SplatoonMG4 CHAPTER 6: Hotlantis/Ammo Knights
(Third person)
The Ammo Knights door swung open, and that same magenta Octoling from earlier entered the store. SMG3 looked up from his weapon, and instantly recognized her- that was the Runic-speaking girl, he thought.
"Hey, welcome to... Ammo Knights," Belle said, after checking which side of the store the newcomer was standing in. "You need a weapon? Registration? Something?"
The girl smiled. "Yeah, I need a registration so I can win some battles. This is where I get that, right?"
Belle nodded, getting out some papers to fill out. She gave some to the magenta Octoling and some to SMG3, since Three also needed them, and then went back to her seat and pulled out a Nintendo Switch.
Ahem.
Belle didn't look up.
AHEM-
"What is it?!" Belle groaned as the girl finally got her attention. "What do you want?"
The girl glared at her. "You haven't explained anything to me. Isn't that a part of your job?!"
Belle walked up to the Octoling and pointed at the spot on the paper that said 'NAME.' "Okay, so there's where you put your name," she said. "You know your name, right? You know how to write, right?"
The Octoling looked offended. "OF COURSE I know my own name! Desti! The soon-to-be Splatfest champion- well, not yet... but I need this registration to get there."
SMG3 turned back to his own paper, but couldn't help overhearing Desti and Belle's conversation.
Desti grumbled to herself in Runic as she filled out the paper. "Beyond me how this lady is employed... no matter how much she gets paid, it's definitely too much for how much work she's ACTUALLY doing-"
"Oi!" Belle snapped. "I may not know every script, but I know enough of yours to know what you just said. Do you really want to make me, the biggest Turf weapon seller, kick you out of here?! No one you can complain to, either. I'm self-employed, you know!"
Apparently Four was listening in too, because he decided to speak up. "But you're not self-employed, Belle-"
"shUTTHEFUCKUP-"
~~~
After a few minutes of bickering, Desti finally got her Turf War registration card (while SMG3 didn't because he was distracted with the Belle-and-Desti-drama). She looked at it happily, with a look in her eye that said "I'm going to kick some people in the balls today and then shoot them with high-pressure ink weapons!!!"
"Thanks, old lady! Hey, what does this mean?" Desti asked, pointing to a unchecked box on her card. It was marked "FIRST WEAPON."
Belle looked at the card for a second"That? Oh, when you first register, you can pick out a free weapon from Ammo Knights. But I'm not sure you'll get one, for that remark." She took Desti's card back and checked the box.
SMG3 rolled his eyes. Now that he had a little while to listen to Desti, he recognized that accent. She was probably from The Crater- AKA, the Octarian civilization underneath Splatsville. That checked out, if she knew both Runic and Square script well.
"Whatever, I already have a Blaster. I don't need whatever garbage you have," Desti said as she left Ammo Knights. As soon as she was out of the store, Belle let out a sigh of relief.
~~~
Welp, time for SMG3's boring papery stuff. At least the Inkling society has its shit together way more than the Octarians... this doesn't look like it'll take that long.
SMG3 turned to Four to ask him, "Can I use Sign script?" Four nodded, and SMG3 went back to the paper. Thankfully, it was already in Sign, so Four wouldn't have to explain anything to him.
"Oh, yeah," Four laughed, pointing to the part of the paper where SMG3 would fill out his name. "They don't need your birth certificate or anything, so I guess that's probably good in your situation, but once you put it down it's kinda hard to change. What're you gonna write?"
'Really? Anyone can just... choose their own Turf name here, huh? Wow... imagine if some nine-year-old put in some cringe-ass name like "darkXwolf17" or something-' Four's question pulled Three back out of his thoughts, though. What would it be?
There were a few ideas he had...
'Jamie'
"Jamie? Is that your real name?"
SMG3 had almost forgotten that Four was there... Why did that keep happening?! Damn, hopefully this whole thing where he kept getting lost in thought wasn't related to the fact that he hadn't heard the Calamari Inkantation yet and his mind wasn't really 100% free of Octarian brain fuckery (FORESHADOWI-)
"Uh- I guess so... but when I started that job in Octoling Strike, people started calling me SMG3, or Three, or some kind of generic string of like... letters or numbers. I guess." To be honest, Three thought it sounded strange, after so many years of not hearing the name. But it was familiar.
Four peered over SMG3's shoulder, watching the Octoling write. He watched as SMG3 pondered the 'gender' line.
"Question: So let's say that I wasn't born a guy, but at one point in my life I pressed "X," and then brought up the menu and then clicked "Player Settings" and changed that so I was a guy?"
"Three, that was incomprehensible- But, uhh... you get to pick a lot of these things yourself, so just write whatever you want." Four kept watching him write, noticing how his handwriting was thin and loopy, since Three would be used to Runic Script. As much as Four tried not to think about it, he couldn't help but notice tiny details whenever his Octoling friend did things.
Three's just an interesting person, it's completely normal to notice the little details about people. Nothing wrong with that, not like it's happening to Four so often he's starting to become self-conscious about it. OH WAIT
"There... I think that's it." SMG3 showed Four the papers he had filled out surprisingly quickly, because he's a fast writer and definitely not because Coco (author) doesn't wanna keep writing this scene!!
Belle came back over to the two gay cephalopods and looked over SMG3's information for a few seconds, before taking it into the back of the store and (presumably) copying some of it onto a card. She emerged about a minute later, giving SMG3 his shiny new Turf War card.
"Congratulations, you're now allowed to shoot people with high-pressure ink weapons."
~~~
Three and Four left the weird store, walking over to the entrance to the Turf Lobby.
"You wanna try Turf War today, or wait?" Four asked. Even though he pretty much already knew the answer.
SMG3 scoffed. "You really think I would wanna pass up the chance to use my fresh new weapon? Just think of all the BOMBS!!!" Three cackled like a villain as he tested out the Kensa Octobrush he got at Ammo Knights, splattering the targets around him with ink and flinging Suction Bombs all around him.
Four chuckled to himself, watching SMG3 get ready as they waited to be put into a match. The Octoling had seemed like a quiet person at first, but all the exciting new things he was doing brought out his true self. A confident inkfish who... wasn't actually too bad at handling a Brush, for how little experience he had. It was cute when he looked so happy (in a platonic way, of course. Of course.)
"Hey!" A blue-haired Inktoling working at Crab-N-Go (whose nametag read "Karen") called out to all the cephalopods in the lobby. "Next match is open!"
"Ready for this?" Four asked Three. "How are you feeling so far?"
"Never better," Three responded. "I'm gonna win this!"
~~~
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Next (Ch. 7) [UPCOMING]