Violet wakes up out of her queen sized purple and yellow bed, Fuchsia's still sleeping; they're in Violet's room at the Sororia household. Violet gets out of bed and takes a look around the purple room decorated in all the things she liked as a child. She picks up one of her stuffed squid plushies of the Squid Sisters, squeezing and hugging it, feeling the fluffiness from the stuffed plushy. Fuchsia tosses and turns in bed, struggling to find the comfortable spot that she found when she flipped her pillow to get the cool side; Violet giggles at her, staring out the window and looking down below-thinking of yesterday.
Violet, Fuchsia, and Mario arrived at the Sororia home yesterday. As Fuchsia got out the car, she whistled-impressed with the lovely exterior design of the home, admiring the fancy cars parked there too; Mario went to help her take out the bags as Violet took out her pair. Violet kept quiet as she walked down the long pathway that led to the front door, her heart beating with anxiety as she was only moments away from finally seeing her parents again. She knocked on the tall wooden door and rang the posh doorbell, hearing her mom's voice as she said "I'll be right there!"-a smile sprouting as the thought of her mom sneaked in. She looked around at the white house, taking a quick glance at the neighboring houses too while she waited; Fuchsia and Mario join her in the wait-all of them carrying bags.
The door opens as Violet begins shuffle her feet, preparing to leap into her mother's arms. Her mother opens the door wide, greeting Violet with water in her eyes, spreading her arms out to hug her daughter; Violet drops her bags and hugs her mother saying, "I missed you mom!"
It's a tender moment for bother of them, having been separated and never making any contact for so many months. They wrap up the moment and allow the others to come inside. Violet introduces her mother to Fuchsia, to which Nina takes an immediately liking to-grabbing Fuchsia by the hand and bombarding her with personal questions; they enter the living room where Violet's father and fellow members were waiting. The living room had a classic decoration with a clash of modern tech like a touch screen TV and automatic reclining chairs.
Violet slowly walks up to her father, who is reclined in his seat. The two had as strong of a relationship that a father and daughter could have-he was the reason why she moved, moving her away from this mess and into a rich wealthy school once she was eligible. He was wearing a vintage black fedora that shadowed his face as he gazed at them, smoking a cigar; Violet hovers over him, waving the smoke away to get a better look.
"Dad?"
He sits upright, "Glad to see you've grown so big, my little flower."
She hugs him quickly and takes a seat at his order, they didn't have the tender kind of relationship that Nina had with Violet; the others take a seat too at his order. He claps his hands together, taking a deep breath, and turning to his daughter.
"I have something to discuss with you in regards to the letter that I sent you…"
Violet stayed silent as her father explained to her the real reason for why he wrote the letter, expressing that he-personally had no intention of targeting Reice, and that it was to only bring her here to discuss the future of the family. I knew that you wouldn't come back unless there was something that could get under your skin…I knew of your rekindled friendship once one my men spotted you with him at that popular hotspot for your sports."
"You mean the Inkopolis plaza?" she interrupted, trying her best not to show any immaturity in front of a professional audience.
"Yes, that place."-Santiago's expression turns serious as he and the other family members get down to business.
"The family is in a tough position, splitting into two factions when I got out of prison: the Armando faction that was the central force and majority of the Sororia's, and the Santiago faction that was all of the family members that remained loyal to me and were against the ideals of Armando. I failed to seize control of the family once I got out of prison because of Armando's strong hold on the title, and it didn't help very much that Armando single highhandedly rebuilt Beacon Hills, gaining more power over the territory than the mayor of Beacon Hill himself. I want to stop Armando from gaining more control and stirring up more conflict after learning of the news from a close source infiltrating the faction that Armando stole G.P.A from the Galloway's via a small group of his men intercepting their truck that had a massive supply of the drug stored. The Galloway's had long since fled from the area after their defeat, but now it feels like after Armando's actions, they're coming back with vengeance. Armando hasn't done anything lately to signify that he'll back down and return the drugs that he stole…I fear that there may be a second war between the two families again, one involving an increased use of the terrible G.P.A. drug."
Violet nods her head, understanding the situation at hand-"I see why you want me here…take over and unite the family and somehow stop a possible war between the two families involving that drug as a possible source. Count me in…"-Resting her hand on her chin with a thinker's expression- "But this is a tall task to ask of me…exactly how would I be able to stop this?"
Santiago shifts positions in his chair, uncomfortable-"that is why we are having this discussion; we don't know exactly how to go about this. The Armando faction has a majority of the family with advanced weaponry-military grade. We only have a couple guns on supply…but we're not sure when to use them since we're heavily outnumbered."
Fuchsia grinned, getting up and seeing her chance to become useful-"Looks like I can be of assistance…"
"How so..? Do you have a plan?" Nina asked; the others also were curious.
"Yes I do, but first, does the Armando branch have an arsenal where they store their weapons? Do they also have a place where they're storing the drugs?"
Mario joins in-"Yes they do, it's over on the Southside of town past the subway in a large warehouse-heavily guarded. As for the drugs, not very sure…but they should have a place where they are storing the drugs."
"Hmmm, then what we can do is split into two groups. The first group will search for the location where the drugs are being stored and notify the rest of us when they discover the location. The second group will attack the arsenal, stealing all the major weapons in their storage."
The others stare at her with skepticism, not digging the plan of marching into an unfavorable situation. Should they move forward with such a flawed plan, they would have to enter a shootout with their own family, cause even more damage to the environment and reputation of Beacon Hills and the Sororia's, and they don't even know where the drugs might be located. Violet smiles and agrees with the plan, walking over to Fuchsia and wrapping her arm around her.
"I like it! We'll take the fight to them. We'll weaken their arms support once we discover the location of the drug and secure it and then use that as our offer of peace with the Galloway's. Sharp move Fuchsia…!"
The others thought it over and realized that the plan was actually quite a good one, but Mario saw some more potential to the plan.
"That plan sounds good, but it will be difficult since Armando has connections to every part of Beacon Hills, and this place is huge for a "town"-split into four districts."
"He's right."-Santiago added, standing next to Mario-"Before we can attack any of those places, we'll have to weaken his strong hold on Beacon Hills; the four districts that he controls are the "Hills"-both the rich and poor sides of the infamous black hills, the urban part of town where all the major sites and restaurants are, the countryside where most of the farmers resided and the other part of town that was well developed, New Beacon."
"We should consider destroying some key points that he has occupied." Nina added.
Once everyone offered their input of what the general plan should be, it came down to a plan broken into different steps: First they would take down certain locations that were under Armando's control-four to be exact, and that would serve to weaken his control, next they would proceed to taking down the Armando faction, for the mission of taking down the faction, the recon group is responsible for locating the harmful G.P.A. drug, the attacking group will seize the arsenal of the Armando faction, and the third team that would seize the head base of operations for the Armando faction: his giant estate that was guarded heavily with armed bodyguards everywhere; in that specific order.
They all agreed upon the plan and spent the rest of the day catching up and sharing memories. As Violet recalls yesterday's events, Fuchsia groggily wakes up. Fuchsia gets out of bed and then trips over her shoes and falls down, immediately waking up; Violet laughs at her as she helped her up.
"Looks like you're ready for today…" Fuchsia said feeling a little embarrassed about her folly.
"Of course, we're spending the day with my parents while taking a tour of Beacon Hills. We better get ourselves dressed.
Its 10 am over in the main town of Beacon Hills, Reice is on his way via taxi to the shanty town on the hills. He was seeking to find any kind of information that can clue him in on the whereabouts of his family. He stopped over at an information broker that he knew through his father back in the day, now he had a lead on some old clients after visiting him in town. He was told to check the hills where many of the Galloway's former clients were living. The pulled up to an old shed-looking house and Reice got out the car; he was dressed in a thick Yellow sweatshirt, black jeans, and yellow boots, he had his hands in his pockets and was remembering the package that he received from Sky early in the morning at the post office once he was notified by her. She told him that the package had been a special delivery that no one except for the government and its closest people were to know of the delivery. The package he received once he opened it, was a brand new and custom made gun that resembled the hero shot, only it had a yellow color instead of lime and had a structure between the hero shot and a pistol. The gun had a huge pack of yellow bullets and a set of clips that were filled with the same bullets; a note was attached to it. It read:
"Dear Reice,
I know I cannot be of your help at the moment, but I know you will be in good hands with Bianca. Just to be sure since you're in Beacon Hills, I got you a custom made gun that is loaded with yellow ink bullets (a colored bullet that contains compressed ink, that when fired-upon immediate contact-will either splat or pierce through its environment, depending on the gun). When you're in a pinch, use that gun to your advantage. You will be able to splat or pierce your enemies to death if needed. Please keep in mind that only members of the military are given these weapons, so please be careful when using them.
Love, Sky"
Since it is a pistol, I guess the power is in splat range instead of pierce…still pretty effective.
Reice observes his surroundings as the taxi speeds off, getting out of the dangerous place as soon as possible. The houses had rust and chipped paint covering the shed-like houses; all the houses were jumbled and stacked over one another along the hillside both vertically and horizontally. As he looked over at the neighbor's home on the right, he could see little inklings staring at him through the window-curious of his presence. On the left, he saw an elderly woman who was very malnourished holding a little baby inkling in her arms, sitting in a rocking chair. With each step, he could feel himself being more overcome with guilt and the sense of responsibility, feeling the need to have to do something to change the way of this town; he thought that if anything, these two homes told the story of what the rest of the shanty towns must be. He knocked on the wooden door, pieces of wood falling apart as he knocked. He heard an old man answer in a weak voice, grunting with each step as he heard a cane make contact with the creaking old wooden floor that could be heard from outside. When he answered the door, Reice stood back; the old man had to take out his glasses and put them on over his hollow eyes in order to see what was before him.
He stood at the door entrance opened his mouth with shock as he recognized the face; his mouth only had a few teeth, but they still had enough strength to sprout a smile as he recalled the name.
"Y-You're his son…"-lifting a shaky finger, more than likely he had Parkinson's disease since his age was clearly past his 80s-"you're Joe's youngest boy?"
"I'm his son, yes."
"What brings such a young feller like you over here? I remember you were adopted by that sports couple some odd years back. Your father had stormed into my office and ranted 'bout it once it was official."
"I'm here because I'm looking to find out where my family is at the moment."
The old man licked his lips audibly, shivering from the breeze that blew by and even his shed-house shivered. He gingerly walked over to Reice and took a long and hard look at him. The old man grunted once more and then signaled for Reice to come in; Reice takes one quick glance at both of the neighbors and then enters. Upon entering, it didn't take a genius to see that the house was very old and poorly kept with the floor completely crooked with board pieces sticking out, garbage lying everywhere, and dust covered over most things out of the old man's reach. The old man guides Reice over to what appeared to be the living room; each step they took made a creaking noise, agitating Reice slightly as they made their way to an old and dusty couch. The dust escapes from the couch as the two sit down, Reice is extremely uncomfortable being in such a dirty place; the environment that he lived in prior with his adopted family and at the school were never this untidy and disgusting to behold.
"So…"-coughing loudly as a speck of dust sneaks into his mouth-"About my family, I know that you have close ties to them. Do you know where they might be?"
The old man stared off into the wall behind him, "I haven't seen or heard from them since they were defeated those many years ago…"
Reice raises an eyebrow, "Really…? Nothing at all…?"
The old man shook his head, "Not one bit…"-he sits forward with his cane-"the only news I hear 'bout the underground is through them youngsters that pass by n fill me in on what's new."
"So is there anything that might be in regards to my family?"
"Well, if my memory serves me well…I recall hearing something about them coming here. I heard that there was a slight possibility that the Galloway's were on their way back here after those Sororia's jumped 'em n stole their goods too."
"And where was this…?"
"Hmmm, that happened outside over by that tropical place in the southwest near the border of Cephalodan and Squirabia. I guess they must be on their way back to reclaim it."
"But their current location…?"-Reice was beginning to grow frustrated; raising his voice- "Is there any clue to where they might be!"
The old man wheezed and then looked at Reice, "Just as impatient as your ol pappy, guess the gene runs in the family…getting to look like him a bit too."
"I don't have time for this…"-Getting up and storming to the door, then turning back to the old man and seeing the senile man smile at him; he sighed-"what other sources do you have?"
"Some further up the hill here"-struggling to his feet-"It seems you're on your way out, I'll help you to the door."
Reice tried to stop him, saying that he was fine and that the old man should just stay there, but when he saw the terrible environment he was living in, guilt set in. Reice decided to take the man along with him to visit the next source, pleasing the old man who secretly was desperate to get away from that place and get some fresh air-though the air in the shanty town was disgusting to inhale.
"So are there any contacts that you know of?" Reice said, helping the old man out the door.
"I know one youngster further up in the hills; he's a few years ahead you in age, but he's a reliable one."
The two of them hopped on an old bike that the old man owned that hadn't been rode in decades, then they set on their way to the next source-striking up a quick conversation along the way.
"So how long have you been living here sir?"
The old man had to think about it, "I'd have to say…about over fifty five years."
"Fifty five years!?"-raising an eyebrow as he took a quick glance back at the old man before returning his attention forward-"That's a long time…"
"Very, but thanks to the many years that I spent here, I got to meet so many colorful people and see the growth of the Beacon Hill..."
Reice kept silent as he thought about Beacon Hills, hearing the old man talk about how it was a place to love and hate with its diverse setting of an urban town to the very rural communities on the outskirts, to the hills with two very different stories, to the colorful residents to the dark history that laid at its foundation.
Over to the west of the shanty towns were the luxurious and elegant houses and apartments; in order to enter this part of the hills, you had to pass through security guards as buff and strong as Ueru. Hatsunika and Sally were sitting by the poolside, admiring the view of the town of Beacon Hills-the entire area including the outskirts where the farmers reside; the two were drinking smoothies and sharing some stories about themselves. Sally had introduced herself and told Hatsunika her full name, to which Hatsunika had leaped out of her seat with shock, realizing Sally was the famous girl who was on TV from the fall festival and also the daughter of professional sports athletes. Sally also shared her memories of Beacon Hills, telling Hatsunika about her family and her adopted siblings.
"So you're that crazy-fast girl that won the track event! You were incredible to watch! And to think you're also a fellow Beacon kid!"-Sally tries to be humble as she accepted the praise-"your life seems to be very abnormal…wish mine was like that."
"Hey, you're a music idol! I'd love to be a music idol like you."
"But it's tiring, traveling from place-to-place, having to perform at so many events…I love it but it tires me out and I don't have a partner. But you have some amazing talent in music… ever considered going professional? With your talent we could become a duo."
"Seems like it would be fun, maybe sometime in the future…"-smiling at her, as she smiled back; Sally brought up her encounter with Azule and of how she became a part of the team known as Squidcom, entertaining Hatsunika with the stories from their Rank Wars and then shifting over to a slight tease as to why she was in Beacon Hills again after Hatsunika asked her.
"I'm here to help out some friends who really need my assistance."
"Well from what I'm hearing about them, they seem to be quite the fun to be around…"
"They are…"-staring at her cup-"They're a crazy bunch."
They both look at their cups, unsure of how to keep the conversation going; Beacon Hill was so heavy with the blood stained history of the town and the corruption that led it all.
"I want to save this place…" Hatsunika said suddenly to break the silence; Sally stares at her, giggling.
"How? You know the mafia runs the place..."
"Yeah, but if the Silver Squidron hadn't already left, this could be a little easier. They're some close friends of mine and I've seen the incredible things they can do."
"That's pretty cool…"-looking out to the scenery-"but regarding the situation in town, I doubt there will be anything we can do against the mafia."
"You're right…"-disappointed in herself for not being able to come up with a plan-"I…I just don't like the tension in this place. I don't like how the townspeople have to constantly be on edge for any kind of attack, and I really don't like the racism going on either between us and the Octarians…I hate to see this hatred, and I think it's time for it to end."
"Racism…? Has it gotten worse?" asked Sally with a puzzled look; racism was very real in the world, the Inklings loathed the Octarians ad so did the Octarians.
"Ever since they slaughtered loose Octarians that were seen here, they always kill on sight of any Octarian even believed to be there. First they would kill any Octarian that tried to escape from underground, and then they lynched or burned whoever would try to aid them. Now, they're planning to try it on any Octolings." Hatsunika said with regret to have knowledge of such; as the two continued their discussion, on the other side of town by a local restaurant in safe area where Santiago still had control, Fuchsia was on the phone with her sister Shiva in a bathroom stall.
"Remember, once you're done with whatever you're doing over there, you must prepare to come home in winter; our big conference with the Inkling government is taking place sometime then."
"I know, but are you sure this will get dad back? Mom always said that the Inkland Continental Congress would never turn him over…"
"Don't worry kiddo; we can pull something off in our negotiations with them. Just make sure to stay close friends with your squad, never let race ruin your friendship."
"I know sis, love you."-in an agitated voice.
"Hey, don't try to act all mushy, I can sense your annoyance and sarcasm from here. But no worries, I still love ya! Now do you remember our goal?"
"Abolish the tolerance act and bring true freedom to our race, form a progressive government that can unite the two races and get this world moving in the right direction…you tell me this after every phone call…"-raising an eyebrow and rolling her eyes.
"Well I have to, It's imperative that you know our goal and follow it; we have our entire race's future in our hands…"-she pauses, then giggles-"and I can't let you have any fun with those cute Inkling boys over there, you need to wait at least one more year."
Fuchsia blushes hardly and quickly gets defensive-"Gross! I'm not like you and your impulsive 'fun nights' where no one knows where you go. I'm a civilized princess that mom is proud of."
Shiva laughs through the phone, "You just haven't been exposed to it like I have, and that's a good thing. Mom only chooses you over me because you're the good-goody…"-audibly sticking her tongue out and mocking Fuchsia through the phone, then settling down- But for real, please take care of yourself while you're at the hills and make sure to not go all-out if you're combating. I know you want to be good friends with Violet, but we can't allow any more Inklings to know our secret arts and weapons."
"If you mean the new high tech gauntlets, I won't use them."
She hangs up the phone and looks in the mirror, closing her eyes and recalling the history she learned from her mother and Shiva as a child. Ever since the 2nd Great War, Octoling women were the only ones that were protected under the compromise of the tolerance act that was passed after the 2nd Great Turf War. The tolerance act was a compromise passed by both parties led by their leaders of Agent 3 and DJ Octavio to come to an agreement to allow some race of Octarians to live on land along with Inklings, but the Inklings refused to meet such demands by the Octarians and settled on the agreement of allowing at least the Octoling women-the beautiful and lust filled women of the elite class of Octarians-the right to live amongst their rivals; for all other Octarian race including the Octoling men, were forced back underground to never see their women again. The plan itself was to ensure that the Male Octarian warrior population would die out from the loss of reproduction and unsustainable living conditions and to possibly cross breed between the Octoling women and Inkling men. But the plan began to fall flat as many of the Octoling women refused and many Octoling men and other Octarians began to sneak onto the land through Octo Valley, but failing miserably at the hands of the Galloways and many other underground organizations hired by the Inkland Continental Congress to 'exterminate' them, leading to DJ Octavio attempting to expose the inklings, which then led to his capture and imprisonment at Death Row Island. The goal of the Octolings were to expand the amount land that was given to them through the act of Octo Vally-a small valley that allowed for all Octarians to live, but unfortunately began to get overpopulated because of the small space-and to free DJ Octavio from imprisonment and possible death at the Island where the most heinous of criminals were kept. So as a result, His wife-Clodia Octavio- fought to get him out of imprisonment and bring him home so that he may take care of his family and lead his people, but the Inkland Continental Congress. Fuchsia's concentrated expression drops as she thinks about where her father must be, and how he must be doing in prison. She leans over the sink and stares hard at the sink bottom
As Fuchsia exited the bathroom, she saw Violet waiting for her outside. Fuchsia takes a deep breath smiles as she looks up at Violet. The two leave the restaurant with Violet's family, who are soon about to begin the mission to take over the town of Beacon Hills once more for Santiago Sororia.
