Okay. This is like, my fourth attempt to make a video game-based fanfiction. But I really love this concept. So here goes. Gulp.

Rrrrrrring. Rrrrrrrring.

A hand reached out from under the blanket and swatted at the snail-shell-shaped alarm clock, eventually getting the ringing to pause before disappearing back into the sea of dark blue that made up the bed. But the boy who owned the hand only had a few moments of silence before a loud knock at the window startled him into throwing the blanket off, revealing an Inkling - a squid-like creature with human features. The boy's bright yellow eyes shone through his tanned face and out the window to where two more Inklings were sitting. One was Jonu, a pale, scrawny teal-eyed boy with his light blue tentacles brushed to the side and in a ponytail, while the other was Tenta, a dark-skinned girl with magenta eyes whose lilac tentacles hung effortlessly around her face. The drowsy Inkling was Will, their best friend and a member of their squad.

"About time you get up," Tenta teased. Jonu snickered beside her but was silenced by a piercing glare from the other side of the window.

"The turf war's about to start," he timidly spoke up.

"You didn't forget, did you?" Tenta gasped over-dramatically.

"Of course not," the still half-asleep Will said, stretching. "Give me a second to get dressed and I'll be right out." Tenta rolled her eyes and her companion gave a small thumbs up before they vanished down off the fire escape. The remaining Inkling stretched and rubbed his eyes before finally leaping out of bed. His first stop? The mirror, as always, to make sure his dark blue hair was in perfect order. A few brushes here, a couple yanks there, and his signature multi-colored hair band to hold his hair in a ponytail, and he was ready to go.

Next stop, the dresser. The boy dug out his favorite shirt - a Reel Sweat from Zekko - and pulled it over his head. Next, his Blue Sea Slugs and a pair of Noise Cancellers, and he was ready to roll. He grabbed his Tentatek Splattershot and was out the door.

"Tenta! Will! Jonu! About time you guys get here!" the fourth member of their group, Cole, called when he finally saw his friends arrive at Inkopolis Plaza. Cole was a green Inkling with blue eyes whose tentacles were spiked upward.

"Sorry Cole," the girl, Tenta, apologized. "Sleepy-head over here didn't want to get up." She playfully elbowed Will, who, in a much better mood now that he was awake, just laughed.

"Where's the gang?" Will asked, holding his Splattershot up readily.

Cole stuck a thumb towards the tower behind him. "Waiting inside. Everyone ready?" Tenta swung her Kelp Splatterscope over her shoulder while Jonu put his Krak-On Splat Roller to the ground and they both nodded in affirmation. Cole lifted up his Heavy Splatling Deco and spoke, "Then let's roll!"

"About time you guys get here," the leader of the rival gang sneered as the four stepped into the tower. She threateningly pointed her Custom Range Blaster at Will.

"Whatever Ink," Will said, pushing her Blaster out of his face. "Let's just get started, alright?"

"Aw, does the poor baby want to go back to bed?" Ink teased in a high-pitched voice. Her friends chuckled menacingly behind her. Tenta took a step towards the girl, but Will stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Tenta," he said, not breaking eye contact with Ink, who smirked. "We'll make up for it by destroying them in the Turf War." Tenta stuck her tongue out at Ink, but backed up.

Before the taunting could continue, a booming voice echoed through the arena. "Inklings, are you ready for a Turf War?" The eight kids cheered in affirmation. "Your map will be… Mahi-Mahi Resort!" A picture of the resort appeared underneath the speaker. Suddenly, Will looked pale.

"Will, are you okay?" Jonu asked worriedly. Before Will could respond, the voice spoke up again. "Please approach your teleport pads." Two doors slid open, each revealing a different pad. One was green, the other purple.

"See you out there," Ink called with a wink as her team stepped onto the purple pad, transformed into squids and vanished. Will scowled at her before motioning his team towards the green pad, still looking nauseated.

Will, Tenta, Jonu, and Cole appeared from a different green pad, now all with the same colored hair and some of their outfit recolored as well. Tenta, Cole, and Jonu examined the resort to mentally develop a plan, but Will just stared at his Blue Sea Slugs.

The voice spoke again, "The battle will begin in… 3! 2! 1! GO!"

Immediately, Jonu, Tenta, and Cole took off running, Jonu carefully covering every spot surrounding the spawn with ink using his Roller while Tenta and Cole immediately take off deeper into the map. Will, however, lagged behind. Jonu took notice of this and halted.

"Are you okay?" he asked again. Will took a deep breath and looked up, nodding slightly before running off. Jonu looked unsure but quickly got back to work.

As usual, Will headed straight into the center of the map, which Ink and her gang were already coating in purple ink. He looked around him and saw Tenta crouching on a platform just out of sight of Ink and her gang, aiming her Charger in preparation for the perfect shot. Cole, in his squid form, swam up next to Will before emerging. "What's the plan?" he asked.

Will took another look. Tenta had just shot one of Ink's lackeys, so the other three were distracted trying to find her while she swam off in search of another hiding spot. Jonu was taking advantage of her distraction to cover up some of the purple ink with his own green. But the thing that caught Will's eye was the gap filled with water separating him from the main portion of the map.

"You go on and protect Jonu," he finally told Cole. "I'll… handle over here." Cole looked a little unsure, but followed orders and leaped gracefully across the pit, immediately firing on Ink and taking out both her and one of the two remaining lackeys. Will transformed into a squid and rapidly swam around the long way to the center of the map and began covering the purple ink in the area.

Cole and Jonu, meanwhile, had just taken out the last of Ink's team and were busy finishing up the area, when suddenly a splash of purple ink covered them both, damaging them. They whirled around to see Ink had already made it back after respawning, alongside one of her buddies, who was the cause of the ink with his Sloshing Machine.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" she scoffed, aiming her blaster at them. Jonu quickly reacted, splashing his Roller behind him, creating a place for both him and Cole to dive into to heal. Ink rolled her black eyes and aimed her blaster at the spot, but just before she could fire she was hit with a blast of green ink from the side and disintegrated, her lackey joining her seconds later. Cole and Jonu emerged from the ink and turned to the source of the shot- Tenta. She gave a wave and the two boys immediately got back to work covering the purple ink Ink and her teammate left behind.

Only one minute remained on the clock, and Will's team was leading by a pretty good-sized margin. The previously-underwater areas had been revealed when the water receded, as usual, and Jonu was quick to spring into action and try to cover them, only to be taken out by Ink's Slosher-wielding teammate, which left Will to handle the areas himself while Jonu respawned. Fortunately, he was able to easily defeat the Slosher with his Suction Bombs and immediately got to work.

But only a few seconds later he saw Ink and two of her teammates approaching him. He managed to fire a few small splashes at them but found himself without ink, and Ink and her teammates were pushing him deeper into purple ink and further away from his green ink.

"Well, look what we have here," Ink sneered. Will desperately shook his Splattershot, trying to get enough ink to take them out, but to no avail. And none of his teammates were in sight.

"Why don't you just shoot me?" he growled at her.

"Well, what's the fun in that?" Ink asked innocently. "Look behind you." Will raised an eyebrow, but turned around- they were leading him straight towards the water. His skin paled again. "See, there's no chance we can win anyway. So we might as well get a little fun out of it." She snapped her fingers and took a step back as her tougher-looking friends stepped closer and closer to Will. Before long, he was on the edge of the platform, shivering.

"I h-hate you," he tried to snarl at Ink, but ended up just sounding fearful- of course, he was, so that was no surprise.

"Oh, you do?" Ink acted insulted. "Well, I suppose there's no reason for me not to do this then. Push him in, boys." Her friends smirked and immediately shoved Will back, sending him flying backward into the water, where he dissolved.

He respawned, of course, but it wasn't of any use. He couldn't move at all because he was so frightened. Fortunately, Tenta was nearby and saw him sit down, still shaking.

"Will!" she called, taking one last shot at her target before squidding over to him. "Will, what's up? Are you okay?"

Will barely managed to shake his head no without breaking down crying. Tenta got down on her knees and wrapped her arm around him.

"TIME!" the voice from earlier boomed, signifying that the match was over. All of the weapons stopped working as the Inklings all made their way back to their respective spawn points to be teleported back to Inkopolis tower, where the results would be given to them by Judd. When Cole and Jonu arrived, Tenta had to explain to each of them that she had just found Will here and was unsure what happened.

Will was cheered up a little by the announcement that his team had come out victorious, but still didn't speak to any of his friends before going straight back to his apartment. About an hour later, the three of them showed up in his window again and he let them in.

"So what happened?" Cole asked him once he got in. Will shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"It has to do with the water, doesn't it?" Jonu spoke up. He immediately realized he shouldn't have when Will shot him a glare.

"What do you mean water?" Cole asked him.

"I-I don't think I'm supposed to say," Jonu said, looking between Will and Cole.

"Tell us," Tenta demanded, more intimidatingly than Will could ever dream to be.

"Will's afraid of water," Jonu squeaked before ducking behind Will's bed, away from Will's wrath.

"What? Why?" Cole asked. "I mean, yeah, Inklings can't swim, but you'll just respawn during a Turf War and there's no other water anywhere near Inkopolis."

"More importantly, why didn't you tell us?" Tenta asked, much softer than her last statement. She comfortingly put a hand on Will's shoulder.

"It's not important, and I'll be fine," Will said, moving her hand away. "We beat Ink, right? And that's all that matters."

"Yeah… About that," Jonu squeaked nervously, popping his eyes up over the bed.

"What now, Jonu?" Tenta sighed, exasperated.

"After you guys left… Ink told me to tell you…" Jonu was barely loud enough to hear.

"Tell us what?!" Tenta demanded again. "And for crying out loud, Jonu, speak up!"

"She wants a rematch. Tomorrow morning. Same time, and uh… Same map." Will paled again- this time his skin was almost as pale as Jonu's was always.

"Holy calamari, are you going to faint?" Cole said, stepping closer to him in case he had to catch him.

"N-No, I'm going to… I'm gonna be fine," Will confirmed, trying to take a step. He barely avoided falling over.

"Okay, we need to get your mind off of this," Tenta said thoughtfully. Suddenly, her magenta eyes lit up. "I know exactly what you need."

"That look is never a good thing," Cole whispered to Will worriedly.

That's about it for chapter 1. What do you guys think?

Just to be clear because I'm not sure if it's going to come up naturally later, Tenta and Cole are siblings. That's why their names are a pun (you did get that, right?)

I'm still not sure exactly how important Ink will end up being. I kind of like her character, and, more importantly, her dynamic with Will and Tenta, so she might come up more than I originally planned when I wrote her up.

Oh, and just to be clear, we will be going to some Story Mode-based chapters soon. Probably Chapter 3. We'll see how Chapter 2 goes first.

Read and review, por favor y gracias!