Chapter 2:

Leo looked at the apartment building. It was five stories tall. The apartments would be small, most inklings couldn't afford big apartments. Off to the side was a small playground and a few benches, it seemed that some families stayed here too.

He walked up to the front door. Looking through the glass he saw a grimy counter and a dirty floor. Leo grabbed the handle, a bell rang 'ding-a-ling ding-a-ling.

The jellyfish behind the counter looked at Leo, "What are you here for?"

"Leo Brook," Leo stated, "Apartment 418. Just moving in."

The blue jellyfish stared at his computer, "why yes. Leo Brook. Elevator and stairs are over there," he said pointing to the right.

"What about room keys?" Leo asked.

"Right…" the jellyfish said, obviously holding back a groan, "here."

Leo grabbed his key and pressed the button for the elevator. The elevator opened, no ding sound. Leo stepped in, pulling his suitcase behind him.

The elevator went up slowly, very slowly. Bumps and creaks were all Leo could hear. Leo glanced at the elevator passing inspection plaque thing, it hadn't been inspected this year… or the last two years. When the elevator stopped and opened, Leo rushed out.

Never going on that again. He thought.

Leo rushed down the hallway. The rugs were dirty, the walls were okay compared to the rest of the building, surprisingly. A few corners had spider webs, barely visible.

A few moments later, Leo arrived at his room. The interior was dusty. There was a tiny room off to the side, barely big enough the twin-sized bed in there. There was a closet about a yard wide and three feet deep. In the main room, 2/3rds of the room had a rug and a couch, the living area. The other third had a white tile floor and had the standard cooking essentials. In the kitchen was the window, in a bad spot since the curtains would go into the sink.

Leo put down his stuff, went to sit on the couch, and a cloud of dust erupted.

"Ugh…" Leo groaned, "Why do I have to buy cleaning supplies immediately?"

Leo ran out of the room, tightening his watch. He rushed to the stairs, running down them, lime green tentacles flapping along the side of his face.

Leo walked out the building. Around the area was dark and shady. Leo looked at his map, he was in North Inkopolis, the part of the city with crime and drug deals. Leo ran down the alleys, heading to the plaza.

Leo emerged from a small alley near the train station. Inklings were standing around and chatting like before. Leo gasped for air, he'd been running all the way. Checking his map, he put in 'Arowana Mall.'

The device beeped, Beep Beep, Beep Beep.

Leo ran off once again, realizing the dust was better than traversing the city.

Leo pushed the door to the main hall of the mall open. To the left were a bunch of shops, and the right had glass in front of the battle stage.

Walking down the hall he looked at all the shops, Squid Store; Fresh Café; Judd Merchandise Book Trading; Hardware and Squidwear.

Leo's favorite name was: We've Got Better Prices than Booyah Base.

Here it is, Leo thought as he looked at a store called: Clean Squid. There was a line below the name saying: "We are the largest cleaning supply store in the world!"

Leo almost burst out laughing, it wasn't funny but it just felt like too much boasting.

Leo walked in, a bell ringing as the door opened. He immediately grabbed a cart, ran down an isle looking for a vacuum. There was an entire isle dedicated to vacuums. Portable, canisters, with or without bags, some that were automatic. The auto ones were expensive, ranging up to 50000 coins.

Leo grabbed the cheapest one that used a bag. Leo almost cried when he saw the price was 7500 coins. Leo sighed, grabbed it, and went to find some dusters and windex.

Leo stepped up to the register, the prawn behind the counter looked at him, "aren't you a bit young to be buying all of this?"

"Just moved here, living a filthy as a paralarvae's butt apartment." Leo said as he handed over his splatwatch for the coin transfer.

"So where ya living?" The prawn asked, scanning the watch to deduct coins.

"North Inkopolis." Leo stated, grabbing his watch back.

The prawn turned white, or would have if he was an inkling, "'North Inkopolis?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"Take this… it's free…," the prawn handed Leo a pocket knife.

Leo looked at him with confusion in his eyes.

"Self-defense," The prawn said, "whenever you're in that area, lock your doors and always get in and out of that area A.S.A.P."

"Okay…?" Leo questioned, grabbing his bags and running out the door.

Leo was walking through an alley on his way home, one hand holding his bags, and the other in his pocket to grab his phone if need-be. He turned a corner and saw the apartment building when he heard guns start shooting. Leo bolted faster than an inkbrush user down the road. Looking to his right he saw 3 inklings. Two had guns pressed against the third's head. Leo ran faster and turned away as he heard more gun shots.

Leo darted into the apartment building, ran up the stairs as fast as he could, got into his room, and slammed and locked the door shut.

"Oh my great zapfish. What just happened," Leo muttered once he stopped panting.

Sinking back into the couch Leo thought, Time to clean…

Hope you guys had a good Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for you guys reading this. Sorry this got a bit dark with the pocket knife joke (not really a joke). Also a paralarvae is a baby squid or cephalopod or something like that. (I looked up what is a baby squid called)

Hope you all enjoyed this. Review if you want, and have a good day!