Chapter One: Deca to Square
As the sun threw down its heat on the surfaces of Inkopolis Square, an inkling looks in awe as Inkopolis Square oozes its charm and culture. The billboards were big and bright, the lights were vivid and colorful, and the smell of the air was pure and nice. This blue tentacled inkling continued to track his eyes from the Battle Lobby, all the way to the top of the Deca Tower. He had never been in Inkopolis Square before, now, he finally dives into a dream he has had. The blue inkling finally has a chance to fight in Turf War.
He begins to walk towards the Battle Lobby, however, his day couldn't had gone better. Marie, the grey-tentacled pop-star he adored so much. However, she was seen giving a bottle to some random inkling. He was planning to get an autograph, till he saw Marie being busy talking and having a long and fun conversation with the inkling. However, only a few minutes later, just entering the Battle Lobby floor, he hears Marie laughing maniacally. His image of Marie changed.
"Marie kind is sometimes seen doing weird things like that," another inkling whispered to the blue short tentacled male.
"Oh, sorry, anyways," the girl continued, "oh my name is Shell."
"Clam," the boy answered back, taken back that friendliness has already come to him.
"Rumors say that she's dating that inkling," Shell added, "I don't know if I believe it or not. And why him? I know he's all good and all in Ranked, but why him? What is so special with him? I would honestly die to date the guy she used to date."
"I don't know him," Clam responded back.
"I do not blame you, besides, for all we know he's her producer or something," Shell laughed, "and it kind of looks bad in our part that we use the wonders of our squidphones just to spread rumors."
Clam nodded, but grew a slight sense of jealousy inside, "But if it is some random inkling, he better have been the reason why Callie came back or something like that."
Shell looked at Clam's gear and saw that he was not looking as fresh as her, "You new?"
"Yeah, just got here," Clam responded.
Then all of a sudden, Marie began laughing louder and louder. Clam and Shell looked at each other, sharing a moment of confusion. The two heard murmurs and tried listen in, however, did not catch a single world till Marie turned around to head away from the lobby.
"I'll climb to X. For you Marie," the two heard.
Clam was impressed. He thought that if that inkling must be really good at Ranked, especially the fact that this inkling was pronouncing that he'll get to X, not S+, not S. Marie, then, was seen walking away from the area.
"That guy must be really good then," Shell commented, echoing Clam's thoughts.
Clam nodded, then all of a sudden, Shell grabbed his wrists, "Well we aren't getting to his level by standing here, come on!"
While Clam was being dragged across the square, he tried shouting through the noise his dragging feet made, "Shell! I haven't even been in a turf war!"
"We'll change that!" Shell responded before stopping in front of the Battle Lobby door.
The door opened and Clam stood in front of the open doorway, "Get in a game, I'll join you!"
Shell quickly pushed Clam into the room and she quickly stepped inside the room with her. Clam panicked and quickly picked a mode, luckily, it was Regular Battle. He was placed in a waiting room, while Shell joined him. After eight players were collected, they were transported to the stage.
"Why does this place look like a camp or something" Clam nervously asked, turning humanoid in his spawn pad.
"Welcome to Triggerfish!" Shell winked before the start of the Turf War started.
Clam jogged forward with the others, he was too nervous to fire a single shot from his Splattershot Jr.
"Come on Clam, ink the ground," Shell requested while she was rolling her Carbon Roller.
Finally Clam pulled the trigger and ink sprayed out of the Splattershot Jr. He scored a few points before his inking slowed down. Swiftly, he learned. Clam swam through Shell's ink and caught up to her, closing their distance. The two other teammates flanked through the left, activating the Inkrail. Clam was amazed as he saw Shell jump in the air and fling a line of ink. His and Shell's blue covered the other side, covering the orange over the gap. The other teammates made their way and hooked through the walkways and stood their ground. At the other side, an enemy inkling emerged from the puddle of orange that Shell missed. It's silver tube fired orange ink at an impressive rate, which Shell guessed was an Aerospray. She elegantly turned thirty degrees to the left and flung another line of ink. In a blink, the Aerospray was inked and was sent back to its spawn. Clam took the opportunity and throwing a bomb he did not even know he had and covered deeper into the other side.
"Oh carp," Shell whispered, which Clam caught, "they're at our side!"
Clam noticed showers of orange becoming closer to him, which he tried to avoid. However, his blue tentacles were spotted with orange spots, and he took damage. Shell turned around and morphed into a squid. She saw a line of missed blue ink and took it to close the gap between the flanking orange inklings. A Blaster did not notice the trail that Shell made, rushing through the ink, which Shell took the opportunity to swiftly ink the orange inkling. However, an orange inkling with a Slosher emerged behind Shell. Clam caught the inkling and hastily inked the Slosher, saving Shell.
The two inklings were sent back to spawn. Shell turned around and smiled proudly, seeing Clam having fun and rapidly learning. Till irony came and a Splat Bomb rolled behind Clam, which he did not notice. Clam was swiftly taken back to spawn.
For the rest of the game, the two teammates flanked, while Clam and Shell made their way controlling the center. The surprise attack from the back happened again, which Clam and Shell swiftly took out. Then, without the teams realizing, the game ended. Clam and Shell were taken back to the Battle Lobby room and saw Judd calculating the amount of ink each team covered. Then, celebration came, 48.1% to 45.7%. Clam celebrated till he saw player results, his 634p of ink was nothing to brag about, which he noticed and quickly shut himself.
"Good job Clam, first win," Shell smiled.
"It was kind of all you, you had more than 1000p of ink on the ground!" Clam responded.
"But you learned a lot, you won, while you can't get worse!" Shell explained her happiness, "I'll teach you either way anyways."
Clam turned his head to player lists which was quickly taken away, so he turned to Shell to answer his question, "What level are you anyways?"
Shell scratched her two large tentacles, "That doesn't matter..."
"Please tell me," Clam begged.
"Twentyfour" Shell rushed.
"Twenty-four, impressive, at least from where I'm from," Clam joked.
Shell joked, shaking off excess ink to not show her cheeks, "Thank you Clam, I'm still climbing though."
The Battle Lobby door finally opened, which is when all the eight inklings exited.
Clam and Shell continued to laugh about the game, with Shell explaining the rules and weapons in between each topic. The pair quickly grew a bond, joking about each and every mistake each made. Then, a connection was made.
"So um...wanna go again?" Clam offered.
"Yes, but first, we are getting you fresher gear," Shell laughed before dragging Clam again through the stores.
He came out looking different, with a new pair of shoes, a new sweater, and a nice hat.
"You look really slick there mister 'I do not want to play Turf War because I never played it'," Shell joked, "I am just kidding, you look really fresh."
"Thank you Shell, however, I think I'll need to get used to this," Clam responded, looking at his new gear.
"Eh you know how you can get used to it sooner," Shell asked.
Clam, not knowing better, asked how, "Go tell."
"To the Battle Lobby!" Shell self-celebrated the bait before dragging Clam back to the Battle Lobby, "you gotta sweat and beg for air till you're done with me."
The pair continued playing Turf War, luckily and skillfully swimming through every win. For an entire afternoon they won so many games, but never lost some. Clam began to wonder how he will learn from his mistakes if he is just going to be mentored by Shell. More curiously though, why was she so fond of him? Why would a level twenty-four-now twenty-five-be so happy with playing with a complete newbie. Clam continued to wonder through the games, however, he just appreciates he has someone to play with, and not having a second feeling lonely.