Author's notes: hello everybody! I hope you guys all had a good Christmas and will have a great New Years. I might also get another chapter of this and SOTI up before I go back to school but no garantees...
Reviews and questions are alway welcome and I hope you will enjoy...
Chapter 3: Welcome to Inkopolis
I watched countless fields and trees pass by the window while Whark and Alga continued to talk to each other about their various plans for what to do when they would first arrive in Inkopolis. I was only half listening at the time as several thoughts swirled around my head. Some of them exciting like theirs, others filled with dread at what the repercussions of I had done earlier that day would be.
"Hey Squibs! Move it, this is our spot!"
I looked up to see two 15 year old Inkling girls, one yellow green tips while the other was periwinkle with pink tips. The yellow one was the one who had spoken and she didn't particularly look happy.
"Are you talking to us?"
"Of course Orange Head! You're the only Squibs in this car!" she barked at me.
"You can't go around calling people 'Squibs'," Whark quickly stated.
"Why not? It's not like I know your names," she smirked.
"Well mine is Whark Kelpore and this is Alga Anemia and Marin Colorian," Whark introduced each of us one at a time.
"Wait..." she pointed at me with a look of disbelief, "his name is Marin Colorian?"
"Yes that's my name," I answered her as I stood up from my seat, "is there a problem with that?"
"Oh no there's not..." a mischievous grin formed on her face, "unless...you mind having a girl's name."
"What?!" I nearly fell backwards back into my seat before I had regain my composure, "Marin is not a girl's name."
"Really?" she turned to face the periwinkle girl, "Because I could of sworn Shill that you had an aunt named Marin..."
"My name isn't a girl's name!"
"Nope I don't Yang," the girl named Shill answered, "but you know what name is very similar to Marin?"
"No, what?" Yang giggled.
"Maria!"
"My name is definitely not Maria!" I continued to insist since I didn't know what else to say to the girls. The wrong choice of words would probably have had them on me quicker then a tiger shark to an injured fish leaving a blood trail behind itself.
"You're right Shill, Maria would be a lot better than Marin," the pair of them continued to giggled at their idea.
"Hey that's enough you two!" putting a hand on each of the girl's shoulder a red orange colored Inkling boy drew their attention, "Yang I'm sure you and Shill can find another place to sit."
She immediately glared at him, "You can't protect all the Squibs Zack!" Yang cried at him angrily before stomping off with Shill following closely behind her.
The boy stared off at the two girls for moment sadly before looking back at us, "Sorry about that, my sister can be a bit rude to new Turf War players."
"That was your sister?" Alga asked.
"Yep," he pointed at his own tentacles which were slightly green at the tips, "my name is Zackerel Shrimizu but most just call me Zack. Yang is my clutch sibling but I hatched two weeks before she did which makes me technically the older sibling."
"Whark Kelpore," Whark said as he shook Zack's hand, "the pink one is Alga Anemia and I'm sure you heard my other friend's name from your sister."
"Yeah I did," he frowned, "sorry about that dude."
"It's alright Zack," I said as I shook his hand as well, "how come though everyone calls you Zack instead of Zackerel?"
"Mostly it's due to people not being able to say my name fast enough before me or they got splatted. It's not uncommon for people to use nicknames instead of their real names in Turf Wars."
"Really?"
"Yeah its pretty normal and I hate to say this but if what just happened happens a lot you might want to come up with a nickname for yourself."
"I've never had that issue back home but I'll keep that in mind," I said just as the speaker overhead announced that we were at the Shoreview stop and the next one was to be Inkopolis.
"Well I wish you luck on your first day," he replied before yelling into the next car, "Yang! Our stop is here! We need to get off!"
"I'm coming, sheesh!" running through the car Yang gave another sly smile to me as she pasted, "see you later...Maria," she giggled once before hopping off the train with her brother seconds before it started to move again.
I clenched my fists as soon as she was out of sight.
"Don't let her get the better of you Marin," Whark insisted as he placed a hand on my shoulder before pulling me back into my seat.
"I'm trying not to, but maybe Zack and his sister has a point about my name...if people are going to take me seriously I can't have them laughing at me...especially if it's because my name sounds like a girl's name."
"Marin you're over exaggerating the situation," Alga said as she sat down opposite of me and Whark, "all that matters is how well you do in the games. Actions speak louder than words after all."
"I suppose so," said as I gave her a small smile, "I'll keep that in mind."
"Great, because we're here!"
Looking out the window I saw quickly that she was right. A large metropolitan city sprung up into view right before my eyes. Several tall towers reaching up to the sky and one in particular stood out from the rest in the distance.
With a jerk the train stopped in the station and the three of us quickly got up and walked to the closest door. With a short hop down we landed on the wooden platform.
"We're here guys," Whark grinned as he looked around, "Inkopolis; the place where Inklings come to chill like krill."
I rolled my eyes at him, "You just wanted a reason to say that."
"Perhaps, but I have been here before with my family so I know where everything is."
"Well then Mr. Tourguide why don't you lead the way."
He flashed his fangs at me again, "Sure thing Marin," leading us out of the train station he stood in front of us in a very professional manner and cleared his throat before he spoke, "as you know currently we are standing in what is called the Plaza where Inklings come to meet and chat with other Inklings. To my right is the Booyah base where you can get the freshest gear but I've heard the owners can be a snobbish bunch and probably won't let us buy anything from their shops if they don't think we're fresh enough."
"So you say," Alga said, not very impressed by Whark's act.
"I'm serious Alga, my brother told me when he first came here he got mouth-off by a clownfish."
"Whatever."
Whark rolled his eyes at her, "Well anyway up in that building to my left is a battle dojo that will allow you to practice with a friend and behind me is the famous Inkopolis Tow-" he froze as he turned around and looked up at the tall building, "...what? Where did it go?"
"Where did what go?" I asked him as I peered up at the tower, "is something missing?"
"How is that possible...?" suddenly he rushed toward to the center of the plaza, dodging past various Inklings and Jellyfish beings.
"Whark?!" Alga yelled at the teal Inkling before chasing after him. I ran after the two of them but was immediately stopped by the crowd that had suddenly gathered to look up at a screen high up on one of the buildings as a tinkling jingle played from it seconds before two older Inklings, one black with a black and pink dress and another almost white in color that wore green and black, showed up on the screen. Both must have been related to each other because they both had the same gold colored eyes.
"Hold on to your tentacles..." the black Inkling started with a wide grin.
"...It's Inkopolis news time." the almost white one added, albeit with a hint of boredom behind it like she said it one too many times that day.
"Today in the map rotation we have Blackbelly Skatepark and Urchin Underpass for regular battles," the black one started with a couple of random comments from the other one. Both of which had started to make me cringe. The black one seemed too hyper for a 17 year old and the sarcastic tone of the other one made it seem like she would rather be doing anything other than explaining which areas had Turf Wars currently.
"Alright that's all for now so-" the black Inkling started to say before she was suddenly handed a piece of paper, "what is this...?" she asked puzzled, as she read it however her eyes grew wide before she yelled at the top of her lungs, "News Flash! News Flash!"
"What is it Callie?" the other Inkling asked.
"The Great Zapfish has vanished!" the one called Callie cried out.
"Oh, yeah that is quite interesting Callie bu..." the off white Inkling started to say before the other one's words had finally sunk in, "Wait...seriously?!"
"Yeah, Marie. Apparently at some point early this morning it vanished from off the tower and hasn't been seen since..."
"Oh dear..." the off white Inkling, Marie, said. She actually seemed to be getting worried by the news as well.
"You don't think we'll lose power, do you Marie?"
"I'm sure we'll be fine...probably..." she tried to comfort Callie with but she didn't seem that certain of it herself.
"I wonder if it has anything to do with that UFO sighting from earlier."
"It likely could be..." Marie half mumbled under her breath.
An off screen voice barked out and brought the two girls back into focus, "Well that's all for now. Until next time..." Callie started.
"Stay Fresh!" they both cried out before striking a pose that included them throwing their hands into the air as they balenced on one foot.
I snorted at the silliness of it as I turned only to run right into another Inkling.
"I'm really sorry about that sir," I quickly apologized to the Inkling as he straightened his faded blue hat which was covered in patches. The rest of his clothes wasn't really in any better condition than the hat since most of it looked like patchwork of rags that prominently showed off his thin frame. A white beard covered most of his face and what colored Inkling he was wasn't possible to tell anymore since most of the color had faded from his two tentacles that stuck out of the top of the cap.
"Nobody has called me 'sir' since the Great Turf War bucko," the elderly Inkling commented before looking me up and down very throughly, "hmm...an orange Inkling...don't see many of those nowadays...let alone one with golden tips..."
I swallowed nervously as the Inkling I had run into scrutinized me farther, "Why does it matter if I have golden tips sir?"
"Depends."
"On what?"
"On you bucko," he answered as he looked at me directly in the eye.
"What?"
"Marin!"
I turned to find Alga coming towards me with Whark right behind her, "We've been looking all over for you," she cried out somewhat irritated.
"Really?"
"Yeah, after the announcement ended Whark and I realized you weren't with us anymore. So we came looking for you."
"Sorry but I ran into..." I started to say as I turned around back around find that it was just us three standing in the middle of the plaza, "huh? Where did the creepy old dude go?"
"Creepy old dude?" Alga asked puzzled, "Marin what are you talking about?"
"But he was right here only a second ago."
"You were by yourself when we walked up," Whark insisted, "there was no one else here."
"What?" I looked around the area to try to see if the older Inkling had simply shambled off but all I could see was young Inklings around my age. It was almost like he had simply vanished into thin air right in front of me.
"I, uh...never mind," I sighed, "I guess I must of imagined him...but he seemed really interested in the fact that I was an orange Inkling with golden tips..."
"Even if he was real Marin he probably was just surprised to see one. Orange Inklings are pretty rare after all," Whark pointed out.
"I suppose." I admitted. It was something I never fully understood. Why of all colors that Inklings came in did it have to be the orange colored Inklings that were pretty much extinct? The color never really seemed that special to me...
"Hey didn't we come here to have fun guys?" Alga asked as she wrapped her arms around mine and Whark's shoulders.
"Yes we did," Whark answered her.
"Well then let's go have fun guys!" she cried out as she started to drag the two of us towards Inkopolis tower, "but first things first...we need to get our ID cards."