Basil found herself standing in front of the battle lobby. Her heart was beating fast with the excitement of it all as she realized she was finally going to get into a turf war battle.

She took a deep breath and glanced around for the refs that usually stood around to keep underage squids from getting in and only saw one nodding off near the entrance. So, she stepped towards the door watching with awe as it slid open for her to step inside, not disturbing the ref at all. She stepped inside, the place lighting up brightly as the door closed once more. Before her on the screen appeared multiple options for gameplay, and she slowly reached out a slightly trembling hand to hit turf war.

The screen told her to wait for other players, and she tapped her foot a little impatiently. What if Sam came back when she was gone? Why was this taking so long?

Then suddenly, in the blink of an eye she wasn't in the lobby anymore. She found herself standing on a spawn point in bright sunlight besides three other full grown inklings, a basic gun in her hand. The other three didn't seem to notice the underage inkling with them, all of them too busy focusing to win.

A voice counted down from 3 to 1, then everyone was off. She watched the others start inking turf and swimming off which she had zero idea how to do. She looked at her gun, before pulling the trigger and jumping a little when it actually shot ink. She squeaked a little, before she shot it again in an attempt to get used to it. As soon as she was sure she could handle it, she took off at a run in the direction of her teammates.

It was exhilarating, hearing the popping of the guns and her teammates yelling commands left and right. She ran to the center, and quickly realized it wasn't her smartest idea when she found herself face to face with someone from the enemy team. She wasted no time pointing an Aerospray MG at her, and firing.

Everything went black, and she felt her form dissipate. It wasn't a very pleasant feeling, nor was it totally unpleasant. It was just….weird. It made her brain feel weird.

She then appeared back on the spawn in the bright sunlight, but now it felt too bright. Everything was unbearably noisy. She was holding something in her hands, and she had no idea what it was. She had no idea where she was.

She had no idea what was going on.

She dropped the gun in her hand, and stumbled back off the spawn into a nearby corner holding her throbbing head. "Wh…What…" She whined, sliding to the ground in the green ink beneath her. Why was there ink?

She stayed there for a few minutes, trying desperately to figure out where she was, and what she was doing. She only looked up when she heard footsteps coming towards her, and she looked up to see a rather tall inkling with a pink bun and a large silver gun in her hand staring down at her with piercing gray eyes. She pointed the weapon at her, walking up to her to keep her in that corner so she could splat her before she just paused, and lowered her weapon.

"...hey, how'd a kid get in here? You okay?" She asked, getting a concerned look on her face.

She didn't know how to respond, so she just whined a little. She was too loud, her gun was too shiny.

The girl turned, waving her hands frantically. "REF!" She yelled as loud as she could to grab the attention of one of the inklings patrolling the arena. "THERE'S A KID IN HERE!"

Once the referee spotted them, he grabbed a radio from his hip to call the game to a stop and hopped down into the arena, swimming over to the two.

"…she was just sitting here, ref." The older inkling said.

The ref kneeled to be eye level with her. "…hey," He said as gently as he could. "…what's your name?"

What.…

What was her name?

She didn't even know it. It was just…gone. She shook her head quickly. "N-No…"

"…no?" The referee asked, creeping just a tiny bit closer. "…come on, I'm sure your mom and dad are wondering where you are. We need to get you out of here." He said, and reached out for her.

The moment he did that, she quickly shook her head and backed up to the other wall. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She needed out. She did something she couldn't quite explain. She was suddenly flying through the air out of the arena, and back to a simple back alley in some…plaza where she decided to stay for now, so no one could find her and scare her more.

Sam sighed as he walked out of the battle lobby. He'd won a few games, and he had just a little more money in his pocket. Enough for dinner tonight at least, and maybe a little lunch tomorrow.

He walked towards the little café he left his sisters at, shoving his hands in his pockets to keep them warm against the sharp cold wind. He stepped inside, nodding to the cashier at the counter before ducking into the very back. He spotted the booth he left them at, but it became very quickly apparent that something was wrong.

Basil was gone.

He hurried over, quickly shaking Olive awake. "-Olive, Olive. Where's Basil?"

"Huh.…?" She muttered, trying to sit up in the booth without hitting her head on the table.

"Where's Basil? Where did she go?!"

"I-I don't know…I was asleep." Olive muttered, rubbing her eyes.

"...fuck. Shit. Okay." He said, grabbing Basil's backpack from the booth and his own. "Get your jacket on, and your backpack we gotta go talk to some people."

She sleepily nodded, pulling her stinky jacket on and getting her backpack on as well before taking Sam's hand and hurrying to the café counter. "-uh, ma'am?"

"Oh, hi, can I help you?"

"Yes did you see a…a girl she was…maybe 11 or 12, green, head out there?" He said, pointing to the door.

"…well…yeah I think so. Are you looking for her?"

"Yes, I-I think she ran off. Thank you." He said quickly, rushing towards the door with Olive in tow.

His next stop was the battle lobby to see the ref currently watching for young kids trying to sneak in. His worry doubled when he came in to see the guy nodding off.

"Hey!" He shouted, reaching out to shake him awake. "What are you doing sleeping?!"

The inkling jumped awake, and shoved Sam's hand off his shoulder. "-hey watch it kid. What are you yelling about?"

"Did you see an inkling girl, like 11 or 12 come through here? Green?" Sam asked him.

The referee kind of paused, and shook his head. "I don't think so. You missin' a kid?"

"Yeah, she's my sister. I think she came through here."

"…ehh hang on I'll ask." He said, picking up a radio from his side and turning away from Sam to speak to someone. Sam watched his face go from sleepy and annoyed to alarmed.

"...you're kiddin' me." He said. "…well…I got a kid here lookin' for his baby sister. About like that."

There was a long pause, before the referee turned. "…we better go see security, kid. C'mon."

Sam's stomach sank, but he followed the referee nonetheless. "…sir, what happened?" He asked as they walked over to a small office off to the side where various referee and security personnel seemed to work.

"There was an accident with what I'm pretty sure was your sister. Some young kid got into the war got splatted, said she couldn't remember anythin' and ran off." He said as he opened the door for him, ushering him inside.

The warmth of the office hit him as they walked in the door, but it only made him feel more nauseous. The referee took them to one of the officers office, and sat them both down in chairs across from the desk, Olive immediately crawling into his lap. The officer explained just about the same thing that the referee did, "We promise we're looking everywhere for her. Right now we're gonna need to talk to your parents."

Sam tried hard not to let his face fall too much. "U-Uh…i-if you're absolutely sure."

".…yeah I'm pretty sure." The officer said, giving him an odd look. "What's your address? We'll take you both home."

Sam paused, his eyes darting around the office as he tried to think of a way out of this. He knew the parents would kill him if he brought cops to the house, but what choice did he have?

".…42 Wallaby way." He choked out.

"…you're pretty far from home." The officer said, standing up. "…come on, we'll get you back while we look for your sister."

As he stood and followed the officer, Oliver looked up at him. "…Sam…" She whispered, sounding as nervous as he felt.

".…I..I know." He whispered, climbing in the back of the officer's car with her, holding her in his lap. He shut the door, and while he waited for the officer to walk around the car to the driver's seat he turned Olive towards him. "When we get home, run up to your room and don't come out until I come get you. No matter what you hear, you got me?" He said.

"…y…yeah." She whispered. "…are they gonna kill you?"

".…I don't know Olive. Just…go to your room when we get home."

She nodded, and moved to hug him as tightly as she could. For all she knew, this was the last time she'd ever see him.

Sam couldn't shake the feeling he was a dead man walking as he followed the officer to the door and watched him ring the doorbell. He heard the sound of the door unlocking, and he looked up to see his dad standing in the doorway. Sam put Olive down, silently urging her to slip through the door and run upstairs.

"Hello, Mr. Osa?" The officer said, distracting Sam's dad from stopping Olive as she ran upstairs like Sam told her.

"…yes, that's me." He said, reaching out to pull Sam in the door. "What's going on?"

"There was an accident at Inkopolis square." He explained. "…your son was was just doing a few battles when his sister…Basil…?"

Sam nodded, biting his lip. "…yeah, basil."

"When Basil managed to slip in to a battle. There was an accident with the respawn and she seemed to have amnesia. She ran off, she's been missing since."

Mr. Osa paused, and looked down at Sam. "…go sit down in the kitchen." He said very grimly. Sam quickly nodded, and disappeared into the house.

"We're looking for her now, and we'll let you know as soon we have any information."

"...thank you very much officer." He said. "…here's my phone number, give us a call if you find her. I think I need to go talk to my son."

"Alright, we will." He said.

Sam stared at the countertop as he heard the door close and lock. He heard his dad open the blinds, and it was quiet until the cop pulled away and drove down the road. The blinds closed, his dad called for his mom before he came into the kitchen. He grabbed Sam by the collar of his shirt, yanking him up to be eye level with him.

"What the hell were you thinking going to the square?!" He yelled, shaking him slightly.

"I-I…I was…I-I was-"

"What?! Playing those stupid games?!" He yelled, pushing Sam against the counter, making him yelp as his spine was pushed against the edge. "You were supposed to go to school, and come back. You go to the square and bring a COP HERE?!" He slammed him against the counter again, making him hiss in pain. "Now they're gonna be up our asses with your sister missing!"

"I-I'm s-sorry I w-was…I was t-trying to make s-some extra cash f-for food-" Sam yelped, looking up at his dad with wide and terrified eyes.

"We provide for you just fine." His dad hissed, throwing him to the ground, watching him crash into the dining table chairs. "You ungrateful shithead."

Sam didn't say anything, he stayed on the floor, holding his head a little. He was almost a little thankful when he heard his mother walk into the room, "John what the hell are you doing?" She asked, sounding annoyed and tired.

"Sam's got the fuckin' cops on our asses. Basil went missing, because they were at inkopolis square."

Sam glanced up just enough to see his mother's expression, and it wasn't a nice one. She glared at him with piercing red eyes as she walked over to a kitchen drawer and yanked out one of the knives. "…maybe we should just take care of him John." She said coldly.

"-we can't the cops are going to notice!" His dad said quickly. "Just let me beat the shit out of him, he'll learn."

Sam looked up at them with wide eyes, trying to scoot away from the kitchen while they were arguing. He was halfway to the door when his mother finally noticed. "-oh no the fuck you don't." She hissed, walking over to him and stomping on his ankle to hold him in place. She got down on her knees, grabbing Sam by the throat and picking him up off the ground, raising the knife over her head.

He managed to just jerk his way just barely out of her grip before she brought it down. He felt a white hot pain as the knife sliced through his cheek, from cheekbone through his lips. He didn't even have time to fully react to it. He jerked himself fully out of her grasp and scrambled to his feet and made a mad dash for the door and ripped it open.

"-don't bother coming back!" He heard his mother yell as he dashed into the yard, stumbling on a messed up ankle. "If you come back here I'll kill you for sure this time!" He heard a knife land in the grass next to him, and the door slam shut.

Then…he was alone in the bitter cold with nothing but the clothes on his back, and a knife by his feet, and nowhere to go.