"Okay, Sky," I whispered to myself, "It can't have been that big of a deal." If it were, someone would have said something already. All I had to do was keep yet another secret. Like I'd been doing these past six months. Nothing I couldn't do.
More importantly, the Annie I knew was probably Annabelle Octrope—the daughter of Akash Octrope.
And if that was the case, she wasn't dead, like Octrope himself seemed to think before Octavio killed him. That meant she had never gone missing—she had deserted long ago.
I'd made the decision to trust her already, and if my assumptions were correct, I would stand by that. Deserting the Octarian military wouldn't have been something to take lightly, and if she really had, she was completely detached from them.
I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to find myself in Inkopolis Plaza. The old hub of the city, moved to the square after Octavio stole a large portion of the road for some ridiculous reason. Apparently, the government had tried to hide it with roadwork, but the stolen piece eventually came back. I knew at least that Agent 3 and Captain Rose had a hand in it. As for the others I saw up there… I had no idea.
I took a glance at the Octo Shot, the recreational replica, holstered by my hip. It was like I was one of those Inklings from a few years ago that moved here for the Turf War fad.
Well, it wasn't really a fad anymore, was it?
The plaza was very quiet and very deserted, the setting sun at just the right angle to light it up properly. I strolled by some of the shops. One of them had an old "Open" sign on it—a weapon shop, Ammo Knights, which must've moved when the customers did.
I went ahead and took another look at Inkopolis Tower. It was an odd structure. Like Deca Tower, except less ad screens and a better ground-level foundation. I'd never understood the point of building a tower that tall and only using the bottom floor. But I had snuck into the higher, open-air floor several times when I was stuck with that pre-Sharktown training camp, so there was at least some purpose to it.
I took another deep breath. Ah. Yeah, that'd helped me take my mind off of things. In an instant, all that knee-jerk fear turned into curiosity. There was nothing to be afraid of.
Who I was isn't who I am.
I am Sky. Not a soldier, not a friend to Octrope. The person I was before… just a particularly interesting soldier.
Yeah. That sounded right.
I didn't need to agonize over who I was, when who I am was doing perfectly fine.
Though, I supposed it wouldn't hurt to know. Did they keep records in Deepsea?
Well, there was nothing to do about that anymore. I couldn't return to Annie after that and dig up some more unsettling memories. And I was expecting a message from Agent 3. With nothing else better to do, I jumped over to Inkopolis Square to kill some time.
And to further take my mind off of it.
To the left, there was a sign hanging from the ceiling—"Ranked"—that was not there before. Under it was a hallway previously off-limits to the public. Took a bit longer to get that back up and running, I assumed.
The rulebook wasn't as clear on what they'd called "Ranked Battles", but it sounded like they would actually count for something other than fame and style points.
The lobbies were still locked and demanded my card to get in, but the doors were labeled with a… level requirement.
It really was like I was playing a video game.
The second I walked in, I noticed two things. One, it had paired us with a team that looked suspiciously like Masked Mayhem. Further supporting this was the excessive complaining of the two standing next to the monitor.
Two, Jacob was there, sitting at the other side of the room.
"Oh, hey," he said to me. "You usually go out at night?"
"Ever since a couple of days ago," I replied, eyes glued to the screen. "Did you find whoever you were looking for?"
"Uh…" his smile fell. "Not yet. Thanks again for the place to stay."
The monitor capped its display with "Tower Control—Starfish Mainstage", with the team lists below—ours on the left and Masked Mayhem's on the right.
Tower Control… There were a few pages on that in the rulebook, but I'd kind of glossed over them.
Jacob leaned in uncomfortably close and whispered, "What's with them?" Not that he had to whisper, considering he was not speaking Inkling.
"Masked Mayhem," I responded, shifting away. "The enemy team has apparently never lost a match since their debut." I snuck a glance at the weapon in his hand, which was, thankfully, a legal replica.
He leaned back on the couch, resting his arm on the cushion. "Heh. Looks like I might have a challenge now. You better be good, Sky." An impressive display of confidence, but we were going to lose. If those two by the screen were anything to go by, they'd already given up.
At least he was decent at worst. The sanitized Octolings wouldn't have come after him otherwise.
The off-colored aperture on the floor slid open, and I hopped in first.
And… my hair was blue. No matter how many times I'd seen it, it still put me off. I brushed my hair away.
Whoever was selecting these stages never ceased to puzzle me. First the roofs of a few skyscrapers, then an amusement park… and now, Starfish Mainstage, some random concert venue by the sea.
I spotted the tower in the center of the map. Ah, yes those were the rules. Someone just needed to stand on it for a while.
The sunset was beautiful off to the right, and the first of the smaller stars over the ocean faded into view. A gradient went from red in the west to a deep purple in the east.
I closed my eyes and listened for the clap but couldn't help but smile—my name felt more and more right every time I bothered to look up.
The sound reached my ears, and I was off.
Somebody behind me gave a path with a Charger shot, which I swiftly took to get closer to the tower itself. I swam up a ramp on the right, ran forward as I fired in an arc in front of me, and instead of getting on the short block they called a tower, pivoted and hid behind it.
The first to approach was Dualies from the right. I slid to the opposite side of the tower, fired a path onto it, and swam up. That weird pole in the center gave me some minimal, yet existent cover from their fire.
I shot back, and, being a typical Dualies user, they rolled to the side. Directly into Jacob, who fished them off.
"Nice!" he yelled in that mild accent of his. "Keep doing that!"
Where the heck were the others? I glanced at our side of the map, and it looked like the other half of the team was lagging behind. Scared? Most likely. Ugh.
I saw a laser in the edges of my vision and ducked as a green stream of ink flew above me.
"Okay, whoa," I muttered. That was the second time I'd dodged one of their shots. I retaliated with a bomb thrown at the gunman. Gunwoman? Though the bomb missed them, they fell back, buying us precious little time.
"Take my place!" I yelled to Jacob. I dove off the tower as it stopped at the first checkpoint.
My team's Charger took a perch to my left, and naturally, I went right. Jacob swam up the tower, and it continued its advance as I started a cautious attack from the front of the reappearing Dualies, who, predictably, dodged to my right, away from the chaos. I read the roll, then the second, and splatted them easily.
Behind me, the tower stopped, then reversed. I turned to chase after it but then saw a laser cutting through the air in front of me. I stopped in my tracks and jumped backward, ruining the attempt to lead the shot. But then something from behind hit me, and then more somethings, and then I was sent back to the regeneration pad. My assailant swam and climbed the tower, where the first one to get on was idly leaning on the center pole. The two high-fived, and the first jumped off.
I… "respawned," a term that I still couldn't get behind, and rushed in again on the same path, chucking a bomb from the high ground onto the tower. I bought a few seconds as the person on it dove off, but they quickly got back on again. Dualies appeared out of nowhere and shredded through the two complainers… who were close together for some reason.
Masked Mayhem's Charger, lowering their weapon, slowly pushed forwards, keeping a distance behind the tower. Jacob dodged another shot.
I had to give this Charger credit, though. If we couldn't dodge these shots as quickly as we did, they would have an astonishing hit-miss ratio on us.
I went to challenge Dualies, getting down to avoid the one on the tower. But between the two of them, they caught me in a narrow area. I tried to back up, but it was too late. I cursed to myself in Octarian.
Jacob rushed in from the side and caught the Charger by surprise. He sidestepped a shot and splatted them in seconds. On the other side, Dualies wrecked both of the complainers again, and we were put in a horrible position as the tower moved ever closer to its goal.
Together, Dualies and their partner on the tower were covering every possible area of approach. I tried another bomb, but then they both focused their fire on it until it slowed mid-flight and clattered on the ground.
I wasn't so sure if that was entirely legal, but oh well. At least I was right about something. We'd lost. Badly. It was almost funny.
Starfish Mainstage must have been farther from Deca Tower than the other stages I'd been to, if the ones in charge had gone through the trouble of giving this one a moving floor. Behind me, Jacob followed close behind, and behind him, the dynamic duo.
Masked Mayhem was more of a horror in Tower Control than in Turf War. And they did it in sunglasses. At sunset.
Granted, I wore heels, but at least I could see. Was it possible to adapt to sunglasses?
Regardless, I didn't see myself beating them anytime soon. Maybe with Jacob and Annie, we'd have a fighting chance.
Jacob's particular fighting style was similar to Annie's, but his approaches were much more cautious and deliberate.
On the other hand, Annie just usually winged it. And it'd work, most of the time. One could argue that was an incredible trait to have on the battlefield, but unlike the battlefield, the stages were predetermined…
Overall, I'd give the point to Annie, but it was by so little that it was almost unnoticeable.
The floor curved up, and shortly after, I swam up the wall and back into the lobby. I took a deep breath when I was on my feet and instantly regretted it. Still reeked of tryhard sweat.
Grimacing, I went straight to the corner and leaned on the wall. Jacob leaped out, then the duo. They met my blank gaze, and one after the other, shuffled out the door.
"Damn," Jacob said. "You were right. They are good."
"That was my second time dealing with them," I said. The communicator vibrated in my pocket. "Ah, sorry. That was the only one I had time for."
"Alright," he said, hopping onto the couch. "I was gonna go one more with you, but whatev'. See ya."
"Mm." I stepped out and relaxed my shoulders. As much as I wanted to see what was on the communicator, I didn't want anyone else to. And I didn't know how tight security was here.
So when I got out of Deca Tower, I turned my eyes upwards and jumped away.
3
Hey, the captain said there was an issue with the subway that's like cursed. I have free time basically whenever so what works for you
8
Now?
3
I'm in Inkopolis Square
Because of course he was.
"Oh, come on," I muttered to nobody in particular. I was just there, really?
I'd chosen to return to my apartment before unlocking the communicator, and it was more than a short jog.
At the very least, I could take care of a few things here.
Sighing, I dropped the communicator back into my pocket and scanned my apartment. Jacob had done absolutely nothing to it, save for the indentation he'd left on the couch. And the genuine Octo Shot sitting in the middle of it. I considered moving the weapon to somewhere more discreet but decided to just leave it be. It wasn't like anyone would notice it there, and I didn't want him thinking I'd stolen it.
I made my way to my little room and replaced my Octo Shot replica with my own real one I'd hidden inside a drawer. As long as I didn't walk into a battle with it, I'd slip by the authorities. It paid to be prepared, anyway, since it was very possible I'd find more Sanitized.
But I really didn't want to deal with any of them again.
With my window already open, I crouched in front of it and jumped through. The sun was halfway behind the horizon as I soared. I assumed Jacob was on his way back—it'd been much more than three minutes since I'd left the square.
And when I landed, I looked around. The daytime horde was all but gone, and there was no sign of Jacob. Good.
Agent 3 was lounging by the side of the tower, and he saw me right as my feet hit the pavement. I stuck out, being the only Octoling in the square and all.
The more I stared at him, the more generic he looked. Average height, common haircut, a solid-colored shirt, the whole thing. Helped him blend in, I guessed. Maybe.
We met halfway, and he waved at me. "Been a while," he said, smiling awkwardly. "How have you been?"
"Decent," I said.
"That's good, that's good." He put a hand on his hip. "…Is that the only thing you wear?"
Like, I get I didn't give him many conversation options, but there had to have been something better than that.
"No." I looked at the ground. "My apartment gave me some free t-shirts." That I only used when washing the Deepsea outfit.
He forced a laugh, then stopped when it became clear that wasn't a joke. "Right. We're in public now. Simon." He extended his arm for a handshake.
"…Sky." I returned the gesture.
He stepped back, then took a fleeting glance upwards. "Ah, I get it," he said. "So where did you see those green idiots?"
Question for you guys, how am I doing with this? Nothing specific, just anything. First-person view, story, characters, whatever.