Splatoon: The Brothers and the Others
Rebel-rousers
"Well, hey!" Lee piped up smiling, "If anything, aren't you glad we decided to move the bed out first?"
Surprisingly without hesitation, Ova swung her arms at Lee, barely grazing her nose with her knuckles. Lee took her hint and clammed up.
Chi, sitting on the edge of Ova and Lee's mattress, stared down at her hands, squinting to inspect them in the dim light of the Amphio Alliance camp. Though they kept calling it a camp, the camp was more like a prison yard buried under the planet's crust, with some of the rebellion's soldiers serving as sentries, standing on tall rocks just higher than the captured Octarians. She thought that the tall rocks were a little redundant given the restraints.
Chi looked down at her lap. Her hands were tied with a tight, thin rope that made her fingers numb. Attempting to switch to octopus form, she discovered soon enough that her transformed tentacles stayed restrained, with any chance of slipping out of the binds hopeless. Switching back made her more aware of the fact that her legs were tied too. Any escape would take a while, and Chi really didn't feel like experimenting by rolling around on a battered, tired body.
She fell back on the mattress, sighing wistfully as she craned her head. On the other side where a few of her comrades, Lee and Ova. Ova, though her tentacles were curled in frustration, seemed to have calmed down, muttering to herself about a "careless roommate". Lee, seemingly ignorant of what had just happened, swung her restrained legs back and forth, noticed Chi and raised both of her hands, trying to wave to her while bound. She seemed to be making the best of their situation, stretching her arms and legs in place and sighing in relief when she fell back, resting her head on the puffy mattress. Ova nodded exhaustedly at Chi before falling on the mattress, shutting her eyes with another drawn-out exhale. Seemed like that's two Octolings she knows who would rather sleep through the issues.
"So, uh…" A male's voice began, chuckling quietly, "We really stirred the hornet's nest, huh guys?"
Everyone turned to Jerry, who happened to be sitting in the middle of the bed. Though, sitting may have been a bit of a casual understatement. Guess the rebels didn't really know what to do with him and his temporary chassis. He too was restrained, but unlike the Octolings whose limbs were bound, the rope binding him was wrapped around his entire body like he was a boot someone bought for a Squidsmas gift. His eyes poked out of his boot-shaped chassis while the rest of him was stuck inside, with most other parts of his tentacle flesh covered by bandage or rope. None of the girls humored him with even a single word response.
"Not a...not a fan of old-time idioms." Jerry deflated at their expressions, "Okay."
If she could, Chi would pat him on the back, despite his analogy being a little inappropriate. She figured it was more like running into a jellyfish accidentally. However, she decided to give him a light, apologetic head nudge. Jerry smiled, and did the same, taking care not to accidentally bash her with the metal cap on his head.
Chi looked around the camp again. Unlike the Octarian HQ, the ceiling was comprised of rocks and stalactites, with small cracks emanating sunlight. Most of the warmth the sun may have provided was absent, and the only place to sit would be a rock or the one dirty mattress. The occasional wind blowing in from the opening was cold and unlike the underground kettles Chi was used to. Even in the dinkiest, abject and impoverished kettles, most Octarians still had enough power and shelter to keep them warm. This camp was like a cave system that managed to have a camp built within it in five days; hardly any comfort was put into the design. Chi tried to take solace in the fact that they had a blanket sheet to keep them warm, but it honestly didn't do much to heat them up.
Looking around at the other prisoners made Chi feel worse. The one sheet Ova and Lee's brought may have been thin and hardly kept them warm, but it was more comfortable than nothing. Boy, did the others have a whole lot of nothing. Dozens of other Octarians, Octolings, Octocopters, Octotroopers, and all other varieties from their ranks were trapped along with them, left sitting down on the dirt in shackles and rope restraints. Those with legs had leg braces locking any locomotion. Others were stuck in what appeared to be makeshift full-body casts, with only their faces peeking out and everything else sealed within tight, just like Jerry. Nigh unbreakable bandages. Others just had tentacles chopped off or shortened to reduce their movement.
One Octobomber that she recognized from their base looked like a bread loaf with how their tentacles were cut and curled short. She could tell he was having trouble balancing his weighty self with only his disproportionate legs to keep him from rolling on his back.
In spite of their new restraints and haircuts, they looked fine, if not painfully bored. Chi noticed a lot of envious glares pointed their way, and quite a few looks directed at her specifically.
They didn't say a word, but she could tell by the way they were looking at her that she was being blamed.
Self-conscious, Chi looked down at her lap, folding her hands in them. It had been a good few years since she had rebelled against the Octarians. She honestly thought that everyone seemed to have just forgotten about it as time went on.
Chi shivered. Rebel was shockingly similar to being under Octavio, minus the fancy gadgets most of the DJ had in his ranks had. For all intents and purposes, it was just anti-Octavio. Chi remembered hearing that a lot of them wanted to get a better life, considering that most of the rebels were decent people, just less lucky than those who got lodging over in the Octarian HQ kettles. Chi didn't mind the rebel life, she'd secretly think to herself, but she was never friends with anyone there, as opposed to people like Tai-
"'Scuse me, can I sit?"
Chi was snapped out of her doldrums as an Inkling slumped over on the bed. ...An INKLING slumped over on the bed, oh jeez. Chi's fatigue left her for a moment as she sprang up, practically jumping to the other end of the bed where Lee was laying down. The other Octarians took notice but looked too dejected to really care. Chi was too busy, however, staring at the Inkling's head in horror.
"Cod, y'know how hard it was to wriggle up over here with my hands and legs tied?" The Inkling complained, stretching her arms behind her head, also tied just like the others.
"What did they…"
She glanced up from the bed, wearily opening her eyes. Dull, green eyes peered back at Chi with only the tiniest bit of interest. The Inkling herself looked worse for wear than the typical agent talked about among the Octarians, with her arms bound and her knees bruised. Even the Hero Suit, an intimidating, loud, and neon-yellow warning sign to anyone who lived in a tea kettle was just as dusty and ragged as the look in the Inkling's eyes. In spite of all of that, however, something bigger nagged at Chi as she gawked at the Inkling.
"What in the name of Octavio's chair did they do to your TENTACLES?" Jerry gasped.
Chi blushed. The Inkling looked over at her with a face, as if already knowing what Chi was thinking.
The Inkling's tired face seemed to light up, but really, it just changed into a very, very annoyed expression, veins popping on her forehead and all. "What is it with my tentacles that EVERYONE down here notices?"
Where most female Inklings' tentacles ended at the sucker cups like cute, round arrows, this Inkling's hairstyle just...ended. Her tentacles were cut so that the pudgy part that most girl Inklings Chi saw wearing wasn't there. The sucker cups were missing, cut off from the purple strands that were the Inkling's tentacles. Even in the back, they were also cut short, ending just above her neck. Chi was compelled to join in with Jerry's questioning. Before she could try, however, there was a sharp, high-pitched whistle that filled the cave.
Everyone turned to the walls. Constructed in a wide perimeter around all of the captured Octarians (and Inkling) were tall, wood plank barricades, painted a dark-violet with Amphio Alliance flags decorating the top of the barriers. The symbol of Octavio's body crossed out flapped surprisingly frequently in the underground wind. At the gate stood Yurin, and the glare she gave Chi would've frozen her to the bed had she not already felt dead tired after their scuffle at the base.
Yurin had since gotten rid of anything signifying her allegiance to Octavio. She had swapped out her Octoling Armor, her boots, and her goggles for flatter, gray armor with a dark-violet undershirt and a dirt-covered cloak, befitting of a rag-tag, underfunded rebel faction. Her hips were decorated with two small weapons, miniature guns that Chi had never seen before, each identical in size, but shaped as if designed for each hand. Although Chi barely wanted to take one step off the mattress, the unconcealed fury and cracks on the silver whistle Yurin clutched were telltale signs that she wouldn't like what would happen if she stayed.
So, passing one sidelong glance to Lee, Ova, and Jerry, she pushed off of the bed, beginning her death march to what she knew would most likely suck. The other Octarians pitied her, waving and watching her go. They watched her for a while. An air of victory was clear in Yurin's gait; her long strides and happy demeanor were telltale signs of herself being high off her success. Yurin made her way over to Chi, who was currently hopping in her restraints one step at a time to meet her halfway. As Chi stood, pigeon-toed but face-to-face with the rebel in command, Yurin suddenly took Chi by her arms and hefted her up, carrying her almost like she a pet. If Yurin's pet was as tall as her anyway.
Yurin scowled when Chi just gawked at her. "My muscle is out scouting, so it's just you and me. We're going to have a talk, you and I."
While Chi was ferried off by an equally embarrassed Yurin, everyone shifted gears, surrounding the new bedmate. The Inkling, suddenly alarmed, sat up and pointed to Chi with both hands. "What's she planning on doing?"
"How should we know?" Ova sighed and rested her head on the pillow, "Chi's probably in for it now."
"I should've guessed," Jerry shook his head, "Yurin gave off suspect vibes from the moment I ran into her."
Lee and Ova peered at Jerry, eyes lit up. "Whatcha mean?"
"No one ever smiles that much when I run into them," Jerry concluded somewhat pathetically.
The Octolings and Inkling made faces at Jerry.
"Well, recently no one but Chi's been happy to see me," Jerry complained, a little louder than anyone expected.
Lee attempted to pat Jerry as a sign of reassurance but fell over on her face onto the bed, hands suspended in the air.
The Inkling huffed, watching Yurin disappear past the gate. "What's her problem?"
"Apparently she's an Octarian rebel," Ova muttered, pulling Lee up off the bedsheets, "And we're the idiots who fell for her scheme to take over."
"Ooh, I'd sock her in the face right now if I could get off this bed," Lee stated, swinging her arms.
Ova rolled her eyes and shoved Lee's face back into the blankets only for Lee to retaliate by kicking her. Though it was more of an aggressive nudge with her knees.
"Rebels?" The Inkling asked, scratching her head, "This is a rebel base?"
"...Have you looked around?" Jerry asked, narrowing his eyes, "We're the main troops of Octavio himself! We wouldn't set up shop here. At least, not like this."
The Inkling watched Jerry (try to) point at the Amphio Alliance flag and the representation of DJ Octavio. "That's your leader? Oh." The Inkling scratched the side of her head with her knuckles, an unimpressed look on her face.
The Inkling replied again, "I mean, no offense, but I assumed all the Octarians down here were part of this 'Octavio' guy's army from what I hear."
"Huuuuh?" Jerry frowned, "We're a diverse people! We have soldiers, scientists, DJs, rebel cells! There's even abandoned people who used to live underground!"
"Hey, hold on," Ova suddenly cut Jerry off, eyeing the agent oddly. "Don't Inkling agents have intel on this? The Amphio Alliance's been making moves down here for a while now. I thought they'd at least-."
The Inkling interrupted her. "'Agent'? Dude, I'm seventeen, I barely know how to file for taxes much less work an agent gig," she responded cluelessly, "Do I look like an agent to you?"
Ova and Jerry nodded slowly much to the Inkling's exasperation. Lee did too, taking her face out of the cushiony goodness of bed to glare at the Inkling's clothes, half-confused and half-unconvinced. The Inkling followed their gazes, looking down at the worn, oversized neon-yellow jacket she had on.
The Inkling blushed and lightly brushed the jacket. "Hey, this wasn't a conscious decision on my part, these were the only 'prisoner clothes' the guards had on hand after they shot me earlier. Ruined my weekend hiking clothes."
"So you're not an agent?" Lee whistled and scooted up to her, "Weird! I assumed all Inklings were enlisted in elite killing forces that could fight a war and finish in an hour!"
"Guess we ALL learned something today," Jerry added, barely hiding the snidely nature of his remark.
"What are you- Look, all I know is that I'm late for practice, I'm wearing someone's strange old clothes, and I'm surrounded by a bunch of Octarians who I hoped weren't gonna kill me," The Inkling squirmed, looking at the others, "And hope still won't."
"Well, so are we!" Lee smiled, offering her hands out to shake, "Since we're all in the same boat, I guess that means we're allies for now. My name's Lee."
Ova and Jerry stared incredulously at the other Octoling, while the Inkling sat, hands in her lap, still very reluctant. Ova, on the other hand, was just as reluctant.
"You serious?" Ova's eyes were practically blank from her friend's incredulous statement.
Lee turned around and swung her legs back on the bed, scooting over to sit closer to the Inkling. "Take a look around! We aren't gonna get out of here soon, might as well make the most of it. Plus, if Tai can land a boyfriend with an Inkling, then I can organize an alliance with one," Lee said with a wink.
Ova opened her mouth, then immediately shut it and sighed, nodding reluctantly. Lee beamed, stretching her two restrained arms out to shake the Inkling girl's hand, who seemed to have decided "Screw it" and shook hers.
"My name's Ova," she introduced herself next, stretching her arms across the covers.
The Inkling nodded politely. "Basli."
"I'm Jerry!" Jerry the Octoboot said.
"...Uh-huh." Basli acknowledged before turning back to the Octolings, "So, what's up with you guys?"
Jerry's face shrunk further into his metal boot shell. His face was red with absolute, dejected embarrassment. The Octarians glanced at each other wearily and let out a collective sigh, much to Basli's amusement and curiosity.
"You're looking at what's supposed to be one of the top one-thousand squads, all chained up," Ova claimed, head sinking into the pillow, "On moving day no less."
"Moving day?" Basli narrowed her eyes.
"Uh, wouldn't this count as classified?" Jerry wondered aloud.
"What counts as anything anymore? I'm convinced Octavio doesn't care about this place enough to give 'classifications' much less orders," Ova complained in a faux posh accent, straightening her back and pointing her nose up in mock scorn, "Not only does he leave US with moving the furniture out, he practically kicks Aussie out so SHE can't help us and sends Tai off to do something else, ignoring the fact that she's commander now!"
"Yeah, what was up with that?" Lee frowned and looked around the prison camp. "Speaking of Tai, I don't see her in the camp. Maybe she's still out there."
"Hope she doesn't slack off this time, from what I heard, this is probably one of the most important things she's had to do."
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaawn. That was nice," Tai spoke between her yawn.
"I'm glad you slept well!"
Tai fell off of Ari and the makeshift chair as if she had accidentally rubbed against a hot stove. Scrambling on the dirt, she crawled to a respectable distance between herself and Ari, staring at Ari with humongous alarmed eyes, inspecting Ari with complete disbelief.
Tai's face switched from surprise to realization then acceptance within the span of seconds. "Ah, right, we slept together."
Ari's glowing orange face nodded back at her. Tai looked around the open space of Octo Valley. The sun in the sky had barely dipped, still close to the middle. The bright orb hovered lazily, just above the rock walls that enclosed the troupe. A very flustered Ari laid back on his concrete throne, eyelids lowered just enough to keep the sun from searing his pupils while Tai searched around restlessly.
"What a woman," Ari whispered to himself as the sun barely moved.
Tai had finally found Callie pretty easily but wasn't too happy about what she found her doing. Callie was standing in front of Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, humming a sweet melody as she was inspecting a small square paper in her hand. Callie's Octoshades, pure-black as if shut off, hid her eyes and obscured her expression. A similar curiosity took over Tai as she walked up to her. If Callie noticed her approach, Tai couldn't tell. She SHOULD just haul Callie back, but...
Peeking over Callie's shoulder, Tai looked down at the sheet of paper. Upon closer inspection, she realized the paper was worn with time, but the main image was still decently preserved. It was a family photo—small and with washed-out colors. Callie was there, without any bizarre sunglasses glued to her face, next to a familiar old grumpus Tai recognized as well as Callie's cousin. Marie and Cap'n Cuttlefish looked at least two years younger, smiling with Callie and some pink Inkling in agent gear.
Or something like that anyway. They definitely looked younger to Tai, that was for sure. How young were they? She didn't know.
"So," Tai spoke up, "That's what your family looks-"
"KyAaAaAaAh!" Callie screeched right in Tai's ear, flinging away the picture back to the dilapidated Squidbeak Splatoon shack.
"YOW, cool it, dude!" Tai howled in distress, pressing her hands to her left ear, "Think I'm deaf in both ears!"
"Sorry! I- You have ears?" Callie mused curiously.
Tai gave her a look. Callie gave a look as well, but with her Octoshades. A cyan question mark lit up on her glasses that made Tai question if it was healthy for her to wear them in the first place.
"I don't seeeeeeee Octoling ears very often!" Callie explained her point, looking away bashfully but with a cheeky smile on her face.
"No, I'm a clam," Tai explained back at her, voice rich with sarcasm. She then raised an eyebrow and asked, "What else 'cha got there-"
"Nothing!" Callie cheered, ceremoniously kicking the picture and several other pictures underneath the cabin into a spot where nobody, especially an octopus could slide into, hopefully, probably.
Callie turned around and flashed a smile that someone could see a wax figure make at them. Naturally, this had Tai raise her eyebrow higher. As the suspicion multiplied, so did the beads of sweat that began to run down Callie's face The pink pixels on her Octoshades mimicked the pink sweat droplets splattering on the ground, creating an infinite digital downpour of pink.
"It's really nothing! I just found it on...uhhhhhhhhhh...that bulletin board." Callie explained deliberately and not at all suspiciously, quickly pointing to the light-blue board attached to the shack. "The bulletin board full of other funny-looking pictures- Not that I was looking at pictures, but-
Tai turned and inspected the board, brow still raised high. "And here I thought I was the only one going crazy. I just happen to have two fellow nutjobs."
"Crazy for you…" Ari trailed off in the background in a loopy tone, "My bab- Darling."
He was tripping over his own words so much at this point that Tai just scowled. "I'll deal with you and whatever the shell you're talking about later," Tai stated in a disciplinary voice, standing straight and glaring down at Ari.
She stopped suddenly and pressed a hand to her mouth in shock. Tai also abandoned her posture, hunching over like she caught a right hook to the stomach. Callie, naturally curious, cocked her head, though her eyes were doing a poor job of changing the subject as they darted from Tai back to the cabin as she did so. Tai just made a grimace and spun back around, pushed Callie out of the way despite her protests, and began reading the billboard.
"Ugh. All this 'talking like Aussie' is making my mouth taste bitter." Tai thought to herself, "Why were you looking at this thing?" Tai wondered aloud, "There's nothing on here except newspaper clippings. And...baby pictures?"
"Baby pictures?" Callie gasped, practically hurling Tai to the side to view the board, "Uh, wait a minute!"
Tai landed back on the makeshift sofa Ari laid on, scattering maps and junk(and probably collapsing Ari's chest). As Ari laid there, knocked back into reality but also wheezing uncontrollably, Tai hopped off of him and stormed back towards Callie.
"Dude, the shell's your deal?" Tai demanded to know, thrusting a finger in her face.
"Look at this…" Callie muttered to herself, much to Tai's confusion. "Adorbs!" Callie fawned, shimmying her arms from side to side. "Look!" Tai didn't budge when Callie pressed several photos in her face.
Tai's silence spoke for herself.
"This baby looks so familiar. Doesn't she look familiar to you?" Callie asked, showing the photo to Tai. "The one on the left!"
Glancing down at the picture out of a begrudging obligation to, Tai noticed that there were indeed two squid toddlers in the photo. One was a spritely black-and-pink squid practically hugging the life out of another minty white-and-green squid. Tai looked up from the photo and at Callie, digital hearts floating in her shades.
"No," Tai stated, deadbeat and uninterested.
"Hmm! That's odd," Callie chirped, tearing the photo in half, "These remind me of someone… Oh well!"
"Wh-"
Callie shrugged her shoulders. "Something about the other one made me angry. Like, I don't know what came over me, but I felt like the green one and the pink one just didn't belong together anymore, so I decided to separate them for a bit. Crazy, right?"
"Okay, sure whatever," Tai said, swiveling herself along with all her interest she had away from Callie, "Desecrate precious memories of the Cap'n Whitebeard all you want, I'm sure that's fine. Hey Ari!"
Callie stopped, thought for a minute, and spoke up, "Wait a minute."
"Yes!" Ari shouted, clutching his chest while shivering rapidly.
"You wouldn't happen to know where some dump called Octo Canyon is?"
"I wouldn't know where to begin with you my sweet…" Ari trailed off again.
"What?" Tai pointed her ear his way, cupping it underneath her tentacles. "You say something?"
"I say nothing, nothing says I," Ari replied, going back to staring at the sun before Tai could respond.
"Ugh!" Tai grumbled gripping her hair tightly in her hands. "What is WRONG with you two? Seriously!"
"Hey, look at this! Another picture!" Callie announced happily, thrusting a newspaper in Tai's face, but not before ripping another family photo up. "Oops! Tore into the girl with the green dress. Whoops, that's a shame."
Tai's rising level of annoyance had her snatch the newspaper. She had half a mind to roll it up and bash both Inklings' heads in with it to knock the sense back into them once the sun finally set. Before she could become responsible for being Octo Valley's first Octoling commander to bludgeon an Inkling with a paper tube, something within the fine text caught her eyes. Underneath an annoyingly large picture of Callie and Marie was something that stood out to her. Mostly because it was impossible to miss. Stapled to the newspaper was a scroll, and pasted onto that were a letter and a map.
And underneath those two was a small sticky note with a familiar term written with all capital letters on it.
Tai began to read. She gleaned the material, biting her lips. Most of it was just Cap'n Cuttlefish talking about "Agent 1 and 2 this" and "Agent 3 and crabby cakes" that. Nonetheless, there was something here that might help her move on now that she had these two in one place. With this whole "acting as Aussie" business, she decided to take matters into her own hands and try to read. She read...Octo-something. Canyon. It had to be canyon. Octo Canyon.
"Thanks, voice." Tai concluded that whatever that blob of Inkling text on the note had something to do with Octo Canyon through peerless examination skills. Honestly, it looked pretty much like a blob, but she was glad that someone was finally selfless and helpful enough to point that much out to her.
"Alright, THANKS voice."
Picking up the note, she turned back to Callie, pointing at the squiggly mess that was the note. "Hey, does this say-" Was what Tai would have said, had Callie been doing anything else than currently ripping tons of various photos in half with a flat, emotionless smile on her face. The floor started to get cluttered with old, now torn pictures of two individuals, most specifically including the two individuals who had black and white tentacles plus pink and green clothing respectively. Her range of destruction stretched from regular photos to newspapers. Callie continued about her business robotically as if in some kind of petty, photo-destroying trance.
Naturally, Tai quickly decided it was best not to get herself involved and to consult the other loon she had traveling in her party. Marching up to Ari, she took the note, raised it up, and shoved it into Ari's face.
"Hey, does this say 'Octo Canyon' on it?" Tai questioned him.
Oh, I guess the word of a disembodied voice in your head doesn't matter much.
"I'm just making sure," Tai shrugged, "Does this say-
"Oh, my love!" Ari screeched, "Oh, how absolutely unfaithful I've been!"
"Uh, sure, can you read-"
"Woe is me! Feelings locked in the safe that is my heart! For so long, I've yearned to ask you a question."
Tai stood in silence, becoming more and more unamused and breaching into the negatives with her interest in whatever it was he was saying. Ari continued, "I just don't know how to express it to you in a way that won't make you think less of me."
"Alright then." Tai shrugged her shoulders, beginning to walk away, "I guess I'm trusting your word, voice."
"Wh- HEY! You're going to trust that delusion's word after all?" Ari screeched in dismay.
"Oh, he can hear you too." Tai didn't seem that surprised. If anything, she just looked bored.
"Yes, and- Whoa, you can hear him too." Ari blinked in surprise for a moment, then immediately pushed the fact to the back of his mind. "I also know you've been ignoring my responses to your distaste of me! Don't you know what I think? Don't you care about your's truly being so concerned about a relationship as beautiful as this?" Ari complained, holding the back of his hand to his head and swooning as if his hearts themselves were struck with a three-pronged arrow by some beautiful goddess of love.
"I already know, Ari," Tai told him in the most deadpan of expression.
"Really?" Ari's face lit up with a hopeful glow.
"And I'd love to talk more about this later why I think we're not gonna work, but right now I need you to read this and-"
Ari's face wore one of the grimmest, yet flat and deflated grimaces he's had in his entire life. Ari felt as though a heart, if not all three of his, in his chest had exploded, leaving behind a real, ginormous hole and several ruptured organs. He couldn't breathe. For he feared that even if he did, the air would pass right through him. Standing behind Tai and in the middle of ripping a photo in half, Callie looked just as stunned as Ari did.
"What?" Ari whimpered, "What do you mean?"
"Ari, do you remember what I said a long time ago?" Tai asked, taking her goggles and looking into them.
"That I'm pretty cool," Ari stated, "That you'd give me a chance."
Tai sighed, looking him dead in the eyes. "Yeah. But how long ago was that?"
Ari began to speak up, but then he realized. Even if he didn't remember exactly how long ago it was, he does know that it was a long time ago they've last talked to each other like that. In fact, he didn't remember the last time he'd seen her since…
"What about Squidoween?" Ari blurted out, "We were together then, right? Sure, it feels like a few years ago, but-"
"...Don't you mean Shalloween?" Tai pointed out in confusion, "That one time I had on a schoolgirl outfit and you were some goof with cowboy boots spinning your gun around?"
Ari froze. "No, not that! That one time, about a-"
Ari froze up again, rigid as a statue. About a year ago. The last time he'd really tried to get close to Tai was about a year ago. And it wasn't even this year's Squidoween. Ari's mind began to overheat. How long ago was it? Did we even pass this year's Squidoween? Why is it called Squidoween instead of Shalloween now? Wasn't it Shalloween the year before that? Hasn't it always been Shalloween? What did I do wrong? Why doesn't she remember? Why? What? Whuh?
Naturally, his mind took the only reasonable option for this increased theorizing activity and shut off momentarily. The sun stopped shining and everything went dark. Callie stopped looking worried and unreasonable angry at static pictures. Tai's sent-down-from-heaven face, stern and tired, vanished from Ari's point-of-view. Everything ground to a halt as Ari fell back down into unconsciousness.
"Am I dying from heartbreak? Even before I get to second-base? Oh, Cod in the heavenly reef above, how could you do this..."
Chi expected a lot more from Yurin. For all intents and purposes, for a spy who had infiltrated the ranks of the Octarians and tricked even Octavio himself into getting to make big decisions with the council, she expected to be keeled over and coughing up her own blood. She was, however, experiencing a far more potent emotion than pure tortured pain.
"Tsk tsk," Someone said, literally enunciating the sound as if to pester her, "My sister was right about you. You are a fun nut to crack."
It was all coming back to her. Winst's taunting, the false promise of friendship used to lure her into a life odd jobs and torture. Her over-expository dialogue did make mention of family, and now that Yurin was face-to-face in a scenario familiar to Chi, she could see the resemblance.
...Okay, so Yurin's face was a lot less hateable. It was much softer and more charismatic than Winst, even when she was glowering down at Chi. Also, the fact that she was Tai's so-called "co-commander" should've tipped her off sooner, but she tried not to dwell on how suspicious that was in retrospect.
"I'm sorry about your sister," Chi tried to say, but it was cut off immediately.
"Ah, you don't get to apologize!" Yurin said, slapping her across the face.
Chi frowned, rubbing her cheeks. It probably would've hurt more if the glove Yurin used to slap her with wasn't part of a doctor's scrubs. She felt kinda awkward, sitting in this decently heated outpost room, hands and legs free. This punishment was way more comfortable than sitting on that bed in the middle of the prison camp.
Yurin crossed her arms. "I'm in this situation because of you, Chi. This is my revenge."
"I didn't MEAN to krill her," Chi explained, looking to the side. "It was Tai's mom, but…"
"Cod, you Octavio drones and your colloquials. Just say 'kill'!" Yurin groaned, spinning her finger in a circle with a dizzy look on her face.
Chi scowled up at her. The wooden chair she was sitting in was a little lower than she expected, meaning she had to converse with Yurin like she was a sea turtle staring up at someone walking on the beach. The ceiling of the "interrogation room" they were in was pretty low too, so Yurin bending over to leer in Chi's face was as intimidating as it was necessary.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing," Yurin muttered with a dark look in her eyes, "Which is the entire problem."
"What are you talking about?"
"Who uses another species to describe murder?" Yurin demanded to know, leaning in and glaring at Chi as though she were being interrogated for the creation of sea slang. "What happens if you meet a krill and five seconds later they get shot? Do you say, 'oh Cod, they krilled that krill'?"
"It's just...it's just a pun, Yurin," Chi said with a deadpan look on her face.
"Youinn," Yurin growled, baring teeth.
Chi's eyes lit up. "Youinn? You!"
"Yes, that's my name. Please stop using my code-" Youinn's eyes widened.
She grabbed Chi by the straps of her Octoling Armor, pulling her close to her face. "You forgot my name?"
Chi sucked in air through her teeth. "I remembered that you're...Winst's sister."
"Yeah, everyone knows that," Youinn muttered under her breath, "But all of that? Besides the point. Chi, what I want to know is what you think you're doing."
"What do you mean?"
Youinn pointed up. "You've been up there galavanting with these Octarians doing absolutely nothing for months now. For months, you guys haven't made a move until now. Normally, I'd try and pry as much information out of you as possible, but we already know that whatever Octavio's plotting never involves us."
"Does that mean we can go?" Chi asked.
"Yeah, let me just phone Octavio really quick. You can even bring Tai here to scratch my face off too," Youinn grunted, "No, I'm here to offer you guys an alternative."
Chi shook her head.
"I haven't even said what it is yet-"
Chi leaned forward in her seat. "Because I already know what you guys are going to suggest. 'No' I'm not joining the rebels again. No one else is going to either. Sorry."
Youinn tightened the grip on Chi's armor. "Chi...c'mon. I know that you'd make a good addition. We could use you for demolition duty again-"
"I said no! You can...shove it. Just leave us alone," Chi demanded, looking away.
Maybe that was a mistake. Youinn's knuckles went white, much to Chi's surprise. Whatever plan required Chi's cooperation must've been really important, because Youinn was eyeing Chi like she was the most disgusting thing in the world. A disgusting thing she needed. Without saying a word, she dropped Chi, reached into her pockets, and whipped out another glove, striking Chi across the face.
Chi sat there, straight-faced, really unsure of how to respond to being assaulted with a fleece glove, especially one so soft and pleasant smelling.
"Screw it. I'm just going to do my job," Youinn said, shaking her head as she began to pull something out of her pockets.
Chi's eyes began to close as she felt a strange bout of drowsiness took hold of her. "Wait-"
"Why…? What did Chi do?"
"She only got her in the face. ...That came out worse than I wanted it."
"Oh no," Chi heard someone squeak, "Oh no, no, no no."
"It's Jerry," Chi concluded quietly as the fog cleared from her vision.
Lo and behold, it was Jerry, leaning over her. He was sweating bullets. Lee and Ova were on each of Chi's sides, also looking down. Neither of them had any reassuring look on their faces. They both looked like Jerry: worried and terrified. Chi realized that she was lying on the bed, head laying back on the mattress. Her head would sting when she attempted to look up and to the side, and her face felt puffy. Chi gingerly rolled her head to her right, where Yurin-
Youinn, sorry, was standing, with an entourage of Octarians.
"Let that be a lesson to the rest of you!" Yurin declared at a tone that made Chi's ears ring, "We won't treat you as nice as Octavio would have. Consider it a blessing that it was this traitor instead of one of you. We're giving all of you a chance to join the right cause," Youinn shouted, turning around, "And I expect you'll take it."
Chi wanted to do something. The other Octarians in her squad glared at Youinn. Chi struggled to get up as they crowded around the mattress, forming a wall between the mattress and Youinn. Hazy though it may be, her mind tracked back to Mai. It was her fault anyone got hurt in the first place. She would not let it happen again.
So Chi thought, collapsing into unconsciousness before she could even attempt to stand up.
"Hmm! Another good one!" Callie chirped before tearing another photo to shreds.
"Chill, Callie!" Tai commanded irritably, rubbing her temples, "I gotta think."
"Blurb," sputtered someone else.
"You too, Ari."
Tai leaned against the board, sitting atop a pile of shredded photographs. Truth be told, they were actually really comfortable. She wouldn't recommend tearing up priceless memories, but lying on it now, Tai admitted it was like sitting atop a pillow. A very shredded and somewhat oily pillow, but still a pillow. Turned out that Callie really liked making these "pillows" too. To her right, Ari was being covered with more photo scraps. All of them had the familiar green squid in the frames that were either slightly preserved or torn in half in tattered piles, though a lot of pictures were reduced to barely recognizable puzzle pieces of a picture in some other piles.
"...You two are nuts," Tai sighed and threw her hands up in the air, "Screw it, I'm going back to base. You two can stay here and keep vandalizing this place or start filling it with more trash."
"It wasn't even a real date…" Ari spoke softly, turning on his side on the bed of scraps.
Wordlessly and impatiently, Tai yanked Ari off from the scraps. He would have stumbled to his feet, face lost in thought in a permanently worried demeanor, but it was hard to emote when he was being dragged by his leg with his face still down in the dirt. Callie, on the other hand, found her opportunity and began carelessly shimmying into the ruined photos. To say it was self-decadent would be an understatement; Callie's glasses made the obvious act more obvious by having pixel fireworks go off in the lenses. Without flinching, Tai turned, unintentionally spinning Ari around, and clamped her hand on Callie's arm.
"Ow!" Callie whined as she was dragged along, "I was going to lay in it next!"
Ari protested too. At least, Tai assumed that's what he was trying to do. Face in the dirt, remember.
"Get out of there!" Tai demanded, "We're wasting daylight!"
Tai barely had time to realize how Aussie that sounded before Callie pouted and said, "And you're going to make me waste this paper pile! Look at it! It's so comfy…"
"I don't care about how comfy that trash is, let's go," Tai exclaimed through grit teeth.
Tai wondered if this was what it felt like to go insane. She also wondered if she'd get jumped by fanboys/fangirls/the rest of the Octarians if she slugged Callie across the face. So, she took a deep breath. Handling the situation with dignity and grace, Tai picked Callie by her legs and slung her over her shoulder like a sack of Octavio-approved army rations™. Callie looked like she meant to protest, but was too surprised to say anything. Also, this Octoling was beginning to frighten her.
Ari shed a single tear, leaving an orange splotch in the dirt. "She's so strong, too. She really doesn't need me."
"I've got to pawn these off on Aussie," Tai thought to herself, "I need to put things back to the way they were."
"Hey, you!"
Tai stopped. "Me?"
"Who else is here, dumb bass?"
Tai watched two unfamiliar Octolings stroll up to her. Two Octolings, both donning rags and torn banners featuring Octavio's crossed out with a "no" symbol, sneered at her. The two approached, one pounding her fist into the palm of her other hand while the other brandished a chain.
"Oh no! Gangsters!" Callie gasped.
"You're really tempting fate hangin' 'round these parts, Seaweed," hissed the chain-gal.
The other girl stretched her fingers. "You shouldn'tve gotten left behind by the others, Seaweed."
"Stop calling me that." Tai took a look at the raggedy girls. She couldn't help but take notice that they were wearing degraded Octoling armor underneath the rags, also with the same "Down with Octavio!" symbol the rebels liked using in dark violet. Tai glanced down at her Octoshot, strapped to her shorts with a belt. She could probably take them down, but without any Ink Tank, it'd probably wouldn't fire for long.
"What was that, Octavio slave?" The chain-girl shouted, pressing her ear up toward Tai's face. "You're gonna have to get Octavio's BOOTS out of your mouth first."
Tai, much to the surprise of everyone else, hurled Callie at the Octoling with the chain. Callie's very fashionable black boots left a not-so-fashionable mark as she unintentionally dropkicked the girl to the ground, but Tai wasn't done. Before she hit the ground, Tai decked her with her Octoshot, (un)intentionally shattering the glass container and spilling the rest of the ink reserves she had on her. Other girl was flabbergasted, but the shock didn't last long.
"Don't get cocky!" The other girl managed to squeak as she put up her fists.
Her fists didn't put up much of a fight either, as Tai expertly took Ari's legs and smacked the other Octoling with Ari's face as though he were a bo staff, dropping her on the ground right beside her friend.
"Yow!" Ari exclaimed, clutching his forehead, "Ah- Tai! Whyyyyyy?"
"Ahh. Both at once, too." Tai heaved pleasantly.
Callie got up to her feet carefully. She stepped off of the poor, unconscious soul she had just knocked out and asked, "What's up with their get-up?"
Tai frowned and inspected the two Octolings. "I remember these guys. They took Chi back into their rebellion a long time ago."
"What! They did?" Callie gasped in shock.
Callie grimaced, kicking up dirt as she pounced for the downed Octolings. "That's so messed up! You two are jerks, you know that? Who would abduct someone like that against their will and force them to work for them?"
Tai grappled her arms around Callie's own as she tried to enact her revenge. "Not these two specifically, doofus! They're just jobbers for the Amphio Alliance."
Callie stared at the ground. Sure enough, the two Octolings were out cold. One of them had an eye, still open, twitching violently. Callie, curious as ever, crouched down and poked her face. "Amphio? Wuzzat mean?"
"Don't do that, you'll probably catch their stupid," Tai grunted, pulling Callie's hand away. "And I dunno, probably something to do with non-saltwater fish."
"Wow, you know so much!"
"No. I don't." Tai grimaced. "And I shouldn't. Something in these goggles is...getting to me."
Tai shivered as she stepped over the rebel Octolings, probably-accidentally kicking dust into their open mouths. If they were awake, they would've complained about Tai's uncouth treatment of what were essentially war prisoners. But they were unconscious, so Tai kept kicking dust at them.
"Where are you going?" Callie asked innocently, skipping over them as their eyes kept twitching and mouths foamed violet spit.
"If Aussie's already given up on doing anything, then I'm going to go to someone who does at HQ," Tai explained, rolling up her sleeves.
She grabbed the two unconscious Octolings by the back of their raggedy old "battle armor" and began to drag them across the ground while balancing Ari's tall Inkling body on her left shoulder casually. Callie frowned. If it wasn't for his hands clutching at his bruised forehead, she probably wouldn't have been able to tell which ones were unconscious or not. The three walked in a stern silence for a while; the seaweed attached to Tai's-
"Aussie's!"
The seaweed attached to Aussie's goggles bent and blew in the wind. Tai puffed air up at the sky with a glare, as if to say "Screw off, voice".
"So...why are we bringing these guys?" Callie spoke up, eyeing the two rebel Octolings.
"Because it's what I'm supposed-" Tai suppressed a gag. "We're gonna haul these idiots in and ask them where they came from and why."
Callie hummed interestedly.
"Then I'm gonna lie down for the rest of the day."
"Oooh."
"I'm just not used to doing this, alright? Usually...Aussie and Chi help me with this." Tai complained, blowing a raspberry.
"Okay!" Callie chirped and flashed a bright smile.
Tai scowled at her pearly-whites. The unabashed cheerfulness was starting to get on her nerves. Grabbing Callie by her hand, she began to pull her along as well as the three others. Though inundated by the weight of her ever thirsty "boyfriend" and the two rebel jerks being dragged behind, she persisted through the dusty, dirt platform toward the headquarters.
Tai frowned. In reality, now it felt like the weight of the others really wasn't anything. Heck, if anything, her muscles were heftier after the incident where she and Aussie were stranded. Tai recalled the drills Aussie dragged her to after the fact. She insisted on waking up even earlier than usual to get Tai to actually exercise. It wasn't even anything special. Just a bunch of weights, running, and a sprinkle of death-defying regular jumps over the giant, dark, bottomless pit in Tek's old room.
That was a weird room to have in a base.
How long was it since then? Tai grimaced at the thought of keeping a coherent schedule. Still, it felt like forever since she had really done anything. After that misadventure where they were stranded on a mission underground, it was just Aussie and her, day after day, training. Superior to slacker. Granted, Tai never woke up sore or tired, and if she was honest to herself, it was more like she watched Aussie do all that training while she sat down and watched. Just like old times.
Though, Aussie never yapped at her since the mission. Ever since, she stopped dragging Tai into the target range to lecture her about the importance of trigger discipline, carrying Tai to the jogging tracks in the other kettles, or even waking her up early. This entire situation was as if Aussie was ignoring Tai.
Tai huffed. And of course, of all the times Aussie could've ignored her, it had to be now. Luckily for her, the base was only a couple of steps further. Carrying three people still wasn't so bad, but that combined with Callie's constant humming was beginning to bother her.
"-alright, I'll check. YO GUYS! WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED BACK YET?"
Tai nearly jumped off the platform into the Valley. Tai dropped everything she was doing, and by that, dropped Ari on top of the Octolings she knocked out. Luckily for Tai, that didn't seem to wake them up. Unluckily for Tai…
"Gah! Oh, excuse me!" Ari apologized to the knocked out girls underneath him.
"Who is this?" A noise from underneath the Octolings barked. "We've got a problem. Chain-#20 and Supports-#50-"
Tai stomped on where the noise came from quickly. The crunching noise and the resulting electronic scrap that shot out from the armor was good news. Either she broke whatever they were using to communicate with the rebel base, or she just crushed the abdomen of a new breed of cyborg Octolings the rebels were secretly developing.
"Now I'm pretty sure I'm just being paranoid. Aussie doesn't think that." Tai wondered to herself. "Then again…"
"We gotta go!" Tai decided to shout, "I'm pretty sure they're getting back-up or something!"
"Who? What's going on?" Ari wondered aloud.
"Oh! Alright then!" Callie exclaimed, hoisting Ari up over her head as she started sprinting away.
The tinny voice from "Chain-#20's" armor began to act up again. "Get over to where they were stationed! If an Octavio patrol is in the area-"
Tai stomped on Chain-#20's armor. This time, all that came out was a strained squeak from her mouth. So much for that cyborg theory. Tai stomped more to the bottom-left at Chain's pants and shattered the communications device. She turned around quickly, ready to grab the others and head to the base.
"Hey, Tai, I don't think this is the right kettle!" Callie called out after her.
Tai arched an eyebrow. "That one?" It was the same one hidden in the dirt that she always entered, except now it had Callie's head peaking out. "No, that's the right one."
"Are you sure?" Callie asked, "Because Ari's wrestling with some of the Octolings inside."
Tai's face went pale. "He's what?"
Immediately five seconds after she mentioned that the kettle Callie stood in began to rumble. Switching to a pink squid and hopping out, she watched from the sidelines as Ari came out, grappling two Octolings donning Amphio Alliance clothes. One of the girls had Ari by his neck, and the other one was stretching his tentacles, tousling his hairdo, flipping his Jungle Hat over onto the ground, and practically choking him to death. Tai reached for a weapon but realized that the only weapons she had were getting strangled and watching the other one get strangled.
Tai frowned, stepping forward. At least now she had an excuse to punch another person. And this time, it'd be a real person.
"HooooooooooooooooooYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Tai's knuckles, unfortunately, hadn't a chance to try. Ari's strangling was cut out by his own whooping as he managed to shake the Octolings off of him. They hit the ground, snarled, and reached for Octoshots holstered underneath the rags over their shorts. They took aim, only to be met with Ari's elbow and his chest as he crushed them with a clumsily executed version of an elbow drop.
Callie stood up in a flash and began to applaud, her glasses flashing pixel fireworks. "Holy WOW! Good going!"
Tai pursed her lips, making her way over to the new champion. "She wasn't kidding."
Ari held his throat with his right arm, straining to breathe. Meanwhile, the Octolings he had just slammed into the earth might've stopped breathing. They were still very much alive, but unfortunately for them, their raggedy armor wasn't enough to stop Ari's unexpected super move. Tai ducked under Ari's free arm and supported him by his hips.
"Yeah, that was actually pretty sick," Tai admitted as she rose up.
Ari coughed out what sounded like "thank you" as he steadied his breathing. Callie stepped in, offering her shoulder to lean on too. Ari looked at her, shook his head, and got to his feet, letting Tai release him.
"So…" Ari cleared his throat, looking over his shoulder at his amateur assassins, "I guess you have bigger problems than our...uh...relationship."
Tai nodded slowly. "Yeah…"
Ari frowned, looking down at the floor. "I suppose this really is a bad time to be discussing matters of our romance." Ari stared at Tai, who was standing there with an awkward frown. "Or lack thereof."
"That's…" Tai's eyes darted from side to side. "Well, yeah, that's...yeah."
"Which is why I'm coming with you and defeating all these pretty scoundrels so we can talk about it later!" Ari declared, puffing out his chest before transforming into a squid. "If you need me, whether romantically or as your sword, I'll be theeeeeeere!"
With Tai lost for words, Ari jumped back down into the kettle. Neither of the girls went after him immediately. They crouched down, both putting their ears to the kettle. Sure enough, the sound of war could be heard flowing up and out from the kettle following Ari's foolhardy battle scream.
"Look at that!" Callie smiled and looked up at Tai. "He must really like you, huh?"
"Don't start," Tai snapped, changing into octopus form quickly, sliding into the kettle.
Callie's smile didn't drop. Instead, she followed suit, her small pink squid form slipping through the grate to follow the two "lovers" as they quarreled through the base below.
Mai had a hard time talking about her past. Not necessarily out of trauma or fear. She was wiser with age and learned to live with what she had. Looking down at her new, temporary prosthetic leg, she reflected on everything that led her up to this point and wondered if maybe she was pretty lucky all things considered.
After all, these kids were going through something else.
"Mrs. Inaba! The rebels are beginning to make their way through the barrier!"
Mai turned to the doorway of the medical ward. There stood one Octoling, with piles of furniture, scrap metal, the other bed, and several assorted medical supplies stacked behind her in a condensed scrap heap. Her tentacles were stuck to the table flipped on its side, and her arms were splayed out in both directions, one gripping a spare IV drip filled with a fuchsia substance while the other was holding first aid kits on top of the rest of the makeshift barricade.
"When are we getting-" The barricade shifted slightly. "Back-up? It's been several hours and-" The barricade shifted again, more slightly. "This junk's barely moved!"
"Several hours? It practically feels like we've been here MONTHS without back-up! Get Yurin on the line or something!"
"I don't know how much longer I can hold them, Mrs. Inaba! We need to figure out an escape plan!" The Octoling explained, stretching out part of her lab coat to keep the first aid kits from falling on the floor.
"Clariss, there's one blocked door," Mai shook her head, "Any escape plan means letting them in anyway."
"No way! I refuse to let them in!" Clariss shook her head furiously, "Capturing you would give them a huge hostage benefit! That and Tai would probably take her anger out on me!"
"Hmm. Alright then," Mai began, slowly making her way off the bed and toward the barricade, "You sit on the bed and think of a plan while I hold up the barricade."
"Absolutely not! You're recovering!"
Mai, standing in front of Clariss, lightly pushed her out of the way. The frazzled Clariss rolled over on her back, landing on her butt, watching Mai as she waltzed up to the barricade. She leaned on her metal leg, pressed her hand up against the door, and gave it a light shove.
The barricade banged as the rebels on the other side groaned. "Jeez! Give me a break! Can we go back now? This base is as empty as ever!"
"Whoa…" Clariss muttered, pushing her glasses back up on her eyes. "That's a Great Turf War veteran…"
Mai frowned and took her hand off of the barricade. Clariss' mouth gaped open in horror, but as soon as the next cycle of barricade jostling began, the weight of the barricade barely shifted at all.
There were frustrated groans on the other side of the wall. "Let's just leave; we haven't gotten anywhere. It's just one medical bay."
Quiet murmurs of agreement were heard coming from the other side. Soon, the sound of Octotrooper machinery and Octoling footsteps were heard marching away, getting quieter and quieter as they continued. Mai just gave Clariss a smug grin.
"W-Well, in my defense, I thought they'd be invading with a thousand troops! Or something bigger!" Clariss began to scratch the back of her head, going on to shamefully fix her tentacles.
Mai rolled her eyes, smile still on her face. "You did fine."
She gave the table a good, confident smack. Said table then gave away, with the other materials of the barricade spilling out into the hall, the table included. Now the obstruction looked like someone used the table as a battering ram to enter. Clariss' face retook an expression of shock, while Mai just clenched her fist in frustration.
"Huh! Hey, look! The pile of junk's practically destroyed! All that shoving really worked!"
"Mrs. Inaba!" Clariss shouted, scrambling to get to her feet.
Clariss reobtained her IV drip-xcalibur and pointed the gently curved metal hook toward the door, sweat dotting her face. Mai frowned, shook her head, and stood in front of her. She reached down and gripped one of the table legs, ripping it off the now destroyed table and wielding it like a stubby baseball bat.
The marching began again, faster and in their general direction. Machines were whirring and boots hit the ground hard, echoing through the hall. Clariss moved up, leaning against the wall and ready to swing. Mai stood in place, nodding to Clariss.
"What are you doing?" Clariss whispered to her, clutching the IV drip.
"Acting as bait," Mai whispered back, "I can't hit anyone with this at this range, but I can take a few hits," Mai stated, giving her prosthetic leg a light tap.
"You want them to shoot your leg off?" Clariss scowled, eyeing the older Octoling up and down like she was making sure her head was screwed on correctly. "Mrs. Inaba…"
"No, Clariss- It's ink resistant; it'll deflect a few shots first before I'm stuck hopping in place. Uh, unless they aim for you first and I'm killed."
Clariss gulped, the footsteps in the hall growing louder. "It won't come to that! (Please don't let it come to that.)" She whispered the last part, a mortifying expression on her face.
The footsteps stopped, and stepping on the remains of the table was a very agitated looking Octoling. Two rebel Octotroopers took up arms behind her. Mai frowned. In reality, the only difference between rebels and regular Octarian forces seemed to be how ragged they looked. This Octoling and the Octotroopers accompanying her had decrepit old rags for uniforms with dented and dusty armor.
Mai also noticed how unrecognizably strained their faces looked from all the veins popped in anger the rebels had. "Finally! Get 'em, boys! The boss won't mind if we blast just a few, small holes in them!"
The Octotroopers fired their orb projectiles at Mai, making their way through the door as they did so. Apparently, rebel weapons knew how to speed up the normally sluggish Octotrooper shots as they floated much faster than Mai was expecting. As though she were a martial artist, Mai kicked with her metal leg, cutting the ink projectiles out of the air. Clariss, quick to follow up, swung the drip at the Octotroopers, hoping to knock out at least one of them.
Clariss instead hooked both of the Octotroopers by mistake. Initially startled by her own mistake, she yanked the metal pole back, pulling the Octotroopers off their mobile artilleries. Clariss tripped and fell back on her bottom, but not before inadvertently clotheslining the two rebel goons into the metal wall behind her.
Mai made to make a thumbs-up but then gasped out in pain suddenly, kneeling on the floor. Her metal leg was still attached, but supporting herself with only that was out of the question now. The rebel Octoling chortled in satisfaction having nailed Mai in her good leg. The ink didn't hurt as much as Mai thought it would've, but her leg felt too numb to stand on. Her metal leg felt heavy from deflecting the ink salvo from earlier.
"Mrs. Inaba!" Clariss yelled, struggling to rise.
The rebel pulled out a small receiver device shaped like a compass. "Yurin, this is Provoker-9, I've got a few stragglers here at the base and I'm bringing them back right now!"
Mai grit her teeth. She mentally cursed herself for letting herself get sloppy. The rebel stowed her receiver away and began to take a step inside, Octoshot pointed at Mai's face. Clariss was frozen in place, though her attention was solely placed on Mai. Her face was that of extreme concern. Mai couldn't blame her; it wasn't like they taught the R & D Octarians how to bludgeon people. She'd probably be too slow to get a chance to swing the IV drip much less stand up in time.
Mai resigned herself to her face, glaring at the rebel. The rebel just nodded as if understanding, gesturing for her to get up and begin walking. Mai wondered if she'd be able to knock out the girl faster than she could shoot as she got to her feet slowly.
"Oh! Hi."
Everyone (except the two unfortunate Octotroopers slammed against the wall) turned to the doorway. Standing in the frame was none other than Callie, standing there like she was visiting a patient. Her Octoglasses had a heart rate monitor line buzz calmly, and her face had a soft smile.
"...Hi?" The rebel frowned for a moment, noticing that Callie was very much unarmed.
Mai narrowed her eyes. Callie began to walk into the room.
Provoker-9 pointed her weapon at the idol. "Ah, not a single step further."
Callie blinked. She stopped and took a step back, crossing her arms behind her back as she turned her head down the hall. Mai's eyes narrowed. The attention was now on the Inkling. Now was her chance!
"TAI! ARI! I found another one!"
And there it went. Mai watched as a purple, orange hurricane rocked the medical room, upheaving the broken barricade pieces and flinging medical equipment around. Provoker-9 hardly had a chance to utter "Freeze!" before Tai came in, slamming a shiny, steel first-aid kit down on her head. Ari "helped", launching himself at the rebel in his squid form.
"Gwuh!" Provoker-9's brain couldn't decide whether or not to express the splitting headache or the gut-wrenching squid tackle she had just received.
Either way, she tumbled down onto the floor, knocked-out all the same. Mai breathed a sigh of relief, looking up at her daughter and the overly excited Inklings she had brought with her.
"Woo! That's the sixth one down!" Ari threw his fists into the air once switching back to his humanoid shape.
"You don't see those in Turf Wars!" Callie remarked, giving the two of them a round of applause, "Not until afterward at least, but that was still really cool guys!"
Tai walked up, ignoring Callie completely("Hey, c'moooon!"), offering a hand. "Mom, we've got a problem.
Mai smiled up at her daughter-
"Who the shell?" Mai recoiled, almost pulling Tai's hand off altogether.
Tai frowned. "Mom?"
"...Tai? Oh, Tai. It is you. What did you do to your tentacles?" Mai asked aloud, grasping her daughter's face and studying it.
Tai scowled. Of course, she'd ask something like that. "Man, I told you it's a style."
"Ho ho, noooooo. You were promoted? So quickly? It changes color so quickly too."
Tai frowned even harder. She looked across the room, where Clariss was sitting still, mouth agape at her.
"What changes so quickly?" Tai asked.
"The color of your tentacles. They were getting a little gray before, but-"
"...Ms. Inaba!"
Tai rolled her eyes at the title and glanced back at her mom. The other Octarians were sticklers for name conventions. However, her mom just shot her a look back. A look that said, "she's not looking at me". Tai's eyes shrunk dramatically as more sweat began to pour down her face almost instantaneously. She pointed to herself just to be sure.
"I mean, T-41!" Clariss saluted, though Tai's reaction had her drop it.
"...Clariss, it's me. We worked together? You helped with the 'Octo-Inkling' situation?"
"Yes ma'am, I remember! Tek and Tenta, ma'am, that whole ordeal was...awful...ma'am!" Clariss announced, dusting herself off before saluting again.
Tai shook her head. "We don't need to bring any more outside series into this arc- Why do you keep calling me that? Shut up!"
"I'm sorry, ma- Tai! Tai," Clariss corrected herself, looking up at Tai's head, "But I didn't realize that Octoling tentacle colors changed like that immediately upon promotion."
Everyone looked at Tai. Callie grasped her own tentacles gasped in delight. "Wow, your tentacles are becoming black like mine!"
Tai began vibrate horribly. Not shiver, but vibrate like she was going to explode. And in terms of explode, well, it could go either way the term means.
"Tai? Um, if it's anything to help you with...please, warm up using my coat, ma'am-"
"SHUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP."
On the floor of the prison camp within the caverns of Octo Valley laid dozens of Octarians. They were all beaten up, several bruised and battered and smashed into the ground where they stayed, buried and hopefully still alive. In the middle of the carnage, there was a mattress, and on that mattress was an Octotrooper trapped inside a giant metal boot, an Inkling holding a rock for a weapon with everything but her legs now free, and three Octolings, one of which had a slightly bruised face.
In front of them, several other Octarians stood, waving the flags of rebellion proudly on their clothes. A crude representation of Octavio crossed out with a "no" symbol in dark violet. They had equally crude weapons. The Octoshots they had were rusted in places and the Octotroopers that they had with them had broken mobile platforms that sputtered ink, not dissimilar to lawn sprinklers. There were at least thirty of them surrounding the dozens of Octavio troopers, and they looked all too happy to beat down the Octavio Octarians.
Youinn stood between two Octotroopers equipped with dried strips of bark for shields and began to move toward the mattress. "Listen, Chi, I think it's pretty clear what the best course of action here would be."
Lee and Ova, also equipped with flat rocks for weapons, tried to act as the remaining shields for the mattress. An Octotrooper fired the dark-violet ink at them, and they dropped like flies, laying on the ground. Whatever was in that dark-violet ink was making it impossible for them to move. Lee tried in vain to try and crawl over to the mattress with her chin, but then froze in place, looking rather uncomfortable laying on the stone floor.
"Nice try, but you're not escaping from that for at least another hour." Youinn mocked the others, "It's laced with a light jellyfish venom. Quick-acting."
"Didn't they say it only lasts a minute?" One of the rebel Octotroopers among the ensemble asked.
"They don't need to know that!" Youinn whispered back, "Maybe you Octavio drones will wisen up and break protocol. If you join us, these types of new weapons will be the norm."
"I just wanted to get the move over with." Somehow, Ova managed to get that out despite her entire face being numb.
"And you?" Youinn pointed the two, small identical shooters toward the mattress with an amused expression. "Helping the Octarians? You're not the only traitor among these, are you?"
"Yeah, I have no idea what you people are going on about, but these octopi seem less like complete jackbasses," Basli muttered, tossing the rock up and down in the palm of her hand.
"That attitude's probably why you're down here in the first place," Youinn announced, loud enough for the other Octarians to hear, "And why your...tentacles are marked like so. You're an outcast from Inkling society, I see."
"What is it- It's the haircut? Have you guys seen more than the same haircut down here for your entire lives or is this completely just alien to you?" Basli asked, clearly ready to chuck the rock now.
Youinn shrugged, pointing both of the duel guns she had and pressing down on both triggers. The rock was shot out of her hand, to none of the rebels' surprise, and both her arms, still tied together, fell slack on her lap.
"Oh, great." Basli grunted.
"Should've worked on freeing yourself first, Inkling." Youinn shrugged nonchalantly, aiming directly for her head.
"Noooooo!"
Youinn fired, and barely managed to roll out of the way when it was deflected back at her. Basli gasped. Standing tall and proud in front of her in his shining armor was Jerry the Octoboot, the dark-violet ink running down his shell down to the ground, with naught an extra drop on Basli.
"Haha!" Jerry taunted them, "It looks like your ink's still really easy to deflect! Try that again, I dare you!"
Jerry shuffled in his boot-like metal contraption for a while. The rebels had begun to take aim, now ready to take on this strange trash can tentacle. That's what both sides thought anyway.
"Uh, I can't move." Jerry concluded as he sat in place.
"...Anyway." Youinn sighed, hands on her hip. "C'mon Chi, you're coming with me."
"No way!" The Octavio Octarians all bellowed, some from inside the dirt and others through slurred, dizzy speech.
"We won't give Chi up to you!"
"Yeah, we may be Octavio drones, and she might've been a rebel..."
"But we know when to stick up for our friend in her time of need!"
Chi's face blushed a violet-blue. She felt kinda touched. Kinda. Her feelings might've been more potent if less than half of the people who spoke up weren't embedded in the earth.
Youinn wasn't that touched at all. "I didn't even say anything or do anything yet. I just pre- Slugged her once and asked you if I could have her back after she rested."
Chi's eyes narrowed in suspicion. She felt the bruise on her face. Still stung, so she was pretty sure Youinn was just lying to her face at this point. Her teammates (the ones whose faces weren't two feet underground) looked a little sheepish.
"Hey, wait, she still hit Chi!"
"Yeah, that's pretty messed up! Let's get her!"
"Oh my Cod, Chi, can you just come with me so we can negotiate the terms of your surrender? I'm getting tired of dealing with you and your 'goons'." Youinn asked, beckoning with one of the dual-wielded weapons, "We don't have enough cleaning supplies to deal with anyone's death today."
"...Me?" Chi questioned a little louder than she would've normally. "What do you mean?"
"Chi, you don't know?" Lee spoke up suddenly.
"Lee!" Chi perked up.
The rebel Octarians shifted around and murmured to each other. "That was a little longer than a minute I guess."
Chi was relieved to see that Lee was up and well. Well, she was well, relatively speaking. She was still stuck to the floor and practically speaking through her teeth, but she was okay.
"You're the acting commander if Aussie and Tai aren't here!" Lee pointed out. "Then it's me, then Jerry, then Ova…"
"Why is Jerry over me?" Ova scowled.
Jerry couldn't move much, so he just made angry eyes at where he heard Ova's voice coming from. Chi was in disbelief.
"Wh- Who decided that?"
"We did," every Octavio Octarian chimed in at once, "You're the closest person to them!"
"Jeez," Basli muttered, scratching the back of her he- Oh wait, her hands still had ink on them.
"Your move, commander? What'll it be?" Youinn asked, circling the mattress like a shark, spinning the Octoshot in her hand. "We can keep fighting and we can bury you six feet lower than you already are, or-"
"Or! Or," Chi chimed in, hopping off the mattress and walking over to Youinn, "I choose 'or'."
"...Alright, come with me." Youinn rolled her eyes. "Winst will want to speak with you."
"...Or not."
AN: A lot's happened in the time this story hasn't been updated. I don't have any excuses man, I'm just bummed. This took like almost a full year to come out, and it's entirely because I've been putting it off to sulk and procrastinate.
Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, and Byleth's fine, but man are they a predictable choice for Smash DLC.