Chapter 3: Touring The City
In front of the tower, Luke and Nova listened to their tour guide through the plaza.
"So this tower is Inkopolis Tower. It's where all the amazink Turf Wars you see are organized. It's also where you guys are gonna get your plaza cards." Felicia pulled out a card that had her identification on it. "With these you'll be able to get stuff like weapons and clothes, they'll have your name and battle level and battle rank on them. They're actually not too important since their purpose is to show the shopkeepers your battle level and let you get access to more stuff. Nine times outta ten they'll hear about it from the speakers just outside the tower or inklings will mention your team with a bit of gossipin'" She rotated her head over to the building to her right and walk over to the nearest door. Luke and Nova followed suit.
"This is Booyah Base!" Felicia gestured at the building behind her. "All you need for Turf Wars will be here. Well you know besides experience." The shop we're in front of is Ammo Knights. It's where inklings get there ink weapons from. "The owner, Sheldon, is totally obsessed with his weapons but he's awesome at what he does."
They walked in front of the door with the pink sign over it. "This is the headgear shop, Cooler Heads. They range from the splatastic hat I'm wearing to simple stuff like that headband you two are wearing." She gestured nonchalantly at their headbands
Luke and Nova immediately looked over each others' headband as if they saw something wrong with it.
Their guide just rolled her eyes,"Anyways! Annie and Moe are the store owners here. While Annie's a real cool gal, I honestly wish she'd dump the swimming dinner."
Both Luke and Nova looked at her quizzically."What's wrong with him?" Luke asked.
Felicia gave a nervous laugh. "You'll find out soon enough."
That only worried poor Luke.
They walked to the front of the blue signed door,"Next is Jelly Fresh, the clothing store. Jelonzo's not from here so he has a bit of an accent not to mention he talk a bit funny, but he's a fresh dude. Once you're able to shop here, he'll help you pick a trendy wardrobe."
Nova bounced around gleefully "Great! I've been looking for new shirts to add to my closet!"
"Last but not least..." Felicia took them to the last door, which had a orange sign over it. "Crusty Sean's Shrimp Kicks,he's the prawn who'll sell ya the freshest style of shoes this side of Inkopolis."
"So... we can come over the shops to buy stuff for Turf Wars?" Luke inquired.
Felicia responded with an amused smirk."Once you're fresh enough to be consider a customer, then yes."
Felicia walk them up the ramp leading to the second floor of one building as well as a view of the Squid Sisters' studio. While they headed up the ramp, Luke took another glance around to see if could find the mystery girl who stared him down earlier up here.
"The Battle Dojo is perfect for sparing with a friend. Unlike Turf Wars the rules in the Battle Dojo are that you have to pop as many balloons as possible." Felicia sighed and walked towards the railing, slouching on it and looking out into the plaza. "It's the only thing me and my team do nowadays. We haven't done Turf Wars together as a team in weeks."
Luke stared at his sister with pity. She seemed upset about her team's recent breakup.
Nova seemed to read his mind because she asked, "What's keeping your team from joining back up together?"
Felicia gave a little chuckle before saying, "Don't worry, it's nothing permanent. Our leader said she had to take a break on family business." She then got up, turned towards her entourage, and pointed to the studio window. "Back to the tour, the Squid Sister's studio is adjacent to the Battle Dojo, where you can see some of their fans staring all starry- eyed at them."
They headed under the catwalk. Luke once again looking for the mystery girl as they walked. Nova noticed how distracted he was being. Before she could ask what was bothering him, she saw Luke visibly stiffen. Her eyes followed to where he looked and her body froze along with his. They saw an urchin on a carpet at the end of the alleyway, he had purple sclera and green irises. His skin was dark and his body rather thin, wearing a colorful poncho and braclets. The most eye catching thing was his black spines which were colored at the tips. They both finally tore their eyes away from the stranger, only to focus on what seem like rocks near his feet.
" S'appening Felicia, Wot can I do for you today love?" the stranger asked.
"Nothing today for me Spyke, just showing my brother and his friend around the plaza. It's their first day." Spyke's eyes shifted directly to Luke and Nova. They move behind Felicia in an attempt to hide.
Both Spyke and Felicia chuckled and the older sister stepped turned to them. "Don't worry you two, Spyke's not gonna bite."
Once some color came back to her face, Nova bravely and politely went up to Spyke to shake hands.
"Nice to meet you sir!" Nova said as they grasped each other's hand in greeting.
Spyke stifled another laugh. "Please love, jus' call me Spyke." he said. Nova nodded in acknowledgment. "Now love wot's your name?"
"The name's Nova. Nice to meet ya."
She then hopped her way over to Luke then whispered to him, "The guy doesn't seem too bad. Go on and introduce yourself."
With that, before Luke could even argue, he was launched of over to Spyke by a firm shove by Nova.
He sharply turned to Nova to glare at her, at the moment, triumphant smirk. He then turned to introduce himself,"H-h-hi, my n-name is L-l-luke." he could hear the audible sigh of his sister before she stepped over and shoved him out of the way, probably to cover up the fact that her brother was being awkward.
"Anyways Spyke now that we know my brother's a certifiable wimp," Luke began to stop being afraid of Spyke in favor of frown at Felicia, can you explain what you do here to my hopeless little brother and his friend, who is more than compensating for his pathetic attempt at introduction?" she all but smiled a little too much, even for her.
'What? Are you embarrassed now?' Luke thought at his sister, who had managed to irritate him at the moment.
Spyke thought for a moment at the request."Very well love. I s'ppose I owe you for that favor you did for me back then anyways." Felicia winked at him and Spyke went on with his explanation of his business.
"Once you're fresh enough you blokes can deal wif' me. If you see some other blokes wearin' some nice gear I can 'order' the same thing for you. It might not be the exact same thing if I can't find it but I'll make sure you at least get somethin' close. Once you get to your sis's level of freshness, I can help you more. Unless of course you bring me a tasty treat." He gestured to the crystalline shells around him. The younger inklings looked at them shivering in fear. Luke nearly gagged at the empty ones and the screwdriver when he put two and two together.
Felicia thanked Spyke and once they were out of the alley, she said "That concludes our tour. Any questions?"
No questions.
"Alright let's head over to Ammo Knights then."
As they were heading to the weapon's department in Booyah Base, Nova turned to Luke with a slight frown.
"Alright, spill it."
"Spill what?"
"You've been distracted ever since we got into the plaza so I want to know: What have you been looking at this whole time?"
"Why is that bothering you exactly?" Luke stared at her in slight agitation.
"I feel like it's important to keep me posted on things that you're doing around here, that's all visa-versa." Nova broke out into another one of her grins. "Besides, if we're gonna be teammates we gotta communicate."
Luke stared at her for a second and thought. 'Come to think of it, I haven't thought about making a team yet and Nova's been nothing but nice, even though I think me and her might have a few issues to work out.'
Finally, he made a decision. He nodded his head and held his hand out.
"OK then, let's make it official let's make a Splatoon!" Nova gave Luke a high five as they walked into the shop.
"Yo Sheldon!" Felicia shouted. The shopkeeper seemed nowhere to be found in the shop.
She was about to tell the younger Inklings to wait here until a short person with googles and what looked like a scout uniform came into the room from a back door, a giant paint roller in his hands. Luke saw that he was also wearing some kind of hat.
"Oh hello Felicia!" he said, putting the paint roller on a display rack. "How can I help you today?"
Felicia shook her head. "Nothin' for me Sheldon, we need some Splattershot Jr. for the rooks here."
Sheldon walked up to the pair and scrutinized them. Luke in particular caught his eyes.
"Another Vernon for the records?"
Felicia winked at him. "He needs some work, but I think he can manage."
"Hello my name is Luke." he said, properly introducing himself and astonishing both Felicia and Nova in one fell swoop. "Please to meet you."
"Likewise, my name is Sheldon." he shook Luke's and turned to Nova. "And what's your name?"
"Nova Aljoy, pleased to meet you." He shook her hand as well.
When Sheldon had went to shake Nova's hand, he realized that Sheldon's hat was more of a helmet.
"You're a Horseshoe Crab aren't you?"
"Why yes, I am!" Sheldon smiled. He was now making his way over to a weapons rack and plucked two shooter-like weapons from the arms.
"Here you two go! Take care of my children, I know you'll give them a good home!"
With that, Felicia took them to the training area.
/ \
Luke fumbled with the tank his sister gave him. "Where did you get these exactly?" he asked.
Felicia gave him an indifferent look, "Does it matter?" The fact that he had to think about his answer was more than enough reason to earn retort from her. "Didn't think so."
His sister had brought them to one of the various alleyways that ran throughout Inkopolis to practice. Felicia came over to Luke with a pair of scissors. "I need you to hold still."
Luke did as he was told. His sister began cutting a small hole in his Basic Tee between his shoulders, exposing the hole that was connected to his ink sac. She asked him to move his arm so she could put on the tank on, which he had complied with.
"Ok this part might feel a bit weird." He was going to ask what she meant when he felt something cold being inserted into the orifice of his ink sac. He shuddered at the sensation of having it plugged up.
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it being in there once you start moving." She then went to help Nova, who was taken below the steps for a bit of privacy from him. Nova squeaked in surprise, presumably due to having a siphon made to be siphoning her siphon (heh) inserted between the shoulders. They walked back up, all good to go.
"Ok, brb." with that she went behind the corner herself only to come back out fully equipped, Splattershot Jr. and everything.
Next she taught them where the weapon's tube had to be connected and how to fire their weapons. Before things got interesting.
"You connect this..." she held the connector tube of her Splattershot Jr. "To here." and pointed where the tube connected to the tank.
Both Luke and Nova were prepped and Felicia was ready to give them a speech.
"Ok! You wanna be the freshest squids on the block?" The two rookies nodded. "Then you've got a long way to go! Now let's go over the basics of Ink Battling!"
A strange, intimidating look was suddenly in her eye. "Ok, so you just hold it like so..." she held her weapon in her hands, her right hand on the handle with her index finger hovering from the trigger and her other hand holding the barrel. "Then, you just shoot." She swiveled behind herself, pulled the trigger and fired in a straight line in front of her. "OK you try, aim at these balloons behind me."
Just before the two students could aim at their first target, they heard Felicia say "To make things more interesting, catch me if you can~!" before Luke could ask what she meant, Felicia had dashed towards him, jumping on his shoulders and leaping off quickly, disorienting him, and had snatched Luke's baggage that he sat down before getting started with training.
"You want this back? Then come and get it Lu-Lu!"
Luke could only stare in astonishment at his sister when he righted himself. When did she get so flexible?
Nova reacted first, she tried to splat Felicia but she simply flipped off the wall and went over them, changing into squid form and landing into the ink trail she sprayed earlier and speeding off and phasing through the fence.
"C'mon! Let's go!" Nova yelled to Luke as she ran after his sister, popping balloons as she went. Luke eventually snapped out of his stupor and followed.
Tumbling after Nova, Luke noticed his sister running through what looked like a skatepark of sorts. She stopped in the center.
"C'mon you two can do better than that can't you?" the older inkling taunted. Nova turned to Luke who had finally caught up with her.
"Alright," she hissed, "We'll flank her. We'll go on each side where the balloons are and then swim in our ink to get her from behind." Luke nodded took the closer side and waited for Nova take her position.
Once she was in position they blasted the balloons on their sides slowly advancing to blast the second balloon on their paths.
"Oh going for the balloons instead?" Felicia continued, "You can do that but you won't be able to catch me that way." She lifted up the bag containing Luke's belongings.
'Wait until you get the other balloon Luke, she's just baiting you.' He focused on trying to burst the second balloon.
Nova got hers first and began to ink a line of pink ink to keep Felicia sectioned off. She sped in front of Felicia and stood between her and the exit.
"Clever plan." She told Nova. Luke had finished with the second balloon when he saw them face off. He caught a glint of mischief in his sister's eyes. He readied himself and got into a better position.
Felicia sprinted and lifted her Splattershot Jr. Nova mirrored and anchored herself to the ground, bracing herself.
With a grin, Felicia made a path for herself and sped off as a squid, Nova missing her shots as she trailed her ink behind Felicia's teal.
Luke jumped out of his position, his Splattershot Jr. pointed at the squid form of his sister. "Don't think so sis!" he shouted and pulled the trigger.
"Nyah!"
A traveling spot of his darker blue ink was moving. He definitely hit her.
"Good shot!" Nova praised him and the both chased after her.
Felicia changed back to humanoid form to shoot up the walls above her. She leapt on them in squid form and scaled both walls. They followed suit.
Felicia was up on a higher platform when they reached the top, a small bit of blue ink noticeable on her right calf.
"Wow you guys are terrible at this. Maybe you all should just give up and go home. Especially you Lu-Lu."
Luke shot at his sister but she dashed off deeper into the course.
"Let's go Luke, we can use this." Nova pointed in the direction of the ramp that had teal ink on it. She then climbed up the steps and inked the top platform completely, getting the balloons as well. She got a swmming start before clearing the gap "C'mon Luke! Get a move on." before disappearing behind the wall.
"W-wait! Nova!" Luke made a simple line on the platform and leapt onto the raised platform just barely. When he turned the corner he saw Nova staring from a precipice. "Nova?" he walked slowly up to her. Luke looked out at what she saw with his mouth agape: A crashed UFO among a sea of violet ink.
"Luke...?" Nova asked fear coming into her voice and her eyes glued to the scene before her.
"Yeah?" he answered back, more in awe then fear.
"What do you think crashed that thing?"
"I don't know but I certainly don't want to find out." his body chilled instinctively,'I'm going to have a word with Felicia...something's wrong here and I want find out what.'
"C'mon let's not keep my sis waiting." Luke told her. He inked the floor below and dropped down, running around the UFO to see his sister waiting for them in front of some crates.
"Ugh, great!" he turned to see Nova stuck in some of the violet ink that was already there. She blasted her way out and come out at Luke's side.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me..."
Luke turned his attention back to Felicia only to feel something hit his shoes and he felt stuck in place. "Felicia, Wha-" he was stopped by her firing at Nova's feet gluing her in place beside him.
"Shhh... Now where was I?" She paced to and fro. Nova took her Splattershot Jr. and aimed at her feet.
And was immediately at the inking end of Felicia's own Splattershot Jr.
"Now now, be good students and listen to your teacher..." Felicia gave them a creepy, threatening grin, "Otherwise I may have to get violent."
Nova lowered her Splattershot Jr. slowly. Luke stared at both Felicia's apparent demented behavior and Nova's compliance in shock. 'Is she serious?!'
Felicia demeanor calmed down. "Now where was I?" Her faced sparked with remembrance. "Oh yeah! Now I remember, You also have bombs that come along with that Splattershot Jr." she showed them the pyramid shaped bombs connected to the side of the tank. She tossed one at the crates. "Now let the chase continue."
Almost simultaneously, the bomb went off, destroying the crates.
Luke was getting angry now and as she began climbing, he splatted his feet free and went after her.
"Luke! Wait up!" Nova called after him, splatting her own two feet free and following them up.
When Nova caught up, Luke was staring down his sister, who had her back turned to them.
"Well then I guess I'm caught..." her voice was level. Luke squinted his eyes at her, she was controlling the tone of her voice, he realized she was holding back emotion by the slight way she quivered, a skill he picked up from living with his siblings. "Congratulations! You made it through!" she said turning to them, smiling and clapping for them.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT BACK THERE?!" Luke screamed at Felicia. Was that all a trick?
"Whoa there Luke don't bust a vein." she laughed out. "I was just acting, you know I wouldn't hurt you, just showing a little drama." He turned his back to her and crossed his arms, pouting all the while. "Aww... does Lu-Lu need a hug?"
Before he could do anything, Felicia thrusted herself on him. He squirmed like a mouse trying to get out of the grip of a cat and she only tightened her hug squeezing the air out of him.
"Ok! Ok! I forgive you! Just! Stop! Hugging!" she immediately let go dropping him on the ground, satisfied. Nova was now stand besides him giggling.
Luke began to blush in embarrassment, "Can you stop giggling and help me up?" he muttered in annoyance.
Nova nodded and offered her hand, which he took. With a firm pull, the blue inkling was on his feet.
"Ok, now to get out of here," Felicia pointed at the bubbling pool of teal ink. "Just turn the Launchpad your color by shooting some of your ink in it, then just launch yourself."
"And how do we do that exactly?" Luke asked in a still annoyed voice.
"You'll figure it out, in fact how about you go first Lu-Lu just to make up for the oh-so-scary trick on you." she began to chuckle evilly.
'I know this is a trap, but I might as well since she'll force me in there anyways.'
"Ok, fine." he decided to say to her, shooting at the Launchpad until it was blue."But nothing better go wrong."
Changing into squid form, he slipped into the bubbling puddle and the rest was just cause and effect from there.
The sensation of the ink bubbling into his siphon made him scrunch his body up at the invasive feeling. Unfortunately for him, the ink that got into his body, which was a LOT, was now trapped and he unscrunched himself to stop the bloated feeling.
Only to launch himself in the air when he was forcing the ink out.
"YOU ARE SOOOO DEEEEAAAAADDDD...!"
At this point Felicia was cackling on the floor in tears.
"Don't worry!" she called out between laughs. "The view's great!"
While her friend's sister was laughing mad, Nova quickly turned the Launchpad into her own color and rushed to see if her buddy was OK.
/ \
Wind rushed passed Luke's face as he sailed into the air. He had turned into his inkling form mid-air long after launching himself and now had his arms crossed.
"I can't believe it! She changed alright, into a psychotic brother tormenter!" he said too no one in particular. "Ok, worse case scenario she'll be dragging my dead corpse into the ocean where no one will find me; best case scenario, she going to-" he was cut short by the oncoming pavement of the plaza.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, trying to right his body so he'd land feet first. He did manage to land on his feet, but he didn't stay on them.
"Oof! Ow! Dammit!" he said, each exclamation coming out everytime he rolled into contact with the ground.
He looked himself over noticing he was only scratched up a bit. 'Hmm... more durable than I thought.' he said, although he soon regretted saying it since bruises on his abdomen, left shoulder and legs began to form and the pain as well, now that the adrenaline had worn off.
"Me and my big mouth." he said and groaned and moaned his way to a bench.
A few seconds later Nova landed in the same location he did, albeit with more grace. After landing she looked around. Luke assumed she was looking for her.
"Over here!" Luke shouted.
She swiftly turned around and walked over to him. Luke watched her make her way over, clutching his aching shoulder, when he made eye contact with a familiar pair of yellow eyes. This time the owner visibly retreated into Booyah Base.
"Wat'cha lookin' at?" Nova asked, she then realized he was clutching his shoulder in pain. "Did you hurt yourself in the fall?"
"It's her again..." he said, still looking at the door the girl went into.
"What?"
Luke abruptly grabbed her hand, "C'mon, I need to see why she keeps staring at me. It's happened twice now."
Nova was definitely stronger than him, she pulled him back to the bench and forced him to sit down.
"Start from the beginning please." she commanded, glaring at him. Luke had stopped thinking about the mystery girl for a moment to focus back on Nova. She was looking a mixture of frustration, confusion, and worry. Her hand was gripping firmly on his wrist as well; even if he wanted to start chasing that mystery girl around for a few answers, Nova would make doing so quite difficult at the very least.
Luke began to scratch his cheek, "Oh yeah, I was supposed to tell you earlier but we got so wrapped up in making our own Splatoon that I guess I forgot."
Her response was to raise an eyebrow. "Well then no time like the present, shoot." she answered, skeptical of his excuse.
He sighed and gave in. "There's this girl that's been staring me down everytime she sees me. I've only seen her around the plaza twice, but it's giving me a weird feeling everytime we see each other. I was going to try and ask her why she kept staring at me whenever I got the chance." Luke looked at Nova for a reaction.
At first, Nova had a completely blank stare, as if to process everything he just told her. Then, slowly but surely, she had a huge grin on her face again.
"I see romance on the horizon~!" she sung teasingly.
"Anyways!" Luke interrupted. "Let's go before she-"
He himself was interrupted by a pale, young female inkling with purple tentacles and steel blue eyes walked over to them with something in her hands.
OH MY GOSH THAT TOOK WAY TOO LONG TO POST! *dies*
Anyways I've been busy with things like celebrating my birthday or dogsitting to write for as long as I wanted so this chapter took forever!
Two things I want to discuss with my Readers:
1. I was wondering if this would be an ideal chapter size to go for you guys. This chapter is the longest yet, being ten pages long in OpenOffice (and 11 words over that.) and I would like to know if you want these chapters longer since this and the next chapter were supposed to be one chapter. However that doesn't mean that the next chapter was going to be short by any means. (In fact I'm pretty sure there will be enough content to be as long as chapter 1 at the LEAST.)
2. I want to try some things new in the next chapter. What they are I won't say until the Author's Notes in the next chapter but please tell me if you guys notice it when you review and your opinion on these things.
That's all for now! Until next time! Staaay Fresh!
