The next day...

Axel had left his apartment early. Knowing Shelly and Colt would look for him, he left a note on their door, so they would seen it before they left the room. The note said as follows:

"Hey guys! I left for inkopolis early this morning. I am working on a custom ink weapon that won't just explode. If you wanna hang out, drop by ammo knights, I'll be there until night otherwise. This stands until the weapon is done, I work at things.
-Axel"

4 hours later

Colt and Shelly woke up. They decided breakfast was unnecessary, and wanted an early lunch. After cooking and eating, Colt saw the note on the door. Reading it, he chuckled at how determined Axel was to prove Shelldon wrong.

"Well, Shell, you wanna take Axel through Ranked today, or some other time?" Asked Colt.

"Maybe tomorrow..." Said Shelly. "M' tired today."

The next day

Colt and Shelly woke up early to go to ammo knights to have Axel try out Ranked mode with them. When they got there, Shelldon greeted them happily, and said "your buddy's been here since 6:30 yesterday. I didn't have the heart to kick him out."

Colt and Shelly went around to the back room, and saw Axel with a mountain of parts, numerous ink guns with the inner workings exposed, and a skeletal frame of the weapon Axel was making.

"What's that?" Shelly asked.

"I don't have a name for it yet..." Said Axel. "Anyways, what's up?"

"We were hoping to play some ranked battles with you." Said Colt.

"Sure" said Axel. "Sounds fun."

"Great!" Said Shelly.

They walked across the plaza to join ranked mode.

"Looks like rainmaker is the stage right now" Said Colt

"Let's crush em!" Shouted Shelly.

Lots of casual viewers saw Axel going back into battle, and hurried up to watch the stage in person.

As the fight before theirs finished, Shelly explained the objective to Axel, ending with "have our player 4 hold the rainmaker. You seem good enough to be on defense."

Their match was announced. Shelly, Colt l, Axel, and the lucky player 4 on their team jumped in to prep. Then, Pearl called from the balcony above "Go!"

Axel shot one shot over cover to hit the Rainmaker's bubble, as Colt did the same, then they ran to guard as Shelly prepared the bubble for a quick pop. The fourth player on their team this game was a nervous Octoling with a roller. He popped and grabbed the rainmaker, and the whole team mobilized. Forming a shell around the Octoling, Axel and Colt rained ink everywhere, dropping opponents wherever they came from, while Shelly patrolled to keep away any snipers. The team made good progress, when Axel saw a handful of burst bombs throw at him. He pushed Colt and jumped away just as the unfortunate Octoling they were guarding took all the bombs to the face. Axel rebounded, took up to Rainmaker, and started running. On foot, he easily outpaced all but the most speed-focused opponents, and got to the goal without too much issue, as Colt handled anyone who got to close.

Up above, Pearl announced the victory. Axel, Colt and Shelly played 4 more rounds of that, before Axel said, "I think I'll get back to my weapon now. If you guys want, you can watch."

Shelly was disappointed that the streak was gonna end so soon, but also excited to see how Axel went about his work. "Ok!" She said.

Colt followed Shelly, as he was sure Axel would need a few pointers on how to get things like the special gauge working.

When they got back to ammo knights, Axel went right back to his heap of parts. Colt asked "what sub and special do you plan to have with the weapon?"

"I already made those." Said Axel. "Burst pins as a sub and Rally Point as a special."

"And those do what?" Colt asked.

"The burst pins cause friendly ink to 'pop', hitting opponents and spreading the ink further. Rally Point places a respawn pad that has 2 uses." Replied Axel. "And yes, Sheldon helped me test, along with a few of the inklings from the plaza."

"And how did you test the Rally Point?" Colt asked, skeptical.

"I took them into a 2v2 match, and used the special. When my teammate was splatted, she respawned at the Point. But after the second revive the Point disappeared."Axel said.

"Cool" Shelly said while Colt asked Axel "so how much longer do you think it'll take to finish the weapon?"

"If I stay up all night, it could be done tomorrow around 8 a.m., provided all goes well." Replied Axel.

"Well, that sounds good" said Shelly. "When you're done we can test it out together, and then try it in Turf Wars!"

Colt and Shelly watched Axel work at it for 3 hours, before heading off to bed for the night. All night, Axel toiled away. He met a few holdups, such as the special gauge, but they weren't much of an issue.

The next morning (I feel as if I say this too much. Do I?)

Shelly and Colt woke up at 9. This was earlier than usual, but they were aiming for 8 to see Axel finish the weapon. The pair hurried over to ammo knights, and arrived just in time for Axel to open the door, with an intrigued Sheldon behind him.

"Axel! Is it done?" Asked Colt.

"Pretty sure. Just need to give it a test run now." Said Axel.

"How about a 1v1?" Asked Colt."Shelly can do one after me."

"Sounds ok to me." Said Axel. "Remember our deal Sheldon."

"I remember young man..." Said Sheldon.

5 minutes later

Colt and Axel faced across the field, ready to battle. Shelly gave a countdown, and they started going.

"Your weapon looks kinda weird man, no offense" shouted Colt

"Non taken! I modeled it after a human metal detector" shouted back Axel.

Colt ran up to fire at Axel, but he dashed away. Then Colt ducked behind a box to ambush Axel.

"Dude I saw that. Well, time to see if this thing does what I aimed for!"

Colt wondered what that meant, and took a step back from the box, before it, he, and the ground around him were engulfed in a wave of Ink in Axel's color. He respawned, but was shocked at what happened. From his platform, he saw Axel fire again, drenching a vertical arc that ignored walls. Then he connected his pipe to refill on ink. Confused, Colt looked around, seeing plenty of his ink, but only the 2 blasts from Axel's

"Dude, what happened to your ink? You never fill until you need to!" Called Colt.

Axel shouted back "this thing uses 48% of my ink per attack!"

"Oh..." Said Colt to himself. "Seems mostly balanced."

Then he asked "how's your specials progress?"

Axel shouted back again "19%"

Colt knew with most weapons that the special bar would be almost full by now, and decided that the drawbacks made the weapon balanced. He watched Axel use a burst pin to show off it's affect, and then Shelly called the match.

"I don't think victory was the goal, but Colt won!"

Then it was her turn. She tried to drop Axel, and was blasted several times as a result. Axel yelled "my special actually charged!"

Then he threw a disc in the air. It landed behind Shelly, just as she splatted Axel.

"What the heck?" Shelly said as Axel grappled the temporary respawn area and hit her at point blank with the new weapon. Then Colt called the match.

"Axel won! Shell, did you not watch our battle? Clearly you can't camp and wait for him."

Axel turned to Sheldon while his friends jokingly argued and said "well, it works. So it's free now."

"Yeah yeah..." Said Sheldon, surprised by this.

"I'll fix the partly disassembled weapons though." Said Axel "except the charger. I'll buy that."

Then Colt asked "do you have a name for the weapon?"

Axel smiled, and said " The Area Rendition Crasher, or A.R.C. for short."

"I'ma call that boi the Arc" said Shelly.

"Knock yourself out." Laughed Axel. "I nicknamed it the meme machine because why not."

Colt said "ready to try it out in Ranked? Turf war seems to waste it's potential."

"Sure" said Axel

"I hope the mode today is tower control!" Said Shelly. "It won't even be a fight!"

"You'll have to tell me the objective, but sounds cool" said Axel.

"You stand on a short tower, and ride it to the enemy base." Said Colt.

"Seems simple" said Axel

"You should be the rider, because you can't move while reloading" said Shelly.

"Sounds like a plan!" Said Axel and Colt

30 minutes later

"Ooh, we're next!" Said Shelly excitedly.

"Heh heh, I see the usual crowd getting into position..." Said Axel. "Time to be mind blowing."

A few moments and the battle was called. Axel pulled out the Arc, and got ready to destroy. The moment they landed a large conversation kicked up above.

"What's that weird thing the human is using?" Marina asked.

"I heard rumors that the human was making a gadget of some sort yesterday, but I didn't think they were real..." A few inklings and octolings murmured.

One inkling piped up "that's the humans new weapon! I saw him testing it this morning!"

Another added "it has a unique sub and special too! My friend told me about them!"

Pearl said "well, I guess I'll have to look up from my mayonnaise to see this one. Go!"

Shelly went left, and Colt went right. Axel went behind the squad player 4 of the day, not wanting to use his weapon prematurely.

The opposing team were not the brightest at strategy, and all huddled around the tower as one rode it. Bombs would be a weakness, but Axel  had another idea. He sidestepped behind a raised platform, fell prone, and crawled to his ambush area, while the player 4 took her E-liter, and charged the opponents. She was splatted before any real damage was done.

Up above, Pearl said "the human seems to be planning something. But where are his teammates?"

A few seconds later and the posse around the tower got onto range. Axel jumped and shouted "prepare to be wasted!" The opponents looked in surprise at Axel, and his weapon, before prepping to drop him as soon as he landed. But before they could fire, Axel fired the Arc.

The opposing team didn't know what hit them. One moment the human was jumping at them with a weird device, the next moment all of them were back at their spawn. Two shook it off and charged back into the fray, but the other two stood stunned for a few seconds before starting to stagger back to the tower, still in shock.

A white spot appeared on the ground. Pearl and Marina stood above, speechless at the spectacle they just saw, and Pearl dropped her mayonnaise and spoon in shock, before shakily saying "how is that even fair?"

Marina then said "it looks like one attack uses almost half of the humans ink, and he can't fire super fast. Also remember, the human can't use squid or octopus form, and can't move while reloading. So it is about balanced. I guess we need to see the sub and special still to decide...", before seeing Axel only gained about 9.8% progress to his special. "Why is his special so long on the charge?" She asked herself.

Axel tossed burst pin around a corner to save ink for when a pack attacked. The unsuspecting Octoling hiding in wait was splatted, and returned to base.

"The sub seems to use existing ink instead of using the humans, and doesn't add to the special gauge. Pretty balanced." Marina said. Pearl shakily nodded in agreement.

Axel rode on the tower, watching Colt and Shelly play crowd control from the sides. But as he passed the 95% mark, he was forced to fire again, wiping out all but the sniper on the opposing team. The sniper splatted him, but Colt jumped on the tower and rode the last 2% to victory.

"That. Was. CRAZY!" Shouted Shelly. "They were all like 'we got dis' and then you went all 'I think not!' and..." Shelly rambled over the battle.

Colt said "you wanna go again?"

"You know it man." Said Axel

17 matches later

Axel, Colt, and Shelly were having issues with the team they were up against. But finally Axel got his special charged. Marina excitedly poked Pearl, while saying "Oh my Squid his special actually charged!"

Pearl shot up in her seat, and they watched to see the special.

The opponents were coming in a pack, and Axel shot, dropping two, but running out of ink. Desperate, he dropped his special on the tower, while yelling for Colt to jump off the map. Colt knew Axel's special was down, and did as he was asked to do.

"Did that inkling just... splat himself? On purpose?" Marina said, clearly bewildered. But then she saw. Colt and Axel both respawned back on the tower, fully loaded and with the 5 second grace period. They layed waste onto the opposing team, and Colt moved back to flank, but closer to the tower. After the long and hard battle, they won with a 48% progress to the opposing base, compared to an 11% push to theirs.

After the match one inkling went over to Axel, who was celebrating with Colt and Shelly, and said "well played dude. I gotta know though, why'd you cheat at the end? You were gonna win anyways."

Axel said "it did look kinda cheaty, huh? I used my special. It places a two time use spawn pad where I target."

The other inkling said "so you dropped that on the tower, just as your buddy splatted himself. I get it now. That's kinda op, don't you think?"

"I agree, but it's not too bad, right?" Asked Axel.

"Well..." The other inkling said, "it's not worse than the Kraken form, considering the charge time on it."

"I made it that long on purpose, because I know it's op." Said Axel.

"We gotta meet up again. I would ask to join your squad, but..." The inkling started to say.

"Oh, we only have 3 people." Said Colt. "We take a random player 4 everyday."

"Cool!" Said the other inkling. "I am playing solo right now."

"You wanna join our team to get carried, huh?" Joked Shelly. "You'll have to show us some skill, because we don't exactly play easy matches."

"I'll join this next round with you! That's a good way, right?" Asked the inkling.

"And how do you know we are playing again?" Asked Axel.

"Because you're in line." Replied the other inkling. "So can I join?"

"Alright." Said Colt. "What's your name?"

"I go by Edge." Said the inkling. "Because my actual name is silly."

"What is it?" Asked Shelly.

"I don't wanna say." Said Edge.

"Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase?" Said Shelly with puppy eyes.

"Ok fine." Said Edge. "It's Vishby, please never call me that."

"Ok." Said Shelly, with a mischievous look in her eye. "Well, let's go!"

2 matches later

"I dunno about you guys, but I'm beat." Said Colt. "Bout time to go back home."

"Same." Said Edge, before asking "how is the human not tired?"

"I'm a cyborg." Said Axel. "Getting tired isn't something that happens to me."

"Ok..." Said Edge, not really understanding fully.

The four started to the bus, before Colt asked "why are you following us home?"

"I live in Freshroom tower." said Edge.

"So do we!" Said Shelly. "What room?"

"4805" said Edge. "I moved in yesterday."

"Oh. My. Squid." Said Colt.

"What?" Asked Edge.

"We live in room 4802, and Axel lives in room 4803!" Said Shelly! "The whole squad is on the same floor! How convenient!"

"Yep" said Axel. "Well, it's late, let's get home fast."

2 minutes later

"Aw man! Bus is down!" Moaned Edge.

"Well, I guess I'll do the 'thing' again." Said Axel.

Colt grinned wickedly, as Shelly and Edge said "what thing..." before being picked up and put on Axel's back.

"You are gonna love this." He said, and then he took of running.

9 minutes later

Everyone was in their rooms. Axel had repeated what he did for Colt and Shelly the day they met, and Shelly and Edge were gasping from the surprise. But at least they were back fast, and they fell asleep quickly.