First splatoon fic so hopefully this goes well! My friend and I are working on this together for a while now so we can only hope for the best result.

Hope you enjoy!

It was another beautiful morning in Inkopolis, and a familiar jingle rang throughout the Square as its screen billboards went live with Off the Hook.

"Y'all know what time it is!" Pearl exclaimed.

"It's Off the Hook, coming at you LIVE from Inkopolis Square!" Marina cheered.

"Now before we announce the stages, we've got a special announcement!" Pearl said with a grin.

"Ooh, what is it, Pearlie?"

"You know, one of the most important events in Inkopolis?"

"The Splatfest?"

Pearl sighed. It was a sigh that's not overly heavy, but more like a sigh full of love. And exasperation, but... Mostly love.

She corrected Marina, "Nope! It's the fiftieth annual Splat League competition!"

"OMG! Already?!" Marina squealed, punctuating it with a dramatic gasp.

"You know it! This competition's been going on since the dawn of time! Like, practically since Turf's been discovered! Twenty teams get together to duke it all out for the top ranking spot for best splatteam!"

"This league is even more intense than the Splatfest! It gives me goosebumps…"

"Now, Marina, would you be ever so kind to tell everyone how to join the thing?"

"Here's how it goes: any splatteam has a chance to sign up to earn a spot in the top twenty for the league. Teams will have to rank up wins from Turf Wars and Ranked to steal a spot! The top twenty teams with the most wins will then move on to the actual league!" she explained.

"Yo, but here's the thing," Pearl interrupted, "Even if you are in the top twenty, each team needs a specific number of excess wins. At least ten Turf War and ten Ranked, period."

"I guess that's fair, since it's a competition for the greatest of them all!"

"Exactly! Everyone can sign up from Judd in the Square, and it'll be going on all week! So y'all better head down and sign up while you can!"

"Everybody do your best!" Marina smiled.

"Now to check out the current battle stages…"

"One Deep-Fried Shwaffle and Special Smoothie!"

A dark-skinned octoling, rocking an orange afro, looked up from his phone and got up, walking toward the food truck. Dressed up with a shirt and tie, he reached in his shirt pocket and paid the amount for his order. "That would be me."

"Hope you enjoy, lil' Tucs!" Crusty Sean responded, putting away the money.

"It is Tucson…" the Octoling mumbled with a small smile.

The young Octoling put his phone away and walked with his food, taking a sip of his drink. Splat League... Sounds interesting, Liza said something about this right..? he thought as he sat down at his table. He took a bite of his Shwaffle and looked around. Tucson never noticed before now, but the bench where Judd usually hung out at was flooded with people. They were pretty much all turfers, mostly inklings with a few octolings here and there.

Sheesh, Judd is having a field day. Suddenly, the table shook as somebody slammed down on it. Tucson jerked up and looked at the culprit.

An inkling stood beside another inkling donning a beanie. Sunglasses masked his bored eyes. Both seemed very annoyed and also very intimidating.

"Hey, Octarian, we need somewhere to sit. Bad enough how long the freakin' line is, especially with the other octs roaming there. This table's ours, move it before we make ya," he spat.

Tucson stared back at the two in confusion before looking over at a couple tables with a few open seats. Why couldn't they sit at those?

"... I would prefer not to..." Tucson answered slowly.

"Yo, he said move, what are ya? Deaf?" the other inkling snapped.

Since they weren't really intimidating insults compared to what he's used to, Tucson shrugged the inkling off and sank back down into his seat. "No, I am good…" he muttered. Two hands grasped his shoulders, and he was yanked up, which made the table shake again.

"That wasn't a request, eight-arms," she hissed.

"You better leave, you're lucky that scum like you can even walk around here." The boy pulled Tucson over, glaring straight into his eyes. Tucson couldn't see his eyes, but he saw his face contort with fury, still feeling the icy-hot intensity of his glare.

Tucson decided that now was a great time to get concerned, and he raised his hands in an attempt to defuse the situation. "Now guys, shall we just-"

"Hey! Tucson!"

The three snapped their heads over to see a considerably tall inkling. Tilting her hat up, she glared at the two harassers. They stiffened, now nervous. Tucson, on the other hand, smiled awkwardly and waved at her.

"Oh, hi Summer! Looking the fresh today."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Not like that's new…"

"O-Oh, shit... It's the Krak & Splat member!" he stuttered.

Crossing her arms, Summer walked over and leaned over the table on her arms. "So, what do you guys plan on doing with my teammate? Sitting him down, I assume."

The two inklings stared at each other and shoved Tucson back into his seat, both of them laughing awkwardly.

"Y-Yeah! Clumsy guy fell out his s-seat! Just, uh, helpin' him out…" the girl stammered.

Summer looked down at the ground, raising an eyebrow, "And I suppose he accidently dropped his food too, right?"

The pair jumped at the realization of the splattered food on the ground and started to pat themselves down. "Hey! Ya k-know? People can be real crazy! But, uh, h-here, I'll, um, pay for it! Yep! It's, uh, on me!" the male rambled, pulling his wallet out from his pocket.

"Wait, now you really do not have to-" Tucson, once again, tried to interject, and, once more, he was promptly cut off and ignored.

"J-J-Just take it man! Shit... Let's bounce!" the boy shouted, slamming the money on the table and beginning to leave with the other.

Summer, on the other hand, had different plans.

She grabbed them, one by his jacket and the other by her shirt, pulling the two of them close. "I don't take kindly to others fucking around with my team. Better hope I don't see you two around here again, clear? NOW GET." At that, she shoved the two away, watching them scurry off with a scowl.

"Well, do you not think you went too hard on them?" Tucson mumbled, staring at the money on the table.

Summer pointed an accusatory finger in his face.

"Don't think you're getting out of this either, soldier boy. You're strong enough to kick their asses and you know it, so what gives?" she snapped.

He sighed. "... I was scared."

"Scared?"

"Yes! You know how strong I am, maybe I would have hurt them if I did something..." Nervously, he rubbed his neck.

Summer stared at him for a moment before groaning and massaging her temples. "You've been hanging out with Liza and Jerome way too much..."

"I have not!"

"Clearly you have, don't fight me. Now speaking of those two, come on, we got to meet them for the Turf War."

Tucson blinked. "Wait, what Turf War?"

The look on Summer's face was a perfect blend of annoyance and pure disbelief. "Your first match in our team, and... You seriously forgot we had a battle going on in, like, fifteen minutes!?"

"I thought that was later around 13:00!"

"IT IS 13:00!"

"... Oh…" He paused, eyes darting around as he thought. "But, um… Can I get my food first?"

"You're damn lucky you're hot," Summer groaned.

"UUUUUGH, WHERE ARE THEEEEY?!"

'I don't know.'

Two dark-skinned inklings were lying around in the lobby. One was a boy with a buzzcut named Jerome, and the other, who happened to be his sister, was a girl with a side-wave cut named Liza. Both of them were waiting for others to join them.

Liza, who was upside-down halfway on the wall and on the ground, whined, "Man, Summer takes forever! And I knew I should've booked it to Tucson."

'Then you would've lost track of time talking to Sean… Again,' Jerome signed from where he was laying on the waiting bench.

"Hmmm, understandable."

A moment of waiting passed by once more before Liza screamed in frustration and sat up. "That's it! I'm goin' after both of them! How many minutes we got?"

'About eight.'

"Sick, I'll blast by to get Summer and maybe even grab a snack at Sean's when I get Tucson!"

'Liza, no! You already had five sandwiches today!'

"Consider… Liza yes!" She poked his nose on her way past him and headed toward the exit.

And Liza, of course, ended up walking face-first into somebody as the doors opened.

"OW! C'mon man, watch out!" she grumbled, rubbing her nose. Damn, that was totally gonna bruise.

"Ah! Liza, I am sorry..."

Recognizing the voice, she looked up to see Tucson brushing off his shirt and Summer looking from behind in slight amusement. Liza grinned.

"Yo, 'bout time you guys showed up! Though that means I can't get my sandwich…"

Tucson held up the bag of food he was holding. "I mean, I did bring food along if you want it-"

Again, Tucson was interrupted. Again, no but Tucson seemed to care.

"Thanks so much!" Liza chirped, snatching the bag away from him with greedy, greedy hands. She tore it open and began munching on the fried disaster of a dish.

"You're going to get fat if you keep eating that much," Summer muttered.

"Ey, if Ay 'e' fa' and die 'om ea'in' 'he bes' food ever 'hen 'ha's a 'ood ass way 'o die," Liza replied. Tucson could only look on in pure confusion.

Summer shifted her gaze, tired and flat, to Jerome. In response, he raised his arms.

'Don't give me that look, I lack the will to stop her anymore.'

She shrugged with a small, indifferent nod. That made enough sense.

"I cannot believe the moment has come…"

Summer looked over at Tucson, who was mumbling to himself in awe. She couldn't read his expression from behind his aviators, but she could tell how he felt.

Tucson stared at the ground, clearly worried for this battle and stuck in thought. What if I do not do well… This is not like war or the underground, I have never done this before…

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he was suddenly brought back to reality. His gaze met Summer's.

"Hey, relax," she comforted, "There ain't no way you can fuck up worse than we did our first time."

It earned a laugh from Tucson. "Possibly," he mused.

Summer nodded and looked up at the electronic clock on the wall which read 13:11.

"Shit guys, we got to go!" she shouted, shoving past Tucson and Liza, who ended up choking on her last bit of Shwaffle.

Jerome and Tucson helped her out in a panic.

The team entered a small corridor with a simple layout: three giant flat screen TVs planted on the front wall, each one with a different color lit up sign over them for Turf, Ranked, and League. Under the flat screens was a squared off counter with a computer set on it On each side on the counter was a door with color changing rims around them, assumingly to enter the game.

Liza rushed over to the counter, slamming on it while yelling, "Alyssa Alyssa Alyssa Alyssa, where ya at!? Come on!"

A female inkling popped up from behind the counter, fixing her bun. She nodded along to music from her headphones, not acknowledging the panicking squid on the other side. Wiping down her work station, her eyes caught Liza's and made her double take, removing the headphones.

"Yo, it's Liza, didn't even see ya!"

"We're, like, right in front of you…" Summer muttered from the back.

"So, whassup? Oh wait, don't tell me, you're here for the game, right?" Alyssa guessed with a hopeful smile.

Liza shot her finger guns, returning her grin. "You know it babe!"

"Sweet, just enter through the door and you know the rest! Good luck as always, guys!"

"Who needs luck when you have…. LUCK!" she yelled before rushing off ahead of the others.

She completely forgot about Tucson.

Summer groaned and facepalmed. "That girl is way too hyperactive."

Jerome gave her a reassuring look and turned his gaze toward Alyssa, signing, 'We actually need Tucson to get his license first, did Liza mention that?'

She gave them a blank stare. Jerome and Summer were slightly uncomfortable while Tucson returned it. Then, suddenly, Alyssa slapped her head and exclaimed, "OH YEAH! She did explain all that!"

Once she finished, Alyssa ducked back under the counter without another word, leaving the three in an awkward silence. Rustling came from behind the counter, and it started to concern the others. Their concern was only amplified with the loud sound of glass shattering.

The counter shook with a thud and Alyssa slowly stood up, rubbing her head in pain and sliding a card across the surface.

"Ouch… Well, I found it alright. Um..." Alyssa squinted at the card. "Tucson: ranked C-, oof, and level 5! That's you for sure!"

They all shifted their gazes to Tucson, who poked at his afro in embarrassment. The automatic doors slid open with a small noise. Jerome grabbed the card with a smile.

'Thanks Al!' He tossed the card to Tucson, who caught it gracefully.

"No problem! Now, make sure Liza doesn't wreck the other team too bad, alright?"

"We make no promises," Summer replied before walking off.

Jerome and Tucson looked at Alyssa, sweating nervously, then waved as they went to catch up.

Alyssa sighed. "This oughta be interesting."

STAGE: Humpback Pump Track

"THE TURF WAR IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! INK THE MOST TURF TO WIN!"

Spawning into the stage, Team Krak & Splat readied themselves for the countdown. Liza transformed from squid form and stood with her Inkbrush Nouveau balanced on her shoulder, trying to get a good look at the opposing team. Once they spawned, she could make out two rollers, a slosher, and a dualies.

"Looks like we got primary turfing team, guys! We can take 'em, easy."

"3!"

Jerome nodded in understanding, holding his Tentabrella with a firm grip.

"2!"

"First game of our path to the league, better not mess it up. Hear me, Tucson?" Summer commented, readjusting her Nautilus 47.

"1!"

"Loud and clear," Tucson grunts, cocking his N-Zap '89.

"GO!"

"BOOYAH!"

The battle was on! As Krak & Splat shouted with might, the two teams rushed to ink their turf.

Liza took the opportunity of going straight ahead, jumping down while spraying ink around with the spin of her brush. Summer booked it to the right while Tucson went to the left, inking down paths to the middle of the field. Jerome spent his time inking the base since nobody inked around home base anyways.

Okay, so, first thing's first - charge a special. Tucson needed about one-hundred and ninety points for it to charge, give or take, so he continued to ink turf as he moved. He also noticed the layout of the stage was… Weird. The ground wasn't flat in the slightest, and he had already tripped more than once. The path he went on seemed to be leading deeper into enemy territory, and he might be able to sneak in and attack… But so could they.

Tucson felt his special meter fill - he was pretty sure it was Tenta Missiles, if he remembered it correctly - and swam backwards in his ink in case an enemy appeared and decided to try and splat him or something like that. And, well, after being splatted about a hundred times, he's gotta say, it's not very fun at all.

Okay! Missile time. Activating his special, he felt power surge through him. The missile launchers were heavy, leaving him fairly vulnerable, but they let him pick up the frequencies of the enemy team. Three of them were in the middle, one was… Unaccounted for.

Locking onto the three in the middle, he launched the missiles and, once done, the launchers shrank and folded back into his ink tank.

How convenient!

He inked a path on the curve of the stage and unknowingly headed off toward the enemies' side. Tucson gunned away, painting the ground in his color.. Worry began to gnaw at him.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

On his way back to his team's side, he heard a special go off from behind him and the zone around him lit up. Going with his extra instinct, he changed to octopus form and swam in the little path he had away to a tight corner, feeling the ink shake around him. He felt as he should check to see what happened, he really did, however, the shadow looming over his puddle was enough of an explanation.

Not good! He panicked as he dropped an autobomb and hopped out of the corner… Only to reach another wall. Oh.

The bomb went off behind him, but the slow cackling didn't stop either. Taking a breath, Tucson turned around and tried to shoot at the opponent, only for them to dodge roll out of the way.

It was at this exact moment when Tucson remembered dualies existed, and the moment after it was when he decided that dualies and anyone who used them could die.

Ducking back into the ink and popping back up a bit to his left, he attempted to track the dualies' erratic rolls, but they quickly dodged backwards. He grit his teeth in annoyance.

Different weapons had different specialties - some focused purely on attacking, like blasters, some focused purely on inking, like the Aerospray, which was a weapon he tested out a few times in Ammo Knights before deciding it actually sucked. Some had mixed specialities, like the basic roller, which could ink but also splat in one hit and practically guzzled ink. And, well, from he knew, no weapon was truly perfect - each one had a flaw that made using it different, that shifted the way you turfed.

And, well, Tucson used the N-Zap.

The N-Zap had an amazing fire rate - seriously, how did Sheldon manage that? - and made inking easy without leaving you entirely useless in a fight.

However, N-Zaps: 1. Didn't have the highest damage output and 2. Didn't have the best range.

He thought the inconvenience was minor at best when he tested it.

Now, though? Now that this pair of dualies was rolling around like an Octoball on Adderall?

It was very much not minor.

"Can't hit me, can you, Domehead?" the dualies teased with a smirk. Tucson furrowed his brow as he backed away from them, only for them to roll forward and close the distance he just made. By now, he was fairly familiar with the range of his weapon, and he only swam away after tossing an autobomb. "Don't run from me!"

"You are not the boss of me!" he snapped, growing more annoyed by the minute.

"Nah, you're right." What? "I'm really not, but that's, like, never stopped me."

Tucson had an insult in mind, but he didn't know it in Inkling.

"Aaaaanyways." They rolled towards Tucson, slamming a burst bomb into his face. Rude! "I'm gonna splat you now."

"No you are not!" he squeaked, and then his back hit a wall.

They rolled forward. Tucson couldn't line up a shot.

MIERDA he swore, and then-

SPLAT.

He respawned with an angry screech.

"You alright?" Summer asked. Great, so she got splatted, too? "You look a little pissed."

"Thanks," he grumbled, inking a few spots he missed earlier. "It is because I am."

Summer laughed - what a jerk - then popped down under the ink.

"There are dualies on the left!" he called. Summer didn't pop back up, but he heard her emit a frequency and that was good enough for him. As he continued to the right, he heard a loud swear come from her general direction. She'd deal with it… Probably.

Shaking his head, Tucson descended toward the middle now. It was a much more open area to avoid splats and to ink turf, plus he noticed Jerome trying to hold down the area on the slope; time to help.

Jerome unleashed his brella, watched it fly down hill to help out Liza fighting a slosher. He continued to throw a bomb at the competing Splat Roller on the enemy slope. Though creeping up behind him was a Dynamo user with a smug grin.

The Dynamo jumped up and lifted his roller. "Gotcha, punk!"

Crap! Jerome turned with a scared look, trying to get another brella to spawn with no avail. He shut his eyes and awaited his splat, but heard a scream instead. Opening one eye, he saw a pink ghost float away with Tucson spinning his gun in pride.

"Sorry to be late, need any help?" Tucson questioned, throwing an auto bomb over to the Splat Roller trying to get away. Jerome responded with frantic signing, all of which Tucson made out,

'Liza! Fighting! Don't Know!... Oh..' Jerome slowly finished from the sound of yelps, looking over at a turquoise and pink ghost float away from below.

'... Never mind, just get around the corners. I got things around here!'

Tucson nodded and inked around at any spots of enemy ink before swimming away. He could hear various noises from all directions, including another Splashdown from afar. I have to remember, it is Turf War, not all fighting…

1:30!

The game was halfway done and Tucson was breaking around corners to ink any spot of turf he could find. He looked from a slope on the enemy's side to see Summer near their base and holding down the fort, Jerome competing with the dualies and slosher in the narrow path, and Liza outspeeding the rollers in the center.

Tucson threw one more bomb before feeling his special meter fill up; time to lock on. He jumped from the slope to get out of enemy view and superjumped back to base. Landing back on spawn, he activated his special and looked around for targets. There were three on the right with one heading towards the others - perfect! He shot out the missiles and they folded back into his ink tank afterwards. Once he was done, he swam away through the right path.

There was enemy ink that filled their turf, specifically an explosion from what he assumed was a Baller. Tucson rolled his eyes and left a bomb to ink over it. Nobody inked their own turf anymore. Eyeing the left narrow path, he heard a special go off - Ink Armor. Oh dio- The thought was interrupted by the end of a heavy, metal roller slamming down on his head.

Fantastic.

Spawning back, Tucson rubbed his temple and sighed. He turned his head to come face-to-face with Liza.

"... Splatted by the roller?" She chuckled.

"... Shut up." Tucson looked around for a teammate and saw Summer, choosing to superjump.

Summer splatted the Dynamo for what felt like the fifth time and tossed a point sensor into enemy territory. "Come out, you lil' shits!"

A thud behind Summer caused her to jolt slightly. "Holy shit-" She turned and glared at the culprit, irritated. Tucson lifted his arms in defense.

"Sorry!"

Summer shook her head and looked around, "You're such a distraction, I swear." Spotting an Inkling trying to sneak around, she charged her Nautilus and shot at them. Once they started to flee, Summer took off, chasing after them.

"Well, pardon me…" Tucson muttered.

30 seconds!

No time for that, gotta ink! Tucson swam down to the middle of the stage and climbed up an ink wall to the center hill. Upon it, the enemy slosher was splatting around, leaving Tucson to deal with her. He sucked in a breath and jumped off the wall, throwing an autobomb. It chased after the slosher, making her notice Tucson and throw ink toward him. Tucson swam to the left and circled around the slosher, trying to get a clean shot at his target.

"Could you just stay still for ONE SECOND?!" the slosher user screeched.

"Well-" Tucson jumped out the ink onto a ledge. He took shots at the slosher, both inking each other but one getting lucky. Tucson hopped over and got the last shot at the enemy, splatting her away to spawn. "That would not be the smartest idea, now would it," he replied snarkily before moving on to cover the area.

"Close in! This way!"

From the narrow lane ledge, the rest of the opposing team jumped over to the middle. Time for the final push. Jerome shot at the three members, trying to hold them off. The team split and Tucson started to find himself at a loss, however a special went off and Tucson was covered in armor.

"Incoming!"

Liza rushed up the hill and spun her brush around, hitting the opponent little by little with ink. She passed by Tucson and slapped his back.

"Watch the magic work, big shot!"

The enemy dualies inked a path while dodge-rolling out of the way from Liza's inking. A smirk lit up his face. "There's just two of them!"

Or so he thought.

The ground shook around the dualies as an Ultra Stamp came barreling through. The dualie-wielder panicked and shouted, "Yo, it's a Stam-"

Interrupting the warning, Jerome raced around, scared for his life. He could never control the hammer. Tucson and Liza watched in awe as the rollers ran away from the threatening special.

Such a sight to behold.

With the two rollers... Busy, Liza and Tucson were both left with a good twenty seconds or so to ink as much turf as cephalopodly possible. And by that, it was mainly Liza and Tucson wandering around aimlessly, looking for spots of turf to cover.

"See? You were worried for nothing!" Liza chirped with a large grin.

Quietly, Tucson sighed. "Yes... I suppose so." He popped back down into the ink for a few seconds to refill his tank a little. "Yet... I am still unsure. Do you think it's possible we have missed an entire area?"

Liza briefly scanned the arena - mostly Turquoise as far as she could tell.

"Unless you count their spawn, nope!" She laughed and struck a dumb pose with her brush, and the end slapped against Summer's face-

Wait.

It slapped against Summer's face.

"Liza," she said sternly. "Do you mind?"

"I, uh- Ah, shit, I'm so sor-" Summer glared the world's sharpest daggers at her. "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I-"

A loud bell rang throughout the arena.

"MATCH END - PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN!"

Summer clicked her tongue and jabbed a finger at Liza's chest. "Saved by the bell," she said curtly, lifting up her Nautilus and leaving for the results. Liza and Tucson shared a single, fear-filled look.

"I thought you were dead."

"Yeah, no, that was close."

Both teams were lined up on a platform outside of the ink-covered stage. In front of them were Judd and Lil Judd on a elevated ledge - which didn't do much for them - looking over the area and determining numbers.

Tucson stood proud but nervous with his team for the final results, tempted to look over at them but deciding not to.

The two cats nodded for a few seconds and then turned to face the teams. They did a little dance before reaching behind their backs and…

Lil Judd holds up a flag for TEAM BRAVO! The score: 49.99% to 50%!

We…. We lost by one point..? Tucson looked on in disbelief. How..?

The opposing team could be heard cheering in Tucson's distant mind. He tried so hard to get that win and, it looked guaranteed! Now he could only look down in defeat.

"Aye yo! Good game out there guys!"

The familiar voice snapped Tucson out of his dismay and made him look up to see Liza and the others congratulating the winning team. Liza gave high fives and hugs all around, Jerome fist bumped the two rollers, and Summer simply shook the others' hands. It took Tucson a moment to remember he was in Inkling society now and went over to say his congrats.

Tucson snuck his way in between Jerome and Liza without anyone noticing to begin shaking hands, but he still couldn't shake the thought of failure out from his head.

"Holy squit, guys! Did you see how close those results were? I can't be the only one who felt their asscheeks clench!"

'Please don't say asscheeks…'

"ASSCHEEKS!"

"Can't say I'm not disappointed, but it was still an interesting game at the very least."

'I'm surprised you didn't punch someone given how close it was.'

"Oh, hush."

The chatter from his teammates flew by Tucson's head as he walked behind them out the lobby. They were walking around the Square, which was pretty quiet for the late afternoon as kids where either home, battling, or some just chilling outside for the while. Alyssa had praised them earlier for how close they were and how great the game went, which the team appreciated. However this was all new to the team's newest member - a failed competition with everyone taking it well? Strange. Very Strange.

Once again, Tucson was ripped out his thoughts by bumping into someone - Jerome - who looked at him in concern with the others. Liza reached under her beanie to scratch her head,

"Hey Tucson, doing alright there? Look like you're solving brain science-"

'Brain surgery.'

"- or rocket surgery."

'Rocket science.'

Of course they noticed, Tucson mentally scolded himself for not keeping his emotions in check. "N-No, I am fine, it is just…" He couldn't find the right words and simply let his voice trail off.

Summer walked up to him and settled a hand on his shoulder. "Look here. You did good, so don't go kickin' your own ass just because we lost by one puddle of ink." She stared at Tucson dead in the eyes.

"Yeah! I mean we can't win every single match! That'd be boring as hell," Liza added, hopping onto Summer's back before being shoved off. She grumbled a swear.

Tucson then felt somebody tapping his other shoulder, looking down at Jerome.

'Besides, I don't know if you checked the results but you did the best turfing for our team!'

"Me, the best?" were the only words Tucson could get out.

"You didn't see the rest of the results, dude?" Liza asked, picking herself off the ground

Summer rolled her eyes. "Geez, you need get out of your head for a minute. You broke a thousand with 1010 as your score and you splatted the enemy eight times. Right under me with ten."

"Wait. How did I get them eight times?!"

"You're really spot on with those autobombs and Tenta Missiles." Summer nodded, impressed.

"Yeah! I haven't seen two squids panic on where to go from tenta missiles in a while!" Liza laughed out.

The comment from Liza got Tucson to crack a small smile. So, I really did do good!

"Well, I am glad to be of good use to this team!" Tucson said with a laugh, his smile turning to a large grin.

"And there's more for you to do where that came from! Guys, this is only the beginning of a great adventure!" Liza started, hopping on one of the tables in the Square outside of Sean's - good thing he was closed for the day.

"Now, hey, we may be zero-to-one at the moment, but we're just kicking off after finally getting another teammate! Team Krak & Splat may have went on a temporarily monthly wait, and yeah, some have teased us for it, but that ain't gonna stop us, now is it? We're reaching for the top this time! We have to face many competing teams, rivals, and even the best splat team of all time - Sundown!"

Summer mumbled "Oof…" under her breath.

"Sundown..?" he repeated, cocking his head. "That is not even a pun or squid-related!"

A bubbly laugh escaped Liza's lips. "Yeah, it isn't, but that's not gonna 'em from kickin' some serious a-" Summer shot her a harsh glare. "... Butt! Some serious butt."

'Why do you police her swears, anyways? You curse more than all of us combined...'

Summer thought for a few seconds and then shrugged. When she opened her mouth to answer, Liza cut her off with a loud shout.

"DUDE! Scores got posted!" A large, shark-like grin took over her face as she scrambled to unlock her phone. It fell not soon after. "Oh, what the shit?"

Tucson blinked and peeked over her shoulder.

"Ink Ink's won one game so far and lost one... Kensacudas have one win... Oh, Gods, Sundown has four wins?" She squinted at her phone to make sure she was reading it right. "How the fuck?"

Tucson immediately felt worry erupt in his stomach. Krak & Splat hadn't even won once (although they had only played one game) while Sundown had played... And won FOUR?

'You know Sundown's good,' Jerome signed with a small sigh. 'Still... It's a bit insane.'

"A bit?" Liza snapped, groaning. "Man..."

"Speaking of," Summer started, nodding towards the entrance to Deca Tower, "Guess who just finished their match."

A group of four cephalopods walked out of the tower, each with matching yellow ink. On the far left was a tall inkling with a Gold Dynamo slung over her shoulder, saying something to another, much shorter inkling beside her. That one happened to be carrying a black and yellow Splat Charger and was loudly replying. Beside her was an inkling carrying a yellow, blockier shooter, and he slouched as he aimlessly scrolled through his phone. And... Beside him was one more cephalopod, towering over the rest, holding a Clash Blaster. Their face was obscured with a large, unnerving fish mask - or head? - with small holes cut in the eyes.

"Oi, oi, Hex!" the tiny charger yelled. "Man, we've been fuckin' crushing it today, haven't we?" With a large, sharp grin, she twirled her charger around. "You think we even need to play this year? With how blaaaaand the competition is, we know we'd come out on top."

"Be nice, Fern," the Dynamo chided. "But really, Hex, will we have any new competition soon? Any of top 10, at the very least?"

"Quiet," Hex mumbled, turning off his phone. "You're giving me a headache. We'll find a better match soon, I'm sure."

"Soon?" Fern laughed sharply. Tucson thought it was like striking a glass bottle with a knife. "By that time, I'll be old enough to drink!"

"It won't take ten years."

"Oi, oi, oi! I'm not eleven, y'hear? Gonna take me five, yeah? C'mon, Steely, I know I'm short-"

"Sixteen, eleven, it all stops mattering after a certain point..." Steely muttered. "But really, keep it down. People are staring..."

"Yeah? Let 'em!" Fern struck a cheesy pose in the street. "All eyes on us! Sundown, yeah!"

Tucson gingerly tapped Liza's shoulder. "That... That is Sundown..?"

She nodded. "Yeah... Fern's their newest member. They've been reigning champions for four years now." Liza rolled her eyes. "She's loud as all get-out, but she's a pretty good charger..."

"Really..?" Tucson blinked, continuing to watch them. "They look... Um, they do not look very functioning."

"Just wait until you fight 'em," Summer mumbled. "It's a total nightmare. I've heard Fern's just as, if not better, than their old backliner, and Ocean was good... Even if she's sixteen, she's kind of a prodigy in that regard."

Tucson sighed. Jerome gave him a small pat on the back. 'It's okay, Tucson. We can do it.'

Awkwardly, he struck the same pose Liza struck earlier. 'Go Krak & Splat!'

Liza saw him pose and burst out laughing. "You dweeb," she said fondly, then struck the same pose with him.

Summer looked at them and then over at Tucson, then back at them again. With a loud, dramatic sigh, she posed with them.

"Go Krak & Splat," she droned in a tone that implied she'd rather be dead than be right here.

They all stared at Tucson silently. He returned the look, oblivious to what he had to do.

"... Oh!" Tucson checked his positioning and slowly posed with them. "Go Krak & Splat."

Liza and Jerome laughed at the poor boy while Summer noticed Sundown walking towards them. "Hey dorks, we may want to leave before they notice us."

That shut the two right up. "Do we not want them to?" asked Tucson.

Liza looked him dead in the eyes. "No." She grabbed Jerome's hand and dragged him off toward an alleyway. "We'll see you guys tomorrow! The real shit starts then!"

Jerome waved at them, not attempting to walk. 'Bye guys.'

Summer shook her head and started to walk her own path. "Those two, I swear. Get some sleep, Tucson. You're gonna need it." Without another word, she left Tucson on his own in the street.

What a day, he thought, looking down at the ground and rubbing the back of his neck. Things were going to get interesting indeed. He kicked a crumpled-up wrapper and made his way back home.

A new adventure awaits.