Letting guys know prior, Chapter 8 replaced that update I had made during school. So if you haven't read it, I'd encourage it

Chapter 9: Round 2

Luke's color had changed. His tentacles had taken a purple hue. He decided to look around before the match began, his environment now a fairly-sized space within a warehouse.

"Go!"

The sound of Judd's voice put him to work. He shot his ink onto the ground and swam towards the pillar of light emanating from the center of the warehouse. When he had arrived at the center, he only had a few seconds before Brodie's yellow ink shot out from behind the corner of a corridor that was visible on they way to the beacon. Luke dove into his ink and hid opposite of where his opponent was. He stayed still and silent. Brodie shot the ground close to him, and he moved away from his spot to avoid being shot before returning fire.

Brodie was gone in a burst of purple. Luke completely resurfaced at the groans of being splatted were heard. He continued to spread ink around. The balloons had suddenly spawned and he took initiative to popping them all.

"AAAAHHHH!" Quickly turning to his right, he turned full body to see Brodie charging toward him with determination in his eyes. A quick return of fire from his own Splattershot caused Brodie to skid towards him. Brodie yelped in surprise as he slid into Luke's ink, tripping him and earning an easy splat for the violet stained boy.

'This is turning out easier than I originally thought' he had realized that even though Brodie was technically at higher level than him, he played rather awfully. It's was too easy.

The next beacon was to his right. He simply sprinted over.

A quick glance around.

Nobody around.

Luke started covering the ground purple.

Almost immediately the impact of foreign ink stung him. It hit him in his back and he stumbled. Looking back, he saw Brodie diving into a pool of his ink. Luke decided not to focus on him and worry about his opponent once he had the beacon secured.

'Gotta get to the beacon, no time to waste on Brodie.' He ran over to the beacon and tucked into himself, rolling rather awkwardly behind some boxes.

"Oww..." he muttered to himself. How did people do this in the movies? He looked from behind the cargo. Brodie was approaching him cautiously, but he wasn't doing so silently.

"Stupid shoes..." He heard him mutter. Luke carefully shifted into squid form and went around. Despite there not being any ink to swim in, he crept along the ground carefully. Brodie's back was fully exposed to him now and he started to shift back into inkling form.

"Luuuke, where arrrre you? You can run but you can't hide." Brodie was clearly trying to suppress a giggle at the cliché he spouted but could barely contain his amusement at it.

Luke squirmed away from Brodie's view before, being sure to move swiftly and silently. Almost too quickly, he grabbed his chest and took a gulp of air. His left fist was clenched onto his shirt while the other tightly grabbed the Splattershot; his chest began to ache a bit. After catching his breath, he moved to lift himself from the ground only to be splattered by Brodie.

"I'm really feeling this match." As if to taunt him, Brodie started to dancing, spinning and thrusting his hips in a little dance.

As Luke respawned nearby a large container he groaned in frustration. In hindsight, he probably should have dealt with Brodie before making his move but it was too late to think on that now, he made his way back to where the beacon was.

Sneaking behind the container, Luke was pleased to know that his targets were just around the corner. He was at a slight disadvantage at the moment. Brodie had taken the liberty to cover the ground around him in yellow ink and was now bursting balloons. He braced himself before putting his right foot into the yellow ink. This stung, but he continued to move through the discomfort it brought to try and use the element of surprise against his dark-skinned friend, who was moving towards the next beacon. He waited for Brodie to pass by and held tightly onto his Splattershot if the chance that Brodie would come over to him. Once he as certain Brodie was not showing signs of approaching, he broke away from his cover and proceeded to sneak closer to Brodie.

Brodie was standing there, surprisingly quiet. Luke closed the distance a bit and once he was in range opened fire. The first few shots had connected with their target before Brodie stumbled out of the way and begun to return fire. They were in range of each other trying not to get hit by the other's ink. He definitely had more competence than Luke gave him credit for. He was ready for him and, unlike Nova, wasn't too active on hunting him. He was far from an expert though and him deciding to got in for the kill made it more than obvious.

Brodie came towards to try and get an easier time hitting him. Keeping his eyes of Luke he continued to advance on him.

Until suddenly, he had stopped. The reason became clear when he looked down. His feet were stuck onto the ground and he was now stuck in a yellow puddle of ink. Luke shot towards the beacon, eager to . A bit panicked Brodie opened fire on his violet-hued opponent. Whether through some sort of instinct or through some form of blind luck, Luke deftly dodged the oncoming fire with an outstanding amount of finesse. He banked to the side, covering the ground as he went . Coming up to Brodie while being fired at he started to quicken his pace into a full sprint before diving down into a slide. He had gotten hit a few times while attempting to try that stunt. But those hits were grazes and simply brought a tingle to the spots that came in contact with his body. He pushed up, and spun around to splat Brodie. When a splatter and a moan was heard, Luke shot more ink ahead and moved towards the beacon.

/ \

Back in the lobby of the Battle Dojo, The other three conversated while waiting for the duel to be over.

"So," Deborah began, attracting the two failed competitors' attention. She made a pointing gesture towards Nova, never even looking at her. "You threw that fight for him?"

Nova looked at her, surprised. Out of all the things that she could have said, why that?

"Of course not! Why would I even do that?"

"Friendship, uncertainty," Nova caught a small glare now aimed at her direction,"Pity?"

Nova puffed up and returned the glare at her accuser. "So you're thinking Luke didn't win our fight on equal terms? You're more or less saying he didn't earn that win."

Deborah shuffled into a more comfortable position a smirk on her face. "I have not said anything of the like, Nova dear." The "Nova dear" part earned her a snarl. She continued regardlessly. "I'm just looking at odds. He's barely been in any games, neither have you, but you at least seem like an eager participant. He's very withdrawn, almost as if he doesn't want to even play. Very squishy still and runty as well. With that said, he very barely seems to want to talk. So he's got that against him. Do these qualities seem leader like to you? I'd think not."

Nova eyes darkened with rage at every word. "So your saying he's not even fit to be even a part of the team then?" Tytus backed away from the two. He could sense a storm when it was brewing.

Deborah sniggered, "Well...you said it not me."

Nova had leaped on to Deborah. Getting a punch or two on Deborah before getting kicked off. She held her stomach gingerly. Her stomach seem against her and before she could even try to get back up, she was pinned down by Tytus. He dragged her to the nearby wall and kept her there. Deborah was massaging he jaw a bit. That smirk was now a scowl and she threw daggers from her eyes.

"Let's face it Nova, he's inept and pathethic! He's not made for turf wars, as a matter of fact. He probably should just stick to the sidelines and do something else. At most be a painter."

Nova head looked loosely upwards."Do you hear yourself talk sometimes?"

"Often."

"D-don't you think your being a bit too presumptuous though? You barely know him."

"Something tells me you barely do either."

An awkward silence hung in the air before Nova made use of her second wind start to ask more questions, this time she was more hushed and talked to Tytus.

"So I have to ask, why do you follow her around?"

No response.

"She doesn't seem to respect you much."

He turned his head away from her; a attempt to ignore her.

"And she even kicked you hard enough to vomit up today's breakfast,"

"So? I deserved it. I did a stupid thing again."

She was stunned at that answer but continued. "Your a living thing! A squid just like her! Why let her step over you like you don't matter!" She nearly screamed the last part but remembered Deborah was still around. No doubt she heard her still but despite that she wanted an answer that made actually sense to her.

After a while she fear she'd go unanswered again, but then he spoke.

"I made a promise."

Confusing. Why make a promise to a person like Deborah?

"What is that exactly?"

He frowned, "Not like I'd tell you that."

"But you did eventually tell me- nevermind. Guess I've prodded enough on the subject. I know one thing though, if Deborah thinks she's gonna manipulate Luke the way she wants, she'll have to go through me."

"Speaking of Luke, shouldn't he and Brodie be out by now?"

/ \

Overtime. How did they manage to tie and go overtime? The both of them had 28 points and the last beacon shone at the center of the warehouse. Currently Brodie was hunting him down , hoping to turn the match in his favor.

Moving quietly, Luke snuck out from his hiding spot which was a stack of a few boxes. He moved to a slope, keeping an eye on his surroundings. Once behind the wall he perked his ears up. Nothing yet. He moved up the slope making his way to the upper part of southern half of the arena. The sound of the balloons appearing around the beacon made Luke move out of his hiding spot. In a blur of movements Luke was dashing towards the beacon with Broadie in a heated pursuit, tearing out from his hiding place behind a container.

Luke felt almost everything in slow motion. The skidding and pulling of his own weight acting on him, him rising his gun to pull the trigger and the stinging of enemy ink.

TWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Barely conscious from being nearly drown, Luke had won the match.

"Damnit! I thought I had you!" Brodie whined.

"Guess it's better luck next time, huh Brodie.?" Luke said once the ink finally started to dissipate. They began to walk back to the lobby.

"Dude, there's not really a next time since I doubt the next turf war I play in has stakes that high."

He reached behind his head to scratch it. "Uh, well you know..."

A bit of awkward silence passed before it was broken.

"What do you think our chances of beating Death's Tide are?" Luke inquired

Brodie's eyes widen with shock. "What are ya asking ME for?! If anything, I expect them to turn us into calamari with pasta on the side."

"Oh..." Luke drooped and started to walk slower. He did not want to be remembered as a part of the novice team that took on one of Inkopolis' titanic players.

Brodie put his hand on his shoulder, "H-hey... don't worry. I'm sure when we do lose, it won't be that bad."

Luke rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, "Thanks for the confidence boost..." he perked himself up when another question popped in his head. "So... what's your opinion on their leader."

Brodie visibly clammed up a bit before saying anything.

"Well I don't know. Based off her reputation, I bet you she's a she-devil ray. Someone like her has to have earned all thouse rumors...gives me the creeps thinking about what magical witchy powers she has."

Luke shook his head with a sigh. "You shouldn't follow what rumors you hear, I bet she's normal just like us...maybe even nice..." his thoughts wandered a bit and now he was only half listening.

"I guess. But dude, you gotta wonder why she got the rep in the first place. No one's 100 percent nice."

"Yeah..."

And they continued down the corridor, making their way to their friends.