"Agent 3! To the right! No, left! Run back!"
Running faster than a sailfish, Agent 3 dodged the Octostomp's latest attack.
How could the Great Octoweapons be here? Had the octarians found a way to power them with zapfish instead of cords?
It certainly seemed so. As Agent 3 dashed right to avoid another stomp, there was still no sign of any cord on the giant.
Octostamps were hard enough to deal with on their own. An octostamp DX was practically invincible, if somewhat slow. The Mighty Octostomp was a category above them both, bigger than an octostamp DX, faster than an octostamp, and smarter than both.
In other words, it wasn't looking good for Agent 3.
The poor girl was being run in circles around the battle ring. All around the platform were bleachers packed to the brim with octarians cheering for her defeat. The ground was covered in enemy ink and she was struggling just to find ground she could walk on. All the while, he could hear Octavio's beats playing at a volume that must be deafening in person.
The captain shouted through the communicator, "Agent 3! An octostomp's weakness is on its back! See if you can get on top o' the beast!"
Her reply was slightly distorted by the music, but no less loud.
"HOW!?"
"Ink the sides and swim up!"
Even he knew that was easier said than done.
Agent 3 was trying to cover the sides of the Octostomp, but it was so fast, and she still had to clear out the magenta ink the beast was leaving everywhere, lest she be cornered.
Even when she managed to start swimming up the side, she was too slow. The weapon would shake both her and her green ink off, sending her back to square one.
And the music was still blaring, to the delight of the crowd.
This was getting too dangerous. "Agent 3. You should retreat and come back to base. If you can't get a tentacle up on this thing soon, you'll be sashimi fer sure!"
Through the video feed he could see that she didn't pause. "Cap'n! I can win! I know what to do!"
"Then what's yer plan?" She sprayed ink at the side of the Octostomp and retreated slightly.
"I do not have words for it! But it is good!", at her words the captain spared a small thought.
For her sake it better.
She was leading it to one edge of the arena, shooting her colour everywhere she could. The Octostomp was close behind, once again dashing over to try and splat her.
As it came down with a thump Agent 3 dove into the green ink that was scattered around the ring. And stayed there.
Octostomp stood up to try again to splat the inkling.
Only to look slightly bewildered at the lack of opponent. Even the crowd had quieted down slightly as they searched for the inkling.
The captain watched through the video feed on the hero headset as Agent 3 slowly moved through her ink toward the other side of the arena.
Of course!
The Octostomp could only attack what it could see! And as slow as Agent 3 swam, she was virtually invisible.
But she couldn't defeat an Octoweapon by swimming away. So what was her plan?
As Agent 3 arrived at the other side of the ring she popped out of the ink and called out.
"'EY OCTASTOMP!"
Well, she didn't quite pronounce it right, but her yell still caught the attention of the Octostomp and the crowd.
As the Octostomp reared up for another charge, Agent 3 braced herself. She wasn't gonna face it head on, was she?
The Octoweapon began its charge, slightly slowed by the green ink still in its way, but still far to fast for an inkling to withstand a hit from.
The cheering of the crowd got louder the closer it came to the agent but she still didn't move.
"Agent 3! Yer plan had better turn the tables fast, or you'll be flatter than a flounder!"
He only barely got the words out before Agent 3 made her move.
Using the Octostomp's size and momentum against it, she slipped to the right of it with a quick roll and aimed her hero shot at its legs.
Almost in slow motion, the giant stumbled, tripped, and landed face first on the ground. The crowd gasped in shock as everything but Agent 3 seemed to freeze.
Running over to the side that she'd already inked, she used the stunned state of the Octoweapon to give her enough time to swim up it side.
To find a giant tentacle.
"Agent 3! Ink that slimey schmuck up! That's the weak point!" He yelled into the communicator.
Then Agent 3 made another unexpected move.
She took the tank off of her ink pack (a bad idea), flipped the top off it (a VERY bad idea), and turned the entire contents of the cylinder into the space between the tentacle and the edge of the hole it was in (?), before launching herself as far away as she could.
The crowd was filled with screams even as the music still played. The Great Octostomp paused for a moment before trying to get up.
Suddenly it started shaking. The metal panels on its side made clanging noises as it shook.
The crowd was starting to flee and the Octostomp shook more. Now green ink was visible through the seams of the metal plates.
Both the Octostomp and the music stopped at the same time before, with a sound like screeching metal, the giant exploded in green ink.
"YES!"
"Well butter my biscuits! It worked! Not the most conventional approach, certainly, but it worked!", he watched for a moment as Agent 3 spun around in a short victory dance before she started walking to the zapfish.
Agent 3 jump in the air and exclaimed, "It is very good!"
Chuckling, the captain replied, "Go get the zapfish and return back to base Agent 3. You deserve a good rest after that battle"
Haven't put anything here in a little while. I didn't really make any changes to this chapter, except for some formating with the italics
From AO3:
I thought it would be neat to have to attack the Octopstomp's little legs to trip it. In this, the Octostomp gets up too fast for Etta, slow swimmer that she is, so she tripped it to keep it down long enough for her to climb it. I was inspired by the octoballers, and how they get really stuck in enemy ink, more so than any other octarian.
Also I though it'd be funny if Etta just dumped an entire tank of ink into that thing and destroyed it with one hit. She's not gonna do that to all of 'em, so don't worry.
I also put in a crowd like in the final boss. I think the octarians would want to see the legendary Octoweapons in battle, don't you? Also just pretend that the song Octoweaponry is written by Octavio instead of Turquoise October.
Once again, leave me a comment if you liked this chapter, or come talk to me on tumblr!