The home of the trilogy was a particularly interesting place, regardless of how Tory ignored its every distinguishable feature. For one, it was practically a castle with its own arenas. It towered over the peaceful, rolling hills outside Inkopolis like a menacing force of evil, or at least that's what Fréremont thought.
That place had bad memories for him.
Regardless, the twins were awestruck. If a place didn't have bad memories, it was hard to see such a palace in a bad light. Living in the same apartment as your sibling for fourteen years made it easier to see the benefits of extra space, and if this place only housed three people, it definitely had some space to spare.
Second thing to notice was that it was technically in the middle of nowhere. A piece of land which had never been colonized by any species in particular, and without contest had been claimed by the Inklings, was relatively infertile regardless of the potted plants around the gardens.
"Well, that's it," Tory said at last, letting out a strong breath simultaneously. He let the fluttering sensation in his chest leave him.
I can do this.
Ciera and Charron moved on ahead in the binder of photos from prior visitors to the palace, confident, and probably far less traumatized by the people who lived here. Fréremont half-crawled across the floor of Tory's apartment, up behind him, and gripped Tory's shoulder protectively, partially to calm his hyperventilating friend, but partially to stop himself from doing the same.
"Only a day now, huh." Tory nodded, breathing a little more regularly.
"Yeah. I guess I'm a little overwhelmed. Can't even begin to think how you're feeling." Fréremont let his hand slide away and thought for a few seconds, considering an appropriate response.
Ciera turned back to the two, staring a bit, before finally speaking up after an encouraging smile from her brother. "Uh... guys?"
"Yeah?" Tory snapped his head up quickly, immediately reverting to the born leader personality he had formed leading his group.
"We'd like to go out for a bit. We'll be back before evening, and we won't have any turf wars. You okay with that?"
"Sure. Go ahead. I guess we all need to relax for a bit." Ciera and Charron thanked him hurriedly before rushing off.
"Why are they asking me?" Tory said idly. "They know I'd say it was okay."
Fréremont laughed. "You're the leader here. Did you forget again already?"
"Um." Tory stretched, then took to fiddling awkwardly with the band tying up his tentacles. Fréremont sighed.
"You should relax yourself, you know." Fréremont got up, grabbed the binder with the photos borrowed unceremoniously from a concerned bystander (AKA Annie, but people didn't say that), and putting it up high enough that Tory couldn't reach it.
"Dude. If you can reach up there... wait, nevermind." Tory stopped himself, before Fréremont blinked.
"What's a stuffed toy doing up here?"
"I... uh... threw it up there when I was five?" He said weakly. "And couldn't reach?"
Fréremont burst into laughter.
"It isn't funny. I'm just short." Tory said, though his tone spoke volumes about why he hadn't just asked somebody else.
"Is... is that a unicorn?" Freremont gasped. "I-I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget you're still fourteen..." He stopped, gasping. "Which reminds me, when's your birthday?"
"The twenty-fifth?" Tory said, raising an eyebrow. "Don't you dare get me a unicorn."
Freremont gripped his face, but his cheeks raised in amusement and a few stray snickers found their way out.
"Darn. Thought I'd get away with that." Fréremont stopped himself. "Sorry, Tory. I won't mention it again." Tory looked slightly mollified, but studied his team mate's movements closely and suspiciously.
"But seriously, Tory, you need a break. At least for today. Okay?" Tory nodded grumpily. It wasn't like him to give in, but he was tired.
"Fine. But only if I can ask some questions first." Fréremont nodded reluctantly. It was probably worth it if it would stop Tory spending the day training.
"Tell me... only if you're comfortable with it, of course... tell me about the trilogy."
Silence.
"Let me explain. I... want to know if what I'm doing is right, if I'm delivering justice. If I'm helping." Tory stretched his toes, trying to push out the stiffness from sitting on the floor. "I mean, I know they've done horrible things, and there's no turning back now. But... I want to know how far they've gone before. I want to know exactly how different we are compared to how they treat the rest of the world, if maybe we're only getting justice for our own suffering."
Fréremont burst into speech.
"They're horrible. I know I'm biased, but it's horrible. They're all self-centered and bicker among each other until some threat comes along. Then they team up and kick them out. I was the only one, I'm pretty sure, who didn't try to get revenge at any point, or spent time being friendly and kind. I know there were a lot of people who were fans of me, because I was more relatable... and after I'd brought enough fans to the table, I became a threat." He shook his head. "I don't even want to begin with what they did to the maids, or even to each other. It was just..." He stopped and fell silent. He couldn't bring himself to say any more.
Tory waited patiently.
"You're doing the right thing. Don't even begin to doubt it. Not for a moment." Fréremont replied at last. "Now can we go do something else?"
"Sure."
Getting up, they pulled on coats to compensate for the wet weather, and went out into the street. While normally children and toddlers would be playing in the streets, or cars rushing by to and from the bigger parts of the city, today was too dark and wet for any self-respecting inkling. Jellyfish enjoyed the change, however, but few were out. Many probably had a day off work and would rather spend it elsewhere.
"Geez. It's freezing," Fréremont moaned. "What were those two thinking when they decided to go shopping?"
Tory smirked, tugging on his hood absently. "Probably buying raincoats." Fréremont shot him a dark look before running for the train to the plaza.
Ducking into the train, they ran for the back and pulled off their coats, sitting down in one of the farther back seats. Fréremont glanced out the window and had to do a double take to make sure he was seeing straight. He tapped Tory's shoulder and pointed him over to the pair who were approaching the train at a careful run. Tory leaned over to see what was going on, and had to nip his tongue to stop himself calling out.
After a moment, he whispered, "What are the squid sisters doing here of all places?"
"I don't know!" Fréremont hissed. "But they sure don't look happy." The indicated duo leaped into the train and Callie practically launched herself into the seat.
After a few quiet moments, Tory decided it would be okay, and poked Marie gently on the shoulder. She spun around to look, and smiled sincerely.
"You know, this is the luckiest break we've had all day. Are you two okay?" Callie looked up as the train started moving alarmingly fast, then nodded in agreement from her fashion magazine.
"Uh, yeah. Why wouldn't we be?" Tory replied. Marie looked... uncomfortable.
"Uh, where have you been in the past fifteen minutes?" She asked, as if it had everything to do with the current conversation.
Freremont replied. "We've just been on our way to the plaza. About half an hour ago we were at Tory's, and ever since we've just been slowly making our way to the plaza to meet up with Ciera and Charron." Marie and Callie both breathed a sigh of relief, then frowned.
"Wait... so you don't know what happened?"
"What?" Tory asked.
"Your houses are on fire!" Callie suddenly said, leaping up. "We just came form there hoping you guys were out!" She sat down again, thanking her lucky stars that the train was mostly empty, and there were few to see her outburst.
"She's right," Marie said seriously. "Tory's place, plus the apartment Ciera and Charron were living in. It's utter chaos." She sighed. "Jodie was worried, but at least now I can say you guys are safe."
Tory and Freremont glanced at each other.
"Do you know who did it?" They both asked.
"We'll get the results any second now, and then we can hunt them down from the plaza." As if on cue, the phone in her pocket beeped, and she swiftly brought it to her ear. A familiar voice came through the earpiece, although only Marie could hear him clearly, and her face was a kaleidoscope of emotions. She nodded seriously to herself before thanking him and ending the call.
"It was The Trilogy. They didn't do a very good job of covering their tracks." She nodded to Callie, who seemed to understand the gesture. "They're probably at the plaza now. We've got some people over at their mansion, so at least they can't go back there." She thought for a moment. 'You'll help us catch them, right? If you help us, we won't be outnumbered anymore." Tory agreed.
"I guess that means I'm not challenging them tomorrow, at least." Tory looked up. "We're here. Fréremont, get your weapon." He smiled and pulled Inkaliber. 'We've got some work to do." Fréremont agreed by showing Tory a weapon they hadn't seen for a while; a simple beginner's Splattershot.
They got off the train as casually as they could, and immediately began searching. It wasn't hard.
In front of Inkopolis Tower, Alder was arguing with two familiar inklings. A large group had congregated to watch what happened to the twins who were really being rather polite for the situation.
"You can't just ban ranked!" Charron yelled, too annoyed to even think of diplomacy. "It's outrageous, particularly coming from the likes of you!"
"You have no control in Ink Battle HQ either!" Ciera chipped in. "We won't listen to you!" Judd seemed at a complete loss, a small electronic tool at his side. He was raising his paw, first at Alder, then at Ciera and Charron, then back again. The argument was advanced enough that people were taking sides, standing across from each other in two large groups in the plaza.
A truck was at the side of the plaza, probably just your average delivery truck, and The Squid Sisters leaped up onto the top of it with practiced ease. They pulled microphones from their pockets, and spent a few moments purely for show.
Then Callie screamed the first few lines of a rock song into her microphone, which amplified the noise until it could be heard from Octo Valley.
Everyone stopped.
Tory took up a place next to the twins, and tapped them on the shoulders. They turned around and smiled before turning back to see what the Squid Sisters had to say.
"Now that we have you attention," Marie began.
"We have a very important announcement to make!" Callie continued. The murmurs rushing through the crowd were soon purged.
"The Inkopolis Tower Battle Center is being temporarily shut down for safety purposes," Marie continued calmly, generating a huge gasp of surprise from at least half the inklings there.
"Please keep a look out for any suspicious sorts!" Callie chipped in. The two bowed, then leaped down from the truck gracefully.
"Now. Alder, of the group known as the Trilogy, formerly the Tetrology." Marie stated, pulling her Splatterscope even as she spoke.
"You're under arrest!" Callie screamed, leaping up into the air and smacking her roller down on him. He wasn't ready for her, but he managed to leap out of the way in time and struggle with his Gold Dynamo, which was on his back.
Hissing, he pulled back to launch a wave of ink at the girls, but when he went to pull forward, he couldn't. Looking up, a wire of ink was running around his handle, holding it back. Two thin, small wrists supported the hands that gripped on either edge.
"Not so fast." Tory said, grinning. "Not while I'm around." He twisted the handle and threw off Tory, before swinging around and trying to squish the girl who had been fighting him before. She retaliated in an... unorthodox way.
Leaping into the air farther than he thought possible, she used her smaller squid form to worm her way through his attack relatively easily and formed back in mid-air. By the time she was on solid ground she was already charged, and she trained her pointer unerringly on him.
Now he had two pointers trained on him, two rollers - the strange weapon he had seen before stopping him looked to be one, and one belonging to one of the two girls - were up in the air, ready to swing down on him. Then, of all the things he could have seen, he saw someone he recognised.
Fréremont.
Growling to himself, he did the only thing he could. He pushed a small button on the hilt of his dynamo and cringed.
BANG!
Almost instantly, anyone who wasn't a rather ugly tint of green was back at their homes, or wherever the last spawn point was. Tory had managed to see it coming and was only just stopping his panicked run. He sighed when he saw two familiar puddles of blue and yellow. Somehow Marie and Callie were also still in one piece from the explosive exit.
"Okay. Didn't really think ahead on that one, but at least now we know he's at his house," Callie muttered, lowering her roller.
Marie sped over to Tory and helped him to his feet, though he was still gasping for air after the sudden sprint. "You alright?"
"Yeah, but we need to capture that dude, and fast. Plus, I need to retrieve Charron and Ciera from their apartment." Tory groaned. Trying to inject humour into the situation, he added, "Guess I'm not challenging the Trilogy anytime soon."
"I should think not," Marie smirked. "C'mon. We've got to arrange a plan of action."
A/N; Whoa. Last update was nearly two weeks ago. Great Squid, that's a long time.
I've been terribly busy. One of my newer teachers must think it's funny to assign homework every single day. No, I'm not exaggerating. We get 15-page work booklets on a near-daily basis.
I must apologize for being so late on the update. I debated for age over what I should do for the final stretch, and realised that doing the expected challenges would be just too plain.
I hope I pull this off better than the Camp Triggerfish arc.
I'm already halfway through writing the next chapter, so expect another chapter in less time than how long you guys had to wait for this one. And also, my idea of the flawed version of upholding the law that exists in the Squid World. Policemen? Nah, not really fresh. Let's use pop stars instead.