Later on that morning

It was only an hour after me and Lucas's discussion. Lucas received another message on his phone. It was Marine.

Marine: All four of you are late.

Lucas: What're you talking about?

Marine: *Faceplam* You promised one day during the school week that we would meet up at the Battle Tower to practice.

Lucas: ....Oh yeah, I forgot....

Marine: You wanna know what's worse than being late?

Lucas: What?

Marine: Sitting here talking about it! Hurry and get your butt up! We've been out here waiting for you guys for a whole hour.

Lucas: Okay, we'll be there soon. You don't have to rush.

"We've gotta get ready. Marine's acting pretty furious..."Lucas said."You forgot that we all were supposed to meet up?" I asked.

Lucas eyed me."You remembered?"

"Well yeah, but I didn't know what time we were supposed to go there!" I exclaimed.

"Well come on then!"Lucas said as he grabbed a random jacket. I ran into my room and grabbed my same jacket and cap. I went to Riley's room and Lucas went to Soup's. We both woke them up quickly.

"What's going on, Mindy?" Riley asked as Soup walked up to her rubbing his eyes."There's no time to explain, you guys. Grab a jacket and a mint and come on!"
-------------------
Inkopolis Battle Tower

"I can't I had to get up for this!" Riley yawned."You guys owe me big time!"

Lucas laughed."Tell that to the one who planned the whole thing."Riley folded her arms."I'm telling it to the person who agreed to be here."

"There you guys are!" A soft feminine voice shouted. It was Vadelma."You guys get ready to see a mad face in here. Marian's...well...can be a bit of a hot head at times..." Vadelma chuckled.

Marian then stepped outside of the Battle a Tower."There you are are! Where have you guys been?!"she asked. Marian then shook her head."Ugh, it doesn't matter. Let's just get this over with. It's freezing out here!"
------------------
After the Turf War

It was a pretty close call this time. On Marian's team was Vadelma, Logan, and Lucas. We lost this round, but we'll just keep trying harder to make it to the top. We all walked back to the main hall of the Battle Tower. There were only a few squids here.

"Love on the battlefield isn't going to get you anywhere, Lucas! You're gonna have to learn to get over it. Why can't you be more like your sister, Riley for a change?"Marian complained. Lucas looked over at his sister. Riley was chatting with all of the boys."You mean my 'swiggity swoogty comin' for that booty' sister who barely sticks to her tactics on the battlefield and loves to start squid spamming parties?"

"...Exactly! Wait...no...Riley may be a carefree person, but at least what she's doing is better than what you've been doing lately, mister!"

"Well at least I'm actually trying instead of sitting on my...tailfin! All you ever do is stand there making everything complicated planning out nerdy strategies."Lucas remarked. "I'm not a nerd. I'mjustsmarterthanyou..."Marian muttered.

"WHAT WAS THAT YOU MUTTERED?!" Lucas asked. All of our friends' eyes were locked on us."I would tell you, but you wouldn't be smart enough to understand so..."

"OOOOOOHHHHH!" Tanrine beamed. Lucas and Marine looked at her with frowns on their faces. Tanrine then sweatdropped."I'm gonna just...shut up now..."

Marine sighed."Look Lucas, I don't mean to argue with you. It's just that I absolutely hate loosing. You and Mindy are gonna have to dial the romance down a bit. Unless you don't want to win..."

"Are you...are you saying you're jealous of her?"Lucas asked with a smirk."I thought that turf wars were buckets of fun! No pun intended..."

"Me? Jealous of her? Why would I be jealous of a squid kid with less battle experience than me? That's preposterous!"

I'm right here you know...

Marian folded her arms."The only thing that matters to me in the world of turf war is winning."

"But why does winning matter so much to you, Marine?"

Marine smirked."Oh, you'll find out someday, Lucas...maybe someday...and I'm gua--"

"YOU'RE GAY?!" Lucas blurted out.

.............

~Awkward Silence~

"WHAT?! NO! I'M STRAIGHT!"

CHING CHING CHING!

The sound of a bell was heard. Judd was walking towards all of us. He was wearing a collar with a silver bell chained on it."Good morning squiddos! You all are up bright and early! I have some bad news...I just wanted to tell you all that the Battle Tower...will be shutting down completely..."

"WHAT?!"Everyone shouted at the same time.

"MMM WHAT YA SAY?!" Tanrine blurted out. We all turned to look at her. Tanrine rubbed her head."Okay, now I'll stop!"she said ending her sentence off with an awkward smile.

"But...it's the only place where we squids can hang out and do turf wars together. It's the one place we can all get to know one another!" Taloupe exclaimed.

"What'll the people of Inkopolis think about this?"Angelo asked."What about all of our classes in school?"

"As much as it hurts to say it, I'm afraid it has to be done. You see, there were a few changes that have been made to the Battle Tower. You see, we don't really have much money to pay off the rest of the damages made to the Tower. These changes could very well affect your battle styles. The only place that's available for turf wars is Flounder Heights. Please understand..."Judd pleaded as he was soft-spoken.

We all nodded our heads."Good, the prrrreparations will be made next week. Hopefully I'll see you again soon somewhere. Good day to you all!" He said as he walked off.

I can't believe that this is actually happening. The thing that I love to do most in my life is coming to an end soon...

"Well that was a total let down..."Tanrine said downhearted."But there's nothing we can do about it."

"So what do we do know?" Logan asked.

BEEP BEEP!

Angelo received a text message on his phone."Huh, Sheldon's got a new stock of weapons. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going on ahead to the Weapon shop!" Everyone in Angelo's group sweatdropped as he walked out the door. Angelo is pretty much sneaky in battle. He has an ability that enables him to swim freely through ink without getting caught. Not to mention that he uses a Splattershot jr. which has a compatible echolator to come with it.

All of Angelo's friends except Marine followed him. Vadelma happily waved to us."Tee hee! I guess we'll see you guys later. C'mon, Marine!"

Marine locked her eyes on Lucas."Don't think this conversation is over. We're not nearly done with it yet! See you guys later."she said as she walked off and followed Vadelma.

"What was that all about?" Riley asked."You guys don't wanna know..."Lucas admitted trying to dodge the question.

As soon as they all left, Lucas, Riley, and Soup's tummies started to growl. Lucas's face was flushed from embarrassment."Well, I guess we should go grab something to eat don't you think?"

We all nodded our heads."I'll fix something at Flounder Heights that's not fast food."Riley exclaimed. Lucas sighed feeling a bit depressed."Okay, i suppose one day of cooked food won't hurt, but I won't like it."
---------------------
I can't believe you sent me here! Couldn't you have chosen another one of the recruits, master?

Are you questioning my orders?

Uh...n-no sir!

That's what I thought. You're a rookie, so I want you to spy on those slimy little hipsters. Try not to mess anything up like that Octavia girl. When I see that runt again, she's got something coming for her!

M-Master? How are you even speaking to me right now? Aren't you held as a captive to that old coot Cuttlefish?

The old man's asleep right now. Heh...I'd expect that from him. Cuttlefish is only a minor setback. I need to make a diversion to get out of this wasteland!

Er...master? Have you tried hamster balling the snow globe?

............

-----------------
Flounder Heights

We eventually made it back home after Riley decided to cook for us. It was almost 12:00 by now. We hd more than one battle with Tanrine and her group.

As we made it to our dorm floor, there was no one in sight. I guess everyone was gone to Inkopolis Plaza.
As soon as we made it back to our dorm rooms, all of lights went off in the hallway.

SCREE SCREE SWOOSH!

Shouts, screams, and commotions were being heard inside of people's dorm rooms. Some decided to open their doors to see if the lights were off in the hallway.

"Psst, you guys!" Someone whispered to us. I looked to see Evan peeping out the corner of his door. He was giving a hand signal telling us to come over to where he was. All four of us quickly fast walked over to the dorm room."C'mon in." Evan said politely. As we all stepped in, Evan peeped back outside and looked both left and right to make sure no one was looking. He then shut the door.

"Okay, you cannot tell anyone that we did this, alright?"Evan whispered. We all had puzzled looks on our faces."What happened?" Soup asked as he turned around to see cut plugs, dark purple ink, a broken jar, and and the Sunken Scrolls completely covered in kelp juice.

"EVAN! ARE YOU CRAZY?! WHY'D YOU LET THEM IN?!" Neveah asked. I heard the sound of a screaming that was none other than Octavia. We all had scared looks on our faces. Riley was the one who was really scared and hid behind Lucas.

"What's going with her, Nevaeh?" Evan asked as he ran over to her. Nevaeh was holding Octavia back to make sure she wouldn't move."I don't know! She had one more thing to do on the computer. It had to do with cutting a certain plug. Next thing I know, sparjs were in the air and the purple ink splashed right in her face. Now, she hasn't been acting like herself!"

"LET ME GO, NEVEAH!" Octavia shouted. No matter how hard Neveah tried to hold Octavia, she couldn't catch a good grip. She looked at Evan with a puzzled look like he was supposed to do something right about now."Don't just stand there! Help me!"

I watched as Octavia's fangs began to turn super sharp. Her hair was getting wild by her every movement. I stepped a few spaces back feeling terrified. What exactly was going on with her?

"Octavia, calm down!"Evan shouted as he grabbed her by the waist.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I'M AN OCTARIAN GOSH DARNIT! I MAKE MY OWN RULES!" Octavia shouted with a hiss to come along with it. The wild Octarian held her head and was screeching in pain."UGH! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

WHACK!

Octavia accidentally kicked Evan on the nose. She was now completely out of control.

BANG!

..............

"What the--Neveah?!" Lucas asked completely puzzled. Neveah had a stone-cold look on her face having no idea what she had just done. She splat her with a Luna Blaster."Hey, don't question me! I PANICKED, OKAY!"

"Dear god...we have a dead body in the room! We actually have a dead body in the room!" Evan mumbled as we walked back and forth.

"I can't believe my flipping eyes!" I blurted out.

"You guys don't know if she's dead!"Nevaeh exclaimed. She looked on the conputer desktop to see a note on top of it. She picked it up and read it out loud.

Dear Evan and Nevaeh,

If you're reading this, then somdthing has already happened to me. Whatever you do, do not touch that ink! I've discovered that it may be contagious as well. It's...pretty much my fault...heh heh. Such symptoms include wild acting, craziness, headaches; especially to Octarians, and the drainage of your own ink.
Sincerely, Octavia

"Okay, all we have to do is make sure that NO ONE finds a dead body in here or even a dead body of an Octarian at that!" Neveah mentioned.

".....Oh that's a great idea! It's just that I had other plans like winding up in Inkopolis prison!" Evan said sarcastically."I can't go to jail now! I'm to adorable for that!"

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

A loud knock was being heard at the door. Evan had an 'are you kidding me' look.

"Oh crud..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another chapter done! Finally! Who's going to appear at the other side of the door? Find out in the next chapter! We have our first cliffhanger I see! Remember to read, vote, comment, enjoy, and STAY FRESH!
~Princess