"So, how do you like it?"

"It's great! It feels exactly like what I used before!"

Michael held his new Splattershot in the air, admiring its different look from his previous weapon.

"That's great to hear. I'm glad you're satisfied with it."

"So how much for it?"

"Uh… you know what? I'll give it to you for free."

"Really? You sure?"

"Uh, yeah. Consider it my thanks for saving our city."

"Aw man, you're great. I'll recommend you… if I ever find a time where I can recommend you."

"I appreciate it."

Michael waved back to Sheldon as he exited the store into the plaza of Inkopolis. This was going to be a good day.

Even though many Inklings look similar, Michael stood out among the crowd. Sure, he was like every other Inkling boy, with his hair tied up in a scrunchie, but everyone in Inkopolis had familiarized themselves with his appearance that almost anyone could pick him out in a crowd. This, as you would probably think, made it difficult to make his way through the plaza. He was nearly constantly stopped with questions such as "Are you Michael?" or "Didn't you stop the Octarians?" This turned a walk to the Inkopolis Tower that should have only taken a few seconds into a three minute long trip of a constant stream of questions.

Once Michael was able to escape into the tower is was immediately given a list of different battles he could play.

"Lessee here… Regular Battle, Ranked Battle, and Squad Battle." Michael mulled over his choices before settling on Regular Battle. He was given a quick preview of the two stages he could play on in the coming battle, Saltspray Rig and Urchin Underpass, before being transported to a waiting lobby.

The lobby was basically a large elevator that was filled with seats, four on each side. Michael seated himself in the first free seat he saw. He looked at the seven other Inklings in the lobby. Michael looked at his own team, two girls and another boy. He recognized their weapons, one girl had her arm wrapped around an E-Liter that looked just a bit too big for her small stature. The boy was checking the condition on his Splatling. The second girl was holding a .52 Gal. Captain Cuttlefish had practically drilled the weapon's names into Michael's brain, just in case any Octarians started using them. The girl using the .52 Gal took notice that Michael was looking at her weapon.

"Impressive, innit?"

"Huh?"

"I noticed you were looking at my weapon. Quite a nice shooter, it is. Been usin' it for quite a while now, think I might take it all the way. Oh, 'scuse me, I should've introduced myself. Name's Angela, nice to meetcha." She held out her hand.

While shaking her hand Michael responded "I'm Michael, nice to meet you too."

Angela, taking notice of his Splattershot and his clothes put two and two together.

"I take it yer new to turf wars? You don't need to worry yerself, this is just a regular battle, nothin' really at stake here."

Michael simply nodded in response.

"Oh, right, these two here are my friends, Randy and Shelly." She directed his eyes to the two other Inklings on his team. They both looked back at him and greeted him.

After a bit of waiting the lobby finally stopped at its location, Michael's team all changed color to purple while the other team turned green. They got off at Saltspray Rig and all prepared at their starting points.

"Alright guys, get ready." Angela said to her team.

All four readied their weapons.

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