After the Storm (A Splatoon 2 AU Fanfiction)

Chapter 10

Houzuki Manor.

The home was lavishly-decorated, its rooms' purpose being shoe closets. Pearl's family had emptied it out, refurbished it, and gave the property to Pearl for her 16th birthday. It was her home sweet home ever since, and with Marina moving to the surface, the home became less lonely as the octoling had stayed over most weekends.

Now, however, it would be their best refuge.

Marina rolled into the driveway, soon stopping and parking. Everything seemed quiet after that on the hill. The two were already miles away from the center of Inkopolis at this point, away from the chaos that had ensued. Here, it seemed, the strange goo had barely reached, with only small, random puddles of the stuff on the street.

Pearl hopped off, grimacing as she did so. She held onto the seat, trying to balance herself with her other leg as Marina got off the bike. The octoling dropped to her knees in front of Pearl, inspecting the inkling's leg. Her left leg was discolored into the same green that rained on them. The same green that those octoling soldiers were painted as.It seemed that whatever that goo was, it was causing Pearl a lot of pain. Marina didn't like seeing people, especially Pearl, in pain.

The sun outside became obscured with clouds, just as green as the last time. Marina stood up, picking Pearl up. It almost seemed like a mother picking up their hurt child. "Let's get inside before we get caught in the storm."

They went inside, just in time as the strange rain started once again.

Marina had set Pearl down on the couch of the expansive living room, a large television set tuned onto a news channel. Marina was in the adjacent kitchen, preparing tea for both of them as news anchors commented on the rain.

An ink storm, they kept saying. The way it was clumping together like snow, the way it didn't seem like a homogeneous mixture, and the way it was affecting Inklings and Octolings around Inkopolis.

And the soldiers... were they affected by the green goo? She felt like she knew them, but where she knew them was a complete mystery.

She finished with the tea, bringing it over to Pearl, who was already flexing her leg. "It's falling asleep," she complained. "What was that stuff?"

Marina looked over at the TV as she sat down with her own mug. There were clip montages of security camera footage and phone recordings of the octolings pulling out struggling inklings from the gunk stacked on top of them. "I don't know, Pearlie, but I'm worried."