“Oracle, guess what?!” Ventus beamed over his mic, hands practically working on their own to move his inkling across the map and slink through ink. 

“What is it?” His friend mused from the otherside. He could see her avatar atop the stacked boxes of the darkened and festive warehouse map, splatterscope at the ready. He’d protect her of anyone that got too close, but could anyone? She was an expert shot, and he was an expert in his own craft. Both top ranks of their respective weapons. 

“I’m finally getting to go to school!” Taking his inkbrush, he swam his squid after an approaching enemy from team cat. It wasn’t hard to take them out. Name was a bit lewd for a kid’s game though. Maybe he should report them after the match.

“That’s great Gula! I just started school myself!” Another inkling came from the top jumping down to shoot at Ven, but Oracle took them out in a single shot.

Turning around, Ven saw the explosion of their team’s teal ink. A smile graced his face as he gave a quick thanks before getting back to the topic at hand as well as manning his station by the boxes to continue protecting.

“Right, Joker helped you feel better right? So you started this year too?”

“You got it.”

“I haven’t seen him online in a while. What’s he been up to?”

“You know, stealing the hearts of every girl he meets.”

“As he does.”

For a little bit, they fell silent to focus on the match as the conversation dwindled. The one minute mark hit after all, leaving the music to quicken. It wasn’t entirely necessary as for the most part, the randos they’d been paired with seemed to do a decent job in locking the other team in. Poor cats. Locking in was an effective strategy, especially on the warehouse, but it was still a complete dick move. He shouldn’t be surprised though, everyone proved to be an utter prick during splatfests.

The match ended with ease, and their team won without much of a scratch. Then again, they weren’t playing on pro mode so maybe they were cheating a bit. Other high ranks played the normal mode too though. And it’s not like they could play together on pro so the kiddies would just have to suffer for their own amusement. Even if it was unfair, the whole team seemed in agreement to play another match together.

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“Anyway, Gula,” He could practically hear her guzzling down some two-liter no doubt. There was even a soft sound of refreshment. A sigh of relief if you will. “What’re you gonna do? You’re gonna be the new kid in the middle of the year. Will you be able to handle that? The most you’ve ever had was online and let me tell you, in person is way more terrifying.”

As they were waiting for more cats, Ven took the opportunity to snack a bit, washing it down with mountain dew. Splatfests were ungodly laggy so they’d be waiting a while, assuming they didn’t get disconnected anyway. 

“Is it really that different?”

“Well yeah. Online we rule the world because we can hack anything. In real life, you can’t exactly hack them away.”

“I think I can come up with multiple things I can do to people in real life because I can hack well. I could hack their accounts and spam gore and not safe for work content. Seemingly turn them on all of their friends so they lose all their loved ones. Or hack their cameras and put videos and pictures of them on the dark web and ultimately ruin their lives.”

She laughed. See, while that was all morbid and probably illegal, at least she couldn’t argue with it. 

“I guess you could do that, but be careful on the dark web alright. There’re people on there that you don’t want the attention of.”

“Thanks, mom, I’m well aware, mom.” The blonde huffed.

“I’m just saying, look out for yourself. You’ve never been out of the house until now, and it was hard for me to leave, and I’d actually left until…you know.”

“I know, I’ll be careful.” He could hear her give a soft sigh on the other end, not an antagonistic one, but one of acceptance. “So how long are you on for tonight?”

“”It’s day for me remember, you’re the one that should be going to bed soon. I just recently got up.”

“You just got up? What time is it for you?”

“7pm. You?”

Ventus looked down at his dying phone, squinting passed the harsh light it emitted. “Shit!”

“That bad huh.”

“I didn’t even notice the sun came up!”

“How did you not notice that?”

“Curtains! Curtains and blanket curtains exist especially for someone that never goes out in the day!”

“Are you a vampire, Gula?”

Scoffing, he replied “I’m a majestic werewolf thank you very much.”

“Uh huh. So majestic werewolf, you staying online then, or actually getting some sleep?”

“Nah, I already came this far, might as well just pull an all nighter at this point.”

“That’s the spirit! You’ll be sorry for school today, but let’s toast to that!” He couldn’t quite see it, but he knew the drill. The teen lifted his can up and “clinked” alongside her.