Chapter 2: All Joy

"How could they leave me to fend for myself like this!" Luke ranted as he pack up his necessities. "Felicia!? Responsible!? That's the biggest joke I've heard in a while!"

Luke didn't really think of his dear older sister as something awful as reckless but she did have the tendency to look for trouble. How she didn't ended up dead or arrested with some of the antics she's pulled, he would never know.

Luke breathed inhaled before falling onto his bed, exhaling on the way down. A though came to Luke.'She doesn't really visit though. Maybe...maybe she did change.' He shifted towards the nightstand and grabbed the photo of their family. His sister's teal tentacles hugging a younger him and the twins.

Putting the photo back, he continued to pack, leaving himself in thought all the while.

'Who knows maybe I will make friends too.' A warm feeling came over him at the thought.

/ \

After packing up he met up with his family at the door. "I'm ready" he said with a renewed smile on his face.

The walk to the station was pretty uneventful. They talked about turf wars, how his parents felt and what they did during those days. They also talked about how they met each other on opposing teams and how his dad was certainly quite the charmer at his age, much to Luke's and the twins disgust.

At the station, the family sat on one of the benches, waiting for the train to arrive.

The train station was virtually empty for the majority of the time they were there. Only two other families were there but they were small groups of three in comparison to him and his two siblings.

One family had a boy with yellow tentacles who was really dark-skinned and glasses. He seemed to be taking a nap.

The other family had a girl who was slightly lighter in skin tone than himself. She had brown eyes and long pink tentacles that ended at her hips. When she realized she was being watched, she smiled enthusiastically and waved at him. He shyly waved back with a coy smile of his own.

He then looked at his father, who was digging in his pocket.

"Here you go son, a little something to get you started." his father fished out 100 coins and placed them in Luke's hands.

After putting the coins into his pocket he gave his dad a hug "Thank you!" he exclaimed. Even if Felicia were to ditch him, whether on purpose or accidently, he at least had money to purchase some food.

"Honey, your train's here now." his mother softly stated, breaking him out of the hug he gave his father.

Luke gave his mother and two siblings a quick hug before going on with the other inklings

"Bye everyone!" he yelled to them over his shoulder waving his goodbye, "I'll be sure to something back for you all!"

As he step aboard the train, his eyes and widened in awe. There were and array of inklings and various colors of eyes, skin, and tentacles. He put his bags under his seat and turned to look out at his family. Soon the train lurched into motion and his family faded from view.

"Hiya!"

Luke spun suddenly only to see the pink tentacled inkling from the station inches from his face.

"Uh... hello." Luke tried to scoot deeper into his chair, but found there wasn't the room to do that so he settled for a polite little smile at the girl.

"Name's Nova!" She took Luke's hand and gave him a firm handshake. "Nova Aljoy, what's you name?"

"Oh! Uh... um... i-i-it's Luke." he stuttered, looking away and blushing a bit, "Luke Vernon."

"Nice to meet'cha Luke! So what'cha goin' to Inkopolis for? Turf Wars? Splat Zones? Tower Control? Maybe just to get some clothes or maybe..." Nova threw Luke a more suggestive glance and waggled her eyebrows, "meet a giirrrll~?"

The way Nova crooned the word 'girl' made him cringe and blush even harder.

"Uh- n-no! No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!" Luke blurted out trying to clear any thoughts like that out his head. He suddenly felt himself turn into his squid form and when he realized what happened, he tried to change back.

The key word being tried.

"Augh, great I can't change back..." he squeaked out of his beak.

"Oh, you don't know how to change huh?" Nova broke out into a huge grin. "Don't worry, just listen of everything I say and you'll be fine!"

"You know, your enthusiasm astounds me sometimes...OK, you have my undivided attention."

Nova only grinned wider, which Luke found it hard to believe was even possible. "OK! First close your eyes."

Luke hesitantly did so.

"Next, think of becoming a kid, think of having each and every part of your body become solid and structured." He relaxed to Nova's voice which had switch from peppy and hyperactive to a more dulcet and lulling tone."Think about yourself growing bigger and taller, of your fingers growing on each hand and your toes growing on each foot. Think of your skin becoming tougher and stronger and your nose coming from your face."

Luke had imagined all of this, and as he did so, he felt the shifting of his body until it stopped suddenly.

"Alright, you can open your eyes now."

Luke open his eyes to see Nova had disappeared from in front of him, only for him to notice her sitting to his right, turned to him with a more relaxed smile. He also realized some of the other passengers were staring at them for a second before continuing with their business.

"See? Simple isn't it?" Nova tone was now balanced between sedated and explosive. "Keep doing that whenever you need to change from your squid form inkling form and eventually it'll become natural."

Luke gave her a smile. She seemed like a good person to be friends with.

"Hey Nova."

"Yeah?"

"Could you and I be friends?"

Nova tilted her head in confusion, "But aren't we already friends?"

"Wha-?" Luke was genuinely surprised. Did she trust him to be a friend to her already?

Not wanting to bring up the issue he had with it or be rude to her he simply nodded.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Luke just realized what she said earlier.

"Wait, how did you know I was going to Inkopolis."

This time Nova was the one with shock. "Holy mackerel! That was quite the delayed reaction. You only just realized I said that?" Luke confirmed it with a nod.

"Wow. Anyway to answer you question I knew because all inklings who are at least 14 and the older ones who can still keep up get on here by themselves and their teams so they can play and hang at the plaza." She moved her head so she was laying it back onto the window.

"So you're in your own Splatoon?"

"Huh? Oh, no! I only know because I had to go to the plaza one time to drop something off from my father to one of the store owners a few days ago. I've never even held a Splattershot Jr.!" she quickly stated, curling one of her tentacles with her hands, seeming some degree of embarrased. "This'll be my first Turf war today."

"Oh..." Luke felt a little disappointed but opted to be supportive. "Well that's OK. We'll figure it out together!"

She started to do that wide grin of hers again. "Thanks! And who knows maybe we'll make more friends when we get there!"

Luke felt a nervousness creeping into him about that happening, but all the same he felt anticipation for the future ahead of him.

Luke had a feeling the next question that popped in his head might be the start of what felt close to a rollercoaster of dominos collapsing over the span of eternity. Luke pushed the feeling away and asked.

"So what all do you know about the different Splatoons? I mean I imagined you saw a few."

Nova seemed to stiffen a bit, and her smile faded. Luke wasn't sure of the reason why, but had a feeling he would know soon.

"Not really, but..." Her eyes looked downward. "There's one team that's gotten a good streak recently." Luke looked her over to see if she wasn't feeling good. "They're called the Death's Tide Splatoon."

Both of them shuddered at the name. The whole train's buzz seemed to have completely died at the name. Everyone in the car looked at them for the split second the team's named was uttered before everyone were talking around them in whispers.

"That's not all of it though." Luke raised a brow at her. "There are rumors about the leader, Aeolia Ames."

"Aeolia..." Luke repeated. He liked that name a lot. It didn't seem like the name of someone mean let alone vicious.

"They say she's some sort witch."

At that Luke looked at her in half disbelief, half surprise. "What?! How?!"

"They say she uses hexes on her opponents to help her win, that she can shapeshift into any inkling she wants to and you'll never be the wiser, and that she charms boys into doing her bidding."

Luke found the courage to ask, "Is it true?"

Nova scoffed "Nah, it can't be. Besides their just rumors meaning that people probably made it up to give the team a bad rep." She smiled weaker than she had been during there trip. "Still, I can't help but feel that that type of stuff is eerie enough not to be show some fright from it."

At this Luke simply exhaled. "You can tell a scary tale, you have a talent at storytelling."

"Thanks Luke!" she smiled at full strength again. She leaned back, crossed her legs and put her hands behind her head. "Who knows, maybe I'll make my own book."

Luke began to yawn. "Hey Nova?" Luke asked, "Could you wake me up when we get there?"

"Sure Luke."

"Thanks." With that he drifted into sleep.

/ \

"Luke...Luuuke...Luke..."

Luke found himself awoke in a new environment completely. He was still in inkling form.

More importantly he noticed he was floating in water. He floated in it without dissolving or feeling any pain.

In fact, he felt at peace. The water was cool and soothing on his skin. He noted that the water submerged every part of his body except for his face.

He looked around more, he noted that he couldn't move much and he seemed to be in a stream within a swamp. From what he could make out, he was moving on the current towards a humongous tree.

"Luke..."

Was it calling him?

"Luke! Yo Luke, we're here!"

Nova's voice jarred Luke out of his dream. He looked around to see what was what and who was who.

"Wow, you slept well! Nova tilted her head around him. You must have had a good dream 'cause it was hell wakin' you up!"

"Sorry about that." Luke apologized while he grabbed his baggage from under his seat.

"So what'cha dream about?" Nova asked.

Apparently, she didn't want to let the fact he'd been dreaming go. It weird and trippy even for her, he was sure of it, so he lied "I can't really remember what it was about." They started to leave the train.

"Awwwww... I missed somethin' good I bet, 'cause you really seemed to be napping good." She pouted for a bit then looked at him with a big, sad, googly-eyed look. "You sure?"

Luke sighed, she knew how to make a person give up their secrets. Apparently she's THAT one person who love to guilt trip others. He would make a note of that later, but for now it was effective and he spilled the beans.

"Alright you win." Luke told her about what he saw during his dream. Nova did the unexpected and listened with a rather straight face.

After the story she said, "Maybe it was some sort of prophetic interpretation of the future or a peek into who you are?"

Luke chuckled at that, "What are you some kind of physic?" Nova laughed with him.

"You guys just gonna keep standing there, or you gonna introduce your lady friend?"

That voice belong to Felicia! Where-

"Over here Lu-lu."

Luke turned around to see his sister leaning on the wall.

"Sis!" He ran up to her and gave her a hug.

"How've ya been champ? Still inking the bed in your sleep?"

An angry-embarrassed blush showed up on his face. "Shut up."

His sister looked him over. "My my... you're looking like dad in his old photos of him as a kid."

she felt around his waist and arms for a bit. "But... you're inevitably gonna look more like mom than dad."

"Thanks for that..." Luke said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Felicia replied smiling mad.

Nova walked over, smiled of equal madness, and folded her arms. "Introductions are necessary don't 'cha think?"

While they were walking to the plaza, Luke introduced the two girls to each other. While they were getting to know each other Luke sized up Felicia himself. She had definitely gotten taller over the years. Her teal tentacles were thigh length and she was wearing a teal hat with a squid pattern on it, a mountain vest with a light blue, long-sleeved, checkered shirt underneath and some red work boots on. She also had a bag that had its strings entangled in her right fist.

Entering the gate to the plaza, Luke looked up and around in amazement. The first thing he noticed was the huge tower piercing the sky, it had a large catfish of some sort curled around its center. The next thing he notice was the giant screen on the outside of a building that he soon realized was the studio of the popular pop idols, The Squid Sisters. Then there was the wave of color on the scene; there were even more varieties of color than on the train he took to get here.

A jingle played out into the plaza and all eyes turned to look at the giant screen. The Squid Sisters were broadcasting the news!

"Hold on to your tentacles..." said Callie, the long and black tentacled idol with a black and magenta colored outfit, with excitement in her voice.

"It's Inkopolis News time!" shouted Marie, the bobbed and white tentacled idol in black and green colors.

"Let's unveil the current regular battle stages!" announced Callie.

"All right!" pepped Marie.

The screen behind them revealed the first stage, Urchin Underpass. Luke could here a few celebrations as well as groaning in the plaza.

"Road trip! Any cuties out there wanna go for a ride?" Callie winked and Luke swore he heard some of the guys begin to swoon. He couldn't really make an argument against them though. He felt a heat on his cheeks as well when Callie winked at the captive audience.

"Let's use the airwaves responsibly, Callie" Marie sighed.

The screen then changed to the second stage, Arowana Mall.

Callie turned her head to Marie "Hey Marie, how would you tackle this stage?"she asked her sister.

Marie thought for a second, grinned then said "Float like a jellyfish, sting like a...jellyfish?" she thought about it while Callie started talking for the next segment of the news.

"And now, the current ranked battle stages!" Callie announced. "The rules for these stages are Splat Zones!"

"Splatastic!" Marie exclaimed.

The first stage that popped up was Saltspray Rig.

" "Just grab the high ground and it'll be an easy win!""Callie quoted, "...Is what amateurs say. Then they get splatted." Luke gulped, he hope he wouldn't get
wreaked in a match because the way Callie had said that, it terrified him to say the least.

"But don't just stick to the low ground, either!" Marie quickly added in.

The final arena in rotation came up; the other ranked battles would be in Walleye Warehouse.

"So many containers...! I wonder what's inside them!" Callie questioned.

"Wouldn't it be rad if it was all Squid Sister merch?!" Marie replied to Callie.

Callie and Marie both looked directly into the camera.

"Until next time.." Callie started

"Staaaay fresh!" They said in unison before the both signed out and the screen went blank again.

"Were those the Squid Sisters?!" Luke asked.

"Yep, you bet!" Felicia said to Luke smiling hard. She seemed to be trying to keep her composure. Luke knew that wouldn't last long and she would sooner or latter let her excitement all out anyways.

"So since your both new here, I'll show you around first, then we'll pick up your Splattershot Jr.s from the weapons store, then I'll show you to a training course made for newbies, then I'll drag you around so I can pick up some new stuff and then we'll get your plaza card. Sound good?" Before Luke could answer Felicia began to take off. "Great!"

Nova and Luke looked at each other and chased after her.

Well Nova did.

Luke stopped when he noticed a dark skinned girl with pink tentacles and yellow eyes giving a sideways glance directly at him from under the ramp leading to the Squid Sister's Studio. He looked back at her and they were locked into each others gaze.

"Luke!"

Hearing Nova's voice, Luke turned around to see Nova and Felicia looking at him.

"C'mon slow poke." Felicia chided "We don't got all day!"

"Ok!" When Luke looked back to where the girl was, she had vanished.

Confused, he caught up with the girls and began his first day at Inkopolis.


Wow two chapters in and Luke already has a girlfriend(Well a girl that's a friend...anyways). Apparently I'm terribly at telling when I might be done with a chapter so I'll just stop doing that. I'm also glad I manage to get about double of chapter 1's length in here. I tried to get as much of the plot introduced as possible in this chapter and I think I got it all in there. Chapter 3 is where it's going to spice up though. I'll make sure of that.*Evil grin*