Ink is Thicker Than Water --- Chapter 2: A minor Cake-tastrophe.
Two days ago:
INKLINGS IN OCTARIAN 'DOMES'?
Ophelia Lunulata has awoken and has remained conscious. She refused to give any quotes until her 'public voice' was with her. The voice she was referring to is Oshea Thornell, who serves Ophelia to send her orders to the people. He arrived in the company of armed police officers, spending an hour in Ophelia's company before being available for comment. "She (Ophelia) demands that they (the government) take action in the rescue of the octarian citizens trapped in the domes." These underground 'domes' are where the octarians have lived since the great turf war claimed their land a hundred years ago. Oshea makes claims that inklings ('Squidlings') should have enough incentive to help if only for the fact that there are inklings in the domes, and have been since they were captured during splatfest. We have yet to hear a reply from city hall or the capital although the president claims to be readying to make a public appearance.
OCTARIAN PLAGUE SWEEPS INKOPOLIS
It seems that the Octomaton isn't the only thing Octarians have brought up to the surface, they have brought up a potent strain of rhinopharyngitis. This contagious disease is spreading across the city and infecting various citizens of Inkopolis, particularly inklings. Experts say the pathogen will only last a few days, they recommend resting for a few days, and drink plenty of water. Symptoms include stuffy nose, sore throat, and coughing.
Yesterday:
1,000 INKLINGS RETURN HOME
After 16 hours of heroic digging and cooperation from octarian forces, workers have unearthed a path for many inklings to super jump to freedom. Along with these inklings, approximately 5,000 octolings also made an escape. Unexpectedly, many of the rescued inklings protected these octolings and refused to allow them to be taken into custody. As a result a compromise arose, allowing octolings to have access to a homeless shelter.
SQUID SISTERS LEAVE URGENT CARE
Callie and Marie, Inkopolis' favorite idols were able to return home today after being greatly injured after a suspected kidnapping. They both refuse to discuss the cause of their injuries, only that they do not plan to press charges on the culprit.
Today, Toda’s birthday:
OPHELIA ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION?
At 5:24 AM this morning; doctors were alerted to a commotion in the room of Ophelia Lunulata, known as the queen of the Octarians. A nurse had walked in, only to be attacked by an octarian with a knife. The Octarian is now in custody, but claims that they were protecting the queen on her orders. Also found was a tube of ice which was the right size to be inserted into the machine's equipment and contained a fatal dose of poison, likely intended for Ophelia. The nurse remained unharmed, and was safely able to return home. Ophelia has requested five armed octarian guards be posted to her quarters. The request was denied, however she was allowed inkling guards.
Toda sat, leg bouncing as he looked over the headlines. He couldn’t help it, Bato was trying to get him into the habit. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse, or were they just… happening? He sighed and lay back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.
… At least everyone he knew was alright…
He sat bolt upright as there was a knock on his front door. “Coming!!!” He called, then stood with a grunt before heading to the front door.
On the other side, Bato smiled warmly at him, holding out a box of store-brand Mochi. “Happy Birthday bud.” He said, then leaned against the door frame.
“I told you guys that you didn’t have to get me anything!” He said, then stepped forward to give him a hug. “You know me too well for your own good...”
He laughed and hugged him back. “Right back at you.”
“Let’s sit you down, your leg’s still hurt.” He said, wrapping his arm around Bato’s shoulder and helping him to the living room.
“Toda, I’m fine.” He replied, even as he stumbled. “… not perfect, but fine… Thanks.”
He rolled his eyes, flashing him a grin as they both sat down. “Anytime.”
“Oh, you should probably get these into the freezer.” Bato said, holding up the mochi box.
“I got this.” He said, then lifted his head and called. “Hey daaaad!”
After a moment, Scott peered around the corner. “Hey soooooon?”
He snorted, then took the box from Bato and held it out. “Still sort of hurts to move, can you put this in the freezer?”
His father nodded and turned to head back to the kitchen. “Have fun you two.”
“We will.” Bato said, then turned to Toda. “… So, uh… How’s Necrodancer going?”
He snorted. “Getting back into practice. There’s not much else to do lately… I miss battles much, we barely got to do any of them before this all happened...”
Bato nodded solemnly. “Agreed. I’m… not getting my hopes up that battles will come back anytime soon though.”
He nodded, ears drooping. “I mean, the plaza’s a wreck, so… there’s that.”
“There’s that.” He agreed, frowning.
Just then another knock on the door caused Toda’s ears to perk right up. “Coming!!” He called, standing and making his way to the front door.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAAAAA!” Jill exclaimed, holding out a big bowl of what appeared to be M&Ms.
“H… Happy birthday.” Simon said as well, awkwardly clutching a wrapped box with an adhesive bow stuck meticulously on top.
“You guys too!?” Toda laughed. “I said you didn’t have to give gifts, I just want to hang out!”
“But we love you!” Jill said, proudly striding through the door. “And we want you to be happy!”
He snorted and closed the door, casting a small worried glance at Simon, who wasn’t making eye contact. They looked super nervous… and he wasn’t sure why.
“Hey Bato, want some candy!?” Jill’s exclamation shook him from his thoughts, and he made his way back to the couch, leaving a large enough space next to him for Simon to sit.
I’d love some.” He said, grabbing a small handful.
“What about you Toda?” She asked, holding the bowl out to him.
“Yes please!” He said, though something felt a bit suspicious... He scooped up a handful and popped a few into his mouth, cringing as the flavor of chocolate, fake fruit, and a blast of cinnamon all hit him at once. He spluttered, then swallowed, shooting Jill a short glare. “Judd damn it, Jill! Did you mix skittles, M&Ms and red hots??”
She started laughing, setting the bowl down on the table and picking out a few candies. “What? I didn’t do anything~!”
"Sure you didn't." He replied, grinning.
"If you want m&m's, you just need to get the blue ones." Bato told him with a grin of his own. "There aren't blue skittles."
He snorted. "Yeah, thanks, that's real helpful man.” He told him, lightly elbowing him in the side.
"We can turn it into a candy sorting party instead if you want!" Jill teased.
Scott leaned around the corner, smiling as he saw the four of them. “Hey Kiddo, your mom’s making the cake, but it’s going to be a while, so we’re going to order you kids some pizza, Do you have a topping preference?”
"I like pepperoni!" Jill said, enthusiastically waving her hand into the air.
"I'm ok with pretty much any usual kind of pizza." Simon said, still seeming… off.
"Got it." Scott said, then looked at Bato and Toda, "And I know what you two like... So I guess I'll get a cheese and a pep? Sound good?"
"Sounds good," Toda nodded.
"Alright then." Scott beamed… then leaned down and gabbed a handful of candy and popped it all into his mouth. His grin slowly faded as the flavors began to sink in.
“Do you like it?” Jill teased.
Toda snorted. “Yeah dad, isn’t it great?”
Scott slowly looked more amused, then grabbed a paper napkin off the dining table and spit out the candy into it. “Yeah, you got me kids.” He chuckled as he turned into the kitchen. “I’ll go order you those pizzas.”
“Thanks!” Jill said, then rocked on her heels for a moment before sitting down in the room’s armchair. ".... You guys heard what happened today, right?"
"The attempted assassination." Bato frowned. "It's troubling, that's for sure."
"That 'nurse' was going to poison her, I know it." Jill scowled.
"Jill why now, why today... " Simon pleaded "I thought this was going to just be a hanging out sort of day."
“Yeah, I… I would sort of prefer it.” Toda agreed.
Jill paused, then made herself smile. "You're right, I'm sorry. Hey Simon! Why don't you give Toda his present?”
Simon blushed brightly, holding the gift behind their back. “A-Ah! Um… I...” They gave a huge sigh, and then held it out toward him, avoiding eye contact. “It’s a… a joke gift.”
“My favorite!” He flashed them a quick smile, trying to be reassuring as he pealed the paper off. Inside was an in-box Rubix cube, with colors he knew well, gray, gray, gray, gray, gray and white. He started laughing, showing it to Bato.
“Simon you’re a genius.” Bato said, grinning broadly.
They looked up, still blushing. "What? You never thought of that before?" They asked, a slight smile crossing their face.
Bato shook his head. "No, that never occurred to me!"
“Thanks Simon.” Toda said, setting the cube down on the table and pulling them into a hug.
Simon hugged him back, giving a little happy sigh. "No problem."
"I told you he'd like it." Jill hissed, grinning.
“Shush!” They hissed back.
"So! Is there anything in particular we're going to do?" Jill asked.
Toda shrugged, pulling back from the hug. "I didn't really have anything in mind." He said. "We could watch a movie, or.. We have board games and stuff."
"Oooo, I'm up for a movie!" Jill said. “Dim the lights, have some popcorn...”
“I think having popcorn will get in the way of pizza and cake later.” Simon said. “I think just a movie’s a good idea.”
“Same.” He agreed, reaching forward and grabbing the remote. “We’ve got all kinds of movies in the cupboard over there, the animated ones should be up right right now, from when Hachi stayed over. There’s Monsters Ink, How to train your dragon, Up...”
"Ok, can I just rule Up out?" Jill asked. "Like, I really don’t want to cry about that today?”
"Yeah that’s reasonable." Bato agreed.
Toda nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Monsters Ink then?”
“Sounds good to me.” Simon nodded.
“Alright, let me get the DVD player on...” Toda said, turning on the TV.
“WE INTERRUPT THIS SCHEDULED PROGRAM TO BRING YOU THIS BREAKING NEWS REPORT.”
Toda jumped so sharply he dropped the remote onto Bato’s lap, staring as the screen flashed the headline; ‘Ophelia Lunulata Kidnapped’
“Mere moments ago, Ophelia Lunulata, Queen of the octarians, was kidnapped from Mustard Hill hospital, even with the presence of armed guards.” The screen changed to an image from a security camera, where two figures were climbing out a window, forms indistinct thanks to some bright reflective strips along their clothing, and shining lights on their weapons. “The two suspects smashed through the window of the hospital, forced Lunulata to transform and put her into an inktank before stealing an entire rack of medicine and jumping out the window. They then jumped into a white van and are currently resisting capture. We now go live to Brian on the weather chopper. Brian?”
“THANK YOU JULIE.” The Reporter on the helicopter replied, having to shout over the deafening sounds of the helicopter’s whirring propellers."WE'RE HERE GETTING A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF A HIGH SPEED CHASE, AS THE POLICE ATTEMPT TO APPREHEND THE KIDNAPPERS OF OPHELIA LUNULATA."
The camera panned down to show the police attempting to catch up to and trap the white van, which took a sickeningly sharp turn onto the highway. Toda swallowed anxiously as he watched, grabbing at both Simon and Bato’s hands. The van twisted and turned, a little too quickly, crashing into a guardrail and tumbling down a steep slope.
“NO!” Jill shouted, standing up as the tension got to her.
“C’mon, c’mon be okay...” Bato murmued.
Toda watched with baited breath as the van finally stopped at the bottom of the hill, slowly rocking onto it’s wheels. It was still for a long moment, then shuddered and began to drive again, although this time much much slower, and dripping some sort of fluid. Despite how rough it was, it had bought them a little time, as the police backtracked to the nearest exit instead of driving straight down after them.
The helicopter had to pull up a bit as they neared a bridge, and as soon as the van went under, the helicopter went to the other side, waiting for the dramatic shot of the van exiting the underpass.
... but it never happened.
“WHERE’D THEY GO!?” The reporter was shouting, begging the pilot to go back around to the other side of the underpass to make sure they hadn’t backtracked.
“Clever...” Bato murmured, a smile touching his lips.
“… Yeah.” Jill said. “They cloaked under the bridge, right?”
“I’m surprised it worked.” Simon said. “That van looked like it was barely moving...”
“… Same.” Toda agreed.
"... I hope they're alright..." Jill whispered.
“… We’ll find some way to check up on them.” Bato said. “After we eat.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Toda agreed, though he noticed Simon looking warily at Bato… Were they still mad? “… Let’s start up that movie.”
---
“To youuuu~!”
Toda blew out the candles on his birthday cake, heaving a sigh as the tendrils of smoke curled upward. His friends and family applauded, and he smiled warmly at them.
“Welcome to the 16 year old club.” Bato said, chuckling softly.
“Less talk more cake!” Jill said, making grabby hands.
“Toda first.” Anita said firmly, stepping forward to slice the cake.
He noticed how hard his mother and Simon were trying to avoid looking at each other, not that he could blame Simon in the least. “Thanks mom.” He said softly as she passed him a piece of cake.
“You're welcome.” She said, then passed a slice to Jill.
Jill licked her lips and took a deep breath to smell the cake before speaking dramatically. "Oh Cake, my all too platonic love~. I must murder you."
“That is about the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard someone say about food.” Scott said, slightly worriedly.
“I get that a lot.” She beamed, then took a bite of cake.
"So, how have the two of you been doing?" Scott asked, looking between Jill and Simon as he got himself a piece of cake. "Been healing up okay?"
"Yeah." Simon said, not looking up as Anita put a piece of cake in front of them.
"Better all the time!” Jill said. “I still have to remember to take it easy though. Helps that turf wars are canceled... "
"That's good." Scott said with a nod, then paused. "I mean, not glad that turf wars are canceled, but glad that you two are recovering. I do hope they get this all sorted out soon so they can start turf wars again, though."
"Yeah..." Jill said quietly. "It's really worrying with mom unable to work…"
“Wait, what?” Bato asked. “Did they stop profreshional battling as well?”
Simon nodded a little. "The Octomaton put everyone in a real scare... Not that I blame them…"
“… I’m sorry to hear that.” Anita said.
Scott sighed, setting his plate down for a moment. "... Well, I'm sure they'll be able to work things out with the Octolings soon enough, and then things can go back to normal."
"Or as normal as they can be." Bato muttered under his breath, as he accepted a slice of cake.
Toda couldn’t bring himself to say anything. How hadn’t he realized? Or asked? Or… why didn’t they say anything? Maybe it just wasn’t his business...
“… So, Bato, how’s Hachi doing?” Jill asked.
"She's healing up alright." He replied. "Though I think she's getting a little restless, sitting around the house all day."
"Oh man, I would be too…" She frowned. "At least I can sit out on the porch, but she can't do stuff like that right now, can she? Not to mention you guys don't exactly have a porch."
"No, no porch." He said with a small smile, "But... Yeah, it really isn't safe for her to leave the apartment right now, even if they have supposedly stopped detaining Octolings."
"Yeah...Have you left a window open so she can have fresh air at least?" She asked.
"You know, that kind of depends on if they replaced that window in the dining room yet." Simon said. "They might not have a choice."
He shook his head, "No, not yet; we can't really do much with three Octolings under our roof." He sighed a bit. "We're lucky the ink didn't sink through the floor to the ceiling of the apartment downstairs, or we might not have a choice; the landlord would have to come and inspect the damage. We'll have to call and report it ourselves eventually, but..."
Toda’s ears drooped. “That’s a lot of money in damages.”
“No kidding.” Bato agreed.
They fell silent for a while after that, enjoying the cake to the best of their abilities. Eventually Toda cleared his throat. “Hey um, I have something in my room I’d like to show you guys.” He said, standing up and helping Bato get to his feet.
“Okay!” Jill chirped. “Thank you Toda’s parents for the cake!”
“That was all Anita’s doing.” Scott smiled.
“Your welcome. You kids have fun.” She said, putting her hand on Scott’s shoulder.
“Okay!” Jill said, then nodded to Toda.
He nodded back, and then led the way down the hall, opening the door and flicking on the light. His room was messier than usual, a fact he tried not to get embarrassed about as he stepped over three days worth of clothes on the floor.
“Whoa, this is your room?” Simon asked.
He felt his cheeks flush brightly. Embarrassed it was. “Yeah… I um… haven’t been cleaning. It hurts a bit to bend over, you know?”
“I do know.” Simon agreed, slumping against the wall. “My room’s been a bit of a pit lately too...”
“Your room’s still cleaner than mine on a good day!” Jill huffed, then gasped and ran over to the wall. “Look at all these posters! You went to see Leslie Stringfish!?”
“Yep! I went with my dad.” He beamed, clearing off a space on his bed for Bato to sit. “It was really fun, I hope she comes back to Inkopolis soon.” He was pretty sure she wouldn’t, not for a while. Everything was chaos here.
Jill nodded, then sat down on the floor. “So what did you want to show us?”
“Jill...” Simon sighed. “We’re here to talk about Ophelia.”
“Oh. Right.” She said a bit guiltily. "... Where do you think they'll take her?"
“I’m sure they've got it under control." They said, huffing.
“… What if they don’t?” Toda asked, sitting down on the floor and leaning against his bed with a frown.
"We can't do anything anyway." They said, a little bit of pressure in their tone. “We have no way to contact them anymore, we lost their numbers with our phones.”
"Simon's right, there's nothing we can do. We're still recovering anyway." Bato said regretfully.
“So are they!” Jill pointed out. “They had it even worse than we did!”
"It's either recover later or watch the Octarian leader be assassinated." Simon said.
"... This is good, though." Toda said slowly, "The Octarians needed Ophelia to survive if they wanted to have any chance up here, she's their only political power; if they took her to protect her, that means they want to at least give them a shot, right?"
Bato nodded slowly. "We just have to hope that's why they took her."
“Why else would they take her?” Jill asked. “Why save her from assassins if they want her dead?”
Simon opened their mouth, then closed it again.
“That’s what I thought.” Jill huffed.
“… Well, We saw two in the picture, maybe only two of them went?” Toda said.
"Yeah, I'd say… Just Callie and Marie went." Simon said, resting a hand on their chin thoughtfully.
"Wait, no, whoever was driving that van was driving like her, right? Callie would drive worse, and Marie would drive more carefully." Jill said.
"It certainly seemed like Stacey to me," Bato said, nodding a bit.
Simon paused, then nodded a little bit. "She does seem to be their getaway driver..."
There was a long pause, and then Bato spoke again. "... We know how to find Stacey if there's an emergency, and 1&2 are likely to be back at work before long, if they can pull a stunt like that. But we did say we were going to leave well enough alone for the time being."
"You mean Simon did." Jill corrected.
"… Well Simon's right." Toda murmured, breaking off eye contact.
"And it's not like we really can do much anyway," Bato pointed out, "I'm pretty sure none of us can even walk pain-free right now."
“… You got me...” She sighed. “I still wish we could do something though... Because I want to make sure Hachi and all the Octolings can well... be safe. Plus, come on, we'd get to hang out with 1&2~~~"
"I'm not sure 'hang out' would be the right term." Simon muttered.
"I want Hachi to be safe just as much as you do, Jill," Bato said with a little sigh. "But for right now, the best we can do is hope the agents know what they're doing."
“I’m sure they do.” Simon said.
“… Yeah.” Toda agreed. “Stacey’s got a bunch of plans… We might not have made it without her help.”
Just then a loud bling rang out, and Bato hurriedly… pulled a phone out of his pocket?
“I thought we all lost our phones in the domes.” Simon said, eyes narrowing.
“This is Stepmom’s.” Bato explained, then frowned. “… Mom asked me to come back downstairs but… it’s misspelled. I should go..."
Toda felt a bit of panic creep up his spine, Leah was rather direct when she texted. "No, yeah, that's fine." He said quickly, turning to look at him. “It’s bound to be important.”
"I hope everything's ok..." Jill said.
Bato just nodded and stood, groaning as he put weight onto his leg. "I'll talk to you guys later." He said, limping out the door.
"See ya." Toda called after him, unable to keep the worry out of his tone.
"... Later we should get on Skope... in case he needs to talk about whatever's going on..." Jill said quietly.
"Yeah." He agreed quietly. He had a bad feeling about this...
Bato, Toda, Leah and Tanya are Knitter’s characters
Hachi, Oswald, Oana, Simon, Jill, and Orion are Shuckle’s characters.
Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.
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Better Eight Than Never –- Chapter 48: The final battle
"TODA RUN!!!!" Simon screamed and lunged forward to grab their boyfriend’s hand, but they were too late. His fingers slipped between theirs as he was grabbed by the Octomaton’s tentacle and hoisted into the air. "TODA!!!!" They screamed again, sloshing ink up at the robotic limb, but not only did it not reach, but they were fairly sure it wouldn’t have done much anyway. Pushing aside a wave of hopelessness, they looked around quickly and spotted a fire escape on a building nearby. “Jill! Keep it distracted!” They said as they ran toward the building.
“Simon! What are you doing!?” Jill shouted, but then she yelped as she was caught up in the action.
They didn’t look back to see how, they were already inking the wall so they could reach the fire escape, which they swam up to and climbed the steps two at a time. They were already breathing heavily, but if they stopped they knew very well that Jill and Toda could both die before they could do something. They hoisted themselves onto the roof, and compared the height of the building to this monster. It was still bent over, but it might not be for long. With enough speed, they could make the jump… They sloshed a quick runway, making sure that there was no break in the line before squidding and tensing.
3…
2…
1!
They swam forward, hearing Toda scream. They were coming, he just needed to hold out for a little longer.
As they ran out of runway they jumped, springing into the air and soaring over a great distance of empty air before landing on the back of the Octomaton’s head. The metal was surprisingly warm to the touch, and tremors came through it regularly. They didn’t even stop to catch their breath, running to the edge and looking down. Below them they saw Toda, wrapped in the tentacle by his waist, and hanging up-side down from it’s grasp. It was unclear if he was screaming in fright, or pain, or both, but what mattered most was that he was in trouble. They scanned up the tentacle, and found that some rubble was stuck to a suction cup not far from where Toda was dangling. They aimed, then sloshed ink down, watching a small splatter stick to the rubble. “TODA!” They shouted. “MOVE!”
As soon as they said this, the Octomaton began to move, beginning to stand up. They swore and started to run along the edge of the head as it slowly straightened up, trying desperately to keep their feet on ‘solid’ ground. As they crested the rim of one of the Octomoton’s panels, the other side was much steeper than anticipated, and they slid for quite a ways until the top of the head began to level out. They clung to the metal beneath them as best they could until they could stand without falling several stories, and went back over to the edge.
Toda was just transforming to slip out of the tentacle’s grasp, and managed to zip up the ink that they’d placed for him. However as he climbed to the top of the rubble, it began to crumble under his feet, and lurched to one side. Their gazes locked, and Toda squidded once more, tensing and super jumping toward them.
Their breath caught as they realized his aim was off, he hadn’t calculated for the Octomaton moving. They dove to the side, reaching out a hand, grasping toward him. This couldn’t be like last time, they decided with conviction, and with that… their hand tightened around one of his tentacles, and in one swift motion they pulled him up on top of the Octomaton’s head. “Are you… okay?” They asked, gasping for breath.
He gave them the briefest of smiles, though his hat had fallen off during this stunt. He looked rather exposed without it. “Shaken...” He admitted.
Below them the concrete slipped from the tentacle and plummeted down, crashing right into the back of the Octomaton, causing it to let loose a deafening roar. The metal of the monster’s back groaned and shook, but still remained unpunctured for the moment, though a large dent was left at the impact.
“… A step forward.” They murmured, casting a glance at Toda.
“I think there’s a second rubble chunk we might be able to use.” He replied, looking around, and then pointing. “There. If we can get that one to fall, maybe it’ll be enough.”
They followed his gaze, then sighed. A piece of solid concrete the size of a small bus was embedded into one of the tentacles, causing it to bend in a sharp angle midway down the limb. “It’s not in a great position right now...” They concluded. “But if we could get these tentacles to aim right, it might just do the trick…”
They heard some faint shouting, as as if on cue, the Octomaton began to turn, tentacles raising up and firing at something in on the ground. However, it also started looking down again, and they flailed their arms to keep their balance, though their Slosher slipped from their hands in the process. “No!” They yelped, reaching for it, but they instead had to grip to Toda for dear life to avoid sliding down.
The Slosher clunked hollowly as it bounced, and then it tumbled off the side, falling, falling, out of sight.
“No no, your slosher!” Toda panicked.
“I’ll have to pay Sheldon back...” They decided. “Until then, you’ll have to cover for me.”
“… Yeah, okay. Can-do.” He nodded.
They flashed him a small smile, but before they could work out any other plan, there was a burst of ink, and they felt something wrap around their middle, yanking them backward.
“SIMON!” Toda screamed as they were pulled from his grasp and dragged across the closest thing there was to ground right then.
They tried desperately to grip at the metal panels for anything that would slow them, but there was nothing to grab, it was seamless and smooth, and they couldn’t help but wish that the octolings were worse builders. They gritted their beak and looked over their shoulder, finally getting a look at the tentacle that had grabbed them. It was flesh, an elite shade of black, and with a bright green X marked into it, and it was dragging them into the ink-filled hole in the top of the machine. This was going the opposite direction of their plan. If they just had their slosher, they’d be able to Kraken and slip inside, potentially winning the day… but they had to adapt. They kicked out their leg and pressed their foot against the rim of the hole and kept their leg taut to stop their movements as long as possible. “T-Toda help!” They exclaimed.
"LET GO OF MY BOYFRIEND YOU BIONIC ASSHOLE!!!" Toda shouted, as he chucked a splat bomb which exploded as soon as it hit the tentacle, causing it to swell up and squeeze the air out of their lungs. Before they could manage to signal any sort of discomfort however, Toda fired some shots from his gun, and the tentacle burst into a mist of ink, and the Octomaton roared beneath them.
“Th… Th...” They wheezed, grabbing Toda’s hand.
“Yeah… I got you.” He said, pulling them a short ways away from the hole.
And just in time. Another tentacle shot out, dripping with octoling ink. How!? Already? As it began to lash out they rolled over and spread their arms wide, shielding Toda behind them. If he got grabbed, it was likely over. There was nothing more they could do to protect him.
But right as it was about to make contact, their Kraken activated, sending the tentacle recoiling and swelling up with ink. Of course this would happen now, their slosher was probably broken and on the fritz. Best not to squander this chance however. They hissed and jumped, hitting the tentacle again and making it retreat back into the hole. Yeah that’s what you get, coming at Toda like that. They wished they could say a witty one-liner like this, but all that came out was roars and hisses. There was no getting inside anymore, they’d used up too much of the time. They glanced back at Toda to make sure he was alright, and met his gaze. He looked so scared, not that they could blame him. They flicked a tentacle up onto his hand, and as they slowly began to revert, gripped it.
“This is too many close calls...” Toda said, squeezing their hand.
They nodded in agreement, saving their energy and breath for their next course of action.
That course of action would have to be acted upon faster than they would have liked, as the four gigantic metal tentacles whirred and turned, aiming at the two of them. Oh dear… They looked around, starting to shake as they looked for anywhere to go, but there was no cover, no nothing.
Just before the tentacles fired, the Octomaton roared and shook, the tentacles dipping up and firing inky missiles over their heads, which slammed into a building nearby and shattered all the windows, leaving a large inky mess in it’s wake.
“Sounds like Bato and Jill are up to something down there...” They grunted, managing to get to their feet. They cast another look around, then noticed that all the tentacles were smoking after firing the missiles… except one. Could that one not fire? “Toda!” They said, yanking him to his feet, already starting to run. “This way!”
Behind them they felt Toda stumble and almost let go of them, but he remained steady, and they dove forward as the tentacles once again fired missiles, narrowly pulling Toda to safety… but how long could they keep this up?
“WOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOO!”
Simon looked up sharply, eyes widening as Jill landed smack-dab in the middle of the ink puddle the missiles had just been. “J-Jill!?” They asked, then clung to Toda as the Octomaton began to walk, and all the tentacles aimed at Jill.
“Hi!--Uh-oh!” She called, then freed her feet and ran across the Octomaton’s head, opening fire at one of the missiles as it came close, causing it to explode into a shower of purple droplets. “I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE ALIVE!” She continued.
“WE WON’T FOR LONG IF WE CAN’T STOP IT!” They called back.
“Honestly I’m just surprised we can destroy those missiles by shooting them.” Toda said. “Why didn’t I try that?”
They shook their head a little, then yelped as the Octomaton’s head began to tilt again, and the machine bent over somewhat, it’s back creaking and groaning. Those groans, the back! They spun around, looking at the tentacles that were trying to track down Jill at the moment, and spotted the concrete Toda had found earlier, the tentacle they were near had lifted it right above the dent in the Octomaton’s back. “JILL! I NEED YOUR HELP!” They called. “Toda, cover her, please!”
Toda nodded, and ran toward Jill, fending off a few missiles (Sometimes a little too close for their comfort.) and allowing Jill to make her way over to them. “What is it?” She asked, a little bit winded.
“I need you to shoot that rubble.” They pointed. “I’m going to jump to it and try to break it loose!”
She paused, then nodded. “Got it!” She said, then raised her gun and opened fire, inking a nice line up the side of the rubble.
“Perfect!” Simon said, then ran forward and jumped, falling down to the tentacle and sliding down it like they were at some sort of skate park, at least that was what they were imagining it looked like. Once they were at the low point they broke into a run until they reached the rubble, jumping up and squidding into the ink Jill had left for them. They were so high up, it was so precarious. Focus, focus. They swam up, and up, before finally flopping out on top of the rubble. They caught sight of Toda and Jill fighting back to back, keeping the tentacle in the same place while also staying alive.
They couldn’t take a break now.
They got to their feet and looked down at the piece of rubble they found themselves on, and wondered how on earth they were going to dislodge it. There had to be something they could do… They started jumping up and down, managing to bob the tentacle ever so slightly, but the rubble seemed to be steadfast. What else was there? They pressed the sub button on their tank and dropped a splash wall, anything to add extra weight. What else was there? There had to be something… Anything…
“TODA!” Jill screamed, and Simon looked up sharply. Jill was grabbing Toda’s arm, and keeping him from falling off the edge of the Octomaton. He was mostly coated in ink, one more good shot would get him, and Jill… She wasn’t looking so great either. They felt the tentacle under them tremble as it tried to get ready to fire…
Wait.
They turned and banged their fist on the tentacle behind them. “HEY! HEY ORION!” They shouted. “SHOOT ME FIRST WHY DON’T YOU!?” They crouched down closer to the rubble and continued, hitting the metal a few more times for good measure. “DON’T MAKE ME COME IN THERE WITH A HAMMER, I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LIKE THAT!”
The machine groaned around them, and the tentacles all changed their aim on a dime, opening fire at them. They covered their face and scrambled backward as the missiles slammed into the rubble, causing it to splinter and break apart into huge chunks, and then begin to fall. It worked! It was going to fall!… Oh shit, so were they. They stood up and ran forward, shielding their face with their arms as they went through the dust, and then fell flat on the base of the tentacle, getting some of the wind knocked out of them. Slowly they turned their head and watched the pieces fall, and finally the largest piece came loose, slamming into the dent with great force, and puncturing a hole straight through to the inside. It was then that a scream rang out, not machine, but not organic either, a sound which would ring as loud in their mind as it did in their ears for many years to come.
And then the Octomaton shuddered and buckled, and began to topple over, and likewise they began to slide off of the tentacle as everything around them spun and shook. They’d done it. Even if they were killed amid all this falling metal, they’d done it, they’d beaten the Octomaton, it’s rampage was at an end.
And with that, the Octomaton fell to the ground, the impact bouncing them into the air and sending them crashing down the side, rolling down onto the ground below, where they lay in the middle of the street. Their vision blurry, and everything hurting. They were surprised that they were alive, but it hurt so much they almost wished they weren’t. They heard some distant muffled shouts, and saw Toda running for them, and then he was holding their arms and hauling them to their feet, and then he and Jill were hugging them, and slowly they managed to hug them back, two of the most important people in the entire world… And they were okay.
Toda soon pulled away from them, and was pulled into an embrace from Bato, who was followed right behind by Hachi, who looked beat to hell and back, but was still trucking. Finally, they could hear above the beating of their own hearts, they might be alright after all.
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Bato as saying. “I thought you were gone when that thing swept you up!”
“Nope!” Toda said, voice still pained. “I’m alive…!”
“Thank goodness.” He agreed. “We are too, but just barely. Hachi ended up distracting it, and then ran into an alley where me and her got trapped. You beat it just in time to save us, It was so close.”
“You can thank Simon for that.” He said, flashing them a broad grin.
“… Heh… You’re… you’re welcome.” They managed.
“Thank you.” Bato said, smiling softly. He then turned back to Toda. “You dropped this.” He said, then pulled Toda’s hat out of his pocket.
Toda gasped and took it, then hugged Bato again. “You’re such a good friend...”
“I know, I almost got trampl---”
Just then the ground shook, and the Octomaton began to steam and shudder. Then a Tentacle burst from within one of the Octomaton’s eyes. Coated in thick purple ink, it lashed out toward Toda, but Bato pushed him aside, getting grabbed instead.
“BATO!” Toda screamed, but too late.
The tentacle coiled tighter, and then Bato’s bubbler activated, sealing him away from everyone else as the tentacle began to retract into the machine.
“COME BACK HERE!” Jill screamed, starting to run after him, but Hachi outsped her, managing to transform and cling to the bubble as Bato was pulled into the machine and out of tight.
Bato, and Toda are Knitter’s characters
Hachi, Jill, Simon, and Orion are Shuckle’s characters.
Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.
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Hey guys! We’re starting to ask for questions on our Deviant art, but why stop there? If you have any questions to ask Splattershot Sundae +Hachi, go ahead and ask them! If you can’t think of anything, boosting would be helpful as well!
The Grace twins in their Halloween Squidoween costumes for this year, Cuphead and Mugman! Drop a message into the ask box if there’s any characters you want to see in costume this year!
Ink is Thicker Than Water --- Chapter 16: We provide Leverage
Toda rubbed his eye as he stepped up to the Grace family’s front door, worry and doubt clouding his mind. (Not to mention drowsiness) It baffled him that Leah would send him here at all, not just at this time of morning. Usually when she’d send him requests, it would be to come downstairs and get his shoes, not some vague request to go to his boyfriend’s house… His hearts warmed at the thought of holding Simon’s hand again, maybe he could take a nap on the couch with them...
The front door opened, and Simon leaned against the door frame. “Hey Toda.”
“Hey Simon...” He said, a smile spreading across his face. Was his hat on crooked? It probably was.
“You didn’t knock, you eat breakfast yet?” They asked, opening the door wide to let him in.
"No, not yet." He replied, stepping inside. "I stuck a granola bar in my pocket, but I dozed off in the car before I could eat it."
“Toda…” They sighed, closing the door. "We were about to have scrambled eggs, which oddly enough are like Jill's brain right now." They gestured toward the kitchen. "She's flipping out because we only have decaf green tea."
Toda glanced towards the kitchen, frowning in confusion. "Does she need caffeine that much?"
"... No, apparently it's for Hachi?" They shrugged. "Apparently she's coming over too... Jill doesn't seem to know what's going on."
Toda’s frown deeped. "I'm not sure either... Dad just said that Leah called and asked to get me here."
"Same here. Except apparently she just invited a bunch of people over herself." They paused. "Not that I mind if you come over. But maaaaybe I'd like it if it was planned every once and a while."
“Next time I’ll ask, I promise.” He smiled.
Simon opened their mouth to speak, when their father called from the kitchen. "Simon! Your eggs are done!"
“COMING!” They called back, beginning to walk to the dining room. "You want some? We can make more while the pan's still hot."
"Sure, thanks." He agreed as he followed. They smelled delicious.
"Hey dad, Toda wants some eggs too." Simon said as they took a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.
“Hello Toda.” August Grace said, glancing up briefly before heading for the fridge. “How to you want them?
"Scrambled, please." He said politely.
"Hey Toda!" Jill called from the dining table with a little wave, and a full mouth.
He snorted. "Hey Jill."
"Couldn't you wait three seconds and NOT spew food all over the table?" Simon grumbled as they pulled out a chair.
“No.” Jill said with a shake of her head, then continued quickly. "Judd, I hope Hachi likes coffee..."
“Well, she’ll live, right?” He asked, sitting down.
"Yeah, probably. How are you doing by the way?" She asked, mouth now vacant of egg for the moment.
"I'm doing good." He replied. "Though... still confused as to what's going on. How 'bout you?"
"Good!" Jill said."At least until the others get here and explain... Oh! We'll all be in the same place! I can get a shellfie of the four of us on my phone! I really want that to be my first picture.”
Simon shook their head with a wide smile. "Ever the optimist."
Toda snorted. “I think we could use optimism.”
“See? Someone agrees with me!” She smiled, but then looked up as the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it!” She said, standing and sprinting for the entryway.
Toda leaned to watch her go, watching until finally she came back with Leah, Hachi and… Oz… in tow. They all looked exhausted, and he frowned as he took this all in. “… Where’s… Where’s Bato?”
“Good morning Toda, Simon...” Leah said. “That’s… part of what we’re here about.”
“Bloody ‘ell this place is ‘uge.” Oz commented.
“Tea.” Hachi said. “Please, where’s my tea?”
Jill grimaced. "We... We only have decaf. Do you like Coffee at all?"
She groaned and stepped behind Leah, head in her hands.
Leah instinctively reached out a hand to shield her. "She tried some earlier; she didn't like it."
Jill frowned. "Ahh... Oh! I might have something that could work, hold on..." She jogged over to the fridge, pulling out a long cardboard box of soda. “MOUNTAIN DEW!! MLG!!!!” She raised her phone and rapidly pressed the screen, each time releasing an airhorn sound. “Judd I love this new app.”
Toda snorted, covering his mouth.
“What do those words even mean!?” Hachi asked, her tentacles coiling around her face.
“It’s a kind of soda, famous for having caffeine in it, and for being the smell of gamers.” Jill said, holding out a can. “Drink up!”
Hachi grimaced and passed the can to Leah so she could open it.
"Toda, your eggs." The August said, setting the plate down in front of him.
"Thanks, Mr. Grace." He said, flashing a smile up at him, despite his worry.
“Of course.” He said, then turned to Jill and Simon. "Ok kids, I gotta go. And whatever's going on, I'm probably going to say no. Just for the record."
"Right, because when the cops aren't around, anything's legal!" Jill said.
"... You're not making me feel any better." He sighed, then gave his daughter a quick hug before turning toward the garage. “Nice to meet you in person Leah.”
“It's nice to meet you too." She agreed. “Work?”
“Work.” He agreed. “Wish me luck.” And then he vanished through the door.
"... What is he doing here?" Simon finally asked, pointing at Oz.
Leah sighed. "I offered to let him come with us... I didn't realize it would be an issue with so many people.”
Oz shrugged. "I jus signed up 'cause it sounded like there'd be fightin ta get Bato back."
Toda gagged on his eggs and looked up sharply, coughing. "Get Bato... back? What? Where is he?" He spluttered, feeling fear settling in his stomach.
Leah sighed a bit, "That's what I needed to talk to you kids about..."
Simon grimaced. "Uuugh, Jill pass me one of those dews."
Jill nodded and passed them one, tapping her phone again to play a coin collect noise.
Simon stared. “… Jill. There’s a time. And there’s a place.”
While Toda almost smiled at the noise, he nodded in agreement. “What happened to Bato?”
Leah took a deep breath. "I believe that, a while ago, you kids had talked about joining the Agents? And you decided to hold off on that decision for a while? Well... the day that Orvokki called the news station during that broadcast, he decided things had become too important to wait any longer, and he joined them by himself."
He sat up straight, almost standing up. "He... What!?"
"He became an agent without us!?" Jill gasped.
"He lied to us!? Went behind our backs!?" Simon demanded, slamming their Mountain dew down and practically turning the unopened can into a ticking time bomb.
Leah winced as she attempted to keep her cool. "He knew you weren't all ready, and he didn't want everyone to go lying to each other. But he decided things had escalated quickly enough that it couldn't wait."
Simon slammed their face into the table and started hitting it with their fist, each time clattering the silverware. "YOU. BACKSTABBING. IDIOT!"
"S-Simon!" Jill stammered. "H-He-"
"I DON'T CARE!!!" They screamed
"YES YOU DO!!! THAT'S WHY YOU'RE SO HURT!!!" Jill snapped, pounding a fist on the table herself.
Leah cringed again. "Simon, please..."
They abruptly stood up and then stormed out of the room. As he watched them go, Toda felt every last bit of appetite leave him. They were hurt, they needed space… but that didn’t mean this reaction hadn’t hurt him too. Hell, hearing that Bato’d gone behind his back… what had happened to the times when they could tell each other everything?
Hachi broke the silence after choking down a sip of soda. "... The one who took him is Onella; She was the one in Marie's head, and she's Orvokki's sister."
Jill blinked. "Does... that mean they're working together?"
"Ha, anythin' but." Oz replied. "Sounds like they might be fightin each otha indirectly."
Leah nodded her agreement. "From what I understand, Orvokki told Bato to meet in the memorial park at midnight last night, but Orvokki never showed up. Instead, it was Onella, and... Agent 2. "
Jill gasped. "... I... I must have ink in my ears. Onella got to 2 again!?"
"No, not exactly." Leah shook her head. "They were exchanging information. When we confronted 2 about it later, she didn't tell us what Onella gave her, but we did find out that the information she gave... was 3's address. 3's been the one watching after Ophelia, but.. now the organization that Onella has on her side took them, as well."
"... So... 2... betrayed the others?! Why!? I-I'm so confused!" Jill clapped one hand over her mouth.
"I don't know why." Leah said, shaking her head slowly. "When we realized 3 was in danger, we ran back to help, but.. it was far too late."
“Is 3 okay?” Jill croaked.
"She's alright; she's been pretty beat up, poor girl, but she's alive." Leah said, looking like she was turning something over.
Toda made himself take a deep breath; He couldn’t wallow in betrayal forever. "Where did they take them?"
"We... don't know for sure," She replied slowly. "2 said they're using a corporation as a cover, and 3 said they took Ophelia away in a SquidForce van. It's not much, but it's our only lead. I did a bit of research, and it seems like the SquidForce headquarters would be a good option; the building is huge, high-security, and of course, not fully open to the public... and if they are involved but not keeping them there, it would be the best place to find out where they are. Stacey's not in any condition to go with us, but... she suggested I ask you three for help."
"... I kept my guest pass from when my mom took me last year?" Jill said slowly. "It... It'll have the wrong date on it, but if we can change that maybe?"
"What if it doesn't work?" Hachi asked.
Jill looked away for a second, then looked back. "They'll detain.. me, I guess? It's my pass, I have to go in... but even if they do detain me, that means I would be actually in the building? That’s something!”
Leah sighed. "... I'm not going to force any of you to help. I hate that I'm even asking you to do this, it's going to be so dangerous, but... we're running out of options, and most likely time."
Toda looked down at the table again, then at the doorway Simon’s fled through, before finally sitting up straighter and looking at Leah. "Bato's my best friend. I'm not just going to sit here if there's something I can do."
"... We'll need Simon... they're so much better at plans.. but..." Jill glanced upstairs.
"No, what we'll need more masks.” Hachi grumbled. “Do you have any left? I know your house got attacked.”
Jill blinked. "Oh, well... I still have that golden one? I think it does actually work, because when I tried to put it on for fun..." She cringed. "And I think we found two in the hall at one point?"
Hachi paused. "... Five then, if the headphones work."
Oz grinned. "Finally, I get ta wear one again!"
"No, you should have the headphones." Hachi teased, tentacles swooping. "I'm gonna need some space on that table."
"WE'RE gonna need space on tha table." Oz corrected, grinning. "I'm tha one who taught ya what ya know, sis. I can do it fasta!!"
"Pfft. I've done several lately, when's the last time you hacked a mask?" Hachi scoffed.
Oz laughed. “It’s on!”
"Wait..." Jill said. “Wait wait, back up, ‘sis?’”
"'alf sis." Oz said. "Then 'gain, almost every sibling in tha dome's a 'alf sibling."
“The more you knooowwwwww~” Jill mused. “I’ll go get those masks.”
“I can try to talk to Simon.” Toda said. “… I don’t know how much I can help but...”
“You’ll be a big help, trust me.” Jill beamed. “Come on, they’re probably in their room.” She said, then lead the way through the house, and he followed on wary feet.
He stopped in front of Simon’s door, hand hovering up has he hesitated to knock. Judd, was this the third time now he'd come up to their door to say something when they were having a bad time? Was this just going to be a thing? Likely, as long as things were going poorly. There was no end in sight for the hard times. He took a deep breath, then finally knocked. "Simon?"
There was a long pause before they replied, voice choked up with tears. “Come in.”
Toda hesitated for a moment at that tone, but then stepped inside. There Simon was sitting on the foot of their bed, gripping the handle of their roller. They looked up at him with piercing inkshot eyes; they must have been having even more trouble than he thought. “Hey...” He whispered, cringing as he closed the door behind him; yeah, great start there.
"... Hey." They mumbled, looking away.
He hesitated, glancing down at the floor, then back to them. "... Do you want to talk about it?"
They sniffled and grabbed a tissue to blow their nose. "... I'm so FURIOUS with him... but... I want to make sure he lives long enough for me to yell at him for it."
He smiled ever so slightly and walked over to sit next to them at the foot of their bed. "I'm not too happy with him either... I understand why he did it, but... we've never kept something like this from each other before… But I'm not going to let him possibly die just for that. Leah needs our help... He needs our help."
"Yeah." They agreed. "We're going to get him back." They paused a long moment, then glanced at him. "So who do we have to beat up to get him back? Orvokki?"
"No, Onella. The other one... who may still be water." Toda explained with a shudder. "And an organization she has working for her that might possibly be involved with SquidForce."
Simon froze. " My mom works for squidforce… do you think she’s in trouble?”
His ears drooped. “I don’t know.
“... Of course. Of course, everything has to just keep getting worse and worse.” They muttered. “What are we going to do to get him back? Send an army of lawyers and inspectors?"
"... I don't know...” He said, wishing he had better information. “They've already taken Bato and Ophelia, they probably don't care much about keeping things legal... they could probably make those people look the other way if they wanted to." He hesitated, then said slowly, "I guess we... might have to pick up where the law leaves off."
Simon looked up abruptly, then glanced at a poster on their wall before looking back at him. “You watch Leverage?”
He gave a sheepish smile. “I saw your poster and wondered what it was, it’s so good.”
“I know right?” They smirked, but then went back to a more solemn expression. “But this wouldn’t be the first illegal thing we've done to save a member of the squad." They paused a little bit, then stood up. "I might not be that far off with the inspector thing. We have a toolbox... we might be able to fit some people in it if we put in a fake bottom."
He nodded slowly. "And... Jill said something about an old guest pass that she had?"
"She still has that? Wow." They leaned on their roller for a second. "It's out of date though... but... if we could get that to work, we might be able to get three people in. Three people is enough to take down security... IF we know the layout."
He nodded slowly, "I... guess we'll have to do some research? Unless Leah already has..."
They grimaced. "This is a battle we're going to have a hard time winning... but, we can do it. We have to.”
"We have to." He agreed.
They gave a sigh and stood up, offering him a hand. “Let’s go.”
He took their help and stood, being met with a kiss on the cheek. “Aww, Simon.” He smiled, although then the weight of what they were about to do hit him like a truck. They were about to, once again, get mixed up in something dangerous... would they all be lucky enough to walk out of it again? Or... he felt tears start to sting his eyes, and he hugged them close, and they hugged him back, holding each other for a solid minute.
“… We need to get going.” They said finally, pulling away, then after a moment’s hesitation, they booped him on the nose.
“What-- hey!” He said, bursting out laughing.
“There’s my Toda...” They smiled softly. “Let’s get downstairs.” They turned, stepping out of their room.
He hesitated for a long moment, taking a deep breath to chase away the lingering fears he had before following them downstairs to the kitchen.
They arrived just in time to see Hachi put an octoling mask down into a pile of other masks next to her. "Done!"
"No!" Oz exclaimed. "Well I'm better at codin' than you!”
“That doesn’t apply to this situation!” Hachi said. “Look, I have this pile of masks done, you did one!”
“Gah!” He swooped his tentacles.
"Simon!" Jill exclaimed, cutting off the conversation.
"Leah, how much do you know about engineering?" Simon cut right to the chase, giving Jill a high five as they passed her.
Leah grimaced. "Ah... not very much, I'm afraid. Why?"
"We might have a way in if we have some kind of inspector come in, smuggling in someone else. You're the only one old enough to play the inspector. All you'll need to know is enough to fake it till you make it." Simon said. “We have a toolbox which is big enough it might be able to fit Hachi in it.”
"So, 'Achi gets to go in? Why?" Oz grimaced.
"Hachi knows tech." Simon explained.
"'ey!! so do I!!!" He protested.
"I trust Hachi more than I trust YOU." They snarled.
“Well I don’t exactly trust your attitude.” Hachi huffed.
“Kids, kids...” Leah sighed. “Alright… I’m an inspector. I’m making sure the supports are up to code."
“Perfect.” Simon said. "Do you have any ID that's not a driver's license on you?"
"Ah... let me see," Leah reached into her pocket for her wallet.
"Jill, go get the toolbox.” Simon said immediately afterward, causing Toda to smile. They were already doing so much better. "Oh, and a clipboard." They added. "Yeah. a clipboard. Everyone gets nervous when someone starts to write something down on a clipboard while they're still talking."
"Good thinking," Toda grinned, watching as Jill sprinted off. “Anything I can do?”
“I should have a squidforce lanyard in my closet.” They said. “We’ll need that to hold Leah’s ID.”
"On it." He nodded, turning and running for Simon’s room, though he hesitated as he reached the doorway, carefully stepping inside. It was always weird going into someone’s room when they weren’t there; it was like you were visiting their life or personality without… the person. He shook his head and crossed to the closet, quickly flipping through their pretty shirts until he found the lanyard on the back wall. Perfect.
When he left the room, he almost ran into Jill “Whoa! Hey.”
“Hey Toda!” Jill beamed. “Simon’s giving me a workout. First a toolbox, which weighs like thirty pounds, and now an orange vest I haven’t worn in years.”
“A vest? Why?” He asked.
She winked. “Same reason 3 does; you can walk anywhere in a high-vis vest.”
“Ahhh.” He nodded. “Good luck!” He said, beginning to head back downstairs to the kitchen. “Hey Simon, got it!”
“Thanks.” Simon said as they took it, put Leah’s idea on it, and handed it her. "Ok, there’s shiny tape in that drawer over there."
"... As much as I love watching people fetch random items, can we have a little more info as to what we're going to do?" Hachi asked, then sighed and grabbed the tape when Simon pointed.
"Leah's going to sneak you in to get a map and to do something to break down the security. Pop a side door, anything. I can't get much more without that map. Those masks will let us keep in contact, right?"
Both Hachi and Oz nodded.
"Right. We have four of them, one for each of us, not including Leah, who shouldn’t have one if we want her disguise to be flawless. Last thing we need is someone accidentally bumping her and feeling metal. Hachi, since you'll be with Leah, and you're information retrieval, you take the best one.”
“And these headphones?” She asked. “They’re giving me great signal.”
“Sure.” They said. “If it makes you happy.”
“Yesss.” She said, then handed a mask out to them, and then Toda. “Try them on, fit them, what have you.”
Toda nodded his thanks and slipped the mask on, not really sure what to expect, the one time he'd tried putting on a mask, it was one he'd hit with a hammer. He saw… something flash across the screen before being able to look at the world through them, but he just saw these weird splotches everywhere. That wasn’t how Bato had described wearing a mask to him… He’d said there was… text. He covered the front of the mask with his hand, and then sure enough the darkness of his hand allowed him to see bright letters which he was sure didn’t blend into the background if he could just flipping see color. He couldn’t walk around with a hand over his eyes! How could he fix this?
“Ey!” Oz called to him. “It can’t be tha dirty!”
“What?” He asked, lowering his hand. Oh, no that’s not it I… I just can’t… I can’t read the screen it’s… the text is just too bright I...”
"Tha can't be right, I worked on tha one myself, it was workin’ jus fine.” Oz scowled. "Ya jus ain’t used ta it.”
"It's not the mask." He replied, a little testily, pulling the mask off of his head and looking at Oz, "I have Monochromacy. I can't see color. Whatever color the text is, it's too bright for me to read."
Silence fell abruptly, broken only when Jill strode into the room. “I have my vest and my old guest… pass, what happened?”
“… I can’t read the mask text.” Toda mumbled.
“Oh.” Jill said, ears drooping.
He swallowed, then set the mask on the table. “Leah can use it, because I sure can’t...”
Hachi swooped in and scooped it up, slipping it on her head in one smooth motion. “Hang on.”
“I… uh...” He was left speechless. What was she doing?
“… Jill, hon, I can put the stripes on that vest.” Leah said. “Someone needs to edit that guest pass to look in-date, just in case.”
“On it.” Simon agreed. “Jill, Oz, empty a space for Hachi to hide in the tool box.”
And with that everyone silently got back to work, just leaving him to watch Hachi intently fiddling with the mask.
After a few minutes she held the mask back out to him without a word. He hesitated, and then took it, this time greeted by light text outlined by a two pixel thick black border, causing it to pop. “… Thanks. That’s so much better.” He gave a faint smile at her, not sure what else to say.
She looked up at him, then slipped on her mask, a message appearing on his screen.
8: That was big, wasn't it?
He blinked, then frowned slightly as he tried to figure out how to reply. It took him a minute or two, but he got it.
T: Yeah, it was. It's not something I tell a lot of people.
8: It feels big.
8: Having to actually tell someone rather then them just knowing.
T: People just know down there?
T: that someone’s colorblind?
8: it's public data on your mask. Everyone knows you're... Different.
8: Leg missing, part of your brains removed… anything that makes you different or… ‘odd’.
T: That's gotta suck... Especially the way your kind seems to act about that sort of thing.
8: Yeah, I guess it does. I grew up with it though...
8: When it comes up up here, everybody's so... Nice about it?
8: It throws me off.
8: I'm beginning to wonder if you people would think I'm different at all. If I'm just overreacting.
T: You're... "different" too?
T: Oh, yeah, I guess Ophelia did mention it before she... yeah.
8: I thought I brought it up around you before... Maybe it just didn't stick.
8: Maybe that proves my point exactly.
T: Oh. Maybe you did? I honestly don't remember.
T: ... If you don't mind my asking... what is it?
8: ... Bato didn't understand the name when I told him... But...
8: Basically I taste things more than eight times stronger than they are.
T: Oh.
T: So... like a supertaster?
8: You have a word for that?
8: A short one?
8: I'm a super?
T: Yeah, you are!
He heard her take a small gasp, like she was getting choked up.
8: Nobody’s ever said something like that before.
8: To me at least
T: Aw, I know how that feels.
8: Do people treat you differently?
T: Yeah, they do.
8: I’m sorry.
T: Me too.
8: I’ve also got alien tentacle syndrome.
8: Sometimes I can’t control my tentacles, they just act without me thinking about it.
8: That feels good to say.
T: I guess it is a bit… cathartic?
8: Yeah, that word.
He felt Simon tap his shoulder, and he glanced up, looking Simon in the eye as they stood next to him.
"Hey, you ok? You've been quiet." They whispered, concern heavy in their voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He whispered back. “Me and Hachi are just making sure the text works.”
They nodded. “Well, I got Jill her guest pass, the vest is… okay, and there should be enough room for Hachi now in the toolbox.”
“So what’s left to do?” Jill asked.
Oz cleared his throat. “So ‘ow ‘bout cloakin’ them masks so ya don’t look like ‘robots’ as tha news puts it?”
“Oh no, it took a while to teach Bato how to do that...” Hachi sighed.
“We can do it in the car, can’t we?” Leah asked, putting on the vest. “I’ll get us to squidforce.”
“Sounds good.” Simon nodded.
"For Bato and a tyrant queen!" Jill hollered, raising a fist up high.
“For Bato and OPHELIA.” Oz corrected, then sighed. “Yah, yah a tyrant.”
"For Bato." Toda said, trying not to be amused.
"For Bato." Leah echoed.
"F-For Bato..." Hachi squeaked, then took a sip of mountain dew and gagged.
“For Bato.” Simon said. “Now let’s go steal a friend.”
Toda smiled at the leverage reference… then took a moment to message Hachi one more time.
T: It makes so much more sense why you don’t like soda now.
8: Ya think?
Bato, Toda and Leah are Knitter’s characters.
Hachi, Oswald, Stacey, Ophelia, Simon, Jill, and August are Shuckle’s characters.
Splatoon and the squid sisters belong to Nintendo.
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