Chapter One: Splattack!
Hello there, fellow sealings! If you don't care for author's notes, feel free to skip here! It's been awhile since I've posted anything or updated any stories, so if any of my followers see this, I'm sorry. School's been killing me, and I've been super busy. Well enough about me…. Enjoy the story! Oh, and disclaimer: I don't own Splatoon or Splatoon 2. Nintendo does.
All was quiet at Port Mackerel. A stiff sea breeze blew in between shipping crates, carrying the salty smell of the nearby ocean. Gulls cried overhead, while large cranes rumbled quietly in the background. The silence was broken with a loud hissing noise as the circular spawn points at either end of the Port came to life and spun. Four inklings on either side rose out of the ink, each group being a different color. The right side was a bright purple color, while the left was light orange. The purple team consisted of a Hero Roller Replica, a Slosher, an Octobrush and an Inkbrush. "Let's splat these punks," the roller said, hefting the massive weapon over her shoulder and grinning. She wore retro specs, the hero jacket replica, the blue moto boots, and wore her hair up often.
"Remember to think before you steamroll, Natt," warned the wielder of the Octobrush. Her name was Cass, and currently wore the inkfall shirt and a squid hairclip, which went well with her short hair and longer sweatpants.
"Enough chit chat, lets just get going already!" a sharkling yelled, an Inkbrush slung over one shoulder. She wore the pilot goggles, a worn out black inky rider, and matching punk blacks.
"I couldn't agree more, Laurel," grinned the final member of the team. Her name was Scarlet and she wore a combination of white studio headphones, the varsity jacket, and strapping reds. She readied her slosher, and waited for the round to start.
READY?
GO!
While Scarlet began inking around the spawn point, Cass took the upper right path. Natt quickly threw a curling bomb, painting a path to the middle by throwing another bomb when the previous one exploded. Laurel simply ran ahead of the roller, her inkbrush creating a thin trail as she ran through the turf. Natt quickly reached the first open area of the Port and began painting the clean pavement, while Laurel kept running on until she got to the clearing on the enemy's side. "Good," she smiled to herself, hurriedly flicking the inkbrush back and forth. The orange team hadn't gotten to that portion of the stage yet, but Laurel had to move fast. Their advantage wouldn't last long. Just as the thought ran through her mind- splat! The E-Liter from the other team had caught the shark kid off guard. Cass, who had come to the end of the upper right path, had seen her teammate get sniped and quickly dove off of the edge to avenge Laurel. Swimming up to where the sniper was located, the short inkling threw an auto bomb up onto the ledge, causing the orange E-Liter to fall and be splatted by Cass.
Having finished inking around the spawn point in a few seconds, Scarlet quickly began flanking along the top left path of Port Mackerel and in a few minutes, she came to where Cass was now having a bit of trouble with a Baller special. "Why-won't-this-thing-break?!" She said through gritted teeth as the baller came rolling closer and closer. Cass was flicking her Octobrush as fast as possible, but it didn't break until Scarlet came in with her slosher at the last minute. "Thanks, Scar," sighed Cass in relief.
"No problem," Scarlet inked the corridor and grinned. "I'll be right back!" Scarlet quickly super-jumped back to spawn, where she pulled out a set of huge green tentamissle launchers. Locking onto three solid targets, she fired the missiles, and she let out a 'Booyah' as her missiles found their way to two of the three targets. Natt quickly used a vertical flick to get rid of the third unfortunate target. The roller quickly pulled out a tablet displaying the map of Port Mackerel and, seeing that most of the area was covered with their own purple color, decided to go back to one of the open areas and make sure no-one got through Cass' and Ginny's defenses. As she swam through the ink, she saw a familiar shark fin poking out above the color and called out."Oi, Laurel!" The fin stopped, and Laurel stood up in the ink, holding her inkbrush tightly.
"What?" the sharkling asked.
"Where have you been this whole time?" laughed Natt, "Cass and Scarlet are holding the other team back in their spawn point and-"
"-Look out!" Laurel yelled, and both sealings dove in the ink just in time to avoid a shot from the E-Liter. They sped towards a nearby storage container and popped up. "And that's why I haven't been around this entire time," said the sharkling angrily, "The stupid E-Liter kept sniping me!"
"That's okay, it isn't like you're completely stealthy," she smiled, "… but if the guy is back in his sniper position-"
"Defenses are broken through!" huffed a frantic Cass as she ran by with her Octobrush. She had come from the direction of the spawn point.
"Oh, holy carp!" Natt and Laurel ducked into the ink and swam in the direction of the enemy spawn point only to be met with a very frantic Aerospray RG, angry Splat dualies, and a determined Sloshing Machine.
"You take the left, I'll take the right?" smirked Laurel.
"Oh it's on," Natt smirked back. They each took one narrow passage as 'Now or Never' began to blare over the speakers. Cass, using the splats of the enemy team as cover, was able to get up to the enemy's top right passage and use her Octobrush to run up behind the enemy E-Liter and splat him, before being splatted herself by an ink mine he had planted in that spot. Scarlet, who had respawned and was on her way to rejoin Natt and Laurel, used her slosher to cover up the little spots of orange left over from skirmishes, inkstorms, and stray inkjets that had gotten past the defenses. Just as the orange team had splatted Natt and Laurel to go ink more turf, time was called, and they had to stop battling.
"75.6 to 24.4?! That was amazing!" gushed Natt. Her Hero Roller was now in a large black case, which she carried on her shoulders, backpack style.
"Heh. GG, everyone." Laurel crossed her arms and walked behind the overexcited Natt. Laurel's inkbrush was also in a case, slung over one shoulder. Cass' Octobrush was being carried in a similar style. After the match, Team Paintstrike had shaken hands with the other team in good sportsmanship, and invited them for another go if they felt up to it. Afterwards, they walked out onto Inkopolis Square, and after seeing that Grizzco wasn't open, they decided to start heading home. Natt, Laurel, Cass and Scarlet lived in the same apartment complex, but they met each other and became an official team in the Turf Wars, back when they were hosted in Booyah Base Plaza rather than the Square. Only when they began arranging practices did they realize they were all coming from the same place. When they weren't battling, the team generally kept their hair in their natural colour. Scarlet had bright red hair worn down; Laurel had light purplish-grey fins rather than tentacles, but they turned other colors like any normal inkling's tentacle hair; Cass had short green tentacles with red tips; and Natt had purple tentacles with longer bangs pushed to one side, and shorter hair tentacles usually worn in a ponytail.
Scarlet adjusted the slosher that she carried under one arm. "Yeah, that orange team never stood a chance. The charger needed to stop getting ahead of the others and focusing on just getting to that same spot."
"Well, it wasn't just that," smiled Cass, "They just weren't good at working together. They didn't really know each other's strategies."
Laurel shrugged, "Well, when we do that rematch we promised them, we can give 'em a few pointers."
Natt suddenly stopped, causing the others to run into the back of her. "Natt!" Laurel said, stumbling over the stopped roller. "What gives?"
"Shh!"
"Don't shush me-"
"Laurel, shut it!"
Scarlet was confused. "What is it?"
"Look." Natt pointed down the alley they had stopped in front of, and the group stayed silent, waiting. A scuffling noise, then a yelp of pain echoed down the small passage, bouncing off the brick walls and reaching the ears of the team.
"Oh my gosh," Cass saw what Natt was talking about. Two large silhouettes at the end of the alley seemed to be kicking someone else, who was crumpled on the floor, and had no chance of escape from the bullies. "We need to help that person!"
Laurel nodded fiercely and made a move to start running, but Natt stopped her. "We can't just charge in- Laurel's pretty much the only one tall enough to even put a dent in those guys, and I can't get my Hero Roller fast enough."
"Don't worry," smirked Scarlet, a concerning look on her face, "I've got this." the group followed her as she snuck through the dark alleyway, coming up behind the bullies soundlessly. It was too dark to see anyone's features, but there was enough light to figure out where to go, and who to beat up (in this case, the two large guys who happened to be hurting another person). "Oi, bulkheads!" The two larger people turned around to meet the red-tentacled inkling, confused. "Say hello to my bucket-o-PAIN!" she jumped up and slammed her slosher, upside down, onto one of the guys' head. While the other one was too surprised to do anything, Natt swung her roller case at him, knocking him in the stomach with enough force to make him drop to the floor. Laurel quickly came in and planted a boot in the chest of the bully blinded by the slosher, causing him to fall onto his comrade, and the weaponized bucket to pop off his head. Cass sauntered up to the bullies and leaned in.
"What are you gonna do, shorty?" the one on top grunted, trying to sound bold.
Cass gave a half-smile and pointed the handle of her Octobrush at them. "Do you really wanna know what I'm gonna do?"
Natt had never seen people that big run that fast.
As Natt, Scarlet, and Laurel high-fived and congratulated themselves on their well-earned victory, Cass frowned. "I get the feeling that those guys aren't from around here," she said slowly.
"What makes you think that? Not all sealings are short like us," Natt said, "I mean, sharklings and giant inklings are usually tall like that…"
"Eh, nevermind," shrugged Cass, "It must have just been me. Now let's see if the person we saved is alright."
"Oh, right!" Natt smacked herself on the forehead. "I'm so stupid!" she trotted over to the person they had helped, who was lying on the floor, looking up at the three inklings and sharkling in surprise. "Hey, are you okay?"
The girl who they'd saved nodded and spoke in a sore voice, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Those guys're losers."
"Here, lemme help you up," Laurel joined Natt and offered a hand. The girl took it, and the purple sharkling hoisted her up.
"So uh, what's your name?" Scarlet asked the girl, trying to make conversation.
"I'm Raven Malus," the girl said, brushing herself off, "What's your names?"
"I'm Laurel," She smiled.
"Natt!"
"Scarlet," the inkling speaking was distracted with making sure her slosher wasn't dented.
"And I'm Cass. Nice to meet you, Raven!"
"Same here," Raven said. "Hey, can we move out into the light? I'd rather not stay in this shady place, ya know?"
"Oh, no, I get you," said Natt, "Come on, Scar!"
"Coming," muttered the red inkling, following her team.
When they got into the light, Cass squinted. She didn't recognize this part of town, much less the street they were on, but she was quickly distracted from these thoughts when she heard a sharp gasp. Raven was looking with rounded eyes at the team, and the team, even though they didn't look surprised, were looking back at Raven curiously, with a lot of concern. She had very short brown hair unlike any of the other inklings had ever seen or heard of, with longer bangs sticking up a little bit. She wore a baggy plaid shirt and a pair of short jean shorts and green converse. She also had bruises and scrapes up and down her arms, probably from the bullies. "What are you?" Raven asked incredulously, "Because those are some really good cosplays."
"Cosplays?" Natt tilted her head, "We aren't cosplaying… this is our battle gear."
"Battle gear?"
"Yeah," Scarlet chimed in, "For the turf wars and stuff. You do know what turf wars are, right?" Raven shook her head and shrugged.
"Well, that's okay!" said Natt, trying to remain positive and not make the new girl feel bad, "If ya tell us what area you live in, we'll walk you home!"
"Oh," said Raven, "That's okay, I can find my way home myself. Where are you guys from again?"
"Inkopolis," said Cass, "Or, in Laurel's case, she's from another city, but moved to Inkopolis a couple of years ago."
"I've never heard of Inkopolis," Raven responded, squinting suspiciously, "What did ya say you guys were?"
"We're inklings," Natt said nonchalantly.
"Well, except for me. I'm a sharkling." Laurel added.
"I have no idea what either of those are." Raven said helplessly, "So are ya aliens or…?"
"Oh no!" Natt said quickly, "We're not aliens."
"Heck, if anyone's an alien, its Raven," muttered Laurel. Natt punched her in the arm. "What? Its true!"
"Y'all don't know what a human is?" Raven asked cautiously.
"Nope, never heard of them," Laurel said, rubbing the new sore spot on her right arm, "Why, is that what you are?"
"Yeah…" Raven trailed off, unsure of what to say.
"Uh, guys?" Cass called out, a hint of worry in her voice, "Was that brick wall always there?"
The team ran over to where Cass was and looked into the alleyway they had come out of. Scarlet quickly turned the flashlight on from her Squidphone and shone it into the darkness, revealing the said brick wall. "Holy Zapfish," Scarlet muttered, her face going a bit pale.
"That wall has always been there," said Raven, "I dunno what the big deal is."
"Thats where we came in," Natt said worriedly. She checked her watch, then groaned, "Dangit, we aren't going to make it home tonight. It just isn't possible."
"Tonight?" scoffed Laurel, "What if we're stuck here forever?"
"I've gotta agree with Laurel," Scarlet said, "And based on how Raven here reacted to us, I'd say that being stuck here would not be good."
"So I'm guessing that finding a hotel for the night is in order here?" said Natt.
"Already on it," quipped Cass, whipping out her squidphone and typing furiously. "Ah, carp!" she muttered, and then louder said, "No signal."
"Well," said Raven slowly, "Yall did save my butt a few minutes ago, and if you're stuck here I don't want yall to get captured by some nut who thinks y'all are aliens…."
"Pfft, I'd like to see them try," smirked Cass.
"Anyway, y'all can stay at my house. I won't charge, I promise." Raven smiled.
Everyone looked to Scarlet for approval, and she nodded. "As long as its okay with your parents…"
"Yeah, they won't care," Raven said, "In fact, they'll be happy I brought some friends over to spend the night."
"You consider us friends?" asked Cass, "But we just met."
"Yeah, we did," shrugged Raven, "But in the short time we've known each other, you beat up my bullies, and y'all seem to have gotten stranded in this world because of it. If that doesn't make us friends, I dunno what does."
"Fair enough," grinned Laurel, "Now which way to go?"
"My house is this way," Raven began to walk, Team Paintstrike following close behind.
Well, chapter one is over! In case you guys were confused, Laurel is part of a race I have made up called Sharklings. They're taller than Inklings and Octolings in kid form, and they turn into sharks instead of squids and octopi. When they do swim in ink, they have a little shark fin sticking up out of the ink (unless, of course, they have the ninja squid ability in their clothes). If you guys have any suggestions for the story, let me know!
~Calamari-on-Gallifrey