It was a calm night in Inktopolis. It had begun raining a short time ago and it had been only getting heavier overtime. Within Aureolin's apartment, the two inklings were asleep peacefully. They had spent the rest of their afternoon with each other, relaxing and just talking. It was pretty great to Aureolin to have Linen around. Just being near her best friend made her feel all the more confident and calm right now. The two inklings were in her bedroom, both lying under the blankets asleep. Her room seemed pretty normal, with a dresser nearby and her closet stuffed full of clothes. She had a mirror set up on the wall beside a desk that had a lamp on it. Her bed seemed a bit big for her since she lived alone. But the two did not mind sharing.
Linen began to wake up, his eyes fluttering. He saw a nearby alarm clock on the nightstand that read 5:38am. He sighed and rolled over onto his back, seeing his best friend still asleep beside him, her eyes closed, her chest slowly rising and falling with each breath. The purple tentacle haired inkling smiled, seeing her like this. He was glad to be on a team with her, but to have her be his closest friend, made him feel like he didn't deserve half of what she did for him. He tried to move closer to the yellow inkling and he carefully wrapped his arm around her. He didn't want to wake her up, but then he thought she would never have gotten to sleep last night. Aureolin was so excited for the beginning of the Turf War tournament. However, the peace of the night was interrupted by the sound of a ringing, much to Linen's annoyance. He sighed, getting out of bed and pulling his cellphone out of his pocket.
"Hello?" the purple inkling answered, hearing Aureolin yawn. She had been awoken by the ringing. She watched her best friend walk into the living room so he didn't disturb her further. Right now, the yellow inkling was wearing a white t-shirt that had a golden star printed with beady black dots for eyes on the front. Aureolin walked out of her bedroom and entered her living room. There was one big couch that pretty much had five seats put together. In front of that was a big coffee table that had an empty pizza box on it. Then there was a decent sized television in front of the coffee table. Her apartment wasn't that big, but she made due with the space she had.
"Are you okay, Linny?" Aureolin asked Linen, seeing him hang up his cellphone, looking aggravated.
"I'm fine Aure, just… Folly found out what happened to sky," Linen stated, though the way he made it out to be, it wasn't good news. Linen turned on the television and changed it to the Inktopolis Morning News, where on screen, he and Aureolin saw two rather attractive girls on television. They both had their tentacle hair done up into bows, though one girl was wearing pink and had her hair quite long, while the other had short light green hair. They were the Squid Sisters, Callie and Marie, two of the most famous people in all of Inktopolis, mostly for said news reports, but they also were the commentators for the annual Turf War competitions for the last few years. However, there was someone else with them. They were all sitting in chairs around a table, like a talk show. The third person was a teenage girl who wore a wool cap, but she had light blue tentacles for hair that were done up into short pigtails. She also was wearing a red shirt that had clearly some ink stains on it.
"So, Miss Sky. How does it feel to be the new leader of the Blank Slates?" Callie queried. Aureolin recognized that team name. It was the last team she tried out for but had been turned down from, just before Linen had brought her onto his team, the Ink Jets.
"Oh, well… it feels weird, I guess, but my team has the utmost confidence. We'll do great this year!" Sky answered. Her tone made her sound so assured, even though it was supposedly her first time in the Turf War tournament.
"Yes, the Blank Slates always get close to the top each year… but will a new leader really suffice to get you to first place? There are a lot of promising teams out this year," Marie had to admit. It did seem like a lot to say when the first round of the tournament hadn't even occurred yet. Sky grinned, her sharp teeth showing.
"We're working on new tactics and trying to make sure all four of us can cover any area in record time! We have no plans on losing," Sky exclaimed, gaining smirks from the Squid Sisters. Linen was sitting on the couch beside Aureolin. Just watching this, she knew it must be hard to take the news in, that his old team member had somehow become the leader of another team in less than a day.
"May I ask what happened to your prior leader? Amethyst, I believe," Callie continued the conversation, trying to find out what happened to the Blank Slates' last leader. Sky shook her head.
"She quit, but left no reason why. The team was disheartened, but we make do with the wounds we carry," she stated, though they noticed the time was running short on their talk show panel, Callie and Marie turning to the camera.
"We thank you all for tuning in," Callie said.
"We look forward to seeing you all at the tournament's first rounds tonight. And remember…" Marie continued. They both had big smiles for the camera as if to blind the viewers with their makeup and jewellery.
"Stay fresh!" they said in unison before the program changed. Linen turned off the TV, groaning as he laid back in his chair, Aureolin putting her hand on his shoulder.
"So what if she joined another team? It's not like we'll be fighting them today, right?" the yellow inkling reminded her best friend to try and remain calm about the whole situation. Linen nodded, conceding that they weren't fighting the blank slates. Not yet, anyhow.
"Right… tonight, we're going to be fighting the Splotches for the first round. But I'm real worried. If Sky is the new leader of those Blank Slates, their whole team must be learning quite a lot," the purple teenager confessed his fears of what the truth may be. He felt Aureolin rest her head on his chest, trying to get him to calm down as she got closer to him. Linen wrapped his arm around her side, looking at the rain pouring down hard outside the window. He had to be strong for her and the whole team. Panicking over nothing wasn't going to help.
"Try and rest. We'll worry about them when we fight them."