Maize had walked with Aureolin to the battle tower. They both stepped inside, a lot of other inklings were around them. Maize had to beat the other yellow inkling so he could hopefully find out if she was the parent of the squishie, or could tell him where to find them. He knew this was someone above his rank, and knew she was not unprepared. He heard her whistle.
"Hey! We got a turf challenger here!" Aureolin called out. Multiple inklings began to gather around her, at least six of them, all ranging from various clothing and weapons. Maize guessed this was her crew. Only four squids were allowed to participate in turf wars on both teams. He was wondering if they all were her rank as well in the competitive area. Maize made sure his splatterscope was ready, and he turned around, looking at all the other inklings nearby.
"Uh, anyone wanna tag in against them?" Maize requested. He did not want to go into a one vs four situation. Everyone looked nervous or afraid, though one of the inklings from the back approached, looking slightly older than Maize. He was wearing a pair of goggles and a blue shirt that had a lot of black snowflakes on it in random patterns. He also had dark pink tentacles for hair that were up in a spiky pattern on his head.
"With pleasure," the scratchy voiced inkling responded. He sounded like he was still recovering from a bad flu.
"Thank you. I'm Maize of the Special Squid Service," Maize introduced himself, shaking hands with his temporary teammate. He had started to get used to saying the Special Squid Service tagline like a personal greeting.
"My name's Umber. I saw you about to fight B+ and A- ranked squids," Umber claimed. That was the main reason that had made him step up. The yellow inkling tilted his head.
"Err… yeah, but it looks like it'll be just us," Maize stated. No one else was volunteering. The gang of the other yellow inklings had caused quite an impression, one that he was oblivious to. He was mostly warning his teammate in case he wanted out to save himself some time.
"Good. I've been eager for a challenge," Umber hummed, stretching. Maize appreciated the positive attitude. It was nice to have someone else with his turf wars who have nothing but a fun mindset.
"Alright! We're ready," Aureolin spoke up. She and her group of four looked eager to go, though the girl took notice of the uneven numbers. She felt a little bad, and it was not like she could force others into this turf war to make it fair.
"So are we," Maize smirked.
"Yeah. Just a charger and a roller ready to go," Umber nodded and gave a thumbs up. The yellow inkling felt another attempt to lower his spirits strike him. They were erratically different. One was an extremely close range specialist and the other was a long ranged fighter.
"What rank are you guys?" Aureolin asked, wondering if this was going to be a very one sided turf war.
"C+," Maize simply said.
"If you win, I'll tell ya!" Umber claimed energetically. That for some reason was very reassuring. Their opponents seemed unsure about this, but Aureolin had an agreement with the Special Squid Service member. There was no turning around now. The group approached a small platform, one of many in the arena. The yellow squid girl stepped onto one platform with her three allies. Maize hopped aboard the other with the dark red inkling, getting his splatterscope ready.
"Good luck!" Maize called out to their opponents. He did not receive much of a response. The six inklings got surrounded by two glass chambers on their individual platforms. They began filling with different colored ink. Once filled, the platforms began to drain away, the squids being sucked away in the ink.
Before Maize knew it, he appeared alongside Umber, both now with their clothes dyed green and both standing on a platform. Umber was holding a brush like weapon that was meant for extremely close ranged inkings. Their team colors had been set to bright green as well.
"Alright, here we go!" Umber exclaimed. Maize could tell where they were. With one look, they saw Hammerhead Bridge. This place had grates everywhere which were making platforms. It was a mix between solid ground and materials. There was a lot of turf to cover with ink. Maize could not tell why, but being on the very bridge that was still under construction felt off. It sure felt unfinished, maybe that Cursed Bridge tagline that the construction workers gave it was accurate. They heard the sound of the alarm ring, and instantly, they both were out of the gate, heading in opposite directions, and covering the entire ground beneath them and ahead of them in green ink at top speed.
Maize found himself on the upper platform of Hammerhead Bridge. He saw two of the enemy squids running below him. They had bright pink ink. The yellow inkling aimed his splatterscope, squeezing the trigger, charging it. Soon when one of the two enemies stopped, he let go. From above, the green ink went flying through the air fast. It hit the enemy, exploding into a rain of green ink, the enemy splattered by the strong charge shot.
"Uh oh!" Maize gulped, taking cover. The teammate who had witnessed him doing this had a tri-slosher, a bucket that used to be for cleaning supplies but had been turned into a lethal ink tool. The squid was tossing up wave after wave of pink ink. He had to take cover away from the grates, but the enemy team was covering a lot more turf than he was able to right now. He noticed some of the pink ink that had been thrown up. It had something moving through it.
"Dang it!" Maize jumped up, attempting to charge his splatterscope. He suddenly saw Aureolin pop up in front of his face. It made that instance freeze up and feel like an eternity. He tried to let go of the trigger, watching the charger blast of green ink miss and splatter harmlessly on another part of the turf.
"Surprise!" Aureolin put her aerospray up to his cheek before pulling the trigger. Pink ink hit him right in the face. He suddenly fell off the upper area and collapsed to the ground below, exploding into a puddle of pink ink. He was splatted by the enemy quite easily.
Maize groaned in pain as he reappeared at the starting point, shaking off some leftover ink that was on him. He crouched down before launching high into the air with a super jump. He flew toward his teammate Umber and landed right beside him, who appeared to be managing to cover a good amount of turf with that brush of his. Maize saw all three of Aureolin's team members surround him.
"I knew this would be a good challenge," Umber grinned, confusing his enemies who immediately tried to splat him. The dark red inkling hit a button on his brush. He instantly surrounded by a bubbler barrier, protecting him from it all. He spun around, smacking one of the enemies away with his brush, putting a green streak across the inkling's face before he exploded into a small puddle. Umber turned around to attack the next one before he could however, he saw a sudden burst of ink hitting them in the chest by a large splotch of green ink, splatting them instantly. He immediately finished off the last of the three inklings who had originally surrounded him.
"Good job!" Maize said, coming over him, having given his teammate some support. Umber high fived him, smiling, but they both suddenly noticed an odd marker appear around them briefly before vanishing.
"Yeah, this seems about right," the dark red tentacle haired boy groaned. The yellow inkling saw an ink strike coming in. He quickly changed into his squid form, swimming off through their ink. However, Umber got hit by the ink strike, being caught in a huge explosion of pink ink that engulfed the sky.
"One minute left!" they heard the judge ring out that was watching from afar. Maize got up, panting. This was a lot tougher than he expected, but he felt enthralled. It was really fun. He saw some pink ink splotches land near him. He looked up to spot Aureolin who was on the high ground shooting at him. He quickly dodged while charging his splatterscope.
"I swear, you're targeting only me!" Maize chuckled. The yellow squid girl smirked.
"And what if I am?" she hummed bashfully before pulling back, attempting to shoot around her enemy to try and trap him. Maize fired, hitting her in the leg, but she survived the fully charged shot and was able to take cover. The splatterscope was usually such a strong weapon like all chargers.
"Here we go," Maize hit a button on his splatterscope before putting it on his back. Two triangular ink filled bombs appeared in both hands. He began chucking them all up toward the upper area. He was using bomb rush, which gave him unlimited ink for bombs for a brief few seconds.
"Oh, splat-!" Aureolin got surrounded by multiple of those bombs which detonated moments after landing, leaving splashes of green ink around and splattering her as well. Maize was happy about this. But then he heard a loud noise, indicating it was time to stop. Maize returned to the starting location to hear the verdict. Umber was there and waiting. They saw an anthropomorphic cat who had black and white fur that looked like it formed a pair of overalls and a pointy tail. He was Judd the Judge the cat, who lived with the squid sisters but also had the ability to tell how much turf was covered with just the quickest of looks.
"Let's see… green team, you covered 43% of the area, and pink team, you covered 55%. The winner is… pink team!" Judd exclaimed while pulling out a flag aimed at Aureolin's team, his tail pointing at them, too. Maize could hear that opponent's group cheering when they reappeared at the battle tower, their clothes returning to their former colors.
"You did good out there," Umber told the yellow squid.
"Thanks. You were amazing with a brush," Maize smiled, complimenting him in response. They saw the other yellow inkling approach.
"You guys did really well for just the two of you," Aureolin stated, impressed. Normally two squids being outnumbered would just powerlessly be forced to their starting point and be splatted endlessly, and rarely get any turf covered.
"Thanks. It was a lot of fun," Maize nodded while fixing his splatterscope on his back. The dark red inkling beside him stretched.
"Yeah. It was a good challenge. Since you beat me, I'll let ya in on my rank… I'm an S+," Umber hummed. That seemed to stun both yellow inklings. He seemed so carefree and casual about it.
"Wh-what?! An S+?! Why aren't you with a squad? Why did you agree to a two vs four?" Aureolin had a chain of questions. That was the highest rank available, and with it, this squid could literally gather a crew with the snap of his fingers if he just spoke of his rank more.
"Eh. Ranks are just letters to me. I'm just looking for challenges no matter what they are, and for a C+ ranked squid, this kid here has a lot of heart… and guts, too," Umber commented, patting Maize's back. It embarrassed him to be complimented like that, though he was painfully reminded that he was a B+ in the ranked turf wars just the other day.
"I'm just here to have fun. But I guess since we lost, I won't be getting the information from you," Maize stated, aware of their agreement. Even so, if this was the mother of that squishie standing before him, she sure seemed unattached. Being reminded of this seemed to depress Aureolin a little.
"Good sportsmanship shouldn't be shunned," Aureolin sighed while beginning to rub her own tentacle in shame, feeling like a bully to have ganged up on two inklings like that.
"So you'll tell me?" Maize asked.
"Yeah. But let's talk somewhere more appropriate," Aureolin nodded. She was going to tell him the information now that her boredom had been cured. Umber looked glad for Maize, even if he had no idea of the context of the situation.
"I'm gonna go grab a bite. You have a good one, Maize," Umber bid him farewell before walking away. The two squids also left the battle tower and went back out into the rainy plaza. The weather had lightened up somewhat, but it still was quite heavy. The two made their way over to the cafe to begin what Maize hoped to be a good explanation that would help the search for the squishie's parents.