Marina's Splatboxing (Patreon)

An up and coming Off the Hook from Splatoon start out their career and end up bumbling Marina into a boxing match. This story was kind of built on puns as an excuse to write some more boxing. Marina's a cutie and all but the drive of my writing this was making fish jokes, Pearl's shit talking and the term Splatboxing. I wrote a couple commissions a long time back and I remember being super proud of the banter with Callie and Marie. Also might have written part of this while my fiance was playing the current Splatfest in the background.

I had started writing this story JUST before they announced that Harmony was in Splatoon. I had a brief crisis of what to name her but since Paruko had been used in the past for her name on the in-world albums, I went with that. Maybe she rebrands later. Who knows? She's the pink anemone girl anyway.

Off the Hook was a hot new pop idol duo that was well on their rise to the top. Their future was looking bright as their talent got them far, but Marina always felt like they wouldn’t have gotten there without her brash and more confident partner Pearl. Marina was always on the more shy and polite side (what with inkling being her second language), but as egotistical as Pearl could get, she had even more confidence in her taller friend.

That was how it went as they walked down the dimly lit hallway together. Pearl was in a casual, baggy hoodie beside her that covered up most of the pale inkling’s scrawny body. Marina, always the taller and curvier of the two, wore a slightly different version of her usual stage outfit. She had a tight black top with similarly clingy green leggings, leaving much of her dark arms and chest exposed. The thick, green and purple-brown tentacles that made up her hair bobbed along with her buoyant breasts as they walked, and her narrow waist shifted subtly with her hips to flash her light green belly button ring.

“Are you sure about this, Pearl? I don’t remember many inkling stadiums being this… underground. More of an octo thing…”

Her boisterous bandmate beamed proudly, flashing her overbiting fang.

“Of course I’m sure! You got this! I went looking up rap battles online and all the reviews say people loved this place! It sounds like the perfect popularity boost!”

Marina looked down at herself and her revealing attire. Pearl was quick to pick up on her friend’s concerns.

“They were pretty specific on the outfits for some reason. No zippers or anything pointy. I guess some people get pretty handsy in these diss seshes! But I got your back, and you got this! Nobody busts a rhyme like my Mary!”

Marina blushed, spreading some of the pale green of her ink across her cheeks. She smiled as they reached the broad double doors, the dull roar of the crowd on the other side.

“Thanks, Pearl. We’ve got this.”

They shared a quick fist bump before stepping out into what they expected to be some sort of stage or performance hall. Instead, there was a runway leading to a full fledged wrestling ring. They both hesitated as the audience surrounding the ring burst into cheers at the sight of them. An announcer’s squeaky voice was still drawing out the “-iiiinaaaa~!” in her name as they announced her entrance.

“Uh… Pearlie girl?” Marina muttered from the side of her mouth.

“I might… have misread the emphasis they put on ‘battle’ over ‘rap,” Pearl admitted.

She patted Marina on the lower back, urging her a step forward.

“Ah well! You got this anyway! Just think of it like a publicity stunt!”

“You’re not the one about to get her butt kicked,” Marina flinched, but she kept up a forced smile.

She waved to the fans who were flipping out at the sight of the up and coming stars, waving posters of them and other popular idols. Marina approached the ring with a sway to her hips, doing her best to act like this was just another concert. Pearl hopped all around her, firing up the crowd and her partner before she sat on the ring apron. She pulled down on the ropes to give Marina room to squeeze her big tentacles and curves between them.

Marina did another wave and a basic little dance step before she settled into her ring. A mohawked sea urchin tapped Pearl on the shoulder and handed her a set of green and brown boxing gloves that went with Marina’s natural colors. Like most weapons in Inkopolis, they were coated with a thin layer of damaging ink. The urchin gave her a nod like Pearl was supposed to know what to do, but it wasn’t too much of a leap in logic. She helped her friend into the thick leather gloves.

“Soooo I guess we’re splatboxing,” Pearl pointed out as she laced them up for her.

“Seriously?! Isn’t boxing like… a real sport or something? Anybody could pick up a splattershot and join a splatfest, but this has like, moves and stuff, right?”

“Nahhhh! You’re thinking about splatfights and whale wrestlin’. This is just punchin’! Hit them and don’t let them hit you. It’s easy as fallin’ off a seahorse. Piece of cake for my girl!”

She patted Marina on the gloves, making sure they were stuck on tight as they heard the announcer speak up again.

“And her opponent! The one who brings the beats and the beatdowns! She’s the public anemone number one! Representing the Chirpy Chirps, it’s PAAAARUKOOO~!”

“Aw, man! They better have been makin’ puns about us too…” Pearl griped.

The light pink opponent came out to a peppy chiptune tune. The sea anemone girl had long, pinkish purple tentacles for hair, much longer and thinner than Marina’s. Some of them were tied back into a cluster like a ponytail while the rest hung loose. She was already dressed in a frilled green skirt and a tank top-like white top. Pink and purple boxing gloves were already stuck in place at her wrists as a rather dopey-faced green girl followed her, presumably her second. Marina recognized her from the Chirps as Raian, the band’s bassist.

Paruko seemed far more comfortable with the situation, waving and pumping her gloved fists to the crowd. She had a relaxed look on her face, but it came with a smug smile that suggested she was used to this arena. She slid into the ring and chilled out in her corner, her arms draping over the ropes.

“Man, I love this girl’s music, but she’s got a REAL punchable face right now. Don’tcha think, Mary?”

“Hoo boy… I guess? Cuz that’s the point of boxing, right? That’s how you win?” the dubious octoling pried.

“Yea yea. Punch for points and stuff. Think of it like when we used to kill it at Deep Deep Revolution but with your hands instead of your feet. Just sock ‘er anywhere that looks nice and juicy. You got this, girl!”

Pearl patted Marina on the back as a bell sounded from various speakers around the ring. The octoling let out a short, steadying breath as she stepped out with her gloves up and in front of her. Paruko stretched her neck side to side, making her long hair sway along with it before she strode out. She was visibly far more confident than Marina before throwing a single punch.

“Love your shit, by the way,” Paruko said with a small, upward nod.

Marina cracked a smile.

“Oh. Thanks. Like it enough to go easy on me? First time and all…”

“Oh nahhhh. Definitely gonna pound you into a puddle,” the anemone said plainly, shaking her head.

Marina flinched away as her opponent’s pink glove launched out suddenly. She could feel the wind rushing past her, just shy of her face. The octoling singer hissed a breath through her teeth at the close call and hastily brought up her gloves. Paruko brought in more swings to follow the first but she staggered around enough to dodge a surprising amount of them. The padded glove finally clocked Marina in the face, slipping past her guard and bashing into her nose with a squishing splat sound and a quick spurt of her green ink from her face.

The dark-skinned popstar’s eye fluttered rapidly like her brain was trying to reset, allowing Paruko to follow up. The pink pugilist came in swinging low, sinking a few gloves into Marina’s taut midriff. She huffed and bucked in place before she wrapped her arms protectively around her belly to cut her off.

Marina winced from the body blows but she still saw the next punch coming. She jerked back fast enough that the uppercut aimed for her jaw went off target, but it splatted into one of her big breasts instead. Marina’s eyes went wide as her tit nearly popped out of her top.

“Oh shit!” she hissed under her breath.

Her embarrassment overwhelmed her nerves as the audience hooter for all the jiggling. Paruko grinned at the clearly flustered octoling.

“You newbies are so much fu-UCK!”

Marina’s glove snapped out suddenly, tagging the anemone right in her running mouth. Paruko’s head bucked backwards in a quick flurry of her trailing tentacles.

“Just a sec!” Marina blurted.

She hastily retreated from her panicked strike, cupping and adjusting her top. The punch had bought her a moment to get her boobs in order and make sure she hadn’t committed the dreaded pop star nipple slip.

“Mary! Get her! Kick her ass!” Pearl encouraged her from the corner.

It mostly distracted the bubbly singer while Paruko just blew some stray tentacles out of her face. She rushed back in and creamed Marona across the face with a hook, sending a splash of ink from her gawking lips. Marina stumbled as the quicker and far more decisive Paruko pounded wildly at her. Marina hastily threw up her gloves, guarding her chest and face to limit Paruko to just some stinging shots to her sides. She had bullied the cringing Marina back into a corner before she wound up and dug a huge hook deep into her stomach. The gloves left a sloppy splash at of ink on her belly as Marina gave a huge groan, bending over and holding her gut as the bell rang.

“C’mon. Rina, over here!” Pearl called.

The short inkling hopped onto the bottom ropes, balancing on them to reach Marina’s shoulders. She guided her panting partner to sit down on a stool she’d shoved under her. Marina coughed in some fresh air as Pearl rooted around for a drink.

“What are you doing out there!? You told me you were in the Octoling army!” Pearl hissed just quiet enough for nobody else to hear.

“Yea! As an engineer!” Marina whispered back.

“And I didn’t know I’d be boxing! This girl totally knows what she’s doing! I don’t have a clue!”

Pearl gave her a snaggletoothed. Marina had caught her breath, recovering from the first round rather quickly. Even Paruko seemed to still be shaking off the leather facial she’d taken earlier, but Marina was fretting like the match hadn’t even started yet. Pearl was quickly realizing that as often was the case, the main thing holding Marina back was confidence.

She poured a drink down Marina’s mouth before toweling the ink off her partner.

“Y’know what the secret to boxin’ is? It’s footwork. And we got that in spades! Remember those moves we did at Davy Jones’ juice bar?”

“With the, uh…?”

Marina gave a wavy motion with one arm and did a little wiggle of her hips.

“Yes! It’s like that! But your hands are goin’ in her face instead! Go for that and give this pink punk a private show until she’s seein’ starfish!”

Marina breathed a bracing sigh and nodded, trying to focus on the trial ahead of her. Her old friend’s encouragement and direction helped her steel herself as the bell rang again.

Both of the singers/fighters came out with a similar apprehension vs cool confidence as the first round. As soon as Paruko took a swing at Marina’s face, it was clear that the new squidgirl’s performance had changed. She shifted aside with a fluid step and whipped her arm out in a whipping strike. It connected with Paruko’s cheek with an inky splat, sending the paler pop star’s head snapping along with it. The surprising counter got her to back up, shaking her head and swinging her tentacle hair around with it.

“What the frick?” she blurted out.

She wasn’t expecting that kind of skill from the amateur octoling. Marina’s gaze looked focused yet distant as she shifted from one foot to the other, bobbing to some private beat in her head. Paruko frowned and tried lashing out again but the octoling slid smoothly out of the way. She followed her internal rhythm and snapped a pair of stiff jabs into the pale pink pugilist’s unprotected face. Her dizzy eyes rolled and reeled as Marina just smashed another glove into her stomach, leaving a colorful stain behind. The anemone slumped forward, gasping for air as her chin rested on Marina’s cocoa cleavage.

“Oof… you okay?” Marina asked, wincing at the winded fighter collapsing on her.

“Of course she’s not! You clobbered her! Get her ass!” Pearl shouted from her corner.

Marina seemed to remember she was in the middle of a fight and threw an arm around Paruko’s neck. She kept her trapped against her and well within her reach as she started slugging her in the gut. The anemone huffed repeatedly as she shuddered from the short-range gut busters, sputtering inky pink saliva from her lips and over Marina’s darker boobs.

Paruko managed to tug herself away and threw a wide and sluggish swing, but Marina easily swayed out of its path. The pink pugilist stumbled into her miss while Marina snapped a quick, short uppercut to the chest. Paruko let out another breathless grunt as she recoiled clutching her stinging tit.

“YEA! Right in the squidy tiddy! Keep it up!” Pearl cheered from Marina’s corner.

The cheers and whistles of the audience assured Marina she was doing well enough to keep it up. She sucked in a bracing breath and started lashing out with a barrage of blows. The wild series of hooks smashed into Paruko’s chest, bouncing her boobs all around wherever Marina’s gloves sent them. The pink postar grunted and squeaked as Marina battered her back and forth.

“Yea yea! That’s it, girl! Float like a puffer fish, sting like a zapfish!” Pearl encouraged her.

The extra bit of encouragement convinced Marina to plant her feet and throw her weight into an arcing cross. The glove smashed into the side of Paruko’s boob, clapping it into the other before it bounced back into place. The ripple got her tit to pop out of her sports top, baring the pale boob while the lopsided top made it tough for her to stay steady. Paruko staggered dizzily to one side, fumbling to fix her top while she panted for air. She sweat buckets as she struggled to stay standing and barely kept up her gloves.

“Geez! Maybe you should lie down…” Marina noted sympathetically.

“Yea! Knock her out!” Pearl agreed more noisily and violently.

Marina shook her head, snapping back out of her natural sweetness. She wound up for a huge uppercut when the bell rang. Paruko winced cautiously, but the impact never came. Marina stopped herself short of landing the hit, her gloves pulled back into a casual stance.

“Woops. That’s the bell. See ya in a minute,” Marina said friendlily.

Paruko looked at her in a puzzled daze, both surprised and punkdrunk. It wasn’t until Rai called to her that she thought to stumble back to her corner and slumping into her stool. Marina did the same but far more collected.

“Okay! I guess this really is a lot more like dancing than I thought.”

“I knew you had it in ya!” Pearl praised, rubbing down Marina’s arms and shoulders.

“And what’s the whole reason we do this literal song and dance?”

“Uh… to inspire the hearts of boys and gills around the world?” Marina guessed.

“I mean yea. But the reason we shake it in front of everybody and bust the sweetest moves this side of Inkopolis. It’s to put on a show. It’s why we came here in the first place, and Parky’s lookin’ ready to drop. So take your time and put her down like we do everything else.”

Even the meek Marina cracked a smile as she got the point.

“With style,” she agreed.

The bell rang and Paruko stepped back up. She was still unsteady, but her second had at least managed to stuff her boob back into her top. She kept her guard up and ready, but she flinched as Marina feinted coming right at her with a power blow aimed at her belly. Paruko tried to shield herself but Marina just rested her glove against the guard and twirled around her. She pivoted and hammered Paruko in the side, making her jerk as she tried to double over sideways. Her ribs throbbed as Marina started pounding her to pieces all over the ring. A stunning cross to the jaw sent a mouthful of inky spit flying with her long tentacles following her whipping head.

“Come on, Paruko. Thought you had some moves of your own,” Marina teased.

The seasoned star blinked some of the haze away and steadied herself. She growled and grit her fangs as she shot in with a quick sprint back at her. She threw all she had left into Marina’s narrow abs, getting the dark-skinned octoling to grunt and double over until her breasts rested on top of her arm. Paruko smirked proudly.

“You’re cocky for a rookie,” she sniffed, but Marina cracked a smirk of her own.

“But not too cocky,” she chimed, looking up and winking at her opponent.

Paruko went even paler to see she was almost completely unphased. The audience went wild as suddenly Marina’s tentacles lashed out, their close proximity making even the two foot-long appendages capable of lashing out and punching her face around. They didn’t hit hard but they also didn’t have to with how banged up Paruko was, slapping her silly with her hair.

Paruko’s eyes rolled as she took a wild swing at Marina, but she ducked under it. The octoling let herself shrink down into her octopus form, almost flattening out on the mat as her green little shape before instantly changing back. On her way back up into human form, she threw a massive uppercut that rode the momentum and bashed Paruko between the legs. The skinnier fighter immediately shrieked and tried to cross her legs as she rose to her tiptoes from the force of the low blow.

“That’s it! My girl Marina ain’t afraid to go below the sea belt!” Pearl laughed proudly.

Marina had Paruko completely at her mercy from there. She landed a few more powerful hits that sent her wobbling back, finally flopping over the ropes. Paruko gawked and drooled at the audience as her limp arms hung over the ropes, her slender hair tentacles trying uselessly to push back up to her feet.

Marina went right behind her, pressing her bigger breasts against the back of Paruko’s head. She reached around in front of her and used the hook of her gloved fist to take and pull down the witless star’s top. Her tits flashed to the crowd again like an offering as the audience went nuts for it. Marina reached around her hips with the other glove, thumping it into Paruko’s crotch. She grunted from the impact, but it was much softer than expected. Firm but not painful. She was too knocked silly to pick up on what she was really doing until it was too late. Marina kept the short, dull strikes coming, lightly pounding Paruko’s crotch through her shorts. The steady rapping got it so that Paruko was moaning before she realized her pussy was stimulated enough to start soaking through her crotch. The audience cheered or laughed at the humiliation position, the battered Paruko’s pale skin exposed and dotted with bruises while she was effectively punch-fingered in front of the whole audience. Paruko gave a few soft, gasping moans before she shuddered, her eyes rolling back in her head as her pussy inked right through her shorts. It drained the last of her stamina out of her as she slumped like a ragdoll between Marina and the ropes.

“Gotta respect a girl who can put on a show like that,” Marina chuckled.

She pulled back on some of Paruko’s tentacles like puppet strings, propping her dangling body up for the moment. Marina planted a firm kiss on her lips, starting one extra spicy finale before she drove one deep sucker punch into her guts. Paruko gave a final choking cough as she was lifted off her feet, briefly held up completely by Marina’s fist before she let her drop to the mats. The MC didn’t bother waiting for long to ring the bell and call the match there.

“We got a winner! Tonight’s number one star of a starfish is Off the Hook’s Marina!!!” an announcer went off.

Marina beamed with excitement as she held up a fist to the audience. They went nuts as she smiled ear to ear as Pearl came charging out to meet her as Marina turned with a blush crossing her dark cheeks.

“I did it! Pearly, you were so right! I actually cleaned her clock and looked like a total badass doing it! Mess with The Hook, you get the HOOK, am I right?”

“Yeayeayea,” Pearl rambled as she almost crashed into Marina in her haste.

“But girl, your WHOLE titty is hangin’ out right now.”

Marina blushed a deep green as she tensed up. It made her plump tit bounce like a firm reminder of the fact that it had slipped out somewhere in her hard-hitting finish grinding up against Paruko. Pearl reached up on her tiptoes to grab and try to force her top back over the exposed breast.

“I tell ya what though,” Pearl said beneath the roar of the crowd.

“It wasn’t what we expected, but you totally owned this. If this doesn’t make us big stars, I dunno what will. I betcha that Paru-chick is gonna want to change her whole dang name after a beatin’ like that!”

“I don’t totally blame her,” Marina admitted as she folded her arms awkwardly over her chest for good measure.

“We can stop by the booth to pick up our pay, but I bet they’ll be begging to have us back! I bet you could clean HOUSE around here!” Pearl gushed.

“Pearly!” Marina hissed in a whisper.

“If we’re coming back, YOU better be the one getting punched in the face!”

“Alright, alright. Maybe we’ll stick with music after all,” the shrimpy inkling snickered.