Inkopolis
Legacy Name: Inkopolis

The largest, mostly friendly competitive game amongst Inklings. 2 teams of 4 players arm themselves with all manner of ink-holding weapons to sling, shoot, slosh, swipe, and snipe their opponents in an attempt to take ground. Many players move onto Ranked Modes with more formalized rules, but mainly Turf Wars are the name of the game.

But as far as you know, you're just ... the ink. How are you sentient? Probably an unethical experiment by scientists at the start of The Great Turf War more than 100 years ago. Or perhaps Inkolution didn't seem fit to make you a squid or even an octoling. You've long stopped since tying yourself in figurative knots about it.

Either way, you just want to play the game as a real cephalopod. Not the thing they shoot, step on, swim in, or use to splat opponents and force them back to the spawn platform. You want to wear the fashions, walk among the plaza, and especially shout "Booyah!" as a real, living, breathing, swimming (Though, not in water) cephalopod.

You hear happy chatter as players arrive in the lobby. Some voices leave, as their matches start, but you sit in the canister, strapped to your player's back. You look at yourself as well as you can - You're a lovely lilac shade this round. The opponent's ink must be the bright teal.

The muffled voice of the mechanical announcer sounds - "Players: To the Spawn Point!". You slosh around as excited steps ascend the platform.

A moment of both nothingness and everything - Your player is in their Inkling form, submerged in the colorful liquid, and you are essentially one with them. "Hello, Hi -!"

Suddenly, they're standing on two feet again - Did they hear you - ?

Nope - It's battle time!

Today's stage: Walleye Warehouse , a long hallway with side paths, crates, hidey-holes, and high vantage points.

You sink down to the bottom of the canister to stay inside longer as your player - an Octoling! - is spraying the ground in front of her with her vanilla Splat Charger and jump into the ink, swimming toward the platform in the middle. Ink on the ground floods into the canister, but you hang on to your hard-won spot near the bottom.

She stops, aims at an opposing Inkling, and shoots - a miss, he rolls out of the way with his Dapple Dualies behind the platform. But your Octoling is smart, and aims the receptacle at the top of one of the two towers - SPLAT!.

You fly through the air and nail the Inkling straight on! His gear and weapons sink into your teal-colored ink and you sit triumphant on the top of the towers for the rest of the match. Your team (Or, your Octoling's team) has covered most of the map; They're now surrounding the opponent's Spawn Point, trapping them within.

That's all the fun you have for this match.

The match ends - Victory for you!

While the arena is cleaned up for the next match, you slosh down the side of the tower back to the ground below, looking at the Jellyfish who work quickly.

Then an unpleasant sensation reaches you - That of someone stepping on you - and you screech in pain and shock. "Wha - ?"

Looking up, you find yourself staring into the bespectacled eyes of Sheldon, the horseshoe crab who owns Ammo Knights, the weapon store.

"You, ah...stepped. On me."

He blinks. "You...can talk? B-B-But you're ink!"

If you had a visible mouth, you'd pull it into a grimace. "Don't I know it."

"I've never seen talking ink! Would you mind if I took you back to my lab?"

You see a jellyfish approaching with an ink vacuum. "Absolutely. I think you better make it quick..."

---

So. Many. Weapons!

You sit in an ink canister upon Sheldon's untidy workdesk; He's hastily cleared a spot for you, but you still are among bits and pieces to various weapons; Scopes for Chargers, Sprinkler subs, nozzles of dualies...and something you're not quite sure of. A large fan in a case, with a chain pull on top of it. "What's this?"

"A motor for a Heavy Splatling - But enough about weapons, what about you?"

You tell your story - You have no idea of your origins. You want to play Turf War. You want to wear the gear-

"I want to be an Inkling. Or Octoling. You're science-y, you can help, right?" You plead.

"I am..." Sheldon grabs his chin. "However, despite the fantastical world we inhabit, spitting in the face of evolution is a little beyond me. But, I'll buzz Agent 8. None of us know how she survived in the Deepsea, but I'm sure there's some kind of tech down there to make you one of us. Theoretically."

You spin in the canister with joy.

Walking is hard. And holding a weapon - a Basic Splattershot - is only slightly easier. It's been 2 weeks of stumbling around abandoned metro stations underground and testing your coordination under the watchful eye of Sheldon and one Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"While Inkling bones are different than humans, your muscles can still atrophy without even simple exercise." Sheldon had said at the start. "It'll be quite a while before you're ready to battle."

You've also gotten caught up on the culture of Inkopolis above - Mainly, Octolings have risen to the surface, so you'll fit right in - helped by Agent 8 - Kind, quiet, and the main reason you are no longer a blob on the ground.

"So, were all Octolings genetically engineered and grown in that lab?" You ask. She just shrugs, and plays "Tide Goes Out", a song by one of the Cap'n's granddaughters.

---

After so long underground, it's surprising to be above, in the glaring sun and the immense chatter of various sea creatures. There's a cat snoozing by the lobby, and a suspicious looking sea urchin on the other side. You recognize Pearl and Marina in the newsroom to the right, and Sheldon's shop to the left. He leads you in, followed by 8.

"Okay, you'll start at level 1. Got your 'shot, got your basic gear. Don't worry too much about being splatted or turning into an Octoform - Remember our tests? It won't revert you back to 100% ink."

You nod. 8 points to both herself and Sheldon, then you, and points out the door.

"Oh! Do you want us to walk to you to the Lobby, or can you make it?"

You smile. "Yeah. I don't want to fall and...wipe out?" You finish hesitantly. They nod and applaud at your correct use of slang, and the three of you exit the shop. You beam at the stylish Ink- and Octolings, eager to meet them on the field, even more excited to check out their gear -

At the doors to the lobby, Sheldon hands you a small phone shaped like a squid. "You've got to put your name in. I didn't know what you wanted, so..."

After peering down, you slowly jab fingers at the screen, typing out a name, hitting 'enter'. The other two look and nod.

"Alright! See you on the field, Agent 9!"

Smiling, you turn your back on them and make assured, excited steps into the Turf War lobby.

---

Background by Nintendo, layout by Noemi, story by Saturnine based upon the world of Splatoon.