I jumped on top of the tower and looked around. I could see the whole map, almost. We started covering the ground below us. "So yeah," Stella said, "This is

what a real Turf War feels like."

"Pretty cool, huh?" I asked, chucking a few bombs of the edge.

"This can't be good, can it," Stella began. I looked over, and saw she was looking at a purple holographic dome that was being projected right in the center of the tower we were standing on.

Oh no. Again.

I grabbed Stella's hand and screamed, "JUMP!" right as the Inkstrike hit. We jumped off the tower. We landed in a small puddle of yellow, which absorbed most of the impact, just in time to see a gigantic ink tornado spiraling upward from the base of the tower, leaving it drenched in purple. "Oh, uh. Sorry," I apologised, quickly letting go of Stella's hand.

Stella just laughed. "What are you apologising for? Um, you literally just saved me."

"Uh. Sorry."

"No really. Thank you."

"You- You're welcome." My gamepad beeped; one minute remaining. "Come on, we have to keep going. This way!" I lead Stella to the left entrance to the enemy base. The music changed to a quicker and even more up-beat tune. One minute remaining. We had pretty much gotten it down by now, shooting ink, swimming forward, shooting more ink. I could see the enemy base getting closer.

Stella let out a small gasp. I looked over at her, to see her hair glowing and bubbling. "Check it out," She said, "My special's charged! And it's a Bubbler, right? That means we can invade their base, and they won't be able to get us!"

"Yes, but it runs out pretty fast… Hold on, mine's almost charged up! If I can activate mine just as yours runs out, we can have a double-length Bubbler!"

Stella's eyes sparkled. "Let's do it!"

We charged into the base. Almost immediately, a Slosher saw us, and went in for the kill. Stella yelled and activated her Bubbler, instantly enclosing herself in a force field. The purple ink bounced off her, and she quickly splatted the Slosher. I swam up next to her and a force field surrounded me as well. It dulled the music and the sounds of the battle around me, letting me calmly assess my surroundings and continue covering their base in yellow. Suddenly, I had the weirdest feeling. Energized, like I was standing in a launchpad, but better. This time it felt like the power was coming from within me, not from something else. I realized my special was fully charged. And just in time, too, as my Bubbler began to flicker. I looked over at Stella to see she was taking on the Luna Blaster, but her Bubbler was almost gone. I quickly swam up to her, ready to activate my own Bubbler, but to my horror, the Luna Blaster managed to splat her. All that was left was a puddle of purple and a small ghost rising up from where she had stood. With a smirk, the Luna Blaster turned to me.

"NO!" I shouted and activated my Bubbler. His smirk turned to fear as I went in for the kill. It was over quickly, and soon one more ghost rose above the battlefield. I hope Stella saw that. I didn't have time to congratulate myself because suddenly I was being pushed back by none other than the Custom Range Blaster. I tried to shoot back at her, but she had me pushed up against a wall, unable to move.

Then my bubbler ran out. So did my ink. I was trapped. An easy kill. There it was, another harsh pinch, then numbness, then floating above the battlefield. The Custom Range Blaster exploded, and I heard our E-leiter Booyah. I Booyah'd back. Then I blacked out.

Stella was waiting for me at spawn. "That was so cool! You really showed that guy who's boss."

"Uh… yeah, I guess." I blushed. "Thanks."

Stella glanced at her Gamepad. "Ok. Fifteen seconds left. It's almost tied. C'mon!"