Splatoon: The Corruption of Ink

Chapter 1: Battling and Exploring

It was a sunny Monday morning in Inkopolis City, and all the inklings were awake, out in the plaza and ready to battle. Others were at the local stores, buying new clothes and weapons. Inside the lobby, there were matchmaking systems going on as the readied randomized parties of eight were teleported into an arena. Even those who were battling late past midnight were up and early inking turf, ignoring and defeating their fatigue. Even so, two now well-known inklings have stayed up until midnight, and they slept in lazily for many hours, almost nearing noon.

Tiredly, Silver rubbed his eyes with one hand. The sunlight that filled the room entered through his eyelids. He glanced over to his side where Sapphire was leaning against his shoulder in rest, cuddled by his other arm, which was slung around her body. Silver smiled warmly at her as he caressed her hair slightly and softly, making her wake up. Her eyes opened slowly, still sleepy, as she turned to Silver.

"I guess thirty minutes wasn't enough for you, and you wanted to sleep here the whole night," Silver smirked.

"What?!" Sapphire shot up. "What time is it?"

"About eleven-thirty," he responded. Sighing, Sapphire sat back down and shut her eyes.

"Eh, I don't care if we slept together," she said lazily. Silver rose one of his eyebrows.

"Uhh, haha okay," Silver hesitated nervously.

Sapphire opened her eyes and looked at Silver. "I'm serious."

"Yeah, okay, but, you know," Silver was flustered, "we're not in a relationship or anything."

"Well..." she paused for a moment before looking intently at Silver, "we could be."

"What about our paren-" Silver started.

"No, no no," Sapphire interrupted. "You mean, 'what about my parents,' or more like, 'what about my mom?' But, you know, I can't blame you. I know your mother sometimes has high expectations of you, but we're on our own now."

Silver sighed. Sapphire just had to bring up a sensitive topic like his mother. Although he loved his mom, they were at odds sometimes.

"Silver, you choose. Plus, if our parents didn't trust us, they wouldn't have allowed us to move. We even accomplished such a big feat that almost no one ever has done before! So, stop worrying about what your mom would say. It's all up to you, Silver," she tried to reason with him before leaning back on his shoulder and finishing her nap.

She's right, Silver thought as he sighed quietly, not to wake up Sapphire. He thought back to many moments not that long ago, when he still lived in his hometown.

***

July 4, 2015 CME

"Happy Birthday!" everyone around the table cheered. Sitting at the chair at the edge of the table, a birthday cake in front, a 14-year-old Silver blew the lighted candles, extinguishing its flames. His family and friends were gathered around him beside the table, watching him as he did. Beside Silver was a happy, slightly younger inkling who was jumping up and down in her squid form. Silver smiled at her as his mom began to serve cake to everyone.

After the guests who came to his party left, Silver and Sapphire were hanging out in his room, which was littered with unopened gift boxes. Their moms were in the kitchen talking, and their dads were in the living room watching broadcasted ink battles. Silver was sitting on his bed, watching Sapphire do tricks with her squid form, most of them, jumping and spinning around in the air. When Sapphire slowed down from the dizziness, Silver picked up her small body and cradled it in his hands. Her eyes looked up to him.