Hannah let out a whoop of joy as she rolled over an inattentive inkling, turning them into a puddle of yellow ink. They floated away to respawn, but Hannah was already moving forward, carving a swath of yellow through the sea of blue before her. She heard footsteps, and a grunt from behind her. She didn't bother turning.
"Come on, Isaac." Hannah said, slowing her charge for the briefest moment. "We're winning!"
"I'm with you!" Returned Isaac, trotting to catch up with Hannah. "Let's keep on winning, then."
Hannah grinned, spurred on by her teammate's presence. Surging forward with renewed vigor, she burst into a clearing, sliding to a halt as she swung her roller in a horizontal arc. The weight of her roller carried her to the ground, and Isaac dove over her, his Splattershot laying down a suppressing wave of ink. Righting herself, Hannah saw another enemy fighter go up in a splash of yellow. She slid past Isaac, stopping only to slap him on the shoulder. He gave a grunt of acknowledgement, and they spent a few moments claiming the area, turning its entirety yellow.
From the corner of her eye, Hannah saw a shape making ripples in the yellow as it sped towards her. Carrie emerged from the ink, brushing a tentacle out of her face as she did so. She glanced between Hannah and Isaac, and a small smile formed on her lips. Hannah couldn't help but return the smile, and with a gesture, the three of them were moving down the path towards the opposing base.
With her roller down, Hannah lead the way towards the enemy base. She had no doubt that their fourth was on the way to them, and she felt confident that they could keep their advantage with their whole team pressuring the enemies like this. Isaac went off on his own, since his shooter was the most balanced weapon on their team. Carrie followed after Hannah, her charger stabbing out far ahead of what Hannah's roller could reach. Hannah caught the occasional glance of Isaac as he moved, but for the most part, she and Carrie went on their own, trusting their teammate to take care of himself.
The pace they set led them to the opposing base in no time, and they stood just out of their range to force them to come out of their base and risk their own necks.
At least that had been the plan. It was forgotten as a thick streak of blue shot past Hannah's head. She froze like a snail in headlights as another came towards her. She would have been splatted had Carrie not yanked her out of the path, into a small cubby beside the path. Carrie shot Hannah a glance, but said nothing. Hannah cursed herself for freezing, and pressed herself against the wall, peering around the corner. She could only pull back as another blast of ink forced her back into cover.
"We're stuck." Hannah growled, resting her head against the wall. She looked at Carrie, hoping her friend would have some profound advice. "Ideas?" Carrie cocked an eyebrow at her and shrugged. "Alright…. Uh, let's make a run for it. I'll toss out a bomb, and then we go back somewhere we can defend. Here we go…"
Hannah exhaled, holding up her fist. She counted to three with her fingers, and then hurled a suction bomb down the path. She gave it just a second to prime, and then dove into the yellow at her feet, swimming back to the clearing they had claimed earlier. Hannah could feel Carrie swimming behind her, and together they fell back.
"Do you see Isaac?" Hannah asked. Not a moment later, she heard a shout of dismay and the sound of splatting. She sighed as she peered down the path Isaac had taken, and saw only a blue stain on the ground. "Splat. We need Sam."
"Speak of the devil…" Carrie said softly.
Hannah looked over her shoulder and let out a breath as Sam entered the clearing, grinning broadly. "There you are. Come on, we need to defend our turf!"
Sam opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced as Carrie burst apart in a splash of blue. Both Hannah and Sam turned as two members of the opposing team charged from their base. Hannah swung her roller in a wide arc, throwing out enough ink to splat one of them. Another took their place, and a Tentatek shooter splatted her. As she floated into the air, she watched as Sam was splatted and three members of the enemy team charged towards her base. She cursed herself again, this time for being so inattentive.
As she respawned, she could see the enemy fighters taking control of the open space before their base. Her entire body sagged as she realized that their slip up may have cost them the match. Hannah inhaled shakily and made her way towards the fight, but stopped and slid to her knees as the horn sounded. Leaning heavily on the handle of her roller, she watched as Judd appeared from seemingly nowhere, two flags in his little paws. The small cat glanced around at the gathered inklings before raising both flags. They remained in the air for a moment, and eventually, the yellow one sank. Hannah's heart sank with it. She heard a collective cry, mixing those of victory and defeat, go up from nearby. Hannah would have lent her voice to the sound, to let out frustration and sorrow, but she found that she felt neither. She was just so tired. She sagged against the handle of her roller and set her head against it. The cool metal felt good against her forehead, but did little to raise her spirit.
She sat there for a long while, content to wallow in self-pity. Other inklings brushed past her, none of them paying any heed to the fact that tears were clearly streaming down her her bleary eyes, she saw two of her teammates trudge past, their eyes fixed firmly on the ground. Hannah was certain she was the last body on the field, but was startled when an arm hooked underneath hers.
"Come on." Carrie said softly, pulling Hannah gently to her feet.
With Hannah leaning on Carrie's shoulder, dragging her roller through the ink behind her, they left the final field of their last Splatfest.
Inkley found his mouth slightly agape. "Mom was in a Splatfest? With aunt Carrie?"
"Sure was." Jet replied. "They made it through the placement matches to the final stage of the preliminaries. Got disqualified in a sudden death match."
"She's never talked about anything like that before." Inkley said, rubbing his cheek with his knuckles thoughtfully.
"I'm not surprised. She only told me that story after I started doing turf wars." Jet playfully punched Inkley's shoulder. "I lost one, and it really got me down. She sat me down and told me that story. Really put things into perspective, I guess. A cautionary tale, or something." Jet laughed, but it was a forced laugh. She remained quiet for a moment, before looking at Inkley. "Don't take this stuff too seriously." She said, though Inkley wasn't sure if Jet meant the story, or something else.
"Right." Inkley replied absently.
There was a long silence between them. Jet stuffed the last of her dinner in her mouth before standing up and taking Inkley's plate.
"Alright, squiddo." Jet said at a length, walking to the kitchen. "Time for bed. I'm thinking we can give it another go tomorrow morning, if you're up for it. Maybe we'll get lucky and catch a match with some other little squiddies like you."
"Yeah, sure." Inkley said with a nod.
"Great." Jet gave Inkley a grin. "Hit the hay, and we'll get an early start." She strode to her room, stopping before she stepped through the door. "G'night, squiddo."
"Good night."
Inkley stretched with a yawn and stood to make himself something to eat. He glanced at Jet's door, and sighed as he realized that she was still asleep. So much for an early start. He brought a bowl of cereal to the couch and turned the TV on, deciding that, on a whim, he wanted to let Jet sleep for a while longer. Inkley ate slowly, and after depositing his empty bowl in the sink, went to Jet's door and rapped a knuckle against it. From within, he heard a groan.
"Go away." Croaked Jet, eventually.
"Wake up." Inkley replied. "It's, like, eight-thirty."
Jet groaned again, but Inkley heard her move from her bed. He knew it would take her a while to get going, and figured it would be a good time to clean himself up. Gathering a change of clothes, Inkley went to the bathroom and shucked his clothing, heaping it up by the door before turning the shower on. He waited a moment before stepping in, but let out a blissful groan as the hot water washed over him. He washed himself at a leisurely pace.
He came out of his reverie when he heard pounding on the door.
"Hurry up!" Jet called. "I need to use my bathroom!"
Inkley smirked. "Your eyes are bigger than your bladder!"
"Did you just - you little squid! If that wasn't a perfect comeback, I'd run all the hot water and freeze your snarky butt!"
Perfect comebacks aside, Inkley felt he was clean enough, and he shut the water off and stepped out into the bathroom, shivering as the cold air hit him. He dressed in his new clothes and brushed his teeth before stepping out. Jet shoved past him with a groan and slammed the door behind her.
"Squid!" Jet snapped, though her voice had no anger in it.
Inkley deposited his wadded up clothing on the couch and emptied everything but his shooter and it's tank from his bag. As ready as he could be, he sat down and waited for his sister. She emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, looking refreshed and ready for the day. Jet went into her room for a moment, and came out with her charger case over her shoulder and her phone in hand, busily typing out a message.
"Ready?" Jet asked, not looking up from her phone.
"Yeah." Inkley replied, turning the TV off and standing.
"Great…" Jet drawled, finally putting her phone away. She looked at Inkley and grinned. "Alright, let's get a move on."
Jet opened the door and stepped out. Inkley followed her, stopping to wait as she locked the door. And then they set out towards the plaza.
The trip was dull. They walked in relative silence to the nearest train station and boarded the first train to the plaza. It was fairly busy, forcing them siblings to share a seat. Inkley stared out the window for most of the ride, but occasionally glanced at Jet. She spent the majority of the ride on her phone, and Inkley found himself somewhat suspicious of her.
The train eventually came to a halt, with a voice coming over the speakers to announce their arrival at Inkopolis Plaza. As usual, a several dozen inklings of all ages milled about the area, chatting or gazing at the windows of the shops. Jet crammed a hand into her pocket, and Inkley frowned at her.
"Don't say it." Inkley said. "I'm not thirsty, and you're just gonna go yell at a fish."
"I already said that-" Jet stopped mid-sentence, sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Never mind. I'm not going to talk to them. Just…" Jet waved dismissively. "Go sit down somewhere, or something."
Jet seemed to be done with Inkley, and she walked past him, scanning the crowd for someone or something. Inkley sighed as she went, and turned away, looking for somewhere to seat himself. The balcony to the dojo was empty, save for a single inkling who seemed to be waiting for someone. Settling on that, Inkley hefted his bag and made his way through the crowd, ascending the ramp and stopping at the very edge of the balcony. He set his bag down and leaned on the railing, strangely satisfied with the view from just above the crowd.
Inkley spent a moment enjoying the view, and seated himself on the edge of the balcony, sticking his head underneath the railing. He looked out at the crowd for a while, busying himself by trying to pick out Jet amongst the sea of heads and tentacles. He had no luck, but managed to distract himself long enough for someone to approach him from behind. He didn't bother turning to look.
"Hey." Inkley said after a moment.
"Hey, kid." Came the response, though it wasn't the voice Inkley had expected.
"Luma?" Inkley asked, twisting his head around to look at her.
"Yeah." Luma replied, her voice making the stupidity of Inkley's question obvious. She unslung her bag from her shoulders and set it down, seating herself beside Inkley. "Haven't heard from you in a while."
"I haven't heard from you either." Inkley replied hesitantly.
"I tried messaging you yesterday." Luma said, giving Inkley a sidelong glance.
Inkley felt his cheeks flush, and he laughed nervously. "I wasn't home yesterday. I was with my sister. I might have left my computer on."
There was a long silence, and Inkley was briefly afraid that Luma was upset with him. His fear was dispelled as she shook her head and laughed a melodical laugh that made Inkley genuinely laugh with her.
"Nice." Luma said eventually. There was another silence, but Inkley felt far less tense than during the last one. "So what're you doing out here?"
"I'm actually still out with my sister." Inkley admitted sheepishly. "We were gonna do some turf wars."
"Oh." Luma said. "Well-"
"Inkleeeeeeeey!"
Inkley put his face in his hands as two pairs of footsteps drew closer. He already knew the owner of one, and was willing to bet his tentacles on the owner of the other pair. He pulled himself up on the railing, and turned to face Jet and Synthia as they came up the ramp. Inkley noted that Synthia had her bag with her.
"Look who I found, Squirt!" Jet said, nudging Synthia with her elbow. "Synth's gonna be joining us today." Glancing at Luma, Jet grinned. "Guess you found a friend, too. Luma, right? I'm Inkley's sister, Jet. And this is Synthia." She nudged her friend's side again.
"Hey." Luma said coolly as she stood.
Both Jet and Synthia gave Inkley knowing grins, and he felt a pit grow in his stomach. Luma shouldered her bag, and looked as though she was about to say something, but remained quiet.
"Y'know, Luma," Jet began lazily, "we were just about to start a day of turf war. Finding matches with just the three of us would be kind of weird." Inkley immediately knew where Jet's train of thought was going, and wasn't sure if he was more thrilled or terrified. "We could use a fourth, if you're not busy."
Luma looked as though she spent a long moment contemplating the offer before giving a shrug. "Sure. Got nothing better to do."
Inkley had the tiniest suspicion that maybe, just maybe, she didn't really need to think about the answer, but immediately discarded the thought. Luma was a creature of whim and confusion. And that sent a shiver up his spine.