"A Whole New Fight"
Written by: Toni the Mink
Commissioned by: Moonlight_Serene
A/N: The "female Inkling" character is being represented by Moonlight-Serene's Splatoon OC "Coral Aquaria".
The fighting stage looked like an evil, alien vessel, complete with a disgusting bug-fish-like alien in a giant tube… It was enough to send shivers among shivers down Coral's spine.
Yet even with her mild tinnitus, covered with her big headphones, she could hear the crowds cheering with excitement in anticipation of the upcoming battle. Perhaps the creepy, threatening alien with the sharp teeth and claws was just for show, and she wasn't in any real danger. That thought helped ease her anxiety.
Coral never thought she would make it this far… It felt like only yesterday she was painting the town red… literally! She and her friends completely turned the Square into a personal work of art. After her adventure with Marie and rescuing Callie, news of her feats had caught the eye of a famous plumber named Mario, who offered her a chance to use her skills painting the racetracks of his kart circuits. He allowed her third-party access as a guest racer, and she made her mark in the tournaments.
Coral enjoyed racing alongside Mario and his cast, along with winning a gold trophy or two. It distracted her from the recurring thoughts that caused her anxiety and PTSD. And Mario was so impressed with the Inkling, he then extended his invitation to his other popular tournament: Smash Brothers.
Driving karts was one thing… but fighting? Real fighting? Not just using her ink guns, dualies, and brushes… but fighting?! Coral was hesitant to accept. Fortunately however, she did have the support of her friends Marie and Callie, who ensured her that if she could get through her anxieties to save Callie, and burn rubber on the Mario Kart circuits whilst leaving a trail of beautiful ink artwork, how hard could this fighting thing be?
She was about to find out.
"In the first corner, from the newcomer series 'Splatoon', armed with her splatoon ink gun, dualies, and brushes… Coral Aquaria!"
'Here we go…!' she thought with a deep breath. Per Marie's advice, Coral transformed into squid-mode and "splattered" down to the fighting floor, where she quickly reformed back into her regular form. She pulled out her ink gun and took a stance, in an attempt to look fierce. The crowd ate it up as they cheered happily for her appearance. She kept up the stance as she managed to hide just how nervous she became.
"And in the second corner, from the all-time favorite classic series 'Super Mario Brothers', Mario!"
Across from Coral, a giant, green pipe rose up from the floor, and the Nintendo star himself jumped out from the top and gracefully landed on his feet before facing his opponent and dropping into a battle stance. The crowd went wild for their hero, cheering loudly than they did for Coral, chanting his name, and waving their propaganda red "M" hats in the air.
Mario's posture was strong, and he was definitely ready for a brawl. It made Coral draw in a sharp breath in fear. Despite his fierce demeanor, Mario looked at Coral with a kind face and an enthusiastic nod, as if wishing her luck. Coral let out a breath at this. She was still nervous, but Mario, although he was her opponent, seemed to know how to calm her down.
She gulped silently to herself. 'Okay… Let's do this!'
"Three… Two… One… GO!"
The two dashed at each other once the match began. Mario threw a punch, but Coral took to the air, jumping square over him. She twisted around and aimed her gun, but Mario was quick to twist himself, jump up, and throw a kick at the Inkling. Coral knew she couldn't land a strike on Mario in time, so she guarded herself in "Squid Mode" before he could land his kick. She was able to jump back by the force of the hit.
Mario doubled back, giving himself more room to conduct a double-jump. Coral acted quickly and took to the air herself. However, her double-jumps still needed work, and she couldn't reach the higher ground. Mario was already above her and drilled downward towards her. She just barely put up a barrier shield to block Mario's attack. He was forced back to the ground, which gave Coral an opening.
She transformed into squid-mode again, and used her large tentacles to smack Mario across the arena. The crowd gasped at the action, but were excited nonetheless.
Mario quickly recovered and forced his way back to Coral, using another double-jump. This however gave Coral an opening to shoot in and do a spin-kick into the portly plumber, knocking him towards the ground, and falling after with a drop-kick, using the momentum to kick herself off and land on her feet.
Mario was quickly able to shield himself before he hit the ground, and got back up on his feet in no time. He glared up at Coral, knowing now not to underestimate her.
Coral did all she could to not let Mario's intimidating stare get her down and focused on just fighting back.
Suddenly, the floor dropped. Coral was caught off guard. She wasn't expecting the platform to change around. The distraction proved costly as Mario raced at her and flung a fireball-fueled fist at her head. The Inkling was knocked back, providing Mario a change to Smash Hit her into the sky.
Coral quickly got her wits about her and maneuvered herself backwards to land on the higher platform. Mario quickly gave chase. Coral tried to chase him off using one of her dualies as a hammer, but Mario soared over her with ease. By the time she turned around to face him, he had already kicked her over. Coral clambered back to her feet, Hero Brush in hand. She threw it at Mario, but he had a shield up and blocked. Once she backed off, Mario went in for the hit, getting a few good ones in.
Coral was agitated, but not in a bad way. She was always worried if someone was upset with her. All it could take was a certain 'look' for her to get nervous.
Yet, here she was, getting a smack-down by Mario… and all she wanted to do was hit him back, and as hard as possible!
Coral turned into Squid-Mode and blasted herself into the sky. She then aimed opposite and rocketed down on Mario's head. The force of the blow was able to knock him off the platform, but he was able to double-jump back, which gave Coral an opening to rush in and kick him in the side, knocking him out again. He was able to grab on the side before completely falling off and pull himself up, as Coral rushed in for another attack.
Mario was ready for this, however, and had his shields up. As she threw hits, he was easily able to blast past her to the other side of the platform, then twist to face her once more. They didn't waste a second, though, and rushed towards each other with attacks. Mario attempted to ram Coral, while she did a twirling kick. They were able to knock into each other, and fall back again. Coral attempted to attack again, but Mario evaded and intercepted, grabbing her foot and twirling her in the air like he would with Bowser's tail. He let go, and Coral was sent soaring into the air, high above the platform.
Coral took in a deep breath… Back in the Square, attacking her opponents simply consisted of striking them with ink. She never had a fight this intense before…
But it wasn't over yet!
She shot her ink-gun like a jet-pack, pushing herself back towards the platform. Unfortunately, she left herself open for an attack by Mario, who jumped in and threw in an uppercut hard, sending her back into the air, and far away from the platform...
It's not over yet!
She performed a double-jump, shooting herself back towards Mario and landing towards him. He looked ready to attack once more, but Coral was ready this time. She whipped out her dualy and threw it like a crochet mallet, knocking Mario across the platform and away from her, just as she made landing. Mario doubled back and threw a punch, but Coral threw up her shield quickly. Right before it died down, she powered up, and rammed her Hero Brush into Mario, striking him hard and sending him soaring across the stage!
The plumber skidded to a halt before he could fall off the stage, and didn't waste a second as he dashed back at Coral. Man, this guy's a pro… But Coral refused to back down. She pulled out a giant paint roller and dashed at Mario, succeeding in running him over, and leaving an orange marking on the front of his body. Mario was stunned for a moment, but hopped back to his feet, shook the paint off, and raced at Coral, who had skidding to a halt right at the edge of the platform. She had ran at him a little too hard and just barely stopped in time.
Mario, however, rammed hard into her, and she was sent soaring into the sky once more. She performed the same strategy, using her gun as a jet pack, and soared back to the stage. Mario threw a fireball at her as she returned, but she double-jumped over his attack and whipped various ink attacks at him, which he shielded himself from.
Once she landed back on the platform, she pulled out her roller, and attempted to run Mario down again. Mario shielded himself once more, and wasn't affected. The moment Coral passed by, Mario powered up, and performed an up-smash into the Inkling, rocketing her into the sky again.
Okay… this is getting frustrating!
Coral righted herself up and dove back down towards the stage, prepared to attack. But so focused on her offense, she forgot all about her defense, and Mario jumped up and struck her again, sending him into the sky again.
She was feeling low on energy. But she didn't want to lose!
As she fell back down, she put up her shields, and wasn't affected when Mario tried striking her once more.
It's time to end this!
Once she dropped her shields, the two exchanged blows. They landed hits on each other while occasionally blocking big blows. Coral put up everything she had… but Mario didn't seem to be backing down.
She decided to go with the big guns… She rammed Mario with her Hero Brush, knocking him off the stage. As he performed a double-jump to get back, Coral pulled out her Ink Gun and blasted at him. It knocked him back a few feet, but to Coral's discontent, he pulled off her own strategy, pulling out his F.L.U.D.D device and using it to rocket himself back at the stage.
Oh no he doesn't!
Coral powered up, transformed into a squid, and shot herself full force at Mario…
But he was ready to slam into her, knocking her attack off course, and shooting her into the sky…
Too far into the sky…
She was out of bounds.
"GAME!"
The stage disintegrated into a white space. The crowd was still around, however, and screamed their cheers. Mario's theme song started playing around the stands.
"The winner… Mario!"
The crowd kept going wild. Coral sat upright after her rough landing on the white space area. She rubbed her head as the low ringing on her tinnitus started to bug her. Why is that coming up now?
"You all right?"
Coral looked up. Mario was standing over her, his fierce demeanor completely gone and now replaced with a friendly sportsmanlike smile. He offered her a hand, and pulled Coral back to her feet.
Funny… that low ringing seemed to be gone now…
"Not a'bad," Mario assured, patting her back gently, "You're a good fighter. A little too reckless and quick to rush in. You ought to a'work on your defense moves a bit." He pointed a thumb into his chest. "You and'a me, we practice later in the training room. All right?"
Coral gave a little nod. "Sure… Okay."
Mario smiled brightly. "Great! Y'know, first you're a good racer, now you're gonna be a good fighter. You've got a bright future ahead of you, Coral."
Coral smiled brightly at these. "Thank you, sir! I'm honored!"
Mario lightly patted her shoulder and walked off, leaving Coral behind, feeling all too proud of herself.
She's been through all sorts of battles, but none nearly as tough, and heck even as violent as this one. Like the others, she started out nervous and unsure…
But for the first time, she was itching for more.