Entry 56891
Day 4381150
Status report: Main power has terminated over 60 days ago. Battery power running is less than an hour.
Life Pod 275 still fully functioning. Survival chest failed to survive to this point
Outside conditions unfavorable to human life. Cephalopods seem to have become the new occupants and sentient race. Appears they have developed weapons to spread their ink around at times contesting pieces of lands with four on four combatants. Was able to extract some ink from one of their conflicts near this cell.
Remarkably the ink contains genetic code. Code that could be reworked and injected into Life Pod 275. Chances for mutation are 95%. Successful mutation 80.5%
Last resort with batteries failing to save Life Pod 275. Mutate occupant and in a hope, the occupant can survive.
Once Genetic transfer is done, all power will re-route to awakening sequence and chamber unlock. However, power will destroy Oracle in the process.
Genetic transfer begin... 10%
30%
Detection of cephalopods outside chamber... 40%
50%
Priming systems for awakening sequence... 60%
It seems the cephalopods are ending their land dispute... 80%
Should give the occupant time to recover from the transformation... 90%
100% Genetic Transfer complete. Awakening sequence started
Final notes: I'm sorry. I wished I could do more.
Oracle out
The program had started inside a small room, no bigger than a typical college dorm. A pod looking machine was hooked up to a series of hoses and wires. A glass cover covered in dust for the years it had been undisturbed. A change was occurring as the individual inside was morphing. Changing, at this point in time humanity had gone extinct. This pod was supposed to be a part of many others as a sort of living ark. However, time told a different story only leaving one pod and the AI Oracle to watch over it. Now on the last day, the power would fail for both, the pod would start to open. Instead of the normal air, the ink had formed inside the pod from the genetic transfer. The AI decided it is best to mutate the occupant in hopes to ensure a better survival of the user. However, success can't be measured here. The 5-foot tall person hits the floor just as the vault-like door started to open. The individual fell down onto their hands and knees coughing up ink as their transformation was complete. But full sensory and motor control had yet to kick in. Being in stasis this long can have a hard effect on someone. Though the door did not open completely, enough for the person to get out. Something seemed to be blocking it. As the person was slumped over, they could feel the pull of gravity not towards the floor, but towards the door. As if they were on an incline. As the person tries to move, the ink from the pod caused them to slip and began to slide right out the door. Into the bright sunlight and the world they had never seen before.
The whistle was blown as another turf war was finished for this particular map. Seems ever since the great zapfish was returned, turf wars were much more numerous and inklings were getting into all sorts of places. This particular spot was found when a bit of land slid off a cliff side but revealed quite a bit of an old facility as well. The facility was studied a bit by archeologist that determined it was roughly 12,000 years old, it looked to be some sort of lab. Though when the team was done, the archeologist decided to let some turf wars occur just so that on the off chance anything was to turn up, they could possibly be turned up during the turf wars.
The Blue team had just won this match up as a female inkling was in the back of the map in a hard to reach the spot. But she got up there with her Carbon roller weapon as she was dressed in a white tank top with a shop logo on it, a pair of shorts and a hoodie tied around her waist. She had her tentacles down and was blue colored.
"Alright we won!" she sounded happy standing around 4'8' as she heard it over her ear piece her team won the match. "Come on back Bianca, we got some celebrating to do" a male voice went over her ear piece.
"Gottcha be over in a Gippy!" she exclaimed and before she could jump back into the ink as a squid something clanged open not far from her location. She paused as she looked over, "Huh? What was that?" she went over to investigate on foot. A part of the facility was still in the earth, but there seemed to be a door opened, like a vault with green ink coming out of it.
"What the shell is this?" asking aloud as she moves around and sees someone crawling out from in under the opening. The guy was at least 5ft tall dressed in a t-shirt with paint spots on it, a brown cloth coat, tan brown cargo pants and a black hat on his head. An earth green messenger bag was slung across himself as he was coughing. His clothes were covered in ink spots as his 'hair' was let down. To her, he looked like a normal inkling guy though with his tentacles down. To him, he felt weird and not in a good way. His skin was white like hers, his tentacle hair was green but his eyes appeared ocean blue. An unusual trait if not unheard of, most inkling's color matched their eyes. Why were this one's eyes different?
"Hey! Kid! You with the hat!" Bianca called out as the boy was slow to react as he heard the sound and looked up towards where she was. Was a good 40 feet from him as he was trying to stand and soon slumped back over after trying to take a step.
"Whoa! Hey, slow down. Geez, you don't look so good" she rushed in as she tries to help him up. "Where's your splatter gun? Ink tank? You're not part of the other team, so why you out here on a turf war?" quizzing the guy right at the get go.
"My... what and what? What the... Where am I? This doesn't look like the labs" his voice was slow as his arm moved naturally around hers as she helped stabilize him.
"What are you talking about? You're on Shell mountain, what rock you been under?" she asked confused as can be. Who the heck was this guy?
"Shell mountain? Where the heck is that?" his opposite hand moved to rub his forehead as it was throbbing.
"Come on, let me get ya back to the spawn area. We'll try working it out there" as she spoke her earpiece went off again.
"Bianca, Where are ya? The Judd is still waiting for ya to get back here, what's taking ya so long?" the male voice spoke in the earpiece as she sighed, her roller on her back as she helped the boy along.
"It's hard to explain Jack, but let's just say I found someone. I'm gonna need a little hand, he's heavy" she commented as Jack sounded a bit unsure.
"A person? No way, there should have been only eight players out here, not nine. What the shell? You jerkin my tentacle here?" Jack remarked as Bianca got snappy.
"Hey! You've known me for at least two years, do you think I would be lying to ya if something happened? Just take my reward earnings and we'll work it out when I'm back" Bianca shouted back as the boy was slowly gaining better control and his eyesight was improving.
"...You're... Bianca then?" the boy asked as he looked over to her. He finally got a better look at her face as he looked surprised. Originally he thought she was some sort of human, but it was obvious had something off about her. Tentacles for hair?
"Yeah that's my name, hey what's with that look?" she questioned him noticing that weird outlook.
"What the heck are you? I've never seen anything like ya before" he commented as she rolled her eyes.
"What are you talking about? Haven't you looked in the mirror you squid. Who do you think you are?" she asked a bit annoyed about his remark.
"I'm Arthur Sketchpad and I'm a human, what are you talking about?" he asked her confused dropping his name down at the same time. Bianca looked at him with a face of confusion.
"Seriously? Geez look at yourself" she pulled her phone out in frustration, it was in the shape of a squid body as she puts the camera facing the screen on and turned it so he could see himself. Arthur stopped in his tracks as he grabbed the phone looking at himself. He looked just like an inkling guy, though his 'hair' was down and not in a ponytail. His mouth was hanging open as he looked at himself while touching his face.
"This, This can't be real" his voice sounded weak as his face was turning pale as he felt his teeth noticing his teeth were oddly shaped. Feeling them he realized that yes it was true. He gave a delusional laugh as his eyes went crossed and drop to the ground. Hitting his head hard on the ground. Thankfully not enough to do serious damage, but he'll feel it.
"Whoa! Geez kid!" she shouted as she tried catching him and finding him unconscious.
"Bianca! Where are ya?" Jake asked over the earpiece as she groaned.
"I'm in the back of the map, the kid fainted and gonna need a hand here" she groaned with a sigh. Jake was not all too happy either hearing this as well.
It was a bit awkward for Bianca to explain to her team about this new kid she found. No idea how he got here and most of her team sounded skeptical. Jake was willing to believe a part of it. It was, even more, a challenge when she brought the kid home along with the help of Jake so they could put him somewhere rather than at their little hideout. Her mother was curious about the boy after hearing her daughter's tale. Standing at 5'6' she was slim but not that much else to describe her. She had a beauty mark at the corner of her lip and her two big tentacles she kept in a braid that went over her left shoulder over her breast. She was at least glad her little inkling had done good in another turf war and treated the team well with a little party to celebrate in the three bedroom condo they lived in. Arthur was placed into the spare room used as a guest room mostly to let him rest. It was not until a bit later after the team had split for the day having finished partying that Arthur would start to wake up. The room he was in had a small window next to the bed closest to his head facing towards the door which was towards his feet. The single size bed was up against the wall with a small desk with a chair and some shelves and a dresser. A closet was on the wall just past the end of the bed facing into the room. His jacket, scarf, messenger bag, and hat were off him. The jacket and scarf slung over the chair while the bag was in the chair and his hat was sitting on a night stand. There were also several posters strung across the room, looked to be ads for different events as Arthur woke up.
"Mmmm where am I now?" he asked himself sounding groggy as he winces feeling his head pounding, "Damn did I faint? Geez, that hurt" as he spoke he felt his head and could feel the tentacles. He gave a soft sigh right this was a new thing for him now. This room looked so modern it scared him a bit. Had he really been gone that long? He slowly got up walking to the window as the blinds were closed to it dimming the lights a bit to help him rest. He opened them to look outside. He could see Inkopolis from where he was at, it was all urban and modernized to him. Inklings were walking down the street and a few cars were going down the road too. It felt as though it was yesterday that he went to sleep back in his time and now he was seeing the same thing except they were... well something else. He was unsure what he was, but could deduce it was possibly squid after seeing he had two larger tentacles on his head with suckers. Though, the tentacles were not as long as women had so one way to distinguish sex. He heard some chattering coming from another room, seems they at least kept the door ajar. He was walking fine though was keeping quite, he realized by now that his shoes were gone as well. He opened the door and looked to his left, seems to dead end at a bathroom to one side of the hall and another bedroom on the other. Had some more posters on the closed door, may have been a teenage squid's room. A bit more chatter came from his right as he turned to see into the living room. There was another closed door on his left side, another bedroom perhaps? He didn't know nor was gonna snoop. Making his way down the short hallway he walked right into the kitchen on his right, living room in front of him just beyond the breakfast bar, and a sliding glass door that went to a balcony. A table was set not far in front of the balcony window as he looked around. Seems the mother and daughter were doing dishes as he watched. The mother would turn for a moment as she was washing dishes, the daughter drying as she looked surprised.
"Oh my, already awake I'm surprised" the mother spoke dressed in a simple dress as her daughter looked over.
"Well look who's walkin again. What the heck happened, did you become light headed or something?" Bianca asked as Arthur was rubbing his head.
"I suppose I did. I take it this is your... mother?" he asked as Bianca's mother smiled.
"The name is Grace" she introduced herself with a smile washing the last dish before letting her daughter dry it. "Bianca's told me a bit about how you two met, I must say it's kinda unusual I must agree".
Arthur's heart sank a bit for whatever reason as he rubbed the back of his head, "I... suppose I was a bit delusional when I met Bianca but I do thank you two for letting me in for a little bit" he offered a small smile as a thank you.
"Well, she told me your name is Arthur and from what she was describing I think I can agree with your story," Grace said as he looked perplexed back at her. "Let me explain, I work as an archeologist. Normally my work is in ancient civilizations or generally language, how our writing evolved over the years. Though about a month ago, the team had brought in samples from a site they found on Shell Mountain. Looked to be a sort of lab or something" as she commented Arthur seemed a tad surprised but also a bit of worry.
"Needless to say the dig site brought up several findings. Determined the place was inactive and was being used as some sort of refuge for humans. Lots of tech being used but now all dead. Figured the place would be dead, til you showed up" Grace started to let the dishwater and rinse water down as she turned her attention to Arthur.
"The team and I were able to deduce the place was using some sort of deep sleep or something to freeze you guys to keep for a longer period of time. Possibly due to the climate changing and rising sea levels best we can guess. However, I can't really explain why you are an inkling now" she commented as Arthur was piecing it together slowly and coming to grasp that he was a lone survivor.
"So the lab was severally damaged over the years" Arthur was thinking as he leans against the counter top. Bianca was watching him as she finished drying dishes.
"Yeah, the way ya saw it earlier was how it's been for possibly who knows how long," she remarked as Grace corrected.
"To be honest, estimations go to 12,000 years in the past. A huge jump for a single survivor I must say, the culture shock must be a huge issue" Grace added crossing her arms across her chest observing him.
"Yeah no kidding, wake up one day to a human next to ya. The next, I'm waking up next to a squid and I am a squid. Damn Oracle" he muttered the last part as Graced raised an eyebrow.
"Oracle? Who is that?" she asked as Bianca was now just listening.
"Oracle, it was an AI designed by a collaboration of scientist for the maintenance of five hundred humans in stasis. The Artificial Intelligence was built to work in low energy environments leaving the pods being the only main drain of power. This was part of an Ark project, a ditch effort to trying to save humanity or at least give something that could be built on" he went on as he was remembering it like it was the other day. "I was one of the randomly selected to be placed into a pod. Was brought up with what the project was, I did hear that the AI was built to ensure all occupants would survive if at all possible. I also heard a rumor it could do genetic manipulation as well. I suppose it figured me being an inkling would improve my chances of survival. But for 12,000 years my word..." his voice drifted off as he sighed. His mind was drifting off and it was evident that the mark of time was shown. No one survived that ark but him. So he was indeed the last human alive, well mentally a human.
Grace gave a soft sigh as she dried her hands off and walked over to Arthur giving him a hug, "I can't imagine what you're mind is going through right now. As a professional, I would want to ask a million questions about human society, but I also feel you need some distance from that past to let you make your own". He was surprised by the hug though naturally, he hugged her right back with a soft sigh.
"Yeah, I suppose. Though I stick out like the biggest sore thumb right now" he commented pulling from the hug.
"No kidding. Kids like us we do turf wars right and left outside of school and you're one without an ink tank, any weapons, any fresh clothes" Bianca started to riddle off a list of things as Grace snapped her fingers.
"Bianca, show a few manners. He's not quite used to this and needs to be brought up to speed slowly, not rushed. Like you keep rushing at the start of a turf war" Grace smiled a bit at the last part as her daughter huffed folding her arms with a heavy sigh of frustration.
Arthur was observing the two and sighed looking at the time. Oddly enough that genetic modification made it easier for him to read what stuff said like the time, "I think it's also getting late too. This has been one heck of a giant wave of new stuff for me. Should probably take it easy" he added as Grace agreed.
"Yes, I agree, oh I did leave you a little something in the oven in case you're hungry. Was unsure what you liked to eat but figured I would save ya what Bianca and her friends had" she smiled as she yawned. "I need to get some laundry done so do enjoy" with that Grace walked off down the hall to get the laundry done.
"Well thank you Grace" he smiled as he walked over to the oven finding it was set to warm turned the oven off and took an oven mitten to pull the plate out. Looked like fried fish. Well, he used to be a vegetarian. Guess that was out of the window now, getting some utensils he would get some water in a glass and walk to the breakfast bar to start chowing down. Last he remembered was to eat slow, what he was told before going into stasis is the body may not wake up fast enough so trying to take it slow would help get the body going again. Like not having food not being digested in the stomach immediately. Bianca watched him as she looked down the hall seeing her mother was not coming down anytime soon. She would walk over to sit next to him.
"Hey, I know she wants to keep it slow with ya, but I don't want ya stuck in here and turned into some baby squid. Tomorrow I'm sneaking ya out and we're getting stuff for ya" she proposed as she pulled out a cell phone handing it to him.
He raised an eyebrow looking at the cellphone which had a triangle shape at the very top to make it look like a squid, "I don't know how your mother would like that. But same time I get what you mean too".
"Trust me, she'll try to baby you if you let her. Though she may end up trying to talk about you about humans and what not. Trust me, don't get her started on some of her wild theories on humans" Bianca said with a groan. "Just be up early in the morning, say five in the morning. She normally wakes up at six to get ready for work. Leave your door closed when ya leave and follow my lead okay?" she told him as Arthur nods.
"Alright, hopefully, this isn't a mistake" he sighed a bit. Bianca just places a hand on his shoulder flashing him a smile.
"It'll be fun. Plus no better way to get ya introduced to this world than to just stroll through Inkopolis" she remarked. She also took the time to explain to him that the phone had hers and her mother's number in it. It was a spare her mother kept in case her business traveling husband came home with a missing phone. At least someone had a plan or two.
Some time passed as Arthur was taking a shower just to clean himself up. Sure he had been in stasis for quite some time, and technically he was as clean as he was when he went in. Though the force of habit, at least shower once a day if you can. It still boggled his mind how much had changed since he was asleep. He remembered panic among people, humans desperately trying to find their way through the world, not to mention the riots when people were being selected for the ark programs. It had appeared the program he was in was the only one that survived. He had no idea where to look to find the others and a higher doubt that they were active. He sighed getting out of the shower, drying off, and dressing in his pants and a shirt, same ones from the pod that was still 'clean'. Soon after he closed his bedroom door setting an alarm to go off at 4:50 am on his phone as he lays in bed. After all, those facilities were only supposed to run for a hundred years.
The dreams he had were a bit haunting as he was seeing humanity drowning in the water they had brought. Cities crumbling while the land shifted violently as the world was shifting. With him in the dream was a young girl with short brown hair and green eyes. She looked a bit like Arthur as a human before he changed. Both were traversing a skyscraper having found a refugee high enough above the water they would not drown. Though as Arthur jumped a gap, standing on the other side to catch his sister the building started to split. The little girl took a jump, unstable as she was falling short. He tried to grab her, catch her hand. Save her life. But a car came zooming by with a mad man screaming and hollering as it slammed right into the girl making her disappear into a cloud of red. That red dropped down into the rising water, and the soon gray ocean turned to crimson red. His heart sank coughing as he could see the red on his hand. Trying to steady himself, he fell from the tower dropping towards the water. Though just before he hit the water's surface a massive fish came from the water and swallowed him whole.
The alarm clock on his phone sounded as he lurched upward panting from the nightmare. It took him a few moments to regain himself before turning the phone off. He rubbed his eyes and temples groaning. Why. Why was he like this? He had the nightmare of the little girl died at least once a month. But seems it came back to haunt him as soon as he woke back up and returned to a sleep cycle. He gave a sigh as he got out of bed and got his jacket on along with socks. He figured his shoes were out by the door as he found them last night. He would get his jacket on, hat and bring his scarf along just slinging it over his shoulders and around his neck. Taking his phone, he would pocket it as he heads for his door. Being quiet he would open the door slowly and creep out. He would close the door as he turned he nearly yelped when he saw a silhouette of a person in front of him.
"Shh!" the figure said covering his mouth with a hand as it looked behind it. "Don't want to wake mom up. Come on, let's get our shoes on and head out quietly" it was Bianca, seems she had been awake a bit sooner as she uncovers his mouth. A simple nod from him was enough as he walked over getting his shoes on and then heading out of the home while Bianca locked the door. In the dark of the home he had no idea what she wore, but in a bit of light, he could see she was wearing a blue tank top with a light weight jacket over a top that was green. She wore shorts that went down to her knees that were light brown.
"Alright, that was the hard part. Easy Street is here, we'll grab a little something at the tram station. We live a few blocks away from where I want to be. We just live outside of Inkopolis, but with how the city has grown it's still huge" she comments walking down some stairs as Arthur follows her close.
"Yes about that. What's so special about Inkopolis?" Arthur asked as she nearly stopped to grill him on it but refrained making more of a sigh as they went down.
"It's the city to be in for inklings, turf wars are organized through there as well as the trendy of the trends start there. If you can make it anywhere in the turf wars when competition season starts, you'll make it pretty good" she replied getting to the bottom floor and heading out a set of doors. There was a sidewalk that went out and then a road beyond it that went out to a countryside. "This way. I know a good place to grab something quick to munch on" she also added keeping next to Arthur.
"I see, so if you can make it here you can make it anywhere? Well, I hope you're right" he told her with a smile walking along beside her. The thing burned in his head on why she's helping him, it felt weird, to be honest. The two walked a little ways and hit a small food stop where they got something to munch on. It was a relief that he could at least have some fish and a rice ball was nice to munch on. Though it was quite funny watching Bianca realizing her account had increased in funds suddenly, seemed her mother had sent her some money to help her daughter out figuring what she was doing.
Both would continue walking down to the tram station where Bianca used a pass to get through while buying Arthur a ticket to get onto the tram. Both would sit next to each other on the early morning train as he sighed looking out the window for a moment and then back to her.
"So what's the plan for today? I assume you have some idea what you're doing" he asked as she smiled.
"Well for starters, we gotta get ya looking much fresher. I'll admit the stuff ya have one is rather unique. But I think we can make ya looking fresher" she said with a bit of a twinkle in her eyes.
"If you're suggesting I let you pick out what I should wear I'm not doing that. I'll take your advice and consider it. Though how others dress is based solely on preference" he remarked not wanting this to be a dress up Arthur game or simulation.
"Aww come on, at least let me pick one thing out at least" she seemed to plea as he groaned.
"Deal, I'll give ya that" he added as he listens to her more.
"Thanks, you're already such a bud ya know? Well, probably wanna drop by the Ammo Knights shop at the Booyah Bay to get ya a tank and a weapon" as she said those names Arthur couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Now what's so darn funny there?"
"Booyah Bay? Seriously? The name itself sounds funny, better than calling a sports store after yourself, but also has the slang for other body parts" he rolled his eyes as he shakes his head. "But okay, figured that won't take long to find something" he added now it was Bianca's turn to giggle.
"Oh no no, we're not making this a quick in and out trip mister. You're gonna experience Inkopolis the only way I know… And hey look where we're getting close to the Plaza" she smiled looking out of the window as the sun was starting to come up. Arthur turned his gaze back to the window as he could see what was being illuminated. The lights of the Inkopolis plaza were starting to dim down as he noticed the tower obviously and the giant… What is that?
"Hey Bianca, where is there a giant eel wrapped around that tower?" he asked a bit confused if not a tad worried about the fact there was this massive animal in the middle of a metro city.
"The Great Zapfish? Oh, guess you've never seen one. See a bit of the power we run on comes from tapping into Zapfish, electric little fishes that produce the power we need to do pretty much everything. I've heard other places use other means like running giant wind turbines or some are trying to tap ocean currents for power. But here, we have that big guy. The Great Zapfish produces all the power for Inkopolis and where we're going is around the base of that tower" she added as she started to think a bit.
"Really? Huh, seems you guys have found lots of alternative ways to producing energy. Maybe cleaner I hope, better than burning stuff" he said as he gave a light yawn.
"Oh right, need to show ya this quick" she pulled up something on her phone with two female inklings on it, both looked to be in dresses with white gloves, both white skinned. Both also seemed to sport some sort of tight fitting leggings, looked a bit like yoga pants What set them apart was their colors. One had two long tentacles normal for an inkling gal though hers were black with purple accents on the suckers and her outfit was black with pink accents. While the leggings were pink. The other had short gray or white tentacles while her outfit was black as well she had green accents. Though a closer inspection that this one had the same length tentacles as the other, but seemed to have them tied back somehow. Her leggings were green as well. Both had some sort of head wear that one reminded him of sushi the other a hat.
"Who are these two?" he asked as Bianca would answer.
"These are the Squid Sisters, they're really big pop stars. Callie is the one with the pink, Marie is the one with the green. They have a studio up in the plaza so there's a good chance you'll see them. Just wanted to let ya know this before ya see them on the big screen and go who are they. They cover the local news and turf wars when the competitive season starts which is not for another month" she filled him in as he nods.
"Yeah about turf wars… Darn looks like we're here already" he commented as the noticed the train was stopping.
"I'll fill ya in later on that. First thing's first, clothes" she told him as both were getting off the train. They would walk a little ways as they reached the Plaza as Arthur would look around. It was early morning and a lot of Inklings were not out quite yet, but it was certainly a site to see. It reminded him of pictures he had seen from Tokyo Japan, a giant tower rose up in the middle with a big fish on it, sidewalk markings and the shops lined the sides of the plaza.
"Wow..." was all he could say before Bianca snapped him out of it by yanking him over to the Booya Bay shops. "Come on you lolly-gaggin squid" she should have known he would try to sight see when really he was supposed to be shopping for himself.
"Alright, alright I'm coming, geez don't have to pull so hard," he said as they went through the shops getting stuff to wear.
The shopping trip was an event, to say the least. He had a few strange looks as he went through the stores given how he has dressed a tad differently. The shoe store was run by a shrimp, helpful mate at least got some decent pair of running shoes that were apparently good in turf wars. The clothing store was run by a jellyfish, a shocking discovery for him. Though the selection was nice as he was trying out some outfits as Bianca ran next door to grab him a hat similar to the one that he originally had. At the end of the fiasco, he picked an outfit similar to his original setup though it was more 'fresh' than before. He was now wearing an orange shirt with a logo of a certain group, looked to be one of the shops he had been to previously, a pair of navy blue shorts that fit close to him. Bianca suggested a little red vest to go over the stuff which made things match up. Though what Arthur got next was something different. He spent a tad extra for two accessories, one being a light green scarf with the ends looking like a tentacle of a squid. He found that nice, along with an earth green messenger bag as his original one was starting to show it's age before he went into stasis. And for a hat, Bianca was able to find a hat that was similar to his, looked almost like an old captions hat. Was black in color with a braided black cord that went over the top of the hat brim and where the rest of the hat went over the head. She also got him a band in the off chance he needed to tie his tentacles back for whatever reason, at the moment he was leaving the tentacles down which was an odd move for most guys as they usually keep it tied up. They bought extras of other items so Arthur would have a wardrobe so he wouldn't be wearing the same things over and over again. At least not the same outfit.
"So what ya think about the outfit? Looking pretty spiffy if ya ask me" Bianca remarked as the two were sitting in a small cafe having a bit of lunch.
"Well trust me, I thought it would be a tad more difficult to find something I would like, I'm just glad that I found something I do like" he chuckled a bit as he munched away at his lunch. Looks to be more fish, seems inklings like to munch on fish by what he can presume.
"Yeah considering your taste, I swear if you had gone over to get that hat, Moe would've been grilling ya or something. But there's one last thing. Time to get ya a splat gun" she told him with a smile already excited.
"Alright, now to start with that question before, what exactly are..." he was asking before she cuts him off.
"Right, it's usually a 4 on 4 sorts of game where ya mostly try to cover the side with as much of your ink as possible for your team. Everyone syncs up their colors but it's all fine and dandy. Given a certain amount of time and then boom you're in it. Simple enough?" Bianca asked as Arthur was digesting it as he thinks. So it was like paintball, but more along the lines of keeping the paint or ink in this case on the ground. Though he could imagine there would be a confrontation over the ground to get more covered.
"I see, and obviously get into small over the turf between the two sides. That makes sense" he stated as he found the explanation simple and to the point.
"Ya got it. The squid sisters usually cover some of the more fresh teams, the popular ones when they go into a turf war when the competitive season starts up" she added and knew she would have to answer this.
"Competitive season is where you can make serious rank ups and possibly get into the higher ranks faster. Other Inklings would've formed tight teams, so at the moment I would suggest trying to sit out on this season as it being a month before it starts. If you don't wow someone in the normal matches then you're probably not gonna get a shot. Everyone that does a turf war fall in ranks. My team, we're in A+. There's D, C, B, A, and S. Now D is the lowest and S is the highest. And in each class, there are three sections, minus, mid, and plus. Plus being the highest in that rank, make sense?" she asked as she finished her explaining one last time.
He would nod with a smile, "Yeah, perfect sense for me. Helps keeps things organized while making sure a player that has a serious rank and obvious advantage in skill does not run into someone that's of much lower rank that is just wet behind their… Tentacle" he thought of what he was saying as she smiled.
"Oh yeah, we'll get ya registered when we head to the tower after we finish with Ammo Knights and getting ya a weapon and a tank" she smiled paying for the bill as they both got up. The walk was not far to the Ammo Knights store which was right across from the cafe at the Booya Base stores. Bianca would enter the store first through a push in a door as Arthur followed suit. It looked like a gun shop inside the store, though instead of the guns he used to seeing when he was little he saw colorful plastic looking guns, brushes, and even large rollers. It was certainly a different sight to see as a short guy with thick spectacles, buck teeth and a horseshoe crab shell on his head looked up from the counter. The smiled greeting them warmly.
"Welcome to Ammo Knights, glad to see you're back Bianca. Still, want to upgrade that roller of yours?" the store clerk asked as she shakes her head.
"Nah, I'm fine with it at the moment. Though I'm here for my friend Sheldon" she commented stepping aside as she lets Arthur join her at the counter.
"Oh, he's certainly a new face. The name is Sheldon, and you are?" the store clerk asked quite curious about the inkling boy. The thing the clerk's eye was the fact that Arthur's eyes didn't match the color his tentacles and hair was, which normally changes on what ink you've been exposed too.
"Arthur, a pleasure to meet ya, Sheldon. I'm not sure if this is an often request but I'm looking for a weapon and an ink tank" as he asked this the clerk looked a bit puzzled.
"A weapon AND a tank? That's a bit odd, what rank are ya? Most inklings your age at least have some sort of rank and already get an ink tank" the clerk remarked as Bianca stepped in.
"It's a long story, Sheldon. Arthur's not been registered yet for turf wars and he's a bit behind on the times" she commented with Sheldon looking to her.
"Behind on the time? Who in the right mind can be that far in the past?" the clerk asked oddly as Arthur sighed.
"I get the point, a bit out of place to ask for an ink tank here. And yes I'm a bit behind on the time, though I'm trying to catch up so can ya cut a squid some slack?" he asked as Sheldon looked back over at him thinking.
"Well, I suppose I can. I rarely do this as most inklings already have ink tanks to trade in from the little leagues to get into the bigger leagues" with that the clerk would walk back into the back as he goes to get a tank.
"That was easy, well we can look over weapons while Sheldon is in the back. They're all unloaded" she said as she was looking over some rollers as Arthur would nod. He started browsing all sorts of various weapons. One looked like a spray gun for a car, one looked to be a sort of weird megaphone, even one looked like a grenade launcher. Heck, he even saw a bucket, much creative. Though he did see one of the larger weapons, it was a long rifle looking weapons with a long barrel and a scope. He took it as he held it up getting a feel for it as he points the rifle across the way and looking down the sight. This one seemed nice for sure.
"Huh? Grabbing a charger weapon? Looks like a Splatterscope" Bianca remarked as she looked over smiling.
"Uhm yeah sure, it feels nice," he said as Sheldon was coming back from the back with an ink tank setting it on the counter.
"Oh a Splatterscope, a good choice if you're looking for major range and power. Just be aware that it's a bit difficult to hold when you have it for a full charge. Have yet to figure out a way to reduce the shaking when at full charge" the store clerk said as he was watching them.
"Well, I find it nice so I think I'll take it" Arthur commented as he walked over to the counter placing it down on the counter.
"Alright, sounds good to me. Oh and about that ink tank, I noticed ya had a messenger bag too, figured I should tell ya this, you can connect your tank to either your back or your messenger bag strap when ya get the time to put it one. Just in case you were wanting to attach it to your bag" Sheldon mentioned as Bianca was paying.
"Oh well thank ya, I'll give it a shot" Arthur would take the tank and start to attach it to the back side of his bag. Normally he kept his bag slung over his right shoulder and across his body. The tank fits well as he smiles, holding the splatterscope in his hands smiling.
"This feels quite nice I must admit," he said with a smile as Sheldon was smiling as well. Always good to have another happy customer. A flash came from an odd direction as he looked over seeing Bianca with her phone smiling as she took a picture.
"Got ya squid boy, will need to share this with my mom and Jake" she commented with a smile.
"Oh how cute, the next one's gonna cost ya" Arthur joked as Bianca rolled her eyes.
"Yeah right ya dingus, let's head over to the tower to get you registered real quick. If you're going to a turf war, like to the tower you can have your weapon on ya. Just make sure it's holstered somewhere like on the back normally" she added as they were walking out of the store. Sheldon would help Arthur out a bit showing him how he could attach his weapon to the ink tank makes moving it a little bit easier as it freed his hands up. Though not to mention the fact that once they were back outside it was his turn to carry the clothes. Oh, fun. Thankfully there was a mail system that was pretty quick on delivery that Bianca got him to use when they had a chance. Sent it back to her home so it was there for them when it arrives. Plus it frees their hands up to do stuff as both made it to the tower. Registration was a bit easy, though was a tad bit of an issue given his name as Arthur made the last name up at the end.
"So Arthur Sketchink? Interesting name ya got there Arthur" Bianca said as they were leaving the tower with him looking over the card having his face and name on it. Sort of like an ID.
"Well, hey it's a name, isn't it? What is your name? Beakers?" he teased as Bianca rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, I'll try to remember to splat ya one if we ever get on opposite teams" she commented with a sigh.
"Or just splat me when ya get the free time" he joked with a smile as he stretched as they were outside the tower now. Bianca's phone buzzed as she looked at it to a text message and thinks.
"Well if I got ya geared for a turf war, and knowing you at this point. You need help. Come with me, I want ya to meet my team" she told him as she starts to walk a certain direction doing down an alleyway. Arthur would follow hot on her heels as they went.
"Your team? Right, seeing you guys are four on four teams it would make sense for you guys to have a selected team or arrangement of teammates to assist in the objective" he would answer his own question as she smiled.
"Yeah got it smart fish. These are also some of my best friends. Jake is our team caption, though at times I can be in the second command if things go wild with Jake" as she spoke she was turning a few bends as they were reaching what looked to be an apartment building as she rings up a certain room number. The door unlocked for Bianca as she finishes talking to someone over the mic piece on the doorbell.
"In ya go" she held the door open as to let Arthur in first.
"Well thank ya" he walks on in with her following up behind going down a hallway after she points to him where to go.
"Tsunami has an apartment here and there's a usually a break room or lounge where inklings hang out. Not a lot of other inklings use this space and there's not really any major teams trying to compete from this apartment. So most of the residents here are fine letting us use it for our purposes. So long we don't trash the place and make a huge mess" Bianca adds leading the way coming to a glass door on the left that went into the lounge.
The lounge was set up with several long couches on one wall. A large screen TV right across from where the door was. A few tables were set up, one being a coffee table with the other two being more made for playing board games or card games. There was a sliding glass door that went outside to the courtyard which there was a spot where the team could practice using their weapons there. Though given the room was being used by Bianca and her team, there were posters of various splatfests and events that had gone on in Inkopolis. Though at this very moment, there were two male inklings sitting on a couch watching TV. Both had possibly moved the couch to be in front of the TV to watch it. There was a female inkling sitting at a table reading a book as they looked over as the two entered.
"Hey Bianca, glad you can make it. Figured I'd give ya a buzz see how you're doing" one of them greeted. This one had blue 'hair' with his tentacles held in a low ponytail wearing a blue t-shirt and black jersey shorts with a pair of red shoes. It was to be noted that this one's skin color was tanned.
"Yeah hey, Jake, glad to see you too though it was just yesterday we got another turf war under out belt" Bianca smiled as the other male inkling looked Arthur over. This one sported a white t-shirt with a pair of blue shorts wearing a sports jacket. His tentacles were a mess and some fell just over his left eye. His skin was as white as Arthur's and his ink was orange.
"So seems the new kid's on his feet already? Looks more ready to go trick or treating then actually doing turf wars" the inkling joked as Bianca sighed.
"Rick lay off the jokes will ya? It was a pain just trying to sneak out before mom caught us missing" Bianca mentioned as Rick threw his hands in the air trying to claim innocence.
"Well it's good to see he's doing alright at least," the female inkling said with a smile. She wore a blue tank top like Bianca's though she also had a green skirt on going down to her knees. Under the skirt, she had what appeared to be fitness pants that were form fitting under it at least preventing peepers from trying to get a look at her. Her ink color was purple while she was white skinned too, oddly enough she had freckles and her two large tentacles looked much longer than normal. So she had hers in a high ponytail like the boys. This must be Tsunami as she's the only other girl in the room minus Bianca.
"Well, alright guys. Seeing that now this inkling is fully awake I figured I would introduce ya to him. Guys this is Arthur, say hi to him" Bianca said with a smile as she stood aside as the other three inklings moved to be more in front of Arthur.
"Hello there, sorry I was a bit of a slump when you guys first saw me" Arthur would remark flashing them a smile.
"Well, I'll start off I'm Jake team caption here" Jake responded first as it was Rick that leaned against him with a smirk.
"The name's Rick. Call me Ricky if ya like if you're feeling picky on names" Rick gave a cheesy grin as the other three of his teammates groaned. Arthur cracked a bit of a smile, puns were fine with him.
"And I'm Tsunami. A pleasure to make an acquaintance Arthur" Tsunami replied giving a soft smile as she nods to him.
"So tell me, why were ya on that map anyway? Snoopin around for buried gold or something?" Rick asked as a joke and Jake jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow.
"Hey, that was uncalled for and you know it," Jake remarked as Rick rolled his eyes.
"Psh, yeah right. We all know he was out there for some whatever reason. Must have poked at something that made him forget who he was I bet ya. You know how humans are mysterious. Mysteriously Dead" Rick added as Tsunami got into it.
"Now Rick, we know that archeologists have suggested humans died out from a rapid climate change and rise in ocean sea levels, please keep your facts right," she asked as Rick again kept going on his way walking up to Arthur.
"So what was it? Ya just snoopin around some ancient building hopin for gold or something?" Rick asked as Arthur remained silent. Oh, what a bombshell he had for them.
"Well, I think I can tell. But do promise not to start rambling off about it to others okay?" Arthur asked as the three inklings agreed, "Alright then let's begin".
"Okay so let me get this straight. You were put to sleep by humans as a last resort to save your kind with many other. You woke up to the place literally had gone down south and now your an inkling from possibly some machine changing your genetic code?" Rick asked as Arthur had finished telling the other three inklings how this all went down. The three were sitting on a couch along with Bianca while Arthur was in a chair in front of them.
"For the long and short yes. That's right" Arthur remarked as Rick, Jake and Tsunami all shook their heads in disbelief.
"I must say this has got to be one heck of a wild ride for you that I can imagine," Jake remarked as Rick grimaced.
"And here I was thinkin you were jerking our chains. But seeing your tentacles changed colors during the whole conversation to a color that's never done. I think I can believe it. Sorry for dissing ya like that" as Rick had commented Arthur looked up towards his tentacle head as he pulls a strand down. Originally it was green as he had been exposed to some green ink when he came out of the pod. But now for whatever reason, that color had faded and now was brown like a brunette.
"All's good Rick. I would've been skeptical myself in your shoes as well so I'm not gonna judge ya. Didn't know so nothing wrong there" Arthur forgave Rick easily, better to simply patch over a misunderstanding than to let it boil.
"Though I gotta say that AI had to be pretty intelligent if it could modify DNA in that way. There's a lot more to our world we still need to learn about that's for sure" Tsunami mentioned as Arthur would agree. This world was quite modern to his personal eyes though not as twisted as his own home. Bianca would clear her throat as she looked to her teammates.
"Well guys, I don't think he would do well seeing we have a full team. Plus, Jake as the Squiffer, Tsunami has the heavy splatling, and Rick has the .96 gal deco and I'm a roller. So we have a pretty varied pallet of players here already" Bianca mentioned as Arthur sighed.
"Well could simply just be a backup I suppose, or maybe just a freelancer" Arthur would lean back in the chair trying to be a bit comfy.
"Eh, backups are nice but it's hard to be a backup when you're completely out of our rank. We're at least A rank, you're at the bottom of the pole mate" Jake brought the reality as Tsunami was thinking.
"Well, even if he's not at our rank he still needs help. Probably want to set up some sort of course so he can get some practice in the courtyard" she recommended as Rick got interested quickly.
"Oh I like the idea of this, plus I don't think anyone is going to be using the courtyard for a while so we could use it easily" Rick smiled as he gets up as he stretches, "I'll get some of the dummies made up" with that he went off humming passing the sliding doors.
"At least that got him off his can" Jake smiled as he got up as well.
"Well, I think I can get the launch pad to work this time around," Tsunami said with a smile as Jake's face turned pale.
"I...Hope so" he shivered walking outside as Tsunami noticed the expression and followed after him.
"Oh come on! It was just one time!" she called out heading out the sliding door. Arthur sat there confused as he heard the entire conversation going on.
"So is there something I'm to know about that?" Arthur asked as Bianca whistled a bit innocently.
"Well, Tsunami is sort of like our tech expert as she tends to help maintain our training equipment here. The launch pad she got was a used one that she managed to refurbish. But sometimes it mismatches numbers that she inputs. And Jake was one of the unfortunate that got shot up to the top of the roof rather than across the ball court" Bianca smiled a bit giggling, "Funny watching him complaining while at the top of the apartments here". Arthur looked concerned as he heard this with his eye twitching.
"Miscalculation nothing! Could get ya hurt girl" he said as Bianca waved her hand as she got up.
"Oh please, we're squishy. We may dislocate something but never seen someone break anything. Well, maybe a nose, their pride, and weapon. But that's all really. So come on Sketch-Ink let's get going" she offered a hand to him as Arthur smiled taking her hand helping him up.
"Alright, hopefully, all goes well" he added making one final adjustment to his messenger bag. He would move the bag over to his right side and move the ink tank to be behind him once more. This should be interesting. The courtyard was fairly large and enclosed by the apartment buildings with a basketball court on one side while there was a garden area for a bit of green with a tree or two and bushes. The rest was a pavement top with a shed that the team used to store some of their equipment. As Tsunami and Jake were setting things up, Rick and Bianca showed Arthur about using targets and how to use his weapon. It was a quick surprise to both that he picked up the splattershot easily from his shooting point as he easily zoomed in on them and took them down. An odd note that was noticed that Arthur's ink was still green despite having his squid body and ink hair color is brown, a bit odd, It was hilarious though to see Rick's reaction when he asked Arthur to race over to one of the targets and didn't turn into a squid. Time for more education on how to move around as an inkling. Arthur had to learn how to be a squid which took some time as he found that inklings could naturally do this though for him he had to learn it. It felt weird to do it, but he managed to do it. Thank god he had a photogenic memory as he had noticed an inkling turning into a squid at one point that went down a pipe. Tsunami found him a tad cute as he looked like a chocolate squid which got him a bit red at the cheeks. Though the training went well as he was learning some movement not a lot til Tsunami got the launch pad up and working.
"Alright Arthur, take this" Tsunami would be holding a laptop as she hands him over an earpiece.
"What's this for?" Arthur asked as she smiled.
"It's just a small ear headset. If ya get your rank card, it's more of a mini-computer as you can sync that headpiece to it so you can talk to others that are on a team" Tsunami mentioned as Arthur pulled his card out looking at it. He wondered why the card felt a tad thick as he pressed a button that opened a menu up. It was a bit overwhelming as she showed him he could add friends to his card and share battle status and share stats. But for now, they synced his new ear piece to the card and got on the same frequency of the teams but had an open channel.
"Alright, the mic is good for any turf match we get into but it won't go long range like a cell phone so if we get split up we'll be in the dark" she mentioned as Arthur nods.
"Understand," he said looking over to seeing a swirling pool of ink as he takes a deep breath, "So that's a launchpad? What do they do exactly?" asking curiously as well as cautiously.
"Launch pads are meant to help propel inklings across the map or onto the map faster. It can be set to travel great distance but can only be used as a squid. Normally you can set where you want to go if ya got a beacon. But I've got full control of it from my tablet so I'll try shooting ya over there. Just be careful as you'll want to change back to this form before landing. Otherwise, you're gonna bounce around" Tsunami added as she smiled as she points to where Jake was standing. It was on the other side of the courtyard. He looked at the pad and then over to where she was pointing as he bit his lower lip.
"Well alright. Just tell me when you're ready okay?" Arthur was getting butterflies in his stomach as he walks over to the pad and gets ready to change to a squid. It took a few moments before Tsunami gave the thumbs up.
"Alright let her rip!" she said smiling as Arthur nods. Taking a deep breath he would sink down and would start to be positioned on the launchpad as he felt it charging. Though as he was on the pad the tablet made a buzz as Tsunami was looking down at it. Bianca and Jake were standing behind Tsunami noticing her distress.
"Hey Tsunami what's going on?" Bianca asked as her female friend looked distressed.
"Oh dear not again, I could have sworn I have this fixed" Tsunami said as the launch power was going up on the display.
"Oh, shell… Arthur! Try getting out of there!" Bianca shouted as Arthur heard the conversation over the ear piece and tries struggling but no avail.
"He's stuck. Oh great, hey Arthur buddy-boy hold tight! It's gonna be a bit bumpy!" Rick said as the concerned look came from him looking at the three inklings standing near him.
"What ya mean by Bump-EEEEEEEEEEEE!" he was cut off right as he was saying bumpy as the launch pad literally shot him high and fast! Nearly disappearing into the sky as he was sent flying. The four inklings were standing there awestruck as if seeing a home run ball go right over them as Bianca looked at her friend.
"WHERE IN THE INKOPOLIS DID YOU FIRE HIM?!" Bianca shouted as Tsunami was trying to work the numbers quickly.
"O-Oh dear! Oh, bother! I didn't realize it could do that" Tsunami added as she was freaking out too.
"Girls breath, geez gonna choke on your own ink if ya keep this up," Rick said as Jake was running over as quickly as he could knowing something went wrong from Bianca's voice.
"A-Arthur's probably on the o-other side of Inkopolis pretty soon" Tsunami stammered as she was embarrassed as heck that her equipment malfunctioned again.
"OF INKOPOLIS?!" all three Inklings, Jake, Rick and Bianca all shouted as they groaned. Great what they needed, a squid hunt.
The flight was quite the success as Arthur went streaming across the sky over Inkopolis as he was looking around. Okay, now this was a bit too high for his liking! He was seriously freaking out as he was traveling and soon hit the peak of his climb. So now gravity and his forward momentum were time to play, what goes up must come back down. And he was coming down fast like a missile he felt, and despite being told to change back to his humanoid form, he decided to stay as a squid as he was closing to the ground. A few bounces won't hurt, right? Tell that to his sore head after the first bounce. He bounced for a bit down some sort of street and skate park as on his 5th bounce he popped out as an inkling to go into a roll before stopping on his feet against a railing. He was panting as his heart was racing a mile a second. More thrilling than any roller coaster he had been on that's for sure.
"Damn Arthur… Phew, no way in heck I'm doing that again. Dang!" he commented to himself as he taps the earpiece.
"Hey, Guys?… Guys? Bianca? Rick… Tsunami? Jake?" he called as he was getting no reply over the headset. He sighed as he looked around at where he was. Well, this was perfect, in an old abandoned skate park by all looks of it. Fences were built up higher then he could climb so for all intents and purposes he was stuck as he sighed opening the channel up on his earpiece to anyone.
"Well fantastic, take a wild ride on a launch pad, end up fenced in. Lucky you" he grimaced as his headpiece crackled a bit.
"You know you can get through those fences as a Squid right?" a female voice came over the headpiece. The voice sounded calm as if it was looking at him as Arthur looked around.
"Huh? What do ya mean here? And who is this?" he asked the voice looking around as it was obvious someone was seeing him. His gaze would turn upwards as he heard the voice come on one more time.
"Well, seeing you're looking up I think you'll find me soon enough" as the voice spoke he heard a whoosh as a trail of ink was shot not far from his spot. He followed the line over to see a lime colored squid dropping down from a fire escape and then into a puddle of ink soon standing up to form her humanoid form. The female stood a bit around his size as she walked over wearing a pair of gray sweat pants, a big green hoodie with a band logo on it and a large hat that he could assume held her tentacles in it. He noted that she wore a mouth mask over her mouth and nose, just a plain white cover as she walked over to him with a black and blue looking weapon similar to his Charger weapon. Her ink tank was on his back as she looked him over. Arthur paused for a few minutes to study her for a moment before he nods.
"Well, seeing we're now eye to eye, what did you mean by the fences?" Arthur asked once more as she sighed.
"The fences? Squids are flexible and if your ink is under something, like a fence, you can slide right in under it. Easy trick" she answered placing her charger on its butt end leaning to that side as she looked him over.
"You look a bit… new to all of this. Never tried getting around like a squid?" she asked calmly though there was a hint of annoyance in her question. Seriously what fresh kid doesn't know about this?
"You can say that yes. I've not really tried using my ink to help me get around so much plus I'm actually lost" he answered as she raised an eyebrow.
"Lost you say? Took a wrong turn down in Albatross?" she asked a tad sarcastic as he cracked a small grin.
"Yes, was suppose to take a left turn not a right" he fired right back as he was recollecting, "No, a few inklings were trying to show me the ropes on how to use my squid form and various other items that I would find in turf wars. One of them had a launch pad and well, let's just say it went nuts and sent me here instead of shooting me thirty feet away".
"Hmm, sounds a tad bit more of what I'd prefer not to but hey to each their own right?" she mentioned offering a shrug as he continues.
"You don't happen to know a way to get back to the booya bay mall at the Plaza do ya?" he asked as it was a stupid question which the tone said it.
"Psh yeah I know how to get there. I won't try babysitting ya but I'll try helping ya learn how to get around stuff" she commented as she was walking up to one of the fenced in alleyways that seemed to go outward to a set of stairs.
"Alright, oh and what's your name exactly?" Arthur asked as she shoots a shot of ink past the fence. She would turn back to him looking at him with her golden eyes.
"The name's Molly. And I already heard you muttering your name over the channel so I already know" she told him as she turns into a squid and slips in under the fence via her ink. Her ink was lime green as she pops back out kicking some of the ink off her red sneakers.
"Alright Molly, a pleasure to meet ya," he said as he went up to the fence to follow her. He pulled his splatterscope and shot a small bit of ink then easily turning to a squid and slips in under the fence.
"Hm, you pick up fast that is good" she commented as she walked on down the alleyway though she shot a bit of ink down that went over the ledge to the next level and slipped into a squid to zip on forward.
"? Huh, well that is certainly one way to get ahead" he commented as he tries something similar to what she did. Though he had this itching to try some parkour with her as he noticed the railing to keep someone from not falling over the edge and down the stairs. He smiled shooting just a bit short of the rail as he dives down in a dash as a squid. He tries to time it as he jumps out of the ink morphing to a humanoid as he grabs the railing to pull himself over it as he shoots a line of ink that he drops into and goes down the alleyway passing her.
"Hm? Trying to make this a race?" she asked over the ear piece as he pops out of his green ink as he looks back at her.
"Well not exactly, sorry about that. Figured I should have kept in behind ya seeing you know the way" he chuckled as she frowned.
"Again, don't come crying to me if you end up lost. Though I caught a glimpse what you did back there, what was that?" she asked a tad curiously after her mild scold.
"That? I usually Parkour around my way around towns, namely climbing and running around places around urban environments to help you get around" he answered her having his weapon drawn. She had put her charger away as she nods.
"I see, that's interesting to hear. I figured that would be something you would try to do in a turf war. I would suggest you watch where you do that if you were in a turf war. Cause you know unless you want to end up landing in enemy colors when you jump that rail, I say go ahead and do it" Molly commented as Arthur frowned setting his own charger on his back tank as he walked with her.
"I see, again I've yet to do a turf war so I'm just seeing if I can make it in," he told her giving a soft sigh. It was at this moment he felt that slam of cold. That cold chilling truth that he really was alone here. Heck, he felt alien in his own skin now and his perspective was very alien to others. Could he actually make it here with doing turf wars or would he have to find something else to do? He knew art but that was really all that he had at his disposal. A hand would lay on his shoulder as they turned a corner down the alleyway. The hand was from Molly looking at him.
"If you want my advice, don't give up on yourself. Everyone starts somewhere, I know. I was a nobody once and now I've made my own mark in the world. You can too" a tiny confident smile came from her which from her demeanor itself felt like a ray of sunshine despite the medical mask covering her mouth. He could see the dimples under it.
He offered a smile back to Molly, "Thanks for the advice, I'll keep giving it a try" he added as he noticed they were going to a wall.
"Just follow me, and if you can make it you'll do fine anywhere," Molly said as she pulls her charger out seeing it was at least a three story high building she shot high. It was then Arthur realized the actual distance the charger could push, which was impressive as it coated a small line all the way up to the roof. She would jump into the ink changing into a squid as she moves up it with no problem. Arthur would smile as he tries copying her. He had to take two shots to get himself up there and would swim up and hop up on the roof with her. This was certainly interesting, she showed him a few different movement strategies and items here and there as they went. She even showed him how to use these hubs that connect ink together to let inklings pass through them as squids. Arthur had missed the fact he had his phone on silent mode as he was making his way to another…
"Oh god not this again" he groaned as he looked at the launchpad that seemed to be pointing to the tower. There were about ten blocks from the plaza as Molly looked at him.
"Well, this is the fastest way to the plaza from here and sunlight's burning" she points up noting it was nearly six at night with where the sun was setting. He gave a sigh as he looked at it.
"Hey got an odd question," he asked her turning towards her with his rank card out, "I know I'm new to all of this, but if I ever run into ya when I'm trying to do a turf war I'd like to try playing with ya at some time. Or just… h-Hey!" he was cut short when Molly grabbed his card as she was pressing stuff on it. He tries to grab it but with a straight face, she keeps him bay with one hand on his face pushing him back as she types something in.
"Hold your seahorses, I'm just adding myself to your card. I know your lower rank than me, but you seem like a nice guy. Not many newcomers go straight to the charger weapons. So you're special" she adds as she finishes and tosses him the card back. He would catch the card as he looked at it and smiled.
"Well Thanks, Molly, I'll see ya around. Hopefully, I can land this landing better heh" he chuckled to himself nervously as he shifts to squid and soon is shot off the launch pad as he goes sailing. After he left, she was reprogramming the launcher as she was targeting a different place when the phone rings a cheeky tune. She sighed as she answers.
"Yeah, Callie? I know what time it is. I would've been there faster but I ran into someone cousin. Their name?" she was talking as she looked over at the tower and gave a soft smile. "His name's Arthur. I think we'll be seeing him again. But hey I'll be there sis geez. Can't have the squid sisters without Callie and Marie together" she would say her goodbye and gets into the launcher to send the squid sister to the studio that her cousin was waiting for her at.