Chapter 2

Cerrena sighed. "Fish, this may be a problem. The train left before we could get on, and the next train is tomorrow at noon." The station was the only one for miles, Splatsville was too far away to walk, and the way back to her hometown was blocked. Fish hopped down to the ground and sat there with a look almost like he was thinking. Thinking hard. He looked up at her with expectancy.

"Oh, you want me to think too? That's a good idea. You're so smart." Cerrena told Fish, and sat down on a bench nearby. "We could just wait, but I don't have much food left. I mean, only half a candy bar? Sheesh, we should ration our food better. I only have the juice box left for hydration, and I don't feel like dying of dehydration anytime soon." They kept brainstorming.

"Oh! I have an idea. What if we wait here-Fish trust me here!-and only have a little bit of candy at lunch, a little more before bed, and some in the morning. Then, when we start really needing the juice, we open it and have a little. I brought tape, so we could just sip a little and then cover it up so we could have some later." Cerrena explained. "Does that sound okay to you?" Fish just looked at her. "Oh. You can't really speak. Um, jump up and down for yes and run in a circle for no. Does that work?"

Fish jumped up and down a few times. "Sweet! Okay, does my plan sound good to you?" Fish jumped up and down a few more times. "Alright! Cool. So I guess we just wait." Cerrena pulled out her phone and started playing music, but made it so Fish could still hear. She felt like having a high energy song, so she played "Ink Me Up" by the one and only Squid Sisters.

She wasn't old enough to have participated in the final Splatfest they hosted, Callie vs Marie, but she would've been on team Callie, though it was a hard choice. She also wasn't old enough to have participated in the Chaos vs Order Splatfest hosted by Off the Hook, but she was on team Chaos all the way. Which is why she was going to Splatsville-it was nicknamed "the city of chaos." Who wouldn't want to go there? Oh right, all of her friends.

By lunch time, Cerrena was starved. Her stomach was growling like the monster under Nakji's bed. Nakji said there was a monster under her bed, and it was her second greatest fear. It made evil growling noises, stole her food, and some mornings she could see scratches on her door. Electra thought it was Nakji's old cat that had run away, but Nakji doesn't believe her and can't remember ever owning a cat.

Cerrena was laying down on the bench, and her phone was almost out of batteries, so she had to turn it off. The concrete was really hot, so Fish had jumped up onto the bench with her.

"Hey, Fish, you hungry?" she asked. Fish jumped up and down enthusiastically. "Okay, I'll get some food. I'm really hungry too." She handed him a piece of candy. He ate it so fast, and was already pretty skinny for how Salmonid small fry were supposed to look, so she gave him her piece. "Here. You seem more hungry than I do." Fish made a happy and grateful face at her, and she smiled.

She was really grateful for the shade. The Splatlands were really hot, and the sun was relentless. She was sad that she couldn't turn on the sprinklers from above since water is lethal to Inklings. If she were to turn it on, she would die. The shade didn't help too much, but it was better than nothing.

"Hey, does this station have an outlet? I could plug in my phone. I really want some Off the Hook beats." Cerrena wondered. Fish jumped up and started doing his little waddle run thing towards the other bench. "Oh, there's one right here. Thanks, Fish! You're awesome." She patted his head and plugged in her phone. "Which song do you want? There's Color Pulse, Shark Bytes, ooh, Nasty Majesty! You good with that?" Fish motioned for yes. "Cool," She said and pressed play.

When the sun started to set, Cerrena sat up. "Woah, Fish, look at that! The sunset is so pretty! It's prettier than at home!" she exclaimed. The sunset had always been one of her favorite things, and it was so cool when she could see it without any buildings or cities in the way. It had turned the whole sky red and yellow, and it was just the sun in the sky. Fish and Cerrena sat there, watching the sunset. With "Into the Light" by Off the Hook playing, it was mesmerizing.

Night had fallen. "Fish, let's have some food." Cerrena said. She broke off another piece, and split it in two. She gave one to Fish and ate the other one. Since she gave Fish her last piece, she was really hungry. "Hey, want some juice, Fish?" she asked. Fish motioned yes. "Okay, let me get it out." She opened it and took a sip.

"Here, Fish. Try not to drink too much, we need it for-FISH!" Fish started gulping the whole thing down. "Fish, we need that for tomorrow! You can't just chug the whole thing!" Fish stopped drinking. Cerrena took the juice box away. "Dude, you drank the WHOLE thing?!" He looked sad and ashamed. "Oh, it's okay. We could probably just find something when we get to Splatsville tomorrow. We'll just have to find it as soon as we get there." she said, patting his sweet little head.

"Let's just go to bed, okay, Fish?" Fish jumped. "Good night…" Cerrena yawned, and fell asleep.

Cerrena woke up late the next morning, about 9:50ish. Fish was still asleep, with his face smushed against her bag. Aww, he's so cute. I think I'll pack up as much as I can without waking him up, she thought.

Fish ended up waking up at 10:30. The moment he woke up, he jumped and started running North. "Wait, Fish, where are you going?" Cerrena jumped onto her feet and ran after him.

He brought her to a little lunch box thing. "Woah, How'd you find this? What's in here?" she wondered. When she opened it, inside was a Tri-Stringer and a little card. "Ooh, a Tri-Stringer? I love those! And a Splashtag? I never imagined owning one! Woah…Let's get back to the station, Fish. Thanks for helping me find these!"

When the train finally arrived, they were relieved to see that it stopped. "Ugh, finally! I was starting to go insane!" Fish just looked at her. "Okay, I guess I was insane before this whole incident. But I was about to go even MORE insane!" They stepped on the train. The only open spot was right next to this really big blobfish guy. That guy looks kind of scary. Cerrena thought, but still sat down next to him. He ended up being the most chatty guy on the whole train. This explains why the only empty seat was next to him…

Blobfish: Hi! How are you?

Cerrena: Good…How are you…?

Blobfish: Oh, I'm doing fine. Where are you headed?

Cerrena: Splatsville…

Blobfish: Oh, you're heading there? That's a nice place. Have you played Turf War yet?

Cerrena: Ye-

Blobfish: Here are the rules- There are two teams of up to four players each, with each team assigned its own ink color. The main objective for each team is to cover as much of the stage, as displayed on the overhead Turf Map, as they can. Players may attempt to splat each other as well to temporarily avoid resistance or for defense. Each team has three minutes to spread ink around the stage. After the timer reaches 0, Judd and Li'l Judd calculate how much of the stage was covered by each team. The team with the highest percentage of turf coverage wins the round. Stages will rotate every two hours. Did you get all that?

Cerrena: Yes, I already knew that, thanks. Now-

Blobfish: Okay. Now, do you know how Anarchy or Ranked battles work? They're pretty much the same thing, but with Anarchy battles, if you win five times you go up. If you lose three times, you go down. With Ranked battles, it really depends on how badly your rank gauge is cracked. I can tell you how Splat Zones work, if you want.

Cerrena: Um, no thanks. I already know.

Blobfish: Oh, you do? That's spectacular, really. I didn't expect someone so young to know how Ranked and Anarchy battles work already. I hope you know how currency works. You seem like the type to be able to count.

Cerrena: Uh, thanks?

Blobfish: Did you know? Ammo Knights is now doing a different way of selling weapons. They're doing little card things. Do you currently have any?

Cerrena: Uh, no…

Blobfish: Oh, that's a shame. You really should if you want to get new weapons. Weapons are very important in battles, they help you-

Train conductor: Welcome to Blobtown, the place where Blobfish live. Hope you have a nice day

Blobfish: Well, I must be going. Goodbye.

Cerrena sighed with relief. His voice was really annoying. The conductor made an announcement (again). "Next stop: Splatsville."

Sweet! Not long until we arrive. Cerrena thought. Fish looked pretty excited. And hungry. They were both really hungry and needed food soon.

"Hi, Cerrena." said a familiar voice. "How are you?" Cerrena looked up. It was Macro!

"Oh, hi Macro! Did you decide you wanted to go to Splatsville?" she asked, patting the seat next to her. "Sit down, dude."

"Thanks. I decided this morning, but when I looked at the train schedule, this one was going to leave before I could get to the same station that you did. I hopped over to Blobtown, and grabbed some food thinking you would've forgotten to pack enough food. I also grabbed some sodas, want one?" he offered.

"OH MY GOSH YES YOU ARE THE AWESOMEST!" she yelled. Multiple people looked at her. But she didn't care. Food was the one thing she needed right now. "Can Fish have some too?" she asked, motioning to her little buddy. "He's also really hungry and thirsty. There was nothing out there, and a different train left before we could get on."

"Well, that explains why you were on this train instead of already in Splatsville. He can have some too. Aww, he's cute! You said his name was Fish?" He asked.

"Yeah, Fish." Cerrena and Fish started eating. They ate almost all of the food before Macro stopped them.

"Woah, dude, slow down, I only have so much!" he said.

"Oh yeah, sorry. It's been a few days," She apologized.

"Naw, it's okay. So-" the train conductor interrupted him.

"We have arrived at Splatsville, the city of chaos. Have fun, friends."

"Cool! C'mon, Macro and Fish!" Cerrena hopped off of her seat, and they all left the train. There was a little bit of a walk into the city, but they got there soon enough. When they walked into the city, Cerrena gasped, "Wow…" I can't believe I'm actually here!

"It's really big…" Macro breathed.

Splatsville was really big. Its buildings had shops on multiple floors, and were covered in advertisements for various businesses. Right up a flight of stairs was the lobby, where you would go to join a turf war. Its lights running all the way to the top had neon colors run up, then go back down.

"Hold up, is that old guy staring at us?" Marco asked.

"Where? The guy in the sewer? Gross, why is he in there?" Cerrena questioned his existence. "Let's ask him what he's doing."

"Alright." Marco agreed. As soon as they got close enough, the old man ducked down and disappeared. "Wha-"

"Why did he just leave? We should follow him." Cerrena decided, and jumped down into the manhole.

"Well, I guess we're going in." Marco said, then followed her down.

Author's note: Hi again! How are you all? I hope that you're all liking this story, I had a really uneventful weekend and I guess I just blasted out two whole chapters. After I put out the first one, I realized it was really short, so I hope this one is a little bit more like an actual chapter. Again, this is my first novel, so any reviews and tips are really appreciated.