Hero's Charge: A Splatoon Story (Agent 4 x Splatoon)

Chapter 17: Tournament

-2 days after the induction of Agent 8-

After Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 3 have arrived back at the Octo Canyon, Marie decided to give James a few days off. James spent those days working with his teammates to prepare for the upcoming first round of the Turf War tournament. This tournament is a knockout tournament where teams advance to the next round after 1 win. If they lose, they're knocked out and have to wait until next year to participate in the big tournament again. This was supposed to be very important to James as being a Turf War athlete was his dream, but now, this doesn't seem very high on his priority list.

Today was the day that James and the Tetra Crew were going to make their Turf War Tournament debut. Recently, they were sent out the tournament bracket...

Max: Hey guys, check this out!

Harrison: What?

Max: The Turf War Committee just sent us the tournament bracket.

He took a good look at the tournament bracket.

Max: Huh, that's interesting.

Harrison: Huh? What's interesting?

Max: Have a look. There are numbers next to all of the team names.

Harry: Let me see...

Harry, Harrison, and James had a look at Max's laptop. It showed this:

[1. The Squelchers]

[32. The Tetra Crew]

Harry: Oh, I get it.

The guys all looked at Harry.

Harry: Those are the seeding numbers. We are the 32nd seed in the tournament.

Harrison: Oh, but why the 32nd seed?

James: Probably because we're newcomers in this whole tourney thing. Maybe next year we can be a higher seed.

Max: Looks like we're going up against the best team in Inkopolis. I guess we're screwed.

Harry: Hey, not yet. They may be the best team according to the public, but they haven't met us yet!

Harrison: True, but we have like no professional experience.

James: Yeah, don't be surprised if we lose.

Harry: Oh, I won't.

James: Good. I don't want us to be disappointed in ourselves for losing a difficult game now.

-Fast forward to the day of the tourney-

Announcer: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the annual Inkopolis Turf War Tournament! 32 teams are competing, but there will only be one winner! In tonight's match, we see the reigning champions, The Squelchers, face the newcomers, the Tetra Crew, making their tourney debut!

The stage was alive and lively, the audience was loud as ever, and the athletes were ready for what was ahead of them.

James: Alright fellas, here it is, our turf war debut.

James and the rest of the Tetra Crew were at the spawn point, about to start the first match of their turf war careers.

James: Don't expect us to win this easily. After all, we're barely rookies. All I want you guys to do is go out there and have some fun.

Max: So we're not taking this seriously? *he said jokingly*

The guys laughed.

James: No, I still want you to take this seriously. What I was meant to say is, have a good time. I know none of you are doing it for the fame, you're doing it because you want to have a good time, or maybe be a champion, or the greatest ever. Let's just have ourselves a good time, and if we lose, there's always next year.