The Rise begins...
The loud stomping and cheering of thousands upon thousands of fans fills the atmosphere at the stadium; there's a sea of Gold on one side and Silver on the other side with enthusiastic fans hopping up and down cheering for their schools. On the field, two teams dressed in the corresponding colors were in the middle of a very heated turf war battle. Gold ink clashes with the Silver ink as both teams exchange territory, both teams showing aggressive play while refusing to lose the match!
"With only a minute left in the Inkopolis cup, both Special Forces high-the team in Gold and Black-and Beacon Hills high-the team in Silver and Black-are showing us exactly why they're the two of some of the strongest schools in the country!" the Commentator said with excitement as a player from Beacon Hills splats a player from Special Forces right afterwards.
Ink splatters across the strong white walls like a novice artist with a nuveau inkbrush; its guerrilla warfare between the two as both teams show no sign of defending, but instead launching an all-out attack to win the match.
A Special Forces player wearing a number "10" shirt seemed to be the leader, commanding his team to perform yet another formation switch so late in the match; they already changed their formation four times from what the commentator said earlier. The Special Forces spread wide as Beacon Hills bite the play, continuing their aggressive play or splatting the opposition instead of inking the turf. The number 7 of Beacon Hills seemed to be the leader since he was yelling at his teammates to continue the pressure; thirty seconds remained.
A boy watching the game from the TV in his sister's apartment was captivated by the incredible play. "Wow…! This is what they call turf wars?" he said with complete amazement at the skills being showcased, "If turf wars are as fun as it looks, then I'll definitely join!"
A girl walks in drinking a bottle of soda, sitting down on the couch next to him-resting her feet on his lap as he leaned forward with more excitement towards how the match would end, "You're definitely enjoying this match Azule…"
Azule kept his eyes glued to the screen, "Of course Sky! These two teams are ink-credible! The way they play each other with so much animosity towards one another like they're at war…it's amazing!"
"Well, that's the Special Forces-Beacon Hills rivalry for you. They're the two strongest schools in the country, so naturally they play each other very hard." She said with little interest in the actual game, judging from her tone and how she refused to look at the match, "Switch it to something like Good Afternoon Inkopolis or whatever, I really don't want to see this game."
"Why not?" he said with curiosity, taking his eyes off the TV; the match was right about to end.
Sky glances at the remote, quickly snatching the remote from him and changing the channel-"I just hate seeing both of those teams." She said afterwards with a satisfied look; Azule pouts as he's stuck with seeing a table of people discuss news on Television instead of the thrilling match that made his heart beat leaned back into the sofa and looked out into the calendar in the distance and saw a big red circle marked over the date of tomorrow-"August 24th, the first day of school"-it read in the Inkling's native writing.
Azule is 15 years old and about to enter high school with his older sister, Sky, who is 17 years old. Azule recently moved in with his sister into the metropolitan area of Inkopolis city, the capital of the nation of Inkopolis, the most populous nation on the continent of Inkland. Azule had been staying with his sister for a nearly a month, getting a great chance to re-establish the strong bond that he had with her when they were little children back at a Cuttlefish orphanage near the border of Inkopolis. Their relationship began to weaken as Sky departed for an education in the big city; leaving Azule behind-promising to bring him with her once she could have a stable living is a fair skinned boy with Royal blue tentacles, matching colored eyes, and a near permanent warm smile. He loves to wear a Blue camoflauge hat that said "LARS" on it in the Inkling native language with a gold crown on top of the words. Sky, his older sister who had a tan that complimented her Sky blue tentacles and eyes, was slightly taller than him, and wore a Black and Sky blue sporty bobble hat.
They reunited in the big city when Sky saw Azule on the streets resting near a motel on the bad side of town, learning from him that he ran away from there looking for her. " I miss you" he said when he hugged her with tears running down his face, not wanting to remember the pain he experienced back there; Sky too, didn't want to imagine what he might have gone through. Because of his sudden arrival, Sky decided to get Azule into her school-with him being of age to be a first year. She spent the past couple of weeks preparing him for the entrance exam since it would be Azule's first time at a public institution; she taught him how to have manners, gave him a basic rundown on the most basic of information needed that any Inkling should know, and then sent him on his way for his entrance exam. She became thrilled when he came back that day with amazing scores, seeing that Azule was really a fast learner; they'd be starting their journey in school together.
The next day begins with a bright and pleasant morning with the yellow sun breaking the orange sky with numerous skyscrapers filling the atmosphere. Down below, the streets are already busy with cars passing by Moray Towers on their way to work, people crowding the sidewalks, and people opening their businesses. Sparkling blue water sways calm under Hammerhead Bridge as the construction workers wrap up on the major project. In what appears to be a guest room, Azule wakes up groggy headed. He leaves the room; dragging his feet like a zombie through the dimly lit hallway letting the aroma from breakfast guide him to the main room; he can hear pans colliding and see steam dance above him, making him hungrier. He grabs his chest, making a painful expression; lately he'd been having those since he came to stay with his sister. He peeks over the corner of the wall with curiosity, seeing the back of his sister in the kitchen working magic with her cooking once more; Sky's cooking was so delicious that it was something worth dying for. He goes over to the couch in the living room and plops right there to watch Good Morning with the Squid Sisters!-The most popular morning show in Inkopolis.They were discussing some highlights from a previous match between two teams in the PTWL- Professional Turf War League-that was being shown on the screen. The league was the highest level of competition for Turf Wars that took place immediately after completing the high school level of competition. The two teams were engaged in a heated battle with Lime and Blue ink splattering everywhere with the captains having a one-on-one showdown with the match on the line; both were captains by the designated yellow bands wrapped around their arms. The Blue captain had a dynamo roller while the Lime captain had a slosher, the Blue captain unveils his wrath as he charges in to grab the splat and seize the victory by grabbing the last piece of turf for the team, but a lime inkling with a kelp splatterscope splats the Blue captain-saving her own captain too. The Squid Sisters focus on the great play performed by the sniper, highlighting the great reliability and clutch performance she showed in saving the match for her team; the Lime team won. Seeing the match only got Azule more excited to compete, learning from Sky that their school did plenty of turf wars.
"Hey Azule, you finally woke up!" Sky said in a loud and peppy voice, pulling his ear gently as she peeked over the couch; Sky's always been a morning person, enjoying her day long before the sun would even think of waking up for its duty.
"Sky…why do you find it necessary to always pull my ear…?" He said holding his ear; Sky smirks at him.
"Because, you're super vulnerable behind your ears…!" she said with a cat smile, playing with his ears; Azule begins to giggle as he barrel rolled off the couch and away from her, definitely ticklish around the ears.
"I knew it!"-She said slamming her fist in her hand as if having an epiphany-"you really are ticklish!"
"N-no I'm not!"-Embarrassed, trying to not show any weakness-"I was simply off guard was all!"
Sky's cat smile returned as she tilted her head to the side, "Would you like to try again?"
"No thanks!"
Sky prepared the table for breakfast, placing the bowls of fruit on the table and handing Azule his plate of pancakes and omelet with hash browns on the side with toast on another plate; Sky had the same plate but with beans instead of hash browns. They both sit down at the table and make a quick prayer to the Great Zapfish before eating.
"Uh-oh! You left your plate open!" Sky said stealing his toast from across the table and taking a huge bite and savoring the taste of the butter spread across the bread.
"That's mine!" he whined, trying to grab his toast back; that poor toast was already devoured before he could get the chance!
"Too late!" she laughed, giving him a nuggie right after stealing his toast; Azule takes up some of the fruits as a substitute for his lost toast.
"Maybe next time you'll be more alert!" pinching his cheek with joy, much to his displeasure.
"It looks like you missed me more than I missed you!" Azule said with a smile, putting his hand over Sky's hand that was still pinching his cheek; Sky face dropped as she realized just how badly she missed having Azule with her.
She let go of his face and gently rubs her hand across his cheek with a soft smile, "you're the only family I got after all."
They finished their breakfast afterwards and got dressed, putting on the uniforms that the school sent and headed on their way out.
Author's note: Hey! I would like to take the time to thank everyone who has showed continued support and to those who will or plan to become a supporter, I'm grateful to your kindness and hope to meet your expectations. I hate to do this, but I feel it is necessary to promote my work on my own work (Feels like that wolverine meme if you get what I mean.) So, I am working on my own original work called WHiTE: CROW a story that draws inspiration from many games and media that I won't go too much into detail (take a look at my profile and check out my favorites-after you read you'll probably spot out some of the inspiration and references.). I hope I can generate the same magic there like I'm generating here with you all, so if you feel interested to take a look, check out my profile and there should be a link to my story on Fictionpress. thanks in advance and I hope you enjoy the story.