I was awoken by the sound of light knocking at the door. It took me a while to realize where I was––on the floor of Ethan's room.
That's right, I slept over. Let's go see who's at the door...
I got up and slunk over to the door, opening it quietly. My eyes widened as they were met with the girl who was smiling into them.
"Ah! I'm sorry, did I wake you up? I––I didn't mean to... um, I found this Inkphone in front of your door, I'm guessing it's yours?" I blinked and yawned, as I had only heard about half of what she said. I grabbed the Inkphone from her hands, peering at it with my droopy eyes.
"Hey! This is mine! I must have dropped it when Ethan pulled me out of the door. Thank you, kind girl." I thanked her politely. I noticed that she was carrying a basket full of dirty clothes in her hands.
"You're w-welcome. I just got a room here, the name's Tuesday." She held one of her hands up to shake mine, only to let some of her clothes fall from the basket to the ground. I reflexively picked it up for her and placed it back in her basket. She blushed, thanking me for picking up her clothes.
"No problem! Oh yeah, my name is Devonne. You seem busy, so I'm gonna let you go. Hope you have a nice day!" I said, patting the top of her thick yet curly hair with delight. She nodded and zoomed down the hallway into another room. I blinked at her disappearance––I guess she was in a big rush. I turned back to Ethan, who was just now waking up.
"Hmm...? Who was that?" Ethan said groggily, yawning loudly. I shut the door and checked my Inkphone, hoping that no one had tampered with it overnight.
"Huh? No one... you made me drop my phone yesterday, you dunce!" I growled at him, pulling all of the covers off of his bed.
"Hey! Give those back!" He yelled, making a leap for them. I threw them across the room, laughing evilly. We both laughed ourselves silly before getting up.
"So I have to run back home to change... is that OK? And maybe we can play some Turf War later,” I said, placing his covers on his bed.
"Alright! And then we can talk over breakfast what happened to you yesterday!" Ethan shouted proudly, throwing his fist in the air. I giggled, opening the door.
"See you when I get baaaack~!" I said, closing it behind me.
-~-
We decided to take breakfast out to the lobby. There were a couple of Inklings lounging about, but most of them were in Turf War. Probably getting some early practice in.
"So you did level up yesterday, huh? Usually when I level up, it just tells me 'BOOM! You are now Level 10'. It doesn't send me into some different dimension or whatever..." Ethan explained, eating his eggs. I did the same, shoving some into my mouth.
"I see. It's so weird, y'know? Maybe this'll just happen every once in a while, and then it'll stop happening."
"I dunno, dude," Ethan shrugged. "What level are you now, again?"
"Level––" I took a pause to swallow my eggs. "Level four. Why? I feel like that's special or something."
A twinkle formed in Ethan's eyes as he stood up from his chair. He grabbed my arm and started to pull me towards the doors that led into the Plaza.
"DUUUDE! We can go shopping now! No more shopkeepers hassling you! C'mon, you need new clothes anyway! Let's go!" I chuckled at Ethan's enthusiasm.
"OK, OK... let me finish my breakfast first, you dunce..." I laughed as I got up to throw away my plate and head out.
-~-
"Welcome b-back. I'm s-sorry for our f-first encounter... I h-hope you will have a pleasant shopping e-experience this time..." Annie apologized, bowing subtlety. I blushed and nodded at her. Moe looked up at me with a mean glare, staring into my soul with hatred. I shot one back at him, then smiled, petting him on the head.
"Hey! You think this hat looks good on me?" Ethan chirped at me from across the store. I turned to look at him, making a weird face.
"Nah, the Bobble Hat doesn't look good on you. Try this one!" I said, tossing a Golf Visor at him like a frisbee. He caught it and placed it on his head. He replied by sticking his tongue out, walking over to me to put it back.
"Dude, that was a one-star piece of gear. That won't help me in Turf War at all."
"One-star piece of gear? I didn't see any stars on it." I stated, picking the hat back up to inspect it. "Yeah. No stars."
"Oh, that's right. You're still new to all of this. The clothes you wear make you either stronger and weaker in Turf War. You have on a White Tee and Red Work Boots. You also don't have a hat on, which doesn't make you that strong." Ethan explained, trying on another hat. He looked at me via a nearby mirror, grinning as usual.
"Your Tee is a one-star, and your shoes are three. Putting on a hat will definitely make you stronger. Know more about gear now?" Ethan asked. I nodded, smiling.
"And w-will make us m-money..." Annie chimed in at the last second. I giggled at her, walking over to a rack that had a pair of headphones on them. I picked it up and placed them around my neck. They seemed like a nice pair. I needed better headphones anyway.
"Hey, how much are these?" I questioned Annie, who was sitting at the cashier counter.
"U-Uh.. 2800 coins," she answered, placing Moe in a fishbowl to feed him.
"Two-star. Got enough?" Ethan said.
"Yea. I'll take them!" I exclaimed, running up to the counter to pay for them.
-~-
After that, I walked out into the Plaza feeling like a new Inkling. New pair of headphones, new shoes, and lot of new shirts. Ethan even bought me a new weapon- the Splattershot. It felt so good in my hands, and I couldn't thank him enough for buying it for me.
"Hey, thanks Ethan. This was fun," I said as we walked up the ramp to the Tower.
"Don't forget what you promised me earlier. TURF WAR!" Ethan shouted, pulling me into the elevator.
"Wait, where am I supposed to put all of my stuff?" I said, pulling out of the elevator. I felt a metal object bonk against my head, making me flinch.
"Put it in my room, and you can get it later!" He yelled before the doors of the elevator closed. I nodded and scurried into the hallways of the Tower in search for Ethan's room. I found it shortly after, tossing it into his room before closing the door shut again. I swiveled around to see Tuesday in front of me again, still carrying her basket. We both blushed at the sight of each other until she decided to speak.
"Do you... live here... or something?" the girl questioned, staring at me.
"Uh, no... my friend Ethan lives here, and I was just dumping my stuff in his room. H-he said I could! I swear!" I stammered, feeling a bit nervous. She started to giggle, placing her basket down.
"Calm down, I'm not the police. Where do you live, then?"
"I live in Inkperial Palace Apartments. It's not in Inkopolis, just the next city over." I said to her. The hallway was silent for a moment before she spoke again.
"Oh, that sucks. Maybe if you lived here then we could be closer together." My cheeks were now flushed with red. I started to chuckle nervously, placing my hand behind my head.
"W-well, you could come visit me if you want. It's only a short train ride away. Listen, I was supposed to meet Ethan for some Turf War. After we're done, we can talk, OK? I'll see you later!" I started to slither away, still facing towards her. She gave me a small smile and a wave before rushing back to another room. I grinned and ran towards the elevator, slipping in before the doors closed on me. I sighed heavily, placing my hands on my hips.
"Dude! Finally! I was getting worried, y'know." Ethan said over the ding-a-ling that rang in the room. I smiled as floor of the elevator turned into ink once more, sending us off to a new destination.
Here we go again!
-~-
We resurfaced at Blackbelly Skatepark- a place that nobody skated in. It was actually really weird. Do they even sell skateboards in Inkopolis?
Ready?
More than ever.
GO!
I shot ink in front of me as usual, sinking into it and swimming to the center almost immediately. I made my way up the center platform, standing on top of it with my Splattershot ready to go. Walking around in a circle, I sprayed ink on all sides of the playing field with ease.
"Where are the enemies at? SLOWPOKES!" I yelled cockily. I decided to advance once more, jumping from the platform. As soon as I jumped down, I was met with the face of an opponent. I blinked, holding my gun tight.
"Ahehe..."
SPLAT!
Respawning back at base, I growled and clenched my gun even tighter.
"Alright––HAVE AT THEE!" I stepped off the pad...
Into enemy ink.
"What? How did..." I said, a bit confused. Someone from the other team rose out the ink and began spraying our pad. I yelped, jumping back into the pad. He wasn't getting anywhere though- pads were protected by an energy shield.
Somehow. I don't ask questions.
"Hey! Shoo! This isn't working, y'know!" I yelled at the opposing. He laughed and continued, ignoring my advice. I gritted my teeth, annoyed by his actions.
Suddenly, one of ours came up behind the boy, splattering him out of existence.
Well, for a couple of seconds anyway.
I hopped out of our pad, grinning. "Nice! C'mon, let's go claim some turf––" I paused to look at my teammate. My teammate's curly hair and starry eyes.
"Tuesday?"
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