Aureolin reappeared beside her team in the Inktopolis Plaza Tower. All of their clothing were back to their original colours. They saw the enemy team of quadruplets as well on the other platform. Judd the judge had been waiting for them. Aureolin's uneasiness was still taking over, realizing they had cameras on both teams. They focused on the judge for him to decide who the winner was.
"And the results are… the Splotches had covered 43% of the turf, and the Ink Jets covered 57%. The winners are the Ink Jets!" Judd announced loudly. They could hear the sounds of people cheering in excitement outside. Aureolin felt relieved, Linen pulling her into a hug, laughing with his dear friend.
"You all did great today," Folly stated. Myrtle looked just as happy as they did, and she was clearly bathing in the attention they all were getting as they stepped outside, the sound of various inklings cheering for them.
"Wow! That was a crazy battle!" Callie stated from her seat, her sister trying to fix her own microphone.
"I still feel the shivers up my back watching both teams collide," Marie agreed. The over aggression of the Splotches had cost them immensely long term when their opponents played defensively. The Squid Sisters seemed happy with the Ink Jets' performance.
"All teams who have competed in their rounds respectively are permitted to leave now, but remember, Round 2 of the competition is within a week," Marie explained what the teams could do, now that they already fought. The Splotches all looked disheartened to know they had lost. Aureolin left alongside her friends, embarrassed to see all these people rooting for them. The four began to leave the Inktopolis Plaza, the yellow tentacle haired inkling wondering what they should do now.
"You guys go get some rest, you earned it," Folly told them before he walked away on his own, his pink tentacle hair being somewhat messed up, but clearly he had something to attend to something that had been bugging him a lot. Myrtle sighed, stretching.
"See you later," she bid her friends goodbye before she left, leaving the two alone, though they were noticing an odd expression on her tall friend. She seemed more tired than they were, and she was acting more friendly than usual. They believed it was because they won, though, so they didn't think much of it.
"So do you want to celebrate?" Linen asked while they left the plaza, not wanting to stick around and watch all day, though his best friend thought his offer over for a second. They had already celebrated a lot last night. She was happy either way to spend time with him, though her left leg was hurting her. She rubbed it, sighing.
"I think I strained a muscle. How about we just go to a restaurant?" the yellow inkling requested, seeing her best friend gain a nervous smile as he looked away.
"What… like a-a date?" Linen hesitantly brought up the question in the back of his mind. He couldn't deny that he had these thoughts for quite some time, and it was obvious, but how far the two did things together under the pretence of friendship did seem a little much.
"Sure, if calling it that will make you calm down," Aureolin joked, but agreed to classify the dinner as a date since it was getting dark out, and they both knew some prime places to eat at for a dinner date. Linen felt a lot better, hearing her agree, though he wished she did not pick on him as much. Aureolin offered her hand to him. Linen smiled, taking her hand in his before they both left the plaza, the sun setting as the various crowds and teams stayed behind to continue perhaps a long few days of battles until next week's rounds.
The two had ultimately decided to go to one of their more favoured restaurants which was more in the east side of town. The restaurant was named "Surf & Turf", and it was very popular. It even had one of its own teams competing in the Turf War competition. Inside, the restaurant was quite packed tonight, though it had a calm theme to it, mostly based on pirates for some peculiar reason, but the theme was liked by many. They knew one thing about it, that it had four star dining. They could see a few televisions on the walls of the restaurants displaying the Turf War competition, that made Aureolin feel shy, imagining most people here had seen her and her team on TV.
"Table for two?" the receptionist greeted them.
"Yes, please," Aureolin hummed, her and Linen nodding before they were led to their table. They got placed by a window where they could look onto the side. Outside the streets were illuminated by streetlights. Linen was more interested in the television while they waited, trying not to say anything off topic. His date didn't seem to mind, though, she realized why the television drew his attention now. It was still on the Inktopolis Plaza Tower, but now the Blank Slates had just finished their fight and Judd was trying to evaluate the score, but he looked more confused than ever.
"Err… well, sorry for the wait. I had to re-evaluate the turf two more times. The Blue Blurs covered 15% of the turf and the Blank Slates covered 85%... a new record!" Judd exclaimed. There was a mix of gasps and cheers. Callie and Marie seemed astonished by the amount the Blank Slates covered. Linen and Aureolin could only stare intently at the television screen.
"Holy pufferfish…" Linen's jaw dropped.
"This is… just unbelievable," Callie admitted, looking to her sister for the words they were both missing. They could see Sky, who was standing in front of her team, triumphantly posing while the other three basked in the roars of fans.
"It looks like this is going to be a very stiff competition this year," Marie added while the Blank Slates climbed down from the Plaza Tower. Aureolin tried to ignore the TV and focus more on the menu before the two of them, but her fear was quite obvious.
"He-hey… I'm sure the Blue Blurs were not good at all and the Blank Slates just got lucky," Linen tried to reassure his date, though he failed to do so. The odds of that were tremendous. She sighed, sliding her menu aside.
"Let's try and enjoy our victory."