(A/N) - Just some things to note: in this story inklings and octolings have a height range of ~50 cm to ~70 cm, however there are exceptions, for example Numi is 43 cm tall (in case you are curious, the tallest recorded inkling in this story was 1.03 m tall). This has quite the effect on range of ink guns: as an example, E-liter 3K has a range of around 7 meters. Both weapons, sub weapons and specials have 2 variants: civilian which basically is like in the games, and military which has 2-4 times the range on weapons and sub weapons, while ranged specials have range of 100-200 meters and do more damage. As a side note, 2mm kolibri in hands of inkling/octoling of these sizes would look like it was made by them. And last: in this story fresh water and purified water are not harmful to inklings/octolings - only salt water, polluted water and water with chlorine are harmful. With salt water inklings/octolings can go knee deep and be ok for a short while, however it would sting a lot.

This story happens about a year after events of Splatoon 2 singleplayer and Octo Expansion.

2014 A.F.T.W. (After First Turf War - years counted since the first recorded turf war)

Not much is known about the eldest civilization, nor does anyone knows for certain how it perished. There is still much debate on how to call this civilization or its people, despite the fact that it was discovered a few years before The Great Turf War, which happened over a century ago. Some call the people of this dead civilization Precursors, some call them Forerunners, others still call them The Elder Race. Some proposed to call this civilization and its people X until we find any mentions of how they called themselves in the texts they left behind, and that's how they will be referred to. We know that they looked similar to main form of a fully developed inkling. There are two main difference between people X and inklings: people X had internal skeletons and were giants standing at almost a story high (look at illustration A). Although internal skeletons limited movement and increased the weight of people X, it most likely made them tougher as well. And those skeletons are the main source of our knowledge about people X. Most differences are located in the skull. For starters, it is proportionally tiny when compared to the rest of the skeleton, which would suggest that people X were primitive. Another difference is that instead of a beak people X had many individual teeth, of which there were 3 types (look at illustration B). The different types of these teeth suggest that the diet of people X was omnivorous in nature. They couldn't open their beak-less mouths as wide as inklings can, due to limitations imposed by structure of the jaw and the way it was attached to the skull....

There are many theories as to what caused the destruction of civilization X. Some theories revolve around a great war which killed off most of the population, which soon became extinct. Other theories suggest an epidemic which would have killed off the entire population. However, the most accepted theory which also has the most evidence supporting is that civilization X perished beneath the waves of rising sea levels, the same way as almost all other ancient land-dwelling creatures.

"Numi, the lesson is over. We can go home now." a female voice said. No response. "Numi." the voice repeated, still with no response.

"Look! A flying saucer!" a male voice exclaimed.

"What?! Where?! Where?!" Numi shouted, making the entire class look at her. Realizing this, Numi's face turned red from embarrassment. She turned to the owner of the voice and said "Coco, not fresh." in a clearly annoyed tone.

"Sorry, but you would just continue to ignore Arlie otherwise. The lesson is over and we can go home now" Coco responded with a huge grin on his face.

"The lesson is over already?" the wide eyed Numi asked.

"Yes. You had your eyes glued to that book the entire lesson. Did you even listen to what was being said?" Arlie replied, and then continued "Did you at least hear the announcement?"

"Whaa? What announcement?! Numi asked.

"The announcement about a trip to Shellendorf Institute" Mr. Jello replied, and received a puzzled look from Numi. "Since tomorrow is the last day of school before the summer break, I thought it would be nice to go to a museum instead of sitting in a class. A month ago, I have scheduled our class to go, and decided to keep it a secret until now. Well, I did leave some hints, main one being the current topic: civilization X." Mr. Jello explained.

"What makes it better is that two days ago they opened new exhibits for public viewing. I heard that these exhibits are unlike anything found before" a voice added.

"You are absolutely correct Tal. It's a very pleasant coincidence if you ask me" Mr. Jello agreed while checking his watch. "But you should all head to your homes now before it gets late" he added before going back to his desk. Once outside the class, the 3 inklings and 1 octoling exploded into a huge chat as they always did, talking about many different things. After 20 minutes of chatting Tal asked what everyone had planned for Saturday.

"First turf war!" the group exclaimed in unison.

"I am going to do my first turf war with my older sisters" Numi boasted.

"Why are you so happy about doing turf war with your sisters? Why not just do turf war with us?" Arlie questioned.

"I have seen them play ranked mode before. They were sooo cool!" the excited Numi squealed.

"But you will do turf war with us, right?" Coco questioned.

"Of course I will, why wouldn't I?" Numi assured, and gave Coco a bright smile. The group soon reached a bus stop, said their goodbyes and parted ways. The only thing Numi could think about the entire way home was turf war. What was it like to be in turf war? Did re-spawning hurt? How did Judd and Li'l Judd determine who won? She will find out in just 2 days. Numi was so lost in her thoughts that she almost passed her home. It was a large, standalone house with a big garden, in which there were a few trees, a small greenhouse, a swing and a few small beds of flowers. The trees were smaller than most wild trees, and there was a tree house on the tallest one. The house itself had a double garage attached to it, was two stories high, had a few balconies, a basement and an attic. There were some small bushes here and there, with the biggest one being between the doors and the garage. Numi entered the garden and walked up to the door. As she was getting her keys out, she heard gentle rustling in the bush. At first, she thought it was just the breeze, but the rustling became louder, more violent. Something jumped out of it.

It was a strange, humanoid blob of green ink, with unnaturally big, black eyes. It was holding a small, strangely shaped silver object. "EXTERMINATE INFERIOR INK!" the blob yelled. Numi instinctively started backing away in a hurry, but lost her balance and fell backwards. She stared at the blob, her face being that of pure terror. The blob stood still for a brief moment before bursting into an uncontrollable fit of laughter and falling over. The blob changed its color to yellow and turned into Numi's older sister, Pumi. "Y-you... you seriously... f-fell for... that!" Pumi barely got out. After about a minute she got back up and looked at Numi, expecting the usual annoyed face with puffed cheeks. But what she saw instead was Numi's pale face of pure terror and eyes on the verge of crying. At that moment she realized just how horrible her prank was. "H-hey, it's just a joke. It's ok. Hey look!" Pumi said and put on the silliest face she could think of. The only response she got was sobbing, which momentarily turned into a cry. "S-sorry, I'm so sorry. What was I even thinking?" Pumi said and took Numi into a hug.

"W-w-why?" was all that Numi was able to say in her cry. She was shaking from the scare Pumi gave her. The two were sitting on the ground, hugging each other for the next minute until the door opened. The person who opened the door was Kumi, Numi's and Pumi's older sister.

"What's all this noise abo-" Kumi begun, but stopped once she saw her younger sisters. She motioned them to get in while she picked up the few dropped items: keys, history book that fell out of Numi's backpack and a silver replica of an alien gun from "Invasion of the Eenkens". That last item drew Kumi's attention, as anything related to that movie franchise was forbidden in the house. Once back inside the house, she turned to Pumi with a death glare, then turned to Numi with a comforting look. "I'm so dead." was Pumi's only thought. Kumi helped Numi get to her room upstairs. She spent half an hour there, comforting Numi while questioning her for details on what exactly happened. Once she was sure Numi was ok, she left the room and went back downstairs to the living room. Pumi was sitting on one of the two couches and didn't notice Kumi enter the living room, due to being lost in thoughts. She jumped as Kumi sat down on the opposite couch and cleared her throat. "You have some explaining to do." Kumi demanded.

"I-it was supposed to be a joke! A prank! I didn't expect that to happen!" Pumi exclaimed.

"That is to be expected from you. But the fact that you based your prank on Invasion of the Eenkens crosses the line. There is a very good reason why everything related to that is forbidden here." said Kumi. The reason why anything related to "Invasion of the Eenkens" is because Numi watched the first movie when she was 5. Invasion of the Eenkens is a sci-fi-horror-action movie franchise based around a race called Eenkens invading Earth, with the only goal being extermination of anything their religion deems inferior. Nobody knows where Numi has seen the first movie, but it has had a huge effect on her. There were a few attempts at helping her forget it, but all failed.

"I don't know what I was thinking! I really don't!" Pumi shouted, which caused Kumi to jump as she didn't expect her sister to shout. "I regret that prank! I was so stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Pumi shouted and started hitting herself in the head.

"Hey, stop that." said Kumi, but Pumi didn't listen. "Stop hitting yourself!" Kumi repeated. Pumi still didn't listen. Kumi got up, walked over to Pumi and grabbed her hands. "Stop it! Don't ever hit yourself again! Kumi commanded.

"But..." Pumi begun, but got interrupted by Kumi.

"No buts!" Kumi cut in. Both sisters didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"I will never do a prank like that again." Pumi declared, breaking the silence. 

"And?" asked Kumi.

"I will not hit myself again." Pumi replied. Just as she said that, her squid phone buzzed. She took it out of her pocket, and read the message she received. "I have to go, this is important." Pumi demanded with a serious face, which was a rare thing for her.

"I don't know what you just read, but ok. Don't come back too late though." said Kumi. Pumi grabbed her duffel bag from behind the couch, put it on as if it was a backpack and run outside. "Why would she take a duffel bag?" Kumi thought, but decided it didn't matter. She reached a remote from the table, turned TV on and switched to a news channel.

"The debate sparked by the discovery made a month ago still rages on, and it has divided the scientific and historical communities apart like nothing before." male news anchor said and continued "Last night a group of archeologists has accidently activated an ancient device of uncertain origin, fueling the debate even more."

"A team of specialists has confirmed that the device is not dangerous, unlike some of the other devices, of which one has caused a powerful explosion, which thankfully saw no one get hurt." female news anchor chimed in.

"Multiple theories have been put forth, with the most accepted one saying that the devices were created by civilization X. This theory suggests that we have greatly underestimated the achievements and advancements of civilization X, and it would mean that millions of history books would become outdated." male news anchor said.

Kumi watched the news for five more minutes, during which the news anchors talked about another inkling going missing, weather and news plan of the day, and switched the channel to LIVE ranked battles.

---

"Huh? The hell is this supposed to mean?" a figure in a large control room said.

"Something wrong?" another figure asked with a demanding voice.

"Sir, I have just picked up a signal, but the frequency it uses is ancient. It's the same as in history books. I'm not sure if it's a malfunction or if it's a real signal" the figure responded, and moments later several other figures reported the same signal.

"Relay a detailed report to central intelligence HQ. We have a mission on our hands and can't divert any resources to investigate this signal." was the order given.

"Yes sir!"

---

Numi was in her room, sitting on her bed while playing her favorite game, "The Seagull King" on her squid box. She has just finished a puzzle level that she spent ages on trying to figure out. She sighed, saved the game, turned off the game and console and went downstairs to get a drink. Kumi was watching LIVE ranked battles, and didn't notice Numi going to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Numi pondered for a minute, and decided to have some inkmelon juice. Just as she was reaching for a cup, she noticed a candy bar, presumably Pumi's candy bar. Although hesitant at first, after staring at the candy bar and drooling for a minute, Numi snatched the candy bar. After drinking a cup of inkmelon juice, Numi attempted to snuggle the candy bar back to her room, but what she did not expect was to walk into Kumi, who was standing in the door with her arms crossed. "I'll take that." Kumi demanded.

"Take what?" Numi asked, playing dumb.

"That." Kumi replied and snatched the candy bar before Numi could even react.

"But, but -" Numi tried to argue.

"No buts. I do not want to have you on a sugar rush." Kumi declared.

"Not fair!" Numi exclaimed and puffed her cheeks, before storming back to her room. Kumi sighed and put the candy bar in a place where Numi wouldn't find it. The last time Numi was on a sugar rush it was as if a hurricane stopped by. As a result of that, she can only have a little bit of sugar on specific days or special occasions.

Numi was lying on her bed, wondering about the upcoming Saturday. What is turf war like? What weapon will she choose to main? Is Sheldon really as annoying as Kumi says he is? So many questions were coming to her mind, and she had to wait another day to get the answers. To Numi this was the most annoying thing in the world at the moment. Before she knew it, it was bed time. Afterall, there was still one more day of school before summer break.

(A/N) Hopefully this isn't terrible for first ever attempt at a story/fanfiction/whatever this gets called.