Arc 2 Chapter 3

The room was cold and the sounds of water dripping could be heard echoing down the tunnels. Buzzing could be heard from electrical equipment running in the room a figure was occupying. The figure was Blake and he had a hard night's sleep between trying to keep warm on the hard floor and flashbacks of the great turf war playing in his head.

Blake jolted up from his sleep after struggling and talking in his sleep. He was breathing hard after he envisioned being thrown in the cryostasis pod and being dropped to his death. Blake was sure he was as good as dead but he could remember the pod dropping and landing in a canyon as he watched Cuttlefish and the floating landmass slowly move away toward the shoreline.

The pod hit the wall of the canyon and stumbled further down toward the bottom, landing in a pool of mud. The pod was making noises and soon the intercom came on. "begin cryostasis process," said the intercom.

"NO! Cuttlefish! Mimi! Ammoses!" yelled Blake as he pushed against the hatch trying to open it, but it was no use.

The pod sunk in the mud and Blake could no longer see outside the hatch. The cryostasis process began and Blake sat back in the seat inside the pod. He began to feel fatigued and cold. Blake was fighting to keep his eyes open and gave a weak mumble "help!" as he finally fell asleep and was frozen yet again in the pod.

Flashbacks of the turf war ran through his head while he was in cryostasis. Memories of his friends and the bond that strengthened between him and Cuttlefish. Blake's head was hurting recalling the memories of his life when woke out of the pod and was thrown back in it.

Blake slowly got up and walked out of the maintenance room. He turned toward the tunnel hugging himself to keep warm as he sneezed. He thought about going back up to the surface to spy on the inhabitants of the city and find food as his stomach growled.

Cassie was walking through the plaza on her way to Crusty Sean's. The activity in the plaza was busy even though it would be shutting down in another week. Inklings were talking about turf wars and staying fresh as always. Cassie paid no mind to the shatter and made her way to Crusty Sean's and placed an order. She walked over to a table and played on her squidphone. After a while, without paying attention a figure sat down across from her. "Hey, there," the figure said.

Cassie took her attention off her phone and looked to the figure across the table from her.

"Hi!" the figure waved with a smile. The figure was a female inkling with yellow tentacles, but her tentacles were a different style. They were shorter in the front compared to Cassie's drooping down to her hips. She was wearing a yellow squid T-shirt and black thin shorts with white tennis shoes.

"Can I...help you?" asked Cassie raising an eyebrow.

"Just wanted to say hi...my name's Izzy, Izzy Beaks. I'm new here and I just came from Calamari County," said Izzy reaching her arm out for a handshake and a welcoming smile.

"Uh, Cassie, Cassie Humboldt. Nice to meet you," said Cassie awkwardly as she shook Izzy's hand.

"Cassie Humboldt!, I've heard of you. You're a well-known turf war player with a strong reputation back in the county as well as your family. I can't believe I'm meeting you right now!" said Izzy all giddy as she found out she shook hands with highly reputable turf war player.

"Umm...yeah," responded Cassie unsure how to make the recognition as she turned her head to hide her blush.

"Hey! You gotta teach me some moves for the turf war matches, pretty please!" pleaded Cassie as she had her arms out in a pleading position.

"Look, um Izzy. I don't play turf wars anymore," explained Cassie.

"What! But you're a legend in my town. Why'd you stop playing!?" asked a shocked Izzy.

Cassie gave a long sigh and looked back at the yellow-headed inkling with anticipation.

"Turf wars are pointless, no matter how hard you move up the ranks, it'll never pay off in the end. Take my advice, Izzy, just go back to the county before you get hurt physically and emotionally while you can," said Cassie with a dead serious look.

Izzy looked down, saddened by what the former turf war player said.

Cassie looked at Izzy feeling bad for what she had said and given a sigh as she closed her eyes.

"Izzy...I'm...sorry for what I said, I just... don't want you to go down the same road I did. working hard to get where you're at and for it all to be taken from you at the end. Since then I quit player turf war games," said Cassie in a melancholy tone.

"I'm sorry to hear that Cassie... It's just, I..." said Izzy as she was cut off.

"It's no problem, Izzy. That doesn't mean that won't happen to you," said Cassie trying to reassure Izzy.

Izzy finally gave a smile and Cassie gave a slight smile back.

"Hey, why don't we go hang out somewhere like the mall," suggested Cassie.

"Really? That would be so fresh!" shouted Izzy in joy with her fist in the air.

"Order up squido!" yelled Crusty Sean signaling to Cassie that her order was done.

Cassie turned toward Crusty Sean. "OK!" shouted Cassie as she turned back to Izzy.

"How about we go hangout after we eat," said Cassie.

The squid sisters were at their studio getting things packed up and recapping their past career and the turf war matches they sponsored. Marie was placing stuff in large trunks as Callie was in the wardrobe room going through clothes. As Callie was organizing, she looked at the sequin dress she wore at the final splatfest. Callie sighed then looked down wishing things would go back to the way they were.

The Plaza staying active and full of fresh and experienced turf war players. She and Marie giving the Inkopolis News and spectating turf matches. After a moment of rekindling the memories of her and Marie, she felt a hand on her shoulder from behind. It was Marie with a look of condolence.

"Cal, I know hard this is but we have to move on, the good ole days are gone but that doesn't mean it has to be bad," said Marie trying to comfort Callie as she turned towards her.

"I know Marie, It's hard to let go, I don't know what we're going to do after the square opens," said Callie sadly.

"Well, we could always go to Calamari County and visit with family, I've never had time to do that," said Marie.

"I guess so, Marie," said Callie depressingly.

"Hey, maybe you'll find I guy you could settle down with," said Marie with a slight smirk.

Callie's face turned pink and looked back at Marie. "Marie! You know we're just about related to everyone in the county," said Callie with a little exasperation.

"Just squiddin' ya Cal, but maybe the right guy will come along," said Marie with her smirk replaced by a slight smile.

"I just... haven't seen the right guy who likes me for who I am... and not a squid sister," said Callie.

"The right guy will come along, and you'll know it," said Marie.

Callie looked at her cousin with a warming smile and hugged her.

"Marie, you always know how to lift my spirits up," said Callie.

"That's what I'm here for, now let's finish clearing the studio," said Marie as they got back to work.

Hours passed and the squid sisters left the studio and made their way down the walkway towards the plaza. They were soon crowded by fans that were asking questions and wanted autographs. After a moment of publicity and picture taking, the squid sisters waved by to their fans and continued.

"(Sigh) That's something I won't miss," said Marie.

"aaww... come on Marie, you know you will, besides I'll miss the smiling faces and enthusiasm of all the turf players we see and meet, (sigh) things aren't going to be the same without it," said Callie.

"Cal, I think you're going to miss the attention," said Marie with a slight smirk.

"Coming from someone who won the final splatfest, but nooo, I'll miss the plaza and everyone else," says Callie.

Callie remained silent looking down in thought. "Cal... Cal...," Marie trying to get her cousin's attention.

"Huh? What is it, Marie?" Callie exclaimed as she jumped back in reality.

"It's just you looked like you were stuck in thought," said Marie with a little concern. Callie looked back up at her cousin. "Look, let's just go hang out somewhere and get our mind off things," said Marie putting her hand on Callie's shoulder.

"Alright, Marie," said Callie in relief.

The two soon left the plaza to find a place to get their thoughts distracted and mind off of things.

Blake was climbing out of a manhole and closed the lid. He looked around as he made his way down an alley and the noise of the city was startling him, still unsure about where he was.

He slowly walked toward the end and heard people talking, so he got behind a small wall and looked. It was a blue tentacled inkling talking to some kind of creature that wasn't an inkling but had yellowish skin and spikes growing out of its head. It was wearing a colorful poncho with green pants and he was sitting at the end of the alleyway.

"Got whatcha need, mate?" the creature said to the inkling.

"Yeah, I think so, thanks Spyke," the inkling replied back.

"Well, Luv, I'll be heading out then, Gonna be leaving since the plaza won't be the turf player hangout anymore but my little cousin Murch will be coming down to the new square though," said Spyke.

"I can't wait until it opens, I heard about the new Deca Tower and that the Inkopolis News will be given to two new idols at the new studio, It's too bad the squid sisters are leaving. I wonder who's gonna take their place?" asked the inkling.

"Don't know luv, I'm gonna miss em too, (sigh) all well," said Spyke as he threw his hands up.

"See ya, Spike," waved the inkling as she walked away.

Blake peeked around the small wall only for Spyke to catch his movement as he turned his head toward the alley. Blake quickly ducked back.

"What was that? Thought I saw somethin'," said Spyke as he had had his head turned toward the alleyway.

Spyke got up and stretched and paused.

"Ah, probably just seein' things, I think I've been here too long, glad I'm leavin'," said Spyke as he turned back toward the plaza and walked away to be followed by the rock-like creatures that were huddled around him when he was sitting down.

Blake gave a sigh. "That was close, I gotta be more careful," said Blake as he got up from behind the wall.

Blake could see inklings walking around the plaza. The smell from Crusty Sean's was driving him crazy as he was starving. He fought his temptation to go to the plaza and decided to hang back and wait until the coast was clear.

Blake decided to head back down the alley to the other end and came across a large opened up urban area with an overpass running across it. There appeared to be no one in sight as he slowly made his through the area.

As he walked across the built-up area, he thought of a way to disguise himself, as not to draw attention. He looked around pilfering through trash cans and other items lying around. He came across a pair of goggles laying on the ground and took what looked to be an old piece of cloth and made it into a cloak to hide part of his body.

"Maybe now, I won't arouse any suspicion," said Blake.

He continued onward, after a while of more walking he heard voices coming from in front of him. he rushed behind a wall and peered around the corner to see two inkling girls sitting on a ledge across the opening from where he was at. One inkling girl had long green tentacles sporting a white t-shirt with a logo on it wearing black shorts. The other one had short yellow tentacles and was sporting a yellow t-shirt with writing on it and also wearing black shorts.

"Being just the two them, maybe I could talk to them," Blake said to himself.

Blake pondered if he should reveal himself and make contact with two inkling girls. So Blake decided to walk up and get their attention, only to a scream from the two inklings and get an unexpected reaction from the greeting.

Cassie and Izzy made their way to Urchin Underpass. It was a large built turf war stage with an overpass running across it. Cassie and Izzy squid jumped across platforms and looked over the stage.

"Wow! So, this is one of the turf war stages?" asked an excited Izzy.

"Yeah, not sure if It'll be open after, everyone leaves for the new square and tower though," said Cassie.

"It's a shame, This was one of my favorite turf war stages, It's where I got my first start on turf wars, I'm going to miss it," said Cassie as she sighed.

"I hate to hear that, but maybe they'll have cooler turf war stages when they open the new square," said Izzy.

"It's alright, It's not like I play turf wars anyway," said Cassie.

The two girls sat down on a ledge facing the turf war area. Cassie just remained quiet and eyed the area she once played turf wars in. Izzy soon broke the silence as she turned and looked at Cassie with concern.

"Cassie?" asked Izzy.

"Yeah?" responded Cassie.

"You think you'll ever get back to playing in turf wars again?" asked Izzy.

Cassie turned and looked at Izzy for a couple of seconds. Cassie gave a sigh and looked back at the turf war stage. "I... don't know, It's just... I think back at the splat tournament I lost and my ex-boyfriend," said Cassie in a slightly distressed tone.

"ex-boyfriend?" asked Izzy raising an eyebrow.

"oh, I never told you about Ross, did I," said Cassie as she turned her head back to Izzy.

Izzy shook her head and a curious look on her face.

"(Sigh) Ross... was a competitive turf war player. He had his own team and made his way through the turf player ranks rather quickly. All he did was live and breathe turf war battling. I met him after my team and his team battled here in Urchin Underpass. His team won and my team lost. As I made my way back to the lobby he asked me my name and said how good of a turf war player I was. He even offered me to play on his team," said Cassie.

"So did you join his team?" asked Izzy. Cassie gave Izzy a hard look and turned her head back to the turf war stage in front of them.

"(sigh) No... I didn't. I wanted to stay with my friends. He was Ok about it, so he asked me out instead. I said yes and we were seeing one another for quite a while," said Cassie.

"So, what happened?" asked Izzy anxiously.

"So we played in the splat tournament. My team managed to get to the finals as well as his. It was my team vs his. My team put up a fight and we thought we would win until one of my teammates told me about Ross's spawn point camping strategy. he was splatting my teammates as they came out of the spawn point. I didn't believe them at first until another teammate of mine said the same thing. I was upset and couldn't believe Ross would do such an unsporty move like that to win the match. He put his turf war reputation ahead of my relationship with him when he finally splats me as I was talking to them," said Cassie upset.

"What a jerk! I can't believe he would do that to you," said Izzy in shock.

"That's not the worst part, He just used me thinking that I would go easy on him and his team since he was my boyfriend. When he and his team won, I also found out he was bribing turf war officials and using splat armor in the matches to win. I confronted Ross on it and told the head of the turf war games about it. Ross and his team were disqualified and lost his rank, so nobody won the splat tournament and Ross hated me. He broke up with me and left. No one has heard from him ever since," said Cassie.

Izzy looked back at the turf war stage and gave a sigh. "I hate to hear that but you shouldn't let something like that stop you from competing in turf wars. Ross might have been a jerk and a cheater, but you have to put that behind you, Cassie," said Izzy trying to reassure Cassie.

Cassie looked back at Izzy with a saddened look. "you really think I should," asked Cassie.

"Heck yeah!" said Izzy with a fist pump.

"You remind me of a friend, (Sigh) Alright Izzy I'll do it!" said Cassie as she hugged Izzy.

Izzy blushed as Cassie hugged her. Never imagining one of her favorite turf war players hugging her and accepting her advice.

After a moment Izzy spotted a figure over Cassie's shoulder on the ground below. The figure was tall while it was wearing goggles over its face and a cloak cover its upper body and head.

"Ca...Ca...Cassie! What is that!" yelped Izzy as she turned Cassie to the figure.

The figure had stopped and had a puzzled look on its face.

"What the! I don't know Izzy but get behind me!" commanded Cassie.

"But what about you!" asked Izzy with distress.

"I'll be fine Izzy! Just go!" yelled Cassie.

The figure soon had a worried look on its face and it started to back up.

"Hey! Stop right there!" shouted Cassie as she jumped down and pointed, what looked like a water gun at the figure.

The figure put his hands up and started to sweat. It gulped and thought about how to escape from this situation.

"Crap what do I do!" Blake thought as he was in a dilemma with the inkling pointing a weapon at him.

The inkling glared at him with her finger on the trigger.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" commanded the green tentacled inkling girl.

"I can't give away my identity, I need to think of something," Blake thought to himself.

"Answer me! Or I'll splat you where you stand!" yelled the inkling as she was ready to shoot him.

Blake gulped and was running out of time. He soon thought of the only thing he could think of. Blake reached into his pocket and threw his brass squid badge that was given to him from Cuttlefish years ago, at the inkling girl's head.

The inkling yelped at the impact of the hard squid badge and Blake ran as fast as he could away from the inkling and back toward the alley on the other side of the turf war stage.

"Ow...What the, Hey! Get back here!" yelled the inkling girl after getting up and rubbing the bruise on her head. She squid formed and chased after Blake. When she caught up with him she changed back to her bipedal form and shot ink at him. The ink hit him in the back and Blake yelped "AAHH!"

Blake was almost knocked down but he stumbled up and kept running. The inkling was shocked that the figure didn't splat from the shot but could tell he was hurt. He had almost reached the alleyway when the inkling girl squid jumped in front of him and aimed her weapon at him. Blake came to a grinding halt.

The inkling girl fired another shot and just as she did Blake threw his cloak at her. The cloak covered up the inkling girl as she struggled to throw it off and Blake leaped over her back kicking her towards the ground. Blake managed to get away and ran down the alley and climbed down the manhole back into the sewers.

The inkling girl finally got the cloak off her and shook her head. She frantically looked around and the figure was nowhere in sight. She ran down the alleyway hoping to catch the figure but to no avail, he was gone.

The inkling girl kneeled down and punched the pavement in frustration. "Dammit! It's gone!" she shouted in anger.

Just then she heard footsteps run up from the turf war area she ran from. She turned around with her weapon pointed in the direction of the footsteps.

"Hey! It's just me!" screamed Izzy with her hands up.

"Izzy?! (sigh) Don't run up behind me like that!" shouted Cassie.

"Sorry... are you ok?" asked Izzy.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Cassie rubbing her head from the squid badge being thrown at her.

"What was that thing?" asked Izzy.

"I don't know, but my ink didn't incapacitate it, I wonder why?" said a confused Cassie.

"Here, it threw this at you," said Izzy giving Cassie the squid badge.

"This looks like a squid badge... but why did it have this?" Cassie wondered.

"A what?" asked Izzy.

Cassie then got nervous and changed the subject not wanting Izzy to find out she was squidbeak agent.

"It's nothing, Umm, why don't we head back to the plaza before it gets late. I gotta make a phone call anyway. Go ahead I'll catch up," Cassie told Izzy as she nodded and headed down the alleyway towards the plaza.

When Izzy was out of sight. Cassie got on her squidphone as she examined the old brass squid charm. The ringing finally stopped and a voice could be heard on the phone. Hello, agent 3?" the voice said.

"Hey, agent 2, umm, I need to talk to you and agent 1 in private before dark, when you get a chance. It's urgent," said Cassie.

"Ok, meet us at Bluefin Depot at 6:00 tonight," said agent 2.

"Alright, I'll see you then," said Cassie as she hung up the phone and placed the squid charm in her pocket.

Cassie left and headed to the plaza to catch up with Izzy. Thoughts were running through her head about the mysterious figure and if it was the one at the Shellendorf Institute and why it had possession of a squid badge. She shook her head to get back into reality as she squid formed and slithered through the gate gaining access to the plaza.

Blake was panting down inside the sewer relieved that he escaped from the squid girl and that his cover wasn't blown.

"That was too close!" exclaimed Blake as he walked toward the room he was sleeping in.

"I better stay out of sight for a little while, I don't want to draw any more attention, but I gotta find some food soon," said Blake placing his hand over his stomach.

Blake made his way to the old maintenance room to rest. He laid on the crushed cardboard box and stared at the ceiling.

"I hated that I had to lose my squid charm but I had no choice or I would get caught. That inkling girl looked like she was in no mood to talk," said Blake to himself.

Blake gave a long sigh and rolled over in depression.

"I hope I can get back to Cuttlefish and Mimi, I hope they defeated Octavio and saved the valley and the inklings," said Blake.

A tear ran down Blake's face as he thought about his friends and if he would ever get back. Blake finally closed his eyes and fell asleep exhausted from his hostile encounter with the squid girl.

Blake's first impression on the inklings living in the city didn't go well, It seemed better that he stayed out of sight and sneak around when he got the chance. There was no telling what the inklings would do to him if they ever found out he was a human. They didn't seem like the inklings he knew back in the valley and Blake desperately wanted to go back home.