Splatoon Manga: CybeRun

Chapter 8: Where Are We?

⚙️Chapter 8: Where Are We?

The squidbeak started walking towards the town Flip had found. From where they were, it seemed significantly less industrialized and machine-based. They could see more wooden houses, and a few creatures walking around. Some were humanoid, but the squidbeak couldn't tell what they were until they approached the entrance of the town. They were just things like nautiluses and humanoid fish.

Surprisingly, there were no signs of inklings, octolings, or anything like that. The squidbeak hoped there were some here, though. They got weird looks as they passed through, but it was understandable. The clothing in this place didn't seem too different from the stuff in Inkopolis.

"Aw man, I should've eaten before we did this!" Goggles whined.

"You didn't eat breakfast?" Rider grumbled.

"I don't know, I'm just hungry..."

"Well...did the rest of us eat before coming here?" Prince asked.

Everyone else nodded, though Flip did not reply.

"I hope the food here is suitable for a king," Emperor said.

Prince shook his head.

"We don't even know if the food here is safe or not."

"Well, Nana and I could run tests on..." Hachi cut himself off. "I forgot my laptop back at the metro...and a lot of our tools too!"

"Oh, it appears I have left some of mine as well..." Nana said, looking down around her waist.

Hachi and Nana had small fanny packs that contained a few of their tools, but the rest were all back at their world, and they couldn't get there until they got that crystal.

"Well, why don't you see what you have?" Flip asked.

"Oh! Right! We should probably see what we can use, and not worry about what we cannot," Hachi replied.

The group found an area behind a building and sat down on the ground. It was dusty and dirty, and Emperor didn't really want to sit down without his throne, so he stood. Prince sat, however. Hachi and Nana un-buckled their packs and dug through the front pouch.

"Let us see...I have a screwdriver...some screws...and sandpaper," Hachi said.

"And I have...nails...a hexagonal metal rod to turn certain things with...and a small spoon," Nana added.

"Hmm...well, at least it's not like we DON'T have tools," Gloves shrugged.

Rider shook his head disapprovingly.

"I don't know. We still need to be careful with them, because they-GOGGLES!"

Everyone's attention was on the blue inkling, who had somehow gotten ahold of the tools and was now trying to balance them on his head. Rider's shout had startled him, and all of the tools came toppling down off his head and onto the ground.

"Sorry, I just thought it would be fun."

"Goggles, we don't have TIME for fun! We might never get back to our home if you keep fooling around!" Rider growled.

"Hey, hey, give him a break," Flip said.

Rider whipped his head around to glare at her. Flip was hardly phased.

"Look, we're all in a stressful situation here. I get what you're saying, he shouldn't be losing anything, but I think we all need something to cheer ourselves up," she explained. "Besides, he's done with them now."

Rider turned around. Hachi and Nana had indeed retrieved their materials from the ground as Goggles looked at Rider with a small hurt expression. Rider sighed.

"Alright, alright. Well, now that we know what we have, what should we do?" he asked.

"I say we find a better place to suit us, so we can settle down in case something happens," Emperor said.

"I think we should explore this place a little more, to get to know it better," Prince suggested.

"Yeah, if there's a fight and we don't know this terrain very well, we're gonna have a disadvantage," Gloves mentioned.

"Alright, I'm sure we can try and do both," Rider replied.

He stood up, and the rest of the sitting squidbeak followed him.

"We'll look for a place to stay, but while we do that we can examine our surroundings. Sound good?"

The squidbeak approved, and so the group walked out from behind the building. There were less creatures walking around now, but the group still needed to keep their eyes out for something suspicious. Goggles skipped ahead of the group to catch up to Rider, but Rider didn't really bother to pay much attention. Flip sighed as she strayed towards the back of the group. As much as she wanted to say something, she figured it wouldn't really be worth it.

Prince noticed a gate heading into the city further away, and directed the squidbeak's attention to it. Everyone agreed that they would head towards it, and changed the direction they were going in to get there. Out of the corner of her eye, Flip noticed a girl with long yellow tentacles in pigtails skipping up to the group. She seemed to be a teenage cuttleling around the age of 16. With an "Uh, guys?" Flip got everyone to turn around and notice her, just as she reached them.

"Hello! You seem to be new around these parts, what are you doing here?" she asked.

Emperor was about to answer, but Prince gave him a brief glance and he kept quiet. Instead, Hachi tried to reply.

"Oh, uh...

Gloves tried to explain the situation to help out his friend.

"Well you see, we have-"

"We were told to come here to find some parts for a machine!" Flip interrupted.

She wanted to prove her usefulness to the group. Not that she hadn't been useless in previous missions, but...maybe she could do the talking to the street people here. After all, she used to be with a group of cool kids when she was younger...until they left her.

"I see, I see! Machines breaking are common in this place, so you can bet we got a lot of 'em! My name is Lisa, and who are you?"

"Oh, we're uh..."

Gloves wasn't sure if the people here needed to know who the squidbeak splatoon were. Luckily, Rider interrupted and saved him from messing anything up.

"We don't have time for that right now, we just need to know where we are,"

"You're on the outskirts of the city, but I guess I should tell you, hehe!" Lisa giggled.

The squidbeak watched as she spun around and smiled.

"Welcome...to New Inktropolis!"