Splatoon Manga: CybeRun

Chapter 40: Correcting The Wrongs

⭐️Chapter 40: Correcting The Wrongs

The Squidbeak were now all cramped inside the machine, though they were all ready to go. This time nobody was leaning on buttons. They had all made sure that nobody had forgotten anything, and that nobody had contracted an illness or stolen anything. Heck, they'd even put the cloths and materials they used as bandages outside of the machine, since those technically belonged in this timeline.

"Okay, this time let's not mess up the time we're sent to," Rider said.

"On it!" Goggles chirped.

"Now, is there somewhere we can put the date of our own timeline so it doesn't mess up?" Rider asked.

The squidbeak looked around, using their phones for lights.

"Ah! Found something right here with a keypad containing numbers!" Nana exclaimed happily.

"Good, anyone else see anything?" Hachi asked.

"No, not really..." Gloves muttered.

"Nothing here," Emperor said.

"I think that's it!" Prince smiled.

Rider nodded.

"Okay, Nana. Type in the date and time and we'll be good to press the red button t-"

"No wait! Don't set it to our current time yet!" Flip exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"Set it to the day we studied before the exam, but...morning. And yeah, I mean the day the Idol 4 gave us the exam."

"What? Why?" Nana and Rider asked.

"I don't have time to explain right now, but trust me on this. We can all resume our day like normal after that."

"Wait, won't there be past versions of ourselves wandering around?" Gloves inquired.

"I do not believe so, because we are in another world and another time. We are gone from our own world entirely, so that means there will be no alternate us-es to be concerned with," Hachi explained.

"But then...our test...what will we do about the machine?" Prince asked.

"We can warn the idol 4 before we do it, and let them know it's an unstable time machine that should be handled by the pros!" Flip smiled.

"Alright, alright. I guess we're going to do that, then..." Rider sighed.

Nana nodded, and put in the correct date and time like how Flip had asked for it. Once she was done and everything was triple checked, Rider let Goggles push the red button. The machine started to shake, and the squidbeak could feel the ground slowly start to leave them. The machine then began to shake more wildly, and the squidbeak remembered that they'd forgot how wild of a ride the travel was. Luckily for them though, the ride felt shorter than it usually was.

They'd all arrived back at the metro, safe and sound in one piece, without many casualties. All of them got out of the machine, with Hachi noticing the machine broke down as they got out (oddly enough, it looked like the time machine before it was restored by the group). They all ran for the metro's exit as fast as they could, each of them running back to their own homes. It was still dark out in the morning, so they had a chance to get to their homes before the sun came up. As for the few of them that had locked doors, they had left their windows open, so they superjumped into those to get to their rooms.

It was going to be a wild ride tomorrow...

----

It was the next day.

Flip hadn't forgotten.

As she grabbed all her things, she made sure to grab some extra money and put it in her pocket. That would be important. She went down the route she remembered going down the same time before, ready to see the same scene again. As she ran by, she saw it: the same old man waiting by the building. She ran up to him and dropped the money into the hat, and he looked up at her with amazed eyes.

"Thank you..." the old man smiled.

"No prob! Be sure to keep it safe so that others won't steal it from ya!"

"I will, young miss! Have a wonderful day!"

And with that, Flip sped off. She was pretty darn confident that that had done the trick. Now to hear about that exam...

-----

"What?! It turns out the time machine is dangerous and you guys know because you went there and...oh...oh dear..." Marina said upon hearing the Squidbeak's explanation.

"Wait, does that mean they technically passed their exam already? I'm confused..." Callie mumbled.

"Yeah, I'll give them that," Marie replied. "Somehow they fixed the machine, warped to another place, fixed the problem there, and came back....at an earlier time...?"

"Mhm, that's basically what we did," Rider said.

"Also, you need to get that machine checked out by pros this time!" Hachi exclaimed.

"Definitely, I'll do that now," Marina said as she began looking up numbers on her phone.

"Glad y'all made it back home safe! We'll tone down yer missions for a while," Pearl smiled.

"Oh, just give them a break from missions already!" Marina replied.

"Well everyone, it's been a wild ride, but I can safely say that I don't think we have anything to worry about!" Flip said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Prince asked.

"I just fixed the problem, and now our future won't be as horrible as that timeline!"

"Are you...are you sure about that?" Emperor asked.

"Trust me, I knew what I was doing," Flip replied, internally hoping that she hadn't made things worse.

"Oh...if you say so, then."

The Squidbeak directed their attention back towards the idols, awaiting their response on their performance. Marie and Callie whispered to each other for a bit before nodding and turning towards the group.

"Well Squidbeak, I am pleased to say you've passed your-" Marie paused to make sure she was counting right, "Second exam!"

She'd counted Nexus Laser as half because it was Squidbeak assigned, and Japan Hero Central as half because it was more official. It could be argued that either one was the real exam, so might as well count them both as one.

"YEEEAAAAAHH! WOOHOO!!" the Squidbeak all cheered.

They looked at each other, and were surprised to find that they didn't have any injuries. They could also feel that something had changed...for the better. Maybe Flip's decision WAS the right one. She could be trusted now, and Rider had accepted her as part of the group. It was his own fault of not trusting her at first, and even though he still held a bit of a grudge against her for what she did to him in the past, he could let it go.

Life was going to be great.