Written by: ragnamalamity (@ragnamalamity)
An irritated Squidward wallows in his loss as he does most days, following the duel he had with Reigen. At this point, the match was very much behind him and his associate, but somehow or another the feeling of doubt just didn’t sit right with him. Sometimes your best just isn’t enough, and that’s fine – but if he said that realization didn’t sting, he’d be lying through his teeth.
Giygas lies dormant in Squidward’s clarinet. While they’ve tried to help Squidward through the most of his grief, it never seems to stay away - so, assuming isolation was what the cephalopod wanted, they kept to themselves. In a sense, it helped; Squidward seemed to be on the upturn. While their own emotional state was ambiguously pained at best, knowing their teammate could keep the two of them going was about as symbiotic as their relationship could get on a personal level. Just like old times.
Both of their thoughts are distracted by a knock at the door, which Squidward reluctantly answers. It’s darker out these days, and without a light by the door, it takes a voice to get a point across.
His tone suggests it’s not as downtrodden as it sounds, and Reigen laughs it off.
Squidward steps away from the door to let Reigen inside. The two pull up chairs, Reigen’s hands resting on the back of his head as if it were as casual an encounter as crashing onto one’s couch.
He could’ve sworn that was only said to Giygas. But he nods; makes a motion with his tentacles for him to continue.
Squidward hesitates to respond. While, yes, he did face Zim and Billy before, and they did make for a fun match, it’s… Zim and Billy. Two high-energy, high-maintenance morons taking a role that big makes him uneasy, but it could do the job. While uneasy, he nods, and Reigen flashes a smile.
A roll of his eyes.
Reigen stands up from his seat, seemingly content.
Reigen waves goodbye to Squidward, closing the door behind him. He’s, ironically enough, in pretty high spirits. It’s a chance to bring the group together for a big show! Contact has already been made with what’s arguably the biggest obstacle in getting things together… so what could possibly go wrong?
Meanwhile, as Squidward hovers over his phone, he thinks to himself that he might be in over his head. It’s a big party that he’ll have to do a lot to oversee, and with half of the team a mess to engage with, it leaves him counting all the ways this could possibly go wrong.