On the bus ride to Inkopolis Square, Thea's face was glued to the window. She looked out at the beautiful city with wonder in her wide, sapphire eyes. Watching the cars and buildings and people zoom by was really amazing to her, as she hardly rode in vehicles in her home town.
Jason smiled. He loved watching Thea experiencing the city ride. She was a stranger to the sun and sky, having been born and raised underground. She looked genuinely happy.
He continued to watch Thea gaze out at all the amazing sights. She was genuinely captivated by the outside world. All the amazing things that Inklings had been living with for years. Things Jason and many others would take for granted.
When they reached the square Jason gave Thea a quick tour. He explained all the shops in the Galleria, Deca Tower, Grizzco Industries. They then headed to the Shoal, which was their destination.
The Shoal was a 2-story building and was dimly lit. Colorful lights and pumping music gave the place a fresh aesthetic. There was an arcade where Inklings and Octolings played games and wasted money. There was a cafe, where people could surf the internet and enjoy a muffin and tea. There was another room labeled as the 'Turf War Viewing Area'.
They went inside the viewing area and sat down on the provided chairs. There were several other Inklings and Octoling there too, watching the battles. A large Tv screen displayed the current match in progress with live commentary.
Thea and Jason sat and watched the flying colors and cephalopods. Thea, at first, found too hard to watch. She cringed and shuddered whenever someone got splatted, even though she knew they'd be fine. Memories and flashbacks of her infantry days came back to her. Jason noticed and felt stupid for bringing her.
"No, no, no! I'm here to enjoy myself!" Thea forced herself to stop thinking, and give the games a chance.
The smiling faces on all the participants, the over-the-top commentary, the fantastic music and animations. Slowly, Thea found herself enjoying the turf wars. Pretty soon, Thea found herself cheering for her favorite teams and laughing at sneaky splats and clever plays. Jason joined the hype too, pleased that Thea was opening up. Eventually, they were both chanting and cheering at the top of their lungs.
After only half an hour of watching, Thea turned to Jason and exclaimed with excitement, "I want in!"
Jason was surprised. "Wait, really? Are you sure?"
"Yes! Where do I sign up?" Thea asked excitedly.
"Follow me!" Jason beamed and lead her out to Deca Tower with a bounce in his step.
20 minutes later, Thea and Jason spawned with their two teammates on one side of Inkblock Art Academy. They were team purple. Their opponent was team orange.
Thea had a Splattershot Jr. and Jason, his Blaster. One of their teammates, an Inkling boy had a Dynamo Roller, and the other, an Inkling girl had a Splatbrella. Jason had already explained the rules of the game to Thea.
"Hey there!" said the Inkling girl. "First time?" she asked pointing to Thea's Splattershot Jr.
"Yeah... I hope I'm not putting you at a disadvantage." Thea answered nervously.
"Daw, not at all!" the inkling girl replied. "You'll do fine!"
"Yeah, and we'll help you out!" said the Inkling boy with the Dynamo. "Want me to come with you? I could show you some of my uh... special techniques." he said with a sinister smirk.
"Oi, Mac!" yelled the Inkling girl. "Stop perving on the poor girl!" Thea's face flushed. Jason didn't like that. He shot a glare at Mac, but Mac didn't notice.
"Hey! I'm just offering my help to the newbie here!" Mac cooed with an innocent smile.
"Uh huh..." Lisa deadpanned. She then turned to Thea and Jason. "Sorry about that." The inkling girl apologized. "My name is Lisa and this is Mac. We'll watch your back for you."
"Thanks." said Thea.
"Thea?" Jason said to get her attention. "You want to win?"
"Uh...Yeah?" Thea gulped.
"Then you gotta focus. Splats aren't everything. You gotta get turf coverage, and stay in control. Don't get yourself into risky situations and pull out if you have to. Keep a cool head and trust your team. Ok?"
"O-ok!" Thea gave a thumbs up.
The countdown began. The orange team had a Splat Dualies user, a Roller user, a Sploosh-a-Matic user, and an E-liter user.
"Good luck everyone!" said the Inkling girl.
"Ready?" said the automated announcer. Thea took a battle stance with her weapon and looked back at Jason. Jason smiled and nodded and Thea returned the gesture. She was about to have her first Turf War.
"Set!" the announcer sounded again. Thea's heart started to beat faster in anticipation, and the horrible memories of her days underground came back to her. "No! I can't think of that now! I need to focus!"
"Go!" The whistle blew, and the colors flew.
Both teams leaped off their spawn pads and spread out in a competition to make the biggest mess. Thea and Jason headed around the back way to cover ground before engaging the opposing team in the center. The orange team's sniper had anticipated this and was in position to splat Thea and Jason back to their spawn.
Jason noticed the E-liter's laser pointer and pulled Thea behind cover. "Ok, you ink the ground to give us maneuverability, and I'll provide covering fire and move in to take them out." he said. Thea nodded and sprang out of the cover to advance, but forgot to make sure the coast was clear. She was bowled over by the roller and was splatted instantly.
Thea spawned back at her base. It had been a while since her last training session, so she was a bit surprised by the strange sensation of respawing. "Ok, gotta look before I leap".
She started her way back down to assist her team, inking uncovered spots as she went. Jason had been able to deal with the sniper and the roller and was battling a Sploosh-a-Matic. Thea jumped in and splatted the 'sploosher' from behind.
"Thanks!" yelled Jason.
"You're welcome!" Thea replied with a smile as she threw a bomb over a ledge to put pressure on an opponent. She ran over and finished off the respawned Roller with her Splattershot Jr. She proceeded to take control of the center area and kept the Dualies at bay. She was having the time of her life.
Thea's special gauge filled up and she activated her Ink Armor. All of purple team gained a glowing aura of hardened ink to protect them.
Jason used this opportunity to push into the orange team's spawn area, the Ink Armor taking most of the blows from the orange team. He splatted most of their team and covered a good amount of turf before the sniper knocked out his armor. Jason took it as a sign to leave the danger zone, and almost made it out, but got splatted by the respawned Sploosh-a-Matic.
Meanwhile, Thea swam to help Mac splat the Dualies user.
"Thanks for coming to help!" Mac yelled.
"You're welcome!" Thea yelled back as she moved in to attack the Dualies user and take the heat off of Mac.
"I'm sorry about what I said earlier! I was just joking around!" Mac said as he backed off to reclaim turf.
"It's alright!" Thea grunted as she hopped down a ledge to pursue the fleeing Dualies. "I didn't take it seriously!"
The Dualies user did a double dodge roll back behind Thea, catching her off guard, and then splatted her. Thea was once again sent back to the respawn point.
When she got back she found a fuming Jason. "Jason, are you ok?"
"No. This sniper keeps spawn killing me and I can't jump to Lia or Mac because they're busy battling."
Thea thought for a moment. "I have an idea."
After a brief explanation, Thea swam out in the ink near the spawn. She then popped out of the ink and threw a Splat Bomb at the masked sniper. The sniper instantly splatted her, but Jason used the distraction to get out of the spawn and make his way behind the sniper.
Jason came up around the sniper's perch, stood over him, and cocked his Blaster.
The sniper, hearing the sound looked up and saw the Blaster's barrel pointed at his head. "Ahh pi-"
"Goodnight, Sam." Jason cut him off before pulling the trigger.
The match ended two minutes later and Judd and Lil Judd declared the winners: Orange Team! Orange had won by only 2.6%. Team and Purple Team exchanged their handshakes and congratulations.
Thea was absolutely ecstatic as they left Deca Tower.
"I take it you liked it?" Jason chuckled.
"Liked it?! I loved it!" Thea exclaimed. "The thrill of the fight without the fear of death or guilt is exhilarating! I was like ratatatata! And you went blam in their face! And the Lia was like "Not today!" and then splat! And It was all just so great! And-and... thank you so much for taking me today!" Thea suddenly grabbed Jason in a big hug
Jason stood stunned by the sudden embrace. "Holy Port Mackerel! She just hugged me!" his mind swirled. He thought back to that morning's incident. "U-umm, y-you're welcome Thea." he said as he slowly returned the hug, his face looking more and more like a tomato by the second.
Thea realized she was making Jason a bit uncomfortable and withdrew from the hug. "S-sorry, I didn't-"
"I...uh...It's ok" Jason cut her off. "I was just... surprised." Jason said, now very red in the face.
Jason and Thea walked over too where Mac and Lisa were chatting about their most recent victory. Lisa's face brightened when she saw Thea.
"Hey! You did great out there!" Lisa beamed.
"Yeah, for a first-timer, you sure know how to fight!" Mac commented.
"Where'd you learn?" Lisa asked.
"Umm, the Octarian army?" Thea said sheepishly.
"Man, they must have trained you hard! Maybe you'll have to teach me some of your tricks!" Mac snickered the last part.
The masked sniper came up to the purple team group. "Hey guys!" he said removing the mask. "Good work out there today. That distraction technique was very clever."
"Thanks, Sam!" Jason answered with a grin. "But that was actually Thea's idea." said motioning towards Thea.
"This is Sam?" Thea asked Jason.
"Yup." Jason confirmed. "Sam, this is Thea."
"Looks like the note worked after all." Sam laughed. Jason turned tomato again.
"S-sam! It's not like that." Jason quickly blurted out. Thea was once again confused about the note.
"So how'd you fall for Jason here?" Sam asked Thea.
Thea was now very confused."I-uhh..." Thea stuttered, red in the face.
Jason abruptly pulled Sam aside. "Excuse us for just a moment." Jason said to the others with a forced grin.
Jason and Sam walked away from the others. "Listen, Sam, Thea is only staying with me for a while. She is not my girlfriend.
"Since when is she staying with you?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Since last night. She was homeless and I offered to let her stay with me for a while." Jason explained.
"Wait, you only have one bed." Sam realized.
"She's on the couch." Jason said quickly before Sam could open his mouth again.
"So how'd you meet?" Sam asked.
"I kind of saved her life. She would probably be dead if it wasn't for me. Jason subconsciously scratched his neck. "You see those plasters and scratches on her face? The bandage on her hand? It could have been a whole lot worse.
"You saved her life?! Now that is a romance just waiting to happen!" Sam laughed.
Jason grunted. "I'm not trying to get into a relationship with her, Sam! I'm trying to help a fellow cephalopod out. I already bought her new clothes and I think I may have a potential job for her in mind."
"You bought her new clothes?!" Sam gasped. "That can't have been cheap!"
"It wasn't, but if it means giving her a new life in Inkopolis, I'd do it again." Jason said with a serious face.
Sam thought for a second. "What about your awkwardness around girls? She isn't just any girl, Jason. She's a hot girl!"
"I'm thinking this could be a good thing for me. To help get over my awkwardness." Jason said looking down. "If I could get comfortable living with Thea, I might stop being so...weird. I might be able to get myself a real girlfriend and hold a stable relationship."
There was a long pause between them, where nobody spoke.
"Listen, Sam," Jason continued. "Thea is a very sweet and innocent girl. She had nothing, Sam. Nothing! And I want to give her the life that she couldn't have underground." Jason looked back at Thea, who was talking with Mac and Lisa, happy as can be. "And I would do anything to see that cute smile and those sapphire eyes again." he whispered under his breath.
Sam contemplated all this for a moment. He looked back at Thea. His smirk slowly faded and his face showed more compassion. He put his arm around Jason's shoulders.
"I'm sorry, Jason. I'm sorry about teasing you constantly. I didn't know how much this meant to you. She does seem like a lovely girl, and if there is anything I can do for you two, name it."
"Thank you, Sam." Jason sighed, happy to have his friend supporting him. They started walking back to the group "Actually, Sam, remember my birthday dinner I invited you to?
"Yeah?
"I no longer have the food I bought for it. I was wondering if you and your girlfriend could bring a dish with you. I'm going to ask the others to do the same."
Sam smiled and nodded. "I'll ask Jasmine to make something wonderful."
"Thank you." said Jason. "And Sam?
"Hmm?
"Please no more notes."
"Hehe, no promises."
Jason and Thea played a few more Turf Wars that afternoon before calling it a day. They stopped by the grocery store on their back to Jason's apartment to buy some supplies for the birthday dinner. But Jason didn't tell Thea about his birthday. H wanted to keep that a suprise.
They went home and Jason cooked up a nice, fulfilling dinner.
They also changed Thea's bandages. Inkling and Octoling's skin heal up very quickly, but it would still be a few days till the cuts and bruises cleared up.
They then got ready for bed. It had been a long and eventful day and they were both very tired. Thea laid down, in her new pajamas, on the couch and got comfy under the blankets. Jason was about to go to his room and close the door when Thea spoke.
"Thanks again, for today, Jason." Thea whispered. "I had a great time a-and I really do appreciate everything you've done for me."
Jason peeked out into the lounge again. "You're welcome Thea. I'm glad you had a good time. Tomorrow, we'll find you a job."
Thea smiled at Jason for a while. She then turned and snuggled into the couch and slipped into unconsciousness. Jason stayed and watched her fall asleep for a few minutes. "Cod, she's just too cute!".
I'm back! Sorry, it's been awhile. The turf war scene was pretty hard to write, and I also spent a lot of my time learning how to SFM for the new title poster. (pretty neat huh?)
Again, I'd like to apologize for the mix up in chapter 2. If you read that chapter from Astroneer, please go back and read the proper chapter. It will make this story make a lot more sense.
As always, reviews and comments are always welcome. Let me know how much I suck so I can get better! I'll get started on chapter 6 as soon as possible.
Until next time,
Dashanerocket