers. They continued to roll about in their sleep. Sharq switched into a squid in the middle of his slumber and practically attempted to suffocate himself in his comforter and snored into the pillow. She suppressed a smile.
Maria glanced around quickly. She bit her lip and walked around the house. Checking counters, she continued glancing at nooks and crannies in the house. After a few minutes, she heaved a lengthy sigh.
As she stood up, she caught what she needed in the corner of her eye. She swiveled on her heel and pursed her lips. A white sheet of paper stuck out of the top dresser drawer. Right in between the two sleeping brothers.
Maria felt her shoulders tense up. With a cautious, stealthy stride she walked up towards the wooden cabinet. Splin and Sharq did not seem to mind and just fidgeted ever so slightly in their sleep. The mother in lime reached over for the drawer and pulled at its wooden knob. It slid open and revealed a set of neatly stacked papers, pencils, and other writing supplies; the sheet of paper she had seen stick out like a sore settled back on the stack gently.
Quickly, she picked up a pen and a single sheet of paper. Maria pushed the drawer back into place where it closed with a thunk as it hit the back of the dresser.
The pen was a whirlwind as Maria wrote. Seconds passed, and a note was inscribed on the paper. She turned back and placed it on top of the dresser and neatly arranged it by an alarm clock, which appeared to be in a "snooze mode" if the "z"s on the screen were any indication.
Maria made for the door, but not before one last thing. Despite her better judgment, she sighed, reached over to the two Inklings that laid in their beds, and rubbed their heads. Even then, they hardly reacted. Sharq seemed to make some sort of purr noise, and as endearing as Maria found it, she left it at that.
She walked towards the door, and with one last cursory glance back, Maria left the house. The night air was chilly, but she continued on regardless. She switched into a small green squid, aimed at the sky, and blasted off into the stratosphere.
In the night sky, Maria stared down with her squid eyes and scanned the ground for any traces of the cube. She narrowed her eyes further and further until she realized something.
She groaned as she looked down at the city and thought, "How am I supposed to find a neon-colored box in THAT?"
The nightlife of Inkopolis began to shine. A lot, in fact. Neon signs, the glow of the Great Zapfish, street lights and apartment building windows lit up with a bright fervor. Despite the lack of Splatfests or sun for that matter, the city shined and the characters rejoiced in their own little lives.
If Maria did not find that cube, she doubted that her very life would matter.
Perilous reminder after perilous reminder flooded her head. "...The Zapfish fiasco..."
She gritted her teeth. As she fell back to earth, she remembered days prior.
Inkopolis had suffered tremor after tremor. Within the city, there were several telltale signs that it was having a lasting impression. Glass windows were shattered and several billboards and other advertisements detached from their posts. A sign for Jelonzo's Jelly Fresh shop came down with a large creak and smashed into the ground. A group of concerned jellyfish tourists hardly saw it coming, and within seconds were squashed flat.
Moments later, they slid out from underneath, flat as paper, but continued on their way as a gust of wind carried them off.
In the middle of everything, the Inkopolis Plaza suffered from pandemonium. Not only was the Booyah Base's refined glass panes shattered and scattered around the plaza, ("I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD'VE BOUGHT THE PREMIUM!" Moe the clownfish had screamed for the world to hear as Annie cowered underneath his wrath) several Inklings had hit the deck. While a sort of invisible barrier of repellant seemed to have emanated from Spyke's corner, every squid and jellyfish present crammed themselves into the safest spots they could find.
Of course, while the majority of them looked pretty stupid crouched behind benches and inside trash cans, our heroes...er…
They looked pretty stupid too, to be honest.
"Hey! This was the best we got!" Sharq spoke up…
...From behind one of Inkopolis Plaza's large black speakers.
As another short tremor shook underneath them, Splin, Sharq, and Maria clung to the speaker carefully. The music was not blaring directly into their eardrums, but at least they could rest assured knowing that the earth quaking below them could substitute the effect of shakiness.
After several tense, nerve-wracking minutes, the tectonic plates seemed to have taken a break. Everyone flopped down on the ground with a relieved sigh. A few of those who did yelp out and immediately removed the glass shards they landed on from their faces with grumpy expressions.
"...Ouch." Splin muttered as he noticed one Inkling pluck them individually from her set of tentacles.
She shook her tentacles around and smoothed them. With a happy sigh, she walked off as her cuts began to heal. He glanced behind him. Maria and Sharq gave him a thumbs-up and a reassuring smile.
Splin sighed as his brother began to follow him out of cover. "...Alright."
As the two brothers began to walk out from underneath the bright green tower, the ground began to shake once more, much to their...or, much more, Splin's distress. They toppled over each other and fell onto the floor with a groan.
Above them, the Great Zapfish coiled around the top of the Inkopolis Tower shook with the ground. It attempted to constrict its steel perch tighter and promptly slipped off, the humongous fish dropped down towards the base of the tower.
The brothers attempted to stabilize themselves as the ground quaked underneath them. Then they glanced up. "Gyah!"
The both of them gawked in terror as the Great Zapfish flailed down towards them as the electricity it generated began to flash and spark on its smooth surface. The brothers gripped and braced other tightly and shut their eyes tighter. It was not a very graceful way to die, but at least both of them would be ready for their untimely demise under the belly of a giant fish.
At least, that seemed to be the case for a few seconds. Moments passed, and yet the feeling of a slimy but ultimately destructive force of an electric tailfin had yet to strike. They cracked an eye open and glanced up. The Great Zapfish blinked as it laid a few feet off the ground, suspended in the air. So it seemed, until they heard a distinct grunting noise. Underneath the shadow of the fish, Maria hefted the Great Zapfish over her head. Her eyes glowed and her arms shook underneath the weight of the fish. The brothers hoped it was some sort of super-strength and not the fact that there was quite possibly a current of electricity running through every other vein in her body.
Despite this, she grunted, spun around towards the tower, and threw with all her might. Instead of crushing Maria underneath it the Zapfish began spiraling back up towards the tower. As it reached the familiar green steel it wrapped itself back around in a coil around the tower and its whiskers sparked as if it thanked Maria. The ground appeared to have calmed down considerably, but Maria was hardly one to take chances.
She dropped down next to the two brothers and shouted, "You two okay?!"
Splin looked as though he were about to have a panic attack, and Maria wondered whether or not she should carry him off. He simply stammered, "W-We're fine!"
She nodded and pulled the two up. Before they could say anything, Maria shoved the two off and away, "Good!" She called out, "Get somewhere safe! This is worse than last time!"
With that said, she had run off. The city was not under siege by any murderous machine or any supervillain on a rampage. The sinking feeling in her chest and the memories in her head confirmed it. She pressed on to assist the citizens of Inkopolis and tried to save them from her own mistake. Her lovely, beautiful, destructive mistake.
Maria was so in tune with her nostalgia that-
"Mmph!" Went the green squid as she collided with a pile of scrap as she dropped from the sky.
She sunk into the debris almost instantaneously.
As she laid in the pile of discarded metal, she traced her mind back days prior. She gazed out the window at the sky. Watching. Waiting. She sat on one of the seats next to the kitchen counter and stared at the sky. Her eyes were bloodshot, the white sclera run ragged with small cracks of light green. She blinked tiredly and forced her eyelids back open.
The sky was blue. Too blue for her liking.
As she stared hopelessly out of the window, a trophy, a box, and an alarm clock watched two blue squids play a video game. Splin and Sharq were glued to the screen as they hammered buttons on their controllers. Sharq made a habit to tap the screen of his Gamepad controller just as rapidly. It did not seem to increase the speed of his characters' strikes or power up any attacks, but he seemed pumped up.
This continued for quite a while. Then, all of a sudden, the action on the screen ceased. The pause screen came up, much to Splin's surprise.
"Hey, no Jo-" He protested.
Sharq stared behind him towards the kitchen. Maria continued to stare out the window at the cloud formations. He pursed his lips and glanced at his younger brother.
"...She's still looking outside?" Splin whispered and stowed his controller away.
"...Yeah." Sharq muttered as he laid his controller down, "Should I... Um... Check on her?
As he said that, the objects behind them shivered and shook. In the distance, a distinct rattle and the squawk of a seagull sounded off. Even the wind outside rustled the grass and the house doors.
Ann-Gel inhaled sharply through her plastic Inkling teeth. "I wouldn't…"
"Guys!" Sharq scowled at them and stood up, "We can't just let her stay like that!"
The alarm clock and the Tele-Cube swiveled their screens to one another. Ann-Gel rubbed the back of her smooth orange tentacles. "I guess you can try, Sharq."
Sharq smiled at the smaller objects. "Alright!"
He grinned and went off on his merry way. As soon as he turned his back, suddenly the three small objects gathered in a small circle and began to whisper to each other. They would glance over at Sharq as he walked and made chimes and beeps. Well, the others did while Ann-Gel deciphered their cryptic electronic fuzz and responded with real...er, Inkling words.
Splin just rolled his eyes and set down his own controller carefully on the wooden floor. "C'mon guys. Maria isn't just going to belt him over the head just because he wants to know what's happening."
The trio of "under-normal-circumstances-we-should-not-be-alive" stared back at him. As they did, they heard a thump in the background, followed by Sharq's yelp.
Splin turned around quickly and his eyes widened at what he saw. "Maria!"
She was slumped over Sharq's back. Poor Sharq struggled underneath her and attempted to lift the both of them off of the floor. Her eyes fluttered listlessly. Splin quickly dashed over, past Maria's bed and lowered himself underneath her next to his brother. The two of them managed to keep themselves afoot as they tried to carry her.
"What's wrong?!" Sharq grunted as he shakily held her up. "Maria, calm down! You're okay!"
Maria's body disagreed. Through ragged gasps, she managed to choke out "I'm scared," before she fell back on them.
"Gah!" The two brothers yelped as she slumped down on them.
Her eyes were closed and Maria was unmoving as she laid on the both of them. The grunted, and with a simultaneous effort, the two attempted to traverse towards the other side of the room where her bed laid. The others watched curiously as they loaded her onto the mattress. Her breath felt cold as she sighed in her unconsciousness.
"...Nngh! She's so heavy…" Splin spoke through grit teeth.
Sharq shot a glare at his younger brother as they held Maria up. "Splin..."
"What!?" He protested, "I'm sorry, but it's true!"
With a final heave, the two placed her on the bed. They cringed at the sight. Maria laid face-down on her pillow with her arms and tentacles strewed about the bed. Despite her less than graceful position, she hardly seemed to mind.
"What even WAS that?" Splin asked as they stared at her.
Sharq shrugged as sweat dripped down under his cap over his face. "I don't know. But I have a bad feeling right now."
Ann-Gel's eyes narrowed. "...Ominous."
Her eyes opened. Maria covered her face with the right tentacle that extended from her forehead and kicked. The pile of scrap clattered against the dirt and the pavement as Maria rose from the debris and gasped for breath. She felt sweat drip down the side of her ear. She emerged from the pile and took a step out into the dirt then looked around.
She was in some sort of industrial junkyard. A large fence coiling around the rectangle perimeter was boxing in the garbage, which seemed to be several pieces of glass and other manmade materials. As Maria glanced at a pile of glass, she felt two things.
One, relief that she did not land in that, and two, relief, but in finding out that Inkopolis did know how to clean up after a disaster event, and well too.
Despite the rusty, dirty materials that surrounded her, off in the distance several signs of Inkopolis flashed bright neon colors. She gulped and continued to look amidst the piles of trash for the sign of anything that glowed.
Maria found it. A burst of bright light emanated from the cracks of fragments of asphalt piled on a corner of the fence. Without hesitation, she sprinted towards the pile and dug through it.
"Where is it, where is it!?" Maria cursed to herself as she flung piece after piece of ruined pavement to the side.
Suddenly, a jagged edge of rock caught her palm. A miniature nick appeared in her hand. It was but a minuscule spot, but through the light of a street lamp, a drop of lime emerged. The light underneath the pile began to fade.
"Ah, dammit!" She screamed and gripped a piece of metal strewn to the side. She hurled it at the pile and knocked over several other materials. "Stupid cube!"
She clutched her head with her hands. Her breathing began to speed up; she gasped second by second. Then she heard a whirring noise.
From the junk, a multi-colored box flashed as it popped out. Several fragments of debris were knocked to the side. One of the cube's sides turned towards Maria. An angry face was drawn on its face, it beeped at Maria just as irritably as its face would convey.
She gasped, folded her hands, and rubbed her tentacles. They were messy, but regardless Maria gave a warm smile. "Oh, there you are. Sorry...I got frustrated."
The Tele-Cube glowered at her. Despite the dark of night and the angry face, the Tele-Cube could hardly remain threatening. A lengthy whistle, similar to a sigh, emanated from the cube. Its pitch lowered as it went. Maria waited patiently. Suddenly, a question mark popped up on the Tele-Cube's screen.
"Oh…" She cleared her throat and crossed her arms behind her back, "You were able to take the brothers and me to... Universe Seven... My world," She gestured to herself; the cube just stared, "Before, right?"
A click sounded off. The Tele-Cube nodded slowly.
Maria sighed, then inhaled through her mouth. "I need you to take me back. Right now."
Something happened that Maria did not expect. The question mark shrunk into the background of the cube's screen. Animated drops of sweat began to drip down the inside of its screens. The cube rotated around nervously as the drops dripped. It made a chirping sound.
Maria's ears twitched. She pursed her lips, and while somewhat surprised, responded, "What do you mean, 'I can't let you do that Maria'?"
The cube twitched violently. Maria stepped back in fears that it would explode. Instead, it extended. The top of the cube grew long into the air and the cube had grown into a full-fledged vertical rectangle. Then the words came.
A large list flooded the screen. The header at the very top of the list read, "Plot Convenience Object Guidelines", and several sub-headers filled the screen below. Maria skimmed through the list, her eyes narrowing.
As if it could sense Maria's confusion, the Tele-Rectangle-
Oh geez, that's a mouthful.
The Tele-Tangle shrunk back into its compact cube form. It spun about a bit as it shrunk until it hovered in front of Maria in its familiar shape and form. The Tele-Cube beeped and booped and made many other high pitched electronic sounds.
Somehow, Maria understood the cube. She held her hands to her chest and cooed, "Aw, that's really sweet of you… But this is urgent. Come on, please?"
The Tele-Cube made its sigh noise again. The cube swiveled to and fro and pointed the screen Maria assumed was its face in several different directions almost cautiously. Maybe there was some sort of outside force she did not know of.
Then, it sparked. Maria squeaked in fright, then embarrassedly folded her arms as the cube scolded her with a harsh beep. Then the cube sparked again. Like a flash of lightning, it seemed to signal the upcoming storm and sparked once more. Then it began to spin.
"Tele-Cube?" She gulped shyly as it continued to spin, "...I'm sorry we- I... Threw you out."
The cube seemed to hesitate. It ceased its rotation then turned to Maria as she stood firm in front of it. The box nodded back at her. Electricity collected around the cube as it spun again, faster and faster as each moment passed. The nearby lights flickered and flashed. Eventually, a spiral formation formed in front of Maria. It expanded and grew, until it became a sizable portal.
The Tele-Cube stopped spinning. As it came to a stop, it chirped at Maria as the portal screamed back at them with the sound of the wind as it blew threw towards the vortex.
Maria smiled. "I'll take you home after this. Don't woomy-"
She covered her mouth and her eyes grew. Then, she snorted. She began to giggle in front of the portal. The Tele-Cube tilted itself. If it had a neck, it would have looked curious.
"I mean, don't worry." She spoke up.
She turned back towards the portal. Her smile began to fade. That was only if she could come back. With a silent gulp, she stepped towards the portal as it billowed bright and dangerously unpredictable in front of them. The Tele-Cube floated in as Maria walked through.
She was about halfway inside of the portal when she halted suddenly. "Uh, hang on."
The cube made irritated squeaks and squawks as if to say, "Dude, this thing isn't something I can hold for long."
Maria smiled sheepishly. "Uh, before we go, can you do one last thing?"
The Tele-Cube stared at her curiously. She pursed her lips. and leaned in cautiously to where she thought the Tele-Cube's ears might be. She whispered as one hand covered the side of her mouth. The rainbow box chirped with a nod. While the portal spun around them, the cube made a noise similar to a printer.
A slot opened out of the Tele-Cube's face. Out popped out a plain white sheet of paper and a pen. Maria quickly grabbed the two and smiled. "Thank you."
While the portal raged on behind her, Maria leaned down to the ground and began to write. Yet again, she finished the note within a few seconds. Underneath the note, she quickly signed her name, bright and bold. She dropped the pen, held the paper in the both of her hands, and smiled down at it sadly. Maria laid it on the ground, took a broken rod from a nearby pile, then struck the paper and the ground between it. As the wind whistled around it, the paper remained stuck to the ground.
"Perfect. If they find it," Maria spoke up and stood. She admired her handiwork for a while, then turned back. "Okay."
The two advanced through the portal.
Splin and Sharq walked around the city. The morning sun had just peaked over the horizon, and Inkopolis was just waking up. The neon signs were shut off. Apartment buildings were quite quiet aside from the occasional snores from the bottom floor. The only other creatures awake and alive aside from the Bate Brothers seemed to be the Great Zapfish, a few jellyfish passerby, and a shrimp that jogged around the sidewalk.
"Hi, Crusty Sean!" Sharq waved as he and his brother passed by.
Underneath his purple beanie, the large shrimp just waved back with one of his claws. He continued to jog ahead as sweat dripped down his orange whiskers.
Splin yawned and continued to walk forward. "Sharq, couldn't we have looked for Maria when it was at least seven?"
"Nope!" Sharq grinned back at his younger brother as he pulled him along the sidewalk. Splin stumbled over cracks in the cement as he struggled to keep his eyes open. "What type of friends would that make us?"
He could hardly complain and just fidgeted with his headphones as they dangled around his neck. "Fine. Can you at least tell us where we're going?"
Sharq pointed ahead. "I saw a flash of light over there as I was getting a midnight snack!"
"'Midnight'?" Splin muttered with one eyebrow cocked. "More like 'early morning'. Besides, do you really think Maria would walk into this side of town?"
There were not many buildings around the further the brothers ventured. The ones that were looked like abandoned factories. At least, most of them looked like them. Quite a few had names like, "Porpoise Pane Treatment Plant" or "Barracuda's Brick Builders". Splin wondered if they worked harder on alliteration and logos rather than actual work, because the majority of the factories laid dormant.
Eventually, the two brothers walked across a junkyard. Sharq's eyes widened. "Whoa."
The middle of the junkyard was mostly clear. It was the garbage around it that was interesting. Arranged in a spiral pattern, fragments of shrapnel and other heaps of scrap laid disturbed. Without warning, Sharq began to dash towards them.
"Sharq, no, not again!" Splin called out, "Agh!"
He chased his older brother as he began to climb over one condensed wall of rusted materials. Sharq hopped over the other side and slid down and Splin followed. As Splin slid down to the other side, he raised his finger with some choice words in mind for him.
"Look!" Sharq pointed out suddenly.
Splin looked. He gasped. In the middle of the clear spot nearly devoid of trash, a cube smoked and jittered weakly. The Tele-Cube, a majority of its screens either cracked or black and shut down, laid on the ground. Sharq immediately ran up and scooped it into his arms.
"You okay?" He asked cautiously.
The cube beeped weakly as it faced Sharq. Out of the blue, a battery symbol blinked onto the screen. A line ran through it. The cube blinked out and fizzled. Sharq gulped, pat the top of the cube, then stowed it away in his pockets.
Splin, on the other hand, was intrigued. Next, to where the cube laid, by a square-shaped crater, a note laid stamped to the ground with a pike was found.
"Sharq…" He motioned for his brother to look.
The older brother looked over his shoulder. Splin carefully removed the piece of paper from the fragment of pole and stared down.
I'll be gone for a little while. I have to check on my other kids. I'm sorry, I can't say much. I'm in a hurry. If Tele-Cube's with you, then he should probably tell you what's happened. If we've come back.
Sharq eyed the cube as it poked out of his pockets. The smoke had faded.
They continued reading.
I can't thank you enough. You stood by me. You helped me remember. You two gave me another chance at life. Thank you. I don't know if I can ever return the favor. I'm sorry… But I hope we'll see each other again soon.
-Maria.
The brothers stared down at the note. Sharq felt his eyes grow wet. Splin's expression hardened. As they stood there and glared at the note, they almost missed the sky. A sound echoed through the air. The brothers turned around and stared at the sky.
It was daytime, though the sun had yet to fully encircle the earth and shroud it in life. They were somewhat glad they got up early this morning. Had they been any later, they might not have noticed the green streak that flashed as it traveled across the sky.
AN: Thanks Dread Angel for allowing me to use Maria in this story. This chapter was a long time coming, and I apologize for the wait. Also, thanks to Dread Angel for the vital details and story needed to finish this chapter.
Also, thank you Rynowm and write n wrong for reviewing!
Rynowm, I scream for your puns, they're just so sweet, if you catch my cold. Thanks for the review.
write n wrong, I agree, if there was any sense of law enforcement or security in this story, which I will get to soon in another chapter, by the way, the brothers or anyone else would probably not get anywhere.
But anyways, thank you for reading. This is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.