around the world

since i've been playing on my switch more often, i'm sifting through all my past splatoon memories again.

one that won't particularly leave me alone is the idea i had for a splatoon au back in middle school. this is a long post, so hold on tight!!!

okokok get this. in the base splatoon games, you can only play as the descendant of one specific type of squid / octopus, right? i wanted a sort of spin-off game where you could play as other descendant types, such as for the magnapinna squid or blue-ringed octopus. or heck, even the glass squid! i originally imagined the protagonist of said spin-off game to be a glass squid, who had the ability to turn completely invisible.

anyway. this spin-off would've taken place in a completely different region, an island so far away. for one reason or another (i didn't really flesh out the region's history super well), they had established a barrier around themselves to keep themselves. but over time, that barrier became more of a prison. many wanted to contact and reach inkopolis and splatsville, but to no avail as they had to contend with the barrier.

every once in a while, a song or a show would slip past the barrier, leading to lots of discussion about where it came from and where they could find more, but would always lead to dead ends for those in inkopolis / splatsville.

this sort of sets the stage for the main story. akin to the other regions, they have an idol duo that hosts the news, splatfests, and are widely loved. originally this was a pair of idols i really loved back then, but not anymore. (i even had some of their jp releases tied to major plot points and splatfests! oh well.) one was a firefly squid, the other a blue-ringed octopus. i think i'll refer to them as jaejoong and yunho respectively for the time being. and the protagonist will be named ghost!

one day, ghost is wandering outside at night, way past curfew. they've been doing diagnostic work for their computer-related job all day, and wanted to stretch their legs.

weirdly, they find some cords dangling from above, but they are differently colored from the rest, and thus not official... what could they be?

they follow the path of the strangely-colored cords, which leads them towards an old base at the edge of the region, where there remains nothing but the shield and a vast expanse of water... or so they think.

the cords further leads underground, into the real workings of the old base. but the interior doesn't look old at all-- there's lots of hi-tech computers scanning the various pressure points of the barrier at all times, security cameras of strange areas underwater and far in the sky, and... a map of doors?

all of a sudden, a door from far away opens. ghost turns invisible, not wanting to be seen, because what would happen to them if they were?!?!??!!

but yunho and jaejoong walk in. what!!!!!!! the top idols of the region? is this their base? what are they doing!!!!!!!!

ghost sits in a corner and listens attentively as they begin to chat about their project. as it turns out, they want to destroy the barrier! but they have to do so in secret, because they'll face retaliation if they made their plans known to the people. the doors are teleportation chambers to the barrier's switches. there's a bunch across the entire region, underwater and way in the sky and what have you. of course, there's enemies and puzzles to be solved in order to reach the switches to turn the various parts of the barrier off, akin to other splatoon story modes with the zapfish and the turrets, hm~

ghost finds it all very interesting. they've been wondering about the outside world, too, after all. their aunts used to travel to inkopolis all the time, so they heard lots of stories about that land before... whatever happened.

is there a way they could help yunho and jaejoong? they aren't sure, especially if they might not even want help. and their invisibility timer is running out, so they take out their phone in an attempt to save the location, maybe snap a few photos...

and knock a whole stack of burst subs to the ground. right as their invisibility runs out.

yunho and jaejoong turn. ghost freezes up for a second, not sure what to say before they try to make a run for the door they came through, but jaejoong locks all the doors right as they reach them. ghost ends up knocking themself unconscious from the impact.

when they come to again, they find themselves tied to a chair, with jaejoong and yunho standing over them. there's suspicion and curiosity in their eyes. and of course, the usual questioning abounds. who ghost is, what they were doing in their base, if they can be trusted, etc.

ghost answers truthfully, absolutely terrified as you might imagine, and then... jaejoong and yunho smile. perfect timing! they've been looking for a third person to help them go through these switches, especially as they can turn invisible. either of them being spotted by security would be deeply problematic, right?

so, they give ghost a cool set of gear and a new weapon. i don't quite remember what i chose, it might have been something weird like boomerang darts that can also grab onto walls.

and then, well, they start going through the switches! solving puzzles, beating back robotic enemies, sneaking past cameras... there's a few "boss battles" here and there to make sure their progress remains. of course, security catches on and warrants are made back above ground, but not fast enough. and no one knows enough.

along the way, they find out that the leaders who are so set on keeping them away from the rest of the world don't even really exist. they're computers, akin to the patriots in metal gear. but who coded them? there has to be an origin point. yunho decides to return to the old switch rooms, to see if he can gain any knowledge from what's left behind...

but all of a sudden, as they reach... hm... 50-60% of the way through the entire thing? yunho disappears. the cameras monitoring him go dark, and when they're on again, it's like he was never there. jaejoong's distraught, but alongside finding him, they have to keep working on their original mission.

reaching completion brings ghost and jaejoong closer and closer to the center of the region, where the core is, and where the barrier's signals are strongest. as ghost is about to unlock it, a force comes from the side and knocks them to the ground.

yunho. but what?! how could he do this?

he's hypnotized... the very last vestige of power for the barrier is a man o' war jelly, who coded the barriers. while he was content watching them struggle at first, he's not about to let his work dissolve without any intervention from him at all. so he took yunho while he was doing his research, and turned him into a guardian of the barrier. (keep in mind that this was all before octo expansion, so i sorta predicted something? lolz.)

and with a cruel laugh, ghost is splatted and sent back to jaejoong. the teleportation device is broken, meaning they have to find a different way to reach it. at least they saved the coordinates so they know where to go, but... what will they do without yunho????

keep grinding, that's what!!!!! for a time the base will be inaccessible, but after that time (ideally the player has done some grinding in battle modes and gained xp and leveled up their skills), jaejoong calls ghost back to the base.

he's built a series of... steps, so to speak, that will reach the center. but it will be hard, they only have one chance, it's IN THE SKY, and for some reason jaejoong won't be reachable at all. he said he's got something else to take care of...

the man o' war brings out his greatest against ghost again, a sort of recap of all the things they learned and the bosses they faced over time, but changed or fused in some way, until they reach yunho again. still, it seems that yunho is too strong, until...

the ground below lights up, as if the stars had suddenly moved below them. the panels of the barrier flicker from their original simulation of the sky, to jaejoong, who's also glowing from his firefly abilities. he uses the power of his awesome singing, and the united people below (who have gradually become more outspoken in the barrier breaking down over time) to break through yunho's hypnosis and free him!

but, still, this isn't the final boss battle (sorry guys LOLZ). the core of the barrier, which controls all signals coming to and from the region, lies ahead. and of course, the man o' war guards it as a final stand. he has a horde of hypnotized folks and robots at his disposal, as well as a giant mech that he's created for himself. 

ghost fights them all, with yunho and jaejoong's assistance of course. there's a totally awesome final boss song too! on the level of calamari inkantation, idkkkkkk but it'll be good, trust. and they break past all the obstacles, break down the mech itself, and the final hit merges with a super awesome high note!!!!!! and it's so beautiful, it shatters the core completely!!!!!! and everyone around the world hears it!!!!!!!! and they see the night sky, completely free, for the first time.

in the last moments we see him, the man o' war says that he just wanted to keep everyone of the region safe. but from what? he can't say. he's asleep.

and uh, yeah. that's it. very messy way of describing it all, but i hope you like it!

my main gripe with how this could never be an actual game is how ghost seems to have a personality. that isn't to say all the base game agents don't have personalities, but it's not like you'd know. they're all silent. of course that's to make sure the player can project their emotions n whatnot onto them, but.

agh. whatevs.

in other newssss... i found this interesting little image some time ago. according to comments, this is supposed to compile all the valid color names in css. i haven't tried all of them yet myself but i find it interesting! i hope it's interesting / helpful for u guys too, eep :3

hmmmm what else... i changed my layout early! i was way too excited to wait any longer. thankfully the mobile adaptations work good, too. unfortunately i can't see it on my new phone because for some reason spacehey thinks i'm in virginia???? which i am nowhere near. but oh well. it should look good.

sotd: airplane by f(x)