Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Don't go to far now, Hivemind.” A mother told her son as she let go of his hand. 

“Don't worry Mama, I won't-ppe.” The young squidling informed her before he headed down into the forest protecting Mt.Nantai, the mountain his family lived on.

The curious child, no older then 6, managed his way though the forest the same as before, only expanding his path more and more each day.

Sometimes if the boy was lucky, he would find broken remains that appeared to be something before such as apple cores, bones, and candy wrap. All of which he'd pick up and throw away properly when he went back to his mama.

Wires was his personal favorites to find, he would often play around with the wires before organizing them neatly in a bow and movinf on.

As he went higher up the mountain, he heard a tree branch snap up a head. The blur of something yellow hurried down the tall trees and hit the ground loudly.

Hivemind paused for a moment before he slowly crept up behind a tree and leaned his head over it.

He didn't expect to find another inkling up here. Especially one that looked just like him, a squidling who couldn't maintain a kid form.

The mysterious cobalt yellow colored squid rubbed his head. “Oww...” He stood up, rubbing the dirt off of his back and picked up the skull of a fish and put it on his head, letting half of it fall and grab on for dear life.

Hivemind laughed.

“Wha—!Who's there!” The inking turned, his eyes widening as he spotted a sliver squidling wearing some type of shade that covered his eyes. “Who are you?” He sounded excited as he smiled at the other.

“I'm Hivemind-ppe! What's your name-ppe?”

“You have a odd accent.” The cobalt Inkling remarked. “I'm—” He paused as he looked momentarily conflicted. “I... ain't giving my name! Shoo! Get out of here! This place is off limits!” He started yelling.

“Where's the sign-ppe?” Hivemind said in a sassy voice.

“Where are your eyes?” The other quickly threw back at him and pointed at his shades. “Shoo! Or else I'll take those if your stay any longer!” He started chasing Hivemind who frankly held onto his headgear.

“Please don't-ppe!” 

~

Hivemind started getting tried while the other started catching up to him. He was scared, he gave up and let himself fall to curl into himself to prevent his Hivemind Antenna's from being taken from him as he cried.

The squidling slowed down as he caught up to Hivemind's curled up body. He felt rather guilty.

Should he apologize? No, he why should he! No one is allowed to be here no matter what. It was his duty as guardian after all!

Yeah! Just like everyone before him, he will shoo away anyone who dares get close!

Because only he was allowed to be here!

::

Hivemind lost track of how long he stayed there. At some point the scary squidling got close and halted and then walked away to leaving him alone.

He stopped crying to his best ability, still dealing with a hiccup every now and then, and poked his head out.

Did time really pass that quickly? He observed the once blue sky above turn pink. 

Hivemind sat up. He heard something soft fall from his dirted shirt and hit the leafy ground. He grabbed it and looked.

It was a lollipop, mango flavored.

Hivemind smiled and happily ate the piece of candy. He stood up and looked around one finale time before running back home. 

His mother was waiting nervously at the back of the house as she waited for her son who was running late. When she saw him in the distance, a wave or relief washed over her. Hivemind gave her a tight hug that she returned. 

But for considering his mother, and dirtying his shirt, Hivemind was told he couldn't go on another adventure for 3 days straight.

Chapter Text

“GAME!” The more cheery member of The Squid Sisters, Callie, announced though the speakers scattered around the map. “This was a fierce battle for both teams! Now, take it away Judd!”

A big cat who's fur made it look like it wore overalls and a bow appeared on the T.V. screen. 

“The winner's of this match are....” 

Doing a little dance before making a decision, he held up a purple flag and showed the results.

79 to 21 points.

“The S4!” Callie cheered congrats to the 4 inklings who won.

“So much for a fierce battle.” Marie commented. “The other team wasn't even close.”

“Pssh, So what?” Callie joked. “A loss today means a victory tomorrow! There's always next time!”

As the two cousins continued thier comments to one another, the members of the S4 left. It was thier last ranked battle of the day. After this point, they would (and will) go thier separate ways for the rest of the day.

The only noise that could be heard from the group was the scribbles of a pencil hitting paper, which echoed in the empty lobby as 3 of the inkling's hair changed back into their own original color.

They left the lobby and began parting ways. Mask went straight to his home while Skull walked around with no clear place in mind.

Army walked over to the bench he always went to and sat down, still writing in his manual. 

The tactic the other team used was so different then what he was used to. Army found himself stunted as he saw it.

It was new.

And that was what drove Army insane.

A new method like this meant others could use it too. If that was the case, he would make sure to take note of every possible outcome and how to beat it.

“What'cha writing?” Aloha asked the orange inkling who flitched when the pink inkling spoke. “A better way to not get in our way?” He sarcastically joked and rested the arm closest to Army on the backrest of the bench.

Army looked at him with surprise.

Aloha, the party animal Aloha. Being here instead of partying? He couldn't help but wonder why.

Army shut his manual and held it up with a serious expression. “The tactic one of them used wasn't in my manual. I was writing it down.”

Aloha gasped dramatically. “Really?!” He leaned in close to Army, who moved his head back and frowned. “Gosh, who would've thought a little sneeze is enough to trigger the weakest member of the S4!” 

“Hey!” The other frowned. “If anything yo-”

“Your beret's tilted.” Aloha pointed at the boys headwear.

Army's eyes widened as he quickly opened his phone's camera mode and looked at his beret as he repositioned it 3° degrees to the right. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief. Opening them quickly as he felt Aloha grabbing his phone before it turned off, and took a picture of the two of them.

“Now I've got to send this to myself.” He started messing with Army's phone.

“Aloha!” Army yelled at the boy clicked send to the S4 group chat. Aloha gave Army his phone back and took out his own to download the picture.

He stood up and smiled at Army. “Bye bye! I'm off to a party!” He laughed as he ran off, leaving a furious Army. 

He knew it! That party animal was going to another party, the only reason he stuck around today because he wanted something. That being a picture and posting it in a group chat they rarely use!

Army felt like he was about to explode. He deleted the picture from the chat even though he knew it was too late, Aloha most likely downloaded the image 4 times by now.

With a sigh, Army went into Orange teams group chat at started typing.

«Meet at the lobby to have a training session at 3p.m. sharp.» He pressed send. In a few seconds his teammates responded to confirm they would be there. It lifted his sour mood. He turned off his phone and stood up from the bench to find something to pass the next 6 minutes with.

"a little sneeze is enough to trigger the weakest member of the S4!"

Aloha's words stuck with him as he walked. He shouldn't let that animal's words get to him. After all, Aloha said it all the time! And every single time, Army has never been bothered!

He'll never let it get to him!

Because he's Army! The strategist of the S4! Without him, the group wouldn't have been able to learn what certain parts of the maps they play on are called! They wouldn't have known where the best spots of each map are!

He was useful, more useful than Aloha, that's for sure. Smirking to himself, there was no way he was the weakest. They needed him.

He entered the lobby the moment the clock hit 3 p.m. along with the rest of Orange Team who formed a line to greet him. They began testing new ideas they came up with to beat other weapons and possible situations that could occur during battle.

You name it, they probably went over it.

Because that was Orange Team; the team that was always prepared for every situation.

Chapter Text

“Game.” The less cheery member of The Squid Sisters, Marie, announced though the speakers around the map. “Do we even need Judd for this?” She asked Marie beside her. “The winner's of this match are....” 

As Judd did the same dance they've all seen before, he held up a purple flag and showed the results.

KNOCKOUT!

“The S4.” Marie congratulated to the 4 inklings who won.

“Better luck next time!” Callie encouraged the losing team who looked, for the most part, devastated.

As the two cousins continued thier comments to one another, the members of the S4 left. It was thier last ranked battle of the day. After this point, they would (and will) go thier separate ways for the rest of the day.

Everyone changed the color of their tentacles back to it's original once they back in the lobby. Mask left to go home again, and Aloha left to another party.

Army went to sit on the same bench as before and ferociously wrote in his manual once more.

“Army.”

The orange inkling looked up to find their leader, Skull, who's expression was as unreadable as always. 

“There was a tree branch there.” Army immediately defended himself for his terrible performance during the match. “It was new.”

Skull stared at him with no clear expression before shaking his head. “Take a break if you need one.” He walked away, leaving Army with his head hanging low.

He tightened his grip on the manual as he frowned, disappointed at himself. Small tears started forming in his eyes as he refused to blink. If he did, he would allow the tears to win.

This whole week, Army has been taken by surprise every sudden action the things around him take. He didn't want to panic when a little leaf landed beside him while he was supporting his teammates.

He didn't want to be this...mess.

Army rubbed his face with the sleeve of his parka. He won't disappoint thier leader.

Not now—Not ever.

Army texted for another meeting with Orange Team an hour now and started reading though his manual after he finished his writing.

He had to think of every possible situation. So as he flipped from page to page, he took out differently colored sticky notes and started adding them to the pages as he wrote about every possible situation.

He wrote about how to deal with falls and trips, should anyone from both teams experience it.

He wrote about how to deal with an unreasonable team.

He wrote about how to deal with the wind suddenly changing to the right.

He wrote about how to deal with Aloha's constant jokes that he never understood.

And that wasn't all. Army would close this manual, and open up another one he had in his other pocket. This other manual had information about every inkling currently active in battles such as turf and ranked, even X battles.

He started doing the same as before with this manual. Filling in the sticky notes and placing them whatever space was free. 

It didn't matter how much he needed to write. Because eventually, he'll have a solution to every possible surprise one could imagine happening in battle.

::

The sun was going down when the party Aloha was at ended. He said goodbye to his friends as he waved at them before leaving. There was still a lot of time left, so he started going from store to store, checking out what fresh new gear was worth buying.

“Army?” Aloha looked at the boy who sat on the same bench as yesterday as he left the clothes store. A sudden idea appeared in his head as he chuckled and snuck up behind the boy.

Aloha hugged Army from behind. “Army~” He whispered his ear.

Army woke up suddenly and stood up from the bench. Both of his manuals went flying as they hit the ground. He turned around to see who was behind him, seeing Aloha with a surprised reaction.

Army frowned at the pink inkling. He picked up the manuals that landed on the ground, along with some note he never added in and started to walk away.

“Hey, Hey,” Aloha caught up and walked along side him. “Did I actually catch you by surprise? You looked totally spooked!” He asked. Why was he asking like he cared? “But I guess it's no surprise, you are the weakest after all~”

Army's frown deepened as ignored it like always. He opened his phone and froze, surprising Aloha as he peeked over his shoulder to see what was up.

2 hours, 41 minutes, 12 seconds, and 8 milliseconds have passed since he called his team for a meeting.

His eyes widened as he looked at the sky, which had already begun setting.

Army started running back to the lobby, not caring about some of the sticky notes which flew from his hands.

Aloha's mouth was slightly agape as Army suddenly turned around and left without saying a word. He sighed as he started to pick up what flew.

Once Aloha finished picking up all the notes, he went home to flopped onto his bed. He pulled out his phone and opened it's galley of photos.

He clicked on the picture he took with Army days ago.

Aloha's left hand was holding the phone up as his other hand was wrapped around Army's shoulder, pulling him close into the frame. He was winking at the camera with a grin while Army simply looked at the camera with surprise as one of his hands tried to reach for the phone.

If only he could've taken a picture of himself hugging the sleeping Army on the bench, his cheeks turned pink at the thought alone. He turned off his phone and decided to rest for the day. He'll see Army again tomorrow.

::

Army ran into the lobby and saw his teammates already training thanks to Forge, thier co-leader while they all waited for him.

While breathing heavily, Army walked up to them.

“Army! You had us worried for you,” Forge smiled at their leader and ordered the other two to rest for now. “Any longer and we would have gone out and find you ourselves.”

“I'm sorry.” Army rubbed the back of his head. “I...fell asleep on a bench while coming up with ways to deal with new tactics.”

Forge chuckled. “As expected of our leader, who's always preparing for the unexpected.” She lined up with the Sailor twins. “Now let's get this meeting of yours started.”

“Right.”

All though they were behind schedule by some hours now, they began testing new ideas they came up with to beat other weapons and possible situations that could occur during battle.

You name it, they probably went over it.

Because that was Orange Team; the team that was always prepared for every situation.

Chapter Text

Hivemind laid on the roof of his home. How he even got up there is a secret he won't give.

He lived relatively far away from others. It's something he always enjoyed. All the lights of Inkopolis, all the citizens it held, he never felt use to it. It was all...too chaotic.

But here—where he's away from it all—he felt relaxed. The soft breeze that passed as the grass danced with it, following the winds direction.

Hivemind stared at the night sky, more specifically, at what those in bright cities might never see.

Those little white dots that filled the empty void above them all...

Stars.

Hivemind remembers asking his parents for a telescope. They ended up buying him one of the best they could find. Was it just a tiny bit excessive?

Definitely. It's a miracle he didn't break it.

There where so many questions he had, yet only few could be answered about the planets he saw. The thought of, "wishing humans were still around" swirl in his mind. If anyone would know about the plants and stars, it would have to be them.

But alas, humans were gone, and what research they had is uncomprehensible if not destroyed.

Ah, here he goes again. Rambling on to himself.

Hivemind smiled and continued to watch the night sky quietly. Today the planets he named when he was young, "Smallest, Eye, Pearl, Red rock, and Twin" were aligning. A time when their rotation's match and form one great line.

It's funny, even something out of their control still has order to it.

Was that even funny? Well, to Hivemind it is.

Chapter Text

Aloha: “Army! I have something to tell you.”

Army: “Oh? And what might that be?”

Aloha: “Te amo~”

Army: ...

Army: !

Army: “That sounded great! Are you learning another language?”