Team Joy

Unknown POV / 3rd person

"Wow, they took that seriously, did they? We'll beat them so easily, don't cha think...?" The golden inkling asked the taller one. "...sis?"

"Hmph, they're apart of the S4? Pathetic. What is this? Some stupid tv show about how love and friendship always wins? That's bull. Meet reality, that's not how that works." The tall one replies with a snarky voice. She looks back down to the large group.

"Hmm...I-I...suppose you're right, sister. Shall we head down to the boys?" The golden inkling asks her sister one more question, trying to change the topic...she really did believe that having a good relationship with everyone around her helped. But, her sister, as she said, did not think so. She was like the Queen. She looked down upon everyone else...except for one boy, whom she refused to name and it wasn't her boyfriend.

"...We should go to those idiots. We need to go practice and get ready, anyway. Let's go." The sister demanded of the smaller one. The smaller one scurries to her feet, following her older sister, whom was acting off...

Emperor POV

I was simply waiting for our acquaintances when a girl came by. She had golden tentacles. Not quite like mine- they faded down into an orange.

"Joy!" The girl called out. "Joy! Where did you go!? I lost you! Joy!" She seemed desperate to find this "joy" person. I sighed and walked up to her.

"Ahem? Miss?" I asked her. She quickly turned to me with a scowl.

"What do you want you-" She cut herself off. "Oh my squid. I never said anything! OK!? Nothing! We never spoke like that! I-I-I meant to say, What would you need, E-E-Emperor?" She stutters, tripping over her words. Damn...I didn't think I was that intimidating.

"U-Umm...No, I asked you what you needed...you seem a little...um...lost?" I ask her. She glances around like if someone caught her talking to me, she'd be dead.

"Um...n-nope! Not lost, thank y-yo-you though! I really appreciate it. If you don't mind, I will be going now. Just excuse me-" She says, I cut her off, grabbing her wrist and turning her to look back at me.

"What up with you?" I ask her. "Nobody's going to do a damn thing to you around me, what's wrong with you? You're obviously lost. It's quite easy to tell. Why won't you let me help you?" I ask her, getting annoyed with her rather quickly.

"I'm not lost. Thank you, but I don't need any help, t-thank you, though." She says, yet again tripping over her words in a foolish way.

I sigh in pure agitation and reply with, "You're a very poor liar. Who's Joy?" I ask her. She sighs, rubbing her arm.

"Well...s-she's my sister. Joy. Older sister." She replies, seeming to have stopped stuttering. I smile at her. She smiles back then quickly looks away, going back to her shy self. "I don't need help, really. I'm old enough to find my way around."

"I never said that you weren't old enough. I just asked if you needed help, which you do. Why not let me and my brother's team help you?" I ask her, and without waiting for a response, I lead her over to my brother.

My brother perks up. "E-Emperor!" He greets, smiling at me brightly. "Ah! Who's that?" He asks, pointing at the girl behind me.

"I don't know. Some lost girl who's looking for someone named, Joy," I reply. He smiles at her. She smiles back.

"Right...my name is..." Her voice trailed off.

"Is...?" I ask, waiting for a response.

"Umm...fine. It's Jello. I'm looking for my older sister, Joy. I'm not really supposed to be talking to...well, outsiders. But, you know what? I need help finding her. She looks like me, she's kind of my twin...but, well, she's older." She explains to us. I nod.

"Alright! We can help you find her!" Prince tells her, smiling. He turns around, telling the others what to do, explaining to them, the situation at hand.

"Sure, just everyone meet back here in ten, I'll go with Jello. You guys split up into two teams, ok?" I tell my brother, who nods quickly and they split up, going off to search for said person.

I follow Jello around for a bit, searching for Joy. I saw nobody that resembled her and then, I hadn't noticed but we had strayed quite a bit from the main plaza. It was quiet, nobody was in sight. Jello kept going, deeper into the silence.

"I think we should turn back," I tell her. She stops and turns to look at me.

"You're probably right." She admits, "I just want to check every corner for her..." She mumbles.

"I know that feeling," I mutter.

"You do?" She asks, having overheard me. I look at her and nod. "How so?" She asks.

"Prince," I inform her. She looks confused for a moment. I sigh. "He's my little brother, I would...do...anything for him," I admit, crossing my arms. It was creepily quiet around us. She nods, understanding.

"Yeah..." She jumps slightly. "D-Did you hear that?" She whisper-asks me. I look around then shake my head.

"No...what was it?" I ask her, my voice quiet and soft. Barely a whisper in the wind.

"...I don't know. I heard something." She goes silent for a moment. "I heard it again..." She warns me, looking around in panic.

"It's probably nothing. Let's go," I tell her, not really worried about it. What? Is someone going to jump out and scare us?

I turned around and was face-to-face with a girl who looked like Jello. I jumped a little but didn't say anything. "U-Um...hello?" I say, looking at her. She looked past me, to Jello.

Jello smiled brightly, running up to the mysterious girl. "Joy!" She cries. "I'm so sorry! I lost you! Then, well, um, he decided to help me so I thought I would go with him, looking for you!" Jello explains to her older sister, Joy.

Joy said nothing. She just stood. Silent. Shock displayed on her face.

"A-Are you o-okay, sister?" Jello asks. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, two boys appeared behind Joy. One of them hugged Jello, the other stood, strong and silent beside Joy.

"Who is this, Joy?" He asks her.

"...I don't know." Joy remarks, obviously lying, she covers the shock across her face. "I...I don't know him...personally." She whispered that last word.

"So you do know him? Who the hell is he, Joy?" The boy demanded of her. She kept quiet. "You'd better explain this, now!" He yells at her, pointing at me. "Or else..." His voice trailed off, threateningly.

"No!" She shouts, "No, you will not-" She cuts herself off. "No...don't do that. I'm just a fan of his. He was the previous team leader of Team Emperor. This is Emperor. Do you not know him?" She asks, I felt as if I was invisible, I didn't like it.

"...No." He replies to her.

"Hey, come on Josh, no need to be so harsh with Joy. She's just a fan of his. I would be pretty shocked if I met Team Pink. Think of it like that. She's not going to do anything." The boy who stood beside Jello tells him.

"Shut up, Jock!" Josh yells, angry.

"Geez, anger issues..." I muttered, crossing my arms across my chest. Josh turns to look at me, anger clear in his eyes. "Don't even think about it," I warn him. He growls and then says something in-comprehendible. I roll my eyes.

"L-Let's go, ok, Jello? We have to practice anyway. No time to fool around. Let's move." Joy insists. "We'll all go back to the plaza together and then go our separate ways, alright?" She asks me, I nod and we start to head back. Everyone was quiet, the tension was thick in the air.

Nobody said a word as we finally got back to the plaza. "We have practice, goodbye, Emperor. It was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for helping out my sister." Joy thanks me.

"Sure thing," I tell her. Josh glared at me, I glared back at him. The hell does he think he is? I turn away, to see my little brother, who ran up to me.

"There you are! You're late!" He accuses me, hugging me. I hug him back, smiling secretly.

"Sorry about that. We wondered off a little too far," I admit. He nods.

"I know!" He says, "We asked around and they said you guys wandered off into the bad parts of town, we were really worried about you." Prince says.

"I said I was sorry,"

He lets go of me, crossing his arms, frowning. "That doesn't make it better."

I heard Joy stifle a cry. I turn to look at her. She was looking at Prince, crying. Jello looked at her. Joy turned and ran off.

"What is with her today? She never acts like this..." Josh mutters, annoyed.

I look at Prince, who seemed surprised that Joy took off.

"I...I'm not actually sure..." Jello says, "She's been acting off recently. It's just today it's been really weird. She..." Jello's voice falls out. "I...I think I know what's wrong..." She admits. "There's a reason she liked Team Emperor so much..." Jello runs after her sister. Jock follows her and Josh grunts, walking after them, not even attempting to run after them.

I sighed, turning back to Prince, N-Pacer, Edging, and Laceless. I smiled at them. "What's wrong?" Prince asks me.

"Nothing, actually. Let's go, alright?" I ask him, he nods, walking beside me as we walked back home to go over plans and the such.

Aloha POV

We were taking a break from practice because Diver, Blue, White, and Straw were hungry and tired. So, we decided to take a break. I was wondering around, not too far. I could still see everyone from where I stood when a girl ran into me. I looked at her. She wiped her eyes, staring down at the ground.

"Ah, are you okay?" I ask her. She looks up.

"I am s- sor- sorry..." She apologizes.

"That's alright, are...are you okay?" I ask her, looking at her with worry. She fakes a small smile, nodding.

"Yeah, I'm alright, thank you." She says, "I'm sorry for running into you. I was being stupid and running without watching where I was going. I'm so stupid..." She mutters.

"You're not stupid..." I tell her. "You just accidentally ran into me. To be fair, I wasn't watching either. So, we're fair, yeah?" I ask her. She stops for a moment.

"Y...Yeah." She says, smiling, a real smile this time.

I beam. "There it is!" I tell her.

"H-Huh?" She asks, confused.

"A genuine smile," I explain.

"O-Oh...yeah." She smiles again. "It's just been a long day for me. I've been acting so strange lately..." She admits. I nod, listening to her. "Ah, I shouldn't run my mouth off to random people, should I? Haha, my bad..."

"I'm Aloha," I tell her.

She pauses, looking a little surprised before saying, "I'm Joy, it's nice to meet you."

"Joy...such a nice name. Are you with anybody?" I ask her, looking around. She nods.

"I ran away from them...I...it's just I saw this group, they were all like a family, loving...I just feel like sometimes I'm such a bad sister because I ignore or push Jello around...I should be nicer to her but I just make her feel weak...I make her feel like she can't do anything by herself." Joy tells me. I frown a little.

"Why?" I ask her.

"I...That's the thing, I don't know. It's like I have a crown that I need to keep on and while it's on I have to act perfect, like I should, but when I take it off, I can be free...but I can't take it off, or people will hate me." She tries to explain to me.

"Then, just take it off," I tell her. She looks at me. "Let me explain...does it really matter what people think of you?" I ask her. She looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head.

"I suppose not..."

"So take it off. Take off the crown and be nice to her. Isn't that what upset you?" I ask her. She smiles and nods.

"Yeah, you're right. I...I need to go apologize to her, then. I-! T-Thank you...Thank you, Aloha." She smiles at me, running off back the direction she came. I watch her go.

"You really can't stand if someone's upset, can you?" A familiar voice asks me. I smile softly.

"No...not really, but, that's not a problem, is it?" I ask. The person comes up to me, hugging me from behind, their arms around my waist.

"It's really not." He tells me.

Joy POV

I ran through the crowds. So many people were around me. I kept running until I found her, Jello. I ran up to her, hugging her. "I'm sorry...How can I make it up to you?" I ask her.

"How about some turf wars? And then some ice cream." She tells me, smiling and hugging me back.

"Of course, let's go..." I tell her, pulling on her hand gently. "But, first, I think we need a new teammate."

"Huh? What for?"

"I think I'm done with Josh," I admit.

She smiles, "I thought you'd never say that. He's so mean to you."

"I know, that's why I'm breaking up with him. You said you had a friend who always wanted to play turf war, didn't you?" I ask her. Her eyes light up with pure happiness.

"Yes! I think you'll love her! Oh my gosh, thank you, sis!" She says, cheering. I smile brightly.