DISCLAIMER: I do not own Splatoon! It belongs to Nintendo!
The story starts in 2017, around the time of Splatoon 2's release. As I did not get into Splatoon until the beginning of this year, some parts may be inaccurate. For that, my apologies!
Certain chapters will contain elements from Splatoon 2's Hero Mode and later, Octo Expansion. I will warn you at the beginning of such chapters when we come to that point.
Roy's PoV
"You're what?!"
In the streets of Inkopolis, everyone simply stared at the green-haired inkling in their circle. She remained to have a neutral expression, a poker face, while the red-haired inkling, one with hair slicked to the side, gaped at her.
"You can't leave!" cried Roy, the red-haired inkling. "Not now! The Splatfest is tomorrow!"
"I wish I could," she started, adjusting the dark green beanie she wore, "but the vacation is already paid for, through-and-through. I can't ask for a refund at this point."
"You sure about that?" asked Roy, leaning back in the chair he was sitting in and putting his legs on the table. "Because I know a guy who booked a vacation somewhere, but forgot to buy an airplane ticket the day he was supposed to be there. So, he canceled it."
"That's different," commented the indigo-haired inkling two seats down from him. "You see, that squid you knew had a reason why he had to cancel. Geneva doesn't." The other inklings gathered around the table nodded in agreement.
"Exactly," Geneva, the green-haired inkling, agreed, pointing at Inigo, the indigo inkling, briefly. She cleared her throat, and then said, "I leave tomorrow morning. I don't know when I'll be back."
"But you said it was a vacation," Roy pointed out. "Don't they usually have start and end times? That are set?"
Her green eyes looked away from his glance. "This is different," she muttered. She then stood up, saying, "Enough of that. How about we do a turf war?"
The inklings murmured in agreement, while Roy took his legs off the table and leaned forward. A turf war with Geneva would be their last, and he did not know how long she would be gone. She was just being vague about her whole vacation! Why did she wait until the last minute? Upset thoughts stormed through his head, but he had to keep his temper in control. He clenched a fist and stood up.
"We're in agreement, then?" he asked. Everyone nodded. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Wait a moment, Roy!" called the blue-haired inkling as Roy turned around. He turned his head to look at her. "We need eight inklings if we want a turf war all to ourselves."
"We can get my sister," the orange-haired inkling suggested. "She's usually who we get whenever we need eight." The blue inkling nodded in agreement, clasping her hands.
"I'll call her," the purple-haired inkling declared as he pulled his phone out of his hoodie pocket. He dialed Octavia's, the orange-haired inkling, sister and in a few brief moments, he began talking with someone over the phone. "Yo, Alexis. It's Perry. Can you come to the tower for a battle?" He paused as Alexis spoke. "Yeah, yeah. We just need another member in our crew, yeah?" Another pause. "K. Great. See ya soon." He hung up and turned to say, "She's coming."
"My house isn't far from here," remarked Octavia. "We better get to the tower now."
"What about our weapons? I'm sure Alexis's bringing her dualies, but we weren't even planning this until Geneva brought up her vacation!" the yellow-haired inkling asked.
"Don't ya remember?" started Perry, giving a light punch to the yellow inkling. "We registered as an official team a while back. They're gonna store our weapons in the tower from here on out."
"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed. "I totally forgot!" Yuri, the yellow-haired inkling, immediately started to jump towards the tower. "Come on! Let's go!"
Well, I'm glad that's dealt with, Roy remarked silently as the other inklings caught up with Yuri.
"Come on, slow-poke!" called Octavia. "You're as slow as a snail!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming," murmured the blue inkling, Bonnie, in her soft voice. "I like taking my time."
"Don't have much time, do we?" added Perry in compliance with Octavia. "Via's right, you better hurry up."
"Fine, fine…" Bonnie started running to catch up with the group. When they arrived at the tower, they sat down in the lobby, waiting for Alexis to arrive.
"How far is your house exactly?" Inigo asked Via.
"Not far, like I said," replied the orange inkling, who was twirling her longer tentacle around her finger. "Give her a minute or two. She'll come."
At that moment, a short inkling with yellow-orange, chin-length hair burst through the entrance holding a pair of Splat Dualies. She wore a pirate-stripe tee alongside a bobble hat and FishFry sandals. She looked around momentarily before noticing the group of inklings lounging on the bench. The inkling walked up to them.
"Hey," greeted Alexis.
"Hey," greeted the group.
"Where are your weapons?"
"In there," replied Octavia, pointing to the entrance to the lobby. "We were waiting for you to come along."
"Really?" Alexis said with a smile. "Aw, thanks."
"No problem." The orange-haired inkling winked at her younger sister.
Roy stood up and started to head towards the lobby. "I'm gonna get everyone's weapons," he announced. "I'll be back in a few."
With that, the red-haired inkling took a deep breath and stepped inside the lobby. Going up to an interface, he navigated himself to the screen that said 'Rainbow Squids'. He tapped it, and next to the interface, a panel slide open, revealing a staircase. The inkling headed down towards the dimly lit room below in search for the weapons. He squinted, trying to make out the weapons in the dark. As much as he hated to admit, there was a downside to renting a room to store weapons in. They were all exceptionally dark.
He grabbed the first thing he could see and felt it. He put a hand to the barrel and felt the small holes form into a circle. Definitely Yuri's splatling. He never could understand their appeal. He put it by the stairs, where he could see it better, and looked for another weapon. He picked up another dark shape and held it up to the light. Geneva's Splattershot. He threw it next to the Heavy Splatling Deco and kept looking.
The third weapon he found was his own—the Luna Blaster. Smiling, he gently placed it next to Geneva's Splattershot and continued on. The next shape he found was large, and it was most certainly Inigo's roller. He spun the wheel for a little bit before setting it down. He counted the weapons he found on his fingers, and figured he only had three more to go. He felt around the room before coming across a thin object. Judging by the narrowness, it had to be Bonnie's signature Squiffer. He set it on the roller and continued searching.
He felt something at his feet as he was walking, so he looked down. It seemed to be in the shape of a wide brush, a big giveaway to the weapon's identity. He picked up Octavia's Octobrush Nouveau and set it down. He now only had one weapon left to find—Perry's slosher. Well, it was actually a Sloshing Machine, and it happened to be in the very corner of the room, so he grabbed the heavy bucket and dragged it to the dimly lit pile of weapons.
Roy looked at the pile stationed in front of him. Seven weapons, one for each member of the Rainbow Squids. Now, the real challenge would be getting them upstairs. He stepped over them and headed up the stairs to peak out at the lobby. He let out a squeak as he was met with Geneva's combat boots. He looked up to see her staring down at him.
"Hey, I said I got it!" he protested at her appearance.
Geneva smiled. "Did you really think you could carry all that stuff upstairs? Especially that big heavy slosher Perry has." She scratched the back of her head. "I don't understand how he even carries that thing," she quietly remarked.
"I said I don't need your help," Roy complained, folding his arms and turning away from her. No words were uttered, but when he opened an eye to peer back in front of him, the green inkling still stood. The red inkling then picked up Bonnie's charger and threw it at her feet. "…Take this to Bon-Bon."
Her smile curled into a smirk as nodded, picking up the white-and-blue weapon off the ground. "I'll be back," she said as she exited the lobby.
Knowing that Geneva would return shortly, Roy began to bring the weapons to the base floor for her to take. He grabbed the handle of the Carbon Roller and pulled it out, and eventually, he held in both hands the lightweight roller, and held it up. He felt someone grab the top of it, and looked up.
The roller's owner had his fair hands on the wheel. "I'll take that." The red-haired inkling let go, and Inigo pulled his weapon up and threw it over his back. "It's been a while since I've done a turf war."
Looking around, Roy noticed that all of the members of the Rainbow Squids, including Alexis, has circled around him. "What the heck?!" he growled, angry. "I said I was going to get them all!"
"As soon as Geneva came with my Squiffer, we knew there's no way you can get them all yourself," Bonnie explained.
"Come on, Roy, haul them up," Octavia commanded.
Grumbling, he grabbed Via's brush first and held it out for her to grab, which she did. He then gave the green inkling's Splattershot to her, then Yuri's Heavy Splatling Deco, who cheered as soon as he held it in his hands. At last, he grabbed the Sloshing Machine and lugged it upstairs for Perry to take. The purple inkling took it and sat on it while waiting for Roy. The tanned inkling picked up his Luna Blaster and finally got himself to the top of the stairs. When he stepped on the floor again, the panel slid back over the opening to cover it.
"Everyone got their weapons?" he asked. The inklings cheered in affirmation. "Alright, now we gotta decide the teams."
"Boys vs. Girls, anyone?" Yuri suggested. "It's a classic!"
"Dude, that's not fresh at all!" Perry whined, slumping on his slosher.
"Think about it." The dark-skinned inkling threw an arm around the chalk-white one. "We have four boys—me, you, Roy, and Inigo—and four girls—Via, Alexis, Geneva, and Bon-Bon."
"He has a good point," Inigo chimed in.
"Then it's settled," said Roy. "We'll see who wins."
Perry groaned, but he still picked up his slosher, and the eight inklings walked to the elevator that took them to their stage. Once it stopped, the floor slid open to reveal a grate. All eight inklings converted themselves into squid form, and they all slipped through the grate. Moments later, Roy found himself at a spawn point. Once he reverted to his human form, he examined the stage they appeared at. Looking around at the hills, he grimaced. Great, Blackbelly Skatepark. My favorite.
In a few brief seconds, everyone started to ink the land. Pulling the trigger on the Luna Blaster, a deep green ring, greener than Geneva's green, came out and exploded onto the edge. Alright, his team has green ink. He could work with this. He kept his hand on the trigger as the green ink colored the skatepark. He covered one of the hills so he could swim up it. He melted into the ink and swam up it, the squid form popping out at the top. He transformed back in midair to land and ink the surface he stood on. He quickly inked the platform connecting to it and hid in the ink.
Pink ink splatted onto the central tower, and ripples moved through the ink. He looked up, and popping out at the top of the tower was an inkling with hair styled into a double bun. Bonnie. She threw a point sensor onto the ground, and a dark aura began to hang around him. Dang it. Roy revealed himself and activated his Luna Blaster. He thought he was doing good, making his way towards the tower, when painful ink hit him from behind. He exploded in pink ink and learned his attacker—Octavia, with her deadly Octobrush Nouveau.
He respawned and cursed as soon as he could speak again. He inked a different trail and started to travel through it. Where were the others? Hopefully, they were holding their own just fine. Another inkling swam by him and reformed as Yuri. The spiky-haired inkling through a Splash Wall to try to protect them. Bonnie noticed this, and turned her attention away from an attacker to charge up her Classic Squiffer to destroy the wall. Yuri and Roy took a few steps back as the charger was barely long enough to hit the Splash Wall. It fell apart and disappeared, but before Bonnie could turn about around, a glob of ink covered her. She turned around, rapidly shooting her Squiffer before another hit landed, causing her to splat and the tower to become covered in green ink.
"Come on up," an inkling with sharp bangs parted to reveal his eyes beamed. Yuri charged up his splatling and covered the ramp, allowing the two boys to swim up to the top. All in the while, Perry recharged his ink, and reformed by the time they arrived.
"None of the girls will be happy," the dark-skinned inkling speculated. He was right, as Geneva threw a Burst Bomb at the tower, covering the boys' feet in pink ink. Roy shot at the ground to get rid of the ink. "We better go," Yuri whispered to the tanned inkling. And with reason so. Alexis was approaching, shooting the ramp the two came up on. Yuri charged up his splatling and aimed it at the young inkling. She went down quickly, leaving a path for the two to go done to ground level.
Roy and Yuri went separate paths. While the latter headed towards their side of the stage, the former headed towards the enemy side. He had to be as stealthy as he can; the girls could catch him off guard. He had to swim back a few feet when the beam denoting a charger's aim landed on him. Within an instant, ink covered where he was. Roy reemerged from his ink and started to shoot around him. Bonnie's focus was on Roy at the moment, so his goal was to avoid her. He circled around the platform she stood on. The chase was ended when Octavia respawned and splatted him.
When Roy respawned, he noticed a Squid Beakon on one of the platforms. Octavia must have put it there, he figured. A trail of pink ink shot over the skatepark as the Octobrush wielder leaped towards the Beakon. Green ink from Inigo's Carbon Roller was being flung at her, so she put the bristles to the ground and ran. Inigo ran after her, yet the Octobrush was faster. His attempts managed to destroy the Squid Beakon, which was good news for his team. Pink spotted the green side, so Roy took the opportunity to cover them back up.
He heard Perry let out a cry, and looking back at the central tower, it had become pink again as Bonnie retook her former spot. From there, she started shooting once more. Roy threw a bomb at the tower, though it only managed to land on the base before it exploded. Alexis covered the area the bomb covered right back up. A low growl emitted from Roy's throat. They were definitely losing! Even though a cloud of ink had just been unleashed above the tower, causing the girls to flee, his point still stands.
Perry returned, throwing ink onto the ramp to use the Ink Storm to his advantage. He and Inigo swam up the tower. The latter covered the base, while Perry threw ink onto the ground. The ponytailed boy swam off once his purpose was served. With that, Roy decided to push forward, hoping for no more incidents. Yet, Geneva emerged from a pink pool of ink and leaped into the air. He swam back into the trail he made just in time to survive the Splashdown, though he did not escape unscathed. Another hit or two could do him in. The long-haired inkling saw this advantage and threw a Burst Bomb that splatted him.
Once more, Roy respawned and super-jumped to Perry. He, too, was struggling as Geneva and Alexis were doing him in.
"You take Alexis," the tanned inkling told the pale boy. "I'm gonna get payback on Geneva."
Roy swung around Perry and starting shooting below him. Geneva, who was biting her lip, continued to shoot at the ramp, the ink colors switching from green to pink rapidly. It was almost times-up, he could feel it. It got to the point where he could use his special, and in an instant, a ball formed around Roy. He leaped, squishing Geneva and started to roll towards the enemy's spawn. He blew it up, covering the surrounding area in green ink. He threw a bomb at the spawn, despite no one being there. Shortly after it exploded, he heard ink being shot from behind him, and turned around to see the long-haired inkling once again, advancing on him. She managed to get a shot on him before a whistle blew, and everyone stopped.
Two black-and-white cats, Judd and Lil' Judd, appeared to survey the land. They danced for a little bit before the smaller cat pulled out a pink flag in triumph, with the larger one falling on his back.
"What?! We lost?!" Roy cried out in dismay. "But I thought we were doing so good!" All eight squids were launched back to the lobby, where a picture of a map was displayed. Though the boys had claimed the center, the girls worked on covering much of the boys' side of the map. He looked over at Yuri and Inigo. "What were you two doing?"
"I was trying to stop Octavia and Bonnie, I swear," Inigo cried. "But it's a little hard to outrun both a charger and a brush."
"Bon-Bon simply splatted me each time I aimed at her," Yuri explained. "Squiffers charge real quick, you know!"
"So…" started Bonnie, who walked up to them, charger in hand, "Does that mean I'm the MVP?"
Geneva pressed a button to display the stats. "You inked the most turf, it says here." She pointed to Bonnie's portrait. "So, you are the MVP." The only response the double-bunned inkling could give was a sweet smile.
"Alright, match is over, what now?" Roy queried as the elevator began to take them back to the base floor of the tower. He wanted to move past the defeat he just suffered.
"Why not grab something from Crusty Sean's?" Yuri suggested. "His food is my favorite."
"Right after a battle?" Octavia protested. "No thanks. Besides, his food is incredibly greasy."
"Nothing wrong with that," Alexis chimed in. "I'd eat his food for days! It's just that good!"
"I don't really see the point," argued Inigo. "His food is best right before a battle, and we just came out of one." His indigo eyes focused on Geneva. "But, I think Geneva should have the final say. She is going on vacation tomorrow, after all."
"If you ask me," the fair-skinned inkling opined, "we should go. It'll be my last meal from there for a while."
"Then it's settled," Roy announced. "We're going to the Crust Bucket…after we put away our weapons."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Perry agreed. "It'd be weird if we all show up with our stuff."
"What about me?" Alexis chirped. "I'm not in your group; am I allowed to use that room?"
"Well…" Octavia started, lost in thought. "…You can take Geneva's place after tomorrow."
"Are you okay with that?" the younger inkling asked, turning to face the long-haired inkling.
"I am," she answered.
"K. We got that figured out," Perry remarked. "Now, let's go."
As the inklings retired their weapons to the special room, they all headed outside the tower and headed towards the Crust Bucket. The rest of the day was gleeful as everyone (except Octavia) happily ate their meals, talking and laughing. When the night sky was apparent and everyone had to go home, it was only when they woke that the pain of a friend leaving felt worse.
A/N: Hey, now this is a little different from what I usually do. This story's chapters are generally self-contained and slice-of-life like. However, like I mentioned in the disclaimer up top, stuff from Hero Mode and Octo Expansion will be included in here. So, there is an over-lying plot, but it might not be as evident at times. With that out of the way, feel free to leave a review! The next chapter is set to release tomorrow around this time, but after that, it will be weekly! I will try my best to reach this goal. With that out of the way, Branchwing, out!