Welcome To Inkopolis (WTI) #2

  Eichi led me through a series of back alley’s, each one curving and twisting past crowds of people and large intersections that would take too long to cross on foot; She said it would lead to the center of Inkopolis. One thing I’ve noticed about her, she wasn’t all too fast or flexible, having hard times climbing over little gates and garbage cans. The only thing I’ve been truly capable, climbing and quick maneuvering. As we got closer to our destination, my aggravation grew each time I had asked her what she wanted me to do for her in exchange for helping me, each time she dodged the question with another question.

  “So what do you know about where we’re going?” I asked, trying to see if she’ll answer anything else; to my surprise, she did answer this.

  “Well it’s the hot-spot for all of us Inklings, It’s Booyah Base, where we get our gear, train, and head into Turf Wars; and all other kinds of things like Events, Homes for the younger generation, there’s also the news broadcast station here too.” She replied, hoping over the fence; some what struggling to get down as she started to grip the fence.

  “Huh, it’s all set up for us?” I replied, hoping over the gate and spacing out my feet to land easily; I turned and noticed she was still struggling as she got down to her feet. The only conclusion I could come up with was either she was afraid of heights or just...Strange, I guess.

  “Y-yeah, the adults pretty much made this entire area especially for us; though, I don’t understand why,” She scuttled down to her feet and sighed, swatting off her pants and walked on ahead of me, “kind of seems like a strange way to go about life, once you finished elementary, you're pushed into a type of playfield battlefield.”

  “I guess, but it’s only for two years, isn’t it?” I replied, shrugging a little as I continued to follow her.

  “As far as I know, yeah, but you really don’t hear me complaining--- “ She stopped at the edge of the alley way and took a step to the side, “Well’p, here we are.” She turned her head and smiled at me, the light was pouring in at the edge so her face was mostly obscured, only her blue eyes showed among the radiant light.

  I walked forward and shielded my eyes from the sunlight, cringing a little as everything readjusted; before me, was a giant plaza with a mass of Inklings of all kinds, wearing hip and cool clothes that I never seen throughout the rest of the city. Several buildings ran along the edge of the plaza, the one at the very end was a giant tower; a radio tower it looked like. It was giant, going high into the sky, just barely touching the clouds as air blimps flew by with their advertisements running on large plasma screens.

  “That’s weird…” Eichi muttered, crossing her arms as she stared up at the tower with a grim look, squinting them slightly.

I walked up beside her and looked at the tower, not noticing anything out of the ordinary, “What’s weird? All I see is a tower?” I asked, looking back at her.

  She shook her head and turned back to me, “No, it’s not just any tower, that tower power’s the entire city; and the thing that’s powering it, isn’t there anymore. The Great Zapfish.” she scrunched up her eyebrows, “What the heck happened to it…?” she muttered.

  The Great Zapfish? I had almost forgotten about that, it was a giant fish like creature that generated a near infinite amount of electricity, it was an ancient creature from 100 years ago. It was basically the source of power everywhere.

  At that moment, a large TV hung on a building next to the tower blipped up and rung a strange little tune; a news report? Everyone’s attention quickly turned towards the screen, and I mean everyone, immediately turned their heads and full attention on the screen. Two anchorwoman who appeared to be also of a young age showed up, a line of text scrolled across the bottom of the screen reading ‘breaking news’.

“Shocking news everybody!” The Inkling with long black tentacles tied up into two buns that sloped downwards at the ends began as she put out her arms in a forward position.

“What is it? What is it?” The other one replied, her white tentacles tied up into a neat little bun at the back of her head, keeping it short; cupping a hand over her mouth.

 “The Great Zapfish has DISAPPEARED!” The other exclaimed.

 “Wait, what? Doesn’t that, like, power the entire city? What are we going to do if we run out of power?” The white one responded.

  “I don’t really know, but police are looking into this matter; if anyone has seen the great zapfish or know where it may be, please report to the local police right away.” The black one finished, it was obviously known by them so it was pretty clear that they were both putting on a show while still giving a news update.

 The two of them went on for a bit about a couple of things regarding how power would be limited, so that Turf Wars and other events will be held off for a short time except for practice turf wars which didn’t require much power. Soon the broadcast ended and everything went back to normal, though, I suppose this was less than anything normal.

 I turned to Eichi who was still in a bit of a shock, shaking her head slightly, “That’s...Crazy… How could anyone steal that thing, it’s huge, and without anyone noticing too…” She muttered, turning back to me.

 “I really don’t know, but from the looks of it, they don’t seem to be all too worried, maybe things will clear up quickly and everything will be fine?” I responded, shrugging slightly.

 She glared at me for a second and took a deep breath, lowering her head and sighing; shaking her head from side to side, “Yeah, I hope your right…. Anyway, I better start showing you around.” She rose her head and smiled again, it was a relief that the issue didn’t seem all too serious; or at least that’s what everyone’s leading on, there’s no mass panic or anything.

 I nodded slightly and looked away a little, looking at the buildings near by, “Alright… So what’s first?” I asked, trying to change the subject quickly.

 “Let’s see…” She crossed her arms, “Well I think it’d be best to get you your gun first… But, I’m actually kind of thirsty, wanna grab a soda first?” She smiled, starting to walk across the street.

 I didn’t think about it, but I hadn’t had anything to drink or eat since coming here; and considering all the climbing and running we’ve been doing to get here, I thought it’d be a good idea to get something to drink at least. I nodded and began to follow her, she turned and started to walk ahead; I followed without much to say, noticing all the different Inklings all around, they wore clothes I’ve never really seen back home, some wore ski masks and other headgear, which seemed a little strange, but at the same time, they some how made it look cool with the rest of their clothes.

 We stopped in front of a large soda vending machine, she pulled out her phone and placed it on a scanner like display on the machine and clicked two buttons; the machine made a ‘vrrrr’ ing sound and two soda’s both came tumbling down the display and a lid opened up at the bottom. I stood behind her as she turned around, holding two purple soda cans, handing one to me, “Here you go, it’s on me.” She smiled, gesturing me to take it.

 “Well… Alright.” I smiled slightly and took the soda, “Thanks, for helping me out too.” I finally said, unclipping the can and opening it as I took a quick sip, “I mean… I would’ve been really lost if you hadn’t come out of the blue.” I sighed, shutting my eyes slightly, “Seriously, I had no idea what I was doing when I got off…”

 Eichi chuckled slightly, “Yeah, when I saw you on my Tap-Pad, it read that you were just level 1 and it didn’t register any of your clothes as actual gear; not to mention it didn’t even say you had any weapons on you. So I figured you were fresh off the station.” she unclipped her can and took a large gulp, “So I decided to give you a ring and see if you needed any help, maybe get some help from you too in exchange.” She sighed, scratching her head slightly under her beanie.

 “You still haven’t told me what you wanted in exchange for helping me out…?” I asked, tilting my head slightly to her, raising my eyebrows.

 “Well...You see…” She began.
  But at that very moment, we both heard a loud clicking sound from below us; a hole below the two of us opened up. At that second, we began to fall, no longer in control of gravity or our footing, “GAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH------!!!” we both yelled and shouted as we fell further and further down the hole, the light from the world above became more and more distant. I reached my hand upwards as I suddenly felt tired, my body becoming weak and everything went to black. What was going on…? So suddenly? Why?