Chapter 9
Salmonid Smokeyard…Another POV
Time was running out and only one of us was un-splatted.
"Hurry Denise!" I shouted.
Denise went as fast as she could.
Seconds left.
Aaaaaand…YES!
Just met quota!
The rest of us quickly respawned with different weapons.
"Well, at least we won't get a pay cut." Mia shrugged.
The sky was dark. It was low-tide, so we headed down to the shore
"Alright, what's next?" Oscar wondered.
"You've got a Mothership down by the shore." Mr. Grizz told us. "You guys might want to cooperate if you want to survive."
Yup, a Mothership…uh…what the?
There were three Motherships constantly bumping into a Flying Saucer. Chinooks kept landing on it and damaging it.
"Uh…that's not normal…" Mia remarked.
"No…It's not…" I agreed. "Weapons ready! That thing's going down!
The Saucer went down, sliding on the ground until it hit the basket.
The Motherships hovered in place, possibly waiting for something to happen.
Well, so much for collecting eggs…
The top of the Saucer opened up, releasing smoke. The three of us aimed our weapons.
A figure was walking out of the smoke…it was…a yellow-haired Inkling…
"Who…are you?" I asked.
"Wait…" Denise looked at her. "I remember her!"
"You do?" I was surprised.
"Yeah, from the Tournament!" She told me. "That's Sarah! She was on Sylvia's team!"
"Hey-uh…can you help us?" Sarah asked. "We're kind of in a little trouble here…"
"Us?" I looked to see other cephalopods coming out of the wrecked aircraft.
A lot of Inklings and…Octolings?!
I readied my Blaster.
"Guys, we aren't the enemy!" An Inkling called out.
It was…Callie?!
I glared at her.
She noticed me and sighed.
"...Hi Greg…" Callie said.
"...Hello Agent 1…" I replied.
Guyver's POV
"Wait, you two know each other?" I asked.
Greg just glared at me without a word.
"It's a long story…" Callie told me. "…And one that'll have to wait!"
Chinooks started raining down. Luckily, there were weapons on the Saucer.
"Ready up, Defenders!" Greg shouted and his squadmates readied their weapons.
"Gladiators!" Callie shouted towards them. "Change your Ink colors to these Defenders so you don't get Splatted!"
The gladiators quickly changed their Ink colors to the orange that the Salmon Running Defenders had. We did as well.
Chinooks came down with their usual large crates.
"What do we do?!" Erin didn't know.
"Shoot the Chinooks!" Sarah shouted. "Bust as many of those crates as you can before more Salmonids pop out!"
The gladiators did just that. A few popped open with Salmonids, but they weren't too hard. What helped was we weren't collecting Eggs now.
I could see Jade making effective use of one of the Octoshots that was in the saucer.
Erin, shell, all of the gladiators seemed to be having the time of their lives splatting the Salmonids that kept them imprisoned.
The Defenders, despite Sylvia speaking highly of the group, seemed to not like the fact that Octolings were here…Greg especially…
Callie would sometimes shout at them to work together for now.
Eventually though, the Chinooks stopped coming, but the Motherships were still there.
It went unnervingly quiet.
Then, atop one of the Motherships, was Papa himself. He was fully armed, armored, and clearly pissed.
"Okay, who's that guy?" Denise asked.
"They call him Papa." Sarah answered. "He leads a Salmonid tribe in a place called the Rivers."
"And why's he here?" Greg asked.
"We squidnapped two of his surrogate children to find the Rivers." I explained. "He's mad at us for taking them and freeing his gladiators."
"Your idea?" He asked.
"My cousin's actually." I corrected him.
"Leave it to an Octoling to make things worse…" Greg groaned.
"What does that have to do with anything?" I glared at him.
"Not now!" Callie shouted. "He's about to do something!"
He opened his helmet slightly and raised a horn. We then noticed Goldies on the other ships raise their horns. At Papa's lead, they all sounded the familiar horns or Salmon runs.
"Which way are they coming from?" Greg asked as everyone started looking around.
I then noticed ripples in the water.
"Over here!" I heard a voice say before I could speak.
"No, here!" Another person shouted.
"They're coming from all sides!" Sarah noticed.
The ripples were circling around the Smokeyard.
"What…are those?" Denise asked Callie.
"Salmonlings!" Callie shouted.
Immediately after she said that, they started jumping out of the water with Ink weapons in-hand.
We all started firing.
I saw one of the gladiators get splatted out of the corner of my eye. I turned his way and noticed something…
"Guys, watch out!" I shouted. "We aren't connected to any respawn points!"
All the gladiators immediately fell back towards the higher ground when they heard that.
"Greg!" Callie shouted. "You and your team can respawn! You're our lifeline!"
"Ergh…right!" He then charged forward and managed to splat one.
I noticed then the Salmonling had a little ghost that resembled the figures in the Golden Eggs fly up towards one of the Motherships. Great, they can respawn…
It wasn't long until that Salmonling was back in action.
"Mr. Grizz!" Greg shouted into an earpiece. "We're fighting humanoid Salmonids! What do we do?!"
There was no response.
"MR Grizz?!" He wanted a response.
"Takin' a Smallfry home may seem like a good idea, but trust me, it isn't." We heard an automated reply say.
"Callie, we need to think of something!" I told her. "They can respawn and most of us can't!"
Callie looked around for a bit, and then got an idea.
"Greg!" She shouted to him again. "Keep the Salmonlings at bay! Gladiators, Superjump to the Grizzco boat!"
The gladiators started jumping one by one as the Splatoon and Defenders held off the Salmonlings. It wasn't easy. These guys can shoot from one side, hop in the water, and quickly flank from another side. Plus side is it seems they can't hold as much ink as Inklings and Octolings can since they were diving in ink a lot more often than we were.
"Guys," Jade pointed. "Some are swimming for the boat!"
"Great, what do we do now?" I asked.
"Oh!" Denise then pulled out a Sting Ray and aimed it towards the center Mothership. "He looks important!"
She then fired the Sting Ray right at Papa. He noticed and dodged, then Superjumped through the air until he was over us and prepared for a-
"Splashdown!" I shouted.
Everyone not on the boat quickly scrambled to get out of the way, but we all ended up getting knocked back by the impact.
Sarah's POV
Ugh…can barely move…I hope no one got Splatted in that…
Yeah, about three gladiators…aw splat it…
I could see Papa with his Trident and a harpoon gun on his back. He turned to face me and started walking my way only to be hit by a few Ink shots from behind.
"Get up, Sarah!" Jade shouted before a harpoon hit her shoulder, pinning her to a wall. She was struggling to get it out.
I'm…trying…to get up…
I then noticed Greg had gotten up.
"Greg!" I called out. "Jade…needs your help!"
He just stood there, catching his breathe.
"Greg, do something!" I shouted.
He turned his head towards Jade, then turned to fire at one of his teammates' life preservers in the other direction.
No!
I managed to stand up and go forward, but the enemy ink slowed me down. I looked up at her and…
No…
Jade's lifeless body fell to the ground as Papa turned to me.
"Going for the Bear's Boat…" Papa spoke. "A good plan, but it won't save you. Nothing will…now…"
He then got smacked from behind by Greg. Papa then smacked him, grabbed him, and threw him into me.
Papa walked forward and raised his Trident to stab us, but he then stopped.
He just stood there staring at us; hands shaking.
Greg took that opportunity to aim his Blaster and fire a shot.
"GAH!" Papa hissed in pain as he flew backwards, onto the ground. Greg then aimed his blaster at the ground so we could move better.
"You hurt Papa…" We heard a voice say.
We turned to find a Salmonling.
"YOU HURT PAPA!" Another Salmonling came seemingly out of nowhere and bit Greg's left hand, causing him to drop his blaster.
"AAAAAGH!" Greg screamed in pain.
I kicked the Salmonling back, grabbed Greg, and Superjumped to the boat. As I landed, I noticed Callie and Guyver flying towards the boat as well. Greg's teammates followed shortly behind along with the remaining gladiators that haven't jumped yet. That was everybody.
One of Greg's teammates then quickly pressed a few buttons on the boat's controls and it speeded away on its return trip.
"What happened to the Salmonids going towards the ship?" One of Greg's teammates asked.
"They swam back to the Smokeyard a little after the Splashdown." Erin answered.
"…Greg!" Denise rushed over. "Oh Cod, your hand! I'll get some bandages!"
Bandages?
Oh…
That Salmonling bit off two of his fingers.
Greg slowly stood up.
I punched him in the face and he fell back down.
"What was that for?!" He was surprised?!
"YOU LET HER DIE!" I shouted.
"And?" He asked. "She was an Octoling. She would've done the same to you."
"No she wouldn't have!" I couldn't believe him. "She tried to save me! You're just a-"
"Just ignore him, Four!" Callie shouted. "He hates Octolings and you can't change his mind."
I glared daggers at him for a few more seconds before sighing and walking over to the front where Callie was.
"Mind telling us what the shell that was?!" Greg asked Callie as Denise returned with bandages.
"None of your business, Greg!" Callie replied. "Just go back to harassing Octolings or whatever you do these days. I'm tired…"
I could tell there's bad blood between them, but it didn't seem like either were in the mood to talk about it.
I just walked over to Guyver and sat next to him for the rest of the trip…
