Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Aloha, honey, do I have to come over and turn that down for you?"

Aloha's eyes widen. No, he didn't want his mom turning down the TV! It was all part of his dream to lead his own turf team someday, so he had to live it out the best he can. "No, sorry Momma."

She gives him a slight smile. "Maybe be a bit quieter, yes? Your mother and I are trying to cook."

The fresh scent of bread wafts through the living room, and Aloha quiets immediately, slightly frustrated. Why won't his moms understand he needs to live in Inkopolis, and not just watch? He already asked to move there for his seventh birthday, but his moms refused, saying they couldn't stand the constant bustle of the city. He knew for a fact that his mother absolutely hated turf wars because her grandfather had fought in the Great Turf War, but his mom should understand his want to turf, right? His stomach rumbles, only reminding him how hungry he is. The match onscreen continues on though, and he quickly turns to watch, forgetting his previous annoyance at his parents.

Camo had managed to open a gap in the enemy's defense, and now was pushing through, Urchin, his second-in-command, at his heels. Aloha stares as she performs a perfect 180 in midair, blasting an opponent as they tried to jump her.  Hunter and Satin move in together, Aerospray RG and Squeezer working effortlessly to cover ground, turning the green ink into a bright yellow. They are amazing, and it was in that moment Aloha knew he had to get to Inkopolis when he was old enough, no matter what his moms thought.

"Mother?"

He wanders into the kitchen after the match is over. His mind is full of Inklings battling their way out on the stage and it takes him directly in front of the oven as he waits for Alina, his mother to close the fridge. 

"Aloha, get away from the oven!"

He just now realizes the oven door is open and scorching hot and he quickly backs away as Alina and Maria bustle around him, shutting doors and clattering pots and pans. "...Mom?"

"Yes?" Maria's paying more attention to the onion she's chopping instead of him, but Aloha forges on.

"When do you think we can move to Inkopolis?"

Alina is the one who answers, scoffing as she stirs the large metal pot laid on the stove. "Two years and then we can visit Inkopolis, alright? You aren't old enough to be around those--" she breaks off, shuddering. "--teenagers."

"I wanna turf when I grow up," Aloha announces to no one in particular, as both his parents seems to be busy with dinner. "I wanna lead my own team."

It's a dream that both Maria and Alina know by heart, and they exchange a look before Maria replies with, "Mhm,"

Aloha's ears droop slightly. He knew it was a futile effort to try to talk about it now, with his parents busy and Inkopolis out of the question for another two years, but he couldn't help it. Seeing Camo and his team pull a huge victory sparked something inside him he couldn't quite name, but he wanted to enter the TV screen and stand alongside the four of them, cheer with the millions of fans in the stands, smell the fried shwaffles floating through the air, but when he walks back to the living room to stare at the TV screen, which is now on a commercial break, he knows it won't be possible until he's nine.

An idea sparks in him then, an idea only small children and large dreamers can have.

Maybe once they visit Inkopolis, he can make it the best day ever for his parents, so they had to let him stay! Maybe Alina would stop discouraging him from turfing, when she knew it was the only thing he wanted to do, and maybe Maria would actually like the city for once!

It's a dream come true, and Aloha happily sits back in front of the TV, mimicking swinging a Golden Dynamo, watching the next match, until Alina comes into the living room.

"Aloha, is it okay if we turn off the TV now?"

Her voice sounds strained but Aloha thinks nothing of it. He's too involved in the game, but at the words 'turn off', he looks up. He glances at the clock and then back at his mother, tilting his head slightly. It's only 4pm, a whole hour before he usually eats dinner. Why does he have to turn it off now? Only now does he see his mother's rather forced smile and realizes that something's wrong. Still, he's a child, and children ask questions that don't exactly help the situation. So he opens his mouth.

"Why? It's early."

"I know, sweetie, but your mom and I think that's enough TV for now, okay?"

"The match is almost over!" Aloha gestures at the screen frantically. He can't end now, not before the match ends! "Can I watch the end? Please?"

Alina shakes her head, tentacles swaying. "I'm sorry, sweetpea, but we need to turn it off now, okay?"

She gently takes the remote from Aloha's hands and aims it at the device, turning it off. Aloha stares desperately at the screen, as if he looks hard enough, the color and Inklings will come back. But as he's led away from the living room by one hand, he only can see his own reflection in the blackness, short, pink, and barely out of his squidform, eyes too large for his head. 

He doesn't look like he belongs in Inkopolis at all.

Two years suddenly felt like it couldn't come any slower.

He's now eight and bored, because the TV has been off for at least two months for reasons he didn't understand. He threw a fit when his moms first denied him television, but as the days drag on, he finds staring at the blank screen beyond his attention span.  He doesn't know what came over them. They used to be okay with him watching turfing all day but now... now he doesn't know when he'll be able to see Camo or any other Inkling onscreen again.

It's his birthday today, and he loves the fact that he was born on April Fools Day, the day where everyone played pranks on each other in good fun. But the problem is that he switched teachers, thanks to Alina and Maria catching wind that his old teacher encouraged dreams of becoming a turf player.

His new teacher -- he doesn't know her name well enough so he calls her Miss -- doesn't know it's his birthday today. But he plans to change that.

"Excuse me?" Aloha waves a tentacle-arm at his teacher as she passes his desk. "Miss? It's my birthday today."

Miss stops and turns to stare at him, beady eyes searching him over before she starts to laugh. "Oh, you're too funny Aloha, dear. Don't you think I know an April Fools joke when I see one?"

Aloha freezes, hand still in the air. What? 

"No, it's my actual birthday today." His voice is tinging on alarm as he watches his teacher completely gloss over the fact that he isn't joking.

She smiles patiently at him. "Of course."

And she turns away, walking to the front of the class, immediately bombarded by a swarm of paper airplanes, Aloha forgotten.

The pink Inkling slumps back in his seat, eyes prickling with tears. When was his birthday ever forgotten? His last teacher only forgot it was his birthday maybe three times....

He forgets all about it afterschool, when he meets up with Cap at the bus stop.

He's found his first group of friends this year: a mix of kids, the oldest who are at least two years older than him and rebellious. They let him hang around for reasons he doesn't know, but he's loving these friends. They're cool, always skipping school and instead going down to the docks to balance on the boards and daring each other to venture farther out over the water.

Aloha usually hangs back, near dry land, with the younger Inklings, the ones who are still five or six and still hanging onto that innocent doe-eyed look. They're the Distractors, the ones the older kids send in to beg for clothing or other items, before they come in themselves and steal everything while the storeowners are occupied.

He's never personally been a Distractor, because anyone who's older than six is teased if they ever are one, so he never volunteered. Still, he's categorized in the lower ranks because he's young, and he's scared of everything. It took him a while to make it past the first board at the docks before he freaked out and ran back to shore.

He'd been poked fun at for being a Distractor for weeks, and it annoyed him to the point that he made up his mind he wanted to be cool, like the older kids in the group. So he started sucking up to them as best he could, with results he couldn't have even imagined.

His closest friend of that group became Cap, a thirteen-year-old with a Takoroka Cap he had taken from shop in Inkopolis, who had previously lived in the city. He had regaled the younger Inkling on tales in the turfing industry that he witnessed.

"I heard that they had to shut turfing down for a couple o' days because some kids got into a real fight." Cap waves his fingers eerily and Aloha shivers, grinning in ecstasy. "There was blood and guts everywhere!"

"Really?" Aloha hangs onto his every word like if he stops listening then he'll miss out on something big.

"You better believe it. I was there myself."

Aloha scrunches his nose. He wouldn't want to be there personally but it was really awesome that Cap got to witness it. "Was it cool?"

"Shella cool." Cap grins down at him. "So cool that if you were there, you'd immediately be a cool kid. Like me. There's literally nothing I can't do."

"So you can-- you can--" Aloha looks around for some way to prove Cap's abilities. "You can climb that fence?"

Cap snorts, waving a hand. "Yeah, of course."

He runs over to the fence and is over it in two seconds, head popping up on the other side. "Ain't that cool?"

Aloha stares, amazed. "Shell yeah." The cuss tastes strange in his mouth but he figures he’ll get used to it. 

Cap's over the fence again and sitting across from him so quickly, Aloha blinks and he's there. "How do you move so fast?"

"Got something like a sixth sense." The older Inkling grins. "None of us has it, not even the Distractors. I can sense you coming a while away and get out of the way fast too. Pretty useful for a quick exit. That's why I'm always on lookout."

"Wow..." Aloha's brain is whirling. This could be his chance to be cool like Cap! "Can you teach me?" He internally winces. Do cool kids ask for help? He had no idea. He makes a mental note to not ask assistance again.

"Teach you?" Cap laughs. "Have you got a sixth sense?"

Aloha shrugs, matching Cap's grin in size. He feels like he can do anything, now that Cap told him all this. He will do anything.

"Alright." Cap takes a bandanna from his pocket. "Put this over your eyes."

Aloha hesitates, before taking the colorful fabric in his hands. Sensing his nervousness, Cap sends him a fanged grin. "C'mon, you ain't chicken are you?"

“N-no!” Aloha quickly ties the bandanna over his eyes, struggling a bit with the knot, but eventually manages to secure it. “Okay, now what?”

“This!” He feels a slight burst of air to his left and he stumbles away from it, something hitting his arm as he moves aside, pushing him off balance. He falls with a thump, the bandanna coming loose to hang around his neck. Cap stands above him, holding a soda can. “Hey you actually kinda dodged that!”

“I did?” Aloha’s gaze drifts to the ground where another, more dented soda can lay and back to Cap. He takes the outstretched hand and is pulled roughly to his feet, knees wobbling slightly. “I felt air before it hit me—?”

“That’s sixth sense!” Cap grins. “And it’s not air, it’s your sense! Maybe I can teach you all this junk!”

Aloha’s eyes widen. Starry eyed, he turns in a quick circle before blindfolding himself again. “Then let’s keep going!”

Aloha quickly learns how to use his sense of direction and spatial awareness, thanks to Cap. The soda bottles have been thrown so many times that they have cracked in some places, sweet liquid seeping through the sharp points of metal. Aloha is covered in bruises after an hour but he feels happier than he did in a long time. 

They stop to rest. Cap opens the broken cans and they both sit on the ground, drinking their treat. Aloha’s mind wanders as he sits there, sweat sticky on his back, the bandanna scratchy around his neck. He wonders if he can ask to watch some TV tonight before a thought hits him. 

“You think I can use this in turf war?”

Cap glances over. “You’re planning to play?”

“Uh huh.” Aloha shrinks slightly when Cap’s expression doesn’t change. “Aren’t you turfing next year?”

Cap chuckles and tosses his empty van into the nearest trash bin. “Nah, I’m just gonna watch. I’m not going to do anything to do with that sport. But yeah, I suppose you could use the sixth sense in turf war. It would be great against snipers. Or rollers who like to spawn camp you.”

“Like Camo?” All his memories of watching turf come back and Aloha feels more alive than ever. “He uses a Goldie.”

“Golden Dynamo huh?” Cap looks impressed. “I’ve heard of him, yeah. And that definitely would give you an edge, especially if you can get out of his range fast enough.”

“Wow...”

Cap snorts, popping open another soda. “But hey, you aren’t old enough to turf just yet so don’t get your hopes up. Turf war is tricky business, especially since you haven’t mastered the sixth sense yet.”

Aloha feels himself deflate slightly. 

“You’re improving though,” Cap says quickly. “Maybe practice a bit more and you got it. Try walking around blindfolded at home.”

He stands, stretches, and Aloha scrambles to his feet too. “You’re leaving?”

Cap tilts his head slightly and turns to leave. Aloha watches his figure disappear down the alleyway, becoming smaller and smaller until he vanishes completely. 

When he troops home that night, he feels like it’s been the best birthday ever. Even if the teacher won’t recognize it. 

And his parents don’t seem to recognize it either. 

Both of them are working when he gets home, so there’s no dinner yet. He goes to find Alina, cooped up in the study. “Mother?”

She doesn’t respond. 

“Mother?” He tries again, pushing open the door. She turns to him, eyes bleary. 

“Oh hi sweetie. Do you need something?”

“Can I watch TV?” It’s a question that he probably shouldn’t ask, especially when his mother is working, but he wants to see if Camo is on. 

She stares at him before she laughs. “No, no, honey.” Her giggles subside slightly and Aloha smells something fruity on her breath as she speaks. “It’s time for dinner.”

Aloha’s in the middle of telling her that dinner isn’t exactly made yet before she stands, moves past him into the kitchen, and pulls out a half-frozen pizza. “Can you heat this up? This is your dinner tonight.”

He takes the food silently and goes to the microwave. When he looks back over his shoulder, his mother is back in her study. 

He eats the pizza alone.

Some birthday. 

He’s nine, finally, and Inkopolis had seemed like a dream world until now. 

It’s amazing: the colors, the lights, the Inklings, all of it. 

Maria looks uncomfortable, and Aloha only knows this because Alina stayed back at the hotel and she never usually does that when sightseeing is an option. Maybe it has to do with that there are a lot more people around than back home. Or that the 'teenagers' are too crazy for his mom?

Everyone’s loud and rowdy and Maria's quick to take a seat near the Cafe. “How about you go take a look around? Don’t get caught up in any trouble.”

So he goes. He knows Maria won't walk the Plaza with him, and that little fact fills him with something similar to frustration. 

He’s never actually seen Inkopolis Plaza except for what was on TV. He had excitedly told Cap he was visiting, and asked if the older Inkling could come. Cap had turned down the offer, which Aloha felt more happy with for some reason. Once Aloha had, quote on quote, 'mastered' the sixth sense, the older Inkling got a bit more volatile lately. He started becoming a bit more angry, and bit more sarcastic, and it made Aloha feel a bit unsure about his friendship.

Not only that, but Aloha felt like he and his parents were butting heads a lot more because of Cap, because he knew for a fact that they didn’t like his friends that much, saying they were rubbing off on him too much and he should stop talking so much about wanting to turf because it’s five whole years away. He started getting more rebellious too; he snuck out once to watch league battles with his friends and even had Cap craft something akin to a visor to emulate some fashionable Inkling he saw who was against Camo.  And though while he liked hanging with Cap, he also loves his moms. 

Speaking of his moms, they both seemed to be giving him a lot less attention than he wanted. They spent all their days at work and when they came home, only a few words were spoken to Aloha, only if he didn't try to start a conversation. He's pretty sure neither of them wanted to come to Inkopolis.

But Maria and Alina has promised him the trip and so now he was here, wandering Inkopolis Plaza.  

A shout startles him and he turns 180, using the skills Cap has taught him — he had practiced so much that it was a second nature to move quickly, so fast that Maria and Alina couldn’t keep up — and sees an older Inkling tussling with his younger brother. 

“Dude, I can believe you stole this from me!” The Inkling wrenches a shirt from his younger brother; it’s a polo shirt, green stripes, and Aloha internally sticks out his tongue at it. Whoever picked that has terrible taste. 

“You promised me it could have it!” The younger brother seems about Aloha’s age, and he’s wearing a weird pair of goggles made of cardboard and saran wrap over his face when Aloha looks closer. Another thing that strikes his eye is that their ink color is both pink, and he finds himself drifting over to them, despite his mom’s warning to not get to trouble. 

“Ugh, fine!” The older lets go of the shirt, and stalks away in disgust. Aloha hurries up to the brother, who’s staring at the shirt in triumph. 

“Hi, I’m Aloha.” His introduction comes out in a rush. “What’s your name?”

The other Inkling stares at him before giving Aloha the widest grin to ever exist on someone's face. He flashes him a peace sign as he answers. “I’m Scuba! Nice to meet you!”

Introductions over, they stand there awkwardly for a few second, Aloha forgetting why he even came over here. “Uhhh—“

“Wanna go watch the next turf war?” Scuba asks him while wriggling the shirt over his head so it hangs around him like a dress. “It’s at Starfish Mainstage.”

“Starfish Mainstage?” He's heard of the place of course; it's one of Camo's favorite stages.

“Yeah, c’mon!” Scuba grabs Aloha’s wrist and suddenly they’re running through the crowd, Aloha barely keeping up. Inklings shout at them, storekeepers pleading them to slow, but Scuba doesn’t stop until they reach the gates of Moray Towers, the stands already jam-packed. “This is Moray Towers,” he says, and he rambles on about the stage and strengths and weaknesses for each weapon class on it, voice overlapping itself into a chattering mess. Aloha ignores him and hops up and down, trying to see over the heads. “Do you know a better place to see?”

“Oh yeah, sorry.” Scuba points down the ramp. “Let’s go down there.”

Aloha runs ahead and stands against the railing, the large screen overhead depicting a closeup of--

"Camo?" He stares, wishing he could vault over the railing and stand on the spawn point with his idol.

"Who's Camo?" Scuba's watching the screen, eyebrows scrunched together and Aloha blinks. How does Scuba not know who Camo is?

"He's amazing. Best Dynamo user of his generation!" Aloha waves a hand at the stage below them. "His whole team is awesome. They find an advantage and they push through, just like that." He snaps his fingers to emphasize his point, glancing over to see if Scuba is watching.

Scuba's paying attention to him now, something that Aloha relishes in. "Dang. You know, you can technically meet them once they exit the lobby. Talk to them and everything."

"Really?" Aloha bounces a bit in excitement. He never even thought that Camo would hang out in Inkopolis Plaza. He seemed way above everyone else to do that.

"Yeah, man." Scuba jerks a thumb over his shoulder. "If they don't enter another game after this, they'll probably exit back at the Plaza."

At that moment, Camo lands some kind of trick shot and splats the entire opposing team, the announcer drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. Aloha is too involved in the game again to notice that Scuba has disappeared from his side. The masked Inkling appears later, carrying two shwaffles and drinks. "Here, you want some?"

No one ever bought anything for Aloha before, and with that realization, he allows a smile to spread across his face. "Thanks!" He takes a shwaffle and bites into it, letting the crisp taste travel down his throat. It tastes like nothing matched up to his moms' cooking, of course, but it's still delicious.

They settle down and watch the next few matches, because Camo doesn't seem like he's leaving without winning three in a row. It's the first time in a while Aloha actually feels genuinely happy, and his excitement grows when the third match is over and Camo and his team exit the stage instead of going for another round.

"Let's go meet them!" He's up on his feet in a flash and hurries out of the stands, way ahead of any other Inkling. Now it's Scuba's turn to catch up as they reach the Plaza, a crowd already congregating around the Goldenrods. 

"Excuse me, pardon me," Aloha tries to move past the mass of Inklings, but to no avail. Scuba catches up to him, breathing hard.

"I can try to see if I can find a way closer," Scuba says in his ear, because the shouts around them drown out any attempt for conversation.

Aloha merely nods, trying to edge his way around the legs of a particularly tall Inkling.

--

Scuba's gone for at least ten minutes, and it's enough time for Aloha to give up on trying to see Camo in real life, enough time for the crowd to dwindle slightly, enough time to effectively annoy Aloha, because what was taking him so long?

"Hey 'Loha."

Scuba's right behind him and Aloha forces himself to not jump in surprise. How did his new friend sneak up on him like that? 

"Hi Scuba."

"Camo's over there." Scuba points to a less crowded area of the Plaza. When Aloha starts over, Scuba quickly throws out a hand, blocking his path. "But, um, he's kinda..."

"Kinda what?"

Aloha mentally runs through all the possibilities Camo could be. An Octoling? A sociopath? A murderer?

"A jerk." Scuba's eyes flick to where Camo is standing, chatting with his teammates, and back again.

"That's all?" Aloha lets out a laugh that's more one of relief than anything. "You had me thinking he was a psycho or something."

"No, he's.. just a jerk." Scuba's expression sets off some kind of warning bells in Aloha's head, but Aloha thinks nothing of it. What would his friend know about Camo? He didn't even know he existed before Aloha came along.

"Well I'm going to go see him." Aloha ducks under Scuba's arm. "You coming with me?'

Scuba rubs the back of his neck. "I... don't think that's the best idea. You going to meet him, I mean. He's not that nice."

Aloha scoffs. "What do you know about that?"

Scuba looks slightly taken aback. "Because he treats people meanly."

"Whatever." Aloha realizes his actions are reminding him of someone, but he can't really place who. 

It's only when he's merely two feet from Camo does he realize: he's acting exactly like Cap.

Urchin's the one who notices him first and she freezes in a half-smile before turning to Camo.

"Hey, Camo, you've got a fan."

Camo turns to look at Aloha, and Aloha takes that moment to drink in the sight of his idol, in the flesh, standing right in front of him. A winning smile flashes from underneath his hat and he's kneeling in front of Aloha. "Hey little dude. What's your name?"
"Aloha." He can barely speak; he's so starstruck it's a miracle he hasn't done anything stupid yet. "Can I have your autograph?"

Camo grins at him. "Of course." He produces a pen from nowhere. "Where do you want me to sign?"

Aloha takes off his makeshift visor; Cap had made it from a strip of paper and a paper plate, which made it perfect autograph material. "Can you sign my visor?"

Camo exchanges a look with Urchin over Aloha's head, and though Aloha can't see Satin's response, Camo doesn't look happy at all. Instead of looking like an idol happy to meet a fan, he looks murderous.

Aloha quickly averts his eyes and pushes the visor a little higher to Camo. He doesn't want to make eye contact all of a sudden. Camo's scary when he wants to be, but Aloha never thought of how intimidating Camo would be if Aloha ever met his idol in person.

Camo doesn't take the visor.

"You call that a visor?" He laughs, the sound jarring, and Aloha looks up instinctively, hand still stuck in the air. "I've seen better."

"C'mon Camo." Aloha's head turns to see Satin leaning against the pole nearby, hat brim tilted over his eyes. "Just sign the kid's thing and go."

"Nah, nah." Camo stands, tossing the pen at Aloha's feet. "This kid doesn't look like he's been to Inkopolis before. What kind of clothes are those?" He points to Aloha's shirt, the baby blue offset from the rest of the vibrant colors around them. "I mean, have you heard of a fashion sense?"

Aloha bites his lip and puts his visor back on. When Scuba said Camo was a jerk, he didn't know how much. And now he doesn't want to. His eyes are burning from unshed tears.

"Aw, you made him cry." Hunter comes up next to Camo, Tinted Shades tilted down at Aloha. A slight smirk is dashed across her face. "Camo, I thought you said you were good with kids."

"I'm only good with kids who are cool." Camo rolls his eyes. "This kid here, what'd you say your name was?"

"Aloha," Aloha says automatically.

"Right. Listen, Aloha," Camo kneels in front of Aloha again and the pink Inkling looks up, hopeful.

"You need to get a better fashion sense, a better less-childlike personality, and a tougher attitude, okay?"

He can't stop the tears this time. Aloha quickly shoves his visor down so Camo can't see his tears and runs off, winding through the crowds of chattering Inklings, the last thing he hears over his shoulder is Urchin letting loose a rough laugh.

"Damn, you need to stop scaring off your fans, Camo."

"It's so they challenge me later," is Camo's response.

It's not hard to find Scuba in the crowd, thanks to the ridiculous headgear and the bright pink ink color. Aloha doesn't say anything but just stands there until the other notices.

"Oh hey Aloha--- what's wrong?" Scuba's eyes are full of concern and Aloha quickly wipes away his tears.

"You were right," is all he says, and a shadow crosses over Scuba's face.

"You met Camo." It's not a question.

"Yeah."

Scuba nods slowly, eyes darting away to where Camo is laughing with his team before looking back at Aloha. "Stay here then."

"Wait, what?" Aloha blinks and Scuba's gone.

He stares blankly at the Inkling in front of him. He doesn't know what to do. A less childlike personality? Better fashion sense? Tougher attitude? 

Well it wasn't like his fashion sense could be changed. He had no money and his moms probably wouldn't let him buy any clothing on his own. His attitude and personality... he could work on that, couldn't he? All he had to do was act like Camo.

A commotion interrupts his thoughts and the crowd parts for him, revealing Camo facing off with Scuba. It would be hilarious, as the pink Inkling is at least a head shorter than the Dynamo user, but Aloha doesn't feel like laughing. 

Suddenly, he has a really terrible feeling about this.

"You hurt my friend," Scuba is saying, tentacle arms clenched into fists. His stance is angled a bit forward, like he would want nothing more than to punch Camo in the face. "You hurt everyone who comes to you."

"Oh, that kid was your friend?" Camo grins; it's a feral smile and if Aloha were in Scuba's place, he would've shrunk away. Scuba, to his credit, only looks nervous. "Maybe you can tell him to wear better clothes. The only good taste he's got is having me to look up to."

"You're a jerk," Scuba spits, eyes still filled with fear though his mouth is twisted into a grimace. "You crush everyone's dreams as soon as they get a chance to meet you."

Camo rolls his eyes. "Seriously. I've known you for months and you've never even seen me with my fans."

Camo knows Scuba? Aloha doesn't know whether to feel more upset that Scuba acted like he didn't know Camo or feel flattered that his new friend is standing up to his idol.

"I've seen plenty. You hurt Aloha's feelings. He really looks up to you, you know." 

Camo snorts. "Aloha. That's his name. I forgot already. You don't like me, I know that. Yet he came to see me anyway. I wonder if you told him to stay away from me. You think he chose me over you?"

Scuba's stance falters slightly. "I don't--"

Aloha sees it coming before it happens. But he keeps his mouth shut, for reasons he wants to keep to himself. Choosing Camo over Scuba still is a decision his mind makes, even when the former treats him terribly.

Camo's knee comes out of nowhere, striking Scuba in the face and sending the pink Inkling sprawling backwards, knocking his mask askew. The crowd shouts and clusters closer, phone cameras out and ready.

But Scuba doesn't retaliate. He just sits up, pushing the now broken mask to hang around his neck, and wipes away the trickle of blue blood snaking down his cheek. "You're still a jerk."

The crowd boos.

Urchin walks up to Scuba, eyes narrowed. "Get out of here, punk."

Scuba gets to his feet, eyes slightly downcast, and disappears into the crowd. Aloha plunges after him. "Scuba!"

When he catches up to Scuba, the other Inkling looks at him with such a hurt expression that Aloha actually stops in his tracks. "Did you choose Camo over me? Was that your intention?"

"N-no! It-- it wasn't!" Aloha lies, his mind working quickly. "I just... really wanted to meet him."

Scuba's expression shifts so quickly that Aloha is caught off guard. The grin is back, still genuine, and Aloha feels a pang of something uncomfortable in his chest. "Okay, that's cool. Just-- just don't talk to him. He's mean." He fingers his broken mask a bit, smile fading slightly.
Aloha nods. "Yeah. I know now. Um... can we go look at clothes?"

"Clothes?" Scuba tilts his head to the side before shrugging, smile coming back full force. "Yeah, of course, man."

But as they're walking over to the clothing store, Maria meets them in front of the door. "Aloha, honey, it's time to go."

Aloha pouts. "Okay..." He turns to Scuba, startled to see the other writing something down on a piece of paper. 

"Here!" Scuba presents it to Aloha with the care of a really valuable weapon. "It's my phone number. Or, actually, it's my brother's phone number, but he lets me use it sometimes. I don't know if you have a phone, but if you do, we can call each other and stuff. Move to Inkopolis sometime too, 'cause you definitely won't regret that."

"...Thanks!" Aloha takes the paper from Scuba and pockets it. "See you!"

"Bye!" 

As Maria leads him out of the Plaza, Aloha walks backwards, keeping an eye on Scuba, who waves at him until he gets too small to see.

He's eleven when things start to get messy.

He stumbles down the stairs one morning, nearly tripping over his own two feet. The TV is on, surprisingly, and Alina is in the kitchen making breakfast. Maria is nowhere to be seen, but by the sound of shower running, Aloha figures she must be in the bathroom.

Alina comes out of the kitchen when he reaches the bottom step and beckons him to the kitchen. "Come and eat breakfast. Cap called earlier and asked if you could meet him today." Her face twists slightly at Cap's name. "So you should eat first and then you can go out and meet him."

"Okay." Aloha edges past his mother and enters the kitchen. He eats his breakfast as quickly as he can, and rushes out the door. He has no idea where to even find Cap and it dawns on him that he should've asked.

But would Camo ask for help?

Most likely not.

The thought of Camo brings him to Scuba, who he hadn't contacted for nearly two years. He can't bring himself to throw away the phone number.

He wonders briefly if Scuba still lives in Inkopolis, or if he found a new friend to hang out with. Does Scuba even remember him? Those thoughts don't sit well with him, and he forces himself to push onward, mind set on finding Cap. He checks the docks first, and finds no one from his friend group; the only person there is a female Inkling swinging her legs over the water.

"Hello?"

She looks up at his voice and Aloha takes in her appearance. She's wearing what look like glasses on her head, though the lens appear to be covered in thick lines of black marker. She's about his age, though her eyes are larger than his, pointed at the tips. "Hi! You here to watch the ocean too?"

"No, I'm looking for my friend." Aloha frowns and looks around as if Cap would suddenly appear. "He wears a Takoroka Cap. Have you seen him?"

"No, sorry." The girl swings her legs over the dock edge and stands. "My friend and I can help you look for him though!"

"Your friend?" Aloha didn't sense anyone around him, but a sudden movement catches his eyes. He instinctively dodges and another girl falls past him, wearing a massive straw hat. Both of their ink colors are purple, he realizes.

"Augh!" She laughs, tilting the hat back so she can see him better. "I was gonna take your visor, but you're too fast for me."

He grins. These girls are cute enough, he supposes. Camo's always flirting with his female fans, but complimenting people he just met doesn't strike any interest to him. "Yeah, I've been practicing."

"Fancy!!" The first girl slings an arm around her friend. "I'm Octoglasses, by the way. This is Straw."

"Aloha," Aloha says in response, and Straw pinches her eyebrows together.

"Um... hi?"

He blinks, taken aback slightly, before he realizes. "No, my name is Aloha."

She giggles way too much for a simple joke. "Ohhh, I thought you were saying hi. My bad."

He offers an uncertain smile in response. "Yeah, I'm looking for my friend."
"So I've heard." Straw strikes a dramatic pose, curling her hand around an imaginary magnifying glass. Her voice playfully drops an octave. "And so the three set out, desperate to find the missing Inkling before the sun set."

"Oh, stop it." Octoglasses whacks Straw in the arm gently. "Let's just go look for him. You said he wears a Takoroka Cap?"

"Yep." Aloha turns on his heel, scanning the docks. There's no one else around still. "Has anyone been here lately?"

"Not that I've seen," Octoglasses says. "Though I did hear some Inklings pass behind me talking about working in some alleyway? We can start from there."
"Oooh, an alleyway~" Straw rubs her hands together. "This is gonna be fun."

--

As they find out quickly, it's not fun. Cap doesn't turn up in most of the alleyways they check, and they're about to give up when a slight noise alerts them.

Aloha creeps behind a dumpster to peek around the corner and sees Cap there, huddled with a few other Inklings. He feels his gut sink for some reason, and when Straw and Octoglasses start into the alleyway, he waves them back instead.

He has a notion that they shouldn't be here, though he strains to hear the distant conversation regardless.

"...You sure this'll work?"

"Of course it will," Cap replies. There's a jingling noise that sounds like coins. "I have my connections after all."

An Inkling rushes past Aloha and the girls without paying attention to them; his expression looks urgent. "Cap, we gotta get moving. That kid you called earlier should be out by now."
"Right." Cap pockets something shiny and waves to the other Inklings he was talking with. "Let's get going, then."

Something hot rises inside of Aloha's chest. What is Cap doing? Was he placing bets on something?

Any sort of bets were forbidden in the general community though some shady individuals kept the business running. Even Aloha had heard of it: Inklings rigging turf matches to favor a team with the most bets and earning a lot of illegal money. Was Cap somehow involved with that?
Anger is what causes him to stand, moving to the open of the alleyway. The casual grin freezes on Cap's face when he sees him before morphing quickly into a loose smile. "Oh, hey Aloha. Sorry I took so long--"

"What are you doing?" Aloha points at Cap's pockets and the bag on the ground that the other Inklings are trying to pack up. "What is that? Coins?"

"No." The words slip so easily from Cap's mouth and like a snake, he suddenly besides Aloha, arm around his shoulder, guiding him away. "How about we go somewhere else? I have an idea for you sixth sense--"

"I'm not going anywhere." Aloha ducks out of Cap's grip and twists away. "Were you just betting on something? Are you selling drugs?"

"No, no, none of that." Cap raises both hands and that just increases Aloha's suspicion. "C'mon, you know me. Would I ever do that? Just trust me, okay?"
Aloha bites his lip, but he's saved from answering by Straw and Octoglasses, who tumble from their hiding spot in such a ruckus that it distracts everyone in the area. Straw is the first to recover, pointing a lavender tentacle at Cap in accusation. "You were placing bets!"

She turns to Aloha. "This is your friend? He's like, this notorious better. Knows how to manipulate strings to turn out the results of every match to favor himself. You're better than that, Aloha."

"What?" Aloha looks desperately at Cap. That couldn't be true, could it?

Cap is looking like he wants to wring Straw's neck. "You little---"

"It's true!" Octoglasses comes to stand besides Straw, eyes narrowed. "This guy is bad, Aloha. You should stay away from him."

"But he's-- he's--" Aloha doesn't know what to do. Cap is his friend, the one who taught him everything he knows, the cool aloof guy that knows how to talk his way out of every situation. The fact that he's a gambler and a manipulator doesn't match up. "He's my friend!"

"He's using you." Octoglasses crosses her arms, trying to sound tough, but Cap's friends are encircling them, slowly boxing them in. "He's not your friend."

Aloha, hesitant, looks to Cap instinctively. The older Inkling shrugs, and grins. "Your choice, kid. Stay with us or be with them." He says the last word like it belongs in the dumpster they were hiding behind, mouth twisting in disgust. "You know the the right decision."

Aloha's fists are clenched so tightly he can feel the nails digging into his skin. He opens them now, attempting to calm down. Cap was his friend, right? The one who taught him so much. And now Straw and Octoglasses, two girls he never even met before, are trying to break a friendship that had lasted for at least two years?

Cap is smiling at him encouragingly but there's a sinister undertone there, something that makes Aloha shrink away. "I-- I don't know."

"Jeez, Aloha. I'm offended." Cap rolls his eyes. "Why would you choose them over me?"

With a slight jolt of horror, Aloha is reminded of Scuba. He chose Camo over Scuba and Scuba probably hates him now for being too scared to call him up.

He doesn't want to be here.

"I--" He looks for a way out, and runs, grabbing Straw by the arm -- who in turn takes Octoglasses -- and shoves aside Cap's friends, booking it down the street.

Once they're a safe distance away does he let go of Straw, collapsing on a bench on the side of the road. His chest hurts, though from the anxiety of Cap finding them or from running so suddenly, he doesn't know. Straw and Octoglasses have a little chat off to the sde and Aloha forces himself not to listen. He feels like the world should stop spinning and a huge chasm should open up and swallow him whole. Cap is a gambler. Cap is a gambler, and he didn't tell Aloha.

No wonder he didn't want to go into turf business. No wonder he was so smooth with talking and not so good with emotions, instead choosing to manipulate his way out of talking about it. The more Aloha thinks about it, the more he wants to smack himself for not noticing it sooner.

But a part of him wants to run back to Cap, to the familiarity of the stealing life, the life where he didn't have to care about that Inkling he abandoned in Inkopolis, the life where he didn't have to worry what two random girls thought of him, the life where he could just hang out with Cap without knowing he was a gambler.

He buries his face in his hands. The bench creaks slightly as Straw eases herself on the bench next to him. 

"It's not your fault, you know."

His brain is moving too fast to understand she's talking about the whole Cap-being-a-gambler situation. He's too caught up in all of the bad decisions he's made over the past year. "Mm." His breath is shortening, coming in quiet gasps.

Wait.

Stop.

Camo wouldn't have a random breakdown in front of random people.

As much as it hurts him, he forces a grin onto his face, sitting up straight. "But it's okay. You're right."

She stares at him. For a moment, he doesn't know if he fooled her or not, but she responds with a genuine smile of her own. "Yeah! That's the spirit!"

Octoglasses is standing several feet away, apparently on her phone, but her eyes are just staring blankly down at the screen. Aloha glances to her and she looks up at the same time. They make eye contact before Octoglasses looks away again.

Straw doesn't seem to notice.

"Anyway, we better be heading off now." She hands him a slip of paper. "These have our phone numbers, so you can call us whenever you want!"

As they leave, she blows a kiss to him, one that makes his heart jump slightly, despite any attempts to shut it down.

He stares down at the paper once they're gone, hands gripping it so tightly that by the time he reaches home, it's all wrinkled. As he heads to the phone, he sees Scuba's number still sitting innocently on the keypad. 

Anxiety rises in him.

Why is it so hard to call the other?

He knows the answer, whether he likes it or not.

He decides to take it one step at a time and looks down at the slip in his hand. The first number is Straw's and he dials it one digit at a time, the beeps echoing loudly in the empty house. Both his moms are out running errands, which only leaves him to stare at the wall as the phone rings.

And rings.

And rings.

On the fourth ring, Straw picks up.

"Hey, this is Straw! Who's this?"

"Hey, it's Aloha."

"Oh my cod, hi Aloha! I didn't even expect you to call!"

They talk for a while before Straw has to leave to go eat dinner, something that Aloha never even thought to do.

He goes to the kitchen to heat up some mac-and-cheese, because he knows by now his parents won't be home on time to cook anything tonight.

He calls Octoglasses when he's waiting for his food to heat up, who's in the middle of dinner. She quickly adds his number to her contacts list before hanging up with a promise to call again.

So now it's just Scuba.

Aloha distracts himself for the time it takes him to eat dinner and put his dishes in the dishwasher, before going to sit in front of the phone.

Why is he even forcing himself to call Scuba now? He let it hang there for at least a year, another day wouldn't hurt.

Still, he finds himself reaching for the phone, dialing the pink Inkling's number, and sitting there with it on speaker, eyes closed tightly. 

He wishes Scuba wouldn't pick up, but the line connects after the second ring.

"Hello? Who's this?"

It's a voice that Aloha heard once while shouted across the Plaza, but he knows it all the same.

"It's Aloha. Is Scuba there?"

"Oh, you're his friend. Give me a second."

Scuba's brother takes his face away from the phone and shouts, "SCUBA! YOUR FRIEND IS ON THE LINE!"

There's a series of clicks and shuffling noises before Scuba's voice becomes startlingly clear over the speaker. "Hi?"

"It's Aloha."

There's silence on the other end for so long that Aloha starts to think Scuba hung up, before the other Inkling starts jabbering excitedly.

"Yo! Oh my cod, 'Loha, dude, I thought you forgot about me or somethin'. I mean, I get that 'cause you probably have friends over back at your place, but man, I thought you were never going to call."

A pang of guilt rising in Aloha's chest, but he pushes it away. "Yeah, sorry. I got caught up in a bunch of stuff lately." It's a lie, like usual

"Really?" Concern is laced in Scuba's voice. "You wanna talk 'bout it?"

Aloha hesitates. Talking to his parents wouldn't help because they don't like Cap, and besides, they usually didn't have time to talk to him a lot. He had only met Octoglasses and Straw a few hours ago and that in itself made it awkward. And talking to Cap wouldn't help since Cap himself was the issue. Something about Scuba made him feel more comfortable and liked, for some reason, and it lures him in. He forgets about how he treated Scuba last time. "Yeah, actually."

He explains the whole deal to Scuba, the other staying silent the entire explanation, only speaking when Aloha was done.

"Man, that sounds... terrible. I suck ass at advice, really, but I guess I can say that Cap sounds like as much as a jerk as Camo and you should avoid him. You said you found two chicks, right?"

"Yeah. Straw and Octoglasses."

"They seem chill," Scuba says, voice crackling over the line. "I'd hang with them, no prob."
"I think Straw likes me," Aloha says abruptly, and it's such a farfetched idea that he has to laugh. "But I just met her, so I can't be sure."
Scuba snickers. "If she does, I can't blame her, y'know?"

Aloha squints in confusion. "No, I don't."

"Nevermind, nevermind," Scuba answers quickly. "But it's dope you're doing okay, even with all that with your friend and stuff. Things over here got shella weird because some scandal came up with rumors of turf players cheatin' on field. But it's all good for now."

Aloha nods slowly, even though he knows Scuba can't see it. He scours his brain for something to say, and as he opens his mouth to ask if Scuba has any new friends on his end, the front door opens and Maria comes in, carrying about ten folders. "Sorry, I gotta go."
"Aight then." Scuba sounds vaguely upset, though his tone is still cheerful. "See ya."

He hangs up and Aloha wonders if Scuba knows that saying that implies they'll be meeting later.

"Who was that, honey?" Maria asks, setting her folders down on a nearby table.

"A friend."

"Really? Was it Cap?" His mom's tone make it seem like she wants Aloha to say otherwise, and Aloha, already ready to lie, decides to tell the truth for once.

"No, it was that person from Inkopolis."

"Oh, that kid?" She hums in response, flipping through a few papers. "He stood up against that teenager, didn't he?"

His mom saw that?

"....Yes?"

She smiles, nods. "Well, if I have a say in it, sweetie, I'd say to hold onto him longer. He seems like a good friend."

Straw and Octoglasses end up becoming good friends with him. Scuba still lives in Inkopolis, but Aloha talks to him daily. All three of them are fun-loving squids and he's attracted to their vibe of cheerfulness and lighthearted play. And on terms of attraction in general, he finds himself being drawn to Straw, usually spending a lot of time with her after Octoglasses has gone home. He playfully flirts with both girls but Straw is the only one who willingly flirts back, Octoglasses usually hanging back. The sunglasses-wearing girl had seemed a little more mopey lately, though Straw told her it was just because she hadn't been getting sleep lately.

"You think you'll ever go to Inkopolis and become a turf player?" Straw asks him once on their nighttime strolls.

They're thirteen now, and that's only a year away from legally playing turf. It also marked one of the best birthdays he ever had because even though it was his first one without Cap, and his moms forgot to get a cake again. Scuba called him as soon as Aloha woke up to yell Happy Birthday and that his gift should be arriving in the mail soon (It was a Golf Visor that Scuba's brother had bought last week). Octoglasses and Straw then threw him the biggest party he'd ever been to and Aloha went to bed happy that night.

"Yeah, it's my dream." Aloha stares at the night sky, speckled with stars, and in the distance, he can see the faint lights of Inkopolis Plaza. "I always wanted to be a team leader, y'know? Like Camo."

Straw and Octoglasses, or OG as they made a nickname for her, both understand his love for his idol, but they also know his confliction because Camo is, as Octoglasses puts it, a class-A jerkwad. Aloha secretly still likes Camo, trying to act more like him in recent months, minus the asshole factor. He supposes that if he takes away all the bad parts of Camo, it should make it better, right?

Straw grins at him, teeth startlingly white in the dark. "Yeah, that sounds cool."

They fall silent for a moment before she says, "Hey, what if we were your teammates? That'd work, right? We just need to change our color and bam." She mimes striking someone out of the sky and Aloha laughs.

"Yeah, I guess."

It's a joke when they talk about it, but when he goes home that night, he feels a strange spark of hope. Maybe that could work. Straw and Octoglasses don't know Scuba yet, but he's sure that they'll get along.

So he's in a good mood as he unlocks the house door, keys jingling. His mother stops that in its tracks.

"Where have you been?" Alina stands in the middle of the living room, arms crossed. "You've been out for hours."

Aloha shrugs, plastering a fake grin across his face. "With Straw and Octoglasses." It's only a fib, right? He was only with Straw, but his moms' rules with the girls were clear: no going out with one alone. You always had to have to be with both.

Alina huffs. "You know, I worry about you sometimes. You're almost fourteen and--"

He cuts her off there. "Yeah, I know. Hormones and whatever. I get it, yeah?" He smiles widely as an afterthought, before he can sound too mean. He doesn't need to blow up at his mother today. Besides, it never seemed like they even knew when his birthday was.

Alina frowns, but says nothing else, instead padding upstairs to her room, leaving Aloha in the living room.

He briefly considers going to bed without eating because it's too late to do anything, but the phone rings, quite strangely. Usually it would be one of Alina and Maria's business contacts, but it's past nine, which is out of most people's work hours.

Aloha picks up the phone and is rewarded with a panicked voice, sentences jumbled and spilling from the receiver. "Hey, sorry for calling so late, man, but can I stay at your place tonight? Stuff kinda went down back home and--"

He cuts Scuba off quickly, because the incessant flow of words is starting to hurt his head. "Woah, okay, yeah, you can stay at my place. But how did you get all the way out here? Don't you live close to the Plaza?"

"Yeah, I walked." Scuba sounds exhausted, and it's what causes a wave of concern to wash through Aloha. Scuba, as far as he knows, is usually full of energy. To hear him sound tired is like hearing his mom telling him he can watch the turfing channel again. "I'm outside, by the way."

Aloha hangs up and practically runs to the door, throwing it open to see Scuba standing on the doorstep. It's been three years since he's seen Scuba in person, and he notices that the other Inkling is now at least a few inches taller than him now, cardboard-and-saran-wrap-mask replaced with an actual snorkel mask and tube. He's wearing the polo shirt that he took from his brother such a long time ago and Aloha is hit with a feeling of nostalgia and guilt. 

"What the shell happened?" Aloha opens the door wider and Scuba comes into the house a bit cautiously, like the floor will cave in any second. "You get kicked out?"

"No, Camo caused a fight to break out. My brother got caught up in it and he told me to leave so I wouldn't get hurt."

"You have nothin' with you?" Aloha doesn't see any baggage so he assumes Scuba only came with the clothes on his back.

"Nah. Didn't have time."

Aloha looks at the ceiling, waiting to hear if his mom or mother was awake, but after no response, he glances back at Scuba. "You mind sleeping on the couch? We don't have spare bedrooms or anything."

Scuba just shrugs. Under the brighter light in the living room, Aloha can see bruises across the other's face and recoils slightly. What had Scuba even been through to get here? "I'm down for whatever, Thanks, 'Loha."

"No problem." Aloha lingers in the doorway for a while before leaving. He hears the light click off and the slight shuff as Scuba lays down on the sofa, before he goes upstairs. He can tell his moms about Scuba later.

--

That morning, he wakes up to Scuba already halfway out the door. "You're leaving already?"

Scuba shrugs. "I mean, I can't stay here forever, can I? I gotta go and help my brother."
"Aloha?" Maria comes out of the room she shares with Alina, looking confused. "Who is this?"

"This is Scuba," Aloha says. "My friend from Inkopolis, remember?"

"Oh, right!" A weary smile spreads across his mom's face, though her eyes are lively and bright. "Hello Scuba."

"Hi ma'am." Scuba looks awkward all of a sudden, though his posture is still loose enough. "I was just leavin.'"

"Oh, no, please stay for breakfast at least." Maria's eyes travel across the bruises on the tall Inkling's face before flicking to Aloha. "I can make something real quick."

Scuba seems like he wants to refuse the offer, and Aloha is quick to cover for him. "Yeah, we already ate. He's, um, going to go with me to meet Straw and Octoglasses."

Maria seems taken aback, though she recovers quickly. "Ah, in that case, go on ahead!"

Scuba practically wrenches the door open, disappearing into the street, Aloha at his heels.

"Okay, I gotta leave," Scuba says, and he looks slightly put off. "My brother's probably looking for me."

"You sure?" Aloha frowns. "How long til it blows over?" 

"Not sure because my brother gave me his phone. We have a home phone but I'm not allowed to call it until its been 24 hours."

"Then--"

"Hey Aloha!" Straw's voice cuts him off and Aloha, heart rate speeding up once more, turns to see the darker-skinned Inkling running towards him, dragging Octoglasses behind her. She comes to a stop in front of the pink Inklings, eyes dragging up and down Scuba, who has the grace to flash a peace sign and grin at her. "Is this Scuba?"

Scuba shrugs, grin widening. "In the flesh."

"Dude, I've heard so much about you, it's crazy." Straw laughs and nudges Octoglasses so that she looks up. "OG, remember? This is the kid who lives in Inkopolis!"

"Oh my cod!" Octoglasses suddenly looks more lively than she had been for the past few weeks. Aloha can almost swear she looks like those hyperactive anime girls on the cover of a manga, though it's not a bad change from her being mopey lately. "How is it living in the city?"

"Dope." Scuba shoves both hands in his pockets, and he looks so much at ease that Aloha feels a weird ripple of emotion from just watching him. "Kinda crazy, but y'know it's just mostly turf people."

"Oh! That reminds me!" Straw turns to Aloha with such a large smile that it makes his stomach flutter. "OG and I figured to change our ink color to pink to experiment with how it looks on us. And," she adds, turning to Scuba, "since you're already pink, it would work, wouldn't it?"

"What would work?" Scuba looks confused, but Straw just turns to Octoglasses.

"On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

Both of them close their eyes, brows knitting together, and the pale purple of their tentacles turn bright pink to match Aloha and Scuba's ink color. "Did it work?" Straw pulls out a compact mirror and checks her reflection. "Oh wow, it actually looks kinda cute!"

"No kidding," Scuba says, his eyes seemingly stuck on Octoglasses as she studies her tentacles. "Pink suits you two."

"Awh, so you're a flirt." Octoglasses giggles and playfully punches Scuba in the shoulder. "I can work with that."

Straw walks up to her friend and loudly whispers, "Not to mention how cute he is."

Octoglasses flushes a bright pink, the color creeping along her cheeks and reaching her ears. "Oh, shut up."

Straw snickers and Scuba glances at Aloha, grinning widely. Aloha raises an eyebrow, a smile curling the edges of his lips. They're getting along better than he could've hoped.

"So, Scuba, what brings you here?" Octoglasses recovers from her brief spell of embarrassment, ears still tinted pale pink.

"Do y'all know Camo?"

The girls exchange a glance; Straw looks at Aloha in concern before answering. "Yeah we do. Huge asshole."

"Right." Scuba's lips flatten into a thin line. "Kinda put up a fight with my brother and essentially kicked me out. My brother told me to get as far away from our house as possible, so here I am."
"You walked all the way here?" Octoglasses looks impressed. "How did you not die?"

"Aloha let me stay the night," Scuba answers, and something flashes across both girls' faces at the same time. Aloha realizes both of them seems to have shadows over their faces, but Scuba doesn't seem to notice. "Besides, I probably need to head back now. Hopefully Camo'll be gone."

"Hopefully," Octoglasses echoes, before her smile comes back. "Wanna exchange phone numbers? I'm sure I have mine somewhere."

Scuba grins. "This is my brother's phone, but yeah, sure."

Both Straw and Octoglasses enter their phone number before he turns to leave. "See you guys around. It was lit talking to you."

"Same here." Octoglasses winks. "Make sure you wait for us at Inkopolis, 'kay? Don't want you getting a girlfriend too early."

He laughs. "Yeah, so I've heard. Don't worry. I'll wait plenty for you."

Octoglasses' flush comes back and Straw covers for her. "Good, cause we're gonna be a team, yeah?"

"Of course we are." Scuba raises both eyebrows. "Wouldn't dream of anything otherwise."

"Good, just so we're settled," Aloha says. "OG, aren't you moving to Inkopolis tomorrow?"

She grins at him. "Yup! Bags all packed and everything."

Scuba nods slightly. "I can call you then once you're in Inkopolis."

Octoglasses turns a darker shade of pink. "I'd like that."

They stare at each other for what Aloha thinks is forever. They're way too close to each other too, and last time he checked, Scuba was farther away?

"Okay, lovebirds," Straw claps her hands together and both Scuba and Octoglasses jump, startled. "OG's gonna be in Inkopolis tomorrow, I'm moving in a few months after my birthday, Aloha, have your moms let you?"

Aloha hesitates, painfully aware of everyone's eyes on him. "I don't know," he says finally. "I need to ask."

"That's chill." Scuba's grinning at him, and it loosens the breath Aloha didn't even know he was holding. "Let us know when they make up their mind. Meanwhile I gotta get home, yeah?"

Aloha doesn't remember if he responds, but all he knows is that Scuba is gone, Straw and Octoglasses went home, and he's staring at the door of the kitchen in apprehension.

Both his moms are home tonight, and they're cooking dinner; Aloha can smell the curry through the screen. He takes a deep breath and pushes the door open.

"Mom?"

Both Maria and Alina look up. "Yes?" 

"Can we move to Inkopolis when I turn fourteen?"

It was like he lit a fuse to the bomb, only he didn't know if it would explode or not. The silence was only broken by the pot bubbling on the stove and the loud clink of Alina's knife landing on the plate.

"That's next year, honey." Alina says it like Aloha doesn't know that fact, and it just raises annoyance inside him.

"I know, but can we move then?" He sounds like a child and he mentally forces himself to stop talking like that. He's a teenager now. He should act like it. Not like the kid that Camo brutally rejected.

Maria and Alina share a glance. "I'm not sure," Alina says slowly. "It's still a while away."

"What's gotten you all up about moving to Inkopolis?" Maria asks. "You haven't done anything with turfing for six years."

Aloha notes that his mom has been keeping track of how long he went without watching turf wars in the living room.

"I wanna make a team with Straw, OG, and Scuba," Aloha replies, and the look on Alina's face is enough to make him feel guilty for even asking in the first place. Still, he wants to go to Inkopolis, whether or not his parents approve. His parents' opinions aren't his own, anyway.

"Why not?" Maria says finally, and when Alina looks at her incredulously, she shrugs. "It'll be a good learning experience, even if it's rather violent."

Alina frowns. "It is just a play on war. Literal war. My grandfather--"

Maria whispers something in Alina's ear, and Aloha's mother just stops talking immediately, a fake smile crossing her features. "I mean, if you would like to move, we can. It'll be your birthday gift."

Aloha feels his hopes rise past their limits. No way they were agreeing to this. "Really?"

Maria nods, and after a moment, Alina hesitantly copies her movement.

Aloha has a feeling that he shouldn't believe them, but his spirits are still raised when he goes to bed that night.

Fourteen, fourteen, fourteen.

All his life, he's been waiting for this moment, because cod, he couldn't be more hyped than this.

Maria and Alina slowly started to get more onboard too -- they even planned out the date for when they'd move. They barely had any possessions to take but whatever was in Aloha's room, he'd already thrown it all together in a single bag.

So why did he feel such a sinking feeling in his gut as he stands at the foot of the stairs with his bag, watching his moms do absolutely nothing when they were supposed to be out the door by now?

He opens his mouth to ask when they were going to leave, when he finally takes a proper look around the room. There have been some halfhearted attempts to shove things into plastic bags, but there was nothing else to show they were moving out. Did his parents even know they had to leave now if they wanted to catch the train to Inkopolis?

The thought hits him so suddenly that he almost doubles over from the realization. They aren't going to Inkopolis. They only did this to sate him over. The amount of -- or rather, lack of -- effort put into packing only showed it even more. 

Why would they lead him on like this? How important did they think Inkopolis was to him? How much did they think he wanted to make a team with his friends?

He crosses the room to the telephone, neither one of his moms looking up. For some reason, it just cements a burning feeling in his stomach and he dials Scuba's number and deliberately puts it on speaker.

He picks up almost immediately. "Yo, Aloha, what's up? Are you leaving soon?"

Maria looks up at Scuba's voice, and she gently shakes Alina until the other glances over. Both of them wear somewhat fearful expressions, which only proves Aloha's point even further.

Aloha swallows hard; he knows whatever he says here, he'll have to follow through with it. "...Yeah. I'm catching the 10 o'clock train."

"Dope. I'll meet you at the station with OG and Straw, yeah?"

"Yeah, see you then!" Aloha forces his voice to sound cheerful, and hangs up.

Both Alina and Maria are on their feet at once. "Aloha, honey, maybe we can wait a few more years until we move to Inkopolis?"

"You said we'd move today," Aloha responds, moving around his mother to get to the door. Maria quickly steps in his path. "Mom, can you move out the way?"

"Aloha, please think this through," Maria pleads. "Inkopolis isn't a place for someone like you. You're too... fragile."

"Fragile?" Aloha feels a wave of indignation. "How would you know?"

"I--"

"You two are too busy working to know what's going on with me! Do you even care?"

"Sweetie, we do care," Alina says, eyes large.

"Really? Then tell me the last time I had a proper birthday."

By both Maria and Alina's silence, Aloha only has driven the nail in further. "Exactly. I'm going to Inkopolis to meet up with my friends and start a team. See you later."

He pushes past Maria and opens the door, stepping out into the street. Neither of his parents try to stop him this time, and it brings a jolt of regret through him. But he's not going to turn back now.

--

The train station is crowded, and he has to edge his way past elderly couples, a group of jellyfish, and some shrimp smoking a cigarette before he can make it to the ticket booth. The Inkling behind the register looks a bit startled at seeing someone so young purchasing a ticket alone but hands the ticket over anyway, letting him pass.

The doors slide open with a hiss and he crams himself and his bag into the train car, hugging his arms tightly around himself to avoid prolonged physical contact with anyone he doesn't know. His hearts are beating frantically. This is the first time he's been anywhere outside his hometown without his moms, and it's both exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.

"Oh, sorry." An Inkling bumps into him, almost jostling the bag from his grip and Aloha turns to forgive them, a half-frown on his face, before he's met with a way-too-serious expression. He takes in the beret, the military-styled jacket, the paint streaks on the cheeks, the orange ink color, before he offers the other a fake grin.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Aloha gestures to the map above them. "Where you headed?"

"Inkopolis." The other seems nervous, eyes darting everywhere, and Aloha notes he looks about Aloha's age. "What about you?"

"Oh my cod, same!" Aloha allows that slightly over-enthused tone into his voice. "My name's Aloha. Nice to meet you!"

"Army," is the response, and the orange Inkling offers a stiff hand. Aloha stares at it before shaking it enthusiastically. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Well, Army, you ever been to Inkopolis before?"

"No."

"Cool, cause I've been once and barely remember it. I'm going to meet my friends there."

"Sounds nice." Army's eyes flick to the side and back to Aloha.

"What're you going for? Your parents here? Or are you a turfer?"

"...I left my parents behind," Army says finally. "Actually, they kicked me out. They told me I need to learn to be more disciplined and banned me from going to Inkopolis, but I snuck out last night."

"Ooh, a rule breaker!" Aloha grins widely, but Army doesn't return the smile. "I like that. I left my moms back home too, because they said we were moving today for my birthday, but turns out, they weren't. Plus, I already promised my friends we'd be a team and they're all in Inkopolis again."

During his ramble, Army seemed to relax slightly and Aloha relished in that. He just met this kid, who seems a bit uptight, but it was worth making him lose tension, right? Everyone needs to chill ever now and then.

His phone buzzes and he ignores it-- wait, when did he ever have a cell phone?

He scrambles through his bag and pulls out a cell phone, a sticky note attached to it; Maria's handwriting is recognizable even in the dim light.

Just in case.

He feels a sudden increase of appreciation for his mom, regret coursing through him for treating his moms so terribly earlier.

The person calling him turns out to be Straw and Aloha doesn't even want to know how her and the rest of his friends' numbers got on this phone. "Hello?"

Army glances at him when he speaks, but seeing he was on the phone, quickly looks away.

"Yeah, Aloha, that you? Your mom, I don't know which one, called and told us to call here from now on."

Aloha makes a mental note to apologize to his parents later. "Thanks, hun."

When he hangs up, he only realizes that he just called her a pet name.

"Where was I?" he asks Army, who only looks at him with a blank face.

The speakers suddenly crackle around him, and the conductor comes online. "Next stop: Inkopolis."

"Looks like that's our stop," Aloha says aloud, grinning in anticipation. "You think you want to keep in touch?"

Army blinks. "Sorry?"

"Phone number." Aloha waves his phone in Army's face. "Is that not a thing?"

"Oh." Army fishes his phone from his pocket. "Here."

He hands the phone to Aloha on a new contact page, and Aloha quickly keys in his new number. When he gives the phone back to Army, the doors of the train slide open, and a hiss of steam enters the train car. 

Without checking for Army, he ventures outside and immediately finds Scuba, that ridiculous snorkel mask still on his face. Straw is off to the side, waving her arms frantically while Octoglasses is quite literally clinging to Scuba's arm.

"Yo, 'Loha!" Scuba flashes him that signature grin. "Nice to see you, man."

"You get a phone?" Octoglasses asks, eyes on that new cell that Aloha's clutching in his left hand.

Aloha nods and quickly pockets it, swinging his bag over one shoulder. "I came alone, by the way. My moms didn't want to move."

Instead of looking shocked or amazed, his soon-to-be teammates only looked relieved.

"Oh thank cod," Straw says, giggling. "We rented this apartment for the four of us. It's kinda small, but y'know, it's better than living with our parents."

Aloha notices that she's nearly right up against him, and he instinctively reaches out with his free hand, Straw curling her fingers around his palm. He doesn't really think anything of it, because honestly, Straw is cute, and he catches Scuba staring at him. The taller Inkling offers a thumbs up with the arm that currently isn't being possessed by Octoglasses and Aloha raises an eyebrow in response.

They leave the station in a group, walking and talking like they'd been with each other for years, and Aloha is amazed at himself for being able to hold such a long conversation without seeing them for months.

The apartment is small, with two bedrooms. They all decide they're all too young to actually sleep with the opposite gender so they just group up with Straw and Octoglasses in one room, Aloha and Scuba in the other. It's right on the outskirts of Inkopolis Plaza, and with the sun setting by now, it gives Aloha a perfect view of the Plaza and the various Inklings roaming the place. He automatically looks for Camo, but quickly shakes his head to clear it. He can't believe he's this close to his idol. Then again, last time he met him, Camo just made fun of him. But he's changed, right? Maybe he'll be able to gain approval this time.

"'Loha, you good?"

Scuba's standing behind him and Aloha quells his suddenly racing heart at being startled out of his wits. He hadn't even noticed the other approach, eve with his sixth sense.

"Yeah, I'm just thinkin'. Kinda funny how I wanted to be here for years, yet here I am. Seven-year-old me would be proud."

Not so proud of what you've done lately, though.

Scuba gives him a loose grin. "Well, it's all be leadin' up to this moment, huh?"

"I guess so." Aloha returns the grin, though his own his is less genuine than he would like.

"We're gonna turf tomorrow," Scuba says. "We gotta start from the bottom with gear and weapons until we earn enough money."

"Right." He feels his smile slip as he thinks about it. At least he's going to be able to turf, but the sudden freedom is overwhelming. He could do anything here and no one would care.

Scuba watches him, mask reflecting the lights outside their apartment. His expression is slowly losing the grin as well. 

Get yourself together Aloha.

As if realizing Scuba was still in the room, Aloha quickly pulls the smile back onto his face. "Right! Okay then, are we just gonna stand here or get to bed?"

Scuba laughs. "Bed seems good."

"Scuba!" Octoglasses comes into the room just then, eyes bright. "You gotta see this."

She pulls him out of the room, only being replaced by Straw minutes later. "The two of them are gonna go see some fireworks," she tells Aloha, grinning. "Some lovebirds, huh?"

"Yeah," Aloha agrees, giving the girl a wink. "You wanna go somewhere or did you just come in here to hang?"

"I was thinking we could go down to the lake behind the apartment building, " she admits. "Could be romantic, yeah?"

He gives her a flirtatious smile and, blushing, she tugs him out of the room, down the hallway, though two flights of stairs, and out the back door to the lake. "Pretty, isn't it?"

The lake, reflecting the moon and the stars around it, is a deep blue color, the surface only disturbed by gentle ripples. Aloha kneels at the edge, watching his and Straw's reflections wiggle and dance across the water. "It's gorgeous. Just like you, sweetheart."

She laughs softly. "Oh, you nasty flirt."

Aloha rises, eyes still on the water. Something catches his gaze and he finds a group of bright pink water lilies. Under the moonlight, they almost seem to be glowing. He gently tugs one out of the water, offering it to Straw. She seems a bit surprised, but touched, and takes the flower, cradling it to her chest.

They stand there in silence, until the fireworks erupt overheard, exploding the still night air with bursts of vibrant color.

Straw jumps a little at the sudden noise, and Aloha smiles to himself. She's pretty cute. 

They stay there for so long that Aloha almost falls asleep. He's pretty comfortable here. So it's only a matter of time when the fireworks end and Straw shifts slightly. "You wanna go back in?" he asks her.

She nods. "When you'e ready." 

He stretches and offers a grin and they walk back inside, talking quietly the entire time. Octoglasses and Scuba are already back in the apartment, Scuba giving Aloha a knowing look, while Octoglasses, for some reason, ignores them.

"It's 10," she says, her voice a bit loud in the quiet apartment. "I'm going to bed. Gnight."

She walks into the room she and Straw share, Straw planting a quick kiss on Aloha's cheek before following. The door clicks shut behind them.

Scuba grins. "Now, we sleep."

He pretends to wave Aloha through the door, mockingly bowing, and Aloha rolls his eyes, smacks his friend on the shoulder and pulls him inside the bedroom.

The room, somehow, is darker than it was before, and Aloha tries to not let it bother him. Anxiety is rising in his chest. He hasn't been away from his family before, and he realizes that maybe this would be harder than he ever expected.

He sits on the side of the bed, noticing how the mattress sinks around him. It's much softer than his bed at home. Scuba, seeming to notice his hesitation, speaks up. "...You okay?"

Aloha looks over his shoulder. The taller Inkling's mask is around his neck now, and he seems to be fiddling with the strap before he lifts it over his head and places it on the nightstand. "I'm fine."

Scuba gives him an incredulous look, something that is visible even in the darkened room. "C'mon, even if we haven't seen each other a lot, I know when something's up."

There's a pause.

"First time away from home?"

Aloha scoffs and Scuba raises both hands. "Hey, it's a perfectly normal thing, 'Loha."

Aloha shrugs, indignation rising in him. He's not going to tell Scuba right now. Something in him brings the information out as a weakness. He's not fragile like his moms thought. "I'm fine."

He gets into bed and pulls the sheets up to his neck, turning towards the window. The bed sinks slightly as Scuba sits on the edge. But the other doesn't lay down, and Aloha waits for what seems like forever before giving up and falling asleep himself.

He's floating above the ground, like some kind of ghost, for some reason back on his home street. A strange desire comes through him to head back home, but when he reaches his house, all that's there is a pile of rubble. He looks around, frantic. There's no one there, no one at all. 

"Mom?"

His voice echoes across the empty street, bouncing off houses until it vanishes completely.

"Hello?"

There's no answer.

"Looks like they're goners, huh?" Aloha twists around to see Cap leaning against a fence post, hat flipped around backwards, the brim tilted slightly to the left. "You left them and their grief just made the house literally explode. Y'know. Like a bomb."

The older Inkling waves his hands in an imitation of an explosion and chuckles, but Aloha doesn't feel like laughing. 

"What the shell happened?"
Cap stops laughing, though that spark is still in his eyes. "You know already."

"No, no I don't!" Aloha is practically screaming now, tears prickling in his eyes. 

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.

Cap snorts loudly. "What, you miss your mommies?" He makes a face and grins. "C'mon, you're better than that."

"What did you do to them?" Aloha is practically in Cap's face now, not even caring about the height difference. "What did you do?!" The tears spill over and rush down his face, hot against his cheeks. He forgets about holding in his tears, forgets

Cap just laughs, his mouth opening wider and wider to twist into another being entirely. Aloha's hearts almost stop. 

Camo.

The Dynamo user howls, doubling over from the waves of laughter. "Ohhhh man, that is way too hilarious."

He moves forward, stopping so he and Aloha were face to face, leaning down slightly to match the pink Inkling's height. "See, even when you're freaking fourteen, you can't even change this." He gestures up and down Aloha's body. "You're going to have to try harder than that if you're gonna want to talk to me like you actually matter. Try acting like me. That'll get you oh so far."

"Shut up!" Aloha's suddenly throttling Camo now, hands moving all on their own. "Shut up shut up shut up!"

Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut--

"Aloha!"

Someone's shaking him. He blindly reaches out to grab whoever it is and strangle them, mind on autopilot, but they grip his hands, surprisingly strong, and press it into the mattress--

Wait, mattress?

Aloha blinks, and the room around him starts to come into focus. It's nighttime, the LED clock reading 2:45am. Scuba is staring at him, eyes wide, practically pinning him onto the bed in an attempt to stave off Aloha's mindless attacks. "Dude, chill, okay? Deep breaths."

Aloha gaps for air, body shaking. His arms fall limply back and Scuba tentatively lets go of him, sitting back. The bed creaks slightly under his weight.

"I--" Aloha manages to get his thoughts together. He's in Inkopolis with his friends, his moms are safe, no one died. That, and Scuba just witnessed him during the aftermath of a nightmare. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine." Scuba looks concerned, and Aloha wishes his friend would stop looking at him like that. "Do.. do you want to talk 'bout it?"
Aloha swallows hard. "...It's just a dream," he says finally, forcing a reassuring grin onto his face, though he's sure it looks more like a grimace. "I'm fine."

Scuba doesn't look convinced. "You were screamin' in your sleep, 'Loha. That's not fine."

"I said it's fine, okay? Nothing to worry about." Aloha just rolls over and closes his eyes, but long after he can hear the slow breaths of Scuba falling back asleep, he's still awake, watching the clock tick away.

He must've gone back to sleep at some point, because all of a sudden, it's morning and he can hear Scuba moving around in the room. He sits up slowly,  tying his tentacles up in his normal hairstyle, and exits the room to see Straw and Octoglasses already in the main room, eating breakfast.

"Aloha, Aloha!" Straw greets him, and judging by the cheeky grin on her face, she's been waiting a while to say that. "You want some food?" She offers him her own plate and he takes a slice of bread from it, matching her grin in size.

"Yeah, thanks."

Octoglasses waves her arms to get their attention. "'Kay, so we're gonna change now; that cool?"

"Heads up," Scuba says suddenly, and Aloha feels a slight movement over his shoulder. He turns and catches the Splattershot Jr. just before it hits him in the face. 

"How would you know if he could even catch that?" Straw asks, looking impressed. 

"Cause he's cool." Scuba nods towards the bag at the door that Aloha hadn't noticed before. "Rest of the gear's in there. Regulations say we can't wear any other this." He gestures up and down his own body and then to his teammates.

Octoglasses sighs and stands, making her way over to the bag, pulling out the standard T-shirt, headband, and shoes. "Well, maybe if we rank up fast enough, we can buy new clothes." She picks at the too-large shirt she's wearing: a White Anchor Tee that hangs halfway down her thighs. Aloha knows from previous conversations that she stole it from her older sibling. 

"At least these fit, though," Straw says, pulling her clothing out from the bag as well. "I'm gonna go change, yeah?"

"Yeah, give me a second." Octoglasses takes off her sunglasses -- she had long replaced them with real ones -- before following her friend into the technical living room.

Aloha hums as he moves to the bag to pull out a pair of shoes, kicking off his own and changing them. A shirt almost hits him in the back, but he catches it without looking.

"Thought it would've hit there." Scuba sounds mildly disappointed and Aloha snorts, pulling the shirt over his head. 

"You know by now it won't."

Scuba just smirks. He's already fully changed, the headband just being snapped into place as Aloha turns around. "If you're done stripping," he calls over his shoulder at the girls, "we can go now, right?"

"Shut up, it's not like you're doing anything different." Octoglasses comes up to meet them, her face hot pink.

Scuba just laughs and opens the door, backing up to let the others through. "After you."

----

Turfing is different than Aloha imagined. It's exhilarating, to finally run on the stages he's seen on TV so many times, even if it's unbelievably hard. 

The four of them aren't allowed to do Ranked yet, so they pull into a turf lobby and start the match. Right away, the other team gains the upper hand, because even if Aloha's got the speed and sense to keep him alert, his teammates don't.

Straw gets splatted as soon as she leaves the spawn by a charger, and Scuba gets taken out by a Blaster making its way around the middle section of Blackbelly Skatepark. With only two on the field, Aloha and Octoglasses get pushed back to their spawn point.

Straw respawns in time to take out two in one with a Splat Bomb and they slowly to push their way forward. 

"Take out the sniper first!" Aloha yells to his team, ducking a splatter of ink from a roller and splatting them. 

"I gotcha!" Scuba squid-forms and vanishes from sight, and Aloha can only hope he's going to take the sniper who is currently balancing on the farthest corner of the stage.

But then his friend comes out of the ink and is practically face to face with the charger, who swings around, laser aiming right at him.

"Watch out!" Straw yelps, and the sniper takes the shot.

But Scuba practically throws himself forward, pressing the trigger, and both of them go down at the same time.

Aloha rolls his eyes as the call of Nice! goes up from the direction of the splat site. Octoglasses yells a Nice! back and the game continues.

They manage to reclaim the main area, but the Blaster pops its Killer Wail and suddenly Aloha finds himself under more pressure than he would like. Scuba pops his Bubbler -- Aloha has no idea how he managed to ink that much to get his Special so quickly -- and stands in the Killer Wail headon, just running to get out of the attack. Both Straw and Octoglasses dive to the side and it just leaves Aloha to stand in the line of fire. He squidforms as the wail blasts overhead and the opposing team moves in from all sides. 

Pink Team is disoriented for a moment as the music warning them for the last minute of battle starts to play.

It's catchy, Aloha has to admit, and he finds himself timing his attacks in time with the music. The rest of his teammates seem caught up in the tune as well, and as Aloha watches, the charger tries to target Octoglasses, but the pink Inkling is half-dancing, half-turfing, and evades most of the attacks by cartwheeling around her opponent. As the seconds tick down, they manage to force the enemy team out of the main area and towards their spawn, only stopping when the whistle blows and the match ends.

As the results are calculated, Aloha realizes something. His teammates may not have the sense that he has for opponents, but they do have the agility. Even though it was just dancing, Aloha wants to bet that it was the only way they managed to push their way back. No one died in the last minute, he remembers, and he gets more and more excited about this discovery to when they're exiting the lobby, he turns to his teammates.

"Hey, sweethearts, when you were dancin', were you aware of what your opponent was doing?"

All three of them look confused, and if they even heard the pet name, none of the react to it. "No," Straw says finally. "The music was just really good."

"I think we can use that," Aloha suggests, and holy carp, he's way too excited for this. "Just dance like crazy. None of us got hit at all, did we?" He doesn't wait for a response. "So we can just start dancing to the music and just be as crazy and unpredictable as we can and it might give us an edge, yeah?"

Scuba's the first who starts to understand. A smile starts to spread across his face, realization dawning in his eyes. "You're onto somethin', 'Loha."

"I know I am." 

"So we dance." Octoglasses' eyes are sparkling, and it's the happiest Aloha's seen her in a while. 

"Dance our hearts out, baby~" Aloha singsongs and for some reason, Octoglasses has some light dusting of pink across her cheeks from that. He winks at her.

"Sounds like a move in a video game," Straw laughs. She opens her hands, palm facing outwards. "And suddenly! Pink Team starts dancing like crazy! It's terribly effective and the other team loses 25hp!!"

"Oh my cod, stop." Octoglasses is giggling too now. "What next? Critical hit? 10 point damage?"

Straw's eyes widen comically. "Even better."

"We up for another round then?" Aloha waves in the direction of the lobby. "Maybe get shwaffles afterwards."

"I'm down," Scuba grins at him and they enter the lobby once more.

They turf for days until they collectively reach Level 20. Their dance move is effective enough that they just keep winning battle after battle. Sure, they have their losses, but it's not like they can measure up to the victories anyway. It's getting dark out, but the shops don't close until 10 o'clock, and Aloha's riding on this high he's sure he won't come down until maybe 2am. 

"New gear!" Straw hums as she bumps the door open with her hip, leading them all inside. First stop is clothing, and Aloha has to do a double take. There's so many clothes in here, bright colors stretching from floor to ceiling.

Scuba who happens to be right behind him, whistles in amazement. "If we didn't have a budget, you'd probably buy the whole store here, yeah?"

"We have a budget?" The only thing Aloha's really thinking about right now is the amount of money he and his teammates earned from turfing already. Of course, they'd have to save money for later things, but he doesn't recall ever establishing a budget.

"Now we do," Octoglasses laughs, coming over. "You're drooling."

Aloha scoffs, though he does a terrible job of hiding a smile. "Shut up." He elbows her and she reels away, giggling, into an aisle of clothing racks.

"How do you feel about matching?" Straw waves a clothes hanger a few aisles down. "Aloha, you're leader, right?"

Aloha blinks. He's never thought about leadership, ever since they came to Inkopolis. But, now that he thought of it, it would work, right? It was his dream anyway, and judging by the encouraging looks from the rest of his teammates, they were plenty okay with it. He grins. "Yeah, why?"

She tosses him a shirt across two racks and Jelonzo shoots them a warning look. Ignoring him, Aloha takes the garment and shakes it out in front of him to get a better look at it. It's a pale blue hawaiian shirt, with white flowers patterned all over it. 

"Well?" Straw comes over to them, holding at least three of the same red shirts. "It kinda suits you. You like it?"

Aloha nods slowly, gears turning in his mind. "It'll work. What about you?"

"Oh!" She laughs. "I was thinkin' the rest of us could wear these." She takes one of the shirts she's carrying and chucks one at Scuba, who just barely manages to catch it before it smothers him. "Do these work?"

Aloha cranes his neck to see Octoglasses fan out her own shirt -- it's similar in style to his, but it's red with white and dark patterns crisscrossing around it. She holds it up to her body, twirling in a circle. "Cute, yeah?"

Scuba grins. "You look cute in anything."

She makes a face at him. "You flatter me."

"It's the truth."

Aloha wonders how Scuba can just be so open with others. Maybe it was because his personality was something the rest of Inkopolis already liked? It made sense, considering the other spent his entire childhood living here.

They buy the shirts, splitting the costs between them. They already have headgear, taken from the shops early on, but Annie doesn't need to know that. The shoes aren't a problem either, since they've all somehow acquired shoes beforehand.

Which leaves weapons.

All four of them have heard things about Sheldon. The horseshoe crab has a way of talking Inklings' ears off, and while the weapons themselves are good, the incessant chatter isn't. Well, only for Aloha and his team anyway.

The weapons shop is nothing like the other stores, and Aloha feels like he's being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of turf weapons here. Chargers, buckets, rollers, splatlings, and guns adorn the walls, a special weapon or a sub weapon sprinkled in every now and then.

He thinks back to that Inkling he met on the bus. What was his name again? Army? From the whole military attire he received, he supposes that the orange Inkling would love this place, if he hadn't visited it already.

"Hello hello! What kind of weapon are you in the market for?"

Aloha turns and blinks. Sheldon is right in front of him, eyes blinking expectantly.

"I-- I'm not really sure right now--"

"First time?" Sheldon seems like he's going to explode on energy and Aloha plasters a grin on his face while subsequently taking a step back. 

"Yeah."

"Well!" Sheldon turns to face the weapons rack, taking a large breath. Aloha immediately tunes him out as the horseshoe crab starts to ramble on about weapons. Instead, his eyes just blankly follow the other from weapon to weapon as Sheldon scurries too and fro. He catches Scuba's gaze, who raises an eyebrow at him, grinning. Aloha flips him off when Sheldon's back is turned.

"--- it's good for fighters who can read the flow of battle!" Sheldon is saying when Aloha finally tunes back in.

"Wait, sorry?"

A .52 Gal is pushed into his arms with surprising speed. "Here, do you want to try it out?" Sheldon looks at him excitedly.

"Sure?" Aloha allows himself to be shoved into the hallway before the training area behind the shop, the door closing behind him. Through the glass, he can see Sheldon talking to Straw from across the store, leading her to a vast assortment of rollers, and he smiles to himself for approximately two seconds before he realizes he's supposed to be testing this weapon out.

There's a stack of full ink tanks behind him and he tugs one from the clump, slinging it over his back as he enters the area. The ink changes color to match the bright pink of his tentacles and the Gal brightens to a pink as well.

The trigger slides in smoothly and he shoots out a wave of ink the first try, not really aiming to hit anything. He's a good distance away from the nearest dummy, however, so he jogs over to the closest one and splats it so quickly, he barely even blinks.

It's like a door had been opened in his mind. He never really obsessed over weapon statistics, but he only knew Dynamo rollers could kill in one hit. There's power in this gun here, and it's a reason why he's so drawn to it, but there's something else that he can't place.

"Whoo!" Straw bursts through the training room door, ink tank in tow. She's waving a Krak-On Splat Roller. "Check it out, babey!"

Scuba and Octoglasses come in a second later, both holding weapons and wearing ink tanks as well: Scuba with the H-3 Nozzlenose and Octoglasses with the Berry Splattershot Pro.

"Damn, that Sheldon guy talks his mouth off!" Octoglasses tightens the straps of her tank, grinning. "But this seems pretty nice, yeah?" She shows Aloha her gun and Aloha takes in the bright colors, matching her grin. 

"Shell yeah."

"We gonna, uh, practice?" Scuba pushes his snorkel tube back slightly so it doesn't clash against his lips as he speaks. He nods towards the splatter of ink on the ground and the training dummy. "You splat that?"

"Yep. The firepower in this thing is off the charts." Aloha pats the Gal he's holding. 

"Nice, nice." Scuba steps forward and Aloha instinctively moves aside for him. The masked Inkling aims the nozzle of his gun at the same training dummy and presses the trigger. Three timed shots of ink splatter in quick succession on the dummy, popping it. 

"Holy carp," Straw gasps. "Three shots with one trigger pull?"

"Gotta press it multiple times to keep it going," Scuba says, grimacing slightly. "It's cool though, yeah?"

"Dope." Straw hefts her roller and as the dummy respawns, she slams it over the target, sending a wave of ink to splash against the walls. "This is even cooler though."

When the dummy respawns again, Octoglasses pops it once more with her own gun. "Seconded."

"You four done testing?" Sheldon appears in the doorway of the testing room.

Aloha turns to look at his teammates, all of them wearing some degree of a smile on their faces.

"I think we are."

Someone has an idea to try out each other's weapons a year later. They've all become so accustomed to their own that none of them can really imagine using something else.

Battles are more at a standstill now, because they've discovered Ranked Battles and it's a shell lot harder than they want it to.

But it's turf, and turf can allow them some leeway to mess around because they aren't risking their A in Ranked.

Aloha ends up with Straw's Krak-On, something that gives him a little more than discomfort since technicalities made it so they broke up a week ago, not to mention that the roller itself is not a weapon class he's fond of. Scuba gets Aloha's Gal, Octoglasses the H-3, and Straw the Splattershot Pro.

Turf commences in a more strange way that any of them are used to. Aloha forgets halfway through that he needs to swing the roller, not shoot it, and Octoglasses gets splatted more than the team wants because Scuba's weapon "officially sucks ass" and honestly, the only one who's doing well is Scuba who seems to find the Gal more like his main than anyone else.

But they're having fun and it's honestly a blast to just give up any cares and play their way through the music, dancing their hearts out, accidentally splatting each other, until their next opponent comes in.

Aloha's heard of this guy. The guy who made it to S rank without swinging his weapon.

On his sporadic conversations with Army, the Inkling from the train, he knows enough about this cyan Inkling to call him by his name.

"Yo, Mask!" He shouts across the field as they respawn in the beginning of the next match. "How's it going?"

Mask gives him this utmost stare of pure disgust, and Aloha feels a wave of disappointment and annoyance ripple through his body but he grins anyway, his expression fake enough to be made of plastic. 
"C'mon, man, it ain't that hard to answer," Scuba yells, and Mask's glare turns on Aloha's second-in-command.

"He probably doesn't want to yell all the way across the field with that gas mask on," Straw giggles. 

Scuba snorts and Aloha feels his grin become somewhat more genuine. "Well, he's S rank and we're A+ rank but we're gonna try this out, yeah?"

"As always," Octoglasses says with a smile and she lifts her hand for a high five. "He may have got his autobombs but we got our freakin' awesome dance moves."

Straw high fives her friend and they clasp hands briefly before letting go. Aloha watches them curiously. He's sure that they've both got crushes on one another and while he and Straw are still on close terms, it gives him a strange feeling in his gut as he glances over at Scuba.

"You ready?" The masked Inkling is grinning widely and Aloha once again marvels at his ability to be so genuine with his smiles all the time.

"You bet." Aloha claps his friend's shoulder and the whistle blows for the start of the match.

They get an early start, and since it's Starfish Mainstage, they make it all the way to the middle before all shell breaks loose.

Aloha knows how Cyan Team works. He's had Army rant to him over the phone about how dedicated they are on relying on their sub weapons, but he never would've guessed there'd be an ink mine right in front of him even though there's no cyan ink in sight.

He backflips out of the way just in time as it explodes, and he swears he can hear that girl laughing at him. What was her name? Full Moon?

A sprinkler appears in front of him and he has to leap backwards again, that other girl, Jersey, appearing above him. She waves at him and he ignores her. He takes ink damage from the sprinkler and he submerges himself in ink to swim away. 

It occurs to him that maybe going against an S-rank team isn't the best idea.

A sprinkler appears behind him again, and he can hear Jersey laughing above him. He shoots her a brief glare before a sprinkler nearly lands on top of him, forcing him back. He’s surrounded by sprinklers, and with each second he stands there, he takes damage. 

He shoots at one in an attempt to destroy it but it takes a half second too long and he gets splatted. 

He respawns, determination still running through him. There isn't any way they can hope to defeat an S-ranker, but they can still try, right? 

Distant explosions of cyan ink can only tell him that one of his teammates is currently running through a line of ink mines. Octoglasses appears briefly in his line of vision, a trail of toxic mist secreting from her body.

"Scuba!" he shouts when his co-captain spawns next to him, looking disgruntled, holding the remains of a seeker in his fist. "Speakers!"

The masked Inkling looks over at him, eyebrows raising slightly, a grin already edging its way onto his face. "Sure thing, man."

He produces a sound system out of nowhere, turning the beats so they blast directly in Aloha's ear. He can hear the music in his body and lets himself instinctively move to the tune, and he can see the initial tension leave Scuba's body as well.

"You ready to get 'em?"

Scuba laughs, the sound clear cut against the music. "We're gonna crash but I've always been ready."

Octoglasses and Straw respawn at the same time, both of their expressions shifting when they hear the music. "That time of the match again, huh?" Straw asks them as they race down from their spawn point. 

"You bet."

Cyan Team had already claimed the stage and now were just setting up traps, unseen. Aloha can see the trail of ink leading in, overlapping with their own pink, and he grins. "Let's go! Disco Ball Dance!"

It's a name he came up with on the fly, but his teammates roll with it so easily, it's like he's been calling it that forever.

A seeker greets him as he rounds the corner and he flips over it, landing on the second one heading his way, bass pounding in his head. He almost slides in the enemy ink, the explosion from the first seeker damaging him, but he pushes forward, hopping over the next few seekers, heading towards Mask, who stands merely a few feet away.  The cyan Inkling just watches him, and it sends a wave of frustration through Aloha. Sure, he didn't swing his weapon, but why was it so infuriating to have Mask just stand there, staring?

He lands on his feet, surprisingly, inking the side of the stage to come up, sharking only when Mask sends another seeker before retreating. He comes over the top of the stage to an ink mine, which explodes so quickly, he barely has time to get out of the way. Octoglasses is the one who gets caught in the second ink mine, as she managed to cover more ground than Aloha, and gets splatted with a shriek. 

Toxic mist erupts around him all of a sudden, stinging his skin, slowing him down. He inks the area around his feet and swims outwards, met with another ink mine that he can't avoid this time.

There's an explosion of cyan and he respawns again. Cyan Team has covered up whatever progress they've made and by the timer ticking down the final seconds, they won't have enough time to push back. Straw is still alive--

No she isn't.

Scuba and Octoglasses are caught on the left side of the stage, being bombarded with seekers (they are dancing so furiously the seekers seems to miss every time) as Mask pops his special for the fourth time this match. Aloha snorts and just runs down the stage again, swimming in his own ink. Cyan Team is distracted by the other two so Aloha starts to ink the side of the area, sliding up the wall to perch above the stage. Des is right below him, and Aloha splats him before moving forward.

A ring around him signals Straw's super jump and he moves aside for her. She lands and immediately starts inking the stage.

A loud squelch sound indicate both Octoglasses and Scuba are dead, and Cyan Team is starting to paint forward again. Full Moon appears in Aloha's line of sight right as he gets his special and the Killer Wail splats both her and Jersey, who just happens to be in the line of fire.

The whistle blows right as Mask appears, the seeker zooming towards Aloha and exploding, but causing no damage as the game ends right at that moment.

They super jump back to the lobby to view the results. Aloha already knows they lost, and it's probably the most irked he's ever been during a match too. Doesn't this guy know how to loosen up?

They lose terribly, 33% to 67% and when Mask turns to them, his eyes hold so much judgement that Aloha almost falters. Still, he holds out his hand to shake, mouth stretched in a wide grin. "Good game, man."

Mask stares at his hand, the cyan Inkling's eyes narrowing slightly. The faint huehuehue of his breathing hangs between them before he reluctantly shakes Aloha's hand, gripping it so weakly, Aloha is glad to pull his hand away.

"Okay, we lost that one," he says to his team as they exit the lobby. He can't shake Mask from his mind. Cod, it was annoying to lose. "But we ain't done with that, yeah?"

Octoglasses nods, tentacles bobbing. "We can rematch him when we're all up to speed on how he works."

"First, shwaffles," Straw puts in, gesturing to the Cafe. "I'm starvin' from dancin' so much."

The door jingles as they walk inside, every Inkling looking up at their entrance. Aloha notices a few lean over to each other to whisper behind their hands, eyes looking them up and down. Silence falls for a few seconds but Aloha gives his teammates a look when they exchange glances. Act normal.

"Over here," a voice calls out, and it's maybe one of the only times Aloha is glad to look somewhere else. It's that Inkling girl who he always saw around Army these days. She wears the exact same headgear as him, so Aloha has to do a double take to make sure that it's not Army speaking to him.

They pull up chairs at her table, Aloha sitting directly across from her. "Yo, Forge, right?"

She nods formally as the chatter around them starts to pick up again. 

"You four got beaten by Mask, didn't you?"

Aloha winces slightly. Really, the match was over five minutes ago but he's keen to forget it as soon as possible. "Yeah, we got dragged. What about it?" he lets some warning edge into his tone, and Forge's eyes widen slightly.

"Oh, nothing. It's not common for an A rank to be matched up with an S rank, even in turf. So that is why everyone is probably whispering about you. It's lack of probability for this outcome."

Scuba rocks back in his seat, tilting it back on two legs. "'Kay, but have you considered it's because we lost? Anythin' at all?"

Forge frowns, flipping through her manual. Aloha blinks; he had no idea where it even came from. "Perhaps. I believe it's because you managed to turf against Mask with no negative effects whatsoever. Most of his opponents end up rather depressed and refuse to turf for weeks."

Aloha shrugs. "I mean, what can I say? it's not like the world's endin' now, ain't it?"

"No." Forge snaps her manual shut and stows it in her jacket pocket. "And that is why everyone must be aware of that match. You went in, faced Mask, and came out still as normal as Pink Team can be." Her face scrunches a bit at 'Pink Team', and Aloha raises an eyebrow.

"What? Is there somethin' wrong with how we are?"

Forge sighs, something inside her seemingly loosened. "When do you practice?"

Aloha blinks. By her tone, it seems like this is the real reason why she called them over, but he can't be too sure with Orange Team. Their members are all blank-faced and serious as far as he can see. It's hard for him to read her easily, especially since she's staring at him like that. He keeps the smile on as much as he can. "Never. Who has time to practice?"

To be honest, they did try practicing once, but it was too boring for words. Turfing and practicing weren't the same, especially with training dummies, and they gave up early on.

The orange Inkling doesn't seem surprised; she just nods slowly. "No practice, yet you faced Cyan Team. What rank are you?"

"What rank are you?" Straw asks, leaning forwards slightly. Forge barely glances at her. 

"We're A rank," she says.

"A plus," Aloha replies. He feels a little smug over that, but Forge merely shrugs. 
"So not that far off."

"We got crashed so hard," Octoglasses says as a way of countering, and Forge nods patiently, like Octoglasses is a child. Indignation rises in Aloha's chest a little. She's treating them like they don't understand anything, which probably is true, but he isn't a child. None of them are, anymore.

"Yes, but everyone, including S+ rankers, has gotten defeated by Cyan Team this past week. None of them were able to secure more than 30% of the stage. Except you."

"So you're saying we are a little higher than whoever's been playing them," Aloha says. "Why is that an issue?"

She shakes her head. "Your team is amazing, to say the least. Army has barely any data on you as we have not battled before, but he is certain that you might be close to Cyan Team in skill. Maybe not exactly the same, but very close."

"Where exactly is Army?" Aloha knows he's gong a bit off track here, but the sudden thought of Orange Team's leader is enough to distract him. "Didn't bother to show, did he?"

"He's occupied with practice," Forge replies, the corner of her lip twitching slightly; it's the most emotion Aloha's ever seen on her. "He'll be here soon. We're planning a team meeting in a couple minutes."

"So you can smile!" Octoglasses laughs, baring her teeth in a grin. "You should do that more often, cutie."

Forge flushes deeply, orange tint darkening to a crimson red. "Pardon?"

"You heard her," Straw's grinning too, eyes bright all of a sudden. "If you smile more, more people will see how cute you are."

Forge is becoming flustered now, spluttering as she tugs her manual back out, flipping through the pages in almost frenzied panic. "I--"

Aloha glances over at Scuba, who's grinning behind his hand, watching the whole scene play out. "I'll go order," he says and stands, Scuba quickly hastening to follow.

"Hopefully they get her number," Scuba grins when they're safely out of earshot and standing in line. "Maybe catch a date too, if that's Forge's thing."

Aloha just chuckles. "I almost feel bad for her, but really, what's not to love about Straw and OG?"

Scuba snorts. "You tell me, man. You were the one dating Straw for a while."

"Weren't you dating OG?"

"Nah." Scuba shakes his head. "Kinda more of a fling thing to see if it would work out but it never did so we ended it before it could start."

"That sucks." 

"Not really." Scuba glances away, as if he's interested in the menu above  but Aloha can see that he isn't reading it. "Y'know, I think I kinda figured..."

"Yeah?" 

Scuba's silent for so long, Aloha has to make sure he hasn't fallen sleep standing up or something, but the masked Inkling turns to him before he can open his mouth to ask if he's okay. There's some sort of slight trepidation in his eyes, and Aloha has a slight edge of confusion.

"I don't think I'm into girls."

"I'm sorry?" 

As if sensing that Aloha might take this the wrong way, Scuba hastens to explain. "I mean chicks are hot, cute, whatever, y'know? I'd probably date them but it won't be the same as if I were to..."

Aloha waits. Scuba's never had trouble getting his thoughts out before, and it's starting to concern him. "Yeah?"

Scuba opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again. "...It wouldn't be the same if I were to date a guy. I don't think I'd really be into it."

Aloha knows he should probably say something, to reassure Scuba's he's fine. They already established that all four of them were into all genders, so why was it hard for him to say something? It was true all four of them initially flirt with girls but--

"That's cool," he says finally, and Scuba immediately looks so relieved that Aloha feels a gentle nudge of regret course through him for no apparent reason. "It's chill, man."

He doesn't understand why Scuba made it such a big deal. Was his friend trying to tell him something? 

They move up through the line in silence until Straw comes up to them. "Yo, I got her number!" She's flushed, grinning, like she just ran the mile, and Aloha grins at her.

"You're smokin', Straw. You and OG both."

She laughs. "We do try."

She ends up stepping ahead of them in line and ordering all of their food, including the entire Orange Team, who happened to show up at the moment. As the three of them make their way back to their seats, Aloha sees Mask in the corner of his eye, lurking near the front of the Cafe with his team.

The cyan Inkling flips him off and Aloha rolls his eyes, turning back to the combined table of Orange and Pink Team, forcing a smile onto his face. He's intent to enjoy this time as best he can without any reminder of that previous match--

Footsteps make them look up, and Aloha feels his stomach drop twenty stories. If the dynamo roller didn't give it away, the Camo Mesh did.

They sit there in silence, and Aloha is aware of his team's eyes on him. He swallows, hard, and freezes the grin to his face as he makes eye contact with the yellow Inkling.

"Hey Camo."

Camo doesn't react to anything, instead narrowing his eyes at the other Inklings. 

"Who?" Army seems slightly confused, looking from the Dynamo user to Aloha and back again. He doesn't understand the gravity of the situation, but Pink Team does.

"Yo, back off, Camo," Scuba says suddenly, and Camo's green eyes flick to Aloha's friend.

They hold each other's gaze for several minutes before Scuba stands, the chair screeching unusually loud in the silence. Sure, there was chatter around him as Inklings went on with their own conversations, but at the shared Orange and Pink Team table, it was dead quiet.

Camo just smirks, slamming his Dynamo down and propping his right foot on it, leaning forward slightly. "I got no beef with you, Scuba, but if you wanna fight, we can."

"No, no one's fighting." Army stands as well, confusion and indignation battling their way out on his face. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

Camo doesn't bother to look at Army, instead grinning blankly at Aloha. "Battle. Splat Zones. You and me. Arowana Mall."

"One on one or teams?" Aloha meets Camo's gaze. He can tell that Camo recognizes him, knows him for who he was six years ago. He's intimidated by his former idol, and some part of him still wants to grovel, to ask if he was good enough to be subject to attention. But he makes himself keep the stare, until Camo is the one who finally looks away.

"Teams." Camo straightens, swinging his roller over one shoulder. "We'll see how truly strong you are."

He's gone just as suddenly as he appeared and Aloha feels glued to his seat. That couldn't have just happened.

Army seems annoyed. "He can't come in here and demand confrontation."

"He's Camo," Scuba says by way of response. He has slowly sat down, though his posture is way more tense than it was ten minutes ago. "He can do whatever the fuck he wants."

The entirety of Orange Team gives him a look, and Aloha's sure one of them is about to reprimand Scuba for his language, but all of them exchange glances and relax again. He has no idea why. 

"Still," Army says slowly, "you should have a right to turn down the challenge."

"I don't want to," Aloha blurts, and all eyes go to him again. It's the first time where he's not completely comfortable with being the center of attention, and he doesn't know what to feel about that. "We're doin' this." He catches Octoglasses' gaze, and she nods to him, the beginning of a smile creeping across her face.

--

It's a battle that Aloha has no idea how they even managed to get matched up. They're separate ranks: Pink Team being A+ and the Goldenrods being S+, it was impossible for them to even take a battle together without it being private.

But they're here, the beginning of the match, and Aloha is feeling a lot more apprehension than he usually would. He can tell his teammates aren't feeling it either, by the way all three of them seem jittery, quite the opposite of their usual laidback personality.

"We can do this," Aloha says, eyes fixed on the distant spawn point. "Don't mess this up."

The whistle blows and the music starts to play and Aloha careens down from the ramp, heading towards the center. He can see Straw above him, taking the longer route around to higher ground and he mentally gives her brownie points for that. 

Octoglasses and Scuba are hot on his heels, Scuba hurling out a suction bomb to the nearby wall and splitting up, going around the center area. Aloha reaches the top of the hill before the center, and has to immediately leap backwards because Urchin's blaster fire -- he forgot in that moment that she stacked on swim speed -- nearly splats him point blank. Instead, he only gets indirectly hit, thanks to his sixth sense, and he swims back and around. Straw splats Urchin while she's occupied with Octoglasses and Pink Team is able to secure the zones.

Satin and Hunter appear together, splitting apart as Scuba appears out of nowhere, popping his special and dividing them down the middle with pink ink.

They take the counter down to 70, but Aloha is too anxious to really pay attention. He keeps looking for Camo, but the Dynamo user isn't here, even though Urchin had time to respawn and splat Octoglasses, Satin taking out Straw's few squid beakons hidden along the outermost walls, and all of Pink Team had time to pop their specials at least once. They get forced back, and even without Camo, the other three members are a formidable force. The Goldenrods pull their own counter down to 50, taking the lead, and Aloha catches Scuba before he can get splatted by Hunter, taking the opposing Inkling out in two shots.

"Yo, thanks," Scuba grins at him, pushing his mask a bit sideways -- it was skewed to the left from him getting caught in Urchin's ink mine. 

"You think we can pull off a dance?" Aloha glances at the timer. They have 3 minutes left and Goldenrods have possession of the zone. 

"Yeah I th--" Scuba's words are cut off suddenly and the whoosh of air nearby makes Aloha quickly flip backwards to avoid a wave of yellow ink crashing around his second-in-command, splatting him. Camo stands there, eyes narrowed, Dynamo Roller raised.

They stand there, Aloha frozen, Camo calculating, and while they're staring at each other, Octoglasses and Straw manage to push the zone back and splat Satin and Hunter, taking the counter down by three. Without hesitation, Camo slams his roller down, eyes on the Splat Zone and Aloha sees yellow, pain briefly rushing through his body before he respawns.

The timer is counting down, and they have only one minute left, Pink Team being behind by 10 points. They can make it if they try.

A lot of the area around spawn is uncovered, and Aloha quickly covers the ground with his ink, racking up enough coverage to get his special. He swims forward to the zones, catching a glimpse of the battle. His teammates are dancing up a storm, dodging shots and covering ground at the same time, so they reclaim the zones. Camo gets splatted in a joint effort by Octoglasses, who uses Scuba's echolocator to her advantage and targeting him mid-flick. Straw goes down towards the enemy side and leads Satin backwards, away from the zones, and that's enough edge given for the other three members to take back the zones.

Now all they have to do is hold it.

Camo comes in, the determination on his face, and Aloha catches eye of the clock.

Thirty seconds.

The dynamo comes down and Aloha dodges, popping his Special. The Killer Wail is aimed directly at Camo, who manages to swim out of the way in the nick of time. It does, however, catch Urchin, and splats her.

Goldenrods is down by three now, as Straw managed to splat Satin, and Hunter is just now respawning.

She won't be able to make it in time. The timer goes off, but the match is over yet, because Pink Team still has two more points to push past, and Camo doesn't look like he's giving up anytime soon. The Dyanmo takes out both Straw and Scuba in one hit, and is just about to slam onto Aloha as the whistle blows, and the game ends, Pink Team ahead by exactly one point.

Aloha stands there, even as he's supposed to go back to the lobby, chest heaving. He just beat Camo. He just beat Camo. His former idol. The S+ ranked player.

He would laugh if it weren't for the sudden impact of the victory. Camo is going to be pissed.

His teammates greet him as he exits the lobby, grins on all of their faces.

"Look!" Straw flashes him her battle card, rank clearly visible. "We all ranked up! S rank babey!"

Aloha opens his mouth to congratulate them, but Camo's voice cuts through him, freezing him in place.

"Well, well, well."

Aloha forces himself to turn to look instead of running away, hearts pounding furiously in his chest. The look on Camo's face is enough to kill, but the rest of the Goldenrods, however, looks only slightly annoyed. The Dynamo user opens his mouth to speak again but Satin talks over him.

"Good game, Aloha. Well played."

Aloha blinks, surprised. this wasn't what he was expecting. He glances to Urchin, who inclines her head slightly, her lips twisted upwards, Hunter giving him a thumbs up.

"You did really well," Urchin says, and she's smirking now. "But don't expect your ego to get ahead of you."

They accept him. They really accept him. Aloha feels like he's going to burst from happiness. He can't believe this is happening. But when he glances over at Camo, the Goldenrods leader is suddenly right in front of him.

"Yeah. You're good. Too good."

"Hey, uh, Camo?" Hunter speaks up then, looking slightly nervous. "Maybe step away from him? He won fair and square."

Camo just laughs, the noise sharp and harsh, but he doesn't turn away from Aloha, instead pinning the younger Inkling with a death stare.

"Sure."

And then the punch comes out of nowhere, flying towards Aloha so fast, he doesn't have his sixth sense helping him this time. It catches him in the jaw and sends him flying back. The second knocks him to the ground.

Aloha curls into a ball, the sharp pains exploding along his side, his gut, his legs, his arms. He covers his head and closes his eyes, the agony overwhelming. He can hear shouts around him: Straw screaming, Scuba saying something unintelligible, shouts, shrieks for Camo to stop, a jumble of noise that bores its way into his brain and he wants to tell everyone to stop, to tell the pain to stop, to just stop.

It stops. 

The force that slowly had been knocking him backwards ceased and he blearily opens one eye to see the other three members of the Goldenrods physically holding Camo back, horror evident in all of their eyes.

"Check on the kid," one of them says; Aloha closes his eyes again so he doesn't know who it is, but there are hands turning him over, gentle and careful, but it causes more pain to erupt at his elbow. He whimpers, and a feminine voice quickly hushes him.
"Hey, we're going to check you for major injuries, just try to stay still alright? It might hurt."

He groans in response.

Hands gently pull him upright, propping him against a wall, and he can vaguely see Hunter crouched in front of him, eyes not visible through her shades, but her mouth is tight in concern. Urchin is hovering nearby, typing something on her phone. She shows the screen to Hunter, who nods, and continues checking Aloha over. In the distance, Aloha can see his teammates off to the side, talking frantically to a few medics. His whole body feels like he's submerged in hot lava, but a commotion thankfully distracts him from the direct pain.

"Woah, woah, Camo, chill!" Satin's holding Camo back now, struggling against the Dynamo user's weight. "He's just a kid, calm down!"

Camo doesn't respond; his eyes are full of unconstrained rage, something that looks so purely furious that Aloha wants to look away. He doesn't say anything and instead continues to struggle, expression murderous.

"Guys?" Aloha can't see or hear very well, but Satin sounds a bit panicked now. "I might, uh, need a bit of help here. Camo's... in one of his episodes again."

Hunter looks up, and whatever she sees, she seems terrified at. "Oh my cod," she says softly, and quickly stands, hurrying towards Camo and Satin, Urchin moving at the exact same time.

Camo sees them coming, and his face twists into something feral, his mouth opening in a literal snarl. His fist comes out and Aloha doesn't know what happens but suddenly Satin is flying through the air, slamming into the building with enough force to crack the plaster, sliding down to lie at the base, unmoving, blue liquid seeping through his jacket and dripping from his face, Hunter wrapping her arms around Urchin, who is doing everything she can to get out of her friend's grip. Both girls are crying, the Inklings around them are shouting, phone cameras reflecting across the Plaza, and Camo stands in the middle of it all, staring at his hands in horror.

The aftermath is a blur, partially because Aloha really was only focusing on the pain overwhelming his body. He's vaguely aware of sirens wailing, someone putting him onto a stretcher, the ground moving beneath him. People are talking around him, hushed whispers, monitors beeping, and something pricks his arm.

The waves of blackness that come and go give him a new scene every time when he wakes up. He sees the inside of an ambulance, masked Inklings attending to him, the glare of Scuba's mask from the side of a hospital bed, nurses bustling around him, the heartrate monior with the LED screen, Hunter, Straw, Urchin, Octoglasses. 

He wakes up again. The visitors sitting in the plastic chairs along the edge of the room have changed. It’s a strange bunch: Army writing something in his manual, Straw on her phone, and Urchin sleeping with her hat tilted over her face. 

Aloha struggles to sit up, the sudden shift of the sheets alerting Army first, who stands so quickly, Aloha expects the manual to fly off of his lap. “Aloha, you’re awake!”

Straw looks up too, Urchin sitting up and pushing her hat back onto her head. Both girls seem startled at first, Urchin clenching both her fists, but they relax when they see Aloha. 

“You okay?” Straw’s at his side immediately and he can see her phone screen is on the chat with Octoglasses and Scuba, her fingers typing even as she looks at him in concern. 

“How long have I been here?” For some reason, Aloha feels some apprehension on being stuck in the hospital. Camo could still be out there—

“Two days,” Urchin says. She stands towering over both Army and Straw, and Aloha’s pretty sure she would measure taller than Scuba as well. It would be imposing as he’s sitting in bed, but the look on her face is open and more vulnerable than he’s ever seen it. “Camo got taken in for questioning. We’re being held off on turfing for a month, but we aren’t going back to that team.”

“The Goldenrods broke up?” Sure, it was the least they would do, but Aloha was expecting that they’d stay together. Or maybe continue turfing without Camo. 

Urchin nods. “We thought it’d be best.” By her tone, Aloha deduces that ‘we’ was Urchin, Hunter, and Satin. It seems to him they cut off all contact with their former leader.

“Oh, is Satin okay?” An image of the youngest Goldenrod comes into mind and Aloha has to blink it away. There was blood. A lot of it. He wouldn't have guessed Camo could deck someone that hard, but handling the Dynamo must have added strength.

A brief look of surprise crosses over Urchin's face before she nods stiffly. "He's fine. Just resting. That reminds me, I have to go check in on him. Hunter will be here soon."

Without so much more of a 'goodbye', she's gone.

"She's nice," Straw says quickly, as if sensing Aloha's hesitation. "She split the hospital bill with Hunter for the both of you."

"Oh." Aloha sees Army hanging back a little, but focuses on Straw for now. "Where's Scuba and OG?"

"They're back at the apartment," she replies. "The turf officials are talkin' to them about the incident 'cause no one knows what to do with Camo. He's a turf player, not a very famous one, but still a celebrity at best. I think it's up to the rest of the Goldenrods for the final decision, though."

Her phones buzzes, almost on cue, and she glances at Aloha, silently asking for permission. He gives her a slight nod and she gives him a grateful look before quickly leaving the room, her only heard words being, "Hey OG, yeah, he's awake--"

So that just leaves Army, and Aloha doesn't know the other that well to really start a proper conversation so he busies himself with inspecting the IV tube taped firmly to his arm.

"Aloha, are you alright?" The concern in Army's voice is evident and it makes Aloha feel something in his gut. Happiness? Why would he be happy about Army asking this? "White saw the footage from Instaclam, so I apologize if you didn't want me here--"

"It's fine," Aloha says. "I'm fine."

Army, to his credit, doesn’t seem at all convinced. “You took at least three full punches to the face by a Dynamo user.”

“Then why’d you ask?” Aloha allows a slight grin to slip onto his face. “You come here for a specific reason? It's not for the bills, right?”

Army stays silent for about a minute. His eyes seems too directly cast onto his lap for it to be casual. “I offered to pay for the bills but the Aerospray user, Urchin, refused. She said something about paying for Camo's mistakes.”

The words are expected, but Aloha’s own reaction to them isn’t. Something strange tingles through his body, wrapping around his hearts and squeezing hard, but it isn’t an unpleasant feeling. It's just an offer to pay the bills, not really anything else. Nothing concerning him. 

“Is that so?” He carefully pulls all vulnerable emotion out of his voice, painfully aware of how his words stick a bit in his throat. His voice is too cheerful to sounds authentic.

“Yes.” Awkward silence falls between them and Aloha shifts uncomfortably, the faux smile on his face even though the other isn't looking up.

They're saved by the rest of Pink Team entering, all of them looking more serious than Aloha's ever seen. Their expressions simultaneously brighten upon seeing their leader and they're at his bedside almost immediately, talking over each other. Straw at least, is a bit more subdued, but Octoglasses and Scuba seem like they haven't talked in a millions years, Scuba speaking so quickly, his words jumble together in a mass of noise.
"Yo, 'Loha, you're awake--"

"Are you okay? Does anything hurt--"

"Camo's under watch right now--"

"Don't worry, we covered everything--"

"Woah, woah, woah," Aloha finally says, his face hurting from grinning too much. "Slow down."

"Sorry." Both look a bit embarrassed though Scuba's the first to recover. "But seriously, man, you good?"

Aloha has to pause and think about that because between Urchin, Army, and the rest of his team, he hasn't even noticed the pain anymore. He feels like he could just go right back into turfing if he wanted to, and he tells his teammates exactly that.

"The doc said to take it slow for a few days," Octoglasses says. "But she cleared you for release."

Thank cod. Aloha's not one for sitting still, and being bedridden for the next few days is not something he wants to go through. "How long 'til I get out of here?"

"Right now if you want," Straw offers with a grin. "We gotta talk to the Goldenrods first 'cause everyone's really hesitant on Camo."

So that's how Aloha finds himself in Satin's hospital room, Urchin and Hunter standing in front of him. Hunter has pushed her sunglasses up to sit on her head and her eyes look almost red under the fluorescent lights. "Occials want us to decide what to do with Camo: keep hi in custody or release him, or just keep an eye on him. They offered banning him from turf as well, but that's your decision."

"Mine?" He expects Hunter to tell him that he's kidding, but all three members are watching him in the way that tells him that they mean it. "You're all okay with it?"

"We discussed this earlier, but yeah, it is. We don't want to have anything to do with Camo, anyway," Urchin says finally, folding her arms. "So what's it gonna be?"

Looking up at them, Aloha wonders why in the Great Zapfish he never thought to idolize any of Camo's teammates. They seemed much more reasonable, and obviously less of a jerk than the Dynamo user. He nods slowly. Imprisoning Camo seemed way too extreme, but seeing Satin's injuries and his own, he wasn't too sure if he wanted his former idol to continue turfing either.

"I think... I'm gonna ban him?" It comes out more of a question than a statement, and he's about to correct himself when Hunter nods. 

"That sounds good. What about you two?"

There are murmurs of consent from the other two members and Hunter grins. "Sounds like we're doing that then. We can contact the officials for you, how's that sound?" 

Aloha nods, releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Yeah. Thanks."

"No prob." The sunglassed Inkling claps him on the back, gently leading him to the door. "See you around, Aloha. You seem like a good kid. Pretty skilled too. You'll get pretty far."

It takes him until when he's leaving the hospital to realize that a member of the Goldenrods actually made a genuine compliment towards him.

---

A week later, Straw has a brilliant idea to throw a party, and Aloha puts up an open invite online, inviting nearly half of the population of Inkopolis. Out of dry humor, he invites Mask and his team, though no one from Cyan Team shows up.

It's maybe one of the most chaotic parties he's ever been to, and he's loving it. The bass is so loud, he can't hear his own voice, and he receives word that someone spiked the punch, though he can't bring himself to care.

He finds Army in the back, warding off a few Inklings who had maybe too much to drink, and at his presence, they drift away, giggling tipsily to themselves.

"Thanks," Army says tensely when they've left earshot. 

"No problem," Aloha winks at him. Maybe someone spiked his own drink as well, because he's feeling too exhilarated to even process he's shamelessly flirting with the other. "Can't have anyone claiming you for themself, can we?"

"I'm sorry?" Army blinks and flushes. "No one was 'claiming' me, thank you very much."

"So you don't mind then?" Aloha leans forward so his nose is almost touching Army's. "I can claim you instead, if you'd prefer that."

Army frowns, but for some reason, doesn't move away, the blush creeping through his ears. "Aloha, do you have no sense of personal space?"

Aloha laughs then, because really, when has he ever given regard for personal space? He recalls the times when he's draped himself over his own teammates, and even random Inklings in the Square, the memories themselves washed out and blurry. Cod, what the shell did he drink? He's too drunk to care. "No, but that should be obvious, shouldn't it, sweetheart?"

Army doesn't respond. His eyes are searching Aloha's own, and they hold eye contact for way too long, before he looks away. He coughs into his fist. "How much did you d--"

That's about as far as he gets before Aloha impulsively moves forward, lips crashing into Army's own. They move backwards until Army's back hits a wall and they stay like that until both of them can't breathe. Even then, Aloha only pulls away to get a gulp of air before diving back in. Army tastes like a combination mint and raspberries and Aloha struggles to come up with something to comment on that as they pull away, but his mind blanks halfway through and he settles for pulling Army in for a deeper kiss.

He has no idea how long they stay there, just making out, but it seems only too soon before the song switches over to a fast-paced one and he moves away, caught in the beat, tugging Army by one hand onto the dance floor.

"Mind pulling a few moves for me, honey?" He has to shout to be heard over the music and Army shakes his head, a strangely endearing stubborn expression crossing his face.

"I don't dance," the military Inkling replies, but Aloha just pulls him in time to the music anyway.

He learns something new that night: Army really can't dance. 

They end up outside as the party is dwindling down, the last remaining stragglers asleep in random places on the porch. It's not really that romantic, but the stars are unnaturally bright tonight and Aloha, in his drunken state, can experience it the best he can even with the trashed scene around him.

"You hear of Skull?" It's such a random topic, but Army's only known for having strategic conversations. Aloha doesn't care either way anyway. His hand is intertwined in the orange Inkling's own and he's content to just sit here and play along.

"No, why?"

"He's top of the leaderboard in ranked players," Army says. "S+, I believe. He and Mask has a disagreement and battled it out before settling on ranked for Skull being the top, and Mask being close second. Your team is pretty high, isn't it?"

They were, in fact. They managed to pull their way to S+ before losing their rank and climbing back up again. Aloha doesn't know where he is on the leaderboard because he doesn't care for stuff like Army does, but it's interesting to know this at least. "Somewhere along that, yeah."

"You might have to face him soon," Army says. "I could give you tips--"

"Nah, it's fine," Aloha says, "We'll get trashed if he beat Mask."

"You haven't rematched Mask in a while," Army points out.

"I don't need to," Aloha replies, wincing as he shifts sideways, the alcohol twisting the floor beneath him in sickening waves. "He probably hates our team, anyway, that party pooper."

"Hrm." Army looks out across the flickering lights of Inkopolis before glancing back at Aloha. "Well, I'd best be going. It's getting rather late and my team will most likely wonder where I am."

"Stay for a little longer?" Aloha's words are slurring now and Army gently tugs his hand from the pink Inkling's grip, shaking his head. His eyes aren't visible in the shadows of his hat, but Aloha can see the black streaks of paint in the dim light.

"I can't. You look tired, too. You should rest."

"Mmm, I guess." Aloha shakes his head to try to clear his brain, but it just muddles everything together more. Sleep suddenly is sounding rather enticing tight now. "G'night, then."

He practically keels over where he is, and he's barely aware of Army tugging a tablecloth from underneath the overturned table to cover him, before his footsteps recede into distant memory.

Still, Aloha's too into the other to really care, and they manage to hold a somewhat stable relationship through Aloha's sixteenth birthday before they break up.

Really, the bright side is at least Army has better relationship information in his manual now.

The not-so-bright side is that Aloha can't get over him.

He distances himself from his teammates, forcing smiles and jokes whenever they ask him about stuff, and it seems to satisfy them for the most part, but Scuba seems more questioning than the girls about the whole broke-up-with-Army thing. But whenever Aloha can, he just escapes to Arowana Mall, the same place where he battled Camo, and just thinks.

Why can't he get over Army? Is this some cruel joke some higher authority has on him for flirting so openly with everyone so when he finally gets a date, he can't move on?

There are footsteps behind him and he whirls, arm out to defend himself on whatever insane defensive mindset he's having. He almost blows Scuba's head off and the masked Inkling quickly backs up a couple feet, hands raised.

"Woah there, 'Loha."

"Sorry." Aloha tilts his head down slightly so Scuba can't see his face, and turns back to look blankly out at the mall. He expects his second-in-command to leave him be, but instead, Scuba lowers himself next to his leader.

"You haven't been actin' like yourself, you okay?"

"I'm fine." Aloha forces a smile, but Scuba isn't falling for it.

"Man, I've known you for a while. I don't know why you've been actin' off, but I assume it has something to do with Army, yeah?"

Aloha flinches slightly at his ex's name.

"Yeah, it's okay, man. You can talk to me, y'know. That's what friends are for."

Aloha thinks back to when he first met Scuba, leaving him in the way of Camo's wrath, refusing to tell him about that nightmare, and just curls inwards on himself. Cod, sure, friends were for opening up to each other, but he genuinely couldn't recall the last time he ever did that with Scuba.

The latter always talked out his feelings, letting Aloha know exactly what was going on in his head, sometimes spoken in half-hearted streams of raps, but it was there all the same. The trust was there. But it wasn't mutual.

He feels a pinch of regret, as well as annoyance. Scuba hadn't dated anyone as far as he knows, so how would he know? But seeing the look of concern on his friend's face is enough to get him to open his mouth and just try to talk.

"I... Yeah. It's Army. I still--"

He breaks off and Scuba gives him an encouraging look but stays silent otherwise as Aloha collects his thoughts.

"I'm still hung up on him." The words taste bitter in his mouth, but he forces it out anyway. "See? It's stupid."

"It's not, actually." Scuba isn't looking at him, thankfully. "I mean, it makes sense, y'know."

"No, I don't know." He can't help putting a bit of edge in his voice, but Scuba doesn't react negatively.

"It's normal, 'Loha." Scuba tilts his head to the left, still not looking at Aloha. "Everyone gets hung up at some point, yeah? You're not alone."

"It's not that.. It's just-- It's just so annoying. I can't stop thinking about him."

Scuba seems to falter for some reason before he speaks again. "I can't say anythin' about gettin' hung up on someone personally, but in terms of thinkin' about someone..."

Aloha waits. For some reason, he gets a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach by the way Scuba is leading into this, but he shrugs it off. Why would he be that upset about Scuba's love life?

"I've had a crush on this person for a while, and it's not really that hard cause they're the type of person who everyone love, y'know? But I try to keep my distance even though it kinda hurts 'cause they're way outta my league and I ain't about to try to match myself to them. So love hurts sometimes, you feel? It's okay to feel that way, and it's chill to be annoyed as heck, 'cause that's normal."

Aloha doesn't understand. Usually, whenever Scuba talks to him, it helps him calm down, but right now, he's pissed for no coddamned reason. "Why are you tellin' me this?"

Scuba looks startled and he finally looks over at Aloha, something the latter feels a wave of angry satisfaction for. "I'm tryin' to help, man. Is-is it not?"

Aloha's never heard Scuba stutter before, but his brain is too hotwired on anger and frustration to notice, and the more he tries to figure out why he's feeling like this, the more it irks him. He stands suddenly, lungs constricting. He has to get out of here. "Not helpful. I'm leavin'."

"Hang on," Scuba stands as well, catching hold of Aloha's wrist. "Seriously, you need to talk about whatever's goin' on right now? You look... upset. Moreso than usual."

"I'm fine." Aloha wrenches his arm from Scuba's grasp. "Can you just lay off me for a sec? It's not that hard."

Scuba only stares at him in confusion, hurt evident in his eyes, and it's too much for Aloha. The Pink Team leader turns away from his friend and practically sprints out of the mall, hearts pounding.

He almost runs into an Inkling couple in the Square, and practically bowls them over. "Apologies," he says distractedly, flashing them a half-hearted smile.

"Wait, oh my cod," the female Inkling's eyes widen and Aloha stops in his tracks. She looks somewhat familiar, but he doesn't know where he ever saw her. "Who are you?"

"Aloha," he replies, and the male Inkling leans over to whisper something in his partner's ear. The female nods quickly, eyes darting over Aloha's body and the pink Inkling feels like he's being evaluated for something.

"Who are your parents, sweetie?"

"Alina and Maria," Aloha says automatically. "They don't live in Inkopolis."

"Sounds familiar," The female says. "I'm Ceyne, and this is Castor."

"Okay?" Aloha blinks once, twice. The names don't ring any bells. "Sorry to cut this short, but I really have to go now--" 

"We're your biological parents, honey."

The words hit him like a truck. "What?"

"We're your biological parents," Castor says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You were born April first, yes?"

"Yeah?" Aloha feels like the Square is spinning and he wishes this were a bad dream. They couldn't be his parents, but he had no idea how Alina and Maria would even have a kid like him anyway. He knows now why Ceyne looks so familiar. She looks like him. It would be a spitting image if he let his tentacles down.

"Yeah, it's him," Ceyne says, and she glances to Castor before looking back at Aloha. "You've grown so much."

"Where were you, then?" Aloha suddenly finds himself becoming indignant. "How would you know?"

"We left you on the orphanage doorstep when you were two," Castor says finally. "We didn't know how early on you'd been adopted but when we came back for you, Alina and Maria had already taken you."

"Why would you do that?" Aloha feels a wave of repulsive confusion wash through him. Why would his biological parents abandon him? Why would they give him up? Wasn't the point of parents to take care of their kids, not abandon them?

His 'parents' exchange looks. "Honey," Ceyne starts, "it's complicated, alright? Do you mind coming back with us to talk for a bit? We have oh so much to catch up on."

Aloha hesitates. One part of him is still reeling in anger from Scuba and it's still there, distant but strong, keeping him from going, but another part of him wants to know what he did to make his parents give him up. The faint huehue of familiar breathing thankfully distracts him and he turns to see Mask standing behind him, eyelids lowered. 

"Aloha-- who are these peoplee." It's one of the only times Mask has even initiated a conversation with him and Aloha jumps on the chance.

"They claim to be my biological parents," he grins, like it's most ludicrous thing in the world. "Can you believe that?"

"You're responsible for this party animaaaal?" Mask's judgmental stare turns on Ceyne and Castor and the older Inklings back away a bit. "I expected you to be better parents if this is how he turned oooout."

"We didn't raise him," Castor says and Mask rolls his eyes. 

"You're terrible parents for nooot raising him then."

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Ceyne stands straighter, looking a bit snooty in that moment. "Who are you to come in here and--"

"I'm Maaaask." The cyan Inkling slouches a bit forward to counter Ceyne. "And I'm Aloha's next opponeeeent." He turns to Aloha. "You owe me a remaaaatch."

Aloha starts, confused, but from the warning look in Mask's eyes, he plays along. "Yeah, cod, I totally forgot, man, my bad."

"Let's go theeen." Mask gestures with a partially limp arm to the lobby. "Your parents can waaait."

"We actually--" Castor starts, but Mask cuts him off with an especially loud huuuue and the older Inkling shuts up immediately.

Aloha honestly has never been so grateful for Mask, and they make their way to the lobby without talking, only met with a purple Inkling at the entrance.

"Ah, Skuuull," Mask moves aside so Aloha can see the top S+ player in full. "Here's the third top S+ playeeer. You know Aloooha?"

"I do, actually." Skull's violet eyes search Aloha and the pink Inkling raises an eyebrow, quirking the corner of his mouth. "Aloha. It's time to see how well you fare in turf. Where's your team?"

"Somewhere," Aloha says airily, pulling his phone from his pocket. "Lemme text 'em real quick."

Straw and Octoglasses respond almost immediately; they're at Ammo Knights, testing out weapons and will be over in a second. Scuba takes longer to respond, but he's the first to arrive. "What are we doing?" He avoids eye contact with Aloha as he speaks, instead looking to Mask.

"You're turfing against me," Skull says simply, and Scuba's eyes flick to the purple Inkling, pupils dilating slightly in shock.

"We're turfing against who now?" Straw and Octoglasses have arrived now, looking curious.

"Turf War." Skull replies. "I challenge you to a Turf War."

Skull lives up to his name as the top S+ player in the leagues. His accuracy and speed is something to be feared and Aloha and his team find themselves in a pinch because they can't get more than a few feet away from their spawn before being splatted. The Eliter 3k Scope is something Aloha hasn't even bothered to look up on, and though Army's offer rings through his head, he honestly still wouldn't have taken the orange Inkling up on it, because of the obvious break-up and the fact that he's allergic to organization.

The range is spread across the map and though Urchin Underpass is good for finding cover, Aloha keeps himself on his toes, hearts racing, because Purple Team members keep finding him at all the wrong times.

He gains his Special in the first half minute and Aviator -- Aloha only knows his name because he looks so obnoxious in his shades -- comes out of nowhere and barrages him with ink. Aloha wouldn't have wanted to know what would happen if one of his friends were in his place, because his sixth sense allows him to dodge and quickly unleash his Killer Wail, splatting the opposing Inkling.

He has barely a moment of respite before Skull's laser suddenly hits him in the back, followed by the inevitable wave of purple ink.

He respawns maybe a total of five times that match, because cod, he can't get rid of Skull. He's too quick of a sniper to work around and despite using a scope, he can see anyone coming around him from miles away. Even the Disco Ball Dance, as Aloha unofficially dubbed it, has barely any effect, Skull not even bothering to waste shots on them and instead making his teammates go for the kill.

They lose, in a fashion that Aloha isn't too keen on. It reminds him vaguely of Mask's, but at least they pull about a 40%, thanks to Straw unleashing her Kraken and taking out half of Purple Team in the last minute.

Skull, however, seems somewhat impressed, if you call impressed staring down at Aloha without blinking even once. Aloha forces that smile onto his face and offers his hand, and Skull shakes it firmly. "You're good," the Purple Team leader says finally as they're exiting the lobby. "What rank are you in the leaderboard?"

"Uhhhh..." Aloha glances over at his teammates, who all seem as confused as he is, with the exception of Scuba, who avoids eye contact. He hasn't bothered checking lately because his relation to anyone near his skill level isn't anything he wants to go by when choosing battles. Octoglasses, thankfully, pulls her phone out to check, There's two minutes of pure silence before she gives them three fingers and a half-smile.

"Third?" Aviator is the one to speak next, eyebrows raising above his sunglasses. "That's pretty good."

"And you say you don't practice," Skull says slowly.

"Yeah, we don't," Aloha agrees. "Waste of time. We all know how to communicate on the field anyway, so what's the point?"

He's getting a bit cocky; maybe the praise is going to his head. He catches sight of Castor and Ceyne lurking around the Cafe and quickly looks away. He doesn't want to deal with them yet.

"You seemed a bit distracted during the match," Skull tells him when the others have kinda drifted away, conversation over. "Much more than what you usually do when you play against others. And your communication was a bit off as well."

"Geez, man, how much do you watch us?" Aloha shudders more for effect than anything. "That's creepy."

Skull shrugs. "It gets the job done. But you usually work more in sync with your teammates."

The question hangs in the air, unspoken but still acknowledged, and Aloha presses his lips together in a fine line. Skull's blunt, he'll give him that, but he's not going to be able to wheedle anything from the Pink Team leader. It's only fair, he supposes, for him to keep his mouth shut around everyone if he can't speak his mind to Scuba.

Speaking of Scuba... he hadn't seen his friend since Skull started talking. It seems like he had left with the others, something that Aloha definitely expected, but it still give him a pang nevertheless.

"Can you speak to us now?" Ceyne's at his elbow suddenly and he leaps backwards. His sixth sens didn't warn him of her presence and it sends real shivers through his body. Cod, why couldn't he detect that?

He looks to Skull for help, but the purple Inkling is already wandering away.

"Sure." He gives his 'mom' the barest smile he can muster, and by the look on her face, he probably looks feral, but he's past caring. Why can't they leave him alone? He's not ready to deal with this.

Still, he tags along behind her as she primly leads him to the Cafe, offering him a chair. He takes it without making eye contact, the chair squeaking under his sudden weight. "What."

It's more of a statement than a question, but Ceyne takes it as the latter all the same.

"Honey, we're thinking of taking you back."

He must show his surprise and maybe slight excitement because Castor is the one to explain. "Are Alina and Maria good to you?"

"Yes," he says automatically, because sure, they've butted heads a bit, but it was never to the point of them actually abusing him or anything serious. He recalls that he hasn't talked to them since reaching Inkopolis, partially because their landline number is faded in his memory. He has a brief moment of panic then, because why can't he remember what their number was?

Ceyne and Castor don't look convinced. "Sweetie, you came to Inkopolis on your own. Did they let you or.." Ceyne trails off, expectant eyes staring at him, and Aloha, for some reason, finds himself speaking not on his own accord. 

"No, I came because I wanted to."

"Did they want you to come?"

"No." Aloha shifts uncomfortably in his seat, keeping that fake smile on his face like if he were to drop it, the world would shatter. Why does he have such a terrible feeling in his gut? They wanted him back! That was good, right? But why did they leave him? "They were trying to protect me."

Ceyne laughs, the sound like broken glass. "Ohh, from what? The children here? Teenagers? The outrageous fashion? The weapons?"

Aloha feels a prickle of annoyance as his 'mom' giggles, shaking her head like it's the most hilarious thing in the world. "No, they just... wanted me to stay with them. Keep an eye on me. I was always gettin' into trouble too."

"Sounds like they wanted to keep you with them for other reasons?" Castor's words, for some reason, sound more like a question.

"No, no other reason." The annoyance is rising into frustration now. What are they trying to get at? But even as he started to become irked, confusion is now swirling in the depths of his mind. He honestly doesn't really know for sure why Alina and Maria wanted to keep him at home. Was it truly because they wanted to protect him? They did say he was fragile..

It's almost as if Ceyne can see the confusion in his eyes. "Honey, please listen to us. Alina and Maria... they aren't the best influence on you as parents, alright? We're sorry for leaving you like that but we had no choice--"

"What other choice did you make then?" Frustration and previous emotional strain from earlier today is bubbling, simmering there. He can feel it. It burns him. "What did you have to do instead?"

"Look, that's not important--"

"It is if you really are my parents, yeah?" Aloha's anger is getting the best of him now; he knows it, and he hates it. But he's too far gone to stop it. Breaking up with Army, lashing out at Scuba, and now this? "If you think you can do a better job than my moms, then tell me why you left me at the orphanage."

Ceyne and Castor exchange glances again. Both seem hesitant to say it.

"Tell me." Aloha doesn't care who's watching him, doesn't care whoever is videotaping him right now. He stands, slamming his hands on the table. "Tell me!"

Castor frowns. "Aloha, please sit down."

It's the parental tone that gets to him, the tone that hasn't been used on him in years. He's not a child anymore, not a baby for people to claim possession and hover over him like he'll break at any given moment. "Don't talk to me like that. Why the shell did you leave me there?"

The thought strikes him so suddenly, he almost falls over. His birthday. April Fools Day. The first thing that they asked him when they met him to confirm who he was.

"Did you leave me there because you thought I was a joke to you?"

Cod, he wishes to the Great Zapfish that it wasn't the correct answer, he wishes they would laugh it off and reassure him it wasn't. But instead they just look at him and he can read both of their expressions to the point where he knows the truth.

He doesn't bother saying anything else. He just leaves, overturning the chair in his haste, nearly ramming into the Cafe door on his way out. He can't think, he can't think, he can't even believe they would leave him for adoption just because of his stupid birthday.

His mind is such a whirl of consuming thoughts that he doesn't know where he's going. He finds himself in Pink Team's apartment, tears running down his face despite how stubbornly he tried to keep them in. The sofa is the nearest piece of furniture and he collapses on it, head in hands. His parents. His real parents. The ones who abandoned him because of his birthday. The ones who tried to take him back.

The door opens and shuts and he looks up to see Scuba enter, and he immediately scrubs at his face, trying to erase how pathetic he probably looks right now. His friend just sits next to him silently, eyes staring blankly at the TV, their reflections mocking them in the glossy surface.

"Was it your parents?" Scuba's voice is soft, like he's afraid Aloha will jump on him for speaking too loud, but honestly at this point, Aloha's too exhausted to do anything of the sort.

"Yeah." he doesn't know what brigns him to be honest, but Scuba is a better person to talk to than his 'parents'. "They fuckin' abandoned me."

Scuba doesn't speak, nor acknowledge anything, but he gently puts an arm around Aloha.

"They wanted me back. They said my moms were terrible parents and they wanted me back. I thought--"

He breaks off, a sob wracking his body, and Scuba, somehow, pulls him even closer.

"I thought they actually wanted me back. They abandoned me when I was little, so little I don't even fuckin' remember shit about them. Alina and Maria took me in, raised me, and now they want me back? Now, now that I'm older and easier to swoop in on and twist my brain into believin' they want me? They never wanted me in the first place, I don't even--"

He chokes on his own tears and suddenly the positioning of this seems too awkward to him.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like this." He forces a teary smile, gently pulling away from his friend. 

"No biggie," Scuba replies, and his eyes are a bit distant, even as he gives Aloha a hesitant smile. "But that's real shitty of them to do that."

"No kiddin'."

"But seriously," Scuba shifts to face Aloha fully. "It's dumb and stupid of them to even think of abandonin' you, or dissin' your moms, 'cause they're missin' out on you. They're missin' out on all the fuckin' amazin' things you can be and you will be, yeah? It's their loss, not yours, man."

Aloha swears he can feel his hearts swell because he's never even fully acknowledged Scuba before, like sure they were technical co-captains and they've known each other longer than the other two members, and even go so far as to call themselves close friends, but Scuba always seemed more of something Aloha felt more guilty on in close relations. He still remembers leaving him for Camo, and just treating him to benefit himself, and the guilt clashes with the appreciation for his friend.

On impulse, he leans forward, wrapping the masked Inkling in a tight embrace, face buried slightly in the other's shoulder. Scuba takes a moment before he reacts, his arms coming up to rub slow circles in Aloha's back. The Pink Team leader feels his eyes prick with tears again, because really, he doesn't deserve this.

"Thanks," he mumbles, voice obscured slightly.

He can't see it, but he can sense Scuba's smile, the snorkel tube shifting slightly against his cheek.

"No problem, man."

But this time, at least these idols had something more interesting to talk about other than Splatfests and stages. 

"Seems like the four S+ teams in the leagues have been rising to public eye recently! Known as the S4, the leaders from each team are known for their skill on the field, all of them having a unique way to taking down their opponents!" Callie waves her arm at the monitor behind her and her cousin, which flicks to an image of Skull. Aloha has to admit the picture was taken in just the right time because the sniper's personality in the arena is displayed menacingly, scope trained on some unsuspecting Inkling offscreen.

"The current top of the S+, we have the Eliter 3k Scope user, Skull! His deadly accuracy and speed of his shots are a known force on the battlefield, allowing him to pick off opponents easily while his teammates take advantage of the lesser opposition! One of the best snipers around, if I do say so myself!"

Marie cuts in then, and Aloha can practically see the quip on her face. "You think he's better than me?"

"No no, of course not!" Callie waves her hands frantically at her fellow idol, eyes wide. "I can't speak for the audience of course, but you'll always be my favorite sniper, Marie."

Marie seems satisfied by this and Aloha hears a snicker to see the rest of his team laughing under their breath. He allows a slight smile to grace his features before turning back to the screen.

Mask is next, staring heavy-lidded at his phone. Aloha has to grin to himself because of how out of context it was taken; instead of him being in the middle of battle, it was him sitting alone at one of the Cafe tables. "Second up is Mask, the S+ player known for dominating the field without swinging his weapon even once! He puts a large reliance on his sub weapons, isn't that right?" Callie glances expectantly at Marie, the latter blinking a couple of times.

"Yes, apparently so. Though I wonder what happens when an opponent gets too close. You can't exactly shoot a seeker at them if they're in the middle of splatting you."

"Well, I'm sure he has a way of countering that too! Not many Inklings have been able to get close to him as of yet, except his fellow S4 members."

"He looks like he just woke up, how would he react that fast? Does the Carbon Roller help?"

Aloha snorts at that because, cod, finally someone pointed that out.

"I... actually don't know, but it would be fun to find out!"

A picture of Aloha flickers in place of Mask's and Aloha's pleased to see it's one where he's in the middle of using his Killer Wail. Straw very nearly shrieks at this, and Aloha has to smile at how excited his teammates seem even though being top three isn't new.

"Next is Aloha! The S+ player who apparently never practices in either flirting or turfing but somehow excels in both!"

"He's terrible at flirting, Callie."

"Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, okay? Anyway, his team has this fresh thing where they dance so frantically that the other team is unable to land a single hit on them! Their speed is off the charts!"

"I saw that once. They're decently good at dancing but some of it looks like it's from that one video game.... the one that all the kids love these days. Not sure how to comment on that."

They're all fully laughing by now that they nearly miss when Army is shown onscreen too. His usual serious look is aimed at nothing in particular, and Aloha just assumes it was taken during battle as well.

"Finally, we have Army! Recently rising through the ranks, this guy and his entire team relies on these book things to turf--"

"They're called manuals, Callie."

"Right! Manuals! Anyway, they seems pretty cool and collected, able to record information down in those manuals and predict their enemies' movements!"

"I had to check in to see if they were even allowed to do that."

"Is it?"

"Fortunately for them, yes."

"Okay, good, cause I'm not rewriting the script for this."

"Callie... we're live right now."

"Right, right! Sorry!"

"And now for the stages..."

Straw turns the sound down as the Squid Sisters launch into their normal routine and turns to Aloha. "Looks like we're on top charts now, man! We're technically famous now! Up high!"

They high five, Octoglasses and Scuba joining in a few seconds later. "Cod, we should celebrate that."

"Party sounds good," Aloha says thoughtfully.

"Bro, a party is always good." Scuba grips his shoulder. "Three seconds. Instaclam. Go."

The next few minutes are a frenzy, because even though they've had dozens of parties before, they always forget how they plan them every single time.

"We're outta punch!" Straw slams the fridge shut, fumbling with the apartment keys. "I'm going to go buy more."

"Outta glitter as well." Octoglasses comes into the living room, carrying their bucket of decorations. "Also get some streamers while you're there."

"Gotcha." Straw waves her phone as she leaves. "Text me if you need anythin', yeah?"

"Bye!" Octoglasses waves her friend out with a cheer and promptly dumps a plastic bin of cups onto the floor. "This is all we have. You think that's enough for another party?"

"Depends how many people show up." Aloha checks the Instaclam story he posted a couple seconds ago. He already has at least 20 people showing. "How many is that?"

Octoglasses tosses a couple back into the bin, muttering to herself. "About fifty."

"We might need more." Scuba opens a cabinet and pulls out that random disco ball they found in the recycling once. "Text Straw."

"Already on it."

A hundred cups and ten pounds of glitter later, they managed to rent out the pools of Mahi Mahi Resort for the party. Aloha invited Army to help come set up by request of his teammates, and he would think the thought of his ex would put him into a bad mood, but for some reason, he's happy to see Army when Orange Team shows early.

Octoglasses beats him to the greeting, shoving a bag of glitter into Army's hands, the latter looking so terribly confused, Aloha almost feels sorry for him.

Almost.

"Here, use this, dump it into the pools, the staff won't mind. The streamers are over there, the buffet line over there, and since most of it is set up, we just need you guys to help decorate."

"O-okay?" Army lets himself get dragged off by the sunglasses-wearing girl, Scuba and Straw tugging White and Forge to help them with the vast assortment of streamers that Straw brought back from the store. Aloha is left with Blue, who looks at him blankly, waiting for instructions.

It's weird to have someone wait on you, and while Blue doesn't talk the entire time, he's very compliant which gives Aloha some chills every time he asks the other to do something. 

"Look," he says after a moment, the awkwardness getting to be too much, "you can loosen up a bit, yeah? Would it hurt for you to try?"

Blue blinks once. Twice. "Yeah," he says finally, voice way too soft for Aloha's likening, but it'll have to do. "I can do that."

"Great," Aloha purses his lips and gestures to the disco ball a few feet away. "Can you hand that to me, then?"

Blue picks up the disco ball and tosses it up to Aloha, who's perched on the ladder. 

The pink Inkling easily catches it and fastens it to a bar on the side of the stage. "Nice aim, man."

"Thanks?" Blue tilts his head slightly. "Most people would compliment a throw instead of aim."

"Aim is more useful," Aloha responds, hopping down. "Name one thing where you had to throw and it didn't matter where you threw it."

Blue looks at a loss for words and Aloha grins, clapping the Inkling on the back, almost bowling him over. "See? I'm right."

Blue nods slowly, the realization sinking in, before he pulls his manual out. "Let me just--" 

"No no." Aloha quickly snatches the manual away from the other Inkling before Blue can produce a pen. "Don't write this down. Just... commit to memory."

"That's not how we're supposed to do things," Blue says indignantly, his eyes flashing slightly as he reaches for his manual. Aloha feels a slight notion of triumph because sparking some kind of emotion in Army's straight-backed followers is something not many people can accomplish.

"You can memorize when to take out your manual, so just memorize that aim is better than throwin'. You have to use both of 'em, don't you? I swear I can't remember the setup for Splatterscope but--"

"Splat bomb as a sub and bomb rush for the special," Blue says automatically and Aloha gives him a look.

"You can remember that yet not remember aim is better than throwing?"

"Shut up."

"Hey, there's some of that personality there," Aloha smirks and tosses Blue his manual, the orange Inkling barely managing to catch it.

Blue just gives him a look, composing his face back to neutral as they head back to the main part of the resort. "What's the point in that?"
"Having a personality?" Scuba jumps in on the conversation, a grin on his face. Half of his shirt is soaking wet, covered in glitter. "Well, for one, people won't think y'all're sticklers all the time--"

"We aren't sticklers," Forge puts in. "We just have images to upkeep. Yours is to be party animals. Ours is to be collected and organized."

"Did you test out the pool yet?" Straw comes up to them then, eyes on Aloha. The tips of her tentacles are dripping in water and coated in glitter as well. "It's pretty great. Except for the fact we can't swim."

"Maybe later," Aloha says. "But we gotta get this team to show their personalities. You know how it goes."

Pink Team shares a glance, and Aloha can see the understanding in all of their eyes. 

"Oh, we do."

"You do what?" Army looks confused and slightly concerned. "What are you planning to do?"

"You'll find out once more people show," Aloha tells him with a wink, pushing away the turmoil in his stomach.

Army frowns. "Do I even want to find out?"

"Yes, you do."

--

The party is a hit. Miraculously, the other two S4 teams show up, though it looks like Mask's team had to almost force him to come. The resort is so crowded with Inklings that Aloha can't see anyone he knows, not that he cares of course.

Alcohol was brought in literally two seconds after the music started up, and he can smell it on everyone's breaths. He and his team took that to their advantage and took away Orange Team's manuals for the night, claiming they had to learn to interact on their own without the help of a ripoff textbook.

But he can't see Orange Team, nor what kind of trouble they could get into, and even his own team members are lost in the crowd. He spots Octoglasses hooking up with Straw near the buffet table and instinctively turns around to give them space, plunging back into the dancing mob.

The floor is tilting and whirling around his feet and he feels a sense of déjà vu, yet it doesn't stop him from moving to the beat, spinning in circles until he feels properly dizzy, nearly colliding into a nearby Inkling.

"Watch it," the Inkling says, voice full of warning tones, yet Aloha, of course, disregards them completely.

"Sorry, sweetheart." He stands and gets a better look at the other, taking in the yellow-green ink, leather jacket, and black boots. "Isn't that getup reserved for motorcycle gatherings instead of parties?"

The yellow-green Inkling crosses his arms, serious expression almost matching Army's if it weren't for the huge disinterested scowl on his face. "No. I wasn't supposed to be here anyway."

"Hmmm." Aloha casts a lazy gaze over his surroundings. "You get forced?"

"You could say that."

"You got a name?" Aloha notices the other Inkling is starting to edge away from him and grabs his wrist, the yellow-green Inkling giving him a death stare. He keeps his grip, however, flashing a grin.

"Rider," the other says eventually. The scowl deepens, if possible. "Don't bother introducing yourself. I know you're Aloha."

"A fan, yes?" Aloha's stretching it now, but he couldn't care less. This mildly hot Inkling should have a reason for being here, other than being forced.

"No."

"You're blunt. That's pretty cute." Aloha drags his tongue across his lip. Cod, why is it getting so hot in here? The crowd seems to be closing in, the music turning up past maximum volume.

Rider just stares at him for a moment, eyes dropping to Aloha's mouth, before he looks away. His eyebrows furrow. "Yeah. Whatever. You in charge of this party?"

"Of course, sweetheart."

"That explains the disorganization. I thought you had the S4 help with this."

"It was just Army, and you know he's pretty tense so I had to help him loosen up."

Rider looks at him with such an incredulous expression that Aloha bursts out laughing. "Oh my cod, you look so different when you aren't staring people down."

"Shut up. Do you treat everyone you just met like this?"

"Nah, just you." Aloha winks and Rider scoffs at him, the corner of his lip twitching. "Never seen you around before, though. You new to the game?"

"Do you check leaderboards?" Rider hooks his thumbs through the straps of his jacket. "I'm right below Army. S+."

"Who has time to check leaderboards?" Aloha waves a hand dismissively, making a futile mental note to check later. He's too wasted to really make a coherent thought. "There are too many parties to do, yeah?"

"You don't seem that observant," Rider comments and Aloha huffs at him.

"I'm observant enough to know you're grumpy and probably not a good sport. How's your team holding up?"

"I don't have a team," Rider responds.

Aloha makes a small moue of surprise. "Really now? You made it to the leaderboards by yourself?"

"I don't need a team."

"So confident." Aloha hums. "I like that."

"You like a lot of things."

"Glad you noticed, honey."

Rider makes a sound that's cross between a growl and a snort, and Aloha's grin grows larger. "You said you aren't supposed to be here so--"

Rider waits, foot tapping impatiently -- or was that to the music? -- and Aloha just slings an arm around him, leading the reluctant Inkling through the dancing mob.

"You wanna get out of here?"

He doesn't remember what happened in the last five hours, but somehow he ends up on the floor of Rider's apartment, visor missing, phone gone. He lost a few buttons on his shirt and his clothes are loosened to the point where he wonders what exactly happened that night.

He sits up with a groan, head spinning. He had no idea how much he drank either, nor how he got here. Rider is already awake; Aloha can hear some rattling in the kitchen. He pushes himself to his feet, swaying slightly, nearly crashing into the door frame, fumbling to button up the remaining clasps. Rider comes into the room, then, eyes somewhat averted. His usual frown is on his face and he avoids eye contact as he tosses Aloha's visor at the pink Inkling, the latter barely managing to catch it.

"What exactly happened last night?" Aloha smooths his tentacles into place, adjusting his visor as he follows Rider out of the bedroom. The yellow-green Inkling ignores him for a solid two seconds before he pulls a plate from the microwave, offering it to the shorter Inkling.

"Weird stuff. Don't bother asking for details. Eat and get out."

"Aw, so quick to get rid of me that easily?" Aloha's not dumb; he knows from the look on Rider's face that they had a one night stand, and for whatever reason, the other looks embarrassed. Maybe he actually enjoyed it--? He switches gears, not bothering to wait for a response. "How drunk were you?"

"Sober."

Ah. So that's why.

Aloha takes the plate without any further comment. He doesn't know Rider that well, so he can't predict what the other Inkling will do. "I seem to be missing my phone?"

"Over there." Rider points to the dining table, where Aloha's phone is just starting to buzz. The pink Inkling quickly scoops it up and answers the call, Scuba's voice blasting through the speaker.

"Yo, where the shell are you?"

"It's complicated."

"What do you mean?" It's Straw now, and Aloha feels a sinking feeling in his gut. "You went missing during the party, you didn't bother to tell anyone where you were running off to! Some Inkling remembered you went off with some guy--"

"Yeah, I did. Sorry I didn't tell you first."
Scuba comes on the line again. "How much did you drink last night? You sound like shit, man."

"However much you guys drank."

"...Touché."

The phone makes a clacking noise and Octoglasses' voice floats through the speaker. "Look, Aloha, we're just kinda on edge right now. We thought somethin' happened to you, y'know? I mean, it's chill, you probably slept with someone, but it's almost eleven, and--"

"Eleven?" Aloha whirls to check the clock. It is indeed eleven. Rider gives him a questioning look but Aloha waves him off. "Sorry sorry. My head got in the way."

"Your lust did too." Straw sounds like she's trying not to laugh now, and Aloha lets relief flood him. They aren't mad at least.

"Anyway, we're down for turf right now, right? The CoroCoro Cup ain't gonna wait for us."

"Yeah, give me a few." Aloha hangs up, nudging his plate to Rider, who looks confused, brows drawn together. "Thanks for last night, sweetheart. I'll see you around."

He leaves the door open on his way out to properly irk the other Inkling. It's fun to play around with Rider anyway, from the snippets he remembers from last night.

His team meets him in the Plaza, Scuba tossing Aloha his weapon as he gets closer. "You have fun?" The grin on his face seems a bit off somehow, but Aloha shrugs it away. He barely remember what happened anyway so it wasn't his concern.

"You could say that."

Scuba claps him on the back. "Well, funny for any of this to happen, 'cause CoroCoro Cup is legit a week away and we gotta up our game."

"Hope you aren't thinkin' of practicin'," Aloha makes a face and Straw giggles.

"No, practice sucks! We were thinkin' of somethin' a bit more... strange, yeah?"

"...I'm listenin'."

"Okay... so we got the Goldenrods to show."

"Three of 'em? Or all of 'em?"

"The ones you want to see," Straw puts in, and Aloha nods his understanding. 

"Lead the way, then, sweetheart."

His teammates drag Aloha to the training area where Urchin, Satin, and Hunter are waiting for them, the lack of Camo lessening the cloud of jerkassery around the trio. 

Aloha briefly wonders how his team managed to get ahold of the former Goldenrods and feels a pang in his chest at the memory of Camo. As far as he knows, the former Dynamo user is still banned from turfing, and he would be for a while. It gives him the least bit discomfort knowing he was the one who made the final decision.

"Hey, Aloha!" Hunter greets him with a wave, her phone in her hand. "How's it going?"

"Not too shabby," Aloha responds, grinning at her. "You?"

"Heard the CoroCoro Cup is coming up," she responds, swinging her Aerospray back and forth like it won't start shooting ink randomly across the floor. Both Satin and Urchin discreetly edge away from her. "You up for it?"

"Of course we are," Aloha says confidently and Urchin quirks a brow.

"You sound overconfident, but then again, you did somehow beat us in Splat Zones."

Aloha winces slightly at the memory. "Yeah." He keeps the smile on his face. No point in letting his facade down even to his former idol team.

Satin steps forward then, gesturing to Aloha first, and then his team, and Aloha notices the bandage taped to the left side of his jaw, the wrappings coming loose from underneath his jacket sleeve. "We're not here to train you, because we know you guys hate that stuff. But do you have any idea of what you're going to plan on field?"

"We'll wing it," Aloha replies. "Like always, y'know?"

Hunter grimaces. "Dunno if that's going to be enough. The competition is really high, and we know you're on the S4 but we think you should..."

She trails off and Satin picks up on her sentence. "We think you should consider other options. We didn't make it to the top just by winging it."

"No shit," Aloha grins. "But we don't bend that way."

"Not saying that..." Urchin opens her arms wide, at the multitude of Inklings around them, all practicing and chattering with each other, multicolored streaks of ink flying around them. "...but maybe consider, something else? Sneaky is sometimes the way to go."

They leave on that note, just letting Pink Team mull over their words.

"That wasn't what I was expectin'," Octoglasses says finally, stretching and yawning. "But y'know, cryptic message aside, I think they're onto somethin'."

"You mean bein' sneaky?" Scuba frowns. "Urchin kinda gestured to the whole of the training room... that wasn't helpful. What are we supposed to do? Shark people?"

Aloha bites his lip, crossing his arms as he glances around the room. Everywhere he can see, Inklings are practicing for the Cup. He catches Rider stride into the room with three other Inklings and he throws the yellow-green Inkling a wink, the latter turning away, edges of his ears turning green. Silence falls over the four of them as they try to figure out what exactly Urchin meant by being sneaky before Aloha straightens.

"Okay, we aren't getting anywhere by doing this, whaddya say we do some turf?" He jerks a thumb back towards the exit and all three of his teammates jump on that chance.

"We just going in blind or--?" Straw still glances back towards the training room as they leave, eyes showing her nervousness.

"We'll figure it out," Aloha reassures her. "We ain't part of the S4 for nothin', yeah?"

As they enter the lobby, Scuba catches him before they respawn, eyes hidden behind the glare of his mask. "Yo, what exactly happened after the party?"

"Must've done something with Rider, why?"

"Rider?" Aloha sees the flash of recognition across his second-in-command's face. "The guy below Army?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

Scuba whistles quietly, the corner of his mouth turning upwards. "That's somethin' interestin' right there. Rider's known for being a loner."

"I saw him with a team in the trainin' room," Aloha responds. 

"Could be a last-minute one," Scuba says wisely. "Anyway, after you left the party, Straw legit thought you died or somethin', freakin' out, everythin'. Could be an offset of her being drunk but you seriously couldn't tell any of us?"

"Didn't cross my mind."

Scuba makes a noise that Aloha assumes to be a huff of disbelief. "Well, can't blame you. Rider's pretty hot."

"He is. I have good taste, don't you think."

"As always, man." The look on Scuba's face is unreadable. "You gonna hook up with him again or is it a one-time thing?"

"Depends," Aloha replies airily. He doesn't understand why Scuba is asking him all these questions, but he isn't going to protest. "He looks like he was into me but his reputation just gotta keep him back."

Scuba chuckles at that. "I mean, if I were Rider, I'm not gonna worry about reputation, yeah? It'll probably be better for his public image."

Aloha snorts with laughter. "Shell yeah it would be, man."

"You're too above him to really get him lower than he already is."

Aloha just laughs.

The whistle blows, signaling the start of the match, and Aloha turns away from his friend to concentrate, the music starting up around him. 

But Scuba's words still echo in his head for some reason, and he's still hung up on them long after the match ends.

So to say the least, their energy is up, moreso that usual, and Aloha plans to keep it that way. Honestly, he was looking for more of a challenge, and neither of his opponents have managed to find that for him.

But as Octoglasses turned on the turfing channel that afternoon, a certain team catches his eye.

Blue Team. A group of idiots who all rank as probably the lowest Aloha's ever seen so far in this tournament. Yet, that same group of idiots somehow beat Rider -- Aloha is only vaguely surprised at that because Rider really doesn't know how to work with his teammates -- and Army.

So it would be safe to say that these morons peaked his interest, and Aloha stands once the match against Army is over, tilting his head at his teammates. "You guys see that?"

"Yeah, it was wack." The other three look a bit discomforted that a lower rank managed to beat Army and Rider both, and Aloha shares their sentiment. He's curious, he has to admit. What exactly helped those Inklings push past two S+ rankers? And two on the leaderboard, no less.

"It's interesting..." He leans forward, examining the gleeful expression on Blue Team's face. "The brackets show that we'll have to fight them if we both win our next matches."

"That's chill." Straw leans back in her seat, arms stretched over her head. "We got it in the bag. Idiot team or no."

"Agreed," Octoglasses replies, glancing at her girlfriend, a smile on her face. "We can do this, yeah?"

Aloha nods, lost in thought. If Rider lost when he thought he could take them on his own, and Army lost even with his manual... they would have to step up their game a bit to beat this Blue Team. He had watched only part of their battle, and 

Urchin’s words from a week ago come to memory and he nearly has a double take. “Hang on just a second. OG, who’s Blue Team’s next opponent?”

Octoglasses fumbles with her phone before pulling it up. “Green Team,” she responds. 

“Members?”

“Uhhh...” Octoglasses squints at her phone before reading off the names. “Backwards, Safari, Cleats, Beanie.”

Aloha straightens then, a plan formulating in his mind. “Sneaky is the way to go then. Whaddya say we do a bit of imposing? Figure out how they work?"

"Imposing?" Straw's eyes flick from the TV screen to Aloha like she just realized he was talking. "What?"

Scuba, thankfully, gets it. "Who're you imposing as?" He gestures to Octoglasses' phone like it represents all of Green Team. "No way they'd be that dumb to let you just stand in for them."

"They don't have to let me," Aloha says slowly, mind whirling. "I just need to find one of them and just--"

"Kidnap them?"

"Basically."

Scuba snorts. "Possibility of that happenin'?"

"Not likely," Straw says, snickering slightly. "Aloha, we love ya, but how's that gonna work?"

Aloha feels that familiar prick of indignation rise in him. "It'll work, alright? Leave it to me."

He exits the apartment with his teammates' laughter ringing in his ears.

--

It's strangely difficult to find Green Team, even with the lack of Inklings who even chose their ink color to be dark green. He sees one with a bike helmet, but another look at the ID pictures of Blue Team's next opponent, it's far off from any of the four members.

He lurks in the back of the clothing store, partially hidden behind racks of clothing, and he can't believe his luck because finally, finally, that one kid -- Safari, was that his name? Aloha has to check the IDs before the name is cemented in his brain -- comes into the shop, talking to someone on his phone. Aloha quickly joins a mob of Inklings chattering over the new arrival of clothes before he detaches himself and makes his way over to the green Inkling.

"Hey, it's Safari, right?" His voice is too high pitched to be even slightly casual, but Safari doesn't really seem to notice by the sheer amount of awe on his face.

"...Yes? You--You're Aloha, aren't you?"

Aloha winks at him."In the flesh. How're you doing today? You feeling up to Blue Team? They seem to be a force to be reckoned with."

"Backwards -- my leader -- is pretty confident with our abilities," Safari answers, voice barely loud enough for Aloha to hear. "He thinks they're all a bunch of idiots."

"That is their running gag isn't it," Aloha agrees with a smile. "But you never know~"

Safari seems a bit uncertain now, and Aloha quickly plays that to his advantage. If he can just get the other out of public... he's pretty sure that one of the S4 knocking someone out isn't the best for reputation. "I, uh,"

"I've got some tips to help you, if you want." He hums, rocking back on his heels like he could just walk right off if Safari didn't make the right move. "But I'm sure you and your team have it covered, yeah?"

He starts to walk away, timing himself in his head. If Safari wasn't as desperate as he hoped, he could always go find another Green Team member.

"Wait!" 

Aloha stops, but doesn't turn around. The smile on his face is a bit more genuine, but it doesn't hold that much cheerfulness so much as satisfaction. 

Safari runs up to him, breathing hard. "Fine. I'll take the tips. Maybe we could use some help.." 

"Awesome!" Aloha grins widely and grips Safari's shoulder, leading him to the back of the store. "I hid some stuff back here; I can get to you right now if you'd like."

"That'd be great, actually." the apprehension on Safari's face now almost completely dissolved now. "What's it like being in S4?"

"Oh, nothing much," Aloha laughs to himself. Cod, why was this so easy? "Just ranked battles. A lot more competition, but they can't match up to us, y'know."

He uses his free hand to pry open the door to the backroom, more of a storage closet than anything. Safari stops in the entrance, suddenly looking confused. 

"...This is a supply closet."

"Oh, I'm aware." In one movement, Aloha shoves Safari inside, following soon after. He kicks the door shut with his foot and the closet plunges into darkness. Safari is writhing to get out from underneath Aloha, the pink Inkling quickly pinning the other's limbs down, forcefully fumbling for and unzipping his jacket.

"What-- hey!"

He doesn't know how he does it, but he manages to rip Safari's jacket off his body, tucking the other's hat under one arm and tying the green Inkling up in a coil of rope.

"Why are you doing this? Give me my clothes back!" Safari struggles, but it's too dark to see and he lands sideways, Aloha only getting out of the way in time because of his sixth sense.

"Sorry, Safari, whatever your name is. Your clothes will be put to good use. I promise." Aloha leaves the closet without turning back, catching sight of blue tentacles exiting the store. He blinks. It's Blue Team, standing merely inches from him, until they're gone, chattering about something. 

"Blue Team... there you are~" He quickly slides his arms into the jacket sleeves and exchanging his visor for Safari's hat, tilting the brim of it over his eyes to cover them. Something buzzes in his pocket while he's changing his ink color to match the green Inkling's and he pulls Safari's phone from his pocket, the first text message being from Backwards.

Where are you? The match is about to begin! We gotta rematch those idiots!

Aloha decides not to respond, instead tucking the phone back into his-- Safari's pocket and heads to the lobby.

The rest of Green Team is waiting for him there, looking impatient. "You ready to get going and beat them? We can't lose this rematch!" 

Aloha just smiles. As far as he can tell, they can't tell the difference. "Yep!"

--

The match is the most interesting one he's ever been in. When the match starts, he lags behind the others, walking around the stage to avoid being caught for not putting any ink down. He turns the other way when he nearly crashes into the sniper --was her name Headphones? -- who thankfully doesn't see him.

Blue Team, as far as he can tell, is very uncoordinated. He can see why everyone calls them idiotic, because they fumble over each other way too often.

The moronic one -- Goggles, he remembers -- pulls out his Inkzooka, splatting the rest of Green Team. He evades the attack easily, turning into squidform, resolving to just wait to confront Blue Team later.

He doesn't have long to wait, however, because once Blue Team is focused on pushing their ink coverage back, he turns back into Inkling form, catching the leader's attention -- he recalls his name as Glasses -- and by default, the rest of the team.

Goggles aims the Inkzooka at him again, firing before it vanishes from his hands, and Aloha just backflips off of the center stage, landing on the ground below. His hat comes loose for a moment but he quickly tugs it back down to keep his eyes covered. There are other ways he could've dodged that, but he can't help showing off, especially since none of them seem to know who he is just yet.

Glasses charges at him, and Aloha just sidesteps the ink splatters, his sixth sense working overtime to keep his motion in check, but the battle ends without any further confrontation.

There's some sort of laughter bubbling in his throat as they arrive back at the lobby, and he pulls his own phone out to call Scuba, who picks up right away.

"Yo. What's up?"

"I did it."

"You what?" 

"Went in and everything, hun. You ready to take on Blue Team?"

"Oh my cod," Scuba sounds like he's going to start laughing too. "You actually did it. Seriously."

"Like I said I would." A twinge of annoyance builds inside him. Why was it so hard for his team to believe he could pull this off?

"We'll be right over then, man. See you in a few."

"Bye~" Aloha hangs up to Goggles' excited shout.

"Hey! You're really strong, y'know!"

Aloha holds back another bout of laughter. "Thanks! Y'all are strong too, aren't you? But you're lacking coordination."

"What?"

He has their attention now; it looks like they're all seeing him for the first time, and he finally lets the laughter loose. "You'll never be able to beat us like that."

"Wha--?" There's a commotion behind Aloha, but he doesn't bother to look. Something involving Green Team's members, he supposes. 

Then he hears the very same voice of the person he shoved in the supply closet, voice now raised in anger. "Guys, he's an impostor!"

Oh good, Safari escaped. That makes things much easier didn't it? Dramatic too, he supposes.

"Who are you?" It's Glasses who speaks next and Aloha would start laughing again if it weren't for the sight of his teammates coming through the crowd.

"Guess my secret's out, huh?" 

"I can't believe you actually did it!" Straw's the one to speak first as they get closer. "They actually fell for it?"

"Looks like they did." Aloha grins at her before turning back to Blue Team. "But since y'all are here already, I might as well spill the beans, y'know?"

He unzips the jacket, shedding it easily before he swaps his visor back. He flashes Blue Team a large grin, and they all look shocked; really, this dramatic stuff never gets old. He can tell by the looks on his teammates' faces that they're enjoying it too.

"You--" Glasses' words seemingly fail him, and Goggles picks up on them, eyes wide in amazement.

"You're Aloha! From the S4!" 

The match goes as normal: it's Mahi Mahi Resort and he knows this area well enough to properly get an upper hand. It also help that Goggles and Glasses are fighting for no apparent reason too -- something about the upcoming Splatfest -- Aloha doesn't care honestly. They were winning, and rightfully so. Honestly, he thought Blue Team was cool, because they defeated Rider and Army after all, so why weren't they putting up a better fight? It couldn't just be from lack of coordination.

But then they lose, and Aloha would find it hilarious if he weren't so pissed right now.

His teammates gave up. They actually gave up in the middle of the freaking battle, and for what reason? They lost and Aloha couldn't be more confused and upset at the same time.

"Aloha..."

He turns to stare at them, silently asking them with his eyes. 

“Sorry.” Scuba meets his gaze, and Aloha can read it so easily, he’s almost suprised. In one look, he knows Scuba’s guilty for this. But since all three of them just sat down in the middle of battle, how did he manage to get the other two to follow along?

He keeps that smile on his face long after the match is over because shouldn’t Blue Team deserve a party? They did manage to beat them after all, even if Pink Team just backed out in the middle. It’s a small one, because he doesn’t have time to invite anyone special, but Blue Team seemingly never have attended a party in their lives because they seemed awed at everything. 

“This party was amazing,” Headphones tells him after it’s over. “Thanks for having it.”

He grins at her, the expression faltering partway through. “No problem! You four deserve one after all, yeah?”

“I guess so,” she says slowly. “We’ve come so much farther than we expected.”

“Well keep goin’, sweetheart. The tournament’s not over yet.” 

"We will," Goggles replies for her, a large smile splitting his face. "Thanks for battling us!"

Aloha just laughs and waves them off. "It was mad fun, yeah? We should rematch sometime."

"Definitely!" Goggles bounces up and down, tentacles wiggling with every movement. "We'll see you around! That was fun!"

Aloha waves at them as Blue Team departs, smile fading with every second. He can hear his teammates behind him, cleaning up in silence, and he turns around, facade dropping completely. "What was that?"

They all freeze where they are, and Aloha catches the slight glance from the girls towards Scuba, the masked Inkling dropping the last cup into the trash can before turning to face the Pink Team leader. His expression is devoid of any emotion.

"Disco Ball Dance is a stupid name, is all."

"Is that really enough for you three to quit on me? Sure, fine, it's not the best name in existence, but really? Against Blue Team? We're part of the S4, for cod's sake--"

"You are part of the S4," Scuba responds. "We're your team."

"What's that have to do with anythin'?" Aloha throws his hands up in frustration. "You literally quit in the middle of battle, man. That's not normal. There's somethin' else goin' on."

Scuba's lips flatten into a thin line. "Nothin' else."

Scuba may be better at keeping a straight face, but Straw and Octoglasses sure aren't. Aloha can see the incredulous looks on their faces, matching the own disbelief rising inside of him. "Scuba, you aren't foolin' anyone. What's up?"

He has a brief sense of familiarity. He held information from Scuba as much as Scuba now is doing, and now that the roles have switched, he feels a lot more respect for his friend for talking so much to him.

Scuba holds his gaze for a minute before looking away. "Can we not talk about this now?"

Aloha grits his teeth before sighing. "Fine. Later then."

"Fine."

They finish cleaning up, leaving the trashcans full of random cups and food, and head back to their apartment. Straw and Octoglasses split off when they pass the Plaza, with something about leaguing together, and Aloha lets them go, walking in silence with Scuba until the taller bursts out:

"What do you do when you have a crush on someone?"

Aloha blinks; this isn't what he expected Scuba to say. His stomach plunges nevertheless, and he has no idea why.

"Uhm, I never had experience with that. I just pick a person and go with it. Nothin' much to it."

Scuba raises an eyebrow. "So you just hook up with random people? Rider, I get. Army.... not that much. And Straw--"

"We don't talk about my exes," Aloha cuts him off and Scuba raises his hands in surrender.
"My bad, sorry."

"So what?" Aloha stops in front of the apartment door, unlocking it with a jingle of keys. "Why do you want to know?"

Scuba is silent.

Aloha recalls that conversation they had what seems like forever ago. Before he met his biological parents. Before any of this happened.

"You said you had a crush on someone outta your league, didntcha?"

Scuba stiffens then, and Aloha knows he hit it right on the money. "Yeah, I do."

Aloha doesn't know how to move on from there so they just enter the apartment without speaking. The place is a mess from yesterday because none of them bothered to clean up the area after finding all the stuff they needed. He kicks aside a couple empty bins as the words building up in his brain spill out.

"Does your crush have somethin' to do with you just-- just givin' up during a match? You kinda are runnin' down our reputation here--"

Scuba stays silent.

"Listen, man," Aloha turns to face his second-in-command. "I know you were behind that. I could tell by OG and Straw 'cause they kept lookin' at you but... I want to know from you why you did that, 'cause it really isn't like you to do that."

He can't remember the last time he's been so serious with someone, though he supposes there's a first time for everything. Scuba seems taken aback as well, before looking away.

"I'm sorry, alright? I just--"

Aloha waits, hearts suddenly pounding in his chest for some reason.

"I don't know why the shell I even did that. That was shitty of me, I know, and please don't take anythin' out on Straw and OG 'cause they thought it was just... a joke, y'know?"

Scuba's eyes are a mix between regret and fear and Aloha wonders what he's thinking about. He can tell that the masked Inkling knows exactly why he decided to do what he did but he doesn't press it any further.

"Alright, let's just move on," he suggests and Scuba relaxes visibly. "We lost that match, so we're out of the tournament, but how much are you willin' to bet Blue Team will just obliterate the opposition?"

"None," Scuba responds, turning away to push the remaining empty bags into a pile. His shoulders are still raised slightly, but Aloha says nothing of it. "Wait until they get to Skull. All of us got dragged by him."

"Watch them start arguing again and fake him out," Aloha says, offering a slight, but forced, chuckle. 

Scuba smiles slightly in response. "Seems like they could. They're unpredictable, aren't they?"

Aloha's phone buzzes and he pulls it out of his pocket, willing to escape the awkward situation. The top notification catches his eye immediately. "They beat Mask, man."

"They what?" Scuba looks up from his overly-obsessed counting of the various wrappings scattered about the table. "How?"

"Dunno, but they did somehow." 

"What rank are they, again?"

"Ranged between C- and B+," Aloha responds, scrolling through the article. "They beat him, and are moving on to Skull. There's some kind of poll here asking whether they think those idiots will beat Skull or not."

"Results?" Scuba's besides him now, so close that his snorkel tube is brushing against Aloha's cheek. Aloha holds his breath, heart nearly stopping, for no reason of course, and points to the poll. At least 60% voted that Blue Team would overcome Skull, the other 40% disagreeing. "I'm kinda surprised," the taller Inkling says after a moment, pulling away. "Because if--"

A text pops up at the top of the screen, silencing him. It's from Octoglasses, written in all caps. Aloha clicks on the message and reads her text in full.

Guy! Check the side story! They got defeated!

"Blue Team?" Aloha instinctively clicks back into the news app and finds what Octoglasses was talking about. Skull had won several minutes ago. And Aloha never even saw the article before either because it apparently wasn't part of the Cup tournament at all. It was just an off-to-the-side challenge made by Goggles.

Scuba grins. "They got a bit cocky there, eh?"

Aloha laughs. "Apparently so."

Just like that, their relationship was back to normal so quickly, Aloha barely had time to process it. 

"Wonder if they're going to rechallenge him," Aloha says slowly. 

"Skull might not even accept the rematch though, 'cause you know how he is with challenging 'top players' and not letting 'weaklings' even try to get close to him, right?" It's an innocent question as far as Aloha is concerned but it reminds him of their argument only ten minutes ago: something about Aloha being the only relevant one in the S4 rankings.

"..Right." Aloha scrolls through the rest of the article quickly, because at that moment, Straw and Octoglasses come back to the apartment, laughing at something.

"Oh hey guys!" Straw waves at them. "We won three games in league! It was awesome!"

"These Inklings asked us if we were part of your team and when we said yes, they just swarmed us," Octoglasses adds, glancing to Aloha. "It was pretty great."

Another subtle jab. Do they think he's oblivious?

"Well anyway, Blue Team is rematchin' Skull right now. Heard Rider went to all this effort to help train them."

"How would that even work? What does Rider use?"

"Golden Dynamo."

Those words hit Aloha so hard, he almost doubles over. Golden Dynamo. Camo.

Octoglasses seems to understand what he's thinking, because she quickly continues the conversation. "He's pretty good at it, but apparently he studies using all weapons to uhhh 'better counter them' or some shit like that. It's pretty hilarious how seriously they all take this."

"So what do we do now, chief?" Straw asks, adjusting the straps of the bag containing her roller. "We just gonna observe the rest of the tournament?"

"We might as well," Aloha responds. "Skull's at the top of the tournament anyway. If they beat him, they win the Cup."

"I'm going to switch on Inkopolis News, then." Octoglasses walks to the TV and turns it on, the channel starting to play almost immediately.

"This just in! Blue Team, known to the public as Idiot Team, has officially won the CoroCoro Cup!"

Aloha blinks. What?

"It's impossible, yes, I know--"
"Callie, it's not impossible if they just did it, you know."

"I know, I know, it was just one of those... things where you have to let me finish! It's impossible, but Blue Team are known for achieving the impossible!"
"It's surprising, because at least half of them are actually morons."

"Marie, that's not that nice to say!"

"Hm."

Straw tilts her head slightly at the screen. "So they actually won. That's amazing."
"I'm surprised they even managed to beat Skull," Octoglasses says. "They're too unpredictable even for him, then."

Their attention is drawn back to the TV again as a new image slides in the background of the channel.

"Also new news (I love saying that): the hotspot known as Inkopolis Square is climbing in popularity! Inklings up to date on the latest styles, gear, and hairstyles are trickling in to the Plaza, only to start stealing away players one by one! Many shopkeepers are considering closing down and moving to the Square as well! 

"So to to all you turfers out there: you are welcome to stay here, but it might be boring because no one will be around. Some more pressing matter though: the Great Zapfish seems to be missing."

"You sure it isn't just flying around?"

"No, Callie, it's gone. As in disappeared."

"...."

"Callie..."

"Oh! Right! Anyway, hopefully it will return soon or Inkopolis will lose power.That... isn't good."

"No it really isn't. We'll be ending here, for now."

"Stay fresh!"

"Inkopolis Square huh?" Aloha checks his phone. It's only a short walking distance from the Plaza, so it won't be too much of a hassle to get there. He glances at his teammates, who are already carrying their weapon bags. "You guys ready to check it out?"

Inkopolis Square. Honestly, Aloha thought he was done with being impressed by anything, but it has already been proven time and time again that life didn't want him to catch a break. 

First Blue Team, and now this. Cod, he never really considered himself fashion sensitive but being in the new hotspot of Inkopolis is something of a cultural awakening.

His teammates seem shocked as well. There's so much to do, so much to see. He's honestly never seen so many Inklings in one place. Sure, the Plaza was crowded, but never this crowded.

And he's already been here for what? Two weeks? Enough time for the so-called Square King Cup to start, and for his team to make through the preliminary rounds.

And the hairstyles! Really, a few weeks ago he would've scoffed at the effort put into everyone's appearance, but he'd be lying if he didn't do it himself. He never really thought to change anything about himself until the hairstyles came in.

Octoglasses, the most fashion-inclined out of the four of them, elbows him as a male Inkling passes them one day. "Hey, you want that one?"

"That one what? The Inkling?" His head turns slightly to watch the departing Inkling before looking at her, confused. "He's cute but not my type--"

"No, I mean the hairstyle, dummy," she laughs. "You look like how you did when we went in the clothing store for the first time."

"Speakin' of clothing," Straw puts in, "I heard they got a lot of new gear and stuff here. You wanna go check it out?"

"Tentacles first, girl, slow down," Octoglasses pecks her girlfriend on the cheek before turning to Aloha. "Y'know, jellyfish are the best barbers, yeah?"

He links arms with her, a grin spreading across his face. "Yeah, why?"

"I think I know just the place. You two go on ahead without us for a sec. I need to get Aloha here what he deserves."

She practically drags him out of the Square, down two alleyways, and enters the second door on the left. Inside is a makeshift barber shop, wiring through the lights hanging loosely over the ceiling. Octoglasses barely seems fazed and instead just pushes Aloha over to a jellyfish organizing the various spray bottles laid out on the counter. "Hey Jelluna! Can you give my friend here a haircut?"

Jelluna looks up at the two Inklings, eyes squinting slightly before they nod and hop off their small stool. "This way."

Aloha doesn't know how to feel about this. They're in a sketchy barbershop that looks like it was crafted before Inkopolis even existed, but Octoglasses seems like she knows what she's doing so he just follows her and Jelluna.

Jelluna tugs him into a rickety chair, the seat squeaking slightly in protest. "Sit. Now, what style?"

Octoglasses bends down to whisper to Jelluna, and Aloha can't see what she's doing because he's facing away from her -- the mirror is absurdly high and the jellyfish around here are so short, Octoglasses has to crouch to speak -- but he can hear the slight rustling of magazine pages before she stands again. "Yeah. That one."

"Hrm." Jelluna climbs onto a stool so they're the same height as Aloha. They tug his visor from his head, handing it to Octoglasses. "Let your tentacles down for me, will you?"

Aloha obligingly unties his tentacles, letting them fall over his shoulders. It feels weird to have them down in public, but he does it as silently as he can, his whole body tensing from the awkwardness.

Jelluna nods their head slowly, glancing at the magazine clipping in their hand to Aloha's tentacles, and back again. "Alright. Do you mind growing out your tentacles real quick? The back ones."

Aloha starts, confused. "What?"

"It's like changin' your ink color," Octoglasses says quickly. "Just imagine your tentacles growin' out and they'll just follow what you want."

Aloha frowns; he's never even heard of this technique but he closes his eyes anyway and imagines the small tentacles at the back of his head matching the length of his front two. Almost immediately, the weight at the back of his head increases and he opens his eyes, moving his head forward instinctively to counter the sudden weight.

"Good." Jelluna takes his leftmost tentacle and pulls it upwards and to the right, working quickly. He can't tell what they do but there's a flash of silver and the sound of razor and suddenly the left side of his head is removed completely of any tentacles. They are now brushed to the side, one single framing the side of his face, two of them pulled up on the back of his head.

Jelluna pulls a handheld mirror out of nowhere and flips it to show Aloha the back of his head. "Good?"

"Awesome." Octoglasses reaches in her pocket and starts to give Jelluna a few Coins but the jellyfish waves her hand away. 

"You know we do this for free."

"Still--"

Jelluna shakes their head. "It's free."

Aloha stands, feeling a bit dizzy. It happened so fast but he feels like denying this every happened. Octoglasses gives him his visor back and he quickly puts it back on, flashing a grin to Jelluna. "Thanks."

"My pleasure."

Octoglasses herds Aloha back out the door, shouting her thanks before the door slams shut, and they head back to the Square without speaking. "That was quick. Usually they take longer."

"How do you even know about that place?" Aloha asks as the Square comes back into view.

"My parents are friends with Jelluna's siblings. I used to get my tentacles cut all the time there."

"That's cool."

"Aloha!" Straw runs up to them once they exit the alleyway. Apparently neither her nor Scuba even made it to the clothing store. "You have an invitation!"

"To what? Who sends handmade letters these days?" Curiosity peaked, Aloha takes the envelope she offers. It's sealed with red wax and looks so fancy, he almost feels bad about opening it. He unfolds the letter and nearly drops it.

He's heard about Emperor, the four-time winner of the Square King Cup. He knows the formidable presence he has over everyone, and the absolute monarch he is at turfing. No one in the past four years ever stood a chance. But this letter...

"Emperor's askin' the S4 to team up and enter the tournament."

"You can switch teams?" Octoglasses leans over his shoulder, taking the paper from him and her teammates crowd around her to read as well. Aloha stands off to the side, lost in thought. "We entered the tournament as a team. Would they let us move around?"

"If Emperor wants it, he gets it." Aloha frowns at the letter, taking it back from Octoglasses. "I guess we'll have to split."

"So we aren't participatin' in the tournament?" Scuba looks a bit incredulous, and rightfully so. "We got this far already as a team, why--"

He doesn't finish his sentence but they all know what he meant to say.

"Guess he wants the strongest against him. I don't know why, because that'll just make it harder on him.." Aloha trails off, seeing the less-than-happy expressions on his teammates' faces. "C'mon guys, I have to give Emperor what he wants--"

"You can refuse," Straw points out, folding her arms. "Can you do that?"

Aloha sputters. "I- yeah I can do that, but then what? If the other three agree to it, I'll be held responsible--"

"No no we get it," Scuba cuts him off. "It's fine, man, really. Right?" The last question is aimed at Straw and Octoglasses and all three of them force smiles.

Aloha swallows hard. He doesn't want to leave his team behind but the offer is too tempting to admit. "You sure?"

"Yeah, we are." Octoglasses gives him a plastic smile, patting him on the shoulder. "Go meet with your team. We'll cheer you on."

Aloha hesitates before turning to leave. He doesn't know where any of the other S4 are--

"Aloha, over here." Army waves at him and Aloha changes paths, moving towards the orange Inkling. When Aloha gets closer, he can see Skull and Mask behind Army. "We need to go over plans really quick. We're about to start the main tournament."

"Plans? Can you make this short?" Aloha's familiar with Army's long and tedious battle plans, and he doesn't want to fall asleep before the first match. 

"Yes, fine. I think we're better off going one on one with our opposing team," Army says quickly. "I have already thought it out and suggested it to Mask and Skull and they both agree. I'm not sure how well our playing styles will mesh so we have to take it on by ourselves because we all know how we work individually."

"I'm down for that," Aloha says, shrugging. His body is feeling a bit stiff, though if it's from the pre-match anxiety or going into a tournament without his usual team. He crouches, sticking a leg in front of him, and Mask stares at him.

"What the shell are you doooing?" 

"Working out last minute nerves, y'know?" He grins at the cyan Inkling and Mask rolls his eyes.

"Oh my cod..." Aloha just now notices the whispers, and the increasing crowd around them. Most of them have their phones out and he wonders the reason for all the fuss, but then he remembers that this is probably the first time anyone's seen the S4 in one place. "The S4?"

He ignores the crowd, instead focusing on his new teammates, who all seem way too focused for this. No matter, he could always teach them to loosen up afterwards. "Well then, shall we go?"

Blue Team then decides to force themselves through the crowd. "The S4 are a team??"

"Yup!" Aloha stands, grinning at the new arrivals. "Special request from Emperor himself."

"Though working together suuuucks," Mask adds and Aloha gives him a look, one that the other casually ignores.

"That's good!" Goggles pulls a huge platter of dango from his pocket -- or at least, Aloha hoped it was his pocket -- and offers it to the S4. "Cause then we can all eat together now!"

Aloha never knew how chaotic Blue Team could make everything until they were here right in front of him, offering him dango before the match, but it was amusing to say the least. He hears Skull say something about wanting to rematch Blue Team and the announcement echoes through the Square: For their first round in Block B, the S4 versus the Safari!

"Well, we'll be heading off," Aloha says, gathering up his weapon in one hand, waving to Blue Team with the other. The rest of the S4 walk ahead of him, leading the way to the lobby. They all agree to change their ink color to purple, as a way of making Skull the leader, something Aloha's fine with because Skull is too scary for him to protest.

The opposing team are all geared up like they're going out for a wilderness trip and it would be so hilarious if it weren't so pathetic how easily the S4 won. They went one on one, took out each member, and proceeded to hold the majority of the stage for the rest of the match.

So now they moved on, and Mask is the one to check the brackets, heaving a sigh when it finally loads.

"Oh greaat."

"Who're we battling?" Aloha leans over him and Mask shoves him away. "Emperor?"

Mask nods and Aloha feels his stomach do a flip. So soon? What a coincidence. They hadn't been able to properly get a handle on each other's strengths and weaknesses to be able to cover each other or know when to leave them be, so they'll be at a disadvantage for that aspect. But then again, they're the S4. What can't they do?

"Same tactic?" Skull asks Army as they ready themselves for the next match.

"Same tactic. Unless you have a better idea on the fly."

"I don't."

"Then same tactic."

The lobby doors close behind them and even though Aloha hasn't removed the smile slapped across his face, he's feeling quite the opposite of confident and cheerful. They'll win this.

Right?

He's tasked to Eging Jr, or whatever the shell his name is, at the start of the match. This might be incredibly easy or terribly difficult, and he soon finds out it's the latter. Only barely half a minute into battle and he's already been splatted. Eging is fast, faster than him even, and Aloha finds himself overwhelmed by the other Inkling and his Clash Blaster. 

His teammates aren't faring much better. Army is having a hard time sneaking up on N-Pacer, Team Monarch's designated backliner, Mask seems to have given up on his assignment already and tries to help Skull with taking down Emperor, but both fail. 

By the end of the match, Aloha's been splatted so many times, he lost count. Every time he goes after Eging, the other somehow manages to find a way around him. Either that, or N-Pacer targets him from across the map and snipes him.

He's actually breathing hard by the time the match is over, covered head to toe in yellow ink. He's briefly reminded by the Goldenrods, whose ink color also is yellow. Was this what it felt like to be all those teams who challenged the Goldenrods and lost? He's exhausted beyond what he can even believe and when the whistle blows, he falls backwards, knees buckling underneath him. The ceiling is full of pipelines, a confusing mess of metal, and he's barely aware of the commentator announcing Emperor's win when footsteps echo behind him. He tilts his head back to see Scuba staring down at him, hand outstretched. The concern is his eyes are shielded by the plastic of his snorkel mask, and Aloha hesitantly takes his second-in-command's hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. The rest of the S4 are being helped by their own teams too, and he notices how everyone steps over the various splotches of yellow ink.

"You okay?" Straw asks him, eyes wide. "That was--" Her voice trails off but he knows what she was about to say.

Horrific.

"'M fine," Aloha offers her a slight smile. "We just got dragged. Nothin' new."

His teammates -- former teammates? were they still a team? -- don't look convinced. "The S4 lost," Octoglasses says, as if it wasn't already established before. "You guys... were supposed to be strong."

Aloha can hear the tone in her voice, the incredulous, almost mocking way she says those words. "Guess we underestimated them, didn't we?" His smile grows larger, automatically switching to his fake demeanor. "Bad tactic. I'll blame Army for that."

"Right." Scuba's hand rubs at the back of his neck before coming back to fiddle with his snorkel tube. "Now what? Do you need to 'discuss tactics' with the S4 or are you four done?"

Aloha's faux smile fades slightly. Scuba's tone makes him sound... obnoxious, which is a word he's never associated with his friend before.

"I dunno, actually. Lemme ask." He saunters over to Army, who's in the middle of a conversation. "Yo, Army?"

The orange Inkling turns, brows furrowing. "Yes?"

"Are we free to leave or are you going to lecture us or something?"

Army frowns. "Skull left already, didn't he?" He gestures around them to the lack of any Purple Team members. Aloha didn't even notice them leave. "I guess you're dismissed."

"Thanks," Aloha winks at him and turns back around to tell his teammates that they're free to go. But they're nowhere to be found.

Confused, he looks around the stage, but he can't see any pink as far as he can see, which is more than a bit concerning. They didn't leave him behind did they?

He walks through the entire stage before giving up and going back to the Square, thoroughly puzzled now. Why would they leave him behind? He knows they were upset about the whole S4 thing, but not to the point of just stranding him in the middle of Humpback Pumptrack.

They wanted to check out clothes before the invitation though, right? Maybe they'd be there.

Aloha has a feeling that he won't find his teammates anywhere around him but he heads to the clothing shop anyway, hearts sinking with each step.

The door to the store slides open when he gets there and a voice almost immediately calls out to him.

"Hey excuse me?"

He turns to see a pair of girls standing there, tinted blush spread across their cheeks. "Are you Aloha?" one of them asks.

Aloha offers the girls a grin. "Yes I am. What can I do for you~?"

"I, uh, we just, ah, uh," the first girl stumbles over her words and the second one elbows her friend before speaking herself.

"We were wondering if we could.. get your autograph?"

The words are vaguely familiar, and these girls look to be about a few years younger than him. He's reminded of Camo and the way he was brutally rejected, and manages somehow to make the smile even wider. "Yeah, sure!"

"Oh my cod. Oh my cod." Both fumble with their bags, approaching him cautiously. "Can you sign my shirt?"

His gaze drops to their shirt and back up again before the first girl remembers to hand him a pen. He signs with a flourish on her sleeve, doing the same for the second. They back off, squealing. "Thank you! And if it's too much to ask--"

"Yes?"

"I dunno, your fashion is amazing, like your entire team really has that chill aesthetic going on? We were wondering if you could--"

"Find clothes to suit you?" Aloha can't help finishing the sentence. As much as he loves the attention, he's starting to feel a bit bored. "Of course!"

He pulls a shirt off of the hangar at random, offering it to them. "I think you'll look better in this~"

The second girl takes it, eyes sparkling, and Aloha takes another random shirt and passes it to the first girl. They whisper over the clothes before someone taps him on the back of his calve.

"I refuse ye skirt-chasers." 

Aloha spins around to see the shop owner -- he doesn't know their name firsthand but the name tag reads Jelfonzo -- and offers a confused look to the jellyfish. Jelfonzo just narrows his eyes. "Please depart henceforth."

Cod, he couldn't understand whatever this jellyfish was saying, but at least Aloha gets the gist of it.

"Oh, I was just leavin'." It's a lie of course, but Jelfonzo just nods and walks away, letting Aloha exit the shop as quickly as he can, to run into Blue Team, who are just finishing up their shift at the Crust Bucket.

For some reason, Army and Mask are lurking around: the orange Inkling is reading something from his manual at one of the far tables, Mask sitting a table next to him on his phone. Skull is nowhere to be seen.

Aloha is distracted by Headphones and Glasses screeching about another one of Goggles' stunts before Rider exits Ammo Knights and walks towards them, Skull trailing behind. 

There's something with shwaffles, before Aloha manages to get close enough to see what's going on. Goggles had managed to craft a fried miniature version of Rider with his pants down, and while it's pretty amazing, no one wants to eat it, most likely because Rider looks like he's going to explode in annoyance.

Crusty Sean is the one to try it first surprisingly and Aloha pounces on the remains of it, barely noticing the rest of the S4 suddenly besides him. "Hm, this does taste pretty good," he says cheerfully, simply to watch the corner of Rider's eye tick in anger. It's amusing to see the other Inkling annoyed, though he can't exactly explain why.

He's lying. Again. That makes more than he should, but the fact that the S4 are here only reminds him that his own team isn't. Did the other S4 members feel like this for leaving their teams behind too?

He watches the rest of the Square King Cup in a partial daze. Rider loses to Emperor. Gloves, the dualies user who in Aloha's honest opinion is too reliant on trends, lost to Blue Team. And Blue Team ended up taking the championship, quite surprisingly, but at the same time, Aloha feels like this was preordained because no one has ever seen anything like that team before. Their sheer stupidity overwhelmed everyone to the point where they couldn't be predicted, and they used that to turn the tides. It's impressive, really.

But still, he's reminded again that he's without his team here, and the dread of going to face them increases when he eventually heads back to his apartment, giving Skull the promise that they'll meet later to discuss more efficient battle plans than the ones they used in the Square King Cup.

The apartment is silent when he enters, and he doesn't know if it's worse or better that his friends weren't talking beforehand. Scuba looks up when he approaches and grins at him, though it's decidedly more faded than usual. "Hey, 'Loha."

Aloha smiles, but it's strained and he knows that by the look on his teammates' faces, they can tell something's wrong. "Did you guys leave me behind back there?"

"No," Straw says, answer too rushed to be the truth. "We thought you had to talk stuff out with your new team."

"I did say I had to ask, right?" Aloha drops the smile. There's no point in forcing it here when it won't do a single thing to help anyone.

They all look away at that.

"Look, if I had a choice--" his voice is too loud in the sudden quiet, but he keeps going. "--I wouldn't join that team, alright? But the opportunity came up, it happened, and we're apparently a team now. I don't know where that came from, since we barely get along anyway, but for now-- Scuba--"

The masked Inkling looks up when his name is called, eyes narrowed slightly, but Aloha can see the slight panic there. "Yeah?"

"You're temporary leader of Pink Team now."

"What?" Scuba stands. "Why? You're not actually joinin' the S4 as part of a team, are you?"

"I don't know what's going on, alright?" It's the first time Aloha's ever really raised his voice at his friends, so he can't blame them for flinching. He shoves the guilt away and continues. "I don't know what we're doin', don't know what the others want. You're the leader now, alright? You can find randoms in lobbies or somethin', I don't know."

Scuba blinks rapidly. "Dude, I can't be the leader."

"Why not?"

"You're the leader, man. I can't take your place."

Annoyance rises inside Aloha. Cod, they don't know that all this change is hard for him too. Pink Team isn't known for being non-compliant  and he isn't about to change that. He doesn't want to leave his team, he doesn't want to work with a new team he barely knows. "You're gonna have to be, Scuba. I can't lead this team while I'm with the S4."

"S4 this, S4 that." Scuba bursts out, and Aloha makes eye contact with him finally, startled. "We're your teammates, your friends from childhood, man, yeah the S4 are cool and you wanna please them, but don't push us to the side and expect us to just deal with that! We're happy for you, we really are, but not when it's like this!" He gestures to Straw and Octoglasses, who both are matching his expression of protest. "I can't take your damned place, 'Loha, and I never will be able to. You're the leader of this team, and without you being here, are we really the same?"

"You're still Pink Team, aren't you?" Aloha can't hold back the smart aleck comment and Scuba swallows hard. 

"So you're just gonna disengage yourself from us? You're part of the S4 all of a sudden? Just like that?"

Aloha doesn't find the courage in himself to respond. He doesn't know what to do anymore. He wants to comply with the S4's wants but also keep his old team. He can't be in two teams at once; that'll just make things hard because each team will have to take a backseat every time he goes back and forth. 

Scuba seems to be waiting for a response, before he sighs. "Yeah, I guess you are."

"Why can't you just lead Pink Team?"

The words aren't meant to come out angry, but Aloha's tired of this. He doesn't like arguing with his friends. He just wants it to end.

"There is no Pink Team." Scuba looks like he wants to cry, but his brows are drawn in seriousness. 

"No Pink Team?" Straw stands as well, eyes wide. "What do you mean?"

"If three people can't make a team, then two people can't either, can they?" Scuba turns to face the girls, his back to his leader, and Aloha takes a step towards his friend. His mind is whirling. What the shell is that supposed to mean?

"What? What are you sayin', man?"

 "I'm saying that I won't be leader of Pink Team, because there is no Pink Team. Not anymore" Scuba spins back around, and Aloha is struck by how angry he looks. He's never seen Scuba like this before -- none of them have. "I quit."

He should've done something to make Scuba stay. He should've called out him while his former second-in-command walked right past him without making eye contact, gaze set on the door. 

Instead, he watches in numb horror as his best friend walks out on him, the door slamming shut so violently, the whole wall shakes.

Straw and Octoglasses seem startled and surprised, but neither makes a move to do anything about it. Straw just looks back down at her phone, and Octoglasses makes eye contact with Aloha briefly before turning on the TV. The Inkopolis News Channel, now taken over by a new idol duo called Off the Hook, starts to play but Aloha can't watch. Guilt overrides his body and carries him to his room. Or rather, the one that he and Scuba shared. Used to share.

It's empty without the other Inkling; the room wasn't that spacious to begin with but now it just seems like vast endless space. Scuba had left all his stuff behind, not that Aloha could see much of it anyway because the other was surprisingly neat.

On instinct, he pulls out his phone, desperately hoping that his friend would have texted him or something, but his screen is empty except for a text from Army that he hasn't answered in a week. The message shines up at him and he just stares at it blankly with glazed eyes. Something about the S4. Their breakup. He doesn't know the rest.

All of a sudden, anger overtakes him and he swipes upwards, intent on deleting Army's message. He doesn't care about the S4, he doesn't want to deal with any of this. But when he reaches the message box, the fury drains from him and he's left looking at that damned speech bubble, the text neat and tidy, like everyone he's ever butted heads with.

[Army]: Aloha-- I know we broke up a while ago and to be honest, I think it's been draining on both of us. In my honest opinion, I think it would be easier if we could be friends again? Besides, Emperor requested for the S4 and we need to be able to cooperate on the field. I understand if you're not up for the task, and I just need your agreement that we should at least pretend while on battle as to not bring our team down. Let me know what you think. -Army

Aloha's fingers hover over the keys. He doesn't know how to respond, considering this has been read for a week and still instigated no reply. Scuba's gone, Straw and Octoglasses could follow soon after if he didn't fix this, and he's uncertain about the S4. Who even thought it was a good idea to group them together?

[Aloha]: hey army

The response is almost immediate; it's like Army was just sitting by his phone, waiting for Aloha to text him.

[Army]: Aloha. Is everything alright?

The pink Inkling feels a wave of appreciation for his ex. Really, deep down, he supposes he still cares about the other, as Army does him, but it isn't in the romantic aspect anymore. More... platonic?

The question is at the tip of his tongue and he's typing it out before he can even process it.

[Aloha]: yeah i mean unless u count ur friend walking out on u 'alright'

There's a brief pause.

[Army]: What happened?

[Aloha]: the s4 happened

[Army]: What?

[Aloha]: i mean its dumb cause i never wanted to join the team in the first place but scuba walked out on me because i was joining the s4 and ig he got upset that i had to back down from my position as leader, yknow 

[Army]: Oh.

Army's silent for so long that Aloha starts to think that he doesn't want to talk, but the small ping on his phone makes him look down at his device again.

[Army]: Have you talked to him about it?

[Aloha]: no

[Army]: Well, I think you should try doing that.

[Aloha]: did u have this problem w ur own teammates? are they upset abt u joining the s4

[Army]: Yes, actually. But I talked to them and they're okay with it now. It's hard for people to accept change sometimes. That's what Skull told me after he got into an argument with his own team about this.

[Aloha]: so.. u all had this issue?

[Army]: Not specifically walking out on anyone but some got close.

[Aloha]: oh. k.

Aloha drops his head into his hands. Cod, why was this so difficult? Why did Scuba have to--

[Aloha]: so i should talk to him?

[Army]: Yes, you should. I personally think you might find something new during the conversation.

[Aloha]: whats that supposed to mean

[Army]: You're going to have to find out yourself, Aloha. Now, did you read my previous text?

[Aloha]: what

[Aloha]: oh. that one

[Aloha]: yeah ig we can be friends again. ur stuck up but kinda chill.

[Army]: ...I'll take it as a compliment. Reminder that we're meeting tomorrow at Purple Team's base.

[Aloha]: yeah yeah. i got it. thx dude.

[Army]: No problem.

Aloha chucks his phone onto the bed, feeling a lot lighter than he did ten seconds ago. So Army and the rest of the S4 did have this problem with their teammates. It was somewhat reassuring that they had the issue but then overcame it. He pulls open Scuba's contact info, staring at the profile picture that he had chosen for his friend. It was that one time they went to the rooftop of their apartment building during a Splatfest and threw a party there until the landlord told them to stop. They had taken a group selfie on the edge there, framed by the fireworks and lights from the Plaza. Scuba is in the middle of laughing, lifting his cup to the sky as if to toast the camera, eyes fixated on someone out of frame of the profile. A wave of nostalgia hits Aloha as he stares at the photo, and he wishes things could go back to the way they were before. He just needed to find Scuba, though he had no idea where the other could be.

He taps into his photos to look at the picture in full. They look so happy there, before Emperor, before he hit on Rider, before he dated Army. It was actually one of the last times Aloha could remember that Scuba actually genuinely smiled instead of that grin, the one that he wore all the time that people would think it was his real smile. Aloha would think so too if he didn't know the difference so well. It was flashy, loud, and attracted people quickly, which was why he used it so often. But his real smile was a bit more subdued, a bit more shy. Aloha honestly didn't know why Scuba didn't smile like that in public. It suited him much more, and it was much cuter than the fake one. Not that Scuba wasn't cute when he smiled like that either--

Wait.

He shakes his head to clear those thoughts, confusion riding through his brain. Why was he just thinking like that all of a sudden? He doesn't have time for this, he has to find his friend.

He looks down at the picture again, and he sits there for a solid two minutes before it clicks.

The roof.

He runs out of the room, leaving the apartment so quickly, he doesn't have time to see Octoglasses and Straw's knowing look. 

The roof is empty, or at least he thinks it is. When he rounds the corner, which is blocked off by a huge structure, he finds Scuba sitting cross legged in the shade of a pillar, on his phone.

Aloha freezes. Suddenly, his legs don't work, and he mentally curses himself. He just needs to convince Scuba to rejoin Pink Team, maybe explain what was going on so his friend didn't hate him so much. Scuba doesn't seem to notice him yet -- not until he speaks, that is.

"Hey 'Loha." His voice is flat, devoid of any emotion, and Aloha winces. 

"Hey?"

Scuba doesn't say anything. His face is angled away from Aloha, and he seems to be looking at something on his phone but the shorter Inkling can see that Scuba's device is turned off.

"I'm sorry." The words taste funny, but he says them anyway, because really, he is sorry. 

"I forgive you." His voice, coddammit, his voice is too flat, too lifeless. It's like Scuba suddenly turned into robot.

Aloha takes a hesitant step forward, like he's approaching a wild animal who could take his head off in an instant, but Scuba doesn't react. "I mean it. I'm really sorry, man. I shouldn't have shoved you to the side like that. You, Straw, OG, none of you deserved that, alright? It was-- it was wrong of me to do that, to accept the invitation without checkin' in with you guys first. But I didn't-- I didn't want to join the S4 either."

Scuba makes a noise, but Aloha isn't sure what to think of it. "So you wanted me to lead Pink Team? 'Cause you were joinin' the S4, is that right?"

"Yes, 'cause I trust you, Scuba. Don't tell OG or Straw but I trust you more than I could trust them, 'cause we're close, man. Or we were close, I don't know what's going on. You seem to be kinda distant all the time now."

Scuba looks over at him finally, expression blank. "So you basically wanted me to take your place, man. I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"You-- I--" Scuba stumbles over his words for a moment before managing to speak in full. "You're too... out there. Like-- you know everyone knows you. You're popular, man, more than you realize. You've got everyone wrapped around your finger and you just flaunt whatever crazy shit that goes on because your whole reputation is on not giving a single fuck about anythin'. I can't-- I can't do that. All of us, compared to you, we're just down low, tryna get up there, but you're already at the top."

Aloha blinks. He had no idea that Scuba thought of him this way. Sure, the general public could beg to differ, but Scuba? Scuba's known him for forever it feels like, and still thinks of him like this? "You actually think of me like this? Like someone who's got it all?"

"I mean, yeah." Scuba waves an arm out at the skyline around them. "I mean, c'mon, you've got the popularity, you actually have a decent skill set and lead your own team, you're part of the S4, you can pretty much seduce your way to the top if they'd let you, you're pretty fuckin' cute too--"

He stops, expression suddenly closing up. Aloha stares at him. His friend's words clatter around in his head, and he gains literally nothing from it except for the word 'cute'. Did Scuba think he was cute?

But then again, didn't he have a crush on someone? Someone who he said was out of his league, someone he felt like he didn't have a chance with--

The pieces are starting to come together. The way he defended him against Camo. The fact that he was the first person Scuba called after being forced to leave his house. The reason why Scuba never dated Octoglasses even though both of them seemed into each other. Scuba's sudden coming out. How distant he seemed after Aloha started dating Army. The uncharacteristic questioning after he had a one night stand with Rider. The plan to give up in the middle of the freaking match against Blue Team. The random question about having a unrequited crush on someone. Scuba walking out. Army's cryptic response. Everything.

It was like a door had been opening in Aloha's mind, except Aloha didn't know whether to walk through it or not. Scuba has a crush on him-- had been for a long time. But did he even return the feelings?

Scuba's always been there for him, it's true. And maybe, just maybe, Aloha liked him much more than anyone else he's ever dated. 

Scuba seems to be taking his silence as something unwelcome, and he stands quickly, brushing off his shirt and stowing his phone in his pocket. "Look, man, nice talkin' to you and all, but I gotta go--"

Aloha grabs his wrist without thinking and Scuba freezes, the look on his face embodying so much terror that Aloha almost feels sorry for him.

"Wait."

"Wait for what?" If he didn't look so scared, Aloha would almost think Scuba is annoyed.

Aloha stands, hand still firmly wrapped around Scuba's wrist. He's so stupid for not even noticing any of this before. His heart rate is going through the roof, but he barely acknowledges it. "This."

He twists himself around so Scuba is fully facing him. Scuba only stares at him, eyes wide. A pink tint is spreading from his cheeks to his ears, turning darker by the second as Aloha reaches up to take the other's mask in both hands, gently tugging it down to hang around Scuba's neck. 

And then they're kissing, moving to press against the nearby structure, the cold metal seeping through Aloha's shirt. His hand instinctively goes up to intertwine in the taller Inkling's tentacles, Scuba responding by pinning him to the structure, tongue exploring the inside of his mouth. Aloha lets him, just resolving to stay in the moment and enjoy it.

It's over far too soon, and Scuba finally pulls away, panting. Both of them are covered in sweat, breathless, and a gentle wind starts to blow, ruffling their tentacles and the edges of their shirts. It feels good, and Aloha suddenly feels very tired, sliding down the base of the structure to sit at the bottom of it. Scuba lowers himself to the ground next to him and they sit there in comfortable silence.

"How long have you liked me?"

"Ever since I met you, man. It only got stronger when I got older, which probably is a good thing, but I treated it like a bad thing, because you were always off on other people's love lives and too out of my league to really do anythin'."

"You could've just asked." Aloha tilts his head to look at Scuba, who's just staring out at the city below them, hands moving to place his mask back on his face.

"That's the thing. If I asked, it would've ended up like Rider. Temporary feelin's but not real. That's also why I didn't tell you. I don't think I would've been able to be in Army's place, or Rider's." Scuba looks back over at Aloha and Aloha's struck by how open he looks. "I shouldn't have done what I did but.. I don't even know what I was thinkin'. You didn't need any of that shit."

"Maybe I did." Aloha gives a slight laugh. "I was too dense to even figure it out anyway."

"Guess that makes two of us." Scuba smiles then, and it's a real smile, not the ones he flashes to unsuspecting passerby. 

--

When they finally get back to the apartment, Octoglasses and Straw are waiting for them, the grins on their faces showing they knew exactly what happened on the roof.

"You guys have fun?"
"How long did you know?"

Straw just giggles and flips a tentacle over her shoulder. "Let's just say that you guys really aren't that subtle."

Aloha finds out that he isn't one for meetings. The S4, as much as they try to hold one, are too chaotic to really focus on anything except for Army, who keeps trying to get the others to go over his lengthy battle plans. Mask is half asleep and Aloha is fairly certain he's watching some kind of video game walkthrough instead of paying attention. Skull, at least, gives Army enough to show he's paying attention as long as he has something sweet to sate him over, and Aloha himself just tunes Army out and counts the number of Inklings that buy something from the newly repaired Crust Bucket.

So far there has been twelve Inklings, two full teams straight from the lobby, and a few jellyfish.

He wonders when Army will stop talking.

A familiar face thankfully distracts him from the meeting; he's never seen any of the Goldenrods in the Square before, and they look somewhat out of place with all the younger Inklings around them. None of them are carrying weapons, which means they came here for something else.

"Hey, Aloha!" Hunter waves at him and he waves back, sitting up straighter. "You got a minute?" Her head turns slightly to see the rest of the S4 and her smile grows a bit wider. "Or you busy?"

Aloha glances over at Army, who sighs. "I'll stop by later. Look them over tonight. Practice is at 8." Aloha just rolls his eyes good-naturally and moves over to the Goldenrods, leaving the S4 behind. 

"Whatcha need?"

"Ah, nothing," Hunter says with a grin. "We just wanted to check on you, 'cause somethin' came up with Camo so... y'know.." She trails off, her smile fading slightly.

Urchin steps forward, looking down her nose at Aloha, and the shorter Inkling involuntarily backs up a few steps. Urchin's lips twitch. "He's taken up business, so no need to worry about the turfing industry," she says. "Well, actually, all of us have, but it's more part-time than anything."

"So you still turf right?" Aloha can't bear to think of his former idols doing anything other than kicking butt in turf. 

"Oh, we do," Satin says, who has been silent up to this point. Aloha's eyes immediately go to the bandage patched on the yellow Inkling's cheek before glancing away out of respect.  "We actually came here to.. play ranked with you. If you're up to it, of course." He gives Hunter a look, who offers the other a halfhearted shrug and a frustrated look before slinging an arm around Aloha.

"So, whaddya say? Do you need to ask your teammates or anything? No pressure though, you totally can refuse."

"Yeah, lemme just ask 'em." Aloha tugs out his phone, scrolling through his messages. He patched things up with Straw and Octoglasses better than he imagined, and now the four of them were still a team, and they were more agreeable with him going out with the S4. Scuba still refused to take leadership position, but he did allow Aloha to make him a stand-in for whenever Aloha had to go with his other team (which was becoming more and more frequent now. he eventually planned to join the S4 permanently because it was getting tiring going back and forth). 

They all respond at around the same time, all of them flooding his notifs with agreements. He looks back up at the Goldenrods, grinning. "Yeah, looks like I'm free."

"Awesome!" Hunter cheers. "We've been wanting to play alongside you ever since you beat us in Splat Zones."

"Wait, seriously?" Aloha can't imagine this. These Inklings, at least seven years older than him, have wanted to play with him? 

"Yes," Urchin says, and she's wearing one of her rare smiles. "We do. It was quite a feat you pulled back then, and what are you now-- sixteen?"

"Seventeen."

"Right-- seventeen. Soon you'll be our age, and by then, we'll probably be out of turfing. You know how it goes."

He does. There's no age limit for turfing, except you have to be over fourteen, but rarely any adults play because teenagers are young and fresh and are the ones to usually dominate the sport.

"Yeah. But hang on-- where are your weapons?"

"Hm." Urchin glances over her shoulder at the other two members, who shrug. "Did you leave them back there, Hunter?"

"Yeah, gimme a sec." Hunter dashes off too quickly to follow, and Aloha gets the feeling that they aren't telling the entire truth about being here to play with him.

A Rapid Blaster flies past his face and he looks up in time to see Urchin catch it easily before turning to Hunter, a slight exasperated smile on her face. "Be a bit more careful, please."

"Hey, I knew you were gonna catch it," Hunter crosses her arms after she hands Satin his weapon.

"You don't know that." There's some gentleness -- fondness, if Aloha could make an interpretations from it -- in Urchin's voice. He's never heard her talk that way to anyone before.

"Uh huh." Hunter grins briefly at Aloha as if to say can you believe her? and Aloha gives a hesitant smile back. "Oh, by the way, you hear of those new Kensa weapons? I've always wanted to try the Booyah Bomb."

"You're just looking for ways to booyah without anyone getting mad at you," Satin admonishes and Hunter scoffs.

"Uh, no way. I booyah in a very appropriate, not-spam way."

"Right." Urchin rolls her eyes and turns to Aloha. "Alright. You ready?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Don't be cheeky."

--

It's Rainmaker this rotation, and while Aloha is impartial to the mode itself, his opinion on the game with the remaining members of the Goldenrods is so high, he's pretty sure that if he were to measure it out, it'd reach higher than Deca Tower. 

He can tell how the Goldenrods got to S+ rank because all of them work in perfect sync with each other, corresponding to each other's movements like they're a single Inkling instead of three. He doesn't recall this much coordination when Pink Team was fighting them on Splat Zones, and it occurs to him that maybe they were holding back a little. He doesn't know whether to be flattered or disappointed by that.

The match ends with a knockout, and since Aloha is tasked with holding the Rainmaker while the others cover him, he's able to shout a booyah before the match ends, Hunter returning it after the whistle blows.

"Good game, Aloha!" She high fives him as they leave the lobby and Aloha feels like he's going to burst. "That was awesome! How'd you get through with the Rainmaker so quickly?"

"Stacked with swim speed and run speed," Aloha responds. He, as well as the rest of Pink Team prioritize any type of speed over different chunks. It's helped them in tight spots, especially when they Disco Ball Dance -- now that he thinks of it, they haven't performed that move in a while. He makes a mental note to turf at least one game with his original team before permanently joining the S4. 

A strange look crosses over the Goldenrods' faces when they hear that and he's about to ask what's wrong before Satin says quietly, "Camo did too."

Oh. Aloha feels his hearts sink, though he has no idea why. Didn't they just say that Camo was in business now? So he'd be no threat to anyone, right?

The expression on all of their faces show they have something to say about the reason why they're really here, so Aloha just waits awkwardly, scuffing the pavement with the toe of his shoe. He needs to get a new pair soon because these are getting a bit worn out.

"Camo wants to talk to you," Urchin says finally, distracting Aloha's observations of his gear. "He wants to apologize."

"Now?" Aloha frowns. "But didn't you just say--"

"Yes, he's no longer turfing, and we are on the edge of that too. I suppose we don't know you that well other than you being the kid who's trailed after us for so many years and suddenly became a celebrity. But, the three of us... aren't going to turf anymore. We wanted our last game to be with the only person who's beaten us in a while, and since we've been reminded of that last game, we've made up with Camo. I think it would make it easier for us all if you did too."

"I--"

"It's been bothering you, hasn't it?" Satin asks. His expression is neutral but Aloha can read the vulnerability in his eyes. "Camo, I mean."

Aloha opens his mouth, thinks better of what he was going to say, and coughs into his fist. "Yeah.. He has, actually."

"Hm." Satin gives Aloha a slight smile. "Well I can't speak for you, but I believe you will feel much better if you... talked to him."

"Didn't he beat both of us up last time?" He doesn't mean for the words to be so harsh, and Satin winces. 

"He did. But I honestly think you won't regret it."

Aloha bites his lip. It's getting later by the second and he told Pink Team he'd be back before dusk so they could pull in one last turf match before bed. But the ranked match pushed the time back even further, so he doesn't know when he'll be able to get back.

He's given his team the short end of the stick so many times these past few months and he doesn't want to keep doing it. What kind of friend is he to do that?

"I don't think I'll be able to," Aloha admits. "I told my team I'd turf with them tonight. I can't put it off today."

"We understand." Urchin smiles then, a real smile, and pats him on the shoulder. "If you ever need us, we're just down the road."

"You coming to the Splatfests still? Even if you aren't going to turf?"
"No."

"Yes," Hunter says at the same time, and gives Urchin a look. "Splatfests are super fun!"

"Well you better choose the right side if you ever participate," Aloha jokes, and Hunter chuckles.

"Oh, there's a right side? Dang, Satin, Urchin, did you know that?"

"There's no right side. Whatever side we don't choose is the wrong side," Urchin replies. Satin snorts. 

"Ego, Urchin. Your ego."

"Mr. Ego-meter here doesn't want to admit that we're right all the time," Hunter grins and pecks Satin on the cheek that isn't bandaged. "Isn't that right?"

He shrugs her off, smiling. "You may want to rethink that before I purposefully choose opposite of you."

Aloha watches them banter, half-smiling. It's refreshing to see people that he's initially labelled as aloof and serious loosen up, and he never gets tired of it. His phone buzzes in his pocket, only reminding him that his team is still waiting on him.

[Scuba]: yo, loha, you ready yet? youre takin too long man

"I gotta go," he says to the Goldenrods, and they all look over at him, conversation stopping.

"Well, have fun, dude." Hunter finger-guns him and Aloha just responds with a grin. "Don't get splatted too much."

As they walk away, Aloha can hear Satin saying, "You know his whole gimmick is not getting splatted, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Hunter responds, giggling, her voice fading the farther she gets, "It was an in-the-moment thing."

Aloha watches them depart before turning back around to face the lobby as Straw yells his name.

"Aloha! You coming?"

He jogs over to them, a involuntary grin spreading across his face as he gets closer. "Yeah, yeah, hang on to your tentacles, Straw."

She mockingly salutes him, laughing. Octoglasses takes that moment to steal her girlfriend's hat and they chase each other in circles before they dart into the lobby.  Scuba's arm wraps around his waist then, and Aloha leans upwards to kiss him before they enter the lobby themselves, the doors sliding shut behind them.

Soda

Take One

Aloha quickly ties the bandanna over his eyes, struggling a bit with the knot, but eventually manages to secure it. “Okay, now what?”
“This!” He feels a slight burst of air to his left and he stands there for a second too long. The soda can hits him in the face and he starts laughing, fumbling with the bandanna and eventually rips it off while Cap stares at him in horror and amusement, struggling to hold in his own laughter.

"Oh my cod, are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

Idol Trouble

Take One

"Camo?" He stares, wishing he could vault over the railing and stand on the spawn point with his idol.
"Who's Camo?" Scuba's watching the screen, eyebrows scrunched together and Aloha blinks. How does Scuba not know who Camo is?

There's a lengthy pause before Scuba looks over at him expectantly, grinning. "Looks like you don't know who he is either."

Aloha, realizing his mistake, starts to laugh. "I'm sorry! I forgot my line."

"It's chill, let's just go from the top."

Take Five

He can't stop the tears this time. Aloha quickly shoves his visor down so Camo can't see his tears and runs off, winding through the crowds of chattering Inklings, the last thing he hears over his shoulder is Urchin letting loose a rough laugh.
"Damn, you need to stop scaring off your fans, Camo."
"It's so they challenge me later," is Camo's response.

There's a pause.

"Famous last words, man. Famous last words," Hunter says, before the Goldenrods dissolve into laughter.

Take Twelve

Camo's knee comes out of nowhere, striking Scuba in the face and sending the pink Inkling sprawling backwards, knocking his mask askew. The crowd shouts and clusters closer, phone cameras out and ready.

Scuba just lays there on the ground and there's tense silence for a second before he says weakly, giggles escaping him involuntarily. "Uh, I can't stand up."

Camo winces. "Was that too hard? Sorry, sorry."

He quickly moves over to Scuba and offers a hand, the pink Inkling letting himself be pulled choppily to his feet. "Ugh, yeah it was." Scuba shakes his head to clear it and lets out a breath. "Guess you aren't a Dynamo user for nothing."

Slips and Tricks

Take One

She's about his age, though her eyes are larger than his, pointed at the tips. "Hi! You here to watch the ocean too?"
"No, I'm looking for my friend." Aloha frowns and looks around as if Cap would suddenly appear. "He wears a Takoroka Cap. Have you seen him?"
"No, sorry." The girl swings her legs over the dock edge and stands, promptly slipping and falling over into the water with a loud splash.

Inklings move in from offscreen with a life preserver and rope to fish her out while Aloha directly at the camera, trying not to laugh.

Take Two

"Your friend?" Aloha didn't sense anyone around him, but a sudden movement catches his eyes. He instinctively dodges and another girl falls past him, wearing a massive straw hat. She grabs him around the waist as she topples past him, however, and pulls him to the ground too. Octoglasses starts to laugh so hard that she falls into the water again.

Sketchy Moves

Take One

"I'm not going anywhere." Aloha ducks out of Cap's grip and twists away. "Were you just betting on something? Are you selling drugs?"

"Yeah," Cap says and he raises an eyebrow, leaning in to Aloha like he's about to let him in on a secret. "You want some?"

Urchin's Rapid Blaster suddenly comes flying from offscreen and nearly nails him in the face. "Woah, what the--"

"He's a kid, Cap!"

Laughter erupts behind the camera and Cap just shrugs, grinning. 

"Well, that take's messed up."

Take Two

"What?" Aloha looks desperately at Cap. That couldn't be true, could it?
Cap is looking like he wants to wring Straw's neck. "You little---"

Straw crouches into a ball, grinning, as if she wants to prove that she is little, and Cap rolls his eyes. 

"Can we retake that?"

Take Three

Cap is looking like he wants to wring Straw's neck. "You little---"
"It's true!" Octoglasses comes to stand besides Straw, eyes narrowed. "This guy is bad, Aloha. You should stay away from him."

"Yeah, that's right!" Scuba shouts from offscreen. "Stay away from him 'cause he'll just sell you drugs when you're older!"

"Scuba, I swear to cod, we can't keep retaking this scene," Cap grumbles, but he's smiling all the same while the girls start to giggle.

Phone Calls

Take One

"It's Aloha. Is Scuba there?"
"Oh, you're his friend. Give me a second."
Scuba's brother takes his face away from the phone and shouts, "SCUBA! YOUR FRIEND IS ON THE LINE!"

Aloha flinches at the suddenly increase in volume and drops the phone, watching as it just tugs the entire receiver from the counter and crashes to the floor. He stares at it for a second before quickly picking it up and putting it back, as if he didn't do anything.

Take Two

Scuba's brother takes his face away from the phone and shouts, "SCUBA! YOUR FRIEND IS ON THE LINE!"
There's a series of clicks and shuffling noises before Scuba's voice becomes startlingly clear over the speaker, sounding like he's trying to hold back a chuckle. "Yo, this is Inkopolis Morgue. You stab 'em, we slab 'em."

There's a pause before Aloha doubles over, howling with laughter, shoving the phone back into the receiver.

Color??

Take One

"What would work?" Scuba looks confused, but Straw just turns to Octoglasses.
"On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"
Both of them close their eyes, brows knitting together, and the pale purple of their tentacles turn bright green.

"Uh, that doesn't seem right," Aloha says slowly, a slight smile spreading across his face.

"No, no we got it this time," Octoglasses says quickly and they both turn dark blue. 

"Nope." Scuba folds his arms, grinning.

"How about now?" They're yellow now, and Aloha shakes his head. 

"Okay, you know what?" Both of them turn back to purple and Straw looks offscreen. "Can we just redo that whole scene?"

Moms....

Take One

"You two are too busy working to know what's going on with me! Do you even care?"
"Sweetie, we do care," Alina says, eyes large.
"Really? Then tell me the last time I had a proper birthday."

There's a moment of silence.

"Last year."

"Really."

Alina snickers. "No. April Fools!"

"I hate you so much."

Take Four

"Aloha, please think this through," Maria pleads. "Inkopolis isn't a place for someone like you. You're too... fragile."
"Fragile?" Aloha feels a wave of indignation. "How would you know?"

"That time when you accidentally dropped a plate and it shattered? You wouldn't stop crying!"

"Oh, and the time we were watching that horrifically sad movie and we had to turn it off halfway through because you couldn't watch it?"

"And what about that time--"

Aloha cuts them off, rolling his eyes as laughter echoes off set. "Okay, okay, I get it."

One Take Wonder

Take One

"I came alone, by the way. My moms didn't want to move."
Instead of looking shocked or amazed, his soon-to-be teammates only looked relieved.
"Oh thank cod," Straw says, giggling. "We rented this apartment for the four of us. It's kinda small, but y'know, it's better than living with our parents. That way we can.. y'know, have some quality time?"

She elbows him and Aloha snorts. "If you're planning to have an orgy in the kitchen or something, count me out."

Straw reels back, mockingly sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oh, shut up. That's disgusting."

Take Two

As if realizing Scuba was still in the room, Aloha quickly pulls the smile back onto his face. "Right! Okay then, are we just gonna stand here or get to bed?"
Scuba laughs. "Bed seems good."
"Scuba!" Octoglasses comes into the room just then, eyes bright. "You gotta see this."

Aloha watches her tug Scuba out of the room, and then looks to the camera right as Straw comes in to say her line. "Guess we're not going to bed then."

"Aloha!" Straw yanks his visor down around his face and while he's pushing it back up, she laughs. "Can we go through one scene together that we don't have to redo?"

"It was your fault last time," Aloha points out, grinning despite himself.

"We don't talk about that take."

Pink (Meme) Team

Take One

Scuba snorts and Aloha feels his grin become somewhat more genuine. "Well, he's S rank and we're A+ rank but we're gonna try this out, yeah?"
"As always," Octoglasses says with a smile and she lifts her hand for a high five. "He may have got his autobombs but we got our freakin' awesome dance moves."

She starts to do the orange justice, getting so low that Aloha's pretty sure her knees touch the ground before she comes back up and strikes a pose. Her team and the stage crew applaud her as Mask physically lobs a seeker at them, splatting them all in one explosion and as they respawn, Octoglasses flips him off.

"Party pooper."

Take Fifty

A seeker greets him as he rounds the corner and he flips over it, landing on the second one heading his way, bass pounding in his head. He almost slides in the enemy ink, the explosion from the first seeker damaging him, but he pushes forward, hopping over the next few seekers, heading towards Mask, who stands merely a few feet away.  The cyan Inkling just watches him, and it sends a wave of frustration through Aloha before it suddenly dissipates as he waves to Mask before dabbing.

Mask looks like he wants to do nothing more than shove his roller down Aloha's throat in that moment.

Take Three Thousand and Twenty

Cyan Team had already claimed the stage and now were just setting up traps, unseen. Aloha can see the trail of ink leading in, overlapping with their own pink, and he grins. "Let's go! Disco Ball Dance!"
It's a name he came up with on the fly, but his teammates roll with it so easily, it's like he's been calling it that forever. But instead of dancing out of way, his team starts to fortnite dance like it's the end of the world. 

The rest of Cyan Team, excluding Mask, start videotaping with their phones, turf war forgotten. Mask just stands in the middle of it all, arms crossed, eyes raised towards the ceiling as if the Great Zapfish could electrocute him to death in that moment.

"Do you have to be like this every single taaake??"

Emotional Mess-ups

Take One

Aloha doesn't understand. Usually, whenever Scuba talks to him, it helps him calm down, but right now, he's pissed for no coddamned reason. "Why are you tellin' me this?"
Scuba looks startled and he finally looks over at Aloha, something the latter feels a wave of angry satisfaction for. "I'm tryin' to help, man. Is-is it not?"

Aloha blanks, before he shrugs and grins -- it's a sudden change from his scripted frustration. "Well, apparently, it's not supposed to, but if I had anything to say about it--"

Scuba cuts him off, smirking. "You forgot your lines, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Shut up."

Take Four

"We're your biological parents, honey."
The words hit him like a truck. "What?"
"We're your biological parents," Castor says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You were born April first, yes?"

"No."

"--What?"

Aloha offers a sheepish grin. "April Fools!"

"Oh for the love of--"

Take Six

"No." Aloha shifts uncomfortably in his seat, keeping that fake smile on his face like if he were to drop it, the world would shatter. Why does he have such a terrible feeling in his gut? They wanted him back! That was good, right? But why did they leave him? "They were trying to protect me."
Ceyne laughs, the sound like broken glass. "Ohh, from what? The children here? Teenagers? The outrageous fashion? The weapons?"

"Whose fashion are you calling atrocious?" Scuba shouts from offscreen and Ceyne directs her attention to the masked Inkling.

"Oh, yours, darling. That mask really is the worst."

"...Low blow."

Take Ten

"No kiddin'."
"But seriously," Scuba shifts to face Aloha fully. "It's dumb and stupid of them to even think of abandonin' you, or dissin' your moms, 'cause they're missin' out on you. They're missin' out on all the-- fuck, sorry." He shakes his head, grinning as Aloha snorts. "I can't seem to speak, oh my cod sorry, let's run that again."

Aim, Not Throw

Take One

Blue gives him a look and Aloha just shrugs.

Take Two

"Sorry!"

Take Three

The pink Inkling comes back a short time later, panting. "Cod, can you have better aim? Aren't you a Splatterscope main?"

Blue just takes the ball back, rolling his eyes when Aloha's back is turned and everyone behind the camera starts giggling.

Rider

Take One

"Did you enjoy it~?" Aloha leans forward and puts his hand on Rider's chest, reaching up to trace Rider's lips with a finger. The yellow-green Inkling flushes and scowls.

"Shut up."

Someone wolf-whistles and Rider shoves Aloha off of him, glaring, but there's no heart in it.

"You're going to explode from all your gayness."

"Oh, you are too, don't worry."

Spoiler Alert

Take One

"You weren't supposed to say that, Urchin," Satin says, and Urchin drops her hands. 

"They aren't good at interpreting things, so I thought I would speed it up a little."

Take Two

Scuba makes a noise that Aloha assumes to be a huff of disbelief. "Well, can't blame you. Rider's pretty hot."

"So am I," Aloha says, looking offended. "If you're going to date me, at least hold me to higher regards."

Scuba blinks, laughs, and turns to the camera. "Yo, we gonna have to censor that?"

"Just call it extreme foreshadowing."

"Bro, that wasn't even foreshadowing at all. That was straight up spoiled."

"You aren't straight," Aloha points out.

"Neither are you, man."

Take Five

"They're so idiotic that they're too powerful," Safari agrees, and Aloha gives him a look.

"You're stupid too. Who else would get shoved into a closet and have their clothes stolen?"
Safari just grumbles and crosses his arms. "Hey, it was an in-the-moment thing, okay?"

The King

Take One

"Guess he wants the strongest against him. I don't know why, because that'll just make it harder on him.." Aloha trails off, seeing the less-than-happy expressions on his teammates' faces. "C'mon guys, I have to give Emperor what he wants--"

"So his ego can just be raised even more than normal?" Scuba asks incredulously, and Straw falls out of the frame from laughing so hard.

"Oh my cod, if he were here now, he'd lose it."

"He won't lose his ego, that's for sure. There's so much of it, he could make an entire city out of how much ego he has."

"Okay, I can't even argue with that."

"Exactly."

Romance But It's a Meme

Literally Every. Single. Take.

"I mean, yeah." Scuba waves an arm out at the skyline around them. "I mean, c'mon, you've got the popularity, you actually have a decent skill set and lead your own team, you're part of the S4, you can pretty much seduce your way to the top if they'd let you, you're pretty fuckin' cute too--"

"Gaaay! Y'all just kiss already, you idiots!" Straw shouts from offscreen and both look up, expressions of faint amusement.

"Hey, chill," Scuba tells her, holding back his laughter the best he can. "We're gettin' to that."

You Gotta Go Fast

Take One

"Ohhh so you just.. y'know.." Hunter crouches over, sticking her arms behind her, "...nyoom?"

Aloha bites his lip to keep a straight face as he nods. "Yeah. Like--" he copies her position, "--nyoom."

"Oh my cod, you two are literal children," Urchin sighs, and both Hunter and Aloha burst into laughter, Satin hiding his own smile behind his hand.

Take Two

A strange look crosses over the Goldenrods' faces when they hear that and he's about to ask what's wrong before Satin says quietly, "Camo did too."

"He nyooms?" Aloha asks and Satin makes a noise halfway between a snort and a cough.

"Shell yeah he nyooms," Hunter responds, grinning. "But his weapon is so fucking slow."

"So... not nyoom."

"Compromise and make it half a nyoom."

Urchin just groans loudly and the two dissolve into snickers.