Splatoon: Pure White

Chapter 1:

The train ride was relatively quiet for the majority of the trip. A young Inkling boy swinging his short, recently-formed lower limbs, or legs, looked contently out the window as the enormous skyscrapers appeared to go by. Or rather, he was trying to distract himself from all the stares he was receiving from the other Inkling boys and girls on the train.

"Why are they staring at me? They have been doing that for the entire four hour trip. Is there something on my face?" The Inkling boy thought to himself as he felt around his face with his hands to see if there was really anything on his face.

In actuality, all the other passengers were staring at his hair. This Inkling in particular possessed a very unique hair color: white. There has never been an Inkling in recorded history that had such a color for their hair.

"What's wrong with his hair?" An Inkling boy whispered to the person sitting next to him.

"I'm not sure. He could possibly have a disease, or he might have dyed it to be rebellious." The Inkling girl suggested.

"That's not possible. I don't recall Inkopolis, or any location in the world for that matter, having a supply of white ink for Inklings to change into that color. Also, where did he get those sandals? I kind of want them." Another girl interjected.

The murmurs continued as the White Inkling scratched the back of his head sheepishly in embarrassment from all the unwanted attention he was getting and looking unusual for frantically rubbing his entire face in front of everyone. Every time he looked at the other Inklings, they instantaneously looked in other directions to seem as if they weren't talking at all, but they recommenced with their whispering when he looked away.

The Inkling boy with white hair now just stared at his small suitcase and prayed that they would arrive in Inkopolis soon. He was young like many of the other Inklings; his name is Chiro (Chee- roh).

Chiro, of course, had white hair tied in the back and light-green eyes. He wore a simple, green zip hoodie and the common black shorts with white lines adorning the sides. He wore black sandals, uncommon apparel for Inklings, and had Splash Goggles on his head.

"My hair? What's wrong with the color of my hair? I thought other Inklings would have this color. Is it that weird? Am I a freak now? Ink me! Why did mom suddenly decide to send me to Inkopolis now? People are looking at me funny." Chiro continued asking these questions as he tried to ignore all the stares.

"But he is kind of cute."

This caught Chiro's attention. He looked over at an Inkling girl with orange hair and blue eyes whispering with another girl that was giggling. Chiro presumed that she was the one who said that since both of them looked away giggling as soon as he made eye contact with them.

A light blush crept on the young boy's cheeks.

"Girls are so weird." Chiro muttered to himself. Soon, static could be heard over the PA system.

"Attention. Attention all passengers. We will be arriving in Inkopolis in five minutes. Please secure all your belongings and prepare to leave. We thank you for riding Squid Rails and hope you ride with us in the future. Thank you and have a nice day." The conductor's announcement ended and all the other Inklings began to gather their stuff.

Chiro sighed in relief, "Finally, now I can get away from these Inkers."

The train soon arrived at the Inkopolis Train Station and everyone was beginning to exit the carts. Chiro lightly grasped the handle on his suit case and casually strolled his way out as well. The bright afternoon sun emitted a nice, warming embrace, and Chiro couldn't resist moving his arms to shield his eyes from the sunlight so he could see.

"So, this is Inkopolis? It's larger than I could have imagined." Chiro awed at the sight of the bustling Central Plaza. He acknowledged the different shops situated to his left and many restaurants and what appeared to be a studio on the right.

What piqued his interest the most was the enormous tower directly across the plaza.

"That thing is quite large. I wonder what it is used for. Radio transmissions, maybe? That would be the most the appropriate use." Chiro mused over the functionality the tower served until his thoughts were interrupted by a mellow melody playing on the large screen above the studio.

Two girls appeared after a short introduction.

"Hold on to your tentacles…" The pink girl with black hair on the left, which was named Callie by the text on screen, said with excessive exuberance.

"…It's Inkopolis News time!" The green girl with grey hair on the right, named Marie by the text on screen, said in a more monotonous tone.

"We're here to update you all on the current Turf War and Ranked Battle stages."

"Splatastic!"

"Let's unveil the current Turf War stages!"

"Wait for it!"

"There we have it: Urchin Underpass and Kelp Dome! And now for the current Ranked Battle stages."

"Splatastic!"

"And we have Salt Spray Rig and Bluefin Depot!"

"Until next time…Stay Fresh!" Both Callie and Marie exclaimed as they performed a cute pose.

With that, the screen shut off and everyone continued with their own business.

Chiro looked perplexed after the news cast, "Who in the inking world were those two girls? They must be rather famous to have everyone's implicit attention when they came on like that….and what are Turf Wars?"

Chiro shrugged off the questions and walked further into the plaza. He enjoyed all the sights as he took his leisurely time trying to find a place to live.

"Whoa! Do you see that kid? He has white hair!" An Inkling girl yelled in astonishment as she pointed to Chiro. Everyone else that heard her outburst directed their attention to the said boy and stared with wide eyes.

"How's that possible? I've never seen that before. Hey, kid, why is your hair white?!" A boy called out to Chiro, but he ignored him and quickened his pace.

"Wait! At least tell me where you bought those fresh sandals!"

"Great," Chiro groaned, "Why are people so fixated on my hair? It's tied in a similar fashion like all the other boys. It's just white! I'm sure their all in on a practical joke on how they treat white haired boys. Jerks!"

Chiro continued to dismiss all the unusual stares he was getting and eventually found a rather ornate hotel building that caught his attention.

If the hotel's main entrance, which had golden squid statues on both sides of door along with a large ink fountain a ten meters away from the door, wasn't much of an indication of how exquisite the place is, the main lobby sure gave it away.

The main lobby was adorned by ruby red walls with gold squid designs scattered, but elegantly placed, around various portions of the wall. The floor was well waxed marble and marble columns erected high to the ceiling to provide more of an aesthetic appeal than anything else.

Chiro walked in and navigated his way to the receptionist.

"Excuse me, miss." Chiro said.

"Yes?" The receptionist was an adult Inkling, easily twice his size. Her hair was a vibrant shade of pink, and her eyes resembled rich vats of chocolate. She wore typical hotel employee attire.

"I would like to request renting an apartment here, ma'am."

The receptionist only gave him a bewildered look and a long, awkward silence filled the atmosphere around the two.

"Uhhh, child. I'm sorry, but I don't think this place would be appropriate for someone like you." The receptionist tentatively remarked.

"Huh? Why not?" Chiro slightly pouted in disappointment.

"Well….as you see, this hotel is very….sophisticated, and naturally that would imply that living here is very expensive. Also, we house many prominent figures in Inkopolis, like the Squid Sisters for example."

"The Squid Sisters? Who are they?" Chiro asked innocently.

"What! You don't know about the Squid Sisters?! Oh, wait, now I understand," She laughed, "That's a very bad try at a joke, kid."

Chiro blankly stared at her, wondering what he said they gave her the idea he was joking.

"Well, anyway, in addition to those two sweet hearts, we also house the best Turf War players in all of Inkopolis, including…..the Elite Ten!"

"Elite Ten? Sounds interesting. Anyway, you're subtly saying I can't live here because I'm not famous?"

"No, no, don't interpret what I'm saying that way. We don't deny anyone the opportunity to live here, it's just that…..you don't seem like you can afford even our cheapest apartment, so I'm just telling you to find another place within your price range."

"Oh," Chiro exhaled in sadness, "Well, how much does the cheapest apartment cost?"

"Approximately 150,000 Gold coins a month." She answered without hesitation.

Chiro looked at her skeptically.

"Really? That's it? I can easily afford that; I'll take it!" Chiro exclaimed in joy as he began to give her the corresponding amount of coins he hid away in his suitcase.

"W-w-wait a minute, kid. Where did you get all this money?! Did you get all this money from playing Turf Wars? You must be really good to have this much!"

"Hm? Oh, no. I don't even know what Turf Wars are, but my mother is providing me with enough money to live on my own, so that's how I have all this….Ms. Kiara" Chiro care freely responded as he noted her nametag.

Kiara was rendered shocked and speechless, however.

"So, can I have the key to my apartment?"

Kiara didn't respond. Without really looking, she reached over for the apartment key and handed it to the boy.

"Thank you!" Chiro gleefully ran to the nearest elevator and was soon out of sight of Kiara.

More than five minutes passed by before….

Click!

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TURF WARS ARE?! AND WAIT, WHAT'S WITH THE WHITE HAIR?!" Kiara practically screamed, startling the other guests in the lobby.

"Hehehe, sorry for that, everyone." She nervously laughed and bowed apologetically.

Talk about delayed reaction, huh?

"Room 405…it should be somewhere on this floor." Chiro was walking through the large hallways and looking at the numbers on each door to find the matching numbers that were on his room card.

"This place is bigger than I thought." His stomach growled. "Aw, ink, I forgot to eat while I was walking around. I need to hurry before my own stomach digests itself."

Chiro was practically running around the hallways and avoiding everybody he saw. After he turned one corner though, he crashed into someone.

"OWWWW, I'm so sor-" Chiro couldn't finish. He realized he was lying on top of an Inkling girl. His head was resting quite awkwardly on her chest while her legs seemed to have somehow intertwine with his. His whole face turned a deep shade of red when the girl slowly opened her eyes and noticed the awkward position they were in.

A light blush crept on her cheeks.

"AHHHHH, a girl!" Chiro screamed as he frantically scrambled off her. The girl stared at him oddly for his behavior and slowly brushed some dust of her clothes as she got up.

"What's wrong with you?" The girl asked. She crossed her arms with an annoyed look and waited for him to respond.

The girl was slightly shorter than Chiro. She had turquoise colored hair and pink eyes. She also wore the typical shorts like all Inklings do and had black trail boots and a Zekko Hoodie.

"Hey, are you going to answer me? Here, at least grab my hand so you can get up…." The girl offered her hand, but Chiro quickly crawled away from her.

"AHHHH, I'M SORRY! I WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION; PLEASE, DON'T HURT ME! I'LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN!" Chiro quickly clutched the handle on his suit case and sprinted down the hallway away from the girl and out of her sight.

"Hey, wait! What the ink was with that kid? He ran off without even apologizing." The girl shrugged and continued walking to where she was going until she suddenly stopped in realization.

"Wait a second. Was I hallucinating because of the crash, or did that kid have white hair?!"

"What are rambling on about now, Vivi?" The said girl turned to find her older sister, Carla, walking up to her.

Carla also had turquoise hair, but had orange eyes. She had an "S" hairclip in her hair and wore a pink sweat shirt and red shoes.

"A kid with white hair knocked me to the floor and ran off screaming without saying he was sorry." Vivi explained.

Carla chuckled a little.

"Well, with that slightly terrifying scowl you make, I can't necessarily blame him for doing that."

"Hey!"

"Besides, white hair? Don't start making up stories like you did when we were younger. Let's go back to our apartment before mom and dad get angry."

"Alright"

The two started making their way toward the elevator.

"So, how was the party?" Vivi asked her sister.

"It was okay. It was the typical party for us. Number 5 didn't bother to show up, again."

"Really? Well, I wouldn't be surprised. From what I hear, Number 5 hasn't shown to any of the parties. You've never even seen who Number 5 is, have you?"

"No, not since I became one of the Elite 10. That inker." Carla slightly growled.

"Careful, sis. You're number 6, now. You should watch how you behave so you don't shame the Elite 10." Vivi snickered as she waved her finger at her.

"Whatever. I don't need to hear that from someone that's not in the Elite 10." Carla pouted.

"Ouch. That hurt my feelings!" Vivi exaggerated by pretending she just got shot with a Splattershot.

Chiro was panting from all the running and eventually found his apartment. He quickly swiped the key card into the lock and slammed the door as soon as he got inside.

"I can't believe I got that close to a girl! I'm so embarrassed. This has already been an awful day." Chiro slid down against the door to his knees.

"I just turned fourteen two weeks ago. Why did mom send me here of all places now?"

So how was it? Please review.