Splatoon: A Dash Of Colour

Chapter 8: Chosen One

The buzzing voice called again. "Oh, you four. Haven't you given up already?"
"Not just yet," Payton smirked. "We've got a suprise for you."
"Oh? And what's that?"
"Immunity." Percy responded, then hung up on her.

"NO. WAY. You're immune to them! That's so cool!" Liz ran back and hugged Percy.
"Owowow, I'm still hurting though." He smiled. She gasped and cooled off.

_____

Once we got home, the news already reached back to Inkopolis. Instead of walking though the crowd, we took the secret shortcut from the Lobby to the Squid Sister's building. Or just, Marie's bulding. She's been doing the news alone. Payton and Liz went off to go shopping, but Percy and I stayed to catch up with an old friend.

"So, immunity, how's this work?" Marie asked, breathing into a cup of tea.
Percy explained everything.
"So... Inkling-Octoling hybrid?"
"Um... yeah, and a descendant of one, technically. We don't know how far down though."

Then there was a knock on the front door. The servant came to their side, and we heard his echoing voice from down the main entrance's hallway. Then, two girls came through our door.

One, a short, white and pink girl and the other, a tall, slim, black and aqua.... hybrid.

"Oh! you caught me at a poor time. Psyche, Percy, meet Pearl and Marina. They'll be taking over for me while I search for my cousin and maybe longer after we do. IF we do."
"What? Taking over?" Percy gasped. He looked at the girls up and down.
"Totally! Marina and I have the skill to totally rock the floor. We're trying to freshen it up for squidlings like you." The short one, "Pearl," said confidently.

She called us a squidling, but she seemed to look like she was fourteen, and transformed prematurely. The hybrid, on the other hand, looked calm and collected. She wore revealnig clothes but other than that, she seemed our age.

"You're a hybrid? Marina? I'm Percy." Percy held his hand out to shake hers. The dark skinned girl held hers out too. "Yeah. Pleasure." She spoke in quick phrases. "You know, I'm a hybrid too, I just found out." He dropped his hands into the deep pockets of his jacket.

Immediatly Marina brightened up. Seeing her friend smile, Pearl did too. "Really? That means we're related. All hybrids come from one ancestor." She dropped her smile a little bit. "You seem to be from the side of the family that didn't approve of hybrids. Look at your hair..." Offended, Percy rubbed his head. "I guess not."
Marina smiled more once again. "Anyways, my side was in approval of this. That's why I look like this." She twisted her long hair around her finger.

Pearl pushed Marina out of the way. "Now, out of this sappy stuff with your cuz, Marie, let's talk bidness."

Marie politely asked us to go, and we were happy to. It was time for us to chill alone. No matches, no Octolings, just easy vibes. Percy was supposed to suprise me with a destination to visit. So, he walked down with me in a direction I've never been, and then suddenly covered my eyes. We walked for what seemed to be ages to my blind eye, but then he stopped, then pulled his hand back. A mall! And not any old mall, the freshest of them all.

Here they sold the coolest gear ever. I've seen so many ads for these brands on Tv, and I've been dying for some of my own.

"Oh, but Percy, I didn't bring any money." I pouted.
"Who said you were paying?" He gave me a peck on my forehead and walked inside with me.
"You can't be doing this! What for?"
"Can't I just treat you?" He jabbed me in the hip with a finger jokingly. "I got some extra cash from my mom and my brother as concolences. I knew you'd like to freshen your getup. I think I might too."
"Yeah, with that huge jacket of yours."
"Hey... my Retro Gaming Jersy isn't that bad..."

The first store we entered seemed very adventerous. It was an Inkline shop. Inside were vests, snow jackets, and various shoes fit for hiking. One jacket caught my eye. It was a puffy lime-green jacket. I don't know if it was the strange colour or the poofiness of the arms, I knew this was the one.

"Like this one?" Percy helped me try it on. As I was looking into a full-length mirror on the wall, Percy held a tag from the back of the jacket.
"Hmmm... this one seems to be a custom."
"What's that mean?" I looked back at him, still facing the mirror.
"It doesn't have the usual ability... this one has one called 'Thermal.'"
"Oh! I've heard of Thermal before! You're able to know where anyone is if you hit them with you ink already, so if someone tries to run away you can find them."
"You like it? I can buy it. Customs only cost five dollars more."
"Sure, thanks Percy."

After a few more stores, Percy bought a whole new set. He bought Noise Cancelers, a Takaroka Windcrusher, and Orca Hightops. I was still looking for a new pair of shoes, but I'm keeping my hat. That's when we passed a Tentatek shoe store displaying their new Normanki shoes. One of Via's teammates has these, and they have an ability called "Drop Roller," where it lets you roll once you land a superjump so you can either escape or fight back. It really changes the game.

The black ones honestly looked cooler than the white ones. It seemed as thought the soles glowed a blue to green fade from front to back. They were cheaper than I expected, but then again, by the looks of them, they looked like a Rockenberg-esque modern spin-off shoes.

"Okay, sure." He walked inside to find a box of the shoes. "What's your size?"
"I didn't even say anything, how'd you know?" I shuffled after him.
"You gave it the look. Now what size?" He was already next to the section that the black Normankis were.
"The look? What look?"
"The one you gave me when you saw me on the train."

He saw me staring at him?

"Size eight."