SPLATOON: The Octarian Race

Chapter 15- Two Places, One Choice

Flynn was sitting silently on the tables while Lenard went up to him. Flynn looked at him. “...Flynn, I never thought you’d stand up for me like that. You know…earlier with Ren?” Lenard said to him. “Oh, that? Nah, it’s natural for friends to do that. Plus, I’ve been meaning to ask ya, but does Ren hate you or something? It looked like you couldn’t say a word back to him earlier.” Flynn responded with a question. Lenard pulled a chair from the other side of the table and sat on it. “...Well…as you heard from Dalia earlier, he changed about a month ago. However, even though Ren is pretty chill, he overreacts about everything as soon as he hears anything related to Octarians. So ignore him, once again like I said earlier.” Lenard replied. “Oh, okay. If you say so. It just seemed kinda wrong of him to blame you just because I was there. So, I’m sorry.” The octoling responded back. Lenard’s eyes started to look down slowly. “...No need for an apology, Flynn. I just wanted to simply thank you for standing up for me earlier. I guess no one’s ever done that to me before because I’m always the one protecting them.” The white inkling said quietly word after word as he looked at Eliana sitting at the other table with Camille and Dalia. Flynn couldn’t clearly hear what Lenard said in the last few words. “What did ya say? You got kinda quiet there.” He asked. Lenard turned back to Flynn and shook his head as he pointed. “It’s nothing. Anyways, the food’s here.” He said as he changed the topic. Sho came over with the tray of food to Flynn and Lenard's table. "Kaay…I got the food." Sho said as he took a seat and placed the food  Josh walked and grabbed a chair as he joined their table. “This is a men's table.” Josh harrumphed as he sat and folded his hands along with a grin. Lenard rolled his eyes and started drinking one of the three juices on the table. Sho started eating as well too. Flynn just sat down in silence, staring at the food. “What’s wrong?” Sho asked him. Flynn shook his head and smiled shyly. “Naw…it’s just…we don’t eat much food in the race, so I’m kinda embarrassed to eat a lot.” He laughed sheepishly. “I say eat it. You gotta get stronger, am I right? I mean, my sis says I eat a lot and I don’t train. For some reason, in battle I just end up winning.” Sho said as he drank the second juice on the tray. “...That’s pure laziness if you ask me. I think that’s sheer luck if you win in battle too.” Lenard added. Sho scoffed. “Hah! No way in hell. I don’t even need to move in battle anyways.” “That’s because you only stay in one spot with that hero splatling of yours and shooting anyone invading our side.” Josh said with an annoyed face. The red inkling shrugged. “Meh. Anyways, Flynn should definitely eat. Don’t make me waste my money for all of you.” Sho said again. Flynn looked at him and started eating on his food. He looked at Lenard, Josh and Sho in awe. "This is so good…! Better than anything I had back at the race." He said unbelivably. "Well, that's Crusty Sean's food for ya. What kind of food do you usually eat in the race?" Josh asked. Flynn put the food down as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it's not the best kind of food. Usually just two slices of any kinda sandwiches and water of course per meal. It doesn't really fill ya up, but it's enough for you to survive the day." He replied. Sho just stood up and stared at Flynn in the eyes. "What the fish!? They make you eat sandwiches…! I don't believe that's what you call food…!" Sho said aloud. Lenard put down his drink. "...It's better than eating nothing. That's for sure-" "What the heck are you talking about Lenard!? You're not even eating a thing! You're just drinking vitamins from the juice!" Sho said back. "...At least I don't complain about food like some lazy idiot." Lenard replied again. Sho sighed and sat back down. "Agh…guys, did you hear this guy? He just called me lazy…" He moaned. Lenard and Josh looked at him and said, "That's because you ARE lazy!" Flynn just laughed sheepishly as he talked with the others. "Hmm…for some reason, I feel like I can really converse with others here. It's so much better than the race. I really want to live here. I wonder though…will our group succeed? Will there be a future for octolings like us…? I don't…want Eliana to go back to the race…because they're just using her. However, eventually if we run away, there's a chance we might live here in Inkopolis, but Master will most likely find us and end our lives. I wonder what to do…" Flynn said to himself as he continued talking with the group of male inklings. Lenard stared at Flynn in silence as he put down the cup of juice.