Splatoon: Unnamed [AU]

Chapter One

Up until today, life was rather boring in Inkopolis. Nothing huge had happened since the Chaos vs Order splatfest, and there hadn't been another since. Aside from Cuttlefish and Three's abrupt return, bringing along with them a strange yet friendly octoling who only seemed to respond to the name Eight, even Octo Canyon was quiet. Nothing fun had happened, and Rain was beginning to get, well, BORED out of his MIND. Not that he particularly WANTED Inkopolis to be in peril again, but that thrill of saving it made him long for that high, that rush of adrenaline that Turf War couldn't seem to provide. Rain wanted true DANGER, actual consequence. Rain wanted to be able to look down, and feel that spike of fear that there would be no water, no net at the bottom of the abyss. Working with Grizzco industries had fulfilled this desire somewhat, but after months of continuous egg harvesting and fish splatting, Rain had begun to tire of this venture too.

Life had grown quite stale at this point. Rain found himself repeating a daily routine of mind numbing boredom. He'd wake up, pop a frozen waffle in the toaster, and get dressed to go out into Inkopolis square in search of something to entertain his mind's ever growing appetite. When that inevitably failed, he'd travel through a sewer grate in the square to a place not too far off from the city. Octo Canyon had been quiet too. Rain longed for his days as Agent 4, rushing senselessly into dangers unknown to him. Of course, things were different now. Cuttlefish had retired and Captain Three took his place. She was a pretty fierce leader, and Rain had always felt a little intimidated by how stern and serious she constantly was. He'd try to tell her a joke, make lighthearted comments in an attempt to at least befriend her, but she proved incredibly resilient to his antics. Three just seemed annoyed anytime Rain spoke to her, so he decided to keep his mouth shut and stay out of trouble. In contrast to their stern leader was Agent Eight of course, the odd octoling Three had brought back around the time Rain had finished with his original mission. They were always quite quiet, Rain had noticed. Eight preferred to spend their time keeping the outpost neat and clean obsessively. For those first few weeks, Rain had convinced himself the shy octoling was mute, but they surprised him one day by asking about the patches on his jacket. Their friendship had gone uphill from there since, and although they rarely hung out outside of the canyon, they enjoyed mindlessly ranting to one another inside of it. Everyone else had sort of drifted apart from the group since, although kept in close contact in case of emergency.

Typically, after chatting for an hour or several with Eight, Rain would go back to the square to work a few shifts at Grizzo so he could continue affording rent and whatever other meaningless drivel he would buy off of random websites to give him momentary happiness. Today, though, he decided to stick around a little longer out of boredom. His job at Grizzco had become repetitive after years of working there. Rain was too good at his job for it to be exciting anymore. He was currently sitting under a tree in Tentakeel Outpost, scrolling through his phone and trying to think of a good conversation starter. It was infuriatingly quiet, as it usually was. The chatter of birdsong faintly filled the air, the breeze was gentle and warm. Eight was sweeping the area with a broom they had brought from home, clearing the base of dirt and dust with one earbud in. A small content smile came across their face as they mindlessly swept.

From Rain's knowledge of the quiet octoling, they were probably all wrapped up in some Squid Sisters song. Rain suddenly thought to ask, "Whatcha listening to?" He asked with a small smirk.

Eight looked up at him, pulling out their phone and pausing their music momentarily, "Huh?" They replied.

Rain repeated, "What are you listening to?" He motioned to their phone.

Eight looked down at their phone, "Fly Octo Fly, by Off the Hook?" They replied as they glanced back up at him.

Rain nodded, "Ah, I was expecting you to reply with some Squid Sisters song." He let out a small laugh.