Chapter 8: Competition

Thunderstruck by AC/DC

Luke had his rented Splattershot in hand as he stood within Urchin Underpass, on the ledge just before the entrance into the center of the battlefield. Both he and Nova were waiting for the signal to go.

"Go!" Judd cried out from his referee position. How he presided over each arena, Luke would never understand. A beam of light emanated from the center of the map.

Luke took off from his position, inking ahead and around himself to have more ground to work with. He stopped when he got there and looked around.

No Nova anywhere.

He started to ink the walls and ground before a orange colored burst bomb exploded in his face, which leaving the skin tingling from both the impact and ink contact. A swift turn of the head revealed a orange-dyed Nova charging from his left. He quickly threw a bomb that caught her in the leg. She began to fire at him and he returned it.

SPLAT!

A blue squid ghost floated from an orange puddle.

"Sorry Luke, gonna have to be better than that to catch me!" she laughed as balloons formed a ring around her.

Respawning in an alleyway, he snuck up toward the end and saw her bursting the last balloon. A beacon spawned in the alleyway he was in and he hide behind the wall before Nova had a chance to see him.

'What am I gonna do...' he asked himself, looking around frantically before setting his eyes on his gun. 'Wait a second, I've got the element of surprise on my side!'

Nova fired her gun up the wall and climbed up only to come face to face with Luke's Splattershot.

"Surprise!" He said with a grin and splatted her in record time.

Luke looked down at the wristwatch-like device on his wrist given to him just before the battle. It was now 07-04. He hoped he could keep the lead.

The explosion of ink that nearly came close to hitting him alerted him of Nova's presence. The balloons had appeared overhead just then. Right, take care of Nova first then the balloons. He dodged the next bomb by turning into a squid and zig-zagged around his opponent's shot before shooting her down.

He had a definitive lead, at least for now, and silently celebrated while shooting down the balloons. According to what the staff explained before they headed into the inkrails connected to Urchin Underpass, either 30 points or the most before time ran out would give that person a win.

He swiftly moved over to the next beacon, a trail of orange ink telling him that Nova had passed by and was waiting for him. He made is way up onto the opposite alleyway and went down it to have the advantage.

Only to see nothing but an orange ink trail ending in the center of the column of light. He Shot the trail of orange ink only to find that nothing was in there.

"Where did she-" He didn't finish his sentence, as he whipped his head behind him in realization, it was too late. His face was met by orange ink and his consciousness faded after the swift feeling of burning and bursting internally.

He respawned in the entrance of the opposite side of where the column of light was shining.

"Damn!" he muttered under his breath. He took up his weapon and set off for Nova.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

(this is a brief pause in the music)

He decided to creep up on her by going the same way she did. He was creeping towards the corner when he had a dull, throbbing ache in his head. He tried to ignore it but it had intensified into a sharper pain and he closed his right eye as he tried to fight it off. It took all his will and strength not to drop his gun and collapse onto the ground from the pain before it finally died into nothing.

It did surprise him, however, when he felt moisture from his nose and wiped it away with his hand only to see it was a deep blue ink when he looked at it.

'B-blood?!' his hand trembled for a bit as he looked at the the dark liquid that was dribbling down his finger.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The popping of balloons brought him back to reality. He wiped as much as he could off and opened fire on Nova who returned fire as she was expecting him. The balloons suddenly appeared above and both Luke and Nova were slightly distracted from their gunfight.

'Should I get Nova or the balloons first?' he asked himself while following her lead and shooting the balloons. 'If I get the balloons, I'll just get splatted,' he rationalized quickly splatting Nova before she realized what hit her. He blasted the balloons she didn't pop and quickly looked at his wrist device.

07-04 still and a minute and 30 seconds to go. An frustrated scream sounded and Luke knew it was time to plan his next moves quickly.

He dove into the ink behind him, shot were heard, being fired somewhere behind him as he jumped off the grate into the main area of the underpass. He looked behind himself quickly, she would be on him at any second. He paused his thoughts for a moment to look at the wall, he had just the idea.

It was not a moment too soon, Nova brandished her weapon and looked about, a bomb trail was made to try and get away from her, she'd fix him alright, there was no way she was planning on giving Luke another splat on her. She rushed onto the trail, splashing orange ink on Luke's trail.

His false trail that is.

As soon as she leaped off of the alley, she was quickly dispatched by Luke who hid by the corner. Okay phase one down, one more to go. The balloons were appearing on the other side, time to get the points. He moved over to the other side of the underpass to get the balloons.

The next set of balloons were to appear in the center of the arena.

"Good..." He thought to himself, this would proceed better than he thought. He ran to his next hiding spot.

Sure enough Nova came through with her shooter blazing. She shot everywhere on the ground, leaving no ground blue however she had made another fatal mistake.

Rushing near his hiding spot, Luke leapt at Nova, landing at the blue puddle that was once her. A grin spread across his face.

"I was worried, but I'm actually doing pretty good..." he said to himself, his breath now a bit shaky as he was truly getting excited. "Let's see if I can pull off the same trick again..." As the 1-minute mark sounded, a quick trap was being set.

/ \

Not this time, if she wanted to shut that arrogant she-squid, Deborah, up; she had to beat Luke. He had surprisingly played very well in comparison to her, despite being introduced to it at the same time as her. He took the lead charge in their first battle as well. Despite the other team being a big disappointment with a so-called "Pro" on their side, he was moving the fastest and seemed to avoid most of the trouble that most of his team was having.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Must be the genes..." she mumbled as she stood on the grating. She landed with a grunt as she jumped, turning and splattering the wall with her ink. She was taking no chances, and with double points up for grabs she knew she needed to be careful here.

The balloons popped into existence. She looked around quickly, no movement from any of the blue ink. This is it! An opportunity!

She blasted the blue ink on the ground and the walls the balloons getting it all before focusing her attention on the balloo-

Wait a sec...

/ \

With his hiding spot covered in orange ink, Luke only had a couple of second before Nova noticed him stuck in the corner. Gritting his teeth in determination, he freed his arms to aim his Splattershot at her. She lowered her head and shooter level to his chest.

A few quick shots were fired and Luke watched the little orange squid ghost float away, moaning in pain.

"That was close..." he muttered to himself. He shot and claimed his 14 points. "Just 9 more to go!"

The next set of balloons where set to appear in the main passage to his left. He rushed to its location, spraying his ink around before climbing up the wall. He didn't have much time to look around. Immediately, Nova rush towards him with vigor, ink flying towards him. He managed to dodge the oncoming fire with a duck and followed it up with a roll to the side, a corner separating her from him.

"Sorry Luke but, I call dibs on being head honcho, can't let that bossy bass get that title after all!"

'Is she really that serious about that title?' he wondered to himself.

"Can't you guys just talk it out?" he asked her rather meekly. He tried to throw a bomb at her, it missed and hit the other wall instead.

"You see how she is, don't you?" she said, shooting more ink at the entrance. "She'd be a horrible leader! She doesn't have a kind bone in her body and I know she'll just use us for whatever she wants. If she gets we what she wants, she'll probably ditch us when we've stopped being useful!"

She jumped off the small rise of the alley entrance, rolling, stopping and tossing some bombs. Luke had to duck and dodge to avoid getting directly hit. Unfortunately, he couldn't avoid the splash and felt his left side tingle from the contact. Despite that, he kept firing, switching places with Nova. He backed up to the higher ground before firing blue ink onto the ground and swimming away.

Nova gave chase, by the time she came up the rise, there was blue ink surrounding the whole place. She blasted orange ink everywhere, backing up to a crate with a smile. From his hiding place, Luke looked at her with confusion plastered his face as she turned aim to the crate, breaking it and revealing a can with colorful splats and question marks on them. She collected it and opened the contents revealing an Echolocator.

"Gotcha." she grinned mischievously as an orange arrow circled his hiding spot. He quickly swam from the corner that he was hiding in and went behind the wall.

Quickly he inked up an escape route, but soon it left his attention as the balloons appeared. Nova threw a bomb behind the platform he was on before shooting orange ink to cut off his path. She was determined to make sure he score no more points.

He tossed a bomb onto the path and quickly swam through. She apparently had a similar agenda. She stumbled out of the orange ink with some of his blue ink splashed onto her. Now was his chance. He shot at her covering in her in his ink but not managing to splat her as she had dived back into her own ink, she sped toward the other pool of orange ink.

'She's not gonna make that. At least I'm not gonna let her...' he aimed at the pool of orange ink, coloring the ground blue and skewering Nova's landing.

Transforming back into her human form, she skidded for a moment before being stuck in ink up to her knees. She growled in frustration as she began her assault. With a dodge to his right, Luke swam up the wall hoping to get at her. The Echolocator's effects had worn off now and he was ready to end this. Once he was back in range she continued to shoot at him. She tossed a few bombs, with him moving around all but one hit him, and sped off to a safer location to fill her ink up a bit.

'Time to run.' The balloons had then disappeared and had moved to a new location. Luke jumped off the wall and scrambled up the alley. He looked down at his wrist device to notice that the next set of balloons would not be coming. There were only 15 seconds on the clock.

"This'll be over before I can get 30 points," he said to himself. "Time to play keep away..."

Nova had followed him up the slope and promptly splatted him while he was looking at his device. When he respawned, he looked down at his wrist and saw the score was now 18-01. Nova wasn't getting any more points for this match, but he knew that if she caught up with him again, she wouldn't be the only one with no points in this match.

He made his way to the center of the stage. He had to be cautious, he couldn't afford to slip up now so far in the game.

'All I have to go is get near one of the places where the spawn points would normally be and I'll win.' he waited for sound, anything that seemed off. When nothing in particular was heard, he snuck up to the alleyway wall. He was about to pull the trigger, when he felt a sense of dread and soft footsteps. Immediately, he made a puddle under the grating and sunk into it. Nova was right on top of him, scanning the area, this was it the last five seconds, all he had to do was wait and pray she didn't see him.

Fortunately for him, she leaped off and rushed to the center of the battlefield, not seeing his blue puddle.

The whistle sounded and Luke solidified back into a humanoid. Judd leaped from his perch above the arena, and with the two flags in his hand, pointed the blue flag at Luke.

Luke smiled over to Nova. His smile faded when he noticed her sulking over her loss. As they were walking back to the lobby, he noticed how quiet she was being. It had begun to make Luke anxiously look and until she finally spoke up.

"Be careful okay?"

The suddeness of what she said caught him off guard,"Pardon?"

"Be careful." she said looking him straight in the eye. "Since I'm not up against Brodie, you got one shot at this, and even if you do win against him you still got either Tytus or Deborah to worry about. They're all more experienced-"

"And that means they'll not going to go easy on me at all."

She nodded. "Yeah..." He groaned.

Nova was a fun person to be around and she seemed to be an ok loser. Brodie seemed like he would take losing ok but the other two...Luke shuddered at the thought of what their temper could bring.

Exiting out to the lobby, the two squids both saw the others waiting for them. Tytus was silent and looked dour.

'He must have lost.' Luke thought to himself.

"I take it you won your match then?" Nova asked Deborah, asking what Luke had automatically assumed.

A smug grin spread across Deborah's lips. "I wouldn't miss our match even if you payed me."

"About that..." Nova's hesitance made Deborah's grin turn into shocked unexpectance.

"Wait a second... don't tell me that-" Nova nodded and as quickly as she had stopped grinning, she had burst into a hysterical laughter. "For a second, Nova" she gasped out while holding her sides. "I thought you'd be able to back up all that talk!" Nova began to glare again. These two...

Nova gritted her beak as Deborah finished laughing and wiped the tears that stung at the corners of her eyes. "No matter, we'll see how Luke does against Brodie." She said as her gaze set intensely on Luke, making him shrink a bit. The way she looked at him was nothing short of crude amusement. At the same time, he could see a glint of something else in expression but before he could even ask Brodie took him by the arm and they took off to the next match.


Name: Nova Aljoy
Eye color: Brown eyes
Tentacle color: Yellow
Skin Tone: A light rose
Description: A cheerful bundle of joy to be around, Nova can bring a party back to life with her cheerful demeanor. With her good comes her bad however, her zestfulness can be a lot to handle for those who are shy. Without restraint she can be nosy and rather invasive of a person's personal space. She is very defensive when others people want to use her friends for their own ends and isn't afraid to fight for them if need be. Overall she is a kind and brave person who tries her best to put a smile of people's face.

Hey all! School's out for me so expect me to be writing for your entertainment once more. I didn't want to be out for that long but school has been hard to keep up as is. So I had to drop some things for a time to make ends meet. Chapters will be still sporadic but they at least will be back to a more frequent amount of updates. I'd like to think a friend of mine for helping me plan the next 3 chapters that will happen a bit. There is a secondary reason this chapter took so long to put out.

While writing I began to realize how long the chapter would run. This chapter would have been 3 times longer than it is now and would likely have to be split into a second part at the very least anyways so that I wouldn't strain my 15 page limit. It's been divided into 3rds now not only to keep the chapter from overtime but also to make reading more bearable. I'm sure reading about ink battles nonstop is bound to give someone a headache when it's crammed into one whole chapter. Not to worry about the length though, I still try to make things descriptive and dynamic so you don't get bored reading.

Since this is at the end of the chappie, how about a bit of Q&A! I was asked by kaitoneko:

"What exactly do you mean by "... By Joywave" is that you?"

No it's not, I can't sing to save my life. Joywave is a band. I've mentioned this before but to reiterate I am doing an experimental thing on this fic, music I find and listen to in certain segments of this fic will be integrated to try and help set a tone for the reader's. It's merely a recommendation and you don't HAVE to listen to the music if you don't want but I feel it would help convey tone. I like to experiment to see what I can do with fanfiction since as the name states, it's is created by the fan of something, usually related to media. In this case, it's Splatoon. So this isn't me trying to make this as successful as possible (Although success does feel nice when things do good.) It's just me having fun and trying new things to help divert from the norm.

For TrickyJebus we have:

"I was expecting some more BIOS about each of the inklings.
how come you only mentioned Luke's?"

Just trying to spread them out. Although the bios give a sum of the characters. I rather you guys try to get an idea of what they are all like and try and get to know them a bit more or at least interpret how they are so far based on the information that is shared through actions and dialouge throughout the story. Don't worry I'll get through them. Besides you guys are gonna need them. :3

"Hey can you also change the pov to the Death tides Squad in a future chapter?
I would like to see how they cope up with the group they just met."

Trust me when I say that I have plans in store for Death's Tide. For right now, Luke's fledgling Splatoon are the stars of the show!

Hopefully after these 3 chapters, things will pick up, but for now, Staaaaay Fresh!