"The trees are so simple." I immediately gasped under my breath once we stepped outside the apartment building, prompting Tenta to immediately burst into confused laughter.

That was my first impression of stepping out into the world of Splatoon. The trees are simple.

We were in a little yard area right in front of the apartment building, most of it decorated with trees and bushes organized in various patterns according to their size, and what flowers they featured. There was also a parking lot just a couple feet away, with a bunch of generic looking cars parked in random spots. One of them was going waaaaay over the line and intruding into another space, which was apparently a huge driving no-no. All in all, it was a pretty regular apartment building area- though I didn't see anyone else in proximity besides Tenta and I.

"Listen listen listen-" I wheezed, walking up to the base of a tree and taking in the sight. Trees back at home were much more complex with very rough bark and a bunch of leaves scattered everywhere on random branches. In Inkopolis, the trees are simple and kinda cute. The dark bark of this specific tree was very smooth but still had the believability of being actual bark. However, the leaves of it were absolutely huge. I mean, ginormous! As big as my face and maybe even bigger since I was apparently small for an inkling. Even with my cruddy vision I could still see each individual leaf due to their massive size.

Plus-they looked so FAKE.

"Full grown trees back home are never naturally this simple and cute! And they're so fake looking!" I cackled, resting my hand on the tree's bark and feeling its slightly unique texture.

Tenta started exasperatedly shaking his head as he laughed, amazed at my ability to be wowed over the dumbest of things.

"It's a tree, Will." He settled down to an amused smirk, sighing through his nostrils as his shoulders started to relax again. After a few moments of watching me be fascinated over a beautiful representation of mother nature, he twirled around on one foot and started his way down a sidewalk path.

"It's a very simple tree!" I exclaimed in retaliation, jogging after him to catch up and then tripping over my own two feet as a great reminder that I still could barely walk, let alone jog or even run.

Thankfully, I had managed to catch myself in time to not faceplant into the ground, though I did stumble a bit and struggled with my shitty balance. Tenta had looked back at me in concern through the ordeal and even reached an arm out to probably break my fall if I did decide to eat concrete. Upon seeing that I was fine, he started giggling over it, taking my hand and holding it firmly in his grasp so that I would have to match his pace.

"Maybe I should keep you right by me so you don't have to run like that again." He joked in a teasing voice as we walked down the sidewalk, "You still haven't gotten the hang of moving your feet, huh?"

I stared down at my (or Tenta's) shoes with a hint of a frown, shrugging my shoulders, "I mean- anyone would have a hard time walking or running when their body literally changes proportions overnight. I didn't always use to be a bobblehead, y'know."

"Yeah…" He mused with a light tilt of his head, brow furrowing ever so slightly. Then he glanced back over at me, seemingly looking for something, then focused over to the left side of my face.

"Your tentacles are purple again. You should change them back to pink to match the outfit."

"Oh, really?" I asked, using my available hand to check the tentacle by the side of my face. Yep, back to that simple violet that was apparently my 'resting color'. How do you change ink colors, again?

"Uhhhhh…" I mumbled as I concentrated, trying to remember how to change colors again. Last time I did it, I had to hold Tenta's tentacles to help me really nail it down- but maybe I could do it without them this time?

As we walked along the sidewalk, I began to stare blankly at my feet as I tried to start sensing my surroundings again, since walking with my eyes closed would make me look weird. It took a couple moments of really trying to feel it out, but I once again could feel that 'hum' that wasn't actually a humming sound. Once I managed to pinpoint it, I focused my attention all onto it and instantly felt the strange sensations of all the objects in the environment surround me, which caused a soft shiver to crawl up my imaginary spine.

Once again, Tenta's pink stood out to me as a stark contrast to everything else around us. Something about his pink shade was incredibly strong, and it was hard to ignore. It didn't take long for me to latch onto it and to truly envelop myself in the feeling.

I slowly focused back onto the world around us as a soft heat brewed at the top of my back, right under my neck. The scenery looked pretty much the same, but I noticed a structure further up ahead of us with a crowd of people gathered by for some reason. I couldn't get anymore details other than that since I was practically deaf but with vision.

With the heat in my back quickly moving to the top of my head, I quickly elbowed Tenta's side to get his attention, a proud smirk on my face as I mentally reveled in the fact I managed to change my ink color for the second time in my life.

Well-that bastard decided not to look at me, instead focusing his attention on whatever the hell was a little ways ahead of us. As we grew closer, my horrid vision managed to figure out that the building the crowd was gathered at was a...train station?

"Oh my God- Are we about to ride a train?" I whispered with wide eyes, struggling to keep away a giddy smile. I had never ridden on a train before, but I had always wanted to. Southern America rarely had trains that people could actually get on instead of being designed to transport cargo for companies.

Tenta gave me a weird look, "...Yeah? Why do you look like a kid in a candy st-" Realization flashed across his face along with a hint of dread, "-You've never been on a train, have you?"

"Nope!" I grinned, unable to hide my smile as we grew closer to the station. "We live in the south-which doesn't have a lot of trains. It's the north that has them all."

"Ohhh…" Tenta mused, rubbing his free hand under his chin in thought, "So you guys just drive everywhere? I bet where you live, it's not as condensed. Inkopolis is a busy city, so people gotta use trains to get by and avoid traffic."

"Oh. Yeah, we live in a more rural area. The lack of traffic's nice but a lot of people are apparently shit drivers."

Tenta chuckled as we stepped up to the slightly crowded station, starting to fish into his jacket's pocket for something, "Those are everywhere, though. Especially Inkopolis. Every second someone's honking obnoxiously. And every other second there's a dumb streetfight."

I eyed what he was doing, and heard the train chime in the background as he fished a small card from his pocket.

"What's that?" I immediately asked, leaning over his shoulder to try and spot what the card looked like. It was just a plastic card with a bunch of white text and a green background, and tucked in a little corner was what looked to be Inkopolis Tower, completed with a mini jellyfish waving from the top.

"Is that a train...card...thing?" I pondered out loud, earning a snort from Tenta.

"Yeah. I'm gonna buy us two tickets- hoping that it has enough on it for that." He explained, flicking the card into the air and catching it skillfully with one swift movement, definitely not impressing me.

"So it's like a credit card?"

Tenta shrugged, releasing my hand to step up to a machine with a glowing screen, "Debit, really. You put money on it and then scan it on a turnstyle to let you on the train. Can't be scanned consecutively so I'll just get a physical ticket until you get your own card."

"Oh." I ended the conversation with that, watching as Tenta tapped a couple buttons on the screen, swiped his card, and eventually a light blue ticket printed out with a bunch of text on it I couldn't see. Then, he pocketed the ticket and lightly tossed me the card-

Which immediately flew right past my open hand, onto the ground because I couldn't see it moving so fast for shit.

There was a small pause.

"...Right. You need glasses." Tenta muttered, actually handing it to me after retrieving it from wherever it landed. I couldn't help but snicker at his misfortune, earning a sharp jab in the side that shut me right up.

I then felt him take my hand again and lead me towards a row of little machines blocking the way to the train, each one equipped with its own little door. Other people gathered at the station were quickly swiping their cards against them, which caused them to beep and temporarily remove the door to allow them to pass through.

"So I just-" I took the card in my hand and gently rose it up to the little machine, then flinched when it beeped and the door in front of me disappeared far more quickly than I expected.

"Go go go!" Tenta urged, shoving me past the door before it closed back up and almost making myself trip over my own damn feet again.

After stumbling over myself for a moment, I whirled around with a huff and caught him inserting his ticket into a little slot, to be eaten up forever by the machine.

Once he got through, he took my hand once more and led me to the idling train, which was mainly light green with turquoise sliding doors. More and more people were starting to board, which made me worried that we wouldn't get a spot left.

Even though everyone else was calmly stepping onto the train despite the gap between it and the station, I still felt a little antsy about it and found myself doing a little hop over it despite knowing how dumb I'd look. Tenta sent me a sly smirk, letting me know that he was absolutely going to tease me about it later when I least expected it.

Now that we were actually on the train, though, it felt very...Mythical, in a way. I was on a train, which doesn't exist near my home in Human Land, and it was in the world of Splatoon, A VIDEO GAME.

That same, giddy grin from earlier came back tenfold, and I found myself getting odd stares as Tenta led me to two seats towards the back of one of the train cars. The whole interior of the train was various hues of turquoise, the floor and ceiling the lightest with the seats being the darkest. If I squinted hard enough, I could even make out little patterns of shapes painted onto the floor of the train, which added to the flair.

Once we seated ourselves, a few seconds later I could hear (and barely see) the train's doors slide shut, and the train itself began quickly making its departure from the station.

"I'm on a train right now…" I gasped as I kicked my feet like an eager kid before Christmas, not even noticing that my feet didn't reach the ground due to my odd proportions.

Tenta gave a sleepy yawn in response, "This train is about a 45 minute ride, so try not to fall asleep if you wanna look out the windows the whole time."

I shook my head with a wide smile, "I don't think I could, even if I tried!"

The loud chime of the train startled me from my short slumber, causing me to nearly hop from my seat and look around to find the source in my sleepy haze. Instead, I peered around with narrowed eyes, recognizing that people were starting to get up and exit the train, excluding a few snoozing passengers who might've been missing their stops. The funny thing was that they seemed to all be inklings, too.

Realizing that we could be one of them, I looked to my right and saw Tenta subtly slouched over and leaning against me ever so slightly, a small line of drool trailing from his lips and onto his shorts. Choosing to ignore that- I instead started sleepily shaking his shoulders, trying to wake him up before the doors closed.

"Tentaaaa…," I called to him, rising to my feet as I shook the pink inkling harder and harder, "I think this is our stop…"

"...Huh…?" He finally responded, lifting his head and wiping his eyes away of their drowsiness. "What? What's happening?"

"Are we at our stop?"

He squinted, then looked up towards the front of the train car, staring at the bright yellow letters that scrolled across the little screen above the doors.

"...No, it's the next one. The Inkantation jingle plays when we reach Inkopolis Plaza."

"Uggghhhhhhhh…" I groaned, disappointedly plopping back into my seat at the news, ready to just get to the damn plaza already like the impatient young teen that I was.

Tenta rolled his eyes, "Relax, it's just five minutes away. Look out the windows, you'll see a lot more skyscrapers than back near my apartment."

"Tenta. I'm nearsighted." I deadpanned, but tried to look outside the windows anyway. Yep, lots of really tall grey and white blobs. What a very, very nice view. Oh! There was one with a hint of blue. How nice.

He blinked, then turned away with an embarrassed grin, "Right."

I couldn't help quietly laughing at him, earning an elbow in the side yet again but much softer than the last time.

"How long will it take for me to get a prescription? Or even the glasses? Making the glasses takes time, doesn't it?" I asked, then started groaning, "Noooo, that means I'll be blind even longer!"

Tenta rolled his eyes, "It takes three days for glasses to be ready for pickup, Will."

If I had any sort of drink, or food, or any sort of item or object or edible substance that could be inserted into my mouth at that moment, I would have spat it out in complete surprise.

"Three days?!"

"You're being too loud!" He tried to shush me, despite cackling due to my astonished reaction.

"It takes our eye doctor like two weeks to get me some new glasses. Three days? Just three fucking days?"

"Yes!" He snickered, placing his hand over my mouth in order to try and get his earlier message across.

There was so much I wanted to say right then and there, but I was cut off when the train made another stop, this time a small, familiar jingle sounding throughout the car.

"Welcome to Inkopolis Plaza! Enjoy your time here!" A gentle voice announced over the train's intercom, the doors sliding open with a loud hiss.

Most of the sleeping passengers before were now wide awake as hell and definitely giddier than I was, which made me almost pissed since earlier they had judged me for doing the exact same thing. They all literally fought to get off the train, climbing over each other and dropping large suitcases and other items that held their things in the process. One inkling looked like she even got punched, holding her bruising cheek with a scowl as she marched off the train behind the others.

After seeing that fiasco, I glanced at Tenta to my right and opened my mouth, "Were you like tha-"

"Yes. I was. Everyone new to Inkopolis is like that." He interrupted with a disturbingly nostalgic smile, taking my hand once more and leading me out of the train with him.

First thought was wow, it's very hot. Second thought was wow, it's very loud. Third thought was wow, I smell a lot of different things and not all of it was pleasant.

Inkopolis Plaza was...HUGE.

It was big. Very, very big. Super ginormous big. I really could not describe it to you to give it justice. It was nowhere near as small looking as in the game, nowhere near as empty, too. Inklings, crustaceans, anchovies, sea slugs...So many people just bustling about, wading through the crowds, trying to get to their next destinations on time. Many of the inklings, however, seemed to be heading straight forward into the city, the target in plain sight: Inkopolis Tower.

Despite the main major differences, a lot of the plaza actually looked quite similar to the game version. Inkopolis Tower was straight forward from the train- the first thing you see when you step onto Inkopolis soil. To the left was a bunch of stores with many different logos and texts that I couldn't read for shit. The ones closest to us seemed to be a bunch of miscellaneous stores such as restaurants and cafes, but as the group of buildings neared the tower, the stores each started featuring very familiar logos from the games. I could even spot Ammo Knights from the station, though it was extremely small and hard to pinpoint with my blurry vision.

To the right of the plaza was just a huge building- though I could recognize the Squid Sisters' studio from anywhere. I could even see the "On Air" sign that was hanging by it, though I couldn't actually read the text. Nor could I see the girls in there, the studio was just too far away. The ramp and the balcony and all the dancing inklings were there just like in the game, though. Except, the inklings actually seemed to be doing far more than just a simple repeating dance animation, which was a nice change of pace. A very, very fast change of pace.

This was very...overwhelming, actually.

Tenta must've seen the look on my face, however, and sent me a reassuring grin, "Trust me, Inkopolis feels a lot smaller once you get used to everything."

He then raised our two clasped hands for emphasis, giving mine an encouraging squeeze, "Just stay by me and you'll be fine. It can be easy to get lost at first, especially if you've never been in a city like this before."

I smiled, sending a nod back to him as we stepped into the city.

"Your prescription should be ready for pickup within four to eight days!" The kind receptionist woman stated as she handed me some yellow papers I couldn't read at all, though I had no idea what the hell she was. She might've been a lobster. She had glasses on and was very red, plus had a shitload of claws with two main ones.

"Thanks!" I politely said right back, accepting the papers and pretending to skim over them. Nothing better than being illiterate!

To summarize and not bore you all, we had gone to eat at a cafe before heading straight to the eye doctor. The cafe looked regular and basic as hell from the get-go, but I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that all the staff were jellyfish. The waiters? Jellyfish. The cashier? Jellyfish. The cooks? Jellyfish. The chairs? Also Jellyfish. It was a jellyfish cafe. It was perfect. They all looked so happy to be working, too, which lifted both of our spirits as we ate.

I had no idea what I was eating, though. Tenta had ordered my food for me due to my illiteracy, so I just had to sit and take whatever the hell it was. It tasted good, though. It was like an extremely chewy steak, except definitely not made of a cow. My mouth was practically a waterfall of saliva when the waiter set it in front of me, and I performed my best Kirby impression when devouring it.

Once we finished, we instantly headed for the eye doctor to get a prescription. As soon as we stepped foot into the building, I started getting second thoughts considering glasses cost a fuckton of money and I didn't have any of that. Hell, I didn't even know what the hell the in game currency was called, besides it having a "G" for some reason. Gold? Glamour? Gollars? Gen? (Yen but with a G.)

Turns out, it doesn't cost shit. Healthcare, baby! What the fuck!

I literally said that out loud once I heard the news, earning odd stares from all around me. So then I had to explain that my previous pairs of glasses have costed at least 200 dollars, or 200,000 G when converted, earning a confused "What the fuck" from Tenta himself. Even the eye doctor had some raised brows.

I was confused initially over how the hell my new glasses could be for free, then I remembered that inklings also are literally paid to play turf wars, win or lose. A very elaborate system must've been in place for all of this to happen, which I personally believe is a huge 1-up from back home already. Paid to exercise casually AND free stuff for your health? Holy shit.

Also, don't ask how the actual eye tests went when I was supposed to read off the board despite being illiterate. It...didn't go well. It worked out in the end, but I'd rather eject that memory from my mind for good, too much cringe and second-hand embarrassment for everyone there.

After I picked out a fresh pair of purple frames with pink tips for my new glasses to come in, we both stepped right out of the eye shop feeling pretty chipper, ready to get the day finally started at 2 pm!

"What should we do now?" I turned to Tenta, doing my best to fold the prescription papers enough so they'd fit into my shorts' pockets. It was mildly successful, though they appeared they could fall out at any moment if I jostled them too much.

He tapped his finger to his chin, eyes glancing all around Inkopolis Plaza as he pondered on what to do next. I could see his shoulders falling slack as he seemed to have run out of ideas for the day, but he perked right back up just moments later, mischievous eyes set on something in the distance.

"Let's go see the Squid Sisters."

Oh boy.

Before I knew it, the other inkling nabbed my hand and was thrusting me along with him into Inkopolis square once more, wading in between pedestrians and hearing some very, very nice words being directed to us both when we accidentally bumped into one or two. Everything was such a blur as soon as we started running, and it was a pretty overwhelming experience. Never had I ever ran so fast in my life! Not even when Alyssa was about to beat my ass for taking some of her things! It was exhilarating! (The run, not the ass beating. She hits HARD.)

However, only a minute later was me and my poor unathletic self already gasping and begging to stop lest I die, "Why the hell are we running!? This is too fast! My heart-My hearts are dying, Tenta! And my arm hurts shit!"

Tenta glanced back at me only for a moment, wearing a sly grin despite the sweat running down the sides of his face, "You're fine! Being an inkling is all about the adrenaline and disturbing the peace! Get used to it!"

"UGHHH!" I whined, but didn't say much more than that. I glanced down for a moment to check if my prescription was still in my pocket, and caught it with a flailing hand just as it was about to fall out and get lost forever.

"You almost made me drop my damn prescription!" I screeched, ignoring the angry crab mother screaming about watching my language around her child. Nobody cares about your 1 year old hearing curse words, Karen!

Just moments later, Tenta quickly skidded to a stop and I, being incredibly unprepared for that, squinted my eyes shut and crashed right into him face-first, sending us both to the ground with a hard, bruising fall that left a scrape or two.

"Will! Can't you watch where you're going?" I heard the asshole groan as he panted, and felt him rise up from under my collapsed and exhausted body. Oh! I'm so goddamn sorry for crashing into you! It is completely and horribly 100% my fault that I am a nearsighted human-recently-turned-inkling that has barely any control over my body and was without warning forced into running by an overexcited shithead! My. Motherfucking. Bad...

...Is what I would've said, if I wasn't literally gasping for breath due to nearly asphyxiating for running so hard. Jeez, I was so out of shape that it's embarrassing.

"MMmghh-Agh…" Was instead all I could muster, adrenaline wearing away as I weakly attempted to push myself up onto my knees with shaking hands. However, the nerves in my knees heavily disagreed with my decision, and I slowly opened my eyes to see a bleeding scrape on one and the beginnings of a bruise on the other. You'd think that seeing a color other than red coming out of your body wouldn't make it as bad, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.

"O-oh! You're bleeding…" Tenta uttered under his breath, and I could see his shoes pop up in the outskirts of my vision. Before I knew it, I felt him grab my arm and hoist me to my feet, letting me lean on him and wrap my arm around his shoulders due to how much my legs were trembling.

As he began to brush some gravel off of my(his?) sweater, I started grumbling, "Why the hell did you start running so fast out of nowhere? You know I can't keep up. And I'm practically blind, so of course I wouldn't have seen you stop so quick."

To his credit, he actually apologized and sounded genuinely upset about it, "Yeah, I know. 'M sorry, Will. I got excited and didn't think right in the moment. I should've gone at an easier pace for you to handle."

"You should've." I said at first in a bitter tone, then softened my voice once our eyes met, which made me glance away just for a moment, "But I'm kinda at fault, too. What kind of inkling isn't an athlete?"

Tenta chuckled and adjusted his stance to be more relaxed, green eyes looking apologetic but sparkling nonetheless, "There aren't many non-athletic inklings, actually, so it's just you and a few more."

I growled in a joking manner, "Wow. That makes me feel better."

He shrugged with the one free shoulder he had, "It's in our nature to be athletic. Sure, some inklings prefer a more calm life without the excitement of turf wars, but even they can't help having the desire to go on a run once a day or whatever."

I snorted, "Maybe being an inkling will actually help me get in shape, for once."

Tenta let out a small laugh, "Probably!"

He then glanced down at my knee, looking a bit concerned, "Is your knee alright? Does it hurt?"

I looked down at it too, noticing that the bleeding had stopped during our short conversation, though a fresh trail of purple blood was slowly sliding down to my(Tenta's) sock. It didn't sting much by itself, but when I experimentally put weight onto my leg, it shot up from a soft two to a solid six. And maybe add in a half or so in there.

Tenta must've seen me bite my lip in pain, because he frowned and slowly fanned at the knee with his free hand. It didn't help much, but I appreciated the effort.

"I'll get Agent 2 to help you get it cleaned and fixed up. Inklings heal quick, so you'll be able to walk by sundown."

"Agent-" I started, then glanced around. Oh my God. Oh my God oh my God oh my GOD.

"Those are the-"

"Yep."

"And we're about to-"

"Yeah."

"And you're just-"

"You're having a very predictable response, y'know." Tenta admitted with a knowing smirk on his face.

Before the two of us was the Squid Sisters' studio, bright magenta mixed in with yellow and blue blobs flooded my vision, though I could just barely make out the two iconic chairs and table between them. Unfortunately, the sisters were absent from their chairs, though I was assured by Tenta that they'd be returning any second now.

And we were going to "surprise" them.

"How the hell are they gonna tell the difference between us and just a couple of fans?" I was quick to announce my skepticism, "We're kinda plain looking, and you aren't in your agent outfit."

Tenta waved a dismissive hand, "They'll know. They've spotted me outside of Octo Valley before, mostly to harass me and be massive dickheads, though."

I shook my head with a short snicker, "Man, you must be real familiar with them if you can call them that and still regard them as friends."

He elbowed my side with a wide, toothy smile, "Aw, are you feeling left out? Don't worry, Will! You're a dickhead, too."

I looked away, trying to hide my growing grin, "I feel so reassured."

After a moment of silence, I looked around the area once more and noticed that the whole balcony that was usually occupied by an inkling or two peering into the studio or stretching on the edge was empty except for the two of us.

"...Where is everyone?" I muttered in a confused tone. The city of Inkopolis was bustling and loud as usual, but the balcony was like a mini ghost town.

I felt Tenta shift under my arm and hopped a bit on my uninjured leg to maintain balance.

"People usually don't come up here 'till they see the sisters. The first ten minutes they're here, it's flooded with people. After that, the crowd clears out and it'll just be us and a couple others lingering."

As if on cue, two inklings slowly strolled up the small ramp that led to the balcony, both of them excitedly chatting back and forth as they leaned against the railing together, loudly talking about how excited they were to see the sisters. Their clothing was less than desirable, with colors that clashed horribly and worn down shoes that were almost falling apart, so I could only assume that they were recent newcomers to Inkopolis.

Only more and more inklings followed after those two, with the occasional jellyfish propped up on their head. Soon, the entire balcony was crowded with people, Tenta and I pushed to the very edge and unable to see the studio due to the sheer amount of bodies present. It was like everyone and their mother, and father, and siblings were on this balcony now.

"I feel like I'm being strangled." I uttered in a deadpanned tone that only Tenta could hear, choking when a small inkling girl elbowed me so hard my organs started failing and didn't say a word, too busy screaming her hearts out along with everyone else once the sisters presumably appeared. I could even hear a couple of cameras snapping pictures, and desperately hoped none of them caught my ragged looking self on them.

Tenta didn't look phased, however, "You get used to it. The sisters don't get together much like they used to, so this is a bit of a big moment."

...Get together?

He must've caught my baffled expression, which caused him to giggle and say with a small shake of his head, "I'll tell you about it later."

Eventually, after a couple minutes of patience, the crowd cleared out and all that was left was the two of us and a couple of stragglers, just like Tenta said. The people left weren't even looking at the sisters anymore, busy talking to each other and browsing their social media on their phones instead.

The sisters themselves were seated in their respective chairs, having a calm chat over something seemingly trivial. Marie was more relaxed of the two, one leg over the other as she quietly sipped on the drink she held in her right hand, gesturing with her left as she occasionally added the conversation Callie was clearly carrying. Callie herself was drinking what seemed to be a stereotypical college girl's Starbucks frappuchiannochocoliograndelia, idly swirling around the ice in her drink with her straw whenever she wasn't drinking it.

Both sisters were just minding their business and having a calm conversation, but I could feel the tension suffocating me just from how stiff and exhausted they both looked, and I had a bit of an inkling for why…..

The pink haired inkling glanced at me, that familiar and horrible knowing grin on his face making an appearance yet again, "Are you ready to see greatness?"

I hopped up onto the outer railing of the balcony and gestured for him to commence the so-called 'show' that might happen soon, kicking my legs in a child-like manner as I eagerly awaited whatever was in store. I knew the sisters were likely going to have a grand reaction based on his excitement.

His gaze stuck to me for a moment, "Be careful on that thing. You aren't the most coordinated inkling so-"

"LOVE the faith in me, just get on with whatever you're planning." I growled, less in a joking manner than before.

Rolling his eyes, Tenta strolled up to the railing that separated the balcony from the window of the studio and leaned over it at a heavy incline, raising a fist and pounding on the hard glass with a couple of firm knocks.

Almost immediately, the two sisters glanced over at us with firm glares, clearly not too happy about their conversation being interrupted. They looked like they were about to ignore us, but as Callie was mid-drink, her eyes almost bulged out of her head as she lurched and her frappechocopumpkinspicemochalatte sprayed out of her two nostrils and all over the floor, the poor pink idol coughing and hacking as her face turned bright pink and stinging tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

We both could not fucking stop laughing no matter how much we wanted to, my GOD. Tenta had doubled over in laughter and nearly fell to the floor, face pink and tears pricking at the corners of his eyes too, but for an entirely different reason. I was the same way, cackling like a witch as I watched Callie struggle to compose herself, the girl urgently fanning her face as she tried to get her bearings.

Marie's reaction was almost as good, the quiet yet snarky sister staring wide-eyed at the two of us with her mouth ready to catch some flies. Her drink had clattered to the floor, spilling some fizzy soda all over the ground. She had lunged out of her seat when she laid her eyes on us, staring in disbelief, like she was in awe of our (or Tenta's) existence. Then again, it might've just been that. Tenta could've been dead, for all she knew.

Before we had the chance to compose ourselves, Callie stood straight up and scrambled out of the studio, leaving her mess and a gaping Marie behind.

However, instead of making a grand exit herself, Marie's face quickly turned green as she adopted a very out of character expression- fury. That's right, she looked fucking LIVID. If looks could kill, we'd be vaporized into nothingness, brought back, beaten to death, then vaporized again. Her furious glare glanced over at us both, the gears in her head turning as she visibly made the connection that we both knew each other.

"Uh…" I whispered in dread, watching her fists clench tightly as she whirled around and dashed out of the studio herself, leaving the spilled drinks and overturned chairs behind.

"I think she's mad," I said under my breath, looking over at Tenta, who was no longer laughing and instead seemed rather pale. Great, he was nervous too. Bad news.

"She's gonna beat my ass." He stated as if it were a fact, like it was gonna happen. "She. Is going. To beat my ass. She is going to beat my ass! Will, she's going to beat your ass."

"What did I do?!" I whined, "I'm just a witness! You're the one they're looking for! I'm just here, being cute! Just a little fanboy, with my epic Squid Sister merch just begging to be signed!"

Tenta waved his arms frantically, "She knows you're an accomplice! We're dead meat, man! Prepare to never see the light of day ever again!"

His panic was starting to rub off on me a bit, "Stop being so dramatic! We can run and hide! They're not gonna find us if we figure out the best ways to evade them!"

Tenta wildly shook his head, "It's too late. No matter what I try, they'll always know where I am. During the day, they're idols, during the night, they're hunters."

He was definitely exaggerating at this point. "...You're so goddamn dramatic."

Tenta let out a loud guffaw and grabbed my hand, pulling me off of the railing I sat on, "Yeah, I am. I'm gonna get my ass beat, but I'm not that scared about it. We gotta go, though, they're gonna meet us there and they'll kill me if we're late."

I tilted my head, silently beckoning him to elaborate.

He sighed, having expected me to get the message, "Octo Valley, dumbass. We gotta go, now."

OH.

"I'm stupid." I groaned, following him as we darted down the ramp of the balcony and started running towards Inkopolis Tower, weaving between pedestrians like before but at a much slower pace that I was able to keep up with this time.

The run wasn't nearly as long or as painful as before, so by the time we arrived at the tower we both were only panting lightly and not on the ground in a painful heap. Speaking of which- only now did the sting of my knee return once I thought about what occurred earlier. It didn't hurt as much, but it still definitely needed to be tended to so that I wouldn't get an infection.

After we caught our breath, I began looking around the tower for the manhole that'd take us to the valley, but didn't see it anywhere. Of course I should've expected a location change- this Inkopolis has a more realistic layout than in the game.

"Where's-" I coughed a bit, my body struggling to recoup, "Where's the manhole?"

"Shh!" Tenta hushed me in a hushed tone, looking around, "Not so loud here! It's crowded and people could hear us. It's near Spyke's alley."

As we inconspicuously strolled past the countless inklings dashing into the tower, we began growing closer to a darker, more dangerous area of Inkopolis I didn't even know existed. Dark alley after dark alley, pothole after pothole, and gross puddle of water after gross puddle of water was here, it felt like a foreign country even though it was still very much Inkopolis plaza. I could see countless trash litter the ground, and noticed the tall and dark figures staring at me from the shadows. I felt a shiver crawl up my spine as we walked past them, feeling their preying stares looking over my body. They hadn't even touched me and yet I felt so violated.

Tenta nudged me and leaned over close, sensing my discomfort, "Don't worry much about them- They can't do anything to you. I'll make sure of it."

"Oh! I feel soooo much better, the young 15 year old inkling with very little actual hand-to-hand combat experience wants to protect me." I hissed darkly, feeling very much like Salt day one of meeting Pepper.

"Chill, okay? There's Spyke's alley right there." He retorted, pointing over at one of the better lit alleys and the manhole that was just at the entrance.

"Oh thank fucking god." I sighed in relief, jogging up to the manhole and peering down into it, not seeing a floor within it.

"...How far's the drop in this thing?" I glanced back up at Tenta with a look of dread and caught him with his arms crossed, glancing awkwardly to the side, already answering my question.

"...I'll go first and then I'll catch you when it's your turn." He affirmed, ignoring my yells for him to wait as he smoothly dived into the manhole face-first, his transition from kid to squid too quick for me to comprehend.

After a few moments of hesitation, I heard him call out to me from the bottom of the manhole-

"Are you coming or what?!" He shouted in an impatient tone, voice echoing several times over.

"U-Um…" I stammered, crouching down close to the manhole. I bit my bottom lip as I peered down inside, just barely seeing Tenta's unamused glare amid the darkness.

"How...do I get in? How do I turn into a…" I whispered the last part, hoping nobody nearby would hear me admit that I was an inkling unable to do the most iconic function of an inkling's body.

"...squid?"

"Oh my God." I heard Tenta growl in anger, grimacing when I realized he said that in English. Oh dear.

"You never fucking taught me, okay?!" I screeched back at him, looking quite ridiculous since I was yelling into a sewer hole, "I haven't been an inkling for that long! I don't know shit!"

"You can figure it out! It's an instinct!" He yelled, "If you feel something strange happen, just let it happen!"

"The last time that happened I fucking shat myself!"

TMI, Will. TMI.

"What-What the f-" I heard Tenta try to say, but he kept cutting himself off with his own immature giggles, "What the fuck, Will? What?!"

"You heard me!" I shouted, struggling to keep myself together, "I was chilling in my room and my stomach started g-"

"GET IN THE GODDAMN MANHOLE!"

As I laughed myself to the point of asphyxiation yet again, I faintly recalled a memory of myself playing Splatoon before Tenta came and ruined everything. As I strolled up to the manhole in the game that led me to the Single-Player, I noticed that Cap'n Cuttlefish would actually lift the manhole when he'd show up, instead of squidding out of it like expected.

Once my laughter died down, I felt around the edges of the manhole and began to lift the lid, squawking in surprise when it easily came up. Who knew that a small detail like that in the game would translate over into the actual Inkopolis universe?

The moment I was satisfied with how high up I lifted the manhole lid, I swung my legs over into the hole and peered back down into it.

"You're gonna catch me, right? Swear on it?" I was never a fan of heights, so I was absolutely counting on Tenta to reassure me here.

It took a second for him to respond, since he was still coming around from his earlier laughing fit, "...Yeah! I'll catch you. Promise."

That was all the confirmation I needed, as I instantly pushed myself into the hole and heard the manhole lid close above me with a loud bang, yelling in fear as the awful feeling of weightlessness dug a pit in my stomach.

Yet as quick as it came, it was gone.

Next thing I knew, I was being held by Tenta bridal style, the pink inkling staring back at me with a cocky grin.

"Told you I'd catch ya."

"Fuck off, asshole. Never have I felt more emasculated."

He laughed, softly setting me on the ground and walking off in a random direction, "I should get a stamp that says "Fragile!" and stamp it to your forehead. C'mon, the Valley's this way."

Scrambling up from the cold ground of the sewer, I dusted myself off and hobbled after him with my injured leg.

Finally, things were starting to get interesting.

Surprise! It's me! Posting at 1:21 EST!

I'm 18, a college student, and sleep deprived as hell!

I didn't imagine I'd upload another chapter to this story so soon, but my tablet's stylus broke and I've been in a creative mood with no proper outlet, so I had to turn to writing.

I've actually had the beginning of this chapter done for a while, but have only now gotten towards finishing it. be proud of me!

let me know if there's any errors or whatever, i'm too lazy and tired to edit and i'm just putting this out right as im done

follow me on twitter at chubbidust (for splat) or chubbi_dust (for everything else)

thanks for reading and for sticking with me this far! i'm really surprised that you guys like this story so much that you'll keep pestering me years after i posted my last chapter. guess that shows how much yall love it lmao

it'll be a while before i post another chapter probably, but please don't post any nagging reviews or...reviews that are entirely irrelevant to the story. those ones just piss me off.