City of Liberty                                                                                                                                                                                                Now

"HOOOOONK!"

The city of Liberty was not anything special tonight. Inklings and other sea creatures went about their normal business. There was only one exciting thing tonight, but it happened pretty much every other night. A pair of Inklings, in a hovercraft, were racing for their lives from a police van behind them. The Inklings were male and female, both white-skinned, but the male had blue hair and was wearing pilot goggles on his forehead, while the female had hanging orange tentacles and was wearing massive black and white headphones. The female was behind the wheel.

"They're after us!" Yelled the male. He grabbed his weapon of choice, a Splat Roller, and swung it up and down, trying to hit the police van's glass windshield. It was too far away, however. The police van's headlights rolled up, revealing two Hydra Splatlings. "You've gotta be squiding me!" He said, and ducked down just as the weapons fired over his head. "HEY RIN! I CAN'T HIT THEM WITH SALLY!"

"Then use my scope!" She yelled over her shoulder. "And stop calling your Roller Sally! It's weird!" She passed him a long, silver sniper from the side door pockets. It had a blue scope on it, which was polished so much he could see his reflection on it. He disconnected the cord that connected his Inktank to his Roller and connected it to the sniper. Putting the butt of the gun to his shoulder, he poked his head over the back of the hovercraft and fired a wild shot that hit a wooden crate, shattering it instantly. "Hey dumb ass! You need to look through the scope!" Rin yelled over her shoulder. She fiddled with a few knobs on the craft's dashboard. Squid Squad's "Kraken Up" blared through the speakers of the craft, as she nodded her head to the beat of the music. "This'll help you!" She said aloud. 

"Darn, really? Squid Squad? Can't you just put on Squid Sisters?" He yelled out to no one in particular. "I just wanna hear Marie..." He muttered under his breath. He ducked as more ink from the Splatlings shot over his head, then returned fire with Rin's weapon, aiming for the tires. BANG! BANG! The weapon shot two bursts of paint, one shot off the van's side rear-view mirror, and the other hit the center of the glass windshield.

"YEAH!" They both cheered in unison, pumping their fist in the air. But seconds after this, the Ink flew off to the side. The van accelerated dramatically, shortening the gap between the two vehicles.

"Hey!" Rin yelled, and adjusted the rear-view mirror so that she could see him. "I thought I told you: Ink. Doesn't. Harm. GLASS!" She swerved around a tight corner, and he went tumbling to the side. Squid Squad was still blaring through the speakers, not really helping him in any certain way.

"Well, next time you try hitting a van, while riding on a hovercraft, with a weapon you never even use, with crappy music blaring while riding at a hundred and twenty!" He shouted, trying to stand up.

"The craft isn't moving at-." She stopped, checked the speedometer, and yelled "It's at one-twenty-two!"

"Doesn't help... and why are we doing this again? And just how much longer?"

"Yes it does, because we are low on power and I don't know, let me check." She turned on a portable car GPS, with CARMAN written engraved on the top. A pixelated yellow smiley face appeared on the small screen, about the size of a smartphone.

"Oh no..." Said the male, and got up, only to be knocked down when the hovercraft banked a sharp turn. "Not Carman!  He's so stupid! And his attitude..." 

"Apologizes, Mr. Jackson, for not suiting every single one of your personal preferences. Turn right!" This last command was directed at Rin, who executed a ninety-degree turn on the spot, smashing through the gates of a park. 

"HEEEEEELLLLLP! Rin, you idiot, your dumb GPS is gonna get us killed!" Jackson yelled, then looked behind him. "And those dumb police are still after us!" He fired a wild shot that hit a marble statue of Sheldon the weapon dealer's Grandpa, an important general in the Great Turf War of long ago. The police van was swerving left and right, extremely fast, trying to avoid every obstacle. 

"Turn right! And then, turn left!" Instructed the smiley face. Driving through the park at one hundred and twenty five miles per hour and accelerating, Rin banked right, then left. Sea urchins, Anemones, Inklings and like jumped out of the way of the speeding craft. Smashing through a tree followed by a fried kelp stand at the GPS' orders, Rin drove straight at a wall, not even one mile from them. "Now, split!" The GPS yelled.

"Hey Jackson! He's right! We need to split! It's our only way to loose them!" She pressed a button on the dashboard, a big, pink one. A faint hissing sound could be heard. "You take CARMAN! I know this route better than you! Meet up back at the destination!"

"Why don't you take CARMAN? I hate him and he hates me!" Jackson ran up to his seat and strapped in his seat belt that covered his chest in the shape of an "X" without anymore remarks. He handed Rin her charger, but she pushed his hand away.

"I told you why! Plus, I'm the better driver, I can loose them! You might need to fight them! Oh!" She added, just remembering something "Try to... you know... eliminate them. The police? But don't hurt them!" She added, seeing the expression on Jackson's face.

"Wait, what did y-" Before Jackson could finish his sentence, the craft split in two. A steering wheel popped up from the wheel well in front of him, as did a small dashboard. A windshield, like that of a motorcycle popped up from the front. The sides of the craft folded in, revealing portable hover-generators. His half of the craft looked identical to a motorcycle, except with no wheels and a steering wheel in the place of handlebars. Rin was nowhere in sight, and Jackson swerved to the left to avoid hitting the wall. "What'd she say about the police?" He asked the GPS, preforming evasive maneuvers to avoid getting hit by the firing Hydra Splatlings and obstacles.

"... She said to dispose of them, Monsieur Jackson." Said the GPS. 

"Oh." Said Jackson. "I see. That's girlfriends for you... Never making ANY sense."

"It is to my utmost happiness to inform you that you are not dating Mistress Rin, nor will you ever."

"Shut up." Jackson growled, as he fiddled with a few buttons on the dashboard. "Hey Carman! Can you get us out of here?" He spun left and right with the hoverbike, trying to avoid getting hit.

CARMAN raised his pixelated eyebrow. "What's the magic work, miss?" 

Jackson sighed. "Please?"

"Please what?"

"Can you get us out of here?"

"What's the magic word?"

"LOOK." Jackson said. He preformed a 180 degree turn, so that they were facing the police. "Do you want to get run over by a van? Because that can be arranged. See that van there?" The police van was zooming toward them, head-on, firing the front weapons. Jackson lifted his hands off of the wheel, holding them up as if surrendering. "They'll ram into us, at full speed, killing me and you, IF YOU DON"T GET US OUT OF HERE." He said through clenched teeth.

"... I'll see what I can do."

"Thought so. Now do us a favor, and get us THE HELL OUT OF HERE." Jackson turned the bike back around, and accelerated toward the exit gate.

"I three-point-one miles, turn down."

"On it!" Jackson said, and reached for a tiny, black button on the dashboard. With only one hand on the wheel, the craft was unsteady. It swayed to the right, forcing Jackson to return his hands to the wheel. "Ummm, Carman-?"

"I'll take over." The wheel sank into the floor again, and the dashboard came a few inches closer. "Don't fire at the police van with Jackson just yet."

"With-?"

"Oh, Jackson. Poor, innocent, stupid, naive Jackson... You honestly didn't think you were the only Inkling who named his or her weapon, did you?"

"Yeah, but why did Rin name her Charger 'Jackson?'"

"Why do you think?"

At this, Jackson actually thought about, putting his finger to his chin.  Carman groaned.

"Look, just think about it for a while, 'kay?" A drill sprouted from the front of the bike, and a transparent dome came over Jackson, covering the whole top of the bike. "Now, just let me drive!" The bike drilled into the ground, straight down. Jackson covered his eyes with his hands, screaming. The bike drilled through the top of a huge sewer pipe, and rode on the floor inside the pipe. The shield came down, and Jackson looked over his shoulder. He saw nothing, then turned to face CARMAN.

"Hey, I think we lost t-" He was interpreted by a sudden jerk in the bike. He looked over again, only to see the same police van which had somehow followed them, firing at will. He widened his eyes, then grabbed Rin's Charger: Jackson. "Carman! Report!"

"What's the mag-" Jackson grabbed CARMAN, and held him out over the edge of the speeding bike. "Okay, OKAY! They seem to have hit our electric power plant! I estimate we can go no more than two miles without the fuel!"

"Dammit!" Exclaimed Jackson, as he unbuckled his seat belt. "At a hundred and twenty, that's one minute!" He climbed onto the top of his chair, and fired at the van. A miss. He fired three more times, each one missed. "It's no use! Carman, transform and come with me!" The GPS sprouted legs, and crawled onto Jackson's shoulder without any complaints. Clutching his seat, Jackson slowly moved to the back of the bike. The bike was already decelerating. "Hang on!" Jackson yelled out to no one in particular. He put the Charger between his teeth, and grabbed his Roller. He could feel CARMAN's grip on his shoulder tightening. And then he jumped off of the bike, landed safely, and dropped the Roller. With two hands, he held the Charger and fired at the van's tires. He squeezed his eyes shut. When he reopened them, the van was down a tire, and skidding sideways toward him. 

"Yeah! He and CARMAN exclaimed. Jackson picked up his Roller, put the charger between his teeth again and ran up to the van, and jumped on the side of it just as it was straightening out. He clung on for dear life as the van accelerated. Slowly, he climbed onto the roof of the van, and saw them speed by his bike. He sighed. That bike had saved him many times, so it had some great sentimental value. He was sad to see it go. He placed the Roller on the roof of the van, the Charger between his teeth and pulled out a knife.

"Mistress Rin did not quite prepare me for circumstances like this..." CARMAN said.

"Whare ro halkin hout?" Jackson whispered back, as he began sawing open the sunroof with the knife. Once he had sawed open the roof on three sides, he dropped Charger from his mouth. He put the knife in his pocket, and grabbed the Charger in one hand, and the Roller in the other. "I said: 'What're you talkin' about? We do this for fun. All the time." CARMAN rolled his eyes on his screen at Jackson. Jackson breathed heavily. "Okay, whatever. Now, what'd she say about the police?"

"She said to dispose of them, but-"

"I should harm them if possible. Right?"

"I think so."

"Good." Jackson put his goggles over his eyes and kicked open the sunroof. "Just checking," he said, and hopped in. He dropped his Roller onto the floor of the van, which was surprisingly roomy. He clutched the Charger with two hands. Just two seats in the front, and the rest was empty space with crates and whatnot. He saw the policeman in the passenger's seat: A Horseshoe Crab wearing a blue and green uniform, who turned around to face him. He looked shocked. "Sorry, gang!" Said Jackson to the Horseshoe Crab. "But my girlfriend-to-be wants me to dispose of you." He raised the Charger's scope to his right eye, as CARMAN scurried onto his back. But the Horseshoe acted first, and grabbed his own gun: A Blaster. He had a temporary Inktank attached to its back, because Horseshoe Crabs cannot make their own ink. "Aw, damn!" Said Jackson, as he fired a shot that missed his target and shot the seat, splatting it with blue ink, the same color as his tentacles tied behind his head.

"Damn this!" Said the Horseshoe, as he fired an exploding shot at Jackson. It missed, but hit a nearby metal crate, causing it to explode. Lime green ink and bits of metal went flying.

"OW!" Yelled Jackson, as a piece of metal hit the side of his face. "Damn this? What does that even mean? Why do all police like to say terrible puns?" He leaped for cover behind another crate, just as another wild shot was fired by the Horseshoe. He disconnected the Charger from his Inktank, and connected his Roller, slinging the Charger over his shoulder. He jumped out of hiding. "Choke on thi-!" He started to yell, but was cut off right as another exploding shot was fired, only this time it hitting floor inches from where Jackson was standing. The blast sent him flying to the back of the van, slamming him into the wall. He closed his eyes just enough so he could see, wanting the policeman to think he was unconscious. As the policeman advanced, his gun drawn, Jackson was lying. Waiting to strike. He waited for the policeman to come closer. 

"Hey, I think we finally-" the policeman started, but didn't see Jackson's next move coming. He twisted into a spiral, then leaped up and kicked the Blaster out of his hand. It went flying to the back of the van. Jackson's other foot hit the Horseshoe squarely in the chest sending him stumbling back to the floor a few feet in front of him. Jackson kicked the van's left back door open, and threw the Blaster out. "Not Jimmy!" The policeman said, stretching his arm toward Jackson. 

Jackson swerved his head to the policeman, and walked up to him. Jackson's sneakers, customized Black Seahorses, were at eye level with the cop. He slowly bent down to him, and picked him up with one hand. The cop spat in his face. Calmly, Jackson walked up to the open door. The driver swerved, causing Jackson to go tumbling to the edge of the open door. Just as he was about to go tumbling out the door, he grabbed the inside door handle. Hand holding on to there from the handle, outside the van, holding on to the Horseshoe Crab with the other. He looked at the Horseshoe. "Excuse me for one moment, I must speak with the driver." He said to the cop, and shook him off. He watched him go tumbling down the pipe, stopped, and grew farther and farther away.

Jackson hoisted himself into the car, and closed the door behind him. He got up, but the car intentionally swerved again, causing him to loose balance. He lay on the floor, made sure his Roller was connected, and crawled across the floor. He slowly made his way across the floor. He managed to get up next to the driver, and said: "Alright, listen you! You're gonna... You're gonna... You're-!" He shut up, seeing who the driver was. It was Rin. Or at least it looked like her, with no headphones. But then, before his eyes, she changed shape. Her tentacles fell off, her skin changed from white to tan, her eyes from orange to hazel. Before him sat an Octoling, one with those features, and purple tentacles tied behind her head like Jackson's.

"Octoling!" He shouted. He froze. She shot him a toothy grin. "GRAAAH!" He yelled, and leaped at her, trying to seize control of the wheel. The struggled in silence, but Jackson broke it. "Let go of the wheel!" He shouted at her. With a single punch over her shoulder, she caused him to go flying across the van, landing on his back. But suddenly, he felt weightless. Standing, he looked through the windshield. He saw nothing but sky. Then, he saw the lights of the city of Liberty racing toward them. The Octoling looked over her shoulder, and smiled.

"Enjoy your stay." She said in a robotic tone, smugly. Then, she jumped out the open side door as the van was falling. Jackson ran to the door, flung himself at her, but she had already gone. He got up, slammed the door and looked out the back window. He saw that the pipe they were travelling through ended. It just dropped off, and a trickle of water was flowing out of it. Jackson started pushing buttons at random on the dashboard. 

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Whined CARMAN. He scurried onto Jackson's shoulder.

"Carman!" Yelled Jackson, focusing on the ground. He gripped the wheel, and forced himself to stop shaking. "Can you give us a report on the car's systems?"

"... Sorry, Jackson." He whispered. "... But no. There isn't enough time!"

"Okay then!" Jackson ran to the back of the van. "Here's the plan!" He swung his Roller over his head, bringing it down on a wooden crate. 

"What are you doing, Jack?" Asked CARMAN. His smiley face was replaced by a blue question mark.

"I'm gonna do what I always do.. Go crazy and hope I find something!" He looked at the contents of the crate. "And it looks like I did!" Proudly, he held up a white disk about the size of his hand.

"What that?" CARMAN breathed.

"They're called potable Specials." Jackson said, as he inserted the disk through a slot on his Inktank. "They allow you to instantly max out your special. But only for the standard time."

"How-?"

"No one knows." He ran to the back door of the van, opened it and poked his head out. He saw the ground just about one hundred feet from them, and racing toward them. "Grab on!" Yelled Jackson, as his Inktank was starting to shoot off sparks from the contained power. He scrunched his face and squeezed his eyes closed. Then, he jumped out of the van, with CARMAN screaming in a high pitched voice. The ground was racing toward them. Fast. Jackson folded his arms in to his sides, and opened his eyes. His pilot goggles were helping keep the wind out of his eyes. The ground was fifty feet away. Forty. Thirty. Then, Jackson reached up at his Inktank, and pulled out a blue Suction Bomb, and attached it to his left shoe. He pulled out another, and attached it to his other. Repeating the process until his Special was drained, and the ground was only twenty feet away, he pointed his feet at the ground, and closed his eyes tight.

Seconds later, at high speed, Jackson slammed into the ground, and the impact caused the Bombs to explode, sending Jackson and blue ink ten feet into the air, and fell to the ground. CARMAN was still screaming. 

"Ugh..." Jackson groaned. He had just fallen ten feet. But it was better than hundreds. "Carman- hey, dude! Fall's over!" Suddenly, the ground trembled, just for a second. Looking over his shoulder, Jackson saw smoke, and he smelled fire. "... And it looks like the van didn't make it."

CARMAN stopped screaming. "Mam, I suppose you would like to know three factors of our making it or not?"

"Hit me."

"Okay. One, we just caused a van to fall out of a sewer pipe. Hundreds of feet in the air, exploding on impact to the ground. Killing many people, probably."

Jackson's face fell. "But we didn't mean it..." His voice trailed off.

"Two! How are you gonna explain this to the police? Blue ink is everywhere in a ten foot radius, at least!"

Jackson shrugged. "They don't have to know."

"Which brings me to my third factor. They. Are. Right. HERE." CARMAN whisper-shouted.

In the excitement of the fall, Jackson failed to notice the police cars around him, as well as a blue helicopter with a searchlight pointed at them. "ATTENTION CITIZEN!" A voice yelled out of nowhere. 

"Aw, dangnabbit!" Jackson whined. "Again?"

"LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!"

Realizing he didn't really have a choice, Jackson disconnected his Roller, letting it fall to the street. He lifted Rin's Charger over his head and dropped it. Lastly, he put his hands up, surrendering. CARMAN raised two of his legs.

Seconds later, he found himself thrown into the back of a police car, with a barred window. Rin was there, cross legged, with a hand on her cheek. She looked like she was expecting him, her hot pink and blue sneakers covered in dirt and mud.

"Some better driver, huh?" Asked Jackson, sarcastically.

"Shut up." Rin said. "Where's CARMAN?"

"Up front. The police specially wanted him near them."

"Really." Rin didn't seem surprised. She looked at the wall, as the car started moving.

"Sorry," mumbled Jackson. "Some pre-date, huh?"

"A-yup." The car drove on. They rode in silence.