Spice Up my Life

I open my eyes with a groan, trying to remember where I am. A blue-haired inkling slowly came into focus, looking over me.

"Hey!" he exclaims, "Wake up, Don!"

I flinched from the noise. "Ugh, not so loud, Ted." I say grumpily.

Ted's face morphs into a grin. "Phew! I thought I hit you something bad", he says, relieved.

Suddenly I remember where I am, The Battle Dojo. I must have gotten knocked out by Ted while boxing with him.

"It's not your fault, I'm just exhausted," I say, "I really need to get more sleep at night…"

"No kidding, we've only been training for 30 minutes," Ted says.

"Yeah, I just need to get something to keep me going," I explain, "Give me a minute." I walk out of the arena and towards the vending machine. I fish some coins out of my pocket to get a nice, cool Tentacola.

Ted smirks when he sees me. "Another Tentacola? You drink those like an alcoholic, man," he jokes.

"I'm running on 5 hours of sleep, these things are keeping me alive."

Ted just rolls his eyes at me with an eternal grin. I've never met anyone so upbeat. "You ready now?" he asks.

"Yep," I say after downing half a can. "Let's go."

I step back into the ring and lift up my boxing gloves. The battle dojo is pretty much the only place to get some good boxing action in Inkopolis. I heard it used to be some 1 on 1 turf war hub, but that was years ago, before Inkopolis Square became the hit place for squids to do turf wars and ranked battles. Now it's the only real reason to come to Inkopolis Plaza at all.

I face Ted, my sparring partner. Him and I have been coming here whenever we can for months. The dojo is also used for weightlifting and karate, but to me, nothing beats some good old-fashioned boxing. Most of the time it's just me and him boxing here. Occasionally, some poor sap will come over for whatever reason, but they always have no chance of going against Ted or I. I don't mind, I like having this place all to ourselves.

I keep my knees bent and my arms up, ready to go. Ted throws the first punch, which I dodge to the right. He follows up aiming for my side, but I block it with my arms crossed in an X position. I then go on the offensive and manage to land a blow to his chest. He recoils and I rush forward, determined. Unfortunately, I get a bit too aggressive and he responds faster than I expected with some heavy hits. I manage to retreat and we face each other again.

I throw a simple punch which he blocks, but I follow it up with a side punch, aiming for his head. Right before I hit what is sure to be a harsh blow, his head disappears. Crap, he went into squid form! I realize. My momentum carries me forward, and I panic because my back is now facing him. With no clue what he's going to do, I jump to the side as a squid, praying he misses my smaller body. Thankfully, I dodge whatever he went for, and manage to retreat.

We trade blows cautiously for a few minutes which feel like hours. I'm more exhausted than he is, and he knows it. He continues to play the waiting game, and I'm getting desperate. I've gotta end this soon or he'll just tire me out! I think. I rack my brain for a way to get in. He just keeps dodging and jumping my attacks. I can't just hope for him to slip up, he's too good for that… Suddenly, an idea strikes my brain! It's risky, but it's my best chance to end this quickly, I think.

I go all out on the offensive, punching, weaving in and out, but I feel the fatigue growing. Finally, after several attacks which he blocks and dodges, I repeat my strategy with a very easy punch. He dodges effortlessly, and I fake a punch aiming powerfully for his head… which soon disappears! Perfect! With all my power, I redirect my punch straight down towards Ted's fragile squid form.

"OOOOF!" grunts Ted painfully.

I step back, completely drained. The match is over. Ted continues to lay on the padded ground in squid form, grimacing. "Man, I think you broke a bone with that one…"

I roll my eyes. Even laying on the floor after getting the wind knocked out of him, Ted continues to joke.

"If you managed to break a bone, I think you'd be put under a microscope to figure out why the hell you have bones."

Ted just grins up at me. "I think we better call it quits here," he starts, "Because you're so tired, you know," he quickly adds.

"C'mon, what happened to 'We've only been training for 30 minutes?' " I tease.

Ted laughs, which turns into a grimace halfway through. "I'm just looking out for you, dude. You don't call me the best friend ever for nothing!" he boasts while pulling himself up. "Besides, I've got to get home early today. I'm taking Bree out to the café today!" he says as his eyes sparkle with excitement.

I chuckle and prepare my stuff to leave. "Alright, have fun then."

I exit the dojo and walk to the subway station. I sigh as I slump onto the bench, exhausted. It's been a long day, and the boxing wasn't even the hardest part. My job is construction work on any and all structures in Inkopolis. I've been working there for about half a year now and I've worked on all sorts of stuff. I helped build the newer turf war stages like Snapper Canal, Wahoo World, New Albacore Hotel, etc. I've also renovated stages like The Reef, Starfish Mainstage, and Blackbelly Skatepark. There's something special about helping make the places that all those talenting Inklings and Octolings battle on. But… not as special as actually battling there myself.

I like my job, and I'm definitely cut out for it with my burly physique, but often I wish I could live my life doing something more exciting and adventurous. However, it's not so easy to just jump into battles. It requires so much time it basically becomes your job, and you have to be really darn good to earn enough money to make a living off it. Not to mention the costs of all the weapons and ability-enhancing gear…

I've been living on my own for about half a year now, and I already come from a somewhat poor family. Not to mention, with my few experiences in holding a shooter, I quickly discovered that I can't aim to save my life. Seriously, a Salmonid could outgun me.

When you look at all the factors, battling seems more and more like a pipe dream. I still hold out hope to someday get into it, but for now, I'll just keep doing what I always do.

The subway finally arrives, snapping me out of my thinking, I get on and head home to my apartment. It's located just a few blocks from Inkopolis Square. I unlock my door to discover a tall, tan, green-haired inkling fast asleep on the couch.

It's my roommate, Chris. He and I have been buddies since elementary school, back when we were only squids. Even though he's a total nerd and the opposite of me in a lot of ways, he's my closest friend. He has a job at some tech company that I can't even begin to comprehend. He's tried to explain to me a couple of times, but most of it just goes over my head. On the surface, he seems kind of clumsy and awkward, but with the people that he's close to, he's very caring and understanding. He's helped me out with emotional stuff countless times.

I walk past the snoring Chris, and microwave myself some frozen pasta for dinner. I tell myself with determination I'm not going to stay up late looking at my phone again. I lay down and turn off the lights, ready to get a proper amount of sleep for once. As I drift off with only my thoughts to keep me company, I wonder if I'll ever get some excitement in my life...