The War of the Worlds - By Bridgette (A Splatoon Story of Martian Invasion)

Chapter 6-The Red Weed And The Spirit of Marinekind

Chapter 6—The Red Weed And The Spirit of Marinekind

At long last, I made it to the other side of the river, managing to find a standing bridge after many failed attempts to make it to the other side. Tired and hungry, I straggled my way to a nearby abandoned shed, where I would collapse to the ground inside and begin my desired sleep as I attempted to ignore the images I had seen today. I wreastled for minutes on end, slowly overwhelming those dark thoughts until eventually I won, and soon after, my sleep was rather calming despite everything around me.

The next day soon dawned, and I opened my well-rested eyes to find fleshy red branches crawling up to me. Baffled, I got myself up into the ground to find out that the source of the branch was from the doorway, which I left open due to my tired nature. I was squinting my eyes as I walked out of the shed due to the bright red, glaring sunlight that was outside. It was there that I found out the extent of the branches—the whole area was infested with the red weed. an invasive plant species that originally came from the Martian homeland. Intentionally or unintentionally brought here, it already made earth's home. It was like I was walking around a different planet that I didn't belong on.

The ground wasn't even affected by the red weed either; even the atmosphere was too affected by the changing environment. The sunlight and the sky are now fiery red. The red weed tangled itself all around everything it could reach, such as the trees that surround me and the building that I had taken shelter in, and even attempted to make me a victim of its invasive nature. It's not just the inhabitants of Mars attempting to colonize my home planet; the plant that is called the red weed too joined in the war against earth.

Then it hit me: I know this environment somewhere—my dream! Did my dream actually predict the future, just as I thought days earlier? If that's the case, then why? Why was I chosen to have this eerie vision? It was an unknown question that I wasn't ready to answer. I must continue on my journey to find my friends, especially my lover. I continued my trek to the north, where I found a white sign entangled by the red weed that reads, "YOU ARE NOW LEAVING CALAMARI COUNTY" and right after, "KITEFIN COUNTY WELCOMES YOU!"

I wasn't far from my destination; I just needed to cross one more county before I made it. During my journey, I had several near encounters with the dreaded tripods looming nearby as they searched for any victims. At some points, I even saw some special variants of the tripods meant to set up settlements for the arriving Martian population. I didn't have much time to stare at their efforts as I remembered the face of my lover, one of the only things that kept me going.

Soon, I entered a deserted city called Finso—the buildings everywhere were looted or covered with red weed, some collapsed from the earlier presence of the Martian tripods that had devestated everything they came across. Some buildings even had some life left in them, not by anyone living inside but by the lights still flickering. Suddenly, I found the body of a male coconut crab lying with its face down on the ground, dressed in a white, sparkly tuxedo, now ruined by the dirt that he lies on. Feeling sympathetic to the body, I decide to bury the body in a respectful manner so I can spare him from the ever-expanding nature of the red weed.

But then, just as I finished digging their grave with my bare hands, I heard the voice of an inkling woman calling out, "Grande Hiroki!"

I stopped myself from continuing and looked to see a female Inkling woman, aged somewhere around in her 30–40, dressed in a large, grey trench coat concealing her glittering blue dress. Going down to her legs, she dawns black stockings and a pair of black boots, similar to my favorite pairs.

I then looked into the eyes of the supposed corpse, only to find his eyes flicker wide open. Her voice woke him up like if it were a fairy tale, and right away, the coconut crab got himself up on his legs to confront her, where I would learn that the coconut crab and the Inkling woman are apparently not just couples but also recognizable song duos specializing in progressive rock mixed in with classical music.