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splattershotsundae · 8 years ago

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Better Eight Than Never-- Chapter 42: Onomatopoeic shenanigans

“What!?” Toda yelped, springing to his feet. “What happened!?”

“I’m not sure...” Leah said, setting the phone down on the table. “I answered it, and I think was Jill, and it sounded like some--”

The phone began to ring, and swiftly he jumped up and answered it, putting it on speaker. “Jill!? Simon!?”

He was greeted with a loud smack sound, as if the phone had been dropped, then a gunshot, and then finally shouting on the other end.

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID WE GOT THEM ALL"

"I SAID WE MIGHT HAVE!!!"

Toda’s ears went back quickly. Over the phone Jill and Simon sounded so alike… “Are you okay!?”

Nobody answered him, there was simply a bunch of disembodied sounds.

Whhhiirrrrrrrr ratatatatatatatatatatat shatter "EEEP!"

*BANG* *BANG* THWAK!

"STACEY GET BACK!" Thud thud thudthudthudthud KLANG

splinter "RRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Pphhhhhiiiiiimmmm *BOOM* CLATTERCLATTERCLATTER

That sounded like a bomb had gone off next to the phone and sent it flying, and Toda felt knots settle in the pit of his stomach.

“Can anyone hear us!?” Bato called, stepping over.

On the other end, there was a gunshot, and then silence. Toda cast a quick glance at Tanya, and the two wordlessly came to a decision. He grabbed the phone, she grabbed her gun, and together they ran out of the house and down the hall, leaving the front door to the apartment wide open behind them. They took the stairs, footsteps echoing thunderously as they sprinted downward, two steps at a time.

As they barreled into the parking lot, Toda put the phone to his ear, swallowing as he heard nothing on the other end.

But then he did hear something, the distinctive clomping of shoes, or perhaps octoling boots, on wooden flooring. He tried to be quiet but quick as he got into the car, holding the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he buckled his seat belt.

But then were was a repeated beeping sound, an explosion, and splattering sounds, blasting directly into his ear. He hurriedly turned the phone off speaker mode with a cringe. That had been painful.

“BOOYAH!” Even while the phone wasn’t against his head he heard Jill shout, there was no way that could be anyone else.

He sighed in relief and put the phone back to his head as they started off down the road, listening intently.

"-of the house. Who knows where else they could be hiding" That voice was Stacey.

"This is like, giving... off serious horror movie... vibes right... now." Said… one of the twins.

"Simon, where did Dad go?" Said, well, Jill, that must mean the last person was Simon.

Toda swallowed. “Hello? Jill? Simon? Can you hear me?”

"I saw him get splatted, he dove in front of me, I don't know if he's ok." That was Stacey again. Her voice was strained, she probably shouldn’t have gotten up to fight, but she might not have had a choice.

There was a loud THUNK, like somebody set something heavy down on the floor.

"We need to find the phone... Where did it go?" Jill said.

“HELLO!” Toda shouted, hoping it would be loud enough for them to hear him.

"Hey, I think I found it." Stacey said, and then her voice became clearer. “Hey Toda, is that you?”

He sighed in relief. “Yeah it’s me, is everyone alright?”

“In a manner of speaking.” She replied.

“Give me that.” Simon said, and then there were some unpleasant shhhpphh shhhpph shpph sounds as they did… something. “Okay, we’re here.”

“Simon! Are you alright?” Toda asked.

“Hey! You just asked me that!” Stacey huffed jokingly.

"We're... Alive." Simon said."The bullet wound I got In my shoulder earlier makes it very difficult to use a roller."

"Our house is trashed, there's ink everywhere." Jill said, sadly.

"Wait, Jill said she’d call Tanya, what’s going on?” Simon asked.

Toda took a sharp breath, glancing briefly at Tanya. “Octolings attacked Bato’s house and really messed it up.”

"Is anyone hurt?" Jill asked.

"Bato was flipped onto a table covered with broken glass." He said. "He's cut up but he'll be fine. I got a cut on my foot... but there's nothing too bad."

“Thank goodness.” Stacey said. “The last thing we need is more dead weight like me.”

“Whoa, you were far from dead weight!” Jill said. “You were like… ratatatatatatat! Veeeeeuuushhhhh platplatplatplatplatplatplatplat!”

“Please stop, I’ve got a headache.” Simon muttered.

Toda was silent a moment. “I heard that something happened to your dad?”

Simon gave a heavy sigh. “He was splatted. Hopefully he’s alright...”

“Do you guys need help?” He continued. “Tanya’s driving me over right now.”

“I think it’s a good idea.” Stacey said. “We shouldn’t have split up like that, they’ll have a much harder time taking us down if we’re unified.”

“Alright.” He agreed. “We’ll keep going. Did you drive them all back?”

"We don't know.” Simon said. “They came down from the attic. They could have been there for hours, there may even still be some up there."

“I think I heard them.” Jill said. “I heard this creaking squeaky sound, but I thought we might have bat rays in our attic!”

“That would have been cool...” Toda said. “Bat rays are awesome.”

“Agreed.” Simon said.

"Simon! You're bleeding!" Jill yelped.

“What?” They asked, then there was a short pause. "Damn, I must have been too preoccupied to notice… I'll be right back."

“Okay.” Toda said, listening to them retreat up the stairs.

“… So hey, Toda?” Jill asked.

“Yeah?”

“How can you tell me and Simon apart so good?” She asked. “There are like, hundreds of people who can’t tell us apart on the phone!”

He snorted. “Pretty sure Simon wouldn’t go ‘veeeeuuushhhh’ like that.” He glanced at Tanya as that part made her snicker.

Jill started laughing, only to be cut off by a gunshot and then a scream. “SIMON!” She screeched, and then the phone was dropped.

Toda froze, going pale. “Tanya, can you go any faster?” He asked, then cringed as he was pushed back against the seat when they accelerated. He listened close as he dared, thinking he was about to hear his friends killed.

*BANG* Another gunshot, followed by distant screams.

"EEEAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

"JILL!"

"WHY WOULD YOU SHOOT ME?!?"

Toda closed his eyes and sighed a bit, resting his head against the headrest. His hearts couldn’t take much more of this… At least Simon was alive, from the sounds of things.

"IM SORRY!"

"OWOWOWOWOW"

“Hey Toda, stay with me on the line, okay? I don’t know what’s going on.” Stacey’s voice came through rather abruptly. “I shouldn’t be walking right now, much less running upstairs.”

“Oh, yeah.” He agreed. “I’m still here. Hi.”

“Hi.” She huffed in an amused fashion. “How close are you guys?

"Right. We're just getting on the exit, hold on there.”

“Will do.” She said. “Just… hurry up, we’re in a crowded neighborhood, someone’s bound to have called the police.”

“Oh crud, we’re going as fast as we can!” He said, glancing at the speedometer, which was firmly planted around ten miles above the speed limit.

“Right, yeah, of course you are, my bad.” She apologized, then gave a rather sharp whistle. "TWINS! C'mon! Toda’s gonna be here soon!"

Tanya made another turn, and they passed a train station, which Toda recognized. “We’re getting close! Do you need us to come inside?"

As he listened he heard two sets of thundering footsteps, likely Simon and Jill running down the stairs. “I think we can start heading outside.” Stacey said. “Meet you there.”

“Yeah.” He agreed. It sounded sort of like the end of the conversation, but he decided he wasn’t going to hang up until they got there. After all, Stacey had sounded a bit… scared? Nervous? Ill at ease for sure.

He stayed on the line, even though they didn’t talk anymore. He listened to the sounds of shoes being put on, weapons being checked, and most worryingly, some grunts of pain. But soon enough they pulled up in front of the Grace’s house, just in time to see Jill sprinting down the front steps with Stacey’s splatling in her arms. “Pop the trunk!” She called.

Tanya looked up, then nodded and followed her instruction. She kept the car in drive, ready for a quick gettaway.

Toda set the phone down in a cupholder and got out of the car, opening the back door, and then running over to the house, where Simon was helping Stacey down the front steps. “Need help?”

“Yeah.” Simon said. “Take my roller, put it in the back.”

He nodded and grabbed the roller from them before dashing back to the car. He placed the roller inside, slammed the trunk closed, then got back into the passenger seat, glancing over his shoulder as Stacey climbed into the back seat with Simon right in tow.

“Hey mom figure, we’re ready.” Stacey said, fumbling with her seatbelt.

“You must be Stacey, I’m Tanya.” She greeted, then hit the gas.

“Pleasure.” Stacey said. “Don’t speed, look like you were just passing by, just in case we pass the cops.”

“Oh, yeah.” She agreed, letting the car slow slightly. “Are you all okay?”

“Well, I was until Simon shot me in the foot!” Jill said.

“It was an accident!” They protested.

“What happened up there?” Stacey asked.

“An octoling was hiding in the bathtub, and attacked me when I came in. I was able to splat them before they could hurt me, but I grabbed their pistol and… was probably too on edge, because I shot Jill when she came in… I’m so sorry.” They apologized.

“Yeah, it just hurts… a lot...” Jill said. “Tanya, do you have more bandages at your house? Simon wasn’t sure what they were doing when they tried to patch me up.”

"Yes, we do." Tanya nodded, glancing at her briefly. "I'll take a look at it when we get back."

“Thank you.” She said.

Just then two cop cars whipped past them, and Toda gave a low whistle. “Looks like we got out just in time...”

“We all did good.” Stacey said. “Can I pass out now?”

“Yeah, we’ll wake you up when we get there.” Jill said.

Tanya cast a brief glance at Toda. “Toda, hon, can you call Leah put it on speaker? I left my bluetooth at home.”

“Can do.” He replied as he picked the phone back up.

Jill blinked. "Oh man, do they know we're ok?" She asked.

"Ah... well, Toda and I ran out as soon as we heard gunshots, so likely not.” Tanya admitted.

“Well, that’s not good...” Simon grimaced.

“Here we go." Toda said, hitting the speaker button on the phone as the call started to go through and held it a bit closer to Tanya.

Leah picked up on the first ring, "Well? Are they all okay?"

"Yup, the kids are alive, and we're on our way back now." Tanya said.

"Hey Leah!" Jill called.

"Oh thank Judd." She sighed with relief, then her voice became a bit muffled, she had probably covered one end of the phone while she relayed the news to the others. "Hachi wants to know if they got the masks from the soldiers?"

Tanya glanced briefly in the rear view mirror, "I don't think they did..." She replied. "And we can't go back and get one, the police got to the house right as we were leaving… That might be another problem..."

"Right..." Leah replied. "Just get back as fast as you can."

Tanya laughed. "That’s not going to be a problem.”

Leah laughed as well. "Okay. Love you."

"Love you too."

The phone call ended, and the rest of the trip was done in silence. It wasn’t awkward, or from fear, simply brought on by exhaustion. However as they pulled into the parking lot and began to get out of the car, it was like a seal was broken, and Jill spoke up. “Hey Simon?”

"What?" They asked absently.

"You're going to need to improve your aim if you really want to knock my socks off." She replied with a grin.

Simon replied with only a groan.

Toda snorted and got out of the car, holding the back door open for Stacey.

“I don't think the weapon you used suits you either--" Jill continued. "--Toe be honest.”

"Oh Judd why." Simon groaned. “Please stop.”

"Have you no sole? Look at me when I'm talking to you Simon!" Jill laughed.

"Well, hopefully it won't take too long for you to heel up." Tanya laughed as she pulled Stacey’s splatling out of the trunk.

Jill laughed, grinning a little. "What a way to kick off the week."

“Please, please no more.” Simon said as they rubbed their temples. “I’m dying inside.”

"Well, I put my best foot forward." Jill said, which while it got Tanya to laugh, made Simon groan in agony.

Toda smiled, and helped to support Stacey when she reached an arm out to him. “How you feeling?” He asked.

“I just had one of those naps were you feel ten times worse afterward...” She groaned. “So not good.”

“You can all sleep once we get upstairs.” Tanya reassured.

“Sweet...” Stacey murmured. “Which one of you guys has my Cpod?"

Toda frowned a bit as they began to walk toward the building. "Hachi still had it when we got back home that day, so it would probably be Bato."

"That's where we're headed now, right?" She asked

"Yeah." Simon replied.

She sighed in relief. "Good, I could use my tunes right about now..."

As they walked across the lobby, they drifted once more into silence, carefully casting glances around, as if expecting an octoling to jump out of a potted plant. However they made it onto the elevator rather uneventfully, and hit the button for the 5th floor.

"Did they get into your house too?" Simon quietly asked Toda once the doors closed.

Toda shook his head. "No, they didn't. We heard the gunshots and someone screaming from the floor below and we ran down to see what was going on."

“Thank Judd, they might not know where you are then, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.” Stacey grunted, carefully taking steps forward as the elevator doors opened.

“It’s still reassuring.” Jill said.

Tanya nodded in agreement. "That it is." They reached the apartment, and she set Stacey’s splatling down long enough to open the door, stepping to the side to let the kids go in ahead of her. "We're back!"

The floor in the hallway looked a little better than it had when they left, there wasn't a thick layer of ink over the top of the carpet anymore. If it didn't still look somewhat wet, it might've passed as a psychedelic carpet pattern. This illusion was ruined as soon as Toda stepped into the house, his foot sinking slightly into the still damp carpet. At least now it was more like a shallow mud pit than anything else.

*schlorp schlorp*

The sounds of two sets of feet came from the living room, and a moment after Leah and Anita came into the entryway. "Thank Judd." Leah sighed as she caught sight of them.

“Toda!” Anita exclaimed, stepping forward and trying to hug him. “Don’t just run off like that!”

“Sorry mom...” He said. “Um… this is Stacey, Stacey, this is my mom Anita.”

Anita blinked and stepped back, looking her up and down. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah.” She agreed. “Can I have some help getting to somewhere I can crash?”

“Of course.” Leah said, stepping forward and taking her weight before helping her to the living room.

“Whew...” Toda sighed and rolled his shoulders, then glanced at his mother… and found she was staring at Simon. Oh no.

“So… are you the Grace twins?” Anita asked, clasping her hands tightly together.

"Yep~, I'm Jill, this is Simon." Jill said, holding out a hand to shake.

Anita took Jill's hand, nodding a bit. "It's nice to finally meet you, Jill and... Simon." She said, with a small hint of distaste.

Simon's eyes narrowed. "Is... there something wrong?" They asked, their tone hardening defensively.

Anita met their gaze coolly, her own tone was calm, but the judgmental hints to them were undeniable, "I simply assumed, when I learned your name before, that you--"

They raised a hand, intense anger in their expression. “I know what you’re going to say, I’ve heard it a hundred times before. I’m on around five hours of sleep, and I just had to not just splat, but kill intruders who broke into my house and might have killed my dad, so pardon me if I’m not in the mood for your fucking bigotry right now.” They snapped, then turned and began to walk down the hall.

“… Aaannnddd that’s my sibling!” Jill exclaimed. “I’ll be right back.” And with that, she turned and jogged after them.

Toda sighed in relief as the situation greatly deescalated, but he still felt anxiety building up from the pit of his stomach, like they’d only just avoided some sort of disaster.

Anita sighed. “Well young man, we should be getting home.”

“I’d… rather stay here.” He said quickly. “I want to be here in case they come back.”

She paused, then sighed. “Alright but… be careful, okay?”

“I will.” He agreed, then turned and went down the hall, turning the corner to find Simon and Jill bundled up at the end. “… Hey.” He said quietly.

They looked up sharply, and then wiped their eyes. “Hey.”

“Is… it okay if I talk to you alone?” He asked.

“Um… yeah, sure.” They said, then glanced at Jill.

“I’ll… go to the living room to hang out with Bato, or something.” She said. “Don’t worry about me!” She gave Simon a hug, then stood up and went back down the hall.

When the shlorp of her footsteps grew distant, Toda sat down near Simon. “… I’m sorry… "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before we got here. And I'm sorry she's like that to begin with."

"Yeah, a little warning would have been nice." They muttered. “I managed to get out of it okay though… I had to resist the urge to splat her.”

“I don’t blame you.” He said quietly.

They swallowed, then continued. "I shot Jill, and.. and I almost splatted you earlier! You... You've been in my head, you've seen how I react violently."

He looked up sharply. "Simon, that was different." You had every right to try to defend yourself, to get me out of your head. I don't fault you for that, I... if the situation was reversed and I didn't recognize you, I probably would have done the same."

They took a sharp breath, then began to cry, pressing their face into their knees. “I hurt everyone.”

"... Simon..." He murmured, holding out his hand. "No, you didn't, you don't…" He took a deep breath, and let it out before continuing. “It’s… okay to defend yourself. I’m so glad you walked away.”

They glanced up, and then ever so slowly took his hand.

"I wish I-I knew how to help you, but I..." He cringed a little, how did Bato make this look so easy?

"... That shouldn't be your responsibility." They muttered.

It was a moment before Toda answered. "I want to... if there's something I can do to help, then I want to help. Well, I want to help even if there isn't anything I can do, but... you know what I mean."

They stayed quiet for a long moment. “You don’t want me to apologize to your mom, do you?”

“Absolutely not.” He said almost immediately.

“Glad we agree...” They murmured, then tightened their grip. “… Thanks for checking on me.”

“Yeah, of course.” He said. “My mom went home, we can go check on Bato if you want, ask if we can sleep on his floor.”

"Good plan." They said, then began to stand up, wiping their eyes with their free hand. “Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep.”

“Same.” He agreed, slowly starting to plod his way back down the hall, still firmly holding their hand. “Judd, this carpet." He muttered. “It sounds like someone put whoopie cushions under there.”

Simon snorted, then bit back chuckles.

*fffpphh-shluck fffffttt-shluck phhhfttt-shluck fffppphhhhshluck!*

They burst out laughing, taking a second to lean on the wall. “Dear Judd, it does!” They agreed, wiping another tear from their eye.

He started to laugh as well, stomping his feet to make more noise.

“Toda, you’re going to ruin your socks!” They laughed.

“They’re already ruined!” He said with a grin. “Why stop now?”

They snorted, shaking their head.

“Heeeeyyyy! What are you guys doing?” Jill called from the dining room.

“Laughing at fart noises.” Toda said, casting a brief glance at Simon before beginning to walk again.

“This carpet is the best.” Jill laughed.

They entered the dining room just as Tanya was finishing patching up Jill’s foot. “Now, no more of you kids hurt your feet, okay? They’re important.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Jill laughed, stretching a little. “Thank you~”

“I’d say ‘any time’, but I want to encourage you kids to be more careful.” Tanya replied, standing up and brushing some ink off her legs.

“Hey, what’s that?” Simon asked, gesturing at the ink tank on the table, and at Oz inside. He was sort of turning around and around in circles, in a bored sort of fashion. The only thing keeping the tank upright during this was the fact that Hachi had fallen asleep at the table with her arms hooked around it.

“Hm?” Bato said, lifting his head; He’d been drifting off as well. "It's the elite that led the attack here."

"Oswald." Toda added, "The one from the Underpass."

Simon's eyes narrowed. "And... why is he on your table?"

Leah sighed. “ Well, to make an awfully long story short, we fought him down, got the mask off of his head, and we stuck him in there."

“But why?” Simon asked.

“… It’s complicated.” She murmured.

"It’ll be fine, just as long as he doesn't try to roll away or anything." Toda muttered, watching the tank carefully.

"Through all of that mess?" Tanya pointed out, nodding towards the inky living room.

"I don't think he can open the door like that..." Jill added.

"... Yeah, you're right." He said.

"... Am I still needed?" Jill asked. "Can I go back to sleep?"

"No, that's fine, you can sleep..." Leah said, then glanced around with a small frown. "Ah... right, the couch is still mostly covered in ink..."

"My bed's open." Bato mumbled, still half asleep. "And there's the sleeping bag in there too."

"... Bato, honey, are you sure you shouldn't be in your bed?" Leah pressed.

"... That requires moving."

Toda snorted at that, smiling wearily.

“Well, good night...” Jill murmured, getting up and beginning to walk toward the hall, when she stopped and spun around. "WAIT! IIIIII just realized a shocking realization!"

"Oh no." Simon said. “Go to bed.”

"I can't call him 4-man anymore!" She said, pointing at Oz.

"Didn't we agree on Yon?" Toda asked.

"Well I didn't!" Jill protested. "But now he needs another nickname! Wait wait wait, I got a great idea... WALDO."

"Jill no, we're not playing where's Waldo." Simon rolled their eyes.

Toda laughed a bit. "I think he's already got 'Oz' as a nickname, Jill." He pointed out.

Leah chuckled. "Toda, dear, maybe you should follow Jill to Bato's room, it sounds like you need some more sleep too; the second sleeping bag's in the closet."

Toda yawned. "Yes ma'am. You ready for bed too, Simon?”

“Very.” They replied, giving a big yawn.

"Good sleeeeepppp~" Jill said, then began to lead, slogging down the hallway. "So B's room is where?"

"It's that one at the end there." Toda said, pointing.

"Oooohhhh." She started walking toward it again. "Hopefully you understood that I want to go to Bato's room and you aren't taking me to a room of bees."

Toda chuckled a bit, "I understood, don't worry."

“I’m too tired for this...” Simon muttered.

"I want bed!" Jill exclaimed, limping into the room and shaking off her feet a bit and then jumping into Bato's bed. It looked like she fell asleep almost as soon as she landed there.

"All yours." Toda chuckled, then turned and grabbed another sleeping bag from the closet. “You want this one?”

“I’m just fine using this one that’s already out.” Simon replied, settling down on the floor.

He smiled and shook out the sleeping bag, settling down beside them. “Good night...”

“Night.”

Bato, Toda, Leah, Scott, Anita, and Tanya are Knitter’s characters

Simon, Jill, Hachi, and Oz are Shuckle’s characters.

Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.

Please consider liking or reblogging if you enjoyed, it’s nice to know we’re doing things right.

Shuckle has a patreon if you would like to provide additional support!

[<PREV] [INDEX] [NEXT>]

#Splatoon #Fanfiction #splatoon fanfiction #Splatoon Ocs #Better Eight Than Never #SS Simon #SS Jill #SS toda #ss bato #Octo Hachi #Octo Oswald #Misc Tanya #Misc Leah #Misc Anita

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