It was a sunny Monday morning in Inkopolis City, and all the inklings were awake, out in the plaza and ready to battle. Others were at the local stores, buying new clothes and weapons. Inside the lobby, there were matchmaking systems going on as the readied randomized parties of eight were teleported into an arena. Even those who were battling late past midnight were up and early inking turf, ignoring and defeating their fatigue. Even so, two now well-known inklings have stayed up until midnight, and they slept in lazily for many hours, almost nearing noon.

Tiredly, Silver rubbed his eyes with one hand. The sunlight that filled the room entered through his eyelids. He glanced over to his side where Sapphire was leaning against his shoulder in rest, cuddled by his other arm, which was slung around her body. Silver smiled warmly at her as he caressed her hair slightly and softly, making her wake up. Her eyes opened slowly, still sleepy, as she turned to Silver.

"I guess thirty minutes wasn't enough for you, and you wanted to sleep here the whole night," Silver smirked.

"What?!" Sapphire shot up. "What time is it?"

"About eleven-thirty," he responded. Sighing, Sapphire sat back down and shut her eyes.

"Eh, I don't care if we slept together," she said lazily. Silver rose one of his eyebrows.

"Uhh, haha okay," Silver hesitated nervously.

Sapphire opened her eyes and looked at Silver. "I'm serious."

"Yeah, okay, but, you know," Silver was flustered, "we're not in a relationship or anything."

"Well…" she paused for a moment before looking intently at Silver, "we could be."

"What about our paren-" Silver started.

"No, no no," Sapphire interrupted. "You mean, 'what about my parents,' or more like, 'what about my mom?' But, you know, I can't blame you. I know your mother sometimes has high expectations of you, but we're on our own now."

Silver sighed. Sapphire just had to bring up a sensitive topic like his mother. Although he loved his mom, they were at odds sometimes.

"Silver, you choose. Plus, if our parents didn't trust us, they wouldn't have allowed us to move. We even accomplished such a big feat that almost no one ever has done before! So, stop worrying about what your mom would say. It's all up to you, Silver," she tried to reason with him before leaning back on his shoulder and finishing her nap.

She's right,Silver thought as he sighed quietly, not to wake up Sapphire. He thought back to many moments not that long ago, when he still lived in his hometown.

July 4, 2015 CME

"Happy Birthday!" everyone around the table cheered. Sitting at the chair at the edge of the table, a birthday cake in front, a 14-year-old Silver blew the lighted candles, extinguishing its flames. His family and friends were gathered around him beside the table, watching him as he did. Beside Silver was a happy, slightly younger inkling who was jumping up and down in her squid form. Silver smiled at her as his mom began to serve cake to everyone.

After the guests who came to his party left, Silver and Sapphire were hanging out in his room, which was littered with unopened gift boxes. Their moms were in the kitchen talking, and their dads were in the living room watching broadcasted ink battles. Silver was sitting on his bed, watching Sapphire do tricks with her squid form, most of them, jumping and spinning around in the air. When Sapphire slowed down from the dizziness, Silver picked up her small body and cradled it in his hands. Her eyes looked up to him.

"Will you wait for me to turn fourteen so we can go to Inkopolis?" her small voice was heard. Silver hesitated.

"Well, isn't your birthday in two months?" Silver asked Sapphire. The squid nodded.

"So… you're saying I have to wait for two months to go? I was gonna go in two days!" Silver complained.

"Pleaseee?" her small voice pleaded.

"No," Silver said bluntly.

"Pleaseeeeeeee?"

"Nope."

"Pretty please?"

"…Nope."

"I'll let you sleep over at my place for my birthday."

"So?"

"We'll start getting ready and buying stuff for our trip on my birthday after we celebrate."

"I could do that today."

"I'll give you a kiss on my birthday."

"It's okay you don't have to."

"UGHHHHHHHH! I'll tell Dad that you've been bullying me!"

"Wow, you sure are desperate, huh?"

"Well… Yeah!?"

Silver sighed. "Whatever. I'll wait until your birthday." Silver said as he finally gave in.

"Yay! Thanks, Silvy!" Sapphire jumped into his arms as Silver groaned, but still caught her happily squirming squid body in a hug.

September 4, 2015 CME

"Silver!" a voice yelled. He tiredly opened one eye, and before he could get a glimpse of what was in front of him, he was violently smacked with a pillow.

Silver was sleeping in the guest bedroom of Sapphire's house. Her parents allowed him to stay there overnight, so he could see Sapphire when she turned fourteen. Though, he and her parents agreed that he would be sleeping in the guest room, for Sapphire wouldn't be clothed yet once she turned into her human form in her sleep.

"Silver!" a girl's voice yelled at him, with a hint of laughter. Another pillow was slammed on Silver's face.

"Ugh, stop it!" Silver finally said. He quickly sat up and looked in front of him. He was greeted by Sapphire, who had turned into a human form, and was slightly shorter than his height. Her tentacle hair was light blue, which was the same color as her squid form body, and had darker blue eyes. She had changed into a black undershirt, cropped above her waist, and black shorts. Silver stood uneasily from his bed with a smile. As Sapphire walked forward, she tumbled a bit, not used to walking. Silver caught her in her fall, and she regained her stance. They both sat on the bed, Silver's arm around Sapphire's shoulder.

"How does it feel?" Silver grinned at her.

"Dumb," she blurted out, "until you get used to it."

The two shared a laugh. Sapphire stood up uneasily, looked down at him, and said, "Hey, Silver. Remember what I promised you on your birthday?"

"Huh?" Silver muttered as he completely forgot for a moment. Then he realized as he said, "Oh, that? It's okay, Sapphire. I said before that you don't have to if you don't wa-"

Sapphire interrupted him as she leaned down, cupped his cheek, and kissed him on the lips.

As Sapphire tried to stand up straight, she fell over onto her bed into her squid form, groaning about her new form. Silver sat there still dumbfounded. After a few seconds, he licked his lips a bit.

"Hey, Sapphire, what did you eat?"

"Oh, just two pouches of Poptarts. My bad," Sapphire laughed nervously as she blushed.

"Nah, you good. Actually, let's go get some more Poptarts," Silver replied as he helped Sapphire up from the bed to go downstairs to eat breakfast.

"Sapphire, that was amazing, by the way, holy crap," Silver gasped as he closed the door to her room. Sapphire's laughter echoed throughout the hallway.

Silver smiled at those memories. He looked beside him at Sapphire who was still napping. He stood up from the couch, leaving Sapphire sprawled on the couch. Walking quietly to his bedroom, he took a pillow, and returned to the couch. Silver began to mimic a memory from back on the morning of Sapphire's birthday.

"Sapphire!" he yelled. He took a light swing with the pillow across her face. Anger became noticeable on her face as her eyes opened.

"Sapphire!" he yelled again, but louder. Noticing her anger, he took a much slighter slap with the pillow.

"Ugh, what do you WANT?!" Sapphire stood up and smacked Silver in the face, making him drop the pillow. He fell down onto the couch, rubbing his cheek where she hit him. Sapphire looked down at him, noticing the red on his cheek.

"...Silver, oh my gosh sorry!" she apologized with insincere guilt, as she sat down next to Silver. She took ahold of his hand as she caressed his cheek and laughed, "That's what you get."

Silver groaned. "Ah, whatever," he shook away the pain, "at least you're awake now. I was planning to go battling. And shopping for gear, if you'd like."

"Sure," she responded. Quickly, she grabbed a slice of bread from the kitchen and followed Silver into his bedroom, where he changed into casual clothes. Sapphire chewed quietly on her bread, swinging her feet back and forth from the bed as she watched Silver change. He pulled a basic yellow tee over his head, and Cream Basics over his feet. Taking his time, he fitted his studio headphones onto his head.

"They aren't even plugged in," she said.

"W-Whatever, it looks good anyway," Silver stuttered before yanking it off his head. Sapphire laughed.

"C'mon, let's go. You don't need any headgear," Sapphire said, standing up from his bed. She walked behind Silver and cupped his ponytailed, short tentacle hair with her hands, giggling, and left the room.

"Hey!" Silver yelled in protest before running to catch up with Sapphire, who had already left to her room next door with all her stuff.

It was way past three o'clock in the afternoon when Silver and Sapphire finally left their apartment building, heading over to the plaza. The distance to the center plaza wasn't that far away to take a train, but enough for a bus ride. After waiting at a bus stop, the two boarded the vehicle and paid for the fee. Almost everywhere they went in Inkopolis, even on the bus, there were people who recognized them as the inklings who defeated the Octarians. The pedestrians throughout the streets crowded the two. All the attention was disturbing to mostly. This resulted in delaying the time to get to the plaza. Finally, they arrived at the plaza.

"Silver, let's go to the shops! I wanna get my sapphire-colored weapons already!" Sapphire exclaimed.

"Wait, before that, I gotta go take care of something. I'll meet you at Ammo Knights in a second, he called out, heading towards Callie and Marie's studio. Sapphire shrugged her shoulders as she parted ways with Silver.

Silver walked up the elevated pathway past the battle dojo and the groups of inklings and arrived at the second floor of the Squid Sisters' studio. The Squid Sisters were sitting at their desk, chatting away, a thin stack of papers piled in front of them. He knocked slightly on the glass door leading to the inside, to which Callie noticed and motioned for him to come inside.

"Heyyy!" Callie greeted.

"Hallo, Silver!" Marie exclaimed.

"Hi, are you guys able to make just one announcement for me?" he asked them.

"Sure, no problem, Jesus Christ!" Callie said.

"Well, what is it?" Marie questioned.

"Don't call me Jesus Christ, please," he turned to Callie. "Wait, I thought you never attended any schooling. How do you know about human history?"

"Uhh, I dunno," Callie said dumbly.

"It's okay, just ignore her," Marie interrupted. "Besides, would you rather be Jesus or some really fat Buddha?"

"Okay, can I just tell you what I gotta tell you? I gotta catch up with Sapphire," Silver sighed with a disappointed smile.

"Alright, what is it?"

"Can you tell people not to crowd around Sapphire and me like paparazzi? She's pretty startled, since this is the first time we've been able to explore Inkopolis," Silver explained.

"Aww, aren't you such a good boyfriend, aren't you Silver?" Marie cooed. "If only I had a boyfriend, but for now, I'm stuck with Callie the Cantaloupe."

"Uh, Sapphire and I aren't really in a rela-" Silver said before he was interrupted.

As if on cue, Callie came out of a random side door dressed in a cantaloupe costume. Marie facepalmed. "I was called for, for my people need me," Callie said heroically as she raised her fist in the air. "Callie the Cantaloupe, to the rescue!"

"Callie, take that crap off! We have a news update in a few minutes!" Marie groaned. "Also, sure, it will be announced next news update," Marie guaranteed after writing on her stack of papers.

"Oh, thanks a ton, Marie," Silver smiled with relief. "Being famous comes with its downsides, I guess."

"Hah, we know what it's like," Callie, who was still changing out of her cantaloupe, called out from the side room.

"Stay fresh, Silver!" Marie called out before Silver left.

Silver smiled back and waved as he exited the studio. Breathing out a sigh of relief, he continued back towards Ammo Knights in Booyah Base.

Sapphire's blue eyes scanned each shelf and row in Ammo Knights, which were filled with different kinds of weapons. She already talked to Sheldon, the storeowner, who had said that anything that she and Silver will buy will be free. "All weapons are available to our two heroes of Inkopolis," he concluded earlier. "Just don't buy any duplicates or I'll lose my job, alright?" Dragging her Hero Shot along, she made her way into the roller section. As she was reaching to take the Dynamo Roller from the wall, she heard the doors open. Turning around, she spotted Silver and ran over to him.

"Sheldon said we could get anything for free!" she informed with a squeal.

"Coolio," he responded. "I'm gonna buy a bunch of chargers."

"C'mon, let's go buy everything!" Sapphire told him as she grabbed more weapons off the shelf.

"Sapphire, let's just buy one at a time," Silver suggested as he giggled.

"Why?" Sapphire looked back at him.

"Because you'll end up with a bunch of weapons you might never use. It'll be in your room wasted," Silver explained.

"Ugh, fine!" she gave it up. "But, don't deny it," she responded suddenly, "because I know you're gonna end up getting every weapon, Mr. Flex." Silver smiled at this reference to their childhood.

"Wow, you remember that Turf War simulation video game that we used to play back home," he smiled.

"Yup, and you always knew how to play every weapon, so I know you're gonna get every weapon now. I know you too well, Silver," Sapphire smirked. "Now let's get our weapons already, c'mon."

The two spread throughout the shop, looking for four weapons that they would start out to use. Suddenly, all the screens in the shop and outside the buildings attained a neon, colorful scheme, playing a remarkable melody. It was Inkopolis News time.

"Hold on to your tentacles..."

"It's Inkopolis News time!" Callie and Marie's voiced were heard, echoing throughout the area.

"The current stages set for regular battles are Arowana Mall and Bluefin Depot," Callie announced.

"And Urchin Underpass and Moray Towers are the stages available for ranked battles," Marie announced alongside Callie.

"Also, there is more information about our album, which is being released after Splatfest next week," Callie said. This brought the attention of many of the inklings in the plaza who had heard them sing last Splatfest. "Please visit .com for more info," Marie added.

"Lastly, we have an announcement that was requested by someone well-known..."

"Oh yeah, Sapphire! I forgot to tell you something!" Silver remembered and told her.

"What?"

"You all know Silver, one out of two of our heroes and defenders," Callie started.

"He's got two requests he wanted to announce," Marie stated.

Wait, TWO?Silver thought, remembering that he only gave one request.

"Firstly, he said, to stop calling him Jesus Christ," Callie said dumbly, "I dunno why, though." She shrugged her shoulders.

Right as Callie said that, Marie and Silver both facepalmed and groaned.

"Callie, you are actually dumb, okay? Just let me handle it," Callie muttered.

Sapphire, Sheldon, and all the inklings in the plaza shared a hearty laughter as they listened in on the news. Marie sighed as she panned the camera towards herself.

"So, here's Silver's actual announcement," Marie started. "Being famous and popular is undeniably a huge accomplishment. Please congratulate Silver and Sapphire for their recent achievements."

A soundwave of cheering resonated throughout the plaza as all the inklings expressed their best wishes for the duo. Sapphire blushed and shied away from the door to the plaza.

"That said, being famous, if you all couldn't tell, has its own disadvantages," Marie explained. "Put yourselves in their shoes for a moment. Imagine that it's your first day in Inkopolis City, but the same day, you're whisked away to a foreign land, sent on a mission to fight an entire army by yourselves. Originally, you came to Inkopolis to try your hand at ink battles, not go on missions, and I'm sure that's what they want to focus on now."

The plaza quieted down a little as the inklings thought about what Marie said. They all nodded with a content countenance as they began to understand the situation Silver and Sapphire were in.

"Thanks for understanding, guys, and stay fresh!" the Squid Sisters signed out simultaneously. The inklings in the plaza were still standing still, thinking about Silver's last request. Looking at one another, they nodded in agreement as they went about their business. A huge sigh of relief came from Silver.

"Aww, Silver, you really did that?" Sapphire asked him with a grin on her face. "You didn't have to."

"Well, I know how much you still would hate it, trying to deal with it longer," Silver answered knowingly.

"Ah, you do really know me," Sapphire calmed and gave him a quick hug.

"Come on, let's buy these."

Silver decided on the Splatterscope, E-Liter 3K Scope, Grim Range Blaster, and the .96 Gal Deco. Sapphire decided on the Krak-On Splat Roller, Gold Dynamo Roller, Kelp Splat Charger, and the Wasabi Splattershot. Afterwards, Sheldon taught them of the gear depository system. It was a machine built for depositing and withdrawing your gear to and from one's place of residence at any time. Those machines were built all across Inkopolis for convenience.

As they thanked him for the advice, they deposited three of their weapons and kept one. Holding the Gold Dynamo Roller proudly in her right hand was Sapphire, while Silver peered through the scope of his Splatterscope. The two smiled confidently at each other as they proceeded out the shop to head towards the lobby.

Inside the base of Inkopolis Tower was the lobby, which was packed and full of battlers. The ground floor, which Silver and Sapphire had just entered, extended downwards underground two more floors. It didn't really matter that the ground floor was packed. That floor and the floors below it were constructed with a wide circumference. At the ground floor, there was an elevator, taking visitors and sightseers to the top of the tower for a scenic view of Inkopolis and the islands and water surrounding it. All of the walls were screens decorating the area, showing different colors and emblems related to the different battle modes inklings could participate in. But, the lobby where the crowds and clusters of inklings met wasn't where the teams for battle were decided.

There were kettles everywhere on each floor, the tops of each illuminated with the spawn point symbol. Depending on what battle mode, the kettles were green and orange. As Silver and Sapphire stepped onto different kettles glowing green, they turned into their squid form. Instantly, their bodies had disappeared. In their point of view, they were in squid form, stationed in a virtual room with walls, a floor and a ceiling of vivid green. After a while, more squids appeared alongside them in that room. Each squid had a transparent, holographic screen displaying anyone joined in the room, and their status. Silver and Sapphire had just started in the lobby, for they were occupied with battling in Octo Valley, so they began at a low level. Silver looked around at the seven others in the room, including Sapphire, and saw everyone's gamer tag or real name if the battle tag was not set yet. Once eight people had joined, the whole room was teleported, each inkling traveling in their randomized team's ink color. Fortunately, Silver and Sapphire were on the same team.

Each stage had many synthetic replicas of it located in a digitized world, which replicated real-life physics. Each and every stage was and had to be symmetrical on both sides to prevent any advantages or disadvantages. Currently, each team had appeared on each spawn point kettle on both sides of the map.

As fast as they appeared on the kettle, the two teams advanced into battle.

It was a few hours later. The sun was setting, and Silver and Sapphire were holding their Splatterscope and Gold Dynamo Roller, respectively. Now they were heading home, already having bought some gear from Booyah Base. They became a level higher than four, but it turns out that the shop owners would be like Sheldon and given them free gear anyway. Both of them had gained experience using each of the four weapons they had gotten. Walking side-by-side, they talked along the way home, taking the same route they took yesterday.

"Not bad for our first time battling," Silver said.

"Well, we're experts now that we've battled in Octo Valley," Sapphire mentioned.

"True," Silver agreed.

"And a bunch of people stopped shooting every time they saw us," Sapphire responded. "Remember, in Bluefin Depot, you shook hands with that other guy from the other team during the battle, and then you splatted him with your Grim?"

"Haha, yup," Silver giggled.

"I was watching it from the other side of the bottom of the map. It was so stupid that I kept laughing and I couldn't play anymore," Sapphire tried to hold back her laughter.

"Also, there was this one time I was greeted this Slosher guy who put his bucket down and shook my hand with both his hands, but he put the bucket upside down, making the ink drain out of it," Silver explained.

"What?! Really?!" Sapphire couldn't hold her laughter anymore. She burst out laughing, startling pedestrians on the streets. "C'mon, let's eat dinner at your place," she suggested to him as they neared the entrance to their apartment complex.

Darkness from the outside filled Silver's apartment, only countered by one weak lamp and a TV screen. The two were standing by the door, having already taken a shower and eaten dinner. Silver was wrapped in her arms as Sapphire gave him a tight hug.

"Thanks for today. I had fun," she thanked him as she pulled away from the hug.

"No problem, and make sure you don't sleep until after noon, it's still two hours before midnight," Silver told her.

"Shut up, I won't," she pouted.

"Goodnight," they said to each other as Sapphire walked out into the hallway back to her apartment next door.

Silver stood at the door for a while before going back to turn off the TV. Going to the kitchen sink, he rinsed his hands as clear ink rushed from the faucet. Drying his hands, he turned off the lamp and walked back to his bedroom thinking back to last night with Sapphire.

Sapphire had just walked out of her walk-in closet, which had weapons on one side of the wall and gear and clothing on the other. She lazily plopped herself onto the bed and switched off the glowing lamp beside her bed. After stretching her tired body, she curled up and hugged her pillow to sleep.

There was shooting everywhere. The sun was setting, but that was the only pretty sight in the area. It had become chaos in Inkopolis. Every original stage, no digital duplicates used, was occupied by the warring Octarians and the Squids. Adult squids and inklings fought alongside each other in battle. A universal color of ink shared amongst the Squids was used in every area to prevent friendly fire. At the moment, Silver was fighting on a light-blue ink team against the Octarians, who mainly used dark fuchsia and sanitized green ink.

She and Silver were in an area on Octo Valley, advancing further than any other inkling who went to defend down in an battle stage. They had met up in a fight against three octolings, each with a Heavy Splatling in hand. All three of them had been shooting continuously at them as Sapphire and Silver dodged each round of shots and looked for an opening.

Finally, all three charged at once. Silver and Sapphire were separated, but still in front of them. Deciding where to aim, the three octolings aimed at Silver.

"NO!" a desperate cry came from Sapphire before the shots were released, pelting Silver with rapid fire ink. Sapphire was angered as she injured them heavily with a Suction Bomb and five seconds of firing ink at each octoling. There was Silver, on the ground, his light-blue hair, vivid and alive from an unused Inkstrike. Sapphire dashed over to him with tears in his eyes and kneeled next to his body. It was frail from the shots it had taken, but slightly moving. He was breathing shakily.

"SILVER!" she cried, her tears falling on his weak, unconscious body, her mournful voice echoing throughout Octo Valley.

~AuraMasterADV13~

Originally published on Wattpad on August 11, 2015

Republished on Wattpad and Fanfiction on July 15, 2018