Four Inklings, including me, resurfaced onto a circular pad, shaking off left over ink from our travel. I peered at my teams' weapons––Me with my Splattershot Jr., Ethan (YES! I silently thought in my mind.) with his blaster and the two Inkling girls with rollers. They looked like they were gearing up for a fight, with game faces painted all over their persona.

"Let's get this party started..." I muttered under my breath. It looked like we were at Arowana Mall––another place for Inklings to hang out and have fun in Inkopolis. I was going to apply to work here before my dad died, as this wasn't a bad place to work. I might, as the work at the Warehouse was getting very tiresome.

Ready...

Wait, what?

GO!

Music started to blast through invisible speakers as our team jumped from the pad and started to ink the playing field. I took the left side, placing ink on the ground in front of me. I tried to ink the ledge as well, getting most of it in the process.

"C'mon!" I heard a girl Inkling yell. I jumped down to the bottom level, turning into a squid and swimming up the wooden ramp. I grinned, as this was the first time I've had this much fun in the LONGEST time. I jumped out of my ink, holding the bottom of my gun and pointing it at the curvy piece of land. I squirted my ink all over the platform, laughing happily.

"Where's everyone at? COME HITHER!" I yelled proudly. Unfortunately, I had missed a spot where enemy ink lied. Someone rose up from that ink, surprising me while smirking evilly. My clothes immediately began to be covered in the enemy's ink, and then-

SPLAT!

I moaned sadly, feeling myself being transported back to the starting point in despair. I blinked as I surfaced as my humanoid self. I gasped, clutching my chest.

Woah... so that's what it feels like to be splatted... doesn't feel good at all...

"What are you doing, dude? Get out here and help out the cause! We've got territory to recover!" I heard Ethan yell from far away. I squinted, trying to locate him. I eventually did and nodded, hopping from the pad into our ink and going the wide middle route. Swimming up the ramp once more, I sprayed a path for myself and sunk into it, repeating the same process to get into the other team's base. It was filled with their color, with our color of ink nowhere to be found.

Time to fix that, I thought devilishly.

I showered the enemy's base with our ink, heading down their wooden ramp and covering the back end of their territory some more.

"Sweet, just a little more..." I muttered quietly, trying not to let my voice echo into an opponent's ear. I swam up another nearby ramp and circled around a venue littered with posters. Apparently Jelly Fresh is having a sale on some of their older shirts, probably to get rid of them...

I snapped into focus and started to cover more of the area. I ducked back down into my ink and swam to the other side, making sure that our color ink dominated their own.

ONE MINUTE LEFT! I heard a voice crackle into the speakers. I smirked and started to go even further into enemy territory, all the way back their own 'respawn' pad. I gasped and sunk down into my own ink, trying not to be seen by the person who was appearing there.

I heard a "Hmm?" escape a girl Inkling's lips, walking up to the spot were I was hiding inconspicuously. I felt the wind change above me as she lifted up her roller high into the air. My eyes widened, preparing for the worst inside my head.

This one is probably going to hurt a bit.

SPLAT!

GAME!

I limped back to our starting point, quickly feeling tired from all of the fighting that had occurred. I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder, making me turn around reflectively. It was Ethan, with a smile wrapped around the bottom of his mouth. I reluctantly gave him a weak grin back.

"I think we won... your push forward was a really big help!" Ethan exclaimed. I sighed in response, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

"Look, there's Judd!" One of the girl Inklings yelled, pointing to the center platform. Judd stood atop of a venue placed in the middle of the battlefield. There he held two flags––one for our team and the other for the opposing team. He did a little jig before...

He shoved one of the two flags in our direction, looking awestruck in our victorious win.

"Yay! We did it! To DEVONNE!" Ethan yelled, grabbing my hand and throwing it in the air. I blushed, grinning softly. The two girls cheered for me as well, giving me hugs and everything. It was really weird, but I felt like winning was the way to play Turf War.

-~-

"So, are we––or I, I should say––going to be seeing you in more Turf War?" Ethan asked me as the elevator doors slid to a close behind us. It was dark now, as we'd been playing Turf War all day. I nodded, stopping to lean on one of the nearby couches.

"Of course! You have an Inkphone?"

We traded numbers so that we could stay in touch. He said his parents lived somewhere in Inkopolis, but he didn't like them very much. I walked to his room in Inkopolis Tower, where he stayed. Apparently, you could rent rooms in Inkopolis Tower as well. What a neat place.

"Well, I better head home myself. See you some other time, Ethan!" I chuckled. He said goodbye with a peace sign, closing his door softly so that he wouldn't disturb his neighbors. I boarded the train back home, sliding my Splattershot Jr. into my bag. As soon as I sat down, my desire for slumber became overgrowing. I was honestly scared that I wouldn't get off of my stop. Gathering the last of my conscious, I trudged off of the train and headed to my apartment, unlocking the door and flopping onto my bed.

"AUGH!" I unexpectedly yelled. Flipping over, I set my Inkphone down to charge and threw off my bag and shoes.

Guess I'm sleeping in my clothes tonight... I thought before falling asleep.

Overall, I had a good day today, especially on the battlefield. Maybe someday I'll be the best of the best in Turf War. Maybe all of Inkopolis.

Maybe...

Ethan...

-?-