#10
Before starting this chapter, I would like to formally apologize to those of Team Order for my first day of the last Splatfest.
I sucked bad. We were so close to not getting 3-0'ed. My other two days weren't so bad, so...
And with that out of the way, chapter time.
Four was still getting over the fact that they stole a piece of the ground. What was the point of that? Symbolism? Morale?
Several reasons, all probably wrong, crossed her mind as she stared, dumbfounded, at the ridiculous image of a flying truck slowly hovering to Tentakeel.
She had prepared each of the nine Hero Weapons that Sheldon had created, leaving them all laying by her as she was sitting cross-legged in anticipation. All of them had the same color scheme of lime green with occasional blue lights flashing on black.
Straining her eyes, Four could faintly make out the design on the truck's side; splashes of paint, not ink, were on it, with every inch of the old design covered in a splash of some other color.
Paint was less temporary than ink, which decayed quickly. The questionable design must've been to cover the Squid Sisters logo on it.
Sheldon was happily driving again. What did he do the truck to make it fly, and more importantly, why? There's no way he did it in the time between Four fighting Octavio and Marie showing up, so he must've done it in stupid anticipation.
One waved wildly from the top of the truck as it sluggishly flew closer. She was obviously smilingly widely, even with the mouth covering hiding it.
"What... is that?" Cap'n Cuttlefish appeared from behind Four, peering at the vehicle as if it was going to attack them. Where did he come from? "Is it an Octarian weapon?"
"We... uh... decided to fly to Octo Valley. That's the best thing we have," she knew too well that that was unconvincing. Sheldon needed to explain something later.
Four stood up and test-fired the Hero Splatling off the edge, away from the truck. It was, without a doubt, her least favorite of the weapon classes to use, right next to Chargers and Brellas. She was better with Dualies. Way better.
"Hey, Four!" One yelled in the distance. "Like the new paint job?"
"No!" ...At least she was honest. It looked wrong, even to Four, who usually never cared about looks. Did they shoot paint at it?
As it inched closer and closer, Four could make out that the metal railing was still on there. It covered only one side of it, but it would make for a valuable handhold if it came to an airborne battle.
The truck slowed down as it hovered above the Outpost. It lowered, letting the wheel-thruster things land facedown on the ground, whirring to a stop as it thumped on the dirt.
Octavio must've seen the truck at its height. Hopefully, he didn't make the connection that the two Inklings on it were the same two he saw a couple of days ago.
"Can you guys really not afford something better?" Four asked, raising an eyebrow at the mechanical abomination before her.
Two hopped down, avoiding the Hero weapons strewn across the ground. "And you think nobody's going to ask why we need another helicopter? It won't hold the weapons anyway."
"Another?"
"Just load the weapons, Four, that doesn't matter right now. I promise, I'll tell you later," she went to the back, opening the truck's doors.
With Two in the back, One spoke up, leaning back on the railing. "...So what's wrong with the paint job?"
—
"And we have liftoff!" One and Four yelled that in unison, pumping their fists in the air as they felt the truck rise from within. The engine rumbled as the air started to flow by.
The truck's interior was grayish with flickering lights. It was a little dirty; it usually wasn't used for much other than stage equipment, sometimes for the outdoor concerts. Nothing was in there other than them and all of the nine Hero Weapons.
They'd only be able to use three at a time, of course, but they might need specific weapons for different scenarios. Octo Valley might have changed a lot in the past two years.
Four leaned back and lay down on the floor, not caring about the dust and grime getting caught in her hair. "Imagine seeing this from Octo Valley. Some random truck floating menacingly in the distance, heavy metal blasting from the speakers."
Two looked at her strangely. "We... don't really do heavy metal, Four..." She slid down and sat by the wall, crossing her arms in boredom.
"You should," she laughed, "It'd make raids like this ten times better. Dubstep vs. Metal. That sounds like a Splatfest."
"Dream all you want," said One. "I'm not screaming into a microphone again after what happened to our first studio."
"Ooh, I smell a story behind that," Four sat up, peering at One intently. "Spill it. What happened?"
"There's not much story at all," sighed Two. "She just screamed into a cheap mic 'cause she felt like it. Cost me a lot back then..." she glared at One through the sunglasses.
One held up her hands in defense. "I paid you back! Sure, it was three years later, but I did!"
"There's something in the distance!" Sheldon said abruptly. "I can't make it out from here, you want to check it out?" He also apparently installed a speaker system because he really should not have been heard from the driver's seat.
"...How?" asked Four. "Oh wait, I see." There was also a trapdoor in the dead center of the truck's roof, leading to the outside. "Why though?"
"Doesn't matter... But yeah, why, though?" muttered Two. She stood up, went under the trapdoor, and jumped, latching her fingers on it and letting it swing open.
Then she used that to pull herself up.
In the strong wind of the outside, her sunglasses protected her eyes. "Pass me my Charger!" she shouted over the blusters.
The view from the high point was breathtaking. Inkopolis was on one side, the ocean past it, and on the other, green mountains towered and a blue river flowed, creating a picturesque landscape not many people would be able to see from there.
Octo Valley was in the distance by a carved sculpture of an octopus, but still pretty far. Tentakeel Outpost was nothing but a dot in the air behind.
Four hoisted herself up next, but not after hurling the Hero Charger out of the truck. She leaned on the railing, peering in the distance at a shining speck in the air in front. That was what Sheldon had mentioned, but it was too far to identify. "Yeah, can't tell what it is," said Four.
A sound cut through the loud blowing of the wind. It was similar to a seagull's call, but it sounded more dominant and forceful.
"What the..." gasped Four. Whatever the glimmering speck was, it was approaching terrifyingly quickly. "We're in for a sky fight. Get me the Blaster!"
One was the last one up. She threw up the Blaster first, like Four asked, then heaved the Splatling onto the top of the truck. It landed with a crash on the metal roof.
Four looked again. The reflective speck was almost entirely metallic. Its body was polished with its head being entirely made of a transparent material. A beak ornamented it, but its purpose was unclear. There were wings on its sides, but they only held thrusters keeping it aloft.
Glowing orange areas were on each of its joints.
In nearly every way, it resembled a gigantic bird the size of Tentakeel. "Hold on," said Four. "Sheldon's gonna swerve."
She predicted that perfectly. The next moment, the truck violently leaned to one side, throwing everyone off-balance. As the giant, mechanical bird sliced through the air, it let out another deafening cry.
It turned, leaning like an airplane, then stopped behind the truck still moving forward, posing upright with its wings spread outwards. It moved at the same pace as them, pushing forward menacingly without heavy metal blasting from its nonexistent speakers.
Two took aim at it, looking for somewhere to shoot. She came to a glowing, orange spot near its short leg, then let loose the shot. It cut through the weak piece of whatever that was like a drill through styrofoam, leaving a tiny hole in it. "There," she said, "blast it off, Four!"
The bird rose upwards, then pointed the damaged leg directly at the truck. It fired off a Sting Ray, which the three narrowly avoided.
Sheldon swerved again, rising to its level. One unleashed a torrent of ink at the other leg just as it started firing a volley of Splat Bombs. Four shot at the cluster of bombs, forcing them out of the air, then fired once more at the leg that dropped them.
The small explosion from the Blaster severed the orange connection and broke off the leg, making it spin in helpless circles as it tumbled straight into the river.
"How far are we?" Four yelled over the booming thrusters. She looked behind her at the moving landscape. "Almost," she muttered. Octo Valley was really close, just a little longer at maximum speed, and they'd make it.
She blindly fired again, making her body go rigid to not let the recoil knock her over. She missed. With the other hand, she gripped the metal railing, since it was the only handhold they had.
Once again, it let out a screeching cry. It tried the Sting Ray again, pointing its remaining claw-like foot at the truck.
Four was narrowly caught in the line of fire for a terrifying moment, but not long enough to splat her. "Owwww..." she groaned, clutching her arm. She dropped in a kneel, clenching her teeth, then forced her weak arm with the Blaster to rise. In a burst of unexpected strength, she jumped up, barely reaching the clear head of the flying beast with the shot, coating it in ink and blinding the pilot.
Landing on the truck again, she dropped the Blaster and excercised her arm in circles as the purple ink dripped out of the sleeve. "I hate Sting Rays..."
Suddenly, the truck started to slow down as it reached the Octopus sculpture by Octo Valley. It hovered over the old manhole with its wheels face-down, then thumped onto the ground.
Whatever that giant, metal bird was stopped moving. It was hovering in the air, just outside the valley, not bringing the leg down and seemingly tamed.
But then it started to take the gliding position again as it slowly rotated around its head. The metal creaked as it pulled off the maneuver. With its beak pointing forwards and it's body behind it, it started to pick up speed again even though the pilot couldn't see outside.
Wherever it was going, it passed directly overhead. It was still gaining speed, so as it flew over the truck's landing place, Two fired at its severed leg, then leaped onto the place she had inked, clinging on to it in her squid form.
The beast picked up speed and soared into the distance, taking Two with it and leaving One and Four to only stare speechless as it left them.
Again, I combined two chapters for this one. Deleted a useless action scene from the first and replaced it with the one from the second.