Transparency

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Man, that sucked."

Peppie attempted to brush the remaining residues of ink off his shirt. After the three of them got splatted, the Splatling then tracked down Guppi and the four found themselves struggling to even exit their Spawn Point. 13.1% to 72.8% was the final total of turf inked.

Mesonii was still shocked by the entire thing. She could see people turn their heads and watch the group of them enter back into the indoor lineup area, and she couldn't help but feel a pang of unspeakable fury.

There was no way this could happen. Not on Splatfest, and certainly not on the first battle she's had in a Turf War squad.

She looked to her right, at Sankra. Distraught. She had to make it up to her somehow. "So, do you guys want to go somewhere else? We still have Mahi-Mahi."

Sankra's face ceased to improve, if she was even making any progress. Seeing a seat in the lobby, she started to veer towards it as quickly as she could.

"Is everything ok, Sankra?"

Mesonii gulped. That expression looked horribly familiar- that talk she had with her friend at the hospital came to mind.

"I don't want to do this anymore."

Expecting that response, she attempted to flash a beam to her friend. "It's only one battle that we lost. And it's not even your fault that we got wrecked."

"Are you just saying that? I did horribly out there, and you know it." She scooted over, trying to get farther away.

"When did you completely mess things up?"

Sankra grimaced. "I got splatted nine times. NINE TIMES. I didn't even ink too much."

Mesonii took time to think on this before she created her next response. "Well, the thing is, we all have those days. Just sit down and take a little bit of time to compress, and then we can keep playing. Ok?"

"Sure, Mesonii. Sure." Sankra lay her Splat Charger behind her as her friends started to walk away.

Peppie beckoned for his older sister to come join them in line, and, as she did, he looked up at his comrade. Despite the initial talk she had with her friend, he still didn't feel satisfied with how she worded it.

"So if it wasn't Sankra's fault, whose was it?"

The words caught onto her like a snare latching to her neck. Mesonii didn't expect a response from Peppie at all, especially one this thought out. Was it a good idea to reveal the truth?

"With all of us, well... Hmm." She couldn't spit the words out, no matter how hard she tried. Peppie wasn't all too terrible, and she couldn't hurt his feelings like this.

Guppi perked from behind and talked for the first time since he was tracked down and splatted. "It's not Small's, is it?"

Mesonii could feel the negativity resonating off her. Even her mere presence was causing suspicion. She couldn't believe that she had created all this fuss over one lousy battle.

Peppie took the hints well. "If you're upset about it, just tell me!"

"Please don't hurt Small, please don't hurt Small too much..."

No words from Delpha, once again.

But Mesonii felt the words come out of her system, culminating into an entire mentality of being that she was nothing but a horrible hypocrite.

"Peppie. You didn't do well at all."

There was the impeding idea that she had shaken everyone up. Instead, Peppie took hold of his Tentatek Splattershot and rubbed the small ink tank of it on his shirt.

"Ok, fine. What do you care about, my feelings? What a change. That's all you needed to say."

He then focused on the line ahead as if nothing had happened. Mesonii turned around and saw Sankra pick up her charger, get up from the seat, and leave.

-

There had been eight battles since that egregious one against the Hydra Splatling. With Delpha on the team, the group did consistently better- Mesonii counted five wins and three loses.

Sankra hadn't come back from when she left, and as the mint inkling passed by the spot every time they waited in line, a subtle agony flowed in her veins. Her recent words, she assumed, were the cause for the sudden leave. She really didn't want to do this, did she?

It was now the ninth time they had passed by the spot, and Mesonii's remorse was still floating above her head. Simply by encouraging it, she had chased her friend away to who-knows-where.

Peppie and Guppi were browsing through the vending machine, the former tightly eyeing the just-add-water instant macaroni. He didn't seem affected at all by the events, but took the words said into account slightly.

Delpha had taken her beanie off her head, and was now waving it through the air to rid dirt. Mesonii was baffled how she hadn't uttered any words other than "let's go!" and "goodbye, loser!"

She looked behind her once again, to contemplate the spot in which she last saw Sankra. An older inkling, brooding, was inspecting the seat. Two more people, dressed like him- black dress pants, a communication device in their ears, followed. She thought nothing of them until an announcement went over the intercom.

"Delpha Cetacea, could you please come to the front check-in table with your squad?"

Delpha put her beanie back loosely onto her head. "Wonder what this could be," she said as if she was expecting something to happen.

Seeing his sister move towards the front, Peppie frowned quickly at the vending machine and advanced towards the desk at the entrance, Guppi trailing behind.

Mesonii's eye caught the black-clad men- were they starting to approach her? Her suspicions came true as one pushed her towards the exit, along with the rest of her friends. Delpha seemed completely unshaken by this act, once again.

She couldn't bear to take another minute of whatever the inkling was hiding. "Delpha!? What's going on?"

Delpha looked at the car they were being led to, straight face still on. "I thought I might invite our squad to a special battle."

Special battle? The car's engine started to rumble, and Mesonii inspected the interior of it. Cleaner than a whistle. There was something going on, especially as the car pulled in right next to Mahi-Mahi Resort and they skipped the long line awaiting the entrance.

She soon found herself face-to-face with another Spawn Portal. Rather abrupt to start a 'special battle' like this. The first of the ushers she recalled seeing told her to get in with a rather admonishing demeanor.

As she and her team rose from the Spawn Point at the edge of the pool, Mesonii looked around. No timers anywhere, and the speakers that housed the music were long gone.

Delpha was smiling.