Chapter 14

Inkopolis Square…

I was jogging quickly to the Ammo Knights while being 'trained' by a Ghille suit-wearing squid girl.

"Hustle soldier, hustle!" My new teammate, Sylvia was shouting. "Gotta work on that stamina!"

"I'll mostly be swimming in ink!" I shouted as we were almost there. "Is running really necessary?"

"Arf, arf, arf!" She started barking to make me run faster.

"Meeoow!" Judd got startled by that and ran up a pole. Li'l Judd looked confused.

Judd then looked down at us and narrowed his eyes.

"S-sorry!" Sylvia apologized. "Let's go inside…"

"Right…" I'm starting to have second thoughts about this team…

Later…

We soon trained…well, not so much as train as Sarah and Otis trying to decide who's captain as well as us sitting around for a bit trying to come up with a name. I came up with the name "Cirrina Squad" and we went with that one. I feel proud of that.

We then spent the rest of that day playing Turf wars because I needed to get to level 4 to shop and level 10 to play Ranked matches. Luckily, I was leveling up pretty fast. Sarah said it must've been all the Crust Bucket food I've been eating lately. Apparently it helps leveling up. Who knew?

By the end of the day, I was level 7. A good start, I guess.

We were then sitting at one of the tables.

"You're doing pretty well so far, Tim." Sarah told me. "At this rate, I'm sure you'll be a rank S before you know it."

"Really?" I looked at her.

"Yeah, but know this…" She gave me a stern look. "You still have a long way to go before you can step up to me…"

"Uh…okay…" I wasn't sure what to say.

"Just kidding!" She gave me a hard pat on the back. "I'm just saying somethin' my brother said to me!"

"Oh, okay." So she's just joking.

"Well, I'd say that's enough practice for today." Sarah decided. "We'll practice more tomorrow…as soon as I find perfect training music."

"Okay…so what now?" I wondered.

"I don't know. What do you usually do?" She asked.

"Actually, maybe I could get to know you guys better." I suggested. "I mean, I met Sylvia on Saturday, but I don't really know you guys very well."

"Well, I'm soon-to-be best in Ink battles, so there's one thing." She boasted.

"And extremely humble." Guyver joined in the conversation.

"I'm also from a family with a long, storied history of Brush and Roller users." Sarah continued. "It spans so many generations, that I won't bother boring you with those details."

Good.

"Well, I'm like you, but from somewhere else." Guyver started. "I also main brushes, but can use pretty much any weapon if I need to, and I have a degree and experience in engineering."

"Wait, you do?" Sarah looked at him.

"Well, yeah…" Guyver rubbed the back of his head. "I just haven't done anything with it since moving here."

Interesting.

"What about you, Sylvia?" Guyver asked. "What's your story?"

"Eh, not much to say." She sounded bored. "I just came to Inkopolis when I gained my full form like everybody else, played Ink battles and work at Grizzco like pretty much everybody else, etc."

"Anything else?" Sarah asked. "Like your family?"

"My family mostly tends to join the army at some point in our lives, it's practically tradition." She explained. "I plan to eventually. I guess my grandpa's stories of the different heroes he knew about in the war convinced me."

"Was your gramps one of them?" Guyver asked.

"No." She bluntly said. "He was a Runner and never fired his weapon. He'd just tell us stories he heard. Guess he'd hope one of us would do something amazing one day. I hope I do."

"I'm sure you will." I told her. "I mean, it's a city where anything can happen, right?"

She looked at me for a second as if in pleasant surprise.

"I like you already, private." She told me. "You ever need help with something, I'll help."

"Th-thanks." I replied.

"No problem." She leaned back.

"Well, it's great to see us all getting along already!" Sarah applauded.

"…So do you always wear a Samurai helmet, Guyver?" I asked.

"Oh, this?" He took it off. "I'm just wearing this for the abilities and the intimidating silhouette it gives."

"And the...Null suit replica, you called it?" I added. "Where'd you get that?"

"It's uh...secret." He said.

Okay...

"W-what about you, Sylvia?" I turned to her. "You always wear the Moist Ghillie Suit?"

"When I'm battling." She told me. "When I want to chill out, I mostly wear something with a camo-pattern."

"Okay." She's really into the army squid thing, isn't she? "And how about you, Sarah? Where'd you get that cool neon yellow jacket?"

"Oh, this?" She looked at it. "Uh…friend gave it to me."

"Which friend?" I wondered. "I'd like one too."

"Uh, she made it herself." She claimed. "Also, she's in another place entirely, so telling you her name would mean nothing."

"Oookay…" I guess that makes sense?

"Well, I guess that's enough for now." I said. "Maybe we'll continue these friendly conversations tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Sarah agreed.

We then got up and waved each other goodbye. Sarah went with Guyver and I walked in another direction with Sylvia strangely going my way.

"Are you following me?" I asked.

"Huh?" She apparently zoned out. "Oh, no. My apartment's just this way."

"Oh, okay." I said. "Well, since we're going the same direction for now, you wanna chat a bit?"

"Sure." She agreed.

We started walking again.

"So you're really into the army stuff, aren't you?" I remarked.

"Yeah I know it's a little corny, but I like it." She shrugged. "I mean, I don't ask why you wear those goggles all the time."

"Th-they were my dad's…" I told her. "I'm supposed to keep them on…"

"Oh," She seemed to notice that was a sensitive topic. "Well, I won't ask further…"

"Thanks…" I said. "I wish I knew more about him, to be honest…"

It was clear by the look on her face that I put her in an awkward situation.

"S-so what do you do when you aren't battling or working at Grizzco?" I asked.

"Well, I also do some art and play flute." She told me. "Maybe I'll show you guys sometime."

"Yeah!" That sounded good.

"Oh wait…" She said. "I have an idea."

"What?" I tilted my head.

"Grizzco!" She shouted. "You haven't worked there yet, right?"

"Uh…no…" I could see where this was going.

"I'll show you the ropes, soldier!" She grabbed my hand and started taking me back to the Square.

"Well, I guess I have nothing better to do…" I agreed.

"Great to hear!" She cheered.

It wasn't long until we got to Grizzco.

"Ah, you're back." Mr. Grizz said. "Oh, you too! Reconsider my offer?"

"Y-yeah!" I said.

"Great, we'll have a boat ready to train you on in just a few minutes!" Mr. Grizz told me. "Change into your uniform and follow the line to the boat."

"Training mission's easy!" Sylvia told me. "Our first job though is where things will get interesting."

"Well that's great!" I said. "I'm excited already!"

Little did I know that the training mission wouldn't prepare me for the sheer terror that came to follow.