The Little Salmonid

Part 4

When Samantha had finally woken, she found herself in a comfy bed. She looked around, and then finally noticed her unfamiliar appendages. The little Salmonid was no longer a Salmonid. She was an Inkling girl, but still retained some of her Salmonid features. She had hands with fingers, legs with feet, and short tentacles growing from her head. She was even clothed with a Basic Tee and a pair of shorts.

"Hey, you're finally awake," said a familiar voice. "I was starting to get worried."

Samantha turned her head and saw none other than her beloved Inkling boy. She was elated that he could finally talk to her, and it showed obviously on her face.

"Wow, you're really happy to see me, aren't you?" asked the Inkling. "I mean, who wouldn't be? My name's Giuseppe Grimaldi, by the way."

"What a pretty Inkling name," thought Samantha.

"Mom and Dad found you unconscious by the ocean a few hours ago. What happened to you?"

Samantha opened her mouth to speak, but all that could escape was a wheeze. She remembered that she no longer had a voice.

"What's the matter?" Giuseppe asked. "Can't you speak?"

Samantha shook her head.

"But you can write, can you?"

Giuseppe grabbed a notebook and a pencil off of the dresser and handed it to Samantha. Samantha tried to write something, but she didn't know how to write or use a pencil. All she could conjure were incoherent scribbles.

"Man, she can't write OR speak?" thought Giuseppe. "This chick must've been through something awful..."

Samantha did a stretch and groggily got out of the bed. As soon as her feet hit the floor, she felt a sudden painful sensation, and her feet began to bleed. She grabbed her ankle and lost her balance, but Giuseppe caught her in his arms.

"Your feet are bleeding," he gasped. "Did you hurt them? I'll go get some bandages."

Giuseppe asked his mother to dress Samantha's wounds, because he couldn't stomach the sight of blood. "We'll nurse you back to health," said the mother. "Don't you worry." After having her wounds cleaned and bandaged, Samantha was advised to get some rest. She went to sleep and dreamt sweet dreams about Giuseppe.

When Samantha awakened in the morning, she took a stab at walking again. It felt like she was treading on the sharpest razor blades one could imagine. After a few minutes of wincing and stumbling around, she began to get the hang of it, but the pain wouldn't cease. She even taught herself to go into squid form and back, but even in squid form, the pain persisted. Despite the agony she was in, she learned how to keep her composure, and walk like an Inkling girl.

She walked all the way down the stairs and to the dining room, where Giuseppe and his family were having breakfast.

"Oh, good morning," greeted the father. "Would you like to join us for breakfast?"

The breakfast smelled wonderful to Samantha. They had prepared turkey sausages, sunny-side-up eggs, toast, and orange juice. She nodded as she drooled on herself. She took a seat next to Giuseppe and the father fixed her a plate and a glass. She snatched them from him, devoured the food, and guzzled the juice. Everyone stared at her.

"Well, you must've been starving," the mother chuckled awkwardly.

Samantha didn't know anything about table manners, nor had she eaten such food before. She was only used to eating raw fish and worms, so that simple breakfast tasted like a five star meal.

"Y'know, I've never seen a girl eat like that," Giuseppe said to her. "But somehow... you make it look hella fresh."

Samantha was heavily flattered by his compliment and grinned at him.

"I never got your name..." he realized. "Hm... you smell like a Salmonid... and you kinda look like one, too. Since you can't tell me your name, mind if I call you... Salmonella?"

Samantha liked the nickname, so she nodded and grinned.

"Alrighty then, Salmonella! Me and my buds are gonna go play Turf War in an hour. Do you wanna come with us... if you're feelin' alright?"

Samantha nodded and smiled.

"But you don't have a weapon, do you...? You wanna borrow one of mine?"

Giuseppe led Samantha to his closet where he stored all of his ink weaponry. There were many weapons to choose from, but there was one that really caught her eye. She pointed to the Custom Blaster, which reminded her of the one her sister found.

"That one?" asked Giuseppe. "I don't even remember buying that one... yeah, you can use it."

...

Giuseppe and Samantha were teamed up with two friends. Their first match started at Humpback Pumptrack. Giuseppe painted the ground quickly with his Mini Splatling and splatted opponents with great accuracy. Samantha could sniff out opponents and aggressively blasted them back to their spawn point. A dualie wielding opponent splatted Samantha quite often, but she managed to get him back with her Inkjet. She grew particularly fond of that special, because she felt free from the troublesome pain of running. Three minutes were up, and Giuseppe's team was victorious. Samantha rushed over to Giuseppe and hugged him affectionately.

"You krilled it out there," he groaned, trying to pry Samantha off of him.

"Honestly, I thought we'd be carrying you," confessed one of their teammates. "but you were the one carrying us!"

The team went on to battle for a few more hours, with Samantha and Giuseppe growing closer with every match. They won some, and of course lost some, but Samantha didn't care for the outcome because she was with the squid she loved. She had never seen places so vibrant, nor had she eaten such delicious food or had so much fun in her life. And best of all, there were no Grillers or anyone nagging her to protect Golden Eggs. Everyone in the Square thought she was the freshest squid they had ever laid their eyes on. She went shopping. She got the high score playing Squid Beatz 2. She ate a Deep-Fried Shwaffle for the first time and she relished it. She wanted this day to last forever.