OctoSquids (Splatoon story)

Chapter 9 - At the Speed of Lightning

The OctoSquids were in Deca tower, ready to play another fun round of Turf War. In Plum's case, he was slightly more nervous than usual, since The Inkling Brigade's schedule was too busy to play with them that day, so they were forced to wait for a different team to play against. Plum was a bit disappointed he could not play Turf Wars with Moray today, but at least he could enjoy the sport he loved very much.

Plum merely sat still, staring at the screen before him, waiting for a match. In a couple of minutes, a match finally came in. They would be against The Tidebreakers. He has never quite heard of this team before, so he didn't know what to expect. The team members' names were right below the team name: Madeline, Mina, Lane, and Teri.
"Did we get a match!?", Calder sneaked up behind Plum as the rest of the OctoSquids regrouped.
"The Tidebreakers? Never heard of them.", Rainey commented as the four of them heard footsteps coming towards them.

"Hey, it's the Hybrid!", a female, older voice called out as Plum looked in the direction it came from. Four Inklings adults were walking towards him. Plum could only assume they were The Tidebreakers. "It's like meeting a character from a movie!", the Inkling woman with dark purple hair continued to speak as she extended her arm for him to shake. "I'm Madeline! It's so nice to meet you!", she greeted him. Plum hesitated a bit since it was not every day someone greeted him with such excitement, especially someone with a drastic age difference.
"Uh... Nice to meet you too.", Plum greeted back as he was about to shake her hand, but the Inkling woman with short, light blue hair stopped her.
"Madeline, are you even sure he's a Hybrid?", she asked her with a tone of skepticism.
"Why wouldn't he be, Teri? We saw the podcast, didn't we?", Madeline replied to her, but Teri looked at Plum with nervous eyes.
"I don't know. I heard the podcast was fake.", Teri muttered.

"A fake Off the Hook podcast? Are you kidding me?", Ridley intervened.
"Yeah, Teri. Why would it be fake?", the Inkling man with neon green hair intervened.
"Mina, think about it. Wh--", Teri was about to say to Mina, but the Inkling man with the skull mask, who had to be Lane by process of elimination, decided to intervene as well.
"There really isn't nothing to think about. Off the Hook has always been honest. Why would they lie on live TV?", he pointed out as Ridley smiled.
"Thank you!", Ridley told Lane, but he crossed his arms in a serious tone.
"Whatever.", he said indifferently, making Calder frown a bit.
"Looks like someone hasn't moved on from that edgy phase...", Calder whispered to Ridley, but Lane seemed to not like that comment by the glare he gave him.

Madeline looked at Teri as she held her hands.
"Come on, Teri! No need to be so on edge. We both know we've been through a lot worse.", she told Teri, trying to reassure her, but Teri still looked a bit insecure. Eventually, she sighed, admitting defeat.
"So, are we done here? Cause I want this to be wrapped up already so I can eat something.", announced Mina impatiently.
"Same. Need to help Alex and Maria at the bakery.", pointed out Rainey, but Mina suddenly looked curious.
"You work at a bakery?", Mina asked, suddenly looking hungry.

After prepping for a couple of minutes, the OctoSquids and The Tidebreakers found each other on opposite sides of Walleye Warehouse.
"Oh boy, not only is it a different team, they're much older than us, so they know their stuff...", Plum muttered to himself as Ridley looked at him.
"You're never too old to enjoy Turf Wars. Are you nervous?", Ridley asked him, surprised to know how many times he has seen Plum play Turf War.
"Nah, I'm good.", Plum reassured Ridley, but mainly to reassure himself. He was not used to fighting other teams, but this sure would be interesting either way.

Ready...?

Go!

"Let's go!", Madeline could be heard loud and clear from the other side of the warehouse as both teams began firing their respective color of ink. Calder decided to go further ahead than the others, forcing Ridley to try and keep up with him. As soon as they arrived at the center, The Tidebreakers already seemed to have covered most of the center.
"How did they get here so quickly?", Rainey wondered as she dodged an incoming burst bomb, with Madeline charging head first into the action with her Splattershot, which got her splatted by Plum.
"Let's try and take the victory.", Plum told Rainey, with almost all hint of nervousness disappeared.