Well hi! I'm Sushifish, nice ta meet ya! This is one of my first published fanfics, so I'm hoping you really enjoy reading this! Anyway enough about me here's a brief summary of this story!

This story is about how a girl named Crystal wants some normality in her life after winning a major tournament. Though her teammates are dealing with their own drama which may interfere with hers. This is a slightly serious fic, but it's nothing too dark, it's still fairly light-hearted with a few jokes here or there! A small thing to point out though, there are line breaks and small transitions. This is IMPORTANT to keep track of to prevent confusion. The squid transitions means that it's another scene taking place from the same character's perspective, whilst a line break is taking place in another character's perspective. Anyway, I'm sure you're tired of hearing me ramble on (or you probably skipped this, kudos if you did read this part though!).

Without anymore stalling, I hope you enjoy Begging for Normality!


She was staring outside at the window as the sun was beginning to rise. Her extravagant pajamas touched the ground as she droopily walked over to admire the beauty. She subconsciously yawned and rubbed her tired eyes. It was another day in the bright and bustling day in Inkopolis...and she hated it. Why? Because, she still wanted to sleep. She closed the blinds to the windows, shut the curtain and gotten back in bed, hoping to ignore any of her responsibilities for the day. Until she heard a rather loud knock on the door. Angrily, she pressed the pillow on top of her head hoping it would stop the knocking -even though she already knew that it wouldn't help-. Then the door flung open as the girl was clenching her blanket already preparing for the worst.

"HEY SISSS!" The voice screeched, said sister was frankly not ready for it today. She had a rough day a few days ago after losing her X rank in Tower Control, she didn't feel like dealing with her little sister. "Arle, I'd appreciate it if you were to leave my room right now. It's early in the morning and I feel like sleeping in today." She spoke up, still muffled, from being under the pillow. The smaller inkling, rushed onto her older sister's bed and began bouncing on top of it, "But..you..pwooomisssed...!" Arle brought out the puppy dog eyes and add a lip quiver for extra effect. It didn't really help though, because her sister payed no mind to her. "Alright fine. If you leave me alone for another 30 minutes, we can go to the testing range okay?" Her sister beamed in utter excitement, joyous for her time at the testing range. "You're the best Crystal!" She hugged the figure under the blanket. Though she was annoyed, Crystal couldn't hesitate and began to hug her overly hyper sister. Arle rushed out the door and flew down the stairs, impatiently waiting on her older sister. Finally...she could get some more sleep. Is what she would say if her alarm wasn't blaring in her ear waking her up.

After getting on some presentable clothes, brushing her tentacles, -however the hell that worked- and getting an orange for breakfast, she and her sister were on their way to the testing range. On Sunday's like this one, she'd normally be practicing early in the morning so she'd get her Slosher practice, but the other day and frankly, the whole week was rough on her. Instead of being some prodigy, she wanted to just drink a soda instead of throw a Fizzy Bomb. Or at the very least, enjoy a nice breakfast with her family. She was busy, the star Slosher, on that underdog team, the sexy Crystaline and her Kensa Machine. Instead, she wanted to be the average Crystal and live a simpler life. To some degree she was relatively happy about what she was doing now, she loved her sister Arle and was happy that she was a role model for her, but it couldn't help her to be at least 1..2..maybe 8 octaves lower in the morning? Despite her inward complaining, and thankfully her sister not blabbing her out to the many Inklings on the train, the made it to the Deca Tower in Inkopolis Square. Arle and Crystal were hand in hand in the square walking over to Ammo Knights, amongst the busy bustle of the town.

After entering the store, renting a Splattershot Jr. for only a few hundred G and skirting past everyone else crowding the doors. They were able to get a rented room by themselves. Crystal equipped her baby sister with an Ink Tank, that looked way too big for her, and got her into some gear. "Okay Arle." She grabbed her small inky hand which held the weapon. She was shaking like a wet dog. "Steady yourself, don't get too scared." Crystal ducked down to get on her level. She softly squeezed the trigger that Arle's hand was over and out came a few blots of ink, causing Arle to jump back and panic. "No, no! You're doing great! Just keep holding it down okay, and try to ink the ground in front of you." Arle walked forward, holding down the trigger, cringing away from the weapon as it shot out bright orange ink. "Yeah! You're doing it!" Crystal encouraged her, making Arle now face forward with the weapon, though after a few more blobs of ink landed, her giant ink tank was empty and she was failing the weapon around, thinking it was broken. Crystal motioned for her to come here, and she got on her knees again. "When a weapon doesn't shoot out ink anymore it means that it's 'out of ink' and you'll have to go into your squid form to do that. When you recover enough of it, you'll be ready to get back into the fire!" Arle laughed, and recovered her ink automatically, since she was already a squid, well at least part of one. Arle was little, about 9 years old, and the best way to make a great player, is for them to start early. Or at least that's what her father always told her.

As Arle was doing her thing, Crystal ended up getting a text on her phone she looked down swiping her blue tentacles out of her face. "practic 2 day?" One of the messages read. "Im down." "I'd love to! =3" Two more messages responded to the question. "Yo Cryst? You joinin?" Crystal had an odd look on her face as she answered, looking at her phone and baby sister, continuously. "I'm baby-sitting today, I'm gonna be gone for a few hours." She responded, still monitoring Arle, who now figured out how to use her Splat Bombs. Wait- what was that last sentence? "Oh crap! Arle no! Don't throw bombs, you're not ready for that yet!" Arle was giggling to herself as there were small orange explosions erupting at her feet. Crystal forgot to change her ink color to orange when she walked in the store. If she were to get splatted, only to respawn in the store...that'd be embarrassing. Though, during her thoughts, a bomb was launched at her feet and she immediately exploded. Arle was having a laughing fit seeing her sister getting splatted.

Respawning in the store proved...embarrassing. Only the worst of the worst ended up some how getting splatted in the testing range. Only way to do that is to either: lose all of your equipment, somehow end up in another testing range (which hasn't happened since...3 years ago), or having your baby sister kill you. The latter was true. Onlookers, were seeing the ever-so cute Cystaline respawn in the most embarrassing way possible. There were a few murmurs in the crowd. "Wow...she's prettier in person." "Wait- she died in here of all places?" "You think I could get her autograph." "You think that was a tactical death? If so then I should probably learn it too!" She dashed out of the store, grabbing her baby sister that walked out of the door and super jumped back home.

A few hours after that, and Crystal making herself a proper breakfast, she waltzed her way through the living room and looked at the giant screen tv. And started channel surfing, till she got to the news. "In other news, there's now a recent trend among Inklings and shoppers to," the newswoman adjusted her glasses with a face of confusion, "splat themselves inside of the Ammo Knight's shooting range, thanks to all popular recent sensation, Crystalline." Said girl squidded on the couch and onto the floor, hoping that Arle would step on her, ending her misery. Only a few minutes after, Crystal's phone buzzed and it was none other than her teammates ripping her to shreds, now saying that she had to come to practice after that performance. Awesome.

くコ:彡 - - -

Practice was agonizing, but short. They did a scrimmage against a smaller team today, they were alright, but they kept mocking Crystal about the testing range thing, which utterly bothered her. And same with her teammates, often appearing in their map callouts to each other and noticing small snickers in-between them. After that was all said and done, alongside a few "GGs" Crystal and her team were all at Arowana Mall for the day mostly just relaxing or discussing their practice. After the discussion though, everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. Crystal was looking at one of the on going games at the very bottom of the mall, apparently it just gotten into rotation and it seems like a lot of people were keen on playing this Rainmaker session. She continued to look at the on-going games, it looked like both teams were having trouble pushing the Rainmaker. As Crystal was obviously invested, she didn't even realize that her name by her teammates resulting in a few odd looks in her direction. "Uh you okay Crystalline? I know the whole testing range thing is kind of fresh in our minds," she snickers slightly, "But you seem like you're completely out of it. What's up?" Crystal waved her Charger player off. "Amber, trust me. It's alright, I'm just shaken about the other day that's all." Amber looked longingly at her teammate, trying to pry her out of an answer, before giving up completely. "She should change your name to 'diamond', because there's no getting through to her." One of the other teammates retorted, lugging his Roller behind him, leaning on it slightly. "You can let the girl brood and be mysterious, but she's not gonna get me down! I saw a two-for-one special on ice cream and there's no way I'm missing that!" The Roller zoomed out of the area, leaving almost everyone behind. The rest of the girls rolled their eyes at their other teammate's lack of maturity. The last girl -The N-Zap- trotted along with the Roller in silence only leaving Amber and Crystal. Unfortunately, Amber thought the situation was too awkward and left the area, before hugging and patting her friend's head.

Alone in the busy mall. It was quiet and comforting, none of her friends -well are they really her friends?- there to at least bother her as she continues to look at the game. It seemed like the Purple team ended up winning overall. Good for them. Another set of eyes were overlooking the game unbeknownst to her, as she turned to face them she decided to strike up some conversation. "Some game huh?" The other figure, which looked like an inkling with a very interesting hairstyle followed up. "Yeah, it looked like the Yellow team could've stood their ground a bit more." The inkling looked at her, narrowing her eyes. "Oh you're that new fad!" "..Fad?"

"Yeah yeah! You know! Getting splatted in the testing range!"

Crystal ducked her head slightly, "...Hahah yeahhhh that's meeeeee..." she trailed off hoping to not get onlookers from the person's very loud outbursts. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't draw any attention to me. I'm already embarrassed about it." The other inkling turned her head and smiled. "Don't worry I'm only teasing you. But um it's nice to see you!" Crystal nodded and continued to look down at the next game in session. Both teams seemed pretty decent from what she could tell.

"Well. It seems like all of your friends left you. Would you like to hang out maybe?" The girl continued, now shifting her full focus on Crystal. Normally, in those type of situations, she wouldn't hangout with any fans, due to getting bombarded with autographs and stupid questions, though this time -considering all of her teammates ditched her- she decided, "Eh, why not. I am kind of bored." The other inkling did a small dance before shanking Crystal's hand and dragging her off somewhere. What the hell did I just get myself into...

くコ:彡 - - -

Ironically enough, she had a lot of fun! Her and the mysterious girl ate a nice lunch together, before shopping for all kinds of new gear. Fangirling over the latest songs. And even just walking around the massive outlet mall, taking in the scenery. It was safe to say that the day was actually pretty eventful. For a moment, she almost felt like an average teenager. Both of them were now sitting on a bench, admiring the purplish sky as it was now turning to a nice sunset. "You know, I don't think I ever stayed this late at the mall and how nice it looked," Crystal said, turning to her friendly acquaintance. She nodded and agreed as Crystal continued. "You're actually one of the coolest fans I've met so far. It's nice meeting you...uh.." "Apple. My friends call me Apple. It was super cool meeting you Crystalline!" The girl shook her hand and headed off.

Although an odd experience, she was somewhat glad she encountered her. She needed that after the whole "testing range" thing. After looking at the sky again, she realized how late it was and was hoping she didn't go over her curfew. She dashed out of the mall and made it to the subway trains, out of Inkopolis Square.


Amber couldn't stop freaking out about her friend. She shouldn't've laughed at her, it probably hurt her feelings. Maybe she was being too insensitive, maybe leaving her at the mall was a bad decision. She always knew how upset she'd get. Why didn't she just apologize?! "Yo, Amber, chill out." Onyx yelled at her, causing her to jump out of her skin. "I know you're freaking about Crystalline, but she's strong. She can take a joke and you know that." Amber was slightly relived to hear that, but she was upset at Onxy's tone about everything. "Could it kill you to act more seriously about this?" she said, stroking her tentacles nervously. Onyx was laying on the bed, playing Squid Jump on his phone, occasionally making noise when he missed a platform. "Amb, I actually think it's the other way around," he said for the final time, before fist-pumping as he beat his current record.

Amber sat down on the bed next to Onyx, sighing, hoping to at least catch his attention. Hearing the "distress call" he put his phone away now, giving Amber a slight glare, which made her laugh slightly. "You're so pouty over a stupid video game." "You're so anxious over a small joke," he shot back. They both glared at each other before smiling, Amber now laying down beside Onyx. "Well, how are you feeling with this whole famous stuff?" Onyx asked, slightly curious. He knew that this whole thing came out of nowhere and surprised almost everyone. It was almost jarring to think that a small group of squids made it up to the big leagues with so many top players. "It's a little scary. I'm afraid of messing up and I don't want to lose, not even once. It's just odd to think about so many people that ask for autographs or ask for advice on how to get better. It's like- what do I even say to them?" She turned towards Onyx as they've gotten closer on the bed. "Sometimes it's difficult to evaluate a situation, even if you have the experience. Honestly, I have those same feelings too, but I just say do your best. It's hard to have all the answers you need, but you know how it is. We've just gotten lucky is all." Amber thought about his response longingly.

"I guess I'm afraid too, but more excited. I'm just waiting to conquer the challenge and I'm happy to do it with everyone," you especially he thought to himself. There was a pause between them, silence, but the comfortable silence that you don't mind being in. There was a small sniff could be heard from Amber, small green stains on her face. "Don't start crying on me now. Ya know I can't handle that..." Amber shook her head, "It's just happening it's impossible to handle it sometimes." Onyx took her in an embrace and comforted her. "Hey, we'll get through it don't worry yourself. Just remember our promise." She wiped her face and nodded. "Okay...just as long as your keep yours." Onyx nodded and gotten off of the bed. "G'night Amber." "Goodnight." He'd closed the door behind him slightly, softly sighing at his friend's insecurities.

Part of me even wonders what would've happened if we didn't win those two or so weeks ago. Would she still be like this? Onyx thought to himself as he walked towards his room. As he entered the room and sat on the bed, he checked his phone again, attempting to play Squid Jump again, but he'd gotten distracted from a text. "U got tim 2 tlk?" "Maybe, wat's up?"

"stll angry"

"Seriously? Alexa ya gotta stop blaming her for this."

"idc! she pisses me off!"

"But we still won! Isn't that enough?"

"no, shes to much of a klutz, along with that loser charger!" Onyx took offense to that.

"Neither of them are bad, they just had nerves on the day of the tourney." And so did you! Onyx backspaced the last part, hoping to not deal with his teammates wrath. "Everyone had nerves that day and besides we still won." She seemed to stop texting after that resulting in a sigh of exasperation.

Similar to his friend, he was now slightly hung up about Crystalline. Their teammate had an issue with her and apparently Amber too, what did she even do? Crystalline was at least a little understandable, but not Amber. His Amber, or well he hoped she'd be his sooner or later. After that warm thought, he sat the phone down on his nightstand next to his army of Rollers. Hoping that Alexandrite would at the very least blow off some steam. The tournament's results proved to be stressful for everyone, even himself, though at this point he couldn't even tell who had it worse, Amber's insecurities, Crystalline's mistakes, or Alexa envy and rage, nothing to dwell over for now at least, he had to get busy for his "date".


(Yes, it is possible to die in the testing range, though they patched it out of the game!)

What "date" was Onyx planning? And who's this Alexa person and why isn't she fond of Crystal or Amber? And more importantly, what happened the "other day"? All these questions will be answered in the second chapter, coming in probably a few days! Feel free to review to give me some advice, I'm still a novice writer, so I'm still improving!

See ya till the second chapter and peace for now! \(^-^)b