#7 - Sanitized

Letter

"Ahato...Ahato?"

I woke up. It was almost noon and Callie was in my room. "Ahato, it's almost time to eat LUNCH! Did you really sleep in this long?" she asked.

I shifted to my Octo form and slithered out of bed. I brushed my teeth and walked to the kitchen where Marie was making sandwiches. "Oh, you're finally awake," she said. Eight was sitting at the table with a huge 64 x 64 Rubik's cube. "Block!" she exclaimed.

Callie groaned. "How is it that she's solved this cube TWICE ALREADY but she can still barely speak Inklish?" 

"I guess we all just have different strengths and weaknesses," Marie answered. "Oh, Ahato... Don't you have that meetup with 3, 4, and 8?"

Oh. I forgot. "Yeah, in about 10 minutes," I said. I took my sandwich and left with Eight. We walked to Crusty Sean's food truck and sat down with 3 and 4, who weren't wearing their Hero gear. We finished our food and went to play Splat Zones.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, so...for this mode, it's like Turf War but instead of inking the whole stage, you just have to ink one or two small spots in the middle, and keep them inked," Three explained. 

We were playing in Goby Arena. The timer started, and I followed the others to the center of the stage. A rectangle was outlined, so I started inking it. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw a timer ticking down. That must be how long we have to keep  it inked, I thought. The others were fighting the enemy team, so I joined them.

"GAH!" Four was splatted, but so were 3 of the other team's members. We started inking over their ink, but we couldn't find the last teammate. Until the scoreboard flashed with "They're in control!"

We all swam back to the Zone and splatted him. Thankfully, we ended up winning the match a little while later, and with a KO bonus too.

But then...something unexpected happened. My phone rang, and it was Callie, so I answered.

"Hellooooo? Ahato? Okay, WEHAVEACODEREDHURRYUPGETTOTHECANY-"

The call ended. We all rushed to the canyon. DJ Octavio wasn't in his snowglobe, and both of the Squid Sisters were missing. "UGHHH. Not again!" Four groaned.

"This happens often!?" I exclaimed. 

"No time to explain!" The three Agents superjumped to Cephalon HQ, so I followed them. We all went into a giant Boss Kettle, and surprisingly there was DJ Octavio putting a pair of...Hypnoshades on Callie? 

Marie, however, was not going down that easily. She pointed her umbrella at Octavio and shot. "SURPRISE BITCH! I GOT AN UPGRADE!" 

We all superjumped (Again) to the arena. "I won't let you join him too, Marie!" Four yelled. She pulled the shades off Callie and stomped on them until they cracked. Then she threw them off the edge of the arena. I remembered throwing the orange Splat Bomb off the edge of Tentakeel Outpost with Marissa, but this was no time for remembering. I pulled out our canned specials, and we all blasted Octavio with Sting Rays, Bombs, and Splashdowns. 

But when everyone left to lock up Octavio again, I stayed. I...just had to check something.

I left the kettle and stared into the bubbling Acid Ink. Is it...? I put my foot out in front of me, and there was solid ground. So they haven't blocked off the city, I thought.

I walked down the path, and sure enough it led to the city. It was very small, and a few people stared, probably trying to figure out where they had seen me before. It was a small world. 

I went all the way to the edge of the city, and saw the broken-down building. My childhood home. I went in, but I wasn't expecting there to be a letter on the old wooden dining table. It looked new, and the house looked like it had been abandoned for years.

Should I have picked up the letter? Maybe not.

Should I have read it? No.

Ahato,

If you want to get Marissa back, meet me here at XX/XX/XX at 11:50 A.M.

Come alone.

Sincerely,                .

A/N: AH I'M SO SORRY FOR FORGETTING ABOUT THIS!!!

I'll try to update it more frequently... 😅