#custom hydra splatling | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sailorsplatoon · 3 months ago

Text

Chapter 11 time! Posting this a little earlier in the day than usual because I always feel bad when I post it super late.

Trigger warning for some graphic depictions of violence in this chapter

You can also read it on ao3!

First

(Fanfic under cut)

Neo stood above the final boss kettle. Here fae would find Big Man, likely tied up, and the final octoling fae would have to fight.

“You ready, Neo?” Captain said through faer headset.

“Ready.” Neo attempted to sound determined despite the fact that fae was terrified by what fae could face in this kettle.

Fae spawned in, but there was no sign of Cuttlefish. Instead, as anticipated, Big Man was standing on a platform next to a giant hunk of metal. But he wasn’t tied up for some reason. Why was he still here if he wasn’t tied up? What was even more unnerving was that, instead of entering the arena when Neo did, the octoling was already standing in the center, staring up at faer; she was simply waiting for faer to enter the ring. She wielded a Custom Hydra Splatling; Neo could see her tight grip on it despite being far away. Neo jumped into the arena, ready for another fight.

“Took you long enough,” the octoling began. There was something different about her. The other two sounded scared or determined, but there was a new emotion in her voice that Neo couldn’t quite place. But what fae could see clearly was the thick fuzz on the octoling’s tentacles, which none of the other octolings had. She continued, “I have been waiting here for you for weeks now. One by one, I have received distress signals from my friends as you got to them. And I was starting to believe that maybe you inklings aren’t so bad...” She let out a terse scoff, as if mad at herself. She was yet to actually look at Neo since fae had come down, as her stare turned to fixate on the ground between them. “But I get it now. All you do is bring pain and destruction. Itys had the right idea not wanting to be around people like you.”

Marie heard the sentence over the radio, and it felt like she’d just been stabbed. The octoling continued her speech.

“For what you’ve done to my friends, I, Nell, octarian commander, will end you.” She finally looked at Neo, her cold eyes boring right into faer’s, as if staring into faer soul.

The fight began without another moment’s delay. Ink sprayed from Nell’s splatling, several shots landing right on Neo before fae could dodge, nearly breaking faer armor right at the start of the battle. But as Neo made faer way out of the attack, Nell’s eyes wandered to faer ink tank, noticing Lil’ Buddy sitting on faer pack.

With a ravenous look behind her eyes, and quicker than Neo could even see, she lunged at the ink tank, snatching Lil’ Buddy and holding him in the air with one hand. He squirmed in her grip, trying to break free. Neo whipped around, staring at where she held the small salmonid. Nell’s gaze darted from him to Neo.

“He means something to you?” Nell asked. There was a danger in her tone, something that made Neo’s muscles tense.

Neo snarled at her, speaking through faer teeth. “If you hurt him I will—”

“You’ll what?” She interrupted, her voice loud and echoing around the arena. “What else could you possibly take from me? No, I think it's my turn to take something from you.” Nell’s fingers curled, claws suddenly sprouting from them and digging deep into Lil’ Buddy’s skin. The smallfry made a small squeaking sound in pain. Deep red blood seeped from each wound, running down Nell’s fingers and dripping from her elbow.

Neo drew in a sharp breath, faer shoulders rising a little. Faer grip around faer hero shot tightened and faer breath was so heavy that it ruffled faer clothing. Without thinking, fae moved in fast, gripping the octoling by the collar of her shirt and raising faer hero shot up beneath her chin, pulling the trigger without hesitation and exploding her into a puddle of yellow ink. Neo quickly took Lil’ Buddy in faer hands, holding him gently.

Nell respawned within seconds, in the center of the stage. She adjusted her posture and glared at Neo, a deranged smirk on her face. “Don’t think this is over already.” Her words came out in a growl, her tone sounding as if she was talking to a persistent horse fly.

Neo carefully placed Lil’ Buddy in faer backpack, securing him tightly. Fae looked up at Nell and snarled, “Not a fucking chance.” Fae started shooting again, the ink flying in all directions. Nell fired as well, her shots seemingly more erratic than Neo’s. It was strange, almost like she wasn’t even aiming for faer. The realization hit Neo far too late; she was charging up her special. Right as fae figured it out, Nell’s tentacles started to glow. With a sneer, she activated her special; a small bottle-like object appearing in her hand. Nell threw it on the ground right in front of Neo and the Splattercolor Screen burst out. It was too close and too quick for faer to react, and the intoxicating ink hit faer head on.

Neo had been hit with a Splattercolor Screen in ink battles before, but it was nothing like this. In the past, it had just been mildly disorienting, but this was agony. The color was sucked from Neo’s vision; the world around faer seeming to go into almost total darkness. The static felt like it was digging into faer ears and burrowing inside faer skull. The pain was all Neo could focus on, pulling faer mind away from the fight. Neo dropped faer Hero Shot, as faer hands rushed to faer ears and fae squeezed faer eyes shut in a desperate attempt to make the torment stop. The weapon fell to the floor with a loud CLUNK on the hard ground. A voice came through Neo’s headset, but fae couldn’t hear a word of what was being said with the static overwhelming faer. Fae opened faer eyes for just a moment, long enough to see the ink flying right at faer before being splatted.

Neo respawned back on the platform outside the arena. The effects of the Splattercolor Screen had worn off, but faer head was still spinning. Captain’s voice suddenly rang through faer headset. “Hey. Take a deep breath. You need to keep it together.”

Neo breathed in long and slow, then back out. Captain was right, fae couldn’t stop fighting now. Fae carefully removed Lil’ Buddy from faer backpack and placed him on the platform. He’d be safer if he waited outside of the battle.

“What happened back there?” Callie asked through the headset.

“There was something weird with that Splattercolor Screen,” Neo explained, staring down at where Nell waited for faer to jump back into the fight. “I think it has something to do with the fuzzy ooze. It’s made all her attacks stronger, even specials.”

“I thought I saw fuzz on her,” Eight mused. “Then she is not in her right mind. That’s likely why she is fighting with such intensity.”

“Neo, I want you to do your best to subdue her. If we can—” Captain was soon interrupted by a loud rustling. Then Shiver’s voice came through the headset.

“I’m on my way, Neo. I’ll be there with Master Mega soon.”

Neo could hear shouts in the background from the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and what sounded like Frye cheering. From the sound of it, Shiver had just run off with the radio. There was a click and faer headset when silent again. Neo rolled faer shoulders back and jumped back into the fight.

Ink flew across the battlefield. Nell charged her special again, but as she was about to activate it, Neo took faer turn. Faer splashdown engulfed the octoling, the ink splatting her instantly.

Once more, Nell respawned in the center of the arena. Wordlessly, she tossed her splatling to the side; as she did, razor sharp claws emerged from her fingertips yet again. Neo swallowed faer fear and kept fighting. Images of what those claws had done to Lil’ Buddy just moments prior flashed in Neo’s mind, but fae couldn’t focus on that right now. Fae had a fight to win.

Nell ran towards Neo with more speed than she had this entire battle. She swung with her hand, scraping along Neo’s abdomen, tearing through faer armor and leaving a blood gash along faer midsection. Neo retaliated by shoving a burst bomb into her side. It exploded on impact, sending Nell reeling back in pain. Neo took this opportunity to cover the arena in faer ink.

Nell walked slowly around the edge of the battlefield, eyeing Neo. As fae continued to coat the floor in faer ink, fae stared right back at her. And then there was a soft cli-cli-click. Shit. Neo hadn’t been paying attention to how much fae were shooting, and now fae was fresh out of ink. Nell took this opportunity and lunged at Neo once more. Fae took a few steps back, but not quickly enough to avoid Nell tackling faer to the ground. Her claws dug into faer shoulders, blood seeping out from the wounds and pooling around where Neo was pinned to the ground. Neo gasped in pain, trying to break free but quickly growing weaker as the blood loss worsened.

Nell tore a clawed hand from Neo’s right shoulder, ripping off a chunk of skin as she did. Neo let out another cry of pain, writhing on the ground below her. She held her claw up above the inkling’s neck, ready to finish the fight.

Then, suddenly, there was a strange motor-like sound coming from her left. As she turned her head, she was met with the massive mouth of a megalodon charging right at her.

Shiver sat atop Master Mega as he clamped his jaws down on Nell, splatting her in a spray of purple ink. The giant shark landed in the arena as Shiver leapt off, rushing over to where Neo lay on the ground. “Are you okay?” She asked, helping faer sit up. Fae nodded, though faer whole body was trembling.

Nell respawned again in the center of the arena, her claws still out. She took a weak step towards the two, but was quickly stopped by a set of massive gray fins wrapping around her.

“Big Man, let go of me!” She growled, struggling against the manta ray’s grip.

“ Ay ay, ay. Ay, ay. (You’re not thinking clearly right now, Nell. I don’t know what happened to you, but you’re not yourself).” Big Man’s voice was calm, yet firm. He kept his hold tight around Nell, not letting her out no matter how much she thrashed. “Ay ay. Ay. (You’re going to wear yourself out if you keep going. You need to rest.)”

Nell didn’t stop trying to break out of his fins, grunting and hissing as she did. Gradually, she started to slow down, her breathing becoming heavier as the exhaustion finally began to set in. “I feel… not good,” she groaned, going limp in Big Man’s hold. He tightened his fins around her a little to try and support her. “Ugh my head hurts so bad.”

“Ay ay (Just take a moment to breathe).”

As soon as Shiver was certain Nell wouldn’t be a threat anymore, she turned her attention back to Neo. “Can you stand?”

“I don’t think so,” fae croaked, still relying on Shiver just to sit up.

“Okay, that’s alright,” she said, her tone surprisingly soft for someone who claimed to be so cold blooded. “Big Man, do you think you can carry both of them back?”

“Ay, ay ay. Ay. (Yes, Nell isn’t too heavy. I can take Neo too.)” Big Man shifted his grip on the octoling so that she was secure in one fin. He then stretched the other out to where Neo lay on the ground, picking faer up slowly. Once the two were situated, he began making his way out of the arena. Shiver followed behind him, having Master Mega carry the treasure. On their way out, she took care to pick up Lil’ Buddy, placing him back in Neo’s backpack.

****

“Something is really really wrong.” Phal’s voice was panicked, as he looked over at his companions in the snow globe. “Did you hear all that stuff going on over the radio? I don’t think Nell is okay.”

“I had half expected her to refuse to fight, seeing as she was questioning Octavio’s authority earlier. But instead, she seemed almost bloodthirsty,” Atra observed.

“Wait, Nell did what? When did that happen? Was I there?” Itys was still in their squid form, sitting up against the side of the snow globe.

“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t remember.” Phal shifted around awkwardly. He knew this wasn’t something any of them should be talking about, since they could get in serious trouble. Then again, it wasn’t like Octavio was anywhere nearby.

“What do you mean I wouldn’t remember?” Itys' tone was growing more worried by the second.

“We should tell them,” Atra said, looking Phal dead in the eyes. “They deserve to know.”

Phal looked down at where Spore rested in his lap, trying to avoid eye contact. “Yeah. Yeah you’re right.”

Atra nodded before saying, their tone gentle yet concerned, “Itys, you were there. But you’re not going to be able to remember. Nell had been talking to Phal, Spore, and me about how she was feeling like maybe us Octarians are the bad guys. During our argument, you and Octavio walked in. You overheard something Nell had said about you being hypnotized, and you didn’t seem to even be aware that you were wearing the hypnoshades. Octavio had to say something to Nell about her questioning his authority, and you were clearly startled from just hearing what Nell said. So he activated a setting on the hypnoshades to make you forget the whole conversation and go partially unconscious for the next few minutes. That way you wouldn’t remember any of it because you were forced not to.”

Itys was silent. They didn’t make eye contact with anyone. They just sat there for a moment, not saying a word.

“Did you know that you had been hypnotized?” Phal asked, his tone cautious, knowing that the wrong phrasing would only cause more problems.

“No. Not really. Not when I was wearing hypnoshades. Once they were off, I knew immediately what had happened and that I had been hypnotized. But when they were on me… it’s hard to describe. It was like I knew, but I didn’t want to know, and I didn’t care enough to think about it.” Itys sighed, turning back into their humanoid form. Their knees were tucked into their chest, so there was still quite a bit of space in the snow globe for all the octarians to fit. Itys' posture sank a little as they started talking again. “Fuck. I knew it was messing with my brain. I knew it was bad. But I didn’t know it was that bad.”

One of Itys' hands drifted up to clutch the top of their tentacles, grabbing so tightly that it looked like they might rip them out. They let out a singular, dry chuckle that sounded more like a sob than a giggle. It was followed by a few more just like it. Itys' volume grew as they burst out into full on laughter. But it wasn’t the kind of joy or merriment. It sounded almost psychotic.

Phal, Atra and Spore watched in terror as their friend broke right before their eyes. Their laughter had managed to draw the attention of Captain, Eight, Callie, Marie and Frye, who were all looking on with concern. Shiver had already left to go help Neo, and both were yet to return.

“You know what is so fucking funny to me?” Itys started to speak again as their laughter finally began to die down. Their voice shook a little, just as their whole body seemed to tremble. “Even though I know full coddamn well how horrible those stupid sunglasses are, if I had the chance to, I would put them back on in a heartbeat.”

Before anyone else had even registered what Itys said, Phal had wrapped his arms around them and pulled them into a hug. They froze the moment he did, their expression softening just a little.

“I like it more when you’re you,” was all Phal said. He whispered it just loud enough to be audible.

Itys didn’t say anything for a moment. They didn’t know what to say. So instead, they just hugged Phal back, the anger and pain melting from their face and being replaced with compassion, relief and a little bit of fear. Atra quickly moved into the hug as well, pulling Spore alone with them. The four of them just sat there for a while, hugging each other. The New Squidbeak Splatoon looked on with their mouths hanging open in shock and disbelief.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound coming from the pipe that connected the first site to the next. Within a few seconds, Shiver and Big Man popped out, with Big Man carrying Nell and Neo 3 in his fins.

Atra tapped Itys and Phal on the shoulders to get their attention and bring them out of the hug. “She’s back.”

#splatoon fanfiction #An LED Light at the End of the Tunnel #splatoon au #angst #splatoon oc #octoling #fuzzy octoling #lil buddy #neo agent 3 #neo 3 #agent 4 splatoon #agent 4

4 notes · View notes