The Suckling

One Shell Of A Guy

Tres and Quattro waded through the ocean of people that flooded Splatsville's main square, steadily making their way to Ammo Knights that was just down the street. Along the way, they kept their ears open to the rumors floating in the air. Cliques of young teenagers chattering gossip from their loose lips and random passersby speaking their mind of yesterday's event painted an increasingly polarizing picture of their situation.

Everyone was talking about Shiver's freakout. There were speculations abound about what it could've meant, the most obvious of which was that she was suffering from celebrity burnout and finally cracked under the pressure of stardom. Others were not nearly as kind with their theories, believing Shiver to secretly be a self centered diva who was purposely sabotaging Deep Cut to avoid collaborating with the Squid Sisters and Off The Hook.

And that was without taking into consideration the suckling nor the Octarian's perspective on things. To put it succinctly, the former subject had birthed some rather... unflatteringly salacious rumors about Shiver's personality (that Tres was adamant were outright lies at best and malicious slander at worst) whilst the latter remained as perplexingly hostile and/or evasive about the entire ordeal as they've come to know recently.

But regardless of what others were saying, two things were for certain; folks had gotten it in their heads that the Seven Day Forecast collab might not happen due to this kerfuffle, which may actually come to pass if the team fails in their mission, and that Shiver wasn't going to be returning to the team any time soon, choosing instead to wallow in her own disgrace in quiet isolation.

Thankfully, Frye and Big Man were able to mitigate the severity of the issue somewhat during the Splatcast earlier in the day using the same stress excuse Marina had given, but it was clear that the team had their work cut out for them as the damage had already been done.

More so than they realize at the moment.

Wasting no time, Tres and Quattro barged through the front doors of Ammo Knights, taking delight in the breeze of the cool air that washed over the two of them as they approached the counter, minding the other patrons nearby practicing with their weapons in the indoor turfing range.

Sheldon whistled a jaunty tune as he busied himself polishing a brand spanking new range blaster he was going to put up on display when he noticed the two inklings approaching him. He set both his rag and the blaster down as he turned to greet his customers, straightening out his ascot as he did so.

"Salutations, valued customers! Welcome to Ammo Knights, the one stop shop for all your turf war needs- Oh!" He looked surprised as his expression morphed into a warm smile. "If it isn't Quattro and Tres. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. How goes it, my fellow comrade in arms?" greeted Sheldon as he saluted his fellow agents.

"Heh heh. At ease, Sheldon. We're doing fine," Quattro chuckled, mock saluting back at him. "Sadly, we don't exactly have time to exchange pleasantries. We're here on business."

"Ah, do you mean business, or..." Sheldon briefly checked to see if anyone else was listening in on their conversation before leaning forward and whispering, "business?"

Quattro rolled his eyes, "Both. Tres and I are currently on a mission. We've got some things to discuss with you and to pick up my custom dualies."

"Right, I just finished tweaking those the other night. Lemme run through the back real quick." Sheldon zipped to the back room of his store before quickly returning with a pair of sleek looking black and green dualies in tow. They gleamed with a glossy luster and were adorned in all manner of worn stickers with fraying edges. "One pair of custom dualies, fresh from the workbench and ready for the field. Try not to push them too hard this time, Quattro. Dualies aren't exactly known for being rugged."