Aykorn
Inkling Commander
I was told that Splatoon: The Anime: The Fanfiction was a bad title, so I present to you....this... amalgam of hyper-analyzing a Nintendo game.
But seriously, I'm glad to get the ball rolling.
Here's the prologue. Enjoy.
(Aahh formatting gets screwed up. I'll remember I can't copy and paste next time.)
I'd love to know what you guys think. Critiques and comments are appreciated.
But seriously, I'm glad to get the ball rolling.
Here's the prologue. Enjoy.
(Aahh formatting gets screwed up. I'll remember I can't copy and paste next time.)
Until their 14th birthday, it’s every Inkling’s dream to make their way to the top in ink battles. Inkopolis: it’s where everyone wants to be, and where everyone finds who they are. It’s where she put on the hero suit because she had the “right look in her eyes” and found what she was fighting for.
The first time she’d heard of an ink battle was now little more than a memory.
She wanted to stay up past her bedtime. The TV left on by a snoring parent beckoned, glowing like an ember in the nighttime.
She didn’t quite get what she saw, but it was fast and bold and bright. The once dull map filled with swatches of blue, then orange, then blue again, converging at the center and shifting fiercely. The announcers sounded ready to jump out of their seats. They were uncertain--anyone could win, folks-- but the energy they spoke with was contagious.
The players swooped through their own colors and fired a rain of ink onto their opponents. Precise blasts of orange tore lines through the blue turf, and in retaliation, another player hopped out of the ink and began spraying the blue back in place. Suddenly, an ink roller descended on that player and slammed them into the ground, leaving only a sploosh of orange ink in their place.
It was incredible. It felt like all three of her hearts were racing. She could have been there in person, cheering for the winning team as the timer counted down and the judge declared the victors. And maybe she was cheering, because soon, her mostly awake parent scooped her off to bed.
That night she would dream of turf wars and splattered ink. She’d pester her parents about it in the morning and play make-believe ink battles during recess.
When she got older, watching turf wars at night, then chatting excitedly before class was just normal routine. Even when other interests caught her eye, ink battles would always be at the back of her mind.
Because how could they not be? Ink battles wouldn’t leave her daydreams, not when all she’d have to do was wait and they’d be reality. Her 14th birthday, like so many other inkling’s big 14’s, would mark the day she could live and breathe ink battles. Her life would really begin the day she arrived at the center for all turf wars, the grand city of…
-----
“This isn’t Inkopolis.”
The inkling girl sat up on her knees, peering out the bus window. Outside, the road dropped off at a staircase, leading to what looked like a random park. It was all cement and ghostly empty, aside from the lone pair of trees at either edge of the boxed-in area. If you squinted, it was… quaint.
The girl slowly turned to the bus driver with an almost disturbed look. “I mean it’s just a hunch,” she frowned, “but this isn’t exactly the big city.” She waited for some sort of response. “You know, the ‘-opolis’ part in Inkopolis?”
The shrimp driving the bus only gave a shrug, and responded chilly. “Either way this is definitely your stop.”
Mildly confused, she squinted at him. She couldn’t really tell if he was kidding or not, what with his shrimp-ish carapace instead of a mouth or main facial features. But from his eyes, he looked pretty pleased with himself.
The bus door swung wide open.
She instantly grabbed hold of the seat handles in front of her, intending to stay firmly seated. “Really,” she rushed, “I swear it’s just around the corner, I can even look it up on my phone.”
“...wha’s going on? ...Are we ….Are we lost? ,” A voice mumbled.
The inkling boy sitting across the isle brushed the sleep out of his eyes and covered a yawn. “’Cause, if we are, one of us should have definitely stayed awake,” he half-joked.
He adjusted his beanie and ran a quick hand through his spiked-up tentacles, both which were inked a shade of spring green. His eyes were green too, but somehow colored even brighter.
“Right, Dar’?” He stifled another yawn, “...Darya?”
A quick nudge to the side made the inkling girl in the seat next to him snort loudly, then suddenly jerk awake. In a monotone, yet vaguely distressed voiced, she sputtered, “Where are we…?” before placing her hands out like she was regaining balance.
Still gripping the seat handles and now smiling stiffly at her newly conscious bus mates, the inkling girl cautiously replied, “That’s ...what I was wondering.”
The inkling called “Darya” blinked a few times, drowsily glancing around the bus. Her eyes were a brilliant yellow compared to her dark skin and purple-inked hair. Except for the main tentacles that hung at the sides of her face, her front bangs looked crazy disheveled. Possibly hat hair from the purplish baseball cap that conveniently hid it.
But that hat was cool, the girl thought to herself. It had an 8-bit Squidvader stitched onto the front.
Darya leaned past her friend, and wordlessly stared at the inkling girl, who was already staring back.
She froze. She hadn’t intended to be caught gaping. Darya only blinked. Suddenly embarrassed, she jerked her gaze away and tried to smush herself into the bus wall, like it wasn’t any weirder.
In a flat voice, Darya began trying to say something, but the boy inkling started talking and motioning at the door.
“Okay,” he began, “tell me if I’m still half-asleep, but this place looks exactly like that really sketchy skate park you get dropped off at when you--”
“...You’re new here...,” Darya surmised.
“-- first come to Inkopolis,” he finished.
The boy paused with the last syllables of “Inkopolis” still on his lips, and then a look of realization dawned over him.
“Heeyyy! You’re new!” he exclaimed, with a snap and point. “This is totally your first time coming to Inkopolis before you...,” he leaned forward with a gasp. “You’re totally here for ink battles!”
The girl peeked over, not exactly thrilled to be picked out as a newbie so fast, barely catching what he just said.
He suddenly looked ecstatic. “Awwww, you’re new, you’re going to have so much fun with your brand new Splattershot Jr and...”
She peeled herself off the wall to wave her arms. “Wait, hold on! What did you say about being dropped off here?”
She turned to the bus driver, “Is that a thing?!”
The bus driver duly tipped his cap and responded amicably. “If you’re headed to Inkopolis for turf wars the first time, I’m s’posed to make your first stop here.”
The boy rocked in his seat and grinned. “Yeah, a couple years back someone got the idea to stop throwing people right into turf wars without knowing how to use their weapons.”
He presented the door and wiggled his fingers “So, ta-da!”
“...It’s an obstacle course,” Darya added, without a hint of inflection. She sounded unimaginably bored, but was still participating in the conversation for some reason.
The other girl gave a quick glance outside, then tartly replied, “....That’s a park.”
“With balloons!” The boy corrected.
“...You need your ID for that.” Darya finished, just as her friend stood up and started explaining things with excessive hand motions.
“Okay, so you shoot the balloons in this place and then get up on top of this one building….,” he rambled, pacing down the aisle. He then abruptly spun on his toes and grinned widely.
“Hey! Get your splattershot ready! You’re going places with it!”
“What…?” the newbie responded dumbly, the conversation throwing her for a loop. She was fumbling with her battler’s ID, as per Darya’s suggestion.
The green inkling clapped his hands together. “Yes! Your ID! That’s also important,” he said, “but worry about that later. Splattershot Jr, chop-chop!”
The girl paused and shot Darya a debating look, who replied with a disinterested shrug. She remained straight-faced, like this was usual routine for her.
She held up her ID pathetically. “So what do I do with this?”
Darya adjusted her hat. “...I can hold that. Grab your ‘shot.”
She hesitated, but tottered over to the baggage shelves to find her ink tank somewhere. She had already been fidgeting with her weapon on the bus ride over so it was close by.
Truthfully, she was nervous and excited about the weapon, having never used it before. She could only imagine her finger over the trigger as she held it with unfamiliarity and fondness.
Smiling and letting her shoulders relax she turned back to the two inklings, who were both looking at her photo ID--
“What are you doing?!” She yelped.
The boy laughed, “What? It’s not that bad, “ he grinned, snatching it for a moment to show her, before passing it back to Darya.
On the ID was generic photo of herself, jeering at the camera unintentionally, because taking a good photo for important documentation was just unlikely. Her eyes were inked their usual fiery orange and that day her hair had matched, kind of like today.
Other odd bits of information, like her home address and age were listed below, as well as things she couldn’t decipher. In cursive was her signature, and below it her name.
Darya’s head tilted slightly. “Nerine...?”
Nerine slid her hands down her face and groaned.
“I’m being serious, though!” The boy chuckled. “If it makes you feel any better, my photo is so much worse.”
Darya mouth quirked in dismay. “...It’s not that bad. ...Just need a new one.”
The boy laughed loudly. “‘I just need a new one’ she says. Anyways, are you set to go?”
She was about to say “yes,” but then the inkling boy practically picked her up, sliding her down the aisle and off the bus.
Nerine let herself fall limp as he pushed her onto the sidewalk, a baffled expression plastered on her face. “”Wait, I really get off here.”
“Hah, duuuh. If you want to be,” he mocked a hip announcer’s voice, “the freshest squid of the block, you gotta learn the moves! Shoot all the balloons!”
Nerine turned around slowly, lowly hissing, “What balloons?”
With a burst of elastic, a trio of balloons inflated behind her, making her nearly jump off the sidewalk. The boy simply stood back on the bus steps and grinned, glancing back at Darya who had clearly done something with Nerine’s ID to trigger that.
The boy sidestepped to let Darya chuck the plastic card towards Nerine like a shuriken. “Check your phone,” she added.
Seemingly finished, she started to head back to her seat. Almost…
Darya swung around. “Hey,” she called out.
Nerine grasped her ID expectantly. Darya blinked.
“Don’t die.”
Nerine gave an uncomfortable smile. “I’ll ...try not to?”
Having said her two cents, Darya flashed a small smile and a thumbs up. Nerine could feel her shoulders sagging for some reason.
The boy followed Darya back inside, but not before a parting message.
“In case I don’t see you later, welcome to Inkopolis!” He sounded genuine, “It’ll be the start of your life as you know it.”
He twirled around, then holding the bus doors yelled, “Because life has many doors, Squid girl!”
She pointed an unsure finger at herself. “...Nerine.”
“Oh?” His face lit up. “I’m Corey!” He motioned back, “That’s Darya.”
He tilted his head and gave a final grin, before flippantly waving goodbye.
Nerine hugged her Splattershot Jr, somewhat paralyzed by the recent developments. “Wait… what about...”
The bus took off.
“...my luggage?”
----
Now comfortably seated, Corey leaned back on Darya, stretching his arms in front of him. “Ahaha, what was that? ‘Don’t die?’”
Darya pursed her lips and looked up from her phone. “...You shoved her off a bus,” she said, trying to be vaguely judgmental. Her voice was still toneless even when speaking to her best friend.
The green inkling grinned up with triumph. “And it was my good deed of the day!” He nudged Darya giddly. “I mean, It’s not everyday someone arrives in Inkopolis. Someone needed to push her off.”
Darya shot the tiniest smirk towards him, then slouched in her seat “...What now?”
Corey sank in his seat too. He stared blankly. “We really shouldn’t have fallen asleep. We aren’t going to find anything at this point.”
He glanced around lazily before turning to Darya. “We’ve still got half a day left. How ‘bout we …quit and take the easy way back to Inkopolis?”
“...Is that the bus?”
“The bus.”
Darya lowered her hat over her eyes and got comfy against the window. “Sounds good. ...Wake me up… When there.”
“Wait, what? We’re like 5 minutes from the city---Dar’?” He wagged a hand in front of her to no response. Darya’s head lolled to the side in slumber.
He retracted in slight shock, but immediately got an idea and pulled out his phone, positioning it for a photo.
“Aww, D, you shouldn’t have. This is gonna be my next squidverse post!”
She wanted to stay up past her bedtime. The TV left on by a snoring parent beckoned, glowing like an ember in the nighttime.
She didn’t quite get what she saw, but it was fast and bold and bright. The once dull map filled with swatches of blue, then orange, then blue again, converging at the center and shifting fiercely. The announcers sounded ready to jump out of their seats. They were uncertain--anyone could win, folks-- but the energy they spoke with was contagious.
The players swooped through their own colors and fired a rain of ink onto their opponents. Precise blasts of orange tore lines through the blue turf, and in retaliation, another player hopped out of the ink and began spraying the blue back in place. Suddenly, an ink roller descended on that player and slammed them into the ground, leaving only a sploosh of orange ink in their place.
It was incredible. It felt like all three of her hearts were racing. She could have been there in person, cheering for the winning team as the timer counted down and the judge declared the victors. And maybe she was cheering, because soon, her mostly awake parent scooped her off to bed.
That night she would dream of turf wars and splattered ink. She’d pester her parents about it in the morning and play make-believe ink battles during recess.
When she got older, watching turf wars at night, then chatting excitedly before class was just normal routine. Even when other interests caught her eye, ink battles would always be at the back of her mind.
Because how could they not be? Ink battles wouldn’t leave her daydreams, not when all she’d have to do was wait and they’d be reality. Her 14th birthday, like so many other inkling’s big 14’s, would mark the day she could live and breathe ink battles. Her life would really begin the day she arrived at the center for all turf wars, the grand city of…
-----
“This isn’t Inkopolis.”
The inkling girl sat up on her knees, peering out the bus window. Outside, the road dropped off at a staircase, leading to what looked like a random park. It was all cement and ghostly empty, aside from the lone pair of trees at either edge of the boxed-in area. If you squinted, it was… quaint.
The girl slowly turned to the bus driver with an almost disturbed look. “I mean it’s just a hunch,” she frowned, “but this isn’t exactly the big city.” She waited for some sort of response. “You know, the ‘-opolis’ part in Inkopolis?”
The shrimp driving the bus only gave a shrug, and responded chilly. “Either way this is definitely your stop.”
Mildly confused, she squinted at him. She couldn’t really tell if he was kidding or not, what with his shrimp-ish carapace instead of a mouth or main facial features. But from his eyes, he looked pretty pleased with himself.
The bus door swung wide open.
She instantly grabbed hold of the seat handles in front of her, intending to stay firmly seated. “Really,” she rushed, “I swear it’s just around the corner, I can even look it up on my phone.”
“...wha’s going on? ...Are we ….Are we lost? ,” A voice mumbled.
The inkling boy sitting across the isle brushed the sleep out of his eyes and covered a yawn. “’Cause, if we are, one of us should have definitely stayed awake,” he half-joked.
He adjusted his beanie and ran a quick hand through his spiked-up tentacles, both which were inked a shade of spring green. His eyes were green too, but somehow colored even brighter.
“Right, Dar’?” He stifled another yawn, “...Darya?”
A quick nudge to the side made the inkling girl in the seat next to him snort loudly, then suddenly jerk awake. In a monotone, yet vaguely distressed voiced, she sputtered, “Where are we…?” before placing her hands out like she was regaining balance.
Still gripping the seat handles and now smiling stiffly at her newly conscious bus mates, the inkling girl cautiously replied, “That’s ...what I was wondering.”
The inkling called “Darya” blinked a few times, drowsily glancing around the bus. Her eyes were a brilliant yellow compared to her dark skin and purple-inked hair. Except for the main tentacles that hung at the sides of her face, her front bangs looked crazy disheveled. Possibly hat hair from the purplish baseball cap that conveniently hid it.
But that hat was cool, the girl thought to herself. It had an 8-bit Squidvader stitched onto the front.
Darya leaned past her friend, and wordlessly stared at the inkling girl, who was already staring back.
She froze. She hadn’t intended to be caught gaping. Darya only blinked. Suddenly embarrassed, she jerked her gaze away and tried to smush herself into the bus wall, like it wasn’t any weirder.
In a flat voice, Darya began trying to say something, but the boy inkling started talking and motioning at the door.
“Okay,” he began, “tell me if I’m still half-asleep, but this place looks exactly like that really sketchy skate park you get dropped off at when you--”
“...You’re new here...,” Darya surmised.
“-- first come to Inkopolis,” he finished.
The boy paused with the last syllables of “Inkopolis” still on his lips, and then a look of realization dawned over him.
“Heeyyy! You’re new!” he exclaimed, with a snap and point. “This is totally your first time coming to Inkopolis before you...,” he leaned forward with a gasp. “You’re totally here for ink battles!”
The girl peeked over, not exactly thrilled to be picked out as a newbie so fast, barely catching what he just said.
He suddenly looked ecstatic. “Awwww, you’re new, you’re going to have so much fun with your brand new Splattershot Jr and...”
She peeled herself off the wall to wave her arms. “Wait, hold on! What did you say about being dropped off here?”
She turned to the bus driver, “Is that a thing?!”
The bus driver duly tipped his cap and responded amicably. “If you’re headed to Inkopolis for turf wars the first time, I’m s’posed to make your first stop here.”
The boy rocked in his seat and grinned. “Yeah, a couple years back someone got the idea to stop throwing people right into turf wars without knowing how to use their weapons.”
He presented the door and wiggled his fingers “So, ta-da!”
“...It’s an obstacle course,” Darya added, without a hint of inflection. She sounded unimaginably bored, but was still participating in the conversation for some reason.
The other girl gave a quick glance outside, then tartly replied, “....That’s a park.”
“With balloons!” The boy corrected.
“...You need your ID for that.” Darya finished, just as her friend stood up and started explaining things with excessive hand motions.
“Okay, so you shoot the balloons in this place and then get up on top of this one building….,” he rambled, pacing down the aisle. He then abruptly spun on his toes and grinned widely.
“Hey! Get your splattershot ready! You’re going places with it!”
“What…?” the newbie responded dumbly, the conversation throwing her for a loop. She was fumbling with her battler’s ID, as per Darya’s suggestion.
The green inkling clapped his hands together. “Yes! Your ID! That’s also important,” he said, “but worry about that later. Splattershot Jr, chop-chop!”
The girl paused and shot Darya a debating look, who replied with a disinterested shrug. She remained straight-faced, like this was usual routine for her.
She held up her ID pathetically. “So what do I do with this?”
Darya adjusted her hat. “...I can hold that. Grab your ‘shot.”
She hesitated, but tottered over to the baggage shelves to find her ink tank somewhere. She had already been fidgeting with her weapon on the bus ride over so it was close by.
Truthfully, she was nervous and excited about the weapon, having never used it before. She could only imagine her finger over the trigger as she held it with unfamiliarity and fondness.
Smiling and letting her shoulders relax she turned back to the two inklings, who were both looking at her photo ID--
“What are you doing?!” She yelped.
The boy laughed, “What? It’s not that bad, “ he grinned, snatching it for a moment to show her, before passing it back to Darya.
On the ID was generic photo of herself, jeering at the camera unintentionally, because taking a good photo for important documentation was just unlikely. Her eyes were inked their usual fiery orange and that day her hair had matched, kind of like today.
Other odd bits of information, like her home address and age were listed below, as well as things she couldn’t decipher. In cursive was her signature, and below it her name.
Darya’s head tilted slightly. “Nerine...?”
Nerine slid her hands down her face and groaned.
“I’m being serious, though!” The boy chuckled. “If it makes you feel any better, my photo is so much worse.”
Darya mouth quirked in dismay. “...It’s not that bad. ...Just need a new one.”
The boy laughed loudly. “‘I just need a new one’ she says. Anyways, are you set to go?”
She was about to say “yes,” but then the inkling boy practically picked her up, sliding her down the aisle and off the bus.
Nerine let herself fall limp as he pushed her onto the sidewalk, a baffled expression plastered on her face. “”Wait, I really get off here.”
“Hah, duuuh. If you want to be,” he mocked a hip announcer’s voice, “the freshest squid of the block, you gotta learn the moves! Shoot all the balloons!”
Nerine turned around slowly, lowly hissing, “What balloons?”
With a burst of elastic, a trio of balloons inflated behind her, making her nearly jump off the sidewalk. The boy simply stood back on the bus steps and grinned, glancing back at Darya who had clearly done something with Nerine’s ID to trigger that.
The boy sidestepped to let Darya chuck the plastic card towards Nerine like a shuriken. “Check your phone,” she added.
Seemingly finished, she started to head back to her seat. Almost…
Darya swung around. “Hey,” she called out.
Nerine grasped her ID expectantly. Darya blinked.
“Don’t die.”
Nerine gave an uncomfortable smile. “I’ll ...try not to?”
Having said her two cents, Darya flashed a small smile and a thumbs up. Nerine could feel her shoulders sagging for some reason.
The boy followed Darya back inside, but not before a parting message.
“In case I don’t see you later, welcome to Inkopolis!” He sounded genuine, “It’ll be the start of your life as you know it.”
He twirled around, then holding the bus doors yelled, “Because life has many doors, Squid girl!”
She pointed an unsure finger at herself. “...Nerine.”
“Oh?” His face lit up. “I’m Corey!” He motioned back, “That’s Darya.”
He tilted his head and gave a final grin, before flippantly waving goodbye.
Nerine hugged her Splattershot Jr, somewhat paralyzed by the recent developments. “Wait… what about...”
The bus took off.
“...my luggage?”
----
Now comfortably seated, Corey leaned back on Darya, stretching his arms in front of him. “Ahaha, what was that? ‘Don’t die?’”
Darya pursed her lips and looked up from her phone. “...You shoved her off a bus,” she said, trying to be vaguely judgmental. Her voice was still toneless even when speaking to her best friend.
The green inkling grinned up with triumph. “And it was my good deed of the day!” He nudged Darya giddly. “I mean, It’s not everyday someone arrives in Inkopolis. Someone needed to push her off.”
Darya shot the tiniest smirk towards him, then slouched in her seat “...What now?”
Corey sank in his seat too. He stared blankly. “We really shouldn’t have fallen asleep. We aren’t going to find anything at this point.”
He glanced around lazily before turning to Darya. “We’ve still got half a day left. How ‘bout we …quit and take the easy way back to Inkopolis?”
“...Is that the bus?”
“The bus.”
Darya lowered her hat over her eyes and got comfy against the window. “Sounds good. ...Wake me up… When there.”
“Wait, what? We’re like 5 minutes from the city---Dar’?” He wagged a hand in front of her to no response. Darya’s head lolled to the side in slumber.
He retracted in slight shock, but immediately got an idea and pulled out his phone, positioning it for a photo.
“Aww, D, you shouldn’t have. This is gonna be my next squidverse post!”
I'd love to know what you guys think. Critiques and comments are appreciated.
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). Either way, great story! I can't wait to see it unfold.
