Chapter 4 Splatoon: Sploon Squad
"Are you ready, kiddies?" Rider yelled from all the way from the other side of the map. He was wearing a white leather jacket, and sunglasses that hid his eyes rather well.
"You bet, Rider!" Sunny replied. The battle for pride begins in three... two... one... GO! The three Inklings ran forward, cautiously. Rider, on the other hand, shot forward like a rocket, meeting up with the three Inklings in no time. Rider then immediately fired his Hero Shot, splatting Sunny right off the bat. Beanie and Toughie instinctively split up, trying to flack Rider's current position. Rider simply jumped backwards, back flipping away from the incoming blasts. Rider than shot at Toughie's position, distracting him long enough for Rider to run up to him and splat him. Beanie transformed into his squid form, before swimming away from Rider.
Rider noticed as he then gave chase. But his chase was interrupted when Sunny dropped right in front of him from a platform, revived by the respawn point. Rider's reaction time wasn't quick enough to stop Sunny from drop-kicking him. Fortunately, for Rider, the drop kick wasn't a heavy one and he recovered rather quickly. He then aimed his Hero Shot at Sunny, and fired. Sunny transformed and swam away, just barely missing the shots from Rider. In frustration, Rider gave chase to Sunny, as he saw him turn a corner. But when Rider revealed himself from the corner, Sunny revealed his weapon. A large paint brush, with ink-tipped bristles! Sunny then swung his brush, back and forth, spraying ink in front of him. But the brush could spray ink far enough. Rider caught on quickly, and fired his Hero Shot. The shots hit their mark, splatting Sunny. Rider then fired ink to his left, creating a trail for him to swim in.
The trail ended at the bottom of a tall platform. Rider shot some ink at the wall, before swimming up the wall, landing himself at the top of the platform. Rider now had a full view of the entire map. He managed to spot Toughie with a roller, creating a long, thick trail of ink behind him. Now Rider had no long ranged charger, but he saw that Toughie was getting closer. And best of all, Toughie had failed to notice Rider on the tall platform, as he was to focused on inking the ground. Rider then prepared to fire, as Toughie got closer and closer.
But unbeknownst to Rider, Beanie had snuck up from behind, with his Slosher at the ready. Rider was far too focused on Toughie to look behind him. Beanie readied his Slosher to send a big splash of ink at Rider's direction. He inches forward, pulling his Slosher as far as he could and... Rider aims his Hero Shot over his shoulder, firing behind him, and splatting Beanie. Toughie heard the sound of splatting and looked up to see Rider right above him. But before he could do anything, Rider jumped from the platform and fired his Hero Shot, splatting Toughie instantly.
Back at spawn, Beanie was so shocked that he couldn't move. When Toughie returned, he immediately super jumped to where Sunny was located. And that location was very close to Rider.
"Hey, did you see what happened to Beanie?" Sunny asked.
"Not exactly, If you couldn't tell, I got myself splatted." Toughie replied. Sunny simply sighed heavily.
"He aimed and shot over his shoulder, and splatted Beanie without looking." Sunny said, fighting through some heavy breaths.
"You serious!?" Toughie cried out. "That's actually not possible in the slightest in the game! You sure you're not pulling my leg?"
"Oh he's not pulling any legs today," said a voice. Sunny and Toughie look up, shocked at the sight of Rider standing on a platform above them.
"Rider! How did you find us so quickly? The game shouldn't allow that!" Toughie barked. Rider simply chuckled.
"Like I care. If you must know, I saw you two super jump to this area." Rider stated, "Besides, did you really think that I wouldn't have noticed with you lack of subtly? How are supposed to make secret plans then?" Toughie raised his roller, clearly trying to send it crashing down on Rider. But unfortunately for Toughie, all Rider had to do was sidestep to his left, Toughie's right, and fire a volley of ink, straight for Toughie's body. It didn't take too long for Toughie to be splatted. Sunny then raised his Inkbrush like a sword, a pose that Rider simply laughed at.
"Ha ha ha! What are trying to be?" Sunny answered with surprisingly fast charge, but Rider simply shot a small volley at the ground, slowing Sunny down to a grinding halt.
"AHHH, COME ON!" Sunny exclaimed.
"You really thought that I wouldn't know the weakness of the Inkbrush?" Rider taunted, "A weapon that's best optimized as an ambush weapon?" Rider then chuckled. "Face it, kid." Rider said, "You and me, we're just on completely different levels. You know, I actually thought about playing along with you guys in some boring Turf Wars out of pity. But looking at you now, I quickly realized that that would be a big mistake." Sunny then chuckled, much to the confusion of Rider. "What?" Rider asked, "What so funny?"
"You know, I just remembered the bet we agreed on, don't you?" Sunny asked, "You use any other weapon that isn't your Hero-shot and it's game over for you. And that comment about mistakes, well, I'm gonna take that as a compliment." Rider aimed his Hero-shot at Sunny's face.
"Are you sure all the lights are on upstairs?" Rider asked, inciting a chuckle from Sunny.
"Oh yeah, they are all on! Remember, it only takes one slip up for everything to go south. And if you really think teaming up with us is a mistake, then we better teach you some lessons!" Rider's face held a mixture of confusion and irritation, before immediately replacing them with shock, as out of nowhere, both Beanie and Toughie start splashing ink everywhere, freeing Sunny and distracting Rider.
"WHAT!?" Rider blurted out, before managing to dodge the shots of ink, leaving the two Inklings wide open. "HAH! YOU'RE ALL OPEN NOW!" Rider yelled, with a wicked smile on his face, but suddenly,
"DID YOU REALLY FORGET ABOUT ME!?" Sunny yelled, with his Inkbrush raised like a sword, ready to slash down at Rider. Rider's instincts kicked into high gear, as he managed to dodge all the ink from that brush and the brush itself. But then, Rider's instincts made a grave error. Instead of firing his Hero-shot, he reached for something else. A large water balloon filled with ink was thrown. Before the realization could sink in for Rider, Sunny then zipped forward, right in front of Rider, and with three simple swipes from his brush, splatted Rider and ending the prideful battle in a victory for the three young Inklings.
"YEAH!" Sunny yelled in celebration, pumping his fists into the air. Beanie joined in the celebration while Toughie clenching his fists in victory. In their celebration, they completely ignore Rider, and his seething rage. The face that Rider held was one that would wet the pants of most Inklings. It just seems that Sunny, Beanie, and Toughie are the minority. In fact, it actually seemed to entertain them.
"Oh man, look at that face!" Toughie exclaimed, laughing as he pointed at Rider. This did nothing to calm Rider down, as he slowly clenched his fists and his face contorted more and more.
"You better watch that mouth of yours before I kick you sorry butt here and now!" Rider threatened. But then, Rider was then greeted by a wagging finger from Beanie.
"Nuh uh uh." Beanie said, smiling. "Remember our bet?" At this point, Rider was growling, as his anger started to physically heat up his body.
"If you use any weapon other than your Hero-shot, you have to join our team." Sunny cut in. For a split second, the moment he saw Sunny's smug look, his rage spiked. He clenched his fists harder and harder, and he was holding back a serious knuckle sandwich. But then, his anger started to dissipate. He took several deep breaths and he started to calm down.
"Fine, I'll join your team, but you owe me a big one!" Rider growled, "You better not forget it!"
"Oh don't worry, Rider." Sunny replied. "We're not done showing all our little tricks."
"Meet me at the Plaza tomorrow, 1:00. That's noon, in case you don't know." Rider stated. "Deal?"
"Deal." Toughie replied. And with those words, Rider immediately super jumped away, leaving the three, young Inklings behind. The three of them looked on before super jumping away from Blackbelly Skatepark, heading straight for their homes. With no need for any goodbyes from any of them, they all knew that the battle for pride was far from over, and all three of them will have to prepare for the next day.