After the Storm (A Splatoon 2 AU Fanfiction)

Chapter 13

"Marina?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah?" Marina replied, looking away from the TV.

"You rememeber that hoverboard you gifted me last Squidmas?"

Marina nodded. She had built the thing for more than a month, and saw Pearl's enthusiasm and gratitude when she opened it up. She had seen Pearl use it a couple times, but she wasn't sure if she was using it now, or even if it was in a useable state. Marina knew Pearl was prone to crashing if she wasn't that careful.

"Could you get it for me? I think it'll help with me not being able to walk and stuff."

Marina stood up. "Where is it?"

"I put it in the front closet," Pearl replied. "I think I used it last night. Tried to see how high I could go."

Once more, Marina nodded, and walked over to the foyer. Small puddles of the strange ink remained on the welcome mat, despite it only being a couple of hours. It should've been gone by now, Marina thought. She saw the cord, still connected to the outlet adjacent to the door, which led into the closet. She opened the closet door, and there it was. The hoverboard, fully charged, its base glowing a dim green inside. Standing on the base vertically was the board itself, with lots more stickers than she remembered. Some were faded, some were ripped off, and some were new.

Pearl had definitely been using it. Marina was glad.

She took out the board, as well as the base, before shutting the closet door. Might as well have it out if Pearl's going to use it a bit more.

Marina's eye managed to catch the intercom's video feed turning on. Gazing at it, she recognized the large van as one of the instant grocery deliveries they ordered. Only, that day wasn't grocery day, was it? And besides, with what was going on in Inkopolis, the service wouldn't be working until things are sorta fixed.

Even so, she went back to the living room. Maybe Pearl bought more food as an impulse buy. As soon as she entered the living room, Pearl began to limp over, sitting on the board as soon as Marina switched it on. It hovered enough to lift Pearl's feet slightly off the ground after she mounted it like a surfboard. "Did you order more food today?" Marina asked.

Pearl shook her head. "I did that yesterday, didn't I? Besides, no one's gonna bother driving in that muck. You saw what happened when we got here."

"There's a delivery truck outside," Marina noted. 

Pearl shrugged. "Maybe they're stuck?"

"Then we should offer them sanctuary, don't you think? It's dangerous out there." 

Pearl hovered forward, navigating to the intercom. Checking the live feed, she saw the vehicle in the driveway, sitting there. No one had attempted to get out of the van, apparently. Though, she could faintly tell the silhouette of someone inside, tapping their fingers on top of the dashboard.

"Yeah, I dunno if they'd be alright with that food inside, but we should let 'em stay here 'til things settle down," Pearl said as Marina approached. "Dunno if they can hear us. Seems like their windows are up."

Marina went into the closet again, pulling out a pair of boots and a Tenta Brella. "I'll go out and check."

Pearl watched as Marina prepared herself to go out. "Like, I get the boots, but why the Brella?"

"Can't be too careful," Marina replied, softly hugging Pearl. "Please watch me. If it looks like I'm in danger, don't come after me, please. I'll be fine, I promise."

"...Marina?" Pearl said, a bit worried. "You know you're scaring me."

"Just trust me, alright? I have a bad feeling about this."

Letting go, Marina took one last look at Pearl before exiting through the front door. The outside seemed like a perfect day, if it weren't for the ink all over the ground. As Marina walked to the vehicle, she wondered why it wasn't disappearing. It should be gone by now, then again, its source is unknown. 

Approaching the driveway, Marina could make out a figure inside, and she gripped the handle to her brella tighter. The person inside knew Marina was approaching, and seemed to freeze, as if panicking to themselves. It didn't seem like anyone else was inside the vehicle, though. As for their appearance, Marina could make out that this one was an octoling. She could also make out that this one had the bluish discoloration in their hair, and a greenish discoloration in their skin. That meant one of two things: either this one had fallen in the ink and found themselves to be discolored, or this was one of the octolings that invaded. 

Once she was near the door, she knocked to get this octoling's attention...