Chapter 1 - Who Are You?
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"Mom, I'm leaving for school!" Ten year old Taylor Coralle called to his mother as he ran down the stairs.
"Oh, Taylor, don't forget to grab your lunch!" His mother said from the kitchen. "It's next to the door. Love you!"
Taylor grabbed his sweatshirt and hurriedly put it on. He slipped his arms through the sleeves and pulled it down to his chest. His bright orange tentacles were showing as he pulled the hood down below his head.
He quickly gave his mother a hug before he ran back to the door and put on his sneakers. His bright green sneakers contrasted with the rest of his clothing, which consisted of a gray sweatshirt and a black pair of pants. After he unzipped his lunch pack and saw the sandwich and lemonade his mother packed for him, he put his lunch in his backpack and opened the door to leave for school.
"Bye, mom! Love you!" Taylor called out before he closed the door and began his walk to school.
The school he attended was called the 'James L. Clamsings Memorial School,' and was known among the students and the residents of the area as simply, 'The Clam.' It was located in the center of a suburban area of Inkopolis, so it was the school of choice for many families, including Taylor's.
The Clam was only a twenty minute walk from Taylor's house, so the young inkling decided to walk to school almost every day to meet up with his friend, Will Wrasse.
Taylor strolled along the sidewalk, letting the cool fall breeze batter him as he walked. He had a smile on his face as he ventured to Will's house, which he was approaching.
In a short distance, he could see Will standing outside his house. Although Taylor was taller, his friend was two months older than him, thus creating a lot of "short" and "old" jokes between the two of them.
Taylor quickly ran up to Will, who was looking at the concrete sidewalk. The sound of Taylor's sneakers hitting the sidewalk alerted Will of his presence, and looked up at the younger boy running towards him.
"Hey, Taylor, are you ready for school today?" Will asked.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be!" Taylor responded, excited. "Today we finally get to use the weapons!"
"Oh man, I'm so excited!" Will said. "I woke up early this morning to study beforehand!"
"There is no way you actually did that, Will."
"I did it. I am fully prepared for class today."
The two boys began their walk to the school, as they continued their conversation about the weapons class that would be taking place today.
"Y'know, I think I'm going to choose a Splattershot." Taylor decided.
"Wait, do we even get to choose what weapon we get?" Will asked. "I thought they were just assigned to us."
"Nope. Remember last week? Mrs. Willow told us that we get to choose."
"Oh. I must've fallen asleep. I was really tired last week."
"Whatever, shorty," Taylor said as he rubbed Will's tentacles jokingly. "What weapon are you gonna choose?"
"I think I'm going to choose the Splat Roller. They seem fun to use."
"I was considering using the Splat Charger, but decided against it."
"Why? They look fun to use."
"You get no action. All you have to do is sit in the back and shoot. Nothing comes to you."
The duo looked up and saw the school in the near distance. The buses at the front entrance had begun letting the students off the bus, letting the boys know that they were on time.
They arrived at the school ten minutes before the start of their first class, so they wandered around the halls until the bell rang. As they walked through the school, Taylor's eyes wandered all across the halls; he stared at the mural of Inkopolis Square that someone had painted on the wall. No one knew how it got there; as far as the teachers knew, it just appeared on the wall one day.
However, standing next to the mural, against the wall, was Thomas Lagardes and his three friends. Thomas, who prefers to go by Tommy, and his friends were classmates of Taylor and Will, and they sat behind them in class. Even then, he had never said a word to Taylor or Will throughout the first two months of the school year.
Tommy stared at the boys as they walked down the hallway. Unbeknownst to Taylor, but the two families had been at odds with each other since their parents were young adults.
About 5 years ago, Jay Coralle, Taylor's father, was a manager at Inkopolis' largest transportation company, Swordfish Transportation. During his tenure, Daniel Lagardes, Tommy's father, was a skilled worker for the company.
One day, Jay was checking the annual pay for the workers, and noticed that Daniel was making much more than all the other workers, despite the payroll saying that everyone would make the same amount. Jay investigated further and discovered that Daniel had been hacking into the company's payroll system and giving himself more money ever since he began working there, giving himself hefty bonuses and reporting that he worked when he actually did not.
Jay filed a report with the police, and soon after Daniel was arrested for embezzling money from the company. Following a lengthy trial, Daniel Lagardes was sentenced to thirty years in jail.
After the trial, the Lagardes' began to hate the Coralles. Daniel spent all his time insisting that he did not do any wrongdoing, and his wife believed the lies. Tommy was only five years old at the time, so his mother spoon fed him lies about his father's conviction, making him believe that it was all the Coralle's fault. When his mom found out he was going to school with the Coralle's son, she told him to make Taylor's life hell.
Since Taylor had no idea who Tommy even was, or his family, he was unprepared for what happened next.
Tommy whispered into his friends' ear before he walked up behind Taylor. He swung his leg back and kicked Taylor full force in the back of the knee, causing him to crumple to the ground. Will immediately looked around, but saw no signs of the perpetrator nearby. Meanwhile, everybody around Taylor was laughing, while he was in pain on the floor.
Shortly after, a teacher came running down the hallway. "What's going on here!?" She demanded. "What's with all the ruckus!?"
"Taylor is injured, ma'am." Will said, pointing the inkling on the floor.
"Well, what happened?" Kneeling down next to Taylor.
"I'm not sure," Taylor said. "I was walking down the hallway when all of a sudden, someone kicked me in the back of my knee."
"Are you able to walk?"
"Uhh… maybe?" He said as he tried to stand up on his two legs. "Ow, ow, ow, nope, that's not gonna happen."
"Alright, well, I guess we'll get you some treatment." The teacher said, "Will, can you take him to the nurse's office?"
Will nodded his head as he helped Taylor stand up on one leg. The two friends hobbled down the hallway in the direction they came from as everybody around them watched. Taylor looked all around him, into the faces of his classmates. Tommy and his friends were standing next to the mural, snickering with each other while looking at Taylor and Will. The injured boy saw this, and watched them as he hobbled away.
When the two boys were far enough away from everyone, they began talking.
"Who do you think did it?" Will asked Taylor.
"I think it was that Tommy Lagardes kid," Taylor answered. "When we were leaving, he was looking at me like he did something."
"Have you ever even talked to Tommy?"
"Nope. None of his friends either. If it was him, then I don't know what he has against me."
"Maybe it has something to do with your families."
"That's stupid. I doubt anyone would target me because of something stupid my grandfather did or something like that."
"You never know, Taylor. The nurse's office is right around the corner, we can get you some ice for your leg."
The two boys stumbled their way into the nurse's office, who was sitting at her desk, checking something on her computer. When she heard the door open, she looked up at the two boys, and looked very confused.
"Hello, Mrs, uh-" Will said as he quickly glanced at the nametag on her desk, "-Saltsman. My friend Taylor here injured his leg."
"What exactly happened?" She asked, standing up to help Taylor.
"He got hit in the leg extremely hard."
"Alright. Well, we'll put him on the chair and inspect his injury. But I don't think it'll be anything too serious."
With some help from Will, the nurse lifted Taylor up and sat him down on a chair. She had Will hold his leg up as she looked on the underside of his knee, where he was hit. The skin had begun bruising and looked swollen. Taylor winced in pain as she poked and prodded the injury.
"So, it doesn't look like you have any serious injuries, but it is swollen and bruised." The nurse explained. "I'll give you some ice, and once you can walk, you can go back to class."
Taylor nodded as he accepted the cold ice pack from the nurse. He placed it on the underside of his knee, groaning softly in pleasure as the cold ice felt good on his knee. The nurse returned to her desk and started typing on the computer again.
"Hey, I'm heading back to class," Will said. "I'll try to make sure you get your Splattershot."
"Thanks Will." Taylor smiled. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
Will smiled back at the injured boy before he turned around and exited the nurse's office. Taylor sighed and continued to ice his injured leg.
Nearly twenty minutes later, Taylor's leg started to feel better, so he took the ice off and tried to stand on it. It did not hurt him at all. Next, he tried to walk from one end of the nurse's office to the other. He did that with ease.
After the nurse made sure that everything was alright, Taylor was allowed to go to class. He said goodbye to the nurse, and made his way down the hallway to Mrs. Willow's classroom.
The halls were empty, which was an unusual sight for Taylor, as he was always in the hallway when it was busy. He reached Mrs. Willow's classroom, and tried to open the door.
'Crap, it's locked,' Taylor thought. 'I hope I'm not in trouble.' He knocked on the door.
He waited outside the door, with slight panic written all over his face. There was a slight pause, and then the door opened. On the other side of it was Mrs. Willow, staring at Taylor.
"Why, hello Taylor," she said. "Please take your seat. We're just recapping the different weapons from last class."
He breathed a sigh of relief as he walked into the classroom. All eyes were on him as he made his way to the middle of the class, where he and Will's seats were. Once he sat down, Mrs. Willow began continuing her lecture about the different types of weapons.
Taylor barely paid attention, as he already knew what weapon he was going to pick, and no amount of information was going to change that. Will, on the other hand, was paying very close attention to every detail the teacher was saying, as he was still unsure of what weapon to pick.
Meanwhile, Tommy and his friends, who sat behind Taylor and Will, were whispering among themselves. Every time Taylor turned around to look at them, they would quickly stop talking. Eventually, Taylor began to ignore it, and spent the rest of the lecture trying not to fall asleep.
"Alright class, those are the weapons," Mrs. Willow said. "Does anybody have any last minute questions?"
The class was silent.
"Okay then, when I call your name, come up here and pick your weapon and get your ink tank First up, Madison Abalone." Madison walked to the front of the room and picked out a Splat Roller.
Taylor paid close attention to the teacher, waiting for his name to be called. Since his last name was Coralle, he was going to be one of the first ones.
After three kids got their weapons, Mrs. Willow called Taylor's name. He quickly made his way to the front of the classroom to inspect the weapon selection. Since he was one of the earlier people to get his weapon, he was able to choose from a plethora of options. And even with this multitude of options, he knew exactly what he was going to pick; a Splattershot.
Taylor walked right up to the box of Splattershots and grabbed the one on top. After quickly checking to make sure it was not destroyed, he accepted an ink tank from Mrs. Willow, and he returned to his seat. He patiently waited for everyone to get their weapon and ink tank, while Will was getting impatient, as he was last. When Will got to the front, he scoured the remaining weapons, and chose a Splat Roller.
Once everyone in the class settled down, Mrs. Willow gave an announcement to the class. "Okay class, now that all of you have your weapons of choice, we're going to go outside, where you'll meet with Mr. Washerton, who will observe your first turf wars."
The whole class cheered in celebration.
"Alright, let's get going." Mrs. Willow said as she stood up and walked to the door.
All of the kids quickly got up and made their way to their door, with Taylor and Will in the back.
"Wow, Will, can you believe it?" Taylor said excitedly. "We're going to be playing in a turf war!"
"I'm super excited, and I can tell that you are as well. Do you think we're gonna do good?"
"Of course we are. And even if we aren't that good, it's still good to have some experience."
The two boys laughed as they followed the group outside.
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The real chapter 1! We met Taylor, his friend Will, and someone else named Tommy. Chapter 2 (?) coming soon!
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