Transparency

Chapter Eleven

Mesonii arose from Spawn Point alone, shaking off the ink from the three bombs.

At least, that's what she though.

To her right, there stood another face- one clad in a mess of makeup. Delpha. Obviously distraught from her own splatting, she continued on back to the tower.

"How did you-?" Mesonii tried to mutter.

No answer.

Taking the cue, she threw her squid self into the ink below in an attempt to catch up. An inkling from the other team- a boy with a Slosher- had taken control of the main tower, and the other three had positioned themselves in a secure manner.

Mesonii found herself next to her teammate. Peppie and Guppi were not in sight. Delpha's rage had hit an all-time high, a deviation from -what Mesonii noticed, anyway- her usually chilled persona.

From out of nowhere, a barrage of ink came from Delpha's Splatling. Aiming high and low, she caught the Slosher right in his tracks and managed to stop a roller attempting to interfere. The path was now clear of most everyone.

Delpha regained her throne by climbing up the pedestal to the top, seemingly regaining her cool.

Mesonii squidded to the top, and met side by side with Delpha. The latter paid no attention and quietly knelt down onto the ground, Splatling in hand and ready to hit anyone who came from the front of the tower.

Mesonii took to the right, deciding to keep watch on a small shortcut that was the best for flanking.

She noticed a small movement by the corner of her eye, and assumed Delpha had shifted position until pink ink began puddling at her feet. There was no choice but to turn around and face the intruder.

And almost perfectly timed, there he was again. The Squelcher that had splatted her earlier.

"Watch out, D-"

"NO! I GOT IT!"

Delpha quickly turned around and caught sight of the Sqeulcher's path of ink. Charging up her Mini Splatling, she was ready to strike and save the day, just like she did all the time.

She knew she was going to with this battle, unlike the last. Nothing could stop her now, because she was Delpha, and she was pissed.

Pitterpitterpitterpitter.... SCHWEE!

When it seemed like the Squelcher boy had been defeated, a teammate from below swam up, activated a rose-colored bubble shield for the two of them, and popped back down.

The Squelcher left the two girls in a silent lull.

Mesonii turned around, seeing Delpha's makeup. Blemished, tattered, runny.

"Are you... Ok?"

Her face glew red, her eyes widened, her mouth changed from a frown to a grimace. Mesonii knew it was coming. Even with the feeble response, it only took another three seconds of staring for Delpha to lose it all.

"Am I ok? AM I OK?! They got AWAY! How is that OKAY, HUH?!"

"Shouldn't we get back to-"

"EXACTLY! Stop whining and make yourself useful, you... bastard!"

Upon completing her sentence, Delpha found herself knocked off the tower by the player with the Jet Squelcher. Mesonii jumped off the tower and cowered behind a wall.

Bastard. Did Delpha know?

She couldn't let that ruin her day anymore. Even with the feelings that were hard to resist, there was no time for standing around. Right now, the only concern was the match.

-

"I can't believe she called me that!"

The table rattled at the force of Mesonii's fist, the goddess of earthquakes.

Flanker's, despite it being three 'o clock, wasn't as crowded as it usually was. Her words rang through the predominantly empty restaurant and into the ears of Peppie and Guppi, both having a killer focus on their drinks instead of the mess in front of them. The match had been won (Peppie and Guppi had secretly inked every single corner of the park but the center), but Mesonii had not forgotten what Delpha had said.

It took all Guppi could muster for him to speak up. "She, you know, is in the bathroom only for a short time. Soon, she should be here." He moved from his drink and started stroking his goatee.

Mesonii gritted her teeth. "Does that matter? I'm tired of her yapping carp about how GOOD she is. She gets splatted once, she blows a puffer about it and calls me- THAT!"

"She's always been like that," Peppie replied

Quick to prevent a response, Guppi stopped grooming the goatie. "Small's point is correct. He has had years to know her, and, well, you- a week!"

Mesonii heaved an angry sigh. "Well, Peppie, lemme ask you something, uh huh?"

Peppie nodded.

"In, what- thirteen years you've known her... fought alongside her... been in her every presence twenty four SEVEN..."

Peppie whispered, "Yeah, keep going..."

"Has she ever called you a B-TARD?!"

The blue inkling retched back. "LANGUAGE! That's a bad word, I know, especially for Small!"

Mesonii laid her head onto the table, using her tense, folded arms as cushions.

"See? You're not helping at all. You don't geddit, do you? This is what sucks for all of us. You don't know anything about me, I don't know carp about -Delpha- and there's nothing we can do about it!"

"Well, Miss Mesonii, help is what we're willing to give. I bet Small knows much about the tendencies of Miss Delpha."

Peppie, still shaken from Mesonii yelling at him, fell away from his drink. "So... what does that have to do with you, anyway? The... 'bastard' thing?"

Somehow, Mesonii didn't expect that. She raised her head from the table and looked her friends steadily in the eye.

The lack of seriousness reeked in her voice as she chuckled and began to spoke. "You asked for it, so you're getting it. Parents divorced three years ago. Dad was a complete and utter dick about it, and I haven't seen either since. Is that what you wanted, mmh?"

Peppie's eyes only went wider, and Guppi's went glossy. Nobody spoke.

Mesonii reached into her pocket and grabbed a irrelevant number of coins, letting them clink on the table. Peppie picked one of them up, seeing it shine in the light.

"Why are you giving us money?"

"Bill. I need to be alone. All that's gonna happen otherwise is that I'll probably deter you from thinking I'm a reasonable person."

"Now you're just being ridiculous!" Both Peppie and his voice rose as he stood up in his seat. Guppi tried to shove him back down, now obviously distraught.

As she was making her was out of the earthy restaurant, Mesonii saw one more person walking towards the corner of her eye. She couldn't even bare one second of it before skittering away from Delpha.