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ika tako gamer: Yes, Agent 3 appears. I don't know if you've even seen these answers I've been putting in for the past few weeks yet, but at this point in the story, Agent 3 has appeared, and her identity has been revealed, too. (And don't worry about your reviews; I love reading any I get!)
Anyways, story time now.
Roy's PoV
Today's Splatfest was a rarity, not for its theme, but for the huge moon hanging in the sky, casting a pale light onto Inkopolis. Contrary to the teams, it almost made the square seem...eerie. Yet, everything was jovial as usual. Pearl and Marina danced on top of the stage set up outside the Deca Tower, their outfits becoming accented with bronze and silver respectively.
Roy sat on a metal chair, lifting his feet up to the table and relaxing as he ate some dango. His mom had made them yesterday but didn't finish eating them, so he didn't want the rest of them to go to waste. The other members of the Rainbow Squids had yet to arrive, but he had a good feeling on what team most of them were on—Team Modern.
He himself was on Team Modern, too. Marina was right—why would he spend time doing old things when he could be up-to-date on the latest trends, too? It just didn't make sense to him why anyone would pick Team Retro.
...Though arcade games like Squid Jump are popular, and they're retro. Maybe that's why squids would pick Team Retro. But modern, 3D version of such arcade games exist, so why not play those instead? Perhaps it was the convenience that made arcade games so appealing.
"By yourself, Roy?"
He popped a piece of dango into his mouth and looked up. Wyatt stood in front of the table, adjusting his headphones and crossing his arms. He also wore a Team Modern shirt. His cousin was positioned in between two of his teammates from Poppin' Baskets: Liam and Carter. He recalled that Seb left their team after he graduated, and as a result, they were short a member.
"Not for long," he replied.
Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Stop sittin' around and do some stuff while you wait for your friends to come. You're wasting precious time you could be using to do some matches instead."
"But what if I want to play with my friends?" he questioned, his patience waning.
"You can play with them later. Aren't you bored?"
"I have a phone. Scroll through Squidsagram if I wanted to. Or text someone."
"But don't you get bored of that? Besides, doing turf wars is much more fun."
Exasperated, Roy clenched his teeth and sighed. "Will you stop botherin' me?"
Wyatt smirked. "Then how 'bout a contest. Whoever gets the most clout wins."
"A contest?" He hopped out of his seat and pumped a fist. "Oh, you're on!"
"Then you better get to it!" his cousin teased. He punched his teammates' shoulders lightly and started running towards the Deca Tower. "Else we'll win!" he called as he disappeared.
"Ya won't win," Roy muttered under his breath. "I'll make sure of it."
He ran towards the tower as well, pushing through the crowd, much to some people's annoyance. As soon as he got inside, he noticed Wyatt and his team slinking into an elevator. Scowling, he made his way over to the interface that would allow him to access the Rainbow Squids' weapon room. Tapping a few buttons, the paneling slid open, allowing him to venture down. He turned on the flashlight on his phone and scanned the room for his weapon. Once he found the Luna Blaster, he picked it up and stomped out of the room, closing the entrance. And next, he found an elevator.
He entered it to find a room full of people wearing silver t-shirts, marking them as members of Team Modern. Quickly, he realized that he didn't know anyone here. It was a normal occurrence when he went solo, but he usually played with his friends or against Octa Prisma during Splatfests. To be with none of them was just odd.
A rather short inkling with a side cut and two pins on their Splatfest tee looked up at him, their eyes filled with wonder. "Wow," they remarked. "You're tall."
"Who would've thought?" he deadpanned, crossing his arms.
"Are you part giant squid?" they asked, tilting their head.
"Don't think so."
"What about...part kraken?"
"No." This one was partially a lie—his great grandfather, or his dad's mom's dad, could turn into a kraken, earning him several medals from the Great Turf War as a result. However, they were so diluted by now that they only manifested in his height. He had to use the special to turn into one like everyone else. Yet, the rumors that he could turn into a kraken still persisted.
"Oh," they said with a frown. "You're still fresh, though."
He rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, thanks."
"You're welcome."
The door behind him closed, signaling that the match would soon start. With a shudder, the elevator began to descend deeper into the Deca Tower.
"Hey, Kit," a dark-skinned inkling girl with the ends of her hair cut off spoke up. The short inkling turned around to face her. "Good luck."
They nodded. "You too!"
She must be their friend, Roy noted in his head. Soon, the elevator stopped, allowing him to slip through the grate, towards his next location. The area he found him was dark, stars twinkling in the distance. Some signs had a neon glow to them, displaying graffiti. Some buildings were floating around in the sky, wires hanging above him. From the odd look of the place, he reckoned he was in a Shifty Station.
A few seconds later, he transformed into a kid, stretching as he got out of his squid form. The spawn point below his feet glowed yellow, which was to be expected—everyone in the lobby was on Team Modern, after all. Now that he thought about it, there were a lot of squids on Team Modern.
The battle started, and he pressed down the trigger on his Luna Blaster, sending a blob of ink in front of him that exploded soon after. A fair-skinned inkling wearing a headlamp helmet immediately ran down the ramp to his left with an Inkbrush, hearing him scream a few seconds later. Roy followed the trail to see the boy bouncing off of a bounce pad with grey octopus tentacle designs, his purple eyes wide with fear.
"Help!" he cried, hugging his brush.
The boy with his hair swept to the side lowered his weapon, scratching the other side of his head. A few seconds later, he shook his head. "Sorry, can't help ya." He had to focus on the match, after all.
He jumped down onto the bounce pad and leaped up into the air, closing his eyes as he fell towards the next bounce pad. He jumped again on that one, doing a flip and landing on his feet on a small, grassy stretch of land. He opened his eyes, surveying the land around him. A tower surrounded by boxes was in the middle of the map, but on closer inspection, it seemed that it could only be accessed by using the bounce pads. He figured he shouldn't be too surprised; it was a Shifty Station after all. Without fail, Marina made an unique one for every Splatfest.
Roy started to fire his Luna Blaster again, taking a few steps forward. He had to be careful—one misstep, and he could fall into the abyss. Luckily, his eyes were sharp enough that he didn't predict himself falling any time soon. In the distance, he noticed that the other team's base had been covered with purple ink. He figured that soon enough, members of that team would be trying to claim the center of the map for their own. With his resolve renewed, he charged for the bounce pad, leaped on it, and leaped up into the air, firing his blaster once more. Coincidentally, he splatted someone hiding in a small puddle of ink on the box, though he was unable to get a look at their face.
Triumphant, he landed on the box, raising his weapon the air as a cocky grin appeared on his face. With his ambushing skills, he was confident that he was going to win the match. He just had to hope that Wyatt loses his first match so that he could have the lead in their contest. From on top of the crate, he threw out a splat bomb, which landed on a patch of grass covered with purple ink. It exploded, spreading yellow ink over the piece of turf.
Roy turned into a squid, submerging himself in the puddle of yellow ink he himself stood on. He had a plan—whenever someone tried to climb up this tower, he would emerge and splat them. It was that simple.
An inkling with yellow hair and light brown skin jumped onto the box, causing him to squeak as he was crushed by a shoe. The inkling gasped and stepped off the box, allowing him to reform with a headache. He met eyes with his teammate—it was the short inkling from earlier.
"Sorry!" they apologized, clasping their hands together and shaking them, causing them to drop their weapon. "I didn't know you were there!"
He groaned. "It's fine. Just watch where you're going. That hurt."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" The inkling—he presumed their name was Kit—picked up the L-3 Nozzlenose D off the ground. "I won't do it again!" Before Roy could say anymore, they hopped off the tower and bounced on the bounce pad in front of it, entering the enemy base.
As soon as Kit left, the tan-skinned inkling noticed a marker at his feet. Tenta Missiles! He dove off the tower as purple missiles raced towards him, stumbling and falling onto the bounce pad. He scrambled to regain his footing and leaped up to a grated bridge, allowing him to run towards the enemy base.
Soon enough, he encountered the dark-skinned inkling girl from earlier. She pulled out a dark object and threw it far enough to land just in front of Roy, dispersing a cloud of arrow-shaped markers. He jumped back, not wishing to be tracked. He threw out another bomb, but she just rolled out of the way, aiming her H-3 Nozzlenose at him.
No way I'm getting close to her, he thought, gritting his teeth. He had to find an alternate route. Roy turned around and ran back towards his side. He inked some more turf, allowing his hair to glow. Now, he could fight back. He swung right back around to cross the bridge again, activating Baller. The girl with the H-3 Nozzlenose stood her ground, throwing another point sensor and firing at his Baller. The force of the bullets pushed him back, soon undoing the first layer of protection on his special weapon. Yet, he pushed on. The weapon expired just as he crossed the bridge, leaving behind an explosion of yellow ink. He turned his sights on his attacker again, who now had a purple mist surrounding her, quickly solidifying into Ink Armor. Roy accepted his defeat and spread his arms open, allowing her to strike him in the chest and splat him.
He respawned, his chest aching. Ever since the incident with Oscar and Angel nearly two months ago, it had been a sensitive spot whenever he took damage. Trying his best to ignore it, he went to the right this time, eventually coming to a dead end. He inked the area and dove into the ink some yards from the edge, building up speed so that he could jump down to the area below. As soon as he reached the end, he leaped, his squid form visible to all. He transformed into a kid and landed on the pavement, his shoes skidding against it. He inked the area under his feet and stepped onto the grass. An inkling girl with wavy hair and a Bloblobber stood in front of him, swinging her weapon back and forth, sending yellow bubbles towards the dark-skinned inkling that had splatted him earlier. The girl with the H-3 Nozzlenose shot helplessly at the splash wall set up in front of her, allowing her to be splatted by the girl with the Bloblobber. Not saying a word, his teammate moved on.
Roy rolled his neck. If his estimates were correct, there were still a whole two minutes left on the clock. Things could change in an instant, and admittedly, he felt that he hadn't done much. He had to change that if he wanted to get the most clout out of this match.
He jumped down to a bounce pad and jumped up to the sky once more, lunging towards the tower. He found himself landing in purple ink, dripping off of him as he stood up. He bit his tongue, trying to distract himself from the pain the enemy ink brought and aimed his Luna Blaster at the floor, allowing him to ink a small spot of the tower and hide in it to recover. After his injuries disappeared, he emerged again and inked the tower. However, when he reached the other side of the tower, someone appeared from a puddle of ink and slammed a roller down on his head, splatting him.
Roy respawned again and super-jumped to the girl with the Bloblobber. She had pushed into the other team's base, several opposing inklings falling to her bubbles. Somehow, the inkling with skin the color of sand completely ignored him, a blank expression on her face as she swung the slosher. He tried waving his hand in front of her, but she merely pushed him away. Sighing, he turned around and headed back to the tower. Now that he knew that someone was up there, perhaps he could splat them.
He hopped on the bounce pad again, jumping up and down on it, flying through the air. He readied a splat bomb and threw it when he was at the peak of his jump. When it landed, he saw a strange-looking squid fall off the tower, onto a bounce pad. Roy jumped up to the tower and looked down. The strange squid reformed into an olive-skinned girl with a ponytail, rolling a Krak-On Splat Roller through the grass.
Roy smirked. I've got you now! He leaped down to the bounce pad and aimed his Luna Blaster, firing it at the girl's back. She let out a cry of shock as she exploded into a puddle of yellow ink, her gear and weapon falling to the ground and soon disappearing into the ink.
"Booyah!" he exclaimed. He covered the patch of purple ink back up and jumped up to the tower again. "No one's getting up here," he declared as soon as he reached the topmost box, putting his hands on his hips.
His ears perked up as he heard someone approach from the side. He turned around to see an inkling boy with a Range Blaster leaping up into the air. He fired it, but seeing as blasters usually were inaccurate in midair, his shot went off to the side instead, exploding at the edge of the tower. Roy tried running up to him to splat him, but the range of his Luna Blaster fell a few feet short. The boy jumped to the side and fired, landing an indirect hit on Roy. The tan-skinned boy dove into the ink again, swimming behind the crate to recover.
The boy with the Range Blaster landed on the tower, his spiky hair now glowing. He pulled out the container for Ink Storm and bust it on the ground, sending a purple cloud up into the air. Eyes wide, Roy emerged and swung around the box, firing his Luna Blaster at the other boy. He splatted, but the Ink Storm still raged on. It didn't do much, though, as it floated off towards the abyss, eventually disappeared.
"Another win for me," he muttered to himself. The clock neared one minute left, so he had to make the most of it.
The boy with an Inkbrush from earlier ran by him on the grated bridge below, the previous anxiety he saw on him now gone. Kit was not far behind, carrying their L-3 Nozzlenose D. They proceeded to activate their special weapon, Ink Jet, flying up into the air and firing ink missiles towards the ground.
"Hey, Addi," they called. "Where are ya?"
The dark-skinned girl with the H-3 Nozzlenose emerged from behind a crate, spinning her weapon once before pointing it towards Kit. "Right here." She pulled out some Tenta Missiles and fired them, the inkling with the side cut now being marked. As soon as Addi fired them, the boy with the Inkbrush swung around her and swiped his brush at her backside, quickly splatting her. Yet, the missiles still remain.
"Uh oh!" Kit cried out, yellow eyes wide.
"Turn into a squid!" Roy called out to them. "You can swim away from the missiles that way!"
"Turn into a squid..." They nodded and transformed, falling down to the ground and landing in yellow ink. They swam away from the incoming missiles just in time, successfully dodging them. They emerged afterwards, but their Ink Jet expired almost immediately afterwards, sending them flying back to where they activated it.
"Wow," Kit mused as they ran back to the enemy's side, facing Roy, "that was pretty helpful!"
"I dunno. I thought a lot of squids knew that," he remarked.
"Well, I didn't. So thanks!"
"Uh... You're welcome?"
"Back to the match!" they declared, raising their weapon.
Roy jumped onto the bounce pad in front of him, scanning the stage once more. He spotted someone with an N-ZAP '85 approaching the tower, inking whatever came his way. As soon as his hair flashed purple, he activated his special weapon, mist swirling around him before hardening into Ink Armor. He crossed paths with the boy with the Inkbrush and quickly splatted him, leaving purple ink behind. Kit tried attacking him next, and while they managed to break his armor, he managed to splat them before he splatted. Seeing an open, Roy jumped from the bounce pad towards him, firing the Luna Blaster straight towards him. Eyes wide, the boy looked towards him before the blob of ink hit him, exploding on contact and splatting him. With him out of the way, he continued inking the area.
Addi appeared again, tightly gripping her H-3 Nozzlenose. Her purple eyes narrowed, she lifted her weapon and fired whenever she could, doing her best to cover up turf with purple ink. However, Roy wasn't going to let her off so easily—he had to win the match! He activated Baller and rolled towards her, much to the dark-skinned girl's surprise.
"Brook!" she called, placing a hand on her Squidlife headphones. "Cover me!"
The olive-skinned girl with the Krak-On Splat Roller appeared, jumping over Addi with the use of a bounce pad. She swung her roller with as much force as she could, sending a wave of ink towards the Baller. Roy was sent flying back, nearly falling off the stage. Gritting his teeth, he continued to push on, trying to move in on Addi again. However, Brook was by her side, swinging her roller again. The Baller broke, exposing Roy again prematurely. Red eyes narrowed, he threw out another splat bomb, forcing the two girls to scatter. The boys then joined then, and before he knew it, it was one inkling against four.
I have to get out of here, he thought. But his body refused. His feet moved towards them, fingers pressing down on the trigger of his weapon to fire blasts of ink.
"You just won't quit, huh?" the boy with the Range Blaster taunted. "Taste my blaster, tall boy!"
The spiky-haired boy fired the blaster, landing a direct hit on Roy and splatting him. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised. His ghost floated away, the boy with the Range Blaster gloating over his grave. As soon as he respawned, he started running back towards the center of the map, inking whatever turf he could. Surprisingly, the other team had managed to ink a good amount of turf in such a short period of time. The girl with the Bloblobber lobbed ink off the top of it, the bubbles bouncing from off of the bounce pad to wherever.
He scanned the stage once more. Where can I go...? He had to decide quickly; he had no time to waste. Unfortunately, he wasn't gifted with Inigo's strong intuition.
"Stop standing there," barked the girl with the Bloblobber. "You're gonna block the bubbles."
"I-" He blinked in disbelief. "I'm not even standing in front of you!"
She blushed, returning her attention to the other team. They seemed to have spread out, though the boy with the N-ZAP attempted to climb onto the tower. Some bubbles contacted him, and Roy jumped to finish him off, and together, the two splatted him. However, his excitement was short-lived as a whistle blew, signifying the end of the match. Roy settled on the bounce pad, lying down and putting his arms behind his back, his Luna Blaster on his stomach.
A few minutes later, someone threw a hat at him, snapping out of his daydreams. The girl with the Bloblobber pointed to the crate behind her, where Judd and Li'l Judd stood. He stood up, struggling to keep his balance on the bounce pad.
Please win, please win, he begged silently.
The cats danced, and Judd revealed a yellow flag, signifying his team as the winner.
"Booyah!" Roy cheered, throwing the hat up into the air. The girl gasped and leaped after her hat, grabbing it and landing on the bounce pad. Now that the match was over, Roy proceeded to jump up to the tower again so he could super-jump, and a few seconds later, he was in the form of a squid, flying through the air.
In the Deca Tower, everyone's statistics was brought up.
"Yes!" Kit cheered. They turned towards Addi and stuck out a tongue at her. "I got more splats than you!"
"But you splatted more," Addi jested. "So it balances it out."
"We're not counting that." They crossed their arms, eyebrows furrowed.
"What's the deal between you two?" the boy with the N-ZAP asked them.
"We're rivals!" Kit interjected. "Ever since Addi moved to Central Inkopolis High, she's been determined to take my spot as the best Nozzlenose user in the school!"
"But you don't even use the same Nozzlenose," the boy with the Range Blaster pointed out.
"A Nozzlenose is a Nozzlenose," Addi argued. "Doesn't matter which one you use."
The boys looked at each other and shrugged. "She's got a point," noted the boy with the N-ZAP.
"Now, it's rematch time," Kit declared. "I'm gonna win again!"
"No, I'll win," Addi proclaimed.
The two inklings proceeded to argue, much to Roy's annoyance. He had no plans to leave the lobby, but he was seriously considering it if they didn't shut their mouths.
"Whatever, I'm finding a new lobby," the boy with the Range Blaster grumbled. "See ya, suckers."
"Me too," the boy with the Inkbrush agreed.
The boy with the N-ZAP and Brook left the lobby as well, leaving four inklings, including Roy, left in the lobby. Just enough for a group of people on Team Retro to come in.
Whoever he fought next, Roy was sure he was going to get the most clout.
The day after the Splatfest, Roy's friends weren't particularly happy with him.
"Where were you?" Via questioned. "You said you were gonna come, but we didn't even hear a single peep out of you!"
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized. "Wyatt just challenged me to a contest, and I just had to win!"
"Excuse me, Wyatt?" Inigo repeated.
"Yeah, Wyatt." He heard footsteps behind him, and he looked over his shoulder to see his cousin approaching the Rainbow Squids, alone. "And here he is now."
Wyatt stopped in front of the table, sea-green eyes scanning the group. "Now your friends are here," he noted after a pause.
"We're usually here," Geneva remarked, raising an eyebrow.
"Enough of that," Roy interjected, standing up from his chair. "How much clout did you get?"
"308,065," he answered.
"What the heck?" he puzzled. "I just barely got over 100,000!"
"I won a 100x battle," Wyatt revealed. "Of course I got a lot of clout."
"You..." Roy clenched a fist and turned away from his cousin. "Dang it! I lost because of RNG!"
"Well, doesn't matter, because there wasn't a prize in the first place." Eyes wide with revelation, the red-eyed boy turned to look at his cousin. "I just made up that contest to get you off your lazy butt."
"Lazy?! Wyatt, you a-"
"Hey, hey, calm down!" Yuri interrupted him. "Alexis's here!"
"Hey! I'm not a little kid," the short-haired girl protested.
"Doesn't matter," Roy growled. "As things stand, I didn't even get to play with you because Wyatt tricked me."
"At least Team Modern won in the end, right...?" his cousin tried to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, because you won a 100x battle. I doubt things would've changed if I started playing later."
"Whateves, I'm gonna dip." Putting his hands up in front of him, Wyatt slowly backed away. "Bye bye." He turned around and ran away.
Roy sat back down in his seat and sighed, resting his head on the table. "That sucked."
"At least we have next month, right?" Perry assured. "You can play with us then."
"I guess," he mumbled.
"Yay!" Yuri exclaimed. "Don't worry Roy, I'll make sure the next Splatfest is a great one!"
The red-haired inkling lifted his head and chuckled. "Thanks, Yuri."
He was right, there was always a next time. But how long would it be before Off the Hook retired from doing Splatfests, too?
A/N: The next two chapters are a two-parter. I'll try my best to release the first part on Saturday and the second part next Sunday, but if you don't see something on Saturday, then it'll be on Sunday on two separate weeks. With that being said, Branchwing, out.