Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three walked into the lobby, a smile plainly visible on their face. In truth, while they usually rented out a Tenta Brella for use in matches, something about the one in their hands being completely their own made it feel entirely different.

Thankfully, while the layout of this lobby for Inkopolis was pretty different than the one Splatsville, it had many of the same amenities.

A counter with a sleeping inkling in uniform and sporting a slicked-back hairstyle on top was near the entrance. Along the wall on the right, there were two terminals just past the counter, a battle pot against the back wall, a pretty small alcove with a couple rows of lockers. Across from it all was a fancy looking waiting room, with couches and lounge chairs upholstered with a red fabric of some kind, and framed with a polished dark wood adorned by ornate carvings.

Wow. Fancy.

They heard a quiet snort behind them.

Three turned around, looking at Kaori. What? It's true. Especially compared to the lobby back in Splatsville.

Honestly, I think it's a bit too fancy. Makes me feel like I don't belong.

Kaori reached over and patted their shoulder as her head lightly bobbed up and down.

Wow. Harsh.

Jeez, you don't gotta tell me to my face that I'm right.

Her head tilted to the right but her face was completely expressionless. Unless if the subtle opening of her lips means something?

I mean, it's true. Especially considering my outfit. But damn.

Kaori still was standing there, unmoving as they stared directly at Three with seemingly no expression whatsoever.

You uh… You okay, Kaori? Did I do something wrong?

Three realized that her mouth had continued to open, now as her brows and cheeks became scrunched. And her head would jerk as it sporadically twisted towards her left, moving only a few millimeters each time.

Hello? Kaori? Three almost considered waving their hand in front of her face, though they decided against it at the last second.

I've never seen her like this. I hope it's nothing bad… Hm. I have an idea. It likely won't work, but it's better than nothing.

Three looked towards Sumi, smiling as they gently picked the smallfry up, before holding them in front of Kaori's face.

Do your thing, little buddy!

Sumi knew exactly what to do, and licked the right side of Kaori's face before nuzzling her.

Or well, Sumi would have nuzzled her, had it not been for the fit of coughing and sputtering that suddenly overtook the little salmonid. They were left shuddering once their reaction settled down.

Woah, what?! I've never seen Sumi react like this to… anything, really.

You okay, Sumi? Three asked, concern evident in their voice.

I'll have to get you some lemon bars later as an apology.

The smallfry took a second before glancing back towards them, letting out a chirp in response to Three's worry.

Three smiled, bringing Sumi in close to their face for the equivalent of a hug. Or atleast, the closest one can get to a hug when one of the participants is a tiny fish.

I meant that I know the feeling. It has always been the same for me. I was even kicked out of here once, when I was… closer to the usual starting age for Turf War.

Wait, seriously?

Kaori nodded. While Three was focused on Sumi, she must have…returned to normal and started responding.

Why? If you don't mind me asking, that is.

It took a bit of pondering, from what Three could tell, before Kaori thought of her answer and began typing away.

Existing and being myself in the same place of someone very prejudiced and arrogant.

Oh. Gross.

That lady even hit me several times. Left a few bruises and even broke some cartilage. Callie and Marie were furious once they found me and heard what happened.

The fuck? Why?!

Kaori shrugged before pressing a button on the device, causing it to continue speaking for her.

Imagine her surprise when she would have found herself being talked about on live TV, by the hosts of Inkopolis News back then. I remember the headline too: ‘Woman Attacks Shy, Mute Girl in Turf War Lobby’. Needless to say, none of the coverage was positive.

Three let out a bark of laughter at that. Hah! Serves 'em right.

Both inkfish suddenly heard a bang come from the direction of the doorway. There, the sleeping attendant was, in fact, no longer sleeping. Having been awoken by Three's outburst, the attendant looked around until noticing the very inkling that had awoken them.

Staring directly at Three, the attendant stood and spoke up.

Sorry sir, but this lobby is reserved for only the residents in the area and their guests. I'm going to have to ask both of you to leave, but you're free to go over to the main lobby in Inkopolis Square.

Three's eyes widened, and they quickly glanced over to Kaori, as if begging her to step in. But she wasn't there.

Shit, where did she go?!

That was then they realized; she was already standing right in front of the attendant, arms crossed and brows lowered.

Admittedly, it was a bit reminiscent of a pouting child looking up at an adult that earned their ire, especially with the height difference between the two, and Kaori's younger appearance.

Wait, when did she move?

Clearly intimidated by Kaori, the attendant sat back down and shrunk into their chair. They also raised both of their arms in front of their face and were shivering, clearly afraid that she was about to attack them.

Three could barely make out what they were sputtering.

Pleasepleaseplease don't hurt me I'm just trying to do my job please don't hurt me, please…

Instead, Kaori took out a card from her pocket and set it down on the counter firmly, before sliding it closer to the frightened inkling.

Bit of a strong reaction there, guy… Oh wait, now I think about it, Kaori isn't hiding her scar… I guess I've gotten used to seeing it already.

They stopped, and peeked out from their defensive stance for a bit before gingerly letting their guard down. It seemed the attendant was almost in disbelief that Kaori wasn't attacking at all. Just doing something totally normal.

Stern, but normal.

They picked up the card, looked at it, and then their eyes widened with a realization. Or maybe it was terror.

M-My apologies, Miss C-C-Cuttlefish. I'm n-new here.

Kaori held her hand out, and the attendant returned what presumably was her ID card. It was promptly placed back into the very pocket it had been retrieved from earlier.

Um… Is d-there anything I can do for you today?

She held out her right arm and beckoned Three towards the counter. As they approached, she was already entering something into her machine, about to communicate whatever it was that involved Three and the attendant's job.

My esteemed guest from afar wishes to participate in some turf war battles here in Inkopolis, using the new regulation weapon that they received today, for their birthday. I would like for them to be registered as a player here in Inkadia, such that they can jump in anytime they are visiting without any hassle.

Kaori briefly turned up the volume on her… talking device thingy, while it spoke out a pronoun that referred to Three.

Wow. She's certainly upset. I appreciate it, though.

Uh, yes. Right ah-away.

The attendant readjusted themselves in their chair, and turned to the computer at their side.

Is h—um… Have they already registered at a lobby associated with another center in the league?

Three spoke up to answer the question, as it was about themselves after all.

Yeah, in Splatsville.

What's your game name and discriminator?

Daybreaker, and my what, sorry? Don't know what a discriminator is.

The number that's used along with your name. Like with mine, um…

The attendant paused as he scratched the back of his neck, looking…embarrassed?

It's Cuttlefresh; forty-seven, ninety-five.

Kaori let out a slight gurgle of laughter, her attempt to suppress it having failed.

Wait, why is she laughing? Something funny about the guy's game name? What could be that funny about ‘Cuttlefresh’? It's just a play on—

It took a bit for the realization to have dawned upon them.

Oh, ouch. That's an awkward game name, considering the Captain's family name and… the current situation.

The poor guy must have been so embarrassed about the coincidence. Three decided that they probably should speak up quickly, for… the attendant's sake.

Ah, thank you. In that case, mine is two-eight, three-three.

Twenty-eight thirty-three? Alright… And how is your game name written out?

Just the word daybreak, but with an E-R at the end.

Okay, and… Should I just copy over all the details, or is there somewhere here in Inkopolis that you'd like any mail to go to for now?

Three glanced over at Kaori, unsure of what to do.

She simply looked back at them. Probably awaiting Three's answer, or maybe for them to ask her something? They weren't really sure.

I'm just visiting the city for my birthday, so… copy over?

Okay then, it'll take a moment, but you can go use one of the unreserved lockers to store your stuff, or wait in the lounge. The stuff on the counter is free to take, as long as you are actually eating it here.

Three flashed a thumbs up. Alright, thank you!

No problem man—er…sorry.

Three shook their head, chuckling as they held a hand up. All good. You didn't mean any harm.

There was a tap on their shoulder. They turned around, looking at Kaori.

Hm? What's up?

Follow me to the locker room, her device responded.

Three gave her a nod. After you, then.

She placed the metallic machine into her jacket's large pocket before walking off.

As the two made their way to the locker room, Three quickly spoke up once more.

Hm. You think I should get a pronoun pin?

Kaori seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging.

Should prevent having to correct anyone. Admittedly, I was too busy trying to think of an explanation and looking for you at the same time to really pay much attention to the use of wrong pronouns. And, obviously, the second time was clearly accidental.

Three realized that they were standing in the middle of the room while she was left holding a door next open for them, next to the lockers.

Inside, there were more. Many more lockers.

Ah. My bad, sorry. they said before walking in.

Kaori followed behind as they entered the locker room.

Walking over to the far corner of the room, Kaori stopped in front of a large dark blue locker that was at least twice as tall as their own back in Splatsville.

Taking out an object that Three couldn't see, she pushed the item into the bulky lock and twisted her wrist. Kaori then pulled the locker door open.

Wow. That is…

Inside the tall double-height locker was a myriad of weapons, gear, and other belongings more typical of a school locker than one meant for storing stuff related to a physical activity like Turf War. It was a lot to take in all at once, so Three scanned their eyes upwards from the bottom.

First they saw shoes of several varieties. Some were familiar, such as the pink Tentatek brand sneakers, while the pink hiking boots and tall brown boots with some kind of bracing were unknown to the Splatlandian scavenger beyond seeing others wear similar gear in Splatsville.

And then there were these weird white shoes—or maybe they were boots—with a round cerulean ring at the top and color-matched soles.

Three had never seen anything like it before.

Moving on, there were two weapons sitting on a shelf just above the shoes; both of them being chargers. The one looked very much like the E-liter, while the other must have been an earlier model of Splat Charger.

She uses chargers? Scary. Though I like the look of that Splat Charger, even if I'm not one for the weapon class myself. I like the look of the lime trim on its black body, and its glowing blue dots are pretty cool.

Something about the weapon's sleek appearance felt rather familiar to Three.

Now that I think about it, it kinda reminds me of… Kaori's headset, almost.

At the same level as the two chargers were clothes set on hangers. A couple of tee shirts, one which looked like a basic tee but with a different design, were hanging alongside what appeared to be a school uniform, a short-sleeved sweater, and a white dress with cerulean trim.

But their attention was moved up to the next part of the locker by the two matching bracelets around the top of the hanger with the dress.

They were not expecting what they saw next.

Above the clothing was a large stash of cans spanning the entire width of the locker, all with the exact same black and blue labeling on them. The shape and size reminded Three of the special cans they occasionally found in Alterna, but whatever was inside was probably something different, guessing by the unfamiliar wavy logo.

They couldn't really read any of the text that was on the label without grabbing one of the cans, and that would be a rather rude thing to do.

Immediately above Kaori's weird stash was a shelf holding very little. Only a small book atop a closed wooden case and a pair of glasses with a thick white plastic frame and a cerulean head strap of similar thickness.

Finally, taking up the top quarter of the entire locker was a variety of weapons, all being shooters. Splattershot Pro, Splash-O-Matic, Aerospray, an empty space with some white fabric hanging from it, and…

Wait. Is that… No, It can't be… right?

This was a shooter that Three very much recognised, not from Turf War, but the tests in Alterna.

It was unmistakable, the familiar rugged metal and plastic construction of the standard issue military grade weapon they faced down the business end a few too many times.

There, inside Kaori's locker, was an Octoshot.

Though to Three, they were ‘weird Splattershots’.

Why does she have one of those?! I get that the NSS is paramilitary, but…

It was at this very moment that Kaori leaned over to look Three in the face directly. They jumped backwards, not expecting the sudden closeness.

Ack! They exclaimed, clearly caught off guard.

Kaori took the speech device out of her pocket and typed something in.

Is something wrong?

Three pointed at the Octoshot, looking at Kaori.

Why do you…

Oh, she was already typing more.

My replica? It was a gift. I don't use it, so I keep it as a display piece. But it would also be in bad taste to put it up in the apartment like my original Splattershot currently is.

Bad taste? Three asked, giving their head a slight tilt.

Might be mistaken as a war trophy, and it would bother Callie and Marie anyways. They're a bit too used to finding themselves on the wrong end of the real thing.

Yeah, I can—uh… I can relate.

Kaori chuckled slightly before typing more on her…thing.

I am going to head over to the shop next door and get myself something to drink. Sumi can stay on the shelf with my other glasses. Store whatever else you need to in my locker too, there's plenty of room on the shelf beneath my clothes. And you will be needing this; do not lose it.

She held out the key for them to take.

The key was unusually long, with its numerous teeth cut at irregular angles. The blade of each of the key's three prongs formed a different pattern, and thus, a completely different combination.

Three took the key from her, inspecting it.

Well. That's certainly a… Three paused, struggling to find the right words. It sure is a lot more complicated than what I have back home. Though I can't imagine the pain of losing the key, though.

Kaori let out a slight snort before heading out of the room.

Turning their look back towards Sumi, Three smiled warmly as they picked up the tiny salmonid, putting them in the locker.

See you soon, buddy.

They gently patted Sumi's head before closing and securing the locker door.

Walking over to the lobby terminal, Three quickly checked the current and future rotations for turf war.

Let's see here… current rotation is… Wahoo World, and… Port Mackerel? Interesting. Makes sense that they have different stages here in Inkopolis. Guess I'll find out what it's like in short order.

Walking into the battle pot, Three joined the queue for regular battles. After a brief wait, the battle pot dinged as the grate access opened up beneath them.

Three eagerly went into swim form and passed through the grate, excited to turf with their new brella.

Popping out of their spawner, Three tried their best to survey the area before the match officially started.

Oh… I'm gonna like this stage a lot, I can tell.

They were on Port Mackerel, a stage utterly filled with choke points that were perfect for controlling with their weapon of choice.

Launching from the spawner into the stage, Three blitzed towards the middle of the stage as quickly as they could, their teammates opting for a slower advance as they inked base.

Just need to draw attention and get splats, my teammates can ink far better than I can.

Arriving at the central open area, Three found that they… were the first one there?

Wait a minute… is the entire enemy team inking their base?

Sure enough, peeking down the sightlines into the opposing side of the stage, Three could spot at least three other inkfish, all spreading their team's ink around the area.

Well… that's certainly one strategy. I can work with this.

Taking the free opportunity given, Three quickly worked on inking a sizable area and setting up squid beakons in hidden corners on their side of the stage. If the other team was going to let them get set up to take space in the middle of the stage for absolutely free, they certainly wouldn't waste the opportunity.

While all this setup took a decent amount of time, not a single opposing player had come out of the base.

They're still in their base…? Geez, it's probably been over a minute already. Inkopolis turf players are a lot different from the ones back home it seems. Far more timid, for starters.

The sounds of footfalls came from both behind and in front of them, punctuated by weapons fire.

A smug grin emerged on Three's face.

Sounds like everyone's finally caught up. Time to do what I do best!

Swimming towards the left entrance into the other team's base, they quickly got into a position where they could stall any enemies coming out of base with their brella. It didn't take long for someone to challenge them, an octoling boy wielding an N-ZAP coming around the corner. Upon seeing Three, they opened fire, going for what likely seemed to be an easy splat.

Three quickly fired off a return shot, which didn't quite splat, but still did some damage. Upon the opening of their canopy, the shooter wielding octoling quickly dived into the ink, trying to maneuver around the giant shield, only to get himself caught by a second blast of ink and splatted.

Three stood there and smirked as the boy's ghost fluttered back to their respawn machine.

Hah! Gotcha.

However, they were quickly pulled from their satisfaction. The clanking sound of a splat bomb landing next to them demanded their immediate attention.

Shit, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings!

Three swam away as fast as they could, but their weapons weight slowed them down enough that they weren't able to fully escape the blast, some ink splashing onto them. The ink stung a little, but they kept swimming, just in case the owner of that bomb was giving pursuit.

And sure enough, a large swath of ink hit the ground where they were not a second before, courtesy of a slosher.

Three made way to the closest escape route, which seemed relatively clear. Unfortunately, this was when a forklift closed off the route, blocking them at the worst possible moment. They were trapped in a corner, already damaged, and against a slosher.

Oh, why now?!

This was punctuated by yet another bomb landing by their feet, this time catching Three completely off guard. They hadn't kept their eye on the attacker, and they had paid the price for it. Their opponent decided to toy with them a little.

Well fu— The bomb exploded, sending Three right back to the respawn machine. They eventually emerged with an annoyed look on their face.

I really need to work on how often I get tunnel vision.

But they were quickly pulled out of their thoughts, the familiar opening of Now or Never! blaring through the speakers.

Opting for a risky move, Three decided to super jump to a teammate. Playing safe would take too long.

Surveying the area through the air, it seemed like their team was managing to push back the other team, though barely.

Shit, I gotta get in and help my team!

Taking a brief second to glance at their landing spot, they noticed something off.

That… was not that green a second ago. Ah hell, this should be fun.

They could see the opposing Dynamo Roller standing still, directly in front of their landing spot with the roller against the ground behind her back, waiting for an easy splat.

Three only had one chance to save themselves.

They raised their weapon, adjusted their aim for where they'd be upon landing, and fired.

Splat!

Unfortunately for Three, the opposing roller wielder had already started swinging for a flick before they had even landed. While Three had managed to get the clean oneshot, they were still too late, the wave of ink crashing into them before their canopy could open, splatting them once again.

Launching out of their spawner once more, Three quickly let out a growl as they opted to swim to the front line. Time was short, and risking another jump like that was not going to do them any favors. Besides, they had a score to settle.

Upon reaching the large open area in the center of the stage, they quickly scanned for any trace of the Dynamo Roller. Finding nothing on the left side, they quickly trained their glance to the right.

You.

Their target had been located, and by the looks of things, she was already occupied with one of Three's teammates, a younger-looking octoling with a Splattershot Jr. Seeing the roller user starting a flick aimed straight at their teammate, Three quickly swam straight towards them, motivated purely by a frustrated urge for revenge.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction their teammate provided, they opened and launched the canopy of their brella to make the final push of their advance. Seeing the approaching canopy, the dynamo girl quickly tried to launch ink over the canopy to some degree of success, as Three was showered in some of her ink.

Clenching their beak to work through the pain, they quickly swam underneath the launched canopy, before rising out of the ink with a blast of their brella.

The roller user was unable to get away in time, the weight of her weapon too cumbersome. One clean shot from Three was all it took to send her directly back to her spawner.

A deranged smile broke out on Three's face, their need for vengeance sated. However, their expression quickly snapped back with a realization.

Wait, I… usually don't get riled up that easily. Especially after a mistake as simple as a bad super jump.

Lost in their thoughts, Three failed to notice the rapidly approaching ripples in the other team's ink. An inkbrush suddenly burst out of the ink, splatting them in a flurry of swings that battered their body.

Shit… That's what I get for getting distracted. But—Argh…! Why does it feel harder to respawn?! Are they using punisher on brush?!

Finally managing to reform in their spawner after a brief bit of difficulty, the whistle of the match's end rang out as they launched onto the field.

Damn, this one's gonna be close… Time to head back.

Returning to the lobby, Three looked around for Kaori, but she was nowhere to be seen. Their search was quickly cut short by a voice calling out to them.

Three! Over here! They quickly turned around to the source of the voice.

Well, somebody certainly likes the color pink.

Taking a closer look at the inkling calling them over to the lounge, realization dawned on them.

Wait a minute, Callie? What's she doing here?

A slight pang of disappointment washed over Three, they were really hoping it was Kaori waiting for them.

Well are you gonna come talk with me, or just stand there gawking as if I'm like some mega-celebrity?

Three squinted at her, as if to say ‘Really?’ before walking over to the totally not an international pop sensation that was dressed in black and pink.

Uh… Where's Kaori? She walked me into the lobby, I'm surprised she left so fast.

Callie simply giggled, a hand held to her mouth.

Don't worry about it!~ Are you going to do another match? Not much time left on the terminal!

Oh, carp!

Three quickly rushed back towards the lobby terminal, reconfirming that yes, they wanted to keep going, as well as taking the time to glance at the results of their last match.

Twenty four points? Really? Ughhhh…

Pushing down their disappointment, they turned back towards the lounge where Callie was waiting. As they arrived and sat down in the luxuriously plush chair across the table from her, she spoke up.

Did ya get it in time?

Yeah… Thank you, that would have been really awkward once I realized I had forgotten to requeue.

Callie giggled before continuing.

It's alright. How'd your first match here in Inkopolis go? Aside from the loss; losing by less than a burst bomb's worth of inking sucks. Sorry about that.

Honestly? Confusing. Entire enemy team stayed in their base at first, I didn't know the map too well either, so I ended up getting caught in a dead end with a forklift. Definitely could've done better.

They let out an awkward chuckle, their eyes darting around as they searched for something other than their inattentiveness to possibly talk about. Three's eyes landed on the locker room, when they got an idea.

Oh! Callie, while you're here, would you mind looking after Sumi while I'm playing? I can imagine they'd probably like the opportunity to stretch their… Well, I'd say legs, but… you kno—

Three was cut off by a squeal coming from Callie.

Ohmygoshyesyespleaseyes, she blurted out in a rush before catching herself, I mean…Totally!

She took a moment to look around, before speaking again.

Uhm… Where is your little buddy anyways?

Letting out another awkward laugh, Three responded.

They're… Kind of just staying in the Captain's locker? I didn't know where else to leave them. If we were in Splatsville I'd let 'em do their own thing, but we don't know Inkopolis the same way we know the area around the lobby back home…

Checking their pockets, Three found the key for Kaori's locker, handing it off to Callie.

Here, go ahead and let Sumi out.

A smile broke out on Callie's face as she bounded over to Kaori's locker, followed shortly by a happy squeal.

Looking over, Three saw the reason why. Sumi had opted for napping, a hand towel their choice of bedding.

Ohh… they're just so adorable! She cooed, though her louder squeal had woken up Sumi slightly, the smallfry groggily getting up before warbling happily upon seeing Callie.

Three smiled at this, Seems like someone has a fan, eh?

She responded with a giggle before pointing something out that made Three's stomach drop ten feet. Or well, it felt like that.

Not sure how Kaori's gonna feel about the mess though.

Wait, what? Three quickly walked over to the locker room, unsure of what Callie meant by mess.

Sure enough, the hand towel was lightly covered in crumbs of some food. Pinching a few of the crumbs and bringing them up to their nose revealed a subtle scent of citrus.

Is that… lemon? Wait, how did Sumi get a hold of a lemon bar?

Three scratched their chin, trying to recall the contents of Kaori's locker originally.

I don't think she had any snacks stashed in her locker? None that I saw, anyway…

Examining the locker revealed a potential hint, however.

Wait. That box wasn't open before. Did Sumi open it somehow? Little rascal.

They smiled, turning back to look at Sumi, who was currently being held in Callie's arms.

You break into that box and steal the Captain's snacks, you lil' thief? Three joked, chuckling to themselves after.

Sumi let out a warble in response, somehow managing to look indignant, before looking up towards Callie, who giggled and gently patted the smallfry on the head.

Three smiled at the two, closing Kaori's locker and locking it back up with their borrowed key.

I should probably head back to the lounge, get ready for when it finds me a match. Thanks for looking after Sumi for me, Callie!

After a brief wait, the battle pot dinged, indicating it was ready.

Three glanced at it, before turning back towards Callie. Guess that's my cue. I'll be back! they stated, heading towards the battle pot.

Callie raised her fist into the air, cheering. Go on and get 'er Three!

Sumi also chimed in, letting out an encouraging chirp as if cheering Three on.

They grinned at her, I'll try!

Three popped out of their spawner, once again surveying the area. Seems that they were in Wahoo World this time, the ferris wheel plainly visible, with roller coasters going over the stage.

Wow. I've heard a lot of radio ads, but actually being here is something else.

They quickly took a side glance at their teammate's spawners, in order to get a rough idea of their strategy for the match.

Okay… Splat Roller, Heavy Splatling, and a Bloblobber… Hopefully that roller and splatling know how to play around a brella canopy.

Turning their glance over to the other side of the stage, they tried to get a read on what weapons they were up against this time.

Let's see… Aerospray, Inkbrush, Splattershot, and Dualie Squelchers. Shit, that's a lot of lethal bombs. Gonna have to be careful with my canopy.

Three quickly looked back, noticing something… off about one of their opponents.

Wait, is that one spawner…blue? And now that I look at it… is that even a Splattershot? Looks a lot more like a dualie with that bottom part. Don't think I've ever seen Sheldon selling any black dualies, it seems a bit too bulky for the class. It's also got an unusually sleek design…and are those…yellow accents?

Though it also kinda reminds me of the octolings that I faced in Alterna using weird Splattershots…

Three momentarily thought back to Kaori's locker, and the replica of one that she had on display for the occasional nosy inkfish. It was so accurately detailed that they had thought it was real, until the inktoling owner told them otherwise.

One of the chargers in the locker had a similar ink tank. Or…the exact same ink tank. They considered the possible connection, but not a single shooter in her locker was of any similarity to that design. Every single shooter in there was a model directly available on the market.

Must be some fancy custom job I've heard of rich kids getting.

Launching into the stage, they stuck to the right side of the stage, wanting to get entrenched in the thick of the battle with their brella.

Making their way across the glass bridge and onto the central raised area, Three launched their brella canopy. They swam a short distance behind it, as they loved catching people off guard by lagging behind the canopy, punishing anyone assuming they were right behind it. Sure enough, the fancy-dualies wielding inkling quickly swam to the right of the canopy, before throwing a burst bomb at the inside.

Hah! Love it when that works. Plus I know their sub weapon now, too.

Three leapt out of their ink, weapon already raised to fire. Taking the shot, the inkling opponent was caught dead center by the blast, hardly having the time to start letting out a shriek of surprise (or pain?) before being splatted nearly instantaneously.

A grin found its way to their face, as they let out a loud laugh. Splats like that are exactly why they liked this weapon.

Starting to advance forward, their attention was quickly grabbed by their roller-wielding teammate letting out a gasp.

Dude! You just splatted the Blue Dragon!

Three turned and gave them a blank stare, unsure what they were talking about.

The who?

Their teammate's mouth dropped in response.

You don't know who the Blue Dragon is?! They're only one of the best turf players of all time! They haven't been seen playing in years, but that was totally them!

Three rolled their eyes. My second match in Inkopolis and I go up against someone with a reputation? Lucky me. they said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Glancing over towards the opposite side of the field, Three saw that the central side of the other team's side of the map was clear.

Bingo. I'll go around and push them.

They advanced forward, making their way over the glass bridge that led to the other team's side of the stage.

As they made their way across the bridge, they could hear the rapid swishing of an inkbrush.

Sounds like it's coming from right below. Let's see what I can find.

Making their way towards the top of the ramp, they just barely managed to spot the ripple of the inkbrush wielder submerging into the ink, clearly planning to ambush any one that got too close.

I see you, you little sneak.

Three grinned, lunging forward as they shot in one sudden movement. The inkbrush went down just as cleanly as their last splat, their attempts at sharking foiled.

Turning to their right, they could see the opposing dualies slowly painting the spinning carousel, not paying much attention to what was going on around them.

Three grinned, seeing yet another opportunity for an easy splat.

And sure enough, when they fired at the dualies, their reaction was much too slow, their head turning just as the shot hit them, as they exploded in a burst of ink.

Advancing further towards the opposing team's spawn, Three laughed uproariously, lost in the moment. Come on! Engage me! They yelled, daring anyone to challenge them.

As if answering their challenge, a burst bomb suddenly pelted Three from above, smacking them directly out of their adrenaline high.

They hissed in pain, as the ink stung sharply on their skin.

Fuck, why does that sting so much more than usual?!

They retreated backwards, opting for the low route around the carousel. The path seemed clear, and it was much faster than going up and around, especially with the weight of the brella.

As they rounded the turn however, they were greeted by an unfortunate sight. The uninkable side of the blocking wall was facing them, slowly advancing towards them as it cut off their path.

Shit! Why now?

Making a u-turn, they swam back towards the ramp, hoping their assailant wasn't in pursuit.

However, they never managed to even make it past the underside of the bridge, as they were quickly caught off guard and splatted in a rather painful barrage of shots.

Grumbling in frustration as they respawned, Three shot out of the spawner. This time, they opted for the left, having seen the retracting bridge extend out as they launched into the stage.

Damn uninkable walls. Ugh. Let's try that again.

They advanced up the large ramp leading towards the high ground connecting to the bridge, being greeted by their splatling wielding teammate holding back the aerospray.

The aerospray didn't hold up very long against the barrage, bursting into orange ink.

Three in the meantime had opened up and launched their canopy, though it went woefully ignored as their splatling wielding teammate quickly rushed ahead, before three shots rang out as they were splatted by someone behind cover.

Three shook their head, annoyed at the recklessness of their teammate getting them splatted.

Come on dude, really? There was a giant moving wall that you can shoot through two feet to your left. Fucking use it!

But the annoyance of their teammate's foolishness took a backseat. They advanced towards the center platform, eager to avenge the fallen splatling regardless.

Sure enough, an opponent soon started to emerge from behind the wall to Three's left, though they didn't last very long after that. Three had reflexively shot the moment they saw movement, netting them a quick splat.

Their opponent never saw it coming, even if the poor inkfish's ear-piercing shriek was the only evidence.

Three winced at the harsh sound, not expecting the sudden noise.

Holy hell, they are not happy about getting splatted.

They pushed on forward, if slightly slower than they would have liked as they got their bearings back after being startled. No enemies were around to oppose their advance, as they made their way across the central platform and across the bridge on the opposing side, which retracted behind them soon after they crossed.

Looking down the ramp they saw the aerospray and the dualie squelchers on approach.

Opting for a cautious play since they were in ‘enemy territory’ with no retreat, Three decided to take a quick shot and launch their canopy.

Gotta take out those squelchers first. Longer range, lethal bomb. Not gonna be good if I let it stay alive for too long.

Luckily, of the two enemies, the dualies were closer. They ducked into a roll, sliding across the floor as they took potshots over the canopy at Three, only one of which managed to land.

That was when they made their fatal mistake, trying to roll inwards and around the canopy, which lead to them quickly getting splatted in two shots now that they were within range of Three's brella.

The aerospray panicked at the loss of their teammate, foregoing strategy for blindly charging in and hoping for luck to get them out, unsplatted.

Their so-called ‘strategy’ lasted them all of four seconds before it was promptly shut down by yet another clean blast of ink from Three.

They grinned, pushing up to the ramp that was connected to the raised platform with an inkrail, wanting to push into the opposing team's base and raise hell.

Seeing the narrow choke point with uninkable terrain leading in, they quickly launched their canopy across it.

This quickly proved to be a good idea, as Three could hear the sounds of an inkbrush approaching towards the shield. Anticipating an attempted flank, they looked up towards the higher platform next to them.

Sure enough, the inkbrush surged up from above, before quickly being shut down by a predictive shot from Three.

Hah! Got ya.

The sound of an impact off to the side quickly took them out of their internal gloating; they turned around only to be pelted in the face with two burst bombs.

An utterly vile taste filled Three's mouth as some of the ink had managed to splash into their mouth, and onto their tongue.

Oh, what the hell! That's vile!

They coughed, sputtering as they tried to rid their mouth of the foul chemical-like taste.

Retreating off the ledge, they turned around, reflexively trying to drop a bomb for cover… Only for a beakon to plop down on the ground instead.

Fuck, I really just made that mistake?! At least the Captain isn't here to judge me for it…

Feeling a sense of déjà vu overcoming them, Three quickly retreated, taking the most direct path to their destination.

Which, once again, happened to be heading underneath the nearest glass bridge.

Swimming underneath the glass bridge, they once again got caught by the uninkable side of the moving wall.

Oh, come on! Again?!

Turning around, Three decided that their only way out of this was to fight or get splatted trying, even despite their lack of ink due to their earlier mistake. The so-called ‘Blue Dragon’ was rapidly closing the distance between the two, giving them almost no time to think.

Three went to open their brella's canopy, planning to launch it to have at least something between them and their opponent.

However, the moment the canopy opened, the Blue Dragon rose up into the air, gathering energy directly into their fist. Seeing them rise above the canopy, Three was filled with panic, knowing exactly what was coming next.

Shit! A splashdown?!

The canopy instantly snapped upon their landing, unable to hold up against the sheer power of the splashdown attack. Momentarily stunned by the force of the impact, Three was left wide open.

The Blue Dragon raised their main weapon with very clear intent, their finger right on the trigger.

Game!

The whistle of the end of the round sounded, saving Three from their imminent fate. Exhausted, they collapsed to the ground, their adrenaline fading.

Holy fuck. You… are terrifying.

Three only got a giggle in response, followed by a very pale hand being lowered in front of them; an offer to help them get up onto their feet. Three took it, getting themselves back standing.

Looking up, they finally got a closer look at the opponent that gave them such a hard time in the finale of the match.

Wait, Captain?!