Chapter Text
“For everyone who was not aware,” Callie began, slightly awkwardly, “Tonight is the night that, after 9 years of service, the Inkopolis Plaza battle rotation finally breaks forever.”.
“Though it was largely forgotten by most of you,” Marie bounced off of Callie, “I’m sure that, once you stop to think about it, those of you watching who are a bit older will find that you had a lot of fond memories of battling here - and I’m sure you’ll remember that it was none other than myself and Callie who would announce those stages back in the day, from this very room” she chuckled to herself, “...as well as whatever else Callie deemed ‘newsworthy’ that day,”.
“Hey! Squid Jump 2 was a cultural reset, don’t deny it!” Callie giggled.
“Perhaps so, I guess it was pretty fun, right?” Marie shrugged.
Callie nodded. “Anyway, as you can tell, this place has, like, seen better days, but we, y’know, we thought it was right to announce the stages one last time for old time’s sake, as well as a few extra goodies for those of you who haven’t forgotten about this channel.”
Marie was impressed at how well Callie was doing without her teleprompter, considering how much she used to rely on it. Then, some text popped up on Marina’s app “Oh!” Marie began, “The stages have come in, let’s take a look!”.
Callie walked closer to the phone screen, and bent forward to get a better look. “...uh huh.” she mumbled to herself, before walking back to her usual spot. “So, up first on the regular battle stages, we have Urchin Underpass!”. It was clear from the spark in her eyes that the memories the four stage names brought with them were all already fresh in her mind. “That always seemed to be the one people made the biggest fuss about back in the day, wasn’t it? What did you think, Marie?”.
Marie shrugged. “It was alright. Surprisingly easy to get lost in, if I remember correctly. Really, I think the fuss was just the fact that it was the first turf war site to open in Inkopolis, after it had gone big-time in the rougher parts of Splatsville.” she sighed, “Cod, remember back when this whole thing was still just a weird solution to gang violence?”.
“Of course I do!” Callie beamed, “We were there to do a report on Urchin Underpass when it first opened, don’t you remember?”.
“Oh, yeah, we were weren’t we? I try to block that memory out, really - the whole time I was just worried there might still be actual criminals down there!”. She smiled, “Thankfully there wasn’t. I don’t know if that’s changed now that nobody battles there anymore, though…what’s next, anyway?”
“It’s Piranha Pit!” Callie recalled perfectly.
“One question.” Marie immediately began, “Was the thing you said on air that one time true? Y’know, about working there at one point? Because, I mean, we’ve shared a flat the whole time we’ve been in this city. I would’ve known if you had a whole other job outside of Walleye Warehouse, right?”.
Callie nodded nonchalantly, “Oh yeah, yeah no I totally did just make that up on the fly.”.
Marie immediately burst out laughing. “What!? For eel? You can’t just make stuff up while you’re on the news , Callie! It’s…it’s the news! It’s non fiction!”.
“Hey!” Callie fired back immediately, “The teleprompter wasn’t working, ok? I had to, like, say something interesting, and that was the first thing that came to mind! It was that or just staring into space for like 10 seconds!”.
“No shame in pausing, Callie, none whatsoever.” said Marie. “As the saying goes, wise women speak because they have something to say, but…”. She paused, with a grin on her face. “...probably best not to finish that one, actually.”
Callie rolled her eyes, “Touché, Marie, touché.” she seemed to be stalling ever-so-slightly. “...right…onto ranked…it’s Tower Control, starting with Arowana Ma-”.
“You said you worked there as well one time, was that true?” Marie immediately pointed at Callie.
There was silence.
Callie sighed quietly.
Marie immediately cracked up again, clutching her sides. “You’re unreal, Callie! You’re absolutely unreal!” she sighed, and dried her eyes, “...Broken teleprompter?”.
Callie nodded shyly. “Broken teleprompter.”
“So what, your go-to whenever you didn’t know what to say was just ‘I worked here!’?”, said Marie.
Callie shrugged. “Yeah, I did that a lot,”
“Oh, christ, it’s all getting exposed tonight,” joked Marie, still grinning. “Right, what revelation is up next?”
“Unlucky for you I don’t… think… I ever made anything up about this place? It’s-”
“You can’t even keep track?” interrupted Marie.
“Shut up.” said Callie lightheartedly, with a slight giggle. “It’s Ancho-V Games. I didn’t work there, nor did I ever claim to, but you wanna know what I did do this one time?”.
Marie sighed, “What did you do, Callie?”.
“There was this one Turf War where I-” Callie immediately stopped herself. “Ok. For context. This was, like, two weeks before Squid Jump 2 came out. I was dying to get my hands on it. So uh, the match started, and I-”
“You abandoned your team to sneak onto one of the computers and play an unfinished build of the game?” interrupted Marie.
“Marie, that was my story!” Callie immediately protested. “It’s less funny when you do it!”.
“So I was right then?”
“Yes, yes you were right. Wanna know the worst bit though?”.
Marie smiled, “You bet I do,”
“My team won without me! I…don’t know what that says about my skill level at the time,” she said, laughing abashedly.
“Well, I very much do know what it says,” Marie remarked. “anyway, that’s that, isn’t it?”
Callie nodded. “Those were the stages… for the last time ever.”.