It was a Saturday. The Saturday.
Finley's radio alarm went off at 7am, playing the same song it did every day, but Fin woke up slowly. Just another Saturday… Saturday… As she opened her eyes, she caught sight of her bags from last night leaning against the wall, and suddenly she remembered everything. What had happened last night… and what was supposed to happen today.
Immediately, Fin leapt up out of bed, rushing over to the paraphernalia under the window and rustling through it, emptying her bag of her purchases and leaving only what she'd need for today. She went through her closet next, picking out an outfit as fast as she could- dressing simply in a white tank top and a pair of yellow sweatpants to match the color she'd woken up today, and putting her tentacles up in the usual messy ponytail. She turned off her alarm, then grabbed her bag, dashing downstairs like her life depended on it.
"Oh- good morning, Finley..." Her mother greeted her as the yellow blur rushed into the kitchen. "I'm surprised you're up this early."
"I'm going back to Inkopolis." She announced, flinging open a cabinet and grabbing her box of cereal. "So I gotta be really quick."
"Back to Inkopolis? But- hold on, you just went yesterday, are you sure you-"
"I gotta try out Turf War. I just have to. Remember? Persi told you about the center they'd opened? It looks really fun, I gotta go. Please. Mari and Umi are coming with me, they already got permission." Or so was the story. "It's only in one spot, there's no way I can get lost, it's guaranteed to be safe." She was hoping. "Please."
"Are you absolutely sure about this? I don't want you spending the whole summer ages away..." Her mother turned away, picking up her freshly-dispensed coffee and taking a sip. "Plus, I haven't looked at it, I don't know if it's ok…"
"It's just half an hour! Everyone else is doing it! It's a weekend! Umi's leaving for camp tomorrow, I won't see her for weeks! Pleeeeaaase?" She tried out Mari's tactic- puppy eyes worked on anyone, right?
"...if you insist." The woman gave in with a defeated sigh, leaning on the counter. "But you have to be back by six, got that?"
"Got it!" She grinned, almost spilling the milk in her excitement.
"Got what?" Persimmon, still in her pajamas, suddenly joined them in the kitchen. "Why's Fin makin' so much noise so early?" She yawned. "You woke me up."
"She says she wants to go back to Inkopolis..."
"What? Fin, you can't go without me!" The little girl pouted.
"Can and will. You're too little for Turf War." Fin said with a mouthful of cereal, pointing her spoon at her sister. "'s too intense."
"No I'm not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Girls! Girls. Calm down." Their mom stepped in. "Finley is going today so she can go with her friends. Persimmon, I'll look into getting your friends together and going soon."
"Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow!"
"If I can, if I can."
"Whatever. I gotta go." Finley ate her cereal as fast as she could without choking, and dashed out the door without so much as a 'goodbye'. She ran down the street, hardly paying attention to the things that she normally would. Some boys she knew were playing in their front yard, and they greeted her as she passed, but she paid them no mind, and she barely got out of the way of a jellyfish on her bike. All she really cared about was getting to Umi's house as fast as she could, but when she got there, she waited outside for what seemed like forever for her friend to come out, smartly dressed as ever, tentacles a dark green. No words were exchanged before Fin grabbed Umi's arm and dragged her off to collect third member of their trio, but her energy was spent by the time they got to Mari's house.
She had to take several moments to catch her breath (which Umi noted was counter-productive) as Mari crossed the street towards them. She was pink today, and almost as casually-dressed as Finley, to everyone's surprise.
"Umi, what are you wearing? That's no clothing to be playing sports in." She asked, poking the other girl in the shoulder.
"I'm getting some use out of the things I bought yesterday. I've already packed all my sporty clothing for Camp Triggerfish." She rolled her eyes. "I didn't think you even owned a pair of sweatpants."
"They are yoga pants, excuse you."
"Alright, alright, break it up. No use arguing over pants." Fin laughed.
"Come on, guys, aren't we supposed to be going fast? The eight o'clock train is soon, let's go let's go let's go!" She chirped, walking off briskly in the other direction. Umi followed, and the blonde was left to catch up.
"Wait for me..." She laughed, starting to run again.
It was 7:50 by the time they got there, and the station was not nearly as crowded as it'd been yesterday- everyone who had to commute to work would be here at 8:30, most likely, and the few people who were here were travelers waiting for early trains or kids hanging around the Inkopolis platform. They had time to stroll about the station and look at everything they hadn't yesterday- perhaps in the future they'd grab something for lunch at that one tiny store, or maybe that other, before they boarded- but the three girls found themselves impatiently pacing about in front of the platform. When the train finally arrived, they made sure they were the first ones on- Finley wasn't sure quite how long her student ID would get her free boarding, but she definitely wasn't complaining about a discount.
They took a seat in the very first car this time, seeing as they could all fit in one row, and then their energy wore off for a bit. Finley zoned out, staring out the window at the scenery she'd missed yesterday afternoon and couldn't see last night for all the darkness; Mari was on Wave again, posting and liking and typing and whatever else like her life depended on it; and Umi was reading a comic book.
"Ooh, Fin! You got the new Squid Squad album, right?" Mari suddenly piped up, nudging her friend.
"What? No, what are you talking about?"
"Remember? Yesterday, I told you about the leaks?"
"…no way." She'd totally forgot! How could she have missed this? True, she went straight to bed last night, but there'd been plenty of time to check this morning... She internally hit herself for being stupid.
"New album out of the blue." She held up her phone. "It's called Splatunes, already climbing the charts like a wildfire."
"Are you serious?" The yellow girl stared at the store page. "Wait- hold on, I gotta listen to this." She whipped out her own phone as fast as she could, untangling her earbuds with one hand while frantically scrolling with the other. "There it is... Damn, it's full-price, this'll be a big chunk out of my account balance."
"I already have it, it's wooooorth it." Mari grinned.
"If you have it, share."
"Buy it yourself. I'm a law-abiding citizen."
"Keep it down, I'm reading." Umi rolled her eyes.
"Sorry." The other two said in unison. They continued bickering, quieter this time, until Finley gave in and bought it herself, wincing at the price and how much time and shell data it was taking to download. (Still regretting watching that stream last night.)
"I don't think it'll even be done by the time we get off the train..."
"You can wait for it to download while we're playing Turf War." Mari giggled.
"True..."
"Did someone say Turf War?" An unfamiliar voice caught them by surprise, and they looked over to see a young boy in the row in front of them (green, slightly tan, with glasses and a polo shirt on) who had turned around backwards, resting his chin on the back of the seat. "So you three are going to go play, too?"
"That depends. Who's asking?" Finley tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. She didn't quite enjoy talking to strangers, even if they were of her age. Plus, he seemed… smug.
"I'm Sydney Lagunov." He said with the air of someone with a name you should know, drumming a hand on his impromptu headrest. "I go to Paramount Prepatory."
"I'm Mari!" The pink girl grinned, gesturing to her seatmates in turn. "This is Finley, and this is Umi. We all go to Spring Hill, the public school."
"Niiiice to meet you." Umi said absentmindedly, turning a page.
"So, do you think you'll be any good?" Sydney asked, tilting his head.
"How should I know? I've barely touched a gun in my life." Finley frowned. "Plus, they've got a lot more than guns, if last night is anything to go by."
"Well, my dad owns a Splattershot. He lets me and my brother play with it in the backyard all the time, and I've got pretty good aim." He chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose. "He grew up playing it, so he knows all about the game."
"I've used a Splattershot before, too. The boys down the street have one, I go over with some of their friends and we play around with it sometimes." True, it was just a replica, and the toy ink gun didn't really do much of anything, but they had fun all the same.
"Really? I suppose you don't ever get much time with it, they would probably rather lend it to someone who'd actually be able to use it properly..." He sighed, half-rolling his eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The yellow inkling narrowed her own, leaning forward a bit.
"I'm just surprised girls want to learn how to use a gun, especially pretty ones like you." He pushed his glasses up again, even though they'd barely moved.
"Why, you little..." Finley growled, leaning forward a bit, but Mari stuck out her arm to stop the other girl.
"I think we should all wait until we give it a go before we judge each other. That sounds fair, right?" She smiled, tone surprisingly friendly.
"Yes, I suppose you're correct." Sydney rolled his eyes (all the way this time). "I hope we'll get to see each other there."
'Yeah, I hope we do. Then you'll see who's the better one...' Fin thought, but out loud she said nothing, crossing her arms and slumping back down in her chair, still irked from the interaction. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, as Mari was glued to her phone again, Sydney had turned back around, and Umi hadn't seemed to even notice the conversation taking place.
Fin looked out the window, eyes focusing on the part of the rail moving too fast to focus on. Who did that guy think he was, anyway? 'Surprised girls want to learn how to use a gun', what was that supposed to mean? She'd show him…
When the train arrived, they all eagerly rushed out of the station, and took a moment to take in the beautiful view of the brand new plaza. She hadn't yet seen it in full daylight- it was inkredible, every last detail down to the colors on the buildings radiating freshness.
She couldn't wipe the grin off her face as she ran forward first towards Inkopolis tower. Her shoes made an even beat on the brand-new concrete. The warm sun bounced off her tentacles, and she could practically feel herself shining as much as the buildings around her, attracting more than a couple stares. (Not everyone was able to muster up this much energy this early in the morning, of course.) The doors to the tower slid open for her as she approached, and her heart was still racing as she stepped inside.
It was already crowded, but not too crowded. The music and the chatter combined to make an ambience that was loud, but not too loud. She didn't recognize anyone here, but that was understandable, no one from Moray Gulf would get up this early to play sports, and all the strangers to impress just made it all the more exciting. She scanned the room, blinking at the bright lights on dark walls.
She looked down- the floor was made of LED lights, tiny squids of various colors scrolling across in all directions. She looked up, and there was no real ceiling, instead offering a view that stretched up into the darkness that was the empty inside of the tower. The walls were fully black, covered in artfully-placed ink splats of all colors, but the spotlights mounted everywhere provided more than enough illumination.
The walls were lined with different counters, topped with signs that each promised a different activity- they all sounded shella fun, but most of them were deserted except for a few people loitering around, but the only one that had anyone behind the counter was the one with the huge line: 'Turf War Registration'. She joined the line, looking over at the doors and waving over her two friends who she'd left behind at the station.
"There you are… don't run off like that." Umi chided her as they made their way over, lightly smacking Finley on the head.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I couldn't help myself." She laughed.
"What even are we in line for?" Mari tried to see the sign over the heads of the crowd. "I can't read the sign."
"It says this is where we register to play." Fin rolled her eyes. "Fourteen years in Moray Gulf and you still can't read grafitti lettering?"
"Shut up." Mari couldn't help but chuckle herself.
"How long is this gonna be?" Umi stood on her tiptoes. The line was long, stretching across half the rather large room, but it was moving surprisingly quick- squids were being helped three or four at a time and then shown behind the counter to a small elevator-looking thing. They slowly moved up the line, and up the line, until they got to the desk.
"Here you go!" A tired-looking yet friendly-sounding blue lady handed everyone a small stack of paper, smiling. "These are the rules and the safety waivers. You'll need to return these signed by your parents tomorrow, since today is your first day. There's a very small registration fee, but after that you're free to play as much as you want!"
"Aw, man, we gotta go all the way back home just ta' play?" Fin flipped through the paperwork. "Tiny print..."
"If you live far away, you could always elect to take one of the beginners' courses? We have several activities for players new to the game, and they do not require any safety warrants."
"How much's the registration fee?" Mari already had her wallet out.
"There's no need to pay now, ma'am, you just need to attach a check to the papers, and the fee depends on your age bracket."
"I wanna do the class!" Finley stuffed the papers in her bag, looking up expectantly. "Where do I go?"
"Well, that depends. How much experience with the game do you have?"
"I have some, they don't." Umi said before the others could say anything, surprising them a bit.
"You've played?"
"It's not called Camp Triggerfish for nothing." She smirked. "I've only got a couple games under my belt. What, you scared I'm gonna trounce you?"
"Of course not!" Mari huffed.
"Ladies, ladies, please don't start an argument. You'll all be in the first-timers class, since this is a very different experience than traditionally-played games." The sign-up lady pressed a series of buttons on a panel behind the counter, and the doors to what looked vaguely like a small elevator opened behind the desk- no, not an elevator, more like a sci-fi escape pod.
"Right this way, miss." She opened the small gate attached to her workspace, and the girls walked through to the elevator thing. "One at a time, please, and keep a tight hold on your bags." Umi went in first, and the doors closed- when they opened again, she was gone. (That's not unnerving at all.)
"Me next!" Mari hopped in, and vanished in the same way, making the third girl a little uneasy about exactly what would happen.
Finley tentatively entered the small elevator- it looked a lot like the main room, come to think of it, but with less color variety. As the doors closed, she noticed a tiny seat at the back. She sat down, and seatbelt-like straps came out from the wall, strapping her into the chair. She put a hand on her bag instinctively, and almost immediately, the lift shot downwards.