Chapter 1: A Lost Girl
Zzz…
Zzz…
"Yo Zack! Come on wake up! We got a big day planned for turf wars!"
"Ugh…" I said as I awoke from my peaceful slumber. "You know, knocking would be the better solution next time Jerry!" I yelled. But regardless, I was going to get up at some point anyway, so I lazily threw my bed sheets off of me and got off of my bed. I took a look into the mirror to see the same face every time I wake up in the morning…
Brown eyes, blue eyebrows, blue hair color, tan skin, average inkling height, and the same black eye rims and fangs all inklings share…
I took the time to get a quick stretch out and looked at the clock on my corner table. It read 12:06 PM.
"Jeez! I overslept! No wonder Jerry wants me up now." I exclaimed. But thankfully we don't need to make it to our turf war battles in about another hour and a half, so I got time. But I swear I set the alarm last night…
Oh well. It doesn't matter now. I decided to grab some clothes out of my closet and get ready to take an ink shower so I don't smell on the battlefield, and because I don't wanna go in wearing my squid PJ's. Something tells me that some squid out there would probably do that just that… Anyways, as I opened the door, I see my childhood friend and roommate standing in the doorway. Jerry was wearing a white anchor tee which matches with his pale skin, the comfy and easy to wear shorts that a lot of inklings wear, and a pair of neon green slugs with white socks to match his light green hair and eyebrows, as well as a hairband to wrap his tentacles/hair in a ponytail like most male inklings do. His yellow eyes behind his pair of retro specs glasses were staring at me with patience… and looking somewhat annoyed…
"Dude you overslept… again. I thought you set your alarm for 10 AM…"
"I thought I did too but I forgot apparently… sorry." I said, a little embarrassed.
"Well the next time this happens, I'm gonna leave without you." He said jokingly.
"Hey I said I was sorry… I'm not used to an alarm bro…" But I knew Jerry was kidding when he said that. He can be quite the joker…
"Ehh its okay Zack. Ya still got time to get ready. Just go take an ink shower and I'll start breakfast." Jerry said with a smile. He walked to my right, down the stairs to the living room, and I walked the opposite direction of the white walled hallway, towards the bathroom.
After that refreshing shower, I walked into the somewhat large kitchen where Jerry was making breakfast. I was now wearing a black anchor tee, navy blue shorts, a takoroka mesh cap (along with my hair/tentacles underneath the cap), and black trainers with white socks. I sat down at the table away from the stove where Jerry was cooking at and awaited my meal. He eventually served me a grilled fish sandwich, with a glass of juice.
I guess it's a brunch instead. Not that I mind since I love grilled fish. Jerry also made one for himself and was sitting on the opposite end of the table, eating his sandwich while reading something on his squidphone. Which reminds me… I should check up on my miiverse and amino…
"So who are we battling today Jerry?" I ask as I start to bite into my delicious sandwich filled with flavor… and ketchup… and that oh so delicious lettuce… and…
"…Well we're gonna be on a team with a boy and girl who are both B rank, and it's against a randomized team, all of which are using… rollers." He said the last part bluntly. "Then against another team using the new splatling and slosher weapons, then against a random group, then another, then… hey Zack! Are you listening?"
"Huh? Yeah! I am!" I said with my mouth full. Honestly, I was more interested in my sandwich. Jerry simply chuckled at my obvious lie.
"Well I'll tell you the schedule when we walk over there. Just finish your sandwich."
Eventually, both of us finished our sandwiches and we both grabbed our weapons and head out the door. I have an inkbrush since I like to move very quickly on the battlefield, and Jerry has a slosher, which was recently released for use in turf wars alongside the splatling gun. It might look like a fancy bucket but that thing does a good job on covering turf…
I should probably look into getting one myself… but I'm fine with my inkbrush. As we leave out the door, Jerry locks the door and I check our mailbox. I was then disappointed as I saw nothing in it.
"Aww… it's still not in the mail yet…"
"Give it some time Zack. You know it's coming from Takoyo…"
I simply pouted. Yeah it's coming from Takoyo but I want it now! Ugh… patience Zack. Good things come to those who wait… for nearly 3 months…
"Well I hope it comes soon… It's been almost 3 months since I ordered it…" I closed the mailbox and we left for the nearby city of Inkopolis.
Ah yes Inkopolis… The huge and popular city that's home to many creatures including jellyfish, shrimp, sea urchins, a cat that's thousands of years old, and the most common of them all, inklings. The inklings here come in many colors such as orange, blue, green, teal, yellow, and more. And just like us, they all have a fashion sense as well. Some wear fancy clothing, others wear what's popular, and some inklings will even wear strange combinations such as a gas mask with a zeko hoodie and a pair of crazy arrows… whatever works for them I guess…
And just like every other city in the world, it can get pretty loud. Thank cod me and Jerry live away from the city otherwise we would never sleep with all the racket that goes on here.
Eventually, we reach the main plaza of the city, where the Inkopolis tower awaited, as well as the Booyah Base next to it, and the battle dojo as well. As we got closer to the main entrance to the tower, I started to get pumped.
"Oh boy! I can't wait to see what's in store for me!"
"Calm down Zack. We haven't even entered yet… wait what do you mean "what's in store for you?" weren't you listening to me during our walk here?"
"Yeah I was… I'm just saying that I can't wait to see if our partners are good or not. They might be B rank but I'm just wondering if they will be good teammates or not… considering were both B+ and close to reaching A-…"
"Oh don't worry. I'm sure we're gonna get along just fine with them. You shouldn't judge your teammates by their rank. I mean with enough practice and determination, it might be possible for a team of C's to surpass a team of A's."
"… You're right. Sorry."
"It's ok bro. Now come on! Let's have some fun."
I smiled with determination and excitement on my mind.
"Yeah! Let's do this!" We entered the tower and awaited our matches…
3 hours later… and that could have gone way smoother...
"Sorry dude. I did not expect that to happen at all." Jerry exclaimed. Well to be honest, I wasn't expecting the guy on our group to get into a fist fight with a guy on one of the teams we faced.
"Then again he was protecting his girlfriend… but still we were doing soooo good as a group and then he blew it. Oh well… at least he had the decency to apologize, and thankfully the fight didn't get too out of hand." I said back. I looked to my left and saw the same guy walking under the battle dojo entrance along with his girl. The guy looked bruised but not to a point where it was bad, and the girl looked more or less embarrassed. Though to be honest, I wouldn't blame her.
"Well I gotta go back to the house to work on dinner. You coming along?" Jerry asks. Well I could go to the Booyah Base to check out some of the new gear they got. We did make quite a haul during our matches…
"Nah. I'm gonna head over to the Booyah Base to see what they got. I heard that they have some really new and fresh gear there."
"Alright. Try to get home before 6:30." And with that, Jerry left, leaving me alone. I then decided to go to the Booyah base area to see what's new in store. As I walked toward the area, there was a sign with a squid-like girl on it that looks more like a human. Oh yeah that's right. The Squid Girl outfit that everyone was hype for…
Well it is a popular cartoo-err… anime here in Inkopolis… well I'm not here for squid girl clothes… that hat though… perhaps I might…
"Ugh of course it would be out of stock!" I exclaimed as I walked out of Cooler Heads, making sure the door was closed so that I wouldn't disappoint Annie. Don't wanna make the girl feel bad. But then again, Squid girl is popular so I kinda expected this to happen. Still, I wanted that hat…
"Oh well, at least I got a nice new outfit." I looked into my bag which held a green tee with a pair of punk whites and a cycle king cap as well.
As I walk out of the store, I look over to a bench nearby, only to see an inkling girl. But after looking at her I noticed that something seemed a bit off about her…
She looked... miserable. As though if she had undergone some sort of crisis and is trying to figure out what to do. She also looked very confused as she was looking all around the area like that bird creature from the animal documents they show on TV.
And it didn't look like any other inkling was gonna help her since there were no nearby inklings… or jellies for that matter. She looked like she was about to cry and honestly… I kinda want to help her… but I don't know if I should… I don't wanna feel like I'm sticking my nose into other squid's businesses.
Then she started to actually cry and hung her head down… tears dripping from her face...
Yeah, maybe I should help her. Mom did always say that it's good to be nice to girls…
I start to walk towards the sobbing girl, and as I step closer, I feel more of this girl's sorrow. I get kinda sad when I see another inkling cry out of depression, so her crying only made me more and more pained as I walked towards her. I eventually got to the bench and sat down next to the girl, but she did not notice me at all yet.
Perhaps I should start up a conversation to get her attention…
"Um excuse me? Are you okay?" I said very calmly towards her.
"I… I… I… don't know…" She said with a shaky voice. Poor girl sounds as though if she's been through some tough times. She also looked like she's been through them too.
Her height appeared to be an average inkling girl's, she had a dirty blue t-shirt on, a pair of ripped jeans, magenta colored hair and eyebrows, and a dirty pair of cream basics.
"You look very confused. Are you lost? Do you need something?" I ask. She then starts to sniffle and cry again…
Smooth move genius…
"Please… don't cry…" I reach into my pocket to find a clean handkerchief that I carry around in case if I sweat during matches.
"Here. Wipe your eyes with this." I handed the girl the handkerchief which she then used to wipe her face. After a few minutes, she seemed to have calmed down and I got a good look at her face…
Oh cod… what happened to her? Her face had about four bruises on it and it looks as though if she had not slept properly in days. I also noticed that her hair tentacles looked… lifeless as they had a darker color… but it looked more greyish rather than just a darker shade. Her yellow colored eyes were a little red from the crying and I can see the pain that spread on her face. I couldn't help but look horrified. Who the hell would do this to her… did some squid do this to her?
"So… what happened?"
She was silent.
"…"
… This silence is getting really awkwar-
"… I… can't… remember…" she quivered with a confused look on her face.
"What… what do you mean?"
"I… can't… remember… anything… I... I…"
She can't stop shivering… and its scaring me... what does she me-
"I can't remember anything! Not my name! Not who I am or who I was! Not the reason I'm in this condition! Nothing!" she sobbed, tears in her eyes yet again.
I was taken aback by her behavior as I did not expect her to lash out like that.
"Whoa whoa! Calm down!" I said, trying to help her keep her cool. "I want to help you but you need to calm down." She then turned to me, her face riddled with despair… She then proceeded to tear up again…
"… I'm sorry. I'm just… so confused… and scared… I don't know what happened or how I even ended up this state."
So that's this girl's issue…
She can't remember her name…or who she was for that matter… I then put my hand on her shoulder.
"… Please calm down. I want to help you out. So… you can't remember anything at all?" she simply shook her head while wiping the tears off her face.
"… Not even how you got here?"
"… Actually… I can only remember waking up behind someone's home. Afterwards, I tried asking some of the city squids about where I am and all I got were inklings telling me that I was in Inkopolis and others telling me to piss off… then I just kept walking and I found myself here. I sat in this bench and tried to think about who I was and what happened but I couldn't think of anything… I even checked my short pockets but nothing was in those either. Then you came and now here we are."
"So let me get this straight. You can't remember anything aside from waking up behind someone's house, and you been trying to figure out who you were ever since?"
She nods in response.
So what we have here is a lost girl with no memory of who she was or any clues that could help…
And from the looks of it she might need a place to stay…
… What should I do?
…
Well if I'm gonna help her out, then I guess…
"Hey… um… so… I'm gonna help you. I don't want to leave you alone with no memory so…" My mouth curves into a warm smile. "I'm going to let you stay at my place until we can cure your amnesia." She looks at me with surprise.
"What? Are… are you sure? I… I don't want to be a-"
"Relax. You won't be a burden to anyone. I promise. Besides, you really don't have any better options, and I don't think you'll like living on the stre-." She then decided to give me an unexpected hug.
"… So I'm guessing that's a yes?" I said, smiling and blushing at her sudden decision. She then let me go and looked at me with a face of happiness.
"Y-yes! Thank you! Thank you so much!" she said happily with a smile. She then tried to hand me the handkerchief.
"Keep it." I replied. "I got plenty at home." I point towards the main gate of Inkopolis. "Ok. My house is that way. Follow me."
I got off the bench and she did the same. And together, we both started walking towards my house. I took the time to notice her… unfresh clothes. I'm gonna need to get her some new clothes as the ones she has look very worn and dirty… But what I wanna know is why she's like that, but it looks like I won't be getting the answer to that question anytime soon…
Oh that's right! I never introduced myself yet…
"Hey… I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zack."
"Oh… and I'm… uh…"
Wait I just realized… she doesn't remember her name…
"How about I give you a name that people can refer to you as?"
"… That would be nice. What did you have in mind?"
"Um, let's see… uh… oh! I got one. How about Niko?"
"… Niko?"
"Well if you don't like it, I could think of another one…"
"No… I like it. Thanks Zack."
"No problem… Niko."
She simply giggled and looked forward as we continued to walk. She definitely looks a lot happier now that she has a name and home and I'm glad she feels that way…
But… how are we gonna help her get her memories back? Is there a cure? Will she just remember in time? Ugh… the more I think about it… the more impossible it seems… But I'm not gonna go back on what I said. Nothing is impossible. Improbable, unlikely, difficult, but not impossible.
Niko… I promise you'll get your memories back one way or another…
… I just hope Jerry won't mind her staying.
Author's Note: And with that, the first chapter of this story is over. Expect chapters within 2 weeks to a month. I am currently aiming to make this story at least 30k words long but it will likely be longer than that depending on how it goes. Thank you for reading my story and please, if you want to stay updated, follow/favorite the story. I greatly appreciate reviews as well. Once again, thank you for reading, and look forward to chapter 2. Oh and also... I do not own Splatoon in any way whatsoever. Just pointing that out.
See Yas :)