Chapter 1 – Intruder incoming

"Hold on to your tentacles...", Callie immediately started blabbing when the cameras turned on.

"It´s Inkopolis News time!", Marie went along.

Callie continued: "Before we come to the new updates and the current arenas, where you can battle on, we have a special guest, who we would like to introduce to you!"

"But I´m sure they know her already, Callie..", Marie objected.

"Well and if they don´t, they will after seeing this!"

Marie sighed: "Let us introduce you to Suzu Hoshino, the new star in Inkopolis!"

Right after that, the camera Inkling moved his camera a little bit to the right, so that the audience could see me, standing next to the Squid Sisters. Honestly I was a tiny bit nervous, being in the News the very first time in person. Sure, they had shown tons of video material of me, battling in turf and ranked battles but this was different! This was me, actually standing next to the very famous cousins.

Shyly I waved to the camera, when Callie went on with the show: "So are we going to have another band member or why is she the new star?"

"No, stupid! Suzu is well-known for being able to win every turf and ranked battle since she has started splatting! And that with such a young age!", Marie explained.

Callie beamed: "Yep! Suzu only turned 14 three months ago. When she doesn´t deserve to be called a star, then who does?"

"Anyway, we wish you the best of luck on your next battle! Now on to the updates.", Marie changed the subject.

With that the camera Inkling waved his camera back to it´s original position, being the sign for me that my work was done here. I gladly walked off the stage and grabbed my backpack, which I had placed on a chair. Ready to leave the studio I said my goodbyes to the backstage team and went straight to the tower. I had another battle to win, after all! Breathing in the familiar air of sweat and paint, I smiled to myself. That´s the place I belong to and not that fancy studio I had been some minutes ago.

But what didn´t I do to be perfect? Yep, that was actually my goal. I wanted everyone to look up at me. Wanted to be the best in whatever I do. At school, at turf and ranked battles. Just everywhere with no exceptions! I was just Suzu Hoshino. The perfect Inklinggirl with the perfect scores at school, with an A+ rank at ranked battles and in addition to that very popular among other Inklings. But don´t get me wrong here. I was actually a normal Inkling, living a normal life. Just with an odd habit to seek perfection in whatever I did. But that didn´t mean I was snobby or something. In fact I was being really nice to the sea creatures around me. Not that it was always easy to do so..

Anyway, when I had finally reached the tower, I registered myself with my ID-card and headed directly to my locker. There I put off my regular clothes and switched to my battle clothes which consisted of an helmet, purple boots and a black shirt. When I was finally done changing, I threw one last look at my mirror, only to be greeted by my brown eyes and my long hair, which was currently orange.

A little smile escaped my lips when I nodded to my reflection and whispered:" Let´s do this, Suzu!"

With that I closed my locker and went to the waiting room. It didn´t take long until my name was called, so I grabbed my Aerospray RG and went to the room where I was supposed to meet my teammates. I could only hope that they were decent enough to work with. Otherwise it would get very difficult to keep my perfect score. But this was turf war, so my A+ score in ranked battles was safe. Though if I would loose this battle, my perfect reputation would be gone, so that better won´t happen!

When I entered the room there were two boys sitting on a couch. One was equipped with an Inkbrush, while the other had a Splat Charger with him.

"Suzu! Wow, I must be really lucky to have you as my teammate!", screamed a girl who rushed directly towards me.

It took me a moment to recognize her. She was actually a classmate of mine. Her name was Mari.

"Hey Mari. Sure didn´t expect you to see here. I see, you use a Splat Roller as a weapon?", I greeted her.

"Yup! Its just the best weapon to cover the ground with!", she exclaimed.

We must have gotten the attention of the other guys, since they looked straight at us.

"Hey. This is Mari and I´m Suzu. Got any plans for the upcoming match?", I started a conversation.

"I don´t think that you have to introduce yourself as everybody already knows you. But my name is Mark and my friend here is called Max.", one of the Inklings answered while the other one waved at us.

"Nice to meet you. Well, I guess the best idea would be that Mari and your friend there would cover the ground at our base while we would run forward to confront our enemies, since we have the better weapons for that..", I suggested while pointing at his Splat Charger. "Of course this is just a suggestion. So if you have any other ideas..", I added.

"No, no. Your plan is fine. If the big Suzu isn´t right, then who is?", Mark chuckled.

"Oh, I´m not that good..", I kindly said.

"This girl sure is modest!", Mari commented as she lightly hit me on my shoulder.

It didn´t take too long until it was time for our fight. I beamed when Judd announced that we would battle in Walleye Warehouse, since this was my very favorite map! As the battle was about to start, my teammates and I positioned ourselves on the warp zones which would take us to the battlefield.

"Let´s splat them!", I said to encourage my friends one last time.

And there it began! We were warped directly to the map and the battle began. As we, or better said I had planned, Mari and Max covered the area around our basement while me and Mark stormed directly forward. While he took the right side I went to the left side and made my way through an alley. There I splatted everything around me until I reached a dead end. So I decided to head to the center of the battlefield, splat a little here and there and then rush to the left alley, which lead directly to the enemy´s base. There I could splat our opponents, easily preventing them to go any further. But sadly an Inklingboy noticed my plan and splatted me from behind, so I was warped back to my basement!

"Sneaky, little bastard!", I cursed. "But not with Suzu Hoshino! I will get my revenge!", I encouraged myself.

So I went right back where I had seen him the last time, but oddly enough I didn´t find him. I found it a bit weird but still followed the alleyway which was covered in blue paint again instead of orange. Naturally I covered it back in my color, when all of a sudden that very same Inklingboy appeared right in front of me out of nowhere, only to shoot me again.

"Son of a squid must have that invisible ability to be unseen in your own ink, right? Oh, the fight is on!", I said through gritted teeth.

Once again I made my way through to the center of the battlefield, but this time I used the right alleyway. My plan was to sneak up on him and splat him back to his rotten basement! And so far, my plan worked very good. The guy was still sitting in the same place. So I quickly rushed towards him and splatted like crazy. I noticed that I indeed caught him off guard because he was jumping like he was insane, trying to avoid my paint. This fight was already mine to win until suddenly an Inkstrike appeared to happen right behind me. In shock I stopped splatting my opponent and quickly turned around, when surprisingly a hand grabbed mine and pulled me into the alleyway.

With big eyes I looked at my enemy and said: "Are you dense?! I´m not in your team, you idiot! So splat me already!"

He grinned: "No need for that since we have already won."

"What?!", I shouted in disbelief only to be interrupted by Judd, who indeed stopped the battle and announced the victory of our opponents and at the same time my first loss.