Chapter 2 Team Jock
After several minutes of riding their transportation through the streets of Inkopolis, passing by pedestrians consisting of jellyfish, Inklings, and anthropomorphic fishes and crustaceans, the teams finally arrived at The Reef. It was a seemingly secluded area packed tight with shops and restaurants. This was a popular place for Inklings to hang out in the afternoon. It was away enough from the busy downtown that Inklings liked coming here for shopping trips. However, it was expected that any place that was a popular gathering spot for Inklings would inevitably become a spot to play Turf War. In recent years, The Reef had been approved by the officials to start hosting Turf Wars, and it became a favorite among the new, early "stages" for the sport.
The trolley stopped just outside of the stage area itself, and the kids got off and proceeded to super-jump to their spawn points, turning into squid form (or octopus form for Octavian and Octophones) to launch themselves high into the air toward the metallic devices containing their ink color. Splashing into their respective spawn points, they remained in their mollusk forms pointing toward the stage. Octavian's team had lime green ink while Team Jock's had pink.
"Good luck out there!" muttered Denim, glancing over at Octavian. "By the way, you guys look like such a cool species of squid."
"Thank you," replied Octavian. (Ugh, is he serious? Clueless squid…)
The four members of the team returned to their kid forms simultaneously, and the other team followed suit. A couple more Inklings, a boy with topknot hair, black eyes, and a pale skin tone and a girl with short hair, brown eyes, and a pale skin tone, stood out of bounds wearing more formal clothing with the SquidForce logo. These were officials helping Judd & Li'l Judd inspect the match. The boy picked up his blow horn to signal the start of the match.
"READY?! GO!"
Each team ran out of their respective spawn points firing and throwing their ink in all directions. It was a wonderful, exhilarating feeling for Octavian. Here he was, among his possible new friends, ready to play his first Turf War. He became the happiest in what seemed like ages.
"BOOYAH!" shouted Denim.
"BOOYAH!" replied Clip and Octophones with their own shouts.
"YAHBOO!" shouted Octavian. His face suddenly turned embarrassed and briefly blushed when he realized he screwed up the famous Inkling battle cry, but the others didn't care. They were already about to reach the bridge in the center of The Reef.
Team Jock had started dashing forward and crying "booyah" as well, but they split up. Cycle King darted to the bridge, but Sliver branched off into the area on the side where a car was parked, sneaking into the back alley. Street opted to stay above the bridge area to offer backup to Cycle King while Soccer Pirate rolled his way to the tree on his team's side. While Denim's team all rushed to the bridge, Team Jock appeared to want to be more defensive.
"I've got your back, CK!" yelled Street, watching over his leader.
On the other side, Denim used his straight-shooting Splash-o-matic to rush to the center of the bridge, approaching Cycle King. However, Clip wanted to risk taking a well-timed shot at Cycle King with her Sloshing Machine. While zipping ahead in his straight, narrow trails of ink, Denim turned back from squid to kid to glance over at Clip with exasperation.
"Clip?! Come on! I wanna splat Cycle King first!" complained Denim.
"I can nail him if you just get outta the way, Denim!" she griped back. "Go keep an eye on Sliver. I see him hiding in the shadows over there!"
Denim groaned and took his friend's advice, shooting another straight line of ink to get over to the other area with the tree, where Soccer Pirate was rolling around. As for Octophones, she was firing off her Custom Blaster on and off again, bobbing in and out of her ink splatters to get to the east side of their side of The Reef. Octavian felt a sudden urge to backup Denim.
"I will go with you, Denim!" yelled Octavian, and he ran in his direction to catch up.
Cycle King and Clip were facing off on the bridge. Scowling at Team Jock's leader, Clip hopped up and down, throwing ink blots out of her Sloshing Machine to try to hit the jock. But with his Light Tetra Dualies, Cycle King skillfully evaded with up to four slides, dodging each blot.
"You're not going to slosh me, Clip!" said Cycle King. "Just keep working your arms!"
"You think you're so fresh posing like that every time!" exclaimed Clip.
Once Denim and Octavian approached the tree where Soccer Pirate was, he stopped rolling around the tree and kept his Carbon Roller Deco down while glaring up at his two enemies.
"AR! This is my tree, and ye aren't gonna get near it!" he cried.
"Shut your pirate talk!" yelled Denim. "Me and Octavian here will get you and your decorated, carbonated roller!"
They turned into squid and octopus form respectively to drop down into the grassy area to confront the foe. Unfortunately, their strength by numbers was an illusion, because out from the shadowy back alley came the rapid-fire ink shots of Silver's Nautilus 47. Alarmed, Octavian swam off just in time, but Denim was not so quick. He was pelted too much, and as a result, he was splatted. He exploded with pink ink, and his ghost appeared to pitifully float back to the spawn point to be resurrected.
"Keep it up, Octavian," moaned Denim as he floated by. Octavian cringed a little by Denim's ghostly voice.
"AR! HARHARHAR!" laughed Soccer Pirate. "Didn't bother to see me silver friend, did he? You're next, squid!"
Calling Octavian a squid was a mistake. Growling, Octavian rushed to the wall where Silver wouldn't be so easily able to hit him before swimming straight to a skirmish with the jock pirate. Soccer Pirate anticipated his approach and rolled to the wall. Octavian used his sub weapon, a Burst Bomb, to briefly catch Soccer Pirate off guard with some lime green ink. The hesitation bought him enough time to give him a few shots from his Splattershot. Wounded, Soccer Pirate snarled with frustration and began flinging his roller horizontally at his target. This was easily dodged by Octavian swimming back far enough.
It was then that a strange, cube-like box was thrown into their area and exploded, scattering pink and black lights of angry Inkling Squids that began circling Octavian. Frightened, he realized that he was being tracked by these sensors. He was then dealt stinging shots by Silver's Nautilus 47. Octavian had been distracted. His vision was quickly clouded over with pink and he found himself splatted. Now he was the one pitifully floating off back to spawn as a ghost, only an octopus one.
"Nice going, Silver!" complimented Soccer Pirate, peeking over his shoulder at the back alley. "Ye Point Sensor be on point!"
Team Jock was having the early lead. The girls were holding their own, but Clip was forced to retreat when Street chose to get into the fray to counter her with his Slosher. Over toward the tree on her team's side, Octophones tried to distract Street with an Autobomb, a bomb that looks like a submarine with feet. It scurried toward Street but stopped and exploded out of reach. Denim was busy trying to ink more of his team's side of the stage while Octavian still felt the need to try to splat one of his opponents. He was growing concerned that Cycle King would slide his way around The Reef without much resistance. Pausing to see where he was, he spotted Silver finally coming out of the shadows and being a bit more aggressive, firing his Nautilus 47 around the stage before sinking back into his ink often. Octavian marveled at how it kept going after repeated use.
"The Nautilus 47 is not running out!" he cried. "Denim, what must I do?"
"Nautiluses aren't like your typical Splatling," said Denim, still firing his weapon around to ink turf. "They can hold their charge even when the player's swimming in ink. Be careful around Silver and focus more on somebody else. Oh no! I see Street going after Octophones!"
He pointed toward the area underneath the bridge on the side, and Octavian peered over and was startled to see his fellow Octoling locked in a fierce faceoff with the Skalop-hat-wearing jock. They seemed to be keeping each other at bay, with Octophones' Custom Blaster shots going forward, but not getting Street at all. Street's Slosher was pouring forth in rapid fashion, but barely missed Octophones' feet. Neither seemed to want to retreat. Each wanted to score a splat.
"Come a little closer!" exclaimed Octophones. "Don't you think you're so muy macho?"
"No, you come closer!" replied Street. "I'm macho, but I ain't stupid!"
With the other jocks seemingly scattered, Octavian sensed his opening and rushed to Octophones' aid. Swimming swiftly to the two, he jumped in octopus form in-between them before switching back into a kid to fire at Street. The sudden move caught him off guard so that he took enough hits from the Splattershot to get splatted. Street's ghost seemed to glare at Octavian as he floated off, wishing he could go haunt him instead of having to go back to spawn.
"Way to go, Octavian!" cheered Octophones.
With no enemy around, the two Octolings now focused on inking more turf. Their team was now closing the gap with Team Jock. However, Cycle King was mysteriously missing. Octavian couldn't help but look around suspiciously for him. He thought that, being a Dualie player, Cycle King would be all over the place showing off his fresh Light Tetra Dualie pose, but no. He could see Soccer Pirate on the other side of the stage still guarding the tree he apparently liked, but he was not an immediate threat. Silver was now gunning for Clip, who was tossing ink on her team's side of the bridge. Denim was sure to help her out, but the bicyclist was still Octavian's main concern. Once their grassy area was almost completely covered in lime green, Octavian got closer to Octophones for a quick question.
"Octophones, where do you think Cycle King is?" he asked her. "He must be hiding for a surprise attack."
"Yes, for a Dualie player, he's being rather sneaky," she commented. "You go that way. I'll go over there!"
Octavian went up to their side of the bridge while Octophones went for the ramp leading up to the opposing side's bridge area. Denim did come to Clip's aid, but Silver turned out to be a tough opponent to outwit. Splatlings, a family of weapons that the Nautilus 47 is part of, were highly dangerous to approach. Not even a distraction by two could make Silver any easier to budge. Fortunately, Clip's Sloshing Machine kept Silver somewhat at bay too. While this was going on, Octavian was keeping an eye on Soccer Pirate again, who was now leaving his tree and heading toward his two Inkling friends. That was when someone made his move.
Cycle King emerged from a corner of pink ink with his pink hair glowing and boiling up bubbles from his Cycle King Cap while he had a large smirk on his face. This meant that he had inked enough turf to rack up enough points for a special weapon; a massive, deadly weapon that would cover lots of turf and potentially splat more than one person. This alarmed Octavian enough, but Soccer Pirate just started emitting this aura too when he approached the standoff. The two jocks looked at each other and nodded ominously.
"GO AUTOBOMBS!" shouted Cycle King.
They started their special weapons at the same time. It was a double helping of the Autobomb Launcher, which meant poor Denim and Clip were beset by a wave of the little walking submarine bombs. It was truly a sight to behold for Octavian. The Autobombs scurried toward their frightened Inkling targets, who immediately made a run as well as a swim for it. After so long, an Autobomb would self-destruct, followed by another, and another, and they just kept blowing up. Soccer Pirate bellowed his uproarious pirate laughter at the mayhem. Cycle King propelled himself through the small bursts of exploding Autobombs, pausing to pose each time for dramatic effect.
"You just can't approach us jocks!" mocked Cycle King. "We're a team!"
Octavian went to catch up with the two Inklings, who stopped behind their team's tree to catch a breath. The three jocks resumed inking around, and things appeared to be getting ugly for Denim and friends. He shook his head before looking left and right.
"Guys, where did Octophones go to?" he asked. "I know she tends to be independent, but we need someone to go after these jocks and splat them!"
"I saw her running to their side of the stage," said Octavian. "I am afraid she will get splatted soon by Street."
"Then you better go defend her while we get busy inking," said Denim.
They split up from the tree, and then they sensed a new danger. They were now tracked by markers and a homing sound was fast approaching. Street just fired his Slosher's special weapon, Tenta Missiles! Now the three of them were truly splitting up so that they would be less likely to get splatted together. Denim went up the raised area, Clip went under the bridge, and Octavian went on the enemy side's ramp to their raised area. From there, he spotted Octophones bravely approaching Soccer Pirate. He attempted to throw a Burst Bomb at her, but it missed. A well-timed Custom Blaster shot made her score a notable splat of the pirate.
"Octophones! We need to ink more of their side!" yelled Octavian.
"I know, and we're already under two minutes!" she yelled back.
Their faces tense and their weapons firing away as much as they could, the two Octolings proceeded to ink the enemy turf, recharging in their ink when they had to. Street had kept his distance long enough to fire Tenta Missiles, so he was now coming after Octavian for payback. Swimming toward Octavian, he was about to do the same jump and attack move he had done to him when a long, fierce stream of ink suddenly burst through the entire stage. This instantly made the startled Street veer off before he could get hit.
"Oh yeah, that's coming from a Sting Ray!" exclaimed Octavian happily. "Clip is helping us out!"
"Let's go ahead and swim right into it!" cried Octophones. "It'll protect us!"
They did just that, swimming into the middle of the Sting Ray's attack to provide brief, valuable cover. Nestled underneath the bridge and obscured by a small ledge, Clip used the special ability of her water jet cutter-like weapon to sense through walls to make some faraway attacks. The current turf coverage was narrowing between the two teams. Denim was focusing on racking up points to be able to use his special weapon. Once he was able, he pulled out his Inkjet, a jetpack powered by ink. Firing one giant shot at a time, Denim used this to swing the tide more in his team's side, and it worked. Lime green was edging out pink at the moment. The two Octolings decided to use their two specials at the same time, a double combo of Splashdown in which they both jumped in the air and slammed down onto the ground. Two more giant splatters formed on the stage, and on the enemy side at that.
"This way!" shouted Cycle King. This attention-grabbing call rallied his jocks to follow him to the bridge.
They split up again. Soccer Pirate returned to his beloved tree. Street rushed down the bottom ramp on the end of his raised area. Cycle King stayed beyond the bridge. Silver was now the one to rush to the bridge, but in a special way. He curled into a ball formation and was encircled in a clear, plastic ball, allowing him to roll ahead like a hamster to the bridge. Making an awkward-looking jump characteristic of Ballers, he landed on the bridge's platform and seemingly dared anyone to come there now. No one did. He exploded his Baller, and by now Team Jock had reasserted itself.
"That does it!" complained Denim. "Silver is going down!"
The problem was that being on the bridge made a Nautilus 47 player like Silver even more of a challenge to confront. This called for a brief meeting among Denim's team. With no jock around to threaten them right now, Denim and his teammates huddled together to make a quick strategy. Denim was acknowledged by the two girls as the leader, not just because of his fondness for the "Booyah" and "This way!" cries but having a knack for making strategies outside and during Turf War.
"Octophones, you be the one to face Silver head on," said Denim to her. "Clip, you go around and deal with any jock around. Octavian, you come with me!"
"I will do my best," said Octophones firmly.
"Good, because the one minute mark is coming up!" replied Denim. "AH! And Cycle King is coming up!"
Denim's cap had jumped a little at the sight of the jock leader posing his way to the four of them, and they quickly dispersed. Clip was forced to do her job right away, keeping the rushing Cycle King at a distance with her Sloshing Machine. Octophones turned around to glare at Silver, who smiled smugly from atop the bridge's platform. Octavian simply tried to catch up to Denim's panicked swimming. That was when the one minute marker was reached!
"Hurry! Every second counts!" cried Denim.
They raced down the ramp to the side with Soccer Pirate's tree. Sure enough, he was still there, and predictably charged at the two. Octavian decided not to be too cautious now. He rushed ahead, and in surprisingly aggressive fashion for an introverted Octoling, fired directly upon Soccer Pirate. His enemy was too late to react even with the Carbon Roller Deco's speed. He was splatted. The tree was conquered. The ghost of Soccer Pirate attempted to nudge its branches affectionately on his way back to spawn, passing through his ghostly tentacles. These same branches were then inked by Octavian. Denim just smiled and shook his head.
"You can't ink trees," he told Octavian. "Kind of a shame, really. Maybe the Turf War authorities can make it a thing someday…"
"The one minute mark!" yelled Octavian.
"RIGHT!" replied Denim, and the two were racing to enemy turf again.
Arriving on the enemy's side, they saw that Octophones was deftly dodging the pelting shots of the Nautilus 47. She tried to hide in her ink and stay close to the railings as much as possible to serve as shields. Silver had thrown another Point Sensor to spot her out. Octophones decided to rise up and toss an Autobomb at the center of the bridge. This forced Silver to back off, and to his surprise, to walk right back into Denim and Octavian. Smiling mischievously, Octophones ran onto the bridge to seal Silver's fate.
POP! SPLAT!
"AARGH!" yelled Silver. His ghost was sent flying back to the spawn point, where he would be too late to make a difference.
"Ngyes! It actually worked!" cheered Denim, jumping up and down and swinging his weapon happily. "You two are my new friends for sure!"
With only a little time left, Team Jock frantically tried to storm back to the bridge. The Reef was notorious for making comebacks difficult. To make matters worse for them, their leader was all alone. Cycle King had successfully splatted Clip, but the jock leader had abused his sliding to evade Clip's shots. This choice backfired when he saw Denim charging toward him with his Splash-o-matic inking the way. Cycle King looked over his shoulder with dread. He had already used his fourth and final slide. He gulped.
"This is for Clip!" yelled Denim.
Cycle King tried to escape, but before he could get ready to slide, he was halted by Toxic Mist that enveloped him from the vial Denim threw. His ink was already low, so he couldn't perform another slide. He had nowhere to go but up, and up he went after Denim harshly splatted him into a retreating ghost.
"GAME!" cried the Inkling boy official.
With the match now over, both teams super-jumped back to spawn and then walked off the stage to await the results. This was when the two cats stepped in to fulfill their roles as Turf War judges. Judd counted Octavian's team's ink while Li'l Judd counted Team Jock's. Their methods of judgment were rather mysterious and surprisingly quick. Despite being two cats given the seemingly daunting task of judging the turf coverage of a large metropolitan area, it only took them several seconds to count the results. No one knows how they do it; it was just to be expected from these two ancient, mysterious mammals.
Judd and Li'l Judd faced the two teams, who anxiously waited. The Turf War officials stood by to interpret the results.
"The winner is…" said the Inkling boy official.
Judd and Li'l Judd bent over dramatically, and then Judd raised his flag at Li'l Judd with his mouth open while Li'l Judd fell over backwards as if in defeat.
"Team Lime Green wins!" exclaimed the Inkling girl official. They had won 46% to 35%, a close win.
Denim and friends immediately cheered and celebrated, while Team Jock groaned and sulked with bitter disappointment. Denim pumped his Splash-o-matic back and forth. Octavian posed with his Splattershot in quiet confidence. Clip threw her Sloshing Machine up and down to catch it with glee. Octophones spun her Custom Blaster around before putting her hand on her hip, blowing the firing hole as if blowing out smoke, and winking.
"Congratulations on your win," said the Inkling boy official. "Here is your cash prize!"
He and the girl handed them money earned from the match. This only made Octavian that much happier. He stared at the bag of gold coins with an arrow on them.
"I have the money!" he cheered.
"Get used to it," commented Denim. "Before long, you'll be making so much money, you'll feel as rich as Pearl! Just squidding… but you'll make a lot."
With that, the team of friends went back on the trolley to challenge their next team.