[A/N] Behold, the birthday story that isn't trash.
"So, where are we going?" Tori asked.
"I told you, it's a surprise," Jake said. "I can't very well tell you where we're celebrating your birthday, can I?"
Tori grinned and took his hand. "Then lead the way," she said.
Jake grinned back, and started to lead her through Inkopolis.
After a few minutes of walking, the two arrived in front of a park. Several younger Inklings were running around, laughing and playing. Unbeknownst to Tori, Jake flashed a thumbs-up behind his back.
A moment later, she felt hands clamping down on her shoulder and two voices shouting "SURPRISE!" She yelped and jumped about a foot in the air. Turning around, she saw Callie and Marie, who were giggling. Both of them wore their agent disguises.
Tori breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at them. "You scared me!" she said.
"Well, how else were we gonna make it a surprise?" Callie asked.
"C'mon, let's sit down," Marie said. "We've all got stuff we want to give you."
The four of them found an empty picnic table and sat down. Callie withdrew something flat and square from the pocket of her sweater. "Go on, open it up!" she said excitedly.
Tori tore it open to reveal a disc case. The art on the front had two silhouettes of the Squid Sisters, with indistinct yellow writing behind them.
"That's our new album!" Marie said. "It's not even on the shelf yet. You two'll get to be the first to listen to it."
"How'd you get this, then, if they're not even being sold yet?" Tori asked.
"We, uh… kinda swiped one while no one was looking," Marie said sheepishly. She scratched the back of her head. "No one's supposed to know about this album yet, so maybe keep the volume down for a couple weeks."
Tori grinned. "Thanks a lot, you two. I'm sure I'll love it." She turned to Jake. "And what about you?"
"Well, I'm considering just giving you your gift later tonight…" he said, nibbling her ear.
A chorus of gagging noises from the Squid Sisters caused the two to move apart. Tori was blushing, while Jake simply had a wide grin on his face.
"Nah, I'm just kidding," Jake said. "This is your real gift." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small package.
Tori opened it up to reveal a plain black bracelet. She smiled at him. "Thanks a lot, Jake. It looks lovely."
Jake's grin grew wider. "You don't know the half of it," he said. "Put it on."
Tori obliged, slipping the bracelet onto her wrist. It fit rather snugly, but not too tight. She shrugged at him. "Okay. What happens now?"
"Do you feel any different?" Jake asked. He seemed genuinely curious. The Squid Sisters looked at him, confused.
"Why would she?" Callie asked. "It's just a bracelet."
"It's not just a- You know what, I'll just explain it to you. I called in a favor from Sheldon a couple months ago and he got some help from some friends of his to make this bracelet. It-"
"Why did Sheldon owe you a favor?" Marie interrupted.
"It's kind of a long story. Let's just say it involves six sweaters, a microphone, and one too many Inkbrushes that got stuck in the worst possible place," Jake said, shuddering. "Anyway, I'm not gonna pretend to know exactly how this thing works, because I have no clue. But Sheldon told me that basically, it'll change your anatomy to that of an Inkling, right down to the colour-changing tentacles."
"Well, that sounds pretty cool, but why would you need me to do that?" Tori asked.
"Tori," Jake said excitedly. "When you're wearing that bracelet, you can play Turf Wars."
Everybody's jaws dropped. Tori stared at her wrist, dumbfounded. "Are you serious?" she asked.
"Totally," Jake said. "He even said that if it senses that you're about to get splatted, it'll form a Bubbler around you, automatically trigger a Super Jump back to your spawn point, and give you the same penalties as if you were an Inkling. Hell, when you're wearing that thing, for all intents and purposes, you are an Inkling. Well, in all ways except appearance. There's, uh… only one problem…"
"What's that?" Tori asked.
"We haven't tested it yet," Jake confessed. "I tried wearing it and playing a couple games, but I don't know if it only works on Octolings or what, because every time I got splatted, it happened the normal way, teleportation back to the spawn and all. No Bubbler, no Super Jump, just the same thing that happens every day. And it's not like we have any captive Octolings lying around that we can test it with. Basically… you'll be taking it out for a trial run the first time you use it."
"Who cares?" Tori said excitedly. She looked like she just won the lottery. "Do you have any idea how much I've been wanting to play Turf Wars since I started living with you? I can't wait to take this baby for a spin!"
"You sure?" Jake asked. "I mean, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you…"
"Jake, Sheldon wouldn't've given it to you if he didn't think it was completely safe," Callie said. "Trust me, she'll be fine."
Jake grinned. "Then let's do it! Let's go! Let's test it out right now!"
"You betcha!" Tori replied. They both stood up from the table.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Marie said. "Aren't you both forgetting something?"
"What are we forgetting?" Jake asked.
"Do you really think we aren't gonna be coming with you?"
"Whoa, really?" Tori asked. "That'd be awesome!"
"Can we have some time to prepare, though?" Jake asked. "I wanna make sure Tori's completely ready."
"Take all the time you need," Callie said. "Give us a call when you're all set. We'll be waiting."
They waved good-bye as Jake and Tori started walking to Booyah Base.
"Alright, first things first," Jake said. "We need to pick out some gear for you. We'll start with weapons. I know that you've just started and you don't know much about this stuff yet, but-"
"Don't you have some weapons at home?" Tori interrupted.
"Oh yeah," Jake said. "I suppose I do. You haven't actually tried any of them, though, have you?"
"No, I've tried one," Tori replied. "I don't know what it was called. It was that one you gave me when those Octarians attacked us…"
Jake thought for a moment. "You mean the Tentatek Splattershot?"
"I guess so," Tori said, shrugging. "Anyway, it reminded me of the weapons that were issued while I was still in the Octarian Army. I feel like I could use it pretty well."
"Alright, but there's one thing you gotta do," Jake said, leading her into Ammo Knights.
"What's that?"
"You gotta test out the weapon set. They didn't have subs or specials when you were in the Octarian Army, did they?"
"Suds or- what?" Tori asked.
"Exactly," Jake said.
"Hello, hello!" Sheldon said once they got inside. "What kind of- Jake! Hello!"
"Hey, Sheldon," Jake said. He offered his fist, but Sheldon waved him away.
"You know I don't do that stuff. What kind of weapon are you buying today?"
"Not today, Sheldon. Right now, I'm here for my girlfriend," Jake said.
Tori stepped forward. "Hello," she said.
Sheldon smiled. "You must be Tori!" he said. "So you gave her the bracelet?"
"I certainly did!" Jake said. "She needs to test a weapon."
"Of course!" Sheldon said. "What kind of weapon?"
"Tentatek Splattershot."
Sheldon turned around, pushed a nearby ladder into place, and took the weapon off of his wall. He handed it to Tori. "The practice range is right through there!" he said, pointing to a nearby door.
Jake flashed Sheldon a thumbs up, and followed Tori into the practice range.
She looked around. It was a large, paved area, with several dotted lines on the ground and several inflatable targets. She looked back at Jake. "So, what do I do now?"
"You test out your weapon," Jake said. "Go ahead, try it out."
She fired the Splattershot at the nearest target, and destroyed it after a few hits. She smiled, somewhat sadistically. "Okay, now what?"
"Try your sub," Jake said.
She looked at him quizzically until he walked over to where she was standing. "Here, put your hand behind you like this…" He positioned his hand just underneath the back of his head and shaped it as though he was holding something. Tori copied his stance and suddenly felt a weight in her hand. She moved her hand back in front of her, but the weight disappeared and her hand was empty.
"It's easier not to think about it," Jake said, answering her unasked question. "Anyway, do that again, and then move your arm like you're throwing something."
Tori obeyed, swinging her hand over her head and aiming it at a target. To her immense surprise, a small projectile that looked like a can attached to a circular base appeared out of nowhere, flew through the air, and stuck to the ground next to a target. After a few seconds, it gave off a beeping noise and exploded, destroying the target.
"That's a Suction Bomb," Jake said. "It's your sub. You can use them whenever you want."
Tori placed her hand behind her head again, but the weight didn't appear. Instead, she heard a clicking noise.
"And using your sub weapon puts a serious drain on your ink tank," Jake said. "With most weapons, you can only dish out one or two at a time before you need to refill."
"Alright, that sounds easy enough," Tori said. "Didn't you mention something else, though? Some other kind of weapon?"
"Yeah, a special," Jake said. "Start spreading some ink around. You'll know when it's ready."
Tori did as she was told and started to cover the training area with ink. After a few minutes, her tentacles started to ripple and glow. She reached up and patted them.
"Oh yeah, I remember this," she said.
"Yeah, but it won't be like last time," Jake replied. "The weapon you had last time came with an Inkstrike, but this one has an Inkzooka instead. C'mon, the range has the perfect place to try it out."
He led her up a small flight of stairs to where there were several more targets waiting for her. Three of them were bigger than the rest, while three others had small stickers on them.
"Now, there should be a little button on your weapon," Jake said. "Right around the trigger."
Upon inspection, Tori found the button. "Do I push it?" she asked.
"Yeah," Jake said. "And fire away!"
She pushed the button, and her weapon disappeared. It was replaced by a massive Inkzooka. She took careful aim, and fired at the nearest target. A tornado of ink appeared from the weapon and destroyed the target. She grinned, and fired a few more times. Each shot destroyed a target efficiently.
"Well done," Jake said. "Now you know how to use your weapon. Just remember, it'll be a lot harder to shoot a moving target in the arena, so don't let your guard down."
"Got it!" Tori said.
"C'mon, let's go back in."
They reentered Ammo Knights. "So how did you like it?" Sheldon asked.
"It's great," Tori replied. "I think I can use this thing." She handed it back to him.
Sheldon waved good-bye as they exited the shop.
"Now what?" Tori asked.
"You need some gear," Jake said. He moved to enter Jelly Fresh.
"Wait," Tori said. Jake turned back around to look at her. "I don't really want any clothes. It'd feel… I dunno, just kinda weird, not having my armor on."
Jake nodded. "That's okay, but you still don't use the goggles, do you?" Tori shook her head in response. "Then c'mon, you gotta get some headgear. And maybe some shoes, if you wouldn't mind. I don't have that much myself, so we'll have to buy you something."
Tori followed him into Cooler Heads.
Annie was standing in the middle of the shop with her back to the door. She turned around when it opened. "Oh, um… h-hello…"
Jake gave her a friendly smile. "Hi, Annie," he said.
"BUY SOMETHING AND GET OUT!"
Jake's smile quickly changed into a scowl as Annie looked up at Moe worriedly.
"Ignore him," Jake told Tori. "He's all talk."
"S-so, what are you in the market for today?" Annie asked.
Tori started looking around the shop. "Can I have a few minutes to decide?" she asked.
Annie smiled lightly and nodded while Moe shouted at her. "WE'RE NOT GIVING ANY LOSER TIME TO DECIDE ANYTHING!"
Tori's expression matched Jake's. She took her sweet time deciding what kind of headgear she wanted as Moe continued screaming at her. Eventually, she took a Squash Headband off a hook and went to pay for it.
"Nah, don't worry," Jake said. "It'll be my treat today."
Tori smiled at him.
"WE DON'T ALLOW ANY CHARITY! NOW BEAT IT, PUNK! BEFORE I GET MY GRAN'FISHY IN HERE TO BEAT THE SNOT OUTTA YOU!" Moe yelled.
In one swift movement, Tori snatched Moe out of Annie's hair, and trapped him underneath a nearby Bobble Hat. The hat wriggled around as Tori held it there. Annie watched, her expression unchanging.
"Anyway," she said with a grin. "Just this, please."
Annie quickly rung her up, took Jake's money, and handed the headband back to Tori. She waved at them. "Have a nice day," she said quietly.
Jake and Tori waved back, and left the store just as Moe was emerging from under the hat.
"Well, I'm glad that that's over," Tori said.
"Moe's kind of hard to ignore, but once you get the hang of it, walking into Cooler Heads gets a lot more worth it. Annie is the most adorable thing you'll ever meet, once she gets the chance to talk," Jake replied. "Just one more shop now." And they walked into Shrimp Kicks.
"Sup, squiddo!" Crusty Sean greeted them with a four-handed wave. Jake waved back and gave him a fist bump.
"So, what kinda kicks are you looking for on this fine afternoon?" Crusty Sean asked.
"I'm not," Jake said. "My girlfriend here is picking out a pair of shoes."
"Sounds good, squiddo! Pick the freshest shoes you can handle!"
Tori grinned, already liking him a lot more than Moe. She looked around the shop and eventually chose a pair of Red Hi-Tops. Jake paid for them and they left the store.
"So am I all set now?" Tori asked, sporting her new headband and hi-tops.
"I'd say so," Jake replied. "Lemme just call the Squid Sisters and tell 'em we're ready." He paused for a second. "You know, I still get a bit of a kick out of that. 'Hold on, let me just call the most famous residents of Inkopolis on my cell phone, because I can do that.'"
Tori grinned as Jake dialed Callie's number.
"Hey," he said into the receiver. "Tori's all ready to go and so am I. We'll meet by Inkopolis Tower, alright?"
There was a beat as Callie spoke back to him, before Jake said goodbye and hung up. He turned back to Tori. "She said they'll be right over. It shouldn't take too long."
Tori nodded, and leaned against the entrance.
"Hey," Jake said suddenly. "When I was in Octo Valley, the Octolings I saw used Splat Bombs. We have some weapons with Splat Bombs, too. Those are subs. Why didn't you know about subs?"
"Well, we didn't call them subs in the army," Tori explained. "And we only had Splat Bombs, so I didn't know about anything else. Plus, they didn't do that weird appearing-in-your-hand thing. We'd bring three or four into a fight and that was it. Kinda… clip 'em onto our belts, fill 'em with ink, and then they'd grow to the point where they could do some damage. It seems a lot more efficient here."
Jake nodded in response.
True to their word, it was a matter of minutes before the Squid Sisters arrived. They both had grins on their faces. Callie wore a Sporty Bobble Hat, a Squid Satin Jacket, and Black Seahorses, and held a Carbon Roller Deco in her hands. Marie was sporting a Black Inky Rider and White Arrows. Based on the lack of visible headgear, Jake assumed she also had Fake Contacts on. She was wielding a Splat Charger.
"So we're all ready?" Marie asked. Jake and Tori nodded. "Sweet, let's go!"
The four of them entered the tower and chose to start a Squad Battle. The mode was Turf War, and the map was Walleye Warehouse. Tori could hear Jake muttering something under his breath, but she didn't quite catch it.
The team popped out of the spawn point in the warehouse, their tentacles changed to an orange colour. Their opponents had dark blue. Jake tried to take a look at the opposing team's weapons, but all he saw was a glint of light from a Gold Dynamo Roller.
There was the sound of the starting pistol, and the team sprang into action. Marie started by inking a long path away from the base to find a good sniping spot, while Callie slammed her roller on the ground and started running toward the side passage on their left. Jake ran to the passage on the right while Tori moved straight ahead.
The other team looked like they had a different strategy; Tori could only see the roller, who was moving straight towards her. She yelped and darted in the other direction, blindly firing her weapon behind her.
The roller lifted up his weapon, about to swing it at her, when he was suddenly splatted with a surprised look on his face. Looking around, she saw Marie, who winked and flashed a thumbs up. Tori grinned, and continued inking the ground around her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tori saw an Inkstrike going off on the other side of the map. It wasn't orange. She grimaced, and started swimming over there to reclaim their turf.
She tossed a Suction Bomb into the middle of the sea of blue, and when the explosion ended, an enemy Inkling suddenly popped out of what was left and started firing at her with a Splattershot Pro. Out of reflex more than anything else, she swam up close and fired back, splatting the enemy Inkling with relative ease. She stepped back for a moment, surprised, before starting to ink the ground again.
Back at the base, Callie was emerging from the spawn point again, annoyed. This was the second time that same Inkling had splatted her. She was using a Custom Jet Squelcher, by the looks of it, and Callie would have to keep an eye out. Shaking her head, she Super Jumped to Marie's position…
…and was promptly splatted again by an incoming Inkstrike. It had looked like Marie moved out of the way, at least, but Callie left the spawn once more with fire in her eyes. She was gonna find whoever it was that fired off that Inkstrike, and she had a Seeker with their name on it.
Meanwhile, closer to the enemy base, Jake was having an intense fight with a Custom Hydra Splatling. Try as he might, he couldn't get close enough to take the guy out. He threw a Sprinkler at him as a distraction, but the Splatling quickly destroyed it and kept up the pressure.
Getting very annoyed now, Jake had had enough. He swam up close to the Splatling, preparing to take him out. He pulled the trigger on his weapon, seeing the surprise in his opponent's eyes…
…and the guy activated a Bubbler. Jake barely had time to shout before he was splatted and sent back to the base. More than a little angry now, he started hunting for every bit of ground he could see that wasn't orange, and before long, charged his special. He pressed a button on his N-ZAP, and an Inkstrike appeared on his back. Grinning like a madman, he aimed the Inkstrike at the last place he had seen his target, waiting for the sound of a successful splat.
No such luck. The Splatling appeared again out of nowhere, but before Jake had time to react, he was squished by the Gold Dynamo Roller. Oh, come on! he screamed in his head.
As he was respawning, the Splattershot Pro and the Custom Jet Squelcher appeared to have Marie cornered. On the other side of the map, the Gold Dynamo Roller and the Custom Hydra Splatling appeared to have done the same thing to Callie, but they were ready. The two of them had manic glints in their eyes as they activated their Bomb Rushes. Marie started tossing Splat Bombs in every direction, while Callie sent Seeker after Seeker scuttling across the ground towards her aggressors. They started to run away, but were caught in between the flurry of explosives, and all four of the opponents were splatted.
"C'mon!" Callie called. "Now's our chance for one last push!"
As she was speaking, the one-minute chime sounded, and Jake and Tori swam to catch up with them as fast as possible. They immediately started inking over the blue that surrounded the enemy base as the opposing team respawned.
Before anyone realized quite what was happening, the girl with the Custom Jet Squelcher used her special, transforming into a monstrous Kraken. Without skipping a beat, she rammed into Callie, who barely had time for a yelp of surprise before she was sent back to the spawn point. Jake frantically fired his weapon, trying to push the Kraken away, but she swam through it with no issues and caught up to him. As this was happening, Marie was swimming a safe distance away and trying to snipe the remainder of the team down while waiting for the Kraken to disappear.
It was at this moment that Tori finally remembered her special weapon. She retreated a short ways, moving a bit closer to Marie, and mashed the button on her Splattershot. The Inkzooka appeared in her hands. She took careful aim, and splatted the Dynamo Roller, who had been trying to get the jump on Marie. The other three were a lot more agile, but she finally managed to hit the Hydra Splatling as well. She had taken a couple hits from the Splattershot Pro by this point, and braced herself for the last shot.
The bracelet worked like a charm. Just before the last hit connected with her body, a Bubbler shield formed around her, and she took a rather long wind-up time before Super Jumping all the way back to the base. She grinned as she returned to her Octoling form, just as the whistle sounded.
Everybody looked up at the scoreboard. It looked like there was just a little bit more blue than orange, but nobody could really tell. Judd gave them his little dance, before raising an orange flag and pointing to their team.
Tori jumped for joy. She had done it! She won her very first Turf War!
The individual scores showed up after that. Jake was at the very top of the list, with Callie just a few points behind him. Tori was behind Callie, and Marie was sitting on the bottom. However, Marie definitely splatted the opponents the most, with an impressive eleven splats under her belt, and having never taken a lethal hit during the match.
Tori looked up at her rather low score compared to her teammates and suddenly felt a bit less excited. She thought she did pretty good in the match, but a score of around six hundred points looked somewhat underwhelming, especially compared to Jake's massive score, which was over seventeen hundred.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Don't feel bad about it," Jake said, as if he was reading her thoughts. "The weapon I'm using was practically made for inking turf. That's my job. In my opinion, there's only one other weapon that can rival the way this thing covers ground, and it's not the one you're using." He smiled at her. "Your job is to keep the other team off my back while I get our ink everywhere I can."
Tori smiled back at him.
"Besides, look at Marie," Jake said, gesturing to her. She was currently wearing a big grin on her face, talking to the other team about the match. "She got the worst score on the entire team and she's still happy about it, and you know why? Because she did her job, and she did it well. Plus, let's face it, it was your first match, and you can't expect to be a champion the first time. You gotta work, train, and play a lot of Turf Wars. That's how I got to where I am now. And I'm not even close to the best players here. So don't feel down, okay? You're gonna get a lot better." He looked up at the scoreboard again. "And that's not that bad of a score. It's a hell of a lot better than what I got in my first Turf War."
Tori giggled. "What was your score?"
"Well, first of all, I lost my first match," Jake said. "And you get three hundred extra points just for winning, so it was lower by default. I can't quite remember exactly what it was… I think it was around… two-fifty or so?"
Tori laughed. Jake blushed.
"That's why this feels so good," Jake said, gesturing to the screen again. "It means I've improved a lot. Just like you will."
Tori smiled warmly at him. "Wanna play again?" she asked.
"Of course," Jake replied. "C'mon, let's get Callie and Marie and go back to the lobby."
[A/N] This was a hell of a lot better than my other birthday story (seriously, I am SO SORRY about that. I ran out of time).
Anyway, this is the end of Tori and Jake for now. If I happen to get ideas again, sure, I'll come back to them, but for now, they're all done. I hope you guys have enjoyed reading about them as much as I've liked writing them. (give me your requests pls)