Inked Over Secrets: a Splatoon 2 Fanfiction

10: The Camp of Rumors

Arty looked around her, taking in her surroundings and leaning against Avia for support. Seven was still on the ground from their last encounter. As she looked around, she noted strange sites: colorful statues that almost looked like ink, small hut-like houses, and dummys scattered everywhere. Strangest of all we're the camp members: Inklings and Octolings we're both there, as well as a few that looked like a cross between the two. Most of the members, though, sported scars and bruises that looked so nasty they made Arty flinch. Who would want to hurt these people?
Avia managed to steer Arty to a hut that was a little bigger than the others, with small ink puddles at the top. However, when they entered, Arty saw that it wasn't a hut at all; it was an entrance to a tunnel. And it looked very long.
"Can't you just warp us to the bottom or something?" Arty questioned. She sounded like a crybaby and she knew it, but she didn't want to descend into darkness basically defenseless.
Avia shot her an annoyed look. "Don't you think we'd be there now? I don't have unlimited energy. Melting saps my strength."
Minutes later, they reached the bottom of the tunnel. Arty's eyes bugged out when she saw the end.
Avia smirked at her expression. "Not what you expected, is it?"
The room was giant, with a five sleeping bags, a bathroom, a shower, and even a TV. The roof seemed to be held up by a mat of the same solid ink Arty saw on the statues earlier. Pillars of the mystery substance held the roof up on the edges.
Avia sighed. "Home sweet home. Here, you take a sleeping bag." She lead Arty over to a sleeping bag, and carefully dropped her shoulder so Arty slid off slowly.
"I'll be back. Need to get Seven." She said, before walking out of the room.
Of course, Arty could only go a minute before someone spoke to her. "You didn't believe this place existed, did you?"
She twisted her head toward the sound of the voice, and there was a man there, with his hair in a man bun. The line connecting his eyes marked him as an Inkling. The thing that alarmed Arty the most, though, was the number of scars on him.
There were so many. There were scattered across his body, some no bigger than freckles, some the length of a sheet of paper. One cut across his left eye, making Arty shiver to think how he could have gotten that.
"H-how..." She stammered, her words dying as her eyes made contact with his single golden one.
"Did I get these scars?" The Inkling man gestured to himself. "Another story for another day." His single eye hardened. "But let us think about today. Do you know what this place is?"
Arty's head was spinning. "Avia told me, but I don't—"
"Believe her?"
"No," she confessed.
The Inkling's nodded in satisfaction. "That is good. Rumors can be dangerous. Never believe them in any circumstance unless there is solid proof. But the young woman — Avia, I believe — was not lying."
"Really? This is really—?"
"The Telepathink Camp? It is indeed."
Just then Avia reentered the room, with Seven pulled behind her, dragging on the dirt. Arty silently thanked her luck for avoiding this mode of transportation.
"I'm back! I got..." Her words died in her throat as she took in the figure.
"Avia. Good to see you again." The Inklkng casually said.
"Cepholo. I-it's an honor to have you in my humble abode." Arty could detect respect in her words, and the tiniest trace of something else.
Fear.
Now she was really worried. Who was this man? Why was Avia afraid of him?
Cepholo chuckled. "Oh, the pleasure's all mine. Why don't you tend to your friend—," His face scrunched up, then relaxed— "Telk Jaxin?"
Avia regained her air of casualty. "Will do, Cap'n." She walked through a tunnel Arty hadn't noticed before.
Cepholo smiled at her expression of worry. "Do not despair. That tunnel leads straight to the hospital wing. Now, I'm sure you have some questions. I shall answer what needs to be answered."
Something he said clicked in Arty's mind. "Wait — Telk? No, you've got it mixed up. Telk is a different person altogether."
Cepholo chuckled. "He hasn't revealed his identity? Well, I guess I'll have to spoil his guessing game. Agent Seven and Telk Jaxin are one and the same. Sheldon's fun-loving worker is also a member of the Squidbeak Splatoon."
Arty was shellshocked. Or she would be, if she were a turtle. "How did you know that? I've been traveling for weeks with him and I haven't figured it out."
A pensive look came over Cepholo. "It is one power we have. As Telepathinks, we can master one of three abilities — Melting, Twisting, and Syncing. You have already witnessed Melting. His is what Avia has mastered. Twisting is bending ink to your will. This means shaping it, hardening it, or even changing its color. Syncing is when you reach inside a cephalopod and investigate. This means you can read thoughts and, if skilled enough send thoughts. Syncing is what I just did."
"So you've mastered Syncing."
Cepholo chuckled again. "Yes and no. I've mastered all the arts. I am the Captain of the Telepathinks."

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Meanwhile, in Stinger's subconscious, an impossible battle was being fought.
Due to Stinger's last-second knowledge of his powers, he was now sparring with Tartar, each using a pole made of their own ink. Neither could gain an edge over the other.
"You know this is an impossible battle," Tartar talked to Stinger as they tried to kill each other. "I'm don't breathe or consume anything whatsoever, and you are in your subconscious. Therefore neither of us can lose energy."
"But I can keep you here forever, where you can't terrorize others," Stinger suggested as he blocked yet another blow.
"It's just you and me, than. No one else, not even Arty," Tartar taunted.
At that moment, Stinger felt something break inside him. He knew Tartar was using his words to dig under his skin, but he let them.
With a yell and a tingle in his chest, his bottled fury blew its top, and swamped his subconscious with blue.

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The end. Of this chapter.
Now, I know you are probably tired of this, but 300 READS WUT (Get the reference?). THANK YOU ALL. Now come back next week.
Just kidding. For playing with your feelings, I give you a digital bowl of ice cream:

Did that make you feel better? I hope it did.

Also try to say "Tartar taunted" ten times fast next time you're bored.