Nathan and Diana arrived at the apartment building their homes were in at around 10:00 PM, the time when the Turf War stages and shops were closing for the night. Nathan was surely ready to go to sleep, after such a long day, as was Diana. Diana entered the apartment, but stopped when Nathan didn't follow.
"Nathan?" she said, "Are you coming?"
"Yeah, I'm coming," said Nathan, "Just give me a minute. I thought I might of hard something."
"What?"
"I'm not sure. I'll let you know when I confirm what it was...or is."
"Okay...Be careful." Diana slowly closed the door behind her as she entered the building. Nathan peeked from behind a wall, looking in the direction of where the sound was coming from to see nothing. Nathan walked out from behind the wall into an alleyway, looking around for anything suspicious.
It was notably quiet, but Nathan wasn't convinced that there was nothing. He looked around more. Perhaps it was just a bird or the wind, he thought. However, he began to think otherwise when he heard the sound of footsteps, as if someone where approaching him. He looked around but saw nothing.
"Maybe I'm hallucinating..." Nathan thought to himself.
"You ain't hallucinating anything, boy!" yelled a voice that was all too recognizable. Nero jumped down, attempting an airborne attack, but Nathan dodged out of the way.
"Nero!" said Nathan, drawing his roller from the scabbard he made. "Back to taking Inklings, again?!"
"No, I'm just here to get rid of you! Edith has the third Octoweapon ready, and she's been dying to use it! I figure if I take you out, then it'll make our mission much easier! Ah...you still use a roller as a Turf War weapon, I see! Pathetic."
"What are you talking about?!"
"What's the matter, Nathan? Don't you recognize me? We met long before this invasion even started. Do you remember back in your hometown, Nathan? Do you remember that day? The day that you met the Champion for the first time?"
Nathan knew what he was talking about. It was an event of his own past, about a year ago to be precise. "I will never forget that day, Nero!"
Nathan remembered an attack that happened during his last few weeks of Turf War training. Champion X had come for a special event, and the trainees got a chance to meet him, including Nathan. After the training session was over and most people went home, Nathan stayed to train more with X. However, three Octolings attacked, going after the trainees. Nero was among the attackers. Nathan had tried to fight back, but quickly lost.
The Champion had to intervene and defeat Nero while Nathan had no choice but to retreat. He and X told many about the incident, but no one believed them, as they were the only ones at the training area during the attack, as everyone else left for home. They were the only ones who witnessed the attack, and there was no remaining proof of the incident. The only person who believed Nathan was Diana, who told him not to worry too much about it.
"I sent those three Octolings to take care of you those few days ago, but they failed," Nero continued, "Two of them were the same ones you saw during the attack!"
"That's in the past, Nero. I'm over it," said Nathan, "But why would you attack randomly?"
"We were looking for new material for weapons, but we wanted to keep ourselves hidden or else that damn Cuttlefish or that pesky Agent 3 may come after us. We found a few things, but not much. We built our weapons over the course of a year, and when they were finished, we struck. That first strike was a few days ago."
"So you've been planning this for a while!"
"Yes. But enough talk! You've foiled many of our plans, but I have some bad news for you...our Ultimate Weapon is nearly complete! Soon enough, you can say good bye to Inkopolis!"
"I won't let that happen! We'll defeat you! We won't let you take anymore Inklings!"
"We don't need anymore Inklings for now. All that matters right now is that I'm gonna take you DOWN!" Nero, equipped with his own weapon, an Octoroller, charged at Nathan, and the two engaged in battle. Nathan had only his Silver Hero Roller to use in battle, and he had no armor or hero gear. He was at a disadvantage, but he didn't let that bring him down.
Nero swung his roller like a club, flinging ink everywhere in the process. Nathan evaded the ink and the weapon itself as best he could, but knew without armor or a secondary weapon that was a shooter, he had to get in up close and personal, as well as be much more careful.
Nero slammed his roller to the ground, and charged at Nathan, attempting to run him over. Nathan however, having lots of experience thanks to Turf Wars, managed to evade the roller just as it was about to crush him. He slammed Nero in the back with his roller, swinging it like a baseball bat.
"URGH!" yelled Nero, "Damn you!" Getting more aggressive, he went back to swinging his roller like a club. The two continued to fight, and Nathan managed to evade most of Nero's attacks. "You've gotten better! But...you can't...beat...ME! Not very easily, at least!"
"I can defeat you, Nero!" said Nathan, "And I'll do whatever it takes to beat you!"
"Will ya, now?" Nero pulled out a thick wire connected to a back gauntlet he was wearing, throwing it towards Nathan. Nathan used his arm to block it, but released that it had wrapped itself around his arm. Nero quickly yanked the wire, jolting Nathan forward a bit. He shook his hand slightly, and a short but strong electric current was sent through it, shocking Nathan.
Nathan screamed in pain as the shock ripped through his body. It lasted for only a few seconds, but it was strong and he fell to his knee. "You like that?" Nero taunted as he sent another, weaker shock. Nathan still stood strong, though on his knee. He slowly stood up, only to get knocked down by Nero, who attempted to slam his roller down on Nathan. But Nathan blocked it with his own roller.
"You cheated!" Nathan yelled.
"So what?!" Nero yelled back as he continued swinging his roller as Nathan continued to block. He suddenly felt something large hit him in the side, sending him away from Nathan. He looked in the direct the object came from, only to get hit in the face with a large ink bullet.
A Blaster was thrown aside by mysterious Inkling that appeared out of the shadows. He wore a Paintball Mask that was modified. It was colored black with its patterns faintly glowing blue, with two black elastic bands holding the mask in place. He had carbon fiber armor, including a breastplate, gauntlets, boots, shoulder guards, and leg armor. He had no armor on his arms, but had a black jacket on underneath his armor. All of the armor pieces had faintly glowing blue patterns similar to the mask. The Inkling seemed to be about 18 years old.
"Who are you?" Nathan asked.
"I'll tell you later," said the young man, "Here, take this!" He tossed what seemed to be a Hero Shot Replica, and Nathan caught it flawlessly.
"Hey, thanks!"
"No problem, kid! Let's get him!"
"You're on my side?"
"Of course I am!"
"Alright then! Let's roll!"
"It doesn't matter if it's one of you or two of you," said Nero, "I will CRUSH YOU!" He charged at the two, the fight continued onward.
