Octavia's PoV
One day at school, Via and Bonnie were walking through the halls, chatting about their classes.
"So, today in math, these two jellyfish had a fight," Bonnie started.
"A fight? What do they do, sting each other?" Octavia quipped. They're gelatinous blobs that don't have proper hands; two of them fighting each other would get them nowhere.
"Well… yes… but they also threw books at each other," the beige-skinned inkling muttered. "…And calculators. And pencils."
"Okay… how did it start?" the orange-haired inkling pressed.
"You see, one of them sat on the other's phone, and it broke," she explained. "He was not happy."
"Yikes…" the other inkling murmured. Suddenly, Bonnie's eyes narrowed as she looked at her friend's backpack. "…What?"
"There's a note sticking out of your backpack pocket," she pointed out. She took a white piece of paper out of the backpack and gave it to Octavia. Looking at it, it notably had bad handwriting, and several words were spelled wrong.
"'Meet the Octobrush Master this night at 6:00 PM. Come by yourself, and do not forget your Octobrush!'" she read out loud. Looking at the address, she then added, "It's near Perry's mansion. Whoever this 'Octobrush Master' is must have quite a bit of money."
"Should you really go, though?" Bonnie questioned. "It basically says to come alone, and who's to say they won't randomly splat you?"
"Hmm… I don't know…" she admitted. "I could learn something new."
"I still don't like that idea," the girl with the double bun grumbled.
"I'll ask the others at lunch, let's see what they think," Via decided.
Later, at lunch, when Octavia explained the earlier events, Roy shook his head and declared, "Absolutely not."
"Why not?" the bronze-skinned inkling asked.
"Well, we don't know who put that note in your backpack. It could be anyone!" he argued.
"At the very least, it's an inkling," Inigo pointed out. "We're the only ones that can use these kinds of weapons."
"But can we trust them? I think not!" the red-haired inkling argued, pointing his finger towards the ceiling while boasting a cocky grin.
"On the other hand…" The fair-skinned boy grabbed his arm and pulled it down, causing Roy to lose his grin. "Via could at least see what's up with this 'Octobrush Master'."
"Yeah, they can't be all too bad," Yuri agreed.
"There's still a risk!" Roy snapped. "She could get splatted, and we'd never see her again!"
"I seem like the only one to agree with Roy…" Bonnie muttered. She looked over at Perry, who was silently eating a sandwich as he listened to the conversation. "What about you? You've been quiet the entire time!"
"Personally, I'd say 'splat it' and just go, Via," the purple-haired inkling advised. "Well, ya could go with your instinct, too, but that's boring."
"Instinct, huh?" In her eyes, it actually wasn't such a bad idea to rely on her instinct. She felt a yearning inside of her to go investigate; perhaps it was this. Regardless, with the attitudes of most of the other Rainbow Squids, she decided that she would go meet the Octobrush Master. "Then… I will go. Because of my instinct, and the fact that most of you want me to go either way."
"Ya see, that's the spirit," Perry approved, taking another bite out of his sandwich.
"Well, don't say I didn't warn ya if you die tonight," the tan-skinned inkling growled.
Octavia also relayed the situation to Alexis once they got home from school. "You're seriously gonna do this?!" her younger sister protested. "This is a bad idea!"
"Well, I've already made up my mind," she snapped, and then she left the house to go grab her Octobrush Nouveau from the Deca Tower. When she came back, brush in hand, her mother simply stared at her, bewildered once she opened the door.
"I haven't seen your weapon in months!" she exclaimed. "What happened?"
"Nothing happened, mom," Via said. "I'm just taking it to… a friend's house, today." She didn't want to freak out her parents too much. She bet that they would forbid her from leaving if they found out she was going to a random classmate's house.
"What time?" her mother then asked.
"6:00. Tonight. I shouldn't be there for too long," she replied.
"Well, go have fun tonight," the older inkling said, smiling.
"Don't worry, I will."
A half hour before six, Octavia said goodbye to her family, hopped in the family car, and started driving down the streets of Inkopolis. Though she had the GPS on her phone on, she still looked down at the note every now and then, anticipated what she could come across at this Octobrush Master's house. The house she arrived at was not in good shape compared to the other houses on the same street, notably a lawn overgrown with grass and weeds. She rang the doorbell, and she heard the door unlock before some footsteps scampering further into the house. She opened the door, and was met with a cobweb, right in her face. She let out a cry as she flailed her arms around, trying to destroy it. Once it was gone, she saw some of its remains on her hand and shook it off.
The paint on the walls was chipped, and the floor creaked with every footstep she took. Images hanging on the wall were dusty, so dusty that she could not make out the contents of each individual picture. The only way she knew where she was going was by the starch white papers hanging up against the walls, directed her where to go. She ascended into the dark basement, which smelled of mold.
"Hello? Octobrush Master?" Via called. "You seriously need an inspector to come around."
"What do you mean?" said a new, feminine voice. The light turned on, revealing a funny-looking inkling. "This house would be of the finest variety."
"Maya Ocellus?" The inkling with light brown skin was a new student this year, coming from a foreign place. She had thick black hair that was shoulder-length, and it was tipped in purple. Like Inigo, she didn't wear anything on her head, but she wore a mint tee and Suede Marine lace-ups. Her most notable feature was a kelp bracelet she wore on her wrist; no one knows where she got it. She had dull blue eyes as well.
"That is my name," she confirmed. "Or, the Octobrush Master, if you will."
"Maya, we don't have to be formal," the bronze-skinned inkling pointed out.
"My apologies," the funny-looking inkling said. She still had a heavy accent to her voice. "I am trying to being one of the fresh."
Octavia scratched her head. "…I guess it's the effort that counts. Anyways, can we go into this session or whatever now?"
"Yes." Maya picked up an Octobrush herself, though the design was notably different. The main body of the brush was black, edged in red. The bristles appeared to be the same color of an ordinary Octobrush, though, though it was tipped in her ink color, purple, instead of orange like Via's. "Ink the floor."
"Okay…" She did a few swipes of her brush on the ground, leaving an orange streak. "What next?"
"Go in the ink." Slipping into her squid form, Via jumped into the ink. No more commands came from the black-haired inkling, and she saw her disappear into the darkness. What is she doing? the orange squid thought, confused by her actions. Suddenly, she heard a brush rolling along the ground, getting louder with each passing second. Before it could run her over, she emerged and started swinging her Octobrush Nouveau. A few swings later, she saw Maya covered in orange ink.
"My ink is not the color purple," she clarified. "It is now the orange, to the likeness of you." She wiped off the ink on one of her tentacles, revealing orange ends.
"So that's why you disappeared!" the bronze-skinned inkling exclaimed. "You changed your ink color!"
"No," Maya rebutted bluntly. "I wished for you to practice the ambush."
"…And that, too." Putting the bristles of the Octobrush Nouveau down to the ground, she asked, "What's my next lesson, oh mighty Octobrush Master?"
"You need to do the practice more," she informed. "You need to be able to perfect the ambush."
"Then, wipe that ink off of you, and we'll get right to it." Via hopped into the ink again, and Maya disappeared once more. A few moments later, she came back around, and she reemerged from the ink and attacked her again. They repeated this a few more times until the funny-looking inkling told her to stop.
"You are doing well," she commented. "Now, for the next item." Maya disappeared into the darkness and came back out with a few boxes. "Climb to the top of this and attack me from above. Try your best."
"…I already attack people from above a lot, why would I need to practice this?" the wavy-haired inkling asked, her question edged with sass.
"Just do the it," she demanded. The other inkling sighed and climbed on top of the boxes. With that, Maya dashed back into the darkness with her brush, and a few moments later, she charged towards the boxes. With impressive speed, Octavia swung her brush at the inkling with light brown skin, causing her to tumble to the floor.
"See? I'm good, aren't I?" the orange-haired inkling teased.
"You are the good, and the fresh," Maya mused, awe sparkling in her blue eyes. She got up to her feet, and offered, "Do you want to know the history of the Octobrush?"
"Well, I've never thought about it, but sure, I guess."
She let out a sigh and started her tale. "As you can the guess from its name, the Octobrush was a weapon originally developed by the Octarians."
"If it was developed by the Octarians, why do we have it?"
"The inklings stole it during the Great Turf War."
"That makes sense. I mean, we are enemies, after all."
A nervous smile crept up Maya's face, and she muttered, "…Right…"
"The concept and general mechanics of the Octobrush are still the same from the hundred years past, though is more modern when compared to the past." She paused, looking down at her feet before murmuring, "…No." Her attention returned to Octavia. "That is all."
"Fresh," the wavy-haired inkling simply commented. "So, ya got anything else for me?"
With a confident smile, Maya boldly asked, "We should fight in the turf war. You will be able to test your skills there."
"The Deca Tower is kinda far from here, though!" she cried.
"We can do the walk," the other girl argued.
"Oh, fine…" The two inklings ran out of the house, where Octavia then directed Maya to her car. "We're taking this, then."
They drove back to downtown Inkopolis, where they eventually arrived at the square. They hopped out of the car, weapons in hand, and ran into the tower. Via pointed to one of the free elevators, in which there was already a few inklings inside. The two stepped in it, and she took the chance to look at the other inklings with her.
Counting Via and Maya, there were currently five inklings. The first inkling, a boy with a buzzcut and pale skin was wearing 18K Aviators on his head, obscuring his eyes. Alongside that, he wore a half-sleeve sweater and cream hi-tops. In his hands was the standard Blaster. The second inkling was an olive-skinned girl wearing a camping hat, alongside short hair and green eyes. She also had on a black anchor tee and black flip-flops. Her weapon of choice appeared to be the Tri-Slosher. The third and final inkling wore studio headphones like Yuri, though he had a ponytail. Wearing a Birded Corduroy jacket and punk blacks as well, he held a Splattershot Pro in his hands.
Soon, the rest of the elevator was filled, with three inklings, one with a Splat Roller, one with a Splash-o-matic, and one with a N-ZAP '89, walking in. The elevator started to descend, with everyone standing in awkward silence. Soon, the floor opened up below them, revealing the familiar grate, and they all slipped through it. Soon, Octavia reformed from the spawn pad on Moray Towers. Within an instant, globs of light blue ink began shooting down at the ground. Blue, huh? I can work with that.
Putting the bristles on the ground, the wavy-haired inkling began running towards the center of the map. The sooner they can control it, the better. Some time later, she jumped down to the bottommost platform and began swinging her Octobrush Nouveau. However, she suddenly had a wad of pink ink in her face. She let out a cry and stumbled backwards, wiping the ink out of her eyes. Squinting, her orange eyes focused on the girl with Tri-Slosher. Splashes of pink ink were present where she was once standing. A cocky smile was plastered on her face.
"How 'bout that!" she boasted. She stuck out a tongue and jumped down, Tri-Slosher in hand.
"Oh, no you don't!" Swinging around the girl with the Tri-Slosher, she started to swing her brush in order to splat her. The other inkling managed to hit her with her weapon once before exploding into a puddle of blue ink. "Booyah!" Via cheered.
"Good job," commented someone behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the boy with the Splat Roller, holding it in its inactive position.
"Thanks," she thanked. "But we have to keep pushing."
"Right." He slammed down the roller and started to push it forward towards the slopes. Octavia slipped into the ink and slowly inched up them. If she could maintain stealth, then perhaps she could actually ambush someone.
Her chance came when she saw the boy with the blaster walk down towards the middle area, shooting a ring of ink every now and then. The wavy-haired inkling inched closer to him and emerged from the ink at last, catching him off guard as she swung her brush back in forth. However, it wasn't in vein, as he managed to shoot her right in the abdomen, splatting her.
Once she respawned, she wrapped an arm around her stomach, wincing from the leftover pain from the explosion. "Ow…" she moaned. She slipped into her squid form and jumped down to the next tower, where she placed a Squid Beakon on the box in the middle. From there, she jumped down to the next tower, where she was able to survey the middle area. She spotted Maya running around, inking the area with pink ink. Smirking, she swiped her brush a little bit, leaving a little pool of blue ink. When she wasn't looking, Octavia jumped into that pool and waited for the funny-looking inkling to notice it.
Indeed, she did, as she saw her dive into the ink, leaving behind ripples where she travelled. When she reemerged to cover the spot back up, Via reemerged as well, and started hitting her with the Octobrush Nouveau, and of course, Maya retaliated. They ended up splatting at the same time. When Octavia respawned, she decided to super-jump to the boy with the Splat Roller. She turned into her squid form, and soon, a stream of blue ink sprawled out from behind her, and she landed next to the boy with the roller.
The boy with the roller, whose hair was styled into a side cut, with a small ponytail in the back, gasped upon seeing her. "You! Octobrush girl! You came at just the right time!" He jumped up into the air, doing a vertical swing and sending a stream of ink out in front of him. "You gotta help me get up further."
"Will do." Winking and dipping her hat, she stepped in front of him and started swinging her brush back and forth, eventually inking a wide path. The two inklings made their way up the ramp when a third inkling super-jumped to them.
"Need help?" offered the girl with the N-ZAP '89. She pulled out an Autobomb and threw it in front of her. After a second, it started to waddle up the slope. Octavia put the bristles of the brush down and started walking up the ramp, following the Autobomb. A girl with the Splash-o-matic soon emerged from the ink and started shooting at her. Gasping, she started to run faster, going past the enemy. Before Via could land a hit on her, however, the Autobomb exploded, splatting her. "That should do it," concluded the girl with the N-ZAP. With that, the three inklings advanced forward.
However, they were stopped quickly when Maya appeared again. Smirking, she dove into the ink, vanishing from sight.
"…Where did that weird-looking girl go?" the inkling with the Splat Roller murmured.
"She's probably trying to ambush us," the wavy-haired inkling assumed. "We have to be careful."
"Then…" He did another vertical swing, and a cry could be heard as an explosion of blue ink appeared. "There. She's gone."
"I'm impressed," commented the girl with the N-ZAP. She had pigtails.
"Regardless, let's move on," Via commanded. The three inklings climbed up the ramps some more, until they got to the topmost tower, where the spawn was located. When Maya saw the three, her lip curled, and she launched into the ink.
"You must be the fools," her voice jeered. "You came all the way here, yet you ignore the other side." She emerged briefly to throw an Autobomb at them before hiding again.
"The other side?" The three inklings looked over at the other side of the back, only to be horrorstruck to see it mostly covered in pink. The bomb exploded, taking out all three inklings.
When they respawned, the other member of their team, the boy with the Splattershot Pro, was struggling to keep control of their area. He looked up at the three newcomers, clearly upset.
"Where were you squids?!" he snapped. "You left me alone!"
"The enemy side," Octavia replied.
"Don't worry, we'll help you now," the girl with the pigtails declared. All three inklings jumped down to the main platform and started walking the towards the first ramp, where the girl with the Tri-Slosher and the boy with the Blaster were located. The boy with the Splat Roller did a vertical swing, taking out the girl. The boy was just barely able to dodge, but the inkling with the Splattershot Pro swooped in to take the kill.
"That's a start," he muttered. "We have to keep going; we only have a minute left." All four inklings started running down the ramps at their own speeds, covering them back up with blue ink. Via, being the fastest, was the first to encounter the next enemy—the girl with the Splash-o-matic. She threw a bottle at her, covering the wavy-haired inkling with a pink haze. She quickly turned around and shot back up the ramp she came from.
"Help, please?!" Octavia cried, looking back at the other three inklings. The girl with the N-ZAP '89 came to join her and threw an Autobomb at the toxic mist.
"That should do it," she said. She was proven wrong when she noticed the inkling with the Splash-o-matic jump down to the tower below. "…Or not."
"Well, I guess it's time for the Tenta Missiles," Via declared. Pulling out a pair of launchers, she locked the missiles onto two inklings on the top of the enemy tower and hit the trigger. Several missiles shot out of the launchers, and soon, light blue streams crashed down towards the top of the enemy tower, exploding on contact. "Ha! Let's see who wins now!"
The other two members of their team came to join them, and they continued to progress down the towers. However, as she ran through the pink ink, brush down, Maya popped out of the ink and started to swing her brush. Octavia scrambled away from her, but not before the funny-looking inkling could get a hit on her. Once she was far away enough, she pointed her Octobrush Nouveau at Maya, breathing heavily as pink enemy ink dripped off her.
"This… the real test," she said. "It is just us, in the midst of the battle. If you can get the win, then you have passed, Octavia."
"Let's keep it fair, though." The wavy-haired inkling submerged herself into the ink to recover before she attacked. "We must be at our best, first."
"Now, start!" The two inklings charged at each other, each getting a hit on each other before they faced each other with their backs. "You are not bad," Maya complimented, "but will you get the win?"
"Yeah." Via charged towards her, aiming for her back. Her blue eyes widened as a streak of blue ink marked her back, but she swung around and hit the bronze-skinned inkling hard, knocking her to the ground. She quickly got up and gave one final swing to Maya, splatting her. With that, the whistle blew, ending the match.
Judd and Li'l Judd were quick to arrive, and they did their little dance before the latter struck out a pink flag, declaring the enemy the winner. The boy with the Splattershot Pro, who was watching Maya's and Octavia's duel, let out a cry of frustration and threw his weapon to the ground. Soon, everyone super-jumped back to the lobby, where the specific stats of the battle were displayed.
As the screen displayed the map, Maya walked up to the wavy-haired inkling and put a hand on her shoulder. "That was the freshest of the duels, do you agree?"
"…I suppose it was a fresh duel," Via reluctantly agreed, scratching the back of her head. "Our team may have lost, but I still won the duel."
"It is the reverse for me. My team got a win, but I did not. Regardless, I still had the fun," the light brown-skinned inkling added.
"And fun is what counts!" Octavia exclaimed.
Giving a distant look, Maya smiled. "You are in the right; it is the fun that the counts."
A/N: It's the next chapter, and we're back on Sundays! Hope you liked it. Don't really have much to say other than that. Branchwing, out!