Octavia's PoV
Emerging from Shella Fresh, Octavia hugged the new box of shoes she had bought, Bonnie and Alexis trailing not far behind her. The Krak-On logo was plastered onto the box, and inside were brand new Clownfish Basics—she had outgrown her old pair.
"Why are you so excited?" the short-haired inkling asked. "They're super cheap."
"Because these are some of my favorite shoes!" she replied excitedly.
"You say that about every shoe," she pointed out.
"I know. But it's nice to have a fresh pair of shoes, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Bonnie agreed, looking down at her Navy Enperrials. "I don't know how much I like these, to be honest." She shrugged. "But it has a good ability, so I don't know..."
"Who cares about abilities? You just gotta be fashionable!" The wavy-haired inkling tucked the box under her arm and struck a pose.
The blue-haired girl giggled. "Heh, you are one of the freshest squids I know."
"Eh, I know fresher," Alexis teased, a smirk coming across her face.
"Like who?" she questioned.
"Like... uh... my other friends! They're super, super fresh!"
"You don't really have proof of that..."
"You just need to see them, and you can feel the freshness oozing off of them!"
"Sure..."
As Octavia watched the conversation, she started speaking again, walking backwards as she talked. "Anyways, I gotta go battle. Put on these shoes, get the sub abilities rolled, and then maybe Murch can-" She was interrupted when she bumped into someone, breaking her stride and causing her to stumble, almost dropping the box as well. She was quick to catch it, then turning around to apologize. The other inkling had fallen to the ground, dumbstruck. "I'm sorry," Via apologized. "I didn't see you."
"It's OK," she apologized. She had fair skin, with yellow green hair that was cut at the ends. She appeared to be about Alexis's age. "You couldn't of have." The wavy-hair inkling scanned the young girl's outfit quickly. A white headband, a basic tee, and cream basics...
"Wait a minute," she realized. "You're new to turf wars, aren't ya!"
The girl nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, I just came to Inkopolis."
"Reminds me of my first turf war," Bonnie interjected. "Cod, that was so long ago..."
"It kinda feels weird to use the Splattershot Jr. nowadays," Alexis added. "I mean, it's kinda like my dualies, but you can't dodge roll."
"You can't splat people very well with it eith-" Bon-Bon's mouth hung open as she saw the newbie pull out a Splattershot Pro.
"How...do you have a Splattershot Pro?" Octavia puzzled after a stunned silence.
"Oh, my sister gave it to me," she replied. "She and my brother have been living here for like, three or four years now."
"Geez, your sister's nice," the short-haired girl grumbled, crossing her arms.
Via blinked. "...Are you sayin' I'm not nice?"
"Sure," she teased.
The elder sister snickered. "Alexis..."
"So..." Bon-Bon started, putting her hands behind her back. She approached the newbie, who had now risen to her feet. She appeared to be a little shorter than Via. "What's your name?" She pulled a hand from her back, offering it to the younger inkling.
She hesitated for a few moments before taking the beige-skinned hand and shaking it. "Tess," she replied. "You?"
"I'm Bonnie." She peered over her shoulder to face the sisters. "And my friends here are Octavia and Alexis."
"Octavia? Like that Octavio guy in the textbooks?" she questioned. "Weird."
"E-Eh!" A nervous smile came across the wavy-haired girl's face. "Please, just call me Via! I don't like being compared to him. Besides, we're two completely different species."
"Oh, sorry," she apologized.
"So, have you battled at all yet?" Via continued on, smiling.
"No."
"Then we have to battle with her!" Alexis chimed in. "We can show her the ropes of ink battling."
"We did turf wars at school..." Tess argued. "And I've watched a lot of them on TV."
"But those aren't real turf wars," Bonnie added. "Real ones are so much better."
"Oh, OK, I'll battle with you," she finally conceded. The group started walking to Deca Tower, and along the way, Octavia eavesdropped on Tess's conversation to herself. "My first turf war... This is gonna be great! And with new friends, too!" She laughed. "Ain't nothing like this back home."
"Huh? Where are you from?" the blue-haired inkling asked.
"Some place a few hours from here," she replied. "It's closer than Calamari County, but I would still take a train there. There's a lot of seahorses there. And so, it's the top spot for seahorse racing!"
"Seahorse racing?" Alexis perplexed. She looked up at her sister. "Ever watched one of those?"
She shook her head. "Only clips of it."
"Same here," Bon-Bon commented.
"Well, the big one on TV is from Bigbelly. The races where I'm from are more local," Tess explained. "I'm gonna compete in it Friday."
"This Friday?" the wavy-haired inkling inquired. The green-haired girl nodded in response. "Shouldn't you be preparing?"
"I was gonna go back there tomorrow night," she pointed out. "I just wanted to see what Inkopolis was like first!"
"Well, you're from the country, right?" the short-haired girl started. "It must take some time getting used to."
"Eh." Tess shrugged. "It's alright." The group then set foot into the lobby. The green-haired inkling looked around in awe at the large crowd that always gathered inside the tower. "Wow..." she breathed. "There's so many inklings!"
"This is normal," Octavia commented.
"Normal?!" the girl exclaimed.
"You'll get used to it," Alexis comforted her. "I was a little kid when my family moved to Inkopolis, but it took a while for me to get used to all the people here."
"Anyways, let's find a room to join," the older inkling declared.
"What about our weapons?" Bonnie pointed out.
"Oh, right, those." Via chuckled and rubbed the back of her head.
The group walked over to an interface. The wavy-haired inkling proceeded to enter in the information needed to access the storage room, and a few moments later, the paneling slid open to reveal the secret set of stairs.
"Wait here," Octavia instructed the newbie. Tess nodded, and they walked down the flight of stairs, to the storage room. Via decided to leave the shoe box there, since it would be too much of a hassle to carry both it and her brush around. Everyone grabbed their weapons and soon emerged onto the ground floor of the lobby.
"Woah," the green-haired inkling gasped in awe. "Those are some pretty fresh weapons!"
"I know, right?" Via bragged with a smirk. "Straight from Ammo Knights, the best weapon shop in Inkopolis!"
"Aside from Sheldon," Alexis added. "Dude talks too much."
The three inklings laughed before guiding Tess towards the cluster of elevators. "C'mon, let's go," the older inkling whispered.
They quickly spotted a room nearby with only four people in it—only half of what was needed for a complete room. They entered it to find Octa Prisma standing inside. ...Well, Octa Prisma and another funny-looking inkling, that is. The pale-skinned girl had purple hair tied up into a ponytail, though the top of her head was covered by an Annaki beret, and her eyes were covered by the glasses that came with it. She donned a pink hoodie and custom trail boots as well. In her purple-tipped hands was a Tri-Slosher.
"Look who it is," Giovanni sneered. "You have come to battle us?"
"We didn't expect to run into you..." Bonnie pointed out, frowning.
"Yeah, we just wanted to battle with a newbie!" Alexis added, defensive. "But you squids just had to show up!" She pointed a Hero Dualie at Gio's chest, causing him to wince.
Oscar scanned the group, and then looked over at Tess. "She has a Splattershot Pro. Are you the sure she is not in the disguise?"
"Yes, she could being a pro!" Yvonne added in agreement.
"It was a gift! From my sister!" the young girl cried. "I'm new here, I promise! And what's with that accent? It's like you don't speak a lick of Inkling!"
"I believe the inkling," the funny-looking inkling interjected. "That she new. It odd, though."
"Oh, we have a new member of Octa Prisma," Gio continued with an interjection. He bowed towards the purple-haired girl and continued. "This is Peyton."
"Yes," she confirmed. "We battle now."
So she's an octoling, Via realized. Giovanni only recruited octolings onto his team, so she has to be right.
"We only need red on Octa Prisma now!" the dark-skinned octoling exclaimed. "Then, we be complete!"
"Wow, your team's growing fast," Bonnie marveled.
"Yeah, I feel like it was just yesterday when Gio popped off of Perry's back in that old octoling gear," the wavy-haired inkling added.
"My life has changed a lot since then," he elaborated.
"Would you go back if you had the choice?" Alexis asked.
"No," he replied. The other octolings shook their heads in agreement. "I never would."
The younger inkling opened her mouth to say something, but she simply looked away in disappointment. Then, the elevator door closed behind them, making Tess jump. She hid behind Octavia, quivering in fear.
"Don't worry," Bonnie comforted her. "It's just the door."
The green-haired girl straightened and clutched her Splattershot Pro. "I knew that!" she snapped. "O-Of course I did!"
"Sure..." the wavy-haired inkling muttered under her breath, her word etched with sarcasm.
The elevator began to descend. Octa Prisma stared at the group of inklings, neutral expressions on their faces. The green-haired octoling glanced over at Tess. He raised an eyebrow, as if pondering something, but he quickly removed his attention from her. Soon, it stopped, and with a hiss, the floor opened up beneath to reveal a grate.
"Turn into a squid," Bon-Bon instructed. "That's how you get to the stage."
"I just swim through this thing?" she puzzled before shrugging. "OK."
Everyone slipped through the grate, soon arriving at their next destination. Via popped out onto the spawn point, reforming as a kid moments later. She found herself gazing upon a familiar quarry. Piranha Pit. Of course, the conveyors had not started to move, but once the game started, they would begin to do so, sliding whatever inkling stepped on it to the other side.
Once the game started, Via immediately but the bristles of her Octobrush down, running towards the center. To her convenience, she slid across the conveyor belt, arriving at her destination only a few seconds later. However, someone else had arrived alongside with her—Oscar. He began swinging his Inkbrush back and forth, spreading pink ink everywhere. Smirking, Octavia continued running towards him, leaving a trail of green ink behind. She jumped out in front of him, brush in hand. The octoling blocked her swipe with his own brush, pushing her back. He then put it to the ground and started running down the ramp leading to the lower area.
"Oscar...!" she yelled. "Get back here!" She continued to run after him, only to be pelted with pink bullets. She splatted a few seconds later, and as she flew back to spawn, she spotted Yvonne on the perch, moving her Hydra Splatling back and forth like a hose. When Via respawned, she let out a heavy sigh. It's alright; nothing I can do about it... All of the other members of her team had left, except for Tess—she was now painting the walls with her Splattershot Pro, making sure not a single spot was left untouched. She eventually dove into the ink to refill her ink tank.
"Hey, Tess!" Octavia called. "Y'know painting the walls don't do anything, right?"
"Huh?" The girl with the ends of her hair cut off looked over at the older inkling. "But every bit of turf counts, doesn't it?"
"Not the walls." She jumped down to the floor to join the newbie. "Only the floor counts."
"Really?" she perplexed. "If you say so." She began to follow Via and ink the floor, as if nothing happened. However, Via then noticed someone coming over the horizon. Arriving at the top of the conveyor belt ramp was Peyton, Tri-Slosher in hand. She started dumping ink down onto the ground, while also keeping her balance on the platform.
"Watch out!" Via jumped in front of Tess, trying to deflect the sloshes with her brush.
"Woah!" She heard the young inkling turn into a squid, plopping into the ink, and swim away, much to her relief. However, she now had a different problem on her hands. Though Peyton was the newest member of Octa Prisma, she was certainly skilled. The wavy-haired inkling put her brush to the ground and swung around the bend, running up the ramp. She was at a disadvantage from the start—ink was dripping off her body, the sting burning through her clothes. Thankfully, when the girl with the ponytail noticed her, she lost her balance and fell off the conveyor belt. From there, she leaped down and splatted her with a few strokes.
"Booyah!" she cheered once she landed on the spot Peyton had exploded, pumping a fist into the air. She started to push her Octobrush Nouveau along once more, placing down a Squid Beakon just after the second ramp and starting to run down the incline. However, a predicament rose when her brush ran dry. She was out of ink, and she had nowhere to do so. She let out a heavy sigh, feeling some of her stored ink trickle into her ink tank. Once the bristles started to become wet with green ink again, she swiped it across the rocky floor and hid in the puddle created.
Oscar started to walk down to where Octavia resided, muttering something to himself in Octarian. His orange eyes scanned the area before resting on the puddle Via was hiding in. When he approached it, she jumped out of the ink, startling him and causing him to let out a squeak, and promptly attacked him with the Octobrush. He splatted, and she smiled with her achievements.
"Nice," she complimented herself. "I better start inking this place," she noted, observing the area. She placed a beakon behind the desk and started to swing her brush back and forth, flinging green ink all over the place. Once she felt satisfied with her work, she submerged in the ink to refill her tank real fast before running to the conveyor belt that would zip her back up to the main area. Upon her arrival, she came across Bonnie, who was having a showdown with Giovanni. The boy with the mohawk was approaching fast, but the girl with the double bun used a combination of the ink already covering the ground and the Classic Squiffer's properties to her advantage.
"Via!" she exclaimed with a smile. "A little help?" A splat bomb flew towards their direction. Both inklings jumped out of the way to dodge it, leaving a puddle of pink ink behind. It was then Giovanni rose into the air, the exhausts of the Inkjet pushing him off the ground with jets of pink ink. Snickering, he aimed the gun at Bonnie and fired a blob of ink at her. Before it could hit her, she activated her own special weapon. A green mist surrounded her and Octavia before hardening into a protective layer of ink—Ink Armor. Upon contact with the bullet, Bon-Bon's armor shattered, and she fell to the ground on her butt.
"Not today, Gio!" Alexis was charging towards him from behind, dualies in hand. She rolled forward and started to shoot at him from below. The fair-skinned boy turned around, surprised. He fired a shot at her, but she simply rolled out of the way to dodge it, enemy ink brushing her sides. With the distraction, the beige-skinned girl aimed up at him and fired her Squiffer, splatting him in a single shot. His gear fell to the ground with a crash before disappearing.
"Booyah!" all three of them cheered.
"With that out of the way..." Bonnie started, creating a narrow path with her charger. "I'm gonna check on Tess."
"Good call," the short-haired girl commented. "I'll go to their spawn." She ran off towards the other team's spawn point, though the conveyor belt hindered her movement quite a bit. Octavia decided to run after Bon-Bon, seeing as she had nothing else to do. They found Tess trying to avoid Yvonne's shots, resulting in rather creative movements. She jumped over them, she ducked under them, she even rolled over to her side. Bonnie hid behind a bumper, aiming at the dark-skinned octoling, who had her back turned.
She closed one eye, sticking her tongue out as she inched towards Yvonne. Once she was in ranged, she fired her Classic Squiffer, splatting the girl with pigtails in one shot. Tess had tripped and fell on her belly, groaning. She stood up and wiped some ink and dirt off her knees before turning her attention towards the duo.
"Whoa..." she gasped. "You saved me!" She ran up to the beige-skinned girl and hugged her. "Thank you!"
"Um..." Flustered, Bonnie tried to squirm out of the embrace. Noticing her behavior, the girl with the ends of her hair cut off let go, apologetic. "You're welcome." She gave a small smile.
Tess smiled as well, and at that moment, her hair started to glow. "Wait, Tess!" Octavia spoke up. "You can use your special now?"
"I can?" She grabbed one tentacle and looked at it. "Oh, fresh." A container with Ink Storm inside appeared in her hands. She stared at it, puzzled. "...What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Throw it," the wavy-haired girl informed. "Out in front of you."
The young girl nodded and took a few steps back. She threw the container on the ground, breaking it and sending a green cloud up in the air. The Ink Storm moved across the map, bringing drops of green ink along with it.
She blinked at the special before tilting her head ever-so-slightly. "I don't get it."
"It's good for pushin' other squids away," Via explained. "If you stand under it too long, you'll splat."
"I've the E-liter with it," Bonnie mused, putting a hand on her chin. "It's surprisingly effective in Splat Zones."
Tess looked pass them. "Are you sure?"
The wavy-haired girl turned around to see Oscar, charging through the Ink Storm. "Well, it works sometimes!" she defended her earlier statement. The boy with the afro pulled a bomb out and tossed it towards them. The three inklings scattered, creating a splatter of pink ink where they were standing. The girl with the double bun was quick to pull out her Classic Squiffer and fire a shot at him, quickly splatting him.
However, Peyton was right behind him, also unfazed by the Ink Storm. She threw two burst bombs at the group before hiding in some to refill her ink tank. She popped out a few seconds later, ready to attack them once more. Bonnie tried shooting at her again, but the girl with the ponytail easily dodged the shots. She made a noise of frustration and proceeded to super-jump away. It was then Alexis arrived where the beige-skinned inkling was once standing, Hero Dualies in hand. She spun one of them and proceeded to roll towards Peyton, orange eyes filled with determination. At the same time, Tess tried to shoot at her with her Splattershot Pro, clumsily aiming at the octoling. Yet, somehow, one of her shots landed, successfully splatted her.
She blinked at where Peyton once stood, lowering her weapon. "...I did it." She pumped a fist and jumped into the air. "I did it! Woo! I did it!"
"Congrats." Alexis smirked. "But we still got the rest of Octa Prisma to deal with."
"How do you know?" Octavia challenged, her smile growing.
"Because I was over on the other side of the map," she pointed out, annoyed. "Gio almost splatted me, but I got out of there, just in time."
"What about Yvonne?" she asked.
"Yvonne's probably camping. We'll have to take her out if we want to go down to that ditch."
Via nodded. "Got it." She put the bristles of her Octobrush Nouveau down to the ground. She would have super-jumped over to one of her beakons, but they seemed to have been destroyed. "There's not much time left, but we're gonna win. For Tess's sake."
Tess's mouth hung open. She looked over her shoulder and winked at the younger inkling. "Let's go! Rainbow Squids!" she announced.
The team of inklings started to run down the map, inking whatever turf had not been covered by green ink. Past the second conveyor belt ramp, they spotted Yvonne, who perched on a solid platform near her team's spawn point. She charged her splatling, the barrels on it spinning rapidly. She released the charge, a flurry of ink bullets flying out of her weapon. Gio arrived at the main area, popping out of the ink to cover turf.
"Via," Alexis called, looking at her sister. Both girls had their tentacles glowing green. "Ready?"
The wavy-haired girl nodded. "Ready."
Both inklings activated their special weapon—Tenta Missiles. They backed up a few steps, locking the missiles on all four members of Octa Prisma present. They pressed down on the trigger, sending a barrage of missiles towards the octolings.
"DOUBLE TENTA MISSILES!" they shouted.
Yvonne looked up at the sky, and in a panic, she scrambled off of the platform. She fell face-first onto the conveyor belt, with a missile splatting her shortly afterwards. Giovanni himself was also taken off-guard by the missiles, trying to run back down to the nadir. However, ink created from the explosions soon overwhelmed him, splatting him as well. Near the spawn, Oscar and Peyton were huddling inside, watching at the missiles reflected off of the barrier surrounding the spawn point. The two that had splatted soon spawned a few seconds later, knocking them both off of the platform. They struggled to run over to the main area, but with only ten seconds left, they succeeded to do so.
The boy with the afro swung around Bonnie, catching her from behind and splatting her. The sisters turned around at her scream and tried to attack him, but just before Alexis splatted him, a whistle blew, and they froze in place. Ink dripped from their weapons, cover a superficial amount of turf. Via looked behind her to find Tess's gear sinking into the ground. Where she once stood was Peyton, staring out into the blue sky with a neutral expression.
"Well," the girl with the ponytail started, lowering her Tri-Slosher, "you win."
Octavia blinked. "Already? You're not gonna wait for Judd?"
"Look." She gestured to the area surrounding them. "Little pink, but many green. It is obvious."
"You're not gonna complain?" Alexis puzzled.
She sighed. "I do turf wars for the money. It pays well."
"Well, I think you need to learn how to have fun," the wavy-haired inkling suggested. "Why not switch up weapons? I like doing that when I'm bored."
"Huh..." She looked at the ground before looking back at the sisters. "I try that."
Via nodded with a smile and turned towards where Judd and Li'l Judd had landed—between the conveyor belt ramps. They surveyed the stage for a bit before doing their signature dance, causing Judd to strike out a green flag, with Li'l Judd falling down on the floor.
Tess and Bonnie walked out to see the results, and the former gasped. "What?! We won?!"
"Of course," the latter said.
"Oh my cod, we won!" she exclaimed. "Booyah!"
Oscar lowered his Inkbrush and smiled. "Huh. You are like Giovanni when he is winning."
"Hey!" Gio called from somewhere.
"Let's get back to the lobby," Alexis declared. "I wanna see the results in full detail."
They super-jumped back to the Deca Tower, into a room displaying the results. Out of everyone, Alexis had splatted the most people, but Tess covered the most turf. On Octa Prisma's side, it was revealed to the group that Gio had activated his Inkjet twice, while Oscar managed to use Splashdown quite a few times. Peyton and Bonnie had covered the least amount of turf for their respective teams.
"Oh my cod, I'm number one!" the girl with the ends of her hair cut off cheered. She pulled all three inklings into a huge hug. "Thank you, thank you! I couldn't have won without you!"
Via gave a nervous laugh, and then smiled. "You're welcome."
Helping newbies really does feel superfresh sometimes.
A/N: Hooray! The first part of this two-parter is here. Of course, the next part will be available tomorrow. How do you guys like Tess? Quite the upbeat girl, isn't she? You'll learn a little bit more about her and a few other characters tomorrow. Branchwing, out!