Contrasting Hues

On the sound of a gunshot, both teams shot out of their respective spawn points, the inklings splitting up in accordance to their battle plans.

Katelyn immediately went for a beeline towards the left pathway, quickly deploying her Inkbrush Nouveau and started to leave a trail of purple as she ran. Behind her, Mark and John turned into squids and followed her, splitting up as soon as they reached the bottom. Mark went for the slight bump on the left most part of the map and started to ink the ground with his Range Blaster, while on the right John did the same except he went right, under the grate and began painting the floor on the right side of the area. Mei-Lin, not being as quick-footed as her teammates, opted to start inking the floor around the starting area, slowly making her way towards the pathway on the right and methodically covering the floor in the process.

Cobalt instantly started to ink the floor in front of him with his weapon, alternating between squid and kid forms as he quickly made his way towards the right pathway. Meanwhile, the other three followed through with their plan, with Penelope deploying her Carbon Roller and making for the left pathway, Michael running straight ahead towards the upper pathway as he lobbed splashes of ink in front of him, and Chris began simultaneously following Michael and covering the spawn point behind him.

The splotches of ink on the floor accumulated quickly, and it did not take long for the patches of color to start colliding with one another…

"KATIE! Watch out!"
Katelyn and Penelope ran into each other first, the latter spotting her as she reached the other side of the map. Penelope immediately deployed a Seeker, the automated bomb starting to move forward and leaving a trail of ink behind, slowly swerving towards Katelyn's position with a harsh beeping. Thinking fast, Katelyn immediately painted a nearby wall, and hopped into the ink in her squid form. Losing its target, the Seeker impacted the opposite wall, leaving a splash of ink behind with a 'BANG'.
Penelope was following right after the trail the Seeker left behind, emerging right out of the ink with her Carbon Roller raised. Spotting the nearby patch of purple, she raised her roller above her head, ready to slam down upon the wall…

"Oh no you don't!" A blaster shot impacted Penelope head on, staggering her and coating most of her body in purple ink. In panic, Penelope swerved around and prepared to deploy another Seeker at the offending inkling who is only a few meters away and running straight at her with his Blaster still reloading.
"Katelyn! Quick, finish her off!" Mark cried, just as the sound of John screaming in the distance reverberated towards his position.
Within the space of a few tense seconds, Katelyn jumped out of the ink patch on the wall, quickly swinging her Inkbrush multiple times at the soaked inkling's location. Most of the splotches missed, but some of them hit the target head-on, causing Penelope to explode in a shower of purple and sending a miffed little squid ghost sailing back towards Team Snowballs' spawn point.

"Th-That was amazing!" Mei-Lin shouted, running towards their position, slightly out of breath. "We probably could beat them if we keep up this pace. G-go team…?"

"CELEBRATE LATER!" John yelled, running at them with a really large squid chasing right after him. "That level 50 guy, he set up a Kraken much faster than I've thought! HE'S RIGHT BEHIND ME!" That was what he managed to say before he stumbled, the Kraken taking advantage and leapt right at him, the impact splatting him instantly and sending his ghost right back towards their spawn point.

Katelyn and Mark's eyes widened in shock, and Mei-Lin shrieked in terror. "SCATTER!" Katelyn yelled, and promptly the group dispersed in various directions, with Cobalt chasing right after Katelyn as she deployed her Inkbrush and ran for her life.
"GAH, HOLD STILL!" Cobalt cried, his Kraken form lowering the pitch of his voice into a menacing growl. "You can't run forever! C'mere!"

With one side of the map now devoid of opponents, Mei-Lin sighed a breath of worry. Opting to hide inside a corner next to the wall where Katelyn was earlier, the opposing Kraken didn't spot her, and instead chose the easiest to spot target, which was her hyperactive friend.
"I'll wait till the coast is clear." Mei-Lin whispered to herself. "Can't risk being attacked when-"

Without warning, some indicator resembling a dark squid flew out of the sky, and landed right into where she was hiding, the indicator swirling around her. An eerie feeling crept down Mei-Lin's back as she felt like she was being watched.
"Nowhere to hide." A male voice said calmly, an opponent wielding a Dual Squelcher dropped down and pointed his gun right at the ink patch. "Now let's do something about this little obstruction."

Cobalt chased after the Inkbrush-wielding opponent, which was keeping a good pace in front of him. Kraken users were generally at a disadvantage against Inkbrush users because of how agile they generally are, and this one was no exception.
"Now that I think about it, should've gone for the Range Blaster user instead of this quick broad." Cobalt thought to himself. "Those guys can't defend themselves very well if an opponent gets up close after all."

Abruptly, the Kraken special ran out, and Cobalt reverted back into a normal sized squid. Noticing this, his adversary abruptly turned around and began running straight at him instead. Her tentacles were glowing and bubbling as if they've reached a boiling point, which can only mean on thing…
"Uh oh. I better bail." Cobalt grumbled, running backward as he started firing a salvo of ink in front of him.

"Think you can score some free newbie kills, you overlevelled creep! WELL THINK AGAIN!" His opponent activated the special on her Inkbrush, and a bumpy shimmering shield enveloped her, the cyan ink flying at the inkling bouncing right off.

Cobalt decided to conserve his reserves, and turned around and started to run, but Katelyn was already on him, swinging her Inkbrush as she went. Some of the ink splotches landed on him, causing his vision to slowly flood with purple. Feeling his body about to come apart at the seams, his eyes flared with rage as he stopped running and stomped the ground in anger.
"GRAAH! If you're going to splat me, I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME!" Cobalt growled, doing an abrupt U-turn and firing a blast at Katelyn point-blank, just as her Bubbler shield ran out and faded away.

"Oh crud." Katelyn gulped.

Simultaneously, Cobalt's burst of cyan ink landed on Katelyn, just as she swung a fatal blow at the masked inkling. With a loud burst, both of them got splatted at the same time, two irate squid ghosts sailing back towards their respective spawn points.

Chris looked at the inkling that just emerged from the puddle in front of him, her gun pointed straight at him, her tentacles shimmering to indicate her special's ready, but the shower of purple he had expected hasn't come.
Looking closer, he noticed the inkling's hands were shaking. There was also a look of trauma and hesitance in the inkling's face.

"What, never fired a gun at someone before?" Chris asked, his own weapon lowering slightly. "I've seen that look on your face before, from Inklings that haven't splatted someone else before in their life."
"B-Back off!" Mei-Lin spluttered, her breathing starting to accelerate. "I'm warning you! Don't…. come closer!"
"You haven't even activated your special, even when an opponent is this close. Hmm…." Chris tapped his chin in thought. "This your first proper match by any chance?"
Mei-Lin didn't answer, simply nodding slightly. Her Splattershot was still shaking in her grip.

"I should've figured as much, the broadcast mentioned a level 1." Chris lowered his weapon, and Mei-Lin cautiously lowered hers. "Name's Chris. What's yours?"
"…Mei-Lin."
"Well Mei-Lin, pleased to meet your acquaintance. We're still in the middle of the match though, activate your special and run away from here."
"…How do I do that?"
"There's a glowing button somewhere on your gun. Press it."
Mei-Lin pressed the button in question on her Splattershot, and a Bubbler materialized around her. She jumped slightly at the sudden materialization at first, and then she saw Katelyn's squid ghost flying towards the spawn point, and ran off wordlessly towards her own base with a single backwards glance at Chris before she switched to squid form and swam up a wall.

"You let her go." A voice said, as Michael leapt from the top pathway and looked at Chris with a puzzled expression, "Why'd you do that?"
"Eh, nothing really." Chris shrugged. "Every newbie deserves at least a chance. It's only fair."
"Well get your ass up here with me, that washing machine guy's respawned and he's about to use his bomb rush, I need your help to clean up the mess."
"Alright then." Chris said, as the background music began to change. "We better hurry, there's only a minute left."

The spawn point at Team Skiing's side began to glow, as a squid ghost flew into the contraption, and the exhausted form of Katelyn emerged from the machine.

"That slimeball!" Katelyn grumbled. "I swear, some people take these matches WAY too seriously…"
"Katelyn, you alright?" Mei-Lin asked, running breathlessly from the upper section. "I saw your ghost, and I thought…"
"Right as rain, Mei-Lin. Don't worry, Splatting and getting Splatted has no long term consequences as long as those respawn points still work." Katelyn smiled, showing her sharp beaks. "You don't have to come and take care of me, that's my job."
"Thank the gods." Mei-Lin sighed, and her ears perked up as the music changed. "The music. What's-"
"We've only got a minute left. We better hurry up." Katelyn got up and prepared to run back towards the left pathway. "…you look like you've seen a ghost, and not mine. I should probably ask if you're okay."

Mei-Lin looked down at her gun, deep in thought. "…Someone over there spared me. I don't even know why."
"Well I'm just glad not everyone's a tryhard, thank goodness." Katelyn laughed. "You head right, I think Mark needs some help with cleaning up."
"I'll try." Mei-Lin replied, making a beeline for the right pathway just as Katelyn ran towards the left.

The atmosphere of the battlefield has tensed up, as there's only one minute left to the match. By now, any teammates that had been splatted have respawned, and both teams are scrambling to turf up any floor that is either missed completely or their enemy's color. So far, it looked like an even match.

"Thirty seconds left!" Mack's voice called out through the broadcast. "It looks like Team Snowballs and Team Skiing are on equal grounds so far!"
"I won't be too sure, Mack." Haddock replied, "All it takes is 20 seconds for a match of good fortune to reverse."
"Looks like you're right! Look, Snowballs is planning an all-out assault!"

On the battlefield, Penelope and John are having a bomb rush duel, Seekers and Splat Bombs flying at every corner of the map. Eventually, one of the Seekers impacted John head on, sending him sailing back towards spawn. Mark put up a fight by deploying a Splash Wall before trying to blast Michael with his Blaster, but he didn't count on the latter having his Bubbler special ready, and one Disruptor and splash later Mark was sent flying back towards the respawn point as well.

"Cobalt, we need time to cover up the floor!" Chris yelled as he barely dodged an Ink Mine that Katelyn put down. "Do whatever you need to, slow them down!"
"Splat that! Mei-Lin, stop that masked freak!" Katelyn cried.

A counter appeared on the blimp TV screen. 10 seconds.

"SURPRISE!" Cobalt laughed, turning into a Kraken right as he ran into the opposite spawn point, instantly splatting a surprised Mark and John.
Running as quickly as her legs can carry her, Mei-Lin ran back towards the spawn point, her Bubbler currently active.
"It's no good, I can't make it!" She shouted, her legs starting to give way.

5 seconds remain.

"Oh, must've missed one!" Cobalt snarled, bouncing off the shield around the enemy respawn point and charging straight at Mei-Lin. Right at that exact moment, her Bubbler ran out, and she looked around in panic. There was nowhere left to run.

3…2…1…

Mei-Lin screamed, ducking and covering her head.

A whistle sounded, just as the counter reached 0.
Cobalt bumped off Mei-Lin's body harmlessly, reverting to his normal form.
"Crud. Well…uh… whatever works I guess!" He laughed. He didn't notice that Mei-Lin had fainted from the shock.

"AAAAAAND IT'S OVER!" Mack's voice yelled over the broadcast. "A valiant effort from both teams!"
"Now," Haddock said, "let's see what the judge says about this match!"

At the very middle of the bridge, a cat appeared with white and black markings that gave him an appearance of wearing a tiny little suit. This particular cat was well known as Judd, who personally judges every single Turf War match. The two teams, now standing in front of him (Katelyn was carrying a KO'd Mei-Lin and giving Cobalt a stern glare), looked eagerly at the cat and waited for his decision.
Looking at the battlefield before him, he saw that aside from the pathways and the bridge itself, everything was coated in Cyan ink. This was a simple verdict.
Raising a Cyan flag, Judd pointed at Team Snowballs.

"Meow. (Team Snowballs wins by a landslide of 64.9% to 32.8%!)"

The winning team cheered, with Cobalt happily high-fiving Penelope and Michael with Chris giving a slightly concerned look at the losing team, which simply smiled and walked away, with Mark and John simply shrugging and patting each other in the back, while Mei-Lin finally got up from being knocked out.

"Did….we win?" Mei-Lin grumbled, steadying herself.
"We didn't, sadly." Katelyn replied. "But it's not like I cared, we get paid for doing this anyway! Just a bit less for losing. Look on the bright side, have you seen our scores?"
Looking up at the blimp which was now displaying how much each individual did, she saw that her level had gone up to 2, and that she had topped the scoreboard with how much ground she had painted.
"Congrats, friend. You're able to shop at Ammo Knights now." Katelyn reassured. "I'll take you there, see what strikes you fancy."
"Uh huh…" Mei-Lin simply replied. She wasn't actually looking at the amount of ground she had covered, but rather the splat numbers, which were at 0 splats and 0 deaths.

"Cobalt." Chris said, looking at the masked inkling in question.
"Hmm? What is it?" Cobalt asked, still examining the pouch of money he had received from Judd for winning the match. "We won the match. Why the concerned tone?"
"Ehh… nothing much. I think you could've gone a little bit easier on the newbie at the end though. She actually fainted from your little intimidation."
"Her problem, not mine!" Cobalt replied. "Well if you're worried about her, she can only get better from here on out, it's no problem. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, after all."
Chris didn't reply to that, simply pocketing his own pouch.
"So… we continuing? Or are we taking a break?" Cobalt asked.
Chris smiled, looking at Cobalt. "Of course not. C'mon, let's keep going until we're Snowball Kings."
"HECK YES!"

The Splatfest continued, well into the night. It felt to every inkling that it would last forever.

Author's Note: Ugh, action scenes. I'm not used to doing those, and I doubt I'll ever will. Well on the upside, that little review problem's been remedied now, so there's that.
Thanks to the positive reviews so far, but in all honesty I'm still waiting for the moment where someone points out flaws in my writing. Well if there's any a time for constructive criticism, might wanna do it here now, I feel it could've been better.