SplaTOON: The Bonus Content!

Speechless

Spider loaded his Heavy Splatling and cut between the houses closest to the forest bordering the village. It had a main entrance and exit clear on the other side of town, as if the cowards who built this village specifically didn't want people to sneak around there, but Spider wouldn't take the scenic route to appease some old builders who probably died long ago.

When Spider moved into town three years ago, the adults had several questions about him. Who was this Spider kid? Why did he wear that stupid paintball mask everywhere? Who gave him a Heavy Splatling? What business did he have getting into situations he wasn't supposed to? Spider left those questions unanswered. The Magnificent Spider didn't respond to authority.

The neighborhood kids, however, quickly let him into their circle. He was so cool, brave, and charismatic, like a superhero. Everyone wanted to hang out with a guy like Spider, especially Inkura. The shy but kind young girl found a more than just a friend in Spider. Inkura was no good at putting feelings into words, but around him, she felt happy, like she was meant to be with him. Hopefully, she could be his sidekick.

That's why she'd follow Spider on his adventures. He minded more on some adventures than others. This time, Spider didn't seem to care. He busily scanned the forest for any signs of suspicious activity. At about this time, Inkura realized that she didn't want to go into the forest.

She clung to Spider's arm. "Tell me again why we have to go in here."

Spider shook her off. He needed to steady his aim with that arm. "I got word that an Octarian operative named Dark Squid set up a base to watch our village. Maybe even experimenting on us."

"Experimenting?" Their little village? The town of Gumodo didn't have much to look at. Why would the Octarians take interest in them? "Where you even expect to find this Dark Squid?"

"I don't think he has a shelter yet. He'll come, collect his data, and leave. We just gotta find him."

"And how do you know this?"

Inkura could see Spider smirk under that mask of his.

"Is it just conjecture?"

"It's conjecture."

"Stupid conjecture."

"Has my conjecture ever been wrong?"

As a matter of fact, Inkura could think of multiple times where Spider's conjecture has been wrong. Because of his "conjecture" that one of the ink battlers visiting the village on the Turf League's annual victory tour was being controlled by a jellyfish a couple months ago, Inkura got grounded for a solid week, for starters. Or when she had to stay at his house and take care of him when his conjecture told him he had inkrot until his grandmother convinced him he was fine. Or the time they covered the fences in honey because that was the only way to stop the urchins supposedly about to attack the town, and they had to spend 10 hours cleaning it up. The list goes on.

All of a sudden, the ground under Inkura's feet began to feel a little less solid. "Uh, Spider?" she said.

She could feel herself falling through the layer of fallen leaves that covered the ground. It looked like she had stopped directly above a hole, and the covering deemed her ready to take the plunge. "Inkura!" Spider jumped in after her.

They both landed on a solid metal floor at the bottom of the hole. Spider felt a searing pain in his ankles. Maybe he shouldn't have jumped at full force into that hole. Then he took a look around. The two of them had landed in the middle of some sort of futuristic science lab.

"Whoa..." Inkura said. "Do you think this is Dark Squid's base?"

"It...it couldn't be...This couldn't have just popped up overnight."

"Just admit it. Your conjecture is wrong." Inkura wandered toward the table near the middle of the room. A large jar of round, green, jelly-like things stood on top. The mass of things pulsated, full of life. "This place has been here longer than we thought."

"Alright, fine," Spider conceded. "But how long?"

Just then, they heard a female voice bark, "Hey!"

The two kids turned their heads. In the doorway stood a young Inkling woman with a black jumpsuit and sunglasses and her tentacles painted black to match. She pointed a purple Aerospray between the two.

"What do you two think you're doing messing with my stuff?"

"Uh, sorry, ma'am," Spider said, trying not to get shot. "We just got here...by accident."

The woman eyed his Splatling. "Riiiight."

Then the truth hit Spider like a Blaster shot to the face: an Inkling dressed in all black? She had to be Dark Squid! He wondered for a second why an Inkling would help the Octarians, but he should have focused more on the fact that this woman was a threat. He had to play it cool.

"So if you don't mind, we'll just leave now." Spider looked around for an exit. He couldn't exactly jump through that hole, and the only door out had Dark Squid in front of it.

He took a step forward. "Not so fast, mister!" Dark Squid snapped. "You and I need to have a little talk." She looked over at Inkura. "That goes for you too, miss!"

Spider finally got the guts to point his Splatling at Dark Squid. "Don't do anything to Inkura! There will be consequences."

Dark Squid huffed. "Who, me? I'd never hurt your girlfriend."

Inkura had occupied herself chasing around one of the creatures that had somehow escaped from the jar. "Come here, little buddy," she cooed. "I want to catch you!" Finally, she pounced on the creature and grabbed it in her hands.

"See?" Dark Squid continued. "She'd never harm anyone. Look at her playing around with that..." She trailed off as she saw the creature in Inkura's hands. "Put that down!" she shouted. "It might--"

All of a sudden, the creature erupted in spikes, some of them shooting straight into Inkura's hands. She let out an ear-splitting scream. "Inkura!" Spider ran over to her.

Inkura felt dizzy. Was it the pain? Was it something else? Her heart beat quickly and shallowly, her vision going blurry. Then she went completely limp, collapsing into Spider's arms.

"Inkura, what were you thinking?" Spider mumbled as he frantically removed the spikes from her hands. He gathered his friend in his arms. Now they really needed to get home. This just got dangerous. What would Inkura's parents think of this?

He looked around. Dark Squid had disappeared. She was a slippery one, but he couldn't worry about her right now. He just had to get Inkura home.

He juggled Inkura and his Splatling in his arms as he carried both back home. He laid Inkura on his bed, hoping that she would just come to, back to her normal, cheerful self except she had a heightened sense of fear about that forest.

About an hour after she passed out, Inkura began to show signs of life. Spider rushed over to her bed to watch her sluggishly open her eyes and breathe deeply. Her mouth felt numb, as did her right arm and leg.

"Inkura!" Spider said, grasping onto Inkura's shoulders. "Inkura, speak to me!"

Inkura had a drugged look in her eyes, and her mouth sorta hung open. She began to speak, if you could call it that. She spoke lightly, almost inaudibly. She must not have been fully awake. "Nie, Moyashi. Idame ipata mai anji?"

Whew. Inkura lived. She couldn't talk coherently for the time being, but she lived. "Inkura, you're okay!" Spider hugged her tightly.

She froze for a second. "Waisute, Moyashi. He hamatai an biji."

Okay, now something felt off. Even though Inkura had fully woken up, she couldn't speak coherently. She talked like she always did, but the words themselves didn't sound like words.

Spider pushed Inkura away. "Inkura, can you still talk properly?"

Inkura laughed. "Idame abama tatan? Suna botan roda zedzu! Bo noa gudei rode zedzu!"

Oh, no. Whatever she said, Inkura had not come out of this unscathed. Understanding her had become impossible. The creature in the lab must have caused her to talk this way, but he had no idea how it caused this or how to reverse it. For the time being, Inkura would have to live speechless.