Hello readers of Splatoon fanfiction! And to any other readers who know me! If you haven't guess already, I have been playing Splatoon 2, but I have been playing since opening day. Love the game, loved it ever since the original. I've had this idea for a while but it was only recently that I decided to do it. It's a bit more lighthearted in plot than my other stories, because I wanted to practice writing stuff like this.

Anyway, from my mindscape to yours, I present to you "Inkmates." Let's start the story, savvy?

A young, blue tentacled inkling nervously grasped his hands as he looked to the other occupant in the room. He watched the elder squid as music played over the speakers inside the studio room. He had a neutral expression as the strumming of guitars and the sound of his singing echoed around them. As the music came to an end, the green tentacled inkling reached over and flipped a switch, turning off the console.

"How… How was it, sir?" He asked, twiddling his thumbs again. The elder squid remained expressionless as he rubbed his chin and stared at the younger adult. He stood up from his seat and looked straight into his brown eyes with his own green.

"…I like it," he finally said. The younger inkling's eyes widened in shock as the information set in. "I'll contact you to settle the terms and the signing of the contract. Keep up the good work, kid."

With the final words of the elder inkling, the younger was left alone to his thoughts. A few minutes of frozen and dead silence after the elder left, the door opened again with two more inklings around the first one's age storming inside.

"Ricky? What happened?" The cyan tentacled Inkling asked.

"Yeah, bro. What'd he say? He didn't hate it, did he?" The orange tentacled Inkling added on questions, getting an elbow in the gut from the other intruder.

"…Naw… He didn't hate it…" Ricky muttered, coming out of his shock. He turned to his two guests in his chair and fixed his studio headphones on his ears. A large grin found its way onto Ricky's face as he jumped up and pumped his fist into the air. "We're in business, boys!"

"Hell yeah! That's awesome, Ricky!" The cyan inkling gave his own cheer and smacked Ricky on the back.

"It sure is, Freddie," Ricky said. He gave a laugh when he saw the orange inkling silently cheering, both hands in the air and his eyes closed.

"And you know we gotta celebrate this!" Freddie continued. "It's not every day that a band gets to produce their own songs and have them professionally recorded!"

"You're right, Freddie," the orange inkling finally spoke up. "But I think Ricky should call home first and let them know the good news. Without them, we wouldn't have gotten this far."

"Oh yeah! But then can we celebrate, Kevin?" Freddie asked the orange inkling. Kevin gave a smirk and nodded his head to Ricky.

"It's all up to our band leader and lead singer," he said.

"I'm all up for a celebration! Is it all right if I invite the teammates?" Freddie and Kevin nodded. They both understood how much money for the band Ricky had poured in from Turf Wars, Ranked Battles, and his bonuses from his job they all worked. Ricky's teammates were an important part in their dream. "Thanks, fellas!"

"No problem," Kevin shrugged and turned to Freddie. "You get the pizza, I get the drinks and we all meet up back at Ricky's for the party?"

"Sounds like a plan," Freddie agreed excitedly, hopping between legs. "Anything special or should I just order the usual?"

"Probably just the usual. Original cheese is the pizza of kings!" Ricky cheered and pumped his fist into the air again.

"Alright, we all meet up back at Ricky's at seven," Kevin said, looking at his phone for the time. "That gives us two hours to get the food and drinks and Ricky to call home and his teammates for the news. Agreed?"

Freddie nodded, but Ricky suddenly shook his head as he remembered something.

"I just realized, I don't think we can have the party at my place. I don't want to get in trouble with the landlord and the neighbors," Ricky explained.

"I understand, Ricky," Kevin answered. "And we can't do it at our places for the same reasons. I'll go find the owner before I leave and see if we can use one of the rooms here tonight. If it's a small party, he may not mind it much as long as we clean up."

All three brought their fists together in a circle and laughed heartily. "Alright, break on three," Ricky ordered.

"One!" Kevin started off. It was finally happening.

"Two!" Freddie continued. They had finally begun.

"Three!" Ricky counted it further. They were becoming a professional band.

"BOYS BACK HOME!"

After the three had split up at the studio, Ricky started on his way back to his apartment. It was a little ways away from the studio and Inkopolis Square, but the rent was cheap. It was also a cozy little home for the time being. Ricky was lucky to find it.

It's been a couple months since Ricky came to Inkopolis to participate in ink battles. Since coming to Inkopolis, he's been quickly climbing in levels and ranks. Being a rank A battler certainly brought in a lot of cash, but most of his winnings went to his music and necessities. He saved up most of the money earned to help in producing his band's music.

His battles led him to meet the squids who would later become his teammates and close friends. They were now a close standing team that regularly did ranked battles. They couldn't keep up with the competition of S rankers, but they were content with the battles in rank A. They did almost everything together, with one of them even being his next-door neighbor.

And speaking of the squid, Ricky held his squidphone to his ear as he tried to call his neighbor and teammate. A few minutes of the idle tone later and a voice finally came through.

"Hello? Ricky, is that you?"

"Hey, Traysi, it's me," Ricky answered. "I've got great news!"

"Wait, hold up." A few moments of silence followed. He swore he could have heard Traysi's voice in the background, but also another voice. He was snapped back to reality when he heard Traysi's voice clearly again. "Ricky, I need your help with something. Can you come over for a little bit and talk with me?"

"Yeah, sure. I can come over. Just give me a few minutes to get back to the apartments first."

"Thank you! Wait… You didn't go out battling today, did you?" Okay, this was getting a little weird. What's with all the questions?

"No, I've just been hanging out with Kevin and Freddie. Why?"

"No reason. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Alright," Ricky agreed. "See ya in a few minutes."

"Okay. See you later."

Hanging up, Ricky stared forward as he continued his trek home. That was a little weird for Traysi. She almost sounded… nervous.

After finally giving calls and getting two confirms for the party, Ricky arrived at his apartment complex. He and Traysi lived on the second floor. When he reached his door, he was surprised to find a package on his doorstep. It wasn't large, but it was not so small as to fit in his hand.

Picking up the package, it was decently heavy and he understood why it was heavy when he saw the sender. Home. He couldn't wait to tell them the good news, but he had to go over to Traysi's first.

Dropping off the package inside, he made his way to his neighbor's door. One knock and a minute later, a yellow tentacled inkling girl revealed herself.

"Hey, Trays. So what did you want to talk about that was so important?" Without a moment of hesitation, Traysi pulled the startled boy into the room and locked the door behind them.

"God, Traysi, you didn't have to do that!" Ricky shouted.

"I know, Ricky, but this is really important and I didn't know who else to talk to about this," she answered. For a moment, Ricky saw a side to Traysi that she had never showed before. She kept looking back and forth frantically with ink-shot eyes. She was pulling at her long tentacles and looked like she was a nervous wreck.

"…Damn, Traysi… What happened to you?" Ricky breathed out his question, still in shock at seeing his friend in such a state.

"I'll explain it to you, just… come with me. And don't… don't freak out," she hesitantly said. Ricky nodded and she led him to the den. She held a hand up, indicating to him that he could go no further, before she darted to her bedroom.

Ricky sighed. He had never seen Traysi like that. EVER. She was always worry free and always ready for a good time. She never even worried about her clothes or makeup. She was never the type to get heartbroken over a guy and always bounced back before any kind of funk took her over. And she was always the one to cheer up the group whenever they lost or when something personal happened. To see her like that, must have been something dead serious.

"Okay, she's ready," he heard Traysi call out from the bedroom. Ricky raised an eyebrow in confusion. Did Traysi get a new roommate without telling anyone? They never met any of Traysi's friends outside the group and, as far as Ricky knew, she never said she was looking for a roommate.

When Traysi came out of the room, she was facing a mysterious new person coming from the room. And Ricky recognized what the new girl was so quickly that he almost went for his splattershot on instinct, remembering that he left it at home.

Her head was slightly down, face covered in large red tentacles. Her skin was a slight pink. She was wearing a, he hoped it was fake, leather jacket, black gloves, and metallic boots. Traysi must have loaned her some legwear, as he recognized those patterns on the shorts anywhere. He couldn't see her eyes, but there was no mistaking her. An octoling.

Seeing the shocked face on Ricky after she turned around, Traysi waved her hands at him and tried to get him to calm down. The octoling, surprisingly, drew back a little in fear. "Ricky! It's alright! Nala won't hurt us!"

"Traysi, I'm fine! I won't hurt her!" Ricky grabbed her hands to get her to stop. He breathed in deeply and said calmly, "I promise I will listen. Just tell me everything."

Ricky understood why an octoling would be in Inkopolis. The story was released that octolings made contact with inklings after they were freed from Octavio's control. The inkling leaders agreed to help integrate octolings into their society after hearing about their rough conditions with Octavio. Everyone knew that there was to be a system where an octoling would live in an inkling home before octolings would be able to live on their own. But no one knew when that system would start. He guessed that they would start talking about it on the news in the morning.

Traysi said she never signed up for the program, but she found Nala abandoned. She listened to Nala about how the family that had volunteered as her homestay had members that hated octolings. The members who signed up for the homestay had done so in secret, hoping to break the news gently before it was too late, and she was rejected by the octo haters. Traysi explained that she brought Nala to her apartment and let Nala live with her for the past few days in secret.

"So that's why we never saw you this week!" Ricky threw his head back at the realization. "Damn… But why not tell us? We all would have understood."

"I don't want the word to get out that Nala isn't staying with her chosen homestay family. If she's found out, she'd get sent back to Octo Canyon." Nala nodded shyly, finally showing her beautiful purple eyes.

"Then why not just sign up for the program and register as her homestay?"

"I can't officially afford it. And I've kept it secret from the landlord so he doesn't kick me out for going against the single habitation contract. I've been trying to find her a place to stay while she lives here, but…"

"I'll do it." Both Traysi and Nala froze as they looked at Ricky. There was not a trace of humor in his eyes and his smile was genuine. "I can afford it and I'm sure I can convince the landlord to let me take her. My cohabitation contract should still be in effect. What do you say?"

"Whuh… Ricky! Are you crazy?! What makes you think that you can afford it?!" Traysi shouted as she lunged at Ricky. "You already have to worry about your family, your band, and yourself! Quit trying to be the hero!"

"I already have the Turf Wars and my job. What's wrong with working a little more? And I don't have to worry about my band money as much anymore since we got accepted. Let me help." Traysi froze and stared at him in surprise.

"You got… accepted? What…"

"Yeah, that's what I was going to tell you. Boys Back Home is getting the deal. We're throwing a party to celebrate. I can afford taking Nala in. Trust me." Traysi lost her look of shock and hefted a deep sigh.

"I swear you're being stretched thin… Fine, but it's Nala's choice to stay with you," she conceded. Both inklings looked at the lone octoling on the couch. When she saw that they were staring at her, she flinched and started playing with her tentacle bangs.

"Ummm… uh…" Nala found it to be tough speaking. She had no problem with Traysi, but she didn't know this Ricky. Traysi said that he was someone she could trust, and yet she was terrified that he was offering to be her homestay. Would he do something to her? The mere thought of being messed with caused her to try and hide her face with her tentacles.

"Nala," she heard in front of her. When she looked up, she saw Ricky kneeling in front of her and staring straight into her eyes with his deep blue. He crossed his arm across his chest and held his hand in a fist. "I promise you that I will not harm you. I was raised to be a gentlesquid and I… I swear on my life, to you, that I will protect you."

"Whoa…" Nala whispered. He was serious about this. That kindness was much more intense in Ricky's eyes than she saw in Traysi's. The octoling felt like she would be swept off her feet at any moment. She felt like one of those princesses in the inkling fairytale books that she found in Octo Canyon as a young octopus, and he was her knight in shining blue ink armor. Her childhood fantasies must have spoken for her as she said in a whisper, "Yes."

"Then I can't wait to be roommates," Ricky said, shaking her out of her fantasies. She saw him stand back up and smiling at her. "I'll settle things with the landlord and get registered before the party tonight and we can move you in tomorrow." He looked to both girls in the room in curiosity. "Do you two want to come to the party tonight?"

Traysi shrugged her shoulders and looked to the octoling. "Nala?"

"Eh?!" Nala jumped in her seat with a squeak. "A… a party?" she asked. She looked back at Traysi and then at Ricky, who was just standing at the door, smiling.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. It's just something we're-"

"No!" she shouted, raising her voice for the first time. She slapped her hands over her mouth and looked at him, afraid that she might scare him away. "I-I mean, I'll go… if you're there."

"Well, if she's going," Traysi started, "then I'm going."

"Great, I'll just be back in my apartment for a little while before I come get you two. Does that sound good?"

Traysi held a thumbs-up while Nala nodded her head wordlessly. Ricky flashed a grin and walked out. When he left the room, he immediately heard squealing from behind the door, jolting him a little. Must have found a mouse or something. He figured that he would take it up with the landlord. But right now, he would have to do what he needed to do if he was to help his new roommate. And there was also that call to home…

So that was the first chapter of "Inkmates." Did you like it? Not like it? I feel like I did a good job with the first chapter. Any of my other readers expecting chapters in my other stories can look forward to new chapters on the way. This story came first to get it started. More chapters for most of my stories are on the way.

And good luck to everyone in the upcoming Splatfest! I will be participating in support of Team Werewolf. Awooo!

Follow, favorite, leave a review. See ya next time. Stay fresh!