A/N: This was written for the Splatfest prompt for the ever-awesome searching-for-bananaflies/tamarinfrog's Inkling characters Orange and Blue. I looked at the prompt for a minute, decided you know what, I haven't written anything all summer so let's do this.

I apologize if it feels awkwardly written in some parts, if it's hard to follow what's going on in the battles or who is who. I haven't written anything in months and I can only do so much without giving all the background teammates names, which I didn't want to do because it felt like I would be taking attention away from the two main characters.

I wrote most of this to the Splatfest theme that plays while you battle during the event, except for the ending which I wrote to the Splatoon credits theme. In case you want to listen to those while you read, it makes the fic feel cooler I think.

When I first started this fic, I expected it to be 2000 words tops. When I reached 2000 words and wasn't even partway through the planned story, I figured it would be 5000 at most. I get near the end and break 6000 and think there's no way it can go past 6500. And then the freaking thing ends just over 8000 words long and I'm not sure how.

As always, I do not own Splatoon nor do I own Orange and Blue.

Carefully picking his way around purple ink and making sure to stay in his own, an inkling boy followed his teammates back to their spawn. His roller dragged behind him, the cyan ink shaken from it so it would not spread any more as he went and unfairly alter the score. One of the other inklings patted his shoulder as they passed, understanding full well how tired he was. They had been fighting for several hours by this point, after all.

Once they all reached the respawn point, they jumped into the ink in squid form and swam down through the grate that had opened below after the match ended. Following the tunnel back to the lobby, they returned in time to see the other team already there, the purple team looking equally exhausted though slightly less covered in enemy ink.

Beside the purple team stood the ever-present match judge, Judd. He waved in a friendly way before stepping in front of the large screen in the room, which lit up a moment later and showed the map they had just fought in. It was clear to all of them even before Judd made his choice, but the cat enthusiastically pointed his purple flag at the opposing team regardless, signaling their win.

The winning team celebrated with high fives and cheers, congratulating their teammates on doing well. On the losing team, the boy with the roller shook his head in disappointment, while some of his teammates groaned with frustration. Judd gave them an apologetic look, but the teammate from before just waved him off.

"They earned the win." He pointed out, shifting his charger as he shrugged. The boy with the roller nodded, and the winning team walked over to join them.

"Good match." A girl with a roller said, shaking the charger user's hand. He smirked.

"Pop is still gonna win."

"You wish! Rock is going to crush this tournament."

"We'll see about that."

Following the two teams out of the side lobby, the boy with the roller chuckled at their antics. Once out in the main lobby he looked around for his own friend, but didn't see her anywhere among the purple Rock teams.

"Yo, Blue. Looking for Orange?" One of his other teammates asked, a girl with an inkbrush in a thick knit hat.

"Yeah… I haven't seen her in a few rounds." He admitted, shifting his roller to sit on his shoulder a bit more comfortably. Then he grinned. "I'm gonna splat her for choosing the wrong team!"

"Good luck getting close enough to do that before she snipes you." His teammate pointed out.

He dropped his head toward the floor with a groan. "Don't remind me! Man, I don't understand how she manages to aim so well with that thing. The last time I tried a charger, I splatted myself with it."

"That may have had something to do with the fact it was still filled with orange ink. Also the fact you were holding it backwards."

"That never happened, Daisy. I swear."

"Suuuuuuuuuuuure it didn't."

A loud ding from one of the open match lobbies caught their attention, the sound telling it was searching for other players. Blue turned back to his friend. "Come on, let's jump into the next match! Maybe we'll get lucky and run into Orange."

"Nah, I'm gonna take a break and go get food. You two should join me once you find her, neither of you have stopped battling for hours." Daisy said, walking off to put her inkbrush away. "Splat some squids for me!"

"Okay! I'll demolish them!" He declared, before running to catch the open lobby in time to join the match.

Taking a deep breath the moment he swam through the grate and spawned into the match, Blue flicked his wrist to set his roller forward, ready to move the moment it started. Looking around, he could immediately tell the map for this match was Walleye Warehouse. He then noticed his two teammates looking at the empty space beside him, making it clearly obvious their fourth teammate had been pulled from the match before it even started.

"Aw man…" He murmured, and one of the other inklings nodded in agreement.

"We'll have to try twice as hard if we want to win this one."

The three of them looked over to one of the screens hung all over the edges of the map, watching as it showed their opponents. To the boy's disappointment, he didn't see Orange on their team.

"Two Aerosprays, a Dynamo roller and an E-Liter 3K… We're gonna get wrecked." Their other teammate sighed, shifting her Hero Shot in her grip. "I should've stuck with the Hero roller… I'm terrible at aiming."

"We'll just have to try our best." The first inkling decided, making sure his inkbrush was properly attached to his tank.

"If nothing else, let's give them a bad day." Blue added, holding his roller up to show his clear intent to squish someone with it. His teammates laughed.

The boy with the inkbrush held his weapon up alongside Blue's roller. "That sounds fun, even if we lose. Okay! Operation Make-This-Match-Annoying is a go!"

Their last teammate joined in, holding up her Hero Shot as well with a wide smile on her face. The screens around the map showed a big "Ready…" as several speakers started to play the live Squid Sisters from the concert going on outside.

"Go!" The screens suddenly read, and the three cyan inklings surged forward. The boy with the inkbrush sped off to the right, where he could get to the center fastest. Hero Shot girl took the mid road and inked ground as she went, while Blue turned left to take the longest path out and cover it on his way to the center. He kept one eye on the screens all around, chuckling as he saw the icons for the opposing team all get crossed out as his teammates splatted them.

Reaching the grate at the end of the path, he splashed a puddle onto the ground below before falling through the grate and landing in it in squid form to replenish his ink. One of the enemy inklings, having respawned and made his way back to mid, came around the wall that blocked Blue's view of the center. As the inkling came closer and covered the ground in front of him with his Aerospray, Blue popped out of the little puddle and brought his roller down, splatting the surprised enemy before he had a chance to react.

"Booyah! Ninja splat!" The roller user cheered, before immediately being squished by the heavy roller from the enemy team. They cackled as they continued on, thoroughly amused by the fact they had managed to sneak up on him. That laughter only grew louder a few seconds later when Blue respawned and shouted across the map, "Jerk!"

Blue grumbled and set his roller down again, inking their base before moving on this time. While covering the corners they had missed the first time around, he looked up just in time to see his inkbrush teammate set off an inkstrike and splat half the enemy team with it before one of the surviving members splatted him in return.

Quickly checking his own special meter, Blue dove into the ink and swam along the right pathway and sped for the center to defend it. The enemy team's charger user appeared at the end of the path, but their weapon didn't have enough width to cover the entire path, leaving the roller user a small channel on the side to sneak up on them. Before the charger could escape, he popped out of the ink and squished them the same way he had earlier with the shooter.

He continued on before the inkling with the Dynamo roller could surprise him again, making sure to cover this side of the center well and managing to get his special while he did. Giving a mock evil laugh, Blue moved toward the very center of the map, squishing a distracted Aerospray user as he went and inadvertently saving his own Hero Shot teammate from their wrath. The girl waved appreciatively, then rushed out of the way as the surviving Aerospray user tried to set off an inkstrike where she was standing.

Covering this other side of the center with a quick run around the wall, Blue groaned as someone set off an Echolocator. He continued on up the side pathway leading up to the enemy team's base anyway, ready to set off his special the moment he started taking damage if someone tried to ninja him. No one jumped from the path above his head once he reached the end, but the inkling with the heavy roller did pop out of the ink to the right in the main section in front of the base.

Instead of waiting around to try and dodge their attack and squish them by getting close, Blue turned into the Kraken and laughed as he chased them back up the ramp toward their own base. His movement slowed down tremendously on the ink-resistant surface, but with the invincibility he currently had he didn't mind much. The special meter was almost empty by the time he reached the top though, causing him to duck behind the shipment crate to the right so the respawning team wouldn't immediately see him now that the Echolocator had worn off. He wasn't sure where the heavy roller user had gone, though, and was vaguely worried about a ninja attack.

The two Aerosprays and charger user sped past him down the ramp to combat his teammates in the center, and once they were gone, he started covering their base. Trying to do it quickly before anyone could get splatted and respawn again, Blue left a messy covering that wasn't exactly the prettiest and left a lot of purple uncovered still but it would do the job and turn the tide in his favor until someone covered it up again.

Now ready to escape the enemy base before someone could splat him, he continued off down the trail on the same side as the shipping crate, cleanly covering the entire path as he went. At the end of it he heard several inkstrikes set off at once, though whose they were he couldn't see.

He jumped down to the ground below to join in on the fight for the center, but apparently the inkling he lost earlier had been waiting for him. The heavy roller popped out of the ink and squished him again before he could react.

By the time he respawned and was ready to move again, the whistle was blown for the match to end.

"Awww man, over already?" He said to himself, looking over as one of his teammates respawned.

"I got splatted the second the whistle went off." She whined. "I wanted to splat the charger user!"

"I never got to splat the heavy roller, either." Blue added.

"Oh I got her a few times, but I think she splatted me more. I really am terrible at aiming." The other inkling shrugged, adjusting her glasses.

The spawn point started spinning again as it respawned the last member of their team. The girl gave him a confused look as he shook the cyan ink off.

"Dude, what happened to you? The match ended too long ago for you to have gotten splatted at the end and only just now respawn."

"I asked the charger to splat me so I wouldn't have to walk back."

Blue came back to the side lobby first, his two teammates following close behind. The other team was already there of course, and they waved in friendly greeting when the cyan team joined them. The screen on the wall showed the map they had just fought on, though Blue couldn't tell which team had more turf. It looked like the inkstrikes had almost turned the tide obviously in the purple team's favor, but then one from his team had taken it right back again. There was still the big side path he'd covered right at the end, but by that point someone had made it into their base as well, evening it out again.

"I can't tell which of us won." His inkbrush teammate murmured, looking closely at the map.

Judd was inspecting the map as well, and continued for several moments before turning around and holding up both flags for suspense. Then he pointed the cyan one at Blue's team, and the screen changed to show they'd won by three percent.

High fives were shared between him and his two teammates, but the other team actually seemed even more excited than they were as they came over to congratulate the cyan team on their win.

"I honestly thought you were going to get me when you turned into the Kraken there at the end." The heavy roller admitted, chuckling. "Squishing you was still really fun though and I am not sorry."

"Well I did squish your teammate. And ink your base." Blue pointed out. Behind them, he could hear his girl teammate and the charger user talking as well.

"I'm sorry for splatting you so many times!" The charger squeaked, sounding genuinely apologetic.

She chuckled. "It's cool, that's half the point of the game."

As the two teams walked out of the lobby together, Blue looked around for Orange again. Same as before, however, he didn't see her among the crowd gathered in the main lobby.

The heavy roller poked him, making him jump. "Looking for someone?"

"My friend Orange, yeah."

"What do they look like?"

"Uhh, she's on team Rock. Wearing headphones, pink shoes…" Blue offered. "Probably carrying a charger."

She looked around, then pointed. "You mean her?"

Blue looked up just in time to see Orange disappear into an empty lobby, joining another match. His expression must have been enough to tell the inklings around him that it was her, since a second later the inkbrush user had grabbed his hand and was pulling him toward that lobby. "Come on! Let's go join your friend!"

"Hmm…" An unsure noise made them turn, seeing the girl with the Hero Shot and one of the Aerosprays hanging back from the group. "We wanted to change weapons…"

"But I want to play another match with you guys…" The girl mumbled. "Eh, I can stick with my terrible aim for a bit more I guess."

"I'm gonna switch." The Aerospray decided, waving as he went the opposite direction. "Catch you guys later!"

"Let's go then!" The heavy roller said, taking Blue's other hand and helping the inkbrush user drag him to the lobby, while the rest of their teammates followed along behind.

Shaking the ink off as he spawned, Blue looked around. This time they were on Port Mackerel, and his Hero Shot and inkbrush teammates stood on other side of him, though this time they were joined by a boy with a New Squiffer.

"Cool, we have a charger on our team this time!" The girl said, waving at the newcomer. He waved back silently.

They looked up at the screens hung outside the map in time to see them show the other team. Since they were fighting basically the same team again, Blue noted they were still up against the E-Liter 3K, Dynamo roller, and Aerospray, in addition to Orange with her Splat Charger. "Keep in mind that we're up against two chargers on a long-range charger-friendly map." He pointed out to his team, to which they nodded in acknowledgement.

With that, the match began. The cyan team flew into action, Blue speeding off to the left to cover the upper path while their charger user went down the center and Hero Shot girl took the path mirroring Blue's. The inkbrush user stayed behind and covered their base, no doubt already trying to build up his special.

Making sure to not miss any spots on the upper path, the roller user kept an eye on the turf below as his teammates filled it in. The girl with the shooter got splatted as the heavy roller of the enemy team surprised her, but they were splatted in return a moment later when the charger sniped them. Dropping down to join him, Blue landed just in time to squish another enemy trying to sneak up on said charger.

The other inkling looked back, nodding in thanks at the unexpected save, before diving into the ink and swimming further into enemy turf. Blue went down the path beside the one his teammate took, covering the purple ground as he went and being sure to avoid getting caught by and shoved the wrong direction by the first forklift. What he didn't expect, however, was for a certain headphones-clad inkling to be waiting for him on the second forklift.

"Surprise!" Orange shouted, popping out of the ink and splatting Blue on the spot.

"Hey!" He shouted after respawning back at base. "That was no fair!"

Looking up at one of the screens to check the map, Blue grumbled at the fact the purple team was currently winning. His inkbrush teammate seemed to have gotten past their defenses, judging by the tiny trail of cyan leading all the way to the enemy base. At the moment none of the purple team had been splatted yet, which meant their base would be safe to ink for a little while, causing Blue to shrug and squid jump to his teammate.

As he landed, he immediately set down his roller and moved to cover one of the upper pathways beside the enemy base, knowing full well enemy teams often forgot to recover these. Once he had inked it an acceptable though not perfect amount, he checked the enemy team's state of respawn before swimming back and going down the upper path on the opposite side.

At the end of that one, Blue paused for a moment to look around the turf below. Though a lot of purple remained, the amount of cyan left on the ground below made it clear his teammates had fought hard to get over here. He glanced up at one of the maps, not at all surprised when it showed the purple team had made it into his own base while he was over in theirs.

"Oh well, guess I can clean this up while they're busy over there." He mused to himself, adjusting his grip on his roller as he prepared to jump down and continue on. A tap on his shoulder made him turn around in confusion, however. "Huh?"

Orange was standing behind him, smiling sweetly as she held up a flashing splat bomb.

"…" He blinked. "Oh."

Once he had respawned, Blue just laughed. Okay, I definitely deserved that. He decided as he covered all the purple around his base and headed back toward mid. Almost immediately, the laser from someone's scope tried to focus on him, and he dodged out of the way and snuck off behind a crate as their shot went off.

Peeking around the opposite side, Blue smirked when he spotted a thin trail of his color left behind by the inkbrush running through earlier, and guessed the other team must not have bothered covering it up or got distracted by bigger areas. Either way, it was useful to him at the moment even if it wouldn't win the match.

He was careful not to bump the purple on either side of the trail as he swam along it, since the sniper ahead would definitely spot him if he did. Managing to sneak around to the other side of them without getting noticed, Blue popped out of the ink and slammed his roller down, splatting the enemy squid before they even knew what hit them.

"Heheheheh, ninja splat." The roller chuckled, continuing on his way deeper into enemy turf.

The sound of charger shots alerted him to someone ahead, though he wasn't sure if it was Orange or the charger from his own team. Approaching silently in cause it was the former, he saw her up on the second forklift as it passed by, sniping the cyan team in the next clearing.

Now, here Blue realized he had a bit of a dilemma. Trying to get up there with her while she wasn't properly distracted wouldn't do any good because she'd just notice him, and trying to splat her from down here wouldn't do enough damage to get her before she turned around and sniped him. Luck seemed to be in his favor, however, since his inkbrush teammate decided to speed by right then and run around the clearing ahead in a ridiculous zigzag pattern, catching Orange's full attention as she tried to snipe him.

Taking the chance while it was there, Blue took his roller and inked up the side of the forklift as quietly as he could, then swam up the side and jumped onto the top behind his friend. She still didn't see him, frustratedly trying to splat the speedy inkbrush. Trying to muster the most innocent expression he could while also trying not to start laughing, Blue tapped Orange's shoulder.

She turned, half confusion and half annoyance painting her face before she saw the roller poised above her head. "Really?" The charger user asked flatly, which was met with an enthusiastic nod from Blue before he splatted the rival inkling.

Laughing as he jumped down to join the equally amused inkbrush waiting below, both inklings let out a sound of disappointment as the whistle rang for the match to end.

As they turned to head back to their own spawn, the other boy looked up at the maps. "We lost so hard." He decided, twirling his inkbrush around idly.

"Yep." Blue agreed, high-fiving the other team's heavy roller as she walked past, heading for her own base.

"Good game."

"You too."

The cyan team returned to the lobby first, though Judd was already there anyway of course. It only took a few more minutes for the purple team to follow suit, appearing out of the purple spawn point opposite the cyan one.

Everyone turned to the screen as Judd added up the score, even though it was clear who had won. Unsurprisingly, the purple flag was the one the cat raised above his head, the percentage behind him showing the purple team had fifty seven percent of the map whereas the cyan team only had thirty four percent.

Exiting the lobby together, the two teams mingled as they discussed the match they'd just had, and Blue fell into step beside his friend. She gave him a sideways glance, trying to hide her amusement. "Man, you're so rude, sneaking up on me like that."

He huffed. "You did it first. Twice."

Orange laughed in response, shoving his shoulder in an affectionate way. "Well, that's what you get for being on the losing team."

"We are soooo not gonna lose." He shot back. "… Even though we just did. We won't lose Splatfest!"

"Let's see if you can back up those claims, tough guy."

Their banter was interrupted as a loudspeaker in the main lobby crackled with an announcement suddenly, the unexpected noise making a few squids jump in surprise.

"There is time for one more set of matches before Splatfest ends. Anyone wishing to participate before the event is over should join a lobby now."

Blue looked around. "Anyone else up for that?"

"I'm down to play the last match." Orange agreed. The rest of their teams nodded as well.

Blue groaned when he spawned and saw what map they were on this time. The many ramps and high-low areas, along with the plethora of grates and the distinct asphalt look of the ground left no doubt that they were playing on Urchin Underpass this time around. The quiet charger to his right seconded Blue's sound of discontent at the map choice.

"Well this is gonna be interesting."The roller offered. His teammate shrugged, nodding.

This time Blue was the one to hang back and ink their base when the match started, the sniper taking the upper path to the right and the rest of the team heading straight for mid from the left. Left alone by himself, the roller hummed along to the Squid Sisters as he walked back and forth across the base, inking everything. An inkstrike went off in the distance, and several names popped up on a screen outside as most of the other team was splatted by it, as well as one of the cyan team.

He looked up and over at spawn as his splatted teammate jumped out of it, shaking the ink off and readjusting her grip on her Hero Shot. "What happened to you? You got splatted fast." He asked, and she replied loudly as she sped through the ink towards the center again.

"I GOT NINJA SQUISHED."

Blue chuckled at her annoyance, knowing full well the heavy roller had gotten her the same way she'd gotten him earlier at the Warehouse. With the base now covered, he jumped into the ink as well and went after his teammate to join the fray.

As he fell down the drop at the end of the left path and reached the ramp leading to the center, the other team's Aerospray passed by as he tried to invade the cyan team's base. That made him an easy target for the unseen roller, who popped out of the ink the moment the shooter turned his back and slammed his roller down, splatting the other squid.

With their base safe for now, Blue continued into mid and went right, heading straight for the grate pathway above the area on the purple team's side. Of course, before he could even reach it, Orange appeared from the alley behind it and shot him, stopping his advance in one well-aimed shot.

He stood in place blinking in confusion for several seconds after respawning, disoriented from the sudden death. Then he shook his head and looked up at the map onscreen, searching for a teammate at least at the edge of enemy territory. Someone had made their way into the alley Orange had been in, which was where he had wanted to go. "Come on buddy, don't get splatted before I get there…" The roller mumbled to himself as he turned back to squid form and shot across the map.

Landing in squid form and hiding under the ink, Blue took a second to make sure the alley was still empty. At the end that led down a ramp into the enemy base, the teammate he had jumped to was dodging back and forth behind the wall and trying to snipe someone. Unfortunately it seemed whoever he was trying to splat had either more range or better aim, since the sniper was splatted only a few seconds later.

The headphones-clad inkling that splatted him swam up the ramp and into the alley a moment later, holding up her charger and aiming to re-ink the alley in her color. Blue slowly swam out of the line of fire, careful to not leave any ripples in the ink as he moved, and hiding in a tiny section of cyan that he knew she wouldn't bother to cover. As she passed by him to try and get back to her sniping spot, he jumped out of the ink with his roller raised high.

"Surprise!"

"Blue–!" Orange started to protest, though with no time to dodge she was an easy target. Setting up a Squid Beacon behind one of the barrels in the alley, Blue chuckled as he heard her voice carry over the map a few seconds later. "THAT WAS UNFAIR."

He refilled his ink and jumped to hide another Beacon behind the other barrel, keeping a close eye on the entrance to make sure Orange wouldn't try to sneak up on him, then put one more Beacon in plain sight at the opposite end of the alley. With those in place he swam back to the entrance, jumping over the large glass floor sections as he went, and peered around the corner into enemy turf.

As he'd guessed, Orange was waiting for him, standing on the upper level far out of range of his roller splash. She moved the laser idly back and forth across the net, though her eyes occasionally darted over to watch the other pathway leading to her base in case anyone else tried to sneak by.

She's waiting for me and there's no cyan ink out there for me to hide in, how can I get past her without just getting splatted? He wondered to himself silently. A high pitched tone distracted him from his thoughts, and a landing point ring appeared beside him with the teammate behind it appearing a moment later. The inkbrush user waved in greeting at Blue as he landed, looking around to make sure no enemies were around. The tentacles on his head were glowing brightly, and Blue smirked. Good timing.

"You wanna put that inkstrike to good use?" He asked quietly, gesturing to look around the wall. "She's trying to guard their base."

The other inkling peeked around the wall. "Oh yes, stand still and make yourself an easy target why don't you." He chuckled, setting off his special and picking up an inkstrike out of nowhere.

"Seriously, where do those come from? I've used an inkbrush and I STILL don't know where the inkstrike comes from." Blue mentioned, confusion lacing his voice. The other boy shrugged as he carefully aimed on the small screen in his hands.

"I have no clue."

They both covered their ears as the rocket went off, then peered around the corner to watch when it hit. Orange was still on that ledge, focusing intently on her sights and sniping one of the cyan team members as they tried to get into the enemy base. She didn't even notice the inkstrike until it landed, getting splatted without a chance to move away from it.

Blue high-fived his teammate, the two swimming out of the alley and moving to enter the enemy base while it was unprotected. The inkbrush covered the area with the barrel just past the net while Blue moved up the ramps to enter the base proper. He saw Orange respawn, but it was the high pitched tone ringing again that made the roller speed away back to a safe out-of-sight corner on the other side of the net again. As the spawn rings appeared on the ground beside him, Blue stood still and looked around carefully, ready to slam his roller the moment he saw an enemy squid.

No one showed up, however, and the charger and Hero Shot users were able to land safely. They both immediately jumped through the net to invade the enemy base, but Blue turned the other direction, heading back to mid to cover the purple left by the other team since currently the maps showed the cyan team had less ground.

The other charger user on the purple team and the Aerospray were heading over the ramp into the cyan base, trying to take that ground while it was undefended. Blue followed them, covering up the purple they left and managing to squish the sniper while she was busy charging a shot. The Aerospray heard it and spun around, but Blue was already splashing his roller, splatting the other inkling before he had a chance to aim.

He turned and headed back through the center to poke at the enemy base again, but halfway there Orange popped out of the ink and rained down a barrage of bombs on his head, effectively taking a large portion of the center and splatting Blue before he could escape.

The inkbrush respawned beside Blue at the same time, and the two took off together to head back toward mid and take it from Orange before she could turn the tides against them. As they jumped down from the upper levels toward the entrance ramp, however, a look at the timer on the map gave Blue an idea and he paused, gesturing for his teammate to hold up as well.

"Can I borrow that?" He asked, pointing at the other inkling's weapon.

"I guess? Sure."

Blue tossed his roller at the other squid, who caught it easily and handed his inkbrush over in return. The two nodded toward each other before taking off again, Blue dashing off with a purpose and his teammate trying to take back as much turf as possible while Blue drew attention.

Orange was still in the center, trying to hold the turf she'd regained when Blue dashed over to her. She raised her charger to try and shoot him before he got close, but he just dodged to the side and dashed around her in circles. When she realized he wasn't trying to splat her, she just sighed and her palm met her face in exasperation.

"You're an idiot." She decided, watching Blue appear from her right and vanish to her left over and over again.

"Weeeeee!"

The whistle went off as the match ended. Blue was still running around in circles, and Orange just sighed again before holding up another splat bomb.

Blue shook off the ink as he entered the lobby, his teammates close behind. As they waited for the purple team to join them, he handed the inkbrush back to his teammate and received his roller back in return. Judd rolled his eyes at the exchange, but didn't seem to care about the weapon swapping mid-match.

The purple team appeared out of their own spawn, Orange giving Blue a flat look which he acknowledged by grinning brightly at her. Judd just shook his head at the continued antics and turned to tally the score.

Orange made a noise that was somehow disbelief, annoyance and amusement all at once when Judd raised the cyan flag. The screen behind him showed the cyan team had won by two percent, causing the winning team to erupt in high fives and cheers, while Orange's hand met her face again and the heavy roller laughed so hard the Aerospray had to hold her up.

"I didn't see that coming, I thought we had it in the bag!" The roller admitted between laughs, then lost it completely and caused the Aerospray to fall with her due to the weight of her weapon. The other charger looked over at them.

"You've been awake too long."

Orange was watching them and trying to keep a straight face as the cyan team walked over to join them, then a wide grin split her features and she started chuckling at her team's shenanigans. Even the charger on Blue's team was amused by the sleep deprived squids, and the Hero Shot user shook her head.

"We've all been awake too long." She pointed out, reaching both hands out to help up the heavy roller and Aerospray. "Come on."

The two inklings dusted themselves off and retrieved their weapons, and then both teams walked out of the side lobby together. The group made a stop at the equipment room, but a few of them didn't drop off their weapons. Blue glanced at the inklings holding onto their weapons curiously, prompting the Aerospray to explain.

"We're gonna head home instead of waiting for the announcement this time." He said, pointing at the heavy roller leaning on her weapon and looking like she could fall asleep any moment. "She needs to go to bed."

"Same here." The other charger from Orange's team agreed, and the quiet charger from Blue's team nodded beside her.

Blue set his roller down in the numbered locker he'd been assigned for the day and closed it before turning to the other inklings, reaching out a hand to shake the Aerospray's. "It was good playing with you guys, you're good opponents. And allies." He added, tilting his head to the charger from his team.

With all of the weapons of the inklings who were staying put up, the group left Inkopolis Tower before splitting up. Outside, the Squid Sisters were still performing, probably doing a few minutes of overtime before shutting down the concert. The plaza was mostly empty by this point, most inklings lounging around or having gone home already.

The E-Liter 3K user hugged Orange. "Thanks for helping me out today, you've got some cool tricks. Maybe next time we'll be on different teams and then we can see who's a better shot, eh?"

"Come on, don't fall asleep on me. I can't carry your dumb weapon." The Aerospray grumbled, half carrying the mostly passed out heavy roller.

"But 'm tired."

Moving over and offering to help by carrying her weapon, the New Squiffer user from Blue's team clearly didn't anticipate just how heavy a Dynamo roller was as it almost made him fall. He hoisted it up over his shoulder with some effort anyway, while the Aerospray picked up his exhausted teammate who seemed perfectly content to sleep right there in his arms.

Blue laughed, thoroughly amused by the tired inklings. "You guys be careful on your way home."

"We will." The Aerospray assured, starting off toward the apartments just outside the plaza, the charger with the sleeping inkling's weapon close behind. The other charger from Orange's team waved as well before heading off in the same direction. Orange turned to the last two inklings with them, the Hero Shot and inkbrush users.

"What about you two?" She asked, causing the two to glance at each other.

"Food?"

"Yeah I vote food."

They turned back.

"We're gonna get food."

"I think the coffee shop under the Inkopolis News building is still open, and the one over by Shrimp Kicks had a sign saying they were gonna stay open late for Splatfest." Blue told them helpfully.

"I think we'll head that way then, thanks." The girl said, and the inkbrush nodded.

"Good game today, it was fun."

The two walked off together, leaving Orange and Blue without a group for the first time since the event had started. She turned to him after half a second of silence.

"That thing with the weapon swapping was cheating, you jerk."

All she got in response was a grin that said 'I regret nothing'. Before she could threaten to splat him, though, the plaza quieted down as the Squid Sisters finally ended their song. Splatfest volunteer staff handed bottles of water off to the overworked performers, who looked more than ready to go crash in bed themselves.

"Hey, they're still setting off fireworks." Blue pointed out, and Orange looked up. The fireworks weren't exclusively Splatfest colors; they had all of the ink colors. Some of them were solid green or yellow, others were a mix of matchup colors like pink and cyan or orange and blue. While the two inklings were watching, someone came up behind and poked them both in the sides, causing them to practically jump out of their skin.

"Arrfhgehghwha?" They questioned as they spun around, and were met with the sight of Daisy casually chewing on a sandwich and giving them a flat look.

"You guys suck at taking breaks." She deadpanned. "And advice, apparently."

"Eh?" Orange questioned, looking at Blue. He just shrugged.

"We only did like two rounds after I found you again…"

"Honestly, you're both ridiculous." Daisy added, then her level expression slipped as she grinned. "Sneaking up on Blue with the bomb was hilarious, really. And that thing with the inkstrike in the last match? That was the best."

"You were spectating?" Blue asked, somewhat surprised.

"Duh. What else was I supposed to do while eating, sit out here and watch people dance? Nah." She shook her head. Then, finishing her sandwich, she made an annoyed sound. "I need to throw this packaging away. Later nerds."

They watched her go until she vanished from sight before turning back to each other, fireworks still going off above and relative silence filling the plaza as the Squid Sisters rested. After a moment, Orange shook her head in annoyance and poked at her tentacles.

"Okay, seriously, being purple is really annoying." She growled, forcing her hair to change back to her usual color.

Blue stared. "You can do that?"

"Yes? Did you think spawn points were seriously the only way to switch colors?" The boy nodded, and Orange sighed. "You just think about the color ink you wanna use, and you change to it. Spawn points are just way easier cause they do it for you."

He stared intensely at the ground for a few minutes, until Orange finally started laughing. "… What? Did I do it?"

"You're pink."

"Oh."

The roller tried again, this time managing to change back to his normal primary blue. "There you go, you did it." Orange said, causing Blue to exaggerate the 'victory' by throwing his arms in the air.

"I win, I am awesome." He decided, and she laughed. Blue was about to say something else when the music came back, albeit much slower and quieter than before. The two inklings shared a look of confusion before looking back up at Callie and Marie, who were sitting on the edge of their stages. Marie started singing again, her voice ringing out softly in a much more relaxed tune than they had done all Splatfest, almost sounding more like a lullaby. Callie picked up a few moments later, adding her voice as well to the gentle song. "What are they doing? Their concert is over, they don't have to do anything more."

"It's a wind down, to relax after all the battling all day. Basically they're getting everyone still awake ready to head home and sleep." Orange theorized. "I don't think it was scheduled or planned at all. They must've decided to do it themselves, just now."

Blue looked around, getting an idea. Turning back to Orange, he held out his hand. "May I have this dance?"

She blinked up at him, confused for a moment until she saw the few inkling couples dotted across the plaza, stepping and twirling to the relaxed rhythm of the song in a slow dance. Her face quickly lit up the same color as her name, the bright orange blush even reaching her ears as she looked down, though Blue couldn't see it through the headphones. "Uh… Erm…"

"Problem?" Blue asked gently, reaching out to take her hands. She stared stubbornly down at the ground. "If you don't want to, that's fine."

"No, I… Uh. Well." The sniper continued staring pointedly down at the ground, her gaze occasionally darting around to the sides but she wouldn't look at Blue. Her words came out as a squeak when she finally found them. "I can't, uh, slow dance."

"Oh, is that all it is?" He laughed quietly, making her blush darker. Blue pulled her close and wrapped one arm around her back, pulling gently to urge her to move with him. "Just follow my lead, it's easy."

Orange squeaked in surprise when they were suddenly pressed together, but didn't move to pull away. His movements were easy and fluid, clearly having been practiced carefully at some point, and hers were clunky as she tried not to step on his feet. After the third time she did, she started to pull away.

"I can't, I'm not good at this."

"Shhhh." Blue murmured, holding her close. "Don't think about it too much. Just follow the flow and move the way it feels you should."

Burying her face in his shoulder out of complete and total embarrassment, she tried to follow his advice. With each mess up, each time she tripped and each time she stepped on his feet, she stiffened up more as she clung to him.

"Orange, relax. Wooden boards don't dance." He pointed out, causing her to chuckle, though it was a nervous sound. "No one is watching us; no one is paying any attention. No one is judging you for not knowing how to do this."

"But I'm the only one here tripping and messing up and you're really good at it and…" She trailed off as he gently rested his head against hers, rubbing circles on her back.

"I'm really not very good at it; it's just that no one else has noticed yet." The roller's voice was low and quiet as he continued to try and make her relax, the sound seeming so uncharacteristic compared to his usual joking or upbeat tone. "Besides, it doesn't matter how good you are at it. All that matters that you're enjoying the time with someone you like, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Don't worry about not being good at it. You're the one I'm with, and that's all that matters to me." She clung tighter to him as he spoke, deciding that she could never, ever show her face again because the orange blush was never going to go away at this point. He started humming along to the song, his voice surprisingly well suited for it. Listening intently to the pleasant sound she wasn't sure she would hear again anytime soon, Orange didn't even notice when she started to relax and move along easily with him. Blue smiled when she no longer felt like a statue, her grip loosening as she followed his movements fluidly like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Blue didn't tell her she'd gotten the hang of it. He didn't tell her they were alone on the plaza floor, that the other couples had moved back to the sidelines and were now watching them with soft expressions. That even the Squid Sisters were looking down on the lone two squids with sweet smiles and kind gestures whenever he looked up at them. He just continued humming along, appreciating the moment for he knew it would not last.

After what seemed like only seconds but what must have been closer to several long minutes, Callie's voice faded out from the song, and was soon followed by Marie's. The instrumentals continued for only a few seconds before they, too, faded and gave way to the silence of the late night. Even the fireworks had ceased by this point, leaving no sound but the quiet rustling of wind through trees and the tiny voices of happy summer insects performing their own songs.

The two inklings came to a stop simultaneously, neither one leading nor following the other. They stayed together for several more moments before finally un-entangling themselves and stepping back, and only as they pulled away did Blue notice Orange's tentacles had come to rest gently holding onto him at some point during the dance.

Orange stared down at the ground, her face still bright as her hair. Blue chuckled, causing her to glance back up at him, and he smiled. "See? That was fun and you did fine." She kept up the embarrassed stare for a few seconds before finally letting a huge grin cross her features and jumping forward to hug him, pressing their foreheads together fondly. Several squids watching them aww'd in response to the cute scene, including the exhausted performers above.

"Yeah… You were right. It was fun, today was fun." Orange agreed. Blue hummed back in response, holding the shorter inkling close.

When they pulled apart again, the Squid Sisters had vanished from the stages atop the trucks in the plaza. Several inklings were looking up at the screen on the Inkopolis News station expectantly. Blue and Orange looked at each other and shrugged before looking up as well, and a moment later the broadcast started.

An excited, suspenseful air hung in the plaza as the two idols waited onscreen, the scores of both teams being tallied for the final judgment. Soon the results appeared, clearly showing which team had won as the Squid Sisters announced it.

"NOOO!" Blue cried.

"HAH! SUCK IT, MY TEAM WINS!" Orange downright roared with laughter.

"… You're going to hold this over my head for weeks, aren't you?"

"Oh definitely."

"Uuugh. Splat me now."

Orange just smirked, dragging the defeated boy towards Inkopolis Tower to do just that.

A/N: And there you have it. This has been a rollercoaster from start to finish for me, and I'm honestly glad it's finished and done with. It was fun to do though.

Some of the Splatfest features may be a bit inaccurate because I did not play the European Splatfest, I played the North American one.

I did everything I could to make this as accurate but realistic to everything as possible. I did use bullshit logic for the game mechanics in several areas (seriously, I made it so even the inklings don't know where that damn Inkstrike comes from. Where are they hiding them?) but really, you try to real-ify the Splatoon mechanics and see how far you get.

I chose to write this from Blue's perspective because he uses a roller, which is the same weapon I use. (I even specifically asked exactly which weapons Orange and Blue use so I could write their sub and special weapons accurately) His personality was hard for me to write at first, since happy peppy silly characters aren't my forte, but it was good practice that I needed.

Some personalities may be slightly or completely wrong, it's honestly a lot harder than I expected to derive a character's personality from something as limited as comics and descriptions.

The interaction with Daisy at the end, the changing of ink color at the end, scenes like those do feel a bit stiff to me, but a lot of them were needed for one reason or another. Except the ink changing one, I just threw that in cause it was bugging me that Orange had purple hair and Blue had cyan hair.

I actually started this according to the image in the first place, in which Blue was on team Rock and Orange was on team Pop, and had to change it later after it was admitted that that was just a mistake in the image and they were actually reversed. I'm not sure which way I like better; on the one hand I like that Blue loses, but on the other hand I imagine if it had been the other way around, the "Hah! Suck it!" thing at the end would have been far funnier because Orange SO would have tried to splat Blue with his own roller had he been the one to say it.

The scene with Orange acting all innocent with splat bomb is probably my favorite moment from the entire fic.

Also, I imagine Blue being able to dance really well and Orange not so much and you cant convince me otherwise cause it's cute. Also the dance scene may be total bullshit too because I can't dance either.

I think that's all I've got to say on it. I've been working on this for ten hours straight trying to finish it and I am so done. I'm going to bed. bye.