After a long bus ride, Roenaldo got off at an empty street along with 4 other Inklings. They started conversing with each other before a young adult Inkling with black clothes and a whistle appeared in front of them. "Hey kids," said the Inkling, "Nice to see you all here. I'm glad that you decided to visit this absolutely fresh place!" " But before I can let you get acquainted with your new life, you're gonna have to go through a little training." The instructor opened a metal box with a bunch of white guns and handed one to all 5 of us. "What I gave you just now is a Splattershot Jr. Don't worry, if you can prove your skill, you will be able to advance to better weapons. For now, let's try a little target practice, eh?" The Inkling reached for a large group of balloons attached to a pole. "When I release these balloons, I want each of you to pop as many balloons as you can; try to get at least five. No stress though, I can still let you move on if you don't meet your quota. Now as for ammo…" The Inkling reached for another box filled with canisters of some sort, and attached one to each participant's back, while also attaching a tube from the tank to the guns. When he did, the tank began to fill up with each Inkling's ink. "What I attached to your backs just now is your ink tank," the instructor explained, "You can use it whenever you want to use your weapon. Be sure not to lose it! Now with that being said, go ahead and shoot those balloons!" With that, he blew his whistle and released the balloons, allowing them to fly in many directions.
Quickly, Roenaldo and the others pulled the trigger and aimed towards the balloons. Even though the targets were simple to hit, Roenaldo was still enjoying himself immensely, feeling the recoil of his gun as the balloons exploded one by one. Soon all the balloons were popped, as signaled by another blow of the coach's whistle. "Great job everyone!" he said proudly, "Now let's move on to the next section." He led the kids to a section filled with grates and pits. "Now I need to make sure that you all are good with switching between your kid and squid forms. Cover the ground in front of your with your inking guns and take a swimming jump through the grates. Your slick squid form can slip right through those holes!" At the shrill of the whistle, Roenaldo saw the others swiftly transform into their squid forms, spurring Roenaldo to do the same. He squished his way into the ink that he laid down and experienced the sensation of basking in the deep liquid. He blissfully swam around in the goop before heading for the 1st grate. To his surprise, he passed right through the tiny holes of the screen as if he were a ghost! He repeated the process two more times until he got to the end of the segment. The older Inkling blew his whistle for the final time before congratulating the young ones. "Awesome work everyone," he said, "Now let's commemorate this moment with one loud BOOYAH! On a one, two, three…" "BOOYAH!!" everyone yelled. "Well, that's that. All of you can feel free to experience the freshness of the new world. Jump over there using the launchpad, if you're ready. Remember, the world is your oyster!"
All the other kids rushed excitedly to the Launchpad and super jumped away, but Roenaldo took his time to bask in this new feeling of freedom; he was finally on the road to fulfill his greatest desire! As he moseyed his way to the Launchpad, he happened to notice a foreign object to the far right. He went to go investigate this weird thing when he realized what he was looking at: a UFO! "Now why would something like this be here?" Roenaldo wondered. "Whatever, it's not my business anyway." He concluded, as he continued on his way to the city of dreams.
When he landed, Roenaldo looked upon a sensational sight; he had finally arrived at Inkopolis. He noticed the many buildings and shops as advertised in the commercial that he saw, along with many Inklings having a good time. Seeing all of these wonders, Roenaldo was desperate to become part of the action. His mind raced as he decided his 1st course of action, but his train of thought was interrupted by the news announcement of a giant TV on a tower in the middle of the town. A logo flashed on the screen that read "Inkopolis News". Roenaldo was shocked to see the hosts of this news channel: they were none other than the legendary Squid Sisters! "Hold on to your tentacles!" Said the peppy Callie. "It's Inkopolis news time!" said the more laid-back Marie. The Squid Sisters were a very popular duo of cousins(despite their name) who quickly rose to fame from their humble beginnings in Calamari Country. Callie was a cheerful Inkling woman with black tentacle hair and a purplish-black form-fitting dress while Marie was a more laid-back Inkling woman with teal tentacle hair and a greenish-black dress. Callie proceeded with her report, saying, "Now Marie, before we announce the current stages, we need to talk about some BIG news." "Oh? What's going on?" asked Marie. "In case you couldn't tell, the Great Zapfish has gone missing!" exclaimed Callie. "Wow, that does seem like quite the issue." Remarked Marie. "You know, I have a hunch that this event is somehow tied to the UFO sighting that was reported last night." Callie remarked, while a picture of a flying saucer with an ominous looking pink tentacle was shown on screen behind her. "Although I can't exactly place my finger on the relation of these two events…" Roenaldo knew that the suspicious object he found was relevant in some way. "Well this doesn't matter anyway, Callie," said Marie, "We have a surplus of energy from the Zapfish, so we should be fine for a good amount of time." Eased by Marie's reasoning, Callie said to everyone, "You heard her! Just be sure to not waste unnecessary energy, and we should all be fine. Now with that out of the way, let's move on to the main topic: Turf Wars!" The Squid Sisters then went on to announce the areas where inking battles would be held, providing their colorful thoughts on stages revealed to be Urchin Underpass or Walleye Warehouse in the process. "And that's that!" Said Callie at the end of the broadcast, "Do your best out there and remember to…" The duo struck a fashionable pose as they said their catchphrase "Stay Fresh!".
Although Roenaldo felt a tinge of worry regarding the city's power being absent, he quelled those thoughts as he set his sights toward the doors between the tower that the giant TV was stationed on; that was the place where Turf War battles were organized. On his way to the site, an old Inkling peered from a manhole to the side, with an excited look in his eyes…this could be the Inkling that he had been searching for! When Roenaldo entered the facility, he was greeted with a cool looking room with neon lights flashing many different colors in an awesome display. In the middle of the room, Roenaldo could see a monitor atop a pedestal. He walked over to it and saw an interface filled with buttons labeling different options such as "Turf War" "Ranked Battles" and "League Battle" with each mode having a different difficulty rating. Before interacting with any of these options, an automatic message popped on the screen, reading "HAVE YOU PLAYED BEFORE? YES or NO." Roenaldo truthfully tapped the "NO" option, to which the monitor responded by automatically preparing to register him for participation in a Turf War battle. Before initiating the enrollment, Roenaldo was prompted to enter his name in the corner of the screen for identification purposes, which Roenaldo complied to. Upon following the necessary preparations, the screen read, "READY YOUR WEAPON, AND ENTER THE ELEVATOR WHEN IT OPENS. GOOD LUCK!" Immediately after reading this, Roenaldo saw a black elevator with repeatedly flashing orange lights on the inside signaling him to go inside. After placing his suitcase in one of the room's corners, Roenaldo entered the elevator doors rapidly closed, and the elevator began to zoom in a path to the right.
Roenaldo was surprised by his sudden change in speed, but it was truly an exhilarating experience. After some time, the elevator stopped, and then rose slowly. The doors opened after a short delay, and outside the elevator were a group of 3 other Inklings standing on an orange platform in Urchin Underpass. The area was similar to the place where Roenaldo had been introduced to his Splattershot Jr. except that this place looked more detailed, having graffiti all over the ground and large windows lining the walls. One of the more experienced players on Roenaldo's team spoke, saying, "Look everyone, a newbie found his way onto our team." Everyone gave a brief wave, while Roenaldo responded with a solemn nod. Everyone except him had a formidable weapon, including some sort of a long gun and a paintbrush. The most powerful weapon that Roenaldo saw belonged to the aforementioned skilled-looking member of the group: it was a large white cylinder attached to a robust stick. "What is that?" asked Roenaldo. "Oh this old thing? It's just my trusty CoroCoro Splat Roller." The inkling said. Roenaldo instantly fell in love with the weapon, imagining the work that he could do with such a menacing looking tool. "That looks totally cool," Roenaldo said in awe, "Where do I get one?" A smug look fell on the Inklings face as he smirked, "I don't think that you're experienced enough to wield this unit. You're gonna have to get a few battles under your belt to earn something like this." A flash of determination struck Roenaldo's face as he declared "Well then, I will give all I have. Anything to get to that level of power!" The inkling was caught off guard by Roenaldo's immediate resolve, only to go straight back to his cocky self. "You talk a big game for someone of your status. Why don't you show your grit on the battlefield?" As if on cue, the sound of speakers activating filled the area, and a voice started resonating on the battlefield. "Alright combatants," said the feminine announcer, "This Turf War battle is about to start! Everyone get into your battle stances, and be ready to spray and pray!" The weapons of Roenaldo's teammates started to fill with the combatants ink as everyone positioned themselves in their places on the platform, and Roenaldo got himself in gear. "Everyone ready? Good. On your marks, get set, GO!"
An air horn sounded as the speakers started to play energetic music. The battle had now begun! Without haste, everyone began blasting the area with their ink in a colorful surge. This was the feeling that Roenaldo was longing for ever since seeing the commercial. As he ran about, shooting his ink everywhere with his Splattershot Jr., He eventually came across an Inkling with blue tentacles and a more advanced looking Splattershot; this was a member of the opposing team! A scuffle immediately started between the two, with both contestants dodging the others attacks while attempting to shoot the other down. Thankfully, Roenaldo was able to land more hits than his opponent, causing the other Inkling to explode in a shower of orange. "Holy moly," thought Roenaldo, "That kid just blew up! I guess that's an advantage to my team. I hope that he's ok though." As he was finishing his thought, the enemy's friend arose from his hiding space in the ink. Without a second to react, Roenaldo was rapidly assaulted by the many shots of the red ink gun. Feeling the impact of each blow, Roenaldo eventually met the same demise as his previous fighter, exploding in a burst of blue ink as his ghostly remnant floated elsewhere.
After a brief 4 seconds of apparent death, Roenaldo rose from the ink-covered platform as it hissed with the sound of steam. "So that's what this thing is for," thought Roenaldo, as he stood bewildered at his miraculous revival, "I guess that I should be more careful next time." He quickly put back on his game face; now that he had a general idea of how the game worked, he was ready to win. Roenaldo inked his way to his team members in order to gain the numbers advantage. When he got there, he was noticed by the experienced player who was busy covering a large area with repeated swings of his roller. "I was wondering when you were going to show up," grunted the Inkling, "Next time don't just rush blindly into battle, yeah?" "I'll admit that was ignorant of me…" Roenaldo said with an embarrassed smile on his face. "No matter," the inkling insisted, "Just keep you head in the game." With that, the pro started running with his roller on the ground, inking the area as he traveled. Motivated by his words, Roenaldo pushed forward with his teammates, making sure to eliminate any threats that came their way. His playstyle was not perfect, but he managed to splat his opponents more than they could splat him. After a solid 2 minutes of battling, the announcer's voice once again activated. "Alright contesters, there's one minute left on the clock! It's now or never!"
After the announcement, frantic music began to play, causing both teams felt the immediate sense of pressure. The intensity of each player's actions rose greatly; ink flew everywhere like a tidal wave, Inklings were being splatted left and right, and everyone's hearts pumped with an adrenaline boost. A sound played over the speakers reminiscent of clock ticking, with the increasing magnitude of each tick further increasing the tension. Eventually, an air horn blasted over the speakers, followed by the voice exclaiming "Times up! Please return to your starting areas and head back to the lobby to see the results." With that, the contestants super jumped back to their respective elevators and zipped back to the main lobby.
When Roenaldo and the others reached the main hub, they were greeted with a fat cat with fur reminiscent of a tuxedo. Behind the cat was a screen displaying a bird's eye view of the area that the two teams had battled on. The entire map looked like an inky mess, and at first glance it looked difficult to judge which team inked more turf; it appeared to be a close game. The cat started to meow and, to Roenaldo's utter disbelief, he started to hear a deep voice in his head! Despite what he was hearing, the cat's mouth didn't match the sounds being made, so there was clearly some other force at work. "Alright you Inklings," said the calm voice, "Let me see who 'coverrred' the most area." The unusual cat then took some time to glance at the screen for a brief second before immediately coming to a conclusion. "Ok, I have made my decision," said the cat, as he reached for a small (red?) flag, "Ready 'fur' it? The winner off this bout is…" Anticipation emanated from the members of each team. Whether or not the valiant efforts of each participant were worthwhile or not was solely determined by the cat's judgement. Finally, with a dramatic fleur, the cat rose it's flag to the side of Roenaldo's team while exclaiming, "This side wins! Grreat job!" Roenaldo's teammates felt very happy about winning, but no one felt as triumphant as Roenaldo; he had just started battling and ended his first battle with a win! As he exchanged high fives with his teammates, a hatch opened near the elevator that contained 4 medium sized bags of coins. "Winners, go on and collect your money reward," the cat meowed, "You earned it!" Roenaldo and the others happily retrieved their spoils and left the lobby.
Outside of the tower, the experienced player approached Roenaldo. "Nice work rookie," the Inkling remarked, "You did better than I thought you would do." These words of approval provided a massive boost to Roenaldo's morale; to not only win his first battle but to receive recognition from one of the more experienced battlers was especially great for him. "It's true," replied Roenaldo, with a slight swagger in his voice, "I'm a natural! At this rate, I should be on the road to getting my sweet Roller." Noticing Roenaldo's steadfastness the Inkling said "You're still thinking about getting a roller, huh? Say kid, what's your name?" "The name's Roenaldo," Roenaldo said, "How about you? What's your name?" "My real name's Gustavo," the inkling admitted, "but you can call me Gus." Gustavo reached his out his hand for a handshake. "I admire your potential Roenaldo," he said proudly, "Although your execution could use a little work, you have the makings of a warrior. Heck, considering the intensity of your battling, you may even become a champion!" "I believe that anyone can achieve anything if they put their mind to it," Roenaldo said as he shook Gustavo's hand firmly, "and I aim to follow that philosophy." "I admire your message," remarked Gustavo, "Now keep that fire burning. Don't ever stop pushing for your dream. With that said, I'm going back home to take a nap. Good luck in your future battles!" With a tip of his hat, Gustavo morphed into a squid form and jumped away into the distance. Roenaldo was definitely going to go participate in some more Turf Wars, but first he wanted to use some of the money that he got.
About a block away, he could see a chain of stores filled with various accessories. One of the stores had a pink sign that read "Cooler Heads" "This place looks interesting," thought Roenaldo as he approached the shop, "I'm going to go see what they have in stock." When he walked inside, he immediately noticed the myriad of different hats and glasses mounted on the various walls and pedestals. They all looked very fashionable and desirable. Sitting behind a brown wooden desk was a person wearing glasses and a reddish-pink jacket who looked to be the owner: A woman with a sea anemone for a head. "W-Welcome to Cooler heads s-sir," said the woman quietly, "I'm A-A-Annie. How may I help-" Suddenly a voice from her hair shouted out "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE BUCKO!" "Wait what," asked a bewildered Roenaldo, "Who said that?!" The culprit poked his head out of the store owner's hair, and to Roenaldo's surprise he saw a small clownfish! "Yeah I'm talking to you bozo," sneered the rude fish, "I can just tell that you're new, you pathetic noob." Just as Roenaldo was about to retort, the anemone girl spoke once again. "I-I'm sorry," the girl said politely, "My friend Moe is right. Here in Inkopolis we have a policy where we are not allowed to serve Inklings who are…not fresh enough…please don't take that offensively, I don't make the rules!" After saying that, the owner quickly hid her face in her hands, blushing profusely in embarrassment. "You heard her," the clownfish blurted, "GET OUT OF HERE!" "Ok, ok, I get it," said Roenaldo calmly, "I'll leave." Roenaldo started to walk out of the store, contemplating how such a tiny creature could have such a loud voice when he noticed an old Inkling peering at him from a manhole across the street.