Roy's PoV
"Hello, class," greeted Roy's math teacher. "I hope you had a wonderful winter break."
"It sucked!" yelled someone from the back of the classroom.
"Anyways, we have a new student with us today," she continued. "Please direct your attention to the door."
Sitting at the seat closest to the door was a familiar figure. Roy recognized her almost immediately—Iris. He couldn't help but feel surprised at her sudden appearance. She's our age?
"Please welcome Iris Thaumo." Everyone clapped, except the red-haired inkling.
"Hey," the crab next to him whispered in his ear, "didn't you lose to her in the Deca Tournament last month?"
"Yeah, I did," he whispered back. "No need to rub it in my face."
"OK, OK, calm down, Blacktip," he tried to quell his inkling friend's temper.
"I'm calm," he grumbled, remaining silent for the rest of the demonstration.
"I are happy to be over here," Iris announced.
"Thank you, Iris," the teacher stated. "Now, let's go to the lesson, shall we?"
After class, as Roy was leaving, he felt someone grab the back of his jacket and pull him back. He glanced over to the side to see the octoling, her brows furrowed.
"You should not destroy my chance," she whispered in a low voice. "Everything is perfect, but you could to ruin everything."
"Why me?" he asked.
"In Inkopolis, everything is think we are inkling," she growled. "But the Rainbow Squids know true."
"And...?"
"If Inkopolis know we are Octarians..." She frowned. "I no know what."
"Uh... OK..." In his opinion, he didn't think anyone cared that there were Octarians in Inkopolis. Life would just go on like normal, as long as they had no ill intent. Even if Giovanni had bruised his jaw at the Deca Tournament.
"Good." Iris walked past Roy, towards her next class. The red-eyed inkling looked up at the clock and figured he should be going, too. To make up for the lost time, he started walking as fast as he can, towards his gym class.
As soon as he entered the locker room, he was met face-to-face with Wyatt.
"What," Roy asked, annoyed.
"We got two new kids in our class today," he explained. "They thought I was you for a few seconds."
"How..." He peeked around the bend to see two familiar octolings put on plain white t-shirts. "Oh, come on!" he growled.
"Hmm..." Giovanni mumbled, green eyes drifting over to the newcomer. "It seems you are in the class."
"You no look the happy," Oscar mused. "Why?"
"You punched me!" Roy complained, pointing at the green-haired boy.
"No; I have the use of my hand to punch you," Gio argued.
"That... doesn't make sense."
"I was talk about the Deca Tournament."
"Oh, I get it now." The red-haired inkling touched the spot where he had bit hit. There was only a dull pain now. "Still, why wouldn't I be mad?"
"It fair we won, correct?" the boy with the afro asked.
"Ehm..." Roy sighed. "If Off the Hook thought it was fair, then..." If there anyone the citizens of Inkopolis trusted most, it was the idols. Role models, they were, for generations to come. Even if he didn't agree with the decision, he had to put faith in Pearl and Marina's judgement.
The two octolings just stared at them for a moment, and then they laughed. "To trust Off the Hook?" Oscar scoffed. "No understand."
"Can you squids just get dressed?" someone else in the locker room requested with an annoyed tone. "I'm tired of your bickering."
The tan-skinned inkling glared before heading off. "This isn't over."
After everyone changed clothes, all inklings—and octolings, counting Gio and Oscar—were directed to their own spot in the gymnasium for warm-ups. In most schools, inklings had their own separate gym class. Elementary-aged inklings did mock turf wars, usually one per week, while in high school, squids had full-blown turf wars in the courtyard almost every day.
"ATTENTION!" the gym teacher yelled. Everyone lined up in their lines, except the two new students. "We have new students with us—Giovanni Briareus and Oscar Margina."
"They look like the squids from Octa Prisma," someone commented.
"We are," the green-haired boy confirmed, the familiar smirk crossing his features once more.
"Two of the squids," Oscar elaborated. "Two is girls."
"To the back of the lines with ya!" the teacher demanded of the octolings. Roy half-expected some witty remark from Gio, but instead he nodded and went to the back of the last line with his friend. "Now, fifty jumping jacks! Now!"
Following the warm-ups, the class was directed to the room between the gym and the courtyard. "Pick up yer Splattershots!" Everyone did and walked into the courtyard. There was some sort of magical barrier that automatically sorted an inkling onto one of the four teams when they entered. Roy's ink stayed red, noted by the ink in the Splattershot he held not changing. Immediately after changing ink color, they super-jumped to their corresponding spawn point, and once everyone was sorted, the gym teacher blew a whistle, and everyone began firing.
Something Roy liked about gym class was that it was a thirty-minute-long turf war. For thirty minutes, everyone painted the courtyard, and cod, was there a lot of fun to have! Though, that being said, the attitudes of everyone varied. Some focused on inking turf, others focused on racking up splats, and still others focused on doing nothing. The boy with hair swept to the side hated it when people did nothing. Most often they messed around in their squid forms, flopping around in the corner. A few just chatted on the spawn point. Roy actually participated, trying to ink as much turf as he could. It was a turf war, after all.
Both Giovanni and Oscar were put on the green team. To his surprise, they were playing rather fairly.
"You're not gonna kick or punch anyone?" the red-eyed boy asked, curious.
"Why I?" Oscar replied.
"We talk about this, no?" Giovanni added.
"Apologize; why we?" the boy with the afro tried correcting.
"No one ask to you to apologize," the boy with the mohawk snapped.
"Uh, apologize!" He clasped his hands together. "Apologize!"
Amused, Roy snickered.
"What?" both of them growled.
"Instead of 'apologize', you should say 'sorry'," he advised. "'Apologize' and 'apology' are more formal, and, well, why'd ya wanna be formal?"
"'Sorry'..." The bronze-skinned octoling paused and looked around before returning his attention to Roy. "I like 'sorry'."
"I know the word 'sorry'," Gio grumbled. "I do not need Inkling lessons."
"Woah, Roy giving advice?!" someone exclaimed from behind the inkling. Roy turned around and saw his cousin. "Did you and Sable switch bodies or somethin'?" Wyatt jeered.
"I have this Splattershot, Requiem," the red-eyed inkling threatened, pointing his weapon at his cousin. "I can still splat you with this."
"Now there's the Roy I know," he teased.
"Who is 'Sable'?" Oscar suddenly asked.
"Inigo," Roy answered. "Inigo Sable—that's his name."
"Ponytail inkling," the green-eyed octoling explained to the other octopus. "Do you know he dated..."
Gio paused and then opened his mouth to continue further, but then Wyatt interrupted, "Geneva Gonati? Yeah, we know. Don't know what he saw in farm girl, to be honest."
"Farm?" the boy with the afro inquired.
"Geneva came from the country," started Roy. "She moved here with her brother a few years ago. About three years ago, to be exact. I remember when we met her. She asked if she could sit with us, in the middle school cafeteria, and we said yes. The rest was history. She seems like a tree-hugger at first, but as you get to know her... it was like her heart always belonged to the city. Maybe that's why Geneva came to Inkopolis. Didn't feel at home in the country, ironically."
"The fresh story!" Oscar started clapping. "I give no care, but story is of the fresh!" Everyone just stared at him. "What?" He looked down at the ground. "Oh... Sorry!"
"Have you squids had any members of Octa Prisma in your classes?" was the first question Octavia asked when she arrived at the Rainbow Squids' lunch table. "Yvonne was in my physics class!" she whined. "She's the reason we have homework today!"
"Isn't that a little extreme?" Bonnie pointed out. "To say Yvonne was responsible for giving you homework?"
"I say it with good reason!" she argued. "At the end of class, she just had to walk up to Ms. Gong and ask if we had homework. And guess what that freaking sea cow did? She gave us homework! Right on the dot!" She sat down and crossed her arms. "Hmph!"
"Via, calm down!" Yuri interjected. "Things will get better! Give her time!"
She relaxed. "Alright... if you say so."
"About your original question..." Perry started. "Oscar happened to be in my history class."
"I know Iris was in your math class, Roy," Bon-Bon said.
"Yeah, you texted us all about it," Inigo added.
Roy nodded. "And Gio and Oscar happen to be in my gym class as well."
"Gym class..." The blue-haired girl put a hand on her chin. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"Well, you're not blowin' up as big as a pufferfish," Yuri noted. "So, I'm guessing no."
"You're right," the red-haired inkling confirmed. "They just played like normal inklings."
"I think I see why," Inigo mused. "There's nothing at stake, unlike the tournament."
"Probably why," he admitted.
At that moment, Octa Prisma happened to stop right in front of the table, holding lunches.
"We... don't have any seats open," Bonnie told them.
"We not look to the sitting with the inklings," Iris chided.
"We stop to say 'hello'!" Yvonne chirped. Iris then scolded her in another language, causing a dismayed look to fall on the yellow-haired girl's face.
"It wouldn't hurt to be nicer, wouldn't it?" Octavia suggested.
The fair-skinned octoling grumbled, putting her hand up to her face. "Fine. Yvonne is true; we stop to say 'hello'. However, we stop to say 'We better,' as well."
"Do you feel about us?" Giovanni taunted. "We find the school of you, and we go to it now."
"OK, but... why are you going to school?" Bonnie inquired.
"We can," Oscar responded.
"I'm more surprised you guys are our age," Roy admitted to them.
"It no easy to tell age?" the orange-haired octoling pondered.
"It's more like exact age," Perry noted with a shrug. "Eh... how old are ya?"
"17," Gio replied. "Your age."
"But Iris six-" Oscar started.
"Shut up!" the green-haired boy snapped. He turned back to the Rainbow Squids and cleared his throat. "Anyways..."
"The birthday of Giovanni be on the day the Deca Tournament," Iris informed.
"It a reason why we have to win," Yvonne added. "To make Giovanni is happy!"
"And we win," the indigo-haired girl finished. "To show we better than inklings."
As Octa Prisma began to walk away, the boy with the mohawk sneered, "We will beat you again."
The battle with Octa Prisma during the Sweater vs. Sock Splatfest came to mind. Whatever side Giovanni was on, the other side lost. Thankfully, his teammates kept him in check, but soon, Octa Prisma challenged the Rainbow Squids in a private battle. Octa Prisma won both times, much to the inklings' dismay.
"So, Perry," Octavia spoke up after the octolings left, "I heard you didn't buy a birthday gift for Bonnie yesterday."
"I did, I did," he defended. "It just didn't come yet."
"Do you have it now?" the blue-haired inkling asked.
"Yeah." He slipped a card out of his pocket and slid it towards her.
Bon-Bon picked it up and read, "'Free pair of glasses or contacts from Shrimp Care—Inkopolis's finest eye care.'"
"Go get yourself a fancy pair," Perry suggested. "Maybe with rhinestones or somethin'."
"But I like my retro specs."
"Read that line on the bottom of it."
"'Like your glasses? We'll replace your lens for free, too.'" She looked at the purple-haired boy and smile. "Huh. That's pretty useful."
"Say thank you."
"...Thank you."
"You're welcome." Perry simply winked, and then the Rainbow Squids continued on with their lunch.
Almost two weeks later came the Action vs. Comedy Splatfest. School had proceeded like normal. Though Roy never talked with any of the members of Octa Prisma, they were at least getting along. It was a start, at least. The red-eyed boy almost saw a kinder side to them, even. I guess they really aren't so bad.
"You squids wanna know my favorite comedy movie?" Perry prompted, leaning back in his chair, a blue Splatfest tee on his body.
"I already know it," Yuri boasted.
"Then you don't hafta guess," the pale-skinned boy teased, winking.
"Yeah, I know," the spiky-haired inkling acknowledged.
"Can I guess first?" Bonnie asked. She wore a golden tee, marking her a member of Team Action like Roy.
"Go ahead," he permitted.
"'Squidsitting.'"
"Nah. That's a good one, though."
"Oh! What about 'The Three Shrimp'?" Alexis guessed. She picked Team Action as well for this Splatfest.
"No..."
"'Narwhal Fighting'?" guessed Inigo. As he rested his hand on the table, Roy could see the blue bracelet marking him as part of Team Comedy around his wrist.
"'Narwhal Fighting'?! Dude, that movie sucks!"
"Same," the boy with the ponytail admitted, "but my dad keeps putting it on."
"OK, I'm gonna make another guess," the short-haired girl announced again. "How about... 'Last Day of Summer'?"
"That's the one!" Perry confirmed. "Glad you squids know it."
"With the guessing games over..." Roy smiled. "How 'bout we battle?"
"That's what I was gonna say," Inigo remarked.
"Then I guess great minds think alike."
The Rainbow Squids got up from their chairs and went over to the Deca Tower. They grabbed their weapons from their storage room, and then members on opposing teams went their separate ways, towards an elevator. Roy, Octavia, Alexis, and Bonnie crowded into one of them... to find other members of Team Action standing inside. The tan-skinned inkling did not recognize any of them.
"Oh hey, it's Debbie!" Octavia exclaimed.
A girl wearing a jungle hat nodded. "Yeah, that's me." Her orange eyes glanced between the group. "Via, Bonnie. Hey." The two aforementioned girls waved.
Another girl with pigtails muttered, "Alexis?"
The short-haired girl leaned forward and said, "Maggie?"
"Huh." Via scratched her head. "No wonder she looked familiar..."
"What?" Roy asked her.
"I remember now! We did a Salmon Run together once!" she exclaimed.
"Ah..." he murmured. Salmon Runs...
A girl with olive skin and a Tri-Slosher chuckled, spinning the weapon around on her finger. "Even in a ditto match... We'll beat you."
"YEAH! We'll beat you!" a boy with coffee-colored skin and hair tied back in a low ponytail agreed loudly. He held a Foil Flingza Roller in his hands.
The elevator door closed behind them, and they began descending. Time passed before the floor under their feet opened up to reveal a grate. The inklings slipped through it, to their next destination. When Roy spawned in, he immediately noticed the bridge hanging overhead. Snapper Canal was their next destination.
Moments later, everyone started firing. The first thing Roy did was throw a bomb out in front of it. It landed on the drop below and exploded, covering a small amount of land with yellow ink. Then, he created a path towards the puddle with his Luna Blaster and dove into the ink left behind. A second or two later, he reemerged, spinning his weapon. Already in the middle, on top of the barricade, was Debbie. She aimed her Jet Squelcher and started shooting around her. Feeling cocky, he ran towards her and threw a bomb up at her. It bounced off the pole in the middle and fell into the water, where it dissipated. The red-eyed boy tried retreating, but then a hot pink cloud surrounded him, suffocating him. He was shot in the back and promptly splatted.
Cursing himself, he scolded silently, I shouldn't have done that. He looked around before heading off towards the lowest point of the map. The scent of fresh water was especially strong here. It was quite refreshing, but he had a battle to get to. That was when he saw some Tenta Missiles raining down on Octavia, in a higher point of the map. She put the bristles of the Octobrush Nouveau down to the ground and ran to the nadir. She swung around Roy and stopped next to him.
"I saw you got splatted already," she noted.
"Don't talk about it," the tan-skinned inkling warned. It was a little embarrassing to have one of his friends point out his mistakes...
He ran up the steps, where the girl the Tri-Slosher popped out. She threw a bucket of ink at him, but he was easily able to splat her with one shot from his Luna Blaster. Afterwards, he continued down the stone path, inking some turf to hide in as well. Still on the barricade in the middle, Debbie remained. With newfound determination, he shot towards her. He stopped on the edge of the catwalk and inked a spot on the barricade wall to go up on. Then, turning into a squid, he leaped at the barricade and climbed up it. He reemerged behind the girl with long hair. Debbie looked behind her and was immediately alarmed to see him, panic flashing in her orange eyes. She promptly received a blast of ink to her chest, splatting her.
Roy jumped over to the other side of the map and began inking some more turf. As soon as he got enough points for his Baller, he activated it. He began strolling through the area, searching for a target. All of a sudden, a wave of ink hit the protective bubble, enough to destroy the protective wrapping around it. He gasped at this, being caught off guard. He then noticed the boy wielding the Foil Flingza Roller standing down in the lowest point of the enemy's side, preparing yet another vertical swing. He tried running over to him, but the Baller proceeded to inksplode during his travels, forcing him to stop. Some yellow ink splattered onto the other boy's shirt. He yelped, causing him to miss his shot. This allowed the red-eyed inkling to go in and splat his opponent.
Roy looked up at the wall separating the different elevations of the map, and smirked. What a fresh comeback, he remarked. Good job, Roy. Good job. It was then Maggie dropped down to the lowest level, spinning a L-3 Nozzlenose in her hand once.
"You're on the baskfishball team, right?" the girl with pigtails asked, approaching him. "My friend Bella can't stop blabbing about this one guy named Wyatt and how hot he is. I don't see it. Do you?"
"He's... always been more popular with the ladies." He didn't feel like disclosing to her that Wyatt was his cousin. He literally just met her!
"OK..." One of her beige fingers slid down to the trigger of the Nozzlenose. "Does he have a girlfriend?"
Roy raised an eyebrow. "What are you tryin'?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing."
"Yes, you are." Immediately he took a few steps forward and fired a blast of the Luna Blaster, splatting her. Another one down. Seeing no other enemies, he super-jumped over to a squid beakon Via placed on the other side of the map. He emerged from behind the box and began swimming around. He reached the enemy base once again, though this time he was at the slope that led up to the spawn point. He noticed Debbie step off the spawn point, and her mouth opened slightly, as if she noticed the ripples Roy left behind while swimming. In response, the tan-skinned inkling remained as still as possible, waiting. She shrugged and started firing her Jet Squelcher again. The ink bullets got dangerously close to him, so he tried retreating. Slowly, though, as any faster would cause ripples and snap the long-haired girl's attention to him.
Retreating did not work so well. Someone had thrown a curling bomb towards him, bumping into him and forcing him to reemerge. He rubbed his head and turned around. The squid who threw the bomb, Maggie, and Debbie had both noticed him and were now shooting at him. It was too late. With both of them attacking him, he was quickly splatted. However, as he flew away to respawn, he noticed a beam point at Maggie's chest and moments later, a trail of yellow ink pierced through her and splatted her. Nice job, Bon-Bon, he thought.
As Roy flew in the air, super-jumping towards another squid beakon, a yellow mist began to surround him. When he landed, a coating of ink now covered his body. He snickered and started swimming back towards the enemy base. They had managed to push further ever so slightly, now claiming the slope once more, but it was still not much. Using the Ink Armor to his advantage, he charged up as far as he could. On the platform above him, the boy with the Foil Flingza Roller threw out a suction bomb before swinging his roller up and down. One horizontal swing managed to break the armor, but Roy quickly disposed of him with a shot from his blaster. ...Then something exploded behind him, splatting him.
Once he respawned, the boy with hair swept to the side super-jumped to the same beakon as before. He tried swimming back to where he was before, but he was quickly stopped when the girl with the Tri-Slosher jumped out once again. He went back a few steps before popping out of the yellow ink. She was tossing ink everywhere, with some pink lapping at Roy's feet. He tried firing his Luna Blaster at her, but it was just a smidge short. He fired again. And again. The olive-skinned girl slewed ink out in front of her, but she, too, came a smidge short. Neither side was getting closer to the other.
Suddenly, the girl's short hair started to glow, and immediately, she activated her special. She slowed down as a mist surrounded her body, and a second or two later, she became covered in her own Ink Armor. This gave Roy an idea. He threw a splat bomb at her feet and ran away. He ran to the steps leading down to the lowest point on his team's side and watched as the pink hardened ink on the girl's body shattered. But that did not stop her. She started charging towards the red-eyed inkling again, even throwing a burst bomb at him. He jumped down to the area below, with some ink from the burst bomb brushing his back. Ignoring the stinging sensation it brought, he looked up at the wielder of the Tri-Slosher again. She dropped down to his level, swinging the slosher back and forth.
Suddenly, Alexis super-jumped to him. As soon as she landed, she dodge-rolled towards their opponent. She landed a few bullets on her, and she finished her off with a burst bomb. The olive-skinned girl exploded into a pile of yellow ink, and her gear sunk into nothingness.
"Booyah!" both of them cheered.
"Let's keep going," Alexis advised.
"Exactly what I was thinkin'," Roy agreed.
Roy started making his way over to the other lowest point of the map, located on the other team's side. When he arrived, he found it completely covered in pink ink. They have an advantage. He noticed Maggie coming up the steps, inking everything she saw. Her pigtails glowed with her team's color. I have to take her out! At this time, Roy also had his special ready. As he ran towards her, he activated his Baller. Her violet eyes drifted over to the tan-skinned inkling, and, seeing him, she activated her own special. She, too, surrounded herself with a Baller, and the two quickly collided. When they intercepted each other's paths, they flew in opposite directions. Maggie fell into the water, and she sank like a stone. Roy was launched towards the center, coming dangerously close to falling into the pool of water there. He balanced himself before he could. Taking a deep breath, he ran towards the nadir and fell down there, where the Baller proceeded to explode. The yellow puddle left a scar on the otherwise perfectly pink clearing.
It was then Octavia arrived with her brush, swinging it back-and-forth to cover any enemy ink she saw. Together, they were able to cover up the area with yellow ink again. Even if Via did most of the work. The wavy-haired girl's hair started to glow, and she took out the Tenta Missiles launchers. Looking towards the other side of the map, she fired a plethora of missiles there. In the distance, yellow streams of ink rained down on another battlefield.
Before they could start travelling back to the other side, the boy with coffee-colored skin jumped down to face them once more. He prepared a powerful vertical swing, one in which they successfully dodged. Octavia tried running up to him, but he swung his roller once more, splatting her. He pushed it along, heading towards Roy. The other boy started running, but not to flee. Building up speed, he dashed to the wall and jumped off it, launching himself towards his opponent. He brought up his Foil Flingza Roller in surprise. Roy fired his Luna Blaster while he slammed it down, splatting both of them at the same time.
By the time Roy respawned, the whistle blew, bringing an end to the game. Putting his weapon down, he walked up to the edge of the platform and scanned the map.
"I think we won," someone mused. He looked behind his shoulder to find Bonnie, also having respawned.
He nodded. "Me too." He crossed his arms. "We won for sure."
Judd and Li'l Judd were quick to arrive. In the distance, they stood on the top of the barricade. Roy and Bonnie ran towards them for a closer look. It seemed everyone else had the same idea in mind, as everyone now crowded in the center. They did their little dance, and Judd struck out a yellow flag, marking the Rainbow Squids' victory.
"Booyah!" Alexis cheered.
"Booyah!" the other squids cheered back.
They proceeded to super-jump back to the tower to view their statistics. An overview of the map was shown first, displaying how much of a disadvantage the other team was at.
"You squids were tough to beat," Debbie admitted.
The boy that wielded the Foil Flingza Roller huffed and crossed his arms. "We were gonna win this time! I was just... lacking! That's it, lacking!"
"Just face it, we lost," the girl with the Tri-Slosher whined.
The number of splats and specials activated then popped up on the screen. As he expected, Roy was first when it came to splatting. Octavia had inked the most turf, however.
"When did you get so good?!" Maggie asked Alexis, surprised. "You were inking things like there was no tomorrow."
"Umm... practice," she replied.
"How much practice?"
"A lot." She shook her head. "Let's not get into it."
"Well, I'm leaving," the girl with the Tri-Slosher announced, heading out the door. "I want to fight some squids that are actually on Team Comedy."
"Oh, I'm coming with you!" The coffee-colored inkling followed her out the door.
"What about you?" Debbie asked. "What are you going to do?"
"I think I'm on the same boat as them," Octavia replied. "It'd be better to find someone else to play against."
"You don't want to play with us?" Maggie murmured.
"You know it's a Splatfest, right?" Bonnie pointed out.
The girl with the pigtails sighed. "Fair point..."
And so, the Rainbow Squids on Team Action exited the elevator and went on to find another match. Hopefully this time, they'll get a match against the opposing team.
A/N: That was... a very long chapter. But now, it's done. The next two chapters are going to be the first two parts of an arc! I hope to release them both next Saturday and Sunday, but we'll see. If there's no new chapter on Saturday, then the first part of the arc will come next Sunday. See you soon, and Branchwing, out!