Clumsy

Chapter 7

Both teams entered the lobby, ready for battle. A faint chatter could be heard from outside the small room. Obviously, a good portion of the crowd would be Pink fansquids and octos, but (I/C) were surprised beforehand to see a few fans of their own entering the spectating booth.
Their previous battle had given them a bit of a reputation.

The teams sat awkwardly in the lobby, either fiddling with weapons or listening to the faint music played. The tension was thick enough to cut through. Trying to ease the mood, Aloha smiled at (Y/N), but when he opened his mouth to speak, the metal doors slid open. Light streamed in, and the sheer voice of the crowd made (Y/N) flinch. A lot of cephalopods had turned up to watch the battle.

As the teams were teleported to their spawn-pads, (Y/N) awkwardly waved to the crowd because she didn't know what to do otherwise.

"Is it just me, or have we developed a fan-base?" Bapa pointed to a small group dressed in (I/C), blowing a kiss.

"Don't get too cocky, Bapa. Pride won't win us this battle." Tenta warned. She hated it when people abused their popularity, and certainly wasn't going to let Bapa stray down that path.

Pearl and Marina introduced the stage, Port "Isn't that a fancy word for sausage?" Mackerel, before beginning the countdown. Army, Mask and Skull were on the edge of their seat in anticipation, praying their friend to win. Army had his pencil clutched in between his fingers, holding it with such force his pencil was on the verge of snapping in two.

3

2

1

Go!!

Launching into battle, (I/C) team began to ink their turf. (Y/N) down the middle with Bubble, Tenta on the right, followed by Bapa on the left.

Both teams collided in the middle, colours clashing. Though (I/C) was skilled, Pink slowly started to overpower them, taking over the middle-ground.

As her teammates engaged the opposing team, defending their turf, (Y/N) slipped through the side routes past pink. At one point, she legitimately swam right under Boater-Hat's nose! The crowd roared as she re-claimed turf, ink spraying everywhere. (Y/N) was thrown off by the sudden noise, and was distracted from what she was doing. Whilst she was distracted, the metal prongs of the forklift hit the side of her knee as it passed. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying out as her attention was ripped from the crowd to the writhing pain of her sliding kneecap.
Her dilemma was masked from the crowd by the forklift, and they muttered to each other in confusion when she started limping back to her side.

Collapsing mid-step, (Y/N) let out a shaky breath. Being accident prone, she had dealt with displaced kneecaps before, but she didn't like how she had to fix it.

Taking in a deep breath and stretching her injured leg, (Y/N) braced herself.

"3, 2, 1- AH!"

(Y/N) slid her kneecap back into its normal position. She normally would have iced it and/or seen a profreshional about it, but at the moment she hadn't much of a choice.

Aloha was on a roll with his .52 Gal, splatting two inklings in a row! They had this battle in the bag. Skull was right- he just needed to do what he always did. Snorkel then splatted the last (I/C) inkling attacking them,

"Booyah!" Snorkel exclaimed and Aloha echoed it back. Pink ink covered everywhere, even the walls!

A thought then occurred to Aloha-

'Where's the fourth one? Where's (Y/N)!' His eyes darted around in search of the inkling, who was nowhere to be found.

(I/C) ink suddenly sprayed over turf near Aloha's feet, splatting Boater. (Y/N) appeared from the path of ink, dodging pink teams' attacks. Her expression was pained and deadly, her low glare piercing through Aloha. But, before she had the chance to redeem the match and her teammates, the timer ran out.

Judd and Lil Judd did the cat dance before declaring Pink team the winner, at 57% over 36%.

Aloha's team was first to exit Deca Tower, and were mobbed by crazy fans. (I/C) team was the next to come out, and also got mobbed, though less than team Pink. But, they were one team member short.

(Y/N) limped out of Deca tower, slipping past the fans unnoticed. Almost.

"Hey, (Y/N)~🎵 !!" Aloha called out over the hubbub of noise, pushing past cephalopods to break from the mob. "It was fun battling you, sweets. Nice comeback you did." He winked. (Y/N) forced a smile, even though tears pricked her eyes. The pain from her knee was unbearable.

"Ye-yea. It was f-fun." Her voice was on the verge of breaking, tears threatening to fall, and she had a lump in her throat. Aloha sensed something wasn't right, and his cheerful expression fell.

"Oh, no! Are you upset about the battle? Don't worry, your team was fresh!" He said, lightly grasping her shoulders.

(Y/N) gave a gentle, wheezing chuckle. Why would she be this upset over a dumb turf war?
"No-no, it's just my-my kneE-" (Y/N)'s jelly legs gave way, and she felt into Aloha. Catching her with extreme reflexes, the inkling held her tight as she let out a defeated sob.
By now, the mob had dissipated and Aloha and (Y/N) were amongst the only cephalopods remaining in the square, save for their teams and the rest of the S4 who were chatting.

"There there, you're going to be alright," Aloha consoled after a few minutes. To be honest, he really liked having her in his arms. It felt, natural. "Let's go back to my place, I can fix you up there~🎵".

After attempting (and failing) to steady (Y/N) onto her feet, Aloha muttered a small "Shuck it" before picking her up bridal style.
They left the square, and Aloha took her to his house that he shared with his teammates.

"Did Aloha really leave with (Y/N) like that? I honestly didn't take Aloha to be that kind of squid." Skull scoffed to Army and Mask, looking in the direction that Aloha took off in.

"I ship it," Mask-kun said plainly, staring down at his phone. He was trying to find (Y/N) on inkstagram.

"They look rather cute together. I condone it." Army stated to the group. Skull only rolled his eyes. He just thought that it would end badly.

'Eh, who cares. It's their lives.' Skull thought, digging his hands into his pockets. Though he did care, for his friend and that (Y/N) girl.