Author's Note

Hello There! As promised,I come bearing the latest chapter in 'New to the Splatoon'! However, I'd like to take this moment to thank one of my best friends, who has worked with me as an editor/idea manager. He has been the unfortunate victim of a guy suffering from lack of sleep and slight anxiety from working on this story, and in general life issues, and handling my slight deliriousness in stride. Thanks man, I would be struggling with this a lot if I didn't have your help. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

(Funfact, I don't own Splatoon or any of it's products/related properties, some random company called "Nintendo" does. I know! I never heard of them either! They must be doing pretty well though, owning the Splatoon IP, though they probably don't have anything nearly as big as that. ;-3)

Chapter 6: On the Streets of Inkopolis

Both agents were walking down the street, each enjoying a crusty seanwich (with Agent 8 savoring it a bit more). The streets were pretty empty as many of the city's denizens were still getting up, though it wouldn't be long before the streets were full of people. This eventuality concerned 3, since while there were inklings, urchins, jellyfish, and other residents, he wasn't sure how everyone would react with an octoling joining the group. However, seeing the wonder on his pink tentacled friend's face, made him glad, and pushed that concern to the back of his thoughts, though it was still there.

He decided that since that the best thing to do was to head over to get some clothes, after they had something to eat. So as they were enjoying their seanwiches, he thought of the first clothing shop that came into his head and headed there, 8 in tow. The two arrived at Ye Olde Cloth Shoppe, with 3 holding the door for 8 who flashed him a grateful smile. The octoling turned to see the store interior. It looked slightly empty, with white and cream walls lined with allsorts of wooden and metal decorations, and interesting wooden structures along the walls that acted as clothes racks. She was still observing the room in wonder and slight confusement when 8 heard an odd voice behind her. "Welcome to Ye Olde Cloth Shoppe. Shouldest thou here thy coin spend, unto me shall great profit be!" Agent 8 quickly turned to face the source of the voice, still trying to figuring out what was just said, only to be confused even further seeing it was a jellyfish. 3 knew what she was thinking, everyone does when they first arrive, so he walked next to her and silently whispered, "It's a long story, I'll tell you about it later," and proceeded to walk up to the jellyfish, much to 8's curiosity. "Hey Jelfonzo," 3 proceeded to give a friendly wave as he approached the store owner. "My friend and I are here to get her some new clothes." Jelfonzo looked at the octoling, "Very good, at which hour thee and thy lovely inkling friend have findeth something of int'rest, simply cometh to me with the prop'r amount of wage." Now both Agent 3 and 8 were confused, and not just by the translucent jelly's speech. Both of them seemed to have the same thought flash across their minds, "Wait, inkling?" 8 dwelled on this for a few moments, before deciding it was probably just a freudian slip or something, and didn't say anything about it. 3 also stayed quiet about it, but for a different reason. He realized that Jelfonzo, like many of Inkopolis' residents, hadn't seen an octoling, and thought 8 was just an inkling, something he decided might be better for everyone to think for the moment. With that still in the back of their minds, they shifted their focus back to clothes. After awhile of looking at all the clothes, 8 grabbed a few items, shirts, sweaters, pants, and skirts, and then went to the dressing room, which the blue tentacled inkling helped her find. She closed the door to the room she was in and proceeded to try on all the items she picked and in every combination. While she examined how she looked in those clothes, 3 sat on a bench by a rack off shirts, head resting on his lightly tan arm, thinking silently. He was glad Callie and Marie had covered for 8's gear, since he wasn't sure how well he could cover it by himself (especially with the oven incident earlier that day), though that made him feel a little cheap and ashamed. Nonetheless, those feelings were lost on his mind as he planned out the rest of the day, deciding which stores to hit when, and what else to do. "So, what do you think?" 3 looked up at the source of the familiar voice. Agent 8 was wearing a sea green t-shirt with a white Skalop logo, as well as black leggings with a blue stripe running down each leg. 3 stood up, "Honestly, I think you look great!" (though he thought she looked before anyway) he gave her a reassuring smile, which made her smile brightly, glad her friend also liked these new clothes. So they proceeded to go over to Jelfonzo and buy the clothes 8 selected as her favorite; four shirts, two pairs of pants, a skirt, and leggings. Normally 3 would've thought that as way to many clothes, but since they were the only clothes she was going to have for awhile. The owner of the store scanned the items, "Yond shall be'est 5,600 coins." 8 wasn't sure how expensive that was and worried she was burdening him. 3 assured her that she wasn't and payed, glad that he was preventing her from feeling guilty, and that the Squid Sisters had him covered.

The two thanked the owner of Ye Olde Cloth Shoppe, and headed off. 3 asked if she wanted to get new shoes, to which she replied no, "They work with everything else, so I don't need any new shoes." 3 nodded his head, "Ok, how about some headwear?" The octoling played with one of her pink tentacles with her tan fingers and thought about it, "Hmm, sure." And with that they were off to their next shopping destination. By now, the streets were more populated, as it was late morning, and had jellyfish, urchins, and inklings roaming the streets. This made 8 a nervous, and a little flighty, but she felt more comfortable with 3 by her side and just kept walking, excited to see what this new store would be like. 3 also noticed the rise of pedestrians, and kept a calm face, while keeping an eye out for anyone who might notice his companion was an octoling and try to cause trouble. Nonetheless, nothing happened as they arrived at Headspace with the blue tentacled inkling once again politely holding the door, much to 8's pleasure.

This store's interior was much different to that of Jelfonzo's, with more items throughout the room, be it tables, rugs, sets or boxes, it had a very natural and calm feel to it. This time she saw the store owner (well, owners) before anything was said, though she was still at least a little bewildered. She had never seen a sea slug before, and was caught a little off guard when she saw her, if only for a moment. The store owner was the first to speak as she looked at the two, "Ah, hello my little inkfish. Welcome to Headspace!" And once again, 3 took the lead here for 8, who was still absorbing the view of the store, the sea slug, and just noticed an emperor shrimp by the slug's head, on top of being confused at being confused for an inkling again, (which she once again saw as just a slip of the tongue). "Hi Flo, hi Craymond. My friend here," he gestured to 8 who waved politely (not that Flo seemed to notice), "Is interested in getting some headwear." Flo slowly nodded,"Ok, well, you know where to find me when you're done," the sea slug proceed to head to a backroom, with Craymond jittering above her head. 3 looked over to 8, "Well, do you see anything you want?" The octoling paused, and proceeded to walk around the store looking at all the tables covered with various hats and gear. She picked up a few hats, and looked them over, and tried on some glasses (though she quickly stopped since they blurred her vision). She continued to look around for a few moments, beginning to look over spots she already went to, not wanting to hurt 3 or Flo's feelings by having wasted their time just to leave with nothing. She was starting feel frustrated. Then she noticed a black strip of cloth with white patterns under a hat she already examined. Curious, she picked it up. It turned out to be a Black FishFry Bandana, with white patterns that used a few white Firefin logos sprinkled throughout it. She looked it over, the fabric, the knot in the front, the pattern, and tried it on, looking in a mirror at the bandana wrapped around her head. She really liked it, and she barely felt it on her head. She turned away from the mirror to face the inkling, who was following behind, making sure everything she looked at, was put back properly. "What do you think 3?" At first, he was surprised that out of everything, she picked a bandana. Nonetheless, he liked it, "I think it looks good on you." This caused the octoling agent to blush a little as she showed a slight smile. So with that, they bought it. It ended up costing 1,250 coins, which caused 8 to slightly frown, feeling like that might be a lot of money, but stayed silent since 3 had assured her it was fine earlier, even if she wasn't sure. Nonetheless, they left Headspace, with the octoling agent wearing the black and white bandana around her pink tentacles.

At this point, the Inkopolis was full of inklings, and a few jellies, and this caused 8 to act more shy, avoiding eye contact, and only looking either at the ground, Agent 3, the tall buildings around her or straight ahead into empty space. 3 could sense the octoling's shift in attitude, and had a sort of plan to help her shake her shyness. Earlier in the day, he figured that he could get enough money to buy another toaster oven within a day through a few Salmon Runs. However, he wasn't sure she was ready for them, and didn't want her first few days in Inkopolis to be working. What's more, while he was still worried that her being an octoling could cause some problems, he knew that with 8 living in Inkopolis, she couldn't just avoid everyone, and was going to need to know people other than him, and the other Squidbeak agents. However he had a plan, or at least most of one.

This plan started with a question, "8?" the octoling looked up from the ground and at 3 as he continued,"Do you want to try something?" The octoling's curiosity peaked, and her shyness started to drop, "What do you have in mind?" 3 looked her in her amber eyes, "How would you like to try some turf wars?" Agent 8 had heard of turf wars before from messages from Pearl and Marina via CQ-80 when she was underground, and had apparently practiced parts of the game during her adventures underground and against Commander Tartar when she described them to the other agents at their first meeting. So she was interested in it, and let 3 know she was curious. "Well how'd you like me to show you the ropes?" 8 only took a few seconds to think about this, but hearing how everyone talked about it, she was becoming excited, "Sure!" This caused 3 to smirk, his plan was starting to work. "Alright, well first, we're going to have to get you some new weapons." This made 8 stop and give the inkling a questioning look, "What about my weapons?" 3 stopped and grew hot in the face, he actually forgot about them completely, and was feeling embarrassed that he forgot she had them, and didn't even know where she put them. "Umm… Yeah, that could work." However, the octoling caught his blushing and embarrassed tone, which made her giggle in a friendly good hearted way, which caused 3 to uneasily smile and feel better about his obliviousness. So, they quickly headed back to 3's apartment, quickly grabbing a deep fried Shwaffle (which 8 enjoyed immensely).

Soon they were back in Inkopolis, now with two bags, with orange and blue tags on them (to show they were for turf war and nothing else) one with 3's Squidbeak Splattershot, Splat Bombs, and Sting Ray, and the other with 8's Octoshot, Seeker Bombs, and Splashdown gear, along with their ink packs. It turned out that 8's gear was sitting under 3's bed, falling there when she dropped it observing the room and apartment as a whole. After a quick explanation of the rules on the way there, 8 felt confident she knew what she was doing, and they eventually arrived at Deca Tower, eagerly, gladly and silently anticipating the rest of the day that awaited them, walking towards it with confident grins.

(Author's Note)

(I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and it was fun to start writing for Agent 8 out and about in her new home. Anyway, I have you any criticisms, ideas, or thoughts, feel free to let me know! You can expect the next chapter to be uploaded in about two weeks (give or take). And as always, Woomy, Ngyes, and Veemo!)