"A team of two is generally frowned upon by the turf wars community." Callie started the two person team class with, "As there's many disadvantages to be had with two less people."

Marie continued her cousin's thought, "For instance: less firepower, diversity of weapons, ground able to be covered, flanking people will catch you off guard, the list is almost endless. But there's several advantages that the two person team does have. They can spend a lot more time in compact, two person stratagems and can normally pick off members of a group of four that are falling behind. Teams of two kill quick and move quicker, they choose their fights and should never be caught out in the open. In a one on one duel, the two person team member will always outclass the four person team member because the later focuses more on working together as a team instead of their individual skill."

Callie rounded off their intro nicely, "We're here to break that style of individual skill. A team of two should be the better team in general due to its compact skills. We're going to teach you how to be a team of two, not two people on a team." Callie grinned warmly, showcasing her sharp teeth, "It helps that Marie and I played the exact same way before we started our singing careers."

"What weapons did you use? Celine asked.

"I used the splattershot, as did Callie," Marie told her, "we both felt that the splattershot was the most balanced weapon. From what I can tell, you think the same way, Celine."

"Yeah, it just always felt right. I really could never get int-"

Jace felt that it was the time to actually start the lesson and interrupted his friend, "So what will we be doing today to start off the class?" He asked the two teachers. Callie's previously warm grin turned a little violent as she told Jace the plans for that day.

"Well, we're going to start with a small skill assessment. You two are going to battle the two of us."

Jace's blood ran cold, "The two of you? But you're the teachers, you're so much better than us."

"But we need to figure out how good you are as a team." Marie said, "We'll go to the other end of the platform and yell out the word 'begin', then we'll see who wins." It was clear from her tone that she expected Jace and Celine to get destroyed quickly. Maybe, Jace thought, we can use that to our advantage.

Celine looked as ready as ever, she pulled out her own splattershot, "don't go easy on us."

"We don't plan to."

The squid sisters walked away. Celine looked to Jace, "You're the one who always came up with the good ideas, so what are you thinking right now." Jace's mind was racing full time trying to contemplate the Squid Sister's effectiveness in a two person battle, the only problem was that he had never tried to pick out a strategy for a two person battle, there was always four people to a team.

"They've been together for a very long time, so they'll definitely stick together to try and cover all angles that could be a weakness. They're superior to us in every skill, so we need to maneuver them into an area that we can use to our advantage. I saw an alley to the right side of this platform that could do. We can set up my splat wall at one end and force them in another, that's when you can use your bombs to finish them."

He pulled out his .52 Gal, "But we need to lure them in so-"

"Begin..." Came Callie's voice, faint with distance.

"follow me, Celine."

They rushed off to the right side of the map and Jace pulled out a compact box on their way. They ran to the alley he had specified earlier and he blocked off one of the ends with his splat wall. He painted ink up the wall to their right, and they swam up it to go on top of the roof. From there they had a perfect view of the entire platform, and the Squid Sisters.

They were moving from cover to cover on the complete other side of the map, oblivious to Jace and Celine watching them. As they watched, Callie motioned to Marie and Marie swung around a corner, firing twice before realizing there was nobody there. She turned back to Callie and bonked her on the head, Callie made a negative gesture and Marie put a palm to her head and walked down the alleyway that she had just somewhat sprayed.

"So how are we going to lead them here?" Celine asked.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Jace replied, "We could try to have one of us be bait, but that would be risky and if they catch the person then it would be a one versus two game."

"Do you have your Killer Wail charged, Jace?" Celine said, "we could make them run from us instead of running after us."

Jace looked at Celine with newfound respect, "That's... a good idea. Let's do it. Once we get them in this alley, there's nowhere for them to run. We keep them pinned down while you throw bombs."

"Good. Let's go."

They ran off the edge of the building and jumped, reaching a second rooftop and rolling as they hit it. Their momentum kept going and Jace silently thanked the instructor he was about to beat at her own game. They continued hopping from building to building finally slowing down when Jace estimated that they were getting close to the two Squid Sisters.

Jace crawled to the edge of the building, listening carefully. Rewarding his efforts was the sound of the Squid Sisters discussing tactics on how to flush him and Celine out. He smiled grimly, then crawled back to Celine.

"They're down there." Jace whispered, fingering the trigger of his .52 gal.

"Great, use your wail to force them back once I'm ready with my own barrage. Maybe we can take them out here, that would save the trouble." Celine brought around her own splattershot and looked eager to use it against their teachers.

Jace put up a hand on Celine's shoulder in warning, "Just make sure that you don't get too stretched out. If you get splatted then we're both done for."

"I'm fine, Jace."

"Good, get into position."

When Celine had gotten into her position and gave Jace the thumbs up, Jace sent a thumb back and crawled along the building. The two Squid Sisters were still discussing the ways to get Jace and Celine filled so full of paint they'll swell up like a balloon. Jace got his Killer Wail out and waited for the opportune time to activate it. This came when Callie paused for a moment to listen for something.

"Hey, Callie." Jace called out, "Have fun with this little surprise!" He activated the Killer Wail as Callie and Marie looked up. They both yelled and dodged out and away from the blast as it was fired. They missed by the corners of their shoes and started running away from Jace, who started taking careful shots at them with his .52 Gal. The paint blasts were right behind them the whole way down the alley and they were finally getting out of range when...

"Sup!" Celine shot out from her corner, splattershot launching a deadly salvo.

Callie and Marie skidded on their heels and rushed to the right, firing behind them wildly.

Celine followed them on the ground while Jace stayed on the roofs, always maneuvering himself to guide them in the direction of their trap.

More than one bit of ink actually hit the Squid Sisters while they ran, but it was never enough to do lasting damage. They also fired back at Jace and Celine, and more than once Jace had to pressure the Squid Sisters with his own gun so Celine could wipe off the ink they shot at her.

It took careful procedure, but Callie and Marie ran down the alleyway Jace had set his splat wall up in.

Celine cornered them in and they started firing on her, forcing Celine to take cover. Jace sprayed a line up the side of an adjacent building and swam up. Once on top he started firing down on the Squid sisters, out of range of their splattershots, but definitely using gravity to help his own blasts fly straight.

Jace unloaded his whole tank of ink into that alley, but the Sisters dodged every blast and covered the areas he had shot with their own ink. Their movement was awe inspiring. He was forced to dive back into his ink to reload faster and Callie pressured Celine to take cover again.

By the time Jace and Celine were able to look again, Callie and Marie had both vanished. Jace called out to Celine, "Bombs away, Celine!" and she started lobbing every bomb she had into the alley. The bombs completely covered any portion of ink Callie and Marie would have to move in on the ground, but they weren't on the ground.

They had moved into the walls.

Callie popped out of squid form to shoot a ink splotch onto the wall opposite of her. She jumped across the gap to that ink splotch with Marie right behind her, splatterhopping her way to the other wall.

Jace opened fire.

Callie and Marie jumped away before getting hit by the ink, moving farther up the wall. They kept splatterhopping the whole way up the wall until they came out right in front of Jace, who was reloading.

"Oh crap." He said before getting a face full of ink.

Jace raised his hands in surrender as he felt the ink splatter all over him. "I'm done. Callie, Marie, you got me."

They kept firing, laughing while doing so. And once Jace was completely caked with ink, they moved onto Celine, who was still looking for them in the alley.

Celine was a beautiful shade of orange by the time she made it to the roof of the building Jace was on.

"Did you really not stop when I surrendered?" Celine asked Callie, somewhat annoyed.

"Yes, yes we did."

Celine sighed. "All right, how did we do?"

Callie looked at Marie, who whispered a little something in Callie's ear. She nodded and whispered something back. Then addressed Jace and Celine.

"That trick would have worked on ninety nine percent of people. You would have beat nearly every other two person team, and more than a few four people teams. But there's a few things you could work on. For one thing, you used way too much ink when trying to get us. Those reloads completely killed you. Also, use the bombs earlier, bombs can be good cover and can force the enemies to show themselves even if they survive."

The list went on and on, helping take up a decent portion of the class, with the last portion taken up by Jace and Celine trying to wipe off the ink. Marie gave Jace and Celine homework, and off they went back to the pipe. As Jace went up the pipe back to the surface of Inkopolis, he glanced back at the academy, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a shadow flit out of his vision.

"What was that?" He mumbled, pulling out his .52 Gal from the strap around his back. He pointed his gun where he saw the shadow. And, deciding it was nothing, he put it away and went up the pipe.

The shadow followed.