Chapter Text
Dustin had excitedly barged into the basement, hands full of a new contraption he had cooked up in one night. This contraption made everyone sceptical, not even Dustin could really explain what he had made, he quoted that he had just randomly cooked it up at 2AM when his brain just wouldn't rest. Mike, Will and Lucas all agreed mentally to step back when Dustin started it, not wanting this machine to create a wormhole or get sucked into it and find themselves in an alternate dimension with no gate to get back.
The sucker started, revving up as everyone stepped back. It seemed to have done nothing, until suddenly there was a massive white blinding light that lit the whole room. Everyone moved to shield their faces and protect their eyes from the light, one could only describe as seeing heaven itself with their own two eyes. It was the last thing they all saw, as everything suddenly went black.
---
Mike's head seemed to pound out of his skull, he groans as his consciousness returns to him. He attempts to open his eyes in which he is met with the harsh glare of the beaming sun above him. "T-the hell...?" He started to move his limbs to pull himself up off the ground, his body felt... awfully weird, light, flexible and uh... just- weird.
He sits up and takes in his surroundings, he's sat on a desolate train station, in the middle of sandy plains that stretched far. He stood up, looking around the bleak landscape. "Holy shit, is that the Eiffel Tower?? Why is turned upside down in the sand? AM I IN FRANCE??" Mike looked down at his clothes, taking in the weird looking boots now on his feet, new shorts and a ripped shirt, this isn't what he was wearing.
Soon enough, the rest of the party, who lay on the train station floor, started to awake up. "What are you screaming about Mike?" Lucas, who had started to stir complained about the sound of Mike's panic, which actually heightened the moment he laid his eyes on the party.
Mike gasped, freezing like someone had cast a frozen spell on him. His friends... looked so weird!!! Their bodies seemed smaller, skinnier, with bigger heads, and big ears, some pointed some rounded. Their hair looked... slimy, it was a bright, vibrant colour and their eyes were so different! There was black that surrounded Will's and Dustin's eyes, which connected at the bridge of their nose, Lucas' eyes didn't connect, yet the shape were completely different to Will's and Dustin's.
Mike lifted his hand up, taking in it's shape, the bigger look and pointed finger tips that lacked finger nails. He slowly inched the shaking hand towards his head, feeling the bigger right ear before picking up a strand of "hair" from his head and inspecting it, before letting it drop. "Dustin... what the fuck did you do..." Everyone stared at each other in awe.
D - "H-Holy shit man!! I don't know!"
L - "Dustin, please tell me you know how to get us back to normal."
D - "I just said I don't know what happened!"
W - "Where even are we? w-what are we??"
? - "You boys seem a little lost."
The group turn to look further down the station platform. There stood a girl, with the same disconnected eyes and rounded ears like himself and Lucas. Her hair was coloured a beautiful blue, which faded to pink at the tips of her hair... or whatever it was.
M - "who are you?"
F - "Felis, but just me Leah. You seem to be from a different world, based on your reactions to your appearances."
All - " A different world!?"
F - "ah boy... cmon, get on this train with me to the city. I'll explain."
--
M - "So you're telling me that, right now, we are in a different universe, a GAME universe, called.. splatoon?"
F - "Correct!"
W - "so do you know how we get back?"
F - "I'm going to be honest, I have no clue how you're going to get back home. I have not a single idea on how you guys are here but I'm going to have you get you guys back somehow."
M - "So we're stuck here until you can figure out how to get back? this could take days! weeks even!"
D - "we're screwed..."
L - "This is your fault!"
D - "I didn't know that this would happen!! cut me some slack.."
F - "it's completely understandable that you are freaking out right now, however I will try my hardest to get you back home as quick as possible."
W - "Aside from that... what the hell happened to us? why are we... like this?"
F - "You've become inkfish. The two most predominate species here are inklings and octolings. Inklings are squids and octolings are obviously octopi."
All - "... what."
F - "So inklings are distinguished by their eyes connecting, pointy ears and their suckers being on the inside of their tentacles. Octolings are distinguished by their eyes not connecting and having a wider shape, their rounded ears and their suckers being on the outside of their tentacles. Mike and Lucas, you are octolings, Will and Dustin you are inklings."
L - "Holy shit..."
D - "so we're... squids? how come we're not in water?"
F - "So it's a long story... oh! we're arriving! Welcome to inkopolis!
Felis points towards the window, the view changed from sandy plains to a bustling city. The train comes to a stop and the 5 get off the train, walking out to the centre of inkopolis.
D - "Woah..."
M - "The hell is that thing?"
F - "That on the tower? thats the great zapfish. Zapfish are sources of energy, that one is our main source of energy that powers the plaza. The octarians stole it twice, before the inklings and octolings started living in together in harmony again."
W - "Okay this gets more confusing."
F - "well let me start again then. We are years into the future, thousands and thousands of years ahead. Basically, world war III breaks out and a nuke is dropped on Antarctica, which melts all the ice caps and Earth floods, humanity is wiped out. Years later, squids and other marine life start to evolve from crystals that contained human consciousness leaked into the sea and marine life started to consume it. However, once inklings and octolings stepped out of water, we could never return, because we when they evolved they became made of ink, and water causes us to dissolve. We started to inhabit this world, but then the great turf war broke out between the inklings and octolings, in which they fought for land. The inklings won, forcing octolings under ground. Some years later some shit happens blah blah blah and now inklings and octolings live in harmony with each other and share the land. turf wars are played for fun, in teams of four you fight to cover as much turf as you can with your colour of ink and which ever team covers the most wins. thats basically all the lore pretty much explained quickly.
The four remains silent, taking in everything. There was so much to take in their brains were having an overload.
F - "Ooh! since your here now, I may as well show you around."
M - "You're supposed to be helping us get out, not giving us a tour like this is your new house."
F - "Well, Michael Wheeler. I don't have a fucking clue on how you get you out yet, so I'm showing you around and hopefully giving you lot something to do while I run off and try and figure out how to get you home."
M - "How the fuck did you know my full name!?"
F - "Not relevant. Now. Lets have fun yes?"