The day had finally arrived. The annual Giant Gaming Gala, or G3 as it was known by gamers, had finally arrived. An entire weekend filled with classic and new video games that were making their worldwide premiere. Best friends Cody and Ced had gotten their hands on some exclusive passes thanks to a local radio station giveaway and were excited to be at the event. “What game should we play first?” Ced said with anticipation. “I don’t know, Ced.” Cody replied. There are so many to choose from. Hey, look over there!” Cody pointed to a display for a brand new video game called “Splatoon.” The best part was that no one was there playing it.

“A new game and no one is playing it. What do you say Ced, shall we give it a shot?” Cody asked. “Sure, why not.” Cody replied happily, as the two ran over and picked up the controllers to begin playing. “I wonder why no one is playing this game, Cody. It looks like it’s a lot of fun.” “Perhaps we’re just that lucky,” Cody replied.

Little did Cody and Ced know that above their head hung a giant tanker, full of multicolored squid ink. “Cameras are on and subjects are in focus,” a mysterious man said in the distance. “Let’s make some YouTube magic.” The man pushed a button as the tanker opened and dropped its’ haul of ink. Before they knew it, Cody and Ced were coated in the slimiest substance in their lives. “Hey, what the…” they both cried out from underneath the gallons and gallons of ink they were covered under.

“Well, there you have it, folks!” the mysterious man said stepping into the camera. The man wore an orange and purple suit with ink blots covering it. He wore a hat made to look like squid tentacles and carried a microphone. “Hi folks, I’m Squid Lee, and I’m the host of the new popular prank show, “Ink’d. Where we give “Splatoon” players the most realistic simulation of their favorite new video game. We just got Cody and his best friend Ced with our special ink. So boys, how does it feel to be Ink’d?”

The two boys remained perfectly silent, mostly because they were covered in thick ink and could not get a word out of it. “Oh right, the ink.” Squid said. “Boys, let’s clean’em up.” Another tanker dumped water all over them, washing off the ink.

When Squid saw the water clean the ink off, his jaw dropped to the ground. Someone how, Cody and Ced has been transformed. Cody’s trademark blue hair was now a pair of tentacles in a ponytail. He had dark bags under his eyes that connected in the middle, and his teeth had become fangs. Ced’s anatomy had changed completely, along with his brown hair becoming long blue and purple spotted tentacles that went down past his hips. “Woah, my head.” Cody said as he slowly turned around. “Hey Ced, do you smell seafood, HOLY CRAP, YOU’RE A CHICK!” “Ughghh! Cody, why do you sound like your gargling?” Ced said holding his head. “Huh? What’s wrong with my voice? Ahh! My hair, my body! We’re….we’re Inklings.”

Cody got mad and grabbed Squid Lee. “What did you do to us, you creep?” Cody said in a gurgling angry voice. “Nothing, I swear.” Squid said trying to backpedal out of what had happened. “You must have had a reaction to our ink.” “What exactly was in that ink?” Ced said getting frustrated. “Well….” Squid replied pulling his tie collar. “Maybe a little radioactive material for color?” Squid tried to smile to make it look like this wasn’t a big deal, but it was. Cody and Ced had become squid people and they were furious.

“You turned us into freaks!” Cody screamed in anger. “You better have a good lawyer, because we’re suing you.” Ced replied just as angry. “Now hold on, hold on,” Squid said frantically. “Perhaps I can make this better.” He reached into this jacket and pulled out a contract. “What if I offered you two a multi-million dollar contract with Nintendo to be official spoke-squids for our game? You two will be even bigger than Mario.”

Ced and Cody huddled up to discuss it. “What do we do, Cody?” Ced asked concerned. “How will be hold down jobs looking like this?” “Yeah, I don’t think two squid people are what most companies are looking for in potential employment material.” Cody replied. “I guess we have no choice.” Cody and Ced went back to Squid. “We’ll agree on one condition.” Ced stated. “You have to work on finding a cure to change us back to normal.” “But of course,” Squid said smiling, knowing he would do no such thing. “But in order to make you two stars, we’ll have to change your names. “Ced” and “Cody” aren’t exactly sellable names for you two now. How does “Ika and Mari” sound? The two thought about it for a while.

“Ika? That’s Japanese for “squid.” Cody said. “I like it. “Yeah, and Mari sounds cute.” Ced said smiling. “So…are you two in?” Squid asked. Both of them looked at each other and smiles. “I’m ready to be an inkin’ star! How about you Mari?” Ika asked. “Sure, I’ll love being a squid kid.” Mari said looking cute as they both signed the contract. “Okay you two, smile for a photo for the world to see. Ike and Mari put their arms around each other’s shoulders and gave a big smile with a peace sign.

From that point, Cody and Ced ceased to exist, and Ika and Mari would ink their way into video game history.

Ced is the property of  Yukivaneller
Artwork done by
http://candiphoenixes.deviantart.com

Splatoon is the property of Nintendo