Roenaldo stretched as he rose from his bed, looking over his upgraded room. Unlike his abode, Roenaldo's appearance was not as refined; some of the food from last night was still stuck on his shirt and there was still crust in his brown eyes. At the very least, he wiped some of the sleep from his eyes, and he got his belongings ready for another day in Inkopolis Plaza. He tied his bandana around his forehead, put on his yellow T-Shirt and blue pants, and stepped into his black motorcycle boots. He then grabbed his Splat Roller and made his way out the door and onto the path to Inkopolis Plaza.
Halfway through the trail, he was stopped by an Inkling man wearing a gray suit and a blue tie. "Pardon me," said the older squid, "But do you happen to know a Roenaldo Martine that lives around here?" Roenaldo smiled, answering, "Of course I do, he's me!" The Inkling flashed a quick smirk before continuing, "Well good, looks like I won't have to do much searching, then. Well, Roenaldo, I would like to have a quick word with you about your status as a homeowner. The people who gave you your apartment may have forgotten to tell you this, but living here isn't free. Unless you want to be evicted, you're going to have to start paying the rent." Roenaldo's eyes widened in realization. He had not considered the reality of living in an apartment of his own. For all he knew, Inkopolis just gave him this apartment as a complementary gift. "Oh," he replied, "I didn't know about this. How much does this rent cost?" The squid pulled out a packet and looked over it, answering, "Let's see, the minimum cost for owning an apartment in this part of the area would be...281520 coins per month." Roenaldo's face darkened as he felt his heart sink into his chest. "281520?! Why," he thought, "I didn't even come close to that amount after an entire day of Turf War!" Seeing Roenaldo's distress, the man said, "Hey now, don't worry too much. For new residents, the 1st payment is lowered to 9853 coins. But you have to pay it by the end of this week, or we'll have to relocate you to the slums. And let's just say that the folks over there aren't too friendly. Do I make myself clear?" Roenaldo gulped, answering, "Yes sir, I hear you." The Inkling tipped his hat, saying "I wish you luck, Roenaldo, I don't like to kick out Inklings like you." With that, the man walked off on a path to the right. Roenaldo stood there for a moment before holding his head in his hands. "Hoo boy," he said aloud, "I'm going to have to budget myself from now on. I guess that I'll have to stop buying take-out food every night then." He shook his head and looked towards the path to Inkopolis, continuing, "Well, looks like I'll have to do a whole lot more battling if I want to stay here. At least Turf Wars are fun." With that in mind, Roenaldo made his way towards the city, aiming to improve his financial situation.
Roenaldo reached Inkopolis in the middle of the Squid Sister's broadcast. They were busy revealing the battle stages of the day, with Callie stating, "So, Marie, how about Blackbelly Skatepark? I hear that one Inkling there performed a triple 360 backside tailslide deluxe the other day." After a silent pause, Marie simply answered, "What?" Callie continued, "I wonder if any leftover ink made it difficult for that squid. You know, I might give skateboarding a try soon It might be fun!" Marie crossed her arms, replying, "You'd bust more than a move, I know that much." Moving on from that subject, Callie said, "Oh yeah! Hold on to your tentacles, everyone, we've got some breaking news! Last night, our officials reported a document coming out of an old printer. You know what that means: Splatfest time! Go on, Marie, read out the paper!" As a picture of two strange, furry creatures flashed on a screen behind the Squid Sisters, Marie grabbed a sheet off of the nearby table, saying, "The message wrote here says, 'What do you like better, cats or dogs?' Come on, guys, the answer is obvious. Dogs are man's best friend!" Callie wagged her finger, saying, "That may be true, but cats are way cooler. I mean, look at Judd, he's the slickest feline around!" Marie smirked, replying, "I bet that you only chose cats because both you and Judd sleep around all day." Callie pouted, responding, "Says the person with the grandma hairstyle. Your tentacles are as white as a poodle!" Marie squished her tentacles proudly, answering, "That just shows just how much classier I am than you then, Callie." Callie gave Marie one last look before looking at the audience, saying, "What about you Inklings? Once the builders get their equipment together, then you can pick a side and fight for your cause! The event should start soon, so get ready to splat! I think that's all we have for today, so stay fresh out there, everyone!" With that, the broadcast switched to a commercial for minty toothpaste. As Roenaldo continued toward the Lobby, he thought, "Cats vs Dogs, huh? What even are those things, anyway? The only cat I know is Judd, and he already looks pretty weird; who has hair that is not moist and squishy, anyway? Dogs look pretty interesting though, I like their strong look. And like Marie said, they are man's best friend, whatever that means." As Roenaldo was thinking about this, he registered himself for a Turf War along with 3 other Inklings, and they all got into the elevator to head to Blackbelly Skatepark.
Roenaldo stood with the rest of his teammates in their green base while the other 4 enemy Inklings traveled to their blue base. As this was happening, the female announcer said, "Gooood morning, ya'll! Let's start this day off right! The battle will start in 3...2...1...NOW!" All the Inklings jumped into action at once, spraying their ink everywhere. Roenaldo started off his battle like usual, pressing his Roller to the ground as he ran forward in a straight line. He made sure to do this in the presence of one of his teammates; he knew well the dangers of going it alone. They took turns inking the ground, helping each other out when one ran out of ink. They did this until they came to a large tower in the center of the map. "Okay," said Roenaldo's teammate, "Let's split up. I'll go to the left; you go to the right." He nodded, covering the ground in front of him while his teammate dashed away with her Inkbrush. On his way, Roenaldo saw two enemy Inklings standing on top of an elevated platform. To lure them closer to him, Roenaldo pulled out a Suction Bomb and hurled it towards the squids. This tactic proved to be effective, and the foes scattered away from the dangerous explosive. Roenaldo took this time to chase after one of the panicked Inklings, inking a path towards him before crushing him with the weight of his weapon. Seeing this, the splatted Inkling's teammate made his way towards Roenaldo with his Splattershot in hand, hoping to get revenge for his fallen ally. This was when Roenaldo's own associate came dashing in, smacking the blue-haired Inkling relentlessly. She gave Roenaldo a thumbs up before swimming away to another inkable area.
Roenaldo took this as a cue to start painting the walls of the large pillar. With the use of repeated swings of his Splat Roller, he was able to cover one side of the tower in green, allowing him to swim up to the top. Awaiting him there was a girl aiming towards one of Roenaldo's teammates with an ink-based sniper rifle. Remembering his struggles with this sort of weapon, Roenaldo quickly set out to splat this camper. The girl gasped as she heard the incoming Roenaldo, and she swiftly retrieved a Splat Bomb to throw onto the ground. As soon as Roenaldo's weapon crashed down on the Inkling, her bomb blew up, resulting in both squids getting splatted. Back at his base, Roenaldo decided to paint a bit more of the surrounding area due to his teammates not doing so. After doing that, he joined a boy on a push towards the enemy base, keeping watch for any incoming squids. As he ran with his sponge on the ground, he could feel the same familiar power rising within him. It was time for him to use his Killer Wail. He stepped back a bit before initiating the transformation of his Roller. His eyes were filled with pure excitement as his weapon converted itself into a large speaker. He was just about to unleash his ultimate move when suddenly—BOOM—a blast of ink directly to his face. As his ghost rose into the air, he could see his assaulter, the same girl, snickering with glee over her feat.
Roenaldo awoke from his limbo with a sense of annoyance over this event. He could not fathom having his superweapon be canceled like that. As he was grumbling, the announcer said, "You know what time it is! The battle is about to end!" The relaxing music was replaced with a more frantic tune; it was once again now or never. Hoping to make up for his previous mistake, Roenaldo put his maximum effort into painting in order to reclaim his Killer Wail moment. He made sure that his base was fully painted green before swimming back to the tower, hoping to gain the high ground. Once he reached the top of the pillar, he started swinging his Roller in a circle around him, creating a wave of ink that painted the surrounding area. While doing this, he happened to get a few unwary Inklings that found themselves around the tower. This allowed his ink tank to get sufficiently stimulated, and the powerful sense of vigor returned to him. Before anyone could ruin it, he activated the Killer Wail and positioned his mouth in front of the speaker, yelling, "TAKE THIS!!" His voice resonated in the device, causing a beam of ink and sound to shoot straight down from the tower towards the enemy team. All the Inklings scattered, allowing Roenaldo's teammates to pick off the retreating squids. These events happened in the last 30 seconds of the match, and the game ended with half of the enemy team splatted. "Good work, everyone," said the announcer, "Now head back to the Lobby if you want to see your results." The squids did as she said, stepping back into the elevator to return to Inkopolis. There, Judd revealed the results to be in Roenaldo's favor, and he and team claimed their prize money. Roenaldo then participated in many more battles, knowing that he needed the coins.