Bolton: A Splat Force Story; Chapter 3

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W E L C O M E ! ! !

This is Nomad! Today is the dawn of the third Chapter of Bolton: A Splat Force Story!

I'm genuinely surprised about the reception of this story so far, especially the last Chapter. So again, I must thank you all!

Unlike the previous two, I don't think that this Chapter warrants a Warning, due to it being more tamer than the previous two (don't worry, I've always planned for some Chapters to be like this, it's not a compromise).

So without further ado, let's get into this!

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(Previous Chapter)(Chapter Hub)

C H A P T E R 3 : C O N C E A L E D

"We are almost there, don't worry!"

Helena told her Octoling companion as they walked through the streets of Pulpo City, approaching a small apartment building.

People noticed Bolton's dirty, blood-stained clothing and looked concerned, rather than the usual stare of judgement. It was a better feeling for Bolton as it felt better for him rather than thinking that he was gonna be jumped.

At long last, the two of them arrived at the apartment. They walked inside only to be greeted by the landlord.

"Ah, bringing a date are ya, Hela?"

He said cheekily before taking a glance at Bolton.

"Oh cod, what the frack happened to him?"

"I'll talk about it later, Mr Brooke!"

Helena exclaimed as she and Bolton quickly walked past the jellyfish and up the stairs.

The Apartment building, from the inside had a mostly grim atmosphere, as shown from the dirty checkered floor and the moss green walls. It wasn't very tidy as wires were sticking out across the floor and dangling from the roof.

Helena reached the first floor, which was only darker than the ground floor. She immediately got out the keys from her pocket and headed towards the first door to her left.

The Inkling opened her front door and entered the apartment, Bolton followed behind. She had only moved in recently, which was shown from the boxes that lay on the left side of the room. All she had was a living room and a bathroom, no bedroom. Instead of sleeping on a bed, she slept on the sofa. Behind the sofa was a dining table, that was just in front of a small kitchen, which held a fridge, cupboard, oven, grill and microwave. In addition, she also had a washing machine.

"I know this place isn't much but, I've only moved in after my eighteenth birthday."

Helena muttered after Bolton closed the door. She turned around and looked at him, he looked like a mess.

"First things first, we need to get you cleaned. You're lucky Mr Brooke didn't immediately kick us out."

"How am I gonna get cleaned...?"

He asked, speaking his first words since the accident.

"Come with me!"

She told him before walking to the bathroom door at the top left corner of the room.

The two of them entered the small, square bathroom. The room felt cramped. The whole of the left side was a bathtub, with a small shower attached. On the right side was a toilet with toilet paper on the walls. There was no sink. If either Helena or Bolton used the bathroom then they would've had to have used the sink in the kitchen.

"You get in the tub and I'll dry your clothes."

She told him before walking out of the bathroom.

"Once your clothes are off, just throw them out the room and then get into the tub and curl up into a ball because I don't wanna see your...you know."

"Okay."

Bolton said as he began to take off his clothes. After nearly thirty seconds, he threw them out of the room and got into the tub.

"Ready when you are."

"Okay, coming!"

Helena called out as she put his clothes inside the washing machine.

On the TV, the channel automatically changed to a news channel, due to it needing to break some news.

"Thank you for tuning into Pulpo City Wonders! Today we have a story that has just come in from Larvae Town. A man has just been killed. The reports say that his face had been melted and his head was almost gone. The man was identified as a former Octoling soldier named Lucifer Vulcan-"

Just as the reporter spoke his name, Helena switched off the TV and headed back to Bolton.

Helena entered the bathroom and grabbed the shower, turning it on. She began to rinse his dirty, baggy hair. It surprised her as to how dirty it was, then again, she couldn't blame Bolton.

"Now that he's gone, maybe you could start taking better care of your hair, you can always use my shower if you want to."

"I don't want to talk about him..."

Bolton muttered as he closed his eyes.

"Not after everything that has just happened."

"Hey, it's okay-"

Helena tried to assure him but was cut off.

"It's not! I just fracking murdered him!"

He exclaimed, on the verge of breaking down again.

"How am I meant to live with myself after killing him?!"

"Bolton, please calm down!"

She replied. Bolton felt the terror in her voice. He calmed down for her.

"That man was a monster who has mistreated you from the day you were born. He had it coming, someone was bound to do it."

As soon as Bolton's hair was clean, she moved on to shower the rest of his body.

"You never deserved any of this, Bolton. You never deserved the abuse you got from home and College, or anywhere. I'm glad I met you when I did, otherwise who knows where you would be right now."

"Thank you..."

He whispered, successfully managing to hold back a tear.

Not long later, his body was finally dry. Helena turned off the shower and gave Bolton a towel.

"I'll be going out soon, as I need to get to the care home today. You know, that place where I help old people?"

"Yeah, I know that place."

He responded.

"One time, there was this old man who stayed over, apparently, he was a Captain of a secret group of heroes during the old ages. He left not too long ago, feeling the need for adventure. Bless him."

She told him, she was successful in getting a smile from him.

"Maybe one day, we'll have our own adventures."

He suggested.

"Maybe!"

She said with a smile.

"Okay, you go and dry off, I'm leaving here in about half an hour. Maybe go watch something on TV in the meantime."

"Okay then."

He said as he walked out of the bathroom to dry off.

1 H O U R L A T E R . . .

The now clean Octoling sat on the sofa, watching the TV whilst Helena was in the bathroom getting changed into her work uniform. It was playing a musical called: The Inkling And The Rainy Sky. He found the music to be rather relaxing to his ears.

Helena walked out of the bathroom, now wearing a blue, buttoned shirt and dark blue tros.

"Well, what do you think?"

She asked, wanting to know what he thought of the uniform. She did a slow three-sixty turn, showing off the whole uniform.

Bolton looked away from the TV and towards the young woman.

"I've never really been a fan of blue, but I think it fits you."

He answered, thinking that her dark, green highlighted hair matched the blue very well.

"Thank you!"

She replied before taking notice of the TV.

"What are you watching?"

"It's a musical about an Inkling girl with powers that allow her to be resistant to water."

He answered.

"She's struggling to fit into society for being different. She doesn't have parents or siblings. She's all alone. However, she has only one person in her life, someone who believes in her."

Helena gave the red-haired Octoling a bittersweet smile, the movie reminded her of him.

"That sounds like a beautiful movie."

"I watch this film every time my father actually left the house to have a hangover, which was only once every six months."

He explained.

"I know that this story isn't real but, seeing how the students treat her always breaks me, knowing that there are similar people in her situation. The homeless, the working class, outsiders, like me. I wish I could help those kinds of people, but I can't..."

"Maybe you can one day. Maybe, you could start some sort of great salvation for the mistreated."

She suggested. The two looked at each other's eyes before sharing a small laugh.

"I'm not sure if anyone could be capable of that. But if you want to start somewhere, maybe you could come to work with me, that's if you want to, of course."

"Sure, I would like to help out!"

He answered, his voice lightening up.

"Awesome! If you get the job, you should be getting a similar uniform to me."

Helena said as she walked towards the door, Bolton stood up and began to follow her out the door.

5 M I N U T E S L A T E R . . .

The two of them finally reached the Pulpo City Care Home at the edge of the small city. It was a wide bungalow. Not many residents of Pulpo were aware of this place's existence, due to it blending in with the trees behind it.

"Okay Bolton, I want you to try and stay calm. I promise you that everything is going okay."

She assured him as they walked into the building.

Inside was a small square room with a fancy red, patterned floor and smooth walls. On the other side of the room was a counter.

"Good evening, Miss Court! I see you have brought-"

The Jellyfish greeted, only to pause after taking notice of Bolton.

"Don't worry, Lee, he's harmless!"

She assured him.

"This is Bolton Vulcan, he's currently seventeen, but will be turning eighteen in a couple of weeks. He has recently moved out of his home and needs money to make a living."

"I see..."

Lee replied before having a brief moment to think about letting him in.

"Very well, he can us, but not until he is eighteen. I will, however, give him this small induction. Have a great shift!"

"Thank you, Lee!"

She exclaimed before turning to Bolton.

"Come on!"

The two of them entered the main room. It was a long, rectangular room, the width of it was comparable to a sports hall. The middle of the room was filled up with tables.

To the left was a small serving stand, which was connected to the kitchen. At the far right were small sofas that were placed next to an open window, in case anyone needed fresh air. The floors were plain white tiles, the walls were the same as the entrance.

At the other side of the room, opposite the entrance, were hallways that led to the residents' rooms.

"Huh, it seems I'm the only one in at the moment..."

She sighed before turning back to the Octoling.

"Looks like you and I have to tackle everyone here, huh?"

"By everyone do you mean, them?"

Bolton asked as he pointed towards a crowd of elderly men and women walking into the main room.

"Octarian!"

An Old woman screamed, causing most of the old men to become scared.

Bolton frowned. Of course, how did he not see that coming? Of course, they were going to criticise him for being who he is, why did he expect otherwise.

"Hey, that was not nice!"

Helena exclaimed, however, she failed to get her voice heard. She let out a heavy sigh.

"Okay, okay...THAT'S ENOUGH!"

She stamped her foot before telling them all off. She managed to quiet them.

"I-I am so sorry for yelling but, he really means no harm, even if he is an Octoling! You don't mean harm, don't you, Bolton?"

"N-No, I don't..."

He assured them, trying to look them in their eyes.

"I-I just want to help!"

The old residents gave the two of them a blank stare, not knowing what to say.

"I-I'm sorry."

The same woman said as she waddled forward.

"It's okay, Dakota!"

Helena said before walking over to the serving stand.

"How about we all put that in the past and have some food, I'm sure you all must be starving!"

Very quickly a large cue of elderly sea critters began to form. Bolton quickly ran over to Helena, willing to help her feed all those hungry mouths.

"So...when are the other workers meant to arrive?"

"Good question. They should start to in, very soon actually."

She answered.

"But don't worry, I think we can handle them all!"

L A T E R T H A T N I G H T . . .

The rest of the shift was a struggle as most shifts were, but things were made easier to bear after more workers began to arrive. The workers, including Helena and now Bolton, had to deal with the elderly either throwing up, having accidents, starting mini fights, alongside many other shenanigans.

The tired young Inkling slowly opened her apartment door and walked inside, craving sleep. Bolton closed the door behind them before walking towards the soft sofa. The two of them sat down, both feeling tired after the long shift.

"Thanks for standing up for me, Helena."

"No problem..."

She muttered as she let out a yawn.

"Today's shift was way too harder than expected..."

Helena began to lie down, her head rested on Bolton's stomach. The Octoling reached for the blanket to his right and spread it out on top of both of them.

"Goodnight..."

"Goodnight, Bolton."

Helena whispered, having one more thing to say before drifting off into sleep.

"I promise that I will take care of you..."

A tiny smile formed on Bolton's face as the young woman fell to sleep. Very soon, he too drifted off into sleep, despite the pair of them forgetting to turn off the lights of the apartment, not that it bothered either of them.

T O B E C O N T I N U E D . . .

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T H X F O R R E A D I N G ! ! !

Thx for reading this week's Chapter of Bolton: A Splat Force Story! I hope you all enjoyed the more tamer vibes given from this Chapter. I might go back and tweak the Care Home scene a bit, but we'll see. The next Chapter will be another tame one, however, it will also contain a new pov of the most important event of the Splat Force universe. So stay tuned for that! Until next time, stay safe out there! ^^

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