"You'll be fine," His sister insisted, handing him a beginner's splattershot Junior. "I know it'll be hard, but trust me, as long as you cover ground and don't get splatted, your team will take care of the rest."
"You're saying this to someone who only got full control of his humanoid form yesterday?" Tory snapped back, glaring at his sister. "It's just 'cause you're so good at turf wars. You're already level 20." He stared longingly into the eyes of the great Zapfish. The great Zapfish stared back, smiling. Well, if the Zapfish was on his side...
"Fine, but just one game, okay?" he sighed, slowly making his way to the lobby. "I don't want to play too much since I still have to help out at the Squid research lab." His sister smiled knowingly and dragged him there quickly in an attempt to get him in a game before he changed his mind.
The lobby was a room at the base of the large tower in the center of Inkopolis, serving as a home for the great zapfish, a friend of the inklings who generated power for them. Inkopolis tower served as a hotspot for any inkling who wanted to be fresher than a trash can. In the lobby, Inklings engaged in the freshest sport for miles around - ink battles.
"You'll start out in turf wars," Tory's sister instructed, as he prepared to be launched into a game. More often than not players were randomly selected. He carefully entered his data into the machine. "You have to cover more turf than the opposing team to win. As long as you keep covering ground and don't get splatted..." Tory rolled his eyes. She said this almost every time the subject came up. All he wanted to do was have fun. He didn't need five-star strategies from his sister. Even if she was one of the best players in Inkopolis.
As his sister droned on, a few more squids strolled into the lobby. One seemed to stand out, however, and he held a pure gold weapon in his hands. A Gold Dynamo Roller. Beautiful. It seemed people knew him, since a few stopped and pointed at him as he passed, but no-one dared speak to him. Tory felt an almost oppressive aura coming from him, so he decided to stay quiet.
Suddenly, as his sister was commenting on the bubbler's usefulness, Tory's stomach lurched as a pulling sensation developed in his innards. He was suddenly pulled away, and he swore that his sister had yelled something along the lines of 'enjoy the ride'. They rode their merry way to Saltspray Rig, and Tory figured it would be perfect if only he had a sick-bag.
He was thrown onto a platform which stood at the left side of Saltspray. He glanced around at his teammates to evaluate the situation.
There was another first-timer like him who quivered as he looked around. He held his Splattershot Junior incorrectly, and Tory took the liberty of correcting it before the game, taking his chance to glance at the sets of the other players. The other two seemed to know each other, and each had the same eye colour and skin tone. Definitely twins. The female had a Classic Squiffer and the boy had a Jet Squelcher. He was uncertain how each weapon worked, despite his studies, and left the thought of having a plan behind.
The bell sounded and he immediately leaped off the spawn and began charging ahead. His sister had ruthlessly drilled him on this, and he was certain that she had hammered the idea of the main area into his head. And in this level, the main area was everything. He stopped when he realised his teammates were lagging behind.
"I may as well take charge," he muttered, turning. Quickly, he devised a simple strategy based on the weapon types. "You there! Squiffer! Head left and get over to the main area. Try to stay unsplattered until I get there. Jet Squelcher, run over to the right and block anyone trying to use the elevators and the side paths!" He signalled for the remaining player to follow him. Everyone split up and headed for the places he had requested.
"This is the worst day of my life," The Splattershot boy moaned, covering ground Tory missed, and inking side passageways as he went. "To think we're going up against Alder.. and this is only my second battle, too..." Tory threw words of encouragement his way while he took care of a Krak-on Roller coming from the side. He jumped at the last second and turned to splat the unfortunate inkling in the back. The other Splattershot booyah'd in response. He had nearly been rolled.
"No problem! Head inwards to cover the main area over there!" Tory called, and the boy quickly headed in that direction. He faced at least three players - a couple Aerosprays and the Krak-on returning - before he got to the bottleneck of the area. He suspected the fourth would soon appear, and on a hunch, he swiftly tossed a splat bomb behind him. A few seconds later his interface indicated he had splatted someone named 'Alder'.
He saw the Squiffer reach her perch at long last, and coming from the other end was the squelcher. He nodded in approval.
"Hold this area! It's all we need to win!" Tory yelled, recalling his lessons. He had noticed that the team they were up against were good - they would no longer be so easy to splat, now they had stopped underestimating them. He signalled the Splattershot near him to move out from the area he had been before, and realising that the entire enemy team was headed their way at once, he quickly hurried his teammates into good positions. He merely hoped that it would be enough.
Waiting around the corner, he jumped out at the first Aerospray, splatting her almost instantly. His teammate using the Splattershot managed to back away fast enough to get a surprise attack on the other Aerospray, and the Squiffer pressured the Roller into a good position for the Squelcher to attack from a safe distance.
A loud splat interrupted their good luck when the Dynamo managed to reach the other side and splat the Squiffer. Her companion, the Squelcher, turned around and tried to get the Dynamo, but using the fling attacks to his advantage, he managed to get him, too. Tory's third teammate was nowhere to be seen. Checking his map, Tory noticed that his entire team was down except him.
Realising that without support, he stood no chance against the Dynamo, he reluctantly began playing hide-n-seek, finding a secluded corner for him to hide in. He watched as enemy players went by.
One.
Two.
At the third, he leaped out, splatting the roller again. He quickly called his teammates, who responded almost immediately. All together, he outlined the new plan.
"I've still got my bubbler. On the count of three, I'll activate my special and pass the effects onto you three. I need you," he said, pointing to the Splattershot, "to rush in and distract them. When you see that the bubbler is about to run out, throw a splat bomb and rejoin me. Make sure to stay alive." He then turned to the Squiffer. "You head up that platform and offer support to him." He finally got to the Squelcher. "You take the other platform and try to cover as much area as possible. If more than two people are splatted, move into the main area and get the places farther on." He turned back, dived into the ink, and counted under his breath.
Activating the bubbler, he swiftly tagged everyone on his team before following the other Splattershot into the fray. Shooting accurately, he managed to pick off one of the Aerosprays, and the Squiffer was doing perfectly pressuring the other players. The Squelcher had already covered a lot of ground, although it was patchy and the enemy Dynamo kept going over his work.
"Darn!" Tory muttered, seeing his shield flashing, signalling the end of its span. "We just needed a few more seconds!" He turned to his friend to see if he was okay, and saw that the boy's tentacles were glowing.
"Dude! Hit that button there, quick!" Tory urged, and his teammate fiddled recklessly with the controls, pressing the button just as the Dynamo was about to corner them. Together, they managed to work him down enough that he retreated.
After the second bubbler ran out, the other boy was almost instantly splatted. Groaning, Tory swam haphazardly around the Dynamo in an attempt to hold out until one of his teammates got him. It was fifteen seconds before he realized they were too busy with the approaching Aerosprays to notice.
"Finicky one!" Alder growled, flicking as fast as he could, turning every which way. It wouldn't be long until Tory was cornered.
Thinking fast, Tory gave up on the idea of surviving. He speedily threw a splat bomb, swam around, and began shooting, accepting he would be splatted.
Tory went down, but as he was sent back to spawn, the message he'd hoped for appeared on his mini-map; Splatted Alder.
He super-jumped to the Squiffer, but he didn't even get a chance to land before they were warped out into the observation deck. He found that a large number of inklings had been watching the match. Walking towards his sister, he noted that Judd was having a hard time deciding the match. As he was dragged into a crushing sumo hold, however, he saw that Judd had confirmed his decision.
The screen above them displayed the results at long last. Everyone waited eagerly for the results, as no one could really tell for sure who had won. It looked for all the world like Alder's team, though. Tory waited to see the defeat sign show. Any second now he would have to face his first defeat.
The screen flashed. The numbers went up. And everyone went into a wild cheer.