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The helicopter landed, and Vic stepped out. Agent 3 stepped out after him, holding a hand to her head. She wobbled a bit as she hopped to the ground, and Vic reached out to steady her. Pearl slid out from the cockpit, grinning. “Great job, Vic!” she said, her voice a bit hoarse. Vic returned the smile, then turned around, gazing at the view. They had landed on top of a tall building with an amazing view of Inkopolis.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” asked Marina, coming up beside him. Vic nodded, speechless.
“Welcome to Inkopolis, Vic,” Pearl said from his other side. Marina frowned, seeming concerned.
“Are you okay, Pearl? You don’t sound great.”
“I’m fiiiiine,” Pearl assured her. “Saving the world can be a little hard on your voice.”
Vic finally found his voice. “So this is where you guys live?”
“Yup!” Pearl said proudly. “And I guess you’re gonna live here too now!”
“Would that be okay? I mean, since I’m an Octoling. I thought Inklings didn’t like Octolings.”
“You’ll be fine. I mean, look at Rina. She’s an Octoling, and Inkopolis loves her! There aren’t a lot of Octolings in Inkopolis, but there’s a few, and I’m sure there will be more coming in the future.”
“We should probably get Agent 3 to a doctor,” Marina interjected, glancing back at her. “She’s definitely got a concussion or something.”
Pearl grabbed Vic’s hand. “Come on! There’s so much I wanna show you!”
It had been a few weeks since Vic had moved to Inkopolis. The city was huge, and he was still having difficulty getting anywhere without checking his phone every few steps. He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, when his phone buzzed.
“Hey! You up for some Turf War?”
It was a text from Claire, also known as Agent 4. Pearl and Marina had introduced Vic to her shortly after he arrived in Inkopolis. She was actually really helpful in showing him around the city. Vic was naturally uncertain, having just moved to an entirely new place, but Claire was anything but. She was energetic and always excited about something. At first, her enthusiasm had been a little overwhelming, but he gad gotten used to it.
“Sorry, I can’t. I’ve got plans with Koni.”
Koni was his other friend he’d met in Inkopolis. He had met her when they bumped into each other in Inkopolis Square - literally. They ended up talking for a while, planning to meet up again in a few days, and exchanging numbers when they did. Vic was relieved to have a new friend, as Cap’n Cuttlefish kept Claire quite busy most days, and Pearl and Marina were busy with their band. Koni had also seemed quite happy to have a new friend.
A few minutes later, Vic sat waiting outside of the Frosty Flippers ice cream shop. He glanced down at his phone, checking the time. It was about the time he and Koni had agreed on.
“Hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”
Vic looked up to see Koni approaching. He noticed she was wearing the Tentaclinger earring he had picked out for her the week before, when they went shopping together. It stood out, but not in a bad way, contrasting nicely with her white hair and pale skin.
“Well, now I just feel bad. I should have worn my Tri-Octo tee today. I didn’t know we were wearing our outfits from our shopping trip.”
Koni laughed. “It’s fine. I actually love the earring. I never would have guessed it’d look so good on me.”
“It looks amazing,” Vic said with a smile. Koni blushed.
Vic stood up and pushed the door to the shop open. Koni followed behind him.
They sat outside, eating their ice cream and talking.
“After this, you wanna head to the lobby?” Vic asked, sipping his strawberry milkshake.
“No,” Koni replied, just like she always did. “I don’t do Turf War battles.”
This was the one thing about Koni that puzzled Vic to no end. Everyone loved Turf Wars, even were obsessed with them. Turf Wars seemed to be such a massive part of Inkling life, and yet Koni didn’t do them? It didn’t make any sense, but she didn’t seem to want to talkabout it, so Vic didn’t push.
“You wanna come to my house then?” Vic offered. “We could play video games or something.”
Koni nodded. “Sure.”
The two friends finished their ice cream and headed to Vic’s house. Vic went to turn on his game, but paused and turned back to face Koni.
“Koni?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“If you don’t wanna tell me, that’s fine but…” He hesitated. “I just don’t get why you don’t do Turf Wars?”
Koni was silent for a moment. Finally, she sat down and rested her elbows on the table.
“I have a condition called albinism. It means that my body doesn’t produce any color, which is why my hair is white and my skin is so pale.”
Vic was quiet. He sat down beside her, then asked, “So… you can’t change your ink color?”
“No,” Koni said sadly. “I can’t change my color, so I can’t participate in Turf Wars.”
Vic put his hand on top of hers. “That’s alright. I still love hanging out with you, even if you can’t play Turf War.” Koni smiled at him.
“Now, wanna play some Octo Kong Country?” Vic asked, standing up.
“Of course I do,” Koni said, sliding out of her seat and reaching for a controller.
A few days later, there was a knock on Koni’s door. Surprised, she opened it, then gasped.
Vic stood outside, along with two other Inklings - Agents 3 and 4, Koni guessed - but his hair was white. The other two also had white hair.
Vic grinned and handed Koni a Splattershot. She struggled to contain her tears.
“How about a Turf War?”
She lost it. Koni started crying. She flung her arms around Vic and hugged him.
“Yes!” she exclaimed. “I’d love to!”