Ari woke up slowly. It lacks color, but man this bed is comfy. He looked at his clock, and saw that it was 8:30. Shoot. I never checked what time the Turf War lobby opened. Oh well; might as well get going and check it out. He got out of bed, and took a quick shower. After he was finished he got dressed, pulling out an identical outfit to the one he wore yesterday. He picked up his N-Zap 89, and made sure to place it on a holster to the side.
Walking out into the kitchen, he saw the pizza box left out on the counter. Crap. I should probably put the other half away. As he slid the box back into the fridge, he began looking for food for breakfast. Oh. Right. Grocery Shopping. I should probably do that later today; eating out all the time is a quick way to drain my bank account. He decided against taking a soda for breakfast, instead checking his menus for any place that served breakfast. Finding none, he ultimately decided to check out the cafés near the Turf War lobby.
Stepping out of the apartments, he turned left to head back to the main street. As he walked along, he noticed more people staring at him. Krakens above, does no one here have any manners? He ignored them, and kept going. Most of the small places he saw were already packed, so it was a matter of finding a place he could squeeze into. He eventually found one called Morray's Ink Pies. He stepped in, and got in line.
Let's see… simple eggs and toast, Jellycakes, Octo Pie… nah, that's not even a breakfast item. Maybe a BrInkfast sandwich? Krakens, that name is a horrible pun. They should copyright that soon. I'll just get a thing of Jellycakes and leave it at that. He ordered a plate once he got to the front of the line. He walked over to the side and started scanning the crowd for a table. Crap. All of the tables are full, and Jellycakes aren't known for being eaten with your hands. Maybe I should have got the sandwich instead. He looked around, but only saw a couple of open chairs with other Inklings who were eating and laughing together. Not going to impose myself upon them if I don't have to.
"Ari?" he heard a female voice ask. "Is that you?" He turned to see a yellow tentacled Inkling next to him. She was looking at him curiously.
"Isabella, right?" I really hope that's her name.
She nodded. "Yep, that's me! Waiting on your food?"
"Yeah, and I didn't order very well. I'm hoping a place to sit opens up soon."
"Oh, don't worry about that! My friends flaked out on me today, so I have an open seat. Come on over!"
Ari smiled. That takes care of that dilemma. "Thanks for the offer!" Ari's order was ready, so he picked it up and walked over to the table she was sitting at.
"Geez, you have to be the only person in here to order Jellycakes after 8:00." Isabella said. "Usually it gets too crowded in here around that time to reliably find a table, making them inconvenient."
Ari shrugged. "Yeah, I was thinking more with my stomach than my head. Jellycakes are also a bit of a staple back home, so I got something I was familiar with." Ari took a bite as he finished talking. Weird. What kind of places puts the jelly inside the pancake as they make it? It's supposed to go on top.
"So, what do you plan on doing today?" Isabella asked.
Man, she is really interested in what I'm doing, isn't she? "Probably get involved in a few Turf War matches, and then get some shopping done after that. Nothing too interesting." Ari took another bite, eating as he waited.
"I'm doing the same." She sighed and looked down at the table. "I was going to team up with my friends, but they got nervous at the last second and bailed. Do you think the people here are going to mind playing with a newbie?"
"I wouldn't mind, personally. As long as you're capable of hitting the ground, you should be alright."
Isabella looked up at Ari, her hair brightening as she did. "Really?"
Ari winced. Gah, why does everyone with bright ink coloring have to make it brighter when they're happy? "Yeah, pretty much. The basic Turf Wars are about how much territory each team covers. Hitting the ground, and the other team's ink, is what helps win the matches."
She rolled her eyes. "I know that, oil head! You really wouldn't mind teaming up with me?"
"No, I wouldn't, but there's a chance it won't happen." Ari was finishing up the second Jellycake.
Isabella frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Team assignments are done at random. It helps prevent people from just ganging up on someone, since they're not going to see someone for all of their matches."
"They don't have squads back where you're from?"
Ari paused. "Squads?"
"From what I've seen, people are allowed to form a group together and play in Turf Wars with that team. People have been forming groups like crazy as a result. Some people have even formed permanent teams that always play together, and are registered as such."
Wow. That doesn't sound like a bad idea. "No, we didn't have Squads back home. We tend to be a little late on catching up with changes from Inkopolis." Ari paused. "Well, that's two people so far. We'll find two more in the lobby then, I guess." Ari finished up his last Jellycake.
Isabella was beaming. "Great! Let's go find two more people!" She got up, and hurried over to the door.
"Wait up!" Ari threw away his trash, and quickly moved through the crowd to catch up to her. He saw her running over to the lobby, and he rushed after her. Entering the lobby, he saw groups of all sizes hanging around, just chatting and waiting for the next arenas to open up. Isabella had found a group of two, and was talking with them. He walked over towards them.
"Yeah, I've got a partner already," He heard Isabella say. "He should be around here somewhere. Ah, there you are Ari!"
"Thanks for waiting up." He said sarcastically. Turning to the other Inklings, he asked, "Who might you two be?"
A male Inkling with Pink tentacles holding a Splatterscope, and a female Inkling with Orange tentacles holding an Inkbrush were standing together, wearing marching outfits. The Pink Inkling smiled, and reached his hand out. "I'm Jonah, and this is Emily. We're a team known as the Sneaker Siblings. We've been looking for two more to join us today."
Ari shook his hand and Emily's as well. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm sure you've met Isabella here, and I'm Ari. No team name yet, this is both of our first times battling in Inkopolis."
"You're a first time battler too?" Emily asked.
Ari shook his head. "No, just for Inkopolis. I was a part of the Tentaville league for a little while, but I've decided to move here instead."
"Black's an unusual color here in the city." Jonah asked. "Is it common in Tentaville?" Emily gave her brother a sharp glare.
"Not really." Ari replied. "Only a few families even have Black Ink in their bloodlines any more. I'm one of the few kids that had it growing up."
"Well, we need to register as a group of four at the main desk." Emily chimed in. "We should go do that now, especially since Isabella needs to have her PIC issued to her as well." She grabbed her brother by the arm, and they started walking over to the main desk. Ari chuckled, and followed them over.
"Card?" Isabella asked.
Ari pulled out a plastic card with his face and a bunch of numbers and information on it. "All Turf War leagues have Player Identification Cards, or PICs for short, that people use to track their progress. It shows their experience level, Rank if they have one, and any other relevant information to the league. Tentaville developed theirs with the standard card from Inkopolis, so mine is still valid here. New players get theirs issued to them when they apply for their first Turf War battle, and it can take a few minutes."
Ari, Jonah and Emily all registered as a team while Isabella went through the process of signing up for a card. After a five minute wait, she reappeared at the front desk and registered as the fourth member of their team. "Okay, thank you all for registering." The receptionist began. "You're in queue for the next available arena. The current Turf War arenas are Walleye Warehouse and Blackbelly Skatepark. The match at Walleye Warehouse is ending soon, so that will be your destination. Please proceed to the Ink Pipe and wait for further instructions."
"This way." Emily motioned Ari and Isabelle to follow her and Jonah to a Respawn point off to the left.
"All fighters participating in the next match, please stand on the Respawn point. Make sure your weapons are attached to your Ink Tanks, and prepare for your battle." Emily and Jonah stood on a Lime Green Respawn point, and Ari followed them. He made sure his N-Zap was hooked up, and looked to see if Isabella was ready to go. Her Splattershot Jr. was already hooked up to her tank, so Ari waited for more instructions.
"All fighters, please turn into swimming form, and follow your Pipe to the arena."
A/N: Sorry about the wait! My work schedule isn't very forgiving for regular projects like this one, so my updates will be somewhat random. I'm going to have at least 1 chapter a month, with a goal of at least 1 a week, barring any unusual circumstances. I'm sorry for not having a consistent schedule, but that's the best I can offer.
Please keep reviews coming, it does help me know what areas I can improve. Thanks for returning!
