Splatoon Manga: CybeRun

Chapter 3: A What Again?!

⭐️Chapter 3: A What Again?!

"We're having another exam?!" Gloves shouted.

Nexus Laser City was their first "Final Exam", and now they were having another. But on what, and where?

"Yup! This one should be easier than the Nexus Laser one, but don't be surprised if it isn't!" Callie replied.

The squidbeak gulped, unsure if they were prepared for this. Was it going to be more combat? Or would it involve smarts instead?

"What is it?" Emperor asked.

"There's a machine down in the metro that's been giving off these wack signals lately. We want you to investigate it!" Pearl said with a confident smile.

The squidbeak exchanged glances at the sound of that. It sounded so...ordinary. But there HAD to be a catch to this, right? Why would a machine of all things be a final exam?

"That sounds pointless," Rider grunted, somewhat...annoyed?

Callie smiled happily, almost ignoring what Rider said. However, she caught herself.

"Yeah, I kn-wait, what?"

"I don't even see the purpose of this other than a mere test. When the Skylings invaded, we had to rescue our friends. When we had to fight the luminous, it was part of the exam, and they were crime-doers. When we were at Hero Central, we took another test, heck, we even fought Nemesis because the other villains teamed up and if we did nothing, the whole world would probably be in smithereens! When the Shadowlings came, we had to get our home back! When we went to Galaxika, we had to stop a crime! We even had to go to a magic garden guarded by a witch so get a cure for you guys!" Rider exclaimed.

Marie raised an eyebrow, confused.

"Point being...?"

"Why do we have to do this? I feel like just...tampering with a machine isn't exactly something done for an exam of all things," Rider said.

"Well, we want to make sure it doesn't cause any problems for us in the future!" Callie replied. "Wouldn't want Tartar alive now, would we?"

Hachi, Nana, and Goggles shuddered at the thought.

"Nope..." Hachi mumbled.

"Wasn't he...killed though? Pearl's killer wail should've gotten him..." Rider asked. "I'm pretty sure the entire statue was flooded, too..."

"Oh yeah, forgot about that for a sec!" Pearl laughed. "Well, we just don't want more baddies, okay?"

Rider sighed, and Flip just looked at the idol 4 awkwardly. She didn't know what happened down in the metro, because she hadn't been in the squidbeak for that long. The others had given her a basic summary of "Goggles rescued Hachi and Nana with team blue and Rider was momentarily evil and then everyone had to cover a statue with ink to stop it from firing a laser of goop onto Inkopolis", but she still felt a little bothered by it. Nonetheless, she shook her head to snap herself out of it.

"Another reason we need you to investigate is because it could be someone trying to destroy Inkopolis," Marina said.

"You didn't bother to say that beforehand?"Gloves grumbled.

"Well, It's a reason nonetheless..." Hachi sighed.

"When do we start this exam?" Prince asked. "And what exactly...is our goal here?"

"Well, see if there's a villain tampering with a machine and stop them! That's it! If it's just giving off weird signals because it's unstable, your job is to fix it!" Callie replied. "And it starts whenever you want to start it, so I'd recommend as soon as possible!"

"Also, if the exam winds up bein' that easy, we'll give ya a paper test on what you know!" Pearl added.

"Well in that case, I guess we better get studying," Rider said.

"Do not worry! Hachi and I can handle the technology part!" Nana exclaimed.

"I'm sure we could get one of our mechanics to do the job if you guys don't manage to," Emperor sneered.

"Now now, no need for bragging, we're in this together!" Flip said. "Anyway, has anyone seen Goggles?"

The squidbeak looked around, only to find that Goggles had fallen asleep while the idol 4 had explained the whole exam. They were about to laugh lightly at it, but Rider slapping Goggles' face stopped them from doing so. Goggles immediately woke with a start.

"Huh? Whazzgoinon?" he mumbled tiredly.

"You missed the whole explanation of our exam, idiot," Rider growled.

"Well, we can explain it to him," Prince offered.

"Might as well..." Gloves sighed.

As the squidbeak got Goggles up to speed, the other idols looked at each other and turned inwards to chat. They lowered their voices as they spoke.

"Marina, you were the one who found the machine. You're absolutely positive it won't explode on them?" Marie asked.

"Oh yes, I'm very sure! If it had the chance of exploding, I wouldn't have told you guys about it! The most it could do is just overheat and smoke, but it shouldn't be capable of starting a fire or anything! Even if it does, the squidbeak 8 can put it out with their ink!" Marina explained.

"Yeah, that's the Marina I know!" Pearl said happily.

"I'll take your word for it, then!" Callie smiled.

"I will warn you guys though...those signals are really strange. Almost...otherworldly. I hope they don't accidentally open some kind of rift or something. Then we won't be able to reach them, even with our communication devices! We'd have no way of knowing what dimension they went to!" Marina said worriedly.

"Well, these kids have gone on like 9 missions so I'm sure they'll do alright," Marie replied.

"If you say so..."

The idol 4 turned back to the squidbeak just as Goggles was nodding his head enthusiastically about the exam. They were glad none of the squidbeak had heard them.

"Okay, sounds cool! Are we gonna start today?" Goggles asked.

"Well no, I figured we could study a little about this..."exam", and then get to it on the next day," Hachi replied.

"Right. And we all need to eat well and sleep well too!" Nana added. "Can't fail the exam because we didn't take care proper care of ourselves!"

"Yeah! That'd sure be bad..." Flip laughed, hoping she wouldn't be a part of that.

"Is that it? Is that all the information you're going to give us? It's just a machine that needs fixing?" Emperor asked.

"Yup! If there's an important update, we'll text you guys to let you know!" Callie said.

"Alright then..."

The squidbeak walked back to the grate to Inkopolis square after hearing that that was it. As they were about to enter, Goggles turned around to face everyone.

"Well everyone, it's time to start studying!"