Chapter 13

Turf War…Port Mackerel…Cirrina Squad

"Careful…I heard these guys are tough." Silvia warned.

"We can beat 'em." Sarah boasted.

"H-hopefully…" Octim said. "We've done well so far."

"Tim, all you've done the past couple matches was ink turf until you could get your specials charged while avoiding anyone unless you had a Splashdown." Sylvia pointed out.

"Well…it's just…" He tried explaining.

"It's fine, Tim." Sarah said. "Like we said, if you need to back out, you can."

"I'll be fine." Tim assured them.

"Well, be ready." Guyver said. "Because soon the match will-"

Ready…Go!

They quickly split up to ink turf. Sarah and Guyver went to the sides while Sylvia and Octim went down the middle, Octim lagging behind to ink spots they missed.

Soon enough, both Sarah and Guyver activated their Inkjets to gain more ground while Sylvia activated her Tenta Missiles. All seemed to be going well until a charger shot splatted Guyver while he was in air and many of the spots Sarah inked while using her Inkjet were quickly covered by the enemy. Her special ran out and she was sent back to where she took off only to be splatted by a brush on landing.

"Clam it!" Sarah shouted as her ghost flew off. "Why does it show everyone where you took off?! They always wait for you to come back!"

"Calm down, sweetheart." Guyver said, not far from spawn. "The match just started."

After about a minute, things still weren't looking good. Sylvia, Guyver, and Sarah were back around spawn while Octim was far out and being hunted down. None looked too excited.

"Come on guys!" Sarah shouted. "We can pull through! We just need motivation!"

"If we win, I'll buy everyone the best stuff at the Crust Bucket." Sylvia said.

"If we win, we'll all try out whatever you called that group of yours, Sylvia." Guyver said.

"If we win, I'll go without Goggles." Octim said over the comms.

"This won't work." Guyver sighed. "I don't feel any more motivated."

"…If we win," Sarah thought of something. "…I'll let you get to second base!"

"We can't give up now! Onward!" Guyver rushed out of spawn, only to get splatter by Nine's brush.

"Heeheehee!" She giggled before running off.

"…Okay, is it me, or does she kinda look like me?" Sarah said. "I mean, my haircut, my tan, the brush…if she has the same eyes, I'm out of here."

"Maybe she's your evil doppleganger." Sylvia suggested. "That's the military term, anyway."

"That is not a military term." Sarah glared at Sylvia.

"It could be..." Sylvia reasoned.

"Well…Whatever she is, we have to move now." Sarah rushed out.

Far out on the other side of the arena, Octim was inking turf fairly close to the enemy spawn. He expected to be relatively alone while the other team focused on pushing forward, but One was on his tail.

"Ssssstay ssssstill!" One shouted.

"Stop that lisp thing!" Tim shouted. "It's creepy!"

"Turn around and fight!" One growled.

"I can't!" Tim kept going.

"Why not?" One tilted his head.

"Because…" Tim was trying to come up with something.

"If you don't fight, you'll get splatted." One said. "You'll let your team down."

"I-I have reasons…that I can't tell you about…" Octim told him.

"There alwaysss comesss a time…" One said, turning the corner. "You can't run and hide forever. You have to ssssstand up sssometime."

…

"It'ssss Now or Never." One told him. "Do or Die…"

Tim thought about it for a second…

"…A-alright." Tim turned around. "I-I'll fight you then."

"Sssshow me what you've got, little man." He aimed his Splattershot.

Octim charged forward, firing his own Splattershot. One charged forward as well. Each dodged each other's shots until Tim got hit. One was about to finish him off until Tim remembered he had his Splashdown charged. He jumped up and slammed down, splatting One.

"Hehehe…nice one…" He admitted as he flew off.

*Splat*

Octim flew back to spawn after Seven's charger hit him.

"But you've still got a long way to go." One remarked.

Tim landed back at spawn, but more determined now.

The team made one last push. It was all or nothing. They managed to splat Nine and Six and ink their turf. One and Seven managed to splat Sylvia and Guyver and ink some Turf back before getting splatted themselves. Octim would get splatted by Six's Aerospray while Sarah ran past him to ink around their spawn before getting splatted by the rest of the enemy team. Both teams worked hard to stay ahead.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Game!

The results were in!

"Meow (and the winner is…)." Judd was eying the map. "Meow (It's closer than expected, but…)."

"Meow (…Toxic Mist!)!" Li'l Judd announced.

The crowd cheered for the winners and applauded the losing team for their effort.

"Well, we lost…" Sylvia said.

"But hey, we did better than I thought we would." Octim pointed out.

"Yeah!" Sarah agreed. "Next year, we'll win for sure!"

"Well, guess we won't be getting Crusty Seans's, we won't be joining Sylvia's group, Tim will keep his goggles on," Guyver listed their winning promises. "And I won't get to second base."

"Guyver, we're 14." Sarah reminded him. "Wait a few years and I might actually have something worth looking at."

"Sarah!" Guyver grabbed her looked her right in the eye. "Are you implying that what I'm looking at right now isn't worth looking at?!"

Sarah blushed.

"Because I can look at it all day." He pulled her in for a kiss. "…as well as smooch it."

Sarah started giggling uncontrollably.

"You know what?" Sylvia said. "Even though we didn't win, I'll still buy Crusty Sean's. Soldiers can't practice for next year on an empty stomach!"

"And I guess we can meet some of the people from your group since Denise seemed nice." Sarah admitted.

"I-I don't think I'm ready for my winning promise…" Octim said.

"That's fine." Sarah assured him. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Well, I guess we better head out now." Guyver said.

Then Sarah's phone buzzed.

"Who is it?" Octim asked.

"A-a friend from work." Sarah said. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

Sarah then left as the rest of her team went down to the exit. Guyver split off to use the restroom, leaving Sylvia with Octim.

"I wonder where Sarah went." Tim wondered.

"I think I might know…" Sylvia mumbled to herself.

"Where?" Octim heard her.

"Uh…I really shouldn't say." She said. "I promised I wouldn't.

"Come on." Tm whined. "Please?"

"Hey, you have a secret, so I get to keep a secret." Sylvia asserted.

…

"…W-what if I did my winning promise?" Tim said. "A-a secret for a secret."

Sylvia's eyes widened.

"Okay." She agreed.

Tim pulled her to an empty room.

"What's Sarah's secret?" Tim asked.

"...She's part of a secret organization that protects Inkopolis from threats." Sylvia told him. "The New Squidbeak Splatoon. They actually fight bad guys! It sounds so cool and I wish I was a member!"

"Woah…" Tim was speechless.

"Your turn!" Sylvia told him.

"…O-okay…" Tim said. "Just…promise me you won't hate me."

"Why would I?" Sylvia was confused.

"Mom said if people saw my eyes, they wouldn't like me…" He explained.

"But aren't there other Octolings here too?" She was more confused.

"Sh-She said even around them…" He added.

"Hey," She grabbed his shoulder. "I promise…"

"Okay…here goes…" He grabbed his goggles.

Octim then removed his goggles, revealing his eyes to Sylvia.

Sylvia was intrigued by his eyes. They weren't regular Octoling eyes. They were green with almost purple-ish blue pupils and fleshy purple rings around them.

"They…don't look like regular Octoling eyes…" She pointed out. "But I don't see that as a reason to hate you."

"Really?" Octim asked, surprised.

"Yeah!" Sylvia said. "They actually look kind of cool."

"W-well, don't tell anyone I showed you or what you saw, okay?" Tim begged. "Mom would kill me."

"Has anyone else seen this?" Sylvia asked.

"Well…outside of mom, George and his sisters have…and Gramps in Cirrina Countryside…" Tim admitted. "But I haven't shown anyone else."

"Don't worry." Sylvia said. "I won't tell anyone. I'll let you decide if you want to show people your eyes."

"Thanks, Sylvia." Octim hugged her.

"Oh, come on." She tried not to get all mushy. "How old are you?"

"13." He answered.

"Thirteen?!" She was shocked. "You know you aren't supposed to be battling until your 14, right?!"

"I-I didn't know…" He sheepishly responded.

"…Well, if you have your full form already, I guess it's fine." Sylvia said. "Just don't tell anyone you're 13."

"Okay." Tim agreed. "Now can we get come Crusty Sean's? I'm starving now."

"Sure." She started walking with him out. "So when did you get your full form anyway?"

"When I was 12." He answered.

"Twelve?!" She was even more shocked to hear. "Oh, Geez…"