Chapter Text
Pin sat on her bed, staring at the clock. In just a few minutes, her game will be ready to play. Splatoon 3. She saw it advertised at the store once, and it seemed fun. Coiny agreed that they should play it together. Right now, the game was currently downloading.
The icon flashed slightly, signifying the home screen refreshed. Success! She watched the downloading bar return. She'd went ahead and bought the DLC pack with it, since it would give an extra zone and a single-player story. She was excited now, watching the bar inch closer and closer to the finish. She loved shooter games, and never heard of this one before. If she liked it, maybe she could convince the rest of her friends to play it, too?
The bar filled, and the home menu refreshed again. She entered the game, peeking a glance back at the clock. Coiny should be showing up soon. The loading screen displayed two splashes of ink swirling calmly, yellow and blue. The same colors were on the box art. Was it the game's theme colors? She crossed her legs, resting her arms against her lap as she waited.
The game began in a desert; a tipped-over tower marking as a centerpiece. The camera panned to her character, a blank sheet she could make into anything...although had limited design options, of course. There were two species, a squid, and an octopus. She chose the female squid. It showed skin tone selection next. She chose the darkest tone. There was a handful of eye colors to choose from, but she chose red without a second thought. There were even more hair options. She chose the messy style, because the pointed ends were different than the other's rounded ones. Pants. She could choose pants to wear? She chose the skirt.
The camera panned to her fish friend, which she hadn't noticed before. He wriggled happily as the game told her to choose a hairstyle. She spotted a spiky Mohawk. Her Pointy song came to mind. She selected it, chuckling to herself. A popup appeared, claiming she needed training in order to be “fresh” enough. The game told her how to aim with motion controls, how to shoot, how to swim, and more. If the tutorial was this fun, she couldn't imagine how fun the real game would be.
She looked back up at the clock. Coiny should be just outside. She got off her bed and went to the door. She opened it, but Coiny wasn't there. It wasn't like him to be late. He was surprisingly punctual. He must be held up by something. She decided to head back to the game while she waited. If he couldn't make it, he would've called her.
The game started with a news broadcast. The chaotic trio in charge the news explained current events. First, a train between the three main cities had been finished. The trio seemed to have an issue against the people in the other cities, however. They also claimed the people in the second city, Inkopolis Square, were spacey. Pin wondered if that was from the DLC, or just the trio insulting them. The trio then explained that the city's main source of power, the Great Zapfish, had gone missing.
“Oh? Is there a story mode in the base game, too?” Pin asked herself, glancing back up at the clock. Coiny was running late...
Her question was answered when, in the plaza introduction, the game pointed out a strange old man watching Pin's character from the sewers. Pin looked around the square a bit, seeing all the drawings posted by other players. She checked the door again. Still no Coiny. It had begun to rain earlier in the day, and now Pin worried something happened to him due to the heaviness of it now. Thunder stirred in the clouds. Pin went back to her room, checking her phone. There was no texts, or calls, from Coiny, or anyone else for that matter. Pin opened her texts and went to her chat with Coiny. She began typing.
“Hey, Coiny. You're running a bit late. Is everything okay?”
No response.
She sent a new text. “Well, I'm doing okay. I'll go ahead and play a bit of the story mode while I wait. Is that okay?”
No response.
Pin sighed dejectedly. She opened her contacts, scrolled to Coiny, and pressed the “call” button. She put it on the table next to her and sat back on her bed. She knew that, out of anything, he'd answer a call. She decided to play while she waited. Best case scenario, she was worrying over nothing. Playing would help ease her nerves. She moved her character over to the sewer grate. She held down the swim button until her character entered, thunder crashing outside.
The old man, Craig Cuttlefish revealed himself to be the previous leader of a secret service resistance, who worked to recover the Great Zapfish from the enemy. He hired Pin's Inkling as Agent 3 of the group. The game required her go complete four courses as an introduction to the story, using the collectibles earned to remove blobs of ooze that would turn her into a ball of fur if she touched it. She worked with her pet Salmonid to both remove the ooze, and to defeat the boss. The boss, DJ Octavio, revealed he didn't take the Zapfish. The ground caved beneath Pin's character, her Salmonid, Octavio, and the Cuttlefish. Thunder slammed outside. It sounded as if something broke, causing Pin to flinch. Then...
Darkness.
Pin rubbed her eyes. The power hardly flickered, trying to hang onto its draining energy. Rain pat the windows and roof, thunder rumbling, Pin's phone still playing the sound of dialing. The lights fully died as the thunder slowly became quieter. Pin reached for her phone. The floor cracked.
“What?!” She fell through, going deeper into darkness. “Waaaaaaah!”
The phone stopped ringing.