The Sun's up again. A young inkling rises out of bed. He's feeling rather tense this morning, just like most mornings. He eats his breakfast wondering if he should go out today. As usual, he talks himself into it. He pulls on his lucky Takoroka Visor, and stares blankly into his closet. One item stands out. A Squid Satin Jacket that he's always despised. He wore it yesterday and the day before and the day before. Its primary ability was Respawn Punisher. An ability for weak players. It had become his uniform. Before he put it on, he always remembered the words he was told the day he was forced to buy it, "If all you're gonna do is get splat all day, the least you could do is make yourself useful." Biting his lip, he thought to himself, "I have to be useful."

He stood in the middle of Inkopolis Square, staring straight at the Lobby. He took a deep breath and walked forward with determination.
"I got this."
He caught the attention of a few loiterers as he made his way through the giant doors. They laughed. Someone always did.

The current Ranked Battle Mode was Rainmaker. He never liked this game because it was always over before he knew it. Regardless, he boldly entered the waiting room where 6 other players were sitting. They were gathered together in a group having a jovial conversation. The young inkling in the visor stood by the door hoping no one would notice him, but one of the other teens happen to look up at the players screen and saw a surprising name.
"Neutral? Oh jeez! Looks like we have a 50/50 here today guys."
One girl exclaimed in a comically exaggerated tone, "Oh no!"
"Aww. Why did you have to walk in here?"
Another girl was a little confused and asked for an explanation. One of her friends explained Neutrals special reputation to her.
"He's the worst of the worst. EVERY team he's on, ALWAYS loses. This is the last thing I need today."
One cool-looking inkling stood up, "Wait, wait. Guys, don't worry. I can fix this. I'll go talk to him."
Neutral kept his gaze downward as the cool boy walked up to him and placed his hand on Neutral's shoulder.
"Look, we all just wanted to have some fun today, okay. Just let off some steam. Do us a little favor and just leave."
Neutral shook his head, unable to look him in the eyes.
The cool-looking boy squeezed Neutral's shoulder tightly.
"Are you serious? Can't you take a hint?!"
Just then an 8th player walked in on the heated scene.
The cool boy rolled his eyes.
"Ugh! Too late."
The match was beginning.

The stage was Port Mackerel. The cool boy and two other spawned on the same side as Neutral. All of them voiced annoyance at the situation. Neutral was armed with an Inkbrush. He liked this weapon because it made it easy to run. He put a lot of practice into this weapon, but just like all other weapons, he wasn't very skilled with it despite this. But at least with this, he wouldn't have to worry about missing all of his shots. Still, it's not like he ever splat something besides a practice dummy with an Inkbrush anyway.

Neutral had it all planned out. He may not be a fighting asset, but at the very least he could make a trail for his team straight towards the center. After that he would just circle around the area inking as much as he could before getting splat.

The match started and Neutral rocketed out of the spawn point with two other running beside him, until they were suddenly halted. The cool boy had something to say.
"Wait! Stop! Listen guys. Haven't we already lost? Do we even have to play? I'm just gonna quit. This is pointless. If you're smart, you'll do the same."
In the next moment, the cool boy disappeared. The other two besides Neutral looked at each other.
Neutral tried to call out to them, "Wait, we can still-"
Before another one disappeared.
The last one told him "Sorry." before she left as well.
Neutral thought to himself, "Is this what it's come to?"
But he paused for only an instant, and immediately left to attack the Rainmaker on his own. The match had only just begun.

Neutral made his way to the Rainmaker as quickly as he could. He thought it was strange that the other team hadn't already taken it. It seems as though they had noticed that most of his team had dropped out. The only one left was basically worth less than no one. They were taking it easy. One was even attempting to draw his own face in ink on the floor. They had barely inked any of the ground and only one was making half an effort to break the Rainmaker's shield. Hardly what you'd call an intimidating team. Still, Neutral felt the pressure of facing all 4 of them. He was certain he'd be easily dealt with by just one. He wanted to run.

The one inkling barely trying to take the Rainmaker had finally managed to break the shield, and to Neutral's utter shock, he didn't take it. Instead, he walked over to a teammate to tell him he was going to go finish the match now.

Neutral was still afraid, but he saw a chance. With their backs turned, he zoomed forward and grabbed the Rainmaker.

The other team was stunned by their own incompetence and sprang into action to intercept Neutral.

One was immediately on his tail. Neutral knew that if he stopped to turn, he'd be caught, so instead he charged up the Rainmaker and fired it straight into the ground beneath him. His pursuer was so focused on catching Neutral that he ran straight into the blast.

Neutral almost let out a scream of joy. How many dozens of matches has it been since he actually splat someone? But this was no time to get emotional.

Neutral was sprinting right towards two more enemies. He didn't think he'd land a lucky shot a second time. Instead he fainted left, and shot off to the right. His two opponents realized their mistake and started firing at him, but he jumped and ducked, barely avoiding the streams of their attacks as he weaved through the containers. By some miracle he managed to dupe them for a few seconds. But he still had one very dangerous obstacle awaiting him.

His final foe wielded a Splat Charger and readied to snipe Neutral from above. Time felt like it stopped. The other team was pressing him into a corner. With enemies still on his back, he had no option but to move forward, straight towards a sniper. His whole body tingled as Neutral sensed the sniper's aim fall on him. It almost seemed like he could feel him slowly pulling the trigger, and almost entirely by instinct he dodged to the right as the blast narrowly missed him. But another shot was incoming. He had the strange feeling like he could sense the shot coming again, and jumped to the left, just over the trail of ink left by the first blast. The sniper only had time for one more shot before Neutral could break past him. But with the massive amount of ink covering his right side, and a wall to his left. Neutral had no room to dodge. He couldn't afford to slow down and fire back, believing he would likely miss anyway, and so he kept forcing his way forward. The final shot came and with nowhere to run, Neutral flopped to the ground as the shot flew over him. He struggled a bit to escape the ink but he leaped to safety, leaving all of his opponents behind him.

It was definitely going to be close, but his miraculous victory was in sight. He had the Rainmaker and the goal was almost close enough to touch. He only needed one little shot of ink to help him reach the top, but as he looked up, his heart stopped. Somehow he had forgotten. Maybe it was the adrenaline or just plain carelessness. The first pursuer that he defeated respawned right behind the goal and was now standing atop it. Neutral froze, all of the confidence drained out of him, as he simply stared up at him. He aimed his weapon at Neutral, and before he could even make a step back, Neutral was shot down.

Neutral returned to his Spawn. The other team had taken the Rainmaker. He stood despondent for a single moment. He clutched his brush tightly and ran to face the incoming force. He ran straight into a slaughter, wildly swinging before being swiftly taken out. He did this twice before it was over. The other team grasped complete victory. Neutral wasn't able to slow down their advance in the slightest. He had tasted defeat countless times, but this time hurt more than before because he had a feeling that it might be his last.

But Neutral had no way of knowing that a shining figure in Power Armor was watching his match from afar, and he only had one thing to say, "Wow."