Inked Over Secrets: a Splatoon 2 Fanfiction

14: Going to War 101: a Class by Arty

(A/N anybody get the joke of this chapter? Hint: it's a Harry Potter comment thread.)

Following the appearance of Tartar, Stinger started preparing the Telepathinks that chose to join him. As he found out more about each individual, he learned that some don't even have any powers; they're just descendants of those who do. He had imagined an army of psychics completely obliterating Tartar, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.
But now came the hardest stage of preparation: training. Stinger did not have a clue about war, besides the few stories his parents told him. Luckily, Arty told him to not worry, and to watch her work. Hesitantly, Stinger sat down with the rest of the army.
"Alright, class. Today, I'm going to school you on war," Arty called out, "and why it's our only option."
"To start," she pointed at Stinger with a slight tease, "why doesn't our brave leader demonstrate for us how to stay alive?"
Stinger stood up, muttering "Why me?" jokingly, earning a few laughs from those closest. He stood by Arty, hand already reaching for his Brush.
Arty signaled to seemingly no one. "Begin!"
Like magic, which it technically was, multicolored shapes emerged from small cracks in the ground. These quickly formed into Inkling- and Octoling-like shapes, and charged Stinger.
Almost faster than the eye could follow, Stinger's Brush vaporized the first to approach him. Even as the dummies kept coming, Stinger's brain went on autopilot: stab, parry, cut, whirl, duck, slash. For every one he struck down, another took its place. But for a while, he showed no signs of slowing down. Dummy after dummy was downed as they rose to suicide. Stinger, at this point, was an unstoppable killing machine. His Brush was a blur of death.
His reign of terror ended when he got shot by Avia's Splattershot Pro. He felt a pain in his shoulder, and on instinct, he chucked his Brush, then willed it to return to his waiting palm. Avia learned to one side and dropped to avoid the Brush's U-turn. When it returned to his hand, Stinger looked around, awaiting more enemies to cut down. When there were none, though, his tunnel vision widened out, and he saw the crowd staring at him in stunned silence. From fear or awe, Stinger couldn't tell, until one individual started applauding. It wasn't long before the crowd was roaring with approval.
Arty looked at him in respect. "That's the way to survive for close range. Shooters, Blasters, Dualies, Rollers, and Brushes, please come to Stinger. Chargers, Splatlings, Sloshers, and Brellas, come to Avia and I."
The crowd broke apart to train.
They stayed there for hours, learning how to use their respective weapons to their advantage. Before long, Stinger and Arty had a powerful force about two hundred strong.
Arty and Stinger looked at each other. "I'd say it's time we went to war."
"Let's give them a day to rest," Stinger suggested.
"Why is that?"
"Because tension is the hardest test. They need to be able to leave without hesitation. That's the way we know they won't chicken out."
"You're smart, Stinger."
"What, you didn't know that before?" He said with his signature smirk.
The two shared a smile as they faced their last day of peace.

...
14 is done. A little short, but it's what I can do. By the way, DANG 450 reads. This is crazy! Thank you!
Two characters will be making returns next chapter. You can probably guess one. The other, well... I doubt you'll predict who it is.
Bye.