Inigo's PoV
The ending of the book, Twisting Reality, a love story between two inkling wizards, was one that left a smile of Inigo's face. Gently, he closed the cover and shelved it away. Now, it was time to participate in the Splatfest. He would be a little belated, but he hoped his friends wouldn't have started battling without him. He slipped his silver shoes on and raced out of his house, running down the streets towards Inkopolis Square.
By the time he arrived, he spotted his friends walking towards the Deca Tower. "Guys! Wait!" he shouted, trying to grab their attention.
"Inigo?!" Roy exclaimed, stopping in his tracks. Bonnie bumped into him, making the two of them falter. They apologized to each other before returning their attention to the inkling with the ponytail. "You're late!" he scolded.
"Sorry, I was finishing a book," he atoned, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, what book?" Bon-Bon asked.
"Twisting Reality. You see, it's about two wizards who—"
"Oh, I've heard of that one! A friend in language class recommended it to me, but I haven't read it yet. Is it good?"
"Oh, yeah, it's super fresh! I loved it!"
"Sorry to rain on the nerd parade, but we're here to battle," Perry interrupted. His purple eyes glanced over at Inigo's t-shirt. "Sweet, we're both on Team Fantasy!" The two fist-bumped and smiled.
"And, get this, Inigo," Alexis added. "Via and I are on the same team for once!" Excitedly, she pointed back-and-forth at the blue t-shirts she and her sister were wearing. "Team Sci-Fi!"
"I'm also on their team," the inkling with the double bun commented. "I like fantasy, but I like sci-fi, just a little more."
"So… it turned into boys vs. girls?" the indigo-eyed inkling asked, eyeing everyone else's shirts. Roy and Yuri were both wearing the lime tees that marked them as part of Team Fantasy.
"I guess." Bonnie simply shrugged at the question.
"Well, I guess we're ready," Yuri announced. "Let's go!"
"Yeah!" The Rainbow Squids made their way into the Deca Tower and walked over to the control panel leading to the room storing their weapons. After a few inputs, the paneling near it slid open, revealing the stairs that led down to the storage room. Everyone dashed down there, grabbed their weapons, and dashed back up, the floor closing once more as soon as Perry got to the top of the stairs. Inigo threw his Carbon Roller over his shoulders and started following Roy towards one of the elevators.
The boys rested inside, waiting for someone to arrive. About a minute later, some inklings wearing lime tees walked into the elevator. One of them, a short-haired inkling with fair skin and SV925 circle shades covering her eyes gasped upon seeing who the group was up again.
"Inigo!" exclaimed Fable. "You're on Team Fantasy, too?"
"…Yeah, I like it more," he responded. "Everything seems so much better in a fantasy world." The inklings that had followed Fable inside started mumbling in agreement.
"Ya know her?" Perry asked, sitting on his Sloshing Machine.
The inkling with the ponytail nodded. "Via set us up on a date one time."
"Oh? Where?" Yuri asked.
"Coral Rings!" Fable replied.
"That's in the Reef, right?" the purple-eyed inkling asked for clarification.
"Right," Inigo confirmed.
The elevator door closed behind them, and he heard it start to descend. Roy simply leaned against the wall, holding his Luna Blaster in one hand. Yuri and Perry were having idle chat, while Inigo remained silent. Fable had moved up next to him, their arms touching, making him feel a little uncomfortable. Please, let the grate open up soon…
"Hey, did you squids hear about the octoling that came into school a couple days ago?" a feminine voice soon piped up. Looking over at the speaker, he saw a girl with skin the color of coffee. She styled her hair into a double bun and had lime eyes that matched the t-shirt. Alongside the Splatfest tee, she wore a black FishFry bandana and athletic arrows. She wielded a Range Blaster.
"Which one?" another girl with sand-colored skin asked. She wielded a Bamboozler 14 Mk I. "East, Central, or West? There's three high schools in Inkopolis."
"West Inkopolis High School," the first girl clarified. "The story goes that two juniors and a freshman brought some shades to the engineering teacher. As they were talking about it, an octoling suddenly appeared and accused one of them of infiltrating an Octarian base. They denied it, and the octoling threatened to splat them."
"Splat them?!" Roy suddenly cried out in disbelief, and then his expression turned to anger. "I can't believe it! Why, if they were my friends being threatened, I would have splatted that octopus right where they stand!"
"Are you sure that was an octoling?" Inigo then inquired.
"Oh, I'm sure. Witness reports say that she outright said she was an octoling," she answered. "So, afterwards, the octoling got angry she didn't have a weapon and just left. Everyone near where it happened thought it was scary—and that she looked scary, too."
"Geez," a male voice then sneered. Looking over at the corner of the room, a pale-skinned inkling with a buzzcut and the Tenta Brella was standing with the tip of the canopy touching the floor. He adjusted the 18K Aviators he wore on his face before saying, "West Inkopolis High School must have poor security."
"And where do you go?" Roy sassed.
"Uh… East Inkopolis High School," he replied. "Why?"
"Oh, just checking. Maybe they have bad security, too."
"Yooo!" his friends cheered at his comeback.
"Alright, ya got me," the inkling with the buzzcut said. "That was a good roast."
A few moments later, the floor below than began to slide open, revealing the grate. Quickly was it ready for the squids to slip inside it and travel to their battlegrounds. I wonder where we'll go today. He hoped to see the new Shifty Station, but he wouldn't mind battling on a familiar stage, too. When he spawned into the stage, he found the spawn point resting on top of some pavement, complete with road markings and tactile pads. A highway and some buildings circled around the stage. Inigo smiled. This was the Shifty Station.
Almost immediately, his team began firing their weapons. He was momentarily confused when his Carbon Roller laid down a path of orange ink instead of lime green ink, but then he remembered he was fighting other members of Team Fantasy. Nonetheless, he started running down the ramp, towards the central area. Immediately, he spotted an orange sponge, so he started swinging his roller up and down to enlarge it. He climbed up to the top of it and hid, but then the sponge suddenly shrunk, revealing his squid form as he fell to compensate for the shrinkage. A beam of indigo ink shot straight towards him, knocking him off the sponge.
"Your name's Inigo, right?" asked the girl with the Bamboozler. She walked up to him and pointed the beam straight at his chest. "Kinda ironic the other team's color is indigo. Since your name sounds like the color and all."
"Well, I won't be splatted by my color today." He brought up the lightweight roller and crashed it down onto the inkling, splatting her. The resulting explosion inflated the sponge ever-so-slightly, so he let it absorb more of his team's ink by hitting it with his weapon more. Once it obtained its full size, he started running around, trying to find the source of a newly-activated inkrail. Once he found the starting bulb, he hopped into it and swam up to the central platform, a metal box with glass paneling on the sides. There, he hid once more.
The inkling with the ponytail had to flee once indigo targets began marking him. He leaped off of the box as missiles came crashing down on it. Some of the resulting ink had splattered onto his back, but he quickly shook it off as he continued inking turf.
Perry was hurling vortexes of ink from his Sloshing Machine. "If they got Tenta Missiles that fast, then we better hurry up," he commented as Inigo passed the sponge he stood on. The pale-skinned boy's purple eyes scanned the area. "Hmm…" He threw an autobomb to the ground, where it simply exploded. He shook his head. "Move on, Inigo. Nothin's here."
"Then it's time to push onwards," suggested a new voice. He looked over his shoulder to see Yuri emerging from the ink. He started charging up his Heavy Splatling Deco, walking towards the enemy side, where indigo sponges resided. Inigo decided to ink a path for him to walk through while he was charging, and moments later, the spiky-haired inkling began firing the splatling. Suddenly, the boy with the Tenta Brella emerged and put up the durable canopy. The inkling with the ponytail made a path around him in case Yuri's splatling failed. A few seconds later, the splatling stopped firing, and the canopy launched, allowing the enemy to slip away. However, Inigo was waiting right for him, and he brought up his Carbon Roller to allow for a satisfying splat. The two friends gave each other a fist bump and started to venture deep into the enemy territory.
Soon enough, bullets started raining down on them. The two split directions, trying to dodge them. However, Inigo soon heard the dark-skinned boy scream, giving him the audial cue that he had been taken down. He cursed under his breath and started swimming back towards his side of the map. When he was surrounded by orange sponges again, he emerged from the ink and held out his roller like a sword.
"Hey, Inigo!" Fable called, emerging from an indigo path that had followed him. She started charging up a Mini Splatling. "Having fun?"
"Y-Yeah," he stuttered, throwing out an autobomb as he backed up against a wall he presumed to be uninkable. The short-haired inkling let go of the trigger, firing a barrage of small bullets at him. In a panic, Inigo pulled out a packed canister containing Ink Storm and threw it towards the ground, sending a cloud of orange ink up into the air. A little later, Fable managed to splat him, but the bomb exploded soon after, splatting her as well. In the meantime, Ink Storm rained down orange droplets onto the land, expanding the orange sponges and shrinking the indigo ones.
When Inigo respawned, he decided to go a different way this time. Running to the left side inside of the right, he pumped up the sponge nearest to spawn and climbed up on it, surveying the turf at its current state. He noticed Roy and the girl with the Rapid Blaster battling it out down below, near one of the inkrails. The girl placed something near the ink rail and swam off towards the tower on her side of the map. The inkling with hair swept to the side activated his special, forming a ball around him, and ran towards her. The mine she placed down exploded as soon as the Baller came in contact with it, launching him forward and placing a black marker around him. With that, Inigo decided to super-jump to his friend.
When he landed, the Baller inksploded, creating massive puddle of orange ink surrounding them. The girl he had been fighting got caught in the edges of the explosion, injuring her. She opened her mouth to speak, but the fair-skinned boy swooped in with his roller to finish the job.
"And that's teamwork for you," Inigo declared, wiping some sweat off his forehead.
"A pretty fresh combo, too," a new voice added. Perry walked up to them, Sloshing Machine in hand. "Baller-to-Carbon, that's what I'll call it."
"As fresh as that was, we gotta ink more turf," Roy then directed. "That battle just distracted me from doing so."
Some indigo markers appeared around the three inklings. "Run!" the boy with the ponytail cried, and they all jumped out of the way from the incoming mass of missiles. Though they managed to evade that attack, Inigo saw the boy with the buzzcut pull out a bubble wand in the corner of his eye, and he soon swung it to create three massive bubbles. As they surrounded the group, they found themselves with their backs up against each other. They began attacking them in order to pop them, though it would be to no avail as members of the enemy team all put their effort into popping one bubble, which splatted all three of the boys.
When they respawned, they began running down to the middle once more. "Yuri's still out there," the purple-eyed inkling noted. "He's gonna get splatted if they all attack him." He dove into the ink, the ripples marking his location as he swam faster and faster.
"Wait," Inigo said, catching up to his friend. He emerged, his feet skidding across the floor as he slowed down, and he looked over at the fair-skinned boy.
"…What?"
"He can always respawn; we don't need to back him up." He put a hand on Perry's shoulder. "Let's just focus on inking. This is a turf war after all."
"Ugh, fine." The boy with spiky bangs walked over to the puddles of indigo ink edging their own turf and began covering them up with his slosher.
Inigo smiled. He'd always loved his talent to solve problems and come up with new ideas in a snap. Signing the Rainbow Squids up to be recognized as an official team? His idea. Letting Asher, and later Alexis, join in on the fun when they decided to battle each other? His idea. Now, his solution regarding Yuri being alone, up against the enemy team, was to ignore him and keep inking turf. As long as they kept inking, they would win. That's the goal in a Splatfest and all turf wars, right? Even if this battle didn't count, he still wanted to claim victory in this match.
It did not take long for Inigo to encounter the other team once more. He activated an inkrail that was on a crate with uninkable walls and jumped over to it to swim to the other side. From there, the girl with the Rapid Blaster was waiting for him, shooting exploding rings in his direction. He hesitated for a little bit, wondering if he should retreat or jump in and fight. Ultimately, he retreated, as one shot managed to get a direct hit on him. He returned to the bulb of the inkrail and swam towards the towers in the very center.
Somehow, Yuri was still standing, happily firing away with his Heavy Splatling Deco. He pulled out a bubble wand and started happily swinging it back and forth to create three large bubbles. He charged it up again and began shooting at them, filling them up with ink until they popped.
"And that's the power of Bubble Blower!" he cheered. He looked over his shoulder to see the fair-skinned inkling and gave a thumbs up. Inigo returned it and started running towards the indigo sponges past their tower. From on top of the opposite tower, he noticed the girl with coffee-colored skin had climbed up on top of it and pulled out a bomb launcher. Splat bombs started raining down onto the battlefield, and Yuri set up a splash wall in front of them for protection. Inigo simply ran away.
So that's how he was able to survive, the boy deduced. He relied on his splash walls. Behind a wall he hid, taking cover from the splat bombs. He soon heard Yuri's cry of defeat, and from there, he knew he had to act soon. Once he heard the last bomb blow up, he emerged from behind the wall and charged towards the tower, flicking ink from his Carbon Roller towards the top of it. After a few tries, he still heard nothing. He turned around only to receive a blast of ink to the face. Spots floated around his vision as he was stunned from the shot, and then he was splatted.
As soon as he stepped off the spawn point, he saw Perry equip the Sting Ray, and soon, he fired a narrow beam that pierced through the air. In response, he super-jumped to him and entered the fray once more. Fable leaped out at them, but she ended up getting caught in the beam, splatting her. Then, Inigo threw out an autobomb, just in case someone else was hiding. It started waddling behind the tower they were next to, so he slowly followed it to investigate.
Behind the tower was the girl with the Bamboozler 14 Mk I. When the autobomb started to expand, she swam away, allowing it to explode without any casualties. From there, she backed up against the indigo sponge, charging up a shot and firing straight at Inigo. He hissed as the ink beam struck his chest, so in response, he brought up his roller and did a vertical swing at her. She dodged and fired once more, this one grazing his arm. Inigo then threw another autobomb at her and charged towards her, leaping into the air. She aimed towards the air, but she became careless enough to forget about the autobomb. Before he finished his swing, it exploded, splatting the sand-skinned girl.
He submerged into the ink to recover, and then he continued inking the area around him. He reckoned there was not much time left in the match, so he had to act, fast. He put his Carbon Roller to the ground and started running around, leaving a wide trail of ink wherever he went. A few seconds later, his hair started glowing orange, and he was able to unleash Ink Storm once more. Chucking the canister towards the enemy side, it burst open to release a cloud that would rain ink all over the battlefield. The boy with the Tenta Brella appeared around the curve, releasing the canopy in Inigo's direction before running away from the orange cloud hanging above him. Inigo himself swung around the large canopy, watching it crash into the crate behind him and disappear.
Roy then super-jumped to him and started swimming deeper into the enemy side, towards Ink Storm. Now that the enemy team was trapped, they could effectively claim a victory. For the rest of the match, Inigo spent his time near the enemy spawn point, splatting people as soon as he saw them. A little later, a whistle blew, and the inkling with the ponytail brought up his weapon. He looked behind him to see the map covered in orange and smiled.
"Good job, team," he said as the rest of the Rainbow Squids present joined him. They sat down up against the wall, staring at the other team while they hung out on the ledge of the uppermost platform. The boy with the buzzcut in particular grimaced at them, the faint shape of his eyes narrowing underneath his sunglasses.
"Good job indeed!" Fable cheered, walking over to them with a smile on her face. "Especially you, Inigo!" She patted him on the head, embarrassing the fair-skinned inkling a little bit.
"Thanks," he returned, pulling the collar of his shirt over his mouth.
"We should battle again some time, y'know," the short-haired inkling remarked. "Maybe a 1v1, or on the same team! Oh! Or a Salmon Run!"
"Count me in if you do a Salmon Run!" Yuri added.
"Yeah, and I kinda wanna see where this thing goes," Perry snickered. "Inigo and Fable, sittin' in a tree, K-"
"We're not dating!" Inigo snapped.
"I think she does like you, though," Roy whispered in his ear.
"Me too, but I don't feel the same," he replied softly.
"So… what do ya think?" Fable asked.
"Can I have your number, then?" the boy with the ponytail questioned in response. "We'll discuss it over text."
She smiled. "Of course!" She pulled out a deep violet phone and pulled up a phone number on the screen. "Just copy that down."
Inigo pulled out his phone as well and entered her number in as a new contact. "Done."
"Great!" Immediately, Fable's nose was in her phone, and she started walking back to her team, though she bumped into a wall along the way.
After some silence, the purple-eyed inkling then spoke, "Does anyone think that whole octoling story's a sham?"
"I don't think it's a sham, Perry," Yuri pointed out. He got out his phone as well and opened up Squidsagram, scrolling down to photos of a funny-looking inkling with dark hair, shades, and some kind of armor on. "Some people I follow snapped pictures of this girl, asking who she was." He tapped on one of them, pulling up the comments section. Scrolling through them, he pointed out one of them. "This one says she's an octoling. The original poster replied, 'Are you sure?', and they went on to tell the story."
Perry scanned the page and shook his head. "That doesn't prove anythin'."
"Believe what you want, Perry," Roy grumbled. "I still think that's real."
"Whatever."
A few moments later, Judd and L'il Judd arrived, positioning themselves on the crate between the two teams. They scanned the stage before doing their signature dance. Judd struck out an orange flag, causing the smaller cat to fall on his back.
"Yes! We won!" the dark-skinned boy exclaimed, hugging his Heavy Splatling Deco.
"Of course we did," Inigo asserted. "Do you see how much turf we covered?"
"And that's why we're the best," Roy boasted.
Afterwards, all the inklings super-jumped out of the Shifty Station, back towards the lobby. They only skimmed over their results; they weren't too interested in seeing how well they did at the moment. They stepped out of the room, back into the main lobby. Now, they searched for the girls, seeing if they had returned from their match. Later, they saw Alexis, Octavia, and Bonnie exiting a room, weapons in hand. They ran towards them and greeted them.
"How did your match go?" Bonnie asked.
"We won," Yuri replied.
"…Though it was against other members of Team Fantasy, so it didn't count," Roy added grudgingly.
"We still had fun, though," Inigo finished.
"We also won our match," Octavia said. "Though unlike you, we didn't fight members of our team."
"Now that we're all together, I've been wanting to ask you guys something," Alexis suddenly chimed in. Everyone turned their attention on the short inkling, and with a nervous smile, she asked, "D-Do you guys wanna explore the old plaza sometime?"
"Why?" was the red-eyed inkling's immediate response. "No one's there."
"Can't you go yourself?" followed her older sister. "You're old enough; no one's stopping you."
"Yeah, but you guys know the place better than I do. What if I get lost?" she argued.
"Look, what do you want to do there?" the spiky-haired inkling then queried.
"Just… look around. Nothing special," Alexis replied.
"Well, I'll go," Perry offered. "I've always wanted to play the old arcade cabinets again."
The short-haired girl smiled. "Anyone else wanna go?" Everyone shook their heads. "…OK, then. It'll just be you and me, Perry."
"If that's the case, I guess I'll see you some time."
"But we see each other every day."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I meant for plaza-explorin'."
"In the meantime, let's keep battling, and may the best team win," Inigo concluded.
They put their hands together and then threw them into the air. "Right!"
"Now, let's go, and have the Splatfest of a lifetime!"
A/N: Hey guys! Hoped you like this chapter. The next chapter is a very special one, so stay tuned for next week! Branchwing, out!