READ CHAPTER 12 PLEASE
Sorry, I accidentally posted this chapter early and a lot of people are skipping straight to 13.
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Tory walked up to his bathroom and automatically tuned into the radio. He listened idly to the report as he stretched the exhaustion out of his limbs. A week of relaxation after everyone reached level 20 was getting to him practicing in Bluefin Depot, the new map, had also been a little bit exhausting. Everyone was into it except for him. He just wanted a break. He stared sleepily into the mirror as the Squid Sisters announced updates.
"Today a new weapon will be released!" Callie cried, excited.
"The Carbon Roller and the Custom Dual Squelcher are now available at Ammo Knights," Marie continued.
"We'll have to ask Sheldon for the deets," Callie moaned, before the two moved on to the stage announcements. Tory brushed his fangs, but stopped as the sounds sunk in. He grinned and rushed through the rest of his preparations. He dragged Fréremont out of bed and pulled him into consciousness as they traveled on the railway to Inkopolis.
"Wha-? Tory, where are we?" Fréremont asked, rubbing his eyes. He looked around and nearly freaked until he realized Tory had taken the liberty to head for Inkopolis with him while he was asleep.
"If I didn't live at your house I would be crying kidnapper," he moaned. "What's this all for?"
"A new weapon was released today, and I don't know about you, but I'm willing to forgo starting ranked until next week so you can get used to a weapon I think you'll like." Tory was practically leaping out of his seat.
"Tory, you know I'm not a fan of the slow fire rate of the Squelcher," Fréremont grumbled, "and I thought you said Rollers weren't strategic."
"That was two weeks ago," Tory replied. "The carbon roller is an excellent weapon, and one of my personal favourites next to the inkbrush and Inkaliber." Tory convinced Fréremont to try the weapon, giving in once Tory promised to pay for it. They left with Fréremont holding a Carbon Roller and Tory dragging him to the Battle Dojo.
"This weapon has one big weakness for being a roller," Tory mentioned as he got Fréremont a day pass. "It doesn't have the same instant-splat capabilities when simply moving. It trades that for excellent maneuverability and high-speed movements. Add that to the burst bomb and the Inkzooka, and it's perfect. C'mon, I want to show you something cool. Trust me, this is amazing." Tory and Fréremont plopped down in the Kelp Dome, and they met up in the center of the field so Tory could show Fréremont what to do.
"Look, so, set up a burst bomb. Then when you throw it at someone, splash down with the roller immediately afterward. You don't have to be close." Fréremont tested this on a balloon and was surprised to see it was popped in a matter of seconds.
"Wow," he commented. "That was fast, and I didn't even hit it directly."
"Exactly!" Tory cried. "No-one'll see you coming! It wipes people out so quickly. Most people will probably pass up on it because it doesn't get easy splats. Trust me though, this weapon is a fearsome one. Give it a try for me." Fréremont agreed that it was quite capable, and they were soon outside about to enter a lobby. They walked up to Ammo knights to see people crowded around trying to get a weapon. Tory caught a glance of Charron among them.
"Huh," Tory commented. "It seems Charron's in the market for a Custom Dual. I hope he can handle it." A few minutes later Charron ran out with the new weapon in hand. Noticing Tory and Fréremont, he smiled and walked over.
"Are we going to practice again today? I wanted to try a new weapon, and this one looks like my style." He displayed the new weapon proudly. "Ciera's out at some private tutoring for school, by the way. She wanted to 'brush up her history knowledge," or something like that."
Tory nodded in understanding. "That's cool with me. Who's up for a few rounds?" Fréremont and Charron were ready to go, so they all headed into the lobby. Judd set them up against some opponents almost immediately. They were spawned into Arowana mall, and Tory took the liberty of transforming Inkaliber into its roller form.
The buzzer went, and Charron Quickly took up the right pathway. Tory took the left, covering ground quickly and efficiently, and Fréremont went of the center path. Charron reached the center first, recovering his ink and placing down a Squid Beakon. He shot out into the confusion of the center battlefield until he had a Killer wail and looked around to see where to launch it. He saw a few chargers coming up on a side path, and he sent the Killer Wail over, splatting one of them and chasing the other into the water below.
Fréremont was having the time of his life. Tory had been right; this weapon was far more maneuverable than the Krak-On, and especially the Dynamo. He was covering ground like no-one's business, and he almost felt bad for the Aerospray that was following him. He threw a burst bomb up at the top of the ramp to the center area and climbed his way up, jumping over and smashing down to splat a 52 Gal waiting for him. He rushed into the enemy base and barely got a scratch as he rushed around.
Suddenly, one of the enemy players yelled, and almost immediately all of them warped back to their base. Tory called everyone to Charron's Squid Beakon, and they chatted about what was going on. He noticed the Aerospray user was the same guy who had been using the Inkbrush the other day.
"I bet it's an Octoling," he whispered, shivering. "She's out to get me, I tell you."
"Dude! She was driven out yesterday! Don't you think she has better things to do than run blindly into battle?! No, more likely it's her buddies come for revenge," Charron insisted. He seemed oblivious to the difference between one and one hundred.
Fréremont groaned, "Not helping, Charron."
"Look, guys, if someone's here, we'll be able to see them as a player, right? Look." Tory pointed to their SplatPads and looked at his own. A ninth player was running around using Magenta Ink. "See?"
"Oh no it's her she's going to kill me I just know it," the boy moaned. Tory hissed softly. She'd probably recognise him. He decided to take action. He transformed his weapon to its inkbrush form again and went down into the main area. Checking the map, he travelled into the side passage where he saw her moving in, and intercepted her. She stopped stock-still when she saw Tory, then began to stutter apologies.
"I'm so sorry sir I didn't mean I just thought when I let them escape I-" Tory sighed and swiped at her with his weapon to shut her up. She yelped and cowered, her octoshot hugged closely to her chest. She calmed down and explained herself better.
"I wanted to make up for my mistake in the Kelp Dome, Sir! I thought I could get revenge fighting the same idiot who got away last time." Tory glared at her.
"I'm not surprised," Tory sighed. "After all..." He pulled Inkaliber on her, pointing at her directly, "You can't even tell your enemies from your friends." Her eyes widened and she ran off screaming. Apparently even the memory of his blade was enough to terrify her into a panic attack. He almost felt bad for the idiot Octoling.
Almost.
He chased after her for a little fun. Calling his team mates to his side, he ran after her across the whole stage. Up ramps, over the center stage countless times, it was quite fun to chase a terrified Octoling. Fréremont climbed up to one of the platforms intended for chargers, and every time she went past he threw burst bombs down until he didn't have enough ink. Then he would just fling ink at her.
Charron hid in the main area, waiting eagerly for her. After a few seconds of chasing her around in their own base, Tory managed to corner her just so that he could lead her into the main area again. Fréremont threw burst bombs to stop her trying any other paths, and she fell for the bait. Climbing up desperately, she hopped over the ramp only to be met with a Dual Squelcher.
"Oh. It's you again." Charron grumbled. He began shooting, but she dropped a small object which immediately exploded into a pile of smoke. Charron continued shooting, trying to get her, and then realized that he wouldn't get her that way. He swung around with his Dual Squelcher, trying to hit her, but only managed to detach a few leaves from the pots around him. He swore under his breath as he waded out of the smoke to see her running for a small hold underneath one of the advertisement boxes.
Tory felt something brush past his shoulder, and then something struck him over the head. The fog didn't seem to clear, but after a while his consciousness began to fade. He clung to Inkaliber, searching with his free hand for something to cling onto, and settled on what felt like the handle of a roller. He drooped into unconsciousness shortly afterwards.
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"You idiot!" Ciera scolded, hitting her brother over the head. "Tory may be our leader, but he is the youngest of all of us! Did you seriously think he'd be just fine after you hit him full force over the head?!"
"Look, you don't need to give me an example, I didn't even realize I'd hit him!" Charron groaned. "Look, shut up! We're in a hospital, for Squid's sake!"
"You guys..." Fréremont whined. A nurse came in, and immediately the three stopped talking. She began to do a few simple tests to see how Tory was doing.
"He'll be fine," She announced after a tense few minutes, causing everyone to collapse into a collective sigh of relief, "but you ought to be more careful. It was a close call." Charron hung his head, a disturbing silence going through the room. The nurse took the liberty of leaving them and their friend alone for a while.
"You know," Fréremont said, breaking the silence, "maybe we should take a break. I mean, that Octoling doesn't look like she's going anywhere fast, and Tory's overworking himself. He hasn't been getting enough sleep, I don't think. Normally he would have reacted immediately to you, Charron." Charron hunched his back. He was still touchy about the subject. He didn't like being blamed like this.
"Tory needs strengthening, too," Ciera commented. "just yesterday he was so exhausted after Turf Wars that he needed to rest on one of the benches for nearly two hours. That's practically unheard of, even for a sport like this." No-one had an argument to her point.
Charron glanced at Tory, who was sleeping soundly after being brought to the hospital. He felt bad for what happened, even though he knew it was only an accident. Curse those Octolings, he thought to himself. If only she hadn't been there.
"What he needs is a break," Charron said to no one in particular. "A vacation or something." Ciera and Fréremont looked at each other briefly.
"He's such a workaholic I doubt he'd let it happen," Fréremont replied. "He barely takes a break for anything. He loves his sleep though."
Ciera jumped in. "What if we take him to Camp Triggerfish? We could do some activities and practise with the other inklings there while also getting away from the stress of solid Turf Wars all the time." Everyone agreed, and by the time Tory started to wake up Ciera had already emailed a superior about participating.
Fréremont explained their plan. Tory didn't want to go, flat-out refusing a few times before even bothering to explain. After a while he tried a more intellectual approach.
"I won't go, I have stuff to do here." He protested, flipping over to look away from Fréremont and the others. "I don't like that place anyway."
"Well...too bad." Ciera replied smartly. "I already have permission from your sister to take you. She's coming too." This only made Tory more opposed to the idea.
"NO. No way, no how, just no. I am not going to Camp Triggerfish with my sister. Ever. Forget it." He seemed a little panicky.
"As I said, too bad," Ciera repeated. "Unfortunately for you, we've already been accepted and paid. And just so you know, the two-day train ride is... oh, tomorrow." She shrugged as Tory yelled in completely nonsensical garbage and tried to drag her back. He shook a fist as she left the room.
"Uh, sorry, Tory," Fréremont said, patting his friend's shoulder, "but we all agreed that everyone needed a break. It's only for a few weeks, okay? I'll be there too. And Charron." Tory flopped over and growled into the pillows.
"Whatever. Look, I'll get our stuff, okay? Charron, stay here with him so he doesn't do anything crazy."
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A/N; Hey Guys. Life hates me. BTW, chapters 10-13 have been written in advance.
So! Now Tory's going to Camp Triggerfish, eh? I didn't originally plan this, but I thought he needed a way to pass a month or so, so I ended up landing on this. Enjoy folks.