"Yo, Delta!" A voice waaaay too loud for the morning cut through the inky blackness. "You plan on sleeping through your first sight of the city?" The young Inkling Delta grumpily pulled the twin tentacles from her eyes and peeked out the train window. There was nothing but farmland dashing past.

"We're at least another half hour out, Kai." Delta had half a mind to rewrap her lengthy tentacles around her head again and go back to sleep. She pitied the girls who cut theirs short—they didn't have 24/7 access to sleep masks.

"Close enough." Kai gave a shrug. Delta looked across the aisle at her friend. Kai's constant fidgeting betrayed his boredom. The leader of Entrenched was a high energy squid, and they had been riding the train to Inkopolis since before dawn. It was no wonder Kai was starting to lose his cool after sitting in the same seat for nearly four hours.

As much as she would have loved to forsake it all and go back to sleep, Delta wasn't about to leave a friend out to dry when she knew she could do something about it. Delta let out a yawn and looked to her other teammate sitting next to her. Her childhood friend Dylan looked deeply lost in thought with his Squidfin hook cans full blast and his gaze stretched far outside the window. He looked peacefully focused with his thoughts, but Delta needed backup to deal with Kai—so she gave him a nudge. Dylan practically jumped out of his seat at the unexpected contact—his two tentacle buns swiveling around his head as he faced his best friend. Delta jabbed her thumb in Kai's direction, and Dylan got the message.

"So Delta's got to get up, but Addam over there can snooze away?" Dylan asked Kai as he shifted an earphone off and looked over at their last teammate. Addam was fast asleep against the window next to Kai, his short and spiky mohawk jiggling up and down whenever the train hit a small bump in the tracks.

"Eh, I'll get him up later." Kai shrugged again. "Besides, he's not much of a talker."

"True." Dylan conceded. Delta agreed Kai had a point. Addam had been on Entrenched since Kai started the turf war team and Delta rarely heard more than two words out of the squid at a time.

"So!" Kai began, happy that he had friends to talk to. "We're finally going to Nationals! Are you guys excited or what?"

"Oh, totally." Dylan said, stifling a yawn. "Totally worth hopping on a train before dawn for."

"Ha!" Kai scoffed. "You're secretly excited to live in the city of the Squid Sisters for two weeks."

"Am not!" Dylan protested as Delta's ears picked out a familiar bass line coming from his headphones.

"Really?" Delta teased. "Then I guess that's the radio playing Ink Me Up?"

Dylan hastily scrambled to turn his shellphone's volume down. Delta suppressed a giggle at her best friend's behavior. Dylan tried to act tough and hide it, but she knew he was beyond excited to be traveling to Inkopolis. Anything Squid Sister related was a guilty pleasure to him.

"Please." Dylan feigned a scoff. "Like I would fall for anything like that."

"Uh huh." Kai and Delta both deadpanned.

"So, uh…" Dylan tried to change the subject. "W-what're you looking forward to, Delta?"

"Well," Delta began, crossing her arms over her chest. She'd take the bait—she figured Dylan had done enough squirming. "I was hoping to see the Great Zapfish and see what all the Great Turf War fuss was about, but…" She nodded at the news monitor on the train wall in front of them.

"Right." Dylan gave a nod. "That was bad timing, what with the tournament and all." Delta and the rest of Entrenched were heading to Inkopolis after finally qualifying for the National Turf Wars, a two-week tourney held every year to honor the Great Turf War decades ago. It was everyone's dream to graduate from their local tourney make it to the big leagues in Inkopolis, and that dream was finally starting to happen.

But for Delta, things were a little different. Inkopolis was a place to meet and mingle with military recruiters. It was her chance to finally join the military—a dream she held close to her hearts since she was twelve. The higher Entrenched placed, the more skill they displayed. And the more skill Delta had, the more likely it was that the recruiters would give her the time of day.

Delta was still concerned however—the team had just barely made it out of regionals and the national level was going to be a huge jump in competition. Echo's Edge was known for its martial personality—not its wealth, and Entrenched was going into the city with patched clothing and age-old hand-me-downs. The city folk had an advantage based on equipment alone.

"Wait!" Kai's eyes went wide as he processed Dylan's words. "Is the tower gonna lose power if the Great Zapfish isn't there? Is the tournament gonna get cancelled?"

"Relax." Delta said, trying to stop her friend's freakout. "The city's got generators to keep the power going for at least three weeks. That's enough time for Nationals."

"That's cutting it close…" Kai muttered under his breath.

"Well, remember the last time it went missing?" Delta added. "You know, around two years ago? It turned back up before long." Dylan opened his mouth like he was about to say something else, but the news monitor in front of them whirred to life. "Inkopolis News!" flashed across the screen in turquoise and pearl white. Dylan shut his mouth and reached for his soda while Kai nudged Addam awake.

"Ya'll know what time it is!" Pearl began as she came onscreen.

"It's Off the Hook, coming at you LIVE from Inkopolis Square!" Marina followed up. Delta gave a quick glance around the train car. Most of the other passengers had awoken at the news hour's jingle.

"Check it!" Pearl flicked her hand towards the screen. "Here are the stages for today!" The passengers yawned as Marina reached for her turntables.

"Hold it!" Pearl suddenly yelled, startling the other passengers on the train as Marina flinched. "We've got more breaking news!"

"Wha…?" Marina started, still startled from Pearl's sudden outburst and unexpected newsflash. "L-let's take a look…"

"Probably just drama about that new hairstyle trend." Dylan muttered under his breath as he took a sip from his soda.

"Pop superstar Callie of the Squid Sisters has gone missing!"

Dylan spit out his soda. Delta narrowly missed the splash zone by a tiny margin of an inch. Dylan might have been the unluckiest of the reactions, but the rest of the train behaved similarly. Gasps erupted from the passengers, which quickly turned into wails and panicked voices.

"NOOO!" Pearl cried onscreen. "Not Callie! Do something, Marina!"

"This is terrible!" A passenger cried out. "She was supposed to host Splaturday Night Live this weekend!"

"Forget that!" Another snapped. "What about her role on The Squidsific Rim?"

"Or her weblog! She just started posting again!"

Delta pulled out a napkin and handed it to Dylan, who started mopping up his mess. Kai shot him a mildly concerned look, but his eyes widened before he could come up with something to say.

"Guys!" Kai pointed to the window. "Look!" Delta and Dylan turned to look out the window to find that the green landscape was gone, replaced by black and grey steel. Lights flashed by and billboards flew past the train. They had finally reached Inkopolis. The team basically plastered themselves to the windows as they took in the sights, their mood slightly lifted with the excitement of seeing the capital for the first time. The lights had turned into massive buildings ten stories high, coated in a sleek black metal sheen. Delta looked to her right to find a series of white cube-like facilities clustered together.

"That must be Floundering Heights." She wondered out loud.

"Look!" Kai pointed out the window. "There's the Deca Tower!" Delta and the rest of the team redirected their attention to where Kai was pointing. Deca Tower stood out from the crowd of buildings, covered in monitors and all sorts of advertisements. The whole team stared in a mixture of wonder and intimidation as the train pulled up to the station.

After corralling Kai around and making sure Addam was still there, Team Entrenched finally made it to their destination—Inkopolis Square. Delta was first to land, surprised her feet hit white paint instead of the usual landing pad. Deca Tower stood as the centerpiece to the square, illuminating the sky with its various monitors and ads. Delta looked up at the tower and noticed aged indentations in the black metal—now that she had a closer look she could see the grooves the Great Zapfish's body left behind from years of nesting. After a brief conversation with each other, Entrenched decided it was time for lunch and headed to a yellow food truck near the back of the Square.

"Hey, squiddos!" A prawn's head popped out from behind the truck's window. "Give me just a sec and I'll be right with you…" His attention turned back to his phone as his baseball hat slid over his eyes. The crusted prawn pushed it back up with his crimson claw and stashed his phone away. "Okay, I'm back!" He turned to his new customers. "Ah… I take it you fellas are new to the city?" The prawn asked, giving a slight nod at the team's clothes.

"Yup." Kai replied. "We're Entrenched from Echo's Edge, ready to cook the national competition 'till they're well done!" Kai threw his fist in the air. Delta watched Dylan give an exasperated eyeroll at Kai's enthusiasm, but the prawn only sported a sad smile.

"Is that so?" The prawn crossed his claws over his chest. "Well I'm Crusty Sean, and you squiddos have found the Crust Bucket—best food in the city if I do say so myself." Crusty Sean tipped his white cap as he gave a small bow, and the sadness in his eyes was gone by the time he straightened back up. "Menu's right over there." Sean pointed at the chalkboard resting on the truck's wheel. "Just let me know what you want and I'll fry it up."

"Cool." Delta replied, leaning in to take a closer look at the menu. The others shrugged and gave their orders.

"Alright, squiddos." Crusty Sean said as he handed over the food. "Enjoy!" He called as the team walked away and over to the white outdoor tables.

After eating lunch, Team Entrenched decided to settle into their living quarters, where Delta stayed at until the match. Not all warriors had the luxury of knowing the time and place of a battle, but when they did—the best ones knew to save their energy the day of the fight. Delta had found it was a similar principle for major Turf Wars. When there was about an hour before the match, Delta hoisted herself off the sofa and started to gather her things. She grabbed her headband and changed into her Navy King tank. After pulling on her red sneakers, Delta met up with the rest of Entrenched just outside Deca Tower. After a brief check-in with everyone, the team took a deep breath and headed in. They were instantly directed to the main lobby and told to sit and wait. Entrenched took the time to stretch and warm up.

"Okay guys." Kai said as he clipped his skating helmet on. "You guys remember the plan, right?"

"Yeah," Delta crossed her arms over her chest. "You've only said it—what—five hundred times now?"

"Let's go over it again. Jus-just in case." Kai twirled his dualies for the umpteenth time.

"That…" Delta breathed to herself. "That wasn't an invitation to do it again…"

"So our match is gonna be on Humpback Pump Track—like we knew earlier. We're up against BRB, but we don't know a carp about them. So we've just got to work with what we've got on our side. Addam—" Kai pointed to the quiet Inkling cleaning his Heavy Splatling's nozzle in the corner—"will be bringing up the rear, giving cover with suppressing fire. Dylan, you and I will move up the side routes as soon as the bell rings so we can try to flank them as they try for the center."

"You sure you and Dualies in tight spaces is a good idea?" Dylan asked as he tested his Splat Brella's canopy. "We put that head of yours in a helmet for good reason—you and dualie rolls don't mix. I don't know why you decided to main them in the first place."

"Hey!" Kai protested. "That one time was the wall's fault!" Addam cleared his throat and shot Kai a look. "A-anyways, Delta—you bum rush the center and hold it."

"Yeah, about that…" Delta replied. Her role had been bothering her all day. "My part in all this seems doomed to failure. All of BRB is going to be rushing the center, and I'm the only one there to stop them?"

"Yeah, because you can." Dylan replied, giving Delta a slap on the back. "You've got the meanest beast mode we've ever seen. Remember that time you splatted the entire opposing team in the span of five seconds? Single-handedly turned the tide of that match?"

"Well, yeah, but two of them were just stupid. These players will be better."

"And these squids will be intimidated, which leads to the same thing." Dylan rebutted. "You say this every single time before a match, and you still crush it."

"Fine." Delta gave a shrug. She opened her mouth to say something when the lobby's launchpad whirred to life. It was time.

"All right, team." Kai said as he gathered his dualies. "Let's do this." He was first to the launchpad, and rocketed off towards Humpback Pump Track. Addam followed suit, with Dylan behind him. Delta stared briefly at the launchpad. Dylan was right—it was time to act, not worry.

Delta spawned onto the launchpad on Humpback while the commentators finished up their introduction speech. Delta turned to her right and instantly noticed a camera peeking out from the wall. She froze, and tried to keep herself calm with a steadying breath. Out of all the things that made her nervous, having an audience was the absolute worst. It didn't help that the entire nation was watching this battle tonight.

"Camera bothering you?" Dylan noticed his friend's discomfort. Delta gave a tight nod. "Relax." He advised. "Just pretend they're not there. And if that doesn't work, you know what they say at home. If you can't beat fear…"

"Do it scared." Delta finished. "Right. Thanks."

"But you've all heard enough talk already!" Delta heard the commentators wrapping up. She took Dylan's advice, trying to ignore the cameras. It had started to work, her mind was beginning to quiet as sounds started to seem more and more distant.

"Give it up for Entrenched, versus BRB!" The commentator's last line was the last thing Delta heard before it happened. Endolphins exploded in Delta's brain, leaving her shuddering in her spot. She gripped her Splattershot harder as she felt her hearts begin to race. Dylan's advice worked—she was in the zone.

Three. Delta hardly heard the countdown over the sudden roar of rushing ink in her ears.

Two.. Her hips sank into an athletic stance as Delta's spine ducked forward, ready to dash forward the millisecond she was allowed to.

One… Every muscle in Delta's body trembled in the anticipation of action.

GO!

Delta was off like a shot, running with her finger slammed against the Splattershot's trigger to ink as much turf as she could on her way to the center. She leapt off the edge of Humpback's go kart route and planted her feet on the edge of the center zone. From there her endolphin-powered brain only recognized the rolling hills of the center as problems to be fixed. Delta didn't care if the ground was brown, black or pink. It wasn't blue. And her muscles screamed at her to fix that.

Delta squeezed her weapon's trigger and sidestepped into a strafing maneuver, watching as electric blue fell on brown turf. A stream of the same blue arched over her, and Delta looked back to see Addam helping cover the center from the high ground with his Heavy Splatling. She ran forward, letting her Splattershot find more areas to ink before chucking a Burst Bomb at a distant patch of brown.

"One's down." Delta heard Dylan's voice from her earbud as she reached Humpback's center hill.

"That's two!" Kai replied. "Delta one's coming your way, but I don't know where the other's—ack!" Kai's transmission turned to static.

"Kai got jumped from behind." Dylan gave his sitrep. "And it looks like whoever splatted him is pushing through the side passage. Addam, you move up and intercept him."

"Got it." Addam's splatling spray disappeared.

"Delta, you and I flank this last one." Dylan continued.

"No!" Delta had other ideas. "They're pushing so their spawn is open. You're the closest so dig into their base."

"You sure?" Dylan sounded hesitant. Delta had no time for hesitancy.

"Just go!" Delta heard a telltale jingle, like a can tossed across a floor. She looked down to find a pink splat bomb swelling at her feet.

Oh no you don't, Delta growled inside her head while diving into the ink behind her. Her fast reaction saved her from the splat radius, but she was still unlucky enough to catch a few stray dots of pink. Delta ignored the sting of opposing ink on her skin, but soon luck was on her side. A familiar ding sounded from her tank, signaling her special was ready. Delta swam forward and sprang out of the electric blue ink, slamming her Splattershot on the unsuspecting player in a Splashdown. She looked off toward the distance to see Dylan get splatted near the enemy spawn. A look to her right showed Addam and a newly resurfaced Kai still struggling with the last BRB player.

Unwilling to lose his progress, Delta swam up to Dylan's position, trying to hold the ink Entrenched had in the enemy's zone. But in her haste she forgot to clear her corners, and three shots to her back exploded her into a puddle of pink.

Delta reformed back at their spawn, shaking off her disorientation. From this vantage, she could see BRB had gained an edge in her absence, taking over a large portion of the center and was winning the battle in the side routes. But no matter, they still had plenty of—wait, since when were there only thirty seconds left?

Delta rushed back toward center, her legs finding renewed vigor. A Splattershot player was ready to meet her, spraying out a stream of pink in her direction. Delta moved instantly into a strafing position, making sure to stay at a forty-five degree angle ahead of the other player's range while her returning fire made short work of him. Before Delta had time to celebrate, Kai's opponent from the side rolled into the center, hoping to take advantage of an unaware opponent. Delta took two shots to her shoulder before she was able to pin down his dualie rolls and take him out. That's two down, two more to go.

"Delta!" Kai called over their comms. "We don't have a shot at winning if we can't reclaim the center. You hear me? Hold. That. Hill."

"Understood." Delta barked back, planting her feet at the top of the hill. Delta vowed to herself it would take a miracle to get her off it. She wasted no time in firing up her Splattershot again, swinging the nozzle in a circle to cover as much as she could. Her movement caused unwanted attention from the remaining two BRB players, and they set up a flank on each side of the hill. These two were clever—using the natural topography of the hill as cover while still being able to shoot at her. Delta turned at an inopportune time and a volley of pink crashed into the right side of her face, blinding her for a brief second. One more hit and she was done.

The growing sting kicked Delta's brain into its final stage—a flat out refusal to surrender. There was no way she was going to lose—not here, not now, and definitely not to these two squits who dared to attack her. Delta vaguely heard a horn sound out from the stage. Ten seconds left.

You're gonna have to claw me away from here, Delta growled to herself as she hurled a bomb at one to give herself space. And even then, I'm taking your sorry hide with me.

One player made the mistake of coming up the side of the hill with his roller. Delta was on him instantly, and he was nothing more than a puddle in three hits. She swerved around just in time to dodge the last player's shots, taking the opportunity to jump into her ink and swim up to him. She jumped back out less than a foot away from him, splatting him point blank with her own Splattershot.

YES. Delta's mind celebrated. But she didn't have time to herself; three seconds to go and she still had pink around her. Delta slammed her finger into the trigger again, rushing to cover up as much pink as she could find. Delta pressed the red button on her tank at the last second and chucked one last Burst Bomb right as time called. The center hill and the immediate area were nothing more than electric blue.

The map that showed on the ceiling's screen proved it—Delta's last push earned Entrenched the majority of the center. She looked to Judd, who had appeared at the judge's corner. He cautiously eyed each side of the stage before raising up an electric blue flag. Entrenched had won—fifty to forty percent.

Delta let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She heard her team's cheers as she collapsed in her spot, utterly exhausted. Nothing in the world beat the rush of trained aggression that she used in Turf Wars—but the trait left her dead tired after every major fight. And her vow still held true; it would still take a miracle to get her off that hill.

Meanwhile

Marie twirled the folded letter between her fingers as she turned the corner into the Square. She had hoped to catch Judd before he had to prepare for the opening Nationals match tonight, but now that Callie's disappearance was official, Marie had been held up in phone call after phone call from frantic family and friends. The hardest one to take was Callie's parents. Marie could hear their tears of worry over the phone, desperate for any sort of clue about what had happened to their baby girl. It broke Marie's hearts to say she had no idea. They wanted to come to Inkopolis to find their missing daughter, and Marie breathed a silent sigh of relief when she convinced them to stay at home and look in Calamari County. Best to search on two fronts since Callie was trying to come home when she vanished, Marie had reasoned. But in reality hosting Callie's parents in the city would have seriously hampered NSS operations, and Marie couldn't allow that—even if they had even the smallest chance of bringing her back.

But all the talk on the phone made her late for her meeting with Judd, and by the time Marie arrived he was off preparing for the match. The cat had left a note with what he had wanted to say, which was the letter Marie held in her hands. She managed to find a hidden corner behind Jelfonzo's shop to read in peace:

"Marie,

I'm so sorry to hear about Callie. You're right, this does have Octarian attack written all over it. But I'm afraid my time with the old Splatoon is up—I can't abandon my post as judge now, no matter how much I want to. Your grandfather was like a father to me, but you will have to keep searching for your assistant.

But I'm very very glad you saved the book. Inkopolis would be mere squid rings without it, and that's not just me boasting about my old job in the Great Turf War. I was in charge of translation from my old master's text until your grandfather wrote my dictation down in the Inkling language. And that's how the book you claim to have found came into being. And we won the Great Turf War with it. You can certainly win your new engagement with it.

Marie, I cannot overstate how important it is that you follow the book's guidance to the letter. Heed its words and you will never know peril. Ignore its advice and only death and destruction await you. It sounds cheesy but it couldn't be more true. You can do this, Marie. Study the book, follow it, get some recruits. Nationals should be perfect to find some exceptional squids.

I would say good luck, but if you read the book you'll realize it has nothing to do with luck.

-Judd"

Marie folded the letter back up. She figured Judd wouldn't have been able to help much, but the absolute importance Gramps' book had was new. No pressure.

"And now, we have our first match of the championship! Give it up for Entrenched, versus BRB!" Marie heard the announcer start the match. She pocketed the letter and headed into the Square. Judd was right—watching the National battles would be a good idea. When she turned the corner she found a crowd of Inklings huddled in front of Deca Tower, their eyes glued to the monitor above the lobby's entrance. Marie could see flashes of pink and electric blue onscreen as the teams already got down to work. She snuck up to the door outside Jelfonzo's shop, taking care to stay far enough away to keep herself from being noticed. Marie settled herself in to watch the match, giving her parasol an absentminded twirl. She nearly jumped when a claw touched her shoulder.

"Sorry." Crusty Sean apologized as he passed her a drink. She took it, noting its comforting warmth. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's fine." Marie took a whiff of her offered drink, recognizing coffee and a hint of cinnamon. Callie would have wanted some. "It's fine..." Marie repeated, more to herself than to Sean. "I've just been... on edge lately."

"Understandably." Sean replied, taking his claw off Marie's shoulder. "I heard about Callie."

"Yeah." Marie muttered. "Who hasn't at this point?"

"Holy carp, Marie." Sean breathed. Marie looked up to see that the prawn had ducked his head under her parasol. "You look like squit."

"Thanks." Marie glared back. Sean's beady eyes widened, quickly realizing his mistake.

"Sorry, sorry!" Sean held his claws up in surrender. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm just worried about you." Marie's sharp glare softened. Crusty Sean had become a trusted friend over the past two years—he was only trying to look out for her. Marie took a sip of the latte, figuring she'd have to find a way to placate him. Maybe if he thought he was helping, Sean would feel better.

"I really think something's wrong." Marie figured certain truths wouldn't hurt. "None of this feels right."

"Well," Sean began. "It might not be as bad as you think. Callie strikes me as the kind of squid that would hop on a vacation and forget to tell anyone."

"Yeah." Marie tiredly agreed, pulling out her shellphone. "Except she at least answers her phone when that happens." Marie tapped Callie's icon and put the phone on speaker so Sean could hear. They heard Callie's voice recording in an instant.

"Hey, it's Callie!" The recording spat back. "I'm in the middle of something SUPER important right now, so I can't come to the phone. Leave me a message or call me back once I'm done with this thing!" Marie hung up, proving her point.

"It didn't even ring." Sean commented. "Her shellphone isn't even on."

"Callie's phone is never off." Marie added, absentmindedly watching a brella player splat his opponent in a splash of blue. "She clings to that thing because of her weblog."

"Well, maybe it ran out of battery?" Sean suggested. "I can see her forgetting to charge it."

"Maybe..." Marie muttered. She knew that wasn't the case, but kept her mouth shut. A squidnapping was much more likely, but that was a secret.

"Look." Sean said, snapping Marie out of her thoughts. "Either way, you can't forget about yourself, Marie. You look like you haven't slept in days already." Marie gave a small frown. She hadn't.

"You think Callie needs your help, I get it." Sean continued. "But what Callie really needs is your judgment, and you can't have a good head on your shoulders if you don't take care of yourself."

"Yeah." Marie tensed up. Sean didn't realize how accurate he was. He had a point—Marie couldn't remember the last time she ate or even made a pun. If this kept up, she wouldn't be able to correctly navigate through the Octarian threat—especially if what Judd had said was true. "I guess a quick distraction couldn't hurt."

"There's a good idea!" Sean cracked a grin as wide as a prawn could make. "And what better opportunity than the Nationals?"

"BRB versus…Entrenched, right?" Marie asked. Sean nodded. "BRB's from your hometown, I remember them from last year…" Marie continued. "But where's Entrenched from?"

"Oh!" Sean pressed a claw to his forehead. "I know this…they're uh, Echo's Edge!"

"Echo's Edge?" Marie repeated. "Where's that?"

"It's waaaaay out there on the fringes of Inkling territory." Sean answered. "Really rural and isolated place. It was really contested during the Great Turf War, so there's a lot of military families out there—they're really big on keeping a warrior's culture. Anyways, this is the first time they've sent a team to the Nationals."

"Militant place, huh…" Marie repeated, more to herself than anyone. A squid with a martial upbringing would prove extremely useful to the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Closer examination of Entrenched's movements proved what Sean was saying—the players moved sharply, oftentimes taking the time to check corners for stealthy opponents. Marie watched an Inkling covering the center spot a splat bomb underneath her feet. Marie thought the Splattershot player was surely splatted, but an instant dive into the ink saved the player. She came away from the encounter with only a small splattering of pink on her and was instantly engaging the newly discovered threat.

"Wow," Sean sounded impressed. "I've never seen a squid react so fast."

"Well," Marie began, watching as the Entrenched player was splatted near the enemy spawn. "Her planning could use some work." Marie was right, as the untimely splat let BRB move in and take the center zone with only thirty seconds left on the clock. The player respawned, and Marie half expected her to panic. But instead the opposite happened. The Splattershot player charged back into the center with even more focus and determination than before, taking out a BRB player with ease. A dualies opponent tagged her twice in the shoulder, but it looked like the contact hardly registered with the Entrenched player as she took him down with ease.

She moved up to the center hill, but was quickly surrounded by BRB's remaining two members. She took one last hit and this time Marie thought for sure this Entrenched player was going to get splatted. But instead she got this…indignant look in her eye as she held her ground and took out the last two. In an instant.

Marie blinked, processing what she just saw. That Splattershot player single-handedly took out all four of BRB's players…in the last thirty seconds. That allowed Entrenched to reclaim turf and win the match. But those last ten moments, that last look…they were akin to a cornered Salmonid, staring down a predator and spitting in its face. And that indignant expression in her eye…

It was the look she'd been looking for.

"Well," Marie yawned, not entirely faking it. "That was fun, but I'm getting tired…"

"Understandable." Sean picked up the bait. "You should really get some rest."

"Yeah, I think I'm going to sleep now." Marie lied. "And best to leave now before the crowd turns around and notices me." Marie excused herself from the Square, ducking into an alleyway to allow time for the crowd to disperse.

There was so much work to be done.

She had found her recruit.

Hey everybody! I managed to pump out the next chapter this morning. I had wanted to split this into two chapters since it's a lot of info, but I couldn't find a place to cut it without hurting the flow or setup I had going on. I don't think all chapters are going to be this long, but we'll see what happens. I want to extend a big thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed. I really appreciate it!

I'm off to work on the next chapter,

~RisingPhoenix56